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‘Love Hormone’ Oxytocin Could Mend a Broken Heart

September 30, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

Summary: Oxytocin, a hormone connected with bonding and love, could help to heal damage following a heart attack. Researchers found oxytocin stimulates stem cells from the heart’s outer layer and migrates into the middle layer where it develops into muscle cells that generate heart contractions. This could be used to promote the regeneration of heart cells following a heart attack.

Source: Frontiers

The neurohormone oxytocin is well-known for promoting social bonds and generating pleasurable feelings, for example from art, exercise, or sex. But the hormone has many other functions, such as the regulation of lactation and uterine contractions in females, and the regulation of ejaculation, sperm transport, and testosterone production in males.

Now, researchers from Michigan State University show that in zebrafish and human cell cultures, oxytocin has yet another, unsuspected, function: it stimulates stem cells derived from the heart’s outer layer (epicardium) to migrate into its middle layer (myocardium) and there develop into cardiomyocytes, muscle cells that generate heart contractions. This discovery could one day be used to promote the regeneration of the human heart after a heart attack.

The results are published in Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology.

“Here we show that oxytocin, a neuropeptide also known as the love hormone, is capable of activating heart repair mechanisms in injured hearts in zebrafish and human cell cultures, opening the door to potential new therapies for heart regeneration in humans,” said Dr Aitor Aguirre, an assistant professor at the Department of Biomedical Engineering of Michigan State University, and the study’s senior author.

Stem-like cells can replenish cardiomyocytes

Cardiomyocetes typically die off in great numbers after a heart attack. Because they are highly specialized cells, they can’t replenish themselves. But previous studies have shown that a subset of cells in the epicardium can undergo reprogramming to become stem-like cells, called Epicardium-derived Progenitor Cells (EpiPCs), which can regenerate not only cardiomyocytes, but also other types of heart cells.

“Think of the EpiPCs as the stonemasons that repaired cathedrals in Europe in the Middle Ages,” explained Aguirre.

Unfortunately for us, the production of EpiPCs is inefficient for heart regeneration in humans under natural conditions.

Zebrafish could teach us how to regenerate hearts more efficiently

Enter the zebrafish: famous for their extraordinary capacity for regenerating organs, including the brain, retina, internal organs, bone, and skin. They don’t suffer heart attacks, but its many predators are happy to take a bite out of any organ, including the heart – so zebrafish can regrow their heart when as much as a quarter of it has been lost.

This is done partly by proliferation of cardiomyocytes, but also by EpiPCs. But how do the EpiPCs of zebrafish repair the heart so efficiently? And can we find a ‘magic bullet’ in zebrafish that could artificially boost the production of EpiPCs in humans?

Yes, and this ‘magic bullet’ appears to be oxytocin, argue the authors.

To reach this conclusion, the authors found that in zebrafish, within three days after cryoinjury – injury due to freezing – to the heart, the expression of the messenger RNA for oxytocin increases up to 20-fold in the brain.

They further showed that this oxytocin then travels to the zebrafish epicardium and binds to the oxytocin receptor, triggering a molecular cascade that stimulates local cells to expand and develop into EpiPCs.

This discovery could one day be used to promote the regeneration of the human heart after a heart attack. Image is in the public domain

These new EpiPCs then migrate to the zebrafish myocardium to develop into cardiomyocytes, blood vessels, and other important heart cells, to replace those which had been lost.

Similar effect on human tissue cultures

Crucially, the authors showed that oxytocin has a similar effect on human tissue in vitro. Oxytocin – but none of 14 other neurohormones tested here – stimulates cultures of human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (hIPSCs) to become EpiPCs, at up to twice the basal rate: a much stronger effect than other molecules previously shown to stimulate EpiPC production in mice.

Conversely, genetic knock-down of the oxytocin receptor prevented the the regenerative activation of human EpiPCs in culture. The authors also showed that the link between oxytocin and the stimulation of EpiPCs is the important ‘TGF-β signaling pathway’, known to regulate the growth, differentiation, and migration of cells.

Aguirre said: “These results show that it is likely that the stimulation by oxytocin of EpiPC production is evolutionary conserved in humans to a significant extent. Oxytocin is widely used in the clinic for other reasons, so repurposing for patients after heart damage is not a long stretch of the imagination. Even if heart regeneration is only partial, the benefits for patients could be enormous.”

