Dr. House
Dr. House
Thursday, December 20, 2018
Daily Milk Cereal Drinks Increases Obesity Risk Later in Childhood
In five-year-old children, the risk for being overweight is almost twice as high if they at 12 months had consumed milk cereal drinks every day, a study in the journal Acta Paediatrica shows.
“Milk cereal drinks are not bad as such; how it’s used is the problem. That is, when it’s seen not as a meal but as an extra, to supplement other food,” says Bernt Alm. Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg.
The researchers behind the study have previously linked consumption of milk cereal drinks at age six months to high body mass index (BMI) at ages one year and one and a half years. The study now presented is of the same group of children, several years later. https://www.technologynetworks.com/applied-sciences/news/daily-milk-cereal-drinks-increases-obesity-risk-later-in-childhood-313268?utm_campaign=Newsletter_TN_BreakingScienceNews&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=68506561&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--IbSohAVe3Y6eAb0V4C4nLMbO2hAovnSJQ69J_9eu8sktu4G9ZDT9qtKj5V4t95LrwRduBvukF-PXRvGsThIXEMk9hEg&_hsmi=68506561
Americans Getting Heavier, Wider But Not Taller, CDC Data Indicate.
reports new data compiled by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics indicate that over the past 20 years, Americans “have gotten heavier and thicker” as obesity has reached “epidemic levels in the United States.” The report indicates “women’s waists grew more than 2 inches, from 36.3 in 1999-2000 to 38.6 inches in 2015-16.” Meanwhile, men’s waistlines “increased just over an inch, from 36.3 to 38.6 inches during the same period.”
The AP (12/20, Stobbe) reports the average American adult “is overweight and just a few pounds from obese,” and people are heavier although they are not taller. According to the survey, “the average height for men actually fell very slightly over the past decade,” but there was no observable change for women. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2018/12/20/all-americans-getting-fatter-men-getting-shorter-u-s-report/2363150002/
Patients Taking A Fixed-Dose Combination Of Phentermine And Topiramate–ER Lost Over 15% Of Their Body Weight At 12 Months,
Patients who took a fixed-dose combination of phentermine and topiramate–extended release (ER) lost over 15% of their body weight at 12 months,” research indicated. The findings were presented at Obesity Week 2018. https://www.mdedge.com/endocrinology/article/191575/obesity/real-world-weight-loss-meds-approximates-rct-results
Medical uses
Topiramate is used to treat epilepsy in children and adults, and it was originally used as an anticonvulsant.[7] In children, it is indicated for the treatment of Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, a disorder that causes seizures and developmental delay. It is most frequently prescribed for, the prevention of migraines.[7] It decreases the frequency of attacks.[8][9]
Pain
A 2018 review found topiramate of no use in chronic low back pain.[10] Topiramate has not been shown to work as a pain medicine in diabetic neuropathy, the only neuropathic condition in which it has been adequately tested.[11]
Other
Off label use for bipolar disorder treatment.[12][13][14] A more recent review, published in 2010, suggested a benefit of topiramate in the treatment of symptoms of borderline personality disorder, however the authors note that this was based only on one randomized controlled trial and requires replication.[15]
Topiramate has been used as a treatment for alcoholism.[16] The VA/DoD 2015 guideline on substance use disorders lists topiramate as a "strong for" in its recommendations for alcohol use disorder.[17]
Other uses include treatment of obesity[18][19] and antipsychotic-induced weight gain.[20][21] It is being studied to treat post traumatic stress disorder.[22] Phentermine also known as α,α-dimethylphenethylamine, is a psychostimulant drug of the substituted amphetamine chemical class
Substance Use May Be Higher Among Adults With T1D Compared With Overall US Population
“Use of substances such as alcohol, opioids and sedative medications may be higher among adults with type 1 diabetes [T1D] compared with the overall U.S. population,” researchers concluded in a 4,311-adult study. The findings were published online in the journal Diabetes Education. https://www.healio.com/endocrinology/diabetes/news/in-the-journals/%7B9692093b-ec64-4c7f-a2ef-b2166073d0f3%7D/substance-use-higher-among-adults-with-type-1-diabetes-vs-general-population
Wednesday, December 19, 2018
Breast-Feeding May Be Linked To Smaller Waist Size In Mothers, Study Suggests.
reports an analysis published in the Journal of Women’s Health found that breast-feeding “for longer than six months may lead to a smaller waist size for the mother...and the effect persists for as long as a decade.” The study “used data on 678 women enrolled in two studies who were followed for an average of 11 years after giving birth.” https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/18/well/family/breast-feeding-tied-to-smaller-waist-size-in-mother.html
It may be that women who breast-feed longer may be more health conscious in general than those who do not. But the researchers controlled for age, pre-pregnancy body mass index, gestational weight gain, blood pressure, smoking, diet quality, education, race and other health and behavioral characteristics.
Proportion Of US Adults Trying To Lose Weight Increased Over Last Three Decades
reports an analysis of survey data suggests that the proportion of adults trying to lose weight increased “from 53 percent to 66 percent over roughly the past three decades.” The results also indicate “that over the same period, the proportion of overweight and obese adults trying to lose weight dropped from 56 percent to 49 percent.” The findings were published in JAMA. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-obesity-dieters/more-u-s-adults-may-be-trying-to-lose-weight-after-all-idUSKBN1OH2JD
Mindfulness-Based Eating May Help People With Obesity Lose Weight,
reports researchers found that “people in an intensive weight management program who received training on mindfulness-based eating strategies lost more weight over six months than others who did not get the training.” The program “included discussions of the difference between mindful and mindless eating,” along with “an introduction to Compassionate Mind Therapy.” The findings were published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
Newsweek (12/18, Gander) reports the “researchers enlisted the help of 53 people signed up to a weight management program at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust in the U.K.” The article explains that “the researchers weighed the participants at the start and finish of the study, and asked them about their eating habits and attitudes towards food,” and then had 33 of them attend “four sessions teaching mindfulness in relation to eating,” while “the remaining 20 participants acted as the control and skipped the course.”
Endocrine Today (12/18, Schaffer) reports the researchers found that the “adults with obesity who attended group sessions teaching mindfulness-based eating techniques lost an average of 2.85 kg more than similar adults who attended group classes without mindful eating strategies.” https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/12/18/study-mindfulness-classes-help-people-lose-weight/U3wSxHT1JSHimSwKOyRDnK/story.html
Tuesday, December 18, 2018
Food Labels Really Do Affect Consumer Choice
In a pooled analysis of studies that included food labeling on menus, product packaging, or other point-of-purchase materials such as placards on supermarket shelves, the researchers found that labeling reduced consumers’ intake of:
- Calories by 6.6 percent.
- Total fat by 10.6 percent.
- Other unhealthy food options by 13 percent.
Labeling also increased consumers’ vegetable consumption by 13.5 percent.
In contrast, labeling did not significantly impact consumer intakes of other targets such as total carbohydrate, total protein, saturated fat, fruits, whole grains, or other healthy options. https://www.technologynetworks.com/applied-sciences/news/food-labels-really-do-affect-consumer-choice-313198?utm_campaign=Newsletter_TN_BreakingScienceNews&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=68416126&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--gAJ4JuImtph7hKMbJEGqd-_cHsjU7fzKrQ05mXyLQVvN3RxdP5Fum4JpFTJRWK1NXWylexQMItd1FlYJ1sg_nClsFhA&_hsmi=68416126
Renal Denervation May Help With Glycemic Control BP reduction not the only effect observed in small non-diabetic cohort
Aside from a modest benefit in hypertension, renal denervation may also help normalize glucose homeostasis, according to a research group in Germany.
