UF Health Podcasts

A green, leafy canopy benefits more than just the birds. Trees planted along the street, or in high numbers across a neighborhood, are pleasing to the eye and offer much-needed shade when temperatures climb.

Now, a new study from scientists in Switzerland credits another benefit to our arboreal companions: lowering our mortality.

That’s right — numerous, well-arranged trees in neighborhoods are linked to lower mortality risks than other areas.

We specify “well-arranged” because the study seeks to answer a question many urban planners face: How do you add trees when space for new ones is in short supply?

Over the 10-0year period from 2010 to 2019, researchers addressed this question in Switzerland and Singapore. They looked at high-resolution tree canopy data to understand green spaces close to peoples’ homes — and the placement of the trees themselves. Then, they calculated the survival rates of more than 6 million people by neighborhood. The researchers focused only on deaths from natural causes.

Data showed that tree canopy cover in residential areas, and the trees’ spatial arrangement, had a correlation with mortality. Folks who lived in neighborhoods with large, contiguous tree canopies had a lower mortality risk than those who didn’t — a contrast especially evident in highly developed urban areas with poor air quality and high temperatures.

The specific mechanisms, however, bear examination. For now, the team intends to distill its results into specific recommendations for urban planners … helping to create a future where anyone can be a tree-hugger if they want to be.

Millions of Americans battle a persistent, annoying ringing in their ears. The malady, known as tinnitus [tin-nuh-tuhs], receives relatively little research funding and has no consistently effective treatment.

Tinnitus has numerous causes. Exposure to loud noises, especially over a prolonged period, is one trigger. A long list of musical legends reports the condition, from Eric Clapton to Barbra Streisand.

History overflows with supposed remedies, usually ineffective. In an earlier age, even bloodletting might have been prescribed. But don’t reach for the leeches. This bit of quackery is a bust.

Hearing loss that occurs with age is another cause. Sometimes, a hearing aid can help alleviate the sharpness of the ringing but not eliminate it.

Now, a Chinese study has found four things in our diets that might help reduce that mind-numbing ringing — caffeine, fruits, high-fiber foods and dairy products.

Researchers analyzed data from 300,000 participants in 10 previous studies on tinnitus. They found that a diet including regular fruit lowered the risk of the disorder by 35%. The other diets reduced the risk from about 17% to 9%.

The caffeine finding is a bit baffling. Doctors have long warned those with tinnitus to avoid caffeine because a lack of sleep worsens the condition. But the study indicates it also might lower anxiety, making the ringing easier to bear.

A healthy diet improves insulin sensitivity, which helps protect our hearing. It also maintains blood vessel function, another auditory plus.

As treatments go, this tinnitus diet beats a bloodletting any day of the week. An apple and a coffee just might help unring this bell.

Tattoos are now mainstream. Once relegated to tough guys and the biceps of sailors who wanted to celebrate anchors and good ol’ Ma, those days are over.

Today, they are a means of personal expression to people of all walks of life. An art form.

That art, however, can come with a secret ingredient.

Researchers at Binghamton University in New York found that inks commonly sold in the United States often contain substances not listed on their labels. They analyzed the ink of 10 U.S. manufacturers, large and small.

About 90% of the 54 inks they studied had unlisted additives. While some of these pose no threat to health, others do. The study noted half the inks contained polyethylene glycol, which can cause organ damage with repeated exposure. Some contained allergens. Researchers even found antibiotics used to treat urinary tract infections.

It’s hard to know who is responsible for the mislabeling. Manufacturers, for example, might get ingredients that have been unknowingly contaminated elsewhere.

The health implications are unclear. The study notes that allergic reactions on the skin can occur, especially with red pigments. And these can sometimes be quite severe.

European tattoo ink is less troublesome because it is more tightly regulated. Congress didn’t authorize the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate ink here until 2022.

The researchers say their goal is to empower tattoo artists and their customers. They urge the ink industry to re-evaluate production processes and implement better labeling.

The industry, after all, doesn’t want a stain on its reputation.

Epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus is a pathogen transmitted by midges that causes significant economic loss in the white-tailed deer farming industry and affects wild deer as well. On this show, Dr. Juan Campos Krauer, an assistant professor and a research and extension veterinarian whose interests include animal health, disease ecology and wildlife ecology and conservation, will discuss common diseases facing deer in Florida and nationally, and what he and his team are doing to help deer farmers as well as deer in the wild.

Liquor and sunbathing are a bad beach combo. As with many activities matched with alcohol, the danger comes in how it changes our behavior.

And like getting behind the wheel when intoxicated, the result can be deadly.

You don’t toy with the most-powerful star in our sky: the sun.

A study by researchers at Florida Atlantic University found that more than 1 in 5 people who get a sunburn were drinking alcohol when they got scorched. That’s according to data from 6,000 people.

It’s not that the alcohol itself makes someone more susceptible to a bad sunburn. Instead, drinkers tend to forget to apply sunscreen or put on too little. They fall asleep in the sun or get confused and spend too much time in the sun without realizing it.

The study also found that affluent folks, or those earning more than $200,000 a year, get sunburned more often than poorer folks. That makes sense when you remember that people with money can afford expensive activities that expose them to more sun, like boating, skiing or spending a week or two on a beach vacation.

Men are also more likely to get sunburned than women, and younger folks ages 18 to 39 more likely than older adults.

It adds up to booming times for skin cancer. It’s the nation’s most common cancer, and perhaps the type that is feared the least. Skin cancer costs U.S. health care $9 billion annually, by one estimate. And it claims thousands of lives.

Even so, only 10% of people surveyed say the prospect of skin cancer is extremely worrisome to them. Nearly 1 in 3 call it just slightly concerning.

