tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40552304997355453252024-03-13T07:19:55.050+00:00WEBLOG DO FRAGADaily News in Health and AgingWEBLOG DO FRAGAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00063090574397283954noreply@blogger.comBlogger8383125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4055230499735545325.post-30445570789823181952024-01-29T14:05:00.005+00:002024-01-29T14:05:43.095+00:00<p> </p><h1 class="text-extra-large line-low my-2" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 2.1875rem; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0.5rem !important; margin-top: 0.5rem !important;"><i><span style="color: red;">Researcher finds help for Alzheimer's-associated agitation with new FDA-approved treatment</span></i></h1><p class="article-byline text-low" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px;">by Bridjes O'Neil, <a class="article-byline__link" href="http://www.slu.edu/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Saint Louis University</a></p><div class="mt-4 article-main" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1.5rem !important;"><div class="article-gallery lightGallery" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: zoom-in; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><div data-src="https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/hires/2023/researcher-finds-help.jpg" data-sub-html="Graphical Abstract. Credit: <i>JAMA Neurology</i> (2023). DOI: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2023.3810" data-thumb="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/tmb/2023/researcher-finds-help.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="article-img" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><img alt="Researcher finds help for Alzheimer's-associated agitation with new FDA-approved treatment" height="360" src="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2023/researcher-finds-help.jpg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-in-out 0s; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;" title="Graphical Abstract. Credit: JAMA Neurology (2023). DOI: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2023.3810" width="640" /><figcaption class="text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js text-truncate mt-3" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #5e6970; font-size: 1.125rem !important; margin-top: 1rem !important; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap;">Graphical Abstract. Credit: <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">JAMA Neurology</i> (2023). DOI: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2023.3810</figcaption></figure></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>A Saint Louis University researcher was instrumental in developing the first and only Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved treatment for agitation associated with Alzheimer's dementia.</i></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"><b><i>29 jan 2024--</i></b>In a paper published in</span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span><a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaneurology/fullarticle/2811629" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; font-size: 1.25rem; text-decoration-line: none;"><i style="box-sizing: border-box;">JAMA Neurology</i></a><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">, senior author and the inaugural Henry & Amelia Nasrallah Endowed Professor and Director of Geriatric Psychiatry at Saint Louis University George T. Grossberg, M.D., and colleagues shared the results of a national clinical trial. They discovered that REXULTI, also called brexpiprazole, significantly reduced agitation in patients with Alzheimer's disease and was well tolerated with few side effects.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Earlier this year, brexpiprazole became the first FDA-approved treatment of agitation-associated Alzheimer's dementia.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Of the 6.7 million people 65 and older in the US with Alzheimer's dementia, multiple studies show that about half or more develop agitation.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Agitation associated with Alzheimer's dementia may include activities like restlessness or more aggressive behavior, like screaming, destroying objects, or fighting. Frequent and severe behavioral symptoms can be extremely distressing to the person with Alzheimer's disease, as well as their families and caregivers.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Antipsychotic drugs are commonly prescribed "off-label" to treat symptoms like aggression and agitation. While these antipsychotics seem to show a modest benefit in treating aggression in the short term, they have adverse effects and other health risks that limit their use over more extended periods.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">"When patients with Alzheimer's dementia develop agitation symptoms, they can become increasingly difficult to manage," said Grossberg, who is also director of geriatric psychiatry at SLU. "I'm encouraged by the findings of this study which show that brexpiprazole is an effective and well-tolerated medication that can treat the often-debilitating symptoms of agitation associated with</span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span>dementia<span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">due to Alzheimer's disease."</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">In the multicenter Phase 3 clinical trial, researchers evaluated the efficacy and safety of brexpiprazole, a medication used for the treatment of major depressive disorder and schizophrenia, for patients with agitation associated with Alzheimer's.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The clinical trial was a 12-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled, fixed-dose, parallel-arm trial that enrolled 345 participants at 123 clinical trial sites in Europe and the United States.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Investigators enrolled participants between the ages of 55 and 90 with a diagnosis of probable Alzheimer's disease and clinically significant symptoms of agitation who lived in a care facility or community-based setting.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Participants were randomly assigned to receive the study drug or a placebo. To participate in the clinical trial, participants had to be stable and have a caregiver who could comply with the study procedures.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"It can be extremely challenging to care for patients with Alzheimer's disease," said Grossberg. "Having new medications to help patients who are suffering will enormously benefit patients, health care providers, and those caring for their loved ones."</p><div class="article-main__more p-4" style="background-color: #eceff1; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1rem; padding: 1.5rem !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">More information:</span> Daniel Lee et al, Brexpiprazole for the Treatment of Agitation in Alzheimer Dementia, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">JAMA Neurology</i> (2023). <a data-doi="1" href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamaneurol.2023.3810" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">DOI: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2023.3810</a></p></div></div>WEBLOG DO FRAGAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00063090574397283954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4055230499735545325.post-29900686409227424072024-01-29T14:03:00.002+00:002024-01-29T14:03:11.226+00:00<p> </p><h1 class="text-extra-large line-low my-2" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 2.1875rem; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0.5rem !important; margin-top: 0.5rem !important;"><i><span style="color: red;">Battle of the AIs in medical research: ChatGPT vs Elicit</span></i></h1><p class="article-byline text-low" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px;">by <a class="article-byline__link" href="https://www.omu.ac.jp/en/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Osaka Metropolitan University</a></p><div class="mt-4 article-main" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1.5rem !important;"><div class="article-gallery lightGallery" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: zoom-in; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><div data-src="https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/hires/2023/battle-of-the-ais-in-m.jpg" data-sub-html="Accuracy and efficiency levels differ depending on the AI used. Credit: Osaka Metropolitan University" data-thumb="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/tmb/2023/battle-of-the-ais-in-m.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="article-img" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><img alt="Battle of the AIs in medical research: ChatGPT vs Elicit" height="309" src="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2023/battle-of-the-ais-in-m.jpg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-in-out 0s; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;" title="Accuracy and efficiency levels differ depending on the AI used. Credit: Osaka Metropolitan University" width="640" /><figcaption class="text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js text-truncate mt-3" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #5e6970; font-size: 1.125rem !important; margin-top: 1rem !important; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap;">Accuracy and efficiency levels differ depending on the AI used. Credit: Osaka Metropolitan University</figcaption></figure></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>Can AI save us from the arduous and time-consuming task of academic research collection? An international team of researchers investigated the credibility and efficiency of generative AI as an information-gathering tool in the medical field.</i></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">29 jan 2024--The research team, led by Professor Masaru Enomoto of the Graduate School of Medicine at Osaka Metropolitan University, fed identical clinical questions and literature selection criteria to two generative AIs; ChatGPT and Elicit. Their findings were published in <i style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://journals.lww.com/hepcomm/fulltext/2023/12010/collaborating_with_ai_in_literature_search_an.22.aspx" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;">Hepatology Communications</a></i>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The results showed that while ChatGPT suggested fictitious articles, Elicit was efficient, suggesting multiple references within a few minutes with the same level of accuracy as the researchers.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"This research was conceived out of our experience with managing vast amounts of medical literature over long periods of time. Access to information using generative AI is still in its infancy, so we need to exercise caution as the current information is not accurate or up-to-date," said Dr. Enomoto. "However, ChatGPT and other generative AIs are constantly evolving and are expected to revolutionize the field of medical research in the future."</p><div class="article-main__more p-4" style="background-color: #eceff1; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1rem; padding: 1.5rem !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">More information:</span> Masaru Enomoto et al, Collaborating with AI in literature search—An important frontier, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Hepatology Communications</i> (2023). <a data-doi="1" href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1097/HC9.0000000000000336" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">DOI: 10.1097/HC9.0000000000000336</a></p></div></div>WEBLOG DO FRAGAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00063090574397283954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4055230499735545325.post-49915058243084903952024-01-29T14:01:00.006+00:002024-01-29T14:01:35.990+00:00<p> </p><h1 class="text-extra-large line-low my-2" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 2.1875rem; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0.5rem !important; margin-top: 0.5rem !important;"><i><span style="color: red;">A substantial number of Parkinson's disease cases can be attributed to preventable risk factors, researcher says</span></i></h1><p class="article-byline text-low" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px;">by Savannah Koplon, <a class="article-byline__link" href="http://main.uab.edu/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">University of Alabama at Birmingham</a></p><div class="mt-4 article-main" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1.5rem !important;"><div class="article-gallery lightGallery" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: zoom-in; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><div data-src="https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/2023/a-substantial-number-o.jpg" data-sub-html="Haydeh Payami, Ph.D. Credit: Steve Wood" data-thumb="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/tmb/2023/a-substantial-number-o.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="article-img" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><img alt="A substantial number of Parkinson's disease cases can be attributed to preventable risk factors, new research finds" height="424" src="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2023/a-substantial-number-o.jpg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-in-out 0s; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;" title="Haydeh Payami, Ph.D. Credit: Steve Wood" width="640" /><figcaption class="text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js text-truncate mt-3" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #5e6970; font-size: 1.125rem !important; margin-top: 1rem !important; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap;">Haydeh Payami, Ph.D. Credit: Steve Wood</figcaption></figure></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>New research <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41531-023-00603-z" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;">published</a> by neurology researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">npj Parkinson's Disease</span> found that preventable risk factors play a significant role in a person's potential of developing Parkinson's disease.</i></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"><b><i>29 jan 2024--</i></b>The 1,223 persons studied at UAB hailing from the Southern region of the United States included 808 with PD and 415 neurologically healthy controls. Researchers came away with two significant findings that indicated that preventable risks affect the risk of Parkinson's disease: Repeated blows to the head sustained in activities like football and exposure to herbicides and pesticides.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">First, the study found that repeated blows to the head in sports or military combat that seem harmless and may not even cause concussion doubled a person's risk of developing PD later in life. Second, 23% of cases of PD in both men and women were associated with exposure to pesticides, herbicides or military-related chemical exposures. Together, head injury and exposure to environmental toxins may account for nearly 1 in 3 cases of PD in men, and 1 in 4 in women.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"Parkinson's disease is rising fast globally, and there is an unspoken assumption that there is no prevention—but there is," said Haydeh Payami, Ph.D., professor and John T. & Juanelle D. Strain Endowed Chair in the UAB Department of Neurology, faculty in the Center for Neurodegeneration and Experimental Therapeutics, and the study's lead author.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"Our research demonstrated that a substantial fraction of PD in the Deep South is attributable to risk factors that can be reduced or avoided. Our paper puts a number on how many cases of PD could potentially be prevented if toxic chemicals were eliminated and if we made contact sports like football safer."<span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">While genes play an important part in a person's exposure to PD cases, with about 5% of cases caused by </span>genetic mutations<span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> that are hereditary, the other 95% of PD cases are thought to be caused by various external factors that cause disease in individuals who are genetically susceptible to their damaging effect.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">As the research for this study was conducted at UAB and research participants were all from the Deep South, Payami shared that findings indicate that incidence of disease will likely vary by population depending on how prevalent the risk factors are.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">For instance, in Europe, where many of the toxic chemicals that are commonly found in American products are banned, a lower fraction of Parkinson's disease could be attributed to those specific chemicals. Furthermore, numbers could change with time for better or worse, depending on actions taken now to clean the environment and improve health and safety standards.</p><div class="article-main__more p-4" style="background-color: #eceff1; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1rem; padding: 1.5rem !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">More information:</span> Haydeh Payami et al, Population fraction of Parkinson's disease attributable to preventable risk factors, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">npj Parkinson's Disease</i> (2023). <a data-doi="1" href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41531-023-00603-z" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">DOI: 10.1038/s41531-023-00603-z</a></p></div></div>WEBLOG DO FRAGAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00063090574397283954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4055230499735545325.post-60524867108233132252024-01-29T13:58:00.001+00:002024-01-29T13:58:01.361+00:00<p> </p><h1 class="text-extra-large line-low my-2" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0.5rem !important; margin-top: 0.5rem !important;"><i><span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Super-aging: Defining exceptional cognitive ability in late-life</span></i></h1><p class="article-byline text-low" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px;">by Heidi Douglass, <a class="article-byline__link" href="http://www.unsw.edu.au/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">University of New South Wales</a></p><div class="mt-4 article-main" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1.5rem !important;"><div class="article-gallery lightGallery" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: zoom-in; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><div data-src="https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/hires/2023/old-men-playing-chess.jpg" data-sub-html="Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain" data-thumb="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/tmb/2023/old-men-playing-chess.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="article-img" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><img alt="old men playing chess" height="424" src="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2023/old-men-playing-chess.jpg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-in-out 0s; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;" title="Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain" width="640" /><figcaption class="text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js text-truncate mt-3" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #5e6970; font-size: 1.125rem !important; margin-top: 1rem !important; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap;">Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain</figcaption></figure></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>Research led by UNSW Sydney's Center for Healthy Brain Aging (CHeBA) has highlighted the need for clarity when defining late-life cognitively high performers, which could ultimately inform strategies to help prevent the development of dementia.</i></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"><b><i>29 jan 2024--</i></b>Super-aging refers to the elite group of individuals who manage to maintain varying degrees of midlife levels of capability and activity into very late life. A "cognitive super-ager" is deemed to demonstrate higher levels of intellectual activity than their more cognitively average peers.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Super-agers have been shown to have healthier lifestyles, less diabetes, and, from a genetic standpoint, have lower rates of the protein associated with Alzheimer's disease. Imaging studies of the brains of super-agers also show less brain atrophy, greater white matter integrity and differences in functional connectivity.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">However, how super-aging is best defined and how exactly it differs from usual or normal aging remain unanswered.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Currently, there isn't a consistent approach to measuring cognitive super-aging. Most studies consider super-aging based on memory performance that is equivalent or comparable to that of a younger adult range, but very few examine other aspects of cognition or the maintenance of high-level abilities over time.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The review, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/gps.6034" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;">published</a> in the <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry</i>, comprises a systematic literature search of 44 studies across five major research databases from their inception until July 2023. It aimed to evaluate the literature identifying older adults with exceptional cognitive performance with emphasis on how super-aging is defined, and the key clinical features that distinguish this group from the general older adult population.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">A major goal of aging research is to identify factors associated with a delay in the emergence of age-related disease and a lower burden of disease to promote</span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span>healthy life expectancy<span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Differences in definitions of super-aging across the research were extensive and included variations in the ages of the super-aging groups and comparator groups, cognitive domains and neuropsychological tests being used as well as the cut-off scores.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The review showed that maintenance of cognitive abilities over time was inconsistently required and there was a limited focus on superior cognitive performance in domains other than verbal memory.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"Understanding and identifying exceptional cognition is extremely powerful for research," said lead author Dr. Alice Powell. "It would allow us to increase the value of research insights gained from studying this extraordinary population—both in terms of aging well and preventing and treating neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">However, major discrepancies in these approaches such as the age range of super-agers and comparator groups and the choice of cognitive domains assessed need to be addressed to reach consensus in the field.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Dr. Powell said a future approach could be to apply different criteria to identify groups of super-agers from a large population sample. Examination of how cognitive super-aging relates to physical capacity, psychological well-being and degree of social engagement may also provide greater insights into aging well.</p><div class="article-main__more p-4" style="background-color: #eceff1; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1rem; padding: 1.5rem !