Using RNAi screening to identify factors involved in intrinsic innate immunity

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Some Improvement in Heart Risk Factors for Americans: CDC

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By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, Aug. 3 (HealthDay News) -- About 47 percent of American adults have at least one risk factor for heart disease, according to a new report released Friday.

These risk factors include uncontrolled high blood pressure, uncontrolled high levels of "bad" LDL cholesterol and smoking, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"We have seen declines [in risk factors], but there's still work to be done," said the report's lead author, CDC health statistician Cheryl Fryar.

Findings of the report, culled from data gathered from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, included:

A drop in the rate of adults with at least one risk factor from 58 percent in 1999 to 46.5 percent in 2010.Men (52 percent) are more likely than women (41 percent) to have one of these risk factors.From 1999 to 2010, there was a drop in the percentage of whites and Mexican Americans who had at least one risk factor (about 47 percent and 45 percent respectively).There was no decline in the percentage of blacks with these risk factors, which remained at 58 percent.The prevalence of uncontrolled high blood pressure and uncontrolled high LDL cholesterol dropped between 1999 and 2010 (almost 8 percent and 9 percent, respectively).There was no drop in the percentage of adult cigarette smokers, which remained at 25 percent of adults 20 and older.Disparities remain among people of different income levels and racial and ethnic groups.

"Cardiovascular disease and stroke are largely preventable, with uncontrolled high blood pressure, uncontrolled high LDL cholesterol levels and smoking representing major modifiable risk factors in men and women of all racial and ethnic groups and all income levels," said Dr. Gregg Fonarow, spokesman for the American Heart Association and professor of cardiovascular medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.

"It is concerning that some of the early gains in lowering the rates of uncontrolled high LDL cholesterol appeared heading in the wrong direction in 2009 and 2010," Fonarow said. "This may represent recent misguided efforts to discredit the substantial cardiovascular benefits of LDL-lowering therapy."

The report found that there are significant disparities in risk factors by age, sex, race and income levels, Fonarow noted.

"African Americans and those with incomes of less than 130 percent of the poverty level had higher prevalence of risk factors and made less progress over the study period," he said. "The reasons behind these disparities in risk factor control are likely complex, but deserving of further study."

"Substantially increased efforts to reduce or eliminate these uncontrolled cardiovascular disease and stroke risk factors at the individual, community, national and global level are clearly needed," Fonarow added.

Reasons for the stalled decline in smoking rates are not clear. Possible explanations include less money spent by states on antismoking campaigns and more advertising dollars spent by tobacco companies.

The CDC recently launched a campaign of graphic ads to get smokers to quit. Early results indicate the campaign is working.

"We have to have sustained efforts like this if we are going to have an impact on decreasing the number of smokers in this country," Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society, said at the time of the campaign's launch. "One of the sad facts is that although we had success a number of years ago in getting people to stop smoking, we have hit a roadblock where 20 percent of Americans still smoke."

One of the major problems is that tobacco companies easily outspend the government's efforts to curb smoking with vast sums devoted to promoting their products, Lichtenfeld said.

Copyright © 2012 HealthDay. All rights reserved. SOURCES: Cheryl Fryar, M.S.P.H., U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Gregg Fonarow, M.D., spokesman, American Heart Association, professor, cardiovascular medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Aug. 3, 2012, report, Prevalence of Uncontrolled Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Disease: United States, 1999-2010

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Some Improvement in Heart Risk Factors for Americans: CDC

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, Aug. 3 (HealthDay News) -- About 47 percent of American adults have at least one risk factor for heart disease, according to a new report released Friday.

These risk factors include uncontrolled high blood pressure, uncontrolled high levels of "bad" LDL cholesterol and smoking, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"We have seen declines [in risk factors], but there's still work to be done," said the report's lead author, CDC health statistician Cheryl Fryar.

Findings of the report, culled from data gathered from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, included:

A drop in the rate of adults with at least one risk factor from 58 percent in 1999 to 46.5 percent in 2010.Men (52 percent) are more likely than women (41 percent) to have one of these risk factors.From 1999 to 2010, there was a drop in the percentage of whites and Mexican Americans who had at least one risk factor (about 47 percent and 45 percent respectively).There was no decline in the percentage of blacks with these risk factors, which remained at 58 percent.The prevalence of uncontrolled high blood pressure and uncontrolled high LDL cholesterol dropped between 1999 and 2010 (almost 8 percent and 9 percent, respectively).There was no drop in the percentage of adult cigarette smokers, which remained at 25 percent of adults 20 and older.Disparities remain among people of different income levels and racial and ethnic groups.

