Nutritional supplements taken to boost athletic performance can pose risks to the heart, according to a European Association of Preventive Cardiology statement published today in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, a journal of the ESC.1
“Nutritional supplements are commonly viewed as risk-free substances that may improve performance,” states the paper. “Some nutritional supplements, including various plant and ‘natural’ extracts, may pose a serious health risk and athletes may even risk contravening anti-doping rules.”
“Athletes who use supplements often have no knowledge regarding their effects on sports performance and overall health,” continues the document. “It is reported that most athletes get nutritional advice from coaches, fellow athletes, family members and friends, suggesting that more wide reaching educational interventions, at an early age, are necessary.”
Key points for athletes using nutritional supplements:
- A natural supplement is not necessarily a safe supplement.
- Use products by established manufacturers with known good quality standards.
- Athletes are personally responsible for any substances they consume.
- Ignorance is not accepted as an excuse in relation to a positive doping test.
The position paper outlines the cardiovascular effects during sports of doping substances, prescribed and over-the-counter medicines, legal performance-enhancing supplements, and experimental drugs.
Doping refers to the use of a substance or method which is potentially dangerous to athletes’ health or capable of enhancing their performance. To take one example, death among athletes doping with
anabolic androgenic steroids is estimated to be 6–20 times higher than in clean athletes, and around 30% of these deaths can be attributed to cardiovascular causes.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) maintains a list of prohibited drugs, but nutritional substances are not included since many are unregulated and unlicensed. The use of legal supplements by athletes varies between 40% and 100% depending on the sport and level of competition. Intended to enhance performance and give a competitive edge, legal supplements include caffeine, creatine, energy drinks/gels/bars, beetroot juice, and proteins.
“Caffeine is a prime example of a natural substance that is considered safe,” said first author Dr. Paolo Emilio Adami of World Athletics, the global governing body for track and field. “While caffeine improves performance, particularly aerobic capacity in endurance athletes, its abuse may lead to fast heart rate (tachycardia), heart rhythm disorders (arrhythmias), high blood pressure, and in some cases sudden cardiac death.”
Release date: 27 January 2022
Source: European Society of Cardiology
COVID-19 Vaccines Don’t Cause Infertility or Harm Pregnancy Chances
Having a COVID-19 vaccine doesn’t impact a couple’s chances of becoming pregnant—but skipping the shots and landing a coronavirus infection might reduce male fertility.
Those are the findings in a paper published in the American Journal of Epidemiology by researchers at the Boston University School of Public Health. In a study of couples trying to conceive, they found no association between COVID-19 vaccination and the likelihood of conception in female or male partners who received the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
While COVID-19 infection was not strongly associated with fertility, men who tested positive for COVID within 60 days of a given cycle had reduced fertility compared to men who never tested positive, or men who tested positive at least 60 days prior.
Release date: 20 January 2022
Source: Boston University School of Medicine
Robot performs first laparoscopic surgery without human help
In four experiments on pig tissues, the robot excelled at suturing two ends of intestine—one of the most intricate and delicate tasks in abdominal surgery.
A robot has performed laparoscopic surgery on the soft tissue of a pig without the guiding hand of a human—a significant step toward fully automated surgery on humans. Designed by a team of Johns Hopkins University researchers, the Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot, or STAR, is described today in Science Robotics.
The robot excelled at intestinal anastomosis, a procedure that requires a high level of repetitive motion and precision. Connecting two ends of an intestine is arguably the most challenging step in gastrointestinal surgery, requiring a surgeon to suture with high accuracy and consistency. Even the slightest hand tremor or misplaced stitch can result in a leak that could have catastrophic complications for the patient.
new features for enhanced autonomy and improved surgical precision, including specialized suturing tools and state-of-the art imaging systems that provide more accurate visualizations of the surgical field.
Soft-tissue surgery is especially hard for robots because of its unpredictability, forcing them to be able to adapt quickly to handle unexpected obstacles, Krieger said. The STAR has a novel control system that can adjust the surgical plan in real time, just as a human surgeon would.
Release date: 26 January 2022
Source: Johns Hopkins University
Athletes warned against potential dangers of natural supplements
Nutritional supplements taken to boost athletic performance can pose risks to the heart, according to a European Association of Preventive Cardiology statement published today in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, a journal of the ESC.1
“Nutritional supplements are commonly viewed as risk-free substances that may improve performance,” states the paper. “Some nutritional supplements, including various plant and ‘natural’ extracts, may pose a serious health risk and athletes may even risk contravening anti-doping rules.”
“Athletes who use supplements often have no knowledge regarding their effects on sports performance and overall health,” continues the document. “It is reported that most athletes get nutritional advice from coaches, fellow athletes, family members and friends, suggesting that more wide reaching educational interventions, at an early age, are necessary.”
