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Hawaii lawmakers moved forward on Friday a state budget calling for cuts of more than $800 million in the general fund over the next two years and the elimination of approximately 200 state jobs, most of them vacant positions.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Getting enough sleep -- but not too much -- may be a safeguard against type 2 diabetes, new research in the journal Sleep Medicine shows.

People who slept less than six hours a night were more than twice as likely as people who got seven to eight hours to develop diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), as were those who reported getting nine or more hours of sleep a night, Dr. Jean-Philippe Chaput of Laval University in Quebec City and his colleagues found.

"These results suggest that sleep duration may represent a novel risk factor for type 2 diabetes/IGT," they conclude.

Evidence linking long-term sleep deprivation to diabetes is mounting, Chaput and his team point out. To further in investigate, for an average of six years they followed 276 people 21 to 64 years old, all of whom initially had normal glucose metabolism at study enrollment.

After adjusting for several factors that could affect both sleep duration and diabetes risk, such as physical activity level, age and smoking habits, Chaput and his colleagues found that people who got six hours of sleep or less a night were 2.78 times more likely to develop IGT or full-fledged type 2 diabetes during the course of the study, while risk was 2.54 times greater for people sleeping nine hours or more.

When the researchers adjusted the data to factor out the influence of excess body weight indications, such as waist circumference, percentage body fat, and body mass index, the link was weakened somewhat, suggesting that obesity was a factor in the relationship as well.

Chronically short sleep can cause "striking" changes in metabolism and hormone secretion, the researchers note, which could put these people at risk of type 2 diabetes. People who sleep too much, on the other hand, may have underlying conditions such as sleep-disordered breathing that might influence diabetes risk, they add; there's also some evidence that people who sleep more are less active.

No matter what the mechanism might be, the researchers say, the findings provide more evidence that "the practice of good sleep hygiene is crucial and should be included with other behaviors to achieve good health."

SOURCE: Sleep Medicine, online March 28, 2009.

Copyright © 2009 Reuters Limited.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Contrary to what several studies have shown, the results of a nationwide study of Danish children suggest that antibiotic use does not affect the development of type 1 diabetes.

As a possible mechanism for this association, investigators have proposed that the use of antibiotics in childhood affects the gut microflora (the normal balance of micro-organisms in the gut), which in turn influences the gut immune system. Dysfunction in this immune system is thought to be involved in the development of type 1 diabetes, according to the report in the March 24 online issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

"Research hinting at a potential association between antibiotic use in childhood and immunologic health is accumulating," comment study authors Drs. Anders Hviid and Henrik Svanstrom from Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen. However, most of the studies have not looked at this association with any detail, but focused on infections and vaccinations instead.

The current investigation featured 606,420 children who were born in Denmark from 1995 to 2003. The researchers classified the children's antibiotic use based on drug class, number of uses, and age at use.

No amount of antibiotic use had a significant relationship on the risk of developing type 1 diabetes, the authors note. This held true after they performed a number of subanalyses looking at drug class, number of courses taken, and age at use.

The present findings, the authors conclude, suggest there is no association between antibiotic use and type 1 diabetes. Nonetheless, there remains a need for "large, analytical studies of the long-term health effects of drug use in susceptible groups, such as children, and especially so for drugs used as prevalently as antibiotics and for common chronic diseases, such as type 1 diabetes."

SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology, March 24, 2009.

Copyright © 2009 Reuters Limited.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Family members who care for a stroke survivor often feel stressed, but most also find their role rewarding, a study published Thursday finds.

Researchers found that among 75 caregivers of stroke patients, the majority said they felt some degree of emotional strain.

However, 44 percent reported "no strain," and more than 90 percent said that caring for their loved one allowed them to "appreciate life more."

In addition, most caregivers reported rewards such as strengthened relationships with other people and a more positive outlook on life.

The findings suggest that while life after a stroke can be stressful for patients and caregivers, many families are resilient, according to the researchers, led by Dr. William E. Haley of the University of South Florida in Tampa.

They report the results in the American Heart Association's journal Stroke.

The most common type of stroke, an ischemic stroke, cuts off blood flow to the brain, which ca cause neurological damage that leaves survivors with lasting disabilities, including paralysis, impaired thinking and communication problems.

Many patients also suffer from anxiety and depression in the aftermath.

In this study, the caregivers said that their loved ones' emotional problems -- including sadness and anxiety -- were the most stressful issue they faced.

Research suggests that treatment of post-stroke depression is helpful for patients, Haley and his colleagues note, and the current findings imply that helping caregivers manage this problem on a day-to-day basis should be a "high priority."

In addition to helping caregivers with the strain of their role, the researchers say, doctors should also point to the potential positive experiences.

"Support for caregivers should include interventions to aid their coping with highly stressful mood, physical care and cognitive problems of stroke patients," Haley said in a news release from the journal, "but should also attend to perceived benefits of caregiving."

SOURCE: Stroke, May 2009.

Copyright © 2009 Reuters Limited.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Having a deep reverence for life seems to have a positive influence on health outcomes after heart bypass surgery, according to a study reported today at the American Geriatrics Society annual meeting in Chicago. This supports the potential influence of a "spiritual effect" on patients' recovery.

A handful of studies have linked religious factors, especially strong beliefs, with positive outcomes after bypass surgery, the researchers point out. "Yet, little is known about the role of faith factors in relation to secular belief systems."

To investigate, two University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania researchers - Amy L. Ai and S. F. Bolling -- conducted in-depth, face-to-face interviews with 177 patients 2 weeks before coronary artery bypass surgery and followed up with them after surgery.

"After controlling for medical variables, demographics and age, spirituality in secular contexts still stood out as having an independent direct effect on outcome," Ai noted in a telephone interview with Reuters Health ahead of the meeting.

Specifically, "a deep sense of reverence" for life predicted fewer post-surgery complications and fewer nights in the hospital after surgery.

"It's a personal sense of spirituality, a sense of deep interconnectedness with something that has significant meaning in your life -- like music, art, the natural environment, or providing love and support to others -- the kinds of things that provide a person with spiritual, uplifting feelings that is the key," Ai said.

In this particular study, frequency of prayer was also associated with reduced postoperative complications, Ai and Bolling found, but neither attendance at religious services nor spiritual experiences that enhanced one's belief was related to outcomes.

Copyright © 2009 Reuters Limited.