Day: February 3, 2021

Categories : COVID HospitalsTags :

UK Teen Awakens from 10 Month Coma, Unaware of Pandemic

On By ModernMedia

A British teenager who has been in a coma for 10 months, has awakened but is still largely unaware of the scale of the COVID pandemic. 

Joseph Flavill, 19, was hit by a car while walking on 1 March 2020, which was three weeks before the UK entered into its first national lockdown. Having suffered a traumatic brain injury, he has since been in a coma but is now making a slow recovery and is responsive. Ironically, he has caught COVID twice while in hospital but had recovered both times.

His aunt, Sally Flavill Smith, told the Guardian: “He won’t know anything about the pandemic as he’s been asleep for 10 months. His awareness is starting to improve now but we just don’t know what he knows.

“I just don’t know where to start with it. A year ago if someone had told me what was going to happen over the last year, I don’t think I would have believed it. I’ve got no idea how Joseph’s going to come to understand what we’ve all been through.”

He is now able to respond to commands, such as touching his left or right ear, respond with yes/no by blinking, and is able to smile.

His family had trained to explain in video calls why they can’t see him in person due to COVID restrictions, but had not tried to convey the scale of the pandemic. She says that they will try to explain it to him when they are able to visit him in person. His mother was able to see him in December, wearing full PPE, but he was not as aware as he is now. The family has put together a fundraiser to help his recovery.

Source: The Guardian

Categories : Diet and NutritionTags :

Eating Grapes Protects against Sunburn

On By ModernMedia

Compounds found in the humble grape may offer a protective effect against the sun’s damaging UV radiation, a new study has found.

Researchers from University of Alabama at Birmingham’s (UAB) Department of Dermatology found that healthy adult participants who ate freeze-dried powdered grapes for 14 days achieved a 74.8% increase in natural skin protection. 

The number of sunburns experienced over a lifetime increases the risk of skin cancer. Sunburns also cause skin damage, which has a cosmetic effect. Sunburns are marked by DNA damage triggering cell apoptosis, as well as the release of inflammatory markers such as prostaglandins, reactive oxygen species, and bradykinin in response to dimers formed by UV radiation. Prostaglandin E2 and histamine levels also rise after a sunburn.
Research in mouse models has shown that polyphenols, found in grapes as well as other fruits and vegetables, can reduce UV radiation damage, as well as reducing the production of inflammatory compounds. As such, this is the first research that shows the consumption of table grapes has a photoprotective effect against the sunburn response in adult humans. The subjects were also given a polyphenol compound, proanthocyanidin, as a topical extract to apply on their skin.

“Study results indicate that oral consumption of grapes has systemic beneficial effects in healthy adults,” said lead author Allen Oak, MD, a dermatologist in the UAB School of Medicine. “These benefits include inhibition of inflammation and repair of DNA damage.”

The preliminary findings also indicated that grapes may help reduce the risk of skin cancer as well, although this requires further research. 
“Grape consumption may act as an ‘edible sunscreen,'” Oak said. “This does not mean that grapes should be used in lieu of sunscreen, but they may offer additional protection which we are eager to continue learning more about. This research is exciting because our current findings provide building blocks for additional studies that may eventuate in an oral photoprotective product from a natural source.”

Source: Medical Xpress

Journal information: Allen S.W. Oak et al. Dietary table grape protects against UV photodamage in humans: 1. clinical evaluation, Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology (2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.jaad.2021.01.035

Categories : Neurodegenerative DiseasesTags :

Protein Synthesis Fix may Reverse Cognitive Decline in Alzheimer’s

On By ModernMedia

Restoring protein synthesis in the brain may reverse the cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer’s, according to a study by researchers from New York University (NYU) and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ).

Current Alzheimer’s treatment research focuses on reducing the phenomena linked to the disease, such as amyloid plaques, neurofibrillary tangles, and neuroinflammation. The study aimed to determine whether restoring protein synthesis would also be beneficial.

“The synthesis of new proteins in the brain is essential for proper neuronal function and, notably, for memory consolidation. We and others have previously shown that impairments in brain protein synthesis contribute memory deficits in Alzheimer’s disease model mice, and that the brains of Alzheimer’s patients exhibit clear signs of impaired protein synthesis. We thus asked ourselves whether rescuing brain protein synthesis might be an approach to improve memory function in Alzheimer’s disease,” said co-senior author Sergio Ferreira, a professor at UFRJ.

“Given the complex nature of Alzheimer’s disease, identifying and targeting abnormal molecular pathways that effectively improve cognition has been challenging,” added co-senior author Eric Klann, a professor at NYU. “Our findings show that jump-starting protein synthesis in the brain can revive lost cognitive functions. We hope that this work can serve as a step forward in treating this devastating disease.”

Previous research found that a cellular quality control mechanism called the integrated stress response (ISR) was found to slow down protein synthesis to weed out problems like cancerous cells, but can get stuck in the ‘on’ position. In 2013, a drug called ISRIB was developed to reverse this (ISRIB stands for ISR InhiBitor). 

