If you ever find yourself losing weight, even though you’re not dieting or upping your exercise, go see a doctor. It can be a sign of cancer, researchers report. “Unexpected weight loss can come from cancer or many other conditions,” said study senior author Dr. Brian Wolpin. He directs the Gastrointestinal Cancer Center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. “Sometimes weight loss is due to more exercise or a healthier diet, and this can be beneficial to people’s health,” he said in a Dana-Farber news release. “However, when a patient experiences unintentional weight loss not due to healthier behaviors, seeing your primary care doctor is appropriate, so they can determine whether additional evaluation is necessary for other causes of weight loss, including cancer.” In the new study, Wolpin’s team tracked the health and health habits of over 157,000 participants in the ongoing  Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. These studies began in the 1970s and 1980s and followed adult participants until 2016. Participants were asked a variety of questions, including their current weight and any intentional weight-loss behaviors such as dieting and exercise. “We wanted to differentiate healthy weight loss from unhealthy weight loss,” explained study first author Dr. Qiaoli Wang, a research fellow at Dana-Farber. “Healthy weight loss can come from dietary changes or increased exercise. But unhealthy weight loss…  read on >  read on >

Factors like sleep, energy levels and stress can predict the onset of a migraine headache, a new study finds. Those factors differed from the morning to the afternoon and evening, however. Poor perceived sleep quality, lower-than-usual quality of sleep and lower-than-usual energy levels are associated with a morning migraine, according to the report published online Jan. 24 in the journal Neurology. Conversely, afternoon and evening migraines are tied to increased stress levels or higher-than-usual energy levels the day before. “These different patterns of predictors of morning and later-day headaches highlight the role of the circadian rhythms in headache,” said study author Kathleen Merikangas, chief of the Genetic Epidemiology Research Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). “The findings may give us insight into the processes underlying migraine and help us improve treatment and prevention.” For the study, researchers tracked potential predictors of a migraine among 477 people ages 7 through 84. Nearly half the participants had a history of migraines, and about three out of five had at least one morning migraine during the study. The participants rated their mood, energy, stress and headaches four times a day for two weeks, using a mobile app. They also rated their sleep quality once a day, and wore activity monitors to track their sleep and physical activity. Results showed that poor perceived sleep quality came…  read on >  read on >

Strange visual disturbances occur early in about 10% of Alzheimer’s cases, and when this happens it almost always signals the impending arrival of the disease, a new study finds. The condition is called posterior cortical atrophy (PCA). It involves a sudden difficulty in performing vision-related tasks — for example writing, judging whether an object is moving or stationary, or easily picking up a dropped item. Everyday tasks like these become difficult despite the fact that a person’s eye exam comes out fine. “We need more awareness of PCA, so that it can be flagged by clinicians,” said study co-lead author Marianne Chapleau, of the University of California, San Francisco’s department of neurology. “Most patients see their optometrist when they start experiencing visual symptoms and may be referred to an ophthalmologist who may also fail to recognize PCA,” she said in a UCSF news release. “We need better tools in clinical settings to identify these patients early on and get them treatment.”  To determine just how predictive of dementia PCA might be, Chapleau’s team analyzed data on over 1,000 patients at 36 sites in 16 countries. PCA tended to emerge at a fairly young age — 59, on average. Patients with PCA often failed to accurately copy simple diagrams, had trouble gauging an object’s location or had difficulty visually perceiving more than one object at a…  read on >  read on >

Two new strategies using deep brain stimulation can improve symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, Duke University researchers have found. Doctors can efficiently improve symptoms of Parkinson’s by simultaneously targeting to key brain structures using a newly developed self-adjusting device, researchers recently reported in the journal Brain. For the past two decades, doctors have used deep brain stimulation (DBS) to treat symptoms of advanced Parkinson’s, which can include tremors, stiffness, and involuntary writhing movements. The technique involves electrodes inserted into a targeted area of the brain. The electrodes act similarly to a heart pacemaker, delivering electrical pulses that help quell symptoms. The two key brain regions targeted by deep brain stimulation are the subthalamic nucleus and the globus pallidus, “which are two structures in the brain closely associated with movement,” said senior author Dr. Dennis Turner, professor of neurosurgery, neurobiology, and biomedical engineering at the Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C. “There are benefits to both locations on their own depending on the patient’s symptoms,” Turner said in a Duke news release, “but we believed placing the electrodes at both locations could be complementary and help reduce medication doses and side effects, as well as implement a completely new approach to adaptive DBS.” Beside targeting both regions at once, researchers also decided to include a technique called “adaptive DBS.” Traditional DBS involves a doctor setting…  read on >  read on >

