Researchers have long known that many people (mostly women) suffering from anorexia face a high risk of death. But, until now, they didnt know what causes the eating disorder to turn fatal.

In a research letter published in the Oct. 26 edition of Nature Metabolism, Yale researchers describe a specific neuron that appears to play an important role in whether anorexia becomes deadly.

They also discovered a potential treatment: a high-fat diet.

Over the last 25 years, our work has focused on understanding what drives hunger, said author Tamas Horvath, the Jean and David W. Wallace Professor of Comparative Medicine and professor of neuroscience and of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences. We wondered if neurons in the brain which are working at a high level when someone is dieting could be participating in some aspect of the disease.

For the study, the researchers looked at a specific neuron that is active during food restriction, called the hypothalamic agouti-related peptide (AgRP), in food-restricted, exercising mice. They found a direct relationship between the workings of the neuron and the animals likelihood of dying. In fact, all animals on a food-restricted, high-exercise diet whose AgRP neurons were inhibited died within 72 hours.

If we diminished these neurons in animals who ate little and exercised compulsively, they died, said Horvath, who is also chair of the Department of Comparative Medicine and director of the Yale Program in Integrative Cell Signaling and Neurobiology of Metabolism.

Lowering levels of these neurons proved fatal, Horvath said, because they are needed to help the body access alternative forms of fuel namely fat in the absence of eating, combined with intense exercise. If these neurons dont function, you are not able to mobilize fuels from fat stores, he said.

But when they provided fatty food to the mice with decreased AgRP activity they found that death [was] completely prevented. This finding could suggest a new tactic for treating anorexia in people, Horvath said. If you are a person dying from anorexia and eat foods containing elevated fat, you may survive, he said.

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that affects mainly adolescent girls. Those with the disorder severely restrict their eating, fear gaining weight, and exercise compulsively. Some 20 million women suffer from anorexia, which has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.

Horvath and other Yale researchers are now extending their research to identify which fats may work best in preventing anorexia from becoming lethal. Many people with this disorder are in the care of medical professionals, and theres an opportunity to bring these findings to the human population, he said.

Other Yale researchers who contributed to the research letter include first author Maria Miletta, postdoctoral associate in comparative medicine; Onur Iyilikci, postdoctoral associate in comparative medicine; Marya Shanabrough, research associate in comparative medicine; Matija Sestan-Pesa, postdoctoral associate in comparative medicine; Caroline Zeiss, professor of comparative medicine; and Marcelo Dietrich, associate professor of comparative medicine and of neuroscience. The work was supported by the Klarman Family Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

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Yale finds neuron behind fatal anorexia, and solution in high-fat diet - Yale News

AUSTIN, Texas Construction workers have a much higher risk of becoming hospitalized with the novel coronavirus than non-construction workers, according to a new study from researchers with The University of Texas at Austin COVID-19 Modeling Consortium.

Analyzing data from mid-March to mid-August on hospitalizations in Austin, Texas, the researchers found that construction workers there were five times as likely to be hospitalized with the coronavirus as workers in other occupations. The finding closely matches forecasts the team made in April.

The current study is, to the authors knowledge, the first to compare COVID-19 hospitalizations of construction workers to non-construction workers.An earlier study by the CDCreported that the construction sector was ranked number two in frequency of workplace outbreaks in Utah.

According to the researchers, the higher vulnerability for construction workers probably stems from the continuation of construction work throughout the pandemic, even during stay-home orders and other community-wide mitigation measures. The nature of the work exacerbated the risks due to close contact with others, practices by employers and demographic factors.

It doesnt necessarily mean we need to stop construction work, said Lauren Ancel Meyers, a professor of integrative biology and director of the consortium. It means we need to go to great lengths to ensure the health and safety of workers when they do go to work.

