Month: January 2022

Categories : Neurodegenerative DiseasesTags :

MS Likely Caused by Epstein-Barr Virus

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Multiple sclerosis (MS) is likely caused by infection with the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), according to a new Harvard University study.

“The hypothesis that EBV causes MS has been investigated by our group and others for several years, but this is the first study providing compelling evidence of causality,” said senior author Professor Alberto Ascherio. “This is a big step because it suggests that most MS cases could be prevented by stopping EBV infection, and that targeting EBV could lead to the discovery of a cure for MS.” The findings were published in Science.

Currently incurable, MS is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system that attacks the myelin sheaths protecting neurons in the brain and spinal cord. One of the top suspects for its cause is EBV, a herpes virus that can cause infectious mononucleosis and establishes a latent, lifelong infection of the host. Establishing a causal relationship between the virus and the disease has been hard because EBV infects approximately 95% of adults, MS is relatively rare, and the onset of MS symptoms begins about ten years after EBV infection. To determine the connection between EBV and MS, the researchers conducted a study among over 10 million US military personnel, identifying 955 who were diagnosed with MS during their period of service.

The team analysed serum samples taken twice a year by the military and determined the soldiers’ EBV status at time of first sample and the relationship between EBV infection and MS onset during the period of active duty. In this cohort, the risk of MS increased 32-fold after infection with EBV but remained unchanged after infection with other viruses. Serum levels of neurofilament light chain, a biomarker of the nerve degeneration typical in MS, increased only after EBV infection. The findings cannot be explained by any known risk factor for MS and suggest EBV as the leading cause of MS.

The delay between EBV infection and the onset of MS may be partly a result of the disease’s symptoms being undetected early on and partly the evolving relationship between EBV and the host’s immune system, which is repeatedly stimulated whenever latent virus reactivates.

“Currently there is no way to effectively prevent or treat EBV infection, but an EBV vaccine or targeting the virus with EBV-specific antiviral drugs could ultimately prevent or cure MS,” Prof Ascherio said.

Source: Harvard University

Categories : Ageing Diet and NutritionTags :

Consumption of Olive Oil Reduces Risk of Premature Death

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A new study has found that people who consume higher amounts of olive oil may lower their risk of premature death overall and from specific causes including cardiovascular disease, cancer, and neurodegenerative disease, compared to people who never or almost never consume olive oil. People who consumed olive oil instead of animal fat were also found to have a lower risk of total and cause-specific mortality.

“Olive oil consumption has been linked to lower cardiovascular disease risk, but its association with premature death was unclear,” said Marta Guasch-Ferré, a senior research scientist in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard Chan School. “Our findings confirm current dietary recommendations to replace animal fats with plant oils for the prevention of chronic diseases and premature death.”

The researchers used health data collected between 1990 and 2018 for 60 582 women participating in the Nurses’ Health Study and 31 801 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. All participants were free of cardiovascular disease or cancer at the study start.

Participants were asked how often they used olive oil in salad dressings, added to food or bread, or in baking or frying. According to the findings, people in the highest category of olive oil consumption (> 7g/day) had 19% lower risk of total and cardiovascular disease mortality, 17% lower risk of cancer mortality, 29% lower risk of neurodegenerative mortality, and 18% lower risk of respiratory mortality, compared with those who never or rarely consumed olive oil. Compared to margarine, butter, mayonnaise, or dairy fat, olive oil usage was correlated with reduced risk of total and cause-specific mortality. However no significant risk reduction was seen compared to use of other vegetable oils.

“Clinicians should be counselling patients to replace certain fats, such as margarine and butter, with olive oil to improve their health,” advised Guasch-Ferré. “Our study helps make specific recommendations that will be easy for patients to understand and hopefully implement into their diets.”

The findings were published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Source: Harvard University

Categories : Environmental EffectsTags :

Ozone Linked to Cognitive Impairment with Age

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A robust link has been established between long-term ozone exposure and an increased risk of cognitive impairment in older adults, according to a large-scale study published in Environment International.

Air pollution has long been considered a major risk factor for an ageing society. Fine airborne particulate matter can lead to dementia and other cognitive disabilities. But beyond airborne particles, little is known about the way in which other pollutants can pose a similar danger.