Previous research with ISRIB had shown positive results in restoring memory function in mice, months after traumatic brain injury (TBI), reversing cognitive impairments in Down Syndrome , preventing noise-related hearing loss, treating certain prostate cancers, and even cognitive enhancement in healthy animals.

The researchers determined that in Alzheimer’s patients, critical components of protein synthesis are depleted in the hippocampus. The researchers hypothesised that some cognitive function could be returned if protein synthesis was restored with ISRIB.  

The researchers used mice with Alzheimer’s-like conditions as a model. Testing the mice’s memory (eg with maze runs), they found memory function and hippocampal protein synthesis restored with ISRB. Restoration of hippocampal neural plasticity and memory functions was observed even in simulated advanced Alzheimer’s. 

The results indicate that restoring protein synthesis with drugs such as ISRIB, could work together towards reversing cognitive decline from Alzheimer’s in humans. 

Source: Medical Xpress

Journal information: “Correction of eIF2-dependent defects in brain protein synthesis, synaptic plasticity, and memory in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease,” stke.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi … 26/scisignal.abc5429

Categories : Addiction PaediatricsTags :

Misuse of Psychiatric Meds Common in Teens

On By ModernMedia

A study into the use and misuse of psychoacttive drugs by US teens has found that about a fifth report misusing their prescribed medications.

Israel Agaku, PhD, of Harvard School of Dental Medicine in Boston, and colleagues used data from a survey of adolescents aged 12-17 prescribed opioids, stimulants, tranquilizers, or sedatives, and found that 20.9% reported using them not as prescribed or directed. There has been considerable concern in recent years over whether adolescents in the United States were being overprescribed psychiatric medication, although a 2018 study concluded that they are not. However, as with adults, the prospect of misuse, possibly leading to substance use disorders is a concern.
Of these youths, 3.4% reported having substance misuse disorders, and this proportion increased to nearly half when youths were taking two or more prescribed medications.

Some 25% of 12-17 year olds reported receiving a psychiatric prescription in the past year. The most common psychoactive prescription in the past year was opioids in 19% of all youth, followed by stimulants (7.2%), tranquilisers (4.3%), and sedatives (2.2%). Tranquilisers were the most commonly misused (40.1%), with substance use disorder in 7%. Stimulants were misused by 24.2%, 3% having a substance use disorder.
Among adults aged 18-25, 41% had been prescribed and had used psychoactive medication, with a third saying they had used opioids in the past year, Similarly to the 12-17 age group, stimulants and tranquilisers were most likely to be misused. 

“The largely overlapping population profiles for medical use versus misuse indicates the high abuse liability of these prescription substances,” the researchers noted. “Having serious psychological distress was consistently associated with misuse of every assessed psychoactive prescription medication.”

The researchers suggested that an open-minded, collaborative approach by healthcare providers was the best approach to dealing with the situation.

“Rather than asking only about cigarette smoking, pediatric practitioners should screen for different commonly used substances, including ‘social use.’ Specifically asking youth and young adults if they have used certain substances, including occasional use, is important as those who use such substances infrequently or only occasionally may not self-identify as users if asked in generic terms,” the researchers explained.

Source: MedPage Today

Journal information: Agaku I, et al “Medical use and misuse of psychoactive prescription medications among US youth and young adults” Fam Med Com Health 2021; DOI: 10.1136/ fmch-2020-000374.

Categories : HIVTags :

Revolutionary HIV Prophylaxis Pill Rollout in SA

On By ModernMedia

Amidst the COVID pandemic and concerns about vaccines, the South African government is rolling out a gaming-changing pill that protects against contracting HIV.

Due to delays including COVID-19, the revolutionary HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) pill is currently only available at 36% of public healthcare facilities – but the impact as it is rolled it will be significant.

Yogan Pillay, Deputy Director for Communicable and Non-Communicable  Diseases, Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation at the National Department of Health, says the PrEP pill will be available at all public healthcare providers by the end of September this year.

The pill combines two antiretrovirals, tenofovir disoproxil fumarate and emtricitabine (TDF/FTC), and gives nearly complete protection against contracting HIV. Over the past 4 years, over 50 000 people received the pill during trials. Young women and adolescent girls aged 15 to 24 are at four times higher risk of contracting HIV than males the same age, and since they may not be in a position to negotiate condom use, PrEP allows them to reduce the risk of contracting HIV through sexual activity. The TDF/FTC pill takes seven days to achieve full protection, and should be continued to be taken 28 days after the last HIV exposure. Periodic HIV and kidney function tests will be administered after the first month.

“The PrEP targets in the National Strategic Plan (NSP) for HIV, TB and STIs 2017-2022 is 85 000,” said Pillay. “We do however estimate based on the uptake trend at the current PrEP sites that approximately 10.5% of HIV negative persons offered PrEP will take up PrEP.”

The TDF/FTC pill can be taken at any point of the day, with alcohol, and is compatible with the use of birth control pills and other contraceptives. The pill will be made available through the public sector to any HIV negative person with healthy kidneys willing to take it daily. The TDF/FTC pill can only be prescribed by NIMART (Nurse Initiated Management of Antiretroviral Therapy) trained nurses, not other nurses or clinical associates at this time.

Source: Spotlight