Alzheimer’s drug found to cause harm to mouse brain cells

An antibody in trials to treat Alzheimer's in humans has been shown to be damaging in mice, causing neurons in their brain to become hyperactive









via New Scientist - Health Read More Here..

‘Death clock’ in cells could tell you when you’ll get cancer

How fast we age and whether we get cancer may be predetermined by two "clocks" found in almost every cell in the human body









via New Scientist - Health Read More Here..

'Practical' Walking Boosts Heart Health, Studies Find

Living in walkable community, commuting via public transportation linked to lower blood pressure

Source: HealthDay via Exercise and Physical Fitness New Links: MedlinePlus RSS Feed Read More Here..

The Physically Active Less Prone to Post-Heart Attack Depression

Research underscores link between physical activity and mental health

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Just One Energy Drink Sends Young Adults' Stress Hormone Levels Soaring

Researchers also found the beverage pushed blood pressure levels higher

Source: HealthDay
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'Cash for Lower Cholesterol' Program Works with Doc-Patient Teams

Cooperation is key to program's success, but benefits were modest, study finds

Source: HealthDay
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Many Americans May Experience 'Silent' Heart Attack

Study shows evidence of cardiac scarring often appearing on scans, even if no attack was reported

Source: HealthDay
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'Practical' Walking Boosts Heart Health, Studies Find

Living in walkable community, commuting via public transportation linked to lower blood pressure

Source: HealthDay
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3-D Computer Modeling Might Improve Children's Heart Transplants

Technology could help doctors choose a better organ size match, study suggests

Source: HealthDay
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Home Cooking May Help Keep Type 2 Diabetes At Bay

Study finds it was linked to fewer sugar-sweetened beverages, lower weight

Source: HealthDay
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What You Need to Know When Your Child Gets a Rash

Most clear up on their own or are easily treated, but some are contagious -- even dangerous
Source: HealthDay
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The Physically Active Less Prone to Post-Heart Attack Depression

Research underscores link between physical activity and mental health

Source: HealthDay
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Gratitude May Be Key to Wedded Bliss

How you feel about your marriage hinges on whether you feel appreciated by your spouse, study finds

Source: HealthDay
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Kidney Transplant 'Tourism' Comes with Risks

Infections, complications, organ rejection more likely than in patients who get organ in own country

Source: HealthDay
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Sleepwalkers Feel No Pain When Injured

But they're more likely to get headaches and migraines when awake, researchers added
Source: HealthDay
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Talk Therapy May Beat Light Treatment for SAD

Seasonal affective disorder is form of depression tied to winter's shorter days

Source: HealthDay
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Weight-Loss Surgery May Bring Long-Term Benefits to Very Obese Teens

3 years later, most had rid themselves of diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure, study found

Source: HealthDay
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Omega 3 Supplements Don't Help with Depression

U.K. scientists find little evidence they ease symptoms

Source: HealthDay
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Race Gap in Life Expectancy Is Narrowing

Difference is now less than four years, down from six in 1999
Source: HealthDay
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App uses a network of smartphones to help research cancer: your phone crunches numbers while your sleep

The company DreamLab says will allow users to "donate" their smartphone's processing power while their owners are sleeping:

"Cancer affects so many of the people we love. But what if you could help by speeding up cancer research, simply by going to bed. Researchers are hindered by limited access to supercomputers. So that’s where you and the DreamLab app come in. It’s a free to purchase app* that uses the processing power of your idle phone to solve a piece of the cancer research puzzle. If just 1,000 people used the app, cancer puzzles would be solved 30 times faster."

http://www.vodafone.com.au/aboutvodafone/vodafoneaustraliafoundation/dreamlab



"When a phone is plugged in and fully charged, it is sent a tiny genetic sequencing task by Australia's Garvan Institute of Medical Research to solve. When it is completed, the data is sent back to the Garvan Institute, which can use it as part of their research.

