A growing number of people are suffering from hearing loss due to exposure to loud noises from heavy machinery, concerts, or explosions. As a result, scientists have been working to understand the mechanism behind how the damage to hearing actually occurs.
Now, a team led by researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) has published an online interactive atlas representing the changes in the levels of RNA made in the different cell types of ears of mice, after damage due to loud noise. These changes in RNA levels are known as changes in “gene expression.”
Once they determined the larger trends in gene expression following the damage, the UMSOM scientists then searched a database of FDA-approved drugs to find those that are known to produce opposite patterns of those caused by the noise. From this analysis, the research teams identified a handful of drug candidates that may be able to prevent or treat the damage, and ultimately preserve hearing.
Their analysis was published in Cell Reports on September 28.
“As an otolaryngologist surgeon-scientist, I see patients with hearing loss due to age or noise damage, and I want to be able to help prevent or even reverse the damage to their hearing,” said study leader Ronna Hertzano, MD, PhD, Professor of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Anatomy and Neurobiology at UMSOM and Affiliate Member of UMSOM’s Institute for Genome Sciences. “Our extended analysis gives us very specific avenues to follow up on in future studies, as well as provides an encyclopedia that other researchers can use as a resource to study hearing loss.”
The team added their newest data on noise-induced hearing loss to gEAR — Gene Expression Analysis Resource — a tool developed by her laboratory that allows researchers not trained in informatics to browse gene expression data (published earlier this summer).

Corneal defects often heal themselves, but serious injuries that are left untreated can result in inflammation, infection, ulceration and even blindness. A new study provides exciting evidence supporting the involvement of aquaporins in corneal cell proliferation and nerve regeneration and suggests aquaporin 5 (AQP5) induction as a potential therapy to accelerate the resurfacing of corneal defects, report scientists in The American Journal of Pathology.
The cornea, which consists of transparent tissue in the outermost layer of the eye, acts as a barrier against external stimuli. It also plays a key role in vision.
“As a member of aquaporin family, AQP5 is expressed in cornea, which is related to many eye diseases,” explained lead investigator Peng Chen, PhD, Department of Human Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, School of Basic Medicine, Qingdao University, Shandong Province; and Institute of Stem Cell Regeneration Medicine, School of Basic Medicine, Qingdao University, Qingdao, China. “If a corneal injury cannot heal in time, it may lead to pathogen invasion and result in corneal inflammation, turbidity, ulcer and even blindness. In previous studies, we found that AQP5 deficiency can cause corneal epithelial punctate defects. There is also increasing evidence that nerve growth factor (NGF) plays a key role in corneal wound healing. AQP5 deficiency can slow down the repair of corneal epithelial injury in mice, but its specific mechanism remained unclear. We hypothesized that AQP5 plays an important role in one or more stages of corneal epithelial regeneration and explored the specific mechanism of AQP5.”
Investigators generated an Aqp5 knockout (Aqp5-/-) mouse model and performed corneal wound healing on corneas from which epithelial cells had been scraped away. They used 75 male Aqp5 +/+ mice and 189 male Aqp5-/- mice aged 10 to 12 weeks. Time to corneal epithelial and nerve regeneration was significantly delayed in the Aqp5-/- mice. To determine the role of NGF in the repair of corneal epithelial injury, NGF was injected in the subconjunctival space after corneal epithelium was scraped off in Aqp5-/- mice. The epithelial and nerve regeneration rate were significantly promoted in Aqp5-/- mice with the treatment of NGF, which also improved the recovery of corneal nerve fiber density and sensitivity in Aqp5-/- mice, accompanied by recovered levels of phosphorylated Akt.
The investigators also administered an Akt inhibitor in addition to NGF in Aqp5-/- mice to determine the mechanism of NGF regulating the repair rate of corneal epithelial injury. However, the promotion of NGF induced corneal epithelial and nerve regeneration rate and Akt reactivation was reversed by the Akt inhibitor.
