Health/Fitness « Weekly Gravy

Huntington’s disease is a devastating, fatal neurological illness with little means of treatment, but a new study in mice offers a glimmer of hope. Huntington’s occurs when inherited genes cause key proteins to fold and clump together within brain cells. Over time, this severely hampers brain function and patients lose the ability to talk, walk, swallow and focus. There’s no cure, and the illness is typically fatal within a decade or two of symptom onset. However, new research in mice is investigating the utility of “peptide-brush polymers” as treatment. The peptides involved in the therapy are naturally occurring proteins that may block the lethal clumping of Huntington’s-associated proteins within brain cells. In studies conducted in a mouse model of Huntington’s, use of the polymer treatment appeared to “rescue” brain cells harmed by protein clumping and reverse Huntington’s symptoms, a joint team from Northwestern University and Case Western Reserve University reported. Of course, studies in mice sometimes fail to deliver the same results in people. Nevertheless, study co-lead author Nathan Gianneschi, of Northwestern University in Chicago, said “it’s quite compelling when you see animals behave more normally than they would otherwise” after the polymer treatment. Gianneschi, a professor of chemistry at Northwestern, has a personal stake in the new research. “My childhood friend was diagnosed with Huntington’s at age 18 through a genetic test,” he said in… read on > read on >

Women who’ve had concussions are more likely to suffer severe mental health problems following childbirth, a new study shows. A history of concussion increased a new mother’s risk of severe mental illness by 25%, after adjusting for other factors, Canadian researchers reported. “We found that individuals with a history of concussion were significantly more likely to experience serious mental health challenges, such as psychiatric emergency department visits or self-harm, in the years following childbirth,” said lead researcher Samantha Krueger, a registered midwife and doctoral candidate in health research methodology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. She conducted the study while at the the University of Toronto’s Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation. For the study, researchers analyzed data on more than 750,000 pregnant women in Ontario between 2007 and 2017. These women’s mental health outcomes were tracked for up to 14 years following delivery. Among women with a history of concussion, 11% experienced severe mental illness. Only 7% of those without prior concussions developed severe mental disorders. The findings, published Nov. 4 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, were particularly striking among women with no prior history of mental health problems. A history of concussion increased their risk of severe mental illness following delivery by 33%. “This association was especially strong for people with no prior mental health history, meaning that concussion may be… read on > read on >

The GLP-1 drug semaglutide can help obese people manage debilitating knee arthritis, a new trial has found. People who received weekly injections of semaglutide — the active agent in the diabetes drug Ozempic and the weight-loss medication Wegovy — had a nearly 14% decrease in their body weight after 68 weeks, compared with 3% of people given a placebo, results showed. The trial was funded by Novo Nordisk, the drug company that makes semaglutide. This weight loss translated into a decrease in knee pain and improved knee function among those taking semaglutide, researchers reported Oct. 30 in the New England Journal of Medicine. “Obesity-related knee osteoarthritis is a progressive condition that can lead to pain and stiffness of the knee and impair critical daily functions such as walking or moving around,” said lead researcher Dr. Henning Bliddal, a professor of rheumatology with Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark. “The risk of developing the condition is more than four times higher in people with obesity,” Bliddal added in a Novo Nordisk news release. Added weight places more stress on the knee, causing the natural cartilage that cushions the joint to wear down more quickly, experts say. Dropping excess pounds is often recommended to treat knee arthritis, but it can be tough to achieve through diet and exercise alone, Bliddal noted. For this study, researchers recruited 407 adults… read on > read on >

Smokers diagnosed with cancer often shrug and keep lighting up, figuring a few more butts won’t make much difference. They’re very mistaken, a new study finds. Smokers are 22% to 26% less likely to die if they quit following a cancer diagnosis, researchers found. The best outcomes occurred in patients who quit within six months of their cancer diagnosis and remained off the butts for at least three months, researchers reported Oct. 31 in the journal JAMA Oncology. “While smoking cessation is widely promoted across cancer centers for cancer prevention, it remains under-addressed by many oncologists in their routine care,” said principal investigator Paul Cinciripini, chair of behavioral science and executive director of the Tobacco Research and Treatment Program at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. “Our research underscores the critical role of early smoking cessation as a key clinical intervention for patients undergoing cancer treatment,” Cinciripini added in an MD Anderson news release. For the study, researchers followed more than 4,500 smokers who had been diagnosed with cancer and were in a quit smoking program at MD Anderson. Nearly all of the quit support was provided via telemedicine. Cancer patients who successfully abstained from smoking had an average survival of four years, compared with two years for those who couldn’t quit, results show. “This is a call to action for experts, regulatory… read on > read on >

Doctors in New York City are describing the first known U.S. cases of sexually transmitted ringworm, which can cause a nasty rash that can take months to bring under control. Despite the name, ringworm isn’t any kind of worm but instead is a fungus, Trichophyton mentagrophytes. It’s more commonly known as jock itch (when it affects the groin area) or athlete’s foot, and can produce a round, itchy rash. Until now, transmission of the fungal infection through skin-to-skin sexual contact has been rare, although cases have been reported in Southeast Asia and France since 2021, researchers reported. These have been a subtype of T. mentagrophytes called TMVII. The new report concludes that the first U.S. case of sexually transmitted TMVII was reported in June, and “four additional TMVII infections were diagnosed during April-July 2024 in New York City among men who have sex with men.” The rash appeared “on the [patients’] face, buttocks or genitals, and was successfully treated with antifungal medications,” said a team led by dermatologist Dr. Avrom Caplan, of NYU Langone Health in New York City. His team published its findings Oct. 31 in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a journal of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to the report, all five cases of sexually transmitted ringworm so far documented in the United States involved gay or bisexual… read on > read on >

