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What to know about raw oysters and flesh-eating bacteria
Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Lindsey Bever
Published Sep 10, 2025 • 4 minute read
Join the conversation
raw oysters
Raw oysters
Is it true that raw oysters are dangerous?
Many raw dishes such as steak tartare and sushi carry a risk of illness.
But raw oysters “are among the riskiest foods that we consume regularly,” said Benjamin Chapman, the department head of agricultural and human sciences at North Carolina State University.
In recent months, multiple states have reported cases of a deadly flesh-eating form of a bacteria that, in rare cases, can be spread by raw oysters. Vibrio vulnificus – which is usually spread through open wounds in contaminated seawater, but in an estimated 10 percent of cases can come from eating raw or undercooked shellfish – has led to at least five deaths in Florida and four in Louisiana, state health officials said.
Oysters and other mollusks such as clams and mussels live in coastal waters that contain bacteria, viruses and other contaminants. Some oysters may carry these pathogens, including the bacterium Vibrio that causes an infection called vibriosis.
Both Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Vibrio vulnificus can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and fever. But Vibrio vulnificus may enter the bloodstream, leading to septicemia or serious wound infections that sometimes result in amputations or death. An estimated 1 in 5 cases of Vibrio vulnificus infections are fatal, the CDC stated.
There are some 80,000 cases of vibriosis each year in the United States, and most people get vibriosis from eating raw or undercooked shellfish, particularly oysters, that have the bacteria, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Raw oysters also can spread viruses such as hepatitis A and norovirus, the notorious and highly contagious stomach bug.
The Food and Drug Administration requires seafood processors, including oyster processors, to follow Seafood Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point regulations. They mandate that processors identify and control hazards. Additionally, under the federal-state National Shellfish Sanitation Program, oyster beds are routinely tested, and only certified suppliers can harvest, handle and store oysters from approved waters.
State and local agencies regulate restaurants where oysters are sold, experts said.
But it is not possible to test every oyster, and there is no way to tell by sight, smell or taste whether an oyster is carrying disease or whether a person will get sick from it, experts said.
Moreover, season and other factors are not reliable predictors. While Vibrio vulnificus, for instance, is more common in coastal waters during warmer months, the adage that people should eat raw oysters only in months that end in R – or cold-weather months in North America – is “a myth” as oysters may be harvested and imported from warmer waters, Chapman said.
“It’s not fail-safe because we import oysters from all over the place,” he said. “Raw oysters are a risky food regardless of the time of year.” Because of climate change-related increases in coastal water temperatures, Vibrio is becoming more common. (People can also get infected by swallowing water or through an open wound while swimming in a contaminated area.)
The most reliable way to eliminate pathogens is to cook the oysters. Many recipes call for steamed, grilled or roasted oysters, oftentimes cooking them in butter, herbs or seasonings. “Cooking will inactivate these harmful microorganisms very readily,” said Keith Schneider, a professor in food science and human nutrition at the University of Florida.
People who want to consume them raw may consider oysters that have undergone high-pressure processing in which the oysters are exposed to cold water and high pressure to help reduce Vibrio while keeping the raw texture, said Razieh Farzad, an assistant professor and a seafood safety extension specialist at the University of Florida. But, she said, only some processors use the technology, and that information may not be easily accessible for consumers.
Many experts suggest that people who are at higher risk, including older people and those who are immunocompromised, have liver disease, diabetes or are pregnant, should consider avoiding raw oysters. But experts are not necessarily against the delicacy for those who are not at increased risk.
“As long as people have the information and they are aware of the risks with choices they’re making, I think that’s a good place for us to be,” Chapman said.
What else you should know
Oysters are rich in essential micronutrients, including copper, iron, vitamin B12, and contain more zinc per serving than any other food, said Alison Kane, a registered dietitian at Massachusetts General Hospital.
While most minerals are retained during the cooking process, some nutrients may be lost at high temperatures, particularly when frying, which also adds extra calories and fat from the oils or batter, she said.
But grilling and steaming “are gentler cooking methods that don’t introduce additional fats or sodium and retain most of oysters’ nutrient density,” Kane added.
The bottom line: While many people enjoy raw oysters, the mollusks carry higher risks than many other foods and should be avoided by those who are more susceptible to potential infection. There are methods for mitigating risk,, but the most reliable way to kill pathogens is to cook the oysters.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Lindsey Bever
Published Sep 10, 2025 • 4 minute read
Join the conversation
raw oysters
Raw oysters
Is it true that raw oysters are dangerous?
Many raw dishes such as steak tartare and sushi carry a risk of illness.
But raw oysters “are among the riskiest foods that we consume regularly,” said Benjamin Chapman, the department head of agricultural and human sciences at North Carolina State University.
In recent months, multiple states have reported cases of a deadly flesh-eating form of a bacteria that, in rare cases, can be spread by raw oysters. Vibrio vulnificus – which is usually spread through open wounds in contaminated seawater, but in an estimated 10 percent of cases can come from eating raw or undercooked shellfish – has led to at least five deaths in Florida and four in Louisiana, state health officials said.
Oysters and other mollusks such as clams and mussels live in coastal waters that contain bacteria, viruses and other contaminants. Some oysters may carry these pathogens, including the bacterium Vibrio that causes an infection called vibriosis.
Both Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Vibrio vulnificus can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and fever. But Vibrio vulnificus may enter the bloodstream, leading to septicemia or serious wound infections that sometimes result in amputations or death. An estimated 1 in 5 cases of Vibrio vulnificus infections are fatal, the CDC stated.
There are some 80,000 cases of vibriosis each year in the United States, and most people get vibriosis from eating raw or undercooked shellfish, particularly oysters, that have the bacteria, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Raw oysters also can spread viruses such as hepatitis A and norovirus, the notorious and highly contagious stomach bug.
The Food and Drug Administration requires seafood processors, including oyster processors, to follow Seafood Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point regulations. They mandate that processors identify and control hazards. Additionally, under the federal-state National Shellfish Sanitation Program, oyster beds are routinely tested, and only certified suppliers can harvest, handle and store oysters from approved waters.
State and local agencies regulate restaurants where oysters are sold, experts said.
But it is not possible to test every oyster, and there is no way to tell by sight, smell or taste whether an oyster is carrying disease or whether a person will get sick from it, experts said.
Moreover, season and other factors are not reliable predictors. While Vibrio vulnificus, for instance, is more common in coastal waters during warmer months, the adage that people should eat raw oysters only in months that end in R – or cold-weather months in North America – is “a myth” as oysters may be harvested and imported from warmer waters, Chapman said.
“It’s not fail-safe because we import oysters from all over the place,” he said. “Raw oysters are a risky food regardless of the time of year.” Because of climate change-related increases in coastal water temperatures, Vibrio is becoming more common. (People can also get infected by swallowing water or through an open wound while swimming in a contaminated area.)
The most reliable way to eliminate pathogens is to cook the oysters. Many recipes call for steamed, grilled or roasted oysters, oftentimes cooking them in butter, herbs or seasonings. “Cooking will inactivate these harmful microorganisms very readily,” said Keith Schneider, a professor in food science and human nutrition at the University of Florida.
People who want to consume them raw may consider oysters that have undergone high-pressure processing in which the oysters are exposed to cold water and high pressure to help reduce Vibrio while keeping the raw texture, said Razieh Farzad, an assistant professor and a seafood safety extension specialist at the University of Florida. But, she said, only some processors use the technology, and that information may not be easily accessible for consumers.
Many experts suggest that people who are at higher risk, including older people and those who are immunocompromised, have liver disease, diabetes or are pregnant, should consider avoiding raw oysters. But experts are not necessarily against the delicacy for those who are not at increased risk.
“As long as people have the information and they are aware of the risks with choices they’re making, I think that’s a good place for us to be,” Chapman said.
What else you should know
Oysters are rich in essential micronutrients, including copper, iron, vitamin B12, and contain more zinc per serving than any other food, said Alison Kane, a registered dietitian at Massachusetts General Hospital.
While most minerals are retained during the cooking process, some nutrients may be lost at high temperatures, particularly when frying, which also adds extra calories and fat from the oils or batter, she said.
But grilling and steaming “are gentler cooking methods that don’t introduce additional fats or sodium and retain most of oysters’ nutrient density,” Kane added.
The bottom line: While many people enjoy raw oysters, the mollusks carry higher risks than many other foods and should be avoided by those who are more susceptible to potential infection. There are methods for mitigating risk,, but the most reliable way to kill pathogens is to cook the oysters.
What to know about raw oysters and flesh-eating bacteria
Is it true that raw oysters are dangerous?
Oldest known lizard ancestor discovered in England
Author of the article:AFP
AFP
Published Sep 10, 2025 • Last updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read
New Zealand's tuatara reptile, which bears some striking similarities to the lizard ancestor discovered in England. Photo by Marty MELVILLE /POOL/AFP/File
Paris (AFP) — Scientists announced Wednesday they have discovered the oldest-known member of the lizard family in southwest England, a tiny creature that used its surprisingly large teeth to hunt cockroaches 242 million years ago.
The ancient reptile, which lived during the Middle Triassic epoch shortly before the rise of the dinosaurs, was so small its entire body could fit in the palm of a human hand.
“The new animal is unlike anything yet discovered and has made us all think again about the evolution of the lizard, snakes and the tuatara,” the latter of which is a New Zealand reptile, Dan Marke of the University of Bristol said in a statement.
The skeleton of the oldest known member of the lepidosauria order, a family of reptiles, was found at a fossil-rich beach in Devon, southwest England, in 2015.
But figuring out what it actually was took the scientists years, and the discovery was announced in a study in the journal Nature on Wednesday.
“The new fossil shows almost none of what we expected,” said Marke, the study’s lead author.
Modern lizards and snakes have a partially hinged skull and plenty of teeth on the roof of their mouth — but this ancient ancestor had neither.
“Not only this but it possesses some spectacularly large teeth compared to its closest relatives,” the palaeobiologist said.
It also has a bone running from cheek to jaw, a feature it shares only with the unique tuatara that is often referred to as a “living fossil”.
“The new beast” used these teeth “to pierce and shear the hard cuticles of its insect prey, pretty much as the tuatara does today,” said study co-author Michael Benton, also from Bristol University.
The fossil was difficult to study because it is so small — the skull is just 1.5 centimetres (0.6 of an inch) wide — and was preserved in a large rock.
So the British researchers scanned it using the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, which works as a kind of huge microscope producing X-rays 100 billion times brighter than those used in hospitals.
The Synchrotron allowed the scientists to “zoom in on large objects and obtain very high-resolution images,” said Vincent Fernandez, a palaeontologist at the facility in France.
The scientists named the lizard ancestor Agriodontosaurus helsbypetrae, after the Helsby Sandstone Formation where it was discovered.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:AFP
AFP
Published Sep 10, 2025 • Last updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read
New Zealand's tuatara reptile, which bears some striking similarities to the lizard ancestor discovered in England. Photo by Marty MELVILLE /POOL/AFP/File
Paris (AFP) — Scientists announced Wednesday they have discovered the oldest-known member of the lizard family in southwest England, a tiny creature that used its surprisingly large teeth to hunt cockroaches 242 million years ago.
The ancient reptile, which lived during the Middle Triassic epoch shortly before the rise of the dinosaurs, was so small its entire body could fit in the palm of a human hand.
“The new animal is unlike anything yet discovered and has made us all think again about the evolution of the lizard, snakes and the tuatara,” the latter of which is a New Zealand reptile, Dan Marke of the University of Bristol said in a statement.
The skeleton of the oldest known member of the lepidosauria order, a family of reptiles, was found at a fossil-rich beach in Devon, southwest England, in 2015.
But figuring out what it actually was took the scientists years, and the discovery was announced in a study in the journal Nature on Wednesday.
“The new fossil shows almost none of what we expected,” said Marke, the study’s lead author.
Modern lizards and snakes have a partially hinged skull and plenty of teeth on the roof of their mouth — but this ancient ancestor had neither.
“Not only this but it possesses some spectacularly large teeth compared to its closest relatives,” the palaeobiologist said.
