University of California San Diego, June 16, 2020

The pain of passing a kidney stone has been described as on par with natural childbirth. However, urologists are increasingly prescribing an accessible natural remedy for kidney stones: lemonade.

Citric acid-rich lemon juice in the form of lemonade has proven highly effective in preventing kidney stones or slowing their formation substantially. Medical professionals like Roger L. Sur, MD, director of UC San Diego Comprehensive Kidney Stone Center and Steven Y. Nakada, chair and professor of urology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison advocate lemonade therapy as an alternative to taking medications or supplements for the painful condition.

Therapy for kidney stones: Lemon juice has highest concentrations of citric acid of any fruit juice

Passing a kidney stone is experienced as an excruciating pain in the flank and lower back. Abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and blood in the urine are also possible symptoms of kidney stones. In addition, important to note, the presence of a fever indicates a likely blood infection – which can be life-threatening.

People experiencing kidney stones or who are prone to them are often prescribed potassium citrate in supplement form. However, lemons and lemon juice contain the highest concentrations of natural citrate, making lemonade therapy an excellent alternative.

A study out of the Duke University Comprehensive Kidney Stone Center tracked 12 patients with kidney stones who were on lemonade therapy for as long as four years. They all showed a decrease in the levels and growth of kidney stones throughout the time they were on the citrus therapy.

By the way, none of the participants required a medical intervention for kidney stones during the study period.

Restoring citrate through citric acid: The key to addressing and preventing kidney stones

Drinking lemonade also causes kidney stone patients to drink more water, which has a positive cleansing effect on the kidneys. Physicians recommend passing 1.5 to 2 liters of fluids each day to help reduce kidney stones. And, yes, taking a citrate supplement can have the same effect.

Kidney stones are formed when the urine becomes concentrated with stone-forming salts and has a deficit of stone-preventing substances such as citrate. Restoring citrate levels is key to addressing the problem of kidney stones, and a natural source of lemonade can offer a refreshingly effective way to address the citrate deficit.

Important: Reduce salt intake and make dietary changes to avoid kidney stones

The ideal blend of lemon juice and water for lemonade therapy is approximately ½ cup lemon juice to 7 cups water. A small amount of natural sweetener like, honey or stevia can be added for flavor.

And, while lemonade therapy is often highly effective for anyone suffering with kidney stones, it is also important to adjust the diet to reduce the formation of future stones. For example, avoid the intake of processed (denatured) table salt and meats.

In general, be careful not to eat too much protein and, of course, stay well hydrated by eating a healthy amount of fruits and vegetables daily. Remember, the development of kidney stones is a result of lifestyle decisions. Start making healthy choices today.

University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, June 18, 2020

In the first study to look at objective measures of sedentary behavior and cancer mortality, researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center found that greater inactivity was independently associated with a higher risk of dying from cancer. The most sedentary individuals had an 82% higher risk of cancer mortality compared to the least sedentary individuals. An accelerometer was used to measure physical activity, rather than relying on participants to self-report their activity levels

“This is the first study that definitively shows a strong association between not moving and cancer death,” said Susan Gilchrist, M.D., associate professor of Clinical Cancer Prevention and lead author of the study, published today in JAMA Oncology. “Our findings show that the amount of time a person spends sitting prior to a cancer diagnosis is predictive of time to cancer death.”

Researchers also found that replacing 30 minutes of sedentary time with physical activity was associated with a 31% lower risk of cancer death for moderate-intensity activity, such as cycling, and an 8% lower risk of cancer death for light-intensity activity, such as walking.

“Conversations with my patients always begin with why they don’t have time to exercise,” said Gilchrist, who leads MD Anderson’s Healthy Heart Program. “I tell them to consider standing up for 5 minutes every hour at work or taking the stairs instead of the elevator. It might not sound like a lot, but this study tells us even light activity has cancer survival benefits.”

Study design

This study involved a cohort of participants from the nationally representative REGARDS study, which recruited more than 30,000 U.S. adults over the age of 45 between 2003 and 2007 to study long-term health outcomes.

To measure sedentary behavior, 8,002 REGARDS participants who did not have a cancer diagnosis at study enrollment wore an accelerometer on their hip during waking hours for seven consecutive days. The accelerometer data was gathered between 2009 and 2013. After a mean follow-up of 5 years, 268 participants died of cancer. Longer duration of sedentary behavior was independently associated with a greater risk of cancer death.

The study also found that engaging in either light or moderate to vigorous physical activity made a difference. Investigators assessed sedentary time, light-intensity physical activity (LIPA) and moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in the same model and found that LIPA and MVPA, not sedentary behavior, remained significantly associated with cancer mortality.

