13 May 2020
WEDNESDAY, May 13, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- If you're worried about developing Alzheimer's disease, new research suggests that eating more fruits or drinking more tea or red wine might help protect your brain.
People who had the lowest amounts of fruits -- like apples and berries -- and red wine and tea in their diets were two to four times more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease or another related dementia, the study found.
"Diet matters. And the good news is you don't have to make dramatic changes. Modest changes like going from not eating any berries to eating a cup or two a week can make a difference," explained the study's senior author, Paul Jacques. He's a senior scientist and director of nutritional epidemiology at the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at...
12 May 2020
TUESDAY, May 12, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- People at high risk for knee arthritis don't need to avoid jogging and other types of vigorous exercise, a new study suggests.
Some folks hold back on physical activity because they fear it will increase their chances of developing knee arthritis, so researchers from Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago took a closer look.
"Our study findings convey a reassuring message that adults at high risk for knee [arthritis] may safely engage in long-term strenuous physical activity at a moderate level to improve their general health and well-being," said study author Alison Chang, associate professor of physical therapy and human movement sciences.
The study included nearly 1,200 people from several U.S. cities, ages...
8 May 2020
FRIDAY, May 8, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Among detected cases of COVID-19 in the United States, 1.3% of patients will die from the illness, according to a new calculation. But that rate could increase if current precautions and health care capacities change, the study's author said.
The 1.3% rate calculation is based on cumulative deaths and detected cases across the United States, but it does not account for undetected cases, where a person is infected but shows few or no symptoms, according to researcher Anirban Basu.
If those cases were added into the equation, the overall death rate might drop closer to 1%, Basu said.
He directs the department of pharmacy at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Basu stressed that the current estimates apply "under the assumption that the...
7 May 2020
THURSDAY, May 7, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- In the scramble to find medicines that beat back COVID-19, researchers from Italy report encouraging results from a small study on a rheumatoid arthritis drug already in use.
The drug, anakinra, may help quiet the runaway immune response known as a "cytokine storm," which imperils some patients with severe COVID-19.
"Until a vaccine is available, we urgently need to find a way to help people survive the most severe symptoms of COVID-19, and to do that without overwhelming the intensive care capacity of hospitals," explained study author Dr. Lorenzo Dagna in a news release from The Lancet Rheumatology. His team published the findings in the journal on May 7.
"A treatment [like anakinra] that has already met strict safety tests and that is...