"Cardiovascular disease and stroke are largely preventable, with uncontrolled high blood pressure, uncontrolled high LDL cholesterol levels and smoking representing major modifiable risk factors in men and women of all racial and ethnic groups and all income levels," said Dr. Gregg Fonarow, spokesman for the American Heart Association and professor of cardiovascular medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.

"It is concerning that some of the early gains in lowering the rates of uncontrolled high LDL cholesterol appeared heading in the wrong direction in 2009 and 2010," Fonarow said. "This may represent recent misguided efforts to discredit the substantial cardiovascular benefits of LDL-lowering therapy."

The report found that there are significant disparities in risk factors by age, sex, race and income levels, Fonarow noted.

"African Americans and those with incomes of less than 130 percent of the poverty level had higher prevalence of risk factors and made less progress over the study period," he said. "The reasons behind these disparities in risk factor control are likely complex, but deserving of further study."

"Substantially increased efforts to reduce or eliminate these uncontrolled cardiovascular disease and stroke risk factors at the individual, community, national and global level are clearly needed," Fonarow added.

Reasons for the stalled decline in smoking rates are not clear. Possible explanations include less money spent by states on antismoking campaigns and more advertising dollars spent by tobacco companies.

The CDC recently launched a campaign of graphic ads to get smokers to quit. Early results indicate the campaign is working.

"We have to have sustained efforts like this if we are going to have an impact on decreasing the number of smokers in this country," Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society, said at the time of the campaign's launch. "One of the sad facts is that although we had success a number of years ago in getting people to stop smoking, we have hit a roadblock where 20 percent of Americans still smoke."

One of the major problems is that tobacco companies easily outspend the government's efforts to curb smoking with vast sums devoted to promoting their products, Lichtenfeld said.

Copyright © 2012 HealthDay. All rights reserved. SOURCES: Cheryl Fryar, M.S.P.H., U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Gregg Fonarow, M.D., spokesman, American Heart Association, professor, cardiovascular medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Aug. 3, 2012, report, Prevalence of Uncontrolled Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Disease: United States, 1999-2010

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Interpersonal factors in insomnia: A model for integrating bed partners into cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia

Available online 18 May 2012

In Press, Corrected Proof — Note to users

Department of Psychology, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5B 2K3Received 29 September 2011. Revised 2 February 2012. Accepted 14 February 2012. Available online 18 May 2012.View full text Sleep has largely been conceptualized as an individual phenomenon, despite the fact that most adults share their bed with a partner at some time in their life. Only recently have researchers begun to examine the dyadic nature of sleep, and there is growing evidence that bed partners can play a role in the onset and maintenance of insomnia. Additionally, emerging evidence suggests that bed partners can be powerful agents of social control in terms of promoting adaptive health and sleep-related behaviors, and shared social rhythms between partners can help foster an environment that is conducive to good sleep. As such, the aim of the present article is to review the social context of the sleep environment and how best to include bed partners in insomnia treatment. Based on a synthesis of relevant literatures, a model for integrating bed partners into cognitive behavior therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is presented and directions for future research are discussed.

prs.rt("abs_end");Insomnia; Sleep; Couple therapy; Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia; CBT-I; Partner-assisted

Figures and tables from this article:

Table 1. Questions to consider in conducting a clinical interview with the patient's partner.

View Within ArticleTable 2. Areas for integrating bed partner into partner-assisted version of CBT-I.

Note. Adapted from Edinger JD & Carney CE. Overcoming insomnia: A cognitive behavioral therapy approach. Therapist guide. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, USA 2008.

View Within ArticleCopyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

prs.rt('data_end');

View the original article here

Interpersonal factors in insomnia: A model for integrating bed partners into cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia

Available online 18 May 2012

In Press, Corrected Proof — Note to users

Department of Psychology, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5B 2K3Received 29 September 2011. Revised 2 February 2012. Accepted 14 February 2012. Available online 18 May 2012.View full text Sleep has largely been conceptualized as an individual phenomenon, despite the fact that most adults share their bed with a partner at some time in their life. Only recently have researchers begun to examine the dyadic nature of sleep, and there is growing evidence that bed partners can play a role in the onset and maintenance of insomnia. Additionally, emerging evidence suggests that bed partners can be powerful agents of social control in terms of promoting adaptive health and sleep-related behaviors, and shared social rhythms between partners can help foster an environment that is conducive to good sleep. As such, the aim of the present article is to review the social context of the sleep environment and how best to include bed partners in insomnia treatment. Based on a synthesis of relevant literatures, a model for integrating bed partners into cognitive behavior therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is presented and directions for future research are discussed.

prs.rt("abs_end");Insomnia; Sleep; Couple therapy; Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia; CBT-I; Partner-assisted

Figures and tables from this article:

Table 1. Questions to consider in conducting a clinical interview with the patient's partner.

