Happy Paradise

Benjamin Franklin's advice that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" can easily be applied to today's most pressing health issue: obesity. Because taking off extra weight is an almost insurmountable challenge, preventing the progression of weight gain throughout life, especially childhood, is crucial to realizing optimal long-term health.

One area of great interest is the possibility that being breastfed might predispose a person to being lean, and the longer the better. Extended breastfeeding, however, is usually associated with delayed introduction of complementary "baby" foods, and it is possible that this (gain rather than breastfeeding) might influence weight.
ASN Spokesperson Shelley McGuire, PhD, highlights that "As parents, we all want to know what we can do to help our children avoid obesity, so research like the study led by Dr. Fleishcher Michaelsen is extremely important- it provides evidence that breastfeeding per se may not have an effect on body weight; instead, it may be other feeding choices (like when baby foods are introduced) that are related to breastfeeding choices. Most likely, these factors work together to prevent or predispose a growing child to obesity later in life."

One way to help address the epidemic of obesity in the United States is improved access to pleasant hiking trails and an ambitious parks and recreation program, a recent study suggests, but programs such as this are increasingly being reduced in many states due to budget shortfalls. The analysis, done by researchers in Oregon, found that some of the health issues that plague overweight and obese people can be aided by a stronger commitment to recreational opportunities. Cutting such programs to save money may be counterproductive to community health, scientists said. "Research is now showing there's a close correlation between public health and recreational opportunities, both close to home and in state parks," said Randy Rosenberger, an associate professor in the Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society at Oregon State University. "And it's not just about losing weight. It's been found that active obese individuals have lower morbidity and mortality than normal weight individuals who are sedentary." The study was conducted by scientists from OSU, the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department and the Pacific Northwest Research Station of the USDA Forest Service. It was one part of the 2008-12 Oregon Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan. "Getting sedentary people physically active will lead to health benefits for them and reduction in the health care burden on society," the scientists wrote in their conclusion. "Gaps in recreation supply are not simply the lack of facilities, although this is important, but also their location, accessibility and diversity of opportunities."

population becomes increasingly obese while smoking rates continue to decline, obesity has become an equal, if not greater, contributor to the burden of disease and shortening of healthy life in comparison to smoking. In an article published in the February 2010 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers from Columbia University and The City College of New York calculate that the Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) lost due to obesity is now equal to, if not greater than, those lost due to smoking -- both modifiable risk factors. QALYs use preference-based measurements of Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) which allow a person to state a relative preference for a given health outcome. Since one person may value a particular outcome differently than another person, these measures capture how each respondent views his or her own quality of life. Investigators Haomiao Jia, PhD and Erica I. Lubetkin, MD, MPH, state, "Although life expectancy and QALE have increased over time, the increase in the contribution of mortality to QALYs lost from obesity may result in a decline in future life expectancy. Such data are essential in setting targets for reducing modifiable health risks and eliminating health disparities." The article is "Trends in Quality-Adjusted Life-Years Lost Contributed by Smoking and Obesity" by Haomiao Jia, PhD, and Erica I. Lubetkin, MD, MPH. The article appears in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Volume 38, Issue 2 (February 2010) published by Elsevier.

