Health News Report: July 2018

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

845-Page analytical report on the longevity industry

Biogerontology Research Foundation, Deep Knowldge Analytics, Aging Analytics Agency & Longevity. International landscape UK's longevity industry

Biogerontology Research Foundation

Tuesday, July 31, 2018, London, UK: The Biogerontology Research Foundation announces the publication of a new analytical report titled Longevity Industry in UK Landscape Overview 2018. 845 pages in length, the report aims to outline the history, present state and future of the Longevity Industry in the United Kingdom, profiling hundreds of companies, investors, and trends, and offering guidance on the most optimal ways in which UK longevity industry stakeholders, as well as government officials, can work to strengthen the industry, and allow it to reach its full potential as a global longevity science and preventive medicine hub.
The report uses comprehensive infographics to distill the report's data and conclusions into easily understandable portions, and interested readers can get a quick understanding of the report's main findings and conclusions in its 10-page executive summary.
This special regional case study follows-up on the content and general outline of the Longevity Industry made by our consortium in the previous Longevity Industry Landscape Overviews, including Volume I "The Science of Longevity" (750 pages), and Volume II "The Business of Longevity" (650 pages), published earlier this year.
These ongoing analytical reports are part of a collaborative project by The Global Longevity Consortium, consisting of the Biogerontology Research Foundation, Deep Knowledge Analytics, Aging Analytics Agency and the Longevity.International platform.
The report seeks to document what makes the UK fertile ground for a global Longevity industry hub, and how that ground could be developed. The UK is an undoubtable world leader in both the finance and FinTech industries. There is growing evidence that it will become a global hub for AI, in the form of both an exponentially growing UK-based AI industry, as well as in the form of government initiatives which have prioritised development of Artificial Intelligence industry. Indeed, the UK government announced Grand Challenges poised to transform the nation's future, which will be treated as priority areas of national development: Artificial Intelligence and The Ageing Society are among them.
If the UK government would apply a strategy for the synergetic development of these two industries, especially on the front of applying AI to preventive medicine and primary care, then United Kingdom would be in an excellent position to reap many synergetic resulting from the convergence of these two spheres, i.e. AI and Longevity, increasing healthy lifespans while decreasing the economic burden of The Aging Society.
Even more importantly, it is clear from our analysis both in the UK and globally, that the spheres of Finance, AI and Longevity, while most often being considered as separate industries with fairly little overlap, should in fact be more appropriately considered in combination and convergence. Our previous report, Global Longevity Industry Landscape Overview Volume II: "The Business of Longevity", concluded that Longevity Industry does not consist solely of biomedicine, but that P3 Medicine (precision preventive personalised), the AgeTech market and the financial industry are also crucial subsectors of the Longevity industry, given the significant impact that societal ageing and Longevity have upon economies in general and the economic burden of healthcare, pension funds and insurance companies in particular, as well as the fact that multiple types of financial entities have the potential to tie their performance to quantitative measures of healthy longevity like HALY and QALY in order to help economies thrive in response to an increase in its citizens healthy longevity.
One of the strongest conclusions to come out of this report is that the United Kingdom has enough resources in each of three most crucial sectors - Longevity, Artificial Intelligence and Financial Industry - to be in a strong position to succeed; nonetheless, the nation should focus on cross-sector collaboration and synergetic convergence, to accelerate innovation and progress in the Longevity industry at scale.
About the Biogerontology Research Foundation:
The Biogerontology Research Foundation is a UK non-profit research foundation and public policy center seeking to fill a gap within the research community, whereby the current scientific understanding of the ageing process is not yet being sufficiently exploited to produce effective medical interventions. The BGRF funds and conducts research which, building on the body of knowledge about how ageing happens, aims to develop biotechnological interventions to remediate the molecular and cellular deficits which accumulate with age and which underlie the ill-health of old age. Addressing ageing damage at this most fundamental level will provide an important opportunity to produce the effective, lasting treatments for the diseases and disabilities of ageing, required to improve quality of life in the elderly. The BGRF seeks to use the entire scope of modern biotechnology to attack the changes that take place in the course of ageing, and to address not just the symptoms of age-related diseases but also the mechanisms of those diseases.

Off Your Mental Game? You Could Be Mildly Dehydrated

Was it hard to concentrate during that long meeting? Does the crossword seem a little tougher? You could be mildly dehydrated.

A growing body of evidence finds that being just a little dehydrated is tied to a range of subtle effects — from mood changes to muddled thinking.

"We find that when people are mildly dehydrated they really don't do as well on tasks that require complex processing or on tasks that require a lot of their attention," says Mindy Millard-Stafford, director of the Exercise Physiology Laboratory at Georgia Institute of Technology. She published an analysis of the evidence this month, based on 33 studies.

How long does it take to become mildly dehydrated in the summer heat? Not long at all, studies show, especially when you exercise outdoors.

"If I were hiking at moderate intensity for one hour, I could reach about 1.5 percent to 2 percent dehydration," says Doug Casa, a professor of kinesiology at the University of Connecticut, and CEO of the Korey Stringer Institute.

For an average-size person, 2 percent dehydration equates to sweating out about a liter of water.

"Most people don't realize how high their sweat rate is in the heat," Casa says. If you're going hard during a run, you can reach that level of dehydration in about 30 minutes.

And at this level of dehydration, the feeling of thirst, for many of us, is only just beginning to kick in. "Most people can't perceive that they're 1.5 percent dehydrated," Casa says.

But already there are subtle — maybe even imperceptible — effects on our bodies and our mental performance.

Take, for example, the findings from a recent study of young, healthy and active women who agreed to take a bunch of cognitive tests and also agreed to restrict their fluid intake to no more than 6 ounces for one day.

"We did manage to dehydrate them by [about] 1 percent just by telling them not to drink for the day," says Nina Stachenfeld, of the Yale School of Medicine and the John B. Pierce Laboratory, who led the research.

The women took one test designed to measure cognitive flexibility. It's a card game that requires a lot of attention, since the rules keep changing throughout the game.

"When the women were dehydrated they had about 12 percent more total errors" in the game, says Stachenfeld.

She repeated the tests after the women drank sufficient water, and their performance improved. "We were able to improve executive function back to normal — in other words, back to the baseline day — when they rehydrated," the scientist says.

Dehydration didn't hamper performance on all the tests; the women's reaction time, for example, was not impeded. The decline was seen during the complicated tasks.

Though the study was small, and funded by PepsiCo, which sells bottled water, Stachenfeld designed the methods and completed the analysis independently. And other scientists say her findings fit with a growing body of independent evidence that points to similar conclusions.

"I absolutely think there could be big implications of having a mild cognitive deficiency with small amounts of dehydration," Casa says.

If you're a student, for example, a 12 percent increase in errors on a test might matter. And whether you're a pilot, a soldier, a surgeon or a scholar, many daily tasks depend on the ability to be precise and pay attention.

For anyone trying to do their best work, the findings raise a number of questions:

How much water do we need?

There are no exact daily requirements, but there are general recommendations.

A panel of scholars convened several years ago by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine concluded that women should consume, on average, about 91 ounces of total water per day. For men, the suggested level is even higher (125 ounces).

Note that this total includes water from all sources, including food and other beverages, such as coffee and tea. Typically, people get about 20 percent of the water they need daily from fruits, vegetables and other food.

Also, water needs vary from person to person. For example, body weight and muscle mass matter. Also, physical activity and heat exposure can increase the amount of fluid a person needs.

How can you tell if you're dehydrated?

