Day: 05/26/2015

New Mathematics Could Neutralize Pathogens That Resist Antibiotics .

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Bacteria that make us sick are bad enough, but many of them also continually evolve in ways that help them develop resistance to common antibiotic drugs, making our medications less effective or even moot. Doctors try to reduce the evolution by cycling through various drugs over time, hoping that as resistance develops to one, the increased use of a new drug or the widespread reuse of an old drug will catch some of the bugs off guard.

Blue glowing picture of E. coli

The plans for cycling drugs are not that scientific, however, and don’t always work efficiently, allowing bacteria to continue to develop resistance. Now a new algorithm that deciphers how bacteria genes create resistance in the first place could greatly improve such a plan. The “time machine” software, developed by biologists and mathematicians, could help reverse resistant mutations and render the bacteria vulnerable to drugs again.

Miriam Barlow, a biologist from the University of California, Merced, first hit on the idea while trying to predict how antibiotic resistance would evolve several years ago. But she lacked the experimental data or the mathematics to quantify it. “We were pushing evolution forward, trying to predict how antibiotic resistance would evolve, and we saw a lot of trade-offs,” Barlow says. Introducing an antibiotic might lead to bacteria developing resistance but it might also lead to them losing resistance to some other medication. So Barlow partnered with mathematicians, including Kristina Crona from American University in Washington, D.C., and tried to figure out a series of steps to make those losses of resistance as likely as possible. Their work was published in PLoS ONE May 6.

Network of mutations with arrows leading from one to the other, labeled by drug that causes the transition

The researchers took as a starting point TEM-1, a protein stemming from an extremely common gene that confers resistance to penicillin. They considered four possible independent mutations that can occur in the gene, all of which confer resistance to new antibiotics, and they selected a range of 15 commonly used and studied antibiotics. They then measured the growth rates of Escherichia coli bacteria, as each mutation was exposed to each of the antibiotics, which let them work out the probability that the overall population of E. coli would gain or lose a mutation to adapt.

In this way the researchers could directly model possible changes to drug-resistant genes. “At every single place in the genome we can say either the mutation happened here or it did not,” Crona says. The researchers were able to sketch a network of different mutation combinations and figure out the probabilities of moving from one to the other, given certain antibiotics. They called the software for finding the path back to TEM-1, created by their collaborator, mathematician Bernd Sturmfels of the University of California, Berkeley, the “Time Machine.” Although in the real world a bacterium would not revert to its exact, prior genetic form once it had evolved, this mathematical goal revealed the best genetic targets for slowing resistance.

Network of mutations with arrows leading from one to the other, labeled by drug that causes the transition

In models of genes, researchers charted which antibiotics would encourage which of four genetic mutations in E.coli bacteria and the likelihood of each. Each mutation is represented by a “1,” so each combination is a four-digit number. Using a particular sequence of antibiotics can lead back to the wild type, 0000. Credit: Kristina Crona

The researchers were surprised to find that most mutations didn’t need a long chain of antibiotics to revert to TEM-1. They also found they could revert most mutations with about a 60 percent probability, which is more efficient than current antibiotic cycling schemes. And they found that they could reach a high level of reliability with just a few antibiotics in the cycle.

Direct network modeling like this is becoming more common in biology as researchers learn how to distill problems into the correct mathematical formats. But mathematicians are still learning the best ways to navigate and optimize networks of connections that can grow in complexity. And as with any model system, real-world work must be done. “It’s an interesting mathematical analysis based on laboratory-measured growth rates across multiple antimicrobial drugs, which is all novel,” says Joshua Plotkin, who investigates mathematical biology at the University of Pennsylvania and was not involved with this project. But he adds that researchers still need to pinpoint how long the cycles should last and the necessary dosages as well as looking into how the system adapts to more antibiotics and more complex mutations. The bacterial populations’ interactions in a clinic filled with people will be far more complex than one mutation per test tube.

To that end, Barlow’s group is currently setting up an experiment that will simulate the cross-pollination of different bacterial populations, which happens in places such as hospitals where multiple patients are exposed to one another. The same mathematical process they used can also incorporate new mutations and antibiotics found in hospitals—mutations that can apply to many different bacteria, not just E. coli. “We need more mathematicians working on this,” says Jonathan Iredell, an infectious disease physician from University of Sydney in Australia. “It indicates a way forward as we are desperate to find some positive remedies to what is basically an evolutionary and ecological problem.”

