Health/Fitness « Weekly Gravy

Children with “lazy eye” are more likely to become adults facing an array of serious health problems, a new study warns. Kids diagnosed with amblyopia are more likely to develop high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes as adults, researchers found. They also face an increased risk of heart attack, according to findings published March 7 in the journal eClinicalMedicine. “Vision and the eyes are sentinels for overall health,” said lead author Dr. Siegfried Wagner, a senior research fellow with the University College London Institute of Ophthalmology. “They are intimately linked with other organ systems. This is one of the reasons why we screen for good vision in both eyes.” Amblyopia occurs when vision in one eye doesn’t develop properly. As the brain ignores the weaker eye, that eye drifts out of position and tends to face slightly away from wherever a person is looking. As many as four in every 100 children have lazy eye, researchers said in background notes. It’s the most common vision condition in children. For this study, researcher analyzed data from more than 126,000 people ages 40 to 69 participating in the ongoing UK Biobank study. As part of their medical history, participants were asked whether they were treated for amblyopia in childhood, and whether they still had the condition in adulthood. They also were asked if they had been diagnosed with… read on > read on >

It’s well known that long-acting opioid meds raise the odds for addiction in users — including folks dealing with pain after an orthopedic surgery. Now, new research suggests that patients fare just as well if doctors prescribe less risky immediate-release opioids following a knee replacement surgery. Pain management was equal to that seen in patients on long-acting opioids, researchers report, and patients even had fewer bouts of medication-linked nausea. “If you can move from long-acting to immediate-release opioids without increased pain or other adverse effects, that’s a win,” said study co-author Judith Barberio, a clinical associate professor with Rutgers School of Nursing in New Jersey. “This quality improvement project suggests it’s possible to do that when recovering from a total knee replacement.” Barberio and her colleagues noted that U.S. surgeons replace about 790,000 bum knees each year. Experts have long known that the painful recovery period after joint surgery can be hazardous in terms of developing an opioid addiction. In the study, the research team took advantage of a planned switch in post-op protocol by one knee replacement surgeon: Switching patients from extended- to immediate-release opioids for pain. The study tracked outcomes for 36 patients who underwent surgeries before the change to those of 34 patients who got immediate-release opioids after the change. The result: No difference in patients’ pain scores, regardless of which type… read on > read on >

The perpetrator of a mass shooting in Maine last fall had extensive brain damage from “thousands of low-level blasts” tied to his work at an Army Reserve hand grenade training range, a new report shows. On Oct. 25, Robert Card, 40, killed 18 and injured another 13 in a deadly rampage in the town of Lewiston after opening fire in a bowling alley and then a restaurant. After a two-day manhunt, Card was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Card was a U.S. Army Reservist who had long been an instructor at the hand grenade training range, where it is believed he was exposed to constant low-level blasts on a daily basis. In a statement released Wednesday, the nonprofit Concussion Legacy Foundation said Card’s family was releasing the findings of a tissue analysis conducted on Card’s brain “in an effort to help prevent future tragedies.” The analysis had been performed at the request of the Maine Chief Medical Examiner’s office and was led by Dr. Ann McKee, of the Boston University CTE Center. “Robert Card had evidence of traumatic brain injury,” McKee said in the statement. “In the white matter, the nerve fibers that allow for communication between different areas of the brain, there was significant degeneration, axonal and myelin loss, inflammation and small blood vessel injury. There was no evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy [CTE].” CTE… read on > read on >

Living close to trees and other greenery could be keeping your bones strong, a new 12-year study suggests. Folks whose residences were near spots deemed “green” by satellite imagery tended to have better bone density than those who lived elsewhere, Chinese researchers found. Reductions in air pollution seemed key to greenery’s benefit for bones, according to a team led by Zhengxiao Ouyang, of Central South University in Changsha. “These findings provide valuable insights into the potential of greenness in preventing the onset of osteoporosis and emphasize the significance of urban greening in developing effective prevention strategies,” Ouyang’s team said. The findings were published March 5 in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. The study drew on data from over 391,000 British people whose habits and health are being tracked by the UK Biobank database. Participants averaged 56 years of age, and 53% were women. Besides recording data on each person’s bone mineral density and their genetic risk for osteoporosis, the Biobank also contained data on their diet, smoking status, income, exercise levels and other factors. The Chinese team used satellite imagery to figure out how “green” the area around each person’s residence was. Separate data was used to track local levels of air pollution. Over the 12 years included in the study, 9,307 people went on to develop a new case of osteoporosis. The study… read on > read on >

Put down that donut and lay off the pasta: New research finds you’re less sexy after gorging on refined carbs. French researchers presented heterosexual adults with photos of an opposite-sex person who two hours earlier had eaten a breakfast rich in refined carbohydrates. Participants rated the folks in the photos as less attractive compared to people who’d eaten a healthier breakfast. “Facial attractiveness, an important factor of social interactions, seems to be impacted by immediate and chronic refined carbohydrate consumption in men and women,” concluded a team led by Amandine Visine of the University of Montpelier. Her team published its findings March 6 in the journal PLOS One. According to the researchers, “refined” carbohydrate foods are ubiquitous in the Western diet, and include highly processed fare stripped of much of its nutritional value. White flour plus refined sugar are often ingredients, and many snacks are high in refined carbohydrates. According to a news release from the journal’s publisher, “preliminary evidence has suggested that consuming high levels of refined carbohydrates might also affect non-medical traits, such as a person’s attractiveness.” To investigate further, the French team recruited 104 white male and female adults. Some were told to eat a high-glycemic breakfast loaded with refined carbs that are known to boost blood sugar levels. Others ate a low-glycemic breakfast that avoided refined carbs. All of the participants… read on > read on >

