All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

Lower doses of a common antibiotic can curb hair loss caused by a rare skin condition, a new study says. The antibiotic doxycycline is commonly used to treat lymphocytic scarring alopecia, a condition in which the body’s immune cells target hair follicles, researchers said. But the relatively high doses of doxycycline used to prevent hair loss and scarring aren’t necessary, according to findings published March 18 in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. That means these patients can receive effective treatment without the nausea, vomiting and rashes that can accompany high doses of doxycycline, researchers said. “Our findings suggest that physicians can prescribe lower doses of doxycycline to patients struggling with lymphocytic scarring alopecia without compromising the efficacy and anti-inflammatory benefit of the therapy,” co-lead researcher Carli Needle, a medical student at NYU Grossman School of Medicine in New York City, said in a news release. For the study, researchers analyzed medical data for more than 240 men and women treated for lymphocytic scarring alopecia between 2009 and 2023. About 27% of patients had been prescribed low doses of doxycycline, and 73% the traditional high doses, researchers said. Results showed that lower doxycycline doses of around 20 milligrams twice daily were equally as effective as higher doses of up to 100 milligrams twice daily. Specifically, there was no significant difference in scalp inflammation,…  read on >  read on >

Elderly people benefit from taking medications to keep their blood pressure low, same as younger folks, a new study says. Systolic blood pressure kept under 130 reduces the risk of heart-related death by about 26% among people 80 or older, researchers reported in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. “We found that people with blood pressure below 130 have a lower risk of dying from heart disease and stroke,” senior researcher Yuan Lu, an assistant professor of cardiology at Yale School of Medicine, said in an ACC podcast on the study. “Blood pressure above 145 was linked to a higher risk of heart-related death.” America’s leading heart health groups tightened blood pressure guidelines in 2017, setting 130 systolic as the new number at which anyone could be diagnosed as having high blood pressure. Systolic blood pressure is the pressure inside blood vessels during a heartbeat. Prior to that, the threshold was 140 for people younger than 65 and 150 for seniors 65 and older.  However, “the evidence regarding optimal blood pressure targets for adults aged greater than 80 years remains limited and inconsistent across various guidelines,” researchers said in their new paper. That’s because major blood pressure studies have either excluded people 80 and older, or have not been able to perform sufficient follow-up, researchers said in background notes. “The key question is,…  read on >  read on >

Microplastics that invade and burrow deep within the human body are becoming an increasing concern among doctors and health experts. Now, a new study shows that even medical care is causing increased exposure to the tiny plastic particles. Microplastics can be found in the solutions administered through plastic IV bags, researchers recently reported in the journal Environment & Health. In fact, thousands of plastic particles could be delivered directly to a person’s bloodstream from a single standard 8.4-ounce bag of IV fluid, researchers said. “Our findings highlight an aspect of plastic pollution that affects humans most directly, as microplastics are being injected into the bloodstream,” concluded the research team led by senior researcher Liwu Zhang, a professor with the Fudan University Department of Environmental Science & Engineering in Shanghai, China. Studies have tied microplastics to a range of health problems, a recent Forbes article noted. These include dementia and brain health, heart disease, stroke, reproductive issues and infant illnesses. Microplastics have been found in human blood, and they tend to accumulate in organs like the lungs, liver, kidneys and spleen, researchers said in background notes. A study published earlier this year in Nature found that the amount of microplastics found in human brains has increased by about 50% — the equivalent of a plastic spoon in weight. For the new study, researchers purchased two different…  read on >  read on >

Health officials are warning about a rise in injuries linked to the misuse of nitrous oxide, aka laughing gas. The gas, which is used medically as a sedative and in whipped cream cans, is now being sold in small, flavored canisters with names such as Cosmic Gas, Galaxy Gas and MassGass. On Friday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning that inhaling nitrous oxide to get high can cause dangerously low blood pressure, leading to fainting and injuries.  The administration highlighted that these products, often in colorful packaging, are available at gas stations, vape shops and online. Nitrous oxide can briefly cut off oxygen to the brain, which can be extremely dangerous. While manufacturers claim their products are “for culinary use only,” videos of people inhaling them for recreational purposes have circulated on social media for years. The FDA has seen a rise in reports of health issues related to nitrous oxide, and poison control centers have received more emergency calls from people collapsing after using it. “The FDA advises consumers to not misuse or inhale nitrous oxide products,” the statement said. “These products can result in serious adverse health effects, including death, when inhaled.” No federal laws restrict the sale of nitrous oxide, though some states have set age limits.  The FDA regulates it as a medical product when used by…  read on >  read on >

Nearly 1 in 3 children live with a chronic condition that could significantly affect their health for the rest of their lives, a new study says. Chronic illnesses affected more than 30% of children ages 5 to 17 by 2018, up from around 23% in 1999, researchers report in the journal Academic Pediatrics. This adds up to about 130,000 more children each year being diagnosed with a chronic illness. This increase has been driven by diagnoses of ADHD/ADD, autism, asthma, prediabetes and mood disorders like depression or anxiety, lead researcher Lauren Wisk, an assistant professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, said in a news release. “The prevalence of childhood conditions is currently higher than previous estimates suggest,” she said. “Youth who are subject to socioeconomic vulnerability such as having less education, lower income, are on public insurance, or unemployed are all more likely to live with a chronic condition than youth with socioeconomic advantages.” For the study, researchers analyzed data on more than 236,000 people between 5 and 25 years of age who participated in the National Health Interview Survey between 1999 and 2018. The results also showed that chronic illness increased among 18- to 25-year-olds, rising from about 19% to 29% between 1999 and 2018 — an additional 80,000 young adults per year. Nearly all these conditions are…  read on >  read on >

