People who complain that they only have to smell food to gain weight may be right. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, found that obese mice who lost their sense of smell also lost weight. That part of the study was no surprise. But the strange part of the study found that mice that retained their sense of smell ballooned to twice their normal weight by eating the same amount of fatty food as the mice with no sense of smell.
Stranger still is that mice with a superior sense of smell gained even more weight on the same high-fat diet than the mice with a normal sense of smell.
The findings, which were published in the journal Cell Metabolism, suggest that the odor of what we eat may play an important role in how the body deals with calories. If you can’t smell your food, you may burn it rather than store it. But simply being able to smell your food may pack on the pounds.
Scientists know that humans who lose their sense of smell due to age, strokes, or diseases such as Parkinson’s, often become anorexic. They theorized that the loss of pleasure in eating can lead to depression, which can cause loss of appetite. But the new study suggests that the loss of smell itself plays a role in how the body uses energy.
For the study, researchers used gene therapy to destroy olfactory neurons in the noses of adult mice. They spared stem cells, however, so that the loss of smell was only temporary and lasted for about three weeks before the olfactory neurons re-grew.
The smell-deficient mice rapidly burned calories by reregulating their sympathetic nervous system, which is known to increase fat burning. The mice turned their beige fat cells, the subcutaneous fat storage cells that accumulate around our thighs and midriffs, into brown fat cells, which burn fatty acids to produce heat.
Some mice turned almost all of their beige fat into brown fat, becoming lean, mean fat-burning machines.
In these mice, white fat cells — the storage cells that cluster around our internal organs and are associated with many health problems — also shrank in size.
Although it would be a drastic step to eliminate smell in humans wanting to lose weight, Andrew Dillin, senior author of the study, said it might be a viable alternative for the morbidly obese contemplating stomach stapling or bariatric surgery.
“For that small group of people, you could wipe out their smell for maybe six months and then let the olfactory neurons grow back, after they’ve got their metabolic program rewired,” he said.
One problem is that the loss of smell was accompanied by a large increase in levels of the hormone noradrenaline, which is a stress response tied to the sympathetic nervous system. In humans, such a prolonged rise in this hormone could cause a heart attack.
But stomach stapling and bariatric surgery are also associated with problems. A study published in Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases found that one in five patients who undergo bariatric surgery for weight loss is likely to develop problems with alcohol.
A handful of over-the-counter “personal sound amplification products” fared as well as an expensive hearing aid in helping people pick up more words in conversation, researchers report.
While the study took place in a sound booth, “in this controlled environment, some of these devices helped people with mild to moderate hearing loss as well as a hearing aid,” said study author Nicholas Reed. He is an audiologist at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, in Baltimore.
An estimated 16 percent of Americans have trouble hearing, and the U.S. National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders estimates that almost 30 million people could benefit from hearing aids.
But hearing aids can cost thousands of dollars, and Medicare doesn’t cover them, the researchers noted.
“Hearing aids are regulated medical devices and should all be able to aid someone with hearing loss,” Reed said. “While not all hearing aids are the same, they should all be able to meet this minimum requirement of making sound louder at appropriate frequencies and with minimal distortion.”
In contrast, personal sound amplification products, available at stores and online, aren’t regulated and can’t be marketed as hearing aids. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says they’re supposed to be used by people without hearing problems to help them hear distant sounds. The devices fit in or around the ear and make use of Bluetooth technology.
People do use the devices as hearing aids, however, said Todd Ricketts, vice chair of graduate studies with the department of hearing and speech sciences at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. But these products tend to be less technologically advanced than hearing aids, although some offer advanced features.
Should you go out and buy one of the amplification devices instead of getting a hearing aid from a hearing specialist? Some audiologists will refuse to fit you for one, and the U.S. government doesn’t consider them appropriate for people with hearing loss.
For the study, researchers recruited 42 patients at a university audiology clinic who had mild to moderate hearing loss. Two-thirds were women, and their average age was 72.
