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Changes in gut bacteria have been linked to a variety of different diseases, including type 2 diabetes, obesity and inflammatory bowel disease. Now, a new study indicates that gut bacteria also might play a role in a person’s risk of developing heart disease. Certain species of bacteria actively consume cholesterol in the gut, which might help lower cholesterol levels and heart disease risk in people, researchers reported recently in the journal Cell. In particular, people with higher levels of Oscillibacter bacteria in their gut have lower levels of cholesterol, because those bacteria drink in and process cholesterol from their surroundings, results show. These findings could serve as “starting points to improve cardiovascular health” by tweaking a person’s gut bacteria, also known as the microbiome, said senior researcher Ramnik Xavier, co-director of the Broad Institute Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program in Boston. Prior studies have linked the gut microbiome to heart disease risk factors like triglyceride or blood sugar levels, but they have failed to completely explain the means by which these bacteria affect heart health. For the study, researchers analyzed the gut bacteria of more than 1,400 participants in the Framingham Heart Study, a decades-long effort to investigate risk factors for heart disease. They found that people with several Oscillibacter species tended to have lower cholesterol than those who didn’t. They also found that Oscillibacter… read on > read on >

In a new study, people living with HIV who got standard meds to keep the virus at bay also had much lower rates of Alzheimer’s disease — suggesting the drugs might also lower risks for the brain illness. It’s early-stage research, but it’s possible that mechanisms used by these HIV drugs work at a genetic level to thwart Alzheimer’s in the brain, concluded a team led by Dr. Jerold Chun. He’s a professor in the degenerative disease program at the nonprofit research group Sanford Burnham Prebys, in La Jolla, Calif. In the study, Chun’s group looked at rates of Alzheimer’s disease among nearly 80,000 HIV-positive individuals over the age of 60. More than 46,000 of them had been prescribed a form of HIV-suppressing medications known as reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitors. Among this subgroup, Alzheimer’s diagnoses occurred in about 2.5 people per 1,000 — much less frequently than the 6.15 per 1,000 observed in a control group of older people without HIV, the researchers found. The study wasn’t designed to prove that RT inhibitors directly prevent Alzheimer’s disease. However, the finding was intriguing and there are genetic mechanisms that might explain the link, the scientists said. In findings first published in the journal Nature in 2018, Chun’s lab showed that, in Alzheimer’s patients, a gene found in neurons undergoes mutations that can produce thousands of new… read on > read on >

Keeping blood pressure under control could be crucial for women in preventing uterine fibroids, new research shows. Middle-aged women tracked for up to 17 years in a new study were 37% less likely to develop these painful growths if they treated their high blood pressure with medication. On the other hand, “patients with new-onset hypertension had a 45% increased risk of newly reported fibroids,” said a team led by Susannah Mitro, a research scientist at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, Calif. The findings were published April 16 in JAMA Network Open. As outlined in the study, uterine fibroids are benign but painful tumors that arise in the uterus and affect up to 80% of women by the age of 50. Fibroids can trigger pain and bleeding, but right now there are no known means of preventing them. In the new study, Mitro’s group analyzed 1996-2013 data for 2,570 U.S. women who enrolled in the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation, beginning at the age of 45. All of these women had no prior history of fibroids when they joined the study, but over the following 17 years, 20% did receive such a diagnosis. The women’s blood pressure was tracked over time, as well. The researchers found strong correlations been blood pressure and a woman’s odds for uterine growths. For example, those who were found to… read on > read on >