“From a practical perspective, this means that individuals who replaced either 10 to 30 minutes of sedentary time with either LIPA or MVPA had a lower risk of cancer mortality in the REGARDS cohort,” Gilchrist said.

The study had several limitations, including a potentially healthier participant sample compared to the full REGARDS cohort and a lack of site-specific cancer data, including type of tumor and treatment.

“Our findings reinforce that it’s important to ‘sit less and move more’ and that incorporating 30 minutes of movement into your daily life can help reduce your risk of death from cancer,” Gilchrist said. “Our next step is to investigate how objectively measured sedentary behavior impacts site-specific cancer incidence and if gender and race play a role.”

 A research team led by a University of Rhode Island ornithologist had birds fly in a wind tunnel to simulate migration and found that birds that consume dietary antioxidants before and during fall migration can reduce the endocrine stress response triggered by long-duration flights.

The results, published this week in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, emphasize the importance of protecting habitat with an abundance of available berries containing antioxidants at migratory stopover sites.

“This reduction in the endocrine stress response may be a major benefit birds gain in fall by eating fruits at stopover sites during migration,” said Scott McWilliams, URI professor of natural resources science, noting that many species of birds select berries containing anthocyanins, a type of dietary antioxidant present in purple-colored berries. “We know birds prefer certain berries that have lots of antioxidants.”

During long-distance flights that push birds to their physiological limits, levels of metabolic hormones called glucocorticoids become elevated to provide ready-to-use fuel to satisfy high energy demands, according to McWilliams. But prolonged exposure to glucocorticoids is detrimental and can lead to chronic stress response. The research concluded that the consumption of anthocyanin-rich food attenuates the potential stress triggered by the secretion of high levels of glucocorticoids.

“We always thought that glucocorticoids were important for birds preparing for migration, and antioxidants were there to mop up the free radicals associated with high metabolism during migration,” said McWilliams. “We tested the hypothesis that antioxidants and glucocorticoids were metabolically complimentary, that is if the birds ate anthocyanins before flying then the increase in glucocorticoids to support metabolism would be reduced.”

The study was conducted at a wind tunnel at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewisen, Germany. Scientists from URI, the Institute, Jagellonian University in Poland and Sacred Heart University in Connecticut collaborated on the project. Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation and European grants.

The researchers chose as their study subjects European starlings, a common species in Germany that migrates to southern Italy. The test subjects were collected from nest boxes, hand-raised adjacent to the wind tunnel, and put through endurance training for two weeks prior to the experiment. Physiological measurements were then taken before and after the birds’ long-duration flights, some of which lasted up to six hours.

“The birds that ate anthocyanins prior to flying increased the level of glucocorticoids in their circulation by only about half as much as those that did not eat dietary antioxidants,” said McWilliams.

Equally important, he said, is that the birds that ate the anthocyanins “showed no other effects on their flight performance. The birds could fly for just as long, they used just as much fat, and everything else was similar. Their performance was the same, but they accomplished that performance while reducing their glucocorticoid response. The antioxidants attenuated the negative effects of the glucocorticoids.”

McWilliams believes that many species of birds benefit from feeding on berries high in antioxidants during fall migration.

“We know that lots of other species of birds switch to feeding on fruits in fall and show the same kind of preferences for certain fruits high in antioxidants,” he said. For this reason, land management and conservation efforts for migratory songbirds, especially in the eastern U.S., focuses on providing habitat with an abundance of fruiting shrubs.

While many varieties of anthocyanin-containing berries are available to birds during the fall migration season, few are available during spring migration, and little is known about how the birds cope with the high levels of glucocorticoids during their northbound flights.

“We don’t know where they get those antioxidants in spring, or if they do,” McWilliams said. “All animals have an endogenous antioxidant system, so perhaps when dietary antioxidants are less available, they rely more on this internal endogenous system.”

University of California at Davis, June 18, 2020

Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have found a link between traffic-related air pollution and an increased risk for changes in brain development relevant to neurodevelopmental disorders. Their study, based on rodent models, corroborates previous epidemiological evidence showing this association.

While air pollution has long been a concern for pulmonary and cardiovascular health, it has only been within the past decade that scientists have turned their attention to its effects on the brain, said UC Davis toxicologist Pamela Lein, senior author of the study, recently published in Translational Psychiatry.

Researchers had previously documented links between proximity to busy roadways and neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism, but preclinical data based on real-time exposures to traffic-related air pollution was scarce to nonexistent.

