Keyword: medicalxpress
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Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disease that affects millions worldwide. Now, a groundbreaking clinical study has demonstrated the potential of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) to improve symptoms in patients with PD. Motoric symptoms, such as balance problems, stiffness, and the characteristic tremor, are the best known and almost always the reason for the eventual diagnosis. However, non-motor symptoms, such as loss of smell, constipation, and REM sleep disturbances, often develop up to 20 years before diagnosis in a large number of people with the disease. In Parkinson's disease, a protein called alpha-synuclein misfolds and clumps together. Those clumps...
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Alternate day fasting (ADF) has gained growing attention due to its dramatic effects on improving disordered metabolic parameters. However, the effects of ADF on atherosclerotic plaque formation remain inconsistent and controversial in atherosclerotic animal models. Using atherogenic mice, scientists have worked jointly and reported that ADF aggravated Western diet (WD)–induced atherosclerotic lesion formation, and they also validated that such effects were mediated by inhibiting the expression of hepatic activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3) under ADF intervention. The findings suggest the potentially harmful effects when ADF intervention is applied to the population at high risk of atherosclerosis. In this study, 11-week-old...
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Problems with iron levels in the blood and the body's ability to regulate this important nutrient as a result of SARS-CoV-2 infection could be a key trigger for long COVID, research has discovered. Researchers analyzed blood samples from 214 individuals. Approximately 45% of those questioned about their recovery reported symptoms of long COVID between three and ten months later. The team discovered that ongoing inflammation—a natural part of the immune response to infection—and low iron levels in blood, contributing to anemia and disrupting healthy red blood cell production, could be seen as early as two weeks post COVID-19 in those...
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Research suggests that the gut microbiome plays a pivotal role in the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), paving the way for new therapeutic treatments. Key discoveries include the identification of distinct gut bacteria associated with COPD and the potential effectiveness of fecal microbiota transfer (FMT) as a COPD treatment. The study also demonstrated improved outcomes for COPD patients through nutritional interventions tailored to the microorganisms found in the gut. "The gut hosts the largest and most diverse microbiome in the body that, depending upon its composition, can either trigger or inhibit inflammation, including in the lung," said Professor...
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Researchers have found that 670 nanometers (nm) of red light stimulated energy production within mitochondria, leading to increased consumption of glucose. In particular, it led to a 27.7% reduction in blood glucose levels following glucose intake, and it reduced maximum glucose spiking by 7.5%. Mitochondria provide energy for vital cellular processes, using oxygen and glucose to produce the energy-rich nucleoside adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Previous research has established that long-wavelength light between approximately 650–900 nm (spanning the visible through to the near-infrared range) can increase mitochondrial production of ATP which reduces blood glucose and also improves health/lifespan in animals. To explore...
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A new study found Kundalini yoga provided several benefits to cognition and memory for older women at risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, including restoring neural pathways, preventing brain matter decline, and reversing aging and inflammation-associated biomarkers—improvements not seen in a group who received standard memory training exercises. In the study, a group of more than 60 women ages 50 and older who had self-reported memory issues and cerebrovascular risk factors were recruited from a UCLA cardiology clinic. The women were divided evenly. The first group participated in weekly Kundalini yoga sessions for 12 weeks, while the other group underwent weekly...
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Scientists have identified a less stringent and more manageable alternative to traditional intermittent fasting, offering new possibilities for extending lifespan and promoting healthy aging. This novel method, involving short-term isoleucine deprivation, has shown remarkable results in fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster). The research found that intermittent, short-term omission of only the essential amino acid isoleucine from the diet significantly increases stress resistance and extends lifespan in fruit flies. "Unlike conventional intermittent fasting, this approach does not require drastic reductions in overall food intake, making it a more practical and feasible strategy," said Tahila Fulton. Previous research has shown that moderate restriction...
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Researchers have learned that by preserving large superficial leg veins intended for coronary bypass grafting in a mixture of the anticoagulant heparin and blood, rather than heparin and saline, the veins were better protected from cell and tissue damage. In severe cases of coronary artery disease, blood flow to the heart is impeded. Surgeons improve blood flow by using veins from the leg to reroute the blood flow in the heart. During these procedures, surgeons remove a section of vein and typically preserve it in a saline solution for two to four hours until it's needed. A decade or more...
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Recent advances in treating multiple myeloma and other blood malignancies are providing improved outcomes—and hope—to patients worldwide. But treatment breakthroughs such as the immunotherapy drug teclistamab can lead to potentially lethal side effects, including cytokine release syndrome (CRS). These potential side effects have necessitated giving immunotherapy drugs in the hospital setting. Now, new research indicates that providing prophylactic treatment before immunotherapy can significantly reduce the rate of CRS in multiple myeloma patients. The study could eliminate the need to administer teclistamab and other immunotherapies in hospitals. In a key clinical study, teclistamab produced an overall response rate of 63% in...
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Scientists wanted to investigate the anti-cancer properties of carnosine against cells derived from both primary and metastatic prostate cancer. Carnosine, which can be produced by the body and is also found in meat, has long been advocated for use as an antioxidant to facilitate healthy aging. There have been reports of carnosine being effective against the development of a number of different cancers but this is the first time it has been studied in relation to prostate cancer. The researchers found that carnosine stopped the cells from multiplying and at higher doses even killed cancer from both primary and metastatic...
