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An inhaled medication might make every day physical activity a bit easier for patients with serious scarring of the lungs, a new clinical trial finds. The study, published online Jan. 13 in the New England Journal of Medicine, involved patients with high blood pressure in the lungs caused by interstitial lung disease (ILD). ILD is a broad term for progressive scarring of the tissue surrounding the lungs’ air sacs and blood vessels. It can have a range of causes, from smoking, to occupational exposure to toxins like asbestos, as well as autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. Sometimes, no cause can be found. A potential, and serious, complication of that scarring is pulmonary hypertension, in which the vessels that supply blood to the lungs become hard and narrow. Once pulmonary hypertension arises, patients can become so short of breath they have difficulty walking, and often need to use more supplemental oxygen. The complication may also shorten their lives. Right now, no medication is approved specifically for pulmonary hypertension caused by ILD, said Dr. Steven Nathan, senior researcher on the new trial. He’s director of the Advanced Lung Disease and Lung Transplant Program at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va. There are, however, drugs for another form of pulmonary hypertension, known as pulmonary arterial hypertension. Those medications are vasodilators, which means they help blood vessels in… read on > read on >

Despite being locked down during the pandemic, child care responsibilities often fell on women’s shoulders, a new study shows. “Most people have never undergone anything like this before, where all of a sudden they can’t rely on their normal child care, and most people’s work situation has changed, too,” said researcher Kristen Shockley, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Georgia. “We thought this would be a chance for men to step in and partake equally in child care, but for many couples we didn’t see that happen.” In mid-March, as schools and day care centers shut down, Shockley’s team surveyed couples, both of whom worked and had at least one child under the age of 6. The team researchers first surveyed 274 couples and followed up with 133 of the same couples in May. “When the wife does it all, not surprisingly, the outcomes are bad for the couple,” Shockley said in a university news release. “It’s not just bad for the wife, it’s also bad for the husband, including in terms of job performance although his work role presumably hasn’t changed. When one person’s doing it all, there’s a lot of tension in the relationship, and it’s probably spilling over into the husband’s ability to focus at work.” Although about 37% of couples relied on the wife to provide most or… read on > read on >

Mindfulness is all the rage when it comes to boosting mental health, but new research suggests that it may not help everyone equally. Practicing mindfulness meditation — which involves paying close attention to what you are feeling in the moment — may be better than doing nothing at all to improve anxiety, depression or lower stress, but it is not a cure-all and may not be any better than other practices aimed at improving mental health and well-being, such as exercise, said study author Julieta Galante. She’s a research associate in the department of psychiatry at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. To arrive at that conclusion, Galante and her colleagues reviewed data from 136 studies on mindfulness training for stress, anxiety, depression and overall well-being that took place in non-medical community settings (such as workplaces, universities, community centers or private studios). These trials included more than 11,600 participants, aged 18 to 73, from 29 countries. Mindfulness reduced anxiety, depression and stress, and increased well-being when compared to doing nothing, the study showed. But in more than one in 20 studies in the analysis, mindfulness meditation didn’t produce any benefits. Not all mindfulness programs are created equally, Galante noted. Differences in how they are taught, where they are taught, who teaches them, and who they are targeted to likely plays a big role… read on > read on >

When journalist Catherine Guthrie learned that she would need to have a mastectomy following a breast cancer diagnosis, she was shocked by what seemed like a cursory explanation from her surgeon about what would happen next. That included removing both of her breasts, adding implants, and moving a muscle from her back to her chest to make the results look more natural. It didn’t feel right to her. She went home, thought about it and decided to “go flat.” “I feel great about it. I love my body. I love the freedom I have in my body. I love that I have full mobility and strength in my body. I’m as flexible and strong now 10, 11 years later as I was then,” said Guthrie, who already had back issues and had been concerned about how the surgery would impact that. “I absolutely have zero regrets.” Guthrie’s choice mirrors a growing trend: A new study found that a majority of breast cancer patients — 74% — who had opted to “go flat” were satisfied with the outcome. The study, from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, also found that 22% of women who responded to the survey had experienced what they refer to as “flat denial,” which is where the surgeon either did not initially offer this choice, didn’t support the… read on > read on >

Many Americans most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic don’t believe that racism is associated with poorer health, a nationwide poll shows. The ongoing poll of more than 4,000 lower- and middle-income Americans focuses on communities of color. “It really struck us that — despite the virus’s spread across the country to all types of communities — there’s not a consensus view on the effects of systemic racism,” said lead author Katherine Grace Carman, a senior economist at RAND Corporation. RAND is conducting the poll, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “Respondents see the impact of low incomes and living in a rural community on a person’s health, but race isn’t viewed with the same gravity,” she said in a Robert Wood Johnson news release.Just over 42% of respondents say systemic racism is one of the main reasons people of color have poorer health. About one-third disagree, and about a quarter are neutral. Black respondents are much more likely (69.4%) than white ones (33.2%) to believe that systemic racism affects the health of people of color, according to the poll. Overall, pollsters found a slight increase in respondents’ willingness to risk their own health to return to pre-pandemic “normal.” But respondents who are Black or Hispanic are more likely (68.5%) to be cautious about taking health risks to move about freely than white respondents… read on > read on >

Biomarkers in sperm may help identify men at risk of fathering children with autism, researchers say. For the study, investigators examined sperm epigenetics — the molecular processes that affect gene expression — in 13 men who fathered sons with autism and 13 who had children without the disorder. The American and Spanish researchers focused specifically on DNA methylation, a chemical modification that can turn genes on or off. “We can now potentially use this to assess whether a man is going to pass autism on to his children,” said study co-author Michael Skinner, professor of biological sciences at Washington State University, in Pullman, Wash. “It is also a major step toward identifying what factors might promote autism,” he said in a university news release. The study found 805 different DNA methylation regions that could be epigenetic biomarkers, indicating men more likely to have children with autism. To test their findings about these biomarkers, the researchers used sperm samples from 18 men to see if they could identify those with and without children with autism. The results were 90% accurate, according to the study. But Skinner and his colleagues said more research must be done before this approach can be used in clinical practice. The team is now working on a larger study involving 100 men. “We found out years ago that environmental factors can alter… read on > read on >