Drug taken by 8 million people has surprising side effect
SSRIs increase serotonin levels, which not only improves mood but also enhances the cancer-fighting abilities of T cells.
In mouse and human tumour models, SSRIs reduced tumour size by more than half and improved the efficiency of killer T cells.
Combining SSRIs with existing cancer therapies further reduced tumour size in mice.
Further research is needed to confirm these findings in human cancer patients taking SSRIs, researchers say.
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The Independent
28 minutes ago
- The Independent
Are standing desks good for you? We asked an expert
The phrase 'sitting is the new smoking' entered the public consciousness in recent years – a faintly hyperbolic but effective warning from health professionals that our sedentary lifestyles are leading to higher rates of obesity, heart disease and related illnesses. While not quite as harmful as lighting up, spending too much of your day working at a desk poses real long-term health risks. Enter the standing desk, a modern solution to the problem of prolonged hours spent tapping away in an office chair. I use one every day, although like an exercise bike that slowly evolves into a clothes horse, it's been stuck in the sitting position for a while, shamefully. But hey, does a standing desk really make a difference? Should I get back into the habit of elevating my desk, or should I just sit this one out? To learn more I spoke to an expert, Jo Baxter, senior physiotherapist and triage team leader at Nuffield Health, who tells me that the real issue isn't sitting or standing, but something else entirely. 'The big issue for me isn't sitting or standing, it's staying sedentary for too long,' she explains. 'The aches and pains people can present with are varied and individual, but ultimately they serve the same purpose: to communicate that tissues need physical and neurological input to survive and thrive. It's a message to move.' Marketed as an easy fix for everything from back pain and cardiovascular issues to poor concentration and dwindling energy levels, standing desks have rocketed in popularity in the last decade. But recent research has questioned these health claims, finding that swapping sitting for standing might not be the panacea we hoped for. 'Standing still for hours isn't the same as being active,' Baxter says. 'It's just a different kind of inactivity. The research backs this up, showing no additional metabolic or cardiovascular benefits from prolonged standing and, potentially, demonstrating potential harm.' Sitting might be the new smoking, but it turns out that standing is not the new sitting. This is why you'll often see standing desks referred to as sit-stand or height-adjustable desks in 2025. Desks that can switch easily between standing and sitting modes allow you to change your body's position regularly throughout the day, which experts agree is far better than staying in either stance for too long. But while the health benefits of standing desks might not be as miraculous as once promised, their popularity has endured and their advocates – me among them – are convinced of their effects. You need only try one to feel some benefit. I've found that alternating between standing and sitting helps relieve tension that otherwise builds up throughout the day – and a regular change of posture acts like a mental reset button too, helping to refocus the mind. Baxter agrees that this variety can be beneficial. 'For some, this variation can break up the monotony of prolonged sitting, ease the build-up of stiffness and could leave you with a clearer head and more sustained concentration,' she says. 'You may benefit from standing for more creative tasks which allows you to fidget and move more, whereas sitting may be suited to tasks that require a deeper focus.' Ultimately, the key isn't the desk itself, but how you use it. The healthiest approach is to mix sitting and standing with plenty of what Baxter calls 'movement snacks' throughout the day. 'A standing desk might feel like an upgrade, but it doesn't address the real solution; moving regularly with purpose, throughout the day,' she says. 'Think about those instinctive stretches we all do – rolling our shoulders back, reaching our arms over our heads. The key is to listen to those natural urges to move and act on them regularly, not only once stiffness kicks in.' My standing desk might not be making me any healthier, but if it encourages me to switch up my position and take more movement snacks, I won't be giving it up any time soon. Time to dust off that 'desk go up' button. The real benefit of a standing desk isn't just the standing part; it's the ability to readily change your posture throughout the day. A desk that makes this transition a chore will likely end up stuck in the sitting position, but the FlexiSpot E8, which tops our list of the best standing desks, is a great example of a desk that gets it right. The FlexiSpot E8 features a smooth and quick dual-motor system that makes the transition from sitting to standing seamless and almost silent. It has four programmable height presets, so rather than fiddling with buttons to find your perfect height, you simply press one button and the desk glides into your pre-saved position. And, by having four presets, you can share your desk with a family member or colleague and keep your preferred settings saved. It's also a sturdy and well-built piece of kit. Capable of supporting up to 125kg, it'll handle even the most elaborate multi-monitor setups without breaking a sweat. Crucially, it feels rock-solid even when raised to its maximum height of 128cm. 'This minimalist desk with clean lines and plenty of desktop space is clearly made with work-from-home in mind,' said Jon Axworthy in their Flexispot E8 standing desk review. 'It combines one of the most efficient motorised mechanisms we tested with straightforward assembly, which won't take more than an hour.'