The blues and the jitters are very common among people battling chronic pain, a new evidence review says. About 40% of adults with chronic pain have symptoms of depression or anxiety, researchers report in JAMA Network Open. Women, younger adults and people suffering from fibromyalgia are particularly vulnerable to mood disorders caused by chronic pain, researchers found. “People who have chronic pain are more likely than those who don’t to have depression and anxiety,” lead researcher Rachel Aaron, an assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said in a news release. “This is a significant public health problem that should be addressed with routine screening of depression and anxiety in clinical settings and the development of novel treatments that target their (mood disorder),” Aaron said. At the same time, she added, this is also a story of resilience.  “Most people with chronic pain do not have depression or anxiety,” Aaron said. “These results challenge the ableist narrative that chronic pain is inherently depressing and remind us that people with chronic pain can and do lead psychologically healthy, fulfilling, lives.” About 21% of U.S. adults have a condition that causes chronic pain, researchers said in background notes. For the study, researchers pooled data from 376 studies conducted in 50 countries involving nearly 350,000 people. The average age of…  read on >  read on >

The time of day — or year — an asthma test takes place can affect its accuracy, a new study says. Routine asthma testing is more reliable when done in the morning, researchers reported in the journal Thorax. Starting at 8:30 a.m., the chances of the test accurately detecting a person’s asthma decreases by 8% for every subsequent hour that passes, results show. People are also 33% less likely to have a positive result on an asthma test if it is done during the autumn compared to the winter, researchers found. These results startled researchers, even though they jibe with the known fact that patients respond better to asthma drugs in the morning than in the afternoon. “Given what we know about how the risk of an asthma attack changes between night and day, we expected to find a difference in how people responded to the lung function test, but even so, we were surprised by the size of the effect,” said lead investigator Ben Knox-Brown, lead research respiratory physiologist at Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in Cambridge, U.K. “This has potentially important implications,” he added in a news release. “Doing the test in the morning would give a more reliable representation of a patient’s response to the medication than doing it in the afternoon, which is important when confirming a diagnosis such as…  read on >  read on >

Playing with a dog for just 15 minutes can significantly reduce a person’s stress, a new study reports. Stressed students who interacted with a friendly dog reported less stress, had a reduced heart rate and had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol in their saliva, researchers said in the journal PLOS One. The experience also appears to be beneficial for dogs, researchers added. Fecal tests showed that canine cortisol levels were lower a week after hanging with a human. “Even brief interactions with dogs can significantly reduce stress levels among university undergraduate students,” concluded the research team led by senior investigator Jaruwan Khonmee with Chiang Mai University in Thailand. For the study, researchers recruited six friendly dogs 3 to 6 years old to interact with college students. They included five chihuahuas raised by veterinarians and a Shetland sheepdog raised by a psychologist. None of the dogs were certified for therapy work, researchers noted. This was the first time they’d participated in any sort of canine-assisted intervention, and they participated without the presence of their owner. In the main library of Chaing Mai University, 122 students completed a stress assessment questionnaire, had their blood pressure and pulse taken, and provided a saliva sample for cortisol testing. They then were given 15 minutes to play with a dog after being told the pooch’s name, personality traits…  read on >  read on >

Nostalgia might be met by eyerolls from some, as the emotion might inspire insipid images of rose-tinted glasses, gooey sentimentality and living in a time-lost past. But people prone to nostalgia have an edge when it comes to their health and well-being, a new study says. Nostalgic people have more close friends and put more effort into maintaining friendships and relationships than less sentimental sorts, researchers reported in the journal Cognition and Emotion. Even teenagers can feel and benefit from nostalgia, researchers noted. “People who feel nostalgic more often and value those memories are more aware of their important relationships and the need to nurture them,” lead researcher Kuan-Ju Huang, a doctoral student at Kyoto University in Japan, said in a news release. “This means these friendships may be more likely to last, even as we get older and our lives, interests and responsibilities, change,” Huang continued. Social networks play a critical role in a person’s well-being, providing psychological and cognitive benefits into old age, researchers said in background notes. The reported results come from three experiments involving nearly 1,500 people in the U.S. and Europe, researchers said. In the first, a group of nearly 450 undergraduate students at the University of Buffalo in New York were surveyed about their level of nostalgia and their networks of friends. Those who said they were nostalgic put…  read on >  read on >

Concussion damage could linger in an athlete’s brain for at least a year, long after they’ve rejoined their sport, a new study says. Concussed college athletes had brain changes that remained visible in brain scans up to a year after they’d been cleared to return to play, researchers reported in a study published March 12 in the journal Neurology. “The presence of significant, long-lasting brain changes after injury reinforces concerns about the consequences of repeated concussions, and to what extent these effects accumulate over time,” lead researcher Nathan Churchill, a postdoctoral fellow in neuroscience research with St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Canada, said in a news release. For the study, researchers examined 187 college athletes, of whom 25 had suffered a concussion during regular season play in basketball, football, hockey, lacrosse, rugby, soccer and volleyball. The concussed athletes were also compared to 27 athletes, matched for factors like sex and sport, who hadn’t suffered a concussion. Athletes had MRI scans taken before their seasons began, as well as five days, one to three months, and a year after returning to play following a concussion. Concussed players still showed signs of brain injury in MRI scans taken an average five days after concussion, when they’d been cleared to resume play, results show. Those signs of brain injury lasted for up to one year later, researchers noted.…  read on >  read on >