Weight And Wellness

How to make videos You might be watching a lot of videos and keep on asking how to make videos like that. Well, I can say that this topic however is broad but let me just discuss how to make videos in general. As I said, it will be a novel-like story if I'll… By: chamberlane altatis in  Arts and Entertainment  >  Movies TV   Jul 26, 2011   0   Likes: 1

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Stay Fit Seniors Inc announces it is now a SilverandFit(R) participating facility with many locations

Stay Fit Seniors Inc announces it is now a Silver&Fit(R) participating facility with many locationsShare: Tweet17
Apr
2012Stay Fit Seniors Inc announces it is now a Silver&Fit(R) participating facility with many locationsStay Fit Seniors Inc. is now part of the Silver&Fit

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THE PARK LANE Health and Vitality Series April Topic Living Well with Arthritis

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2012Save the Date! Monday, April 30th from 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m "Living Well with Arthritis"

Salinas, CA (1888PressRelease) April 18, 2012 - The 2012 Health and Vitality Speaker Series is a community education event held at The PARK LANE's Vista Lounge located at 200 Glenwood Circle in Monterey monthly. The events begin at 3:00 p.m. followed by question and answer s at 4:00 p.m. This series is open to the public and refreshments are provided.

The April presentation is "Living Well with Arthritis" will be held Monday, April 30th from 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Guest speakers include Alexandra Fallon, Arthritis Foundation, Brian Ellinoy, Integrative Pharmacistand Joy Colangelo, Occupational Therapist Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula. The panel will be discussing the various types of arthritis, treatments and exercises that may help those suffering from one of its many forms. Did you know one in five adults has some form of arthritis?

Special to this event will be the presence of the NOVA Company, makers of the four wheeled rolling walker with handbrakes and seat. NOVA Company will be on site to conduct a "Walker Clinic". Bring in your collapsible aluminum walker, and NOVA Company will replace the tennis balls with new adaptive gliders to make the walker easier to maneuver. There will be no charge for adapting the gliders. In addition to the "Walker Clinic, " Akshai Patel, of AllCare Pharmacy will be bringing assistive devices, arthritis support braces and some of the cr

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Vitamin C Supplementation Lowers Blood Pressure

Researchers from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine evaluated all the vitamin C studies relating to blood pressure dating back to 1966.  They concluded that an average dose of 500 mg of supplemental vitamin C per day for 8 weeks significantly lowered systolic and diastolic blood pressure. 

Vitamin C is one of the grand-daddy antioxidant nutrients and as such is one of the vitamins that the Big Pharma-sponsored American Heart Association loves to hate.  It is actually ironic for mainstream researchers to tout the benefits of vitamin C for cardiovascular health.

Vitamin C is an important antioxidant in your blood that helps to lower inflammation such as CRP C-reactive protein. It is an acute phase protein that increases during systemic inflammation. It is a general way to assess cardiovascular disease risk. A more sensitive test for heart disease risk is hs-CRP, highly sensitive CRP. (C reactive protein).  Vitamin C is needed for collagen synthesis that contributes to flexible arteries.  And vitamin C participates as a member of the antioxidant team that protects your cardiovascular system.

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Low Chromium and Iron Predict Type 2 Diabetes

Researchers looking at eight different minerals in the blood of healthy people compared to type 2 diabetic patients were able to determine that low blood levels of chromium and iron were able to show who was diabetic compared to a complete clinical diagnostic evaluation.

The researchers looked blood levels of lithium, zinc, chromium, copper, iron, manganese, nickel and vanadium. They compared the blood of 105 healthy adults to 53 patients with type-2 diabetes. Chromium and iron turned out to be the key minerals of these eight that could actually predict type 2 diabetes. 

Chromium is well known for assisting the metabolism of blood sugar at the cellular level. Iron is a vital player in many aspects of human metabolism and must have adequate antioxidants along with it to work properly so as to assist metabolism.

There are many nutrients required for healthy metabolism of blood sugar. Comprehensive nutritional support is vital when problems start to develop as well as helping to correct existing problems. Chromium and iron are two nutrients to include as part of an overall blood sugar support program.