Key points for athletes using nutritional supplements:
The position paper outlines the cardiovascular effects during sports of doping substances, prescribed and over-the-counter medicines, legal performance-enhancing supplements, and experimental drugs.
Doping refers to the use of a substance or method which is potentially dangerous to athletes’ health or capable of enhancing their performance. To take one example, death among athletes doping with
anabolic androgenic steroids is estimated to be 6–20 times higher than in clean athletes, and around 30% of these deaths can be attributed to cardiovascular causes.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) maintains a list of prohibited drugs, but nutritional substances are not included since many are unregulated and unlicensed. The use of legal supplements by athletes varies between 40% and 100% depending on the sport and level of competition. Intended to enhance performance and give a competitive edge, legal supplements include caffeine, creatine, energy drinks/gels/bars, beetroot juice, and proteins.
“Caffeine is a prime example of a natural substance that is considered safe,” said first author Dr. Paolo Emilio Adami of World Athletics, the global governing body for track and field. “While caffeine improves performance, particularly aerobic capacity in endurance athletes, its abuse may lead to fast heart rate (tachycardia), heart rhythm disorders (arrhythmias), high blood pressure, and in some cases sudden cardiac death.”
Release date: 27 January 2022
Source: European Society of Cardiology
TV watching linked with potentially fatal blood clots
Environmental and Occupational Aspects of Heart DiseaseRisk Factors and Prevention
Sophia Antipolis, 20 January 2022: Take breaks when binge-watching TV to avoid blood clots, say scientists. The warning comes as a study reports that watching TV for four hours a day or more is associated with a 35% higher risk of blood clots compared with less than 2.5 hours. The research is published today in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.
The study examined the association between TV viewing and venous thromboembolism (VTE). VTE includes pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lungs) and deep vein thrombosis (blood clot in a deep vein, usually the legs, which can travel to the lungs and cause pulmonary embolism).
To conduct the study, the researchers conducted a systematic review to collect the available published evidence on the topic and then combined the results using a process called meta-analysis. “Combining multiple studies in a meta-analysis provides a larger sample and makes the results more precise and reliable than the findings of an individual study,” explained Dr. Kunutsor.
The analysis included three studies with a total of 131,421 participants aged 40 years and older without pre-existing VTE. The amount of time spent watching TV was assessed by questionnaire and participants were categorised as prolonged viewers (watching TV at least four hours per day) and never/seldom viewers (watching TV less than 2.5 hours per day).
The average duration of follow-up in the three studies ranged from 5.1 to 19.8 years. During this period, 964 participants developed VTE. The researchers analysed the relative risk of developing VTE in prolonged versus never/seldom TV watchers. They found that prolonged viewers were 1.35 times more likely to develop VTE compared to never/seldom viewers.
Release date: 20 January 2022
Source: European Society of Cardiology
One in ten people may still be infectious for COVID after ten days
One in 10 people may have clinically relevant levels of potentially infectious SARS-CoV-2 past the 10 day quarantine period, according to new research.
The study, led by the University of Exeter and funded by Animal Free Research UK, used a newly adapted test which can detect whether the virus was potentially still active. It was applied to samples from 176 people in Exeter who had tested positive on standard PCR tests.
The study, published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases found that 13 per cent of people still exhibited clinically-relevant levels of virus after 10 days, meaning they could potentially still be infectious. Some people retained these levels for up to 68 days. The authors believe this new test should be applied in settings where people are vulnerable, to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Professor Lorna Harries, of the University of Exeter Medical School, oversaw the study. She said: “While this is a relatively small study, our results suggest that potentially active virus may sometimes persist beyond a 10 day period, and could pose a potential risk of onward transmission. Furthermore, there was nothing clinically remarkable about these people, which means we wouldn’t be able to predict who they are”.
Conventional PCR tests work by testing for the presence of viral fragments. While they can tell if someone has recently had the virus, they cannot detect whether it is still active, and the person is infectious. The test used in the latest study however gives a positive result only when the virus is active and potentially capable of onward transmission.
Release date: 14 January 2022
Source: University of Exeter
Pregnancy-related sleep changes linked to depression and anxiety
Changes in sleep patterns during late pregnancy and shortly afterwards are closely related to severe depression and anxiety, a new McMaster-led study finds.
Senior author Benicio Frey said an estimated 15 to 18 per cent of mothers experience anxiety, and another 7 to 13 per cent have depression during the peripartum period.
As well, nearly 10 per cent of new mothers experience clinical levels of comorbid anxiety and depression during this time.
Researchers identified several variables linked to depression and anxiety, including changes in the strength of the circadian rhythms, the average amount of activity during night-time rest and fragmented sleep. All three were strongly linked to higher depressive and anxiety symptoms.