It also has a bone running from cheek to jaw, a feature it shares only with the unique tuatara that is often referred to as a “living fossil”.
“The new beast” used these teeth “to pierce and shear the hard cuticles of its insect prey, pretty much as the tuatara does today,” said study co-author Michael Benton, also from Bristol University.
The fossil was difficult to study because it is so small — the skull is just 1.5 centimetres (0.6 of an inch) wide — and was preserved in a large rock.
So the British researchers scanned it using the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, which works as a kind of huge microscope producing X-rays 100 billion times brighter than those used in hospitals.
The Synchrotron allowed the scientists to “zoom in on large objects and obtain very high-resolution images,” said Vincent Fernandez, a palaeontologist at the facility in France.
The scientists named the lizard ancestor Agriodontosaurus helsbypetrae, after the Helsby Sandstone Formation where it was discovered.
Oldest known lizard ancestor discovered in England
The ancient reptile was so small its entire body could fit in the palm of a human hand.
For a lizard to survive 242 Million years of "Climate Change" in England is absolutely remarkable.
What is the ‘kissing bug’ disease now endemic in U.S.?
More than 100 million people are considered at risk of being infected with Chagas disease worldwide
Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Grace Moon
Published Sep 11, 2025 • Last updated 1 day ago • 3 minute read
Chagas disease
Eastern Bloodsucking Conenose Kissing Bug (Triatoma sanguisuga) on a leaf in Houston, TX. The dangerous biting insect native to the USA, carries Chagas disease. Photo by Getty Images
“Kissing bug” disease, also known as Chagas disease, is now considered an endemic illness in the United States, according to research in an infectious-disease journal published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this month.
A disease is usually considered endemic when it is constantly present within a specific area or population. Worldwide, more than 100 million people are considered at risk of being infected with Chagas disease, according to the World Health Organization.
Here’s what to know.
– – –
What’s ‘kissing bug’ disease?
Chagas disease is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, which is found in the feces of the triatomine bug – commonly known as the “kissing bug” because it often bites people’s faces. The insects become infected when they feed on the blood of hosts carrying the parasite.
The disease can spread to humans and animals in several ways, such as when contaminated feces are accidentally rubbed into open wounds, the eyes or the mouth.
The disease can also be transmitted congenitally, from mother to child, or through contaminated blood transfusions, though these types of transmission are rarer.
Several animals, including dogs, can host the parasite, and there has been growing evidence of local canine infections in states such as Texas and California.
– – –
What are the signs and symptoms?
Chagas disease has two phases: acute and chronic. The acute phase, which occurs in the first few weeks or months after infection, can be asymptomatic. It can also cause mild symptoms such as fever, fatigue, body aches or swelling of the eyelid. Seeking treatment at this stage is very important, according to the CDC.
In the absence of treatment, chronic Chagas disease can develop and last for several years or even a lifetime. As many as 30 percent of those with Chagas disease can develop serious health complications that can lead to conditions such as heart failure or an enlarged esophagus or colon, the CDC says. Others may remain asymptomatic.
The disease is “often fatal by the time symptoms develop,” said Paula Stigler Granados, an associate professor at the San Diego State University School of Public Health.
Doctors are able to test humans and pets for the disease using a variety of methods.
– – –
Where in the U.S. is Chagas disease spreading?
Non-imported cases of Chagas disease have been identified in at least eight U.S. states so far, the new research says: California, Arizona, Texas, Tennessee, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi and Arkansas.
Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine, said that there has long been a misconception about where the disease can spread.
“We always think of this as a problem purely affecting low and middle-income countries,” he said. “But in fact, there’s quite a high percentage of these illnesses in wealthy countries like the U.S.”
The bloodsucking insects “occur naturally in the southern half of the country and have been identified in 32 states,” according to the new research. Kissing bugs are otherwise often found in rural parts of Mexico, Central America and South America.
– – –
How is Chagas disease treated?
There are currently no vaccines or drugs to prevent Chagas disease, according to the CDC. In the U.S., two antiparasitic medicines have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for those who are suspected to have been infected.
When traveling to countries where the disease is present, the CDC recommends reducing the risk of contact with infected kissing bugs, which are sometimes found in the cracks and crevices of poorly constructed houses and can survive both indoors and outdoors.
“We don’t have sufficient levels of active surveillance to look for these diseases,” Hotez said. “If you don’t look, you don’t find – and that’s been a big problem.”
While recognizing the disease as endemic is a “great first step,” Granados said, “labeling it as endemic will not change the fact that we don’t have systematic surveillance or the resources to support it.”
The CDC also recommends spraying areas with long-lasting insecticides, wearing clothing that covers the skin, and avoiding raw vegetables and unpeeled fruits in areas where Chagas disease has been detected. Pet owners can help prevent Chagas disease from reaching their furry friends by using anti-flea and tick medications such as Nexgard and Bravecto.
![GettyImages-1689262788[1].jpg](https://forums.canadiancontent.net/data/attachments/29/29312-40672eb4b6bcca37ee818f05da483c10.jpg "GettyImages-1689262788[1].jpg")
torontosun.com
More than 100 million people are considered at risk of being infected with Chagas disease worldwide
Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Grace Moon
Published Sep 11, 2025 • Last updated 1 day ago • 3 minute read
Chagas disease
Eastern Bloodsucking Conenose Kissing Bug (Triatoma sanguisuga) on a leaf in Houston, TX. The dangerous biting insect native to the USA, carries Chagas disease. Photo by Getty Images
“Kissing bug” disease, also known as Chagas disease, is now considered an endemic illness in the United States, according to research in an infectious-disease journal published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this month.
A disease is usually considered endemic when it is constantly present within a specific area or population. Worldwide, more than 100 million people are considered at risk of being infected with Chagas disease, according to the World Health Organization.
Here’s what to know.
– – –
What’s ‘kissing bug’ disease?
Chagas disease is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, which is found in the feces of the triatomine bug – commonly known as the “kissing bug” because it often bites people’s faces. The insects become infected when they feed on the blood of hosts carrying the parasite.
The disease can spread to humans and animals in several ways, such as when contaminated feces are accidentally rubbed into open wounds, the eyes or the mouth.
The disease can also be transmitted congenitally, from mother to child, or through contaminated blood transfusions, though these types of transmission are rarer.
Several animals, including dogs, can host the parasite, and there has been growing evidence of local canine infections in states such as Texas and California.
– – –
What are the signs and symptoms?
Chagas disease has two phases: acute and chronic. The acute phase, which occurs in the first few weeks or months after infection, can be asymptomatic. It can also cause mild symptoms such as fever, fatigue, body aches or swelling of the eyelid. Seeking treatment at this stage is very important, according to the CDC.
In the absence of treatment, chronic Chagas disease can develop and last for several years or even a lifetime. As many as 30 percent of those with Chagas disease can develop serious health complications that can lead to conditions such as heart failure or an enlarged esophagus or colon, the CDC says. Others may remain asymptomatic.
The disease is “often fatal by the time symptoms develop,” said Paula Stigler Granados, an associate professor at the San Diego State University School of Public Health.
Doctors are able to test humans and pets for the disease using a variety of methods.
– – –
Where in the U.S. is Chagas disease spreading?
Non-imported cases of Chagas disease have been identified in at least eight U.S. states so far, the new research says: California, Arizona, Texas, Tennessee, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi and Arkansas.
Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine, said that there has long been a misconception about where the disease can spread.
“We always think of this as a problem purely affecting low and middle-income countries,” he said. “But in fact, there’s quite a high percentage of these illnesses in wealthy countries like the U.S.”
The bloodsucking insects “occur naturally in the southern half of the country and have been identified in 32 states,” according to the new research. Kissing bugs are otherwise often found in rural parts of Mexico, Central America and South America.
– – –
How is Chagas disease treated?
There are currently no vaccines or drugs to prevent Chagas disease, according to the CDC. In the U.S., two antiparasitic medicines have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for those who are suspected to have been infected.
When traveling to countries where the disease is present, the CDC recommends reducing the risk of contact with infected kissing bugs, which are sometimes found in the cracks and crevices of poorly constructed houses and can survive both indoors and outdoors.
“We don’t have sufficient levels of active surveillance to look for these diseases,” Hotez said. “If you don’t look, you don’t find – and that’s been a big problem.”
While recognizing the disease as endemic is a “great first step,” Granados said, “labeling it as endemic will not change the fact that we don’t have systematic surveillance or the resources to support it.”
The CDC also recommends spraying areas with long-lasting insecticides, wearing clothing that covers the skin, and avoiding raw vegetables and unpeeled fruits in areas where Chagas disease has been detected. Pet owners can help prevent Chagas disease from reaching their furry friends by using anti-flea and tick medications such as Nexgard and Bravecto.
What is the ‘kissing bug’ disease now endemic in U.S.?
Worldwide, more than 100 million people are considered at risk of being infected with Chagas disease
Chronically sleepless? Study suggests it might cause your brain to age
Those with chronic insomnia are aging the equivalent of 3.5 additional years
Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Ariana Eunjung Cha
Published Sep 11, 2025 • 2 minute read
Persistent sleeplessness may be far worse than a passing annoyance – gradually unravelling memory and mental sharpness, according to new research.
A study published Wednesday in Neurology, the journal of the American Academy of Neurology, identifies a troubling link: Older people who have chronic insomnia appear more likely to experience accelerated aging of the brain. These changes are revealed in both cognitive tests and imaging scans showing the altered structure of the brain.
The research involved 2,750 cognitively healthy adults with an average age of 70. The participants, who were tracked on average for 5.6 years, underwent annual testing of executive functioning, visual-spatial reasoning and other dimensions of cognition.
The data showed that 14 percent of those with chronic insomnia developed mild cognitive impairment or dementia while 10 percent of those who did not have chronic insomnia did.
Researchers say that difference is significant in a study of this kind. Those with chronic insomnia are aging the equivalent of 3.5 additional years, a finding based on average cognitive performance and brain biomarkers expected for different age groups.
Diego Z. Carvalho, a sleep medicine specialist at the Mayo Clinic and lead author of the study, said the work supports growing evidence that suboptimal sleep, as early as in midlife, may foreshadow neurodegeneration. He noted that the study shows only an association and not causation.
“It could also be that poor sleep early on can be an indicator of cognitive decline,” Carvalho said. “It’s very hard to untangle.”
Santiago Clocchiatti-Tuozzo, a neurology resident at Yale New Haven Hospital who studies sleep and brain health, said one key finding in the study was that people with insomnia who slept fewer hours had worse outcomes, including poorer cognitive performance and more brain changes.
“If confirmed in future studies, these results could help shape strategies to preserve long-term brain health by considering not just sleep quality, but also how long people sleep,” said Clocchiatti-Tuozzo, who was not involved in the study.
Research on sleep and brain health has surged in the past decade, revealing important links between poor sleep and conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer’s. A landmark 2021 study published in JAMA Neurology found that sleeping more or less than the ideal range of seven to eight hours was connected to cognitive difficulties.
Sleeping less than six hours or more than nine hours was also tied to other health issues, including higher body mass index and increased symptoms of depression.
Karin G. Johnson, a sleep neurologist in Springfield, Massachusetts, said this type of detailed finding is fairly new for her field.
Adequate rest is crucial, Johnson said, because the brain’s process of clearing out toxins is thought to follow circadian rhythms and works best during sleep.
Johnson, an American Academy of Neurology fellow who was not involved in the study, hopes increased sleep among younger generations could lead to a healthier population in the future. She also advocates for policy changes, such as later school start times, to support better sleep habits.
“It’s important to lay that foundation of giving people enough time to sleep,” she said.
torontosun.com
Those with chronic insomnia are aging the equivalent of 3.5 additional years
Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Ariana Eunjung Cha
Published Sep 11, 2025 • 2 minute read
Persistent sleeplessness may be far worse than a passing annoyance – gradually unravelling memory and mental sharpness, according to new research.
A study published Wednesday in Neurology, the journal of the American Academy of Neurology, identifies a troubling link: Older people who have chronic insomnia appear more likely to experience accelerated aging of the brain. These changes are revealed in both cognitive tests and imaging scans showing the altered structure of the brain.
