Survey data from adolescents between 11 and 14 years of age found that supportive relationships with family and friends, physical activity, and better sleep habits helped to limit the harmful impacts of the pandemic on mental health, according to a press release from the National Institutes of Health.

, the study used longitudinal survey data from more than 3000 adolescents. The research was based on data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, which is the largest long-term study of brain development and child health ever conducted in the United States.

Researchers also explored predictors of perceived stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms, and found that girls were more likely than boys to experience psychological distress during the pandemic. Other predictors of youth distress included psychosocial factors such as poorer quality and functioning of family relationships, increased screen time, and witnessing discrimination in relation to the pandemic.

“Early adolescence is a time when youth are already experiencing rapid change physically, emotionally, and socially, and the COVID-19 pandemic has caused immense disruption to this sensitive stage in life,” said National Institute on Drug Abuse Director Nora D. Volkow, MD, in the press release. “This study helps us understand how modifiable lifestyle factors affect the mental health and wellbeing of adolescents, and it can inform the development of interventions to protect youth during a major life stress. This is important now, as we continue to grapple with the pandemic, and also in future crisis response at the local or national level.”

In the study, investigators analyzed data from more than 3000 participants in the ABCD study as well as their families. The adolescents and their parents completed pre-pandemic assessments by February 2020, which documented baseline parent/caregiver reports of externalizing problems and sleep disturbances, as well as youth reports of internalizing problems, such as feeling anxious or depressed. Participating parents and youth then separately completed 3 online COVID-19 surveys, conducted between May and August 2020, which featured more than 200 items across psychosocial and lifestyle domains.

The researchers then used machine learning methods to identify patterns of positive affect, anxiety, stress, and depressive symptoms across the surveys. They then interpreted the results using an algorithm to provide an overall ranking of variables according to their importance for predicting youth mental health outcomes. The top variables were categorized into 8 domains: coping behaviors such as having a regular mealtime; physical activities; relationships; resources such as being able to afford food; screen time; sleep; and other variables.

Out of all the possible predictors considered, positive relationship variables such as discussing plans for the day with parents, participating in family activities, and predictors related to healthy behaviors were among the top predictors of high positive affect. These factors were also protective against stress, anxiety, and depression, according to the press release.

Conversely, increased screen time and witnessing racism or discrimination related to COVID-19 were found to be important predictors for negative affect. The study also found that girls and adolescents who entered the pandemic with existing mental health or sleep problems appeared to be particularly vulnerable to negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Focusing on what you can do to support young people, like maintaining as much of a routine as possible, walking at least 10 minutes a day, and strengthening family relationships, really matters during times of stress,” Fiona C. Baker, PhD, director of the Center for Health Sciences at SRI International, said in the press release.

The study authors noted that compared to the full ABCD study sample of approximately 11,800 individuals at entry, this study included only a subsample of 3000 youth with sufficient data from pre-pandemic assessments and COVID-19 surveys. Compared to the full ABCD study, this subsample of youth was less likely to be Hispanic/Latinx, less likely to be Black, more likely to be Asian, and their parents were more likely to have higher education. Generalizability of the study is therefore limited, according to the authors.

“This additional COVID data collection is also a valuable example of how the ABCD study team was able to effectively pivot within such a massive project, to leverage this important learning opportunity during the pandemic,” lead author Orsolya Kiss, PhD, said in the press release. “Further, machine learning techniques allowed the data itself to drive the findings, rather than expectations or hypotheses. While the team informed the structure of what data was incorporated from before and during the pandemic, the model then determined what was important.”

Social connectedness, sleep, and physical activity associated with better mental health among youth during the COVID-19 pandemic. News release. National Institutes of Health; January 24, 2022. Accessed January 26, 2022. 

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/social-connectedness-sleep-physical-activity-associated-better-mental-health-among-youth-during-covid-19-pandemic

Articles

Predictors of youth distress included psychosocial factors such as poorer quality of family relationships, increased screen time, and witnessing discrimination in relation to the pandemic.