Find it hard to take time to exercise during your busy workweek? No problem, a new study says — one or two “weekend warrior” workouts are just as likely to help you maintain your brain health. People who regularly exercise, whether solely on the weekend or throughout the week, are more likely to stay sharp as they age compared to people who never work out, researchers found. About 13% of cases of mild cognitive impairment might be avoided if all middle-aged adults exercised at least once or twice a week, researchers estimated. “This study is important because it suggests that even busy people can gain cognitive health benefits from taking part in one or two sessions of sport and exercise per week,” concluded the research team led by Gary O’Donovan, an adjunct professor of sport science with Los Andes University in Bogota, Colombia. For the study, researchers analyzed data from more than 10,000 people in Mexico City. All participants were asked how often they worked out or played sports, and they also took part in a cognitive function test. Weekend warriors worked out once or twice a week, while regularly active people said they exercised three or more times a week. During an average follow-up period of 16 years, about 26% of the people who never exercised developed mild cognitive impairment, compared with 14% among… read on > read on >

People who regularly use marijuana experience changes in their brain structure and function, but it’s not clear that cannabis is the cause, a new study finds. Researchers found specific differences in the brains of people who’d ever used weed, particularly in areas densely packed with cannabinoid receptors. However, genetic analysis couldn’t pin down any specific association between cannabis use and these brain changes. This means some other factor besides weed might be causing these brain changes in marijuana users. “Our results need to be interpreted with careful consideration,” concluded the research team led by Saba Ishrat, a doctoral student in psychiatry with the University of Oxford in the U.K. “Additional research is needed to understand the effects of heavy cannabis use in this population, including considerations of potency and related information, to inform public policy.” For the study, researchers analyzed data on nearly 15,900 weed users participating in the U.K. Biobank research project for whom genetic profiling and MRI brain scans were available. Looking at the brains of the marijuana users, researchers found that they had poorer integrity of their “white matter,” the part of the brain that connects different brain regions. This was particularly evident in the corpus callosum, which serves as the main route of communication between the left and right sides of the brain. Weed users also had weaker neural connections in… read on > read on >

For many reasons, bodybuilders and others involved in weight training might have to take a break from the gym. However, new Finnish research finds that even weeks-long interruptions in training won’t hamper muscle-building efforts. “Of course, the break slows progress some, but it is comforting to know that it is possible to reach the pre-break level surprisingly quickly,” said study lead author Eeli Halonen. He’s a doctoral student in sport and health sciences at the University of Jyväskylä. Halonen and his colleagues published their findings recently in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports. In the new study, 42 adults (just over half were males) took part in one of two 20-week weight-training regimens. In one group, folks engaged in weight-training sessions (exercises included leg presses and biceps curls) for the whole 20 weeks without interruption. The second group exercised for 10 weeks, then took a 10-week break, then resumed exercise for another 10 weeks. “Results for maximum strength and muscle size development were similar in both groups,” the researchers concluded in a university news release. For the 20 people that took the 10-week break midway, all measures of muscle improvement bounced back quickly, Halonen’s group said. “During the first few weeks after the break, progress was very rapid and after only five weeks of re-training, the pre-break level had already been reached,”… read on > read on >

Most kids with attention issues won’t go on to develop serious psychiatric conditions like psychosis or schizophrenia. However, a new study finds poor attention spans in childhood, plus certain genes, could play a role in raising the risk for these conditions. Of course, much more research is needed to pinpoint precursors to psychotic symptoms in a person’s teens or 20s, said a team from the University of California, Los Angeles. Even if children have certain risk factors, that’s still not a guarantee of psychiatric illness in adulthood, they stressed. “If you have this strong liability based on your genetics and early attentional span, we don’t know what the longer-term trajectories are and who are the people who are going to be more resilient to their underlying risk,” explained study lead author Dr. Carrie Bearden. “That’s going to be really important to look at when those [better] data become available,” said Bearden, a professor at the UCLA Health Semel Institute and the UCLA Health Brain Research Institute. Her team published its findings Oct. 28 in the journal Nature Mental Health. The study looked at cognitive, brain and genetic data for more than 10,000 children tracked for an average of six years, from about age 9 into adolescence. Bearden’s team sought to compare rates of attentional issues in childhood, plus certain genetics, against the likelihood of a… read on > read on >

Smoking marijuana during pregnancy may quell your morning sickness, but it could also harm your child’s development, a new study warns. Cannabis exposure in the womb is associated in early childhood with poorer thinking skills, researchers reported Oct. 28 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. These kids also have behavioral problems like impulse control, poor attention and aggressive behavior, researchers found. “Although cannabis is a natural product, there are still many risks to using it during pregnancy,” said lead researcher Sarah Keim, principal investigator in the Center for Biobehavioral Health at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio. “Some women may turn to cannabis to help deal with some common issues of pregnancy including nausea, sleep problems and stress,” Keim said. “This is not recommended. Consulting with a health care provider to find safer options to help with these issues during pregnancy is important.” For the study, researchers combined multiple assessment tools to track the development of preschool children. Kids exposed to weed during pregnancy had more difficulty controlling their impulses, paying attention and planning, based on observations of their behavior in a play laboratory environment. They also tended to show more aggressive behavior. “Our findings were not surprising — they actually confirm and expand on longstanding evidence from previous research,” Keim said in a hospital news release. “With our more contemporary and diverse sample of women and… read on > read on >