UF Health Podcasts

Face it: You’ve peaked. Well, maybe not. It all depends on your lifestyle. Researchers from Sweden followed adults over the course of 47 years to pinpoint when our bodies — and strength — truly begin to decline. Let’s steel ourselves. Around the age of 35, our bodies begin to experience an ever-so-slight physical drop. That’s a blow. But the study also emphasized that exercise, even after that unfairly early number, boosts our health in a number of ways that matter. The study showed that folks who became active during adulthood were able to increase their physical abilities by as much as 10%. In some ways, the scientists said, physical activity could decelerate the decline in performance. The research focused on 427 people who were born in 1958. Researchers took objective assessments of their physical capacity beginning at age 16, up to the age of 63. They used tests like the Sargent jump, which is a vertical leap made from a stationary position, to track metrics like muscle power. This study is not only unique in how many years it followed participants, but also how it analyzed their data. Typically, research in this area has used cross-sectional data, which compares different age groups as opposed to continuously evaluating the same individuals. While labor intensive, the result is a comprehensive effort that allowed researchers to understand how physical decline and age are associated. Next year, researchers plan to examine the participants once again, as they reach 68 years of age. Then, it’s back to the grind — understanding how lifestyle choices, health and simple biology work together to change our bodies over time.

On this archived episode of Animal Airwaves Live, uncover the hidden threat of rat lungworm in dogs with UF experts Dr. Heather Walden, an associate professor of parasitology, and Dr. Amy Stone, a clinical associate professor of primary care and dentistry. Dr. Walden will explore the parasitic nematode’s biology, while Dr. Stone will provide crucial insights into canine infection, clinical symptoms and treatment strategies specific to four-legged companions. Plus, learn how to protect your dogs from this established parasitic danger in Florida.

Burning the midnight oil? Pulling an all-nighter? There’s more than one way to describe staying up late, and there’s also more than one consequence. Trouble staying focused is one of the more immediate effects of shorting your brain on sleep — and a new study from MIT suggests why. When you clock out and fall asleep, your brain’s cleaning crew clocks in. Deep, restorative sleep is when your neurological housekeeping occurs. Your brain is swaddled by a pool of cerebrospinal fluid, and during sleep, waves of this fluid mop your proverbial floors to flush out built-up waste from your waking hours. A 2019 study found this “mopping” moved the fluid in a rhythmic pattern, associated with different shifts in people’s brain waves. In the study, participants engaged in two attention tests: once well-rested, and once after disrupted sleep. They pressed buttons in response to a shape changing on a screen, and again when they heard a specific sound. By monitoring the participants’ brain electrical activity, researchers were able to map what was going on when they missed cues or lagged. They noticed the cerebrospinal fluid moving away from the brain when participant attention lapsed, leading the team to believe the brain is trying to “clean” itself during those foggy moments. There were other physical changes too: Heart rates slowed along with breathing and pupils constricted. That suggests this “cleaning” is far-reaching, and points to “a unified circuit” between attention and basic body functions. So, if you find yourself spacing during the day after a night of poor sleep, consider letting your brain catch a break by catching some Z’s. Your ability to focus deserves it.

Silver bullets supposedly kill werewolves, should you ever meet one. But the battle’s a little more complicated when it comes to antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Scientists are focused on harnessing silver’s antibacterial properties at the microscopic scale in the ever-more-urgent battle against infection. UCLA scientists in a recent study discovered a new way to create silver nanoparticles that make them far more effective as antibiotics. That’s compared with commercially available silver-based antibiotics. Antibiotics containing silver are used on the skin to prevent or treat infection. Humans have known for centuries that silver has qualities that protect health, long before we knew about germs. The ancient Romans, of course, knew nothing of bacteria. Yet they somehow realized that thin silver pieces in a wound could prevent infection. Silver kills bacteria by damaging their cell walls and disrupting vital enzymes. In the UCLA study, researchers used a harmless virus, M13, to infect bacterial cells. They mixed the purified virus with a silver salt solution. The silver formed into nanoparticles directly on the virus’s surface. The virus’s proteins served as a scaffold, shaping and holding the silver in place. The study found that the new mixture could kill bacteria at concentrations up to 60 times lower than those of other available products. The bacteria also developed resistance more slowly. Any new tool to fight antibiotic-resistant bacteria is welcomed by scientists as dangerous infections increase year after year. They warn, however, that much more research is needed. This is no silver bullet against infection — yet.

Weight-loss drugs are wildly popular. So much so that a recent study found about 1 in 8 Americans have tried them. The high demand initially led to nationwide shortages that have since resolved. A new study from researchers at the University of Oxford looked at patients on prescription weight-loss medicines such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro. They found that while the weight loss is impressive, it often comes rushing back once the medication is stopped. The analysis of 37 earlier studies also found that metabolic benefits, like lower cholesterol and blood pressure, tend to fade when treatment ends. And the weight returns about four times faster than it would if the loss was achieved strictly through diet and exercise. On average, the more than 9,000 patients gained back more than 14 ounces a month after they stopped taking the medication. At that pace, the researchers estimated their body weight would return to pre-treatment levels in about 19 months. Markers related to heart disease and the body’s ability to convert food into energy that improved while medication was taken were projected to return to base levels in less than 1½ years. The researchers identified several lessons from their study. First, about half of those with obesity taking the weight loss drugs stop taking them within a year. It may be that patients need to commit to the process for a longer period. Second, healthy diet and lifestyle habits should be the foundation for all obesity treatment.