Completely stopping drinking, even moderate levels of drinking, may precipitate depression and a reduced ability of the brain to produce new neurons, says a report in Neuropsychopharmacology (July). The laboratory study by North Carolina University says that the brain cell-production deficit that can result from going teetotal affects the hippocampus, the area responsible for learning, memory and possibly mood regulation.

Vietnam veterans who have suffered post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are twice as likely to die early of heart disease than those without PTSD, says a report by America's Geisinger Health System in Psychosomatic Medicine (July). The study of more than 4,000 veterans found that the more serious the PTSD diagnosis is, the greater the likelihood of premature death from heart disease.

A blood protein may help doctors to identify early on people who are at risk of diabetes, says a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (July 8) by researchers at the University of California, San Diego. Their six-year study of older people found that those with raised levels of the protein, fetuin-A, were more likely to develop diabetes.

People who have had higher levels of education are benefiting most from declines in the death rates from the four most common cancers, say investigators in the online Journal of the National Cancer Institute (July 8). The study of cancer deaths between 1993 and 2001 found a marked drop in fatalities among people who had studied for degrees. The report suggests that less well-educated people have more risk factors that confound treatment, such as smoking and obesity.

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The Department of Health are showing a keen interest in the foundation trusts' £2.3 billion of surpluses

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Lowering blood pressure in people from middle age onwards could reduce their chances of suffering dementia by about 13 per cent, says an Imperial College, London, study. The research, in The Lancet Neurology (July) says that high blood pressure may increase the risk of dementia because it can starve the brain of blood flow and the oxygen it carries.

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