New Hampshire Health News Digest

Blocking Low-Wavelength Light Prevents Nocturnal Melatonin Suppression with No Adverse Effect on Performance during Simulated Shift Work -- Kayumov et al. 90 (5): 2755 -- Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism Decreases in melatonin production in human and animals are known to be caused by environmental lighting, especially short-wavelength lighting (between 470 and 525 nm). We investigated the novel hypothesis that the use of goggles with selective exclusion of all wavelengths less than 530 nm could prevent the suppression of melatonin in bright-light conditions during a simulated shift-work experiment. Salivary melatonin levels were measured under dim ( I am experimenting with wearing red tinted sunglasses before bed in the evening. I also set my default firefox colors to red. Supposedly candles emit red light as well. I used to meditate while focusing on a candle and found it more relaxing then just meditating. I also used to use just candle light before sleeping and fou...

Short Nights Attenuate Light-Induced Circadian Phase Advances in Humans -- Burgess and Eastman 90 (8): 4437 -- Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism Abstract Context: In humans, sleep duration often determines the night (dark) length experienced, because we close our eyes when we sleep and are exposed to artificial or natural light when we are awake. Although it is recognized that there is an increasing trend in modern society toward shorter sleep time, it is not known how short nights (long photoperiods) affect the human circadian system. Objective: In this study we investigated for the first time the effects of night length on circadian phase shifts to light in humans. [....] Conclusions: This result shows for the first time that people who curtail their sleep may unwittingly reduce their circadian responsiveness to morning light. This finding also demonstrates that sleep length can alter human circadian function and has important implications for enhancing the treatment...

Light and Immunomodulation -- ROBERTS 917 (1): 435 -- Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences The immune system is susceptible to a variety of stresses. Recent work in neuroimmunology has begun to define how mood alteration, stress, the seasons, and daily rhythms can have a profound effect on immune response through hormonal modifications. Central to these factors may be light through an eye-brain hormonal modulation. In adult primates, only visible light (400-700 nm) is received by the retina. This photic energy is then transduced and delivered to the visual cortex and, by an alternative pathway, to the supra-chiasmatic nucleus (SCN), the hypothalamic region that directs circadian rhythm. Visible light exposure also modulates the pituitary and pineal glands, leading to neuroendocrine changes. Melatonin, norepinephrine, and acetylcholine decrease with light activation, whereas cortisol, serotonin, GABA, and dopamine levels increase. The synthesis of vasoactive intestinal polypeptid...

More Evidence Linking Insulin Resistance to Alzheimer's Disease - Diabetes Health Diabetes and pre-diabetes are associated with a seventy-five percent increased risk of Alzheimer's disease. Research has already shown that insulin resistance, with its accompanying high levels of circulating insulin, increases brain and spinal cord inflammation markers and neurotoxic peptides (molecules that cause brain and nervous system damage), just like early Alzheimer's. Now there's more evidence linking insulin resistance to Alzheimer's. According to research by Dr. Suzanne Craft of the University of Washington School of Medicine, brain scans of insulin-resistant adults reveal reduced glucose metabolism in certain brain regions; the pattern is identical to that seen in people who get Alzheimer's years down the road.

Ayurveda For You: Soft Drinks Linked To Heart Disease Via Metabolic Syndrome A new US study has found that drinking more than one soft drink a day, whether regular or diet, may be linked to an increased risk of developing heart disease, via an increase in metabolic syndrome, a group of characteristics like excess girth, high blood pressure, and other factors that increase the chances of getting diabetes and cardiovascular problems. The findings are published in the early online edition of Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association. The research is part of the large scale ongoing study known as the Framingham Heart Study (FHS), that started in 1948 and is now in its third generation of participants, grandchildren of the original cohort. The FHS looks at common factors or characteristics that contribute to cardiovascular disease (CVD) by following its development over a long period of time in a large group of people who joined before they had any overt symptoms of CVD or ...

Diabetics Risk Life to Stay Thin | Christianpost.com Millions of girls are estimated to be suffering from eating disorders, including anorexia and bulimia. Another dangerous trend to stay thin, however, has gained wide attention and a new term – diabulimia. Related Experts: Eating Disorders on the Rise among Young Girls "Diabulimia" is not a recognized medical condition, but it's a term that has cropped up recently labeling those with diabetes who skip their insulin to lose weight. Ann Goebel-Fabbri, a clinical psychologist at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, estimates that 450,000 type 1 diabetic women (juvenile diabetes) in the United States have skipped or shortchanged their insulin to shed pounds, according to The Associated Press. That constitutes one third of the total female population who have type 1 diabetes in the states. Remuda Programs for Eating Disorders, a biblically-based eating disorder treatment center, cites a recent study that reveals the death ra...

