Lifestyle « Weekly Gravy

A genetic mutation that boosts cell function could protect people against Alzheimer’s disease, even if they carry another gene mutation known to boost dementia risk. The newly discovered mutation appears to protect people who carry the APOE4 gene, which increases risk of Alzheimer’s, researchers said. The protective mutation causes cells to produce a more powerful version of humanin, a tiny protein that plays an important role in cellular function. Humanin levels are higher in people who have reached the age of 100 despite carrying the APOE4 gene, which predisposes people to early death as well as Alzheimer’s, researchers discovered. Humanin produced by this variant also effectively cleared amyloid beta from the brains of lab mice carrying APOE4, researchers report. “This new study sheds light on resilience genes that help people live longer and partially explains why some people at high risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease are spared,” said senior study author Dr. Pinchas Cohen, dean of the University of Southern California (USC) Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. The gene variant that causes higher levels of humanin is called P3S-humanin, researchers said. This variant is thought to be extremely rare, and is found primarily in people of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, researchers said. Mitochondria, the energy powerhouse of cells, produce humanin to protect against cellular aging and stress, according to a 2023 review in the journal Biology.… read on > read on >

People taking weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy need to drop them in the days or weeks prior to surgery, a new study warns. Folks on one of these drugs — known as GLP-1 receptor agonists — have a 33% higher risk of developing pneumonia by breathing in their own vomit during surgery, researchers found. “Aspiration during or after endoscopy can be devastating,” said researcher Dr. Ali Rezaie, medical director of the GI Motility Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. “If significant, it can lead to respiratory failure, ICU admission and even death,” Rezaie said. “Even mild cases may require close monitoring, respiratory support and medications including antibiotics. It is important we take all possible precautions to prevent aspiration from occurring.” People are typically asked to fast prior to surgery because general anesthesia can cause nausea, and they might inhale and choke on their own vomit. Unfortunately, part of the way that GLP-1 receptor agonists help prompt weight loss is by slowing the digestion process, researchers said. That means it takes longer for food to pass through the stomach. These results jibe with guidance issued last year by the American Society of Anesthesiologists that calls for screening for weight-loss drug use before surgery, and informing patients of the risks involved. Further, another study published earlier this month in the journal JAMA Surgery found… read on > read on >

Children who are obese face double the odds of developing multiple sclerosis later in life, a new study warns. The overall odds for any one child to develop the neurodegenerative illness remains very low. However, the Swedish researchers believe the link could help explain rising rates of MS. “There are several studies showing that MS has increased over several decades and obesity is believed to be one major driver for this increase,” wrote a team led by Claude Marcus, of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. “Thanks to our prospective study design, we can confirm this theory.” The findings will be presented in May at the European Congress on Obesity in Venice. For the study, Marcus and his colleagues tracked data from 1995 through 2020, compiled by the Swedish Childhood Obesity Treatment Register. Almost 22,000 children were covered by that database, and their incidence of MS later in life was compared to that of similar, non-obese children from the general Swedish population. Rates of cases of newly diagnosed MS were tracked till 2023. The result: While 0.06% of the non-obese children went on to develop MS, the rate more than doubled, to 0.13%, among people who had been obese during childhood. Two-thirds of cases occurred in females, the study found, which mimics the general ratio of MS observed in women compared to men. MS was diagnosed… read on > read on >

Ever immersed yourself in a book and lost all sense of the time and place you’re currently in? That’s how reading can meld with mindfulness, one neuropsychologist explains. The experience can bring real mental health benefits, said Dr. Samantha Henry, an assistant professor of neurology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. “Reading is a quiet pursuit that can be a more adaptive coping strategy than some other hobbies we engage in,” she said in a Baylor news release. Henry said that there’s a difference between typical reading and mindful reading. Very often, folks are reading for a goal: To read through a document or book within a specific timeframe, with the conscious aim of acquiring valuable knowledge. That’s fine, but it’s different from mindful reading, which focuses only on the pleasure of reading itself, without a set goal, and remaining fully present to understand whatever it is you are reading. According to Henry, you can prepare for mindful reading by practicing mindful breathing, which is often taught in meditation classes. “We can think of mindful reading in the way we think of mindful breathing, which is just focusing on your breath,” she explained. “Normally when we breathe, we don’t think about it because it’s automatic. Traditional reading can be that way too; to get to the destination of finishing that book. Try to slow… read on > read on >

Folks with genetically-driven stress are more likely to suffer heart attacks after nerve-wracking events or times of unrest, a new study shows. People with above-average genetic scores linked to neuroticism and stress were 34% more likely to experience a heart attack following stressful periods, researchers found. Further, these jittery individuals were more than three times as likely to have a heart attack during stressful times if they also had anxiety or depression. “We found people who are genetically predisposed to stress tend to have a strikingly higher probability of developing a heart attack after these stressful events,” said lead researcher Dr. Shady Abohashem, an instructor of cardiovascular imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston. For the study, researchers analyzed data on nearly 18,500 participants in the Mass General Brigham Biobank, a program that captures genetic data for use in medical research. Researchers compared genetic stress scores among people who had a heart attack after stressful times against those who had a heart attack during calmer times and those who’d never had a cardiac event. For the study, periods considered to be highly stressful included: The 10 days after Christmas. The five days after presidential elections. The five days after major sporting events like Super Bowls or NBA playoffs involving Boston-area teams. People with above-average genetic stress scores had a 34% higher… read on > read on >

