Cystic fibrosis patients can benefit from vitamin supplements, Oregon State research shows

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/966291

 

 News Release 28-Sep-2022
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Oregon State University

 

 Cystic fibrosis patients who supplement their diet with vitamin C can also derive greater benefit from another antioxidant, vitamin E, resulting in a reduction in damaging inflammation, a study led by Oregon State University suggests.

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The benefits of the findings, published in the journal Nutrients, are not unique to cystic fibrosis patients, she noted. Smokers, for example, typically have problems associated with oxidative stress and can benefit from extra vitamin C and possibly extra vitamin E. Metabolic syndrome patients have issues with vitamin C and E as well.

“This study used vitamin C far in excess of what someone can easily obtain from the diet,” she said. “One thousand milligrams is the equivalent of 15 oranges or four or five medium bell peppers. But the research does suggest a high dosage may be beneficial in inflammatory conditions.”

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Neighborhood Noise May Increase Dementia Risk

 

Years ago, I read of studies that found that loud factory noise damages the brain.

https://www.bu.edu/sph/news/articles/2020/neighborhood-noise-may-increase-dementia-risk/

 

Michelle Samuels

November 6, 2020

Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia affect millions of older adults in the US—but not equally. Past research has identified risk factors including genes, education, racism, and air pollution, and a growing number of studies now point to noise as another influence on risk of dementia.

Now, a new study co-led by a School of Public Health researcher finds that 10 decibels more daytime neighborhood noise is associated with 36 percent higher odds of mild cognitive impairment and 30 percent higher odds of Alzheimer’s disease.

Published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia, the journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, the study is the first of its kind in the US.

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==================================================

https://www.alzdiscovery.org/cognitive-vitality/blog/do-loud-noises-harm-the-brain

 

 Do loud noises harm the brain?

    November 20, 2020 Betsy Mills, PhD

 Urban areas are centers of bustling activity, which can provide ample opportunities for cognitively stimulating activities, but also increase exposure to excessive noise, commonly referred to as noise pollution. Exposure to noise can lead to short term impairments in cognitive function, particularly with respect to the ability to focus and remember, while some studies suggest that, similar to air pollution, chronic exposure to noise pollution may increase the risk for dementia.

A report by the European Environmental Agency found that 12,000 premature deaths and 48,000 cases of ischemic heart disease were attributable to environmental noise pollution each year in Europe The majority of the noise pollution is related to traffic.

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Noise acts as a stressor by inducing a state of arousal in the body, which increases levels of stress hormones, such as cortisol. The brain is wasting resources on trying to tune out the noise, so the brain has less capacity to perform other complex tasks, leading to a temporary decline in cognitive performance [3]. Attention and memory tend to be the cognitive domains most impacted by noise. The stress response leads to vascular changes that can pave the way for cardiovascular disease and vascular dementia. Meta-analyses indicate that each 10 dB(A) increase in environmental noise increases the risk for adverse cardiovascular outcomes, including hypertension and heart attacks, by 7 to 17% [8]. Due to the strong connection between heart health and brain health, these negative effects on the cardiovascular system may account for some of the increased dementia risk from noise pollution. Exposure to noise during the night can impair sleep quality, which has additional negative health consequences. Chronic activation of the arousal-stress response can also cause oxidative stress, which is another driver of dementia.

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High blood pressure speeds up mental decline, but does not fully explain dementia disparities

 

 I live in a neighborhood where most of the people are immigrants from Mexico.  They tend to play their music very loud.  Research indicates this increases the risk of dementia.  My next post will be on that.

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/966288

 

 News Release 28-Sep-2022
Long-term “study of studies” in Latino and non-Latino older adults shows clear hypertension link, but mystery still remains about why dementia risk is higher in those of Hispanic origin
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan

 

People with high blood pressure levels face a faster erosion of their ability to think, make decisions and remember information than those with normal blood pressure levels, a new study finds.

The researchers traced high blood pressure’s association with declining brain function over years, in data from six large studies that they pooled and analyzed. They show that blood pressure-related cognitive decline happens at the same pace in people of Hispanic heritage as in non-Hispanic white people.

The team had set out to see if differences in long-term blood pressure control explained why Hispanic people face a 50% higher overall risk of dementia by the end of their life than non-Hispanic white people in the United States.

But the new findings suggest that other factors may play a bigger role in that disparity.

