The Gary Null Show

2021-05

Episodes

Friday May 14, 2021


Effects of saffron extract on sleep quality: a randomized, double-blind clinical trial
 
Catholic University Louvain (Belgium). May 10. 2021
According to news reporting from Louvain la Neuve, Belgium, research stated, “A saffron extract has been found to be effective in the context of depression and anxiety, but its effect on sleep quality has not been investigating yet using objective approaches.”
The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from Catholic University Louvain (UCLouvain): “For this purpose, a randomized double-blind controlled study was conducted in subjects presenting mild to moderate sleep disorder associated with anxiety. Sixty-six subjects were randomized and supplemented with a placebo (maltodextrin) or a saffron extract (15.5 mg per day) for 6 weeks. Actigraphy was used to collect objective data related to sleep quality at baseline, at the middle and at the end of the intervention. Sleep quality was also assessed by completion of the LSEQ and PSQI questionnaires and quality of life by completion of the SF-36 questionnaire. Six weeks of saffron supplementation led to an increased time in bed assessed by actigraphy, to an improved ease of getting to sleep evaluated by the LSEQ questionnaire and to an improved sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep duration, and global scores evaluated by the PSQI questionnaire, whereas those parameters were not modified by the placebo.”
According to the news editors, the research concluded: “In conclusion, those results suggest that a saffron extract could be a natural and safe nutritional strategy to improve sleep duration and quality.”
 
 
 
 
New evidence links gut bacteria and neurodegenerative conditions
University of Florida, May 6, 2021
Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and ALS affect millions of adults, but scientists still do not know what causes these diseases, which poses a significant roadblock to developing treatments or preventative measures.
Recent research suggests that people with these conditions exhibit changes in the bacterial composition of their digestive tract. However, given the vast diversity of microbes found in the human body, identifying which bacteria may be associated with neurodegeneration is like finding a needle in a haystack.
Seeking that proverbial needle, scientists at the University of Florida are looking in an unexpected place: the digestive tract of a tiny, translucent worm called Caenorhabditis elegans.
New research published in PLOS Pathogens establishes, for the first time, a link between specific bacteria species and physical manifestations of neurodegenerative diseases. The study's lead author is Alyssa Walker, a microbiology and cell science doctoral candidate in the UF/IFAS College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.
"Looking at the microbiome is a relatively new approach to investigating what causes neurodegenerative diseases. In this study, we were able to show that specific species of bacteria play a role in the development of these conditions," said Daniel Czyz, Walker's dissertation advisor.
Czyz is the senior author of the study and an assistant professor in the UF/IFAS department of microbiology and cell science.
"We also showed that some other bacteria produce compounds that counteract these 'bad' bacteria. Recent studies have shown that patients with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease are deficient in these 'good' bacteria, so our findings may help explain that connection and open up an area of future study," he added.
All neurodegenerative diseases can be traced to problems with the way proteins are handled in the body. If proteins are misfolded, they build up and accumulate in tissues. These protein aggregates, as scientists call them, interfere with cell functioning and lead to neurodegenerative disorders.
Czyz and his co-authors wanted to know if introducing certain bacteria into the C. elegans worms would be followed by protein aggregation in the worms' tissues.
"That is, in fact, what we observed. We have a way of marking the aggregates so they glow green under the microscope. We saw that worms colonized by certain bacteria species were lit up with aggregates that were toxic to tissues, while those colonized by the control bacteria were not," Czyz said. "This occurred not just in the intestinal tissues, where the bacteria are, but all over the worms' bodies, in their muscles, nerves and even reproductive organs."
Surprisingly, the offspring of affected worms also showed increased protein aggregation—even though these offspring never encountered the bacteria originally associated with the condition.
"This is very interesting because it suggests that these bacteria generate some sort of a signal that can be passed along to the next generation," Czyz said.
Worms colonized by the "bad" bacteria also lost mobility, a common symptom of neurodegenerative diseases.
"A healthy worm moves around by rolling and thrashing. When you pick up a healthy worm, it will roll off the pick, a simple device that we use to handle these tiny animals. But worms with the bad bacteria couldn't do that because of the appearance of toxic protein aggregates," explained Walker, who developed this assessment method.
"You could compare the pick to an obstacle course: just as a person with a neurodegenerative disease will have trouble getting across, the same is true with these worms, just at a much smaller scale," Czyz added.
Fun fact: Human eyebrow hairs or eyelashes make for very good picks.
"The worms are very delicate, so you need a tool that won't damage them. They are also transparent and have a simple body plan. Studies like ours are possible because these worms normally feed on bacteria," Czyz said.
"The worms are only one millimeter long, and they each have exactly 959 cells," Czyz said. "But in many ways, they are a lot like us humans—they have intestines and muscles and nerves, but instead of being composed of billions of cells, each organ is just a handful of cells. They are like living test tubes. Their small size allows us to do experiments in a much more controlled way and answer important questions we can apply in future experiments with higher organisms and, eventually, people."
Currently the Czyz lab is testing hundreds of strains of bacteria found in the human gut to see how they affect protein aggregation in C. elegans. The group is also investigating how bacteria associated with neurodegeneration cause protein misfolding at the molecular level.
Czyz is also interested in possible connections between antibiotic-resistant bacteriaand protein misfolding.
"Almost all of the bacteria we found associated with protein misfolding are also associated with antibiotic-resistant infections in people. However, it will take many more years of research before we can understand what, if any, connection there is between antibiotic resistance and neurodegenerative diseases," Czyz said.
 
Meditative practice and spiritual wellbeing may preserve cognitive function in aging
Alzheimer's Research and Prevention Foundation &Thomas Jefferson University, May 11, 2021
It is projected that up to 152 million people worldwide will be living with Alzheimer's disease (AD) by 2050. To date there are no drugs that have a substantial positive impact on either the prevention or reversal of cognitive decline. A growing body of evidence finds that targeting lifestyle and vascular risk factors have a beneficial effect on overall cognitive performance. A new review in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, published by IOS Press, examines research that finds spiritual fitness, a new concept in medicine that centers on psychological and spiritual wellbeing, and Kirtan Kriya, a simple 12-minute meditative practice, may reduce multiple risk factors for AD.
"The key point of this review is that making a commitment to a brain longevity lifestyle, including spiritual fitness, is a critically important way for aging Alzheimer's disease free," explain authors Dharma Singh Khalsa, MD, Alzheimer's Research and Prevention Foundation, Tucson, AZ, USA, and Andrew B. Newberg, MD, Department of Integrative Medicine and Nutritional Sciences, Department of Radiology, Marcus Institute of Integrative Health, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA. "We hope this article will inspire scientists, clinicians, and patients to embrace this new concept of spiritual fitness and make it a part of every multidomain program for the prevention of cognitive disability."
Research reveals that religious and spiritual involvement can preserve cognitive function as we age. The authors observe that today, spirituality is often experienced outside the context of an organized religion and may be part of every religion or separate to it. Spiritual fitness is a new dimension in AD prevention, interweaving basic, psychological and spiritual wellbeing. The authors discuss the research on how these factors affect brain function and cognition. For example, psychological wellbeing may reduce inflammation, cardiovascular disease, and disability. Significantly, individuals who have a high score on a "purpose in life" (PIL) measure, a component of psychological wellbeing, were 2.4 times more likely to remain free of AD than individuals with low PIL. In another study, participants who reported higher levels of PIL exhibited better cognitive function, and further, PIL protected those with already existing pathological conditions, thus slowing their decline.
Stress and stress management are under-discussed topics in AD prevention, yet the authors point out that there is ample evidence that physical, psychological, and emotional effects of stress may elevate AD risk. Kirtan Kriya (KK) is a 12-minute singing meditation that involves four sounds, breathing, and repetitive finger movements. It has multiple documented effects on stress, such as improving sleep, decreasing depression, and increasing wellbeing. It has also been found to increase blood flow to areas of the brain involved in cognition and emotional regulation and increases gray matter volume and decreases ventricular size in long-term practitioners, which may slow brain aging. Research in healthy individuals, caregivers, and those with cognitive decline found that the practice improves cognition, slows memory loss, and improves mood.
The overall relationship between spiritual fitness and a person's complete physical and mental health is a topic of investigation in the emerging field of study called neurotheology. Early work has focused on the development of models regarding which brain areas are affected through spiritual practices such as meditation or prayer. Over the last 20 years, there has been an extensive growth in neuroimaging and other physiological studies evaluating the effect of meditation, spiritual practices, and mystical experiences. A neuroimaging study of KK found long term brain effects, during meditation and afterwards. Neurotheological studies can help understanding of how a practice such as KK can lead to more permanent effects in brain function that support spiritual fitness, according to Dr. Khalsa and Dr. Newberg.
"Mitigating the extensive negative biochemical effects of stress with meditation practices, in tandem with the creation of heightened levels of spiritual fitness, may help lower the risk of AD. Small shifts in one's daily routine can make all the difference in AD prevention," Dr. Khalsa and Dr. Newberg conclude. "We are optimistic this article will inspire future research on the topic of spiritual fitness and AD."
 
Type 2 Diabetes: Sitting can Cause Problems with Blood Sugar Levels, So Get Up and Move
Glasgow Caledonian University, May 11, 2021
 
Many people spend large portions of their day sitting, which can cause a range of health problems. But many may not realise that sitting too much can also worsen certain health conditions, such as type 2 diabetes. Research shows that spending too much time sitting can cause problems with blood sugar levels – making it even more important for those with type 2 diabetes to get plenty of physical activity into their day.
Type 2 diabetes causes the level of sugar (glucose) in the blood to become too high. For someone with diabetes, high sugar levels in the blood can cause serious damage to your body, including the heart, kidneys, eyes, feet and nerves. Controlling blood sugar levels is important for avoiding the risk of serious health problems.
Lifestyle changes, such as adjusting diet and physical activity, and diabetes medications, such as metformin or gliptin, are used to lower blood sugar levels. Yet following recommended diets and taking diabetes medications aren’t always effective at controlling blood sugar levels, as our research found. This shows us there’s a need to re-think diabetes care and management.
As type 2 diabetes can be different for everyone, how well a person controls their blood sugar levels can be influenced by different factors, such as age, gender, activity levels, diet and weight. This makes it important to target new, modifiable lifestyle factors – such as how much time is spent sitting.
Research we’ve done, which looked at 37 adults with type 2 diabetes, found that over two weeks, prolonged sitting was associated with high blood sugar levels. But we also found that when people stood up or walked around between periods of sitting, they had lower blood sugar levels. Other studies have also had similar results.
Our research has also shown that sitting less or breaking up periods of sitting with bouts of activity could be a simple way to manage blood sugar levels – including high sugar levels before and after breakfast, which is a common problem for people with type 2 diabetes. We found that simply walking more often could be beneficial to blood sugar control throughout the day.
In fact, walking every 15 minutes for as little as three minutes each time at a person’s usual pace could be enough to help them control their blood sugar – and could even be as effective as standard diabetes medications. Other research has shown that keeping bouts of sitting shorter than 15 minutes is better for blood sugar levels.
 
The reason walking – and other types of exercise – are so good for regulating blood sugar is because they make the body’s muscles work. Movement causes muscles to contract, which subsequently starts the mechanisms that allow the sugar in the blood to enter cells and fuel the body. This reduces blood sugar levels as a result.
With many people continuing to spend large portions of their days sitting while working from home, it’s important for people with type 2 diabetes to stand and walk often. Of course, that is sometimes easier said than done. But even small changes in sitting patterns throughout the day may be beneficial to a person’s blood sugar control. For example, going to the kitchen to get water or make tea can be a great opportunity to walk around for a few minutes. Even standing or walking while taking calls or during meetings can be a good idea.
It’s still important for people with type 2 diabetes to follow the advice of their doctor and stick to any special diets or take any medications they’ve been prescribed. But adding extra movement into their day will not only improve blood sugar control, it may also improve other aspects of health – including heart health and bone density.
 
 
Grapeseed compound has senolytic activity
 
Chinese Academy of Sciences, May 10, 2021
According to news reporting based on a preprint abstract, our journalists obtained the following quote sourced from biorxiv.org:
“Aging causes functional decline of multiple organs and increases the risk of age-related pathologies.
“In advanced lives, accumulation of senescent cells, which develop the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), promotes chronic inflammation and causes diverse conditions.
“Here we report the frontline outcome of screening a natural product library with human primary stromal cells as an experimental model. Multiple candidate compounds were assayed, and grape seed extract (GSE) was selected for further investigation due to its leading capacity in targeting senescent cells.
“We found procyanidin C1 (PCC1), a polyphenolic component, plays a critical role in mediating the antiaging effects of GSE. PCC1 blocks the SASP expression when used at low concentrations. Importantly, it selectively kills senescent cells upon application at higher concentrations, mainly by enhancing production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and disturbing mitochondrial membrane potential, processes accompanied by upregulation of Bcl-2 family pro-apoptotic factors Puma and Noxa in senescent cells. PCC1 depletes senescent cells in treatment-damaged tumor microenvironment (TME) and enhances therapeutic efficacy when combined with chemotherapy in preclinical assays. Intermittent administration of PCC1 to both senescent cell-implanted mice and naturally aged animals alleviated physical dysfunction and prolonged post-treatment survival, thus providing substantial benefits in late life stage. Together, our study identifies PCC1 as a distinct natural senolytic agent, which may be exploited to delay aging and control age-related pathologies in future medicine.”
This preprint has not been peer-reviewed.
 
 
 
 
Team Links Leaky Epithelial Barriers to 2 Billion Chronic Diseases
University of Zurich, May 7, 2021
Epithelial cells form the covering of most internal and external surfaces of the human body. This protective layer acts as a defense against invaders—including bacteria, viruses, environmental toxins, pollutants and allergens.
If the skin and mucosal barriers are damaged or leaky, foreign agents such as bacteria can enter into the tissue and cause local, often chronic inflammation with both direct and indirect consequences.
“The epithelial barrier hypothesis proposes that damages to the epithelial barrier are responsible for up to two billion chronic, non-infectious diseases,” says Cezmi Akdis, director of the Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research (SIAF), which is associated with the University of Zurich.
In the past 20 years, researchers at the SIAF alone have published more than 60 articles on how various substances damage the epithelial cells of a number of organs.
The epithelial barrier hypothesis provides an explanation as to why allergies and autoimmune diseases have been increasing for decades—they are linked to industrialization, urbanization, and westernized lifestyle.
Today many people are exposed to a wide range of toxins, such as ozone, nanoparticles, microplastics, household cleaning agents, pesticides, enzymes, emulsifiers, fine dust, exhaust fumes, cigarette smoke, and countless chemicals in the air, food, and water.
“Next to global warming and viral pandemics such as COVID-19, these harmful substances represent one of the greatest threats to humankind,” Akdis says.
Local epithelial damage to the skin and mucosal barriers lead to allergic conditions, inflammatory bowel disorders, and celiac disease. But disruptions to the epithelial barrier can also be linked to many other diseases that are characterized by changes in the microbiome.
Either the immune system erroneously attacks “good” bacteria in healthy bodies or it targets pathogenic—i.e., “bad”—invaders.
In the gut, leaky epithelial barriers and microbial imbalance contribute to the onset or development of chronic autoimmune and metabolic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, or ankylosing spondylitis.
Moreover, defective epithelial barriers have also been linked to neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, autism spectrum disorders, and chronic depression, which may be triggered or aggravated by distant inflammatory responses and changes in the gut’s microbiome.
“There is a great need to continue research into the epithelial barrier to advance our understanding of molecular mechanisms and develop new approaches for prevention, early intervention and therapy,” says Akdis.
Novel therapeutic approaches could focus on strengthening tissue-specific barriers, blocking bacteria or avoiding colonization by pathogens. Other strategies to reduce diseases may involve the microbiome, for example through targeted dietary measures. Last but not least, the focus must also be on avoiding and reducing exposure to harmful substances and developing fewer toxic products.
The paper appears in Nature Reviews Immunology
 
Study supports heart health benefits of mushroom powders
Tufts University, May 11, 2021
Adding Portobello or shiitake powder to a high-fat diet may protect arteries from the detrimental effects of a high fat diet, according to findings presented at the recent Experimental Biology event.
Scientists from Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research on Aging at Tufts University report that supplementing the diets of lab mice with the mushroom powders had lower body weight gains, compared to animals fed an unsupplemented high-fat diet.
“Despite the low body weight gains, EchoMRI analysis of body composition revealed that the overall lean mass was not affected as significantly as fat mass, indicating a plausible positive effect of mushrooms on fat metabolism and lipid profiles,” wrote the researchers in their abstract, published in the FASEB Journal .
Mushrooms
Consumer interest in mushrooms and their potential health benefits has been growing in recent years, with demand for Reishi, Chaga, Shiitake, Maitake, and the rest has never been higher and the global market was pegged at $18 billion in 2014 (up from $6 billion in 1999).
SPINS data shows surging sales of products with various types of mushrooms as primary ingredients across the natural, specialty and conventional multi-outlet retail channels. Reishi was up 91% for the 52 weeks ending September 4, 2016 versus the previous 52 weeks. Impressive growth is also being posted for Chaga (up 46%), Cordycep (up 19%) and Shiitake (up 26%),
“While several types of mushrooms have been studied for their effects on serum lipid profiles, few studies have demonstrated edible mushrooms’ effects on atherogenesis,” explained the Tufts researchers in their abstract.
Study details
L-ergothioneine facts
L-ergothioneine was first isolated as a natural compound from rye ergot (Claviceps purpurea) in 1909. It is naturally present in small amounts in food sources like mushrooms, some varieties of black and red beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) and cereals.
The human body has a dedicated transporter for the molecule, which is a potent antioxidant. 
Lab mice were divided into one of five groups: A low-fat control group (4% fat); a high fat control group (8% fat); a high-fat diet supplemented with Portobello mushroom powder; a high fat diet supplemented with shiitake mushroom powder; or a “control mixture”, which matched to the average nutrient levels of the mushroom powders.
After 16 weeks of feeding, the results showed that animals from both mushroom groups had reduced body weight gains, compared to the other dietary groups, with the weight gain lower in the shiitake group compared to the Portobello group.
Additional analyses showed that only mice fed the shiitake powder had significantly fewer aortic lesions compared to the high fat control mice and the control mixture.
“These results further support the potential role of high levels of bioactive compounds such as ergothioneine, a strong antioxidant in [shiitake mushroom], on suppression of dietary fat induced atherosclerosis, an inflammatory disease of arteries,” wrote the researchers.
The study was funded by the USDA and the Mushroom Council.
 
