The University of Sydney

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 4, 2024 -- Small amounts of vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity (VILPA) are associated with significant reductions in the risk for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) among nonexercising women, according to a study published online Dec. 3 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine . Emmanuel Stamatakis, Ph.D., from the University of Sydney, and colleagues examined sex differences in the dose-response association of VILPA with MACE and its subtypes among individuals self-reporting no leisure-time exercise and no more than one recreational walk per week in the U.K. Biobank. Analyses were also conducted among those self-reporting participation in leisure-time exercise and/or recreational walking more than once a week. The researchers identified 331 and 488 MACE among 13,018 women and 9,350 men, respectively, during a 7.9-year follow-up. There was a near-linear dose-response association seen for daily VILPA duration with all MACE, myocardial infarction, and heart failure. Dose-response curves were less clear in men, with less evidence of statistical significance. Women's median daily VILPA duration of 3.4 minutes was associated with hazard ratios of 0.55 and 0.33 for all MACE and heart failure, respectively, compared with those with no VILPA. Hazard ratios of 0.70, 0.67, and 0.60 were seen for all MACE, myocardial infarction, and heart failure, respectively, in association with women's minimum doses of 1.2 to 1.6 minutes of VILPA per day. "Although these findings are observational, they suggest that VILPA may be a promising physical activity target for cardiovascular disease prevention among nonexercising women," the authors write. One author disclosed ties to Complement Theory Inc. Abstract/Full Text Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.

New York (October 7, 2024) – TB Alliance is proud to announce a $7.35 million award through the U.S. Department of Defense. The four-year grant was received within the DOD’s Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) for research and development exploring host-directed approaches for treating tuberculosis. The project aims to yield preclinical proof-of-concept for at least one novel adjunct TB host-directed therapy and one therapeutic vaccine that will lay a foundation for clinical development of host-directed interventions. As the prime recipient on the project, TB Alliance will be spearheading the work with a number of partners, including Johns Hopkins University, Washington University in St. Louis, Archivel Farma, University of Pittsburgh, Hackensack Meridian Health, University of Bordeaux, University of Michigan, the University of Illinois Chicago, the University of Sydney, and the University of California San Francisco. Upon news of the award, Nader Fotouhi, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer for TB Alliance and principal investigator on the initiative, noted, “If successful, these advancements will bring us closer to shorter, less burdensome, and more effective treatment for individuals with both drug-resistant and drug-sensitive TB.” Dr. Mel Spigelman, CEO of TB Alliance echoed Fotouhi’s remarks, noting that, “TB Alliance has made important strides in shortening and improving TB therapy through developing new drugs and treatment regimens, but today's therapies are still too long and onerous for achieving the ultimate goal of TB eradication. Combining new TB drugs with Host Directed Therapy is a potential path to achieving our vision of bringing TB treatment duration from months to weeks, and eventually to days.” TB Alliance is a nonprofit product development partnership that leads the development of the world’s largest drug pipeline for the treatment of TB. Since 1992, Congressional appropriations through CDMRP have fostered groundbreaking work in basic, translational and clinical research. Learn more at tballiance.org.

FRIDAY, Sept. 20, 2024 -- Doctors sometimes turn to antidepressants as a means of easing older people's physical pain, but a new expert review finds there's little evidence to support the practice. Antidepressants may even come with hazards for seniors who don't need them, said researchers from the University of Sydney in Australia. "Harms of antidepressant use in older people are well documented," said study senior author Dr. Christina Abdel Shaheed . Her team found that, compared to older folks using other methods to ease pain, those on antidepressants had higher risks for falling, dizziness and injury. “These medicines are being prescribed to remedy patients' pain, despite the lack of evidence to adequately inform their use,” said Abdel Shaheed, an associate professor in the university’s School of Public Health and the Institute for Musculoskeletal Health. The findings were published recently in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology . According to the researchers, over the past 40 years there have been only 15 trials worldwide that focused on the use of antidepressants for physical pain in people over the age of 65. Poring over the data from these studies, the Sydney team found little evidence to support the use of the drugs to ease pain in seniors. Standard international guidelines do support the use of antidepressants for chronic pain generally, but the data those guidelines are based on did not focus on patients in their senior years. That could lead to misinformed decisions by doctors, said study lead author Dr. Sujita Narayan . “If I am a busy clinician and want to look at the guidelines for quick reference, I will probably have time to look at only the key points regarding management of chronic pain, some of which advise the use of antidepressants,” explained Narayan, a research fellow at the university’s Institute for Musculoskeletal Health. On top of the potential harms from antidepressants, people who took them for pain were more likely to quit using them, compared to other forms of medication. And that comes with its own dangers, the researchers warned. “Withdrawal from antidepressants can be as bad as withdrawal from opioids," Narayan explained in a university news release. "I would recommend that anyone considering discontinuing their medication to not stop taking their antidepressants immediately, but to consult with their clinician and devise a tapering plan, as necessary." While most of the studies found antidepressants largely ineffective in easing pain in seniors, there was one exception: Knee pain linked to arthritis treated with duloxetine (Cymbalta). But even that benefit was time-specific. “There was higher quality evidence on its efficacy for chronic pain related to knee osteoarthritis," Narayan said. "This was based on using it for a period of roughly two to four months. It wasn't significant in the immediate term, if used for up to two weeks, and no data was available for use beyond a 12-month period." “For clinicians and patients who might be using or considering duloxetine for knee osteoarthritis, the message is clear: benefits may be seen with a little persistence, but the effects may be small and need to be weighed up against the risk,” Narayan concluded. She and Abdel Shaheed noted that most of the trials focused on antidepressants and pain relief guidelines were small, averaging less than 100 participants. "The key point is that we shouldn't rely on findings from studies with younger people and apply them to older adults because they are different, older people’s bodies undergo changes that alter how they respond to medications," Narayan said. "This can lead to different effects in older people compared to younger people." Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.