Although low physical activity and greater time spent sitting are well known to be linked to a higher risk of death, a study published in Journal of Aging and Physical Activity showed that a genetic predisposition to longevity was not a substitute for sitting less and greater physical activity, which can benefit even those not gifted with such genes.
“The goal of this research was to understand whether associations between physical activity and sedentary time with death varied based on different levels of genetic predisposition for longevity,” said doctoral student Alexander Posis, lead author of the study.
In 2012, as part of the Women’s Health Initiative Objective Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Health study (OPACH), researchers began measuring the physical activity of 5446 women aged 63 and older, following them through 2020 to determine mortality. Participants wore a research-grade accelerometer for up to seven days to measure how much time they spent moving, the intensity of physical activity, and sedentary time.
Higher levels of light physical activity and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity were found to be associated with lower risk of death. Higher sedentary time was associated with higher risk of mortality. These associations were consistent among women who had different levels of genetic predisposition for longevity.
“Our study showed that, even if you aren’t likely to live long based on your genes, you can still extend your lifespan by engaging in positive lifestyle behaviours such as regular exercise and sitting less,” said Assistant Professor Aladdin H. Shadyab, PhD, senior author. “Conversely, even if your genes predispose you to a long life, remaining physically active is still important to achieve longevity.”
Given the ageing adult population in the United States, and longer time spent engaging in lower intensity activities, the study findings support recommendations that older women should participate in physical activity of any intensity to reduce the risk of disease and premature death, wrote the authors.
Researchers comparing psychedelic experiences with near-death experiences that were not drug related found notable similarities in people’s attitudes toward death. In a survey-based study published in the journal PLOS ONE, participants in both groups reported having less fear of death and dying after the experience. They also reported that the experience had a lasting positive effect, providing personal meaning, spiritual significance and psychological insight.
The results are in line with a number of previous trials showing that a single treatment with the psychedelic psilocybin produced sustained decreases in anxiety and depression among patients with a life-threatening cancer diagnosis. The largest of these trials was conducted at Johns Hopkins Medicine by the researchers, and involved 51 patients with cancer with anxiety or depressive symptoms. It demonstrated that psilocybin with supportive psychotherapy resulted in significant increases in ratings of death acceptance, as well as decreases in anxiety about death.
For the present study, the researchers analysed data gathered from 3192 people who answered an online survey between December 2015 and April 2018. Of these, 933 individuals had non-drug near-death experiences, and the rest of the participants had psychedelic experiences due to either lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) (904), psilocybin (766), ayahuasca (282) or N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) (307). Compared with the non-drug group, there were more men in the psychedelic group (78% versus 32%), and they tended to be younger (32 versus 55 years of age) at the time of the experience.
Similarities between the groups include:
About 90% of participants in both groups reported a decrease in fear of death when considering changes in their views from before to after the experience.
Most participants in both groups (non-drug group, 85%; psychedelics group, 75%) rated the experience to be among the top five most personally meaningful and spiritually significant of their life.
Participants in both groups reported moderate to strong persisting positive changes in personal well-being and life purpose and meaning.
Differences between the groups include:
The non-drug group was more likely to report that their life was in danger (47% versus the psychedelics group, 3%), being medically unconscious (36% versus the psychedelics group, 10%), or being clinically dead (21% versus the psychedelics group, less than 1%).
The non-drug group was more likely to report that their experience was very brief, lasting five minutes or less (40% versus the psychedelics group, 7%).
The researchers say that future studies are needed to better understand the potential clinical use of psychedelics in alleviating suffering related to fear of death.
Differences in vitamin D exposure have been thought to explain why people who live farther from the equator are more likely to develop multiple sclerosis (MS). But countries farther from the equator are also more likely to be wealthier. A new analysis published in Neurology shows that the amount a country spends on health care may help explain this relationship between MS and latitude.