The Sun
29 minutes ago
- The Sun
‘Natural alternative' to fat jabs found – and it could help you lose 17% of your body weight
MANY weight loss interventions, such as gastric bypass surgery and fat jabs, can be seen as invasive or being on negative side effects. For people looking for a natural alternative to shedding the pounds, scientists have developed edible microbeads. 1 The microbeads, made from green tea polyphenols, vitamin E and seaweed, when consumed, bind to fats in the gastrointestinal tract. And preliminary results from tests carried out in a new study found this approach to weight loss may be safer and more accessible than surgery or pharmaceuticals. 'Losing weight can help some people prevent long-term health issues like diabetes and heart disease,' said Yue Wu, a graduate student at Sichuan University. 'Our microbeads work directly in the gut to block fat absorption in a noninvasive and gentle way.' Weight gain is caused by genetic and lifestyle factors, including eating a high-fat diet. So, Wu and her colleagues wanted to target the fat absorption process with their weight-loss intervention, but avoid negative side effects. She said: 'We want to develop something that works with how people normally eat and live." The team created the tiny plant-based beads that spontaneously form through a series of chemical bonds between the green tea polyphenols and vitamin E. The beads were then coated in a natural polymer derived from seaweed to protect them from acid in the stomach. Once ingested, this protective polymer coating expands, the the green tea polyphenols and vitamin E compounds bind to and trap partially digested fats in the intestine. Weight Loss Jabs - Pros vs Cons With the microbeads being nearly flavourless, the researchers foresee them being easily integrated into people's diets. The researchers assessed the microbeads as a weight-loss treatment in rats. They were placed into three groups - those which were fed a high-fat diet either with or without microbeads and those which were fed a normal diet for 30 days. The rats fed the high-fat diet and microbeads were found to have lost 17 per cent of their total body weight, while rats in the other groups didn't lose weight. Wu and her team have now started working with a biotechnology company to manufacture the plant-based beads. 'All the ingredients are food grade and FDA-approved, and their production can be easily scaled up,' said Yunxiang He, Sichuan University associate professor and co-author on Wu's presentation. They've also initiated a human clinical trial in collaboration with the West China Hospital of Sichuan University. 'This represents a major step toward clinical translation of our polyphenol-based microbeads, following our foundational results,' said Wu. 'We have officially enrolled 26 participants in our investigator-initiated trial, and we anticipate that preliminary data may become available within the next year.' Latest on Mounjaro price hike Eli Lilly, the manufacturer of Mounjaro, has announced that prices will rise from September 1 this year. The price the pharma giant charges pharmacies for a mid-range 5mg dose will nearly double from £92 to £180. The maximum available dose - 15mg - will rise from £122 to £330. This is to bring UK prices in line with those in European countries. The price increase will affect everyone paying privately, from pharmacies to private clinics, with some of the cost falling on customers. All online providers will also be affected by these changes. The announcement doesn't affect the price the NHS pays, as the service has negotiated a heavily discounted rate for those getting the drug on prescription. With patients stocking up on the jab before the price hike, find out which sites still have it and are accepting new customers here.