Six months after renal denervation, non-diabetic patients showed better insulin control through their pancreatic beta-cells:
Fasting glucose was down from 97.1 mg/dL to 92.3 mg/dL (P=0.010)
Hemoglobin A1c dropped from 5.82% to 5.58% (P=0.008)
Insulin resistance as assessed by the homeostasis model went from 2.25 down to 1.94 (P=0.004)
https://www.medpagetoday.com/cardiology/pci/76981?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2018-12-18&eun=g721819d0r&pos=1111&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Headlines%202018-12-18&utm_term=NL_Daily_DHE_Active
Women With Migraine Have Lower Likelihood Of Developing Type 2 Diabetes
reports that in the “prospective longitudinal study, women with active migraine had a 20% reduction in the risk of developing pharmacologically-treated type 2 diabetes – which rose to a 30% reduction in multivariate modeling – than women without a history of migraine.” Additionally, “among women who developed incident diabetes during the study, the prevalence of active migraine declined in the years leading up to a diabetes diagnosis and plateaued after.” The findings were published in JAMA Neurology. https://www.medpagetoday.com/neurology/migraines/76978
Monday, December 17, 2018
A Killer on Your Skin
Staphylococcus epidermidis is an ubiquitous colonizer of healthy human skin, but it is also a notorious source of serious nosocomial infections with indwelling devices and surgical procedures such as hip replacements.
It has not been known whether all members of the S. epidermidis population colonizing the skin asymptomatically are capable of causing such infections, or if some of them have a heightened tendency to do so when they enter either the bloodstream or a deep tissue.
High-risk genotypes are identified proactively
FCAI (Finnish Center for Artificial Intelligence) scientists Johan Pensar and Jukka Corander joined a team of microbiologists and geneticists to unravel this mystery. By combining large-scale population genomics and in vitro measurements of immunologically relevant features of these bacteria, they were able to use machine learning to successfully predict the risk of developing a serious, and possibly life-threatening infection from the genomic features of a bacterial isolate.
This opens the door for future technology where high-risk genotypes are identified proactively when a person is to undergo a surgical procedure, which has high potential to reduce the burden of nosocomial infections caused by S. epidermidis.
This article has been republished from materials provided by University of Helsinki. Note: https://www.technologynetworks.com/informatics/news/a-killer-on-your-skin-313165?utm_campaign=Newsletter_TN_BreakingScienceNews&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=68375338&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--JU94-mKGEM79PVVbWWGg_6yxf1SgBKCywlO8eNOPaBcdK7dgG916VdR4FVXJqf3fA5v9CjQhwilSjUEAZVB2sX7AIsg&_hsmi=68375338
Rheumatoid Arthritis, Thyroid Disease May Increase Risk Of Hippocampal Sclerosis In Older Patients With Dementia,
reported researchers found that “rheumatoid arthritis and thyroid disease were found to increase the risk for hippocampal sclerosis (HS) in a cohort of patients aged ≥90 years with dementia.” The findings were published in Neurology. https://www.neurologyadvisor.com/neurodegenerative-diseases/hippocampal-sclerosis-risk-association-autoimmune-disease/article/821183/
Friday, December 14, 2018
Women Who Undergo Surgical Menopause May Be More Likely To Experience Insomnia, Report Lower Quality Sleep,
reports that “women who have surgery to remove their ovaries go through menopause abruptly, and” research “suggests this comes with an increased risk for the kinds of sleep troubles many women experience when they go through menopause gradually.” Investigators found that “women who underwent surgical menopause were more than twice as likely to experience insomnia and reported lower quality sleep compared with women who went through natural menopause.” The findings were published online in Menopause. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-women-menopause/sleep-problems-may-be-worse-when-menopause-is-hastened-by-surgery-idUSKBN1OC2YU
Thursday, December 13, 2018
Brief Program May Prevent People From Gaining Weight During Holiday Season,
reports researchers found that “a brief program that encouraged people to track their weight and to be mindful of the excess energy in every holiday cookie or cup of nog seems to have helped participants get through the holiday season without gaining weight.” The findings were published in The BMJ. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-weight-holidays/self-weighing-self-awareness-may-prevent-holiday-weight-gain-idUSKBN1OB2GM
Cannabis May Help UC Patients: Gastro Endo News Report Also, probiotics associated with adverse GI effects
A recent analysis found that consuming probiotics may contribute to small intestinal bacterial overgrowth and metabolic acidosis, which can cause "brain fog" in some patients. https://www.medpagetoday.com/gastroenterology/generalgastroenterology/76868?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2018-12-13&eun=g721819d0r&pos=1&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Headlines%202018-12-13&utm_term=NL_Daily_DHE_Active
A New Formulation Helps the Medicine Go Down
The team used chitosan, a naturally-occurring sugar polymer found in the exoskeleton of shellfish and the cell walls of certain fungi, to coat the oil-core of capsules and bind the drug together, while stabilising the capsule and helping to preserve it.
In its nanocapsule form, the drug would be 100 times more soluble than its current tablet form https://www.technologynetworks.com/drug-discovery/news/a-new-formulation-helps-the-medicine-go-down-313073?utm_campaign=Newsletter_TN_BreakingScienceNews&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=68298142&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_Mrq2y_JuIAw1ft-xJoADZxav9LxoMtViyJSB6Mb4xWOKL1FpLWi-UBpooolOlYznnkSOJnt5GOZXOrn9dquExwJdXpA&_hsmi=68298142
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
Controlling Our Cravings
“Craving influences what people eat and their body weight, but there are some components of our behavior and diet that we do have control over,” Myers said. “Being mindful of these desires gives us more control of them.” Myers was the lead author of “Food Cravings and Body Weight: a Conditioning Response.”
For example, one proven way to reduce the longing for a certain food is to eat it less frequently. In other words, it's better to remove something from your diet than to try to eat smaller helpings of it.
“The upside of craving is that it is a conditioned response that you can unlearn,” said John Apolzan, PhD, director of Pennington Biomedical’s Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism Laboratory. “It’s not easy, but it can be done.”
Other takeaways from their review included that:
Losing weight reduces food craving.
Beware: exercise can increase cravings.
Cravings account for as much as 11 percent of eating behavior and weight gain, more than genetics currently explains.
Many obesity drugs — phentermine, lorcaserin, semaglitude and liraglitude among others — reduce craving.
Different demographic and socioeconomic groups may have different responses to food cravings. But little is known about these potential differences, and more investigation is needed.
“Food craving is an important piece of the weight-loss puzzle. It doesn’t explain weight gain 100 percent,” Myers said. “A number of other factors, including genetics and eating behavior, are also involved.” https://www.technologynetworks.com/tn/news/controlling-our-cravings-313047?utm_campaign=Newsletter_TN_BreakingScienceNews&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=68259996&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9_by_Q00A6425FOw8T6khvyfncuK5Z_ZmOHRjXUNUXHuYomJB-Pdpl78BDsg05ZfSfH6tm3_aCR4b83ZYreF7hfD-vDQ&_hsmi=68259996
Tuesday, December 11, 2018
Obesity Researchers Still Do Not Know A Lot About Why Some People Respond Better To Diets Than Others.
summarizes the latest research presented at the “recent meeting of the Obesity Society” on “which diet is best” to control obesity. It turns out researchers still do not know a lot about why some people respond better to diets than others and even to what extent added sugar is contributing to the world’s obesity epidemic. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/10/health/diet-weight-loss.html
Bacterial ‘Sleeper Cells’ Undermine Host Defenses During Antibiotic Treatment
New research, from scientists at Imperial College London, unravels how so-called bacterial persister cells manipulate our immune cells.
