Tag: 26/6/25

Categories : Environmental EffectsTags :

Recycled Plastic Can Affect Hormone Systems

On By ModernMedia
Photo by FLY:D on Unsplash

A single pellet of recycled plastic can contain over 80 different chemicals. A new study with researchers from University of Gothenburg and Leipzig shows that recycled polyethylene plastic can leach chemicals into water causing impacts in the hormone systems and lipid metabolism of zebrafish larvae.

Increasing gene expressions

In a new study, researchers bought plastic pellets recycled from polyethylene plastic from different parts of the world and let the pellets soak in water for 48 hours. After which zebrafish larvae were exposed to the water for five days. The experimental results show increases in gene expression relating to lipid metabolism, adipogenesis, and endocrine regulation in the larvae. 

“These short leaching times and exposure times are yet another indicator of the risks that chemicals in plastics pose to living organisms. The impacts that we measured show that these exposures have the potential to change the physiology and health of the fish,” says Azora König Kardgar, lead author and researcher in ecotoxicology at the University of Gothenburg.

“Never full knowledge” 

Previous research has shown similar effects to humans, including threats to reproductive health and obesity, from exposure to toxic chemicals in plastics. Some chemicals used as additives in plastics and substances that contaminate plastics are known to disturb hormones, with potential impacts on fertility, child development, links to certain cancers, and metabolic disorders including obesity and diabetes. 

“This is the main obstacle with the idea of recycling plastic. We never have full knowledge of what chemicals will end up in an item made of recycled plastic. And there is also a significant risk of chemical mixing events occuring, which render the recycled plastic toxic,” says Bethanie Carney Almroth, professor at the University of Gothenburg and principal investigator on the project.

Different chemicals in different pellets

Apart from the study on the impact that recycled plastics have on zebra fish larvae, the researcher also conducted a chemical analysis of the chemicals leaching from the plastic pellets to the water. And they found a lot of different chemical compounds, but the mixture altered between different samples of pellets.

“We identified common plastics chemicals, including UV-stabilizers and plasticizers, as well as chemicals that are not used as plastics additives, including pesticides, pharmaceuticals and biocides. These may have contaminated the plastics during their first use phase, prior to becoming waste and being recycled. This is further evidence of the complicated issue of plastics waste flows, and of toxic chemicals contaminating recycled plastics,” says Eric Carmona, researcher at Department of Exposure Science, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Leipzig.

“This work clearly demonstrates the need to address toxic chemicals in plastics materials and products, across their life cycle”, says Professor Bethanie Carney Almroth. “We cannot safely produce and use recycled plastics if we cannot trace chemicals throughout production, use and waste phases.”

Source: University of Gothenburg

Categories : Immune System Mental HealthTags :

Autoimmune Disease Linked to Doubling in Depression, Anxiety, Bipolar Risks

On By ModernMedia

Risks higher in women than in men with the same condition
Chronic exposure to systemic inflammation may explain associations, say researchers

Photo by Sydney Sims on Unsplash

Living with an autoimmune disease is linked to a near doubling in the risk of persistent mental health issues, such as depression, generalised anxiety, and bipolar disorder, with these risks higher in women than in men, finds a large population-based UK study, published in the open access journal BMJ Mental Health.

Chronic exposure to the systemic inflammation caused by the autoimmune disease may explain the associations found, say the researchers.

A growing body of evidence suggests that inflammation is linked to mental ill health, but many of the published studies have relied on small sample sizes, limiting their statistical power, note the researchers.

In a bid to overcome this, they drew on data from 1.5 million participants in the recently established Our Future Health dataset from across the UK. Participants’ average age was 53; just over half (57%) were women; and 90% identified as White.

On recruitment to Our Future Health, participants completed a baseline questionnaire to provide personal, social, demographic, health and lifestyle information.

Health information included lifetime diagnoses–including for their biological parents–for a wide range of disorders, including autoimmune and psychiatric conditions.

Six autoimmune conditions were included in the study: rheumatoid arthritis; Graves’ syndrome (thyroid hormone disorder); inflammatory bowel disease; lupus, multiple sclerosis; and psoriasis.

The mental health conditions of interest were self-reported diagnoses of affective disorders, defined as depression, bipolar, or anxiety disorder.

In all, 37 808 participants reported autoimmune conditions and 1 525 347 didn’t. Those with autoimmune conditions were more likely to be women (74.5% vs 56.5%) and more likely to report lifetime diagnoses of affective disorders for their biological parents:  8% vs 5.5% for fathers; 15.5% vs 11% for mothers.

Chronic and pathogenic immune system activation—including the presence of markers of inflammation—is a hallmark of many autoimmune conditions. And in the absence of direct measurements of inflammatory biomarkers, an autoimmune condition was regarded as a proxy for chronic inflammation in this study.

The lifetime prevalence of any diagnosed affective disorder was significantly higher among people with an autoimmune disorder than it was among the general population: 29% vs 18%.