Users can select what project they want to contribute to, whether it is breast cancer, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer and prostate cancer. According to Vodafone, 1,000 smartphones using the app can speed up research by 30 times.

While the service can use a significant amount of data, users can choose limits of 250MB, 500MB and 1GB to send, with the data free for Vodafone Australia customers, or available to send over WiFi."

References:

Vodafone app turns your smartphone into a powerful cancer research machine - Telegraph http://buff.ly/1iNFvnr
App creates 'smartphone supercomputer' to cure cancer http://buff.ly/1NZgbpD
DreamLab - Android Apps on Google Play http://buff.ly/1kkrhfm

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NHS faces 'financial disaster'

Trust chair warns that some NHS trusts will be struggling to pay staff wages Related items from OnMedica NHS needs separate annual £2bn fund to transform services and balance books NHS faces greatest challenges in recent history Hospital finances in ‘parlous state’ as risk of NHS crisis rises Government clamps down on ‘rip-off’ agency staff NHS facing unprecedented spending squeeze

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Sleeping sickness study claims success

Researchers from Edinburgh University claim thousands of lives have been saved in Africa by a new initiative to combat sleeping sickness. via BBC News - Health Read More Here..

Council spends just 1% of budget on mental health

Charity says mental health accounts for £40m of £3.3bn council budget Related items from OnMedica Experts launch drive for fair funding in mental health Community mental health services 20,000 people help reshape mental health care Celebrities call for equity in mental health ‘No improvement’ in community mental health care

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Royal College sets out standards for cosmetic surgeons

From next year surgeons will be able to apply for certification to perform cosmetic procedures Related items from OnMedica New cosmetic rules are too weak, say surgeons Standards issued to curb rogue cosmetic surgery GPs should be told when patients have cosmetic surgery Patients need ‘cool off’ time for cosmetic surgery decisions Plans launched to make cosmetic surgery safer

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Sleeping sickness breakthrough

Thousands of lives already saved by treating infected cattle Related items from OnMedica New target in war against mosquito-borne diseases Dengue fever cases in returning travellers increase by 60% in one year Rabies Disease fears in the aftermath of Nepal disaster Climate change poses major threat to health

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New guide to emergency dental care

NHS England tells patients with toothache not to trouble GPs or A&E over Christmas holidays Related items from OnMedica Fluoridation safe and effective, says Public Health England Big rise in oral cancers Tooth problems rife in elite athletes GPs seeing more patients with dental problems Get tough on curbing children’s poor dental health, government urged

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Can mental health apps replace human therapists?

Turning to an app could be a quicker way to get help for depression and anxiety. It could even pick up on things a human will miss









via New Scientist - Health Read More Here..

Best and Worst of Neuroscience and Neurology – October 2015

In this review, I’m presenting a selection of research articles published in October. As usual, many new interesting findings were made public this month, and the small selection in this article reflects mostly my personal opinion of their importance.

On the 9^th of October, scientific community marked the birthday of Sir Peter Mansfield. Peter Mansfield received the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his works on magnetic resonance imaging.

The research of Professor Mansfield laid both theoretical and technical foundation for acquisition of internal body images with the use of MRI and the development of methods of functional MRI. These days, fMRI is one of the most commonly used techniques in both neuroscience research and in clinical settings. In fact, around half of the studies listed below used MRI to get the experimental data.

THE BEST

Brains of young people and physically active elderly men function similarly

It is well established that physical activity and mental fitness are linked, and physically active older adults perform better in mental tests. But what exactly happens in the brain of older individuals with different levels of physical activity remained unknown.

In a new landmark study published this month, Japanese researchers have provided the answer to this question. It is known that younger people predominantly use the left side of their prefrontal cortex (PFC) while performing mental tasks. As we age, we start using both left and right PFCs – this broadening of brain area involved in the task performance is viewed as a compensation for the age-related reduced brain capacity. However, in physically active older people the left side PFC remains much more active during mental tasks. Apparently, their brains retain the youth-like mechanisms of mental activity for tasks involving memory and attention.