The Guardian
29 minutes ago
- The Guardian
‘An existential threat': US health workers call Robert F Kennedy Jr a risk to public health
Current and former employees at US health agencies released a letter on Wednesday outlining how misinformation spread by Robert F Kennedy Jr is endangering the lives of federal employees and the American people. Experts emphasized to the Guardian that he's 'an existential threat to public health'. On 8 August, a gunman killed a police officer, David Rose, and fired nearly 500 bullets, shattering 150 windows, at the Atlanta headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The man, who was killed on the scene, believed the Covid-19 vaccine caused his depression. Kennedy, secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has been 'complicit in dismantling America's public health infrastructure and endangering the nation's health by repeatedly spreading inaccurate health information', said the letter, which was signed by more than 750 current and former employees from HHS agencies, including the CDC and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and addressed to Kennedy and the US Congress. The employees drafted the letter in their personal capacity, they said. Pressure against Kennedy is mounting in public health. 'When your own leadership peddles falsehoods, it doesn't just erode the public trust, it creates the conditions for the kind of violence that we saw on Friday,' Yolanda Jacobs, president of American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) local 2883 and a CDC employee, told reporters last week. 'This was a targeted attack. It was a targeted act of violence against not just CDC, but CDC's employees.' The shooting was 'public health's Jan 6,' Colin Carlson, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Yale University's School of Public Health, co-wrote in an op-ed calling for the resignation of health officials, including Kennedy, who have spread dangerous misinformation. 'To me, the worst case scenario is, and has always been, that someone shows up with a gun,' Carlson said. 'It's really important that we do something now, while we can, before the shooting that kills more people. Because this will keep happening. It will spread, and it will get worse.' Kennedy, a prominent anti-vaccine advocate for two decades, has called the CDC a 'cesspool of corruption'. He has made numerous false claims about mRNA vaccines, calling Covid vaccines the 'deadliest vaccine ever made'. He replaced members of the CDC's vaccine advisory committee with largely inexperienced advisers, some of whom have histories of anti-vaccine activism. One of the advisers, Robert Malone, posted violent images directed at scientists in the hours before and soon after the CDC shooting, prompting the Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal, of Connecticut, to demand his removal and the restoration of the original experts to the committee. The letter on Wednesday decried the 'deliberate destruction of trust in America's public health workforce', which puts employees at risk of violence and keeps them from working to protect the health of Americans. Kennedy's 'dangerous and deceitful statements and actions have contributed to the harassment and violence experienced by CDC staff', the letter read. Matthew Buckham, Kennedy's acting chief of staff, was co-founder of the group that maintains a 'DEI Watch List' targeting HHS employees. Watch lists like these have published the photos and personal home addresses of federal workers, who have been threatened in their homes, said Vi Le, an expert on preventing gun violence. When Le heard about the shooting, she scrambled to pull together resources for CDC employees. But she didn't do it on behalf of the CDC; she did it as a volunteer with the AFGE. That's because in April, her entire department on preventing gun violence in the US was let go. Yet when asked how he would address misinformation leading to violence in the wake of the CDC shooting, Kennedy pointed to past public health officials who he said 'have not been honest' about Covid vaccines. 'An attack on a US government agency should be a moment in time when we come together,' Dr Anne Schuchat, former principal deputy director of the CDC, said in a statement about the letter. 'Instead, Secretary Kennedy continues to spread misinformation at the risk of American lives.' The HHS did not respond by press time to the Guardian's media inquiries about the role of health officials in promoting misinformation that may lead to violence. Employees also called on the NIH director, Jay Bhattacharya, to 'refrain from his dangerous politicization of mRNA vaccine technology'. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion The day after the CDC shooting, Bhattacharya appeared on Steve Bannon's podcast to push back on what he characterized as health officials' 'relentless propaganda and pressure' to take the mRNA Covid vaccines. Bhattacharya spoke about how the former director of the CDC, Rochelle Walensky, was 'blinded' to the 'facts' of the vaccine, which he said had harmful side effects. 'As far as public health goes, for vaccines the mRNA platform is no longer viable,' Bhattacharya said. It echoed previous statements of his putting the blame for anti-vaccine sentiment on US officials. In July 2024, Bhattacharya said that people who claimed to be injured by vaccines became 'public enemy number one in 2021', adding they were seen as a 'threat' to officials' efforts to distribute vaccines. Last week, Bhattacharya published an op-ed arguing that 'mRNA technology has failed to earn the public's trust'. 'Within days of the shooting, all of these guys were back out there immediately talking about how dangerous vaccines are,' Carlson said. 'We see them condemn the violence and act like they had nothing to do with it, and then we also see them repeat the messaging that the shooter believed.' Rhetoric about the harms of vaccines, and the alleged dangers posed by health officials, is circulated and amplified in anti-vaccine circles, especially online. The man arrested for killing Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in June told the conservative blog the Blaze that he confronted the couple because he believed the mRNA shots were killing people. Violence is the point of decades of anti-vaccine and anti-scientific disinformation – not a byproduct but a tool, Carlson said. Stochastic terrorism, in which public figures use mass media to inspire political violence, has been used to harm trans people and abortion providers, for example, in the past. 'They've learned the comfortable distance between incitement and violence,' Carlson said. 'The Maga movement is incredibly good at saying just enough and distributing the burden of incitement within its ecosystem, letting the people at the top set the messaging and then having places like rightwing news outlets and social media sites do the work of amplifying and accelerating and putting violence to the messaging.' Removing officials like Kennedy and preventing future violence is 'the only path' to restoring trust in public health, Carlson said. He added: 'This is an existential threat to public health. If we fight and lose, that's OK, but I would rather fight and lose than lie down.'
