Teen Brain Changes Linked to Prenatal Pesticide Exposure

https://www.technologynetworks.com/applied-sciences/news/teen-brain-changes-linked-to-prenatal-pesticide-exposure-323228?utm_campaign=NEWSLETTER_TN_Breaking%20Science%20News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=76167839&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--oDIXIfr3RjoTyYtB32_kNg5lXCx_3Nprz6EnMiSsuBeB2bZAup71r4gt211l6uAwsiS_YGGbhF50pqHHuSx9X1LBALA&_hsmi=76167839

US Death Rates From CVD No Longer In Decline

Progress in reducing the number of deaths related to cardiovascular disease [CVD] has been waning in recent years, heightening concerns that the obesity epidemic in the United States is undoing improvements in heart health,” research indicated. Now, findings from “a research letter published” in JAMA confirm that “although the death rates from heart disease, diabetes, stroke and related disorders have been decreasing for decades, the rates have recently slowed or stalled.” Commenting on the study, “cardiologist Salim Virani, chair of the American College of Cardiology’s Council for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease, said, ‘It’s not all negative – death rates have come down.’” Nevertheless, “he said it’s important to continue pushing for medical advancements – uniformly, across all populations – to further reduce death rates.” https://beta.washingtonpost.com/health/2019/08/27/heart-disease-progress-is-slowing-or-stalling-study-shows-obesity-likely-blame/

High-Dose Vitamin D Supplementation May Provide No Benefit For Maintaining Bone Quality In Healthy Older Adults Without Osteoporosis

“Vitamin D might not be much help for strengthening bones among healthy adults without osteoporosis...even at doses far higher than recommended daily allowances,” research indicated. Clinical Endocrinology News (8/27, Worcester) reports that in a three-year, “randomized clinical trial,” investigators observed “a negative dose-response relationship” instead of “a hypothesized increase in volumetric bone mineral density (BMD) with doses well above the recommended dietary allowance.” The findings of the 311-patient study were published in JAMA. https://www.medpagetoday.com/endocrinology/osteoporosis/81832

Exploring the Molecules of Memory

https://www.technologynetworks.com/neuroscience/news/exploring-the-molecules-of-memory-323193?utm_campaign=NEWSLETTER_TN_Breaking%20Science%20News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=76112483&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8N_XlkOcWEBRZu6F7p7GFA4wqM_38gePLK7pW6gGOqMV6revz4s_wgckKRkJD2SsNAtiSa2zHwGWqQChIMirnIrmr7Ig&_hsmi=76112483

Most Patients In Long-Term Acute Care Hospitals Die Within Five Years, Study Suggests

reports a new US study suggests that “most elderly patients admitted to long-term acute care hospitals die within 5 years, and spend two-thirds of their remaining life as an inpatient.” Data show that “of 14,072 Medicare patients who were transferred from regular acute-care hospitals to LTACHs found that the average patient spent 66% percent of their remaining life in a hospital or inpatient setting.” Moreover, “37% of these patients died in a facility without ever returning home, often without receiving any hospice care in their final days.” The findings were published online in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-elderly/most-long-term-acute-care-hospital-patients-die-within-five-years-idUSKCN1VG2FB

Study Suggests Optimism May Be Linked To Living Longer

Optimistic people are more likely to live until their 85th birthday and beyond, according to a study spanning decades.” Optimism “was linked to living 11 to 15 percent longer, on average, and achieving what is known as ‘exceptional longevity,’” and “appeared to lengthen life even when researchers accounted for potentially life-shortening factors like socioeconomic status, health conditions, diet, and whether a person smoked or drank.” The findings were published in a paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://www.newsweek.com/optimism-live-longer-old-age-science-research-1455866