Cancer drug shown to be a promising memory enhancer

Nootropics, memory-enhancing compounds, have always fascinated both scientists and non-scientists alike. And yet another promising compound has appeared from a rather unexpected corner.

In the recently published study on animals, a drug currently called as RGFP966 and developed as a cancer therapeutic was demonstrated to enhance memory and facilitate making the connections between neurons. Scientists think that this compound might be developed into treatment for Alzheimer’s patients, helping them to better retain memories.

Simple test for Lewy Body disease suggested

Although Lewy Body Dementia (LBD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, few people have ever heard of this condition. LBD is often diagnosed very late or, even worse, misdiagnosed and treated as a different condition. The lack of neurologists skilled in recognizing LBD worsens the problem further.

A newly developed simple and fast test called “Lewy Body Composite Risk Score” (LBCRS) will help greatly in addressing this problem. The test is a one-page questionnaire that can be filled in three minutes. Despite its apparent simplicity, its accuracy in diagnosing early-stage LBD is almost 97%. Such accuracy and simplicity have a potential to make a huge difference for millions of affected patients.

Rehearsal helps to store memories

Most of our memories are short-lived. The mechanism of forming long-term memories is different from the one involved in the short-term retention of the current flow of information. Although we still don’t know the details of how long-term memories are formed and stored, we know that the crucial part of brain in this process is the posterior cingulate.

New findings by British scientists published this month demonstrate that this region of brain becomes activated when we actively try to remember important information by rehearsing it. Researchers have shown that simple rehearsal of information immediately, or as soon as possible after obtaining it, helps to integrate new memories into the brain and allows one to successfully recall them 1-2 weeks after the event. Information that is not rehearsed becomes largely forgotten after this period of time.

Surprisingly high mutation rates in neurons

One interesting and rather unexpected discovery was published this month in Science. Using the new technology of single-cell genome sequencing, researchers from Howard Hughes Medical Institute were studying mutations in individual neurons from the human brain. It turned out that an average neuron contains more than 1,000 different mutations, mostly in the actively expressed parts of their DNA. This rate of mutations is significantly higher than in other somatic cells, but neither its mechanisms nor functional significance is clear at the moment.

The discovery adds yet another dimension to the complexity of brain organization and poses more questions that need to be answered. In the meantime, the scientists have demonstrated that the mutation data can be successfully used to trace the history and origin of individual neurons. This will help us to attain a better picture of brain development.

THE WORST

Diet high in fructose detrimental for recovery after brain injury

The consumption of high amounts of fructose is linked to a range of chronic and serious conditions such as diabetes, cancer, fatty liver disease and obesity.

New research data show that excessive fructose consumption can also slow down the recovery from traumatic brain injury and concussion. In the animal study published this month, the efficiency of recovery from TBI was reduced by 30% in mice kept on high-fructose diet. Unfortunately, fructose is plentiful in Western diet, with average American consuming almost 8 teaspoons of fructose daily.

Mechanism of forgetting memories discovered

Neuroscientists are naturally interested in mechanisms of memory formations. The mechanisms for forgetting memories, however, receives relatively little attention. The working assumption was that the memories naturally disappear when they are not evoked or used on a regular basis. Swedish researchers took a closer look to the phenomenon of forgetting, with rather surprising results.

It turned out that our brain has a specific dedicated mechanism for forgetting memories, in which memories considered less important get actively erased. Scientists believe that this is done to conserve energy since maintaining association pathways is an energetically costly process.

Male and female brains are not as different as previously thought

In the last few years we have witnessed a significant number of publications pointing to various differences in male and female brain. With clearly different behavioral traits between sexes, it is tempting to explain them by gender-related differences in brain structure. Many research publications claimed that the size of hippocampus, a part of brain involved in consolidating our memories, which appears to be larger in females. However, the results of new meta-analysis published this month do not confirm this view.

Researchers combined and analyzed data from 76 studies involving more than 6,000 individuals. Although some smaller studies observed gender-related differences in the size of hippocampus, large statistical data demonstrate that these differences are either very small or trivial.

