Larry Minikes 10/26/21 Larry Minikes 10/26/21

The Effect of Detoxification on Sleep

Guest post by Eliza Brooks

The human brain is a complex organ, and sleep is an important part of its function. Sleep allows for the restoration of the body's energy levels, hormone balance, immune system strength, and cognitive skills. It also clears out toxins from our brains that have built up throughout the day. Unfortunately, many people suffer from poor quality sleep due to factors such as stress, anxiety, or exposure to blue light at night which can interfere with melatonin production. A detoxification program may be able to help you improve your sleep quality by removing some of these toxins from your body so that they do not interfere with your ability to rest well during slumber time.

In this blog post, we will explore how a detoxification program might affect one's sleep patterns and why this is important.

1. What is Detoxification?

Detoxification, or detoxing, is the process of removing substances from the body and bloodstream. It can be done by following a diet, taking specific medication, or undergoing other treatment methods. The goal is to eliminate toxins that are the result of poor lifestyle choices or an illness.

At its most basic level, detoxification can be achieved by following a diet that is rich in fresh foods with little to no processed ingredients. Doing this will increase fiber intake and water consumption which will help flush out toxins in the gut and liver.

2. Why Detoxification is important

Detoxification is an important part of the human body's natural cleansing process because it helps remove toxins that are left behind by habits such as smoking, drinking alcohol, high-stress levels, or exposure to environmental elements such as heavy metals. Alcohol Addiction is a good example of a situation where detoxification would be particularly helpful because it flushes out the chemicals from alcohol that has been ingested by the body. This process will reduce cravings for another drink, improve mood and energy levels, and provide a general sense of well-being.

A poor-quality diet does not provide sufficient nutrients for this process, so it is essential to have a healthy diet if you are looking for detoxification.

Detoxification also has the ability to improve sleep patterns even though it may seem counterintuitive. It can still improve your sleep quality because it removes toxins from your brain which might interfere with restful slumber time if they are not dealt with.

3. How detoxification affects sleep quality

There are a few different ways to help detoxify the body and brain without an intense regimen. This will help to ensure that you can get better quality sleep every night by clearing toxins from both your brain and digestive system. Since a healthier gut is going to lead to better nutrient absorption, it makes sense that this will have a positive effect on sleep patterns. You can also reduce stress levels, exercise regularly, and improve your diet to help detoxify without making too many changes to your day-to-day routine.

4. Benefits of detoxification on sleep

If you are suffering from poor sleep quality, there is a chance that toxins in the brain could be contributing to your problem. They can accumulate due to things like drinking too much caffeine or alcohol. Since the body is able to naturally detoxify itself through processes such as sweating, urination, and defecation, these methods help ensure that toxins are removed regularly. If you want to improve your sleep quality even more, there are also easy lifestyle changes that can help.

5. Consequences of not detoxifying your body and the importance of a healthy lifestyle

Detoxifying your body is a crucial part of obtaining a healthy lifestyle. If toxins are not removed regularly, it can lead to damage in the vital organs which can reduce functionality and cause future problems. For example, increasing toxic buildup through poor diet choices or being exposed to environmental chemicals could be leading to higher cancer rates in some communities.

6. Ways to cleanse your body from toxins without having to do a full-blown detox program

There are a few ways to detoxify your body from the convenience of your home. You can try a cleansing drink or supplement that helps remove toxins through the digestive system. Another way is by using a detox bath which will help release toxins in sweat during a relaxing evening. If you don't want to go out and buy products, there are simple lifestyle changes you can make to aid in the detoxification process.

7. Tips for better sleeping habits that can help you get more out of your nightly slumber time

Getting into a routine can help your body get used to falling asleep at the same time every night. This will establish a pattern that makes it easier for your body to wind down before you go to bed. Also, having a regular sleep schedule is important because it regulates the circadian rhythm which controls when we feel sleepy and alert.

If you are looking for a more restful night of sleep, detoxify your body with some helpful tips. You’ll feel refreshed and ready to take on the day tomorrow! For starters, drink plenty of water throughout the day so that your cells can have enough hydration to function properly. Next, eat foods that will help cleanse your system by eliminating toxins in the digestive tract while providing healthy nutrients at the same time. Finally, get out into nature or do something else outside every once in a while; sunlight helps regulate our circadian rhythms which also affects our sleep quality. All these things combined with an active lifestyle should be all it takes to give yourself a great night's sleep tonight!

Larry Minikes 10/18/21 Larry Minikes 10/18/21

Coming Out of the Pandemic with a Bang: Practical Advice for Getting Healthier and Crushing Your Goals

Guest Post Contribution by Julia Mitchell
Outspiration.net info@outspiration.net

In light of the pandemic, most of us are ready to get back to some kind of normal. We’re excited about businesses operating at full capacity, our work routines getting back on track, and many other aspects that seem likely to come as the pandemic shifts.

But there is no getting around the fact that the world has changed. Our everyday routines were turned upside down, and now it’s time to pick up the pieces and forge a promising future. And when it comes down to it, your future begins with you. MindSpa shares some practical advice for how you can re-enter the world with confidence, position yourself to crush your goals, and live your best life:

Prioritize Nutrition

One of the first steps you should take is to evaluate your diet. What we eat matters, and our minds and bodies must have the proper nutrition if we are to thrive in our daily life and accomplish our goals.

Make sure that your eating habits are contributing to your overall health and productivity levels—not hindering them. While there are plenty of popular diets that can help you get healthier, simply choosing a few healthy foods to base your diet around can go a long way.

For example, clean foods such as vegetables, fruits, lean meats, fatty fish, whole grains, and seeds are excellent for eating day in and day out. In addition to helping you feel better on a daily basis, switching to a healthier diet can also help prevent conditions such as IBS and IBD, both of which can be controlled with more fibrous food.

Fortunately, there are tons of resources available online to help you plan a healthy diet. Look to the web for healthy and delicious recipes for lunch and dinner, as well as snack ideas that will give your energy a boost rather than drain it.

Another thing to consider is meal prepping. By dedicating two to three hours a week to preparing meals and snacks, you can have most of your food in the fridge ready to grab and go throughout the week. This not only saves you time in the long run but also gives you more control of the ingredients and portions you are consuming.

Fitness Routine

If it’s not as important as diet, physical fitness is a close second. Our bodies need to move, which is why a sedentary lifestyle significantly increases the risk of chronic diseases, not to mention tends to lower overall quality of life. Similar to your diet, you don’t have to go all-in by running a marathon next week. Simply find a physical activity you enjoy, and commit to doing it four or five times a week. Even if it’s just for 30 minutes, you’ll be surprised by how much better you feel by having exercise as a part of your routine.

Regular exercise doesn’t have to take up a lot of your time. If you’re busy, look for ways to squeeze in a workout on your lunch break, such as briskly walking in a nearby park or using the elliptical for 20 minutes at the company gym. A lot of people are taking advantage of the various online workout resources that make it easy to exercise from home. For example, you can easily find HIIT workouts, weightlifting regimes, yoga classes, and many other types of fitness routines through tutorials and videos. And the best part? You don’t need a lot of equipment.

While regular exercise can do wonders for your physical health, it’s also an essential practice for your mental health. Few things can boost your self-confidence like going for a run or swimming a few laps in the pool. And since sticking to a fitness routine will help you feel better day to day, you will naturally be more productive and ready to tackle the tasks at hand.

Getting Sleep

Getting adequate sleep is right up there with exercise in terms of importance to your all-around health. And this is usually the habit neglected first by busy people. But don’t fool yourself—you can’t be as healthy, productive, or happy as you want to be unless you get your much-needed shut-eye. Sleep is simply too critical for our minds and bodies. We can’t function if we don’t allow ourselves to rest from the activities of the day and prepare for the next day.

Experts recommend that adults get seven to nine hours of restful sleep each night. If that doesn’t seem practical with your schedule, figure out a way to make it work. One way to do this is to find an activity or two that helps your mind and body to unwind from an eventful day. This may mean listening to calming music, relaxing in a warm bath, meditating, or reading a book before bed. Another great option is to try the MindSpa Personal Development System. This easy-to-use technology offers an innovative way to achieve better sleep and relaxation through sound and light sessions that guide you toward “desirable brainwave states.”

Improving Your Career Prospects

Along with taking care of your mind and body, now is the perfect time to revisit your career path. Are you doing what you want to do? Are you getting fulfillment from your job as well as making the money you need to make?

If you want to make a career change, you might benefit from going back to school. These days you can earn an online degree in a wide array of fields. For example, if you would like to be a business owner or a leader someday, consider pursuing a business degree in business management, marketing, or a related concentration. This not only will add credentials to your resume but will also help to strengthen your business acumen.

