Mary Rand, the first British woman to win an Olympic gold medal in athletics, has died at the age of 86.
Rand secured the long jump title at the Tokyo Games in 1964, also winning silver in the inaugural women’s pentathlon and bronze in the 4x100m relay.
That meant she also became the first British woman to win gold, silver and bronze at a single Olympic Games.
In the long jump, Rand broke the British and Olympic records with her first leap of 6.59m and then smashed the world record on her fifth attempt with an effort of 6.76m.
“Mary was the most gifted athlete I ever saw,” said Ann Packer, who won 800m gold at the 1964 Olympics days after Rand’s triumph and was her room-mate in Tokyo.
“She was as good as athletes get. There has never been anything like her since – and I don’t believe there ever will.”
Rand, whose first husband was British rower Sydney Rand, also won long jump gold at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Jamaica.
However, injury denied her the chance to defend her Olympic title in 1968 and she retired at the age of 28 the same year.
Born in Wells, Somerset, she was only 17 when she set her first British record in the pentathlon, and she won 12 national titles across long jump, high jump, sprint hurdles and pentathlon during her illustrious career.
Rand was voted the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1964 and was awarded an MBE in the 1965 New Year Honours List.
Bright, yellow, orange and absolutely cheerful, marigolds are also said to be favourite flowers of Goddess Laxmi. These are used widely in religious rituals. Their vibrant coloured flowers are associated with abundance, energy, and auspiciousness.
Growing marigolds at home is quite easy. These are among the easiest flowers to grow. All they need is well-drained soil and moderate watering. The sunlight, these need more. Keeping fresh marigold in your home temple and entrance is believed to welcome prosperity.
Jeff Carlisle covers MLS and the U.S. national team for ESPN FC.
and
Lizzy Becherano
Multiple Authors
Mar 26, 2026, 07:55 AM ET
At first glance, descriptions of what it’s like to play for U.S. men’s national team manager Mauricio Pochettino are littered with contradictions. Among the words players use are “intense,” “passionate” and “demanding” — but those are almost immediately followed by words seemingly at the other end of the emotional spectrum. “Family” comes up, as does “likable,” even “loving.”
In many respects, that is the nature of coaching. When trying to extract the best out of a group of players, the emotions and approaches cover a broad spectrum, and can vary widely across individuals, or even from minute to minute. There are times to drop the hammer, and other moments to put an arm around the shoulder. And despite a coach’s best efforts, they can’t reach every player. That doesn’t mean they stop trying.
Based on recent evidence, Pochettino’s approach appears to be working. The USMNT is unbeaten in its past five games heading into friendly matches against Belgium on March 28 and Portugal three days later.
Granted, this string of positive results consisted of all friendlies, but with the U.S. co-hosting this summer’s World Cup, and no World Cup qualifying slog to go through, the USMNT can play only the teams that are in front of them. To that end, the team’s trajectory is decidedly upward, and that is down in large part to Pochettino’s approach — and the players’ receptiveness to his methods.
“Above all, he just expects intensity, and he expects mentality — he expects energy,” midfielder Cristian Roldan told ESPN when asked about Pochettino. “I think those things are really contagious. So he’s very likable. He’ll hug you. He’ll have a conversation with you. He’ll yell at you. But in the end, it comes from a good place. And as long as you bring what he wants, you’re going to be in a good spot.”
It was clear when Pochettino was hired in September 2024 that things needed to change within the USMNT. Like the dark side of the Force, negative habits and emotions had slowly crept into the U.S. team.
Some of this was down to having two back-to-back interim managers over six months — Anthony Hudson and B.J. Callaghan — to start 2023, and then opting to rehire Gregg Berhalter to the post later that year. The progress the USMNT achieved during the 2022 cycle wasn’t replicated in Berhalter’s second go-round. Complacency set in and the project stagnated.
So, when Pochettino came on board as an objective outsider, he made it clear that there would be no guaranteed starters. Players would have to earn their spots, regardless of their perceived status within the team or from the broader public. Everyone would be held accountable.
