Musculoskeletal diseases Archives - Page 2 of 4 - Dr Amin Azhari

Icing muscle injuries may delay recovery

A study using a mouse model of eccentric contraction has revealed that icing injured muscles delays muscle regeneration. In addition, the researchers illuminated that this phenomenon may be related to pro-inflammatory macrophages ability to infiltrate damaged cells. This research raises questions as to whether or not severe muscle injuries (such as torn muscles) should be iced.

The research results revealed that applying an ice pack to a severe muscle injury resulting from eccentric contraction may prolong the time it takes to heal.
The cause of this phenomenon is that icing delays the arrival of pro-inflammatory macrophages, which are responsible for the phagocytosis, or removal, of damaged tissue. Furthermore, this makes difficult for the macrophages to sufficiently infiltrate the damaged muscle cells.

These research results were published online as one of the Journal of Applied Physiology.

Release date: 18 May 2021
Source: Kobe University

Thin and brittle bones strongly linked to women’s heart disease risk

Thinning lower spine, top of thigh bone and hip predictive of raised heart attack/stroke risk

Thin and brittle bones are strongly linked to women’s heart disease risk, with thinning of the lower (lumbar) spine, top of the thigh bone (femoral neck), and hip especially predictive of a heightened heart attack and stroke risk, suggests research in the journal Heart.

Osteoporosis, often dubbed brittle bone disease, is common, particularly among women after the menopause. It is characterised by thinning and weakened bones and a heightened fracture risk.

Release date: 06 May 2021
Source: BMJ

Neurologic disorders

ALS neuron damage reversed with new compound

Scientists identify first compound to repair degenerating brain cells in paralyzing disease

New compound targets neurons that initiate voluntary movement
After 60 days of treatment, diseased brain cells look like healthy cells
More research needed before clinical trial can be initiated

CHICAGO and EVANSTON— Northwestern University scientists have identified the first compound that eliminates the ongoing degeneration of upper motor neurons that become diseased and are a key contributor to ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), a swift and fatal neurodegenerative disease that paralyzes its victims.

In addition to ALS, upper motor neuron degeneration also results in other motor neuron diseases, such as hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) and primary lateral sclerosis (PLS).

In ALS, movement-initiating nerve cells in the brain (upper motor neurons) and muscle-controlling nerve cells in the spinal cord (lower motor neurons) die. The disease results in rapidly progressing paralysis and death.

So far, there has been no drug or treatment for the brain component of ALS, and no drug for HSP and PLS patients.

The study published in Clinical and Translational Medicine.

Release date: 22 February 2021
Source: Northwestern University

Geriatrics, Geriatrics

Stronger bones thanks to heat and microbiota

Osteoporosis, a bone disease linked to ageing, is characterised by a loss of bone density, micro-architectural deterioration of the bones and an increased risk of fractures. With one third of postmenopausal women affected, it is a major public health problem. Through epidemiological analyses, laboratory experiments and state-of-the-art metagenomic and metabolomics tools, a research team has observed that exposure to warmer ambient temperatures (34 °C) increases bone strength, while preventing the loss of bone density typical of osteoporosis. Moreover, this phenomenon, linked to a change in the composition of gut microbiota triggered by heat, could be replicated by transplanting the microbiota of mice living in a warm environment to mice suffering from osteoporosis. Indeed, after the transplant, their bones were stronger and denser. These results, to be discovered in Cell Metabolism, make it possible to imagine effective and innovative interventions for prevention and treatment of osteoporosis.

Release date: 10 September 2020

Source: Université de Genève

Mediterranean diet and risk of rheumatoid arthritis

The Mediterranean diet (MD) has been reported to be associated with significant reduction of non‐communicable diseases. They aimed to assess the relationship between adherence to the MD and the risk of rheumatoid arthritis, especially in high‐risk individuals.

Their results suggest that adherence to the MD could reduce the high risk of RA among ever‐smoking women.

Release date: 9 September 2020

Source: Wiley

Scientists identify promising new ALS drug candidates

Scientists have taken a significant step forward in the search to find effective new drug candidates for the treatment of motor neurone disease.

Researchers from the Universities of Liverpool (UK) and Nagoya (Japan) have shown that a Selenium-based drug-molecule called ebselen and a number of other novel compounds developed at Liverpool can change many of the toxic characteristics of a protein, superoxide dismutase (SOD1), which causes some cases of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neurone disease.

The study is published in the journal EBioMedicine.

Release date: 1 September 2020

Source: University of Liverpool

Public Health, Public Health, Public Health, Public Health, Public Health, Public Health, Public Health

New Approach to Treating Osteoarthritis Advances

Injections of a natural “energy” molecule prompted regrowth of almost half of the cartilage lost with aging in knees, a new study in rodents shows.

The study results revolve around the long-established idea that machines within animal and human cells turn the sugars, fats, and proteins we eat into energy used by the body’s millions of cells. The molecule most used to store that energy is called adenosine triphosphate, or ATP. Along with this central role in metabolism, adenosine also helps signal other cells and serves as a building block of genetic material, and so is central to the growth of human tissue.

Previous research had shown that maintaining supplies of adenosine, known to nourish the chondrocyte cells that make cartilage, also prevented osteoarthritis in similar animal models of the disease.

Published online in the journal Scientific Reports on August 10, the study rodents received 8 weekly injections of adenosine, which prompted regrowth rates of cartilage tissue between 50 percent and 35 percent as measured by standard laboratory scores.

Release date: 10 August 2020

Source: NYU Langone Health / NYU School of Medicine

Experimental drug shows early promise against inherited form of ALS

Phase 1/phase 2 trial shows evidence for safety, biological activity of tofersen; phase 3 trial underway.

An experimental drug for a rare, inherited form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has shown promise in a phase 1/phase 2 clinical trial conducted at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and other sites around the world and sponsored by the pharmaceutical company Biogen Inc. The trial indicated that the experimental drug, known as tofersen, shows evidence of safety that warrants further investigation and lowers levels of a disease-causing protein in people with a type of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, caused by mutations in the gene SOD1.

The results of the study, published July 9 in The New England Journal of Medicine, have led to the launch of a phase 3 clinical trial to further evaluate the safety and efficacy of tofersen.

Release date: 08 July 2020

Source: Washington University School of Medicine

Neurologic disorders

New drug for DMD

vamorolone New drug for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) - وامورولون داروی جدید دیستروفی عضلانی

New experimental drug, vamorolone, can reduce chronic inflammation as well as risk of heart failure in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Scientists affiliated with Children’s National Health System show.

Geriatrics

Back Pain & Death!

Back Pain and Death - کمردرد مزمن و مرگ و میر

Researchers at Boston Medical Center identified that older women with frequent, persistent back pain face an increased risk of earlier death.