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TUESDAY, June 30, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- The progression of Alzheimer's disease may accelerate as iron deposits build up in the brain, a new study finds, hinting at a possible role for the mineral in mental decline. Using MRI scans of 200 older adults with and without Alzheimer's, researchers found that those with the disease generally had higher iron levels in various parts of the brain. And 17 months later, Alzheimer's patients who had had a greater iron accumulation over time also tended to show a faster decline. Experts stressed that it's not clear whether iron buildup helps cause the worsening symptoms: It may, for instance, just be a sign of overall degeneration in the Alzheimer's-affected brain. But the findings add to evidence linking iron buildup to declines in thinking...

TUESDAY, June 30, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Exercise is part of a healthy lifestyle, but a new study suggests it also increases the amount of a beneficial compound called 3SL in the breast milk of both humans and mice. Based on that, researchers think that its benefits to babies could last for decades, potentially making them less likely to experience such chronic illnesses as obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease as they age. "As long as they were given 3SL during their nursing period, they were protected as they aged," said Kristin Stanford, who led the mouse portion of the study at Ohio State University's Wexner Medical Center. "In the absence of any self-intervention, this has absolutely provided a really strong protective effect." Though past studies have shown the benefit...

TUESDAY, June 30, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- For those who try to catch up on lost sleep during the weekend, French researchers have some bad news: Once Saturday and Sunday have come and gone, many will find they're still seriously short on sleep. The finding centered on adults who regularly get only six hours of sleep or less on weekdays. That's far less than the seven to eight hours per night that most people need, said study author Dr. Damien Leger. He is chief of the Hotel Dieu Center of Sleep and Vigilance at the Public Assistance Hospital of Paris. Such "short sleepers" made up over one-third of more than 12,000 participants in the study. And nearly one-quarter said they had been racking up a very serious weekday "sleep debt." That meant that on weekdays they logged at least 90...

TUESDAY, June 30, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Since the coronavirus pandemic arrived on U.S. shores in March, the number of calls to emergency medical services has fallen by more than 26% compared to the last two years, a new study finds. At the same time, the number of EMS calls to homes where people have died has doubled, researchers say. "The public health implications of these findings are alarming," said study co-author E. Brooke Lerner, from the University at Buffalo/State University of New York. She's vice chair for research in the emergency medicine department at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. "When people are making fewer 911 calls but those calls are about far more severe emergencies, it means that people with urgent conditions are likely not...