Health
Alzheimer’s disease could be slowed by boosting a certain protein in the brain, researchers say
Boosting a specific protein in the brain could help slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, a new study has found.
The longstanding theory is that Alzheimer’s occurs when a protein called amyloid-beta 42 (Aβ42) transforms into plaques that build up in the brain, causing damage to neural cells and leading to cognitive decline.
Researchers from the University of Cincinnati have challenged that assumption, instead suggesting that the disease is caused by low levels of healthy, functioning Aβ42, according to a UC press release.
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They based this hypothesis on the fact that newly approved monoclonal antibody medications — including lecanemab (Leqembi) and donanemab (Kisunla) — have had the unintended outcome of raising levels of the protein in the brain.
“The new Alzheimer’s treatments, which were designed to remove amyloid plaques, unintentionally raised Aβ42 levels, and this may explain their positive effects on cognition as much as — or better than — amyloid reduction,” lead study author Alberto J. Espay, MD, professor of neurology at the Gardner Family Center for Parkinson’s disease and Movement Disorders at UC, told Fox News Digital via email.
“Higher Aβ42 levels after treatment were associated with slower cognitive decline, suggesting that restoring this protein to normal levels might be more beneficial for Alzheimer’s patients than removing amyloid.”
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In the study, the researchers reviewed data from nearly 26,000 Alzheimer’s patients who participated in 24 randomized clinical trials for the newly approved antibody treatments.
They compared the cognitive abilities of patients before and after taking the new medications, and found that the increased amounts of Aβ42 were linked to “slower cognitive impairment and clinical decline.”
The findings were published in the medical journal Brain on Sept. 11.
Understanding amyloid
Amyloid plaques aren’t necessarily a bad thing, according to the researchers.
“Along with other studies, the collective evidence suggests that amyloid plaques are a response of a normally reactive brain to many stressors, some infectious, some toxic, some biological,” Espay told Fox News Digital.
“They are a sign the brain is dealing with a stressor appropriately.”
The researcher referred to amyloid plaques as “the tombstones of Aβ42,” noting that they can’t do anything harmful to the brain.
“Most researchers do not believe Alzheimer’s is driven by only one biological mechanism.”
“Amyloid plaques don’t cause Alzheimer’s, but if the brain makes too much of them while defending against infections, toxins or biological changes, it can’t produce enough Aβ42, causing its levels to drop below a critical threshold,” he said.
“That’s when dementia symptoms emerge.”
The study questions the long-entrenched idea that amyloid plaques directly cause Alzheimer’s and that removing them is part of the solution.
“Building the levels of Aβ42 without removing amyloid — which is quite futile, and can be harmful — is worth testing as a future therapy,” Espay added.
Looking ahead, the UC research team plans to investigate therapies that directly increase Aβ42 levels without targeting amyloid.
‘A very complex disease’
Ozama Ismail, PhD, director of scientific programs at the Alzheimer’s Association in Washington, D.C., was not involved in UC’s study, but commented on the findings.
“While this Aβ42-related hypothesis may turn out to be a part of what causes and encourages progression of Alzheimer’s, it is a very complex disease, and most researchers do not believe Alzheimer’s is driven by only one biological mechanism,” he told Fox News Digital.
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“Beta amyloid is certainly an important and key player, but we also know that tau protein, the immune system, vascular system, metabolic health, environment and more all play a role in the disease process.”
While FDA-approved drugs targeting amyloid are now available and in use, Ismail calls for a comprehensive approach to Alzheimer’s treatment that involves multiple approaches.
He recommends “a combination of therapies targeting multiple mechanisms, as well as lifestyle interventions, much like how other major diseases like diabetes, HIV/AIDS and heart disease are treated.”
Added Ismail, “Understanding the entire underlying biology and related mechanisms is important to expand our pipeline of treatments and prevention strategies.”
Potential limitations
Espay also acknowledged the limitation that none of the published studies have allowed access to the individual-level data.
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“We can only work with the group-level data published,” he told Fox News Digital. “Despite this limitation, the results were robustly supported.”
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Fox News Digital reached out to Biogen and Eisai (makers of Leqembi) and Eli Lilly (maker of Kisunla) requesting comment.
Health
51 inspirational quotes to help you stay strong, healthy and motivated in tough times
There’s a reason quotes and inspirational sayings from people of all walks of life (and many periods of history) have staying power.
Words of wisdom and reflection can offer solace, comfort and inspiration when times are hard.
They can do this at any time, really.
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Here, in no particular order, are 51 memorable quotes that offer strong reminders of the importance of self-care and of the power of positive thinking — and more.
