Wagamaga

Wagamaga OP t1_iy8c7ym wrote

Reply to "Green Mediterranean diet” high in polyphenols and fiber can reduce that visceral fat. After 18 months, those subjected to the diet saw a visceral fat reduction of 14 percent; eaters of the Mediterranean Diet saw a 7 percent drop. Visceral fat among “healthy eaters” was reduced by 4.5 percent by Wagamaga

Background Mediterranean (MED) diet is a rich source of polyphenols, which benefit adiposity by several mechanisms. We explored the effect of the green-MED diet, twice fortified in dietary polyphenols and lower in red/processed meat, on visceral adipose tissue (VAT).

Methods In the 18-month Dietary Intervention Randomized Controlled Trial PoLyphenols UnproceSsed (DIRECT-PLUS) weight-loss trial, 294 participants were randomized to (A) healthy dietary guidelines (HDG), (B) MED, or (C) green-MED diets, all combined with physical activity. Both isocaloric MED groups consumed 28 g/day of walnuts (+ 440 mg/day polyphenols). The green-MED group further consumed green tea (3–4 cups/day) and Wolffia globosa (duckweed strain) plant green shake (100 g frozen cubes/day) (+ 800mg/day polyphenols) and reduced red meat intake. We used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to quantify the abdominal adipose tissues.

Results Participants (age = 51 years; 88% men; body mass index = 31.2 kg/m2; 29% VAT) had an 89.8% retention rate and 79.3% completed eligible MRIs. While both MED diets reached similar moderate weight (MED: − 2.7%, green-MED: − 3.9%) and waist circumference (MED: − 4.7%, green-MED: − 5.7%) loss, the green-MED dieters doubled the VAT loss (HDG: − 4.2%, MED: − 6.0%, green-MED: − 14.1%; p < 0.05, independent of age, sex, waist circumference, or weight loss). Higher dietary consumption of green tea, walnuts, and Wolffia globosa; lower red meat intake; higher total plasma polyphenols (mainly hippuric acid), and elevated urine urolithin A polyphenol were significantly related to greater VAT loss (p < 0.05, multivariate models).

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Wagamaga OP t1_iy7gurx wrote

Reply to Research shows animals are key to restoring the world’s forests. The unique long-term data set revealed that animals, by carrying a wide variety of seeds into deforested areas, are key to the recovery of tree species richness and abundance to old-growth levels after only 40 to 70 years of regrowth. by Wagamaga

As UN climate talks close in Egypt and biodiversity talks begin in Montreal, attention is on forest restoration as a solution to the twin evils roiling our planet. Forests soak up atmospheric carbon dioxide and simultaneously create habitat for organisms. So far, efforts to help forests bounce back from deforestation have typically focused on increasing one thing—trees—over anything else. But a new report uncovers a powerful, yet largely overlooked, driver of forest recovery: animals. The study by an international team from the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Yale School of the Environment, the New York Botanical Garden, and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute examined a series of regenerating forests in central Panama spanning 20 to 100 years post-abandonment. The unique long-term data set revealed that animals, by carrying a wide variety of seeds into deforested areas, are key to the recovery of tree species richness and abundance to old-growth levels after only 40 to 70 years of regrowth.

“Animals are our greatest allies in reforestation,” says Daisy Dent, a tropical ecologist from the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and the study’s senior author. “Our study prompts a rethink of reforestation efforts to be about more than just establishing plant communities.” The report also notes that situating regenerating forests near patches of old growth, and reducing hunting, encourages animals to colonize and establish. “We show that considering the wider ecosystem, as well as features of the landscape, improves restoration efforts,” says Sergio Estrada-Villegas, a biologist now at Universidad del Rosario (Bogotá, Colombia) and the study’s first author.

Seed dispersal by animals is key to forest expansion. In the tropics, over 80 percent of tree species can be dispersed by animals, which transport seeds throughout the landscape. Despite this, forest restoration efforts continue to focus on increasing tree cover rather than reestablishing the animal-plant interactions that underpin ecosystem function. “Figuring out how animals contribute to reforestation is prohibitively hard because you need detailed information about which animals eat which plants,” says Estrada-Villegas.

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2021.0076

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Wagamaga OP t1_iy30fje wrote

Reply to 30% of cancer contents on social media are unproven info. Some cancer patients use unproven alternative or supplementary treatments without consulting medical professionals, which leads to delaying or rejecting existing treatments, sharply reducing their survival possibilities. by Wagamaga

About 30 percent of cancer-related content on social media, including YouTube, is misinformation not verified medically, a recent study showed.

A research team, led by Professor Kwon Jeong-hye of the Hemato-oncology Department at Chungnam National University Sejong Hospital, said Monday that it published a study, "Understanding the Social Mechanism of Cancer Misinformation Spread on YouTube and Lessons Learned: Infodemiological Study", in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR).

To grasp the spreading structure of cancer-related information on YouTube, the researchers selected 702 YouTube video clips (227 channels) related to the self-prescription of fenbendazole, an anthelmintic used against parasites in animals. Afterward, they extracted 90 videos (excluding overlapping recommendations) uploaded from September 2019 to September 2020, recorded 50,000 or more views, and analyzed the data.

http://www.koreabiomed.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=15156

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Wagamaga OP t1_ixyl7sg wrote

Reply to Childhood traumas strongly impact both mental and physical health, new study shows. For every reported type of abuse experienced in childhood, a participant's risk for PTSD increased 47%. Each cumulative trauma also increased one's risk for making a suicide attempt by 33%. by Wagamaga

Scientists from the Desert Research Institute (DRI) and the University of Nevada, Reno, led the study, published on Oct. 6 in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry. More than 16,000 people from the Reno area volunteered for the research as part of the Healthy Nevada Project, one of the most visible genomic studies in the United States, powered by Renown Health.

