Medically Speaking Team

China confirmed two COVID-19 deaths in Jilin Province on Saturday. According to the Global Times, a Chinese news site, 1,674 COVID-19 cases were recorded in Jilin province on Friday. On Friday, the Chinese mainland recorded 2,157 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, a decrease from the previous day’s total of 2,388 cases.

According to Xinhua, quoting the National Health Commission, 199 new local illnesses were detected in Fujian, 69 in Liaoning, 47 in Guangdong, and 42 in Shandong.

The remaining instances were recorded in 15 different provinces, including Tianjin and Gansu. According to Xinhua, the commission recorded 71 imported COVID-19 cases on Friday.

Earlier on Thursday, a video leaked showing hundreds of people in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen queuing to get tested for the virus.

The footage, supposedly from the Shenzhen neighbourhood of Shajing, also showed hundreds of ambulances allegedly removing COVID-19 victims from the city to temporary isolation centres. Shenzhen officials had previously enforced a one-week shutdown.

Meanwhile, China has begun searching for a way out of the Covid preventive policy, even as officials close down cities in the country’s biggest viral epidemic in two years, according to the Associated Press. The article stated that China is studying methods to gradually ease its zero-tolerance attitude, citing a study, interviews, and recent public messaging by government-affiliated public health specialists.

Many things might have a negative influence on your oral health, ranging from bad eating habits to insufficient brushing and poor dental cleanliness. Your mental wellness has a huge impact on your oral health. People who suffer from stress, anxiety, depression, or other mental health concerns may be more prone to developing dental problems for a variety of reasons.

People who suffer from dental anxiety may avoid going to the dentist or having dental operations. According to experts, it might be the result of a larger mental health issue, such as general anxiety disorder, or a history of poor encounters at a dental clinic.

People who are depressed or nervous may make poor eating choices or fail to pay attention to nutrition, causing their oral health to deteriorate.

“Mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression can lead to several problems which may lead to consumption of sugary foods or beverages that can cause tooth decay and cavities. Depressed people have poor nutrition, which can affect the surface enamel of the teeth,” says Dr Karishma Jaradi, Head Dental Surgeon- Dentzz Dental.

It is also common for a person with depression to lose interest in daily activities which includes brushing or taking shower.

According to a CDC study, children with heart issues are more likely to suffer cavities, toothaches, or bleeding gums.

If oral bacteria enter the circulation, children with heart disease may be predisposed to additional illnesses such as infective endocarditis, according to the study. The uncommon illness causes inflammation in the inner lining of the heart and can be fatal.

“Therefore, preventive dental care (i.e., check-ups, dental cleaning, radiographs, fluoride treatment, or sealant) to maintain oral health is important,” the study authors wrote.

The study compared the oral health status and recent dental treatment of children with and without cardiac problems using data from the National Survey of Children’s Health from 2016 to 2019.

Approximately 10% of children and teens ages 1-17 with heart disorders had “poor” to “good” oral health, compared to 5% of children without heart problems. Around 17% of people with heart disease also exhibited signs of poor oral health, such as damaged teeth or cavities.

Children with a heart disease had poorer dental health, as did those with lower home finances and intellectual and developmental difficulties.

Furthermore, one in every six children with heart disease had not had preventative dental treatment in the previous 12 months.

Children with heart issues may be more prone to poor dental health and cavities for a variety of reasons, according to Karrie Downing, the study’s primary author and a CDC researcher. They may have had surgeries or other treatments that make caring for their teeth and gums more difficult.

Children with heart issues may also have developmental or intellectual difficulties that make dental care more difficult, both at home and at the dentist’s office, according to her.

Heart drugs can also cause problems, according to Downing, since some produce dry mouth, which can lead to cavities.

Alene D’Alesio, DMD, chief of paediatric dentistry at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, who was not involved in the study, told UPI that parents may help their children by urging them to drink more water and avoid juices and sugary drinks.

“I don’t want anyone to think that heart disease equals cavities,” she said.

D’Alesio also suggested that parents watch their children’s brushing and flossing habits and consider purchasing an electric toothbrush or floss pick to assist them maintain good oral health. Children with heart issues may also require more frequent dental visits, according to her.