“It is exciting to find that Aqp5 deficiency can affect the nerve regeneration of mice by affecting the activation of NGF and Akt signaling pathways, which is not found in previous studies,” commented Dr. Chen. “These results need to be confirmed in a clinical setting, but they provide evidence for the involvement of aquaporins in cell proliferation and nerve regeneration and suggest AQP5 induction as a possible therapy to accelerate the resurfacing of corneal defects.”
Aquaporins (AQPs), also called water channels, are channel proteins that form pores in the membrane of biological cells, mainly facilitating transport of water between cells and are expressed in the corneal epithelium. Thirteen different types of AQPs have been detected in mammals. As transmembrane proteins, they play a significant role in maintaining cell water homeostasis.
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Whether intermittent fasting is called the 5:2 diet or the 16/8 method, celebrities swear that these eating regimens are a great way to lose weight. Fasting is now trendy, but real science backs up claims that fasting two days a week or restricting eating to an eight-hour window each day leads to weight loss.
And scientists have found intermittent fasting has even more health benefits that are not related to weight: Studies in mice and other animals show that intermittent fasting also increases longevity.
But for those who want to adopt intermittent fasting to slow the aging process, there is a catch. In modern society, people are used to three meals a day, and intermittent fasting is hard.
Can the benefits of fasting be packaged in a pill? A new study of fasting fruit flies by Columbia University researchers suggests the answer may be yes.
The study, published Sept. 29 in the journal Nature, revealed how intermittent fasting works inside cells to slow the aging process (at least, for fruit flies) and points to potential ways to get the health benefits of fasting without the hunger pangs.
Intermittent fasting and time-restricted feeding in general limit food, but not overall caloric intake, to specific hours of the day. (In contrast, dietary restriction, which also has been shown to increase longevity, reduces caloric intake.)
“Because intermittent fasting restricts the timing of eating, it’s been hypothesized that natural biological clocks play a role,” says Mimi Shirasu-Hiza, PhD, associate professor of genetics & development at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and an expert in circadian rhythms, who led the study.

Rethinking what causes pain and how great of a threat it is can provide chronic pain patients with lasting relief and alter brain networks associated with pain processing, according to new University of Colorado Boulder-led research.
The study, published Sept. 29 in JAMA Psychiatry, found that two-thirds of chronic back pain patients who underwent a four-week psychological treatment called Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) were pain-free or nearly pain-free post-treatment. And most maintained relief for one year.
The findings provide some of the strongest evidence yet that a psychological treatment can provide potent and durable relief for chronic pain, which afflicts one in five Americans.
“For a long time we have thought that chronic pain is due primarily to problems in the body, and most treatments to date have targeted that,” said lead author Yoni Ashar, who conducted the study while earning his PhD in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at CU Boulder. “This treatment is based on the premise that the brain can generate pain in the absence of injury or after an injury has healed, and that people can unlearn that pain. Our study shows it works.”
Misfiring neural pathways
Approximately 85% of people with chronic back pain have what is known as “primary pain,” meaning tests are unable to identify a clear bodily source, such as tissue damage.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have identified a protein that improves muscular metabolism, motor coordination and exercise performance in mice. The findings, published in Cell Metabolism, could be of therapeutic value for patients with muscle and neurological diseases, such as ALS.
Muscle health is a major determinant of overall health and the best way to keep muscles healthy is to exercise regularly. However, for some patients with debilitating diseases, exercise is not always possible. For that reason, researchers are looking for molecules that can by themselves bring about some of the benefits of physical exercise.
In the current study, researchers at Karolinska Institutet wanted to know how a muscle-produced protein called neurturin affects neuromuscular function. Understanding what signals mediate motor neuron and muscle communication is essential for exploring new treatments for muscle-related and neurological diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
“We wanted to know if muscles can talk back to motor neurons by sending their own messages, and to find out what are the consequences of those signals,” says Jorge Ruas, professor at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, and corresponding author.
