FDA Determined Convalescent Plasma Is Safe, Leaves Decisions on Efficacy up to Clinicians/ Patients. That’s the Way It Should Always Be
Jeffrey A. SingerYesterday the Food and Drug Administration released a clinical memorandum giving Emergency Use Authorization for COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma (CCP) therapy, a previously unapproved biological product. Forseveral months clinicians treating severely ill COVID-19 patients have transfused plasma donated by convalescing COVID-19 patients, rich with the antibodies to the virus produced by their immune system, hoping that these same antibodies can help patients suffering from active infection. Early results have been promising but, as somecritics of the FDA decision have stated, more data is needed befo...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - August 24, 2020 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, August 24th 2020
We report that electrical stimulation (ES) stimulation of post-stroke aged rats led to an improved functional recovery of spatial long-term memory (T-maze), but not on the rotating pole or the inclined plane, both tests requiring complex sensorimotor skills. Surprisingly, ES had a detrimental effect on the asymmetric sensorimotor deficit.
Histologically, there was a robust increase in the number of doublecortin-positive cells in the dentate gyrus and SVZ of the infarcted hemisphere and the presence of a considerable number of neurons expressing tubulin beta III in the infarcted area. Among the genes that were unique...
Source: Fight Aging! - August 23, 2020 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Adenosine Injected into Arthritic Joints Produces Cartilage Regrowth
Researchers here provide evidence for injections of adenosine into damaged joint tissue to provoke meaningful degrees of cartilage regrowth in an animal model of degenerative joint disease. Finding ways to force the regrowth of tissues, such as cartilage, that normally exhibit little regenerative capacity is an important goal for the research community. Many varied approaches are presently under development; this one has the merit of being comparatively simple when compared to the more logistically challenging cell therapy and tissue engineering strategies.
Previous research had shown that maintaining supplies of ...
Source: Fight Aging! - August 21, 2020 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
The Public Cannot Distinguish Between Scientific versus Unscientific, Likely Good versus Likely Bad Approaches to Longevity
One of the challenges inherent in patient advocacy for greater human longevity, for more research into aging and rejuvenation, is that journalists and the public at large either cannot or will not put in the effort needed to distinguish between: (a) scientific, plausible, and likely useful projects, those with a good expectation of addressing aging to a meaningful degree; (b) scientific, plausible, and likely unhelpful projects, those that will do little to move the needle on life expectancy, and (c) products and programs that consist of marketing, lies, and little else. This last category is depressingly large, and the fi...
Source: Fight Aging! - August 20, 2020 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
The future of the health care experience will be unrecognizable
Future doctors will celebrate that they no longer prescribe the same drug at the same dosage for hypertension or pneumonia or arthritis or cancer or many other conditions. Who knows even if drugs will be the mainstay of medical treatment. Tomorrow ’s treatments will be tailored to one’s age, gender, weight, race, overall medical condition, severity […]Find jobs at Careers by KevinMD.com. Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now. Learn more. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - August 20, 2020 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/michael-kirsch" rel="tag" > Michael Kirsch, MD < /a > < /span > Tags: Physician Gastroenterology Source Type: blogs
Immune System Aging as an Important Contributing Factor in the Progression of Many Age-Related Diseases
The immune system influences the function of tissues throughout the body. Immune cells are involved in tissue maintenance and wound healing, in the necessary day to day clearance of senescent cells, in the removal of cell debris and molecular waste. In some organs they have even more vital functions, such as assisting in the maintenance of synaptic connections in the brain. Further, immune cells produce inflammatory and anti-inflammatory signals that influence the behavior of other cells in numerous ways. Thus when the immune system runs awry and falters with age, the downstream consequences are pervasive and consequential...
Source: Fight Aging! - August 19, 2020 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
Post Covid Healthcare is Becoming Like Buying from Amazon Instead of Going to the Mall or Reading an eBook Instead of a Paperback
By HANS DUVEFELT, MD
Now that we are seeing patients via telemedicine or even getting reimbursed for handling their issues over the phone, our existing healthcare institutions are more and more starting to look like shopping malls.
They were once traffic magnets, so large that they created new developments far away from where people lived or worked and big and complex enough that going there became an all day affair for many people.
What this pandemic has brought us is a shift in our view of where you have to be in order to get things done. If you can earn your wage remotely and still buy things online...
Source: The Health Care Blog - August 5, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: COVID-19 Medical Practice Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, August 3rd 2020
In this study, we examined the effects of oxytocin on the Aβ-induced impairment of synaptic plasticity in mice.
To investigate the effect of oxytocin on synaptic plasticity, we prepared acute hippocampal slices for extracellular recording and assessed long-term potentiation (LTP) with perfusion of the Aβ active fragment (Aβ25-35) in the absence and presence of oxytocin. We found that oxytocin reversed the impairment of LTP induced by Aβ25-35 perfusion in the mouse hippocampus. These effects were blocked by pretreatment with the selective oxytocin receptor antagonist L-368,899. Furthermore, the treatment with the...
