If blood pressure rises upon standing, so may risk for heart attack

March 17, 2022

Science Daily/American Heart Association

Young and middle-aged adults with high blood pressure whose systolic blood pressure (top-number) rose more than 6.5 mm Hg upon standing were more likely to later have a heart attack, stroke, heart-related chest pain or other major heart disease-related event than those with lower systolic blood pressure in response to standing. The researchers highlight the importance of measuring standing blood pressure in young and middle-aged adults with hypertension, suggesting early treatment for those who have elevated blood pressure upon standing.

Among young and middle-aged adults with high blood pressure, a substantial rise in blood pressure upon standing may identify those with a higher risk of serious cardiovascular events, such as heart attack and stroke, according to new research published today in the American Heart Association's peer-reviewed journal Hypertension.

"This finding may warrant starting blood-pressure-lowering treatment including medicines earlier in patients with exaggerated blood pressure response to standing," said Paolo Palatini, M.D., lead author of the study and a professor of internal medicine at the University of Padova in Padova, Italy.

Nearly half of Americans and about 40% of people worldwide have high blood pressure, considered to be the world's leading preventable cause of death. According to the American Heart Association's 2022 heart disease statistics, people with hypertension in mid-life are five times more likely to have impaired cognitive function and twice as likely to experience reduced executive function, dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

Typically, systolic (top number) blood pressure falls slightly upon standing up. In this study, researchers assessed whether the opposite response -- a significant rise in systolic blood pressure upon standing -- is a risk factor for heart attack and other serious cardiovascular events.

The investigators evaluated 1,207 people who were part of the HARVEST study, a prospective study that began in Italy in 1990 and included adults ages 18-45 years old with untreated stage 1 hypertension. Stage 1 hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure of 140-159 mm Hg and/or diastolic BP 90-100 mm Hg. None had taken blood pressure-lowering medication prior to the study, and all were initially estimated at low risk for major cardiovascular events based on their lifestyle and medical history (no diabetes, renal impairment or other cardiovascular diseases). At enrollment, participants were an average age of 33 years, 72% were men, and all were white.

At enrollment, six blood pressure measurements for each participant were taken in various physical positions, including when lying down and after standing up. The 120 participants with the highest rise (top 10%) in blood pressure upon standing averaged an 11.4 mm Hg increase; all increases in this group were greater than 6.5 mm Hg. The remaining participants averaged a 3.8 mm Hg fall in systolic blood pressure upon standing.

The researchers compared heart disease risk factors, laboratory measures and the occurrence of major cardiovascular events (heart attack, heart-related chest pain, stroke, aneurysm of the aortic artery, clogged peripheral arteries) and chronic kidney disease among participants in the two groups. In some analyses, the development of atrial fibrillation, an arrhythmia that is a major risk factor for stroke, was also noted. Results were adjusted for age, gender, parental history of heart disease, and several lifestyle factors and measurements taken during study enrollment.

During an average 17-year follow-up 105 major cardiovascular events occurred. The most common were heart attack, heart-related chest pain and stroke.

People in the group with top 10% rise in blood pressure:

• were almost twice as likely as other participants to experience a major cardiovascular event;

• did not generally have a higher risk profile for cardiovascular events during their initial evaluation (outside of the exaggerated blood pressure response to standing);

• were more likely to be smokers (32.1% vs. 19.9% in the non-rising group), yet physical activity levels were comparable, and they were not more likely to be overweight or obese, and no more likely to have a family history of cardiovascular events;

• had more favorable cholesterol levels (lower total cholesterol and higher high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol);

• had lower systolic blood pressure when lying down than the other group (140.5 mm Hg vs. 146.0 mm Hg, respectively), yet blood pressure measures were higher when taken over 24 hours.

After adjusting for average blood pressure taken over 24 hours, an exaggerated blood pressure response to standing remained an independent predictor of adverse heart events or stroke.

"The results of the study confirmed our initial hypothesis -- a pronounced increase in blood pressure from lying to standing could be prognostically important in young people with high blood pressure. We were rather surprised that even a relatively small increase in standing blood pressure (6-7 mm Hg) was predictive of major cardiac events in the long run," said Palatini.

In a subset of 630 participants who had stress hormones measured from 24-hour urine samples, the epinephrine/creatinine ratio was higher in the people with a rise in standing blood pressure compared to those whose standing blood pressure did not rise (118.4 nmol/mol vs. 77.0 nmol/mol, respectively).

"Epinephrine levels are an estimate of the global effect of stressful stimuli over the 24 hours. This suggests that those with the highest blood pressure when standing may have an increased sympathetic response [the fight-or-flight response] to stressors," said Palatini. "Overall, this causes an increase in average blood pressure."

"The findings suggest that blood pressure upon standing should be measured in order to tailor treatment for patients with high blood pressure, and potentially, a more aggressive approach to lifestyle changes and blood-pressure-lowering therapy may be considered for people with an elevated [hyperreactor] blood pressure response to standing," he said.

Results from this study may not be generalizable to people from other ethnic or racial groups since all study participants reported white race/ethnicity. In addition, there were not enough women in the sample to analyze whether the association between rising standing blood pressure and adverse heart events was different among men and women. Because of the relatively small number of major adverse cardiac events in this sample of young people, the results need to be confirmed in larger studies.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220317094719.htm

Living near green areas reduces the risk of suffering a stroke by 16 percent

March 15, 2022

Science Daily/IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute)

The risk of suffering an ischaemic stroke, the most common type of cerebrovascular event, is 16% less in people who have green spaces less than 300 metres from their homes. This has been revealed in a joint study by the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute, Hospital del Mar, the Catalan Health Quality and Assessment Agency (AQuAS) from the Catalan Government's Department of Health and the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a centre promoted by the "la Caixa" Foundation. It is the most important work in this field to date in Europe, analysing data on the entire population of Catalonia between 2016 and 2017. It has been published in the journal Environment International.

The study took into account information on exposure to three atmospheric pollutants linked to vehicle traffic in more than three and a half million people selected from among the 7.5 million residents of Catalonia, over the age of eighteen who had not suffered a stroke prior to the start of the study. Specifically, it analysed the impact of the levels of particulate matter under 2.5 microns (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and soot particles at the place of residence of each of the people studied. The number and density of green spaces within a 300-metre radius of their homes was also studied. The data was obtained via geographic referencing and by designing models of exposure to the two determinants, using population data obtained by reusing health information generated in Catalonia and anonymised by the Data Analytics Programme for Research and Innovation in Health (Programa d'Analítica de Dades per a la Recerca i la Innovació en Salut; PADRIS) and managed by the Catalan Agency for Health Quality and Assessment (Agència de Qualitat i Avaluació Sanitàries de Catalunya; AQuAS).

More pollution, a higher risk of stroke

The results indicate a direct relationship between increased levels of NO2 in the atmosphere and the risk of ischaemic stroke. For every increase of 10 micrograms (µg) per cubic metre, this risk increases by 4%. The same happens when PM2.5 levels increase by 5 µg/m3. In the case of soot particles, the risk increases by 5% for every 1 µg/m3 increase in the atmosphere. These figures are the same for the entire population, irrespective of other socio-economic factors, age or smoking habits.

"It should be borne in mind that, unlike other air pollutants, which have various sources, NO2 is mainly caused by road traffic. Therefore, if we really want to reduce the multiple risks that this pollutant poses to people's health, we need to implement bold measures to reduce car use", says Cathryn Tonne, a researcher at ISGlobal.

"The study demonstrates the importance of environmental determinants in stroke risk. Given that it is predicted that the incidence, mortality and disability attributed to the disease will increase in the coming years, it is important to understand all the risk factors involved", explains Dr. Carla Avellaneda, a researcher in the Neurovascular Research Group at IMIM-Hospital del Mar and one of the main authors of the study. Previous studies by the same group had already provided evidence on the relationship between factors such as soot or noise levels and the risk of suffering a stroke and its severity. All these factors act as stroke triggers.

In contrast, having an abundance of green spaces within the same radius from the home directly reduces the risk of suffering a stroke. Specifically, up to 16%. In this sense, "People who are surrounded by greater levels of greenery at their place of residence are protected against the onset of stroke", says Dr. Avellaneda. Exposure to green spaces is generally considered to have beneficial effects through a variety of mechanisms, such as stress reduction, increased physical activity and social contact, and even exposure to an enriched microbiome.

Rethinking established air pollutant limits

In view of this data, the researchers point out that it is necessary to reflect on the current levels of atmospheric pollution that are considered safe. At the moment, the thresholds set by the European Union are 40 µg/m3 for NO2, which the World Health Organisation reduces to 10 µg/m3, and 25 µg/m3 for PM2.5, which the WHO limits to 5 µg/m3. Currently, no levels have been set for soot particles. In fact, the levels recorded during the period analysed were lower, on average, than those set by the European authorities (17 µg/m3 for PM2.5, 35 µg/m3 for NO2 and 2.28 µg/m3 in the case of soot).