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Lack of sleep is linked to obesity, new evidence shows

ScienceDaily (Apr. 17, 2012) — Can lack of sleep make you fat? A new paper which reviews the evidence from sleep restriction studies reveals that inadequate sleep is linked to obesity. The research, published in a special issue of the The American Journal of Human Biology, explores how lack of sleep can impact appetite regulation, impair glucose metabolism and increase blood pressure.

See Also:Health & MedicineSleep Disorder ResearchInsomnia ResearchObesityMind & BrainSleep DisordersInsomniaObstructive Sleep ApneaLiving WellReferenceCircadian rhythm sleep disorderSleep deprivationSeparation anxiety disorderRapid eye movement

"Obesity develops when energy intake is greater than expenditure. Diet and physical activity play an important part in this, but an additional factor may be inadequate sleep," said Dr Kristen Knutson, from the University of Chicago. "A review of the evidence shows how short or poor quality sleep is linked to increased risk of obesity by de-regulating appetite, leading to increased energy consumption."

Dr Knutson accumulated evidence from experimental and observational studies of sleep. Observational studies revealed cross-sectional associations between getting fewer than six hours sleep and increased body mass index (BMI) or obesity.

The studies revealed how signals from the brain which control appetite regulation are impacted by experimental sleep restriction. Inadequate sleep impacts secretion of the signal hormones ghrelin, which increases appetite, and leptin, which indicates when the body is satiated. This can lead to increased food intake without the compensating energy expenditure.

"In the United States 18% of adults are estimated to get less than 6 hours of sleep, which equates to 53 million short sleepers who may be at risk of associated obesity," said Knutson. "Poor sleeping patterns are not random and it is important to consider the social, cultural and environmental factors which can cause inadequate sleep so at-risk groups can be identified."

The evidence suggests the association between inadequate sleep and higher BMI is stronger in children and adolescents. It also shows that sleep deficiency in lower socioeconomic groups may result in greater associated obesity risks.

The majority of the studies Dr Knutson examined came from Western countries, which highlights the need for more research to understand sleep's role in disease risk. However other research papers in the special issue focus on obesity in the United Arab Emirates, Samoa, and Brazil.

"These findings show that sleeping poorly can increase a person's risk of developing obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure or heart disease," concluded Knutson. "Future research should determine whether efforts to improve sleep can also help prevent the development of these diseases or improve the lives of patients with these conditions."

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Excessive weight gain during pregnancy a predictor for above-average birth weight

ScienceDaily (Apr. 17, 2012) — One out of every two women of reproductive age is overweight or obese. Researchers from the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) Research Institute, from the University of Ottawa (faculties of Medicine and Health Sciences) and from the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute set out to discover if overweight or obese women are in fact more likely to give birth to above average weight babies, as reported in the Journal of Maternal Fetal and Neonatal Medicine.

See Also:Health & MedicineObesityDiet and Weight LossPregnancy and ChildbirthInfant's HealthFitnessDiseases and ConditionsReferenceBody mass indexBirth weightNutrition and pregnancyOverweight

"Obesity can become part of an intergenerational cycle," said Dr. Kristi Adamo, co-author of this report and co-founder of the Healthy Active Living and Obesity (HALO) Research Group at the CHEO Research Institute. "Birth weight averages can be an indicator of the weight a child will carry through preschool and even into adulthood. It's critical for a mother to understand that her healthy eating and lifestyle decisions during pregnancy will impact much more than a nine-month gestation period."

To investigate this issue in more detail, Dr. Adamo and her colleagues examined data from more than 4,000 mother and baby pairs cared for at The Ottawa Hospital and the Kingston General Hospital between 2002 and 2009. They found that excessive gestational weight gain (GWG) can be just as problematic as pre-pregnancy overweight and obesity. In fact, the study indicated that independent of pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI), mothers who exceeded GWG recommendations specific to their pre-pregnancy BMI significantly increased the likelihood that their child would be born larger than average for gestational age (i.e. above the 90th percentile of infant weight for gestational age.)