Want to feel happier? Live in or near a place with a rich diversity of nature, a new study says. Environments with plentiful natural features — trees, birds, plants and rivers — are associated with better mental well-being than the more spartan landscapes of suburbia, researchers found. Further, spending time in areas like this can provide benefits that last up to eight hours afterward, the study claims. “Our results highlight that by protecting and promoting natural diversity we can maximize the benefits of nature for mental well-being,” said study author Ryan Hammoud, a research assistant with King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience. For examples, cities could improve the mental well-being of residents by designing parks “which mirror the biodiversity of natural ecosystems,” rather than maintaining green spaces with mowed lawns and sparse features, Hammoud said. “By showing how natural diversity boosts our mental well-being, we provide a compelling basis for how to create greener and healthier urban spaces,” Hammoud said. For the study, researchers had nearly 2,000 people fill out three questionnaires a day for two weeks about their current environment and their mental health. The study ran between April 2018 and September 2023, and collected more than 41,000 assessments. Researchers defined natural diversity by how many out of four natural features — trees, plants, birds and water — were present in… read on > read on >

Most folks think of blinking as the eyes’ version of windshield wipers, clearing the eye of debris and maybe lubricating it, too. But blinking is much more than that, researchers report: It also helps the brain process what it’s seeing. That’s perhaps counterintuitive: Wouldn’t it make sense to not blink, so eyes are receiving an uninterrupted stream of information? Already, scientists have long known that people blink far more often than is needed just to moisten the eye. Investigating further, a team led by Michele Rucci, a professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester, tracked the eye movements of folks looking at different types of stimuli. They combined that data with computer modeling and found that blinking enhances a person’s ability to track “big, gradually changing patterns” in a visual field, according to a university news release. Blinking does so by altering light patterns as they strike and stimulate the eye’s retina. It creates a different kind of ‘visual signaling’ than would occur if eyes simply remained open at all times, the researchers explained. So, “contrary to common assumption, blinks improve — rather than disrupt– visual processing, amply compensating for the loss in stimulus exposure,” said study first author Bin Yang, a graduate student working in Rucci’s lab. The findings, published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science,… read on > read on >

Tapping the power of the small brain region called the cerebellum could improve patients’ ability to move cutting-edge robotic limbs, a new study suggests. The cerebellum is an ancient structure located under the brain, just above where the spinal cord connects to the brain. This structure has largely been overlooked by prosthetics researchers in favor of the cerebral cortex, which is the outermost layer of tissue covering the brain, researchers noted. But lab studies with rats show that the cerebellum can play a key role in controlling the movement of objects using brain waves. “The cerebellum has a well-known role in movement but has been ignored in neuroprosthetic research,” said researcher Tanuj Gulati, an assistant professor of biomedical sciences and neurology at the Cedars-Sinai Center for Neural Science and Medicine, in Los Angeles. “We are the first to record what is happening in the cerebellum as the brain learns to manipulate these devices, and we found that its involvement is essential for device use,” Gulati added in a Cedars-Sinai news release. Currently, experimental robot devices are controlled with brain waves through electrodes permanently implanted in regions of the cerebral cortex known to help manage movement of the human body. This technique has allowed patients to control robot limbs, motorized wheelchairs and computer keyboards, researchers noted. To see how the cerebellum contributes to motor control, researchers… read on > read on >

Women who experience common complications during a pregnancy could face heightened odds for early death for decades to come, new research shows. In the largest such study to date, “women who experienced any of five major adverse pregnancy outcomes had increased mortality risks that remained elevated more than 40 years later,” said a team led by Dr. Casey Crump, of the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in Houston. The team published its findings April 15 in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. According to Crump’s group, “pregnancy has been considered a ‘natural stress test’ that may yield valuable information for understanding [women’s] future health risks.” Indeed, conditions that raise the odds for complications in a pregnancy — smoking, obesity, diabetes and heart disease — can raise overall health risks. In the new study, the Texas team analyzed data on over 2 million Swedish women who delivered single babies between 1973 and 2015. They then tracked the women’s health through 2023, when these women averaged 52 years of age. The team found that a diagnosis of gestational diabetes (diabetes arising while pregnant) raised a woman’s odds of dying over the study period by 52%, compared to women without a history of this complication. Similarly, premature delivery was linked to a 41% higher odds for early death, the study found, and delivering an underweight baby was tied… read on > read on >

