The present study aimed at clarifying the effect of coffee consumption on gut pathways implicated in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) development such as intestinal and liver lipid metabolism, gut barrier functions and gut microbiota. To this purpose an animal study with mice fed an HFD and drinking water or a coffee extract as well as mice fed with a standard diet (SD) and drinking water for 12 weeks was implemented. Serum samples and liver histology were assessed in parallel with gene...
May 03, 2019
In the past decade, tracking health trends using social media data has shown great promise, due to a powerful combination of massive adoption of social media around the world, and increasingly potent hardware and software that enables us to work with these new big data streams. At the same time, many challenging problems have been identified. First, there is often a mismatch between how rapidly online data can change, and how rapidly algorithms are updated, which means that there is limited reus...
May 02, 2019
Despite the plentiful evidence of the positive effects of physical activity on both physical health and general well-being, a significant share of the world’s population is not active enough. In an attempt to reach a high share of the population, public health authorities encourage employers to promote physical activity at the workplace, where most adults spend a significant amount of time. This research is highly relevant for companies that consider implementing a workplace health promotion pro...
May 01, 2019
The abilities of certain microorganisms to be transferred across the food production chain, persist in the final product and, potentially, colonize the human gut are poorly understood. Here, we provide strain-level evidence supporting that dairy cattle-associated bacteria can be transferred to the human gut via consumption of Parmesan cheese. We characterize the microbial communities in samples taken from five different locations across the Parmesan cheese production chain, confirming that the f...
Apr 30, 2019
Miscarriage is a common outcome of pregnancy, with most studies reporting 12% to 15% loss among recognised pregnancies by 20 weeks of gestation. Quantifying the full burden of miscarriage is challenging because rates of pregnancy loss are high around the time that pregnancies are clinically recognised. As a result, the total rate of recognised loss is sensitive to how early women recognise their pregnancies. There are also differences across countries and studies in distinguishing between miscar...
Apr 29, 2019
How similar is the human mind to the machines that can behave like it? After decades spent lagging behind the recognitional capabilities of even a young child, machine-vision systems can now classify natural images with accuracy rates that match adult humans. The success of such models, especially biologically inspired Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN's), has been exciting not only for the practical purpose of developing new technologies (for example screening baggage at airports, reading stre...
Apr 25, 2019
Kidney transplantation is the first choice treatment for end-stage renal disease patients. The main obstacle in offering this treatment to everyone who needs it is an organ deficiency. There is still a discrepancy between the number of patients on the waiting list for kidney transplantation and the number of performed transplants. The needs exceed the capabilities of supply. Strategies for increasing transplant availability include using expanded criteria donor (ECD) organs, donor after cardiac ...
Apr 24, 2019
Each year, thousands of people die from an adverse drug reaction, defined as an undesirable health effect that occurs when medication is used as prescribed. Adverse drug reactions can vary from a simple rash to more severe effects, such as heart failure, acute liver injury, arrhythmias, and even death. These events have a significant impact on both patients and the health care system in terms of cost and health service utilization (for example frequent visits to physicians and emergency departme...
Apr 23, 2019
Methamphetamine (METH) is an illicit psychostimulant that is subject to abuse worldwide. While the modulatory effects of METH on dopamine neurotransmission and its neurotoxicity in the central nervous system are well studied, METH’s effects on modulating microglial neuroimmune functions and on eliciting neuroinflammation to affect dopaminergic neurotoxicity has attracted considerable attention in recent years. The primary goal of the current review is to re-evaluate this neurotoxicity from the p...
Apr 22, 2019
Eating foods prepared away from home is a popular behavior in the U S population. In 2005–2008, over a third of the daily energy intake in the U S came from foods prepared away from home. Restaurant prepared foods are known to be energy-dense, and higher in fat and sodium, but lower in protective nutrients. To our knowledge there are no published prospective studies of the association of restaurant meal exposure with the risk of cardiometabolic and all-cause mortality in the U S population. To f...
Apr 19, 2019
Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder following Alzheimer's disease. Clinically, PD is characterized by resting tremor, hypermyotonia, postural instability, and bradykinesia. In this review, we summarized the biological correlations between vitamins and PD as well as the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms. Additionally, we elaborated the therapeutic potentials of vitamins for PD. Zhao X et al. (2019) Benefits of Vitamins in the Treatment of Parkinson...
Apr 18, 2019
The incidence of type 2 diabetes is rising, coinciding with the global obesity epidemic observed among both adults and children during the last three decades. The causal association between a high adult body mass index (BMI) and increased risk of type 2 diabetes is well established,and prevention of obesity remains among the most important measures to reduce the burden of type 2 diabetes. The aim of this study was to determine the role of change in body mass index (BMI) during puberty, independe...
