Day: January 27, 2021

Categories : Mental HealthTags :

LSD Shown to Heighten Sociability in Mice

On By ModernMedia

Scientists at McGill University have discovered that mice micro-dosed with LSD have an increased level of sociability, pointing to a mechanism by which the drug can influence behaviour at these low concentrations.

Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) was discovered by accident while developing stimulants, and was first used to study psychotic states. There was initially great interest in and use of LSD for psychiatric treatment, but the harmful and lasting side-effects resulted in it steadily being outlawed. However, recent anecdotal evidence of individuals self-administering micro-doses of LSD to improve cognitive functioning have helped spur renewed interest in the famous drug.To investigate the ways LSD might be working on the brain, the McGill University researchers dosed mice with low levels of LSD over seven days, and observed a measurable increase in sociability.

This is useful as a main outcome of the study is a mechanism that describes the increased feelings of empathy and awareness that users of LSD describe.

Co-lead author Prof Nahum Sonenberg at McGill University, world renowned expert in the molecular biology of diseases, explained: “The fact that LSD binds the 5-HT2A receptor was previously known. The novelty of this research is to have identified that the prosocial effects of LSD activate the 5-HT2 receptors, which in-turn activate the excitatory synapses of the AMPA receptor as well as the protein complex mTORC1, which has been demonstrated to be dysregulated in diseases with social deficits such as autism spectrum disorder.

“Their next research goal is treating mutant mice with behavioural deficits mimicking human psychological pathologies, and to find out if micro-dosed LSD or some derivative could be a safe and effective therapeutic option.

“Social interaction is a fundamental characteristic of human behaviour,” noted co-lead author Dr Gabriella Gobbi, Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at McGill and psychiatrist at the McGill University Health Centre. “These hallucinogenic compounds, which, at low doses, are able to increase sociability may help to better understand the pharmacology and neurobiology of social behavior and, ultimately, to develop and discover novel and safer drugs for mental disorders.”

Source: Medical Xpress

Journal information: Danilo De Gregorio et al, Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) promotes social behavior through mTORC1 in the excitatory neurotransmission, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2021). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2020705118

Categories : Allergies PaediatricsTags :

Black American Children Have Higher Rates of Shellfish and Fish Allergies

On By ModernMedia

A study from Rush University Medical Center in the US has shown that black children in that country are more likely to have allergies to fish and shellfish than white children.

Some 8% of children in the US suffer from food allergies, which can result in signs and symptoms such as hives, breathing and digestive problems or anaphylaxis, sometimes severe enough to be life-threatening.

Lead author Dr Mahboobeh Mahdavinia at Rush University Medical Center, explained: “Food allergy is a common condition in the U.S., and we know from our previous research that there are important differences between African-American and white children with food allergy, but there is so much we need to know to be able to help our patients from minority groups.”

The study found that the black children were more likely to have an allergy to shellfish and fin fish, and also higher odds of having a wheat allergy, compared to the white children. The researchers believe the reason for this is environmental and socioeconomic: in the US, black children are more likely to be exposed to cockroaches than white children due to the increased probability of living in more socioeconomically deprived areas.

Tropomyosin, a protein found in two common household allergens, dust mite and cockroaches, share 80% of amino acid sequencing with shellfish. Some 72-98% of individuals allergic to prawns have an immunoglobin E response to tropomyosin. It has also been found in fin fish. Although the exact mechanism by which the allergy is established is not known, it provides evidence as to the importance of reducing the exposure of black children to cockroaches.

The study also showed that shellfish allergy was associated with increased asthma risk in black children. “This information can help us care for not only a child’s food allergy, but all of their allergic diseases, including asthma, allergic rhinitis and atopic dermatitis,” said co-author Susan Fox, PA-C, MMS, an allergy and immunology physician assistant at Rush University Medical Center.

The increased risk of asthma combined with food allergies can prove a lethal combination for children. “A major concern is that there is a higher prevalence of asthma in African-American children with food allergies when compared with white children with food allergies. Approximately 70% of fatal food anaphylaxis is accompanied by asthma. African-American children are at a two- to threefold risk of fatal anaphylaxis compared to white children,” Dr Mahdavinia said. “By knowing this information, it can identify [our] most at risk patients.

“We need to conduct further research to identify food allergies and food sensitivities among all races and ethnicities so we can develop culturally-sensitive and effective educational programs to improve food allergy outcomes for all children,” Dr Mahdavinia concluded.

Source: News-Medical.Net

Categories : COVIDTags :

Sceptical South Africans Want More Vaccine Info

On By ModernMedia

Professor Carin Runciman, Director of the Centre for Social Change at UJ, has said that most people who are sceptical about COVID vaccines simply want more information. 

An online survey of 10 000 South African adults conducted with the Human Sciences Research Council showed that 67% were likely to take the vaccine if it were offered to them. Runciman said that many of the participants had indicated that they wanted more information before they could decide to take it.

Government and scientists came for criticism recently for giving mixed messages about vaccines, which are a few days away from their first rollout in South Africa. With the first million doses arriving in SA from the end of January, an ambitious target of 31 000 vaccinations a day has been announced, though with few firm details. The majority (70%) of the vaccines are to be AstraZeneca, although given their delays in supplying the EU and the bloc’s subsequent restrictions on vaccine exports, that may impact on SA’s vaccination programme.