Key to a long life - less insulin in the brain WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Good, old-fashioned diet and exercise might keep you young by reducing the action of insulin in the brain, researchers reported on Thursday. They created mutant mice that over-ate, got fat and even had symptoms of diabetes, and yet lived 18 percent longer than normal lab mice. The secret: they lacked a certain key gene that affects insulin, the hormone that regulates glucose. The genetic engineering mimicked the effects of eating less and exercising, the researchers report in the journal Science. "This study provides a new explanation of why it's good to exercise and not eat too much," said Dr. Morris White, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Children's Hospital in Boston who led the study. The findings also raise questions about how desirable it is to use insulin to treat type 2 diabetes, said the researchers. Doctors know that people who exercise regularly live longer on average. Re...

Plasma oxytocin levels in depression and their correlation with the temperament dimension of reward dependence -- Bell et al. 20 (5): 656 -- Journal of Psychopharmacology Evidence suggests that the neuropeptide oxytocin plays a role in social affiliation. This behaviour may be related more to personality dimensions than specific psychiatric diagnoses. This study investigated the relationship between plasma oxytocin levels and personality dimensions using the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) in 60 outpatients with major depression. The strongest correlation was between plasma oxytocin levels and the temperament dimension of Reward Dependence (0.425 Pearson correlation). This suggested that 17% of the variance in plasma oxytocin levels was explained by the Reward Dependence scores. There was a significant positive correlation between plasma oxytocin levels and the Reward Dependence personality dimension I find this interesting. Studies also show that marijuana withdrawal, such ...

Dopamine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Recent research suggests that the firing of dopamine neurons is a motivational chemical as a result of reward-anticipation. This is based on evidence[citation needed] that, when a reward is perceived to be greater than expected, the firing of certain dopamine neurons increases, which correspondingly increases desire or motivation toward the reward. Clues to dopamine's role in motivation, desire, and pleasure have come from studies performed on animals. In one such study rats were depleted of dopamine by up to 99% in the nucleus accumbens and neostriatum using 6-hydroxydopamine.[6] With this large reduction in dopamine, the rats would no longer eat by their own volition. The researchers then force fed the rats food and noted whether they had the proper facial expressions indicating whether they liked or disliked it. The researchers of this study concluded that the reduction in dopamine did not reduce the rat's consummatory pleasure, on...

Low-Carb Diets Combat Metabolic Syndrome - Forbes.com Low-Carb Diets Combat Metabolic Syndrome 07.20.07, 12:00 AM ET FRIDAY, July 20 (HealthDay News) -- A low-carbohydrate diet helps people with a condition called metabolic syndrome, a collection of serious risk factors found in some obese individuals. Now, a new study confirms the diet is effective against the syndrome, and the researchers think they've discovered how it works. Eating a low-carb diet improves the hormonal signaling involved in obesity and improves the sense of fullness, allowing weight loss, according to study leader Matthew R. Hayes, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. "There is this strong interest in the field in carb-restricted diets in the treatment of obesity," said Hayes, who conducted the research while a doctoral student at Pennsylvania State University. "That [interest] comes from a number of controlled clinical trials that demonstrate overweight or obese people, maint...

ScienceDaily: New Clue Into How Diet And Exercise Enhance Longevity From ScienceDaily, research that provides an interesting view of the insulin signaling mechanism, metabolism and its impact on life span: "The traditional prescriptions for a healthy life - sensible diet, exercise and weight control - extend life by reducing signaling through a specific pathway in the brain [activated] when insulin and insulin-like growth factor-1 switch on proteins inside the cell called insulin receptor substrates ... Diet, exercise and lower weight keep your peripheral tissues sensitive to insulin. That reduces the amount and duration of insulin secretion needed to keep your glucose under control when you eat. Therefore, the brain is exposed to less insulin. Since insulin turns on [an insulin receptor substrate] in the brain, that means lower [insulin receptor substrate] activity, which we've linked to longer lifespan in the mouse ... We are beginning to appreciate that obesity, insulin res...

