A new study offers an explanation for why light-to-moderate alcohol consumption may be associated with lower risk of heart disease. For the first time, researchers found that alcohol, in light to moderate quantities, was associated with long-term reductions in stress signaling in the brain. This impact on the brain’s stress systems appeared to significantly account […]
Dioxins are highly toxic compounds that are primarily produced by industrial processes, and their persistence in the environment makes them a significant public health concern. They can be released into the air during natural processes as well, such as forest fires and volcanoes. Today people are exposed to dioxins primarily by eating food, in particular […]
Researchers have shown that obesity in experimental models led to senescence of macrophages, an immune cell subtype within fat or adipose tissue. Many of the macrophages within obese tissue were senescent and those senescent cells may be a significant driver of fat tissue fibrosis. These findings suggest that obesity accelerates cellular or biological immune aging […]
Thirdhand smoke, or THS, comprises the residual pollutants from tobacco smoke that remain on surfaces and in dust after tobacco has been smoked. It can remain on indoor surfaces indefinitely, causing potentially harmful exposure to both smokers and non-smokers. Researchers have found that acute exposure of the skin to THS elevated biomarkers is associated with […]
A new study analyzed data from people aged 40 to 69 and found a causal link between habitual napping and larger total brain volume, a marker of good brain health linked to a lower risk of dementia and other diseases. Senior author Dr Victoria Garfield said: “Our findings suggest that, for some people, short daytime […]
New research finds significant links between three measures of sleep disturbance and the risk for developing dementia over a 10-year period. The results associate sleep-initiation insomnia (trouble falling asleep within 30 minutes) and sleep medication use with higher risk for developing dementia. The investigators also found that people who reported having sleep-maintenance insomnia (trouble falling […]
Physical activity at the right time of the day seems able to increase fat metabolism, at least in mice. Physical activity at different times of the day can affect the body in different ways since the biological processes depend on the circadian rhythms of the cells. To ascertain how, researchers studied the adipose tissue of […]
Although ultra-processed foods are convenient, low cost, quick to prepare or ready-to-eat, these industrial formulations of processed food substances contain little or no whole food. They result from extensive ‘physical, biological, and chemical processes’ that create food products that are deficient in original and natural food. Researchers explored a nationally representative sample of the United […]
A study, which tracked associations between erectile function, sexual satisfaction and cognition in hundreds of men aged 56 through 68, found that declines in sexual satisfaction and erectile function were correlated with future memory loss. The study explored the relationship between physical changes like the microvascular changes relevant for erectile function, and psychological changes, such […]
Being obese significantly increases the chances of also developing mental disorders. “We analyzed a population-wide national registry of inpatient hospitalizations in Austria from 1997 to 2014 in order to determine the relative risks of comorbidities in obesity and identify statistically significant sex differences,” explains Elma Dervic of the Complexity Science Hub. Consequently, it became evident […]