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Excess fat triggers immune cells to overeat serotonin in the brain of developing male mice, leading to depression-like behavior. More than half of all women in the United States are overweight or obese when they become pregnant. While being or becoming overweight during pregnancy can have potential health risks for moms, there are also hints that it may tip the scales for their kids to develop psychiatric disorders like autism or depression, which often affects one gender more than the other.

What hasn’t been understood however is how the accumulation of fat tissue in mom might signal through the placenta in a sex-specific way and rearrange the developing offspring’s brain.

To fill this gap, Duke postdoctoral researcher Alexis Ceasrine, Ph.D., and her team in the lab of Duke psychology & neuroscience professor Staci Bilbo, Ph.D., studied pregnant mice on a high-fat diet. In findings appearing November 28 in the journal Nature Metabolism, they found that mom’s high-fat diet triggers immune cells in the developing brains of male but not female mouse pups to overconsume the mood-influencing brain chemical serotonin, leading to depressed-like behavior.

It leads to improved muscular endurance for the muscles of the lower legs while reducing the burden on our joints.

Walking doesn’t require any special equipment or gym memberships, and best of all, it’s completely free. For most of us, walking is something we do automatically. It doesn’t require conscious effort, so many of us fail to remember the benefits of walking for health. But what happens if we stop walking on auto-pilot and start challenging our brains and bodies by walking backwards? Not only does this change of direction demand more of our attention, but it may also bring additional health benefits.

Physical activity doesn’t need to be complicated.

Continue reading “Human reverse gear? Here are the hidden health benefits of walking backwards” »

The presence of food-specific IgA antibodies in the gut does not prevent peanut or egg allergies from developing in children, according to a Northwestern Medicine study published in Science Translational Medicine.

Scientists examined stool samples from more than 500 infants across the country and found that the presence of Immunoglobulin A, the most common antibody found in mucous membranes in the digestive tract, does not prevent peanut or egg allergies from developing later in life.

This discovery calls into question the role of Immunoglobulin A, or IgA, which was previously thought to be a protective factor against the development of food allergies.

Rates of heart failure associated with the growing illicit use of the stimulant drug methamphetamine, or meth for short, are rising worldwide and now affect a wide range of socio-economic and racial groups, finds a review of the available evidence, published online in the journal Heart.

Meth heart failure is also more severe than that experienced by those who don’t use the drug, and warrants increased public awareness and availability of treatment for meth addiction to stem the rising tide of those affected, urge the researchers.

Previously published research shows that use of the drug, also popularly known as “crystal meth,” “ice” and “speed,” is associated with serious health problems, including high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, and even sudden death. But there are no comprehensive systematic reviews of published research on meth use and heart failure, and this prompted a team of U.S. and Canadian researchers to try to bridge this knowledge gap.

Malaria is found in more than 90 countries around the world, causing 241 million cases and an estimated 627,000 deaths every year. Vaccines are one intervention that could help eliminate this deadly disease, yet a highly effective vaccine remains elusive. Recent technological advances in vaccine development–such as the mRNA vaccines for SARS-CoV2–could lead to a new generation of malaria vaccines.

Now, a research team led by George Washington University has developed two mRNA vaccine candidates that are highly effective in reducing both malaria infection and transmission. The team also found that the two experimental vaccines induced a powerful immune response regardless of whether they were given individually or in combination. The study was published today in npj Vaccines, an open-access scientific journal that is part of the Nature Portfolio.

“Malaria elimination will not happen overnight but such vaccines could potentially banish malaria from many parts of the world,” Nirbhay Kumar, a professor of global health at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, said. “The mRNA vaccine technology can really be a game changer. We saw how successful this technology was in terms of fighting COVID and for this study we adapted it and used it to develop tools to combat malaria.”

Dr. Jennifer A. Fogarty, Ph.D. (https://www.bcm.edu/people-search/jennifer-fogarty-100936) is the Chief Scientific Officer for the Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH — https://www.bcm.edu/academic-centers/space-medicine/translat…-institute) at Baylor College of Medicine, and the Director of the Applied Health and Performance at Sophic Synergistics LLC.

As Chief Scientist of TRISH, Dr. Fogarty leads an innovative and high-risk research and technology development portfolio to address the most challenging human health and performance risks of space exploration.

Continue reading “Dr. Jennifer Fogarty, Ph.D. — Baylor — Innovations To Safeguard Health & Performance In Deep Space” »

It is the first ever commercial partnership between Google Health and the medical company iCAD.

Google recently announced that it licensed its AI research prototype to a medical company called iCAD. The AI research model can be used for breast cancer screening. iCAD is a company that creates innovative medical equipment for cancer detection.

ICAD made the announcement about the collaboration yesterday, Nov. 28, on its website.

Continue reading “Google licenses its AI tool for breast cancer screening to a medical firm” »

Australian researchers have uncovered a new form of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), undetectable using traditional laboratory testing methods, in a discovery set to challenge existing efforts to monitor and tackle one of the world’s greatest health threats.

AMR is expected to claim 10 million lives a year by 2050, with scientists racing to understand and get ahead of the diminishing benefits of antibiotics.

Continue reading “Researchers discover new form of antimicrobial resistance” »

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I saw a Twitter thread about Bryan Johnson’s ‘Blueprint’, claiming that he’d made himself biologically younger with a highly optimised combination of diet, supplements and exercise. What could that mean? And should we all start chugging 25 pills a day to start on the Blueprint ourselves? Probably not…but the biology behind it is surprisingly interesting.

Continue reading “Can ‘Blueprint’ make you biologically younger?” »