Certain components of the brain's executive functions are compromised early in abstinence "The term 'executive functioning' is a business analogy, where the executive monitors all of the different departments so that the company/brain/person can move forward in as efficient and effective a way as possible," said corresponding author H. Scott Swartzwelder, professor of psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center and a senior research career scientist at the Durham VA Medical Center. "So, in terms of real-world activity, executive functioning has everything to do with who we are, how we organize our lives, and how we plan and then execute those plans." "Executive functions are very, very important to everyday living," added Marlene Oscar Berman, professor of neurology, psychiatry, and anatomy & neurobiology at Boston University Medical School, and research career scientist at the Boston Veteran Affairs Healthcare System. "They are defin...

Expert Advice for Adults with ADD: Better Moods | ADDitude - ADHD & LD Adults and Children Six Ways to Build Better Moods Feeling anxious or depressed? Simple lifestyle changes can go a long way toward making you feel better. by Kathleen Nadeau, Ph.D. ADDitude Magazine Need more motivation to exercise? Get a dog! People who can't be bothered to exercise for their own benefit will often make the effort if there's a dog that needs walking. Dogs feel better after an outdoor romp. So do people! Many adults who have ADD also struggle with anxiety or depression. Sometimes these comorbid conditions arise independently of ADD. Yet they can also be the result of the chronic stress and discouragement that come from living with ADD. In women, sad, anxious feelings — as well as ADD symptoms — tend to increase during the pre-menstrual phase. Symptoms also tend to flare up in the years leading up to and during menopause. What's the best way for ADDers to overcome anxiety or d...

Sleep pattern linked with teen's behavior: Scientific American NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - New study findings suggest that a preference for nighttime over daytime activities may be associated with antisocial behavior in adolescences, even in children as young as 8 years old. Those who prefer later bedtimes appear to exhibit more antisocial behavior than those who like to wake early and participate in daytime recreational activities, researchers report. "A preference for evening activities and staying up late is related to problem behavior and is evident even in preteens," study co-author Dr. Elizabeth J. Susman, of Pennsylvania State University, told Reuters Health. [...] Boys who experienced prolonged high levels of cortisol -- smaller decreases in cortisol levels from the time of awakening until 4 pm -- tended to have more behavior problems than did their peers, the report indicates. The association was not true for girls, however. Normally, levels of cortisol, the stre...

From the Diabetes blog... Less insulin longer life Howard Hughs Medical Experts have discovered the key to a longer life is lower insulin levels. Less insulin helps cells fend off diseases that lead to early death like heart disease, cancer and diabetes. So how does one lower their insulin levels? Caloric restriction by way of eating less carbohydrates. Caloric restriction postpones the onset of life-threatening conditions like cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. It may still happen, but at a later age. Scientists manipulated genes in mice to produce 50% less insulin and saw the mice live 18% longer. While lowering insulin throughout the body can lead to a diabetic state, scientists found that allowing insulin levels to be high throughout most of the body, and lowering the insulin signaling only in the brain through genetic manipulation, extended the life of mice. Although the mice were overweight, they lived longer and seemed active and youthful. Scientists believe that this research...

Short Nights Attenuate Light-Induced Circadian Phase Advances in Humans -- Burgess and Eastman 90 (8): 4437 -- Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism Short Nights Attenuate Light-Induced Circadian Phase Advances in Humans Helen J. Burgess and Charmane I. Eastman Biological Rhythms Research Laboratory, Department of Behavioral Sciences, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois 60612 Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Dr. Helen J. Burgess, Biological Rhythms Research Laboratory, Rush University Medical Center, 1645 West Jackson Boulevard, Suite 425, Chicago, Illinois 60612. E-mail: helen_j_burgess@rush.edu. Abstract Context: In humans, sleep duration often determines the night (dark) length experienced, because we close our eyes when we sleep and are exposed to artificial or natural light when we are awake. Although it is recognized that there is an increasing trend in modern society toward shorter sleep time, it is not known how short nights (l...

Bright light induction of strong (type 0) resetting of the human circadian pacemaker -- Czeisler et al. 244 (4910): 1328 -- Science Bright light induction of strong (type 0) resetting of the human circadian pacemaker CA Czeisler, RE Kronauer, JS Allan, JF Duffy, ME Jewett, EN Brown, and JM Ronda Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115. The response of the human circadian pacemaker to light was measured in 45 resetting trials. Each trial consisted of an initial endogenous circadian phase assessment, a three-cycle stimulus which included 5 hours of bright light per cycle, and a final phase assessment. The stimulus induced strong (type 0) resetting, with responses highly dependent on the initial circadian phase of light exposure. The magnitude and direction of the phase shifts were modulated by the timing of exposure to ordinary room light, previously thought to be undetectable by the human pacemaker. The data indicate that the se...