No clear link between IQ and brain size

Another recent meta-analysis of large statistical data helped to debunk a long-held view that our intellectual abilities are linked to the absolute size of our brain.

Combined together with various published data on the brain size and IQ of 8,000 individuals, scientists found that the connection between the two is small and statistically insignificant. Clearly, many opinions in neuroscience are still based on popular beliefs rather than firm data!

Smoking is an overdose/addiction risk factor in the use of painkiller codeine

Codeine, a commonly prescribed painkiller, is known to cause its pain-relieving effect by converting into morphine in the liver. The extent of pain-relieving effect of the compound, however, varies significantly among patients, even when the blood level of morphine is the same.

New research data demonstrate that codeine can get converted to morphine not only in the liver but also in the brain, and the level of morphine in brain determines the strength of codeine’s effect. Alarmingly, the level of codeine-converting enzyme in the brain is significantly elevated in smokers, apparently under the influence of nicotine. This may lead to generation of much higher level of morphine in response to a standard codeine dose, and thus may lead to overdose and even addiction, with prolonged drug administration. Although the exact dose-effect relationship in smokers is not yet established, this is something healthcare professionals should take into consideration when prescribing codeine.

References

Agrawal R et al. Dietary fructose aggravates the pathobiology of traumatic brain injury by influencing energy homeostasis and plasticity. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab, 2015. doi: 10.1177/0271678X15606719

Bieszczad, K., Bechay, K., Rusche, J., Jacques, V., Kudugunti, S., Miao, W., Weinberger, N., McGaugh, J., & Wood, M. (2015). Histone Deacetylase Inhibition via RGFP966 Releases the Brakes on Sensory Cortical Plasticity and the Specificity of Memory Formation Journal of Neuroscience, 35 (38), 13124-13132 DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0914-15.2015

Bird, C., Keidel, J., Ing, L., Horner, A., & Burgess, N. (2015). Consolidation of Complex Events via Reinstatement in Posterior Cingulate Cortex Journal of Neuroscience, 35 (43), 14426-14434 DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1774-15.2015

Galvin JE (2015). IMPROVING THE CLINICAL DETECTION OF LEWY BODY DEMENTIA WITH THE LEWY BODY COMPOSITE RISK SCORE. Alzheimer’s & dementia (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 1 (3), 316-324 PMID: 26405688

Hyodo, K., Dan, I., Kyutoku, Y., Suwabe, K., Byun, K., Ochi, G., Kato, M., & Soya, H. (2015). The association between aerobic fitness and cognitive function in older men mediated by frontal lateralization NeuroImage DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.09.062

Lodato, M., Woodworth, M., Lee, S., Evrony, G., Mehta, B., Karger, A., Lee, S., Chittenden, T., D’Gama, A., Cai, X., Luquette, L., Lee, E., Park, P., & Walsh, C. (2015). Somatic mutation in single human neurons tracks developmental and transcriptional history Science, 350 (6256), 94-98 DOI: 10.1126/science.aab1785

McMillan, D., & Tyndale, R. (2015). Nicotine Increases Codeine Analgesia Through the Induction of Brain CYP2D and Central Activation of Codeine to Morphine Neuropsychopharmacology, 40 (7), 1804-1812 DOI: 10.1038/npp.2015.32

Pietschnig, J., Penke, L., Wicherts, J., Zeiler, M., & Voracek, M. (2015). Meta-analysis of associations between human brain volume and intelligence differences: How strong are they and what do they mean? Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 57, 411-432 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2015.09.017

Rasmussen, A., Zucca, R., Johansson, F., Jirenhed, D., & Hesslow, G. (2015). Purkinje cell activity during classical conditioning with different conditional stimulus explains central tenet of Rescorla–Wagner model Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1516986112

Tan, A., Ma, W., Vira, A., Marwha, D., & Eliot, L. (2016). The human hippocampus is not sexually-dimorphic: Meta-analysis of structural MRI volumes NeuroImage, 124, 350-366 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.08.050

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Why your older sibling is smarter than you

What being a family's firstborn can mean via BBC News - Health Read More Here..

