Posted on Multiple Sclerosis

This could be a breakthrough for folks with multiple sclerosis. Propionic acid protects nerve cells and helps them regenerate

Nerve cell growth


Nerve cell growth with (left) and without the administration of propionate (right) CREDIT © Dr. Thomas Grüter und Niklas Rilke

The group headed by Dr Thomas Grüter and Dr Kalliopi Pitarokoili from the neurological clinic at St. Josef Hospital (Director: Professor Ralf Gold) published the results in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America on 20. January 2023.

Propionate reduces cell death in cell culture experiments

CIDP patients suffer from sensory disturbances, muscle weakness and pain. The cause of the disorder is not fully understood. The immune system attacks the nerves in the arms and legs. The nerve sheath, an insulating coating around the nerve cells, is broken down and eventually, the cells die. “The drugs currently available in the market are very expensive and primarily act on the immune system,” says Thomas Grüter. “A therapy that protects the nerves and aids regeneration is not yet available.”

In the current study, Thomas Grüter’s team has explored propionate’s protective effect in cell culture and animal experiments. The group isolated the two most important cell types in the peripheral nervous system from rats: nerve cells and Schwann cells; the latter form the sheath of the nerve cells.

The researchers cultivated the two cell types separately and exposed them to oxidative stress, which usually causes cell damage. The team treated some cell cultures with propionate and compared the effects with untreated cultures. Significantly fewer cells died in the treated cultures. In addition, the cells grew back more readily after treatment than when no propionate had been administered. Animal experiments confirmed these results: the nerve cells had better protection against oxidative damage after administering propionate.

The findings from previous studies with MS patients suggested to the Bochum researchers that propionate could benefit CIDP patients. The research group headed by Professor Aiden Haghikia had shown that taking propionate has an anti-inflammatory effect in people with multiple sclerosis and reduces the relapse rate.

Posted on Diabetes

Researchers unravel why episodes of low blood sugar worsen eye disease in people with diabetes

Researchers unravel why episodes of low blood sugar worsen eye disease in people with diabetes
Researchers unravel why episodes of low blood sugar worsen eye disease in people with diabetes

People with diabetes who experience periods of low blood sugar — a common occurrence in those new to blood sugar management — are more likely to have worsening diabetic eye disease. Now, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine say they have linked such low blood sugar levels with a molecular pathway that is turned on in oxygen-starved cells in the eye.

The research, involving human and mouse eye cells and intact retinas grown in a low sugar (low glucose) environment in the laboratory, as well as mice with low glucose levels, was published in the January issue of Cell Reports.

“Temporary episodes of low glucose happen once or twice a day in people with insulin-dependent diabetes and often among people newly diagnosed with the condition,” says Akrit Sodhi, M.D., Ph.D., the Branna and Irving Sisenwein Professor of Ophthalmology at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins Medicine. Low glucose levels can also occur during sleep in people with non-insulin-dependent diabetes. “Our results show that these periodic low glucose levels cause an increase in certain retinal cell proteins, resulting in an overgrowth of blood vessels and worsening diabetic eye disease,” adds Sodhi.

Eye disease among people with diabetes is among the most preventable causes of blindness in the U.S. Diabetic retinopathy, which occurs in up to a third of people with diabetes, is characterized by the overgrowth of abnormal blood vessels in the retina.

Sodhi says the current study suggests that people with diabetic retinopathy may be particularly vulnerable to periods of low glucose, and keeping glucose levels stable should be an important part of glucose control.

For the study, the researchers analyzed protein levels in human and mouse retinal cells and intact retinas grown in an environment of low glucose in the laboratory, as well as in mice that had occasional low blood sugar.

The researchers found that low glucose levels in human and mouse retinal cells caused a cascade of molecular changes that can lead to blood vessel overgrowth. First, the researchers saw that low glucose caused a decrease in retinal cells’ ability to break down glucose for energy.

When the researchers looked specifically at so-called Müller glial cells, which are supportive cells for neurons in the retina and rely primarily on glucose for energy production, they found that the cells increased the expression of the GLUT1 gene, which makes a protein that transports glucose into cells.

The researchers found that, in response to low glucose, the cells increased levels of a transcription factor, called hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α. This turned on the cellular machinery — including GLUT1 — needed to improve their ability to utilize available glucose, preserving the limited oxygen available for energy production by retinal neurons.

However, in low-oxygen environments, as occurs in the retinas of patients with diabetic eye disease, this normal, physiologic response to low glucose triggered a flood of HIF-1α protein into the cells’ nucleus, the cell’s control center.

