Health Hits

From Blue Oyster Cult legend Buck Dharma: Important Yak Content.

Scientists hunting for treatments and cures for multiple sclerosis may have found an unlikely ally -- the yak.

The high-altitude, cold-hardy relative of the cow could be the key to a medical breakthrough, according to a March13 study published in the journal Neuron.

At the center of it all is the myelin sheath -- a fatty, protective coating around nerve fibers that helps signals travel between the brain and body.

In MS, the immune system attacks that coating, disrupting communication and triggering neurological symptoms including problems with balance and coordination.

Previous research found that animals living on Tibet's high plateau -- including yaks and antelopes, which roam at average elevations above 14,800 feet -- carry a special genetic mutation called Restat that protects their brains from low-oxygen conditions. Crucially, it does so without damaging the myelin sheath.

Now scientists believe that same gene could help humans repair damaged nerves by regrowing the protective coating, and potentially opening a new door for MS treatment.

The disease typically strikes adults between the ages of 20 and 40. About 1 million Americans are currently living with it, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

To find out if the genetic mutation Restat could play a role in protecting nerve health in humans, Liang Zhang, a neuroscientist at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and his team tested mice engineered with the genetic mutation while living in low-oxygen conditions.

And the results were promising.

The mice engineered to carry the mutant gene not only performed better in memory and behavior tests -- they also had healthier, thicker myelin, according to Zhang's study.

Even better, when their nerves were damaged, these mice repaired their myelin faster and more completely.

The gene works by boosting production of a vitamin A-related molecule called ATDR -- all-trans-13,14-dihydroretinol -- which helps create and mature the cells that make myelin.

I don't know if I want Yak DNA in my body. As a wise man once said, "History shows again and again that nature points up the folly of man."

A pair of prebiotics, one of which is a non-calorie sweetener, supposedly helps protect against Alzheimer's.

What's good for your aging gut may also be good for your aging brain.

A first-of-its-kind study in twins found that taking daily protein and prebiotic supplements can improve memory test scores in people over age 60.

Published in 2024, the findings are food for thought, especially as the same visual memory and learning test is used to detect early signs of Alzheimer's disease.

The double-blind trial tested two inexpensive plant-fiber prebiotics that are available over the counter in many countries.

Prebiotics are non-digestible consumables that help stimulate our gut microbes.

One of the supplements was inulin, a dietary fiber in the fructan class. The other, fructooligosaccharide (FOS), is a plant carbohydrate often used as a natural low-calorie sweetener.

Now if you want to go the other way and speed up your cognitive decline, you should do what the Young Idiots are doing and use ChatGPT for everything.

AI chatbots can act as a "cognitive crutch" that reduces our ability to retain information, a new study suggests.

The research was conducted by AI expert André Barcaui of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, who ran an experiment with 120 university students. Half were allowed to use ChatGPT to help them respond to an assignment on the topic of artificial intelligence, and half weren't.

In a surprise test sprung on the participants 45 days after the assignment was given, the students who used ChatGPT scored an average of 5.75 out of 10. For those who took the traditional study route, the average score was 6.85 out of 10.

That's a notable difference, and while this is a relatively small study in terms of participants and timescale, it chimes with other research showing that using AI to find information means we just don't take as much in.

"This suggests that unrestricted ChatGPT use impaired long-term retention, likely by reducing the cognitive effort that supports durable memory," writes Barcaui in his published paper.

This is one of the least-surprising findings I've ever seen.

Now we see what JackStraw was doing with his NIH grant.

Scientists Engineered a Plant to Produce 5 Different Psychedelics at Once

What do plants, toads, and mushrooms have in common? They can all produce psychedelic substances -- and now their powers have been combined in one plant, like a trippier Captain Planet.

In a wild first, scientists have taken the genes these organisms use to make five natural psychedelics and introduced them into a tobacco plant (Nicotiana benthamiana), which then produced all five compounds simultaneously.

As interest grows in psychedelics as potential treatments for illnesses such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD, the newly developed system could offer scientists a new way to produce these compounds for research purposes.

"[Our] strategy established a heterologous plant system for the production of five prominent therapeutically valuable compounds, their derivatives, and nonnatural plant analogs, providing a starting point for their production in plants," writes a team led by researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.

"You smoke the LSD tree and listening to the Grateful Dead becomes so immersive you completely forget how much they suck," said self-declared "part time drifter, full time dreamer" JackStraw.

Good news for every male AOS commenter.

Frequent Ejaculations Can Boost Sperm Quality, Study Suggests

Wait, it said "ejaculations" not "masturbation sessions." I guess it says something Sad! about me that I read it as being good news for chronic masturbators.

Slowed speech may indicate cognitive decline, report scientists at Obvious University's Department of No Shit.

