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Here are the top medical news for the day:
'Love hormone' possesses heart-healing properties: Research
The neurohormone oxytocin is well-known for promoting social bonds and generating pleasurable feelings, for example from art, exercise, or sex. But the hormone has many other functions, such as the regulation of lactation and uterine contractions in females, and the regulation of ejaculation, sperm transport, and testosterone production in males.
Now, researchers from Michigan State University show that in zebrafish and human cell cultures, oxytocin has yet another, unsuspected, function: it stimulates stem cells derived from the heart's outer layer (epicardium) to migrate into its middle layer (myocardium) and there develop into cardiomyocytes, muscle cells that generate heart contractions. This discovery could one day be used to promote the regeneration of the human heart after a heart attack. The results are published in Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology.
Reference:
Dr Aitor Aguirre et al,Oxytocin promotes epicardial cell activation and heart regeneration after cardiac injury, Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, DOI
10.3389/fcell.2022.985298
Sexual problems for young women who've had cancer highlighted in novel study
Young women cancer survivors are at much higher risk of sexual problems including loss of libido and discomfort, according to research published in the peer-reviewed journal Acta Oncologica.
The findings are based on nearly 700 women diagnosed with breast and other cancers before the age of 40. They show women are equally sexually active as those without these diseases but a significantly higher proportion experience intimacy difficulties.
Lack of interest in sex (45%) was the number one issue cancer patients reported, followed by problems around achieving orgasm (34%) and satisfaction with sex life (22%).These concerns were also common among women in the general population without a cancer diagnosis but to a lesser extent (32%, 28%, and 19% respectively).
Reference:
Lena Wettergren et al,Acta Oncologica, DOI:10.1080/0284186X.2022.2112283
Gut bacteria may contribute to susceptibility to HIV infection: Research
New UCLA-led research suggests certain gut bacteria -- including one that is essential for a healthy gut microbiome – differ between people who go on to acquire HIV infection compared to those who have not become infected.
The researchers wanted to get a better understanding of when following HIV infection these changes begin to take place. To this end, they examined gut microbiome samples from 27 men who have sex with men that were collected both before and after they became infected. They then compared those samples with 28 men who were at similar behavioral risk for infection but did not have HIV.
Reference:
Dr. Jennifer Fulcher et al, EBioMedicine, DOI:10.1016/j.ebiom.2022.104286
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