Month: November 2024

Categories : Diet and NutritionTags :

Drinking Plenty of Water may Actually be Good for You

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Photo by Amanda María on Unsplash

Public health recommendations generally suggest drinking eight cups of water a day. And many people just assume it’s healthy to drink plenty of water.

Now researchers at UC San Francisco have taken a systematic look at the available evidence, analysed 18 randomised controlled trials. In their review, published in JAMA Network Open, they concluded that drinking enough water can help with weight loss and prevent kidney stones, as well as migraines, urinary tract infections and low blood pressure.

“For such a ubiquitous and simple intervention, the evidence hasn’t been clear, and the benefits were not well established, so we wanted to take a closer look,” said Benjamin Breyer, MD, MAS, professor and chair of the UCSF Department of Urology.

“The amount of rigorous research turned out to be limited, but in some specific areas, there was a statistically significant benefit,” said Breyer, the senior author of the study. “To our knowledge, this is the first study assessing the benefits of water consumption on clinical outcomes broadly.”

Strong evidence suggested that drinking eight cups of water a day significantly decreased the likelihood of getting another kidney stone. Several studies found that drinking about six cups of water a day helped adults lose weight. But a study that included adolescents found that drinking a little more than eight cups of water a day had no effect.

Still, the authors said that encouraging people to drink water before meals would be a simple and cheap intervention that could have huge benefits, given the increased prevalence of obesity.

Other studies indicated that water can help prevent migraines, control diabetes and low blood pressure, and prevent urinary tract infections. Adults with recurrent headaches felt better after three months of drinking more water. Drinking about four more cups of water a day helped diabetic patients whose blood glucose levels were elevated.

Drinking an additional six cups a day of water also helped women with recurrent urinary tract infections. It reduced the number of infections and increased the amount of time between them. Drinking more water also helped young adults with low blood pressure.

“We know that dehydration is detrimental, particularly in someone with a history of kidney stones or urinary infections,” Breyer said. “On the other hand, someone who suffers from frequent urination at times may benefit from drinking less. There isn’t a one size fits all approach for water consumption.”

Source: University of California – San Francisco

Categories : COVID General InterestTags :

How COVID Transformed Family Dinners for the Better

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Photo by Vanessa Loring on Pexels

While the lockdowns associated with the COVID pandemic led many families to eat more meals at home, they had an additional benefit: an increase in the quality of family time during those dinners, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

The study, published in the journal Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice, found that families who ate together more often during the pandemic also had more positive interactions, shared news and information, and even embraced technology such as videoconferencing to connect with distant family members.

“The predominance of past research on family dinners has focused on frequency as the key predictor of benefits for children and adolescents,” said lead author Anne Fishel, PhD, a clinician and researcher in family therapy at Massachusetts General Hospital. “This study highlights the importance of examining both frequency and quality to understand the full picture of how shared meals can impact families.”

Researchers examined data from a survey of 517 ethnically and socioeconomically diverse parents across the United States, administered in May 2021. Their aim was to investigate changes in family dinner frequency and quality during the COVID pandemic.

Participants were asked about dinner frequency, quality and post-pandemic expectations. The survey included questions about positive and negative interactions, family support and incorporation of the outside world. They were asked questions such as, “During the pandemic, did all or most of the people living in your home eat dinner together less, about the same, or more than compared to before the pandemic?” Participants then provided answers ranging on a scale of 1–5, 1 being “much less” and 5 being “much more.”

Over 60% of respondents reported eating dinner together more often during the pandemic compared with pre-pandemic times. There was also a significant increase in positive interactions (e.g, expressing gratitude, laughing or feeling connected) during family meals.

“Specifically, 56% said they increased talking about their days during dinner, 60% said they increased talking about their identity as a family, 60% said they increased expressing gratitude, 67% said they increased laughing together and 59% said they felt more connected to each other around the dinner table,” said Fishel. This positive association was evident across income levels, education, age, gender and race.

The pandemic introduced new aspects to family dinners, including remote dining with extended family members and more discussions about current events, according to Fishel. Many families turned to videoconferencing to connect with extended family, potentially strengthening a sense of belonging to a larger family unit. Most parents who increased the use of technology for remote dinners during the pandemic reported that they plan to continue this practice as the pandemic subsides.

