Public Health

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Parental depression is associated with worse childhood mental health, educational attainment

Parental depression is associated with worse childhood mental health educational attainment - افسردگی والدین و سلامت ذهنی کودک

Parental depression is a bigger risk factor if it occurs during a child’s lifetime.

Children who live with a parent who has depression are more likely to develop depression and to not achieve educational milestones, according to a new study published this week in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Sinead Brophy of Swansea University, UK, and colleagues.

Maternal depression is a known risk factor for depression in children and is associated with a range of adverse child health and educational outcomes including poorer academic attainment. To date, however, risk factors associated with paternal depression have been less well examined. Understanding the effects of timing of both maternal and paternal depression of offspring outcomes has implications for prevention and early intervention.

Release date: 17 November 2021
Source: EurekAlert

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Air Pollution Does Not Increase the Risk of Getting Infected but Does Increase the Risk of Getting Sick from COVID-19

Air Pollution Does Not Increase the Risk of Getting Infected - آلودگی هوا و کرونا

A series of studies suggest that regions with higher pre-pandemic levels of air pollution had a higher incidence of COVID-19 cases and deaths. However, the reasons for this associations are not yet clear; air pollution could favor airborne transmission of the virus, or it could increase an individual’s susceptibility to infection or disease. “The problem is that previous studies were based on reported cases, which had been diagnosed, but missed all the asymptomatic or undiagnosed cases,” says Manolis Kogevinas, ISGlobal researcher and first author of the study.

The study included 9,605 participants among which there were 481 confirmed cases (5%). In addition, blood samples from over 4,000 participants were taken to determine the presence and quantity of IgM, IgA and IgG antibodies to five viral antigens. Of these, 18% had virus-specific antibodies, but no association was found between infection and exposure to air pollutants. However, among those who were seropositive (i.e. got infected), an association was found between higher exposure to NO2 and PM2.5 and higher levels of IgG specific for the five viral antigens (an indication of higher viral burden and/or symptom severity).

For the total study population (the 9,605 participants), an association was found between higher exposure to NO2 and PM2.5 and disease (symptoms), particularly for severe cases that ended in the hospital or in intensive care. The association with PM2.5 was stronger for men over 60 years of age and people living in socioeconomically deprived areas.

“Our study provides the strongest evidence globally on the association of ambient air pollution and COVID-19,” says Kogevinas. “These results are in line with the association between air pollution and hospitalization described for other respiratory diseases such as influenza or pneumonia”. Air pollution could also contribute by favouring the development of cardiovascular, respiratory or other chronic conditions, which in turn increase the risk of severe COVID-19.

Release date: 17 November 2021
Source: Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal)

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When older couples are close together, their heart rates synchronize

When older couples are close together, their heart rates synchronize - هماهنگی ضربان قلب زوج های سالمند در جوارهم

As couples grow old together, their interdependence heightens. Often, they become each other’s primary source of physical and emotional support. Long-term marriages have a profound impact on health and well-being, but benefits depend on relationship quality.

A new study from the University of Illinois examines the dynamics of long-term relationships through spatial proximity. The researchers find that when partners are close to each other, their heart rates synchronize in complex patterns of interaction.

But just being close to another person isn’t always beneficial; it depends on the nature of the interaction, Ogolsky points out. Closeness in the context of a conflict is very different from closeness in the context of a loving interaction. Similarly, changes in heart rate can be positive or negative.

Participants wore a Fitbit measuring their heart rate. They also wore a small proximity-sensing device. The researchers installed sensors in the home that allowed them to monitor the devices and observe in real time how physically close the spouses were to each other. They could then correlate all three measures – each partner’s heart rate and the couple’s proximity – in real time.

The researchers called the couples in the morning to remind them to put on the Fitbit and tracking device, and again in the evening for a survey about their health and well-being as well as their relationship dynamics throughout the day.

The paper, “Spatial proximity as a behavioral marker of relationship dynamics in older adult couples,” is published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.

