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London (PA Media/dpa) – A simple neck scan could help to pick up early warning signs of heart failure in men, a study suggests. The method – similar to ultrasounds offered during pregnancy – is “safe, cheap and painless”, and is something GPs could consider offering patients over 60, researchers said. The scan, known as a carotid ultrasound, takes between 15 and 30 minutes and is performed using a small handheld device that is moved gently over the neck. It allows medics to look at the flexibility of the carotid arteries, the main vessels that supply blood to the brain, face and neck. The large arteries in the body are elastic, but can stiffen with certain diseases and age, leading to high blood pressure, heart failure and an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. The study, led by University College London (UCL), included 1,631 men aged 71 to 92. A quarter of those with the least flexible arteries included in the analysis were 2.5 times more likely to develop heart failure compared to those with the most flexible arteries. Researchers used data from the British Regional Heart Study, which started in the 1970s, and more research is needed to determine if the method works on women. Dr Atinuke Akinmolayan, a National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) academic clinical fellow who led the research from UCL and is now a GP, said: “The carotid ultrasound is a safe, cheap and painless investigation, and our findings suggest it may be able to provide an early warning sign for heart failure. “More research is needed, especially to see if this works for women, but this is something GPs could look at offering to people over the age of 60, where possible and believed needed. “A patient who gets an ultrasound result indicating they may be at higher risk of future heart failure could have an important conversation with their doctor about lifestyle changes they could make to lower that risk.” Cardiovascular diseases are the source of around a third of all global deaths, according to the World Health Organization. The British Heart Foundation (BHF), which part-funded the research, estimates that around 920,000 people in the UK are living with heart failure. Experts say heart failure is a rapidly growing public health issue with an estimated prevalence of 64 million people globally. Elsewhere, the study, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, looked at the thickness of carotid arteries. Researchers found that men with thicker vessels were more likely to have a heart attack. For every 0.16 millimetre increase in thickness, heart attack risk increased by about 29%, the study suggests. Professor Bryan Williams, chief scientific and medical officer at the BHF, said: “The findings of this study are interesting and show that stiffening of arteries is associated with increased risk of heart failure, most likely due to the heart having to work harder against the resistance caused by these stiffer arteries. “It is an important signal that whenever we detect such changes in the carotid arteries, we should also be thinking of the potential impact on the heart and an increased risk of heart failure, which we have treatment strategies to prevent.” A separate study, also led by UCL, suggests a 10-minute scan could help millions of people with hard-to-treat high blood pressure. It targets those who have a problem with their adrenal glands producing too much of the hormone aldosterone, which regulates levels of salt in the body. This issue is estimated to affect about a quarter of people with high blood pressure. The scan, developed by UCL, is designed to detect overactivity in the adrenal glands that might be missed by traditional tests. The following information is not intended for publication pa dpa coh

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London (PA Media/dpa) – People with chronic insomnia could benefit from tai chi as an alternative to talking therapies, a study has suggested. Researchers writing in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) said their study “supports the use of tai chi as an alternative approach for the long-term management of chronic insomnia in middle-aged and older adults”. Guidelines for doctors to treat people with insomnia often include managing issues such as anxiety, as well as short-term courses of sleeping pills and cognitive behavioural talking therapy (CBT) for more severe cases. In the new study, 200 people aged 50 and older with chronic insomnia were split into two groups to either undertake tai chi or have CBT. All of the people in the study were free of other chronic conditions that may affect sleep, were not taking part in regular aerobic or mind-body exercise, had not received previous CBT treatment and were not working shifts. They either did tai chi or CBT for one-hour sessions twice a week, for a total of 24 sessions. People scored their symptoms such as difficulty falling and staying asleep, waking up too early and being unable to go back to sleep, and impact on daily life. After the three-month period was up, the CBT group had better scores on improvements to their insomnia than those undertaking tai chi. However, in the longer-term, 15 months after the start of the study, tai chi seemed to match CBT and even slightly outperformed it. Tai chi and CBT were found to also have comparable benefits in areas such as quality of life, mental health and physical activity level. The authors, from the University of Hong Kong, acknowledged some people in the study may have continued tai chi after the three-month period, which may have skewed the results. But they said: “Our findings suggest that tai chi can lead to substantial improvements in insomnia severity after a three-month intervention while the long-term efficacy of tai chi is non-inferior to that of CBT, the gold standard treatment for chronic insomnia.” The following information is not intended for publication pa dpa coh