Suicidal thoughts and contemplation of death haunt the minds of many rural Black men in the United States, a new study reports. One in three rural Black men said they had such dark thoughts within the past two weeks, University of Georgia researchers found. These thoughts are driven by childhood trauma, poverty and exposure to racism, all of which take a heavy toll on mental health as Black teens enter adulthood, researchers said. “We found when Black men were exposed to childhood adversity, they may develop an internal understanding of the world as somewhere they are devalued, where they could not trust others, and they could not engage the community in a supportive way,” said researcher Michael Curtis, a graduate of the University of Georgia’s College of Family and Consumer Sciences. Racial discrimination in particular predicted higher rates of suicidal thoughts, researchers found. Even Black men who reported positive childhood experiences struggled to maintain healthy relationships if they had experienced racial discrimination, results show. As a result, they were more likely to feel isolated and experience thoughts of suicide. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for Black people between the ages of 15 and 24, researchers said in background notes. Further, Black men die by suicide at a rate four times that of Black women. “We just know it’s bad, and particularly among young… read on > read on >

Living in a poor and unhealthy neighborhood could nearly double a person’s risk of heart disease and stroke, a new study says. The findings indicate that all the factors that make for a crummy neighborhood — air and water pollution, toxic sites, few parks, tons of traffic — play a significant role in heart health. So, too, do social and economic factors like low income, poor education, unemployment and lack of access to internet and health care. These environmental and social factors deliver a “dual hit” to the heart health of people trapped in lousy neighborhoods, said senior researcher Dr. Sarju Ganatra, director of the Cardio-Oncology Program and South Asian Cardio-Metabolic Program at Lahey Hospital and Medical Center in Burlington, Mass. “I was amazed to see the tight links and complex interplay between social and environmental factors on health outcomes,” Ganatra said. Even after adjusting for social factors like low income and poor education, “environmental factors played a crucial and independent role in determining various heart disease and other related health outcomes,” Ganatra added. For the study, researchers rated more than 71,000 U.S. census tracts using the Environmental Justice Index, a database combining demographic, environmental and health data gathered by multiple federal agencies. People living in neighborhoods beset by harmful environmental factors had about 1.6 times the rate of clogged arteries and more than double… read on > read on >

Some folks struggling with obesity appear to be hampered by their own genes when it comes to working off those extra pounds, a new study finds. People with a higher genetic risk of obesity have to exercise more to avoid becoming unhealthily heavy, researchers discovered. “Genetic background contributes to the amount of physical activity needed to mitigate obesity. The higher the genetic risk, the more steps needed per day,” said senior researcher Douglas Ruderfer, director of the Center for Digital Genomic Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. Because of that, physical activity guidelines might not be so helpful when it comes to maintaining a healthy weight, since individual genetic differences drive how much exercise each person requires, Ruderfer noted. People instead need to be “active enough to account for their genetic background, or their genetic risk for obesity, regardless of how high that risk might be,” Ruderfer said in a Vanderbilt news release. For the study, researchers tracked more than 3,100 middle-aged people who weren’t obese and who walked an average 8,300 steps a day for more than five years. Obesity increased 43% among people with the highest genetic risk scores for obesity, but only by 13% among those with the lowest risk, researchers found. Results showed those with the highest genetic risk for obesity had to walk an average of 2,280… read on > read on >

Folks who consistently work out two to three times a week are less likely to suffer from insomnia, a new study says. That sort of long-term commitment to exercise also helps people get the recommended amount of sleep each night, according to findings published March 26 in the journal BMJ Open. The paper “indicates strongly that consistency in [physical activity] might be an important factor in optimizing sleep duration and reducing the symptoms of insomnia,” concluded the research team led by Icelandic psychologists Erla Bjornsdottir and Elin Helga Thorarinsdottir. For the study, researchers tracked the exercise habits and sleep quality of nearly 4,400 middle-aged adults from 21 hospitals in nine European countries. Participants were specifically asked how often they exercise to the point that they become out of breath or sweaty. Researchers found that people who persistently worked out at least a few times a week — totaling at least one hour of exercise weekly — were: 42% less likely to find it difficult to fall asleep 22% less likely to suffer any symptoms of insomnia 40% less likely to suffer more than one insomnia symptom Symptoms of insomnia include taking a long time to go to sleep, waking in the night and feeling excessively sleepy during the day. People who consistently exercised also were 55% more likely to get the normal, recommended amount of… read on > read on >

A protein that shuts down immune cells in the lungs could be key to a new treatment for asthma attacks, a new report says. The naturally occurring protein, called Piezo1, prevents a type of immune cell called type 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) from becoming hyperactivated by allergens. An experimental drug called Yoda1 that switches on Piezo1 reduced the activity of these immune cells in mice, alleviating asthma symptoms, researchers report. “Given the importance of ILC2s in allergic asthma, there is an urgent need to develop novel mechanism-based approaches to target these critical drivers of inflammation in the lungs,” researcher Omid Akbari, a professor at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine, said in a news release. Once triggered by an allergen, ILC2s drive the inflammatory cascade that cause airways to swell and tighten, making it tough for asthma patients to draw breath. In mouse research, researchers found that activated ILC2s naturally produce a protein called Piezo1 that limits their activity. In the absence of Piezo1, mouse ILC2s became more responsive to allergy signals and promoted even more airway inflammation. On the other hand, Yoda1 caused Piezo1 to kick into action, reducing the activity of ILC2s. Human ILC2s also produce Piezo1, researchers say, and the drug Yoda1 also worked on lab-engineered mice with the human immune cells. “Remarkably, treatment of these humanized mice… read on > read on >