The researchers also found an increase in families incorporating news and information from the outside world into their dinner conversations, potentially offering a safe space for children to discuss anxieties and questions with their parents.

Overall, this study suggests that the increased frequency of family dinners during the pandemic may have had lasting positive effects on family dynamics, according to Fishel.

Source: American Psychological Association

Categories : Cancer New Compounds and TreatmentsTags :

Gold Trumps Platinum for Chemotherapy Compounds

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Left: Normal cervical cancer cells with well-formed nuclei in blue and elongated actin filaments – which play an essential role in cell survival and division – in green. Right: Destabilised cervical cancer cells after gold compound treatment show structural integrity compromised while the nuclei in blue are breaking apart, indicating cell death. Credit: RMIT University

Gold-based drugs can slow tumour growth in animals by 82% and target cancers more selectively than standard chemotherapy drugs, according to new research out of RMIT University. The study published in the European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry reveals a new gold-based compound that’s 27 times more potent against cervical cancer cells in the lab than standard chemotherapy drug cisplatin. 

It was also 3.5 times more effective against prostate cancer and 7.5 times more effective against fibrosarcoma cells in the lab. In mice studies, the gold compound reduced cervical cancer tumour growth by 82%, compared to cisplatin’s 29%. 

Project lead at RMIT, Distinguished Professor Suresh Bhargava AM, said it marked a promising step towards alternatives to platinum-based cancer drugs.  

“These newly synthesised compounds demonstrate remarkable anticancer potential, outperforming current treatments in a number of significant aspects including their selectivity in targeting cancer cells,” said Bhargava, Director of RMIT’s Centre for Advanced Materials and Industrial Chemistry. “While human trials are still a way off, we are really encouraged by these results.” 

The gold-based compound is patented and ready for further development towards potential clinical application.

Gold: the noblest element

Photo by Jingming Pan on Unsplash

Gold is famously known as the noblest of all metals because it has little or no reaction when encountering other substances. However, the gold compound used in this study is a chemically tailored form known as Gold(I), designed to be highly reactive and biologically active.  

This chemically reactive form was then tailored to interact with an enzyme abundant in cancer cells, known as thioredoxin reductase.

By blocking this protein’s activity, the gold compound effectively shuts down cancer cells before they can multiply or develop drug resistance. 

Project co-lead at RMIT, Distinguished Professor Magdalena Plebanski, said along with this ability to block protein activity, the compound also had another weapon in its anti-cancer arsenal. 

In zebrafish studies, it was shown to stop the formation of new blood vessels that tumours need in order to grow. 

This was the first time one of the team’s various gold compounds had shown this effect, known as anti-angiogenesis.  

The drug’s effectiveness at using these two attacks simultaneously was demonstrated against a range of cancer cells. 

This included ovarian cancer cells, which are known to develop resistance to cisplatin treatment in many cases. 

“Drug resistance is a significant challenge in cancer therapy,” said Plebanski, who heads RMIT’s Cancer, Ageing, and Vaccines Laboratory.

“Seeing our gold compound have such strong efficacy against tough-to-treat ovarian cancer cells is an important step toward addressing recurrent cancers and metastases.” 

Gold has been a cornerstone of Indian Ayurvedic treatments for centuries, celebrated for its healing properties. Today, gold-based cancer treatments are gaining global traction, with advancements such as the repurposing of the anti-arthritic drug auranofin, now showing promise in clinical trials for oncology. 

“We know that gold is readily accepted by the human body, and we know it has been used for thousands of years in treating various conditions,” Bhargava said.

“Essentially, gold has been market tested, but not scientifically validated. 

“Our work is helping both provide the evidence base that’s missing, as well as delivering new families of molecules that are tailor-made to amplify the natural healing properties of gold,” he said.

Bhargava said this highly targeted approach minimises the toxic side effects seen with the platinum-based cisplatin, which targets DNA and damages both healthy and cancerous cells.

“Their selectivity in targeting cancer cells, combined with reduced systemic toxicity, points to a future where treatments are more effective and far less harmful,” Bhargava said. 

