All Sauce from Weekly Sauce:

One of the most common diabetes drugs, metformin, might deliver an added bonus: Lowering users’ odds for Long COVID. Long COVID can present with symptoms including chronic fatigue, brain fog and chest pain and it may last weeks or months after an initial COVID infection. It’s thought that millions of Americans suffer with the illness. As…  read on >  read on >

Exercise, whether moderate- or high-intensity, can help ease Parkinson’s symptoms, including fatigue, new research shows. As study lead author Dr. Philip Millar explained, Parkinson’s patients are too often overwhelmed by shame or depression, so they stop going to the gym or exercising. That’s too bad, Millar said, because “if you stop physical activity, your body…  read on >  read on >

A specific class of diabetes drug appears to lower people’s risk for dementia and Parkinson’s disease, a new study shows. Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors, also known as gliflozins, lower blood sugar by prompting the kidneys to filter sugar out of the bloodstream and excrete it in urine, researchers said. But these drugs might also protect…  read on >  read on >

Hopping backward is a good test to see if someone’s ACL surgery has gone well, a new study says. That backward hop is an effective way of measuring the strength of a patient’s knee function, as well as the strength of their quadriceps, researchers reported recently in the Journal of Sport and Health Science. And…  read on >  read on >

Cadmium, uranium, cobalt: These and other metals found in the environment can collect in the body and exacerbate heart disease, new research suggests. “Our findings highlight the importance of considering metal exposure as a significant risk factor for atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease,” said study lead author Katlyn McGraw, a postdoctoral research scientist at Columbia University…  read on >  read on >

Therapy dogs can help boost the spirits of health care workers in the same way they brighten the moods of hospital patients, a new study shows.  The furry, four-legged friends reduced emotional exhaustion and job stress among a small group of workers at two surgical and two intensive care units in the Midwest, researchers report.…  read on >  read on >

Wegovy, Zepbound and other cutting-edge weight-loss drugs can be tough to get these days. They’re in short supply, and often too expensive to afford without insurance coverage. Because of these barriers, many people are doing an end-run around their doctor’s office, reaching out to potentially unreliable sources that promise to set them up with the…  read on >  read on >