The light we encounter in our daily lives has a significant impact on our biological rhythms. People who have 24-hour access to artificial sunshine can interrupt their sleep and have a detrimental influence on their health, well-being, and productivity. However, a recent research looked at how bright lighting should be throughout the day and at night to maintain healthy body rhythms, peaceful sleep, and daily alertness.
The findings were reported in the journal ‘Plos One.’ Professors Timothy Brown of the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom and Kenneth Wright of the University of Colorado Boulder in the United States convened an international group of leading scientific experts to develop the first evidence-based, consensus recommendations for healthy daytime, evening, and nighttime light exposure.

These guidelines give much-needed assistance to the lighting and electronics sectors in order to aid in the creation of healthier settings and to enhance the lighting of our workplaces, public buildings, and residences.
The new paper addressed an important question: how to adequately assess the extent to which different forms of illumination may alter our biological rhythms and daily patterns of sleep and waking. Light influences these patterns through a particular type of cell in the eye that employs a light-sensitive protein called melanopsin, which is separate from the proteins found in rods and cones that support vision (and upon which traditional ways of measuring “brightness” are based).

Because melanopsin is particularly sensitive to light in a specific portion of the optical spectrum (blue-cyan light), the revised guidelines employed melanotic equivalent daylight illuminance, a newly designed light measuring standard adapted to this unique feature. Data analysis from a variety of laboratory and field studies demonstrated that this new measurement approach could provide a reliable way of predicting the effects of light on human physiology and body rhythms, and thus could serve as the foundation for widely applicable and meaningful recommendations.

The incorporation of the recommendations into formal lighting guidelines, which presently focus on aesthetic needs rather than consequences on health and well-being, will be an essential next step. Furthermore, when LED lighting technology advances and low-cost light sensors become more widely available, individuals will be able to more easily regulate their own light exposure to best support their own body rhythms in accordance with the new recommendations.

“These recommendations provide the first scientific consensus, quantitative, guidance for appropriate daily patterns of light exposure to support healthy body rhythms, night-time sleep and daytime alertness. This now provides a clear framework to inform how we light any interior space ranging from workplaces, educational establishments and healthcare facilities to our own homes,” Brown said.

A new study headed by the University of Cambridge has discovered a relationship that suggests lithium may reduce the chance of acquiring dementia.
The findings were reported in the journal ‘PLoS Medicine.’ The study included a retrospective review of nearly 30,000 patients’ health data from the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust. Between 2005 and 2019, the patients were all above the age of 50 and used NHS mental health treatments.
Although the overall number of patients who took lithium was modest, the analysis revealed that those who received lithium were less likely to acquire dementia than those who did not. It also stated that lithium may be used as a prophylactic therapy for dementia and that big randomised controlled trials could be conducted.

Dementia is the biggest cause of mortality in older Western populations, however there are presently no prophylactic therapies available. Dementia affects more than 55 million people globally, with Alzheimer’s disease being the most common kind.

“The number of people with dementia continues to grow, which puts huge pressure on healthcare systems,” said Dr Shanquan Chen from Cambridge’s Department of Psychiatry, the paper’s first author.
“It’s been estimated that delaying the onset of dementia by just five years could reduce its prevalence and economic impact by as much as 40 per cent,” he added.

Previous research have advocated lithium as a viable treatment for persons who have already been diagnosed with dementia or early cognitive impairment, but it is uncertain if it may postpone or even prevent the onset of dementia entirely, due to the small sample size of these studies.
Lithium is a mood stabiliser that is commonly used for bipolar affective disorder and depression.

“Bipolar disorder and depression are considered to put people at increased risk of dementia, so we had to make sure to account for this in our analysis,” said Chen.

Chen and his colleagues examined data from Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust patients who sought mental health treatments between 2005 and 2019. Patients were all above the age of 50, had at least one year of follow-up appointments, and had not previously been diagnosed with moderate cognitive impairment or dementia.

548 of the 29,618 individuals in the research group had had lithium treatment, whereas the remaining 29,070 had not. Their average age was slightly under 74 years, and almost 40% of the patients were male.
In the lithium group, 53 people, or 9.7 percent, were diagnosed with dementia. In the group that did not get lithium, 3,244 people, or 11.2%, were diagnosed with dementia.
Lithium usage was related with a decreased incidence of dementia after adjusting for variables such as smoking, other drugs, and other physical and mental diseases, both for short and long-term users.

