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Time of India
13-06-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Air pollution exposure alters fetal brain development
London: Brain development in the womb is affected by the mother's level of exposure to air pollution, researchers have found, although it's not clear whether the brain structure differences observed will cause any issues later. Researchers in Barcelona analyzed data collected between 2018 and 2021 from 754 mother-fetus pairs. During the third trimester of pregnancy, participants underwent transvaginal neurosonography, a specialized ultrasound that allows the analysis of fetal brain shape and structures. Higher prenatal exposure to nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter, and black carbon in pregnant women's homes, workplaces, and commuting routes was associated with an increase in the volumes of multiple brain regions that contain cerebrospinal fluid, the researchers reported in The Lancet Planetary Health. Higher exposure to black carbon was also linked with a reduction in the depth of a groove in the brain called the lateral sulcus, which the researchers said might suggest less maturation of the brain. All measurements of brain structures were within the range considered normal, however. "At this stage, we can only report having observed differences in the brains of fetuses with higher exposure to pollution compared to those with lower exposure," senior study author Jordi Sunyer of the Barcelona Institute for Global Health said in a statement. "Additional research is needed to determine whether these effects are reversible after birth or if they persist, and whether they have any implications for neurodevelopmental outcomes in later stages." SCIENTISTS DISCOVER HOW COMMON PAINKILLER REALLY WORKS Scientists have been wrong about how acetaminophen eases pain, a discovery that could lead to new pain management approaches, researchers reported in PNAS. For decades, scientists believed that acetaminophen, the main ingredient in Tylenol - known in some countries as paracetamol - relieved pain by working only in the brain and spinal cord. But researchers have discovered the drug also works outside the brain, in the nerves that first detect pain. After the drug is ingested, the body processes it into a metabolite called AM404. The new study found in laboratory experiments that AM404 is produced in pain-sensing nerve endings, where it shuts off specific channels that help transmit pain signals to the brain. By blocking these sodium channels, AM404 stops the pain message before it even starts, the researchers said. "This is the first time we've shown that AM404 works directly on the nerves outside the brain," study leader Alexander Binshtok of Hebrew University in Israel said in a statement. "It changes our entire understanding of how paracetamol fights pain." The discovery could lead to new types of painkillers that mimic the effects of AM404, the researchers suggested. Because AM404 targets only the nerves that carry pain, such drugs may avoid some of the side effects of traditional painkillers, they said. RARE APPENDIX CANCERS SPIKE AMONG GEN X, MILLENNIALS U.S. appendix cancer rates, while still low, have been climbing dramatically in younger adults, according to a report published in Annals of Internal Medicine. Appendix cancer rates were three times higher among people born between 1975 and 1985, and four times higher among those born between 1981 and 1989, than among people born in the 1940s, based on national U.S. population data. The conclusions are drawn from the nearly 4,900 adults who were diagnosed with appendix cancer in the United States between 1975 and 2019. The pattern of increasing cancer rates held true, to varying degrees, for all tumor types, including nonmucinous, mucinous, goblet cell, or signet ring cell carcinoma, the researchers said. Rates of colon cancers and other gastrointestinal malignancies have also been rising in younger adults, for reasons that remain unclear, the researchers noted. "It really struck our curiosity... Would we observe similar patterns in rare appendiceal cancers?" said study leader Dr. Andreana Holowatyj of Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. "And certainly the answer was yes," "The big question remains as to why is this happening," she added. "But what's most important is that as these higher-risk birth cohorts continue to age, it's likely these rates will continue to increase." (To receive the full newsletter in your inbox for free sign up here)