Participants answered questions about their social environments before age 18, including experiences with emotional, physical, or sexual mistreatment, neglect, and substance abuse in the household. The researchers combined this information with anonymized medical records to build on existing research about how childhood traumas affect health outcomes.

"The study provides insight as to how social determinants of health may influence adult health disorders," said Robert Read, M.S., a researcher at the Center for Genomic Medicine at DRI and one of the study's lead authors.

Nearly two-thirds (66%) of participants recalled at least one type of trauma, and almost one-quarter (24%) reported experiencing more than four. Women and people of African-American and Latinx descent reported a higher prevalence of traumatic experiences than men and those with European ancestry, but people in low-income households were the most impacted.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-11-childhood-traumas-strongly-impact-mental.html

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Wagamaga OP t1_ixu9ipo wrote

Reply to A study of NFL games during the 2020 season suggests a link between attendance and COVID spikes in surrounding counties 14 and 21 days later. The inferred connection held strongest for games attended by 20,000-plus fans by Wagamaga

Key Points

Question Was fan attendance at National Football League (NFL) games during the 2020-2021 season associated with subsequent spikes in COVID-19 cases in-county and in contiguous counties?

Findings In this cross-sectional study of NFL games attended by a total 1.3 million fans, the presence of large numbers of fans at NFL games was associated with increases in the incidence of COVID-19 cases both in the counties in which these venues were located and contiguous counties. Specifically, NFL games that had 20 000 fans in attendance had 2.23 times the rate of spikes in COVID-19, but NFL games with fewer than 5000 fans in attendance did not generate any spikes.

Meaning This analysis suggests that in-person attended games during the NFL’s 2020 season were associated with subsequent spikes in COVID-19 cases, and that the spikes were most prominent when attendance was over 20 000 persons.

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Wagamaga OP t1_ixu4cbd wrote

Reply to Scientists have discovered that plastic pollution in Antarctica is as bad as everywhere else on the planet. Most of the microfibres were found in air samples, meaning that Antarctic animals and seabirds could very well be breathing them in. by Wagamaga

As nations prepare to meet in Uruguay to negotiate a new Global Plastics Treaty, a new study has revealed the discovery of synthetic plastic fibres in air, seawater, sediment and sea ice sampled in the Antarctic Weddell Sea. The field research was carried out by scientists from the University of Oxford and Nekton (a not-for-profit research institute) during an expedition to discover Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship, the Endurance. The results are published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science.

Fibrous polyesters, primarily from textiles, were found in all samples. The majority of microplastic fibres identified were found in the Antarctic air samples, revealing that Antarctic animals and seabirds could be breathing them. ‘The issue of microplastic fibres is also an airborne problem reaching even the last remaining pristine environments on our planet’, stated co-author Lucy Woodall, a Professor in the University of Oxford’s Department of Biology and Principal Scientist at Nekton. ‘Synthetic fibres are the most prevalent form of microplastic pollution globally and tackling this issue must be at the heart of the Plastic Treaty negotiations.’ Professor Woodall was the first to reveal the prevalence of plastic in the deep sea in 2014.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.1056081/full

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Wagamaga OP t1_ixc9big wrote

Reply to At least two thirds of Australians, including children and adolescents, have had COVID-19. This is more than double the number of cases reported based on nose and throat swab testing for the virus. Vaccination reduces the risk of developing severe disease if infected with the virus by Wagamaga

During the pandemic regular serosurveys, testing for antibodies to the virus (SARS-CoV-2) that causes COVID-19, have been used to track the proportion of people infected. Today, results from two complementary national serosurveys, one in children and adolescents, and the other in adults, have been released. Taken together, they provide a unique snapshot of the extent of SARS-CoV-2 infection across Australia to the end of August 2022.

The children and adolescents survey found at least 64% of 0–19 year olds in Australia had been infected with SARS-CoV-2. In unvaccinated children aged 1–4 years, approximately 8 out of 10 had evidence of past infection. The adults survey, the third in a series of surveys in blood donors, found at least two thirds of the adult population had been infected with SARS-CoV-2, with approximately 20% infected within 3 months of the previous survey in June 2022.

National paediatric serosurvey The child and adolescent study, led by the Paediatric Active Enhanced Diseases Surveillance network (PAEDS) and the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS), in collaboration with Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, tested antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in 2,046 blood samples collected between June and August 2022. Two types of antibodies were tested: antibody to the nucleocapsid protein of the virus, which indicates past infection, and antibody to the spike protein, which can indicate past infection and/or vaccination. In children aged 1–4 years, all of whom were unvaccinated, the proportion with spike antibody was 79%, indicating past infection in approximately 8 out of 10 pre-schoolers.

https://paeds.org.au/sites/default/files/2022-11/PAEDS%20NCIRS_COVID-19%20Paediatric%20Serosurvey%202022%20Report_3-11-2022_Final_1.pdf

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