MIT Study Suggests Six Foot Social Distancing, Limited Occupancy Rules Are Completely Pointless
After over a year, scientists have determined that social distancing and limited occupancy rules may be totally useless
National File, April 26, 2021
 
A new study conducted by MIT scientists and released this week reveals that the six foot social distancing and limited occupancy guidelines made law in most of the civilized world have done little to slow the spread of COVID-19, and suggests the only way to reduce the spread of COVID-19 is to limit exposure to highly populated areas and areas where people are physically exerting themselves, such as gyms, or areas where people are singing or speaking, such as churches.
The study reveals that the social distancing guidelines employed throughout much of the world for over a year have done nothing to limit the spread of COVID-19, suggesting that the adaption of the guidelines did not stop the spread of the of the China-originated virus, and it can only be slowed with the employment of severe lockdowns. Paradoxically, states and cities that have engaged in severe lockdowns have seen the largest spikes of COVID-19.
“We argue there really isn’t much of a benefit to the 6-foot rule, especially when people are wearing masks,” MIT professor Martin Z. Bazant said, as reported by NBC. “It really has no physical basis because the air a person is breathing while wearing a mask tends to rise and comes down elsewhere in the room so you’re more exposed to the average background than you are to a person at a distance.” In other words, widespread mask wearing may simply change the physical vectors of transmission within a given room rather than stop it, effectively making six foot distancing rules pointless.
In their study, Bazant and the other researchers declare, “Adherence to the Six-Foot Rule would limit large-drop transmission, and adherence to our guideline, [of limiting time spent in densely populated areas], would limit long-range airborne transmission.” In the guideline, the researchers write, “To minimize risk of infection, one should avoid spending extended periods in highly populated areas. One is safer in rooms with large volume and high ventilation rates. One is at greater risk in rooms where people are exerting themselves in such a way as to increase their respiration rate and pathogen output, for example, by exercising, singing, or shouting.”
Bazant also told the media, “What our analysis continues to show is that many spaces that have been shut down in fact don’t need to be. Often times the space is large enough, the ventilation is good enough, the amount of time people spend together is such that those spaces can be safely operated even at full capacity and the scientific support for reduced capacity in those spaces is really not very good.” He added, “I think if you run the numbers, even right now for many types of spaces you’d find that there is not a need for occupancy restrictions.”
This comes on the heels of a study that suggests the Pfizer vaccine could cause severe neurodegenerative diseasescaused by brain prions created by the mRNA-style vaccine. National File reported, “‘The current RNA based SARSCoV-2 vaccines were approved in the US using an emergency order without extensive long term safety testing,’ the report declares. ‘In this paper the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine was evaluated for the potential to induce prion-based disease in vaccine recipients.’ Prion-based diseases are, according to the CDC, a form of neurodegenerative diseases, meaning that the Pfizer vaccine is potentially likely to cause long term damage and negative health effects with regards to the brain.”

The Gary Null Show - 05.13.21

Thursday May 13, 2021

Thursday May 13, 2021

Study presents evidence supporting the use of curcumin as alternative treatment for kidney fibrosis
Zhejiang University (China), May 7, 2021
In a recent study, Chinese researchers explored the anti-fibrotic effects of curcumin, the active component of turmeric. Specifically, they looked at how curcumin affects epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and the activation of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt pathway. EMT refers to epithelial cells undergoing molecular changes and gaining new characteristics, such as an enhanced ability to produce ECM components. Meanwhile, the PI3K/Akt pathway is one of the major cell signaling pathways that regulate fibrosis.
The researchers reported their findings in an article published in the journal Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin.
Curcumin is an effective alternative treatment for renal fibrosis
According to several animal studies, curcumin can protect the kidneys by preventing the development of renal fibrosis. However, the mechanisms underlying this activity are still unknown.
To explore these mechanisms and the anti-fibrotic activities of curcumin, the researchers treated human kidney tubular epithelial cells (HKCs) with transforming growth factor-B1 (TGF-B1), curcumin and a combination of both. TGF-B1 is a protein that’s involved in many cellular functions, including cell growth, proliferation, differentiation and death, as well as the induction of EMT.
The researchers used 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay to assess the effect of curcumin on cell proliferation. They also used immunocytochemistry, real-time PCR and Western blot to analyze the expression of epithelial cell markers (E-cadherin and cytokeratin), mesenchymal cell markers (vimentin, alpha smooth muscle actin (a-SMA) and fibroblast-specific protein 1 (FSP1)) and key proteins involved in the Akt/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway.
The researchers found that low-dose curcumin (3.125 and 25?micromol/L) effectively promoted HKC proliferation. After 72 hours of incubating HKCs with TGF-B1 and curcumin, curcumin caused the cells to maintain epithelial morphology in a dose-dependent manner. It also decreased the expression of EMT-related proteins, such as vimentin, a-SMA and FSP1, and increased the expression of E-cadherin and cytokeratin. In addition, the researchers noted that curcumin reduced Akt, mTOR and P70S6K phosphorylation, which effectively suppressed the activation of the Akt/mTOR pathway in HKCs.
Based on these findings, the researchers concluded that curcumin is an effective alternative treatment for renal fibrosis because it can promote HKC proliferation and stop EMT by inhibiting the activation of the Akt/mTOR pathway activity.
 
 
Research reveals new approach to understanding our wellbeing
Swansea University, May 12, 2021
The ability to connect and feel a sense of belonging are basic human needs but new Swansea University research has examined how these are determined by more than just our personal relationships.
Research led by psychologist Professor Andrew Kemp, of the College of Human and Health Sciences, highlights the importance of taking a wider approach to wellbeing and how it can be influenced by issues such as inequality and anthropogenic climate change.
Professor Kemp worked with Ph.D. student Jess Mead and consultant clinical psychologist Dr. Zoe Fisher, of the University's Health and Wellbeing Academy, on the study which presents a transdisciplinary framework to help understand and improve wellbeing.
Professor Kemp said: "We define wellbeing as positive psychological experience, promoted by connections to self, community and environment, supported by healthy vagal function, all of which are impacted by socio-contextual factors that lie beyond the control of the individual."
The researchers say their latest findings, which have just been published in Frontiers in Psychology, are particularly topical as society looks to recover and learn from COVID-19.
He said: "Our framework has already contributed to a better understanding of how to protect wellbeing during the pandemic and has led to the development of an innovative wellbeing science intervention, targeting university students and people living with acquired brain injury."
Professor Kemp added: "We feel our invited paper is timely as it not only aligns with a post-pandemic future that requires societal transformation, but it also picks up on global efforts to promote planetary wellbeing.
"Globalization, urbanization and technological advancements have meant that humans have become increasingly disconnected from nature. This continues despite research showing that contact with nature improves wellbeing."
The research reveals the advantages to health and wellbeing derived from connecting to oneself, others and nature and emphasizes a need for focused efforts to tackle major societal issues that affect our capacity for connection.
He added: "The poorest are disproportionally impacted by major societal challenges including increasing burden of chronic disease, societal loneliness and anthropogenic climate change.
"Economic inequality has adverse impacts on the entire population, not just the poor, so improving economic inequality is fundamental to improving population wellbeing."
Taking a transdisciplinary approach to the topic of wellbeing is something currently reflected across Swansea University, particularly since the opening of the Morgan Advanced Studies Institute (MASI) which is dedicated to supporting transformative interdisciplinary research.
 
Taurine’s neuroprotective effect on cells under oxidative stress
 
University of Vale do Paraiba (Brazil), May 10, 2021
According to news reporting based on a preprint abstract, our journalists obtained the following quote sourced from biorxiv.org:
“Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a type of dementia that affects millions of people. Although there is no cure, several study strategies seek to elucidate the mechanisms of the disease. Recent studies address the benefits of taurine. Thus, the present study aims to analyze the neuroprotective effect of taurine on human neuroblastoma, using an in vitro experimental model of oxidative stress induced by hydrocortisone in the SH-SY5Y cell line as a characteristic model of AD.
“The violet crystal assay was used for cell viability and the evaluation of cell morphology was performed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). After pretreatment with taurine, the SH-SY5Y cell showed an improvement in cell viability in the face of oxidative stress and improved cell morphology. Thus, the treatment presented a neuroprotective effect.”
This preprint has not been peer-reviewed.
 
 
Efficacy of magnesium oxide and sodium valproate in prevention of migraine headache: a randomized, controlled, double-blind, crossover study
Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences (Iran), May 4, 2021
According to news originating from Sari, Iran, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Migraine is a disabling disorder that affects the quality of life of patients. Different medications have been used in prevention of migraine headache.”
Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, “In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of magnesium oxide in comparison with valproate sodium in preventing migraine headache attacks. This is a single-center, randomized, controlled, crossover trial which is double-blind, 24-week, 2-sequence, 2-period, 2-treatment. After patient randomization into two sequences, the intervention group received magnesium oxide 500 mg and the control group received valproate sodium 400 mg two tablets each day (every 12 h) for 8 weeks. The primary efficacy variable was reduction in the number of migraine attacks and number of days with moderate or severe headache and hours with headache (duration) per month in the final of 8 weeks in comparison with baseline. Seventy patients were randomized and seven dropped out, leaving 63 for analysis. In an intention-to-treat analysis, 31 patients were in group 1 (magnesium oxide-valproate) and 32 patients were in group 2 (valproate-magnesium oxide). The mean number of migraine attacks and days per month was 1.72 +/- 1.18 and 2.09 +/- 1.70, with a mean duration of 15.50 +/- 21.80 h in magnesium group and 1.27 +/- 1.27 and 2.22 +/- 1.96, with a mean duration 13.38 +/- 14.10 in valproate group.”
According to the news editors, the research concluded: “This study has shown that 500 mg magnesium oxide appears to be effective in migraine prophylaxis similar to valproate sodium without significant adverse effect.”
This research has been peer-reviewed
 
 
 
Vitamin D and calcium from food is associated with lower risk of early menopause
University of Massachusetts, May 10, 2021
A new study led by epidemiologists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst's School of Public Health and Health Sciences suggests that high intake of dietary vitamin D and calcium may be modestly associated with lower risk of early menopause, the cessation of ovarian function before age 45. Early menopause affects about 10 percent of women and is associated with higher risk of cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and early cognitive decline.
Epidemiology doctoral candidate Alexandra Purdue-Smithe and her advisor Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson, with colleagues at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, and Harvard Medical School, evaluated how vitamin D and calcium intake is associated with incidence of early menopause in the prospective Nurses' Health Study II. The study population includes 116,430 female U.S. registered nurses who were 25-42 years old when they responded to a baseline questionnaire.
Diet was assessed five times over the 20-year study, allowing the researchers to capture changes in food and nutrient intake over time, Purdue-Smithe notes. Participants in the study contributed more than 1 million person-years of follow-up, during which 2,041 women experienced early menopause.
The authors report the hazard ratio for early menopause comparing the highest vs. lowest dietary vitamin D intake groups was 0.83 (95% confidence interval = 0.72-0.95) and for dietary calcium 0.87 (95% CI=0.76-1.00). Details of the study, supported by the National Institutes of Health, appear in the current early online edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Purdue-Smithe says, "Laboratory evidence relating vitamin D to some of the hormonal mechanisms involved in ovarian aging provided the foundation for our hypothesis. However, to our knowledge, no prior epidemiologic studies have explicitly evaluated how vitamin D and calcium intake may be related to risk of early menopause. We found that after adjusting for a variety of different factors, vitamin D from food sources, such as fortified dairy and fatty fish, was associated with a 17 percent lower risk of early menopause when comparing the highest intake group to the lowest intake group."
Because higher intake of vitamin D and calcium from foods may simply act as a marker for better nutrition and overall health, Purdue-Smithe says, the researchers took into account other factors such as intake of vegetable protein and alcohol, as well as body mass index and smoking. She adds, "The large size of this study allowed us to consider a variety of potential correlates of a healthy lifestyle that might explain our findings; however, adjusting for these factors made almost no difference in our estimates."
The nutritional and reproductive epidemiologist notes that "in addition to placing women at higher risk of adverse future health outcomes, early menopause is also problematic as women are increasingly delaying childbearing into their later reproductive years. Fertility declines drastically during the 10 years leading up to menopause, so early menopause can have profound psychological and financial implications for couples who are unable to conceive as they wish. As such, it is important to identify modifiable risk factors for early menopause, such as diet."
Because associations were stronger for vitamin D and calcium from dairy sources than from non-dairy food sources in the study, and Purdue-Smithe plans further analyses investigating individual dairy foods and other components of dairy and how they may be associated with early menopause.
 
 
High levels of exercise linked to 9 years of less aging at the cellular level
Brigham Young University, May 10, 2021
\Despite their best efforts, no scientist has ever come close to stopping humans from aging. Even anti-aging creams can't stop Old Father Time.
But new research from Brigham Young University reveals you may be able to slow one type of aging--the kind that happens inside your cells. As long as you're willing to sweat.
"Just because you're 40, doesn't mean you're 40 years old biologically," Tucker said. "We all know people that seem younger than their actual age. The more physically active we are, the less biological aging takes place in our bodies."
The study, published in the medical journal Preventive Medicine, finds that people who have consistently high levels of physical activity have significantly longer telomeres than those who have sedentary lifestyles, as well as those who are moderately active.
Telomeres are the protein endcaps of our chromosomes. They're like our biological clock and they're extremely correlated with age; each time a cell replicates, we lose a tiny bit of the endcaps. Therefore, the older we get, the shorter our telomeres.
Exercise science professor Larry Tucker found adults with high physical activity levels have telomeres with a biological aging advantage of nine years over those who are sedentary, and a seven-year advantage compared to those who are moderately active. To be highly active, women had to engage in 30 minutes of jogging per day (40 minutes for men), five days a week.
"If you want to see a real difference in slowing your biological aging, it appears that a little exercise won't cut it," Tucker said. "You have to work out regularly at high levels."
Tucker analyzed data from 5,823 adults who participated in the CDC's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, one of the few indexes that includes telomere length values for study subjects. The index also includes data for 62 activities participants might have engaged in over a 30-day window, which Tucker analyzed to calculate levels of physical activity.
His study found the shortest telomeres came from sedentary people--they had 140 base pairs of DNA less at the end of their telomeres than highly active folks. Surprisingly, he also found there was no significant difference in telomere length between those with low or moderate physical activity and the sedentary people.
Although the exact mechanism for how exercise preserves telomeres is unknown, Tucker said it may be tied to inflammation and oxidative stress. Previous studies have shown telomere length is closely related to those two factors and it is known that exercise can suppress inflammation and oxidative stress over time.
"We know that regular physical activity helps to reduce mortality and prolong life, and now we know part of that advantage may be due to the preservation of telomeres," Tucker said.
 