Lein worked with UC Davis atmospheric scientist Anthony Wexler and first author Kelley Patten, a doctoral student in the UC Davis graduate group for pharmacology and toxicology, to develop a novel approach to study the impacts of traffic-related air pollution in real time. They set up a vivarium near a traffic tunnel in Northern California so they could mimic, as closely as possible, the experience of humans in a rodent model.

“This approach was a creative way to get at the question of what impacts air pollution has on the brain in the absence of confounding factors such as socioeconomic influences, diet, etc.,” Lein said. “It’s important to know if living close to these roadways poses a significant risk to the developing human brain.

“If it does,” Lein continues, “scientists can warn susceptible individuals, such as pregnant women—particularly those who have already had a child diagnosed with a neurodevelopmental disorder—to take appropriate precautions to minimize risks to the health of their child’s brain.”

Early exposure outcomes

The researchers compared the brains of rat pups exposed to traffic-related air pollution with those exposed to filtered air. Both air sources were drawn from the tunnel in real time.

They found abnormal growth and increased neuroinflammation in the brains of animals exposed to air pollution. This suggests that air pollution exposure during critical developmental periods may increase the risk for changes in the developing brain that are associated with neurodevelopmental disorders.

“What we witnessed are subtle changes,” Patten said. “But we are seeing these effects using air pollution exposures that fall within regulatory limits. With the backdrop of other environmental and genetic risk factors in humans, this may have a more pronounced effect. This exposure also contains very fine particulate matter that isn’t currently regulated.”

In a separate study, Patten extended this exposure for 14 months to look at longer-term impacts of traffic-related air pollution and is in the process of writing up those results.

The team is also interested in what component of traffic-related air pollution is driving the neurodevelopmental outcomes.

If they can identify the culprits, Lein said, then scientists can approach legislators to develop scientifically based regulations to protect the developing human brain.

Team efforts

UC Davis atmospheric scientist and co-author Keith Bein said that the single most challenging aspect of studying the health effects of air pollution may be replicating how, when and what people are exposed to throughout their lifetimes.

Tackling this requires creative thinking and a multidisciplinary team of researchers, including exposure engineers, atmospheric scientists, toxicologists, biologists, behaviorists and animal care specialists.

“We have managed to build a unique and talented team and taken advantage of our built environment to bring us closer than we’ve been before to achieving these objectives,” Bein said. “Increasingly, these types of efforts are required to continue advancing the field, thereby informing policymakers and stakeholders about how best to protect human health.”

University of Otago (New Zealand), June 18, 2020

University of Otago researchers have discovered some of the secrets to longevity with new research revealing not smoking and being social engaged throughout older age are common traits of New Zealand centenarians.

Associate Professor Yoram Barak, a consultant psychogeriatrician, says the results show people can have some control over the ageing process.

“Electing not to smoke and committing to maintain social networking will be the best investment one can make towards successful ageing,” he says.

Being socially active means physically going out of your home and away from families and interacting with people whether that is visiting friends, volunteering or participating in activities such as attending a concert or playing golf, Professor Barak says.

Together with his colleague Professor Paul Glue, from the Department of Psychological Medicine, and Dr. Sharon Leitch from the Department of General Practice and Rural Health, Associate Professor Barak set out to investigate the variables associated with exceptionally healthy extreme old age.

“This is so we can make some recommendations to try and help people age well.”

The researchers examined data relating to 292 centenarians who were free of common chronic diseases such as diabetes, depression, dementia and hypertension. They also included information relating to a further 103,377 older people aged over 60. All of these people were living in private accommodation in the community and not in aged residential care.

Results showed social engagement of participants, whereby they are participating in social activities of long-standing interest was similar across all age groups.

Rates of depression and diabetes declined steadily with increasing age and rates of dementia declined after the age of 80. Hypertension rates increased by nearly 30 percent from age 60 to 100 years.

There is evidence that exercise improves health and length of life but in this study most participants had a similar profile of physical activity and there was not sufficient spread of duration or intensity of physical activities to test the effects on ageing.

However, among those surveyed the highest physical activity groups were at the lowest risk of dementia.

As of 2011, there are estimated to be between 400 to 500 centenarians living in New Zealand. Of these, fewer than 40 would be aged over 105. The mean age of those interviewed in the study was 101.

The centenarians were more likely to be female (75 percent) and in any age group, women were more likely to be free of the common chronic diseases outlined above.

“Women have a longer life expectancy and are therefore more likely to be represented in centenarian studies. However, after correcting for this advantage, men who do make it to 100 years of age are more likely to be free of common illnesses,” Associate Professor Barak says.