Barry Cadden, co-founder of a specialty compounding pharmacy behind a deadly meningitis outbreak in 2012, has been handed a prison sentence of 10 to 15 years in Michigan for involuntary manslaughter. On Tuesday, Cadden pleaded no contest to the charges against him, the Associated Press reported. His sentence will be served concurrently with the 14 1/2-year sentence he is already serving under a federal conviction for fraud and other crimes. Cadden co-founded the New England Compounding Center in Massachusetts. Twelve years ago, about 100 people died and 800 in total were made ill across 20 states after receiving injections of mold-contaminated steroids sourced from the company. Most had needed the injections for back pain. Speaking in a federal court in Boston in 2017, Cadden said: “I am sorry for the whole range of suffering that resulted from my company’s drugs,” the AP reported. At the time, prosecutors said Cadden’s company failed consumers in multiple ways — cutting back on lab disinfecting, shipping products before testing they were safe and ignoring repeated warnings about the safety of methods used in the lab. All of this was done to save the company costs, prosecutors said. Cadden appeared Monday in Livingston County court, northwest of Detroit. He pleaded no contest to each of the 11 counts of involuntary manslaughter leveled against him — one for each Michigan resident… read on > read on >

Weight-loss drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic can increase a person’s risk of throwing up during surgery while under anesthesia, a new study reports. People are typically asked to fast prior to surgery because general anesthesia can cause nausea, and they might inhale and choke on their own vomit. Unfortunately, part of the way that these drugs, called GLP-1 receptor agonists, help prompt weight loss is by slowing the digestion process, researchers explained. That means it takes longer for food to pass through the stomach. About 56% of people on a weight-loss drug still had significant amounts of food in their stomach at the time of their surgery, as revealed by ultrasound, researchers reported March 6 in the journal JAMA Surgery. Comparatively, only 19% of people not taking a GLP-1 receptor agonist had food left over in their stomach following preoperative fasting, results showed. “More than half of the patients on a GLP-1 receptor agonist had significant gastric contents on gastric ultrasound before an elective procedure, despite adhering to preoperative fasting,” said lead researcher Dr. Sudipta Sen, an associate professor of anesthesiology with the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. These results jibe with guidance issued last year by the American Society of Anesthesiologists that calls for screening for weight-loss drug use before surgery, and informing patients of the risks involved, researchers said. Doctors… read on > read on >

Folks who’ve suffered a concussion and then develop headaches show iron accumulation in their brains, new research discovers. Excess brain iron stores are a hallmark of damage, noted a team led by Simona Nikolova, of the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix. The team is slated to present the results in April at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN). “Previous studies have shown that iron accumulation can affect how areas of the brain interact with each other,” Nikolova said in an AAN news release. “This research may help us better understand how the brain responds and recovers from concussion.” The new research involved 60 people who all developed headaches after a concussion. The concussions were caused by falling (45%), car accidents (30%) or fighting (12%). For just under half of the people, this was their first concussion. Brain scans from the 60 concussion patients were compared to those taken from 60 people with no history of concussions or post-traumatic headache. The scans showed that, compared to folks who’d never been concussed, those with a history of concussion had higher levels of iron in various brain areas. Iron levels seemed to mount as time after the concussion went on. “These results suggest that iron accumulation in the brain can be used as a biomarker for concussion and post-traumatic headache, which could potentially help us… read on > read on >

Sleep apnea could have detrimental effects on the brain, causing memory or thinking problems, a new study suggests. People suffering from sleep apnea are about 50% more likely to also report having memory or thinking problems, compared to those without sleep apnea, researchers say. “These findings highlight the importance of early screening for sleep apnea,” said researcher Dr. Dominique Low, a clinical fellow with the Boston Medical Center. Sleep apnea occurs when people stop and restart breathing repeatedly as they sleep. Symptoms include snoring, gasping and breathing pauses. People with sleep apnea often suffer from unexplained fatigue and mood swings, because their breathing interruptions continually wake them as their blood oxygen levels dip. They are unable to settle into a deep and nourishing sleep. For this study, researchers surveyed nearly 4,300 people about their sleep quality, memory and brain function. About a quarter of the participants reported symptoms of sleep apnea. Of those with sleep apnea, a third (33%) reported memory or thinking problems, compared to just 20% of people without sleep apnea. Low plans to present her study at the American Academy of Neurology annual meeting, which takes place in April in Denver. Research presented at medical meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal. Low said the findings point to the importance of taking sleep apnea seriously. “Effective treatments like… read on > read on >

Children exposed to anesthesia in the womb when their pregnant mom has surgery are more likely to suffer from behavioral issues later, a new study finds. Exposure to general anesthesia before birth was associated with a 31% increased risk of diagnosis with a behavioral disorder as a child, researchers reported Feb. 29 in the British Journal of Anesthesia. The risk was even higher when exposure occurred in the second or third trimester, the researchers said. “This study provides compelling evidence that prenatal exposure to surgery and general anesthesia may have adverse effects on children’s neurobehavioral development,” said senior study author Dr. Guohua Li, a professor of epidemiology with the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York City. For the study, researchers analyzed data for nearly 17 million deliveries between 1999 and 2013. Of those, more than 34,000 children were exposed to general anesthesia due to their expecting mom undergoing an appendectomy or gall bladder removal — the two most common non-obstetric procedures performed during surgery. Children exposed to anesthesia in the womb were more likely to develop attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), behavioral disorders, developmental disorders involving speech or language, and autism, researchers discovered. These behavioral problems tended to occur after the first three years, when differences between kids exposed to anesthesia and those who weren’t became apparent, results show. General anesthesia drugs… read on > read on >