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First Post
16-05-2025
- Health
- First Post
Europe has a new problem with mosquitoes. Here's why its serious
New research shows that dengue and chikungunya could soon become endemic in Europe. The study, published in The Lancet Planetary Health, was conducted by researchers in Sweden and Germany and examined the spread of dengue and chikungunya in Europe for over three decades. Here's what it showed and why it blamed climate change read more A new study shows that dengue and chikungunya could soon become endemic in Europe. Europe has a new problem. A new study shows that dengue and chikungunya could soon become endemic on the continent. The reason for this? Climate change is causing mosquitoes to spread to Europe. But what happened? What do we know? Let's take a closer look: What do we know? The study was published in The Lancet Planetary Health. It was conducted by researchers in Sweden and Germany. As per Politico, the study looked at the spread of dengue and chikungunya in Europe over the past three decades. Dengue and chikungunya are spread by the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes respectively. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Around half of the world's population is at risk of dengue. There are an estimated 100–400 million infections occurring each year. It is usually found in tropical and sub-tropical climes. In severe cases, dengue can be fatal. Chikungunya is a disease caused by the virus of the same name. The latter is known as a tiger mosquito. Its symptoms are remarkably close to that of dengue. The data showed that as temperatures spiked since 2010, outbreaks have recurred more frequently and become worse. 'Our findings highlight that the EU is transitioning from sporadic outbreaks of Aedes-borne diseases towards an endemic state,' the study stated. It found that the European Union in 2024, the hottest year on record, witnessed 304 dengue cases. That number was 'a historic peak compared with the combined total of 275 cases in the previous 15 years,' the study said. Meanwhile, Italy, Croatia, France and Spain all saw dengue outbreaks. 'The trend suggests a progression from sporadic cases towards endemicity in these countries,' the study read. Why is this happening? Because global warming is making tiger mosquitos venture further north. The French Indian Ocean island of Reunion, for example, recently witnessed a deadly outbreak of chikungunya. The higher that temperatures go, the more the risk of outbreaks from tiger mosquitoes, the researchers said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'Climatic variables emerged as the strongest predictors of outbreak risk, even after accounting for health-care expenditure and imported case numbers,' said the team including from Umea University (Sweden) and University of Heidelberg (Germany). 'Warmer summer temperatures were found to substantially elevate outbreak risk, particularly in urban and semi-urban settings, whereas human travel and mobility were found to facilitate the spread of these two Aedes-borne diseases,' they added. The year 2024 was the hottest on record. Reuters. Researchers said both dengue and chikungunya could increase five times their current rate by 2060 – if the worst climate change scenarios occur. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control in June 2024 found just 130 locally acquired cases of dengue in the EU/EEA in 2023. That number was at 71 in the decade between 2010 and 2021. According to European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control data, most outbreaks (95 per cent) took place between July and September of 2024, with 64 occurring in the third quarter of the year. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The study underscored the urgent need for robust public health measures, including stringent vector control, enhanced entomological and disease surveillance, citizen science, and early warning systems. 'In the context of a warming climate, mitigating the transition to endemicity will require proactive, vigilant, and well-targeted public health interventions,' the team said. With inputs from agencies
The Hindu
08-05-2025
- Health
- The Hindu
Is climate change increasing the levels of toxic arsenic in our rice?
