Tag Archives: Studies

Coronavirus: “Confusing Hydroxychloroquine Studies” (Nature Podcast)

Audio May 29, 2020 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

President Trump’s preferred coronavirus treatment is the focus of a new study suggesting it could cause more harm than good, but not everybody agrees. We discuss the fallout as trials around the world are paused and countries diverge over policy advice.

12:12 Are we rushing science?

Coronavirus papers are being published extremely quickly, while normally healthy scientific debate is being blown up in the world’s press. Is there a balancing act between timely research and accurate messaging?

18:49 One good thing

Our hosts pick out things that have made them smile in the last week, including hedgerow brews and a trip into the past using AI.

Recipe: Elderflower ‘Champagne’

Video: Denis Shiryaev restores historic footage with AI

22:30 The latest coronavirus research papers

Noah Baker takes a look through some of the key coronavirus papers of the last few weeks.

News: Coronavirus research updates

medRxiv: Full genome viral sequences inform patterns of SARS-CoV-2 spread into and within Israel

Harvard Library: Reductions in commuting mobility predict geographic differences in SARS-CoV-2 prevalence in New York City

Science: DNA vaccine protection against SARS-CoV-2 in rhesus macaques

Aging, Food, Health, Studies

Brain Health Studies: Blueberries, Flavonoid-Rich Foods Lower Risks Of Alzheimer’s And Dementia

May 20, 2020 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

From the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (April 22, 2020):

Our findings imply that higher long-term dietary intakes of flavonoids are associated with lower risks of ADRD and AD in US adults.

Our findings provide new evidence that diets higher in flavonols, anthocyanins, and flavonoid polymers are associated with a lower risk of developing ADRD. These associations were sustained after accounting for a variety of potential confounders including key nutrients related to ADRD risk and overall diet quality. Similar findings were seen with AD risk for flavonols and anthocyanins but the association with flavonoid polymers was no longer statistically significant.

Along with improvements in healthcare and medical technology, the aging of the baby boom generation will result in an unprecedented rise in the number of older Americans (1, 2). Currently, there are >50 million Americans aged ≥65 y, and that is projected to more than double by 2060 (3). A consequence of this increase in older adults is the escalation of age-related diseases (4, 5). Alzheimer disease (AD) and related dementias (ADRD), a group of symptoms in which there is progressive deterioration in cognitive function severe enough to interfere with a person’s daily living activities, are regarded as among the most significant public health challenges largely affecting adults aged >65 y (6). AD is the most common form of dementia, making up ∼60–80% of dementia cases. Currently, 5.8 million Americans are living with AD, and by 2050 that is projected to escalate to 14 million (7).

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Diet, Diet & Nutrition, Health, Studies

Diet Infographic: Most “Macronutrient Diets” Reduce Weight & Blood Pressure In 6 Months (BMJ)

April 23, 2020 She Seeks Serene 1 Comment

From a BMJ Study article (April, 2020):

Compared with usual diet, moderate certainty evidence supports modest weight loss and substantial reductions in systolic and diastolic blood pressure for low carbohydrate (eg, Atkins, Zone), low fat (eg, Ornish), and moderate macronutrient (eg, DASH, Mediterranean) diets at six but not 12 months. Differences between diets are, however, generally trivial to small, implying that people can choose the diet they prefer from among many of the available diets (fig 6) without concern about the magnitude of benefits.

Introduction

The worldwide prevalence of obesity nearly tripled between 1975 and 2018.1 In response, authorities have made dietary recommendations for weight management and cardiovascular risk reduction.2 3 Diet programmes—some focusing on carbohydrate reduction and others on fat reduction—have been promoted widely by the media and have generated intense debates about their relative merit. Millions of people are trying to lose weight by changing their diet. Thus establishing the effect of dietary macronutrient patterns (carbohydrate reduction v fat reduction v moderate macronutrients) and popular named dietary programmes is important.

Biological and physiological mechanisms have been proposed to explain why some dietary macronutrient patterns and popular dietary programmes should be better than others. A previous network meta-analysis, however, suggested that differences in weight loss between dietary patterns and individual popular named dietary programmes are small and unlikely to be important.4 No systematic review and network meta-analysis has examined the comparative effectiveness of popular dietary programmes for reducing risk factors for cardiovascular disease, an area of continuing controversy.