The work potentially opens new avenues to finding ways of clearing these bacterial cells from the body, and stopping recurrence of the bacterial infection.
The latest findings, published in the journal Science, may help explain why some people suffer from repeated bouts of an illness, despite taking antibiotics. In the study, funded by the Medical Research Council, the Lister Institute and EMBO, the scientists, in collaboration with the Vogel lab at the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research in Germany, studied bacterial cells of Salmonella called persisters.
Previously, it was thought persisters are completely dormant. However the reality we revealed here is much scarier - Dr Peter Hill, study author
Whenever bacteria such as Salmonella invade the body, many of the bugs enter a type of stand-by mode in response to attack by the body immune system, which means they are not killed by antibiotics.
These bacteria persister cells stop replicating and can remain in this dormant, ‘sleeper-cell’ state for days, weeks or even months. When antibiotic treatment has been stopped, if some of these bacterial cells spring back to life, they can trigger another infection.
Dr Sophie Helaine, senior author of the research from the MRC Centre for Molecular Bacteriology and Infection in Imperial’s Department of Medicine explained: “Persisters are often the culprit for repeat or hard-to-treat infections. The classic scenario is a person suffers some type of illness – such as a urinary tract infection or ear infection, and takes antibiotics that stop the symptoms, only for infection to return a few weeks later.”
These persister cells are formed when bacteria are taken up by macrophages, which are human immune cells that have a key role in protecting the body against infections by engulfing bacteria and viruses. Once inside the macrophage, the persister can exist in this state in which antibiotics can’t kill it for weeks, or even months. https://www.technologynetworks.com/cell-science/news/bacterial-sleeper-cells-evade-antibiotics-and-weaken-defence-against-infection-312997?utm_campaign=Newsletter_TN_BreakingScienceNews&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=68220069&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8ZAKhmZmlscK8Gd-xEwPi_gIDvap1VxJCQanfcDR6fw0SOPOP8tusE4quD8s6Z1adt4bmsHPXZuQrAT7_wHG6VDmlVoA&_hsmi=68220069
Monday, December 10, 2018
Diagnosing Early Lupus from Mimics Certain clinical features may distinguish early SLE from other conditions
They found that features that were more common in early SLE than in SLE‐mimicking conditions included:
Unexplained fever 34.5% versus 13.7%, respectively (P<0.001)
Anti-double-stranded DNA, anti-β2-glycoprotein I antibodies, positive Coombs' test results, autoimmune hemolytic anemia, hypocomplementemia, and leukopenia
Features that were less common in early SLE than in SLE‐mimicking conditions included:
Raynaud's phenomenon (22.1% versus 48.5%, P<0.001)
Sicca symptoms (4.4% versus 34.4%, P<0.001)
Dysphagia (0.3% versus 6.2%, P<0.001)
Fatigue (28.3% versus 37.0%, P=0.024)
https://www.medpagetoday.com/rheumatology/lupus/76793?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2018-12-10&eun=g721819d0r&pos=1&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Headlines%202018-12-10&utm_term=NL_Daily_DHE_Active
Wasp Venom Repurposed as an Antibiotic Drug
The venom of insects such as wasps and bees is full of compounds that can kill bacteria. Unfortunately, many of these compounds are also toxic for humans, making it impossible to use them as antibiotic drugs.
After performing a systematic study of the antimicrobial properties of a toxin normally found in a South American wasp, researchers at MIT have now created variants of the peptide that are potent against bacteria but nontoxic to human cells.
In a study of mice, the researchers found that their strongest peptide could completely eliminate Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a strain of bacteria that causes respiratory and other infections and is resistant to most antibiotics. https://www.technologynetworks.com/biopharma/news/antibiotics-generated-from-wasp-venom-312966?utm_campaign=Newsletter_TN_BreakingScienceNews&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=68181628&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8WwDOiXDlO55yplg4oVYYSgQQOpIsiJKugsODN6xXy0i-0D90L01Jh2wIRGr_qHfVYeK0om61P8MkwTNlJysusGXrG8w&_hsmi=68181628
Friday, December 7, 2018
Hysterectomy Appears To Cause Short-Term Memory Loss In Rats,
“Hysterectomy can impair some types of memory in the short term following the surgery,” researchers found working with rats. The findings were published online Dec. 6 in Endocrinology.
Research https://endocrinenews.endocrine.org/hysterectomy-may-be-linked-to-brain-function/
Thursday, December 6, 2018
No Increased DVT Risk From Testosterone Replacement.
“Despite the 2014 FDA warning of an increased risk for deep vein thrombosis (DVT) with testosterone replacement therapies,” a chart review of 1180 patients published in Urology found that “the rate of deep vein thrombosis in treated hypogonadal men was just 0.8% over 2 years of follow-up.” https://www.renalandurologynews.com/hypogonadism/study-testosterone-replacement-does-not-increase-dvt-risk/article/818600/
Wednesday, December 5, 2018
Bacterial Protein Promotes Cancer
Currently, approximately 20% of cancers are thought to be caused by infection, most are known to be due to viruses," said Dr. Gallo. "Mycoplasmas are a family of bacteria that are associated with cancers, especially in people with HIV. Our work provides an explanation for how a bacterial infection can trigger a series of events that lead to cancer. Of particular importance, the infection did not need to persist and the protein did not need to be continuously present in all cancer cells. The study also provides a mechanism for how some bacterial infections can interfere with specific cancer drugs." https://www.technologynetworks.com/cancer-research/news/bacterial-protein-promotes-cancer-312850?utm_campaign=Newsletter_TN_BreakingScienceNews&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=68068217&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-90cKjKDrQsRavIN3H_sk3lvuaByDHDPvIzAEDsLiAtGGz5LvZ01E7OoqvgFOIOHnKtEt95QjeOPIoyDoxcpNP5Te56gw&_hsmi=68068217
Tuesday, December 4, 2018
More Than A Quarter Of People With Diabetes Have Skimped On Needed Insulin Due To The Drug’s High Cost
More than one-quarter of people with diabetes have skimped on needed insulin because of the drug’s soaring price tag,” researchers concluded after “surveying nearly 200 Americans with type 1 or type 2 diabetes.” Investigators “found 26 percent had underused insulin because of cost.” The findings were published online in a research letter in JAMA Internal Medicine. https://consumer.healthday.com/diabetes-information-10/insulin-news-414/high-cost-has-over-1-in-4-diabetics-cutting-back-on-insulin-740214.html
Certain Chemicals Found In Personal Care Products May Be Associated With Early Puberty In Girls,
“Girls who are exposed before birth to chemicals commonly found in toothpaste, makeup, soap and other personal care products may hit puberty earlier than their peers who aren’t exposed to these chemicals in” utero, research indicated. Investigators found, for example, that “with every doubling of mothers’ urine concentrations of triclosan, girls started menstruating one month earlier.” The findings were published online in the journal Human Reproduction. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-puberty-endocrine-chemicals/chemicals-in-cosmetics-soaps-tied-to-early-puberty-in-girls-idUSKBN1O301I
Friday, November 30, 2018
Thursday, November 29, 2018
Diabetes May Worsen Tuberculosis, Study Suggests.