VIDEO: Breast milk pasteurisation in Bangladesh

A new pasteurisation device is extending the life of breast milk and helping working mothers to breast feed their infants for longer via BBC News - Health Read More Here..

Is Placebo More Powerful Than Antidepressants and Psychotherapy?

This might be a hard pill to swallow for both those in treatment for depression and those giving treatment to clients: both psychotherapy and antidepressant medications are beginning to be considered to have rather limited contributions to the effectiveness of treating depression. Some researchers and clinicians alike are considering that for some, the placebo effect might be the most powerful treatment of all.

A series of both research and opinion-based articles are suggesting that we may have been focussing on the wrong thing all along. Research into the placebo effect and spontaneous recovery from depression, and indeed other mental health problems, may be the way forward for both pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy.

Hot in the news at the moment is a position emission tomography (PET) study suggesting that some people are indeed more responsive to the intention to treat their depression, as opposed to the treatment itself.

The results indicate that those who can muster their brain’s own chemical forces against depression when receiving a placebo, also appear to have a head start in overcoming its symptoms with help from an approved antidepressant.

But those whose brain chemistry didn’t react as much to the placebo pill given in the study, struggle even after getting an official antidepressant. Although unexplored this could involve internal positive or negative beliefs about treatment, either promoting or inhibiting the placebo effect respectively.

The findings support scientific perspectives and opinions discussed in a series of placebo effect articles published in World Psychiatry, including highly acclaimed scientists such as the President of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Dr. Stuart Montgomery, who authored the article “Antidepressants or antidepressants plus placebo?”

While public opinion is certainly suspicious about the ability of antidepressants to treat depression, as well as the pharmaceutical industry’s intentions in finding rewarding outcomes in efficacy studies, researchers have also grown increasingly skeptical regarding treatment efficacy studies over the years.

There is a realization that the we need even greater accuracy in distinguishing treatment effects from placebo in order to determine the true efficacy of the treatment. Our current general standard of randomized, placebo-controlled trials just doesn’t quite cut it.

In one article entitled, “What if a placebo effect explained all the activity of depression treatments?” the key problem is posed:

“Due to the discrepancy between the relatively high rate of spontaneous remission and the low additional value of specific (pharmacological and psychological ) treatments, several important issues arise. One question is whether these treatments do in fact have any effects.”

This may initially sound absurd to some, but there are sound arguments behind this line of thinking, only some of which are mentioned in this article.

Some of the most recent meta-analyses reveal relatively small effect sizes of 0.30 for antidepressants and 0.25 for psychotherapies, with only the highest quality of studies being able to show these small effects. This roughly equates to only 15% of the variance in treatment outcome being a result of the treatment itself, which is in the same range as many accepted treatments in general medicine.

Dr. Montgomery suggests that even though these studies aim to remove all biases, many may still remain. He used an example supported by a recent article exploring differences between active placebos (those that produce side-effects) and antidepressants for depression. A placebo pill that does not produce noticeable side-effects may make the test subject aware that they are indeed receiving placebo and reduce their expectations of success, thus biasing results in favor of the treatment being assessed.

With further advancements in the tweaking of methodologies to remove remaining biases, perhaps there is almost no effect from the actual treatment itself.

Indeed, there has been a constant increase in placebo response to fake antidepressants in efficacy trials over the last decade, especially in the US. This is thought to be due to many combinatorial factors, such as more effective and intensified marketing of antidepressants and the increased contact between study participants and clinical staff in more modern and rigorous studies where participants are closely monitored. This enhanced placebo effect may in fact be making it hard to differentiate placebo from drug responses, and make antidepressants appear to have a small effect size when they may be greater.

While research has been fervently focusing on the neurological and psychological changes in response to various therapies, perhaps research into spontaneous remission and the placebo effect should at least be of equal importance.