 
 
How isolation affects memory and thinking skills
Harvard University, May 2021
We've all been isolated from many family members and friends during the pandemic. If you've been having a harder time remembering things or processing information since the pandemic began, it could be an isolation side effect.
"It's something I'm seeing clinically. Some people were okay before the pandemic and now they're having faster cognitive decline," says Dr. Joel Salinas, a behavioral neurologist and faculty member of the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies.
Dr. Salinas says we don't have a lot of evidence yet to back up a clear association between pandemic lockdowns and a change in memory or thinking skills. One small 2020 study found that 60% of people with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease experienced worsening cognition and delirium during the lockdown.
But the link between isolation and cognitive decline is more than speculation.
Isolation risks
Isolation (being cut off from social contact) was a problem for older adults long before the pandemic began. Life circumstances — such as living far from friends and family, losing a partner, or being unable to drive — often create unanticipated situations in which we find ourselves isolated. That sometimes puts health in jeopardy.
"In studies of people, isolation is associated with an increased risk for dementia, although it's unclear how high the risk is," Dr. Salinas says. "In lab animals, isolation has been shown to cause brain shrinkage and the kind of brain changes you'd see in Alzheimer's disease — reduced brain cell connections and reduced levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which is important for the formation, connection, and repair of brain cells."
Isolation is also associated with elevated risks for heart attack, stroke, chronic inflammation, depression, anxiety, perceived stress, and loneliness.
People who feel lonely (disconnected from others) have been shown to have faster rates of cognitive decline than people who don't feel lonely. Loneliness is also tied to risks of losing the ability to take care of yourself and early death.
What's the link?
We don't exactly know why being isolated sometimes leads to cognitive decline. Possibilities include
a lack of access to crucial resources or help with daily needs
a decrease in stimulating mental activity that can come from social interaction
a reduction in social support.
"Having access to others for emotional support or listening to you seems to have a protective brain health effect — increased levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and reduced risks for dementia or stroke," Dr. Salinas says.
In the pandemic, you may also be experiencing high stress levels, which can affect your brain's processing skills. "We're not good at being focused when there's danger," Dr. Salinas says. "It's the 'fight or flight' mode all the time."
If family members are noticing that you seem to be experiencing cognitive changes, Dr. Salinas says it could be a new problem — or it could be that you're spending more time together and they're picking up on changes that were already occurring before the pandemic.

The Gary Null Show - 05.12.21

Wednesday May 12, 2021

Wednesday May 12, 2021

3. The Ivermectin Story 
 
4. Who Suppressed Ivermectin  
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vj3xGT6izE
 
Exchange between Sen. Rand Paul and Dr. Anthony Fauci
 
 
Vegetarians have healthier levels of disease markers than meat-eaters
University of Glasgow (Scotland), May 10. 2021
Vegetarians appear to have a healthier biomarker profile than meat-eaters, and this applies to adults of any age and weight, and is also unaffected by smoking and alcohol consumption, according to a new study in over 166,000 UK adults, being presented at this week's European Congress on Obesity (ECO), held online this year. 
Biomarkers can have bad and good health effects, promoting or preventing cancer, cardiovascular and age-related diseases, and other chronic conditions, and have been widely used to assess the effect of diets on health. However, evidence of the metabolic benefits associated with being vegetarian is unclear. 
To understand whether dietary choice can make a difference to the levels of disease markers in blood and urine, researchers from the University of Glasgow did a cross-sectional study analysing data from 177,723 healthy participants (aged 37-73 years) in the UK Biobank study, who reported no major changes in diet over the last five years. 
Participants were categorised as either vegetarian (do not eat red meat, poultry or fish; 4,111 participants) or meat-eaters (166,516 participants) according to their self-reported diet. The researchers examined the association with 19 blood and urine biomarkers related to diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, liver, bone and joint health, and kidney function. 
Even after accounting for potentially influential factors including age, sex, education, ethnicity, obesity, smoking, and alcohol intake, the analysis found that compared to meat-eaters, vegetarians had significantly lower levels of 13 biomarkers, including: total cholesterol; low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol--the so-called 'bad cholesterol; apolipoprotein A (linked to cardiovascular disease), apolipoprotein B (linked to cardiovascular disease); gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) and alanine aminotransferase (AST)--liver function markers indicating inflammation or damage to cells; insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1; a hormone that encourages the growth and proliferation of cancer cells); urate; total protein; and creatinine (marker of worsening kidney function).
However, vegetarians also had lower levels of beneficial biomarkers including high-density lipoprotein 'good' (HDL) cholesterol, and vitamin D and calcium (linked to bone and joint health). In addition, they had significantly higher level of fats (triglycerides) in the blood and cystatin-C (suggesting a poorer kidney condition). 
No link was found for blood sugar levels (HbA1c), systolic blood pressure, aspartate aminotransferase (AST; a marker of damage to liver cells) or C-reactive protein (CRP; inflammatory marker). 
"Our findings offer real food for thought", says Dr Carlos Celis-Morales from the University of Glasgow, UK, who led the research. "As well as not eating red and processed meat which have been linked to heart diseases and some cancers, people who follow a vegetarian diet tend to consume more vegetables, fruits, and nuts which contain more nutrients, fibre, and other potentially beneficial compounds. These nutritional differences may help explain why vegetarians appear to have lower levels of disease biomarkers that can lead to cell damage and chronic disease."
The authors point out that although their study was large, it was observational, so no conclusions can be drawn about direct cause and effect. They also note several limitations including that they only tested biomarker samples once for each participant, and it is possible that biomarkers might fluctuate depending on factors unrelated to diet, such as existing diseases and unmeasured lifestyle factors. They also note that were reliant on participants to report their dietary intake using food frequency questionnaires, which is not always reliable.
 
 
Alzheimer's study: A Mediterranean diet might protect against memory loss and dementia
German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, May 6, 2021
In Alzheimer's disease, neurons in the brain die. Largely responsible for the death of neurons are certain protein deposits in the brains of affected individuals: So-called beta-amyloid proteins, which form clumps (plaques) between neurons, and tau proteins, which stick together the inside of neurons. The causes of these deposits are as yet unclear. In addition, a rapidly progressive atrophy, i.e. a shrinking of the brain volume, can be observed in affected persons. Alzheimer's symptoms such as memory loss, disorientation, agitation and challenging behavior are the consequences.
Scientists at the DZNE led by Prof. Michael Wagner, head of a research group at the DZNE and senior psychologist at the memory clinic of the University Hospital Bonn, have now found in a study that a regular Mediterranean-like dietary pattern with relatively more intake of vegetables, legumes, fruit, cereals, fish and monounsaturated fatty acids, such as from olive oil, may protect against protein deposits in the brain and brain atrophy. This diet has a low intake of dairy products, red meat and saturated fatty acids.
A nationwide study
A total of 512 subjects with an average age of around seventy years took part in the study. 169 of them were cognitively healthy, while 343 were identified as having a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease - due to subjective memory impairment, mild cognitive impairment that is the precursor to dementia, or first-degree relationship with patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. The nutrition study was funded by the Diet-Body-Brain competence cluster of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and took place as part of the so-called DELCODE study of the DZNE, which does nationwide research on the early phase of Alzheimer's disease - that period before pronounced symptoms appear.
"People in the second half of life have constant eating habits. We analyzed whether the study participants regularly eat a Mediterranean diet - and whether this might have an impact on brain health ", said Prof. Michael Wagner. The participants first filled out a questionnaire in which they indicated which portions of 148 different foods they had eaten in the past months. Those who frequently ate healthy foods typical of the Mediterranean diet, such as fish, vegetables and fruit, and only occasionally consumed foods such as red meat, scored highly on a scale.
An extensive test series
The scientists then investigated brain atrophy: they performed brain scans with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners to determine brain volume. In addition, all subjects underwent various neuropsychological tests in which cognitive abilities such as memory functions were examined. The research team also looked at biomarker levels (measured values) for amyloid beta proteins and tau proteins in the so-called cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 226 subjects.
The researchers, led by Michael Wagner, found that those who ate an unhealthy diet had more pathological levels of these biomarkers in the cerebrospinal fluid than those who regularly ate a Mediterranean-like diet. In the memory tests, the participants who did not adhere to the Mediterranean diet also performed worse than those who regularly ate fish and vegetables. "There was also a significant positive correlation between a closer adherence to a Mediterranean-like diet and a higher volume of the hippocampus. The hippocampus is an area of the brain that is considered the control center of memory. It shrinks early and severely in Alzheimer's disease," explained Tommaso Ballarini, PhD, postdoctoral fellow in Michael Wagner's research group and lead author of the study.
Continuation of nutrition study is planned
"It is possible that the Mediterranean diet protects the brain from protein deposits and brain atrophy that can cause memory loss and dementia. Our study hints at this," Ballarini said. "But the biological mechanism underlying this will have to be clarified in future studies." As a next step, Ballarini and Wagner now plan to re-examine the same study participants in four to five years to explore how their nutrition - Mediterranean-like or unhealthy - affects brain aging over time.
 
 
 
Social isolation has a profound and increasingly negative impact on physical functioning in older adults
 
 
 
 
University of Southern Denmark, May 11, 2021
Social isolation among older adults is associated with poor health and premature mortality, but the connection between social isolation and physical functioning is poorly understood. New research generates more robust evidence about the associations between social isolation and physical functioning and how this accelerates over time, reports the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, published by Elsevier. It also highlights the importance of incorporating strategies to reduce social isolation and promote successful aging.
"Physical functioning is understood to influence the health of individuals. And social isolation is prevalent among older adults," explained lead investigator Borja del Pozo Cruz, PhD, Centre for Active and Healthy Ageing, Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark. "However, the true extent of the relationship between social isolation and physical functioning was not fully understood. We needed to shed some more light on this relationship, as it plays an important role in individual aging."
As individuals age, physical functioning declines, which can result in a loss of functional independence, onset of disability, and increased mortality, with significant personal, community, and economic costs. Older adults who are socially integrated may be more likely to engage in physical activity, which would in turn elicit improvements in their physical functioning.
Social isolation is a significant problem facing the health and well-being of individuals across the life course. Individuals who are socially isolated are more likely to experience mental health problems, develop dementia, and have increased risk of premature mortality. Social isolation is particularly worrisome among older adults, with data from the United States indicating that one in four older adults is isolated or severely isolated. Given the worldwide trends in population aging, social isolation among older adults is likely to become an increasing burden in years to come.
To examine the longitudinal associations between social isolation and physical functioning, investigators used nine waves of panel data from 2011 to 2019 from the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS), a large US-representative sample of adults 65 or older. This means that the results can be generalized to the US population of older adults. The study analyzed observations from 12,427 NHATS participants to measure how individual changes in social isolation were associated with individual changes in objectively assessed physical functioning. Social isolation was captured through the Social Isolation Index (SII). Physical functioning was assessed using the NHATS version of the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB). The analytic sample encompassed 54,860 observations, meaning that respondents were observed 4.41 times on average.
These findings add to a growing evidence base demonstrating the negative consequences of social isolation, specifically the acceleration of aging decline trajectories in physical functioning. Investigators were able to identify with a high degree of granularity how the association between social isolation and physical functioning shifts over old age and exacerbates the decline in physical functioning associated with aging. The results showed that the older individuals are, the greater the extent to which social isolation impacts their health.
A small but growing number of observational studies in the UK, Japan, and China have identified negative associations between social isolation and physical functioning in samples of older adults. The current study resonates with and complements those results. However, the robust data generated by this national rather than community-based study enable findings to be generalized to a national population.
"Physical functioning is a well-established marker of general health and it has been previously correlated with morbidity and mortality," noted Dr. del Pozo Cruz. "We demonstrate in this study that social isolation has a profound impact on the physical functioning in older adults. Mandated social contact restrictions and lockdowns due to COVID-19, coupled with more severe consequences of contagion among older adults, have likely exacerbated this trend.
Study findings suggest that public health interventions should turn their attention to the social environments in which older people are embedded, in particular for those at risk of isolation.
"Social isolation is one of the biggest challenges that societies face in the 21st century. We have to start thinking about this issue now to avoid more serious consequences down the track," added Dr. del Pozo Cruz.
 
 
 
How bullying and obesity can affect girls' and boys' mental health
Uppsala University (Sweden), May 7, 2021
Depressive symptoms are more common in teenage girls than in their male peers. However, boys' mental health appears to be affected more if they suffer from obesity. Irrespective of gender, bullying is a considerably greater risk factor than being overweight for developing depressive symptoms. These conclusions are drawn by researchers at Uppsala University who monitored adolescents for six years in a questionnaire study, now published in the Journal of Public Health.
"The purpose of our study was to investigate the connection between body mass index (BMI) and depressive symptoms, and to take a close look at whether being subjected to bullying affects this relationship over time. We also wanted to investigate whether any gender differences existed," says Sofia Kanders, a Ph.D. student at Uppsala University's Department of Neuroscience.
In the study, young people born in Västmanland County, replied to questions about their height, weight and depressive symptoms on three separate occasions (2012, 2015 and 2018). The respondents' mean age was 14.4 years on the first occasion and 19.9 years on the last.
Based on BMI, the adolescents were divided into three groups: Those with normal weight, those who were overweight and those with obesity respectively. They were also grouped according to the extent of their depressive symptoms.
Overall, regardless of their weight, the girls stated more frequently that they had depressive symptoms. In 2012, 17 percent of the girls and 6 percent of the boys did so. By 2015, the proportions of adolescents with these symptoms had risen to 32 percent for the girls and 13 percent for the boys. The corresponding figures for 2018 were 34 and 19 percent respectively.
A higher BMI did not, as far as the researchers could see, affect the girls' mental well-being to any great extent. Among the boys, however, the pattern observed was entirely different.
"When we analyzed girls and boys separately, we saw that for boys with obesity in 2012, the risk for having depressive symptoms in 2015 was, statistically, five times higher than for normal-weight boys. In the girls we found no such connection," Kanders says.
The study has been unable to answer the question of what causes this gender difference, and the researchers think more research is needed in this area.
The young respondents were also asked about bullying—for example, to state whether, in the past year, they had been physically exposed to blows and kicks, teased or excluded, subjected to cyberbullying (abusive texting or other electronic or web bullying), or bullied by an adult at school.
In every analysis, exposure to bullying was associated with a higher risk of depressive symptoms. This connection was also evident six years later, especially in overweight boys. The researchers believe that these results seem to indicate a gender difference in how BMI and bullying together drive development of future depressive symptoms.
"One key conclusion and take-home message from our study is that bullying can affect mental illness for a long time to come, which therefore makes preventive measures against bullying in schools extremely important," Kanders says.
 