Encouraging basic precautions such as mask wearing and physical distancing on the work site would help, the authors note, as would having governments or employers offer workers paid sick leave and other incentives to stay home when they have a known exposure or have mild symptoms, to help mitigate risk. In addition, regular work site-based surveillance COVID-19 testing (with effective tracing and isolation of detected cases) can help prevent spread.

In central Texas, construction workers are disproportionately Hispanic, and many of them are uninsured or in close contact with people who have limited access to health care. Compared with the general population, they also experience more underlying health conditions linked to severe cases of COVID-19, are more likely to have more people in the home and may feel pressured to work even when they dont feel well due to socioeconomic pressures.

In Texas, COVID-19 has disproportionately affected Hispanics, who account for about 40% of the states population but 56% of its COVID-19 fatalities, according to the latest data from the Texas Department of State Health Services.

These workers face many overlapping risks and are being exposed at a time when less vulnerable populations are able to stay home, Meyers said.

Across the U.S., construction workers are disproportionately Hispanic: 17.6% of all workers are Hispanic or Latino, yet 30% of construction workers are Hispanic or Latino, according to theU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The studys other authors are Remy Pasco, graduate student in the Meyers lab; Spencer Fox, the consortiums associate director; Clay Johnston, dean of the Dell Medical School and vice president of medical affairs at UT Austin; and Michael Pignone, chair of the Department of Internal Medicine and interim chair of the Department of Population Health at Dell Med.

The results are published in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Network Open, a subsidiary of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

In their earlier study delivered in the spring, at the request of the City of Austin, the team analyzed the risks of allowing construction work to continue during the pandemic. (On March 31, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared all construction essential and permissible statewide, overriding earlier local restrictions.) At the time, the team projected that construction workers would have a 4 to 5 times higher rate of hospitalization than non-construction workers a prediction the new paper bears out.

From mid-March to mid-August, the elevated risk of COVID hospitalization among construction workers matched our model predictions almost to a T, Pasco said. The rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations among construction workers suggest that the virus has been spreading at work sites, and more should be done to protect the health and safety of the workers.

Their model also predicted that continued construction work would increase the rates of hospitalizations among the general public because of increased transmission from construction workers, but with current levels of contact tracing, that is much harder to measure and validate, Meyers noted.

This study was supported, in part, by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health.

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Curbing COVID-19 Hospitalizations Requires Attention to Construction Workers - UT News | The University of Texas at Austin

You might have missed it, but last week the UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that his government was recommending vitamin D supplements as a protective measure against the coronavirus.

But most of the attention focused on Mr Hancocks stumbling around on the issue. One moment he dismissed vitamin Ds usefulness, saying there was no good evidence as to its efficacy.

The next he was touting it as a must-take prophylactic because the evidence was pretty good, after all.

Theres certainly been a fair bit of faffing about on the issue.

A letter published three weeks ago in the British Medical Journal from an Australian doctor tells the story; more than 30 studies have demonstrated that having optimal blood levels of (vitamin D) reduces COVID-19 risks: reduced risk of infection; reduced risk of severe disease; reduced risk of dying.

The doctor, Peter J Lewis, a NSW GP with a special interest in integrative medicine, noted that Many researchers now regard the evidence as overwhelming.

Despite this, there still will be those who say that we need more research, but in the meantime, there is little to be lost and a huge amount to gain by recommending a decent daily dose of vitamin D3 for children and adults.

A comment piece published in Lancet in August made the same point while laying out the long history of vitamin Ds perceived potential as a treatment for respiratory illness. It goes back nearly 90 years.

In a study based at the Hospital Universitario Marqus de Valdecilla, 216 COVID-19 patients had their vitamin D levels measured. More than 80 per cent were found to have a vitamin D deficiency.

On average, men had lower vitamin D levels than women.

OK, one might argue, in the age of sunlight-phobia, that plenty of people are vitamin D deficient. Wheres the comparison with the broader population?

There wasnt one but, the doctors found that the patients with lower vitamin D levels also had raised serum levels of inflammatory markers such as ferritin and D-dimer.