51 memorable quotes for staying strong, healthy and motivated
1. “Love yourself first and everything else falls in line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.” — Lucille Ball
2. “When you let fear make your decisions, you relinquish your belief in yourself or in another person.” — Admiral Bob Harward
3. “Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the face.” — Helen Keller
4. “We must be our own before we can be another’s.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
5. “Keep good company, read good books, love good things, and cultivate soul and body as faithfully as you can.” — Louisa May Alcott
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6. “I remain an incorrigible optimist. America has overcome daunting odds time and again … I would never bet against the American people.” — Neil Gorsuch
7. “The most important investment you can make is in yourself. Very few people get anything like their potential horsepower translated into the actual horsepower of their output in life. Potential exceeds realization for many people … The best asset is your own self. You can become to an enormous degree the person you want to be.” — Warren Buffett
8. “We have to be intentional with the life that we have.” — Amy Grant
9. “Our bodies are our gardens, to which our wills are gardeners.” — William Shakepeare
10. “Every small positive change we make in ourselves repays us in confidence in the future.” — Alice Walker
11. “I might tell a story, but usually I try to remind people that they should be happy.” — Don McLean
12. “If you’re facing a problem, don’t tell yourself that you can’t do it. Convince yourself that you have the strength to deal with almost anything … And you do! Recognizing your core strengths is an important step toward having joie de vivre. You can count on better days to come because of the good days that came before. And you can find joy in the moment because you have the resiliency to overcome the problems that may be hanging over you.” — Ruth K. Westheimer
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13. “The most important thing in life is to stop saying ‘I wish’ and start saying ‘I will.’ Consider nothing impossible, then treat possibilities as probabilities.” — Charles Dickens
14. “Faith is the very first thing you should pack in a hope chest.” — Sarah Ban Breathnach
15. “You never know how strong you are until being strong is your only choice.” — Bob Marley
16. “Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me.” — Carol Burnett
17. “The secret to a happy life is to accept change gracefully.” — Jimmy Stewart
18. “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.” — Melody Beattie
19. “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” — C.S. Lewis
20. “A smile is a curve that sets everything straight.” — Phyllis Diller
21. “Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it’s holy ground. There’s no greater investment.” — Stephen Covey
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22. “I really built myself up, darn it, to be very strong.” — Barbara Bush
23. “My philosophy of life is that if we make up our mind what we are going to make of our lives, then work hard toward that goal, we never lose — somehow we win out.” — Ronald Reagan
24. “Reinforce yourself by remembering that you have been resilient and have persevered to overcome challenging and troublesome situations in the past.” — Jennifer Guttman
25. “I challenge you to make your life a masterpiece. I challenge you to join the ranks of those people who live what they teach, who walk their talk.” — Tony Robbins
26. “When I am constantly running there is no time for being. When there is no time for being there is no time for listening.” — Madeleine L’Engle
27. “If you’re peaceful at home, then you extend that to your family, extend that to your community. And I hope that if we extend that to a critical mass, we can have a more peaceful, just, sustainable, healthier and joyful world. That’s the ultimate dream.” — Deepak Chopra
28. “If you want to live an authentic, meaningful life, you need to master the art of disappointing and upsetting others, hurting feelings, and living with the reality that some people just won’t like you. It may not be easy, but it’s essential if you want your life to reflect your deepest desires, values, and needs.” — Cheryl Richardson
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29. “Make the mental commitment that, God willing, nothing will stop you from ‘going the distance.’” — Alex McFarland
30. “If you aren’t good at loving yourself, you will have a difficult time loving anyone, since you’ll resent the time and energy you give another person that you aren’t even giving to yourself.” — Barbara De Angelis
31. “Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.” — Arnold Schwarzenegger
32. “A balanced life doesn’t come from being a know-it-all about every nuance of Ashtanga yoga. It comes instead from knowing what you need so that you can keep learning and evolving for months and years to come.” — Mariel Hemingway
33. “I’m just thankful for everything, all the blessings in my life, trying to stay that way. I think that’s the best way to start your day and finish your day. It keeps everything in perspective.” — Tim Tebow
34. “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.” — Eleanor Roosevelt
35. “Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” — A. A. Milne
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36. “Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves.” — Marie Curie
37. “Life shrinks or expands according to one’s courage.” — Anaïs Nin
38. “Self-care should include the cold shower as well as the scented tub.” — Mary Catherine Bateson
39. “Relax. Look around. Make a call.” — Jocko Willink
40. “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” — Virginia Woolf
41. “Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.” — Mahatma Gandhi
42. “Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.” — Nora Ephron
43. “Just as self-respect and pride bring out the best in an individual, pride in family, pride in teammates, pride in hometown bring out the best in groups of people.” — Andy Rooney
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44. “The only bad workout is the one that didn’t happen.” — Unknown
45. “Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come without leaving happier.” — Mother Teresa
46. “If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.” — Albert Einstein
47. “Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.” — Babe Ruth
48. “We turn not older with years but newer every day.” — Emily Dickinson
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49. “Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.” — Dale Carnegie
50. “It takes courage to live in this world. It takes courage to speak truth, and it takes even more courage to live according to the highest ideals of your heart.” — Joan Gattuso
51. “A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book.” — Irish proverb
Health
'Dead butt syndrome' could happen after sitting too long, here's how to avoid the condition
Sitting for prolonged periods is known to raise the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure and obesity — but it can also contribute to “dead butt syndrome,” according to health experts who specialize in musculoskeletal injuries.