This study found higher rates of centenarians free of common chronic diseases in New Zealand than reported in other countries.

However, one explanation is that this survey considered only centenarians living in the community, who were likely to be in better health compared with those living in residential care or hospital settings.

Professor Barak explains the biopsychosocial foundations of remarkable health and longevity among centenarians is unclear. Genetic factors, certain geographical locations and life-style characteristics have all been studied in an effort to identify potential predisposing factors of exceptional longevity.

Harvard University, June 17 2020

In the darkest parts of the world where light fails to block out the unfathomable bounty of the stars, look up. There are still fewer specks illuminating the universe than there are bacteria in the world, hidden from sight, a whole universe inside just one human gut.

Many species are known, like E. coli, but many more, sometimes referred to as “microbial dark matter,” remain elusive. “We know it’s there,” said Doug Kenny, a Ph.D. candidate in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, “because of how it affects things around it.” Kenny is co-first author on a new study in Cell Host and Microbe that illuminates a bit of that microbial dark matter: a species of gut bacteria that can affect cholesterol levels in humans.

“The metabolism of cholesterol by these microbes may play an important role in reducing both intestinal and blood serum cholesterol concentrations, directly impacting human health,” said Emily Balskus, professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard University and co-senior author with Ramnik Xavier, , core member at the Broad, co-director of the Center for informatics and therapeutics at MIT and investigator at Massachusetts General Hospital. The newly discovered bacteria could one day help people manage their cholesterol levels through diet, probiotics, or novel treatments based on individual microbiomes.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2016, over 12 percent of adults in the United States age 20 and older had high cholesterol levels, a risk factor for the country’s number one cause of death: heart disease. Only half of that group take medications like statins to manage their cholesterol levels; while such drugs are a valuable tool, they don’t work for all patients and, though rare, can have concerning side effects.

“We’re not looking for the silver bullet to solve cardiovascular disease,” Kenny said, “but there’s this other organ, the microbiome, another system at play that could be regulating cholesterol levels that we haven’t thought about yet.”

The hog sewage lagoon

Since the late 1800s, scientists knew that something was happening to cholesterol in the gut. Over decades, work inched closer to an answer. One study even found evidence of cholesterol-consuming bacteria living in a hog sewage lagoon. But those microbes preferred to live in hogs, not humans.

Prior studies are like a case file of clues (one 1977 lab even isolated the telltale microbe but the samples were lost). One huge clue is coprostanol, the byproduct of cholesterol metabolism in the gut. “Because the hog sewage lagoon microbe also formed coprostanol,” said Balskus, “we decided to identify the genes responsible for this activity, hoping we might find similar genes in the human gut.”

Meanwhile, Damian Plichta, a computational scientist at the Broad Institute and co-first author with Kenny, searched for clues in human data sets. Hundreds of species of bacteria, viruses and fungi that live in the human gut have yet to be isolated and described, he said. But so-called metagenomics can help researchers bypass a step: Instead of locating a species of bacteria first and then figuring out what it can do, they can analyze the wealth of genetic material found in human microbiomes to determine what capabilities those genes encode.

Plichta cross-referenced massive microbiome genome data with human stool samples to find which genes corresponded with high levels of coprostanol. “From this massive amount of correlations,” he said, “we zoomed in on a few potentially interesting genes that we could then follow up on.” Meanwhile, after Balskus and Kenny sequenced the entire genome of the cholesterol-consuming hog bacterium, they mined the data and discovered similar genes: A signal that they were getting closer.

The human connection

Then Kenny narrowed their search further. In the lab, he inserted each potential gene into bacteria and tested which made enzymes to break down cholesterol into coprostanol. Eventually, he found the best candidate, which the team named the Intestinal Steroid Metabolism A (IsmA) gene.

“We could now correlate the presence or absence of potential bacteria that have these enzymes with blood cholesterol levels collected from the same individuals,” said Xavier. Using human microbiome data sets from China, Netherlands and the United States, they discovered that people who carry the IsmA gene in their microbiome had 55 to 75 percent less cholesterol in their stool than those without.

“Those who have this enzyme activity basically have lower cholesterol,” Xavier said.

The discovery, Xavier said, could lead to new therapeutics–like a “biotic cocktail” or direct enzyme delivery to the gut–to help people manage their blood cholesterol levels. But there’s a lot of work to do first: The team may have identified the crucial enzyme, but they still need to isolate the microbe responsible. They need to prove not just correlation but causation–that the microbe and its enzyme are directly responsible for lowering cholesterol in humans. And, they need to analyze what effect coprostanol, the reaction byproduct, has on human health.