The research involved 2,750 cognitively healthy adults with an average age of 70. The participants, who were tracked on average for 5.6 years, underwent annual testing of executive functioning, visual-spatial reasoning and other dimensions of cognition.
The data showed that 14 percent of those with chronic insomnia developed mild cognitive impairment or dementia while 10 percent of those who did not have chronic insomnia did.
Researchers say that difference is significant in a study of this kind. Those with chronic insomnia are aging the equivalent of 3.5 additional years, a finding based on average cognitive performance and brain biomarkers expected for different age groups.
Diego Z. Carvalho, a sleep medicine specialist at the Mayo Clinic and lead author of the study, said the work supports growing evidence that suboptimal sleep, as early as in midlife, may foreshadow neurodegeneration. He noted that the study shows only an association and not causation.
“It could also be that poor sleep early on can be an indicator of cognitive decline,” Carvalho said. “It’s very hard to untangle.”
Santiago Clocchiatti-Tuozzo, a neurology resident at Yale New Haven Hospital who studies sleep and brain health, said one key finding in the study was that people with insomnia who slept fewer hours had worse outcomes, including poorer cognitive performance and more brain changes.
“If confirmed in future studies, these results could help shape strategies to preserve long-term brain health by considering not just sleep quality, but also how long people sleep,” said Clocchiatti-Tuozzo, who was not involved in the study.
Research on sleep and brain health has surged in the past decade, revealing important links between poor sleep and conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer’s. A landmark 2021 study published in JAMA Neurology found that sleeping more or less than the ideal range of seven to eight hours was connected to cognitive difficulties.
Sleeping less than six hours or more than nine hours was also tied to other health issues, including higher body mass index and increased symptoms of depression.
Karin G. Johnson, a sleep neurologist in Springfield, Massachusetts, said this type of detailed finding is fairly new for her field.
Adequate rest is crucial, Johnson said, because the brain’s process of clearing out toxins is thought to follow circadian rhythms and works best during sleep.
Johnson, an American Academy of Neurology fellow who was not involved in the study, hopes increased sleep among younger generations could lead to a healthier population in the future. She also advocates for policy changes, such as later school start times, to support better sleep habits.
“It’s important to lay that foundation of giving people enough time to sleep,” she said.
Chronically sleepless? Study suggests it might cause your brain to age
Persistent sleeplessness may be far worse than a passing annoyance - gradually unravelling memory and mental sharpness
Ostrich and emu ancestor could fly, scientists discover
Author of the article:AFP
AFP
by Bénédicte Rey
Published Sep 17, 2025 • 2 minute read
Ostriches may be ground-bound, but their ancestors could take flight, a new study says.
Ostriches may be ground-bound, but their ancestors could take flight, a new study says. Photo by GIANLUIGI GUERCIA /AFP/File
PARIS — How did the ostrich cross the ocean?
It may sound like a joke, but scientists have long been puzzled by how the family of birds that includes African ostriches, Australian emus and cassowaries, New Zealand kiwis and South American rheas spread across the world — given that none of them can fly.
However, a study published Wednesday may have found the answer to this mystery: the family’s oldest-known ancestors were able to take wing.
The only currently living member of this bird family — which is called palaeognaths — capable of flight is the tinamous in Central and South America. But even then, the shy birds can only fly over short distances when they need to escape danger or clear obstacles.
Given this ineptitude in the air, scientists have struggled to explain how palaeognaths became so far-flung.
Some assumed that the birds’ ancestors were split up when the supercontinent Gondwana started breaking up 160 million years ago, creating South America, Africa, Australia, India, New Zealand and Antarctica.
However, genetic research has shown that “the evolutionary splits between palaeognath species happened long after the continents had already separated,” lead study author Klara Widrig of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History told AFP.
Wing and a prayer
The fearsome Australian cassowary, which cannot fly but is sometimes called “the world’s most dangerous bird.” (DAVID GRAY/AFP/File)
Widrig and colleagues analysed the specimen of a lithornithid, the oldest palaeognath group for which fossils have been discovered. They lived during the Paleogene period 66-23 million years ago.
The fossil of the bird Lithornis promiscuus was first found in the US state of Wyoming, but had been sitting in the Smithsonian museum’s collection.
“Because bird bones tend to be delicate, they are often crushed during the process of fossilisation, but this one was not,” she said.
“Crucially for this study, it retained its original shape,” Widrig added. This allowed the researchers to scan the animal’s breastbone, which is where the muscles that enable flight would have been attached.
They determined that Lithornis promiscuus was able to fly — either by continuously beating its wings or alternating between flapping and gliding.
But this discovery prompts another question: why did these birds give up the power of flight?
Taking to the ground
“Birds tend to evolve flightlessness when two important conditions are met: they have to be able to obtain all their food on the ground, and there cannot be any predators to threaten them,” Widrig explained.
Other research has also recently revealed that lithornithids may have had a bony organ on the tip of their beaks which made them excel at foraging for insects.
Australian emus are a member of the flightless palaeognath family. (ROLAND WEIHRAUCH/DPA/AFP/File)
But what about the second condition — a lack of predators?
Widrig suspects that palaeognath ancestors likely started evolving towards flightlessness after dinosaurs went extinct around 65 million years ago.
“With all the major predators gone, ground-feeding birds would have been free to become flightless, which would have saved them a lot of energy,” she said.
The small mammals that survived the event that wiped out the dinosaurs — thought to have been a huge asteroid — would have taken some time to evolve into predators.
This would have given flightless birds “time to adapt by becoming swift runners” like the emu, ostrich and rhea — or even “becoming themselves dangerous and intimidating, like the cassowary,” she said.
The study was published in the Royal Society’s Biology Letters journal.
![f6d7880746cd0211925728292ddb4a23956fc579[1].jpg](https://forums.canadiancontent.net/data/attachments/29/29377-cd142eba388da0351328d3ac3acc038d.jpg "f6d7880746cd0211925728292ddb4a23956fc579[1].jpg")
torontosun.com
Author of the article:AFP
AFP
by Bénédicte Rey
Published Sep 17, 2025 • 2 minute read
Ostriches may be ground-bound, but their ancestors could take flight, a new study says.
Ostriches may be ground-bound, but their ancestors could take flight, a new study says. Photo by GIANLUIGI GUERCIA /AFP/File
PARIS — How did the ostrich cross the ocean?
It may sound like a joke, but scientists have long been puzzled by how the family of birds that includes African ostriches, Australian emus and cassowaries, New Zealand kiwis and South American rheas spread across the world — given that none of them can fly.
However, a study published Wednesday may have found the answer to this mystery: the family’s oldest-known ancestors were able to take wing.
The only currently living member of this bird family — which is called palaeognaths — capable of flight is the tinamous in Central and South America. But even then, the shy birds can only fly over short distances when they need to escape danger or clear obstacles.
Given this ineptitude in the air, scientists have struggled to explain how palaeognaths became so far-flung.
Some assumed that the birds’ ancestors were split up when the supercontinent Gondwana started breaking up 160 million years ago, creating South America, Africa, Australia, India, New Zealand and Antarctica.
However, genetic research has shown that “the evolutionary splits between palaeognath species happened long after the continents had already separated,” lead study author Klara Widrig of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History told AFP.
Wing and a prayer
The fearsome Australian cassowary, which cannot fly but is sometimes called “the world’s most dangerous bird.” (DAVID GRAY/AFP/File)
Widrig and colleagues analysed the specimen of a lithornithid, the oldest palaeognath group for which fossils have been discovered. They lived during the Paleogene period 66-23 million years ago.
The fossil of the bird Lithornis promiscuus was first found in the US state of Wyoming, but had been sitting in the Smithsonian museum’s collection.
“Because bird bones tend to be delicate, they are often crushed during the process of fossilisation, but this one was not,” she said.
“Crucially for this study, it retained its original shape,” Widrig added. This allowed the researchers to scan the animal’s breastbone, which is where the muscles that enable flight would have been attached.
They determined that Lithornis promiscuus was able to fly — either by continuously beating its wings or alternating between flapping and gliding.
But this discovery prompts another question: why did these birds give up the power of flight?
Taking to the ground
“Birds tend to evolve flightlessness when two important conditions are met: they have to be able to obtain all their food on the ground, and there cannot be any predators to threaten them,” Widrig explained.
Other research has also recently revealed that lithornithids may have had a bony organ on the tip of their beaks which made them excel at foraging for insects.
Australian emus are a member of the flightless palaeognath family. (ROLAND WEIHRAUCH/DPA/AFP/File)
But what about the second condition — a lack of predators?
Widrig suspects that palaeognath ancestors likely started evolving towards flightlessness after dinosaurs went extinct around 65 million years ago.
“With all the major predators gone, ground-feeding birds would have been free to become flightless, which would have saved them a lot of energy,” she said.
The small mammals that survived the event that wiped out the dinosaurs — thought to have been a huge asteroid — would have taken some time to evolve into predators.
This would have given flightless birds “time to adapt by becoming swift runners” like the emu, ostrich and rhea — or even “becoming themselves dangerous and intimidating, like the cassowary,” she said.
The study was published in the Royal Society’s Biology Letters journal.
Ostrich and emu ancestor could fly, scientists discover
How did the ostrich cross the ocean?
India health alert after 'brain-eating' amoeba rise
Author of the article:AFP
AFP
Published Sep 18, 2025 • 1 minute read
Brain-eating amoeba infection, naegleriasis. Trophozoite, infectious form of the parasite Naegleria fowleri, 3D illustration Photo by Dr_Microbe /Getty Images/iStockphoto
Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.
New Delhi (AFP) — India has issued a health alert after infections and deaths caused by a rare water-borne “brain-eating” amoeba doubled compared to last year in the southern state of Kerala.
Numbers are still tiny but Altaf Ali, a doctor who is part of a government task force to arrest the spread, told AFP that officials were “conducting tests on a large scale across the state to detect and treat cases”.
Officials reported 19 deaths and 72 infections of the Naegleria fowleri amoeba this year, including nine deaths and 24 cases in September alone.
Last year, the amoeba killed nine people out of 36 reported cases.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says it is often called a “brain-eating amoeba” because it can “infect the brain and destroy brain tissue”.
If the amoeba reaches the brain, it can cause an infection that kills over 95 percent of those affected.
Infections are “very rare but nearly always fatal”, the CDC notes.
The amoeba lives in warm lakes and rivers and is contracted by contaminated water entering the nose. It does not spread from person to person.
The World Health Organization says that symptoms include headache, fever and vomiting, which rapidly progresses to “seizures, altered mental status, hallucinations, and coma”.
“Its worrying that new cases this year have emerged from across the state, as opposed to specific pockets in the past,” Ali said.
Since 1962, nearly 500 cases have been reported worldwide, mostly in the United States, India, Pakistan, and Australia.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:AFP
AFP
Published Sep 18, 2025 • 1 minute read
Brain-eating amoeba infection, naegleriasis. Trophozoite, infectious form of the parasite Naegleria fowleri, 3D illustration Photo by Dr_Microbe /Getty Images/iStockphoto
Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.
New Delhi (AFP) — India has issued a health alert after infections and deaths caused by a rare water-borne “brain-eating” amoeba doubled compared to last year in the southern state of Kerala.
Numbers are still tiny but Altaf Ali, a doctor who is part of a government task force to arrest the spread, told AFP that officials were “conducting tests on a large scale across the state to detect and treat cases”.
Officials reported 19 deaths and 72 infections of the Naegleria fowleri amoeba this year, including nine deaths and 24 cases in September alone.
Last year, the amoeba killed nine people out of 36 reported cases.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says it is often called a “brain-eating amoeba” because it can “infect the brain and destroy brain tissue”.
If the amoeba reaches the brain, it can cause an infection that kills over 95 percent of those affected.
Infections are “very rare but nearly always fatal”, the CDC notes.
The amoeba lives in warm lakes and rivers and is contracted by contaminated water entering the nose. It does not spread from person to person.
The World Health Organization says that symptoms include headache, fever and vomiting, which rapidly progresses to “seizures, altered mental status, hallucinations, and coma”.