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 “Our findings suggest that high blood pressure causes faster cognitive decline, and that taking hypertension medication slows the pace of that decline,” says Levine, a professor of internal medicine at the U-M’s academic medical center, Michigan Medicine.

“Since other studies have shown that people of Hispanic heritage in the United States tend to have higher rates of uncontrolled hypertension than non-Hispanic white people, due in part to worse access to care, it’s vital that they get extra support to control their blood pressure even if blood pressure is only part of the picture when it comes to their higher dementia risk,” she adds. “A risk factor like uncontrolled high blood pressure that is more prevalent in one group can still contribute to substantial health disparities.”

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The surprising link between circadian disruption and cancer may have to do with temperature

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/966140

 

 News Release 28-Sep-2022
Scripps Research scientists pinpoint an unusual culprit in cancer: a family of genes that respond to temperature changes in the body
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Scripps Research Institute

 

Disruptions in circadian rhythm—the ways that our bodies change in response to the 24-hour light and dark cycle—have been linked to many different diseases, including cancer. The connection between the two has been poorly understood, even though shift workers and others with irregular schedules experience these disruptions regularly. But a new discovery from Scripps Research is helping answer what may be behind this correlation.

Published in Science Advances on September 28, 2022, the findings highlight that chronic circadian disruption significantly increased lung cancer growth in animal models. By identifying the genes implicated, the researchers are illuminating the mysterious link between our sleeping patterns and disease, which could help inform everything from developing more targeted cancer treatments to better monitoring high-risk groups.

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 The findings aligned with what the researchers initially thought: mice that were exposed to the irregular, shifting light patterns had an increased tumor burden of 68%.

But when they used RNA sequencing to determine the different genes involved in the cancer growth, they were surprised that a collection in the heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) family of proteins was the main culprit.  

“This is not the mechanism we were expecting to find here. HSF1 has been shown to increase rates of tumor formation in several different models of cancer, but it has never been linked to circadian disruption before,” Lamia says.

HSF1 genes are responsible for making sure proteins are still made correctly even when a cell is under extreme stress—in this case, when it experiences changes in temperature. The team suspects that HSF1 activity is increased in response to circadian disruption because changes in our sleep cycles disturb the daily rhythms of our bodies’ temperature.

“Normally, our body temperature changes by one or two degrees while we’re sleeping. If shift workers don’t experience that normal drop, it could interfere with how the HSF1 pathway normally operates—and ultimately lead to more dysregulation in the body,” Lamia adds. She believes cancer cells may exploit the HSF1 pathway to their own benefit and create mutant, misfolded proteins, but says more research is needed in this area.

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Brain development of the preterm baby is improved by supporting emotional connection with the parent

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/965785

 

 News Release 28-Sep-2022
Peer-Reviewed Publication
University of Helsinki

 

A joint study by the University of Helsinki and Columbia University showed that supporting emotional connection between mother and her premature baby following birth in the hospital intensive care unit improves the baby’s brain development.

Columbia University Professors Martha G. Welch and Michael M. Myers had previously discovered that supporting the emotional connection between mother and infant during neonatal intensive care significantly improved later neurobehavioral development.

In the current study, the brain network functions of premature infants were measured at term age, following approximately 6 weeks of Family Nurture Intervention (FNI) in the neonatal intensive care unit. All babies received normal high-standard premature care, but some families were given additional FNI to strengthen mother-infant emotional connection.

The study shows that such parental support during the intensive care treatment removed the developmental abnormalities in brain function that are typically seen in the prematurely born infants. The brain network function of the premature infants in the treatment group were not different from their control peers that were born at the normal term age.

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MRI findings in opioid-exposed fetuses show smaller brain size

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/965876

 

 News Release 28-Sep-2022
Third-trimester fetuses with in utero opioid exposure exhibited multiple smaller 2D biometric measurements of the brain, as well as altered fetal physiology, on investigational MRI
Peer-Reviewed Publication
American Roentgen Ray Society

 

According to an open-access Editor’s Choice article in ARRS’ American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR), third-trimester fetuses with in utero opioid exposure exhibited multiple smaller 2D biometric measurements of the brain, as well as altered fetal physiology, on investigational MRI.

