If your patients seem to have weight issues, you may be interested to discover the results from a new research report taken from the city of New York City.  A new survey conducted by Technomic revealed that the mandated calorie disclosure for New York City restaurants with 15 or more units is affecting what items consumers order and which restaurants they visit.

Technomic found that 86 percent of New York City restaurant-goers were surprised by the calorie count information now listed on menus or menu boards, with 90 percent of them claiming that the calorie count was higher than expected. As a consequence, 82 percent say that calorie disclosure is affecting what they order and 60 percent say it is affecting where they visit. The researchers also found evidence that suggests a high level of consumer support for mandated disclosure of fat and sodium content in restaurant foods.

“Consumers find the calorie information on menus to be helpful,” says Bob Goldin, Executive Vice President. He adds that consumers want restaurants to offer more low-calorie options. Kathy Gaynor, Technomic’s study director, notes “consumers want the restaurant industry to respond more aggressively to nutritional concerns and are in favor of all levels of government playing a more active role in regulating restaurant menus.”

The prestigious journal Science today published the results of a research study demonstrating for the first time that mental activity can alter the biochemistry of the human brain. Conducted by researchers from Sweden’s Karolinska Institute, the study used Position Emission Tomography (PET scans) to monitor the brain activity of subjects using Cogmed Working Memory Training. The results reveal that the training impacted the brain by increasing the number of dopamine receptors in the cortex.

The research represents the latest in a growing body of peer-reviewed studies involving Cogmed Working Memory Training. The study was led by Torkel Klingberg, a professor of neuroscience at the Karolinska Institute and co-founder of Cogmed. In 2001, Klingberg first discovered that working memory could be improved through computerized training. He later co-developed Cogmed Working Memory Training, a proven program to help children, adolescents and adults who are constrained by the inability to focus attention.

“The Karolinska Institute is taking a lead role in advancing research that delivers valuable new insights into the workings of the brain,” said Jonas Jendi, president and chief executive officer of Cogmed. “As working memory continues to be a focus of the scientific community, we are proud that our program is able to aid new studies. Our close collaboration with leading researchers in Europe and North America affirms our commitment to adhere to the highest standards of scientific rigor.”

According to a new survey, while nearly two-thirds of adults (65 percent) report one or more risk factors for cardiovascular disease and 87 percent are at least somewhat concerned that they may develop heart disease, many do not take steps that may help them in the fight against this disease.

The survey of more than 2,000 adults, conducted by Harris Interactive for Cheerios, found that 65 percent of U.S. adults reported having a heart disease risk factor, including a family history of high cholesterol (24 percent), high blood pressure (25 percent), smoking (20 percent), or being overweight/obese (35 percent). Despite this, more than one-third of adults (37 percent) have not had their cholesterol checked within the past year and more than half of adults (52 percent) do not exercise regularly (at least three times per week).

As for the reasons why some adults did not have their cholesterol checked, 31 percent cited lack of concern about their cholesterol levels, while one in five adults (21 percent) cited lack of health insurance as a barrier to getting screened. Those with limited access to adequate healthcare may not get regular cholesterol screenings and thus are at an even greater risk of heart disease.

Since the cloning of Dolly the Sheep over a decade ago, somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) has been considered a promising way to generate personalized stem cells to repair the body without fear of tissue rejection. Due to the serious shortage of human donor eggs, cows, rabbits, and other animals have long been considered an attractive surrogate source of eggs. Although previous reports have documented the formation of cloned embryos using both human and animal eggs, to-date, there has been no data indicating whether – and to what extent – the donor DNA was reprogrammed.

Advanced Cell Technology and its collaborators reported today that human oocytes (or ‘eggs’) have the capacity to extensively reprogram adult human cells. The research, which appears online ahead of print in the journal Cloning and Stem Cells (Editor-in-Chief: Sir Ian Wilmut; published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.) demonstrates that although human-to-human clones (human clones) and human-to-animal clones (hybrids) appear similar, the pattern of reprogramming of the donor human cell is dramatically different. In contrast to the human-animal hybrids, the gene expression pattern of the human clones was highly similar to normal human embryos.