reports a cross-sectional study published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society found that patients with diabetes who are diagnosed with tuberculosis may be “more likely to present with advanced disease and cavitation in the lungs vs. those with TB who do not have diabetes.” The authors wrote, “These findings support recommendations to screen for and consider TB among diabetics with a high likelihood for infection.” https://www.healio.com/endocrinology/diabetes/news/in-the-journals/%7B35f94e99-a3c3-4d6b-b032-2f9df3d8906b%7D/diabetes-may-worsen-tuberculosis-prognosis
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
Among Older Women, DHEA May Attenuate Declines In BMD, Modestly Increase Fat-Free Mass Over 12 Months When Compared With Placebo,
Among older women, the adrenal steroid dehydroepiandrosterone [DHEA] may attenuate declines in bone mineral density [BMD] and modestly increase fat-free mass over 12 months when compared with placebo,” researchers concluded after analyzing “data from four single-site, double-blind, randomized controlled trials sponsored by the National Institute on Aging designed to assess the effects of DHEA sulfate therapy on BMD and body composition in adults aged 55 to 85 years not using sex hormone therapy (295 women).” The findings were published online in Clinical Endocrinology. https://www.healio.com/endocrinology/reproduction-androgen-disorders/news/in-the-journals/%7Bf5859c6e-c82a-42f5-a446-877b66d31626%7D/dhea-therapy-may-preserve-bone-muscle-mass-in-older-women
Tuesday, November 27, 2018
Vision Begins Before We Actually See Anything
How does vision work, and what happens in the brain during the process? As simple as this question may sound, it has yet to be scientifically clarified in full. Dr. Valentin Riedl of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and his team have now been able to show that the distribution of the two most important neurotransmitters in the brain changes as soon as we open our eyes, regardless of whether we actually see anything.
To communicate with each other, neurons use chemical messengers known as neurotransmitters. The two most important neurotransmitters in the human brain, glutamate and GABA, have opposing effects: glutamate activates neurons, while GABA suppresses them. Glutamate, incidentally, is also used as spicy substance and can be found in tomatoes and Parmesan cheese. By altering the concentrations of the two neurotransmitters, the brain is able to process impressions from the eyes, called visual stimuli.
Privatdozent Dr. Valentin Riedl, research group leader in the Neuroradiology Department of University Hospital Rechts der Isar of the TUM, and his team have studied how the concentrations of the two neurotransmitters change in the visual cortex, the region in the brain responsible for vision. The study is unique in that the team used magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to measure the concentrations of the neurotransmitters in detail and, above all, in parallel.
Visual Process Triggered by Opening the Eyes https://www.technologynetworks.com/neuroscience/news/vision-begins-before-we-actually-see-anything-312242?utm_campaign=Newsletter_TN_BreakingScienceNews&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=67829054&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8yI6pBq6JNNjSATFjqMNphreg5g-JKEEZY0m4KC0kzoPv0kWieMa49u8PztnOhOXMszEys5WpRdOyMG8Dkb9jJJ_t1rw&_hsmi=67829054
Monday, November 26, 2018
Sperm's Inbuilt Homing Device
Sperm cells, bacteria and other microscopic organisms use varying concentrations of chemicals in their environment -- concentration gradients -- to approach or avoid something in a process called chemotaxis. Egg cells release an attractant chemical, which lures the sperm. Researchers have found that a protein in the cell membranes of sperm plays a key role in how they find their way to eggs. The PMCA protein may also help explain how egg cells only interact with sperm from the same species. PMCA may even be a target of drug discovery. https://www.technologynetworks.com/analysis/news/sperms-inbuilt-homing-device-312206?utm_campaign=Newsletter_TN_BreakingScienceNews&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=67786753&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_H4QzBQpIF2K8-MBfYwYQQa9C2mRA1iMYdhjf27YbV1tgIovu4n7pZTyYOQ3PFTEZdu4WuHsBcPqbJFv3IaRd4bpngqw&_hsmi=67786753
Voclosporin Effective in Lupus Nephritis Results from AURA-LV trial in patients with active disease
The AURA-LV trial assessed voclosporin, a calcineurin inhibitor, in patients with active lupus nephritis and found that low-dose voclosporin may be successfully added to mycophenolate mofetil and corticosteroids to control active lupus nephritis.
A total of 265 lupus nephritis patients were enrolled from 79 worldwide centers in this phase II, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of two doses of voclosporin (23.7 mg or 39.5 mg, given twice daily) versus placebo in patients already taking mycophenolate and steroids. The primary endpoint was complete renal response at 24 weeks, and the secondary endpoint was complete renal response at 48 weeks. https://www.medpagetoday.com/rheumatology/lupus/76476?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2018-11-26&eun=g721819d0r&pos=1&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Headlines%202018-11-26&utm_term=Daily%20Headlines%20-%20Active%20User%20-%20180%20days
Test That Measures Wavelengths Of Light Coming Off Skin Cells May Detect T2D, Heart Disease,
reported that research indicates “a test that measures wavelengths of light coming off skin cells might detect type 2 diabetes, heart disease and even your risk of dying.” It is “possible that – someday – a quick ‘autofluorescence’ light test to the skin might be used by consumers in “supermarkets, pharmacies or drugstores as a first estimate of [health] risk,” according to” researchers. HealthDay added, “The new device is called an AGE Reader, with AGE standing for chemicals found on skin cells called ‘advanced glycation end-products.’” The findings were published in Diabetologia. https://consumer.healthday.com/diabetes-information-10/misc-diabetes-news-181/skin-glow-test-might-someday-spot-disease-risk-early-739856.html
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
The Brain's Two Clocks Help Us Anticipate the Future
That moment when you step on the gas pedal a split second before the light changes, or when you tap your toes even before the first piano note of Camila Cabello’s “Havana” is struck. That’s anticipatory timing.
One type relies on memories from past experiences. The other on rhythm. Both are critical to our ability to navigate and enjoy the world.
New UC Berkeley research shows the neural networks supporting each of these timekeepers are split between two different parts of the brain, depending on the task at hand.
“Whether it’s sports, music, speech or even allocating attention, our study suggests that timing is not a unified process, but that there are two distinct ways in which we make temporal predictions and these depend on different parts of the brain,” said study lead author Assaf Breska, a postdoctoral researcher in neuroscience at UC Berkeley.
The findings, published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, offer a new perspective on how humans calculate when to make a move.
“Together, these brain systems allow us to not just exist in the moment, but to also actively anticipate the future,” said study senior author Richard Ivry, a UC Berkeley neuroscientist.
Breska and Ivry studied the anticipatory timing strengths and deficits of people with Parkinson’s disease and people with cerebellar degeneration.
They connected rhythmic timing to the basal ganglia, and interval timing – an internal timer based largely on our memory of prior experiences – to the cerebellum. Both are primal brain regions associated with movement and cognition.
Moreover, their results suggest that if one of these neural clocks is misfiring, the other could theoretically step in.
“Our study identifies not only the anticipatory contexts in which these neurological patients are impaired, but also the contexts in which they have no difficulty, suggesting we could modify their environments to make it easier for them to interact with the world in face of their symptoms,” Breska said.