Source: Fight Aging! - August 2, 2020 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
If Your Aging Parent Needs Help but Won ’t Accept it: Proceed With Caution
Dear Candid Caregiver: My 79-year-old mom has been widowed for a little over a year. She’d always depended on Dad to help her because her arthritis limited her movement and she uses a walker much of the time. Now, though, there’s been a complete change in attitude, and she insists that she can take care of everything herself, even physical tasks that are clearly a challenge. I’m not certain whether she’s trying to prove something or if it has something to do with Dad’s death. Whatever her reasoning, I worry about her. I can’t be with her all the time, so I want to help make her home safer, wherever ...
Source: Minding Our Elders - July 30, 2020 Category: Geriatrics Authors: Carol Bradley Bursack Source Type: blogs
Glucosamine Supplementation Correlates with Lower All Cause Mortality
An analysis of a large study population here shows that glucosamine supplementation results in about a 15% reduction in mortality, a sizable effect size in the context of what is known of the effects of lifestyle choices and supplementation on aging. Glucosamine is used as an anti-inflammatory intervention, but there is at best only mixed evidence for it to actually do much good as a treatment for specific inflammatory conditions such as arthritis. It is nonetheless widely used, hence the ability to see outcomes in sizable group of people. The effect on mortality is certainly an interesting outcome, given the lack of robus...
Source: Fight Aging! - July 28, 2020 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
I ’ve Kept an Expressive Writing Journal for 4 Decades — Here’s Why
This week, at the end of an online poetry class, our on-screen instructor asked, “Why do you write?” Then, she added: “In writing, what is your greater purpose?”
Now, I’ve been writing for myself and for publication since the mid 1970s. And, over the years, as I teach or lead narrative writing workshops, I’m sure I’ve posed that why-do-you-write question to my own writing students. But, shame on me, I had never really posed the question to myself.
Truthfully, for the rest of that day, as I tended to my usual work and deadlines, the instructor’s question niggled at me. Then, next morning, instead of penn...
Source: World of Psychology - July 23, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Aine Greaney Tags: Creativity Habits Personal Self-Help benefits of writing Journaling Source Type: blogs
Caregiver Burnout is Best Prevented Since Recovery Is Hard on Everyone
Dear Carol: My mom, age 79, has had steadily declining health for several years. Arthritis is a genetic problem in my family, so pain is an issue. Besides that, she has severe asthma, so her lungs show a lot of deterioration. The family has handled all of this but now her thinking is getting foggy. She’s resisted moving to assisted living even though we all know that this would probably be best. I work full time, so even though I live in her community, I can’t be with her all the time. I also have teenage kids so even checking on Mom every day is getting to be too much. I know that I’m just getting started with this ...
Source: Minding Our Elders - July 21, 2020 Category: Geriatrics Authors: Carol Bradley Bursack Source Type: blogs
The impact of Covid-19 on the health and care voluntary sector
National Voices - The health and care voluntary sector continues to provide invaluable information and support to millions of people with long term conditions as statutory health and care services refocus their efforts on Covid-19. National Voices, together with the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance (ARMA) and the Neurological Alliance, asked it ’s members about the impact of the coronavirus emergency on their services and their income. Forty charities responded between responded between 17th April and 13th May 2020.Survey resultsMore detail (Source: Health Management Specialist Library)
Source: Health Management Specialist Library - July 20, 2020 Category: UK Health Authors: The King ' s Fund Library Tags: Local authorities, public health and health inequalities Source Type: blogs
Just What We Need in a Pandemic: The Walking Cure
As life continues to be disrupted by the coronavirus outbreak, lots of people are feeling out of sorts and would love to find some straightforward, free, and accessible way of remedying that. Even people who have been thriving wouldn’t mind an easy way of maintaining their good spirits.
Professor Shane O’Mara, a brain researcher at Trinity College Dublin, may have an answer. He thinks that “physicians the world over [should] write prescriptions for walking as a core treatment for improving our individual and aggregate health and well-being.”
Walking, Professor O’Mara believes, “enhances every aspect of our ...
Source: World of Psychology - July 20, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Bella DePaulo, Ph.D. Tags: Depression Exercise & Fitness General Mental Health and Wellness Research coronavirus COVID-19 Source Type: blogs
Wheat Belly Lost and Found
Gail initiated an enlightening string on the Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox Facebook page in which she shared something she lost on the program, then something she gained while following the Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox and lifestyle. Here is how it unfolded in the first few hours:
“I could easily post a ‘before’ and ‘now’ picture. However, I find that most of us have so many more NSV than scale victories.
“So, on that note, to encourage newbies to keep on keeping on, let’s all post at least one thing that we’ve lost and one thing that we’ve gained on this journey to health. I’...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - July 19, 2020 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Open Detox Inflammation joint pain wheat belly Source Type: blogs
