PROTIME-FITNESS HOLISTIC HEALTH AND WELLNESS

    'Exercise protein' doubles running capacity. Animal and human data reveal a new target for reversing the age-related decline. A new study shows that humans express a powerful hormone during exercise and that treating mice with the hormone improves physical performance, capacity, and fitness. Researchers say the findings present new possibilities for addressing age-related physical decline. The research, published on Wednesday in  Nature Communications , reveals a detailed look at how the mitochondrial genome encodes instructions for regulating physical capacity, performance, and metabolism during aging and may increase a healthy lifespan. "Mitochondria are known as the cell's energy source, but they are also hubs that coordinate and fine-tune metabolism by actively communicating to the rest of the body," said Changhan David Lee, assistant professor at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology and corresponding author of the study. "As we age, that commu...

  COMPOUND SLOWS BONE LOSS AND POSSIBLY AGING Longitudinal and functional study of 700 aging mice provides a treasure trove of data for those studying aging and age-related diseases . A compound that extends lifespan in a tiny nematode worm slows bone loss in aging mice. That surprising result comes from a longitudinal and functional study of 700 aging mice at the Buck Institute, a project that provides a treasure trove of data for researchers aiming to develop therapeutics to slow aging and age-related diseases. The study is currently online in the  Journal of Bone and Mineral Research Plus . The project, which involved five Buck labs and took several years to complete, involved serially profiling the individual mice as they aged while testing several therapeutics that extended lifespan in simple model organisms or reduced neurological disease in mice. Researchers established change rates for clinically significant parameters in untreated mice, including kyphosis, blood gluco...

  Air pollution may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. Fine particulate air pollution stimulates the production of inflammatory cells, leading to inflammation of the arteries. Tiny particles of air pollution -- called fine particulate matter -- can have a range of health effects, and exposure to high levels is a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease. New research led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) reveals that fine particulate matter has a detrimental impact on cardiovascular health by activating inflammatory cells' production in the bone marrow, ultimately leading to inflammation of the arteries. The findings are published in the  European Heart Journal . The retrospective study included 503 patients without cardiovascular disease or cancer who had undergone imaging tests at MGH for various medical reasons. The scientists estimated participants' annual average fine particulate matter levels using data obtained from the U.S. Environme...

  DESIGNING MEDS FOR SPECIFIC ETHNIC GROUPS In a new perspective piece published recently in of  Science , pharmacologist Namandje Bumpus, Ph.D. -- who recently became the first African American woman to head a Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine department, and is the only African American woman leading a pharmacology department in the country -- outlines the molecular origins for differences in how well certain drugs work among distinct populations. She also lays out a four-part plan to improve the equity of drug development. "Human beings are more similar than we are different," says Bumpus. "Yet, the slightest variations in our genetic material can cause big differences in how well drugs work in our bodies. This is not a new idea." Genetic variants can be more likely to occur in some ethnic groups versus others. As a champion for diversity in science, Bumpus advocates that these differences make it even more important to increase diversity in clinical tr...

  Need to control blood sugar? There's a drink for that Ketone supplement may control glucose by mimicking some aspects of a ketogenic diet With more people with diabetes and pre-diabetes looking for strategies to help control blood sugar, new research from UBC's Okanagan campus suggests that ketone monoester drinks -- a popular new food supplement -- may help do exactly that. "There has been a lot of excitement and interest in ketone drinks and supplements, which have really only been on the market and available to consumers for the last couple of years," says Jonathan Little, associate professor at UBC Okanagan's School of Health and Exercise Sciences and study, the lead author. "Because they're so new, there's very little research on how they can influence metabolism, and we're among the first to look at their use in non-athletes." Little says that Type 2 diabetes is a disease whereby the body cannot control the level of sugar in the blood...

   Study finds those who gradually get overweight live the longest. People who start adulthood with a body mass index (BMI) in the normal range and move later in life to being overweight -- but never obese -- tend to live the longest, a new study suggests. Adults in this category lived longer than even those whose BMI stayed normal throughout their lives. Those who started adulthood as obese and continued to add weight had the highest mortality rate. "The impact of weight gain on mortality is complex. It depends on both the timing and the magnitude of weight gain and where BMI started," said Hui Zheng, lead author of the study and associate professor of sociology at The Ohio State University. "The main message is that for those who start at a normal weight in early adulthood, gaining a modest amount of weight throughout life and entering the overweight category in later adulthood can actually increase the probability of survival." Similar results were found in two g...

  CHILDHOOD DIET: LIFELONG IMPACT Eating too much fat and sugar as a child can alter your microbiome for life, even if you later learn to eat healthier, a new study in mice suggests . The study by UC Riverside researchers is one of the first to demonstrate a significant decrease in the total number and diversity of gut bacteria in mature mice that were fed a demonstrably healthy diet as juveniles. "We studied mice, but the effect we observed is equivalent tothat were  kids having a Western diet, high in fat and sugar and their gut microbiome still being affected up to six years after puberty," explained UCR evolutionary physiologist Theodore Garland. A paper describing the study has recently been published in the  Journal of Experimental Biology. The microbiome refers to all the bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses that live on and inside a human or animal. Most of these microorganisms are found in the intestines, and many of them are beneficial, stimulating the immune...