“No one’s special — when you come into camp, you’re a U.S. men’s national team player, you deserve to be here,” midfielder Tyler Adams told ESPN. “[He’ll] make sure that you get better each time you come into camp and feel worthy. But at the same time, it’s required from you to put what you’re going to get in and get out of it. So, every single camp guys have learned and adjusted to that.
“But I don’t want to say that he’s changed the culture — I’d say he’s brought the culture out of us. I think we’ve had that in us and it just took someone to bring it out of us, and I think he’s done a great job of that.”
And how did Pochettino do that exactly? To hear Adams tell it, the approach — at least a high level — was simple.
“I think he’s a little bit more strict in certain things,” Adams said. “I think that the standards that were set were clear from day one. You don’t break my trust. You don’t break the rules. You don’t disrespect one another or you won’t be around.”
The adjustment did take some time. The performances at the 2025 Concacaf Nations League finals, when the USMNT fell in consecutive matches to Panama and Canada, were horrid. It led to multiple former USMNT players questioning the heart and desire of the current generation.
Pochettino responded by not calling up certain players — most notably Weston McKennie — for subsequent camps. Due in part to injuries to the likes of Antonee Robinson and Folarin Balogun, but also what Pochettino called “football decisions,” the coach took a decidedly youthful squad to the 2025 Gold Cup. Twelve players on the roster had five or fewer international appearances.
While the U.S. ultimately lost to Mexico in the Gold Cup final, the message was clear: Pochettino would call up the best team that worked together, not the best 26 players.
But the Argentine also showed patience. Every player encounters a coaching change at some point in their career. With Pochettino, there was an understanding that a different coach from a very different background would take some getting used to.
“You understand that there’s going to be nuances and there’s going to be growing pains that come along with [a coaching change], but you also understand you have to have grace with one another,” U.S. defender Mark McKenzie told ESPN. “So I think that was the biggest thing, is recognizing that it’s not going to be perfect in the first moments. They started to learn us the same way we need to learn them.”
play
2:58
Is Mauricio Pochettino is under pressure to deliver success for USMNT at the World Cup?
The ‘Futbol Americas’ crew to debate if Mauricio Pochettino is under serious pressure to deliver success for the USMNT as they prepare to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Those growing pains now appear to have been overcome. But with less than 100 days until the World Cup, and just one more international window taking place, tensions are bound to rise as the May date for the World Cup roster announcement approaches. With Pochettino’s no-favorites approach, will fear be the predominant emotion during the run-up to the tournament?
“I’ll be very honest: I think some guys will probably feel scared,” veteran U.S. defender Tim Ream told ESPN. “I think that’s a realistic and a real feeling that some guys will have.
“The approach that you have to take is, well, your spot is never guaranteed no matter where you are. Someone’s always younger, faster, better, trying to take your spot. So how do you hold that off as long as possible? Well, you just keep working. That’s the way the sport is.”
The USMNT’s intense ‘die for the shirt’ approach
Pochettino’s culture of accountability bleeds into the training sessions, sometimes literally. For the players, the moment the boots go on, there is nothing else in the world that matters. Perfection isn’t expected but maximum effort, intensity and laser-like focus are. Training sessions become a test of mental endurance as much they are about physical fortitude.
“What’s the most important thing? That pass is the most important thing. That touch is the most important thing,” said Ream. “That piece of communication — whether you’re telling somebody left, right, go this way, go that way — is the most important thing. And so when I [refer to] how demanding he is, he wants all of that.
“In every single training session, as soon as you cross the line, your focus is nowhere but there. And that can be draining. Yeah — it can be very draining.”
Pochettino expects that intensity to permeate every aspect of the training session. That includes reaching a level of physicality that replicates game-like situations. Yes, the tackles do fly in at times.
“Whether it’s 11-v-11, a small-sided game, yeah, I’m going to get stuck in,” said McKenzie. “I’m not doing it to the point where it’s going to harm or hurt my teammate. But at the same time, I’m not just going to jump over his foot just because — I’m going to make sure I’m getting stuck in.
“I want to win this tackle. I want to win this duel. So there’s ways to go about it without harming each other, but you want to have that competitive nature, competitive edge in trainings because that’s the way we want to play the game.”