Potential Impact, Risks Of Weight Loss App For Children Discussed

“The Checkup” blog about a new app by WW called Kurbo intended to help kids lose weight. Dr. Elsie Taveras, division chief of general academic pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital and specialist in childhood obesity, warns that, despite some aspects of the app that may be beneficial, it “should not be directly aimed at children, and that children should not be advised to do this on their own without parental involvement.” Considering concerns that “the new app is that putting too much emphasis on weight loss may lead to low self-esteem, depression and eating disorders,” Michelle Cardel, an obesity and nutrition scientist and assistant professor at the University of Florida College of Medicine, “cited a systematic review published this May that found that face-to-face treatment programs for pediatric obesity decreased the risk of eating disorders – but those were professionally supervised interventions, not apps.” https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/26/well/family/helping-children-learn-to-eat-well.html

Impact Of Shorter Lunch Periods On Children’s Nutritional Intake Discussed

discussed the impact of short lunch period times in school on children’s nutrition, highlighting the city of Berkeley, California, which is “one of the only school districts in the country to institute a comprehensive garden and cooking program,” but reportedly does not give students enough time to eat their creations. The length of the school lunch period is “left to the discretion of local districts” and it is a “key factor in how much nutrition children actually get,” according to Harvard’s Juliana Cohen. Her research “shows that students who get less than 20 minutes for lunch consume significantly less of their meal than children who have more time. https://beta.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/lunch-time-is-so-short-in-some-public-schools-students-are-going-hungry/2019/08/23/f97df454-c034-11e9-b873-63ace636af08_story.html?noredirect=on

Metformin May Lower Risk Of Asthma Exacerbations In Patients Who Also Have Diabetes,

reports researchers found in a retrospective study that “metformin treatment may lower the risk for asthma exacerbations in patients with diabetes.” The findings were published in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society. https://www.healio.com/pulmonology/asthma/news/online/%7Bdad8f9ad-4c6d-4e9a-923e-9859c6d06bad%7D/metformin-may-lower-risk-for-exacerbations-in-patients-with-asthma-diabetes

Revealing How Stress Can Curb Appetite

Read Time: 1 min Eating disorder researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) have discovered a neurocircuit in mice that, when activated, increased their stress levels while decreasing their desire to eat. Findings appear in Nature Communications. The scientists believe their research could aid efforts to develop treatments for a serious eating disorder called anorexia nervosa, which has the highest mortality rate of any mental disorder, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. People with anorexia nervosa avoid food, severely restrict food, or eat very small quantities of only certain foods. Even when they are dangerously underweight, they may see themselves as overweight. “We have identified a part of the brain in a mouse model that controls the impact of emotions on eating,” said Qingchun Tong, PhD, the study’s senior author and an associate professor in the Center for Metabolic and Degenerative Disease at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. Because mice and humans have similar nervous systems, Tong, the Cullen Chair in Molecular Medicine at UTHealth, believes their findings could shed light on the part of the human brain that regulates hunger. The investigators believe they are among the first to demonstrate the role of this neurocircuit in the regulation of both stress and hunger. https://www.technologynetworks.com/applied-sciences/news/revealing-how-stress-can-curb-appetite-322926?utm_campaign=NEWSLETTER_TN_Breaking%20Science%20News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=75813690&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_udc-tmcsLKL921RxjAM7aPsMGW-UOszAkFQ0tbIvgHK3NUwSzkaGPdeXMpS2OJOoh0wwnEl9Jv4R2DDyGujVSVsLFAA&_hsmi=75813690