Similar associations in lifetime prevalence emerged for depression and anxiety: 25.5% vs just over 15% for depression; and just over 21% vs 12.5% for anxiety.

While the overall prevalence of bipolar disorder was much lower, it was still significantly higher among those with an autoimmune disorder than it was among the general population:  just under 1% compared with 0.5%.

The prevalence of current depression and anxiety was also higher among people with autoimmune conditions.

And the prevalence of affective disorders was significantly and consistently higher among women than it was among men with the same physical health conditions: 32% compared to 21% among participants with any autoimmune disorder.

The reasons for this aren’t clear, say the researchers, but “theories suggest that sex hormones, chromosomal factors, and differences in circulating antibodies may partly explain these sex differences,” they write.

“Women (but not men) with depression exhibit increased concentrations of circulating cytokines and acute phase reactants compared with non-depressed counterparts. It is therefore possible that women may experience the compounding challenges of increased occurrence of autoimmunity and stronger effects of immune responses on mental health, resulting in the substantially higher prevalence of affective disorders observed in this study,” they add.

Overall, the risk for each of the affective disorders was nearly twice as high—87-97% higher—in people with autoimmune conditions, and remained high even after adjusting for potentially influential factors, including age, household income, and parental psychiatric history.

No information was available on the time or duration of illness, making it impossible to determine whether autoimmune conditions preceded, co-occurred with, or followed, affective disorders, note the researchers.

No direct measurements of inflammation were made either, and it was therefore impossible to establish the presence, nature, timing or severity of inflammation, they add.

“Although the observational design of this study does not allow for direct inference of causal mechanisms, this analysis of a large national dataset suggests that chronic exposure to systemic inflammation may be linked to a greater risk for affective disorder,” they conclude.

“Future studies should seek to determine whether putative biological, psychological, and social factors—for example, chronic pain, fatigue, sleep or circadian disruptions and social isolation—may represent potentially modifiable mechanisms linking autoimmune conditions and affective disorders.”

And they suggest that it may be worth regularly screening people diagnosed with autoimmune disease for mental health conditions, especially women, to provide them with tailored treatment early on.

Source: BMJ

Categories : Cancer Neurodegenerative DiseasesTags :

Breast Cancer Treatment Linked to a Reduction in Alzheimer’s Disease Risk

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Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

A Korean population-based cohort study investigated the risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) among breast cancer survivors compared to age-matched controls without cancer. The study, published in JAMA Network Open, found that breast cancer survivors had an 8% lower risk of AD than controls, with a significant association in survivors over 65 years old – though the effect did not persist past five years. Radiotherapy was associated with a lower risk of AD among breast cancer survivors – but not other treatments.

Breast cancer survivors may experience long-term health consequences, including cognitive function and risk of dementia. The risk of AD among breast cancer survivors is still unclear and may vary depending on age at diagnosis, treatment received, and time since treatment.

Previous studies reported mixed results on the risk of AD among breast cancer survivors, with some finding no increase in risk and others finding a 35% increased risk for those diagnosed at age 65 or older. These studies have been hampered by a number of methodological issues, including not accounting for risk factors.

Cytotoxic chemotherapy can cause cognitive decline termed ‘chemobrain’. Other chemotherapy drugs such as anthracycline may reduced AD risk by reducing the formation of amyloid deposits. Endocrine therapy may increase the risk of dementia by lowering oestrogen, but studies suggest that the use of tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors is associated with a lower risk of AD. An increase in dementia is seen in radiotherapy for head and neck cancers.

To investigate the risk of AD among breast cancer survivors, researchers used the Korean National Health Insurance Service (K-NHIS) database, exploring whether there is an association with cancer treatment and various confounding factors.

Among 70 701 breast cancer survivors (mean age, 53.1 years), 1229 cases of AD were detected, with an incidence rate of 2.45 per 1000 person-years. Survivors exhibited a slightly lower risk of AD compared with cancer-free controls, especially among individuals 65 years or older (SHR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.85-0.99). But landmark analyses found that this lower risk did not persist beyond five years of survival. Radiotherapy was associated with reduced risk of AD among survivors, while chemotherapy and endocrine therapy had no significant impact. Anthracycline use, however, did show a non-significant decrease in risk.

Differences in doses and timing of radiotherapy may influence the effects. The incident exposure to the brain is estimated to be 0.2Gy from a breast cancer radiotherapy dose of 50Gy. A pilot study found that patients with AD who received low-dose whole-brain radiotherapy at 3Gy showed a temporary improvement in cognitive function. This improvement is believed to be due to a neuroprotective effect on microglia. Other studies have noted a transient risk reduction for AD in breast cancer radiotherapy; however, patients receiving radiotherapy usually do so in conjunction with breast-conserving surgery – those opting for this procedure are younger, with fewer comorbidities and smaller tumours.

The study suggests that cancer treatment may have benefits against AD development, but the risk of AD may differ depending on the duration of survival.

The findings indicate that breast cancer treatment may not directly lead to AD, and that managing modifiable risk factors for AD, such as smoking and diabetes, is a feasible option to lower AD risk among breast cancer survivors.