“It doesn’t mean that we’re going to have answers tomorrow, but we have an outline of how to go about it,” Xavier said.

Higher folate levels associated with better cognitive function

Trinity College Dublin (Ireland), June 17 2020. 

A study reported on April 24, 2020 in the British Journal of Nutrition found an association between higher levels of the B vitamin folate and better cognitive function among men and women who took part in The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) at Dublin’s Trinity College. The findings help to allay the concern that higher folate levels resulting from food fortification, particularly among people with low levels of vitamin B12, could increase the risk of cognitive decline.

“This is the largest study of the interaction between vitamin B12 and folate and cognitive function world-wide,” principal investigator and registered nutritionist Rose Anne Kenny announced.

The current study included 3,781 participants from TILDA’s Wave 1 who were at least 50 years of age. Blood samples were analyzed for folate and vitamin B12, and cognitive function was assessed by the administration of two standard tests. The researchers determined that having a low level of vitamin B12 and a high level of folate was not associated with global cognitive performance and that having a normal level of vitamin B12 and high folate was associated with better cognitive performance compared with those who had normal concentrations of both vitamins.

“Concerns surrounding associations between high intakes of folic acid and cognitive decline in older adults with low vitamin B12 have impeded mandatory folic acid fortification in Ireland,” noted first author Deirdre O’Connor. “Our study shows that a small percentage of older people in the community have this potentially adverse combination, but they are not at increased risk of poorer cognition. In fact, older adults with normal vitamin B12 and high folate levels performed better in cognitive tests than their counterparts with normal folate. This implies that elevated folate may benefit cognitive health in older persons in Ireland.”

Sucralose promotes colitis-associated colorectal cancer risk in a mouse model along with changes in microbiota

Harbin Medical University (China), June 12, 2020

According to news reporting originating from Harbin, People’s Republic of China, research stated, “Sucralose is a calorie-free high-intensity artificial sweetener that is widely used in thousands of foods and beverages all over the world. Although it was initially regarded as a safe, inert food additive, its adverse effect on gut microbiota and health has drawn more and more attention as evidence accumulates.”

Our news reporters obtained a quote from the research from Harbin Medical University: “Studies by us and others revealed that sucralose exacerbated gut damage and inflammation in animal models for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including those for both ulcerative colitis, and Crohn’s disease. Our study demonstrated that sucralose greatly aggravated dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis along with causing changes in gut microbiota, the gut barrier and impaired inactivation of digestive proteases mediated by deconjugated bilirubin. It is well-documented that IBD greatly increases the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC), the globally third-most-common cancer, which, like IBD, has a high rate in the developed countries. Azoxymethane (AOM)/DSS has been the most commonly used animal model for CRC. In this study, we further explored the effect of sucralose on tumorigenesis and the possible mechanism involved using the AOM/DSS mouse model. First, 1.5 mg/ml sucralose was included in the drinking water for 6 weeks to reach a relatively stable phase of impact on gut microbiota. Then, 10 mg/kg AOM was administered through intraperitoneal injection. Seven days later, 2.5% DSS was put in the drinking water for 5 days, followed by 2 weeks without DSS. The 5 days of DSS was then repeated, and the mice were sacrificed 6 weeks after AOM injection.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “The results showed that sucralose caused significant increases in the number and size of AOM/DSS-induced colorectal tumors along with changes in other parameters such as body and spleen weight, pathological scores, mortality, fecal b-glucuronidase and digestive proteases, gut barrier molecules, gut microbiota, inflammatory cytokines and pathways (TNFa, IL-1b, IL-6, IL-10, and TLR4/Myd88/NF-kB signaling), and STAT3/VEGF tumor-associated signaling pathway molecules. These results suggest that sucralose may increase tumorigenesis along with dysbiosis of gut microbiota, impaired inactivation of digestive protease, damage to the gut barrier, and exacerbated inflammation.”

Resveratrol differently modulates group I metabotropic glutamate receptors and has neuroprotective role in mice

University of Castilla La Mancha (Spain), June 12, 2020

According to news originating from Ciudad Real, Spain, research stated, “Glutamate homeostasis is critical for neurotransmission as this excitatory neurotransmitter has a relevant role in cognition functions through ionotropic and metabotropic glutamate receptors in the central nervous system. During the last years, the role of the group I metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease has been intensely investigated.”