Remembering Is Important, but Forgetting Is Important, Too

Just as a packaging breakdown can hamstring delivery of cables, switches and connectors to a house under construction, removing a protein from neurons can block the "shipment" of proteins to developing axons. Axons are the telephone wires of the nervous system. They convey information to dendrites on other nerve cells, in a processing network of phenomenal complexity that is the backbone of the entire nervous system. In a paper published in Nature Communications, Edwin Chapman of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the University of Wisconsin¬-Madison reports that halting production of synaptotagmin 17 (syt-17) blocks growth of axons. Equally significant, when cells made more syt-17, axon growth accelerated. A wide range of neurological conditions could benefit from the growth of axons, including spinal cord injuries and some neurodegenerative diseases. The protein in question, syt-17, is made by the 17th (and last) synaptotagmin gene to be identified. "Lots of work has been done on this family since it was discovered in 1981," Chapman says. https://www.technologynetworks.com/proteomics/news/remembering-is-important-but-forgetting-is-important-too-323048?utm_campaign=NEWSLETTER_TN_Breaking%20Science%20News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=75912925&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9pV8aTdKmxRAPTbpKJewA_bbc9Fav8TyWoQgZZgidqc3ICc1BrJtCaZYc7pX96GL5F1z_9aLDAwQcPKq7XJWx7fPrKQQ&_hsmi=75912925

Study Suggests Maternal Fluoride Intake During Pregnancy May Be Associated With Lower IQ In Offspring

A study of young children in Canada suggests those whose mothers drank fluoridated tap water while pregnant had slightly lower IQ scores than children whose mothers lived in non-fluoridated cities. But don’t dash for the nearest bottled water yet. Health experts at the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Dental Association cautioned that public policy https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/08/19/study-raises-questions-about-fluoride-childrens-iq/?noredirect=on

CMS Announces Plans To Change Hospital Star Ratings For 2021

reports the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced “it plans to change the controversial methodology used for its hospital star ratings in early 2021.” The article says, “The agency didn’t disclose specific details about what the changes will entail but it will propose them through public rulemaking some time next year.” CMS Administrator Seema Verma said in a statement, “Transparency is the cornerstone of the Trump administration’s commitment to patients. President Trump knows the status quo doesn’t work, and has directed us to enhance transparency for patients. CMS is delivering by refreshing and updating the hospital star ratings. Today, CMS is empowering patients to make informed healthcare decisions, leading providers to compete on the basis of cost and quality.” https://www.modernhealthcare.com/safety-quality/cms-will-change-hospital-star-ratings-methodology-2021

Space Travel Impacts on Brain Connectivity, Says Cosmonaut Study

An international team of Russian and Belgian researchers, including scientists from HSE University, has found out that space travel has a significant impact on the brain: they discovered that cosmonauts demonstrate changes in brain connectivity related to perception and movement. Some areas, such as regions in the insular and parietal cortices, work more synchronously with other brain areas after the space flight. On the other hand, connectivity of some other regions, such as the cerebellum and vestibular nuclei, decreases. The results of the study were published in Frontiers in Physiology. https://www.technologynetworks.com/neuroscience/news/space-travel-impacts-on-brain-connectivity-says-cosmonaut-study-322991?utm_campaign=NEWSLETTER_TN_Breaking%20Science%20News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=75862040&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--5syXskMjbzh29vwPkVZR9BETUBsyxkXaHaQduDwSA8WZExORkYHPR6DzfuOEWi6AvwEBkX-E84qjGHAH0hNoiap7OdA&_hsmi=75862040

Microorganisms in Poop May Help Treat Skin Cancer

Immunotherapy drugs stimulate a person's immune system to attack and destroy cancer. While they can significantly improve survival outcomes in those with melanoma, they are only effective in 40 to 50 per cent of patients. Preliminary research has suggested that the human microbiome - the diverse collection of microbes in our body - may play a role in whether or not a patient responds. "The gut microbiome helps establish immunity from an early age. It makes sense that a healthy gut could improve response to immunotherapy," explains Dr. Jeremy Burton, a Lawson Scientist who specializes in human microbiome research. "This led us to consider the potential of fecal transplants." https://www.technologynetworks.com/cancer-research/news/microorganisms-in-poop-may-help-treat-skin-cancer-322903?utm_campaign=NEWSLETTER_TN_Breaking%20Science%20News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=75813690&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_udc-tmcsLKL921RxjAM7aPsMGW-UOszAkFQ0tbIvgHK3NUwSzkaGPdeXMpS2OJOoh0wwnEl9Jv4R2DDyGujVSVsLFAA&_hsmi=75813690

