Are you looking for an activity to help ease mental health issues? You might want to give recreational fishing a try.Fishing has been touted as an activity that can help reduce stress, allow one to enjoy the outdoors and also boost mood and self-esteem. That is in addition to the physical benefits of the activity.In a new study, a team of researchers conducted a survey on 1,900 U.K. adults, Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) noted in a news release.They found “significantly fewer” people who participated in recreational fishing had anxiety disorder, attempted suicide or engaged in self-harm compared to those who don’t fish. This suggests that recreational fishing may be beneficial for people who are experiencing “serious” mental health issues.

“We have been told on numerous occasions by our service users that if it were not for the fishing sessions, they don’t think they’d be alive today,” David Lyons, the founder of angling organization Tackling Minds, said in the news release. “To now have scientific evidence to back up what we’ve been saying all along, is unbelievable, to say the least.”Tackling Minds successfully campaigned for angling to be recognized as a “social prescribing activity” on the National Health Service (NHS) last year, according to ARU. This means the use of a non-medical intervention for a health problem.”(E)ncouraging participation in fishing could be a good dual-method strategy for both promoting relaxation and good mental health as well as encouraging increased levels of physical activity within those with mental health issues such as anxiety disorder,” added Lee Smith, a professor at ARU.This could be beneficial for many as fishing is a relatively more accessible activity compared to other outdoor sports. In another ARU study, published earlier this year in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, researchers found that people with disabilities showed similar participation levels and “motivations” for fishing as others.And even though they faced some “barriers” such as cost, lack of transport and “having no one to go with them,” fishing is still quite an accessible sport.”Such findings suggests that fishing could be a more feasible and acceptable ‘green prescription’ for older men with disabilities in comparison to other outdoor physical activity,” the researchers wrote at the time. “The challenge of fishing and the relaxation benefits should be emphasized to encourage greater uptake of fishing.”

A new study has found that migraine has long-lasting effects on the brain that effectively change brain structure. What’s more, these changes are visible under an MRI scan.”In people with chronic migraine and episodic migraine without aura, there are significant changes in the perivascular spaces of a brain region called the centrum semiovale,” study co-author Wilson Xu, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, said, reported NewsMedical. “These changes have never been reported before.”The results of the study are reported to be presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).Migraine is a condition characterized by an intense recurring headache. Other symptoms may include nausea, weakness, and light sensitivity. Migraine is a very common problem that many people suffer from. According to the American Migraine Foundation, over 37 million people in the U.S. have migraine conditions, and up to 148 million people around the world suffer from chronic migraine, reported MedicalDialogue.

Perivascular spaces are fluid-filled cavities that surround blood vessels in the brain. They are most commonly found in the basal ganglia and white matter of the cerebrum, as well as along the optic tract. Centrum semiovale is the central part of white matter and white matter hyperintensity is the lesion that “lights up” on MRI.Several factors such as abnormal conditions at the blood-brain barrier and inflammation can affect perivascular spaces. Enlarged perivascular spaces, in particular, may indicate small vessel disease.”Perivascular spaces are part of a fluid clearance system in the brain,” Xu explained. “Studying how they contribute to migraine could help us better understand the complexities of how migraines occur.”The researchers used ultra-high-field 7T MRI to discern structural minute changes in the brain during different types of migraine.”To our knowledge, this is the first study using ultra-high-resolution MRI to study microvascular changes in the brain due to migraine, particularly in perivascular spaces,” Xu said. “Because 7T MRI is able to create images of the brain with much higher resolution and better quality than other MRI types, it can be used to demonstrate much smaller changes that happen in brain tissue after a migraine.”Participants in the study included 10 chronic migraine patients, 10 episodic migraines without aura patients, and five healthy controls with similar ages. All the participants were between 25 and 60 years old. Special attention was paid to avoiding patients with overt cognitive impairment, brain tumors, prior intracranial surgery, MRI contraindications, and claustrophobia in the study.Statistical analysis found that the number of enlarged perivascular spaces in the centrum semiovale was more pronounced in patients with migraine compared to healthy controls. Also, the quantity of enlarged perivascular space in the centrum semiovale was in proportion to white matter hyperintensity severity in migraine patients.”We studied chronic migraine and episodic migraine without aura and found that, for both types of migraine, perivascular spaces were bigger in the centrum semiovale,” Xu said. “Although we didn’t find any significant changes in the severity of white matter lesions in patients with and without migraine, these white matter lesions were significantly linked to the presence of enlarged perivascular spaces. This suggests that changes in perivascular spaces could lead to the future development of more white matter lesions.”Xu believes that their study “could help inspire future, larger-scale studies to continue investigating how changes in the brain’s microscopic vessels and blood supply contribute to different migraine types.” The end goal is that the study “could help us develop new, personalized ways to diagnose and treat migraine.”.