Release date: 16 November 2021
Source: University of Illinois

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Regularly drinking tea and coffee associated with a lower risk of stroke and dementia

Regularly drinking tea and coffee associated with a lower risk of stroke and dementia -اثرات مثبت قهوه و چای بر سلامت مغز

Researchers from China and the US found that people who drank two to three cups of tea and coffee a day had a lower risk of stroke and vascular dementia. Findings are published today (Tuesday 16 November) in the journal PLOS Medicine.

What did the scientists do?

This research involved volunteers from an existing large study, the UK Biobank, who were followed up over a period of 10-14 years. In total 365,682 participants, aged between 50 and 74, took part in the research.

Participants self-reported their tea and coffee drinking habits at the beginning of the study. Researchers then recorded the numbers of people who went on to have a stroke (2.8%) or develop Alzheimer’s disease or vascular dementia (1.4%).

What did the scientists find?

People who drank two to three cups of coffee with two to three cups of tea per day had around 30% lower risk of stroke and dementia when compared to those who didn’t consume either. This association was found for people who just drank either tea or coffee, as well as those who drank both.

People who had the lowest risk of developing dementia or stroke either:

  • Had two to three cups of coffee a day.
  • Had three to five cups of tea a day.
  • Had a combination of four to six cups of tea and coffee a day.

Researchers in this study found that drinking tea and coffee was linked to a lower risk of having an ischaemic stroke (caused by a blocked blood vessel) and vascular dementia, rather than a haemorrhagic stroke (caused by a burst blood vessel) or Alzheimer’s disease.

Release date: 16 November 2021
Source: Alzheimer’ s Research

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COVID Patients on SSRI Antidepressants Are Less Likely to Die

COVID Patients on SSRI Antidepressants Are Less Likely to Die - ارتباط مصرف فلوکستین و کاهش مرگ ومیر کرونایی

A large analysis of health records from 87 health care centers across the United States found that people taking a class of antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), particularly fluoxetine, were significantly less likely to die of COVID-19 than a matched control group.

The results add to a body of evidence indicating that SSRIs may have beneficial effects against the worst symptoms of COVID-19, although large randomized clinical trials are needed to prove this.

The UCSF-Stanford research team analyzed electronic health records from the Cerner Real World COVID-19 de-identified database, which had information from almost 500,000 patients across the U.S. This included 83,584 adult patients diagnosed with COVID-19 between January and September 2020. Of those, 3,401 patients were prescribed SSRIs.

The large size of the dataset enabled researchers to compare the outcomes of patients with COVID-19 on SSRIs to a matched set of patients with COVID-19 who were not taking them, thus teasing out the effects of age, sex, race, ethnicity, and comorbidities associated with severe COVID-19, such as diabetes and heart disease, as well as the other medications the patients were taking.

The results showed that patients taking fluoxetine were 28 percent less likely to die; those taking either fluoxetine or another SSRI called fluvoxamine were 26 percent less likely to die; and the entire group of patients taking any kind of SSRI was 8 percent less likely to die than the matched patient controls.

Though the effects are smaller than those found in recent clinical trials of new antivirals developed by Pfizer and Merck, the researchers said more treatment options are still needed to help bring the pandemic to an end. JAMA Network Open

Release date: 15 November 2021
Source: University of California – San Francisco

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New approach provides potential vaccine and treatment for Alzheimer’s

New approach provides potential vaccine and treatment for Alzheimer - واکسنی برای بیماری آلزایمر

A promising new approach to potentially treat Alzheimer’s disease – and also vaccinate against it – has been developed by a team of UK and German scientists.

Both the antibody-based treatment and the protein-based vaccine developed by the team reduced Alzheimer’s symptoms in mouse models of the disease. The research is published today in Molecular Psychiatry.

Rather than focus on the amyloid beta protein in plaques in the brain, which are commonly associated with Alzheimer’s disease, the antibody and vaccine both target a different soluble – form of the protein, that is thought to be highly toxic.

