New from eNeuro, Tatiana Wolfe and colleagues at the University of Arkansas characterized changes in the brain across two periods of adulthood that may correspond to changes in adaptive behavior. They then used a publicly accessible database-the Human Connectome Project-to identify different structures that enable these brain areas to communicate and work together to promote adaptive behavior. A separate imaging dataset from the UK Biobank revealed that biological features of these structures that older individuals rely more heavily upon deteriorated over time in a way that may be linked to deficits in behavioral adaptability that arise later in adulthood. In our latest interview, News-Medical speaks with Rosanna Zhang from ACROBiosystems about utilizing organoids for disease modeling in the field of neuroscience research. GLP-1 agonists are pivotal in obesity care, promoting weight loss and addressing related health issues, with a focus on personalized, holistic treatment. Guillaume Bentzinger, Luis Carrillo, Philippe Robin, and Alejandro Bara-Estaún Discover how AI, flow chemistry, and NMR come together in the PiPAC project to revolutionize scalable and autonomous API production. News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance with these terms and conditions. Please note that medical information found on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide. Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net. Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content. A few things you need to know before we start. Please check the box above to proceed. While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles. Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

A new study examines the potential impact of the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan (M3P) - an opt-in policy implemented in 2025 under the Inflation Reduction Act that allows beneficiaries to spread out of pocket (OOP) costs over the calendar year - on Medicare Part D beneficiaries with cancer who face high out-of-pocket (OOP) prescription drug costs. Many cancer patients enrolled in Part D incur thousands of dollars in OOP expenses at the start of the year to quickly reach the catastrophic coverage threshold, after which cost-sharing drops to zero. For patients living on fixed or limited incomes, these large upfront payments can be unmanageable, contributing to delayed treatment initiation, medication nonadherence, financial distress and poorer health outcomes. Using Medicare 2022 claims data from a national sample of beneficiaries with cancer, the researchers analyzed when patients typically reach the catastrophic cap and modeled how M3P could alter payment patterns. The analysis found that nearly half of Medicare Part D beneficiaries with cancer are projected to reach the annual OOP cap, with about one-third doing so as early as January 2025. Under current structures, this results in highly front-loaded costs. Enrollment in M3P - which allows beneficiaries to spread OOP payments evenly across the year - substantially reduced monthly payment volatility, particularly for those who reach catastrophic coverage early, and could help mitigate cost-related nonadherence. Importantly, the study highlights that awareness and uptake of M3P remain extremely low, limiting its potential benefits. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) estimates that 2.4 million (6 %) of Part D beneficiaries could benefit from enrolling in M3P. Aryana Sepassi, PharmD, MAS, assistant professor of clinical pharmacy at the University of California San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and colleagues conclude that making the program automatic, rather than opt-in, could significantly expand its impact, reduce financial burden for vulnerable patients, and support more consistent adherence to life-sustaining cancer therapies. In our latest interview, News-Medical speaks with Rosanna Zhang from ACROBiosystems about utilizing organoids for disease modeling in the field of neuroscience research. GLP-1 agonists are pivotal in obesity care, promoting weight loss and addressing related health issues, with a focus on personalized, holistic treatment. Guillaume Bentzinger, Luis Carrillo, Philippe Robin, and Alejandro Bara-Estaún Discover how AI, flow chemistry, and NMR come together in the PiPAC project to revolutionize scalable and autonomous API production. News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance with these terms and conditions. Please note that medical information found on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide. Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net. Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content. A few things you need to know before we start. While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles. Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs) are a widely used and prominent class of targeted therapeutics, especially in cancer treatment. They are also significantly affected by the chemical method used for their conjugation. ADC development currently utilizes two primary strategies for the attachment of therapeutic agents to antibodies: site-specific conjugation and random (stochastic) conjugation. The random conjugation method uses naturally occurring reactive residues on the antibody to streamline ADC preparation and reduce technical barriers to a considerable degree. Its key features of rapid reaction kinetics, native compatibility, and controllable efficiency are in close alignment with the core demands of early-stage ADC development, including fast iteration, the availability of multiple batches, and low cost. Random conjugation methods have been widely adopted in commercial ADCs like Adcetris and Kadcyla as a result of their robustness for manufacturing. These methods generally target naturally occurring amino acid residues. There is an abundance of these residues on the antibody surface. Amide bonds are formed via this approach, but the large number of potential conjugation sites can lead to a heterogeneous mixture with variability in the Drug-to-Antibody Ratio (DAR). Cysteine conjugation targets free thiol groups (-SH) produced by reducing the antibody's interchain disulfide bonds. This approach offers more control over the DAR versus lysine conjugation, but conjugates formed using maleimide chemistry at these sites may be susceptible to deconjugation in plasma as a result of thiol exchange reactions with albumin. This approach is typically anticipated and expected to result in more predictable PK profiles, enhanced stability, and potentially a wider therapeutic window. Engineered Cysteine (THIOMABs) involves the use of genetic engineering to introduce defined cysteine mutations at carefully selected sites on the antibody. This approach allows precise control over the location and number of conjugation points. Enzymatic methods utilize enzymes, such as microbial transglutaminase (mTGase), which can recognize specific engineered peptide sequences on the antibody to catalyze conjugation at defined residues. Non-Natural Amino Acid (nnAA) incorporation is a sophisticated technique that uses genetic code expansion to incorporate distinct chemical handles (for instance, azides) into the antibody structure. These handles can then be used for extremely efficient, bioorthogonal "click chemistry" conjugation. Site-specific conjugation boasts reduced off-target toxicity and high homogeneity, making it ideally suited to large-scale manufacturing and late-stage development. Non-site-specific conjugation, on the other hand, emphasizes flexibility, speed, and broad applicability, addressing the key need for scenario adaptability and efficiency in early-phase research. Each of these methodologies offers specific benefits that make them better suited to distinct stages of ADC research and development. Employing the most appropriate conjugation technology is key to ensuring successful ADC design and development, whether this involves initial high-throughput screening or later-stage clinical optimization. These kits, based on interchain cysteine conjugation technology, are designed to accelerate the research cycle within this evolving landscape. This classic approach facilitates rapid, controlled ADC preparation, requiring just three hours to acquire ADC conjugates with homogeneous DAR. Conjugates created via this approach exhibit significant cytotoxicity, making them a robust tool for mechanistic studies and ADC screening. The kits' protocol is simple and straightforward: The ADC products presented