"Despite compliance with the levels set by the European Union, we are faced with the paradox that there is still a health risk, such as the one we identified in this study, where there is a direct relationship between exposure to pollutants in our environment and the risk of suffering a stroke", explains Dr. Rosa Maria Vivanco, lead author of the study and researcher at AQuAS and IMIM-Hospital del Mar. "The danger is still present and many more measures need to be taken", considering the increase in the urban population and its ageing, she adds.

In this sense, Dr. Jaume Roquer, head of the Neurology Service at Hospital del Mar and coordinator of the Neurovascular Research Group at IMIM-Hospital del Mar, points out that "This study demonstrates the real impact that environmental aspects have on the health of the Catalan population. In view of the effects of atmospheric pollution, the lack of green spaces, noise, and so forth, more efforts and populational strategies are needed to reduce its impact. Its harmful effects are permanently and globally damaging. We must strive to achieve more sustainable towns and cities where living does not mean an increased risk of disease."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220315113023.htm

When it comes to sleep, it’s quality over quantity

Science Daily/March 15, 2022

University of California - San Francisco

Some people are gifted with genes that pack the benefits of slumber into an efficient time window, keeping them peppy on only four or six hours of sleep a night, according to researchers at UC San Francisco. In addition, the scientists said, these "elite sleepers" show psychological resilience and resistance to neurodegenerative conditions that may point the way to fending off neurological disease.

"There's a dogma in the field that everyone needs eight hours of sleep, but our work to date confirms that the amount of sleep people need differs based on genetics," said neurologist Louis Ptacek, MD, one of the senior authors on the study, which appears in iScience on March 15, 2022 "Think of it as analogous to height; there's no perfect amount of height, each person is different. We've shown that the case is similar for sleep."

For over a decade, Ptacek and co-senior author, Ying-Hui Fu, PhD, both members of the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, have been studying people with Familial Natural Short Sleep (FNSS), the ability to function fully on -- and have a preference for -- four to six hours of sleep a night. They've shown that it runs in families and, thus far have identified five genes across the genome that play a role in enabling this efficient sleep. There are still many more FNSS genes to find, the researchers said.

This study tested Fu's hypothesis that elite sleep can be a shield against neurodegenerative disease. Her ideas contrast somewhat with current thinking that, for many people, lack of sleep can accelerate neurodegeneration. The difference, Fu said, is that with FNSS, the brain accomplishes its sleep tasks in a shorter time. In other words, less time spent efficiently sleeping may not equate to a lack of sleep.

The team chose to look at mouse models of Alzheimer's disease because that condition is so prevalent, said Fu. They bred mice that had both short-sleep gene and genes that predisposed them to Alzheimer's and found that their brains developed much less of the hallmark aggregates associated with dementia. To confirm their findings, they repeated the experiment using mice with a different short-sleep gene and another dementia gene and saw similar results.

Fu and Ptacek believe that similar investigations of other brain conditions would show the efficient-sleep genes conferring comparable protections. improving peoples' sleep could delay progression of disease across a whole spectrum of conditions, they said.

"Sleep problems are common in all diseases of the brain," she said. "This makes sense because sleep is a complex activity. Many parts of your brain have to work together for you to fall asleep and to wake up. When these parts of the brain are damaged, it makes it harder to sleep or get quality sleep."

Understanding the biological underpinnings of sleep regulation could identify drugs that will help ward off problems with sleep disorders. In addition, improving sleep in healthy people may sustain wellbeing and improve the quality of time we each have, the researchers said. But pursuing the many genes involved is a long game that they liken to putting together a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle.

"Every mutation we find is another piece," said Ptacek. "Right now we're working on the edges and the corners, to get to that place where it's easier to put the pieces together and where the picture really starts to emerge."

Despite the long road ahead, there's already promise in some of the few genes they've identified. At least one of them can be targeted with existing drugs that might be repurposed. Their hope is that within the next decade, they'll have helped facilitate new treatments that allow people with brain disorders to get a better night's rest.

"This work opens the door to a new understanding of how to delay and possibly prevent a lot of diseases," said Fu. "Our goal really is to help everyone live healthier and longer through getting optimum sleep."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220315112959.htm

Link between high cholesterol and heart disease 'inconsistent'

March 14, 2022

Science Daily/RCS

New research from RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences has revealed that the link between 'bad' cholesterol (LDL-C) and poor health outcomes, such as heart attack and stroke, may not be as strong as previously thought.

Published in JAMA Internal Medicine, the research questions the efficacy of statins when prescribed with the aim of lowering LDL-C and therefore reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Previous research has suggested that using statins to lower LDL-C positively affects health outcomes, and this is reflected in the various iterations of expert guidelines for the prevention of CVD. Statins are now commonly prescribed by doctors, with one third of Irish adults over the age of 50 taking statins, according to previous research.

The new findings contradict this theory, finding that this relationship was not as strong as previously thought. Instead, the research demonstrates that lowering LDL-C using statins had an inconsistent and inconclusive impact on CVD outcomes such as myocardial infarction (MI), stoke, and all-cause mortality.

In addition, it indicates that the overall benefit of taking statins may be small and will vary depending on an individual's personal risk factors.

The lead author on the paper is Dr Paula Byrne from the HRB Centre for Primary Care Research based in RCSI's Department of General Practice. Commenting on the findings, Dr Byrne said: "The message has long been that lowering your cholesterol will reduce your risk of heart disease, and that statins help to achieve this. However, our research indicates that, in reality, the benefits of taking statins are varied and can be quite modest."

The researchers go on to suggest that this updated information should be communicated to patients through informed clinical decision-making and updated clinical guidelines and policy.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220314120702.htm

Links between circadian rhythms, metabolism and addiction

Findings reveal possible role for peripheral organs in substance use disorders

March 11, 2022

Science Daily/University of California - Irvine

A new University of California, Irvine-led study establishes important conceptual connections between the fields of circadian rhythms, metabolism, and addiction. Going beyond current studies on substance use disorders, which focus on the impact of addictive drugs on the brain, this new research highlights an existing connection between specific neurons and peripheral organs.

The study, titled "Dopamine D2 receptor signaling in the brain modulates circadian liver metabolomic profiles," was published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Our findings provide a link to substance use disorders and metabolic dysfunctions," explained Emiliana Borrelli, PhD, professor of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics at UCI School of Medicine who, for this study, collaborated with the late Paolo Sassone-Corsi, PhD, professor of Biological Chemistry at UCI. "Through our research we explored how the disruption of normal neuronal functions affects metabolic activity and may move the body to an altered state away from homeostasis, which could contribute to the drug seeking behaviors exhibited by people with substance use disorders."

By analyzing the liver metabolome of mice deficient in the expression of the dopamine D2 receptor (D2R) in striatal medium spiny neurons, the researchers found profound changes in the liver circadian metabolome compared to control mice. In addition, they found that activation of dopaminergic circuits by acute cocaine administration reprograms the circadian liver metabolome.

"D2R signaling in medium spiny neurons is key for striatal output and is essential for regulating the first response to the cellular and rewarding effects of cocaine," said Borrelli. "Thus, our results suggest that changes in dopamine signaling in specific striatal neurons evoke major changes in liver physiology. Dysregulation of liver metabolism could contribute to an altered allostatic state and therefore be involved in continued use of drugs."

The circadian clock is tightly intertwined with metabolism and relies heavily on multifaceted interactions between organ systems to maintain proper timing. Genetic and/or environmental causes can disrupt communication between organs and alter rhythmic activities. Substance use leads to altered dopamine signaling followed by reprogramming of circadian gene expression and metabolism in the reward system.

This study shows that dopamine D2 receptors (D2R) in striatal medium spiny neurons (MSNs) play a key role in regulating diurnal liver metabolic activities. In addition, drugs that increase dopamine levels, such as cocaine, disrupt circadian metabolic profiles in the liver, which is exacerbated by loss of D2R signaling in MSNs. These results uncover a strict communication between neurons/brain areas and liver metabolism as well as the association between substance use and systemic deficits," said Borrelli.

Substance use disorders affect millions of people worldwide. The rewarding properties of substances, such as alcohol, nicotine, opioids, and psychostimulants, are linked to their ability to increase dopamine levels in brain areas that control emotions and induce pleasure. Drug intake modifies neuronal plasticity and is at the start of the process of addiction, which leads vulnerable individuals to continually seek and abuse these substances despite the adverse consequences on their lives.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220311115311.htm

Music combined with auditory beat stimulation may reduce anxiety for some

Combined treatments appear to help people with moderate trait anxiety better than music alone

March 9, 2022

Science Daily/PLOS

Treatments integrating music and auditory beat stimulation are effective in reducing state anxiety in some patients, according to a new study published this week in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Adiel Mallik and Frank Russo of the Ryerson University, Canada.

Anxiety has been steadily increasing, particularly in the adolescent and young adult populations, over recent decades. Studies have previously shown that listening to music can reduce anxiety, perhaps even more effectively than some anti-anxiety medications. However, quantitative data on the effects of personalized music on anxiety has been lacking.