One easy test: The color of your urine is a good guide. As a general rule of thumb, the darker the color, the more likely you are to be dehydrated. Aim for shades that have been described as "pale lemonade" or "straw." A color chart developed by physiologist and University of Connecticut professor Lawrence Armstrong can be a helpful guide, researchers say.

Are older people more vulnerable to dehydration?

As we age, we're not as good at recognizing thirst. And there's evidence that older adults are prone to the same dips in mental sharpness as anyone else when mildly dehydrated.

Don't wait until you're thirsty. A good rule of thumb is to sip fluids throughout the day. No need to chug huge amounts at one time; there are some risks to overhydrating, too.

Can coffee, tea and other caffeinated drinks have a dehydrating effect?

The most recent evidence finds that coffee provides similar hydrating qualities to water. In other words, yes, your morning cup of joe — or whatever caffeinated beverage you fancy, can help to keep you hydrated.

As we reported in 2014, people who routinely drink coffee or tea develop a tolerance to the potential diuretic effects of caffeine.

Monday, July 30, 2018

Depression linked to low blood levels of acetyl-L-carnitine

People with depression have low blood levels of a substance called acetyl-L-carnitine, according to a Stanford University School of Medicine scientist and her collaborators in a multicenter study.
Naturally produced in the body, acetyl-L-carnitine is also widely available in drugstores, supermarkets and health food catalogs as a nutritional supplement. People with severe or treatment-resistant depression, or whose bouts of depression began earlier in life, have particularly low blood levels of the substance.

The findings, to be published online July 30 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, build on extensive animal research. They mark the first rigorous indication that the link between acetyl-L-carnitine levels and depression may apply to people, too. And they point the way to a new class of antidepressants that could be freer of side effects and faster-acting than those in use today, and that may help patients for whom existing treatments don't work or have stopped working.

Natalie Rasgon, MD, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford, described the findings as "an exciting addition to our understanding of the mechanisms of depressive illness."

"As a clinical psychiatrist, I have treated many people with this disorder in my practice," she said.
Depression, also called major depressive disorder or clinical depression, is the most prevalent mood disorder in the United States and the world, affecting 8-10 percent of the general population at any given time, with every fourth person likely to experience the condition over the course of a lifetime.
"It's the No. 1 reason for absenteeism at work, and one of the leading causes of suicide," Rasgon said. "Worse, current pharmacological treatments are effective for only about 50 percent of the people for whom they're prescribed. And they have numerous side effects, often decreasing long term compliance."
Rasgon shares senior authorship of the study with Bruce McEwen, PhD, professor and chief of the Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology at The Rockefeller University in New York City. The lead author is Carla Nasca, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar in McEwen's lab.
Results in animal studies "In rodent experiments led by Dr. Nasca both here at Rockefeller and elsewhere previously, a deficiency of acetyl-L-carnitine was associated with depression-like behavior," McEwen said. Oral or intravenous administration of acetyl-L-carnitine reversed the animals' symptoms and restored their normal behavior, he said.
In those studies, the animals responded to acetyl-L-carnitine supplementation within a few days. Current antidepressants, in contrast, typically take two to four weeks to kick in -- in animal experiments as well as among patients.
Nasca's animal studies suggest that acetyl-L-carnitine, a crucial mediator of fat metabolism and energy production throughout the body, plays a special role in the brain, where it works at least in part by preventing the excessive firing of excitatory nerve cells in brain regions called the hippocampus and frontal cortex.
The new study, also initiated by Nasca, recruited 20- to 70-year-old men and women who had been diagnosed with depression and, amid episodes of acute depression, had been admitted to either Weill Cornell Medicine or Mount Sinai School of Medicine, both in New York City, for treatment. These participants were screened via a detailed questionnaire and assessed clinically, and their blood samples and medical histories were taken. Twenty-eight of them were judged to have moderate depression, and 43 had severe depression.
In comparing their blood samples with those of 45 demographically matched healthy people, the depressed patients' acetyl-L-carnitine blood levels were found to be substantially lower. These findings held true for both men and women, regardless of age.
Lowest levels = worst symptoms Further analysis showed that the lowest levels occurred among participants whose symptoms were most severe, whose medical histories indicated they were resistant to previous treatments, or whose onset of the disorder occurred early in life. Acetyl-L-carnitine levels were also lower among those patients reporting a childhood history of abuse, neglect, poverty or exposure to violence.
These patients, who collectively account for 25-30 percent of all people with major depression disorder, are precisely the ones most in need of effective pharmacological interventions, said Rasgon, who performed the bulk of the advanced data analysis for the study.
But she cautioned against rushing to the store to pick up a bottle of acetyl-L-carnitine and self-medicating for depression. "We have many previous examples of how nutritional supplements widely available over the counter and unregulated by the Food and Drug Administration -- for example, omega-3 fatty acids or various herbal substances -- are touted as panaceas for you-name-it, and then don't pan out," she said.
Big questions remain, she added. "We've identified an important new biomarker of major depression disorder. We didn't test whether supplementing with that substance could actually improve patients' symptoms. What's the appropriate dose, frequency, duration? We need to answer many questions before proceeding with recommendations, yet. This is the first step toward developing that knowledge, which will require large-scale, carefully controlled clinical trials."

Pungent tasting substance in ginger reduces bad breath

Citric acid makes salty foods taste less salty.

The pungent compound 6-gingerol, a constituent of ginger, stimulates an enzyme contained in saliva - an enzyme which breaks down foul-smelling substances. It thus ensures fresh breath and a better aftertaste. Citric acid, on the other hand, increases the sodium ion content of saliva, making salty foods taste less salty. To find out more about food components, a team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Leibniz- Institute for Food Systems Biology investigated the effects of food components on the molecules dissolved in saliva.
Many food components contribute directly to the characteristic taste of food and beverages by means of contributing their own particular taste, scent or spiciness. However, they also indirectly influence our sense of taste via other, still largely unknown biochemical mechanisms. A team led by Professor Thomas Hofmann from the Chair of Food Chemistry and Molecular Sensory Science has now investigated this phenomenon in greater detail.
6-Gingerol ensures fresh breath As the results of this study show, the pungent principle of ginger, the so-called 6-gingerol, makes the level of the enzyme sulfhydryl oxidase 1 in saliva increase 16-fold within a few seconds. The saliva and breath analyses carried out on human volunteers show that the enzyme breaks down malodorous sulfur-containing compounds. In this way, it is able to reduce the long-lasting aftertaste of many foods such as coffee. "As a result, our breath also smells better," explains Prof. Hofmann, who headed the study. The mechanism discovered could contribute to the future development of new oral hygiene products, says the head of the Leibniz- Institute for Food Systems Biology at the TUM.
Citric acid reduces our perception of saltiness According to the study, citric acid influences our perception of taste through a completely different mechanism. As everyone knows from personal experience, sour foods such as lemon juice stimulate salivation. The amount of minerals dissolved in saliva also increases in proportion to the amount of saliva.
According to Prof. Hofmann, the sodium ion level in saliva rises rapidly by approximately a factor of eleven after stimulation with citric acid. This effect makes us less sensitive to table salt. The food chemist explains: "Table salt is nothing other than sodium chloride, and sodium ions play a key role in the taste of salt. If saliva already contains higher concentrations of sodium ions, samples tasted must have a significantly higher salt content in order to taste comparatively salty."
Hofmann believes that a great deal of research still needs to be done in order to understand the complex interaction between the molecules in food that create taste, the biochemical processes that take place in saliva and our sense of taste. Using a systems biology approach, Hofmann aims to develop a new scientific basis for the production of food with component and functional profiles that satisfy the health and sensory needs of consumers. To this end, he and his team are combining biomolecular research methods with high-performance analytical technologies and bioinformatics methods.

