Minnesota health officials tracking increase of animal tularemia cases

 

(Minnesota Department of Health) – The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) and Minnesota Board of Animal Health (BAH) are tracking an increase of tularemia cases in Minnesota animals, especially cats in the Twin Cities metro area.

Officials warn that people can become infected with tularemia as well, mainly through contact with sick animals. 

Typically, only about seven animal tularemia cases are reported annually. In 2023, however, 21 cases were reported, and seven cases already have been reported in 2024. Animals that have not been tested are also showing clinical signs consistent with tularemia, according to veterinarians.

Tularemia, a potentially serious illness that can infect animals and people, occurs naturally in the United States. It is caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis, which is found in wildlife — particularly rabbits, squirrels and other rodents.

Pets are most often exposed to tularemia by hunting these animals, but they can also be exposed through tick or fly bites. Although many animals can be infected with tularemia, cats are at an increased risk. Signs of illness in animals include a high fever, weakness, lack of appetite, newly formed skin or mouth ulcers and swollen lymph nodes. 

“This increase in animal cases is likely partially driven by increased recognition and testing by veterinarians,” said Maria Bye, senior epidemiologist in the Zoonotic Diseases Unit at MDH. “Pet owners need to be aware that cats, especially, can become very ill with a high fever and can quickly succumb to the disease. It’s important for pet owners to be aware of this disease in their pets because it is possible for a person to become infected as well.” 

There are six or fewer human tularemia cases each year in Minnesota. People most commonly become infected with tularemia from tick and fly bites, bites and scratches from infected pet cats or by touching animals that have the disease. Tularemia is not spread person to person. 

All forms of tularemia in humans are accompanied by a sudden onset of fever. Other signs and symptoms include skin wounds or ulcers, swollen lymph nodes, headaches, chills, joint and muscle pain and nausea. Symptoms in people generally appear three to five days after exposure but may occur as soon as the next day or up to 14 days after exposure. 

In May 2024, a person from Ramsey County developed tularemia after being bitten by a stray cat. In June, a person from Hennepin County became infected after mowing over a dead animal. 

To keep people and pets safe from tularemia:

• Keep cats indoors and do not allow pets to hunt small animals. 
• Give pets tick preventative medication to help prevent tick bites.
• Use insect repellent to stop ticks and flies from biting.
• Avoid contact with wild animals; wear gloves if you must handle them.

If pets spend significant time outside or if they have had known rabbit or rodent contact and develop symptoms consistent with tularemia, MDH and BAH encourage owners to bring them into their veterinarian for evaluation.

Anyone bitten or scratched by an animal that meets these criteria should call MDH at 651-201-5414 as well as their health care professional about what to do next.Message

New finding about regulatory T cells could help treat diseases such as multiple sclerosis

esearchers at the University of Cambridge say their discovery of “new rules of the immune system” could improve the treatment of inflammatory diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS).

Scientists have discovered that regulatory T cells, a type of white blood cell, constantly move throughout the body looking for and repairing damaged tissue.

It was believed that regulatory T cells exist as multiple populations restricted to specific parts of the body.

Now, researchers have found that they roam around the body as a single large population of cells and target areas of inflammation, which destroys nerResearchers at the University of Cambridge say this discovery of “new rules of the immune system” could improve the treatment of inflammatory diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS).

“We’ve uncovered new rules of the immune system. This ‘unified healer army’ can do everything - repair injured muscle, make your fat cells respond better to insulin, and regrow hair follicles,” said Adrian Liston, a professor at the Department of Pathology at the University of Cambridge, in apress release.

“To think that we could use it in such an enormous range of diseases is fantastic: it’s got the potential to be used for almost everything,” he added.

‘Unified healer army’

Effector T cells such as cytotoxic and helper T cells are known to fight infection by directly and indirectly attacking viruses and bacteria, triggering an immune response.

Most symptoms of infections, such as COVID-19, are due to the body’s immune system attacking the virus, rather than the virus itself.

After the peak of the virus, regulatory T cells should turn off the immune response.

“They initiate a healing response this makes them a really powerful cell type to combat any inflammatory condition or any autoimmune disease,” Liston said.

But in some people, the process can be inefficient, leading to chronic problems.

