Health, Medical, and Science Updates

Anytime Fitness’s Weight of the Union report

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Stone Hearth News

HASTINGS, Minn., Jan. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — In 2011, more Anytime Fitness members worked out late at night, cashed in on health insurance reimbursements and made March the busiest workout month.

The statistics are part of the second annual Anytime Fitness “Weight of the Union” report, which examined the fitness and nutritional habits of its 1.3 million members. Anytime Fitness is the world’s fastest growing co-ed fitness club with more than 1,800 clubs in 50 states and 11 countries.

“The obesity epidemic in this country continues to rise and Americans need to get serious about health and wellness,” said Chuck Runyon, CEO of Anytime Fitness and co-author of Working Out Sucks. “While our Weight of the Union report gives a good snapshot of our more than 1.3 million members, and it is encouraging to see our members continuing to take charge of their lives through fitness and nutrition, there is still more work to be done.”

The study found there were more than 52 million workouts in 2011, an increase of one million workouts over 2010. In addition, late-night workouts from midnight to 3 a.m. totaled 1.2 million, up from 900,000 the previous year.

And, contrary to popular belief that January is the busiest month at health clubs, more than 5 million Anytime Fitness members hit the gym in March compared to four million in January.

“By the time March rolls in, people who have really made that full-commitment to their January resolutions are in full swing,” said Rebecca DeRossett, psychologist and co-author of Working Out Sucks. “March is also the time that people start shedding those winter clothes and look forward to getting ready for swimsuit season.”

Money Motivates
The study found that financial incentives were a significant motivating factor in recurring gym visits. In fact, Anytime Fitness members received nearly $4 million in health insurance reimbursements for working out 12 or more times a month, up $1 million from 2010.

“We are seeing an increase by both health insurance providers offering this benefit to employees and employees taking advantage of these programs that pay them to exercise,” said Heidi Holiday, National Director of Healthy Contributions, a fitness incentive administration company who works with Anytime Fitness. “It is really a win-win for everyone.”

To view the full report, click here: http://cdn.anytimefitness.com/en-us/weightoftheunion2012-anytimefitness-final.pdf

Additional findings include:

More men visited the clubs In 2011 than women; 54% of men versus 46% women—although women are trending higher already in 2012!
Top 5 states with the highest gym usage per member: New Hampshire (54%), Minnesota (53%), Delaware (49%), Vermont (49%), and Iowa (46%).
Most popular day of the year to work out: March 28
Least popular day: Dec 25
AnytimeHealth.com members burned more than 443 million calories and lost 200,000 pounds!

In addition to creating an optimal workout environment, Anytime Fitness offers online fitness and nutritional support on AnytimeHealth.com – a personalized wellness tool that offers scientifically accurate health trackers, health information from expert sources, fun contests, community forums and much more.

Anytime Fitness plans on releasing “The Weight of the Union” report on an annual basis in an effort to gauge the country’s progress in health and fitness.

About Anytime Fitness

Founded in 2002, Anytime Fitness is now the fastest-growing fitness club franchise in the world, with more than 1,800 clubs worldwide. Open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, Anytime Fitness prides itself on providing its members with convenient and affordable fitness options in friendly, well-maintained facilities that feature top-quality exercise equipment. Clubs are now open in all 50 states, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, India and Japan. Join one club and have access to them all. Members also enjoy free access to AnytimeHealth.com, the most comprehensive wellness website available.

About AnytimeHealth.com

Launched in 2010, Anytime Health is quickly becoming the best health and wellness website on the Internet. This comprehensive, open-access web portal is dedicated to nutrition, fitness, and disease prevention and management. It’s essentially a one-stop shop for all of your health and wellness needs, and includes a diet tracker, activity tracker, workout planner, and a robust community with support groups and a unique question and answer section. To check out the tools and features, sign-up for a free account, purchase a premium subscription or join an Anytime Fitness club near you!

SOURCE Anytime Fitness

Posted in Commercial Fitness Industry | Leave a comment

Scratching pleasure is driven by location on body: study

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Stone Hearth News

An itch is just an itch. Or is it?

New research from Gil Yosipovitch, M.D., Ph.D., professor of dermatology at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and a world-renowned itch expert, shows that how good scratching an itch feels is related to the itch’s location.

While previous studies by Yosipovitch have shown the pleasurability of itching, analysis of itch relief at different body sites and related pleasurability had not been performed until now. The study was published online this month by the British Journal of Dermatology.

“The goal of this study was to examine the role of the pleasurability of scratching in providing relief for itch,” Yosipovitch explained. “We first evaluated whether itch intensity was perceived differently at three body sites, and then we investigated the potential correlation between the pleasurability and the itch relief induced by scratching.”