According to study author Deanna Saylor, MD, MHS, the results suggest that MS rates may be greatly underestimated in low-income countries with lower health care spending, which means that people have less access to neurologists who have the expertise to diagnose MS and MRI scanners that are needed to make the diagnosis.
Researchers analysed data from scientific studies and databases to determine current rates of MS in 203 countries and territories. Countries were then grouped into world regions and by income levels.
Rates of MS varied by region and income level. For example, in high-income countries an average of 46 of every 100 000 people had MS, compared to 10 people per 100 000 in low-income countries. Health care spending per capita was $2805 for high-income countries, compared to $45 in low-income countries.
For each location, researchers examined gross domestic product per capita, current health expenditure per capita, income levels, the availability of brain scans to diagnose MS, the number of neurologists per capita and universal health care. They also reviewed lifestyle factors such as obesity and tobacco use.
Once the researchers adjusted the data for other factors that could affect the risk of MS, such as age and sex, they found that health care spending and latitude were strongly associated with MS rates. The research showed that, with every increase of one standard deviation in health expenditure per capita, a country’s MS prevalence increased by 0.49. Alternatively, with every increase of one standard deviation in latitude, a country’s MS prevalence increased by 0.65.
Researchers also found that health care spending explained some, but not all, of the link between latitude and MS. After adjusting for other factors, the link between latitude and MS decreased by more than 20% when health care expenditure per capita was considered.
The availability of universal health care was associated with rates of MS in all world regions, except Southeast Asia, with universal health care tied to higher rates of MS.
In high-income countries, rates of MS were linked to most factors, including gross domestic product per capita, current health expenditure per capita, and the number of neurologists, but not tobacco use and obesity or the number of MRI units per capita. However, in low-income countries, there were no associations with any of these factors, which may be explained by a lack of significant variation in data from these countries, Saylor said.
According to Dr Saylor, the finding that current health expenditure per capita was very strongly linked with national rates of MS further supports the hypothesis that greater investment in health care leads to more robust reporting of rates of MS. She also said the minimal links between rates of MS and lifestyle factors such as tobacco use and obesity run counter to prior assumptions that lifestyle and consumption behaviours explain the large portions of regional differences in reported rates of MS.
Dr Saylor said strategies are urgently needed for the accurate assessment of the burden of MS in low-income countries, and these lower reported MS can obscure the need for training and funding regarding MS.
A limitation of the study is that different data sources may have collected information during different time periods or used different methods, which could affect the accuracy of estimates.
After testing nearly 100 tattoo inks, researchers reported that, even when the ink bottles had ingredient labels, those ingredients listed on them were often inaccurate. The team also detected small particles that could be harmful to cells.
In the US, the Food and Drug Administration regulates tattoo ink, but in South Africa, tattoo ink [PDF] is imported largely unregulated.
The researchers presented their findings at a meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
“The idea for this project initially came about because I was interested in what happens when laser light is used to remove tattoos,” said lead researcher John Swierk, PhD. “But then I realised that very little is actually known about the composition of tattoo inks, so we started analysing popular brands.”
Tattoo artists interviewed to see what they knew about the inks they use on their customers could quickly identify a brand they preferred, but they didn’t know much about its contents. “Surprisingly, no dye shop makes pigment specific for tattoo ink,” Dr Swierk explained. “Big companies manufacture pigments for everything, such as paint and textiles. These same pigments are used in tattoo inks.” He also notes that tattoo artists must be licensed in the locales where they operate for safety reasons, yet no federal or local agency regulates the contents of the inks themselves.
Tattoo inks are made up of a pigment and a carrier solution. The pigment could be a molecular compound such as a blue pigment; a solid compound such as titanium dioxide, which is white; or a combination of the two compound types such as light blue ink, which contains both the molecular blue pigment and titanium dioxide. The carrier solution transports the pigment to the middle layer of skin and typically helps make the pigment more soluble, sometimes controlling the viscosity of the ink solution and perhaps containing an anti-inflammatory ingredient.