"It doesn't matter if you're categorized as normal weight, overweight or obese during pre-pregnancy -- exceeding the 2009 Institute of Medicine GWG targets seems to have a growth promoting effect on the fetus," explained the co-author Zach Ferraro, a PhD student in Dr. Adamo's lab and in the Human Kinetics doctoral program at the University of Ottawa. He is co-supervised by Dr. Denis Prud'homme, co-author of this report and dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences. "Unfortunately, delivering a large baby increases the risk for many delivery-related complications in both mom and baby. But the takeaway here is that GWG is a modifiable risk factor that can and must be addressed during prenatal visits for all women!"

The data for this study was obtained from the Ottawa and Kingston (OaK) Birth Cohort, developed by Drs. Mark Walker, Shi Wu Wen and Marc Rodger of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and the University of Ottawa. The study was funded by the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Ontario Women's Health Council, and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.

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Positive feelings may help protect cardiovascular health

ScienceDaily (Apr. 17, 2012) — Over the last few decades numerous studies have shown negative states, such as depression, anger, anxiety, and hostility, to be detrimental to cardiovascular health. Less is known about how positive psychological characteristics are related to heart health. In the first and largest systematic review on this topic to date, Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers found that positive psychological well-being appears to reduce the risk of heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular events.

See Also:Health & MedicineHeart DiseaseMental Health ResearchWorkplace HealthMind & BrainChild DevelopmentChild PsychologyMental HealthLiving WellReferenceLow density lipoproteinHormone replacement therapyHigh density lipoproteinCoronary heart disease

The study was published online April 17, 2012 in Psychological Bulletin.

The American Heart Association reports more than 2,200 Americans die of cardiovascular disease (CVD) each day, an average of one death every 39 seconds. Stroke accounts for about one of every 18 U.S. deaths.

"The absence of the negative is not the same thing as the presence of the positive. We found that factors such as optimism, life satisfaction, and happiness are associated with reduced risk of CVD regardless of such factors as a person's age, socioeconomic status, smoking status, or body weight," said lead author Julia Boehm, research fellow in the Department of Society, Human Development, and Health at HSPH. "For example, the most optimistic individuals had an approximately 50% reduced risk of experiencing an initial cardiovascular event compared to their less optimistic peers," she said.

In a review of more than 200 studies published in two major scientific databases, Boehm and senior author Laura Kubzansky, associate professor of society, human development, and health at HSPH, found there are psychological assets, like optimism and positive emotion, that afford protection against cardiovascular disease. It also appears that these factors slow the progression of disease.

To further understand how psychological well-being and CVD might be related, Boehm and Kubzansky also investigated well-being's association with cardiovascular-related health behaviors and biological markers. They found that individuals with a sense of well-being engaged in healthier behaviors such as exercising, eating a balanced diet, and getting sufficient sleep. In addition, greater well-being was related to better biological function, such as lower blood pressure, healthier lipid (blood fat) profiles, and normal body weight.

If future research continues to indicate that higher levels of satisfaction, optimism, and happiness come before cardiovascular health, this has strong implications for the design of prevention and intervention strategies. "These findings suggest that an emphasis on bolstering psychological strengths rather than simply mitigating psychological deficits may improve cardiovascular health," Kuzbansky said.

The study was supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Pioneer Portfolio through the grant "Exploring Concepts of Positive Health."

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Brain scans can predict weight gain and sexual activity, research shows

ScienceDaily (Apr. 17, 2012) — At a time when obesity has become epidemic in American society, Dartmouth scientists have found that functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans may be able to predict weight gain. In a study published April 18, 2012, in The Journal of Neuroscience, the researchers demonstrated a connection between fMRI brain responses to appetite-driven cues and future behavior.

See Also:Health & MedicineDiet and Weight LossBrain TumorObesityMind & BrainDieting and Weight ControlPsychologyBrain InjuryLiving WellStrange ScienceReferenceFunctional neuroimagingBone scanMirror neuronSleep deprivation

"This is one of the first studies in brain imaging that uses the responses observed in the scanner to predict important, real-world outcomes over a long period of time," says Todd Heatherton, the Lincoln Filene Professor in Human Relations in the department of psychological and brain sciences and a coauthor on the study. "Using brain activity to predict a consequential behavior outside the scanner is pretty novel."