This new study looked at the reprogramming of human cells using eggs obtained from human and animal sources, and shows for the first time that the donor DNA in the cloned human embryos is extensively reprogrammed through extensive up-regulation (‘turning on’ of genes) with similar expression patterns to normal human embryos. Nearly all of the key differentially-expressed genes were activated in the human clones. In distinct contrast, the majority of these genes were down-regulated or silenced in the human-animal hybrids.

“We examined the factors recently used to reprogram skin cells (to induce pluripotent stem cells),” said Robert Lanza, MD, Chief Scientific Officer at ACT, and senior author of the study. “At the center of cellular reprogramming lies the activation of the transcription factors Oct4, Sox2, and nanog. These core factors were activated in both the normal and cloned human embryos. In striking contrast, the human-animal hybrids showed no difference or a down-regulation of these critical pluripotency genes -effectively silencing them—thus making the generation of stem cells impossible. Without appropriate reprogramming, these data call into question the potential use of animal egg sources to generate patient-specific stem cells. It also renders the moral controversy surrounding the use of human-animal hybrids moot.”

Previous studies have confirmed the ability of animal eggs to support interspecies cell division to the embryo stage, and in a few closely-related bovid species, successful development to term. However, there are clear differences in compatibility. Distantly-related animal combinations generally arrest at the cleavage-stage, although there have been reports of blastocyst formation. Our group and others have successfully used eggs to clone closely-related species (for instance, we cloned two endangered species – the guar and banteng – using cow eggs). Rabbit eggs have also been used to generate embryos using cells from cats and panda, among others. However, it remains unknown whether the DNA in the later combinations was fully reprogrammed. Importantly, except for a study carried out in China (which to-date has proven irreproducible despite attempts by numerous groups in the last half-decade), there is no evidence that patient-specific stem cells can be generated using animal eggs. This is consistent with studies that indicate that eggs support nuclear remodeling, but not reprogramming of discordant animal combinations. Studies using cow and rabbit eggs clearly suggest that DNA methylation/demethylation of the donor DNA occurs in a species-specific way, and that the eggs might lack the ability to demethylate repetitive sequences from other species. While cleavage division relies on maternal factors in the egg, further development requires activation of the embryonic genome to ensure correct progression of the cell cycle. These new results suggest that while bovine and rabbit eggs are capable of supporting limited cell division, specific reprogramming towards the normal human embryonic state does not occur.

Wide scale application of stem cell technology will require a solution to the problem of rejection. This report suggests that adult cells can be successfully reprogrammed using human eggs, and that scientists may soon have two ways (SCNT and induced pluripotent stem cell technology) to reprogram adult cells into stem cells. However, until this is achieved, clinical trials are likely to be limited to immune-privileged sites in the body, such as the use of cells in the central nervous system, or the transplantation of ACT’s retinal cells into the eye to prevent blindness.

Achieving and maintaining a healthy lifestyle can address many of the factors that lead to heart disease. To help guide the way, the personal health coaches at Gordian Health Solutions, who help individuals choose healthier behaviors every day of the year, share 10 vital cardiovascular health messages:

1) Brush up on history. Individuals with a strong history of heart disease in their families are more likely to develop it themselves. Find out whether heart disease runs in your family. If so, it’s even more important for you to identify and address other risk factors you might have.

2) Know your numbers. Keeping tabs on a few sets of numbers can help you and your doctor find out how your risk factors measure up. Numbers to keep track of include your body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, waist circumference and cholesterol levels. If one or more of these numbers is off base, your doctor may suggest lifestyle changes or medication.

3) Eat healthier foods. Strive for a heart-healthy diet that’s rich in fruits and vegetables. Choose lean sources of protein: fish, chicken, turkey. Opt for low-fat dairy products over the heavier ones, and incorporate whole grains into your meals. Other tips? Limiting salt intake can help with blood pressure control; increasing fiber in your diet can help to lower cholesterol; eating omega 3s (found in cold-water fish, green leafy vegetables, almonds and walnuts) can reduce inflammation in the body, including blood vessels, and thin the blood.

4) Move. Engaging in regular physical activity reaps benefit upon benefit for your body and mind. Walking is a great activity to pursue for heart health. Start slow and gradually progress, striving for 30 minutes of brisk walking—or any other type of cardiovascular exercise you enjoy—five days a week. Scheduling your exercise “appointments” on a calendar keeps you on track and can give you a well-earned sense of accomplishment. (Be sure to check with your doctor before beginning any exercise program.)

