Body
New Haven CT: A ketogenic diet -- which provides 99% of calories from fat and only 1% from carbohydrates -- produces health benefits in the short term, but negative effects after about a week, Yale researchers found in a study of mice.
The results offer early indications that the keto diet could, over limited time periods, improve human health by lowering diabetes risk and inflammation. They also represent an important first step toward possible clinical trials in humans.
Study participants were evaluated with Human Longevity's multi-modal precision health platform, the Health Nucleus™
The assessment yielded highly actionable findings, most of which were not previously known, resulting in early identification of disease and disease risk in conditions that can lead to pre-mature mortality in adults
Study published in the Journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
PHILADELPHIA (January 27, 2020) - Data show that young adult women in the United States have high rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) that increase their risk of HIV. Though epidemiologic and behavioral factors for risk have been studied, we know very little about brain factors that may be linked to STI/ HIV sexual risk.
Hypophosphatasia (HPP) is a rare congenital metabolic disorder. The frequency of severe courses of disease is estimated at 1:100 000: A deficiency of the enzyme phosphatase results in insufficient mineralization of the bones and thus in severe skeletal malformations. The course of disease varies greatly - the earlier the onset of the disease, the more severe are symptoms and complaints. Affected infants in whom the disease occurs before the age of 6 months often die of it and at a very early age, whereas the symptoms are sometimes less pronounced when the disease occurs later.
Geneticists and heart specialists around the world had previously reported 17 genes to cause long QT syndrome, a little-known inherited heart condition. However, the Clinical Genome Resource's (ClinGen) expert panel has critically reevaluated the scientific evidence for all 17 reported genes, disputing nine of the genes and revealing only three of the genes to be definitively associated with the most common form of the disease.
A new treatment developed by researchers at Aston University and Birmingham Children's Hospital has been found to completely kill a bacterial infection that can be deadly to cystic fibrosis patients and other chronic lung conditions such as bronchiectasis.
A widespread, fast-growing plant called Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is famous in scientific laboratories due to its position as the world's most exhaustively studied algae.
A new study published in Seizure gives insight into the short-term outcome of patients treated for status epilepticus in Kuopio University Hospital in Finland. The researchers found a 9% risk of death and a 32% risk of functional loss at one month after status epilepticus. The patient's risk of death could be predicted relatively reliably already in the emergency room by using status epilepticus-related prognostic tools.
Toxoplasma gondii is best known as the parasite that may lurk in a cat's litter box. Nearly a third of the world's population is believed to live with a chronic Toxoplasma infection. It's of greatest concern, however, to people with suppressed immune systems and to pregnant women, who can pass the infection to their fetuses.
Daily low-dose aspirin, from as early as the sixth week of pregnancy through the 36th week, may lower the risk for preterm birth among first-time mothers, suggests a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. The clinical trial, which involved more than 11,000 women in several low- and middle-income countries, found that women taking daily low-dose aspirin were 11% less likely to deliver before the 37th week of pregnancy, compared to those given a placebo.
The new cluster of viral pneumonia cases originating in Wuhan, China, marks the third time in 20 years that a member of the large family of coronaviruses (CoVs) has jumped from animals to humans and sparked an outbreak. In a new JAMA Viewpoint essay, Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), looks back at two earlier novel CoV outbreaks that initially caused global havoc and describes steps needed to contain the current one.
Philadelphia, January 24, 2020--In a follow-up to the landmark 2011 study that demonstrated prenatal surgery for spina bifida has measurable benefits over surgery after birth for one of the most disabling neural tube defects, researchers have published new findings. These findings show significant physical and emotional benefits a decade later in school-age children who received corrective surgery in the womb for myelomeningocele, the most severe form of spina bifida.
PHILADELPHIA --People with obesity are often treated with less respect than other people, discriminated against, and socially devalued because of their weight. This societal stigma can sometimes be internalized, leading individuals with obesity to blame and devalue themselves because of their weight. While it's known that weight "self-stigma" is associated with poor mental and physical health, little is known about how to help people combat it.
The human immune system uses two pre-programmed strategies to tackle infection. One is fever, a resistance mechanism that tries to eliminate a pathogen by raising the body's temperature. The other works in the opposite direction, cooling the body down in a controlled manner to permit temporary tolerance of the invader while protecting organs and systems. These two mechanisms act as alternatives according to the intensity of the attack and the overall state of the patient's health.
Researchers led by a team at Massachusetts Eye and Ear have identified a novel cellular entry factor for adeno-associated virus vector (AAV) types--the most commonly used viral vectors for in vivo gene therapy. AAVs are vectors-or vehicles--that are created from a virus that is made harmless by molecular engineering, and have shown promise transporting genetic therapy treatments to affected tissues.