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Last week, I was in a grocery store and noticed another shopper had an occasional cough and wasn’t covering his mouth. I gave him wide berth as I gathered the items I needed. When I had found everything on my list, I made a beeline for the checkout line, and wouldn’t you know, he stood in line right behind me.
I inched forward, trying to keep space between us and hoping for the best. Maybe it was spring allergies.
Perhaps the only good thing about <a href="https://alsnewstoday.com/columns/7-ways-als-life-is-similar-pandemic/">life during the pandemic</a> — at least something that I was grateful for — was that it was not socially acceptable to be out and about with a cough. However, it seems like life is returning to normal, so I’m hypervigilant. More than once, I’ve been in line at the grocery store when I’ve observed a cashier with a cough. I’ve gotten out of line “to get one more thing” and then queued at a different register. And I’m fond of self-checkouts for the same reason.
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I have to stay healthy because I need to take care of my husband, Todd, who is paralyzed from <a href="https://alsnewstoday.com/what-is-als/">ALS</a>. He is <a href="https://alsnewstoday.com/columns/stressful-night-dealing-husbands-breathing-difficulties/">unable to cough up mucus from his lungs</a> due to ALS having weakened his diaphragm and rib muscles. His last few colds have been scary. I’ve needed to use a cough assist machine and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITcMaevMO04">manual assist coughs</a>. He took medication to thin the secretions, and I held my breath, hoping he’d pull through and it wouldn’t turn into pneumonia.
We take many precautions because any virus is a serious risk for Todd. Friends and family know not to visit if they are sick.
We ask his <a href="https://alsnewstoday.com/columns/accepting-help-certified-nursing-assistant-caregiving/">night caregivers</a> to cancel, even on short notice, if they have any signs of illness. Sometimes a caregiver will text me to let me know she had exposure to an illness. Todd and I discuss these situations. If the exposure was minimal, we have the caregiver come, as it doesn&#8217;t seem any more risky than hanging out with <a href="https://alsnewstoday.com/columns/help-kids-cope-death/">our kids</a> who are exposed to viruses at school every day. If a bug is circulating in their home, then we cancel.
If our children catch a bug, Todd quarantines in his office and bedroom, and I bring meals to him.
However, we want to live life as normally as possible, especially for the kids. They attend school and other activities. I try to get out, too, for my own mental health. Even a trip to the grocery store makes me feel less isolated because I often run into people I know in our small town. Balancing risk with living life is an ongoing challenge.
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Note: <a href="https://alsnewstoday.com/">ALS News Today</a> is strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical advice, <a href="https://alsnewstoday.com/als-diagnosis/">diagnosis</a>, or <a href="https://alsnewstoday.com/approved-treatments-for-als/">treatment</a>. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. The opinions expressed in this column are not those of ALS News Today or its parent company, BioNews, and are intended to spark discussion about issues pertaining to ALS.

As an ALS caregiver, I’m constantly evaluating cold, flu, and other risks

Cold temperatures can activate a complex called the proteasome that cells use to clear themselves of unneeded proteins, including the protein clumps associated with <a href="https://alsnewstoday.com/what-is-als/">amyotrophic lateral sclerosis</a> (ALS), a new study reports.
In cell models of the disease, exposure to cold temperatures for a prolonged time significantly lowered the amount of these toxic proteins, and cold extended the lifespan of worms in an ALS model.
&#8220;Taken together, these results show how over the course of evolution, cold has preserved its influence on proteasome regulation — with therapeutic implications for aging and aging-associated diseases,&#8221; David Vilchez, PhD, a professor at the University of Cologne and the study&#8217;s lead author, said in a <a href="https://www.research-in-germany.org/idw-news/2023/4/2023-04-03_Cold_is_beneficial_for_healthy_aging.html">press release</a>.
The study, &#8220;<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43587-023-00383-4#Abs1">Cold temperature extends longevity and prevents disease-related protein aggregation through PA28γ-induced proteasomes</a>,&#8221; was published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/nataging">Nature Aging</a>.
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<h3>Protein clumps are a feature of aging and diseases like ALS</h3>
While large changes in body temperature can be seriously detrimental to health, abundant research done over the past century has shown that a small decrease in body temperature helps to prolong survival across organisms, from worms to fish to mice.
The biological mechanisms tying cooler body temperatures with prolonged survival, however, are poorly understood.
Aging is an extremely complicated process, with many biological changes that accrue as a person gets older. One common feature in aging is the formation of abnormal clumps of proteins inside of cells. Protein clumps also are a particular feature of ALS and other neurological disorders, which are generally more common among older individuals.
Given the connections between protein clumps and aging-related disorders, and between colder temperatures and longevity, a team of researchers in Germany hypothesized that cold temperatures might help to remove toxic protein aggregates by activating the <a href="https://alsnewstoday.com/news/link-between-cellular-hallmarks-of-als-may-lead-to-new-therapies/">proteasome</a> — the molecular &#8220;garbage disposal&#8221; system cells use to eliminate unneeded proteins.
Through experiments in nematode worms (Caenorhabditis elegans, a common research model), the researchers showed that the proteasome is more active at cooler temperatures. This specifically was evident for the trypsin-like proteasome, but not other for components of this waste-disposal system.
Low temperatures triggered the activity of a proteasome-activating protein called PSME3 (also called PA28gamma), which is less active at warmer temperatures, the scientists reported.
<h3>Greater proteasome activity with cold in ALS-associated proteins</h3>
Blocking PSME3 activity at cold temperatures also blocked an increase in proteasome activation and shortened the worms&#8217; lifespan, whereas higher PSME3 levels at cold temperatures activated the proteasome and increased longevity. Increasing the PSME3&#8217;s activity at warmer temperatures, however, reduced longevity.
&#8220;These results suggest a trade-off between the effects of PSME-3 in lifespan and protein aggregation when temperature rises &#8230; which is neutralized by cold temperature,&#8221; the researchers wrote.
Collectively, these findings lend credence to the idea that cold temperatures might promote a longer lifespan in part through proteasome activation, the scientists noted.
Researchers next tested the effects of cold temperatures on disease-associated proteins.
Specifically, they worked in models engineered to express mutated forms of the FUS or TDP-43 proteins, whose clumps are disease-driving in some ALS cases, and in models expressing polyQ peptide, the protein that characteristically forms abnormal clumps in <a href="https://huntingtonsdiseasenews.com/what-is-huntingtons-disease">Huntington&#8217;s disease</a>.
For all of these disease-associated proteins, results showed less toxic clump formation at lower temperatures. This effect was diminished when PSME3 levels were lowered — but with increased levels, the protein-clearing effect of cold temperature also increased.
&#8220;Collectively, our data indicate that cold-induced [PMSE3] can attenuate the pathological [disease-driving] aggregation of distinct disease-related proteins in C. elegans models,&#8221; the researchers wrote.
Additional cellular experiments suggested that this same molecular mechanism is found in human cells.
&#8220;Importantly, the cold-induced role of PSME3 to diminish protein aggregation is also conserved in human cells, indicating that cold temperature could be a converging mechanism to prevent distinct human disorders with age,&#8221; the scientists concluded.
&#8220;We believe that these results may be applied to other age-related neurodegenerative diseases as well as to other animal species,&#8221; Vilchez said.

Tag: cold

As an ALS caregiver, I’m constantly evaluating cold, flu, and other risks

Colder temperatures help cells to clear toxic proteins tied to ALS