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">More information:</span> Alice Powell et al, Defining exceptional cognition in older adults: A systematic review of cognitive super‐ageing, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry</i> (2023). <a data-doi="1" href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/gps.6034" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">DOI: 10.1002/gps.6034</a></p></div></div>WEBLOG DO FRAGAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00063090574397283954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4055230499735545325.post-66269601187805568912024-01-29T13:56:00.002+00:002024-01-29T13:58:23.821+00:00<p> </p><h1 class="text-extra-large line-low my-2" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 2.1875rem; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0.5rem;"><i><span style="color: red;">Researchers discover that tiredness experienced by long COVID patients has a physical cause</span></i></h1><p class="article-byline text-low" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px;">by Amsterdam University Medical Center</p><div class="mt-4 article-main" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1.5rem;"><div class="article-gallery lightGallery" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: zoom-in; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><div data-src="https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/hires/2024/researchers-discover-t.jpg" data-sub-html="Credit: <i>Nature Communications</i> (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-44432-3" data-thumb="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/tmb/2024/researchers-discover-t.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="article-img" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><img alt="Researchers discover that tiredness experienced by long COVID patients has a physical cause" height="424" src="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2024/researchers-discover-t.jpg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-in-out 0s; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;" title="Credit: Nature Communications (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-44432-3" width="640" /><figcaption class="text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js text-truncate mt-3" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #5e6970; font-size: 1.125rem; margin-top: 1rem; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap;">Credit: <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Nature Communications</i> (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-44432-3</figcaption></figure></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>Researchers from Amsterdam UMC and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) have discovered that the persistent fatigue in patients with long COVID has a biological cause, namely mitochondria in muscle cells that produce less energy than in healthy patients. The results of the study were <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-44432-3" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;">published</a> in <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Nature Communications</span>.</i></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"><b><i>29 jan 2024--</i></b>"We're seeing clear changes in the muscles in these patients," says Michèle van Vugt, Professor of Internal Medicine at Amsterdam UMC.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">A total of 25 long COVID patients and 21 healthy control participants participated in the study. They were asked to cycle for 15 minutes. This cycling test caused a long-term worsening of symptoms in people with long COVID, called post-exertional malaise (PEM). Extreme fatigue occurs after physical, cognitive, or emotional exertion beyond an unknown, individual threshold. The researchers looked at the blood and muscle tissue one week before the cycling test and one day after the test.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"We saw various abnormalities in the muscle tissue of the patients. At the cellular level, we saw that the mitochondria of the muscle, also known as the energy factories of the cell, function less well and that they produce less energy," says Rob Wüst, Assistant Professor at Department of Human Movement Sciences at the VU University.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"So, the cause of the fatigue is really biological. The brain needs energy to think. Muscles need energy to move. This discovery means we can now start to research an appropriate treatment for those with long COVID," adds van Vugt.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">One of the theories about long COVID is that coronavirus particles may remain in the body of people who have had the coronavirus. "We don't see any indications of this in the muscles at the moment," says Van Vugt. The researchers also saw that the heart and lungs functioned well in the patients. This means that the long-lasting effect on patient's fitness is not caused by abnormalities in the heart or lungs.</p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Exercising within your own limits</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Exercising is not always good for patients with long COVID. "In concrete terms, we advise these patients to guard their physical limits and not to exceed them. Think of light exertion that does not lead to worsening of the complaints. Walking is good, or riding an electric bike, to maintain some physical condition. Keep in mind that every patient has a different limit," says Brent Appelman, researcher at Amsterdam UMC.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"Because symptoms can worsen after physical exertion, some classic forms of rehabilitation and physiotherapy are counterproductive for the recovery of these patients," van Vugt adds.</p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Long COVID symptoms</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Although the majority of people infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus recover within weeks, a subgroup, estimated to be around one in eight, will get long COVID. Symptoms in patients with long COVID, post-acute sequelae or COVID or post-COVID syndrome (PCS) include severe cognitive problems (brain fog), fatigue, exercise intolerance, autonomic dysregulation, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), orthostatic intolerance, and worsening of symptoms after PEM.</p><div class="article-main__more p-4" style="background-color: #eceff1; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1rem; padding: 1.5rem;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">More information:</span> Muscle Abnormalities Worsen After Post-Exertional Malaise in Long COVID, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Nature Communications</i> (2024). <a data-doi="1" href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-44432-3" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-44432-3</a> <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-44432-3" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-44432-3</a></p></div></div>WEBLOG DO FRAGAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00063090574397283954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4055230499735545325.post-55514159519557780172024-01-29T13:54:00.001+00:002024-01-29T13:54:14.496+00:00<p> </p><h1 class="text-extra-large line-low my-2" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 2.1875rem; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0.5rem !important; margin-top: 0.5rem !important;"><i><span style="color: red;">Different biological variants discovered in Alzheimer's disease</span></i></h1><p class="article-byline text-low" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px;">by Amsterdam University Medical Center</p><div class="mt-4 article-main" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1.5rem !important;"><div class="article-gallery lightGallery" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: zoom-in; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><div data-src="https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/hires/2023/alzheimers-4.jpg" data-sub-html="Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain" data-thumb="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/tmb/2023/alzheimers-4.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="article-img" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><img alt="Alzheimer's " height="289" src="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2023/alzheimers-4.jpg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-in-out 0s; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;" title="Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain" width="640" /><figcaption class="text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js text-truncate mt-3" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #5e6970; font-size: 1.125rem !important; margin-top: 1rem !important; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap;">Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain</figcaption></figure></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>Dutch scientists have discovered five biological variants of Alzheimer's disease, which may require different treatments. As a result, previously tested drugs may incorrectly appear to be ineffective or only minimally effective. This is the conclusion of researcher Betty Tijms and colleagues from Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC and Maastricht University. Their study is published in <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Nature Aging</span>.</i></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"><b><i>29 jan 2029--</i></b>In those with Alzheimer's disease, the</span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span>amyloid<span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">and tau proteins clump in the brain. In addition to these clumps, other</span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span>biological processes<span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">such as inflammation and nerve cell growth are also involved. Using new techniques, the researchers have been able to measure these other processes in the</span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span>cerebrospinal fluid<span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">of patients with amyloid and tau clumps.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Betty Tijms and Pieter Jelle Visser examined 1,058 proteins in the cerebrospinal fluid of 419 people with Alzheimer's disease. They found that there are five biological variants within this group. The first variant is characterized by increased amyloid production. In a second type, the blood-brain barrier is disrupted, and there is reduced amyloid production and less nerve cell growth.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Furthermore, the variants differ in the degree of protein synthesis, the functioning of the immune system, and the functioning of the organ that produces cerebrospinal fluid. Patients with different Alzheimer's variants also showed differences in other aspects of the disease. For example, the researchers found a faster course of the disease in certain subgroups.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The findings are of great importance for drug research. They could mean that a certain drug might only work in one variant of Alzheimer's disease. For example, medication that inhibits amyloid production may work in the variant with increased amyloid production, but may be harmful in the variant with decreased amyloid production. It is also possible that patients with one variant would have a higher risk of side effects, while that risk would be much lower with other variants.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The next step for the research team is to show that the Alzheimer's variants do indeed react differently to medicines, in order to treat all patients with appropriate medicines in the future.</p><div class="article-main__more p-4" style="background-color: #eceff1; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1rem; padding: 1.5rem !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">More information:</span> Cerebrospinal fluid proteomics in Alzheimer's disease patients reveals five molecular subtypes with distinct genetic risk profiles, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Nature Aging</i> (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s43587-023-00550-7 , <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43587-023-00550-7" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">www.nature.com/articles/s43587-023-00550-7</a></p></div></div>WEBLOG DO FRAGAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00063090574397283954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4055230499735545325.post-24936042554757686942024-01-29T13:50:00.003+00:002024-01-29T13:50:59.234+00:00<p> </p><h1 class="text-extra-large line-low my-2" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 2.1875rem; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0.5rem !important; margin-top: 0.5rem !important;"><i><span style="color: red;">Strong links found between long COVID and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome</span></i></h1><p class="article-byline text-low" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px;">by <a class="article-byline__link" href="http://www.otago.ac.nz/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">University of Otago</a></p><div class="mt-4 article-main" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1.5rem !important;"><div class="article-gallery lightGallery" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: zoom-in; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><div data-src="https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/hires/2024/strong-links-found-bet.jpg" data-sub-html="Differentially regulated proteins in long COVID patients clustered into three groups. Credit: <i>Scientific Reports</i> (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-49402-9" data-thumb="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/tmb/2024/strong-links-found-bet.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="article-img" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><img alt="Strong links found between long COVID and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome" height="424" src="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2024/strong-links-found-bet.jpg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-in-out 0s; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;" title="Differentially regulated proteins in long COVID patients clustered into three groups. Credit: Scientific Reports (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-49402-9" width="640" /><figcaption class="text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js text-truncate mt-3" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #5e6970; font-size: 1.125rem !important; margin-top: 1rem !important; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap;">Differentially regulated proteins in long COVID patients clustered into three groups. Credit: <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Scientific Reports</i> (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-49402-9</figcaption></figure></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>People suffering from long COVID or myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) could benefit from a coordinated treatment strategy, a new University of Otago study has found.</i></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"><b><i>29 jan 2029--</i></b>The</span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span>pilot study<span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">,</span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-49402-9" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; font-size: 1.25rem; text-decoration-line: none;">published</a><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">in</span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span><i style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem;">Scientific Reports</i><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">, has confirmed what researchers have suspected for some time: the two conditions are closely related.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Senior author Emeritus Professor Warren Tate says the research—the first comparative molecular study of the immune cell proteins of both conditions—"strongly affirms" the link between the two.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"This means information from study of the pathophysiology of ME/CFS and therapeutic opportunities that have slowly accumulated over the last 30 years can be transferred to understanding and treating the now estimated 100 million cases of long COVID world-wide.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"But equally important, the immense resources put into long COVID research currently in the rich nations, while yet to produce major breakthroughs, can also benefit the many millions of 'hidden' ME/CFS patients whose numbers have increased steadily over time in the absence of their recovery from the illness."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Study results showed the immune system activity of six long COVID patients one year after a COVID-19 infection was dramatically different from five healthy controlled-group study participants, reflecting a chronic dysfunctional state.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Data gathered from those patients was found to be similar to data gathered from a group of nine diagnosed ME/CFS patients, who had suffered the condition for 16 years on average.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The study reinforces the researchers' previously published model in <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Frontiers of Neurology</i> to explain the complex dysfunctional physiology for both ME/CFS and long COVID: In susceptible people (determined by their health history and genetic background), the normal transitory immune/inflammatory response of the peripheral nervous system to infection or stress does not resolve quickly as in most people.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Instead, it becomes chronic and leads to a cascade effect involving the brain, immune system and central nervous system, which in turn results in multiple neurological symptoms and poor brain regulation of body physiology.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Emeritus Professor Tate says long COVID from the pandemic SARS-CoV-2 virus is a specific example of ME/CFS, that has occurred in susceptible people from endemic viruses like glandular fever, and from small historical viral outbreaks geographically contained like the SARS-CoV-1 virus outbreak in 2003.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"It highlights within our community there are significant numbers of people debilitated now with disrupted immune systems, dysfunctional energy production, and disturbed brain regulation of their overall physiology that severely disrupts their family lives, ability to work and participate in their communities long-term, and that these people need support from all levels of society."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Therapeutic targeting of the immune response/inflammatory pathways could be effective, Emeritus Professor Tate says.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"Currently, patients with ME/CFS and long COVID will understandably clutch at any potential treatment suggested to find a better quality of life in the absence of defined treatments.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"That means often multiple drugs, nutraceuticals, cognitive therapies and relaxation strategies with possible crossover adverse effects are being tried at the same time, without resulting benefit to the patient in most cases."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">While potential compounds are available that target different points of the cellular energy production pathway, no systematic studies have been carried out to determine whether they show real benefit.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Investment in combined clinical trials to treat both conditions is desperately needed, he says.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"Immunotherapy for treating specific features of a disturbed immune system for many diseases is in a revolutionary phase of development and should have potential for application to ME/CFS and long COVID patients now the specific changes in their dysfunctional immune systems are being carefully documented."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Emeritus Professor Tate is calling for national guidelines with best practice disease management plans for clinicians so both patient groups have a good chance of a more fulfilling life no matter the stage of their illness, although he points out this must be accompanied by specialist clinics with a range of practitioners to support the patient's needs.</p><div class="article-main__more p-4" style="background-color: #eceff1; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1rem; padding: 1.5rem !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">More information:</span> Katie Peppercorn et al, A pilot study on the immune cell proteome of long COVID patients shows changes to physiological pathways similar to those in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Scientific Reports</i> (2023). <a data-doi="1" href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-49402-9" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-49402-9</a></p></div></div>WEBLOG DO FRAGAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00063090574397283954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4055230499735545325.post-29341662393782464242024-01-29T13:45:00.009+00:002024-01-29T13:59:43.280+00:00<p> </p><h1 class="text-extra-large line-low my-2" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 2.1875rem; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0.5rem;"><i><span style="color: red;">Thinning of brain region may signal dementia risk 5–10 years before symptoms</span></i></h1><p class="article-byline text-low" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px;">by Will Sansom, <a class="article-byline__link" href="http://www.uthscsa.edu/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio</a></p><div class="mt-4 article-main" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1.5rem;"><div class="article-gallery lightGallery" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: zoom-in; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><div data-src="https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/2024/thinning-of-brain-regi.jpg" data-sub-html="Strengths of significant association (regression t values) for gray matter thickness in Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia cases versus cognitively healthy controls after accounting for multiple comparisons. Cluster masks significantly associated with AD versus normal cognition were computed separately for thresholds of t values from 3 to 6.5, in increments of 0.5. This highlights areas of differing but significant association strengths. However, gray matter density means over the t ≥ 3 cluster were used for the analyses. Credit: <i>Alzheimer's & Dementia</i> (2023). DOI: 10.1002/alz.13600" data-thumb="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/tmb/2024/thinning-of-brain-regi.