Dr. Howard Smith Reports

VidCast: https://youtu.be/ANgt3DTv5rE

Women suffering preeclampsia during their pregnancies have a 30% higher risk of later stroke.  Columbia University neurologists studied 84,000 California teachers and found that low dose aspirin at least 3 times weekly virtually erases the greater risk of stroke for women before they reach the age of 60.  Once past 60, aspirin’s protective effect vanishes.

Preeclampsia complicating pregnancy is rising in the US, and one in every 20 pregnancies is now affected.  An increasing incidence of obesity and associated high blood pressure in women seem to be responsible.

If you experienced preeclampsia during your pregnancy and are currently less than a young 60, do ask your doctor about beginning a course of low dose aspirin.

Steven K. Feske, Cheryl Bushnell. Stroke prevention. Neurology, 2019; 92 (4): 159 DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000006802

#preeclampsia #stroke #hypertension #aspirin #healthnews #healthtips

VidCast: https://youtu.be/ANgt3DTv5rE

Women suffering preeclampsia during their pregnancies have a 30% higher risk of later stroke.  Columbia University neurologists studied 84,000 California teachers and found that low dose aspirin at least 3 times weekly virtually erases the greater risk of stroke for women before they reach the age of 60.  Once past 60, aspirin’s protective effect vanishes.

Preeclampsia complicating pregnancy is rising in the US, and one in every 20 pregnancies is now affected.  An increasing incidence of obesity and associated high blood pressure in women seem to be responsible.

If you experienced preeclampsia during your pregnancy and are currently less than a young 60, do ask your doctor about beginning a course of low dose aspirin.

Steven K. Feske, Cheryl Bushnell. Stroke prevention. Neurology, 2019; 92 (4): 159 DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000006802

#preeclampsia #stroke #hypertension #aspirin #healthnews #healthtips

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/olxRebs_d5M

We doctors constantly repeat it and you constantly hear it: avoid all but healthy food during pregnancy.  Despite this mantra, nearly one-third of pregnant women believe that cannabis is safe for their developing babies.

The analysis by Canadian doctors of 6 US studies shows that, as years go by, more pregnant women are using marijuana.  Currently, at least 4% of women use the drug sometime during their pregnancy.  

Ironically, the rate of use is the highest at 7.4% during the critical first trimester when so many body systems are just beginning to blossom.  In one study, 35% of women were users when they discovered their pregnancy, and that only dropped down to 12% after the positive pregnancy test.  Half of those continuing to use did so almost daily.

The available research on cannabis shows that it is associated with low birth weight, stillbirths, and NICU admissions.  OB/GYN specialists and most doctors recommend against any cannibis use while trying to get pregnant, during pregnancy, and while breastfeeding.

Hamideh Bayrampour, Mike Zahradnik, Sarka Lisonkova, Patti Janssen. Women's perspectives about cannabis use during pregnancy and the postpartum period: An integrative review. Preventive Medicine, 2019; 119: 17 DOI: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2018.12.002

#Marijuana #cannabis #pregnancy #lowbirthweight #NICU #healthnews #healthtips

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/olxRebs_d5M

We doctors constantly repeat it and you constantly hear it: avoid all but healthy food during pregnancy.  Despite this mantra, nearly one-third of pregnant women believe that cannabis is safe for their developing babies.

The analysis by Canadian doctors of 6 US studies shows that, as years go by, more pregnant women are using marijuana.  Currently, at least 4% of women use the drug sometime during their pregnancy.  

Ironically, the rate of use is the highest at 7.4% during the critical first trimester when so many body systems are just beginning to blossom.  In one study, 35% of women were users when they discovered their pregnancy, and that only dropped down to 12% after the positive pregnancy test.  Half of those continuing to use did so almost daily.

The available research on cannabis shows that it is associated with low birth weight, stillbirths, and NICU admissions.  OB/GYN specialists and most doctors recommend against any cannibis use while trying to get pregnant, during pregnancy, and while breastfeeding.

