(Press-News.org) Early warning signs of diseases caused by dysfunctional levels of stress hormones could be spotted more easily thanks to a new wearable device developed by endocrine researchers.
This is the first time it has been possible to measure changes to people’s stress hormones as they go about normal daily activities, across both day and night. The new collaborative research led by the University of Bristol, University of Birmingham and University of Bergen has the potential to revolutionise how diseases of the stress hormone system are diagnosed and treated.
The technology, funded by an EU Horizon 2020 project grant and published in Science Translational Medicine today [21 June], shows how tracking adrenal steroid levels at high resolution and over an extended time period can provide better information about how hormone levels change across daily (circadian) and faster (ultradian) time periods.
Stress hormones such as the hormone cortisol are crucial for life. Disturbance of their rhythms due to disease and lifestyle factors are related to diseases like depression, heart disease, obesity, diabetes and even critical illness. However, until now scientists haven’t been able to define what normal rhythmicity looks like in healthy daily life.
A major problem has been that understanding the meaning of a hormone test is very difficult or impossible if only a single time point is taken, since this fails to consider hormonal rhythms. This in turn leads to diagnostic delay and missed opportunities for treatment intervention. Previously the only way to build an accurate picture has been to take multiple samples of blood during admission to a hospital or research unit, which is not only time consuming and inconvenient, but also stressful.
U-RHYTHM has been developed by scientists from the University of Bristol, designed by the company Designworks Windsor, and available through the University of Bristol spin out company Dynamic Therapeutics. The wearable device is worn around the waist and painlessly and automatically samples from beneath the skin every 20 minutes, without the need to collect blood. Importantly, the method allows sampling during sleep, work, and other daily life activities for up to 72 hours in a single session.
The study published today demonstrates the potential for the U-RHYTHM device, analysing samples from 214 healthy volunteers over 24 hours. Using data across multiple timepoints in that period, the team were able to create adrenal hormone profiles of healthy people in real life conditions.
Mathematicians from the University of Birmingham’s Centre for Systems Modelling and Quantitative Biomedicine used these data to develop a new class of “dynamic markers” to better understand how a healthy hormonal profile should look like depending on an individual’s sex, age, body mass index, as well as other characteristics.
These findings show what healthy hormonal rhythms look like in the population, in real world settings, and could form a baseline for new, better ways to diagnose endocrine conditions at a much earlier stage.
Dr Thomas Upton, Clinical Research Fellow in Automated Sampling at the University of Bristol and lead endocrinologist in the study, said “Our results represent a paradigm shift in the understanding of how the stress hormone system works in healthy people. The information we have gathered forms an entirely new reference range which has the potential to revolutionise how diseases of the stress hormone system are diagnosed and treated.”
Dr Eder Zavala, Assistant Professor in Mathematics at the University of Birmingham and lead mathematician in the study, added: “This is a fascinating new technology that is enabling us to make new discoveries about how hormonal regulation works, while the mathematical analysis is enabling us to generate new ideas about precision diagnosis and design personalised medicine interventions that better support patients.”
Stafford Lightman, Professor of Medicine at Bristol Medical School: Translational Health Sciences (THS) and a co-author on the study, explained: “Our results provide significant new insights into how the stress hormone system works in healthy people, and emphasises the importance of measuring change, not just sampling at single points. It also highlights the importance of measuring hormones during sleep, which has previously been impossible outside of a hospital.
“The ability to measure the dynamics of hormone secretion across the day and night in patients in their own home will not only improve our ability to accurately diagnose any abnormality in hormone secretion without the need for complex inpatient investigations, but the whole diagnostic procedure can be performed from primary care and linked to newly available diagnostic algorithms. This will not only provide good, personalised medicine, but will also allow the patient to follow their own hormone profiles during diagnosis and therapy and empower better patient: doctor discussions.”