Robert Beardmore, a mathematical bioscientist at University of Exeter who, along with Iredell, did not take part in the study, describes this work as trying to find the signal in the noise of bacterial resistance development. Future lab work will reveal whether the interactions the team found are strong enough to define what happens in more complex scenarios. “At the heart of what everybody wants to know is how predictable is evolution—and if it’s predictable, can we reverse it?” he says. “It’s really hard, but you’ve got to try something.”

“We’re talking about managing evolution, trying to steer evolution,” Crona adds. “And that’s very new.”

Why Writing by Hand Could Change Your Life

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mimagephotography/Shutterstock
The debut of the Remington typewriter in 1873 radically altered how people could communicate thoughts. Since then, we have debated whether handwriting was still necessary. Today, kids tap keyboards and phones but rarely, if ever, write by hand even a thank-you card.

However, there’s still good reason for mastering this diminishing craft.

Writing by hand is easier than using a keyboard—and more fruitful. In one study, second-graders wrote more words, faster, by pen than by keyboard; fourth- and sixth-graders were more likely to write complete sentences with a pen. Other research found that kids produce more ideas when writing by hand and that hand-written essays are more coherent and thoughtful—as well as grammatical.

Does this phenomenon affect us only after we learn to read or at the onset of our education? In another experiment, five-year-olds who couldn’t read or write printed, typed, or traced letters and shapes. When they saw the letters and shapes during a brain scan, a part of the brain known as the “reading circuit” lit up only after printing, not after typing or tracing.

While literate adults recognize letters despite changes in font, size, or case, children may learn to do that by writing, the authors suggest. The reason may lie in the fact that writing by hand requires several finger movements, compared to hitting a key. According to co-author Virginia Berninger, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Washington, those finger movements activate parts of the brain that help us think.

The case for teaching children cursive, however, is less clear, since at that stage of development they have already learned to recognize letters. According to a report from the Miami-Dade public school system, most schools currently teach cursive handwriting for 10-to-15 minutes a day in the spring of second or third grade. Until the 1970s, penmanship was typically a distinct daily lesson from first through sixth grade—and a separate grade entry on report cards. When handwritten essays were introduced on the SAT in 2006, only 15 percent of the almost 1.5 million students who took the test wrote their answers in cursive, the Miami-Dade report notes; the others printed. (The Common Core curriculum doesn’t require cursive at all, and some states have abandoned teaching it altogether.)

Even many adults who grew up learning to write by hand hate it and have long since abandoned trying to write legible cursive. But their ineptitude should not prevent them from articulating their thoughts; Victor Hugo, James Joyce, and Lord Byron were all scrawlers. Mastering cursive again would actually make it easier to write—the fastest hand-writers use a mix of cursive and print, according to literacy and handwriting expert Steve Graham. Some argue that learning cursive is helpful for people with dyslexia. It is also a form of self-expression, since writers develop idiosyncrasies, although there is no good evidence that we can reliably assess personality by examining handwriting samples.

Will we have lost something important if the next generation of Americans never send hand-written thank-you notes or post a shopping list on a refrigerator? Could you recognize your own child’s handwriting? In a completely non-scientific poll, I asked several parents and none could definitively say yes. While the art of handwriting is dying out, and may require additional effort to learn initially, that extra attention could benefit both children and adults in terms of literacy, retention, and articulation.

Biotech Giant DuPont-Pioneer Found Guilty of Pesticide Contamination .

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A jury awarded 15 people $500,000 in damages in the latest victory against GE seed corporations in Hawaii.

Chalk up another win for the little guy. A handful of residents of Kauai’s Waimea community recently prevailed in court over biotech giant DuPont-Pioneer. Citing extensive, harmful dust generated by DuPont’s seed operations, a jury awarded 15 residents $500,000 in damages.

This is just the latest in an impressive string of victories against pesticide and genetically engineered (GE) seed corporations in Kaua’i, the global epicenter for GE seed testing.

Why the lawsuit? Picture red (pesticide-contaminated) dust blanketing your house and yard, regularly blowing over from neighboring fields, leaving you unable to open your windows or leave your home. That’s what residents of this lower-income community of color have faced for years, and that’s what ended up spurring litigation.