Dr Swierk’s team has been studying the particle size and molecular composition of tattoo pigments. From these analyses, they have confirmed the presence of ingredients that aren’t listed on some labels. For example, in one case ethanol was not listed, but the chemical analysis showed it was present in the ink. The team has also been able to identify what specific pigments are present in some inks.
“Every time we looked at one of the inks, we found something that gave me pause,” Dr Swierk said. “For example, 23 of 56 different inks analysed to date suggest an azo-containing dye is present.” Although many azo pigments are not health concerns when they are chemically intact, bacteria or UV light can degrade them into another nitrogen-based compound that is a potential carcinogen, according to the Joint Research Centre, which provides independent scientific advice to the European Union.
In addition, the team has analysed 16 inks using electron microscopy, and about half contained particles under 100nm. “That’s a concerning size range,” said Dr Swierk. “Particles of this size can get through the cell membrane and potentially cause harm.”
After the researchers run a few more tests and have the data peer reviewed, they will add the information to their website “What’s in My Ink?” “With these data, we want consumers and artists to make informed decisions and understand how accurate the provided information is,” said Dr Swierk.
Many people can agree that an altered passage of time, known as “temporal disintegration” in psychiatric literature, was a common experience during the COVID pandemic, ranging from difficulty in keeping track of days of the week to feeling that the hours themselves rushed by or slowed down. Prior work linked these distortions to persistent negative mental outcomes such as depression and anxiety following trauma.
A new study, published in Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, documents how pervasive the experience was in the first six months of the pandemic. Pandemic-related secondary stresses such as daily COVID-related media exposure, school closures, lockdowns and financial difficulties were also found to be predictors of distortions in perceived time.
“Continuity between past experiences, present life and future hopes is critical to one’s well-being, and disruption of that synergy presents mental health challenges,” said corresponding author E. Alison Holman, UCI professor of nursing. “We were able to measure this in a nationally representative sample of Americans as they were experiencing a protracted collective trauma, which has never been done before. This study is the first to document the prevalence and early predictors of these time distortions. There are relatively new therapies that can be used to help people regain a more balanced sense of time, but if we don’t know who is in need of those services, we can’t provide that support.”
Researchers assessed results of responses regarding distorted time perceptions and other pandemic related experiences from a national sample of 5661 participants. Surveys were conducted during March 18-April 18, 2020 and Sept. 26-Oct. 26, 2020 with respondents who had completed a mental and physical health survey prior to the COVID outbreak.
“Given that distortions in time perception are a risk factor for mental health problems, our findings have potential implications for public health. We are now looking at temporal disintegration, loneliness, and mental health outcomes over 18 months into the pandemic,” Prof Holman said. “This will help us gain insight into how these common experiences during the pandemic work together, so we can better understand how to help people struggling with these challenges.”
University of College London researchers have used gene therapy to partially restore the function of cone receptors in two children with achromatopsia, a rare genetic disorder which can cause partial or complete colourblindness.
The findings, published in Brain, suggest that treatment activates previously dormant communication links between the retina and the brain, thanks to the developing adolescent brain’s plastic nature.
The academically-led study has been running alongside a phase 1/2 clinical trial in children with achromatopsia, using a new way to test whether the treatment is changing the neural pathways specific to the cones.
Achromatopsia is caused by disease-causing variants to one of a few genes. As it affect the cones in the retina, are responsible for colour vision, people with achromatopsia are completely colourblind, while they also have very poor vision and photophobia. Their cone cells do not send signals to the brain, but many remain present, so researchers have been seeking to activate the dormant cells.
Lead author Dr Tessa Dekker said: “Our study is the first to directly confirm widespread speculation that gene therapy offered to children and adolescents can successfully activate the dormant cone photoreceptor pathways and evoke visual signals never previously experienced by these patients.
