Acupuncture Could Play Role In Treating Parkinson's Symptoms, Study Suggests

Acupuncture may help a wide range of conditions, from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, to chronic pain, to dry mouth in cancer patients, studies have shown. And it could even help people quit smoking!

Now, in a small new study first reported by Medical News Today, it seems it could also play a role in improving symptoms of Parkinson's disease patients because of its effect on particular regions of the brain.

Specifically, the study, published in the journal CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics, shows that acupuncture boosts the responses of neurons in brain regions known to be impaired by Parkinson's disease.

"Although more randomized controlled trials on the topic will be needed, this study shows that acupuncture may be helpful in the treatment of symptoms involving PD," the researchers, from Kyung Hee University in Korea, said in the study.

The study included 12 people with Parkinson's disease, as well as 12 people without the condition. Researchers conducted fMRI brain scans on all of them at the start of the study, and then the study participants underwent acupuncture treatments. After the acupuncture, researchers conducted fMRI brain scans on them again.

Researchers found that post-acupuncture, the brain regions of the putamen, caudate, thalamus and substantia nigra all had increased neural activity. These brain regions are known to be affected by Parkinson's disease, they noted.

Muscle Soreness, Explained

I've been working out fairly consistently for about 1.5 years. I do strength training about twice per week and cardio 5 times per week. I've noticed that my thighs, particularly my quads, burn all the time with a small amount of exertion, such as ascending a flight stairs.
Why do my thighs burn so much with minimal exertion?
-- Kim, 29 Texas

Let's talk about muscle soreness. Delayed-onset muscle soreness, or DOMS as it is often called, is the common -- one could even say requisite -- result of a workout. If you do an activity you're not used to, such as taking a new type of fitness class, attacking a hill on your bike when you're used to riding on flat ground, or running a far longer distance than you are accustomed to -- the difference in muscle use can cause micro-tears in muscle fibers and connective tissue. As your body works to repair itself, you may feel some low-grade pain in the area.
But this is where the phrase "no pain, no gain" comes in: those tears and the subsequent repair help make the muscle stronger -- and that improves overall fitness. But it comes with some ache along the way.

In particular, movements that include "eccentric muscle contractions," which occur when the muscle must contract even as it is being elongated (running downhill or walking downstairs, for example) might cause some delayed onset pain. But why?
"Think of it like the weakest link," says Allan Goldfarb, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro and a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine. "Muscle proteins hold that weaker bit together and if there is too much force or tension [from exercise] on those muscle fibers or proteins, they are vulnerable to getting slightly damaged."
In an effort to repair the damage, the body can actually over repair explains Goldfarb, and that can activate pain receptors. What's more, the muscles can suffer from some low-level inflammation that can add to the pain.
DOMS can be mitigated by slow, steady stretching exercises, says Goldfarb. And recent studies have suggested that ice baths can also help improve soreness.
But that doesn't necessarily sound like what's going on in the case of this question. For starters, it seems as if you're experiencing muscle pain concurrent with the activity, rather than hours after. We asked Dr. Lynn Snyder-Macker, PT, ATC, SCS, ScD, a professor in the Department of Physical Therapy and the Center for Biomedical Engineering Research's Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Biomechanics and Movement Sciences at the University of Delaware for her opinion.
"It doesn't sound muscular to me (one flight of stairs!)," she wrote in an email to HuffPost Healthy Living, pointing to the burning sensation, which is different than a sore muscle's ache. "It sounds more like nerve or patellofemoral pain or referred pain from the hips." That combined with your young age make her believe that this isn't exercise-related after all.
Many illnesses could cause this type of pain: fibromyalgia is one diagnosis that fits in with unexplained muscle soreness, according to Goldfarb. That's not to say that unexplained muscle burning or soreness is a sign of serious illness, but it may be worth further evaluation by a medical specialist, like a sports medicine doctor.

BPA Linked With Kids' Obesity

According to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Kids and teens with higher levels of the notorious plastics chemical bisphenol A (known simply as BPA) in their urine may also be more likely to be obese.

The FDA recently banned BPA in baby bottles and sippy cups after concerns were raised about potential side effects on the “brain, behavior, and prostate gland in fetuses, infants, and young children,” according to the FDA website.

Still, the organization has stood by the overall safety of the chemical; in March the FDA denied the Natural Resources Defense Council’s petition to ban BPA outright.

Now a new study published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association is adding more fuel to the flames.  The paper shows an association between BPA levels in children’s urine and obesity prevalence. BPA is known to disrupt your body’s metabolic mechanisms, according to the study authors, which could affect your body’s ability to control its weight.