The researchers chose to focus on ambient ozone, a highly reactive gas that exists in much of smog at ground level. They then observed health outcomes in nearly 10 000 older adults across China and analysed the extent to which long-term ozone exposure may have impacted their cognitive ability over time.

The results, they found, were startling. For every 10 microgram increase of yearly average ozone exposure, the risk for cognitive impairment grew by more than 10%. Through their analysis, the researchers also found that this association held even when they abstracted away individual risk factors such as smoking, drinking and education level. That is, older adults in China who were exposed to high levels of yearly ozone pollution were more likely to develop cognitive disabilities later in life, no matter what other activities they were involved in.

“Our findings suggest potential benefits in delaying the progression of cognitive decline among older adults if ozone levels are reduced below the new WHO Global Air Quality Guideline for ozone pollution,” said Kai Chen, Ph.D., assistant professor at the Yale School of Public Health and the study’s lead author.

The researchers acknowledged limitations such as observational data being unable to establish a causal link. More research is needed into ozone’s destructive mechanism. And since many older adults in China spend more time indoors, their ozone exposure may be different.

Nonetheless, the findings match what other researchers have found in areas across the globe: Over the past several years, studies have traced a similar link in adults in the United States and in Taiwan, and have also found an association between ozone exposure and other neurological diseases.

The study shows that ozone exposure needs to be curbed worldwide to prevent healthcare systems from being overwhelmed as populations age and pollution increases.

Study co-author Professor Robert Dubrow said what makes this issue more urgent is that “ozone pollution is projected to be worsening under climate change.” Reducing this threat could bring significant benefits to public health and improve quality of life.

Source: Yale University

Categories : Mental HealthTags :

Politics Makes People Sick – Literally

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According to a new US study, all the political jockeying is harmful to our health, has been for some time, and even a change in party power didn’t help.

Political scientist Kevin Smith followed up a landmark 2017 survey study where he measured the effects of the political climate on Americans’ physical, social, mental and emotional health. Smith repeated the same 32-question survey twice in 2020 – two weeks prior to the election, and two weeks after. The 2020 findings mirrored the 2017 results, and again found that a large proportion of American adults blame politics for causing them stress, loss of sleep, fractured relationships and more.

Similar to the 2017 findings, the results of the 2020 surveys, published in PLOS One, showed that an estimated 40% of Americans identified politics as a significant source of stress. Between a fifth and a third of US adults also blamed politics for causing fatigue, feelings of anger, loss of temper and triggering compulsive behaviours. About a quarter of adults reported they’d given serious consideration to moving because of politics.

That the results remained mostly stable after nearly four years is cause for alarm, Smith said.

“This second round of surveys pretty conclusively demonstrates that the first survey was not out of left field – that what we found in that first survey really is indicative of what many Americans are experiencing,” Smith, chair and professor of political science, said. “It’s also unpleasant to think that in that span of time, nothing changed. A huge chunk of American adults genuinely perceive politics is exacting a serious toll on their social, their psychological and even their physical health.”

Smith repeated the survey with the same group of people both before and after the election to see if the election’s outcome would recast people’s perceptions.

“We wondered if a change in presidency, which indeed was the case, would shift attitudes, and the short answer is no,” Smith said. “If anything, the costs that people perceive politics is exacting on their health increased a little bit after the election.”

Smioth was most surprised at the repeated finding that 5% of Americans blame politics for having suicidal thoughts.

“One in 20 adults has contemplated suicide because of politics,” Smith said. “That showed up in the first survey in 2017, and we wondered if it was a statistical artifact. But in the two surveys since, we found exactly the same thing, so millions of American adults have contemplated suicide because of politics. That’s a serious health problem.”

Those most likely to be negatively affected by politics were younger, more often Democratic-leaning, more interested in politics and more politically engaged.

“If there’s a profile of a person who is more likely to experience these effects from politics, it’s people with those traits,” Smith said.

This could mean problems for democracy if this trend continued. Smith suggested investigating whether civic education had a positive effect, as those who were more knowledgeable about politics seemed to be less affected.

Source: University of Nebraska

Categories : COVIDTags :

Fourth Wave Ending as COVID Becomes Endemic

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Speaking to  the media on Friday, Dr Joe Phaahla said that vaccinations had “uncontestably” lowered the rate of hospitalisations as seen by reduced hospital admissions in the fourth wave. saying that there has been a decoupling between new infections and hospital admissions and deaths. An article awaiting peer review on the medRxiv preprint server shows evidence of this in Cape Town.