Aguirre concluded: “Next, we need to look at oxytocin in humans after cardiac injury. Oxytocin itself is short-lived in the circulation, so its effects in humans might be hindered by that. Drugs specifically designed with a longer half-life or more potency might be useful in this setting.

“Overall, pre-clinical trials in animals and clinical trials in humans are necessary to move forward.”

About this cardiovascular health research news

Author: Mischa Dijkstra
Source: Frontiers
Contact: Mischa Dijkstra – Frontiers
Image: The image is in the public domain

‘Love hormone’ oxytocin could help reverse damage from heart attacks via cell regeneration

September 30, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

EAST LANSING, Mich. — A chemical released during sex could become a new treatment for heart attack patients, new research reveals. Oxytocin, called the “love hormone,” helps heal the organ by boosting production of stem cells, researchers at Michigan State University say.

The findings are based on human tissue grown in the lab and experiments on zebrafish, which have a remarkable ability to repair themselves.

“Here we show that oxytocin, a neuropeptide also known as the love hormone, is capable of activating heart repair mechanisms in injured hearts in zebrafish and human cell cultures, opening the door to potential new therapies for heart regeneration in humans,” says senior author Dr. Aitor Aguirre, an assistant professor at the Department of Biomedical Engineering of Michigan State University, in a media release.

Oxytocin stimulates erections and orgasms. In women, it is believed to help sperm reach the egg. The chemical is produced by the hypothalamus in the brain. It is secreted by the pituitary gland. Abnormal amounts have a connection to sex addiction. Oxytocin is also the foundation of many pleasurable feelings, from exercise to lovemaking.

How does oxytocin heal the heart?

Now, the research team reports it also causes stem cells from the heart’s outer layer, or epicardium, to migrate into the middle, known as the myocardium. There they develop into cardiomyocytes, muscle cells that generate heart contractions. The discovery offers hope of promoting regeneration after damaging events like a heart attack. The cells die off in great numbers after a heart attack. Highly specialized cells don’t replenish themselves.

However, previous studies have shown that a subset called EpiPCs (Epicardium-derived Progenitor Cells) can undergo reprogramming, becoming cardiomyocytes or other types of heart cells. “Think of the EpiPCs as the stonemasons that repaired cathedrals in Europe in the Middle Ages,” Aguirre explains.

Production is inefficient for heart regeneration in humans under natural conditions, but the humble zebrafish may hold the key. They are famous for their extraordinary capacity for regenerating organs including the brain, retina, internal organs, bone, and skin.

They don’t suffer heart attacks, but predators are happy to take a bite out of any organ, since zebrafish can regrow their heart when as much as a quarter of it has been lost. This is done by proliferation of cardiomyocytes and EpiPCs. The “magic bullet” appears to be oxytocin.

Repurposing hormone for heart healing ‘is not a long stretch’

In zebrafish, within three days after the heart was exposed to “cryoinjury” by freezing, expression of oxytocin in the brain soared 20-fold. Scans showed the hormone travelled to the epicardium and bound to the oxytocin receptor. This triggered a molecular cascade, stimulating local cells to expand and develop into EpiPCs.

The new cells headed for the zebrafish myocardium to develop into cardiomyocytes, blood vessels, and other important heart cells, to replace those which had been lost. Crucially, the researchers found oxytocin has a similar effect on cultured human tissue. It turned human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (hIPSCs) into EpiPCs.

Numbers doubled due to the hormone. None of 14 other brain hormones tested worked. The effect was much stronger than other molecules tried in mice. On the other hand, genetic engineering that knocked out the oxytocin receptor prevented the regenerative activation of human EpiPCs. The link between oxytocin and the stimulation of EpiPCs was identified in a chemical pathway known to regulate the growth, differentiation and migration of cells.

“These results show that it is likely that the stimulation by oxytocin of EpiPC production is evolutionary conserved in humans to a significant extent. Oxytocin is widely used in the clinic for other reasons, so repurposing for patients after heart damage is not a long stretch of the imagination. Even if heart regeneration is only partial, the benefits for patients could be enormous,” Aguirre says.

“Next, we need to look at oxytocin in humans after cardiac injury. Oxytocin itself is short-lived in the circulation, so its effects in humans might be hindered by that. Drugs specifically designed with a longer half-life or more potency might be useful in this setting. Overall, pre-clinical trials in animals and clinical trials in humans are necessary to move forward.”

The study is published in the journal Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology.

