Publisher Health

Diet impacts the brain a lot more than we think.
A new study from UNC School of Medicine researchers, published in Neuron, reveals a unique look at how junk food rewires the brain’s memory hub – leading to risk of cognitive dysfunction. This new research opens the door to early interventions that can prevent even long-term memory loss associated with obesity.
Led by UNC School of Medicine’s Juan Song, PhD, principal investigator, professor of pharmacology, and Taylor Landry, PhD, first author, Department of Pharmacology, researchers found that a special group of brain cells in the hippocampus, called CCK interneurons, become overly active after eating a high-fat diet (HFD), due to an impaired ability of the brain to receive glucose (sugar). This overactivity disrupts how the hippocampus processes memory, even after just a few days of high fat diet. This type of diet resembles typical Western-style junk food rich in saturated fat — like cheeseburgers and fries. The discovery also showed that a protein called PKM2, which controls how brain cells use energy, plays a key role in this problem.
“We knew that diet and metabolism could affect brain health, but we didn’t expect to find such a specific and vulnerable group of brain cells, CCK interneurons in the hippocampus, that were directly disrupted by short-term high-fat diet exposure,” Song said, who is a member of the UNC Neuroscience Center. “What surprised us most was how quickly these cells changed their activity in response to reduced glucose availability, and how this shift alone was enough to impair memory.”
Brain Health Study Summary Mouse models were placed on high-fat diet resembling fatty junk food before starting behavioral testing. Within 4 days of eating high-fat diet, results showed CCK interneurons in the brain’s memory hub became abnormally active. Results suggest fatty junk foods can affect the brain almost immediately, well before the onset of weight gain or diabetes.Research findings also highlight how sensitive memory circuits are to diet, underscoring the importance of nutrition in maintaining brain health. A high-fat diet, rich in saturated fats, could possibly lead to an elevated risk of developing neurodegenerative diseases, like dementia and Alzheimer’s, according to the study.
The research also shows that restoring brain glucose levels actually calmed down overactive neurons and fixed memory problems in mice. The study found interventions like dietary modifications or pharmacological approaches may be effective in preserving brain health for obesity-related neurodegeneration. Notably, researchers discovered that dietary interventions like intermittent fasting periods following a high-fat diet were sufficient to normalize CCK interneurons and improve memory function.
“This work highlights how what we eat can rapidly affect brain health and how early interventions, whether through fasting or medicine, could protect memory and lower the risk of long-term cognitive problems linked to obesity and metabolic disorders,” said Song. “In the long run, such strategies could help reduce the growing burden of dementia and Alzheimer’s linked to metabolic disorders, offering more holistic care that addresses both body and brain.”
This research is ongoing to further understand how these glucose-sensitive neurons disrupt brain rhythms that support memory. Researchers plan to test whether these targeted therapies could be translated into humans and how a high-fat diet could be a factor in Alzheimer’s disease. Lifestyle-based interventions will also be explored, such as dietary patterns that stabilize brain glucose, to see if they offer protective benefits.

2 hours agoShareSaveNick TriggleHealth correspondentShareSaveBBCThree years ago, a fashion editor friend returned from Milan Fashion Week bursting with a story to tell.Most fashion editors stayed at the same hotel, she explained, and each bedroom had its own mini fridge. After checking out, en route to the airport, a stylist in her party cried out that he’d left “an important package” in his fridge and telephoned the hotel, pleading with them not to throw it away.”Turns out he’d forgotten his Ozempic,” my editor friend whispered. We were baffled. Ozempic?Back then, Ozempic was not part of the common lexicon. But quietly, in certain circles, this injectable drug, which is licensed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, was being prescribed privately and off-label for weight loss.Flash forward to today and the picture is vastly different. “So many fashion people are on it,” she tells me today. “And now they’re very vocal.” Serena Williams, Elon Musk and Whoopi Goldberg have all spoken about using weight-loss injections. Some are now prescribed by the NHS, including Wegovy and Mounjaro, generating scores of headlines.Really, this should have made it a great leveller. In theory, anyone struggling with obesity can – without the expense of a private doctor – get help to manage their weight.Only that’s not the full picture.AFP via Getty ImagesThousands of NHS patients are believed to be missing out. And with the NHS tightly restricting access, some working in the field warn a two-tier system around weight-loss drugs is developing – one that’s benefitting the most well-off.Martin Fidock, who is UK managing director of Ovivia, which provides Wegovy and lifestyle support to NHS patients, claims that thanks to varying thresholds of eligibility in different regions, NHS prescriptions are a “postcode lottery”.An estimated 1.5 million people in the UK use these drugs – but more than nine in 10 are believed to pay privately. Prices vary but it generally costs between £100 and £350 a month, depending on the dose and lifestyle support. Then, last month, it was reported that pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly was expected to increase the list price of Mounjaro by as much as 170%. They have since done a deal for UK distributors, meaning rises are likely to be less, and the rises don’t affect the cost to the NHS – but it has still caused concern in some quarters.”It’s scary,” says Brad, a tech company worker in his 40s. He has been taking Mounjaro for a year and worries he may not be able to afford to continue.”I’ve lost 20kg and want to keep using it, but it’s a lot of money. It’s unfair.”Getty Images (R) AFP via Getty Images (L)Nutritionists and GPs I spoke to have also expressed concerns about the broader system, and in particular whether existing health inequalities could worsen.”We cannot allow good health to become a luxury for the wealthiest by limiting access to weight-loss drugs to those who can pay privately,” argues Katharine Jenner, executive director of Obesity Health Alliance.So could it really be that weight-loss injections – for all of their benefits – are turning obesity into a wealth issue?The NHS ‘postcode lottery’Weight-loss drugs have been available on the NHS for some time, but the landscape changed significantly with the introduction of some newer medications – among them, semaglutide, marketed under the brand name Wegovy, and tirzepatide, sold as Mounjaro.Wegovy was first prescribed for obesity by the NHS in 2023, while Mounjaro followed earlier this year. They work in part as an appetite suppressant by mimicking a hormone, which makes people feel fuller. Studies have suggested patients can lose as much as a fifth of their body weight.They are licensed for people with a BMI of 27 or more for those with a health condition or above 30 for those without (adjusted for certain ethnic groups). But tougher NHS criteria are being applied, and in England and Wales the drugs are mostly restricted to those with a BMI of over 35.Plus there are more restrictions too.For Wegovy, local areas are making their own decisions on access.Martin Fidock claims that in recent months a third of regional health boards have increased the BMI threshold, which he says has resulted in fewer people being able to get it. (The BBC has been unable to verify this data.)A spokesperson for Novo Nordisk, the pharmaceutical giant that makes Wegovy, told the BBC it is “concerned about the growing disparity” in access to NHS specialist weight management services.”This has led to a large proportion of people needing to pay out of pocket, an option which is out of reach in areas of depravation where obesity rates are significantly higher.”NHS England has said the differences could be related to different levels of need and other providers being more active in certain regions, but confirmed it was up to local areas to decide how much to spend.ReutersFor Mounjaro, NHS England has started it for people with a BMI above 40 who also have certain health conditions. The NHS roll-out officially began in June, but a report published earlier this month suggests that not all general practices had started offering it.Just 18 out of 42 NHS boards across England confirmed that they’d begun prescribing it in line with the roll-out plan, according to data obtained by freedom of information requests published in the BMJ. The NHS has previously said it is supporting the phased rollout for eligible patients and that “these represent brand-new services in primary care that are being established and scaled up over time”.But Mr Fidock believes we are seeing a “postcode lottery”.”We have got an obesity epidemic and these drugs provide us with an opportunity to tackle it in a way we have never been able to do before. But your ability to benefit is dependent largely on whether you have the means to pay.”Adding to the challenge is the fact that more people from deprived areas struggle with obesity in the first place: more than a third of people in the most deprived areas are obese – twice that of more affluent neighbourhoods.Beyond the physical health risks – and there are many, including higher risks of cancer and heart disease, plus mental health problems – there may be social consequences too.One US study found that obese men with a bachelor’s degree earn 5% less than their thinner colleagues, while those with a graduate degree earn 14% less. For obese women it is worse still, earning 12% and 19% less respectively, based on data concerning 23,000 US workers, published in The Economist in 2023.NHS GP Matthew Calcasola, who is also involved in a service Get a Drip, which offers weight-loss drugs privately, has his own concerns.”We’re concerned health inequality will build,” he says. “GPs worry about this.”Private patients priced outMeanwhile, a booming private market has emerged. Sara de Souza, a business analyst from Nottingham, is among those delighted that it has.Following the birth of her son Vito in 2023, she put on 30kg. “I got to 96kg,” she recalls. “Me and my husband both got into bad habits. We were so busy, we were eating junk food and having chocolates.”I was always tired and struggled to pick up my baby. But I just couldn’t lose the weight.”Sara tried dieting and went to see her GP who referred her to a lifestyle diet and activity programme. But still the pounds stuck.At her heaviest her BMI was 37.5, but she wasn’t eligible for NHS access and paid £200 a month for the drug through an app called Juniper, which also gave her diet and lifestyle advice. Within a year she had lost the full 30kg.”It completely changed my life. I felt like a new person, alive again. It’s not just how I look, it’s how I feel and being able to keep up with my son.”Sara says the cost didn’t impact her. “Even if it had, I’d have carried on, because of the benefits.”Not everyone feels the same. Some 18% of overweight Britons would be willing to pay for weight-loss drugs – but if they were available on the NHS, 59% said they would be keen on using them, according to new polling by communications agency Strand Partners.And some of those willing to pay privately fear they could find themselves being priced out following the proposed price spike.Getty Images”If I’d had to pay £300 or even more, I would have really struggled to afford it,” says Pete Beech, 57, from Southampton. He weighed 18 stone and paid £160 a month for a prescription of Mounjaro to help him lose weight to qualify for an ultrasound treatment as part of his treatment for prostate cancer.”The way the NHS is rationing these drugs has consequences beyond just obesity.”James O’Loan, head of online pharmacy Chemist 4 U, has already observed some people stretching themselves financially to get hold of weight-loss drugs – some have asked for payment plans, which they cannot offer.”Some people can’t move on to the higher doses because of cost,” he explains.Getty Images for ESSENCEThen there are concerns about a weight-loss drug black market, or unscrupulous dispensing.”Some services are desperate to dispense the stuff and don’t care what happens,” claims Professor Richard Donnelly, editor of medical journal Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism. “People are just asked to fill in a quick questionnaire. There’s no proper medical assessment or follow up.”He also stresses that they should not be seen as a quick fix. “They’re not there to lose a bit of fat around the tummy.”Whilst generally well tolerated, there are risks of certain side effects — including nausea, constipation and diarrhoea. A study into potential serious side effects of weight loss jabs has also been launched after hundreds of people reported problems with their pancreas. The NHS advises people never take a medicine for weight management if it has not been prescribed for them.’Not a magic bullet’Some argue that the answer is, simply, to widen NHS access. The issue, of course, comes in part down to cost.Michael Shah, senior analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, believes that this could start to resolve itself in time.”There are more than 160 weight-loss drugs in clinical development,” he says. Once available, he predicts that the competition could push costs down across the board.”NHS bargaining power should improve as additional players and treatments enter the space.”Kevin Mazur/WireImage via Getty ImagesEarlier this year the Tony Blair Institute suggested that the drugs should be offered to everyone with BMIs over 27, arguing that it costs even more to deal with the consequences of obesity.Obesity is estimated to cost the economy £98bn a year, according to research commissioned by the think tank, once you take into account lost productivity as well as the NHS treatment costs and the impact on the individual.The Institute suggests a means-tested system with those entitled to free prescriptions getting it free and others self-funding or encouraging employers to share the cost.NHS England has said it is looking at an option to “accelerate roll out to even more people in the future”. But it also pointed out that weight loss drugs should not be seen as a “magic bullet”.Are we medicalising a social issue?All of this begs a broader question – that is, in medicalising debates around tackling obesity, do we risk overlooking the wider social issue?”By thinking we have a treatment for obesity we lose focus and stop thinking about the more difficult issues around the food industry and regulation, which are the root cause of this,” warns Greg Fell, president of the Association of Directors of Public Health.”I do have concerns about equity of access,” he adds. “But I think the NHS has carefully thought about this and probably is, more or less, in the right place.”Getty ImagesIn post-war Britain, obesity was rare due to food shortages and physically demanding lifestyles – lower-income groups were more likely to suffer from malnutrition. Only since the 1980s have obesity rates risen across all social classes, with a growing disparity between rich and poor.It is driven by several interconnected factors. Katharine Jenner argues there needs to be more done to address one of them in particular: our “broken food system”.”People in poorer areas are surrounded by junk food advertising, more unhealthy takeaways, and face bigger barriers to buying healthy food,” she says. “Without investment in prevention, health will get worse, inequalities will widen, and the costs will fall on all of us.”How to effectively achieve that is perhaps the biggest question of all. But whatever the answer – and regardless of whether the onus really should be on the state or as others argue, the individual – it runs far deeper than the cost of a weight-loss jab.”We live in a society that prizes freedom of choice and expression, values material wealth and tolerates vast inequality,” argues Chris Rojek, sociology professor at City St George’s, University of London. “In such a system, casualties are inevitable.”It would be naïve — or even pious — to claim we can simply solve this. The answer is complex and touches the very fabric of our society.”Top picture credit: Onzeg/ Getty ImagesMore from InDepthBBC InDepth is the home on the website and app for the best analysis, with fresh perspectives that challenge assumptions and deep reporting on the biggest issues of the day. And we showcase thought-provoking content from across BBC Sounds and iPlayer too. You can send us your feedback on the InDepth section by clicking on the button below.

