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A tough-to-treat, drug-resistant fungal infection may be as close as your local garden center, new research shows. Investigators at the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens found high levels of multidrug-resistant fungi in compost, soil and flower bulbs sold at popular retailers. “Gardening is a nice, stress-relieving hobby. But I’m nervous for people who may not be aware that working with compost and flower bulbs could pose a risk to their health,” said study lead author Marin Brewer. She’s a professor in UGA’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. The fungus in question is Aspergillus fumigatus, which lives in soil naturally but can trigger illness if inhaled. People with healthy immune systems can probably fight off the fungus, but folks with compromised immune systems could get very sick and even die if they encounter a variant that’s become resistant to multiple anti-fungal drugs. People who may immunocompromised are those battling chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cystic fibrosis, type 2 diabetes, HIV/AIDS and COVID-19. Anyone taking immunosuppressants — for example, cancer patients or people who have undergone an organ transplant — are also at risk. A. fumigatus is already on health experts’ radar: It’s estimated that over 2 million people are infected globally, and the World Health Organization recently named the fungus as a critical threat to health. Even in healthy people, A. fumigatus can trigger… read on > read on >

Anxiety could be an early warning sign of Parkinson’s disease, a new study finds. People with anxiety have at least double the risk of developing Parkinson’s compared to those without the mood disorder, results show. Further, specific Parkinson’s symptoms serve as warning signs of the disorder in people with anxiety, researchers found. “By understanding that anxiety and the mentioned [symptoms] are linked to a higher risk of developing Parkinson’s disease over the age of 50, we hope that we may be able to detect the condition earlier and help patients get the treatment they need,” said co-lead researcher Dr. Juan Bazo Avarez, a senior research fellow with University College London Epidemiology & Health. Parkinson’s disease causes problems with movement, including shaking, stiffness and problems with balance and coordination, according to the National Institute on Aging. The disease occurs due to the death of nerve cells in the brain that produce dopamine, a chemical that is important to motor control. Parkinson’s is the world’s fastest growing neurodegenerative disorder, researchers said. It currently affects nearly 10 million people around the world. For the new study, researchers analyzed British health records for nearly 110,000 people who developed anxiety after age 50 between 2008 and 2018. Their medical data was compared to more than 878,000 people without anxiety. Researchers specifically looked for Parkinson’s symptoms — such as sleep problems,… read on > read on >

Low-birth-weight newborns have a higher risk of health complications if they become obese as children, a new study has found. Obese children who were low-birth-weight babies have a higher risk of insulin resistance, fatty liver and other health problems, researchers found. The study “supports the theory that individuals who were born low birth weight, or who are genetically predisposed to low birth weight, may be more vulnerable to health hazards — such as excess visceral fat — throughout the course of life,” said lead researcher Sara Stinson, a postdoctoral research fellow with Oslo University Hospital in Norway. Previous studies already have tied high birth weight to an increased risk of overweight and obesity, and low birth weight to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. To understand these links more, researchers analyzed data on more than 4,000 children. The data included birth weight, BMI, medical records, blood samples and a genetic health risk score associated with birth weight. They found that a low-birth-weight child’s insulin sensitivity suffers if they put on excess pounds. “In children with obesity, we see near normal insulin sensitivity in children born with a high birth weight and drastically decreased insulin sensitivity in children with low birth weight,” researcher Dr. Pauline Kromann Reim, a doctoral student with the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research at the University of Copenhagen… read on > read on >

A new slow-release pill form of ketamine can quell hard-to-treat depression without producing psychedelic side effects normally associated with the drug, early research suggests. Patients on the strongest dose of ketamine tablets saw significant improvement in their depression compared to a placebo, researchers found. On a 30-point depression scale, people taking the ketamine pill improved by 14 points, while the placebo group had an average reduction of 8 points. The tablet could provide an improvement over ketamine injections and nasal sprays, which already are used to treat depression, said researcher Colleen Loo, a clinical psychiatrist with the University of New South Wales in Australia. A derivative of ketamine called esketamine (Spravato) is already approved in the United States for treatment-resistant depression in adults. It comes as a pill, nasal spray or injection, but these all work quickly and produce psychedelic effects. “This is a way of administering ketamine to treat depression that’s much easier to give,” Loo said in a university news release. “Rather than having to come to the clinic and have an injection and have medical monitoring for two hours, once or twice a week, this is much more convenient and allows patients to have their treatment at home, making it as convenient as other antidepressant medications.” Extended-release ketamine also doesn’t cause the hallucinations typically associated with the drug, Loo added. It had… read on > read on >

