Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/CruqxpotqvA/

Those wearing reusable contact lenses were nearly 4 times more likely to develop microbial keratitis, a corneal infection, in comparison to those using disposable lenses.  Ophthalmologists at University College London reviewed the cases of 205 contact lens wearers.

Compared with those using disposable lenses, the risk of amoeba-driven keratitis was 3.8 fold higher for those using reusable soft lenses and 4.6 fold higher for those using rigid reusables.  Other factors that drove increased keratititis rates included showering or swimming wearing lenses (3.3 fold increase), overnight lens wearing (3.9 fold increase, and infrequent professional eye exams (10 fold increase).

Amoebic keratitis is rare affecting only 1 in every 20,000 contact lens wearers.  Even so, it accounts for about 50% of eyesight loss, and 25% of those infected require corneal transplants to restore vision.  The sad fact: about 90% of these cases are avoidable. 

https://www.aaojournal.org/article/S0161-6420(22)00594-2/fulltext

#keratitis #contactlenses #reusables #disposables #blindness

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/Crup2lUMqfO/

Consuming a so-called green Mediterranean diet enriched with plant-based polyphenols and reduced red and processed meats more than triples the loss of intra-abdominal, visceral adipose tissue compared with merely following health dietary guidelines.  The green Med diet doubles the belly fat loss compared with a standard Mediterranean diet.

These findings stem from an international collaborative study of 286  subjects 88% of whom were men.   The green Mediterranean diet was polyphenol-enriched by the addition of green tea and green shake drinks.

Following either Mediterranean diet led to a modest weight loss, 2.7% for the standard variety and 3.9% for the green supplemented variety.  The effect of which diet the subjects followed was more significant on the loss of visceral adipose tissue. Those on a standard, healthy diet lost 4.2%, on a Mediterranean diet lost 6%, but those on the green Mediterranean diet dropped 14%.

https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-022-02525-8

#beerbelly #visceraladiposetissue #vat #Mediterraneandiet #greenMediterraneandiet

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/Cruood_P6zH/

By 8 years after adolescents undergo bariatric, weight loss, surgery, half of them have alcohol use disorders. Surgical investigators at Chicago’s Lurie Children’s Hospital led a multi-center study of 217 subjects ages 13 through 19 years.  Their data shows that, on average, these surgical patients develop an 8-fold increase in hazardous alcohol consumption and a 13-fold bump in alcohol-related problems.   If your child is having or has had a gastric bypass or sleeve gastrectomy, be on the lookout for their possible overuse of alcohol and get them help pronto.

https://journals.lww.com/annalsofsurgery/Abstract/9900/A_Prospective_Cohort_of_Alcohol_use_and.316.aspx

#obesity #bariatricsurgery #alcohol #3alcoholism #gastrectomy #sleeveresection

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/Crun3B6vKnm/

Eating those fries and donuts modifies your brain cells and they begin to whisper, “eat more and more.”  Penn State neuroscience and behavioral scientists now report their mouse model studies demonstrating that a high-fat diet continuing even 3 to 5 days desensitizes the brain astrocytes.  

Astrocytes normally react to circulating fat and trigger appetite suppression by slowing stomach emptying and prolonging a feeling of being full.  With astrocytes bombarded and eating suppression reduced, you eat more and more further depressing your astrocytes and completing a vicious circle leading to weight gain and obesity.

https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1113/JP283566

#fat #astrocytes #appetite #obesity

Vidcast: https://www.instagram.com/p/CrunDfYPiM2/

Smoking before and during a pregnancy increases by 5 fold the risk that an infant will die suddenly over the months following birth.  Rutgers University’s SIDS Center of New Jersey studied over one-half million white mother-child pairs and over 83,000 black mother-child pairs cataloging maternal smoking stats and the incidence of SIDS.

The data shows that smoking pre-pregnancy increases the SIDS risk about 2 fold for both groups.  As smoking continued through the trimesters, the risk for white families rapidly escalated to a whopping 7 fold while the risk for black families gradually increased to about half that at 3.6 fold.

This is yet another good reason to stop smoking if you expect to become pregnant, and your partner should stop as well.  Certainly both should ditch the habit once you have conceived.  Do it for your baby as well as for yourselves.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41372-022-01516-0

#smoking #pregnancy #SIDS #rutgers #race

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/CraLaVer1e6/

Dr. Smith and Mark Linzer MD, director of the New England Medical Center’s Syncope Evaluation Center.  Why fainting occurs.  Evaluation of fainting.

#fainting #syncope #bathroom #wbznewsradio

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/CraKTy_uKS8/

Dr. Smith takes a call from a listener wondering about the safety of heated waterbeds.

#electromagnetic #radiation #waterbeds #electricblankets #Pregnancy #wbznewsradio

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/CraJSoLtos-/

Dr. Smith interviews pediatrician Betsy Busch MD, Clinical Director for Boston Floating Hospital’s Center for Children with Special Needs.   They discuss the fact that attention deficit hyperactivity disorders are likely inherited.  They mention the presenting symptoms of these disorders.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6477889/

#attentiondeficits #ADHD #hyperactivity #inheritance #genetics #pediatrics #wbznewsradio

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/CraIdNbPkSe/

The scoop on lies comes to us from a British study published earlier this month.  Investigators surveyed 194 men and women, average age 39, about the lies they tell and hear.

The results:

Men consider themselves good liars twice as often as women.

Liars lie face-to-face followed by texts, phone calls, email, and social media.

A few liars are responsible for most lies.

Liars are articulate and weave stories that deviate only slightly from the truth.

Most lies are told to family and friends; the least to employers and authorities.

We only have a 50:50 chance of detecting a lie.

With that, look out for a barrage of lies in 2020.

Brianna L. Verigin, Ewout H. Meijer, Glynis Bogaard, Aldert Vrij. Lie prevalence, lie characteristics and strategies of self-reported good liars. PLOS ONE, 2019; 14 (12): e0225566 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0225566

#Lies #liars #politicians #men

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/CraHnBrJYYi/

Neurobiologists and dermatologists at the University of Miami and Harvard warn that scratching to relieve an itch may be overkill.  They base that recommendation on their analyses of mice with skin itching triggered by injection of chemicals including capsaicin and chloroquine.

The data demonstrate that rubbing and stroking initially increase activity of nerves cells that tell you you’re itchy but nerve activity decreases significantly after you stop the rubbing.  Scratching produces similar neuronal responses but also leads to tissue damage, release of inflammatory mediators, and secondary itchiness.

The lesson to be learned: go gently and rub rather than scratch the itchy site.  More is less.  For instant medicinal relief, rub on over-the-counter Sarna.

https://www.jneurosci.org/content/early/2020/09/03/JNEUROSCI.0091-20.2020

#itch #rub #scratch