A Texas man’s life was put on hold after suffering from COVID-19 for more than a year. Dub Crochet reportedly had to stay at a hospital for 453 days after contracting a bad case of the coronavirus in August 2021, disabling him from enjoying the holidays and celebrating milestones with his family. The Bellaire native could not celebrate Thanksgiving with his loved ones last year. He also missed the birth of his new grandson. Worst, he had to celebrate his 70th birthday at the hospital due to his condition, Washington Post reported. “It was tough for me lying there during Thanksgiving [and] during Christmas because I’m a big holiday person. To miss that was tough,” he told the news outlet. 

Most of Crochet’s doctors did not see a positive end to his case, thinking he would not be able to leave the hospital. They even told his wife, Rachel, that he would be in a vegetative state. “Every organ in his body failed at some point except his heart and his brain. The doctors looked at me and said, ‘He’s not going to survive,’” Rachel said. It’s a bit of a mystery how Crochet contracted the severe form of COVID-19 when he did not have preexisting conditions and was fully vaccinated when he tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 last year. When he was rushed to the emergency room after developing a fever and his oxygen levels dropped, his supposed short hospital stay landed him in the ICU, where he was placed on a ventilator a few days later.  However, the unthinkable happened after 453 days as he recovered from the viral infection and several complications that came with it. On the day he got discharged, doctors and nurses at the hospital cheered for him as he was finally able to celebrate Thanksgiving with his family. He would also be able to return home for the holidays, including Christmas. But Crochet was not the one who battled the viral disease the longest. In April, U.K. doctors announced that they had documented the longest COVID infection on record — the patient had to be treated for more than 16 months, or 505 days to be exact. The patient, whose identity was not disclosed, first caught the virus in early 2020. They had symptoms and got diagnosed after undergoing a PCR test. Unlike Crochet, the patient was in and out of the hospital many times for both routine checkups and care, according to the BBC. 

A newly discovered drug that works against both covid-19 and cancer could prove to be a game-changer in medicine, scientists believe.Researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and the Cleveland Clinic Florida Research and Innovation Centre, found a vital protein GRP78, implicated in both covid-19 and cancer, could be countered with the drug named HA15. The drug specifically binds to GRP78 and inhibits its activityThe findings of the study were published in the journal Nature Communications.GRP78 is a chaperone protein that, along with other cellular receptors, aids the entry of the SARS-COV-2 virus inside the cells, as per DrugTargetRveview. GRP78 has been implicated in the spread of other viruses as well.

The researchers, while examining infected human lung cells, found higher production of GRP78 in infected cells as the infection increased in intensity.To determine the importance of GRP78 in the spread of Covid-19 infection, researchers suppressed the production of the protein in human lung epithelial cells in cell culture. When those cells were infected with the SARS-COV-2 virus, the study found that infected cells produced a lower amount of the viral spike protein and released much less of the virus to infect other cells.”We now have direct evidence that GRP78 is a proviral protein that is essential for the virus to replicate,” co-author, Amy S. Lee, professor of biochemistry and molecular medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, said, according to MedicalXpress.Next, the research team tested the drug, HA15, on the infected lung cells to assess the feasibility of targeting GRP78 to bring down the infection.”Lo and behold, we found that this drug was very effective in reducing the number and size of SARS-CoV-2 plaques produced in the infected cells, in safe doses which had no harmful effect on normal cells,” Lee commented.After encouraging results, the researchers tested the efficacy of the drug in genetically-engineered mice, which were programmed to express a human SARS-CoV-2 receptor. The mice were infected with the SARS-COV-2 virus. The result was significantly reduced viral load in the lungs.In another study, the research team at the Keck School of Medicine investigated the efficacy of HA15 in cancer, along with another GRP78 inhibitor YUM70. The study was conducted in collaboration with researchers at the University of Michigan, US.It was found in the study that both, HA15 and YUM70, suppressed the production of mutant KRAS proteins, a common mutation that resists drug treatment, and also reduced the number of such mutant-bearing cancer cells.Thus, the drugs could be used to target GRP78, which, in turn, would help fight off cancer.The next step would be to test the safety and efficacy of the drug in humans through clinical trials.

