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A long-awaited ban on menthol cigarettes has been delayed indefinitely, the Biden administration said Friday. “This rule has garnered historic attention, and the public comment period has yielded an immense amount of feedback, including from various elements of the civil rights and criminal justice movement,” U.S. Health and Human Service Secretary Xavier Becerra said in an agency statement. “It’s clear that there are still more conversations to have, and that will take significantly more time.” The White House had already missed a previous deadline it set to decide on the proposed ban by March. U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf, a supporter of the ban, told House lawmakers at a budget hearing earlier this month that he hoped a decision would come by the end of the year because smoking costs lives, the New York Times reported. “It’s one of our top priorities, so I would sure hope so,” he said at the time. “From the point of view of the FDA and me as an individual, given what I’ve seen in my life, we’re talking about over the next 30 years, probably 600,000 deaths that could be averted,” Califf testified. Most would be Black Americans who are consumers the tobacco industry targets, he added. On Friday, NAAACP President Derrick Johnson took issue with the latest delay. “Today’s news from the Biden administration is a… read on > read on >

A blood test could help doctors spot the signs of knee osteoarthritis at least eight years before it shows up on X-rays, a new study claims. After analyzing the blood of 200 white British women, half diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis and half without, researchers discovered a small number of biomarkers distinguished the women with osteoarthritis from those without it. “We found we were able to identify people who are at risk for knee osteoarthritis, but what was exciting was that we were able to identify it eight years before they had any X-ray changes,” said senior study author Dr. Virginia Byers Kraus, a professor in the departments of Medicine, Pathology and Orthopedic Surgery at Duke University School of Medicine, in Durham, N.C. The study, published April 26 in the journal Science Advances, builds on previous research where the blood test demonstrated 74% accuracy in predicting knee arthritis progression and 85% accuracy in diagnosing knee arthritis. Knee arthritis strikes approximately 35 million adults in the United States. While there are no cures, the success of new therapies could hinge on identifying the disease early and slowing its progression. The researchers emphasized that just like heart disease, osteoporosis or Alzheimer’s disease, knee osteoarthritis is a chronic disorder that is typically diagnosed late in the game. By identifying it earlier, doctors could potentially stop the disease before it… read on > read on >

Researchers have conclusively identified the genetic cause of a rare, progressive movement disorder. A rare extra-long version of a gene appears to cause nerve cells to become poisoned by toxic proteins in people with spinocerebellar ataxia 4 (SCA4), researchers report. SCA4 causes muscle weakness and difficulty coordinating body movement, most notably resulting in a jerky and unsteady walking style and difficulty speaking, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The disease also causes a progressive loss of feeling in the hands and feet and a loss of reflexes, the NIH says. There’s no known cure for SCA4, and up to now there was no known cause, researchers said. SCA4’s pattern of inheritance had long made it clear the disease was genetic, but researchers have struggled for 25 years to figure out the exact genetics behind the disorder. Now, using a recently developed advanced sequencing technology to analyze the genetics of several Utah families, researchers found a section in a gene called ZFHX3 that’s much longer than it should be, containing an extra-long string of repetitive DNA. Human cells that have the extra-long version of ZFHX3 appear to be sick. They aren’t able to recycle proteins as well as they should, and some contain clumps of stuck-together protein. “This mutation is a toxic expanded repeat and we think that it actually jams up how a… read on > read on >

Current and former smokers might lower their risk for emphysema if they adopt a highly nutritional plant-based diet, a new study shows. People with a history of smoking who adopted a plant-based diet had a 56% lower risk of developing emphysema, compared to those who ate more meat, researchers report. Further, the more veggies and fruits people included in their diet, the lower their risk of emphysema. “Identifying these modifiable factors, such as diet, is vital for helping reduce the risk of developing chronic lung disease in those with a history of smoking,” said lead researcher Mariah Jackson, a registered dietitian nutritionist and assistant professor with the University of Nebraska Medical Center. These findings jibe with earlier studies that “show an association between an individual’s dietary choices and lung health, including reducing wheezing in children and lowering asthma occurrence in children and adults,” Jackson added. For the study, researchers followed more than 1,700 participants in a long-term heart health study, all of whom were recruited between the ages of 18 and 30 and followed for three decades. They all were current or former smokers by year 20 of the study, and had filled out questionnaires tracking their diet history and quality. More than 1,300 of those participants had a CT scan at year 25 of the study to see whether they’d developed emphysema, among other… read on > read on >

Bits of bird flu virus have been discovered in roughly 20% of retail milk samples tested in a national survey, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Thursday. The finding suggests that bird flu has spread far more widely among dairy cows than officials first thought. Samples from parts of the country that have infected dairy herds were more likely to test positive, the agency noted, and regulators stressed there is no evidence yet that cow milk poses a danger to consumers or that live virus is present in milk on store shelves. Still, 33 herds across eight states have already been confirmed to have been infected with bird flu, also known as H5N1. “It suggests that there is a whole lot of this virus out there,” Richard Webby, a virologist and influenza expert at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, told the New York Times. While it is still possible to eradicate bird flu from the nation’s dairy farms, Webby noted it is hard to control the outbreak without knowing its full scope. To that end, the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday announced mandatory testing of dairy cows moving across state lines. Until now, testing of cows had been voluntary and focused on cows with obvious symptoms of illness. As of Wednesday, 23 people had been tested for the virus, while 44 people were being monitored… read on > read on >