In the new study, the researchers randomized 163 patients taking anti-anxiety medications to participate in an at-home treatment session involving music, auditory beat stimulation, both, or pink noise -- background sounds similar to white noise. The music was selected for each patient using LUCID's artificial intelligence which curates music based on the patient's emotional state and music preferences. Auditory beat stimulation involves combinations of tones, played in one or both ears, designed to trigger changes to brain activity. In all groups, patients were asked to download a customized application on their smart phone for the treatment, close their eyes, and listen to a 24-minute session.

Among people with moderate anxiety before the treatment session, greater reductions in somatic anxiety -- the physical symptoms of anxiety -- were seen in people who listened to both music and ABS (p=0.04, effect size=0.83), or those who listened to music alone (p=0.05, effect size=0.52), compared to those who listened to pink noise. The greatest reductions in cognitive state anxiety -- the aspect of anxiety related to thoughts and feelings -- were also seen in moderate trait anxiety participants who listened to both music and ABS. Among people with high trait anxiety before the session, the music-alone group had significantly higher reductions in anxiety compared to the ABS-alone group (p=0.04, effect size=0.72).

The authors conclude that sound-based treatments can be effective in reducing state anxiety and potentially offer a simple and easily distributable method of treating anxiety in a segment of the population.

Drs. Russo and Malik add: "With the pandemic and remote work, there has been a remarkable uptick in the use of digital health tools to support mental health. The results of this clinical trial indicate great promise for the use of digital health tools, such as LUCID's digital music therapy, in the management of anxiety and other mental health conditions."

"The findings from this research are exciting as they indicate that personalized music shows great promise in effectively reducing anxiety in specific segments of the population that suffer from anxiety. Hopefully, with additional research, we can help build a solid evidence base which further supports the use of personalized music as an additional tool in the clinician's toolbox that can be used to help reduce anxiety in the patient population."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220309140921.htm

Stress damages the movement centers in the brain

March 8, 2022

Science Daily/University of Bonn

Stress seems to have a negative effect on the learning of movements -- at least in mice. This is the conclusion of a recent study at the University of Bonn. According to the study, the neurons of rodents lose some of their contacts with other neurons after stress. The animals also developed motor deficits. The results may be useful for earlier diagnosis and improved therapy of stress-related diseases such as depression. They also document that stress leaves traces in the brain -- possibly permanent ones. The study appeared in the journal Translational Psychiatry.

Chronically stressed people often show abnormalities in their motor skills, such as poorer fine motor control. However, how these symptoms occur has hardly been studied so far. "We investigated this question in our study," explains Prof. Dr. Valentin Stein from the Institute of Physiology II at the University of Bonn.

The researchers used mice as experimental animals, some of which they exposed to a stressful situation for a few days. Meanwhile, they used a special microscopy method to take pictures of the rodents' brains. They focused on parts of the cerebral cortex responsible for motor control and learning new movements.

"With our method, it is possible to observe one and the same neuron at different points in time," says Dr. Anne-Kathrin Gellner, a physician at the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at Bonn University Hospital. "We can therefore see whether and how it changes as a result of stress."

Stressed mice lose synapses

In fact, the researchers came across a conspicuous feature: after the stressful situation, the neurons studied lost some of their synapses -- these are the contacts to other nerve cells. During learning processes, new synapses are usually formed or existing ones are strengthened. Instead, the stressed rodents lost up to 15 percent of their contacts.

At the same time, the animals developed motor learning deficits. For example, they had to try to grasp a food pellet with one paw and transport it into their mouths. In the wild, mice use both paws to do this, so they had to relearn this skill. The non-stressed control group achieved a success rate of 30 percent after five days. The stressed rodents, however, only managed to take the food in every tenth attempt.

Mice vary in their sensitivity to stress. Some of them hardly develop any abnormalities after a few days of stress -- they are considered resilient. Surprisingly, these robust animals had similar difficulties as their more sensitive peers in learning to grasp with one hand. "It is therefore possible that motor tests are very suitable for detecting stress-related disorders such as depression before other symptoms become apparent," hopes Prof. Valentin Stein.

Even resilient animals are not immune

Even in resilient animals, moreover, the number of synapses decreased after the stress event. Unlike their stress-sensitive peers, however, the affected neurons recovered: after one and a half weeks, the number of synapses was again similar to that before the stress event and comparable to that in non-stressed control animals. "Nevertheless, it may well be that psychological stress also leaves permanent traces on them if it is too long or too frequent," worries Stein, who is also a member of the Transdisciplinary Research Area (TRA) "Life and Health."

The researchers also have clues as to what triggers the loss of synapses: Certain immune cells, the microglia, were activated in the rodents' brains. They belong to the so-called phagocytes and can, for example, digest pathogens or defective cells. It is possible that they are "switched on" by stress and then attack the contact sites.

The research group also examined the fluid that washes around the brain and spinal cord. They found certain proteins that can normally be detected there in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's or Alzheimer's. "We therefore believe that stress-related psychiatric diseases such as depression are also associated with the degradation of neurons," says Dr. Gellner. "Accordingly, long-term stress -- to which children are increasingly exposed -- can potentially cause serious damage to the brain."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220308102845.htm

Communities with higher levels of racial prejudice have worse health outcomes

Area-level racial prejudice drives health inequities, research finds

March 7, 2022

Science Daily/American Psychological Association

People who live in communities with higher levels of racial prejudice have worse health outcomes, including more heart disease and mental health problems and higher overall mortality rates, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

The researchers conducted a systematic review of fourteen papers that used data gathered from Google, Twitter and other big-data sources to look at how prejudice and health are intertwined in communities across the United States.

"Racism is gaining recognition as a fundamental driver of health inequities," said lead study author Eli Michaels, MPH, a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Berkeley. "Leveraging big data to capture area-level racial prejudice is one innovative approach to measuring the overall racial climate in which people live, work, play and pray. The studies included in this review revealed that living in an area with high levels of racial prejudice may harm health and widen racial health inequities."

The research was published in the journal Health Psychology.

The studies in the review used a variety of sources to measure community-level racial prejudice and included tens of millions of data points from large-scale surveys, internet searches and social media. Three studies analyzed data from Google Trends on how often users' searches included a racial slur. Four studies analyzed data from Twitter on tweets that included negative sentiments toward people of color. Three studies used data from the General Social Survey, a nationally representative survey of social and political attitudes in the United States. And four studies used data from Project Implicit, an online tool that assesses people's implicit biases toward various groups. All of the data were coded by geographic area.

The studies examined how these different indicators of area-level racial prejudice correlated with health outcomes among individuals living in those areas, including mortality rates, adverse birth outcomes for mothers and infants, cardiovascular outcomes, mental health and overall self-rated health. All of the studies found an association between communities' levels of racial prejudice and adverse health outcomes for the people of color who lived there; four studies also showed a similar association among white residents (two studies showed a smaller but still harmful effect on whites compared with people of color).

"The majority of research on racial discrimination and health to date has focused on experiences at the individual level," said Amani M. Allen, PhD, MPH, a professor of community health sciences and epidemiology at the University of California Berkeley School of Public Health and senior author of the study.

"The emerging body of work examined in this review is an important step in going above the level of the individual to capture the context of place and how it may impact the health of people living in those places," Allen said. "As we see from this review, living in an environment with an overall climate that is prejudiced against people of color is not only bad for racially marginalized groups, but for everyone. Area-level racial prejudice is a social determinant of population health."

There are various theories as to how community racial prejudice may harm health, according to the researchers. One is that at an individual level, living in a community with more prejudice could increase the number of prejudiced interactions that a person experiences, causing harmful stress. At the community level, more racial prejudice may erode social capital -- defined as "the norms of reciprocity, trust and social obligation" in a community -- leading to less social and emotional support to buffer stressful life events and less political support for policies and programs that could enhance the health and welfare of all community members.

More research is needed to disentangle these various factors that may tie community-level racial prejudice to adverse health outcomes for communities overall and for people of color in particular, according to the researchers.

"Because racism is multidimensional, dismantling it and its effects on health will require multidimensional solutions," Michaels said. "Research identifying the root causes of, and testing interventions to shift, our collective prejudice is an urgent priority."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220307190702.htm

More alcohol, less brain: Association begins with an average of just one drink a day

March 4, 2022

Science Daily/University of Pennsylvania

Even light-to-moderate drinking is associated with harm to the brain, according to a new study. Researchers analyzed data from more than 36,000 adults that found a link between drinking and reduced brain volume that begins at an average consumption level of less than one alcohol unit a day -- the equivalent of about half a beer -- and rises with each additional drink.

The research, using a dataset of more than 36,000 adults, revealed that going from one to two drinks a day was linked with changes in the brain equivalent to aging two years. Heavier drinking was associated with an even greater toll. The science on heavy drinking and the brain is clear: The two don't have a healthy relationship. People who drink heavily have alterations in brain structure and size that are associated with cognitive impairments.

