Weekly Gravy « Weekly Gravy

All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

While demand for prescription stimulants is surging, a shortage of the drugs persists, so federal officials have stepped in and asked drug companies to ramp up production of the medications. Officials from both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) made the joint request. “The FDA and DEA do not manufacture drugs and cannot require a pharmaceutical company to make a drug, make more of a drug or change the distribution of a drug,” FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf and Drug Enforcement Administration leader Anne Milgram wrote in a letter issued Tuesday. “That said, we are working closely with numerous manufacturers, agencies and others in the supply chain to understand, prevent and reduce the impact of these shortages.” The agencies are also asking prescribers to carefully monitor their prescribing practices. “The lack of availability of certain medications in recent months has been understandably frustrating for patients and their families,” Califf and Milgram wrote in their letter. Reasons for the shortage include manufacturing delays by one drugmaker last fall. Meanwhile, demand for prescription stimulants for adults surged during the pandemic, according to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report. The FDA first announced a shortage of Adderall last October; that medication is commonly used for those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The DEA limits the amount of… read on > read on >

Millions of American smokers suffer from a potentially serious lung disease that’s not technically chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a new study finds. They would benefit from a clear diagnosis, though, and the new findings demonstrate a major gap in care for people with a history of tobacco use, the researchers said. Among folks who smoked at least one pack of cigarettes a day for 20 or more years, half had persistently high respiratory symptoms, including shortness of breath, daily cough and phlegm, and decreased ability to exercise, although they did well in the breathing tests used to spot COPD. The researchers call the condition “tobacco exposure preserved spirometry” (TEPS). “We first described TEPS in 2016. What we’re showing here is the long-term follow up, and it’s not like an early COPD. It stays persistent the way it is over time,” said lead researcher Dr. Prescott Woodruff, division chief of pulmonology at the University of California, San Francisco. Right now, there is no treatment for TEPS, he said. “It does improve in many people when they stop smoking, but not everyone,” Woodruff said. Woodruff’s team tried treating patients with bronchodilators used to treat COPD. The drugs improved lung function but not the symptoms, he said. “TEPS may be due to abnormal mucus production, so therapies that could control mucus might be the best therapies,” Woodruff… read on > read on >

All eyes are on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration this week as the agency weighs approval of a new pill that may quickly treat and ease severe postpartum depression. Approval of the drug could help millions of women regain their emotional equilibrium following childbirth. The FDA’s decision is expected by Friday. Taken as a pill once a day for two weeks, zuranolone showed “rapid, significant and sustained” reductions in depressive symptoms when compared to a placebo, or dummy pill, according to a recent study of nearly 200 women. These improvements occurred in as few as three days and were still evident 28 and 45 days later, said study author Dr. Kristina Deligiannidis. She is a professor at the Institute of Behavioral Science at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research in Manhasset, N.Y. As many as 1 in 8 women in the United States develops depression immediately before or after giving birth. “Women report severe sadness or loss of interest in pleasurable activities and relationships, have significant guilt, often about not being a good enough mother or partner, low energy, poor concentration and indecisiveness, loss of appetite and irritability,” Deligiannidis said. Many also say they feel overwhelmed and are anxious, especially over the baby’s well-being, she added. Some women may start to believe that their family would be better off if they were dead, she… read on > read on >

First Lady Jill Biden gains at least some of her inner strength by working on her physical strength. Featured in the September issue of Women’s Health magazine, Biden, 72, talks about waking at 5:45 a.m. most days to fit in a workout. That includes jogging on the White House driveway, bicycle rides when getting away to the family beach home in Delaware and spin classes while she’s traveling. Biden also rides a Peloton bike and takes barre classes. “I need to be with myself and find inner strength so I can be strong for everyone else,” Biden said in the Women’s Health interview. Some of Biden’s workouts are at SoulCycle studios in Washington, D.C., but she also squeezes in workouts while traveling. Those workouts have included taking a spin class with Akshata Murty, the wife of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, during her May trip to London for King Charles III’s coronation, the Associated Press reported. According to the AP, during a trip to the White House a month later, Sunak told President Joe Biden that “I gather our wives have even started to take spin classes together.” Jill Biden has always exercised, starting with roller skating as a kid, ice skating in college and swimming while pregnant with her daughter, Ashley. When Ashley was a teen, Biden would run, she wrote in her memoir.… read on > read on >