4 hours agoShareSaveNicola GoodwinBBC Midlands InvestigationsShareSaveBBCA million teenage girls are giving up sport because of deep-rooted negative attitudes – but could the England Women’s Rugby World Cup victory change that? I arrive at a sports hall as a group of 11 and 12-year-old girls play netball and laughter is ringing out.Their PE teacher, Liz Brown, says she is passionate about boosting their confidence through games like this and exercise.”Sport and PE is the vehicle. My real job is to create personalities, confidence and resilience,” she tells me.As they move the ball around, shoot and practice, the students tell me that playing sport is helping with their mental as well as physical health.One of them, Ellie-May, says: “It makes me feel happy and it’s enjoyable.”These are the kind of teenage girls which a new campaign is targeting, with the hope that England’s success in the Women’s Rugby World Cup will help stop them dropping out of sport.Research by the charity Women in Sport discovered that a million teenage girls, who enjoyed games at primary school, gave them up after moving on.A fear of feeling judged by others, a lack of confidence and not feeling safe outside were among the negative attitudes behind the decline, cited by the study.Back at the sports hall, at Perton Middle School in Staffordshire, near Wolverhampton, Ms Brown says she feels girls want to be part of sport.”They want to be part of a community, they want to get out there and enjoy themselves,” she tells me.”If these girls can see it on TV and social media, they understand and they follow, and they will enjoy it.”Among the girls, Valentina and Kiara say: “It doesn’t really matter if you’re not good at it because you can always get extra help.”Ahead of the World Cup, the Red Roses launched a campaign called For the Girls aimed at inspiring women and girls to be more active and confident.”The social media, the World Cup TV coverage, the TikTok dances and all of that is having a major impact on the students,” Ms Brown adds.One of the girls in the sports hall, Scarlett, says everyone is good enough at sport and “it doesn’t matter what you do or how you do it, just give it a go and you’ll be fine”.Grassroots sport is getting £400m from the government, ministers said in June, to promote health and remove barriers to sport for groups including women and girls.For Stephanie Hilborne, chief executive of Women in Sport, efforts needed to be made to bust a myth “that teenage girls drop out of sport simply because their priorities change”.”They’re being failed due to early years stereotyping, inadequate opportunities and a complete dearth of knowledge about managing female puberty,” she added.The Women’s Rugby World Cup has drawn huge crowds, tickets sales have beaten those from the previous tournament and its popularity across the country has been noted by those who play the game. At Worcester Rugby Club, Jessie, who plays for their under-16s team, said the buzz around the tournament had been great.”I’ve had my friends from school talk to me about the World Cup who don’t even play rugby and we’ve had about four or five new players this year,” she said.”I’d love to be able to play professional rugby. Whatever happens I’ll keep on playing, I’ll never give it up.””I turned on my phone after school today and all I got was rugby social media and I was loving it,” added Elinor, a flanker in the team.Their team has a strong connection to the Red Roses as they are coached by the first woman to score 60 international tries, former England winger Nicky Crawford, who is also Jessie’s mum.”If you’re playing with your friends, then you’re more likely to carry on with sport afterwards and you develop lifelong friendships,” she said.”The World Cup can get the word out there just how great the world of rugby is, just how accessible it is to everybody and just what fun it is.”When the Red Roses are scoring the tries and doing the celebrations afterwards, just the smiles on their faces is just rewarding in itself and it inspires girls to say ‘I want to do that’.”The success of England’s women is something that the Rugby Football Union is looking to build on with data from Sport England showing the number of women and girls playing rugby is rising.They aim to get 100,000 female players of the sport registered by 2027 and are working with the government and other groups on the legacy from this year’s World Cup.Funding worth £12.1m has been promised for England and the home unions to create more rugby opportunities for women and girls.In 2022, the Worcester club launched what they claimed was the first women’s mixed ability team in England and they now hope to start a Midlands and national squad in the future.Their approach offers a safe, welcoming, inclusive space and the age of players ranges from 17 to 57, with those involved choosing to take part in contact or touch rugby.Jennie Hussain said she was nervous when she first came to a training session but is now at the club three nights a week.”I was worried as I wear a hijab and I thought it would get in the way or people would judge me but everybody’s been so inviting,” she said. “I haven’t looked back since.”Elsie-May has been playing a year and said she loved sliding in the mud.Her dad David added: “The women and the coaches are amazing. There are lots of different standards here but she loves the rugby and the socialising.”More on this story