What if a single shot could protect you and your loved ones from all known flu viruses? This is what researchers are working on to ensure universal protection against the flu is at hand. A U.S. study published on Thursday detailed information on an experimental vaccine that showed early promise in providing broad protection against all 20 known influenza virus subtypes. Published in the peer-reviewed journal Science, the team behind it reported favorable results in the initial testing phase involving mice and ferrets. The researchers said this could pave the way to a universal flu shot that could prevent future pandemics. “Vaccines serve as an indispensable tool for the control and prevention of influenza, but several challenges remain. Some populations, for example, the elderly, respond poorly to vaccination. Furthermore, the highly variable nature of influenza viruses can make targeting optimal antigens difficult,” the team wrote. 

In response to the problem, the researchers developed a two-dose vaccine that employs the same messenger RNA technology found in the COVID-19 shots developed by Moderna and Pfizer with BioNTech. The shot delivers tiny lipid particles of mRNA instructions prompting cells to make replicas of hemagglutinin proteins typically found on the surfaces of all 20 known influenza A and B virus subtypes. This way, the vaccine can give protection against antigenically variable viruses by inducing antibodies against multiple antigens simultaneously. According to Reuters, this universal vaccine would not necessarily lead to the end of flu seasons worldwide. However, it could eliminate the guesswork that goes into making annual flu shots months before the flu season every year. “The idea here is to have a vaccine that will give people a baseline level of immune memory to diverse flu strains so that there will be far less disease and death when the next flu pandemic occurs,” said study leader Scott Hensley of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Hensley further explained that if successful in human trials, the universal flu vaccine would not prevent infections. But it will provide durable protection against severe illness and death caused by the virus. 

Scientists at the Vrije University (VU) of Amsterdam have identified rare damaging genetic variants that increase Alzheimer’s disease (AD) risk.“Our results provide additional evidence for a major role for amyloid-β precursor protein processing, amyloid-β aggregation, lipid metabolism, and microglial function in AD,” the authors wrote in a paper published in the journal Nature Genetics on Monday.Using gene-based burden analysis in place of the more common genome-wide association studies (GWAS), the researchers found a strong link between rare, damaging variants in ATP8B4 and ABCA1 with AD risk, and a signal in ADAM10, as well as rare-variant burden in the genes RIN3, CLU, ZCWPW1 and ACE, according to GenEngNews.Damaging mutations in  ATP8B4 — an ATPase enzyme — occur in 3.6% of early-onset patients, 3.1% of late-onset patients, and 2.1% of individuals without dementia, the study found.

“We find that missense mutations [in  ATP8B4 ] associate with a higher increased risk (1.6-fold increased risk in early-onset AD cases compared to non-carriers) compared to truncating mutations (1.2-fold), which suggests that the deleterious effects may be due to gain-of-function missense mutations.” senior author, Henne Holstege, an assistant professor of clinical genetics at VU said, reported GenEngNews.Coming to gene variation in ABCA1, the study found that mutations in the gene occur in 1.5% of early-onset patients, 1.1% of late-onset patients, and 0.52% of individuals without dementia.“Here, truncating mutations associate with a higher risk of AD (4.7-fold increase) compared to missense mutations (2.7-fold), which suggests that damaging or losing protein function underlies the observed increased risk,” Holstege noted.As for variants in ADAM10, the results showed that the mutations occur in only 0.23% of early-onset patients, 0.05% of late-onset patients, and 0.02% of individuals without dementia.“Carrying a damaging variant is associated with a 9-fold increased risk of AD,” Holstege commented. “These variants include protein truncating and missense variants, suggesting that losing protein function or protein impairment underlies the increased risk.”Numerous studies in favor notwithstanding, the β-amyloid theory of AD is hotly debated on account of the lack of effectiveness of AD drugs that target β-amyloid deposition or degradation.However, the recent success of amyloid-clearing agents such as Aducanumab or Lecanemab might change the views.“Early treatment with Aducanumab or Lecanemab may be very important for effectivity,” Holstege suggested. “Additionally, the field needs to focus on generating treatments that ‘correct’ or support the endogenous mechanisms involved in protein processing and clearance. When applied to at-risk individuals before the onset of disease such agents may prevent a load of amyloid or other aggregating proteins to accumulate to disease-associated levels.”Holstege believes that larger studies with international collaborations will help uncover more genes associated with the high risk of AD.Nevertheless, the findings of this study will help open up opportunities to better understand and treat AD in patients.

