Category Archives: Health

Magnetic Resonance Imaging Shows Brain Inflammation in Vivo for the First Time

May 27, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

Summary: Neuroimaging technology allowed researchers to capture the activity of microglia and astrocytes in the brain. The researchers were able to quantify alterations in the morphology of different cell populations implicated in neuroinflammation.

Source: CSIC

Research in the laboratories led by Dr. Silvia de Santis and Dr. Santiago Canals, both from the Institute of Neurosciences UMH-CSIC (Alicante, Spain), has made it possible to visualize for the first time and in great detail brain inflammation using diffusion-weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

This detailed “X-ray” of inflammation cannot be obtained with conventional MRI, but requires data acquisition sequences and special mathematical models.

Once the method was developed, the researchers were able to quantify the alterations in the morphology of the different cell populations involved in the inflammatory process in the brain.

An innovative strategy developed by the researchers has made possible this important breakthrough, which is published today in the journal Science Advances and which may be crucial to change the course of the study and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

The research, whose first author is Raquel Garcia-Hernández, demonstrates that diffusion-weighted MRI can noninvasively and differentially detect the activation of microglia and astrocytes, two types of brain cells that are at the basis of neuroinflammation and its progression.

Degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s and other dementias, Parkinson’s or multiple sclerosis are a pressing and difficult problem to address. Sustained activation of two types of brain cells, microglia and astrocytes leads to chronic inflammation in the brain that is one of the causes of neurodegeneration and contributes to its progression.

However, there is a lack of non-invasive approaches capable of specifically characterizing brain inflammation in vivo. The current gold standard is positron emission tomography (PET), but it is difficult to generalize and is associated with exposure to ionizing radiation, so its use is limited in vulnerable populations and in longitudinal studies, which require the use of PET repeatedly over a period of years, as is the case in neurodegenerative diseases.

Another drawback of PET is its low spatial resolution, which makes it unsuitable for imaging small structures, with the added drawback that inflammation-specific radiotracers are expressed in multiple cell types (microglia, astrocytes and endothelium), making it impossible to differentiate between them.

In the face of these drawbacks, diffusion-weighted MRI has the unique ability to image brain microstructure in vivo noninvasively and with high resolution by capturing the random movement of water molecules in the brain parenchyma to generate contrast in MRI images.

INNOVATIVE STRATEGY

In this study, researchers from the UMH-CSIC Neurosciences Institute have developed an innovative strategy that allows imaging of microglial and astrocyte activation in the gray matter of the brain using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (dw-MRI).

“This is the first time it has been shown that the signal from this type of MRI (dw-MRI) can detect microglial and astrocyte activation, with specific footprints for each cell population. This strategy we have used reflects the morphological changes validated post-mortem by quantitative immunohistochemistry,” the researchers note.

They have also shown that this technique is sensitive and specific for detecting inflammation with and without neurodegeneration, so that both conditions can be differentiated. In addition, it makes it possible to discriminate between inflammation and demyelination characteristic of multiple sclerosis.

This work has also been able to demonstrate the translational value of the approach used in a cohort of healthy humans at high resolution, “in which we performed a reproducibility analysis. The significant association with known microglia density patterns in the human brain supports the usefulness of the method for generating reliable glia biomarkers.

“We believe that characterizing, using this technique, relevant aspects of tissue microstructure during inflammation, noninvasively and longitudinally, can have a tremendous impact on our understanding of the pathophysiology of many brain conditions, and can transform current diagnostic practice and treatment monitoring strategies for neurodegenerative diseases,” highlights Silvia de Santis.

To validate the model, the researchers have used an established paradigm of inflammation in rats based on intracerebral administration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). In this paradigm, neuronal viability and morphology are preserved, while inducing, first, activation of microglia (the brain’s immune system cells), and in a delayed manner, an astrocyte response.

Researchers from the UMH-CSIC Neurosciences Institute have developed an innovative strategy that allows imaging of microglial and astrocyte activation in the gray matter of the brain using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (dw-MRI). Credit: IN-CSIC-UMH

This temporal sequence of cellular events allows glial responses to be transiently dissociated from neuronal degeneration and the signature of reactive microglia investigated independently of astrogliosis.

To isolate the imprint of astrocyte activation, the researchers repeated the experiment by pretreating the animals with an inhibitor that temporarily ablates about 90% of microglia.

Subsequently using an established paradigm of neuronal damage, they tested whether the model was able to unravel neuroinflammatory “footprints” with and without concomitant neurodegeneration.

