Health and Disability

Phinney and Volek have been low-carb advocates for some time, and you can see their other research here. This particular trial provides evidence that a low-carb diet can improve blood sugar levels and facilitate weight loss in adults with type 2 diabetes. In almost 60% of participants, medication was decreased or stopped altogether.

The study, conducted in Indiana in partnership with Indiana University Health, and published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research publications, looked at 262 people with type 2 diabetes who were also overweight. Each participant restricted their carbohydrate intake to 30 grams or less per day, and they increased fat and protein intake. This practice induces what is known as “nutritional ketosis” and is considered a ketogenic diet, forcing the body to burn fat for energy rather than carbohydrates.

According to Diabetes.co.uk, “Previous studies have shown that such ketogenic diets can improve insulin sensitivity and bring many other benefits. However, most studies done to date using them involved much smaller groups of people and often excluded those on insulin.”

Patients taking part in the low-carb trial were provided with “intensive nutrition and behavioral counseling, digital coaching and education platform, and physician-guided medication management,” according to the study.

The study lasted for ten weeks and participants changed their diets, but did not make any other changes to their lifestyle such as increasing physical activity. By the end of the study, the results noted that “HbA1c level was reduced by 1.0%, and the percentage of individuals with an HbA1c level of <6.5% increased to 56.1% [147 out of the 262].”

Almost 90% of the participants were taking at least one diabetes medication at the start of the trial. By the end of the trial 56.8% had reduced one or more diabetes medications or eliminated one altogether.

“In terms of weight loss,” Diabetes.co.uk reported “participants lost about 7.2 per cent of body mass. There were no reports of severe hypoglycemia during the time the study lasted for.”

Nearly four times as many Americans may die of diabetes as indicated on death certificates, a rate that would bump the disease up from the seventh-leading cause of death to No. 3, according to estimates in a recent study.

Researchers and advocates say that more-precise figures are important as they strengthen the argument that more should be done to prevent and treat diabetes, which affects the way sugar is metabolized in the body.

“We argue diabetes is responsible for 12 percent of deaths in the U.S., rather than 3.3 percent that death certificates indicate,” lead study author Andrew Stokes of the Boston University School of Public Health said in an interview.

Note that the virus triggers a series of changes in the gut that become celiac disease. It doesn't cause celiac disease, and once celiac disease is present, getting rid of the virus doesn't instantly get rid of celiac....

A typically harmless type of virus might sometimes trigger celiac disease, a new study suggests.

Celiac disease is caused by an abnormal immune response to the protein gluten, which is found in wheat, rye and barley. The condition damages the lining of the small intestine, and the only effective treatment is a gluten-free diet.

This new study found that when mice were infected with particular strains of a common human intestinal reovirus, their immune system could not tolerate gluten.

Patients with celiac disease also had much higher levels of antibodies against reoviruses than those without the autoimmune disease, the researchers said.

"This study clearly shows that a virus that is not clinically symptomatic can still do bad things to the immune system and set the stage for an autoimmune disorder, and for celiac disease in particular," said senior study author Dr. Bana Jabri. She is director of research at the University of Chicago's Celiac Disease Center.

The researchers said the findings provide further evidence that viruses may play a role in the development of autoimmune disorders such as celiac disease and type 1 diabetes, and they suggest that vaccines might help prevent such diseases.

"During the first year of life, the immune system is still maturing, so for a child with a particular genetic background, getting a particular virus at that time can leave a kind of scar that then has long-term consequences," Jabri said.

"That's why we believe that once we have more studies, we may want to think about whether children at high risk of developing celiac disease should be vaccinated," she added.

Who wants a Medicare-for-all system? A plurality of Republicans, apparently. A new Economist/YouGov survey shows 46 percent of the party in favor of "expanding Medicare to provide health insurance to every American." Just 38 percent are opposed. This comes on the heels of a January Pew poll where 30 percent of Republicans agreed that the government has a responsibility "to make sure all Americans have health coverage." That looked like a pretty high number at the time, but these new results make it seem small.

If you were alert, you could see this sentiment building for a while. About a year ago, a Gallup poll suggested that 41 percent of the GOP liked the idea of replacing ObamaCare with federally funded universal health care. That number was probably inflated by people willing to endorse anything framed as an alternative to ObamaCare, but you can't say that about this year's results.

This is the third in a series of videos about campaign health proposals that “sound like a good idea.” This one explores why a Republican suggestion to establish a new federal high-risk insurance pool may not be such a good idea after all.

The first video in KHN’s “Sounds Like A Good Idea” series examined selling insurance across state lines. The second dealt with regulating drug prices. Scroll down for the full transcript.

For more information on the high-risk pools, see earlier KHN coverage: House Republicans Unveil Long-Awaited Plan To Replace Health Law.

