PROTIME-FITNESS HOLISTIC HEALTH AND WELLNESS

  Damage to the heart found in more than half of COVID-19 patients discharged from the hospital.   Around 50% of patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19 and who show raised levels of a protein called troponin have damage to their hearts. The injury was detected by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans at least a month after discharge, according to new findings published recently in the  European Heart Journal . Damage includes inflammation of the heart muscle (myocarditis), scarring or death of heart tissue (infarction), restricted blood supply to the heart (ischemia), and combinations of all three. The study of 148 patients from six acute hospitals in London is the largest study to date to investigate convalescing COVID-19 patients who had raised troponin levels, indicating a possible problem with the heart. Troponin is released into the blood when the heart muscle is injured. Raised levels can occur when an artery becomes blocked, or there is inflammation of the heart. Many patie

  LIGHT-INTENSITY EXERCISE EFFECTIVE IN IMPROVING HEALTH A prospective study finds light activity, such as gardening or walking, preserves women's mobility during aging. One in four women over age 65 cannot walk two blocks or climb a flight of stairs. Known as mobility disability, it is the leading type of incapacity in the United States and a key contributor to a person's loss of independence. New research from Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Sciences at UC San Diego suggests that light-intensity physical activity, including shopping or a casual walk, may protect older women's mobility . Published in the February 23, 2021, online issue of  JAMA Network Open , researchers found that women who did not have a mobility disability at the start of the study and who spent the most amount of time doing light-intensity activities were 40 percent less likely to experience loss of mobility over a six-year period. "Older adults who want to maintain th

  A new study estimates two-thirds of COVID-19 hospitalizations due to four conditions. The model suggests higher risk based on race and age, offers insights to reduce disease impact . A modeling study suggests a majority of adult COVID-19 hospitalizations nationwide are attributable to at least one of four pre-existing conditions: obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and heart failure, in that order. The study, published today in the  Journal of the American Heart Association  ( JAHA ) and led by researchers at the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, used a mathematical simulation to estimate the number and proportion of national COVID-19 hospitalizations that could have been prevented if Americans did not suffer from four major cardiometabolic conditions. Each condition has been strongly linked in other studies to increased risk of poor outcomes with COVID-19 infection. "While newly authorized COVID-19 vaccines will eventuall

  People with SARS-CoV-2 antibodies may have a low risk of future infection, study finds People who have had evidence of a prior infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, appear to be well protected against being reinfected with the virus, at least for a few months, according to a newly published study from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). This finding may explain why reinfection appears to be relatively rare. It could have important public health implications, including decisions about returning to physical workplaces, school attendance, prioritizing vaccine distribution, and other activities. For the study, researchers at NCI, part of the National Institutes of Health, collaborated with two health care data analytics companies (HealthVerity and Aetion, Inc.) and five commercial laboratories. The findings were published on Feb. 24 in  JAMA Internal Medicine . "While cancer research and cancer care remain?the?primary?focus of NCI's work, we were eager to l

  Diets high in fructose could cause immune system damage, study suggests New research deepens understanding of how fructose affects health New research by Swansea scientists in collaboration with scientists at the University of Bristol and the Francis Crick Institute in London has indicated that consuming a diet high in sugar fructose might prevent peoples' immune systems' proper functioning ways that have, until now, largely been unknown. Fructose is commonly found in sugary drinks, sweets, and processed foods and widely used in food production. It is associated with obesity, type 2 diabetes, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and its intake has increased substantially throughout the developed world in recent years. However, understanding the impact of fructose on the immune system of people who consume it at high levels has been limited until now. The new study published in the journal  Nature Communications  shows that fructose causes the immune system to become inflame

  Relaxed precautions, not climate, the biggest factor driving wintertime COVID-19 outbreaks Wintertime outbreaks of COVID-19 have been largely driven by whether people adhere to control measures such as mask-wearing and social distancing, according to a study published Feb. 8 in  Nature Communications  by Princeton University researchers. Climate and population immunity play smaller roles during the current pandemic phase of the virus, the researchers found. The researchers -- working in summer 2020 -- ran simulations of a wintertime coronavirus outbreak in New York City to identify key factors that would allow the virus to proliferate. They found that relaxing control measures in the summer months led to an outbreak in the winter regardless of climate factors. "Our results implied that lax control measures -- and likely fatigue with complying with control measures -- would fuel wintertime outbreaks," said first author Rachel Baker, an associate research scholar in Princeton

