Health/Fitness « Weekly Gravy

Depression can make it tougher for athletes to recover from a concussion, and vice versa, a new study finds. Student athletes who have both concussion and depression have significantly worse symptoms for both conditions, researchers reported recently in the journal Brain Research. What’s more, electrical signals in the brain are more disrupted among people with both concussion and depression than among those with only one of these conditions, the researchers noted. “We wanted to measure — both subjectively and objectively — whether these two neurological conditions also have a compounding effect on each other, and our study demonstrated that they do,” said lead researcher Owen Griffith, a doctoral candidate in kinesiology with Penn State. For the study, researchers studied 10 male and 25 female college athletes. All received EEG brain scans and underwent screenings for concussion and depression symptoms. Those who had both depression and concussion reported nearly twice as many symptoms of depression as those who had either condition alone, results showed. Likewise, those with both depression and concussion reported significantly worse and more prolonged post-concussion symptoms than those who suffered a concussion but no depression. The EEG brain scans showed that people had less coherent brain wave patterns if they suffered both concussion and depression, researchers said. These EEG measurements show that functional connectivity between brain areas is significantly disrupted in people with… read on > read on >

Weight-loss and diabetes drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro or Zepbound appear to help people battle alcoholism and opioid addiction, a new study finds. People taking this class of drugs, called glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1), have a 50% lower rate of drunkenness than people with addiction disorders not on the meds, researchers reported Oct. 17 in the journal Addiction. GLP-1 patients also have a 40% lower rate of opioid overdose, results show. GLP-1 drugs “exhibited a strong protective association with alcohol intoxication among those with alcohol use disorder,” concluded the research team led by Fares Qeadan, an associate professor of biostatistics at Loyola University in Chicago. “Related prescriptions additionally displayed a strong protective association with opioid overdose among individuals with opioid use disorder,” the researchers added in a journal news release. GLP-1 drugs promote weight loss by mimicking a hormone produced in response to eating. Taking the drug helps stabilize blood sugar levels, decrease feelings of hunger and slow digestion, researchers noted. The brain region targeted by GLP-1 “overlaps with the same processes that are responsible for the development and maintenance of addictive behaviors such as chronic substance use,” the researchers said. For this study, researchers analyzed data on more than 500,000 people with a history of opioid addiction and 817,000 with a history of alcoholism. The data, drawn from 136 U.S. health systems, spanned… read on > read on >

Alzheimer’s disease might damage the brain in two distinct phases, a new study suggests. An early phase that occurs slowly and silently appears to lay the groundwork for a second, more widely destructive phase of Alzheimer’s, according to sophisticated brain scans. “The results fundamentally alter scientists’ understanding of how Alzheimer’s harms the brain and will guide the development of new treatments for this devastating disorder,” said Dr. Richard Hodes, director of the National Institute on Aging. Previous studies have suggested that the damage caused by Alzheimer’s occurs in several stages, characterized by increasing levels of neuron death, inflammation and accumulation of toxic proteins in the brain. But these results indicate there really are just two phases of Alzheimer’s, with most of the traditional symptoms and brain damage happening rapidly during the second phase, researchers said. Brain scans of 84 people suggest that the first phase occurs prior to any memory problems that might develop. During this phase, damage occurs to a type of brain cell called an inhibitory neuron that might trigger the neural problems that underlie Alzheimer’s, researchers said. Inhibitory neurons send calming signals to other cells, researchers said. Losing these cells might strip the brain of a key level of protection. The first phase also is marked by a slow accumulation of toxic protein plaques, activation of the brain’s immune system, and damage… read on > read on >

Pharmacists may continue making compounded versions of the weight-loss medication tirzepatide while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration revisits its Oct. 2 decision to remove the medicine from a national drug shortage list. What prompted the FDA to reconsider its decision? On Oct. 7, a compounding trade group filed a lawsuit challenging the agency’s action, saying there was still a shortage of the wildly popular drug. On Friday, the FDA responded in a court filing that compounding pharmacies could continue making the drug while the agency re-evaluates its finding, NBC News reported. Shortages of tirzepatide, sold as a diabetes drug (Mounjaro) and a weight-loss medication (Zepbound), have fueled demand for compounding pharmacies to make their own versions of the medicine, which patients say are cheaper and easier to get. During FDA-declared drug shortages, compounding pharmacies can make versions that are copies of the brand-name drugs in shortage. But the agency’s Oct. 2 announcement said pharmacies that produce large batches of medications would no longer be able to accept new orders of tirzepatide and had 60 days to fill their existing orders. The agency’s Friday filing said its latest move was “effectively the relief that Plaintiffs sought in their motion.” In the filing, the agency said it wouldn’t “take action” against the plaintiffs and their members making compounded versions of the drugs as it re-evaluates its decision, NBC News reported. … read on > read on >

People sense millisecond shifts in odor as quickly as they might spot a change in color, new research shows. The study discounts the notion that smell is a “slower” sense than sight or hearing, scientists say. “A sniff of odors is not a long exposure shot of the chemical environment that averages out” over time, explained study lead author Dr. Zhou Wen, at the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Instead, smell can spot fluctuations in odors with a “sensitivity on par with that for color perception” in vision, she said in an academy news release. Zhou’s team published its findings Oct. 14 in the journal Nature Human Behaviour. Human’s sense of smell is nowhere near that of many animals, such as dogs. But it may not be as sluggish as most people think, the new study found. In their experiments, the Chinese team constructed a special sniff-triggered device that organized the emissions of odors with a precision of 18 milliseconds. Using the device, they had it produce two odors one after the other, separated by milliseconds, switching which odor came first. They then had 229 people sniff the odors to see if they could sense any differences. According to the academy news release, “participants could tell the difference when the delay between the compounds was just 60 milliseconds — about a… read on > read on >

