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Category: health

How natural daylight can help people with diabetes improve blood sugar levels

People with type 2 diabetes may be able to improve their blood sugar by doing something as simple as sitting by a window for a few hours each day. In a study published in Cell Metabolism, scientists showed that natural daylight helps maintain healthy glucose levels.

Daylight is known to be a mood enhancer and also beneficial for our health. However, according to the research team, most people living in Western societies typically stay indoors around 80% to 90% of the time under artificial light, which is not as bright or dynamic as sunlight. This is important because the human body operates on circadian rhythms, internal 24-hour clocks that orchestrate a range of biological processes, such as digestion and temperature regulation. These are synchronized by light, and a lack of natural light is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes.

Previous studies have shown that artificial light at night disrupts these rhythms and that daylight outdoors can improve the body’s response to insulin, which helps control blood sugar levels. But no prior research examined how natural light entering a window affects people with diabetes.

Could cheese protect your brain health? Study links high-fat cheese and cream to lower dementia risk

Eating more high-fat cheese and high-fat cream may be linked to a lower risk of developing dementia, according to a new study published in Neurology. This study does not prove that eating high-fat cheese and high-fat cream lowers the risk of dementia, it only shows an association.

High-fat cheeses contain more than 20% fat and include varieties such as cheddar, Brie and Gouda. High-fat creams typically contain 30–40% fat and include whipping cream, double cream and clotted cream. These are commonly labeled as “full-fat” or “regular” versions in stores.

“For decades, the debate over high-fat versus low-fat diets has shaped health advice, sometimes even categorizing cheese as an unhealthy food to limit,” said Emily Sonestedt, Ph.D., of Lund University, Sweden.

Robot-Assisted Exercise May Improve Mobility in Advanced Heart Failure

Adults with chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) who wore a lightweight exosuit during exercise showed significant improvements in the 6-minute walk distance and daily step counts, which were not statistically significant in those who received nonassisted conventional exercise training.

Robot-assisted training with a lightweight exosuit may help patients with advanced heart failure walk more and help them stay engaged in rehabilitation, a study finds.

Pressing pause: A small genetic stop may have helped complex life evolve

Humans have it. So does Drosophila. But not yeast. That “it” is a small pause at the start of gene activity—a brief molecular halt that may have helped life evolve from simple cells to complex animals.

A new study by Charles Danko, associate professor in life science and technology at Cornell’s Baker Institute for Animal Health and in the Department of Biomedical Sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine, and colleagues explores how this key step in gene regulation—promoter-proximal pausing—evolved across species.

Promoter-proximal pausing occurs just after a cell’s molecular “copy machine”– RNA polymerase II—is activated. The polymerase temporarily stops, usually after about 20 to 60 nucleotides or “letters” of the gene, waiting for further signals.

Online psychoeducation underperforms existing digital cognitive behavioral therapy in trial

Big Health Inc, along with paid academic investigators, reports higher remission rates and lower anxiety symptom scores with their smartphone-delivered digital cognitive behavioral therapy, DaylightRx, compared with an online psychoeducation, also created by Big Health Inc.

Generalized anxiety disorder involves excessive, persistent, and uncontrollable anxiety with lifetime prevalence reported as 6%, alongside reduced quality of life, impaired social and occupational functioning, and increased health care utilization.

Cognitive behavioral therapy and pharmacotherapy are considered first-line treatments. Despite strong tolerability, efficacy, and cost-effectiveness, access remains limited due to a shortage of trained therapists, time burdens, and stigma.

Women are better at recognizing illness in faces compared to men, study finds

Most people have either been told that they don’t look well when they were sick, or thought that someone else looked ill at some point in their lives. People often use nonverbal facial cues, such as drooping eyelids and pale lips, to detect illness in others, potentially to prevent infection in themselves. A new study, published in Evolution and Human Behavior, finds that women are more sensitive to these subtle cues than men.

In past studies, participants have been asked to rate signs of illness in the faces of others, but some of these studies used manipulated photos or people who had artificially induced sicknesses in the photos. In the new study, the team wanted to see whether naturally sick individuals would be rated as sick-looking, or as having an expression of “lassitude,” by other individuals and whether the recognition differed by sex.

To do this, the team recruited 280 undergraduate students, of which 140 were male and 140 were female, to rate 24 photos. The photos consisted of 12 different faces in times of sickness and health.

Why some brains switch gears more efficiently than others

The human brain is constantly processing information that unfolds at different speeds—from split-second reactions to sudden environmental changes to slower, more reflective processes such as understanding context or meaning.

A new study from Rutgers Health, published in Nature Communications, sheds light on how the brain integrates these fast and slow signals across its complex web of white matter connectivity pathways to support cognition and behavior.

Different regions of the brain are specialized for processing information over specific time windows, a property known as intrinsic neural timescales, or INTs for short.

Five ways microplastics may harm your brain

Microplastics could be fueling neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, with a new study highlighting five ways microplastics can trigger inflammation and damage in the brain.

More than 57 million people live with dementia, and cases of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are projected to rise sharply. The possibility that microplastics could aggravate or accelerate these brain diseases is a major public health concern.

Pharmaceutical scientist Associate Professor Kamal Dua, from the University of Technology Sydney, said it is estimated that adults are consuming 250 grams of microplastics every year—enough to cover a dinner plate.

Thrombolysis With Tenecteplase for Minor Disabling Stroke: Secondary Analysis of the TEMPO-2 Randomized Clinical Trial

A secondary analysis of the TEMPO-2 RCT found no significant improvement in outcomes for minor ischemic stroke patients treated with intravenous tenecteplase, regardless of the presence of disabling deficits.

Question Did outcomes following intravenous tenecteplase for minor ischemic stroke vary based on the presence of disabling deficits?

Findings In this secondary analysis of the TEMPO-2 randomized clinical trial including 884 patients with minor ischemic stroke and proven intracranial occlusion, both patients with and without disabling deficits defined according to US National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS)–based criteria showed a neutral treatment effect from intravenous tenecteplase, with no significant effect modification.

Meaning Current definitions of disabling stroke did not modify the neutral treatment effect of intravenous tenecteplase in patients with minor stroke and intracranial occlusion.

Molecular basis of DNA cross-linking by bacteria

The relevance of the gut microbiome, the community of microorganisms living in the digestive tract, to human health is a topic of intense interest. However, among the numerous benevolent bacteria living in the gut, there are some species that are harmful to humans.

For example, certain strains of Escherichia coli produce the genotoxin colibactin, which causes DNA damage and is linked with colon cancer. However, the colibactin molecule is complex and unstable, which has made it challenging to elucidate its chemical structure and the mechanism by which it damages DNA. In the culmination of years of research from multiple laboratories, researchers in a new Science study reveal the structure of the active form of colibactin bound to DNA.

The findings go a long way toward explaining the mutation signatures associated with colibactin exposure and provide substantial insight into how colibactin contributes to colorectal carcinogenesis.

Learn more in a new Science Perspective.

The structure of the bacterial genotoxin colibactin bound to DNA shows how it might contribute to cancer risk.

Orlando D. Schärer Authors Info & Affiliations

Continue reading “Molecular basis of DNA cross-linking by bacteria” | >

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