We don’t have a cure for Parkinson’s disease yet, but a recently discovered mutation in mitochondrial DNA that seems to protect the body against the condition could one day point the way to one. Discovered in a small protein called SHLP2, the genetic variant is relatively rare – found in just 1 percent of Europeans. Yet an analysis of the health records of 16,167 people led by researchers from the University of Southern California (USC) suggests…
“The bottom-line finding is that cannabis before exercise seems to increase positive mood and enjoyment during exercise, whether you use THC or CBD. But THC products specifically may make exercise feel more effortful,” said Dr. Laurel Gibson.
How does cannabis influence workouts? Does it serve as a performance enhancer or in other ways? This is what a recent study published in Sports Medicine hopes to address, as a team of researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) and the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus investigated how cannabis influences exercise workouts and regimens, specifically pertaining to the exercise performance. This study comes almost a decade since Colorado legalized the sale of recreational marijuana and holds the potential to help researchers and the public better understand cannabis’ role in our everyday lives.
For the first-of-its-kind study that started in 2021, the researchers recruited 42 participants who were consistent cannabis users ages 21 to 39 to ascertain their responses to exercise after using cannabis and in a controlled laboratory setting. In the end, the participants reported increased enjoyment and “runner’s high” characteristics while also reporting greater levels of exertion during their exercise regimen. Additionally, the participants reported the following when the researchers asked them why they combine cannabis with their workout routines: 90.5 percent said it increases enjoyment, 69 percent said it reduces pain, 59.5 percent said it increases focus, 57.1 percent said it increases motivation, 45.2 percent stated they perceived that it speeds up time, and 28.6 percent said it improves their performance.
The microbiome has a profound influence on our health, but exactly how our resident bacteria wield their power is still unclear. A type of T cell appears to provide some answers for gastrointestinal health, a study of the mouse microbiome finds.
The study, appearing in the journal Immunity, found that when friendly, commensal microbes set up residence inside the gut, their host produces T cells that maintain the health of the gut by counteracting inflammation.
The finding could lead to new treatments for inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD).
Ichthyosis refers to a group of skin disorders that lead to dry, itchy skin that appears scaly, rough, and red. Your health care provider may be able to diagnose ichthyosis with a genetic test that detects the mutated gene usually from a blood sample or a swab from the mouth. Find out more:
What is ichthyosis? It is a disorder that causes dry, thickened skin that may look similar to fish scales.
In the largest study of its kind, scientists report how combining health data with whole genome sequence (WGS) data in patients with cancer can help doctors provide more tailored care for their patients.
The research, published in Nature Medicine, shows that linking WGS data to real-world clinical data can identify changes in cancer DNA that may be relevant for an individual patient’s care, for example by helping identify what treatment might work best for them based on their cancer.
The study, led by Genomics England, NHS England, Queen Mary University of London, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Westminster, analyzed data covering over 30 types of solid tumors collected from more than 13,000 participants with cancer in the 100,000 Genomes Project. By looking at the genomic data alongside routine clinical data collected from participants over a 5-year period, such as hospital visits and the type of treatment they received, scientists were able to find specific genetic changes in the cancer associated with better or worse survival rates and improved patient outcomes.
An unexpected genetic discovery in wheat has led to opportunities for the metabolic engineering of versatile compounds with the potential to improve its nutritional qualities and resilience to disease.
Researchers in the Osbourn group at the John Innes Centre have been investigating biosynthetic gene clusters in wheat – groups of genes that are co-localized on the genome and work together to produce specific molecules.
NCI researchers have found a persistent decline in rates of both smoking-related and non-smoking-related lung cancer deaths.
In the U.S., lung cancer death rates have declined for decades, primarily due to decreases in cigarette smoking. However, it is unclear whether rates of smoking-unrelated lung cancer deaths are also decreasing. If the rates are increasing, that may suggest increases in exposure to other lung carcinogens that need to be investigated. Meredith Shiels, Ph.D., M.H.S., senior investigator in the Infections and Immunoepidemiology Branch, and colleagues in the Biostatistics Branch, the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, and Information Management Services, conducted a study to estimate trends in U.S. lung cancer death rates from 1991–2018. They found that both smoking-attributable and smoking-unrelated lung cancer death rates declined over this period. The findings were published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute on December 9, 2023.
Cancer registries and death certificates do not collect the smoking status of every person diagnosed with or who died from lung cancer. Thus, to estimate trends in lung cancer death rates by smoking status, the researchers needed another way to determine the age-specific trends in lung cancer deaths attributed to smoking, and unrelated to smoking. They estimated age-specific annual percentage of lung cancer deaths that could be attributed to smoking using smoking status data from the National Health Interview Survey linked to death certificate data. These population attributable fractions were then multiplied by national data on lung cancer mortality to estimate trends over time in smoking-attributable and smoking-unrelated deaths. The researchers found that the fraction of lung cancer deaths attributable to smoking decreased from 82% in 1991 to 75% in 2018. Over this same period, smoking-attributable lung cancer death rates declined 2.
Laboratory “copilots” and automated labs are AI’s latest contribution to speeding up the development of new drugs, chemicals and materials. Why it matters: Scientific discovery itself must speed up if the world is to address its challenges — from climate change to personalized treatments for cancer — fast enough to make a difference. In scientific research, “manual effort is not scalable,” writes Microsoft Health Futures’ Hoifung Poon in the…
A new study published in Nature Cell Biology by Mark Alkema, PhD, professor of neurobiology, establishes an important molecular link between specific B12-producing bacteria in the gut of the roundworm C. elegans and the production of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter important to memory and cognitive function.
There is growing recognition among scientists that diet and gut microbiota may play an important role in brain health. Changes in the composition of the microbiome have been linked to neurological disorders such as anxiety, depression, migraines and neurodegeneration. Yet, teasing out the cause and effect of individual bacteria or nutrients on brain function has been challenging.
“There are more bacteria in your intestine than you have cells in your body,” said Woo Kyu Kang, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the Alkema lab and first author of the current study. “The complexity of the brain, the hundreds of bacterial species that comprise the gut microbiome and the diversity of metabolites make it almost impossible to discern how bacteria impact brain function.”