Poor Nutrition Could Lead To Sight Loss

Scientists in the United Kingdom (UK) said an unhealthy diet including, high fat and cholesterol-enriched food could contribute to developing eye diseases, which may lead to vision loss. A new study from the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom (UK) shows how retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells in the eye become damaged due to poor nutrition. The RPE has several functions, namely, light absorption, epithelial transport, spatial ion buffering, visual cycle, phagocytosis, secretion and immune modulation.

According to the study lead Dr. Arjuna Ratnayaka the study, also revealed a potential new treatment route through which the damaged cells, occasioned by poor nutrition, could be rescued before diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) develop.

Potential new therapies developed along these lines could offer new treatments for some AMD patients. Ratnayaka is a Lecturer in Vision Sciences at the University of Southampton. AMD is an irreversible blinding disease caused by genetics and external factors such as smoking, high blood pressure or being overweight. It affects the central vision, which is used for reading and recognising faces and is a leading cause of sight loss. In the study, the scientists analysed how disease-causing pathways triggered by poor nutrition could impact RPE cells. Damage to RPE cells occur at the onset of AMD, making them less equipped to support eye’s photoreceptors, the cells in the retina which respond to light. The death of photore ceptors lead to permanent sight-loss.

The study determined how healthy RPE cells breakdown by-products generated by daily activities of photoreceptors through the cells’ waste disposal system (which terminates in small vesicles called lysosomes). Scientists found healthy RPE cells had a considerable degree of flexibility to cope with changing conditions in the ageing eye, whereas a high fat diet can disrupt this breakdown process in RPE cells, thus causing long term damage and subsequently sight-loss.

 

Ratnayaka said, “We also found that some lysosomes appeared to remain undamaged even in such stressed RPE, suggesting an altogether new way in which damaged cells could be rescued to prevent eventual sight-loss. “As our results showed how the waste disposal system of the RPE becomes damaged by unhealthy diet-driven disease pathways; our next step is to find out whether this type of damage can be reversed through better nutrition and if stressed or damaged RPE cells can possibly be rescued.”

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Marijuana During Pregnancy Raises Child’s Psychosis Risk

Researchers in the United States (US) said children born to mothers who used marijuana during pregnancy might be at increased risk for psychosis. These are the findings of a new study published in the journal ‘JAMA Psychiatry’. Psychosis is an umbrella term, meaning that an individual has sensory experiences of things that do not exist and/or beliefs with no basis in reality. During a psychotic episode, an individual may experience hallucinations and/or delusions.

Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the Cannabis plant used for medical or recreational purposes. The main psychoactive part of cannabis is tetrahydrocannabinol, one of 483 known compounds in the plant, including at least 65 other cannabinoids.

The researchers at Washington University in St. Louis analysed data from an on-going nationwide study of child health and brain development. They further explained that Endocannabinoids were part of the naturally occurring neurotransmitter network through which cannabis affects the brain, the researchers. Lead author of the study Jeremy Fine and an undergraduate student majoring in psychological and brain sciences said, “Our research shows that prenatal marijuana exposure after maternal knowledge of pregnancy is associated with a small increase in psychosis proneness during middle childhood or about age 10.” On his part, the study’s senior author, Ryan Bogdan who is Bogdan is an associate professor of psychological and brain sciences, pointed out that the “study raises the intriguing possibility there may be developmental windows during which cannabis exposure may be more likely to increase psychosis risk.”

According to Bogdan, “One possible explanation for the finding of increased psychosis risk for marijuana use following, but not before, knowledge of pregnancy is that the endocannabinoid receptor system may not be in place during the early weeks of pregnancy.”

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New Stool Test Could Spot Liver Disease Years Before Symptoms

Health experts in the United States (US) have raised hope for thousands of patients that are down with liver disease, saying a stool test could detect the condition before symptoms arise without the need for invasive tests. These are the findings of a new study published in the journal ‘Nature Communications’.

The new method looks at bacteria in stool, which can tell doctors if non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is at an early or advanced stage. The stool-based microbiome diagnostic could be available within five years and would cost around £300, the ‘Mailonline’ reported. According to a Professor of Medicine Dr. Rohit Loomba who is part of the research team said, “If we are better able to diagnose NAFLD-related cirrhosis, we will be better at enrolling the right types of patients in clinical trials, and ultimately will be better equipped to prevent and treat it.

