We love spending time learning about the latest medical breakthroughs and spotlighting research that piques our interest, may influence future research directions, or inform healthcare conversations. Here’s what we found this week.
Music that builds to a crescendo and then resolves relieves stress more than listening to nature sounds.
PNAS | Siqi You, Lei Zhang, et al. A study tasked 60 young adults with stressful math problems that heightened their heart rates and salivary cortisol levels. Half were then exposed to nature sounds like raindrops or waterfalls and the other half to structured, relaxing piano music. The music group returned to their normal heart rates and positive moods more quickly. Separate work tried to explain why: Brain scans of music listeners suggested that several specific brain pathways connecting auditory processing and stress regulation areas activate with music—driving “a distinct reorganization of stress-regulation networks.” (More, paywall may apply)
> Scientists have pinpointed how stress causes gray hair, at least in mice.
> Why too little stress may also be bad for your health.
Skull bone marrow may be playing a key role in chronic pain.
Nautilus | Jake Currie. Researchers studying skull scans of 125 people suffering from chronic low back pain (88) or knee osteoarthritis (37) found that sufferers had high levels of a specific protein linked to inflammatory immune response activity in their skulls—with more of these proteins found in people reporting more intense pain. These proteins were particularly common in the left side of the skull. If more research supports this work, the skull may become a future target for treating chronic pain. (More)
> How does the pain of kidney stones compare with something like a toe amputation?
> Discover a famous philosophical quandary that asks if you’d rather skip pain at the cost of experiencing reality.
Semaglutide treatment extended the lifespan of female mice by about 12%.
Scientific American/Yahoo | Jacek Krywko. A daily GLP-1 treatment in older female mice (the rodent equivalent of 60-year-old humans) acted like a calorie restriction diet to slow aging and extend lifespan from 742 days to a median of 834. Researchers have long known that calorie restriction can delay aging in animals, but that sort of diet remains challenging for humans over time, so if this research is reproducible in humans, it may be a promising way to extend human longevity. (More)
> Explore our deep dive into semaglutides, which belong to a class of drugs known as GLP-1s.
> In June, EU regulators approved a food additive that may lead to GLP-1 “supercharged” cereals and breads.
