Free Republic

"Do differences in metabolites in the brain affect our capacity for motivation?" asks Professor Carmen Sandi. "Could nutritional interventions that can affect metabolite levels be an effective vehicle to improve motivated performance?" Sandi's group published a study that shines light into answering that question. The researchers focused on an area deep into the brain called the "nucleus accumbens." The brain is often subjected to excessive oxidative stress from its neurometabolic processes—and the question for the researchers was whether antioxidant levels in the nucleus accumbens can affect motivation. To answer the question, the scientists looked at the brain's most important antioxidant,...

Antioxidants (Basel). 2020 Jul; 9(7): 624.Published online 2020 Jul 16. doi: 10.3390/antiox9070624PMCID: PMC7402141PMID: 32708578Francesca Silvagno,* Annamaria Vernone, and Gian Piero PescarmonaAuthor information Article notes Copyright and License information DisclaimerThis article has been cited by other articles in PMC. Go to:AbstractThe novel COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the world’s population differently: mostly in the presence of conditions such as aging, diabetes and hypertension the virus triggers a lethal cytokine storm and patients die from acute respiratory distress syndrome, whereas in many cases the disease has a mild or even asymptomatic progression. A common denominator in all conditions associated with COVID-19 appears...

The bacteria responsible for stomach ulcers have been linked to Parkinson's disease, according to researchers in the US. Mice infected with Helicobacter pylori went onto develop Parkinson's like symptoms. The study, presented at a meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, argues that infection could play "a significant role". The charity Parkinson's UK said the results should be treated with caution. Parkinson's disease affects the brain and results in slow movements and a tremor. Middle-aged mice, the equivalent of being between 55 and 65 in humans, were infected. Six months later they showed symptoms related to Parkinson's, such as reduced...

Vitamin C can impede the growth of some types of tumors although not in the way some scientists had suspected, researchers reported on Monday. The new research, published in the journal Cancer Cell, supported the general notion that vitamin C and other so-called antioxidants can slow tumor growth, but pointed to a mechanism different from the one many experts had suspected. The researchers generated encouraging results when giving vitamin C to mice that had been implanted with human cancer cells -- either the blood cancer lymphoma or prostate cancer. Another antioxidant, N-acetylcysteine, also limited tumor growth in the mice, the...