Why Muscles Weaken With Age and Points to Possible Therapy

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110802125549.htm

Sarcopenia, which begins to appear at around age 40 and accelerates after 75, is a major cause of disability in the elderly. Exercise can help counter the effects of age-related muscle loss. sarcopenia occurs when calcium leaks from a group of proteins in muscle cells called the ryanodine receptor channel complex. These leaks then trigger a chain of events that ultimately limits the ability of muscle fibers to contract, leaky ryanodine receptors are involved in the development of heart failure and arrhythmias. In 2009, he showed that leaks in these channels also contribute to Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a genetic disorder characterized by rapidly progressing muscle weakness and early death.

Dr. Marks suspected that ryanodine receptor leakage may also be involved in age-related muscle loss, which the present study shows is the case. "This is a completely new concept -- that the damage that occurs in aging is very similar to what happens in muscular dystrophy," says Dr. Marks, "thus as we age we essentially develop an acquired form of muscular dystrophy."
Both the aging process and the genetic defect responsible for muscular dystrophy cause an increase in the production of oxygen free radicals, highly reactive and harmful molecules. "Our data suggest that this sets up a vicious cycle, in which the free radicals cause ryanodine receptors to leak calcium into the cell. The calcium poisons mitochondria -- organelles that power the cell -- leading to the release of even more free radicals. This, in turn, causes more calcium leakage. With less calcium available for contraction, the muscles get weaker," says first author Daniel C. Andersson, M.D., Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in physiology and cellular biophysics at CUMC.
The study also points to a possible therapy for sarcopenia: an experimental drug called S107, developed by Dr. Marks and his colleagues. The drug acts by stabilizing calstabin1, a protein that binds to ryanodine receptors and prevents calcium leakage.
In the study, 24-month-old mice (roughly the equivalent of 70-year-old humans) were given S107 for four weeks. The mice showed significant improvements in both muscle force and exercise capacity, compared with untreated controls. "The mice ran farther and faster during voluntary exercise," says Dr. Andersson. "When we tested their muscles, they were about 50 percent stronger." The drug had no effect on younger mice with normal ryanodine receptors.
A similar drug is now in phase II clinical trials for the treatment of heart failure.
"Most investigators in the field of aging have been saying that the way to improve muscle strength is to build muscle mass, using such therapies as testosterone, growth hormone, and insulin-like growth factor-1," says Dr. Marks. "But an increase in muscle mass is not necessarily accompanied by an increase in muscle function. Our results suggest that you can improve muscle function by fixing leaky calcium channels. And in fact, treating aged mice with S107 enhanced muscle strength without increasing muscle size, at least during the four-week treatment period."

Restoring Happiness in People With Depression

People often underestimate the long-term impact of practicing brief, positive activities, Lyubomirsky said. For example, if a person gets 15 minutes of positive emotions from counting her blessings, she may muster the energy to attend the art class she'd long considered attending, and, while in class, might meet a friend who becomes a companion and confidant for years to come. In this way, even momentary positive feelings can build long-term social, psychological, intellectual, and physical skills and reserves.
The researchers' review of brain imaging studies also led them to theorize that PAIs may act to boost the dampened reward/pleasure circuit mechanisms and reverse apathy -- a key benefit that does not usually arise from treatment with medication alone.
"The positive activities themselves aren't really new," said Layous, the paper's lead author. "After all, humans have been counting their blessings, dreaming optimistically, writing thank you notes, and doing acts of kindness for thousands of years. What's new is the scientific rigor that researchers have applied to measuring benefits and understanding why they work."
A major benefit of positive activities is that they are simple to practice and inexpensive to deliver.
"If we're serious about tackling a problem as large as depression, we should be as concerned about the scalability of our solutions as much as their potency," Chancellor said,
While PAIs appear to be a potentially promising therapy for mild forms of depression," Doraiswamy cautioned, "they have not yet been fully studied in people with moderate to severe forms of depression. We need further studies before they can be applied to help such patients."  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110729175803.htm