The researchers found that mice that were genetically modified to produce more neurturin in muscle cells significantly improved their muscle metabolism, exercise performance and motor coordination compared to regular mice. The high neurturin mice also had an increased number of motor neurons of a type that is more resistant to degeneration in diseases like ALS.
“To find out that a molecule released from muscle fibres can actually change motor neuron identity, shifting them to a type that is associated with more resistance to degeneration opens really exciting possibilities for the future,” Jorge Ruas adds.
As a next step, the researchers are hoping to explore the therapeutic possibilities of neurturin in mouse models of type 2 diabetes, obesity and ALS. They are also working on modifying the administration of neurturin to allow it to be used as a potential drug.
“There’s much to be done, but we believe this could be of therapeutic value for patients with metabolic and neuromuscular diseases, such as type 2 diabetes and ALS,” says the study’s first author Jorge Correia, researcher at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet.
The researchers note there were some limitations to the study, including the use of genetic tools and viral vectors to increase the levels of neurturin, which isn’t directly applicable from a therapeutic standpoint.
This study was financed by the Swedish Research Council, the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the Swedish Diabetes Foundation, the Strategic Research Program (SRP) in Diabetes, and The Lars Hiertas Memorial Foundation. Sandra Kleiner, Michael Stec and Naveen Khan are employees and shareholders of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Jorge Lira Ruas is a consultant for Bayer AG. There are no other reported conflicts of interest.
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YouTube said on Wednesday that it was banning several prominent anti-vaccine activists from its platform, including the accounts of Joseph Mercola and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as part of an effort to remove all content that falsely claims that approved vaccines are dangerous. In a blog post, YouTube said that it would remove videos claiming that vaccines do not reduce transmission or contraction of disease, and content that includes misinformation on the contents of the vaccines. Claims that approved vaccines cause autism, cancer or infertility, or that the vaccines contain trackers will also be removed.The platform, which is owned by Google, has had a similar ban on misinformation about the Covid-19 vaccines. But the new policy expands the rules to misleading claims about approved vaccines such as those against measles and hepatitis B, as well as to falsehoods about vaccines in general, YouTube said. Personal testimonies relating to vaccines, content about vaccine policies and new vaccine trials, and historical videos about vaccine successes or failures will be allowed to remain on the site.“Today’s policy update is an important step to address vaccine and health misinformation on our platform, and we’ll continue to invest across the board” in policies that bring its users high-quality information, the company said in its announcement.Misinformation researchers have for years pointed to the proliferation of anti-vaccine content on social networks as a factor in vaccine hesitation — including slowing rates of Covid-19 vaccine adoption in more conservative states. Reporting has shown that YouTube videos often act as the source of content that subsequently goes viral on platforms like Facebook and Twitter, sometimes racking up tens of millions of views.YouTube said that in the past year it had removed over 130,000 videos for violating its COVID-19 vaccine policies. But this did not include what the video platform called “borderline videos” that discussed vaccine skepticism on the site. In the past, the company simply removed such videos from search results and recommendations, while promoting videos from experts and public health institutions.This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

It’s called a silent killer. Warnings are rare, but of the million people who suffer a ruptured brain aneurysm each year, almost half will die and only a third will recover without disabilities.
A new study published in BMJ Open has measured for the first time a link between variations in size of the brain’s arteries and the likelihood of a cerebral aneurysm, providing scientists with a new screening tool to monitor people at risk.
Lead researcher, University of South Australia neuroanatomist, Dr Arjun Burlakoti, says imaging tests of 145 patients showed that people with asymmetric brain arteries have a significantly higher chance of developing an aneurysm, a ballooned vessel in the brain, that can rupture and cause a haemorrhagic stroke.
“A subarachnoid haemorrhage is the most dangerous type of stroke and occurs when a brain aneurysm leaks or ruptures, causing bleeding into the brain, killing more than 50 per cent of affected people,” Dr Burlakoti says.
“A lot of small, unruptured aneurysms go undetected in commonly used imaging techniques. They may not be diagnosed until they grow sufficiently to cause symptoms or rupture, often when it is too late.