Want to live longer? Choose the stairs over the elevator, a new review suggests. Folks who regularly climb stairs have a 24% reduced risk of dying from any cause, and a 39% reduced risk of dying from heart disease, compared to those who always take the elevator, researchers found. Stair climbing also is associated with a lower risk of developing heart disease or suffering a heart attack, heart failure or stroke, results show. “If you have the choice of taking the stairs or the lift, go for the stairs as it will help your heart,” researcher Dr. Sophie Paddock, of the University of East Anglia and Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital Foundation Trust in Norwich, U.K.. Stair climbing is a practical, easily accessible form of physical activity, Paddock said. Despite this, it’s often overlooked by folks rushing to get to a higher floor. “Even brief bursts of physical activity have beneficial health impacts, and short bouts of stair climbing should be an achievable target to integrate into daily routines,” Paddock said. For the study, researchers pooled data from nine studies involving more than 480,000 people. Studies were included regardless of the number of flights people climbed or the speed at which they took them. “Based on these results, we would encourage people to incorporate stair climbing into their day-to-day lives,” Paddock said in a news… read on > read on >

Cancer survivors in the throes of loneliness are more likely to die compared to those with companionship, a new study finds. Further, people who are the most lonely are the most likely to die, results show. “Loneliness, the feeling of being isolated, is a prevalent concern among cancer survivors,” said lead researcher Jingxuan Zhao, a senior associate scientist in health services research at the American Cancer Society. Cancer diagnosis and treatment tends to isolate people as they engage in a personal struggle with the dreaded disease, straining their social relationships, Zhao explained. “There are more than 18 million cancer survivors in the U.S. and that number is expected to increase to 22 million by 2030,” Zhao said. “We need to address this critical issue now.” For the study, researchers tracked more than 3,400 cancer survivors aged 50 and older who responded to a federally funded study on retirement and health between 2008 and 2018. About 28% of the survivors reported severe loneliness, and another 24% reported moderate loneliness. Those reporting the highest level of loneliness were 67% more likely to die than the least lonely, researchers found. The new study was published April 25 in the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. “What’s needed is the implementation of programs to screen for loneliness among cancer survivors and to provide social support to those in… read on > read on >

The emotional turmoil caused by a stolen dog is akin to that of a parent losing a child, a new study finds. The findings support the idea that pets truly become family members to their owners, researchers said. When faced with the theft of a pet, owners tend to feel a similar sense of powerlessness, grief and loss. In fact, some study participants felt the loss of a dog was more intense than the death of a friend or relative, owing to the closeness of the bond they had with their pet but not with some family members. “It provides evidence of the intense love of dogs and the parental accountability of guardians,” said lead researcher Akaanksha Venkatramanan, an assistant psychologist with the Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust in the U.K. For the study, published April 25 in the journal Animal-Human Interactions, researchers conducted interviews with four people who’d had their dogs stolen. The people were recruited through social media. “This research was launched when my friends’ dog, Lola, was stolen from under her nose in her back garden by someone we presume was posing as a delivery driver,” researcher Lindsey Roberts, a senior lecturer at the University of the West of England, said in a journal news release. “The distress rocked everyone, and I felt more had to be done to support those who… read on > read on >

Better heart health can lead to a sharper mind for middle-aged Black women, a new study says. Black women with worse heart health experienced a 10% decrease in their ability to think on their feet over two decades, researchers found. On the other hand, Black women with good heart health showed little decline in their mental processing. “Take care of your heart, and it will benefit your brain,” said lead researcher Imke Janssen, a professor of family and preventive medicine at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. “Better cardiovascular health in women in their 40s is important to prevent later-life Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and to maintain independent living.” For the study, researchers assessed heart health among middle-aged Black and white women and compared it to cognitive tests the women took every one to two years for 20 years. The study included 363 Black and 402 white women who started testing in 1997, when they were between the ages of 42 and 52. The heart health measures included weight, blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol, as well as lifestyle factors like eating right, exercise, sleeping well and not smoking. Black women in good heart health specifically had brain benefits when it came to processing speed, or how fast the mind can accurately recognize incoming visual and verbal information. However, heart health had no association with the brain… read on > read on >

Advanced scanning techniques can find hidden inflammation in the brains of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, a new study shows. This “smoldering” inflammation detected by positron emission tomography (PET) brain scans could help explain why patients continue to decline even though imaging shows no brain changes, researchers reported recently in the journal Clinical Nuclear Medicine. “One of the perplexing challenges for clinicians treating patients with MS is after a certain amount of time, patients continue to get worse while their MRIs don’t change,” explained lead researcher Dr. Tarun Singhal, an associate professor of neurology and director of the PET Imaging Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Singhal and colleagues started the study after noticing patients being treated with the most effective MS therapies available had symptoms that continued to worsen. The team has been working for eight years on newfangled brain scans involving microglia, immune cells in the brain that are thought to have a role in MS but cannot be seen by routine MRIs. The new technique involves a tracer dye that binds to the microglia cells. PET scans track the movement of such tracers, allowing doctors to observe the way tissues and organs in the body interact. A similar PET tracer scan has been FDA-approved to track amyloid beta protein in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients, the researchers noted. “This is… read on > read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

Biden Administration Delays Menthol Cigarette Ban

Blood Test Might Predict Knee Osteoarthritis Years Early

Scientists Discover Cause of Rare Movement Disorder

Smokers, Former Smokers May Gain From Switch to Plant-Based Diet

Fragments of Bird Flu Virus Found in 1 in 5 Milk Samples

Take the Stairs & Step Up to Longer Life

Loneliness Can Shorten Lives of Cancer Survivors

A Stolen Dog Feels Like Losing a Child, Study Finds

Healthier Hearts in Middle Age Help Black Women’s Brains Stay Strong

Better Scans Spot Hidden Inflammation in MS Patients