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Staying fit may decrease risk of death from COVID-19, study finds

University of Toronto, May 17, 2021

A new study from researchers at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health suggests that improving your cardiorespiratory fitness level may help protect you from COVID-19.

The findings, published last week in the journal PLOS One, indicate that fit people have a reduced risk of dying from the disease.

“One of the really cool findings of this study is that anyone with an above low level of physical activity is better protected,” says Rebecca Christensen, a Ph.D. student and lead author of the study. “Running once in a blue moon won’t protect you but if you are running regularly, you’re doing fine.”

The researchers examined a cohort of 2,690 adults from the UK Biobank Study and focused solely on the risk associated with death and the likelihood of catching the virus. They found no significant association between level of fitness and risk of infection. The study did not examine disease severity which would include hospitalization.

The data range was limited to ages 49 to 80, but the sample was large enough to look at COVID-specific death.

The team observed physical activity by percentile within ten-year age bands given the UK Biobank’s limited variables. The lowest 20th percentile was categorized as low fitness; the 40th to 80th percentile was moderate; and above the 80th percentile was above average.

Researchers observed that even low-to-moderate exercise seems to make a difference.

“Someone who just goes from doing no fitness to doing some fitness, could see appreciable benefits. And that’s why we pulled data based on age and activity-level thresholds,” Christensen says. “We want to see if you could just do something, will it have an impact? The answer is yes—as long as you’re doing something consistently.”

Physical activity declines with age but “if you’re fitter for people within your age group, are you going to have a benefit? The answer is still yes,” Christensen says.

A routine must include a cardio intense workout, one where you break a sweat or are breathing heavily says Christensen, but you don’t need to be a marathon runner. The greatest benefit is in moving from inactivity to some consistent amount of physical activity.

There are known cases of athletes catching COVID-19. Christensen says that the nature of their work increases the likelihood of catching COVID-19 as most are exercising in an environment with others in close settings. The severity of symptoms could be linked to the physical stress of the athlete’s intense workouts, she adds.

“People who exercise a lot can actually have a decrease in their immune system by over exercising,” she notes.

The World Health Organization recently doubled its recommended physical activity guideline. “We’ve got up to 300 minutes (about five hours) instead of 150 minutes (about two and a half hours) per week. So, we’re starting to see the importance of physical activity.”

Christensen advises, “the sooner you start, the better and then you’ll build up. You can make quite large gains when you go from doing nothing to doing anything.”

Having a healthier heart is associated with better problem-solving and reaction time

People with healthier heart structure and function appear to have better cognitive abilities, including increased capacity to solve logic problems and faster reaction times

Queen Mary University of London, May 14, 2021

People with healthier heart structure and function appear to have better cognitive abilities, including increased capacity to solve logic problems and faster reaction times, according to research led by Queen Mary University of London and the Radcliffe Department of Medicine at University of Oxford.

Dr Zahra Raisi-Estabragh, BHF Clinical Research Training Fellow at Queen Mary University of London said: “Heart disease and dementia are important and growing public health problems, particularly in ageing populations.

“We already knew that patients with heart disease were more likely to have dementia, and vice versa, but we’ve now shown that these links between heart and brain health are also present in healthy people. We demonstrated for the first time, in a very large group of healthy people, that individuals with healthier heart structure and function have better cognitive performance.

“With more research, these findings may help us to establish strategies for early prevention and reduce the burden of heart and brain disease in the future.”

The brain has previously been proposed as a target for damage from heart disease, and the risk factors leading to heart disease have also been associated with both vascular and Alzheimer’s dementia. However, the mechanisms by which these associations occur are not well understood, and studies had not been carried out in large groups of people or those without disease.

The new study, published in the European Heart Journal Cardiovascular Imaging, examined links between heart health and cognitive function in over 32,000 UK Biobank participants. The team assessed heart health using measures of anatomy and function obtained from MRI scans. Cognitive function was assessed using tests of fluid intelligence (the capacity to solve logic-based problems) and reaction time.

The results show that, in this large group of mostly healthy individuals, those with healthier heart structure and function performed significantly better in tests of cognitive ability.