“Its worrying that new cases this year have emerged from across the state, as opposed to specific pockets in the past,” Ali said.
Since 1962, nearly 500 cases have been reported worldwide, mostly in the United States, India, Pakistan, and Australia.
India health alert after 'brain-eating' amoeba rise
Last year, the amoeba killed nine people out of 36 reported cases.
Malnutrition causes unrecognized type of diabetes: Experts
A paper published in The Lancet Global Health shows that more than 25 million people suffer from this type 5 diabetes
Author of the article:AFP
AFP
Published Sep 18, 2025 • 2 minute read
Pakistan was one of several countries where malnutrition was found to be causing type 5 diabetes.
Pakistan was one of several countries where malnutrition was found to be causing type 5 diabetes.
Malnutrition can cause its own form of diabetes, health experts said Thursday, calling for “type 5 diabetes” to be recognized globally to help fight the disease in countries already struggling with poverty and starvation.
The most common form of diabetes, type 2, can be caused by obesity and occurs when adults become resistant to the hormone insulin. Type 1, mostly diagnosed in childhood, arises when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin.
But diabetes researchers have been tracking another form of the disease, which often appears in people aged under 30. It also affects insulin production but is less severe than type 1.
And rather than being linked to being overweight or obese like type 2, it affects people who are underweight because they do not eat enough.
A paper published in medical journal The Lancet Global Health shows that more than 25 million people suffer from this “type 5 diabetes”, mostly in developing countries.
“We call upon the international diabetes community to recognize this distinct form of the disease,” the authors wrote, reflecting a consensus reached by the International Diabetes Federation earlier this year.
The experts settled on calling this form of diabetes type 5, though types 3 and 4 have not been officially recognized.
Diabetes driven by malnutrition is not a new discovery — in the 1980s and 1990s, the World Health Organization classified a form of “malnutrition-related diabetes”.
But the UN agency abandoned this classification in 1999 due to a lack of agreement among experts about whether undernourishment alone was enough to cause diabetes.
Since then, numerous studies in countries including Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Uganda, Pakistan and Rwanda have indicated that this is possible.
The exact link between malnutrition and this strand of diabetes remains unknown. The efficacy of existing diabetes treatments that do not focus on weight loss on type 5 is also unclear.
The best way to fight the disease involves supporting programs already working to combat poverty and hunger, the authors of the paper said.
This includes giving people access to “low-cost, energy-dense staple foods high in protein and complex carbohydrates” such as lentils, legumes, oil-enriched cereals and fortified grains, they added.
torontosun.com
A paper published in The Lancet Global Health shows that more than 25 million people suffer from this type 5 diabetes
Author of the article:AFP
AFP
Published Sep 18, 2025 • 2 minute read
Pakistan was one of several countries where malnutrition was found to be causing type 5 diabetes.
Pakistan was one of several countries where malnutrition was found to be causing type 5 diabetes.
Malnutrition can cause its own form of diabetes, health experts said Thursday, calling for “type 5 diabetes” to be recognized globally to help fight the disease in countries already struggling with poverty and starvation.
The most common form of diabetes, type 2, can be caused by obesity and occurs when adults become resistant to the hormone insulin. Type 1, mostly diagnosed in childhood, arises when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin.
But diabetes researchers have been tracking another form of the disease, which often appears in people aged under 30. It also affects insulin production but is less severe than type 1.
And rather than being linked to being overweight or obese like type 2, it affects people who are underweight because they do not eat enough.
A paper published in medical journal The Lancet Global Health shows that more than 25 million people suffer from this “type 5 diabetes”, mostly in developing countries.
“We call upon the international diabetes community to recognize this distinct form of the disease,” the authors wrote, reflecting a consensus reached by the International Diabetes Federation earlier this year.
The experts settled on calling this form of diabetes type 5, though types 3 and 4 have not been officially recognized.
Diabetes driven by malnutrition is not a new discovery — in the 1980s and 1990s, the World Health Organization classified a form of “malnutrition-related diabetes”.
But the UN agency abandoned this classification in 1999 due to a lack of agreement among experts about whether undernourishment alone was enough to cause diabetes.
Since then, numerous studies in countries including Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Uganda, Pakistan and Rwanda have indicated that this is possible.
The exact link between malnutrition and this strand of diabetes remains unknown. The efficacy of existing diabetes treatments that do not focus on weight loss on type 5 is also unclear.
The best way to fight the disease involves supporting programs already working to combat poverty and hunger, the authors of the paper said.
This includes giving people access to “low-cost, energy-dense staple foods high in protein and complex carbohydrates” such as lentils, legumes, oil-enriched cereals and fortified grains, they added.
Malnutrition causes unrecognized type of diabetes: Experts
A paper published in medical journal The Lancet Global Health shows that more than 25 million people suffer from this type 5 diabetes
Montreal family sues for $4.2 million after exposure to campfire smoke at Mont-Tremblant park
Sépaq did not do enough to limit exposure that led to health problems for children, the lawsuit states.
Author of the article:Montreal Gazette
Montreal Gazette
Michelle Lalonde
Published Sep 18, 2025 • Last updated 1 day ago • 4 minute read
Mont-Tremblant is full of colour in late September.
Mont-Tremblant is full of colour in late September.
A Montreal family has filed a multimillion dollar lawsuit against the agency that manages Quebec’s provincial parks, claiming the heavy campfire smoke they were exposed to on a three-day camping trip caused lasting damage to their health.
Daniel Vézina and his spouse, Pierre Perreault-Bélanger, are demanding $4.2 million in damages on behalf of themselves and their three children, from the Sociéte des établissements de plein air du Québec (Sépaq), according to a civil claim filed Sept. 8 in Superior Court.
On Sept. 9, 2022, the family spent the day playing in the woods and on the beach of Monroe Lake at Mont-Tremblant Park, about a two-hour drive northwest of Montreal. In the evening, they attended a star-gazing activity, which included a campfire. Vézina kept the children, who all suffer from asthma, at a distance from the fire, because they were coughing.
When the family returned to their campsite, they found smoke heavy in the air due to campfires burning at neighbouring campsites. Vézina reacted to the heavy smoke immediately, developing a headache, throat irritation and stinging eyes.
During a hike on the Sunday, with smoke still present in the air, the youngest child, a seven-year-old boy, began coughing and was given asthma medication. On the car ride home, the suit claims all three children began to cough and develop asthma symptoms that were hard to bring under control even with medication.
Over the next few days, Vézina developed a burning sensation in his chest. His family physician suggested his lungs were irritated due to exposure to smoke and predicted the pain would disappear in a couple of weeks. But Vézina’s symptoms worsened and he ended up in emergency at a Montreal hospital. He was hospitalized for a week at Montreal’s Cardiac Institute but tests were inconclusive.
After another week in hospital, Vézina received a diagnosis of vasopastic angina — chest pain caused by temporary narrowing of the coronary arteries that supply blood to the heart. The doctor said it was probably triggered by exposure to campfire smoke.
Vézina, who had been very active before the camping trip, found his angina symptoms now stopped him from partaking in many of his normal activities, made it difficult to work, climb stairs, do housework, cook or accompany the children to school. A chartered accountant who owns his own accounting and financial firm, Vézina could only manage about 30 per cent of his previous workload since the camping trip due to his health problems.
Following the trip, the children’s asthma symptoms and general state of health worsened, the suit claims. They had to increase their medication substantially, which negatively affected their quality of life, energy levels, school attendance and psychological well-being. The youngest child developed a serious cortisol deficit, due to his increased medication, a condition that can be fatal. The family and school officials had to practise constant vigilance to ensure his wellbeing, keeping an emergency kit at hand at all times. This limited the boy’s activities and imposed a heavy burden on the family.
Vézina is claiming $3.8 million — $300,000 for pain and suffering, $3 million for loss of revenue and earning potential, and $500,000 for current and future expenses — on his own behalf. Perreault-Bélanger is claiming $150,000 for stress and suffering, and the couple is claiming $270,000 on behalf of their three children.
The family claims Sépaq was negligent because the agency did a study in 2009 that found that exposure to high concentrations of smoke from campfires could cause harmful health effects. Despite this, the agency did not adequately inform campers of health risks linked to exposure to campfire smoke, the suit claims.
Also, Sépaq had received complaints from campers claiming health problems caused by exposure to campfire smoke at their parks, and yet the agency did not put in place measures to lower or prevent risk, such as designating no-campfire zones.
Sépaq also aggravated and amplified the problem, the suit claims, by densifying its campgrounds over the years. Increasing the number of sites, which in turn increased the level of concentration of campfire smoke to which it was exposing visitors. Sépaq also encourages the lighting of campfires in its promotional publications, it claims.
A spokesperson for Sépaq, Simon Boivin, said the agency will contest the lawsuit.
“Sépaq considers that it has not committed any wrongdoing and that the accusations levelled at it are unfounded,” he wrote in a statement to The Gazette.
Vézina has founded an advocacy group called Families for Clean Air, a non-profit organization fighting against air pollution caused by wood smoke. Reached by The Gazette, he declined to be interviewed for this story.
Public health experts have been trying to educate on the health risks of exposure to wood smoke for years, and more so lately due to increased wildfire activity across Canada.
Small particles, known as PM2.5, are present in wood smoke and can penetrate deep into the lungs and cause damage, said Scott Weichenthal, an epidemiologist who teaches at McGill University’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and director of McGill’s Centre for Climate Change and Health.
A campfire, Weichenthal said, “is like a small, man-made forest fire that you are inhaling, We know that has health impacts … cardiovascular and respiratory effects. That is settled science. It’s not up for debate anymore and that’s why we spend so much time talking to the media about reducing exposure.”
He said exposure to heavy smoke can cause asthma attacks and cardiovascular events like heart attacks. Most people would not have acute reactions to campfire smoke, but some will, he said. “All these things are consistent with what we know about air pollution.”
“Predicting the risk at an individual level is not something we can do, but we do know that when you compare the health of more-exposed and less-exposed people, the more-exposed people have a higher rate of adverse cardiovascular and respiratory events.”
He suggested campsite managers put low-cost air quality monitors in the parks, and then inform campers and discourage campfires when levels of dangerous pollutants are above a certain level.
torontosun.com
Sépaq did not do enough to limit exposure that led to health problems for children, the lawsuit states.
Author of the article:Montreal Gazette
Montreal Gazette
Michelle Lalonde
Published Sep 18, 2025 • Last updated 1 day ago • 4 minute read
Mont-Tremblant is full of colour in late September.
Mont-Tremblant is full of colour in late September.
A Montreal family has filed a multimillion dollar lawsuit against the agency that manages Quebec’s provincial parks, claiming the heavy campfire smoke they were exposed to on a three-day camping trip caused lasting damage to their health.
Daniel Vézina and his spouse, Pierre Perreault-Bélanger, are demanding $4.2 million in damages on behalf of themselves and their three children, from the Sociéte des établissements de plein air du Québec (Sépaq), according to a civil claim filed Sept. 8 in Superior Court.
On Sept. 9, 2022, the family spent the day playing in the woods and on the beach of Monroe Lake at Mont-Tremblant Park, about a two-hour drive northwest of Montreal. In the evening, they attended a star-gazing activity, which included a campfire. Vézina kept the children, who all suffer from asthma, at a distance from the fire, because they were coughing.
When the family returned to their campsite, they found smoke heavy in the air due to campfires burning at neighbouring campsites. Vézina reacted to the heavy smoke immediately, developing a headache, throat irritation and stinging eyes.
During a hike on the Sunday, with smoke still present in the air, the youngest child, a seven-year-old boy, began coughing and was given asthma medication. On the car ride home, the suit claims all three children began to cough and develop asthma symptoms that were hard to bring under control even with medication.
Over the next few days, Vézina developed a burning sensation in his chest. His family physician suggested his lungs were irritated due to exposure to smoke and predicted the pain would disappear in a couple of weeks. But Vézina’s symptoms worsened and he ended up in emergency at a Montreal hospital. He was hospitalized for a week at Montreal’s Cardiac Institute but tests were inconclusive.
