Health/Fitness « Weekly Gravy

Kids with a genetic risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are likely to spend hours a day glued to their screens, but researchers say it doesn’t mean screen time causes ASD. The investigators also found that children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) gradually increased their screen time as they got older, even if they started out with low levels of initial screen use. “While long periods of screen time in childhood have been suggested to be a cause of ASD/ADHD, the results of this study suggest that some people may have a genetic disposition to use screens because of ASD,” said lead researcher Dr. Nagahide Takahashi. He is an associate professor of medicine at Nagoya University in Japan. “Screen time may be an early sign of ASD, rather than a cause, as children with ASD are often more attracted to objects than people,” he added in a university news release. “Physicians should know that it is not fair to conclude that prolonged screen time is a risk factor for the development of ASD,” Takahashi explained. Most people are spending more time on digital devices, including smartphones, computers, television and video game systems. The researchers said that’s especially true for kids with neurodevelopmental disorders. Joining with colleagues from Hamamatsu University, Takahashi’s team examined 6.5 million differences in the DNA of 437 children to determine genetic susceptibility to… read on > read on >

Millions of people spend hours looking at screens every day, straining their eyes. An ophthalmologist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston offers some tips for easing both eye strain and headaches. “We focus on one object, especially an object that’s up close, like a computer screen or phone, for prolonged periods of time, and we don’t give our eye muscles time to rest,” said Dr. Masih Ahmed, an assistant professor of ophthalmology at Baylor. “If you don’t give your muscles enough time to rest, that can cause some tension of those muscles,” Ahmed explained. Dry eye can also cause eye strain, as you subconsciously blink less when reading, watching TV or working on the computer. Follow the 20-20-20 rule when working in front of a screen, Ahmed suggested. Take a 20-second break every 20 minutes to focus on something 20 feet away to give your eyes a rest. And use artificial tears if you have dry eyes. Prolonged eyestrain can give you a headache. If you wear corrective lenses, make sure you have the proper prescription, he advised. If you have an astigmatism, you won’t see as sharply. This might require more focus and energy, leading to eye strain. “You might squint more trying to get that pinhole effect for things to look clearer. Astigmatism can also make things look distorted in shape if… read on > read on >

You might be talking to a real person while on Zoom, but it’s just not the same to your brain as a face-to-face conversation. New research using sophisticated imaging tools found that the brain activity of people engaged in conversation looks different from that of two people conversing on Zoom. “In this study we find that the social systems of the human brain are more active during real live in-person encounters than on Zoom,” said senior author Joy Hirsch. She is a professor of psychiatry, comparative medicine and neuroscience at Yale University in New Haven, Conn. “Zoom appears to be an impoverished social communication system relative to in-person conditions,” she explained in a Yale news release. Zoom, of course, is a popular videoconferencing platform. Most previous research using imaging tools to track brain activity involved single individuals, rather than pairs in natural settings. The researchers noted that human brains are finely tuned to process facial cues during in-person encounters. In this study, which recorded neural system responses in the two types of conversations, increased neural signaling among participants in face-to-face conversations was associated with increased gaze time and wider pupils. This suggested increased arousal in the two brains. Participants in in-person interactions also had increased brain wave activity characteristic of enhanced face-processing ability, the study authors said. The investigators also found more coordinated neural activity… read on > read on >

Millions of older Americans may be unaware they have memory and thinking impairments — mostly because their doctors aren’t diagnosing them, new research suggests. After analyzing Medicare data covering 40 million older Americans, researchers found that only a small percentage of expected cases of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) were actually diagnosed. The upshot was that more than 7 million cases went undetected. Mild cognitive impairment refers to problems with memory, judgment, language and other mental skills that are not disabling, but go beyond the occasional slips that are expected with age. MCI may turn up as forgotten appointments, regularly misplacing things, trouble following the plot of a book or movie, or difficulty navigating well-known places. Some older adults with MCI eventually develop Alzheimer’s — around 10% per year, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. But more often, MCI has other, often reversible causes, said Dr. Saket Saxena, a geriatrician at the Cleveland Clinic who was not involved in the new research. Those causes run the gamut, Saxena said — including medication side effects, low thyroid hormone, depression, untreated sleep apnea, uncontrolled health conditions like diabetes, mobility limitations and social isolation. “It is not a foregone conclusion that you’re going to develop dementia,” said senior study author Soeren Mattke, director of the Brain Health Observatory at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. And the fact that MCI has… read on > read on >

A variety of risks can make it more likely that someone develops Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias. Now you can add neighborhood environment to that list. A new study finds low income levels and a lack of green spaces are among the factors that can harm brain health. “Social determinants of health have a major impact on cognition, as well as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular health,” said lead author Lilah Besser. She’s a research assistant professor of neurology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine’s Comprehensive Center for Brain Health. “Understanding these interactions is crucial in developing interventions to improve brain health in individuals living in disadvantaged neighborhoods,” Besser explained in a university news release. Past research has shown that a type of brain damage known as white matter hyperintensities has been linked to higher risks of Alzheimer’s disease and dementias, as well as stroke. Other studies have found an increased risk of dementia in lower socioeconomic neighborhoods. This study built on that, using MRIs of 1,260 people. The participants were cognitively normal and age 65 or older. Scans were taken approximately five years apart. The researchers measured changes in white matter hyperintensities and brain ventricle size. They also assessed associations between neighborhood green space, neighborhood income and the MRI scans. “We found that white matter worsening was more likely for individuals in lower… read on > read on >

