The heart can go on*

Donor hearts don’t always last long enough to get to the people who need transplants; four hours seems to be the limit for survival outside the body … or at least it was. University of Michigan researchers found that valproic acid, the anti-seizure medication, can be used to “reprogram” donor hearts to produce more of the anti-inflammatory metabolite itaconate. (That reduces the heart’s stress from, you know, being removed from the body.)

“[W]e found that valproic acid can reprogram the donor heart to produce beneficial itaconate during preservation. We showed previously that hearts are in fact biologically very active while stored on ice, which opens up the therapeutic opportunity to help it protect itself from metabolic stress during this time.”

^* Sometimes these headlines write themselves.

Diltiazem recall

Sun Pharma is recalling 34,000 bottles of its generic diltiazem extended-release capsules because the batch failed FDA testing. Click here for the details, including the affected lot numbers.

Today’s “game-changer” — yet another male contraceptive

It’s all about a protein called soluble adenylyl cyclase (sAC). Inhibit it, and sperm can’t swim. So, this in mind, Cornell scientists created an sAC inhibitor they called TDI-11861.

TDI-11861-treated male mice paired with female mice exhibited normal mating behavior but did not impregnate females despite 52 different mating attempts. Male mice treated with an inactive control substance, by contrast, impregnated almost one-third of their mates.

What’s interesting is that it’s an on-demand contraceptive — it takes about 30 to 60 minutes to work and lasts about three hours; “the effects persist in the female reproductive tract after mating.”

So far TDI-11861 has only been tested on mice, but you can bet more research is happening.

How CBD stops seizures

If you believe the hype, CBD can treat anything from poor SAT scores to ear-wax buildup. If you look at the science, though, there isn’t much data.

One condition it does seem to treat is seizures, and that’s not anecdotal — NYU researchers (with some British help) have found how that works. Ready? It “modulates excitatory-inhibitory ratio to counter hippocampal hyperactivity.”

In English: CBD blocks signals carried by lysophosphatidylinositol (aka LPI) which normally help amplify nerve signals, but in the case of seizures can be like turning the amp up to 11.

The body can normally regulate those signals, but too much LPI also interferes with the regulators, so blocking it is kind of a double-whammy.

^* An anagram of “slipshod loony hospitality” in case you’re interested.

Captain Obvious is tired of those strawberry hard candies

“Study Reveals Grandparents Spoil Grandchildren with Sugar-Loaded Foods and Drinks”

Wash your face, brush your teeth, take your eye drops

Can a drug prevent — or at least delay — nearsightedness? Perhaps so. The drug in question: an eye drop containing 0.05% atropine. (Yep, that’s the drug used to dilate pupils, but in a lower concentration.)

Researchers in Hong Kong found that low-concentration atropine could “[slow] the progression of myopia in 4- to 12-year-olds who already had the condition.”

The study tested the drops on 474 kids who used them nightly.

At the 2-year mark, more than half of children who received the placebo drops had developed myopia, as had nearly half of those given 0.01% atropine. But fewer than one third of children who had received the drops with 0.05% atropine developed myopia.

The study is ongoing, but the results are obviously promising.

Diabetes post-Covid

Yet another study has confirmed that Covid-19 increases your risk of developing diabetes. This one comes out of the Cedars-Sinai Health System in LA, and it’s based on health records of nearly 24,000 adults. The good news is that being vaccinated can reduce that risk.

Looking back, if you’re interested: “Diabetes risk rises after COVID, massive study finds” from March 2022, and “Covid-19: Infection raises risk of diabetes and heart disease diagnoses in following weeks” from July 2022.

Cynicism Today™: CGM edition

A celebrity endorses a medical product, so what does that mean? News coverage! In this case it’s Nick Jonas — one of the Children of the Corn — hawking Dexcom’s continuous glucose monitoring system in a Super Bowl ad. (Bonus: Story includes our favorite phrase — game changer.)