The thinking behind this approach is that it raises the level of the entire group.
“You have guys that don’t normally want to get into tackles, getting into tackles,” said Roldan. “Those are the things that are contagious.”
play
1:38
Is Pulisic right to hit back at USMNT criticism?
The Futbol Americans crew discuss if Christian Pulisic was correct to hit back criticism aimed at him from some USMNT legends including Landon Donovan.
In terms of the cadence of the sessions, they are intended to condition the players to what they will see in the game. Every drill, tactical session, gym workout or activation has a purpose behind it. The philosophy is that there is no wasted energy.
“[The drills] all form this tunnel to make sure that the final product on the field is the way we want it to look or the way that we are training for it to look,” said McKenzie.
It results in training sessions that end with the right level of utter exhaustion and the desire to want to do it again the next day. Pochettino’s cultural reset has had the desired effect.
“I think the overarching culture is that guys would die for the shirt right now,” goalkeeper Matt Turner told ESPN.
No longer ‘inmates running the asylum’
In the previous cycle, Berhalter appointed a so-called leadership council of select players, which the coaching staff used to take the temperature on certain issues. Under Pochettino there’s no such structure in place. Multiple players said the current setup makes for better dialogue where anyone can speak up.
“It becomes almost like the inmates running the asylum,” said Ream about the past leadership council. “So, it almost becomes where there’s a group of players who have a lot of the say, and then there’s a group who are a little bit hesitant. So they’re like, ‘Well, he chose those guys. I can’t say anything.’
“Now it’s like, ‘Guys, we’re all in this together.’ OK, yes, I’m the oldest. I’m not the loudest. So, Tyler [Adams], Chris [Richards], you want to be the loudest? Be the loudest, bro. It’s no problem. And it’s a give-and-take, but everybody feels empowered to speak and say whatever they feel — equal and in a positive way.”
While Pochettino prefers to leave players alone when they are with their clubs, Ream feels the level of communication now among players, even away from camp, is greater than it has ever been. The number of group chats has increased to the point that he says he “can’t keep up with them all.”
Make no mistake. Pochettino is still the boss, and hasn’t hesitated to publicly come down on players when he feels they’ve strayed out of their lane.
The USMNT’s biggest star and face of the team, Christian Pulisic, said he “didn’t understand” Pochettino’s decision to not include him in a pair of pre-Gold Cup friendlies, even as Pulisic said he was skipping the Gold Cup. Pochettino declared that as manager, he was “not a mannequin” and would make the decisions he felt were best for the team, regardless of what Pulisic thought.
Pochettino also later criticized midfielder Timothy Weah for a seemingly innocuous comment about how high World Cup ticket prices were, stating that it’s not a player’s “duty” to discuss such topics, insisting he focus purely on his game.
Whether that’s just Pochettino keeping his players in line and focused on the task ahead, or the hints of possible discontent, remain to be seen. The ultimate judge of Pochettino’s approach will be the results of this summer’s World Cup. But for now, there appears to be total buy-in from the players — at least from what they are saying publicly.
Pochettino getting ‘personal’ with players
Communication is arguably the most important aspect of coaching. It enables a manager to impart knowledge, build trust, increase motivation and improve performance. Entire locker rooms can be lost by saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.
Pochettino’s communication style can be divided into two parts: the way he speaks on the field, and away from it.
On the field during training, timing is everything. Knowing when to keep quiet is just as important as knowing what to say. In moments of struggle, there is benefit to seeing if players can solve problems on their own. Stop things too often, and the rhythm of the training session gets mangled.
“I think [Pochettino] does a really good job of knowing when to step in in a training session and say, ‘Guys, we have to have more. You need more. I need more from you’ or ‘We need to do this as a group better,'” said Ream. “And I think when you interject immediately when you see something wrong, I think if you do it too much, it loses its value.
“Mauricio, he has this innate ability to know when is the right time to step in and when is the right time to just watch and see.”
That dovetails well with what happens in matches. It’s a players’ game, and once the whistle blows, the manager only has so much influence. Oftentimes, it’s up to the players to figure out things on the fly. McKenzie likens it to an assembly line.