Social Connectedness, Sleep, Physical Activity During COVID-19 Pandemic Linked With Improved Mental Health Among Youth 

New research indicates that feelings of fatigue after performing activities can be an indicator of earlier mortality among older people, according to a study from the University of Pittsburgh.

Older adults who scored the highest in terms of how tired or exhausted they would feel after activities were more than twice as likely to die in the following 2.7 years compared to their counterparts who scored lower.

"This is the time of year when people make—and break—New Year's resolutions to get more physical activity," said lead study author Nancy W. Glynn, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology at Pitt's Graduate School of Public Health, in a press release. "I hope our findings provide some encouragement to stick with exercise goals. Previous research indicates that getting more physical activity can reduce a person's fatigability. Our study is the first to link more severe physical fatigability to an earlier death. Conversely, lower scores indicate greater energy and more longevity."

Glynn and colleagues administered the Pittsburgh Fatigability Scale to 2906 participants, 60 years of age and older, in the Long Life Family Study, which is an international evaluation following family members across 2 generations. Participants were ranked from 0 to 5 on how tired they thought or imagined they would become from performing certain activities, such as a leisurely 30-minute walk, light housework, or heavy gardening.

The follow-up for this work concluded at the end of 2019 to avoid any increased mortality impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, which gave the team an average of 2.7 years of data on each participant. After looking at a variety of factors that influence mortality, the team found that participants who scored 25 points or higher on the Pittsburgh Fatigability Scale were 2.3 times more likely to die in the 2.7 years after completing the scale compared to their counterparts who scored below 25.

"There has been research showing that people who increase their physical activity can decrease their fatigability score," Glynn said in the press release. "And one of the best ways to increase physical activity—which simply means moving more—is by setting manageable goals and starting a routine, like a regular walk or scheduled exercise."

Glynn added that other than trying high fatigability to an earlier death, the study demonstrates the value of the Pittsburgh Fatigability Scale, which was created in 2014.

"While the Pittsburgh Fatigability Scale has been widely adopted in research as a reliable, sensitive way to measure fatigability, it is underutilized in hospital settings and clinical trials," Glynn said in the press release. "My ultimate goal is to develop a physical activity intervention targeting a reduction in fatigability as a means to stem the downward spiral of impaired physical function common with the aging process. By reducing fatigability, one can change how they feel, potentially motivating them to do more."

Feelings of fatigue predict early death in older adults. ScienceDaily. January 24, 2022. Accessed January 26, 2022. 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220124084616.htm

Study: Feelings of Fatigue Predict Early Death in Older Adults

New study results show that when pregnant mice were fed butyrate, a food supplement derived from intestinal bacteria, most of their pups survived after exposure to infection that induces fatal biliary atresia.

Investigators of the study, published in 

, said this occurred because the mothers receiving the enhanced diet transferred a healthier mic of gut bacteria to their newborns, which helped them resist the disease.

Biliary atresia is a rare disease that occurs when a delicate tree-like set of ducts that carry bile from the liver to the intestine becomes scarred and blocked. Although some treatments can slow the damage most children who develop the disease will die without a liver transplant.

"Other studies have shown that the maternal transfer of the microbiome to the baby may change susceptibility of later-onset conditions, such as allergies, obesity, even heart disease. Our study shows that this transfer also has implications for diseases that begin during the neonatal period, like biliary atresia," Jorge Bezerra, MD, director of the division of gastroenterology, hepatology, and nutrition at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, said in a statement.

When the newborn mice were exposed to a virus that is known to cause biliary atresia, about 60% of those born to a mother given butyrate survived compared with approximately 20% of the mice born to mothers receiving typical food and water.

The key compound turned out to be glutamine, which is widely available as a food supplement.

However, investigators injected pups with glutamine after they were born, rather than feeding it to their mothers.

After further testing showed which compound produced by the healthier mix of gut bacteria offered the strongest protection, investigators improved the survival rate to as high as 83%.

These different results indicate that more research is necessary before making any recommendations to human mothers about what they might do to reduce the risk of their children developing biliary atresia, investigators said.

