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Health & COVID-19 News 4/20-4/26 UPDATED DAILY

  1. Don’t count on a COVID-19 vaccine for at least 5 years, says AI-based forecast

  2. The Unconscious System Plague: Will Covid-19 Finally Awaken Us?

  3.  Most U.S. firms have no plans to leave China due to coronavirus: survey

  4. The rightwing groups behind wave of protests against Covid-19 restrictions

  5. COVID-19 Exposes the Delicate Economic Balance We All Live in Under Capitalism

  6. Thousands of Americans backed by rightwing donors gear up for protests

  7. Why does India have so few Covid-19 cases and deaths?

  8. Boston ER doctor reports an alarming trend of COVID-19 patients returning to hospital ‘sicker’ and in need of a ventilator 

  9. Don’t bet on vaccine to protect us from Covid-19, says world health expert

  10. Coronavirus Antibodies May Not Make You Immune, WHO Warns

  11. Exhaled ‘aerosols’ spread coronavirus up to 13 feet—and shoes carry the virus, too

 

 

Strength training can cut liver fat by as much as 30% in 15 days

University of Campinas (Brazil), April 17, 2020

Strength training can reduce liver fat and improve blood sugar levels, according to a recent animal study. A team of researchers from the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in Sao Paulo, Brazil studied the effects of strength training exercises on obese mice and found that the exercises led to a 25–30 percent reduction of liver fat prior to weight loss.

The study, published in the Journal of Endocrinology, also revealed that strength training significantly reduced glucose levels and improved insulin sensitivity in the mice. Given the results of the study, the researchers concluded that strength training can be used to treat diseases linked to obesity, such as Type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

What is non-alcoholic fatty liver disease?

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a condition marked by an accumulation of fat around the liver as a result of poor nutrition. As the largest organ inside the body, the liver performs over 500 important functions including energy production, cholesterol metabolism, detoxification and protein synthesis.

A healthy liver should contain little or no fat at all, as fat can make it difficult for the liver to carry out vital functions. Excess fat can also compromise the liver’s sensitivity to insulin and impair its ability to regulate glucose levels. An individual is considered to be at risk of NAFLD if more than five to 10 percent of the liver’s weight is fat. A fatty liver is also linked to an increased risk of serious conditions like kidney disease, hypertension and cardiovascular disease.

Early-stage NAFLD does not cause symptoms at all, so it often occurs undetected. But over time, NAFLD can lead to serious liver damage and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, the aggressive form of NAFLD that causes severe inflammation and total liver failure.

The link between NAFLD and Type 2 diabetes

Obesity significantly increases the risk of developing a fatty liver. Up to a third of American adults have NAFLD due to poor nutrition alone, and up to 90 percent of people who are overweight are also diagnosed with NAFLD. Individuals who have NAFLD are also often observed to have high cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

But growing evidence suggests that there is a strong link between NAFLD and Type 2 diabetes as well. Excess sugar consumption impairs insulin sensitivity and disrupts the ability of the liver to regulate glucose levels, a complication that NAFLD shares with Type 2 diabetes. Additionally, excess sugar consumption often leads to weight gain and a heightened risk of obesity, which suggests that NAFLD and Type 2 diabetes have a cyclical connection.

The benefits of strength training on the liver

Treating NAFLD focuses on reducing or preventing fat buildup around the liver, mainly by addressing underlying causes like high cholesterol and blood sugar levels.

Anaerobic exercises, like strength training, are used by athletes and physical fitness enthusiasts to improve strength, speed and power. Unlike aerobic exercises that boost endurance, anaerobic exercises are mainly used to build muscle mass and improve overall strength. (Related: Strength training, more than walking and cycling, significantly reduces heart disease risk.)

As the Sao Paolo study demonstrated, strength training also has an especially significant effect on liver fat content.

To examine the effects of strength training, the researchers conducted a 15-day experiment on three groups of obese mice. One group followed a standard diet and lived a sedentary lifestyle, the second group followed a high-calorie diet and remained sedentary as well, and the third group followed a high-calorie diet but completed two weeks of strength training.