After another week in hospital, Vézina received a diagnosis of vasopastic angina — chest pain caused by temporary narrowing of the coronary arteries that supply blood to the heart. The doctor said it was probably triggered by exposure to campfire smoke.
Vézina, who had been very active before the camping trip, found his angina symptoms now stopped him from partaking in many of his normal activities, made it difficult to work, climb stairs, do housework, cook or accompany the children to school. A chartered accountant who owns his own accounting and financial firm, Vézina could only manage about 30 per cent of his previous workload since the camping trip due to his health problems.
Following the trip, the children’s asthma symptoms and general state of health worsened, the suit claims. They had to increase their medication substantially, which negatively affected their quality of life, energy levels, school attendance and psychological well-being. The youngest child developed a serious cortisol deficit, due to his increased medication, a condition that can be fatal. The family and school officials had to practise constant vigilance to ensure his wellbeing, keeping an emergency kit at hand at all times. This limited the boy’s activities and imposed a heavy burden on the family.
Vézina is claiming $3.8 million — $300,000 for pain and suffering, $3 million for loss of revenue and earning potential, and $500,000 for current and future expenses — on his own behalf. Perreault-Bélanger is claiming $150,000 for stress and suffering, and the couple is claiming $270,000 on behalf of their three children.
The family claims Sépaq was negligent because the agency did a study in 2009 that found that exposure to high concentrations of smoke from campfires could cause harmful health effects. Despite this, the agency did not adequately inform campers of health risks linked to exposure to campfire smoke, the suit claims.
Also, Sépaq had received complaints from campers claiming health problems caused by exposure to campfire smoke at their parks, and yet the agency did not put in place measures to lower or prevent risk, such as designating no-campfire zones.
Sépaq also aggravated and amplified the problem, the suit claims, by densifying its campgrounds over the years. Increasing the number of sites, which in turn increased the level of concentration of campfire smoke to which it was exposing visitors. Sépaq also encourages the lighting of campfires in its promotional publications, it claims.
A spokesperson for Sépaq, Simon Boivin, said the agency will contest the lawsuit.
“Sépaq considers that it has not committed any wrongdoing and that the accusations levelled at it are unfounded,” he wrote in a statement to The Gazette.
Vézina has founded an advocacy group called Families for Clean Air, a non-profit organization fighting against air pollution caused by wood smoke. Reached by The Gazette, he declined to be interviewed for this story.
Public health experts have been trying to educate on the health risks of exposure to wood smoke for years, and more so lately due to increased wildfire activity across Canada.
Small particles, known as PM2.5, are present in wood smoke and can penetrate deep into the lungs and cause damage, said Scott Weichenthal, an epidemiologist who teaches at McGill University’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and director of McGill’s Centre for Climate Change and Health.
A campfire, Weichenthal said, “is like a small, man-made forest fire that you are inhaling, We know that has health impacts … cardiovascular and respiratory effects. That is settled science. It’s not up for debate anymore and that’s why we spend so much time talking to the media about reducing exposure.”
He said exposure to heavy smoke can cause asthma attacks and cardiovascular events like heart attacks. Most people would not have acute reactions to campfire smoke, but some will, he said. “All these things are consistent with what we know about air pollution.”
“Predicting the risk at an individual level is not something we can do, but we do know that when you compare the health of more-exposed and less-exposed people, the more-exposed people have a higher rate of adverse cardiovascular and respiratory events.”
He suggested campsite managers put low-cost air quality monitors in the parks, and then inform campers and discourage campfires when levels of dangerous pollutants are above a certain level.
Montreal family sues for $4.2 million after exposure to campfire smoke at Mont-Tremblant park
Montreal family sues for $4-2 million after exposure to campfire smoke at Mont-Tremblant park
12-million-year-old porpoise fossil found in Peru
Author of the article:AFP
AFP
Published Sep 18, 2025 • 1 minute read
A complete petrified skeleton of an ancestor of modern porpoises dating back more than 10 million years is unveiled at the Geological, Mining, and Metallurgical Institute (INGEMMET) in Lima on September 17, 2025.
A complete petrified skeleton of an ancestor of modern porpoises dating back more than 10 million years is unveiled at the Geological, Mining, and Metallurgical Institute (INGEMMET) in Lima on September 17, 2025. Photo by Ernesto BENAVIDES /AFP
LIMA — Peruvian paleontologists on Wednesday unveiled the 12-million-year-old fossil of a prehistoric porpoise found near the country’s Pacific coast.
The fossil, which measures 3.5 meters (about 11.5 feet) long, was found in July by Peruvian paleontologist Mario Urbina in the Ocucaje desert, around 350 kilometers (217 miles) south of the capital Lima.
Presenting his find at the Geological, Mining, and Metallurgical Institute in Lima, Urbina said it was a rare specimen of a porpoise from the Pisco geological formation, noted for its well-preserved marine fossils.
Another paleontologist, Mario Gamarra, said the relic’s excellent condition would allow scientists new avenues for studying the prehistoric marine mammal: “how it moved, how it swam, what it ate and for how long it lived.”
The Ocucaje desert is a paradise for fossil hunters.
The skeletons of four-legged dwarf whales, dolphins, sharks, and other species from the Miocene period (between five million and 23 million years ago) have all been discovered in the area.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:AFP
AFP
Published Sep 18, 2025 • 1 minute read
A complete petrified skeleton of an ancestor of modern porpoises dating back more than 10 million years is unveiled at the Geological, Mining, and Metallurgical Institute (INGEMMET) in Lima on September 17, 2025.
A complete petrified skeleton of an ancestor of modern porpoises dating back more than 10 million years is unveiled at the Geological, Mining, and Metallurgical Institute (INGEMMET) in Lima on September 17, 2025. Photo by Ernesto BENAVIDES /AFP
LIMA — Peruvian paleontologists on Wednesday unveiled the 12-million-year-old fossil of a prehistoric porpoise found near the country’s Pacific coast.
The fossil, which measures 3.5 meters (about 11.5 feet) long, was found in July by Peruvian paleontologist Mario Urbina in the Ocucaje desert, around 350 kilometers (217 miles) south of the capital Lima.
Presenting his find at the Geological, Mining, and Metallurgical Institute in Lima, Urbina said it was a rare specimen of a porpoise from the Pisco geological formation, noted for its well-preserved marine fossils.
Another paleontologist, Mario Gamarra, said the relic’s excellent condition would allow scientists new avenues for studying the prehistoric marine mammal: “how it moved, how it swam, what it ate and for how long it lived.”
The Ocucaje desert is a paradise for fossil hunters.
The skeletons of four-legged dwarf whales, dolphins, sharks, and other species from the Miocene period (between five million and 23 million years ago) have all been discovered in the area.
12-million-year-old porpoise fossil found in Peru
The fossil, which measures 3.5 metres long, was found in July by Peruvian paleontologist Mario Urbina in the Ocucaje desert
Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain chip clinical trial in Canada raises ethical questions
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Hannah Alberga
Published Sep 19, 2025 • 5 minute read
Some doctors and bioethicists are raising concerns about a Toronto hospital’s partnership with a company founded by U.S. billionaire Elon Musk.
University Health Network announced earlier this month that two quadriplegic Canadian patients had received Musk’s Neuralink brain implants as part of a study testing the safety and effectiveness of the wireless device.
While critics see virtue in the clinical trial’s goals of giving autonomy to people who are paralyzed, they object to a Canadian hospital working with a Musk-owned company in the wake of devastating cuts to life-saving health programs, which he spearheaded. Other ethicists say if this technology could improve the lives of patients, that should be prioritized.
Dr. Raghu Venugopal, an emergency physician at University Health Network, posted on social media earlier this month that “Canadian MDs should never collaborate with Elon Musk.”
He said Musk “destroyed” the U.S. government’s foreign aid funding, which a recent study in The Lancet medical journal estimated could result in 14 million deaths over the next five years.
For several months earlier this year, Musk headed the U.S. government’s efforts to slash spending that included ending most of the government’s foreign aid through USAID, which runs a wide range of programs, such as distributing HIV medication, vaccinating people against polio and working to eliminate malaria.
The Lancet research estimated USAID programs saved over 90 million lives over the past two decades.
University of Toronto bioethicist Kerry Bowman said he would argue Musk’s “profoundly destructive” role in setting back these major strides in global health-care access should have been a consideration in this partnership, and that it makes him “very uncomfortable and concerned ethically.”
The tension of public-private partnerships is not new, but the divisive nature of U.S. politics has added another layer of complexity. Recently, Ontario Premier Doug Ford cancelled a partnership with Musk’s internet provider Starlink because of U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods.
University Health Network executive vice president of science and research Brad Wouters said he recognizes the “complexities” of partnering with Musk in the wake of his involvement in cuts to global health funding and said that Neuralink selected UHN for the CAN-PRIME study beforehand.
“We determined that it is in the best interest of patients and science to participate in this collaboration,” Wouters said in a statement Monday.
“After careful consideration and approval of the study protocol by regulatory bodies, we determined that participating in this trial aligns with our responsibility to pursue the next frontier in care for patients with limited options.”
University Health Network is the first site outside of the United States to test Neuralink’s brain implant with permission to recruit six participants who have either been paralyzed by a spinal cord injury or who have Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).
Ultra-thin electrode threads were implanted into the brains of two Canadian patients and within minutes, they were able to translate neural signals into actions, controlling a computer cursor with their thoughts, the lead neurosurgeon said after the procedures on Aug. 27 and Sept. 3 at Toronto Western Hospital.
Wouters said the hospital network complies with ethical standards set by independent research ethics boards and Health Canada for all clinical trials.
Despite these regulatory green lights, Bowman said he is also concerned about the U.S. company’s lack of transparency about its medical research. He said Neuralink acts more as a corporation, posting videos and testimonials on its website instead of information on its results and failures.
He said he could not find information on the risks of the invasive procedure, such as what happens if the device degrades or gets infected, or how they obtain consent and select participants, which he said is usually easy to look up for a clinical trial. Bowman said he could only find a medical journal article authored by Elon Musk in 2019.
Neuralink did not respond to a request for comment.
“What happens is the private enterprise, and not all of them maybe, but it really pulls you outside of the normal medical sphere. There’s layers of concern with this,” Bowman said.
The first person to receive a Neuralink brain implant in the United States last year has said publicly that the device started slipping out of his brain weeks after the surgery, but that he’s since stabilized and that it has still been worthwhile.
Bowman said there are other biotech companies conducting clinical trials on brain-computer interface (BCI) devices, aiming to allow people with quadriplegia to control external devices with their thoughts, and questions why UHN wouldn’t consider working with them. New-York based Synchron and China’s Neuracle Neuroscience have clinical trials underway.
UHN did not say whether it considered working with other companies, but said that Neuralink approached the hospital network because of its leadership in neurosurgery and biomedical research.
Neuroethics Canada director Judy Illes said Musk politics should not have any bearing on the clinical trial. While she said the global health cuts are troubling, they should be “compartmentalized” from Neuralink’s research in Canada.
“One has specifically to do with research ethics and clinical trials, and the other has to do with global health policy,” Illes, a University of British Columbia neurology professor, said.
“Otherwise, to use the old metaphor, we might be throwing the baby out with the bath water,” she said.
Ethicist Arthur Schafer said the debate ultimately boils down to doctors’ Hippocratic Oath to protect their patients and prevent harm.
“If the technology turns out to be safe and effective, then doctors should not hesitate to give patients access to the technology despite the fact that the founder and major shareholder of Neuralink is the odious Elon Musk,” said Schafer, founding director of the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba.
But if there are other companies at the same stage of development as Neuralink that would have the same results for patients, Schafer said it would be fair to consider Musk’s involvement.
“I think it it is possible for a physician to indulge his or her ethical reservations about Mr. Musk and his role in slashing public health and in cutting back, causing potentially millions of deaths, helping to destroy USAID — if it would be in no way disadvantageous to one’s patients,” Schafer said.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Hannah Alberga
Published Sep 19, 2025 • 5 minute read
Some doctors and bioethicists are raising concerns about a Toronto hospital’s partnership with a company founded by U.S. billionaire Elon Musk.