Using fMRI, the researchers targeted a region of the brain known as the nucleus accumbens, often referred to as the brain's "reward center," in a group of incoming first-year college students. While undergoing scans, the subjects viewed images of animals, environmental scenes, appetizing food items, and people. Six months later, their weight and responses to questionnaires regarding interim sexual behavior were compared with their previously recorded weight and brain scan data.

"The people whose brains responded more strongly to food cues were the people who went on to gain more weight six months later," explains Kathryn Demos, first author on the paper. Demos, who conducted the research as part of her doctoral dissertation at Dartmouth, is currently on the research faculty at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.

The correlation between strong food image brain responses and weight gain was also present for sexual images and activity. "Just as cue reactivity to food images was investigated as potential predictors of weight gain, cue reactivity to sexual images was used to predict sexual desire," the authors report.

The paper stresses "material specificity," noting that the participants who responded to food images gained weight but did not engage in more sexual behavior, and vice versa. The authors go on to say that none of the non-food images predicted weight gain.

Heatherton and William Kelley, associate professor of psychological and brain science and a senior author on the paper, have a longstanding interest in psychological theories of self-regulation, also called self-control or willpower.

"We seek to understand situations in which people face temptations and try to not act on them," says Kelley.

The researchers note that the first step toward controlling cravings may be an awareness of how much you are affected by specific triggers in the environment, such as the arrival of the dessert tray in a restaurant.

"You need to actively be thinking about the behavior you want to control in order to regulate it," remarks Kelley. "Self-regulation requires a lot of conscious effort."

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Kidney stone mystery solved: Why some people are more prone to develop kidney stones

ScienceDaily (Apr. 18, 2012) — Kidney stones strike an estimated 1 million Americans each year, and those who have experienced the excruciating pain say it is among the worst known to man (or woman).

See Also:Health & MedicineKidney DiseaseUrologyOsteoporosisWomen's HealthDiseases and ConditionsGenesReferenceKidney stoneUrologyExcretory systemInflammation of the kidney

Now, new research by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis provides evidence to explain why some people are more prone to develop the condition than others. Their discovery opens the door to finding effective drug treatments and a test that could assess a person's risk of kidney stones.

"Now, we finally have a more complete picture detailing why some people develop kidney stones and others do not," says senior author Jianghui Hou, PhD, assistant professor of medicine. "With this information, we can begin to think about better treatments and ways to determine a person's risk of the condition, which typically increases with age."

The research, in mice, is now available online in the EMBO Journal, published by the European Molecular Biology Organization.

Because kidneys function the same way in mice as in humans, the new findings can help scientists understand the root causes of kidney stones in patients. The mouse model used in the study can also serve as a platform for the preclinical testing of novel treatments for the condition, the researchers say.

Most kidney stones form when the urine becomes too concentrated, allowing minerals like calcium to crystallize and stick together. Diet plays a role in the condition -- not drinking enough water or eating too much salt (which binds to calcium) also increases the risk of stones.

But genes are partly to blame. A common genetic variation in a gene called claudin-14 recently has been linked to a substantial increase in risk -- roughly 65 percent -- of getting kidney stones. In the new study, the researchers have shown how alterations in the gene's activity influence the development of stones.

Typically, the claudin-14 gene is not active in the kidney. The new research shows that its expression is dampened by two snippets of RNA, a sister molecule of DNA, that essentially silence the gene.

When claudin-14 is idled, the kidney's filtering system works like it's supposed to. Essential minerals in the blood like calcium and magnesium pass through the kidneys and are reabsorbed back into the blood, where they are transported to cells to carry out basic functions of life.

But when people eat a diet high in calcium or salt and don't drink enough water, the small RNA molecules release their hold on claudin-14. An increase in the gene's activity prevents calcium from re-entering the blood, the study shows.

Hou and his team have found that claudin-14 blocks calcium from entering passageways called tight junctions in cells that line the kidney and separate blood from urine.