Smaller plates don't help you eat less when you're hungry

Tricking the brain into eating less by serving food on a smaller plate doesn't necessarily work, according a new study by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers, who found that when people are food-deprived, they're more likely to identify a portion size accurately, no matter how it is served.

The new study, published in Appetite, debunks the popular diet trick based on the Delbouef illusion that predicts people will identify sizes differently when they are placed within a larger or smaller object. The classic experiment shows that people perceive a similar black circle is smaller when it embedded in a larger circle than when it is embedded in a smaller one.

"Plate size doesn't matter as much as we think it does," says Dr. Tzvi Ganel, head of the Laboratory for Visual Perception and Action in BGU's Department of Psychology. "Even if you're hungry and haven't eaten, or are trying to cut back on portions, a serving looks similar whether it fills a smaller plate or is surrounded by empty space on a larger one."

In the first study to examine the way food deprivation affects perception of food in different contexts, Dr. Ganel and BGU Ph.D. student Noa Zitron-Emanuel found that people who hadn't eaten for at least three hours were more likely to identify the proportions of pizza placed on larger and smaller trays correctly than people who had eaten recently.

This only worked when it applied to food. Both groups were similarly inaccurate when asked to compare the size of black circles and hubcaps placed within different sized circles. According to the researchers, this indicates that hunger stimulates stronger analytic processing that is not as easily fooled by the illusion.
"Over the last decade, restaurants and other food businesses have been using progressively smaller dishes to conform to the perceptual bias that it will reduce food consumption," says Dr. Ganel. "This study debunks that notion. When people are hungry, especially when dieting, they are less likely to be fooled by the plate size, more likely to realize they are eating less and more prone to overeating later."

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About American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (AABGU) plays a vital role in sustaining David Ben-Gurion's vision: creating a world-class institution of education and research in the Israeli desert, nurturing the Negev community and sharing the University's expertise locally and around the globe. As Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) looks ahead to turning 50 in 2020, AABGU imagines a future that goes beyond the walls of academia. It is a future where BGU invents a new world and inspires a vision for a stronger Israel and its next generation of leaders. Together with supporters, AABGU will help the University foster excellence in teaching, research and outreach to the communities of the Negev for the next 50 years and beyond. Visit vision.aabgu.org to learn more.
AABGU, headquartered in Manhattan, has nine regional offices throughout the United States. For more information visithttps://aabgu.org/.
Photo Caption:
A perceptual illusion: The size of the pizza on both trays is the same. People are more likely to estimate the relative sizes of the pizzas on the two trays more accurately when they are hungry. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev researchers used these common Delboeuf illusion comparisons to test study participants. Even though the inner circles are all the same size, most people perceive the non-food images (diagram 1) with the smaller background to be larger. When it applied to food, those who were hungry were less likely to be fooled by the illusion (diagram 2).
Click here for diagram 1
Click here for diagram 2

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Friday, July 27, 2018

Plant-based diet lowers many risk factors for heart disease

University of Toronto researchers have found that the portfolio diet, a plant-based way of eating previously shown to lower cholesterol levels, reduces other risk factors for cardiovascular disease including blood pressure, triglycerides and inflammation.

In addition to reducing LDL (or 'bad') cholesterol by about 30 per cent when combined with a low-saturated fat diet -- a level comparable to medications -- the researchers found the diet limited other factors for an estimated 13 per cent reduction in the overall risk for coronary heart disease, which includes angina and heart attack.

"We've known the portfolio diet lowers LDL cholesterol, but we didn't have a clear picture of what else it could do," says John Sievenpiper, an associate professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at U of T and a staff physician and scientist at St. Michael's Hospital. "This study allows for greater clarity and certainty about the effects of the diet and its health potential."

The researchers conducted a meta-analysis that combined results from seven controlled trials involving more than 400 patients, and found that specific risk factors varied from about a 2 per cent reduction (for blood pressure) to a 32 per cent reduction (for inflammation). The journal Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases published the results today.

"When you look at individual trials alone, data on these other risk factors can appear random," says David Jenkins, a professor in the Departments of Nutritional Sciences and Medicine at U of T who holds a Canada Research Chair in Nutrition and Metabolism, and who developed the portfolio diet in the early 2000s. "But when you pool the results of several trials, the risk reductions become clear and together they provide a really strong case for the cardiovascular benefits of the dietary portfolio."
The portfolio diet has four main components. Based on a 2,000 calorie diet, it includes 45 grams of nuts, or about a handful; 50 grams of plant protein such as soy, or pulses like beans and peas; 20 grams of viscous soluble fibre from oats, eggplant, apples, etc.; and 2 grams of plant sterols -- natural compounds that inhibit absorption of cholesterol and are often included in enriched products like margarine.
Dietary and lifestyle modifications can enable patients to manage high cholesterol and cardiovascular risk, and the current study provides further rationale for that approach. "We're starting to say to patients, 'This diet will help you meet your cholesterol goals, but it will also improve your blood lipids and blood pressure, and lower inflammation,'" says Sievenpiper. "The same is not true for drugs, and they often produce other effects you don't want."
Adherence to the diet can be challenging for some patients, but many find that incorporating just a few more plant-based foods offers noticeable benefits. "One nice thing about the diet is that the effects are additive, so adopting one or more components is better than none. It's not an all or nothing proposition, which is why we also call it a dietary portfolio," says Sievenpiper.
The study's findings on inflammation are particularly exciting, Jenkins says. Growing evidence suggests inflammation plays a role in cardiovascular disease, but recent studies have linked it to a host of other diseases, including cancer. "Especially with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, prostate cancer, and other watch-and-wait diseases, reducing inflammation may greatly extend a patient's lifetime," says Jenkins.
Some patients also choose the portfolio diet for ethical and environmental reasons -- plant-based diets generally have a smaller eco-footprint than standard Western diets -- or in the case of children, to head-off future health problems. "Cardiovascular and other health risk factors can be elevated in children, and we're learning that early intervention is really important for them," says Sievenpiper, who is also a scientist in the Joannah & Brian Lawson Centre for Child Nutrition. "There are many reasons to consider this diet, from its planetary significance to health across the lifespan."

Adherence to healthy diets associated with lower cancer risk

An analysis of four nutritional scores showed biggest benefit from diet that discourages alcohol

American Association for Cancer Research

Bottom Line: A diet that encourages both healthy eating and physical activity and discourages alcohol consumption was associated with a reduced overall cancer risk, as well as lower breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer risks.
Journal in Which the Study was Published: Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Authors: Mathilde Touvier, MSc, MPH, PhD, head of the Nutritional Epidemiology Research Team (EREN) of the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm), University of Paris 13, and Bernard Srour, PharmD, MPH, and PhD candidate in nutritional epidemiology at EREN-Inserm.
Background: "Among all risk factors for cancer (besides tobacco), nutrition and physical activity are modifiable lifestyle factors which can contribute to cancer risk," said Touvier.
"The World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research (WCRF/AICR) estimated that in developed countries, around 35 percent of breast cancers and 45 percent of colorectal cancers could be avoided by better adherence to nutritional recommendations. It is, therefore, very important to investigate the role of nutrition in cancer prevention," added Srour.

In order to encourage healthy eating, many organizations have issued dietary recommendations, and this study evaluated three previously validated nutritional recommendations: The WCRF/AICR score; the Alternate Healthy Eating Index; and the French Nutrition and Health Program-Guidelines Score, plus one relatively new index, the MEDI-LITE score, which measures adherence to a Mediterranean diet. Researchers found that all the diets were associated with some reduced risk, but the WCRF/AICR recommendations, developed specifically with cancer prevention in mind, had the strongest association with reduced risk.

