PROTIME-FITNESS HOLISTIC HEALTH AND WELLNESS

  MORE EVIDENCE THAT EXERCISING PROTECTS THE BRAIN Enhanced nerve transmission is seen in older adults who remain active. When elderly people stay active, their brains have more of a class of proteins that enhance the connections between neurons to maintain healthy cognition, a UC San Francisco study has found. This protective impact was found even in people whose brains at autopsy were riddled with toxic proteins associated with Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases. "Our work is the first that uses human data to show that synaptic protein regulation is related to physical activity and may drive the beneficial cognitive outcomes we see," said Kaitlin Casaletto, Ph.D., an assistant professor of neurology and lead author on the study, which appears in the January 7 issue of  Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association . The beneficial effects of physical activity on cognition have been shown in mice but have been much harder to

  Brain cell damage blood markers are higher in COVID-19 patients than in Alzheimer's patients. A new study finds that patients hospitalized for COVID-19 had higher levels over the short term of blood proteins known to rise with neurological damage than non-COVID-19 patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Notably, the current report, published online January 13 in  Alzheimer's & Dementia : The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association was conducted over two months early in the pandemic (March-May 2020). Therefore, determining whether patients with COVID-19 are at increased risk for future Alzheimer's disease or instead recover overtime must await the outcomes of long-term studies. Led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, the new study found higher levels of seven markers of brain damage (neurodegeneration) in COVID-19 patients with neurological symptoms than those without them, and much higher levels in patients that died in the hospital than in

  HEART ATTACKS DIAGNOSED IN MINUTES WITH NEW DEVICE  According to a study published in Lab on a Chip, researchers from the University of Notre Dame and the University of Florida have developed a sensor that could diagnose a heart attack in less than 30 minutes . Currently, it takes health care professionals hours to diagnose a heart attack. Initial results from an echocardiogram can quickly show indications of heart disease, but to confirm a patient has a heart attack, a blood sample and analysis are required. Those results can take up to eight hours. "The current methods used to diagnose a heart attack are not only time intensive, but they also have to be applied within a certain window of time to get accurate results. "Because our sensor targets a combination of miRNA, it can quickly diagnose more than just heart attacks without the timeline limitation." By targeting three distinct types of microRNA or miRNA, the newly developed sensor can distinguish between an acute

  LOW-FAT MILK IS NO BETTER THAN WHOLE MILK FOR CHILDREN A world-first study from Edith Cowan University (ECU) has found whole fat milk is just as good for kids as low fat. The research published by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition today suggests current public health advice recommending children over the age of two consume low-fat dairy products may need to be revised. ECU's Associate Professor Therese O'Sullivan led the investigation into the consumption of full-fat dairy products in children as part of the Milky Way study. Over three months, 49 healthy children aged four to six were randomly allocated to receive either whole-fat or low-fat dairy products in place of their average daily intake. Dairy products were home delivered every fortnight in plain packaging at no cost to the participants to ensure purchase price wasn't a factor. Neither group knew whether they were consuming whole-fat or low-fat dairy, while any leftover products were weighed each fortnigh

   Ultra-processed food Consumption is on the rise in the United States. 18-year study measures increase in industrially manufactured foods that may be contributing to obesity and other diseases Consumption of ultra-processed foods has increased over the past two decades across nearly all segments of the U.S. population, according to a new study by researchers at NYU School of Global Public Health. "The overall composition of the average U.S. diet has shifted towards a more processed diet. This is concerning, as eating more ultra-processed foods is associated with poor diet quality and higher risk of several chronic diseases," said Filippa Juul, an assistant professor and postdoctoral fellow at NYU School of Public Health and the study's lead author. "The high and increasing consumption of ultra-processed foods in the 21 st  century may be a key driver of the obesity epidemic." Ultra-processed foods are industrially manufactured, ready-to-eat or heat, include ad

  B12 MAY HELP PREVENT ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE. Worms don't wiggle when they have Alzheimer's disease. Yet something helped worms with the disease hold onto their wiggle in Professor Jessica Tanis's lab at the University of Delaware. In solving the mystery, Tanis and her team have yielded new clues into the potential impact of diet on Alzheimer's, the dreaded degenerative brain disease afflicting more than 6 million Americans. A few years ago, Tanis and her team began investigating factors affecting the onset and progression of Alzheimer's disease. They were doing genetic research with  C. elegans , a tiny soil-dwelling worm subject of numerous studies. Expression of amyloid-beta, a toxic protein implicated in Alzheimer's disease, paralyzes worms within 36 hours of reaching adulthood. While the worms in one petri dish in Tanis's lab were rendered completely immobile, the worms of the same age in the adjacent petri dish still had their wiggle, documented as &

  TYPE 2 DIABETES TREATMENTS SHOULD FOCUS ON WEIGHT LOSS An international panel of experts from four renowned diabetes research centers, including U.T. Southwestern Medical Center, has reviewed current literature and recommends a pivotal change in the treatment of Type 2 diabetes to focus on obesity first and glucose control second. "It's known that obesity contributes to the progression of diabetes. What's new is that instead of focusing exclusively on lowering blood sugar, we recommend the primary approach to the treatment of Type 2 diabetes be on the treatment of obesity," said first author Ildiko Lingvay, M.D., M.P.H., M.S.C.S. The researchers state that dropping 15% or more of body weight can have a disease-modifying effect in Type 2 diabetes, an outcome that is unattainable by any other glucose-lowering intervention. The new focus would require updating current treatment guidelines and providing significant provider education, they note. The panel's recommen