90% Survival Rate After Injection With New Ebola Drugs

https://www.technologynetworks.com/drug-discovery/news/ebola-patients-have-a-90-survival-rate-after-injection-with-new-drugs-322873?utm_campaign=NEWSLETTER_TN_Breaking%20Science%20News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=75762597&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--JqlJJyVXKHiHV1VR_F238wgILqT55RwE0YPaz2EXb0C1rxE_sTQqI-VIp27Ka8QaKNMv4PEKhELhkXyauLEjPPZ1SGg&_hsmi=75762597

Testosterone's Complicated Relationship With Moral Reasoning

Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin took a deeper look at the hormonal underpinnings of moral reasoning. Previous research has investigated moral judgment on the basis of behavioral responses and brain activity, but the current study goes beyond this to analyze the role of deep-seated biological factors, particularly testosterone. "There's been an increasing interest in how hormones influence moral judgments in a fundamental way by regulating brain activity," said Bertram Gawronski, a psychology professor at UT Austin. "To the extent that moral reasoning is at least partly rooted in deep-seated biological factors, some moral conflicts might be difficult to resolve with arguments." The researchers borrowed the paradigm of philosophy's trolley problem to test the influence of the hormone testosterone on moral judgments. In the problem, a runaway trolley will kill five people unless someone chooses to pull a lever, redirecting the trolley to another track, where it will kill one person instead. https://www.technologynetworks.com/neuroscience/news/testosterones-complicated-relationship-with-moral-reasoning-322849?utm_campaign=NEWSLETTER_TN_Breaking%20Science%20News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=75722909&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--7tWje5XUcjUr35qS2kYOGQAbDacHURD4QVcCRvYIAhbL-KbKa9RgLLUvLBbj48KX2DPSd-lann0QYzSkh_O3TL7LcXQ&_hsmi=75722909

Adjunctive Estrogen Patches May Improve Positive And Negative Symptoms Of Schizophrenia In Premenopausal Women, Study Indicates

“Adjunctive estrogen patches significantly improve positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia in premenopausal women,” research indicates, with the “beneficial effect of the patch” being “especially evident in women older than 38 years.” The findings of the 200-woman, “randomized controlled trial” were published online July 31 in JAMA Psychiatry. https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/916820

Gut-Brain Connection Could Explain the Path to Obesity, Suggests Mouse Study

https://www.technologynetworks.com/neuroscience/news/gut-brain-connection-could-explain-the-path-to-obesity-suggests-mouse-study-322799?utm_campaign=NEWSLETTER_TN_Breaking%20Science%20News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=75672370&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_53Qe6XsXm2pQM1aouzK7eWnwvHtgIrVew0WovL1r1L67jdSCyws2rEX-IfDyJSDVzU0FlJ6Ivjp64RY1TvxZ3DIx4UA&_hsmi=75672370

Weight Watchers Rolls Out Free Nutrition And Weight-Loss App For Children As Young As Eight

Weight Watchers “rolled out Kurbo by WW, a free nutrition and weight-loss app for kids as young as eight, and up to 17.” Research suggests, however, that “childhood weight-loss efforts can, if not done right, lead to or worsen disordered eating and body image issues.” https://time.com/5649964/kurbo-by-ww-app/

Low fat chips??? Maybe better than Olestra chips?