University Health Network announced earlier this month that two quadriplegic Canadian patients had received Musk’s Neuralink brain implants as part of a study testing the safety and effectiveness of the wireless device.
While critics see virtue in the clinical trial’s goals of giving autonomy to people who are paralyzed, they object to a Canadian hospital working with a Musk-owned company in the wake of devastating cuts to life-saving health programs, which he spearheaded. Other ethicists say if this technology could improve the lives of patients, that should be prioritized.
Dr. Raghu Venugopal, an emergency physician at University Health Network, posted on social media earlier this month that “Canadian MDs should never collaborate with Elon Musk.”
He said Musk “destroyed” the U.S. government’s foreign aid funding, which a recent study in The Lancet medical journal estimated could result in 14 million deaths over the next five years.
For several months earlier this year, Musk headed the U.S. government’s efforts to slash spending that included ending most of the government’s foreign aid through USAID, which runs a wide range of programs, such as distributing HIV medication, vaccinating people against polio and working to eliminate malaria.
The Lancet research estimated USAID programs saved over 90 million lives over the past two decades.
University of Toronto bioethicist Kerry Bowman said he would argue Musk’s “profoundly destructive” role in setting back these major strides in global health-care access should have been a consideration in this partnership, and that it makes him “very uncomfortable and concerned ethically.”
The tension of public-private partnerships is not new, but the divisive nature of U.S. politics has added another layer of complexity. Recently, Ontario Premier Doug Ford cancelled a partnership with Musk’s internet provider Starlink because of U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods.
University Health Network executive vice president of science and research Brad Wouters said he recognizes the “complexities” of partnering with Musk in the wake of his involvement in cuts to global health funding and said that Neuralink selected UHN for the CAN-PRIME study beforehand.
“We determined that it is in the best interest of patients and science to participate in this collaboration,” Wouters said in a statement Monday.
“After careful consideration and approval of the study protocol by regulatory bodies, we determined that participating in this trial aligns with our responsibility to pursue the next frontier in care for patients with limited options.”
University Health Network is the first site outside of the United States to test Neuralink’s brain implant with permission to recruit six participants who have either been paralyzed by a spinal cord injury or who have Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).
Ultra-thin electrode threads were implanted into the brains of two Canadian patients and within minutes, they were able to translate neural signals into actions, controlling a computer cursor with their thoughts, the lead neurosurgeon said after the procedures on Aug. 27 and Sept. 3 at Toronto Western Hospital.
Wouters said the hospital network complies with ethical standards set by independent research ethics boards and Health Canada for all clinical trials.
Despite these regulatory green lights, Bowman said he is also concerned about the U.S. company’s lack of transparency about its medical research. He said Neuralink acts more as a corporation, posting videos and testimonials on its website instead of information on its results and failures.
He said he could not find information on the risks of the invasive procedure, such as what happens if the device degrades or gets infected, or how they obtain consent and select participants, which he said is usually easy to look up for a clinical trial. Bowman said he could only find a medical journal article authored by Elon Musk in 2019.
Neuralink did not respond to a request for comment.
“What happens is the private enterprise, and not all of them maybe, but it really pulls you outside of the normal medical sphere. There’s layers of concern with this,” Bowman said.
The first person to receive a Neuralink brain implant in the United States last year has said publicly that the device started slipping out of his brain weeks after the surgery, but that he’s since stabilized and that it has still been worthwhile.
Bowman said there are other biotech companies conducting clinical trials on brain-computer interface (BCI) devices, aiming to allow people with quadriplegia to control external devices with their thoughts, and questions why UHN wouldn’t consider working with them. New-York based Synchron and China’s Neuracle Neuroscience have clinical trials underway.
UHN did not say whether it considered working with other companies, but said that Neuralink approached the hospital network because of its leadership in neurosurgery and biomedical research.
Neuroethics Canada director Judy Illes said Musk politics should not have any bearing on the clinical trial. While she said the global health cuts are troubling, they should be “compartmentalized” from Neuralink’s research in Canada.
“One has specifically to do with research ethics and clinical trials, and the other has to do with global health policy,” Illes, a University of British Columbia neurology professor, said.
“Otherwise, to use the old metaphor, we might be throwing the baby out with the bath water,” she said.
Ethicist Arthur Schafer said the debate ultimately boils down to doctors’ Hippocratic Oath to protect their patients and prevent harm.
“If the technology turns out to be safe and effective, then doctors should not hesitate to give patients access to the technology despite the fact that the founder and major shareholder of Neuralink is the odious Elon Musk,” said Schafer, founding director of the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba.
But if there are other companies at the same stage of development as Neuralink that would have the same results for patients, Schafer said it would be fair to consider Musk’s involvement.
“I think it it is possible for a physician to indulge his or her ethical reservations about Mr. Musk and his role in slashing public health and in cutting back, causing potentially millions of deaths, helping to destroy USAID — if it would be in no way disadvantageous to one’s patients,” Schafer said.
Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain chip clinical trial in Canada raises ethical questions
Some doctors and bioethicists are raising concerns about a Toronto hospital's partnership with a company founded by Elon Musk.
What's the big deal if it takes short fibre optics units to bridge a spinal injury? That's not in the noggin.Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain chip clinical trial in Canada raises ethical questions
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Hannah Alberga
Published Sep 19, 2025 • 5 minute read
Some doctors and bioethicists are raising concerns about a Toronto hospital’s partnership with a company founded by U.S. billionaire Elon Musk.
University Health Network announced earlier this month that two quadriplegic Canadian patients had received Musk’s Neuralink brain implants as part of a study testing the safety and effectiveness of the wireless device.
While critics see virtue in the clinical trial’s goals of giving autonomy to people who are paralyzed, they object to a Canadian hospital working with a Musk-owned company in the wake of devastating cuts to life-saving health programs, which he spearheaded. Other ethicists say if this technology could improve the lives of patients, that should be prioritized.
Dr. Raghu Venugopal, an emergency physician at University Health Network, posted on social media earlier this month that “Canadian MDs should never collaborate with Elon Musk.”
He said Musk “destroyed” the U.S. government’s foreign aid funding, which a recent study in The Lancet medical journal estimated could result in 14 million deaths over the next five years.
For several months earlier this year, Musk headed the U.S. government’s efforts to slash spending that included ending most of the government’s foreign aid through USAID, which runs a wide range of programs, such as distributing HIV medication, vaccinating people against polio and working to eliminate malaria.
The Lancet research estimated USAID programs saved over 90 million lives over the past two decades.
University of Toronto bioethicist Kerry Bowman said he would argue Musk’s “profoundly destructive” role in setting back these major strides in global health-care access should have been a consideration in this partnership, and that it makes him “very uncomfortable and concerned ethically.”
The tension of public-private partnerships is not new, but the divisive nature of U.S. politics has added another layer of complexity. Recently, Ontario Premier Doug Ford cancelled a partnership with Musk’s internet provider Starlink because of U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods.
University Health Network executive vice president of science and research Brad Wouters said he recognizes the “complexities” of partnering with Musk in the wake of his involvement in cuts to global health funding and said that Neuralink selected UHN for the CAN-PRIME study beforehand.
“We determined that it is in the best interest of patients and science to participate in this collaboration,” Wouters said in a statement Monday.
“After careful consideration and approval of the study protocol by regulatory bodies, we determined that participating in this trial aligns with our responsibility to pursue the next frontier in care for patients with limited options.”
University Health Network is the first site outside of the United States to test Neuralink’s brain implant with permission to recruit six participants who have either been paralyzed by a spinal cord injury or who have Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).
Ultra-thin electrode threads were implanted into the brains of two Canadian patients and within minutes, they were able to translate neural signals into actions, controlling a computer cursor with their thoughts, the lead neurosurgeon said after the procedures on Aug. 27 and Sept. 3 at Toronto Western Hospital.
Wouters said the hospital network complies with ethical standards set by independent research ethics boards and Health Canada for all clinical trials.
Despite these regulatory green lights, Bowman said he is also concerned about the U.S. company’s lack of transparency about its medical research. He said Neuralink acts more as a corporation, posting videos and testimonials on its website instead of information on its results and failures.
He said he could not find information on the risks of the invasive procedure, such as what happens if the device degrades or gets infected, or how they obtain consent and select participants, which he said is usually easy to look up for a clinical trial. Bowman said he could only find a medical journal article authored by Elon Musk in 2019.
Neuralink did not respond to a request for comment.
“What happens is the private enterprise, and not all of them maybe, but it really pulls you outside of the normal medical sphere. There’s layers of concern with this,” Bowman said.
The first person to receive a Neuralink brain implant in the United States last year has said publicly that the device started slipping out of his brain weeks after the surgery, but that he’s since stabilized and that it has still been worthwhile.
Bowman said there are other biotech companies conducting clinical trials on brain-computer interface (BCI) devices, aiming to allow people with quadriplegia to control external devices with their thoughts, and questions why UHN wouldn’t consider working with them. New-York based Synchron and China’s Neuracle Neuroscience have clinical trials underway.
UHN did not say whether it considered working with other companies, but said that Neuralink approached the hospital network because of its leadership in neurosurgery and biomedical research.
Neuroethics Canada director Judy Illes said Musk politics should not have any bearing on the clinical trial. While she said the global health cuts are troubling, they should be “compartmentalized” from Neuralink’s research in Canada.
“One has specifically to do with research ethics and clinical trials, and the other has to do with global health policy,” Illes, a University of British Columbia neurology professor, said.
“Otherwise, to use the old metaphor, we might be throwing the baby out with the bath water,” she said.
Ethicist Arthur Schafer said the debate ultimately boils down to doctors’ Hippocratic Oath to protect their patients and prevent harm.
“If the technology turns out to be safe and effective, then doctors should not hesitate to give patients access to the technology despite the fact that the founder and major shareholder of Neuralink is the odious Elon Musk,” said Schafer, founding director of the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba.
But if there are other companies at the same stage of development as Neuralink that would have the same results for patients, Schafer said it would be fair to consider Musk’s involvement.
“I think it it is possible for a physician to indulge his or her ethical reservations about Mr. Musk and his role in slashing public health and in cutting back, causing potentially millions of deaths, helping to destroy USAID — if it would be in no way disadvantageous to one’s patients,” Schafer said.
Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain chip clinical trial in Canada raises ethical questions
Some doctors and bioethicists are raising concerns about a Toronto hospital's partnership with a company founded by Elon Musk.
Dementia could become top killer in Canada as population ages
But continued research into brain health and lifestyle changes are making a difference managing the disease
Author of the article:Spiro Papuckoski
Published Sep 21, 2025 • Last updated 3 days ago • 3 minute read
Alzheimer's and other dementia diseases could become the top cause of death among Canadians in the near future.
Alzheimer's and other dementia diseases could become the top cause of death among Canadians in the near future.
Alzheimer’s and other dementia-related diseases could become the number one killer in Canada.
By the end of the decade, there will be nearly 1 million people living with some form of dementia in the country, according to the Alzheimer Society of Canada.
With life expectancy in the country reaching nearly 82 years in 2024, the number of Canadians living past retirement age is expected to climb.
“The older people get, the more we are seeing dementia,” said Dr. Howard Chertkow, the scientific director of Baycrest’s Kimel Family Centre for Brain Health and Wellness.
“Age is also the risk factor for cancer, heart disease, and stroke. They are all related to aging. The difference is that we have increasing good treatments for many of the cancers, stroke and heart disease. The mortality from these other diseases is falling, whereas we really in Canada don’t have any treatment aside from mild symptomatic treatment. We don’t have any treatment for the dementias or Alzheimer’s.”
Chertkow said the centre, the first of its kind in Canada, focuses on brain health and on preventing dementia for older people at risk.
With World Alzheimer’s Day taking place on Sunday, it’s a good time to bring awareness of the disease.
There are more than 25 diseases and conditions that can cause dementia, with Alzheimer’s being the most common. It’s a disease of an aging brain that causes memory loss, problems with thinking, problem solving, language, and changes in mood or behaviour that affect daily life.