South West News Service writer Mark Waghorn contributed to this report.

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Exercise Hormone Halts Parkinson’s Disease Symptoms

September 12, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

Summary: Irisin, a hormone secreted into the blood during high endurance and aerobic exercise, reduces levels of alpha-synuclein and restores movement in mouse models of Parkinson’s disease.

Source: Johns Hopkins Medicine

Researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston have shown that a hormone secreted into the blood during endurance, or aerobic, exercise reduces levels of a protein linked to Parkinson’s disease and halts movement problems in mice.

Parkinson’s disease, a neurologic condition that causes people to lose control over their muscles and movements, affects about 1 million people in the U.S.

If confirmed in additional laboratory research and clinical trials, the researchers’ study in mice engineered to have Parkinson’s disease symptoms could pave the way for a Parkinson’s disease therapy based on the hormone irisin.

Results of the researchers’ tests appeared Aug. 31 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Johns Hopkins Medicine’s Ted Dawson, M.D., Ph.D., and Dana Farber’s Bruce Spiegelman, Ph.D., worked together to look into the link between the exercise molecule irisin and Parkinson’s disease.

For unknown reasons, endurance exercise has long been found to alleviate symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Dawson, whose research focuses on neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s disease, said one of the first clues to the link between exercise, Parkinson’s disease and irisin came from Spiegelman, whose first paper about irisin was published in 2012 in Nature and subsequently in other scientific journals, showing that a protein called an irisin peptide is released into the blood and increases with endurance exercise.

In the past decade, other laboratories have found that exercise elevates levels of irisin, and there is interest in looking into the connection between irisin and Alzheimer’s disease as well as Parkinson’s disease.

To test the effects of irisin on Parkinson’s disease, Dawson and Spiegelman’s teams began with a research model used by Dawson in which mouse brain cells are engineered to spread small, spindly fibers of alpha synuclein, a protein that regulates moods and movements related to the brain neurotransmitter dopamine.

When alpha synuclein proteins clump, those clusters kill dopamine-producing brain cells, a key trigger of Parkinson’s disease. Fibrous clumps of alpha synuclein are very similar, says Dawson, to what is found in the brains of people with Parkinson’s disease.

In the laboratory model, the researchers found that irisin prevented the accumulation of alpha synuclein clumps and its associated brain cell death.

Next, the research teams tested irisin’s effects on mice engineered to have Parkinson’s-like symptoms. They injected alpha synuclein into an area of the mouse brain, called the striatum, where dopamine-producing neurons extend.

Two weeks later, the researchers injected a viral vector, which increased blood levels of irisin, which can cross the blood-brain barrier, into the mice.

Six months later, mice that received irisin had no muscle movement deficits, while those injected with a placebo showed deficits in grip strength and their ability to descend a pole.

In the laboratory model, the researchers found that irisin prevented the accumulation of alpha synuclein clumps and its associated brain cell death. Image is in the public domain

Additional studies of brain cells among the mice given irisin showed that the exercise hormone lowered levels of Parkinson’s disease-related alpha synuclein between 50% and 80%. The research team demonstrated that irisin also speeds up the transport and degradation of alpha synuclein via fluid-filled sacs called lysosomes in brain cells.

“If irisin’s utility pans out, we could envision it being developed into a gene or recombinant protein therapy,” says Dawson, referring to the widening field of drug development aimed at using cellular genetics to treat disease. Dawson is the Leonard and Madlyn Abramson Professor in Neurodegenerative Diseases, professor of neurology and director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Cell Engineering.

“Given that irisin is a naturally produced peptide hormone and seems to have evolved to cross the blood brain-barrier, we think it is worth continuing to evaluate irisin as a potential therapy for Parkinson’s and other forms of neurodegeneration” adds Spiegelman.

Dawson and Spiegelman have filed for patents on the use of irisin in Parkinson’s disease. Spiegelman has created a biotechnology company, Aevum Therapeutics Inc., based in Boston, to develop irisin into treatments for neurodegenerative disease.

Other scientists who contributed to the research include Tae-In Kam, Hyejin Park, Shih-Ching Chou, Yu Ree Choi, Devanik Biswas, Justin Wang, Yu Shin, Alexis Loder, Senthilkumar Karuppagounder and Valina Dawson at Johns Hopkins, and Jonathan Van Vranken, Melanie Mittenbuhler, Hyeonwoo Kim, Mu A and Christiane Wrann at Harvard Medical School.