here were prepared using the ADC Conjugation Kit (MMAE, DAR4, 200 μg, for human IgG1, Catalog No. In vitro cytotoxicity assays: The ADC can bind and internalize in target cells (SK-BR-3) with high expression of Her2 and release MMAE inside the cells to induce a cytotoxic effect (IC50=0.0058 µg/mL). Meanwhile, no cytotoxicity was observed in Her2 receptor-negative cell lines (MDA-MB-231). Produced from materials originally authored by ACROBiosystems. ACROBiosystems is a cornerstone enterprise of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. They supply life science tools designed to be used in discovery research and scalable to the clinical phase and beyond. By consistently adapting to new regulatory challenges and guidelines, ACROBiosystems delivers solutions, whether it comes through recombinant proteins, antibodies, assay kits, GMP-grade reagents, or custom services. Sponsored Content Policy: News-Medical.net publishes articles and related content that may be derived from sources where we have existing commercial relationships, provided such content adds value to the core editorial ethos of News-Medical.net, which is to educate and inform site visitors interested in medical research, science, medical devices and treatments. Please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your essay, paper or report: Complete ADC conjugation in just 3 hours: Speed without compromise. "Complete ADC conjugation in just 3 hours: Speed without compromise". "Complete ADC conjugation in just 3 hours: Speed without compromise". Complete ADC conjugation in just 3 hours: Speed without compromise. Reframing the Fc–FcR axis as a therapeutic anchor in autoimmune disease The evolution of anti-Aβ therapeutics: Beyond plaque clearance Unveiling ADC cellular internalization with pH-sensitive dye detection What are the US and EU compliance requirements for GMP ancillary materials in CGT manufacturing? What is the association between cytokines and autoimmune diseases? News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance with these terms and conditions. Please note that medical information found on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide. Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net. Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content. A few things you need to know before we start. Please check the box above to proceed. 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Autoimmune drug development increasingly recognizes that the Fc-FcR axis is more than an effector mechanism; it is a controllable immunological node that bridges humoral and cellular responses. This axis is responsible for two complementary regulatory tasks: Fc gamma receptors mediate effector functions by maintaining a dynamic balance of intracellular "activation" and "inhibition" signals. The Fc-FcR axis activates Fc gamma receptors (most notably, FcγRIIa and FcγRIIIa) via ITAMs to signal through the Src/Syk pathways. It also drives phagosome formation, actin remodeling, oxidative burst, and transcriptional programs that underpin ADCC, ADCP, and pro‑inflammatory cytokine release. The functional or genetic loss of FcγRIIb shifts this balance toward pathogenic activation. At the same time, the Neonatal Fc Receptor (FcRn) binds to IgG in endosomes' acidic environment, protecting it from lysosomal degradation and recycling it back into the bloodstream. This function effectively extends the half-life of IgG. The excessive retention of pathogenic IgG is a key driver of pathology in many antibody-mediated autoimmune diseases, meaning that blocking the FcRn-IgG interaction accelerates pathogenic antibody clearance, creating an efficient and rapid path toward the treatment of autoimmune diseases. FcRn inhibitors exemplify the first of these aims, accelerating IgG catabolism and quickly reducing the number of circulating pathogenic antibodies. Clinical validation in antibody-mediated disorders has shown that IgG depletion has the potential to translate into rapid symptomatic benefit when disease activity correlates with antibody burden. Fc engineering addresses the second of these aims by tuning both pharmacokinetics and effector function. This results in half-life-extending mutations (for instance, YTE or LS) that improve FcRn affinity to prolong exposure. Engineered Fc variants able to preferentially engage the inhibitory FcγRIIb can potentially blunt B‑cell activation and downstream autoantibody production without significantly impairing host defenses. Antigen–Fc fusion constructs and glycoengineering are targeted strategies able to induce tolerance or bias effector phenotypes. For example, MOG Fc-style constructs have the capacity to direct antigen delivery to tolerogenic pathways, while sialylation or galactosylation patterns on Fc glycans can shift antibodies toward anti- or pro-inflammatory outcomes, respectively. The ideal strategy from a translational standpoint depends on successfully mapping dominant disease mechanisms to the simplest effective intervention. Myasthenia Gravis (MG), Immune Thrombocytopenia (ITP), and other conditions characterized by acute, antibody-mediated tissue injury can often be effectively addressed by FcRn antagonism. This sees the rapid reduction in circulating IgG (validated via regulatory approval from Efgartigimod for MG), translating directly into clinical improvement. Diseases like Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), which exhibit more complex immunopathology, generally require combination approaches that can both restore inhibitory signaling and reduce pathogenic IgG load. SLE's pathology is driven by ICs activating TLR7/9 (typically exacerbated by defects in the inhibitory Fc gamma RIIb), which means that engineered Fc constructs able to improve Fc gamma RIIb engagement are a sensible part of ensuring immune "signal reset," working alongside FcRn inhibitors. The early incorporation of mechanism-relevant biomarkers (for example, circulating pathogenic IgG levels, Fc gamma R expression or genotype, Fc glycoform profiles, and downstream signatures such as type I interferon) is key to enabling patient stratification across all indications, as well as delivering early evidence of target engagement. The Fc–FcR axis offers a range of complementary levers, such as rapid IgG depletion, antigen-specific modulation, and selective signaling recalibration, that can be applied selectively or combined to match disease biology. ACROBiosystems offers an integrated Fc receptor toolbox designed to directly support the rapid advancement of a pipeline while supporting discovery via translational research. This platform offers a range of high-purity, high-affinity Fc receptor proteins, FACS-verified overexpression cell lines, no-wash TR-FRET binding assay kits, and high-sensitivity, robust signal reporter cell lines for ADCC/ADCP functional validation. These components are also backed by global commercial authorization. ACROBiosystems is a cornerstone enterprise of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. They supply life science tools designed to be used in discovery research and scalable to the clinical phase and beyond. By consistently adapting to new regulatory challenges and guidelines, ACROBiosystems delivers solutions, whether it comes through recombinant proteins, antibodies, assay kits, GMP-grade reagents, or custom services. Sponsored Content Policy: News-Medical.net publishes articles and related content that may be derived from sources where we have existing commercial relationships, provided such content adds value to the core editorial ethos of News-Medical.net, which is to educate and inform site visitors interested in medical research, science, medical devices and treatments. Please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your essay, paper or report: Reframing the Fc–FcR axis as a therapeutic anchor in autoimmune disease. "Reframing the Fc–FcR axis as a therapeutic anchor in autoimmune disease". "Reframing the Fc–FcR axis as a therapeutic anchor in autoimmune disease". Reframing the Fc–FcR axis as a therapeutic anchor in autoimmune disease. Complete ADC conjugation in just 3 hours: Speed without compromise The evolution of anti-Aβ therapeutics: Beyond plaque clearance Unveiling ADC cellular internalization with pH-sensitive dye detection What are the US and EU compliance requirements for GMP ancillary materials in CGT manufacturing? What is the association between cytokines and autoimmune diseases? News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance with these terms and conditions. Please note that medical information found on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide. Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net. Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content. A few things you need to know before we start. While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles. Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