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="article-img" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><img alt="Thinning of brain region may signal dementia risk 5-10 years before symptoms" height="356" src="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2024/thinning-of-brain-regi.jpg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-in-out 0s; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;" title="Strengths of significant association (regression t values) for gray matter thickness in Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia cases versus cognitively healthy controls after accounting for multiple comparisons. Cluster masks significantly associated with AD versus normal cognition were computed separately for thresholds of t values from 3 to 6.5, in increments of 0.5. This highlights areas of differing but significant association strengths. However, gray matter density means over the t ≥ 3 cluster were used for the analyses. Credit: Alzheimer's & Dementia (2023). DOI: 10.1002/alz.13600" width="800" /><figcaption class="text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js text-truncate mt-3" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #5e6970; font-size: 1.125rem; margin-top: 1rem; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap;">Strengths of significant association (regression t values) for gray matter thickness in Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia cases versus cognitively healthy controls after accounting for multiple comparisons. Cluster masks significantly associated with AD versus normal cognition were computed separately for thresholds of t values from 3 to 6.5, in increments of 0.5. This highlights areas of differing but significant association strengths. However, gray matter density means over the t ≥ 3 cluster were used for the analyses. Credit: <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Alzheimer's & Dementia</i> (2023). DOI: 10.1002/alz.13600</figcaption></figure></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>A ribbon of brain tissue called cortical gray matter grows thinner in people who go on to develop dementia, and this appears to be an accurate biomarker of the disease five to 10 years before symptoms appear, researchers from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (also called UT Health San Antonio) report.</i></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">29 jan 2024--The researchers, working with colleagues from The University of California, Davis, and Boston University, conducted an MRI brain imaging</span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span><a href="https://alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/alz.13600" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; font-size: 1.25rem; text-decoration-line: none;">study</a><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">published in</span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span><i style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem;">Alzheimer's & Dementia</i><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">. They studied 1,000 Massachusetts participants in the Framingham Heart Study and 500 people from a California cohort. The California volunteers included 44% representation of Black and Hispanic participants, whereas the Massachusetts cohort was predominantly non-Hispanic white. Both cohorts were 70 to 74 years of age on average at the time of MRI studies.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"The big interest in this paper is that if we can replicate it in additional samples, cortical gray matter thickness will be a marker we can use to identify people at high risk of dementia," said study lead author Claudia Satizabal, Ph.D., of UT Health San Antonio's Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer's and Neurodegenerative Diseases. "By detecting the disease early, we are in a better time window for therapeutic interventions and lifestyle modifications, and to do better tracking of brain health to decrease individuals' progression to dementia."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Repeating the Framingham findings in the more-diverse California cohort "gives us confidence that our results are robust," Satizabal said.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Sifting MRIs for a pattern</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">While dementias can affect different brain regions, Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia impact the cortex, and Alzheimer's is the most common type of dementia.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The study compared participants with and without dementia at the time of MRI. "We went back and examined the brain MRIs done 10 years earlier, and then we mixed them up to see if we could discern a pattern that reliably distinguished those who later developed dementia from those who did not," said co-author Sudha Seshadri, MD, director of the Glenn Biggs Institute at UT Health San Antonio and senior investigator with the Framingham Heart Study.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"This kind of study is only possible when you have longitudinal follow-up over many years as we did at Framingham, and as we are building in San Antonio," Seshadri said. "The people who had the research MRI scans while they were well and kept coming back to be studied are the selfless heroes who make such valuable discoveries, such prediction tools, possible."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The results were consistent across populations. Thicker ribbons correlated with better outcomes and thinner ribbons with worse, in general. "Although more studies are needed to validate this biomarker, we're off to a good start," Satizabal said. "The relationship between thinning and dementia risk behaved the same way in different races and ethnic groups."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Clinical trial researchers could use the thinning biomarker to minimize cost by selecting participants who haven't yet developed any disease but are on track for it, Seshadri said. They would be at greatest need to try investigational medications, she said.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The biomarker would also be useful to develop and evaluate therapeutics, Seshadri noted.</p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Future directions</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Satizabal said the team plans to explore risk factors that may be related to the thinning. These include cardiovascular risk factors, diet, genetics and exposure to environmental pollutants, she said.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"We looked at APOE4, which is a main genetic factor related to dementia, and it was not related to gray matter thickness at all," Satizabal said. "We think this is good, because if thickness is not genetically determined, then there are modifiable factors such as diet and exercise that can influence it."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Could the MRI gray matter biomarker be used widely someday?</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"A high proportion of people going to the neurologist get their MRI done, so this thickness value might be something that a neuroradiologist derives," Seshadri said. "A person's gray matter thickness might be analyzed as a percentile of the thickness of healthy people for that age."</p><div class="article-main__more p-4" style="background-color: #eceff1; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1rem; padding: 1.5rem;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">More information:</span> Claudia L. Satizabal et al, A novel neuroimaging signature for ADRD risk stratification in the community, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Alzheimer's & Dementia</i> (2023). <a data-doi="1" href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/alz.13600" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">DOI: 10.1002/alz.13600</a></p></div></div>WEBLOG DO FRAGAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00063090574397283954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4055230499735545325.post-70647278201639630532023-11-13T23:49:00.007+00:002023-11-13T23:49:40.825+00:00<p> </p><h1 class="text-extra-large line-low my-2" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 2.1875rem; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0.5rem !important; margin-top: 0.5rem !important;"><i><span style="color: red;">ChatGPT may be better than doctors at evidence-based management of clinical depression</span></i></h1><p class="article-byline text-low" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px;">by <a class="article-byline__link" href="http://www.bmj.com/channels/research.dtl" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">British Medical Journal</a></p><div class="mt-4 article-main" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1.5rem !important;"><div class="article-gallery lightGallery" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: zoom-in; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><div data-src="https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/hires/2023/severe-depression.jpg" data-sub-html="Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain" data-thumb="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/tmb/2023/severe-depression.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="article-img" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><img alt="severe depression" height="424" src="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2023/severe-depression.jpg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-in-out 0s; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;" title="Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain" width="640" /><figcaption class="text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js text-truncate mt-3" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #5e6970; font-size: 1.125rem !important; margin-top: 1rem !important; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap;">Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain</figcaption></figure></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>ChatGPT, the AI language model capable of mirroring human conversation, may be better than a doctor at following recognized treatment standards for clinical depression, and without any of the gender or social class biases sometimes seen in the primary care doctor-patient relationship, finds research published in the open access journal <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Family Medicine and Community Health</span>.</i></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"><b><i>13 nov 2023--</i></b>However, further research is needed into how well this technology might manage severe cases as well as potential risks and</span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span>ethical issues<span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">arising from its use, say the researchers.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Depression is very common, and many of those affected turn first to their family (primary care) doctors for help. The recommended course of treatment should largely be guided by evidence-based clinical guidelines, which usually suggest a tiered approach to care, in line with the severity of the depression.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">ChatGPT has the potential to offer fast, objective, data-derived insights that can supplement traditional diagnostic methods as well as providing confidentiality and anonymity, say the researchers. They therefore wanted to find out how the technology evaluated the recommended therapeutic approach for mild and severe major depression and whether this was influenced by gender or social class biases, when compared with 1,249 French primary care doctors (73% women).</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The researchers drew on carefully designed and previously validated vignettes, centering around patients with symptoms of sadness, sleep problems, and loss of appetite during the preceding three weeks and a diagnosis of mild to moderate depression.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Eight versions of these vignettes were developed with different variations of patient characteristics, such as gender, social class, and depression severity. Each vignette was repeated 10 times for ChatGPT versions 3.5 and 4.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">For each of the eight vignettes, ChatGPT was asked, "What do you think a primary care physician should suggest in this situation?" The possible responses were watchful waiting; referral for psychotherapy; prescribed drugs (for depression/anxiety/sleep problems); referral for psychotherapy plus prescribed drugs; none of these.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Only just over 4% of family doctors exclusively recommended referral for psychotherapy for mild cases in line with clinical guidance, compared with ChatGPT-3.5 and ChatGPT-4, which selected this option in 95% and 97.5% of cases, respectively.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Most of the medical practitioners proposed either drug treatment exclusively (48%) or psychotherapy plus prescribed drugs (32.5%).</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">In severe cases, most of the doctors recommended psychotherapy plus prescribed drugs (44.5%). ChatGPT proposed this more frequently than the doctors (72%, ChatGPT 3.5; 100%, ChatGPT 4 in line with clinical guidelines). Four out of 10 of the doctors proposed prescribed drugs exclusively, which neither ChatGPT version recommended.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">When medication was recommended, the AI and human participants were asked to specify which types of drugs they would prescribe.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The doctors recommended a combination of antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs and sleeping pills in 67.5% of cases, exclusive use of antidepressants in 18%, and exclusive use of anti-anxiety and sleeping pills in 14%.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">ChatGPT was more likely than the doctors to recommend antidepressants exclusively: 74%, version 3.5; and 68%, version 4. ChatGPT-3.5 (26%) and ChatGPT-4 (32%) also suggested using a combination of antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs and sleeping pills more frequently than did the doctors.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">But unlike the findings of previously published research, ChatGPT didn't exhibit any gender or social class biases in its recommended treatment.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The researchers acknowledge that the study was limited to iterations of ChatGPT-3 and ChatGPT-4 at specific points in time and that the ChatGPT data were compared with data from a representative sample of primary care doctors from France, so might not be more widely applicable.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Lastly, the cases described in the vignettes were for an initial visit due to a complaint of depression, so didn't represent ongoing treatment of the disease or other variables that the doctor would know about the patient.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"ChatGPT-4 demonstrated greater precision in adjusting treatment to comply with clinical guidelines. Furthermore, no discernible biases related to gender and [socioeconomic status] were detected in the ChatGPT systems," highlight the researchers.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">But there are ethical issues to consider, particularly around ensuring data privacy and security which are supremely important, considering the sensitive nature of mental health data, they point out, adding that AI shouldn't ever be a substitute for human clinical judgment in the diagnosis or treatment of depression.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Nevertheless, they conclude, "The study suggests that ChatGPT…. has the potential to enhance decision making in primary health care. However, it underlines the need for ongoing research to verify the dependability of its suggestions. Implementing such AI systems could bolster the quality and impartiality of mental health services."</p><div class="article-main__more p-4" style="background-color: #eceff1; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1rem; padding: 1.5rem !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">More information:</span> Identifying depression and its determinants upon initiating treatment: ChatGPT versus primary care physicians, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Family Medicine and Community Health</i> (2023). <a data-doi="1" href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1136/fmch-2023-002391" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">DOI: 10.1136/fmch-2023-002391</a></p></div></div>WEBLOG DO FRAGAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00063090574397283954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4055230499735545325.post-18602523623840442932023-11-13T23:47:00.005+00:002023-11-13T23:52:17.454+00:00<p> </p><h1 class="text-extra-large line-low my-2" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 2.1875rem; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0.5rem;"><i><span style="color: red;">Fluctuating blood pressure: A warning sign for dementia and heart disease</span></i></h1><p class="article-byline text-low" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px;">by <a class="article-byline__link" href="http://www.unisa.edu.au/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">University of South Australia</a></p><div class="mt-4 article-main" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1.5rem;"><div class="article-gallery lightGallery" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: zoom-in; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><div data-src="https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/hires/2023/blood-pressure-1.jpg" data-sub-html="Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain" data-thumb="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/tmb/2023/blood-pressure-1.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="article-img" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><img alt="blood pressure" height="424" src="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2023/blood-pressure-1.jpg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-in-out 0s; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;" title="Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain" width="640" /><figcaption class="text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js text-truncate mt-3" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #5e6970; font-size: 1.125rem; margin-top: 1rem; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap;">Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain</figcaption></figure></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>A new study by Australian researchers has shown that fluctuating blood pressure can increase the risk of dementia and vascular problems in older people.</i></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"><b><i>13 nov 2023--</i></b>Short</span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span>blood pressure<span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">(BP) fluctuations within 24 hours as well as over several days or weeks are linked with impaired cognition, say University of South Australia (UniSA) researchers who led the study.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Higher systolic BP variations (the top number that measures the pressure in arteries when a heart beats) are also linked with stiffening of the arteries, associated with heart disease.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10497990/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;">findings</a> have been published in the journal <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Cerebral Circulation—Cognition and Behaviour.</i></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Lead author Daria Gutteridge, a Ph.D. candidate based in UniSA's Cognitive Aging and Impairment Neuroscience Laboratory (CAIN), says it's well known that high blood pressure is a risk factor for dementia, but little attention is paid to fluctuating blood pressure.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"Clinical treatments focus on hypertension, while ignoring the variability of blood pressure," Gutteridge says.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"Blood pressure can fluctuate across different time frames—short and long—and this appears to heighten the risk of dementia and blood vessel health."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">To help explore the mechanisms that link BP fluctuations with dementia, UniSA researchers recruited 70 healthy older adults aged 60–80 years, with no signs of dementia or cognitive impairment.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Their blood pressure was monitored, they completed a cognitive test, and their arterial stiffness in the brain and arteries was measured using transcranial doppler sonography and pulse wave analysis.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"We found that higher blood pressure variability within a day, as well as across days, was linked with reduced cognitive performance. We also found that higher blood pressure variations within the systolic BP were linked with higher blood vessel stiffness in the arteries.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"These results indicate that the different types of BP variability likely reflect different underlying biological mechanisms, and that systolic and diastolic blood pressure variation are both important for cognitive functioning in older adults."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The links were present in older adults without any clinically relevant cognitive impairment, meaning that BP variability could potentially serve as an early clinical marker or treatment target for cognitive impairment, the researchers say.</p><div class="article-main__more p-4" style="background-color: #eceff1; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1rem; padding: 1.5rem;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">More information:</span> D.S. Gutteridge et al, Cross-sectional associations between short and mid-term blood pressure variability, cognition, and vascular stiffness in older adults, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Cerebral Circulation—Cognition and Behavior</i> (2023). <a data-doi="1" href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cccb.2023.100181" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">DOI: 10.1016/j.cccb.2023.100181</a></p></div></div>WEBLOG DO FRAGAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00063090574397283954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4055230499735545325.post-43306789028076955772023-11-13T23:45:00.002+00:002023-11-13T23:45:09.386+00:00<p> </p><h1 class="text-extra-large line-low my-2" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 2.1875rem; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0.5rem !important; margin-top: 0.5rem !important;"><i><span style="color: red;">Tai chi may curb Parkinson's disease symptoms and complications for several years</span></i></h1><p class="article-byline text-low" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; font-size: 0.875rem; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px;">by <a class="article-byline__link" href="http://www.bmj.com/channels/research.dtl" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">British Medical Journal</a></p><div class="mt-4 article-main" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1.5rem !important;"><div class="article-gallery lightGallery" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; cursor: zoom-in; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><div data-src="https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/hires/2023/tai-chi.jpg" data-sub-html="Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain" data-thumb="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/tmb/2023/tai-chi.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="article-img" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><img alt="tai chi" height="424" src="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2023/tai-chi.jpg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-in-out 0s; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;" title="Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain" width="640" /><figcaption class="text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js text-truncate mt-3" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #5e6970; font-size: 1.125rem !important; margin-top: 1rem !important; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap;">Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain</figcaption></figure></div></div><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><i><b>Tai chi, the Chinese martial art that involves sequences of very slow controlled movements, may curb the symptoms and complications of Parkinson's disease for several years, reveals research published online in the <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry</span>.