About this Parkinson’s disease research news

Author: Vanessa Wasta
Source: Johns Hopkins Medicine
Contact: Vanessa Wasta – Johns Hopkins Medicine
Image: The image is in the public domain

Original Research: Open access.
“Amelioration of pathologic α-synuclein-induced Parkinson’s disease by irisin” by Ted Dawson et al. PNAS

Abstract

Amelioration of pathologic α-synuclein-induced Parkinson’s disease by irisin

Physical activity provides clinical benefit in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Irisin is an exercise-induced polypeptide secreted by skeletal muscle that crosses the blood–brain barrier and mediates certain effects of exercise. Here, we show that irisin prevents pathologic α-synuclein (α-syn)-induced neurodegeneration in the α-syn preformed fibril (PFF) mouse model of sporadic PD.

Intravenous delivery of irisin via viral vectors following the stereotaxic intrastriatal injection of α-syn PFF cause a reduction in the formation of pathologic α-syn and prevented the loss of dopamine neurons and lowering of striatal dopamine. Irisin also substantially reduced the α-syn PFF-induced motor deficits as assessed behaviorally by the pole and grip strength test.

Recombinant sustained irisin treatment of primary cortical neurons attenuated α-syn PFF toxicity by reducing the formation of phosphorylated serine 129 of α-syn and neuronal cell death. Tandem mass spectrometry and biochemical analysis revealed that irisin reduced pathologic α-syn by enhancing endolysosomal degradation of pathologic α-syn.

Our findings highlight the potential for therapeutic disease modification of irisin in PD.

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Scientists explore mortality among women on hormone replacement therapy early in COVID-19 pandemic

May 20, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

A recent study published in Family Practice assessed the association of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or the use of the combined oral contraceptive pill (COCP) with mortality among women with a previous history of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Study: Mortality in COVID-19 among women on hormone replacement therapy: a retrospective cohort study. Image Credit: F8 studio/Shutterstock

Background

The causal pathogen of COVID-19, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), continues to spread. Females and males are equally vulnerable, albeit males show a higher rate of severe outcomes like hospitalization and death. According to one study, COVID-19-related mortality among males was 1.7-fold higher than in females.

Similar higher mortality was recorded in previous outbreaks caused by SARS-CoV and middle east respiratory syndrome (MERS)-CoV. Although the reason for observed sex differences remains unknown, various theories have been hypothesized, including sex-based immunologic variations, smoking patterns, and comorbidities. The role of estrogen is being debated and has garnered much attention. For instance, younger women or those with high estrogen levels have lower odds of developing severe COVID-19 outcomes.

Further, estrogen has been reported to modulate immune responses by decreasing T cell exhaustion and suppressing the production of interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-1β, thereby limiting cytokine storm. This might explain the lower frequency of COVID-19-related hospitalizations and intensive care admissions among females relative to males. Recent evidence suggests that COCP users are at lower risk of COVID-19 and associated hospitalization; nevertheless, data on HRT has not been consistent.

The study and findings

In the current retrospective study, researchers investigated the associations between HRT/COCP use and the odds of COVID-19-related mortality among women in the early phase of the pandemic. They utilized computerized medical records from the Oxford Royal College of General Practitioners, Research and Surveillance Centre database. This database included 465 general practices in England, encompassing 1.8 million women. Females with a confirmed or probable diagnosis of COVID-19 were identified.

A confirmed case was defined as having a positive SARS-CoV-2 reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) result, and probable or suspected cases were those diagnosed clinically or radiologically according to the recommendations from Public Health England. The authors defined exposure as one or more prescriptions of COCP or HRT within six months of probable or confirmed diagnosis. The main outcome was all-cause mortality between January 1, 2020, and June 21, 2020.

Univariate logistic regression models quantified the association between HRT/COCP and all-cause mortality. Subsequently, a multivariable model adjusted for covariables was run, and a mixed-effects model was performed, accounting for practice clustering. The statistical tests were two-tailed and set at a 5% significance level.

The authors identified 5451 females with COVID-19 with a mean age of 59 years. The mean follow-up time was 164.9 days; more than 64% of subjects were White, and 80.6% lived in urban areas. There were 171 females with prescriptions for COCP use and 231 with HRT prescriptions. The mortality rate was 12.2% during the follow-up time. The researchers found that HRT had lower odds of all-cause mortality in unadjusted (Odds ratio, OR: 0.15) and adjusted (OR 0.22) models.

