Health/Fitness « Weekly Gravy

Severe inflammation very early in childhood might hamper the development of key brain cells, perhaps setting the stage for conditions such as autism or schizophrenia, new research suggests. The origins of many neurodevelopment disorders remain mysterious. But the new study of postmortem brain tissue from children who died between the ages 1 and 5 shows how inflammation affects brain cells. In their research, the team from the University of Maryland School of Medicine targeted a portion of the brain known as the cerebellum, using a cutting-edge technology called single nucleus RNA sequencing. “We looked at the cerebellum because it is one of the first brain regions to begin developing and one of the last to reach its maturity, but it remains understudied,” said study co-leader Seth Ament, an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Maryland. The cerebellum is key to psychiatric research because it’s responsible for higher cognitive functions such as those employed in language, social interactions and the regulation of emotion. Prior studies have shown that infants with abnormalities in their cerebellum often develop neurodevelopment disorders. In animal research, exposing the brain to inflammation before birth also seems to raise the odds for those types of conditions. In their research, published Oct. 12 in Science Translational Medicine, Ament and co-lead author Margaret McCarthy noticed consistent genetic patterns in the cerebella of deceased… read on > read on >

Adult acne can significantly change how women are perceived in social settings, a new study finds. And where the acne is located on the face changes the onlooker’s perception. Researchers tracked eye movements of 245 study participants looking at pictures of women with clear skin or acne on different parts of their faces. Faces with acne were perceived as significantly less attractive, less trustworthy, less successful, less confident, less happy and less dominant. Acne that was primarily located in the U-zone, which is around the jawline, mouth and chin, received the lowest scores for attractiveness and was considered the most visually disturbing. “This study concerns simple questions: Who is more burdened by the disease? Which lesions need to go first? Whom should I treat more aggressively?” said lead author Dr. Marek Jankowski, an assistant professor of dermatology at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland. “What they’re really trying to get at is where on the face acne is going to have the most impact on how someone perceives the acne, either self-perception or another person looking at the face,” added Dr. Christopher Bunick, an associate professor of dermatology at Yale School of Medicine. “The implication they’re trying to make is that, if someone has more kind of mid-facial acne then maybe that’s a little bit closer to the healthy skin and a little less… read on > read on >

A new guideline from four leading medical organizations should help doctors determine if someone is brain dead. “Until now, there have been two separate guidelines for determining brain death, one for adults and one for children,” said author Dr. Matthew Kirschen, a critical care physician at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “This update integrates guidance for adults and children into a single guideline, providing clinicians with a comprehensive and practical way to evaluate someone who has sustained a catastrophic brain injury to determine if they meet the criteria for brain death,” Kirschen said in a news release from the American Academy of Neurology (AAN). The guidance was jointly crafted by the AAN, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the Child Neurology Society (CNS) and the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM). With brain death, there is a complete and permanent stopping of brain function after a catastrophic brain injury. “Brain death means that clinicians cannot observe or elicit any clinical signs of brain function,” said author Dr. David Greer, of Boston University School of Medicine. “Brain death is different from comatose and vegetative states. People do not recover from brain death. Brain death is legal death.” The guidelines offer professionals a standardized procedure for evaluating people for any clinical functioning of their brain and brainstem. Current policies vary among U.S. hospitals and around the world,… read on > read on >

Renting a home, rather than owning it outright, may speed up the body’s aging process, a new study suggests. Researchers found that when compared with people who owned their home outright (no mortgage), those who rented showed signs of faster “biological aging” — which meant their body cells and tissues were a bit “older.” On average, the impact was equivalent to just a small fraction of a year of aging. Even so, the study found, that was greater than the effects of being unemployed or being a former smoker. In addition, the link was specifically seen among people who rented privately — not those in public housing. While that might seem puzzling, the researchers said it makes sense: At least in the United Kingdom, where the study was conducted, “social” housing is often better maintained, more affordable and more stable than private rentals. “We believe that the typically poorer physical conditions in privately rented housing is likely one factor,” said lead researcher Amy Clair, of the University of Adelaide, in Australia, and the University of Essex in the United Kingdom. Beyond that, she said, private renters face more insecurities around their housing. And based on past research, Clair added, that kind of stress could speed biological aging. Biological aging is determined by certain physiological markers of the rate at which the body’s cells and tissues… read on > read on >

A medication already approved for excessive daytime sleepiness may help ease attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in adults who aren’t getting relief from available treatments, according to a small pilot study. Solriamfetol is a nonstimulant drug that is approved for sleepiness caused by narcolepsy (sudden sleep attacks) and obstructive sleep apnea (marked by breathing lapses during sleep). “The pilot study is very promising, but more research is needed before this medication can be recommended or approved for adults with ADHD,” said study author Dr. Craig Surman. He is the director of the clinical and research program for adult ADHD at Massachusetts General Hospital and an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, in Boston. For the study, 60 adults with ADHD took 75 or 150 milligrams of solriamfetol or a placebo for six weeks. They were interviewed about ADHD symptoms throughout the study and filled out self-reports. By the end of the study, more folks taking solriamfetol showed improvements in ADHD symptoms than those who took the placebo. The drug’s makers, Jazz Pharmaceuticals and Axsome Therapeutics, funded the study. In the United States, as many as 10 million adults have ADHD. They may have difficulty paying attention, impulsiveness and trouble with executive functions such as analyzing, organizing and planning — problems that can hinder success at school, work or in personal relationships, according to Children… read on > read on >