END
Wearable monitor detects stress hormone levels across a full 24-hour day
Blood-free sensor can take readings for up to 72 hours and detect early signs of endocrine diseases more accurately than existing tests taken at one point in the day
2023-06-21
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Monarchs’ white spots aid migration
2023-06-21
If you’ve ever wondered how the monarch butterfly got its spots, University of Georgia researchers may have just found the answer.
The new study suggests that the butterflies with more white spots are more successful at reaching their long-distance wintering destination. Although it’s not yet clear how the spots aid the species’ migration, it’s possible that the spots change airflow patterns around their wings.
“We undertook this project to learn how such a small animal can make such a successful ...
Wild and feral cats shed more toxoplasmosis parasites in areas densely populated by humans
2023-06-21
A new analysis suggests that wild, stray, and feral cats living in areas with higher human population density tend to release—or “shed”—a greater amount of the parasite that causes the disease toxoplasmosis. The study also draws links between environmental temperature variation and parasite shedding. Sophie Zhu of the University of California Davis, U.S., and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on June 21.
Toxoplasmosis is a mild-to-severe disease caused by Toxoplasma gondii, which can infect warm-blooded vertebrates, including humans and many wild or domestic animals; for instance, cats, sheep, mice, birds, ...
Young people learn gradually to reflect on mental states, peaking in young adulthood
2023-06-21
The capability to reflect on their own mental state and that of others continues to develop throughout adolescence, with mentalizing scores varying by gender and personality traits, according to a new study published this week in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Alex Desatnik of University College London, UK, and colleagues.
It has been established that the human brain undergoes a number of important changes during adolescence, especially in the “social brain” regions associated with social cognition. One of the key constructs capturing multiple facets of social cognition is ...
Monarch butterflies are more likely to survive their long migrations if they have more and larger white spots on their wings, possibly because it gives them an aerodynamic advantage
2023-06-21
###
Article URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0286921
Article Title: How the monarch got its spots: Long-distance migration selects for larger white spots on monarch butterfly wings
Author Countries: USA
Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work. END ...
One in ten NHS healthcare workers experienced suicidal thoughts during pandemic, study finds
2023-06-21
Approximately one in ten NHS healthcare workers experienced suicidal thoughts during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, finds a new University of Bristol-led study published in PLOS ONE today [21 June].
Concerns were raised about the risk of suicide among healthcare workers during the pandemic after a number of high-profile cases were reported in the media. Researchers from the University of Bristol, King’s College London and UCL (University College London), sought to investigate the prevalence and incidence of suicidal thoughts and behaviour among NHS healthcare workers in England and their relationship with occupational ...
Repurposed drug shows promise for treating cardiac arrhythmias
2023-06-21
Ruxolitinib, a drug that is already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating certain cancers and skin conditions, is effective at inhibiting CaMKII, a protein kinase linked to cardiac arrhythmias.
In a new study published June 21, 2023, in Science Translational Medicine, researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the University of Chicago invented a new reporting technique to monitor activity of CaMKII while screening the effects of nearly 5,000 FDA approved drugs on human cells that expressed the ...
Urgent action needed to further improve child survival in Ethiopia: Study
2023-06-21
New global research on child mortality rates in Ethiopia shows while there has been a significant decline in these rates in past three decades, too many children under the age of five are still dying.
The analysis found the mortality rate in the under-five demographic decreased by almost 4.5 per cent every year between 1990 and 2019.
However, despite the progress, it’s still one of the highest rates in the world with an estimated 190,000 under 5 deaths in 2019 at the rate of 52 deaths per 1000 livebirths. The country’s neonatal mortality rate is 26.6 deaths per 1000 livebirths.
Lead author Dr Gizachew Tessema from the Curtin School of Population ...
Quantum interference can protect and enhance photoexcitation
2023-06-21
When a photon interacts with a material, an interaction occurs that causes its atoms to change their quantum state (a description of the physical properties of nature at the atomic level). The resulting state is called, aptly, photoexcitation. These photoexcitations are conventionally assumed to kill one another when they come near each other, radically limiting their density and mobility. This in turn limits how efficient tools that rely on photoexcitation such as solar cells and light-emitting devices can be.