“This latest advance toward a non-invasive stool test for NAFLDcirrhosis may also help pave the way for other microbiome-based diagnostics and therapeutics, and better enable us to provide personalised, or precision, medicine for a number of conditions.” Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is when excess fat builds up in the liver due to causes other than alcohol use. NAFLD is related to insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome. It can be diagnosed by a liver biopsy. Treatment is generally with weight loss by dietary changes and exercise. If left undetected, NAFLD can develop into serious liver damage, including cirrhosis, but it is incredibly difficult to catch early because there are few symptoms and it requires surgery. The estimated prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) worldwide is approximately 25 per cent. However, the real prevalence of NAFLD and the associated disorders is unknown mainly because reliable and applicable diagnostic tests are lacking.

However, researchers at the University of California (UC), San Diego, has identified unique patterns of bacterial species in the stool of people with the condition. The team identified 27 unique bacterial features unique to the gut microbiomes, and thus stool, of people with NAFLD-cirrhosis. They were able to use this non-invasive stool test to pick out the people with known NAFLDcirrhosis with 92 per cent accuracy. But more importantly, the test allowed them to differentiate the firstdegree relative with previously undiagnosed NAFLD-cirrhosis with 87 per cent accuracy. The results were confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging.

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Re-used Cooking Oil May Trigger Breast Cancer Spread

Nutritionists have long discouraged the re-use of cooking oil including vegetable oil, soybean oil, and others, raising alert that such practice could be harmful to health. Now, a recent study in mice showed that reheated cooking oil might trigger cell changes that could promote late-stage breast cancer growth. These findings have been reported in the journal ‘Cancer Prevention Research’ to this end. The American Cancer Society (ACS) recommends that women at average risk for breast cancer should start having annual routine mammograms at the age of 45 years. Even if a person has no signs or symptoms, mammograms can help detect breast cancer at an early stage, which is when treatment is most likely to be successful.

According to the researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, United States (US), who tested “thermally abused frying oil,” which is cooking oil that has undergone reheating to high temperatures multiple times, in laboratory mice, they found that it increased metastatic breast cancer growth. Metastatic breast cancer (also called stage IV) is breast cancer that has spread to another part of the body, most commonly the liver, brain, bones, or lungs. Breast cancer is a disease in which cells in the breast grow out of control.

There are different kinds of breast cancer. Most breast cancers begin in the ducts or lobules. Breast cancer can spread outside the breast through blood vessels and lymph vessels. Cancer cells can break away from the original tumour in the breast and travel to other parts of the body through the bloodstream or the lymphatic system, which is a large network of nodes and vessels that works to remove bacteria, viruses, and cellular waste products.

Breast cancer can come back in another part of the body months or years after the original diagnosis and treatment. Nearly 30 per cent of women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer will develop metastatic disease. Some people have metastatic breast cancer when they are first diagnosed with breast cancer (called “de novo metastatic”). This means that the cancer in the breast wasn’t detected before it spread to another part of the body. In the current study, the scientists fed all of the lab mice a low-fat diet for a week. Then, they gave some of the mice unheated fresh soybean oil for 16 weeks while the rest ingested thermally abused oil instead.

They chose to use soybean oil because the restaurant industry commonly uses it for deep frying. To simulate breast cancer, they injected 4T1 breast cancer cells into a tibia of each mouse. These breast cancer cells were very aggressive and have a high rate of metastasis to multiple distant sites. As a result, they often appear in the lymph nodes, liver, and lungs.

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How Drinking One Bottle Of Wine Weekly Could Raise Cancer Risk

Drinking one bottle of wine per week has the same lifetime cancer risk as smoking 10 cigarettes. These are the findings of a new study published yesterday in the journal BMC Public Health. The new study in the United Kingdom (UK) estimates that consuming one 750ml bottle of wine per week increases the likelihood of developing cancer even in non-smokers.

The study found that if 2,000 non-smoking men and women drank one bottle of wine per week for the rest of their lives, approximately 10 more of the men and 14 more of the women would go on to develop cancer. The research team said that the comparison between alcohol and cigarettes can help inform the public that moderate levels of drinking were still a public health risk for women, as well as men.