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 tags: drug use, drug abuse,

Mind-body practices lower blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/966331

 

 News Release 28-Sep-2022
New research from the Keck School of Medicine of USC reveals mind-body practices are highly effective at reducing blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Keck School of Medicine of USC

 

Mind-body practices such as yoga and meditation are increasingly popular tools for promoting health and combating diseases, including type 2 diabetes. Approximately 66% of Americans with type 2 diabetes use mind-body practices and many do so because they believe it helps control their blood sugar. Until now, however, whether mind-practices can reduce blood glucose levels has never been rigorously quantified.

According to new research conducted by a team from the Keck School of Medicine of USC, published recently in the Journal of Integrative and Complementary Medicine, some mind-body practices can be nearly as effective as commonly prescribed drugs at reducing blood glucose levels in people with type 2 diabetes.

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This study, the first to analyze a range of mind-body practices including meditation, qigong, yoga and mindfulness-based stress reduction and their effect on blood glucose levels, revealed that all mind-body practices led to significant reductions in blood sugar levels.

Taken as a whole, the mind-body practices averaged a .84% reduction in hemoglobin A1c, a measure of the average blood glucose level for the past 3 months. Yoga, the most-studied modality, provided the largest benefit, about a 1% reduction in hemoglobin A1c. The authors noted that a 1% reduction is particularly notable because metformin, the most prescribed diabetes drug, reduces hemoglobin A1c in people with type 2 diabetes by 1.1% on average. 

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Exposure to air pollution worsens COVID-19 outcomes, even among the fully vaccinated

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/966350

 

 News Release 28-Sep-2022
Researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of USC and Kaiser Permanente Southern California conducted the first individual-level study of air pollution exposure and COVID-19 vaccination.
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Keck School of Medicine of USC

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 By comparing publicly available air quality monitoring data with deidentified patient medical records, they first established that regardless of air pollution exposure, vaccines go a long way in reducing COVID-19 hospitalizations.

“Fully vaccinated people had almost 90% reduced risk of COVID hospitalization, and even partially vaccinated people had about 50% less risk,” said Zhanghua Chen, PhD, assistant professor of population and public health sciences at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and co-first author of the study.

But air pollutants—in particular fine particles (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2)—are still harmful. Even among people who were vaccinated, exposure to those two pollutants over the short or long term increased the risk of hospitalization up to 30%.

“Among vaccinated people, the detrimental effect of air pollution exposure is a little smaller, compared to people who were not vaccinated,” Chen said. “But that difference is not statistically significant.”

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Loneliness associated with double the risk of developing diabetes

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/965948

 

 News Release 28-Sep-2022
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Diabetologia

 

A new study published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes [EASD]) finds that feelings of loneliness are linked to a significantly higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D).

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Study finds no differences in performance between male and female surgeons

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/966067

 

 News Release 28-Sep-2022
Results show same rates of death and complications, despite female surgeons being more likely to be assigned high risk patients. Researchers call for more opportunities for female surgeons, to help reduce gender based inequity
Peer-Reviewed Publication
BMJ

 

A new study published by The BMJ today finds no differences in rates of death or complications between male and female surgeons in Japan, despite the fact that female surgeons are more likely than male surgeons to be assigned high risk patients.

The researchers point out that, globally, women remain a minority in the surgical field, and they call for more opportunities for female surgeons, to help reduce gender based inequity.

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Congressional Hearings Show Oil Companies Are Slow-Rolling and Overselling Climate Initiatives, Democrats Say

 

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16092022/new-documents-unveiled-in-congressional-hearings-show-oil-companies-are-slow-rolling-and-overselling-climate-initiatives-democrats-say

 

By Nicholas Kusnetz
September 16, 2022

 

Congressional Democrats presented fresh evidence Thursday which they say proves that oil companies are continuing to mislead the public on climate change and undercut global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

At a hearing held by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, lawmakers read from newly released documents obtained from ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell and BP as part of an ongoing investigation into the fossil fuel industry and its role driving climate change.

Among the documents was an internal memo sent to ExxonMobil’s chief executive, Darren Woods, that apparently sought to weaken the climate commitments of an international oil industry group, as well as internal emails from Exxon and other companies showing employees appearing to question the speed or seriousness of their efforts to pivot their businesses to focus on cleaner products.

Democrats say the documents also show that the companies’ climate pledges depend on “unproven technologies whose future success and commercialization are not assured.” 

 

Who to vote for?

