People who carry a gene that’s associated with Alzheimer’s disease may lose their sense of smell long before memory and thinking problems occur, a new study suggests. This early sign of potential dementia is not seen in people who don’t carry this gene, called APOE e4, researchers report July 26 in the journal Neurology. “Testing a person’s ability to detect odors may be a useful way to predict future problems with cognition,” said researcher Dr. Matthew GoodSmith, a resident at the University of Chicago. “While more research is needed to confirm these findings and determine what level of smell loss would predict future risk, these results could be promising, especially in studies aiming to identify people at risk for dementia early in the disease,” GoodSmith added in a journal news release. For the study, the researchers surveyed more than 865 people about their ability to detect an odor and identify what they were smelling. Tests were given over five years. Those with memory or thinking problems were tested twice, five years apart. The investigators also took DNA samples. People who carried the gene variant for Alzheimer’s were 37% less likely to have good odor detection than people without the gene, the researchers found. Those with the gene experienced reduced smell detection from age 65 to 69. At that age, gene carriers could detect an average…  read on >  read on >

President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that his administration is seeking new rules to push insurance companies to increase coverage of mental health treatment. The new rules, which still must go through a public comment period, would require insurers to study if customers have the same medical and mental health benefits and fix any disparities if they don’t. “You know, we can all agree mental health care is health care,” Biden said in a White House news release. “It is health care. It’s essential to people’s well-being and their ability to lead a full and productive life, to find joy, to find purpose, to take care of themselves and their loved ones. It’s about dignity. Think about this.” The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, passed in 2008, requires insurers to offer the same mental and physical health care coverage, which isn’t the case now. “Folks, it shouldn’t be this way,” Biden said at a White House event highlighting the announcement. “It doesn’t need to be this way.” “But, right now, for millions of Americans, mental health care and treatment for substance abuse is out of reach,” Biden added. “It’s out of reach. In 2020, less than half — less than half of all adults with mental illness diagnosis received care for it. Less than half.” If finalized, the new rules would change that. “I…  read on >  read on >

Women are more likely to develop endometriosis if they have elevated levels of cadmium in their system, a new study reports. Twice as many women with slightly or moderately elevated levels of the toxic element wound up with endometriosis compared to women with the lowest levels, researchers say. “Although endometriosis is estimated to affect 1 in 10 women, the reason why this condition develops in some women and not in others remains unclear,” said senior researcher Kristen Upson, an assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at Michigan State University. “Our research on environmental contaminants and finding of an association between cadmium exposure and endometriosis is helping to move the needle closer to understanding risk factors for endometriosis,” she added. This newly discovered association between endometriosis and cadmium is “a good starting point for additional studies that look at other environmental factors and how they can perhaps cause endometriosis,” said Dr. Susan Khalil, director of the Division of Sexual Health in the Raquel and Jaime Gilinski Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science at Mount Sinai. “I think it doesn’t give exact recommendations for action at this time, or things that you can translate into clinical management. So I can’t really make recommendations off of this for patients,” Khalil added. “But I would at the same time say it’s great they’re finding these associations, so they…  read on >  read on >

More than half of all patients with autoimmune diseases also suffer from depression and anxiety — but most are never asked about their mental health, a new study finds. Surveying more than 1,800 patients, British researchers found more than half rarely or never reported their mental health symptoms to their doctor. This could mean the range of mental health and neurological symptoms is much wider than has been reported. “The low level of reporting we identified is a major concern as problems with mental health, fatigue and cognition can be life-changing, and sometimes life-threatening,” said study co-author Dr. Melanie Sloan in a Cambridge news release. She is in the university’s department of public health and primary care. Another author, Dr. Tom Pollak, said the numbers were “startling.” “We have known for some time that having a systemic autoimmune disease can negatively affect one’s mental health, but this study paints a startling picture of the breadth and impact of these symptoms,” said Pollak, who is from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London. “Everyone working in health care with these patients should routinely ask about mental well-being, and patients should be supported to speak up without fear of judgment. No patient should suffer in silence,” Pollak added. For the study, the researchers surveyed 1,853 patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases, such as lupus…  read on >  read on >

