Could Ultra-Processed Foods Be the New ‘Silent’ Killer?

Hundreds of novel ingredients never encountered by human physiology are now found in nearly 60 percent of the average adult’s diet and nearly 70 percent of children’s diets in the U.S.
Photo Credit: Nico Smit

From fizzy drinks to cereals and packaged snacks to processed meat, ultra-processed foods are packed with additives. Oil, fat, sugar, starch and sodium, as well as emulsifiers such as carrageenan, mono- and diglycerides, carboxymethylcellulose, polysorbate and soy lecithin continue to strip food of healthy nutrients while introducing other ingredients that could also be detrimental to human health.

Hundreds of novel ingredients never encountered by human physiology are now found in nearly 60 percent of the average adult’s diet and nearly 70 percent of children’s diets in the United States.

While obesity and lack of physical activity are well recognized contributors to avoidable morbidity and mortality in the U.S., another emerging hazard is the unprecedented consumption of these ultra-processed foods in the standard American diet. This may be the new “silent” killer, as was unrecognized high blood pressure in previous decades.

Physicians from Florida Atlantic University’s Schmidt College of Medicine explored this hypothesis and provide important insights to health care providers in a battle where the entertainment industry, the food industry and public policy do not align with their patients’ needs. Their findings are published in a commentary in The American Journal of Medicine.

Giant step forward to help treat chronic wounds that affect millions

A team of international scientists has developed a more effective treatment for chronic wounds that does not involve antibiotics or silver-based dressings, but an ionized gas called plasma.

The treatment involves boosting the plasma activation of hydrogel dressings with a unique mix of different chemical oxidants that decontaminate and help heal chronic wounds.

University of South Australia physicist Dr Endre Szili, who led the study published this week in Advanced Functional Materials, describes the new method as “a significant breakthrough” that could revolutionize the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers, internal wounds and potentially cancerous tumors.

“Antibiotics and silver dressings are commonly used to treat chronic wounds, but both have drawbacks,” Dr Szili says. “Growing resistance to antibiotics is a global challenge and there are also major concerns over silver-induced toxicity. In Europe, silver dressings are being phased out for this reason.”

Widely used AI tool for early sepsis detection may be cribbing doctors’ suspicions

Image Credit: Scientific Frontline

When using only data collected before patients with sepsis received treatments or medical tests, the model’s accuracy was no better than a coin toss

Proprietary artificial intelligence software designed to be an early warning system for sepsis can’t differentiate high and low risk patients before they receive treatments, according to a new study from the University of Michigan.

The tool, named the Epic Sepsis Model, is part of Epic’s electronic medical record software, which serves 54% of patients in the United States and 2.5% of patients internationally, according to a statement from the company’s CEO reported by the Wisconsin State Journal. It automatically generates sepsis risk estimates in the records of hospitalized patients every 20 minutes, which clinicians hope can allow them to detect when a patient might get sepsis before things go bad.

“Sepsis has all these vague symptoms, so when a patient shows up with an infection, it can be really hard to know who can be sent home with some antibiotics and who might need to stay in the intensive care unit. We still miss a lot of patients with sepsis,” said Tom Valley, associate professor in pulmonary and critical care medicine, ICU clinician and co-author of the study published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine AI.

Targeting inflammation to tackle long covid

Illustration Credit: Gerd Altmann

Overactivation of the immune system leading to circulation of inflammatory proteins around the body contributes to the development of long covid, and could be targeted to provide treatments for patients, finds new research.

Cardiff University research has uncovered biological markers that could be targeted by repurposing medication to treat long covid.

The research conducted extensive analysis of plasma samples obtained from a large cohort of healthy post-covid individuals and non-hospitalized patients with long covid. They found that the complement system – a system that plays a crucial part of the immune system, consisting of a group of proteins that work together to enhance the function of antibodies and immune cells – was commonly overactivated in those with long covid.

“The covid-19 pandemic has left a global legacy of ill health, with long covid estimated to affect up to 1.9 million people in the UK. Long covid can last for months or years after the triggering infection and is associated with diverse symptoms including brain fog, chest pain, breathlessness, fatigue, and sensory problems. The causes of this disease remain largely unknown, emerging evidence suggests an important role for chronic inflammation."
Professor Paul Morgan 'Professor of complement biology, Division of Infection and Immunity

Scientists help discover new treatment for many cancers

UniSA/CCB Professor Greg Goodall, part of the team that made the landmark discovery.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of University of South Australia 

Australian scientists have made a major discovery that could underpin the next generation of RNA-based therapeutics, and lead to more potent and longer-lasting RNA-based drugs with an even wider array of potential uses.