Hamideh Bayrampour, Mike Zahradnik, Sarka Lisonkova, Patti Janssen. Women's perspectives about cannabis use during pregnancy and the postpartum period: An integrative review. Preventive Medicine, 2019; 119: 17 DOI: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2018.12.002

#Marijuana #cannabis #pregnancy #lowbirthweight #NICU #healthnews #healthtips

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/Gu_bP7t1WyA

Muscular development during our younger years provides the building blocks for strength maintenance as we age.  This the conclusion of a literature review from UMass-Amherst.  

Biology professor Lawrence Schwartz reminds us that, during the first decades of our lives, our muscles not only grow in size but generate more and more cell nuclei, the local brains of our cells and tissues.  Muscles are syncytial tissues with many nuclei but fewer blended cell bodies.  

During our younger days, we trigger desirable muscle nuclear proliferation with exercise and training.  As we age, we may lose muscle bulk, muscle cell bodies, but we retain our muscle nuclei.  If we have enough of these so-called myonuclei banked, we can then maintain and redevelop muscle mass with exercise and conditioning thereby preventing elder weakening and frailty.

The bottom line: childhood, adolescent, and young adult physical activities are critical for “charging our muscle batteries” to insure a long and strong healthspan with full mobility.

Lawrence M. Schwartz. Skeletal Muscles Do Not Undergo Apoptosis During Either Atrophy or Programmed Cell Death-Revisiting the Myonuclear Domain Hypothesis. Frontiers in Physiology, 2019; 9 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2018.01887

#musclemass #myonuclei #frailty #healthnews #healthtips

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/Gu_bP7t1WyA

Muscular development during our younger years provides the building blocks for strength maintenance as we age.  This the conclusion of a literature review from UMass-Amherst.  

Biology professor Lawrence Schwartz reminds us that, during the first decades of our lives, our muscles not only grow in size but generate more and more cell nuclei, the local brains of our cells and tissues.  Muscles are syncytial tissues with many nuclei but fewer blended cell bodies.  

During our younger days, we trigger desirable muscle nuclear proliferation with exercise and training.  As we age, we may lose muscle bulk, muscle cell bodies, but we retain our muscle nuclei.  If we have enough of these so-called myonuclei banked, we can then maintain and redevelop muscle mass with exercise and conditioning thereby preventing elder weakening and frailty.

The bottom line: childhood, adolescent, and young adult physical activities are critical for “charging our muscle batteries” to insure a long and strong healthspan with full mobility.

Lawrence M. Schwartz. Skeletal Muscles Do Not Undergo Apoptosis During Either Atrophy or Programmed Cell Death-Revisiting the Myonuclear Domain Hypothesis. Frontiers in Physiology, 2019; 9 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2018.01887

#musclemass #myonuclei #frailty #healthnews #healthtips

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/8pv8A-fRs78

Most of our brain’s horsepower, so called general cognitive ability or GCA, develops early in life.  An international team led by those at UC-San Diego now report that 99% of our intellectual abilities measurable at age 62 have already developed by age 20.  

Said another way, the higher education, job challenges, and various intellectual pursuits that we pursue over more than 40 years since our teens only increases our raw thinking and problem-solving abilities by about 1%.  This conclusion is supported by brain imaging that links brain size in 60 year olds with GCA test scores at age 20.

So parents and kids alike should cram as much intellectual stimulation as possible into the childhood and teen years.  This early brain charging creates a vital trajectory into satisfying careers, rewarding relationships, and a gratifying, thoughtful life.

University of California - San Diego. "Youthful cognitive ability strongly predicts mental capacity later in life: Education, job complexity and intellectual activities play only minor roles." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 21 January 2019. .

#brainpower #highereducation #intellectualdevelopment #healthnews #healthtips

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/8pv8A-fRs78

Most of our brain’s horsepower, so called general cognitive ability or GCA, develops early in life.  An international team led by those at UC-San Diego now report that 99% of our intellectual abilities measurable at age 62 have already developed by age 20.  

Said another way, the higher education, job challenges, and various intellectual pursuits that we pursue over more than 40 years since our teens only increases our raw thinking and problem-solving abilities by about 1%.  This conclusion is supported by brain imaging that links brain size in 60 year olds with GCA test scores at age 20.