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the University of Castilla-La Mancha, “Resveratrol (RSV) is a natural polyphenolic compound that is thought to have neuroprotective properties for human health. However, little is known about the action of this compound on mGluR signaling. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the possible modulation of group I mGluRs in SAMP8 mice five and seven months of age supplemented with RSV in the diet. Data reported herein show that RSV plays a different modulatory action on group I mGluRs: mGluR is downregulated as age increases, independently of RSV presence, and mGluR is upregulated or downregulated by RSV treatment depending on age (i.e., depending on mGluR levels). In addition, a neuroprotective role can be inferred for RSV as lower glutamate levels, higher synapsin levels, and unchanged caspase-3 activity were detected after RSV treatment.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Our findings indicate that RSV treatment modifies the group I mGluR-mediated glutamatergic system in SAMP8 mice, which could contribute to the beneficial effects of this natural polyphenol.”

New Study Shows Cannabis Kills Leukemia Cells

Premature epigenomic aging acts like a ‘sleeper cell’ that is awakened by Western-style diet

Baylor College of Medicine, June 15, 2020

Quercetin resensitizes docetaxel-resistant breast cancer cells

National Cancer Center Research Institute (Japan), June 11, 2020

According to news originating from Tokyo, Japan, research stated, “Drug resistance is a major problem for breast cancer patients. Docetaxel is an anti-mitotic agent that serves as first line of treatment in metastatic breast cancer, however it is susceptible to cellular drug resistance.”

Our news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from National Cancer Center Research Institute: “Drug-resistant cells are able to spread during treatment, leading to treatment failure and eventually metastasis, which remains the main cause for cancer-associated death. In previous studies, we used single-cell technologies and identified a set of genes that exhibit increased expression in drug-resistant cells, and they are mainly regulated by Lef1. Furthermore, upregulating Lef1 in parental cells caused them to become drug resistant. Therefore, we hypothesized that inhibiting Lef1 could resensitize cells to docetaxel. Here, we confirmed that Lef1 inhibition, especially on treatment with the small molecule quercetin, decreased the expression of Lef1 and resensitized cells to docetaxel. Our results demonstrate that Lef1 inhibition also downregulated ABCG2, Vim, and Cav1 expression and equally decreased Smad-dependent TGF-b signaling pathway activation. Likewise, these two molecules worked in a synergetic manner, greatly reducing the viability of drug-resistant cells.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Prior studies in phase I clinical trials have already shown that quercetin can be safely administered to patients. Therefore, the use of quercetin as an adjuvant treatment in addition to docetaxel for the treatment of breast cancer may be a promising therapeutic approach.”

Using A Smartphone Can Cause Structural Differences In Your Brain – New Study

They said a study of more than 400 people revealed a significantly lower intake of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) and meat in the rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients than in a control group.

“The present results indicate that MUFA intake affects RA disease activity and that increasing daily MUFA intake might suppress disease activity in patients with RA,” said researchers.

Writing in the journal Clinical Nutrition, they said a previous study had shown that the abundant MUFAs in olive oil had affected RA disease activity.

“However, some methodological aspects of that study are limited. Thus, the present study aimed to identify components of the Mediterranean diet that suppress RA disease activity in patients and provide the basis for an effective and minimally burdensome dietary intervention to achieve the same goal.”

Therefore, they analysed data from the prospective TOMORROW cohort study of patients with and without RA that started during 2010 and will conclude in 2020.

The study included 208 patients with RA and 205 age and sex matched healthy volunteers. Food and nutrient intake was assessed using a self-administered diet history questionnaire, while Mediterranean diet scores were calculated based on intake and disease activity.

Positive correlation

The study found that Intake of MUFA, SFA, alcohol, pulses, other vegetables, total vegetables, meat, milk and other dairy products, key components of the Mediterranean diet, were significantly lower in the RA than the control group.

By assessing the disease activity score in 28 joints (DAS28-ESR) and the intake of components of the Mediterranean diet, they found a positive correlation.

“DAS28-ESR significantly correlated with MUFA/SFA intake after age adjustment. Logistic regression analysis selected high MUFA intake as an independent predictor of remission in the RA group with borderline boundary significance,” they wrote.

Furthermore, meat intake significantly and negatively correlated with a swollen joint count.

However, academics warned against increasing meat consumption to boost MUFA levels.

“Increased meat intake is associated with increased intake of SFA and specific antigens such as proteins that are thought to trigger RA symptoms. Therefore, olive and avocado oils are considered to be ideal sources of MUFA,” said the researchers, from Osaka City University.

They study concluded that increasing daily MUFA intake might suppress disease activity in patients with RA, but cautioned: “The results might not be generalizable because the study population included only Japanese participants, most of whom were women, especially elderly women, because of the epidemiology of RA.”