The condition, otherwise known as gluteal amnesia, involves numbness or pain in the buttocks, or pain in the upper thigh and hip, after prolonged sitting.
“The term gluteal amnesia, or ‘dead butt,’ can correlate with difficulty feeling or accessing glute activation in a particular exercise or activity,” Dr. Carrie Pagliano, a physical therapist in Arlington, Virginia, and spokesperson for the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), told Fox News Digital.
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Causes and symptoms of ‘dead butt syndrome’
Over time, sitting for long periods can result in a “tug of war” scenario between muscles in the front (hip flexors) and those in the back of the hip (the glutes).
“The hip flexors shorten and tighten, and the gluteal muscles get over lengthened, leading to inefficient muscle activation,” Tamar Amitay, a licensed physical therapist and owner of Thrive Integrated Physical Therapy in New York City, told Fox News Digital.
This muscle imbalance can literally become a “pain in the butt,” especially for those who sit for long hours on a daily basis, experts agreed.
“The term ‘dead butt syndrome’ is simply a weakening and deconditioning of the glute muscles and associated tightening of muscles opposing them, creating an imbalance of the musculature and function,” Edward Farrell, an orthopedic physical therapist at Physical Solutions Physical Therapy and Fitness on Long Island, New York, told Fox News Digital.
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Farrell often sees patients who suffer from pain and tightness in the hips and buttocks, along with discomfort in the lower back.
“Older patients will often report long days at work sitting at their desk, and younger patients may have a habit of spending hours playing video games or social media surfing,” he told Fox News Digital.
“Once we can resolve the acute issue, the take-home message is to get up and move around every once in a while.”
With dead butt syndrome, the glute muscle doesn’t actually die, but rather “shuts down,” meaning it does not contract as efficiently, the experts said. This can lead to other issues down the road.
“The condition can actually become quite serious,” Farrell warned.
“The glutes — the gluteus medius in particular — act as stabilizers, providing lateral support with walking and running,” he said. “If these muscles become weakened and less efficient, more stress is passed onto the lower back and other areas of the hip and thigh.”
When the pelvis is not stabilized, the hip can drop on one side, causing stress and pain in the hip and spine and even down the kinetic chain to the knee, according to Amitay. This can also affect how a person walks.
Diagnosing the condition
If someone is experiencing dead butt syndrome, a physician may recommend the Trendelenburg test, which can indicate weakness of the glute muscles responsible for hip abduction, according to experts.
With the test, the patient stands on one leg (holding onto an object if needed to avoid falling) for up to 30 seconds. If the pelvis drops on the contralateral side (the side not bearing weight), it indicates weakness in the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus muscles, according to peer-reviewed studies.
Some patients may complain that they don’t feel their gluteal muscles contract strongly when performing glute-targeted exercises, such as a bridge, physical therapists noted.
“If you’re doing glute exercises and can’t feel your glutes, it’s worth consulting with a physical therapist to determine why you’re experiencing difficulty accessing these muscles,” Pagliano told Fox News Digital.
Recommended treatment
Treatments for gluteal amnesia may include therapies to help alleviate pain and tightness, such as moist heat, electrical stimulation, ultrasound and ice, Farrell noted.
“Once symptoms lessen, exercises [are performed] to strengthen the abductors and glutes, such as squats, side clamshells and side leg lifts, as well as stretching for the hip flexors, ITB band and piriformis,” he said.
“Once we can resolve the acute issue, the take-home message is to get up and move around every once in a while.”
In many cases, physical therapy sessions may be needed to strengthen the muscles and increase flexibility, according to Pagliano.
Targeted exercises that optimize core strength and muscle balance can also help to prevent and reverse dead butt syndrome, she said.
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Lifestyle changes, such as using a standing desk and setting a timer to remind you to get up from your chair and move around, can also help, Amitay advised.
Several physical therapists recommended getting up every 30 minutes and walking around for a minute or two to help mitigate the negative effects of sitting for too long.
Standing during phone calls and taking walks during lunch hours can also help decrease the amount of time spent sitting, they advised.
