This is sad: an elderly British man was the victim of an accidental insulin overdose. Leslie Avenell, who was 82, had diabetes. He was living in a care home where he had the assistance of a nurse. Turns out, the nurse injected Mr. Avenell with 84 units of insulin - ten times the correct dose. The death has been ruled an accidental mishap caused by neglect. The awful mistake took place after the nurse misread discharge papers for Mr. Avenell from a local hospital, which stated the patient should be given "8U" (eight units) of insulin. So ruled the coroner assigned to investigate the case.

Complicating the case: postmortem results show that Mr. Avenell died from bronchial pneumonia. However, the coroner says he cannot rule out the fact that the overdose contributed to Mr. Avenell's death. He also observed the situation could have been avoided had the nurses involved taken more care over the injection.

The nurse involved in the case did not give evidence in court after being warned that she might incriminate herself. A factor here could be language. The nurse who gave the shot and her colleague - and brother - who was also present, are both Indian and completed their nursing training there. An officer with the local police who interviewed them after the incident says neither is fluent in English.

Mr. Avenell's family members are deciding whether or not to purse legal action against the home where the incident took place. His son has questioned how any nurse could give such a huge overdose and still be considered competent. "As far as I'm concerned," he says, "they should never work as nurses again."

It's a complicated little world, isn't it? For example, type 2 diabetes is a growing problem in Australia, particularly in rural areas. Recently, however, some good news appeared: immigrants from Mediterranean regions living in Australia who stuck with a traditional Mediterranean diet over long periods of time, enjoyed much better health than other segments of the population. And that includes less diabetes.

But now, there's news that Australia's ethnic minorities suffer from type 2 diabetes at much higher rates than the rest of the population. Hardest hit are Asians, Pacific Islanders and people originally from the Middle East. The finding results from a survey of 11,000 Australians. There are some good reasons why immigrants suffer from diabetes more. First, those affected the worst were not able to maintain their traditional lifestyles in the new country. Fatty foods and lack of exercise are a big problem. Second, there are psychological factors contributing to poor overall health, especially the stress involved in learning to live in a new culture with a different language.

I was intrigued by a recent Swedish study reporting that people on a so-called "Stone Age" diet had more stable blood sugar levels than those on a Mediterranean diet. An intriguing claim, because it's so often said that Mediterranean-style eating is super-healthful. Let's also admit it is a delicious way to eat: yes, pasta and bread is there, but it's balanced out by tons of fresh fruits, vegetables, fish and olive oil. The Stone Age way is a bit more spare: we're talkin' meat, fish, and lots of whole grains, berries and nuts. Nary a sliver of Parmesan in sight.

However, the results of yet another study, this time from Australia, indicates Mediterranean-style eating is a good choice, especially for diabetics. Researchers from the University of Melbourne say Mediterranean-born immigrants in Australia are less likely to die from heart disease than other Australians. The researchers have concluded it's all down to dietary patterns. More than forty thousand people participated in the study over a period of ten years. The numbers revealed those who ate the most Mediterranean-style foods had a thirty percent lower risk of dying from heart disease. For diabetics, the researchers speculate, the benefits could be even higher, reducing the risk of death due to ischemic heart disease.

Results have been published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Visit Reuters for a discussion of the study.