Categories : Neurology Pain ManagementTags :

GLP-1 Therapy Reduces Brain Pressure and Migraine Frequency

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A diabetes medication that lowers brain fluid pressure has cut monthly migraine days by more than half, according to a new study presented at the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) Congress 2025

Photo by Kindel Media

A diabetes medication that lowers brain fluid pressure has cut monthly migraine days by more than half, according to a new study presented at the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) Congress 2025.1

Researchers at the Headache Centre of the University of Naples “Federico II” gave the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist liraglutide to 26 adults with obesity and chronic migraine (defined as ≥ 15 headache days per month). Patients reported an average of 11 fewer headache days per month, while disability scores on the Migraine Disability Assessment Test dropped by 35 points, indicating a clinically meaningful improvement in work, study, and social functioning.

GLP-1 agonists have gained recent widespread attention, reshaping treatment approaches for several diseases, including diabetes and cardiovascular disease.2 In the treatment of type 2 diabetes, liraglutide helps lower blood sugar levels and reduce body weight by suppressing appetite and reducing energy intake.3,4,5

Importantly, while participants’ body-mass index declined slightly (from 34.01 to 33.65), this change was not statistically significant. An analysis of covariance confirmed that BMI reduction had no effect on headache frequency, strengthening the hypothesis that pressure modulation, not weight loss, drives the benefit.

“Most patients felt better within the first two weeks and reported quality of life improved significantly”, said lead researcher Dr Simone Braca. “The benefit lasted for the full three-month observation period, even though weight loss was modest and statistically non-significant.”

Patients were screened to exclude papilledema (optic disc swelling resulting from increased intracranial pressure) and sixth nerve palsy, ruling out idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) as a confounding factor. Growing evidence closely links subtle increases in intracranial pressure to migraine attacks.6 GLP-1-receptor agonists such as liraglutide reduce cerebrospinal fluid secretion and have already proved effective in treating IIH.7 Therefore, building on these observations, Dr Braca and colleagues hypothesised that exploiting the same mechanism of action might ultimately dampen cortical and trigeminal sensitisation that underlie migraine.

“We think that, by modulating cerebrospinal fluid pressure and reducing intracranial venous sinuses compression, these drugs produce a decrease in the release of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), a key migraine-promoting peptide”, Dr Braca explained. “That would pose intracranial pressure control as a brand-new, pharmacologically targetable pathway.”

Mild gastrointestinal side effects (mainly nausea and constipation) occurred in 38% of participants but did not lead to treatment discontinuation.

Following this exploratory 12-week pilot study, a randomised, double-blind trial with direct or indirect intracranial pressure measurement is now being planned by the same research team in Naples, led by professor Roberto De Simone. “We also want to determine whether other GLP-1 drugs can deliver the same relief, possibly with even fewer gastrointestinal side effects”, Dr Braca noted.

If confirmed, GLP-1-receptor agonists could offer a new treatment option for the estimated one in seven people worldwide who live with migraine,8 particularly those who do not respond to current preventives. Given liraglutide’s established use in type 2 diabetes and obesity, it may represent a promising case of drug repurposing in neurology.

References

  1. Braca S., Russo C. et al. GLP-1R Agonists for the Treatment of Migraine: A Pilot Prospective Observational Study. Abstract A-25-13975. Presented at the 11th EAN Congress (Helsinki, Finland).
  2. Zheng, Z., Zong, Y., Ma, Y. et al. Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor: mechanisms and advances in therapy. Sig Transduct Target Ther 9, 234 (2024).
  3. Lin, C. H. et al. An evaluation of liraglutide including its efficacy and safety for the treatment of obesity. Expert Opin. Pharmacother. 21, 275–285 (2020).
  4. Moon, S. et al. Efficacy and safety of the new appetite suppressant, liraglutide: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Endocrinol. Metab. (Seoul.) 36, 647–660 (2021).
  5. Jacobsen, L. V., Flint, A., Olsen, A. K. & Ingwersen, S. H. Liraglutide in type 2 diabetes mellitus: clinical pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. Clin. Pharmacokinet. 55, 657–672 (2016).
  6. De Simone R, Sansone M, Russo C, Miele A, Stornaiuolo A, Braca S. The putative role of trigemino-vascular system in brain perfusion homeostasis and the significance of the migraine attack. Neurol Sci. 2022 Sep;43(9):5665-5672. doi: 10.1007/s10072-022-06200-x. Epub 2022 Jul 8. PMID: 35802218; PMCID: PMC9385793.
  7. Mitchell J.L., Lyons H.S., Walker J.K. et al. (2023). The effect of GLP-1RA exenatide on idiopathic intracranial hypertension: a randomised clinical trial. Brain. 146(5):1821-1830.
  8. Steiner T.J., Stovner L.J., Jensen, R. et al. (2020). Migraine remains second among the world’s causes of disability. The Journal of Headache and Pain. 21:137.

Source: EurekAlert!