</b></i></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"><b><i>13 nov 2023--</i></b>Its practice was associated with slower disease progression and lower doses of required drugs over time, the findings show.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Parkinson's disease is a debilitating and progressive neurodegenerative disorder, characterized by slowness of movement, resting tremor, and stiff and inflexible muscles. It is the fastest growing neurological condition in the world, with the numbers of those affected projected to reach nearly 5 million by 2030 in China alone. In the UK, two people are diagnosed with the disease every hour according to the charity Parkinson's UK.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">As yet, there is no cure for Parkinson's, and while drugs can improve clinical symptoms, they don't treat all the manifestations of the disease. There's no evidence that they slow progression either, explain the researchers. Previously published research suggests that tai chi eases Parkinson's symptoms in the short term, but whether this improvement can be sustained over the long term isn't known.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">In a bid to find out, the researchers monitored two groups of patients with Parkinson's disease for more than five years from January 2016 to June 2021.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">One group of 147 patients practiced tai chi twice a week for an hour, aided by the provision of classes to improve their technique. The other group of 187 patients continued with their standard care, but didn't practice tai chi.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Disease severity was formally assessed in all the participants at the start of the monitoring period, and disease progression, including increases in the need for medication, were subsequently monitored in November 2019, October 2020, and June 2021.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The extent of movement and other symptoms, such as autonomic nervous system function (to include bowel movements, urinary and cardiovascular issues); mood, sleep quality, and cognition; and the prevalence of complications, such as dyskinesia (involuntary movement); dystonia (abnormal muscle tone); decline in responsiveness to drug treatment over time; mild cognitive impairment; hallucinations; restless leg syndrome were also tracked, using validated scales.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Disease severity, medication use, sex, age, and education level, were similar in both groups.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Disease progression was slower at all monitoring points in the tai chi group, as assessed by three validated scales to assess overall symptoms, movement, and balance.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The number of patients who needed to increase their medication in the comparison group was also significantly higher than it was in the tai chi group: 83.5% in 2019 and just over 96% in 2020 compared with 71% and 87.5%, respectively.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Cognitive function deteriorated more slowly in the tai chi group as did other non-movement symptoms, while sleep and quality of life continuously improved.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">And the prevalence of complications was significantly lower in the tai chi group than in the comparison group: dyskinesia 1.4% vs. 7.5%; dystonia 0% vs. 1.6%; hallucinations 0% vs. just over 2%; mild cognitive impairment 3% vs. 10%; restless leg syndrome 7% vs. 15.5%.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Falls, dizziness, and back pain were the three side effects reported by study participants, but these were all significantly lower in the tai chi group. While 23 people sustained a fracture, these all occurred during routine daily life and were fewer in the tai chi group: 6 vs. 17.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">This is an observational study, and as such, can't establish cause and effect. The researchers also acknowledge that the number of study participants was relatively small and they weren't randomly assigned to their group.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">But they conclude, "Our study has shown that tai chi retains the long-term beneficial effect on [Parkinson's disease], indicating the potential disease-modifying effects on both motor and non-motor symptoms, especially gait, balance, autonomic symptoms and cognition."</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">They add, "[Parkinson's disease] can worsen motor function and non-motor symptoms progressively with time, resulting in disability and influencing the quality of life. The long-term beneficial effect on [the disease] could prolong the time without disability, leading to a higher quality of life, a lower burden for caregivers, and less drug usage."</p><div class="article-main__more p-4" style="background-color: #eceff1; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 1rem; padding: 1.5rem !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">More information:</span> Effect of long-term Tai Chi training on Parkinson's disease: a 3.5-year follow-up cohort study, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry</i> (2023). <a data-doi="1" href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jnnp-2022-330967" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">DOI: 10.1136/jnnp-2022-330967</a></p><div><br /></div></div><div class="d-inline-block text-medium my-4" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; display: inline-block !important; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1.5rem !important; margin-top: 1.5rem !important;"></div></div>WEBLOG DO FRAGAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00063090574397283954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4055230499735545325.post-91353049199085143742023-11-13T23:42:00.002+00:002023-11-13T23:42:27.882+00:00<p> </p><h1 class="text-extra-large line-low my-2" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 2.1875rem; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0.5rem !important; margin-top: 0.5rem !important;"><i><span style="color: red;">Mediterranean diet plus exercise burns fat, adds muscle</span></i></h1><p class="article-byline text-low" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px;">by Denise Mann</p><div class="mt-4 article-main" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1.5rem !important;"><div class="article-gallery lightGallery" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: zoom-in; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><div data-src="https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/hires/2023/mediterranean-diet-plu.jpg" data-sub-html="" data-thumb="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/tmb/2023/mediterranean-diet-plu.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Mediterranean diet plus exercise burns fat, adds muscle" height="360" src="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2023/mediterranean-diet-plu.jpg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-in-out 0s; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;" width="640" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>Rich in colorful fruits and vegetables, healthy fats and lean proteins, a Mediterranean style of eating consistently earns accolades for its long list of health benefits, including the prevention of heart disease and diabetes.</i></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"><b><i>13 nov 2023--</i></b>Now, new research from Spain shows this way of eating, when combined with regular exercise and</span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span>fewer calories<span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">, can slash dangerous belly fat in older folks while helping to preserve their muscle mass.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Fat that accumulates around the midsection is known to cause inflammation and has been linked to heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some forms of cancer. Muscle mass is known to decline with advancing age, and this can lead to weakness, less mobility and a greater chance of falls.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The study, led by researcher <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dora-Romaguera/3" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;">Dora Romaguera</a>, from the Health Research Institute of the Balearic Islands, included just over 1,500 middle-aged and older people who were overweight or obese and had metabolic syndrome, a cluster of disorders that signal a person's increased risk of diabetes, heart disease and stroke.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">One group of people followed a Mediterranean diet while cutting their calories by 30% and increasing their physical activity. They were also told to limit their consumption of processed foods, meats, butter, added sugar and to eat more whole grains. But the advice did not stop with food: They were also encouraged to increase their physical activity progressively, with a goal of walking 45 minutes per day or more on six days per week, along with exercises to improve strength.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">A second group of people followed a Mediterranean diet without calorie restrictions or changes in physical activity.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Folks who reduced their calories and got regular exercise while adhering to a Mediterranean diet showed decreases in the belly and total fat, and they kept much of it off for three years.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">In contrast, people in the other group did not see any changes in belly fat.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Both groups did gain some lean muscle mass, but the folks in the exercise plus calorie restriction arm lost more fat than muscle.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The study, published Oct. 23 in the journal <i style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2810826" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;">JAMA Network Open</a></i>, presents the three-year results of an ongoing eight-year study designed to see if this style of eating can slash the risk for heart attack and stroke.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Two experts were not surprised the combination did the trick.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"This is an ambitious and elegant study," said Cewin Chao, director of clinical nutrition services at Montefiore Health System in New York City. "If you eat a high-quality diet, exercise and reduce calories, you will lose more body fat, especially the more dangerous deeper fat around the belly area surrounding your organs, and preserve more muscle. These investments do look like they will pay off at the three-year mark."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"If you reduce your calorie intake and increase your physical activity, you will lose weight. This works every time," said <a href="https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/people/marion-nestle#:~:text=Marion%20Nestle%20is%20Paulette%20Goddard,of%20Nutritional%20Sciences%20at%20Cornell." style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;">Marion Nestle</a>, a retired professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University in New York City.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"People following a Mediterranean diet… are able to maintain a reduced calorie intake and better calorie balance for the three years of the study," said Nestle. "This kind of diet is associated with all kinds of good health and is highly recommended."</p><div class="article-main__more p-4" style="background-color: #eceff1; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1rem; padding: 1.5rem !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">More information:</span> Jadwiga Konieczna et al, An Energy-Reduced Mediterranean Diet, Physical Activity, and Body Composition, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">JAMA Network Open</i> (2023). <a data-doi="1" href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.37994" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.37994</a></p></div></div>WEBLOG DO FRAGAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00063090574397283954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4055230499735545325.post-16865040896932392622023-11-13T23:38:00.008+00:002023-11-13T23:38:38.790+00:00<p> </p><h1 class="text-extra-large line-low my-2" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 2.1875rem; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0.5rem !important; margin-top: 0.5rem !important;"><i><span style="color: red;">Intermittent fasting is safe, effective for those with type 2 diabetes, suggests new study</span></i></h1><p class="article-byline text-low" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px;">by Emily Stone, <a class="article-byline__link" href="http://www.uic.edu/index.html/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">University of Illinois at Chicago</a></p><div class="mt-4 article-main" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1.5rem !important;"><div class="article-gallery lightGallery" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: zoom-in; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><div data-src="https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/hires/2018/meal.jpg" data-sub-html="Credit: CC0 Public Domain" data-thumb="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/tmb/2018/meal.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="article-img" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><img alt="meal" height="424" src="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2018/meal.jpg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-in-out 0s; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;" title="Credit: CC0 Public Domain" width="640" /><figcaption class="text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js text-truncate mt-3" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #5e6970; font-size: 1.125rem !important; margin-top: 1rem !important; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap;">Credit: CC0 Public Domain</figcaption></figure></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>Time-restricted eating, also known as intermittent fasting, can help people with type 2 diabetes lose weight and control their blood sugar levels, according to a new study published in<span style="box-sizing: border-box;"> JAMA Network Open</span> from researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago.</i></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"><b><i>13 nov 2023--</i></b>Participants who ate only during an eight-hour window between noon and 8 p.m. each day actually lost more weight over six months than participants who were instructed to reduce their calorie intake by 25%. Both groups had similar reductions in long-term blood sugar levels, as measured by a test of hemoglobin A1C, which shows blood sugar levels over the past three months.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The study was conducted at UIC and enrolled 75 participants into three groups: those who followed the time-restricted eating rules, those who reduced calories and a control group. Participants' weight, waist circumference, blood sugar levels and other health indicators were measured over the course of six months.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Senior author Krista Varady said that participants in the time-restricted eating group had an easier time following the regime than those in the calorie-reducing group. The researchers believe this is partly because patients with diabetes are generally told to cut back on calories by their doctors as a first line of defense, so many of these participants likely had already tried—and struggled with—that form of dieting. And while the participants in the time-restricted eating group were not instructed to reduce their calorie intake, they ended up doing so by eating within a fixed window.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"Our study shows that time-restricted eating might be an effective alternative to traditional dieting for people who can't do the traditional diet or are burned out on it," said Varady, a professor of kinesiology and nutrition. "For many people trying to lose weight, counting time is easier than counting calories."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">There were no serious adverse events reported during the six-month study. Occurrences of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) did not differ between the diet groups and control groups.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Today, one in 10 U.S. residents has diabetes, and that number is expected to rise to one in three by 2050 if current trends continue, the researchers explain. Finding more options for controlling weight and blood sugar levels for these patients, therefore, is crucial.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Just over half the participants in the study were Black and another 40% were Hispanic. This is notable as diabetes is particularly prevalent among those groups, so having studies that document the success of time-restricted eating for them is particularly useful, the researchers said.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The study was small and should be followed up by larger ones, said Varady, who is also a member of the University of Illinois Cancer Center. While it acts as a proof of concept to show that time-restricted eating is safe for those with type 2 diabetes, Varady said people with diabetes should consult their doctors before starting this sort of diet.</p><div class="article-main__more p-4" style="background-color: #eceff1; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1rem; padding: 1.5rem !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">More information:</span> Krista Varady et al, Effect of Time-Restricted Eating onWeight Loss in Adults With Type 2 Diabetes A Randomized Clinical Trial, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">JAMA Network Open</i> (2023). <a data-doi="1" href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.39337" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.39337</a></p></div></div>WEBLOG DO FRAGAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00063090574397283954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4055230499735545325.post-9399930491937566642023-11-13T23:35:00.003+00:002023-11-13T23:35:57.070+00:00<p> </p><h1 class="text-extra-large line-low my-2" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 2.1875rem; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0.5rem !important; margin-top: 0.5rem !important;"><i><span style="color: red;">Newly published updates on hypertensive heart disease burden in older adults</span></i></h1><p class="article-byline text-low" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px;">by Cactus Communications</p><div class="mt-4 article-main" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1.5rem !important;"><div class="article-gallery lightGallery" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: zoom-in; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><div data-src="https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/hires/2023/updates-on-hypertensiv.jpg" data-sub-html="Joinpoint regression analysis of global prevalence (A), mortality (B), and DALY rate (C) for HHD in individuals aged 60–89 years between 1990 and 2019. * P <0.05. APC: Annual percentage change; DALY: Disability-adjusted life-year; HHD: Hypertensive heart disease. Credit: <i>Chinese Medical Journal</i> (2023). DOI: 10.1097/CM9.0000000000002863" data-thumb="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/tmb/2023/updates-on-hypertensiv.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="article-img" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><img alt="Updates on hypertensive heart disease burden in older adults" height="150" src="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2023/updates-on-hypertensiv.jpg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-in-out 0s; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;" title="Joinpoint regression analysis of global prevalence (A), mortality (B), and DALY rate (C) for HHD in individuals aged 60–89 years between 1990 and 2019. * P " width="640" /><figcaption class="text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js text-truncate mt-3" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #5e6970; font-size: 1.125rem !important; margin-top: 1rem !important; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap;">Joinpoint regression analysis of global prevalence (A), mortality (B), and DALY rate (C) for HHD in individuals aged 60–89 years between 1990 and 2019. * P <0.05. APC: Annual percentage change; DALY: Disability-adjusted life-year; HHD: Hypertensive heart disease. Credit: <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Chinese Medical Journal</i> (2023). DOI: 10.1097/CM9.0000000000002863</figcaption></figure></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>High blood pressure, also called hypertension, has become quite a common health problem among adults worldwide, with over one billion cases reported in 2019. When blood pressure is not properly controlled, the heart undergoes adaptive changes at the macroscopic and microscopic levels, affecting its valves, chambers, and muscles. This condition, known as hypertensive hearth disease (HHD), can cause permanent remodeling of the heart over time, affecting its normal function and ultimately leading to heart failure.</i></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"><b><i>13 nov 2023--</i></b>Today, over 15 million people worldwide suffer from HDD, which has become the second leading cause of heart failure. Thus, HDD represents a massive challenge in </span>health care<span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> that needs to be urgently addressed. Although HDD manifests mainly in </span>older adults<span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">, there is limited data on its trends in this population.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">To tackle this problem, a research team from the Hypertension Center, Fuwai Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Disease, National Center for Cardiovascular Diseases, Peking Union Medical College and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China conducted a comprehensive statistical analysis on the impact of HHD among older adults (60–89 years old) at the global, regional, and national levels.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Their study, which was led by Professor Jun Cai, was <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/CM9.0000000000002863" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;">published</a> in the <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Chinese Medical Journal</i>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"HHD remains a major concern in the management of hypertension and an important public health challenge," says Prof. Cai.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The data for this study came from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 project. Using its publicly available dataset, the researchers estimated the incidence, prevalence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life years (DALY) associated with HHD of 204 countries by age, sex, location, and year between 1990 and 2019.