Tapping the power of the small brain region called the cerebellum could improve patients’ ability to move cutting-edge robotic limbs, a new study suggests. The cerebellum is an ancient structure located under the brain, just above where the spinal cord connects to the brain. This structure has largely been overlooked by prosthetics researchers in favor of the cerebral cortex, which is the outermost layer of tissue covering the brain, researchers noted. But lab studies with rats show that the cerebellum can play a key role in controlling the movement of objects using brain waves. “The cerebellum has a well-known role in movement but has been ignored in neuroprosthetic research,” said researcher Tanuj Gulati, an assistant professor of biomedical sciences and neurology at the Cedars-Sinai Center for Neural Science and Medicine, in Los Angeles. “We are the first to record what is happening in the cerebellum as the brain learns to manipulate these devices, and we found that its involvement is essential for device use,” Gulati added in a Cedars-Sinai news release. Currently, experimental robot devices are controlled with brain waves through electrodes permanently implanted in regions of the cerebral cortex known to help manage movement of the human body. This technique has allowed patients to control robot limbs, motorized wheelchairs and computer keyboards, researchers noted. To see how the cerebellum contributes to motor control, researchers…  read on >  read on >

Doctors sometimes prescribe antibiotics to help treat a cough, but a new study shows the drugs won’t help reduce the severity or duration of coughing — even if a bacterial infection is the culprit. Lower respiratory tract infections that cause coughing have the potential to become more dangerous, with 3% to 5% of these patients suffering from pneumonia, said lead researcher Dr. Dan Merenstein, a professor of family medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine, in Washington, D.C. “But not everyone has easy access at an initial visit to an X-ray, which may be the reason clinicians still give antibiotics without any other evidence of a bacterial infection,” Merenstein said in a Georgetown news release. This has led some patients to expect antibiotics for a cough, Merenstein said. To see if antibiotics make any difference, researchers tracked their use in people presenting with lower respiratory tract infections. About 29% of people were prescribed an antibiotic during their initial medical visit, but the drugs had no effect on their cough compared to those who didn’t get a prescription. It also took the same amount of time for people to get over their infection, whether or not they got an antibiotic — about 17 days. The new study was published April 15 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Overuse of antibiotics is increasing the risk that…  read on >  read on >

Among U.S. women with migraine, a third say the attacks tend to coincide with their periods, a new survey finds. Migraines that occur during menstruation are often frequent and severe, but only about one in five respondents said they used medications aimed at preventing the headaches. “If you have migraines related to your menstrual cycle, discuss this with your gynecologist or neurologist. There are treatments that can help and if the first treatment tried does not work, do not give up,” said study lead author Dr. Jessica Ailani. She’s professor of clinical neurology at Georgetown University School of Medicine. The new study was funded by Pfizer, which makes a migraine medication. The findings are slated to be presented Tuesday at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, in Denver. Ailani and her colleagues looked at data collected from adult women with migraine as part of the  2021 U.S. National Health and Wellness Survey. They found that a third of the women said their migraines often occurred during their periods. In more than half of these cases (52.5%), the women were premenopausal. Migraines occurred frequently during menstrual periods — an average of 8.4 headache days per month — and they were often severe, with just over 56% of women ranking their severity as moderate-to–severe on a standard scale. Many women attempted to treat the…  read on >  read on >

Lucid episodes are an unexpected occurrence among people with late-stage Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. But these spontaneous events — in which a person temporarily regains an ability to communicate that appeared to be permanently lost — are not always a sign of impending death, a recent study argues. Half the time, people live more than six months following their lucid episode, results show. Another third of the time, the person lives a week to six months after a lucid episode. This runs contrary to prior research that indicated these episodes might signal imminent death, said lead researcher Joan Griffin, with the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. “It’s important for people to know that these are not necessarily harbingers for death,” Griffin said in a Mayo news release.  “I think people can get anxious when they happen, so it’s good to know that there are different kinds of episodes that don’t necessarily mean death is imminent.” The new study is also the first to identify four different types of lucid episode that can occur. The most common is preceded by a visit with family or friends, and occurs among people who continued to live longer than six months after the episode, researchers said. About 33% of patients experienced this type of lucid episode. The least common occurs within a week of death, but also coincides with…  read on >  read on >