Unplugging from Social Media

Finally, give your mental health a break by limiting the time you spend on social media. Not only is it unhealthy to stare at a screen all day, but people tend to create the image of themselves and their families that they want to portray on social media; that is, they minimize the flaws and focus on making everything look perfect. This can not only lead to feelings of personal inadequacy but also make you feel like you’re not keeping up with the Joneses, working in a fulfilling enough profession, living with enough purpose—you get the picture.

Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and others have their benefits. But don’t let it become a major influencer in how you feel about yourself and your life. Intentionally unplug for two or three days at a time, and see if you don’t feel more peace and freedom to live your own life.

It’s safe to say that most people are ready for some kind of normalcy. In many ways, this is an opportunity for us to create a fresh start in our lives. Make the most of the opportunity by taking care of your physical, mental, and emotional health and well-being. Revisit your career to determine if it’s time for a change. And take breaks from social media so that you can focus on the life you are creating for yourself and your family rather than constantly comparing your life to those of others.

Larry Minikes 10/18/21 Larry Minikes 10/18/21

The Effect of Detoxification on Sleep

Guest Post Contribution by: Eliza Brooks

In this blog post, we will explore how a detoxification program might affect one's sleep patterns and why this is important.

1. What is Detoxification?

2. Why Detoxification is important

A poor-quality diet does not provide sufficient nutrients for this process, so it is essential to have a healthy diet if you are looking for detoxification.

3. How detoxification affects sleep quality

4. Benefits of detoxification on sleep

5. Consequences of not detoxifying your body and the importance of a healthy lifestyle

6. Ways to cleanse your body from toxins without having to do a full-blown detox program

7. Tips for better sleeping habits that can help you get more out of your nightly slumber time

Larry Minikes 10/12/21 Larry Minikes 10/12/21

Meditation training reduces long-term stress, hair analysis shows

October 7, 2021

Science Daily/Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences

Mental training reduces the concentration of the stress hormone cortisol in hair. This is what scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig have found out. The amount of cortisol in hair provides information about how much a person is burdened by persistent stress. Earlier positive training effects had been shown in acutely stressful situations or on individual days -- or were based on study participants' self-reports. The current study thus provides the first objective evidence that mental training reduces physical signs of long periods of stress.

According to a study by the Techniker Krankenkasse, 23 percent of people in Germany frequently suffer from stress. This condition not only puts a strain on the well-being of those affected, but it is also linked to a number of physiological diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and psychological disorders such as depression, one of the world's leading causes of disease burden (Global Burden of Disease Study, 2017).

Therefore, effective methods are being sought to reduce everyday stress in the long term. One promising option is mindfulness training, in which participants train their cognitive and social skills, including attention, gratitude and compassion, through various meditation and behavioural exercises. Various studies have already shown that even healthy people feel less stressed after a typical eight-week training programme. Until now, however, it has been unclear how much the training actually contributes to reducing the constant burden of everyday stress. The problem with many previous studies on chronic stress is that the study participants were usually asked to self-assess their stress levels after the training. However, this self-reporting by means of questionnaires could have distorted the effects and made the results appear more positive than they actually were.

The reason for such a bias: The participants knew they were training their mindfulness, and a reduction in stress levels was a desired effect of this training. This awareness alone has an impact on subsequent information. "If you are asked whether you are stressed after a training session that is declared as stress-reducing, even addressing this question can distort the statements," explains Lara Puhlmann, doctoral student at MPI CBS and first author of the underlying publication, which has now appeared in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine. Factors such as social desirability and placebo effects played a role here. Unlike pharmacological studies, for example, in which the study participants do not know whether they have actually received the active substance or not, so-called blinded studies are not possible in mental training. "The participants know that they are ingesting the 'antidote'," says Puhlmann. "In mindfulness research, we are therefore increasingly using more objective, i.e. physiological, methods to measure the stress-reducing effect more precisely."

The concentration of cortisol in hair is considered a suitable measure of exposure to prolonged stress. Cortisol is a hormone that is released when we are confronted with an overwhelming challenge, for example. In that particular situation, it helps put our body on alert and mobilise energy to overcome the challenge. The longer the stress lasts, the longer an increased concentration of cortisol circulates around our body -- and the more it accumulates in our hair. On average, hair grows one centimetre per month. To measure the study participants' stress levels during the 9-month training, the researchers, in cooperation with the working group of Clemens Kirschbaum at the University of Dresden, analysed the amount of cortisol every three months in the first three centimetres of hair, starting at the scalp.

The mental training itself was developed as part of a large-scale longitudinal study on the effects of mental training, the ReSource project, led by Prof. Dr. Tania Singer, scientific director of the Social Neuroscience Research Group. This 9-month mental training programme consisted of three 3-month sessions, each designed to train a specific skill area using Western and Far Eastern mental exercises. The focus was either on the factors of attention and mindfulness, on socio-affective skills such as compassion and gratitude, or on so-called socio-cognitive skills, in particular the ability to take perspective on one's own and others' thoughts. Three groups of about 80 participants each completed the training modules in different order. The training lasted up to nine months, 30 minutes a day, six days a week.

Less stress, less cortisol

And it really showed: After six months of training, the amount of cortisol in the subjects' hair had decreased significantly, on average by 25 percent. In the first three months, slight effects were seen at first, which increased over the following three months. In the last third, the concentration remained at a low level. The researchers therefore assume that only sufficiently long training leads to the desired stress-reducing effects. The effect did not seem to depend on the content of the training. It is therefore possible that several of the mental approaches studied are similarly effective in improving the way people deal with chronic everyday stress.

In an earlier study from the ReSource project with the same sample, the researchers had investigated the effects of training on dealing with acute stressful situations. In this study, the participants were placed in a stressful job interview and had to solve difficult maths problems under observation. The results showed that people who had undergone socio-cognitive or socio-affective training released up to 51 percent less cortisol under stress than those who had not been trained. In this case, they did not measure the amount of cortisol in the subjects' hair, but instead acute cortisol surges in their saliva. Overall, the researchers conclude that training can improve the handling of acute particularly stressful social situations as well as chronic everyday stress. "We assume that different training aspects are particularly helpful for these different forms of stress," says Veronika Engert, head of the research group "Social Stress and Family Health" at MPI CBS.

"There are many diseases worldwide, including depression, that are directly or indirectly related to long-term stress," explains Puhlmann. "We need to work on counteracting the effects of chronic stress in a preventive way. Our study uses physiological measurements to prove that meditation-based training interventions can alleviate general stress levels even in healthy individuals."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/10/211007122203.htm

Larry Minikes 10/12/21 Larry Minikes 10/12/21

Clean air matters for a healthy brain

Research on air pollution and cognitive decline indicate cleaner air may reduce risk for Alzheimer’s and other dementias

October 7, 2021

Science Daily/University of Southern California

Two USC researchers whose work linked air pollution to a greater risk of Alzheimer's disease and faster cognitive decline are seeing signs that cleaner air can make a difference in brain health.

Cars and factories produce a fine particulate known as PM2.5 that USC-led studies have linked to memory loss and Alzheimer's disease. Smaller than the width of a human hair, these tiny particles pose a big problem. Once inhaled, they pass directly from the nose up and into the brain, beyond the blood-brain barrier that normally protects the brain from dust or other invaders.

In a research letter published today in Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association, the USC researchers described how their labs each independently reported indications of recent decreases in neurotoxicity (damage to the brain or nervous system caused by exposure to toxic substances) of PM2.5 air pollution in humans and mice.

University Professor Caleb Finch and associate professor of gerontology and sociology Jennifer Ailshire, both with the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, focused on PM2.5 pollution. Long-term exposure to PM2.5 has been linked to premature death, particularly in people with chronic heart or lung diseases.

Ailshire's research, published earlier this year in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, showed a strong association between cognitive deficits and air pollution among people with lower levels of education in 2004.

Based on data from the nationwide Health and Retirement Study, her work showed that, when exposed to PM2.5, adults 65 and older who had fewer than eight years of education faced a greater risk of cognitive impairment. But one decade later, Ailshire found no such association for study participants.

A likely factor was the reduction in PM2.5 over the prior decade, said Ailshire. Air quality data showed the average annual PM2.5 levels in the study participants' neighborhoods were 25% below 2004 levels.

Notably in 2014, very few of the study participants lived in places with annual average PM2.5 that exceeded U.S. Environmental Protection Agency air quality standards. This further suggested that the improvements with cognitive decline were linked to a drop in exposure to high pollution among older adults.