This specific form of gold was also shown to be more stable than those used in earlier studies, allowing the compound to remain intact while reaching the tumour site. 

Categories : CancerTags :

Why Does Tamoxifen Work Only for Some Patients but not Others?

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A new study has shown that variation in the microbiota of the human gut impacts the pharmacokinetics of tamoxifen and thus the effectiveness of the drug. The finding, published in the journal mBio, suggests that in the future, doctors may use a simple stool test to check for certain bacteria in the gut and help predict tamoxifen’s effectiveness for them.

Tamoxifen is a selective oestrogen receptor modulator used to prevent breast cancer. It prevents breast cancer cells from being able to use oestrogen to grow.

“The key takeaway from this study is that while tamoxifen is a common and important treatment for preventing breast cancer recurrence, nearly 50% of patients don’t respond well to it,” said lead study author Yasmine Alam, a PhD candidate in the Department of Biological Chemistry, University of California Irvine. “Since tamoxifen is taken orally and passes through the gut, this difference in how patients respond may be linked to the gut microbiome – the trillions of bacteria in our intestines, which vary greatly from person to person. Our study aims to better understand how these gut bacteria influence the way tamoxifen is absorbed, broken down and recycled in the body, with the goal of improving treatment outcomes for breast cancer patients.”

In the new study, the researchers set out to define the role that gut microbes play in how tamoxifen is processed (ie, absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion), given its significant variable efficacy across patients. The researchers provided tamoxifen to mice that had no gut microbiome and to mice with a human microbiome (introduced to the mice by a human faecal sample). They found that mice with gut bacteria had higher amounts of tamoxifen in their bloodstream. The scientists then went on to explore what part of the gut microbiome was responsible for controlling the level of drug in the bloodstream. By examining the faecal samples from people, they linked a specific enzyme in bacteria, beta-glucuronidase, as a key factor that allows the drug to enter the bloodstream.

Tamoxifen is absorbed into the bloodstream from the intestine. Tamoxifen is carried by the bloodstream to the liver, where it is converted to its cancer-fighting form. Sometimes a sugar molecule can get attached to it, which signals the body to dump the cancer-fighting form of the drug back into the intestine. This drug can only get out of the intestine by taking the sugar off the molecule – and the researchers found that beta-glucuronidase in gut bacteria can eat the sugar off the drug so it can go on to fight breast cancer.

“Specifically, we found that certain enzymes produced by gut bacteria, called β-glucuronidase, play a role in how tamoxifen is broken down. These enzymes help recycle tamoxifen back into the bloodstream, which can make the drug more effective,” Alam said. “We discovered that a particular type of bacteria, Bacteroides fragilis, was strongly linked to the ability of these enzymes to affect tamoxifen levels in the blood in a positive way. This suggests that the gut microbiome plays an important role in how tamoxifen works in the body.”

The long-term goal of the study is to pave the way for more tailored and effective therapeutic interventions in the prevention of breast cancer recurrence.

Source: American Society for Microbiology

Categories : Ageing ExerciseTags :

Many Could Easily Add Five Years to Their Lifespan

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Photo by Teona Swift on Unsplash

If everyone was as active as the top 25% of the population, individuals over the age of 40 could add five years to their life, according to a new study led by Griffith University researchers. 

Physical activity has long been known to be good for health, however estimates have varied regarding how much benefit could be gained from a defined amount of activity, both for individuals and for populations. 

This latest study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, used US-based accelerometer data to gain an accurate view of a population’s physical activity levels instead of relying on survey responses as per other studies, and found the benefits were around twice as strong as previous estimates.  

It found the most active quarter of people in the community had a 73% lower risk of death than their least active counterparts. For that least active quartile, a single one-hour walk could potentially return a benefit of around six additional hours of life.  

Lead researcher Professor Lennert Veerman said this cohort had the greatest potential for health gains.  

“If you’re already very active or in that top quartile, an extra hour’s walk may not make much difference as you’ve, in a sense, already ‘maxed out’ your benefit,” he said.   

“If the least active quartile of the population over age 40 were to increase their activity level to that of the most active quartile however, they might live, on average, about 11 years longer.

