Smoking Predicting Physical Activity in an Aging America.

OBJECTIVES: Tobacco smoking and physical inactivity are among leading behavioral risk factors for ill health in older adults. This study considers how smoking is associated with physical activity. DESIGN: Using a Life-Course model, data are analyzed regarding this relationship, controlling for, and interacted with, life-course and other factors. Daily smokers and sometimes smokers were hypothesized to engage in less leisure-time physical activity than those who never smoked, while those who stopped smoking were expected to do more than never smokers. Analyses were performed using SAS-Callable SUDAAN. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Secondary data from ten years of a national sample of adults aged 18 and over of the National Health Interview Survey, 2001-2010, are used (N = 264,945, missing data excluded, of 282,313 total cases). MEASUREMENTS: Daily smokers, occasional smokers, and smoking quitters are compared to never smokers with regard to requisite physical activity (150 minutes per week of moderate, 100 of vigorous, and/or 50 of strengthening activity). Life-course measures include birth cohorts, age, and year of survey, as well as gender, race/ethnicity, and education. RESULTS: Overall, hypotheses are supported regarding daily smokers and quitters; but the hypothesis is strongly rejected among sometimes smokers, who are much more likely to do requisite physical activity. Findings differ by age, sometimes smokers age 65 and over being less likely to do physical activity. Findings among all men are similar to the overall findings, while those among all women are similar to those for older respondents. Associations of smoking status with physical activity vary greatly by race/ethnicity. CONCLUSIONS: Daily smokers may be most in need of both smoking cessation and leisure-time physical activity interventions. Smoking-cessation efforts may pay greater physical activity benefits among women and the aged, while smoking-reduction efforts may provide better outcomes among men. Smoking reduction efforts may pay more exercise benefits among African-Americans and Hispanics.

Effective training in reproductive health: course design and delivery

This document constitutes a resource for trainers who lead training-of-trainers courses in the reproductive health issues. It provides instructions and materials trainers need to help learners strengthen their training; communication and facilitation knowledge and skills. It also enable them to plan and implement more effective training courses.The manual is organized into two parts that focus on (1) core training principles and skills and (2) clinical training approaches and coaching skills

A mouse genetic locus with death clock and life clock features.

A senility syndrome, with weight loss and priapism, occurs in CBAT6/T6 mice, an exceptionally long-lived strain. Instead of dying at the expected time, these mice get senile weight loss and priapism and go on living. We have postulated that a mutant death clock kills the wrong neurons. Crosses with the NZW and C57BL/6 strains show causation by a single genetic locus (Priap1), with a pronounced gene dosage effect on timing. We report here that various cancers were the cause of death in 31 of 32 NZW mice, compared to only five of 22 CBAT6/T6 mice, a highly significant difference (P<0.001). The longevity of (CBAT6/T6xNZW)F1 hybrids, and the segregation of longevity with priapism and senile weight loss in (CBAT6/T6xNZW) F2 hybrids, indicates that Priap1, or a linked gene, inhibits the cancers that usually shorten the lives of NZW mice. If a timer gene is involved, the cancer resistance action could be because the locus impedes the normal mid-life regression of anti-cancer defence. The priapism suggests loss of the medullary reticular formation neurons which normally inhibit male spinal sexual reflexes. In this region of the medulla there are also the respiratory and cardiac control centres, where apoptotic neuron destruction by the wild-type locus could govern maximal life-span. The CBAT6/T6 locus may be a mutant life-stage control clock. Its discovery could be the revelation of a new, major class of aetiology of disease.

Hydrolysis characteristics of bovine milk fat and monoacid triglycerides mediated by pregastric lipase from goats and kids.

Commercial extracts from oro-pharyngeal tissues of goats and kids have been used as the source of pregastric lipase and have been processed to yield partially purified samples of the primary pregastric lipase. The activity of these lipases against tributyrylglycerol has been determined over a range of pH and temperatures. Optimum pH conditions for pregastric lipase ranged from pH 5.6 to 6.5 for goats and from pH 5.5 to 6.2 for kids, respectively; the optimum temperature ranged from 43 to 60 degrees C. Optima for kid lipase extended slightly below pH 5.5 and higher than 60 degrees C; which were the limits of the test conditions. The enzymes were also used as catalysts for the hydrolysis of monoacid triglycerides (C4:0 to C12:0) at 40 degrees C and pH 6.5; activity was maximum against tributyrylglycerol (C4:0). Values for the Michaelis-Menten constant, increased as carbon chain length of the carboxylic moiety on the triglycerides increased, but values were identical for pregastric lipases of both goats and kids. Anhydrous milk fat was hydrolyzed by the commercial extracts of pregastric lipases of goats and kids, and the resulting profiles for free fatty acids were very similar to one another and to the corresponding profile for a commercial sample of Parmesan cheese. There appear to be no significant differences in activity between the enzyme preparations from goats and kids.

