Category: Health

{Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes identified two chemicals that improve their ability to transform scar tissue in a heart into healthy, beating heart muscle. The new discovery advances efforts to find new and effective treatments for heart failure.}

Heart failure afflicts 5.7 million Americans, costs the country $30.7 billion every year, and has no cures. When heart muscle is damaged, the body is unable to repair the dead or injured cells. Gladstone scientists are exploring cellular reprogramming — turning one type of adult cell into another — in the heart as a way to regenerate muscle cells in the hopes of treating, and ultimately curing, heart failure.

It takes only three transcription factors — proteins that turn genes on or off in a cell — to reprogram connective tissue cells into heart muscle cells in a mouse. After a heart attack, connective tissue forms scar tissue at the site of the injury, contributing to heart failure. The three factors, Gata4, Mef2c, and Tbx5 (GMT), work together to turn heart genes on in these cells and turn other genes off, effectively regenerating a damaged heart with its own cells. But the method is not foolproof — typically, only ten percent of cells fully convert from scar tissue to muscle.

In the new study, published in Circulation, Gladstone scientists tested 5500 chemicals to try to improve this process. They identified two chemicals that increased the number of heart cells created by eightfold. Moreover, the chemicals sped up the process of cell conversion, achieving in one week what used to take six to eight weeks.

“While our original process for direct cardiac reprogramming with GMT has been promising, it could be more efficient,” said senior author Deepak Srivastava, MD, director of the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease. “With our screen, we discovered that chemically inhibiting two biological pathways active in embryonic formation improves the speed, quantity, and quality of the heart cells produced from our original process.”

The first chemical inhibits a growth factor that helps cells grow and divide and is important for repairing tissue after injury. The second chemical inhibits an important pathway that regulates heart development. By combining the two chemicals with GMT, the researchers successfully regenerated heart muscle and greatly improved heart function in mice that had suffered a heart attack.

The scientists also used the chemicals to improve direct cardiac reprogramming of human cells, which is a more complicated process that requires additional factors. The two chemicals enabled the researchers to simplify the process bringing them one step closer to better treatments for heart failure.

“Heart failure afflicts many people worldwide, and we still do not have an effective treatment for patients suffering from this disease,” said Tamer Mohamed, PhD, first author on the study and a former postdoctoral scholar at Gladstone. “With our enhanced method of direct cardiac reprogramming, we hope to combine gene therapy with drugs to create better treatments for patients suffering from this devastating disease.”

{Scientists at McMaster University’s Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute in collaboration with Sick Children’s Hospital have discovered genetic alterations in the gene DIXDC1 in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This gene was found to change the way brain cells grow and communicate.}

This finding, published in Cell Reports, provides new insights into ASD that will guide identification of new medications for people with ASD. This is critical because ASD affects one in 68 individuals, and there are no medications that target the core symptoms of this complex disorder.

The study was led by Karun Singh, a scientist with the Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute (SCCRI) and an assistant professor of biochemistry and biomedical sciences at McMaster’s Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine.

The researchers discovered an important ‘on’ button in DIXDC1 protein that instructs brain cells to form mature connections called synapses with other brain cells during development. Working with the leading geneticist Stephen Scherer from The Hospital for Sick Children and the University of Toronto, the team identified genetic changes that keep DIXDC1 turned “off” in a group individuals with autism, predicted to cause brain synapses to stay immature, and reduce brain activity.

“Because we pinpointed why DIXDC1 is turned off in some forms of autism, my lab at the SCCRI, which specializes in drug discovery, now has the opportunity to begin the searching for drugs that will turn DIXDC1 back on and correct synaptic connections,” said Singh. “This is exciting because such a drug would have the potential to be a new treatment for autism.”

While this discovery holds promise, mutations in DIXDC1 account for only a small number of individuals with autism and related psychiatric conditions, Singh said.

“However, there is strong evidence that many other autism genes disrupt the development of synapses similar to DIXDC1; therefore, the key to a new treatment for autism will be to find safe medications that restores brain cell synapse growth and activity.”

Mick Bhatia, director of the SCCRI, said the discovery signifies the institute’s strategic entry into the area of neural disease and genetic guided personalized drug development.

“This is the first step of many ahead as the SCCRI continues to strive for near term impact on human health through stem cell research,” he said, adding that the addition of Singh’s team was enabled by the support from the David Braley Chair in Neural Stem Cell Research.

