Even easier Parkinson’s test

Breakthroughs in tests for Parkinson’s disease keep coming, and that’s good news. The sooner it’s detected, the sooner treatment can start.

Back in April we told you about a test that uses cerebral spinal fluid and looks for certain misshapen proteins to diagnose Parkinson’s years in advance. And in October 2022 we told you about a skin-swab test that can diagnose it in minutes, but only when someone already has it.

Now another bit of good news comes out of Duke. It’s a simple blood test for Parkinson’s that can help detect the disease earlier and could even help identify treatments that may or may not work for a particular patient.

The test looks at specific damage to mitochondrial DNA — damage that only occurs in people with (or who are likely to get) Parkinson’s. It’s extremely accurate, and while it might not give years of warning, it does make earlier diagnosis and treatment possible.

Our number 2 story

You know those people who can eat a ton of junk and never get diabetes? It might be thanks to a bacteria in their guts that lowers their insulin resistance — Alistipes indistinctus.

Conversely, there’s the bad stuff: Lachnospiraceae. which is in the guts of people with high insulin resistance, like (pre)diabetics.

This means two things, suggest Japanese researchers. First, a fecal microbiota transplant (yes, a poop capsule) of A. indistinctus might be a way to treat people with insulin resistance. It worked on mice, but it’s not an easy bacteria to culture because it’s sensitive to oxygen.

Second, measuring the levels of Lachnospiraceae in a patient’s poop could be an indicator of prediabetes. But first, as always, more research is needed.

Why we yawn

No one is sure why we yawn. It’s just one of those things — lots of guesses but no firm answers. Now, though, a group of Dutch researchers think they’ve uncovered the reason. And ironically it’s pretty boring.

Put simply, yawning is a way to help reset and rebalance the muscles of the throat to ensure proper functioning.

That’s why we yawn when we’re tired (to reopen air passages) and after eating (to reset the muscles after chewing) and when stressed (to counter the muscle tension of gritting your teeth). And there you have it, without a single bad pun.

All things in moderation…

…including, it seems, antioxidants. Getting rid of those free radicals is a good thing, but Swedish researchers found that there’s a down side to having too many antioxidants. They can actually make tumors grow by helping them form new blood vessels.

The good news is that learning how the process works can help find a way to attack tumors. And there’s nothing wrong with antioxidants in general. But, the Swedes suggest, people with (or at risk of) cancer should probably avoid supplements.

Moderation, schmoderation

Imagine, if you will, eating all you want but never gaining weight. Korean researchers studying how the brain regulates energy found a nifty fact: It seems that activating certain brain cells in the hypothalamus, called GABRA5 neurons, increases the energy consumption of brown fat. That is, the fat burns calories instead of accumulating them.

Teasing out the mechanism, they created a drug called KDS2010 that was able to^* activate those neurons. Result: “the mice were able to achieve a successful weight reduction.”

But the cool part is that the fat mice lost weight even while on a high-calorie diet, leading to the headline, “A new breakthrough in obesity research allows you to lose fat while eating all you want.”

^* It “[suppresses] the expression of the MAO-B gene in reactive astrocytes [to] decrease GABA secretion, thereby reversing the undesirable  inhibition of the GABRA5 neurons.”

Strongly worded letters

GOP governors to Congress: Fix drug shortages

A group of 11 Republican governors (not including Georgia’s Brian Kemp) sent a letter to Congress demanding that government take action to deal with the issue of drug shortages.

They want more transparency regarding the chain of raw materials, more information from the FDA about the state of shortages, and “Waivers to allow purchasing of medications from Canada to expand our supply chain capability quickly^*.”

They also ask for “Increased diversity in the manufacturing of generic medications with regards to both raw materials.” While obviously Congress can’t do that directly, the governors suggest “Creation of a regulatory environment that is more favorable to U.S. manufacturing to include instituting shorter ‘cure periods’ for U.S. manufacturing plants.”

(There’s more, of course. The full letter is here.)

^* Although no one has asked the Canadians how they feel about this.

Senators to insulin makers: You didn’t lie to us, did you?

Two US senators want to know why drug companies, which had promised to lower insulin prices, have made the process of actually getting those lower prices so difficult.

They pointed out “that to enroll in the drugmakers’ insulin programs, patients had to go through a lengthy and complicated process that required them fill out five to 10 pages of documentation and wait an unknown amount of time for approval.”

The Long(ish) Read: Grapefruit Interactions edition

You know that grapefruit or grapefruit juice can interact poorly with a bunch of meds. But if you’re curious about why that’s the case, ScienceAlert has you covered.