Galactose fermentation and classification of thermophilic lactobacilli.

The ability to ferment galactose is a major characteristic which can be used to differentiate Lactobacillus helveticus (galactose positive) from Lactobacillus lactis and Lactobacillus bulgaricus (galactose negative). In milk cultures, galactose-positive strains produced d- and l-lactic acid with little galactose accumulation, whereas galactose-negative strains produced d-lactic acid, and galactose accumulated to high levels.

Carbohydrate Fermentation by Streptococcus cremoris and Streptococcus lactis Growing in Agar Gels.

When lactic streptococci were embedded in agar gels and incubated at 30 degrees C, the end products of carbohydrate fermentation depended on the initial cell density, which determined the subsequent distribution and size of colonies in the gel. With high initial cell densities, microcolonies formed close together and lactose and glucose were converted almost entirely to lactate. However, inoculation with a small number of cells, which then grew to form widely spaced and comparatively large colonies, resulted in up to 30% diversion of end product, usually to formate, ethanol, and acetate. In these "low-colony-density" gel cultures, the initial rate of fermentation was exponential and only lactate was formed. However, this rate then became linear and fermentation became progressively more heterolactic. Streptococcus lactis ML(8) was the only strain among the 10 tested which remained homolactic. Incubation at temperatures either above or below the optimum for growth and metabolism decreased the diversion to end products other than lactate. The change from homo- to heterolactic fermentation appears to be caused by carbohydrate depletion in the vicinity of the colony, so that fermentation is then limited by the diffusion of substrate. Growth of cells on gel surfaces exposed to air resulted in up to 40% diversion of end product from lactate, mainly to CO(2), acetoin, 2,3-butanediol, and acetate. Six of the 12 Streptococcus cremoris strains tested remained homolactic under these aerobic conditions, whereas all 8 of the S. lactis strains tested, including ML(8), were heterolactic.

Galactose fermentation by Streptococcus lactis and Streptococcus cremoris: pathways, products, and regulation.

All of the lactic streptococci examined except Streptococcus lactis ML8 fermented galactose to lactate, formate, acetate, and ethanol. The levels of pyruvate-formate lyase and lactate dehydrogenase were elevated and reduced, respectively, in galactose-grown cells compared with glucose- or lactose-grown cells. Reduced intracellular levels of both the lactate dehydrogenase activator (fructose, 1,6-diphosphate) and pyruvate-formate lyase inhibitors (triose phosphates) appeared to be the main factors involved in the diversion of lactate to the other products. S. lactis ML8 produced only lactate from galactose, apparently due to the maintenance of high intracellular levels of fructose 1,6-diphosphate and triose phosphates. The growth rates of all 10 Streptococcus cremoris strains examined decreased markedly with galactose concentrations below about 30 mM. This effect appeared to be correlated with uptake predominantly by the low-affinity galactose phosphotransferase system and initial metabolism via the D-tagatose 6-phosphate pathway. In contrast, with four of the five S. lactis strains examined, galactose uptake and initial metabolism involved more extensive use of the high-affinity galactose permease and Leloir pathway. With these strains the relative flux of galactose through the alternate pathways would depend on the exogenous galactose concentration.

Hematoxylin toluidine blue-phloxinate staining of glycol methacrylate sections of retina and other tissues.

For a detailed study of the developing chick retina a technique has been developed using glycol methacrylate embedding and a hematoxylin toluidine blue-phloxinate stain. After removal of the vitreous body, one half-segment of the eye is dehydrated through graded ethyl alcohols to 95%, infiltrated and embedded in glycol methacrylate, and sectioned at 2 micrometer. The sections are stained in alum hematoxylin and then in a mixture containing toluidine blue-phloxinate from a stock solution of the dye that has matured for 2-3 weeks. Differentiation is not required and there is only slight staining of the plastic matrix. The quality and clarity of the sections contrasts markedly with that of similarly stained 5 micrometer paraffin wax sections of the retina. This technique has also been applied to skin, spinal cord, dorsal root ganglia, pancreas and small intestine. The stained sections from these tissues have proved very useful in revealing structural components.

