Health Report

By Janice M. Horowitz

THE GOOD NEWS

ORAL FIX The drug troglitazone (a one-a-day pill) helps Type 2 diabetics control their blood-sugar level. On average, patients taking troglitazone can cut their insulin dose by a third; many can give up the shots altogether.

COMEBACK KIDS Microdot, a technique for reversing vasectomies, can improve a man's chances of fertility. In reattaching the 0.01-in. duct that carries sperm, doctors use a microscope and tiny marking pen to plan sutures more precisely.

WHAT BRAIN DRAIN? Turning current thinking on its head, scientists say new cells can be generated in animal brains. The finding may lead to treatments for human disorders like Alzheimer's.

Sources: New England Journal of Medicine; Journal of Urology; Proceedings of the Nat'l Academy of Sciences

THE BAD NEWS

SKIN SCARE Get to the dermatologist if someone in your family has had more than one melanoma. It may signal a genetic predisposition to the cancer.

POND SCUM Strange compounds are turning up in European water sources: traces of antibiotics, cholesterol-lowering drugs and other pharmaceuticals that seem to be coming from human waste. Whether the same holds true for the U.S.--and what hazard it poses--isn't yet known.

TOKING TEENS Today's kids are a lot more likely to smoke pot than teens a decade ago. Urine samples show 13% of youths ages 12 to 21 use the weed, compared to 2% in 1989.

--By Janice M. Horowitz

Sources: New England Journal of Medicine; Science News; Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine