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Dr. Marie Gabrielle Laguna

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Medical doctor-internist

https://www.eternusglobal.com

Drinking makes you older at the cellular level

Jul 31, 2017

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The more alcohol that people drink, the more their cells appear to age. In a new study that will be shared at the 40^th�annual scientific meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) in Denver on June 24-28, researchers found that alcoholic patients had shortened telomere lengths, placing them at greater risk for age-related illnesses, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and dementia.^.

“Telomeres, the protein caps on the ends of human chromosomes, are markers of aging and overall health,” said Naruhisa Yamaki, M.D., a clinical fellow at the Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine. Yamaki explained that every time a cell replicates, a tiny bit of telomere is lost, so they get shorter with age. But some groups may have shorter telomeres for reasons other than aging.

“Our study showed that alcoholic patients have a shortened telomere length, which means that heavy drinking causes biological aging at a cellular level,” he said. “It is alcohol rather than acetaldehyde that is associated with a shortened telomere length.” Yamaki will present this research at the RSA meeting on June 25.

Yamaki and his co-authors recruited 255 study participants from alcoholism treatment services at Kurihama National Hospital in Yokosuka, Japan: 134 alcoholic patients and 121 age-matched controls or non-alcoholics, ranging in age from 41 to 85 years old. DNA samples, as well as drinking histories and habits, were collected from all participants.

“We also found an association between telomere shortening and thiamine deficiency (TD),” said Yamaki. “TD is known to cause neuron impairments such as Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome. Although�how�exactly TD can cause neural impairments is unclear, it is well known that oxidation stress cause telomere shortening and, thus, it is possible that oxidation stress may also cause neuron death.”

Yamaki added that it’s important for the public to understand that heavy drinking causes telomere shortening because “awareness of this fact provides important information necessary for people to live healthier.”

Yamaki will present these findings during the RSA 2017 meeting on Sunday, June 25 at 3:15 during “A Multifaceted View of Alcoholism in Older Adults” at the Hyatt Regency Denver.

Night shifts may hinder body’s ability to repair DNA damage

Jul 30, 2017

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Suppression of sleep hormone melatonin a likely factor, findings suggest

**Night shift work may hinder the body’s ability to repair DNA damage caused by normal cellular processes, suggests a small study published online in�Occupational & Environmental Medicine.**

Previous research by the same authors of 223 night shift workers showed that day sleep was associated with lower levels in their urine of a chemical by-product of active DNA tissue repair called 8-OH-dG than night sleep — potentially indicating reduced capacity to repair cellular damage.

The findings led them to conclude that the key factor behind this observed difference was likely to be suppressed production of the ‘sleep hormone’ melatonin during day sleep relative to night sleep. Melatonin regulates the internal body clock also known as circadian rhythm.

In a bid to explore whether lower levels of 8-OH-dG might also be found in those working night shifts compared with those getting a normal night’s sleep, they measured 8-OH-dG levels in the stored urine samples of 50 night shift workers from the previous study.

These 50 people had exhibited the widest discrepancies in levels of circulating melatonin between night work and night sleep.

Analysis of the urine samples showed that melatonin levels were much lower when taken during a night shift than when taken during a normal night’s sleep.

After taking account of potentially influential factors, such as alcohol consumption and shorter sleep duration (average 5.5 hours) during the day preceding a night shift, 8-OH-dG levels were only 20% of those observed during a normal night’s sleep (average 7.5 hours).

The results indicate that, relative to night sleep, reduced melatonin production among shift workers during night work is associated with significantly reduced urinary excretion of 8-OH-dG. This likely reflects a reduced capacity to repair oxidative DNA damage due to insufficient levels of melatonin and may result in cells harbouring higher levels of DNA damage.

If such effects are confirmed, melatonin supplementation should be evaluated and explored for future study as an intervention to reduce the occurrence of potentially carcinogenic DNA damage among shift workers.

Microneedle patch developed for flu vaccination

Jul 29, 2017

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A National Institutes of Health-funded study led by a team at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University has shown that an influenza vaccine can produce robust immune responses and be administered safely with an experimental patch of dissolving microneedles. The method is an alternative to needle-and-syringe immunization; with further development, it could eliminate the discomfort of an injection as well as the inconvenience and expense of visiting a flu clinic.

The study, published online on June 27, 2017, in�The Lancet, was led by Nadine Rouphael, M.D., associate professor of medicine and Mark J. Mulligan, M.D., distinguished professor of medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, in collaboration with Mark R. Prausnitz, Ph.D., Regents Professor and J. Erskine Love Chair in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology. A team led by Prausnitz designed the dime-sized patch of microneedles used in the study.

The vaccine patch consists of 100 solid, water-soluble needles just long enough to penetrate the skin. Adhesive helps the patch grip the skin during the administration of the vaccine.

The researchers enrolled 100 adult participants, dividing them into four random groups. The researchers used an inactivated influenza vaccine formulated for the 2014-15 flu season to inoculate participants other than those in the placebo group.

The results showed that antibody responses generated by the vaccine, as measured through analysis of blood samples, were similar in the groups vaccinated using patches and those receiving intramuscular injection, and these immune responses were still present after six months.

The prospective vaccine technology could offer economic and manufacturing advantages. The manufacturing cost for the patch is expected to be competitive with prefilled syringe costs. The patch, however, can dramatically reduce the cost of vaccination, since self-administration can eliminate the need to have health workers oversee the process. It can be easily packaged for transportation, requires no refrigeration, and is stable.

The team plans to conduct further clinical trials to pursue the technology’s ultimate availability to patients. They also are working to develop microneedle patches for use with other vaccines, including measles, rubella and polio.

Unique stem cells as a potential asthma treatment

Jul 28, 2017

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A study led by scientists at Monash University has shown that a new therapy developed through stem cell technology holds promise as a treatment for chronic asthma.

The Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute (BDI) scientists provided the experimental expertise to test Cynata Therapeutics’ induced pluripotent stem cell-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in a model of experimental asthma. Induced pluripotent stem cells are a type of pluripotent stem cell that can be generated directly from adult cells; they have the ability to be differentiated into a variety of tissue types and, in this case, MSCs that can regenerate damaged lung tissue.

Lead researchers Associate Professor Chrishan Samuel and Dr Simon Royce tested the efficacy of the MSCs on three key components of asthma in a preclinical model of chronic allergic airways disease: inflammation; airway remodeling (structural changes that occur in lungs as a result of prolonged inflammation); and airway hyperresponsiveness (the clinical symptom of asthma).

The study, published in the�FASEB Journal, found that the MSCs could effectively reduce inflammation, reversed signs of airway remodelling and completely normalised airway/lung fibrosis and airway hyperresponsiveness, particularly when delivered intranasally.

It concluded that they may provide a novel stand-alone therapy or an adjunct therapy for groups of asthma sufferers who do not respond to current (corticosteroid) therapy.

“Most importantly, what we found was you can treat fibrosis (hardening or scarring of the lung) very effectively,” said Associate Professor Samuel, who heads the Monash BDI’s Fibrosis Laboratory. According to him, other types of stem cells were combined with anti-scarring drugs cells to fully reverse scarring and lung dysfunction with asthma. These cells were remarkable on their own as they were able to effectively reverse the scarring that contributes to lung dysfunction and difficulty in breathing.

Further research will be conducted to test the MSCs in combination with, or compared to a clinically-used corticosteroid. Clinical trials using the cells as a novel target for asthma are then envisaged.

Cynata Therapeutics Limited is an Australian clinical-stage stem cell and regenerative medicine company developing therapies based on its proprietary Cymerus™ stem cell technology platform.

Aspirin reduces risk of pre-eclampsia in pregnant women

Jul 27, 2017

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Extensive study offers ‘definitive proof’ of improved outcomes in high-risk pregnancies

Taking a low-dose aspirin before bed can reduce the risk of pre-eclampsia, which can cause premature birth and, in extreme cases, maternal and fetal death.

Pre-eclampsia is characterized by an increase in blood pressure and protein in the urine, which can occur after the 20th week of pregnancy. It causes reduced placental blood flow, restricting the flow of oxygen and nutrients to the fetus. It often contributes to health complications for the baby including growth restriction, pre-term birth, or even death. It can lead to convulsions (eclampsia), renal or liver failure, cardiac, pulmonary and other maternal health complications.

A trial, led by Professor Kypros Nicolaides of Fetal Medicine at King’s College London, Dr. Liona Poon of King’s College London, with Professor David Wright of the University of Exeter, found that administering low-dose aspirin (150 mg) per day to pregnant women from between 11 to 14 weeks of pregnancy up until 36 weeks, led to a 62% reduction in the rate of pre-term preeclampsia.

The double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of 1,776 women at high risk for pre-term preeclampsia found a lower incidence of developing the disease in women taking aspirin than those taking a placebo. Pre-term preeclampsia occurred in 13 participants (1.6%) in the aspirin group, compared to 35 (4.3%) in the placebo group. The results prompted calls for low-dose aspirin to be routinely prescribed to women at risk of the disease.

An analysis of more than 30 trials investigating the benefit of a dose of 50 to 150 mg of aspirin per day showed that such prevention therapy resulted in a 10% lower incidence of preeclampsia.

The World Health Organization already recommends low-dose aspirin started before 20 weeks of pregnancy for the prevention of pre-eclampsia of high-risk women.

In the United States, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists recommends the use of aspirin in women with a history of pre-eclampsia in more than one pregnancy or a history of pre-eclampsia resulting in delivery before 34 weeks of gestation.

Older Obese Adults Can Benefit From Moderate Exercise

Jul 26, 2017

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Moderate-intensity exercise can help even extremely obese older adults improve their ability to perform common daily activities and remain independent, according to researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

Findings from the National Institutes of Health-funded study are published in Obesity journal July issue.

In the United States, obesity affects nearly 13 million adults age 65 and older. Obesity is strongly associated with major mobility disability (MMD) development. MMD is defined as the inability to walk a quarter of a mile, without sitting and help from another person or a walker, according to the study’s lead author, Stephen Kritchevsky, Ph.D., director of the Sticht Center for Healthy Aging and Alzheimer’s Prevention at Wake Forest Baptist.

Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders (LIFE) study showed that a structured physical activity program reduced the risk of MMD. This study was a large clinical trial that enrolled 1,635 sedentary men and women age 70 to 89.

Participants were divided into four groups according to body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference: non-obese with BMI less than 30; non-obese with waist circumference of more than 40 inches for men and 34 inches for women; class 1 obese with BMI between 30 and 35; and class 2 obese with BMI of 35 or higher. They were randomized to a moderate intensity physical activity program and health education program to test if physical activity would reduce the rate of MMD as compared to education program.

The physical activity program focused on walking, strength, balance and flexibility training. Participants attended two center-based training sessions per week and performed at-home activities three to four times per week during the two-year study.

The education program involved workshops and interactive discussions on nutrition, safety and legal/financial issues. Sessions included upper body stretching exercises.

Obesity category and intervention effect has no significant difference, however, those in the class 2 obesity group greatly benefited from the physical activity program, reducing their risk of MDD by 31 percent, Kritchevsky said. MMD affect the quality of life and independence of older people but moderate exercise was safe and effective way to reduce that risk.

Novel Biopolymer Injection Leads to Good Glucose Control for Weeks

Jul 24, 2017

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A new treatment for diabetes in the form of a biopolymer injection lasts more than two weeks in primates, promising to eclipse present medication options in humans.

Biomedical engineers at Duke University have created a technology that would furnish weeks of glucose control for diabetes with a single injection, which would be a dramatic improvement over present cures. In primates, the treatment has been proven to last for weeks, as a substitute than days.

By making a controlled release mechanism for a drug and optimizing its circulation time in the body, this new biopolymer injection has the capacity to replace every day or weekly insulin shots with a once-a-month or twice-a-month treatment for type 2 diabetes.

The new remedy is described June 5 in Nature Biomedical Engineering.

Many present treatments for type 2 diabetes use a signaling molecule called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP1) to intent the pancreas to free up insulin to control blood sugar. Nonetheless, this peptide has a brief half-lifes and is cleared from the body rapidly.

To make treatments last longer, researchers have beforehand fused GLP1 with artificial microspheres and biomolecules like antibodies, making them active for two to three days in mice and up to per week in humans. Despite this improvement, many of these treatments don’t incorporate a mechanism to manipulate the rate of the peptide’s release, causing the treatment’s effectiveness to plateau after prolonged use.

Now researchers at Duke have created a technological method that fuses GLP1 to a heat-sensitive elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) in a solution that can be injected into the dermis via a typical needle. Once injected, the solution reacts with body warmth to form a biodegradable gel-like “depot” that slowly releases the drug because it dissolves. In animal experiments, the resulting treatment provided glucose control for up to 3 times longer than treatments currently on the market.