“We looked at brain images of people with aneurysms and found that the four arteries entering the brain box, dividing into multiple segments and supplying blood to the brain, were not in proportion to each other, thus increasing peaks in blood pressure and predisposing them to ballooned blood vessels.”
Where the front part of the brain arterial network (the anterior cerebral artery, or A1) differs in left and right diameter ratio by up to 1.4, people have an 80 per cent risk of developing aneurysms in that region, the most common location of ruptured aneurysms. Those with symmetrical ratios below 1.4 have a 7.8 per cent equivalent risk.
Cerebral aneurysms cause almost 500,000 deaths worldwide each year, half of them occurring in people under the age of 50, with women at greater risk.
The main symptom of a burst aneurysm is a sudden, severe headache, often accompanied by double vision, nausea and vomiting, a stiff neck, muscle weakness, confusion, seizures and cardiac arrest.
If detected early, aneurysms can be monitored and slowed by controlling blood pressure with medication and diet and lifestyle changes. They can also be surgically clipped or removed but this also carries risks of brain damage or stroke and is only recommended if there is a high risk of rupture.
“Based on our findings, MRI and CT angiograms will determine whether people have asymmetrical brain arteries and if so, they should be screened regularly for cerebral aneurysms,” Dr Burlakoti says.
He collaborated with Dr Jaliya Kumaratilake, Dr Jamie Taylor and Prof Maciej Henneberg at the University of Adelaide, Royal Adelaide Hospital and University of Zurich, respectively, in this study.
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One third of children with a microdeletion of chromosome 22 will later develop a psychotic illness such as schizophrenia. But how do we know which of these children might be affected? Today, various studies have contributed to the understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms that are associated with the development of psychotic illnesses. The problem is that the ability to identify those at risk and adapt their treatment accordingly remains limited. Indeed, many variables — other than neurobiological — contribute to their development.
This is why a team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) has joined forces with a team from the EPFL to use in a longitudinal manner an artificial intelligence tool: the network analysis method. This algorithm correlates many variables from different backgrounds — neurobiological, psychological, cognitive, etc. — over a period of twenty years, in order to determine which current symptoms are predictive of a psychotic illness in the child’s future developmental trajectory. These results, to be read in the journal eLife, will enable early treatment of children deemed to be at risk of developing psychological disorders, with the aim of preventing or even avoiding them.
One in 4,000 people have a microdeletion of chromosome 22, which can lead to the development of psychotic illnesses, such as schizophrenia, in adolescence. However, only one third of them will eventually be affected by a psychotic disorder. How can we determine which ones? “For the time being, the analyses are looking at the neurobiological mechanisms involved in psychological disorders, as well as the presence of certain symptoms that are assimilated to a psychological illness, without knowing which are the most relevant,” explains Corrado Sandini, a researcher at the Department of Psychiatry of UNIGE Faculty of Medicine, to the Fondation Pôle Autisme and first author of the study.
Not being able to take into account the degree of importance of each symptom can be problematic in predicting the course of the disease and providing the most appropriate treatment for the patient. “This is why we thought of using the network analysis method,” he continues. This methodology, which is currently used on adults, makes it possible to combine variables from completely different worlds in the same analysis space, while considering them individually. “Since the development of psychotic illnesses depends on many variables other than purely neurobiological ones, this algorithm would make it possible to highlight the most important symptoms to alert about the potential risks of a child becoming schizophrenic, for example,” says Stéphan Eliez, professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the UNIGE Faculty of Medicine and to the Fondation Pôle Autisme.