"Improving air quality around the country has been a tremendous public health and environment policy success story. But there are signs of a reversal in these trends," Ailshire said. "Pollution levels are creeping up again and there are increasingly more large fires, which generate a significant amount of air pollution in certain parts of the country. This gives me cause for concern about future trends in improving air quality."

Finch's research on mice, published earlier this year in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, also found evidence of lower neurotoxicity of air pollution over time.

Finch and his research team have studied pollution levels at the same Los Angeles site and their effect on mouse brains since 2009. After 2017, the mice exposed to a tiny, nanoscale version of PM2.5 appeared healthier. Markedly, they showed sharp declines in several factors of neurotoxicity, including oxidative damage to cells and tissues.

During the years that Finch's and Ailshire's studies were taking place, the composition of air pollution in the United States was also changing.

From 2000 to 2020, PM2.5 levels declined nationwide by 41%, according to the EPA. In contrast, urban PM2.5 in Los Angeles declined only slightly from 2009 to 2019. While nationwide ozone levels decreased, Los Angeles County ozone reversed the prior trends by increasing after 2015.

Finch and Ailshire emphasize that their findings cannot evaluate potential benefits of air pollution improvements to the risk of cognitive decline and dementia. Although PM2.5 levels declined nationally from 2009 to 2016, the year-over-year increases that have been observed since 2017 show that improvements in air quality can be reversed, as they were in Los Angeles.

"Our findings underscore the importance of efforts to improve air quality as well as the continued importance of demographic and experimental evaluation of air pollution neurotoxicity," Finch said.

Finch and Jiu-Chiuan "J.C." Chen, an associate professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, previously published a study using both human and animal data that showed brain aging processes worsened by air pollution may increase dementia risk. Their research indicated that older women who lived in locations with high levels of PM2.5 suffered memory loss and Alzheimer's-like brain shrinkage not seen in women living with cleaner air.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/10/211007122123.htm

Larry Minikes 10/12/21 Larry Minikes 10/12/21

Natural compound in basil may protect against Alzheimer’s disease pathology

October 5, 2021

Science Daily/University of South Florida (USF Health)

Fenchol, a natural compound abundant in some plants including basil, can help protect the brain against Alzheimer's disease pathology, a preclinical study led by University of South Florida Health (USF Health) researchers suggests.

The new study published Oct. 5 in the Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience (@FrontiersIn), discovered a sensing mechanism associated with the gut microbiome that explains how fenchol reduces neurotoxicity in the Alzheimer's brain.

Emerging evidence indicates that short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs)- metabolites produced by beneficial gut bacteria and the primary source of nutrition for cells in your colon -- contribute to brain health. The abundance of SCFAs is often reduced in older patients with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia. However, how this decline in SCFAs contributes to Alzheimer's disease progression remains largely unknown.

Gut-derived SCFAs that travel through the blood to the brain can bind to and activate free fatty acid receptor 2 (FFAR2), a cell signaling molecule expressed on brain cells called neurons.

"Our study is the first to discover that stimulation of the FFAR2 sensing mechanism by these microbial metabolites (SCFAs) can be beneficial in protecting brain cells against toxic accumulation of the amyloid-beta (Aβ) protein associated with Alzheimer's disease," said principal investigator Hariom Yadav, PhD, professor of neurosurgery and brain repair at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, where he directs the USF Center for Microbiome Research.

One of the two hallmark pathologies of Alzheimer's disease is hardened deposits of Aβ that clump together between nerve cells to form amyloid protein plaques in the brain. The other is neurofibrillary tangles of tau protein inside brain cells. These pathologies contribute to the neuron loss and death that ultimately cause the onset of Alzheimer's, a neurodegenerative disease characterized by loss of memory, thinking skills and other cognitive abilities.

Dr. Yadav and his collaborators delve into molecular mechanisms to explain how interactions between the gut microbiome and the brain might influence brain health and age-related cognitive decline. In this study, Dr. Yadav said, the research team set out to uncover the "previously unknown" function of FFAR2 in the brain.

The researchers first showed that inhibiting the FFAR2 receptor (thus blocking its ability to "sense" SCFAs in the environment outside the neuronal cell and transmit signaling inside the cell) contributes to the abnormal buildup of the Aβ protein causing neurotoxicity linked to Alzheimer's disease.

Then, they performed large-scale virtual screening of more than 144,000 natural compounds to find potential candidates that could mimic the same beneficial effect of microbiota produced SCFAs in activating FFAR2 signaling. Identifying a natural compound alternative to SCFAs to optimally target the FFAR2 receptor on neurons is important, because cells in the gut and other organs consume most of these microbial metabolites before they reach the brain through blood circulation, Dr. Yadav noted.

Dr. Yadav's team narrowed 15 leading compound candidates to the most potent one. Fenchol, a plant-derived compound that gives basil its aromatic scent, was best at binding to the FFAR's active site to stimulate its signaling.

Further experiments in human neuronal cell cultures, as well as Caenorhabditis (C.) elegans (worm) and mouse models of Alzheimer's disease demonstrated that fenchol significantly reduced excess Aβ accumulation and death of neurons by stimulating FFAR2 signaling, the microbiome sensing mechanism. When the researchers more closely examined how fenchol modulates Aβ-induced neurotoxicity, they found that the compound decreased senescent neuronal cells, also known as "zombie" cells, commonly found in brains with Alzheimer's disease pathology.

Zombie cells stop replicating and die a slow death. Meanwhile, Dr. Yadav said, they build up in diseased and aging organs, create a damaging inflammatory environment, and send stress or death signals to neighboring healthy cells, which eventually also change into harmful zombie cells or die.

"Fenchol actually affects the two related mechanisms of senescence and proteolysis," Dr. Yadav said of the intriguing preclinical study finding. "It reduces the formation of half-dead zombie neuronal cells and also increases the degradation of (nonfunctioning) Aβ, so that amyloid protein is cleared from the brain much faster."

Before you start throwing lots of extra basil in your spaghetti sauce or anything else you eat to help stave off dementia, more research is needed -- including in humans.

In exploring fenchol as a possible approach for treating or preventing Alzheimer's pathology, the USF Health team will seek answers to several questions. A key one is whether fenchol consumed in basil itself would be more or less bioactive (effective) than isolating and administering the compound in a pill, Dr. Yadav said. "We also want to know whether a potent dose of either basil or fenchol would be a quicker way to get the compound into the brain."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/10/211005101827.htm

Larry Minikes 10/12/21 Larry Minikes 10/12/21

Higher levels of education and higher income mean better health for older adults

October 7, 2021

Science Daily/Trinity College Dublin

A new cross-national study comparing multimorbidity disease cluster patterns, prevalence and health risk factors across Ireland, England, The United States and Canada, reveal important findings that could have health implications for public health policy.

The study led by TILDA: the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing offers fresh insight to help health authorities better understand the complex nature of multimorbidity (a co-occurrence of two or more chronic diseases), and to identify and improve appropriate prevention and management strategies for treating these diseases across countries. All four countries ranked globally in the top 14 of the 2018 UN Human Development Index, allowing for suitable comparison across the range of public healthcare delivery systems of North America and Europe.

The study investigates lifetime prevalence of 10 common chronic, cardiovascular and mental health conditions among 62,111 older adults aged 52-85 years of age across the four countries, and uncovers how differences in demographics, socio-economic status and health behaviours affect the combination of diseases within and across four countries. The findings are a good news story for Ireland, who had the lowest prevalence for 6 out of 10 diseases compared to the other countries.

Multimorbidity is a term used to describe conditions that affect people living with two or more long-term or chronic diseases and is associated with poor health outcomes such as physical and functional decline, mortality, decreased quality of life and increased healthcare use and cost.

WHAT DID THE STUDY SHOW?

The study found that multimorbidity among those aged 52-85 years old was highest in the U.S. at 60.7% and lowest in Ireland at 38.6%. Five predominant multimorbidity patterns for each country were identified in the study, with researchers discovering that socio-economic disparity existed across all four countries, where those who had higher levels of education and higher income in general had better health. Elevated Body Mass Index (BMI) was also identified as a risk factor for high disease burden and multimorbidity across all countries.

KEY FINDINGS

The U.S. had significantly higher prevalence of hypertension, stroke, angina, heart attacks, arthritis, cancer, lung disease and psychiatric illnesses.

