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3 weeks ago
Researchers have identified 14 biomarkers that, if atypical at birth, may increase an infant’s risk of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS—a condition that has long puzzled doctors. The study evaluated over 350 infants who died from SIDS and compared them to over 1,400 babies who did not die of SIDS. “We may be able to identify infants at increased risk for SIDS soon after birth,” the researchers at the University of California San Francisco wrote in their study. This would help with prevention. They also found that infants born to Hispanic and Asian mothers were at lowest risk of SIDS. SIDS is the sudden unexplained death of a newborn under one year of age. It usually occurs during sleep. Though the cause of SIDS is unknown, babies who die of SIDS are thought to have problems in the way they respond to stress and how they regulate their heart rate, breathing, and temperature. Babies that are male, are born prematurely, and have a genetic history of SIDS tend to be at a greater risk of SIDS, Dr. Joel “Gator” Warsh, a board-certified pediatrician who was not involved in the study, told The Epoch Times. 14 Metabolites Identified The 14 biomarkers identified […]
3 weeks ago
Pumping iron at the gym is only half the muscle-building battle. The adage “muscles are built in the kitchen” rings truer than ever. There are at least 6 proven nutritional strategies for building muscle. Foods and supplements you choose can amplify your workouts, turning efforts into visible results. With countless options available on the market, finding the most effective can be overwhelming. This guide cuts through the noise to help you fuel your body for optimal muscle growth. 1. Prioritize Protein Protein is the foundation of muscle health. It supplies the vital components for muscle tissue and drives muscle protein synthesis, which repairs and strengthens muscles after exercise. “Protein provides the essential building blocks your muscles need to repair, grow stronger, and get bigger, effectively complementing the hard work you put in during training,” Shawn Arent, professor of exercise science at the University of South Carolina, Arnold School of Public Health, said in an interview with The Epoch Times. Skeletal muscle constantly repairs and renews itself, with about 1 to 2 percent of myonuclei, the nuclei within muscle fibers, turning over each week. This cycle of breakdown and repair helps muscles grow stronger and larger with consistent exercise. The National Institutes […]
3 weeks ago
A tiny device, no bigger than a paper clip, may be improving the lives of heart failure patients. Implanted in the pulmonary artery, this wireless sensor allows doctors to detect fluid buildup weeks before symptoms appear. When the heart is unable to pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs, fluid builds up in the surrounding tissue. For millions suffering from congestive heart failure, this early warning system may mean fewer emergency room visits, reduced hospitalizations, and improved quality of life. I think it’s huge,” Dr. Liviu Klein, a cardiologist at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center, told The Epoch Times. “We have something now to avoid hospitalizations. If people are healthier at home, they live longer.” Though the term “heart failure” sounds like the heart has stopped working, the condition is chronic and can drag on for years, draining patients physically, emotionally, and financially. But the constant fear of the next crisis can overshadow everything else, Klein said. While CHF can not be cured, it can be managed with multiple medications, diet restrictions, and daily weight checks. Still, sometimes the patient struggles to breathe. “By the time they realize what’s happening, it’s already too late to […]
4 weeks ago
An animal study published in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity found that a COVID-19 infection may leave behind certain proteins, which can trigger the process that causes cortisol levels to drop. This results in increased inflammation and immune overreaction to stress. The effect on cortisol may underlie many changes associated with long COVID, which has many neurological and neuropsychological symptoms, such as brain fog, anxiety, sleep disturbances, fatigue, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. “Our study suggests that low cortisol could be playing a key role in driving many of these physiological changes that people are experiencing with long COVID,” lead author Matthew Frank, a senior research associate with the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Colorado at Boulder, said in a press release. The discovery brings science one step closer to understanding long COVID, which affects 10 to 35 percent of people after contracting an infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, according to the researchers. Lingering Proteins Link to Low Cortisol Researchers in the study noted several earlier experiments that led to their recent investigation. Prior findings included: Based on the above, the researchers theorized that spike proteins may produce physiological effects that prolong the duration or increase the magnitude of […]
1 month ago
More than half the world’s population is deficient in micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals, according to a new study. According to the results, published in Lancet Global Health journal, 99.3 percent of the global population is missing at least one important nutrient. The study collected data from 31 countries to estimate micronutrient consumption in 185 countries. “Our study is a big step forward,” Chris Free, research professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, UC Santa Barbara, and co-lead author, said. “Not only because it is the first to estimate inadequate micronutrient intakes for 34 age-sex groups in nearly every country, but also because it makes these methods and results easily accessible to researchers and practitioners.” Deficiencies in micronutrients harm health and can lead to various preventable health conditions, the researchers say. “Iron deficiency is the most common cause of anaemia, leading to impaired cognition and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Vitamin A deficiency is the leading cause of preventable blindness globally, affecting mostly children and pregnant women,” the authors wrote in their study. “These results are alarming,” Ty Beal, lead author of the study, said in a press release. “These gaps compromise health outcomes and limit human potential on a global scale.” The researchers […]
1 month ago