In Australia, dementia has become the leading cause of death, surpassing heart disease.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare said dementia was responsible for nearly 17,400 deaths in 2023 — almost one in 10 — and people diagnosed with the disease could exceed one million in that country without government intervention, according to a report.
Chertkow noted that Alzheimer’s is the only one of the 10 leading chronic illnesses among the elderly in Canada that doesn’t have any meaningful treatments.
He calls that “astonishing” as both diagnoses and deaths from Alzheimer’s and other dementias continue to rise.
He also estimates that, in five years, there will be about 9 million Canadians who are 65 or older. Of those, between 15% and 20% will have some form of dementia or cognitive issues.
“These are huge numbers of people getting the diseases, having the diseases, dying from the diseases,” Chertkow said.
If there are no advances in prevention and treatment for diseases like Alzheimer’s, he said it will eventually overtake other causes deaths.
While Chertkow said the future may sound bleak, there is some good news.
Researchers, clinicians and dementia professionals attended an Alzheimer’s conference in Toronto this past July and shared theories, breakthroughs and best practices.
Of the approximately 8,000 people who attended and participated in the conference, about 15% of the presentations were by Canadian researchers and their university students.
“Canada hits above its weight in the area of dementia research,” Chertkow said. “It’s been a very strong research community.”
Chertkow is also the scientific director for the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging, which is funded by the federal government to bring together groups of researchers across the country to share the latest science, clinical work and assess the health-care system.
It’s important to catch the disease at an early stage so that treatments like medication and advice such as getting more exercise, eating a better diet, losing weight and other lifestyle changes can help manage the condition, he said.
In addition, if a person is noticing a change in their cognitive ability, Chertkow said to get checked out.
“There are things that can be treated or reversed that affect memory,” he said, pointing to medications, sleeping pills, sleep apnea and even cannabis use as potential causes.
“You can’t just assume it’s the beginning of Alzheimer’s (and) nothing can be done.”
ccna-ccnv.ca
abc.net.au
alz.org
kimelcentre.baycrest.org
alzheimer.ca
torontosun.com
But continued research into brain health and lifestyle changes are making a difference managing the disease
Author of the article:Spiro Papuckoski
Published Sep 21, 2025 • Last updated 3 days ago • 3 minute read
Alzheimer's and other dementia diseases could become the top cause of death among Canadians in the near future.
Alzheimer's and other dementia diseases could become the top cause of death among Canadians in the near future.
Alzheimer’s and other dementia-related diseases could become the number one killer in Canada.
By the end of the decade, there will be nearly 1 million people living with some form of dementia in the country, according to the Alzheimer Society of Canada.
With life expectancy in the country reaching nearly 82 years in 2024, the number of Canadians living past retirement age is expected to climb.
“The older people get, the more we are seeing dementia,” said Dr. Howard Chertkow, the scientific director of Baycrest’s Kimel Family Centre for Brain Health and Wellness.
“Age is also the risk factor for cancer, heart disease, and stroke. They are all related to aging. The difference is that we have increasing good treatments for many of the cancers, stroke and heart disease. The mortality from these other diseases is falling, whereas we really in Canada don’t have any treatment aside from mild symptomatic treatment. We don’t have any treatment for the dementias or Alzheimer’s.”
Chertkow said the centre, the first of its kind in Canada, focuses on brain health and on preventing dementia for older people at risk.
With World Alzheimer’s Day taking place on Sunday, it’s a good time to bring awareness of the disease.
There are more than 25 diseases and conditions that can cause dementia, with Alzheimer’s being the most common. It’s a disease of an aging brain that causes memory loss, problems with thinking, problem solving, language, and changes in mood or behaviour that affect daily life.
In Australia, dementia has become the leading cause of death, surpassing heart disease.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare said dementia was responsible for nearly 17,400 deaths in 2023 — almost one in 10 — and people diagnosed with the disease could exceed one million in that country without government intervention, according to a report.
Chertkow noted that Alzheimer’s is the only one of the 10 leading chronic illnesses among the elderly in Canada that doesn’t have any meaningful treatments.
He calls that “astonishing” as both diagnoses and deaths from Alzheimer’s and other dementias continue to rise.
He also estimates that, in five years, there will be about 9 million Canadians who are 65 or older. Of those, between 15% and 20% will have some form of dementia or cognitive issues.
“These are huge numbers of people getting the diseases, having the diseases, dying from the diseases,” Chertkow said.
If there are no advances in prevention and treatment for diseases like Alzheimer’s, he said it will eventually overtake other causes deaths.
While Chertkow said the future may sound bleak, there is some good news.
Researchers, clinicians and dementia professionals attended an Alzheimer’s conference in Toronto this past July and shared theories, breakthroughs and best practices.
Of the approximately 8,000 people who attended and participated in the conference, about 15% of the presentations were by Canadian researchers and their university students.
“Canada hits above its weight in the area of dementia research,” Chertkow said. “It’s been a very strong research community.”
Chertkow is also the scientific director for the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging, which is funded by the federal government to bring together groups of researchers across the country to share the latest science, clinical work and assess the health-care system.
It’s important to catch the disease at an early stage so that treatments like medication and advice such as getting more exercise, eating a better diet, losing weight and other lifestyle changes can help manage the condition, he said.
In addition, if a person is noticing a change in their cognitive ability, Chertkow said to get checked out.
“There are things that can be treated or reversed that affect memory,” he said, pointing to medications, sleeping pills, sleep apnea and even cannabis use as potential causes.
“You can’t just assume it’s the beginning of Alzheimer’s (and) nothing can be done.”
CCNA | Alzheimer’s & dementia research in Canada
CCNA leads Alzheimer’s, dementia, and neurodegenerative disease research in Canada, focusing on prevention, treatment, and quality of life.
ccna-ccnv.ca
Australians dying from dementia more than any other cause
Advocates warn the number of people with the condition could exceed 1 million without government intervention.
abc.net.au
World Alzheimer's Day is September 21, 2025 | alz.org
World Alzheimer's Day takes place every Sept. 21 as a global effort to raise awareness & challenge stigma around Alzheimer's disease & other dementia.
Home - Kimel Centre
Research-based community centre dedicated to reducing dementia risk and examining the benefits of personalized brain health programming.
kimelcentre.baycrest.org
Dementia numbers in Canada
By 2030, researchers project that nearly 1 million people in Canada will be living with dementia. And they forecast that more than 1.7 million people in Canada will have dementia by 2050. But by taking action together, we can work on changing our future.
Dementia could become top killer in Canada as population ages
Alzheimer's and other dementia diseases could eventually become the number one killer in Canada.
Drinking pop could increase risk of developing depression: Study
Author of the article
enette Wilford
Published Sep 25, 2025 • Last updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read
Pop could increase the risk of developing depression, according to researchers in Germany.
Drinking pop has been attributed to many health issues, from risk of stroke, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, some forms of cancer, and according to one study, autism.
Well, add one more thing consuming sugary soft drinks can do: Increase the odds of developing depression.
Researchers out of Germany say drinking soda raises levels of Eggerthella, a type of gut bacteria found to be more abundant in people with depression — with women at higher risk.
They compared 405 patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) to 527 healthy control individuals aged 18 to 65 years of age and of whom 67.9% were female, and found drinking pop may contribute to MDD through gut microbiota alterations.
Study participants self-reported their mental health symptoms and soda intake, while their stool samples were used to analyze their gut bacteria.
“These findings underscore the role of diet in depression and highlight the gut microbiome (the collection of bacteria, viruses and fungi in our digestive system) as a key mediator,” Dr. Sharmili Edwin Thanarajah, of University Hospital Frankfurt, told Inside Precision Medicine.
“The observed sex-specific effects suggest the need for tailored prevention and intervention strategies.”
In women, soft drink consumption was linked to increased abundance of Eggerthella but not Hungatella, another bacterium that the researchers thought could also be implicated.
“In male participants, we did not find a significant association,” the researchers noted in the study, published in JAMA Psychiatry.
Sugar in soft drinks disrupts the gut microbiome by decreasing favourable bacteria that maintain gut health and increasing species associated with inflammation.
As for why this link was seen predominantly in women, the researchers speculated that sex hormones “likely play a key role,” while pointing out that more than two-thirds of the participants were female.
“While our analysis links soft drink consumption, gut microbiota changes and depressive symptoms, experimental studies in humans and rodents are necessary to prove a causal link,” the researchers wrote.
They concluded that their findings are “compatible with the idea that increased consumption is related to depression via altered gut microbiome composition.”
The study noted that dietary assessments and consultations should be added to prevention guidelines, as well as incorporating routine evaluations for patients with depressive symptoms.
“Nutritional counselling and interventions to reduce soft drink intake should complement depression treatments,” the researchers said.
“Moreover, these findings support policies limiting soft drink availability and marketing, such as taxing sugar-sweetened beverages, restricting school sales, and regulating advertising to youth.”
insideprecisionmedicine.com
torontosun.com
Author of the article
enette WilfordPublished Sep 25, 2025 • Last updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read
Pop could increase the risk of developing depression, according to researchers in Germany.
Drinking pop has been attributed to many health issues, from risk of stroke, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, some forms of cancer, and according to one study, autism.
Well, add one more thing consuming sugary soft drinks can do: Increase the odds of developing depression.
Researchers out of Germany say drinking soda raises levels of Eggerthella, a type of gut bacteria found to be more abundant in people with depression — with women at higher risk.
They compared 405 patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) to 527 healthy control individuals aged 18 to 65 years of age and of whom 67.9% were female, and found drinking pop may contribute to MDD through gut microbiota alterations.
Study participants self-reported their mental health symptoms and soda intake, while their stool samples were used to analyze their gut bacteria.
“These findings underscore the role of diet in depression and highlight the gut microbiome (the collection of bacteria, viruses and fungi in our digestive system) as a key mediator,” Dr. Sharmili Edwin Thanarajah, of University Hospital Frankfurt, told Inside Precision Medicine.
“The observed sex-specific effects suggest the need for tailored prevention and intervention strategies.”
In women, soft drink consumption was linked to increased abundance of Eggerthella but not Hungatella, another bacterium that the researchers thought could also be implicated.
“In male participants, we did not find a significant association,” the researchers noted in the study, published in JAMA Psychiatry.
Sugar in soft drinks disrupts the gut microbiome by decreasing favourable bacteria that maintain gut health and increasing species associated with inflammation.
As for why this link was seen predominantly in women, the researchers speculated that sex hormones “likely play a key role,” while pointing out that more than two-thirds of the participants were female.
“While our analysis links soft drink consumption, gut microbiota changes and depressive symptoms, experimental studies in humans and rodents are necessary to prove a causal link,” the researchers wrote.
They concluded that their findings are “compatible with the idea that increased consumption is related to depression via altered gut microbiome composition.”
The study noted that dietary assessments and consultations should be added to prevention guidelines, as well as incorporating routine evaluations for patients with depressive symptoms.
“Nutritional counselling and interventions to reduce soft drink intake should complement depression treatments,” the researchers said.
“Moreover, these findings support policies limiting soft drink availability and marketing, such as taxing sugar-sweetened beverages, restricting school sales, and regulating advertising to youth.”
Gut Microbiome Changes Link Soft Drinks with Depression
An intriguing study suggests that the impact of consuming soft drinks on the balance of gut microbes could increase the risk of clinical depression.
insideprecisionmedicine.com
Drinking pop could increase risk of developing depression: Study
Add one more thing consuming soft drinks can do: Increase the odds of developing depression.
CDC warns of surge in dangerous, highly antibiotic-resistant bacteria
Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Andrew Jeong, The Washington Post
Published Sep 24, 2025 • 2 minute read
A 3D rendering of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales bacteria, or CRE, which are resistant to some of the strongest antibiotics available, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. MUST CREDIT: James Archer/CDC Photo by James Archer /Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Infections from dangerous bacteria that are resistant to “some of the strongest antibiotics available” have surged in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.
Citing a CDC study published Tuesday, the agency said in a news release that infections from NDM-CRE bacteria rose by more than 460 percent in the U.S. between 2019 and 2023.
“These infections – including pneumonia, bloodstream infections, urinary tract infections, and wound infections – are extremely hard to treat and can be deadly,” the CDC said.
