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U OF MN study shows Twin Cities residents get exercise through personal lifestyle activities

Twin Cities residents are getting the majority of their physical activity through personal lifestyle activities such as yardwork, cleaning, and leisure-time physical activities -- such as walking, running or biking, according to researchers at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.

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1. Advance in understanding of blood pressure gene could lead to new treatments
   02-04-2007 · EurekAlert!
   Research by scientists at UCL (University College London) has clearly demonstrated for the first time the structure and function of a gene crucial to the regulation of blood pressure. The discovery could be important in the search for new treatments for illnesses such as heart disease, the UK's biggest killer. In a paper published online today in Nature Medicine, the team, led by Professor Patrick Vallance and Dr James Leiper, UCL Department of Medicine, reveal the role of the human gene dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase (DDAH), showing that loss of DDAH activity disrupts nitric oxide (NO) production. NO is critical in the regulation of blood pressure, nervous system functions and the immune system. The role of DDAH is to break down modified amino acids (Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and monomethyl arginine (L-NMMA)) that are produced by the body and have been shown to inhibit NO synthase. These molecules accumulate in various disease states including diabetes, renal failure and pulmonary and systemic hypertension, and their concentration in plasma (the fluid component of blood) is strongly predicative of cardiovascular disease and death. In a healthy human body, the majority of ADMA is eliminated through active metabolism by DDAH. Scientists have hypothesised that if DDAH function is impaired, NO production is reduced, and that this could be an important feature of increased cardiovascular risk. To examine this pathway in more detail, the researchers deleted the DDAH gene in mice. These mice went on to develop hypertension, or high blood pressure. They also designed specific inhibitors (small molecules) which bind to the active site of human DDAH. These small molecule inhibitors also induced hypertension in mice, confirming the importance of DDAH in the regulation of blood pressure. Dr Leiper, UCL Medicine, said: “These genetic and chemical approaches to disrupt DDAH showed remarkably consistent results, and provide compelling evidence that loss of DDAH function increases the concentration of ADMA and thereby disrupts vascular NO signalling. “There has been considerable scientific interest in this pathway and the role of ADMA as a novel risk factor, but so far there's been little evidence to support the idea that it's a cause of disease, rather than just a marker. Genes and their pathways are crucial to our understanding of cardiovascular disease and a better understanding of DDAH-1 could lead to important new treatments. “It could help us to establish if genetic variation predisposes certain people to these diseases, or whether environmental factors exert some of their effects through modulation of DDAH activity. “Our research also shows that this pathway could be harnessed therapeutically to limit production of NO in certain situations where too much nitric oxide is a bad thing; for example, hypotension and septic shock. These are some of the biggest problems in intensive care medicine and there is a huge unmet need for drug treatments.” The study, which was carried out at UCL's Rayne Institute, was funded by grants from the British Heart Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council. Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director of the British Heart Foundation, said: "The unexpected finding in the 1980s that a simple gas, nitric oxide (NO), is made by cells in the blood vessel wall and is a powerful control of blood vessel relaxation led to the award of the Nobel Prize in 1998 to its discoverers. "More recently, there has been increasing evidence that impairment of NO production is likely to be an important factor in the development of heart and circulatory disease, but the mechanisms responsible are not fully understood. "This study suggests for the first time that the loss of the activity of the enzyme DDAH-1 leads to reduced NO production and may cause heart and circulatory disease. These findings are likely to be important in the search for new ways to optimise the health of our blood vessels." ### Notes for Editors 1. For more information, please contact Ruth Metcalfe in the UCL Media Relations Office on tel: +44 (0)20 7679 9739, mobile: +44 (0)7990 675 947, out of hours: +44 (0)7917 271 364, e-mail: r.metcalfe@ucl.ac.uk2. 'Disruption of methylarginine metabolism impairs vascular homeostasis' is published in the February issue of the journal Nature Medicine. Advance online publication is embargoed to 18.00 GMT (13.00 US Eastern) Sunday 4 February 2007. Journalists can obtain copies of the paper by contacting the UCL Media Relations Office.3. The study was funded by the British Heart Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council. About UCL Founded in 1826, UCL was the first English university established after Oxford and Cambridge, the first to admit students regardless of race, class, religion or gender, and the first to provide systematic teaching of law, architecture and medicine. In the government's most recent Research Assessment Exercise, 59 UCL departments achieved top ratings of 5* and 5, indicating research quality of international excellence. UCL is the fourth-ranked UK university in the 2006 league table of the top 500 world universities produced by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. UCL alumni include Mahatma Gandhi (Laws 1889, Indian political and spiritual leader); Jonathan Dimbleby (Philosophy 1969, writer and television presenter); Junichiro Koizumi (Economics 1969, Prime Minister of Japan); Lord Woolf (Laws 1954, Lord Chief Justice of England & Wales); Alexander Graham Bell (Phonetics 1860s, inventor of the telephone), and members of the band Coldplay.