However, because the total number of patients taking lithium was limited and this was an observational research, bigger clinical studies would be required to prove lithium as a possible dementia therapy. Another drawback of the study was the small number of individuals with bipolar illness, which is generally associated with an increased risk of dementia.

“We expected to find that patients with bipolar disorder were more likely to develop dementia since that is the most common reason to be prescribed lithium, but our analysis suggested the opposite,” said Chen.
“It’s far too early to say for sure, but it’s possible that lithium might reduce the risk of dementia in people with bipolar disorder,” he concluded.

A recent study headed by Brigham and Women’s Hospital researchers discovered that frequent daytime napping can raise the chance of Alzheimer’s disease in the future, and dementia accelerated the increase in daytime napping during ageing.
The study was published in the journal ‘Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Alzheimer’s Association Journal.’

“Daytime sleep behaviours of older adults are oftentimes ignored, and a consensus for daytime napping in clinical practice and health care is still lacking,” said Peng Li, PhD, of the Medical Biodynamics Program in the Brigham’s Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders.

“Our results not only suggest that excessive daytime napping may signal an elevated risk of Alzheimer’s dementia, but they also show that faster yearly increase in daytime napping may be a sign of deteriorating or unfavored clinical progression of the disease. Our study calls for closer attention to 24-hour sleep patterns — not only nighttime sleep but also daytime sleep — for health monitoring in older adults,” he added.

The impact of daytime napping on cognition in older persons yielded contradictory results. While some studies have found that daytime napping improves acute cognitive function, mood, and alertness, others have found that it has a negative impact on cognitive performance.

Nonetheless, Brigham researchers noted that all previous Alzheimer’s disease studies measured napping in a participant just once, and the majority of them were subjective and questionnaire-based. As a result, they intended to perform a long-term, objective examination of naps in order to discover the relationship between daytime napping and Alzheimer’s disease.

The current study put two hypotheses to the test:
1. Participants snooze longer and/or more frequently as they age, and the changes are considerably more rapid as Alzheimer’s disease progresses.
2. Participants who snooze excessively during the day are more likely to acquire Alzheimer’s disease.

The researchers used a previously established sleep scoring system that takes wrist activity counts into account to identify sleep periods. The nap length and frequency were calculated when napping episodes were detected.

Researchers discovered that nap length and frequency were positively connected with age in the unique cohort study, as well as a bi-directional, longitudinal association between daytime sleep and Alzheimer’s dementia. Longer and more frequent daytime naps were a risk factor for acquiring Alzheimer’s dementia in cognitively normal older men and women, independent of recognised dementia risk variables such as age and nocturnal sleep length and fragmentation.

“The vicious cycle we observed between daytime sleep and Alzheimer’s disease offers a basis for better understanding the role of sleep in the development and progression of Alzheimer’s disease in older adults,” said Peng Li.

Three major research limitations were mentioned by the authors. First, despite the fact that actigraphy has been widely utilised and verified in sleep field investigations, researchers acknowledged that polysomnography is the gold standard for sleep grading. Second, because the individuals in the study were older, the findings may not be easily transferred to younger cohorts. Third, future research should look at whether a direct intervention in the form of daytime napping might reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease or cognitive decline.

“Our hope is to draw more attention to daytime sleep patterns and the importance of patients noting if their sleep schedule is changing over time,” said co-senior author Kun Hu, PhD, of the Medical Biodynamics Program in the Brigham’s Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders.

“Sleep changes are critical in shaping the internal changes in the brain related to the circadian clocks, cognitive decline and the risk of dementia,” he concluded.

Following an early reduction in Covid cases in Asia and Europe, the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that the virus is still’very fit’ and travelling about readily, despite the efficacy of immunizations decreasing. This creates an ideal setting for the development of novel coronavirus strains.

Noting that the virus has not ‘settled down’ into a purely seasonal or predictable pattern yet, Dr Mike Ryan, WHO’s Executive Director of the Health Emergencies Programme, said, as quoted by UN News, “So, the idea that ‘we are through with it’ in the northern hemisphere and now we have to wait until next winter, I think (for example) when we look at increasing rates in the UK, we need to be very vigilant and cautious with this.”