Without a way back to the bloodstream, excess calcium goes into the urine. Too much calcium in the urine can lead to stones in the kidneys or bladder. Intense pain develops when a large stone gets stuck in the bladder, ureter or urethra and blocks the flow of urine.

Hou's research supports the theory that people with a common variation in claudin-14 lose the ability to regulate the gene's activity, increasing the risk of kidney stones.

He is optimistic, however, that drugs could be developed to target the short stretches of RNA that are intimately linked to claudin-14. Drugs that mimic these so-called microRNAs could keep the activity of claudin-14 in check and reduce the likelihood that stones would form.

Also, it may one day be possible to develop a diagnostic test to measure levels of the claudin-14 protein excreted in urine. Elevated levels would indicate an increased risk of stones, and people could take steps to prevent stones by modifying their diet.

"Many genes likely play a role in the formation of kidney stones," Hou says. "But this study gives us a better idea of the way one of the major players work. Now that we understand the physiology of the condition, we can start to think about better treatments or even ways to prevent stones from developing in the first place."

The research was funded, in part, by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the American Heart Association.

Hou is working with Washington University's Office of Technology Management on an invention related to work described in the paper.

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Anti-AIDS pill makes cash sense for some gays: study

Anti-AIDS pill makes cash sense …

Gay men who have five or more sex partners per year are part of a high-risk group that could benefit from a daily pill to ward off HIV, said a cost-benefit analysis by US researchers on Monday.

The study by experts at Stanford University, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, looked at the costs involved with prescribing a $26 a day pill to men who have sex with men.

The pill, Truvada (tenofovir-emtricitabine), was shown in a landmark 2010 trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine to prevent HIV infections in as many as 73 percent of gay men who took it regularly.

Gay men account for the more than half of the 56,000 new cases yearly of human immunodeficiency virus in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

However, questions have been raised about whether it would make financial sense to recommend that large populations of gay men take a daily pill as prevention, or a technique known as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).

"Promoting PrEP to all men who have sex with men could be prohibitively expensive," said Jessie Juusola, a PhD candidate in management science and engineering in the Stanford School of Engineering and first author of the study.

"Adopting it for men who have sex with men at high risk of acquiring HIV, however, is an investment with good value that does not break the bank."

Prescribing the pill generally to men who have sex with men in the United States would cost $495 billion over 20 years, but targeting those at highest risk only would bring costs down to $85 billion, said the study.

Looking out over the next two decades, researchers calculated a total of 490,000 new infections if PrEP is not used.

But if 20 percent of gay men take the pill daily, there would be nearly 63,000 fewer infections.

And if just 20 percent of high-risk men took the drug, 41,000 new infections would be prevented over 20 years at a cost of about $16.6 billion.

Researchers used a measure of how long people live and their quality of life, valued at $50,000 per year, versus the average costs of the pill and doctor visits totaling about $10,000 per year.

"However, even though it provides good value, it is still very expensive," added Juusola.

"In the current health-care climate, PrEP's costs may become prohibitive, especially given the other competing priorities for HIV resources, such as providing treatment for infected individuals."

Previous research has found the pill as prevention would not make financial sense if taken for life, but the Stanford team said its formula differed because it presumed just a 20-year period of pill-taking.

Truvada is currently available as a treatment for people with HIV in combination with other anti-retroviral drugs.

Drug maker Gilead Sciences Inc. of California has filed a supplemental new drug application to market it for prevention purposes.

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UCSD studies HIV prevention drug

The new one will enroll only men who have sex with men and transgender women who are at higher risk for HIV because they have multiple partners.

The study will use Truvada, a two-drug pill made by Gilead Sciences and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2004 to treat people with HIV. The company, which has applied for FDA approval to market it for HIV prevention, is providing the drug for free.

Study participants also will get counseling on reducing their risk for HIV.

Each of the three study teams will investigate slightly different areas.

UC San Diego will partner with San Diego County, Los Angeles County, the University of Southern California and the Long Beach health department to enroll 400 high-risk participants to get daily doses of Truvada.

All 400 will get regular counseling and health assessments; half also will get a daily text message reminder to take the pill.

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