Non-pharmaceutical fixes for neurological timing deficits could include brain-training computer games and smartphone apps, deep brain stimulation and environmental design modifications, he said.
https://www.technologynetworks.com/neuroscience/news/the-brains-two-clocks-312061?utm_campaign=Newsletter_TN_BreakingScienceNews&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=67689584&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9XrZjrTtdok2DO6sUibzEuoTaZXndL0-mRAwBcZpOHdoG1ez8AYL2nI22HzpI4KElnO3J9KtVJrJVpNvHc7JSb-GR4Bw&_hsmi=67689584
Quarter Of American Adults Sit For More Than Eight Hours Each Day
reports researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that a quarter of “American adults sit for more than eight hours a day.” For the study, researchers “analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES.” The findings were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study’s lead author, Emily Ussery, an epidemiologist in the CDC’s division of nutrition, physical activity and obesity, said, “If a person does sit for eight hours a day for their job, it’s best to reduce some of that sitting time with physical activity, and every little bit of exercise helps.” http://time.com/5459319/americans-sit-too-much/
Global Demand For Insulin Is Increasing Dramatically,
reports researchers found that “a global diabetes epidemic is fuelling record demand for insulin but tens of millions will not get the injections they need unless there is a dramatic improvement in access and affordability.” The findings were published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.
MedPage Today (11/20, Monaco) reports “researchers estimated from a modeling analysis” that “the amount of insulin needed to treat type 2 diabetes globally is likely to climb by more than 20% by 2030.” The article adds that “in an accompanying commentary,” Dr. Hertzel Gerstein of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, said the researchers used a “highly sophisticated approach” to create “a clearly described, rigorously designed, and flexible mathematical model that allowed them to estimate the number of insulin users and the amount of insulin that will be required worldwide by 2030 under various assumptions. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-diabetes-insulin/millions-left-behind-as-diabetes-drives-surge-in-insulin-demand-idUSKCN1NQ00B
Tuesday, November 20, 2018
Powered by Poop!
A team of researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have demonstrated, for the first time, a technique for converting human excrement into hydrochar—a safe, renewable biomass fuel that resembles charcoal—as well as a nutrient-rich fertilizer.
According to BGU, this process could potentially address two major issues that affect many less affluent countries—poor sanitation and growing energy needs.
In a pilot study published in the Journal of Cleaner Production, BGU described how they used a technique known as “hydrothermal carbonization” to heat raw solid human waste in a special “pressure cooker” to three different temperatures (180, 210 and 240 degrees Celsius) for periods of either 30, 60 or 120 minutes.
This sterilizes the human waste and dries it out, creating a solid coal-like substance known as hydrochar, which can be used for household cooking and heating. Last year, BGU researchers carried out similar research using poultry excrement.
“While it is rich in organic matter nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, human waste also contains micropollutants from pharmaceuticals, which can lead to environmental problems if not disposed or reused properly,” says Prof. Amit Gross, director of BGU’s Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research and expert in the efficient use of marginal water, remediation techniques and the environmental risks associated with contaminated water resources.
Approximately 2.3 billion people still lack basic sanitation services, according to the World Health Organization. Of those, around 892 million people—most of whom live in rural areas—defecate in the open.
Energy scarcity is also a problem in these regions. Approximately 2 billion people worldwide use solid biomass—such as wood—which is converted into charcoal and then used for cooking and heating. However, these practices have a significant impact on the environment. https://www.technologynetworks.com/applied-sciences/news/powered-by-poop-311952?utm_campaign=Newsletter_TN_BreakingScienceNews&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=67650125&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8e-MwOGHURB-w5kkWW2j6EoSqglmYr_B2gM0ZvXEyg1H5fSVWXR9mg6KqJiKU-LWMUp41K6xHQHzViAVQwoLM0gxKRkw&_hsmi=67650125
Monday, November 19, 2018
Peanut Allergy Treatment Ready for FDA Review
https://www.technologynetworks.com/drug-discovery/news/peanut-allergy-treatment-ready-for-fda-review-311906?utm_campaign=Newsletter_TN_BreakingScienceNews&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=67609541&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--cfbZAtrSjpgJQuRAqa9FJ7Z2gzMG2nq1KZotHQvKCgXn4VvnQT03BU9ox_rvEL3_uk-KTIilOjra8tNCw0ffbzqOyoA&_hsmi=67609541
Friday, November 16, 2018
New Inflammation Inhibitor Discovered
It was when developing a new molecule for inhibiting the enzyme that repairs oxygen damage to DNA that the researchers found, to their surprise, that it also dampened inflammation. It turned out that the enzyme OGG1, apart from repairing DNA, also triggers inflammation.
The inhibitor blocks the release of inflammatory proteins, such as TNF alpha. In trials on mice with acute pulmonary disease, the researchers succeeded in dampening the inflammation.
“This discovery could give rise to a new treatment for a very serious condition,” says Professor Helleday. “We’ll now be developing our OGG1 inhibitor and examining whether it can lead to new treatments for inflammatory diseases in order to cure or relieve diseases such as sepsis, COPD and severe asthma.”
The discovery was made in collaboration with Professor Istvan Boldogh from the University of Texas Medical Branch, USA.
The repair pathway on which OGG1 operates was discovered by Tomas Lindahl at Karolinska Institutet in the 1970s, an achievement that earned him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2015. https://www.technologynetworks.com/drug-discovery/news/new-inflammation-inhibitor-discovered-311895?utm_campaign=Newsletter_TN_BreakingScienceNews&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=67566430&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--8vlcU5qGHxOa6aZf3mKezT37ZMks2cy-KTqMXt7FwlQjQqnWa-SDGVBR1A41E5ilCJTcmS4RQufsYIRL1LsgsiEHFTA&_hsmi=67566430
Assisted Reproduction Technologies May Be Associated With Increased Risk Of Intellectual Disabilities In Children
“Parents who use reproductive technologies like in vitro fertilization (IVF) may be more likely to have children with intellectual disabilities than those who conceive without help,” researchers found after examining “data on 2,876 children conceived with assistive reproductive technology (ART) and 207,751 kids born without ART in Western Australia from 1994 to 2002.” These children were followed for eight years. The study revealed that youngsters “born with the help of ART were 58 percent more likely to have intellectual disabilities by age eight or older.” What’s more, “with ART, kids were...more likely to have severe deficits.” The findings were published online in Pediatrics. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-assistedrepro-disability/assisted-reproduction-tied-to-risk-of-intellectual-disabilities-in-kids-idUSKCN1NK2WZhttp://www.google.com/
Long-Term, Off-Label Use Of Phentermine Appears To Be Effective, Safe
reports that research suggests “long-term, off-label use of the weight-loss drug phentermine appears to be effective and safe.” The findings were presented at Obesity Week 2018.
Thursday, November 15, 2018
Pain is a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
The study found that when subjects expected more heat, brain regions involved in threat and fear were more activated as they waited. Regions involved in the generation of pain were more active when they received the stimulus. Participants reported more pain with high-pain cues, regardless of how much heat they actually got.
“This suggests that expectations had a rather deep effect, influencing how the brain processes pain,” said Jepma.
https://www.technologynetworks.com/neuroscience/news/pain-is-a-self-fulfilling-prophecy-311858?utm_campaign=Newsletter_TN_BreakingScienceNews&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=67531906&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_Cf0osCsdgQkeJFfoJbvL2lSYRbimLzb_m6kiRXgEHRfXTpqnCm9mQv5V13NFJ9W1DMQV0SwzSVBOwvbzPBAeGCv6zSA&_hsmi=67531906
Cancer Poised to Become Top U.S. Killer "Epidemiological transition greatest in highest-income U.S. counties
Data show that heart disease is more likely to be the leading cause of death in low-income counties," the authors wrote. "Low-income counties have not experienced the same decrease in mortality rates as high-income counties, which suggests a later transition to cancer as the leading cause of death in low-income counties."