This risk is particularly relevant for women due to the link between middle aged women, breast cancer, and alcohol consumption. The Corresponding author of the study, Dr. Theresa Hydes, said that it has been “well established” that drinking large amounts of alcohol has links to cancer of the breast, mouth, throat, gullet, bowel, and liver. Hydes is a Clinical Haepatology Fellow at the University Hospital Southampton in the UK. “Yet, in contrast to smoking, this is not widely understood by the public,” said Hydes. “We hope that by using cigarettes as the comparator, we could communicate this message more effectively to help individuals make more informed lifestyle choices.

“At an individual level, cancer risk represented by drinking or smoking will vary and, for many individuals, the impact of 10 units of alcohol (one bottle of wine) or five to 10 cigarettes may be very different.” Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumours, which do not spread. One defining feature of cancer is the rapid creation of abnormal cells that grow beyond their usual boundaries, and which can then invade adjoining parts of the body and spread to other organs, the latter process is referred to as metastasising.

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How Your Phone Might Be Aging You

Story From Penelope Andersan

Skin health isn't just about protection from UV rays anymore. The reported negative effects of blue light on the skin is a new concern growing out of our increased dependence on screens: computers, cell phones and televisions among them. The beauty industry is taking notice. Products and treatments are being formulated specifically to protect and heal skin from the effects of this blue light. So, what exactly is blue light and what harm can it do to our skin? And most importantly, what can we do about it?

What Is Blue Light?

First we need to understand that all light exists on a spectrum, but human eyes can only see rays on the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum of visible light: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Light creates EM energy waves that our brains perceive as color. Each wave has a different wavelength, which makes us see a different color. As we move up the spectrum from red to violet, the energy increases. The more energy a wave has, the higher the frequency. Waves with a higher frequency are potentially more damaging to our bodies, which is why infrared rays are good for you and ultraviolet (UV) rays can be harmful. On this scale of visible light, blue light is high.

All light contains these waves, but it's the energy they emit that allows us to see color. Blue light is no exception. In fact, the sun is our largest source of blue light and as the sun's rays collide with air molecules and are scattered through the earth's atmosphere, the sky appears blue. This is why blue light is evolutionarily significant to humans: it helps us differentiate between day and night, enabling us to regulate our sleep cycles and maintain our circadian rhythm.

How is Blue Light Harmful?

Even though blue light is a high energy visible light, our eyes provide very little protection from it, especially on clear, sunny days. Our LED screens (like computer screens, television screens and phone screens) produce an even higher intensity of this same blue light. Too much exposure can cause damage to our eyes, affect our sight, and make us feel lethargic and fatigued.

The eye’s frontal membrane (the cornea) naturally absorbs light from lower frequencies (red, orange, green), but high energy light (blue and violet) goes straight through. The retina at the back of the eye absorbs it and can deteriorate over time with too much exposure. And about that circadian rhythm: since our brains associate blue light with daytime, looking at a screen late at night tricks our bodies into thinking we need to stay awake. Some studies show that this can affect our mental health and lead to sleep problems.

Studies also indicate that blue light can also cause skin damage. Though not as harmful as the higher frequency UVA and UVB rays, blue light rays are found in all LED screens as well as the LED lights in our homes and offices, which means many of us are being exposed to more blue light than UV rays on a daily basis. The way it affects our skin is similar to UV rays. The high frequency of blue light allows it to pass through the top epidermal and dermal layers of our skin and into the subcutaneous tissues underneath where the rays can cause the production of free radicals. These unstable molecules damage our cell structure, affect protein production and can damage our skin’s DNA. When the body is unable to fight off free radical damage, this is known as oxidative stress. The long-term effects of oxidative stress include premature aging like fine lines and wrinkles, loss of elasticity, and a dull, tired look to our skin.

What Can We Do About It?

As we become more aware of how blue light could be affecting our skin, many people are turning to cosmetic products and treatments to help prevent, slow down or reverse the effects. We spoke to Payman J. Danielpour, M.D., F.A.C.S, a Board Certified Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon in Beverly Hills, to find out how to combat blue light damage, reduce signs of skin aging, and improve the skin's appearance.

"Treatments are based on whether we are addressing a problem or trying to avoid problems in the future," he says. "Having a good aesthetician to provide a structured facial protocol to address skin tone, texture and color is always a good start. In addition, using microneedling, hydrafacials and a variety of lasers and peels can help treat and avoid signs of aging.

