London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Audio News Review, August 28th, 2007

Pat Doyle

REFERENCE: BJOG 2007 114:170
PAT DOYLE, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Underweight women with a BMI below 18.5 have a 70 per cent increase in their risk of miscarriage according to a study published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Pat Doyle gave us the details.

Charlotte Watts

REFERENCE: Lancet 2006; 368: 1973-83
CHARLOTTE WATTS, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
A large and groundbreaking study published in the Lancet has shown that microfinance, combined with a gender and HIV training scheme, can help reduce domestic violence among poor women living in rural South Africa. Charlotte Watts talks about the study and its findings.

Rodger MacArthur

REFERENCE: Lancet 2006; 368: 2125-35
RODGER MACARTHUR, Wayne State University, Detroit
It is not necessary to use so-called “three-class” antiretroviral therapy to treat patients with HIV according to an article in the Lancet. Rodger MacArthur talks about the study results.

Jane Durga

REFERENCE: Lancet 2007; 369:208
JANE DURGA, Nestlé Research Centre, Lausanne
Folic acid supplements improved cognitive function in older patients in a study from the Netherlands. Investigator Jane Durga wrote in The Lancet that supplementation was associated with better scores in a battery of cognitive tests measuring factors typically known to worsen with age.