Vaccinations were still lower than expected, despite a renewed vaccination drive from 17 December, a situation he attributed to people focussing on their festivities. As of Thursday, 45.5% of all SA adults had received at least one dose, with just under 40% being fully vaccinated. However, only 31.6% of 18–34 year olds have been vaccinated. About one million doses have been administered to the newly opened 12–17 year age group.

In an interview with eNCA, Dr Phaahla said that he concurs with experts that COVID is heading towards becoming an endemic disease, emphasising that South Africa is prepared for this. A new dashboard is to be unveiled which will show the number of vaccinated and unvaccinated in hospitals.

Dr Phaahla has also said that the issue of mandatory vaccinations is currently being deliberated by the government and that an announcement will be made in due course. In the US, the Supreme Court blocked President Biden’s vaccine mandate for large companies, which is seen as a significant blow to his administration’s COVID response plan.

The NICD’s Dr Michelle Groome said that almost 99% of all COVID cases sequenced are caused by Omicron. Gauteng, has exited the fourth wave with a low rate of new cases (1.4 cases per 100 000) and slight (2.2%) increase, likely attributable to increased testing. All other provinces had observed a decrease in weekly incidence of new cases, save Northern Cape (21.9 per 100 000, 18.3% increase). A 14.3% positivity rate was seen as of 13 January, down from highs above 35% in mid-December.

Test positivity rate had fallen from 25–30% in the last week of 2022 to 14% on Thursday.

Categories : Regenerative MedicineTags :

A Novel Hydrogel for Treating Spinal Cord Injury

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Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed an innovative scaffold that regulates the immune microenvironment following a spinal cord injury, thereby reduces secondary injury effects. Their work is reported in Biomaterials.

By modifying a hydrogel with a cationic polymer, polyamidoamine, and  interleukin-10 (IL-10; an anti-inflammatory cytokine), the scaffold could enhance tissue remodelling and promote axonal regeneration.

Spinal cord injuries cause axon damage and neural cell death, leading to dysfunction. A secondary stage of injury follows the primary stage and lasts for several weeks. Infiltration and activation of immune cells triggered by a spinal cord injury creates an inflammatory microenvironment characterised with damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) that exacerbates secondary damage and impairs neurological functional recovery.

With the capabilities of effective scavenging of DAMPs and sustained release of IL-10, such a dual-functional immunoregulatory hydrogel not only reduced pro-inflammatory responses of macrophages and microglia, but also enhanced neurogenic differentiation of neural stem cells.

In a mouse model of spinal cord injury, the scaffold suppressed cytokine production, counteracting the inflammatory microenvironment and regulating immune cell activation, resulting in neural regeneration and axon growth without scar formation.

The dual-functional immunoregulatory scaffold with neuroprotection and neural regeneration effects significantly promoted electrophysiological enhancement and motor function recovery after spinal cord injury.

This study suggests that functional scaffold reconstruction of the immune microenvironment is a promising and effective method for treating severe spinal cord injury.  

Source: Chinese Academy of Sciences

Categories : Neurodegenerative DiseasesTags :

Hydroxychloroquine Effective in Slowing MS

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A healthy neuron.
A healthy neuron. Credit: NIH

Promising results for a generic antimalarial drug, hydroxychloroquine, have been seen when used to treat the evolution of disability of primary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS), the least treatable form of the autoimmune disease.

Research teams led by Dr Marcus Koch, MD, PhD, and Dr Wee Yong, PhD, found that hydroxychloroquine helped to slow the progression of disability during the 18-month study involving participants at the MS clinic in Calgary. The research was published in Annals of Neurology.

“With primary progressive MS, there is no good treatment to stop or reverse the progression of disease. The disability progressively worsens through time,” said Dr Koch. “Dr Yong’s research team, with whom we closely collaborate, has been screening a large number of generic drugs over several years and the results with hydroxychloroquine show some promise. Our trial is a preliminary success that needs further research. We hope sharing these results will help inspire that work, specifically larger scale clinical trials into the future.”

