Recent Longevity News for the week ending 8/21/19

Brain takes a beating as arteries age - Science Daily, 8/20/19 - "As the human body ages, large arteries, such as the aorta, stiffen and lose a large portion of their ability to absorb the pressure increase generated as the heart ejects blood into the arteries. Such pressure pulsatility is instead transmitted to smaller blood vessels, for example those in the brain. The smallest blood vessels in the brain, the capillaries, are subjected to an increased stress that causes damage to cells within and surrounding the capillary walls. These cells are important in the regulation of the capillary blood flow. If the smallest blood vessels are damaged, this is detrimental to the ability to increase the blood supply to the brain when coping with demanding cognitive processes."

Low levels of vitamin D in elementary school could spell trouble in adolescence - Science Daily, 8/20/19 - "Children with blood vitamin D levels suggestive of deficiency were almost twice as likely to develop externalizing behavior problems -- aggressive and rule breaking behaviors -- as reported by their parents, compared with children who had higher levels of the vitamin ... Also, low levels of the protein that transports vitamin D in blood were related to more self-reported aggressive behavior and anxious/depressed symptoms" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

Cannabis-related poison control calls for Massachusetts kids doubled after medical pot legalized - Science Daily, 8/16/19 - "Given what we've seen here," Whitehill says, "I would expect the calls to the poison control center to increase even more."

Reefer Madness: A Case of Cannabis-Induced Psychosis - Medscape, 8/15/19 - "Cannabis-induced psychosis is a condition characterized by the sudden onset of psychosis after the consumption of marijuana ... Symptoms can include paranoia, grandiose delusions, perceptual alterations, depersonalization/derealization, amnesia, emotional lability, confusion, agitation, combativeness, and disorientation."

Naltrexone Alters Responses to Social and Physical Warmth: Implications for Social Bonding - Medscape, 8/14/19 - "Socially warm experiences, when one feels connected to others, have been linked with physical warmth. Opioids, hypothesized to support social bonding with close others and, separately, physical warmth, may underlie both experiences. In order to test this hypothesis, 80 participants were randomly assigned to the opioid antagonist, naltrexone or placebo before neural and emotional responses to social and physical warmth were collected. Social and physical warmth led to similar increases in ventral striatum (VS) and middle-insula (MI) activity. Further, feelings of social connection were positively related to neural activity to social warmth. However, naltrexone (vs placebo) disrupted these effects by (i) reducing VS and MI activity to social and physical warmth, (ii) erasing the subjective experience–brain association to social warmth and (iii) disrupting the neural overlap between social and physical warmth"

Flavonoid-rich diet protects against cancer and heart disease, study finds - Science Daily, m8/13/19 - "Participants consuming about 500mg of total flavonoids each day had the lowest risk of a cancer or heart disease-related death ... It's important to consume a variety of different flavonoid compounds found in different plant based food and drink. This is easily achievable through the diet: one cup of tea, one apple, one orange, 100g of blueberries, and 100g of broccoli would provide a wide range of flavonoid compounds and over 500mg of total flavonoids."

AUA 2019: More Evidence That Testosterone May Be Safe After Treatment for Prostate Cancer - Medscape, 8/13/19 - "Neither of these cohorts showed any evidence of a problem from receiving TRT after diagnosis and treatment for prostate cancer. On the other hand, neither of these studies, and none of the others that have been presented, clearly prove that TRT is safe. Nevertheless, there is not an obvious risk to patients from these trials and, when presented with the information on the risks and benefits, most men are likely to make a quality-of-life decision, choosing TRT in order to restore their sexual function"

Estrogen improves Parkinson's disease symptoms - Science Daily, 9/12/19 - "The female mice showed less severe symptoms at a later age, but estrogen still improved their symptoms. In male mice, the estrogen treatment reduced ?-synuclein breakdown and buildup and helped with severe symptoms, suggesting that estrogen could be a viable treatment option for Parkinson's patients with low estrogen levels." -  Note: Some lady wrote that pot helped her father’s Parkinson’s. A placebo works 30% of the time which could be the reason but pot decreases testosterone and increases estrogen. So if it’s true that pot helped Parkinson’s that could be the reason. Why not just take the estrogen and not have all the problems associated with pot?  See my Parkinson's page.  Their are a lot of natural supplements that help with Parkinson's including most recently is vitamin D.