How the Study Was Conducted and Results: In order to examine links between the four nutritional indices and cancer risk, Srour, Touvier, and colleagues drew data from the NutriNet-Santé study, launched in 2009 to investigate associations between nutrition and health in a French cohort. This study included a large sample of 41,543 participants aged 40 or older, who had never been diagnosed with cancer prior to inclusion in the study. The participants completed web-based dietary records every six months, in which they detailed all foods and beverages consumed during a 24-hour period. The researchers then calculated their adherence to each of the four nutritional scores in the study.
Between May 2009 and Jan. 1, 2017, 1,489 cancer cases were diagnosed in the study participants, including 488 breast cancers, 222 prostate cancers, and 118 colorectal cancers. The researchers used multivariable Cox proportional hazard models to characterize the associations between each nutritional score and cancer risk.
The study showed that a one-point increase in the WCRF/AICR score was associated with a 12 percent decrease in overall cancer risk; a 14 percent decrease in breast cancer risk, and a 12 percent decrease in prostate cancer risk.
Adherence to the other diets was also associated with reduced cancer risk, but the WCRF/AICR index demonstrated greater statistical strength and a better predictive performance, Srour and Touvier said. For that reason, and because the other three diets were not specifically designed for cancer prevention, the researchers conducted further analysis on the WCRF/AICR scores, excluding certain components to evaluate the relative importance of each one.
Author Comment: The researchers concluded that the "synergistic contribution" of a healthy diet was more significant than any single dietary recommendation. For example, antioxidants from fruits and vegetables may contribute to counteract some of the oxidative damage to the DNA caused by red meat and processed meat, and exercise could lower blood pressure, partly counteracting the effects of high-sodium foods.
"This emphasizes the role of an overall healthy lifestyle--nutrition and physical activity and alcohol avoidance--in cancer prevention," Srour said. "It is, therefore, important to keep in mind that every lifestyle factor counts and it is never too late to adopt a healthy lifestyle."
Srour and Touvier said the WCRF/AICR recommendation to avoid alcohol most likely contributed to that diet's role in reducing cancer risk. They said the findings in this study augment recent research that implicates alcohol as a risk factor in many cancers.
"In its last report, the WCRF stated that there is now strong, convincing evidence that alcohol consumption increases the risks of oropharyngeal, esophagus, liver, colorectal, and post-menopausal breast cancers," Touvier said, adding that there are also apparent links to stomach and premenopausal breast cancers.
Limitations: Because it is based on volunteer participation, this study may have overrepresented women, people with health-conscious behaviors, and those with higher socioeconomic and educational levels. As a result, some unhealthy behaviors may have been underrepresented, and the associations between healthy diets and cancer prevention may be stronger than indicated.
Because previous research has shown that the French consume more fruits and vegetables and fewer sugary beverages and processed foods than the American population, the authors said adhering to the WCRF/AICR recommendations would likely yield more dramatic results in an American population.

Thursday, July 26, 2018

Aging can make it more difficult to swallow

As adults age, they all experience a natural loss of muscle mass and function. A new study finds that as the loss of muscle and function in the throat occurs it becomes more difficult for efficient constriction to occur while swallowing - which leads to an increased chance of food and liquids being left over in the throat.

The study, published in Dysphagia by Sonja M. Molfenter, an assistant professor of communicative sciences and disorders at New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, and her colleagues, helps to explain why 15 percent of seniors' experience dysphagia, or difficulty swallowing.

Among other health issues, swallowing difficulties can lead to malnutrition, dehydration and pneumonia - from food and drinks being misdirected into the lungs. Swallowing difficulties can also have a financial impact. Other studies have demonstrated that when patients with dysphagia are admitted to the hospital, they normally experience a 40 percent longer length-of-stay than those without dysphagia - estimated to cost $547,000,000 per year.

Molfenter and her colleagues noted that dysphagia in older adults is particularly relevant as the proportion of seniors in the United States is projected to increase to over 20 percent by 2030.
"Dysphagia has serious consequences for health and quality of life," said Molfenter, the study's lead author. "This research establishes the need for exercise programs for older adults that target throat muscles just like those that target the muscles of the arms, legs and other parts of the human body."

Mind-body therapies can help teens with anxiety

Mind-body therapies - biofeedback, mindfulness, yoga, and hypnosis - provide a promising approach to the very common problem of anxiety in adolescents, according to a review in the March issue of The Nurse Practitioner. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer

"A growing body of evidence supports the implementation of mind-body therapy as a low-risk and cost-effective strategy in the management of anxious teenagers," write Bernadette Fulweiler RN, MSN, CPNP-PC, and Rita Marie John DNP, EdD, CPNP-PC, DCC, of Columbia University School of Nursing, New York. They highlight the role of pediatric nurse practitioners (NPs) in integrating screening and treatment for adolescents with anxiety.

Mind-Body Therapies - Promising Approach to Dealing with Teen Anxiety

Anxiety affects approximately one-third of US adolescents, with more than eight percent experiencing severe impairment in daily functioning. "Whereas anxiety and fear are typical reactions to the academic, social, and developmental challenges common during the adolescent years, clinical or pathological anxiety is excessive, persistent, and disruptive," according to the authors. While anxiety is often situational and time-limited, many teens develop chronic anxiety lasting six months or longer.

But currently recommended treatments for adolescent anxiety - cognitive behavioral therapy and/or antidepressant medications - have important limitations. They are expensive, often difficult to obtain, and in the case of antidepressants, can have side effects. Studies suggest that most adolescents with mental health disorders, especially anxiety disorders, do not receive any form of mental health care.
"Mind-body therapies encompass self-regulation and positive thinking...to help promote self-control, physical health, and emotional well-being," Ms. Fulweiler and Dr. John write. They reviewed and analyzed published research on mind-body therapy for anxiety in teens, focusing on four approaches:

Biofeedback techniques enable individuals to increase self-awareness and physical control through feedback on biological measures. The review identified four studies of biofeedback approaches, showing significant reductions in anxiety and stress in teens receiving heart-rate variability (HRV) monitoring and video game-based biofeedback.
Mindfulness techniques incorporate aspects of meditation, body scanning, and mindful breathing to help focus attention on the present moment and separate from negative thoughts. Six studies showed positive effects of mindfulness approaches for teens with anxiety, including school-based programs in high-risk populations
Yoga is one of the most popular mind-body therapies, with positive physical and mental effects including reduced anxiety. "Low in cost, easy to implement, and accessible to individuals of all physical fitness levels, yoga has become an increasingly popular anxiety management tool," the authors write. They cite five studies, including four randomized trials, reporting positive effects of yoga in school settings.
Hypnosis incorporates imagery and relaxation techniques to help control stress responses. The review identified three studies of hypnosis techniques to reduce stress in adolescents, including a telehypnosis intervention to reduce anxiety-related absences in high school students.

Mind-body therapies can help to meet the "dire need" for affordable and accessible mental health strategies in pediatric primary care, Ms. Fulweiler and Dr. John believe. But they note some persistent barriers to integrating mind-body medicine in primary care, including constraints on time, finances, and administrative support.

Nurse practitioners can play a vital role in screening for anxiety in adolescent patients at every health visit and creating a personalized plan to combat anxiety, when present. While NPs are highly supportive of complementary and alternative medicine practices, they need ongoing education regarding the benefits and methods of integrating mind-body medicine into patient care.

