Natural Cure

Postmenopausal women are at an age when the incidence and exacerbation of the chronic health conditions linked to obesity become more prevalent. A new article published in Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, & Neonatal Nursing reviews the physiological, psychological and social issues correlation to obesity that are relevant to postmenopausal women. The article underlies the importance of nurses and other healthcare professionals for intervention.

Obesity can lead to an increased risk of heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, sleep apnea, cancer, osteoarthritis and mental health problems, all of which can be significantly reduced by weight loss. Heart disease in particular, eventhough often considered a "man's disease," is the number one killer of women, taking more than forty times the number of lives than breast cancer every year, despite being preventable.

Nearly two-thirds of American women are either clinically "overweight" or "obese." As women are more at risk for being overweight or obese than men, and women are at risk for gaining weight as they age, postmenopausal women are a especially vulnerable population. It is important for health care providers to understand the health consequences of obesity and incorporate these into health promotion strategies for postmenopausal women.

"Postmenopausal women stand at a crossroad, facing the possibility of living the remainder of their lives in essentially good health or facing the probable onset of chronic diseases that might have been prevented," says author Karen E. Dennis. "By first understanding the health consequences of being overweight, nurses have a unique opportunity to work with women of all ages in fighting obesity".

_________________________________________________________________.


Posted by: Evelyn    Source

For nearly 70 years researchers have known that caloric restriction prolongs life. In everything from yeast to primates, a significant decrease in calories can extend lifespan by as much as one-third. But getting under the hood of the molecular machinery that drives this longevity has remained elusive.

Now, reporting in the September 21 issue of the journal Cell, scientists from Harvard Medical School, in collaboration with researchers from Cornell Medical School and the National Institutes of Health, have discovered two genes in mammalian cells that act as gatekeepers for cellular longevity. When cells experience certain kinds of stress, such as caloric restriction, these genes rev up and help protect cells from diseases of aging.

"We've reason to believe now that these two genes may be potential drug targets for diseases linked to aging," says David Sinclair, associate professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School and senior author on the paper.

The new genes that Sinclair's group have discovered, in collaboration with Anthony Sauve of Cornell Medical School and Rafael de Cabo of NIH, are called SIRT3 and SIRT4. They are members of a larger class of genes called sirtuins. (Another gene belonging to this family, SIRT1, was shown last year to also have a powerful impact on longevity when stimulated by the red-wine molecule resveratrol.).

In this paper, the newly discovered role of SIRT3 and SIRT4 drives home something researchers have suspected for a long time: mitochondria are vital for sustaining the health and longevity of a cell.

Mitochondria, a kind of cellular organ that lives in the cytoplasm, are often considered to be the cell's battery packs. When mitochondria stability starts to wane, energy is drained out of the cell, and its days are numbered. In this paper, Sinclair and his collaborators discovered that SIRT3 and SIRT4 play a vital role in a longevity network that maintains the vitality of mitochondria and keeps cells healthy when they would otherwise die.

When cells undergo caloric restriction, signals sent in through the membrane activate a gene called NAMPT. As levels of NAMPT ramp up, a small molecule called NAD begins to amass in the mitochondria. This, in turn, causes the activity of enzymes created by the SIRT3 and SIRT4 genes--enzymes that live in the mitochondria--to increase as well. As a result, the mitochondria grow stronger, energy-output increases, and the cell's aging process slows down significantly. (Interestingly, this same process is also activated by exercise.)

"We're not sure yet what particular mechanism is activated by these increased levels of NAD, and as a result SIRT3 and SIRT4," says Sinclair, "but we do see that normal cell-suicide programs are noticeably attenuated. This is the first time ever that SIRT3 and SIRT4 have been associated with cell survival.".

In fact, the mitochondria appear to be so essential to the cell's life that when all other energy sources inside the cell--including the nucleus--are wiped out, yet the mitochondria are kept intact and functional, the cell remains alive.

"Mitochondria are the guardians of cell survival," says Sinclair. "If we can keep boosting levels of NAD in the mitochondria, which in turn stimulates buckets more of SIRT3 and SIRT4, then for a period of time the cell really needs nothing else.".

Sinclair and colleagues have coined a phrase for this observation: the Mitochondrial Oasis Hypothesis.

SIRT3 and SIRT4 may now also be potential drug targets for diseases linked to aging. For example, in recent years researchers have become increasingly aware of the importance of mitochondrial function in treating diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and neurodegeneration.

"Theoretically, we can envision a small molecule that can increase levels of NAD, or SIRT3 and SIRT4 directly, in the mitochondria," says Sinclair. "Such a molecule could be used for a number of age-related diseases.".

As per Suave of Cornell, "This study also highlights how advanced technological methods can help resolve fundamental biological questions in ways that were hard to achieve as recently as a few years ago".


Posted by: Evelyn    Source

Providence, RI A new study by Rhode Island Hospital and Brown University scientists reported that 18 percent of 500 candidates for bariatric surgery did not receive the initial psychiatric clearance for the surgery. The study is the first to examine the reliability of decisions to clear candidates for surgery, and the largest to determine the percentage of candidates who are not cleared and detail the reasons for exclusion. It was reported in the October edition of the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Findings indicate the most common reasons for not receiving psychiatric clearance were frequent overeating to cope with stress/emotional distress, a current eating disorder and uncontrolled psychiatric disorders. Scientists also observed that the decision to clear candidates for bariatric surgery is made with high reliability, meaning independent reviews of available information by independent psychiatry experts will result in the same decision.

Most bariatric surgery programs include psychiatric evaluations as part of the pre-operative screening procedure. Some of the psychological factors considered important in determining appropriate surgical candidates include the presence of eating, mood psychotic, personality and substance abuse disorders; eating to regulate negative affect (using food as a method to cope with psychological stress); history of noncompliance with therapy; and inappropriate expectations of life change due to surgery.

Lead author Mark Zimmerman, MD, director of outpatient psychiatry at Rhode Island Hospital and associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, emphasized, The goal of the psychiatric evaluation is not to keep patients from having the surgery. Rather, the goal is to determine if there are any problems that might interfere with the success of surgery, and have the patient get therapy for these problems. Zimmerman continues, In so doing, the patient is more likely to have a positive outcome from surgery that is delayed to allow time to address the problems.

Caren Francione, a post-doctoral fellow and co-author of the report, noted that they have conducted a follow-up study of the patients who were initially screened out from having the surgery. Preliminary analysis of the data observed that most of these patients followed the psychiatry experts recommendation to have counseling before surgery and subsequently went on to have surgery.

The report is from the Rhode Island Methods to Improve Diagnostic Assessment and Services (MIDAS) Project, for which Zimmerman is the principal investigator. Zimmerman said, The MIDAS project is unique in its integration of research quality diagnostic methods into a community-based outpatient practice affiliated with an academic medical center.


Posted by: Evelyn    Source