In a paper published in the journal Nature, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre scientists Vi Wickramasinghe and Linh Ngo and collaborator Greg Goodall at the University of South Australia and SA Pathology’s Centre for Cancer Biology, have described a new pathway that could help to overcome a major drawback of RNA-based therapeutics to date.

Currently these breakthrough therapeutics utilize mRNA – injectable genetic material that produces a desired therapeutic or vaccine effect, but they can also break down quickly once absorbed into the human body.

“It’s the linear shape of mRNA that makes it relatively unstable and lack durability inside the body and this has been a limiting factor in the potential application of RNA-based therapeutics for diseases such as cancer,” explains Dr Wickramasinghe, senior author on the paper.

Better diagnosis and treatment of cryptococcosis

Photo Credit: Courtesy of University of Cologne

Global guideline for the management of cryptococcosis, a fungal infection that can have serious health consequences, published in the journal ‘The Lancet Infectious Diseases’

A group of international mycology experts led by Professor Dr Oliver A. Cornely at the University of Cologne has jointly drafted a guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of cryptococcosis, which aims at improving infection management and thus the survival rate of patients. Cryptococcosis is a fungal infection of mainly the lungs that might lead to meningitis. The article ‘Global guideline for the diagnosis and management of cryptococcosis’ was published in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

Cryptococcosis, especially cryptococcal meningitis (CM) as the most fatal form, is responsible for a high fatality rate among patients. It is one of the most widespread invasive fungal infections in the world and is a major threat particularly to people suffering from immunodeficiencies. For example, around one million cases of cryptococcal meningoencephalitis are diagnosed worldwide every year in people with HIV alone, and more than 600,000 people die from the disease each year. Patients who have undergone a bone marrow transplant or organ transplant are also at high risk of infection. It is transmitted through the inhalation of spores from soil. Other organs are then also infected via the bloodstream. The lungs, brain, skin and bones are most frequently affected.

A standard blood test can predict a heart attack

Researchers have proceeded from the hypothesis that several important biological processes are active during the months before a heart attack and that these could be detected using a simple blood test.
Photo Credit: Fernando Zhiminaicela

Using the results of a standard blood test and an online tool, you can find out if you are at increased risk of having a heart attack within six months. The tool has been developed by a research group at Uppsala University in the hope of increasing patients’ motivation to change their lifestyle.

Heart attacks are the most common cause of death in the world and are increasing globally. Many high-risk people are not identified or do not take their preventive treatment.

Now researchers led by Professor Johan Sundström at Uppsala University have found that heart attacks can be predicted with a standard blood test.

The problem, according to the researchers, is that risk factors have previously been verified in studies involving five to ten years of follow-up, where only factors that are stable over time can be identified.

“However, we know that the time just before a heart attack is very dynamic. For example, the risk of a heart attack doubles during the month after a divorce, and the risk of a fatal heart event is five times as high during the week after a cancer diagnosis,” says Sundström, who is a cardiologist and professor of epidemiology at Uppsala University.

Immunotherapy before surgery leads to promising long-term survival in sarcoma patients

From Left to Right Christina Roland, M.D. and Neeta Somaiah, M.D.
Image Credit: Courtesy of University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Patients with soft-tissue sarcoma treated with neoadjuvant, or pre-surgical, immunotherapy had very little residual tumor at the time of surgery and promising long-term survival, according to Phase II trial results published today in Nature Cancer by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

After treatment with a combination of immunotherapy and radiation followed by surgical removal of the residual mass, 90% of patients with undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS) had less than 15% viable tumor cells remaining, better than what has historically been seen with radiation alone. The overall survival (OS) rate at two years after first treatment was 82% in resectable retroperitoneal dedifferentiated liposarcoma (DDLPS) and 90% in UPS.

“These results demonstrate the role immunotherapy treatment can have on soft-tissue sarcomas and how the neoadjuvant treatment platform can help identify novel treatment options for patients,” said co-principal investigator Christina Roland, M.D., associate professor of Surgical Oncology. “Sarcoma patients have limited systemic therapy options to consider, and this trial offers data to support the use of immunotherapy in their treatment.”