“This is critical to demonstrate the utility of our approach as a platform for the discovery of biomarkers of inflammatory status in neurodegenerative diseases, where both glia activation and neuronal damage are key players,” they clarify.

About this neuroimaging research news

Author: Alda Ólafsson
Source: CSIC
Contact: Alda Ólafsson – CSIC
Image: The image is credited to IN-CSIC-UMH

Original Research: Open access.
“Mapping microglia and astrocyte activation in vivo using diffusion MRI” by Raquel Garcia-Hernández et al. Science Advances

Abstract

Mapping microglia and astrocyte activation in vivo using diffusion MRI

While glia are increasingly implicated in the pathophysiology of psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders, available methods for imaging these cells in vivo involve either invasive procedures or positron emission tomography radiotracers, which afford low resolution and specificity.

Here, we present a noninvasive diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method to image changes in glia morphology.

Using rat models of neuroinflammation, degeneration, and demyelination, we demonstrate that diffusion-weighted MRI carries a fingerprint of microglia and astrocyte activation and that specific signatures from each population can be quantified noninvasively.

The method is sensitive to changes in glia morphology and proliferation, providing a quantitative account of neuroinflammation, regardless of the existence of a concomitant neuronal loss or demyelinating injury.

We prove the translational value of the approach showing significant associations between MRI and histological microglia markers in humans.

This framework holds the potential to transform basic and clinical research by clarifying the role of inflammation in health and disease.

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Health

Chicago COVID update: With cases rising, officials urge face mask use over Memorial Day weekend

May 27, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

CHICAGO (WLS) — Chicago area public health officials are urging people to put masks back on in certain situations, especially over the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

The warning comes as a recent COVID surge has moved Chicago and many surrounding counties into the CDC’s high community transmission level. However, returning to a mask mandate seems a long way off.

Heading into the Memorial Day weekend, with many people planning to gather with family and friends, Chicago Commissioner of Public Health Dr. Allison Arwady urged people to wear masks when indoors with the city in the high risk category.

“We ask everybody for this short time period while we are in high put that mask on especially if you are in an indoor crowded setting,” Dr. Arwady said.

But, will people voluntarily comply? Psychiatric experts say compliance rates definitely increase if people are required to do something, but after two years, mandates are tough as people suffer from COVID fatigue.

“You can only demand conformity or mandate conformity for a period of time until people become weary of it,” said Dr. Robert Shulman at Rush University.

WATCH | Dr. Arwady on what it means when Chicago moves to ‘high’ COVID risk

Chicago’s not alone. In the Chicago area, Cook, DuPage, Lake (IL), McHenry, Will and Grundy counties all appeared as “high risk” on the CDC’s map when it was updated Thursday afternoon.

Despite the recommendation to wear masks, it is not a requirement for now.

“I’m going to wear my mask inside, it’s probably the right thing to do,” Michael Pattis said.

What does is mean to be at high COVID level?

“It’s hard to breathe, plus it should be your choice to wear one or not,” Raymond Rodgers said. “I’m not going to do it.”

In Chicago, compared to the start of the pandemic when 50 to 60 people a day were dying, the current average is less than one per day.

Despite an increase in hospitalization numbers, they’re still a fraction of what they were during the omicron peak a few months ago.

At Edward-Elmhurst Health, COVID-related hospitalizations have more than doubled in the past five weeks.

But compared to other surges, fewer patients are critically ill.

“Because of vaccinations and the protection they have and because of anti-viral treatments, we’re not seeing severe illness lead to death or ICU care as much,” Dr. Jonathan Pinsky, Medical Director of Infection Control at Edward Elmhurst Health, said.

But health officials are keeping a close eye on how stressed the healthcare system may become.

“If we see an increase in stress, than we’ll have to take other measures,” said Dr. Rachel Rubin, at Cook County Dept. of Public Health.

Rubin said hospitalizations can remain low if people do the right thing and mask up.

“What I would hope is for the management of these public spaces – whether it’s a retail establishment or event space – that they would do their best to ask people put masks on,” Rubin added.

To keep it under control, Arwady said more Chicagoans need to get boosted. The rate has remained low for months, with only 42% of eligible residents having received a booster shot.

In addition, Arwady said residents should avoid crowded indoor gatherings, limit gatherings to small numbers and test right away if you have symptoms.

Anyone who tests positive is asked to isolate for five days and if they are feeling better, they can go in public while wearing a mask for the next five days.

