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Blockbuster weight loss and diabetes drugs may lower patients’ risk of developing some common types of cancer that are closely linked to obesity, new evidence suggests. Patients with Type 2 diabetes who were prescribed drugs known as glucagon-like peptide-1, or GLP-1, developed fewer obesity-related cancers than patients who were treated with insulin, according to a study published Friday in JAMA Network Open. But the newer drugs didn’t perform better than metformin, an older diabetes drug with known cancer risk reduction properties. (Muller and Kresge, 7/5)

Being exposed to light during a certain time of day can increase a person’s risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. According to the science, it all comes down to how you sleep. Published in the Lancet Regional Health — Europe earlier this month, a study helmed by Flinders University researchers in Australia discovered sleep disruption can play a significant role in diabetes development. (Boyce, 7/5)

Researchers found more than a dozen metals, including lead and arsenic, in widely available tampons in the US and Europe used by potentially millions of people. Lead was found in all 30 tampons tested from 14 different brands, according to the study published this week in the journal Environmental International. Lead exposure can cause neurological damage. This is the first paper to measure the concentration of metals in tampons, said Jenni Shearston, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California Berkeley School of Public Health and the study’s lead author. (Edney, 7/5)

Having a mother with Alzheimer’s could lead to a higher risk of inherited disease than a paternal history. That’s according to a recent study from Mass General Brigham. Researchers analyzed 4,400 adults between ages 65 and 85 who did not have any signs of cognitive decline, but did have amyloid show up in brain-imaging scans. The people with the higher amounts of amyloid were more likely to have mothers with symptoms of Alzheimer’s — primarily memory loss, the researchers found. (Rudy, 7/6)

A spinal cord injury can be life-altering – and the potential for infertility is often a devastating blow as well. Among men who experience spinal cord injuries (SCIs) in the U.S., nearly eight in 10 have fertility and reproduction issues due to erectile dysfunction or poor sperm quality. But one clinic in Miami, Florida, is on a mission to help men with SCIs start a family. (Stabile, 7/6)

Many Americans plan to donate their organs for transplants or their bodies for medical science. Few realize that there’s a growing need for their brains, too. (Span, 7/6)

"We’re doing an NRP recovery," says Sellers, referring to normothermic regional perfusion, a new kind of organ retrieval procedure Sellers calls "revolutionary." ... NRP is generating excitement as an important innovation that produces more, high-quality livers, kidneys, and hearts that could help alleviate the chronic shortage of organs. More than 100,000 people are on waiting lists for organs, most for kidneys, and 17 are estimated to die every day because the number of available organs hasn’t been able to keep pace with the demand. (Stein, 7/8)