WEIRD STUFF

Weight-loss drug linked to blindness

Weight-loss jabs used by millions of slimmers could raise the risk of a rare eye condition that can cause permanent blindness.

Scientists have warned people taking the drug may face the highest danger of developing the debilitating condition compared with users of similar drugs.

The powerful injection contains semaglutide, which has been hailed as a breakthrough treatment for obesity and Type 2 diabetes.

But scientists say the drug could also increase the risk of nonarteritic ischemic anterior optic neuropathy (NAION), sometimes dubbed an "eye stroke".

The condition occurs when blood vessels supplying the optic nerve become blocked, depriving the nerve of oxygen and causing permanent damage.

The study also suggested men were around three times more likely than women to develop the disorder, known medically as ischaemic optic neuropathy.

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Blood test could reveal future dementia risk

A simple blood test could predict a woman's risk of dementia - up to 25 years before symptoms appear.

Scientists believe the breakthrough could transform how the degenerative condition - which causes a decline in thinking, memory, and reasoning skills - is detected and treated.

It could allow doctors to monitor people decades before memory problems begin.

The study, led by scientists at University of California San Diego, found that high levels of a specific protein in the blood were strongly linked to future cognitive decline.

The protein, called p-tau217, is associated with the brain changes seen in Alzheimer's disease - the most common form of dementia, responsible for around 60 to 70 per cent of cases.

Over time, the disease causes sticky clumps and twisted fibres to build up in the brain, damaging nerve cells and disrupting the signals they use to communicate.

Scientists analysed blood samples from 2,766 women aged between 65 and 79 who were taking part in the long-running Women's Health Initiative Memory Study.

All were cognitively healthy when the research began.

Over a 25-year follow-up period, researchers tracked who developed mild cognitive impairment - an early stage of memory problems - or dementia.

Women with higher levels of the p-tau217 protein at the start of the study were around three times more likely to develop dementia later in life.

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Multivitamin may slow ageing

A daily multivitamin may help slow the ageing process, according to a new study.

Researchers found that people who took a multivitamin every day for two years showed less DNA damage than others of the same age - suggesting their bodies were ageing more slowly.

The study, carried out by scientists at Mass General Brigham in Boston, tracked 958 adults with an average age of about 70.

Scientists measured participants' biological age by analysing damage to their DNA.

As people get older, genes accumulate errors and break down over time, which is linked to declining health.

Using five different "genetic clocks" to estimate biological ageing, the researchers found that people who took daily multivitamins showed slower ageing on two of the tests.

On average, the difference equated to around four months less biological ageing over the two-year period.

Researchers say this could mean people who take a daily vitamin for six years might effectively wind back their biological clock by about a year.