For decades, the responsibility for birth control has fallen largely on women, but new research suggests a birth control pill for men might one day become a reality. How does it work? It targets a protein required for fertility, scientists report. The protein, called serine/threonine kinase 33 (STK33), is enriched in the testicles and is specifically required to create functional sperm, they explained. A drug that inhibits STK33, called compound CDD-2807, blocked the ability of male lab mice to fertilize female mice, researchers reported May 23 in the journal Science. “We were pleased to see that the mice did not show signs of toxicity from CDD-2807 treatment, that the compound did not accumulate in the brain and that the treatment did not alter testis size,” said researcher Courtney Sutton, a postdoctoral fellow in pathology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. “Importantly, the contraceptive effect was reversible,” Sutton added in a Baylor news release. “After a period without compound CDD-2807, the mice recovered sperm motility and numbers and were fertile again.” Previous research had shown that naturally occurring mutations in STK33 leads to infertility in both mice and men by causing abnormal sperm with poor movement. These mutations cause no other health problems. “STK33 is therefore considered a viable target with minimal safety concerns for contraception in men,” said researcher Dr. Martin Matzuk, director of…  read on >  read on >

A mom or dad who vapes at home might be setting their child up for eczema, new research suggests. In a study involving data from over 35,000 U.S. households, children with a parent who used e-cigarettes had a 24% higher odds for eczema (also known as atopic dermatitis) than kids with two non-vaping parents did. “Our results suggest that parental e-cigarette use was associated with pediatric atopic dermatitis,” concluded a team led by Dr. Golara Honari, a clinical associate professor of dermatology at Stanford University, in California. Her team published its findings May 22 in the journal JAMA Dermatology. According to the researchers, there is science backing up the notion that exposure to the toxins emitted in e-cigarette vapor could trigger changes in children’s skin. Prior lab studies have “demonstrated increased oxidative stress in human keratinocytes and 3-dimensional skin models exposed to e-cigarette fluids and aerosol residues,” they noted. Keratinocytes are cells that make up about 90% of the skin’s outer epidermal layer. “We hypothesize that secondhand exposure to e-cigarettes is associated with a similar response among children, elevating atopic dermatitis risk,” the Stanford team wrote. The new study drew on 2014-2018 data from the National Health Interview Survey, involving about 35,000 households. It’s a face-to-face survey of families conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Parents were asked about any cases…  read on >  read on >

Specific nutrients could play a pivotal role in the healthy aging of your brain, a new study finds. What’s more, those nutrients correlate closely with those found in the Mediterranean diet, an eating pattern already associated with healthy brain aging, researchers report. The identified nutrients “align with the extensive body of research in the field demonstrating the positive health effects of the Mediterranean Diet, which emphasizes foods rich in these beneficial nutrients,” said senior researcher Aron Barbey, director of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior. For the study, researchers took blood samples and performed brain function tests and MRI scans on 100 cognitively healthy people ages 65 to 75. Analysis revealed two different types of brain aging among the participants, accelerated and slower than expected. Those with slower brain aging had a distinct nutrient profile in their blood samples, results show. The beneficial nutrient blood biomarkers included a combination of: Fatty acids (vaccenic, gondoic, alpha linolenic, elcosapentaenoic, eicosadienoic and lignoceric acids). Antioxidants and carotenoids including cis-lutein, trans-lutein and zeaxanthin Two forms of vitamin E. Choline, an essential nutrient. This profile correlates closely with that of the Mediterranean diet, researchers noted. These nutrient patterns “are promising and have favorable associations with measures of cognitive performance and brain health,” Barbey said in a university news release. Previous research on nutrition and brain aging…  read on >  read on >