Health

Study Finds Space Travel Alters Astronauts’ Brain Structure

On Monday, Jan. 12, findings published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) revealed that “the brain shifts upward and backward within the skull following spaceflight, with sensory and motor regions exhibiting the largest shifts.”

The study explained that, “Understanding how spaceflight impacts the human brain is crucial as space exploration and tourism expand.”

Researchers “evaluated brain regional shift magnitudes and deformations and their behavioral correlates,” analyzing MRI data from 26 astronauts and 24 participants from “a long-duration head-down tilt bed rest study.”

An abstract read, “We aligned skull position across timepoints (before and after spaceflight or bed rest) as a reference and then used rigid body registration to quantify brain position change.”

“The brain shifted backward, upward and rotated back in the pitch direction from before to after spaceflight and bed rest in a fashion that correlated with exposure duration,” it added.

The study found that “widespread recovery occurred in all three dimensions (particularly in the up–down direction) over [6 months] following spaceflight.” However, it also noted, “Although most of the brain deformation recovered over [6 months] post-flight, some persisted.”

Studies like this could prove to be crucial given the direction space travel is heading in. In 2022, PEOPLE reported that a NASA official had said it was only a matter of time before people will be living — and working — on the surface of the moon.

Rachael Seidler — one of the study’s co-authors and a professor in the department of applied physiology and kinesiology at the University of Florida — said, “We need to understand these changes and their impacts to keep astronauts safe and healthy and protect their longevity,” per NBC News.

The outlet noted that a few individuals studied had spent extended, yearlong stints aboard the International Space Station, while the standard duration for a mission is around six months.

“The people who went for a year showed the largest changes,” Seidler said, per NBC News. “There were still some changes evident in people who went for two weeks, but duration seems to be the driving factor.”

She added to the outlet that the upward movement in the brain among astronauts who had stayed in space for six months or longer had been “pretty extensive,” especially in structures at the top of the organ.

“It’s on the order of a couple of millimeters,” Seidler said, adding, “Which doesn’t sound like a big number, but when you’re talking about brain movement, it really is. That kind of change is visible by eye,” according to the outlet.

She explained that the changes in the brain would sometimes cause “sensory conflicts” while the astronauts were in space. These symptoms would often manifest as temporary disorientation or motion sickness in space, while the shifts would contribute to things like balance issues when back on Earth, NBC News noted.

Seidler told the outlet that it “was surprising” to her that the study didn’t find that astronauts suffered serious symptoms, such as cognitive impairment or headaches, during or after spaceflight.

While speaking further about the study, Seidler added to PEOPLE, “We already knew that the brain shifts upward within the skull from pre-to post-flight. BUT, we were looking at the brain as a whole on average (imagine like a basketball). Here, we are looking at individual brain structures (imagine like a head of broccoli with individual florets that can move separately).”

“When we do this, we see that the individual structures move more than we thought they did (a couple of [millimeters], which doesn’t sound like much, but it is a lot for the brain and it’s visible by eye). And, the left and right side move towards each other at the top of the brain, and away from each other at the bottom of the brain. This deforms the brain tissue,” she added. “Surprisingly, there are not major symptoms, but these are highly trained and resilient individuals.”

The latest study is one of many published regarding space and health. However, despite scientists already knowing that spaceflight can affect the brain, Seidler’s study is among the first to reveal how the changes affect how astronauts function in space and back on Earth, NBC News reported, citing Dr. Mark Rosenberg.

Rosenberg — the Director of the Aerospace and Performance Neurology program and Assistant Professor of Neurology at the Medical University of South Carolina — said of the study, which he was not involved with, “We knew the brain shifts upward, but does it actually have any kind of operational impact?” per NBC News.

“This study is able to make some of those associations,” he added to the outlet.

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Rosenberg told the publication that there are still certain questions that need to be answered as more people plan to head to space.

“If you’ve been on Mars with one-third Earth’s gravity, or on the moon with one-sixth Earth’s gravity, will it take three or six times as long to get back to normal?” he said, per NBC News.

“Whether we care to admit it or not, we are eventually going to become a space-faring species,” Rosenberg told the outlet. “It’s only a matter of time. And these are just some of the unanswered questions that we need to sort out.”

PEOPLE

Health

Novartis: Rare muscle disease drug shows early promise

Novartis (NOVN.S), opens new tab said on Thursday an experimental drug, which it acquired as part of its $12 billion takeover of ‌Avidity, showed promise in an early-to-mid-stage study in patients with a type of genetic muscle disorder characterized by slowly progressive muscle weakness.

The Swiss ⁠drugmaker said the drug, known as del-brax, lowered two blood markers linked to the disease and showed reduced signs of muscle damage in patients with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.
Novartis said the drug shows potential to become the first disease-modifying ‌treatment ⁠for FSHD, which can cause weakness in the face, shoulders, arms and other muscles.
The company estimates it affects about 45,000 to ⁠87,000 people in the U.S. and EU.
The drug’s safety profile was consistent with previous ⁠results, the company said.
Novartis plans to discuss the data with health regulators ⁠around the world, while a late-stage study of the drug is currently enrolling patients.