NEUROSCIENCE: Getting the Brain's Attention -- Wickelgren 278 (5335): 35 -- Science NEUROSCIENCE: Getting the Brain's Attention Ingrid Wickelgren Researchers dissecting the role of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain are finding that rather than signaling pleasure as previously thought, it may act to highlight significant stimuli. New data indicate that dopamine is released within the brain not only in response to events the organism finds rewarding, but also in response to those that predict rewards, and to stimuli that are simply startling. By underscoring such events, say these researchers, the dopamine signal helps the animal learn to recognize them--and in some cases, to repeat them.

Dr. David B. Adams - Scientific Journal Abstracts Eastman, C. I. et al. (1998) Bright light treatment of winder depression: placebo-controlled trial. Archives of General Psychiatry, 55, 883-889. Lewy, A. J. et al. (1998) Morning vs. evening light treatment of patients with winter depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 55, 890-896. Terman, M. et al. (1998) A controlled trial of timed bright light and negative air ionization for treatment of winter depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 55, 875-882. Comparison between bright light and negative ions found that both methods statistically impacted subjective symptoms of depression although low negative ion exposure was found least effective. The impact upon depression of high density negative ions was difficult to explain physiologically. In the second study, it was found that bright light is effective in treating depression but that morning light produced more full recoveries, and in the third study morning light was found twice ...

Daily rhythms in plasma levels of homocysteine Background There is accumulated evidence that plasma concentration of the sulfur-containing amino-acid homocysteine (Hcy) is a prognostic marker for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Both fasting levels of Hcy and post methionine loading levels are used as prognostic markers. The aim of the present study was to investigate the existence of a daily rhythm in plasma Hcy under strictly controlled nutritional and sleep-wake conditions. We also investigated if the time during which methionine loading is performed, i.e., morning or evening, had a different effect on the resultant plasma Hcy concentration. [...] Results In both the first and second experiments there was a significant daily rhythm in Hcy concentrations with a mid-day nadir and a nocturnal peak. Strikingly different 24-h patterns were observed in methionine, leucine, isoleucine and tyrosine. In all, the 24-h curves revealed a strong influence of both the sleep-wake cycle and ...

Dietary Supplement Fact Sheet: Vitamin B12 What is vitamin B12? Vitamin B12 helps maintain healthy nerve cells and red blood cells [1-4]. It is also needed to help make DNA, the genetic material in all cells. Vitamin B12 is also called cobalamin because it contains the metal cobalt [1-4]. Vitamin B12 is bound to the protein in food. Hydrochloric acid in the stomach releases vitamin B12 from proteins in foods during digestion. Once released, vitamin B12 combines with a substance called intrinsic factor (IF). This complex can then be absorbed by the intestinal tract. What foods provide vitamin B12? Vitamin B12 is naturally found in foods that come from animals, including fish, meat, poultry, eggs, milk, and milk products. Fortified breakfast cereals are a particularly valuable source of vitamin B12 for vegetarians [5-7]. Table 1 lists a variety of food sources of vitamin B12. [...] When is a deficiency of vitamin B12 likely to occur? Results of two national surveys, the National Health a...

Vitamin B12, folate, and homocysteine in depressio...[Am J Psychiatry. 2002] - PubMed Result OBJECTIVE: The associations of vitamin B(12), folate, and homocysteine with depression were examined in a population-based study. METHOD: The authors screened 3,884 elderly people for depressive symptoms. Subjects with positive screening results had psychiatric workups. Folate, vitamin B(12), and homocysteine blood levels were compared in 278 persons with depressive symptoms, including 112 with depressive disorders, and 416 randomly selected reference subjects. Adjustments were made for age, gender, cardiovascular disease, and functional disability. RESULTS: Hyperhomocysteinemia, vitamin B(12) deficiency, and to a lesser extent, folate deficiency were all related to depressive disorders. For folate deficiency and hyperhomocysteinemia, the association with depressive disorders was substantially reduced after adjustment for functional disability and cardiovascular disease, but for vitamin B(12) t...