Some Exercise Is Better Than None: More Is Better to Reduce Heart Disease Risk

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110801161414.htm

People who engaged in 150 minutes of moderate-intensity leisure activity had a 14 percent lower risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) compared to those who reported no exercise or physical activity. At higher levels of activity, the relative risk of CHD was progressively lower. Researchers found that even people who got below the United States guidelines for physical activity, which recommends 2 hours and 30 minutes of moderate exercise per week, had a lower risk of CHD than those who had no activity.
"The overall findings of the study corroborate federal guidelines -- even a little bit of exercise is good, but more is better -- 150 minutes of exercise per week is beneficial, 300 minutes per week will give even more benefits," said Jacob Sattelmair, ScD, of the Department of Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Chance Favors the Concentration of Wealth, -Estate Tax prevents, should be called Redistribution Taxes

Figure 1. Concentration of wealth over time. All simulations start with an even distribution of wealth. Unless otherwise noted, all simulations
were run with 100,000 individuals and a 5% yearly average return on investment. Red lines show the analytically expected trajectories (Eqn. 1); points
show the results from individual-based simulations. Three replicate simulations were run for each high variance simulation. (A) Higher variance
among individual rates of return increases the rate of wealth concentration. (B) Inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient also increases over
time. (C) Wealth concentrates even when the mean growth rate varies over time, such that in some years the total economy grows and in others the
economy shrinks. Average annual rates of return were randomly drawn from a normal distribution with m~ln 1:08&7:7% and s~0:19, with a new
value for the economy drawn each year. (D) Population growth and splitting estates among heirs does not significantly reduce rate of wealth
concentration. Dashed blue line shows the growing population. (E) A tax on inherited fortunes slows and arrests the concentration of wealth. (F)
Immigrants with mean wealth slow but do not arrest the concentration of wealth. Dashed blue line shows population increase from immigration.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0020728.g001
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110721172334.htm

Fewer Verbs and Nouns in Financial Reporting Could Predict Stock Market Bubble, Study Shows

 When the language used by financial analysts and reporters becomes increasingly similar the stock market may be overheated, say scientists.

---

After examining 18,000 online articles published by the Financial Times, The New York Times, and the BBC, computer scientists have discovered that the verbs and nouns used by financial commentators converge in a 'herd-like' fashion in the lead up to a stock market bubble. Immediately afterwards, the language disperses.

"Our analysis shows that trends in the use of words by financial journalists correlate closely with changes in the leading stock indices -- the DJI, the NIKKEI-225, and FTSE-100,"
"By plotting the distributions of words used in financial articles published online between 2006 and 2010 into a computer model, we were able to identify what we call 'verb convergence' and 'noun convergence -- where the language used by financial journalists shows converging agreement."
"Our study shows that reporters converge on the same language -- 'stocks rose again', 'scaled new heights', or 'soared' -- as their commentaries became more uniformly positive in the lead up to the 2007 crash."
"They also appear to refer to a smaller-than-usual set of market events -- presumably because of an increased fixation on a small number of rapidly rising stocks,"http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110718101202.htm

Novel Compound Selectively Kills Cancer Cells by Blocking Their Response to Oxidative Stress