In a sound booth, the participants listened to sentences with “speech babble noise” in the background. The participants tried to understand what was said without any hearing assistance; while using a hearing aid (costing $1,910); and while using personal sound amplification products bought online and at a pharmacy (one was $30, and the others cost between $270 and $350).
The researchers measured the average accuracy — the percentage of the time that the participants understood the sentences. It was 77 percent without a hearing aid, 88 percent with the hearing aid, and 81 to 87 percent with four of the amplification devices (Sound World Solutions CS50+, Soundhawk, Etymotic Bean and Tweak Focus).
“The results suggest that the devices are technologically and objectively capable of improving speech understanding in persons with hearing loss,” Reed said.
A fifth amplification device, the $30 MSA 30X Sound Amplifier, scored the worst, with an average accuracy level of 65 percent, the researchers reported. Reed said the device caused distortion.
Reed added that the findings suggest that both hearing aids and the amplification devices should be regulated and available over-the-counter. In that case, he said, “the FDA would set technical standards for all of these devices.”
For now, he said, adults with mild to moderate hearing loss may want to consider using one of the devices and consult an audiologist if needed to adjust it.
Ricketts cautioned that “the downside of just trying these or ordering them is that they may not be appropriate. People aren’t very good at self-diagnosing how much hearing loss they have.”
That’s where an audiologist could be helpful, he said, but some won’t sell these devices.
The study was published in the July 4 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
In the prior composing we created the foundation of the significance of tire pressures. Specifically, we demonstrated that a third of the vehicles on the street and additional only a third of those vehicles have an underinflated tire and a warning light, respectively.
We also know a 20% decrease in pressure results in substandard performance, these are the factors we’re likely to explore.
Underinflated tires have a different profile and contact patch with the road.
Where the tire meets the roadway is known as the contact patch. Maximizing the touch patch affords the motorist the most performance, specifically steering and braking. What happens if we reduce the contact patch? Under inflation does that.
The contact patch is what connects the vehicle to street, when a tire is properly inflated ( other variables being ignored), the scooter can provide 100 percent of the contact patch (and also the friction between the tire and the roadway) to steering, braking or a combination of both. If the pressure drops performance is also reduced and the contact patch is reduced – but by how much? There are schools of thought on this and a ton of research, for our argument we’ll say tires will have a reduction in performance.
Contents
Analyzing an Automobile Accident
But what does this actually mean in the real world? Let say a car traveling at 20 miles with tires was successful and needed to swerve to prevent a collision. The same vehicle with underinflated tires could successfully avoid the same collision at no longer than 17 mph. Let us increase the rates, 55 mph properly inflated collision avoidance becomes collision avoidance.
How about braking? If a vehicle with properly inflated tires could stop in 200 feet (roughly 70 mph), then the identical vehicle with under inflated tires will require 230 feet.
Rollovers turned into another related concern. Aside from the contact patch, appropriate inflation also affects rigidity and stability. In simple terms as a bicycle is asked to alter direction (steer), then an underinflated tire will bend enough to allow the sidewall touch the roadway surface and lift the touch patch from the roadway. In extreme instances, the tire will separate out of the rim allowing the rim to dig in the roadway surface. The photo below depicts a sidewall that is currently experiencing this condition.
The tires in this photo are still able to perform well, in part due to the very little side wall and lack of extreme under pressures. Increasing the sidewall, very similar to SUV or a truck, magnifies the bend and distortion.
The last thing to touch on is that the increase of blowouts. Underinflated tires put pressure inside the tire on the tire structure and boost heat. These variables can, and do, raise the probability of a tire failure by causing or exacerbating the layers of material inside the tire.
Proper tire inflation is among the single most significant routine maintenance activity, and ironically, one of the most ignored tasks and when contemplating causality, the tire pressure ought to be assessed to help rebuild the whole picture of this accident. Tire pressure should be taken into consideration when determining is the arbiter of the culpable party and slide and distances marks.