Examination Surveys between 2003 and 2008. Overall, 17.8 percent of the study participants were obese, while 34.1 percent were overweight. The researchers also divided up their urinary BPA levels into four levels, ranging from the lowest levels to the highest. A little more than 10 percent of study participants in the level with the lowest urinary BPA levels had a BMI indicative of obesity, compared with more than 22 percent of those with the highest urinary BPA levels.

 "We note the recent FDA ban of BPA in baby bottles and sippy cups, yet our findings raise questions about exposure to BPA in consumer products used by older children," the researchers wrote in the study. "Last year, the FDA declined to ban BPA in aluminum cans and other food packaging, announcing 'reasonable steps to reduce human exposure to BPA in the human food supply' and noting that it will continue to consider evidence on the safety of the chemical. Carefully conducted longitudinal studies that assess the associations identified here will yield evidence many years in the future."
 A study just last month appearing in the journal PLoS ONE linked higher urinary levels of BPA with a condition called coronary artery stenosis, or narrowed arteries. That research, conducted by scientists at the University of Cambridge and University of Exeter, included 591 people. That same Cambridge-Exeter team also showed in a Circulation study that high BPA may be linked with an increased risk of heart disease, Reuters reported. ................ NEW YORK –
 The BPA chemical used in food packaging might be linked to childhood obesity, a new study suggests, but the researchers say their findings don't prove it's the cause. While most people have traces of the plastics chemical in their bodies, the study found that children with the highest levels in their urine were twice as likely to be obese as those with the lowest.There are other factors that could explain the results, and many reasons why children gain too much weight, the researchers said. "Clearly unhealthy diet and poor physical activity are the leading factors contributing to obesity in the United States, especially in children," said lead author Dr. Leonardo Trasande of New York University.

But the study does hint that causes of childhood obesity may be more complicated, he added. He said it is the first national research to tie a chemical from the environment to childhood obesity, and seems to echo what some studies have seen in adults. One puzzling result: Significant differences were detected only in white children. For black and Hispanic kids, obesity rates were similar for those with the lowest levels of BPA as those with the largest amount. The researchers couldn't explain that finding.

The study was released Tuesday and is in Wednesday's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. BPA, or bisphenol A, has been used since the 1960s and become so widespread that it's found in virtually all Americans. Government health officials have deemed low levels of it to be safe, but haven't been able to decide what amount of BPA — if any — would be a health concern. BPA is used to make hard plastics for food and beverage containers and many consumer goods and for metal can linings.

Environmental groups have worried it interferes with children's development. Makers of baby bottles and sippy cups stopped using it, and this year the FDA made announcement  it could no longer be used in those baby products. Some experimental studies on animals have found that BPA can aid obesity by disrupting metabolism and helping to make fat cells larger. And studies have suggested a possible tie between urinary BPA levels and obesity-related illnesses in adults, including diabetes and heart disease.

In the new study, Trasande and his colleagues used information from an annual federal health survey, which includes weighing and measuring participants and taking blood and urine samples. Their study involved more than 2,800 children ages 6 through 19, who took the survey in the years 2003 through 2008. They compared BPA levels in their urine to their weight, and divided them into four groups based on BPA amounts. The key finding: About 22 percent of the children with highest levels of BPA were obese, compared to just 10 percent of kids with the lowest levels. Was the reverse true? Did the heaviest kids have more BPA in their urine, and the thinnest kids less?

Yes, Trasande said. But he did not include those numbers in his study, and declined to provide them. The study raised more questions than it answered: —The body excretes the chemical in a matter of hours. It's possible that the study is simply indicating that heavier kids are more likely to have recently consumed something from a BPA container. —Only one urine sample was taken from each child, and the youngest children in the study were 6.

What isn't known is how much BPA they were exposed to when they were infants — the time in life when the chemical theoretically could have had the greatest effect in triggering weight gain. All this means is that the study raises some interesting questions, but at this point it's impossible to say BPA causes childhood obesity, said Linda Birnbaum, director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, a federal agency involved in research on BPA. "It's a hypothesis that needs further exploration," she said.

 The American Chemistry Council, which represents chemical manufacturers, called the study speculative and noted lab animal studies that found no evidence that BPA causes obesity. "Attempts to link our national obesity problem to minute exposures to chemicals found in common, everyday products are a distraction from the real efforts under way to address this important national health issue," the organization said in a statement.