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Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
What's slimy, green and flourishing thanks to climate change?
If you guessed algae, you're right. New research published in Communications Earth & Environment suggests algae growth is increasing in Canada's lakes — even remote ones — and climate change is the main culprit. A team led by researchers at McGill University in Montreal and Université Laval analyzed sediment cores taken from 80 lakes across the country and found that algae has been increasing in the majority of them since the mid-1800s. For lead author Hamid Ghanbari, the most interesting finding was a spike in the rate of the increase in algal growth: since the 1960s, it increased sevenfold. "This was something very surprising for us and when we compared our data with other historical records, we found out that rising temperature is a major factor," Ghanbari said. Aside from climate change, excess nitrogen and phosphorus can also contribute to algal growth when they are carried into waterways through runoff from animal manure and chemical fertilizers, stormwater and wastewater. Algae, along with bacteria and phytoplankton, are essential for the aquatic food web. But too much algae can be a bad thing. The recently published peer-reviewed study looked at algal growth overall and didn't analyze for blooms. While some lakes see some algae as a part of their cycle, Ghanbari said the concern is what will happen if the increase in algae leads to growth outside of what's normal. "That's where the problem starts," he said. "We don't know at the moment what that threshold is, but we know the increasing chlorophyll or algae levels in the lakes could lead to several problems." Ghanbari said excess algae growth can harm aquatic life and even human health — reducing water quality, depleting oxygen in the water and creating blooms that can release dangerous toxins, as residents along the shores of Lake Erie know all too well. Daryl McGoldrick, head of water quality monitoring and surveillance for the Great Lakes for Environment and Climate Change Canada, said while increasing algal growth doesn't necessarily mean more toxic blooms, there is a risk to aquatic life. "The study is in line with what we see and [what we] suspect are impacts of warming," McGoldrick said. Global and local action can help Maëlle Tripon, a project manager with Quebec freshwater advocacy group Fondation Rivières, said her team has noticed first-hand that when it's warmer, they see more algae on lakes. She said her takeaway from the research is that tackling algal growth cannot solely rely on local action. "We already knew we need to change locally — like farming practices and also, for example, we need less paved and waterproof surface in the cities," she said. "But what the study shows is that we also need global policies to alleviate climate change." Ghanbari agreed, but added that individual choices can still help reduce algal growth. "Simple acts such as reducing the fertilizers … or properly disposing of household chemicals, these simple acts could really help the lakes," he said.
CBS News
33 minutes ago
- CBS News
Lithium could help treat Alzheimer's disease, Harvard Medical School researchers say
Researchers at Harvard Medical School in Boston now say that lithium could help treat the 7 million people with Alzheimer's disease. For the first time ever, the research team found that lithium naturally appears in the human brain and it has a protective effect, shielding the brain from memory-robbing harm. The researchers found the loss of lithium in the brain could be the first signs of Alzheimer's in a patient. Lab mice saw improvement in memory when their lithium levels were restored after it was withheld in an experiment. The study suggests that one day, lithium could be used to treat Alzheimer's. It's already used to treat people with bipolar disorder. "I think these new findings suggest a new potential mechanism for Alzheimer's disease and it raises hope for a therapeutical approach that could potentially be benign and rather in expensive," said Dr. Bruce Yankner, a professor of genetics and neurology at Harvard Medical School. Only mice have seen the lithium trials so far. It's unclear if adding lithium to a human patient would have the same effect but it gives scientists a new avenue to study. "We need to see what happens in a human. So I do not recommend that people go out and take lithium based on this," said Yankner. "Our hope is that it will enter into early clinical trials in the not too distant future." Yankner said he "can't be precise" on when a possible trial in humans would begin.
Medscape
3 hours ago
- Medscape
Waist Size Proves Key to Assessing Liver Health
TOPLINE: Waist circumference is the strongest predictor of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) and its progression to steatohepatitis and liver stiffness in both the general adult population and in those with diabetes or multiple metabolic comorbidities. METHODOLOGY: MASLD affects 1 in 3 individuals and is linked to rising abdominal obesity and visceral fat deposition. Although BMI estimates fat mass, it does not reflect fat distribution as well as parameters like waist circumference, waist-to-height ratio, and waist-to-hip ratio. Researchers analyzed 2017-2023 survey data from adults with available liver health and relevant anthropometric measurements to study the association between body composition parameters and the risk for MASLD, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), and liver stiffness. Body composition parameters evaluated included height, weight, waist circumference, hip circumference, body adiposity index, BMI, body roundness index, fat mass, waist-to-hip ratio, waist-to-height ratio, waist-adjusted BMI, and weight-adjusted waist index. MASLD was defined by a controlled attenuation parameter ≥ 275 dB/m with metabolic dysfunction, MASH by a FibroScan (Echosens ) aspartate aminotransferase score ≥ 0.35, and increased liver stiffness by a stiffness measurement ≥ 8 kPa. TAKEAWAY: Among 11,579 participants (median age, 51 years; 47% men), MASLD was present in 40.9%, MASH in 6.5%, and increased liver stiffness in 9.9%. Waist circumference, and not BMI or waist-to-height ratio, achieved the highest area under the curve (AUC, 0.82) for MASLD, followed by increased liver stiffness (AUC, 0.75) and MASH (AUC, 0.73), consistently outperforming other indices. Similar observations were found in patients with diabetes and multiple metabolic comorbidities. In sex‐stratified analyses, waist circumference-based markers, such as body roundness index and waist-to-height ratio, were the strongest predictors in both men and women, followed by waist circumference alone. The association between waist circumference and MASLD risk was nonlinear, with the risk plateauing slightly above 100 cm. MASH risk rose linearly across all waist circumferences, whereas elevated liver stiffness risk increased sharply only above 100 cm. IN PRACTICE: "Waist circumference, particularly in the absence of overt obesity, should be considered as the preferred body composition parameter in individuals at risk of MASLD, MASH or fibrosis," the authors wrote. SOURCE: The study was led by Laurens A. van Kleef, MD, PhD, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Erasmus MC University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. It was published online in The American Journal of Gastroenterology. LIMITATIONS: The cross-sectional design prevented analysis of changes in body composition and liver outcomes over time. Data on steatohepatitis were unavailable for a portion of the study timeframe. Liver stiffness measurements may be unreliable in individuals with elevated alanine aminotransferase levels. DISCLOSURES: The Foundation for Liver and Gastrointestinal Research in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, provided financial support for this study. Some authors declared receiving honoraria, grants, speaker fees, personal royalties; served as consultants; and had other ties with various organizations and pharmaceutical companies. This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.
