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In exercise bike tests, twentysomethings who’d been vaping for at least two years had much lower exercise capacity than those who didn’t, and the losses were equal to those of folks who’d spent a similar amount of time smoking. The vaping young adults “found it harder to breath, their muscles became more fatigued, and they were less fit overall,” said study lead author Dr. Azmy Faisal of Manchester Metropolitan University in the U.K. “In this regard, our research indicated that vaping is no better than smoking,” said Faisal, who presented the findings Sunday in Madrid at the annual meeting of the European Respiratory Society (ERS). According to Faisal, it’s long been known that the use of e-cigarettes “is linked to lung inflammation and damage, and harmful changes to the blood vessels.” But for young smokers, could a switch to vaping still be healthier? In an ERS news release, he said the jury is still out on that. “We don’t yet know what longer-term vaping use does to our bodies,” he explained. To help find out, the Manchester team recruited 60 people in their 20s, all of whom appeared to have normal lung function based on standard tests. Twenty neither vaped nor smoked, 20 had vaped for at least two years and 20 had smoked for at least 2 years. Each participant was subjected to exercise… read on > read on >

Diabetics who fly with an insulin pump could find themselves with lower-than-normal blood sugar levels, a new study says. Altitude appears to affect the ability of insulin pumps to deliver a steady supply of the hormone, researchers reported Sunday at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes annual meeting in Madrid. “Individuals who use insulin pumps should be aware of the potential impact of changes in the cabin air pressure on insulin delivery,” said lead researcher Dr. Ka Siu Fan, with the University of Surrey in the U.K. For the study, researchers tested 26 insulin pumps in a hypobaric chamber programmed to mimic the atmospheric changes during a normal commercial airline flight. The chamber was depressurized during a 20-minute ascent, maintained the air pressure of an 8,000-foot altitude flight for a half-hour, then re- pressurized during a 20-minute descent to the ground. Researchers found that pumps over-delivered insulin during the ascent, but not enough to cause hypoglycemia. At the same time, the pumps under-delivered insulin during descent, which could cause blood sugar levels to spike but not enough to cause health problems. “The drop in cabin pressure during ascent may lead to a slight increase in insulin delivery as a result of the formation of air bubbles which displace excess insulin out of the cartridge,” Fan said in a meeting news release. “A slight… read on > read on >

A slow-release form of semaglutide could allow people who use Wegovy or Ozempic to get shots once a month, instead of the weekly injections they now take, a new study demonstrates. The new formulation encases semaglutide in a hydrogel that slowly releases the drug as the gel dissolves, researchers said. “A small dollop of gel, known as a ‘depot,’ of the semaglutide-laden hydrogel is injected under the skin,” said lead researcher Dr. Claire Megret, director of clinical and preclinical development for the French biotech company ADOCIA, which developed the gel. The hydrogel successfully released a smooth, steady stream of semaglutide to six lab rats, researchers said in a presentation at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes’ annual meeting in Madrid. “Next we will be testing the hydrogel platform in pigs, whose skin and endocrine systems are most similar to those in humans,” Megret said in a meeting news release. “If that goes well, we will move forward the platform development by expecting clinical trials within the next few years.” Semaglutide promotes weight loss and helps control diabetes by mimicking the GLP-1 hormone, which is released in the gut in response to eating. The drug helps suppress appetite, slows down digestion and prompts the body to produce more insulin in response to elevated blood sugar levels. Unfortunately, semaglutide now must be given in weekly… read on > read on >