 
Efficacy of magnesium oxide and sodium valproate in prevention of migraine headache: a randomized, controlled, double-blind, crossover study
Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences (Iran), May 4, 2021
According to news originating from Sari, Iran, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Migraine is a disabling disorder that affects the quality of life of patients. Different medications have been used in prevention of migraine headache.”
Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, “In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of magnesium oxide in comparison with valproate sodium in preventing migraine headache attacks. This is a single-center, randomized, controlled, crossover trial which is double-blind, 24-week, 2-sequence, 2-period, 2-treatment. After patient randomization into two sequences, the intervention group received magnesium oxide 500 mg and the control group received valproate sodium 400 mg two tablets each day (every 12 h) for 8 weeks. The primary efficacy variable was reduction in the number of migraine attacks and number of days with moderate or severe headache and hours with headache (duration) per month in the final of 8 weeks in comparison with baseline. Seventy patients were randomized and seven dropped out, leaving 63 for analysis. In an intention-to-treat analysis, 31 patients were in group 1 (magnesium oxide-valproate) and 32 patients were in group 2 (valproate-magnesium oxide). The mean number of migraine attacks and days per month was 1.72 +/- 1.18 and 2.09 +/- 1.70, with a mean duration of 15.50 +/- 21.80 h in magnesium group and 1.27 +/- 1.27 and 2.22 +/- 1.96, with a mean duration 13.38 +/- 14.10 in valproate group.”
According to the news editors, the research concluded: “This study has shown that 500 mg magnesium oxide appears to be effective in migraine prophylaxis similar to valproate sodium without significant adverse effect.”
This research has been peer-reviewed
 
 
 
Vitamin D and calcium from food is associated with lower risk of early menopause
University of Massachusetts, May 10, 2021
A new study led by epidemiologists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst's School of Public Health and Health Sciences suggests that high intake of dietary vitamin D and calcium may be modestly associated with lower risk of early menopause, the cessation of ovarian function before age 45. Early menopause affects about 10 percent of women and is associated with higher risk of cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and early cognitive decline.
Epidemiology doctoral candidate Alexandra Purdue-Smithe and her advisor Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson, with colleagues at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, and Harvard Medical School, evaluated how vitamin D and calcium intake is associated with incidence of early menopause in the prospective Nurses' Health Study II. The study population includes 116,430 female U.S. registered nurses who were 25-42 years old when they responded to a baseline questionnaire.
Diet was assessed five times over the 20-year study, allowing the researchers to capture changes in food and nutrient intake over time, Purdue-Smithe notes. Participants in the study contributed more than 1 million person-years of follow-up, during which 2,041 women experienced early menopause.
The authors report the hazard ratio for early menopause comparing the highest vs. lowest dietary vitamin D intake groups was 0.83 (95% confidence interval = 0.72-0.95) and for dietary calcium 0.87 (95% CI=0.76-1.00). Details of the study, supported by the National Institutes of Health, appear in the current early online edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Purdue-Smithe says, "Laboratory evidence relating vitamin D to some of the hormonal mechanisms involved in ovarian aging provided the foundation for our hypothesis. However, to our knowledge, no prior epidemiologic studies have explicitly evaluated how vitamin D and calcium intake may be related to risk of early menopause. We found that after adjusting for a variety of different factors, vitamin D from food sources, such as fortified dairy and fatty fish, was associated with a 17 percent lower risk of early menopause when comparing the highest intake group to the lowest intake group."
Because higher intake of vitamin D and calcium from foods may simply act as a marker for better nutrition and overall health, Purdue-Smithe says, the researchers took into account other factors such as intake of vegetable protein and alcohol, as well as body mass index and smoking. She adds, "The large size of this study allowed us to consider a variety of potential correlates of a healthy lifestyle that might explain our findings; however, adjusting for these factors made almost no difference in our estimates."
The nutritional and reproductive epidemiologist notes that "in addition to placing women at higher risk of adverse future health outcomes, early menopause is also problematic as women are increasingly delaying childbearing into their later reproductive years. Fertility declines drastically during the 10 years leading up to menopause, so early menopause can have profound psychological and financial implications for couples who are unable to conceive as they wish. As such, it is important to identify modifiable risk factors for early menopause, such as diet."
Because associations were stronger for vitamin D and calcium from dairy sources than from non-dairy food sources in the study, and Purdue-Smithe plans further analyses investigating individual dairy foods and other components of dairy and how they may be associated with early menopause.
 
 
High levels of exercise linked to 9 years of less aging at the cellular level
Brigham Young University, May 10, 2021
\Despite their best efforts, no scientist has ever come close to stopping humans from aging. Even anti-aging creams can't stop Old Father Time.
But new research from Brigham Young University reveals you may be able to slow one type of aging--the kind that happens inside your cells. As long as you're willing to sweat.
"Just because you're 40, doesn't mean you're 40 years old biologically," Tucker said. "We all know people that seem younger than their actual age. The more physically active we are, the less biological aging takes place in our bodies."
The study, published in the medical journal Preventive Medicine, finds that people who have consistently high levels of physical activity have significantly longer telomeres than those who have sedentary lifestyles, as well as those who are moderately active.
Telomeres are the protein endcaps of our chromosomes. They're like our biological clock and they're extremely correlated with age; each time a cell replicates, we lose a tiny bit of the endcaps. Therefore, the older we get, the shorter our telomeres.
Exercise science professor Larry Tucker found adults with high physical activity levels have telomeres with a biological aging advantage of nine years over those who are sedentary, and a seven-year advantage compared to those who are moderately active. To be highly active, women had to engage in 30 minutes of jogging per day (40 minutes for men), five days a week.
"If you want to see a real difference in slowing your biological aging, it appears that a little exercise won't cut it," Tucker said. "You have to work out regularly at high levels."
Tucker analyzed data from 5,823 adults who participated in the CDC's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, one of the few indexes that includes telomere length values for study subjects. The index also includes data for 62 activities participants might have engaged in over a 30-day window, which Tucker analyzed to calculate levels of physical activity.
His study found the shortest telomeres came from sedentary people--they had 140 base pairs of DNA less at the end of their telomeres than highly active folks. Surprisingly, he also found there was no significant difference in telomere length between those with low or moderate physical activity and the sedentary people.
Although the exact mechanism for how exercise preserves telomeres is unknown, Tucker said it may be tied to inflammation and oxidative stress. Previous studies have shown telomere length is closely related to those two factors and it is known that exercise can suppress inflammation and oxidative stress over time.
"We know that regular physical activity helps to reduce mortality and prolong life, and now we know part of that advantage may be due to the preservation of telomeres," Tucker said.

The Gary Null Show - 05.11.21

Tuesday May 11, 2021

Tuesday May 11, 2021

Why are Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin Being Officially Suppressed
 Richard Gale and Gary Null PhD
Had the FDA and Anthony Fauci’s National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Disease (NIAID) started approving existing clinically-proven and inexpensive drugs for treating malaria, parasites and other pathogens at the start of the pandemic, millions of people would have been saved from experiencing serious infections or dying from the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Why federal health officials never followed this strategy is a question the mainstream media refuses to ask. 
 
Read More

Monday May 10, 2021

Why are Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin Being Officially Suppressed
 
Richard Gale and Gary Null PhD
Progressive Radio Network, May 10, 2021
 
 
Had the FDA and Anthony Fauci’s National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Disease (NIAID) started approving existing clinically-proven and inexpensive drugs for treating malaria, parasites and other pathogens at the start of the pandemic, millions of people would have been saved from experiencing serious infections or dying from the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Why federal health officials never followed this strategy is a question the mainstream media refuses to ask. 
 
Another question that the medical establishment, let alone our compliant media, is why have they failed to ask whether there are reliable studies in the peer-reviewed literature and testimonies from thousands of day-to-day clinical physicians worldwide who treat Covid-19 patients with these drugs, in particular hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and Ivermectin. In most nations, there has been enormous success in treating Covid patients at the early and moderate stages of infection. However, in the US, Anthony Fauci, Bill Gates, the FDA and our institutional medical leaders have categorically denied their use.  In fact they are quick to erect obstacles to prevent them from being prescribed.
 
When these questions are posited as a general argument for advocating expedient measures to protect public health during this pandemic, would it not have been wise to have prioritized HCQ, Ivermectin, and other remedies with a record of curtailing Covid, such as the antibiotic azirthromicin, zinc, selenium, Vitamins C and D, and melatonin as a first line of defense?  There was absolutely no need to have waited for experimental vaccines or experimental drugs such as Remdesivir before the pandemic became uncontrollable.  But this is what Fauci and Trump permitted to happen.
 
If this strategy of medical intervention had been followed, would it have been successful?  The answer is likely an unequivocal “yes”.  Both HCQ and, even better, Ivermectin have been prophylactically prescribed by physicians working on pandemic’s front lines with enormous success.  Yet those American physicians struggling to get this urgent message out to federal health officials are being marginalized and ridiculed en masse. Only in the US, the UK, France, South Africa and several other developed nations has there been a stubborn hubris to deny their effectiveness, and where there have been concerted efforts to undermine these cheaper alternative remedies. The World Health Organization recommends Ivermectin for Covid-19 so why not the US and these other nations? Under oath, multiple physicians and professors at American medical schools have testified before Congress to present the scientific evidence supporting HCQ and Ivermectin.  These are otherwise medical professionals at the very heart of treating Covid-19 patients. 
 
Today, American journalism is in shambles. In fact, it is a disgrace.  The American public is losing its trust the media. Whether it is CNN, the New York Times, the Washington Post, NPR or PBS, they each have unlimited resources to properly investigate the federal and institutional machinery behind the government health policies being thrust upon us.  Yet no mainstream journalist has found the moral compass to bring this truth to the public. 
 
In the meantime, we are allowing millions to die, and countless others to be seriously affected from a severe infection because of professional medical neglect and a healthcare system favoring the pharmaceutical industry’s frantic rush to develop expensive novel drugs and experimental vaccines. The incentive by the drug makers is to take every advantage available within the FDA’s emergency use loopholes to get their products approved as quickly as possible.  The primary advantage is that these novel drugs and vaccines can then leap over regulatory hurdles, which otherwise would require them to conduct lengthy and thorough clinical trials to prove their efficacy and safety. The consequence is that none of the new pharmaceutical Covid-19 interventions have been adequately reviewed.
 
On the other hand, HCQ and Ivermectin have an established legacy of prior research and have been on the market for decades. Worldwide, it is not unreasonable to claim that billions of people have been treated with these drugs.  
 
Below is a breakdown of the studies conducted so far for HCQ, Ivermectin and Vitamin D specifically for combatting the SARS-CoV-2 virus
 
Hydroxychloroquine
 
291 studies, 218 peer-reviewed have been conducted specifically for Covid-19
241 have been clinical trials that involved 3,875 scientists and over 366,000 patients
33 were randomize controlled trials
65% improvement in 26 early treatment trials
72% improvement in 11 early stage infection treatment mortality results
22% improvement in 164 late stage infection treatment trials (patients in serious condition)
Full list of HCQ studies and details:  https://c19hcq.com
 
Ivermectin 
 
92 studies, 52 peer-reviewed have been conducted specifically for Covid-19
54 have been clinical trials that involved 442 scientists and over 17,600 patients
27 were randomized controlled trials 
85% improvement in 14 prophylaxis trials
80% improvement in 20 early stage infection treatment trials
47% improvement in 20 late stage infection treatment trials
74% improvement in 20 mortality results
Full list of Ivermectin studies and details:  https://c19ivermectin.com
 
Vitamin D
 
74 studies conducted by over 650 scientists
52 sufficiency studies with 12,000 patients
23 treatment trials with 23,000 patients
53% improvement in 23 treatment trials
53% improvement in 52 sufficiency studies
63% improvement in 14 treatment mortality results
Full list of Vitamin D studies and details:  https://c19vitamind.com
 
Please share this information. The inept policies and measures being taken by our federal health officials and by both the former Trump and present Biden administrations are unparalleled in American healthcare history. And never before has the media been so willing to self-censor and been so grossly irresponsible to hide the published science and the truth. 

Friday May 07, 2021


Higher omega-3 levels linked with lower risk of death during 16-year period
The Fatty Acids and Outcomes Research Consortium, April 28 2021. 
 
An analysis of prospective studies published on April 22, 2021 in Nature Communications uncovered a decreased risk of mortality during an average of 16 years among men and women who had higher red blood cell or plasma levels of omega-3 fatty acids. 
The analysis was conducted by William S. Harris and The Fatty Acids and Outcomes Research Consortium (FORCE). Dr Harris is a codeveloper of the Omega-3 Index, which measures omega 3 levels in red blood cell membranes. The team examined 17 prospective studies that evaluated associations between the risk of death from all causes and levels of the omega-3 fatty acids alpha linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and EPA plus DHA. 
During the studies’ follow-up periods, 15,720 deaths occurred among a total of 42,466 men and women. Subjects whose EPA, DPA, DHA, and EPA plus DHA levels were among the top 10% of participants experienced a 9% to 13% reduction in mortality from all causes during follow-up compared to men and women whose levels were among the lowest 10%. When cause-specific mortality was examined, having EPA, DPA, DHA, or EPA plus DHA levels among the highest 10% was associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular mortality, cancer mortality and mortality from all other causes combined (with the exception of the association between DHA and reduced cancer mortality, which was not considered significant). 
"Since all of these analyses were statistically adjusted for multiple personal and medical factors (i.e., age, sex, weight, smoking, diabetes, blood pressure, etc., plus blood omega-6 fatty acid levels), we believe that these are the strongest data published to date supporting the view that over the long-term, having higher blood omega-3 levels can help maintain better overall health," Dr Harris concluded.
 
 
New study shows tree nuts may play a role in both weight loss and weight maintenance
 
University of California at Los Angeles, May 4, 2021 
In a randomized, controlled study* published online in the journal, Nutrients, researchers found that including mixed tree nuts in a weight management program resulted in significant weight loss and improved satiety.
Researchers at UCLA compared 95 overweight/obese men and women (BMI 27.0-35.0 kg/m2) ages 30-68 years who consumed either 1.5 ounces of mixed tree nuts or a pretzel snack. Both snacks provided the same number of calories, as part of a hypocaloric weight loss diet (500 calories less than resting metabolic rate) over 12 weeks. This was followed by an isocaloric weight maintenance program for an additional 12 weeks. 
Participants experienced significant weight loss (12 weeks: -1.6 kg and -1.9 kg and 24 weeks: -1.5 kg and -1.4 kg) in the tree nut and pretzel snack groups, respectively. Both groups also showed a significant decrease in BMI at 12 weeks, compared to baseline. However, satiety was significantly higher at the end of week 24 in the mixed tree nut group, and there was a trend toward greater weight maintenance compared to the pretzel group. Moreover, the dropout rate was significantly lower in the mixed tree nut group (16.4%) compared to the pretzel (35.9%) group. And, heart rate was decreased significantly, compared to baseline, in those consuming tree nuts, but not pretzels. 
"Tree nuts (almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamias, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios and walnuts) are a great source of protein, healthy fats and fiber," explained lead researcher, Zhaoping Li, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Clinical Nutrition at UCLA. "This makes them so satiating and may be a major reason why we saw less weight gain in the tree nut group during weight maintenance, and a significantly lower dropout rate compared to the pretzel group." 
Recent research has shown that more than 40 percent of Americans are overweight or obese.** During the past year many Americans have gained weight while sheltering in place, partly due to less exercise and more snacking. One study estimates a weight gain of 1.5 pounds per month.*** "We know most people get about 25% of their calories each day from snacks and a large proportion come from desserts, sugar-sweetened beverages, sweets and salty snacks," states Dr. Li. "By replacing just one of those snacks with 1.5 ounces of tree nuts may result in a positive impact on weight and overall health."
According to Maureen Ternus, M.S., R.D.N, Executive Director of the International Tree Nut Council Nutrition Research & Education Foundation (INC NREF), "This latest study adds to a growing body of evidence showing that nut consumption may be a useful tool in weight management."
 
 
Green tea compound and coconut oil may help improve depression in multiple sclerosis patients
Catholic University of Valencia (Spain), April 30. 2021
 
According to news reporting originating from Valencia, Spain, research stated, “Multiple sclerosis (MS) is pathogenically characterized by high oxidative stress and symptomatically by progressive muscle loss and increased body fat associated with the presence of depression. Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) (particularly present in green tea) and ketone bodies (in particular beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB)), whose main source is coconut oil, have shown emotional benefits and body fat loss.”
The news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Catholic University of Valencia: “The aim of this study was to assess the impact of EGCG and coconut oil on cortisol activity related to fat loss and depression in MS patients. The study involved 51 MS patients who were randomly divided into an intervention group or a control group. The intervention group received 800 mg of EGCG and 60 mL of coconut oil, which were included in their daily diet for four months. The control group received placebo and all patients followed an isocaloric diet. A blood sample was collected before and after the four-month period, and levels of cortisol, albumin and BHB were measured in serum. In addition, immediately before and after the intervention, anthropometric variables were measured: waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), body fat mass percentage, fat weight, total weight, and muscle mass percentage. Depression was assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II). No significant changes were obtained in cortisol levels in any of the groups, and there was a significant increase in albumin in the blood of the intervention group only that could lead to a decrease in serum free cortisol. In addition, it was observed a significant decrease in levels of depression and abdominal fat.”
According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “EGCG combined with coconut oil increase the concentration of albumin in blood and produce less depression in MS patients.”
 