Butyrate is a short chain fatty acid that is metabolized by humans but depends upon gut bacteria to produce. Butyrate occurs when the gut bacteria break down otherwise non-digestible plant fibers.

Like mice in the study, human babies with biliary atresia often have very low amounts of butyrate in their systems, which makes the beneficial effects observed from the butyrate heavy diet worth investigating, investigators said.

There have been no human trials of the butyrate diet attempted for preventing biliary atresia.

"We think that the intestinal production of butyrate in neonates also enriched the population of bacteria that makes glutamine inside the intestinal lumen," Bezerra said.

"Both molecules are important, with glutamine serving as a survival factor for bile duct cells while butyrate may suppress an unwanted harmful immune response. It appears that both work together to decrease the risk of biliary injury,” Bezerra said.

Investigators also used DNA sequencing to analyze the population of gut bacteria, which demonstrated a common molecular signature between maternal and newborn microbiomes after the mothers were fed with butyrate.

A safe dose of butyrate that also would be strong enough to prevent biliary atresia is not known at this time.

Boosting the maternal microbiome sharply reduces biliary atresia risk in early-stage study. Science Daily. News release. January 10, 2022. Accessed January 17, 2022. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220110145306.htm

When pregnant mice were fed butyrate, most of their pups survived after exposure to infection that induces a fatal intestinal blockage, the results of a new analysis show.

Boosting the Maternal Microbiome Sharply Reduces Biliary Atresia in Early-Stage Study

New research suggests that individuals who do vigorous physical activities in areas with higher air pollution may show less benefit from that exercise with certain markers of brain disease.

According to a press release from the American Academy of Neurology, researchers examined markers including white matter hyperintensities, which indicate injury to the brain’s white matter, and gray matter volume. Larger volumes of gray matter and smaller volumes of white matter hyperintensity are signifiers of overall better brain health. However, air pollution could limit the impacts of exercise on these markers of brain health, according to the study.

“Vigorous exercise may increase exposure to air pollution, and prior studies have shown adverse effects of air pollution on the brain,” said study author Melissa Furlong, PhD, in the press release. “We did show that physical activity is associated with improved markers of brain health in areas with lower air pollution. However, some beneficial effects essentially disappeared for vigorous physical activity in areas with the highest levels of air pollution.”

In the study, researchers examined 8600 individuals with an average age of 56 years from the UK Biobank database. Individuals’ exposure to pollution, including nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter, was estimated with land use regression, which models air pollution levels based on air monitors and land use characteristics such as traffic, agriculture, and industrial sources of air pollution.

Participants’ exposure to air pollution was categorized into 4 equal groups, from lowest air pollution to highest, and each individual’s physical activity was measured for 1 week with a wearable movement-detecting device. Researchers then characterized their physical activity patterns depending on how much vigorous physical activity they got, ranging from none to 30 minutes or more per week.

On average, individuals who got the greatest amounts of vigorous physical activity each week had 800 cm3 gray matter volume, compared to an average of 790 cm3 in individuals who did not get any vigorous exercise. Researchers also found that air pollution exposures did not alter the effects of physical activity on gray matter volume.

However, the study found that air pollution exposures altered the impact of vigorous physical activity when looking at white matter hyperintensities. After adjusting for age, sex, and other covariates, researchers found that vigorous physical activity reduced white matter hyperintensities in areas of low air pollution, but these benefits were not found in individuals in high air pollution areas.

“That’s not to say people should avoid exercise,” Furlong said in the press release. “Overall, the effect of air pollution on brain health was modest—roughly equivalent to half the effect of 1 year of aging, while the effects of vigorous activity on brain health were much larger—approximately equivalent to being 3 years younger.”

The study used air pollution values from 1 year only, and levels may vary from year to year, according to the researchers.

“More research is needed, but if our findings are replicated, public policy could be used to address people’s exposure to air pollution during exercise,” Furlong said in the press release. “For example, since a significant amount of air pollution comes from traffic, promoting running or bicycling along paths far from heavy traffic may be more beneficial.”

