Early exposure to antibiotics might increase a kid’s risk of asthma by altering their gut bacteria, a new mouse study finds. Antibiotics could specifically lower gut production of indole propionic acid (IPA), a biochemical that’s crucial to long-term protection against asthma, researchers reported July 15 in the journal Immunity. “We have discovered that a consequence of antibiotic treatment is the depletion of bacteria that produce IPA, thus reducing a key molecule that has the potential to prevent asthma,” said lead researcher Ben Marsland, a professor of immunology with Monash University in Australia. When given antibiotics in early life, lab mice became more susceptible to allergic reactions to dust mites, researchers found. Human asthma is commonly triggered by exposure to dust mites. This susceptibility to dust mite allergens continued in the mice long-term, even after their gut microbiome and IPA levels returned to normal, researchers said. That suggests that IPA’s function in establishing a healthy immune response is particularly important in early life, the researchers noted. What’s more, when the mice had their diet supplemented with IPA early in life, they were effectively cured of dust mite allergies and asthma. “The use of antibiotics in the first year of life can have the unintentional effect of reducing bacteria which promote health,” Marsland said in a university news release. “We now know from this research that antibiotics…  read on >  read on >

The stress of living in a poor neighborhood might contribute to higher rates of aggressive prostate cancer in Black men, a new study warns. Black men are more than twice as likely to die from prostate cancer than white men, and more likely to develop it as well, the researchers noted. This could be due in part to living in disadvantaged neighborhoods, which is associated with significantly higher activity in genes related to stress, according to the new research. These genes, activated by extreme hardship or trauma, can set off a cascade of events that increase risk of cancer, researchers explained. “Our findings suggest an impact of living in disadvantaged neighborhoods — which more commonly affects African Americans — on stress-related genetic pathways in the body,” said senior researcher Kathryn Hughes Barry, an associate professor of epidemiology and public health at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. “We believe this may increase an individual’s risk of aggressive prostate cancer and contribute to prostate cancer disparities by race,” Barry added in a university news release. For the study, researchers analyzed 105 stress-related genes in more than 200 Black and white men with prostate cancer. All of the men underwent surgery to remove their prostate at the University of Maryland Medical Center between 1992 and 2021. The research team used the men’s address at the time…  read on >  read on >

Pondering a move to a vegetarian or vegan diet? Your heart might be in it, but your genes might not, a new study says. Genetics are an important part of whether a person responds well or poorly to a vegetarian diet, researchers said. People with a specific genetic variant can see increased calcium levels after going vegetarian, which typically results in decreased calcium for most, researchers report in the journal PLOS Genetics. Likewise, another variant saw increased testosterone levels, which typically decline in a majority of vegetarians, researchers said. But a third variant could cause vegetarians to suffer a decline in kidney function, which usually improves on a plant-based diet, researchers said. “People with specific and immediate nutritional requirements related to these three traits should consider being tested for the variants we describe in this manuscript and making changes accordingly,” lead researcher Michael Francis, a doctoral graduate of the University of Georgia’s Institute of Bioinformatics, said in a news release. Francis himself was a vegetarian for seven years in his teens and 20s, but now eats meat as part of his diet. For the study, researchers analyzed data for more than 150,000 people, identifying 2,300 who followed a strict vegetarian diet. They found that in general vegetarians have low levels of cholesterol, which is good for heart health. But a vegetarian diet also is linked…  read on >  read on >

When it comes to health worries, cancer leads the way, a new poll shows.  The University of Cambridge poll included 2,000 adults who said their biggest concern is getting diagnosed with cancer when it’s too late to treat it. Seven in 10 respondents have that fear, while 52% fret about the impact of a cancer diagnosis on loved ones. “Cancer affects one in two of us and understandably induces fear in patients and their families,” said Richard Gilbertson, director of Cancer Research UK Cambridge Center. “People are worried that treatments won’t work or that side effects will be terrible, but also what their diagnosis will mean to their family.” Four in 10 respondents worry about getting access to the right treatment and 36% fretted about treatment side effects, the poll showed.  Asked what would make them less fearful of a cancer diagnosis, 6 in 10 said “knowing that the form of cancer I have is treatable.” Just over half (51%) said “knowing we are better at catching cancer early enough to treat.” “Outcomes can be completely transformed — better survival and less invasive treatments — if the cancer is diagnosed early enough,” said Rebecca Fitzgerald, director of the Li Ka Shing Early Cancer Institute at the University of Cambridge. “That’s why a lot of our focus now is on understanding cancer at its very earliest stage…  read on >  read on >

A new report finds research is sorely lacking on how chronic illnesses affect women, and it urged government agencies to do more to investigate how these diseases strike women differently. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine analysis, commissioned by the Office of Research on Women’s Health and released Wednesday, noted that women are disproportionately affected by chronic illnesses, including Alzheimer’s disease, depression and osteoporosis. “Although women on average live longer, chronic diseases may diminish women’s quality of life for years when compared with men,” the report authors wrote. “Chronic conditions in women contribute to substantial health care costs and have a significant effect on women’s productivity at work and at home.” However, a scarcity of research on women’s health “hinders a comprehensive understanding of the impact on women” of chronic illnesses, they added.  “Advances in our understanding of conditions like Alzheimer’s, heart disease and even chronic pain have largely been shaped by research focused on men. At best, this means we don’t fully understand how these conditions affect women — but at worst, it can mean a misdiagnosis, medical error or inappropriate treatment,” Eve Higginbotham, chair of the committee that wrote the report, said in a news release.  “This is not the first report from the National Academies to assert that women’s health is understudied,” she noted. “It is long overdue for federal…  read on >  read on >

The Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel has left children and parents with significant psychological scars, a new study shows. But families with a child who has autism have been especially hard hit, according to researchers from the Autism Center at Hebrew University of Jerusalem.  “Parenting a child during wartime is a universal challenge, but our findings indicate that autistic children and their parents… need targeted mental health support that takes into account their unique characteristics,” said Judah Koller, the center’s co-founder and an assistant professor at the Seymour Fox School of Education. Within a month of the Hamas terror attack, all children were experiencing significant post-traumatic stress, the study found. Children with autism had what researchers described as a more pronounced response, indicative of their increased vulnerability.  Their parents, meanwhile, had higher levels of depression, anxiety and stress, highlighting the urgent need for mental health services for families affected by the ongoing conflict.  Researchers said their mental health struggles were two to four times higher than reported in a pre-war study conducted by the Azrieli National Center for Autism and Neurodevelopment Research at Ben Gurion University. “Our goal is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the ongoing effects of war on these vulnerable populations and to advocate for the necessary support services,” Koller said in a Hebrew University news release. For the study, his…  read on >  read on >