Baylor University and Huffington Center on Aging, June 15, 2020

Slowing down the aging process might be possible one day with supplements derived from gut bacteria. Scientists at Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston have identified bacterial genes and compounds that extend the life of and also slow down the progression of tumors and the accumulation of amyloid-beta, a compound associated with Alzheimer’s disease, in the laboratory worm C. elegans. The study appears in the journal Cell.

“The scientific community is increasingly aware that our body’s interactions with the millions of microbes in our bodies, the microbiome, can influence many of our functions, such as cognitive and metabolic activities and aging,” said corresponding author Dr. Meng Wang, associate professor of molecular and human genetics at Baylor and the Huffington Center On Aging. “In this work we investigated whether the genetic composition of the microbiome might also be important for longevity.”

This question is difficult to explore in mammals due to technical challenges, so the researchers turned to the laboratory worm C. elegans, a transparent, simple organism that is as long as a pinhead and shares essential characteristics with human biology. During its 2 to 3 week long lifespan, the worm feeds on bacteria, develops into an adult, reproduces, and progressively ages, loses strength and health and dies. Many research laboratories around the world, including the Wang lab, work with C. elegans to learn about basic biological processes.

“We think that C. elegans is a wonderful system in which to study the connection between bacterial genes and aging because we can very fine tune the genetics of microbes and test many genes in the worm in a relatively short time,” Wang said.

Testing thousands of genes, one at a time.

To study the effect of individual bacterial genes on the lifespan of C. elegans, Wang joined efforts with Dr. Christophe Herman, associate professor of molecular and human genetics and molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor, and other colleagues who are experts in bacterial genetics. They employed a complete gene-deletion library of bacterium E. coli; a collection of E. coli, each lacking one of close to 4,000 genes. “We fed C. elegans each individual mutant bacteria and then looked at the worms’ life span,” Wang said. “Of the nearly 4,000 bacterial genes we tested, 29, when deleted, increased the worms’ lifespan. Twelve of these bacterial mutants also protected the worms from tumor growth and accumulation of amyloid-beta, a characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease in humans.”

Further experiments showed that some of the bacterial mutants increased longevity by acting on some of the worm’s known processes linked to aging. Other mutants encouraged longevity by over-producing the polysaccharide colanic acid. When the scientists provided purified colanic acid to C. elegans, the worms also lived longer. Colanic acid also showed similar effects in the laboratory fruit fly and in mammalian cells cultured in the lab.

The researchers propose that, based on these results, it might be possible in the future to design preparations of bacteria or their compounds that could help slow down the aging process.

Colanic acid mediates crosstalk between bacteria and mitochondria

Interestingly, the scientists found that colanic acid regulates the fusion-fission dynamics of mitochondria, the structures that provide the energy for the cell’s functions.

“These findings are also interesting and have implications from the biological point of view in the way we understand host-microbe communication,” Wang said. “Mitochondria seem to have evolved from bacteria that millions of years ago entered primitive cells. Our finding suggests that products from bacteria today can still chime in the communication between mitochondria in our cells. We think that this type of communication is very important and here we have provided the first evidence of this. Fully understanding microbe-mitochondria communication can help us understand at a deeper level the interactions between microbes and their hosts.”

Increasing doses of blueberry polyphenols improves calcium absorption in rats

According to news reporting from West Lafayette, Indiana, research stated, “Scope Blueberries are rich sources of bioactive polyphenols that may provide health benefits when consumed regularly, leading to their increased marketing as dietary supplements. However, the metabolic changes associated with consuming concentrated doses of purified polyphenols, as may be present in dietary supplements, are unknown, especially when considering the colonic metabolites formed.”

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Purdue University, “This study aimed to evaluate the pharmacokinetics of high doses of purified blueberry polyphenols. Methods and results 5-month old, ovariectomized Sprague-Dawley rats are acutely dosed with purified blueberry polyphenols (0, 75, 350, and 1000 mg total polyphenols per kg body weight (bw)) and Ca-45 to measure calcium absorption. Blood and urine are collected for 48 h after dosing and phenolic metabolites measured via ultra high-pressure liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). The most prominent metabolites are colonically generated cinnamic and hippuric acids. Smaller amounts of other phenolic acids, flavonols, and anthocyanins are also detected. Most metabolites follow a dose-response relationship, though several show saturated absorption. Maximal metabolite concentrations are reached within 12 h for a majority of compounds measured, while some (e.g., hippuric acid) peaked up to 24 h post-dosing. Calcium absorption is significantly increased in the highest dose group (p = 0.03).”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “These results indicate that increased doses of blueberry polyphenols induce changes in intestinal phenolic metabolism and increase calcium absorption.”