Opinions also differed according to age and race. In a very strange result, those with higher levels of education were less likely to want to take a vaccine than those with a lower level. Age and race also played a factor, although no explanation was offered for the discrepancy. “Black African adults were more likely to want to take the vaccine – 69% for black African adults, 55% for white adults – those who [are] older are more likely to want to take the vaccine compared to those that are younger. Those that have a less than matric education are much more likely to want to take the vaccine than those with a tertiary education.”

Source: Eyewitness News

Categories : Ageing Cardiovascular DiseaseTags :

New Study Has Good and Bad News on TIAs

On By ModernMedia

There is both good and news on transient ischaemic attacks (TIAs) from a more than six-decade long study: TIAs are indeed harbingers of strokes, but also the incidence of post-TIA strokes has been falling over the decades.

A TIA is defined as a passing episode of neurologic dysfunction due to the focal brain, spinal cord, or retinal ischaemia, without acute infarction or tissue injury. The results were derived from the Framingham Heart Study had 14 059 participants and ran for over six decades, allowing for a more-complete picture of strokes that happen after a TIA. Of the participants, 435 had a TIA; these were compared against a second group of 2175 participants who did not have a TIA.

Even after accounting for other risk factors such as hypertension or diabetes, people who had experienced a TIA had a 4.5 to five times greater chance of a stroke. Study lead author Vasileios-Arsenios Lioutas, MD, said that the results show a need for intensive follow-up of TIA : “According to our findings, people continue to have a high risk of stroke for a sustained time after they’ve had a TIA. Therefore, one shouldn’t think that the high-risk period is just in the first 90 days after the attack and then one can relax. It seems these patients should be followed closely over time, keeping in mind that they are at risk for stroke and paying close attention to controlling their cardiovascular risk factors.”

The 66 years of study data was broken into three epochs. One- and five-year risks of post-TIA stroke in the 2000-2017 epoch were 7.6% and 16.1%, compared to 23.9% and 35.5% during the earliest epoch, from 1948 to 1985.

Sudha Seshadri, MD, professor of neurology at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, said: “We examined 66 years of follow-up from Framingham participants, which allowed us to study trends over time. We can see that starting in the very early years of the Framingham study, the 1950s, moving on to the most recent times, the risk of subsequent stroke went down a lot.”

Source: News-Medical.Net

Journal information: Lioutas, V-A., et al. (2021) Incidence of Transient Ischemic Attack and Association With Long-term Risk of Stroke. JAMA.doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.25071.

Categories : Immune SystemTags :

Mystery Protein is an Immune System Component

On By ModernMedia

A protein called ITIH4, the function of which was largely a mystery, has been shown to a as a protease inhibitor, and a component of the innate immune system.

The discovery was made by Professor Steffen Thiel and PhD student Rasmus Pihl at Aarhus University, with the help of a mass spectrometry team led by Professor Jan J Enghild.

Proteases are enzymes which cleave other proteins, and usually occur in cascade networks where proteases cleave each other in a chain reaction. One example of this is blood clotting.

There is also the complement system in the body, which is responsible for eliminating pathogens, and cancerous or dying cells. Immunoglobin G (IgG) and M (IgM) antibodies activate complement proteins which work with them, hence the name “complement”. This system of enzymes is kept in check by protease inhibitors.

The researchers wanted to find out which other proteins in our blood the “MASP” proteases from the complement cascade interact with. They found to their surprise that two MASP proteases formed a strong complex with the ITIH4 protein, about which very little is known, especially its function.

“I was highly surprised when I saw the first data from our partners, showing that ITIH4 could form a complex with the MASP-1 and MASP-2 enzymes. At Biomedicine, we have been studying these two proteases for 25 years, and ITIH4 has simply never been on the radar. But it made good sense, as proteins similar to ITIH4 act as inhibitors of other proteases,” said Rasmus Pihl.

It was also discovered that when ITIH4 formed a complex with MASP-1 and MASP-2, they could still cleave small proteins, but when ITIH4 inhibited them, they could not cleave large proteins.The researchers discovered that ITIH4 performs an inhibitory enzyme function similar to that of one discovered in the 1980s called AM2, but it accomplished it in a new, entirely different manner.

“There is very little knowledge about ITIH4, but it is known that under various pathological conditions, the protein can be cleaved. Our results show that such a cleavage is absolutely necessary for the way ITIH4 can function as an enzyme inhibitor,” Professor Steffen Thiel explained.

Their colleague Gregers R Andersen added: “By using cryo-electron microscopy, we now try to understand in detail how ITIH4 inhibits MASP-1 and MASP-2 via this new inhibition mechanism. We already know that when ITIH4 is cleaved, it forms a complex with both MASP-1 and another ITIH4 molecule. We are very excited to see how it takes place.”

Source: Medical Xpress

Journal information: Rasmus Pihl et al, ITIH4 acts as a protease inhibitor by a novel inhibitory mechanism, Science Advances (2021). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aba7381