4 hours agoShareSaveJoanne WrittleHealth correspondent, BBC West Midlands ShareSaveFamily pictureA couple whose son was stillborn have criticised health bosses for taking a year and a half to release a report about stillbirth rates in the Black Country. Thomas and Ewa Hender say they asked the Black Country Integrated Care Board (ICB) to release details in April, when they first became aware of the report. It was actually completed 18 months ago, but it has only recently been released in full – a “worrying” delay, Mr Hender said.The report revealed that neonatal deaths and stillbirths across the Black Country have been rising since 2020, with stillbirths rising at a more significant rate. The ICB said the report made recommendations, and progress in maternity care would be monitored.Mr Hender said: “I think it’s worrying that a report regarding perinatal mortality doesn’t seem to be very high on the priority list of the ICB if it’s taken 18 months to release from completion.”His son Aubrey was stillborn at the former City Hospital in Birmingham in 2022.The Henders said they raised health concerns during the pregnancy, and they believe there were problems with Aubrey’s care.The couple are now proud parents to a two-year-old and a three-month-old, the younger of whom has the middle name Aubrey.Family pictureThe report looked at all four NHS hospital trusts in the Black Country – Sandwell and West Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Walsall, and Dudley. The areas are among the most deprived in the country.It concentrated on six months from March to September 2023 and found there were 51 stillbirths reported. The review looked at 40 of them.It found 78% of the mums were from deprived areas. In addition, 70% were from black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds, with more than half – 50.5% – of a south Asian ethnicity.Fourteen of the women did not speak English as their first language and, the report recorded, interpreting was not used consistently in seven of those cases.Mr Hender said he felt that “yet again it points to the fact that families from deprived areas and of minority backgrounds are disproportionately affected by poor maternity care. “But he said the issue also affected people more widely.”Given the mortality rates, we know that there must be other families out there who like us feel that children’s deaths were preventable,” he said.Sally Roberts, chief nursing officer and deputy chief executive officer for NHS Black Country ICB said: “Every stillbirth is a devastating loss, our thoughts are with the families who have experienced such unimaginable grief.”She added: “The report and recommendations have been through robust governance arrangements and shared with maternity units across the Black Country. Those maternity units are now taking action to implement the recommendations and ensure meaningful learning takes place.”The ICB will continue to monitor progress through the Local Maternity and Neonatal System arrangements in place.”Maternity services moved from City Hospital to the new Midland Metropolitan University Hospital last November.It is part of Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust which is among 14 currently being scrutinised in a rapid review of maternity services across England.Mel Roberts, chief nursing officer and deputy chief executive officer for the trust said: “We will continue to work closely with the ICB, our maternity teams, and service-user representatives to implement improvements and to reduce the risk of stillbirth across our communities.”Most importantly, we remain committed to listening to parents and families, ensuring their experiences drive the changes needed to provide the safest possible care for every pregnancy.”The Henders said they would like to see a full statutory public inquiry on maternity services across the country.If you or someone you know has been affected by issues with maternity, BBC Action Line offers a list of organisations that may be able to help.Related storiesRelated internet links