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London (PA Media/dpa) – A monthly injection could help people with severe asthma come off daily steroid tablets entirely without any impact on symptoms, a trial has found. Tezepelumab – also known as Tezspire and made by AstraZeneca – works by binding to and blocking a protein that drives airway inflammation. The injection is recommended as an additional maintenance treatment for patients over 12 when the usual medications have not worked well enough. Severe asthma can be treated with steroid tablets. However, taking steroids for long periods can have side effects such as mood changes, stomach problems or weight gain, as well as issues that develop over time such as steroid-induced diabetes or osteoporosis. A new trial, known as Wayfinder and led by King’s College London, included almost 300 people with severe, uncontrolled asthma on a maintenance dose of between 5mg and 40mg of steroid tablets a day. Patients were recruited from 11 countries including the UK, US, France, Germany, Mexico and Spain. The trial found treatment with tezepelumab helped 90% of patients reduce their daily steroid dose. More than half who had the injection were able to stop daily steroids altogether after 12 months. Meanwhile, two thirds of patients stopped having asthma attacks, which was observed as early as two weeks into the trial and lasted for the duration of the year-long study. Professor David Jackson, respiratory medicine expert at King’s College London, and clinical lead of the asthma services across Guy’s and Royal Brompton Hospitals, said: “The Wayfinder study is an important step forward for patients with the most severe form of asthma who require daily oral steroids in order to achieve reasonable disease control. “In this international, multi-centre clinical trial of more than 300 patients, the Nice-approved asthma treatment tezepelumab, a biologic therapy that targets asthma-related inflammation but without all the side effects of steroids, was capable of allowing the vast majority of patients to wean their steroids down to a low dose with over half able to stop their steroids altogether. “As tezepelumab also suppresses allergy-related symptoms and improves chronic rhinosinusitis as well, the results are particularly exciting for patients with severe asthma who suffer with both upper and lower airway symptoms.” Reacting to the study, Dr Samantha Walker, director of research and innovation at Asthma + Lung UK, said: ”This is an incredibly encouraging development for the future of asthma care that could transform the lives of people with severe asthma. “It’s vital that research into new types of treatment continues but we know current funding for lung health research is on life-support, despite lung conditions remaining the third biggest cause of death in the UK. “Studies like this show the positive impact that research can make on providing potentially life-changing treatment for people with asthma and other lung conditions.” The findings of the Wayfinder trial are published in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine and will be presented at the British Thoracic Society Winter Meeting 2025 on Thursday. The following information is not intended for publication pa dpa coh