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Click here to read "Mind and body practices in the treatment of adolescent anxiety"

Driving behavior in early Alzheimer's disease

Driving is a complex task that involves perceptual, motor and cognitive abilities. These abilities may be affected in early Alzheimer Disease (AD) patients. Nevertheless, they continue to drive for more years than people with other dementia syndromes perhaps because of a deficit in self-awareness that prevents them from perceiving their driving difficulties and adapting accordingly. The purpose of the present pilot study was to closely examine the self-regulation behavior of older individuals with AD using a naturalistic driving approach.

In order to explore AD and healthy older drivers, a video recording device was placed behind the rear-view mirror of each driver's vehicle. Twenty patients with early-stage Alzheimer's disease and twenty-one healthy older adults were included in the study. Two expert psychologists assessed driving performance using a specially designed Naturalistic Driving Assessment Scale (NaDAS), paying particular attention to self-regulation behavior (capacity to adapt driving speed, respect safe distances, change lanes correctly, and appropriately anticipate or plan actions. All critical safety events (accident, near-accident, incident) were also recorded.

The results showed that self-regulation behavior was poorer in AD patients than in healthy older drivers. Lower self-regulation reflects a reduced capacity to adapt driving speed, ensure safe distances, change lanes, and appropriately anticipate or plan actions. Moreover, AD patients experienced twice as many critical events as healthy older drivers. Several naturalistic driving studies have demonstrated that the number of critical events is associated with accident risk. Interestingly, two thirds of critical events were considered "unaware" events, which means the driver was observed to have no clear reaction during the critical event. AD patients who exhibited the worst self-regulation had the most critical events. This relationship between a high number of critical events and poorer self-regulation behavior has not been demonstrated previously.

One limitation of this study is the sample size. However, studies of naturalistic driving generally have low numbers of participants. Moreover, researchers took into account and analyzed the full recordings of each participant, unlike many prior studies that only analyzed samples from recordings. Investigators could have used an automated analysis method, such as those used in recent naturalistic driving studies that actively used objective outcomes that are not reliant upon raters. However, since automatic detection is performed based on behavioral responses and facial expressions, numerous critical events, especially unaware critical events, for which no behavioral reaction is visible, could go unnoticed.

Future deployment of assistance systems in vehicles should specifically target tactical components in order to help drivers suffering from cognitive deficits. It would be interesting to study how these systems are perceived by older drivers. Test systems could be integrated by manufacturers into driving simulators.

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Overweight drinkers live the longest

Making it past 90 years old may boil down to drinking a couple of glasses of alcohol a night, according to a study on members of the oldest demographic in the U.S.

The 90+ Study, started in 2003, focuses on the fastest growing age group in America – the "oldest-old" – to determine what habits lead to quantity and quality of life, according to its website. This year, researchers at the Clinic for Aging Research and Education in Laguna Woods, California, focused on what food, activities and lifestyles are commonly featured among those living longer.

Analyzing more than 1,600 nonagenarians, the study results showed that people who drank two glasses of beer or wine a day improved their odds of living longer than those who abstained by about 18 percent.

Dr. Claudia Kawas, a neurology specialist and head of the 90+ Study at the University of California, presented her findings at the American Association for the Advancement of Science's annual conference in Austin, Texas, on Feb. 17.

“I have no explanation for it, but I do firmly believe that modest drinking improves longevity,” Kawas said in her keynote address.

Exercising regularly and partaking in a hobby for two hours a day were also associated with longer lives. Surprisingly, people who were overweight, but not obese, in their 70s lived longer than normal or underweight people did.

"It’s not bad to be skinny when you’re young, but it’s very bad to be skinny when you’re old,” Kawas said at the meeting.

Feel lightheaded when standing up? You may have a greater risk of dementia

People who feel faint, dizzy or lightheaded when standing up may be experiencing a sudden drop in blood pressure called orthostatic hypotension. Now a new study says middle-aged people who experience such a drop may have a greater risk of developing dementia or stroke decades later. The study is published in the July 25, 2018, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

"Orthostatic hypotension has been linked to heart disease, fainting and falls, so we wanted to conduct a large study to determine if this form of low blood pressure was also linked to problems in the brain, specifically dementia," said study author Andreea Rawlings, PhD, MS, of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Md.

For this study, low blood pressure upon standing was defined as a drop of at least 20 millimeters of mercury (mmHg) in systolic blood pressure, which is the pressure in the blood vessels when the heart beats, or at least 10 mmHg in diastolic blood pressure, the pressure when the heart is at rest. Normal blood pressure is less than 120/80 mmHg.

The study involved 11,709 people with an average age of 54 who were followed for an average of 25 years. Participants met with researchers up to five times over the course of the study. None had a history of heart disease or stroke at the beginning of the study.

During the initial exam, participants were screened for orthostatic hypotension. They were instructed to lie down for 20 minutes and then stand up in a smooth, swift motion. Blood pressure was taken five times upon standing. Researchers determined the average of the readings and then calculated the difference from the participant's average resting blood pressure. Researchers determined that 552 participants, or 4.7 percent, had orthostatic hypotension at the start of the study.
Researchers monitored participants throughout the study for dementia and stroke with study visits and by reviewing medical records. During the study, 1,068 people developed dementia and 842 people had an ischemic stroke, which is a stroke where blood flow is blocked to part of the brain.
Researchers found those who had orthostatic hypotension at the beginning of the study had a 54 percent higher risk of developing dementia than those who did not have orthostatic hypotension at the beginning of the study. A total of 999 of the 11,156 without orthostatic hypotension, or 9 percent, developed dementia, compared to 69 of the 552 people with orthostatic hypotension, or 12.5 percent.
In addition, those with orthostatic hypotension had twice the risk of ischemic stroke. A total of 15.2 percent, or 84 of 552 people, with orthostatic hypotension had an ischemic stroke, compared to 6.8 percent, or 758 of 11,157 people without orthostatic hypotension. There was no association with bleeding strokes.
"Measuring orthostatic hypotension in middle-age may be a new way to identify people who need to be carefully monitored for dementia or stroke," said Rawlings. "More studies are needed to clarify what may be causing these links as well as to investigate possible prevention strategies."

Intensive blood pressure control reduces risk of mild cognitive impairment

Significant reductions in the risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI)*, and the combination of MCI and dementia**, have been shown for the first time through aggressive lowering of systolic blood pressure in new research results from the federally-funded SPRINT MIND Study reported at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) 2018 in Chicago.

"This is the first randomized clinical trial to demonstrate a reduction in new cases of MCI alone and the combined risk of MCI plus all-cause dementia," said Jeff D. Williamson, MD, MHS, Professor of Internal Medicine and Epidemiology and Chief, Section on Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine at Wake Forest School of Medicine. Williamson reported these results at AAIC 2018.

The results of this large-scale, long-term clinical trial provide the strongest evidence to date about reducing risk of MCI and dementia through the treatment of high blood pressure, which is one of the leading causes of cardiovascular disease worldwide.

"This study shows more conclusively than ever before that there are things you can do -- especially regarding cardiovascular disease risk factors -- to reduce your risk of MCI and dementia," said Maria C. Carrillo, PhD, Alzheimer's Association Chief Science Officer. "To reduce new cases of MCI and dementia globally we must do everything we can -- as professionals and individuals -- to reduce blood pressure to the levels indicated in this study, which we know is beneficial to cardiovascular risk."