When it comes to food, most Indians cannot imagine a day without rice. Lunch is rice, and rice is lunch – and rice is also sometimes breakfast or dinner or just part of a number of other food items we consume. But how healthy is the rice we are eating? Scientists have known for a while now that a lot of rice contains some amount of arsenic. A new study that was published in The Lancet Planetary Health last month, however, had some newer, more worrying findings: it found that with rising carbon emissions and rising temperatures, the arsenic levels in rice will rise. The study was conducted over a 10-year period on 28 different strains of paddy rice at four different locations in China. Arsenic is a known carcinogen – it is linked to cancers including lung and bladder cancer as well as to other serious health conditions. So what does this study mean for India, which is a large rice-growing and rice-eating country and one that is also experiencing climate change effects? What does arsenic do to your body in the long term? Are there methods to grow rice that decrease the amount of arsenic in it? What can you do to make the rice you are eating at home safer? Guests: Lewis Ziska, associate rofessor, environmental health sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University and Keeve Nachman, professor of environmental health and engineering, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Host: Zubeda Hamid Edited by Jude Francis Weston Listen to more In Focus podcasts:
The Hindu
08-05-2025
- Health
- The Hindu
Climate change is disrupting the human gut in a new path to illness
Climate-driven food shortage and undernourishment could affect the composition of the human gut microbiota, exacerbating the effects of climate change on human health, according to a new review article published in The Lancet Planetary Health. The article comes on the heels of a growing number of studies that highlight the key role food and nutrition play in maintaining a healthy microbial population in the human gut, leading to better metabolic and intestinal health. Diversity disrupted According to the review, climate-induced changes in the yield and nutritional quality of plants, seafood, meat, and dairy could disrupt this microbial diversity, tipping the balance towards microbial strains associated with malnutrition and particular diseases. The review also warns that these effects will be more pronounced in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) since these regions face the brunt of climate stressors, including higher temperature and atmospheric carbon dioxide, which affect their agricultural output and increase render deficiencies in these areas more common. Indigenous communities that depend more than other demographic groups on local food sources and which have been shown to have greater gut microbial diversity may also be more susceptible to climate-related changes, the review reads. Research has already found that high atmospheric carbon dioxide levels can diminish the quantity of plant micronutrients like phosphorus, potassium, zinc, and iron, along with protein concentrations in vital crops such as wheat, maize and rice. These effects add to the complexities that affect the gut microbiota. While the effects of food and nutrition are direct, the review also examined the role of changes in water, soil, and other environmental microbiota as a result of climate change. A fine balance In another recent review, published in Dialogues in Health, researchers from the Indian Institute of Public Health, Gandhinagar, analysed the impact of heat on human and animal health in India. They found that reports of foodborne and waterborne infectious diseases and malnutrition increase with heat. Although these findings mirror common knowledge about food and water-related illnesses in warmer weather, the resulting implications for gut dysbiosis — the imbalance in gut microbial populations — also need to be considered for future heat-related mitigation efforts, The Lancet review said. 'While we know and research various effects of climate change on human health, one aspect remains understudied — the effects of changing climate on the microbial communities in the human gut,' Elena Litchman, author of the review in The Lancet and the MSU Foundation professor of aquatic ecology at Michigan State University, said. 'This, in part, could be explained by the fact that researchers studying human microbiota do not necessarily think about it in a climate change context.' The human gut is home to about 100 trillion bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and viruses. Bacteria are this group's predominant members. The microbes' overall diversity in the gut influences several aspects of human well-being, including immunity, maintaining glucose levels, and metabolism. According to a 2018 analysis in The BMJ, lower bacterial diversity has been observed in atopic eczema, types I and II diabetes, and inflammatory bowel disease, among other conditions. Researchers are also exploring how gut dysbiosis changes the central nervous system and leads to neurological disorders. More research attention The gut microbiome — the collective genome of the microbes in the gut — has far more genes than the human genome, producing thousands of metabolites that affect the individual's health and development. 