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Health

The Anti-Vaccine Movement’s New Frontier

May 27, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

One chilly afternoon this past January, Kennedy took the microphone in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, before a crowd of maybe a few hundred people, some of whom carried signs reading, “We will not comply,” “Resist medical tyranny” (accompanied by a swastika) and “Land of the free you can’t mandate me.” A march earlier that day, involving several thousand people, included members of the far-right nationalist group the Proud Boys, firefighters wearing helmets and even a few Buddhist monks from New England. They had gathered for a rally billed as Defeat the Mandates: An American Homecoming. Its speakers included many of the country’s best-known vaccine skeptics: the vaccine researcher Robert Malone; the activist Del Bigtree; and, of course, Kennedy.

“What we’re seeing today is what I call turnkey totalitarianism,” he told his audience. “They are putting into place all these technological mechanisms for control that we’ve never seen before.” He continued: “Even in Hitler’s Germany you could cross the Alps into Switzerland. You could hide in an attic like Anne Frank did.” But no longer, he suggested: “The mechanisms are being put in place that will make it so that none of us can run and none of us can hide.”

Reaction was swift, including from his own wife, the actress Cheryl Hines. On Twitter, she called the Anne Frank reference “reprehensible and insensitive.” But outrage over the allusion to Frank belied the deeper issue, which is just how influential Kennedy and other figures in the anti-vaccine movement have become. Kennedy is chairman of an organization named Children’s Health Defense; it applied for the permit to hold the Washington rally. The nonprofit group, which says it aims to “end childhood health epidemics by working aggressively to eliminate harmful exposures,” churns out online articles that sow doubt about vaccine safety. And it has expanded aggressively during the pandemic. In January 2020, the Children’s Health Defense website received just under 84,000 monthly visits from the United States, according to the tracking firm Similarweb. As of this March, that number had reached more than 1.4 million monthly visits, a 17-fold increase in traffic. (Revenue, coming from donations and fund-raising events, was already surging before the pandemic, according to the group’s tax filings, to $6.8 million in 2020 from just under $1.1 million in 2018.)

By one measure, C.H.D.’s reach now occasionally outstrips that of bona fide news outlets. Indiana University’s Observatory on Social Media, whose CoVaxxy Project follows how vaccine-related content is shared on Twitter, has found that the organization’s vaccine-related posts — these might falsely claim that thousands of people have died from being vaccinated, for example, or that the risks of Covid-19 boosters outweigh the benefits — are frequently shared more widely than vaccine-related items from CNN, NPR and the Centers for Disease Control. In some weeks, the vaccine-related content of the Children’s Health Defense was shared more widely than that of The New York Times or The Washington Post.

Kennedy, who did not respond to questions submitted through his publisher, embodies a seeming contradiction of the anti-vaccine movement that presents a particularly difficult challenge for lay people. He has done important work as an environmental lawyer, and though other members of his family have publicly criticized his anti-vaccine crusade, he still bears the name of one of the country’s best known Democratic political families. He brings a certain amount of credibility to his cause. Many other figures who routinely question the safety and utility of vaccines have credentials that can seem impressive. They include Wakefield; Malone, the researcher who claims to have invented the mRNA vaccine (35 years ago, he and several colleagues published an important paper in the field, but other scientists say that he didn’t “invent” the technology, which hundreds of scientists have since worked on); and Judy Mikovits, a researcher whose 2009 paper linking chronic fatigue syndrome to a viral infection was retracted from the journal Science. Mikovits, who was fired from her job as research director of the Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuro-Immune Disease in Reno, Nev., has published a best-selling book about supposed malfeasance in science titled “Plague of Corruption.”

Numerous experts told me that a good way to understand what motivates many players in the anti-vaccine movement is through the lens of profit. There are several levels of profiteering. The first involves social media companies. Historically, the algorithms that drive their platforms, some argue, have fed users more and more of what they respond to without regard for whether it’s true. “It’s not some sophisticated technology,” says Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who studies misinformation on social media. “It turns out we’re primitive jerks. And the most outrageous stuff, we click on it.”

Facebook and other social media companies have, they claim, taken steps to counter the proliferation of vaccine-related misinformation on their sites. Facebook now says that it is helping to “keep people healthy and safe” by providing reliable information on vaccines. But Farid and others doubt that Facebook, in particular, will ever rid itself entirely of such material because attention-grabbing content is, in the attention economy, immensely valuable. “The business model, that’s really the core poison here,” Farid says. A partial solution, he thinks, would be changes to regulatory laws allowing individuals to hold social media companies legally responsible — through lawsuits — for harm connected to content they promote: “You should be held accountable for what you’re promoting, particularly because they’re making money from it.” Aaron Simpson, a spokesman for Meta, the parent company of Facebook, told me in an email that the company has “every incentive” to purge misinformation from its platforms because it makes money from ads, and advertisers have repeatedly said they don’t want their ads appearing next to misinformation. And yet, in the past, prominent anti-vaccine activists have themselves been advertisers on Facebook.