Products That Provide First Defense

To combat the effects of blue light on our skin, "the best way is to have a good skin care regimen that addresses a lot of problems that are associated with facial aging," says Dr. Danielpour. Avoid unprotected exposure, use SPF protection when outside (ideally SPF 50 and make sure it says "broad spectrum") and use a skin cream that is rich in powerful antioxidants and Vitamin C. Products that are specifically formulated to combat photo aging (aging caused by light expsosure) are particularly useful.

Paula’s Choice creates protective lotions and balms that are specifically formulated to block blue light, encourage the skin’s natural healing process, and provide effective therapy for damaged skin. Their Defense and Resist ranges include products like the Antioxidant Pore Purifier and the Skin Restoring Moisturizer SPF50 which guard against blue light damage. Other popular skincare brands like Murad and Dr. Sebagh Cosmetics are leading the charge as well.

Using a Blue Light Screen Protector on your phone could make a difference as well, but to really curb your blue light exposure, limit screen time and use of electronic devices when indoors. Rather than stare at a laptop screen directly before bed, aim to do something that isn’t screen-related for at least an hour before you go to sleep. Reading a book or listening to music won’t expose your skin to LED light and most importantly won’t disrupt your circadian rhythm as you are preparing to go to sleep.

Treatments Can Help Delay the Damage

Putting down the digital devices is a good start, but Dr. Danielpour also recommends treatments to help combat damage and signs of aging that is already apparent.

BOTOX® (botulinum toxin) is one of the most popular cosmetic tools for smoothing the skin and reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, thus making skin appear younger and fuller. The treatment involves injecting the chemical into the specific facial muscles which are creating the wrinkle, causing them to relax and the skin on top of it to become smooth. This is especially popular for reducing the appearance of brow wrinkles, crow’s feet and frown lines. One set of non-invasive injections takes around 15 minutes with minimal recovery time. Session costs vary, but are typically around $400 on average.

Microneedling can be used to help stimulate regeneration and healing in the skin by increasing the speed at which new skin cells are created (and dead ones released). The process is relatively painless: skin is often numbed with lidocaine gel before small injections are made into the skin’s dermis. It usually take 3-6 sessions of microneedling for the full anti-aging effects to become visible. As with BOTOX®, microneedling has minimal recovery time and one session can cost around $400 or more.

Hyaluronic Acid is a naturally occurring substance in the human body which lubricates the joints and helps aid the body’s natural healing process. There are some studies that indicate it can be used to reduce signs of aging in the skin as well. Hyaluronic acid is often used in filler products like Juvéderm Ultra Plus Allergan which can help reduce fine lines and wrinkles in the face when injected and massaged into lines. Results are typically visible after 2-3 weeks and can cost an average of around $600.

HydraFacials are another popular solution for those seeking to reverse signs of aging and the effects of light damage. There are three main steps to a HydraFacial session: cleansing, exfoliating and intensive moisturizing with a special serum. The result is softer, smoother and more youthful-looking skin that is free from impurities. Each treatment takes about half an hour and repeat treatments encouraged. One HydraFacial session typically costs around $150.

Thread Lifts are gaining popularity as an alternative to the classic facelift. Rather than having skin removed from the face to reduce wrinkles and sagging, the doctor carefully inserts threads into the face. These threads suspend the skin in a way that minimizes the effects of time and gravity by reducing sagging and giving the face a lift without the need for a scalpel. Thread lifts are usually performed under local anesthetic and have little recovery time. The cost for a Thread Lift in the US averages around $2,500.

Looking To The Future

In addition to using blue light blocking products as part of a well-rounded skin routine and having anti-aging treatments to address existing signs of aging, we can take steps towards healthier, more youthful-looking skin by adjusting the way we live our lives.

"Avoid sunlight and always use sunscreen," says Dr. Danielpour. "Don't smoke and don’t do harmful things to your body. Sleep, exercise and have a good skincare regimen."

Theories and studies around blue light are still in their relative infancy, so we don’t have data from long term studies to tell us exactly how damaging blue light is to our skin. But since our use of digital devices shows no sign of slowing, we know we need to be prepared. As for the future? Treatments are going to get more advanced. "We are on the forefront of very exciting times to use our own stem cells for wellness and cosmetic medicine but we are not quite there yet," says Dr. Danielpour. Let's hope it's sooner than later.

This article was originally published at AEDITION

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