All-cause mortality was higher in those who were older, underweight, with immunosuppressants or hypertension, and from larger households. Those who had asthma were at a significantly lower risk of mortality. The team could not estimate the association between COCP use and all-cause mortality as no deaths were reported among those prescribed COCPs.

Conclusions

To summarize, the findings revealed that HRT use was associated with lower odds of mortality in women followed up for six months following COVID-19. Some of the study’s strengths were the population-based cohort across 465 general practices in England that ensured heterogeneity in clinical and sociodemographic variables. Notably, the authors did not analyze the type of dose or preparation for HRT due to the lack of data in the database.

Moreover, the duration of medication use was not examined, and the follow-up period was less than six months. The inclusion of age as only a categorical variable might have limited adjustment. Given that all-cause mortality was investigated, some deaths might not be associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection.

In conclusion, the authors observed that HRT prescription within six months after COVID-19 diagnosis was associated with a decrease in all-cause mortality. This meant that women should not discontinue using HRT because of the pandemic. Importantly, future work should evaluate variations in the preparation and dose of HRT and examine the association of COCP use with mortality.

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Nonsurgical Implant Could Help Overcome Obesity by Killing Cells Producing Ghrelin, the “Hunger Hormone”

April 6, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

In this illustration, an implant (blue and gray) creates a feeling of fullness by pressing on the stomach and, when activated by a laser (black), killing cells that produce the hunger hormone. Credit: Adapted from ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 2022, DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c00532

When dieting and exercise aren’t enough, weight-loss surgery can be an effective obesity treatment. But people who don’t want surgery have other options, including insertion of an appetite-suppressing balloon or other implant in the stomach. Now, researchers report in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces that they have augmented that procedure in laboratory animals by coating an implant with a laser-activated dye that kills cells producing ghrelin, the “hunger hormone.”

Implants can be inserted in the stomach through the mouth after local anesthesia. In 2019, Hwoon-Yong Jung, Jung-Hoon Park and colleagues designed a new type of implant. The “intragastric satiety-inducing device” (ISD) consists of a stent — which lodges in the lower esophagus — attached to a disk that rests in the opening to the stomach. The disk has a hole in the center to let food through. Tests in pigs showed that the ISD lowered food intake and weight gain by enhancing the feeling of fullness and reducing levels of ghrelin, which is produced by cells near the top of stomach. But the device caused complications, including

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Is It Okay to Take Melatonin For Your Sleep? A Doctor Explains The Risks

March 21, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

I have been a doctor for over 20 years, 12 of which were dedicated exclusively to the practice of sleep medicine. Over the years, I have seen an enormous increase in the use of melatonin by my patients and their families. Although melatonin has helped many of my patients, there are some concerns that I have that are worth sharing.

First, I am not sure most of my patients that took melatonin before my clinical evaluation knew exactly what melatonin was. Melatonin is a hormone produced by a gland in the brain called the pineal gland. The main function of melatonin is sleep regulation.

Melatonin levels increase in response to darkness, telling the brain that night has arrived and it is time to sleep. When there is bright light, as in the morning, melatonin production shuts down and the brain knows that it is daytime.

The day-night regulation properties of melatonin and light make them the two key factors in the establishment of the internal sleep-wake clock, or what is called the “circadian cycle”.

A circadian disorder occurs when there is a mismatch between the internal clock and the socially accepted time to go to sleep or to wake up, as is seen when someone travels across time zones and has jet lag. But jet lag sometimes can occur in the absence of travel. For example, when you remain in an environment of bright lights until late hours of the night, you fool your brain into thinking that it is still daytime.

In this case, melatonin production does not occur and you don’t feel sleepy until the late hours of the night, or sometimes early hours in the morning.

I have seen many teenagers come to my clinic because they can’t sleep until 2 am or 3 am, but they’re up watching videos on their electronic devices until late at night.

I usually recommend my patients turn the lights off at a reasonable time and expect sleepiness to start occurring within one hour. But it takes time for the natural clock to adjust to a new schedule, and often my patients prefer to use a melatonin supplement to quicken the circadian time adjustment.

With the increase in use of electronic devices, sleep disorders have become quite common and melatonin use has increased. Because of its sleep-promoting properties, melatonin is also an incredibly attractive option for people who suffer from insomnia or sleep disruption.