View Within ArticleTable 2. Areas for integrating bed partner into partner-assisted version of CBT-I.

Note. Adapted from Edinger JD & Carney CE. Overcoming insomnia: A cognitive behavioral therapy approach. Therapist guide. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, USA 2008.

View Within ArticleCopyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

prs.rt('data_end');

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Prenatal Factors influence Kwashiorkor: Evidence for the Predictive Adaptation Model

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Severe acute malnutrition in childhood manifests as oedematous (kwashiorkor, marasmic kwashiorkor) and non-oedematous (marasmus) syndromes with very different prognoses. Kwashiorkor differs from marasmus in the patterns of protein, amino acid and lipid metabolism when patients are acutely ill as well as after rehabilitation to ideal weight for height. Metabolic patterns among marasmic patients define them as metabolically thrifty, while kwashiorkor patients function as metabolically profligate. Such differences might underlie syndromic presentation and prognosis. However, no fundamental explanation exists for these differences in metabolism, nor clinical pictures, given similar exposures to undernutrition. We hypothesized that different developmental trajectories underlie these clinical-metabolic phenotypes: if so this would be strong evidence in support of predictive adaptation model of developmental plasticity.

We reviewed the records of all children admitted with severe acute malnutrition to the Tropical Metabolism Research Unit Ward of the University Hospital of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica during 1962–1992. We used Wellcome criteria to establish the diagnoses of kwashiorkor (n = 391), marasmus (n = 383), and marasmic-kwashiorkor (n = 375). We recorded participants’ birth weights, as determined from maternal recall at the time of admission. Those who developed kwashiorkor had 333 g (95% confidence interval 217 to 449, p<0.001) higher mean birthweight than those who developed marasmus.

These data are consistent with a model suggesting that plastic mechanisms operative in utero induce potential marasmics to develop with a metabolic physiology more able to adapt to postnatal undernutrition than those of higher birthweight. Given the different mortality risks of these different syndromes, this observation is supportive of the predictive adaptive response hypothesis and is the first empirical demonstration of the advantageous effects of such a response in humans. The study has implications for understanding pathways to obesity and its cardio-metabolic co-morbidities in poor countries and for famine intervention programs.

Posted in evolutionary medicine

 

Prenatal Factors influence Kwashiorkor: Evidence for the Predictive Adaptation Model

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Severe acute malnutrition in childhood manifests as oedematous (kwashiorkor, marasmic kwashiorkor) and non-oedematous (marasmus) syndromes with very different prognoses. Kwashiorkor differs from marasmus in the patterns of protein, amino acid and lipid metabolism when patients are acutely ill as well as after rehabilitation to ideal weight for height. Metabolic patterns among marasmic patients define them as metabolically thrifty, while kwashiorkor patients function as metabolically profligate. Such differences might underlie syndromic presentation and prognosis. However, no fundamental explanation exists for these differences in metabolism, nor clinical pictures, given similar exposures to undernutrition. We hypothesized that different developmental trajectories underlie these clinical-metabolic phenotypes: if so this would be strong evidence in support of predictive adaptation model of developmental plasticity.

We reviewed the records of all children admitted with severe acute malnutrition to the Tropical Metabolism Research Unit Ward of the University Hospital of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica during 1962–1992. We used Wellcome criteria to establish the diagnoses of kwashiorkor (n = 391), marasmus (n = 383), and marasmic-kwashiorkor (n = 375). We recorded participants’ birth weights, as determined from maternal recall at the time of admission. Those who developed kwashiorkor had 333 g (95% confidence interval 217 to 449, p<0.001) higher mean birthweight than those who developed marasmus.

These data are consistent with a model suggesting that plastic mechanisms operative in utero induce potential marasmics to develop with a metabolic physiology more able to adapt to postnatal undernutrition than those of higher birthweight. Given the different mortality risks of these different syndromes, this observation is supportive of the predictive adaptive response hypothesis and is the first empirical demonstration of the advantageous effects of such a response in humans. The study has implications for understanding pathways to obesity and its cardio-metabolic co-morbidities in poor countries and for famine intervention programs.

Posted in evolutionary medicine

 

What two significant changes have occurred in Alice springs within the last 10 years and what factors have caused them?

Is two a factor of 10? Yes, two (2) is a factor of ten (10). In reverse, ten is a multiple of 2.

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