Tag: 5/5/25

Categories : ExerciseTags :

Research Finds New Explanation for Muscle Memory in Muscle Proteins

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Memory traces from resistance training persist for over two months

Photo by John Arano on Unsplash

Researchers have found a possible new explanation for muscle memory by investigating thousands of muscle proteins. This study by the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences at the University of Jyväskylä showed for the first time that muscles “remember” training at the protein level. The memory trace of previous resistance training persists in muscle proteins for over two months.

It is often thought that the effects of exercise are short-lived, and a break from the gym for just a few weeks can cause stress over muscle loss for some people. However, the research from the University of Jyväskylä has shown that this stress is partly unnecessary, as the effects of resistance training persist in muscles for up to two months and the gains are fast when training is started again after the break. But what mechanisms and changes at the cellular and molecular levels explain muscle memory? This is what the researchers investigated by studying the quantities of thousands of muscle proteins from muscle.

In the study, ten weeks of resistance training was followed by a break of the same length and then followed by another ten weeks of resistance training. Using the proteomics method, it was possible to simultaneously study the quantities of over 3,000 muscle proteins using advanced mass spectrometry equipment.

Training gets encoded into muscle proteins

The study found two types of change profiles in muscle proteins.

Some proteins changed as a result of training, returned to their pre-training state during the break, and changed again during the new training period similarly to the first training period. These included proteins related to aerobic metabolism.

Another group of proteins changed as a result of training and remained changed during the break and after the new training period. Among these proteins were several calcium-binding proteins, such as calpain-2, whose gene has recently been identified to retain a memory trace even after a training break.

“At the level of the number of muscle nuclei and the memory traces of genes, that is, epigenetics, long-term responses that persist even after a break and possibly explain ‘muscle memory’ have previously been observed,” says the lead researcher, Professor Juha Hulmi from the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences. 

“Now, for the first time, we have shown that muscles ‘remember’ previous resistance training at the protein level for at least two and a half months.”

“So, even though muscles eventually shrink back to their original size during a long training break, a memory trace of previous training remains in the muscles. This can make it easier to start training again”, explains Hulmi.

The  data collection was carried out at the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä. The participants were young adult and middle-aged Finnish men and women who were physically quite active but had no previous experience of systematic resistance training. Proteomic analyses were conducted on 116 muscle samples at the University of Helsinki in the laboratory of research director Markku Varjosalo.   

Source: University of Jyväskylä

Categories : AntibioticsTags :

National-Level Actions Effective at Tackling Antibiotic Resistance

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Both high and low-middle income countries have stepped up their efforts to reduce antibiotic resistance

Mycobacterium tuberculosis drug susceptibility test. Photo by CDC on Unsplash

National-level policies can reduce the impact of antibiotic resistance across diverse countries, according to a study published April 30, 2025 in the open-access journal PLOS Global Public Health by Peter Søgaard Jørgensen from Stockholm University and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Sweden, and colleagues.

Antibiotic resistance is a major public health concern, contributing to 1.27 million deaths per year. In 2016, countries around the world committed to developing and implementing national action plans to combat antibiotic resistance. These plans have been criticised for not being fully operationalised. Assessing their impact is challenging – change doesn’t happen overnight, not all countries report their data systematically, and the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted monitoring.

In this study, researchers used the Global Database for Tracking Antimicrobial Resistance Country Self- Assessment Survey (TrACSS) and data on antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance to evaluate the impact of national action over time in 73 countries, representing six continents across high and low-middle income countries. They looked at national trends in indicators related to antibiotic resistance, including antibiotic use, rates of antibiotic resistance, and impact of resistant infections.

By assigning each country an action index, they found that national action was consistently associated with improved indicators of antibiotic resistance. These associations persisted after controlling for factors like socioeconomic conditions, population density, and climate.

Since 2016, both high and low-middle income countries have become more ambitious with their national action plans; only one-third have decreased their efforts to reduce antibiotic resistance.

The authors noted some bias in their sample size in that high-income countries are more likely to have established monitoring systems but stressed the importance of studies like this to establishing the impact of national policies on tackling antibiotic resistance.

 The authors add: “Our research shows the importance of all countries taking additional action to address antibiotic resistance. Very ambitious action will be needed to achieve reductions in resistance, but even incremental improvements will help reduce the projected increases…We were not sure that it would be possible to reduce levels of antibiotic resistance while also keeping using antibiotics to the extent that is required by modern health systems, but our research indicates that it is indeed possible.”

Provided by PLOS

Categories : Cancer New Compounds and TreatmentsTags :

Hyperbaric Oxygen for Radiation-induced Injuries Provides Lasting Relief

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Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

Hyperbaric oxygen treatment provides long-term relief for patients suffering from late radiation-induced injuries after treatment of cancer in the lower abdominal area. Five years after hyperbaric oxygen therapy, the positive effects remain. This has been shown in a study conducted at the University of Gothenburg, published in eClinicalMedicine.

Radiation therapy is a component of many cancer treatments in organs such as the prostate, colon, ovaries and cervix. While tumour cells are destroyed, 5-10% of patients experience severe side effects due to healthy tissue being affected by the radiation therapy.

Symptoms may include urinary incontinence, bleeding and severe pain from the lower abdomen that becomes both physically and socially disabling. These problems can occur several years after radiation therapy and cause chronic and increasing discomfort.

Researchers have previously shown that patients experience significantly less discomfort after hyperbaric oxygen treatment. The question in the current study was whether the relief would last over several years. The time aspect is important for future decisions on broader use of the method.