Sexual reproduction implies high costs, but it is difficult to give evidence for evolutionary advantages that would explain the predominance of meiotic sex in eukaryotes. A combinational theory discussing evolution, maintenance and loss of sex may resolve the problem. The main function of sex is the restoration of DNA and consequently a higher quality of offspring. Recombination at meiosis evolved, perhaps, as a repair mechanism of DNA strand damages. This mechanism is most efficient for DNA restoration in multicellular eukaryotes, because the initial cell starts with a re-optimized genome, which is passed to all the daughter cells. Meiosis acts also as creator of variation in haploid stages, in which selection can purge most efficiently deleterious mutations. A prolonged diploid phase buffers the effects of deleterious recessive alleles as well as epigenetic defects and is thus optimal for prolonged growth periods. For complex multicellular organisms, the main advantage of sexuality is thus the alternation of diploid and haploid stages, combining advantages of both. A loss of sex is constrained by several, partly group-specific, developmental features. Hybridization may trigger shifts from sexual to asexual reproduction, but crossing barriers of the parental sexual species limit this process. For the concerted break-up of meiosis-outcrossing cycles plus silencing of secondary features, various group-specific changes in the regulatory system may be required. An establishment of asexuals requires special functional modifications and environmental opportunities. Costs for maintenance of meiotic sex are consequently lower than a shift to asexual reproduction A complex multicellular organism develops from mitotic divisions of a single initial cell, which passes its genome to all daughter cells. If the initial cell has a thoroughly 'repaired' nuclear genome, all daughter cells will benefit from that because they are a monophyletic group, which has arisen from a single initial cell. In contrast, any later DNA restoration on differentiated cells is less efficient because it has to be done multiple times in specialized tissues. Cell differentiation is connected to an increase of genome size and number of genes (Rokas, 2008), which infers that targeted repair mechanisms become more complex. Mutations and, perhaps, even epigenetic damage accumulate during the life span of the organism in the nuclear DNA. Cellular selection within the organism can erase inviable cells, but cannot act efficiently on mildly disadvantageous mutations or epimutations as long as the whole organism is alive; cellular selection may act in differentiated tissues not efficiently because only a part of the genome is actually expressed. Any restoration of the nuclear genome is most efficient in the initial cell.

Cosmetic surgery that repairs droopy eyelids, also known as blepharoplasty, has an overall positive impact on patients' quality of life (QOL). In a paper presented at the 2009 American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO in San Diego, researchers administered a retrospective questionnaire survey of 26 adult patients undergoing bilateral upper and lower lid cosmetic blepharoplasty. The authors used the Glasgow Benefit Inventory (GBI), which is a validated QOL questionnaire that aims to assess the impact of an otolaryngologic intervention on a patient. Patients undergoing surgery for non-cosmetic indications, or those who had additional cosmetic procedures performed, were excluded. Blepharoplasty (BLEF-uh-ro-plas-te) is surgery to repair droopy eyelids by removing excess skin, muscle and fat. Eyelids stretch and lose elasticity as people age. As a result, excess fat may gather above and below the eyelids, causing sagging eyebrows, drooping upper lids and bags under your eyes. Besides making patients look older, severely sagging skin around the eyes can also impair vision. Results of the questionnaire indicated that the procedure had a positive impact on QOL for almost all the outcome measures used in the GBI. The authors noted that most patients who undergo a blepharoplasty procedure do so to feel better about their appearance and improve their self esteem. They note that this study is the first to confirm that patients do receive the QOL benefits that they are hoping to achieve with the plastic surgery.

Cosmetic surgery that repairs droopy eyelids, also known as blepharoplasty, has an overall positive impact on patients' quality of life (QOL). In a paper presented at the 2009 American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO in San Diego, researchers administered a retrospective questionnaire survey of 26 adult patients undergoing bilateral upper and lower lid cosmetic blepharoplasty. The authors used the Glasgow Benefit Inventory (GBI), which is a validated QOL questionnaire that aims to assess the impact of an otolaryngologic intervention on a patient. Patients undergoing surgery for non-cosmetic indications, or those who had additional cosmetic procedures performed, were excluded. Blepharoplasty (BLEF-uh-ro-plas-te) is surgery to repair droopy eyelids by removing excess skin, muscle and fat. Eyelids stretch and lose elasticity as people age. As a result, excess fat may gather above and below the eyelids, causing sagging eyebrows, drooping upper lids and bags under your eyes. Besides making patients look older, severely sagging skin around the eyes can also impair vision. Results of the questionnaire indicated that the procedure had a positive impact on QOL for almost all the outcome measures used in the GBI. The authors noted that most patients who undergo a blepharoplasty procedure do so to feel better about their appearance and improve their self esteem. They note that this study is the first to confirm that patients do receive the QOL benefits that they are hoping to achieve with the plastic surgery.