It’s best to be attuned to the sobering reality that repeated sunburns can be lethal.

Feeling anxious? It’s OK. We all feel anxiety from time to time.

Whether a Little League baseball game, an important work presentation or a big life moment like a wedding, we all remember a time when we were so worried that our nerves consumed us.

But have you ever been so relaxed you ultimately procrastinated, and your lack of preparation led to a poor result?

It turns out if you can find your anxiety sweet spot, you might have an optimal outcome.

That’s because anxiety helps improve our attention to detail and elevate our focus. It also stimulates creativity and problem-solving skills.

Some studies have found that people who feel some anxiety in a pressure situation come up with better solutions to problems than those who feel calm. When we feel we can’t handle stress, our bodies produce the unhelpful hormone cortisol. When we feel we can, our heart rate increases, blood vessels dilate and oxygen goes to the brain. We produce anabolic hormones, which boost performance.

Anxiety highlights what matters to us. While the anxiety tells us that accomplishing our goals will be hard, it also moves us to take substantive action.

Psychologists say the difference between helpful and unhelpful anxiety is whether it causes “functional impairment.” Will your lack of action prevent you from living your life? Doing your job? Caring for your family?

Ultimately, anxiety is an instinct, providing useful information from our subconscious about potential negative results. It can certainly be irrational, at times.

But with a positive perspective, you’ll better handle your anxiousness as your jitters fuel you toward success.

The best way to avoid getting bitten by a venomous snake is to not go looking for one in the first place.

Much like eating well and exercising to feel better, this avoidance approach is backed by experts — and, most likely, some who just dislike the scaly critters.

A new study from researchers at the University of Florida analyzed 20 years of snakebite cases seen at the university’s largest hospital, shedding light on common behaviors related to the bites.

The team analyzed 546 de-identified patient records from 2002 to 2022 and highlighted notable conclusions — for instance, that a third of the snakebites analyzed were preventable and caused by people intentionally engaging with wild snakes.

About 78% of the snakebites occurred in adult men while they were handling wild snakes, and the majority of patients were bitten on their hands and fingers. Around 10% attempted outdated self-treatments no longer recommended by doctors — like sucking out the venom.

Notably, it took those bitten over an hour on average to travel from where the bite occurred to the hospital, suggesting that some underestimated the severity of the bite, or were unsure of next steps.

So here they are:

If you’re bitten by a snake, call 911 and move away from the snake. If it’s safe, snap a photo, which will help doctors pinpoint the right antivenom.

Then stay still and keep the bitten area at or above your heart. Remove any jewelry or tight-fitting clothing, cover the bite with a clean dressing, and monitor yourself for pain and swelling around the bite site, as well as changes in breathing, heart rate and alertness.

And keep calm. Help is on the way.

If your child is what we like to call an “iPad kid,” you might want to consider limiting their screen time.

A new study suggests children with more screen time, especially on mobile devices, show increased levels of stress and depression as teenagers.

Researchers from Finland followed 504 children for eight years from elementary school into adolescence. They used questionnaires and wearable devices to collect data on physical activity and screen time three times during the study: at the beginning, two years in and at the end. The researchers also used the Baltic Sea Diet measurement tool to assess the quality of participants’ diets.

By the study’s end, 187 teens had complete data on self-reported lifestyle behaviors. They answered the Cohen Perceived Stress Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory — two assessments that evaluate mental health.

Results showed those who reported greater screen time as a child were more susceptible to mental health problems later. Mobile device use had the strongest link to increased levels of stress and depression, but computer use also had a negative impact on stress.

And those with higher self-reported physical activity had better mental health outcomes, while those with less physical activity and more screen time saw the highest levels of stress and depression.

Interestingly, neither diet nor sleep quality had a significant impact on mental health. Boys benefited from physical activity more than girls, at least in terms of stress.

It can be tempting to give your child a phone to get them out of your hair. But next time, it might be best to send them outside — for your child’s sake, and yours.

A paralyzed man was able to control a robotic arm using a device that relays signals from his brain to a computer.

Although research has seen this before, the big news is that he was able to control the arm — eventually using it to open a cabinet, remove a cup and hold the cup to a water dispenser — for seven months. That’s far longer than the typical day or two such experiments last.

The difference between this study and others before it is that the researchers, from the University of California, San Diego, were able to account for day-to-day changes in the brain as the man repeatedly imagined specific movements.

The National Institutes of Health funded the work.

The technology relies on what is called the Brain-Computer Interface, or B-C-I for short.

Tiny sensors implanted in the main’s brain were used to connect electrical activity when he imagined himself using the arm to a device that decoded the signals for the robotic limb.

One of the researchers had a hunch that the activity in human brains would see the same kinds of day-to-day shifts he noted in animal brains as they learned.

Once the artificial intelligence model was trained to adjust to those slight movements, the robotic arm could be controlled for months at a time, rather than days.

The researchers say they are confident they now understand how to build AI models that will let the robotic arm move faster and more smoothly. Their next step? Testing the system in a home environment.

A 2013 study estimated that more than 5 million Americans live with paralysis. Being able to handle tasks for themselves would be a life-changer.

Primary care, or general practice, veterinarians do a little bit of everything. Your local veterinarian is likely to be a generalist who treats both healthy and sick animals and is someone who can follow your pet throughout its lifetime and work with you to obtain additional specialty care if needed. Because of this, establishing a relationship with a primary care veterinarian when your pet is healthy is key. On this show, Dr. Wendy Mandese, a primary care and dentistry veterinarian, will discuss why routine wellness examinations are necessary in order to properly manage a pet’s health as it ages, and why an ounce of prevention really is worth a pound of cure when it comes to keeping our four-legged family members happy and healthy.