“This is not an unreasonable prospect, as 25 per cent of the population is already doing it.  It can be any type of exercise but would roughly be the equivalent of just under three hours of walking per day.” 

The research team suggested low levels of physical activity could even rival the negative effects of smoking, with other research finding each cigarette could take 11 minutes from a smoker’s life.  

By extension, a more active lifestyle could also offer protective effects against heart disease, stroke, certain cancers and other chronic illnesses, with the study’s findings highlighting a need for national physical activity guidelines to be revisited using these methods.  

Dr Veerman said physical activity had been vastly underestimated in its capacity to improve health outcomes, suggesting even modest increases in movement could lead to significant life-extension benefits.  

“If there’s something you could do to more than halve your risk of death, physical activity is enormously powerful,” he said.  

“If we could increase investment in promoting physical activity and creating living environments that promote it such as walkable or cyclable neighbourhoods and convenient, affordable public transport systems, we could not only increase longevity but also reduce pressure on our health systems and the environment.”  

Source: Griffith University

Categories : Cancer GastrointestinalTags :

Scientists Find a Molecule that Promotes Gut Healing and Stifles Tumour Growth

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Irritable bowel syndrome. Credit: Scientific Animations CC4.0

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have found a molecule that can both help the intestines to heal after damage and suppress tumour growth in colorectal cancer. The discovery could lead to new treatments for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and cancer. The results are published in the journal Nature.

Many patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis do not respond to available treatments, highlighting the need to identify novel therapeutic strategies. In this study, researchers propose that promoting mucosal healing through tissue regeneration could be a valid alternative to immunosuppressive drugs.  

“However, it’s virtually impossible to promote tissue regeneration without the risk of inducing tumour growth, as cancer cells can hijack the body’s natural healing processes and start to grow uncontrollably,” says lead author Srustidhar Das, research specialist in Eduardo Villablanca’s research group at Karolinska Institutet. “We’ve now identified a molecule that can help the intestines to heal after damage while suppressing tumour growth in colorectal cancer.” 

New drug candidates 

In their search for new ways to treat IBD, the researchers have identified a handful of molecules with drug-candidate potential. They found that activation of a protein called the Liver X receptor (LXR) can promote regeneration and suppress tumour growth in colorectal cancer. 

“The discovery of both these functions was astonishing,” says last author Eduardo J. Villablanca, docent at Karolinska Institutet. “We now need to study how LXR controls tumour formation more closely.” 

The researchers used a collection of advanced technologies to conduct their study, which included mapping the transcriptome of intestinal cells. The researchers also cultivated what are known as 3D organoids: small, three-dimensional cell structures that mimic the function and structure of the body’s own organs, albeit in miniature format. 

They then used spatial transcriptomics to map the gene expression in the different tissues, a technique that has been developed at SciLifeLab by scientists from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) and Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. 

Third most common cancer 

Patients, the third most common type in Sweden, are often treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but this can cause irritation and swelling of the bowel mucosa with subsequent chronic intestinal inflammation. 

“Thus, this new therapeutic molecule has the potential to treat not only IBD patients but also cancer patients to prevent chronic bowel disorders after radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy,” says Eduardo J. Villablanca. 

Source: Karolinska Institutet

Categories : Obstetrics & GynaecologyTags :

Pregnancy Complications make Women Less Inclined to Have More Children

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Women who suffer severe complications during their first pregnancy or delivery are less inclined to have more babies, according to a study published in JAMA by researchers at Karolinska Institutet. For Sweden, given its recent steady decline in birth rate, the researchers propose monitoring in antenatal care to address the problem.

“The clinical monitoring of these women is essential, and they need individualised advice on possible future pregnancies,” says the study’s first author Eleni Tsamantioti, doctoral student at the Department of Medicine in Solna, Karolinska Institutet.

Reduced fertility

Birth rates and fertility have both been in steady decline in Sweden over the past years. In this new population-based study, the researchers have studied the association between severe maternal morbidity in first-time mothers and the likelihood of their having a second baby. The study comprised over a million women in Sweden who had their first baby between 1999 and 2021.