Autistic and non-autistic people express emotions differently through their facial movements, according to a new study, which may help to explain why emotional expressions are sometimes misinterpreted between the two groups. In a landmark study mapping facial expressions among autistic and non-autistic individuals, researchers at the University of Birmingham used detailed facial motion tracking to create an extensive library of facial expressions linked to major emotions such as anger, happiness and sadness, with more than 265 million data points. Each participant produced angry, happy and sad facial expressions in two ways – in synchrony with some sounds, and while speaking. The team found differences in angry, happy, and sad facial expressions between the groups, with autistic participants also producing more unique expressions: The team also found that alexithymia – a 'sub-clinical' condition commonly found in autism that involves difficulties identifying and describing one's own emotions – also shaped facial expressions. Alexithymia was linked to less clearly distinct angry and happy expressions, making them more likely to appear ambiguous. Dr Connor Keating, who conducted the research at the University of Birmingham and is now based in the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford said: "Our findings suggest autistic and non-autistic people differ not only in the appearance of facial expressions, but also in how smoothly these expressions are formed. These mismatches in facial expressions may help to explain why autistic people struggle to recognize non-autistic expressions and vice versa." Autistic and non-autistic people may express emotions in ways that are different but equally meaningful - almost like speaking different languages. What has sometimes been interpreted as difficulties for autistic people might instead reflect a two-way challenge in understanding each other's expressions. In our latest interview, News-Medical speaks with Rosanna Zhang from ACROBiosystems about utilizing organoids for disease modeling in the field of neuroscience research. GLP-1 agonists are pivotal in obesity care, promoting weight loss and addressing related health issues, with a focus on personalized, holistic treatment. Guillaume Bentzinger, Luis Carrillo, Philippe Robin, and Alejandro Bara-Estaún Discover how AI, flow chemistry, and NMR come together in the PiPAC project to revolutionize scalable and autonomous API production. News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance with these terms and conditions. Please note that medical information found on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide. Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net. Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content. A few things you need to know before we start. While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles. Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

With another Congressional deadline looming this month for most telehealth coverage under Medicare, a new University of Michigan study adds more data to the debate. It shows that the total number of patient visits hasn't gone up since most patients gained the ability to see doctors and other health care providers virtually. In fact, among non-surgical medical specialties and mental health providers, the total number of visits stabilized and even declined slightly through June 2024, the most recent period available to analyze. The findings could help inform policymakers who must vote by January 30 to either temporarily renew or permanently extend Medicare telehealth coverage standards that have been in effect since March 2020. If they don't meet that deadline, older and disabled Americans with traditional Medicare coverage could find themselves receiving messages like they did last fall, when there was a lapse in telehealth coverage during the government shutdown that began October 1. Such letters told them that if they had a telehealth visit during that time, they may be responsible for paying the entire cost, or that their appointment was being converted to in-person or being canceled or rescheduled. Just before Thanksgiving, Congress authorized retroactive payment for telehealth visits that patients with traditional Medicare had decided to keep during the shutdown. Telehealth was possible only under very limited circumstances in Medicare before March 2020. That month, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted a rapid emergency pivot to virtual care. Since then, such care has become routine for most people. In fact, the study shows that telehealth now accounts for 44% of all behavioral health visits and 9% of primary care visits among beneficiaries in traditional Medicare. However, despite this sustained adoption, the study finds that overall healthcare visits have remained stable or declined over time. The researchers used a special type of statistical analysis to look at visit patterns among specialties with high, medium and low telehealth use. They found that even in fields where telehealth was widely adopted, the total number of visits, including in-person and virtual visits, stayed steady or even declined over time. Contrary to some predictions, overall visits didn't climb higher as telehealth became more popular. One of the things that is paralyzing the policy debate is uncertainty and concern about whether covering telehealth in parity with in-person care would be associated with runaway utilization. James D. Lee, M.D., M.P.H., National Clinician Scholar at IHPI and Clinical Instructor in the U-M Medical School's Department of Internal Medicine, Division of General Medicine Lee and senior author Chad Ellimoottil, M.D., M.S., led the analysis. They did not include asynchronous patient portal messages, which providers can bill Medicare for under a separate code if they spend a substantial amount of time addressing the patient's concern. They also cannot include any visits that patients had with providers who did not bill traditional fee-for-service Medicare, such as mental health providers who patients may have paid for out of their own pocket. The fact that the new analysis shows a declining trend for total visits for behavioral health and primary care is also of interest, Lee said. In addition to Lee and Ellimoottil, the authors are Elena Chun, M.S., Chiang-Hua Chang, Ph.D., Hechuan Michelle Hou, M.S., former NCSP scholar Terrence Liu, M.D., M.S., Rodney Dunn, Ph.D., Jeffrey McCullough, Ph.D., and Michael Thompson, Ph.D. Lee, J. D., et al. (2025) The volume of outpatient office visits did not increase for specialties that were more likely to adopt telehealth. In our latest interview, News-Medical speaks with Rosanna Zhang from ACROBiosystems about utilizing organoids for disease modeling in the field of neuroscience research. GLP-1 agonists are pivotal in obesity care, promoting weight loss and addressing related health issues, with a focus on personalized, holistic treatment. News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance with these terms and conditions. Please note that medical information found on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide. Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net. Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content. A few things you need to know before we start. While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles. Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