When a woman becomes pregnant, the outcome of that pregnancy depends on many things — including a crucial event that happened while she was still growing inside her own mother’s womb. It depends on the quality of the egg cells that were already forming inside her fetal ovaries. The DNA-containing chromosomes in those cells must be cut, spliced and sorted perfectly. In males, the same process produces sperm in the testes but occurs only after puberty.
“If that goes wrong, then you end up with the wrong number of chromosomes in the eggs or sperm,” said Neil Hunter, a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at the University of California, Davis. “This can result in infertility, miscarriage or the birth of children with genetic diseases.”
In a paper published Sept. 24 in the journal Nature, Hunter’s team reports a major new discovery about a process that helps safeguard against these mistakes. He has pieced together the choreography of proteins that connect matching chromosome pairs — ensuring that they are sorted correctly as egg and sperm cells develop and divide.
Hunter’s discoveries required methods to watch the molecular events of chromosome recombination unfold with unprecedented detail. This involved genetic engineering in budding yeast — a model organism that has been used for decades to discover how fundamental cellular processes work.
“The chromosome structures that we studied have changed very little across evolution,” Hunter said. “Every protein that we looked at in yeast has a direct counterpart in humans.” His findings could improve our understanding of fertility problems and how they are diagnosed and treated in humans.
Forming chromosome crossovers for strong connections
Humans have 46 chromosomes in each of our cells, made up of 23 pairs of matching, “homologous” chromosomes, with one of each pair inherited from each parent. Early in the process of making sperm or eggs, those chromosome pairs line up, and the parental chromosomes break and rejoin to each other. These chromosome exchanges, called “crossovers,” serve two important functions.

First, they help ensure that each chromosome that is passed on to the offspring contains a unique mixture of genes from both parents. Crossovers also keep the chromosomes connected in matching pairs. These connections guide the distribution of chromosomes when cells divide to produce eggs and sperm. Maintaining crossover connections is especially crucial in females, Hunter said.
As chromosomes pair up in developing egg or sperm cells, matching DNA strands are exchanged and twined together over a short distance to form a structure called a “double Holliday junction.” DNA strands of this structure are then cut to join the chromosomes forming a crossover.
In males, developing immature sperm cells then immediately divide and distribute chromosomes to the sperm. In contrast, egg cells developing in the fetal ovary arrest their development after crossovers have formed. The immature egg cells can remain in suspended animation for decades after birth, until they are activated to undergo ovulation.
Only then does the process lurch back into motion: The egg cell finally divides, and the chromosome pairs that were connected by crossovers are finally separated to deliver a single set of chromosomes to the mature egg. “Maintaining the crossover connections over many years is a major challenge for immature egg cells,” Hunter said.
If chromosome pairs aren’t connected by at least one crossover, they can lose contact with each other, like two people separated in a jostling crowd. This causes them to segregate incorrectly when the cell finally divides, producing egg cells with extra or missing chromosomes. This can cause infertility, miscarriage or genetic conditions such as Down syndrome, in which a child is born with an extra copy of chromosome 21, leading to cognitive impairment, heart defects, hearing loss and other problems.
From yeast to humans
Hunter has spent years trying to understand how crossovers form and how this process can fail and cause reproductive problems. By studying this process in yeast, researchers can directly visualize molecular events of double-Holliday junction resolution in synchronized populations of cells.

Researchers have identified dozens of proteins that bind and process these junctions. Hunter and then-postdoctoral fellow Shangming Tang (now an assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics at the University of Virginia) used a technique called “real-time genetics” to investigate the function of those proteins. With this method, they made cells degrade one or more specific proteins within the junction-associated structures. They could then analyze the DNA from these cells, to see whether the junctions were resolved and if they formed crossovers. In this way, they built up a picture in which a network of proteins function together to ensure that crossovers are formed.
“This strategy allowed us to answer a question that previously wasn’t possible,” Hunter said.
They identified key proteins such as cohesin that prevent an enzyme called the STR complex (or Bloom complex in humans) from inappropriately dismantling the junctions before they can form crossovers.
“They protect the double Holliday junction,” Hunter said. “That is a key discovery.”
This years-long research project in yeast is broadly relevant for human reproduction because the process has changed very little during evolution. Failure to protect double-Holliday junctions may be linked to fertility problems in humans.
In addition to Tang, the postdoc, seven undergraduates in the UC Davis College of Biological Sciences contributed to this work, including Jennifer Koo, Mohammad Pourhosseinzadeh, Emerald Nguyen, Natalie Liu, Christopher Ma, Hanyu Lu and Monica Lee.
Additional authors on the paper include Sara Hariri, Regina Bohn and John E. McCarthy, all members of the Hunter lab.
Hunter’s research is funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. His work has also received funding from the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, the American Cancer Society, the Concern Foundation for Cancer Research, and the Damon Runyon Cancer Foundation.
Hunter’s research on crossover and homologous recombination uses advanced scientific facilities at the university’s Proteomics Core Facility, MCB Light Microscopy Imaging Facility, Genome Center, Mouse Biology Program, and the Comprehensive Cancer Center.