The Thomson Reuters

Health

Obesity drug shows promise in reducing belly and liver fat

Boehringer Ingelheim said on Sunday its experimental obesity drug cut visceral and liver fat while minimizing loss of lean mass in ‌a late-stage study, data showed, bolstering its case for benefits beyond weight loss as competition in obesity drugs intensifies.

The drug, survodutide, was licensed from Denmark’s Zealand Pharma (ZELA.CO), opens new tab. An injectable that mimics the proteins GLP-1 and glucagon to create a feeling of fullness, its weight-loss trial results were announced in April, showing patients lost an average of 16.6% over 76 weeks.

Analysis of a group of patients who had MRI measurements at the start and end of a 76-week trial showed that survodutide reduced harmful ⁠abdominal fat by up to 34% and liver fat by up to 63.1% from the baseline, Boehringer said.

Analysts have said the weight-loss numbers were broadly comparable to existing GLP-1 injections from Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO), opens new tab and Eli Lilly (LLY.N), opens new tab and below newer rivals in development, and that the company needed to differentiate the drug’s benefits.

Lean mass accounted for no more than 10.8% of the change in body composition at the highest dose of 6 milligrams, suggesting the weight loss was driven mainly by fat reduction.

The drug’s effect on liver-fat reduction and preservation of lean mass are central to whether it will be able to stand out commercially, alongside tolerability and how long patients stay on the drug. Detailed data from the study could help Boehringer make a ‌stronger case ⁠that survodutide should be judged not only by pounds lost but by where weight is lost.

“We believe survodutide will become an important new option at the intersection of obesity and liver disease, two conditions that are deeply connected but rarely addressed together,” said Boehringer executive Shashank Deshpande, who leads the company’s human medicines business.

Boehringer acquired the rights in 2011 to solely develop and commercialise survodutide from Zealand, which is ⁠entitled to royalty payments on global revenue.

PATIENTS WITH LIVER DISEASE BENEFIT

In a separate late-stage study of overweight or obese patients with a fatty liver disease called MASLD, survodutide met both its main goals.

After 48 weeks, up to 84.2% of patients on the drug showed ⁠a liver fat reduction of at least 30%, compared with 24.3% for those on placebo. Patients on survodutide also lost up to 12.2% of their body weight, versus 1% for placebo.

In 61% of the patients the drug helped achieve liver fat ⁠normalization, or a liver fat content below 5%, compared with 5.7% on placebo.

U.S. biotech Altimmune (ALT.O), opens new tab is also developing a drug that targets both the appetite-suppressing gut hormone, GLP-1, and glucagon.

Survodutide is also being tested in other late-stage studies, including for patients with fatty liver disease and fibrosis.

REUTERS

Health

Millions with breast cancer could safely skip chemotherapy

Millions of people with breast cancer could safely avoid chemotherapy as scientists have developed a DNA test that can distinguish between patients who are likely to benefit from the treatment and those who are not, according to trial results.

The international study found that more than two-thirds of its participants could be spared the side of effects of chemotherapy and treated with hormone therapy alone.

Chemotherapy can cause fatigue, nausea, hair loss, a weakened immune system and fertility issues.

The study, led by University College London (UCL), involved more than 4,000 newly diagnosed patients over the age of 40 in the UK, Norway, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand and Thailand.

Scientists used a gene test called Prosigna to measure the activity of 50 genes involved in breast cancer growth and calculate a patient’s risk of the disease returning.

Those who received a low score – two-thirds of the group – were not treated through chemotherapy. The five-year survival rate of their group was 93.7%, compared with a 94.9% rate among patients who received chemotherapy as part of their care.

The primary treatment for breast cancer is usually surgery to remove tumours. Chemotherapy is often recommended afterwards to diminish the risk of return.

It is also regularly offered to people with early-stage breast cancer that has spread to the nearby lymph nodes.

Clinicians are concerned the treatment provides little benefit to those with the most common type of breast cancer, UCL said.

The university said more than 5,000 NHS patients a year could avoid chemotherapy as a result of the trial.

Karen Bonham, from Cardiff, took part in the trial and said the results are an “immense relief” and feel “like Christmas”.

The 64-year-old avoided chemotherapy thanks to the Prosigna test and has instead received radiotherapy and hormone therapy over eight years.

“Cancer diagnosis and treatment can be shocking,” she said.

“It certainly propels you into a world of uncertainty. Life priorities realign – you simply want to survive.”

The findings of the study will be presented at the world’s largest cancer conference, the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting, in Chicago, United States, on Saturday.

Professor David Miles, a leading cancer specialist, described the findings as “practice-changing”.

“We can now confidently predict many patients will get no benefit at all, and therefore there’s no need for them to have the chemotherapy,” he told BBC’s Newshour.

He added that the test would allow doctors to “confidently define a large population of women who simply aren’t going to benefit and don’t need to go through all that unpleasantness for no benefit at all.”

“We used to give chemotherapy to 100 women to benefit 10, knowing that 90 didn’t need it,” he said.

Tanya Hutson, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2022 and had chemotherapy as part of her treatment, called the new DNA test “absolutely amazing”.

“It just proves what happens when money is put into research,” she said, adding that chemotherapy had been “brutal”.

“For all these people out there who don’t need it but are still getting it – it’s an absolute game changer.”

It is not known whether the findings apply to people under the age of 40, with a result still several years away, according to UCL.

BBC