 

Sept. 28, 2022

 

Our elected officials greatly affect the welfare of our country and world, in the short and long term. Voting for one because they are a famous sports person is unpatriotic.

musicaleditor.com is a scam

 

Sept. 28, 2022,

I and others have tried to buy music score products from https://www.musicaleditor.com , but have not received the product months after paying.

Lead safety guidance lacking for urban farmers in many major US cities

 

 https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/966138

 

 News Release 27-Sep-2022
Guidelines for safe lead levels and support for testing varied widely across 42 large U.S. cities, in part due to lack of federal guidance on lead levels in soils in which food is grown
Peer-Reviewed Publication
American Geophysical Union

AGU Release No. 22-57

 

Urban gardens and farms are on the rise in the U.S., but urban soils are sometimes contaminated from legacy pollution and industrial use. Despite this risk, there is little guidance for people growing food in urban soils on what levels of lead are safe, and existing policies vary widely between cities and states, as a new study highlights.

Lead, and other potentially toxic elements, are of concern in soils that are used to grow food because plants can incorporate those harmful elements into their roots, stems, leaves and fruits, which are then eaten. Exposure to even low levels of lead, primarily through ingestion, can cause health problems such as heart disease and neurological dysfunction, and lead is especially harmful to children, who are still developing.

How Donald Trump Paid Less In Taxes Than A Household Earning Only $20,000 Per Year

 

I remember when Trump was running for president, he promised to release his tax returns.  No surprise, he never did.

 

https://news.yahoo.com/donald-trump-paid-less-taxes-134111237.html

 

 Kevin Vandenboss
Tue, September 27, 2022 at 9:41 AM

Donald Trump has taken a lot of heat over the years about his income taxes or, more specifically, his ability to get out of paying what most would consider his fair share.

Trump has kept a tight grip on his tax returns, becoming the first president in 40 years not to release them to the public. According to data reported by The New York Times, Trump only paid $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017 — less than the average of $819 paid by households making over $20,000 per year in 2017.

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Young women who reduce binge drinking could decrease risk of COVID-19 infection, study shows

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/966136

 

 News Release 27-Sep-2022
Young women who reduce binge drinking could decrease risk of COVID-19 infection, study shows
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Rutgers University

 

Women in their mid 20s who reported frequent binge drinking during the COVID-19 pandemic were more likely to become infected with COVID-19, according to Rutgers researchers who said physicians need to develop pandemic-related prevention methods to tackle substance use issues.

The study, published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence, found that young Black and white women ranging from ages 25 to 28 who reported binge drinking – four or more drinks in one sitting – had the highest self-reported prevalence of COVID-19 infection among the subgroups studied.

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 tags: drug use, drug abuse,

Research finds repeatedly regaining weight should be viewed as practice, not failure

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/966179

 

 News Release 27-Sep-2022
York U weight-loss study shows if at first you don't succeed, try, try again
Peer-Reviewed Publication
York University

 

 Gaining back pounds as soon as a diet is over is all too common for people attempting to lose weight (often characterized as a failure of the individual, indicative of a lack of willpower and discipline), but a new study from scholars in York University’s Faculty of Health, find such regressions are learning experiences – maybe even necessary steps toward sustained weight loss and improved overall health.“Our results suggest repeated bouts of weight loss and regain should not be viewed as failures, but as practice,” says Jennifer Kuk, a professor in York University’s School of Kinesiology and Health Science and the study’s lead author.

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How Solar Kept the Lights On After Fiona Left Puerto Rico in the Dark

 

 https://insideclimatenews.org/todaysclimate/were-fine-how-solar-kept-the-lights-on-after-fiona-left-puerto-rico-in-the-dark/

 

September 20, 2022

 

Most of Puerto Rico remained in the dark Tuesday morning as crews rushed to assess and repair the damage caused by Hurricane Fiona, which continues to gather strength on its northwest path toward the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The U.S. territory suffered “catastrophic damage” over the weekend and through Monday, Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said, after the Category 1 storm unleashed violent winds and torrential rain, killing at least three people, forcing hundreds more to evacuate and knocking out power for more than a million homes and businesses.

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As of Tuesday morning, less than 150,000 of Puerto Rico’s 1.4 million public utility customers had working electricity, despite tens of billions of dollars in federal aid and a massive five-year effort to overhaul and modernize the island’s poorly maintained and unsound powergrid. But a growing number of Puerto Ricans, who have privately installed solar systems on the roofs of their homes and businesses, say the island-wide blackout caused by Fiona could have been entirely avoided, pointing to themselves as proof of a better way.