The new finding could make it possible to use a drug to specifically shut down the immune response, for example, in the lungs, allowing the immune system in the rest of the body to continue to function normally.

• Current treatments akin to ‘hitting the body with a sledgehammer’

Researchers say most anti-inflammatory drugs taken as oral tablets or as injections are administered to the whole body even though it’s just one organ that needs to be treated. 

They hope their finding could change this with higher, more targeted doses of drugs and more rapid results.

“Now that we know these regulatory T cells are present everywhere in the body, in principle we can start to make immune suppression and tissue regeneration treatments that are targeted against a single organ – a vast improvement on current treatments that are like hitting the body with a sledgehammer,” Liston said.

However, in baseline states, there are only a small number of these regulatory T cells in the tissues that help block, repair and initiate healing. Therefore they can’t always calm the inflammation effectively.

"We're really lucky that the regulatory T cells are a renewable resource. They are made in an organ called the thymus that sits just above our heart, and they can constantly produce more of these cells throughout our life,” Liston said.

Liston says the source of these cells, the thymus, gets smaller as people get stressed, sick, or pregnant. It also gets smaller with age.

“So there is a finite cap, but they will be cells continually generated throughout our life," Liston added.

Now the research team says it is trying to enhance these in patients who have an inflammatory condition in an organ.

The team believes a viral vector can be used to inject DNA, making a potent drug that increases the population of regulatory T cells.

• In the case of MS, where the immune system mistakenly attacks the protective covering of nerves, this injection would go to the brain.

“In multiple sclerosis, you've got this inflammatory process that is going on inside the brain that is causing damage to the central nervous system and to signalling from the brain to the muscles. This is all coordinated by the immune system,” said Liston.

“If you get regulatory T cells to go into the brain, they can shut down the inflammation and they can also initiate a healing response," Liston added.

So far the study published in the journal Immunity has only been conducted in animal models like mice.

Researchers have analysed regulatory T cells in 48 different tissues in mice and successfully moved regulatory T cells, using a drug they developed, to a specific part of the body, activating them to turn off the immune response and promote healing in just one organ or tissue.

There will need to be many more safety studies before a drug trial can be proposed for humans.ves and leads to a loss of movement.

Over 24,000 Zika Cases Confirmed in 2024

 VLA1601 is a highly purified inactivated vaccine candidate against the Zika virus

GENEVA (Precision Vaccinations News)

Ever since 1947, when the Zika virus was first detected, people have been getting infected with this disease. In 2024, both Zika outbreaks and the development of preventive vaccines have accelerated.

Autochthonous mosquito-borne transmission of Zika has been detected in 89 countries and territories globally. 

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), on June 3, 2024, the map of countries with Zika transmission and the list of countries with Zika and vectors has been updated to reflect changes since the last WHO epidemiologic update in 2022.

According to the WHO, there is scientific consensus that Zika is a cause of microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome. Since 2013, 31 countries and territories have reported cases of microcephaly and other central nervous system malformations associated with ZIKV infection.

As of June 2024, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has confirmed 25,470 ZIka cases in the Americas in 2024. In 2023, the PAHO reported 55,813 Zika cases.

Over the past two years, Brazil (24,171) has accounted for about 90% of Zika cases recorded in the Americas.

In the United States, 16 Zika cases have been reported in the San Juan, Puerto Rico area in 2024. There were 43 Zika virus cases reported in 2023. 

From a prevention perspective, no Zika vaccine has been approved as of June 20, 2024. Since 2016, approximately $350 million of research funding for a Zika vaccine has been mobilized 

However, several Zika vaccine candidates are conducting clinical research.

For example, Valneva SE announced initiating a Phase 1 clinical trial to investigate the safety and immunogenicity of VLA1601, its second-generation adjuvanted inactivated vaccine candidate against the Zika virus (ZIKV).

The randomized, placebo-controlled Phase 1 trial, VLA1601-102, is planned to enroll approximately 150 participants aged 18 to 49 years in the U.S.

Juan Carlos Jaramillo, M.D., Valneva's Chief Medical Officer, said in a press release in March 2024, “Valneva'scommitment to our vision—to live in a world in which no one dies or suffers from a vaccine-preventable disease—fuels our pursuit for preparedness solutions against the Zika virus.