After 15 days, the researchers observed a significant improvement in the third group’s glucose levels and liver fat content. Although the mice were still obese, strength training exercises were able to cut liver fat by up to 30 percent and reduce liver inflammation.

NAFLD and Type 2 diabetes are two of the most common cardiovascular disease-related metabolic disorders. Given its results, the Sao Paolo study offers a natural and holistic treatment for individuals who have fatty livers and Type 2 diabetes.

 
 

Investigating the apoptopic and autophagic effects of Skullcap (Scutellaria Radix) in non-small cell lung cancer

Kyung Hee University (South Korea), April 17, 2020

Researchers at Kyung Hee University in South Korea investigated the apoptotic and autophagy-inducing effect of Scutellaria radix (SR) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Their findings were published in The American Journal of Chinese Medicine.

  • The root of Scutellaria baicalensis (Chinese skullcap) is an herb traditionally used in Asian countries to treat inflammatory diseases.
  • Studies show that SR exhibits anti-cancer activities against various types of tumors.
  • The researchers reported that SR treatment suppressed the viability of two NSCLC cell lines, namely, H358 and H2087 cells.
  • Western blot assays showed that SR increased the expression of key factors of apoptosis, such as Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax), cleaved-caspase 3 and cleaved-Poly ADP ribose polymerase (PARP).
  • On the other hand, co-treatment with the caspase inhibitor Z-VAD negated the anti-proliferative effect of SR, suggesting that induction of apoptosis is part of SR’s mechanism of action.
  • Further experiments also revealed that autophagy is also involved in SR’s mode of action.
  • SR treatment caused an increase in the ratio of microtubule-associated protein 1A/1B-light chain 3 (LC3)-II/LC3-I in NSCLC cells, and co-treatment with chloroquinone further increased this ratio. This suggested that SR treatment induces autophagy in NSCLC cells.
  • In contrast, co-treatment with 3-Methyladenine (3-MA) led to the loss of autophagy and the suppression of apoptosis.

Based on these results, the researchers concluded that the root of S. baicalensis induces apoptosis in non-small cell lung cancer via AMPK-dependent autophagy, making it a potential anti-cancer agent against NSCLC.

Amla therapy as a potential modulator of Alzheimer disease risk factors

Edith Cowan University (Australia), April 17, 2020

According to news reporting originating in Joondalup, Australia, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “There is currently no effective treatment for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common form of dementia. It has been proposed, however, that a modest delay in onset can significantly reduce the number of cases.”

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from Edith Cowan University, “Thus, prevention and intervention strategies are currently the focus of much research. In the search for compounds that potentially confer benefit, the Amla fruit and its extracts have drawn attention. Amla preparations have been used for centuries in traditional Indian medicine systems such as Ayurveda, with various parts of the plant used to treat a variety of diseases. Here we review many animal-based studies, and some clinical trials, which have shown that Amla, and its extracts, exert many positive effects on dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia, inflammation, oxidative stress, apoptosis, and autophagy, that contribute to AD risk.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Collectively, this evidence suggests that Amla may be of value as part of an effective disease-delaying treatment for AD.”

Exercise during pregnancy reduces obesity among offspring

Washington State University, April 18, 2020

When physically fit women exercise during pregnancy they could be setting their children up for better fitness too.

That’s according to a study published today in Science Advances led by Min Du, professor of animal sciences at Washington State University, and his PhD student Jun Seok Son.

They found exercise during pregnancy stimulates the production of brown adipose tissue, commonly known as brown fat, in a developing fetus. Brown fat’s primary role in the body is to burn off heat. It is often called good fat. White adipose tissue or white fat, on the other hand, is responsible for obesity and harder to burn off. It is commonly known as bad fat.

Du and Son’s results show the offspring of physically fit mice that exercised daily during pregnancy not only had a greater proportion of brown fat relative to body weight but also burned white fat off quicker than the offspring of a control group of pregnant mice that did not exercise. This helped prevent obesity and also improved metabolic health.

Their study is unique because up to now, the impacts of exercise during pregnancy on fetal development have only been examined in obese mothers.