5) Maintain a healthy body weight. Obesity is a major risk factor for coronary heart disease, as well as a number of other serious conditions. Work with your doctor or caregiver to determine an ideal body weight, and keep tabs on your pounds. Don’t be overwhelmed if you have a lot to lose; even a modest weight loss can have positive effects and lower your risk factors.

6) Cut alcohol and tobacco. Try to limit your alcohol intake to two drinks per day for men, and one drink per day for women. Stop smoking and try to avoid second-hand smoke. Of course, these steps are much easier said than done, but today there are numerous resources out there to make these changes less painful (e.g., nicotine patches and gum, support groups).

7) Keep stress low. Managing emotional stress improves your overall health and well-being. For instance, high stress and anxiety can cause a temporary increase in high blood pressure–or lead you to overeat, drink too much alcohol and smoke cigarettes. Just a few ideas for reducing stress: avoid bottling up your emotions; make a list of positive things in your life and refer to it often; place your favorite inspirational passage on the bathroom mirror where you’ll see it daily; exercise on a regular basis; live on a budget to reduce financial stress; limit your exposure to negative influences.

Maintain a healthy mouth. Your mouth is a mirror to the inside. In other words, problems in the mouth can be a red flag for something larger going on inside your body. Make good oral health a habit: Brush and floss twice a day and visit the dentist twice a year for a cleaning and exam. Let your dentist know if heart disease runs in the family.

9) Be aware. Learn the warning signs of a heart in trouble, and don’t ignore them. If you experience any of the following, seek medical care immediately: chest pain and/or pressure that may or may not radiate down one or both arms, jaw or shoulders; numbness; tingling in the arms; sweating; dizziness; feeling faint; intense feelings of anxiety.

10) Get support. If your doctor suggests major lifestyle changes to reduce your risk factors, be sure to ask for help and to solicit support from family and friends. Reach out to people who have had to make similar changes. A little encouragement here and there can go a long way.

A RAND Corporation study released today estimates the national cost of Meth abuse is $23.4 billion. The study represents the first time that a comprehensive assessment of the annual costs of methamphetamine abuse has been analyzed on a national scale.

“The RAND study is a crucial step forward in drug research, and is the first time we have been able to quantify the cost of Meth use for both the user and society as a whole,” said Rick Rawson, Ph.D., Associate Director of UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs. “While the $23 billion dollar figure for 2005 is staggering, in my opinion, this study provides a conservative estimate of the financial impact Meth has on the U.S. each year.”

The study found that Meth use imposes a significant and disproportionate burden on both individuals and society in money spent on treatment, healthcare, and foster care services, as well as the costs of crime and lost productivity associated with the drug. Law enforcement and the criminal justice system bear some of the greatest financial burden, making up more than 15%—$4 billion—of the total annual cost. Lawmakers in recent years have passed legislation that makes it more difficult for Meth producers to buy the components needed to make the drug, but even in light of these efforts, 47% of county sheriffs in 2007 reported that Meth remains their #1 drug problem.

“Our goal in sponsoring this study was to provide a definitive economic cost estimate of the Meth problem that legislators and regulators can consider while establishing social priorities,” said Tom Siebel, founder and chairman of the Meth Project. “This appears to be a preventable problem. The significant economic and human costs of Meth use can be avoided.”

The U.S. Department of Justice continues to report that an overwhelming majority (68%) of state and local agencies in the 20 western states say Meth is their greatest drug threat. Communities with high levels of Meth addiction experience significant increases in crime and spend more on social services, corrections, unemployment pools, workers’ compensation, and healthcare.

“Meth is a scourge. It ruins families, friends—tears lives apart. As this study shows, there is a huge economic toll, as well,” said Montana’s senior U.S. Senator Max Baucus. “That’s why I’ve fought so hard for funding to help with Meth prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. I’ve also secured much-needed funding for our law enforcement officials who help fight Meth. I’ll continue to work together with my colleagues in Congress to secure funding to help stamp out Meth once and for all.”