"As global temperatures rise and rainfall increases, the habitat for disease-carrying mosquitoes expands, presenting an ongoing public health challenge.”

Over-the-counter supplement found to improve walking for peripheral artery disease patients

 

The over-the-counter supplement nicotinamide riboside, a form of vitamin B3, increased the walking endurance of patients with peripheral artery disease, a chronic leg condition for which there are few effective treatments.

In a preliminary, randomized, double-blind clinical trial led by Northwestern University and University of Florida scientists, patients who took nicotinamide riboside daily for six months increased their timed walking distance by more than 57 feet, compared to participants who took a placebo. As expected, walking speed declined in those who took a placebo, because peripheral artery disease causes progressive declines in walking performance.

"This is a signal that nicotinamide riboside could help these patients," said Christiaan Leeuwenburgh, Ph.D., a UF professor of physiology and aging and senior author of the clinical trial report. "We are hoping to conduct a larger follow-up trial to verify our findings."

Leeuwenburgh, whose research specializes in anti-aging treatments, collaborated with Mary M. McDermott, M.D., a physician and professor of medicine at Northwestern University and an expert in peripheral artery disease. With a large team of collaborators, Leeuwenburgh and McDermott published their findings June 13 in the journal Nature Communications.

The scientists recruited 90 people with an average age of 71 who had peripheral artery disease, or PAD, to test the effects of nicotinamide riboside. The supplement is increasingly popular as an anti-aging treatment—sales exceeded $60 million in 2022 in the U.S. alone—but there has been scant evidence of any benefit in healthy people. Nicotinamide riboside is a precursor for the essential compound NAD, which plays roles in the body related to energy generation, improved blood flow and DNA repair.

Because PAD is associated with problems generating energy within muscle cells, McDermott and Leeuwenburgh thought that nicotinamide riboside, by improving energy generation, could help improve walking in people with the disease.

And indeed that's what they found. Participants taking the supplement walked an average of 23 feet more in a six-minute walking test after six months, while those taking a placebo walked 34 feet less. Those who took at least 75% of the pills they were supposed to take performed even better, adding more than 100 feet to their walking distance, compared to people who took a placebo.

(The researchers also tested if resveratrol, a compound best known for being in red wine, could boost the effects of nicotinamide riboside; they found no additional benefits.)

PAD affects more than 8.5 million Americans over the age of 40. Caused by the buildup of fatty deposits in arteries, and associated with diabetes and smoking, the disease reduces blood flow to the limbs, especially the legs. Walking often becomes painful, and the disease typically causes declines in walking ability over time. Supervised walking exercise is first line therapy for PAD, but most people with the condition do not have access to supervised exercise.

In addition to a larger trial focused on patients suffering from PAD, Leeuwenburgh hopes to test the effects of nicotinamide riboside on walking performance in healthy older adults.

"We need to test it on a healthy older population before we recommend healthy people take it," he said.

An OTC Supplement Might Aid Walking in Folks With Leg Artery Illness

 

Key Takeaways

• Peripheral artery disease affects millions, limiting their ability to walk

• A small, new study suggests that a supplement called nicotinamide riboside might help

• The drug ups energy production by cells, and that may have improved walking endurance in people with PAD, a trial found

FRIDAY, June 21, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- A form of vitamin B3 that folks can buy over the counter could help improve walking ability when peripheral artery disease (PAD) strikes, new research suggests.

PAD affects up to 8.5 million Americans. It occurs when blood flow to the legs becomes impaired, making activities such as walking painful. PAD is closely tied to heart risk factors like diabetes and smoking.

Anything that can ease the condition and improve walking endurance is needed. The new study focused on nicotinamide riboside, a form of vitamin B3. Nicotinamide riboside is often touted as an anti-aging agent and is sold as a nonprescription supplement.

In the new trial, a team led by Christiaan Leeuwenburgh of the University of Florida (UF) recruited 90 people with an average age of 71 who had peripheral artery disease.

Leeuwenburgh, along with Dr. Mary McDermott, a physician and professor of medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago, knew that nicotinamide riboside is a precursor compound to NAD, which helps boosts energy generation within cells.