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2. British attitudes to exercise show misleading guidelines 'should be changed'
   10-09-2007 · EurekAlert!
   British adults now believe that moderate activity is more beneficial than vigorous exercise, according to new research by the University of Exeter and Brunel University. Although most large studies show that the greatest health benefits are derived from regular participation in vigorous activities, such as jogging and competitive sports, 56% of men and 71% of women now believe moderate activities, like walking, are most beneficial.
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3. Environmental inequality study finds no direct links to segregation, income
   07-09-2007 · EurekAlert!
   A new study examining two possible factors leading to "environmental racism" finds that although the average black or Hispanic resident of a major US city lives in a more polluted part of town than the average white person, the levels of inequality vary widely between cities and defy simple explanation.
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4. Value of exercise for seniors shown in multi-center study with Stanford
   11-21-2006 · EurekAlert!
   A study, which appears in the November issue of Journal of Gerontology, is the first to show that physical activity can improve a person's score on a standardized test of physical mobility.
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5. Regular exercise helps obese youths reduce, reverse risk for heart disease, study shows
   10-30-2006 · EurekAlert!
   Regular exercise can help obese children shrink more than just their waistlines, new research shows. The activity also can help them to reduce -- and even reverse -- their risk of developing cardiovascular disease, including hardening of the arteries.
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6. Carnegie Mellon University research shows how sensory-deprived brain compensates
   04-17-2007 · EurekAlert!
   Whiskers provide a mouse with essential information. These stiff hairs relay sensory input to the brain, which shapes neuronal activity. In a first, studies of this system by Carnegie Mellon scientists show just how well a mouse brain can compensate when limited to sensing the world through one whisker. Published April 4 in the Journal of Neuroscience, the results should help shape future studies of sensory deprivation that results from stroke or traumatic brain injury.
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7. NYU study shows those closer to World Trade Center have more vivid memories when recalling 9/11
   12-18-2006 · EurekAlert!
   Those close to the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, have, on average, more vivid memories of the terrorist attacks than do those who were in other parts of New York City on that day, according to a study by researchers at New York University. The results, reported in the most recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, indicate personal involvement may be important in engaging the amygdala when recalling 9/11 events.
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8. Antibacterial chemical disrupts hormone activities
   12-07-2007 · EurekAlert!
   A new UC Davis study shows that a common antibacterial chemical added to bath soaps is an endocrine disruptor that can alter hormonal activity in rats and in human cells in the laboratory -- and does so by a previously unreported mechanism.
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9. In violent neighborhoods, adults too fearful to intervene with most young offenders
   07-17-2007 · EurekAlert!
   A study of young, violent criminals in New York City found that they used fear and intimidation to keep adults from interfering with their criminal activities. Almost 40 percent of the young offenders interviewed said that adults' fear of teens was the defining characteristic of their relations. As a result, in many situations, adults ignored criminal activity by teens and young adults, findings showed.
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10. Active lifestyle reduces risk of invasive breast cancer
    02-15-2007 · EurekAlert!
    Six or more hours per week of strenuous recreational activity may reduce the risks of invasive breast cancer by 23 percent, according to researchers from the University of Wisconsin Paul P. Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center (UWCCC). Their report in the February issue of Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, based on a survey of over 15,000 women, shows that exercise has a protective effect against invasive breast cancer throughout a woman's lifetime.
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