According to Ashutosh Chilkoti, chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) at Duke University and a senior author of the paper, Although we’ve pursued this method in the past, Kelli Luginbuhl, a grad student in my lab, systematically worked to vary the design of the delivery biopolymer at the molecular level and found a sweet spot that maximized the duration of the drug’s delivery from a single injection. By doing so, we managed to triple the duration of this short-acting drug for type 2 diabetes, outperforming other competing designs.�

Building upon their prior work with the drug and supply system, researchers in the Chilkoti lab optimized their way to keep an eye on glucose levels in mice for 10 days after a single injection, up from the earlier regular of 2-3 days.

In further exams, the group observed that the optimized formulation multiplied glucose control in rhesus monkeys for more than 14 days after a single injection, at the same time also releasing the drug at a consistent fee in the course of the trial.

According to Kelli Luginbuhl, a PhD student in the Chilkoti lab and co-author of the study, What’s exciting about this work was our ability to demonstrate that the drug could last over two weeks in non-human primates. Because our metabolism is slower than monkeys and mice, the treatment should theoretically last even longer in humans, so our hope is that this will be the first bi-weekly or once-a-month formulation for people with type 2 diabetes.�

Breastfeeding Protects Against Chronic Pain After Caesarean Section

Jul 22, 2017

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Breastfeeding for a minimum 2 months or more could protect mothers from chronic pain in the surgical site after caesarean section, reveals a study.

C-sections are common now; nearly 1 in 4 births in the USA, UK and Canada are delivered via caesarean section. One in five mothers who had C-section has experienced pain that lasts for more than three months. Breast milk is the most primary and required nutrition for newborns and it is widely accepted. Exclusive breastfeeding up to six months is recommended by WHO, US Department of Health and Human Services. However until this time, little facts have been understood regarding the impact of breastfeeding on chronic pain experienced by mothers after C-section.

Dr Carmen Alicia Vargas Berenjeno and colleagues from the Hospital Universitario Nuestra Señora de Valme in Sevilla, Spain conducted the study among 185 mothers who had a C-section during the period of January 2015 and December 2016. Participants were interviewed regarding their breastfeeding patterns and the pain at the surgical area in the initial 24 and 72 hours following C-section, and repeated after 4 months. The other variables on chronic pain like surgical technique, level of pain in the initial 24 to 72 hours, occupation and maternal education, and nervousness during breastfeeding were also observed by the researchers.

Effects of Breastfeeding

Nearly every mother (87%) who participated in the study had breastfed, with more than half (58%) continuing breastfeeding for two months or even longer. Reports demonstrated that nearly 1 in 4 (23%) of the participants who breastfed for 2 months or lesser had chronic pain in the surgical area 4 months after the operation in comparison to only 8% of mothers who breastfed for 2 months or longer. These variations were remarkable even after altering the participant's age. Additional analysis revealed that participants who were less educated were more likely to have chronic pain when compared to those with a university education. More than half (54%) of participants were anxious when they breastfed.

The researchers conclude that, “these first round results propose that breastfeeding for more than 2 months protects against persistent post-caesarean pain. The risk of chronic pain increased three-fold if breastfeeding is only continued for 2 months or less. The study provides an additional good reason to promote women to breastfeed. There is a chance that anxiety during breastfeeding might influence the possibility of pain at the surgical site 4 months post-operation.”

The researchers are now analyzing further data from women interviewed between November 2016 to January 2017, which, when added to data from all the other women, reveals that anxiety is related with persistent post Caesarean pain in a statistically remarkable way.

A Wearable Diagnostic Patch That Can Detect Sleep Apnea

Jul 21, 2017

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A novel, disposable adhesive path can be used to detect obstructive sleep apnea, which is efficient at all severity levels, as per the results of a clinical trial.

Reports reveal that the total rate of clinical agreement between the diagnostic patch and standard in-lab polysomnography was 87.4 percent with 95 percent confidence interval of 81.4 percent to 91.9 percent. The study authors mentioned that, the results will be helpful in getting approval for the device SomnaPatch from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

What Is Sleep Apnea?

Sleep apnea is a condition wherein a person cannot breathe well during sleep because of obstruction in the airways during sleep by anatomical conditions or medical problems. This breathing condition can predispose one to have poor circulation particularly in the brain and other major organs, further leading to an increased risk for heart attacks, strokes and blood vessel problems. Thus early diagnosis should be done so that the problem can promptly be treated and further medical problems are prevented.

