New book outlines the five lifestyle pillars to “build a better brain at any age”
Like many people over 60, I sometimes lose my keys or forget the names of favorite films. When I do, it makes me wonder: Is this the beginning of cognitive decline? Or, worse, am I fated to follow in the footsteps of my mother, who died of Lewy-body dementia in her 70s?
According to neurosurgeon Sanjay Gupta, CNN medical correspondent and author of the new book Keep Sharp: Building a Better Brain at Any Age, the answer is no. Forgetfulness is normal at all ages, and your genes don’t doom you to dementia. What’s important is taking care of your brain in the best way possible, he argues.
“You can affect your brain’s ...
Source: SharpBrains - May 14, 2021 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Greater Good Science Center Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Education & Lifelong Learning brain health brain resiliency Brain-Fitness cognitive decline cognitive strengths cognitive-abilities cognitive-capacities cognitive-reserve dementia exercise forgetfulness keep Source Type: blogs
The Freshwater Fish Species of Bigmouth Buffalo Exhibits Negligible Senescence
In this study we examined the potential relationship between age and multiple physiological systems including: stress levels, immune function, and telomere length in individuals ranging in age from 2 to 99 years old in bigmouth buffalo (Ictiobus cyprinellus), the oldest known freshwater teleost fish.
Contrary to expectation, we did not find any evidence for age-related declines in these physiological systems. Instead, older fish appeared to be less stressed and had greater immunity than younger fish, suggesting age-related improvements rather than declines in these systems. There was no significant effect of age on ...
Source: Fight Aging! - May 11, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
5 inflammation-fighting food swaps
Inflammation: if you follow health news, you probably hear about it often. When is inflammation helpful? How can it be harmful? What steps can you take to tone it down?
What is inflammation and how does it affect your body?
If you’re not familiar with the term, inflammation refers to an immune system reaction to an infection or injury. In those instances, inflammation is a beneficial sign that your body is fighting to repair itself by sending in an army of healing white blood cells. As the injury heals or the illness is brought under control, inflammation subsides. You’ve probably seen this happen with a minor ankle sp...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - May 10, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Kelly Bilodeau Tags: Arthritis Autoimmune diseases Health Heart Health Nutrition Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, May 10th 2021
This study suggests that some of those changes contribute to age-related hypertension, providing yet another reason to put resources into the near term development of therapies that can reverse the aging of the gut microbiome, such as flagellin vaccination or fecal microbiota transplantation.
"Previous studies from our lab have shown that the composition of the gut microbiota in animal models of hypertension, such as the SHRSP (spontaneously hypertensive stroke-prone) rat model, is different from that in animals with normal blood pressure. Further, transplanting dysbiotic gut microbiota from a hypertensive animal ...
Source: Fight Aging! - May 9, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
The New Deal and Recovery, Part 14: Fear Itself (Conclusion)
Conclusion)_____________________[1] See,inter alia,Pindyck (1991),Dixit and Pindyck (1994),Bachmann and Bayer (2013), andStokey (2016).[2] One wonders, for starters, about the index ’s failure to allow for approximate synonyms for “uncertainty” and “uncertain,” such as “fear,” “fearful,” “afraid,” and “worried,” as well as phrases like “low business confidence.”[3] The Harrison and Weder model also predicts a less severe decline in consumption than actually took place.[4] In his figure, Mathy transposes the dates of the Anschluss and Munich Agreement.[Cross ‐posted from Alt-M.o...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - May 5, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: George Selgin Source Type: blogs
Reviewing the Role of GDF11 in Aging
In heterochronic parabiosis, the circulatory systems of an old and young animal are connected. The young animal exhibits some aspects of accelerated aging, while the old animal exhibits some degree of rejuvenation. Early investigations focused on the supply of factors in young blood to the old animal as the causative mechanism, and GDF11 was one of the first such factors identified for further research and development. There has been some controversy over the published works on this topic, however, stemming initially from technical issues involved in working with GDF11, then later from investigations that point to dilution...
Source: Fight Aging! - May 4, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Gone Fishing: Teaching Bioinformatics With Skate DNA
As computers have advanced over the past few decades, researchers have been able to work with larger and more complex datasets than ever before. The science of using computers to investigate biological data is called bioinformatics, and it’s helping scientists make important discoveries, such as finding versions of genes that affect a person’s risk for developing various types of cancer. Many scientists believe that almost all biologists will use bioinformatics to some degree in the future.
Bioinformatics software was used to create this representation of a biological network. Credit: Benjamin King, University of Ma...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - April 28, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Being a Scientist Genes Bioinformatics Cool Creatures DNA Genomics Training Source Type: blogs
Diet, disease, and the microbiome
There is growing interest in the human body’s microbiome and its connection to chronic disease. A new study examines that connection, along with how the foods we eat influence the composition of our microbiome.