To investigate underlying mechanisms for the observed relationships, the team also considered whether the links between heart and brain health may be related to shared risk factors for vascular disease, such as diabetes, smoking, high blood pressure and obesity.

They found that although these factors were important in determining both heart and brain health, they did not provide a complete explanation for the observed associations. This suggests that alternative mechanism may be important in mediating interactions across the heart and brain.

For instance, other studies have shown that proteins which are abnormally deposited in the brain in Alzheimer’s disease may also accumulate and cause disease in the heart muscle. Another possibility is that poorer brain and heart health may both be a consequence of accelerated ageing.

The researchers caution that, as this was an observational study, it is not possible to make any definitive inferences about causality and it cannot be stated that heart disease causes impaired cognition, or vice versa. It is also possible that there may be residual confounding (i.e. that brain and heart health may appear to be connected due to their common association with a third factor).

Oxidative stress, neuroinflammation and NADPH oxidase

Banaras Hindu University (india), May 14, 2021

According to news reporting out of the Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi India, research stated, “NADPH oxidase as an important source of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) has gained enormous importance over the years, and the detailed structures of all the isoenzymes of the NADPH oxidase family and their regulation have been well explored.”

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Department of Biochemistry: “The enzyme has been implicated in a variety of diseases including neurodegenerative diseases. The present brief review examines the body of evidence that links NADPH oxidase with the genesis and progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In short, evidence suggests that microglial activation and inflammatory response in the AD brain is associated with increased production of ROS by microglial NADPH oxidase. Along with other inflammatory mediators, ROS take part in neuronal degeneration and enhance the microglial activation process.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “The review also evaluates the current state of NADPH oxidase inhibitors as potential disease-modifying agents for AD.”

Chronic attack on the aging nervous system

University of Wurzburg (Germany), May 5, 2021

Certain immune cells can cause damage to the aging central nervous system, according to a novel study by scientists of the University Hospital and the University of Wurzburg.

Aging is the biggest risk factor for perturbation of the nervous system, even in the absence of distinct disease or trauma. For yet unknown reasons, the impulse conducting, myelinated projections and synaptic connections between nerve cells are especially vulnerable to aging-related degeneration. These pathological alterations often manifest as cognitive, sensory, and motor decline in older adults and represent a serious socio-economic challenge.

Malactivation leads to damage

Scientists have long assumed that inflammation plays an important role in this process. Mal- or overactivation of distinct cells belonging to the innate immune system – the microglia – appears to promote damage of nerve fibers and synapses in the aging central nervous system (CNS). In a recent project, scientists of the University Hospital Wurzburg have now discovered an important role of the adaptive immune system.

The study was conducted at the Department of Neurology under corresponding author and lecturer Dr. Janos Groh from the section of “Developmental Neurobiology” (Prof. Dr. Rudolf Martini) in collaboration with Professor Wolfgang Kastenmuller(Institute for Systems Immunology) and Dr. Antoine-Emmanuel Saliba from the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research. The results of the study have now been published in the scientific journal Nature Aging.

T cells as mediators of neurodegeneration

“Cytotoxic CD8+ T cells normally recognize and fight infected or malignant cells. However, in case of autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis, they can also do unwanted damage in the nervous system”, says Janos Groh. The scientists could previously identify such CD8+ T cells as important disease amplifiers in models of various genetically mediated neurological disorders. Their role in the aging CNS, however, was so far poorly investigated on a functional level. In order to shed light on this question, the researchers investigated the impact of CD8+ T cells in aged mice, where these cells were found in increased numbers in fiber tracts.

“We show that the accumulation of CD8+ T cells leads to degeneration of nerve fibers in the CNS of normal aging mice, which contributes to motor and cognitive decline”, Groh summarizes the most important results of the study. Using modern gene expression analyses on the single-cell level, the team could for the first time characterize distinct populations of these CD8+ T cells in the brains of adult and aged mice in detail. This helped the scientists to subsequently clarify how the CD8+ T cells cause harm in the brain using precise immunological animal experiments.