The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic and spinal injuries and conditions. To discuss options on the subject matter, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .�
Additional Topics: Auto Injuries
Whiplash is a commonly reported injury after an individual has been involved in an automobile accident. During an auto accident, the sheer force of the impact often causes the head and neck of the victim to jerk abruptly, back-and-forth, causing damage to the complex structures surrounding the cervical spine. Chiropractic care is a safe and effective, alternative treatment option utilized to help decrease the symptoms of whiplash.
There’s a lot of information about tires, far beyond the reviews and recommendations on a variety of websites. Here we’ll talk about, from a post-collision perspective, car specifications, standard tire information, and how tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) work. We will then analyze how tire pressures relate to automotive collisions.
Contents
Vehicle Specifications
Vehicles offered in the United States have a placard in the driver’s door jamb or internal door. This placard contains some advice we need to explore the tires including the vehicle manufacturer recommended load rating tire size, and tire pressure. Here’s an example:
(there’s a second placard particularly for tires but this should be supported contrary to the above mentioned placard as the next one does not include any vehicle identifying information such as a VIN. In this picture the last six digits of the VIN have been omitted.)
Tire Size
The majority of modern tires have writing on the sidewall which explains the tires measurements as well as other critical characteristics. What does it imply? Sizes for front and back are recorded. The 265 is the width, in millimeters, of the face. The next number, 70, is that the height of the tire sidewall for a percentage of the tread face (in this instance 70 percent of those 265). The “R” creates the tire structure a radial. Finally, the 17 is sized diameter in inches.
Tire Pressure
Notice that the listed tire pressure is assumed to be chilly. Tires have to sit at least eight hours from direct sunlight before they are deemed enough. Gases expand as they are heated and also the minimal cold pressure is put so that the scooter will be at the optimal pressure once at operating temperature; accordingly, if a bicycle is at or below the minimum and is at operating temperature, the strain was lower when the tire was cold.
Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS)
The TPMS became a mandated normal after the fallout of the Ford Explorer & Firestone bicycle event. The federal government needed a system that would alert drivers to “non” tire pressure(s). There are two types of systems. The first type is called “direct measurement” and it uses a detector inside each tire which relays the strain. The second kind is known as “indirect dimension” and it utilizes the anti-lock brake method to determine if a tire is spinning faster than others. A bicycle with air pressure that is less will have a diameter that is smaller and will spin faster; this difference can be calculated by the brake system.
The gap in either system comes when we examine how this system decides to warn the motorist. Because the pressures at a tire can differ for a few reasons (we only discussed how temperature is one of these) that the TPMS doesn’t search for a single pressure, but rather an array or minimum strain. The setup within the computer of the vehicle only illuminates the warning light when a tire’s pressure is outside the specifications that are preselected.
Many studies by the national authorities, independent organizations, and tire producers all support substandard performance of tires where the tires are below the recommended pressure. The research have three points of discussion.
71 percent of drivers check tire pressure less than a month.
More than 1/3 of passenger cars surveyed had at least one tire at or below 20 percent of their placard.
Only 36 percent of vehicles tested would find a warning light at 20 percent or more below the placard.
The first point is not a surprise. The absence of frequent tire pressure maintenance is part of why the federal government mandated the TPMS system. The next point is also not surprising. If the majority (71\%) does not regularly check tire pressure, it should be anticipated tires are below the recommended pressure. The point is that the one we want to concentrate on. We want to focus on this fact since the majority of passenger car worries are 30 PSI; 20 percent less is 24 PSI.
If 100 passenger vehicles were on the road, 36 of these would have a minumum of one tire at 20\% below the placard pressure. Of those 36 vehicles, just 13 of them would have a warning light. (For the record it’s not much better for your light truck / SUV category.)