Microbiome protects host and plays role in disease risk
The microbiome consists of the genes of tiny organisms (bacteria, viruses, and other microbes) found in the gastrointestinal tract, primarily in the small and large intestine. The normal gut flora — another term for the microbiome — protects its human host. For the microbiome to flourish, the right balance must exist, with the healthy species dominating t...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - April 21, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Sue-Ellen Anderson-Haynes, MS, RDN, CDCES, LDN, NASM-CPT Tags: Healthy Eating Heart Health Probiotics Source Type: blogs
Latin mottos translated
A puerile joke I’ve been making since schooldays when our motto was carpe diem is that it actually means “seize the fish”. Of course, it actually means “fish of the day” (see Garden, G. ISAHUC) and in a similar educational vein, a few more:
In loco parentis – Mum and Dad are coming by train after lockdown
Audio hostem – It’s my house, I get to choose what records to put on
Quid pro quo – The Italian branch of Poundland, just behind the Colloseum Bingo hall
Caveat emptor – we’ve run out of Spanish bubbly again
Status Quo – the same thing over and over a...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - March 25, 2021 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Sciencebase Source Type: blogs
Omega-3 fatty acids and the heart: New evidence, more questions
This study enrolled over 8,000 patients with elevated cardiovascular risk and high blood triglyceride levels. They assigned half of the study participants to receive 2 grams of Vascepa twice a day, and assigned the other participants a placebo (a pill filled with mineral oil). The results showed a significant benefit of Vascepa over the placebo. Vascepa reduced blood triglyceride levels, but more importantly, it reduced the number of heart attacks and strokes, the need for a heart stenting procedure to open clogged arteries, and death.
A subsequent meta-analysis, which included data from over 10 studies, found fish oil ome...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - March 24, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Alyson Kelley-Hedgepeth, MD Tags: Drugs and Supplements Heart Health Vitamins and supplements Source Type: blogs
Icosapent Ethyl - More than Just a Fish Tale?
Gregory Curfman, Emile Shehada (Yale University), Icosapent Ethyl - More than Just a Fish Tale?, SSRN: Icosapent ethyl (Vascepa ®) is a purified preparation of the omega-3 fatty acid eicosapentaenoic acid, which is marketed by Amarin Pharma. The product was initially... (Source: HealthLawProf Blog)
Source: HealthLawProf Blog - March 21, 2021 Category: Medical Law Authors: Katharine Van Tassel Source Type: blogs
Physician suicide: We need safe spaces to talk about it
Three years ago, I met Dr. Boyce Fish*, the ER physician revived after suicide. I also met Rachel Dawson, wife of Dr. Chris Dawson who killed himself and his two children. We all sat in red ballroom chairs in a room with nothing in it, but it felt full. All the lights were dim, and […]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 - March 16, 2021 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/ton-la-jr" rel="tag" > Ton La, Jr., JD < /a > < /span > Tags: Education Psychiatry Source Type: blogs
Could what we eat improve our sleep?
We think of eating a nutritious diet and exercising as healthy behaviors, but sleep is one of the pillars of a healthy lifestyle. Why is this? Sleep sets the stage for our days. If we experience sound sleep for seven to eight hours, we arise energized in the morning. Diet, exercise, and sleep work synergistically, and affect one another. All three can have an effect on our daily well-being and longevity.
To be well and vital and help prevent certain diseases, like obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, and many other conditions, we need to prioritize sleep. When we make sleep a priority, we can impr...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - March 9, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Elizabeth Pegg Frates, MD Tags: Diet and Weight Loss Healthy Eating Mental Health Prevention Sleep Source Type: blogs
Opinions
Continuing my occasional series on constructive discourse and logical fallacies, consider the word " opinion. " As I noted last time, words generally have a range of meanings. In scientific writing, a word may be given a very specific, narrow definition, but if the same word also exists in the vernacular, it may be commonly used more broadly. That isn ' t a mistake, it ' s just that the meaning of a word can be dependent on context, and on the style of writing or discourse. It is a mistake if the broader, common meaning is used to read back the scientific discourse, or if the narrow technical meaning is used to criticize n...
Source: Stayin' Alive - March 7, 2021 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
Heavy metals in baby food? What parents should know and do
If there is anything you can trust to be safe, it should be baby food, right?
Well… maybe not.
A report from the US House Committee on Oversight and Reform says that commercial baby foods are tainted with dangerous levels of arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury.
Which baby food companies are involved?
The report was based on information from just four companies that make baby food: Nurture, Beech-Nut, Hain, and Gerber. Arsenic, lead, and cadmium were found in baby foods from all of the companies; mercury was found in the food from the only company that tested for it (Nurture).
Of note, three other companies (Walmart, Spro...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - March 5, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Claire McCarthy, MD Tags: Children's Health Healthy Eating Nutrition Parenting Source Type: blogs