Being exposed to lead while in the womb or during early childhood may increase a person’s chance of engaging in criminal behavior as an adult, a new review claims. To arrive at this conclusion, the review authors evaluated 17 previous studies that used varying methods to test for lead exposure, including blood, bones and teeth. They also addressed the effects of exposure at different ages, including in the womb or early childhood, later childhood, and adolescence or adulthood. The reviewed studies had a wide range of findings, including that, in some cases, no links were found between early childhood lead exposure and later delinquent behavior. One of the studies showed a link between exposure and antisocial behavior, but not arrests. However, several studies did find links between early childhood exposure to lead and later arrests, including drug-related arrests. Some of the studies were more robust than others, the investigators found, using a tool to evaluate each study for statistical bias. The findings were published online Aug. 1 in PLOS Global Public Health. Exposure to lead can cause kidney damage, cardiac issues, immune system dysfunction, reproductive problems and impaired neuro-developmental function in children, the study authors noted. More evidence is needed to strengthen understanding, said the authors, who included Maria Jose Talayero Schettino of George Washington University, in Washington, D.C. Still, preventing lead exposure is important… read on > read on >

Elderly adults who start on a statin may see an even bigger drop in their “bad” cholesterol levels than their younger counterparts do, a new study suggests. The study, of nearly 84,000 Danish patients, found that those age 75 and up typically showed a stronger response after starting a low- to moderate-dose statin: Compared with the typical 50-year-old, their LDL cholesterol dipped by a few more percentage points. Researchers said the findings suggest that older patients could begin with a lower-dose statin, to minimize the chances of side effects. While statins are considered safe, they may cause problems like muscle pain or elevated blood sugar in some people. The odds of side effects generally go up with higher statin doses, and older adults are typically more vulnerable than their younger counterparts. So, starting at a lower statin dose could be “an appealing alternative” for older patients, said senior researcher Dr. Marie Lund, of the Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen. She added, however, that there are additional things to consider — including an older person’s existing health conditions and the need for lowering the risk of a future heart attack or stroke. Statins are among the most widely used medications globally, spurred by studies showing that along with cutting levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol, they help prevent heart attacks and strokes. But clinical trials generally include… read on > read on >

One dose of the hallucinogenic ingredient in “magic mushrooms” may help some people with anorexia move past their preoccupation with body image, an early study suggests. The study, of just 10 women with anorexia, tested the effects of a single dose of psilocybin plus psychological counseling sessions. Researchers found that the treatment appeared safe, with patients rating the experience as a positive one. And within three months, four of 10 women had a significant improvement in their eating disorder “pathology.” That meant certain eating-disorder behaviors — including preoccupation with weight and body shape — improved to the degree that they were close to what’s typical of people without an eating disorder. There are plenty of caveats in the findings, however, experts said. The phase 1 trial was small and designed primarily to make sure the treatment was feasible and safe. So, no conclusions can be drawn about the effectiveness. Still, the early findings indicate that psilocybin is worth further study, said Dr. Evelyn Attia, director of the Center for Eating Disorders at Columbia University and Weill Cornell Medicine, in New York City. “I’d very much like for this to be studied further,” she said. Attia, who was not involved in the study, is also with the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA). At any given time, about 0.4% of young women and 0.1% of young men… read on > read on >