The RAND study found that methamphetamine places a significant economic burden on society when compared to other illicit drugs. In addition to funds spent on crime and criminal justice programs associated with Meth use, $905 million is spent on foster care and $646 million is spent on lost productivity due to absenteeism, incarceration, unemployment, and other employer costs attributable to Meth use in the U.S.

According to the RAND study, $712 million was spent on treatment and hospital care for Meth users in the U.S. in 2005. Additionally, the study found that nearly two-thirds of the economic costs of methamphetamine use result from the burden of addiction, and the nearly 900 premature deaths among users. Using data from the 2007 National Survey of Drug Use and Health, SAMHSA Treatment Episode Data Set, and the economic models developed in RAND’s “Economic Cost of Methamphetamine Use in the United States, 2005,” the best estimated cost of Meth use in 2007 is $26.5 billion.

The study confirms what many treatment and healthcare providers understand about the nature of methamphetamine. Meth is one of the most highly addictive substances and consumes a tremendous amount of resources to aid in recovery and treatment.

You come into a doctor’s office with severe knee pain. The physician orders an MRI, which reveals substantial loss of cartilage—osteoarthritis, that is—in your knee joint. At this point, not much can be done beyond gulping down palliatives and trying to keep your weight off the joint. But the damage may have started building as much as 20 years earlier, possibly due to a traumatic injury to the affected joint.

Just ask Garry Gold, MD, an associate professor of radiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Now 45, Gold sustained a knee injury 20 years ago while playing in a pickup basketball game. These days, he’s starting to wish his house, currently being remodeled, didn’t have any stairs.

Gold, who has been diagnosed with osteoarthritis, is working with an imaging technology called sodium MRI to diagnose osteoarthritis as long as decades before the onset of physical symptoms. That may spawn new therapies that could possibly have blocked his disease before it put an end to his basketball days.

Gold is collecting young athletes who’ve suffered damage to the anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, in their knee—an injury afflicting several hundred thousand people annually in the United States alone. This knee insult is especially common among female athletes. “A good fraction of the Stanford women’s basketball and soccer teams either have torn their ACL sometime in the past or will tear it while they’re still at Stanford,” Gold said. Even when the initial ligament lesion is repaired surgically, victims remain at almost doubled risk for symptomatic osteoarthritis in the injured knee a decade or two down the road, compared with uninjured people.

Using the new imaging technology, Gold and colleagues have been able to spot, soon after such an injury, telltale signs of cartilage deterioration consistent with the development of osteoarthritis.

MRI now in routine use works by pulsing the area to be observed with electromagnetic energy, at a frequency that preferentially excites the protons in water molecules. As the protons settle back to a relaxed state, they send out an electromagnetic burst of their own, which can be picked up by sensors in the apparatus. Because cartilage has lots of water compared with nearby bone, it shows up on a computer-generated image of the region.

But while standard MRI gives a reasonable display of overall cartilage structure, it doesn’t tell a diagnostician much about the quality of that cartilage.

“If you look into a big house and you see that it’s standing up,” Gold said, “you may assume it’s going to be safe in the event of an earthquake. But without closer inspection, you don’t know much about the integrity of the structure.”

If standard MRI is akin to a view of standing timber in the house, the version Gold is using, called sodium MRI, enables the visualization of dry rot infecting and weakening the wood.

A key structural material in cartilage, called glycosaminoglycan, occurs in a complex with sodium, an elemental metal that has its own set of excitation and relaxation frequencies and is more restricted to cartilage than water is.

Sodium MRI has been around for years, but until recently it couldn’t be used in clinical settings. For one thing, the magnets employed to excite sodium atoms were too puny, making crisp resolution possible only with tiny creatures such as mice. Gold and his colleague Brian Hargreaves, PhD, assistant professor of radiology at Stanford, have designed improved magnets and software to scale up the technology for human application.

They’re on the right track, said Ari Borthakur, a University of Pennsylvania scientist who is not involved in Gold’s research but has done pioneering work with sodium MRI since writing his PhD thesis on it some years ago. “Everything his lab has developed is going to be applicable in the clinics,” said Borthakur. “As America ages, we’re expecting to see a huge increase in osteoarthritis, and any technique that could be used for its early diagnosis, or that could help developing therapies for curing it, or even slowing the progression of cartilage loss, would be tremendous.”