So now we know a third of those vehicles on the street have an underinflated tire and additional only a third of those vehicles have a warning light. The question is does 6 PSI thing? Yes, it does. Testing done by Goodyear and the NHTSA supported decrease in managing a reduction in pressure results in greater stopping distances, increase in blowouts, lower fuel economy, and tire wear.
Putting it All Together
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) also regularly studies tire related accidents. 1 study found approximately 9 percent of all collisions are tire related. In 2012, out of the 5.6 million authorities reported accidents, 504,000 were related.
For simplicity, we will assume each the accidents involved one car making the total 5.6 million. 725,000 would possess the warning lighting if we utilize the proportions more than 2 million would have at least one tire that is underinflated, in the table. Increasing the amount of vehicles only increases the statistics.
When deciding causality, you will find 504,000 tire related collisions as reported previously and also this misunderstood and often overlooked fact is omitted when attempting to determine the culpable party. It’s because of this that upkeep that tire pressures should be ascertained immediately post-accident rather than only focus on skid marks (though they are equally important in the equation important) because demonstrative evidence when trying to reconstruct accidents in the pursuit of discovering causality.
In Part 2 we will discuss how these variables affect tire performance that further provides demonstrative evidence to the accident reconstructionist, accident investigator and lawyer.
The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic and spinal injuries and conditions. To discuss options on the subject matter, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .
Whiplash is a commonly reported injury after an individual has been involved in an automobile accident. During an auto accident, the sheer force of the impact often causes the head and neck of the victim to jerk abruptly, back-and-forth, causing damage to the complex structures surrounding the cervical spine. Chiropractic care is a safe and effective, alternative treatment option utilized to help decrease the symptoms of whiplash.
As long as it doesn’t take more than 30 minutes to an hour, a nap is good for our health in many ways. It’s perfectly natural for mammals and is even part of the work culture in China. Why not take advantage of the warm, relaxing weather to have a little snooze after lunch? Here’s a list of all the benefits of a short siesta.
– A healthier heart
A nap is beneficial for the heart because it lowers blood pressure and allows the cardiovascular system to recover. Two hormones, adrenalin and noradrenalin, which help to keep the body awake, stimulate the heart rate. A Greek scientific study in 2007 showed that a habitual 30-minute nap (three times a week) reduced the risk of death by heart failure by over 30%. Try it out this summer to improve your sports performance.
– Boosting creativity
By improving attention, memory and vigilance, a nap stimulates creativity and helps with solving difficult problems. It is virtually obligatory in Japan, and other countries are beginning to realize its benefits. Employees who rest at the beginning of the afternoon are more productive and come up with new ideas more easily. A summer nap is ideal for recharging your batteries and will pay dividends when you go back to work.
– Catching up on lost sleep
Chronic insomnia, drowsiness, and sleep debt are all part of modern life. There’s nothing like a power nap to catch up if you didn’t get enough sleep last night. And contrary to popular belief, a nap does not prevent you from sleeping the next night (as long as it doesn’t last longer than an hour). In fact it helps nocturnal sleep. It’s the perfect way to stay alert and in a good mood until the evening.
– Improving immunity
A lack of sleep affects antiviral proteins produced by the immune system. And sleep deprivation is associated with lower resistance to infections. Even a short nap restores the levels of hormones and proteins which help fight stress, thereby improving our immune system. Nap to your heart’s content this summer, so you’ll be able to drive out colds and viruses in the fall.
– A perfect non-drug treatment
The French National Institute of Sleep and Vigilance (InSV) considers sleep to be a non-drug treatment with analgesic effects. Migraines and muscular/joint pain can be improved by a short sleep. The InSV says that napping could reduce the need for medicines such as antihypertensives (a treatment for high blood pressure), stimulants and vitamins. Better to take 40 winks this summer instead of a cocktail of dietary supplements in the fall.
Is your idea of a balanced diet chocolate in both hands? If so, you may be onto something — at least as far as your brain is concerned, according to a recent review published in Frontiers in Nutrition. Cocoa beans, it found, are a rich source of flavanols, a class of compounds that has neuroprotective effects.