Amyloid beta protein naturally exists as highly flexible, string-like molecules in solution, which can join together to form fibres and plaques. In Alzheimer’s disease, a high proportion of these string-like molecules become shortened or ‘truncated’, and some scientists now think that these forms are key to the development and progression of the disease.

Professor Thomas Bayer, from the University Medical Center Göttingen, said: “In clinical trials, none of the potential treatments which dissolve amyloid plaques in the brain have shown much success in terms of reducing Alzheimer’s symptoms. Some have even shown negative side effects. So, we decided on a different approach. We identified an antibody in mice that would neutralise the truncated forms of soluble amyloid beta, but would not bind either to normal forms of the protein or to the plaques.”

Dr Preeti Bakrania and colleagues from LifeArc adapted this antibody so a human immune system wouldn’t recognise it as foreign and would accept it. When the Leicester research group looked at how and where this ‘humanised’ antibody, called TAP01_04, was binding to the truncated form of amyloid beta, the team had a surprise. They saw the amyloid beta protein was folded back on itself, in a hairpin-shaped structure.

Professor Mark Carr, from the Leicester Institute of Structural and Chemical Biology at the University of Leicester, explained: “This structure had never been seen before in amyloid beta. However, discovering such a definite structure allowed the team to engineer this region of the protein to stabilise the hairpin shape and bind to the antibody in the same way. Our idea was that this engineered form of amyloid beta could potentially be used as a vaccine, to trigger someone’s immune system to make TAP01_04 type antibodies.”

When the team tested the engineered amyloid beta protein in mice, they found that mice who received this ‘vaccine’ did produce TAP01 type antibodies.

The Göttingen group then tested both the ‘humanised’ antibody and the engineered amyloid beta vaccine, called TAPAS, in two different mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease. Based on similar imaging techniques to those used to diagnose Alzheimer’s in humans, they found that both the antibody and the vaccine helped to restore neuron function, increase glucose metabolism in the brain, restore memory loss and – even though they weren’t directly targeted – reduce amyloid beta plaque formation.

Release date: 16 November 2021
Source: University of Leicester

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Anticoagulant has beneficial side-effects for COVID-19 patients

Anticoagulant has beneficial side effects for COVID 19 patients - اثرات ضدکرونایی هپارین با وزن مولکولی کم

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a multifaceted infectious disease. While, at the start of the global pandemic, it was assumed that COVID-19 was primarily a disease of the lungs, it is now known that several functional systems in the human body are affected following infection with the pathogen SARS-CoV-2. One of these functional systems is blood clotting. COVID-19 patients have an increased risk of thromboses and embolisms, such as strokes, pulmonary or myocardial infarctions, and even deep vein thromboses. The use of drugs that inhibit blood clotting has been part of the treatment guidelines for COVID-19 since July 2020. “These complications during hospitalisation have a direct impact on the well-being of patients and increased the risk of dying from COVID-19,” reports David Pereyra from MedUni Vienna’s Department of General Surgery, who is first author of the publication. The underlying coagulopathy is still not fully understood.

COVID-19 triggers unique clotting problems

“The coagulopathy observed in COVID-19 patients is novel and differs in many respects from previously known coagulation problems,” says Alice Assinger, group leader at the Institute of Vascular Biology and Thrombosis Research at the Medical University of Vienna and last author of the publication, “COVID-19-associated coagulopathy displays characteristics that, although partially comparable with other coagulation diseases, cannot be fully explained by them.” Alice Assinger’s group therefore started to look for an explanation for this sub-condition of COVID-19 in the spring of 2020, in an early phase of the pandemic.

In a multi-centre analysis of COVID-19 patients in Vienna, Linz and Innsbruck, the group observed that COVID-19-associated coagulopathy occurs almost exclusively in patients requiring intensive care or in patients who die as a result of COVID-19. Although anticoagulant drugs improve the survival of COVID-19 patients, they show no effect on immunological processes related to blood coagulation (immunothrombosis).