“Previous research has shown that exercise among overweight women during pregnancy protects against metabolic dysfunction and obesity in their offspring,” Du said. “This new study shows these benefits may also extend to the offspring of women who are healthy and in shape.”

As exercise during pregnancy is becoming less common and obesity rates in children are increasing among mothers with various body mass indices, the researchers hope their findings will encourage healthy and fit women to continue living an active lifestyle during pregnancy.

“These findings suggest that physical activity during pregnancy for fit women is critical for a newborn’s metabolic health,” Son said. “We think this research could ultimately help address obesity in the United States and other countries.”

In the study, healthy maternal mice were assigned either to a sedentary lifestyle or to exercise daily. Their offspring were then subjected to a high energy/caloric diet.

Notably, female and male offspring from the experimental group whose mothers had exercised consumed more feed than offspring from the control group. Nonetheless, the experimental group mice showed less weight gain.

Additionally, there was an improvement in glucose tolerance in the female and male offspring from the experimental group. Glucose intolerance is a precursor to developing diabetes and other obesity-related diseases later in life.

Exercise during pregnancy also stimulated the production of apelin, an exercise-induced hormone, in both mothers and their fetuses. Apelin stimulates brown fat development and improves metabolic health.

Du and Son also found administering apelin to the pregnant mice in the control group mimicked some of the beneficial effects of exercise on their offspring.

“This suggests that the apelinergic system could be a possible target for developing drugs that help prevent obesity,” Du said.

People may know the best decision — and not make it

We often simply do what worked for us last time, study finds

Ohio State University, April 20, 2020

COLUMBUS, Ohio – When faced with a decision, people may know which choice gives them the best chance of success, but still take the other option, a new study suggests.

People may choose based on a “gut feeling”, a habit, or what worked for them last time, rather than on what they have learned will work most often, said Ian Krajbich, co-author of the study and associate professor of psychology and economics at The Ohio State University.

The results run counter to the belief that people make the less optimal choice because they just don’t know any better.

“In our study, people knew what worked most often. They just didn’t use that knowledge,” Krajbich said.

The research, published today (April 20, 2020) in the journal Nature Communications, was led by Arkady Konovalov, a former graduate student at Ohio State who is now at the University of Zurich in Switzerland.

Krajbich gave an example of how the study’s findings may work in real life. Say Main Street is usually the fastest way home from work for you. But yesterday there was an event that was going to slow traffic on Main Street, so you took Spruce Street instead and it got you home a few minutes faster than normal.

Today, do you take Main Street – which you know is usually the better route – or take Spruce Street because it worked so well yesterday?

Krajbich said the results of this study suggest that many times we will take the route that worked yesterday and ignore the evidence of what normally works best.

“There’s this tension between doing what you should do, at least from a statistical perspective, versus doing what worked out well recently,” Krajbich said.

In the study, participants played a simple computer game in which noticing and exploiting patterns could make them more money. The researchers tracked their mouse movements to detect whether they picked up on those patterns.

For example, participants would choose one of two symbols on the top half of the screen – one on the top left and one on the top right. They would then move the cursor to the bottom half of the screen and a symbol would appear on the bottom right or bottom left. They would click on that to see their reward.

Participants repeated this game dozens of times. The researchers could determine if the participants learned the pattern between what they chose at the top and what they got at the bottom (for example, choosing the top left symbol usually led to the bottom right symbol with the largest reward) by watching their mouse movements.

“We could tell where they thought the next symbol was going to appear by where they moved the cursor,” Krajbich said.

“And we found that nearly everyone – 56 of the 57 participants – learned the pattern. That was no problem for our participants.”

But the researchers designed part of the study so that the pattern that usually led to the largest reward didn’t work 10 to 40 percent of the time.

So the question was: After one of the trials in which the pattern that usually led to the largest reward didn’t work, what would participants do? Would they stick to the pattern or choose something else?

Results showed that participants followed the plan that gave them the best chance of success – which was following the pattern that worked at least 6 out of 10 times – only about 20 percent of the time.

In other parts of the study, the pattern that produced the biggest reward always worked the same way. Here, where the pattern was consistent, participants followed it about twice as often as in the other cases: about 40 percent of the time.