This resulted in an increase in the production of proteins such as VEGF and ANGPTL4, which cause the growth of abnormal, leaky blood vessels — the key culprit of vision loss in people with diabetic eye disease.

The researchers plan to study whether low glucose levels in people with diabetes may impact similar molecular pathways in other organs, such as the kidney and brain.

Sodhi says the HIF-1α pathway may serve as an effective target for developing new treatments for diabetic eye disease.

Posted on Autism

Study logs five-fold increase in autism in New York-New Jersey region – why is that, do you think?

Study logs five-fold increase in autism in New York-New Jersey region
Study logs five-fold increase in autism in New York-New Jersey region

Documented cases of autism in the New York–New Jersey metro region increased by as much as 500 per cent between 2000 and 2016, with the highest increase among children without intellectual disabilities, according to a Rutgers study.

This is the opposite of past findings, which have suggested that autism typically co-occurs with intellectual impairment.

“One of the assumptions about autism is that it occurs alongside intellectual disabilities,” said Josephine Shenouda, an adjunct professor at the Rutgers School of Public Health and lead author of the study published in Pediatrics. “This claim was supported by older studies suggesting that up to 75 per cent of children with autism also have an intellectual disability.”

“Our paper shows that this assumption is not true,” Shenouda said. “In fact, in this study, two-in-three children with autism had no intellectual disability whatsoever.”

Using biannual data from the New Jersey Autism Study, researchers identified 4,661 8-year-olds with autism in four New Jersey counties (Essex, Hudson, Ocean and Union) during the study period. Of these, 1,505 (32.3 per cent) had an intellectual disability; 2,764 (59.3 per cent) did not.

Subsequent analysis found that rates of autism co-occurring with intellectual disability increased two-fold between 2000 and 2016 – from 2.9 per 1,000 to 7.3 per 1,000. Rates of autism with no intellectual disability jumped five-fold, from 3.8 per 1,000 to 18.9 per 1,000.

Shenouda said there might be explanations for the observed increases, though more research is needed to specify the precise causes.

“Better awareness of and testing for autism does play a role,” said Walter Zahorodny, associate professor at the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and senior author of the study. “But the fact that we saw a 500 per cent increase in autism among kids without any intellectual disabilities – children we know are falling through the cracks – suggests that something else is also driving the surge.”

Autism prevalence is associated with race and socioeconomic status.  The Rutgers study identified that Black children with autism and no intellectual disabilities were 30 per cent less likely to be identified than White children. In comparison, kids living in affluent areas were 80 per cent more likely to be identified with autism and no intellectual disabilities than children in underserved areas.

Using New Jersey Autism Study data and U.S. census data, the researchers were able to estimate rates of autism undercounting in the four counties.

Shenouda said addressing the findings could help close identification gaps and eventually bring much-needed autism services to lower-income areas.

“With up to 72 per cent of the autism population having the borderline or average intellectual ability, emphasis should be placed on early screening, early identification and early intervention,” she said. “Because gains in intellectual functioning are proportionate with intense intervention at younger ages, it’s essential that universal screening is in place, especially in underserved communities.”

Posted on Exercise

Using running to escape everyday stresses may lead to exercise dependence instead of mental wellbeing

Scientists find that using running to escape from negative experiences rather than to escape to positive ones may lead to exercise dependence among runners
Scientists find that using running to escape from negative experiences rather than to escape to positive ones may lead to exercise dependence among runners

Recreational running offers a lot of physical and mental health benefits – but some people can develop exercise dependence, a form of addiction to physical activity which can cause health issues. Shockingly, signs of exercise dependence are common even in recreational runners. A study published in Frontiers in Psychology investigated whether the concept of escapism can help us understand the relationship between running, wellbeing, and exercise dependence.

“Escapism is an everyday phenomenon among humans, but little is known regarding its motivational underpinnings, how it affects experiences, and the psychological outcomes from it,” said Dr Frode Stenseng of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, lead author of the paper.

Running to explore or to evade?

“Escapism is often defined as ‘an activity, a form of entertainment, etc. that helps you avoid or forget unpleasant or boring things’. In other words, many of our everyday activities may be interpreted as escapism,” said Stenseng. “The psychological reward from escapism is reduced self-awareness, less rumination, and a relief from one’s most pressing, or stressing, thoughts and emotions.”

Escapism can restore perspective, or it can act as a distraction from problems that need to be tackled. Escapism which is adaptive, seeking out positive experiences, is referred to as self-expansion. Meanwhile maladaptive escapism, avoiding negative experiences, is called self-suppression. Effectively, running as exploration or as evasion.

“These two forms of escapism are stemming from two different mindsets, to promote a positive mood, or prevent a negative mood,” said Stenseng.