Getting older tends to go hand in hand with failing vision, but eye experts say there are things you can do to preserve your sight as you age. The risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy increases among seniors, but vision loss and blindness aren’t a foregone conclusion, according to the American Society of Retina Specialists (ASRS). Not only is healthy vision key to staying active, but studies have shown that older adults with vision issues face a higher risk of developing dementia. What can you do to avoid that fate? Here are some tips from the ASRS: Learn the signs of common retinal conditions. AMD affects 19.8 million Americans and is the leading cause of vision loss among older Americans. Another retinal condition, diabetic retinopathy, strikes 9.6 million Americans and is the leading cause of blindness in working-age adults. Hallmark symptoms of AMD include warping of straight lines, a decrease in the brightness of colors, gradual or sudden loss of central vision and dark, blurry areas in the center of vision. Diabetic retinopathy symptoms include blurry central vision, seeing spots, floaters or a shadow across the field of vision, difficulty reading, eye pressure and difficulty with color perception. Know your family history. Ask older family members if they have had vision issues. Retinal conditions may have a genetic component that runs in families. Other common risk factors… read on > read on >

It seems like a kind of superpower, but scientists say they’ve used a common food dye to render the skin of a mouse transparent, revealing the workings of blood vessels and organs underneath. It’s not yet clear if the procedure could work on human skin, which is thicker than that of a mouse. But the prospect is tantalizing, researchers said. ″Looking forward, this technology could make veins more visible for the drawing of blood, make laser-based tattoo removal more straightforward, or assist in the early detection and treatment of cancers,″ said study co-leader Guosong Hong, a Stanford University assistant professor of materials science and engineering. ″For example, certain therapies use lasers to eliminate cancerous and precancerous cells, but are limited to areas near the skin’s surface,” he explained in a news release from the U.S. National Science Foundation. “This technique may be able to improve that light penetration.″ The Foundation helped fund the new study, which was published Sept. 5 in the journal Science. Dr. Zihao Ou, an assistant professor of physics at the University of Texas (UT) at Dallas, helped lead the research. In a UT news release, he explained that living skin can’t normally be seen through because its various components — fats, cellular fluids, proteins — scatter light waves. But when the researchers applied a mix of water and a safe,… read on > read on >

An epidemic of high blood pressure is occurring in young adults and children in the United States, a pair of new studies show. Nearly a quarter of people ages 18 to 39 have high blood pressure, with readings above the healthy level of 130/80, the first study found. Blood pressure is even a problem for school-age children, according to the second study. Nearly 14% of children ages 8 to 19 have elevated or high blood pressure, researchers found. Both studies were presented Friday at the American Heart Association (AHA) scientific sessions in Chicago. Such research should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal. “The prevalence of hypertension in young adults is stark, and social determinants of health amplify the risk for hypertension and subsequent premature cardiovascular disease,” said Dr. Bonita Falkner, chair of the writing committee for the AHA’s 2023 scientific statement on pediatric hypertension. In both studies, researchers used data gathered from 2017 to 2020 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as part of its National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The first study looked at young adults’ blood pressure readings, as well as five factors that can influence health — poor education, low income, lack of health insurance, food insecurity and little to no employment. “Social determinants of health are the social conditions arising from where people are… read on > read on >

PFAS “forever chemicals” could cause pregnant women to experience long-term weight gain, increasing their risk of obesity in middle age, a new study warns. Women with higher levels of PFAS in their blood during early pregnancy weighed more at the age of 50 than those with low levels, researchers reported Sept. 5 in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. These women also carried more body fat at age 50, potentially making them more susceptible to obesity and heart problems later in life, researchers found. “Our study supports the idea that pregnancy may be a sensitive period of PFAS exposure as it may be associated with long-term weight gain and subsequent adverse cardio-metabolic health outcomes in women,” said lead investigator Jordan Burdeau, a graduate research assistant with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston. “Our findings may improve understanding of the effects of PFAS on cardio-metabolic health during pregnancy, which in turn may improve early prevention or detection of adverse cardio-metabolic health outcomes in women,” Burdeau added in a journal news release. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) can be found in 99% of Americans, according to the Environmental Working Group. There are thousands of different PFAS chemicals, the Environmental Protection Agency says. They can be found in drinking water as well as a wide range of consumer products including paper fast food… read on > read on >