But according to a new study, alcohol consumption even at levels most would consider modest -- a few beers or glasses of wine a week -- may also carry risks to the brain. An analysis of data from more than 36,000 adults, led by a team from the University of Pennsylvania, found that light-to-moderate alcohol consumption was associated with reductions in overall brain volume.

The link grew stronger the greater the level of alcohol consumption, the researchers showed. As an example, in 50-year-olds, as average drinking among individuals increases from one alcohol unit (about half a beer) a day to two units (a pint of beer or a glass of wine) there are associated changes in the brain equivalent to aging two years. Going from two to three alcohol units at the same age was like aging three and a half years. The team reported their findings in the journal Nature Communications.

"The fact that we have such a large sample size allows us to find subtle patterns, even between drinking the equivalent of half a beer and one beer a day," says Gideon Nave, a corresponding author on the study and faculty member at Penn's Wharton School. He collaborated with former postdoc and co-corresponding author Remi Daviet, now at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Perelman School of Medicine colleagues Reagan Wetherill -- also a corresponding author on the study -- and Henry Kranzler, as well as other researchers.

"These findings contrast with scientific and governmental guidelines on safe drinking limits," says Kranzler, who directs the Penn Center for Studies of Addiction. "For example, although the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism recommends that women consume an average of no more than one drink per day, recommended limits for men are twice that, an amount that exceeds the consumption level associated in the study with decreased brain volume,"

Ample research has examined the link between drinking and brain health, with ambiguous results. While strong evidence exists that heavy drinking causes changes in brain structure, including strong reductions in gray and white matter across the brain, other studies have suggested that moderate levels of alcohol consumption may not have an impact, or even that light drinking could benefit the brain in older adults.

These earlier investigations, however, lacked the power of large datasets. Probing massive quantities of data for patterns is the specialty of Nave, Daviet, and colleagues, who have conducted previous studies using the UK Biobank, a dataset with genetic and medical information from half a million British middle-aged and older adults. They employed biomedical data from this resource in the current study, specifically looking at brain MRIs from more than 36,000 adults in the Biobank, which can be used to calculate white and gray matter volume in different regions of the brain.

"Having this dataset is like having a microscope or a telescope with a more powerful lens," Nave says. "You get a better resolution and start seeing patterns and associations you couldn't before."

To gain an understanding of possible connections between drinking and the brain, it was critical to control for confounding variables that could cloud the relationship. The team controlled for age, height, handedness, sex, smoking status, socioeconomic status, genetic ancestry, and county of residence. They also corrected the brain-volume data for overall head size.

The volunteer participants in the Biobank had responded to survey questions about their alcohol consumption levels, from complete abstention to an average of four or more alcohol units a day. When the researchers grouped the participants by average-consumption levels, a small but apparent pattern emerged: The gray and white matter volume that might otherwise be predicted by the individual's other characteristics was reduced.

Going from zero to one alcohol units didn't make much of a difference in brain volume, but going from one to two or two to three units a day was associated with reductions in both gray and white matter.

"It's not linear," says Daviet. "It gets worse the more you drink."

Even removing the heavy drinkers from the analyses, the associations remained. The lower brain volume was not localized to any one brain region, the scientists found.

To give a sense of the impact, the researchers compared the reductions in brain size linked with drinking to those that occur with aging. Based on their modeling, each additional alcohol unit consumed per day was reflected in a greater aging effect in the brain. While going from zero to a daily average of one alcohol unit was associated with the equivalent of a half a year of aging, the difference between zero and four drinks was more than 10 years of aging.

In future work, the authors hope to tap the UK Biobank and other large datasets to help answer additional questions related to alcohol use. "This study looked at average consumption, but we're curious whether drinking one beer a day is better than drinking none during the week and then seven on the weekend," Nave says. "There's some evidence that binge drinking is worse for the brain, but we haven't looked closely at that yet."

They'd also like to be able to more definitively pin down causation rather than correlation, which may be possible with new longitudinal biomedical datasets that are following young people as they age.

"We may be able to look at these effects over time and, along with genetics, tease apart causal relationships," Nave says.

And while the researchers underscore that their study looked only at correlations, they say the findings may prompt drinkers to reconsider how much they imbibe.

"There is some evidence that the effect of drinking on the brain is exponential," says Daviet. "So, one additional drink in a day could have more of an impact than any of the previous drinks that day. That means that cutting back on that final drink of the night might have a big effect in terms of brain aging."

In other words, Nave says, "the people who can benefit the most from drinking less are the people who are already drinking the most."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220304090349.htm

Agreeableness a helpful trait for general success in life

After examining the effect of 'Big 5' personality traits in many kinds of occupations, researchers focus on one trait helpful to general life success.

March 3, 2022

Science Daily/University of Arkansas

Following a major study of the effects of personality on job performance, researchers zoomed in on one personality trait -- agreeableness -- and found that it has a desirable effect on hundreds of physical, psychological and occupational metrics that impact not only job performance but general life success.

Michael Wilmot, assistant professor of management at the University of Arkansas, and Deniz Ones, professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota, examined a wide range of variables, from psychological and physical health to interpersonal relationships, and from leadership effectiveness to performance in academic and organizational settings.

To better understand the impact of agreeableness, the researchers summarized results from 142 meta-analyses reporting effects for 275 variables. In all, the results comprised more than 1.9 million participants from roughly 3,900 studies. Meta-analysis is a process used to systematically merge multiple independent findings using statistical methods to calculate an overall effect.

Wilmot and Ones found that agreeableness had a desirable effect on 93% of variables and outcomes.

"We wanted to do a quantitative summary and synthesis of what we have learned about relations between agreeableness, one of the so-called Big 5 personality traits, and its consequences," Wilmot said. "We know this is important -- perhaps now more than ever -- because agreeableness is the personality trait primarily concerned with helping people and building positive relationships, which is not lost on organizational leaders."

In their previous study, Wilmot and Ones combined multiple meta-analyses of the five big personality traits -- conscientiousness, extraversion, openness and neuroticism, in addition to agreeableness -- and examined their effect on job performance. They found that relationships between personality traits and performance varied greatly across nine major occupational groups.

To clarify and emphasize the importance of agreeableness, the researchers organized the 275 variables into broader conceptual categories. These included physical and psychological health, performance, motivation and success.

Wilmot and Ones also synthesized eight themes that captured the characteristic functioning of agreeableness across all variables and categories. The themes illustrated the essence of how agreeableness is helpful to both individuals and organizations. The themes were:

• Self-transcendence -- Having aspirations for self-directed growth and motivation to show care and concern for others.

• Contentment -- Accepting life as it is, and an ability to successfully adjust to new contexts and institutions.

• Relational investment -- Motivation to cultivate and maintain positive relationships with others.

• Teamworking -- Empathetic capacity to coordinate goals with others and ability to cooperate effectively, regardless of role, to accomplish collective objectives.

• Work investment -- Willingness to expend effort on tasks, do quality work and show a responsiveness to the work environment.

• Lower results emphasis -- A generally lower emphasis on setting goals and producing individual results and a tendency to rate others' performance with greater leniency.

• Social norm orientation -- Greater sensitivity to and respect for behavioral compliance with social norms and rules and avoidance of rule-breaking and wrongdoing.

• Social integration -- Capacity for successful integration into social roles and institutions and a reduced likelihood of delinquency, antisocial behavior and turnover.

"Taken altogether, the interaction among the themes became clear," Wilmot said. "Agreeableness was marked by work investment, but this energy was best directed at helping or cooperating with others. In other words, teamwork."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220303191459.htm

Exposure to great outdoors boosted mental health during pandemic

Study finds those who spent more time in green spaces reported less depression, anxiety

March 2, 2022

Science Daily/University of Colorado at Boulder

People exposed to more green space during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic reported significantly less depression and anxiety, according to new University of Colorado Boulder research published March 2 in the journal PLOS One.

The study also found that, at a time when mental health problems soared due to financial woes, supply shortages and nonstop news coverage of the virus, people sought solace in the great outdoors, with one-third spending more time there than they did pre-COVID.

"This research shows how critical it is to keep parks and green spaces open in times of crisis," said senior author Colleen Reid, an assistant professor of geography in the Institute for Behavioral Science. "It also shows that, as a public health measure, more effort should be made to put in green spaces and make them accessible."

For the study, the authors presented about 1,200 Denver-area residents with a 30-minute survey gauging their mental health and their perceptions of green space near their home, including: how much there was, whether they could see it, whether it was accessible, how much they used it and its quality. They also collected aerial satellite imagery to objectively quantify greenery in respondents' neighborhoods.

The survey ran from November 2019 to January 2021.

Once COVID-19 emerged and lockdowns ensued, Reid added additional questions, providing a rare opportunity to also look at how the pandemic influenced mental health over time and what was most stressful about it.

"Not surprisingly, we found that the pandemic impacted mental health negatively," said co-author Emma Rieves, a master's student in the Department of Geography. "But we also found that green space could have a powerful protective effect, even at a time of such extraordinary stressors."