With another Congressional deadline looming this month for most telehealth coverage under Medicare, a new University of Michigan study adds more data to the debate. It shows that the total number of patient visits hasn't gone up since most patients gained the ability to see doctors and other health care providers virtually. In fact, among non-surgical medical specialties and mental health providers, the total number of visits stabilized and even declined slightly through June 2024, the most recent period available to analyze. The findings could help inform policymakers who must vote by January 30 to either temporarily renew or permanently extend Medicare telehealth coverage standards that have been in effect since March 2020. If they don't meet that deadline, older and disabled Americans with traditional Medicare coverage could find themselves receiving messages like they did last fall, when there was a lapse in telehealth coverage during the government shutdown that began October 1. Such letters told them that if they had a telehealth visit during that time, they may be responsible for paying the entire cost, or that their appointment was being converted to in-person or being canceled or rescheduled. Just before Thanksgiving, Congress authorized retroactive payment for telehealth visits that patients with traditional Medicare had decided to keep during the shutdown. Telehealth was possible only under very limited circumstances in Medicare before March 2020. That month, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted a rapid emergency pivot to virtual care. Since then, such care has become routine for most people. In fact, the study shows that telehealth now accounts for 44% of all behavioral health visits and 9% of primary care visits among beneficiaries in traditional Medicare. However, despite this sustained adoption, the study finds that overall healthcare visits have remained stable or declined over time. The researchers used a special type of statistical analysis to look at visit patterns among specialties with high, medium and low telehealth use. They found that even in fields where telehealth was widely adopted, the total number of visits, including in-person and virtual visits, stayed steady or even declined over time. Contrary to some predictions, overall visits didn't climb higher as telehealth became more popular. One of the things that is paralyzing the policy debate is uncertainty and concern about whether covering telehealth in parity with in-person care would be associated with runaway utilization. James D. Lee, M.D., M.P.H., National Clinician Scholar at IHPI and Clinical Instructor in the U-M Medical School's Department of Internal Medicine, Division of General Medicine Lee and senior author Chad Ellimoottil, M.D., M.S., led the analysis. They did not include asynchronous patient portal messages, which providers can bill Medicare for under a separate code if they spend a substantial amount of time addressing the patient's concern. They also cannot include any visits that patients had with providers who did not bill traditional fee-for-service Medicare, such as mental health providers who patients may have paid for out of their own pocket. The fact that the new analysis shows a declining trend for total visits for behavioral health and primary care is also of interest, Lee said. In addition to Lee and Ellimoottil, the authors are Elena Chun, M.S., Chiang-Hua Chang, Ph.D., Hechuan Michelle Hou, M.S., former NCSP scholar Terrence Liu, M.D., M.S., Rodney Dunn, Ph.D., Jeffrey McCullough, Ph.D., and Michael Thompson, Ph.D. Lee, J. D., et al. (2025) The volume of outpatient office visits did not increase for specialties that were more likely to adopt telehealth. In our latest interview, News-Medical speaks with Rosanna Zhang from ACROBiosystems about utilizing organoids for disease modeling in the field of neuroscience research. GLP-1 agonists are pivotal in obesity care, promoting weight loss and addressing related health issues, with a focus on personalized, holistic treatment. News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance with these terms and conditions. Please note that medical information found on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide. Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net. Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content. A few things you need to know before we start. While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles. Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

Psychiatrists and neuroscientists are taking a major step toward objective mental health diagnosis by launching a central reference database for the classification and communication of mental health biomarker research. Psychiatry is almost unique in the medical sciences in not relying on biomarkers (measurable physiological tests) to diagnose psychiatric disorders, instead using patient-reported symptoms, behavioral observations, and standardized diagnostic manuals. Now psychiatrists and neuroscientists are setting up a structure to create a central resource to categorize and coordinate biomarker research. This work, to be launched today, 16th January, is initiated by the ECNP, and funded by Wellcome.Heading the initiative on behalf of the ECNP, Professor Martien Kas (University of Groningen, The Netherlands) said:"Precision psychiatry is an approach to mental health care that integrates biological, behavioural, and clinical data. It aims to continuously refine diagnosis and personalize treatment by identifying biologically meaningful subgroups and targeting the underlying mechanisms of illness, and is perhaps the hottest topic in mental health today.There's a lot of research, but we need to build a structure which enables researchers to understand how their work fits into the broader picture, who is doing related work, and what the findings (or problems) have been. So we are building a database to systematically review and communicate all the biomarker work in the field of anxiety disorders, depression, and psychosis. Ultimately, we believe this will change the way we look at mental health, and make diagnosis psychiatric diagnosis and treatment really testable".Niall Boyce, Head of Knowledge and Measurement in Mental Health at Wellcome, said "This exciting new project is an important step towards providing people experiencing mental health problems with the right treatment at the right time. ECNP's biomarker map will not only help researchers to orientate themselves in an increasingly complex and fast-moving field, but will chart the way towards much-needed transformation in the precision and quality of mental health care." In our latest interview, News-Medical speaks with Rosanna Zhang from ACROBiosystems about utilizing organoids for disease modeling in the field of neuroscience research. GLP-1 agonists are pivotal in obesity care, promoting weight loss and addressing related health issues, with a focus on personalized, holistic treatment. Guillaume Bentzinger, Luis Carrillo, Philippe Robin, and Alejandro Bara-Estaún Discover how AI, flow chemistry, and NMR come together in the PiPAC project to revolutionize scalable and autonomous API production. News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance with these terms and conditions. Please note that medical information found on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide. Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net. Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content. A few things you need to know before we start. Please check the box above to proceed. While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles. Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

A study of 227 individuals who experienced neuro cognitive difficulties post COVID-19 infection – such as headaches, vertigo, balance dysregulation, changes in taste/smell, and brain fog – displayed a significant increase in their blood plasma of a crucial protein called tau, which is found in nerves and especially in the brain. Excess levels of tau are linked to neurodegenerative diseases and found in many Alzheimer's patients. Published this month in eBioMedicine, the study suggests that people who experience Long COVID neurocognitive symptoms could be at further risk for neurodegenerative diseases. The research involves ongoing blood biomarker studies of 9/11 World Trade Center (WTC) responders who are monitored by clinicians and researchers at the Stony Brook WTC Health and Wellness Program. Overall, the cohort showed a 59 percent increase of tau (pTau-181) in their plasma post COVID-19 infection while or after experiencing neurocognitive symptoms, compared to their plasma tau levels pre-COVID-19. All the participants are individuals with some form of Long COVID, or specifically for this study those with Neurological Post-Acute Sequelae COVID (N-PASC). Therefore, these study results imply that Long COVID could worsen with time and cause changes in neurological symptoms or lead to cognitive difficulties that become worse. Yet, we do not know if this increase in tau in our sample represents a biological course that could be similar to individuals who develop Alzheimer's or related diseases." The 227 individuals with N-PASC were compared to 227 other WTC responders who either 