Over-the-counter melatonin

In some countries, such as the US, melatonin can be bought without a prescription. This situation concerns me because a lack of regulation can mean an increased risk of taking a different dose or ingredients than those reported.

In fact, a study of melatonin supplements found that the content of the hormone ranged from -83 percent to +478 percent of the labelled content. The researchers also found other substances that were not reported to be in the preparation, including serotonin and valerian.

In the EU, the UK, Canada and Australia, melatonin is obtained only by prescription for the short-term treatment of insomnia. This approach allows for better regulation, understanding and explanation of risks, benefits and alternatives to the use of melatonin.

Even though melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone, it does not come without side-effects, the most common being headaches and dizziness. It can also interact with other medicines, such as anticoagulants (drugs that help prevent blood clots).

The best evidence of safety for the use of melatonin is for short-term use only (one to three months) and in low doses (0.5-1mg). The long-term effects of melatonin remain unknown.

Have I used melatonin or recommended it to my patients? Absolutely. But only when I know exactly what I am recommending it for. Insomnia can be a symptom of a sleep disorder like restless legs syndrome or obstructive sleep apnea, or it can be a symptom of another condition, such as depression, asthma or pain.

When a sleep specialist identifies the correct diagnosis, then the treatment options can be explored. When I need to prescribe melatonin, I usually recommend starting with the lowest dose possible (0.5 mg) one to two hours before their current bedtime, and I recommend that the patient turns their lights off, or dims them, before taking melatonin. I also recommend avoiding other contributors to poor sleep, such as caffeinated products after 3 pm, heavy exercise in the evening, or the use of electronic devices before bedtime.

Lourdes M. DelRosso, PhD Candidate, Sleep Disorders, University of Portsmouth.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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‘Love hormone’ may be to blame for male sex addiction: study

February 3, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

Sex-addicted men have long been accused of lacking self-discipline — but new research suggests there may be a scientific reason for their insatiable bedroom appetites.

A new study published Wednesday in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism found that men with “hypersexual disorder” have “significantly higher” levels of oxytocin in their system.

The research could significantly change the way that hypersexual men are viewed by society — transforming them from lusty Lotharios with poor impulse control to helpless victims of their own biology.

Oxytocin — informally known as the “love hormone” — is naturally produced by both men and women and helps fuel positive emotions, like other hormones such as dopamine and serotonin.

According to Healthline, previous research has shown “couples in the first stages of romantic attachment had significantly higher levels of oxytocin than their unattached counterparts.”

The study found that many men who had a constant need to get it on had higher levels of oxytocin.

Getty Images

Oxytocin is also credited with increasing levels of relaxation and trust — but the new study asserts that too much of the hormone could be a bad thing for men.

The study examined 64 males with hypersexual disorder, as well as 38 men who reported ordinary levels of sexual interest and arousal.

Researchers found “significant positive correlations between oxytocin levels and the rating scales measuring hypersexual behavior.”

“Oxytocin plays an important role in sex addiction and may be a potential drug target for future pharmacological treatment,” co-author Dr. Andreas Chatzittofis told Newswise.

Interestingly, the levels of oxytocin in the sex-addicted men significantly reduced after they underwent cognitive behavioral therapy — appearing to confirm that sex addiction can successfully be treated without pharmaceuticals.

The researchers theorized that a drug that could possibly lower the levels of oxytocin might work to treat men with sex addiction. The study showed therapy was also successful.

Sex addiction is not recognized as a mental disorder by the American Psychiatric Association, and many people have questioned whether it is a legitimate ailment or simply an excuse for bad behavior.

However, in 2018, compulsive sex behavior was included in the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases list for the first time.

WHO’s list describes compulsive sexual behavior disorder as a “persistent pattern of failure to control intense, repetitive sexual impulses or urges resulting in a repetitive sexual behavior.”

Symptoms include sex becoming the “central focus” of the person’s life at the neglect of health, personal care or interests and responsibilities. The behavior should be clear for six months or more and cause distress in personal lives.

It’s previously been estimated that between 3 and 6 percent of American adults suffer from sex addiction.

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New Hormone Treatment for Alcohol Abuse in Monkeys Could Help Humans Next

February 1, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

Nearly 15 million people in the U.S. alone have an alcohol use disorder, and about 95,000 people die every year from alcohol-related deaths, according to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Most treatment options come in some form of counseling, although scientists have been trying to improve the efficacy of medications that could help make lifestyle changes stick more permanently.