Health | Folic acid is a B-list celebrity in waiting | Straight.com Vancouver Unless you've been pregnant, you probably haven't heard of it. Yet research shows that folate, or folic acid (the synthetic form of folate found in fortified foods and supplements), is as important to general health as its more celebrated cousins, vitamin C, calcium, iron, and protein. Part of the B-vitamin family, today it's a routine part of prenatal care because of its role in the prevention of birth defects such as spina bifida. Lifestyles, however, don't appear to be keeping up with the research. The risk of folate deficiency is on the rise, nutritionists say, a result of its near anonymity within the general population and the continued popularity of low-carbohydrate diets, which tend to prohibit foods rich in folates. Thirteen percent of the population is on some type of low-carb regime such as the Atkins or South Beach diets, according to an August 2005 survey by U.S. polling company O...

Good Sources Of Folic Acid Folic acid is a vital vitamin for good physical and mental wellbeing, however it is also the B vitamin that people are most likely to be deficient in. In order to ensure that you get the correct amount of folic acid it is important that you eat foods rich in this vitamin. If you are going to take a folic acid supplement you need to take a good B vitamin supplement as well containing the other B vitamins, especially vitamin B12 as folic acid may mask symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency. An excellent source of folic acid are cereals that have been fortified with 100%DV (400 mcg) of folic acid. The National Institute of Health, office of dietary supplements explains the term DV, "DV's are reference numbers developed by the Food and Drug administration (FDA) to help consumers determine if a food contains a lot or a little of a specific nutrient. The DV for folate is 400 micrograms.A food providing 5% of the DV or less is a low source while a food that pro...

In Praise of Folic Acid - TIME In Praise of Folic Acid Sunday, Feb. 17, 2002 By CHRISTINE GORMAN Should everyone be getting more folic acid? That's the question on a lot of doctors' minds this week. Though not as famous as vitamin C, folic acid plays a crucial role in the development of just about every cell in the body. A member of the B-vitamin family, it's found naturally in orange juice, beans and green vegetables. There is some evidence that folic acid may reduce the risk of heart disease, but it is best known for its role in preventing spina bifida and other birth defects. Indeed ever since 1998, when the Food and Drug Administration mandated that it be added to cereal products, the number of so-called neural-tube defects has dropped nearly 20% in the U.S. Now comes word that the vitamin may, just may, help ward off the ravages of Alzheimer's disease. In a study of more than 1,000 older adults published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers at Boston...

Folic Acid | Caremark Health Resources Why is folic acid so important? The reason you hear so much about folic acid and pregnancy is because this B vitamin protects against a group of serious birth defects. However, if you're like most women, you don't get enough folic acid (officially known as B9) from your diet alone. For this reason, doctors often recommend that women who are pregnant or trying to conceive take prenatal vitamins containing folic acid. What's the evidence? Studies have shown that getting enough folic acid before conception and during the early months of pregnancy can prevent up to 70 percent of birth defects known as neural tube defects. These types of birth defects, which include spina bifida and anencephaly, are among the most serious birth defects. Spina bifida occurs when the fetus' spinal column does not close to protect the spinal cord. It can cause severe neurological problems and sometimes mental retardation. Anencephaly is a condition in whic...

What Is Homocysteine? What Is Homocysteine? Homocysteine is an amino acid in the blood. Epidemiological studies have shown that too much homocysteine in the blood (plasma) is related to a higher risk of coronary heart disease, stroke and peripheral vascular disease. Other evidence suggests that homocysteine may have an effect on atherosclerosis by damaging the inner lining of arteries and promoting blood clots. However, a direct causal link hasn’t been established. Plasma homocysteine levels are strongly influenced by diet, as well as by genetic factors. The dietary components with the greatest effects are folic acid and vitamins B6 and B12. Folic acid and other B vitamins help break down homocysteine in the body. Several studies have found that higher blood levels of B vitamins are related, at least partly, to lower concentrations of homocysteine. Other recent evidence shows that low blood levels of folic acid are linked with a higher risk of fatal coronary heart disease and stroke. S...

Expect the Best? Placebos Are for You!: Scientific American Expect the Best? Placebos Are for You! New study links expectations of rewards to placebo effect By Nikhil Swaminathan HELPS IF YOU'RE OPTIMISTIC: New research finds that people who expect rewards in a gambling game also tend to feel a more pronounced placebo effect during pain tests. Individual expectations of rewards may explain why some people feel better after receiving fake drug treatments—a phenomenon known as "the placebo effect." A new study using different brain imaging techniques linked the intensity of an individual's individual placebo effect to the amount of dopamine (a neurotransmitter involved in the pleasure and reward pathway) released in a midbrain region called the nucleus accumbens. Researchers at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor specifically demonstrated that those who were more responsive to phony pills were also more likely to expect to win big in a gambling game. "If...