1) did not contract COVID between their pre- and post-pandemic blood sample collection dates, or 2) developed COVID but did not develop any Long COVID symptoms, including neurological ones. Unlike those with N-PASC, any increased plasma tau levels in the control group from their pre-COVID tau levels was not evident based on testing. This finding, the authors write, "might portend worsened cognitive functioning as individuals age." "We measured tau at an average of 2.2 years after COVID-19 infection, and our measurements taken ranged from six months to four years," adds Xiaohua Yang, First Author and Senior Research Program Manager at the Stony Brook WTC Health and Wellness Program. "This sampling timeframe represents a true long-term post-acute sequela of COVID-19." Clouston and colleagues stress that other research steps need to be taken to determine if increased plasma levels of tau in those with N-PASC have any association with cognitive decline or neurodegenerative diseases. "One important step is to validate our study results using neuroimaging tools to see if tau plasma level increases also represent increased levels in the participants' brains," explains Clouston. Therefore, findings in N-PASC individuals who are WTC responders could be much different from the general patient population. "This is one of the first studies to show that a virus may contribute to the development of abnormal tau production over time," he adds. On a practical level, it has important implications for the development of effective vaccines and therapies to prevent an acute infection before it can embed itself in people and cause long-term disease." The study was supported in part by funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (CDC/NIOSH CDC-75D30122c12222) and the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Aging (NIH/NIA Ago49953). Increased phosphorylated tau (pTau-181) is associated with neurological post-acute sequelae of coronavirus disease in essential workers: a prospective cohort study before and after COVID-19 onset. In our latest interview, News-Medical speaks with Rosanna Zhang from ACROBiosystems about utilizing organoids for disease modeling in the field of neuroscience research. GLP-1 agonists are pivotal in obesity care, promoting weight loss and addressing related health issues, with a focus on personalized, holistic treatment. Guillaume Bentzinger, Luis Carrillo, Philippe Robin, and Alejandro Bara-Estaún News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance with these terms and conditions. Please note that medical information found on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide. Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net. Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content. A few things you need to know before we start. 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A different variant of the same gene, APOE-ε2, is thought to confer protection against AD. A comparatively large study reported Jan. 16 in Alzheimer's & Dementia, The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association, led by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, measures the frequency of APOE-ε4 and APOE-ε2 in so-called super agers - people ages 80 or older whose cognitive function is comparable to people 20 or 30 years younger. Super agers were 68% less likely to harbor the gene nobody wants, APOE-ε4, compared to individuals with AD dementia in the same 80+ age group. Most notably, super agers were 19% less likely to harbor APOE-ε4 than were cognitively normal participants in the same age group. "This was our most striking finding - although all adults who reach the age of 80 without receiving a diagnosis of clinical dementia exhibit exceptional aging, our study suggests that the super-ager phenotype can be used to identify a particularly exceptional group of oldest-old adults with a reduced genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease," said Leslie Gaynor, PhD, assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Geriatric Medicine, who led the study with Alaina Durant, BS, statistical genetic analyst in the Vanderbilt Memory and Alzheimer's Center. Super agers were also found for the first time to have higher frequency of the variant you'd want, APOE-ε2: They were 28% more likely to carry APOE-ε2 than were cognitively normal controls ages 80+, and 103% more likely to carry the variant than were participants with AD dementia aged 80 or older. The study included 18,080 participants from eight national aging cohorts. Super-ager status was defined in part as people ages 80+ whose memory performance was above the average scored among cognitively normal participants ages 50 to 64. The study included multiple race/ethnicity groups, including 1,412 non-Hispanic white super agers, 211 non-Hispanic Black super agers, 8,829 participants with AD dementia, and 7,628 cognitively normal controls. APOE-ε4 frequency worldwide is 13.7%; in the study it was 43.9%. "With interest in super agers growing," Gaynor said, "our findings notably encourage the view that the super-ager phenotype will prove useful in the continued search for mechanisms conferring resilience to AD. "This is by far the largest study to date to identify differences in APOE-ε4 allele frequency based on super-ager status, and the first study to find a relationship between APOE-ε2 allele frequency and super-ager status. The study was funded in part by National Institutes of Health awards U24 AG074855, U01 AG068057, and R01 AG059716. Evaluating the association of apolipoprotein E genotype and cognitive resilience in SuperAgers. In our latest interview, News-Medical speaks with Rosanna Zhang from ACROBiosystems about utilizing organoids for disease modeling in the field of neuroscience research. GLP-1 agonists are pivotal in obesity care, promoting weight loss and addressing related health issues, with a focus on personalized, holistic treatment. Guillaume Bentzinger, Luis Carrillo, Philippe Robin, and Alejandro Bara-Estaún Discover how AI, flow chemistry, and NMR come together in the PiPAC project to revolutionize scalable and autonomous API production. News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance with these terms and conditions. Please note that medical information found on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide. Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net. Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content. A few things you need to know before we start. While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles. Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

New research co-led by Indiana University School of Medicine scientists has exposed a vulnerability in acute myeloid leukemia by identifying the blood cancer's reliance on a specific signaling pathway involved in the body's inflammation response. Their preclinical evidence suggests that blocking this pathway with a new drug compound can weaken acute myeloid leukemia during critical stages, paving the way for more effective and targeted treatments for this hard-to-treat disease. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is known for being treatment-resistant and having a high relapse rate. AML is a challenging blood cancer because a small population of cells, known as leukemia stem cells, can survive chemotherapy and later regenerate the disease. Our research goal was to understand the critical mechanisms these leukemia stem cells rely on at both diagnosis and relapse, and to identify potential therapeutic targets." They discovered that an inflammatory signaling pathway involved in the body's immune system response - known as Interleukin-1 (IL-1) signaling - is significantly elevated at both stages. When the team used genetic approaches to reduce this signal in human AML cells, the cells formed fewer colonies and showed a diminished ability to reestablish leukemia. In preclinical models, the compound impaired leukemia stem cells while largely sparing healthy blood-forming cells and significantly reduced leukemia levels in the mice. Their findings suggest that targeting this pathway could strengthen current AML treatments like chemotherapy and reduce the risk of relapse. "Our studies indicate that IL-1 signaling is not a random feature, but rather a fundamental survival mechanism that persists across different stages of AML and can be targeted," said Reuben Kapur, PhD, director of the IU School of Medicine Herman B Wells Center for Pediatric Research and co-author of the study. UR241-2 is still in early preclinical