Researchers recruited 100 women, 73 of whom they followed from the start of the third trimester to three months postpartum. They analyzed subjective and objective measures of sleep, biological rhythms, melatonin levels, and light exposure using a variety of tools, including questionnaires, actigraphs (wearable sleep monitors), laboratory assays, and other methods.
For example, higher fragmentation of nighttime rest was linked to a decrease in depressive symptoms at six to 12 weeks postpartum, a period that tends to coincide with a higher risk of developing postpartum depression, which suggests that mothers with fewer symptoms of depression were more responsive to the overnight baby’s needs.
The comprehensive findings were published in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. The study was the largest to date investigating sleep and biological rhythms during the peripartum period.
Release date: 18 January 2022
Source: McMaster University
Maternal COVID-19 Infection Increases Risks of Preterm Birth, Low Birth Weight and Stillbirth
People who contracted COVID-19 while pregnant were more likely to have poor birth outcomes including preterm birth, small for gestational age, low birth weight, and stillbirth. The poor outcomes of preterm birth and stillbirth were observed primarily with those infected with SARS-CoV-2 during the first or second trimester, whereas increased rates of small for gestational age were driven largely by third trimester infection.
An Institute for Systems Biology-led study examined the electronic health records of more than 18,000 people with SARS-CoV-2 tests during pregnancy. Researchers compared outcomes of unvaccinated people with a positive test during pregnancy – 882 in total – to those who tested negative.
The people in the study had mild or moderate SARS-CoV-2 infections. Severity of maternal COVID-19 infection was not correlated with gestational age at delivery. Additionally, poor birth outcomes were present even if maternal COVID-19 didn’t result in severe respiratory problems during infection.
The findings were published in the journal The Lancet Digital Health and are among the first that account for the trimester of SARS-CoV-2 infection on birth outcomes.
Release date: 13 January 2022
Source: Institute for Systems Biology
Epstein-Barr virus may be leading cause of multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis (MS), a progressive disease that affects 2.8 million people worldwide and for which there is no definitive cure, is likely caused by infection with the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), according to a study led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health researchers.
Their findings were published online in Science.
“The hypothesis that EBV causes MS has been investigated by our group and others for several years, but this is the first study providing compelling evidence of causality,” said Alberto Ascherio, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard Chan School and senior author of the study. “This is a big step because it suggests that most MS cases could be prevented by stopping EBV infection, and that targeting EBV could lead to the discovery of a cure for MS.”
MS is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system that attacks the myelin sheaths protecting neurons in the brain and spinal cord. Its cause is not known, yet one of the top suspects is EBV, a herpes virus that can cause infectious mononucleosis and establishes a latent, lifelong infection of the host. Establishing a causal relationship between the virus and the disease has been difficult because EBV infects approximately 95% of adults, MS is a relatively rare disease, and the onset of MS symptoms begins about 10 years after EBV infection. To determine the connection between EBV and MS, the researchers conducted a study among more than 10 million young adults on active duty in the U.S. military and identified 955 who were diagnosed with MS during their period of service.
Release date: 13 January 2022
Source: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
The artificial pancreas can help protect very young children with Type 1 Diabetes
Members of the Hovorka Group teamed with an international team of researchers have compared the performance, in children, of the artificial pancreas against ‘sensor-augmented pump therapy’. The artificial pancreas uses an algorithm run by a mobile phone app (CamAPS FX) to automate delivery of insulin according to need. They found that it is both safe to use and more effective at managing their blood sugar levels than current technology. The research is published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
CamAPS FX has been shown to work in older children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Today’s study is the first time that it has been shown to be effective over several months in very young children. Management of type 1 diabetes is challenging in very young children for several reasons including high variability in levels of insulin required and unpredictable eating and activity patterns. Children are particularly at risk of dangerously low and high blood sugar levels, which can lead to adverse outcomes.
Current technology – sensor-augmented pump therapy – requires parents to review their child’s glucose levels using a monitor and then manually adjust the amount of insulin administered by the pump. These devices have proved successful to an extent in older children, but not in very young children.
On average, children spent around three-quarters of their day (71.6%) in the target range for their glucose levels when using CamAPS FX – an additional 125 minutes per day in the target range compared to those using the currently available approach.
Release date: 20 January 2021
Source: University of Cambridge
Breastfeeding reduces mothers’ cardiovascular disease risk
Women who breastfed were less likely to develop heart disease or a stroke, or die from cardiovascular disease than women who did not breastfeed, according to a meta-analysis published today in a pregnancy spotlight issue of the Journal of the American Heart Association (JAHA), an open access, peer-reviewed Journal of the American Heart Association.
The health benefits of breastfeeding for children are well known. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is linked with fewer respiratory infections and lower risk of death from infectious diseases among the children who were breastfed. Breastfeeding also has been linked to maternal health benefits, including lower risk for Type 2 diabetes, ovarian cancer and breast cancer.
Release date: 11 January 2021
Source: American Heart Association