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Have you been boozing more often than usual? A new blood test might be able to tell if you’re damaging your liver from too many beers, margaritas or belts of scotch, researchers report. A blood-borne byproduct of alcohol consumption called phosphatidylethanol (PEth) can give doctors a fair idea of how much liver scarring has occurred due to drinking, as reported recently in the American Journal of Gastroenterology. Blood testing for PEth would help doctors understand patients’ drinking habits better than just asking how much they’ve been drinking. “This is a more direct way to measure the harm that alcohol is causing in the body than asking patients,” said senior researcher Judy Hahn, a professor in the University of California, San Francisco’s (UCSF) Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases and Global Medicine. “We don’t ask someone how much fatty food they eat. We measure their cholesterol,” Hahn noted in a university news release. “We don’t ask people how much they think they weigh. We weigh them.” The body produces PEth as it processes alcohol, and previous studies have shown that PEth blood concentrations accurately reflect the amount someone imbibed, researchers said in background notes. Heavy drinking is widespread in the United States and that increased even more during the pandemic. About 24% of U.S. adults binge drink, and more than 6% are heavy drinkers, according to data… read on > read on >

The same technology behind COVID vaccines might be able to protect both the mother and child from a dangerous complication of pregnancy. A new mouse study published Dec. 11 in the journal Nature shows that injections based on that vaccine platform reduced the risk of preeclampsia in lab mice. Preeclampsia is persistent high blood pressure that occurs during pregnancy or after giving birth. It can threaten the life of both the mother and baby, or leave the mom with severe organ damage. The experimental injection “was able to deliver an mRNA therapeutic that reduced maternal blood pressure through the end of gestation and improved fetal health and blood circulation in the placenta,” said researcher Kelsey Swingle, a doctoral student in bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science. “Additionally, at birth we saw an increase in litter weight of the pups, which indicates a healthy mom and healthy babies.” Preeclampsia affects 3% to 5% of pregnancies, researchers said in background notes. There’s no cure for the condition; instead, women take blood pressure medication or stay on bed rest. Preeclampsia arises due to insufficient blood flow to the placenta, which causes a mom’s blood pressure to rise while restricting blood flow to the fetus. Researchers figured that a drug designed to get into the placenta despite the restricted blood flow might help… read on > read on >

Caregiving for children or sick loved ones can be very stressful. so much so it can affect your heart health, new research shows. High caregiving stress increases risk of high blood pressure by nearly 40% among Black women ages 21 to 44, according to results published recently in the journal Hypertension. “Our analysis suggests that caregiver strain as a source of chronic stress may significantly contribute to the development of hypertension, a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, among reproductive-age Black women,” said lead researcher Milla Arabadjian, an assistant professor at NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine. For the study, researchers analyzed data from the Jackson Heath Study, a long-term research project following the health of more than 5,300 Black adults in Mississippi. Participants had their blood pressure monitored, and were asked about caregiving stress as part of a health questionnaire. Nearly 44% of the young Black women in the study developed high blood pressure during a follow-up period of more than seven years, results showed. But caregiving stress made a difference: About 52% of the women who reported moderate or high caregiving stress developed high blood pressure, compared with about 41% of those with low caregiving stress or none, researchers found. “Given the high lifetime risk of cardiovascular disease, especially among reproductive-age Black women, we need to better identify the root causes contributing… read on > read on >

The ancient Japanese practice of reiki “energy healing” might help some cancer patients deal with the pain that can come with infusion therapies, new research shows. “Outpatients receiving reiki during infusion reported clinically significant improvements in all symptoms, high levels of satisfaction and a qualitatively positive healing experience,” reported a team led by Natalie Dyer, of Connor Whole Health at the University Hospitals of Cleveland. Her team published its findings recently in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. The Cleveland Clinic notes that reiki “has roots in ancient Japanese healing practices and is considered a form of energy healing. It stems from the Japanese words ‘rei,’ meaning universal, and ‘ki,’ meaning vital life force energy.” The theory behind reiki is that people all have a life force and a reiki master (a practitioner trained in reiki) can channel the “universal life force energy” to you by either lightly touching you with their hands or hovering their hands above you, “channeling” energy in healthy ways. Does reiki work beyond a possible placebo effect? That still “up for debate,” the Cleveland Clinic said, and probably will be for some time to come. In the new study, Dyer and colleagues tracked outcomes for 268 cancer patients who were receiving infusion treatments such as chemotherapy on an outpatient basis. These treatments can come with painful side effects, such… read on > read on >

