Summary:

A University of Ottawa-led laboratory trial found that older adults exposed to daytime indoor temperatures of 34°C during a three-day simulated heatwave experienced higher core body temperature and heart rate, changes in blood pressure, and increased markers of kidney and gastrointestinal stress. Some effects remained the following morning despite overnight cooling to 26°C.

Maintaining the simulated indoor environment at 26°C throughout the day and night substantially reduced these physiological effects compared with 34°C during the day and 26°C overnight.

UCLA Health researchers were awarded a $3.5 million federal grant to establish a national, multisite research center to study interoceptive neuroscience – the study of how the nervous system senses, interprets and integrates signals from within the body to maintain equilibrium.

Eating sweets while taking antibiotics may worsen the harm done by the drugs to the normal community of bacteria in the gut, a new study found.

Clinicians and researchers use standardized tests to assess memory and thinking ability. In one commonly used memory test, a short story is read to patients and then they try to recall it from memory. Their response is scored by counting the number of story details the patient remembers. However, this scoring ignores a wealth of information about ‘how’ the person responded; qualities such as the use of complex or simple sentences, repetition of story details, or admitting they forgot pieces of the story with comments such as “I forgot her name.”

A healthy, balanced dietary pattern, rather than one focused on individual nutrients or foods is key to maintaining heart health, according to a Scientific Statement issued by the American College of Cardiology and published in JACC, its flagship journal. Diets should include minimally processed plant-based foods and healthy fats and proteins, while limiting foods high in refined starches, added sugars, sodium or unhealthy fats, as well as highly processed foods of poor nutritional quality.