PROTIME-FITNESS HOLISTIC HEALTH AND WELLNESS

  Lab results don't explain the 'obesity paradox,' but bias may Results of standard laboratory tests performed on adult outpatients to provide an overall picture of their health are fairly consistent between those with obesity and their leaner counterparts, investigators report. The finding negates one rationale behind what's called the "obesity paradox," which is that people with obesity are known to be at increased risk for a host of health problems like diabetes and hypertension but tend to do better with these conditions than their leaner peers, including when they get admitted to critical care for reasons like a heart attack or stroke. One thought was that patients with obesity end up in intensive care sooner because their laboratory results were already out of line with their thinner peers. These acute health events push them higher, they report in  The Journal of Applied Laboratory Medicine . "People who have obesity also have more hypertension, th...

  Test your heart health by climbing stairs Climbing four flights of stairs in less than a minute indicates good heart health, according to research presented at EACVI -- Best of Imaging 2020, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). "The stairs test is an easy way to check your heart health," said study author Dr. Jesús Peteiro, a cardiologist at University Hospital A Coruña, Spain. "If it takes you more than one-and-a-half minutes to ascend four flights of stairs, your health is suboptimal, and it would be a good idea to consult a doctor." This study was conducted to examine the relationship between a daily activity -- i.e., climbing stairs -- and the results obtained from exercise testing in a laboratory. "The idea was to find a simple and inexpensive method of assessing heart health," said Dr. Peteiro. "This can help physicians triage patients for more extensive examinations." The study included 165 symptomatic patie...

  Obesity impairs immune cell function, accelerates tumor growth A high-fat diet allows cancer cells to outcompete immune cells for fuel Obesity has been linked to increased risk for over a dozen different types of cancer, as well as worse prognosis and survival. Over the years, scientists have identified obesity-related processes that drive tumor growth, such as metabolic changes and chronic inflammation. Still, a detailed understanding of the interplay between obesity and cancer has remained elusive. Now, in a study in mice, Harvard Medical School researchers have uncovered a new piece of this puzzle, with surprising implications for cancer immunotherapy: Obesity allows cancer cells to outcompete tumor-killing immune cells in a battle for fuel. Reporting in  Cell  on Dec. 9, the research team shows that a high-fat diet reduces the numbers and antitumor activity of CD8+ T cells, a critical type of immune cell, inside tumors. This occurs because cancer cells reprogram the...

  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...

  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...