Researchers identify a new mechanism that could improve the efficiency of diabetes treatments

The study led by the UB and CIBERDEM reveals new strategies to inhibit glucose synthesis in the liver and reduce levels in patients affected by metabolic pathologies.
Image Credit: Gemini Advance AI

A study led by the University of Barcelona and the Biomedical Research Networking Center in Diabetes and Associated Metabolic Disorders (CIBERDEM) reveals how a new mechanism could improve the efficiency of currently available treatments for diabetes. The study, carried out on mice and cell cultures, may open up new ways of approaching metabolic diseases that are a global health problem.

The study, published in the journal Metabolism, focuses on the GDF15 protein, a factor that is expressed at high levels in many diseases, such as heart failure, cancer and fatty liver disease. Obese patients also have elevated levels of this protein, but its function is altered and those affected may develop resistance to GDF15 — that is, a reduction in the effectiveness of its activity.

The study is led by Professor Manuel Vázquez-Carrera, from the Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences of the UB, the Institute of Biomedicine of the UB (IBUB), the Sant Joan de Déu Research Institute (IRSJD) and CIBERDEM. The study also highlights the participation of researchers Patricia Rada and Ángela María Valverde, also collaborators at CIBERDEM, the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM). The work has the collaboration of Professor Walter Wahli of the University of Lausanne (Switzerland), among other experts.

Artificial cartilage with the help of 3D printing

The spheroids in which living cells are grown, can be assembled into almost any shape.
Image Credit: Technische Universität Wien

A new approach to producing artificial tissue has been developed at TU Wien: Cells are grown in microstructures created in a 3D printer.

Is it possible to grow tissue in the laboratory, for example to replace injured cartilage? At TU Wien (Vienna), an important step has now been taken towards creating replacement tissue in the lab - using a technique that differs significantly from other methods used around the world.

A special high-resolution 3D printing process is used to create tiny, porous spheres made of biocompatible and degradable plastic, which are then colonized with cells. These spheroids can then be arranged in any geometry, and the cells of the different units combine seamlessly to form a uniform, living tissue. Cartilage tissue, with which the concept has now been demonstrated at TU Wien, was previously considered particularly challenging in this respect.

Brain cell discovery sparks hope for fertility treatments

Photo Credit: Yoshihisa Uenoyama, Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University

Researchers at Nagoya University’s Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences and the National Institute of Physiological Sciences in Japan have demonstrated how a specific type of neuron in the brain affects the release of hormones that control ovarian function, such as follicular development and ovulation in females. These findings, published in the journal Scientific Reports, could help researchers understand and treat reproductive disorders in both animals and humans.  

Kisspeptin neurons in the brain regulate the release of hypothalamic gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) and pituitary follicle-stimulating hormone/luteinizing hormone (LH). This process is important for reproduction, as pituitary hormones stimulate the ovaries to perform their reproductive functions. Examples include follicular development and ovulation in all mammals, including humans.   

There are two main areas of the brain involved in the process: the arcuate nucleus (ARC), in which kisspeptin neurons maintain the regular rhythmic (pulsatile) secretion of GnRH/LH that maintains normal follicular development and sex steroid production; and the anteroventral periventricular nucleus (AVPV), in which kisspeptin neurons trigger a surge of GnRH/LH that leads to ovulation.  

Monash researchers discover key to epithelial cell growth

L-R: Dr Benjamin Kroeger and Professor Kieran Harvey
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Monash University

Monash researchers have discovered a new way that epithelial cells, which form layers in organs such as the skin and stomach, attach to one another, and how they perceive growth signals at these attachments, helping them form tissues of the right size and shape.

Epithelial cells cover the surfaces of most organs in the body and must adhere to each other to form both a protective and permeable barrier. They are exquisitely designed to both be tightly sealed against pathogens such as bacteria, and to also allow the transport of salts, fluids, and nutrients.

Researchers, led by Professor Kieran Harvey and first author Dr Benjamin Kroeger, at the Monash University Biomedicine Discovery Institute have discovered a new way by which epithelial cells adhere to each other in the vinegar fly, Drosophila. The study is published in the journal, Developmental Cell.