Despite the U.S. spending more per capita on health care than Ireland, Canada, and England, and it had the highest prevalence for 9 out of 10 common chronic, cardiovascular, and mental health conditions when compared to Ireland.
Ireland had the lowest prevalence for 6 out of 10 diseases compared to the other countries.
The U.S. had a higher prevalence of multimorbidity even after adjustments for age, sex, BMI, income, employment status, education, alcohol consumption and smoking history.
The odds of having diabetes in the U.S. was double that of Ireland or England even after controlling for factors such as age, sex, education, income, employment status, B.M.I., smoking and alcohol consumption.
Ireland had the highest prevalence of osteoporosis of all four countries.
The link between health and wealth was present across all four countries but was most pronounced in the U.S., with higher income and higher education levels associated with lower disease prevalence and lower probability associated with multimorbidity clusters.

As the world's population is ageing and expanding rapidly, identifying early treatment and management of disease is a priority for healthcare policymakers and providers. While patients living with multimorbidity often have complex medical needs, this can result in challenges to health system capacity worldwide, requiring significant healthcare resources to meet cost, and provision of care. Preventing and improving how multimorbidity and age-related diseases are managed and treated is crucial to enhance development of sustainable and safe models of care.

Dr Belinda Hernandez, senior research fellow at TILDA, and lead author said:

"Chronic illnesses are the leading cause of death worldwide. These conditions rarely happen in isolation and commonly occur together which is known as multimorbidity. This is a particularly important issue for our health care service and for public health policy in ageing societies as multimorbid people tend to have more complex health care needs and poorer health outcomes such as reduced physical functioning and higher rates of mortality. The findings of this study can be used to better understand the complex nature of multimorbidity and identify appropriate prevention and management strategies for treating the unique patterns of non-communicable disease in these respective countries."

Professor Rose Anne Kenny, Principal Investigator of TILDA and co- author said:

"The findings of this study clearly outline the health concerns that affect our ageing population and are particularly relevant for those tasked with strengthening healthcare delivery in Ireland and further afield. Having an informed understanding of disease patterns for a given country can bring about a better understanding of the complex nature of multimorbidity and disease. Furthermore, research shows that preventing the development of chronic diseases may be beneficial in delaying or preventing dementia-related disease or cognitive impairment. We know that Ireland has the second highest rate of obesity in the EU, while dementia rates are estimated to more than double in the next 25 years, to over 150,000 by 2045. This research clearly outlines why targeted health interventions and campaigns are needed to encourage healthier habits and behaviours to help prevent or delay the development of disease, while supporting better health and longevity for those who age."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/10/211007122200.htm

Larry Minikes 10/12/21 Larry Minikes 10/12/21

Smoggier skies, lower scores? A Brazilian study examines the effects of air pollution on students’ cognitive performance

October 6, 2021

Science Daily/University of Chicago Press Journals

A new study published in the Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists looks at the causal relationship between outdoor air pollution levels on nationwide university entry examination day and students' cognitive performance in Brazil.

In "The Effects of Air Pollution on Students' Cognitive Performance: Evidence from Brazilian University Entrance Tests," authors Juliana Carneiro, Matthew A. Cole, and Eric Strobl use Brazilian data on concentrations of ozone (O3) and particulate matter (PM10) and a data set of students' scores to examine the impact of air pollution on academic performance in national examinations. The air pollution data focuses on Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo -- Brazil's most industrialized states -- using air pollution and weather monitoring station data to build a unique data panel from 2015-17.

The authors constructed individual-level panel data for the two days of exams across three years and applied student fixed effects to address potential endogeneity concerns. "In addition," they note, "We take advantage of plausibly exogenous spatial and temporal variation in PM10 across municipalities in the states of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo and utilize an instrumental variable approach based on wind direction."

The findings suggest that an increase of 10 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m3) of PM10 on the day of the examination decreases students' scores by 6.1 points (8% SD). "Even when including a more flexible measure of our treatment that is utilizing a dummy variable to account for the days in which PM10 exceeded the WHO's acceptable threshold, our findings still point to negative effects of air pollution on cognitive performance during examinations," they note. Placebo tests, sensitivity checks, and falsifications tests reinforced the main findings: evidence of a link between air pollution and exam performance.

Consistent with previous studies, the authors also find evidence that the effect of air pollution on exam performance appears to affect males more adversely than females. "Our results also suggest that poorer students may be more susceptible to air pollution than wealthier exam takers," they write, adding, "Our findings provide plausible evidence to suggest that cognitive performance may be hindered by poor air quality, but unequally so."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/10/211006170717.htm

Larry Minikes 10/12/21 Larry Minikes 10/12/21

Mushroom consumption may lower risk of depression

October 12, 2021

Science Daily/Penn State

Mushrooms have been making headlines due to their many health advantages. Not only do they lower one's risk of cancer and premature death, but new research led by Penn State College of Medicine also reveals that these superfoods may benefit a person's mental health.

Penn State researchers used data on diet and mental health collected from more than 24,000 U.S. adults between 2005 and 2016. They found that people who ate mushrooms had lower odds of having depression.

According to the researchers, mushrooms contain ergothioneine, an antioxidant that may protect against cell and tissue damage in the body. Studies have shown that antioxidants help prevent several mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression.

"Mushrooms are the highest dietary source of the amino acid ergothioneine -- an anti-inflammatory which cannot be synthesized by humans," said lead researcher Djibril Ba, who recently graduated from the epidemiology doctoral program at the College of Medicine. "Having high levels of this may lower the risk of oxidative stress, which could also reduce the symptoms of depression."

White button mushrooms, which are the most commonly consumed mushroom variety in the U.S., contain potassium, which is believed to lower anxiety. In addition, certain other species of edible mushrooms, especially Hericium erinaceus, also known as Lion's Mane, may stimulate the expression of neurotrophic factors such as nerve growth factor synthesis, which could have an impact on preventing neuropsychiatric disorders including depression.

According to the researchers, college-educated, non-Hispanic white women were more likely to eat mushrooms. The average age of surveyed participants was 45, and the majority (66%) were non-Hispanic white people. The investigators observed a significant association between mushroom consumption and lower odds of depression after accounting for socio-demographics, major risk factors, self-reported diseases, medications and other dietary factors. They said, however, that there was no clear additional benefit with relatively high mushroom intake.

"The study adds to the growing list of possible health benefits of eating mushrooms," said Joshua Muscat, a Penn State Cancer Institute researcher and professor of public health sciences.

The team conducted a secondary analysis to see if the risk of depression could be lowered by replacing a serving of red or processed meat with a serving of mushrooms each day. However, findings show that this substitution was not associated with lower odds of depression.

Prior to this research, there have been few studies to examine the association between mushroom consumption and depression, and the majority have been clinical trials with fewer than 100 participants. The researchers said this study highlights the potential clinical and public health importance of mushroom consumption as a means of reducing depression and preventing other diseases.

The researchers noted some limitations that could be addressed in future studies. The data did not provide details on the types of mushrooms. As a result, the researchers could not determine the effects of specific types of mushrooms on depression. Food codes issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture were used to determine mushroom intake; therefore, some entries may have been misclassified or inaccurately recorded.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/10/211012102657.htm

Larry Minikes 10/6/21 Larry Minikes 10/6/21

Can You Retrain the Brain After Addiction?

Guest post by Dr. Harshi Dhingra
Pathologist, Assistant professor, Pathology | Adesh institute of medical sciences and research, Bathinda

Addiction is not just a physical problem but an emotional challenge that can seriously impact your life and development. It literally reprograms your brain and makes it feel nearly impossible to overcome. Thankfully, that doesn't have to be the case if you understand how to retrain your brain.

How Addiction Affects the Brain

Substance abuse will inevitably change the way that your brain operates. That's because it changes the chemistry in your mind and causes changes in how it works. This process is a multi-faceted one and impacts even people who try a few drugs:

The Production of the High – When you get high, your brain is forced to release artificially high levels of dopamine. This release can acclimate your brain to this higher level and make life without drugs seem duller or less happy. But, unfortunately, your brain may also release fewer endorphin chemicals without drugs.
A Decrease in Potency – You probably noticed that you get less of a higher and a shorter one the longer you use drugs. That's because your brain is retrained to tolerate higher doses, meaning you have to increase your levels (and increase your addiction) to get the same types of effects.
The Rewarding of Adverse Patterns of Behavior – As you abuse drugs and experience higher highs, your brain becomes reprogrammed. It starts recognizing negative patterns of behavior as rewarding. As a result, it unconsciously triggers more elevated rates of substance abuse.
A Loss of Self-Control – People who abuse substances often claim that they can’t control their actions. This perception is accurate to an extent. While they are still accountable for their behaviors, their brain pushes them harder towards frequent drug abuse.