Supply shortages and job losses stressed people out

Surprisingly, the study found no association between being diagnosed with COVID and having poor mental health. But respondents reported that having symptoms, no diagnosis and no way to test was distressing.

Those who lost income or felt they were working in an unsafe environment were also more likely to be stressed or depressed, while the strongest source of mental health problems was a fear of supply shortages (including toilet paper and food).

People who spent a lot of time scrolling the internet looking at the news reported poorer mental health. In contrast, merely having abundant green space nearby, as measured by satellite images, was associated with lower depression scores.

To get the most benefit out of nearby green space, the study found, people had to get out and use it. Those who used green space most had significantly lower anxiety and depression.

"There are many dimensions of green space, and our study looked closely at how these dimensions impact mental health," said Rieves, noting that policymakers often rely solely on objective measures, like satellite images or proximity to parks when assessing whether to invest in more greenery in a community.

On a satellite image, Rieves points out, a large patch of greenery could actually be a weed-filled lot. A 'nearby park' could be on the other side of a busy highway.

"It's not just about being able to see trees from your home. The amount, quality and accessibility of that green space matters," said Rieves.

Many public agencies closed public green spaces, including neighborhood playgrounds and national parks, at the onset of the pandemic for fear that the virus could be easily spread via surfaces. Once parks reopened, with places like gyms, bars and churches still closed, Coloradans flocked to the outdoors: 33% of respondents reported spending more time in parks or on trails than the year before.

The 'biophilia hypothesis'

The study adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that green space can have a measurable impact on health.

According to one theory, known as the 'biophilia hypothesis,' humans innately tend to seek connections with green spaces, where the calming environment influences stress hormones in a way that promotes healing and fends off disease.

"The idea is that we have evolved with nature, and only in the recent past have we been living in the concrete jungle," said Reid.

One famous 1984 study even found that when hospital patients had rooms with a window looking out on green space, their wounds healed faster and they required less pain medication than those looking out on a brick wall.

Reid cautioned that correlations between green space and health have been scrutinized, in part because people with higher incomes and, thus, better access to healthy food and health care may also be more able to afford to live near green spaces.

To address that, Reid's study took sociodemographic factors into account, along with the many unique circumstances that have emerged during COVID.

After controlling for all the factors, the benefits still remained clear: "Spend more time outside," Rieves said. "Pandemic or no pandemic, it's good for your mental health."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220302150329.htm

Your lunchtime walks in the summer could be making you less productive

Researchers find that a brief walk outside on a hot day impairs cognitive performance

February 28, 2022

Science Daily/University of Tsukuba

Studies have shown that being in a hot environment reduces cognitive performance, whereas a brief walk enhances cognition. But what happens when you go for a brief walk on a hot summer's day, as so many students and office workers do during lunch or an afternoon break? Turns out, you might be better off avoiding the heat.

In a study published this month in Building and Environment, researchers from the University of Tsukuba discovered that just 15 minutes of walking outside on a hot day impaired cognitive performance, and this was most striking in men who don't get enough sleep.

Those who work or study in urban heat islands, such as large cities in Japan, generally have the convenience of air-conditioning indoors over the summer months, which largely counters the negative impact of heat on learning and productivity. However, brief exposure to hot environments during commuting or breaks is inevitable, and whether such exposure affects cognition has not been known. "Previous experiments have used specialized climate chambers to test these effects. However, outdoor thermal environment differs significantly from indoor thermal environments in terms of radiation and wind," says senior author Professor Hiroyuki Kusaka. "Radiation and wind have significant effects on thermal perception. Therefore, in order to assess the effects of outdoor heat stress on cognitive performance, experiments should be conducted in real outdoor environments."

Researchers simulated a real-world scenario during the Japanese summer in which workers or students leave an air-conditioned indoor environment to walk or have a break in a hot outdoor urban environment. Ninety-six students completed a simple arithmetic test in an air-conditioned room before either staying indoors, walking outside, or resting outside for 15 minutes. They then returned indoors to complete a second arithmetic test, and any changes in performance were measured. Walking in a hot outdoor environment impaired cognitive performance; however, it was not simply the exposure to the hot environment that impaired cognition. Rather, it was the combination of walking and being outside in the summer heat that had impacted cognitive performance. Furthermore, this effect was more pronounced in people, specifically men, who were sleep deprived, having slept less than 5 hours.

"Japanese office workers and students, especially men, need to be aware of this situation as they work and study," says Kusaka. The team hopes that their findings will help guide ways to improve productivity and learning in workers and students in Japan, and perhaps even further afield as the impact of climate change moves to the forefront.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220228114410.htm

ADHD linked to hoarding behavior

As many as 1 in 5 adults with ADHD could have significant hoarding symptoms

February 25, 2022

Science Daily/Anglia Ruskin University

New research has found that people with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are significantly more likely to also exhibit hoarding behaviours, which can have a serious impact on their quality of life.

The study, published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research and funded by theBritish Academy and the Leverhulme Trust, found that almost one in five people with ADHD exhibited clinically significant levels of hoarding, indicating there could be a hidden population of adults struggling with hoarding and its consequences.

Hoarding Disorder is a recognised condition that involves excessive accumulation, difficulties discarding and excessive clutter. The disorder can lead to distress or difficulties in everyday life and can contribute to depression and anxiety.

Previous research into Hoarding Disorder has mainly focused on older females who self-identify as hoarders and have sought help later in life. This new study, led by Dr Sharon Morein of Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), recruited 88 participants from an adult ADHD clinic run by the Cambridge and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust.

The study found that 19% of this ADHD group displayed clinically significant hoarding symptoms, were on average in their 30s, and there was an equal gender split. Amongst the remaining 81%, the researchers found greater hoarding severity, but not to a degree that significantly impaired their lives, compared to the study's control group.

The researchers asked the same questions, about ADHD symptoms and impulsivity, levels of hoarding and clutter, obsessive compulsive severity, perfectionism, depression and anxiety, and everyday function, on a closely-matched group of 90 adults from the general population, without an ADHD diagnosis, and found only 2% of this control group exhibited clinically significant hoarding symptoms.

They then replicated this with a larger online sample of 220 UK adults to see if similar patterns were found, and similarly only 3% of this group exhibited symptoms.

Dr Morein, Associate Professor in Psychology at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), said: "Hoarding Disorder is much more than simply collecting too many possessions. People with diagnosed Hoarding Disorder have filled their living areas with so many items and clutter that it impacts their day-to-day functioning leading to a poorer quality of life, anxiety, and depression.

"Overall, we found that people who had been diagnosed with ADHD had a higher likelihood of also having hoarding symptoms. This is important because it demonstrates that hoarding doesn't just affect people later in life, who are typically the focus of much of the research so far into Hoarding Disorder.

"Our findings also indicate that Hoarding Disorder should be routinely assessed in individuals with ADHD, as they do not typically disclose associated difficulties despite these potentially impairing their everyday lives. Likewise, it is possible that many people who are currently being treated for Hoarding Disorder might also have undiagnosed ADHD.

"Greater awareness amongst clinicians and people with ADHD about the link between ADHD and hoarding could also lead to more effective long-term management, as hoarding often gradually worsens with time."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220225135652.htm

Feeling connected to nature linked to lower risk of snake and spider phobias

February 24, 2022

Science Daily/British Ecological Society

A study of over a thousand people in Hungary has found for the first time that people who feel more connected to nature are less likely to be affected by snake and spider fears or phobias. The research is published in British Ecological Society journal, People and Nature.

In the study, researchers from universities in Hungary, Czech Republic and Portugal used clinically established questionnaires to assess participants' fear of snakes and spiders and their connectedness to nature. They found that people who scored highly in their self-perceived connection to nature -- particularly a longing to be close to nature and engagement to protect it -- were less likely to score highly in measures of snake and spider fear.

The researchers say that because of this association, a connection to nature could potentially be a protective factor against snake and spider phobias, two of the most prevalent animal phobias.

Dr Jakub Polák at Charles University, Czech Republic, and co-author of the study said: "Analysis of our data showed one clear picture: the more you like nature and feel a part of it, the less you are at risk of developing a snake or spider phobia, an anxiety disorders which can significantly lower your quality of life."

Dr Coelho at the University of Porto, Portugal, and co-author of the study, stressed that the association found in this study can go both ways: "A connection to nature may cause people to experience less fear of snakes and spiders. However, it is also possible that people with lower fear of snakes and spiders are consequently more interested in nature and feel a stronger connection with the natural environment."

The researchers also collected demographic data from the participants and found older age and living in less urbanised environments were also associated with reduced fear of snakes and spiders.

The study findings add to the growing evidence of the positive effects from spending time in nature and feeling connected to it, such as improved health, enhanced mood, and reduced stress.

Dr András Norbert Zsido, at the University of Pécs, Hungary, and co-author of the study said: "Connectedness to nature, can have a wide range of positive effects. In our study we find that it may prevent the development of animal phobias or could facilitate coping with such fear if they already exist. It's also been shown that being connected to nature carries health benefits and can result in more knowledge and a more positive attitude towards animals, along with greater environmental responsibility."

