This week's top research stories include a study that shows dietary prebiotics improve sleep and buffer stress, a look at ecological change on Niwot Ridge outside Boulder, and new research that suggests that common drugs similar to ibuprofen could help treat sepsis.
Long-term ecological study to continue at very special site, Niwot Ridge
Every Tuesday during the winter, a group of intrepid researchers braves winds of up to 160 mph and temperatures as low as minus 20, hiking, skiing or snowshoeing four miles up Niwot Ridge west of Boulder to monitor the health of our high mountains.听
The measurements are part of an intensive study looking at ecological change on Niwot Ridge, both natural and human-caused, over decades. Now, thanks to a $6.8 million renewal grant to 抖阴旅行射 Boulder鈥檚听Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR)听from the听National Science Foundation (NSF), research at the Niwot Ridge study area 鈥� one of NSF鈥檚 25 Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites in North America 鈥� will continue for another six years.
Dietary prebiotics improve sleep, buffer stress
In recent years, reams of research papers have shed light on the health benefits of probiotics, the 鈥済ood bacteria鈥� found in fermented foods and dietary supplements. Now a first-of-its kind study by University of Colorado Boulder scientists suggests that lesser-known gut-health promoters known as prebiotics 鈥� which serve as food for good bacteria inside the gut 鈥� can also have an impact, improving sleep and buffering the physiological impacts of stress.听Prebiotics are dietary fibers found naturally in foods like chicory, artichokes, raw garlic, leeks and onions.
Common drugs similar to ibuprofen could help treat sepsis, study suggests
A potentially life-saving treatment for sepsis has been under our noses for decades in the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) most people have in their medicine cabinets, a new University of Colorado Boulder study has found.
Each year more than 1 million people in the United States contract sepsis, an overwhelming immune response to infection. It kills as many as half of those who contract it, sometimes within days, according to the National Institutes of Health. As the number of cases rises, particularly in intensive care units, pharmaceutical companies have been scrambling to develop a drug to combat the condition.
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Prebiotics are found in foods like听artichokes.
More than 30 billion doses of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) are taken annually in the United States.