Month: May 2015

Moody freelance science writer, David Bradley (aka sciencebase) famed for his depressive social media avatar and miserable lack of photogenicity, cracked the lens today when his daughter snapped a few photos of him pensively and pointlessly propped up against the headstock of his Fender Telecaster Guitar. In one of 27 headshots, Bradley is actually seen to be smiling at the camera. The photograph has now been quickly uploaded to the Gravatar servers, and used to replace his Twitter avatar and his Facebook profile photo before his mood changes. There were three seconds of absolute stunned silence across the whole of social media and in science laboratories the world over as a mark of respect. Frontpages have been held…

The number of middle-aged men and women suffering a cerebral stroke has apparently risen significantly in the last decade or so. It seems that the press release from the Stroke Association making this pronouncement which has been widely reported almost verbatim by the media is based on NHS hospital admission statistics, which could have all kinds of biases and errors.

I couldn’t find an actual peer-reviewed research paper to support the numbers and neither could Adam Jacobs the stats guy. It may well be just scaremongering by the media and it’s sure to boost charitable donations and raise awareness, but it’s also scary for anyone in middle age, scary enough to get you worrying and raise your blood pressure. That said, there are certain lifestyle choices that medical research suggests increase the risk of stroke, whether this latest media frenzy is based on published science or not, and so some advice on reducing one’s risk might be useful.

Thankfully, The Guardian has a nice howto on lowering your risk of suffering this often life-changing and sometimes lethal cardiovascular event.

Basically, it boils down to this:

• Stop smoking
• Exercise, but don’t overdo it, avoid straining
• Cut your calorie intake, eat smaller portions (obesity and diabetes increase risk)
• Eat a lot less salt, avoid shop-bought bread, for instance
• If you drink alcohol, spread it over the week rather than binging
• Don’t use illicit recreational drugs, including so-called “legal” highs like ecstasy, flakka and cat
• De-stress, seek help for depression
• Monitor your own blood pressure at home and see your doc if it’s consistently higher than about 140/85

I’d add another piece of advice…don’t ignore a “mini-stroke” (transient ischaemic attack (TIA)), temporary blackouts and such, if you have weird symptoms (dropping your coffee cup, slurred speech, confusion, disorientation that passes after a moment and isn’t due to alcohol use, see your doc urgently)

Alpha-PVP (α-pyrrolidinopentiophenone, alpha-PVP) is a synthetic stimulant of the cathinone class; the street drug – commonly known as flakka – is chemically similar to the illegal high MDPV (bath salts), but lacks the 3,4-methylenedioxy motif; the same difference that distinguishes methamphetamine (meth) from MDMA (ecstasy). Hype in the media have alluded to flakk leading to extreme violence, paranoid psychoses, compulsive nudity and “zombie-like” behaviour and worse. Now, researchers at The Scripps Research Institute in California have demonstrated that alpha-PVP appears to be as potent a stimulant, and therefore as addictive, as MDPV. (News source)

“There have been assertions that flakka is somehow worse than MDPV, but this study shows that the two are very similar,” explains Scripps’ Michael Taffe. “That doesn’t mean that flakka use is ‘safe’. Our data show that flakka is as potent as MDPV, making it a very good stimulant, arguably with worse addiction liability than methamphetamine.”

Aarde, Shawn M., et al. “In vivo potency and efficacy of the novel cathinone α-pyrrolidinopentiophenone and 3, 4-methylenedioxypyrovalerone: self-administration and locomotor stimulation in male rats.” Psychopharmacology (2015): 1-11.

Interesting interview in The Washington Post that corroborates what I’ve thought about all these special weightloss diet scams and con tricks made to sell books and supplements. Here are the salient points:

• When you are dieting, you actually become more likely to notice food…and it actually begins to look more appetizing and tempting and harder to resist.
• As you lose body fat, hormone levels changes, in particular concentrations of the hormones that help you feel full decrease, while hunger hormones increase.
• As you diet, your metabolism slows down so as to get the most out of the food you are eating and this means storing excess calories as fat.

Who knew? Well, lots of people knew, including many of those scammers with a diet book to sell.