Efficacy Of Wearable Diagnostic Patch

The patch records blood oxygen saturation, nasal pressure, pulse rate, sleep time, respiratory effort and body position and it weighs less than one ounce and is skin-adhesive.

Principal investigator of the study Maria Merchant, PhD, CEO of Somnarus Inc, said that, our study offered clinical validation of a novel wearable device that could diagnose sleep apnea. It was amazing to us to see the performance of this inexpensive device when compared to in-lab sleep studies.�

Real-time polysomnography and patch recordings from 174 participants were added in the analysis. Furthermore home usability study revealed that 38 out of 39 users were successful in activating the diagnostic patch and recording a minimum of 4 hours of sleep data while depending only on the instructions that comes with the device.

“Most home sleep diagnostic devices are difficult for patients to use and are disruptive to patient’s sleep,” said Merchant. “Our study showed that this wearable home sleep monitor is very comfortable, easy to use and does not negatively affect sleep.”

Merchant noted that, most of the home sleep diagnostic devices are not easy to use and are interrupting patient's sleep. This study demonstrated that wearable miniature device is very convenient, easy to use and does not disturb sleep. �

Do you want to read about the latest discoveries and interesting news about sleep apnea? Feel free to browse our other articles on this site.

Dairy Products A Good Dietary Source Of Some Types Of Vitamin K

Jul 18, 2017

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Commonly consumed dietary foods contain natural forms of vitamin K, reveals a recent study

Vitamin K helps in the�clotting of blood which is usually thought to be present in leafy greens like kale, spinach and broccoli. In dietary sources, vitamin K is found naturally in two forms namely phylloquinone (PK, or vitamin K1) and menaquinones (MK, or vitamin K2). PK forms are found in plant-based foods and MK forms are present in animal products and fermented food items. Nearly, every MK forms are also made by gut bacteria in human body. But information about MK forms present in U.S dairy products is less known.

“Dairy foods have little amounts of PK, the well known of the vitamin K forms, and thus dairy is not generally considered a good dietary source for this nutrient. But, in the case of MK forms, we discovered that dairy items already seen in many peoples’ refrigerators are really a rich dietary source for vitamin K,” noted Xueyan Fu, Ph.D., principal and corresponding author of this study and scientist in the Vitamin K Laboratory at the USDA HNRCA.

Presence Of Vitamin K In Dairy Products

To identify the presence of MK and PK in dairy products, the researchers made use of 50 nation-wide collected dairy samples offered by the USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory and 148 dairy samples purchased in 2016 from Boston area retail stores. The products were separated into categories based on dairy types and fat content such as milks, yogurts, Greek yogurts, creams, kefirs, fresh cheeses, blue cheeses processed cheeses, soft cheeses, semi-soft cheeses, and hard cheeses. The impact of fat content on total vitamin K in all forms was analyzed using a two-sample T-test. For cream products, the researchers had a smaller sample size, was compared by means of a general linear model, with heavy cream as the reference group.

The full-fat dairy products had remarkable amounts of MK, mainly in the forms of MK9, MK10 and MK11. Together, these three forms of MK estimated for approximately 90 percent of total vitamin K found in the foods tested.

When it comes to cheeses, the total vitamin K content changed by type, with soft cheese contain the highest concentration, followed by blue cheese, semi-soft cheese, and hard cheese. All these kinds of cheeses had MK9, MK10 and MK11, and modest amounts of PK, MK4, MK7, MK8 and MK12. Little MK5, MK6 or MK13 was present in the most of the cheeses.

In milk, the vitamin K concentrations changed along with fat content; both total vitamin K and individual MK concentrations in full-fat milk were remarkably higher than in 2 percent milk. PK was only found in full-fat milk. Only MK9-11 was present in milk. In yogurts, full-fat regular and Greek yogurts showed same concentrations of vitamin K as in full-fat milk; neither MK nor PK were found in fat-free yogurt.

“Measured intakes of PK and MK in dairy-producing countries in Western Europe propose that between 10 and 25 percent of total vitamin K intakes are given by MK, and mainly from dairy sources. Also, observational data from Europe propose that MK from dairy products have a stronger relation with heart health benefits in comparison to with PK intakes. This information from other countries emphasizes the need to estimate MK in regularly consumed foods in the U.S.,” explained Sarah L. Booth, Ph.D., last author on the study.

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