“We are demonstrating the potential of leveraging the plasticity of our brains, which may be particularly able to adapt to treatment effects when people are young.”
The study involved four young people with achromatopsia aged 10 to 15 years old.
The two trials, which each target a different gene implicated in achromatopsia, are testing gene therapies with the primary aim of establishing that the treatment is safe, while also testing for improved vision. Their results have not yet been fully compiled so the overall effectiveness of the treatments remains to be determined.
The accompanying academic study used a novel functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) mapping approach to separate emerging post-treatment cone signals from existing rod-driven signals in patients, allowing the researchers to pinpoint any changes in visual function, after treatment, directly to the targeted cone photoreceptor system. They employed a ‘silent substitution’ technique using pairs of lights to selectively stimulate cones or rods. The researchers also had to adapt their methods to accommodate eye movements due to nystagmus, another symptom of achromatopsia. The results were compared to tests involving nine untreated patients and 28 volunteers with normal vision.
Each of the four children was treated with gene therapy in one eye, enabling doctors to compare the treatment’s effectiveness with the untreated eye.
For two of the four children, there was strong evidence for cone-mediated signals in the brain’s visual cortex coming from the treated eye, six to 14 months after treatment. Before the treatment, the patients showed no evidence of cone function on any tests. After treatment, their measures closely resembled those from normal sighted study participants.
The study participants also completed a test to distinguish between different levels of contrast. This showed there was a difference in cone-supported vision in the treated eyes in the same two children.
The researchers say they cannot confirm whether the treatment was ineffective in the other two study participants, or if there may have been treatment effects that were not picked up by the tests they used, or if effects are delayed.
Co-lead author Dr Michel Michaelides (UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and Moorfields Eye Hospital), who is also co-investigator on both clinical trials, said: “In our trials, we are testing whether providing gene therapy early in life may be most effective while the neural circuits are still developing. Our findings demonstrate unprecedented neural plasticity, offering hope that treatments could enable visual functions using signalling pathways that have been dormant for years.
“We are still analysing the results from our two clinical trials, to see whether this gene therapy can effectively improve everyday vision for people with achromatopsia. We hope that with positive results, and with further clinical trials, we could greatly improve the sight of people with inherited retinal diseases.”
Dr Dekker added: “We believe that incorporating these new tests into future clinical trials could accelerate the testing of ocular gene therapies for a range of conditions, by offering unparalleled sensitivity to treatment effects on neural processing, while also providing new and detailed insight into when and why these therapies work best.”
One of the study participants commented: “Seeing changes to my vision has been very exciting, so I’m keen to see if there are any more changes and where this treatment as a whole might lead in the future.
“It’s actually quite difficult to imagine what or just how many impacts a big improvement in my vision could have, since I’ve grown up with and become accustomed to low vision, and have adapted and overcome challenges (with a lot of support from those around me) throughout my life.”
The choice of words that doctors doctors use when diagnosing female patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) can negatively impact their wellbeing and how they view their condition later on in life, according to new research published in the British Journal of General Practice.
PCOS can result in a range of physical symptoms, such as dysmenorrhoea or amenorrhoea, and metabolic issues. University of Surrey researchers found that the use of the word ‘raised’ by practitioners when discussing test results can lead to higher levels of body dissatisfaction and dieting behaviour amongst women, whilst the use of the word ‘irregular’ can result in concerns about fertility.
Jane Ogden, Professor of Health Psychology at the University of Surrey, said: “Diagnostic consultations may take a few minutes, yet how these minutes are managed, what words are used and how this makes a patient feel may change how they make sense of their condition and influence their wellbeing in the longer term. It is important that doctors have an awareness of the words they use and think about how they could be perceived by patients.”
In one of the first studies of its kind, researchers investigated the impact of PCOS diagnostic consultations and whether the language used impacted the subsequent wellbeing of patients.
To assess the impact, researchers surveyed 147 females with PCOS and asked about their satisfaction with their consultation, the language used during it and their overall wellbeing.