Previous work from Professor Harvey and others led to the discovery of an important organ growth control pathway, called Hippo. First discovered in Drosophila, the Hippo pathway does effectively the same job in mammals and controls the size of different organs such as the liver and heart. The Hippo pathway is also important for human diseases as it is mutated in multiple epithelial cancers.

New COVID vaccine induces good antibody response to mutated viral variants

Photo Credit: CDC

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Danderyd Hospital have followed recipients of the new updated COVID-19 vaccine and analyzed the antibody response to different SARS-CoV-2 variants. The results show a surprisingly strong response to the now dominant and highly mutated Omicron variants.

The ongoing COMMUNITY study, which was launched in the spring of 2020 with the regular testing of 2,149 members of the Danderyd Hospital staff, has recently published the results of this autumn’s leg of the study. Twenty-four participants were recorded in this study, the majority of whom were over 64 and had received four or five previous vaccine doses. The article has been peer-reviewed and accepted for publication in the scientific journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases, and is accessible prior to publication on the preprint server, bioRxiv.

Artery calcification more common in night owls

Artery calcification is almost twice as common in night owls compared to early birds, according to a study from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Circadian rhythm appears to be particularly important for the heart and blood vessels during the early stages of the disease.

Artery calcification, or atherosclerosis as it is also known, involves fatty deposits accumulating on the inside of the arteries, making it harder for blood to pass through. The disease develops over a very long period of time, and is not noticed until it leads to angina, blood clots, heart attack, or stroke. Previous research has shown that people with late-night habits have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, but this is the first study to show how circadian rhythm specifically affects artery calcification.

Coronary artery calcification

The study, which has been published in the journal Sleep Medicine, involved 771 men and women aged between 50 and 64, all of whom are part of the larger population study SCAPIS. The degree of artery calcification in the heart’s coronary arteries was examined using computer tomography. Participants themselves indicated their so called chronotype on a five-point scale: extreme morning type, morning type to some extent, neither morning nor evening type, evening type to some extent, or extreme evening type.

Researchers uncover on/off switch for breast cancer metastasis

Songnan Wang (left) and Lingyin Li (right) found that a protein called ENPP1 acts as an on/off switch for breast cancer metastases. High protein levels lead to a high chance of metastasis (as seen by cells growing in the dish on the left), while low levels lead to no metastasis (as seen by no cells growing in the dish on the right).
Photo Credit: Lingyin Li and Songnan Wang

New research from Stanford and the Arc Institute could lead to a new and more effective immunotherapy and help clinicians better predict patient response to existing medicines.

Despite their promise, immunotherapies fail to treat many cancers, including over 80% of some of the most advanced breast cancers. And many of those patients who do respond still experience metastases eventually. New research from Stanford University and the Arc Institute has revealed a better way to predict and improve patient responses.

A team led by Lingyin Li, associate professor of biochemistry at Stanford and Arc Core Investigator, found that a protein called ENPP1 acts as an on/off switch that controls breast cancer’s ability to both resist immunotherapy and metastasize. The study, published on Dec. 20 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed that ENPP1 is produced by cancer cells and by healthy cells in and around the tumor, and that high patient ENPP1 levels are linked to immunotherapy resistance and subsequent metastases. The research could lead to new, more effective immunotherapies and help clinicians better predict patient response to existing medicines.

“Our study should offer hope for everyone,” said Li, who is also an institute scholar at Sarafan ChEM-H.

RIT researchers develop new technique to study how cancer cells move

Vinay Abhyankar, right, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, works closely with two doctoral students, Mehran Mansouri, left, and Indranil Joshi, on research to assess cancer cell migration processes.
Photo Credit: A. Sue Weisler/RIT

In tumors, cells follow microscopic fibers, comparable to following roads through a city. Researchers at the Rochester Institute of Technology developed a new technique to study different features of these “fiber highways” to provide new insights into how cells move efficiently through the tumor environment.

The study, published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, focused on contact guidance, a process where migrating cells follow aligned collagen fibers. Understanding this process is crucial, as it plays a key role in cancer metastasis, the spread of cancer to other parts of the body.

“Previous research on contact guidance, a process where cancer cells migrate along aligned collagen fibers, has been largely studied in collagen gels with uniform fiber alignment,” said Vinay Abhyankar, associate professor of biomedical engineering in RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering, and study co-author. “However, the tumor microenvironment also features subtle variations or gradients in fiber alignment, and their role in cell migration has been largely unexplored. We suspected that alignment gradients could efficiently direct cell movement but lacked the technology to test the hypothesis.”