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Health

Mosquitoes test positive for rare but potentially deadly virus in Georgia – WSB-TV Channel 2

May 27, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

VALDOSTA, Ga. — Health officials say two mosquito pools in South Georgia have tested positive for Eastern equine encephalitis.

EEE is a virus that is spread to people through the bite of an infected mosquito. Only a few cases are reported in the United States each year.

Although rare, EEE is very serious. Approximately 30% of people with EEE die and many survivors have ongoing neurological problems.

There are no vaccines to prevent EEE or medicines to treat it.

TRENDING STORIES:

Here are some ways you can help prevent getting bitten by a mosquito:

Use insect repellent containing DEET, picaridin, IR3535 or oil of lemon eucalyptus on exposed skin and/or clothing.
Wear long sleeves and pants when the weather permits.
Have secure, intact screens on windows and doors to keep mosquitoes out.
Eliminate mosquito breeding sites by emptying standing water from flowerpots, buckets, barrels, wading pools and other containers. Drill holes in tire swings so water drains out.
Be sure to use repellent and wear protective clothing from dusk to dawn or consider indoor activities during these times due to peak mosquito-biting hours.

“While it is not uncommon for mosquito-borne illnesses to be identified within our communities this time of year, it is important that we not become complacent to the risks,” said Kenneth Lowery, the district epidemiologist with Georgia Department of Public Health’s South Health District. “Avoiding going outside during peak mosquito times and making sure you are taking precautions when you are outside are the best defenses against mosquito-borne illnesses.”

To learn more about EEE, CLICK HERE.

Global toll of sudden, mysterious hepatitis in children rises to 650 cases

May 27, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

Last week, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control reported a total of 614 cases under investigation in 30 countries.

About one-third of the cases, 222, are in the UK, and another 216 have been reported in the US, WHO reported Friday.

Most of the children in the international investigation got sick in March and April, according to the update.

Before this outbreak, about half of cases of sudden hepatitis — or inflammation of the liver — in young children could not be tied to a known cause. But WHO says the cases being investigated now seem to be different from anything doctors have seen before. The hepatitis comes on quickly and appears to be more clinically severe, with a higher proportion of children developing liver failure.

Of a subset of 156 cases with data on hospital admission, about 14% required intensive care, and 12% needed a liver transplant.

WHO says it’s not clear whether these are a greater number of cases of sudden hepatitis than doctors would normally expect to see over the same period of time.

Most of the affected children — 75% — are young, under the age of 5. Most were healthy before they fell ill.

Common viruses known to cause hepatitis, such as hepatitis A, B, C, D and E, have been ruled out in these kids. The strongest connection between the cases seems to be a virus called adenovirus 41, which is known to cause stomach upset like diarrhea and vomiting; many of the affected kids reported those symptoms before becoming jaundiced, when the whites of their eyes and perhaps their skin developed a yellowish tinge that’s a sign of liver problems.

But adenovirus 41 isn’t an obvious culprit, experts say, because it has never been known to cause hepatitis in children who are don’t have weakened immune systems.

The UK Health Security Agency has launched a case-control study to try to determine whether adenovirus 41 is detected more often in children with hepatitis than in others. UK scientists say they have found an increase in adenovirus activity, which is co-circulating with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.

WHO says SARS-CoV-2 has been detected in a number of the cases, although the data it has is incomplete.

Researchers are also looking into other possible causes, including environmental exposures, toxins and perhaps co-infections with another virus.

Investigators in the UK have ruled out exposure to dogs as a possibility in these cases, and because most of the children are too young to be vaccinated against Covid-19, they say the Covid vaccines are not playing any role.

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Health

Smart Pacemaker Harmlessly Dissolves in the Body After It’s No Longer Needed

May 27, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

The transient pacemaker is shown before dissolving. The device is flexible, stretchy, and wireless. Credit: Northwestern University

Last summer,

Watch the pacemaker harmlessly degrade over time. Credit: Northwestern University

The sensors communicate with each other to continuously monitor the body’s various physiological functions, including body temperature, oxygen levels, respiration, physical activity, muscle tone, and the heart’s electrical activity.

The system then automatically analyzes this combined activity using algorithms in order to autonomously detect abnormal cardiac rhythms and decide when to pace the heart and at what rate. All this information is streamed to a smartphone or tablet, so physicians can remotely monitor their patients.