Finding the predictive symptoms
The Geneva team has joined forces with researchers at EPFL to develop this methodology and apply it to a cohort of children and adolescents suffering from a microdeletion of chromosome 22, some of whom have been followed for more than twenty years. “The aim is to adapt network analysis by tailoring it to young patients in a longitudinal manner, in order to obtain insightful statistics on highly intertwined variables throughout the child’s developmental trajectory,” emphasises Dimitri Van De Ville, a professor in the Department of Radiology and Medical Informatics at UNIGE Faculty bof Medicine and at the EPFL Institute of Bioengineering. The aim is to find the variables in childhood that will foresay the development of psychotic illnesses. “We will therefore know which battle to fight, thanks to key factors that will enable us to act where and, above all, when it is necessary,” explains Stéphan Eliez. “If we can identify them, we can try to regulate the symptom to reduce the risk of developing a psychotic illness later on.”
To test the methodology, 40 variables were taken into account for 70 children suffering from a microdeletion of chromosome 22, observed every three years from childhood to adulthood. “These variables included hallucinations, general mood, feelings of guilt and the management of daily stress,” explains Corrado Sandini. Questionnaires completed by parents also provided valuable data. Visual representations then shed light/highlighted/determined the most important variables that predict the development of psychological problems three years later. “We found that an anxious 10-year-old whose anxiety turns into an inability to cope with stress in adolescence is likely to develop a psychological illness. The evolution of anxiety is therefore a significant warning signal,” continues the Geneva researcher. Similarly, sadness, which over time becomes a feeling of guilt, is also a very important symptom.
A personalised method for each child
In order to confirm the results of their algorithm, the researchers applied it to other cohorts vulnerable to psychotic illnesses that have been followed for many years, and were thus able to confirm that the computer tool works. The aim is now to use it as a predictive tool, but also to refine it by integrating other variables, such as weight, to contribute to the clinical assessment. Finally, the interest of this method is obviously the prediction, with the aim of avoiding the disease, but above all its fully personalised quality that studies the developmental trajectory specific to each child.

The presence of greenspaces near homes and schools is strongly associated with improved physical activity and mental health outcomes in kids, according to a massive review of data from nearly 300 studies.
Published online Sept. 29 in the journal Pediatrics, the review conducted by Washington State University and University of Washington scientists highlights the important role that exposure to nature plays in children’s health. Importantly, some of the data examined the effects for kids from historically marginalized communities and showed that the benefits of nature exposure may be even more pronounced for them.
“By looking at the full scope of existing quantitative evidence, we were able to see the importance of ready access to nature for both physical and mental health outcomes in childhood,” said Amber Fyfe-Johnson, the study’s lead author and an assistant professor with WSU’s Institute for Research and Education to Advance Community Health (IREACH) and the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine. “Access to nature — and the benefits that come with it — are a necessity, not a nicety. Unfortunately, not all kids are able to have regular nature contact. This is due partly to urbanization, increased screen time and more sedentary indoor lifestyles.”
Lack of nature exposure disproportionately impacts historically marginalized communities that typically have fewer nearby residential parks and access to outdoor spaces, Fyfe-Johnson added. Families with limited resources and transportation options also face barriers to accessing parks and natural areas outside the city.
Although these findings may seem self-evident to some, and the American Academy of Pediatrics routinely recommends outdoor play time, convincing data on the health benefits associated with nature exposure have been lacking, due partly to inconsistencies in study methodologies and definitions of outdoor time. The authors point out that not all time spent outside is equal — a parking lot is not a park, and an urban playground without natural elements is not a garden. And without strong evidence to support the benefits to kids of spending time outside, in nature, there has been little political will to enact or enforce policies that ensure equitable nature contact, said Fyfe-Johnson.
The researchers position their findings in the context of the nation’s urgent public health crises around physical inactivity and poor mental health, in addition to fundamental sociodemographic inequities in access to nature. These disparities and public health emergencies have only become further magnified during the COVID-19 pandemic, noted Dr. Pooja Tandon, the study’s senior author.
“Making this information available to pediatric health care providers and policy makers provides support for practices and policies promoting environmental justice and equitable nature contact for kids in places where they live, play and learn,” said Tandon, an associate professor at Seattle Children’s Research Institute.
Fyfe-Johnson points to prior evidence suggesting that contact with nature and greenspace may offer even greater health benefits to disadvantaged populations by counteracting some of the toxic effects of poverty.