Why don’t people follow the best strategy more often? While the answer to that is beyond the scope of this study, Krajbich said it likely takes a lot of mental energy and planning to always make decisions based on your knowledge of the environment.

And the rewards of following the best strategy aren’t always obvious – especially if following that strategy increases your success by only a small percentage, he said.

This tension between using a statistical-based strategy versus going with your “gut” comes up a lot in sports, Krajbich said. Coaches and managers must decide whether to go for it on fourth down in football or walk a batter in baseball. The decision that has the best chance to succeed statistically is often only a bit more successful than the other choice.

“It can be hard to judge whether you made a good or bad decision based just on the outcome. We can make a good decision and just get unlucky and have a bad outcome. Or we can make a bad decision and get lucky and have a good outcome,” Krajbich said.

In those situations, it is easy for people to stop being disciplined and just choose whatever decision got them rewards most recently.

The lesson from this study, Krajbich said, is that people often do learn what works best. “They just have to put that knowledge into practice.”

Lifestyle changes could delay memory problems in old age, depending on our genes

Kings College London, April 17, 2020

A new study explored the molecular interactions that occur in our response to varying levels of nutrients, otherwise known as nutrient-sensing pathways, as we grow older.

Using a combination of laboratory-based techniques and analysis of data on people’s memory, diet and level of physical exercise, researchers identified a number of genes that are active in nutrient-sensing pathways and demonstrated these genes also show associations to performance on memory tasks in data from over 2000 individuals. The study identified that the genes ABTB1 and GRB10 were both influential in nutrient sensing pathways and showed association to memory.

Advances in medicine and healthcare over the past century have led to increased life expectancies. However, ageing is still accompanied by frailty and a decline in our thought processes. This level of decline varies enormously across individuals and an improved understanding of what influences these ageing mechanisms could help develop strategies to increase “healthspan”, which is the period of time free from debilitating disease.

Previous studies have indicated that neural stem cells (NSCs) in the hippocampal part of the brain play an important role in the decline of our thought process and memory over time. NSCs are cells that keep dividing as long as they are alive and either make more NSCs or cells that have a specialist function in the brain. The maintenance of these NSCs is important in memory and is affected by environmental factors such as diet and exercise, potentially explaining some of the variation in how ageing affects different people.

Although the role of nutrient-sensing-pathways in ageing and the maintenance of stem cells in the brain has been investigated in animal models, no human studies have so far investigated their role in NSCs in the hippocampus.

The study aimed to explore whether nutrient-sensing pathways can provide the molecular basis for the association between lifestyle and ageing. These pathways have been implicated in stem cell maintenance, suggesting they could also be involved in the interaction between lifestyle, NSCs and cognition. Using a novel back-translation approach which uses laboratory-based experiments on NSCs to inform analysis of epidemiological data rather than vice versa the researchers showed that variations in ABTB1 are associated to performance on a standard memory task and that variation in the gene GRB10 is an important player in determining the association between Mediterranean diet and memory performance. The study also identified an interaction between exercise levels and the SIRT1 genotype which led to different performances on memory tasks.

Lead author, Chiara de Lucia, from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), King’s College London said: ‘Our study shows that nutrient-sensing pathways play an important role in memory and suggests that the ABTB1 and GRB10 genes are likely molecular links for the association between diet, the ageing of neural stem cells and our memory ability. Identifying these genes as the missing links between these three important variables could inform new approaches to help improve the ageing process through targeted changes in diet and exercise and ultimately in developing new drugs in the future.’

Senior author, Sandrine Thuret from the IoPPN said: ‘Finding the means to prevent or slow down the processes that drive the decline of our thought processes during ageing is one of the great endeavours of the 21st century. To our knowledge this is one of the first studies looking at these relationships with human data and adopting this back-translation approach which uses lab-based experiments to inform research on large datasets, allowing for a more targeted approach.’