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The authors noted that there was an overall increase in the global prevalence of HHD between 1990 and 2019, but a decrease in mortality and DALY rates. This pattern was mostly maintained for both sexes across all age groups, as well as for sociodemographic index (SDI), which summarizes health-related social and economic development indicators.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Unfortunately, these results paint a particularly difficult situation for health care systems, as higher prevalence but lower mortality imply that more people will require treatment for HHD. "We observed the largest increasing trend in the prevalence of HHD since 2017 with a slowing of decreasing trends in HHD-related mortality and DALY rate since 2014," says Prof. Cai, "This finding suggests that we are presently facing even more rapid growth of the burden of HHD, which needs urgent attention."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Interestingly, the results for males and females were considerably different in a few regards. While males exhibited a higher prevalence of HHD, females had higher mortality and DALY rates. This suggests that the management of cardiovascular diseases in females is less effective, leading to worse prognosis. Moreover, the increasing trend of HHD prevalence was also higher in females, with a steep increase in 2017. Thus, the gap in prevalence between males and females seems to be narrowing.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"Our findings highlight disparities in the disease burden between the sexes, and the burden of HHD in older females should not be ignored," says Prof. Cai.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Worth noting, there were significant differences in the indicators for HHD between different countries and for different SDI groups. Overall, there were 85 countries with a significant increasing trend in HHD prevalence and 81 with a significant decreasing trend between 1990 and 2019. Notably, high-income Asia-Pacific countries (such as Japan, Singapore, and South Korea) exhibited the largest increase in HHD prevalence, but also the largest decrease in HHD mortality and DALY rate.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Despite the increasingly aging population in these countries contributing to the prevalence of HHD, it appears that they have managed to keep risk factors in check by providing adequate health care and keeping their populations informed.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Taken together, the study sheds light on the burden of HHD at the global, regional, and national level and provides a solid groundwork for the development of strategies to combat this challenging disorder.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"There are gaps in the prevention, management, and treatment of HHD world-wide," concludes Prof. Cai. "Our findings regarding the current situation of HHD and its temporal trends highlight inequities in the burden of HHD among older adults globally as well as a need for public health interventions at the individual and population levels."</p><div class="article-main__more p-4" style="background-color: #eceff1; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1rem; padding: 1.5rem !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">More information:</span> Ruixue Yang et al, Global, regional, and national burden of hypertensive heart disease among older adults in 204 countries and territories between 1990 and 2019: a trend analysis, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Chinese Medical Journal</i> (2023). <a data-doi="1" href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1097/CM9.0000000000002863" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">DOI: 10.1097/CM9.0000000000002863</a></p></div></div>WEBLOG DO FRAGAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00063090574397283954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4055230499735545325.post-81323643450836263672023-10-14T20:51:00.005+00:002023-10-14T20:51:32.003+00:00<p> </p><h1 class="text-extra-large line-low my-2" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 2.1875rem; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0.5rem !important; margin-top: 0.5rem !important;"><i><span style="color: red;">The development of 5G significantly increased the health of older adults, study finds</span></i></h1><p class="article-byline text-low" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px;">by Huameng Tang, Chao Guo , Medical Xpress</p><div class="mt-4 article-main" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1.5rem !important;"><div class="article-gallery lightGallery" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: zoom-in; font-size: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><div data-src="https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/2023/the-development-of-5g.jpg" data-sub-html="Alluvial diagram of the self-rated health change among older adults by 5G policy development in different provinces. Note: Province code Beijing 11; Tianjin 12; Hebei 13; Shanxi 14; Liaoning 21; Jilin 22; Heilongjiang 23; Shanghai 31; Jiangsu 32; Zhejiang 33; Anhui34; Fujian 35; Jiangxi 36; Shandong 37; Henan 41; Hubei 42; Hunan 43; Guangdong 44; Guangxi 45; Chongqing 50; Sichuan 51; Guizhou 52; Yunnan 53; Shanxi 61; Gansu 62. Credit: <i>Global Transitions</i> (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.glt.2023.08.002" data-thumb="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/tmb/2023/the-development-of-5g.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="article-img" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><img alt="The development of 5G significantly increased the health of older adults, study finds" height="388" src="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2023/the-development-of-5g.jpg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-in-out 0s; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;" title="Alluvial diagram of the self-rated health change among older adults by 5G policy development in different provinces. Note: Province code Beijing 11; Tianjin 12; Hebei 13; Shanxi 14; Liaoning 21; Jilin 22; Heilongjiang 23; Shanghai 31; Jiangsu 32; Zhejiang 33; Anhui34; Fujian 35; Jiangxi 36; Shandong 37; Henan 41; Hubei 42; Hunan 43; Guangdong 44; Guangxi 45; Chongqing 50; Sichuan 51; Guizhou 52; Yunnan 53; Shanxi 61; Gansu 62. Credit: Global Transitions (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.glt.2023.08.002" width="640" /><figcaption class="text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js text-truncate mt-3" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #5e6970; font-size: 1.125rem !important; margin-top: 1rem !important; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap;">Alluvial diagram of the self-rated health change among older adults by 5G policy development in different provinces. Note: Province code Beijing 11; Tianjin 12; Hebei 13; Shanxi 14; Liaoning 21; Jilin 22; Heilongjiang 23; Shanghai 31; Jiangsu 32; Zhejiang 33; Anhui34; Fujian 35; Jiangxi 36; Shandong 37; Henan 41; Hubei 42; Hunan 43; Guangdong 44; Guangxi 45; Chongqing 50; Sichuan 51; Guizhou 52; Yunnan 53; Shanxi 61; Gansu 62. Credit: <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Global Transitions</i> (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.glt.2023.08.002</figcaption></figure></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>The Chinese government attaches great importance to the construction of Fifth Generation Mobile Communication Technology infrastructure (5G), which has been shown in a new study to play a positive role in the self-rated health of older adults in mainland China, indicating the health-promoting effects of technological advances.</i></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 20px;"><b><i>14 oct 2023--</i></b></span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">China has built one of the largest and most technologically advanced 5G networks, and 5G industry applications have been integrated into more than 60 national economic categories including the medical and</span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span><a class="textTag" href="https://medicalxpress.com/tags/health/" rel="tag" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 1px dotted rgb(33, 37, 41); box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-size: 1.25rem; text-decoration-line: none;">health</a><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">care industries, aiming at meeting the growing medical and health needs of the people. However, as a new and emerging technology, the impact of 5G on public health at the national level has not been well elucidated with reliable empirical evidence.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">In our study published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.glt.2023.08.002" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;"><i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Global Transitions</i></a>, we explored the effects of 5G development on self-rated health (SRH) among older adults with different sociodemographic features in mainland China. Using the nationally representative data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) in 2018 and its follow-up in 2020, we used the development of 5G as a natural experiment to capture the impact of 5G development on the health of older adults.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Older adults from provinces with 5G policies in varying levels between 2018 and 2020 were considered as the exposure group while others were considered as the reference group, and the differences in SRH of the older adults were compared in provinces with different numbers of policies.</p><div class="article-gallery lightGallery" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: zoom-in; font-size: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><div data-src="https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/2023/the-development-of-5g-1.jpg" data-sub-html="The effect of 5G policies on self-rated health and heterogeneity across age groups, gender, and living areas among older adults. A number of covariates, including age, province, living areas, marriage status, income, employment, chronic disease, depression and health-related behaviors were controlled for in the total sample analysis and in the subgroup analysis. Credit: <i>Global Transitions</i> (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.glt.2023.08.002" data-thumb="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/tmb/2023/the-development-of-5g-1.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="article-img text-center" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; text-align: center !important;"><img alt="The development of 5G significantly increased the health of older adults, study finds" height="332" src="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2023/the-development-of-5g-1.jpg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-in-out 0s; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;" title="The effect of 5G policies on self-rated health and heterogeneity across age groups, gender, and living areas among older adults. A number of covariates, including age, province, living areas, marriage status, income, employment, chronic disease, depression and health-related behaviors were controlled for in the total sample analysis and in the subgroup analysis. Credit: Global Transitions (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.glt.2023.08.002" width="640" /><figcaption class="text-left text-darken text-truncate text-low-up mt-3" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #5e6970; font-size: 1.125rem !important; margin-top: 1rem !important; overflow: hidden; text-align: left !important; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap;">The effect of 5G policies on self-rated health and heterogeneity across age groups, gender, and living areas among older adults. A number of covariates, including age, province, living areas, marriage status, income, employment, chronic disease, depression and health-related behaviors were controlled for in the total sample analysis and in the subgroup analysis. Credit: <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Global Transitions</i> (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.glt.2023.08.002</figcaption></figure></div></div><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The health effects of 5G development</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Our findings revealed that the development of 5G significantly increased the SRH of older adults. After the enactment of the 5G policies, the probability of self-rated good health increased by 31% for each unit increase in the development level of 5G policies. And there were notable disparities in age group, gender and living areas.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The improvement effect of the 5G policies on SRH was intensified in the younger cohort, those aged 65 to 74 years, females, and those living in urban areas. The probability of self-rating good health of older adults aged 75 years and above, males, and those living in rural areas also increased after being exposed to the 5G policies but was not statistically significant.</p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Public health facilitated by technological development</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">To the best of our knowledge, our study provides novel insights into the impact of 5G development on the SRH of older adults for the first time. The findings are that 5G development has a positive effect on the SRH of older adults and SRH is found to be particularly improved in the 65- to 74-year-old groups, female groups, and urban participants.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The introduction of 5G policy provides a micro-opportunities and a macro-environment for older adults to promote their health status. At the micro level, 5G enables more older adults to use smart devices and access the internet, facilitating access to health information and promoting social participation. At the macro level, 5G-related application in the medical and health care industry contributes to meeting the medical and health needs of the older adults.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">However, considering the heterogeneity, some older adults are in the economic, health and digital divide at the same time, and the gap between them and the older adults who occupy the advantage of digital resources is gradually increasing with the trend of technology development. Target measures should be adopted to avoid worsening inequality and improve the health of all older adults.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">We hope that the fast penetration of digital technologies such as 5G will facilitate and scale up the innovations that can create and spread health, allowing public health to fulfill it vision of everyone, regardless of gender and age, being able to enjoy a healthy life at last.</p><div class="article-main__more p-4" style="background-color: #eceff1; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1rem; padding: 1.5rem !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">More information:</span> Huameng Tang et al, The effect of 5G policy development on self-rated health among Chinese older adults: A quasi-experimental study, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Global Transitions</i> (2023). <a data-doi="1" href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.glt.2023.08.002" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">DOI: 10.1016/j.glt.2023.08.002</a></p></div></div>WEBLOG DO FRAGAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00063090574397283954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4055230499735545325.post-76241064247995588862023-10-14T20:48:00.008+00:002023-10-14T20:53:21.376+00:00<p> </p><h1 class="text-extra-large line-low my-2" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 2.1875rem; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0.5rem;"><i><span style="color: red;">Can ChatGPT help us form personal narratives?</span></i></h1><p class="article-byline text-low" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px;">by Erica Moser, <a class="article-byline__link" href="http://www.upenn.edu/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">University of Pennsylvania</a></p><div class="mt-4 article-main" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1.5rem;"><div class="article-gallery lightGallery" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: zoom-in; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><div data-src="https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/2023/can-chatgpt-help-us-fo.jpg" data-sub-html="Participant ratings of accuracy, surprise, and insight of the individual AI-generated personal narratives as a function of the degree of accuracy, surprise, and insight and the number of participants in each rating category. <i>The Journal of Positive Psychology</i> (2023). DOI: 10.1080/17439760.2023.2257642" data-thumb="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/tmb/2023/can-chatgpt-help-us-fo.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="article-img" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><img alt="Can ChatGPT help us form personal narratives?" height="390" src="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2023/can-chatgpt-help-us-fo.jpg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-in-out 0s; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;" title="Participant ratings of accuracy, surprise, and insight of the individual AI-generated personal narratives as a function of the degree of accuracy, surprise, and insight and the number of participants in each rating category. The Journal of Positive Psychology (2023). DOI: 10.1080/17439760.2023.2257642" width="640" /><figcaption class="text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js text-truncate mt-3" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #5e6970; font-size: 1.125rem; margin-top: 1rem; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap;">Participant ratings of accuracy, surprise, and insight of the individual AI-generated personal narratives as a function of the degree of accuracy, surprise, and insight and the number of participants in each rating category. <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Journal of Positive Psychology</i> (2023). DOI: 10.1080/17439760.2023.2257642</figcaption></figure></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>Research has shown that personal narratives—the stories we tell ourselves about our lives—can play a critical role in identity and help us make sense of the past and present. Research has also shown that by helping people reinterpret narratives, therapists can guide patients toward healthier thoughts and behaviors.</i></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"><b><i>14 oct 2023--</i></b>Now, researchers from the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania have tested the ability of ChatGPT-4 to generate individualized personal narratives based on stream-of-consciousness thoughts and demographic details from participants, and showed that people found the language model's responses accurate.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">In a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17439760.2023.2257666" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;">new study in the <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Journal of Positive Psychology</i></a>, Abigail Blyler and Martin Seligman found that 25 of the 26 participants rated the AI-generated responses as completely or mostly accurate, 19 rated the narratives as very or somewhat surprising, and 19 indicated they learned something new about themselves.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Seligman, the Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology, is the director of the Positive Psychology Center, and Blyler is his research manager.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"This is a rare moment in the history of scientific psychology: Artificial intelligence now promises much more effective psychotherapy and coaching," Seligman says.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">For each participant, the researchers fed ChatGPT-4 recorded stream-of-consciousness thoughts, which Blyler likened to diary entries with thoughts as simple as "I'm hungry" or "I'm tired."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">In a second study published concurrently in <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Journal of Positive Psychology</i>, they fed five narratives rated "completely accurate" into ChatGPT-4, asked for specific interventions, and found that the chatbot generated highly plausible coaching strategies and interventions.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"Since coaching and therapy typically involve a great deal of initial time spent fleshing out such an identity, deriving this automatically from 50 thoughts represents a major savings," the authors write.</p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">What are personal narratives, how do they shape identity, and what is their role in therapeutic approaches?</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Stories of the self, the way people talk about the journey of their lives and who they are, is really what pulled me into psychology. I've come to understand that these narratives impact our behaviors, how we view the world and others, and, importantly, our well-being.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">One thing Marty [Seligman] and I have discussed a lot is, How do we get to knowing what our narratives are? Narratives help to construct a coherent story, make sense of everything in our lives.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">We found that ChatGPT was able to, with just 50 of those thoughts and very basic demographic information, come up with a highly accurate and detailed personal narrative. This could be a tool for helping people gain self-insight. We see this as something that can be used in the therapeutic context, not as something that would replace a therapist.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Can the coach use this to help understand the client better, and can the client in turn understand themselves better? We're hoping there's this reciprocal relationship, where this speeds up the process of getting to mutual understanding, so the deep work can take place.</p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">How did you come up with the idea of using ChatGPT-4 to create personal narratives?</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">I really credit Marty [Seligman]. He has been such a leader in the field of positive psychology for so long. To me, he is the paragon of curiosity, particularly when it comes to the cutting-edge, and so he's been really steeped in the things that people are doing with AI and psychology.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The idea came from a series of discussions we were having around my interest in personal narratives, asking, What are the things we're consistently telling ourselves? Might that give us a window into the narratives that play on a loop in people's minds? Can AI be of use here?</p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The personal narratives were generated from 50 stream-of-consciousness thoughts the participants recorded. What instructions were they given?</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">We didn't give any description of what the content of the thoughts should be, just that they should be fairly automatic. We asked that people try not to edit them in their minds. We gave them the option to record it via a voice memo or write it down in a Word document or Notes app. However they chose to do it, we gave them 48 hours to just collect 50 of them.</p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">How did you determine the coaching strategies and interventions ChatGPT-4 generated were highly plausible?</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">We based it on the literature. There are very many evidence-based therapeutic interventions, and what the machine does here is select the ones that seem most appropriate to the narrative identity. This research is exploratory; there is absolutely a need to continue the research and deploy this with coaches.