Radboud University (Netherlands), June 12, 2020

Silicone molecules from breast implants can initiate processes in human cells that lead to cell death. Researchers from Radboud University have demonstrated this in a new study that will be published on 12 June in Scientific Reports. “However, there are still many questions about what this could mean for the health effects of silicone breast implants. More research is therefore urgently needed,” says Ger Pruijn, professor of Biomolecular Chemistry at Radboud University.

The possible side effects of silicone breast implants have been debated for decades. There are known cases where the implants have led to severe fatigue, fever, muscle and joint aches, and concentration disturbance. However, there is as yet no scientific study demonstrating the effect silicone molecules can have on human cells that could explain these side effects.

Silicone in the body

It is a known fact that breast implants ‘bleed’, i.e. silicone molecules from the implant pass through the shell and enter the body. Earlier research, in 2016, by Dr Rita Kappel, plastic surgeon, and Radboud university medical center, found that silicone molecules can then migrate through the body via the bloodstream or lymphatic system. The biochemists at Radboud University next asked themselves the follow-up question: what effect might silicone molecules have on cells exposed to it?

Cultured cells

Experiments with cultured cells showed that silicones appeared to initiate molecular processes that lead to cell death. “We observed similarities with molecular processes related to programmed cell death, a natural process called apoptosis that has an important function in clearing cells in our body. This effect appeared to depend on the dose of silicone and the size of the silicone molecules. The smaller the molecule, the stronger the effect,” according to Pruijn.

To investigate the effect of silicones on human cells, the researchers have added small silicone molecules – which also occur in silicone breast implants – to three different types of cultured human cells. “One cell was more sensitive to the effect of silicones than the other two cell types. This suggests that the sensitivity of human cells to silicones varies.”

Open questions

The effects the researchers have found lead to many new questions. “We observed that silicones induce molecular changes in cells, but we don’t know yet whether these changes could, for example, lead to an autoimmune response, which could in part explain the negative side effects of implants,” says Pruijn.

“Caution is advised with drawing conclusions based on these findings because we used cultured cells in our research, not specific human cells such as brain cells or muscle cells. Further research is required to get more clarity.”

University of Eastern FInland, June 12, 2020

Camelina sativa oil and fatty fish are rich in polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids, but their health benefits seem to differ. A new study from the University of Eastern Finland shows that Camelina sativa oil reduces the formation of fatty acid derivatives that may be harmful to cardiovascular health. Camelina sativa oil also seems to protect against oxidative stress. Fatty fish, on the other hand, increases the circulatory concentration of fatty acid derivatives that alleviate inflammation.

The study, conducted in collaboration between the University of Eastern Finland and Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, examined the associations of fatty and low-fat fish, and Camelina sativa oil, with lipid metabolism and low-grade inflammation. The study lasted for 12 weeks and it involved 79 men and women between 43 and 72 years of age and with impaired fasting glucose. The study participants were divided into four groups. One group replaced fats in their daily diet with Camelina sativa oil and reduced their intake of fish to one serving a week. Two of the groups ate fish four times a week: two servings of fatty fish, such as salmon or vendace, and two servings of low-fat fish, such as saithe or pike. The fourth group was a control group.

A high intake of omega-3 fatty acids from Camelina sativa oil and fatty fish reduced the circulatory proportions of arachidonic acid, which is a long-chain omega-6 fatty acid. Those using Camelina sativa oil also had lower concentrations of mediators derived from arachidonic acid, which may be harmful to cardiovascular health. Moreover, the intake of fatty fish increased the circulatory concentration of fatty acid derivatives that alleviate inflammation.

“Camelina sativa oil and fatty fish had a major effect on lipid metabolism. Our study shows that dietary fats can be used to target metabolic pathways that are linked to cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes,” Early Stage Researcher Topi Meuronen, the lead author of the article, from the University of Eastern Finland says.

In addition to its other beneficial effects, Camelina sativa oil was also observed to reduce the circulatory concentration of markers that are indicative of oxidative stress. Low-fat fish, however, did not have an effect on the metabolic pathways studied.

In addition to measuring traditional fatty acid concentrations from blood, the researchers were also interested in changes that occur in fatty acid metabolites, which serve as mediators. An examination of fatty acid metabolism on this level makes it possible to study the effects of dietary polyunsaturated fatty acid in more detail than before. These new results are promising and they support earlier findings on the health benefits of fatty fish. However, further research into fatty acid derived mediators, and especially into the effects of Camelina sativa oil’s metabolites, is needed.