Yosipovitch and colleagues induced itch on the ankles, forearms and backs of 18 study participants with cowhage spicules, which come from a type of legume found in tropical areas that are known to cause intense itching. The spicules were rubbed gently in a circular motion for 45 seconds within a small area of the skin and removed with adhesive tape once itch was induced. Itch intensity and scratching pleasurability were assessed every 30 seconds for a duration of five minutes using a Visual Analog Scale (VAS) to rate intensity – 0 for no itch, up to 10 for maximum unbearable itch.

Their results show that itch was perceived most intensely at the ankle and back, while the perception of itch and scratching relief were less pronounced on the forearm. Another major finding of the paper, as Yosipovitch explains, is that “the pleasurability of scratching the ankle appears to be longer lived compared to the other two sites.”

Yosipovitch said this research helps lead to a better understanding of itch and how to relieve it for people who have skin disease.

“We see commonly involved areas such as the ankle and back in itchy patients with skin disorders caused by eczema or psoriasis,” he said. “We never understood why those areas were more affected, and now we better understand that itch in these areas is more intense and pleasurable to scratch.”

Yosipovitch said that while it is known that small nerve fibers are involved in unpleasant sensations such as itch and pain, he and other researchers now suspect that there are also specific nerve fibers involved in pleasure.

“If we could translate this to a treatment that induces a pleasurable relief sensation without damaging the skin, we may be able to help itchy patients,” he said.

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This study was supported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Disease.

Co-authors include: Ghada A. Bin Saif, MBBS, M.D., College of Medicine, King Saud University; Y.H. Chan of Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, Singapore; Francis McGone, Ph.D, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool; and Alexander Papoiu, Ph.D., Shawn G. Kwatra, B.S, of Wake Forest Baptist.

Source

Posted in Dermatology | Leave a comment

Osteoporosis, bisphosphonate related complications, genetics linked

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Stone Hearth News

Newswise — New York, NY (January 26, 2012) — Researchers at the Columbia University College of Dental Medicine have identified a genetic variation that raises the risk of developing serious necrotic jaw bone lesions in patients who take bisphosphonates, a common class of osteoclastic inhibitors. The discovery paves the way for a genetic screening test to determine who can safely take these drugs. The study appears in the online version of the journal The Oncologist.

Oral bisphosphonates are currently taken by some 3 million women in the United States for the prevention or treatment of osteoporosis. In addition, intravenous bisphosphonates are given to thousands of cancer patients each year to control the spread of bone cancer and prevent excess calcium (hypercalcemia) from accumulating in the blood. Bisphosphonates work by binding to calcium in the bone and inhibiting osteoclasts, bone cells that break down the bone’s mineral structure.

“These drugs have been widely used for years and are generally considered safe and effective,” said study leader Athanasios I. Zavras, DMD, MS, DMSc, associate professor of Dentistry and Epidemiology and Director of the Division of Oral Epidemiology & Biostatistics at the Columbia University College of Dental Medicine. “But the popular literature and blogs are filled with stories of patients on prolonged bisphosphonate therapy who were trying to control osteoporosis or hypercalcemia only to develop osteonecrosis of the jaw.”

Osteonecrosis of the jaw, or ONJ, often leads to painful and hard-to-treat bone lesions, which can eventually lead to loss of the entire jaw. Among people taking bisphosphonates, ONJ tends to occur in those with dental disease or those who undergo invasive dental procedures.

There are no reliable figures on the incidence of ONJ in patients taking oral bisphosphonates. Estimates range from 1 in 1,000 to 1 in 100,000 patients for each year of exposure to the medication, according to the American College of Rheumatology. ONJ is more common among cancer patients taking the intravenous form of the drug, affecting about 5 to 10 percent of these individuals, noted Dr. Zavras.

Studies have suggested that genetic factors play a major role in predisposing patients to ONJ.

Delving deeper into this question, Dr. Zavras and his colleagues performed genome-wide analyses of 30 patients who were taking bisphosphonates and had developed ONJ and compared them with several bisphosphonate users who were disease free.

The researchers found that patients who had a small variation in the RBMS3 gene were 5.8 times more likely to develop ONJ than those without the variation. The study also identified small variations in two other genes, IGFBP7 and ABCC4, that may contribute to ONJ risk.

“Our ultimate goal is to develop a pharmacogenetic test that personalizes risk assessment for ONJ, a test that you could give to people before they start to use bisphosphonates,” said Dr. Zavras. “Those who are positive for this genetic variation would select some other treatment, while those who are negative could take these medications with little fear of developing ONJ.”