Inflammation being the destructive hallmark of COVID-19, manifesting itself from the tip of the toes, to the lining of the blood vessels, the lungs and deep inside the brain.

Study co-author Dr Jos L. Hernndez, of the University of Cantabria, observed: Vitamin D is a hormone the kidneys produce that controls blood calcium concentration and impacts the immune system.

Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to a variety of health concerns, although research is still under way into why the hormone impacts other systems of the body. Many studies point to the beneficial effect of vitamin D on the immune system, especially regarding protection against infections.

He concludes:Vitamin D treatment should be recommended in COVID-19 patients with low levels of vitamin D circulating in the blood since this approach might have beneficial effects in both the musculoskeletal and the immune system.

He notes that supplements are especially important for high-risk individuals such as the elderly, patients with comorbidities, and nursing home residents, who are the main target population for the COVID-19.

For a technical explanation as to why vitamin D might work against COVID-19, see here.

Excerpt from:
Sunshine, salmon and a Spanish study: How Vitamin D affects the coronavirus - The New Daily

Melissa Young, MD, is a specialist in integrative medicine at the renowned Cleveland Clinic in the USA. In a recent article at the clinic, the migraine expert explains what people with chronic migraine can do to reduce the frequency and severity of migraine attacks without having to take medication for it.

Migraine sufferers are often struck by a debilitating pain that often forces them to retreat to a dark room and wait for the pain to subside. A specialist will present non-drug options to reduce the frequency and intensity of these attacks.

To escape the pain, migraine sufferers often resort to painkillers such as ibuprofen or prescription drugs. However, according to Dr. Young, this is not always necessary, because there are also natural and drug-free ways to combat migraine headaches. We have to consider nutrition, nutrient supply, sleep, fluid intake and stress, all of which are common triggers for migraines, the doctor explains. The following tips can help cushion the effects of migraines.

According to Dr. Young, the consumption of several small meals throughout the day helps to keep the blood sugar level stable. A stable blood sugar level in turn leads to fewer migraine attacks. With the kind of the nutrition one can orient oneself at the concept of the Mediterranean diet, which has a high portion of fruit, vegetable, beans, lean protein and healthy fats (e.g. from wild salmon, nuts, seeds and olive oil).

Pay attention to the triggers

Certain ingredients that are ingested through the diet are frequent triggers of migraine attacks. For example, caffeine or fried foods are possible triggers for many of those affected. Dr. Young recommends that it is always important to understand what was eaten on the day when a seizure occurs: Watch out for reactions to ripened cheese, chocolate, alcohol and fermented or pickled foods. Experience shows that the following ingredients are often involved:

There seems to be a connection between mitochondrial energy production in your cells and migraine, stresses Dr. Young. In migraines, he says, it is particularly important to consume the right amounts of coenzyme Q10, vitamin B2 and magnesium. Anyone who frequently suffers from migraine attacks should have a doctor check whether a nutrient deficiency exists.

In addition, chiropractic and acupuncture measures as well as massages also have a soothing effect on some migraine sufferers, according to the expert. Further tips can be found in the article: Natural household remedies for headaches. (vb)

Getting a grip on migraine attacks without drugs

Stress in everyday life is also a common trigger for tension headaches. Lifestyle changes and targeted stress management can reduce the number and severity of migraine attacks. I teach my patients meditation, including mindfulness and mantra meditation, says Dr. Young. Diaphragmatic breathing and the so-called 4-7-8 breathing technique are also effective ways to reduce stress.

Herbal therapies, for example with butterbur and feverfew, can also help prevent migraines, Dr. Young recommends. Butterbur can also help with seasonal allergy symptoms. Feverfew dilates the blood vessels and can thus help to prevent migraine attacks.

WashingtonNewsday Health and Wellness.

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Relieve migraine headaches without medication. - The Washington Newsday