This type of reprogramming can be hard to fight. Some people argue that addiction trains the brain in such a way that retraining is impossible. But is that the case? Let's take a look at two different arguments to get an idea of what is possible in this situation.

Brains Can't Be Retrained?

Brain plasticity is the measurement of how easy it is for your mind to adapt to new situations. Plasticity is at its peak when you're about 5-8 years old and rapidly decreases as you age. By the time you reach your 20s, it’s nowhere near what it was when you were a teen. Unfortunately, this may make retraining very difficult.

Some even argue that retraining at this point is impossible, particularly when your brain is affected by addiction. The unconscious mind has been crafted to suit specific situations and react in particular ways. As a result, adaptation can feel nearly impossible for many people, making addiction tough to fight.

That said, it is unfair to say that the brain cannot be retrained at all. Even older adults learn hobbies like painting, music, and much more. And while addiction is more complex than learning how to play guitar, you can still retrain your brain if you take the time and energy to learn how to do it.

Brains CAN Be Retrained

While retraining your brain after addiction is challenging due to decreased brain plasticity, you can retrain yourself given enough time. These steps require you to pay close attention to your behaviors and your thoughts and to condition yourself to avoid them. A few ways you can take this approach include:

Work Towards Personal Awareness – Pay attention to your thoughts as they happen and try to understand where they originate. If they are negative, correct them with positive statements. Your brain plasticity may slow down your retraining, but consistency minimizes any confusion.
Understand Your Triggers – Your drug addiction operates on a pattern that is unique to you. Your triggers initiate this pattern. Learning to avoid your triggers can retrain your brain. For example, if boredom pushes you towards regular drug abuse, find a way to keep yourself engaged.
Stay Consistent – The most challenging part about retraining your brain is staying consistent. It is only through repeated and constant retraining that you can improve your mental health and fight drug addiction. You may also need a specialist or friend who can keep you engaged with this process.
Know What You Want – The brain needs direction during retraining and an understanding of what you want. Fighting for your sobriety gives you the kind of insight that you need to stay focused and happy within your recovery effort.

These steps seem simple on the surface but can be challenging to execute correctly. You may find yourself falling away from these steps or even relapsing. Even a relapse, however, can be a powerful learning tool for retraining. Use every resource available to keep your drug addiction at bay.

Help is Available for You

Retraining your brain after addiction isn’t going to be easy. You need to work constantly at keeping yourself engaged with your growth and must recognize and actively fight negative thoughts. The mind is a very stubborn and tricky beast to battle as we age. Thankfully, it’s still possible to get help if you fully understand the different suggestions for your needs.

Just as importantly, you need to take the time to work with professionals who fully understand your needs and your emotional situation. These experts will guide you through this period, teaching you various coping mechanisms, recognizing signs of relapse, and ensure that you stay focused on the path towards recovery. While challenging, you can retrain your brain and stay sober for good.

Sources:

addiction.surgeongeneral.gov – The Neurobiology of Substance Use, Misuse, and Addiction

teens.drugabuse.gov – Brain and Addiction

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov – The Aging Mind: Neuroplasticity in Response to Cognitive Training

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov – The Social Brain: Neural Basis of Social Knowledge

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov – Brain Plasticity and Behavior in the Developing Brain

pubmed.ncbi.nih.gov – Retraining the Addicted Brain

newsinhealth.nih.gov – Biology of Addiction

drugabuse.gov – How Science Has Revolutionized the Understanding of Drug Addiction

sunshinebehavioralhealth.com - 90 Day Rehab Programs

Larry Minikes 10/5/21 Larry Minikes 10/5/21

Mentally reattaching to work important for leader success

August 31, 2021

Science Daily/Portland State University

A new study found that on the days that leaders and managers were better able to reattach to work in the morning, they experienced higher positive moods and work focus and that in turn allowed them to be more successful throughout the day.

Getting into the right mindset for work can set the tone for the rest of your day -- and it's an especially beneficial practice for managers, a new Portland State University study found.

Mentally reconnecting to work -- thinking about what you want to accomplish that day, what's on your day's agenda or what situations you might encounter before you even open your work email -- better prepares an employee to be engaged throughout the workday. The study found that on the days that leaders and managers were better able to reattach to work in the morning, they experienced higher positive moods and work focus and that in turn allowed them to be more successful throughout the day.

Reattachment to work can occur while still at home (thinking about the upcoming day during breakfast), during the commute (anticipating events at work that day) or when arriving at work (mentally running through the day's to-do list after parking). For those working from home, the time saved by not commuting can be used to sit down in front of the computer and mentally get into a work mindset before opening your email or logging into a Zoom meeting.

Charlotte Fritz, the study's lead author and an associate professor of industrial-organizational psychology at PSU, previously found that employees who mentally reconnect to work in the morning are more engaged at work, but she says that this study's focus on leaders is important as they are also responsible for the work and engagement of their employees.

This study found that by successfully reattaching to work at the start of their day, managers were better able to accomplish their own work tasks, felt more energetic throughout the workday and engaged in more transformational leadership behaviors.

"These leader behaviors are crucial for a variety of employee outcomes," Fritz said. "Providing a vision, being inspirational and motivating for employees, listening carefully and supporting employee needs and providing them with opportunities for growth."

More than 400 leaders filled out daily surveys throughout the workweek and Fritz said their levels of vitality, goal accomplishment and positive leadership fluctuated based on how they mentally reconnected with work in the morning.

"On days when leaders do this, they're going to do better at work," Fritz said.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210831095617.htm

Larry Minikes 10/5/21 Larry Minikes 10/5/21

Moderate-vigorous physical activity is the most efficient at improving fitness

Physical fitness is a powerful predictor of health outcomes

August 27, 2021

Science Daily/Boston University School of Medicine

In the largest study performed to date to understand the relationship between habitual physical activity and physical fitness, researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have found that higher amount of time spent performing exercise (moderate-vigorous physical activity) and low-moderate level activity (steps) and less time spent sedentary, translated to greater physical fitness.

"By establishing the relationship between different forms of habitual physical activity and detailed fitness measures, we hope that our study will provide important information that can ultimately be used to improve physical fitness and overall health across the life course," explained corresponding author Matthew Nayor, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine at BUSM.

He and his team studied approximately 2,000 participants from the community-based Framingham Heart Study who underwent comprehensive cardiopulmonary exercise tests (CPET) for the "gold standard" measurement of physical fitness. Physical fitness measurements were associated with physical activity data obtained through accelerometers (device that measures frequency and intensity of human movement) that were worn for one week around the time of CPET and approximately eight years earlier.

They found dedicated exercise (moderate-vigorous physical activity) was the most efficient at improving fitness. Specifically, exercise was three times more efficient than walking alone and more than 14 times more efficient than reducing the time spent sedentary. Additionally, they found that the greater time spent exercising and higher steps/day could partially offset the negative effects of being sedentary in terms of physical fitness.

According to the researchers, while the study was focused on the relationship of physical activity and fitness specifically (rather than any health-related outcomes), fitness has a powerful influence on health and is associated with lower risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and premature death. "Therefore, improved understanding of methods to improve fitness would be expected to have broad implications for improved health," said Nayor, a cardiologist at Boston Medical Center.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210827133756.htm

Larry Minikes 10/5/21 Larry Minikes 10/5/21

Happiness in early adulthood may protect against dementia

Depressive symptoms increase risk for cognitive impairment

September 28, 2021

Science Daily/University of California - San Francisco

While research has shown that poor cardiovascular health can damage blood flow to the brain increasing the risk for dementia, a new study led by UC San Francisco indicates that poor mental health may also take its toll on cognition.

The research adds to a body of evidence that links depression with dementia, but while most studies have pointed to its association in later life, the UCSF study shows that depression in early adulthood may lead to lower cognition 10 years later and to cognitive decline in old age.

The study publishes in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease on Sept. 28, 2021.

The researchers used innovative statistical methods to predict average trajectories of depressive symptoms for approximately 15,000 participants ages 20 to 89, divided into three life stages: older, midlife and young adulthood. They then applied these predicted trajectories and found that in a group of approximately 6,000 older participants, the odds of cognitive impairment were 73 percent higher for those estimated to have elevated depressive symptoms in early adulthood, and 43 percent higher for those estimated to have elevated depressive symptoms in later life.

These results were adjusted for depressive symptoms in other life stages and for differences in age, sex, race, educational attainment, body mass index, history of diabetes and smoking status. For depressive symptoms in midlife, the researchers found an association with cognitive impairment, but this was discounted when they adjusted for depression in other life stages.