9 hours agoShareSaveAnna Collinson, Jo Adnitt & Hannah KarpelBBC News InvestigationsShareSaveSuppliedStaff at a specialist eating disorder unit have been photographed sleeping when they should have been looking after patients who were at risk of harming themselves.There were multiple “unsafe” incidents because of staff failings, according to whistleblowers.Many seriously ill patients have told the BBC they felt their time on the unit had made their condition worse.Schoen Clinic York said “where specific concerns have been raised, they have been fully investigated and addressed” but no “systemic issues” were found.

A widely available and affordable drug has been shown to be effective in treating seriously ill COVID-19 patients, according to a new international study led by researchers at the Australian National University (ANU) in collaboration with King’s College London.
The study analyzed data from almost 500 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 across six countries. Patients who inhaled heparin were half as likely to require ventilation and had a significantly lower risk of dying compared with those receiving standard care.
Heparin, a drug traditionally injected to treat blood clots, was tested in this study in an inhaled form, targeting the lungs directly. As well as acting as an anticoagulant, heparin has anti-inflammatory and pan-antiviral properties. Earlier research results showed breathing and oxygen levels improved in COVID-19 patients after they inhaled a course of heparin.
The researchers believe the drug could also be useful in fighting other serious respiratory infections such as pneumonia.
Professor Clive Page, Emeritus Professor of Pharmacology at King’s who co-led the international study with ANU’s Professor van Haren, said: “Inhaled heparin is anti-viral, anti-inflammatory and anti-coagulant. There’s no other drug that has that unique combination. We know it’s only a matter of time until the next pandemic, and there are still COVID-19 patients who get very sick. This is a great weapon to have up our sleeve.”
While the findings highlight the potential of inhaled heparin, further development is required before the treatment can be routinely adopted. The researchers believe the drug could also be useful in fighting other serious respiratory infections such as pneumonia, which can be caused by a range of viruses and bacteria.
According to Professor van Haren, the drug would also be helpful for those with a compromised immune system, such as cancer patients, when they experience a respiratory infection.
Professor Frank van Haren, lead author, ANU and Director of the Intensive Care Unit at the St George Hospital in Sydney, said: “It doesn’t matter what kind of respiratory infection the patient is dealing with, the drug — when inhaled — will stop it from infecting the patient and from damaging the lungs. We’re aiming to conduct another trial in Europe to confirm its effectiveness in fighting other common respiratory infections such as influenza and RSV. And because it’s inexpensive, it’s much more accessible for those from low-income countries”
The researchers are now also developing an improved formulation of heparin, specifically designed to be given by inhalation.
The research is published in eClinicalMedicine and simultaneously presented of at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) International Congress in Amsterdam on Sunday, September 28, the leading annual gathering for respiratory research.

Eating fruit may reduce the effects of air pollution on lung function, according to research presented at the European Respiratory Society Congress in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
The study was presented by Pimpika Kaewsri, a PhD student from the Centre for Environmental Health and Sustainability at the University of Leicester, UK.
She explains: “Over 90% of the global population is exposed to air pollution levels that exceed WHO guidelines, and ample research shows that exposure to higher air pollution levels is associated with reduced lung function.
“Separately, a healthy diet — particularly one high in fruits and vegetables — has been linked to better lung function. We wanted to explore whether a healthy diet or specific food groups could modify or partly mitigate the known adverse effects of air pollution on lung function.”
Using UK Biobank data from around 200,000 participants, Kaewsri compared people’s dietary patterns — including their fruit, vegetable and whole grains intake — with their lung function (FEV1 – the amount of air exhaled in one second) and their exposure to air pollution in the form of fine particulate matter (PM2.5). PM2.5 concentration is the amount of very tiny particles, 2.5 micrometers or smaller, released into the air, for example by vehicle exhausts and industrial processes. The team also accounted for other factors such as age, height, and socioeconomic status.
For every increase in exposure to PM2.5 of five micrograms per cubic meter of air, the team observed a 78.1ml reduction in FEV1 in the low fruit intake group, compared to only a 57.5ml reduction in the high fruit intake group in women.
Kaewsri explains: “Our study confirmed that a healthy diet is linked to better lung function in both men and women regardless of air pollution exposure. And that women who consumed four portions of fruit per day or more appeared to have smaller reductions in lung function associated with air pollution, compared to those who consumed less fruit.