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Diet, Health, Obesity, Studies

New Study: Obesity Results In Six Times Higher Rates Of Type 2 Diabetes, 3X More Than Genetic Risks (2020)

April 16, 2020 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

From a Diabetologia online study release (April 15, 2020):

“Having normal body weight is crucial in the prevention of type 2 diabetes, regardless of genetic predisposition.”

“The results suggest that type 2 diabetes prevention by weight management and healthy lifestyle is critical across all genetic risk groups.”

“Overall, the results indicate that a favorable lifestyle should be universally recommended in the prevention of type 2 diabetes, regardless of genetic predisposition, thus supporting current public health guidelines,”

Methods

We examined the joint association of genetic predisposition, obesity and unfavourable lifestyle with incident type 2 diabetes using a case-cohort study nested within the Diet, Cancer and Health cohort in Denmark. The study sample included 4729 individuals who developed type 2 diabetes during a median 14.7 years of follow-up, and a randomly selected cohort sample of 5402 individuals.

Results

Obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m²) and unfavourable lifestyle were associated with higher risk for incident type 2 diabetes regardless of genetic predisposition (p > 0.05 for GRS–obesity and GRS–lifestyle interaction). The effect of obesity on type 2 diabetes risk (HR 5.81 [95% CI 5.16, 6.55]) was high, whereas the effects of high genetic risk (HR 2.00 [95% CI 1.76, 2.27]) and unfavourable lifestyle (HR 1.18 [95% CI 1.06, 1.30]) were relatively modest.

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Exercise, Health, Medicine, Studies

Health Study: Physical Therapy Superior To Steroid Injection For Knee Osteoarthritis

April 14, 2020 She Seeks Serene 2 Comments

Patients with osteoarthritis of the knee who underwent physical therapy had less pain and functional disability at 1 year than patients who received an intraarticular glucocorticoid injection.

Osteoarthritis of the knee is a leading cause of disability.¹ Current management is typically limited to the treatment of symptoms until late stages of arthritis lead to knee replacement.² Intraarticular glucocorticoid injections are commonly used as a primary treatment for osteoarthritis of the knee,³ but there are conflicting reports regarding the extent and duration of the relief of symptoms with this therapy.^4-6 Complications from these injections occur infrequently but include joint infection,⁷ accelerated degradation of articular cartilage,⁸ and subchondral insufficiency fractures.⁹

PHYSICAL THERAPY

The physical therapy intervention, which is described in the protocol,²⁶ included instructions and images for exercises, joint mobilizations, and the clinical reasoning underlying the priorities, dosing, and progression of treatment. During a typical clinical session, the physical therapist would implement hands-on, manual techniques immediately before the patient performed reinforcing exercises to help the patient perform the movements with little or no pain. For example, if a patient could not fully extend or flex the knee, or those movements were painful, the physical therapist would use a hands-on, passive mobilizing technique to repeatedly move the knee to reduce stiffness while altering the mechanics of the technique to avoid pain. The patient would then perform repeated active knee movements in the same direction.

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Aging, Diet, Health, News, Obesity, Studies

Health Study: Older Adults With High Glucose Levels (A1C) Have Greater Cognitive Decline

April 3, 2020 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

From a MedPage Today online article (April 2, 2020):

This relationship between higher glucose levels and poorer cognitive functioning extended beyond just CASI z-score, as well, Cukierman-Yaffe noted. Higher HbA1c levels were also tied to significantly poorer performance in other psychological tests, including the clock making test of executive functioning, test of discriminative ability, and for the test of verbal fluency.

Poorer glycemic control was tied to cognitive decline following a lacunar stroke in a prospective cohort study.

Among 942 individuals with type 2 diabetes who had a lacunar stroke, every 1% higher HbA1c was tied to a 0.06 drop in cognitive function at baseline measured by Cognitive Assessment Screening Instrument (CASI) z-score (95% CI -0.101 to -0.018), reported Tali Cukierman-Yaffe, MD, MSc, of Sheba Medical Center and the Sackler School of Medicine of Tel Aviv University in Israel.

Diet, Health, News, Studies

Obesity Study: “Late Night Snacking” Older Adults – Higher Fat Levels Than Early Eaters On Same Diet

April 2, 2020 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

From a PLOS Biology Journal study (Feb 20, 2020):

Snacking Before you sleep Keeps on the Fat PLOS Biology April 2020 — Schematic: Late-evening snacking interacts with the circadian rhythm of metabolism to inhibit LO.