A new option that could emerge in the future is based on a hormone called FGF21, which has now been found to suppress alcohol consumption in monkeys. In a peer-reviewed study published in Cell Metabolism on Tuesday, a team of researchers found that a new analogue compound of FGF21 given to alcohol-loving monkeys reduced booze intake by 50 percent.

“Using hormones as a therapeutic approach to treat substance use disorders is relatively novel,” Kyle Flippo, a neuroscientist and pharmacologist at the University of Iowa, told The Daily Beast. Previous evidence showed that mutations in the receptor for FGF21 have led to increased alcohol consumption in humans across many different ethnic groups and populations around the world. But “this is the first illustration that FGF21 analogues potentially reduce alcohol consumption in non-human primates,” opening the door for a potentially new kind treatment for alcoholism, Flippo said.

The FGF21 analogue tested by Flippo and his team was originally developed by Pfizer as a long-lasting version of the original hormone, with the goal of treating diabetes and obesity in humans. Unfortunately it petered out in clinical testing: The compound was great at helping humans lose weight, but not very effective at reducing blood glucose levels for diabetics.

So Flippo and his team took this compound off the shelf to see if it might have a new life as an inhibitor for alcohol cravings.

Don’t worry—the monkeys in this study weren’t plied with alcohol until they developed an addiction. Flippo and his team turned to a colony of green vervet monkeys on St. Kitts island that are predisposed to finding and consuming alcohol, most likely due to genetic traits that are passed down from generation to generation. “Just as in humans, a certain percentage of monkeys exhibit an innate preference for alcohol,” said Flippo.

One group of monkeys received a placebo and the other received the FGF21 analogue. The researchers recorded alcohol consumption (via fermented fruit) in both groups before stopping treatment of both the hormone analogue as well as the placebo, and allowing the monkeys to return to their previous consumption habits.

“Just as in humans, a certain percentage of monkeys exhibit an innate preference for alcohol.”

— Kyle Flippo

The team found that the FGF21 analogue was responsible for a 50 percent reduction in alcohol intake—a pretty remarkable figure.

The biggest implication, of course, is that the findings could be used to develop a FGF21-based therapeutic to help treat alcohol use disorder in people. Although the study is based on animal models, primates are a lot closer to human physiology than mice, so that’s a major plus toward getting approval for clinical testing.

In addition, a similar leg of trials was run on mice, who were conditioned to prefer alcohol through exposure to increased concentrations over time. They showed similar results to monkey trials, but Flippo and his team also directly measured brain activity in these mice and identified the brain circuit that’s altered by FGF21. That insight helps fill some gaps in how hormones in general work on the parts of the brain that mediate reward and addiction.

It’s not clear yet how soon we might see the FGF21 analogue tested out on humans, but if those trials are approved and end up being successful, millions of people around the world struggling with alcoholism could soon have a new option to help them stay off the bottle.

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Study on obesity cure by turning off ‘hungry hormone’

December 5, 2021 Admin Leave a comment

Obesity could be cured without diet or exercise with a radical trial launched into turning off the so-called “hungry hormone.”

The trial is set to investigate a process that could cut the desire to over-eat and reduce weight in just 40 minutes.

And the process would cost the NHS £1,500 – a quarter of the price of normal fat-loss surgery.

A trial, led by Ahmed R. Ahmed, a bariatric surgeon at London’s St Mary’s Hospital, will see nearly 80 volunteers go through the procedure called bariatric embolisation and have their ghrelin turned off, which is nicknamed the ‘hungry hormone’.

Due to expense and logistics, the NHS performs 6,000 bariatric procedures such as gastric bands, bypasses and sleeves a year, leading to long waiting lists.

Speaking to the MailOnline, Mr Ahmed said that if bariatric embolisation became routine, patients could be out of hospital in two hours.

“You could go in hungry and come out not hungry,” he said.

The doctor said the method’s fast speed and low cost would open up obesity treatment to many more people, but said the effectiveness of it would need to be proved first.

He added: “We really need to know it’s the intervention itself having the effect, and it’s not just a placebo effect.”

The operation, performed under local anesthetic, involves making a small cut in the groin or wrist and passing a hollow wire up through blood vessels.

Studies found that obese patients shed on average almost ten percent of their weight after the procedure.