{Vaccine plus immune stimulant reduced hard-to-reach reservoirs of HIV-like virus in animal model.}

A study led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), in collaboration with scientists at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), Janssen Vaccines & Prevention B.V., one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson and Gilead Sciences, Inc., has demonstrated that combining an experimental vaccine with an innate immune stimulant may help lead to viral remission in people living with HIV. In animal trials, the combination decreased levels of viral DNA in peripheral blood and lymph nodes, and improved viral suppression and delayed viral rebound following discontinuation of anti-retroviral therapy (ART). The research team’s findings appeared online today in the journal Nature.

“The objective of our study was to identify a functional cure for HIV — not to eradicate the virus, but to control it without the need for ART,” said lead author Dan Barouch, MD, PhD, Director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at BIDMC. “Current antiretroviral drugs, although they’re lifesaving, do not cure HIV. They merely hold it in check. We are trying to develop strategies to achieve ART-free, long-term viral suppression.”

Typically, vaccines “teach” the body to rid itself of viral invaders by provoking an immune response. However, HIV attacks cells of the immune system. The virus kills the majority of infected immune cells but goes dormant in others. This reservoir of dormant, infected cells, where researchers believe HIV remains hidden during antiretroviral therapy, is the primary reason HIV cannot currently be cured. Barouch and colleagues are working on strategies to draw the virus out of hiding with the goal of eradicating it from the body.

“We reasoned that if we can activate the immune cells that might harbor the virus, then the vaccine-induced immune responses might perform better seeking them out and destroying them,” said Barouch, who is also a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. “Indeed, we saw the best results when we combined the vaccine together with the innate immune stimulant.”

In the two-year long study, researchers monitored the viral loads of 36 rhesus monkeys infected with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), a virus similar to HIV that infects non-human primates. After taking suppressive ART drugs for six months, the monkeys were given either the experimental vaccines — an adenovirus serotype 26 vector vaccine and an MVA vector vaccine (Ad26/MVA) — alone, the immune stimulant (an experimental drug that works on a protein of the immune system called TLR-7) alone, or the Ad26/MVA and stimulant combination. A control group received no active treatment.

“We found the combination of Ad26/MVA vaccination and TLR7 stimulation proved more effective than either component alone,” said Col. Nelson Michael, director of MHRP, who helped design the preclinical study. “This was especially striking in viral load set-point, which impacts the future course of the disease.”

The experimental vaccine induced a robust immune response, both in magnitude (the number of immune cells generated) and breadth (the number of places on the virus the vaccine can targets).

To evaluate the efficacy of the vaccine and the immune stimulant, the researchers discontinued ART in all animals and continued to monitor their viral loads. Animals that received only the vaccine demonstrated some reduction of viral load, but the animals that were given the vaccine/immune stimulant combination showed a reduction in plasma viral RNA levels as well as a 2.5-fold delay of viral rebound compared to controls. All nine animals showed decreased viral loads, and the virus was undetectable in a third of the animals.

“If all the animals’ viral loads had been undetectable, that would have been a home run,” said Barouch. “But the fact that all animals showed a reduction in viral load and three out of nine were undetectable, that’s a solid base hit. It’s definitely something that we can work from.”

{Starting your day with a glass of lemon can have a big impact on your health. Here are 7 amazing reasons why you should start your day with lemon water.
}
{{1. It helps aid digestion }}

Stomach acids helps break down food we eat and taking lemon water in the morning may be especially helpful to supplement stomach acids, which decline as we get older.

{{2. Lemon has antioxidants properties }}

Taking lemon water every morning is good for your health because lemon contains phytonutrients which have powerful antioxidant properties which helps prevent your body rusting from the inside.

{{3. It helps you stay hydrated }}

Due to our very busy lifestyles, most of us don’t drink enough water and this isn’t good for the body. Drinking lemon water first thing in the morning helps keep you hydrated.

{{4. It helps prevent kidney stones }}

Drinking lemon water every morning will help prevent the formation of kidney stones in the body.

{{5. It provides the body with much needed potassium }}

Potassium is an important mineral the body needs to function properly. Potassium is necessary for nerve-muscle communication and transporting nutrients and waste. Drinking lemon water every morning will help give the body potassium that it needs.

{{6. It’s rich in vitamin C }}

Drinking lemon water every morning will help supply the body with a healthy dose of vitamin C which is needed to protect us from cell damage and repair injury.

{{7. It helps weight loss }}

Drinking lemon water every morning will help you if you are trying to lose weight.

{Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, have isolated a human monoclonal antibody that in a mouse model “markedly reduced” infection by the Zika virus.}

The antibody, called ZIKV-117, also protected the fetus in pregnant mice infected with the virus, the researchers reported in the journal Nature. Zika is believed to cause microcephaly, unusually small heads, and other congenital malformations in children born to infected women.

Similar protection studies in primates are warranted, and if the findings hold up, ZIKV-177 could be developed as a protective antibody treatment for pregnant women at risk of Zika infection, the researchers concluded.

The findings may also aid efforts to develop an effective anti-Zika vaccine, said James Crowe Jr., M.D., director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center and co-corresponding author of the paper with Michael S. Diamond, M.D., Ph.D., at Washington University.

“These naturally occurring human antibodies isolated from humans represent the first medical intervention that prevents Zika infection and damage to fetuses,” said Crowe, who also is Ann Scott Carell Professor in the Departments of Pediatrics and Pathology, Microbiology & Immunology in the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

“We’re excited because the data suggests we may have antibody treatments in hand that could be developed for use in pregnant women,” he said.

“The remarkable potency and breadth of inhibition by ZIKV-117 has great promise,” Diamond said, “as it was able to inhibit infection by strains from both Africa and America in cell culture and in animals, including during pregnancy.”

Diamond is associate director of The Andrew M. and Jane M. Bursky Center for Human Immunology & Immunotherapy Programs at Washington University.

Zika is a mosquito-borne virus that has emerged as a global public health threat. In addition to its association with congenital birth defects, Zika has been linked to Guillain-Barre syndrome, a neurological disorder that can lead to paralysis and death.

Since a major outbreak was reported in Brazil last year, Zika infections transmitted by mosquitoes have been reported throughout Africa, Asia, the Pacific, and the Americas, including Miami-Dade County, Florida.

During the past 15 years, Crowe and his colleagues have developed a high-efficiency method for isolating human monoclonal antibodies that has enabled to them identify neutralizing antibodies against a wide range of viral infections, from Ebola to HIV.

The Crowe and Diamond laboratories have collaborated recently on several projects including the generation of protective human monoclonal antibodies against Dengue, West Nile, Chikungunya and now Zika viruses.

Monoclonal antibodies are made from a single clone of B cells, a type of white blood cell, that have been fused to myeloma (cancer) cells to form fast-growing “hybridomas.” This allows researchers to quickly generate large quantities of antibodies against specific viral targets.

In the current study, the researchers isolated antibodies from the blood of people who’d been previously infected with the Zika virus in different parts of the world. The antibodies reacted to the envelope or “E” protein on the surface of the virus.

The researchers then generated a variety of monoclonal antibodies. In cell culture studies, they identified one, ZIKV-117, which broadly neutralized several different strains of the virus. In mice infected by the Zika virus, injection of the antibody markedly reduced disease and mortality, and reduced transmission from mother to fetus.

The paper’s first authors were Gopal Sapparapu, Ph.D., research assistant professor of Pediatrics in the Crowe lab, and by Estefania Fernandez, a graduate student in Diamond’s lab. Nurgun Kose, senior research specialist in Crowe’s lab, made the antibodies.

{For years, scientists have known that someone who is thin could still end up with diabetes. Yet an obese person may be surprisingly healthy.}

Now, new research led by scientists at the University of Utah College of Health, and carried out with an international team of scientsts, points to an answer to that riddle: accumulation of a toxic class of fat metabolites, known as ceramides, may make people more prone to type 2 diabetes.

Among patients in Singapore receiving gastric bypass surgery, ceramide levels predicted who had diabetes better than obesity did. Even though all of the patients were obese, those who did not have type 2 diabetes had less ceramide in their adipose tissue than those who were diagnosed with the condition.

“Ceramides impact the way the body handles nutrients,” says the study’s senior author Scott Summers, Ph.D., also chairman of the University of Utah Department of Nutrition and Integrative Physiology. “They impair the way the body responds to insulin, and also how it burns calories.”

In the study, published on Nov. 3 in Cell Metabolism online, the researchers also show that a buildup of ceramides prevents the normal function of fat (adipose) tissue in mice.

When people overeat, they produce an excess of fatty acids. Those can be stored in the body as triglycerides or burned for energy. However in some people, fatty acids are turned into ceramides.

“It’s like a tipping point,” Summers said.

At that point, when ceramides accrue, the adipose tissue stops working appropriately, and fat spills out into the vasculature or heart and does damage to other peripheral tissues. Until now, scientists didn’t know how ceramides were damaging the body.