A Survival Imperative for Space Colonization - New York Times In 1993, J. Richard Gott III computed with scientific certainty that humanity would survive at least 5,100 more years. At the time, I took that as reason to relax, but Dr. Gott has now convinced me I was wrong. He has issued a wake-up call: To ensure our long-term survival, we need to get a colony up and running on Mars within 46 years. Viktor Koen TierneyLab More about the Copernican Principle and the debate surrounding it. Join the discussion. Go to TierneyLab » Further Reading "Longevity of the Human Spaceflight Program." J. Richard Gott III. American Institute of Physics Conference Proceedings, Volume 886, 2007. "How to Predict Future Duration from Present Age." Bradley Monton and Brian Kierland. The Philosophical Quarterly, January, 2006. "An Empirical Critique of Two Versions of the Doomsday Argument – Gott's Line and Leslie's Wedge." Elliott Sober, Synthese, Vol. 135, 2003. ...

ADHD Behavior Attention Focus Concentration ADHD Behavioral Patterns The following patterns have been found in Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) children and adults. The patterns are identified through a combination of professional research and twenty-seven years of clinical experience with ADHD. Difficulty Understanding Sequence Life moves in a series of sequences, one event connected to another and to another as our activities continue. ADHD children/adults have difficulty with understanding sequences, creating a variety of problems. For example, if you have an appointment in your hometown, you anticipate the amount of time needed to prepare, drive to the office, park the car, and register - perhaps 60 minutes. For ADHD Johnny, the short attention span makes understanding sequences very difficult. Getting ready for school is a nightmare as ADHD children don't understand that time is involved in every activity. They somehow figure you can get out of bed at 7:45 am, s...

What is Attention Deficit Disorder Anyway? by Linda Anderson What is Attention Deficit Disorder Anyway? by Linda Anderson, A.C.T., MCC -- a quick primer for those of you who aren't quite sure. ADD is a biological, neurologically based and sometimes genetically based condition affecting 5% of all children. Researchers now believe that there are many adults with this condition who were never diagnosed and may never have outgrown the condition from childhood. Learning disabilities are often associated with ADD. Hyperactivity *at times* is associated with ADD and is referred to as ADHD. The American Psychiatric Association indicates specific criteria for diagnosing an adult with ADD. The most basic criteria is that the symptoms noted existed before the age of seven and were chronic and pervasive. The following is a list of characteristics commonly associated with Attention Deficit Disorder. Not every person diagnosed with ADD has all of these characteristics: Difficulty getting organiz...

"Vasocrine" signalling from perivascular fat: A mechanism linking insulin resistance to vascular disease Journal: Lancet. 2005 May 21-27;365(9473):1817-20. Authors and affiliation: Yudkin JS, Eringa E, Stehouwer CD. Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease Academic Unit, Department of Medicine, Royal Free and University College Medical School, London, UK. [E-mail: j.yudkin@ucl.ac.uk ] PMID: 15910955 Adipose tissue expresses cytokines that inhibit insulin signaling pathways in liver and muscle. Obesity also results in impairment of endothelium-dependent vasodilatation in response to insulin. We propose a vasoregulatory role for local deposits of fat around the origin of arterioles supplying skeletal muscle. Isolated first-order arterioles from rat cremaster muscle are under dual regulation by insulin, which activates both endothelin-1 mediated vasoconstriction and nitric-oxide-mediated vasodilatation. In obese rat arterioles, insulin-stimulated NO synthesis is impaired, resulting i...

HEALTH CARE BLOG: Overweight and Obesity Sunday, July 15, 2007 Overweight and Obesity The number of overweight and obese children in the United States is growing at a phenomenal rate. On the whole, kids are spending less time exercising and more time in front of the TV, computer, or video game console. And today's busy families have fewer free moments to prepare wholesome, home-cooked meals, day in and day out. From fast food to electronics, quick and easy seems to be the mindset of many people, young and old, in the new millennium. Since the 1960s, the number of overweight kids and adolescents in the United States has nearly doubled. Today, 10% of 2- to 5-year-olds and more than 15% of children between the ages of 6 and 19 are overweight. And a whopping 31% of adults are also obese. Studies indicate that overweight and obese adolescents have up to an 80% chance of becoming overweight and obese adults, especially if one or more parent has the same condition. Overcoming overweight a...