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Recent Longevity News for the week ending 4/5/23

You need a bidet, but not for the reason you think - Washington Post, 4/4/23 - "I bought one in 2019 and never looked back" - Note: I'm the same way. I've had one for well over 15 years. While in the hospital, I had to used toilet paper. Gross. - See bidet attachment for toilet at Amazon.com.

Does weed help you sleep? - Washington Post, 4/3/23 - "In fact, daily users of cannabis typically report more sleep disturbances than less regular users ... The issue may be that regular users have developed a tolerance for the drug — meaning they may need a higher dose to achieve the same effect as someone who rarely uses it. Sleep problems can also result from cannabis withdrawal ... When used regularly, [cannabis] can lead to tolerance and dependence, as well as disruptions to sleep architecture, resulting in worse sleep in the long term"

Ablation Cuts Burden of Post-MI Drug-Resistant, Shocked VT vs Intensified Meds - Medscape, 3/28/23 - "Catheter ablation is known to prolong survival free of further ventricular tachycardia (VT) for patients with ischemic heart disease and VT despite antiarrhythmic drug (AAD) therapy. Now there is evidence that ablation of AAD-refractory VT in such patients with defibrillators, compared to drug-therapy escalation, can cut the prevalence of further VT and the device shocks that elicit them. ... The new VANISH findings should encourage more use of ablation over escalated AAD in such patients ...But patients who underwent ablation, compared to the escalated-AAD group, showed significant reductions in the hazard ratio (HR) for the following: Burden of shock-treated VT events, HR 0.60 (95% CI, 0.38 – 0.95) ... Burden of appropriate shocks, HR 0.61 (95% CI, 0.37 – 0.96) ... Among patients who entered the study with amiodarone-refractory VT, those assigned to catheter ablation vs escalated AAD showed significant reductions in burden of the following: Overall VT, 0.54 (95% CI, 0.29 – 0.97) ... ATP-treated VT events, 0.64 (95% CI, 0.29 – 0.99) ... Burden of ATP, 0.52 ... The new VANISH findings should encourage more use of ablation over escalated AAD in such patients"

Abstracts from this week:

Berberine and health outcomes: An umbrella review - Phytother Res 2023 Mar 31 - "The results revealed that berberine significantly affects blood glucose levels, insulin resistance, blood lipids, body parameters and composition, inflammatory markers, colorectal adenomas, and Helicobacter pylori infections as compared to controls" - See berberine at Amazon.com.

Effects of the Sodium-Glucose Cotransporter Inhibitors on Cardiovascular Death and All-Cause Mortality: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trials - Am J Cardiovasc Drugs 2023 Mar;23 - "Sodium-glucose cotransporter inhibitors significantly reduced major adverse cardiovascular events, including hospitalization and all-cause mortality in patients with or without established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. We observed a beneficial trend in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, and no benefits in patients with stroke or myocardial infarction." - See empagliflozin inhousepharmacy.vu.

Empagliflozin ameliorates atherosclerosis via regulating the intestinal flora - Atherosclerosis 2023 Mar 20 - "Empagliflozin seems to mitigate atherosclerosis partly by regulating intestinal microbiota" - See empagliflozin inhousepharmacy.vu.

Meta-analysis: Chemoprevention of hepatocellular carcinoma with statins, aspirin and metformin - Aliment Pharmacol Ther 2023 Mar - "Although statin and aspirin use were associated with reduced HCC risk, only statin use was significant in subgroup analyses accounting for concurrent medications. Metformin use was not associated with reduced HCC risk"

Curcumin (CUMINUP60®) mitigates exercise fatigue through regulating PI3K/Akt/AMPK/mTOR pathway in mice - Aging (Albany NY) 2023 Mar 28 - "Both the caffeine group and curcumin group showed significant improvement in exercise fatigue compared to the control group, as evidenced by the increase in time to exhaustion, as well as the higher quadriceps coefficient, muscle glycogen (MG) content, and increase in the expression of Akt, AMPK, PI3K, and mTOR proteins. While the curcumin group also significantly improved the exercise fatigue of the mice, demonstrating a lower AMP/ATP ratio and lactic acid (LA) content, and increased glycogen synthase (GS), and myonectin content compared to the caffeine group. Therefore, in the present study, we found that curcumin can exert a similar anti-fatigue effect to caffeine and may act by regulating energy metabolism through modulating the expression of the proteins in the PI3K/Akt/AMPK/mTOR pathway." - See curcumin at Amazon.com.

Meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials of the effects of probiotics in Parkinson's disease - Food Funct 2023 Mar 28 - "Oral probiotic consumption significantly improved motor symptoms, gastrointestinal dysfunction, anxiety, and depression in patients with PD. Notably, oral probiotics also reduced the use of laxatives and increased GSH levels in the serum of patients with PD" - See probiotic supplements at Amazon.com.

Astaxanthin, a Natural Antioxidant, Lowers Cholesterol and Markers of Cardiovascular Risk in Individuals with Prediabetes and Dyslipidemia - Diabetes Obes Metab 2023 Mar 30 - "Although the primary endpoint did not meet the prespecified significance level, these data suggest that astaxanthin is a safe OTC supplement that improves lipid profiles and markers of CVD risk in individuals with prediabetes and dyslipidemia" - See astaxanthin at Amazon.com.

Effects of Pomegranate Peel Polyphenols Combined with Inulin on Gut Microbiota and Serum Metabolites of High-Fat-Induced Obesity Rats - J Agric Food Chem 2023 Mar 30 - "Pomegranate peel polyphenols (PPPs) and inulin have been reported to have lipid-lowering effects. Here, the effects of PPPs combined with inulin on obesity traits and the change of the gut microbiota, short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), and serum metabolomics profiles in rats with a high-fat diet (HFD) were investigated. According to the experimental results, PPPs were most effective in reducing the body weight and serum and liver lipid levels. Besides, PPPs ameliorated the disorder of gut microbiota, in particular, the enrichment of SCFA producers, such as Lactobacillus, Roseburia, Christensenellaceae_R-7_group, Ruminococcaceae_UCG-005, Bacteroides, and Allobaculum, and the depletion of the Blautia and unclassified Lachnospiraceae population. PPPs also regulated the levels of metabolites changed by HFD feeding via tryptophan metabolism, valine, leucine, and isoleucine biosynthesis, and arachidonic acid metabolism pathways. The correlation analysis showed that PPPs remitted HFD-induced elevation in triglycerides (TGs), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) levels and lowered high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels through regulating the gut microbiota, SCFAs, and related metabolites. These findings elucidated that PPPs have a good anti-obesity effect" - See pomegranate extract at Amazon.com and inulin at Amazon.com.

Effect of saffron and fenugreek on lowering blood glucose: A systematic review with meta-analysis - Phytother Res 2023 Mar 29 - "Saffron and fenugreek have been shown to have an effect on lowering blood glucose; therefore, this study aims to evaluate the effects of using saffron and fenugreek on blood glucose control ... Overall, using fenugreek decreased fasting blood glucose (FBG) (SMD: -0.90; 95%CI: -1.43 to -0.38; I2 = 87%; p < 0.001), postprandial blood glucose (PPBG) (SMD: -1.13; 95%CI: -1.99 to -0.28; I2 = 94%; p < 0.001), and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) (SMD: -0.43; 95%CI: -0.75 to -0.12; I2 = 20%; p = 0.29). Saffron supplementation reduced FBG (MD: -9.06 mg/dl; 95%CI: -16.25 to -1.86; I2 = 40%; p = 0.12) and HbA1c (MD: -0.19%; 95%CI: -0.23 to -0.14; I2 = 0%; p > 0.99). Our results show that using saffron and fenugreek can reduce FBG, PPBG, and HbA1c; however, there are some shortcomings that require attention for these results" - See saffron supplements at Amazon.com and fenugreek at Amazon.com.

Neat Tech Stuff / "How To's":

Uni-ball 207 pens.  Fraud proof because the ink can't be bleached out.

Health Focus (Hesperidin):