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This article describes an award program sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for excellence in smart growth and active aging. Having examined qualitative and quantitative data, we suggest that any community can foster changes to improve the health and well-being of its aging population. Diverse winners took unique paths to change their built environments and encourage physical activity. The policy changes undertaken by the award winners have both short- and long-term benefits that are important for persons of all ages, but especially for an aging society.

Mephedrone (4-methylmethcathinone) is a β-ketoamphetamine with close structural analogy to substituted amphetamines and cathinone derivatives. Abuse of mephedrone has increased dramatically in recent years and has become a significant public health problem in the United States and Europe. Unfortunately, very little information is available on the pharmacological and neurochemical actions of mephedrone. In light of the proven abuse potential of mephedrone and considering its similarity to methamphetamine and methcathinone, it is particularly important to know if mephedrone shares with these agents an ability to cause damage to dopamine nerve endings of the striatum. Accordingly, we treated mice with a binge-like regimen of mephedrone (4 × 20 or 40 mg/kg) and examined the striatum for evidence of neurotoxicity 2 or 7 days after treatment. While mephedrone caused hyperthermia and locomotor stimulation, it did not lower striatal levels of dopamine, tyrosine hydroxylase or the dopamine transporter under any of the treatment conditions used presently. Furthermore, mephedrone did not cause microglial activation in striatum nor did it increase glial fibrillary acidic protein levels. Taken together, these surprising results suggest that mephedrone, despite its numerous mechanistic overlaps with methamphetamine and the cathinone derivatives, does not cause neurotoxicity to dopamine nerve endings of the striatum., (© 2011 The Authors. Journal of Neurochemistry © 2011 International Society for Neurochemistry.)

The 1-day food intakes of 1,338 women, aged 19 to 50, who were respondents in the 1985 Continuing Survey of Food Intake by Individuals, were studied. The energy, nutrient, and food intake patterns of smokers, those how had quit smoking, and those who had never smoked cigarettes were compared. Mean energy intakes of smokers (1,627 kcal), those who had never smoked (1,620 kcal), and those who had quit at least 1 year before the interview (1,719 kcal) were not significantly different. Self-reported body weight was significantly different between never-smokers and smokers (p less than .01) and quitters (p less than .05) only for the oldest category of women (ages 41 to 50 years). The consumption of fruits (p less than .001) and vegetables (p less than .01) was significantly lower and the intake of eggs (p less than .01), sugars (p less than .001), regular carbonated soft drinks (p less than .01), coffee (p less than .001), and alcoholic beverages (p less than .001) was significantly higher for women smokers than for non-smokers. After controlling through regression analysis for physical activity, health status, and demographic characteristics, we found that smokers, compared with never-smokers, had significantly lower protein (p less than .04), dietary fiber (p less than .001), vitamin C (p less than .001), and thiamin (p less than .01) intakes and higher cholesterol (p less than .02) intakes per 1,000 kcal.

This study investigated the effects of tension and/or exogenous growth hormone on the growth (elongation) of ligaments. In the first experiment, tension was applied to the lateral collateral ligaments of immature rabbits. In the second experiment, a group of skeletally mature rabbits was given exogenous growth hormone while tension was applied to their lateral collateral ligaments. The results revealed that immature rabbit ligaments elongated 140 +/- 18% when tension was applied, while "control" ligaments elongated 79 +/- 5% (P less than .01). In mature rabbits receiving exogenous growth hormone, no significant change was found in the ligament's length with or without the application of tension when compared with controls. Tension applied to ligaments in immature rabbits can increase ligament growth, indicating that physical forces (tension) may be important in the regulation of ligament growth. The same tension applied to mature rabbit ligaments in combination with exogenous growth hormone did not cause a resumption of growth, indicating that tension and the presence of growth hormone are not the only factors necessary for ligament growth.