Category Archives: News
Metformin Use Is Associated With Slowed Cognitive Decline and Reduced Incident Dementia in Older Adults With Type 2 Diabetes
Metformin Use Is Associated With Slowed Cognitive Decline and Reduced Incident Dementia in Older Adults With Type 2 Diabetes: The Sydney Memory and Ageing Study Katherine Samaras, Steve Makkar, John D. Crawford, Nicole A. Kochan, Wei Wen, Brian Draper, Julian … Continue reading
Is Particulate Matter of Air Pollution a Vector of Covid-19 Pandemic?
Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic is a severe respiratory disease caused by the emergence of a new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, that very quickly spread in the human population. Fine particulate matter (PM) generated from combustion engines have been described as toxic to human health. Recent events stressed that high concentrations of PM of air pollution might favor the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Autumn approaches, air pollution will be accentuated because of weather condition. The risk of a second outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic is highly probable. Elucidating the role of PM of air pollution in the spread of the virus is thus urgent and crucial. Continue reading
The major genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19 is inherited from Neanderthals
A recent genetic association study1 identified a gene cluster on chromosome 3 as a risk locus for respiratory failure upon SARS-CoV-2 infection. A new study2 comprising 3,199 hospitalized COVID-19 patients and controls finds that this is the major genetic risk factor for severe SARS-CoV-2 infection and hospitalization (COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative). Here, we show that the risk is conferred by a genomic segment of ~50 kb that is inherited from Neanderthals and is carried by ~50% of people in South Asia and ~16% of people in Europe today. Continue reading
Feeling dead tired? Scientists may finally be on the verge of learning why too little sleep is inevitably fatal.
Inside a series of tubes in a bright, warm room at Harvard Medical School, hundreds of fruit flies are staying up late. It has been days since any of them have slept: The constant vibrations that shake their homes preclude rest, cling as they might to the caps of the tubes for respite. Not too far away in their own tubes live other sleepless flies, animated with the calm persistence of those consigned to eternal day. A genetic tweak to certain neurons in their brains keeps them awake for as long as they live. Continue reading
Maurice Preter, MD
Maurice Preter, MD is a European and U.S. educated psychiatrist, psychotherapist, psychopharmacologist, neurologist, and medical-legal expert in private practice in Manhattan. He is also the principal of Fifth Avenue Concierge Medicine, PLLC, a medical concierge service and health advisory for select individuals and families.