Scientists have reported a link between air pollution and dementia risk, but they haven’t had a good understanding of the mechanisms behind this association. Now, a new study provides some answers. “In this study, we found that two types of vitamin B-related amino acids played a role in increasing or decreasing the risk of dementia caused by air pollution,” said Dr. Giulia Grande, co-author of the report recently published in the journal Neurology. She is a postdoctoral researcher at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. The study found that higher levels of these vitamin B-related amino acids may be linked to the risk of dementia associated with air pollutants called fine particulate matter, or PM2.5. Researchers looked at this fine particulate matter and two amino acids, methionine and homocysteine. Methionine is an essential amino acid involved in normal brain functions. It is found in foods such as meat, fish, dairy, beans and eggs. Homocysteine is an amino acid produced in the cells that can be transformed to methionine through a reaction that requires vitamin B12 and folate. It is important for red blood cell formation and for healthy cell growth and function. The study included more than 2,500 adults, average age 73, living in central Stockholm. Researchers followed them for up to 12 years using interviews, questionnaires and blood tests. A total of 376 people…  read on >  read on >

It’s not only a mother’s mental health that is tied to the risk for preterm birth — the father’s matters, too. New research found that the risk of premature birth was higher for infants whose mothers or fathers had a psychiatric diagnosis than for those whose parents did not. Researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden analyzed data on all live births to Nordic parents in Sweden between 1997 and 2016. The study findings were published July 20 in PLOS Medicine. Of 1.5 million babies, 15% were born to parents with a mental health diagnosis. For parents without a diagnosis, 5.8% of babies were born preterm. Paternal diagnosis increased the risk to 6.3% of births, and maternal diagnosis increased the risk to 7.3%. If both parents had a mental health diagnosis, the risk of preterm birth was greatest — affecting 8.3% of births. The researchers also found that the risk grew even more for parents with several co-existing psychiatric disorders. “Children of parents with mental illness are at increased risk of being born too early — both the mothers’ and fathers’ are important,” study author Weiyao Yin, a postdoctoral researcher, said in a journal news release. Preterm birth is associated with negative health consequences for babies, including anemia, jaundice, immune system problems and cerebral palsy, as well as a higher risk for sudden infant death…  read on >  read on >

Many retirees opt to volunteer as a way to help others, but new research suggests this act can also benefit volunteers’ brain health. Volunteering later in life may provide protection for the brain from both cognitive (mental) decline and dementia, according to researchers. Their findings were presented this week at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. Older adults who volunteered had better memory and executive function than their peers who did not engage in these acts of service. “Volunteers are cornerstones of all communities and imperative to the success and impact of many organizations, including the Alzheimer’s Association,” said Donna McCullough, Alzheimer’s Association chief mission and field operations officer. “We hope these new data encourage individuals of all ages and backgrounds to engage in local volunteering — not only to benefit their communities, but potentially their own cognitive and brain health,” she said in an association news release. Supporting educational, religious, health-related and other charities offers people a variety of benefits. These include a chance to be more physically active, increased opportunities for social interaction and mental stimulation. For the study, researchers looked at volunteering habits among more than 2,400 ethnic and racially diverse older U.S. adults who were part of the Kaiser Healthy Aging and Diverse Life Experiences Study (KHANDLE) or the Study of Healthy Aging in African Americans (STAR).…  read on >  read on >

Whether your child attends a year-round school or one on a traditional calendar, parents can take steps to make classroom reentry healthier for kids with asthma. Asthma causes an estimated 13.8 million missed school days each year, according to the Respiratory Health Association. That’s more than any other chronic illness. Having an inhaler on hand at school is one important step for kids with asthma. If your child experiences frequent asthma symptoms, visit a doctor as soon as possible, the Respiratory Health Association recommends. Make sure your child has a written Asthma Action Plan that you can share with the school nurse. Help your child practice taking asthma medication. Make sure your child understands how important it is to keep the medicine close by at all times. Call or visit the school or district to fill out any needed consent forms so your child can carry an inhaler at school. Save the prescription label from your child’s asthma medication to provide with the form. Keep an extra quick-relief inhaler where needed, whether in the home or at school. Talk with teachers to make sure they understand your child’s asthma “triggers,” recognize asthma symptoms and know what to do if symptoms happen, the association recommends. Hand-washing and covering the mouth while coughing is important to prevent common cold and flu viruses that can make asthma symptoms…  read on >  read on >

Dr. Dan Iosifescu’s patient had a history of depression and had done well for a number of years. But the illness returned with a vengeance. “They truly tried to get better with a series of different medications, and none of them did anything. If anything, they were experiencing a lot of side effects,” Iosifescu said, rendering them “unable to take part in their normal life routines, becoming more estranged from their family, unable to do even their daily routines.” Then the patient was given ketamine, and everything changed. “The treatment with ketamine over a span of just a few weeks was dramatic, essentially 180-degree resolution of all these symptoms where the person, as if by miracle, essentially returned to their previous level of functioning and previous level of relatively good mood,” said Iosifescu, a psychiatry professor at NYU School of Medicine in New York City. Ketamine has been examined for several years as a way to treat depression, a major cause of disability worldwide. The drug is a “dissociative” anesthetic. A new study conducted in Australia and New Zealand found that a low-cost version of ketamine helped 20% of participants with severe depression achieve total remission from their symptoms, while a third had symptoms improve by at least 50%. By comparison, only 2% of the control group achieved total remission from their symptoms. The trial…  read on >  read on >