“At the moment, many women discontinue or avoid treatment for serious osteoporosis because they are afraid of losing their jaw bones,” added Dr. Zavras. “There even are reports of dentists who have refused to perform certain invasive procedures in patients taking bisphosphonates. So there is a great need for a pharmacogenetic screening test to determine which patients are really at risk for ONJ.”

The current study looked only at Caucasians. Further studies are needed to determine whether the RBMS3 gene variation is seen in other racial groups, according to the researchers.

The paper is entitled, “Genome-wide pharmacogenetics of bisphosphonate-induced osteonecrosis of the jaw: the role of RBMS3.” The lead authors are Paola Nicoletti of CUMC and Vassiliki M. Cartsos of Tufts School of Dental Medicine. The other contributors are Penelope K. Palaska of Tufts and Yufeng Shen and Aris Floratos at the Columbia University Medical Center Bioinformatics Department.

This research was supported by grant number 7R21DE018143-03 from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research.

Columbia University has filed a patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office relating to a genetic screening test for predisposition to ONJ, and, through its technology transfer office, Columbia Technology Ventures, is actively seeking partners to collaborate, license and commercialize the technology.

Posted in Bisphosphonates, Genetics, Osteoporosis | Leave a comment

Bedwetting constipation link

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Stone Hearth News

Newswise — Winston-Salem, N.C. – Jan. 27, 2012 – Bedwetting isn’t always due to problems with the bladder, according to new research by Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. Constipation is often the culprit; and if it isn’t diagnosed, children and their parents must endure an unnecessarily long, costly and difficult quest to cure nighttime wetting.

Reporting online in the journal Urology, researchers found that 30 children and adolescents who sought treatment for bedwetting all had large amounts of stool in their rectums, despite the majority having normal bowel habits. After treatment with laxative therapy, 25 of the children (83 percent) were cured of bedwetting within three months.

“Having too much stool in the rectum reduces bladder capacity,” said lead author Steve J. Hodges, M.D., assistant professor of urology at Wake Forest Baptist. “Our study showed that a large percentage of these children were cured of nighttime wetting after laxative therapy. Parents try all sorts of things to treat bedwetting — from alarms to restricting liquids. In many children, the reason they don’t work is that constipation is the problem.”

Hodges said the link between bedwetting and excess stool in the rectum, which is the lower five to six inches of the intestine, was first reported in 1986. However, he said the finding did not lead to a dramatic change in clinical practice, perhaps because the definition of constipation is not standardized or uniformly understood by all physicians and lay people.

“The definition for constipation is confusing and children and their parents often aren’t aware the child is constipated,” said Hodges. “In our study, X-rays revealed that all the children had excess stool in their rectums that could interfere with normal bladder function. However, only three of the children described bowel habits consistent with constipation.”

Hodges explained that guidelines of the International Children’s Continence Society recommend asking children and their parents if the child’s bowel movements occur irregularly (less often than every other day) and if the stool consistency is hard.

“These questions focus on functional constipation and cannot help identify children with rectums that are enlarged and interfering with bladder capacity,” said Hodges. “The kind of constipation associated with bedwetting occurs when children put off going to the bathroom. This causes stool to back up and their bowels to never be fully emptied. We believe that treating this condition can cure bedwetting.”

Children in the study ranged from 5 to 15 years old. The constipated children were treated with an initial bowel cleanout using polyethylene glycol (Miralax®), which softens the stools by causing them to retain water. In children whose rectums remained enlarged after this therapy, enemas or stimulant laxatives were used.

Hodges cautioned that any medical therapy for bedwetting should be overseen by a physician.

The study used abdominal X-rays to identify the children with excess stool in their rectums. Hodges and radiologists at Wake Forest Baptist developed a special diagnostic method that involves measuring rectal size on the X-ray. He said rectal ultrasound could also be used for diagnosis.

“The importance of diagnosing this condition cannot be overstated,” Hodges said. “When it is missed, children may be subjected to unnecessary surgery and the side effects of medications. We challenge physicians considering medications or surgery as a treatment for bedwetting to obtain an X-ray or ultrasound first.”

The study involved reviewing the charts of 30 consecutive patients treated for bedwetting. The authors cautioned that some cases may have improved on their own over time. They said a more accurate measure of the treatment’s success would be to randomly assign constipated children to laxative therapy or an inactive therapy, an approach that would identify true response from cases that would resolve over time.

Hodges’ co-author on the research is Evelyn Y. Anthony, MD, a radiologist at Wake Forest Baptist.

Hodges has written a book for consumers that covers this and other pediatric urology issues. It’s No Accident: Breakthrough Solutions to Your Child’s Wetting, Constipation, UTIs, and Other Potty Problems published by Globe Pequot Press, will be released in early February.