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Radiation, extreme cold, dust storms, not mention a lack of oxygen: There are plenty of things that can kill an astronaut on Mars. Now, researchers have added lightning to the list. Paris (dpa) – Thunderstorms aren't just an earthly phenomenon. Scientists have long known that electrical discharges occur in the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn. Now, for the first time, researchers have directly detected similar electrical activity on Mars. Measurements from NASA's Perseverance rover show that swirling dust on the Red Planet can generate static charge through friction. On Wednesday, scientists reported in the journal Nature that lightning risks will need to be considered when planning future crewed missions. On Earth, and likely on Jupiter and Saturn as well, thunderstorms form when water droplets and ice crystals collide, separating electrical charges. Mars is far too dry for that process. Instead, scientists suspect that dust particles rubbing against each other in the planet's frequent whirlwinds, known as dust devils, could create electrical charges. Massive dust storms, sometimes spanning thousands of kilometres, could also play a role. Suspicions dating back years "On Mars, the existence of electrical activity has long been suspected, but never directly demonstrated," Baptiste Chide and his colleagues from the University of Toulouse wrote. But until now, the evidence was only indirect. In 2006, US researchers picked up unusual radio signals from Mars and later suggested they might be caused by lightning, though other explanations couldn't be ruled out. Orbital missions also failed to detect clear signs of discharges. To settle the question, Chide's team analysed data gathered on the ground by Perseverance, which has been exploring Jezero Crater since 2021. Rover captures the rumble of Martian thunder The breakthrough came from the rover's onboard microphone, which picked up 55 events consistent with electrical discharges near Perseverance. Researchers said the device recorded not only the faint rumble of "thunder" on Mars, but also a brief, non-acoustic signal just beforehand – an electrical jolt triggered when the discharge's magnetic field briefly interfered with the microphone's electronics. It also emerged that 54 of the events occurred during strong winds, showing that swirling dust plays a key role in generating electrical discharges on Mars. Sixteen events were recorded during two close encounters of the rover with dust devils. Chide and his colleagues suspect that lightning is more likely to occur during such localized events than during large-scale dust storms. The lightning could have a significant influence on the chemistry in the atmosphere and on the surface of Mars. Electrical discharges, for example, promote the formation of highly oxidizing substances such as hydrogen peroxide. As such substances act as cytotoxins, they worsen the prospects of finding microorganisms on Mars. The following information is not intended for publication dpa fm zlw xxde mls coh

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London (PA Media/dpa) – Living in the spotlight comes with the glitz and glamour of showbiz but it could shorten a celebrity’s life, a new study suggests. Researchers found that life in the limelight can shorten lives by around 4.6 years. Previous studies have found that famous singers tend to die earlier than the general public, but academics from Germany wanted to see whether fame played a role. The latest research, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, examined data on 648 singers. Half of the group were deemed to be famous while the other half had not achieved stardom. The group of famous singers was drawn from the Top 2,000 Artists of All Time on acclaimedmusic.net. The average age of the singers was 67. The research, known as a retrospective matched case control study, saw academics match each famous singer to a less famous singer based on certain characteristics, including their gender, nationality, ethnicity and their genre of music as well as whether they were in a band or a solo artist. The academics studied 99 famous solo artists compared with 90 less famous solo singers. Some 207 famous people studied were in a band while 175 less famous singers were in a band. The rest of the people involved in the study had worked as soloists and as part of a group. The researchers examined data from people across various musical genres including rock, pop, R&B, rap, electronica and new wave. They found that famous singers lived to an average age of 75 while less famous singers lived to 79. “The results showed that famous singers had a 33% higher mortality risk compared with less famous singers,” the authors wrote. They added: “The result offers new evidence linking fame with higher mortality risk. “The increased mortality risk associated with fame is comparable to other well known health risks such as occasional smoking. “Given that these conditions are widely recognised as serious health threats requiring preventive measures, the similar impact of fame on mortality suggests that being famous is an important factor influencing longevity and underscores the need for targeted interventions to mitigate its detrimental effects on longevity.” They said that their study suggests that the elevated risk emerges “specifically after achieving fame”. They said this “highlights fame as a potential temporal turning point for health risks including mortality”. But the research team point out that solo artists appeared to carry a higher risk of early death compared to singers in a band. “Possible explanations for this include increased individual exposure to the public with the accompanying higher emotional strain,” they said. “Being in a band may offer emotional and practical support, while solo artists may face more isolation and stress.” The 10 top artists on the acclaimedmusic.net include The Beatles; Bob Dylan; The Rolling Stones; David Bowie; Bruce Springsteen; Radiohead; Neil Young; Led Zeppelin; The Beach Boys and Prince. Among these stars, John Lennon died aged 40; George Harrison died when he was 58 and three members of the Rolling Stones have died – founding member Brian Jones died aged 27, co-founder and keyboardist Ian Stewart died aged 47 and drummer Charlie Watts died aged 80. David Bowie died when he was 69; John Bonham drummer of the rock band Led Zeppelin died when he was 32; among The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson died earlier this year aged 82, Carl Wilson died age 51; Dennis Wilson drowned when he was 39 and Prince died aged 57. The following information is not intended for publication pa dpa coh

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