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NEWS:
Exploring ‘Exercise as Medicine’
If being sedentary is the new smoking, then UCI’s nascent Exercise as Medicine class is the modern equivalent of the old surgeon general’s warning on cigarette packs.
Taught by James Hicks, professor of ecology & evolutionary biology, the course examines the hazards of physical inactivity and explores how exercise not only improves overall health but can even alter or reverse the trajectory of cancer and other diseases.
Hicks says he created the class – which debuted this spring with 85 biology students and turned away another 179 – to spread the gospel of walking, running and other forms of exertion.
“Because many biology majors go into medicine, I’m trying to make them converts who will tell their friends, parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents and patients that regular physical activity is like a fountain of youth,” he says.
For decades, science assumed that the gradual decline
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People Who Eat A Plant-Based Dinner Could Reduce Their Risk of Heart Disease By Ten Percent
People who eat too many refined carbs and fatty meats for dinner have a higher risk of heart disease than those who eat a similar diet for breakfast, according to a nationwide study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
Cardiovascular diseases like congestive heart failure, heart attack and stroke are the number one cause of death globally, taking an estimated 17.9 million lives each year. Eating lots of saturated fat, processed meats and added sugars can raise your cholesterol and increase your risk of heart disease. Eating a heart-healthy diet with more whole carbohydrates like vegetables and grains and less meat can significantly offset the risk of cardiovascular disease.
"Meal timing along with food quality are important factors to consider when looking for ways to lower your risk of heart disease. Our study found people who eat a plan
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New Study Shows How To Boost Muscle Regeneration and Rebuild Tissue
One of the many effects of aging is loss of muscle mass, which contributes to disability in older people. To counter this loss, scientists at the Salk Institute are studying ways to accelerate the regeneration of muscle tissue, using a combination of molecular compounds that are commonly used in stem-cell research.
In a study published on May 25, 2021, in Nature Communications, the investigators showed that using these compounds increased the regeneration of muscle cells in mice by activating the precursors of muscle cells, called myogenic progenitors. Although more work is needed before this approach can be applied in humans, the research provides insight into the underlying mechanisms related to muscle regeneration and growth and could one day help athletes as well as aging adults regenerate tissue more effectively.
Loss of these progenitors has been connected to age-related muscle d
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Alzheimer’s Foundation of America Unveils “The Apartment,” a Full-Scale Model Dementia-Friendly Residence
The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA) unveiled The Apartment, a full-scale model dementia-friendly residence in AFA headquarters—with entryway, kitchen, bedroom, bath, living room and dining area—that showcases more than 30 practical design and technological enhancements to make a home safer and improve quality of life for someone living with dementia and their family care partners.
Families can experience a video tour of The Apartment virtually at www.alzfdn.org/TheApartment as well as receive a free copy of The Apartment: A Guide to Creating a Dementia-Friendly Home, a 20-page booklet that showcases each of the rooms with detailed, step-by-step summaries of dementia-friendly improvements and a sample product listing appendix.
“The Apartment was created as a teaching tool for the growing population of families who have loved ones living with dementia,” said Charles J. Fuschillo