It’s natural for a parent to bundle an injured child into a car and rush their kid to the emergency room. But that decision could actually delay their child’s emergency care, a new study shows. Severely injured children brought to an ER by their parents aren’t treated as quickly as those who arrive via ambulance, the researchers discovered. On average, a child brought to an emergency room by a parent will wait nearly an hour before they’re seen by an ER doctor, researchers found. That’s because paramedics call ahead to alert an ER prior to arrival, explained researcher Dr. Robert Hirst, an emergency medicine registrar with the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children in the United Kingdom. “This leads to early trauma team activation, resulting in specialist services and resources being ready and prepared to see these patients as soon as they arrive,” Hirst said. “This has been shown to be associated with better outcomes for children with significant injuries.” Parents bringing a badly injured child in themselves “can lead to delays in the appropriate level of care being provided,” Hirst added. For the study, researchers analyzed data on 24 children brought to the Bristol Royal Hospital by their parents following a severe injury. Three out of four of the patients were boys. A little more than half (54%) had head injuries, 33% had limb injuries… read on > read on >

As with any new drug, parents and doctors may worry that the use of GLP-1 weight-loss meds by children and teens might raise psychiatric risks, including the risk for suicide and suicidal thoughts. But a new study involving more than 54,000 U.S. adolescents found no such link. In fact, obese kids who used the drugs had a 33% decline in their risk for thoughts of suicide and suicide attempts compared to adolescents who didn’t, Israeli researchers reported. There could be many reasons driving the boost in mental outlook that comes with the use of drugs like Wegovy (semaglutide), said a team led by Dr. Liya Kerem, of Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem. One is pretty straightforward: “Obesity during adolescence, by itself, is associated with diminished quality of life and increased risk for psychiatric disorders,” the researchers noted. So, as GLP-1 medications help teens shed pounds, their risk for thoughts of suicide may recede. The findings were published Oct. 14 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. Sales of GLP-1 weight-loss medications like Wegovy and Zepbound (tirzepatide) have boomed among adults, and with 1 in every 5 U.S. children now obese, the drugs’ uptake by adolescents is also surging. However, Kerem’s team said the data on whether or not GLP-1 meds might trigger depression and other psychiatric issues has been mixed. “Suicide is the second most prevalent… read on > read on >

Alison Burke wanted to be there for her daughter following the girl’s diagnosis with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Then she noticed that a lot of what she was learning about ADHD sounded awfully familiar. “As I took her through that process and learned more about it, it was definitely like a light bulb moment,” Burke recalled. “I thought, I think a lot of this sounds familiar.” Burke is one of a growing number of adults who suspect they might have undiagnosed ADHD. About 25% of adults think they have ADHD that hasn’t been detected by a doctor, according to a new national survey by Ohio State University. However, only 13% have shared their suspicions with a doctor, the survey found. Doctors are concerned that these folks are diagnosing themselves and seeking out ineffective or quack treatments for ADHD. “Anxiety, depression and ADHD — all these things can look a lot alike, but the wrong treatment can make things worse instead of helping that person feel better and improving their functioning,” said psychologist Justin Barterian, a clinical assistant professor in Ohio State’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health. Burke believes that undiagnosed ADHD severely affected her self-worth. “I really struggled with feeling like I could be good at anything because it just felt like it took so much energy to get it accomplished,” Burke said in an… read on > read on >

Results from a very small study suggest that a combination of the diabetes drug Ozempic and an innovative new intestinal procedure could help erase the need for insulin in folks with type 2 diabetes. The new trial hasn’t yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal and it included only 14 patients. However, Dutch researchers report that after six months of the combo therapy, 12 of the 14 participants with type 2 diabetes no longer needed supplemental insulin. The findings were presented Sunday at the United European Gastroenterology annual meeting in Vienna. The intestinal procedure used in the new trial was pioneered by researchers at the Mayo Clinic in the United States. It’s called Endoscopic re-cellularization via electroporation therapy (ReCET). The procedure focuses on the duodenum, the first part of the small intestine. The duodenum is responsible for further digestion of food coming from the stomach and nutrient absorption by the body. As explained by the Mayo Clinic’s director of endoscopy, Dr. Andrew Storm, duodenum function goes awry in type 2 diabetes and ReCET seeks to repair the dysfunction. “ReCET is non-thermal procedure that involves delivering [via an endoscope] a pulsed electric field (PEF) to facilitate the re-cellularization of the duodenum with regenerated metabolically active cells,” he explained in a Mayo blog. “The goal of this procedure is to help individuals achieve better control of blood glucose… read on > read on >

Bilingual people have more active and flexible brains, a new study has discovered. Brain scans revealed that folks who speak two languages have increased connectivity between their brain regions, researchers reported Oct. 10 in the journal Communications Biology. This connectivity is strongest in people who learned their second language at a young age, researchers noted. “Our work suggests learning a second language during childhood helps build a more efficient brain organization in terms of functional connectivity,” said lead investigator Zeus Gracia Tabuenca, a postdoctoral researcher with McGill University in Toronto. For the study, researchers recruited 151 people who either spoke French, English or both languages. Study participants were given MRI scans that tracked connectivity throughout their brains. Learning a second language appeared to increase the brain’s neuroplasticity — its ability to build new connections within itself. This effect was most powerful when someone had learned their second language at a young age, results showed. “The results indicate that the earlier the second language experience, the broader extent of brain areas involved in neuroplasticity,” Tabuenca said in a McGill news release. “That’s why we are observing higher connectivity of the cerebellum with the cortex in earlier exposures to a second language.” These results mirror previous studies that show how brain regions work together to understand and produce language, researchers said. Such additional brain connectivity can increase… read on > read on >