Inflammation as a risk as well as therapeutic opportunity

“In addition, we show that T cell-mediated damage in aged but not adult mice is aggravated by systemic inflammation”, Groh adds. According to him, the study therefore confirms that CD8+ T cells are important effectors of inflammation-driven damage to the aging CNS, for example also after infections at more distant sites of the body. In future studies, the researchers want to clarify why and how exactly this inflammatory response is initiated.

Finally, the scientists could find very similar T cell reactions as observed in mice also in autopsies of CNS white matter from older humans. CD8+ T cells might therefore represent a putative target for therapeutic approaches to mitigate aging-related decline of structure and function of the nervous system. The study thus provides basic-scientific and translationally relevant insights into degenerative aging-related processes and another example for the complex interaction between the nervous and the immune system.

Working memory is better after a barefoot run

University of North Florida, May 10, 2021

Running barefoot is better than running with shoes for your working memory, according to a new study published by researchers at the University of North Florida.

The experiment, designed by lead researcher Dr. Ross Alloway, undertaken with Dr. Tracy Alloway, associate professor, both from the Department of Psychology at UNF, and Dr. Peter Magyari, associate professor in the Department of Clinical and Applied Movement Sciences at UNF, is the first to show that running barefoot leads to better cognitive performance than running with shoes.

Working memory, our ability to recall and process information, is used throughout our lifespan. By improving it, we may be able to realize gains in key areas, from school to work to retirement.

“Working memory is increasingly recognized as a crucial cognitive skill, and these findings are great news for people looking for a fun way to boost their working memory,” said Tracy Alloway.

The UNF researchers enlisted 72 participants between the ages of 18 and 44, who ran both barefoot and wore shoes at a comfortable, self-selected pace for approximately 16 minutes. Working memory was measured before and after running.

The results of this research, just published in Perceptual and Motor Skills, found a significant increase — approximately16 percent — in working memory performance in the barefoot-running condition. There was no significant increase in working memory when running with shoes. Additionally, the speed and heart rate of the participants was measured but neither was found to have any impact on working memory performance.

“The little things often have the greatest impact. This research shows us that we can realize our cognitive potential and enjoy ourselves at the same time,” said Ross Alloway. “If we take off our shoes and go for a run, we can finish smarter than when we started.”

When running barefoot, one often has to avoid stepping on potentially hurtful objects by using precise foot placement. As a result, study participants were required to step on flat objects to simulate running barefoot in an outdoors context. Though participants stepped on the flat objects with shoes and barefoot, only the barefoot condition saw improvements in working memory. According to Ross Alloway, it’s possible that the barefoot condition required a more intensive use of working memory because of the extra tactile and proprioceptive demands associated with barefoot running, which may account for the working memory gains.

Eating sardines regularly helps prevent type 2 diabetes

Nutrients such as taurine, omega 3, calcium and vitamin D help to protect against the disease

University of Oberta de Catalunya (Spain), May 6, 2021

The health benefits of sardines and oily fish are widely known: their high levels of unsaturated fats help to regulate cholesterol levels and prevent the onset of cardiovascular diseases. However, the benefits don’t end there. A study led by Diana Diaz Rizzolo, lecturer and researcher of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya’s (UOC) Faculty of Health Sciences and the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS), has discovered that the regular consumption of sardines helps to prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes. Nutrients found in high quantities in sardines – such as taurine, omega 3, calcium and vitamin D – help to protect against this disease which, according to CIBERDEM’s Di@betes study, affects around 14% of the Spanish population over the age of 18.

“Not only are sardines reasonably priced and easy to find, but they are safe and help to prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes. This is a huge scientific discovery. It is easy to recommend this food during medical check-ups, and it is widely accepted by the population”, explained Diana D. Rizzolo.

Researchers from the Diabetes and Obesity Research Laboratory and the Primary Care Research Group, both from IDIBAPS; the IMIM, the Fatty Acid Research Institute (EUA), the Universitat de Barcelona, CIBERDEM and the Department of Endocrinology and Nutrition of the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona also participated in the research project. The results of the study were published openly in the prestigious Clinical Nutrition journal.