There’s more reason to believe that vaping is bad for dental health. A new study published in the Journal of the American Dental Association found that people who vape are at a higher risk of developing tooth decay and periodontal disease. “Evidence on the potential oral health effects of vaping is scarce and there are limited data on possible links to both caries and periodontal disease. The authors assessed the association between electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) or vape use and caries risk level,” read the background of the study.The researchers conducted a cross-sectional study using patient records from 13,098 individuals who attended the dental school clinics from Jan. 1, 2019, through Jan. 1, 2022. Most of them did not vape (99.3%), while only a few (0.69%) admitted using e-cigarettes. Among the users, 79% had a significant risk for cavities. 

The team established an association between the use of vapes or e-cigarettes and the caries risk level of the patients. They found that those who vaped had a higher risk of developing dental caries. Based on a 2022 survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), around 2.55 million middle and high school students in the country use e-cigarettes. The findings of the study suggest that they are at risk of suffering from tooth decay and periodontal disease. Since vaping seemingly promotes cavities, users are at risk of tooth loss if left untreated. Some lab studies also found that the vapor from e-cigarettes could promote bad bacteria growth in the month, according to U.S. News & World Report. “If you are vaping, be aware that there are potentially some detrimental oral health effects. If you do vape, make sure to mention this to your dentist because it may be important to make sure we customize your preventive routine to be a bit more aggressive than we would do for the average patient,” lead researcher Dr. Karina Irusa told the outlet. The assistant professor of comprehensive care at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine in Boston further explained that the dental bacteria that causes decay appears to become more virulent and aggressive when exposed to the vapor produced by e-cigarettes. Jennifer Genuardi, MD, an internist and pediatrician at Urban Health Plan in New York City, reacted to the study, saying the findings were unsurprising. Genuardi, who was not part of the research team, told Medscape that the ingredients found in e-cigarettes contribute to the overgrowth of cavity-causing bacteria in the mouth. “We are learning daily more and more about the dangers of vaping. There’s a focus of today’s research on the effect of actions on our microbiome and the subsequent effects on our health,” Genuardi noted. 

Pregnant women are often embarrassed by their forgetfulness and loss of focus, but perhaps they need not be. A new study has found the “pregnancy brain” is real and it happens due to changes in the brain structure in expecting women.The brain fog experienced during pregnancy is probably part of a bigger plan to bond the mother with the baby, the study, published in the journal Nature Communications, found.The researchers found a strong association between increased levels of pregnancy hormones and changes to the neural architecture in specific areas of the brain.Often known as “baby brain,” “momnesia” or “mommy brain,” the phenomenon is very common. However, measuring its effects has proved to be a scientific hurdle.

The lead author, Leiden University neuroscientist Elseline Hoekzema, has worked on this aspect in her previous studies.In a 2016 study, Hoekzema found that there was a significant loss of gray matter during pregnancy.”During pregnancy, a woman is exposed to an unparalleled flood of hormones,”  Hoekzema said in 2020. The researcher received a €1.5 million European Research Council grant for continuing research into this field that year.”Animal studies have shown that these hormones trigger far-reaching changes in the maternal brain and behavior. In previous studies, we discovered that pregnancy renders long-lasting changes in human brain structure,” Hoekzema further said, reported ScienceAlert.In the latest study, Hoekzema and her colleagues used MRI scans to map the brains of 40 women. The scans were taken before pregnancy, and also before and after birth, including a year after the baby’s delivery.The scans were then compared to 40 women who were not pregnant at that time.Additionally, urine samples were collected every two to four weeks from the pregnant group to assess hormone levels.The study was further supported by surveys and questionnaires to analyze nesting behaviors, sleep patterns and levels of psychological distress.The results, based on the 28 participants who completed the study, provided evidence that pregnancy changes the brain networking pattern. The change was most significant in the Default Mode Network, an area associated with contemplation and daydreaming, according to the outlet.”These findings suggest that the neural changes of pregnancy may render a blueprint that facilitates the subsequent development of the mother-infant relationship, which could then potentially be further reinforced by the interaction with the infant,” the authors wrote in the paper.Admittedly, finding a clear link in these studies is difficult, making these findings speculative in nature. However, more studies with larger sample sizes and better analytical tools will help in understanding these changes at the cellular level.One thing is for sure, pregnant women should be cut some slack the next time they zone out. After all, they have no control over it.

