A Dutch population-based study revealed that a better diet quality is associated with larger brain tissue volumes. The study included 4,447 participants (average age 65.7; female 56.8%) underwent dietary assessment and brain MRI scanning between 2005 and 2015, excluding participants with an implausible energy intake, prevalent dementia, or cortical infarcts. […]
A Spanish study identified that cardiomyopathy-associated genes titin truncating variants (TTNtv) represent a prevalent genetic predisposition for alcoholic cardiomyopathy (ACM), and are also associated with a worse left ventricular ejection fraction in dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) patients who consume alcohol above recommended levels. The study included 141 ACM cases, 716 DCM […]
A prospective cohort study in the US revealed that greater depressive symptoms were associated with worse episodic memory, smaller cerebral volume, and silent infarcts. The study included 1,111 stroke-free older adults with an average age of 71 between 2003 and 2008, 52% were Caribbean Hispanic. 22% of participants had greater […]
A US cohort study found that the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) was prospectively associated with all-cause mortality and cardiovascular disease (CVD). A Duffy antigen variant locus, a common genetic variant of African origin, was associated with a lower baseline NLR and modified the associations. The study included a population-based longitudinal cohort […]
A study in US adults concluded that a healthy lifestyle could substantially reduce premature mortality and prolong life expectancy. The study included 123,329 adults and defined 5 low-risk lifestyle factors as never smoking, body mass index of 18.5 to 24.9 kg/m2, ≥30 min/d of moderate to vigorous physical activity, moderate […]
A genome-wide association meta-analysis identified 44 independent and significant loci associated with major depression. The analysis was based in 135,458 cases and 344,901 controls. Lower educational attainment and higher body mass were putatively causal, whereas major depression and schizophrenia reflected a partly shared biological etiology. All humans carry lesser or […]
A prospective Swedish study suggests that nuts consumption or factors associated with it may play a role in reducing the risk of atrial fibrillation. The study included 61 364 Swedish adults followed up for 17 years. There was an inverse association between nuts consumption and incident atrial fibrillation, and remained […]
The US Preventive Services Task Force has updated recommendations of exercise, but not vitamin D for fall prevention interventions in community-dwelling older adults. According to a systematically review of 62 randomized clinical trials (N = 35 058), multifactorial intervention trials were associated with a reduction in falls (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 0.79). Exercise […]
A cohort study in the US suggested prenatal selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) exposure was associated with changes in fetal brain structure and activity, particularly in brain regions critical to emotional processing. The study included 98 infants: 16 with in utero SSRI exposure, 21 with in utero untreated maternal depression […]
Antidepressants have helped millions of people ease depression and anxiety, but they are not harmless. Many people stop the medications without significant trouble. Some people have significant withdrawal symptoms, and make tiny reductions over a long period of time may help to quit. The drugs initially were approved for short-term […]