As put by Dr. Marta Pecina, lead author of the PET study and research assistant professor in the U-M Department of Psychiatry:

“We can envision that by enhancing placebo effects, we might be able to develop faster-acting or better antidepressants.”

The same can be said for psychotherapy treatments, were aspects of interventions that facilitate the placebo effect, on top of any true treatment effects, may be more effective than current treatments.

References

Cuijpers P, & Cristea IA (2015). What if a placebo effect explained all the activity of depression treatments? World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), 14 (3), 310-1 PMID: 26407786

Cuijpers P, Turner EH, Mohr DC, Hofmann SG, Andersson G, Berking M, & Coyne J (2014). Comparison of psychotherapies for adult depression to pill placebo control groups: a meta-analysis. Psychological medicine, 44 (4), 685-95 PMID: 23552610

Khan A, & Brown WA (2015). Antidepressants versus placebo in major depression: an overview. World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), 14 (3), 294-300 PMID: 26407778

Montgomery SA (2015). Antidepressant or antidepressant plus placebo effect? World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), 14 (3), 303-4 PMID: 26407781

Peciña, M., Bohnert, A., Sikora, M., Avery, E., Langenecker, S., Mickey, B., & Zubieta, J. (2015). Association Between Placebo-Activated Neural Systems and Antidepressant Responses JAMA Psychiatry DOI: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2015.1335

Walsh BT, Seidman SN, Sysko R, & Gould M (2002). Placebo response in studies of major depression: variable, substantial, and growing. JAMA, 287 (14), 1840-7 PMID: 11939870

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Sierra Leone stops transmission of Ebola virus

Today, the World Health Organization declares that Ebola virus transmission has been stopped in Sierra Leone. Forty-two days, that is two Ebola virus incubation cycles, have now passed since the last person confirmed to have Ebola virus disease had a second negative blood test.

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Sierra Leone to be declared Ebola-free

Sierra Leone celebrates ahead of what it expects will be official confirmation from the World Health Organization that the country is free of Ebola. via BBC News - Health Read More Here..

Junk Food and Body Mass Index

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World Cup 'triggered baby boy boom'

The World Cup in 2010 triggered an increase in the number of baby boys born in the host country South Africa nine months later, a study says. via BBC News - Health Read More Here..

WHO 'delayed Sierra Leone lockdown'

The World Health Organization delayed Sierra Leone from declaring a state of emergency over the Ebola outbreak, the country's president tells the BBC. via BBC News - Health Read More Here..

No woman 'totally straight', study says

Gay women tend to be sexually attracted exclusively to women while straight women are more likely to be aroused by both sexes, a study suggests. via BBC News - Health Read More Here..

Don't Even Talk About It: 'Food Words' Can Make You Overeat

Stress and genetics also make some crave high-calorie foods, but obese people are more apt to indulge, research finds

Source: HealthDay
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Many U.S. Women Gain Too Much Weight While Pregnant

More than half in 17 states gained excessive weight, which can harm both mother and baby, U.S. researchers report

Source: HealthDay
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Rule Changes Might Lead to More Lung Transplants for Kids

Study suggests that widening the geographic pool could increase available organs

Source: HealthDay
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Early Warning Sign for Kidney Disease Identified in Study

Researchers say blood test can predict risk up to five years before damage begins

Source: HealthDay
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Poor Sleep Might Harm Kidneys, Study Suggests

Five hours or less a night linked to reduced organ function in women

Source: HealthDay
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Scarlet Fever Resurfacing in Some Parts of the World

Outbreaks of the childhood disease reported in Britain and Asia, study finds

Source: HealthDay
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Illegal Toad Venom 'Aphrodisiac' Linked to NYC Man's Death

Ingredient in products called 'stone' can dangerously alter heart rhythm, city health officials say

Source: HealthDay
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Think You're Allergic to Penicillin? Maybe Not, Researchers Say

Small study finds drug might be safe for patients who had previous reaction to the antibiotic

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