A successful experiment has demonstrated the efficacy of newly developed mind-control wheelchairs in helping paralysis patients navigate through obstacles.The study, published in the journal iScience, found the non-invasive wheelchair control allowed paralyzed patients to guide themselves through an obstacle course.The quadriplegic participants were put on an electrode cap that allowed them to control the wheelchair. Once the cap was on, the patients had to focus on moving certain body parts they no longer controlled like the hands and legs.”This intent will be translated into the actual commands for the motors of the wheelchair that will make the wheels move at different speeds so that if one is faster than the other, then it will turn into that in the opposite direction,” senior researcher, José del R. Millán, a professor of neurology and chair of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, said, reported USNews. “So, if the right is faster than the left, it will automatically turn toward the left and the other way around.”

Two of the three volunteers were able to mind-control the wheelchair with increasing accuracy as the training progressed. To move toward the right, volunteers had to think about moving both legs, while to move the wheelchair toward the left, volunteers had to think about moving both hands.Currently, patients have to undergo an operation to gain mind control of a wheelchair. This new non-invasive method, which requires no such surgery, can prove revolutionary.”This is probably the first small study to achieve quite good success without having to enter the brain,” Abbey Sawyer, a postdoctoral researcher in the Abilities Research Center at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, told USNews.”There are much more invasive approaches which are entering safety and feasibility stages of human trials at this point, but this is one of the first and probably one of the most successful of a noninvasive approach,” Sawyer, who was not part of the study, added.The three participants were trained three times a week for two to five months. Over the course of the training, two participants showed exceptional progress, with accuracy increasing to 95% and 98% individually from the initial 43%-55%.“The main point of the paper is that if we train people sufficiently long, they can achieve a certain level of control of a sophisticated device like these brain-controlled wheelchairs,” Millán noted.However, commercial use of such mind-controlled wheelchairs is still a long way from materializing.“There’s no pragmatic, adaptive way for people to do this themselves, and the training is quite intensive, so I don’t think it’s quite ready for prime time,” Dr. Anthony Ritaccio, a professor of neurology at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla, said. “People are still working to make it easy and applicable, because otherwise, why would it take decades? It would have been on the market already.”

COVID-19 reinfection poses a greater threat than the first infection, according to a new study. Researchers found that the risks of death, hospitalization and serious health issues are greater when one is reinfected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. “Reinfection with COVID-19 increases the risk of both acute outcomes and long COVID,” Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis said, as per VOA. In his new study with his colleagues, Al-Aly pursued to find out whether reinfection adds to risks incurred after the first infection. They found that while the risks were most pronounced in the acute phase, they persisted in the post-acute phase. 

Based on the number of infections, cumulative risks and burdens of repeat infection increased, suggesting that the risks of death, hospitalization and serious health problems were greater in reinfections. Al-Aly noted that the risks were evident in “unvaccinated, vaccinated, and boosted people.” Thus, regardless of vaccination, everyone is at greater risk when reinfected. For the study, the lead researcher, Al-Aly, and his colleagues examined U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs data from March 1, 2020, through April 6, 2022. Data from 443,588 patients with one COVID-19-reported infection and 40,947 patients with two or more reinfections were collected. Data from 5.3 million uninfected individuals were also used for the study. “Even if one had prior infection and was vaccinated — meaning they had double immunity from prior infection plus vaccines — they are still susceptible to adverse outcomes upon reinfection,” Al-Aly explained. Due to their findings published in Nature Medicine, the team urged the medical community to come up with strategies for reinfection prevention to reduce the overall burden of death and severe disease due to the virus. Ahead of the holiday season, when many people would be traveling and attending indoor gatherings, Al-Aly said everyone should be aware of the serious repercussions of reinfections to avoid repeated transmissions. The precautionary measures are still the same as when the pandemic started. Al-Aly just wanted to remind everyone that it’s best to mask up when traveling and staying indoors with other people.