Does Air Pollution Reduce the Benefits of Physical Activity on the Brain? News release. American Academy of Neurology; December 8, 2021. Accessed January 19, 2022. 

https://www.aan.com/PressRoom/Home/PressRelease/4940

Individuals who got the greatest amounts of vigorous exercise each week had more gray matter volume than individuals who did not get any vigorous exercise.

Study: Air Pollution Potentially Reduces Benefits of Physical Activity On the Brain

A new study found that by making small changes in the environment, such interventions can encourage changes in our behavior while still preserving freedom of choice. For example, the investigators observed that by adding informative labels or reorganizing food offerings in a cafeteria, individuals may be encouraged to make more positive health choices without feeling pushed to do so.

The “nudging” theory, developed by American economist Richard Thaler, is based on the principle that our choices are not only determined by our ability to reason, but also by certain biases based on emotion or memories.

In behavioral sciences, researchers call this “choice architecture,” which can help a population pick healthier choices without removing their freedom of choice. An example of this would be putting a healthy food choice deliberately at the top of a menu, which would visually encourage customers to select the option that will benefit their health the most.

A research team from the University of Geneva worked to conduct a meta-analysis to look at the effectiveness of these “nudges” and the areas in which they are the most relevant.

“We have collected more than 200 scientific articles published over the last 15 years on the subject, which represent more than 450 'nudge' strategies," said study first author Stéphanie Mertens, MSc, a PhD student in the Swiss Center for Affective Sciences at the University of Geneva, in a press release.

The researchers went on to classify the nudges by “information,” “structure,” and “assistance.” The first set was grouped by interventions whose objective is to inform individuals to motivate them to make certain choices. The second set grouped techniques that deal with the structure of an environment, whereas the third set classified nudges involving a form of commitment.

The team concluded that all 3 groups are effective, but that the techniques in the “structure” group were the most effective.

“Within these groups, we also compared different areas of application, such as health, finances or energy consumption. In the end, we found that nudges work best in the area of food," said Tobias Brosch, director of the Consumer Decision and Sustainable Behavior Laboratory, in a press release. "It is imperative that the overall study quality increases because of the impact that nudges can have on the daily lives of citizens.”

In terms of application, the authors of the study noted that the results were intended to act as a reference for policymakers who want to implement new practices around supporting healthy behavioral changes.

Inciting instead of coercing, 'nudges' prove their effectiveness. ScienceDaily. January 17, 2022. Accessed January 18, 2022. 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220117093004.htm

Study: Small Environment Changes Can Lead to Healthy Behavior Changes

 interviewed Laura Lee Hall, PhD, president of the Center for Sustainable Health Care Quality and Equity (SHC), on some new approaches to address racial and ethnic disparities in diabetes care.

During the discussion, Hall explained how the SHC’s diabetes DRIVE program compares with the SHC DRIVE models aimed at improving flu and COVID-19 vaccination rates.

“It's the same model but with disease-specific examples and resources. What I'd like to note is the inner relationship between diabetes, flu, and COVID-19,” Hall said. “We can't overstate or ignore this. Diabetes puts you at greater risk of infection and poor outcomes from flu and COVID-19, and flu and COVID-19 severely strains blood glucose control, so vaccination for both flu and COVID-19 is critical for people with diabetes.”

Videos

Laura Lee Hall, PhD, president of the Center for Sustainable Health Care Quality and Equity (SHC), discusses how the SHC’s diabetes DRIVE program compares with the SHC DRIVE models aimed at improving flu and COVID-19 vaccination rates.

Expert: Diabetes Puts Patients at ‘Greater Risk of Infection, Poor Outcomes From Flu, COVID-19’

Among individuals with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH), a type of bleeding stroke, recent cannabis users were more than twice as likely to develop dangerous complications that could result in death or greater disability, according to research results published in 

, a journal of the American Stroke Association of the American Heart Association.

The study is the largest to examine the impact of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, of cannabis on complications after an aSAH, a rare but severe form of stroke.

"We're all vulnerable to a bleeding stroke or a ruptured aneurysm. However, if you're a routine marijuana user, you may be predisposed to a worse outcome from a stroke after the rupture of that aneurysm," Michael Lawton, MD, president and CEO of Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, said in a statement.