In what appears to be a last-ditch effort to limit the harms of smoking before its term ends, the Biden administration has proposed a rule that would significantly lower the amount of nicotine in tobacco products. The agency’s efforts to counter the dangers of the addictive chemical stretch back to 2018, when it first proposed the idea. Then, FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf went even further in 2022 and announced that the agency was developing a rule that would require tobacco companies to reduce the amount of nicotine in cigarettes. The next step in that effort took place Tuesday when the FDA finally submitted its refined proposal to the Office of Management and Budget. “A proposed product standard to establish a maximum nicotine level to reduce the addictiveness of cigarettes and certain combusted tobacco products, when finalized, would be among the most impactful population-level actions in the history of U.S. tobacco product regulation,” the FDA told CNN on Wednesday. The latest action was welcomed by health experts. “Once finalized, this rule could be a game-changer in our nation’s efforts to eliminate tobacco use,” Harold Wimmer, president and CEO of the American Lung Association, told CNN. “Making tobacco products non-addictive would dramatically reduce the number of young people who become hooked when they are experimenting.” “To fully address the toll of tobacco on our nation’s health and across all… read on > read on >

Keeping your blood pressure in check is important for more than just heart health — it can also keep your brain sharp as you age. A new study published Dec. 11 in the journal Neurology shows that seniors whose blood pressure spikes and drops over time might be more likely to suffer a decline in their thinking and memory skills. “These results suggest that fluctuation in blood pressure is a risk factor for cognitive problems beyond the negative effects of high blood pressure itself,” said researcher Dr. Anisa Dhana, a postdoctoral researcher with Rush University in Chicago. For the study, researchers recruited nearly 4,800 people with an average age of 71. Participants had their blood pressure tested regularly over three years, and completed thinking and memory skills tests at the beginning and end of the 10-year study. Overall, participants had an average blood pressure of 138/78. High blood pressure is defined as 130/80 or higher. It’s important to note, however, that this study was observational and could not draw a direct cause-and-effect link between blood pressure and brain health, Dhana noted. Results showed that people whose blood pressure fluctuated the most experienced nearly three additional years of brain aging, based on cognitive tests. On the other hand, people taking blood pressure medications showed no difference in scores on thinking tests by the end of the… read on > read on >

Unhealthy ultra-processed foods have wormed their way into American kitchens, likely harming people’s health for decades, a new study warns. More than half of the calories adults eat at home now come from ultra-processed foods, which contain high levels of sugar, salt, fat and other additives, and have been linked to heart disease, obesity and type 2 diabetes. Folks typically consider ultra-processed food to be either fast food or junk food, but this heavily processed fare even includes options that might seem healthy at first, said lead researcher Julia Wolfson, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. “The perception can be that ‘junk food’ and ultra-processed foods are equivalent,” Wolfson said in a news release from the university. “Yet ultra-processed foods encompass many more products than just junk food or fast food, including most of the foods in the grocery store,” Wolfson added. “The proliferation and ubiquity of ultra-processed foods on grocery store shelves is changing what we are eating when we make meals at home.” For the study, researchers analyzed data from annual health and nutrition surveys conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention between 2003 and 2018. The research team used their answers to sort Americans’ daily diets into one of four groups — unprocessed or minimally processed foods, processed ingredients used during… read on > read on >