The experimental study followed 35 people, at least 40% of whom, or 14 participants, were expected to experience a significant worsening of their walking function, but at the end of the trial only eight participants had worsened.

Hydroxychloroquine is an anti-malaria medication more commonly used to manage the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis and autoimmune conditions such as lupus. It was selected as it is use in rheumatological diseases is widespread and is generally well-tolerated.

“Based on research in our lab on models of MS, we predicted that hydroxychloroquine would reduce disability in people living with MS. Calgary has a vibrant bench-to-bedside MS program and the work from Dr Koch’s trial offers further evidence which we were pleased to see,” said Prof Yong.

To date, the cause of MS is unknown. This autoimmune disease generally long-lasting, often affecting the brain, spinal cord and the optic nerves in your eyes. It can cause problems with vision, balance and muscle control, although the effects are different for every patient with the disease.

Dr Koch and the research team have been studying the impact of hydroxychloroquine on primary progressive MS for several years and that work continues, including its potential to achieve even greater results as a therapy in combination with select other generic drugs.

Source: EurekAlert!

Categories : General InterestTags :

Men in Medical Face Masks Rated as More Attractive

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Besides COVID prevention, there is an upside to wearing the ubiquitous face masks worn in many countries: they increase attractiveness, at least in men. 

A study published in Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications measured how different types of face masks changed the attractiveness of 40 male faces.

However, the researchers discovered the type of covering matters – blue medical masks were found to increase facial attractiveness more than other types of masks.

Dr. Michael Lewis, an expert in the psychology of faces, said: “Research carried out before the pandemic found medical face masks reduce attractiveness – so we wanted to test whether this had changed since face coverings became ubiquitous and understand whether the type of mask had any effect.

“Our study suggests faces are considered most attractive when covered by medical face masks. This may be because we’re used to healthcare workers wearing blue masks and now we associate these with people in caring or medical professions. At a time when we feel vulnerable, we may find the wearing of medical masks reassuring and so feel more positive towards the wearer.

“We also found faces are considered significantly more attractive when covered by cloth masks than when not covered. Some of this effect may be a result of being able to hide undesirable features in the lower part of the face—but this effect was present for both less attractive and more attractive people.”

In the study, 43 female participants were asked to rate the attractiveness of images of male faces without a mask; wearing a cloth mask; a blue medical face mask and holding a plain black book covering the area a face mask would hide. The research took place seven months after face masks became mandatory in the UK.

“The results run counter to the pre-pandemic research where it was thought masks made people think about disease and the person should be avoided,” commented Dr Lewis.

“The current research shows the pandemic has changed our psychology in how we perceive the wearers of masks. When we see someone wearing a mask we no longer think ‘that person has a disease, I need to stay away’.

“This relates to evolutionary psychology and why we select the partners we do. Disease and evidence of disease can play a big role in mate selection – previously any cues to disease would be a big turn off. Now we can observe a shift in our psychology such that face masks are no longer acting as a contamination cue.”

Next steps are to see if the reverse holds true for women’s attractiveness to men.

Source: Cardiff University

Categories : Diet and NutritionTags :

Chewing Food Thoroughly Helps in Weight Management

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Previous research has shown that the age-old advice of chewing food thoroughly helps protect against weight again obesity, and now a study has revealed why this is so.

Typically, the chewing process reportedly enhances the energy expenditure associated with the metabolism of food and increases intestinal motility all add up to an increased heat generation in the body, known as diet-induced thermogenesis (DIT). However, how prolonged chewing induces DIT in the body remains unclear. A study published in the journal Scientific Reports answers these questions.

DIT increases energy expenditure above the basal fasting level – a factor known to prevent weight gain. The team previously found that slow eating and thorough chewing not only increased DIT but also enhanced blood circulation in the splanchnic region of the abdomen. Although these studies linked chewing-induced-DIT with increased digestion and absorption-related activity in the abdomen, they left scopes for further exploring a few crucial points.

Senior author Prof Hayashi Naoyuki Hayashi from Waseda University explained: “We were unsure whether the size of the food bolus that entered the digestive tract contributed to the increase in DIT observed after slow eating. Also, do oral stimuli generated during prolonged chewing of food play any role in increasing DIT? To define slow chewing as an effective and scientific weight management strategy, we needed to look deeper into these aspects.”