Researchers found that those who had felt uncomfortable with the consultation process were more likely to report poorer body esteem, reduced quality of life and greater concerns about health in later life. Over a quarter of those surveyed were dissatisfied with how doctors managed their distress and were unhappy with the lack of rapport they had with their practitioners.
Prof Ogden added: “Words matter, as patients often replay conversations that they have had with doctors in a bid to make sense of situations. Although words such as ‘raised’ and ‘irregular’ are simple words they are vague which can cause women to worry, as they automatically think the worst, as they have not been provided with all the facts. Such anxiety at the time of diagnosis, can negatively impact how they feel about themselves as their life progresses.”
A new Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health study has found that Australian children who were born via caesarean section (C-section) have a greater risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and obesity. These findings have prompted a call to limit the increasingly popular practice.
According to a Lancet review, C-sections are already known to have a number of negative outcomes, with evidence higher rates of maternal mortality and morbidity than after vaginal birth. C-sections are further associated with an increased risk of uterine rupture, abnormal placentation, ectopic pregnancy, stillbirth, and preterm birth. Short-term risks of C-section include altered immune development, an increased likelihood of allergy, atopy, and asthma, and reduced gut microbiome diversity. Associations of C-section with greater incidence of late childhood obesity and asthma are frequently reported.
Researchers used data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children to analyse the health outcomes of children delivered by C-section.
“C-section births have risen across the world with a disproportionately higher rate in developed countries. In Australia, the C-section birth rate has increased from 18.5% in 1990 to 36% in 2019 and nearly half of Australian babies are projected to be caesarean born by 2045,” said study author Dr Tahmina Begum.
A relationship was discovered between C-section births and certain cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in children.
“Four out of six individual CVD risk components and the composite index of the five CVD risk components showed a positive association with C-section birth. Our study also provided a direct relationship between C-section and increased overweight and obesity among children at 10–12 years of age,” said Dr Fatima.
A biologically plausible link involved the gut microbiome, she said. “There’s an altered microbial load from C-section birth as compared to vaginal birth. This altered microbial ecosystem hampers the ‘gut-brain axis’ and releases some pathogenic toxins that cause metabolic damage.”
Other possible causes included foetal stress from physiological or pharmacological induction of labour during a C-section. She said the study provides important insights into health care policy and the strategic direction towards chronic disease risk reduction.
“Growing rates of C-sections conducted for non-clinical reasons is a major public health concern that calls for a reduction in the rate of unnecessary C-sections and their associated human and economic costs,” said Dr Begum.
The New York Times reports that low oral doses of the cheap antihypertensive drug minoxidil – a key ingredient in many hair-loss treatments such as Rogaine – is now being widely used as an off-label prescription for male and female hair loss.
Since the accidental discovery of minoxidil’s topical efficacy in treating hair loss in the 1980s, it had became a staple in `Rogaine for male and female patients. However, applying the foam or lotion onto scalps is time-consuming and uncomfortable for many – as well as expensive.
There is not much in the way of clinical evidence as to its efficacy. A 2019 study in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology is so far the only randomised open study to compare 1mg oral minoxidil against 5% topical minoxidil for hair loss in female patients.
The oral minoxidil was not inferior to the topical version, and indeed trend analysis suggested it might be more effective.
According to the Times, the off-label designation might scare off some, but such drugs are widely used in practice.
Dermatologist Robert Swerlick, of the Emory University School of Medicine, noted that “most things we [dermatologists] do are off-label because there is nothing on-label.”
Brett King, a Yale School of Medicine dermatologist, told the Times that it would likely stay off-label because there wasn’t a financial incentive for Big Pharma to invest in proper trials.
“Oral minoxidil costs pennies a day,” King told the Times. “There is no incentive to spend tens of millions of dollars to test it in a clinical trial. That study truly is never, ever going to be done.”