The major finding of this study is that the timing of feeding over the day leads to significant differences in the metabolism of an equivalent 24-h nutritional intake. Daily timing of nutrient availability coupled with daily/circadian control of metabolism drives a switch in substrate preference such that the late-evening Snack Session resulted in significantly lower LO compared to the Breakfast Session.

Developed countries are experiencing an epidemic of obesity that leads to many serious health problems, foremost among which are increasing rates of type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. While weight gain and obesity are primarily determined by diet and exercise, there is tremendous interest in the possibility that the daily timing of eating might have a significant impact upon weight management [1–3]. Many physiological processes display day/night rhythms, including feeding behavior, lipid and carbohydrate metabolism, body temperature, and sleep.

These daily oscillations are controlled by the circadian clock, which is composed of an autoregulatory biochemical mechanism that is expressed in tissues throughout the body and is coordinated by a master pacemaker located in the suprachiasmatic nuclei of the brain (aka the SCN [1,4]). The circadian system globally controls gene expression patterns so that metabolic pathways are differentially regulated over the day, including switching between carbohydrate and lipid catabolism [1,3,5–9]. Therefore, ingestion of the same food at different times of day could lead to differential metabolic outcomes, e.g., lipid oxidation (LO) versus accumulation; however, whether this is true or not is unclear.

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Health, News, Studies, Technology

Health: Scripps Research “DETECT” Wearable APP Study – A Viral Illness Early Warning System

March 27, 2020 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

When your heart beats faster than usual, it can mean that you’re coming down with a cold, flu, coronavirus, or other viral infection. That’s the conclusion of recent medical research.

So wearable devices that measure your resting heart rate—made by Apple, Fitbit, Garmin, and others—might help scientists spot viral outbreaks, and also give you more insight into your own health.

Scripps Research designed DETECT (Digital Engagement & Tracking for Early Control & Treatment), a study that will monitor your heart rate and allow you to record symptoms like fever or coughing.

Diet & Nutrition, Health, News, Studies

Health Studies: “Spirulina” Improves Cardiovascular (CVD) Risk Factors, Aids In Weight Loss (BMJ)

March 10, 2020 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

From a BMJ Open Heart online study (March 8, 2020):

Overall, the evidence in the literature suggests that spirulina improves several well-established CVD risk factors including hyperlipidaemia and seems to provide benefits around weight loss.

Although caloric restriction and exercise are the mainstay treatments for obesity, spirulina has shown significant benefits in aiding weight loss. The phycocyanin in spirulina contains a light-harvesting chromophore called phycocyanobilin, which is capable of inhibiting nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate hydrogen (NADPH) oxidase, a significant source of oxidative stress in adipocytes playing a key role in inducing insulin resistance and shifting adipokine and cytokine production in hypertrophied adipocytes. Thus, by suppressing adipocyte oxidative stress, spirulina may lead to systemic anti-inflammatory and insulin-sensitising effects.

Spirulina is both a salt and fresh water blue-green algae, which is being increasingly studied recently. Spirulina was initially classified under the plant kingdom due to its rich plant pigments and its ability to photosynthesize, but was later placed into bacterial kingdom (cyanobacteria) due to its genetic, physiological and biochemical makeup. Spirulina grows naturally in high salt alkaline water reservoirs in subtropical and tropical areas of America, Mexico, Asia and Central Africa.

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Aging, Exercise, Health, News, Old Age, Studies

Studies: Elderly In 3rd Highest Level Of Exercise Reduce Brain Shrinkage, Aging By 4 Years (AAN)

March 7, 2020 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

From a March 5, 2020 American Academy of Neurology release:

“These results are exciting, as they suggest that people may potentially prevent brain shrinking and the effects of aging on the brain simply by becoming more active,” said study author Yian Gu, Ph.D., of Columbia University in New York and a member of the American Academy of Neurology.

“Recent studies have shown that as people age, physical activity may reduce the risk of cognitive decline and dementia. Our study used brain scans to measure the brain volumes of a diverse group of people and found that those who engaged in the top third highest level of physical activity had a brain volume the equivalent of four years younger in brain aging than people who were at the bottom third activity level.”

Older people who regularly walk, garden, swim or dance may have bigger brains than their inactive peers, according to a preliminary study to be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 72nd Annual Meeting in Toronto, Canada, April 25 to May 1, 2020. The effect of exercise was equal to four fewer years of brain aging. The study used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to measure the brains of people with a range of activity levels, including those who were inactive to those who were very active. The scans showed less active people had smaller brain volume.

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