• Can Lymphatic Drainage Reduce Intracranial Pressure (ICP)?

Between April 2013 and January 2015 133 patients were examined. TheirIntracranial Pressure (ICP), cerebral perfusion pressure, mean arterial pressure (MAP) were recorded continuously 15 min before a manual lymph drainage therapy procedure, and 15 min after the procedure.

The patients were divided into 2 groups:

Group 1, baseline ICP <15 mmHg before procedure, n = 99

Group 2 baseline ICP ≥15 mmHg before procedure, n = 34

The results: ICP significantly decreased during manual therapy and this persisted during the follow-up period in group 2.

The team concluded that a significant reduction of ICP was achieved during manual therapy with cranio-cervical manual lymph drainage therapy in patients with severe cerebral diseases.

Roth C, Stitz H, Roth C, Ferbert A, et al. Eur J Neurol. 2016 Sep;23(9):1441-6. doi: 10.1111/ene.13055. Epub 2016 May 30. Craniocervical manual lymphatic drainage and its impact on intracranial pressure - a pilot study.

 

 

  • Migraines: Need Green Light?

Migraines are a very common form of headache occurring in about 15% of the population. People experiencing migraines often avoid light to avoid unpleasant physical sensations and negative emotions.

This study done at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston found that most colors of light triggered unpleasant physiological sensations in patients with migraines both during and between attacks. Participants who did not suffer from migraines report that all colors of light evoked pleasant emotions.

People experiencing migraines (migraineur) reported intense emotional responses such as anger, hopeless, sadness, depression, anxiety and fear when exposed to all light colors except green. Symptoms of migraines can decrease with certain wavelengths of green light.

Migraineur’s sensitivity to different loud noise frequencies have not been evaluated by this group yet.

Noseda R, Lee A, Nir R, et al. Neural mechanism for hypothalamic-mediated autonomic responses to light during migraine. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2017; 201708361 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1708361114

 

 

  • Some Hypothalamus Cells Control Aging?

 The hypothalamus has been involved in growth, development, reproduction and metabolism. A team of researchers have now found in middle-aged mice that a group of hypothalamic cells called neural stem cells may control aging.

 Removal of these cells results in aging-like physiological changes and a shortened lifespan. Alternatively, transplantation of these cells can slow down aging and extend lifespan.

 The researchers assume these changes are created by the secretion of exosomal miRNAs by the stem cells of the mice hypothalamus.

 The main author Dongsheng Cai concluded: "Our research shows that the number of hypothalamic neural stem cells naturally declines over the life of the animal, and this decline accelerates aging…But we also found that the effects of this loss are not irreversible."

 Zhang Y, Kim M, Jia B, Jingqi et al. Hypothalamic stem cells control ageing speed partly through exosomal miRNAs. Nature, 2017; DOI: 10.1038/nature23282

 

 

  • Loneliness Can Raise Mortality

 The quality and quantity of one’s social relationships influence risks for morbidity/illnesses and mortality.

 A meta-analysis gathering 148 studies and 308,849 participants showed a 50% increased of survival for participants with stronger social relationships!

 This finding remained consistent across the participants age, sex, initial health status, cause of death, and follow-up periods.

 Holt-Lunstad J, Smith TB, Layton JB (2010) Social Relationships and Mortality Risk: A Meta-analytic Review. PLoS Med 7(7): e1000316.  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000316