'Our understanding of the gut microbiota's role in human health is still evolving,' While climate change is a growing concern in this context, establishing cause and effect is difficult as there are many confounding factors,' Sachit Anand, a paediatric urologist and assistant professor at AIIMS, New Delhi, said. In his research, Anand examines the role of gut microbiota in congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract. He added that understanding the interactions between the microbiota, the host, and the environment is now gaining more research attention, especially when evaluating an individual's susceptibility to specific diseases. As climate change becomes a key influencing factor in this 'triad', its impact cannot be ignored moving forward, he said. It may be tempting to examine these interdependencies in a linear manner: i.e. that climate-induced changes in crops affect the diet and thus the gut microbiota, or that climate-induced increases in temperatures make enteric infections more prevalent, ultimately disrupting the gut's microbial population. But both Litchman and Tarini Shankar Ghosh, assistant professor at Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi, warned that many of these stressors are often playing out simultaneously. As a computational biologist, Ghosh is interested in patterns in data about the human gut microbiome. 'If you take the example of low-income groups residing in urban environments, you are looking at the impacts of temperature, pollution, lack of quality food, and water supply,' he explained. 'There are multiple factors that are disrupting the gut microbiota at the same time.' A new science Ghosh also said dysbiosis has been found to be a diagnostic signature in many disease states. According to him, this means it is not just the tipping of the balance towards unfavourable microbial populations that is concerning: dysbiosis also signals a loss of interdependence between 'normal' microbial strains, leading to a loss of several metabolic functions in the host. 'What we need right now is to generate more data to understand how the so-called good bacteria interact with each other and benefit the host. Data generation must go hand-in-hand with connecting this information to climate change, so we know what is happening,' Ghosh said. Thus, Litchman said, a multidisciplinary approach with researchers from disparate fields coming together is vital to understand the effects of climate change on human gut microbiota. But along with a lack of awareness of climate change's effects, a paucity of funding programmes to enable such interdisciplinary and international research is a major impediment to future research of this nature, she added. On the flip side, with advances in computational biology and metagenomics — analyses of the genetic makeup of microorganisms in a given environment — researchers are inching closer to unearthing some of the gut microbiota's secrets. For example, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal, professor Vineet Kumar Sharma has developed an open-access database named GutBugBD. It provides information about how the gut microbiome can interact with and alter specific nutraceuticals and drugs, paving the way for therapeutic approaches to modulate gut microbiota in response to various changes. This is just the start, according to Sharma: 'At the moment, we are merely doing broader surveys of the gut microbiota to understand what is there and how they are functioning. Even if we introduce healthy microbiota through, say, probiotics, we cannot know if the response will be the same between two individuals. Each person's gut microbiota is unique, and understanding this uniqueness is important for the way forward.' Sharmila Vaidyanathan is an independent writer from Bengaluru.
Hans India
01-05-2025
- Health
- Hans India
Increasing urban vegetation can save over 1.1 mn lives from heat-related deaths: Study
Amid increasing global warming and heat-related deaths worldwide, a new study has shown that expanding urban vegetation cover by 30 per cent could save over one-third of all deaths caused due to heat, saving up to 1.16 million lives globally. Researchers from Monash University in Australia showed that increasing vegetation levels by 10 per cent, 20 per cent, and 30 per cent would decrease the global population-weighted warm-season mean temperature by 0.08 degrees Celsius, 0.14 degrees Celsius, and 0.19 degrees Celsius, respectively. It can also prevent 0.86, 1.02, and 1.16 million deaths, respectively. While increasing greenness has been proposed as a heat-related death mitigation strategy, 'this is the first modelling study to estimate both the cooling and modifying effects of greenness, providing a more comprehensive assessment of its benefits in mitigating heat-related mortality,' said Professor Yuming Guo from the varsity. The findings, published in the journal The Lancet Planetary Health, are based on a 20-year modelling study of the impact of increasing greenness in more than 11,000 urban areas from 2000 to 2019. Urban areas in Southern Asia, Eastern Europe, and Eastern Asia were found to have the greatest reduction in heat-related deaths. 'These findings indicate that preserving and expanding greenness might be potential strategies to lower temperature and mitigate the health impacts of heat exposure,' Guo said. Heat exposure is a major public health threat and is increasing due to climate change. Between 2000-2019, heat exposure was associated with 0.5 million deaths per year, accounting for 0.91 per cent of global mortality. According to Guo, estimates of heat-related deaths are projected to range from 2.5 per cent in North Europe to 16.7 per cent in South-East Asia during 2090-99, 'under the most extreme global warming scenarios.' Studies show that greenness has a cooling effect on temperature, via shading surfaces, deflecting radiation from the sun, and evapotranspiration (evaporation from both the ground and plants) which promotes air convection. This, in turn, cools the ambient temperature leading to a decrease in population heat exposure, thereby reducing the heat-related mortality burden. In addition, greenness could also modify other related factors such as mental health, social engagement, physical activity, and air pollution, the researchers said.
