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436 news posts in Health

Health

12 May 2022

Common steroids after ‘long Covid’ recovery may cut risk of death by up to 51%

By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer Researchers show that severe inflammation during hospitalization for Covid-19 increases risk of death within one year from seeming recovery by 61%. This risk is reduced again by 51% if anti-inflammatory steroids are prescribed upon discharge. We need to think of Covid-19 as a potentially chronic disease that requires long-term management, argue the authors. Evidence continues to gather that ‘long Covid’, that is, continued negative health impacts months after apparent recovery from severe Covid-19, is an important risk for some patients. For example, researchers from the University of Florida Gainesville showed last December that hospitalized patients who seemingly recovered from severe Covid-19 run more than double the risk of dying within the next year, compared to people who experienced only mild or moderate symptoms and who had not been hospitalized, or who never caught the illness. Now, a team including some of the same authors shows for the first time that among patients hospitalized for Covid-19 who seemingly recovered, severe systemic inflammation during their hospitalization is a risk factor for death within one year. This may seem paradoxical, as inflammation is a natural part of the body’s immune response, which has evolved to fight infection. […]

Health

10 May 2022

Children grow faster during school year than during summer holidays

By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer Image credit: MIA Studio / Shutterstock.com Children grow faster during the school year than during the summer period, show scientists. In contrast to the strong seasonality of vertical growth, there is little seasonality in increase in body weight over time. Slower vertical growth affects the BMI and contributes to the “obesogenicity” of the summer period. It has been long recognized that in Western countries, children are more likely to become overweight or obese over the summer. Causes of this include changes in kids’ physical activity and diet over the summer period, including the summer holidays. But in a new study in Frontiers in Physiology, scientists from the US show that this ‘obesogenicity” of summers has another unexpected cause: children grow faster over the school year than over the summer. And because Body Mass Index (BMI) is the ratio of body weight in kg and height in meters squared, faster vertical growth during the school leads to increased BMI during summers. “Here we show seasonality in standardized body mass index (BMIz), with children gaining height at a greater rate during the school year compared to the summer,” said Dr Jennette P Moreno, an assistant professor […]

Health

27 Apr 2022

Almost 90% of autistic women report experiencing sexual violence, often on multiple occasions

By K.E.D. Coan, science writer The prevalence of sexual abuse may be up to three times higher for women who are on the autism spectrum, compared to those who are not, reports a new study from France. This is the largest survey specifically investigating the vulnerability of autistic women and the results will improve treatment strategies for victims, as well as prevention programs worldwide. As many as nine out of 10 autistic women in France report have suffered sexual violence, shows a new study in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. This is one of the largest studies to date focused specifically on this population. In contrast, previous research has shown that the rate of sexual aggression against non-autistic women is one in three, suggesting that offenders are three times more likely to target autistic women. The results also revealed that most victims had been assaulted multiple times, that this began when they were young and that they were rarely able to report the abuse or receive care. These findings will guide better prevention and treatment programs.  “This research project was started by the study’s co-authors (Dr David Gourion, a psychiatrist, and Dr Séverine Leduc, a neuropsychologist) who have observed in their […]

Health

25 Apr 2022

World Malaria Day: Meet a researcher using genetic engineering to tackle a serious global disease

By Colm Gorey/Prof Tania de Koning-Ward, Deakin University Prof Tania de Koning-Ward, Deakin University. Image: Deakin University World Malaria Day – held on the 25 April –  is an occasion to highlight the need for continued investment and sustained political commitment for malaria prevention and control. To mark this important awareness day, Frontiers caught up with Prof Tania de Koning-Ward to hear how she is contributing to a global effort to prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths each year. Tania de Koning-Ward is a professor in molecular microbiology based at Deakin University’s School of Medicine in Australia and is a senior research fellow of the country’s National Health and Medical Research Council. Here she heads the school’s malaria pathogenesis research group which aims to investigate molecular level, key parasite-host interactions that enable malaria parasites to thrive and survive in their host and cause disease. She has published extensively on the subject, including in an article published to Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology in September 2020. What inspired you to become a researcher? Do you have any specific memories that set off a spark? Growing up, I always enjoyed biology and maths but realized pretty quickly at university that it […]

Health

12 Apr 2022

People married into long-lived families share lower risk of type II diabetes

By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer New study within the US Long Life Family Study identifies biomarkers characteristic for people born in – or married into – families with exceptionally long-lived members. Both groups also have a reduced risk of developing type II diabetes. Sharing the household and lifestyle of children of long-lived parents might lead to these marked health benefits for spouses, but it’s also possible that people tend to pick their partners through ‘assortative mating’, matching phenotypes and genotypes for healthy aging and longevity. What makes some people predisposed to live and remain healthy much longer than others? That some persons reach an exceptional age has been recorded throughout history. It’s tempting to write down such outliers as only the result of environment and behavior: for example, better-than-average nutrition, medical care, childcare practises, and hygiene, not to mention luck. But as average life expectancy continues to increase worldwide due to overall improvements in these and other factors, it’s becoming clear that exceptional longevity and healthy aging tend to run in families. This suggests that genetic differences also play a role in assuring lifespan and life-long good health. Prof Iva Miljkovic from the School of Public Health at the […]

