People with chronic fatigue syndrome can benefit significantly from cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), says a review of previous research published in the latest report of the Cochrane Library (July). The Oxford University-led study of data from 15 studies, involving 1,043 patients, found that CBT is more effective at alleviating symptoms than patients' usual care regimes and other types of psychological therapy.

People with diabetes are more likely to be at risk of developing active tuberculosis, say Harvard School of Public Health researchers in PLoS Medicine (July). A review of previous studies involving more than 1.7 million people indicates that having diabetes trebles the risk of a latent tuberculosis infection becoming an active one.

Allergic diseases appear more frequently in children who grow up near to busy roads, cautions a study in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (July) by a German research group with the wacky title of Helmholtz Zentrum M? The six-year survey of 3,061 children found a significant association between road-dust exposure and levels of eczema, asthmatic bronchitis and hay fever.

Organ transplant patients often have an increased risk of developing cancer and now Harvard Medical School investigators believe they have found out why. They report in Cancer Research (July) that the drug cyclosporine, given to transplant patients to prevent organ rejection, also boosts the body's tendency to form blood vessels that support the growth of cancerous tumours. With this knowledge, they hope to be able to block the side-effect.

Knives get everybody nervous

Hospital staff dismayed that new legislation could make them legally required to report knife wounds to the police

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Patients in secure psychiatric units who have tattoos show an increased incidence of antisocial personality disorder, as well as histories of substance abuse, sex abuse and suicide attempts, says a study in Personality and Mental Health (July 15). The study of 36 patients, by the Michigan Centre for Forensic Psychiatry, found that 73 per cent of those with tattoos had the disorder, compared with 29 per cent of the untattooed.

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