Depression hints at Parkinson’s
In some cases, depression can be an early manifestation of Parkinson’s disease, new research suggests.
Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health compared antidepressant use among more than 1,000 people with Parkinson’s disease to more than 6,600 age- and gender-matched individuals without the degenerative neurological illness.
They found that people currently on antidepressants had an 80 percent higher risk of developing Parkinson’s disease than those who had never taken antidepressants.
“We think this is not actually the medication that is causing Parkinson’s disease. Instead, we think people who are going to get Parkinson’s disease get depression first,” said study co-author Dr. Alvaro Alonso, a research associate at Harvard.
“It’s very important not to say that people taking antidepressants have a higher risk of developing Parkinson’s disease,” he added.
That’s because, among other factors, this was true for two different types of medications that work via different mechanisms, Alonso explained.
Aspirin won’t stop mental slide
Despite earlier hopes, regular use of low-dose aspirin does not protect older, healthy women against cognitive decline, a major new study concludes.
The findings may lay to rest the notion that aspirin can prevent age-related shortfalls in memory and thinking.
“I certainly don’t think that people should look at taking low-dose aspirin as a preventive measure for cognitive decline,” said study author Jae Hee Kang, an instructor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. “I think that’s pretty clear, especially among those women who are healthy.”
Low-dose aspirin does have significant cardiovascular benefits, however.
Green tea may comfort joints
Green tea, already touted by some for cardiovascular and anti-cancer benefits, may also help ease the inflammation and pain of rheumatoid arthritis, a new study suggests.
The study was conducted in the laboratory and its findings are preliminary, stressed lead researcher Salah-uddin Ahmed, an investigator at the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor.
“It’s too early” to fully recommend green tea to ease rheumatoid arthritis, he said, but the study “is a starting point.”
One expert said the new green tea study is intriguing. “This study is very specific,” said Stephen Hsu, an associate professor of dentistry, molecular medicine and genetics at the medical College of Georgia in Augusta. In his own research, Hsu has found that green tea may help protect against certain autoimmune diseases, in which the body triggers an immune response, basically attacking its own cells.
The new research by Ahmed is one of the first to focus on rheumatoid arthritis and green tea, Hsu says. If it bears out, it could be good news for rheumatoid arthritis patients, perhaps offering them a non-drug option to keep pain under control, he said.