A study out of the University of Reading has found that a poor-quality diet of food choices may be associated with changes in the brain structure that are linked to mental health, depression and anxiety. This research provides new insights into the connection between what we eat and our mental well-being. While the authors did not find a direct association between brain changes and anxiety or depression, they did see an increase in rumination, a common risk factor of the two. What the Study Found The study is the first to examine the relationship between diet quality and brain neurochemistry in humans. Thirty adults were divided into two groups based on whether they followed a high- or low-quality diet. Participants in both groups were similar in age, gender, education, income, and caloric and macronutrient intake. The quality of the diet was defined by adherence to the Mediterranean diet. Participants reported how frequently they ate 130 different food items, their consumption frequency, and food intake habits. Screening questionnaires were administered to assess current depression, anxiety, and rumination levels. Whole brain MRI scans measured prefrontal cortex metabolite concentrations and gray matter volume. The study found that participants in the low-quality diet group had lower levels of GABA, higher levels […]
1 month ago
Exposing children to high levels of fluoride is “consistently associated” with lower IQ, and potentially other neurodevelopmental issues, according to a report by the National Toxicology Program (NTP). In 2016, NTP started a systematic review of scientific literature to ascertain links between fluoride and cognition. On Aug. 21, it published a report detailing its findings. A total of 72 studies reviewed in the report examined how fluoride exposure affected children’s IQ. Sixty-four of these studies found an “inverse association between estimated fluoride exposure and IQ in children,” meaning higher exposure was linked to lower IQ and vice versa. “This review finds, with moderate confidence, that higher estimated fluoride exposures … are consistently associated with lower IQ in children,” the report stated. NTP is a unit of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NTP defined high exposure as drinking water with fluoride concentrations that exceed the 1.5 mg/L limit set by the World Health Organization. The allowable limits in the United States are different. While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has set a threshold of 0.7 mg/L for fluoride presence in drinking water (including naturally occurring and added fluoride, or fluoridation), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has a limit of 2 mg/L. […]
1 month ago
A drug used to induce labor has the potential to protect the aging brain from a build-up of toxic waste implicated in neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s disease. In small doses, the hormone-mimicking compound prostaglandin F2α can be used to induce smooth muscle contractions in the womb to encourage delivery or help reduce blood loss after birth. In experiments on rats conducted by researchers from the University of Rochester in the US, the same treatment triggered muscle contractions not in the uterine wall but in the walls of the neck’s lymphatic vessels. These vessels, scientists have shown, are composed of tiny pulsing ‘pumps’, which push ‘dirty’ fluid from the brain into the neck’s lymph nodes for ‘clean-up’. The critical recycling system keeps the brain fit and healthy, but with age, it seems to suffer. Researchers at the University of Rochester have shown that in older rats, the lymph vessels that drain cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) do not pump with the same frequency or strength. Their many valves, which keep fluid draining in the right direction, also struggle to open and close properly. Compared to younger rats, researchers have found that older rats possess lymph vessels that drain CSF 63 percent slower. But perhaps that isn’t inevitable. Using prostaglandin F2α, researchers at Rochester […]
1 month ago
A new study has linked semaglutide, the active drug ingredient in weight-loss and diabetic drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic, to suicidal ideation. Researchers analyzed the World Health Organization’s (WHO) database for adverse drug events. They compared the reporting rates of suicidal ideation and other suicidal behaviors from reports about semaglutide and another weight-loss drug of the same class, liraglutide (brand name Victoza and Saxenda). The reporting rates of suicidal ideation and other self-injurious behavior were then compared against all other drugs in the WHO database. The findings were also compared to other antidiabetic drugs like dapagliflozin, metformin, and orlistat. The results, published on Wednesday in the JAMA Network Open, show that semaglutide was linked with a 45 percent greater likelihood of suicidal ideation when compared to other drugs. Liraglutide had no significant link to suicidality. The authors noted a slight increase in adverse drug reports for both semaglutide and liraglutide up until August 2023. However, the rise was substantially more pronounced for semaglutide, climbing from 0 percent in 2017 to 0.8 percent in 2023, compared to liraglutide’s increase from 0.09 percent in 2014 to 0.4 percent in 2023. Semaglutide was approved in 2017 while liraglutide was approved in 2011. “What I take […]
1 month ago
An official with the World Health Organization (WHO) said that monkeypox (mpox) is not the same as COVID-19 and signaled there will not be lockdowns or similar measures, in comments about a week after the UN health agency declared an emergency over the virus. “Are we going to go in lockdown in the WHO European region, it’s another COVID-19? The answer is clearly: ‘no,’” said Han Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, in a live-streamed media briefing on Tuesday. “Two years ago, we controlled mpox in Europe thanks to the direct engagement with the most affected communities of men who have sex with men,” he said. Mpox, a viral infection known as monkeypox, causes pus-filled lesions and flu-like symptoms. It is usually mild but can kill. Officials say that a subvariant of the Clade I mpox strain called Clade Ib has caused global concern because it seems to spread more easily through routine close contact. A case of the variant was confirmed last week in Sweden and linked to a growing outbreak in Africa, the first sign of its spread outside the continent. The WHO declared the recent outbreak of the disease a public health emergency of international concern. The […]
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13 hours ago
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