Getty Images

Microscopic beads are then deposited in an artery serving the upper stomach, or fundus, which will block and therefore reduce ghrelin production.

Small-scale studies have found that obese patients shed on average almost ten percent of their weight after the procedure, although some lose much more.

Such weight loss would significantly improve health, reversing type 2 diabetes and cutting the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Mr Ahmed’s team are recruiting 76 obese volunteers, each with a body mass index of between 35 and 50. Half will have blocker beads inserted, the others will get a saline solution placebo, and they will all be followed for a year.

Such weight loss would significantly improve health, even reversing type 2 diabetes.

The trial has received £1.2 million from the NHS’s National Institute of Health Research and is backed by Imperial College London.

Although no patients have yet been given the treatment in Britain, around 25 have had it in the US. Among them was local nurse Kirsten Kerfoot, 32, who has since lost six and a half stone.

The mother of one, who is 5ft 11in and now weighs 15 stone, said: “I can’t remember a time in my life when I haven’t been overweight or obese.

“I used to see an advert for Chinese food on the TV and think, ‘I want it!’ The thought would stay on my mind for days. That was my experience my entire life – with food having this grip on me.

25 patients have had the trial treatment in the US.

“Thanks to the procedure, I don’t fixate on food like that any more. It’s like being unchained from food.”

Dr Clifford Weiss of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, who is leading a parallel trial of 64 US patients, said: “The goal here is to make patients healthier in the least invasive way possible.”

The treatment was welcomed by Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, who said the NHS had to look at cheaper, quicker alternatives to bariatric surgery, adding: “Obesity is now such a big problem, we’ve got to think outside the box.”

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

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Technology

The MegaRexx MegaRaptor is a Ford F-250 On Equine Growth Hormone

July 28, 2021 Admin Leave a comment

The last decade has seen the rise of factory-tuned offroad trucks. Serving as somewhat of a halo model in a truck lineup, examples like the F-150 Raptor, Ram 1500 TRX and Toyota Tundra TRD Pro have all won fans with their rugged good looks and stout credentials when it comes to driving through the rough stuff. For some, however, it’s not enough. They desire more lift, more tire, and more of everything really, and for those with such demanding tastes, it could be hard to look past the MegaRexx MegaRaptor.

The MegaRaptor is aimed at people who like the Ford Raptor but “NEED BIG DIESEL POWER” according to the MegaRexx Trucks website. The company, based in Wilmington, North Carolina, will gladly build you a MegaRaptor starting with a Ford F-250, F-350, or F-450 Super Duty. Starting at the beginning, there’s a great deal of fiberglass bodywork on both the front end and the rear bed, all with the aim of tucking gigantic rubber under huge fender flares. To further support the ridiculous tire package, the front axle is actually moved forward 1.5 inches to allow the rubber to clear the firewall.

Indeed, the most attention-grabbing feature is definitely the 46″ tires mounted on military Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) wheels. While US police forces are already fielding armored vehicles in droves, they’re not actually putting landmines on active highways, so we’re not sure why you’d need these. But wait, it gets better. Military wheels are no good without military tires, and MegaRexx will put exactly those on your trucks. The small print does happen to note that these tires are new and ‘still have “nibs” on them’ but they also state that they may be 5 years old. The company notes that the DOT doesn’t state an age limit for tires, but it’s something to bear in mind if you’re ordering yourself a MegaRaptor.

A differential swap is included in the base swap price, unsurprising given the effect the 46″ tires would otherwise have on the truck’s acceleration. Suspension mods are also present, as you’d expect. There’s a 2.5″ Icon suspension lift, paired with MegaRexx’s own custom radius arms and Bilstein shocks. Completely aware of what their customer base needs, the company states that “This is a great setup for most people that are using their trucks primarily for street and mild off-road use.” Oh, and you can get a special front bumper too. They call it the “Smasher.” Lovely.

Yes, it seems that everyone is fully aware that this humongous truck, weighing over 6000 lb, will spend most of its life rolling around suburban streets as a signal that the owner is completely comfortable with their own masculinity. It’s a thing now. But, hey. If you’ve always dreamed of putting military-spec gear on a Ford F-250 that will definitely not survive driving over a land mine, MegaRexx is standing by and waiting for your call. Go get ’em, slugger.

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The MegaRexx MegaRaptor is a Ford F-250 On Equine Growth Hormone

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