development, but similar drugs are already being tested in clinical trials for other cancers and immune-related diseases, suggesting a promising path toward eventually evaluating this compound for AML. "Future AML treatments may incorporate our strategy alongside standard chemotherapy as an approach to reduce relapse risk," Ho said. "We hope these approaches will ultimately help improve treatment outcomes and long-term prognosis for patients with AML." IU School of Medicine's Baskar Ramdas, PhD, is a co-author on the study. Other authors include Mark W. LaMere, Hiroki Kawano, Daniel K. Byun, Elizabeth A. LaMere, Chunmo Chen, Laura M. Calvi, Jane L. Liesveld, Rakesh K. Singh and Michael W. Becker from the University of Rochester Medical Center; Yu-Chiao Chiu and Li-Ju Wang from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine; Jian Wang and Nikolay V. Dokholyan from Penn State College of Medicine; and Craig T. Jordan from the University of Colorado, Denver. Targeting IL-1/IRAK1/4 signaling in acute myeloid leukemia stem cells following treatment and relapse. In our latest interview, News-Medical speaks with Rosanna Zhang from ACROBiosystems about utilizing organoids for disease modeling in the field of neuroscience research. GLP-1 agonists are pivotal in obesity care, promoting weight loss and addressing related health issues, with a focus on personalized, holistic treatment. Guillaume Bentzinger, Luis Carrillo, Philippe Robin, and Alejandro Bara-Estaún News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance with these terms and conditions. Please note that medical information found on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide. Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net. Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content. A few things you need to know before we start. While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles. Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

So, what happens when this burden falls on children? As Japan's population ages, the number of children and young people responsible for caregiving is increasing. However, the impact of this on their health and daily lives remains not well understood. To gain better insight, Professor Bing Niu and Dr. Ziyan Wang from Osaka Metropolitan University's Graduate School of Economics conducted two rounds of surveys, one in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic and another in 2024 after the pandemic. The surveys targeted 1,581 young carers aged 15 to 19 across Japan to clarify how caregiving burdens affect the psychology and emotions of young carers. It then analyzed the actual state of the caregiving burden and its impact on carers' psychological and emotional well-being. Results revealed that young carers with greater care responsibilities tend to experience higher stress levels, with approximately 20% of young carers in our surveys falling into the high-risk group. However, they also possesspositive emotions, such as a sense of accomplishment and pride. In particular, the 2024 survey revealed that both positive and negative emotions stemming from caregiving experience were more pronounced than in 2021. Both positive and negative emotions were strongly expressed in the 2024 survey, which suggests that even as the burden of care persists, societal understanding and support for young carers have grown, and they themselves have begun to embrace their roles more positively." Dr. Ziyan Wang, Osaka Metropolitan University's Graduate School of Economics Professor Niu concluded, "It is suggested that while both positive and negative aspects exist in the caregiving experiences of young caregivers, it is crucial to develop support tailored to each individual's specific circumstances." In our latest interview, News-Medical speaks with Rosanna Zhang from ACROBiosystems about utilizing organoids for disease modeling in the field of neuroscience research. GLP-1 agonists are pivotal in obesity care, promoting weight loss and addressing related health issues, with a focus on personalized, holistic treatment. Guillaume Bentzinger, Luis Carrillo, Philippe Robin, and Alejandro Bara-Estaún Discover how AI, flow chemistry, and NMR come together in the PiPAC project to revolutionize scalable and autonomous API production. News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance with these terms and conditions. Please note that medical information found on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide. Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net. Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content. A few things you need to know before we start. While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles. Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

A national study of Australian undergraduates suggests that spending more than 10 hours a week gaming is associated with poorer diet quality, higher body weight, and disrupted sleep, highlighting the need for healthier gaming habits rather than less gaming altogether. Study: Video gaming linked to unhealthy diet, poor sleep quality and lower physical activity levels in Australian University students. Study findings revealed that students who game >10 hours per week demonstrated poorer diet quality, higher Body Mass Index (BMI), and worse sleep than their peers. These findings suggest that high-frequency (high-intensity) gaming may displace health-promoting behaviors, highlighting a potential need for targeted public health interventions designed specifically for the university gaming community. Video gaming is a ubiquitous pastime, particularly amongst students, yet its physiological and behavioral correlates in young adults remain understudied. In parallel, studies suggest that the university years represent a critical developmental window during which young adults establish lifelong lifestyle habits. In Australia, 92% of households reportedly play video games. While gaming offers established cognitive benefits and stress relief (e.g., catharsis), the relatively novel "displacement hypothesis" suggests that time spent gaming may crowd out health-promoting activities (e.g., cooking, sleeping, and exercising). The present study aimed to address this knowledge gap by conducting a cross-sectional observational study to explore relationships between gaming frequency and multiple health indicators. The study involved 317 Australian undergraduate participants (median age = 20.0 years) recruited through social media platforms and university systems. Diet Quality: The Diet Quality Tool (DQT) was used to assess adherence to prescribed nutritional guidelines, scoring participants on their intake of key food groups, including vegetables, fruits, and high-fat snacks. Physical Activity: The International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-SF) was used to calculate Metabolic Equivalent Task (MET) minutes per week to gauge participants' exercise levels. Statistical analyses comprised multiple linear regression models to isolate the independent associations between gaming and health outcomes. These models controlled for sociodemographic variables, including gender, ethnicity, and smoking status. Study analyses revealed several contrasts between high-frequency gamers and their low-frequency gaming counterparts, the most significant being deterioration in nutritional habits among the former. Regression analysis further quantified these observations, revealing that for every additional hour of gaming per week, diet quality scores dropped by 0.16 points (p = 0.02), after adjustment for multiple lifestyle and demographic factors, representing a modest but statistically significant association. BMI and Weight: High-frequency gamers were found to have a significantly higher median Body Mass Index (BMI) of 26.3 kg/m² compared to 22.2 kg/m² in the low-frequency group (p < 0.001). Physical Activity: The study identified a weak but statistically significant inverse correlation (r = -0.13, p = 0.03) between gaming frequency and physical activity. However, total physical activity levels did not differ significantly between gaming groups. The study also found that high-frequency gamers were more likely to be male and prefer PC gaming. Surprisingly, this cohort reported consuming less alcohol than the low-frequency group (p = 0.02). Additionally, high-frequency gamers reported a preference for video games with higher violence ratings, a characteristic discussed in relation to existing literature on stress and arousal, rather than as a direct finding of elevated stress levels. The present study elucidates important associations between frequent video gaming and several health-related behaviors among university students, providing evidence that higher gaming exposure is independently associated with poorer diet quality and higher BMI. While the study is limited by its cross-sectional design and reliance on self-reported data, its findings suggest that universities should consider integrating "healthy gaming" education into their wellness programs. As digital entertainment continues to dominate student life, balancing time spent gaming with positive health behaviors may represent a pragmatic public health goal rather than an indication of causality. Hugo Francisco de Souza is a scientific writer based in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. His academic passions lie in biogeography, evolutionary biology, and herpetology. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. from the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, where he studies the origins, dispersal, and speciation of wetland-associated snakes. Hugo has received, amongst others, the DST-INSPIRE fellowship for his doctoral research and the Gold Medal from Pondicherry University for academic excellence during his Masters. His research has been published in high-impact peer-reviewed journals, including PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases and Systematic Biology. When not working or writing, Hugo can be found consuming copious amounts of anime and manga, composing and making music with his bass guitar, shredding trails on his MTB, playing video games (he prefers the term ‘gaming'), or tinkering with all things tech. Please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your essay, paper or report: Students who game the most show lower diet quality and higher BMI, study finds. "Students who game the most show lower diet quality and higher BMI, study finds". "Students who game the most show lower diet quality and higher BMI, study finds". Students who game the most show lower diet quality and higher BMI, study finds. In our latest interview, News-Medical speaks with Rosanna Zhang from ACROBiosystems about utilizing organoids for disease modeling in the field of neuroscience research. GLP-1 agonists are pivotal in obesity care, promoting weight loss and addressing related health issues, with a focus on personalized, holistic treatment. Guillaume Bentzinger, Luis Carrillo, Philippe Robin, and Alejandro Bara-Estaún Discover how AI, flow chemistry, and NMR come together in the PiPAC project to revolutionize scalable and autonomous API production. News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance with these terms and conditions. Please note that medical information found on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide. Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net. Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content. A few things you need to know before we start. While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles. Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

A comprehensive review weighs the promise of bamboo shoots as a nutrient-rich, sustainable food against limited human evidence and unresolved safety concerns, underscoring why preparation methods and better trials matter. In a recent systematic review published in the journal Advances in Bamboo Science, researchers assessed human consumption studies and in vitro investigations using human cell models, alongside laboratory studies relevant to food processing, to evaluate the health effects of consuming bamboo shoots and derived products. Based on available evidence, they concluded that, while human data remain limited, properly prepared bamboo products may offer several health benefits, including improved digestive, antioxidant, and metabolic outcomes. However, each reported benefit is supported by a small number of individual studies rather than a broad clinical evidence base. Bamboo is a fast-growing, highly versatile plant belonging to the grass family, with more than 1,250 species worldwide. Its rapid growth, high biomass yield, and adaptability have made it valuable not only for construction and environmental applications but also as a food source. Bamboo leaves and shoots are commonly consumed, particularly in Asian cuisines. Previous research suggests that compounds derived from bamboo may have several health benefits. However, bamboo consumption also carries risks, as some species release cyanide from cyanogenic glucosides if not properly processed, posing serious health hazards. Appropriate preparation, such as boiling, is therefore essential to reduce potential toxicity. Despite growing interest in bamboo as a functional food, it had not previously been systematically evaluated. Researchers searched Medline (via PubMed) and Web of Science, assessing study quality using standardized risk-of-bias tools. After title and abstract screening, 19 full-text articles were evaluated; 16 met the inclusion criteria. The four human studies involved a total of 4,934 participants and examined diverse health outcomes. One large cross-sectional study in schoolchildren reported a high prevalence of goiter (31%) despite adequate iodine intake, suggesting a possible association with frequent consumption of bamboo shoots rather than established causality. Supportive evidence from an experimental rat component within the same study showed altered thyroid structure and reduced thyroid hormone levels following bamboo shoot intake, reinforcing concerns about potential goitrogenic effects. In contrast, other human studies reported beneficial effects. A randomized trial found that flavonoid-rich antioxidants from bamboo leaves reduced internal exposure to glycidamide and acrylamide by altering toxicokinetics and increasing urinary excretion of related biomarkers, with sex-specific differences observed. A study in people with diabetes showed that cookies fortified with bamboo shoots significantly lowered postprandial blood glucose levels in a dose-dependent manner. Another small dietary intervention in healthy women demonstrated improvements in lipid profiles, including reductions in total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, along with increased bowel movement frequency and increased stool volume, indicating improved bowel function. Four studies investigated bamboo extracts using human cell models. These consistently showed antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, including reduced reactive oxygen species production, inhibition of inflammatory markers, improved cell viability, and low cellular toxicity. One study assessing heavy metal content found elevated lead levels in some bamboo shoots; however, simulated intestinal digestion did not induce toxicity in intestinal cells, suggesting that conventional risk assessments may overestimate health risks when bioaccessibility is not considered. Eight studies explored bamboo-derived ingredients for nutritional and technological applications. These demonstrated potent antioxidant activity and prebiotic-like effects in laboratory-based studies, through stimulation of beneficial gut bacteria and the production of short-chain fatty acids, but lacked direct evidence from human gut studies. Bamboo extracts reduced harmful compounds such as acrylamide and furan during food processing without compromising sensory quality. Overall, the findings suggest that properly prepared bamboo products may offer multiple health benefits, including improved glycemic control, lipid profiles, bowel function, antioxidant capacity, and reduced exposure to food-processing toxins. Importantly, these outcomes are derived from distinct, mostly small studies, and should be interpreted individually rather than as a unified body of clinical evidence. These effects are likely linked to bamboo's rich content of dietary fiber, bioactive compounds, and micronutrients. However, concerns remain regarding potential goitrogenic effects, particularly with frequent consumption of inadequately processed bamboo shoots. Importantly, appropriate preparation methods such as boiling are thought to substantially reduce cyanogenic compounds, although human evidence remains limited. The main limitations include the limited number of human studies, substantial heterogeneity in outcomes and study designs, and a lack of high-quality trials, which precluded meta-analysis. Despite these constraints, the evidence supports bamboo's promise as a sustainable, nutrient-rich food. Further well-designed human intervention studies