Fear of snakes and spiders are thought to stem from threats in our evolutionary history. While these fears can protect us, having a phobia -- an extreme or irrational fear -- can cause significant distress and interfere with a person's day-to-day life as they try to avoid all confrontation with the phobic stimulus.

In the study the researchers assessed participants' connection to nature using the Nature Relatedness Scale. This questionnaire asks participants to agree or disagree with statements covering attitudes to conservation, feelings of belonging to nature and ease of being outdoors in the wilderness. Higher scores indicate a stronger connection with nature.

To assess participant's fear of snakes and spiders, the researchers used established questionnaires that are used in clinical screenings for phobias. Participants answered questions on fainting or avoidance in reaction to snakes and spiders and were then shown images of the animals and asked to rate them along three scales: whether they perceived the images to be unpleasant or pleasant, whether the images made them feel calm or excited, and whether they felt dominance or dominated by the animals in the pictures.

Because the study was correlational and didn't collect longitudinal data, the researchers were not able to determine the direction of the relationship between connection to nature and animal fears. Dr Zsido explained: "This was a cross-sectional study, so we were not able to measure possible effects of nature relatedness on fears over time. Whether pro-environmental education and increased time spent in natural environments could reliably decrease fears is still an open question."

The researchers are now hoping to explore whether their findings would be the same for other animal phobias or apply to other cultures around the world.

Dr Polák said: "I would like to see if the same association between connectedness to nature and animal fears would be found in other countries with a different culture, different levels of urbanisation, and potentially different attitudes towards animals. We suppose that fear of snakes and spiders is universal all over the world, but is the protective role of nature connectedness universal as well? That would be worth future research."

Understanding what causes animal phobias to persist also interests the researchers. Dr Coelho added: "I would like to know why some people never seem to leave behind their fears, even if they have a lot of experience with the object that evokes the feeling. Is this due to the nature of the stimuli itself, or maybe to individual differences?"

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220224091051.htm

Do pets have a positive effect on your brain health?

Study shows long-term pet ownership linked to slower decline in cognition over time

February 23, 2022

Science Daily/American Academy of Neurology

Owning a pet, like a dog or cat, especially for five years or longer, may be linked to slower cognitive decline in older adults, according to a preliminary study released today, February 23, 2022

"Prior studies have suggested that the human-animal bond may have health benefits like decreasing blood pressure and stress," said study author Tiffany Braley, MD, MS, of the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor and a member of the American Academy of Neurology. "Our results suggest pet ownership may also be protective against cognitive decline."

The study looked at cognitive data from 1,369 older adults with an average age of 65 who had normal cognitive skills at the start of the study. A total of 53% owned pets, and 32% were long-term pet owners, defined as those who owned pets for five years or more. Of study participants, 88% were white, 7% were Black, 2% were Hispanic and 3% were of another ethnicity or race.

Researchers used data from the Health and Retirement Study, a large study of Medicare beneficiaries. In that study, people were given multiple cognitive tests. Researchers used those cognitive tests to develop a composite cognitive score for each person, ranging from zero to 27. The composite score included common tests of subtraction, numeric counting and word recall. Researchers then used participants' composite cognitive scores and estimated the associations between years of pet ownership and cognitive function.

Over six years, cognitive scores decreased at a slower rate in pet owners. This difference was strongest among long-term pet owners. Taking into account other factors known to affect cognitive function, the study showed that long-term pet owners, on average, had a cognitive composite score that was 1.2 points higher at six years compared to non-pet owners. The researchers also found that the cognitive benefits associated with longer pet ownership were stronger for Black adults, college-educated adults and men. Braley says more research is needed to further explore the possible reasons for these associations.

"As stress can negatively affect cognitive function, the potential stress-buffering effects of pet ownership could provide a plausible reason for our findings," said Braley. "A companion animal can also increase physical activity, which could benefit cognitive health. That said, more research is needed to confirm our results and identify underlying mechanisms for this association."

A limitation of the study was that length of pet ownership was assessed only at one time point, so information regarding ongoing pet ownership was unavailable.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220223210035.htm

Singing in the brain

Neuroscientists have identified a population of neurons in the human brain that respond to singing but not other types of music

February 22, 2022

Science Daily/Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Woman singing (stock image).

Credit: © razihusin / stock.adobe.com

https://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2022/02/220222121221_1_540x360.jpg

These neurons, found in the auditory cortex, appear to respond to the specific combination of voice and music, but not to either regular speech or instrumental music. Exactly what they are doing is unknown and will require more work to uncover, the researchers say.

"The work provides evidence for relatively fine-grained segregation of function within the auditory cortex, in a way that aligns with an intuitive distinction within music," says Sam Norman-Haignere, a former MIT postdoc who is now an assistant professor of neuroscience at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

The work builds on a 2015 study in which the same research team used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify a population of neurons in the brain's auditory cortex that responds specifically to music. In the new work, the researchers used recordings of electrical activity taken at the surface of the brain, which gave them much more precise information than fMRI.

"There's one population of neurons that responds to singing, and then very nearby is another population of neurons that responds broadly to lots of music. At the scale of fMRI, they're so close that you can't disentangle them, but with intracranial recordings, we get additional resolution, and that's what we believe allowed us to pick them apart," says Norman-Haignere.

Norman-Haignere is the lead author of the study, which appears today in the journal Current Biology. Josh McDermott, an associate professor of brain and cognitive sciences, and Nancy Kanwisher, the Walter A. Rosenblith Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, both members of MIT's McGovern Institute for Brain Research and Center for Brains, Minds and Machines (CBMM), are the senior authors of the study.

Neural recordings

In their 2015 study, the researchers used fMRI to scan the brains of participants as they listened to a collection of 165 sounds, including different types of speech and music, as well as everyday sounds such as finger tapping or a dog barking. For that study, the researchers devised a novel method of analyzing the fMRI data, which allowed them to identify six neural populations with different response patterns, including the music-selective population and another population that responds selectively to speech.

In the new study, the researchers hoped to obtain higher-resolution data using a technique known as electrocorticography (ECoG), which allows electrical activity to be recorded by electrodes placed inside the skull. This offers a much more precise picture of electrical activity in the brain compared to fMRI, which measures blood flow in the brain as a proxy of neuron activity.

"With most of the methods in human cognitive neuroscience, you can't see the neural representations," Kanwisher says. "Most of the kind of data we can collect can tell us that here's a piece of brain that does something, but that's pretty limited. We want to know what's represented in there."

Electrocorticography cannot be typically be performed in humans because it is an invasive procedure, but it is often used to monitor patients with epilepsy who are about to undergo surgery to treat their seizures. Patients are monitored over several days so that doctors can determine where their seizures are originating before operating. During that time, if patients agree, they can participate in studies that involve measuring their brain activity while performing certain tasks. For this study, the MIT team was able to gather data from 15 participants over several years.

For those participants, the researchers played the same set of 165 sounds that they used in the earlier fMRI study. The location of each patient's electrodes was determined by their surgeons, so some did not pick up any responses to auditory input, but many did. Using a novel statistical analysis that they developed, the researchers were able to infer the types of neural populations that produced the data that were recorded by each electrode.

"When we applied this method to this data set, this neural response pattern popped out that only responded to singing," Norman-Haignere says. "This was a finding we really didn't expect, so it very much justifies the whole point of the approach, which is to reveal potentially novel things you might not think to look for."

That song-specific population of neurons had very weak responses to either speech or instrumental music, and therefore is distinct from the music- and speech-selective populations identified in their 2015 study.

Music in the brain

In the second part of their study, the researchers devised a mathematical method to combine the data from the intracranial recordings with the fMRI data from their 2015 study. Because fMRI can cover a much larger portion of the brain, this allowed them to determine more precisely the locations of the neural populations that respond to singing.

"This way of combining ECoG and fMRI is a significant methodological advance," McDermott says. "A lot of people have been doing ECoG over the past 10 or 15 years, but it's always been limited by this issue of the sparsity of the recordings. Sam is really the first person who figured out how to combine the improved resolution of the electrode recordings with fMRI data to get better localization of the overall responses."

The song-specific hotspot that they found is located at the top of the temporal lobe, near regions that are selective for language and music. That location suggests that the song-specific population may be responding to features such as the perceived pitch, or the interaction between words and perceived pitch, before sending information to other parts of the brain for further processing, the researchers say.

The researchers now hope to learn more about what aspects of singing drive the responses of these neurons. They are also working with MIT Professor Rebecca Saxe's lab to study whether infants have music-selective areas, in hopes of learning more about when and how these brain regions develop.

The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Army Research Office, the National Science Foundation, the NSF Science and Technology Center for Brains, Minds, and Machines, the Fondazione Neurone, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220222121221.htm

Treatment for Parkinson’s could now get even better

February 18, 2022

Science Daily/University of Copenhagen - The Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

Specialized groups of neurons within the brainstem control movement. Now researchers  have found that activation of such neurons is sufficient to restore full movement function in mice with symptoms of Parkinson's Disease. The study helps clinicians to focus Deep Brain Stimulation to the right therapeutic spot and hopefully could improve treatment of motor symptoms in Parkinson's Disease.