‘Our findings suggest that changes in lifestyle may be able to delay a decline in memory and thinking but that the effectiveness of these approaches will depend on the genetic makeup of each person. For example, adherence to a diet such as the Mediterranean diet may be most beneficial for people with a specific GRB10 mutation while increased exercise may be a better approach for participants with specific SIRT1 variations. Future research should look to replicate these findings on a larger dataset which would allow for the testing of 3-way interactions between diet, exercise and memory to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how these relate to one another.’

Researchers analysed the molecular and genetic mechanisms by exposing human NSCs to serums from either young or old individuals and to chemicals whose effects mimic the ageing process. The genes identified from the in vitro analysis as important in nutrient-sensing-pathways were then associated with genetic data from over 2000 individuals from the TwinsUK cohort and data on performance on the Paired Associates Learning(PAL) task which assesses visual memory and learning, healthy eating, Mediterranean diet, calorie intake and physical activity.

Noni Juice Reduces Cholesterol Among Cigarette Smokers

University of Illinois, April 17, 2020
 

Cigarette smoking is one of the leading causes of death in the U.S. People who smoke cigarettes may die from complications in their respiratory and cardiovascular systems. Smokers may also develop lung cancer or tuberculosis.

In the U.S., government data show that cigarette smoking causes around one in every five deaths each year, resulting in more than 480,000 deaths annually including those from secondhand smoke.[i]

While the dangers of cigarette smoking cannot be entirely alleviated, let’s look back at a 2012 study on how drinking noni juice may be helpful in reducing the risk factors for cardiovascular disease among smokers.[ii]

Noni Juice Reduces Cholesterol Levels Among Smokers

Cigarette smoke can significantly increase the total cholesterol and triglyceride levels of smokers, causing systemic inflammation and dyslipidemia, which reflects an abnormal amount of cholesterol and triglycerides in the body.

To find out whether this risk can be reduced, researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine investigated the effects of fruit antioxidants such as noni juice (Morinda citrifolia) on smokers. For the study, 132 adult smokers were divided into three groups.

One group received 29.5 milliliters (mL) of noni juice all at once in the morning on an empty stomach. Participants in the other two groups drank 118 mL of noni juice daily — 59 ml in the morning on an empty stomach and 59 ml before bedtime. This continued for 30 days.

The smoking habits of the participants did not change, as they continued to smoke the same way as before. Chemical analyses were made on the lipid profiles of the participants. The results of the study were as follows:

“The blood lipid profiles of heavy smokers were improved after 4 weeks of noni juice ingestion, even when compared to a fruit juice placebo … The antioxidant activity of iridoids in noni and the lack of iridoids in the placebo suggest that they are responsible for at least some of the protective or adaptive effects of noni juice observed in this trial.”

In the end, drinking noni juice significantly reduced the cholesterol levels of participants in the study.[iii] In both noni juice groups, there were reductions in mean cholesterol, triglyceride and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels observed, with the post-trial results found significantly lower than pre-trial as well as placebo group values.

In the noni juice groups, average total cholesterol, triglycerides and hs-CRP dropped by 20.3% to 25.6%, 29.4% to 41.2% and 15.2%, respectively.

The Brutal Heart Effects of Cigarette Smoking

According to a report from Health Physics, cigarette smoking has led to “443,000 deaths and 5.1million years of potential life lost among the U.S. population each year from 2000 through 2004,” while the collective radiation dose from cigarette smoke is 36 times more toxic than that from nuclear power plants.[iv]

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explained that smoking damages a person’s blood vessels by making them narrow and thick. This causes high blood pressure and can lead to a stroke.[v]

According to a study, smoking only about one cigarette a day translates to a risk of developing coronary heart disease and stroke much higher than expected, or around half that for individuals who smoke 20 per day. Essentially there is no safe level of smoking for cardiovascular disease.[vi]

If you decide to quit smoking, it is an important step to staying fit and well, but leading a healthy lifestyle will be a sound and necessary move during smoking cessation. One of the ways to stay healthy is to eat the types of food that are good for your heart and lungs, including noni juice.