People are encouraged to monitor their blood pressure at home, but many folks will find that household blood-pressure cuffs are literally a bad fit, a new study warns. For as many as 18 million U.S. adults — nearly 7% of adults — at-home blood pressure cuffs are either too small or too large to provide reliable results, according to findings presented at the American Heart Association’s Hypertension Scientific Sessions in Chicago this week. “Most popular blood pressure devices we tested had the same cuff size coverage — to fit arms with a circumference from 8.7 to 16.5 inches,” said senior researcher Dr. Kunihiro Matsushita, a professor of epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. “We estimate that these one-size cuffs would not properly fit approximately 18 million U.S. adults, potentially providing inaccurate blood pressure measures,” Matsushita added. Nearly half of U.S., adults have been diagnosed with high blood pressure, according to the AHA. Uncontrolled high blood pressure increases risk of heart attack, stroke, heart failure and other illnesses. The AHA recommends that all people with high blood pressure track it at home using an at-home blood pressure monitor. Upper arm cuff devices are preferred over wrist monitors, the AHA says. For this study, researchers reviewed 10 of the most popular blood pressure monitors sold through a large online retailer. Nine of the 10 devices offered… read on > read on >

A distinct brain pattern appears to make some people more likely to develop depression, a new study indicates. “Deep” functional MRI brain scans revealed that a brain feature called the salience network is nearly twice as large in people with depression than in those without the condition, researchers reported Sept. 4 in the journal Nature. The salience network is a group of brain regions thought to be involved in reward processing and focusing attention, researchers said. “Having a larger salience network appears to increase the risk for depression—the effect is an order of magnitude larger than what we usually see in fMRI studies,” said senior researcher Dr. Conor Liston, a professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York. Functional MRI scans identify patterns of activity in the brain by measuring changes in blood flow. Researchers recruited six people with major depression to undergo repeated fMRI brain scans, and compared their results to those from 37 healthy people. On average, the depression patients had salience networks that occupied 73% more brain surface compared to those of the control group. The salience network “being implicated in depression kind of makes sense, because one of the main deficits in depression is anhedonia, which is the inability to feel pleasure and enjoy everyday activities,” said lead researcher Dr. Charles Lynch, an assistant professor of neuroscience… read on > read on >

Saltwater nose drops can reduce the length of a kid’s cold by two days, a new study demonstrates. “We found that children using saltwater nose drops had cold symptoms for an average of six days, where those with usual care had symptoms for eight days,” said researcher Dr. Steve Cunningham, a professor of pediatric respiratory medicine with the University of Edinburgh in the U.K. “The children receiving salt water nose drops also needed fewer medicines during their illness,” he added. Children tend to have 10 to 12 colds a year, “which have a big impact on them and their families,” Cunningham said. Over-the-counter remedies containing drugs like acetaminophen and ibuprofen can treat symptoms, but until now no treatments have been identified that could speed up recovery from a cold, Cunningham said. For the new study, researchers recruited more than 400 kids aged 6 years or younger and randomly assigned them to take either salt-water nasal drops or usual care if they caught a cold. Saltwater solutions often are used by people in South Asia as nasal irrigation or gargling to treat a cold, researchers noted. Overall, about 300 of the kids caught a cold and half were given saltwater drops as their treatment. Parents administered three drops per nostril a minimum of four times per day, using a saltwater solution they made at home with… read on > read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

Vaping Could Make Young Adults Physically Weaker

Flying Could Upset Insulin Pump Function for Type 1 Diabetics

Wegovy, Ozempic May Someday Be Given as Once-Monthly Injection

Healthy Tips to Protect Your Eyes’ Retinas as You Age

Seeing Through: Scientists Use Food Dye to Render Mouse Skin Transparent

Almost 1 in 4 U.S. Adults Under 40 Have High Blood Pressure

Exposure to PFAS ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Pregnancy Could Boost Long-Term Obesity Risk

Cuffs on At-Home Blood Pressure Monitors Don’t Fit Some Patients

Brain’s Wiring May Trigger Depression in Some People

Saltwater Drops in Nose Could Shorten Kids’ Colds