Xylose, arabinose, and rhamnose fermentation by Bacteroides ruminicola.

Metabolism and growth yields of Bacteroides ruminicola grown on d-xylose, l-arabinose, and l-rhamnose were studied. Growth yields were 62, 68, and 35.5 g (dry weight) per mol of carbohydrate fermented after correction for storage polysaccharide. Experiments with [1-(14)C]arabinose indicated that pentose was fermented by a pentose phosphate cycle plus glycolysis, with some indication of a minor phosphoketolase-type pathway. The product ratios from pentose were similar to those previously described for hexose. Rhamnose was fermented mainly to 1,2-propanediol, succinate, and acetate, although the latter was quantitatively less than expected. Estimates of adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) molar growth yields could not be calculated with any certainty, as ATP generation by electron transport-linked phosphorylation cannot yet be assessed. If ATP were generated by substrate-level phosphorylation reactions alone, ATP molar growth yields for xylose, arabinose, and rhamnose would be 30, 28, and 35 g/mol. If calculations are based on an assumption that two ATP are generated by electron transport-linked phosphorylation per succinate, ATP molar growth yields become 15, 14, and 22 g/mol; if the assumption is also made that the pathway of lactaldehyde reduction is coupled to production of one ATP per 1,2-propanediol by electron transport-linked phosphorylation, the ATP molar growth yield for rhamnose fermentation becomes 14 g/mol. No preference can be expressed between these alternatives at present.

Catabolite inhibition and sequential metabolism of sugars by Streptococcus lactis.

Growth of galactose-adapted cells of Streptococcus lactis ML(3) in a medium containing a mixture of glucose, galactose, and lactose was characterized initially by the simultaneous metabolism of glucose and lactose. Galactose was not significantly utilized until the latter sugars had been exhausted from the medium. The addition of glucose or lactose to a culture of S. lactis ML(3) growing exponentially on galactose caused immediate inhibition of galactose utilization and an increase in growth rate, concomitant with the preferential metabolism of the added sugar. Under nongrowing conditions, cells of S. lactis ML(3) grown previously on galactose metabolized the three separate sugars equally rapidly. However, cells suspended in buffer containing a mixture of glucose plus galactose or lactose plus galactose again consumed glucose or lactose preferentially. The rate of galactose metabolism was reduced by approximately 95% in the presence of the inhibitory sugar, but the maximum rate of metabolism was resumed upon exhaustion of glucose or lactose from the system. When presented with a mixture of glucose and lactose, the resting cells metabolized both sugars simultaneously. Lactose, glucose, and a non-metabolizable glucose analog (2-deoxy-d-glucose) prevented the phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent uptake of thiomethyl-beta-d-galactopyranoside (TMG), but the accumulation of TMG, like galactose metabolism, commenced immediately upon exhaustion of the metabolizable sugars from the medium. Growth of galactose-adapted cells of the lactose-defective variant S. lactis 7962 in the triple-sugar medium was characterized by the sequential metabolism of glucose, galactose, and lactose. Growth of S. lactis ML(3) and 7962 in the triple-sugar medium occurred without apparent diauxie, and for each strain the patterns of sequential sugar metabolism under growing and nongrowing conditions were identical. Fine control of the activities of preexisting enzyme systems by catabolite inhibition may afford a satisfactory explanation for the observed sequential utilization of sugars by these two organisms.

Metabolism and growth yields in Bacteroides ruminicola strain b14.

Metabolism of D-glucose by Bacteroides ruminicola subsp. brevis, strain B14, has been examined. Growth yield studies gave molar growth yields, corrected for storage polysaccharide, of approximately 66 g (dry weight)/mol of glucose fermented. The storage polysaccharide amounted to about 14% of the total dry weight, or 55% of the total cellular carbohydrate, at full growth. After correcting glucose utilization for incorporation into cellular carbohydrate, measurement of product formation showed that 1.1 succinate, 0.8 acetate, and 0.35 formate are produced and 0.5 CO2 net is taken up during the fermentation of 1 glucose under the conditions used. The implication of these results with respect to adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) molar growth yield calculations is discussed. If substrate-level phosphorylation reactions alone are responsible for ATP generation, then the ATP molar growth yield must be about 23 g (dry weight)/mol of ATP. Alternatively, if anaerobic electron transfer-linked phosphorylation also occurs, the ATP molar growth yield will be lower.