“We found that the likelihood of having more children was much lower in women who had experienced severe complications during their first pregnancy, delivery or postnatal period,” says the study’s last author Neda Razaz, associate professor at the same department. “Such events can often have a physical and mental impact on women for a long time to come.”

All in all, 3.5% of the first-time mothers in the study suffered serious complications and were 12% less likely to have a second baby. Most impacted were women who had experienced cardiac complications, a ruptured uterus or severe mental health problems, who were 50% less likely to have another birth than women who had not experienced such complications.

Monitoring in antenatal care

Women who needed respiratory care or who suffered a cerebrovascular accident like stroke or intracranial haemorrhage were 40% less likely to have a second baby. Acute kidney failure, severe preeclampsia and blood clotting were also associated with a lower probability of a second pregnancy. The researchers also compared the women with any sisters they had to control for familial factors. 

“The reasons are hard to speculate on and may result from multiple factors, such as decreased desire for more children, trauma, infertility related to psychiatric medications, or lack of health counselling,” says Tsamantioti. “Proper support and monitoring by antenatal care staff is therefore essential for women who have suffered serious health problems during pregnancy or delivery.”

Source: Karolinska Institutet

Categories : NeurologyTags :

Concussions from American Football Slow Brain Activity of High Schoolers

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Photo by Jakob Rosen on Unsplash

A new study of high school American football players found that concussions affect an often-overlooked but important brain signal. The findings are presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

Reports have emerged in recent years warning about the potential harms of youth contact sports on developing brains. Contact sports, including high school football, carry a risk of concussion. Symptoms of concussion commonly include cognitive disturbances, such as difficulty with balancing, memory or concentration.

Many concussion studies focus on periodic brain signals. These signals appear in rhythmic patterns and contribute to brain functions such as attention, movement or sensory processing. Not much is known about how concussions affect other aspects of brain function, specifically, brain signals that are not rhythmic.

“Most previous neuroscience research has focused on rhythmic brain signaling, which is also called periodic neurophysiology,” said study lead author Kevin C. Yu, BS, a neuroscience student at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. “On the other hand, aperiodic neurophysiology refers to brain signals that are not rhythmic.”

Aperiodic activity is typically treated as ‘background noise’ on brain scans, but recent studies have shown that this background noise may play a key role in how the brain functions.

“While it’s often overlooked, aperiodic activity is important because it reflects brain cortical excitability,” said study senior author Christopher T. Whitlow, MD, PhD, MHA, radiology professor at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

Cortical excitability is a vital part of brain function. It reflects how nerve cells, or neurons, in the brain’s cortex respond to stimulation and plays a key role in cognitive functions like learning and memory, information processing, decision making, motor control, wakefulness and sleep.

To gain a better understanding of brain rhythms and trauma, the researchers sought to identify the impacts of concussions on aperiodic activity.

Pre- and post-season resting-state magnetoencephalography (MEG) data was collected from 91 high school football players, of whom 10 were diagnosed with a concussion. MEG is a neuroimaging technique that measures the magnetic fields that the brain’s electrical currents produce.

A clinical evaluation tool for concussions called the Post-Concussive Symptom Inventory was correlated with pre- and post-season physical, cognitive and behavioral symptoms.

High school football players who sustained concussions displayed slowed aperiodic activity. Aperiodic slowing was strongly associated with worse post-concussion cognitive symptoms and test scores.

Slowed aperiodic activity was present in areas of the brain that contain chemicals linked with concussion symptoms like impaired concentration and memory.

“This study is important because it provides insight into both the mechanisms and the clinical implications of concussion in the maturing adolescent brain,” said co-lead author Alex I. Wiesman, PhD, assistant professor at Simon Fraser University. “Reduced excitability is conceptually a very different brain activity change than altered rhythms and means that a clear next step for this work is to see whether these changes are related to effects of concussion on the brain’s chemistry.”

The findings from the study may also influence tracking of post-concussion symptoms and aid in finding new treatments to improve recovery.

“Our study opens the door to new ways of understanding and diagnosing concussions, using this novel type of brain activity that is associated with concussion symptoms,” Dr Whitlow said. “It highlights the importance of monitoring kids carefully after any head injury and taking concussions seriously.”