“You’re going through the training sessions and you’re building that framework of the car, but the driver is going to be the one who ultimately is able to get the most out of that vehicle,” he said. “And that’s pretty much the picture I’d say of what Mauricio wants to do.”
Away from the training ground is when Pochettino does some of his most important work. It’s where he can sidle up to a player, get details about their background and what’s happening with their home life. It’s a moment to communicate with a gentler touch rather than the heightened, competitive emotions of a game or practice. It gives Pochettino more data on what buttons to push with which players and when.
“He’s wanting to have personal conversations. He’s wanting to know about your family,” Ream said. “He’s wanting to understand and know everybody on a much deeper connected level. Guys were a little bit uneasy about that kind of thing early on and now they understand how he operates and how he works.”
Turner added: “When you have a coach that is intense, demanding, and loving, you take the time to get to know him, and you see what works communicationwise and what doesn’t work. Then, you try to learn a lot about each other and just open up.”
The result is greater sense of connectedness throughout the team. During the previous cycle, there was lots of talk about the brotherhood that existed among the players. Now the word that gets used is “family” — one that includes not just players, but the entire staff as well.
“That family side of it is huge,” McKenzie said, “and it creates an environment where the door is open for guys to have conversations and feel like you’re part of the team, whether it’s your first camp or whether it’s your 51st camp.”
That closeness is preparing both the players and staff for the gauntlet of the World Cup, which starts for the USMNT on June 12 against Paraguay. If the USMNT performs as it hopes, the players could end up spending two months together in the intense pressure cooker of the sport’s biggest tournament, from the time their camp begins in May to the World Cup final on July 19.
“It has to be that way because you’re all trying to do something incredible,” said Ream. “You’re all going to a tournament that’s going to be the biggest one in the history of this sport. You have to have those feelings. You have to be that close. You have to be that tight-knit. You have to feel all of that, because without that it doesn’t matter.”
Stacks from the Hugh L. Spurlock Generating Station are seen on June 12, 2025, in Maysville, Kentucky. (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Welcome to Fox News’ Artificial Intelligence newsletter with the latest AI technology advancements.
IN TODAY’S NEWSLETTER:
– Kentucky family turns down $26M from AI giant to keep farmland that ‘fed a nation’
– Trump names David Sacks co-chair of tech advisory council, expanding AI, crypto role
– Hollywood union praises Trump’s AI policy as ‘protections for human creativity’
MOOVE ALONG: A Kentucky family reportedly rejected a massive $26 million offer from a major artificial intelligence company. The family chose instead to preserve their historic farmland, citing its legacy of helping feed the nation over corporate tech expansion.
A train sits in front of houses on the banks of the Ohio River in Maysville, Kentucky, Sept. 13, 2017.(REUTERS/Brian Snyder)
GROWING INFLUENCE:President Donald Trump has appointed David Sacks as the co-chair of his technology advisory council. This strategic move signals an expanded focus on shaping both artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency policies under the current administration’s economic and political agenda.
‘STRONGLY SUPPORT’:A major Hollywood union is offering praise for President Trump’s approach to artificial intelligence policy. The union specifically highlighted the administration’s efforts to implement protections for human creativity in the face of rapidly evolving generative AI tools in the entertainment industry.
First lady Melania Trump arrives, accompanied by a robot, to attend the “Fostering the Future Together Global Coalition Summit,” with other first spouses, at the White House, Wednesday, March 25, 2026, in Washington.(Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo)
FUTURE FORWARD:First lady Melania Trump welcomed a humanoid robot during a historic artificial intelligence summit hosted at the White House. The event underscores the administration’s active engagement with rapidly advancing emerging technologies.
WASTE WATCH:Vice President JD Vance’s anti-fraud task force intensifies its efforts to identify and root out fraudulent activities nationwide. The ramped-up initiative follows a major enforcement action that resulted in the suspension of 70 providers in Los Angeles.
TECH SHOWDOWN:House Speaker Mike Johnson outlined two specific conditions that he argues must be met for the United States to successfully win the highly competitive global artificial intelligence race.