To develop their method, called in vitro oral processing, the researchers used different instruments to measure the physical characteristics of chips with various oil contents at each of the four stages. For example, for the “first bite” stage, they conducted mechanical testing to measure the force required to break the chips, and for bolus formation, they measured the hydration rate of particles in buffer as the fragments became a soft solid. The researchers used the results to design a lower-fat chip coated in a thin layer of seasoning oil, which contained a small amount of a food emulsifier. The seasoning oil made the low-fat chip more closely resemble the greasiness of a full-fat one in tests with sensory panelists, but it only added 0.5% more oil to the product. Food scientists could use the new technique to link physical measurements with sensory perceptions, the researchers say. https://www.technologynetworks.com/applied-sciences/news/designing-the-ultimate-low-fat-potato-chip-322601?utm_campaign=NEWSLETTER_TN_Breaking%20Science%20News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=75485345&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_GJByxcH8lX9OcDt3yBXdJEWt_8dVLAln0xeUijgOyWoltpm7P-KvGdpcold0Dmk5X71ittBo7A_S07gfISqNnl1kMjQ&_hsmi=75485345

Early Bird? Thriving on Early-to-Bed, Early-to-Rise Routine May Be a Genetic Trait

A quirk of the body clock that lures some people to sleep at 8 p.m., enabling them to greet the new day as early as 4 a.m., may be significantly more common than previously believed. So-called advanced sleep phase – previously believed to be very rare – may affect at least one in 300 adults, according to a study led by UC San Francisco and publishing in the journal SLEEP . Advanced sleep phase means that the body’s clock, or circadian rhythm, operates on a schedule hours earlier than most people’s, with a premature release of the sleep hormone melatonin and shift in body temperature. The condition is distinct from the early rising that develops with normal aging, as well as the waking in the wee hours experienced by people with depression. “While most people struggle with getting out of bed at 4 or 5 a.m., people with advanced sleep phase wake up naturally at this time, rested and ready to take on the day,” said the study’s senior author, Louis Ptacek, MD, professor of neurology at the UCSF School of Medicine. “These extreme early birds tend to function well in the daytime but may have trouble staying awake for social commitments in the evening.” Advanced Sleepers ‘Up and at ‘Em’ on Weekends Too Additionally, “advanced sleepers” rouse more easily than others, he said, and are satisfied with an average of an extra five-to-10 minutes of sleep on non-work days, versus the 30-to-38 minutes’ more sleep of their non-advanced sleeper family members. https://www.technologynetworks.com/genomics/news/early-bird-thriving-on-early-to-bed-early-to-rise-routine-may-be-a-genetic-trait-322607?utm_campaign=NEWSLETTER_TN_Breaking%20Science%20News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=75485345&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_GJByxcH8lX9OcDt3yBXdJEWt_8dVLAln0xeUijgOyWoltpm7P-KvGdpcold0Dmk5X71ittBo7A_S07gfISqNnl1kMjQ&_hsmi=75485345

Healthcare Professionals Want Climate Change To Be Added To Medical Curriculum

The Wall Street Journal (8/7, Abbott, Subscription Publication) reports that many healthcare professionals and organizations are pushing for climate change-related issues to be included in medical education in a trend backed by the American Medical Association, although schools adding the subject remain in the minority for now https://www.wsj.com/articles/medical-schools-are-pushed-to-train-doctors-for-climate-change-11565170205

People Who Are Obese May Show Heightened Perceptions Of Initial Food Satisfaction,

reports research indicates that “people who were obese showed significantly heightened perceptions of initial food satisfaction, whereas the gradual reduction of satisfaction that is typical with increased consumption – in this case, of chocolate – occurred at a slower rate compared with persons of normal weight and persons who were overweight.” The findings were published online in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. https://jandonline.org/article/S2212-2672(18)31527-2/fulltext