Perhaps taking nicotinamide riboside could help people with PAD boost energy production, and help them walk better, the team reasoned.

The new findings seem to support that: People who took nicotinamide riboside supplements for six months were able to walk 23 feet more during a six-minute walking test, compared to those who hadn't taken the supplement, who actually walked 34 feet less after the 6-month trial period ended.

Adherence to the supplements was key: Folks who took at least 75% of the pills they were supposed to take performed even better, adding more than 100 feet to their walking distance, compared to people who took a placebo, the researchers reported.

The study was published June 13 in the journal Nature Communications.

“This is a signal that nicotinamide riboside could help these patients,” Leeuwenburgh, a professor of physiology and aging at UF, said in a university news release. “We are hoping to conduct a larger follow-up trial to verify our findings.”

New study connects Mediterranean diet to positive brain chemistry

A recent study published in Nutritional Neuroscience has shed light on the potential connection between diet quality and mental health. The study found that individuals with high adherence to a Mediterranean diet had altered brain chemistry and structure compared to those with low adherence, hinting at beneficial changes.

The researchers aimed to address a significant gap in understanding how diet influences mental health. While preclinical studies have established a link between dietary patterns and brain chemistry, these findings need to be confirmed in human studies.

Common mental disorders affect millions worldwide and pose substantial social, economic, and health burdens. Symptoms such as low mood, worry, and rumination exacerbate these issues, making it crucial to explore non-pharmacological approaches, like diet, that could help manage these conditions. The researchers hypothesized that diet quality would be associated with levels of key neurotransmitters and brain structure, which in turn could influence mental health outcomes.

“The mechanisms of action associating diet with common mental disorders are largely identified in preclinical studies but need to be fully confirmed and elucidated in human studies. We wanted to fill this gap by conducting this research,” explained study author Piril Hepsomali, a lecturer in psychology at the University of Reading.

The researchers recruited 164 participants from the Universities of Roehampton and Royal Holloway, as well as the general public in London and surrounding areas. Participants were screened using the Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener (MEDAS), a tool designed to assess adherence to the Mediterranean diet, which is known for its high quality and health benefits. Based on their MEDAS scores, 38 participants were selected and divided into two groups: those with high adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MEDAS score > 8) and those with low adherence (MEDAS score < 6).

All participants completed a series of questionnaires to asess demographic variables, dietary habits, and mental health symptoms. These included the MEDAS, the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS), the Ruminative Response Scale (RRS), and the EPIC Norfolk Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ). These tools provided a comprehensive picture of each participant’s diet quality, mental health status, and habitual food intake.

The core of the study involved brain imaging. The researchers used a 3 Tesla Siemens Magnetom scanner to acquire structural MRI images and 1H-MRS to measure neurotransmitter levels in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). This region of the brain is critical for affective disorders, making it a focal point for this study. The 1H-MRS technique allowed the researchers to quantify levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate, key neurotransmitters involved in brain excitability and inhibition.

The researchers found that participants with higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet showed higher levels of GABA and lower levels of glutamate in the mPFC compared to those with lower adherence. This finding is crucial because GABA is an inhibitory neurotransmitter that helps to reduce neuronal excitability, whereas glutamate is an excitatory neurotransmitter that, in excess, can lead to neuronal damage. The balance between these neurotransmitters is essential for maintaining mental health, and an imbalance is often implicated in conditions like anxiety and depression.

In terms of brain structure, Hepsomali and her colleagues found that individuals with higher diet quality had greater gray matter volume in the right precentral gyrus, a region involved in motor control and cognitive functions. This result is consistent with previous research suggesting that better diet quality is associated with larger brain volumes, particularly in regions important for cognitive and emotional regulation.

Interestingly, the researchers did not find direct associations between diet quality and measures of depression, anxiety, or stress. However, they did observe that higher rumination scores were linked to reduced gray matter volume in the right precentral gyrus and increased glutamate levels in the mPFC. Rumination, characterized by repetitive and persistent negative thinking, is a significant cognitive symptom in many mental health disorders.

The findings provide evidence that a person’s diet “might be associated with alterations in their brain chemistry and structure, and these alterations might contribute to how good or bad they feel,” Hepsomali told PsyPost.