Following a general exercise routine that incorporates stretching, strengthening and cardio workouts is also widely recommended.
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Those who are experiencing symptoms of dead butt syndrome should contact a physical therapist or physician who specializes in musculoskeletal injuries.
Health
COVID pandemic restrictions had 'alarming' impact on teenagers’ brains, new study finds
The pandemic’s negative effects on kids and teens — academically, socially and otherwise — have been shown in numerous studies, and now the latest long-term effect appears to be accelerated aging of young brains.
A team of researchers at the University of Washington studied 160 teens between the ages of 9 and 17. They had gathered data in 2018 for a different study on changes in brain structure during adolescence, but the COVID pandemic interrupted that research.
“Once the pandemic was underway, we started to think about which brain measures would allow us to estimate what the pandemic lockdown had done to the brain,” lead author Neva Corrigan, Ph.D., a research scientist at the University of Washington, said in a press release.
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“What did it mean for our teens to be at home rather than in their social groups — not at school, not playing sports, not hanging out?”
The researchers found that the pandemic caused teenage brains to age faster than normal.
“The lifestyle changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns appear to have affected brain development during adolescence, causing the brain to mature much faster than is typical,” Corrigan told Fox News Digital via email.
“This accelerated maturation was more widespread throughout the brain, and larger in magnitude, for females as compared to males.”
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On average, the young females’ brains aged 4.2 years faster than normal, and male brains were accelerated by 1.4 years.
Thirty regions in the female brain showed accelerated aging, compared to only two regions in the male brain, researchers found.
The findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Sept. 9.
The researchers believe that the accelerated brain aging was due to the stress associated with the restrictive measures taken to curb COVID’s spread, Corrigan said.
“Accelerated development of the cerebral cortex during development has been well-established by previous research to be associated with chronic stress,” she noted.
Recommendations to parents
This study highlights the fact that teenagers’ brains are highly vulnerable to stressors in their environment, according to Corrigan.
“We recommend that parents of children who were teens during the pandemic stay connected to their teens, and also look out for signs of depression and anxiety, as accelerated cortical thinning increases the risk of developing these and other neuropsychiatric disorders,” she advised.
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“We also think parents should be aware that their teens’ social lives are very important to their brain development, and [they should] encourage healthy activities with peers.”
While these findings “seem alarming,” Corrigan said, it’s not known whether the accelerated aging will have long-term effects on continued brain development throughout the teens’ lives.
“It is not clear whether the cerebral cortex of these teens that showed accelerated maturation will return to a thickness that is more appropriate for their age with time, or whether these effects are permanent,” she told Fox News Digital.
She also pointed out that “cortical thinning” is a natural process in aging and can actually allow the brain to function more efficiently.
“It is not clear that all the consequences of accelerated maturation are negative,” Corrigan added.
Potential limitations
The researchers acknowledged several limitations of the study, the first being its smaller sample size.
“Although we collected data from 160 teens prior to the lockdowns, and 130 teens after the lockdowns ended, larger samples are always better when conducting research,” Corrigan told Fox News Digital.
“What did it mean for our teens to be at home rather than in their social groups — not at school, not playing sports, not hanging out?”
“Also, since the study was not initially designed for the effects of the COVID pandemic, we did not collect the type of behavioral measures that would have allowed us to determine what exact lifestyle disruptions or stressors associated with the lockdowns might have been the greatest contributors to the stress experienced by the teens,” she said.
The researchers also only studied a limited age range, so they couldn’t determine whether the findings apply to other ages.
“Finally, we do not know whether contraction of the COVID-19 virus itself may have contributed to these findings, although in the community from which our study sample was derived, we found no reports of a sex disparity in the contraction of the virus,” Corrigan said.
‘Downrange effects’
Dr. Brett Osborn, a Florida neurologist, was not involved in the study, but commented on the “detrimental consequences” of pandemic-related stress for teens.
“High levels of stress, often associated with elevated cortisol, can wreak havoc on the brain,” he told Fox News Digital.
Cortisol, the body’s primary stress hormone, is typically released by the adrenal glands during acute stress, Osborn explained, but it can become harmful when present at high levels for prolonged periods.
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“This chronic elevation is particularly damaging to brain structures like the hippocampus (the region associated with memory) and the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for higher-level cognitive functions like decision-making and social behavior.”
“While the pandemic is over, this is not the end.”
Long-term exposure to high cortisol levels can negatively impact memory, emotional regulation, impulse control, focus and concentration, according to Osborn.
“Over time, these changes may predispose individuals to mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety, which are already known to be exacerbated by high cortisol levels,” he added.
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Overall, Osborn said, the study sheds light on “yet another downrange effect” of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The doctor added, “While the pandemic is over, this is not the end.”
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