“We’re fine,” Arturo Massol-Deyá, who uses solar panels and battery storage to power his house, his office and several other buildings in Adjuntas, a mountainside town in central Puerto Rico, told me in an interview Monday afternoon. “Basically, we’re waiting for the sun to shine again—we don’t have damage, all the infrastructure is in place and it’s running. It was running during the hurricane.”

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Since 2017, more than 40,000 Puerto Rican households have installed, or are in the process of installing, rooftop solar panels, according to a report released last week by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, a progressive think tank that promotes renewable energy. The vast majority of those systems have been installed with battery storage, the report said, and currently provide 3.7 percent of the territory’s total electricity consumption, outpacing the island’s utility-scale projects.

But the report also criticizes the Puerto Rican government, which it says “continues its misguided push for natural gas” while building “no new renewable energy.”

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‘Forever chemicals’ detected in all umbilical cord blood in 40 studies

 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/23/forever-chemicals-found-umbilical-cord-blood-samples-studies

 

Tom Perkins
Fri 23 Sep 2022 07.00 EDT

Toxic PFAS chemicals were detected in every umbilical cord blood sample across 40 studies conducted over the last five years, a new review of scientific literature from around the world has found.

The studies collectively examined nearly 30,000 samples, and many linked fetal PFAS exposure to health complications in unborn babies, young children and later in life. The studies’ findings are “disturbing”, said Uloma Uche, an environmental health science fellow with the Environmental Working Group, which analyzed the peer-reviewed studies’ data.

“Even before you’ve come into the world, you’re already exposed to PFAS,” she said.

PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a class of about 12,000 chemicals commonly used to make products resist water, stains and heat. They are called “forever chemicals” because they do not naturally break down, and accumulate in human bodies and the environment.

The federal government estimates that they are found in 98% of Americans’ blood. The chemicals are linked to birth defects, cancer, kidney disease, liver problems and other health issues, and the EPA recently found effectively no level of exposure to some kinds of PFAS in water is safe.

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PFAS can remain in the body for years or even decades, and some studies link fetal exposure to effects throughout childhood and adulthood, including on cognitive function, reproductive function, changes in weight, eczema and altered glucose balance.

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What to do With Fallen Leaves

 

I suggest reading the whole article:

 

https://blog.nwf.org/2014/11/what-to-do-with-fallen-leaves/

 National Wildlife Federation blog

 David Mizejewski   |   Last Updated: September 1, 2021 

 

Updated September 2021

You shouldn’t feel obligated to get rid of every last fallen leaf in your yard this fall. Leave the leaves — they offer a lot of benefits for wildlife and your garden. Read on to find out why and for tips on how to minimize the time you spend raking this autumn and maximize the benefit to wildlife and the greater environment that fallen leaves offer.
Leave the Leaves for Wildlife

A leaf layer several inches deep is a natural thing in any area where trees and shrubs naturally grow, whether that’s the local woodlands or your own yard or garden. The leaf layer is its own ecosystem! Many wildlife species use the leaf layer as their primary habitat including salamanders, chipmunks, wood frogs, box turtles, toads, shrews, earthworms, millipedes, and thousands of insects species.

Many butterfly and moth species overwinter in the leaf layer, including luna moths, great spangled fritillaries, woolly bear caterpillars (which become Isabella tiger moths), and red-banded hairstreaks. Some species overwinter as eggs, some as pupae, and some as adults. In the case of moths, 94 percent of species rely on the leaf layer to complete their lifecycle. If you rake up and throw away all of your leaves this fall, you’ll be getting rid of important habitat for these beautiful and beneficial insects, many of which are pollinators.

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Leaves are Free Mulch and Fertilizer

From a gardening perspective, fallen leaves offer a double benefit. Leaves form a natural mulch that helps suppress weeds and at the same time fertilize the soil as they break down. Why spend money on mulch and fertilizer when you have a free source in the form of fallen leaves? Simply let leaves lie where they fall or move them into your garden beds to protect your plants’ roots, suppress weeds, preserve soil moisture and eventually break down and return nutrients to the soil.

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 Remember, the less time you have to spend doing the back-breaking work of blowing, mowing, or raking your leaves, the more time you have to enjoy the gorgeous fall weather outside and the wildlife visiting your garden!