 
 
Vulnerable older people at greater risk of depression and anxiety during pandemic
 
University of Manchester (UK), May 5, 2021
Older people who are clinically vulnerable to COVID-19 are at greater risk of deterioration in health and social well-being during the pandemic, according to a new study.
The research, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, found that older people were more likely to report worse health outcomes than those with no clinical vulnerabilities, including greater depression and anxiety and lower quality of life, even when taking into account pre-pandemic levels of health and social well-being.
The findings highlight the need for policymakers to consider the mental and physical health consequences of the pandemic for those at higher risk from coronavirus, particularly for those asked to shield.
Professor Debora Price from The University of Manchester and Dr. Giorgio Di Gessa from UCL compared data from 2020's English Longitudinal Study of Aging with data from the previous year. They analyzed responses from over 5000 people aged 52 and over in private households in England.
The study revealed that during the pandemic, respondents classified as clinically vulnerable were more likely to report poor self-rated health, lower levels of physical activity, depression, anxiety, lower quality of life as well as loneliness and receipt of care, compared to those without clinical vulnerabilities.
This was true within each age group. Among people in their 70s, the odds of being depressed and anxious for those clinically vulnerable were around 50% higher than for those without clinical vulnerabilities. Those in their 80s—regardless of clinical vulnerability—were much more likely to have unmet care needs and to have little contact with friends and family by text, email, or videocall.
Although older adults' health and social well-being have been impacted by shielding, the researchers found that it was those who were clinically vulnerable and shielding who reported the most substantial rises in anxiety, depression, poor self-rated health and receipt of formal care, as well as decreases in well-being and physical activity.
"Older people with underlying health conditions, even before the pandemic, faced challenges in terms of access to healthcare services and social contact," said Professor Debora Price. "They also experienced greater emotional distress, higher risk of loneliness and poorer quality of life than non-vulnerable individuals."
"While policies focusing on shielding clinically vulnerable older people reduce rates of hospitalization and death from COVID-19, policymakers need to acknowledge that there may be adverse consequences of this measure and address the wider needs of these vulnerable groups," added Dr. Giorgio Di Gessa.
"It's vital that policymakers are aware that when advised to stay at home, a host of health and social risks for this group, already poor, are likely to be exacerbated."
 
Researchers find obesity linked to reduced blood flow to the brain
Trinity College Dublin (Ireland), May 5, 2021
A new study from scientists at The Irish Longitudinal Study on Aging (TILDA) at Trinity College Dublin reveals important findings, indicating that being overweight or obese significantly reduces blood flow in the brain. The study also shows that increased physical activity can positively modify, or even negate, this reduction in brain blood flow.
The study contains relevant information which is of great interest to the general public; since reduced blood flow in the brain, or 'cerebral hypoperfusion," is an early mechanism in vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
Obesity and health challenges
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), obesity is a worsening health crisis that has reached epidemic proportions globally, with over 1 billion adults overweight—and at least 300 million clinically obese. It continues to be a major contributor to global rates of chronic disease and disability, affecting overall quality of life, while placing increased strain on the immune system which is of the upmost importance given the current COVID-19 situation. Obesity is also a significant public health concern given its negative impact on physiological function, especially as we age. Finding easily implemented and cost-effective ways to tackle the impact of obesity is particularly important to help protect against negative health outcomes in later life.
What are the findings of the TILDA study?
The study investigates three different measures of obesity—body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio and waist circumference, as well as physical activity, in adults over 50 years.
Brain blood flow was measured using cutting-edge MRI scanning and analysis techniques. The findings reveal that being overweight or obese is associated with reduced blood supply to the brain. Whereas brain blood flow is known to decline with age, in this study the negative influence of obesity on brain blood flow was shown to be greater than that of age. However, being physically active helps to cancel out the negative effects of obesity on brain blood flow.
Key Findings
ncreased BMI, waist-to-hip ratio, and waist size are associated with less blood supply to the brain.
A waist size increase of +1cm is associated with the same reduction in brain blood flow as +1 year of age.
Higher levels of physical activity modify the associations between reduced brain blood flow and obesity.
Recommendations
The study recommends at least 1.5 to two hours of 'being active' throughout the day, engaging in activities that require moderate effort. These include activities that cause one to breathe harder than normal, such as fast walking or cycling. However, any increase in physical activity, particularly if integrated into daily or weekly habits, such as gardening, should help maintain and potentially improve brain blood flow.
Dr. Silvin Knight, Research Fellow at TILDA and lead author, said:
Consistent, healthy blood supply to the brain is critical, as it ensures that the brain is provided with enough oxygen and nutrients to function correctly. If brain blood flow becomes impaired, it can lead to serious health issues as we age, such as increasing the risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. We know that obesity can predispose a person to age-related conditions, illness, and disease, and even reduce life expectancy by up to six years in men and seven years in women, after the age of forty. Our study reveals clear associations between obesity and reduced blood supply to the brain in an older population. The study also shows the importance of being physically active for older overweight or obese individuals, as this may help to protect against reduced brain blood flow and the poor health outcomes that can arise from this.
Professor Rose Anne Kenny, Principal Investigator of TILDA, and co-author of the study, said: "Many experts have shown that obesity and aging have very similar effects on the biology of aging; diseases associated with obesity are similar to those of aging and age-related diseases—heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, kidney failure, arthritis, susceptibility to infections- including COVID-19."
Our study not only shows that there is a link between obesity and reduced brainblood flow, but also that it is possible to protect against the negative consequences of obesity through regular physical exercise. Whereas these findings are of relevance in the global context, because of the rapidly evolving global burden of obesity, the research is especially important to Irish adults because obesity and being overweight is a considerable health issue in Ireland.
Previous TILDA research has shown that over one-third of Irish adults aged 50 and older are obese and a further 43% overweight. As we prepare our society for a growing aging population, we can use this evidence to prepare meaningful public health policies that will promote impactful and positive lifestyle habits, such as regular physical activity, to mitigate against some of the negative consequences of the growing obesity crisis.
 
 
 
 
 
In silico screening of Chinese herbal medicines with the potential to directly inhibit 2019 novel coronavirus
Shanghai Health Commission Key Lab of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Based Management of Inflammation and Chronic Diseases, May 2, 2021
Objective
In this study we execute a rational screen to identify Chinese medical herbs that are commonly used in treating viral respiratory infections and also contain compounds that might directly inhibit 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), an ongoing novel coronavirus that causes pneumonia.
Methods
There were two main steps in the screening process. In the first step we conducted a literature search for natural compounds that had been biologically confirmed as against sever acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus or Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus. Resulting compounds were cross-checked for listing in the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database. Compounds meeting both requirements were subjected to absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME) evaluation to verify that oral administration would be effective. Next, a docking analysis was used to test whether the compound had the potential for direct 2019-nCoV protein interaction. In the second step we searched Chinese herbal databases to identify plants containing the selected compounds. Plants containing 2 or more of the compounds identified in our screen were then checked against the catalogue for classic herbal usage. Finally, network pharmacology analysis was used to predict the general in vivo effects of each selected herb.
Results
Of the natural compounds screened, 13 that exist in traditional Chinese medicines were also found to have potential anti-2019-nCoV activity. Further, 125 Chinese herbs were found to contain 2 or more of these 13 compounds. Of these 125 herbs, 26 are classically catalogued as treating viral respiratory infections. Network pharmacology analysis predicted that the general in vivo roles of these 26 herbal plants were related to regulating viral infection, immune/inflammation reactions and hypoxia response.
Conclusion
Of course, it should be pointed out that Chinese herbs that have not been identified through this screening process may still have beneficial effects. Further, considering that the biologically validated natural compounds reported in the literature cannot cover all antiviral natural compounds, and the natural compounds included in the Chinese medicine database are not complete, the process that we have followed may have excluded herbs that would be well suited to this treatment. Nevertheless, the purpose of this screening was to provide a rational approach for selecting Chinese herbal medicines with a high potential efficacy in treating 2019-nCoV and related viruses. The specific dosage and usage of each herb should be determined based on patients’ manifestations. Finally, the key step in this screening was molecular docking. The 3D structures of the proteins used here are based on reported gene sequences. If the virus mutates during transmission, a new screening is recommended.
In conclusion, this work has identified several Chinese medicinal plants classified as antiviral/pneumonia-effective that might directly inhibit the novel coronavirus, 2019-nCoV. Additionally, we propose screening principles and methods which may provide guidance in screening antiviral drugs from other natural drug databases.
 
 
Ginkgolide B monotherapy reverses osteoporosis by regulating oxidative stress-mediated bone homeostasis
 
Chinese University of Hong Kong, May 4, 2021
According to news reporting from Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China, research stated, “Osteoporosis is characterized by reductions in bone mass, which could be attributed to the dysregulation of bone homeostasis, such as the loss of balance between bone-resorbing osteoclasts and bone-forming osteoblasts. Elevated levels of oxidative stress increase bone resorption by promoting osteoclastogenesis and inhibiting the osteogenesis.”
The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, “Ginkgolide B (GB), a small natural molecule from Ginkgo biloba, has been reported to possess pharmacological activities by regulating reactive oxygen species (ROS) in aging-related degenerative diseases. Herein, we assessed the therapeutic effects of GB on the bone phenotypes of mice with osteoporosis induced by (I) aging, (II) ovariectomy, and (III) glucocorticoids. In all three animal models, oral gavage of GB significantly improved bone mass consistent with the increase in the OPG-to-RANKL ratio. In the in vitro experiments, GB promoted osteogenesis in aged mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and repressed osteoclastogenesis in aged macrophages by reducing ROS. The serum protein profile in GB-treated aged mice revealed moderate rejuvenating effects; signaling pathways associated with ROS were also regulated. The anabolic and anti-catabolic effects of GB were illustrated by the reduction in ROS. Our results indicate that GB is effective in treating osteoporosis.”
According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “The use of GB in patients with osteoporosis is worthy of further clinical investigation.”
This research has been peer-reviewed.

The Gary Null Show - 05.06.21

Thursday May 06, 2021

Thursday May 06, 2021


Treatment with Rhodiola mimics exercise to resist high-fat diet-induced muscle dysfunction
Central South University (China), April 30, 2021
 
According to news reporting out of Changsha, People’s Republic of China, research stated, “Muscle dysfunction is a complication of high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity that could be prevented by exercise, but patients did not get enough therapeutic efficacy from exercise due to multiple reasons.”
The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from Xiangya Hospital of Central South University: “To explore alternative or supplementary approaches to prevent or treat muscle dysfunction in individuals with obesity, we investigated the effects of Rhodiola on muscle dysfunction as exercise pills. SIRT1 might suppress atrogenes expression and improve mitochondrial quality control, which could be a therapeutic target stimulated by exercise and Rhodiola, but further mechanisms remain unclear. We verified the lipid metabolism disorders and skeletal muscle dysfunction in HFD feeding mice. Moreover, exercise and Rhodiola were used to intervene mice with a HFD. Our results showed that exercise and Rhodiola prevented muscle atrophy and dysfunction in obese mice and activating the SIRT1 pathway, while atrogenes were suppressed and mitochondrial quality control was improved. EX-527, SIRT1 inhibitor, was used to validate the essential role of SIRT1 in salidroside benefit.”
According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Results of cell culture experiment showed that salidroside alleviated high palmitate-induced atrophy and mitochondrial quality control impairments, but these improvements of salidroside were inhibited by EX-527 in C2C12 myotubes. Overall, Rhodiola mimics exercise that activates SIRT1 signaling leading to improvement of HFD-induced muscle dysfunction.”
 
 
Prenatal exposure to pesticides increases the risk of obesity in adolescence
First study to analyse the long-term effects of persistent organic pollutants on cardiometabolic risk in adolescents
Barcelona Institute for Global Health (Spain), May 3, 2021
Exposure before birth to persistent organic pollutants (POPs)-- organochlorine pesticides, industrial chemicals, etc.--may increase the risk in adolescence of metabolic disorders, such as obesity and high blood pressure. This was the main conclusion of a study by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a research centre supported by the "la Caixa" Foundation. The study was based on data from nearly 400 children living in Menorca, who were followed from before birth until they reached 18 years of age. 
POPs are toxic, degradation-resistant chemicals that persist in the environment. Examples of such compounds are pesticides and organochlorine insecticides (DDT, etc.). POPs have adverse effects on both human health and the environment and their use is regulated globally.
Prenatal exposure to these substances has been associated with cardiometabolic risk factors in childhood, but there were previously no studies assessing whether such associations continue into adolescence, a developmental stage characterised by significant changes in the endocrine system and rapid increases in body mass.
The aim of this investigation, carried out within the framework of the INMA Project-Environment and Childhood, was to study the associations between prenatal exposure to POPs and body mass index (BMI) as well as other markers of cardiovascular risk in adolescence. Data from 379 children in Menorca was analysed. POP levels were measured in umbilical cord blood samples and the children were then seen periodically between the ages of 4 and 18 years. At these visits, BMI, body fat percentage and blood pressure were recorded as they grew. When the child reached 14 years of age, the scientists measured blood biomarkers of cardiometabolic risk (cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose, etc.).
The results of this study, published in the journal Environment International, suggest an association between prenatal POP exposure and a higher BMI in adolescence, particularly in the case of the fungicide hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and the insecticide compound dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT). 
Exposure to these two organochlorides--HCB and DDT¬--was also associated with higher blood pressure in childhood and adolescence and increased cardiometabolic risk at 14 years of age. 
ISGlobal researcher Núria Güil-Oumrait, the first author of the study, explains that "this is the first longitudinal study to analyse the relationship between persistent organic pollutants and cardiometabolic risk throughout childhood and adolescence. Our findings show that the association between these substances and infant BMI does persist into adolescence and that prenatal exposures are associated with the main risk factors for metabolic syndrome in adults, a condition that today affects one in four people worldwide.
With respect to the mechanisms that might explain this association, Güil-Oumrait points out that "it is thought that POPs may interact with hormone receptors or with the generation of free radicals, and the chief problem is that these pollutants accumulate in the fatty tissues of living organisms, where they can persist for years, even decades". 
Martine Vrijheid, study coordinator and head of the Childhood and Environment Programme at ISGlobal, highlights the fact that "some of these substances could be considered endocrine disruptors, that is, chemicals that interfere with hormonal regulation". In her view "more studies are needed in this field, especially focussing on childhood and adolescence, which are critical developmental stages characterised by particular vulnerability".
 
 
One cup of leafy green vegetables a day lowers risk of heart disease
Research has found that by eating just one cup of nitrate-rich vegetables each day people can significantly reduce their risk of heart disease.
Edith Cowan University (Australia), May 4, 2021
New Edith Cowan University (ECU) research has found that by eating just one cup of nitrate-rich vegetables each day people can significantly reduce their risk of heart disease.
The study investigated whether people who regularly ate higher quantities of nitrate-rich vegetables, such as leafy greens and beetroot, had lower blood pressure, and it also examined whether these same people were less likely to be diagnosed with heart disease many years later.
Cardiovascular diseases are the number one cause of death globally, taking around 17.9 million lives each year.
Researchers examined data from over 50,000 people residing in Denmark taking part in the Danish Diet, Cancer, and Health Study over a 23-year period. They found that people who consumed the most nitrate-rich vegetables had about a 2.5 mmHg lower systolic blood pressure and between 12 to 26 percent lower risk of heart disease.
Lead researcher Dr Catherine Bondonno from ECU's Institute for Nutrition Research said identifying diets to prevent heart disease was a priority.
"Our results have shown that by simply eating one cup of raw (or half a cup of cooked) nitrate-rich vegetables each day, people may be able to significantly reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease," Dr Bondonno said.
"The greatest reduction in risk was for peripheral artery disease (26 percent), a type of heart disease characterised by the narrowing of blood vessels of the legs, however we also found people had a lower risk of heart attacks, strokes and heart failure." 
Forget the supplements
The study found that the optimum amount of nitrate-rich vegetables was one cup a day and eating more than that didn't seem to give any additional benefits.
"People don't need to be taking supplements to boost their nitrate levels because the study showed that one cup of leafy green vegetables each day is enough to reap the benefits for heart disease," Dr Bondonno said.
"We did not see further benefits in people who ate higher levels of nitrate rich vegetables."
Smoothies are ok
Dr Bondonno said hacks such as including a cup of spinach in a banana or berry smoothie might be an easy way to top up our daily leafy greens.
"Blending leafy greens is fine, but don't juice them. Juicing vegetables removes the pulp and fibre," Dr Bondonno said.
The paper "Vegetable nitrate intake, blood pressure and incident cardiovascular disease: Danish Diet, Cancer, and Health Study" is published in the European Journal of Epidemiology. It is a collaboration between Edith Cowan University, the Danish Cancer Society and The University of Western Australia.
The research adds to growing evidence linking vegetables generally and leafy greens specifically with improved cardiovascular health and muscle strength. This evidence includes two recent ECU studies exploring cruciferous vegetables and blood vessel health and green leafy vegetables and muscle strength.
 