Carrillo pointed out that these results fit well with recent population data showing reductions in new cases of dementia in developed Western cultures. These lower rates of dementia may be occurring as these societies have begun to improve control of cardiovascular disease risk factors through medication management, reducing smoking, and greater awareness of healthy lifestyle.
"The future of reducing MCI and dementia could be in treating the whole person with a combination of drugs and modifiable risk factor interventions -- as we do now in heart disease," Carrillo suggested. "These new blood pressure findings raise our level of anticipation for the U.S. POINTER Study, which includes managing cardiovascular disease risk factors as part of the multi-component lifestyle intervention."
The Alzheimer's Association U.S. Study to Protect Brain Health Through Lifestyle Intervention to Reduce Risk (U.S. POINTER) is a two-year clinical trial funded by the Alzheimer's Association to evaluate whether lifestyle interventions can protect cognitive function in older adults at increased risk for cognitive decline. The interventions include physical exercise, nutritional counseling and modification, cognitive and social stimulation, and improved self-management of health status.
Intensive Blood Pressure Control Significantly Reduces New Cases of MCI, and Combined Risk of MCI and Dementia: SPRINT MIND Study
At AAIC 2018, Williamson and colleagues reported preliminary results related to risk of dementia and cognitive decline from the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT). SPRINT is a randomized clinical trial that compared two strategies for managing high blood pressure (hypertension) in older adults: an intensive strategy with a systolic blood pressure goal of less than 120 mm Hg versus a standard care strategy targeting a systolic blood pressure goal of less than 140 mm Hg. Previously, SPRINT demonstrated that more intensive blood pressure control reduced the risk for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality (NEJM, 11-26-15). SPRINT helped inform the 2017 American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology high blood pressure clinical guidelines.
SPRINT Memory and Cognition IN Decreased Hypertension (SPRINT MIND) examined whether treating to the lower blood pressure target reduces the risk of developing dementia and/or MCI, and reduces the total volume of white matter lesions in the brain as shown by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Study participants were 9,361 hypertensive older adults with increased cardiovascular risk (based on the Framingham risk score) but without diagnosed diabetes, dementia or prior stroke. Participant mean age was 67.9 years (35.6% women) and 8,626 (92.1%) completed at least one follow-up cognitive assessment. In SPRINT MIND, the primary outcome was incident probable dementia. Secondary outcomes included MCI and a composite outcome of MCI and/or probable dementia. Each outcome was adjudicated by an expert panel blinded to who was in each treatment group.
Recruitment for SPRINT began in October 2010. At one year, mean systolic blood pressure was 121.4 mmHg in the intensive-treatment group and 136.2 mmHg in the standard treatment group. Treatment was stopped in August 2015 due to cardiovascular disease (CVD) benefit after a median follow up of 3.26 years, but cognitive assessment continued until June 2018.
Intervention -- According to NEJM, 11-26-15, "All major classes of antihypertensive agents were included in the formulary and were provided at no cost to the participants. SPRINT investigators could also prescribe other antihypertensive medications (not provided by the study). The protocol encouraged, but did not mandate, the use of drug classes with the strongest evidence for reduction in cardiovascular outcomes, including thiazide-type diuretics (encouraged as the first-line agent), loop diuretics (for participants with advanced chronic kidney disease), and beta-adrenergic blockers (for those with coronary artery disease)."
"Participants were seen monthly for the first 3 months and every 3 months thereafter. Medications for participants in the intensive-treatment group were adjusted on a monthly basis to target a systolic blood pressure of less than 120 mm Hg. For participants in the standard-treatment group, medications were adjusted to target a systolic blood pressure of 135 to 139 mm Hg, and the dose was reduced if systolic blood pressure was less than 130 mm Hg on a single visit or less than 135 mm Hg on two consecutive visits. ... Lifestyle modification was encouraged as part of the management strategy."
In SPRINT MIND, the researchers found a statistically significant 19 percent lower rate of new cases of MCI (p=0.01) in the intensive blood pressure treatment group. The combined outcome of MCI plus probable all-cause dementia was 15 percent lower (p=0.02) in the intensive versus standard treatment group. There was a non-significant reduction in probable dementia alone (HR=0.83, p=0.10). Adverse events -- According to NEJM, 11-26-15, "Serious adverse events occurred in 1793 participants in the intensive-treatment group (38.3%) and in 1736 participants in the standard-treatment group (37.1%) (hazard ratio with intensive treatment, 1.04; P=0.25). Serious adverse events of hypotension, syncope, electrolyte abnormalities, and acute kidney injury or acute renal failure, but not injurious falls or bradycardia, occurred more frequently in the intensive-treatment group than in the standard-treatment group. Orthostatic hypotension as assessed during a clinic visit was significantly less common in the intensive-treatment group. A total of 220 participants in the intensive-treatment group (4.7%) and 118 participants in the standard-treatment group (2.5%) had serious adverse events that were classified as possibly or definitely related to the intervention (hazard ratio, 1.88; P<0 .001="" 75="" according="" adverse="" age="" among="" and="" assignment="" but="" by="" cohort.="" did="" differ="" differences="" events="" group="" in="" magnitude="" not="" number="" of="" older="" or="" overall="" p="" participants="" pattern="" saes="" similar="" the="" those="" to="" treatment="" were="" years=""> "These results support the need to maintain well-controlled blood pressure, especially for persons over the age of 50," said Williamson. "A particular strength of SPRINT-MIND is that 30 percent of the participants were African American and 10 percent were Hispanic."
"This is something doctors and the majority of their community-dwelling patients with elevated blood pressure should be doing now to keep their hearts -- and brains -- healthier. These new results for maintaining cognitive health provide another strong rationale for starting and maintaining healthy lifestyle changes in mid-life," Williamson added.
SPRINT MIND MRI Results
In a related abstract reported at AAIC 2018, Ilya Nasrallah, MD, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, reported preliminary results from 673 participants in SPRINT MIND who were recruited for brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Primary outcomes included change in total white matter lesion (WML) volume and total brain volume (TBV). Follow-up MRIs were obtained for 454 (67.4%) participants at a median of 3.98 years post-randomization.
In this sub-study, WML volume increased in both treatment groups, however the increase was significantly less in the intensive treatment group. There was no significant difference in total brain volume change.
In the intensive treatment group, WML volume increased by 0.28 cm3 compared to 0.92 cm3 in the standard treatment group (mean difference=0.64 cm3, p=0.004).
TBV decreased by 27.3 cm3 in the intensive treatment group versus 24.8 cm3 in the standard treatment group (mean difference=2.54 cm3, p=0.16).
White matter lesions are frequently indicative of small vessel disease and linked to higher risk of stroke, dementia and higher mortality. While white matter lesions are thought to increase the risk of vascular dementia, they also may be a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. People living with dementia may have Alzheimer's disease and white matter lesions at the same time. Research has demonstrated that when people have more than one type of disease-related brain changes, the cognitive consequences are greater.
Genomic Analysis of Phase 2a Alzheimer's Study with ANAVEX®2-73 May Enable a Precision Medicine Approach "Precision medicine involves giving the right therapy to the right patient at the right time, customized to his or her specific biological makeup," says Professor Harald Hampel, MD, PhD, MA, MSc, AXA Research Fund & Sorbonne University Excellence Chair, Department of Neurology, Sorbonne University, Paris.
Precision medicine emphasizes the customization and individualization of healthcare, with treatments and practices tailored to the specific patient's situation and needs, often taking into account genes, environment, and lifestyle. Sometimes called personalized medicine, it is a common approach in cancer and respiratory diseases.
At AAIC 2018, Hampel and colleagues reported results of an innovative attempt to move a step closer to precision medicine in Alzheimer's therapy trials. Anavex Life Sciences (AVXL) conducted a 57-week Phase 2a study with ANAVEX®2-73, a selective sigma-1 receptor agonist, in 32 people with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease and analyzed the entire genome DNA and RNA of all study participants, resulting in the analysis of 33,311 genes and 860 pathways.
The company identified several genetic variants that impacted response to the drug, including SIGMAR1, which is ANAVEX®2-73's target, and COMT, a gene involved in memory function. They found further that excluding people with these variants (~20% of the study group) -- leaving about 80% of the population -- resulted in improved scores on gold standard tests of cognition (MMSE) and activities of daily living (ADCS-ADL) (p<0 .05="" p=""> Including participants with milder disease (baseline MMSE?20) and excluding those with a SIGMAR1 variant resulted in improvement of 1.7 MMSE and 3.9 ADCS-ADL at week 57. The additional exclusion of the COMT variant resulted in a score improvement of 2.0 MMSE and 4.9 ADCS-ADL at week 57.
"This study represents an exciting step forward, away from the 'magic bullet, one-size-fits-all' drug development in Alzheimer's, following the targeted therapy successes in the field of oncology," Hampel said. "Our vision is that a precision medicine approach will allow us to more precisely treat and prevent key features of the cause and progression of Alzheimer's. We are intrigued that several studies with this novel approach are now planned or underway."
According to the company, these patient selection markers will be implemented in an upcoming Phase 2b/3 study of ANAVEX®2-73.