Walking is one of the best exercises available to average folks, and it can be as easy as stepping out your front door, experts say. “It is something you can easily fit into your lifestyle,” said Dr. James McDeavitt, professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation and executive vice president and dean of clinical affairs at Baylor College of Medicine. Walking has been shown to improve heart health and contribute to better mental health. It can even ward off osteoporosis by toughening up bones, McDeavitt added. Walking also serves as a wonderful entry point for someone looking to improve physical activity, since it involves less wear and tear on the joints than running. Even for people with health problems that impair mobility, walking is a good exercise option, McDeavitt said. Indoor running tracks provide a safe environment, particularly if someone has the company of a caregiver or loved one. However, treadmills and other automated cardio machines should be avoided by those with severe mobility issues, as there’s a greater risk of injury with those devices. Folks who’ve been inactive should start by consistently walking five to 10 minutes a day, and then gradually increasing that time, McDeavitt said. McDeavitt recommends walking at a low intensity for a longer duration to get the most out of walking, rather than trying to power-walk. However, walking at a faster… read on > read on >

Doctors sometimes prescribe antibiotics to help treat a cough, but a new study shows the drugs won’t help reduce the severity or duration of coughing — even if a bacterial infection is the culprit. Lower respiratory tract infections that cause coughing have the potential to become more dangerous, with 3% to 5% of these patients suffering from pneumonia, said lead researcher Dr. Dan Merenstein, a professor of family medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine, in Washington, D.C. “But not everyone has easy access at an initial visit to an X-ray, which may be the reason clinicians still give antibiotics without any other evidence of a bacterial infection,” Merenstein said in a Georgetown news release. This has led some patients to expect antibiotics for a cough, Merenstein said. To see if antibiotics make any difference, researchers tracked their use in people presenting with lower respiratory tract infections. About 29% of people were prescribed an antibiotic during their initial medical visit, but the drugs had no effect on their cough compared to those who didn’t get a prescription. It also took the same amount of time for people to get over their infection, whether or not they got an antibiotic — about 17 days. The new study was published April 15 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Overuse of antibiotics is increasing the risk that… read on > read on >

Among U.S. women with migraine, a third say the attacks tend to coincide with their periods, a new survey finds. Migraines that occur during menstruation are often frequent and severe, but only about one in five respondents said they used medications aimed at preventing the headaches. “If you have migraines related to your menstrual cycle, discuss this with your gynecologist or neurologist. There are treatments that can help and if the first treatment tried does not work, do not give up,” said study lead author Dr. Jessica Ailani. She’s professor of clinical neurology at Georgetown University School of Medicine. The new study was funded by Pfizer, which makes a migraine medication. The findings are slated to be presented Tuesday at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, in Denver. Ailani and her colleagues looked at data collected from adult women with migraine as part of the 2021 U.S. National Health and Wellness Survey. They found that a third of the women said their migraines often occurred during their periods. In more than half of these cases (52.5%), the women were premenopausal. Migraines occurred frequently during menstrual periods — an average of 8.4 headache days per month — and they were often severe, with just over 56% of women ranking their severity as moderate-to–severe on a standard scale. Many women attempted to treat the… read on > read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

Some Gut Bugs May Help Lower Your Cholesterol

Could Some HIV Meds Also Fight Alzheimer’s?

Good Blood Pressure Control Could Prevent Fibroids

A More Diverse Nature Brings Better Mental Health

Blinking: It’s About More Than Moistening the Eye

Brain’s Cerebellum Could Help Direct Prosthetic Limbs

Complications in Pregnancy Linked to Long-Term Health Risks for Women

Walking Your Way to Better Health

Antibiotics Probably Won’t Ease Your Cough, Even If Infection is Bacterial: Study

One in 3 Women With Migraines Say Attacks Occur During Periods