From severe problems to a normal life 

Initially, all participants had severe symptoms. The group that was randomly assigned to hyperbaric oxygen treatment fared significantly better than the control group in terms of incontinence, bleeding and pain. The positive effects were sustained over the five year follow-up period. 

Nicklas Oscarsson, senior consultant in anaesthesiology and intensive care, and researcher at the University of Gothenburg and Sahlgrenska University Hospital was the principle investigator of the study:

“Patients who respond to treatment go from being very distressed by their symptoms and restricted by their need to have quick access to a toilet, to being able to live a fully normal life. Now we know that this pronounced improvement last for at least five years. The treatment can therefore lead to the healing of an otherwise chronic injury,” he states.

The effects achieved are due to cells sensing and adapting to high oxygen levels. The increased levels of oxygen provided in a hyperbaric chamber increases vascular growth and stops chronic inflammation, reducing severe side effects.

For the oxygen treatments, participants spent 90 minutes a day in a hyperbaric chamber on 30-40 occasions, at a pressure of 1.4 atmospheres (equivalent to 14m underwater). The control group received the usual treatment, which normally includes medication and physiotherapy, for example.

The capacity already exists today

“We have reason to believe that there are many patients with severe symptoms who are never referred to hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Today we already have the capacity to treat more patients, but we need to be better at sharing our knowledge with our colleagues and with patient associations,” says Nicklas Oscarsson.

Severe side effects after radiation therapy are one of the main limitations on the dose of radiation that can be given in cancer treatment. The availability of a treatment that can reduce the number of people affected by these side effects opens the door to increased radiation doses and thus more curable tumours. One area for further investigation, according to the researchers, is whether early treatment with hyperbaric oxygen can prevent the occurrence of severe side effects.

The results are based on surveys and analyses of the participants who have been involved all the way, 70 adults. The treatments were conducted at five university hospitals in the Nordic countries: Rigshospitalet in Denmark, Turku in Finland, Haukeland in Norway, and Karolinska and Sahlgrenska in Sweden.

Source: University of Gothenburg

Categories : Cardiovascular Disease Environmental EffectsTags :

Cardiovascular Disease Deaths Worldwide Linked to Widely Used Phthalates

On By ModernMedia

Phthalates are commonly used in plastic medical equipment

Photo by Marcelo Leal on Unsplash

Daily exposure to certain chemicals used to make plastic household items could be linked to the more than 356 000 global deaths from cardiovascular disease that occurred in 2018 alone, a new analysis of population surveys shows.

Although the chemicals, called phthalates, are in widespread use globally, the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, and the Pacific bore a much larger share of the death toll than others – about three-fourths of the total.

For decades, experts have connected health problems to exposure to certain phthalates found in cosmetics, detergents, solvents, plastic pipes, bug repellents, and other products. These chemicals break down into microscopic particles and are ingested, and studies have linked such exposure to an increased risk of conditions ranging from obesity and diabetes to fertility issues and cancer.

Led by researchers at NYU Langone Health and published in eBioMedicine, the current study focused on a kind of phthalate called di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP). This chemical is used to increase the flexibility and softness of food containers, medical equipment, and other plastic items. Exposure has been shown in other studies to prompt inflammation in the heart’s arteries, which over time is associated with increased risk of heart attack or stroke. In their new analysis, the authors estimated that DEHP exposure contributed to 356 238 deaths, or more than 13% of all global mortality from heart disease in 2018 among men and women ages 55 through 64.

“By highlighting the connection between phthalates and a leading cause of death across the world, our findings add to the vast body of evidence that these chemicals present a tremendous danger to human health,” said study lead author Sara Hyman, BS, an associate research scientist at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

In a past study from 2021, the research team tied phthalates to more than 50 000 premature deaths each year, mostly from heart disease, among older Americans. Their latest investigation is believed to be the first global estimate to date of cardiovascular mortality, or indeed any health outcome, resulting from exposure to the chemicals, said Hyman, who is also a graduate student at NYU School of Global Public Health.

For the research, the team used health and environmental data from dozens of population surveys to estimate DEHP exposure across 200 countries and territories. The information included urine samples containing chemical breakdown products left by the plastic additive. Mortality data was obtained from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, a research group in the United States that collects medical information worldwide to identify trends in public health.

Among the key findings, the study showed that losses in the combined region of East Asia and the Middle East and the combined region of East Asia and the Pacific accounted, respectively, for about 42% and 32% of the mortality from ardiovascular disease linked to DEHP. Specifically, India had the highest death count, at 103 587 deaths, followed by China and Indonesia. The larger heart death risks in these populations held true even after the researchers adjusted their statistical analysis to take into account population size within the studied age group.

A possible explanation, the authors say, is that these countries face higher rates of exposure to the chemicals, possibly because they are undergoing a boom in plastic production but with fewer manufacturing restrictions than other regions.

“There is a clear disparity in which parts of the world bear the brunt of heightened heart risks from phthalates,” said study senior author Leonardo Trasande, MD, MPP. “Our results underscore the urgent need for global regulations to reduce exposure to these toxins, especially in areas most affected by rapid industrialisation and plastic consumption,” added Dr Trasande, Professor of Pediatrics at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

Dr Trasande, who is also a professor in the Department of Population Health, cautions that the analysis was not designed to establish that DEHP directly or alone caused heart disease and that higher death risks did not take into account other types of phthalates. Nor did it include mortality among those in other age groups. As a result, the overall death toll from heart disease connected to these chemicals is likely much higher, he says.

Dr Trasande says that the researchers next plan to track how reductions in phthalate exposure may, over time, affect global mortality rates, as well as to expand the study to other health concerns posed by the chemicals, such as preterm birth.

Source: NYU Langone Health / NYU Grossman School of Medicine