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The Alzheimer's Association International Conference® (AAIC®)
The Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) is the world's largest gathering of researchers from around the world focused on Alzheimer's and other dementias. As a part of the Alzheimer's Association's research program, AAIC serves as a catalyst for generating new knowledge about dementia and fostering a vital, collegial research community.
AAIC 2018 home page: alz.org/aaic
AAIC 2018 newsroom: alz.org/aaic/press
About the Alzheimer's Association®
The Alzheimer's Association is the leading voluntary health organization in Alzheimer's care, support and research. Our mission is to eliminate Alzheimer's disease through the advancement of research, to provide and enhance care and support for all affected, and to reduce the risk of dementia through the promotion of brain health. Our vision is a world without Alzheimer's. Visit alz.org or call 800.272.3900.

Mediterranean diet associated with lower risk of, severity of psoriasis

In a new study in JAMA Dermatology 35,735 respondents who are part of an ongoing, observational web-based questionnaire study launched in 2009, of whom 3,557 reported they had psoriasis; the condition was severe in 878 cases and 299 news cases were recorded as those arising more than two years after inclusion in the study group.

Patients with severe psoriasis adhered less strongly to the Mediterranean diet, an eating plan filled with fruits and vegetables, legumes, cereals, bread, fish, fruit, nuts and extra-virgin olive oil.

Cognitive and motor training combined may slow dow progress of dementia or even reverse it

'Researchers at York University's Faculty of Health found that just 30 minutes of visually-guided movements per week can slow and even reverse the progress of dementia. Those in the early stages of dementia who were exposed to 30 minutes a week to a game which used rules to make visually-guided movements, were able to slow down the progress of dementia and for some, even reverse their cognitive function to healthy status.

Previous approaches have used cognitive training alone or aerobic exercise training alone. This study published in Dementia and Geriatric Disorders, is the first to investigate the impact of combining both types of approaches on cognitive function in elderly people with various degrees of cognitive defects.

"We found cognitive-motor integration training slows down the progress of dementia, and for those just showing symptoms of dementia, this training can actually revert them back to healthy status, stabilizing them functionally," says lead researcher, Lauren Sergio, professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Science and Centre for Vision Research at York University.

In the intervention study, a total of 37 elderly people located at senior centres, were divided into four groups based on their level of cognition. They completed a 16-week cognitive-motor training program that consisted of training sessions involving playing a videogame that required goal-directed hand movements on a computer tablet for 30 minutes a week. Before and after the training program, all participants completed a series of tests to establish their level of cognition and visuomotor skills. Sergio's team performed tests to evaluate cognitive function 14 days prior to and after the intervention period, respectively. Her team observed an overall change in all groups and, specifically, a significant improvement in measures of overall cognition in the sub average cognition group and the mild-to-moderate cognitive deficits group. "These results suggest that even in the earliest stages of neurodegeneration, the aging brain has enough neuroplasticity left that if you can train it on this kind of thinking and moving task, it will improve their cognitive skills," says Sergio. "The brain still possesses the functional capacities to form sufficient new synaptic connections to induce relevant changes on a systems level."
Sergio adds the findings suggest that repetitive cognitive-motor integration training may in fact strengthen the involved neural networks and improve cognitive and functional abilities. Researchers believe the frontal lobe is 'talking' to the motor control areas and this is what is paving the way for success.
The study further found that those in the severe cognitive deficits group who did 30 minutes of this eye-hand task did not decline in their cognitive deficits as expected, but instead stayed the same.
"Generally, you expect someone with severe dementia to have their cognitive function decline over five months, but in our study, they all stabilized."
Sergio says the findings show promise for those who have early-stage dementia because the approach is easy to administer remotely and shows more promise than the basic cognitive training.
York University champions new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Our students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-disciplinary programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning opportunities. York students and graduates push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world's most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. York U is an internationally recognized research university - our 11 faculties and 25 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide. Located in Toronto, York is the third largest university in Canada, with a strong community of 53,000 students, 7,000 faculty and administrative staff, and more than 300,000 alumni.

Contact sports associated with Lewy body disease, Parkinson's disease symptoms, dementia

There is mounting evidence that repetitive head impacts from contact sports and other exposures are associated with the neurodegenerative disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and dementia. A new study suggests that contact sports athletes may also be at increased risk for Lewy Body Disease, which can cause Parkinson's disease, a brain disorder that leads to problems with movement and thinking.

Since CTE was first described in "punch drunk" boxers in the 1920s, scientists have hypothesized that the motor symptoms that appear in a minority of CTE cases, including tremors, slowness and difficulty walking, were caused by CTE pathology.

But the new study published today suggests that those motor symptoms are instead caused by a separate disease, now also linked to contact sports participation, called Lewy body disease (LBD). LBD, which can lead to Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementia, is associated with problems with movement, cognition, depression, sleep, and visual hallucinations. This newfound relationship between contact sports and LBD appears to be independent of CTE pathology.

"We found the number of years an individual was exposed to contact sports, including football, ice hockey, and boxing, was associated with the development of neocortical LBD, and LBD, in turn, was associated with parkinsonism and dementia," explained corresponding author Thor Stein, MD, PhD, neuropathologist at VA Boston Healthcare System and assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM).

The research team, from BUSM and the VA Boston Healthcare System, examined 694 brains from three repositories, including the Veteran's Affairs-Boston University-Concussion Legacy Foundation (VA-BU-CLF) Brain Bank, BU Alzheimer's Disease Center, and the Framingham Heart Study.
The total years of contact sports play was linked to an increased risk of having LBD in the cortex of the brain. Those who played more than eight years of contact sports had the greatest risk of LBD, which was six times higher than those who played eight years or less. Clinically, athletes with both CTE and LBD were significantly more likely to have dementia and the symptoms of Parkinson's disease than those with CTE pathology alone.
The researchers have previously shown other brain changes are correlated with the total years of contact sports play. In prior studies, the number of years of tackle football participation was found to predict the severity of tau pathology in the dorsolateral frontal cortex and as well as CTE stage. Additionally, individuals with a history of repetitive head impacts and neuropathological diagnosis of CTE accumulate beta-amyloid (A?) at a younger age and at an accelerated rate compared to controls. The research builds upon previous research from other groups showing an association between concussion/traumatic brain injury and Parkinson's disease.
The new study advances our understanding of the consequences of repetitive head impacts in contact sports on the development of clinical symptoms and the pathology that underlies them. Further work is necessary to better define the risks associated with repetitive head impacts and neurodegeneration. The researchers would like to thank all the families who donated the brain of a loved one to make this study possible.