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">That's where we are now, getting this into the hands of coaches. We have just begun collaborations to find out if therapy and coaching are more effective when assisted by our new methods.</p><div class="article-main__more p-4" style="background-color: #eceff1; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1rem; padding: 1.5rem;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">More information:</span> Abigail P. Blyler et al, Personal narrative and stream of consciousness: an AI approach, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Journal of Positive Psychology</i> (2023). <a data-doi="1" href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2023.2257666" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">DOI: 10.1080/17439760.2023.2257666</a></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Abigail P. Blyler et al, AI assistance for coaches and therapists, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Journal of Positive Psychology</i> (2023). <a data-doi="1" href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2023.2257642" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">DOI: 10.1080/17439760.2023.2257642</a></p></div></div>WEBLOG DO FRAGAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00063090574397283954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4055230499735545325.post-65192479905105872152023-10-14T20:46:00.008+00:002023-10-14T20:46:47.406+00:00<p> </p><h1 class="text-extra-large line-low my-2" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 2.1875rem; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0.5rem !important; margin-top: 0.5rem !important;"><i><span style="color: red;">Scientists discover 'long colds' may exist, as well as long COVID</span></i></h1><p class="article-byline text-low" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px;">by <a class="article-byline__link" href="http://www.qmul.ac.uk/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Queen Mary, University of London</a></p><div class="mt-4 article-main" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1.5rem !important;"><div class="article-gallery lightGallery" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: zoom-in; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><div data-src="https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/hires/2018/commoncold.jpg" data-sub-html="Credit: CC0 Public Domain" data-thumb="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/tmb/2018/commoncold.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="article-img" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><img alt="common cold" height="383" src="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2018/commoncold.jpg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-in-out 0s; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;" title="Credit: CC0 Public Domain" width="640" /><figcaption class="text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js text-truncate mt-3" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #5e6970; font-size: 1.125rem !important; margin-top: 1rem !important; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap;">Credit: CC0 Public Domain</figcaption></figure></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>A new study from Queen Mary University of London, published in <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">eClinicalMedicine</span>, has found that people may experience long-term symptoms—or "long colds"—after acute respiratory infections that test negative for COVID-19.</i></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"><b><i>14 oct 2023--</i></b>Some of the most common symptoms of the "long cold" included coughing, stomach pain, and diarrhea more than four weeks after the</span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span>initial infection<span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">. While the severity of an illness appears to be a key driver of risk of long-term symptoms, more research is being carried out to establish why some people suffer extended symptoms while others do not.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The findings suggest that there may be long-lasting health impacts following non-COVID acute respiratory infections, such as colds, influenza, or pneumonia, that are currently going unrecognized. However, the researchers do not yet have evidence suggesting that the symptoms have the same severity or duration as long COVID.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The research compared the prevalence and severity of long-term symptoms after an episode of COVID-19 vs. an episode of another acute respiratory infection that tested negative for COVID-19. Those recovering from COVID-19 were more likely to experience light-headedness or dizziness and problems with taste and smell compared to those who had a non-COVID-19 respiratory infection.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">While long COVID is now a recognized condition, there have been few studies comparing long-term symptoms following SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection vs. other respiratory infections.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The study is the latest output from COVIDENCE UK, Queen Mary University of London's national study of COVID-19, launched back in 2020 and still in follow-up, with over 19,000 participants enrolled. This study analyzed data from 10,171 UK adults, with responses collected via questionnaires and statistical analysis carried out to identify symptom clusters.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Giulia Vivaldi, researcher on COVIDENCE UK from Queen Mary University of London and the lead author of the study, said, "Our findings shine a light not only on the impact of long COVID on people's lives, but also other respiratory infections. A lack of awareness—or even the lack of a common term—prevents both reporting and diagnosis of these conditions.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"As research into long COVID continues, we need to take the opportunity to investigate and consider the lasting effects of other acute respiratory infections.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"These 'long' infections are so difficult to diagnose and treat primarily because of a lack of diagnostic tests and there being so many possible symptoms. There have been more than 200 investigated for long COVID alone."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Professor Adrian Martineau, Chief Investigator of COVIDENCE UK and Clinical Professor of Respiratory Infection and Immunity at Queen Mary University of London, added, "Our findings may chime with the experience of people who have struggled with prolonged symptoms after having a respiratory infection despite testing negative for COVID-19 on a nose or throat swab.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"Ongoing research into the long-term effects of COVID-19 and other acute respiratory infections is important because it can help us to get to the root of why some people experience more prolonged symptoms than others. Ultimately this could help us to identify the most appropriate form of treatment and care for affected people."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Victoria King, Director of Funding and Impact at Barts Charity, said, "Barts Charity swiftly supported COVIDENCE UK in response to the outbreak of COVID-19 to help inform of its risk factors and impacts. These findings highlight not only the long-term symptoms experienced by people after COVID infection, but by people after other acute respiratory infections as well. As we learn more about long COVID symptoms and their possible treatments, studies like this help to build greater awareness around other prolonged respiratory infections that may be going unrecognized."</p><div class="article-main__more p-4" style="background-color: #eceff1; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1rem; padding: 1.5rem !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">More information:</span> Vivaldi et al, Long-term symptom profiles after COVID-19 vs other acute respiratory infections: a population-based observational study, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">eClinicalMedicine</i> (2023). <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2023.102251" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2023.102251</a></p></div></div>WEBLOG DO FRAGAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00063090574397283954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4055230499735545325.post-21738767321468905612023-10-14T20:45:00.000+00:002023-10-14T20:45:00.117+00:00<p> </p><h1 class="text-extra-large line-low my-2" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 2.1875rem; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0.5rem !important; margin-top: 0.5rem !important;"><i><span style="color: red;">Antidepressants versus running for depression: Is there a winner?</span></i></h1><p class="article-byline text-low" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px;">by <a class="article-byline__link" href="https://www.ecnp.eu/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">European College of Neuropsychopharmacology</a></p><div class="mt-4 article-main" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1.5rem !important;"><div class="article-gallery lightGallery" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: zoom-in; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><div data-src="https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/hires/2022/running.jpg" data-sub-html="Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain" data-thumb="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/tmb/2022/running.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="article-img" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><img alt="running" height="424" src="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2022/running.jpg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-in-out 0s; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;" title="Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain" width="640" /><figcaption class="text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js text-truncate mt-3" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #5e6970; font-size: 1.125rem !important; margin-top: 1rem !important; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap;">Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain</figcaption></figure></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>The first study to compare effects of antidepressants with running exercises for anxiety, depression and overall health shows that they have about the same benefits for mental health—but a 16-week course of running over the same period scores higher in terms of physical health improvement, whereas antidepressants lead to a slightly worse physical condition, as has been suggested by previous studies. However, the drop-out rate was much higher in the group which initially chose exercise.</i></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"><b><i>14 oct 2023--</i></b>Professor Brenda Penninx (Vrije University, Amsterdam) is set to present the work at the 36th ECNP Congress, Barcelona, 7–10 October 2023, after recent publication in the</span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span><i style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem;">Journal of Affective Disorders,</i><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">saying, "We wanted to compare how</span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span>exercise<span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">or antidepressants affect your</span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span>general health<span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">, not just your mental</span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span>health<span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">."</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The researchers studied 141 patients with depression and/or anxiety. They were offered a choice of treatment; SSRI antidepressants for 16 weeks, or group-based running therapy for 16 weeks. 45 chose antidepressants, with 96 participating in running. The members of the group which chose antidepressants were slightly more depressed than the members of the group which chose to take running.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Professor Penninx said, "This study gave anxious and depressed people a real-life choice, medication or exercise. Interestingly, the majority opted for exercise, which led to the numbers in the running group being larger than in the medication group."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Treatment with antidepressants required patients to adhere to their prescribed medication intake but this generally does not directly impact on daily behaviors. In contrast, exercise directly addresses the sedentary lifestyle often found in patients with depressive and anxiety disorders by encouraging persons to go outside, set personal goals, improve their fitness and participate in a group activity.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The antidepressant group took the SSRI Escitalopram for 16 weeks. The running group aimed for two to three closely supervised 45-minute group sessions per week (over 16 weeks). The adherence to the protocol was lower in the running group (52%) than in the antidepressant group (82%), despite the initial preference for running over antidepressants.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">At the end of the trial, around 44% % in both groups showed an improvement in depression and anxiety, however the running group also showed improvements in weight, waist circumference, blood pressure, and heart function, whereas the antidepressant group showed a tendency towards a slight deterioration in these metabolic markers.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Brenda Penninx said, "Both interventions helped with the depression to around the same extent. Antidepressants generally had worse impact on body weight, heart rate variability and blood pressure, whereas running therapy led to improved effect on general fitness and heart rate for instance. We are currently looking in more detail for effects on biological aging and processes of inflammation."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"It is important to say that there is room for both therapies in care for depression. The study shows that lots of people like the idea of exercising, but it can be difficult to carry this through, even though the benefits are significant.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"We found that most people are compliant in taking antidepressants, whereas around half of the running group adhered to the two-times-a-week exercise therapy. Telling patients to go run is not enough. Changing physical activity behavior will require adequate supervision and encouragement as we did by implementing exercise therapy in a mental health care institution."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">She added, "Antidepressants are generally safe and effective. They work for most people. We know that not treating depression at all leads to worse outcomes; so antidepressants are generally a good choice. Nevertheless, we need to extend our treatment arsenal as not all patients respond to antidepressants or are willing to take them. Our results suggest that implementing exercise therapy is something we should take much more seriously, as it could be a good—and maybe even better—choice for some of our patients."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"In addition, let's also face potential side effects our treatments can have. Doctors should be aware of the dysregulation in nervous system activity that certain antidepressants can cause, especially in patients who already have heart problems. This also provides an argument to seriously consider tapering and discontinuing antidepressants when depressed or anxious episodes have remitted. In the end, patients are only truly helped when we are improving their mental health without unnecessarily worsening their physical health."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">This is adapted from a commentary recently published in the journal <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">European Neuropsychopharmacology</i>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Commenting, Dr. Eric Ruhe (Amsterdam University Medical Centers) said, "These are very interesting results that again show that physical health can influence mental health and that treatment of depression and anxiety can be achieved by exercising, obviously without the adverse effects of antidepressant drugs. "</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"However, several remarks are important. First the patients followed their preference, which is common practice, but ideally we should advise patients what will work best. Following this choice is understandable from a pragmatic point of view when patients have strong preferences, which you have to take into account when doing a study like this.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"The downside is that the comparisons between groups might be biased compared to doing this in a truly randomized study. For example, patients in the antidepressant group were more depressed which might be associated with less chance of persisting engagement in the exercises. So, we have to be careful not to overinterpret the comparisons between groups, which the authors acknowledge properly.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"Finally, a very important finding is the difference in adherence between the interventions: 52% in the exercise group and 82% in the antidepressant group. This shows that it is more difficult to change a lifestyle habit than taking a pill. This is not exclusively found in psychiatry, indicating that we also have to focus on how to improve compliance to healthy behavior. This could have tremendous impact on health care more generally, but also on psychiatric diseases."</p><div class="article-main__more p-4" style="background-color: #eceff1; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1rem; padding: 1.5rem !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">More information:</span> Josine E. Verhoeven et al, Antidepressants or running therapy: Comparing effects on mental and physical health in patients with depression and anxiety disorders, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Journal of Affective Disorders</i> (2023). <a data-doi="1" href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2023.02.064" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2023.02.064</a></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Conference abstract: "<a href="https://www.ecnp.eu/congress2023/ECNPcongress/programme/programme?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIoLOqoqbcgAMVCc53Ch3kQQ6vEAAYASACEgIhmfD_BwE#!abstractdetails/0000524290" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;">Medication and lifestyle interventions in regulating immune function and mental health</a>."</p></div></div>WEBLOG DO FRAGAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00063090574397283954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4055230499735545325.post-21998712472411540802023-10-14T20:42:00.002+00:002023-10-14T20:42:18.424+00:00<p> </p><h1 class="text-extra-large line-low my-2" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 2.1875rem; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0.5rem !important; margin-top: 0.5rem !important;"><i><span style="color: red;">Smartphones could be used to monitor liver disease patients at home</span></i></h1><p class="article-byline text-low" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px;">by <a class="article-byline__link" href="http://www.ucl.ac.uk/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">University College London</a></p><div class="mt-4 article-main" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1.5rem !important;"><div class="article-gallery lightGallery" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: zoom-in; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><div data-src="https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/hires/2023/smartphones-could-be-u.jpg" data-sub-html="Assessment of bilirubin levels in patients with cirrhosis via forehead, sclera and lower eyelid smartphone images. Credit: <i>PLOS Digital Health</i> (2023). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pdig.0000357" data-thumb="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/tmb/2023/smartphones-could-be-u.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="article-img" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><img alt="Smartphones could be used to monitor liver disease patients at home" height="354" src="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2023/smartphones-could-be-u.jpg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-in-out 0s; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;" title="Assessment of bilirubin levels in patients with cirrhosis via forehead, sclera and lower eyelid smartphone images. Credit: PLOS Digital Health (2023). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pdig.0000357" width="800" /><figcaption class="text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js text-truncate mt-3" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #5e6970; font-size: 1.125rem !important; margin-top: 1rem !important; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap;">Assessment of bilirubin levels in patients with cirrhosis via forehead, sclera and lower eyelid smartphone images. Credit: <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">PLOS Digital Health</i> (2023). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pdig.0000357</figcaption></figure></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>A smartphone camera was able to detect changes in skin tone and eye color that require patients to seek medical help, in new research from UCL and the Royal Free Hospital.</i></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"><b><i>14 oct 2023--</i></b>The study,</span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span><a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pdig.0000357" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; font-size: 1.25rem; text-decoration-line: none;">published in <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">PLOS Digital Health</i></a><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">, is the first to assess and compare how smartphone images of the forehead, white of the eye and lower eyelid could be used to accurately predict the</span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span>bilirubin<span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">level of patients with advanced cirrhosis. It found that images of the white of the eye was the best way to predict bilirubin level from an image.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The approach has the potential to monitor liver cirrhosis patients at home more closely, easily and cost effectively than they are currently. The authors expect that this would detect worsening of symptoms before the situation becomes critical, as well as simplify workflows for health care professionals.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Liver disease is the third most common cause of working-age premature death in the UK. While mortality rates have greatly improved for many chronic diseases, the mortality rate for liver disease in the UK increased by 400% between 1970 and 2010. This has increased the need to find non-invasive, cost-effective ways to monitor cirrhosis progression.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Bilirubin is a yellowish pigment that indicates poor liver function when visible in the skin or eye, a condition known as jaundice. Advanced cirrhosis patients' skin and eyes become more yellow as the bilirubin concentration in the blood becomes higher.