Moderate low-carbohydrate diet is beneficial for adults with type 1 diabetes

Sofia Sterner Isaksson and Marcus Lind, Institute of Medicine, Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg.
Photo Credit: Malin Arnesson, Johan Wingborg

A moderate low-carbohydrate diet for adults with type 1 diabetes has advantages over traditional diet. The average blood sugar level is reduced and the time with good values during a 24-hour period is increased, without any negative health impact. This has been shown in a study carried out at the University of Gothenburg.

The study published in The Lancet Regional Health - Europe is the largest of its kind to date. Participants were for different periods randomly assigned in a crossover manner to eat a traditional diet with 50% of the energy from carbohydrates, or a moderate low-carbohydrate diet with 30% of the energy from carbohydrates.

This is a moderate reduction in carbohydrates, with 24-hour monitoring of all participants via continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). Blood glucose levels were recorded at least every 15 minutes during the 16 weeks of the study, and were followed up by a dietitian and diabetes nurse.

The researchers emphasize that for safety reasons, major changes in carbohydrate intake in type 1 diabetes should always be made in consultation with the healthcare provider. Individuals should not make these dietary changes on their own, especially not for children with type 1 diabetes. The current study concerns only adults.

Inhaled statins show promise as effective asthma treatment

This diagram shows how the inhaled medication pitavastatin may play a beneficial role in reducing obstructive airway diseases such as asthma.
Illustration Credit: Courtesy of University of California at Davis

Statins are a class of drugs commonly used to lower bad cholesterol, but can they also treat obstructive airway diseases, such as asthma?

UC Davis Health pulmonologists taking part in an NIH-funded study are exploring an innovative approach to determine whether statins may help treat obstructive airway diseases by delivering the medication via inhalation.

“Delivering statins by inhalation is a creative way to deploy a drug that has potent biological effects in pre-clinical cell-based and animal model studies,” said Amir A. Zeki, the principal investigator of the study and professor of internal medicine who specializes in pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine. “Because oral statins do not penetrate the airway compartment at high enough levels to be effective, delivering statins directly to the lung via inhalation might achieve better local tissue drug levels, and therefore, better clinical results. This allows the use of lower drug doses to achieve efficacy while also minimizing systemic side effects.”

Natto Consumption Suppresses Arteriosclerosis

Photo Credit: Seiya Maeda

Natto is widely recognized for inhibiting arteriosclerosis, yet its underlying mechanism remains elusive. Researchers led by the University of Tsukuba studied the effects of natto on arteriosclerosis in mice. The findings showed that consuming natto induced changes in the intestinal microflora, suppressing inflammation and preventing arteriosclerosis.

Atherosclerosis, a chronic condition characterized by the accumulation of lipid and inflammatory cells within the blood vessel walls, causes cardiovascular diseases, such as heart disease and stroke. Natto, a food rich in vitamin K2, has shown promise in mitigating cardiovascular diseases by enhancing arterial flexibility and modulating inflammatory responses. However, the reason why natto suppresses arteriosclerosis remains elusive.

Molecular jackhammers’ ‘good vibrations’ eradicate cancer cells

Ciceron Ayala-Orozco is a research scientist in the Tour lab at Rice University, and lead author on the study.
Photo Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University

The Beach Boys’ iconic hit single “Good Vibrations” takes on a whole new layer of meaning thanks to a recent discovery by Rice University scientists and collaborators, who have uncovered a way to destroy cancer cells by using the ability of some molecules to vibrate strongly when stimulated by light.

The researchers found that the atoms of a small dye molecule used for medical imaging can vibrate in unison ⎯ forming what is known as a plasmon ⎯ when stimulated by near-infrared light, causing the cell membrane of cancerous cells to rupture. According to the study published in Nature Chemistry, the method had a 99 percent efficiency against lab cultures of human melanoma cells, and half of the mice with melanoma tumors became cancer-free after treatment.

“It is a whole new generation of molecular machines that we call molecular jackhammers,” said Rice chemist James Tour, whose lab has previously used nanoscale compounds endowed with a light-activated paddlelike chain of atoms that spins continually in the same direction to drill through the outer membrane of infectious bacteria, cancer cells and treatment-resistant fungi.