Social connection as a public health adaptation to extreme heat events

Climate change is an increasingly important public health issue, reflected in morbidity and mortality outcomes during extreme heat events. At the same time, the harms of social isolation with respect to a wide range of health outcomes are becoming better understood. Given that older adults are at higher risk during hot weather and at higher risk of social isolation, they are among those at highest risk for adverse impacts of extreme heat events. While specific strategies to reduce heat exposure have been described in the literature and promoted in public health practice, these may not be readily available to socially isolated older adults. As such, it is crucial to identify key approaches to address risk due to social isolation in the aging population, and to acknowledge their limitations and barriers. Interventions rooted in social connection, a concept widely applied in interventions for public health and social well-being, should be applied as a tool for adaptation to extreme heat events.     

Die Apolipoproteine

Zusammenfassung Im Humanserum sind bisher zwölf verschiedene Apolipoproteine nachgewiesen worden. Apo A–I and Apo A–II sind Strukturproteine der HDL und haben Coenzymfunktion für die LCAT. Apo B ist Hauptprotein der LDL, kommt aber auch in den triglyceridreichen Lipoproteinen vor und ist verantwortlich für die LDL-Rezeptorbindung. Die C-Apolipoproteine sind Oberflächenproteine der VLDL und werden bei deren Abbau auf die HDL übertragen; gleichzeitig haben sie spezifische Wirkungen auf die Lipoproteinlipase. Diese wird auch von den E-Apolipoproteinen beeinflußt, die sowohl in triglyceridreichen Lipoproteinen wie HDL vorkommen und für die Lipoproteinbindung an einen weiteren Zelloberflächenrezeptor verantwortlich sind. Ernährung und Medikamente, Hormone und Körpergewicht, Alkohol, Zigarettenrauchen und körperliches Training und schließlich Erkrankungen von Leber und Nieren beeinflussen Konzentration und Stoffwechsel der Apolipoproteine. Abschließend werden die Zusammenhänge mit der Arteriosklerose beim Menschen besprochen.Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. G. Schettler zum 65. Geburtstag     

Hepatic,lipid and genetic factors associated with obesity: crosstalk with alcohol dependence?

Objectives: Alcohol dependence represents a leading cause of mortality and morbidity. Understanding the variables that contribute to this diagnosis and its severity is critical. An overlap between factors that may predispose people to become obese and those that may increase the risk of alcohol dependence may exist. However, data in the literature are not conclusive. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the association between alcohol dependence and obesity-related factors, including biochemical and genetic factors.

Methods: In a case–control study with 829 participants, factors involved with metabolism and obesity were assessed, including biochemical lipid and liver markers, and the fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs8050136.

Results: Increased triglycerides, having one or two minor A alleles for rs8050136 and being a smoker were associated with increased risk of alcohol dependence, while increased low-density lipoprotein cholesterol was associated with decreased risk. In addition, having abnormal gamma-glutamyl transferase and being female were factors associated with an increased severity of alcohol dependence.

Conclusions: Our preliminary findings suggest a link between alcohol dependence and obesity-related biochemical and genetic factors. Future studies are needed to better understand if these factors may play a predictive role and/or may act as biomarkers for treatment response.     

Percentile curves for fat patterning in German adolescents

Background  

Because the body composition of adolescents varies more than that of adults and anthropometric parameters are regularly used for pediatric body fat measurements, we developed age-, gender-, and ethnicity-specific reference values for waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and skinfold thickness (SFT) in German adolescents.     

Knowledge about emergency contraception among family-planning providers in urban Ghana

Objective

To assess the theoretical and practical knowledge about emergency contraception (EC) among family-planning (FP) providers in Ghana and to examine the association between FP providers’ theoretical and practical knowledge.

Methods

Data on 600 FP providers were collected through a census of facilities offering FP services in Kumasi, Ghana, in 2008. Nested linear multivariate regression analysis was used to identify sociodemographic, facility-related, and work-related variables associated with FP providers’ theoretical and practical knowledge about EC.

Results

On average, FP providers gave 4.1 correct answers to the 11 questions assessing theoretical knowledge and 5.6 correct answers to the 8 questions assessing their practical ability to provide EC. The FP providers seemed to learn provision-related aspects through practice without having a particularly good theoretical knowledge on EC as a contraceptive method. The health sector in which FP providers worked, their education and having received EC-specific training, the number of services offered, and the number of women seen during a week were all significant correlates of both theoretical and practical knowledge about EC. The 2 knowledge domains were significantly and positively associated.

Conclusion

There is need to improve knowledge about EC among FP providers in Ghana through in-service training.