While the judge directed attorneys to focus only on impacts to physical property, it’s hard to ignore the health effects of pesticides drifting through the air or contained in dust blanketing homes. According to court documents, the pesticides sprayed by DuPont in Kaua’i have been linked to cancer, reproductive toxicity, birth defects, disruption of the endocrine, immune & nervous systems, liver damage and more.

Lawyers for the case note that several dozen more Waimea residents may yet come forward to seek awards.

Global profits, local harms

The GE seeds grown in Hawai’i are part of a larger, global story. Corporations based around the globe test and grow GE seeds on the islands before shipping them to places like Iowa to sell to U.S. farmers and across the globe.

DuPont-Pioneer is exposing residents in Waimea to 6-8 timesthe number of pesticides used on the mainland. DuPont & Co. grow GE seeds year round in Hawai’i, and intensively spray pesticides on these test crops. DuPont-Pioneer is exposing residents in Waimea to 6-8 timesthe number of pesticides used on the mainland, and in some cases pesticides are applied 15 times more frequently over the course of the year.

Residents on the other side of town are bordered by Syngenta’s operations, including schoolchildren attending Waimea Canyon Middle School. Teachers there have raised concerns about pesticide exposure for years, petitioning federal environmental officials and citing the regular use of brain-harming pesticides.

To address these concerns, residents of Kaua’i helped pass a law in late 2013 to restrict the use of hazardous pesticides near vulnerable communities, and create comprehensive disclosure of pesticide use. The affected multi-national corporations — BASF, Dow, DuPont-Pioneer and Syngenta — promptly sued the County of Kaua’i.

Demanding respect from Syngenta

Earlier this month, a handful of community leaders boarded a plane to Switzerland to share their concerns directly with Syngenta shareholders at their annual meeting. As county councilman Gary Hooser later recounted:

“My message was clear and unambiguous. I asked them to withdraw from their lawsuit against the County of Kaua’i, to honor and follow our laws, and to give our community the same respect and protections afforded to the people in their home country of Switzerland.”
Needless to say, the Kaua’i delegation wasn’t welcomed with open arms by the CEO or company security, but Hooser was able to share a few words directly with shareholders on the big screen, and the small delegation connected with allies in the global movement to advance protections from the use of harmful pesticides.

DuPont, Syngenta and the rest of the Big 6 may have underestimated the power of the Kauaian people, be they neighbors, teachers or elected officials. The corporate giants have awoken the residents, not the other way around.

Dragonfly’s compound ‘eye’ reveals very faint galaxy structure .

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The Dragonfly Telephoto Array, a robotic imaging system optimised for the detection of extended ultra-low surface brightness structures. The array consists of Canon 400mm f/2.8 L IS II USM telephoto lenses coupled to science-grade commercial CCD cameras. The lenses are mounted on a common framework and are co-aligned to image simultaneously the same position on the sky. Image credit: University of Toronto, Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics.

On Monday, May 25th, Roberto Abraham (University of Toronto) delivered the Helen Sawyer Hogg Lecture entitled “First Results from Dragonfly” at the 2015 meeting of the Canadian Astronomical Society / Société Canadienne d’Astronomie (CASCA 2015) at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

In his public talk, Abraham described a unique telescope, the Dragonfly Telephoto Array, one of the smallest professional astronomical telescopes in existence. Dragonfly is a multi-lens array with the power to detect very faint structure associated with galaxies (predicted by models of galaxy evolution), as well as faint dwarf galaxies and supernova light echoes. Abraham showcased early Dragonfly results, including the discovery of a new class of ghostlike, “fluffy” galaxies that are as big as the Milky Way but a thousandth the mass.

Dragonfly is an innovative, multi-lens array designed for ultra-low surface brightness astronomy at visible wavelengths. Commissioned in 2013 with only three lenses, the array is growing in size and proving capable of detecting extremely faint, complex structure around galaxies.

According to Cold Dark Matter (CDM) cosmology, structure in the universe grows from the “bottom up”, with small galaxies merging to form larger ones. Evidence of such mergers can be seen in faint streams and filaments visible around the Milky Way Galaxy and the nearby M31 galaxy.

But the CDM model predicts that we should see more of this structure than is currently observed. However, images obtained using even the largest, most advanced telescopes today contain scattered light that may be hiding this faint structure.

