Medical Watch Digest for Sept 25
Childhood concussion may trigger long-term brain changes
A warning to parents of your kids have ever suffered a concussion.
Concussions in childhood may trigger long term brain changes.
University of California Riverside biomedical researchers found subtle brain changes after a concussion that re-emerge later in life.
They used advanced brain imaging techniques to identify initial signs of injury and long term white matter damage.
Those are the fibers in the brain that serve as communication pathways.
Altered white matter can inhibit brain function.
Researchers believe this study highlights the need for ongoing follow up after childhood brain injury not just early monitoring.
Childhood stress strongly linked to chronic disease in adults
Early stress also impacts long term health.
Elevated levels of stress in childhood are associated with worse metabolic and cardio health outcomes. That means more immune problems, heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
A study at Duke University reveals the body changes in the face of stress that alter the way to body responds to life challenges.
Early stress impacts people psychologically and physiologically leading to more wear and tear on the body, greater inflammation and impaired immunity to common bugs.
The culprit is the increased stress hormones, heart rate and blood pressure at so young an age that leads to damage for a lifetime.
Sniffing out cancer
Canines have a great sense of smell and have been trained to sniff out cancer.
Now scientists have figured out where the scent of cancer comes from.
Chinese Academy of Sciences researchers discovered volatile organic compounds associated with cancer have a unique smell.
The finding opens the door for ai or other devices to diagnose cancer at an earlier, more treatable stage across the board.
It also could spare patients multiple and sometimes invasive tests to look for individual cancers in the colon, breast, lungs and other areas of the body.
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