Testosterone is not always linked to male well-being, claims someone posting as "Gonah Joldberg."

The connection between testosterone and well-being is weaker than many people think. Although there are clear health connections, a higher testosterone level is not always the key to well-being, according to a thesis at the University of Gothenburg's Department of Jonah Goldberg's Unfulfilled Wife.

...

The clearest connections are found in sexual problems with sexual desire, erection and sexual performance, as well as in some muscle and joint pain, as well as sitting on Twitter all day long spamming out trash jokes from 1999."

Muscle health and testosterone are also connected. Higher testosterone levels are linked to higher muscle mass and, above all, to less intramuscular fat. This is especially true in muscles with a high percentage of fat: around the stomach, waist, lower back and hips, and in the chest muscles, the so-called JGFDS, or 'Jonah Goldberg Fat Deposition Sites.'"

Want to increase your physical and mental performance? Take a fake pill. Even if you know it's fake it will still work because you're so gullible.

Some test subjects were given placebos claimed to be a multivitamin with pro-mental and muscular properties. Some test subjects were given an "open placebo," a placebo identified to the patient as a placebo with no real benefits, but were also told that sometimes placebos could grant psychological benefits that would result in real benefits.

Both groups saw benefits from the fake medicine.

A placebo is "an inert treatment presented as active", according to the definition used by these authors. In medical history, placebo effects have been researched by offering an inert treatment as if it were an active intervention. This presumes that the patient's belief is necessary for the effect to occur. However, more recent literature suggests the contrary.

That is, if the placebo effect is satisfactorily explained as involving mind-body interactions, open-label placebos exert effects on patients as strong as deceptive placebos across multiple clinical and experimental parameters. Psychologists attribute this to patients' expectations, which operate through psychological, contextual, and expectancy-driven processes to fulfil them.

...

Within each group, self-reported parameters remained unchanged. Cognitive performance increased from before to after the intervention in both placebo groups. A cognitive inhibition task showed improvement in all groups, including controls, suggesting a likely practice or habituation effect rather than a placebo-specific effect.

Physical functioning improved in both placebo groups, but more significantly in the open-label group, in within-group analyses, although no significant between-group differences were observed at post-intervention.

People actually saw greater benefits when they knew they were taking a placebo. (Albeit with the information that a placebo can still produce a real world effect.)

Specifically, researchers found that the placebo improved physical performance by 7% when taken under deception, and by 9.2% when taken knowingly. Cognitive performance improved, depending on the assessment test used by the psychologists, by between 12.6% and 14.6% in the case of the sham supplement (deceptive placebo), and by between 6.9% and 21.5% in the case of the placebo taken knowingly.

"These are significant effects," the psychologist emphasizes, "comparable to those seen in some experimental studies on physical activity regarding physical performance and cognitive training, especially with regard to memory." Among the various effects observed, there was an improvement in drowsiness and, particularly for the group aware they are taking the placebo, in stress levels.

A placebo effect is still an effect.

DNA shows that dog became man's best friend even earlier than previously thought.

The discovery of the oldest ever dog DNA suggests they have been our best friends for nearly 16,000 years -- 5,000 years earlier than had previously been thought, new research said Wednesday.

Despite being ubiquitous in the homes, backyards and hearts of people across the world, surprisingly little is known about where dogs come from.

...

Dogs are most likely a mix of two types of grey wolves, he said. However exactly when dogs diverged from wolves has been difficult to trace, partly because their ancient bones are tricky to tell apart.

That is why scientists behind two new studies published in the journal Nature sequenced the genomes from archaeological remains, shedding light on the elusive origins of our furry friends.

The first study revealed that the world's oldest canine DNA was discovered in a piece of a skull in Pinarbasi in what is now Turkey.

The female puppy, which was perhaps "a few months old", probably looked like a small wolf when it lived roughly 15,800 years ago, according to study co-author Laurent Frantz of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

Before Wednesday, the oldest-known dog DNA was from 10,900 years ago.

Also breaking that record was genetic evidence the team found in southwest England dating back 14,300 years, which illustrated how early dogs had spread across Europe.

Frantz said scientists could not prove exactly what role these dogs had among humans living during the last Ice Age.

"But I think we can assume that they must have played a role because they would have been expensive to feed," he said.

Perhaps the dogs were used for hunting or protection, he speculated.

Even if these dogs were not treated the same as pets are today, there was likely still a strong bond, he said, adding that "kids will still have played with puppies".

And now for the big question: Does anyone have any health gains they'd like to report to the group?

I don't have any. I've been low-carb pretty consistently, but the only result is that I'm not gaining weight. I'm losing none. I really do have to start exercising again.

posted by Disinformation Expert Ace at 03:40 PM

| Access Comments