Dragonfly is designed to reveal the faint structure by greatly reducing scattered light and internal reflections within its optics. It achieves this using ten, commercially available Canon 400mm lenses with unprecedented nano-fabricated coatings with sub-wavelength structure on optical glasses.

Also, Dragonfly images a galaxy through multiple lenses simultaneously — akin to a dragonfly’s compound eye — enabling further removal of unwanted light. The result is an image in which extremely faint galaxy structure is visible.

The array began imaging targets in 2013 from its home at the New Mexico Skies hosting facility. Images have shown Dragonfly is at least ten times more efficient than its nearest rival and will be able to detect faint structures predicted by current merger models.

Transbronchial vs Transesophageal Needle Aspiration Using an Ultrasound Bronchoscope for the Diagnosis of Mediastinal Lesions: A Randomized Study

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BACKGROUND:  The purpose of this study was to compare the tolerance, efficacy, and safety of endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) with transesophageal endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) with an endobronchial ultrasound scope for the first pathologic diagnosis of lesions accessible by both procedures.

METHODS:  Patients who had lesions accessible by both EBUS-TBNA and EUS-FNA were enrolled and were randomized to undergo either procedure. Patients quantified tolerance, and operators charted the quality of examination using a 100-mm visual analog scale (VAS).

RESULTS:  A specific diagnosis was made in 50 of 55 patients (91%) in the EBUS-TBNA group and in 48 of 55 patients (87%) in the EUS-FNA group (P = .76). Compared with EBUS-TBNA, EUS-FNA was associated with a shorter duration of procedure (median, 15.3 min vs 11.3 min; P < .001), lower doses of IV midazolam (mean, 4.4 mg vs 4 mg; P = .02) and intraairway lidocaine (mean, 303 mg vs 189 mg; P < .001), less frequent oxygen desaturations (23 of 55 vs two of 55, P < .001), and higher operator satisfaction (P < .001). There was no significant difference in patient tolerance according to the patients’ VAS. Lymph node infection occurred in one patient in the EBUS-TBNA group and in two patients in the EUS-FNA group.

CONCLUSIONS:  Both EBUS-TBNA and EUS-FNA provide high accuracy with good tolerance, although the occurrence of infectious complications should be monitored carefully. EUS-FNA has the advantage of comparable tolerance with fewer doses of anesthetics and sedatives, a shorter procedure time, and fewer oxygen desaturations during the procedure.

Limb Salvage Surgery: Principles and Current Practice

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Watch the video. URL:https://youtu.be/IlcZ5_YeVO0

Botox Injections Relieve Symptoms Of The Blues: Can Depression Disappear With A Shot?

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Botox

A review of the research gives weight to previous suggestions that Botox injections can relieve symptoms of depression. 

The stereotype of a Botox user is an aging Hollywood actor desperate for an unwrinkled, camera-ready face. Such “typecasting” may soon be replaced by a more serious medical image. A research review presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association gives weight to previous suggestions that Botox injections can relieve symptoms of depression.

Botox uses a form of botulinum toxin, which is produced by the microbe that causes botulism, to temporarily paralyze muscle activity. Basically, a shot of Botox directly into facial muscles will block chemical signals from the nerves and so temporarily relax the face and wrinkles, magically it would seem, to disappear. Doctors started using Botox as a minimally invasivecosmetic fix in 1996, but it wasn’t until 2002 that the Food and Drug Administration officially approved this use. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, some 6.3 millionBotox procedures are performed each year. Clearly, Botox has moved far beyond the Hollywood crowd.

But what about the newest claims of the drug’s positive effects on depression — can Botox really turn frowns upside down?

To evaluate the effectiveness of Botox in alleviating depression, Dr. Ajay Parsaik of the University of Texas and his co-researchers searched medical databases for studies of its effects. After retrieving 639 articles, the researchers landed on five studies appropriate for systematic review and three to include in a metaanalysis. Running the somewhat limited data, the researchers found rather impressive evidence of the drug’s positive effects on patients.

Eight times as many patients who received injections of Botox saw improvement in their depression symptoms when compared to patients who did not receive the shots. The Botox patients showed, on average, a 9.8-point decrease in their depression test scores. The remission rate — when depression symptoms disappeared entirely — was 4.6 times higher among the patients receiving Botox.