The three-year project found that adding excess ceramides to human fat cells, or mice, caused them to become unresponsive to insulin and develop impairments in their ability to burn calories. The mice were also more suceptible to diabetes as well as fatty liver disease.

Conversely, they also found that mice with fewer ceramides in their adipose tissue were protected from insulin resistance, a first sign of diabetes. Using genetic engineering, researchers had deleted the gene that converts saturated fats into ceramides.

The findings indicate that high ceramides levels may increase diabetes risk and low levels could protect against the disease.

The scientists think this could mean that some people are more likely to convert calories into ceramides than others. “That suggests some skinny people will get diabetes or fatty liver disease if something such as genetics triggers ceramide accumulation,” said Bhagirath Chaurasia, Ph.D., assistant professor at the University of Utah and the lead author of the study.

As a result of the new research, the scientists are now searching for genetic mutations that lead to people’s predisposition to accumulating ceramides, developing obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Summers notes that some Asian countries have a higher diabetes rate than the United States even though the obesity rate is relatively low. “Some people are just not made to deal with dietary fat,” says Summers. “It’s not just how much you eat, because some people can eat a lot and they just store all the fat effectively and remain healthy.”

Adipose tissue exists as three types. White adipose tissue is considered the “bad” kind, because it predominately stores fat. Brown adipose tissue burns fat to generate heat. Beige adipose tissue is a variety of white fat that can change to brown when the body needs to produce heat or create energy.

Based on their research, the scientists propose that as ceramides build up, the tissue loses the characteristics of brown fat, effectively becoming more white. This sets off a sequence of events that can lead to disease.

Summers previously published research in 2007 proving that the inhibition of ceramide synthesis in rodents prevented the development of fatty liver disease and diabetes. He is now working to develop drugs to target that issue.

“By blocking ceramide production, we might be able to prevent the development of type 2 diabetes or other metabolic conditions, at least in some people,” Chaurasia said. Knowing how problematic ceramide accumulation is inside adipose tissue will help researchers focus on that specific problem.

{A new research has found that the sun is actually good for your health. The idea isn’t exactly new, but according to a recent BYU study, when it comes to your mental and emotional health, the amount of time between sunrise and sunset is the weather variable that matters most.}

Although the sun’s temperature might be hot and irritable but if you’re able to soak up enough sun, your level of emotional distress should remain stable. Take away sun time, and your distress can spike.

“That’s one of the surprising pieces of our research,” said Mark Beecher, clinical professor and licensed psychologist in BYU Counseling and Psychological Services. “On a rainy day, or a more polluted day, people assume that they’d have more distress. But we didn’t see that. We looked at solar irradiance, or the amount of sunlight that actually hits the ground. We tried to take into account cloudy days, rainy days, pollution . . . but they washed out. The one thing that was really significant was the amount of time between sunrise and sunset.”Therapists should be aware that winter months will be a time of high demand for their services. With fewer sun time hours, clients will be particularly vulnerable to emotional distress. Preventative measures should be implemented on a case-by-case basis.

The research was published in the Journal of Affective Disorders.

{Researchers have identified mutations in Ebola virus that emerged during the 2013-2016 Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa that increased the ability of the virus to infect human cells, two independent teams of researchers are reporting November 3 in Cell.}

“Ebola virus is thought to circulate in an unknown animal reservoir and to only rarely cross over into people. When the virus does cross over, the effect has been devastating to those people who are infected. Until recently, the human disease outbreaks have been short lived, and the virus has had little opportunity to adapt genetically to the human host,” says Jeremy Luban, a co-author of one of the papers and Professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

By the end of the Ebola virus disease epidemic in 2016, more than 28,000 people had been infected with the virus, and more than 11,000 people died from Ebola virus disease. To investigate whether the virus might have changed genetically in response to infection of such large numbers of people, the research teams used publicly available Ebola virus genomic sequences to track virus mutations. The teams found that mutations of the gene that encodes the Ebola virus glycoprotein increased the virus’ ability to infect cells of humans and other primates. By increasing infectivity in human cells, it is possible that these mutations increased Ebola virus spread during the outbreak.

“If you introduce a virus into a new host, like humans, it may need to adapt to better infect and spread in that host,” says Jonathan Ball, a virologist at the University of Nottingham and co-author of the other paper. One particular mutation, studied by both groups, emerged early in the outbreak just as case numbers vastly increased and soon became the dominant virus type circulating in the outbreak.

