Heat wave hits Iraq—and sparks begin to fly

Hospital ventilators shut down, football matches with obligatory water breaks and food spoiling in fridges without power: Iraq's notorious summer has arrived.

* This article was originally published here

Apollo moon rocks help transform understanding of the universe

Moon rocks look rather nondescript—they are often gray in color—but for NASA planetary scientist Samuel Lawrence, they are the "most precious materials on Earth."

* This article was originally published here

Linagliptin improved albuminuria but effect on eGFR and CV risk in patients with diabetes

Diabetes mellitus is a significant and growing health problem which contributes significantly to the prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD). According to the ERA-EDTA Registry, nearly a quarter (23 percent) of all patients who started renal replacement therapy in 2016 were patients with diabetes. The underlying idea of the study, which has been presented as a late breaking clinical trial at the ERA-EDTA congress in Budapest today, was to assess the potential of the DPP-4 inhibitor linagliptin (LINA), an oral diabetes drug, to reduce the burden of CKD and cardiac complications as secondary diseases in people with diabetes. Only a few weeks ago it had been shown that SGLT2 inhibitors, another class of diabetes drugs, could slow CKD progression in this patient group.

* This article was originally published here