“This study suggests that botulinum toxin A causes significant improvement in depressive symptoms and is a safe adjunctive treatment for depression,” concluded Parsaik and his co-authors. Notably, few participants experienced minor side effects.

So, how does Botox work to ease depression? A group of Swiss and German researchers believethe treatment “may act comparable to a passive and uninterrupted relaxation exercise.” Seeing a more positive, less unhappy-looking face in the mirror — and hearing compliments from our friends — may pick up our spirits.

“One participant actually attained remission but disliked the change in facial appearance,” noted the researchers. Interestingly, a positive response to this unusual treatment does not depend on actually liking the freshened up face staring back at us in the mirror.

Source: Parsaik A, Mascarenhas SS, Hashmi A, et al. Role of Botulinum Toxin in Depression: A Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis. APA Annual Meeting. 2015.

How do Chia seeds assist with Weight Loss?

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There is still some debate on whether Chia seeds are the magical cure for weight loss. Some background on its nutrient profile will help understand why both sides feel they are right.

Chia seeds contain 69 calories for every 2 tablespoons of seeds but contain 20% of recommended daily fiber intake. This fiber (attached to the outside of the seed)  when exposed to any liquid absorbs almost 9x times its own weight and each seed form its own gel “shell” which is sticky and bulky. It is this gel that not only “bloats” your tummy, making it feel full and satiated, but also is slow to digest, thereby resisting the urge to overeat.

The soluble fiber slows down the body’s carbs-to-sugar conversion, balancing blood sugar levels andminimizing sugar cravings. The insoluble fiber acts as roughage and cleanses the gastrointestinal tract of waste and toxins, thereby supporting a healthy digestive system.

Consuming chia seeds contributes to your intake of healthy fats, particularly omega-3 fatty acids that recharge the body cells at a cellular level and are vital to maintain healthy blood sugar levels and keeping your appetite in check.

Being a great plant-based protein source, these seeds act as a steady energy source, helping you stay alert and away from food that you crave when sluggish. Since Chia seeds are abundant in key vitamins and minerals, it prevents nutritional deficiencies that are the root cause for your “sweet tooth”, and your binging on junk food.

Though many weight-loss diets and products promote Chia seeds to be the “magical” weight-loss food it may not be a ticket to easy weight loss. But adding it to your weight loss diet program will help you reach your goals quicker and maintain it over a longer period.

Scientists are using herpes to treat skin cancer .

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In a few months time, those suffering from skin cancer may find an unlikely hero in their treatment regimen: herpes. A modified version of the Herpes Simplex 1 virus (known for causing cold sores and some cases of genital herpes) called T-Vec has successfully been used to treat melanoma in a phase III clinical trial. That means it’s just waiting for a final okay from the FDA before the Amgen product can hit the market. The results of the trial were published Tuesday in Journal of Clinical Oncology.

In a study of 436 patients with inoperable melanoma, Talimogene Laherparepvec had 16.3 percent of patients showing results at the six-month mark, compared to 2.1 percent taking the control therapy. Some patients were continuing to respond to T-VEC three years later.

Patients with stage III and early stage IV melanoma treated with T-VEC (163 people in all) lived an average of 41 months. This compared with an average survival of 21.5 months in the 66 earlier-stage patients who received the control immunotherapy. Immunotherapy, where agents are used to boost a body’s natural defense against a tumor, are already the best treatments against melanoma. But this is the first time a modified virus has been successful in carrying out that treatment.

Using a virus as a drug isn’t a new idea. Phage therapy, where viruses that attack certain bacteria are used in place of antibiotics, is commonly used in Europe and on the rise in the United States. But cancer therapies like the one described in the new paper take things a step further, manipulating existing viruses to turn them into cancer-fighting tools.

Kevin Harrington, Professor of Biological Cancer Therapies at The Institute of Cancer Research and head of the trial, has been working on this particular virus for about a decade. Before he signed onto the project, it was primarily being investigated as a breast cancer treatment. But Harrington brought head, neck, and skin cancer patients into the mix, and melanoma seemed to have the best responses of all.

Here’s how T-VEC works: It starts with the herpes virus, which is magnificent at proliferating itself within cells and then causing them to burst (that’s where the cold sores come from). But T-VEC has had two key genes removed. These keep it from replicating within healthy cells, which can quickly spot it because of the missing genes.