Excess Stress Hormones May Damage Ability to Make New Memories

"Several mechanisms explain how depression might increase dementia risk," said first author Willa Brenowitz, PhD, MPH, of the UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Weill Institute for Neurosciences. "Among them is that hyperactivity of the central stress response system increases production of the stress hormones glucocorticoids, leading to damage of the hippocampus, the part of the brain essential for forming, organizing and storing new memories."

Other studies have linked depression with atrophy of the hippocampus, and one study has shown faster rates of volume loss in women, she said.

In estimating the depressive symptoms across each life stage, researchers pooled data from younger participants with data from the approximately 6,000 older participants and predicted average trajectories. These participants, whose average age was 72 at the start of the study and lived at home, had been enrolled by the Health Aging and Body Composition Study and the Cardiovascular Health Study. They were followed annually or semi-annually for up to 11 years.

U-Shaped Curve Adds Credence to Predicted Trajectories

While assumed values were used, the authors stated, no longitudinal studies have been completed across the life course. "Imputed depressive symptom trajectories fit a U-shaped curve, similar to age-related trends in other research," they noted.

Participants were screened for depression using a tool called the CESD-10, a 10-item questionnaire assessing symptoms in the past week. Moderate or high depressive symptoms were found in 13 percent of young adults, 26 percent of midlife adults and 34 percent of older participants.

Some 1,277 participants were diagnosed with cognitive impairment following neuropsychological testing, evidence of global decline, documented use of a dementia medication or hospitalization with dementia as a primary or secondary diagnosis.

"Generally, we found that the greater the depressive symptoms, the lower the cognition and the faster the rates of decline," said Brenowitz, who is also affiliated with the UCSF Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. "Older adults estimated to have moderate or high depressive symptoms in early adulthood were found to experience a drop in cognition over 10 years."

With up to 20 percent of the population suffering from depression during their lifetime, it's important to recognize its role in cognitive aging, said senior author Kristine Yaffe, MD, of the UCSF departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and Epidemiology and Biostatistics. "Future work will be needed to confirm these findings, but in the meantime, we should screen and treat depression for many reasons."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/09/210928121341.htm

Larry Minikes 10/5/21 Larry Minikes 10/5/21

MIND diet linked to better cognitive performance

Study finds diet may contribute to cognitive resilience in the elderly

September 21, 2021

Science Daily/Rush University Medical Center

Aging takes a toll on the body and on the mind. For example, the tissue of aging human brains sometimes develops abnormal clumps of proteins that are the hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. How can you protect your brain from these effects?

Researchers at Rush University Medical Center have found that older adults may benefit from a specific diet called the MIND diet even when they develop these protein deposits, known as amyloid plaques and tangles. Plaques and tangles are a pathology found in the brain that build up in between nerve cells and typically interfere with thinking and problem-solving skills.

Developed by the late Martha Clare Morris, ScD, who was a Rush nutritional epidemiologist, and her colleagues, the MIND diet is a hybrid of the Mediterranean and DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diets. Previous research studies have found that the MIND diet may reduce a person's risk of developing Alzheimer's disease dementia.

Now a study has shown that participants in the study who followed the MIND diet moderately later in life did not have cognition problems, according to a paper published on Sept. 14 in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.

"Some people have enough plaques and tangles in their brains to have a postmortem diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, but they do not develop clinical dementia in their lifetime," said Klodian Dhana, MD, PhD, lead author of the paper and an assistant professor in the Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine at Rush Medical College .

"Some have the ability to maintain cognitive function despite the accumulation of these pathologies in the brain, and our study suggests that the MIND diet is associated with better cognitive functions independently of brain pathologies related to Alzheimer's disease.

In this study, the researchers examined the associations of diet -- from the start of the study until death -- brain pathologies and cognitive functioning in older adults who participated in the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center's ongoing Memory and Aging Project, which began in 1997 and includes people living in greater Chicago. The participants were mostly white without known dementia, and all of them agreed to undergo annual clinical evaluations while alive and brain autopsy after their death.

The researchers followed 569 participants, who were asked to complete annual evaluations and cognitive tests to see if they had developed memory and thinking problems. Beginning in 2004, participants were given an annual food frequency questionnaire about how often they ate 144 food items in previous year.

Using the questionnaire answers, the researchers gave each participant a MIND diet score based on how often the participants ate specific foods. The MIND diet has 15 dietary components, including 10 "brain-healthy food groups" and five unhealthy groups -- red meat, butter and stick margarine, cheese, pastries and sweets, and fried or fast food.

To adhere to and benefit from the MIND diet, a person would need to eat at least three servings of whole grains, a green leafy vegetable and one other vegetable every day -- along with a glass of wine -- snack most days on nuts, have beans every other day or so, eat poultry and berries at least twice a week and fish at least once a week. A person also must limit intake of the designated unhealthy foods, limiting butter to less than 1 1/2 teaspoons a day and eating less than a serving a week of sweets and pastries, whole fat cheese, and fried or fast food.

Based on the frequency of intake reported for the healthy and unhealthy food groups, the researchers calculated the MIND diet score for each participant across the study period. An average of the MIND diet score from the start of the study until the participant's death was used in the analysis to limit measurement error. Seven sensitivity measures were calculated to confirm accuracy of the findings.

"We found that a higher MIND diet score was associated with better memory and thinking skills independently of Alzheimer's disease pathology and other common age-related brain pathologies. The diet seemed to have a protective capacity and may contribute to cognitive resilience in the elderly." Dhana said.

"Diet changes can impact cognitive functioning and risk of dementia, for better or worse," he continued. "There are fairly simple diet and lifestyle changes a person could make that may help to slow cognitive decline with aging, and contribute to brain health."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/09/210921172721.htm

Larry Minikes 10/5/21 Larry Minikes 10/5/21

Cholesterol drives Alzheimer’s plaque formation

September 14, 2021

Science Daily/University of Virginia Health System

Cholesterol manufactured in the brain appears to play a key role in the development of Alzheimer's disease, new research indicates.

Scientists from the University of Virginia School of Medicine and their collaborators found that cholesterol produced by cells called astrocytes is required for controlling the production of amyloid beta, a sticky protein that builds up in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's. The protein accumulates into insoluble plaques that are a hallmark of the disease. Many efforts have targeted these plaques in the hope that removing or preventing them could treat or prevent Alzheimer's.

The new findings offer important insights into how and why the plaques form and may explain why genes associated with cholesterol have been linked to increased risk for Alzheimer's. The results also provide scientists with important direction as they seek to prevent Alzheimer's.

"This study helps us to understand why genes linked to cholesterol are so important to the development of Alzheimer's disease," said researcher Heather A. Ferris, MD, PhD, of UVA's Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism. "Our data point to the importance of focusing on the production of cholesterol in astrocytes and the transport to neurons as a way to reduce amyloid beta and prevent plaques from ever being formed."

Alzheimer's Plaques and Cholesterol

While cholesterol is often associated with clogged arteries and heart disease, it plays important roles in the healthy body. The body makes cholesterol naturally so it can produce hormones and carry out other important functions. The new discovery from Ferris and her collaborators adds a new entry to cholesterol's list of responsibilities.

The work also sheds light on the role of astrocytes in Alzheimer's disease. Scientists have known that these common brain cells undergo dramatic changes in Alzheimer's, but they have been uncertain if the cells were suffering from the disease or contributing to it. The new results suggest the latter.

The scientists found that astrocytes help drive the progression of Alzheimer's by making and distributing cholesterol to brain cells called neurons. This cholesterol buildup increases amyloid beta production and, in turn, fuels plaque accumulation.

Normally, cholesterol is kept quite low in neurons, limiting the buildup of amyloid beta. But in Alzheimer's, the neurons lose their ability to regulate amyloid beta, resulting in plaque formation.

Blocking the astrocytes' cholesterol manufacturing "robustly" decreased amyloid beta production in lab mice, the researchers report in a new scientific paper. It's too soon to say if this could be mimicked in people to prevent plaque formation, but the researchers believe that further research is likely to yield important insights that will benefit the battle against Alzheimer's.

The fact that amyloid beta production is normally tightly controlled suggests that it may play an important role in brain cells, the researchers say. As such, doctors may need to be careful in trying to block or remove amyloid beta. Additional research into the discovery could shed light on how to prevent the over-production of amyloid beta as a strategy against Alzheimer's, the researchers believe.