  The body produces new satiety factors during prolonged exercise. A drug that helps us eat less could help the more than 650 million people worldwide who live with obesity. One of the emerging drug candidates that interest researchers are the hormone GDF15 that, when given to rodents, lowers their appetite and body weight. New research from the University of Copenhagen finds that the body produces large amounts of GDF15 during extended bouts of vigorous exercise, presumably a physiological stress signal. This finding highlights central differences between GDF15 given as a drug (pharmacology) and GDF15 released naturally in response to vigorous exercise (physiology). This is an important distinction in understanding GDF15's role in appetite regulation and energy balance, with implications for its role as a possible anti-obesity drug. "Whether there are any physiological conditions that implicate GDF15 as a regulator of energy metabolism remains an unsolved mystery," says

  Antibody-based COVID-19 treatments work best in concert with immune cells. Findings involving antibody effector functions could help improve the design of next-generation COVID-19 antibody drugs. Of the nine treatments and preventives for COVID-19 authorized for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration, three are drugs made from so-called monoclonal antibodies. Such drugs provide patients with ready-made antibodies that neutralize the virus, bypassing the body's slower and sometimes less effective process of making its own antibodies. But such therapies were developed without detailed information about how antibodies interact with the rest of the immune system during COVID-19. Faced with a new, deadly, and fast-spreading disease, drug designers started work without knowing whether antibodies' ability to activate various immune cells would aid or hinder efforts to control the disease. Such abilities are collectively known as antibody effector functions. A new study fr

  Long-term stress linked to increased risk of heart attack Can long-term stress lead to heart attacks? Most people would probably answer in the affirmative, but the scientific evidence of this is scarce. A new study by researchers from Linköping University in Sweden reveals that the levels of the stress hormone cortisol were increased in the months preceding a heart attack. The results, published in  Scientific Reports , suggest that long-term stress is a risk factor for heart attacks. "The levels of the stress hormone cortisol differed between people who have had a heart attack and those not affected. This suggests that cortisol in hair may be a new risk marker for heart attacks. We must take stress seriously," says Professor Tomas Faresjö from the Department of Health, Medicine and Caring Sciences at Linköping University, principal investigator of the study. Stress is a natural part of life today, but there is still a lot we don't know about the effects of long-term st

  TEACHERS AT HIGHER RISK FOR COVID-19 THAN STUDENTS ACCORDING TO A NEW STUDY Most countries introduced school closures during the spring of 2020 despite substantial uncertainty regarding the effectiveness of containing SARS-CoV-2. In Sweden, upper-secondary schools moved online while lower-secondary schools remained open. A comparison of parents with children in the final year of lower-secondary and the first year of upper-secondary school shows that keeping the former free had limited consequences for the virus's overall transmission. However, the infection rate doubled among lower-secondary teachers relative to upper-secondary ones. The infection rate among partners of the lower-secondary teacher was 30 percent higher than among their upper-secondary counterparts. On March 18, 2020, Swedish upper-secondary schools moved to online instruction while lower-secondary schools remained open. This facilitates a comparison of infections and disease between groups that are comparable in

  Commuters are inhaling unacceptably high levels of carcinogens Twenty minutes or longer in the car also raises the risk of birth defects A new study finds that California's commuters are likely inhaling chemicals at levels that increase the risk for cancer and birth defects. As with most chemicals, the poison is in the amount. Under a certain threshold of exposure, even known carcinogens are not likely to cause cancer. Once you cross that threshold, the risk for disease increases. Governmental agencies tend to regulate that threshold in workplaces. However, private spaces such as the interior of our cars and living rooms are less studied and less regulated. Benzene and formaldehyde -- both used in automobile manufacturing -- are known to cause cancer at or above certain levels of exposure and are Prop. 65-listed chemicals. New UC Riverside research shows that the average commuter in California exceeds the threshold for exposure, breathing in unsustainably high levels of both chem