Researchers find Cordyceps used in traditional medicine can fight cancerShanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, October 23, 2022

Chinese scientists have found evidence that a fungus used in traditional Chinese medicine widely sought by the public for its healing powers, also carries anti-cancer benefits.

The scientists found there was an interaction between two anti-cancer compounds in the fungus Cordyceps militaris.

The first, cordycepin, was noted in Cordyceps militaris in 1950, but how it interacted remained unknown. The second, pentostatin, was first identified from a bacterium and was developed as a commercial drug to treat leukemia and other cancers in the 1990s.

“For the first time, we decoded the biosynthesis mechanism of cordycepin in the fungus, and during the research we unexpectedly discovered pentostatin,” said Wang Chengshu, head of the research team at the Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, a branch of the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

“These two compounds coexist in fungal cells in the form of a protector and protege – that is to say, cordycepin is synthesized with the coupled production of pentostatin to protect the stability of the former,” he said.

Their research also showed that the fungus initiates a detoxification process when the cordycepin in the body reaches an excessively high level, which can be toxic.

Cordyceps fungi are popular in China for their widely believed immunity-enhancing and energy-strengthening properties. Their uses in medical treatment date to the Compendium of Materia Medica, a book widely deemed the encyclopedia of traditional Chinese medicine written in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

Omega-3 fatty acid could boost IQ for preterm babiesSouth Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, October 27, 2022

New research from SAHMRI has found a link between the omega-3 fatty acid known as docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and increased IQ among children born prematurely.

Preterm children are more likely to have lower IQ scores and cognitive impairments compared with term-born children.

Dr. Jacqueline Gould, who led the study now published in the New England Journal of Medicine, says infants born at the earliest gestations are deprived of the natural supply of DHA that normally builds up in the brain during the last trimester of pregnancy. “These babies have low concentrations of DHA in their brain tissue, which may contribute to poorer cognitive outcomes,” Dr. Gould said.

The study followed 323 infants born before 29 weeks’ gestation, who were given 60mg of DHA/kg per day via enteral or control tube feeding.

They were compared with 333 children in the control group, who received an emulsion with no DHA. At five years old, children in both groups underwent the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI) IQ test.

“On average, those in the DHA group scored 3.5 points higher on the IQ scale than those in the control group,” Dr. Gould said.

“These very promising results suggest DHA has the potential to improve cognitive performance when administered via emulsion for infants born before 29 weeks’ gestation.”

Crossword puzzles beat computer video games in slowing memory lossColumbia University Irving Medical Center & Duke University, October 27, 2022

A new study by researchers from Columbia University and Duke University published in the journal NEJM Evidence shows that doing crossword puzzles has an advantage over computer video games for memory functioning in older adults with mild cognitive impairment.

In a randomized, controlled trial, led by D.P. Devanand, MD, professor of psychiatry and neurology at Columbia, with Murali Doraiswamy, MD, professor of psychiatry and medicine at Duke, researchers determined that participants (average age 71) trained in doing web-based crossword puzzles demonstrated greater cognitive improvement than those who were trained on cognitive video games.

“This is the first study