Medical Bulletin 04/ February/ 2025 - Video

A new study by researchers found that an overwhelming 84% of patients with Parkinson’s disease report struggling with sleep issues. The findings were published in the Journal of Sleep Research.

The research team analysed data from over 38,000 Parkinson’s patients. This comprehensive database includes valuable insights into the patients’ experiences with Parkinson’s, as well as details on their mental health, cognition and sleep patterns. The findings revealed that 84% of patients with Parkinson’s disease report struggling with sleep issues—significantly higher than the general population of the same age group.

The study highlights the direct consequences of these sleep problems: they were found to be strongly linked to increased symptoms of depression, greater difficulty with independent living and an overall decline in quality of life. Furthermore, sleep disturbances were found to worsen the severity of “OFF periods,” the times when the effects of Parkinson’s medication diminish, leaving patients vulnerable to a return of debilitating symptoms.

Maynooth University's Prof Andrew Coogan, who is one of the authors of the study said: “Sleep problems are a significant burden to quality of life in a number of chronic health conditions. Our study shows how important sleep is to address in Parkinson’s disease, one of the most common and debilitating brain diseases.”

Reference: Asadpoordezaki, Z., Henley, B. M., & Coogan, A. N. (2025). Prevalence and associations of self-reported sleep problems in a large sample of patients with Parkinson's disease. Journal of Sleep Research, e14453. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.14453

A new study presented at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine’s (SMFM) annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting™, suggested that microplastics and nanoplastics have been found in higher concentrations in the placentae of infants born prematurely compared to those born at term.

Researchers used highly sensitive mass spectrometry to analyze 175 placentae; 100 placentae collected at term and 75 collected preterm (less than 37 weeks of pregnancy).

Researchers found that the levels of microplastics and nanoplastics were significantly higher in preterm placenta and they were at much greater levels than previously measured in human blood. This led the investigators to conclude that plastics were likely accumulating in the placenta during pregnancy, with a greater exposure and accumulation occurring in cases of preterm birth.

“Advanced technology now enables us to accurately measure microplastics in ways we haven’t been able to in the past,” says senior study author Kjersti Aagaard, MD, PhD, MSCI, a maternal-fetal subspecialist and research professor at Boston Children’s Hospital and the HCA Institute. Aagaard also serves as the medical director of the Gulf Coast Division of HCA Healthcare.

“In other words, a preterm delivery not only accumulated more microplastics and nanoplastics in its placenta relative to term, but did so at an earlier time point in the pregnancy,” added Aagaard. “This hints at the possibility that the accumulation plastics could be contributing to the risk and occurrence of preterm birth. When combined with other recent research, this study adds to the growing body of evidence, ranging from heart disease to potentially stroke, that demonstrates a real risk of exposure to plastics on human health and disease.”

Reference: SMFM. New study finds high concentrations of plastics in the placentae of infants born prematurely. Eurekalert. January 30, 2025. Accessed January 30, 2025. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1071500

Flossing your teeth at least once a week may be linked to a lower risk of stroke caused by a blood clot blocking brain blood flow and irregular heartbeats, according to a preliminary study to be presented at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2025.

The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study assessed the home use of dental floss through a structured questionnaire of more than 6,000 people. Among those who reported flossing, 4,092 had not experienced a stroke, and 4,050 had not been diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat known as atrial fibrillation (AFib).

Participants were asked about their status regarding high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, smoking, body mass index, education, regular brushing and dentist visits. During the 25 years of follow-up, 434 participants were identified as having strokes, of which 147 were larger artery brain clots, 97 were heart-driven clots and 95 were hardening of the smaller arteries. Additionally, 1,291 participants were noted to have experienced AFib.

The analysis found:

Flossing was associated with a 22% lower risk of ischemic stroke, 44% lower risk of cardioembolic stroke (blood clots traveling from the heart) and 12% lower risk of AFib.

The associated lower risk was independent of regular brushing and routine dental visits or other oral hygiene behaviors.

Increasing the frequency of flossing had a greater chance of stroke risk reduction.

Flossing was also associated with a lower chance of cavities and periodontal disease.

“Oral health behaviors are linked to inflammation and artery hardening. Flossing may reduce stroke risk by lowering oral infections and inflammation and encouraging other healthy habits,” said study lead author Souvik Sen, M.D., M. S., M.P.H, chair of the Department of Neurology, Prisma Health Richland Hospital and the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Columbia, South Carolina. “Many people have expressed that dental care is costly. Flossing is a healthy habit that is easy to adopt, affordable and accessible everywhere.”

Reference: https://www.heart.org/en/news/2025/01/30/flossing-may-reduce-risk-for-stroke-and-irregular-heart-rhythm

In a paper published in the Cell Press Journal Cell Metabolism, researchers showed that metabolites produced by gut microbes might play a role in the mechanism by which sugary drinks cause diabetes. In a long-term cohort of US Hispanic/Latino adults, the researchers identified differences in the gut microbiota and blood metabolites of individuals with a high intake of sugar-sweetened beverages.

The team used data from an ongoing large-scale cohort study with data from over 16,000 participants. At an initial visit, participants were asked to recall their diet from the past 24 hours and had blood drawn to characterize their serum metabolites. The researchers collected fecal samples and characterized the gut microbiomes of a subset of the participants (n = 3,035) at a follow-up visit and used these data to identify association between sugar-sweetened beverage intake, gut microbiome composition, and serum metabolites.

They found that high sugary beverage intake -- defined as two or more sugary beverages per day -- was associated with changes in the abundance of nine species of bacteria. Four of these species are known to produce short-chain fatty acids -- molecules that are produced when bacteria digest fiber and that are known to positively impact glucose metabolism.

The researchers also found associations between sugary beverage consumption and 56 serum metabolites, including several metabolites that are produced by gut microbiota or are derivatives of gut-microbiota-produced metabolites. These sugar-associated metabolites were associated with worse metabolic traits, including higher levels of fasting blood glucose and insulin, higher BMIs and waist-to-hip ratios, and lower levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ("good" cholesterol). Notably, individuals with higher levels of these metabolites had a higher likelihood of developing diabetes in the 10 years following their initial visit.

"We found that several microbiota-related metabolites are associated with the risk of diabetes," says senior author Qibin Qi, an epidemiologist at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. "In other words, these metabolites may predict future diabetes."

"In the future, we want to test whether the bacteria and metabolites can mediate or at least partially mediate the association between sugar-sweetened beverages and risk of diabetes," says Qi.

Reference: Sugar-sweetened beverage intake, gut microbiota, circulating metabolites, and diabetes risk in Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos, Zhang, Yanbo et al. Cell Metabolism, Volume 0, Issue 0