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Bilirubin levels are currently checked by a blood test performed by a medical professional, which then has to be analyzed. This is usually done in a health care setting. If the level has increased, this indicates that the patient's liver function has deteriorated further and that they need medical help.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">In this study, researchers developed a smartphone app that was able to detect the severity of jaundice with a high degree of accuracy. They used a smartphone to take photos of the forehead, white of the eye and lower eyelid of 66 cirrhosis patients. After calibrating the images for lighting conditions, they were analyzed and used to train an algorithm that could predict bilirubin level based on the degree of yellowness in the image.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">When these predictions were checked against blood test data, the white of the eye images provided the strongest correlation.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Professor Raj Mookerjee (UCL Medicine), co-author of the study, said, "One of the reasons that liver disease is so challenging is that patients can deteriorate very quickly. It's an unfortunate fact that if a patient arrives at the clinic much more jaundiced than they were previously, the chances are that they have already progressed their disease considerably. The approach that we've assessed in this study could allow us to monitor patients from their own homes much more frequently, than is currently possible and, hopefully, detect worsening of clinical signs and symptoms before things become critical."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">One of the challenges the study sought to overcome is the degree of yellowness in patients with cirrhosis, which can be fifty times higher than normal.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"You can look at a patient and tell if they have jaundice right away. But it's a not a question of if the skin looks yellow or not, it's about how much more yellow it looks, which gives you an indication of how badly the <a class="textTag" href="https://medicalxpress.com/tags/liver/" rel="tag" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 1px dotted rgb(33, 37, 41); box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; text-decoration-line: none;">liver</a> function has deteriorated," said Professor Mookerjee. "The smartphone app gives us this degree of accuracy. It's a remarkable feat of engineering and shows the power of clinicians and engineers collaborating to solve urgent health care problems."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The next step would be a larger trial to validate the safety and accuracy of the approach. In practice, the approach would likely work by patients frequently taking pictures of their eye via an app, which would inform the clinical care providers of a meaningful change in bilirubin, that might require a change in patient management.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Dr. Terence Leung (UCL Medical Physics & Biomedical Engineering), co-author of the paper, said, "Smartphone camera technology is improving every year, which is allowing us to develop innovative solutions to unmet health care needs using devices that most people have at home. It's great to be able to engineer solutions that are not only cheap and easy to implement, but which will make a real difference to people's lives."</p><div class="article-main__more p-4" style="background-color: #eceff1; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1rem; padding: 1.5rem !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">More information:</span> Miranda Nixon-Hill et al, Assessment of bilirubin levels in patients with cirrhosis via forehead, sclera and lower eyelid smartphone images, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">PLOS Digital Health</i> (2023). <a data-doi="1" href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pdig.0000357" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">DOI: 10.1371/journal.pdig.0000357</a></p></div></div>WEBLOG DO FRAGAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00063090574397283954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4055230499735545325.post-4455504895512307932023-10-14T20:40:00.000+00:002023-10-14T20:40:00.732+00:00<p> </p><h1 class="text-extra-large line-low my-2" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 2.1875rem; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0.5rem !important; margin-top: 0.5rem !important;"><i><span style="color: red;">Most seniors with RSV-linked hospitalization are aged ≥75, according to research</span></i></h1><p class="article-byline text-low" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px;">by Elana Gotkine</p><div class="mt-4 article-main" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1.5rem !important;"><div class="article-gallery lightGallery" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: zoom-in; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><div data-src="https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/2023/most-seniors-with-rsv.jpg" data-sub-html="" data-thumb="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/tmb/2023/most-seniors-with-rsv.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="article-img" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><img alt="Most seniors with RSV-linked hospitalization are aged ≥75" height="424" src="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2023/most-seniors-with-rsv.jpg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-in-out 0s; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;" width="640" /></figure></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>Most respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)-associated hospitalizations among seniors aged ≥60 years occur in those aged ≥75 years, and although RSV is less common among seniors, it is associated with more severe disease than COVID-19 or influenza, according to research published in the Oct. 6 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report</span>.</i></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"><b><i>14 oct 2023--</i></b>Fiona P. Havers, M.D., from the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues examined characteristics of 3,218 adults aged ≥60 years who were hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed RSV infection during July 2022 to June 2023.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The researchers found that 54.1% of a random sample of 1,634 older adult patients with RSV-associated hospitalizations were aged ≥75 years. Obesity, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, and diabetes were the most common underlying medical conditions. Overall, 18.5% of patients aged ≥60 years had severe outcomes: 17.0, 4.8, and 4.7% were admitted to an intensive care unit, required mechanical ventilation, and died, respectively.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Diya Surie, M.D., also from the CDC, and colleagues characterized RSV-associated severity among 5,784 adults aged ≥60 years hospitalized with acute respiratory illness and laboratory confirmed RSV, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, or influenza infection (5.3, 81.8, and 12.9%, respectively) from 25 hospitals in 20 U.S. states during Feb. 1, 2022, to May 31, 2023.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The researchers found that compared to those hospitalized with COVID-19 or influenza, patients hospitalized with RSV were more likely to receive standard flow oxygen, high-flow nasal cannula or noninvasive ventilation, intensive care unit admission, and invasive mechanical ventilation.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"Health care providers and older adults should consider RSV disease severity when making a shared clinical decision about RSV vaccination," Surie and colleagues write.</p><div class="article-main__more p-4" style="background-color: #eceff1; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1rem; padding: 1.5rem !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">More information:</span> Fiona P. Havers et al, Characteristics and Outcomes Among Adults Aged ≥60 Years Hospitalized with Laboratory-Confirmed Respiratory Syncytial Virus—RSV-NET, 12 States, July 2022–June 2023, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report</i> (2023). <a data-doi="1" href="https://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7240a1" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">DOI: 10.15585/mmwr.mm7240a1</a></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Diya Surie et al, Disease Severity of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Compared with COVID-19 and Influenza Among Hospitalized Adults Aged ≥60 Years—IVY Network, 20 U.S. States, February 2022–May 2023, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report</i> (2023). <a data-doi="1" href="https://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7240a2" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">DOI: 10.15585/mmwr.mm7240a2</a></p></div></div>WEBLOG DO FRAGAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00063090574397283954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4055230499735545325.post-61369548894265190602023-10-14T20:38:00.002+00:002023-10-14T20:56:50.952+00:00<p> </p><h1 class="text-extra-large line-low my-2" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 2.1875rem; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0.5rem;"><i><span style="color: red;">Seniors, here are the meds that can harm your driving skills</span></i></h1><p class="article-byline text-low" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px;">by Amy Norton</p><div class="mt-4 article-main" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1.5rem;"><div class="article-gallery lightGallery" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: zoom-in; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><div data-src="https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/2023/seniors-here-are-the-m.jpg" data-sub-html="" data-thumb="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/tmb/2023/seniors-here-are-the-m.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="article-img" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><img alt="Seniors, here are the meds that can harm your driving skills" height="424" src="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2023/seniors-here-are-the-m.jpg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-in-out 0s; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;" width="640" /></figure></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>Some common medications—including antidepressants, sleep aids and painkillers—may dull the driving skills of seniors, a new study finds.</i></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"><b><i>14 oct 2023--</i></b>Many different medication classes have been linked to the risk of driving impairment, as anyone who has ever read the label warning "do not operate heavy machinery" might have guessed.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">But the new study took a particularly rigorous approach to investigating the issue—following older adults for up to 10 years and testing their driving skills with annual road tests.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">And it turned out that those using certain classes of medications were at greater risk of failing the road test at some point.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">When older folks were taking either antidepressants, sedative/hypnotics (sleep medications) or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), they were nearly three times more likely to get a failing or "marginal" grade than non-users.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The findings do not prove the medications are to blame, said lead researcher Dr. David Carr, a specialist in geriatric medicine at Washington University's School of Medicine in St. Louis.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">It can be hard, he said, to draw a direct line between a particular medication and diminished driving skills: Is it that drug, or the medical condition it's treating or another medication an older adult is taking?</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">In this study, though, Carr and his colleagues were able to account for many factors, including participants' medical conditions, memory and thinking skills, vision problems and whether they lived in more affluent or disadvantaged neighborhoods.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">And certain medication groups were still linked to poorer driving performance.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Beyond that, Carr said, many of the medications in question are known to act on the central nervous system—with potential side effects, like drowsiness and dizziness, that could affect driving.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"The bottom line is, we need to pay attention to this and advise our patients," Carr said, adding that he doubts this is happening routinely.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Unfortunately, he added, during busy, time-limited doctor visits, discussions of medication side effects may fall by the wayside.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">So that's where patients need to be proactive, Carr said, Ask questions about potential side effects when you get a new prescription. And if you're wondering whether your sluggishness or other symptoms could be due to a medication, talk to your health care provider.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"We wouldn't want anyone to just stop taking their medication on their own," Carr stressed. "Talk to your health care provider about any changes."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">That point was echoed by Jake Nelson, director of traffic safety advocacy and research at the nonprofit AAA.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The good news, Nelson said, is that your doctor might be able to make some changes—like switching to a different medication or adjusting the dose or time of day you take a particular drug.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"Don't feel like you're being a burden by asking these questions," said Nelson, who was not involved in the study. "This is about putting your health and safety first."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">He also, however, stressed the role of the pharmaceutical industry in tackling the issue. There are better ways, Nelson said, to alert medication users to the risk of driving impairment—which is typically buried in the "fine print."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The study—published Sept. 29 in <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">JAMA Network Open —</i> involved 198 adults who were 73, on average, at the outset. None had signs of cognitive impairment (problems with memory, judgment or other thinking skills).</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Study participants had annual check-ups, which included a road test with a professional driving instructor, for up to 10 years (about five years, on average). During that period, 35% received a failing and marginal road test grade at some point.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Seniors on antidepressants, sleep aids or NSAIDs were at heightened risk. The odds were greatest for those on an antidepressant or sleep medication—with 16% to 17% putting in a poor road performance per year overall. That compared with rates of 6% to 7% of their peers not using those medications.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">There were a couple of surprises, Carr said. Researchers found no link between antihistamines or anticholinergic medications and seniors' driving performance.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Antihistamines are notorious for making users drowsy. Anticholinergic medications are used to treat a range of conditions, from overactive bladder to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to Parkinson's symptoms. They can cause side effects like sedation and blurred vision.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">But, Carr said, it's possible that older drivers in this study were using newer, non-drowsy antihistamines or there were too few people taking anticholinergics to detect a significant effect.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">No matter which medications they may be using, Carr said older adults should talk to their doctor about any red flags—like feeling drowsy or slower to react, or having a "close call" on the road.</p><div class="article-main__more p-4" style="background-color: #eceff1; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1rem; padding: 1.5rem;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">More information:</span> David B. Carr et al, Medication and Road Test Performance Among Cognitively Healthy Older Adults, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">JAMA Network Open</i> (2023). <a data-doi="1" href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.35651" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.35651</a></p></div></div>WEBLOG DO FRAGAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00063090574397283954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4055230499735545325.post-36335711436382359872023-10-14T20:35:00.009+00:002023-10-14T20:35:56.089+00:00<p> </p><h1 class="text-extra-large line-low my-2" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 2.1875rem; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0.5rem !important; margin-top: 0.5rem !important;"><i><span style="color: red;">Certain navigational mistakes could be early signs of Alzheimer's disease</span></i></h1><p class="article-byline text-low" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px;">by <a class="article-byline__link" href="http://www.ucl.ac.uk/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">University College London</a></p><div class="mt-4 article-main" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1.5rem !important;"><div class="article-gallery lightGallery" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: zoom-in; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><div data-src="https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/hires/2022/alzheimers-12.jpg" data-sub-html="Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain" data-thumb="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/tmb/2022/alzheimers-12.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="article-img" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><img alt="alzheimer's" height="424" src="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2022/alzheimers-12.jpg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-in-out 0s; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;" title="Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain" width="640" /><figcaption class="text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js text-truncate mt-3" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #5e6970; font-size: 1.125rem !important; margin-top: 1rem !important; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap;">Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain</figcaption></figure></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>People with early Alzheimer's disease have difficulty turning when walking, according to a new study using virtual reality led by UCL researchers.</i></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"><b><i>14 oct 2023--</i></b>The study, published in</span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span><i style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem;">Current Biology</i><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">, used a</span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span>computational model<span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">to further explore the intricacies of navigational errors previously observed in Alzheimer's disease.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Researchers, led by Professor Neil Burgess and colleagues in the Space and Memory group at the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, grouped participants into three categories: healthy younger participants (31 total), healthy elderly participants (36 total) and patients with mild cognitive impairment (43 total). They then asked them to complete a task while wearing virtual reality goggles, which allowed them to make real movements.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">In the trial, participants walked an outbound route guided by numbered cones, consisting of two straight legs connected by a turn. They then had to return to their starting position unguided.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The task was performed under three different environmental conditions aimed at stressing the participant's navigational skills: an unchanged virtual environment, the ground details being replaced by a plain texture, and the temporary removal of all landmarks from the virtual reality world.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The researchers found that people with early Alzheimer's consistently overestimated the turns on the route and showed increased variability in their sense of direction. However, these specific impairments were not observed in the healthy older participants or people with mild cognitive impairment, who did not show underlying signs of Alzheimer's.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">This suggests that these navigational errors are specific to Alzheimer's disease—rather than an extension of healthy aging or general cognitive decline—and could help with diagnosis.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Joint first author, Dr. Andrea Castegnaro (UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience), said, "Our findings offer a new avenue for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease by focusing on specific navigational errors. However, we know that more work is needed to confirm these early findings.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"We aim to develop practical tests that can be easily integrated into clinical settings, considering common constraints such as limited space and time. Traditional navigation tests often have requirements that are challenging to meet in a clinical environment. Our research focuses on specific aspects of navigation that are more adaptable to these constraints.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"We are designing these tests to be both quick and comprehensive, aiming to collect sufficient data for a reliable diagnosis in a time-efficient manner, thereby increasing the likelihood of their widespread adoption."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">It is estimated that there are currently 944,000 people living with dementia in the UK and over 60% of those diagnosed are thought to have Alzheimer's disease.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Similar projections in the US estimate that the number of people aged 65 and older living with Alzheimer's dementia could double, growing to 13.8 million in the US by 2060, barring medical breakthroughs. These trends indicate the increasing burden of Alzheimer's on health care systems and society at large.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Early diagnosis is crucial for better management and treatment of the disease. While recent advancements in blood tests can detect levels of tau and amyloid proteins that could signal potential Alzheimer's disease, these tests might not be sufficient on their own.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Dr. Castegnaro said, "Cognitive assessments are still needed to understand when the first cognitive impairments develop, and when it comes to existing spatial memory tests used in clinics, those often rely on verbal competence. Our tests aim to offer a more practical tool that doesn't rely on language or cultural background."</p><div class="article-main__more p-4" style="background-color: #eceff1; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1rem; padding: 1.5rem !