So parents and kids alike should cram as much intellectual stimulation as possible into the childhood and teen years.  This early brain charging creates a vital trajectory into satisfying careers, rewarding relationships, and a gratifying, thoughtful life.

University of California - San Diego. "Youthful cognitive ability strongly predicts mental capacity later in life: Education, job complexity and intellectual activities play only minor roles." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 21 January 2019. .

#brainpower #highereducation #intellectualdevelopment #healthnews #healthtips

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/rOPNUtRcBY4

Aspirin has now been shown to significantly improve survival for at least one type of cancer in those patients whose tumors have a specific genetic variant.  That cancer is squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck with an altered PIK3CA gene.

A study just published in The Journal of Experimental Medicine followed 266 patients after surgical resection of their tumors and post-operative chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy.  Those patients regularly taking aspirin or another NSAID for 6 months and also having an activated PIK3CA gene were 3 times more likely to survive 5 years.  Specifically, the average survival rate rose from a baseline of 25 percent to a gratifying 78 percent.  Those without the PIK3CA gene mutation enjoyed no survival benefit.

A larger, confirmatory study is now underway.  Meanwhile, know that the PIK3CA oncogene is present and mutated in about one-third of other cancers including colon, stomach, esophageal, pancreatic, liver, breast, cervical, endometrial, ovarian, brain, and skin but not melanoma.  We don’t yet know if aspirin added to conventional therapy will improve survival in any of these, but studies should be forthcoming.  One early study suggests that aspirin co-therapy dues not improve endometrial cancer treatment success.

If you have cancer, ask your oncologist about the mutations found in your tumor.  If yours has the PIK3CA mutation, then ask about aspirin therapy.  If you are having a a biopsy or surgery for any type of cancer, be certain that a genetic analysis is performed on the tumor tissue and and that it’s preserved for future genetic studies.  Treatment based on cancer genetics is increasingly more common.

Matthew L. Hedberg, Jennifer R. Grandis, etal. Use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs predicts improved patient survival for PIK3CA-altered head and neck cancer. The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 2019; jem.20181936 DOI: 10.1084/jem.20181936

Samuels Y, Waldman T. Oncogenic mutations of PIK3CA in human cancers. Curr Top Microbiol Immunol. 2010;347:21-41.

#cancer #aspirin #ibuprofen #NSAIDS #healthnews #healthtips

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/rOPNUtRcBY4

Aspirin has now been shown to significantly improve survival for at least one type of cancer in those patients whose tumors have a specific genetic variant.  That cancer is squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck with an altered PIK3CA gene.

A study just published in The Journal of Experimental Medicine followed 266 patients after surgical resection of their tumors and post-operative chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy.  Those patients regularly taking aspirin or another NSAID for 6 months and also having an activated PIK3CA gene were 3 times more likely to survive 5 years.  Specifically, the average survival rate rose from a baseline of 25 percent to a gratifying 78 percent.  Those without the PIK3CA gene mutation enjoyed no survival benefit.

A larger, confirmatory study is now underway.  Meanwhile, know that the PIK3CA oncogene is present and mutated in about one-third of other cancers including colon, stomach, esophageal, pancreatic, liver, breast, cervical, endometrial, ovarian, brain, and skin but not melanoma.  We don’t yet know if aspirin added to conventional therapy will improve survival in any of these, but studies should be forthcoming.  One early study suggests that aspirin co-therapy dues not improve endometrial cancer treatment success.

If you have cancer, ask your oncologist about the mutations found in your tumor.  If yours has the PIK3CA mutation, then ask about aspirin therapy.  If you are having a a biopsy or surgery for any type of cancer, be certain that a genetic analysis is performed on the tumor tissue and and that it’s preserved for future genetic studies.  Treatment based on cancer genetics is increasingly more common.

Matthew L. Hedberg, Jennifer R. Grandis, etal. Use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs predicts improved patient survival for PIK3CA-altered head and neck cancer. The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 2019; jem.20181936 DOI: 10.1084/jem.20181936

Samuels Y, Waldman T. Oncogenic mutations of PIK3CA in human cancers. Curr Top Microbiol Immunol. 2010;347:21-41.

#cancer #aspirin #ibuprofen #NSAIDS #healthnews #healthtips