Sunscreen users receive less than half the sun protection they think

Researchers from King's College London have assessed just how much sun protection people actually receive, based on typical use. It is well known that people don't receive the full ultraviolet radiation blocking benefit of sunscreen, because they are applying it more thinly than manufacturers recommend. The findings are published in journal Acta Dermato-Venereology.

In the first experiment of its kind, the King's team assessed the DNA damage in the skin after lowering sunscreen application thickness below 2mg/cm2 -- the amount manufacturers use to achieve their SPF rating.
Results showed that sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 50, applied in a typical way, would at best provide 40% of the expected protection. The findings have prompted the King's team to suggest that consumers use a much higher SPF sunscreen than they think necessary, to ensure they're protected from sun damage.
As part of the research scientists divided a cohort of 16 fair-skinned volunteers into two groups of eight -- (three women and five men in each). One group received a single UVR exposure, to simulate sunlight, to areas treated with high SPF sunscreen of varying thickness, ranging from 0.75mg, through 1.3mg up to 2mg/cm2.
The other group received exposures on five consecutive days -- to mimic continuous holiday exposure. The amount of UVR exposure was varied during the course of the experiment, in order to replicate the conditions in holiday destinations, such as Tenerife, Florida and Brazil.
Biopsies of the UVR exposed areas of skin showed that, for the group that were repeatedly exposed to UVR, considerable DNA damage was found on the areas that received no sun protection, even though the UVR dose was very low.
Damage was reduced when sunscreen was applied at a thickness of 0.75mg/cm2 and considerably reduced when 2mg/cm2 of sunscreen was applied, even with much higher UVR doses.
Five days of exposure to high dose UVR with the sunscreen at 2mg/cm2 showed significantly less damage than just one day's low UVR dose exposure without sunscreen across all samples.
Report author, Professor Antony Young from King's College London said: 'There is no dispute that sunscreen provides important protection against the cancer causing impact of the sun's ultra violet rays. However, what this research shows is that the way sunscreen is applied plays an important role in determining how effective it is.
'Given that most people don't use sunscreens as tested as tested by manufacturers, it's better for people to use a much higher SPF than they think is necessary.
Nina Goad of the British Association of Dermatologists said: 'This research demonstrates why it's so important to choose an SPF of 30 or more. In theory, an SPF of 15 should be sufficient, but we know that in real-world situations, we need the additional protection offered by a higher SPF.
'It also shows why we shouldn't rely on sunscreen alone for sun protection, but we should also use clothing and shade. An extra consideration is that when we apply sunscreen, we are prone to missing patches of skin, as well as applying it too thinly.'

Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Omega-3s help keep kids out of trouble

Something as simple as a dietary supplement could reduce disruptive, even abusive behavior, according to newly released research by a team led by a UMass Lowell criminal justice professor.
Giving children omega-3 fatty acid supplements reduces disruptive behavior, which in turn had a positive effect on their parents, making them less likely to argue with each other and engage in other verbal abuse, according to Jill Portnoy, an assistant professor in UMass Lowell's School of Criminology and Justice Studies.

"This is a promising line of research because omega-3 fatty acids are thought to improve brain health in children and adults. There is more to be learned about the benefits, but if we can improve people's brain health and behavior in the process, that's a really big plus," said Portnoy, noting that a recent research review found that omega-3 supplements do not affect cardiovascular health.

The new research, published in the scholarly journal Aggressive Behavior, is just one example of how Portnoy is studying biological and social factors that can help explain and predict impulsive and risky behavior. The goal is to help determine effective ways to intervene before anti-social behavior escalates into crime.

That work takes Portnoy into the heart of the "nature versus nurture" debate - whether people who commit crimes have something in their physiological makeup that predisposes them to doing so or if social factors like abusive family situations lead them to it.
"Of course, it's both," she said, but exactly how is still to be determined. "Biology and social environment interact in complex ways that we're just beginning to figure out. Before we can design effective interventions, we need to do research to understand what's happening."
Portnoy is exploring such a connection through another research project that is looking at how a low resting heart rate may lead to anti-social behavior.
"My theory is that a low resting heart rate might be an acquired, adaptive trait: If you are subjected to chronic or frequent stress as a child, you adapt by lowering your heart rate. The lower heart rate protects you by blunting your reaction to stressful events, but it can also lead to stimulation-seeking behavior. In other words, a stressful environment may cause physiological changes that lead to an increase in aggressive and impulsive behavior, in addition to causing the behavior directly," she said.
Working with a counterpart at the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned her Ph.D. and taught before coming to UMass Lowell, Portnoy studied hundreds of youths in Pittsburgh, where she grew up. The researchers found that the youths with lower resting heart rates were more likely to act out as a form of sensation-seeking, including anti-social behavior, which can be especially problematic for individuals living where there are few options for positive forms of stimulation.
Portnoy, who now lives in Portsmouth, N.H., will continue her research on this topic this fall with the help of a dozen UMass Lowell undergrads who will intern with her on the Health, Stress and Behavior Study, researching the connection between stress, heart rate and behavior.
Through this study, Portnoy and her team will examine what she describes as a continuum of criminal behavior with the goal of finding new ways to prevent it.
"Many people break the law in small ways; for example, by driving a few miles over the speed limit. I'm interested in people who are behaving aggressively but not yet reaching the level of criminal behavior or maybe they're committing more serious crimes like theft or assault, but haven't been caught. They're still exacting a toll on society. And if we want to design more general social interventions, like teaching people healthier ways to adapt to stress, then we shouldn't just study those who get caught," said Portnoy.

Monday, July 23, 2018

Exercise cuts risk of chronic disease in older adults

New research has shown that older adults who exercise above current recommended levels have a reduced risk of developing chronic disease compared with those who do not exercise.
Researchers at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research interviewed more than 1,500 Australian adults aged over 50 and followed them over a 10-year period.

People who engaged in the highest levels of total physical activity were twice as lively to avoid stroke, heart disease, angina, cancer and diabetes, and be in optimal physical and mental shape 10 years later, experts found.

Lead Researcher Associate Professor Bamini Gopinath from the University of Sydney said the data showed that adults who did more than 5000 metabolic equivalent minutes (MET minutes) each week saw the greatest reduction in the risk of chronic disease.

"Essentially we found that older adults who did the most exercise were twice as likely to be disease-free and fully functional," she said.

"Our study showed that high levels of physical activity increase the likelihood of surviving an extra 10 years free from chronic diseases, mental impairment and disability."

Currently, the World Health Organization recommends at least 600 MET minutes of physical activity each week. That is equivalent to 150 minutes of brisk walking or 75 minutes of running.

"With aging demographics in most countries, a major challenge is how to increase the quality and years of healthy life," Associate Professor Gopinath said.

"Our findings suggest that physical activity levels need to be several times higher than what the World Health Organization currently recommends to significantly reduce the risk of chronic disease.
"Some older adults may not be able to engage in vigorous activity or high levels of physical activity.
"But we encourage older adults who are inactive to do some physical activity, and those who currently only engage in moderate exercise to incorporate more vigorous activity where possible," she concluded.

The research compiled data from the Blue Mountains Eye Study, a benchmark population-based study that started in 1992.

It is one of the world's largest epidemiology studies, measuring diet and lifestyle factors against health outcomes and a range of chronic diseases.

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The full paper is available online at Nature Scientific Reports: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-28526-3