Black people are five times as likely as others to develop glaucoma and up to 15 times more likely to be blinded by the degenerative eye disease. Now, a new study reports that genetics appears to be at least one factor contributing to this increased risk. Researchers have identified three gene variants that could be fueling Black people’s higher glaucoma risk, according to findings published Jan. 18 in the journal Cell. “Our work is an important step toward defining subgroups of glaucoma, providing the capability for early screening and discovering targetable pathways for personalized therapeutic interventions,” said study co-author Rebecca Salowe, a research project manager with the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Genetics of Complex Disease in Philadelphia. Glaucoma occurs when fluid pressure starts to increase inside a person’s eye, gradually damaging the optic nerve. For the study, researchers analyzed the genetics of more than 11,200 people of African ancestry. They discovered two gene variants linked to primary open-angle glaucoma, which is the most common form of the disease. Open-angle glaucoma affects as many as nine out of 10 Americans who have glaucoma, according to the Cleveland Clinic. It occurs when resistance builds up in the canals that typically drain excess fluid from the eye. They also found a third variant associated with cup-to-disc ratio, which is a measure of glaucoma severity based on the…  read on >  read on >

Back pain is a double-edged sword. In most cases, it disappears within about six weeks. But when it doesn’t, low back pain is likely to bother you for the long haul, researchers warn. “The good news is that most episodes of back pain recover, and this is the case even if you have already had back pain for a couple of months,” said researcher Lorimer Moseley, a professor of physiotherapy and pain management at the University of South Australia in Adelaide. “The bad news is that once you have had back pain for more than a few months, the chance of recovery is much lower.” More than 570 million people worldwide are affected by low back pain. In the U.S. alone, the bill for treating it added up to $134.5 billion between 1996 and 2016. And costs are increasing. In a review of 95 studies, an international team compared acute low back pain (less than 6 weeks), subacute back pain (6-12 weeks) and persistent low back pain (more than 12 weeks).  They report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal that for folks with new back pain, pain and mobility issues eased significantly in the first six weeks, then slowed. This study closed a gap in a 2012 study from the same team, with new findings showing that many people whose pain lasts more than 12…  read on >  read on >

Winter isn’t kind to your skin. Dry, cold weather causes dryness, and you might even develop “winter rash” — dry, irritated skin that’s red, bumpy, flaky and burns. That’s why it’s prime time to step up your skin care routine. Dr. Oyetewa Oyerinde, assistant professor of dermatology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, shared some tips to keep your skin glowing. “During the winter, our skin typically dries out because the air tends to be less humid, and we also use the heater indoors, which leads to even more dryness,” she said in a Baylor news release. “Dry skin is more likely to develop many types of rashes.” That’s why she recommends changing up your usual routine of daily cleansing, moisturing and sun protection. If you usually use lotion, consider using a thicker cream-like moisturizer. If you usually use cream-like moisturizers, consider switching to an ointment-type moisturizer, Oyerinde suggested.  If you enjoy outdoor activities or snow sports, don’t forget your sunscreen.  Following a good skin care regimen will help prevent a winter rash, she said. Your lips and skin around the eyes is especially vulnerable not only to the cold but also to rubbing caused by allergies, colds or flu, she pointed out. Soothing irritated skin is easy. Just grab a jar of petroleum jelly and slather it on affected areas. Petroleum jelly creates…  read on >  read on >

Electric scooters might seem a fun way to zip about, but they’re also a pricey hazard to riders’ health, a new study argues. Orthopedic treatment for 82 patients injured in e-scooter wrecks averaged more than $28,400 per person, as doctors labored to mend broken bones and dislocated joints. “E-scooters go up to 20 miles per hour, but people are allowed to ride them on sidewalks with no safety equipment. It’s no surprise that many riders have had high-energy traumas, and their communities often absorb the cost,” said researcher Dr. Drew Sanders, an associate professor of orthopedic surgery and residency program director at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. E-scooter injuries have increased dramatically in recent years, rising 22% between 2021 and 2022, according to a recent report from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Dallas offers an e-scooter sharing program that was suspended in 2020 due to safety concerns but brought back in spring 2023, researchers said in background notes. For their study, researchers analyzed medical records at Parkland Memorial Hospital, a public hospital that serves Dallas County. The hospital is funded by county residents through property taxes to provide safety-net care for those without insurance. The team identified 82 patients treated between January 2017 and August 2020 for injuries linked to e-scooters. About 7 in 10 patients were male, with an average age of 34.…  read on >  read on >