“This may be partly explained by the antioxidant and anti-inflammation compounds naturally present in fruit. These compounds could help mitigate oxidative stress and inflammation caused by fine particles, potentially offsetting some of the harmful effects of air pollution on lung function.”
Kaewsri also noted that, in the study population, men generally reported lower fruit intake than women. “This difference in dietary patterns may help explain why the potential protective effect of fruit against air pollution was only observed in women,” she adds.
Kaewsri plans to extend the research by exploring whether diet can influence changes in lung function over time.
Professor Sara De Matteis, Chair of the European Respiratory Society’s expert group on occupational and environmental health, based at the University of Turin, Italy, who was not involved in the research said: “This study confirms the potential respiratory health benefits of a healthy diet, especially rich in fresh fruit intake.
“However, access to a healthy diet is not equally distributed in the population and, even if the authors adjusted for socioeconomic status, some residual confounding cannot be ruled out.
“A healthy plant-rich diet should be promoted in the population starting from primary school, not only for preventing chronic diseases, but also to reduce the carbon-footprint of meat-rich diets.
“This does not exempt governments from continuing with environmental policies to reduce air pollution to as low as possible, given there are no safe exposure levels, and it does not transfer their accountability to individuals whose diet choices are often constrained by economic needs.”

Findings from a trial comparing the real-world effectiveness of asthma inhalers could reshape how children with asthma are treated.
In the first randomized controlled trial to investigate the use of a 2-in-1 inhaler as the sole reliever therapy for children aged 5 to 15, an international team found the combined treatment to be more effective than salbutamol, the current standard for asthma symptom relief in children, with no additional safety concerns.
The results show that using a single 2-in-1 anti-inflammatory reliever inhaler – which combines the inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) budesonide and the fast-acting bronchodilator formoterol – reduced children’s asthma attacks by an average of 45%, compared to the widely-used salbutamol inhaler.
Asthma attacks in children may be life-threatening and reducing their frequency and severity is a public health priority.
The 2-in-1 budesonide-formoterol inhaler is widely recommended as the preferred reliever treatment for adults, but children are still usually prescribed salbutamol.
Researchers say the findings, published on Sept. 27 in The Lancet, provide the evidence needed to bring children’s global asthma guidelines into line with adults’, which could benefit millions of children around the world with mild-to-moderate asthma.
The CARE study (Children’s Anti-inflammatory REliever) was designed and led by the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand (MRINZ), in collaboration with Imperial College London, University of Otago Wellington, Starship Children’s Hospital, and the University of Auckland. It recruited 360 children across New Zealand who were then randomly assigned to receive either budesonide-formoterol or salbutamol for on-demand symptom relief.

The trial lasted a year and the budesonide-formoterol reliever resulted in a lower rate of asthma attacks than salbutamol reliever, with rates of 0.23 versus 0.41 per participant per year. This means that for every 100 children with mild asthma who are switched from salbutamol to a 2-in-1 budesonide-formoterol inhaler, there would be 18 fewer asthma attacks per year.Importantly, the study also confirmed the safety of the combined-inhaler approach, with no significant differences in children’s growth, lung function, or asthma control between the two groups.
Dr Lee Hatter, lead author of the study and Senior Clinical Research Fellow at the MRINZ, said: “This is a key step in addressing the evidence gap that exists between asthma management in adults and children. For the first time, we have demonstrated that the budesonide-formoterol 2-in-1 inhaler, used as needed for symptom relief, can significantly reduce asthma attacks in children with mild asthma. This evidence-based treatment could lead to improved asthma outcomes for children worldwide.”
Professor Richard Beasley, Director of MRINZ and senior author of the study, said: “Implementing these findings could be transformative for asthma management on a global scale. The evidence that budesonide-formoterol is more effective than salbutamol in preventing asthma attacks in children with mild asthma has the potential to redefine the global standard of asthma management.”
The burden of asthma in the estimated 113 million children and adolescents with asthma worldwide is substantial. The latest study builds on previous studies in adults led by MRINZ researchers (see detail in Notes, below) which shaped international asthma treatment guidelines. These findings contributed to the recommended use of the 2-in-1 ICS-formoterol reliever inhaler as the preferred reliever treatment for adults with asthma around the world.
The incorporation of findings from the CARE study into global asthma treatment strategies could help reduce disparities in care and ensure that more children access effective, evidence-based treatments.
The researchers say that global health organizations have long advocated for child-targeted asthma interventions, and their findings provide crucial evidence to support those efforts.