Parkinson's is a neurodegenerative disease where dopaminergic neurons progressively die in the brainstem. Tremor and difficulties to walk are recognizable movement symptoms for many people suffering from Parkinson's. Over time, nearly a quarter of patients will have so much trouble walking that they often end up freezing on the spot and falling, and many become housebound.

People are primarily treated with medicine, but in some cases doctors use Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS). In DBS, the surgeon places a thin metal wire in the brain, which can be used to send electrical pulses. DBS is effective in treating tremor, but alleviating difficulties in walking and freezing remains a challenge.

Now, a study from the University of Copenhagen conducted in mice demonstrate that DBS treatment of walking problems in Parkinson's could be optimised by targeting specific eurons in the brainstem -- possibly benefitting some of the more than 7 to 10 million people suffering from the disease worldwide.

"Brainstem DBS are the right strategy to facilitate patients to walk properly again"

Based on previous animal studies of motor circuits, which are responsible for the planning, control, and execution of voluntary movements, scientists has hypothesized that freezing of walking in Parkinson's could be alleviated. That would require DBS to stimulate neurons in the pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN), which is located in the brainstem. The PPN was thought to send signals from the brain to the spinal cord leading to body movements.

"However, initial results from clinical trials with DBS of the PPN had very variable effect on movement recovery, particularly in patients who experience freezing of walking. It has therefore been debated where within the brainstem an optimal stimulation should be. Our study brings new knowledge to the table regarding the best area for DBS in order to alleviate this particular symptom," says corresponding author Professor Ole Kiehn at the Department of Neuroscience.

Previous results from the group showed that stimulation of so-called excitatory neurons in the PPN could initiate locomotion in normal mice. It raised the possibility that these nerve cells could indeed be used to treat movement symptoms in mice with features of Parkinson's Disease.

"We use a technology to target specific group of cells in the PPN in order to close in on what areas are the best to stimulate, if we want to alleviate these particular symptoms. The result shows that the motor improvement is optimal, if we stimulate what we call excitatory neurons in the caudal area of the PPN," explains Ole Kiehn.

"We believe that clinical trials with brainstem DBS are the right strategy to facilitate patients to walk properly again. But the variable clinical results occur, because DBS would require higher precision to target the particular group of neurons in the caudal PPN. It is a very delicate area, because if we were to stimulate excitatory neurons in other areas than the caudal PPN, it would cause complete immobilization instead."

The key is the activation of PPN neurons

In Parkinson's Disease, nerve cells that produce dopamine progressively die. Since the 1960s, doctors have relied on medication to replace the missing dopamine, but it is notoriously difficult to fully control symptoms as the disease progresses.

"In many people the movement symptoms do not respond well to medical treatment in the later stages of this disease, so there has been done a lot of research into alternative treatments, including a search for optimal targets for deep brain stimulation," explains Postdoc Debora Masini, first author of the new study, which included several different strategies to substantiate their findings.

"When we stimulated these specific neurons in the caudal area of the PPN, the animals were able to walk normally, across longer distances and with normal walking speed, as opposed to before the stimulation, where they would display symptoms of Parkinson's Disease," says Debora Masini.

"We systematically compared stimulation of different locations and cell types in a series of complementary experiments. And they all pointed towards the same conclusion. It strongly indicates these excitatory neurons in the caudal PPN are an ideal target for recovery of movement loss," she says.

The researchers hope that the new study could aid clinicians when they pick the exact location for DBS in the brainstem.

"The mice in our study only partially represents the complexity of this disease, but the results have been very telling. Nearly everything we have learned in the beginning on how to treat Parkinson's Disease comes from animal models, including the medication we use nowadays for patients. In this sense, it is a valid approach, and we hope our study can help provide better treatment for human patients," says Debora Masini.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220218100701.htm

Musical preferences unite personalities worldwide

February 9, 2022

Science Daily/University of Cambridge

Research involving more than 350,000 participants from over 50 countries and 6 continents has found that links between musical preferences and personality are universal. The findings suggest that music could play a greater role in overcoming social division, as well as offering currently untapped therapeutic benefits.

Ed Sheeran's song Shiversis as likely to appeal to extraverts living in the UK as those living in Argentina or India. Those with neurotic traits in the US are as likely to be into Nirvana's Smells like Teen Spirit as people with a similar personality living in Denmark or South Africa. Agreeable people the world over will tend to like Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, or Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper's Shallow; while national borders cannot stop open people from replaying David Bowie's Space Oddity or Nina Simone. But it does not matter where a conscientious person lives, they are unlikely to enjoy Rage Against the Machine.

These are the kind of assumptions supported by new research led by Dr David Greenberg, an Honorary Research Associate at the University of Cambridge and a Postdoctoral Scholar at Bar-Ilan University.

Across the world, without significant variation, the researchers found the same positive correlations between extraversion and contemporary music; between conscientiousness and unpretentious music; between agreeableness and mellow and unpretentious music; and between openness and mellow, contemporary, intense and sophisticated music. They also identified a clear negative correlation between conscientiousness and intense music.

Greenberg, who wears many hats as a musician, neuroscientist, and psychologist, said: "We were surprised at just how much these patterns between music and personality replicated across the globe. People may be divided by geography, language and culture, but if an introvert in one part of the world likes the same music as introverts elsewhere, that suggests that music could be a very powerful bridge. Music helps people to understand one another and find common ground."

The study, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, explains why personality traits are linked to musical styles. The researchers accurately predicted that extraversion, which is defined by excitement-seeking, sociability, and positive emotions, would be positively associated with contemporary music that has upbeat, positive, and danceable features. Similarly, they were not surprised to find that conscientiousness, which is associated with order and obedience, clashed with intense musical styles, which is characterized by aggressiveness and rebellious themes.

But one finding is proving more puzzling. Greenberg said: "We thought that neuroticism would have likely gone one of two ways, either preferring sad music to express their loneliness or preferring upbeat music to shift their mood. Actually, on average, they seem to prefer more intense musical styles, which perhaps reflects inner angst and frustration.

"That was surprising but people use music in different ways -- some might use it for catharsis, others to change their mood. So there may be subgroups who score high on neuroticism who listen to mellow music for one reason and another subgroup which is more frustrated and perhaps prefer intense music to let off steam. We'll be looking into that in more detail."

The researchers also found that the correlation between extraversion and contemporary music was particularly strong around the equator, above all in Central and South America. This could suggest that climatic factors influence musical preferences and that people in warmer climates tend to have personality traits which make them more likely to prefer rhythmic, danceable music.

Greenberg, who continues to perform as a professional saxophonist, has a very diverse playlist which is typical of people who score high on openness. He said: "I've always loved jazz and now I'm also really into the music of different world religions, which makes perfect sense based on my personality traits."

How the study worked

Greenberg and his colleagues used two different musical preference assessment methods to assess an unprecedented number of participants living in more than 50 countries. The first required people to self-report the extent to which they liked listening to 23 genres of music as well as completing the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) and providing demographic information. The second used a more advanced approach and asked participants to listen to short audio clips from 16 genres and subgenres of Western music on the musicaluniverse.io website and then give their preferential reactions to each (people can still visit the site to receive their scores).

The researchers focused on Western music primarily because it is the most listened to globally and results based on Western music offer the strongest potential to be applied in real-world and therapeutic settings globally.

The researchers used the MUSIC model, a widely accepted framework for conceptualizing musical preferences, which identifies five key musical styles:

'Mellow' (featuring romantic, slow, and quiet attributes as heard in soft rock, R&B, and adult contemporary genres),

'Unpretentious' (uncomplicated, relaxing, and unaggressive attributes as heard in country genres),

'Sophisticated' (inspiring, complex, and dynamic features as heard in classical, operatic, avant-garde, and traditional jazz genres),

'Intense' (distorted, loud, and aggressive attributes as heard in classic rock, punk, heavy metal, and power pop genres), and

'Contemporary' (rhythmic, upbeat, and electronic attributes as heard in the rap, electronica, Latin, and Euro-pop genres).

Why the findings matter

For thousands of years humans have broadcast sounds to other groups to establish whether they have similar values, whether they could share resources or whether they are about to fight. Today, people are using music as a way to signal their personality and so, the study argues, there is potential to use music to address social division.

Greenberg, who lives in Jerusalem, already employs music as a bridge to work with Israelis and Palestinians. In fact, he recently gave a TEDx talk expanding on the ways that music can bond people and cultures. Greenberg also believes that the findings could improve music streaming services and support wellbeing apps but this is not as easy as it might sound.

Greenberg said: "If people who score high for neuroticism, for example, are being fed more intense music and they're already feeling stressed and frustrated, is that helping with their anxiety or is it just reinforcing and perpetuating? These are the questions we now need to answer."

The study does not seek to pigeonhole music-lovers. Greenberg says: "Musical preferences do shift and change, they are not set in stone. And we are not suggesting that someone is just extroverted or just open, we all have combinations of personality traits and combinations of musical preferences of varying strengths. Our findings are based on averages and we have to start somewhere to begin to see and understand connections."

