The most commonly prescribed antidepressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), lift the fog of depression for many people. But for around a third of people with major depressive disorder, SSRIs don’t make much of a difference. Now, researchers from the Salk Institute have pinned down a possible reason why — the neurons in at least some of these patients’ brains may become hyperactive in the presence of the drugs. The study appeared in Molecular Psychiatry on January 30, 2019.

Known for its role in relieving depression, the neurochemical serotonin may also help the brain execute instantaneous, appropriate behaviors in emergency situations, according to a new Cornell study published Feb. 1 in Science.

Research suggests eating breakfast won’t help adults lose weight, but it can be a good source of nutrients.

The watchdog is to investigate 400,000 penalty fines from visits to dentists.

The research is in its early days, but Chinese scientists say they’re using bartenders’ tricks to stir up a new, reversible male contraceptive.

In experiments with rats, the method successfully kept sexually active males from impregnating females for more than two months.

“The two most widely used male contraceptives are condom and vasectomy,” noted a team led by Xiaolei Wang, of Nanchang University. “A reliable and reversible medium-term [2 to 20 weeks] contraceptive method between the one-off condom and permanent contraception is urgently needed.”

Their potential solution was inspired by the colourful layered cocktails often concocted by bartenders. In these mixes, liquids form distinct layers in a glass. But when stirred or heated, the layers combine into a uniform liquid.

Promising, but a long way to go

So, Wang’s group developed a form of male contraception in which layers of materials are injected into the vas deferens – the duct through which sperm travels from the testicle to the urethra – to block it.

The blockage continues until heat applied to the blocked area causes the layers to mix, breaking them down and thereby unplugging the vas deferens.

The Chinese group say they tested this method in male rats by injecting four layers of materials into the vas deferens. In sequence, the injected layers were: a hydrogel that forms a physical barrier to sperm; gold nanoparticles that heat up when irradiated with near-infrared light; ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), a chemical that breaks down the hydrogel and also kills sperm; and one more layer of gold nanoparticles.

While in place, the liquid layers in the vas deferens prevented the male rats from impregnating females for more than 2 months, Wang’s team reported Jan 30 in the journal ACS Nano.

But when the researchers shone a near-infrared lamp on the male rats for a few minutes, the layers mixed and dissolved, and the male rats were once again able to impregnate females. This offers “an effective and reversible manner to fill the gap of current medium-term contraceptive strategy” for men, the team said.

But, “though our method is promising, there is still a long way to go for practical practice,” the Chinese team said. “More animal experiments are needed to verify the safety of materials,” they said, and results in animals often fail to pan out in people.

One fertility expert in the United States agreed that much more study is needed.

“This study is a very preliminary look at injectable male contraception,” said Dr Mary Rausch, of Northwell Health Fertility in Manhasset, New York. “Though this has a long way to go before it would be ready for trial or certainly use in humans, it would be a medical breakthrough if it did come to fruition.

Just a few exercise breaks – or “snacks” – a day can provide significant benefits, a new study says.

Specifically, it found that short sessions of intense stair climbing spaced throughout the day can improve heart and lung (cardiorespiratory) fitness.

An effective workout

“The findings make it even easier for people to incorporate ‘exercise snacks’ into their day,” said study senior author Martin Gibala. He’s a professor of kinesiology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

“Those who work in office towers or live in apartment buildings can vigorously climb a few flights of stairs in the morning, at lunch and in the evening and know they are getting an effective workout,” Gibala said in a university news release.

Other studies have found that short bouts of vigorous exercise – sprint interval training (SIT) – are beneficial when done in a single 10-minute session, with a brief recovery period between intense bursts of activity.

In this study, researchers wanted to find out if bouts of intense stair climbing spread throughout the day would improve cardiorespiratory fitness.

Stronger and more powerful

For the research, sedentary young adults were divided into two groups of 12 people each. One group vigorously climbed three flights of stairs three times a day, with one to four hours between climbs. They did this three times a week over six weeks.

The other group did not exercise and served as the control.

“We know that sprint interval training works, but we were a bit surprised to see that the stair snacking approach was also effective,” said study co-author Jonathan Little. He’s an assistant professor of health and exercise science at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus in Kelowna.

“Vigorously climbing a few flights of stairs on your coffee or bathroom break during the day seems to be enough to boost fitness in people who are otherwise sedentary,” Little said.

Along with having better heart and lung fitness, the stair climbers were stronger and generated more power during a cycling test than those in the control group, the study found.

The findings were published online in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism.

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Andile Ntombela (31) from Tongaat in KwaZulu-Natal was diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB) in August last year at Hambanathi Clinic. But three months later when she came to the clinic to collect her medication she was told by a staff nurse she no longer had TB.

The nurse, whose name is known to Health-e, told her the virus had been treated, so she returned home.

‘Weak and useless’

Ntombela said she knew TB treatment is supposed to last for six months, and so it troubled her that a qualified nurse kept insisting that she was in the clear. According to her, the sister kept on telling her that her file showed that she had completed her treatment. So for two months, during November and December last year, Ntombela stopped taking any medication.

“I didn’t have energy and strength to do anything. I felt weak and useless and much worse than I had the previous three months, until I received a call from the clinic earlier this month telling me to urgently come back to the clinic,” she said.

When she arrived at the clinic the same sister, who deals with TB patients at Hambanathi Clinic, told her a mistake had been made during her previous visit to the facility. The file she had looked at belonged to another patient – someone who had finished her treatment. There had been a mix-up of files.

Ntombela was then told that she needed to resume taking her pills.

“I was very angry at the time I was told about the mix-up. The sister didn’t even apologise or sympathise with me, she just gave me my January supplement and told me to come back next month to collect my February pills,” explained Ntombela.

No formal complaint received

Her brother Nhlakanipho said the family had also been surprised last November when she returned from the clinic without her medication.

“We thought because she was told by a professional that she is healed, so we didn’t worry too much. Up until she was called back to come and collect her medication. I don’t understand how a professional nurse could make such mistake,” said Nhlakanipho.

Nursing Service Manager Pretty Ndlovu of Hambanathi Clinic said she had never received a formal complaint, and so advised Ntombela to lodge a grievance according to normal procedures.

KZN Health spokesperson Agiza Hlongwane told OurHealth that the department would investigate.

“We will do a follow up on the matter raised and gather all the facts and rectify what was wronged,” he said. – Health-e News.

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Sandile Mbili

One women says she was “devastated” when an NHS midwifery service ended with just a week’s notice.

Some 20,000 physios, pharmacists and paramedics are to be recruited to work with under-pressure GPs.

A cross-party committee says social media companies should have a legal “duty of care” to children.