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A review of records for two million patients in Canada, the UK, and USA, found that high potency statins are associated with an increased risk of acute kidney injury.

High potency statin treatment was defined as at least 10mg rosuvastatin, at least 20mg atorvastatin, or at least 40mg simvastatin; all other statin treatments were defined as having low potency.

Meta-analyses by the CREAM identified multiple new genes associated with refractive error and myopia.

Up to 30% of Western populations and 80% of Asians are short sighted. The genome-wide meta-analyses included over 37000 people from 27 studies of European ancestry and over 8000 from 5 Asian cohorts. 16 mutations that may be responsible for myopia were identified, in genes with functions in neurotransmission, ion transport, retinoic acid metabolism, extracellular matrix remodelling, and eye development.

A large international study found that exposure to pollution is associated with low birth weight.

Maternal exposure to particulate pollution was associated with low birth weight at term across 3 million births in 9 countries.

Nature’s article on the research provides background and quotes.

A meta-analysis of swine flu studies from 19 countries found that between 20% and 27% of the population showed antibodies consistent with swine flu infection within a year of the start of the pandemic in 2009.

The results varied significantly by age. The infection rates were highest in children aged 5–19 years (39% to 55%) and 0–4 years (30% to 43%), while 8% to 24% of people older than 65 had some preexisting immunity.