However, he cautioned that “this is a preliminary study, with a small sample size, so our results would benefit from replication in a larger sample. Also, this is a cross-sectional study, we could not determine cause and effect relationships. In other words, we cannot say that unhealthy diets cause alterations in the brain. It may be the case that individuals with poor mental health status, choose poor quality diets, because of these neural alterations. So further longitudinal studies are needed.”

“We would like to replicate our preliminary findings in a bigger sample, ideally while utilizing other biomarkers and assess whether adherence to healthy and/or low GLU and/or high GABA diets and/or certain nutrients may alter brain chemistry and structure and improve common mental disorder symptoms,” Hepsomali added.

The study, “Adherence to unhealthy diets is associated with altered frontal gamma-aminobutyric acid and glutamate concentrations and grey matter volume: preliminary findings,” was authored by Piril Hepsomali, Adele Costabile, Marieke Schoemaker, Florencia Imakulata, and Paul Allen.

Do You Eat Junk Food And Sweets During Stress? It May Lead To More Anxiety

Researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder studied the connection between a diet high in fats and sugars and heightened anxiety levels.

Highlights

• Junk food and sweets often find their way into stress eating.
• Do you also tend to grab unhealthy food when stressed out?
• The findings of the new study will surprise you.

In moments of stress, it's common to turn to comfort foods like burgers, chips, and chocolates. We all are guilty of doing that. It may provide momentary relief but might not be the best solution to combat stress. In fact, recent research reveals that indulging in these foods might do more harm than good. Instead of alleviating anxiety, they could potentially exacerbate it by increasing anxiety! According to the findings, the junk food that you think is giving you happiness is actually making it all worse, all while making you gain weight.

Researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder studied the connection between a diet high in fats and sugars and heightened anxiety levels. Their study, featured in the journal Biological Research, uncovers a concerning link: a diet rich in saturated fats disrupts the balance of gut bacteria in animals. This disruption, known as dysbiosis, triggers changes in behaviour and impacts brain chemistry through the intricate gut-brain axis. These alterations ultimately contribute to an increase in anxiety levels.

In their experiments with rats, the researchers observed that those fed a high-fat diet (HFD) exhibited signs of neuroinflammation and anxiety-related behaviours. This outcome underscores the broader implications of dietary choices beyond physical health, highlighting significant ramifications for mental health as well.

Connection Between Obesity And Stress:

The study further explores how obesity, often associated with the consumption of HFDs, intertwines with anxiety-a prevalent issue in today's urban societies. Recent insights suggest that the microbiome-gut-brain axis, alongside the serotonin system in the brain, plays a pivotal role in shaping this relationship. The gut microbiome's diversity and composition, particularly influenced by diet, emerge as critical factors influencing mental well-being.

During the study, one group of rats consumed a standard diet, while another group was fed a high-fat diet composed primarily of saturated fats. Predictably, the high-fat diet led to weight gain among the rats and a reduction in the diversity of their gut microbiota-a sign of potential health decline. Specifically, there was an increase in Firmicutes bacteria and a decrease in Bacteroidetes, a shift often associated with diets prevalent in industrialized societies and linked to obesity.

The findings of the research come as a shock as well as a wake-up call for all stress eaters. If you are one of them, nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar has offered practical advice to avoid stress eating. According to one of her Instagram posts, she recommends opting for three nutrient-rich snacks to manage stress-induced cravings effectively. (Note: these tips are not part of the study above)
 

Here Are 3 Foods That Help Avoid Stress Eating:

1. Peanuts:

Peanuts, rich in vitamin B6 and magnesium, serve as a satisfying mid-afternoon snack that can ward off the bloated feeling often associated with stress eating. Here are some delicious ways to consume peanuts.

2. Cashew Nuts:

Cashew nuts, noted for their iron and magnesium content, provide a quick energy boost when consumed before bedtime or as a pick-me-up during dull moments.

3. Dry Coconut

Dry coconut, which promotes a feeling of fullness, can be paired with jaggery or included in meals like lunchtime chutneys to curb unnecessary snacking. Click here to see some interesting dishes you can make with coconut.

By opting for healthier alternatives and steering clear of high-fat, processed foods, you can proactively support your well-being, both physically and mentally.