 
Mindfulness programs can boost children's mental health
 
University of Derby (UK), May 4, 2021
Mindfulness programs can improve the mental health of school-age children and help them to feel more optimistic, according to new research from the University of Derby and Derbyshire Educational Psychology Service.
More than 1,000 pupils aged between 9-12 years old across 25 schools in Derbyshire, received one 45-minute mindfulness session per week for nine weeks during the year-long project, which involved a collaboration between Dr. William Van Gordon, Associate Professor in Contemplative Psychology at the University, and Derbyshire Educational Psychology Service.
Mindfulness is an ancient meditation technique that involves focussing awareness on the present moment, as a means of fostering calm, wellbeing and insight. The weekly sessions involved activities such as practicing mindful breathing and paying attention to bodily sensations, as well as exercises intended to help cultivate attention skills and a greater awareness of emotions.
The impact of the sessions, which were delivered by teachers in a traditional classroom environment, was evaluated by comparing psychological assessments that the children completed before the classes began, with assessments undertaken after the program had concluded. Part of the evaluation measured children's emotional resiliency using The Resiliency Scale for Children, while wellbeing was rated using the Stirling Children's Wellbeing Scale.
Overall, the study found a significant improvement in positive emotional state, outlook and resiliency. There was also an increase in the different dimensions of resilience: optimism increased by 10%, tolerance was improved by 8% and self-efficacy, how a child feels they can cope with a situation based on the skills they have and the circumstances they face, improved by 11%.
Professor Van Gordon said: "Findings from the study indicate that mindfulness delivered by school teachers can improve wellbeing and resiliency in children and young people.
"This is consistent with wider evidence demonstrating the positive impact of mindfulness on school children's levels of emotional resiliency, emotional stability, wellbeing and stress.
"These findings are also in line with the view that preventative interventions given at a young age can help to reduce the incidence of mental health problems in young people."
 
Vitamin D levels higher in exercisers
Johns Hopkins University, May 01 2021 
The issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism published the finding of researchers at Johns Hopkins University of a correlation between increased physical activity and higher levels of vitamin D. Higher levels of vitamin D and exercise was also associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease.
The study included 10,342 men and women who were free of coronary heart disease and heart failure upon enrollment in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study. Physical activity levels were assessed during follow-up visits that took place over a 19.3-year period. Stored serum samples obtained at the second visit were analyzed for 25-hydroxyvitamin D3.
Subjects who achieved American Heart Association recommended physical activity levels had average levels of vitamin D that were higher than those who had intermediate and poor levels of activity. Following adjustment for lifestyle and other factors, those who met the recommended levels had a 31% lower risk of being deficient in vitamin D than those with poor activity levels. Subjects in the recommended activity group with levels of vitamin D of 30 ng/mL or more had a 24% lower risk of cardiovascular disease.
The association between exercise and vitamin D was stronger in subjects of European ethnicity than among African Americans. The authors noted that European-Americans as well as those who engage in exercise are likelier to be supplement users. “We did find that vitamin D supplement use was higher among those with increased physical activity,” they observed.
"In our study, both failure to meet the recommended physical activity levels and having vitamin D deficiency were very common" stated coauthor Erin Michos, MD, MS, of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "The bottom line is we need to encourage people to move more in the name of heart health."
 
 
One teaspoon daily of trehalose can help maintain glucose homeostasis: a double-blind, randomized controlled trial 
Hayashibara Co. Ltd (Japan), April 24, 2021
Background
Trehalose is a natural disaccharide that is widely distributed. A previous study has shown that daily consumption of 10 g of trehalose improves glucose tolerance in individuals with signs of metabolic syndrome. In the present study, we determined whether a lower dose (3.3 g/day) of trehalose improves glucose tolerance in healthy Japanese volunteers.
Methods
This was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of healthy Japanese participants (n = 50). Each consumed 3.3 g of trehalose (n = 25) or sucrose (n = 25) daily for 78 days. Their body compositions were assessed following 0, 4, 8, and 12 weeks; and serum biochemical parameters were assayed and oral 75-g glucose tolerance tests were performed at baseline and after 12 weeks.
Results
There were similar changes in body composition and serum biochemistry consistent with established seasonal variations in both groups, but there were no differences in any of these parameters between the two groups. However, whereas after 12 weeks of sucrose consumption, the plasma glucose concentration 2 h after a 75-g glucose load was significantly higher than the fasting concentration, after 12 weeks of trehalose consumption the fasting and 2-h plasma glucose concentrations were similar. Furthermore, an analysis of the participants with relatively high postprandial blood glucose showed that the plasma glucose concentration 2 h after a 75-g glucose load was significantly lower in the trehalose group than in the sucrose group.
Conclusions
Our findings suggest that trehalose helps lower postprandial blood glucose in healthy humans with higher postprandial glucose levels within the normal range, and may therefore contribute to the prevention of pathologies that are predisposed to by postprandial hyperglycemia,, even if the daily intake of trehalose is only 3.3 g, an amount that is easily incorporated into a meal.
 
 
Coffee compound enhances autophagy to protect against cell injury
Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (China), April 30, 2021
According to news reporting originating from Sichuan, People’s Republic of China, research stated, “Autophagy serves an important role in amyloid-beta (A beta) metabolism and tau processing and clearance in Alzheimer’s disease. The progression of A beta plaque accumulation and hyperphosphorylation of tau proteins are enhanced by oxidative stress.”
Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from the Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, “A hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) injury cell model was established using SH-SY5Y cells. Cells were randomly divided into normal, H2O2 and chlorogenic acid (5-caffeoylquinic acid; CGA) groups. The influence of CGA on cell viability was evaluated using a Cell Counting Kit-8 assay and cell death was assessed using Hoechst 33342 nuclear staining. Autophagy induction and fusion of autophagic vacuoles assays were performed using monodansylcadaverine staining. Additionally, SH-SY5Y cells expressing Ad-mCherry-green fluorescent protein-LC3B were established to detect autophagic flow. LysoTracker Red staining was used to evaluate lysosome function and LysoSensor ™ Green staining assays were used to assess lysosomal acidification. The results demonstrated that CGA decreased the apoptosis rate, increased cell viability and improved cell morphology in H2O2-treated SH-SY5Y cells. Furthermore, CGA alleviated the accumulation of autophagic vacuoles, reduced the LC3BII/I ratio and decreased P62 levels, resulting in increased autophagic flux. Additionally, CGA upregulated lysosome acidity and increased the expression levels of cathepsin D. Importantly, these effects of CGA on H2O2-treated SH-SY5Y cells were mediated via the mTOR-transcription factor EB signaling pathway.”
According to the news editors, the research concluded: “These results indicated that CGA protected cells against H2O2-induced oxidative damage via the upregulation of autophagosomes, which promoted autophagocytic degradation and increased autophagic flux.”
This research has been peer-reviewed.

The Gary Null Show - 05.05.21

Wednesday May 05, 2021

Wednesday May 05, 2021

Lycopene is a promising nutrient that can prevent gastric diseases associated with H. pylori
Yonsei University (Japan), April 30, 2021
Helicobacter pylori is a spiral-shaped bacterium that grows in your digestive tract. An opportunistic pathogen, it is considered to be the most successful colonizer of the human gastrointestinal tract, infecting the stomachs of roughly 60 percent of the world’s adult population.
In a recent study, researchers at Yonsei University in South Korea found that lycopene, a bioactive pigment with powerful antioxidant properties, can help prevent gastric diseases associated with H. pylori infection. Lycopene is a non-provitamin A carotenoid commonly found in bright red and orange produce, such as tomatoes, watermelons, papaya and pink grapefruit. This beneficial compound is extensively studied for its remarkable ability to scavenge free radicals, the unstable byproducts of cellular metabolism responsible for causing oxidative stress.
How lycopene prevents H. pylori-induced gastric cancer
According to studies, H. pylori infection promotes the hyperproliferation of gastric epithelial cells — the very cells that make up the stomach lining — by increasing the production of free radicals called reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS then activates two signaling pathways — Wnt/B-catenin and JAK1/Stat3 — that influence cell fate decisions. While Wnt/B-catenin signaling is involved in the regulation of the self-renewal processes of cells, JAK1/Stat3 signaling is said to play a role in conferring malignant properties to cancer cells.
Due to the involvement of ROS, the South Korean researchers hypothesized that lycopene, which has antioxidant and anti-cancer properties, may be able to suppress H. pylori-induced hyperproliferation by inhibiting the activation of Jak1/Stat3 and Wnt/B-catenin signaling, as well as the expression of B-catenin target genes. B-catenin is a protein that accumulates due to the aberrant activation of Wnt/B-catenin signaling. The buildup of this protein promotes the expression of cancer genes (oncogenes) and the progression of tumors.
In an earlier study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, German researchers reported that lycopene is the most effective scavenger of singlet oxygen, a very strong oxidant and one of the major ROS produced by cells. To determine if it can prevent ROS-mediated hyperproliferation, South Korean researchers treated H. pylori-infected gastric epithelial cells with lycopene.  They measured the cells’ ROS levels and viability before and after treatment.
The researchers found that lycopene effectively reduced ROS levels and inhibited not only the activation of Jak1/Stat3 and Wnt/B-catenin signaling but also the expression of B-catenin target oncogenes and the proliferation of H. pylori-infected gastric epithelial cells. In addition, lycopene inhibited the increase in Wnt-1 (an oncogenic protein) and lipoprotein-related protein 5 (a protein involved in cancer progression) expression caused by H. pylori infection.
Based on these findings, the researchers concluded that lycopene can be used to prevent H. pylori-associated gastric cancer, thanks to its inhibitory effects on gastric cell hyperproliferation.
 
Too much salt suppresses phagocytes
Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (Germany), May 4, 2021
For many of us, adding salt to a meal is a perfectly normal thing to do. We don't really think about it. But actually, we should. As well as raising our blood pressure, too much salt can severely disrupt the energy balance in immune cells and stop them from working properly.
Back in 2015, the research group led by Professor Dominik Müller of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC) and the Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC) found that elevated sodium concentrations in the blood affect both the activation and the function of patrolling monocytes, which are the precursors to macrophages. "But we didn't know exactly what was happening in the cells," says Dr. Sabrina Geisberger of the Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology (BIMSB) at the MDC. She is lead author of the study of an international research team led by MDC scientists together with colleagues from University of Regensburg and from Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) /Hasselt University in Belgium. It was funded by the German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK) and has now been published in the journal Circulation. 
Salt disrupts the respiratory chain in cells
Working with biochemist and metabolomics expert Dr. Stefan Kempa of BIMSB, the researchers began in the lab by looking at the metabolism of immune cells that had been exposed to high salt concentrations. Changes appeared after just three hours. "It disrupts the respiratory chain, causing the cells to produce less ATP and consume less oxygen," explains Geisberger. ATP (adenosine triphosphate) is the universal fuel that powers all cells. It provides energy for the "chemical work" - synthesizing proteins and other molecules - required for muscle power and metabolic regulation. ATP is produced in the mitochondria, the cell's "power plant," using a complex series of biochemical reactions known as the respiratory chain. "Salt very specifically inhibits complex II in the respiratory chain."
This has consequences: The lack of energy causes the monocytes to mature differently. "The phagocytes, whose task is to identify and eliminate pathogens in the body, were able to fight off infections more effectively. But this could also promote inflammation, which might increase cardiovascular risk," explains Müller. 
Effects of salt are reversible
Professor Markus Kleinewietfeld of Hasselt University and VIB, and Professor Jonathan Jantsch of Universität Regensburg, were heavily involved in the work investigating human monocytes and macrophages. They were able to show that salt affects the functioning of human phagocytes in the same way.
Researchers at the ECRC, which is run jointly by the MDC and Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, then conducted a study in which healthy male participants supplemented their usual diets with six grams of salt in tablet form every day for 14 days. In another clinical study, the researchers investigated a familiar scenario: eating a pizza delivered by an Italian restaurant. They then analyzed the monocytes in the participants' blood. The findings showed that the dampening effect on mitochondria doesn't just occur after an extended period of increased salt intake - it also happens after a single pizza. Data from the pizza experiment showed how long the effect lasted: Blood was taken from the participants after three and eight hours, and the effect was barely measurable in the second sample.
"That's a good thing. If it had been a prolonged disturbance, we'd be worried about the cells not getting enough energy for a long time," says Müller. The mitochondrial activity is therefore not permanently inhibited. That said, the continuous risk of sodium on mitochondrial function if a person eats very salty food several times a day cannot be ruled out, but needs to be tested in the future. The pizza, incidentally, contained ten grams of salt. Nutrition experts recommend that adults limit their daily intake to five or six grams at most. The calculation includes the salt that is hidden in processed foods.
Small ion, big effect
"The fundamental finding of our study is that a molecule as small as the sodium ion can be extremely efficient at inhibiting an enzyme that plays a crucial role in the respiratory chain," says Kempa. "When these ions flood into the mitochondria - and they do this under a variety of physiological conditions - they regulate the central part of the electron transport chain." It therefore appears to be a very fundamental regulatory mechanism in cells.
Now the task is to investigate whether salt can also influence this mechanism in other types of cells. Kleinewietfeld believes that this is extremely likely because mitochondria aren't just present in immune cells; with the exception of red blood cells, they exist in every cell of the body. They can be found in particularly high numbers wherever a lot of energy is consumed - in muscle cells, neurons, receptors, and egg cells. 
It is still not fully elucidated how different cell types regulate the influx of sodium into the mitochondria. Nevertheless, the study confirms that consuming too much salt can be bad for our health. "Of course the first thing you think of is the cardiovascular risk. But multiple studies have shown that salt can affect immune cells in a variety of ways. If such an important cellular mechanism is disrupted for a long period, it could have a negative impact - and could potentially drive inflammatory diseases of the blood vessels or joints, or autoimmune diseases," says Kleinewietfeld.
 
 
Ginkgo biloba extract improves cognitive function and increases neurogenesis by reducing amyloid beta pathology 
Xuzhou Medical University (China), May 1, 2021
According to news reporting from Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China, research stated, “Previous studies have indicated that the generation of newborn hippocampal neurons is impaired in the early phase of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). A potential therapeutic strategy being pursued for the treatment of AD is increasing the number of newborn neurons in the adult hippocampus.”
The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Xuzhou Medical University, “Recent studies have demonstrated that ginkgo biloba extract (EGb 761) plays a neuroprotective role by preventing memory loss in many neurodegenerative diseases. However, the extent of EGb 761’s protective role in the AD process is unclear. In this study, different doses of EGb 761 (0, 10, 20, and 30 mg/kg; intraperitoneal injections once every day for four months) were tested on 5xFAD mice. After consecutive 4-month injections, mice were tested in learning memory tasks, A beta, and neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus (DG) of hippocampus and morphological characteristics of neurons in DG of hippocampus. Results indicated that EGb 761 (20 and 30 mg/kg) ameliorated memory deficits. Further analysis indicated that EGb 761 can reduce the number of A beta positive signals in 5xFAD mice, increase the number of newborn neurons, and increase dendritic branching and density of dendritic spines in 5xFAD mice compared to nontreated 5xFAD mice.”
According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “It was concluded that EGb 761 plays a protective role in the memory deficit of 5xFAD mice.”
This research has been peer-reviewed.
 
