Pregnant women who have gum disease are more likely to develop gestational diabetes than those who have healthy gums, says research among 256 mothers by New York University in the Journal of Dental Research (April).

Gestational diabetes, an inability to transport glucose to body cells, tends to disappear after childbirth, but women who have had it are at significantly greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes, cautions the study.

Gambling addicts tend to have a brain glitch which means that they do not learn from their mistakes, say Pisa University scientists who studied 20 pathological gamblers.

The researchers suggest, in Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health (March 25) that the gamblers’ mental rigidity can lead to harmful, repetitive compulsive behaviour.

The real cost of PFI schemes

Study reveals that NHS staff and patients are paying the price for PFI built hospitals

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Severe psoriasis appears to be linked to several serious medical conditions, including cardiovascular disease, cancer and depression, says a review of study evidence in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

The report, by clinical experts at the National Psoriasis Foundation in Oregon, urges greater screening for such debilitating physiological effects of the disease.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be used to detect changes in blood volume in the brain that often precede cancerous transformation of brain tumours, according to a study of 13 patients in Radiology (April) by Imperial College, London.

Using MRI perfusion scanning, increases in blood volume could be detected a year before other markers indicated that a slow-growing tumour (which can exist in this state for years) was transforming itself into an aggressive one. Earlier diagnosis could enable earlier surgery.

People with larger abdomens in their 40s are more likely to develop dementia in their 70s, reports a study of more than 6,500 people over a 36-year period, in Neurology online (March).

The more abdominal fat, the greater the risk of subsequent dementia, says the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research study. Being obese with a large belly more than tripled the risk.

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