“This approach could change the way patients receive care providing multimodal, closed-loop control over essential physiological processes — through a wireless network of sensors and stimulators that operates in a manner inspired by the complex, biological feedback loops that control behaviors in living organisms.”

— John A. Rogers, Louis Simpson and Kimberly Querrey Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Neurological Surgery

The new transient pacemaker and sensor/control network can be used in patients who required temporary pacing after cardiac surgery or are waiting for a permanent pacemaker. The pacemaker wirelessly harvests energy from a node within the network — a small wireless device that softly adheres to the patient’s chest. This technology eliminates the need for external hardware, including wires (or leads).

To enable the system to communicate with the patient, the researchers incorporated a small, wearable haptic-feedback device that can be worn anywhere on the body. When the sensors detect an issue (such as low battery power, incorrect device placement or pacemaker malfunction), the haptic device vibrates in specific patterns that alert wearers and inform them of the problem.

A microCT scan of a small animal model shows how the transient pacemaker dissolves over time. Credit: Northwestern University

Insights from the experts

“This marks the first time we have paired soft, wearable electronics with transient electronic platforms,” Rogers said. “This approach could change the way patients receive care providing multimodal, closed-loop control over essential physiological processes — through a wireless network of sensors and stimulators that operates in a manner inspired by the complex, biological feedback loops that control behaviors in living organisms.

“For temporary cardiac pacing, the system untethers patients from monitoring and stimulation apparatuses that keep them confined to a hospital setting. Instead, patients could recover in the comfort of their own homes while maintaining the peace of mind that comes with being remotely monitored by their physicians. This also would reduce the cost of health care and free up hospital beds for other patients.”

“In current settings, temporary pacemakers require a wire that is connected to an external generator that stimulates the heart,” Efimov said. “When the heart regains its ability to stimulate itself appropriately, the wire has to be pulled out. As you might imagine, this is a pretty dramatic procedure to pull out a wire connected to the heart. We decided to approach this problem from a different angle. We created a pacemaker that simply dissolves and does not need to be removed. This avoids the dangerous step of pulling out the wire.”

“We created a pacemaker that simply dissolves and does not need to be removed. This avoids the dangerous step of pulling out the wire.”

— Igor R. Efimov, Professor of Biomedical Engineering

“Current pacemakers are quite intelligent and respond well to the changing needs of the patients,” Arora said. “But the wearable modules do everything traditional pacemakers do and more. A patient basically wears a little patch on their chest and gets real-time feedback to control the pacemaker. Not only is the pacemaker itself bioresorbable, it is controlled by a soft, wearable patch that allows the pacemaker to respond to the usual activities of life without needing implantable sensors.”

Rogers is the Louis Simpson and Kimberly Querrey Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Neurological Surgery at the McCormick School of Engineering and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and the director of the Querrey Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics (QSIB). Efimov is a professor of biomedical engineering in McCormick and professor of medicine (cardiology) in Feinberg. Arora is a professor of medicine at Feinberg, and co-director of the Center for Arrhythmia Research.

Connecting the ‘body-area network’

A bioelectronics pioneer, Rogers and his lab have been developing soft, flexible, wireless wearable devices, and bioresorbable electronic technologies for nearly two decades. In the new study, Rogers and his collaborators combined and coordinated their bioresorbable, leadless pacemaker with four different skin-interfaced devices to work together. The skin-mounted devices are soft, flexible and can be gently peeled off after use, eliminating the need for surgical removal. The pacemaker naturally dissolves in the body after a period of need.

The “body-area network” includes:

A battery-free transient, bioresorbable pacemaker to temporarily pace the heart
A cardiac module that sits on the chest to provide power to and control stimulation parameters for the implanted pacemaker as well as sense electrical activity and sounds of the heart
A hemodynamics module that sits on the forehead to sense pulse oximetry, tissue oxygenation and vascular tone
A respiratory module that sits at the base of the throat to monitor coughing and respiratory activity
A multi-haptic-feedback module that vibrates and pulses in a variety of patterns to communicate with the patient.

“We wanted to demonstrate that it’s possible to deploy multiple different types of devices, each performing essential functions in a wirelessly coordinated manner across the body,” Rogers said. “Some are sensing. Some are delivering power. Some are stimulating. Some are providing control signals. But they all work together, trading information, making decisions based on algorithms and reacting to changing conditions. The vision of multiple bioelectronic devices all talking to one another and performing different functions at different relevant anatomical locations is a frontier area that we will continue to pursue going into the future.”