Toos electric scooters are a fire hazard and people should stop using them, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) warned Monday. The Toos Elite 60-volt electric scooters, also marketed under the name Zooz, were sold exclusively at Toos Urban Ride stores in New York and online at the Toos website. Two people recently died in an apartment fire that local fire officials determined was caused by the lithium-ion battery in a Toos Elite 60-volt scooter, the CPSC said in a news release. One of the victims of the fire, which happened April 10 in New York City, was 7, the CPSC said. The scooter that caused that fire was being charged by a 48-volt charger also sold by Toos. The CPSC said the scooter has not been certified by an accredited laboratory to the UL safety standard. UL Solutions issued a public notice concerning these 48-volt chargers because they are marked with unauthorized UL certification. Consumers should stop using the scooters, regardless of the charger used. The business, Toos Urban Ride, has refused to recall the scooters, the CPSC said. The company has said that it disagrees with the commission’s warning, noting the wrong-volt charger, 48-volt instead of 60-volt, was used to charge the scooter. Toos asserts that the CPSC technical staff evaluated a Toos 60-volt scooter and “did not identify any apparent defects… read on > read on >

Mid-life isn’t too late to make a dietary change to preserve brain health. Women who started following the diet known as DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) to lower their blood pressure were about 17% less likely to report memory loss and other signs of mental decline decades later, a new study reveals. “Subjective complaints about daily cognitive performance are early predictors of more serious neurocognitive disorders such as Alzheimer’s,” senior author Yu Chen, a professor of population health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine in New York City, said in a university news release. “With more than 30 years’ follow-up, we found that the stronger the adherence to a DASH diet in midlife, the less likely women are to report cognitive issues much later in life,” Chen added. About 6.5 million Americans over age 65 were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2022, a number that’s expected to double by 2060. Women comprise about two-thirds of those diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, the most widespread form of dementia. Research has also shown that high blood pressure, particularly in midlife, is a risk factor for cognitive (mental) decline and dementia. The DASH diet emphasizes plant-based foods that are rich in potassium, calcium and magnesium. It limits saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium and sugar. To study the impact of eating this way, researchers analyzed data from more than 5,100 women enrolled… read on > read on >

The party drug ketamine has gotten a lot of notice for its potential to help people with severe and persistent depression who haven’t responded to other treatments. But a new study has discovered the drug’s effect may be in the heads of patients who take it. Researchers from Stanford Medicine administered either ketamine or a placebo to 40 patients with depression who were already getting anesthesia while undergoing surgery. Importantly, none of the patients or their doctors knew whether they got the drug or the placebo. What the team found came as a surprise: People in both groups reported a large improvement in depression symptoms. “What we expected was that patients who received placebo… would continue to not do much better after their procedure and their infusion and that the patients who got ketamine would do better,” said lead study author Dr. Theresa Lii, a postdoctoral scholar in the Heifets Lab at Stanford Medicine in California. “That was what we predicted. And, actually, what really surprised us is that everyone got better,” Lii said. An explanation could be that something more nebulous, maybe hope and a person’s expectations, may play a role in the drug’s success, the authors suggested. Ketamine is an anesthetic that was developed in the early 1960s. In the early 2000s, a psychiatrist started testing the drug in patients who had treatment-resistant… read on > read on >

Use of steroids among high school athletes is a continuing problem, and now new research finds these youths are also more likely to suffer a concussion while they play. The study was published Oct. 20 in the Journal of Osteopathic Medicine. “The neurobehavioral shifts of steroid use may lead to increased aggressive play and a subsequent heightened risk for concussions,” said researcher Kennedy Sherman, of Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine at Cherokee Nation. “Moreover, athletes using steroids are likely to have higher muscle volume and increased muscle strength, amplifying the momentum and impact of head-on collisions,” Sherman added in a journal news release. “Steroid use and concussions each have numerous health consequences, and when occurring together in a person, these effects may be amplified.” Researchers used data from a Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System survey, finding that 3.7% of young athletes reported previous steroid use. About 20.7% of all athletes reported having sustained a concussion. Among those who did not use steroids, nearly 20% reported a concussion, compared to about 55% of those who did use steroids. The good news? The prevalence of steroid use among high school athletes decreased from 3.4% in 1999 to 1.9% in 2019. The highest rates were in 2001 and 2003, at 5.3% and 4.4%, respectively. Use varied across ethnic groups. The highest rate was seen in the… read on > read on >

More than 60,000 gun safes have been recalled following the death of a 12-year-old boy and dozens of reports that unauthorized people can open the Fortress Safe devices. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said a programming flaw allows unauthorized people into the biometric safe. The youth died in Nevada after he opened and allegedly accessed a gun stored inside. He suffered a “lethal gunshot wound to the head” in January 2022, according to lawsuit documents obtained by the New York Times. The boy’s father bought the safe in 2021 at a Scheels store in Nevada, the news report said. The safe uses fingerprint technology. Consumers can think they’ve set the biometric lock, allowing access only by an authorized person, but the safe remains in the “default to open” mode, the CPSC said. This allows unauthorized users, including children, to access firearms in the safe. The CPSC said there have been 39 reports of safes accessed by unpaired fingerprints. People who have these safes should immediately stop using the biometric feature, remove the batteries and only use the key, the CPSC advised. You should contact Illinois-based Fortress Safe for instructions on disabling the biometric feature. The company is also offering a free replacement safe. The recalled gun safes include portable lock boxes, personal safes, pistol vaults and gun cabinets with brand names Fortress, Cabela’s, Gettysburg… read on > read on >