Italian researchers studied available literature on the effects of cocoa flavanols on the brain — what happens to your brain in the hours immediately following eating cocoa, and what happens when you eat a cocoa flavanol enriched diet for a prolonged period of time.
They discovered that most randomized controlled trials found that cocoa flavanols had a beneficial effect on cognitive performance. Participants showed enhancements in working memory performance and improved visual information processing after having had cocoa flavanols.
For women, eating cocoa after a night of total sleep deprivation actually counteracted the cognitive impairment that such a night brings about. The results are promising for people who suffer from chronic sleep deprivation or work shifts.
The effects of relatively long-term ingestion of cocoa flavanols, ranging from five days to three months, has generally been investigated in elderly individuals. For them, cognitive performance was improved by a daily intake of cocoa flavanols.
In the elderly, factors such as attention, processing speed, working memory, and verbal fluency were greatly affected, and were most pronounced in older adults with mild cognitive impairments.
“This result suggests the potential of cocoa flavanols to protect cognition in vulnerable populations over time by improving cognitive performance,” said authors Valentina Socci and Michele Ferrara from the University of L’Aquila in Italy.
“If you look at the underlying mechanism, the cocoa flavanols have beneficial effects for cardiovascular health and can increase cerebral blood volume in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus,” they said. “This structure is particularly affected by aging and therefore the potential source of age-related memory decline in humans.”
So should we eat chocolate every day to improve our brains? “Regular intake of cocoa and chocolate could indeed provide beneficial effects on cognitive functioning over time,” said the authors.
“There are, however, potential side effects of eating cocoa and chocolate,” they warned. “Those are generally linked to the caloric value of chocolate, some inherent chemical compounds of the cocoa plant such as caffeine and theobromine, and a variety of additives we add to chocolate such as sugar or milk.”
Nonetheless, the scientists practice their results: “Dark chocolate is a rich source of flavanols. So we always eat some dark chocolate. Every day.”
Recent studies have found that chocolate has additional benefits. British researchers found that magnesium, an essential nutrient found in dark chocolate, helps cells keep track of the natural cycles of day and night.
Need an energy boost? Dark chocolate containing at least 60 percent cacao beans can enhance your energy levels in the afternoon. Volunteers at the University of Northern Arizona University ate dark chocolate or a placebo product, then did thinking and memory activities while undergoing EKGs of their brains. Those who ate the chocolate were more alert.
IRVING, Texas – Anthony Rotich (Cross Country) was announced as one of the 14 recipients of the Jim Castaneda Postgraduate Scholarship Award, announced by the league office on Tuesday afternoon.
The conference annually awards the $4,000 Postgraduate Scholarships to graduates as selected by the C-USA Faculty Athletics Representatives and approved by the Board of Directors.
Rotich, a civil engineer major and mathematics minor, graduated from UTEP as a three-time C-USA All-American honoree and a four-time C-USA Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll recipient. The Kenya native was a four-time NCAA Champion and an 11-time Mountain Region Athlete of the Year. He was named the 2014 C-USA Cross Country Athlete of the Year.
Rotich is applying to UTEP’s College of Engineering – Construction Management.
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UTEP softball head coach Tobin Echo-Hawk announced the addition of pitcher Kira McKechnie on Wednesday. …
Emmanuel Korir, Michael Saruni and Mickael Hanany qualified to the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federation) World Championships over the weekend.
Running in Nairobi, Kenya, Korir qualified to the 800m final with a time of 1:45.50 in the first heat, Saruni followed with a time of 1:46.10 in the second. In the men’s final, Korir (1:43.86) notched the crown and Saruni took third with a personal best of 1:44.61.
The All-Americans garnered a spot on the Kenya national team which heads to London, England to compete at the World Championships on August 5-8.
