Last month’s Convocation at New York Medical College saw the promotion of 33 of the faculty. Dr. Grimshaw received his official new title of Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine from Dean Dr. Ralph O’Connell and President Msgr. Harry Barrett. The Convocation also saw the first year NYMC students’ don their white coats. This symbolizes their dedication to patients.

November Is Diabetes Month: according to the American Diabetes Association. There are 15.7 million Americans with the disease - almost 6% of the population. And there may be 5.4 million more who don’t know they have it. Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness and kidney failure. About 60-70% of diabetics have some form of diabetic nerve damage. The disease is the leading cause of leg non-traumatic amputation. And diabetics have a 2-4 fold increased risk of heart disease and stroke.

US Postal Service’s New Diabetes Awareness Stamp

The annual clinical meeting at Harvard’s Famed Joslin Diabetes Center show-cased 2 developments:

1) New blood pressure goals for diabetic patients with protein in the urine were recommended by Dr. Richard Solomon. The new goals, to minimize damage to the kidney are 125/75 or less.

2) A promising new drug for protecting kidneys and eyes in diabetics is now in clinical testing. The drug is a Protein Kinase C inhibitor currently named LY 323531, and was synthesized by Dr. George King and his colleagues at the Joslin. First results of phase II & III trials are due in April; earliest availability could be 2003. In phase I studies, blood flow in the retina was normalized in 70-80% of patients.

Melatonin Revisited: University of Oregon researchers have shown that 10 mg of melatonin 1 hour before bedtime can get blind people back on a regular schedule. Writing in The New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Robert Sack and colleagues got 7 patients from a 24 ½ hr back to a 24 hour cycle with melatonin. Placebo did not work. Melatonin still maintained synchronization at a dose of ½ mg daily.

Another Way to Protect Bone may be a common diuretic (water pill) used for hypertension, hydrochlorthiazide or HCTZ. Dr. Andrea LaCroix and coworkers at Seattle’s Group Health Cooperative found that 12.5 mg of HCTZ slowed bone mass loss at the hip and spine. Writing in the Annals of Internal Medicine, they say this may explain the 1/3 reduction in risk of hip fracture previously seen in patients on the drug for blood pressure.

Aggressive Drug Therapy Reversed Atherosclerosis in a Dutch study. Dr. Tineke Smilde of the Nijmegen University Medical Center studied 325 patients with familial hypercholesterolemia. Aggressive therapy with 80 mg of Lipitor for 2 years led to decrease in wall thickness in the carotid arteries averaging 0.031 mm. Normally there’s an increase in thickness of 0.05 mm per year. Patients averaged a starting "lousy" LDL cholesterol of 310 mg, which went down an average of 51% during the trial. Their findings were reported at the European Society of Cardiology meeting in Amsterdam.

Our Latest Movie Winner for getting her colon cancer screening cards in promptly is Mary Weiden. She gets 2 tickets to the movies. We want you to know that you, too can be a winner in our fight to prevent colon cancer!