Apr 17, 2019
With increases in marijuana use and legalization efforts, it is imperative to establish its impact on the developing brain. Therefore, we investigated whether exposure to marijuana alters brain derived neurotropic-factor (BDNF), given its critical role in brain development and plasticity. We then examined whether onset age of cannabis use was associated with more severe changes. Miguez MJ et al. (2019) Marijuana use among adolescents is associated with deleterious alterations in mature BDNF. AIM...
Apr 16, 2019
It is estimated that around 700,000 people die annually from drug-resistant infections,with experts predicting an alarming possible increase to 10 million deaths each year by 2050 and major future challenges to the way we practice medicine and surgery. Globally, there has been much emphasis on a ‘One Health’ approach that involves connecting the health of humans, animals, and the environment to tackle AMR. This is driving much needed antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) activities in animal productio...
Apr 15, 2019
Inflammation of the brain and spinal cord, known as encephalomyelitis, is a dangerous condition that can be caused by a wide range of pathogens, such as viruses and bacteria, and other medical conditions including autoimmunity or drug intoxications. This study showed that metabolomics may be useful in improving diagnosis and treatment of diseases affecting the central nervous system by enhancing understanding of their unique effects on metabolism. French CD et al. (2018) NMR metabolomics of cere...
Apr 12, 2019
The ability to produce timely and accurate flu forecasts in the United States can significantly impact public health. In this paper, we perform a controlled experiment, taking into account data backfill, to improve clarity on the benefits and limitations of augmenting an already good flu forecasting model with internet-based nowcasts. Osthus D et al. (2019) Even a good influenza forecasting model can benefit from internet-based nowcasts, but those benefits are limited. PLoS Comput Biol 15(2):e10...
Apr 11, 2019
Pharmacogenetics studies have identified several allelic variants with the potential to reduce toxicity and improve treatment outcome. The present study was designed to determine if such findings are reproducible in a heterogenous population of patients with lung cancer undergoing therapy with paclitaxel. Sissung TM et al. (2019) Reproducibility of pharmacogenetics findings for paclitaxel in a heterogeneous population of patients with lung cancer. PLoS One 14(2): e0212097. doi: 10.1371/journal.p...
Apr 10, 2019
To the extent that outcomes are mediated through negative perceptions of generics (the nocebo effect), observational studies comparing brand-name and generic drugs are susceptible to bias favoring the brand-name drugs. We used authorized generic (AG) products, which are identical in composition and appearance to brand-name products but are marketed as generics. Desai RJ et al. (2019) Comparative effectiveness of generic and brand-name medication use: A database study of US health insurance claim...
Apr 09, 2019
Shark attacks are a global phenomenon that attracts widespread attention and publicity, often with negative outcomes for shark populations. Our objective was to quantify increase or decrease in annual probability of shark attacks at the country and regional level, and describe spatial variability in fatal outcomes and relative risk of different water-based activities to shark attack. Midway RS et al. (2019) Trends in global shark attacks. PLoS One 14(2): e0211049. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.02110...
Apr 08, 2019
There is an increased need to understand how e-cigarette flavors may contribute to e-cigarette uptake and use among youth. We examined the relationship between perceived ease of flavored e-cigarette use and e-cigarette use susceptibility and progression among a nationally representative sample of U.S. youth never tobacco users. Chen-Sankey JC et al. (2019) Perceived ease of flavored e-cigarette use and e-cigarette use progression among youth never tobacco users. PLoS One 14(2): e0212353. doi: 10...
Apr 05, 2019
Headaches are a common source of pain and suffering. The study's purpose was to assess beta-blockers efficacy in preventing migraine and tension-type headache. Jackson JL et al. (2019) Beta-blockers for the prevention of headache in adults, a systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS One 14(3): e0212785. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0212785
Apr 04, 2019
The present study examined the effectiveness of threat appeals in influencing impulsive decision making associated with texting while driving. Hayashi Y et al. (2019) Threat appeals reduce impulsive decision making associated with texting while driving: A behavioral economic approach. PLoS One. 14(3): e0213453. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0213453.
Apr 03, 2019
Several studies indicate that placebo can enhance cognitive abilities including memory, implicit learning and general knowledge. Here, we ask whether placebo can enhance creativity, an important aspect of human cognition. Link to the full text article: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0182466
Mar 16, 2019
New and interesting research in health and medicine is never-ending. Keep up and tune in daily to Science Says to hear the abstracts of groundbreaking research in different topics of health and medicine. Science Says a daily dose of this podcast will make you smarter.
Mar 16, 2019
