Brown Adipose Tissue Thermogenesis, the Basic Rest-Activity Cycle, Meal Initiation, and Bodily Homeostasis in Rats.

Brown adipose tissue thermogenesis, the basic rest-activity cycle, meal initiation, and bodily homeostasis in rats.

Physiol Behav. 2013 Apr 3;
Blessing W, Mohammed M, Ootsuka Y

Laboratory rats alternate between behaviorally active and inactive states every 1-2hours throughout the 24hourday, the ultradian basic rest-activity cycle (BRAC). During the behaviorally active phases of the BRAC, brown adipose tissue (BAT) temperature, body and brain temperature, and arterial pressure and heart rate increase in an integrated manner. Since the BAT temperature increases are substantially greater than the corresponding body and brain temperature increases, BAT thermogenesis contributes to the body and brain temperature increases. When food is available ad libitum, eating commences approximately 15min after the onset of an episodic increase in BAT temperature, and not at other times. If no food is available, the rat still disturbs the empty food container approximately 15min after the onset of an episodic increase in BAT temperature, and not at other times. The increase in brain temperature that precedes eating may facilitate the cognitive processing that occurs during the search for food, when the rat engages with the external environment. Rather than being triggered by changes in levels of body fuels or other meal-associated factors, in sedentary laboratory rats with ad libitum access to food, meal initiation normally occurs as part of the centrally-programmed ultradian BRAC. BRAC-associated BAT temperature increases occur in a thermoneutral environment and they are not preceded by falls in body or brain temperature, so they are not homeostatic thermoregulatory responses. The pattern of integrated behaviors and physiological functions associated with the BRAC presumably reflects Darwinian natural selection, and homeostatic thermoregulatory explanations of the BRAC-associated changes in temperature should be considered in this context. HubMed – eating

Happy Being Me in the UK: A controlled evaluation of a school-based body image intervention with pre-adolescent children.

Body Image. 2013 Apr 2;
Bird EL, Halliwell E, Diedrichs PC, Harcourt D

This study evaluated an adapted version of ‘Happy Being Me’, a school-based body image intervention, with girls and boys aged 10-11 years. Forty-three children participated in a three-week intervention, and 45 children formed a control group. Both groups completed measures of body satisfaction, risk factors for negative body image, eating behaviors, self-esteem, and intervention topic knowledge, at baseline, post-intervention, and three month follow-up. For girls, participation in the intervention resulted in significant improvements in body satisfaction, appearance-related conversations, appearance comparisons, eating behaviors and intervention topic knowledge at post-intervention, although only the change in body satisfaction was maintained. There was also a significant decrease in internalization of cultural appearance ideals from baseline to follow-up. For boys, participation in the intervention resulted in significant improvements in internalization and appearance comparisons at post-intervention; however, neither of these changes were sustained at follow-up. There were no improvements in the control group over time. HubMed – eating

Quality-of-life (QOL) outcomes in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) treated with intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) compared to three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT): Evidence from a prospective randomized study.

Oral Oncol. 2013 Apr 4;
Rathod S, Gupta T, Ghosh-Laskar S, Murthy V, Budrukkar A, Agarwal J

PURPOSE: To prospectively evaluate and compare health-related quality-of-life (QOL) outcomes in patients with head-neck squamous cell carcinoma randomized to either intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) or three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) and assess serial longitudinal change in QOL over time. METHODS: QOL outcomes were assessed using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QOL questionnaire (QLQ-C30) and Head-Neck module (HN-35) at baseline (pre-treatment) and subsequently periodically on follow-up. Mean scores of individual domains/scales of 3D-CRT and IMRT were compared using ‘t’ test at each time point; while longitudinal change in mean scores of both groups over time was evaluated by repeated measurement analysis of variance. RESULTS: Fifty eight of the 60 randomized patients who filled the QOL questionnaire at least at one time point were included in the analysis. Several general (emotional functioning, role functioning, social contact) as well as head and neck cancer-specific (dry mouth, opening mouth, sticky saliva, pain, senses) QOL domains were better preserved with IMRT compared to 3D-CRT at different time points. Importantly, none of the QOL domains were worse with IMRT at any time point. There was substantial deterioration in QOL scores immediate post-treatment (3-months) in both arms. However, QOL scores gradually but definitely improved over time for most domains. Global QOL, emotional/role functioning, nausea/vomiting, pain, swallowing, speech, social contact/eating, insomnia showed rapid recovery (<6months) while physical/cognitive functioning, dry mouth, sticky saliva, fatigue, senses showed delayed recovery (>6months). There were no significant differences in loco-regional or survival between the two arms. CONCLUSIONS: There is substantial deterioration in QOL after curative-intent head-neck irradiation that gradually improves over time. IMRT results in clinically meaningful and statistically better QOL scores for some domains compared to 3D-CRT at several time points with comparable disease outcomes that could support its widespread adoption in routine clinical practice. HubMed – eating