The Biden administration on Monday awarded $58 million in grants to help schools and daycare centers remove lead from drinking water. The announcement came during an event in Boston. “I am excited to join local leaders in Boston to announce $58 million in grant funding that can be used to test for lead in drinking water, identify potential sources, and remove those sources to better protect our nation’s children,” EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Radhika Fox said in an agency news release. “Reducing lead in drinking water is a top priority for the Biden-Harris Administration and EPA is taking a holistic approach — harmonizing drinking water standards with historic infrastructure investments under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law while providing technical assistance to disadvantaged communities to protect all our children from lead in drinking water,” she added. The grants will help test for lead in drinking water, identify sources of contamination and help fix the problem, Fox said. “During his first year in office, President Biden announced a bold plan to replace every lead pipe in America. Today’s announcement is another step toward making that vision a reality. Schools and child care centers across the country will have the resources to ensure students are safe to learn, play and grow alongside their friends,” House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark said in the EPA news release. Lead in water…  read on >  read on >

More omega-3 fatty acids in your diet might prevent hearing loss as you age, researchers report. Low levels of the omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) are linked to hearing loss in middle and old age, according to findings slated for presentation Monday at a meeting of the American Society for Nutrition, in Boston. Middle-aged and older adults with higher DHA levels, however, were 8% to 20% less likely to have age-related hearing issues than those with lower DHA levels, researchers said. “Animal models suggest maternal omega-3 fatty acid deficiency alters offspring hearing development, and long-term omega-3 supplementation may be protective for cochlear metabolism and reduce progression of hearing loss,” said study leader Michael McBurney, a senior scientist at the South Dakota-based Fatty Acid Research Institute and adjunct professor of human health and nutritional sciences at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. “Now we find blood DHA concentrations are inversely associated with hearing loss,” he said. This study, however, can’t prove that high levels of DHA prevent hearing loss, only that there appears to be an association, McBurney said. The findings add evidence of the importance of omega-3 fatty acids, including DHA to protect against aging-related declines in a variety of body functions, he noted. Omega-3 fatty acids are found in fish, nuts and seeds and in dietary supplements such as fish oil. “Our…  read on >  read on >

Tornado damage to a Pfizer drug-making plant in North Carolina is unlikely to trigger drug shortages across the country, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says. “We do not expect there to be any immediate significant impacts on supply, given the products are currently at hospitals and in the distribution system,” FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said in an agency news release posted Friday. “Our initial analysis has identified less than 10 drugs for which Pfizer’s North Carolina plant is the sole source for the U.S. market, however, a number of these are specific formulations for which there should be substitutes or for which many weeks’ worth of stock should be available in Pfizer’s other warehouses,” Califf explained. “Notably, while Pfizer has one third of the total sterile injectable drug market for hospitals in the U.S., this facility only makes 25% of Pfizer’s total product for this market – not the entire market,” Califf added. “This means 8% of U.S. consumption is supplied by this site.” Meanwhile, Pfizer officials said the company is working to repair the damage and mitigate any shortage of drugs made at the facility. “Clearly nature is strong. So, too, is ingenuity and the human spirit. A great deal of work needs to be done, but I assure everyone, most importantly the people of the Rocky Mount community, that we will put…  read on >  read on >

Women who have survived breast cancer age faster than women who have never had to survive the disease. The treatment they received impacted their aging rates, according to a new study from Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla. “Breast cancer survivors have higher rates of various age-related diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, and experience faster physical and cognitive decline than women without a history of breast cancer. In this study, we wanted to explore the biology behind this and examine whether certain cancer therapies had a greater long-term impact on survivors,” said study author Jacob Kresovich, an assistant professor at Moffitt. His team used data from the Sister Study, which identified environmental and biological factors that contribute to breast cancer risk and survival. More than 50,000 women aged 34 to 74 in the study had a sister diagnosed with breast cancer but had not been diagnosed themselves. The women were enrolled in the study between 2003 and 2009, and then contacted annually to provide health updates. The United States has nearly 4 million breast cancer survivors. Participants provided a blood sample at enrollment. Some provided another sample five or 10 years later. Among the 417 patients included in the study, 190 were selected because they were diagnosed and treated for breast cancer between their first and second blood draws. The researchers analyzed each blood sample…  read on >  read on >