 

But cancer cells aren’t as savvy, and T-VEC has its run of them. Meanwhile, T-VEC has also been modified to produce a molecule called GM-CSF, which serves as a red flag waved at the immune system.

So in addition to the destructive power of the T-VEC cells themselves, the therapy summons the immune system right to where it’s needed — the tumor.

“This is a first in class agent, a brand new therapy,” Harrington said. “But it’s just the farthest along of what we hope will be many more.”

Harrington expects the FDA to clear T-VEC within the year, and it could potentially be available to patients right away.

But there’s more work to be done to determine just how T-VEC can fit into the cancer-treatment landscape. When the latest trial was started, Harrington explained, there was no standard of treatment for melanoma — so it’s compared to a treatment that no one expected to outpace T-VEC. Now that other therapies  — ones that target specific mutations in patients’ cancer cells — are showing more success than what was available when the trial was formed, researchers will have to see how T-VEC compares.

“The next steps are exciting, and already underway,” he said. “The next big frontier will be to combine this with existing immunotherapies. There’s a strong rationale that other drugs on the market could act synogistically with ours.”

Trials are also underway to determine how T-VEC might do with other cancers. In the meantime, other researchers will continue to crack the codes of other viruses to make them do our bidding.

Poor sleep, low blood oxygen levels linked to brain abnormalities associated with dementia

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Constantly stressed about something that prevents you from getting a decent night’s sleep? Rather watch a late-night movie in bed than snooze? People may want to rethink these habits, as their brain health depends on it. More importantly, those who suffer from health conditions that prevent them from sleeping well may want to pay attention to the latest findings.

sleep

Turns out, elderly individuals who get less than adequate levels of sleep have been found to develop changes in the brain which closely mimics brain changes experienced by dementia patients. The finding was discovered by researchers from the Veterans Administration in Hawaii who assessed 167 men who engaged in sleep tests, then died an average of six years thereafter. Autopsies searched for micro infarcts, or changes in brain tissue, which appear more frequently in people who have poor sleeping habits mostly due to emphysema or sleep apnea. It was discovered that those individuals who had such brain tissue changes had lower blood oxygen levels, something linked to the development of dementia.(1)

Low blood oxygen levels during sleep linked to brain abnormalities

The findings were based on breakdowns of groups of people who slept and who also had lower than normal blood oxygen levels. Ultimately, it was found that those who spent 71 to 99 percent of their sleep time with low oxygen levels were almost four times as likely to have brain damage. The bottom line was that those who spent most of their sleeping time without high levels of oxygen were more prone to having brain abnormalities.(1)

“These findings suggest that low blood oxygen levels and reduced slow wave sleep may contribute to the processes that lead to cognitive decline and dementia,” said study author Rebecca P. Gelber, MD, DrPH, of the VA Pacific Islands Health Care System and the Pacific Health Research and Education Institute in Honolulu, Hawaii.(1)

While she adds that additional research is necessary to explore links between slow wave sleep, low blood oxygen levels and brain function restoration as it pertains to possible dementia risk reduction, this particular study yields interesting findings. It’s important too, to note that slow wave sleep is essential when it comes to processing new memories and remembering factual details. Considering that people typically remain in slow wave sleep as they grow older, it makes sense that brain cells can be negatively impacted in a manner associated with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.(1)

The findings were published in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Titled “Associations of brain lesions at autopsy with polysomnography features before death,” it provides the details of the study, including length of sleeping time, oxygen saturation and apnea duration among Japanese American men in Honolulu, Hawaii.(2)

Causes for low blood oxygen levels, best foods to improve levels

According to experts, causes of low oxygen in the blood range from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema and anemia to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), pulmonary fibrosis and congenital heart disease.(3)

To help boost oxygen levels in the blood, it’s advised to eat a diet that is high in fiber and low in fat and sodium, along with high amounts of fruits and vegetables that are rich in potassium, magnesium and vitamin C. Bananas and leafy green vegetables are a couple of healthy choices to consider.(4)

Sources:

(1) https://www.aan.com

(2) http://www.neurology.org

(3) http://www.livestrong.com

(4) http://www.livestrong.com

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/049844_sleep_dementia_blood_oxygen.html#ixzz3bLuJBtkl