New advances, on-demand pacing

Since Northwestern’s transient pacemaker was first introduced a year ago, the researchers have made multiple improvements to advance the technology. While the previous device was flexible, the new device is flexible and stretchy, enabling it to better accommodate the changing nature of a beating heart. Another new benefit: As the transient pacemaker slowly and harmlessly dissolves, it now releases an anti-inflammatory drug to prevent foreign-body reactions.

Perhaps the most impactful advance is the device’s ability to provide pacing on-demand, based on when the patient needs it. Synced with the pacemaker, the chest-mounted cardiac module records an electrocardiogram in real time to monitor heart activity. In the study, researchers compared this wireless technology to gold-standard electrocardiograms and found it was as accurate and precise as clinical-grade systems.

“The cardiac module literally tells the pacemaker to apply stimulus to the heart,” Efimov explained. “If normal activity is regained, then it stops pacing. This is important because if you stimulate the heart when it’s unnecessary, then you risk inducing arrhythmia.”

“The pacing system is completely autonomous,” said Yeon Sik Choi, a postdoctoral fellow in Rogers’ lab and co-first author of the paper. “It can automatically detect a problem and apply treatment. It’s easy and self-contained with minimal external needs.”

Health care gentle enough for newborns

Rogers, Efimov, Arora, and their teams believe their system would be most beneficial for the most vulnerable patients. Every year, approximately 40,000 babies are born with a hole in the wall that separates their heart’s upper chambers. About 10,000 of these cases are life threatening, requiring immediate surgery. After surgery, 100 percent of babies receive a temporary pacemaker.

“The good news is this is a temporary condition,” Efimov said. “After about five to seven days, the heart regains its ability to stimulate itself and no longer needs a pacemaker. The procedure to remove the pacemaker has improved greatly over the years, so the rate of complications is low. But we could free these babies from the wires connecting to an external generator and free them from needing a second procedure.”

Reference: “A transient, closed-loop network of wireless, body-integrated devices for autonomous electrotherapy” by Yeon Sik Choi, Hyoyoung Jeong, Rose T. Yin, Raudel Avila, Anna Pfenniger, Jaeyoung Yoo, Jong Yoon Lee, Andreas Tzavelis, Young Joong Lee, Sheena W. Chen, Helen S. Knight, Seungyeob Kim, Hak-Young Ahn, Grace Wickerson, Abraham Vázquez-Guardado, Elizabeth Higbee-Dempsey, Bender A. Russo, Michael A. Napolitano, Timothy J. Holleran, Leen Abdul Razzak, Alana N. Miniovich, Geumbee Lee, Beth Geist, Brandon Kim, Shuling Han, Jaclyn A. Brennan, Kedar Aras, Sung Soo Kwak, Joohee Kim, Emily Alexandria Waters, Xiangxing Yang, Amy Burrell, Keum San Chun, Claire Liu, Changsheng Wu, Alina Y. Rwei, Alisha N. Spann, Anthony Banks, David Johnson, Zheng Jenny Zhang, Chad R. Haney, Sung Hun Jin, Alan Varteres Sahakian, Yonggang Huang, Gregory D. Trachiotis, Bradley P. Knight, Rishi K. Arora, Igor R. Efimov and John A. Rogers, 27 May 2022, Science.
DOI: 10.1126/science.abm1703

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Man Gets Temporary Amnesia After Sex With His Wife

May 27, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

A man visited hospital after getting amnesia 10 minutes after having sex with his wife.
He couldn’t retain new information and his memory of the day before was temporarily wiped.
He was diagnosed with transient global amnesia, a poorly understood condition that can be linked to sex.

A man got amnesia 10 minutes after having afternoon sex with his wife, temporarily wiping his memory of the previous day and rendering him unable to retain new information, doctors have said.

The 66-year-old man became “distressed” after he looked at his phone after sex one afternoon, saw the date and thought that he’d forgotten his wedding anniversary — when in fact he’d celebrated it with his wife and family the day before, doctors from Limerick, Ireland said in a case report published in the Official Journal of the Irish Medical Organisation on Wednesday.

The memory loss lasted for an hour, with the man repeatedly questioning his wife and daughter over the events of the morning and the previous day, the doctors said.

The man, who was not identified in the case report, visited an emergency room, and had a completely normal neurological examination by the time he got there, they said.

Doctors diagnosed him with transient global amnesia (TGA), a benign condition that causes sudden, short term memory loss and the inability to form new memories. Any memory loss typically lasts 4 to 6 hours without the need for treatment, but can last up to 24 hours.

The doctors who authored the report said repetitive questions and an inability to retain answers are key features of TGA.

