Inflammation prevents chronic pain

It seems that the inflammation that accompanies acute pain might be there for a reason — it might prevent it from becoming chronic pain. Thus treating inflammation might make things worse in the long run.

A new study out of Canada (with Italian and Dutch help) found that patients with more inflammation will have changes in thousands of gene expressions — and those changes seem to prevent the pain from persisting. But for those whose inflammation was controlled … no gene changes, and higher risk of longer-term pain.

Based on mouse experiments and a database analysis of drug use and medical conditions, the team found preliminary evidence that blocking the inflammatory response with medication can prolong musculoskeletal pain. (Emphasis ours.)

Or put another way, “[T]hose with a positive outcome had a more intense inflammatory response at their initial visit.”

Equine encephalitis vaccine passes first hurdle

A phase 1 trial of a vaccine for eastern equine encephalitis, western equine encephalitis virus, and Venezuelan equine encephalitis — developed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Emory University — “was found to be safe, well-tolerated and induced a neutralizing antibody response in adult volunteers.”

That is all.

Choosing a lithium dose

Like a lot of psychiatric meds, choosing the right dose of lithium is a lot of hit-or-miss. There are too many factors affecting how well (and how long) it works.

But now Swedish molecular biologists have narrowed it down to six measurements that can be used to choose a dose: age, sex, eGFR (kidney function), serum lithium concentration, and comedication with diuretics and/or RAS-acting agents.

[T]he amount of lithium taken and lithium concentrations in the blood do not seem to be completely proportional, which goes somewhat against current thinking.

There are some other factors (e.g., “one genetic locus on chromosome 11”), but this initial model “explained around 50-60 percent of the variance in lithium clearance, which is better than previous models and could be used to inform treatment decision.”

Pharmacists can rein in overly enthusiastic prescribers

When you add a pharmacist to the discharge process, patients are more likely to get the right amount of antimicrobial meds — notably avoiding overuse, but at the same time reducing negative effects.

Was this a problem? Why yes, yes it was (say pharmacy researchers in Michigan). So many patients were getting inappropriate prescriptions at Michigan hospitals that, once pharmacists got involved, the number of “optimal antimicrobial prescriptions” jumped 500%.

Parkinson’s breakthrough

Parkinson’s damages neurons, so there’s a potential 21st century way to treat it: Build new neurons from stem cells.

Arizona State University researchers were able to implant ‘engineered non-neuronal cells’ in rats and coax them into becoming functioning neurons that were…

… able to take up residence in the brain, send out their fibrous branches across neural tissue, form synapses, dispense dopamine and restore capacities undermined by Parkinson’s.

It’s only a proof-of-concept at this point, but still — wow.

Raise your INT stat

A two-year study of 5,000 American children found this surprise: Playing video games makes you smarter.

The results showed that those who played more games than the average increased their intelligence between the two measurements by approximately 2.5 IQ points more than the average.

If you’re surprised, realize that today’s games often require more information processing than, say, Space Invaders. Even the seemingly simple* Minecraft requires some serious brainpower just to barter with the game’s villagers:

North Korea’s nightmare begins

As the U.S. mourns more than a million dead from Covid-19, take a moment to think of North Korea, which has — according to its state media — suffered its first Covid outbreak and first death.

But don’t you worry. Dear Respected Leader® Kim Jong Un is on the case. He spoke to the country’s Political Bureau…

Pointing out that more dangerous enemy of us than the malicious virus are unscientific fear, lack of faith and weak will, he affirmed that we will surely overcome the current sudden situation and win victory in the emergency epidemic prevention work.

The country has enacted its Maximum Emergency Epidemic Prevention System. (No, I am not making that up: MEEPS.)

Omega-3 vs acne

People with low levels of omega-3 fatty acids are more likely to suffer from acne — that’s what German researchers found while looking for nutritional connections to every teen’s nightmare.

[B]y measuring nutritional parameters in their blood, [the team] found that 94% of the patients had below-recommended levels (8-11%) of omega-3 fatty acids.

Their recommendation is to “ask about dietary habits with acne patients when discussing diagnosis and treatment for their condition.”

This is not creepy at all

University of Utah researchers were able to, in essence, bring the eyes of dead people back to life. Not just vague ‘cellular activity,’ but actual neural signalling.

“[W]e were able to revive population responses from photoreceptor cells even up to five hours after death in the human central retina, an important part of our central nervous system. We were able to make the retinal cells talk to each other, the way they do in the living eye.”

Fun reading: The headlines about this range from the matter-of-fact (“U of U researchers revive neuron cells from the human eye”) to the over-the-top (“One step closer to immortality: Dead eyes brought back to life in Frankenstein-like study”.)