Older Men With Diabetes May Have Lower Risk Of Prostate Cancer,

reports researchers found that “among men aged at least 70 years, type 2 diabetes appeared associated with a 35% reduction in risk for prostate cancer after consideration of standard risk factors.” The findings were published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. https://www.healio.com/endocrinology/diabetes/news/online/%7Bda1cc808-3bb4-414b-88f0-6c78381f262c%7D/hormone-levels-not-associated-with-lower-prostate-cancer-risk-among-older-men-with-diabetes Prostate cancer is an androgen-dependent cancer, and previous authors have hypothesized that lower [testosterone] in patients with type 2 diabetes may account for decreased prostate cancer risk seen in these patients,” Yi X. Chan, MBBS, of the University of Western Australia School of Medicine in Perth, Australia, and colleagues wrote. “A high frequency of hypogonadotropic hypogonadism has been reported in men with type 2 diabetes. This is in keeping with lower androgen levels observed in men with diabetes in this cohort. Despite this, the role of androgens in the development of prostate cancer is still unclear.”

Proteins Might Restore Damaged Sound-detecting Cells in the Ear

Using genetic tools in mice, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine say they have identified a pair of proteins that precisely control when sound-detecting cells, known as hair cells, are born in the mammalian inner ear. The proteins, described in a report published in eLife, may hold a key to future therapies to restore hearing in people with irreversible deafness. “Scientists in our field have long been looking for the molecular signals that trigger the formation of the hair cells that sense and transmit sound,” says Angelika Doetzlhofer, Ph.D., associate professor of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “These hair cells are a major player in hearing loss, and knowing more about how they develop will help us figure out ways to replace hair cells that are damaged.” In order for mammals to hear, sound vibrations travel through a hollow, snail shell-looking structure called the cochlea. Lining the inside of the cochlea are two types of sound-detecting cells, inner and outer hair cells, which convey sound information to the brain. An estimated 90% of genetic hearing loss is caused by problems with hair cells or damage to the auditory nerves that connect the hair cells to the brain. Deafness due to exposure to loud noises or certain viral infections arises from damage to hair cells. Unlike their counterparts in other mammals and birds, human hair cells cannot regenerate. So, once hair cells are damaged, hearing loss is likely permanent. https://www.technologynetworks.com/proteomics/news/proteins-that-might-restore-damaged-sound-detecting-cells-in-the-ear-322541?utm_campaign=NEWSLETTER_TN_Breaking%20Science%20News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=75389693&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9xIg7b0u3APvAoVTr23IGCaLbyXxEkFTyQG9qHELDVYWbYaooNjWvG3ySe_oKFcr1v5RL8KArrzTYUMwBinBMA7BvWzA&_hsmi=75389693

For Those With a Genetic Predisposition to Obesity, Not All Exercise Is Equal

It aimed to investigate gene-exercise interactions on 5 obesity measures: body mass index (BMI), body fat percentage, waist circumference, hip circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). A genetic risk score (GRS) was calculated as a weighted sum of risk-allele counts, where the weights were usually derived from large published genome-wide association studies (GWASs) or meta-analyses. Of the exercises examined in the study, regular jogging was the most broadly effective at mitigating the genetic effects on all five obesity measures. When focusing solely on BMI, five other exercises stood out as being beneficial to those predisposed to obesity: mountain climbing, walking, exercise walking, international standard dancing, and a longer practice of yoga. The benefits of regularly performing these six kinds of exercise are more impactful in subjects who are more predisposed to obesity. Exercises such as cycling (989 subjects), stretching exercise (602 subjects), swimming (486 subjects), DDR (420 subjects), and qigong (377 subjects) were more popular or as popular as yoga (379 subjects), but their evidence of interacting with GRS was fairly weak. https://www.technologynetworks.com/genomics/news/for-those-with-a-genetic-predisposition-to-obesity-not-all-exercise-is-equal-322509?utm_campaign=NEWSLETTER_TN_Breaking%20Science%20News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=75389693&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9xIg7b0u3APvAoVTr23IGCaLbyXxEkFTyQG9qHELDVYWbYaooNjWvG3ySe_oKFcr1v5RL8KArrzTYUMwBinBMA7BvWzA&_hsmi=75389693