This type of stroke can result in neurological disabilities in about 66% of individuals and death during the follow up period in approximately 40% of individuals, according to the statement.

The immediate treatment of aSAH can prevent and stop further bleeding. However, in the 14 days following aSAH, individuals can experience worsening symptoms that could result in more brain damage. This complication is called delayed cerebral ischemia and is the leading cause of death and disability after an aSAH stroke.

Investigators of the study analyzed data on more than 1000 individuals who had been treated for aSAH at Barrow Neurological Institute between January 1, 2007 and July 31, 2019. All individuals were treated to stop the bleeding either noninvasively by treading a slim tube through the blood vessel to the base of the aneurysm and releasing coils that fold to fill in the pace and provide a barrier to further bleeding or through open surgery to clip off the base of the aneurysm .

Urine toxicology screening was done on each of the individuals admitted with ruptured aneurysms. Investigators compared the occurrence of delayed cerebral ischemia in 46 individuals, averaging aged 47 years and 41% female, who tested positive for THC, and 968 individuals, averaging aged 56 years and 71% female, who tested negative for THC.

A positive urine screen for THC reflects cannabis exposure within 3 days for a single use to within approximately 30 days for frequent heavy use.

The individuals who recently used cannabis did not have significantly larger aneurysms or worse stroke symptoms when admitted to the hospital and they were not more likely to have high blood pressure or other cardiovascular risk factors than individuals who tested negative for THC.

Recent cannabis users were also significantly more likely to have tested positive for other substances, including cocaine, methamphetamines, and tobacco, compared with those who tested negative for THC.

Of all individuals, approximately 36% developed delayed cerebra ischemia, approximately 13.5% died, and approximately 50% were left with moderate to severe disability, and .

After adjusting for several other characteristics as well as recent exposure to other illicit substances, individuals who tested positive for THC were 2.7 times more likely to develop delayed cerebral ischemia, 2.2 times more likely to die, and 2.8 times more likely to have long-term moderate to severe physical disability.

The study does not specifically address how cannabis raises the risk of delayed cerebral ischemia and vasospasm.

The study’s limitations include being conducted at a single institution and not being able a head-to-head analysis of those who used cannabis and those who did not.

Marijuana users’ risk of deadly complication doubles after rare type of bleeding stroke. Science Daily. News release. January 6, 2022. Accessed January 11, 2022. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220106100350.htm

The study is the largest to examine the impact of THC on individuals with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Marijuana Users’ Risk of Deadly Complication Doubles After Rare Type of Bleeding Stroke

New research has shown that approximately 30% of people prefer to talk about negative experiences with a virtual reality (VR) avatar compared to a person, according to research conducted by The Edith Cowan University.

The investigators compared social interactions where people engaged in VR conversation versus face-to-face by using full face and body motion capture technology to create a ‘realistic motion avatar’ that closely imitated their human counterpart. These conversations were then analyzed based on how people interacted with the avatars compared to their human counterparts.

According to researcher Shane Rogers, MD, participants rated their experience on factors such as enjoyment, perceived understanding, comfort, awkwardness, and extent that they felt they disclosed information about themselves.

“Overall people rated VR social interaction as similar to face-to-face interaction, with the exception of closeness, where people tended to feel a little closer with each other when face-to-face,” Rogers said in the press release.

Rogers added that while VR technology has been around for some time, this new study suggests that using motion capture to enhance VR could catapult it into our everyday lives.

“This technology has the potential for broad application across a number of areas such as casual conversation, business, tourism, education and therapy,” Rogers said in the press release. “The study found that 30% of people preferred disclosing negative experiences via VR. This means that therapy might be opened to new people who don’t feel comfortable with traditional face-to-face interactions. It might also enable therapists to conduct therapy more effectively at a distance, as a person can be in the therapist room (in virtual reality) while seated in their own home.”

Further, he added that he expected VR social interaction to become more common in the next 5 years rather than a niche topic.

“More powerful computers are becoming more affordable, VR headsets and peripherals are continuing to develop, and more user-friendly VR interaction software platforms are becoming available and being updated,” Rogers said in the press release.