SIDELINING PROGRESS:Sen. John Fetterman sharply criticized a proposed moratorium on the construction of AI data centers. Fetterman argues that pausing infrastructure development would place the United States at a severe disadvantage, characterizing the proposal as a “China first” policy.
Nevada Big Blind center.(Zanskar)
EARTH’S EDGE: Fox News’ Bret Baier explores the intersection of political energy strategy and next-generation technology, reporting on how artificial intelligence is playing a crucial role in unlocking new potential for geothermal energy development across the country.
POWER PLAY:Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar addresses what he calls America’s “undeclared emergency.” The sweeping cultural and geopolitical conversation covers the threat posed by Iran, the development of deadly new U.S. weapons systems and strategic maneuvers required to avoid World War III.
CAUTION ADVISED:Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak expressed skepticism about the current state of artificial intelligence. Weighing in on the tech industry’s latest obsession, Wozniak stated plainly that he is not a fan of the technology’s current trajectory.
MONEY MATTERS:BlackRock CEO Larry Fink warned about the financial disparities potentially exacerbated by technological advancements. Fink emphasized that expanding market participation is absolutely necessary to address the growing wealth gap amid the current artificial intelligence boom.
Stay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements, and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future with Fox News here.
Analysts say prices are likely to remain elevated until shipping resumes in the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman through which one-fifth of the world’s oil supply flows.
Gas prices are typically higher in California, which relies heavily on oil imports from abroad and has higher taxes on gasoline than other U.S. states. Still, prices have increased across the country.
Diesel, which powers trucks, boats and trains that transport U.S. goods, has risen more quickly than regular gasoline, in part because diesel was already in short supply before the war began.
Oil only accounts for half the cost of a gallon of gas. The rest is a combination of refining, taxes and marketing, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The time of year also influences gas prices, as demand for fuel rises during warmer months.
The U.S. is the world’s leading oil producer. However, the global market sets the price. Higher oil costs mean higher prices for Americans fueling their cars.
And it’s not just gas: Heating bills may be getting more expensive as the price of residential heating oil has begun to climb in response to the war in Iran.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The astronaut who prompted NASA’s first medical evacuation earlier this year said Friday that doctors still don’t know why he suddenly fell sick at the International Space Station.
Four-time space flier Mike Fincke said he was eating dinner on Jan. 7 after prepping for a spacewalk the next day when it happened. He couldn’t talk and remembers no pain, but his anxious crewmates jumped into action after seeing him in distress and requested help from flight surgeons on the ground.
“It was completely out of the blue. It was just amazingly quick,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press from Houston’s Johnson Space Center.
Fincke, 59, a retired Air Force colonel, said the episode lasted roughly 20 minutes and he felt fine afterward. He said he still does. He never experienced anything like that before or since.
Doctors have ruled out a heart attack and Fincke said he wasn’t choking, but everything else is still on the table and could be related to his 549 days of weightlessness. He was 5 ½ months into his latest space station stay when the problem struck like “a very, very fast lightning bolt.”
“My crewmates definitely saw that I was in distress,” he said, with all six gathering around him. “It was all hands on deck within just a matter of seconds.”
Fincke said he can’t provide any more details about his medical episode. The space agency wants to make sure that other astronauts do not feel that their medical privacy will be compromised if something happens to them, he said.
The space station’s ultrasound machine came in handy when the event occurred, he said, and he’s gone through numerous tests since returning to Earth. NASA is poring through other astronauts’ medical records to see if any related instances that might have occurred in space, he said.
Fincke identified himself late last month as the one who was sick to end the swirling public speculation.
He still feels bad that his illness caused the spacewalk to be canceled — it would have been his 10th spacewalk but first for crewmate Zena Cardman — and resulted in an early return for her and their two other crewmates. SpaceX brought them back on Jan. 15, more than a month early, and they went straight to the hospital.
“I’ve been very lucky to be super healthy. So this was very surprising for everyone,” he said.
Fincke stopped apologizing to everybody after NASA’s new administrator Jared Isaacman ordered him to stop.