Low-molecular-weight heparin curtails duration of infection

The analyses showed, however, that the period of active SARS-CoV-2 infection is curtailed in patients treated with low-molecular-weight heparin, the most commonly used anticoagulant. “In patients who receive this drug, infection time is an average of four days shorter than in patients who are not treated with low-molecular-weight heparin. We were surprised to see that low-molecular-weight heparin may have a direct effect on coronavirus and its infectivity,” said David Pereyra. Experimental data show that heparin can inhibit the ability of SARS-CoV-2 to bind to cells, thereby preventing them from being infected. Cardiovascular Research

Release date: 12 November 2021
Source: Medical University of Vienna

Study reveals common loud noises cause fluid buildup in the inner ear and suggests simple possible cure for noise-induced hearing loss

Study reveals common loud noises cause fluid buildup in the inner ear and suggests simple possible cure for noise induced hearing loss - صدای بلند و آب آوردن گوش داخلی

Keck Medicine of USC research has implications for detecting and treating hearing loss
Exposure to loud noise, such as a firecracker or an ear-splitting concert, is the most common preventable cause of hearing loss. Research suggests that 12% or more of the world population is at risk for noise-induced loss of hearing.

Loud sounds can cause a loss of auditory nerve cells in the inner ear, which are responsible for sending acoustic information to the brain, resulting in hearing difficulty. However, the mechanism behind this hearing loss is not fully understood.

Now, a new study from Keck Medicine of USC links this type of inner ear nerve damage to a condition known as endolymphatic hydrops, a buildup of fluid in the inner ear, showing that these both occur at noise exposure levels people might encounter in their daily life.

Additionally, researchers found that treating the resulting fluid buildup with a readily available saline solution lessened nerve damage in the inner ear.

“This research provides clues to better understand how and when noise-induced damage to the ears occurs and suggests new ways to detect and prevent hearing loss,” said John Oghalai, MD, an otolaryngologist with Keck Medicine, chair of the USC Caruso Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery and lead author of the study.

A previous study by Oghalai conducted on mice exposed to blast pressure waves simulating a bomb explosion linked nerve damage with fluid buildup in the inner ear.

For this study, Oghalai and colleagues wanted to explore the effect of common loud sounds ranging from 80 to 100 decibels on the ear. After the exposure, they used an imaging technique known as an optical coherence tomography to measure the level of inner ear fluid in the cochlea, the hollow, spiral-shaped bone found in the inner ear.

Up until exposure to 95 decibels of sound, the inner ear fluid level remained normal. However, researchers discovered that after exposure to 100 decibels — which is equivalent to sounds such as a power lawn mower, chain saw or motorcycle — mice developed inner ear fluid buildup within hours. A week after this exposure, the animals were found to have lost auditory nerve cells.

However, when researchers applied hypertonic saline, a salt-based solution used to treat nasal congestions in humans, into affected ears one hour after the noise exposure, both the immediate fluid buildup and the long-term nerve damage lessened, implying that the hearing loss could be at least partially prevented.

These study results have several important implications, according to Oghalai, especially as the loss of nerve cells in the inner ear is known as “hidden hearing loss” because hearing tests are unable to detect the damage.

“First, if human ears exposed to loud noise, such as a siren or airbag deployment, can be scanned for a level of fluid buildup — and this technology is already being tested out — medical professionals may have a way of diagnosing impending nerve damage,” he said. “Secondly, if the scan discovered fluid buildup, people could be treated with hypertonic saline and possibly save their hearing.”

He also believes the study opens a new window into understanding Meniere’s disease, a disorder of the inner ear that causes vertigo, ringing in the ears (tinnitus) and hearing loss.

“Previously, inner ear fluid buildup was thought to be primarily linked to Meniere’s disease. This study indicates that people exposed to loud noises experience similar changes,” he said.

Oghalai hopes this study will lead to further research on the reasons ear fluid buildup occurs, and encourage the development of better treatments for Meniere’s disease.

Release date: 11 November 2021
Source: Keck Medicine of USC

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Anxiety effectively treated with exercise

Anxiety effectively treated with exercise -درمان موثر اضطراب با ورزش

The study, published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, is based on 286 patients with anxiety syndrome, recruited from primary care services in Gothenburg and the northern part of Halland County. Half of the patients had lived with anxiety for at least ten years. Their average age was 39 years, and 70 percent were women.

