Category: Health

Fat cells work different ‘shifts’ throughout the day

Tom Patriot

Fat cells in the human body have their own internal clocks and exhibit circadian rhythms affecting critical metabolic functions, new research in the journal Scientific Reports, finds. Researchers led by Dr Jonathan Johnston from the University of Surrey conducted the first ever analysis of circadian rhythms in human fat taken from people isolated from daily environmental changes. Circadian rhythms are approximately 24-hour changes governed by the body’s internal clocks. Misalignment of ‘human clocks’ with each other and the environment is believed to be a major contributor to obesity and poor health.…

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Exclusive breastfeeding lowers odds of some schoolchildren having eczema

Tom Patriot

Children exclusively breastfed for the first three months of life had significantly lower odds of having eczema at age 6 compared with peers who were not breastfed or were breastfed for less time, according to preliminary research presented during the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology 2019 Annual Meeting. Eczema is a chronic condition characterized by extremely itchy skin that, when scratched, becomes inflamed and covered with blisters that crack easily. While genes and the environment are implicated in this inflammatory disease, many questions remain unanswered, such as how…

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Women’s hormones play role in drug addiction, higher relapse rates

Tom Patriot

Women’s hormonal cycles may not only make them more prone to drug addiction but also more affected by triggers that lead to relapse, a new Vanderbilt University study revealed. The findings are especially significant since there are virtually no addiction studies in women that account for these cycles. Erin Calipari, an assistant professor of pharmacology in the Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, points out that women represent a particularly vulnerable population, with higher rates of addiction following exposure to drugs, but addiction studies have primarily focused on the mechanisms underlying…

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People with osteoporosis should avoid spinal poses in yoga, study says

Tom Patriot

Yoga postures that flex the spine beyond its limits may raise the risk of compression fractures in people with thinning bones, according to research from Mayo Clinic. The results appear in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Researchers at Mayo Clinic and elsewhere have described injuries from yoga. This study examines injuries in people with osteoporosis and osteopenia — conditions characterized by low bone density. Osteoporosis is a disease in which bones become thinner and more porous from loss of mineral content. Bone loss that has not reached the stage of an osteoporosis diagnosis…

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Review of modern cases of leprosy

Tom Patriot

Leprosy has a history that has spanned centuries and societies across the globe. Yet, it continues to be a problem — even in the modern era. Sufferers from the chronic and infectious skin disease still face the social stigma and lack of medical care that people have endured since the origins of the disease itself. Although leprosy can be treated, the World Health Organization reported 216,108 cases in 2016, with some of these patients seeking treatment at Mayo Clinic’s Rochester campus. Looking at risk factors and demographic information of sufferers,…

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