“This wasn’t you. This was space, right?” his colleagues assured him. “You didn’t let anybody down.”
Ever the optimist, he’s holding out hope that he can return to space one day.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Consumer confidence slid in March as the Iran war and rising gas prices weighed on Americans’ views of the U.S. economy.
The University of Michigan’s preliminary March sentiment index, released Friday, showed consumer sentiment fell 5.8% from 56.6 points in February to 53.3 in March. That marks the lowest level since December 2025.
Drop among middle- and high-income consumers
The drop in sentiment was more pronounced among middle and high-income consumers, Joanne Hsu, director of the Surveys of Consumers at the University of Michigan, said in a statement. Higher-income households have more wealth invested in the stock market, which has been highly volatile since the Iran war began on Feb. 28. The S&P 500 has slumped almost 6% since then.
“When we go to war, people anticipate worsening economic constraints, including higher prices. But they also anticipate volatility in their investments,” Elizabeth Renter, a senior economist at NerdWallet, said in a statement.
The dip in sentiment comes as oil prices climb, putting financial pressure on U.S. consumers, delivery drivers and farmers.
As of Friday afternoon, crude oil prices were up, with Brent, the international benchmark, rising 2.5% to $104.46 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the U.S. benchmark, rising 4.1% to $98.31.
Higher prices at the pump
Gas was $3.98 per gallon on average on Friday, according to AAA, up $1 since the conflict in the Middle East erupted, while diesel was $5.38 per gallon.
Elevated diesel prices could ultimately translate to grocery prices, given that the trucks that transport American goods run on the fuel.
“The more prolonged the exposure to high gas and grocery prices, the larger and more persistent the drop in sentiment will be,” Francesco D’Acunto, an associate professor of finance at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business, told CBS News in an email.
The consumer sentiment data showed Americans’ inflation expectations also rose from 3.4% in February to 3.8% this month, the largest one-month increase since April 2025.
The survey data aligns with recent polling from CBS News, which showed that rising energy prices are fueling pessimism about the nation’s economy. Of the 3,335 U.S. adults polled, 85% said gas prices in their area have been going up. The vast majority, 90%, also said they expect U.S. gas and oil prices to be higher in the short term due to the war.
A judge ruled Friday that the Trump administration can convene a meeting next week to seek an exemption from the Endangered Species Act on the basis of national security for expanded oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
District of Columbia District Judge Rudolph Contreras rejected the Center for Biological Diversity’s motion to postpone the Interior Department’s upcoming meeting of the Endangered Species Committee.
The committee is set to meet Tuesday to seek an exemption from endangered species laws — which make it illegal to harm or kill species on a protected list, without a viable alternative — for national security purposes as invoked by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
According to a Department of Justice filing, Hegseth called for an exemption for “all Gulf of America oil and gas exploration and development activities” overseen by federal agencies in his request to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum for the meeting. The request came as the world experiences oil shocks and soaring energy prices amid the U.S.-Iran war.
Composed of six high-ranking federal officials plus a representative for states involved, the committee has been called the “God Squad” by environmental groups that say its actions can essentially determine the fate of an endangered species. It has convened only three times in its nearly 50-year history and the national security provision has never been invoked.
The Center for Biological Diversity sued earlier this month, saying Burgum did not meet requirements or the legal basis needed to convene the committee. In seeking a temporary restraining order, the center argued the government could cause irreparable harm through the actions it decides next week. Environmental groups are especially concerned about the Rice’s whale in the Gulf, where only about 50 remain.
Government attorneys argued in court that the environmental group was challenging an exemption decision that hasn’t been made and said the government’s reasoning for the exemption will be detailed next week.
The judge said the center did not meet a high standard necessary to issue the temporary restraining order.
Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, called it disappointing that the court “didn’t immediately stop Hegseth’s reckless power grab.”
“We’ll be outside the Department of the Interior on Tuesday protesting this outrageous abuse by Trump’s extinction committee. We’ll certainly be back in court to save the Rice’s whale and all of the Gulf of Mexico’s wildlife from being driven to extinction by the oil industry,” he said.