Until researchers have the motivation and funding to conduct randomised controlled trials into low-dose oral minoxidil as a baldness treatment, the situation is likely to remain unchanged even if it is growing in popularity with certain dermatologists.
A recent report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found more than 80% of urine samples from children and adults in the US contained the herbicide glyphosate. A study published in Scientific Reports takes this research one step further and is the first to link the use of the herbicide Roundup®, a widely used weed killer, to convulsions in animals.
Glyphosate, the weed killer component in Roundup®, is the world’s most commonly used herbicide by volume and by land-area treated. Glyphosate-resistant crops account for almost 80% of transgenic crop cultivated land, which has resulted in an estimated 6.1 billion kg of glyphosate sprayed across the world from 2005 to 2014. Roundup® is used at both industrial and consumer levels, and its use is projected to dramatically increase over the coming years. A major question, yet to be fully understood, is the potential impact of glyphosate on the nervous system.
“It is concerning how little we understand the impact of glyphosate on the nervous system,” said project leader Akshay S. Naraine, a PhD student at FAU and the International Max Planck Research School for Synapses and Circuits. “More evidence is mounting for how prevalent exposure to glyphosate is, so this work hopefully pushes other researchers to expand on these findings and solidify where our concerns should be.”
Resultsshowed that glyphosate and Roundup® increased seizure-like behaviour in soil-dwelling roundworms and provides significant evidence that glyphosate targets GABA-A receptors. These communication points are essential for locomotion and are heavily involved in regulating sleep and mood in humans. What truly sets this research apart is that it was done at significantly lower levels than recommended by the EPA and those used in past studies.
“The concentration listed for best results on the Roundup® Super Concentrate label is 0.98% glyphosate, which is about 5 tablespoons of Roundup® in 1 gallon [3.8 litres] of water,” said Naraine. “A significant finding from our study reveals that just 0.002% glyphosate, a difference of about 300 times less herbicide than the lowest concentration recommended for consumer use, had concerning effects on the nervous system.”
Using C. elegans, a soil-dwelling roundworm, researchers first tested glyphosate alone and then both the US and UK formulations of Roundup® from two distinct time periods – before and after the UK’s 2016 ban on polyethoxylated tallowamine (POEAs). These conditions were selected to pinpoint which effects are specific to the active ingredient glyphosate, Roundup® formulations in general, the POEAs surfactants, or any combination of these.
The study found that the active ingredient glyphosate exacerbated convulsions in C. elegans and suggest the GABA-A receptor as a neurological target for the observed physiological changes. The data also indicate that there is an important distinction between exposure to glyphosate and Roundup®, with Roundup® exposure increasing the percentage of C. elegans that did not recover from seizure activity. The non-recovery phenotype and prolonged convulsions in C. elegans from this study have helped to set a foundation for understanding nuanced physiological effects of herbicide that occur at concentrations exponentially below neurotoxic levels.
“Given how widespread the use of these products is, we must learn as much as we can about the potential negative impacts that may exist,” said lab head Ken Dawson-Scully, PhD, professor at Nova Southeastern University. “There have been studies done in the past that showed the potential dangers, and our study takes that one step further with some pretty dramatic results.”
Findings also generate concern over how herbicide use might affect soil-dwelling organisms like C. elegans.
“These roundworms undergo convulsions under thermal stress, and our data strongly implicates glyphosate and Roundup® exposure in exacerbating convulsive effects. This could prove vital as we experience the effects of climate change,” said Naraine.
This study provides evidence to further investigate how chronic exposure and accumulation may lead to neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease. Importantly, there also is a sub-neurodegenerative threshold that may dramatically impact dysregulation of neurotransmission.
“As of now, there is no information for how exposure to glyphosate and Roundup® may affect humans diagnosed with epilepsy or other seizure disorders,” said Dawson-Scully. “Our study indicates that there is significant disruption in locomotion and should prompt further vertebrate studies.”