But in a study published June 19 in the journal Nature Chemistry, scientists at Northwestern University and Purdue University challenge this assumption ...
Reducing bias and stigma associated with medication-assisted treatment improves care
2023-06-21
Medication-assisted treatment (MAT), such as naltrexone, is a well-documented successful treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD). However, there are multiple barriers for clinicians to use MAT, including clinician lack of confidence in using the treatment, their own misconceptions about the patient population, and, until recently, federally required training. Additionally, there is a stigma associated with MAT and the patients who would most benefit from it. Improving access to MAT training and integrating it into clinician programs and curriculums may remove identified barriers, decrease stigma, and enable newly trained clinicians to treat patients.
To address these barriers, ...
UNM researchers find medical cannabis patients who feel 'high' report greater symptom relief but increased negative side effects
2023-06-21
In a new study titled, “Understanding Feeling ‘High’ and Its Role in Medical Cannabis Patient Outcomes,” published in the journal, Frontiers in Pharmacology, researchers at The University of New Mexico, in collaboration with Releaf App™ found that patients who reported feeling “High” experienced 7.7% greater symptom relief and an increase in reporting of positive side effects such as “Relaxed” and “Peaceful.” However, these benefits must be weighed against a more than 20% increase in negative side effect reporting.
Senior author and Associate Professor of Psychology, ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
Study shows psychedelic drug psilocybin gives comparable long-term antidepressant effects to standard antidepressants, but may offer additional benefits
Study finds symptoms of depression during pregnancy linked to specific brain activity: scientists hope to develop test for “baby blues” risk
Sexual health symptoms may correlate with poor adherence to adjuvant endocrine therapy in Black women with breast cancer
Black patients with triple-negative breast cancer may be less likely to receive immunotherapy than white patients
Affordable care act may increase access to colon cancer care for underserved groups
UK study shows there is less stigma against LGBTQ people than you might think, but people with mental health problems continue to experience higher levels of stigma
Bringing lost proteins back home
Better than blood tests? Nanoparticle potential found for assessing kidneys
Texas A&M and partner USAging awarded 2024 Immunization Neighborhood Champion Award
UTEP establishes collaboration with DoD, NSA to help enhance U.S. semiconductor workforce
Study finds family members are most common perpetrators of infant and child homicides in the U.S.
Researchers secure funds to create a digital mental health tool for Spanish-speaking Latino families
UAB startup Endomimetics receives $2.8 million Small Business Innovation Research grant
Scientists turn to human skeletons to explore origins of horseback riding
UCF receives prestigious Keck Foundation Award to advance spintronics technology
Cleveland Clinic study shows bariatric surgery outperforms GLP-1 diabetes drugs for kidney protection
Study reveals large ocean heat storage efficiency during the last deglaciation
Fever drives enhanced activity, mitochondrial damage in immune cells
A two-dose schedule could make HIV vaccines more effective
Wastewater monitoring can detect foodborne illness, researchers find
Kowalski, Salonvaara receive ASHRAE Distinguished Service Awards
SkAI launched to further explore universe
SLU researchers identify sex-based differences in immune responses against tumors
Evolved in the lab, found in nature: uncovering hidden pH sensing abilities
Unlocking the potential of patient-derived organoids for personalized sarcoma treatment
New drug molecule could lead to new treatments for Parkinson’s disease in younger patients
Deforestation in the Amazon is driven more by domestic demand than by the export market
Demand-side actions could help construction sector deliver on net-zero targets
Research team discovers molecular mechanism for a bacterial infection
What role does a tailwind play in cycling’s ‘Everesting’?
[Press-News.org] Wearable monitor detects stress hormone levels across a full 24-hour dayBlood-free sensor can take readings for up to 72 hours and detect early signs of endocrine diseases more accurately than existing tests taken at one point in the day