are needed before firm dietary recommendations can be made. She has experience in teaching, science writing, and mangrove ecology. She is passionate about science communication and enabling biodiversity to thrive alongside people. Please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your essay, paper or report: Research suggests bamboo-based foods could support metabolic health. "Research suggests bamboo-based foods could support metabolic health". "Research suggests bamboo-based foods could support metabolic health". Research suggests bamboo-based foods could support metabolic health. In our latest interview, News-Medical speaks with Rosanna Zhang from ACROBiosystems about utilizing organoids for disease modeling in the field of neuroscience research. GLP-1 agonists are pivotal in obesity care, promoting weight loss and addressing related health issues, with a focus on personalized, holistic treatment. Guillaume Bentzinger, Luis Carrillo, Philippe Robin, and Alejandro Bara-Estaún Discover how AI, flow chemistry, and NMR come together in the PiPAC project to revolutionize scalable and autonomous API production. News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance with these terms and conditions. Please note that medical information found on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide. Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net. Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content. A few things you need to know before we start. While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles. Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

A major UK study shows that commonly used home pulse oximeters can overestimate oxygen levels in people with darker skin, increasing the risk of undetected hypoxemia and raising urgent questions about device standards, regulation, and clinical interpretation. Study: The impact of skin tone on performance of pulse oximeters used by NHS England COVID Oximetry @home scheme: measurement and diagnostic accuracy study. Oxygen in blood is primarily transported by the red cell pigment hemoglobin. The fraction of total hemoglobin that is oxygenated hemoglobin in arterial blood is the arterial hemoglobin oxygen saturation (SaO2), which is measured directly from an arterial blood gas sample and used to detect and assess hypoxemia, or low blood oxygen concentration. Pulse oximetry is often used to noninvasively estimate saturation by measuring light absorbance in the tissue vascular bed. However, its accuracy is far from uniform, especially in darker skin tones. A recent study in The British Medical Journal examined how skin color affects the accuracy of hypoxemia diagnosis by pulse oximetry. These are inexpensive, battery-powered, and suitable for home use. However, some cheap pulse oximeters produce inaccurate readings, emphasizing the need for regulation. Darker skin is also associated with an increased risk of a false negative, leading to delayed or missed diagnosis of hypoxemia. Earlier studies used race or ethnicity to stand in for skin tone. Both methods lack the objectivity of spectrophotometry, leading to major flaws in these studies. Spectrophotometry measures light reflection over different wavelengths and calculates the skin color accordingly. The ISO, which certifies pulse oximeters and other devices for safety and basic performance, does not require accounting for skin tone variations. The performance metric for measurement accuracy is the accuracy root-mean-square (ARMS), which combines bias (systematic error) with precision (random error or noise). It considers not only ARMS but variation in bias over a 100° range of ITA. In response to NHS concerns, the NIHR launched the EXAKT study to assess how skin tone affects measurements and diagnostic accuracy of five fingertip pulse oximeters used in the home oximetry scheme. The study used data from patients recruited or screened for the UK-ROX trial, designed to assess various approaches to oxygen therapy. This included 903 critically ill patients in 24 intensive care units in England between June 2022 and August 2024, a setting chosen to enable paired arterial blood gas sampling and to capture a wider range of oxygen saturations, including lower SaO2 values. Skin tone was objectively measured using a handheld spectrophotometer. The researchers aimed to evaluate pulse oximeter performance in terms of its overall accuracy, precision, and bias. Both false positive and false negative rates for SpO2 ≤92% and ≤94% were evaluated against a reference SaO2 threshold of ≤92% to examine how often SpO2 fails to identify hypoxemia. They used the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve to measure overall testing performance across different cutoffs. In particular, they looked for occult hypoxemia (SaO2 below 88% but SpO2 >92%). Overall accuracy was also reduced, largely due to substantial imprecision rather than systematic bias alone. All five pulse oximeters overestimated the saturation with darker skin tones. Median dark skin was associated with an average increase of 0.6–1.5 percentage points in mean SpO2 values compared to lighter tones. At lower saturations, darker skin tones exacerbated the bias towards falsely high SpO2 readings, thereby increasing the risk of missing hypoxemia. The devices showed a reduced ability to distinguish true hypoxemia in darker-skinned individuals. The ARMS predominantly varied with measurement precision rather than skin tone-associated error. False negatives increased by 5–35 percentage points at higher SpO2 thresholds in darker-skinned individuals. While cases of occult hypoxemia were rare and estimates imprecise, they occurred more often in individuals with darker skin tones. Overall, hypoxemia was more frequently missed in this group. These findings align with prior research but are limited to low-cost pulse oximeters supplied under the COVID Oximetry @home scheme. Results may not apply to critical care oximeters used in hospital settings. A smaller American study of critical care oximeters using the same spectrophotometry approach also found significant overestimation of saturation in darker-skinned patients. This large prospective study used objective skin-tone measurements and advanced statistical modeling, thereby strengthening its conclusions. However, unmeasured confounders such as reduced peripheral perfusion in critical illness may limit generalisability to home use. Clinicians should interpret pulse oximetry cautiously, especially in darker-skinned individuals. Manufacturers should ensure robust pre- and post-market testing across skin tones. SpO2 trends are more clinically informative than isolated values and must be interpreted in context. Updated guidelines are needed to support optimal hypoxemia care where confirmatory testing is unavailable. Dr. Liji Thomas is an OB-GYN, who graduated from the Government Medical College, University of Calicut, Kerala, in 2001. She has counseled hundreds of patients facing issues from pregnancy-related problems and infertility, and has been in charge of over 2,000 deliveries, striving always to achieve a normal delivery rather than operative. Please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your essay, paper or report: Pulse oximeters miss hypoxemia more often in people with darker skin, study finds. "Pulse oximeters miss hypoxemia more often in people with darker skin, study finds". "Pulse oximeters miss hypoxemia more often in people with darker skin, study finds". Pulse oximeters miss hypoxemia more often in people with darker skin, study finds. In our latest interview, News-Medical speaks with Rosanna Zhang from ACROBiosystems about utilizing organoids for disease modeling in the field of neuroscience research. GLP-1 agonists are pivotal in obesity care, promoting weight loss and addressing related health issues, with a focus on personalized, holistic treatment. Guillaume Bentzinger, Luis Carrillo, Philippe Robin, and Alejandro Bara-Estaún Discover how AI, flow chemistry, and NMR come together in the PiPAC project to revolutionize scalable and autonomous API production. News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance with these terms and conditions. Please note that medical information found on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide. Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net. Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content. A few things you need to know before we start. While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles. Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.