Escapist activities used for self-expansion have more positive effects but also more long-term benefits. Self-suppression, by contrast, tends to suppress positive feelings as well as negative ones and lead to avoidance.

Self-suppression associated with exercise dependence

The team recruited 227 recreational runners, half men and half women, with widely varying running practices. They were asked to fill out questionnaires which investigated three different aspects of escapism and exercise dependence: an escapism scale which measured preference for self-expansion or self-suppression, an exercise dependence scale, and a satisfaction with life scale designed to measure the participants’ subjective wellbeing.

The scientists found that there was very little overlap between runners who favored self-expansion and runners who preferred self-suppression modes of escapism. Self-expansion was positively related with wellbeing, while self-suppression was negatively related to wellbeing. Self-suppression and self-expansion were both linked to exercise dependence, but self-suppression was much more strongly linked to it. Neither escapism mode was linked to age, gender, or amount of time a person spent running, but both affected the relationship between wellbeing and exercise dependence. Whether or not a person fulfilled criteria for exercise dependence, a preference for self-expansion would still be linked to a more positive sense of their own wellbeing.

Although exercise dependence corrodes the potential wellbeing gains from exercise, it seems that perceiving lower wellbeing may be both a cause and an outcome of exercise dependency: the dependency might be driven by lower wellbeing as well as promoting it.

Similarly, experiencing positive self-expansion might be a psychological motive that promotes exercise dependence.

“More studies using longitudinal research designs are necessary to unravel more of the motivational dynamics and outcomes in escapism,” said Stenseng. “But these findings may enlighten people in understanding their own motivation, and be used for therapeutical reasons for individuals striving with a maladaptive engagement in their activity.”

Posted on Diet

Broad Beans IN toast could revolutionise the British diet – would you eat this?

Beans IN toast could revolutionise British diet
Beans IN toast could revolutionise British diet


Scientists aim to revolutionise British diets by slipping more UK-grown beans into our daily bread.

Researchers and chefs at the University of Reading aim to encourage British consumers and food producers to switch to bread containing faba beans (commonly known as broad beans), making it healthier and less damaging to the environment.

The £2 million, three-year, publicly-funded ‘Raising the Pulse’ project has officially begun and is announced today (18 January 2023) in the Nutrition Bulletin journal.

Five teams of researchers within the University of Reading, along with members of the public, farmers, industry, and policymakers, are now working together to bring about one of the most significant changes to UK food in generations.

This is by increasing pulses in the UK diet, particularly faba ( fava beans)beans, due to their favourable growing conditions in the UK and the sustainable nutritional enhancement they provide.

Despite being an excellent alternative to the ubiquitous imported soya bean, used currently in bread as an improver, the great majority of faba beans grown in the UK currently go to animal feed.

Researchers are optimising the sustainability and nutritional quality of beans grown here, to encourage farmers to switch some wheat-producing land to faba bean for human consumption.

Faba beans are exceptionally high in easily digested protein, fibre, and iron, nutrients that can be low in UK diets. But most people are not used to cooking and eating faba beans, which poses a significant challenge.

Professor Julie Lovegrove is leading the ‘Raising the Pulse’ research programme. She said: “We had to think laterally: What do most people eat and how can we improve their nutrition without them having to change their diets? The obvious answer is bread!

“96% of people in the UK eat bread, and 90% of that is white bread, which in most cases contains soya. We’ve already performed some experiments and found that faba bean flour can directly replace imported soya flour and some of wheat flour, which is low in nutrients. We can not only grow the faba beans here but also produce and test the faba bean-rich bread, with improved nutritional quality.”

‘Raising the Pulse’ is a multidisciplinary research programme funded by the UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council as part of their ‘Transforming UK Food Systems’ initiative.

As well as consulting and working with members of disadvantaged communities, studies will use our novel foods at the University of Reading’s student’s halls of residence and catering outlets.

This links ‘Raising the Pulse’ with Matt Tebbit, who runs the University’s catering service and leads the University’s ‘Menus for Change’ research programme. He said: “Students will be asked to rate products made or enriched with faba bean, such as bread, flat bread, and hummus. They will be asked questions about how full they felt, for how long and their liking of the foods. It is hoped that faba bean will improve satiety, as well as providing enhanced nutritional benefits in products that are enjoyable to eat.”

Before products are tested, the beans must be grown, harvested and milled. ‘Raising the Pulse’ seeks to improve these stages as well. Researchers will be choosing or breeding healthy and high-yielding varieties, working with the soil to improve yield via nitrogen fixing bacteria, mitigating environmental impacts of farming faba beans, planning for the changing climate, and more.