The research team hopes to further investigate how aspects of the generation of the avatar, such as the fidelity of motion and graphics, impact user experience and the potential of using VR in therapeutic settings.

Virtual Reality could help make therapy easier. Edith Cowan University. January 5, 2022. Accessed January 12, 2022. 

https://www.ecu.edu.au/newsroom/articles/research/virtual-reality-could-help-make-therapy-easier

This new study suggests that using motion capture to enhance VR could catapult it into our everyday lives.

Research Shows Patients May Prefer Communicating With an Avatar in Therapeutic Setting

 interviewed Laura Lee Hall, PhD, president of the Center for Sustainable Health Care Quality and Equity, on some new approaches to address racial and ethnic disparities in diabetes care.

During the discussion, Hall explained how the work of the Center for Sustainable Health Care Quality (SHC) impacts health care systems, how the SHC’s diabetes DRIVE toolkit help to address these disparities in disease burden and health outcomes, and what the results of the DRIVE toolkit’s pilot program showed regarding the efficacy of the toolkit in addressing these disparities.

Laura Lee Hall, PhD, president of the Center for Sustainable Health Care Quality and Equity (SHC), discusses the results of the SHC’s DRIVE toolkit’s pilot program assessing the toolkit’s efficacy.

The SHC’s Diabetes DRIVE Toolkit May Help Address Disparities in Diabetes Disease Burden, Health Outcomes

Myelin, a sheath of insulation around nerves that helps electrical impulses travel through the central nervous system, is reduced in mice that have a gene deletion associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), results of a study by the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio show.

Investigators depleted 1 copy of a gene, Tbx1, which is encoded in the chromosome 22q11.2 region linked to impaired cognition, to find cognitive speed was slower in those mice on 2 tests: attentional set shifting, which challenges cognitive flexibility, and the Morris water maze, which taxes spatial memory.

"Variants of this gene, Tbx1, are associated with ASD, intellectual disability, and many other developmental issues," Noboru Hiroi, PhD, professor of pharmacology at UT Health San Antonio, said in a statement. "These ultra-rare variants are found in only a few families in the world."

UT Health San Antonio investigators teamed up with investigators from Tohoku University in Japan, who performed whole-brain magnetic resonance imaging studies to discover which brain regions had altered white matter.

Changes were seen only in the fimbria, a band of nerve fibers that connect various brain regions with the hippocampus, which is the center of learning and memories.

"That is a very regionally specific deficit," Dr. Hiroi said.

The findings were confirmed by investigators through electron microscopy.

In analyzing the slower cognition exhibited by the mice, the investigators hypothesized that myelin was negatively affected.

Indeed, mice lacking 1 Tbx1 copy did not have as many cells called oligodendrocytes, which are the cells that manufacture myelin.

"This negatively affected the production of the building blocks of myelin, which resulted in these mice not having enough protective fibers," Hiroi said. "Without the myelin sheath, you don't have speedy signal conductance between brain regions."

The study is limited, because investigators cannot compare the speed of mice on a pair of tests with actual cognition in humans.

However, human and mice studies are both important in understanding gene copy number variants in developmental and psychiatric disorders,” Hiroi said.

"In a mouse model, we identified structural changes in the brain and a specific gene that, when deficient, is responsible for those changes," Hiroi said.

"Tbx1 is only one of many genes implicated in autism and schizophrenia, but this mechanistic basis we found, this impaired myelination, can be tested for generalizability in other copy number variants and ultra-rare variants.

The study was funded by 3 institutes of the US National Institutes of Health: Institutes of Health: the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; the National Institute of Mental Health, and the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.

ASD affects 1 in 44 children, according to the CDC.

1. Autism-linked gene, if deleted, results in less myelin. Science Daily. News release. December 21, 2021. Accessed January 5, 2022. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/12/211221102655.htm

2. Data & statistics on autism spectrum disorder. CDC. Updated December 2, 2021. Accessed January 6, 2022. https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/data.html

Study results from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio also show that cells that make myelin were diminished in mice.

All News