Through drawing of lots, participants were assigned to group exercise sessions, either moderate or strenuous, for 12 weeks. The results show that their anxiety symptoms were significantly alleviated even when the anxiety was a chronic condition, compared with a control group who received advice on physical activity according to public health recommendations.

Most individuals in the treatment groups went from a baseline level of moderate to high anxiety to a low anxiety level after the 12-week program. For those who exercised at relatively low intensity, the chance of improvement in terms of anxiety symptoms rose by a factor of 3.62. The corresponding factor for those who exercised at higher intensity was 4.88. Participants had no knowledge of the physical training or counseling people outside their own group were receiving.

Importance of strenuous exercise

Previous studies of physical exercise in depression have shown clear symptom improvements. However, a clear picture of how people with anxiety are affected by exercise has been lacking up to now. The present study is described as one of the largest to date.

Both treatment groups had 60-minute training sessions three times a week, under a physical therapist’s guidance. The sessions included both cardio (aerobic) and strength training. A warmup was followed by circle training around 12 stations for 45 minutes, and sessions ended with cooldown and stretching.

Members of the group that exercised at a moderate level were intended to reach some 60 percent of their maximum heart rate — a degree of exertion rated as light or moderate. In the group that trained more intensively, the aim was to attain 75 percent of maximum heart rate, and this degree of exertion was perceived as high.

The levels were regularly validated using the Borg scale, an established rating scale for perceived physical exertion, and confirmed with heart rate monitors.

Release date: 09 November 2021
Source: منبع: University of Gothenburg

Bedtime linked with heart health

Bedtime linked with heart health - بهترین زمان خوابیدن برای سلامت قلب 10 تا 11 شب

Going to sleep between 10:00 and 11:00 pm is associated with a lower risk of developing heart disease compared to earlier or later bedtimes, according to a study published today in European Heart Journal – Digital Health, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC)

“The body has a 24-hour internal clock, called circadian rhythm, that helps regulate physical and mental functioning,” said study author Dr. David Plans of the University of Exeter, UK. “While we cannot conclude causation from our study, the results suggest that early or late bedtimes may be more likely to disrupt the body clock, with adverse consequences for cardiovascular health.”

While numerous analyses have investigated the link between sleep duration and cardiovascular disease, the relationship between sleep timing and heart disease is underexplored. This study examined the association between objectively measured, rather than self-reported, sleep onset in a large sample of adults.

The study included 88,026 individuals in the UK Biobank recruited between 2006 and 2010. The average age was 61 years (range 43 to 79 years) and 58% were women. Data on sleep onset and waking up time were collected over seven days using a wrist-worn accelerometer. Participants completed demographic, lifestyle, health and physical assessments and questionnaires. They were then followed up for a new diagnosis of cardiovascular disease, which was defined as a heart attack, heart failure, chronic ischaemic heart disease, stroke, and transient ischaemic attack.

During an average follow-up of 5.7 years, 3,172 participants (3.6%) developed cardiovascular disease. Incidence was highest in those with sleep times at midnight or later and lowest in those with sleep onset from 10:00 to 10:59 pm.

The researchers analysed the association between sleep onset and cardiovascular events after adjusting for age, sex, sleep duration, sleep irregularity (defined as varied times of going to sleep and waking up), self-reported chronotype (early bird or night owl), smoking status, body mass index, diabetes, blood pressure, blood cholesterol and socioeconomic status.

Compared to sleep onset from 10:00 to 10:59 pm, there was a 25% higher risk of cardiovascular disease with a sleep onset at midnight or later, a 12% greater risk for 11:00 to 11:59 pm, and a 24% raised risk for falling asleep before 10:00 pm. In a further analysis by sex, the association with increased cardiovascular risk was stronger in women, with only sleep onset before 10:00 pm remaining significant for men.

Release date: 09 November 2021
Source: European Society of Cardiology