Seniors who want to stay sharp as they age should hit the treadmill, elliptical or exercise bike as often as possible. A new study shows that better cardio fitness in older age is linked to healthier brain aging. That sort of fitness preserves brain health as people age even if they carry genetic risk factors that make them vulnerable to Alzheimer’s disease, researchers reported Dec. 10 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. “We found that cardiorespiratory fitness, which predicts the onset of numerous diseases and can be modified by regular exercise, was positively associated with cognitive performance across all domains assessed,” concluded the research team led by Kirk Erickson, director of translational research at AdventHealth Research Institute in Orlando, Fla. For the study, researchers recruited nearly 650 brain-healthy seniors ages 65 to 80 and tested their cardio fitness using a graded treadmill running test. Their brain power was also assessed with a comprehensive battery of tests carried out over two days. Previous research has linked cardio fitness to a reduced risk of age-related brain decline and dementia, but it’s not clear which aspects of brain function cardio specifically boosts, researchers said in background notes. The cognitive tests assessed five different types of brain function. These included processing speed, short-term working memory, long-term episodic memory, planning and organizational skills and the ability to interpret visual… read on > read on >

Sneaking cigarettes might seem like a harmless pre-teen rite of passage, but it’s more dangerous than you think, a new study warns. Regular smoking at a young age doesn’t just lead to a higher chance of smoking later in life — it can also cause serious harm to young hearts. Experts have understood that children who smoked earlier in life were more likely to continue the habit, and the risks that come with it, later into their lives. Now, the new study gives a better idea of the damage it does early on. “Teen smoking doesn’t just increase the risk of heart disease later in life — it causes early and lasting damage to heart muscle and function,” said Dr. Emily Bucholz, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Until now, there wasn’t a lot of data on cardiac structure and function in healthy children, since assessing the hearts of healthy young people is uncommon. Overall, persistent smoking from childhood to young adulthood was associated with an over 50% increased risk of premature heart damage, the study, published Dec. 11 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), showed. The damage, such as an enlarged heart or increased pressure in blood flow to the heart, was evident by the age of 24. This analysis followed more than… read on > read on >

It’s still early science — studies in mice and in human cells — but researchers are on the trail of an effective new treatment for inflammatory skin conditions such as rosacea. Skin cells called mast cells are key players in the inflammation and itchiness that can plague folks with these skin ailments. However, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh report they’ve spotted a compound called SYM2081 that can quiet down these overactive cells. “I’m really excited about the clinical possibilities of this research,” said senior study author Dr. Daniel Kaplan, a professor of dermatology and immunology at the university. “Currently, there aren’t a lot of good therapies that target mast cells, so we think that our approach could potentially have huge benefits in many skin conditions, including rosacea, eczema, urticaria [hives] and mastocytosis [a rare genetic disorder that causes the body to produce too many mast cells].” His team published its findings Dec. 11 in the journal Science Translational Medicine. Anyone with hay fever or other allergies has heard of histamines; cellular compounds that can trigger or signal the misery of inflammation. According to Kaplan’s team, mast cells contain “granules” loaded with histamines (and other pro-inflammatory agents). When these granules tear open, that can trigger a cascade of inflammatory immune responses such as those seen in rosacea or eczema. Granule rupture is beneficial when the… read on > read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

Blood Test Might Alert Doctors to Problem Drinking

In Mouse Studies, New Hope Against a Dangerous Complication of Pregnancy

Caregiving Stress Can Raise Blood Pressure for Young Black Women

Reiki May Help Ease the Pain of Cancer Treatment

FDA Asks Biden Administration to Limit Nicotine in Tobacco Products

Blood Pressure Ups & Downs May Harm Seniors’ Thinking

Unhealthy, Ultra-processed Foods Now Half of Calories Americans Eat at Home

Staying Fit Can Keep Seniors’ Brains Sharp

Preteen, Teen Smoking Can Injure The Young Heart

Ditch That Itch: Early Findings Offer Hope for Skin Issues Like Rosacea