NDM-CRE are part of a group of bacteria known as carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales, or CRE, which caused around 1,000 deaths in the U.S. every year from 2017 to 2019, according to a 2022 CDC report. “NDM” refers to an enzyme that makes the bacteria “resistant to nearly all available antibiotics, leaving few treatment options,” the agency said Tuesday.
The increase in cases poses a “serious risk for patients” because NDM-CRE can spread quickly and are associated with high rates of mortality, the CDC said.
“A single case generates alarm among infectious diseases specialists, and we have cause to be deeply concerned about this trajectory,” said Susan S. Huang, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of California at Irvine School of Medicine who has researched highly antibiotic-resistant organisms, said of the CDC report. “Lives will be lost,” she said in an interview over email.
The CDC said it had not determined the exact reasons for the surge in NDM-CRE infections. But gaps in infection control or limited testing – because many clinics do not have the tools to rapidly detect NDM-CRE infections – may have contributed to the bacteria’s spread, it said.
“Delayed identification leads to slower treatment, increased transmission, and missed opportunities for infection control,” the CDC said.
NDM-CRE infections have been historically uncommon in the United States, the CDC said. The NDM gene – which was first identified in 2008 from a Swedish patient who had been hospitalized in New Delhi – creates an enzyme that destroys most antibiotics, including so-called carbapenems, which are usually used in last-ditch efforts to save patients with infections that fail to respond to standard antibiotics, The Washington Post has reported.
Huang said the recent increase in NDM-CRE infections reflects the gradual spread of the bacteria in the U.S. after it was first detected in people who had traveled abroad.
“Over time, with enough importations, it is now … taking hold” within the U.S., she said.
Huang said an increase in antibiotic prescriptions during the first phase of the coronavirus pandemic may have contributed to NDM-CRE’s spread. At the time, doctors prescribed “a lot of antibiotics” out of desperation and the “false hope” that covid-19 was caused by bacteria, she said. (Antibiotics work against bacteria, not against viruses.)
“Never before had so many antibiotics been prescribed for a viral disease,” she said.
Huang said health care providers should also avoid administering unnecessary, “just in case” antibiotics.
“When antibiotics are given without a purpose … they merely kill off our usual gut bacteria and allow room for any resistant bacteria to propagate,” she said. “This allows NDM to multiply and increases the risk that it will cause infection.”
From March to October 2020, almost 80 percent of patients hospitalized with covid-19 received an antibiotic, according to the CDC.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Andrew Jeong, The Washington Post
Published Sep 24, 2025 • 2 minute read
A 3D rendering of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales bacteria, or CRE, which are resistant to some of the strongest antibiotics available, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. MUST CREDIT: James Archer/CDC Photo by James Archer /Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Infections from dangerous bacteria that are resistant to “some of the strongest antibiotics available” have surged in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.
Citing a CDC study published Tuesday, the agency said in a news release that infections from NDM-CRE bacteria rose by more than 460 percent in the U.S. between 2019 and 2023.
“These infections – including pneumonia, bloodstream infections, urinary tract infections, and wound infections – are extremely hard to treat and can be deadly,” the CDC said.
NDM-CRE are part of a group of bacteria known as carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales, or CRE, which caused around 1,000 deaths in the U.S. every year from 2017 to 2019, according to a 2022 CDC report. “NDM” refers to an enzyme that makes the bacteria “resistant to nearly all available antibiotics, leaving few treatment options,” the agency said Tuesday.
The increase in cases poses a “serious risk for patients” because NDM-CRE can spread quickly and are associated with high rates of mortality, the CDC said.
“A single case generates alarm among infectious diseases specialists, and we have cause to be deeply concerned about this trajectory,” said Susan S. Huang, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of California at Irvine School of Medicine who has researched highly antibiotic-resistant organisms, said of the CDC report. “Lives will be lost,” she said in an interview over email.
The CDC said it had not determined the exact reasons for the surge in NDM-CRE infections. But gaps in infection control or limited testing – because many clinics do not have the tools to rapidly detect NDM-CRE infections – may have contributed to the bacteria’s spread, it said.
“Delayed identification leads to slower treatment, increased transmission, and missed opportunities for infection control,” the CDC said.
NDM-CRE infections have been historically uncommon in the United States, the CDC said. The NDM gene – which was first identified in 2008 from a Swedish patient who had been hospitalized in New Delhi – creates an enzyme that destroys most antibiotics, including so-called carbapenems, which are usually used in last-ditch efforts to save patients with infections that fail to respond to standard antibiotics, The Washington Post has reported.
Huang said the recent increase in NDM-CRE infections reflects the gradual spread of the bacteria in the U.S. after it was first detected in people who had traveled abroad.
“Over time, with enough importations, it is now … taking hold” within the U.S., she said.
Huang said an increase in antibiotic prescriptions during the first phase of the coronavirus pandemic may have contributed to NDM-CRE’s spread. At the time, doctors prescribed “a lot of antibiotics” out of desperation and the “false hope” that covid-19 was caused by bacteria, she said. (Antibiotics work against bacteria, not against viruses.)
“Never before had so many antibiotics been prescribed for a viral disease,” she said.
Huang said health care providers should also avoid administering unnecessary, “just in case” antibiotics.
“When antibiotics are given without a purpose … they merely kill off our usual gut bacteria and allow room for any resistant bacteria to propagate,” she said. “This allows NDM to multiply and increases the risk that it will cause infection.”
From March to October 2020, almost 80 percent of patients hospitalized with covid-19 received an antibiotic, according to the CDC.
CDC warns of surge in dangerous, highly antibiotic-resistant bacteria
Infections from dangerous bacteria that are resistant to "some of the strongest antibiotics available" have surged in the United States.
Million-year-old skull could change human evolution timeline
Author of the article:AFP
AFP
by Sara HUSSEIN
Published Sep 26, 2025 • 3 minute read
Researchers believe the reconstructed million-year-old skull belonged to the Homo longi species discovered in 2021.
Researchers believe the reconstructed million-year-old skull belonged to the Homo longi species discovered in 2021.
Bangkok (AFP) — A digital reconstruction of a million-year-old skull suggests humans may have diverged from our ancient ancestors 400,000 years earlier than thought and in Asia not Africa, a study said Friday.
The findings are based on a reconstruction of a crushed skull discovered in China in 1990, and have the potential to resolve the longstanding “Muddle in the Middle” of human evolution, researchers said.
But experts not involved in the work cautioned that the findings were likely to be disputed, and pointed to ongoing uncertainties in the timeline of human evolution.
The skull, labelled Yunxian 2, was previously thought to belong to a human forerunner called Homo erectus.
But modern reconstruction technologies revealed features closer to species previously thought to have existed only later in human evolution, including the recently discovered Homo longi and our own Homo sapiens.
“This changes a lot of thinking,” said Chris Stringer, an anthropologist at the Natural History Museum, London, who was part of the research team.
“It suggests that by one million years ago, our ancestors had already split into distinct groups, pointing to a much earlier and more complex human evolutionary split than previously believed,” he added.
If the findings are correct, it suggests there could have been much earlier members of other early hominins, including Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, the study says.
It also “muddies the waters” on longstanding assumptions that early humans dispersed from Africa, said Michael Petraglia, director of Griffith University’s Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, who was not involved in the research.
“There’s a big change potentially happening here, where east Asia is now playing a very key role in hominin evolution,” he told AFP.
‘A lot of questions’
The research, published in the journal Science, used advanced CT scanning, structure light imaging and virtual reconstruction techniques to model a complete Yunxian 2.
The scientists relied in part on another similar skull to shape their model, and then compared it to over 100 other specimens.
The resulting model “shows a distinctive combination of traits,” the study said, some of them similar to Homo erectus, including a projecting lower face.
But other aspects, including its apparently larger brain capacity, are closer to Homo longi and Homo sapiens, the researchers said.
“Yunxian 2 may help us resolve what’s been called the ‘Muddle in the Middle,’ the confusing array of human fossils from between 1 million and 300,000 years ago,” Stringer said in a press release.
Much about human evolution remains debated, and Petraglia said the study’s findings were “provocative” though grounded in solid work.
“It’s sound, but I think the jury’s still out. I think there will be a lot of questions raised,” he said.
Andy Herries, an archeologist at La Trobe University, said he was not convinced by the conclusions and that genetic analysis had shown fossil morphology, or shape, was “not always a perfect indicator for human evolution.”
“They’ve got this interpretation that I just don’t really think is taking into account the genetic histories of these things that we do know,” he told AFP.
The findings are only the latest in a string of recent research that has complicated what we thought we know about our origins.
Homo longi, also known as “Dragon Man”, was itself only named as a new species and close human relative in 2021, by a team that included Stringer.
The authors said their work illustrates the complexity of our shared history.
“Fossils like Yunxian 2 show just how much we still have to learn about our origins,” said Stringer.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:AFP
AFP
by Sara HUSSEIN
Published Sep 26, 2025 • 3 minute read
Researchers believe the reconstructed million-year-old skull belonged to the Homo longi species discovered in 2021.
Researchers believe the reconstructed million-year-old skull belonged to the Homo longi species discovered in 2021.
Bangkok (AFP) — A digital reconstruction of a million-year-old skull suggests humans may have diverged from our ancient ancestors 400,000 years earlier than thought and in Asia not Africa, a study said Friday.
The findings are based on a reconstruction of a crushed skull discovered in China in 1990, and have the potential to resolve the longstanding “Muddle in the Middle” of human evolution, researchers said.
But experts not involved in the work cautioned that the findings were likely to be disputed, and pointed to ongoing uncertainties in the timeline of human evolution.
The skull, labelled Yunxian 2, was previously thought to belong to a human forerunner called Homo erectus.
But modern reconstruction technologies revealed features closer to species previously thought to have existed only later in human evolution, including the recently discovered Homo longi and our own Homo sapiens.
“This changes a lot of thinking,” said Chris Stringer, an anthropologist at the Natural History Museum, London, who was part of the research team.
“It suggests that by one million years ago, our ancestors had already split into distinct groups, pointing to a much earlier and more complex human evolutionary split than previously believed,” he added.
If the findings are correct, it suggests there could have been much earlier members of other early hominins, including Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, the study says.
It also “muddies the waters” on longstanding assumptions that early humans dispersed from Africa, said Michael Petraglia, director of Griffith University’s Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, who was not involved in the research.
“There’s a big change potentially happening here, where east Asia is now playing a very key role in hominin evolution,” he told AFP.
‘A lot of questions’
The research, published in the journal Science, used advanced CT scanning, structure light imaging and virtual reconstruction techniques to model a complete Yunxian 2.
The scientists relied in part on another similar skull to shape their model, and then compared it to over 100 other specimens.
The resulting model “shows a distinctive combination of traits,” the study said, some of them similar to Homo erectus, including a projecting lower face.
But other aspects, including its apparently larger brain capacity, are closer to Homo longi and Homo sapiens, the researchers said.
“Yunxian 2 may help us resolve what’s been called the ‘Muddle in the Middle,’ the confusing array of human fossils from between 1 million and 300,000 years ago,” Stringer said in a press release.
Much about human evolution remains debated, and Petraglia said the study’s findings were “provocative” though grounded in solid work.
“It’s sound, but I think the jury’s still out. I think there will be a lot of questions raised,” he said.
Andy Herries, an archeologist at La Trobe University, said he was not convinced by the conclusions and that genetic analysis had shown fossil morphology, or shape, was “not always a perfect indicator for human evolution.”
“They’ve got this interpretation that I just don’t really think is taking into account the genetic histories of these things that we do know,” he told AFP.
The findings are only the latest in a string of recent research that has complicated what we thought we know about our origins.
Homo longi, also known as “Dragon Man”, was itself only named as a new species and close human relative in 2021, by a team that included Stringer.
The authors said their work illustrates the complexity of our shared history.
“Fossils like Yunxian 2 show just how much we still have to learn about our origins,” said Stringer.
Million-year-old skull could change human evolution timeline
The findings are based on a reconstruction of a crushed skull discovered in China in 1990.