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Millions of people with normal blood pressure may be misclassified as having blood pressure that is too high because of improper positioning when measurements are taken, research suggests. Guidelines call for a patient to be seated in a chair with feet flat on the floor, their back supported and the arm wearing the blood pressure cuff supported at heart level. Doing so helps ensure an accurate reading. But many health care professionals take blood pressure measurements while the patient is seated on an examining table, leaving their legs to dangle and their back and arm unsupported. Being misclassified with high...
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After a heart attack, elderly adults have better odds for improved health and survival if all major heart vessels are cleared, not just the one that caused the heart attack. Because these patients often have other medical conditions and may be frail, doctors frequently opt to open only the "culprit" blood vessel and leave other partially blocked vessels alone. But new research on more than 1,400 patients aged 75 and older found that clearing all these vessels lowers the one-year risk for death, having another heart attack or stroke, or needing another procedure. "What we found in the study is...
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Aging poses a number of challenges to the body's well-being, one of the most important being an increased susceptibility to multiple diseases, including urinary tract infections (UTIs). The connection between aging and more prevalent UTIs is not well understood, but now researchers have found an explanation. Compared to the younger counterpart, the aging urinary tract in animal models changes how it functions at the cellular level in ways that seem to favor the establishment and recurrence of UTIs. Furthermore, the researchers also found that the sugar D-mannose reduces the severity of aging-associated decline in urinary tract functionality, suggesting that this...
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Research has revealed how, in diabetics, high levels of blood sugar disrupt the function of key cell subsets in the lungs that regulate the immune response. It also identifies a potential strategy for reversing this susceptibility and saving lives. Prof. Eran Elinav's team subjected multiple mouse models of types 1 and 2 diabetes to a variety of viral lung infections. The immune reaction, which in nondiabetics eliminates the infection and drives tissue healing, was severely impaired in the diabetic mice, leading to uncontrolled infection, lung damage and eventual death. "High blood sugar levels severely disrupt certain subsets of dendritic cells...
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Hard-to-detect colorectal pre-cancerous lesions known as serrated polyps, and tumors that develop from them, depend heavily on tramped-up production of cholesterol, according to a preclinical study. The finding points to the possibility of using cholesterol-lowering drugs to prevent or treat such tumors. The researchers analyzed mice that develop serrated polyps and tumors. They confirmed their findings in analyses of human serrated polyps and tumors and showed in mouse models that replicate the human cancer that blocking cholesterol production prevented the progression of these types of intestinal tumors. Cholesterol is considered a pro-growth molecule. "Trials of statins to prevent colorectal cancer...
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Colorectal cancer (CRC) is expected to contribute to a burden of 3.2 million new cases and 1.6 million deaths by 2040. The authors open by discussing how microbes can be used to prevent CRC. Probiotics, when administered appropriately, enhance the intestinal barrier, modulate the hosts' immune response, remodel the gut microbial composition, and even induce targeted cancer cell death. The first-generation probiotics were formulations of lactic acid bacteria (LBA) from Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, Streptococcus, Enterococcus, Bacillus, Saccharomyces, and Bifidobacterium genera. On the other hand, next-generation probiotics (NGPs) incorporate microbes such as Bacteroides fragilis, Clostridium butyricum, Akkermansia muciniphila, and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii. Next,...
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A team of researchers argue that vitamin supplements can help prevent secondary strokes. They also advocate for the value of new technologies in eye research to verify these findings. Homocysteine is an amino acid associated with stroke and secondary stroke when elevated above normal levels. B vitamins and folate, also known as vitamin B9, can help lower levels of homocysteine and stroke, according to a peer-reviewed editorial. Elevated homocysteine is the result of genetic mutations or inadequate stores of vitamins B6, B12, folate and riboflavin (B2). Lowering it is relatively inexpensive because it can be achieved through vitamin supplementation. The...
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Eating in a ten-hour window is associated with higher energy and mood and lower hunger levels, results from the largest UK community science study of its kind shows. Intermittent fasting (IF), or restricting your food consumption to a set window, is a popular weight loss regime. A ten-hour window means limiting your daily eating schedule to ten hours and fasting for the remaining 14 hours. For example, if you eat your first bite at 9am, you must eat your last bite by 7pm. Despite some IF advocates commonly promoting restrictive eating windows as low as six hours, findings detailed in...
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Patients with ovarian cancer are 70% less likely to die three years after a multidisciplinary surgical approach is deployed, according to new research. The study on treating advanced ovarian cancer has found that aggressive surgery involving multiple specialists has a significant impact on survival rates. The work analyzed more than 300 patients separated into two cohorts treated between 2006 and 2015 and 2017 to 2021. In 2017, the Department of Gynecological Oncology at the Mater adopted an innovative approach to ovarian cancer surgery that saw collaboration between different surgical disciplines to perform operations focused on removing all visible tumors from...
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Inflammation is a risk factor for many chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease (CVD), and the impact of diet on inflammation is an area of growing scientific interest. In particular, recommendations to limit red meat consumption are often based, in part, on old studies suggesting that red meat negatively affects inflammation—yet more recent studies have not supported this. "The role of diet, including red meat, on inflammation and disease risk has not been adequately studied, which can lead to public health recommendations that are not based on strong evidence," said Dr. Alexis Wood. "Our team sought to take a closer look...
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