Health

17 Mar 2022

mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccines are safe for high-risk patients, shows study

By Conn Hastings, science writer Image: Shutterstock.com Patients with impaired immunity have faced a difficult predicament during the pandemic. Their condition places them at risk of severe Covid-19 complications, but until now, no-one knew if they were at higher risk of adverse side-effects following vaccination against Covid-19. A new study trialed two mRNA vaccines in such patients and found that they are safe and well tolerated. The results will help immunocompromised patients in making an informed choice about vaccination. Spare a thought for patients with impaired immunity during the Covid-19 pandemic. Their condition puts them at high risk of severe complications from Covid-19, but also creates uncertainty about the safety and effectiveness of the available vaccines that could protect them. A new study in Frontiers in Oncology helps to put this catch-22 situation to rest by finding that two popular mRNA-based vaccines are well tolerated by such high-risk patients. The trial found that the vaccines were safe and did not cause unexpected adverse events in a group of patients with various cancers, neurological, and rheumatological conditions that are associated with immunosuppression. The results will reassure vaccine-hesitant patients that the vaccines are safe, even for the immunocompromised.     ► Read original article► Download […]

Health

21 Feb 2022

Eating vegetables does not protect against cardiovascular disease, finds large-scale study

By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer A long-term ‘UK Biobank’ study on almost 400,000 people finds little or no evidence that differences in the amount of consumed cooked or uncooked vegetables affects the risk of cardiovascular disease. When known socio-economic and lifestyle confounding factors are corrected for, the small apparent positive effect that remains could likely also be explained away by further confounders. A sufficient intake of vegetables is important for maintaining a balanced diet and avoiding a wide range of diseases. But might a diet rich in vegetables also lower the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD)? Unfortunately, researchers from the Nuffield Department of Population Health at the University of Oxford, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the University of Bristol found no evidence for this. That the consumption of vegetables might lower the risk of CVD might at first sight seem plausible, as their ingredients such as carotenoids and alpha-tocopherol have properties that could protect against CVD. But so far, the evidence from previous studies for an overall effect of vegetable consumption on CVD has been inconsistent. Now, new results from a powerful, large-scale new study in Frontiers in Nutrition shows that a higher consumption of cooked or […]

Health

07 Feb 2022

‘Try to reverse these wrong stereotypes’ – an interview with Prof Sarah Garfinkel & Dr Lisa Quadt #WomeninScience

By Janine Gronewold and Miriam Engels Interviewee Prof Sarah Garfinkel Interviewee Dr Lisa Quadt During the Covid-19 pandemic, with its repeated lockdowns and social restrictions, many people across the globe have reported increased feelings of isolation and loneliness. Prolonged loneliness is known to be associated with poor mental and physical health outcomes, for example increased cerebrovascular disease. What could be the mechanism underlying this association? That is the subject of a recent perspective article in Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience. Its authors, Dr Janine Gronewold, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Department of Vascular Neurology and Dementia of the University Hospital Essen, and Miriam Engels, a doctoral student at the Institute of Medical Sociology at the University Clinic Düsseldorf and lecturer at the Open University of the Netherlands, were inspired by a recently proposed framework for adaptive versus maladaptive brain-body interactions. For the International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2022 on 11th February, Gronewold (denoted as JG below) and Engels (ME) here interview two of the authors behind this framework, Dr Sarah Garfinkel (SG), professor at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, and her postdoc Dr Lisa Quadt (LQ), a research fellow in Clinical Neuroscience at Brighton […]

Health

04 Feb 2022

Sex disparities in sports medicine research may threaten the health and careers of female athletes

By Emily Parker, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine Image: leungchopan/Shutterstock.com ‘Hormones’ have long been blamed for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in female athletes, but according to a new review paper, one menstrual hormone may be mediating the damage: relaxin. University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine student, Emily Parker, writes to Frontiers that upon noticing the lack of progress in the 20-odd years since early relaxin-musculoskeletal studies, the support of orthopedic department mentors and the assistance of a fellow student allowed a thorough dive into the disjointed, cross-disciplinary research trail. Female athletes are between three and eight times more likely to suffer devastating ACL injuries compared to their male counterparts. That’s according to 16 years of data from the US National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Injury Surveillance System, published in a new paper to Frontiers in Endocrinology. Alex Meyer, one of the authors of this latest research, noted: “It has almost been accepted that these [ACL injuries] are just more prevalent in women.” The cost of female ACL injuries is huge and multi-faceted, seen in the billions of dollars of healthcare costs, team rosters picked apart by injury come tournament time, and future consequences such as post-traumatic […]