PROTIME-FITNESS HOLISTIC HEALTH AND WELLNESS

  Everyday activities enhance personal well-being. Physical activity makes happy and is important to maintain psychic health. Researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH) in Mannheim studied the brain regions which play a central role in this process. Their findings reveal that even everyday activities, such as climbing stairs, significantly enhance well-being, particularly for persons susceptible to psychiatric disorders. The study is published in  Science Advances . Exercise enhances physical well-being and mental health. However, the impacts of everyday activities, such as climbing stairs, walking, or going to the tram station instead of driving, on a person's mental health have hardly been studied so far. For example, it is not yet clear which brain structures are involved. A team of the Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH) in Mannheim, KIT's Institute of Sports and Sports Science, and the GIScience / Geoinfo...

  A hormone found to switch off hunger could help tackle obesity. New findings suggest a hormone called Lipocalin-2 could be used as a potential treatment for obesity.         A hormone that can suppress food intake and increase the feeling of fullness in mice has shown similar results in humans, and non-human primates, say a new study published today in  eLife . The hormone, called Lipocalin-2 (LCN2), could be used as a potential treatment in people with obesity whose natural signals for feeling full no longer work. LCN2 is mainly produced by bone cells and is found naturally in mice and humans. Studies in mice have shown that giving LCN2 to the animals long term reduces their food intake and prevents weight gain, leading to a slowdown in their metabolism. "LCN2 acts as a signal for satiety after a meal, leading mice to limit their food intake, and it does this by acting on the hypothalamus within the brain," explains lead author Peristera-Ioanna Petropoul...

  Aim to exceed weekly recommended physical activity level to offset health harms of prolonged sitting The first recommendation of its kind in new global guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behavior. New additional research shows that increasing physical activity can counter early death risk linked to long periods of sedentary time. The health harms associated with prolonged sitting can be offset by exceeding weekly recommended physical activity levels, says the World Health Organization (WHO) in new global guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behavior, published in a special dedicated issue of the  British Journal of Sports Medicine . But all physical activity counts and is good for long term health, say the new guidelines. It's the first time that a recommendation of this kind has been made. It reflects a large and growing body of evidence linking extensive sedentary time to serious ill health and a heightened risk of early death. New data also released to...

  Age is no barrier to successful weight loss. Obese patients over the age of 60 can lose an equivalent amount of weight as younger people using only lifestyle changes, according to a new study from the University of Warwick and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust that demonstrates that age is no barrier to losing weight. The researchers hope that their findings will help correct prevailing societal misconceptions about the effectiveness of weight loss programs in older people and dispel myths about the potential benefits of older people trying to reduce their weight. The findings are based on an analysis of patient records from a hospital-based obesity service reported in the journal  Clinical Endocrinology . This retrospective study was conducted at the Warwickshire Institute for the Study of Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolism (WISDEM) at UHCW. The researchers randomly selected 242 patients who attended the WISDEM-based obesity service betwee...

  Therapeutic PD-1 cancer vaccine shown to be safe and effective in an animal study The first-in-human clinical trial will test the vaccine in select cancer patients. A study led by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center -- Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC -- James) described a potential therapeutic anticancer vaccine that frees suppressed cancer-killing immune cells, enabling them to attack and destroy a tumor. Published in the journal  Oncoimmunology  on October 1, 2020, the findings showed that the peptide called PD1-Vaxx, a first checkpoint inhibitor vaccine, was safe and effective in a colon cancer syngeneic animal model. The vaccine produced polyclonal antibodies that inhibit the programmed cell death receptor, PD-1, on cancer cells. The vaccine mimics the action of the PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab (pronounced nih-VOL-yoo-mab, marketed as Opdivo). Still, it avoids triggering the innate and acq...

  Are high-protein total diet replacements the key to maintaining a healthy weight? According to the World Health Organization, obesity has nearly tripled worldwide since 1975. In 2016, for example, more than 1.9 billion adults were categorized as overweight. Of these, more than 650 million had obesity. Because obesity is associated with a higher incidence of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and some cancers, the rise in its incidence has led to a global public health emergency. Total diet replacements, nutritionally complete formula foods designed to replace the whole diet for a set period of time, have become increasingly popular strategies to combat obesity. Another popular weight management strategy is high-protein diets, which have been shown to promote weight loss and weight maintenance by increasing our sense of fullness, energy expenditure, and ability to maintain or increase fat-free mass. Taken together, the combination of a total diet replacement with a high-protein die...

  Bursts of exercise can lead to significant improvements in indicators of metabolic health. Short bursts of physical exercise induce changes in the body's levels of metabolites that correlate to and may help gauge an individual's cardiometabolic, cardiovascular and long-term health, a study by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has found. In a paper published in  Circulation , the research team describes how approximately 12 minutes of acute cardiopulmonary exercise impacted more than 80% of circulating metabolites, including pathways linked to a wide range of favorable health outcomes, thus identifying potential mechanisms that could contribute to a better understanding of cardiometabolic benefits of exercise. "Much is known about the effects of exercise on cardiac, vascular and inflammatory systems of the body, but our study provides a comprehensive look at the metabolic impact of exercise by linking specific metabolic pathways to exercise response variables and long-...