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Recent Longevity News for the week ending 5/17/23

Statins Appear to Guard Against Liver Disease Progression - Medscape, 5/12/23 - "234 (6.1%) statin users developed severe liver disease vs 276 (7.1%) non-users, with incidence rates of 10.5 vs 18.1 per 1000 person-years, respectively ... Statin use was associated with a statistically significant 40% lower rate of severe liver disease (hazard ratio [HR], 0.60 ... Statin use was also associated with lower rates of progression to cirrhosis (HR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.49 - 0.78), HCC (HR, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.27 - 0.71), and liver-related death or liver transplant (HR, 0.55"

Marijuana Users Have Triple the Odds for Leg Artery Disease (Study) - WebMD, 5/15/23 - "Smoking cigarettes has long been linked to peripheral artery disease (PAD), a condition where the buildup of plaque narrows arteries and limits blood flow to the legs or arms ... Now, a new study suggests that marijuana may have a similar impact, after finding that users had three times the risk of developing PAD ... The takeaway for this for providers, particularly in younger adults, is that these data suggest a red flag ... And what that means is that providers need to be asking at each patient encounter for their patients to be very transparent about cannabinoid use, no judgment involved, but we need to be using this as a risk factor for both coronary and peripheral artery disease"

After a Decade, Marijuana Legalization Is Not Going Well | Opinion - Newsweek, 5/8/23 - "A decade's worth of data are in, and the promises of marijuana legalization are increasingly proving empty. From more marijuana-related hospitalizations to higher usage rates and an expansion of the illicit market, the effects of legalization have been detrimental to public health and safety, communities of color, and even the environment. Politicians who bought Big Marijuana's line about big tax money have also been made to look foolish"

Researchers find link between cannabis use disorder and schizophrenia - NBC7, 5/9/23 - "According to researchers, 30% of schizophrenia cases involving men ages 21-30 could be prevented by averting cannabis use disorder. The researchers say both cannabis use disorder and schizophrenia can be treated but can "profoundly impact people’s lives." ... The researchers added that those with cannabis use disorder cannot stop using cannabis despite the effects it has on their life ... The National Institute of Health says common symptoms of schizophrenia include hallucinations, delusions, thought disorder and movement disorder"

Abstracts from this week:

Fisetin attenuates doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity by inhibiting the insulin-like growth factor II receptor apoptotic pathway through estrogen receptor-α/-β activation - Phytother Res 2023 Apr 26 - "Doxorubicin (DOX), an effective chemotherapeutic drug, has been used to treat various cancers; however, its cardiotoxic side effects restrict its therapeutic efficacy. Fisetin, a flavonoid phytoestrogen derived from a range of fruits and vegetables, has been reported to exert cardioprotective effects against DOX-induced cardiotoxicity; however, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear ... These findings imply that fisetin has a significant therapeutic potential against DOX-induced cardiotoxicity" - See fisetin at Amazon.com.

Metformin and Cancer: Solutions to a Real-World Evidence Failure - Diabetes Care 2023 May 1 - "The quest to repurpose metformin, an antidiabetes drug, as an agent for cancer prevention and treatment, which began in 2005 with an observational study that reported a reduction in cancer incidence among metformin users, generated extensive experimental, observational, and clinical research. Experimental studies revealed that metformin has anticancer effects via various pathways, potentially inhibiting cancer cell proliferation. Concurrently, multiple nonrandomized observational studies reported remarkable reductions in cancer incidence and outcomes with metformin use. However, these studies were shown, in 2012, to be affected by time-related biases, such as immortal time bias, which tend to greatly exaggerate the benefit of a drug. The observational studies that avoided these biases did not find an association. Subsequently, the randomized trials of metformin for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and as adjuvant therapy for the treatment of various cancers, advanced or metastatic, did not find reductions in cancer incidence or outcomes. Most recently, the largest phase 3 randomized trial of metformin as adjuvant therapy for breast cancer, which enrolled 3,649 women with a 5-year follow-up, found no benefit for disease-free survival or overall survival with metformin. This major failure of observational real-world evidence studies in correctly assessing the effects of metformin on cancer incidence and outcomes was caused by preventable biases which, surprisingly, are still prominent in 2022. Rigorous approaches for observational studies that emulate randomized trials, such as the incident and prevalent new-user designs along with propensity scores, avoid these biases and can provide more accurate real-world evidence for the repurposing of drugs such as metformin"

Probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics in type 1 diabetes mellitus: A systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials - Diabetes Metab Res Rev 2023 May 14 - "Dysbiosis or imbalance of microbes in the gut has been associated with susceptibility and progression of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). The present systematic review and meta-analysis examined the effects of probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics on fasting blood glucose (FBG), haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), C-peptide, and insulin requirements in T1DM patients ... The pooled effect size showed that FBG decreased following probiotic supplementation (weighted mean difference = -31.24 mg/dL; 95% confidence interval = -45.65, -16.83; p < 0.001), however, there was no significant improvement in serum HbA1c, C-peptide, and insulin requirements. Probiotic supplementation could be a complementary therapeutic strategy in T1DM. The evidence is limited; therefore, it is crucial to conduct more trials" - See probiotic supplements at Amazon.com.

Ginsenoside Rg1 activates brown adipose tissue to counteract obesity in high-fat diet-fed mice by regulating gut microbes and bile acid composition - Food Funct 2023 Apr 27 - "brown adipose tissue (BAT) ... In conclusion, these results suggest that Rg1 activates BAT to counteract obesity by regulating gut microbes and bile acid composition in HFD-fed mice" - See ginseng at Amazon.com.

Evaluation on the Efficacy and Safety of Panax Notoginseng Saponins in the Treatment of Stroke among Elderly People: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of 206 Randomized Controlled Trials - Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2023 May 4 - "Evidence regarding the effect of Panax notoginseng saponins (PNS) on treating elderly stroke patients is scare and inconsistent. This study investigated the efficacy and safety of PNS by means of meta-analysis so as to provide an evidence-based reference for the treatment of elderly patients with stroke. ... Single PNS intervention or PNS combined with WM/TAU significantly improves the neurological status, the overall clinical efficacy and daily living activities of elderly stroke patients. However, more multicenter RCT research with high quality is required in the future to verify the results in this study" - See Panax ginseng at Amazon.com.

Astaxanthin supplementation assists sorafenib in slowing skeletal muscle atrophy in H22 tumsor-bearing mice via reversing abnormal glucose metabolism - Mol Nutr Food Res 2023 May 13 - "Cachexia, which is often marked by skeletal muscular atrophy, is one of the leading causes of death in cancer patients. Astaxanthin, a carotenoid obtained from marine organisms that can aid in the prevention and treatment of a variety of disorders ... Our findings show the significant potential of Astaxanthin as nutritional supplements for cancer patients, as well as the notion that nutritional interventions should be implemented at the initiation of cancer treatment, as instead of waiting until cachexia sets in"-- See astaxanthin at Amazon.com.

Curcumin inhibits liquid-liquid phase separation of fused in sarcoma and attenuates the sequestration of pyruvate kinase to restore cellular metabolism - Food Funct 2023 May 9 - "The abnormal accumulation of fused in sarcoma (FUS) is a pathological hallmark in a proportion of patients with frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Therefore, the clearance of FUS aggregates is a possible therapeutic strategy for FUS-associated neurodegenerative diseases ... Curcumin attenuated FUS aggregation-mediated sequestration of pyruvate kinase and restored cellular metabolism, consequently increasing ATP levels. These results indicate that curcumin is a potent inhibitor of FUS liquid-liquid phase separation and provide novel insights into the effect of curcumin in ameliorating abnormal metabolism" - See curcumin at Amazon.com.

Time-Varying Use of Proton Pump Inhibitors and Cognitive Impairment and Dementia: A Real-World Analysis from Germany - Drugs Aging 2023 May 13 - "Our large study supports existing evidence that PPI use is related to an increased risk of dementia."

Health Focus (Taurine):