Also making his way to London will be former UTEP track and field star Mickael Hanany (France). Hanany took gold at the 2017 Euro Superleague with a leap over 2.26m (7-5) in the high jump. The seven time All-American will compete in his fourth IAAF World Championship.
The Nigerian trails will take place on July 7-8.
For more information on UTEP track and field, follow the Miners on Twitter (@UTEPTrack) and on Instagram (uteptrack).
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UTEP softball head coach Tobin Echo-Hawk announced the addition of pitcher Kira McKechnie on Wednesday. …
UTEP softball head coach Tobin Echo-Hawk announced the addition of pitcher Kira McKechnie on Wednesday. McKechnie played her first two years at Fresno State and will have two years of eligibility with the Miners.
McKechnie will join fellow transfer pitcher Julia Wright, and UTEP sophomore hurlers Devyn Cretz and Allie Johnson for the 2018 season.
“We are excited to have Kira on our roster for the upcoming season,” Echo-Hawk said. “It is always nice to add some depth to your pitching staff.”
McKechnie, a native of Sacramento, Calif., made a relief appearance in the circle during the 2017 campaign against San Diego and recorded a strikeout. In 2016, McKechnie made a pair of appearances in the circle, throwing 1.1 innings, while allowing two hits and no runs.
McKechnie attended Christian Brothers High School and was a dual-sport athlete. She was a four-year letterwinner in both softball and basketball. McKechnie was voted softball team captain in 2015 and capped her senior year with multiple accolades, which includes Sacramento Bee’s 2015 All-Metro first team, Cal-Hi first team All-State, CAL All-Optimist All-Star team, MaxPreps first team All-State and Cal-Hi D3 Athlete of Honor.
She was named Female Athlete of the Year by Character Combine, Bee Preps Show and MaxPreps Christian Brothers, while earning the Credit Union Athlete of the Week in 2015.
During her senior season, McKechnie hit .462 with 40 RBI, 11 doubles, a triple and eight home runs. She added 18 runs and was walked nine times. In the circle, McKechnie (12-7) fashioned a 1.95 ERA and recorded 195 Ks 140 innings (23 starts/25 appearances).
McKechnie has competed for the California Breeze (2005-09), Capital City Comets (2009-12), Nor Cal Patriots (2012-14) and Central Cal Dirt Dogs (2014-15). She also attended the 2012 OnDeck Elite Futures Camp and 2013 Colorado Sparkler All-Star/All-American game.
UTEP’s freshman Emmanuel Korir had a phenomenal year and was awarded the Conference USA Athlete of the Year, announced by the league office on Friday afternoon.
Opening up the 2016-17 season, Korir clocked a world record 600m at the New Mexico Cherry and Silver meet with at time of 1:14.97. It was his first time ever running on a 200m banked track. At the 2017 NCAA Indoor Championships, the freshman captured his first title in the 800m running a time of 1:47.48.
During the outdoor season the Kenyan native ran a school record time of 44.67 in the 400m at the UTEP Invitational. Seven days later Korir clocked 1:43.73 in the 800m at the Brutus Hamilton Challenge. He is just on of three athletes in the world to run sub-1:44 and sub-44 in the 800m and 400m respectively.
At the C-USA Outdoor Championships Korir claimed the 400m title (44.53) and set the meet record at the NCAA West Region Preliminaries in the 800m with a time of 1:45.88. The mid-distance runner won his second NCAA title in the 800m (1:45.03) at the historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
Korir was named the USTFCCCA (U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association) Athlete of the Week twice during the indoor season, garnered four C-USA Athlete of the Week awards and made The Bowerman Watch List three times during the season.
He joins a list of Miners who have been named C-USA Athlete of the Year:
Anthony Rotich (2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15/ Track and Cross Country)
Camilla Carrera (2011-12/Softball)
Blessing Okagbare (2009-10/Track and Field)
For more information on UTEP track and field, follow the Miners on Twitter (@UTEPTrack) and on Instagram (uteptrack).
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