And from other sources:

• The Kaiser Family Foundation: High-Risk Pools For Uninsurable Individuals
• healthinsurance.org: Health Insurance And High-Risk Pools

Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia and affects more than 5 million people in the United States. After a diagnosis, many people with Alzheimer's and their families turn to the Internet for information on what to expect in the upcoming years. We have searched the web for the most helpful blogs for people affected by Alzheimer's.

Alzheimers.net is an online community that supports people affected by Alzheimer's disease. The Alzheimers.net blogincludes a wide range of articles that cover Alzheimer's research, discuss dementia therapies, provide tips and resources for caregivers, and give up-to-date information on the ongoing research to determine causes, treatments, and prevention of dementia.

Cognitive Vitality is a program of the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF), and it is dedicated to empowering people to make informed decisions about their brain health. The Cognitive Vitality blog has the aim of "examining issues that are on your mind."

Brenda Avadian founded The Caregiver's Voice in 1998 to serve caregivers and professionals who work with adults with cognitive impairment or dementia. "In 1996, my husband and I moved my father, who was diagnosed with dementia, into our home," Avadian informed MNT.

Alzheimer's Universe is a website created to educate family members and caregivers of people with Alzheimer's, provide the most up-to-date Alzheimer's disease information, and offer help for people with mild memory loss due to Alzheimer's, through interactive lessons and engaging activities.

The Dealing with Dementia blog is the creation of Kay Bransford and was inspired by her experience of looking after her parents: "My mom stopped liking her favorite foods, and my dad stopped joking around. Some changes were subtle while others were so overwhelming and no one else seemed to notice."

A new Behavior Pain Assessment Tool (BPAT) provides a simple way to evaluate pain in critically ill patients -including those who aren't able to communicate their pain verbally, reports a study in PAIN®, the official publication of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP). The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.

Based on eight observable pain behaviors, the BPAT is particularly useful in identifying patients experiencing severe pain during procedures in the intensive care unit (ICU), according to the report by Céline Gélinas, RN, PhD, of McGill University, Montreal, and colleagues.

The researchers evaluated the BPAT's ability to assess procedure-related pain in critically ill adults. Many ICU patients are unable to communicate their pain because their clinical condition, altered level of consciousness, or mechanical ventilation and sedation prevents them from doing so. "Since none of those conditions precludes the perception of pain, it is essential that clinicians have valid and reliable pain assessment methods," Dr. Gélinas and coauthors write.

The BPAT used readily observable behaviors - facial expressions, verbal responses, and muscle responses - as potential indicators of pain during the procedures. Translated into 12 languages, the BPAT was evaluated during more than 4,800 procedures in 3,850 patients who were hospitalized in 192 ICUs in 28 countries.

Alzheimer’s and dementia often cause older adults to feel agitated, anxious, or have disturbed sleep.

A weighted blanket or lap pad is a simple, non-drug option that can be used day or night. They reduce anxiety, calm nerves, provide comfort, and promote deep sleep.

We explain why weighted blankets and lap pads help seniors with dementia, share tutorials on making your own, and help you find good ones to buy.

Why weighted blankets in dementia care work

Weighted blankets in dementia care may sound silly, but they’ve been scientifically proven to relieve anxiety.

The heaviness of the blanket provides something called deep pressure therapy. When the body feels the gentle pressure, it produces serotonin. That improves mood and promotes calm.

A 2008 study showed that weighted blankets were a safe and effective therapy for decreasing anxiety. These results were later confirmed in a 2012 study that found weighted blankets successfully decreased distress and visible signs of anxiety.

Hornig and team performed immunoassays to measure 51 immune biomarkers in the cerebrospinal fluid of 32 people with classical CFS, and another 27 with atypical CFS.

The tests showed lower levels of immune molecules in those with atypical CFS than in those with the classical variant. The analyses revealed drastically lower levels of interleukin 7 (a protein that plays a key role in the adaptive immune response to infections), interleukin 17A, and chemokine ligand 9 (molecules with a key role in the adaptive immunity to neurological illnesses).

Additionally, these biological features were accompanied by different trajectories of disease history and comorbidities. Those with atypical CFS tended to have a history of viral encephalitis and tended to fall ill after traveling abroad or receiving a blood transfusion. Furthermore, people with atypical CFS went on to develop simultaneous conditions such as seizure disorders, several types of cancers, or demyelinating disorders - that is, multiple sclerosis-like diseases that damage myelin, the protective sheath around the nerve cells in our brains and spinal cords.

Overall, both atypical and classical CFS patients were revealed to have an abnormal immune system when compared with the general population.

However, only people with classical CFS displayed the previously discovered 3-year mark of CFS - namely, after 3 years of having an "overzealous" immune system, CFS patients show signs of immune "exhaustion," with dramatic drops in their levels of immune molecules.