After helping America through one of its worst tragedies, some responders to the events of 9/11 may now face another foe: Heightened risks for dementia. A new study looks at the health of thousands of firemen, construction workers and others who worked at the World Trade Center (WTC) site for almost a year after the attacks. Many were exposed to high levels of toxic dust. The study found that the worst-exposed workers face a much higher odds for dementia before the age of 65, compared to folks who worked onsite but either weren’t exposed to dust and/or wore effective personal protective equipment (PPE). “This study builds on prior work suggesting that dust and debris from the WTC collapse contained neurotoxins,” said a team led by epidemiologist researcher Sean Clouston, of Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, N.Y. “These results imply that these exposures were dangerous and support the view that the use of PPE might have prevented the onset of dementia before age 65 years among exposed responders,” Clouston and colleagues wrote. He is a professor of family, population and preventive medicine at Stony Brook. The new findings were published June 12 in the journal JAMA Network Open. As the researchers noted, during the days and months of rescue and cleanup at the WTC site, “workers reported heavy exposure to dust and particulate matter that…  read on >  read on >

Dads appear to make a small but important contribution to a newborn baby’s gut health, a new study discovers. Many microbes found in babies throughout their first year of life originate in the father rather than the mother, researchers report June 12 in the journal Cell Host & Microbe. Most importantly, these include Bifidobacterium longum strains – a bacteria that aids in the digestion of a mother’s milk. “The role of the father may be small, but it is not to be neglected,” said lead researcher Willem de Vos, a professor of microbiology with Wageningen University in The Netherlands. “It is likely that the same holds for others who have close contact with the newborn.” Babies are born without any microbes in their GI tract, researchers explained. They receive these important and beneficial microbes during and shortly after birth. It’s well-known that babies receive a substantial amount of microbes from their mothers during vaginal delivery. In fact, about half of the bacterial strains found in a baby’s gut can be traced to their moms. That led researchers to consider how other people who have close contact with an infant could contribute to the other half of their gut microbiome, providing a stable source of healthy microbial strains necessary for good health. “This highlights the importance of studying other microbial contributions as well, such as those…  read on >  read on >

Growing public fascination with “magic” psilocybin mushrooms as a trendy treatment for depression had led to increased interest in another type of psychedelic mushroom, a new study reports. Unfortunately, this second sort of shroom — known as Amanita muscaria — can be more toxic than fentanyl, cocaine and PCP, researchers say. Marketing the two types of mushrooms as essentially the same is not only wrong, but potentially dangerous, said senior researcher Eric Leas, an assistant professor in the University of California, San Diego’s Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science. “Companies who are making these products are pushing the limits of our regulations. They are getting away with making a buck until someone tells them they can’t,” Leas said in a university news release. “Given the substantial risks associated with using Amanita muscaria products, it is a buyer-beware marketplace where consumers are at risk and are not accurately informed,” Leas added. “The time for a public health first response is now.” Google searches for Amanita muscaria mushrooms skyrocketed 114% between 2022 and 2023, researchers reported June 10 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Gummies and chocolates containing compounds derived from Amanita muscaria mushrooms — muscimol and ibotenic acid — are being marketed as aids to reduce anxiety, depression and other conditions, researchers say.  Amanita muscaria mushrooms have psychedelic effects similar to…  read on >  read on >

Depression and memory declines may be closely linked in older people, new research suggests. “Our study shows that the relationship between depression and poor memory cuts both ways, with depressive symptoms preceding memory decline and memory decline linked to subsequent depressive symptoms,” said senior study author Dr. Dorina Cadar, of University College London. The study suggests that effective depression treatment could help preserve memory function with age, she added in a university news release. The new findings come from an analysis of data from the ongoing English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, where people are tracked by questionnaires every two years. In this sample, 16 years of data were collected from nearly 8,300 adults averaging 64 years of age. In contrast to the finding that memory and depression were closely intertwined, the research did not show a strong relationship between depression and another marker of brain health, verbal fluency. Cadar, who is a research fellow in dementia at UCL, said it’s not surprising that battles with depression could affect memory over time. “Depression can cause changes in brain structures, such as the hippocampus, which is critical for memory formation and retrieval,” she explained. “Chronic stress and high levels of [the stress hormone] cortisol associated with depression can damage neurons in these areas.” The researchers also believe that depression upsets the balance of serotonin and dopamine in…  read on >  read on >