 
Fasting lowers blood pressure by reshaping the gut microbiota
Baylor College of Medicine, April 30 2021
Nearly half of adults in the United States have hypertension, a condition that raises the risk for heart disease and stroke, which are leading causes of death in the U. S.
At Baylor College of Medicine, Dr. David J. Durgan and his colleagues are dedicated to better understand hypertension, in particular the emerging evidence suggesting that disruption of the gut microbiota, known as gut dysbiosis, can have adverse effects on blood pressure.
"Previous studies from our lab have shown that the composition of the gut microbiota in animal models of hypertension, such as the SHRSP (spontaneously hypertensive stroke-prone rat) model, is different from that in animals with normal blood pressure," said Durgan, assistant professor of anesthesiology at Baylor.
The researchers also have shown that transplanting dysbiotic gut microbiota from a hypertensive animal into a normotensive (having a healthy blood pressure) one results in the recipient developing high blood pressure.
"This result told us that gut dysbiosis is not just a consequence of hypertension, but is actually involved in causing it," Durgan said. "This ground work led to the current study in which we proposed to answer two questions. First, can we manipulate the dysbiotic microbiota to either prevent or relieve hypertension? Second, how are the gut microbes influencing the animal's blood pressure?"
Can manipulating the gut microbiota regulate blood pressure?
To answer the first question, Durgan and his colleagues drew on previous research showing that fasting was both one of the major drivers of the composition of the gut microbiota and a promoter of beneficial cardiovascular effects. These studies, however, had not provided evidence connecting the microbiota and blood pressure.
Working with the SHRSP model of spontaneous hypertension and normal rats, the researchers set up two groups. One group had SHRSP and normal rats that were fed every other day, while the other group, called control, had SHRSP and normal rats with unrestricted food availability.
Nine weeks after the experiment began, the researchers observed that, as expected, the rats in the SHRSP control had higher blood pressure when compared to the normal control rats. Interestingly, in the group that fasted every other day, the SHRSP rats had significantly reduced blood pressure when compared with the SHRSP rats that had not fasted.
"Next, we investigated whether the microbiota was involved in the reduction of blood pressure we observed in the SHRSP rats that had fasted," Durgan said.
The researchers transplanted the microbiota of the rats that had either fasted or fed without restrictions into germ-free rats, which have no microbiota of their own.
Durgan and his colleagues were excited to see that the germ-free rats that received the microbiota of normally fed SHRSP rats had higher blood pressure than the germ-free rats receiving microbiota from normal control rats, just like their corresponding microbiota donors.
"It was particularly interesting to see that the germ-free rats that received microbiota from the fasting SHRSP rats had significantly lower the blood pressure than the rats that had received microbiota from SHRSP control rats," Durgan said. "These results demonstrated that the alterations to the microbiota induced by fasting were sufficient to mediate the blood pressure-lowering effect of intermitting fasting."
How the microbiota regulates blood pressure
The team proceeded to investigate the second question of their project. How does the gut microbiota regulate blood pressure?
"We applied whole genome shotgun sequence analysis of the microbiota as well as untargeted metabolomics analysis of plasma and gastrointestinal luminal content. Among the changes we observed, alterations in products of bile acid metabolism stood out as potential mediators of blood pressure regulation," Durgan said.
The team discovered that the SHRSP hypertensive animals that were fed normally had lower bile acids in circulation than normotensive animals. On the other hand, SHRSP animals that followed an intermittent feeding schedule had more bile acids in the circulation.
"Supporting this finding, we found that supplementing animals with cholic acid, a primary bile acid, also significantly reduced blood pressure in the SHRSP model of hypertension," Durgan said.
Taken together, the study shows for the first time that intermittent fasting can be beneficial in terms of reducing hypertension by reshaping the composition of gut microbiota in an animal model. The work also provides evidence that gut dysbiosis contributes to hypertension by altering bile acid signaling.
"This study is important to understand that fasting can have its effects on the host through microbiota manipulation," Durgan said. "This is an attractive idea because it can potentially have clinical applications. Many of the bacteria in the gut microbiotaare involved in the production of compounds that have been shown to have beneficial effects as they make it into the circulation and contribute to the regulation of the host's physiology. Fasting schedules could one day help regulate the activity of gut microbial populations to naturally provide health benefits.
 
Study: Following healthy diets found to reduce the risk of acquired hearing loss by 30%
Brigham and Women's Hospital, April 30, 2021
A study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology suggests that following a healthy diet may help ward off acquired hearing loss. A team led by Brigham and Women’s Hospital researchers examined middle-aged women and found that the odds of developing hearing loss is 30 percent lower in those who adhere to a healthy diet.
Adherence to a healthy diet linked to lower risk of hearing loss
Acquired hearing loss refers to the total or partial inability to hear sounds that develop after birth. It occurs for various reasons, including ear infection, meningitis, measles, head injury, exposure to loud noise and aging.
Past studies linked higher intake of certain nutrients such as beta-carotene (found in carrots, legumes and other foods) and omega-3 fatty acids (found in fatty fish) to a lower risk of self-reported hearing loss. The researchers wished to learn more about this connection by tracking people’s diets and measuring changes in their hearing sensitivity over a long period of time.
To do so, the researchers studied 20 years of dietary intake information from over 3,000 women with a median age of 59 who were included in the Nurses’ Health Study II. Using this information, they examined how closely the women’s long-term diets resembled the Alternate Mediterranean diet (AMED), Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH diet) and Alternate Healthy Index-2010 (AHEI-2010). 
AMED is a version of the Mediterranean diet adapted to reflect eating patterns that are linked to a lower risk of chronic disease, while the DASH diet is intended to control and prevent high blood pressure. On the other hand, AHEI-2010 is based on the 2010 U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans and shares similar components with AMED and the DASH diet.
Past studies linked adherence to these diets to a lower risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, hypertension and premature death.
To measure the participants’ hearing sensitivity over the course of three years, the team put up 19 testing sites across the country and trained audiologists to measure changes in the participants’ pure-tone hearing thresholds – the lowest and highest pitch (frequency of a sound) that a person can detect in one ear.
The researchers found that the odds of hearing loss in the mid-frequencies were nearly 30 percent lower in the women whose dietary patterns resembled the three diets, compared to those whose diets least resembled them. Meanwhile, the odds of hearing loss in higher frequencies were up to 25 percent lower. The frequencies encompassed in these associations, according to the researchers, are critical for speech understanding.
“We were surprised that so many women demonstrated hearing decline over such a relatively short period of time,” said Sharon Curhan, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the lead researcher of the study.
After only three years, nineteen percent of the participants had low-frequency hearing loss, 38 percent had mid-frequency hearing loss, while nearly half had high-frequency hearing loss. (Related: Age-related hearing loss halted with folate nutrient.)
“The mean age of the women in our study was 59 years; most of our participants were in their 50s and early 60s. This is a younger age than when many people think about having their hearing checked,” she added.
The researchers plan to continue tracking the participants with repeated hearing tests and are currently investigating ways to collect high-quality information for future studies across diverse populations.
 
Thai ginseng found to improve erectile function in men
Life Extension Foundation, April 28, 2021
American researchers examined the effects of an ethanol extract derived from Kaempferia parviflora, also known as Thai ginseng, on erectile function in healthy middle-aged and older men. Their findings were published in the Journal of Integrative Medicine.
Sexual health positively correlates with overall well-being.
Current strategies that are meant to enhance male sexual health are limited by many factors, such as responsiveness, adherence and adverse effects.
Researchers understand the need for safe and effective interventions that could help preserve male sexual function.
K. parviflora, a plant from the Zingiberaceae (ginger) family, has been found to support cardiovascular health and has shown signs that it could ameliorate erectile dysfunction.
To investigate this, the researchers conducted an open-label, one-arm study involving 14 generally healthy males aged 50 to 68 years with self-reported mild erectile dysfunction.
The participants received 100 mg of an extract obtained from the rhizome of K. parviflora daily for 30 days.
Primary efficacy analyses included the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF), while secondary efficacy analyses included the Global Assessment Question about erectile function.
The researchers reported that 13 of the 14 participants completed the study. Supplementation of the K. parviflora ethanol extract induced statistically significant improvements in erectile function, intercourse satisfaction and total scores on IIEF questionnaire.
The extract was well-tolerated by the participants and exhibited an excellent safety profile.
Based on these findings, the researchers concluded that K. parviflora can improve erectile function in healthy middle-aged and older men.
 
 
Curcumin Reduces Anxiety and Depression Even In People With Major Depression
Texas Christian University and University of Arkansas, May 1, 2021
 
Dietary supplements formulated with highly bioavailable curcumin may allow for faster recovery after competition-level training, and blunt training-related decreases in performance , says new data presented at Experimental Biology.
 
Powdered turmeric has been used for centuries to treat a host of illnesses. It inhibits inflammatory reactions, has anti-diabetic effects, reduces cholesterol among other powerful healtheffects. A recent study led by a research team in Munich showed that it can also inhibit formation of metastases. Dietary supplements formulated with highly bioavailable curcumin may allow for faster recovery after competition-level training, and blunt training-related decreases in performance , says new data presented at Experimental Biology.
Using OmniActive's supplement ingredient, scientists reported that supplementation for eight weeks resulted in significant reductions in levels of creatine kinase, a marker of muscle damage, while self-reported pain scores were also significantly lower 24 hours post-exercise.
A daily 200 mg dose of curcuminoids (in the form of 1,000 mg supplement) was also associated with a decrease in performance declines observed during
"These data suggest that high dose bioavailable curcumin (200 mg curcuminoids) attenuates performance decrements following downhill running, eccentric loading, which may improve subsequent adaptations to chronic training," wrote the researchers in the FASEB Journal .
Dr Ralf Jager from Wisconsin-based Increnovo and co-author on the study reports, explained that curcumin's sports nutrition benefits were linked to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potential.Muscle Damage Study
The researchers recruited 59 moderately trained men and 29 women with an average age of 21 to participate in their double-blind, randomized, placebo controlled parallel design study. The participants were randomly assigned to receive 250 mg or 1,000 mg of supplement or placebo per day for eight weeks.
The data indicated that, following muscle-damaging exercise, the high dose curcumin group experienced significantly lower pain scores, while increases in creatine kinase (CK) levels were also significantly reduced compared to placebo, when the baseline CK value is held constant at the mean.
"These data demonstrate curcuminoids reduce muscle damage and improve muscle soreness in healthy young subjects following a bout of muscle damaging exercise. Faster recovery allows for consistent training at competition intensity and might lead to enhanced adaptation rate and performance," they wrote in the FASEB Journal .Performance
A separate analysis was done with 62 men and women randomly assigned to 250 mg or 1,000 mg of supplement per day or placebo. After eight weeks the subjects performced downhill running, which promotes muscle damage.
The results showed that performance declined significantly in both the placebo and low-dose curcumin group, but such declined were attenuated in the high-dose curcumin group.
"Further study is warranted in other exercise types (i.e. resistance training) and chronically," wrote the researchers.

