PROTIME-FITNESS HOLISTIC HEALTH AND WELLNESS

  LOWER SALT INTAKE AND LOWER BLOOD PRESSURE Everyone can lower blood pressure by reducing salt, even those on BP drugs.         Nearly everyone can lower their blood pressure, even people currently on blood pressure-reducing drugs, by reducing their sodium intake, reports a new study from Northwestern Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. "In the study, middle-aged to elderly participants reduced their salt intake by about 1 teaspoon a day compared with their usual diet. The result was a decline in systolic blood pressure by about 6 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg), which is comparable to the effect produced by a commonly utilized first-line medication for high blood pressure," said Dr. Deepak Gupta, associate professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and co-principal investigator. "We found that 70-75% of all people, regardless of whether they are already on blood pressure medications or not, are

  VITAMIN B-12 IS A KEY PLAYER IN CELL REPROGRAMMING  AND TISSUE REGENERATION         Vitamin B12 is a well-known micronutrient that has long been acknowledged for its essential role in maintaining nerve function, supporting red blood cell production, and facilitating DNA synthesis, all vital processes for overall health. Researchers led by  Dr.  Manuel Serrano at IRB Barcelona have revealed that vitamin B12 also plays a pivotal role in cellular reprogramming and tissue regeneration. The findings have been published in the journal  Nature Metabolism. The research was focused on an experimental process known as cellular reprogramming, which is thought to mimic the early phases of tissue repair. The IRB team found that cellular reprogramming in mice consumes large amounts of vitamin B12. Indeed, the depletion of vitamin B12 becomes a limiting factor that delays and impairs some aspects of the reprogramming process. Considering the abundance of vitamin B12 in the normal diet of mice, the

  BROCCOLI SPROUTS AND OTHER CRUCIFEROUS VEGETABLES PROTECT AGAINST IBD . High-fiber diets, like those that include broccoli sprouts or other cruciferous vegetables, may reduce disease symptoms and improve the quality of life in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), according to a study conducted in mice. The study was published in  mSystems , the American Society for Microbiology journal. In the study, the investigators used a popular interleukin-10-knockout (IL-10-KO) mouse model of Crohn's to investigate the interactions between mice and their immune systems, as well as the broccoli sprout diet, microbes within the Crohn's-afflicted gut, and how those microbes would use an inactive compound in the broccoli sprouts to make an anti-inflammatory compound in the gut. They also wanted to determine if, and by how much, a diet containing broccoli sprouts alleviates Crohn's symptoms, given the anti-inflammatory metabolites innately present in the sprouts. The researche

    A SYSTOLIC BLOOD PRESSURE LESS THAN 120 mm Hg  MAY HELP PREVENT STROKE, HEART ATTACK OR DEATH         An intensive three-year intervention to lower the top blood pressure number to less than 120 mm Hg was more effective at preventing death, heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular events in adults at high risk for cardiovascular disease, compared to the standard treatment target of under 140 mm Hg, according to late-breaking science presented today at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2023. The meeting, Nov. 11-13, in Philadelphia, is a premier global exchange of the latest scientific advancements, research and evidence-based clinical practice updates in cardiovascular science . "Our study provides evidence to support targeting systolic blood pressure to less than 120 mm Hg in hypertensive patients with high cardiovascular risk and normal or mild-reduced kidney function, regardless of their diabetes status (Type 1, Type 2 or none) or history of stro

  WHY DOES WARMING UP ENHANCE MUSCLE PERFORMANCE?         Everybody knows the importance of warming up your muscles before a workout. But what is actually going on when we warm our muscles up, and are all muscles the same? You might be surprised to find out that the science behind this routine activity hasn't always been clear. Now, in a study recently published in the  Journal of General Physiology , a multi-institutional research team, led by Osaka University, The Jikei University School of Medicine and National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology, has revealed how heating affects the contraction of different muscles, and how this might benefit populations in need of improved exercise performance. Skeletal muscle contracts in response to electrical signals from the nervous system, which activate proteins in muscle cells and allow us to move. The team previously explored how cardiac muscle contractions are affected by temperature, determining that our heart can contract

  NEW GEL DELIVERY SYSTEM FOR TREATING SOLID CANCER TUMORS         Intratumoral therapy -- in which cancer drugs are injected directly into tumors -- is a promising treatment option for solid cancers but has shown limited success in clinical trials due to an inability to precisely deliver the drug and because most immunotherapies quickly dissipate from the site of injection. Collaborating with colleagues at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, a team of researchers from Mass General Brigham has developed a gel delivery system that overcomes these challenges. The gel is injectable but solidifies upon delivery, contains an imaging agent for visualization under a CT scan, and can hold a high drug concentration for slow, controlled release. In a paper published in  Advanced Healthcare Materials , the team reports that using gel-delivered imiquimod (an immune-stimulating drug) in combination with checkpoint inhibitor therapy-induced tumor regression and increased survival in

  NEW PAIN TREATMENT OUTPERFORMS POPULAR  DRUGS Researchers identify a small molecule that inhibits four types of pain in preclinical studies.         A compound -- one of 27 million screened in a library of potential new drugs -- reversed four types of chronic pain in animal studies, according to new research led by NYU College of Dentistry's Pain Research Center and published in the  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences  ( PNAS ). The small molecule, which binds to an inner region of a calcium channel to indirectly regulate it, outperformed gabapentin without troublesome side effects, providing a promising candidate for treating pain. Calcium channels play a central role in pain signaling, in part through the release of neurotransmitters such as glutamate and GABA -- "the currency of the pain signal," according to Rajesh Khanna, director of the NYU Pain Research Center and professor of molecular pathobiology at NYU Dentistry. The Cav2.2 (or N-type) calcium ch

  ANY MOVEMENT IS BETTER THAN SITTING OR SLEEPING The study, supported by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and published in the  European Heart Journal , is the first to assess how different movement patterns throughout the 24-hour day are linked to heart health. It is the first evidence from the international Prospective Physical Activity, Sitting and Sleep (ProPASS) consortium. Cardiovascular disease, which refers to all diseases of the heart and circulation, is the number one cause of mortality globally. In 2021, it was responsible for one in three deaths (20.5m), with coronary heart disease alone the single biggest killer. Since 1997, the number of people living with cardiovascular disease across the world has doubled and is projected to rise further. In this study, researchers at UCL analyzed data from six studies, encompassing 15,246 people from five countries, to see how movement behavior across the day is associated with heart health, as measured by six common indicators*. Ea