"If we can find strategies to prevent astrocytes from over-producing cholesterol, we might make a real impact on the development of Alzheimer's disease," Ferris said. "Once people start having memory problems from Alzheimer's disease, countless neurons have already died. We hope that targeting cholesterol can prevent that death from ever occurring in the first place."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/09/210914100118.htm

Larry Minikes 10/5/21 Larry Minikes 10/5/21

Brain refreshing: Why the dreaming phase matters

August 25, 2021

Science Daily/University of Tsukuba

Researchers have found that blood flow in the brain capillaries, which is important for oxygen/nutrient delivery and waste removal, was increased during rapid eye movement sleep in mice. Adenosine A2a receptors might be at least partially responsible for this increased blood flow. These findings bring new hope for understanding the function of sleep and developing treatments for neurodegenerative diseases that involve the buildup of waste products in the brain, such as Alzheimer's disease.

Scientists have long wondered why almost all animals sleep, despite the disadvantages to survival of being unconscious. Now, researchers led by a team from the University of Tsukuba have found new evidence of brain refreshing that takes place during a specific phase of sleep: rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, which is when you tend to dream a lot.

Previous studies have measured differences in blood flow in the brain between REM sleep, non-REM sleep, and wakefulness using various methods, with conflicting results. In their latest work, the Tsukuba-led team used a technique to directly visualize the movement of red blood cells in the brain capillaries (where nutrients and waste products are exchanged between brain cells and blood) of mice during awake and asleep states.

"We used a dye to make the brain blood vessels visible under fluorescent light, using a technique known as two-photon microscopy," says senior author of the study Professor Yu Hayashi. "In this way, we could directly observe the red blood cells in capillaries of the neocortex in non-anesthetized mice."

The researchers also measured electrical activity in the brain to identify REM sleep, non-REM sleep, and wakefulness, and looked for differences in blood flow between these phases.

"We were surprised by the results," explains Professor Hayashi. "There was a massive flow of red blood cells through the brain capillaries during REM sleep, but no difference between non-REM sleep and the awake state, showing that REM sleep is a unique state"

The research team then disrupted the mice's sleep, resulting in "rebound" REM sleep -- a stronger form of REM sleep to compensate for the earlier disruption. Blood flow in the brain was further increased during rebound REM sleep, suggesting an association between blood flow and REM sleep strength. However, when the researchers repeated the same experiments in mice without adenosine A2a receptors (the receptors whose blockade makes you feel more awake after drinking coffee), there was less of an increase in blood flow during REM sleep, even during rebound REM sleep.

"These results suggest that adenosine A2a receptors may be responsible for at least some of the changes in blood flow in the brain during REM sleep," says Professor Hayashi.

Given that reduced blood flow in the brain and decreased REM sleep are correlated with the development of Alzheimer's disease, which involves the buildup of waste products in the brain, it may be interesting to address whether increased blood flow in the brain capillaries during REM sleep is important for waste removal from the brain. This study lays preliminary groundwork for future investigations into the role of adenosine A2a receptors in this process, which could ultimately lead to the development of new treatments for conditions such as Alzheimer's disease.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210825113638.htm

Larry Minikes 10/5/21 Larry Minikes 10/5/21

Eyes provide peek at Alzheimer’s disease risk

August 23, 2021

Science Daily/University of California - San Diego

Amyloid plaques are protein deposits that collect between brain cells, hindering function and eventually leading to neuronal death. They are considered a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and the focus of multiple investigations designed to reduce or prevent their formation, including the nationwide A4 study.

But amyloid deposits may also occur in the retina of the eye, often in patients clinically diagnosed with AD, suggesting similar pathologies in both organs. In a small, cross-sectional study, a team of researchers, led by scientists at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, compared tests of retinal and brain amyloids in patients from the A4 study and another study (Longitudinal Evaluation of Amyloid Risk and Neurodegeneration) assessing neurodegeneration risk in persons with low levels of amyloid.

Like the proverbial "windows to the soul," the researchers observed that the presence of retinal spots in the eyes correlated with brain scans showing higher levels of cerebral amyloid. The finding suggests that non-invasive retinal imaging may be useful as a biomarker for detecting early-stage AD risk.

The findings published in the August 17, 2021 issue of Alzheimer's & Dementia.

"This was a small initial dataset from the screening visit. It involved eight patients," said senior author Robert Rissman, PhD, professor of neurosciences at UC San Diego School of Medicine and director of the Biomarker Core for the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study and Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at UC San Diego. "But these findings are encouraging because they suggest it may be possible to determine the onset, spread and morphology of AD -- a preclinical diagnosis -- using retinal imaging, rather than more difficult and costly brain scans. We look forward to seeing the results of additional timepoint retinal scans and the impact of solanezumab (a monoclonal antibody) on retinal imaging. Unfortunately we will need to wait to see and analyze these data when the A4 trial is completed."

The next step, said Rissman, will be to conduct a larger study to more fully document and ascertain the relationship between retinal amyloid and cerebral amyloid, both cross-sectionally and over time.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210823125758.htm

Larry Minikes 10/5/21 Larry Minikes 10/5/21

Having a good listener improves your brain health

August 16, 2021

Science Daily/NYU Langone Health / NYU Grossman School of Medicine

Researchers find having someone to listen to you when you need to talk is associated with greater cognitive resilience. New study shows social interaction in adulthood can stave off cognitive decline despite brain aging.

Supportive social interactions in adulthood are important for your ability to stave off cognitive decline despite brain aging or neuropathological changes such as those present in Alzheimer's disease, a new study finds.

In the study publishing August 16 in JAMA Network Open, researchers observed that simply having someone available most or all of the time whom you can count on to listen to you when you need to talk is associated with greater cognitive resilience -- a measure of your brain's ability to function better than would be expected for the amount of physical aging- or disease-related changes in the brain, which many neurologists believe can be boosted by engaging in mentally stimulating activities, physical exercise, and positive social interactions.

"We think of cognitive resilience as a buffer to the effects of brain aging and disease," says lead researcher Joel Salinas, MD, the Lulu P. and David J. Levidow Assistant Professor of Neurology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and member of the Department of Neurology's Center for Cognitive Neurology. "This study adds to growing evidence that people can take steps, either for themselves or the people they care about most, to increase the odds they'll slow down cognitive aging or prevent the development of symptoms of Alzheimer's disease -- something that is all the more important given that we still don't have a cure for the disease."

An estimated 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease, a progressive condition that affects mostly those over 65 and interferes with memory, language, decision-making, and the ability to live independently. Salinas says that while the disease usually affects an older population, the results of this study indicate that people younger than 65 would benefit from taking stock of their social support. For every unit of decline in brain volume, individuals in their 40s and 50s with low listener availability had a cognitive age that was four years older than those with high listener availability.

"These four years can be incredibly precious. Too often we think about how to protect our brain health when we're much older, after we've already lost a lot of time decades before to build and sustain brain-healthy habits," says Salinas. "But today, right now, you can ask yourself if you truly have someone available to listen to you in a supportive way, and ask your loved ones the same. Taking that simple action sets the process in motion for you to ultimately have better odds of long-term brain health and the best quality of life you can have."

Salinas also recommends that physicians consider adding this question to the standard social history portion of a patient interview: asking patients whether they have access to someone they can count on to listen to them when they need to talk. "Loneliness is one of the many symptoms of depression, and has other health implications for patients," says Salinas. "These kinds of questions about a person's social relationships and feelings of loneliness can tell you a lot about a patient's broader social circumstances, their future health, and how they're really doing outside of the clinic."

How the Study Was Conducted

Researchers used one of the longest running and most closely monitored community-based cohorts in the U.S., the Framingham Heart Study (FHS), as the source of their study's 2,171 participants, with an average age of 63. FHS participants self-reported information on the availability of supportive social interactions including listening, good advice, love and affection, sufficient contact with people they're close with, and emotional support.

Study participants' cognitive resilience was measured as the relative effect of total cerebral brain volume on global cognition, using MRI scans and neuropsychological assessments taken as part of the FHS. Lower brain volumes tend to associate with lower cognitive function, and in this study, researchers examined the modifying effect of individual forms of social support on the relationship between cerebral volume and cognitive performance.

The cognitive function of individuals with greater availability of one specific form of social support was higher relative to their total cerebral volume. This key form of social support was listener availability and it was highly associated with greater cognitive resilience.

Researchers note that further study of individual social interactions may improve understanding of the biological mechanisms that link psychosocial factors to brain health. "While there is still a lot that we don't understand about the specific biological pathways between psychosocial factors like listener availability and brain health, this study gives clues about concrete, biological reasons why we should all seek good listeners and become better listeners ourselves," says Salinas.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210816112101.htm

Larry Minikes 10/5/21 Larry Minikes 10/5/21

Aerobic exercise after a sport-related concussion speeds recovery in adolescent athletes

Daily aerobic exercise significantly reduced the risk of prolonged recovery

September 30, 2021

Science Daily/University at Buffalo

Adolescents can speed their recovery after a sport-related concussion and reduce their risk of experiencing protracted recovery if they engage in aerobic exercise within 10 days of getting injured, according to a new University at Buffalo study.