In areas where Black Americans have been historically affected by discriminatory housing practices, there is higher heart failure risk, according to new research. Researchers studying more than 2.3 million U.S. adults between 2014 and 2019 found that heart failure today was linked to “redlining,” which began in the 1930s. Heart failure risk for Black people who lived in these redlined ZIP codes was higher than for those who did not. “Although discriminatory housing policies were effectively outlawed nearly a half-century ago, the relationship between historic redlining practices and people’s health today gives us unique insight into how historical policies may still be exerting their effects on the health of many communities,” study co-author Dr. Shreya Rao said in an American Heart Association news release. Rao is a cardiologist and assistant professor in the department of internal medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. For the study, the researchers used data from the Medicare Beneficiary Summary Files. Study participants were age 71, on average. More than 801,000 participants were Black. The investigators mapped historical redlining maps onto modern day maps of 1,044 ZIP codes in the United States. They sorted them into four groups ranging from least to most exposed to redlining. “Ultimately, we were most interested in assessing the difference in risk of heart failure between individuals from communities with…  read on >  read on >

While nursing home residents are at high risk for bad outcomes if they get COVID-19, use of antiviral treatments, such as monoclonal antibodies, was low through most of 2021 and 2022. The authors of a new study, led by Brian McGarry, a health services researcher at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York, called that fact alarming. Using data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Healthcare Safety Network for May 2021 to December 2002, McGarry and collaborators at Harvard University found that just 18% of COVID-19 cases in nursing homes were treated with antiviral medicine. Even after easier-to-administer and widely available oral treatments were authorized, only 1 in 4 nursing home residents received these life-saving medications, the investigators found. The study considered more than 763,000 COVID-19 cases in more than 15,000 U.S. nursing homes. Everyone in a nursing home meets current clinical guidelines to be considered for antiviral treatment. By the end of last year, however, 40% of nursing homes reported that they had never used any of the antiviral treatments. And for-profit and lower-quality facilities, as well as those with higher shares of Medicaid and non-white residents, were less likely to use antivirals, the study authors noted. This likely contributed to disparities in COVID hospitalizations and deaths, the researchers suggested in a university news release. The report was…  read on >  read on >

A new study offers the first-ever county-level estimates of Alzheimer’s disease in the United States. It shows that the East and Southeast have the highest prevalence of Alzheimer’s dementia, which researchers said may owe in part to the higher percentages of older people, and Black and Hispanic residents in those regions. The study covered all 3,142 U.S. counties. “These new estimates add more granular data to our understanding of Alzheimer’s prevalence across the country,” said Kumar Rajan, a professor of internal medicine at Rush Medical College, in Chicago. “This information, in addition to raising awareness of the Alzheimer’s crisis in specific communities, may help public health programs better allocate funding, staffing and other resources for caring for people with Alzheimer’s and all other dementia.” Data came from the Chicago Health and Aging Project and U.S. government population estimates. The highest rates of Alzheimer’s, in counties with 10,000 or more seniors, were in Miami-Dade County, Fla.; Baltimore City, Md.; and Bronx County, N.Y., with 16.6% each. Close behind were Prince George’s County, Md., at 16.1%; Hinds County, Miss., 15.5%; Orleans Parish, La., 15.4%; Dougherty County, Ga., 15.3%; Orangeburg County, Ca., 15.2%; and Imperial County, Ca. and El Paso County, Texas, each at 15%. Age is a primary risk factor for Alzheimer’s. Older Black Americans are about twice as likely to have Alzheimer’s or other dementias as…  read on >  read on >

The national 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline has hit its one-year anniversary, and it appears that the public is increasingly turning to the number in times of darkness. The most recent statistics show a substantial increase in call volume, with nearly 160,000 more crisis calls, chats and texts in May 2023 compared to May 2022 — two months before 988’s activation on July 16. Compared to a year before, calls answered in May increased by 45%; chats answered increased by 52%; and texts answered increased by 938%, according to 988 performance stats monitored by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Overall, 988 operators have answered more than 2.3 million calls and nearly 600,000 texts in the past year, Chuck Ingoglia, president and CEO of the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, said in a council news release. “It was a great idea to begin with and has delivered a lot of its promise already,” said Dr. Petros Levounis, president of the American Psychiatric Association. “More and more people know about 988, and what’s truly great about it is when you call 988, you get a human being to talk with you, not a robot but a trained person who knows how to deal with crisis.” But experts say more progress needs to be made for 988 to reach its full potential. Most Americans…  read on >  read on >

A new study from Australia tied some dangerous and unsettling issues to sleep disorders in young people. The research found links to daytime drowsiness, mental health issues and motor vehicle accidents and noted that as many as 20% of younger people are affected by sleep disorders. Workplace productivity losses were up to 40% greater among 22-year-olds with clinical sleep disorders compared to their peers with no sleep disorders. “This is equivalent to total workplace productivity loss [followed up on multiple occasions across 12 months] of about four weeks for young people with clinically significant sleep disorders, compared with less than one week for those without,” said study leader Amy Reynolds, an associate professor in clinical sleep health at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia. The study drew on 554 22-year-old workers who were part of the multigenerational Raine Study, examining lifelong health and quality of life in Western Australia. “The Raine study previously showed that about 20% of the young adults surveyed had a common clinical sleep disorder. … We wanted to know how much of an impact these disorders have on workers in their workplaces,” Reynolds said in a university news release. “The take-home message is just how prevalent sleep disorders are in young adults, and that these disorders are having an impact on our young adults and their workplaces,” she said. That changes across…  read on >  read on >