To find the answers, the researchers designed their new study to exclude the effect of the food bolus by involving liquid food. The entire study included three trials conducted on different days. Volunteers swallow 20mL liquid test food normally every 30 seconds as a control trial. In the second trial, the volunteers kept the same test food in their mouth for 30 seconds without chewing, allowing longer tasting before swallowing. In the third trial they studied the effect of both chewing and tasting; the volunteers chewed the 20mL test food for 30 seconds at a frequency of once per second and then swallowed it. The variables such as hunger and fullness, gas-exchange variables, DIT, and splanchnic circulation were duly measured before and after the test-drink consumption.

While there was no difference in hunger and fullness scores among the trials, as Prof Hayashi describes: “We found DIT or energy production increased after consuming a meal, and it increased with the duration of each taste stimulation and the duration of chewing. This means irrespective of the influence of the food bolus, oral stimuli, corresponding to the duration of tasting food in the mouth and the duration of chewing, increased DIT.” Gas exchange and protein oxidation too increased with the duration of taste stimulation and chewing, and so did blood flow in the splanchnic celiac artery. Since this artery supplies blood to the digestive organs, upper gastrointestinal tract motility also increased in responsivense to chewing.

The study demonstrated that energy expenditure through thorough chewing, though small, could help reduce obesity and metabolic syndrome.

With robust evidence behind it, slow eating and thorough chewing could be the latest recommendations for managing weight.

Source: Waseda University

Categories : AntibioticsTags :

Breathing New Life into Old Antibiotics

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Source: Pixabay CC0

Scientists may have hit upon a way to make frontline antibiotics once again effective against the deadly bacteria that cause pneumonia.

The international team originally developed this as a potential treatment for disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases to break bacterial resistance to commonly used frontline antibiotics.

Led by University of Melbourne Professor Christopher McDevitt, this discovery may see the comeback of readily available and cheap antibiotics, such as penicillin and ampicillin, as effective weapons in the fight against the rapidly rising threat of antibiotic resistance.

In a paper published in Cell Reports, Prof McDevitt and colleagues described how they discovered a way to break bacterial drug resistance and then developed a therapeutic approach to rescue the use of the antibiotic ampicillin to treat drug-resistant bacterial pneumonia caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae in a mouse model of infection.

The World Health Organization (WHO) last year named antibiotic resistance as one of the greatest threats to global health, food security, and development. Rising numbers of bacterial infections such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, gonorrhoea, and salmonellosis are becoming harder to treat as the antibiotics lose effectiveness against them.

Prof McDevitt’s prior work on bacterial antibiotic resistance using zinc ionophores led to collaborations with University of Queensland’s Professor Mark Walker and Griffith University’s Professor Mark von Itzstein from the Institute for Glycomics.

“We knew that some ionophores, such as PBT2, had been through clinical trials and shown to be safe for use in humans,” Prof von Itzstein said.

Prof Walker said that “as a group, we realised that if we could repurpose these safe molecules to break bacterial resistance and restore antibiotic efficacy, this would be a pathway to a therapeutic treatment. What we had to do was show whether PBT2 broke bacterial resistance to antibiotic treatment without leading to even greater drug resistance.”

“We focused on bacterial pneumonia and the most commonly used antibiotics. We thought that if we could rescue frontline antibiotics and restore their use for treating common infections, this would solve a global problem,” Prof McDevitt added.

An important component was the research from Prof McDevitt’s group that led to making the treatment effective.

“We knew from earlier research that the immune system uses zinc as an innate antimicrobial to fight off infection. So, we developed our therapeutic approach with PBT2 to use the body’s antimicrobial zinc to break antibiotic resistance in the invading bacteria,” he said.

“This rendered the drug-resistant bacteria susceptible to the antibiotic ampicillin, restoring the effectiveness of the antibiotic treatment in the infected animals.”

Collecting the data required for a clinical trial of PBT2 in combination with antibiotics is the next step, said Prof McDevitt.

“We also want to find other antibiotic-PBT2 combinations that have therapeutic potential for treatment of other bacterial infections,” he said.

“Our work shows that this simple combination therapy is safe, but the combinations require testing in clinical trials. What we need now is to move forward with further testing and pharmacology.”

Source: University of Melbourne