Published Sept. 30 in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, the randomized controlled trial conducted by researchers at UB's Concussion Management Clinic reproduces and expands on the team's 2019 study published in JAMA Pediatrics.

The new study shows for the first time that sub-symptom threshold aerobic exercise -- meaning exercise that doesn't exacerbate symptoms -- when initiated within 10 days reduced a participant's risk of persistent post-concussion symptoms by 48%.

"The study clearly demonstrates that strict physical rest until symptoms spontaneously resolve is no longer an acceptable way to treat sport-related concussion in adolescents," said John J. Leddy, MD, first author, clinical professor of orthopaedics in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB, and director of the UB Concussion Management Clinic at UBMD Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine.

Prescribing physical activity

"Our findings show that to accelerate recovery and reduce the risk of delayed recovery, physicians should not only permit, but they should consider prescribing sub-symptom threshold physical activity early after sport-related concussion," he said.

Adolescents are the most vulnerable age group for concussions, and they take the longest time to recover.

The new findings are the result of a large body of work by Leddy and colleague Barry S. Willer, PhD, professor of psychiatry in UB's Jacobs School, research director in the Concussion Management Clinic and senior author on the paper. Leddy and Willer have spent years investigating how concussions impact young athletes.

Their research, which is internationally known, has played a key role in the evolution of guidelines that no longer state that athletes recovering from concussions should be prescribed complete rest.

They began this line of research in 2000 after working together to develop guidelines for return to play after concussion for the International Olympics. They were interested in developing a safe and systematic assessment of exercise tolerance, since this was a known problem after concussion.

"We based our approach on how patients with heart disease are prescribed exercise, by identifying a safe threshold below which the patient can exercise," said Leddy. "We developed our Buffalo Concussion Treadmill Test by adapting a cardiac treadmill test to stress the brain instead of the heart. Since we know that regular aerobic exercise is good for brain health, the goal was to use sub-symptom threshold exercise to see if it could help the concussed brain recover."

Non-pharmacological, safe and effective

"As the current study shows, this approach is non-pharmacological, safe and effective," said Leddy, adding that no adverse events were reported.

Study participants were adolescents between the ages of 13 and 18 who had sustained a concussion while playing a sport. A total of 118 adolescents were included, with 61 receiving the aerobic exercise treatment and 57 receiving the placebo treatment of stretching exercises that did not elevate their heart rate.

Those who participated in the aerobic exercise group took a median of 14 days to recover from concussion versus 19 days for those in the stretching exercise group.

The current study differed from the team's 2019 study in the following ways:

Two new sites were added. It was conducted with participants seen at UB-affiliated community sports medicine clinics, as well as two hospital-affiliated clinics: one at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (connected with the University of Pennsylvania) and Boston Children's Hospital (connected to Harvard Medical School), which tend to see patients with more significant injuries.
Whereas the previous study relied on participants self-reporting the amount and intensity of exercise they underwent, in the current trial all participants were provided with heart rate monitors to wear while exercising. This allowed the researchers to confirm that the participants actually followed the doctor's prescription for aerobic exercise.
The study used a different research design called "intent to treat" and included all participants, even those who dropped out before completing the study, an approach that makes it more difficult to obtain positive findings, but which is more reflective of real-world concussion treatment.

The use of heart rate monitors, in particular, revealed to the UB researchers a more robust picture of the aerobic exercise sessions the participants were pursuing at home.

"What we discovered is that participants were quite diligent in following their prescription and further, that those who followed the prescription or may even have exceeded the exercise prescription of 20 minutes per day recovered much faster than those that did not follow the prescription," Willer said. "This finding is important because delayed recovery comes with substantial cost to adolescents, including academic difficulties, risk for depression and reduced quality of life."

Leddy and Willer said there are a number of possible reasons why this approach is effective, related to the physiological and neurological benefits that stem from aerobic exercise, including enhancements to neuroplasticity (i.e. neuron repair).

"We are very pleased that the results of this second study provide much stronger evidence that the Buffalo Protocol is not only effective, but it is effective whoever provides the treatment and with all adolescent athletes who experience a concussion," said Willer. "Importantly, the benefits of prescribed aerobic exercise were experienced by both genders equally."

The UB research focused exclusively on adolescents recovering from sport-related concussion. Other investigations, focused on adults who have sustained a concussion in a non-sport setting, have found that such an approach can be effective but it doesn't work as rapidly or effectively as it does for athletes. In adults, the aerobic exercise approach can work but, Leddy said, it usually has to be combined with other therapies.

"By contrast, this kind of sub-symptom aerobic exercise approach is often the only treatment that adolescent athletes need," he noted.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/09/210930213654.htm

Larry Minikes 10/5/21 Larry Minikes 10/5/21

Limiting screen time for young adults after concussion results in shorter duration of symptoms

September 8, 2021

Science Daily/University of Massachusetts Medical School

'A clinical trial of 125 young adults shows that those who limited screen time for 48 hours immediately after suffering a concussion had a significantly shorter duration of symptoms than those who were permitted screen time. These findings, published in JAMA Pediatrics, offer the first clinical evidence that restricting time spent at a computer, television or phone screen in the acute period following a concussion can reduce the duration of symptoms. The study supports preliminary clinical recommendations to limit screen time.

An estimated 2.5 million people go to the emergency department annually because of concussions. Many of these patients are children aged 10 to 19 years old. In 2017, 15 percent of high schoolers had reported being diagnosed at least once with a concussion.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the International Concussion in Sports Group recommend a period of complete cognitive and physical rest for 24 to 48 hours following a concussion diagnosis. Yet, there are no clear guidelines regarding what constitutes cognitive rest during this period.

"It's one thing parents and children always ask in the emergency department," said lead author Theodore E. Macnow, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics. "Is screen time allowed?" The average American teen spends as much as seven hours a day in front of a screen, not including time spent doing schoolwork, and many clinicians caution against screen time following a concussion, said Dr. Macnow. Other clinicians, however, believe limited screen time, so long as it doesn't induce symptoms, is permittable as one of the few forms of safe distraction during this time. "We're still learning how to treat concussions and there are no clear recommendations regarding screen time," said Macnow. "Nobody has yet looked at this question in a rigorous way. We wanted to get a better handle on this question, so we conducted a randomized clinical trial." From June of 2018 to February of 2020, Macnow and colleagues assessed 125 patients age 12 to 25 who presented with a concussion to the Emergency Department at UMass Memorial Medical Center, the clinical partner of UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester. Patients were assessed and randomly placed in one of two cohorts. The first cohort was instructed to abstain from any electronic screens for 48 hours, while the second group was allowed any form of screen so long as it didn't induce symptoms. Both groups were advised to avoid work and schoolwork for the first 48 hours.

Patients completed a Post-Concussion Symptom Scale (PCSS) at the time of diagnosis and every day for the 10-day study. The PCSS is a 22-symptom scale, which grades each symptom from 0 (not present) to 6 (severe) and reliably detects change over time in concussed patients. In the absence of a head injury, a baseline score of less than 3 on the PCSS survey is considered normal. Additionally, patients completed a screen time survey on days one to three and an activity survey from days four to 10. An analysis of the data showed that the group permitted screen time during the initial 48 hours after a concussion experienced a significantly longer time to recover, measured by a PCSS score of less than three. On average, this group experienced a median time of eight days until symptom resolution compared to 3.5 days for the group that abstained from screen time. During this time, the cohort permitted screen time logged a median of 630 minutes over the 48-hour period while the cohort abstaining from screen time logged a median of 130 minutes.

"These findings support the conclusion that brief screen time abstinence following a concussion is associated with a faster recovery," said Macnow. "Given this data, preliminary clinical recommendations should be to limit screen time." Macnow added, "It's not clear why screen time exacerbated concussion symptoms but there are a lot of reasons to suspect it's not good." Macnow said. It's possible that electronic photons, which are known to triggers migraines, could play a role. Or that screen use may detract from sleep and resumption of normal activities, both of which are felt to be beneficial to concussion recovery. "These findings suggest that a larger, more diverse, multicenter study is warranted to see if the results are consistent," said Macnow. "What's more, we only looked at the first 48 hours after diagnosis. It would be worthwhile to see if abstaining from screen time longer had more of an impact or if specific screen time activities -- video games vs. television -- have a more pronounced effect on recovery time."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/09/210908180635.htm