PROTIME-FITNESS HOLISTIC HEALTH AND WELLNESS

  CBT HELPS CHILDREN SUFFERING FROM ANXIETY         Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have found overactivation in many brain regions, including the frontal and parietal lobes and the amygdala, in unmedicated children with anxiety disorders. They also showed that treatment with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) led to improvements in clinical symptoms and brain functioning. The findings illuminate the brain mechanisms underlying the acute effects of CBT to treat one of the most common mental disorders. The study, published in the  American Journal of Psychiatry , was led by researchers at NIH's National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). "We know that CBT is effective. These findings help us understand how CBT works, a critical first step in improving clinical outcomes," said senior author Melissa Brotman, Ph.D., Chief of the Neuroscience and Novel Therapeutics Unit in the NIMH Intramural Research Program. Sixty-nine unmedicated children diagnosed with an

  KIWIFRUIT MAY IMPROVE MOOD         Kiwifruit has proven to be a powerful mood booster, and new research from the University of Otago has shown how fast its effects can be. A study published in  The British Journal of Nutrition found that  the furry fruit improved vitality and mood in as little as four days. Co-author Professor Tamlin Conner of the Department of Psychology says the findings provide a tangible and accessible way for people to support their mental well-being. "It's great for people to know that small changes in their diet, like adding kiwifruit, could make a difference in how they feel every day." Vitamin C intake has been associated with improved mood, vitality, well-being, and lower depression, while vitamin C deficiency is associated with higher depression and cognitive impairment. However, Professor Conner says limited research has assessed how quickly mood improvements occur after introducing vitamin C supplements or whole food sources. The researcher

  TWO DRUG COMBINATION MAY BE MORE EFFECTIVE IN TREATING PROSTATE CANCER         Combining testosterone-blocking drugs in patients with prostate cancer relapse prevents the spread of cancer better than treatment with a single drug, a multi-institution, Phase 3 clinical trial led by UC San Francisco researchers has found. The approach can extend the time between debilitating drug treatments without prolonging the time to recover from each treatment. Prostate cancer affects 1 in 8 men and causes 34,000 deaths each year in the United States. It is usually treated with one of several testosterone-lowering drugs for a set period. "This adds to a growing body of evidence in favor of more intensive testosterone-blocking therapy in patients with higher-risk prostate cancer," said Rahul Aggarwal, MD, professor at the UCSF School of Medicine and lead author of the paper. The researchers' findings were published on Jan. 23, 2024, in the  Journal of Clinical Oncology . They were firs

  ENZYMES PLAY A CRITICAL ROLE IN PROTECTING NERVES         Indiana University researchers in the College of Arts and Sciences in Bloomington have identified a missing link that can help protect the brain from aging. Hui-Chen Lu, professor and director of the Linda and Jack Gill Center for Biomolecular Science at IU, alongside graduate students Sen Yang and Zhen Xian Niou, found that nicotinamide nucleotide adenylyl transferase 2, or NMNAT2, provides energy to axons independent of the mitochondria. It does this by propelling glycolysis, a process in which glucose is broken down to produce energy. This gives axons enough power to carry out nerve impulses to the brain and other body parts, keeping them healthy and functional. The enzyme can play a critical role in fending off neurodegenerative diseases like ALS, Alzheimer's, Huntington's, and Parkinson's as people age. The study can be found in  Molecular Neurodegeneration. Axons are long, thin fibers that connect nerve cells

  NON-OPIOID PAIN TREATMENT EFFECTIVE IN MICE STUDIES         Among the most challenging types of pain to alleviate is neuropathic pain, usually caused by nerve damage in various body tissues, including skin, muscles, and joints. It can cause patients to suffer feelings like electric shocks, tingling, burning, or stabbing. Diabetes, multiple sclerosis, chemotherapy drugs, injuries, and amputations have all been associated with neuropathic pain, which is often chronic, sometimes unrelenting, and affects millions of people worldwide. Many of the available pain medications are only moderately effective at treating this type of pain and often come with serious side effects, as well as the risk of addiction. Now, researchers at UT Austin, The University of Texas at Dallas, and the University of Miami have identified a molecule that reduces hypersensitivity in trials in mice by binding to a protein they have shown is involved in neuropathic pain. The findings appear in the journal  Proceedin

  REDUCE YOUR CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE RISK WITH A COMBINATION OF STRENGTH AND AEROBIC EXERCISE Approximately one in three deaths in the U.S. is caused by cardiovascular disease, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A robust body of evidence shows aerobic exercise can reduce risks, especially for people who are overweight or obese. However, only some studies have compared results with resistance exercise -- also known as strength or weight training -- or with workout regimens that are half aerobic and half resistance. Researchers at Iowa State University led one of the longest and largest supervised exercise trials to help fill this gap. Their results, published in the  European Heart Journal , indicate that splitting the recommended amount of physical activity between aerobic and resistance exercise reduces cardiovascular disease risks as much as aerobic-only regimens. Resistance exercise alone, at the same time, did not provide the same heart health benefit

  A NEW STUDY  HIGHLIGHTS THE IMPACT OF YO-YO DIETING         A new qualitative study highlights the negative interpersonal and psychological consequences of "yo-yo dieting," also known as weight cycling. The work underscores how toxic yo-yo dieting can be and how difficult it can be for people to break the cycle. "Yo-yo dieting -- unintentionally gaining weight and dieting to lose weight only to gain it back and restart the cycle -- is a prevalent part of American culture, with fad diets and lose-weight-quick plans or drugs normalized as people pursue beauty ideals," says Lynsey Romo, corresponding author of a paper on the study and an associate professor of communication at North Carolina State University. "Based on what we learned through this study, as well as the existing research, we recommend that most people avoid dieting, unless it is medically necessary. Our study also offers insights into how people can combat insidious aspects of weight cycling and

  OBESITY'S IMPACT ON MITOCHONDRIA FUNCTION The key mechanism behind obesity-related metabolic dysfunction         The number of people with obesity has nearly tripled since 1975, resulting in a worldwide epidemic. While lifestyle factors like diet and exercise play a role in the development and progression of obesity, scientists have come to understand that obesity is also associated with intrinsic metabolic abnormalities. Now, researchers from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine have shed new light on how obesity affects our mitochondria, the all-important energy-producing structures of our cells. In a study published January 29, 2023, in  Nature Metabolism , the researchers found that when mice were fed a high-fat diet, mitochondria within their fat cells broke apart into smaller mitochondria with reduced capacity for burning fat. Further, they discovered that this process is controlled by a single gene. Deleting this gene from the mice could protect them f