Mid Rivers Newsmagazine 5-18-22

26 I HEALTH I
May 18, 2022
MID RIVERS NEWSMAGAZINE
@MIDRIVERSNEWS
MIDRIVERSNEWSMAGAZINE.COM
health
capsules
By LISA RUSSELL
Genetic cause of lupus identified
The Lupus Foundation of America estimates
that 1.5 million Americans have been
diagnosed with a form of the autoimmune
disease lupus, and 90% of them are women
between the ages of 15 and 45. This May,
which also happens to be Lupus Awareness
Month, the recently announced discovery
of a primary genetic cause of lupus offers
hope for potential new treatments for this
life-limiting disease.
In a new study, scientists conducted
whole genome sequencing on the DNA of
a young girl from Spain named Gabriela,
who was diagnosed with a severe form
of lupus when she was just 7 years old.
Her young age at diagnosis and advanced
symptoms are very rare, pointing to a
single genetic cause for her disease.
In Gabriela’s case, the researchers were
able to identify a single mutation in a gene
called TLR7. To confirm that this mutation
causes lupus, the team then used gene editing
to introduce it into mice, which also developed
the disease and showed similar symptoms.
This provided more evidence that the
TLR7 mutation was indeed the cause.
By identifying this direct link between
the TLR7 gene mutation and lupus, scientists
can start to search for more effective
treatments based on its activity in the body,
they explained. While existing drugs which
suppress the immune system can help with
symptoms, they can also have serious side
effects and leave patients susceptible to
infections. Progress toward new treatments
for lupus also has been extremely slow,
with only two new drugs approved by the
FDA over the past 60 years.
Dr. Carmen de Lucas Collantes, a coauthor
of the study, said, “Identification
of TLR7 as the cause of lupus in this unusually
severe case ended a diagnostic odyssey
and brings hope for more targeted therapies
A newly published study found that reducing smartphone use by an hour every
day may improve overall well-being.
(Source: Adobe Stock)
for Gabriela and other lupus patients likely
to benefit from this discovery.”
Gabriela herself, who is now a teenager,
added, “I hope this finding will give hope to
people with lupus and make them feel they
are not alone in fighting this battle. Hopefully
the research can continue and end up in a specific
treatment that can benefit so many lupus
warriors who suffer from this disease.”
Turn off your phone an hour
a day for better health
Surveys have shown that many people
now spend more than five hours every
single day texting, watching videos, scrolling
social media, and otherwise interacting
with their smartphones, although estimates
vary by age group. That staggering statistic
recently led a team of German researchers
to investigate what amount of time could be
the “sweet spot” for daily smartphone usage.
They recruited a group of about 600 volunteers,
dividing them into three groups for
a one-week experiment. The first group put
away their phones completely for the entire
week; the second group reduced their daily
use by one hour, and the third group made
no changes to their current smartphone use.
The results showed that even several
months after the experiment ended, those
who reduced their phone use by an hour a
day reported the most positive and longlasting
effects.
Participants in all three groups were
interviewed immediately after the intervention,
as well as one month and four
months afterward. They were asked about
their levels of physical activity, anxiety and
depression, and overall life satisfaction.
“We found that both completely giving up
the smartphone and reducing its daily use by
one hour had positive effects on the lifestyle
and well-being of the participants,” said
Julia Brailovskaia, Ph.D., the study’s leader.
“In the group who reduced use, these effects
even lasted longer and were thus more
stable than in the abstinence group.”
Even four months after the end of the
experiment, members of the group who
had given up their smartphones completely
still used them on average 38 minutes less
per day than before. However, the group
who had spent one hour less per day using
their phones during the experiment were
still averaging as much as 45 minutes less
per day after a four-month period. At the
same time, their reported life satisfaction
and time spent being physically active
increased, while their symptoms of depression
and anxiety decreased.
“It’s not necessary to completely give up
the smartphone to feel better,” Brailovskaia
said. “There may be an optimal daily
usage time.”
Less sleep leads to more
belly fat, study shows
Even in young people of normal weight,
not getting enough sleep contributes to
eating more calories and subsequently to
accumulating fat … especially unhealthy
belly fat, according to scientists from the
Mayo Clinic.
They recently recruited two groups of
young, healthy volunteers who were not
obese, all of whom agreed to live in a monitored
setting for two 21-day experiments.
After an acclimation period where everyone
was allowed to sleep for nine hours
at night, the groups took turns at having
their sleep restricted to just four hours per
night for two weeks, while the “normal”
sleep group maintained nine hours of sleep.
Finally, both groups returned to normal
sleep for a few days.
While their sleep was restricted, participants
consumed more than 300 extra calories
per day, including 17% more calories from
fat. Although their weight gain averaged only
about a pound, their abdominal visceral fat –
a type of fat deposited around internal organs
which is strongly linked to cardiac and metabolic
disease – increased by 11%.
Importantly, even when their sleep normalized
again in the “catch-up” phase and
their calorie intake and weight decreased,
their visceral fat continued to increase, at
least in the short term.
Because more than a third of American
adults routinely don’t get enough sleep,
these results should be cause for concern,
said Naima Covassin, Ph.D., a cardiovascular
medicine researcher at Mayo Clinic.
“Measures of weight alone would be
falsely reassuring in terms of the health consequences
of inadequate sleep. Also concerning
are the potential effects of repeated
periods of inadequate sleep in terms of
progressive and cumulative increases in visceral
fat over several years,” Covassin said.
Menthol cigarette ban would
make many kick the habit
In late April, the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration formally announced proposed
rules banning all menthol cigarettes,
which could potentially take effect as early
as mid-2023. The FDA estimates that
approximately 18.5 million Americans use
menthol cigarettes, including three out of
four Black smokers and more than a third
of young people under 18 who smoke.
The proposed ban would have a major