Gun violence in the United States has become a national public health crisis, the U.S. Surgeon General declared Tuesday. “Today, for the first time in the history of our office, I am issuing a Surgeon General’s Advisory on firearm violence. It outlines the urgent threat firearm violence poses to the health and well-being of our country,” Dr. Vivek Murthy said in a news release announcing the new health advisory. “As a doctor, I’ve seen the consequences of firearm violence up close,” he added. “These are moms and dads, sons and daughters, all of whom were robbed of their physical and mental health by senseless acts of violence.” “Unfortunately, the problem has continued to grow. Fifty-four percent of adults in America report that they or family member have experienced a firearm-related incident, whether they’ve been personally threatened with or injured by a firearm, lost a family member, witnessed a shooting or shot a firearm in self-defense.” Some Americans are harmed more than others, Murthy noted. “Black individuals endure the highest rates of firearm homicides, while suicide rates are highest among veterans, older white individuals and younger American Indian or Alaska Native people,” he said. “What is especially devastating is how this has affected our children. Firearm violence has become the number one cause of death among children and adolescents, more than car accidents or drug overdoses.”… read on > read on >

Weight-loss drugs like Wegovy can improve symptoms in heart failure patients, a new clinical trial shows. Both men and women showed improved heart function after a year on semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, researchers report. Women tended to lose more weight than men, on average about 9.6% of their body weight compared with 7.2% in men. However, both genders experienced similar improvements regarding their heart health, researchers found. This could mean the drug might have heart benefits above and beyond helping people lose weight. The results shed light on “the consistent benefits of semaglutide for women and men,” said senior researcher Dr. Mikhail Kosiborod, a cardiologist at Saint Luke’s Mid-America Heart Institute in Kansas City, Mo. For the clinical trial, researchers randomly assigned 1,145 people with heart failure to take either semaglutide or a placebo for a year. Heart failure occurs when the heart starts to pump less efficiently, slowing the delivery of oxygen-rich blood throughout the body. This results in fatigue and shortness of breath, making everyday activities like walking or carrying groceries very difficult for some, according to the American Heart Association. But people on semaglutide experienced improvement in both their heart failure symptoms and the physical limitations the condition placed upon them, trial results show. They also had lower blood pressure and a smaller waist circumference after a year… read on > read on >

For decades, millions of Americans popped a low-dose aspirin each day to lower their heart risks. Then, accumulated data prompted the nation’s two leading cardiology groups — the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association — to overturn advisories in 2019 and recommend against daily aspirin, citing a risk for bleeding that exceeded any benefit for most people. Trouble is, many Americans aren’t heeding that message and continue to take the daily pill, a new survey finds. The survey, from a sample representing over 150 million U.S. adults, found that almost a third of heart-healthy people age 60 or older said they took a daily low-dose (81milligrams) aspirin each day in 2021. That’s about 18.5 million older Americans, said a team led by Dr. Mohak Gupta. He’s a physician in internal medicine who conducted the study while at the Cleveland Clinic. He’s now practicing at Houston Methodist. Add in folks under 60 and the number rises to more than 25.6 million Americans taking daily aspirin, the researchers estimated. Given aspirin’s now dubious risk-benefit ratio for folks at average heart risk, “our findings highlight the urgent need for physicians to inquire about aspirin use, including self-use, and engage in risk–benefit discussions to reduce inappropriate use for primary prevention in older adults,” the researchers said. They published their findings June 24 in the Annals of… read on > read on >