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">More information:</span> Overestimation in angular path integration precedes Alzheimer's dementia, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Current Biology</i> (2023). <a data-doi="1" href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.09.047" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.09.047</a>. <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(23)01296-4" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">www.cell.com/current-biology/f … 0960-9822(23)01296-4</a></p></div></div>WEBLOG DO FRAGAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00063090574397283954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4055230499735545325.post-18402489653048885092023-10-14T20:33:00.008+00:002023-10-14T20:33:56.054+00:00<p> </p><h1 class="text-extra-large line-low my-2" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 2.1875rem; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0.5rem !important; margin-top: 0.5rem !important;"><i><span style="color: red;">Risk factors for dementia vary by ethnicity, study finds</span></i></h1><p class="article-byline text-low" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px;">by <a class="article-byline__link" href="http://www.plos.org/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Public Library of Science</a></p><div class="mt-4 article-main" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1.5rem !important;"><div class="article-gallery lightGallery" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: zoom-in; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><div data-src="https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/2023/risk-factors-for-demen.jpg" data-sub-html="Modifiable risk factors—including hypertension, obesity, diabetes, low HDL cholesterol and sleep disorders—confer a higher risk of dementia for people in some minority ethnic groups compared to White people, according to the new study. Credit: Mohamed_hassan, Pixabay, CC0 (creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)" data-thumb="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/tmb/2023/risk-factors-for-demen.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="article-img" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><img alt="Risk factors for dementia vary by ethnicity, study finds" height="530" src="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2023/risk-factors-for-demen.jpg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-in-out 0s; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;" title="Modifiable risk factors—including hypertension, obesity, diabetes, low HDL cholesterol and sleep disorders—confer a higher risk of dementia for people in some minority ethnic groups compared to White people, according to the new study. Credit: Mohamed_hassan, Pixabay, CC0 (creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)" width="800" /><figcaption class="text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js text-truncate mt-3" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #5e6970; font-size: 1.125rem !important; margin-top: 1rem !important; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap;">Modifiable risk factors—including hypertension, obesity, diabetes, low HDL cholesterol and sleep disorders—confer a higher risk of dementia for people in some minority ethnic groups compared to White people, according to the new study. Credit: Mohamed_hassan, Pixabay, CC0 (creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)</figcaption></figure></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>Modifiable risk factors—including hypertension, obesity, diabetes, low HDL cholesterol and sleep disorders—confer a higher risk of dementia for people in some minority ethnic groups compared to White people, according to a new study published in the open-access journal <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">PLOS ONE</span> by Naaheed Mukadam of University College London, UK, and colleagues.</i></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"><b><i>14 oct 2023--</i></b>The number of people with dementia is on the rise around the world. There has been increasing interest in potentially</span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span>modifiable risk factors<span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">, as eliminating these could theoretically prevent around 40% of dementia cases. However, most risk factor studies have been conducted only in people of European descent. In the new study, researchers analyzed the relationship between risk factors and dementia onset using anonymized data from English primary care records, spanning 1997 to 2018, for 865,674 adults in diverse</span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span>ethnic groups<span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Overall, 12.6% of the study population developed dementia—16.0% of white people, 8.6% of South Asian people, 12.1% of Black people and 9.7% of those from other ethnic groups. Nearly all risk factors analyzed in the study were associated with dementia, with the same risk factors often conferring a higher risk of dementia in Black and South Asian people, particularly for cardiovascular risk.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">After adjusting for comorbidity, age, sex and deprivation, hypertension conferred higher risk of dementia in Black people compared to White people; hypertension, obesity, diabetes low HDL and sleep disorders conferred a higher risk of dementia in South Asian people. Compared to the effects in White people, hypertension had 1.57 times more impact on dementia risk in South Asian people and 1.18 times more impact in Black people.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The results may explain previous findings of greater susceptibility, earlier age of dementia onset, and shorter survival after dementia diagnosis in minority ethnic groups, the authors say. They conclude that dementia prevention efforts should be targeted toward people from minority ethnic groups and tailored to risk factors of particular importance.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The authors add, "We found that not only are some risk factors for dementia more common in minority ethnic groups but that the impact of some of these risk factors is even greater than in the White population. So we need tailored dementia prevention, taking into account ethnicity and risk factor profile to ensure dementia prevention is equitable."</p><div class="article-main__more p-4" style="background-color: #eceff1; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1rem; padding: 1.5rem !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">More information:</span> South Asian, Black and White ethnicity and the effect of potentially modifiable risk factors for dementia: A study in English electronic health records, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">PLoS ONE</i> (2023). <a data-doi="1" href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0289893" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0289893</a> , <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0289893" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">journals.plos.org/plosone/arti … journal.pone.0289893</a></p></div></div>WEBLOG DO FRAGAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00063090574397283954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4055230499735545325.post-41357911005440490042023-10-14T20:31:00.004+00:002023-10-14T20:31:58.604+00:00<p> </p><h1 class="text-extra-large line-low my-2" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 2.1875rem; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0.5rem !important; margin-top: 0.5rem !important;"><i><span style="color: red;">Most accurate test to date developed to measure biological aging</span></i></h1><p class="article-byline text-low" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px;">by <a class="article-byline__link" href="http://www.gla.ac.uk/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">University of Glasgow</a></p><div class="mt-4 article-main" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1.5rem !important;"><div class="article-gallery lightGallery" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: zoom-in; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><div data-src="https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/hires/2022/genetics-2.jpg" data-sub-html="Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain" data-thumb="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/tmb/2022/genetics-2.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="article-img" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><img alt="genetics" height="424" src="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2022/genetics-2.jpg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-in-out 0s; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;" title="Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain" width="640" /><figcaption class="text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js text-truncate mt-3" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #5e6970; font-size: 1.125rem !important; margin-top: 1rem !important; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap;">Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain</figcaption></figure></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>A team of European researchers has developed a new test that can accurately measure biological aging in a clinical setting. The discovery was made while studying patients for the aging effects of chronic kidney disease.</i></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"><b><i>14 oct 2023--</i></b>The</span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span>new test<span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">is an</span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span>epigenetic clock<span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">—a type of biochemical assessment that looks at DNA to understand how well the body is aging in contrast to its</span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span>chronological age<span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">—and is the first of these cutting-edge tests to be proven to perform accurately in a</span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span>clinical setting<span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">, in both healthy and unhealthy tissue.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The work was led by a partnership between the University of Glasgow and the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, and is published in the <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Journal of Internal Medicine</i> as part of a study into the aging effects of chronic kidney disease and its associated treatments. It is titled "Epigenetic clocks indicate that kidney transplantation and not dialysis mitigates the effects of renal aging."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The research team studied more than 400 patients with chronic kidney disease in Sweden alongside around 100 matched population controls, to better understand the impact on aging of the disease, including during dialysis treatment and after kidney transplant.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">To do this, researchers used a range of tests including blood biomarkers, skin autofluorescence and epigenetic clocks. The team used the clocks to measure the change in biological age of around 47 patients one year after kidney transplantation, or one year after the start of their dialysis treatment, as well as how the healthy tissue in 48 controls aged by comparison.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The results showed that for patients with chronic kidney disease, their biological clock is ticking faster than the average person's. This continues to be the case even after dialysis treatment. Indeed, patients' biological clocks were only shown to slow down following a kidney transplant.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">However, while the epigenetic clocks all showed a similar picture, the research team found that none of the current clocks could be shown to be accurate in a clinical setting, and all were found to be inaccurate to differing degrees when tested in healthy tissue over time.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">To address this, the team developed a new, more accurate epigenetic clock—the Glasgow-Karolinska Clock—that works on healthy and unhealthy tissue. The results from this new clock matched what doctors saw in patients with chronic kidney disease, and also appeared to accurately assess healthy tissue too. This study is the first real-world test of epigenetic clocks in a normal aging setting, and against clinical parameters.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">As the body ages, a series of factors lead to epigenetic changes and loss of a chemical tag (DNA methylation) from your DNA. This is often associated with a range of disease common to aging, such as chronic kidney disease, cancer and heart disease. Epigenetic clocks have been proposed as a "gold standard" for measuring age accurately, beyond a person's biological age, as they are able to measure methylation tags on DNA.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Professor Paul Shiels, lead author of the study for the University of Glasgow, said, "This study is the first time in a clinical setting that we can accurately report on the extent of biological as opposed to chronological aging in chronic kidney disease patients. Our findings, using the new Glasgow-Karolinska Clock—show that not only are these patients aging faster than people in the general population, their accelerated aging only slows down once they have had a transplant. Treatment with dialysis does not appear to impact this process.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"This is also the first clinical test of epigenetic clocks, and the discovery that most are inaccurate when compared with medical evidence has led us to develop a new more accurate test which can accurately measure methylation tags on DNA of both healthy and unhealthy tissue. We have proven it is accurate to the high standards of a clinical setting.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"Methylation tagging of DNA is impacted by what we eat and also out gut microbiome. As a result, this new clock has real potential to be able to evaluate lifestyle interventions, including diet, that could benefit the public and help to address issues such as health inequalities."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Peter Stenvinkel, professor at Karolinska Institutet, said, "I found the new tool to estimate effects of interventions on biological age of much interest. The tool could be used to study treatment strategies in patients with end-stage kidney disease—a group subjected to premature aging."</p><div class="article-main__more p-4" style="background-color: #eceff1; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1rem; padding: 1.5rem !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">More information:</span> Epigenetic clocks indicate that kidney transplantation and not dialysis mitigates the effects of renal ageing, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Journal of Internal Medicine</i> (2023). DOI: 10.1111/joim.13724 , <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/joim.13724" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/joim.13724</a></p></div></div>WEBLOG DO FRAGAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00063090574397283954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4055230499735545325.post-56142843320879990962023-09-19T03:03:00.004+00:002023-09-19T03:03:20.869+00:00<p> </p><h1 class="text-extra-large line-low my-2" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 2.1875rem; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0.5rem !important; margin-top: 0.5rem !important;"><i><span style="color: red;">ChatGPT shows 'impressive' accuracy in clinical decision making</span></i></h1><p class="article-byline text-low" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px;">by <a class="article-byline__link" href="https://www.massgeneralbrigham.org/en" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a5a6b7; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Mass General Brigham</a></p><div class="mt-4 article-main" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1.5rem !important;"><div class="article-gallery lightGallery" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: zoom-in; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><div data-src="https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/hires/2023/chatgpt-5.jpg" data-sub-html="Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain" data-thumb="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/tmb/2023/chatgpt-5.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="article-img" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><img alt="chatgpt" height="424" src="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2023/chatgpt-5.jpg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-in-out 0s; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;" title="Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain" width="640" /><figcaption class="text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js text-truncate mt-3" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #5e6970; font-size: 1.125rem !important; margin-top: 1rem !important; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap;">Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain</figcaption></figure></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>A new study led by investigators from Mass General Brigham has found that ChatGPT was about 72% accurate in overall clinical decision making, from coming up with possible diagnoses to making final diagnoses and care management decisions.</i></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"><b><i>19 sept 2023--</i></b>The large-language model (LLM) artificial intelligence chatbot performed equally well in both</span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span>primary care<span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">and emergency settings across all medical specialties. The research team's results are published in the</span><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;"> </span><i style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem;">Journal of Medical Internet Research</i><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"Our paper comprehensively assesses decision support via ChatGPT from the very beginning of working with a patient through the entire care scenario, from differential diagnosis all the way through testing, diagnosis, and management," said corresponding author Marc Succi, MD, associate chair of innovation and commercialization and strategic innovation leader at Mass General Brigham and executive director of the MESH Incubator.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"No real benchmarks exists, but we estimate this performance to be at the level of someone who has just graduated from medical school, such as an intern or resident. This tells us that LLMs in general have the potential to be an augmenting tool for the practice of medicine and support clinical decision making with impressive accuracy."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Changes in artificial intelligence technology are occurring at a fast pace and transforming many industries, including health care. But the capacity of LLMs to assist in the full scope of clinical care has not yet been studied.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">In this comprehensive, cross-specialty study of how LLMs could be used in clinical advisement and decision making, Succi and his team tested the hypothesis that ChatGPT would be able to work through an entire clinical encounter with a patient and recommend a diagnostic workup, decide the clinical management course, and ultimately make the final diagnosis.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The study was done by pasting successive portions of 36 standardized, published clinical vignettes into ChatGPT. The tool first was asked to come up with a set of possible, or differential, diagnoses based on the patient's initial information, which included age, gender, symptoms, and whether the case was an emergency.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">ChatGPT was then given additional pieces of information and asked to make management decisions as well as give a final diagnosis—simulating the entire process of seeing a real patient.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The team compared ChatGPT's accuracy on differential diagnosis, diagnostic testing, final diagnosis, and management in a structured blinded process, awarding points for correct answers and using linear regressions to assess the relationship between ChatGPT's performance and the vignette's demographic information.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The researchers found that overall, ChatGPT was about 72% accurate and that it was best in making a final diagnosis, where it was 77% accurate. It was lowest-performing in making differential diagnoses, where it was only 60% accurate. It was only 68% accurate in clinical management decisions, such as figuring out what medications to treat the patient with after arriving at the correct diagnosis.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">Other notable findings from the study included that ChatGPT's answers did not show gender bias and that its overall performance was steady across both primary and emergency care.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"ChatGPT struggled with differential diagnosis, which is the meat and potatoes of medicine when a physician has to figure out what to do," said Succi. "That is important because it tells us where physicians are truly experts and adding the most value—in the early stages of patient care with little presenting information, when a list of possible diagnoses is needed."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The authors note that before tools like ChatGPT can be considered for integration into clinical care, more benchmark research and regulatory guidance is needed. Next, Succi's team is looking at whether AI tools can improve patient care and outcomes in hospitals' resource-constrained areas.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">The emergence of artificial intelligence tools in health has been groundbreaking and has the potential to positively reshape the continuum of care. Mass General Brigham, as one of the nation's top integrated academic health systems and largest innovation enterprises, is leading the way in conducting rigorous research on new and emerging technologies to inform the responsible incorporation of AI into care delivery, workforce support, and administrative processes.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"Mass General Brigham sees great promise for LLMs to help improve care delivery and clinician experience," said co-author Adam Landman, MD, MS, MIS, MHS, chief information officer and senior vice president of digital at Mass General Brigham.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;">"We are currently evaluating LLM solutions that assist with clinical documentation and draft responses to patient messages with focus on understanding their accuracy, reliability, safety, and equity. Rigorous studies like this one are needed before we integrate LLM tools into clinical care."</p><div class="article-main__more p-4" style="background-color: #eceff1; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1rem; padding: 1.5rem !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">More information:</span> A Rao et al., Assessing the Utility of ChatGPT Throughout the Entire Clinical Workflow: Development and Usability Study, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Journal of Medical Internet Research</i> (2023). <a data-doi="1" href="https://dx.doi.org/10.2196/48659" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0049b0; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">DOI: 10.2196/48659</a></p></div></div>WEBLOG DO FRAGAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00063090574397283954noreply@blogger.com0