Source: Radiological Society of North America

Categories : Cancer VaccinesTags :

Cervical Cancer Deaths in Young Women Plummet after Introduction of HPV Vaccine

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Cervical cancer. Credit: Scientific Animations CC4.0

Cervical cancer deaths have plunged dramatically among women under age 25, and researchers at MUSC Hollings Cancer Center believe this is likely due to HPV vaccination. Their study, published in JAMA, is the first to suggest the impact of HPV vaccination on cervical cancer deaths.

“We observed a substantial reduction in mortality – a 62% drop in cervical cancer deaths over the last decade, likely due to HPV vaccination,” said senior author Ashish Deshmukh, PhD, co-leader of the Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program. “We cannot think of any other reason that would have contributed to such a marked decline.”

The human papillomavirus, or HPV, causes nearly all cases of cervical cancer. The HPV vaccine was introduced in 2006. At first, it was available only to adolescents, but eligibility has since been expanded to include adults up to age 45 in some cases. In South Africa, an HPV vaccination programme started in 2014 for girls in public schools.

Previous studies have looked at the rates of HPV infection, precancer and cervical cancer incidence since the introduction of the vaccine, and all of those indicators have declined. The next logical step was to look at death rates, Deshmukh said.

Although cervical cancer is rare in women under age 25, it does occur. By examining deaths in this age group, researchers were able to see the early impact of the vaccine. Women who were 25 in 2021, the final year included in this study, would have been 10 years old when the vaccine was introduced.

The researchers looked at cervical cancer deaths in three-year blocks of time. Through the 1990s, there were between 50 and 60 cervical cancer deaths nationally in women under the age of 25 in each three-year block of time. During the 2019–2021 time period, there were only 13 deaths.

However, the team sounded an alarm. Healthy People 2030 has a goal of reaching an 80% HPV vaccination rate, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported earlier this year that only about 60% of 13 to 15 year olds have received the recommended doses.

“There has been a decline in HPV vaccination post COVID-19 in the most recent generation of U.S. adolescents. This is troubling as a decline in vaccination uptake would potentially lead to smaller gains,” Deshmukh said.

Source: Medical University of South Carolina

Categories : Environmental Effects Mental HealthTags :

The Sound of Traffic Increases Stress and Anxiety

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People experienced less stress and anxiety while listening to nature soundscapes, but the addition of road traffic noise increased their stress and anxiety

Photo by Lucas Davies on Unsplash

Manmade sounds such vehicle traffic can mask the positive impact of nature soundscapes on people’s stress and anxiety, according to a new study published November 27, 2024, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Paul Lintott of the University of the West of England, U.K., and Lia Gilmour of the Bat Conservation Trust, U.K.

Existing research shows that natural sounds, like birdsong, can lower blood pressure, heart, and respiratory rates, as well as self-reported stress and anxiety. Conversely, anthropogenic soundscapes, like traffic or aircraft noise, are hypothesized to have negative effects on human health and wellbeing in a variety of ways.

In the new study, 68 student volunteers listened to three 3-minute soundscapes: a nature soundscape recorded at sunrise in West Sussex, U.K., the same soundscape combined with 20 mile per hour road traffic sounds, and the same soundscape with 40 mile per hour traffic sounds. General mood and anxiety were assessed before and after the soundscapes using self-reported scales.

The study found that listening to a natural soundscape reduced self-reported stress and anxiety levels, and also enhanced mood recovery after a stressor. However, the benefits of improved mood associated with the natural soundscape was limited when traffic sounds were included. The natural soundscape alone was associated with the lowest levels of stress and anxiety, with the highest levels reported after the soundscape that included 40 mile per hour traffic.

The authors conclude that reducing traffic speed in urban areas might influence human health and wellbeing not only through its safety impacts, but also through its effect on natural soundscapes.

The authors add: “Our study shows that listening to natural soundscapes can reduce stress and anxiety, and that anthropogenic sounds such as traffic noise can mask potential positive impacts. Reducing traffic speeds in cities is therefore an important step towards more people experiencing the positive effects of nature on their health and wellbeing.”

Provided by PLOS