Losing weight can protect you against cancers related to obesity, a new study finds. Obesity has been linked to higher risk of at least 13 types of cancer, researchers said. This is largely due to excess levels of hormones like estrogen and insulin. But study results show that dropping pounds can improve a person’s odds against developing these cancers, including breast, kidney, ovary, liver and pancreatic cancers. “This study reinforces how crucial it is to treat obesity as a chronic disease,” said researcher Dr. Kenda Alkwatli, a clinical fellow at Cleveland Clinic. “We are hopeful that these results can help us better understand how we can use weight loss to address co-morbidities, including cancer in patients with obesity.” For the study, researchers evaluated the electronic health records of more than 100,000 obese patients at the Cleveland Clinic, of whom more than 5,300 developed cancer. Researchers tracked changes in BMI at three-, five- and 10-year intervals prior to a person’s cancer diagnosis and compared them against controls. They found that losing weight could reduce a person’s risk of developing most obesity-related cancers within a five-year span. For example, the risk of kidney cancer dropped within three years and endometrial cancer at three and five years. Multiple myeloma risk fell within 10 years. What’s more, losing weight also appeared to protect people against a range of 16… read on > read on >

A well-established cholesterol-lowering drug appears to significantly slow the progression of a diabetes-related eye disease, a new trial shows. Fenofibrate (Tricor) has been approved since 2004 as a means of lowering cholesterol. Now, this new study shows that fenofibrate also can reduce the progression of diabetic retinopathy by 27% compared to placebo. The findings were published June 21 in the journal NEJM Evidence and presented simultaneously at the American Diabetes Association’s annual meeting in Orlando, Fla. “Diabetic retinopathy remains a leading cause of visual loss and we need simple strategies that can be widely used to reduce the progression of diabetic eye disease,” said researcher David Preiss, an associate professor at Oxford Population Health in the UK. The results from the new trial “suggest that fenofibrate may provide a valuable addition to treat people with diabetic retinopathy,” Preiss added in a meeting news release. Diabetic retinopathy occurs when elevated blood sugar levels damage blood vessels in the back of the eye. The vessels start to swell and leak, eventually leading to blurry vision, blank spots and blindness. For this study, researchers recruited 1,151 adults in Scotland who had developed early diabetic retinopathy or macular degeneration. They were randomly assigned to take either fenofibrate tablets or a placebo. Over four years, nearly 23% of people taking fenofibrate had their eye disease worsen, compared with 29% on… read on > read on >

For the first time since the pandemic, it got a little safer to cross America’s streets in 2023, new statistics show. According to data released Monday from the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), 7,318 American pedestrians were killed by motor vehicles last year — a dip of 5.4% from 2022 and the first such decline seen since the pandemic ended. But it’s no time for celebration: The 2023 number for pedestrian deaths is still 14.1% above pre-pandemic levels. Still, the news is somewhat heartening, said GHSA Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Adkins. “A decline in pedestrian deaths offers hope that, after years of rising fatalities, a new trend is starting,” he said in a GHSA news release. “Each death is tragic and preventable. We know how to improve safety for people walking — more infrastructure, vehicles designed to protect people walking, lower speeds and equitable traffic enforcement. It will take all this, and more, to keep the numbers going in the right direction.” The new data comes from the State Highway Safety Offices (SHSOs) in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, the GHSA said. The report also gave insights into how and where pedestrians are most often killed: There’s been no big change in the kinds of vehicles driven when a pedestrian dies, only that the percentage of deaths involving light trucks ( SUVs, pickups… read on > read on >

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Drug-Resistant Fungi Found in Commercial Flower Bulbs, Compost, Soil

Anxiety Tied to Doubling of Parkinson’s Risk

Obesity May Be Even Less Healthy If Child Was Born Underweight

Slow-Release Ketamine Pill Eases Depression: Study

U.S. Surgeon General Declares Gun Violence a Public Health Emergency

Wegovy Helps Heart Failure Patients Lose Weight, Improve Symptoms

Despite Falling Out of Favor With Doctors, Daily Aspirin Still Popular

Healthy Weight Loss Could Lower Your Odds for Cancer

Cholesterol Med Might Slow Vision Loss in People With Diabetes

U.S. Pedestrian Deaths Decline for First Time Since Pandemic