Medical Notes: Week of July 21, 2019

One well-established risk factor for diabetes is a parent who has the disease. But a new study shows that gestational diabetes during pregnancy also raises the risk for type 1 diabetes in the child. A study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal shows that a child or teen whose mother had gestational diabetes is nearly twice as likely to develop type 1 diabetes before age 22. Knowing the risk could help with early diagnosis, since about a quarter of youths with diabetes receive a diagnosis only after developing life-threatening diabetic ketoacidosis.

One in 10 women in their mid-20’s to 40’s suffer from endometriosis, but treatment with a specific antibiotic could help. Endometriosis is a condition where uterine cells grow elsewhere in the body, and can cause painful lesions in the gut. A study in the journal Human Reproduction finds that the antibiotic metronidazole can reduce the size of the lesions. However, researchers say other antibiotics like ampicillin or neomycin can’t shrink gut lesions at all.

And finally… gazing down at smartphones from an early age is triggering young adults to sprout horns on the back of their skulls. A study in the journal Scientific Reports says they’re actually bone spurs just above the neck, a product of strain on the muscles and tendons that attach there. The spine would ordinarily bear the weight of the head, but it’s transferred to those muscles and tendons when we look down at our phones.