TGA can mimic other conditions such as stroke, dementia, or epilepsy, and may have implications for certain jobs, such as pilots.

Most cases have been reported in men aged between 50 and 70. We don’t know exactly what causes TGA, but it has been linked to several activities including physical exertion, immersion in cold or hot water, emotional stress, pain, and sex.

The man in the case report had experienced the exact same phenomena seven years prior. TGA can happen to a person more than once, though exactly how often is not agreed upon.

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A man developed sudden amnesia after having sex with his wife, completely forgetting his own wedding anniversary party the day before

May 27, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

A key feature of transient global amnesia is repetitive questions and an inability to retain the answers given.Getty

A man visited hospital after getting amnesia 10 minutes after having sex with his wife.
He couldn’t retain new information and his memory of the day before was temporarily wiped.
He was diagnosed with transient global amnesia, a poorly understood condition that can be linked to sex.

A man got amnesia 10 minutes after having afternoon sex with his wife, temporarily wiping his memory of the previous day and rendering him unable to retain new information, doctors have said.

The memory loss lasted for an hour, with the man repeatedly questioning his wife and daughter over the events of the morning and the previous day, the doctors said.

The man, who was not identified in the case report, visited an emergency room, and had a completely normal neurological examination by the time he got there, they said.

The doctors who authored the report said repetitive questions and an inability to retain answers are key features of TGA.

TGA can mimic other conditions such as stroke, dementia, or epilepsy, and may have implications for certain jobs, such as pilots.

The man in the case report had experienced the exact same phenomena seven years prior. TGA can happen to a person more than once, though exactly how often is not agreed upon.

Read the original article on Insider

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I planned my own funeral after ignoring deadly signs – don’t make my mistake

May 27, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

A mom spent two weeks planning her own funeral after ignoring the signs of bowel cancer.

Tasha Thor-Straten, 49, brushed off the blood in her stool as a symptom of “work or parenting stress.”

But, when the blood became “too much to bare”, Tasha reluctantly went to the GP – who referred her for a colonoscopy.

Two weeks later, the mom, from Rochford, United Kingdom, was told she had terminal bowel cancer, which had spread to her lungs.

Devastated Tasha returned home and began planning her funeral until test results one-year on offered a window of hope.

The mum received treatment for stage 3 cancer after the lung nodules doctors spotted were found to be benign.

She received four rounds of chemo – during which Tasha contacted Dame Deborah James for support.

The Sun’s stellar columnist Dame Deborah, known online as Bowel Babe, was this month awarded a Damehood for her “tireless campaigning” to raise awareness of bowel cancer.

Addressing her own battle with cancer, Tasha said: “I can’t describe the feeling when someone tells you that you have a terminal illness.

“I was only 44, with young kids and a new relationship and suddenly the rug was being pulled from under my feet.

Thor-Straten was told she had terminal bowel cancer, which had spread to her lungs.

“I feel incredibly lucky to still be here today, which is why I now work as a life coach helping other cancer patients to understand things like how their diet can improve their health during treatment.”

Tasha – who had moved in with her new partner Russ shortly before her diagnosis – told how she ignored the signs of bowel cancer.

She added: “I was ignoring the blood in my stools.

“I didn’t think anything of it and I assumed it was just down to things like work or parenting stress.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

Thor-Straten had stage 3 cancer and was eligible for invasive and potentially life-saving surgery.

“I went to my GP surgery twice and chickened out on saying anything because I was scared about the process and what might happen next.

“When I look back on that time, there were other symptoms, such as pain in my stomach when exercising and lower back pain, but I put this down to over-exertion.

“It wasn’t until Christmas 2016 that the blood loss was becoming too much and I reluctantly went to the doctor who referred me for a colonoscopy.”

Just two weeks after her colonoscopy, on Jan. 27, 2017, Tasha was brought in for her results.

She was told she had terminal bowel cancer which had spread to her lungs – and was offered palliative care.

“It was utterly shocking and devastating,” Tasha added.

Thor-Straten said she was shocked by the diagnosis.

“It never occurred to me that my symptoms could be bowel cancer. I was fit, healthy and took care of my diet and there was no history of it in my family.

“To find out that not only was it cancer, but that I was going to die from it was almost too much to bear.”

But things took an unexpected and very welcome turn for the better when Tasha returned to the hospital for further results in February 2017.

She said: “On further inspection, while I do have lung nodules, the doctors discovered they are not cancerous. Just like that, I was given a window of hope.”

Told she had stage 3 cancer, and because of her new results, she was eligible for invasive and potentially life-saving surgery.