Other types of antioxidant-rich foods may also be beneficial. For instance, a 2017 report published in Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity found a link between pomegranate juice and a reduction in the incidence of lung cancer among animal subjects that were exposed to cigarette smoke

With a heavy heart: How men and women develop heart disease differently

McGill University (Quebec), April 19, 2020

A new study by researchers from McGill University has uncovered that minerals causing aortic heart valve blockage in men and women are different, a discovery that could change how heart disease is diagnosed and treated.

Using the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan, Marta Cerruti, an Associate Professor in McGill’s Department of Materials Engineering, and her team analyzed damaged  from patients who had undergone transplants.

Their findings, recently published in Acta Biomaterialia, show considerable differences in the  deposits found in aortic valves of men and women who suffer from stenosis, a life-threatening heart condition caused by a narrowing of the aortic valve opening.

“What we showed, which was a surprise to us, is that the type of minerals in the heart valves is different between the sexes,” said Cerruti. “We unexpectedly found that the minerals are different in composition and shape, and that they grow slower in women.”

Mineral composition analysis performed at the Soft X-Ray Mischaracterization Beamline, which is housed within the CLS, also determined that a type of mineral deposit was found almost exclusively in samples from female patients.

Taking diversity into consideration

Cerruti says that her findings demonstrate the importance of thinking about diversity in the context of research, a concept that has historically been a blind spot for the scientific community. For example, using only  in experiments used to be a standard practice.

“Our study is the perfect illustration that by only looking at a specific population, you will skew your data,” she says. “Having a more diverse data set improves your science.”

Heart disease remains the global leading cause of death in both men and women. With 280,000 heart valves being replaced every year in Canada due to stenosis, Cerruti says her work demonstrates the need to develop different diagnostic and therapeutic approaches when treating aortic stenosis in men or women.

In order to make that happen, Cerruti’s group will return to the CLS to further investigate this cardiovascular phenomenon and understand the precise composition of the  they found in women.

“Understanding what the minerals are could definitely help to develop a cure,” she says. “It’s possible that there could be easier ways to target these minerals and dissolve them for women.”

“Differences in mineral composition and morphology between men and women in aortic valve calcification,” by Marta Cerruti et al., was published in Acta Biomaterialia.

Burning mouth syndrome patients have higher frequencies of blood hemoglobin and serum iron, vitamin B12, and folic acid deficiencies

Far Eastern Memorial Hospital (Taiwan), April 17, 2020

According to news reporting originating from the Far Eastern Memorial Hospital by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Background/Purpose: Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is characterized by burning sensation of the oral mucosa in the absence of clinically apparent oral mucosal alterations.”.

The news editors obtained a quote from the research from Far Eastern Memorial Hospital: “This study evaluated the anemia, hematinic deficiencies, hyperhomocysteinemia, and serum gastric parietal cell antibody (GPCA) positivity in 884 BMS patients. The blood hemoglobin (Hb) and serum iron, vitamin B12, folic acid, homocysteine, GPCA levels in 884 BMS patients were measured and compared with the corresponding levels in 442 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects. We found that 175 (19.8%), 143 (16.2%), 42 (4.8%), 20 (2.3%), 170 (19.2%), and 109 (12.3%) BMS patients had blood Hb, serum iron, vitamin B12, and folic acid deficiencies, hyperhomocysteinemia, and serum GPCA positivity, respectively. Moreover, 884 BMS patients had significantly higher frequencies of blood Hb and serum iron, vitamin B12, and folic acid deficiencies, hyperhomocysteinemia, and serum GPCA positivity than 442 healthy control subjects (all P-values < 0.005). Of 175 anemic BMS patients, 95 had normocytic anemia, 27 had thalassemia trait-induced anemia, 21 had iron deficiency anemia, 15 had pernicious anemia, 15 had macrocytic anemia other than pernicious anemia, and 2 had microcytic anemia other than iron deficiency anemia and thalassemia trait-induced anemia. Burning sensation of oral mucosa (100.0%), dry mouth (48.1%), numbness of oral mucosa (30.7%), and dysfunction of taste (16.7%) were the four common symptoms in 884 BMS patients.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “BMS patients have significantly higher frequencies of blood Hb and serum iron, vitamin B12, and folic acid deficiencies, hyperhomocysteinemia, and serum GPCA positivity than healthy control subjects.”