Eating Dark Chocolate Can Benefit Mood and Depression

https://www.technologynetworks.com/applied-sciences/news/eating-dark-chocolate-can-benefit-mood-and-depression-322471?utm_campaign=NEWSLETTER_TN_Breaking%20Science%20News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=75348710&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_-glcYMZ3G2fX8SFfv82Q5kJcamjEtIMA8BUDPAmSvO2HlvpELoPnqh_RmlzTo78X6g52XvFhwkyUi6JMFX3FcGBFLYQ&_hsmi=75348710

Alzheimer's Blood Test Is a Step Closer to the Clinic

Researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report that they can measure levels of the Alzheimer’s protein amyloid beta in the blood and use such levels to predict whether the protein has accumulated in the brain. When blood amyloid levels are combined with two other major Alzheimer’s risk factors – age and the presence of the genetic variant APOE4 – people with early Alzheimer’s brain changes can be identified with 94% accuracy, the study found. The findings, published Aug. 1 in the journal Neurology, represent another step toward a blood test to identify people on track to develop Alzheimer’s before symptoms arise. Surprisingly, the test may be even more sensitive than the gold standard – a PET brain scan – at detecting the beginnings of amyloid deposition in the brain. Such a test may become available at doctors’ offices within a few years, but its benefits will be much greater once there are treatments to halt the disease process and forestall dementia. Clinical trials of preventive drug candidates have been hampered by the difficulty of identifying participants who have Alzheimer’s brain changes but no cognitive problems. The blood test could provide a way to efficiently screen for people with early signs of disease so they can participate in clinical trials evaluating whether drugs can prevent Alzheimer’s dementia. https://www.technologynetworks.com/neuroscience/news/alzheimers-blood-test-is-a-step-closer-to-the-clinic-322477?utm_campaign=NEWSLETTER_TN_Breaking%20Science%20News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=75348710&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_-glcYMZ3G2fX8SFfv82Q5kJcamjEtIMA8BUDPAmSvO2HlvpELoPnqh_RmlzTo78X6g52XvFhwkyUi6JMFX3FcGBFLYQ&_hsmi=75348710

Allergies May Be Triggered by Stomach-protecting Drugs

Gastric acid inhibitors reduce the production of gastric acid, relieve heartburn and promote healing of any damaged gastric mucosa. They are frequently prescribed in support of drug therapies, to prevent stomach problems or to counteract bloating. They are often the drug of choice for stress responses leading to reflux (heartburn). In 2013, health insurers in Austria paid for prescriptions for at least one pack of PPIs for 1,540,505 people. A country-wide study conducted by MedUni Vienna has now found a correlation between taking stomach protectors, especially from the family of proton pump inhibitors, and the subsequent prescription of anti-allergy drugs. The study analysed prescriptions of anti-allergy medication (antihistamines, allergen immunotherapies) to people who had previously had prescriptions for stomach protectors from the years 2009 to 2013. The data for this quantitative study were primarily provided by all the Austrian Social Insurance Institutions. The correlation was striking, explains first author Galateja Jordakieva: "People who take stomach-protecting medication such as PPIs double or even triple their risk of developing allergic symptoms that require treatment." https://www.technologynetworks.com/tn/news/allergies-may-be-triggered-by-stomach-protecting-drugs-322291?utm_campaign=NEWSLETTER_TN_Breaking%20Science%20News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=75200652&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8aPC1dWdz6ksP4OPnsPMlY4xIBF0WQXQnzY0QJPyLrXTVFTGIz96xxSSaJ8vCuHM_VQTnU1eLNIuOUDs40Z4n8cYAjEA&_hsmi=75200652

Effects Of Workout Timing On Weight Loss Examined

reports research indicates that “people who worked out before noon lost more weight, on average, than those who typically exercised after 3 p.m.” The findings were published online in the International Journal of Obesity. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/31/well/move/morning-exercise-may-offer-the-most-weight-loss-benefits.html