She said: “There was no time like the present.

“I went in for my operation on Feb. 28. They cut out the part of my bowel where the cancer was, which was about a 35mm tumor and then they had to put my bowel back together again.”

The surgery was a success and, following a few weeks of recovery, Tasha started chemotherapy.

She said: “I didn’t cope well with the first couple of rounds of chemotherapy, so my doctors extended the length of time in between to give my body more time to recover.

Thor-Straten was given the all-clear from cancer in August 2017.

“Still, my side effects were severe, including extreme tiredness, sadness, nerve pain and a negative reaction to sunlight and the cold.”

It was during this treatment that she contacted Dame Deborah James.

She said: “I saw on social media that she was struggling to sleep due to treatment. I was going through the same thing, so I messaged her.

“It was really nice to talk to someone who understood exactly what I was going through. She offered me some nuggets of advice and it was a real comfort.”

In August 2017, Tasha was officially given the all-clear from cancer.

This story originally appeared on The Sun and has been reproduced here with permission.

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Health

WHO: Nearly 200 cases of monkeypox in more than 20 countries

May 27, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization says nearly 200 cases of monkeypox have been reported in more than 20 countries not usually known to have outbreaks of the unusual disease, but described the epidemic as “containable” and proposed creating a stockpile to equitably share the limited vaccines and drugs available worldwide.

During a public briefing on Friday, the U.N. health agency said there are still many unanswered questions about what triggered the unprecedented outbreak of monkeypox outside of Africa, but there is no evidence that any genetic changes in the virus are responsible.

“The first sequencing of the virus shows that the strain is not different from the strains we can find in endemic countries and (this outbreak) is probably due more to a change in human behaviour,” said Dr. Sylvie Briand, WHO’s director of pandemic and epidemic diseases.

Earlier this week, a top adviser to WHO said the outbreak in Europe, U.S., Israel, Australia and beyond was likely linked to sex at two recent raves in Spain and Belgium. That marks a significant departure from the disease’s typical pattern of spread in central and western Africa, where people are mainly infected by animals like wild rodents and primates, and outbreaks haven’t spilled across borders.

Although WHO said nearly 200 monkeypox cases have been reported, that seemed a likely undercount. On Friday, Spanish authorities said the number of cases there had risen to 98, including one woman, whose infection is “directly related” to a chain of transmission that had been previously limited to men, according to officials in the region of Madrid.

U.K. officials added 16 more cases to their monkeypox tally, making Britain’s total 106. And Portugal said its caseload jumped to 74 cases on Friday.

Doctors in Britain, Spain, Portugal, Canada, the U.S. and elsewhere have noted that the majority of infections to date have been in gay and bisexual men, or men who have sex with men. The disease is no more likely to affect people because of their sexual orientation and scientists warn the virus could infect others if transmission isn’t curbed.

WHO’s Briand said that based on how past outbreaks of the disease in Africa have evolved, the current situation appeared “containable.”

Still, she said WHO expected to see more cases reported in the future, noting “we don’t know if we are just seeing the peak of the iceberg (or) if there are many more cases that are undetected in communities,” she said.

As countries including Britain, Germany, Canada and the U.S. begin evaluating how smallpox vaccines might be used to curb the outbreak, WHO said its expert group was assessing the evidence and would provide guidance soon.

Dr. Rosamund Lewis, head of WHO’s smallpox department, said that “there is no need for mass vaccination,” explaining that monkeypox does not spread easily and typically requires skin-to-skin contact for transmission. No vaccines have been specifically developed against monkeypox, but WHO estimates that smallpox vaccines are about 85% effective.

She said countries with vaccine supplies could consider them for those at high risk of the disease, like close contacts of patients or health workers, but that monkeypox could mostly be controlled by isolating contacts and continued epidemiological investigations.

Given the limited global supply of smallpox vaccines, WHO’s emergencies chief Dr. Mike Ryan said the agency would be working with its member countries to potentially develop a centrally controlled stockpile, similar to the ones it has helped manage to distribute during outbreaks of yellow fever, meningitis, and cholera in countries that can’t afford them.

“We’re talking about providing vaccines for a targeted vaccination campaign, for targeted therapeutics,” Ryan said. “So the volumes don’t necessarily need to be big, but every country may need access to a small amount of vaccine.”

Most monkeypox patients experience only fever, body aches, chills and fatigue. People with more serious illness may develop a rash and lesions on the face and hands that can spread to other parts of the body.

____

Ashifa Kassam contributed to this report from Madrid.

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WHO: Nearly 200 cases of monkeypox in more than 20 countries

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