The Ebola virus mutations did not increase the ability of Ebola virus to infect cells from other mammalian species, including fruit bats, the presumed natural host of Ebola virus. “We found that, as Ebola virus was spreading from human to human, it apparently didn’t have to worry about maintaining its infectivity in bats,” Ball says.

The research teams are continuing their work to learn more about how these specific mutations made the Ebola virus more infectious for human cells. “It’s important to understand how these viruses evolve during outbreaks,” says Luban. “By doing so, we will be better prepared should these viruses spill over to humans in the future.”

{One of the things every man should never joke with is the health of his sperm especially if you hope to be a father someday.}

There are certain things you do that can affect the health of your sperm. Below are 10 things you do that lower your sperm count according to health and beauty retailer Superdrug

1. Exposure to radiation can cause permanent reduction in your sperm count.

2. Manage stress properly because stress can cause a decrease in sperm concentration and motility.

3. It’s important you maintain a healthy weight because being overweight can cause a decrease in sperm concentration and motility.

4. Quit smoking today if you are a smoker because smoking can cause sperm mutations.

5. Avoid wearing tight underwear because it can cause testicular hyperthermia and reduce sperm integrity.

6. Alcohol consumption isn’t good for your sperm because it lowers sperm count and percentage of normal sperm.

7. Use of marijuana isn’t good for your sperm because it inhibits sperm function.

8. Placing laptops on your laps isn’t good for your sperm due to the heat it emits.

9. Consumption of processed meat isn’t good for your sperm as it could reduce sperm count by up to 30%.

10. Chemicals found in sunscreen reportedly reduce sperm count by 33%.

{For many, unripe plantain isn’t something exactly appealing; they’d rather go for ripe ones because of the obvious taste differences. Ripe plantain taste a lot better than unripe ones, but that doesn’t mean it is richer in nutrients; in fact, nutritionists believe that unripe plantain is better for your health than the ripe ones. So in this post, I’ll be sharing 10 amazing health benefits of unripe plantain with you.}

{{1. Cure for Neuritis and Anaemia }}

Unripe Plantain contains Vitamin B6, which is very effective in the fight against health conditions like Neuritis and Anaemia. Neuritis is a condition that causes an inflammation of the nerves. Anaemia, on the other hand is characterised by the presence of low red blood cells in the body, which usually results in weakness. With a regular consumption of unripe plantain, these conditions can be treated, and even prevented.

{{2. Good for the heart }}

The potassium content in unripe plantain protects the heart from conditions like High Blood Pressure, by controlling the heart rate. It also has some fibre content, which controls cholesterol levels, and consequently, kills the possibility of one suffering heart diseases. The presence of serotonin in unripe plantain prevents stroke and other heart conditions too.

{{3. It’s perfect for weight loss }}

As I said before, it contains some fibre content, which makes it possible to lose weight through constant consumption.

{{4. It’s great for your body }}

Unripe plantain has the ability to improve blood circulation in your body, and make your digestive system a lot better than it was.

{{5. Rich source of vitamin A,B and C }}

Unripe plantain contains a great amount of Vitamin C, as well as B and A, which not only improves your vision, but nourishes your skin and Keeps you safe from diseases and free radicals.

{{6. Helps fight constipation}}

If you have issues passing out waste, then you need to turn to unripe plantain. Eating it in a good amount can make bowel movement better and easier, which in turn, would ease your constipation worries.

{{7. Healthy for diabetic people }}

Unlike ripe ones, unripe plantain contains little or no sugar, and as you know, sugar is a root cause of diabetes. Mixed with quality vegetables and other protein rich food, unripe plantain can keep diabetes away.

{{8. It’s rich in calcium }}

Calcium is essential if you want to have strong, healthy bones, nails and teeth. Eating a good amount of unripe plantain would enrich your system with enough calcium, and keep away diseases like Osteoporosis, a condition that causes the bones to be weakened.

{{9. It improves libido }}

If poor libido level is a worry for you, then you must eat plenty of unripe plantain. Studies have proven that it can enhance sexual performance.

{{10. Cure for ulcer }}

Lucocyanidin is an element found in unripe plantain, and it can help fight ulcer, studies have shown.

So there you have it. Sometimes, the best things don’t come with a great taste, but that doesn’t mean they’re not good for you. Unripe plantain isn’t as sweet as ripe ones, but it certainly is healthier. You should eat it more.