Marijuana may boost risky effects of drinking alcohol - Science Daily, 8/13/19 - "individuals who simultaneously use alcohol and marijuana are at a disproportionately higher risk for heavy, frequent, and problematic substance use ... The problem with simultaneous use is that it can affect people cognitively and perceptually, and also have an impact on motor impairment ... Even after controlling for the number of drinks a person typically consumed, people who used alcohol and marijuana at the same time were at a greater risk for problems like blacking out, getting in an argument, or other concerns"

Adults who mix cannabis with opioids for pain report higher anxiety, depression - Science Daily, 8/12/19 - "The study revealed not only elevated anxiety and depression symptoms, but also tobacco, alcohol, cocaine and sedative use among those who added the cannabis, compared with those who used opioids alone. No increased pain reduction was reported."

Vitamin D Supplementation During Pregnancy Reduces Enamel Defects in Offspring - Medscape, 8/10/19 - "Mean serum vitamin D3 levels increased significantly from 30.77 ng/mL to 43.35 ng/mL in mothers allocated to vitamin D supplementation, but not in mothers in the control group, who received 400 IU/day, in whom levels decreased from 30.61 ng/mL to 28.97 ng/m ... Compared with that control group, the adjusted odds of having enamel defects were 58% lower in permanent dentition, 46% lower in deciduous dentition and 48% lower in permanent and/or deciduous dentition in the supplementation group, all significant effects ... The prevalence of caries was 23% overall (4.2% in the permanent dentition and 20.2% in the deciduous dentition) and was not associated with enamel defects or with vitamin D supplementation ... High-dose vitamin D not only reduced enamel defects but also reduced risk of asthma-like symptoms in children ... Therefore, it may be prudent to consider recommendation of a higher dose"

More Nuts Improve Men's Orgasmic Function, Sexual Desire - Medscape, 8/9/19 - "The randomized controlled trial, which was recently published in Nutrients, showed a significant increase in the orgasmic function (P = .037) and sexual desire (P = .040) of men of reproductive age who received the nut intervention in comparison with an age-matched control group ... Nuts are nutrient-dense foods that have a relatively high amount of the nonessential amino acid arginine, a precursor of nitric oxide, which is a potent neurotransmitter that plays an important role in erectile action"

Why Drinking Water All Day Long Is Not the Best Way to Stay Hydrated - Time, 8/9/19 - "People who are drinking bottles and bottles of water in between meals and with no food, they’re probably just peeing most of that out ... Also, the popular idea that constant and heavy water consumption “flushes” the body of toxins or unwanted material is a half-truth. While urine does transport chemical byproducts and waste out of the body, drinking lots of water on an empty stomach doesn’t improve this cleansing process ... The take-home message isn’t that people should drink less water, nor that they should swap out water for other beverages. But for those hoping to stay optimally hydrated, a slow-and-steady approach to water consumption and coupling water with a little food is a more effective method than knocking back full glasses of H2O between meals"

How Exercise Lowers the Risk of Alzheimer’s by Changing Your Brain - Time, 8/9/19 - "Through a series of studies, the team has been building knowledge about which biological processes seem to change with exercise. Okonkwo’s latest findings show that improvements in aerobic fitness mitigated one of the physiological brain changes associated with Alzheimer’s: the slowing down of how neurons breakdown glucose ... But they found that in people who reported exercising at moderate intensity at least 150 minutes a week, as public health experts recommend, brain scans showed that these changes were significantly reduced and in some cases non-existent compared to people who were not active ... In yet another previous study, Okonkwo and his team also found that people with higher aerobic fitness showed lower amounts of white matter hyperintensities, brain changes that are signs of neuron degeneration and show up as brighter spots on MRI images (hence the name). White matter hyperintensities tend to increase in the brain with age, and are more common in people with dementia or cognitive impairment. They form as neurons degrade and the myelin that surrounds their long-reaching arms—which helps nerves communicate with each other effectively—starts to deteriorate. In people with dementia, that process happens faster than normal, leading to an increase in white matter hyperintensities. Okonwko found that people who were more aerobically fit showed lower amounts of these hyperintensities than people who were less fit."

Sweet News: Dark Chocolate Tied to Lower Depression Risk - Medscape, 8/9/19 - "Chocolate contains a number of psychoactive ingredients, including two analogues of anandamine, which produce effects similar to that of cannabinoid, an agent that causes feelings of euphoria from ingesting cannabis. In addition, chocolate contains several endogenous biogenic amines, as well as phenylethylamine, a neuromodulator that is believed to be important for regulating mood, the investigators note ... After adjusting for multiple factors, participants who reported any dark chocolate consumption had 70% lower likelihood of reporting clinically relevant depressive symptoms compared to those who did not eat any chocolate (odds ratio [OR], 0.30; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.21 – 0.72). However, the researchers found no significant link between any non–dark chocolate consumption and clinically relevant depressive symptoms" - See Ghirardelli Chocolate Intense Dark Squares, Midnight Reverie, 4.12 oz., 86% Cacao (Pack of 4) at Amazon.com.