Kombucha is a fermented tea that many folks believe offers numerous health benefits — and new research suggests they may be right. Though the study was small — 12 participants — it found that kombucha may help lower blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes. Fermented with bacteria and yeasts, the drink has been consumed in China since 200 B.C. but it has been embraced in the United States only since the 1990s, researchers said. “Apple cider vinegar was really taking off and people were talking about it all the time and kombucha,” said study author Dr. Daniel Merenstein, director of family medicine research at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. “And they have a farmers market at Georgetown where they sell kombucha, so we just thought, this kombucha is more tasty, easier to drink than apple cider vinegar … so that’s really what got us to do this study.” Not only was it easy to take, participants who drank kombucha had significantly lower average fasting blood sugar levels after drinking it for four weeks — 116 versus 164 at the study’s start, researchers found. Participants who drank a similarly flavored placebo also saw their blood sugar drop — from 162 to 141 — but researchers said that change was not statistically significant. For the study, participants downed 8 ounces of kombucha or a… read on > read on >

Taking the stairs rather than an elevator. Raking leaves. Toting heavy grocery bags. Pushing a vacuum. Playing hard with your kids or pets. Short bursts of vigorous physical activity during everyday events like these — most lasting less than a minute — can help lower cancer risk even in people who don’t like to exercise, a new study finds. People who got around 3.5 minutes of vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity (VILPA) each day reduced their overall cancer risk by about 18%, said researcher Emmanuel Stamatakis, a professor of physical activity, lifestyle and population health at the University of Sydney in Australia. More minutes produced even more cancer protection, particularly for cancers already known to respond well to physical activity. “For people who find it hard to initiate or adhere to an exercise program, our study suggests that doing a few short bursts of intense activity as the day goes by may be beneficial for long-term health,” Stamatakis said. The study, published online July 27 in JAMA Oncology, showed that non-exercisers can still benefit from getting off the couch throughout the day, said Erika Rees-Punia, a senior principal scientist of epidemiology and behavioral research with the American Cancer Society. “We often say that something is better than nothing in terms of physical activity, and this is really more evidence for that,” Rees-Punia said. “It turns… read on > read on >

As Americans continue to grapple with the effects of long COVID, the Biden administration on Monday announced the creation of a new office focused on research about the condition that will be part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Office of Long COVID Research and Practice will lead the U.S. response to long COVID, which incudes trials that have already been launched, the HHS said in an agency news release. “As our nation continues to make strides in combating COVID-19, it is crucial that we address the impact of long COVID and provide resources to those in need,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “Last year, President Biden called on HHS to coordinate the response to long COVID. The official establishment of the Long COVID Coordinating office and the launch of the RECOVER clinical trials solidifies this issue as an ongoing priority.” The $1.15 billion RECOVER research program is meant to better understand, treat and prevent long COVID; as many as 23 million Americans have developed the condition, according to HHS estimates. Research has identified 12 possible symptoms of long COVID, including worsening of health after mental or physical activity, fatigue, brain fog and dizziness, changes in taste or smell, thirst and changes in sexual desire or capacity. It can also include gastrointestinal symptoms, heart palpitations, chronic cough, chest pain and abnormal… read on > read on >

Weekly Gravy

Look Good – Feel Good – Feed Good

A little about: Weekly Gravy

All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

Amid Shortages, Federal Agencies Ask Drugmakers to Boost Output of ADHD Meds

Millions of Smokers May Have a Tough-to-Diagnose Lung Disease

Pill to Counter Postpartum Depression Looks Good in Trial, May Gain FDA Approval

Fitness Routine Helps First Lady Jill Biden Build ‘Inner Strength’

Could Exposure to Lead Early in Life Raise Odds for Criminality Later?

Statins’ Effectiveness May Rise With Patient Age: Study

Psilocybin May Help Some Who Battle Anorexia

Kombucha May Help Control Blood Sugar in Folks With Type 2 Diabetes

Getting Really Active Just 5 Minutes a Day Lowers Your Cancer Risk

Biden Administration Launches Office for Long COVID Research