Rosacea is a common skin condition that causes redness on a person’s face. It commonly appears as a tendency to blush or flush more easily, but also can cause more serious symptoms like: Swollen skin. Skin that stings, burns or is very sensitive. Visible broken blood vessels. Acne-like breakouts. Oily skin. “With rosacea, there can be many triggers that will worsen symptoms or cause a flare-up,” said Dr. Lycia Thornburg, a board-certified dermatologist in Rapid City, S.D.. Still, “it’s possible to control your rosacea and even prevent it from getting worse by recognizing and avoiding triggers, ranging from alcohol to sunlight to the skin care products you use,” she added in an American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) news release. To help manage rosacea symptoms, Thornburg and the AAD recommend that people: Choose rosacea-friendly products. Look for products that say they are noncomedogenic, meaning they don’t clog pores and are made for sensitive skin. Avoid face products that contain alcohol, camphor, fragrance, glycolic acid, lactic acid, menthol, sodium laurel sulfate and urea. Test skin care products. Before using any products, test them on a quarter-sized patch of your skin on the inside of your arm every day for a week to 10 days. If your skin remains clear, that means the product most likely won’t cause a rosacea flare-up. Cleanse and moisturize. Avoid the temptation to…  read on >  read on >

The discovery of a gene variant that rids the brain of toxic plaques linked to Alzheimer’s might lead to new treatments for the disease, researchers report. The variant arises naturally in people who don’t seem to get Alzheimer’s disease despite having another gene, called APOEe4, that strongly promotes the illness. “These resilient people can tell us a lot about the disease and what genetic and non-genetic factors might provide protection,” explained study co-lead author Badri Vardarajan, an assistant professor of neurological science at Columbia University in New York City. “We hypothesized that these resilient people may have genetic variants that protect them from APOEe4,” Vardarajan added in a university news release. The researchers believe the newly discovered gene variant may reduce the risk for Alzheimer’s by more than 70% in folks lucky enough to carry it. Breaking the blood-brain barrier In their research, Vardarajan and colleagues conducted genomic screening on hundreds of individuals who carried the APOEe4 gene variant, which greatly raises the risk for Alzheimer’s, but who had gone into old age without developing the disease. The found a common variant shared by many of these people. It occurred in a gene charged with making fibronectin, a component used to make the “blood-brain barrier.” That’s the lining that surrounds the brain and helps police which substances can get in and out. People who develop Alzheimer’s tend…  read on >  read on >

There’s no evidence that acetaminophen use during pregnancy increases the risk of childhood autism, ADHD or intellectual disability, the largest study to date on the subject has concluded. The analysis of more than 2.4 million children born in Sweden included siblings not exposed to the drug before birth, researchers said. Siblings share genetics and upbringing, allowing researchers to weed out other factors that might contribute to autism, ADHD and developmental delays. In this study, researchers found no increased risk when they compared siblings exposed to acetaminophen in the womb to brothers or sisters who weren’t, according to results published April 9 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. “This study’s findings may be welcome news for birthing people who use acetaminophen as a pain or fever management option, since there are few safe alternatives for relief available,” said co-senior author Renee Gardner, a principal researcher with Sweden’s Karolinska Institute. “We hope that our results provide reassurance to expectant parents when faced with the sometimes fraught decision of whether to take these medications during pregnancy when suffering from pain or fever,” Gardner added. Acetaminophen is the active ingredient in Tylenol, and is also an ingredient in cold and flu remedies like Theraflu, Excedrin and Mucinex, researchers said in background notes. Concerns regarding the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy have grown in recent years. In 2021,…  read on >  read on >