“We sincerely hope our work will help lead to improved access to nature and health outcomes for kids, in addition to reducing health disparities in childhood,” she said.
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Patients with excited delirium who are combative, aggressive or agitated before being transported to the hospital or in an emergency department setting require immediate treatment for their safety and others. In the past, physical restraint was the predominant method used to control a patient during transport. However, due to safety issues, prehospital ketamine — a powerful sedative — is now commonly used to restrain patients experiencing excited delirium. Emergency medical services providers typically administer ketamine intramuscularly, which takes effect in about three to four minutes.
Ketamine is safe and well-tolerated when administered in a controlled environment such as a hospital for procedural sedation, as patients rarely lose their airway or respiratory drive. Although ketamine use is prevalent, evidence on safety and efficacy is limited and risk factors for respiratory arrest and intubation have not been well studied. Furthermore, many patients with excited delirium are intoxicated or are using illicit substances and these co-ingestants may alter the properties of the drug.
Researchers from Florida Atlantic University’s Schmidt College of Medicine conducted a study to explore whether patients treated with prehospital ketamine for excited delirium with concomitant substance intoxication have higher rates of subsequent intubation in the emergency department compared to those without confirmed substance usage.
Results of the study, published in the journal Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, showed that among 86 patients given prehospital intramuscular ketamine for excited delirium, those with concomitant cocaine intoxication had a statistically significant 5.75-fold increased rate of subsequent intubation in the emergency department, which were higher in men than women. There were no deaths reported.
Patients testing positive for alcohol, amphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, ecstasy, marijuana, opiates, and synthetic cathinones, both bath salts and flakka, had similar rates of intubation compared to those negative for these substances. Baseline characteristics including age, ketamine dose, and body mass index were similar between those who did or did not undergo intubation.
“While additional research is needed, it is tempting to speculate about possible mechanisms whereby prehospital ketamine administered intramuscularly for excited delirium with concomitant cocaine intoxication may increase subsequent intubation in the emergency department,” said Joshua J. Solano, M.D., first author, an emergency medicine physician, an assistant professor of emergency medicine and integrated medical science, and director of quality improvement and patient safety, FAU Schmidt College of Medicine. “One plausible explanation is that cocaine may deplete excitatory neurotransmitters and lead to an exaggerated respiratory depression requiring intubation.”
Over the course of 28 months, all medical records from two large community hospitals were searched for all patients age 18 years or older with intramuscular administration of ketamine for excited delirium and identified illicit and prescription substance co-ingestions.
For the study, trained abstractors collected demographic characteristics, history of present illness, urine drug screens, alcohol levels, and noted additional sedative administrations. Substance intoxication was determined by urine drug screens and alcohol positivity or negativity, as well as physician history of present illness. Patients without toxicological testing or documentation of substance intoxication, or who may have tested positive due to emergency department sedation, were excluded from relevant analyses. Subsequent emergency department intubation was the primary pre-specified outcome.
Study co-authors are Lisa M. Clayton, D.O., an emergency medicine physician, associate professor of integrated medical science and program director of the FAU emergency medicine residency; Daniel J. Parks, M.D., resident physician, FAU emergency medicine; Shayne E. Polley, M.D., an FAU medical school graduate and emergency medicine resident at Christ Emergency Medicine in Oak Lawn, Illinois; Patrick G. Hughes, D.O, an emergency medicine physician, an assistant program director of the FAU emergency medicine residency and an associate professor of integrated medical science; Charles H. Hennekens, M.D., Dr.PH, Sir Richard Doll professor and senior academic advisor; Richard D. Shih, M.D., an emergency medicine physician, professor of integrated medical science, and division director of the FAU emergency medicine residency program; and senior author Scott M. Alter, M.D., M.B.A., an emergency medicine physician, an associate professor of emergency medicine, and associate research director of the FAU emergency medicine residency, all within the Schmidt College of Medicine.