Two cans of sardines a week

The study enrolled 152 patients aged 65 years and older who had been diagnosed with prediabetes (blood glucose levels between 100-124 mg/dl) from three different Primary Care centres. All of these patients were put on a nutritional programme that sought to reduce the risk of them developing the disease, but only the intervention group added 200 grams of sardines to their diet every week (two cans of sardines in olive oil). To facilitate this consumption, and with thanks to the Alicia Foundation, these study participants received a list of recipes including canned sardines. Participants were advised to eat the sardine whole, without removing the bones, as these are particularly rich in calcium and vitamin D.

Of the group that did not include sardines in their diet, 27% of the members were at a high risk of suffering from diabetes (measured via the FINDRISC questionnaire). After one year, 22% found themselves in the same category. Of the group that included sardines in their diet, 37% of the members were at a high risk of suffering from diabetes at the start of the study. After one year, only 8% remained at a very high risk. Improvements were also seen in other important biochemical parameters, such as a reduced insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR), increased “good” cholesterol (HDL), increased hormones that accelerate the breakdown of glucose (adiponectin) and decreased triglycerides and blood pressure, amongst others.

The study was carried out on participants aged 65 and above because the incidence of diabetes is much higher in elderly people than in the young population: “As we get older, restrictive diets (in terms of calories or food groups) can help to prevent the onset of diabetes. However, the cost-benefit ratio is not always positive, as we found in other studies”, stated doctor Rizzolo. “However, the results lead us to believe that we could obtain an equally significant preventive effect in the younger population.”

The protective role of food, but not of supplements

The fact that foods such as sardines – which are rich in taurine, omega 3, calcium and vitamin D – have a clear protective effect against the onset of diabetes does not mean that taking these supplements in isolation will have the same effect. “Nutrients can play an essential role in the prevention and treatment of many different pathologies, but their effect is usually caused by the synergy that exists between them and the food that they are contained in. Sardines will therefore have a protective element because they are rich in the aforementioned nutrients, whereas nutrients taken in isolation in the form of supplements won’t work to the same extent”, claimed Rizzolo.

Researchers have begun studying the effect of sardines on the intestinal microbiota in a second phase of the study, “since it affects the regulation of many biological process, and we need to understand if they have played a part in this protective effect against diabetes 2”, she added. They have also initiated studies on the modulation of the expression of certain genes related to inflammation, which could play a role in the onset of diabetes 2 and various other diseases.

Effects of phenolic compounds isolated from Rhodiola rosea on preventing photo-aging processing of keratinocytes

Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (Taiwan). May 10. 2021

According to news reporting based on a preprint abstract, our journalists obtained the following quote sourced from biorxiv.org:

“Among the many health benefits Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) presents, anti-aging is of special interest. Reported to possess anti-aging effects, the CHM Rhodiola rosea, known colloquially as the golden root, has been widely incorporated in various drinks, daily supplements, and even cosmetics.

“This study investigates the effects of commercial Rhodiola extracts on preventing UV-induced photoaging of the skin and correlates such effects with the composition of active ingredients in the extracts.

“To simulate the photoaging process, drug treated HaCaT cells were exposed to UVA and UVB radiation. The pharmacological anti-aging effects of Rhodiola extracts were evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively through confocal immunofluorescence images with {gamma}-H2A.X marker and telomerase activity assay (Telo TAGGG Telomerase PCR-ELISA). Preparatory thin layer chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography were performed to isolate and quantify active ingredients. Cultured HaCaT cells showed morphological change after exposure to both UVA (>15.0 J) and UVB (>2000 mJ). The photoaging of keratinocytes was rescued by pretreating cells with Rhodiola extracts as well as salidroside and rosavin active ingredients (P < 0.05). Rhodiola-treated cells were characterized by increased telomerase activity and fewer {gamma}-H2A.X foci compared to that of the control. Extracts with better preventative effects contained higher salidroside and rosavin content. The findings in this study reaffirm Rhodiola’s efficacy as an anti-aging remedy and provide a basis for CHM’s integration into the mainstream of global healthcare.”

This preprint has not been peer-reviewed.