They said the findings were consistent with research on this "epidemiological transition," including a 2016 report suggesting that by 2020, cancer will surpass heart disease (the leading cause of death nationwide since 1950). However, a study limitation was the use of county median household income as a proxy for socioeconomic status. https://www.medpagetoday.com/publichealthpolicy/publichealth/76295?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2018-11-15&eun=g721819d0r&pos=111111&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Headlines%202018-11-15&utm_term=Daily%20Headlines%20-%20Active%20User%20-%20180%20days
Overweight Adults Who Reduce Carbohydrate Intake And Replace Them With Fat May Increase Their Metabolisms
reports that a study published in the BMJ has “found that overweight adults who cut carbohydrates from their diets and replaced them with fat sharply increased their metabolisms.” Researchers found that “after five months on the diet, their bodies burned roughly 250 calories more per day than people who ate a high-carb, low-fat diet, suggesting that restricting carb intake could help people maintain their weight loss more easily.” Those on the low-carb diet burned 209 to 278 more calories per day than those on the high-carb diet, a difference that would lead to an estimated 22-pound weight loss over three years if researchers weren’t intervening to maintain weight.” The study indicated that “the effect was even larger for those who produced high levels of insulin in response to carbohydrates; they burned 308 to 478 more calories a day on the low-carb diet than they did on the high-carb diet.” https://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/ct-life-low-carb-burns-calories-11312018-story.html
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
AMA Wants Warning Labels For Foods High In Added Sugars.
reports the AMA wants the FDA to develop warning labels for the front of packages “for foods high in added sugars.” Albert J. Osbahr, III, MD, a member of the AMA’s Board of Trustees, said, “When consumers have access to the amount of sugar they are consuming they may choose foods with less sugar,” which might “help prevent debilitating chronic medical conditions, such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease which affect millions of Americans.” Sugar Association CEO Courtney Gaine said the step “does nothing but mislead consumers because it is an idea not grounded in science and does not support FDA’s rationale for setting the daily value in the first place.” https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-sugar-regulation/u-s-physicians-urge-fda-to-bolster-labeling-on-high-sugar-foods-idUSKCN1NI2YT
Vitamin D Insufficiency May Be Associated With Earlier Death In Older Men Living In Thailand,
reports, “Insufficient vitamin D levels were linked to earlier death in older men living in Thailand,” researchers concluded after analyzing “survey data from 2008 in 1,268 older adults (median age, 74 years) from a national database in Thailand, then” linking “the information to a 2015 vital registry.” The findings were published online in the journal Geriatrics and Gerontology International. https://www.healio.com/family-medicine/nutrition-and-fitness/news/online/%7Ba4ce2835-3e65-4d76-99d6-639296c5728e%7D/insufficient-vitamin-d-levels-tied-to-earlier-death-in-older-men
Tuesday, November 13, 2018
Fat-clogged’ Immune Cells Fail to Fight Tumors
esearchers have gained a new understanding of the link between obesity and cancer. In the presence of excess fat, the immune surveillance system fails due to an obesity-fueled lipid accumulation in natural killer (NK) cells, preventing their cellular metabolism and trafficking. The new findings were published in Nature Immunology.1
More than 1.9 billion adults are either overweight or obese and a growing amount of evidence proposes that numerous cancer types (including liver, kidney, endometrial and pancreatic cancers)2 are more common in overweight or obese people. Cancer risk is increased in those with higher body fat, with up to 49% of certain types attributed to obesity.3
The Link Between Cancer and Obesity
Article
The Link Between Cancer and Obesity
READ MORE
Previous findings from the GLOBOCAN project indicate that, in 2012 in the United States, approximately 28,000 new cases of cancer in men and approximately 72,000 in women were associated with being obese or overweight.4
The 2018 study1 investigated the effect of obesity on the cellular metabolism, gene expression, and function of NK cells, and its influence on cancer development.
NK cells are cells of the innate immune system that limit the spread of tumors – numerous in vitro models have shown that tumor cells are recognized as ‘targets’ by NK cells.5 These cells destroy their targets by secreting lytic granules containing perforin and apoptosis-inducing granzymes. NK cells require a greater amount of energy to support their anti-tumor activity, therefore they switch their metabolic activity from oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) to glycolysis to meet the increased demand for ATP.1 https://www.technologynetworks.com/cancer-research/news/obesity-and-cancer-fat-clogged-immune-cells-fail-to-fight-tumors-311744?utm_campaign=Newsletter_TN_BreakingScienceNews&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=67453675&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9X-Pke7lj8Ekj6-jDhqyw-iDi6w5BQe0vrAV2pOwByG1nCwS6o4r8anDb8dBnqOON6TnDn9w6bk6mv-x-S-7XFley8iA&_hsmi=67453675
Spreading the Infection
Vaccinia virus, a poxvirus closely related to smallpox and monkeypox, tricks cells it has infected into activating their own cell movement mechanism to rapidly spread the virus in cells and mice, according to a new UCL-led study.
The findings, published in Nature Microbiology, explain how the virus mimics infected cells’ own proteins to kick-start the signalling pathway enabling the cell to move around.
“We were surprised to find that not only does the poxvirus turn on the infected cell’s motility pathway, it also controls the speed and direction of movement to coordinate the rapid spread of the infected cells,” said the study’s lead author, Dr Jason Mercer (MRC Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology at UCL).
Vaccinia virus causes a mild and asymptomatic infection, which is why it was used in the world’s oldest vaccine, that of smallpox, as it safely confers immunity to the much more harmful virus.
“There are numerous viruses, including herpes viruses and tumour-causing viruses, that are known to promote movement in infected cells, so by clarifying the mechanism in one virus, we hope to shed light on new therapeutic targets to prevent the spread of many different viruses,” said the study’s first author, PhD student Corina Beerli (MRC Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology at UCL). https://www.technologynetworks.com/tn/news/spreading-the-disease-311751?utm_campaign=Newsletter_TN_BreakingScienceNews&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=67453675&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9X-Pke7lj8Ekj6-jDhqyw-iDi6w5BQe0vrAV2pOwByG1nCwS6o4r8anDb8dBnqOON6TnDn9w6bk6mv-x-S-7XFley8iA&_hsmi=67453675
Federal Government Releases New Guidelines Urging Americans To Exercise Even For A Few Minutes.
reports that a committee appointed by the Department of Health and Human Services released new guidelines urging Americans to exercise even if it is just for a few minutes at a time. The new guidelines, which were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, replace the previous guidance from 2008 that recommended exercising for periods of at least 10 minutes. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/new-government-guidelines-say-you-can-get-your-exercise-in-small-doses/2018/11/11/3201d4c0-e5f8-11e8-bbdb-72fdbf9d4fed_story.html?utm_term=.155e62e2729e
Being Treated With Too Much Medication May Lead To Increased Risk Of Atrial Fibrillation In Patients With Hypothyroidism,
reports that research indicates that “for patients with hypothyroidism, being treated with too much medication could lead to an increased risk of atrial fibrillation.” Researchers found that “elevated levels of the thyroid hormone free thyroxine (free T4) – even within the upper levels of normal reference ranges – were associated with an increased risk of atrial fibrillation in the study, suggesting the possible need for redefining the safest reference ranges in hypothyroidism treatment.” The findings were presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2018. https://login.medscape.com/login/sso/getlogin?urlCache=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubWVkc2NhcGUuY29tL3ZpZXdhcnRpY2xlLzkwNDc4NQ==&ac=401
Monday, November 12, 2018
Consuming Soy-Based Formula During Infancy May Be Linked To Severe Menstrual Pain In Adulthood,
investigators “found that women who had ever been fed soy formula as babies were, at ages 18-22 years, 50 percent more likely than those not fed soy to experience moderate or severe cramping during most periods when they were not using hormonal contraception.” In addition, women fed soy in infancy were “40 percent more likely to have used hormonal contraception at some point to alleviate menstrual pain,” the study found. The findings were published online in the journal Human Reproduction. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-menstrualpain-soy-formula/soy-baby-formula-linked-to-severe-menstrual-cramps-later-in-life-idUSKCN1NF01D
Research Evaluates Whether Vitamin D, Fish Oil Can Lower Rates Of Cancer, Major Cardiovascular Events.
reports that “in recent years, many Americans have embraced vitamin D and fish oil pills, their enthusiasm fueled by a steady trickle of suggestive research studies linking higher levels of vitamin D with lower rates of cancer and other ills, and fish consumption with reduced heart disease.” According to the Times, however, “a large and rigorous government-funded randomized trial — the only such study of omega-3 fish oils ever carried out in healthy adults, and the largest trial ever done of high-dose vitamin D — has found the supplements do not lower cancer rates in healthy adults.” They also do not “reduce the rate of major cardiovascular events, a composite of heart attacks, strokes and deaths from cardiovascular disease.”