However, the authors acknowledge some limitations of the clinical trial. It was undertaken during the COVID-19 pandemic, during which stringent public health measures and fewer circulating respiratory viruses contributed to the lower than predicted rate of severe asthma attacks. The authors also acknowledge the challenges with the identification of asthma attacks in children, and the potential bias with the lack of blinding of the randomized treatments. They say though that the study’s findings are generalizable to clinical practice due to its pragmatic, real-world design.
Professor Andrew Bush, from Imperial College London, senior respiratory pediatrician and co-author of the CARE study, said: “Having an asthma attack can be very scary for children and their parents. I’m so pleased that we’ve been able to prove that an inhaler that significantly reduces attacks – already a game-changer for adults — is safe for children with mild asthma too. We believe this will transform asthma care worldwide and are excited to be building on this work with the CARE UK study.”
Professor Helen Reddel, Chair of the Science Committee of the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA), commented on the global significance of the study, saying that it fills a critically important gap for asthma management globally. Professor Reddel said: “Asthma attacks have a profound impact on children’s physical, social and emotional development and their prevention is a high priority for asthma care. It is in childhood, too, that lifelong habits are established, particularly reliance on traditional medications like salbutamol that only relieve symptoms and don’t prevent asthma attacks.”
Professor Bob Hancox, Medical Director of the New Zealand Asthma and Respiratory Foundation, said: “This is a very important study for children with mild asthma. We have known for some time that 2-in-1 budesonide/formoterol inhalers are better than the traditional reliever treatment in adults, but this had not been tested in children. This research shows that this 2-in-1 inhaler is effective and safe for children as young as 5. This information will help to reduce the burden of asthma for many children, and both they and their families will breathe easier because of it.”
Study key points: The CARE study is the first randomized controlled trial comparing ICS-formoterol anti-inflammatory reliever inhaler treatment with salbutamol reliever inhaler treatment, in children aged five to 15 years with asthma. Budesonide-formoterol demonstrated a significant reduction in asthma attacks, with a 45% decrease in the rate of attacks compared to salbutamol (0.23 vs 0.41 attacks per participant per year; relative rate 0.55, 95% CI 0.35-0.86, p=0.01). These findings are consistent with established benefits seen in adults, where ICS-formoterol has become the preferred reliever treatment for asthma management. The study found no safety concerns regarding the use of a combined inhaled steroid treatment in children, with no adverse effects on growth or lung function. This study provides compelling evidence that switching from a salbutamol reliever inhaler to a budesonide-formoterol reliever inhaler can help prevent asthma attacks in children with mild asthma as young as five, which could lead to a potential shift in asthma treatment globallyThe study was made possible by the generous support of the Health Research Council of New Zealand, Cure Kids (New Zealand), and the Barbara Basham Medical Charitable Trust managed by Perpetual Guardian. Symbicort Rapihalers for the trial were provided by AstraZeneca.

Research into Blue Zones — regions of the world where people tend to live longer — shows that having a sense of purpose in life may help people live longer.
Now, new research from UC Davis shows that having a sense of purpose in life may have another benefit as people age: reducing the risk of dementia.
The new study, published in The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, followed over 13,000 adults aged 45 and older for up to 15 years.
Researchers found that people who reported a higher sense of purpose in life were about 28% less likely to develop cognitive impairment — including mild cognitive impairment and dementia.
The protective effect of having a purpose was seen across racial and ethnic groups. It also remained significant even after accounting for education, depression and the APOE4 gene, which is a known risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease.
Purpose in life helps the brain stay resilient
“Our findings show that having a sense of purpose helps the brain stay resilient with age,” said Aliza Wingo, senior author and professor in the UC Davis Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. “Even for people with a genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease, sense of purpose was linked to a later onset and lower likelihood of developing dementia.”
Participants were not specifically asked about the activities that gave their life purpose. Previous studies on aging, though, have found a wide rang of activities give older adults a sense of life purpose, sometimes referred to as “ikigai.” These include: Relationships: Caring for family, spending time with grandchildren or supporting a spouse or friend. Work or volunteering: Continuing professional work, mentoring or contributing to community causes. Spirituality or faith: Religious beliefs, spiritual practices or involvement in faith-based communities. Personal goals: Pursuing hobbies, learning new skills or setting and achieving personal milestones. Helping others: Acts of kindness, philanthropy, caregiving or advocacy work.

Purpose delays onset of cognitive decline
Researchers also found that people with higher purpose tended to experience cognitive decline later than those with lower purpose. On average, the delay in onset was very modest — about 1.4 months over an eight-year period, after considering the effects of age, education, depressive symptoms, and genetic risk. However, it is meaningful when compared to current treatments.
“While medications like lecanemab and donanemab can modestly delay symptoms of cognitive impairment in Alzheimer’s disease, they come with risks and costs,” said Nicholas C. Howard, first author and public health researcher at UC Davis. “Purpose in life is free, safe and accessible. It’s something people can build through relationships, goals and meaningful activities.”
Methods and limitations of study
Participants in the study were part of the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative survey funded by the National Institute on Aging. All had normal cognitive health at the beginning of the study.
Researchers used a seven-item survey from the Ryff Measures of Psychological Well-being.Participants had six possible responses (from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree”) for statements such as: “I am an active person in carrying out the plans I set for myself” and “I have a sense of direction and purpose in my life.” Their answers were scored and averaged to obtain a well-being number between 1 and 6, with higher values indicating a strong sense of purpose in life.

Their cognitive health was tracked using a telephone-based test every two years.
The researchers noted the study has many strengths, including the size of the population studied. However, a key limitation is that although there was an association, the study did not prove higher levels of purpose caused the lowered rates of dementia.
Findings support role of psychological well-being
Still, the findings support the idea that psychological well-being plays a key role in healthy aging, said Thomas Wingo, a co-author of the study and a professor and neurologist at UC Davis Health. Wingo hopes future studies will explore whether purpose-building interventions can help prevent dementia.
“What’s exciting about this study is that people may be able to ‘think’ themselves into better health. Purpose in life is something we can nurture,” he said. “It’s never too early — or too late — to start thinking about what gives your life meaning.”