The Interior Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Environmental groups say the administration is seeking an exemption to avoid the intensive process required for an Endangered Species Act exemption. They say such an exemption could set a dangerous precedent for future fossil fuel projects.
The Gulf has long been affected by the environmental harms that oil can bring. An oil spill in the Gulf earlier this month spread 373 miles (600 kilometers), contaminating at least six species and polluting seven protected natural reserves. BP’s Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010 wreaked havoc on the Gulf, spilling 134 million gallons of oil and devastating life in the region. The administration approved BP’s new $5 billion ultra-deepwater drilling project in the Gulf just weeks ago.
The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel joins ‘America’s Newsroom’ to discuss an increase of colon cancer in people under 50 despite overall lowering cancer deaths and a new study linking obesity to vascular dementia.
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
New research has identified an association between late-onset dementia and certain infections.
The study, published in the journal PLOS Medicine, investigated the link between the two, exploring whether the connection could stem from other health issues stemming from severe infections.
Researchers at the University of Helsinki, Finland, considered 170 common hospital-treated diseases that occurred one to 21 years before diagnosis in more than 65,000 patients with dementia aged 65 and older.
After narrowing the list down to 29 diseases showing the strongest link to dementia, two were infections – cystitis (a bacterial/urinary tract infection) and general bacterial infection.
The other diseases were non-infectious, including mental disorders as well as digestive, endocrine, cardiovascular and neurological diseases, as well as injuries.
Nearly half of dementia cases included one of the 29 identified diseases before diagnosis.(iStock)
Nearly half (47%) of dementia cases came after one of the 29 identified diseases.
Even after adjusting for these diseases, the link between dementia and infection remained intact, the researchers found. These infections typically occurred about five to 6-½ years before dementia diagnosis.
Those with hospital-treated cystitis and bacterial infection, for example, had about a 19% higher rate of late-onset dementia.
Overall, the findings “support the possibility that severe infections increase dementia risk,” the researchers concluded.
Those with hospital-treated cystitis and bacterial infection had about a 19% higher rate of late-onset dementia.(iStock)
As the development of dementia often takes “years or even decades,” the findings suggest that severe infections “might accelerate underlying cognitive decline,” the study authors commented in a press release.
Study limitations
The lack of baseline cognitive assessment and clinical examination data before dementia diagnoses posed some limitations to the study. Infection treatment data was also not available.
Study co-author Pyry N. Sipila, MD, PhD, a public health lecturer at the University of Helsinki, pointed out that the study was observational.
“Thus, we cannot prove whether there really is cause and effect between severe infections and dementia,” he told Fox News Digital. “Ideally, there would be intervention trials in the future that would test whether the prevention of infections will help reduce or delay the onset of dementia.”
The authors suggest that infections could be accelerating dementia that already exists.(iStock)
Sipila recommends that adults stay up to date on vaccinations.
“Although our study does not prove that vaccinations would help prevent dementia, I think it certainly doesn’t hurt to have that one extra benefit of potentially reducing the risk,” he said.
Dr. Joel Salinas, a Harvard-trained behavioral neurologist and chief medical officer at Isaac Health, said the study’s size suggests it could be applied to other populations.
“We often assume infections are just a marker of someone being generally at risk of illness, but here, severe infections specifically appear to play an independent role,” the New York-based expert, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital.
“That suggests there may be something biologically meaningful happening, like inflammation or immune responses that affect the brain.”
Cardiovascular health, managing conditions like hypertension and diabetes, and avoiding head injuries are dementia risk factors, Salinas listed.(iStock)
Salinas added that it’s important to keep this increased risk “in perspective,” as having an infection doesn’t guarantee the development of dementia, but should be considered “one piece of a much larger puzzle.”
Some of the strongest risk factors for dementia, according to Salinas, include fundamentals like heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, depression and head injuries.
“What this study adds is a reminder that severe infections, especially those requiring hospitalization, may also be part of that risk profile, particularly in older adults,” he told Fox News Digital.
“We’re moving away from thinking about dementia as a single disease with a single cause, and toward understanding it as the result of multiple interacting factors over time.”
Angelica Stabile is a lifestyle reporter for Fox News Digital.