The Gary Null Show - 05.04.21

Tuesday May 04, 2021

Tuesday May 04, 2021


Avocado discovery may point to leukemia treatment
University of Guelph (Canada), May 1, 2021
A compound in avocados may ultimately offer a route to better leukemia treatment, says a new University of Guelph study.
The compound targets an enzyme that scientists have identified for the first time as being critical to cancer cell growth, said Dr. Paul Spagnuolo, Department of Food Science.
Published recently in the journal Blood, the study focused on acute myeloid leukemia (AML), which is the most devastating form of leukemia. Most cases occur in people over age 65, and fewer than 10 per cent of patients survive five years after diagnosis.
Leukemia cells have higher amounts of an enzyme called VLCAD involved in their metabolism, said Spagnuolo.
“The cell relies on that pathway to survive,” he said, explaining that the compound is a likely candidate for drug therapy. “This is the first time VLCAD has been identified as a target in any cancer.”
His team screened nutraceutical compounds among numerous compounds, looking for any substance that might inhibit the enzyme. “Lo and behold, the best one was derived from avocado,” said Spagnuolo.
Earlier, his lab looked at avocatin B, a fat molecule found only in avocados, for potential use in preventing diabetes and managing obesity. Now he’s eager to see it used in leukemia patients.
“VLCAD can be a good marker to identify patients suitable for this type of therapy. It can also be a marker to measure the activity of the drug,” said Spagnuolo. “That sets the stage for eventual use of this molecule in human clinical trials.”
Currently, about half of patients over 65 diagnosed with AML enter palliative care. Others undergo chemotherapy, but drug treatments are toxic and can end up killing patients.
“There’s been a drive to find less toxic drugs that can be used.”
Referring to earlier work using avocatin B for diabetes, Spagnuolo said, “We completed a human study with this as an oral supplement and have been able to show that appreciable amounts are fairly well tolerated.”
Supplement betaine treats schizophrenia in mice, restores healthy “dance” and structure of neurons
University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine, April 19, 2021
A simple dietary supplement reduces behavioral symptoms in mice with a genetic mutation that causes schizophrenia. After additional experiments, including visualizing the fluorescently stained dancing edge of immature brain cells, researchers concluded that the supplement likely protects proteins that build neurons’ cellular skeletons.
The supplement betaine was first isolated from sugar beets and is often associated with sweetness or umami flavor. Healthy levels of betaine come from both external food sources and internal synthesis in the body. Betaine supplements are already used clinically to treat the metabolic disease homocystinuria. 
“I don’t encourage anyone to take betaine for no reason, if a doctor has not recommended it. But, we know this drug is already used clinically, so repurposing it to treat schizophrenia should be safe,” said Project Professor Nobutaka Hirokawa, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine who led the recent research project. Hirokawa has been a member of the Japan Academy, a national honorary organization recognizing scientific achievement, since 2004 and received a Person of Cultural Merit award from the Japanese government in 2013.
Schizophrenia is estimated to affect about 1 in 100 people globally and is one of the top 15 leading causes of disability worldwide. 
“There are treatments for schizophrenia, but they have side effects and unfortunately there is still no effective drug for patients to take that we can explain biochemically why it works,” explained Hirokawa.
Genetic studies of people diagnosed with schizophrenia have found possible links between the disease and variations in the kinesin family 3b (kif3b) gene as well as another gene involved in the body’s internal synthesis of betaine.
Hirokawa and his lab members have categorized all 45 members of the kinesin superfamily of genes in mammals, most of which encode motor proteins that move materials throughout the cell. Normally, the KIF3B protein links together with another kinesin superfamily protein and transports cargo throughout a neuron by traveling up and down the cell’s skeleton. 
Mice used in the recent research had only one functional copy of the kif3b gene and are often used as an animal model of schizophrenia. These mice avoid social interactions and show the same weak response as human patients with schizophrenia in a test called prepulse inhibition, which measures how startled they are by a sudden, loud sound preceded by a quieter sound.
Kif3b mutant mice raised on a diet supplemented with three times the normal amount of betaine had normal behavior, indicating that betaine supplements could treat schizophrenia symptoms. 
To figure out why betaine had this effect on mice, researchers grew nerve cells with the kif3b mutation in the laboratory and added fluorescent labels so they could watch the cellular skeleton take shape.
The shape of a healthy neuron is reminiscent of a tree: a cell body surrounded by branches, the dendrites, attached to a long trunk, the axon. Kif3b mutant neurons grown in the lab have an unusual, hyperbranched structure with too many dendrites. Similar hyperbranched neurons are also seen in brain samples donated by people with schizophrenia, regardless of what treatments or medications they took while they were alive. 
During healthy neuron development, the main body of the cell fills with a skeleton component called tubulin. Meanwhile, the front growth cone of the cell builds outwards in a spiky, erratic dance due to the movements of another skeleton component called filamentous actin. In kif3b mutants, this dancing movement, which experts refer to as lamellipodial dynamics, is noticeably reduced and the division between tubulin and actin is blurred. 
The actin in a neuron’s cellular skeleton is assembled in part by another protein called CRMP2. Chemical analyses of the brains of kif3b mutant mice and human schizophrenia patients reveal significant chemical damage to CRMP2, which causes the proteins to clump together.
Betaine is known to prevent the type of chemical damage, carbonyl stress, that causes this CRMP2 dysfunction. 
“In postmortem brains of schizophrenia patients, CRMP2 is the protein in the brain with the most carbonyl stress. Betaine likely eliminates the carbonyl stress portion of the schizophrenia equation,” said Hirokawa. 
By protecting CRMP2 from damage, betaine treatment allows kif3b mutant neurons to build proper structures. With a structurally sound skeleton to navigate, the remaining functional KIF3B protein can shuttle cargo around the cell. Other test tube experiments revealed that KIF3B and CRMP2 can bind together, but their exact relationship remains unclear. 
“We know that the amount of betaine decreases in schizophrenia patients’ brains, so this study strongly suggests betaine could be therapeutic for at least some kinds of schizophrenia,” said Hirokawa. 
The UTokyo research team is planning future collaborations with pharmaceutical companies and clinical studies of betaine supplements as a treatment for schizophrenia.
Study reveals your neighbourhood may affect your brain health
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine, April 20, 2021
Middle-aged and older people living in more disadvantaged neighbourhoods — areas with higher poverty levels and fewer educational and employment opportunities–had more brain shrinkage on brain scans and showed a faster decline on cognitive tests than people living in neighbourhoods with fewer disadvantages, according to a new study.
The study published in the online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Researchers say such brain ageing may be a sign of the earliest stages of dementia.
“Worldwide, dementia is a major cause of illness and a devastating diagnosis,” said study author Amy J. H. Kind M.D., PhD, of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison.
“There are currently no treatments to cure the disease, so identifying possible modifiable risk factors is important. Compelling evidence exists that the social, economic, cultural and physical conditions in which humans live may affect health. We wanted to determine if these neighbourhood conditions increase the risk for the neurodegeneration and cognitive decline associated with the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.”
For the study, researchers identified 601 people from two larger studies of Wisconsin residents. Participants had an average age of 59 and no thinking or memory problems at the start of the study, although 69% had a family history of dementia. They were followed for 10 years.
Participants had an initial MRI brain scan and then additional scans every three to five years. With each scan, researchers measured brain volume in areas of the brain linked to the development of Alzheimer’s dementia. Participants also took thinking and memory tests every two years, including tests that measured processing speed, mental flexibility and executive function.
Researchers used the residential address of each participant and a measure called the Area Deprivation Index to determine if each participant lived in an advantaged or disadvantaged neighbourhood. Neighbourhoods in the index are determined by census areas of 1,500 residents. The index incorporates information on the socio-economic conditions of each neighbourhood and its residents, ranking neighbourhoods based on 17 indicators including income, employment, education and housing quality.
Of all participants, 19 people lived in the 20% of most disadvantaged neighbourhoods in their state and 582 people lived in 80% of all other neighbourhoods in their state. People in the first group were then matched one to four to people in the second group for race, sex, age and education and compared.
At the start of the study, there was no difference in brain volume between people living in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods and those in other neighbourhoods. But in the end, researchers found brain shrinkage in areas of the brain associated with dementia in people in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods, while there was no shrinkage in the other group. Researchers also found a higher rate of decline on tests that measure the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
“Our findings suggest that increased vigilance by healthcare providers for early signs of dementia may be particularly important in this vulnerable population,” said Kind. “Some possible causes of these brain changes may include air pollution, lack of access to healthy food and healthcare and stressful life events. Further research into possible social and biological pathways may help physicians, researchers and policymakers identify effective avenues for prevention and intervention in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia.”
Limitations of the study included a small number of participants from highly disadvantaged neighbourhoods and a limited geographic setting. Future studies should involve larger and more diverse groups of people over longer periods of time.
Alpha-lipoic acid increases collagen synthesis and deposition in nondiabetic and diabetic kidneys
University of Belgrade (Serbia), April 21, 2021
According to news originating from Belgrade, Serbia, research stated, “Alpha-Lipoic acid (ALA) is widely used as a nutritional supplement and therapeutic agent in diabetes management. Well-established antioxidant and hypoglycemic effects of ALA were considered to be particularly important in combating diabetic complications including renal injury.”
Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the University of Belgrade, “The present study evaluated the potential of ALA to affect profibrotic events in kidney that could alter its structure and functioning. ALA was administered intraperitoneally (10 mg/kg) to nondiabetic and streptozotocin-induced diabetic male Wistar rats for 4 and 8 weeks. The effects of ALA were assessed starting from structural/morphological alterations through changes that characterize profibrotic processes, to regulation of collagen gene expression in kidney. Here, we demonstrated that ALA improved systemic glucose and urea level, reduced formation of renal advanced glycation end products (AGEs), and maintained renal structural integrity in diabetic rats. However, profibrotic events provoked in diabetes were not alleviated by ALA since collagen synthesis/deposition and expression of transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-beta 1) and alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA) remained elevated in ALA-treated diabetic rats, especially after 8 weeks of diabetes onset. Moreover, 8 weeks treatment of nondiabetic rats with ALA led to the development of profibrotic features reflected in increased collagen synthesis/deposition. Besides the TGF-beta 1 downstream signaling, the additional mechanism underlying the upregulation of collagen IV in nondiabetic rats treated with ALA involves decreased DNA methylation of its promoter that could arise from increased Tet1 expression.”
According to the news editors, the research concluded: “These findings emphasize the therapeutic caution in the use of ALA, especially in patients with renal diabetic complication.”
Obesity, high-salt diet pose different cardiovascular risks in females, males
Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, April 30, 2021
Obesity and a high-salt diet are both bad for our hearts but they are bigger, seemingly synergistic risks for females, scientists report.
“We see younger and younger women having cardiovascular disease and the question is: What is the cause?” says Dr. Eric Belin de Chantemele, physiologist in the Vascular Biology Center and Department of Medicine at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University. “We think the fact that females are more salt sensitive and more sensitive to obesity are among the reasons they have lost the natural protection youth and estrogen are thought to provide.” 
His message to women based on the sex differences they are finding: “First reduce your consumption of salt, a message the American Heart Association has been pushing for years, which should also result in a reduction in your intake of highly processed, high-calorie food and drink.”
Belin de Chantemele, whose research team has been exploring why so many young women are now getting cardiovascular disease, is presenting their findings during the Henry Pickering Bowditch Award Lectureship at the American Physiological Society Annual Meeting at Experimental Biology 2021 this week. The award, which honors the scientist who created the first physiology lab in the country and was the American Physiological Society’s first president, recognizes original and outstanding accomplishments in the field of physiology by a young investigator. 
The sex hormone estrogen, which has some protective powers like keeping blood vessels more flexible, is considered a natural protection for premenopausal women yet, along with soaring rates of severe obesity in young women, heart disease is now the third leading cause of death in females between the ages 20-44 — fourth for males in that age group — then moves up to second place for the next 20 years in both sexes, and is the number one killer for both men and women looking at all ages, according to the National Vital Statistics Reports. 
While he refers to bad nutrition as the “world’s biggest killer” and obesity as a major risk factor for hypertension in both sexes, his lab has mounting evidence that obesity and high salt intake are even bigger risks for females, who have naturally higher levels of two additional hormones, leptin and aldosterone, setting the stage for the potentially deadly cardiovascular disparities. 
Many of us likely think of leptin as the “satiety hormone” that sends our brain cues to stop eating when our stomach is full, but in obesity, the brain typically stops listening to the full message but the cardiovascular system of women starts getting unhealthy cues. 
Belin de Chantemele has shown that in females leptin prompts the adrenal glands, which make aldosterone, to make even more of this powerful blood vessel constrictor. Like leptin, females, regardless of their weight, already have naturally higher levels of aldosterone and actually bigger adrenal glands as well. 
A result: Obesity actually produces larger blood pressure increases in females, and studies indicate that females also are more prone to obesity associated vascular dysfunction — things like more rigid blood vessels that are not as adept as dilating. On the other hand, leptin actually increases production of the vasodilator nitric oxide — which reduces blood pressure — in the male mice, one of many cardiovascular differences they are finding between males and females. 
Here’s another. “The major role of aldosterone is to regulate your blood volume,” Belin de Chantemele says. Increased salt intake should suppress aldosterone, and it does work that way in males, Belin de Chantemele says. But in females it appears to set them up for more trouble. 
Aldosterone is the main mineralocorticoid, a class of hormones that helps maintain salt balance, and Belin de Chantemele and his team reported in 2019 in the journal Hypertension that the hormone progesterone, which enables pregnancy, also enables high levels of these mineralocorticoid receptors for aldosterone in the endothelial cells that line blood vessels in both female lab animals and human blood vessels. 
When they removed the ovaries, which make estrogen and progesterone, from the female lab animals it equalized the mineralocorticoid receptor number, helping confirm that progesterone regulates the expression of the receptor in the females’ blood vessels. When they deleted either the mineralocorticoid or progesterone receptor in the females, it prevented the blood vessel dysfunction that typically follows, and just knocking out the progesterone receptor also suppressed the aldosterone receptor.
The bottom line is that progesterone is key to the sex difference in aldosterone receptor expression on endothelial cells, which predisposes females to obesity associated, high-leptin driven endothelial dysfunction and likely high blood pressure, Belin de Chantemele says. 
They reported a few years before in the same journal that higher leptin levels produced by more fat prompts the adrenal glands to make more aldosterone in females. “If you have higher aldosterone levels you will retain sodium and your blood volume will be higher,” he says. 
They’ve also reported, as have others, that females are more salt sensitive than males. High sodium intake is known to raise blood pressure, by increasing fluid retention, and both pre- and postmenopausal females are more salt sensitive than males, Black females even more so, he says. 
They’ve shown, for example, that in just seven days on a high-salt diet, the ability of female mice to relax blood vessels decreased as blood pressure increased. Treatment with the aldosterone agonist eplerenone helped correct both. 
Because females already make more aldosterone, and the normal response of the body when you eat a lot of salt is to make even more aldosterone to help eliminate some of it, his team now proposes that females appear to have an impaired ability to reduce both the levels of the enzyme that makes aldosterone and the hormone itself, which makes them more salt sensitive. 
One thing that means is that salt raises females’ blood pressure without them actually retaining more salt than the males. It also means that they think that blood vessels are more important in blood pressure regulation in females than males, which means they may need different treatment than males. To further compound the scenario, high salt increases the adrenal leptin receptor in the females, providing more points of action for leptin, which probably helps explain why aldosterone levels don’t decrease in females like they do in males. 
A new $2.6 million grant (1R01HL155265-01) from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute is enabling them to further investigate, in both lab animals and human tissue, the female’s unique responses to a high-salt diet, include the specific contributions of the failure of aldosterone levels to drop, along with the increased expression of aldosterone and leptin receptors. 
While trends in being overweight in about the last 50 years have held pretty steady for men and women, with decreases for men in the last handful of years, rates of severe obesity have been climbing, with women far outpacing men. 
“We want to continue to put the puzzle together with the goal of helping restore protection from cardiovascular disease to young women, when a healthy diet and increased physical activity do not,” Belin de Chantemele says. 
His research team includes Galina Antonova, research assistant; Dr. Reem Atawia, postdoctoral fellow; Simone Kennard, research associate; Taylor Kress and Candee Barris, graduate students; Vinay Mehta, undergraduate student at AU, Laszlo Kovacs, assistant research scientist; and Dr. Jessica Faulkner, postdoctoral fellow.
Just 10 minutes of meditation helps anxious people have better focus
University of Waterloo (Canada) May 1, 2021 
Just 10 minutes of daily mindful meditation can help prevent your mind from wandering and is particularly effective if you tend to have repetitive, anxious thoughts, according to a study from the University of Waterloo.
The study, which assessed the impact of meditation with 82 participants who experience anxiety, found that developing an awareness of the present moment reduced incidents of repetitive, off-task thinking, a hallmark of anxiety.
“Our results indicate that mindfulness training may have protective effects on mind wandering for anxious individuals,” said Mengran Xu, a researcher and PhD candidate at Waterloo. “We also found that meditation practice appears to help anxious people to shift their attention from their own internal worries to the present-moment external world, which enables better focus on a task at hand.”
The term mindfulness is commonly defined as paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and without judgement.
As part of the study, participants were asked to perform a task on a computer while experiencing interruptions to gauge their ability to stay focused on the task. Researchers then put the participants into two groups at random, with the control group given an audio story to listen to and the other group asked to engage in a short meditation exercise prior to being reassessed.
“Mind wandering accounts for nearly half of any person’s daily stream of consciousness,” said Xu. “For people with anxiety, repetitive off-task thoughts can negatively affect their ability to learn, to complete tasks, or even function safely.
“It would be interesting to see what the impacts would be if mindful meditation was practiced by anxious populations more widely.”
The study, co-authored by Waterloo psychology professors Christine Purdon and Daniel Smilek and Harvard University’s Paul Seli, was published in Consciousness and Cognition.
Researchers find breastfeeding linked to higher neurocognitive testing scores
University of Rochester Medical Center, April 27, 2021
New research finds that children who were breastfed scored higher on neurocognitive tests. Researchers in the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) analyzed thousands of cognitive tests taken by nine and ten-year-olds whose mothers reported they were breastfed, and compared those results to scores of children who were not.
“Our findings suggest that any amount of breastfeeding has a positive cognitive impact, even after just a few months.” Daniel Adan Lopez, Ph.D. candidate in the Epidemiology program who is first author on the study recently published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health. “That’s what’s exciting about these results. Hopefully from a policy standpoint, this can help improve the motivation to breastfeed.”
Hayley Martin, Ph.D., a fourth year medical student in the Medical Scientist Training Program and co-author of the study, focuses her research on breastfeeding. “There’s already established research showing the numerous benefits breastfeeding has for both mother and child. This study’s findings are important for families particularly before and soon after birth when breastfeeding decisions are made. It may encourage breastfeeding goals of one year or more. It also highlights the critical importance of continued work to provide equity focused access to breastfeeding support, prenatal education, and practices to eliminate structural barriers to breastfeeding.”
Researchers reviewed the test results of more than 9,000 nine and ten-year-old participants in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. Variations were found in the cumulative cognitive test scores of breastfed and non-breastfed children. There was also evidence that the longer a child was breastfed, the higher they scored. 
“The strongest association was in children who were breastfed more than 12 months,” said Lopez. “The scores of children breastfed until they were seven to 12 months were slightly less, and then the one to six month-old scores dips a little more. But all scores were higher when compared to children who didn’t breastfeed at all.” Previous studies found breastfeeding does not impact executive function or memory, findings in this study made similar findings.
“This supports the foundation of work already being done around lactation and breastfeeding and its impact on a child’s health,” said Ed Freedman, Ph.D., the principal investigator of the ABCD study in Rochester and lead author of the study. “These are findings that would have not been possible without the ABCD Study and the expansive data set it provides.”

Monday May 03, 2021

The day the world ended began like any other day. People woke up, had their coffee, checked their social media, kissed their loved ones, went to work.
Nobody knew it was coming. The news reporters and pundits hadn’t been informing them that the US and its allies had been simultaneously ramping up aggressions against two nuclear-armed nations in a way that could easily lead to something going catastrophically wrong, or explained to them what this could mean for them and their loved ones. The mass media had never let the truth interfere with the military agendas of their government before, and, as it turns out, they never would.
Nobody knew it was coming, so nobody opposed the dangerous acts of brinkmanship that led up to it. Nobody resisted as the Democrats manufactured consent for escalation after escalation against Russia. Nobody resisted as the Republicans manufactured consent for escalation after escalation against China. Nobody objected as war ships were moved, as troops were deployed, as Nuclear Posture Reviews became more and more hawkish and aggressive, as new armageddon weapons were manufactured and fielded, as proxy conflicts were backed, as war planes encroached upon sovereign airspace, as missiles were readied for swift deployment.
So it simply did not feature in anyone’s mind that this could be the day they and their loved ones die in a nuclear holocaust.
They just went about their day, like it was any other day. Working, texting, thinking pointless thoughts, arguing about nonsense with strangers on the internet.
Then it happened. A nuclear weapon was deployed by one side, setting off a chain reaction that had been set in place ready to be triggered long ago, from which there was no coming back.
And the funny thing is, it was an accident. Just a stupid, innocent mistake. One of the thousands of people responsible for the operation of those horrific weapons got a little careless with their part in the day-to-day management of the imperfect technology used in an international nuclear standoff that had become increasingly tense and confusing amid rapidly rising cold war chaos.
That’s all it took. Nothing grand or dramatic. Just a bad decision, made at the wrong time.
One minute it seemed fine. The next minute it was the end. The end of everything.
Nothing rearranges your mental priorities like looking outside and seeing a mushroom cloud growing on the horizon. Suddenly your particular political ideology doesn’t feel so significant anymore. Your personal beef with your coworker loses its importance. That heated argument you were having online slips forgotten from your mind. In fact, nearly everything you’d spent your mental mental energy on that day up until that point feels like a ridiculous, pathetic joke.
There was fear of course. Panic of course. People ran. People hid. But the realization spread very quickly that there was no escaping this one. That this was the end.
And, in that brief moment of helpless surrender to the inevitable, humanity was the most awake it’s ever been. The most tuned in. The most compassionate. The most loving. The most united. If there’d been anyone outside of it to witness it, the beauty of our species in that moment would have taken their breath away.
The earth shook. The flames spread. Black carbon was hurled into the stratosphere for decades. All the earth’s creatures perished in the darkness and radiation.
And then it was all still. Still and silent.
It was a mistake. A stupid, silly mistake, just like all the other stupid silly mistakes we’ve made since the moment we first stood upright. It’s just that this mistake was our last one.
The only difference between our final mistake and all the innumerable others which preceded it was that there was nobody left to fix this one. To try and course correct. To say “Ah, I see where you went wrong there, let’s make some adjustments and try a different approach.”
No one left to recognize the mistake, to grow as a result of that recognition, and to rise above it. No one left to realize how staggeringly insane it was to flirt with the end of the world for the sake of power, how arrogant it was to think that we could remain in perfect control of all those weapons for decades on end without something going wrong amid our reckless games of nuclear chicken.
No one left to realize there’s no good reason we need to live in a world where governments brandish such weapons at each other just because a few sociopaths decided that US unipolar domination needs to be preserved at all cost. No one left to realize we could all just lay down our weapons and get along with each other, and begin collaborating with each other toward a peaceful and harmonious world.
It would be so, so wonderful if that had happened. But it didn’t. And now it’s all gone.
And it’s too late to fix our mistake.

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