Cortisol in Hair May Help Diagnose Teen Depression - Medscape, 8/8/19 - "These results, when graphed, showed a u-shaped curve. Hair cortisol levels on the lower and higher end of the distribution predicted depressive symptoms in a diverse sample of youth"

Cannabis' effects on brain neurochemistry - Science Daily, 8/7/19 - "Of note, a recent analysis found a dose-response relationship between higher cannabis use and increased risk for schizophrenia, a condition associated with abnormal dopamine synthesis and release in the brain ... Regular cannabis use has a profound effect on cortical dopamine function, in particular in relation to the stress response, which is critical for young adults at risk for psychosis ... These results highlight the need for further research on the impact of cannabis on brain neurochemistry, especially in populations at risk for psychosis"

High and Low Hemoglobin Tied to Long-Term Dementia Risk - Medscape, 8/6/19 - "individuals with anemia were 41% more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 34% more likely to develop any dementia type compared with individuals without anemia. The investigators also found that those with high hemoglobin were also at greater risk of developing dementia"

Dietary choline associates with reduced risk of dementia - Science Daily, 8/6/19 - "The new study now shows that the risk of dementia was 28% lower in men with the highest intake of dietary phosphatidylcholine, when compared to men with the lowest intake. Men with the highest intake of dietary phosphatidylcholine also excelled in tests measuring their memory and linguistic abilities" - See phosphatidylcholine at Amazon.com.

Abstracts from this week:

Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) Inhibits Bone Morphogenetic Protein-2 (BMP-2) Elevated Osteoblast Potential of Metastatic Breast Cancer (MDA-MB-231) Cells in Mammary Microcalcification - Nutr Cancer. 2019 Aug 14:1-11 - "Microcalcification seems to be an assurance signature for the prediction of breast cancer malignancy ... omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) showed an inhibitory effect on BMP-2 induced osteoblast-like potential presumably by abrogating BMP signaling" - See docosahexaenoic acid at Amazon.com.

N-Acetylcysteine Rinse for Thick Secretion and Mucositis of Head and Neck Chemoradiotherapy (Alliance MC13C2): A Double-Blind Randomized Clinical Trial - Mayo Clin Proc. 2019 Aug 9 - "Our pilot data showed that N-acetylcysteine rinse was safe and provided strong evidence of potential efficacy for improving thickened saliva and xerostomia by patient-reported outcome" - See n-acetyl cysteine at Amazon.com.

Acute Effects of Hesperidin in Oxidant/Antioxidant State Markers and Performance in Amateur Cyclists - Nutrients 2019, 11(8), 1898 - "significant differences in average power (+2.27%, p = 0.023), maximum speed (+3.23%, p = 0.043) and total energy (∑ 4 sprint test) (+2.64%, p = 0.028) between Cardiose® and placebo were found in the best data of the repeated sprint test ... Our findings showed improvements in anaerobic performance after Cardiose® intake, but not in placebo, suggesting the potential benefits of using Cardiose® in sports with a high anaerobic component" - [Nutra USA] - See hesperidin at Amazon.com.

Relationship between 25-Hydroxyvitamin D, bone density, and Parkinson's disease symptoms - Acta Neurol Scand. 2019 Aug 6 - "In patients with PD, vitamin D levels significantly correlated with falls and some non-motor symptoms. However, no associations were found between BMD and the serum 25(OH)D levels in patients with PD. Thus, vitamin D supplementation is a potential therapeutic for non-motor PD symptoms" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

Role of Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) in the Association between Osteoarthritis and Cardiovascular Diseases: A Longitudinal Study - Arthritis Rheumatol. 2019 Aug 6 - "Findings of this first study to evaluate NSAID's mediating role in OA-CVD relationship suggest that NSAID use substantially contributes to the OA-CVD association"

Cardiovascular effect of discontinuing statins for primary prevention at the age of 75 years: a nationwide population-based cohort study in France - Eur Heart J. 2019 Jul 30 - "Statin discontinuation was associated with a 33% increased risk of admission for cardiovascular event in 75-year-old primary prevention patients"

Neat Tech Stuff / "How To's":

I've tested a lot of iPhone cases over the years.  This is the thinnest:

On Amazon, you can buy a $24,000 prefab solar-powered tiny house - CNET, 8/8/19 - "What sets the Weizhengheng tiny house apart from some of the other mini homes available through Amazon is the promise of solar power and wind power systems, a bathroom, a kitchen and a remote control that commands the house's hydraulic system to expand or fold up"

Health Focus (Impotence):