The NPR (11/10, Neighmond) “Shots” blog reports that the findings “were presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Session...and released online Saturday by the New England Journal of Medicine.” Although “the overall results were disappointing, there appeared to be a beneficial effect when it came to one aspect of heart disease and fish oil,” the data indicated that “taking fish oil lowered the risk of heart attack by about 28 percent, which is a ‘statistically significant’ finding, says Dr. JoAnn Manson,” who “led the research.” https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/10/well/live/vitamin-d-and-fish-oils-are-ineffective-for-preventing-cancer-and-heart-disease.html
Friday, November 9, 2018
Thursday, November 8, 2018
Androgen Deprivation Tied To Greater Heart Failure Risk In Prostate Cancer Patients,
reports a large study of Asian men found that “long-term use of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) dramatically elevated the risk of heart failure over the course of 1 year follow-up in men with prostate cancer, compared with non-ADT users.” The research found that “the incidence of heart failure was 72% higher among ADT users compared with non-users, at an adjusted hazard ratio of 1.72 (95% CI 1.08-2.73).” The findings were published in the Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. https://www.medpagetoday.com/hematologyoncology/prostatecancer/76178
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
AHA: Late Meals Linked to HTN, Prediabetes Risks seen in study of Hispanic and Latino Americans
Eating a late dinner may contribute to cardiometabolic risk in American Hispanics and Latinos, a population-based study found.
People who consumed at least 30% of their energy after 6 pm had 23% higher odds of hypertension (OR 1.23, 95% CI 1.05-1.44) and 19% higher odds of prediabetes (OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.03-1.37) compared with those who ate less in the evening.
But eating in the evening was not associated with overweight, obesity, or central adiposity in the study by Nour Makarem, PhD, of Columbia University in New York City, and colleagues slated for presentation here at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions, which begin Saturday.
Late eaters had higher levels of the following, compared with other participants:
Fasting glucose (93.7 versus 93.0 mg/dL; P=0.001)
Insulin levels (12.4 versus 11.6 mU/L; P=0.003)
Score on the Homeostatic Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR; 2.9 versus 2.7; P=0.001)
Systolic blood pressure (BP; 118.7 versus 117.5 mm Hg; P=0.004)
Diastolic BP (72.2 versus 71.0 mm Hg; P<0.0001)
These data are from "the first population-based study to demonstrate that consuming a larger proportion of energy in the evening may be associated with reduced glycemic control and higher odds of prediabetes and hypertension in US Hispanics [and] Latinos," the investigators noted. https://www.medpagetoday.com/meetingcoverage/aha/76164?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2018-11-07&eun=g721819d0r&pos=&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Headlines%202018-11-07&utm_term=Daily%20Headlines%20-%20Active%20User%20-%20180%20days
Model Identifies Potentially Unsafe Restaurants
Foodborne illnesses are common, costly, and land thousands of Americans in emergency rooms every year. This new technique, developed by Google, can help restaurants and local health departments find problems more quickly, before they become bigger public health problems,” said corresponding author Ashish Jha, K.T. Li Professor of Global Health at Harvard Chan School and director of the Harvard Global Health Institute.
The study was published online November 6, 2018 in npj Digital Medicine.
Foodborne illnesses are a persistent problem in the U.S. and current methods by restaurants and local health departments for determining an outbreak rely primarily on consumer complaints or routine inspections. These methods can be slow and cumbersome, often resulting in delayed responses and further spread of disease.
To counter these shortcomings, Google researchers developed a machine-learned model and worked with Harvard to test it in Chicago and Las Vegas. The model works by first classifying search queries that can indicate foodborne illness, such as “stomach cramps” or “diarrhea.” The model then uses de-identified and aggregated location history data from the smartphones of people who have opted to save it, to determine which restaurants people searching those terms had recently visited.
Health departments in each city were then given a list of restaurants that were identified by the model as being potential sources of foodborne illness. The city would then dispatch health inspectors to these restaurants, though the health inspectors did not know whether their inspection was prompted by this new model or traditional methods. During the period of the study, health departments continued to follow their usual inspection procedures as well.
In Chicago, where the model was deployed between November 2016 and March 2017, the model prompted 71 inspections. The study found that the rate of unsafe restaurants among those detected by the model was 52.1% compared with 39.4% among inspections triggered by a complaint-based system. The researchers noted that Chicago has one of the most advanced monitoring programs in the nation and already employs social media mining techniques, yet this new model proved more precise in identifying restaurants that had food safety violations.
In Las Vegas, the model was deployed between May and August 2016. Compared with routine inspections performed by the health department, it had a higher precision rate of identifying unsafe restaurants.
When the researchers compared the model with routine inspections by health departments in Las Vegas and Chicago, they found that the overall rate across both cities of unsafe restaurants detected by the model was 52.3%, whereas the overall rate of detection of unsafe restaurants via routine inspections across the two cities was 22.7%. https://www.technologynetworks.com/tn/news/model-identifies-potentially-unsafe-restaurants-311504?utm_campaign=Newsletter_TN_BreakingScienceNews&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=67300627&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9jY6FcoMlplY2TGESbMFtQ412Pbyr6qTRgg0hJtaWe2ipv3npfUU3mwsqCXTpXJtJwZh9MRkLEnUSAavvhTRwb1BYZaw&_hsmi=67300627
Janssen Pharmaceuticals Recalls Two Oral Contraceptive Formulations Due To Instruction Errors.
reports, “Janssen Pharmaceuticals has issued a voluntary recall involving two of its oral contraceptive formulations because the patient information inside the affected packages does not include appropriate instructions for the dispenser included in the products.” This could possibly result in women “mistakenly taking an inactive ‘reminder’ pill instead of an active pill, potentially leading to breakthrough bleeding or an unintended pregnancy.” Issued Nov. 2, the “pharmacy-level recall...affects one lot of Ortho-Novum 1/35 (norethindrone/ethinyl estradiol) tablets and two lots of Ortho-Novum 7/7/7 (norethindrone/ethinyl estradiol) tablets.” https://login.medscape.com/login/sso/getlogin?urlCache=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubWVkc2NhcGUuY29tL3ZpZXdhcnRpY2xlLzkwNDQ1MA==&ac=401
Tuesday, November 6, 2018
The Reasons for Hemispheric Dominance in the Brain
The left and the right hemispheres specialise in different tasks. However, it has not yet been fully understood how one hemisphere assumes dominance over the other when it comes to controlling specific functions. Biopsychologists at Ruhr-Universität Bochum describe their latest findings in the journal Cell Reports, published online on 30 October 2018. Dr. Qian Xiao and Professor Onur Güntürkün have demonstrated in pigeons that the dominance is caused by slight differences in temporal activity patterns in both hemispheres.
