High-salt diet linked to faster memory decline in men: Study

(Representational photo; source: IANS)

Sydney, (IANS) A diet high in salt may accelerate memory decline in men, Australian research reveals, highlighting the importance of dietary choices in supporting brain health.

The study found that higher sodium intake may impair episodic memory, which enables people to recall personal experiences and past events, such as where you parked your car or your first day of school, said a statement from Australia's Edith Cowan University (ECU) released Wednesday.

Measuring baseline sodium intake and cognitive decline of 1,208 participants over 72 months, researchers found that men with higher sodium intake experienced faster episodic memory decline, while no link was seen in women.

While sodium serves several physiological functions and is inextricably linked to the maintenance of the body, high sodium consumption has consistently been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events and high blood pressure, according to the study published in Neurobiology of Ageing.

Lead researcher Samantha Gardener from ECU said that while the molecular mechanisms behind the process were not yet understood, it was thought that high sodium intake could contribute to inflammation in the brain, damage to blood vessels, and reduced blood flow to the brain.

Meanwhile, a recent Israeli study suggested that while memories themselves may fade, the explanations people give for why they remember events remain detailed and stable over time.

Researchers analysed the self-reported explanations of 421 participants using linguistic tools to track changes in content and detail. They found that while the ability to recall specific events declined over time, the depth and content of participants' justifications remained steady.

The frequency of these explanations and the types of words used were consistent, indicating they may serve as reliable markers of memory accuracy.

Subtle shifts in wording over time, however, suggest that a person's confidence in their memory may decrease as the event recedes into the past.The study, published in Communications Psychology, indicates that even when memories feel "fuzzy," the reasons people give for recalling them remain a relatively dependable way to assess their truthfulness. Still, legal and clinical professionals should note that confidence may waver, even if the justification itself remains strong. High-salt diet linked to faster memory decline in men: Study | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com

Read More........→April 16, 2026

Johns Hopkins Team Develops Therapeutic, Nasally-Delivered DNA Vaccine for Tuberculosis

Artist’s illustration of tuberculosis bacteria (TB) – credit, US CDC

A research team at Johns Hopkins Medicine is developing a nose-delivered inoculation against tuberculosis, the world’s leading cause of death from infectious disease.

The approach fuses two tuberculosis genes with the goal of directing the immune system to fight drug-tolerant bacterial survivors that can endure antibiotic treatment to spread another day.

The paper on the vaccine was published last week in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, where JH Medicine researchers were joined by colleagues from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

TB is estimated by the World Health Organization (WHO) to be spread asymptomatically by around 2 billion people. In 2024 , WHO reported that TB was the leading cause of death from a single infectious disease.

In recent years, WHO has called for therapeutic vaccines that can be used alongside drug therapies to shorten TB treatment regimens and improve outcomes, particularly because long multidrug courses are difficult to complete, and drug-resistant TB strains continue to emerge. The vaccine described in the new Johns Hopkins study shows promise for meeting that need.

The new Johns Hopkins vaccine, says study lead author Styliani Karanika, MD, fuses two genes: relMtb and Mip3α, and is given through the nose to take advantage of 3 beneficial biological activities.

“Administered together with first-line TB drug therapy, our intranasal DNA fusion vaccine helped infected mice clear the disease bacteria faster, reduced lung inflammation, and prevented relapse after treatment ended,” says Karanika, a faculty member of the Johns Hopkins Center for Tuberculosis Research.

“The vaccine also helped the powerful TB drug combination of bedaquiline, pretomanid, and linezolid work better, suggesting it could be used with treatments against drug-resistant TB to help the body fight the disease, even hard-to-treat cases.”

Dr. Karanika explained that TB bacteria possess a gene—relMtb—that produces a protein called RelMtb—which together help the microbes survive hostile conditions such as antibiotic exposure, low oxygen, and nutrient limitation by entering a drug-tolerant persistent state.

Fusing relMtb with another gene called Mip3α produces a signal that attracts immature human dendritic cells. These cells pick up TB proteins and ‘present’ them to T cells, the immune cells that help coordinate a targeted attack on the TB bacteria.

“Finally, intranasal delivery focuses vaccination on the respiratory mucosa in the lungs where TB infection occurs, helping generate long-lasting localized T-cell immunity in the airways and lungs, along with systemic immune responses,” says Karanika.

By combining these strategies, the investigators aimed to strengthen immune activity directly in the respiratory tract, where transmission most commonly occurs.

In the mouse studies, this approach both improved the quantity and organization of dendritic and T-cells in the lungs, and generated immune responses both locally and systemically. The improved response included to two types of T-cells, CD4 (also known as helper T-cells) and CD8 (also known as killer T-cells).

One study strongpoint was that it included tests on primates: in this case, rhesus macaques. The researchers found that their nose-delivered DNA vaccine prompted measurable TB‑focused immune responses in blood and in the airways similar to what led to lower bacterial counts in the lungs of the mice they studied.

These responses persisted for at least 6 months, suggesting durability for the vaccine’s action.

“These nonhuman primate data are encouraging because they show that the Mip3α/relMtb vaccine can generate durable, antigen-stimulated immune responses in an animal model whose immune system more closely resembles that of humans,” said Dr. Karanika. “That gives us an important translational bridge between the mouse efficacy studies and the additional preclinical work needed before human trials.”

Readers may recoil from the notion of primate testing, but Old World Monkeys are very susceptible to TB, and in fact spread it between themselves just as we do. Research has shown that TB has been spread among humans as far back as 70,000 years, and followed our migration out of Africa and across Asia.The authors say their findings support a broader strategy of targeting surviving TB bacteria with immunotherapy, rather than relying solely on antibiotics to eliminate actively replicating bacteria. Because DNA vaccines are relatively stable and can be manufactured efficiently, they may offer practical advantages if this approach ultimately proves effective in humans. Johns Hopkins Team Develops Therapeutic, Nasally-Delivered DNA Vaccine for Tuberculosis

Read More........→April 15, 2026