Greenberg thinks that future research could combine streaming data with EEG hyperscanning technologies to establish a more nuanced understanding of the biological and cultural factors that contribute to our musical preferences and responses. He also says that future research should rigorously test the links between music and personality in real-world settings to see how music can be a bridge between people from different cultures around the globe.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220209093441.htm

Calorie restriction trial reveals key factors in extending human health

February 10, 2022

Science Daily/Yale University

Decades of research has shown that limits on calorie intake by flies, worms, and mice can enhance life span in laboratory conditions. But whether such calorie restriction can do the same for humans remains unclear. Now a new study led by Yale researchers confirms the health benefits of moderate calorie restrictions in humans -- and identifies a key protein that could be harnessed to extend health in humans.

The findings were published Feb. 10 in Science.

The research was based on results from the Comprehensive Assessment of Long-term Effects of Reducing Intake of Energy (CALERIE) clinical trial, the first controlled study of calorie restriction in healthy humans. For the trial, researchers first established baseline calorie intake among more than 200 study participants. The researchers then asked a share of those participants to reduce their calorie intake by 14% while the rest continued to eat as usual, and analyzed the long-term health effects of calorie restriction over the next two years.

The overall aim of the clinical trial was to see if calorie restriction is as beneficial for humans as it is for lab animals, said Vishwa Deep Dixit, the Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Pathology, Immunobiology, and Comparative Medicine, and senior author of the study. And if it is, he said, researchers wanted to better understand what calorie restriction does to the body specifically that leads to improved health.

Since previous research has shown that calorie restriction in mice can increase infections, Dixit also wanted to determine how calorie restriction might be linked to inflammation and the immune response.

"Because we know that chronic low-grade inflammation in humans is a major trigger of many chronic diseases and, therefore, has a negative effect on life span," said Dixit, who is also director of the Yale Center for Research on Aging. "Here we're asking: What is calorie restriction doing to the immune and metabolic systems and if it is indeed beneficial, how can we harness the endogenous pathways that mimic its effects in humans?"

Dixit and his team started by analyzing the thymus, a gland that sits above the heart and produces T cells, a type of white blood cell and an essential part of the immune system. The thymus ages at a faster rate than other organs. By the time healthy adults reach the age of 40, said Dixit, 70% of the thymus is already fatty and nonfunctional. And as it ages, the thymus produces fewer T cells. "As we get older, we begin to feel the absence of new T cells because the ones we have left aren't great at fighting new pathogens," said Dixit. "That's one of the reasons why elderly people are at greater risk for illness."

For the study, the research team used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to determine if there were functional differences between the thymus glands of those who were restricting calories and those who were not. They found that the thymus glands in participants with limited calorie intake had less fat and greater functional volume after two years of calorie restriction, meaning they were producing more T cells than they were at the start of the study. But participants who weren't restricting their calories had no change in functional volume.

"The fact that this organ can be rejuvenated is, in my view, stunning because there is very little evidence of that happening in humans," said Dixit. "That this is even possible is very exciting."

With such a dramatic effect on the thymus, Dixit and his colleagues expected to also find effects on the immune cells that the thymus was producing, changes that might underlie the overall benefits of calorie restriction. But when they sequenced the genes in those cells, they found there were no changes in gene expression after two years of calorie restriction.

This observation required the researchers to take a closer look, which revealed a surprising finding: "It turns out that the action was really in the tissue microenvironment not the blood T cells," Dixit said.

Dixit and his team had studied adipose tissue, or body fat, of participants undergoing calorie restriction at three time points: at the beginning of the study, after one year, and after two. Body fat is very important, Dixit said, because it hosts a robust immune system. There are several types of immune cells in fat, and when they are aberrantly activated, they become a source of inflammation, he explained.

"We found remarkable changes in the gene expression of adipose tissue after one year that were sustained through year two," said Dixit. "This revealed some genes that were implicated in extending life in animals but also unique calorie restriction-mimicking targets that may improve metabolic and anti-inflammatory response in humans."

Recognizing this, the researchers then set out to see if any of the genes they identified in their analysis might be driving some of the beneficial effects of calorie restriction. They honed in on the gene for PLA2G7 -- or group VII A platelet activating factor acetylhydrolase -- which was one of the genes significantly inhibited following calorie restriction. PLA2G7 is a protein produced by immune cells known as macrophages.

This change in PLA2G7 gene expression observed in participants who were limiting their calorie intake suggested the protein might be linked to the effects of calorie restriction. To better understand if PLA2G7 caused some of the effects observed with calorie restriction, the researchers also tracked what happened when the protein was reduced in mice in a laboratory experiment.

"We found that reducing PLA2G7 in mice yielded benefits that were similar to what we saw with calorie restriction in humans," said Olga Spadaro, a former research scientist at the Yale School of Medicine and lead author of the study. Specifically, the thymus glands of these mice were functional for a longer time, the mice were protected from diet-induced weight gain, and they were protected from age-related inflammation.

These effects occurred because PLA2G7 targets a specific mechanism of inflammation called the NLRP3 inflammasome, researchers said. Lowering PLA2G7 protected aged mice from inflammation.

"These findings demonstrate that PLA2G7 is one of the drivers of the effects of calorie restriction," said Dixit. "Identifying these drivers helps us understand how the metabolic system and the immune system talk to each other, which can point us to potential targets that can improve immune function, reduce inflammation, and potentially even enhance healthy lifespan."

For instance, it might be possible to manipulate PLA2G7 and get the benefits of calorie restriction without having to actually restrict calories, which can be harmful for some people, he said.

"There's so much debate about what type of diet is better -- low carbohydrates or fat, increased protein, intermittent fasting, etc. -- and I think time will tell which of these are important," said Dixit. "But CALERIE is a very well-controlled study that shows a simple reduction in calories, and no specific diet, has a remarkable effect in terms of biology and shifting the immuno-metabolic state in a direction that's protective of human health. So from a public health standpoint, I think it gives hope."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220210154204.htm

Your microbiome shapes your life. But where did it come from?

The role of chance in microbiome composition

February 9, 2022

Science Daily/Carnegie Institution for Science

The gut microbiome is an ecosystem of hundreds to thousands of microbial species living within the human body. These populations affect our health, fertility, and even our longevity. But how do they get there in the first place?

New collaborative work led by Carnegie's William Ludington reveals crucial details about how the bacterial communities that comprise each of our individual gut microbiomes are acquired. These findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, have major implications for treatments such as fecal transplants and probiotic administration.

"There is a huge amount of variation in microbiome composition between individuals," Ludington explained. "For example, if you look at the sum total of all of the bacterial species that are adapted to live in the gastrointestinal systems of humans, most of these are not present in a majority of people. That's how incredibly diverse these gut microbial populations are."

A combination of elements, including genetics, diet, and environment contribute to the differences between our microbiomes. But there isn't a direct line between these inputs and the species that successfully colonize our guts. There's an element of chance at play each time we are exposed to a new microbe as to whether it will be acquired and become a member of our gut ecosystem. Ludington and his collaborators set out to understand the factors that shape the odds of this colonization process.

Although many researchers have studied microbiome compositions in natural populations, there have been few attempts to use a controlled environment to reveal the process by which new species successfully join the gut microbial ecosystem. Ludington and his collaborators -- Eric Jones and David Sivak of Simon Fraser University and Jean Carlson of UC Santa Barbara -- developed a new ecological model to understand how we acquire the specific mix of microbes that are individual to our own particular gut communities.

Working in the comparatively much less complicated microbiomes of fruit flies, the team showed that exposure to a microbial species does not guarantee its successful incorporation into the microbiome ecosystem. They found that the state of the microbiome, and interactions between existing microbiome member species, sets the odds for whether a newly encountered bacteria is added into the mix.

"Even among genetically identical flies that lived in the same housing and were fed the same diets, we saw variations in microbiome composition," Sivak said.

The researchers then used these results to build mathematical models that could probe increasingly complex scenarios by which new microbiome species could be acquired, leading to their breakthrough understanding of the community factors that shape membership in the microbiome ecosystem.

"Think of microbiome composition as a big party where the social dynamics determine who leaves early and who stays until dawn," said Ludington.

Added Jones, the paper's first author: "Bacterial colonization depends on a number of complicated factors that we're just starting to understand. We showed, for example, that some groups of species facilitate each other's colonization and are therefore more likely to coexist."

These group interactions have exciting implications for how microbiomes are transmitted between individuals, including how medical professionals might drive a person's microbiome towards a desired composition.

"The beauty of the mathematical approach we deployed is that it acknowledges that colonization is a roll of the dice, but we are now able to attribute the weighting of the dice to biological interactions with a molecular basis that has been honed by evolution," said Carlson.

The team's findings provide a framework for quantitatively examining the mechanisms that therapies such as fecal transplants and probiotics depend upon, advancing toward the eventual goal of personalized microbiome medicine.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220209155020.htm