Novel research approach
The two hemispheres are connected via thick nerve fibre bundles, so-called commissures. “In the past, it had been assumed that the dominant hemisphere transmits inhibitory signals to the other hemisphere via the commissures, thus suppressing specific functions in that region,” explains Onur Güntürkün. However, the interactions that take place between the two hemispheres are excitatory, as well as inhibitory. “This is why it has remained a mystery where, exactly, functional brain asymmetries stem from,” says Güntürkün.
The result is: if both brain hemispheres compete for control, the left hemisphere is able to delay the activity of neurons in the right hemisphere. “The right hemisphere simply acts too late to control the response,” describes Onur Güntürkün. The researchers demonstrated that the neurons in the left and the right hemispheres are also capable of synchronising their activity in principle.
A question of timing
“These results show that hemispheric dominance is based on a sophisticated mechanism,” concludes Onur Güntürkün. “It does not hinge on one general inhibitory or excitatory influence; rather it is caused by minute temporal delays in the activity of nerve cells in the other hemisphere.” https://www.technologynetworks.com/neuroscience/news/the-reasons-for-hemispheric-dominance-in-the-brain-311426?utm_campaign=Newsletter_TN_BreakingScienceNews&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=67264197&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_Sih3gqTpwedSkWt2Zn6IcMG2c63OpUXBj1-k7HrCVCFEq5ybwZPb0-Lnl7DYiMfGjnzFc9_uDf35auRphsZsYppaarg&_hsmi=67264197
Screen-Time Does not Disrupt Children's Sleep, New Study Finds
Screens are now a fixture of modern childhood. As young people spend an increasing amount of time on electronic devices, the effects of these digital activities has become a prevalent concern among parents, caregivers, and policy-makers. Research indicating that between 50% to 90% of school-age children might not be getting enough sleep has prompted calls that technology use may be to blame. However, the new research findings from the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford, has shown that screen time has very little practical effect on children’s sleep.
The study was conducted using data from the United States’ 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health. Parents from across the country completed self-report surveys on themselves, their children and household.
'The findings suggest that the relationship between sleep and screen use in children is extremely modest,' says Professor Andrew Przybylski, author of the study published in the Journal of Pediatrics. 'Every hour of screen time was related to 3 to 8 fewer minutes of sleep a night.'
In practical terms, while the correlation between screen time and sleep in children exists, it might be too small to make a significant difference to a child’s sleep. For example, when you compare the average nightly sleep of a tech-abstaining teenager (at 8 hours, 51 minutes) with a teenager who devotes 8 hours a day to screens (at 8 hours, 21 minutes), the difference is overall inconsequential. Other known factors, such as early starts to the school day, have a larger effect on childhood sleep.
'This suggests we need to look at other variables when it comes to children and their sleep,' says Przybylski. Analysis in the study indicated that variables within the family and household were significantly associated with both screen use and sleep outcomes. 'Focusing on bedtime routines and regular patterns of sleep, such as consistent wake-up times, are much more effective strategies for helping young people sleep than thinking screens themselves play a significant role.' https://www.technologynetworks.com/neuroscience/news/screen-time-does-not-disrupt-childrens-sleep-new-study-finds-311421?utm_campaign=Newsletter_TN_BreakingScienceNews&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=67264197&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_Sih3gqTpwedSkWt2Zn6IcMG2c63OpUXBj1-k7HrCVCFEq5ybwZPb0-Lnl7DYiMfGjnzFc9_uDf35auRphsZsYppaarg&_hsmi=67264197
People With Type 1 Diabetes May Have Higher Risk Of Complications When Using Cannabis,
reports a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine reveals that people with type 1 diabetes “may be more likely to develop potentially fatal complications when they use cannabis.” Researchers found that “cannabis users had about twice the risk of experiencing a serious complication known as diabetic ketoacidosis, which develops when blood sugar is elevated for too long and the body produces high levels of acids known as ketones.” https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-diabetes-cannabis/cannabis-tied-to-serious-type-1-diabetes-complications-idUSKCN1NA26X
Monday, November 5, 2018
Parents Report 'Sharing' Leftover Antibiotics Nearly half of those surveyed diverted, rather than disposed of, unused prescription meds
Parents said they often saved leftover antibiotics and gave them to other people, both within and outside the family, according to researchers here.
In an anonymous online questionnaire distributed to a national sample of 496 parents through Amazon Mechanical Turk, nearly half (48.2%) of the parents reported that they'd kept leftover antibiotics rather than properly disposing of them, reported Ruth Milanaik, DO, of Cohen Children's Medical Center, Northwell Health in Lake Success, New York, and colleagues.
Of those, 73% said they subsequently diverted the medications to siblings, unrelated children, and unrelated adults, all without physician consultation. Parents also said they used the leftover antibiotics themselves, the authors stated in a presentation at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) annual meeting.
"This is a dangerous practice," Milanaik said at an AAP press conference. "As we have gotten smarter about development of antibiotics, our microbes have gotten smarter as well. They have learned from every mistake we have ever made, and from every shortened course of antibiotics."
"We, as clinicians, need to do a better job of telling our patients that proper disposal of antibiotics is a really important practice," she added. https://www.medpagetoday.com/meetingcoverage/aap/76116?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2018-11-05&eun=g721819d0r&pos=1111&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Headlines%202018-11-05&utm_term=Daily%20Headlines%20-%20Active%20User%20-%20180%20days
Injury to a parent may result in sleep issues for children and teens
Following a parental injury, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or traumatic brain injury (TBI), children (ages ≤17) had a 17% increased rate of outpatient care for sleep disorders for issues such as circadian rhythm disorder, insomnia, narcolepsy, restless leg syndrome and unspecified sleep disorders, reported Capt. Saira Ahmed, MD, of the Walter Reed National Military Hospital in Washington, and colleagues.
Also, teenagers had a 37% (incidence rate ratio 1.37, 95% CI 1.25-1.50) increase in sleep visits, they said in a presentation at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) annual meeting.
Ahmed reported at an AAP press conference that her group accessed records from the Military Health System, and determined there was an overall 48% increase (IRR 1.48, 95% CI 1.33-1.63) in sleep visits among the children of parents who experienced PTSD and TBI.
She told MedPage Today that only a small percentage of the parental injuries were related to combat. "These were common injuries...such as vehicular accidents or falls around the home, and therefore it is likely that the findings are applicable to the general population," Ahmed stated. https://www.medpagetoday.com/meetingcoverage/aap/76119?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2018-11-05&eun=g721819d0r&pos=11&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Headlines%202018-11-05&utm_term=Daily%20Headlines%20-%20Active%20User%20-%20180%20days
Working Group Convened To Explore Growing Diabetes Crisis.
reported that it recently “convened a working group of policymakers, researchers, clinicians and experts to explore the growing diabetes crisis, and identify challenges, gaps and solutions.” Taking part in the working group were “researchers from the National Institutes of Health, PCORI, congressional staff and academic experts, as well as health care providers ranging from endocrinologists to pharmacists and community health workers.” The group’s “conversation mostly focused on Type 2 diabetes, particularly regarding prevention, although some aspects of the discussion particularly surrounding disease management and care coordination apply as well to Type 1.” Currently, “one in three” US adults “are living with diabetes or prediabetes, according to the CDC.” https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/02/us-diabetes-epidemic-959043
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