As many doctors and patients hail the advent of weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy as the perfect fix for obesity, some experts are urging caution. The drugs are not well-tolerated by everyone struggling with obesity. For some folks, the weight piles back on as soon as the medication stops. There are also financial and ethical considerations, according to a commentary published online recently in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. More research is needed to better understand the medications, said endocrinologist Dr. Michael Schwartz from the University of Washington School of Medicine, in Seattle. Many experts seem to be saying “OK, we’ve fixed this problem. We’re done,” said Schwartz, co-director of the school’s Diabetes Institute and a co-author of the commentary. “We shouldn’t be complacent, and assume that these drugs are the answer to these chronic conditions,” Schwartz said in a university news release. “We are giving drugs where we don’t understand totally how they work.” Wegovy (semaglutide) is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treatment of obesity, a problem affecting about 42% of the U.S. population. Ozempic (semaglutide) and Mounjaro (tirzepatide) are approved for type 2 diabetes, but are also prescribed for weight loss. The medications mimic the action of naturally produced hormones, including glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1). Patients feel full when eating less because of the increase in insulin, appetite suppression… read on > read on >

Anyone with a cat knows the calm, low rumble of purring, but how does such a small animal make such a low sound? New research suggests it boils down to a pad embedded in feline vocal cord folds. That’s different than previously thought, which was that purring happened through a special mechanism, with cyclical contraction and relaxation of the muscles in the vocal folds within the larynx, and that it required constant control from the brain. “Anatomical investigations revealed a unique ‘pad’ within the cats’ vocal folds that may explain how such a small animal, weighing only a few kilograms, can regularly produce sounds at those incredibly low frequencies [20 to 30 Hz, or cycles per second] — far below even than lowest bass sounds produced by human voices,” researcher Christian Herbst, a voice scientist from the University of Vienna, said in a university news release. The findings, published online Oct. 3 in the journal Current Biology, aren’t an outright contradiction of the previous theory, but they are a clear indicator that the understanding of cat purring is incomplete, the researchers said. A controlled laboratory experiment showed that the domestic cat larynx can produce these low-pitched sounds with a mechanism similar to the human “creaky voice.” More information The U.S. Library of Congress has more on how cats communicate with each other. SOURCE: University of… read on > read on >

Former pro football players with symptoms of depression or anxiety are far more likely to receive an unverifiable diagnosis of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) than players without those mental health conditions, a new study reports. Players with depression are 9.5 times more likely to be diagnosed with CTE, while players with both depression and anxiety are 12 times more likely, the study results showed. The problem: At this point CTE can only be diagnosed as part of a brain autopsy. “CTE can only be diagnosed after death,” said lead author Shawn Eagle, a research assistant professor of neurological surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. “It shouldn’t be diagnosed in anyone while they’re living. Being told you have CTE when you’re alive is a problem because there’s no valid test to diagnose CTE in a living person.” Researchers argue that those players’ doctors are dropping the ball by handing out a CTE diagnosis, because there are effective treatments for the mood disorders that led to the diagnosis. “Depression, anxiety and sleep apnea produce cognitive symptoms, are treatable conditions, and should be distinguished from neurodegenerative disease,” Eagle said. “CTE is a neurodegenerative disease without available treatments or available diagnosis in a living person.” CTE is a degenerative brain disease that can be caused by repeated head impacts and concussions. It usually affects athletes who… read on > read on >

Long COVID, a constellation of symptoms that extend past the initial illness, is now a recognized condition. But researchers say COVID-19 may not be the only respiratory virus that causes these lasting health impacts — “long colds” may also exist. “Our findings shine a light not only on the impact of long COVID on people’s lives, but also other respiratory infections. A lack of awareness — or even the lack of a common term — prevents both reporting and diagnosis of these conditions,” said lead study author Giulia Vivaldi, a researcher from Queen Mary University of London. To study this, researchers compared the prevalence and severity of long-term symptoms after a COVID case versus illness with another acute respiratory infection that tested negative for COVID-19. Those recovering from COVID-19 were more likely to feel lightheaded or dizzy after the illness and to have problems with taste and smell compared to those who had a non-COVID respiratory infection. While those with a “long cold” didn’t seem to have those symptoms, among the symptoms they experienced were cough, stomach pain and diarrhea that lingered for more than four weeks. Severity of illness seemed to drive these other symptoms. Other respiratory illnesses can include colds, the flu and pneumonia. “As research into long COVID continues, we need to take the opportunity to investigate and consider the lasting effects… read on > read on >

New research suggests that concert goers may synchronize their breathing and more as they listen to the intricacies of a classical symphony performance. Previous studies have shown that music may be able to induce synchronization in listeners, but the authors of this study said there has been little investigation into whether concert audiences actually become synchronized. This new study, involving 132 participants, suggests that heart rate, breathing rate and the electrical conductivity of skin (which suggests excitement) may synchronize between audience members at classical concerts. People who rated more highly for personality traits such as agreeableness or openness were more likely to synchronize with other audience members. Those with neurotic or extravert traits were less likely to become synchronized. The researchers, led by Wolfgang Tschacher, from the University Hospital of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, in Bern, Switzerland, observed the 132 people while they listened to a concert in which three classical music pieces were played by a string quintet. They were Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Op. 104 in C minor,” Brett Dean’s “Epitaphs,” and Johannes Brahms’ “Op. 111 in G major.” The research team monitored participants’ movement using overhead cameras and measured their physical responses with wearable sensors. They also asked the participants to fill in questionnaires about their personality and mood both before and after the concert. While the investigators saw synchronization in a variety of… read on > read on >