The plant-based compound piperlongumine (PL), derived from the fruit of a pepper plant found in southern India and southeast Asia, appears to kill cancer cells by jamming the machinery that dissipates high oxidative stress and the resulting ROS. Normal cells have low levels of ROS, in tune with their more modest metabolism, so they don't need high levels of the anti-oxidant enzymes that PL stymies once they pass a certain threshold.
"Piperlongumine targets something that's not thought to be essential in normal cells," said Stuart L. Schreiber, a senior co-author and director of the Broad's Chemical Biology Program. "Cancer cells have a greater dependence on ROS biology than normal cells."
Sam W. Lee and Anna Mandinova, senior co-authors from the Cutaneous Biology Research Center (CBRC) at MGH, weren't looking for a ROS inhibitor when they found PL. Their interest lay in the tumor suppressor gene p53, which is mutated in more than half of all cancer types. Teaming up with the Broad's Chemical Biology Program and Platform to screen libraries of chemical compounds, they were looking for something that might increase levels of the properly functioning p53 gene.
When they saw a promising signal for PL, they assumed it worked by enhancing the p53 gene. But to their surprise, PL induced cancer cell death independent of the tumor suppressor gene's activity. And when they tested PL in normal cells, the cells didn't die.
"The novelty of this compound was that it was able to recognize cancer cells from normal cells," said Mandinova, a Broad associate member and a faculty member at MGH and Harvard Medical School. "It has a mode of action that targets something especially important to the cancer cell."
Their second surprise came after the Proteomics Platform's quantitative analysis identified the target of PL. The researchers imagined that they might find a protein encoded by a cancer-causing gene was being inhibited in some way, but instead of an oncogene, they saw an indirect process on which cancer cells depend.
A small number of new cancer drugs target oncogenes directly, but this may not be the only promising new direction for treating cancers. Cancer genes do not act alone. PL exploits a dependency that develops after oncogenes transform normal cells into cancer cells.
"Our studies suggest that piperlongumine's ROS-associated mechanism is especially relevant to the transformed cancer cell," said co-author Andrew M. Stern, associate director of Novel Therapeutics at the Broad. "And this in part may underlie the observed selectivity of PL."
The scientists tested PL against cancer cells and normal cells engineered to develop cancer. In mice injected with human bladder, breast, lung, or melanoma cancer cells, PL inhibited tumor growth but showed no toxicity in normal mice. In a tougher test of mice that developed breast cancer spontaneously, PL blocked both tumor growth and metastasis. In contrast, the chemotherapy drug paclitaxel (Taxol) was less effective, even at high levels.
"This compound is selectively reducing the enzyme activity involved in oxidative stress balance in cancer cells, so the ROS level can go up above the threshold for cell death," said Lee, a Broad associate member and associate director of CBRC at MGH. "We hope we can use this compound as a starting point for the development of a drug so patients can benefit."
While hopeful, the authors remain cautious. Much more work needs to be done to better understand how the ROS process differs between normal and cancer cells before clinical studies can even be launched. Further studies will focus on different forms of cancer and their genotypes, or genetic information.
"Our next set of goals is to learn if there are specific cancer genotypes that will be more sensitive to this compound than others," said Alykhan F. Shamji, associate director of the Broad's Chemical Biology Program. "We hope our experiments will help be predictive of whether patients with the same genotypes in their tumors would respond the same way. It would help us to pick the right patients."
The research reported in Nature was funded by the National Cancer Institute and builds on work performed through the Initiative for Chemical Genetics and the Cancer Target Discovery and Development Network.http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110713131421.htm

Size Matters: Why Do People Eat Less When They Have Big Forks?

Learn to know what it takes to be full, instead of relying on external cues like forks:

"The fork size provided the diners with a means to observe their goal progress," the authors explain. "The physiological feedback of feeling full or the satiation signal comes with a time lag. In its absence diners focus on the visual cue of whether they are making any dent on the food on their plate to assess goal progress."

The authors tested this conclusion by varying the quantities of food. They found that when the initial quantity of food was more (a well-loaded plate) diners with small forks ate significantly more than those with large forks. When customers were served small servings, the fork size did not affect the amount of food. Interestingly, in a lab experiment the authors found that participants with small forks consumed less than those with large forks. The authors believe that the participants did not have the same goals of satiating hunger as the restaurant customers did.
To avoid overeating, the authors suggest consumers learn to better understand hunger cues. "People do not have clear internal cues about the appropriate quantity to consume," the authors write. "They allow external cues, such as fork size, to determine the amount they should consume."http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110714150949.htm

Personality Plays Role in Body Weight: Impulsivity Strongest Predictor of Obesity

 Practice low neuroticsim and high concienceousness to be in the mental framework for maintaining a healthy weight.

The researchers, from the National Institute on Aging, looked at data from a longitudinal study of 1,988 people to determine how personality traits are associated with weight and body mass index. Their conclusions were published online in the APA's Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
"To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to examine whether personality is associated with fluctuations in weight over time," they wrote. "Interestingly, our pattern of associations fits nicely with the characteristics of these traits."
Participants were drawn from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, an ongoing multidisciplinary study of normal aging administered by the National Institute on Aging. Subjects were generally healthy and highly educated, with an average of 16.53 years of education. The sample was 71 percent white, 22 percent black, 7 percent other ethnicity; 50 percent were women. All were assessed on what's known as the "Big Five" personality traits -- openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism -- as well as on 30 subcategories of these personality traits. Subjects were weighed and measured over time. This resulted in a total of 14,531 assessments across the 50 years of the study.
Although weight tends to increase gradually as people age, the researchers, led by Angelina R. Sutin, PhD, found greater weight gain among impulsive people; those who enjoy taking risks; and those who are antagonistic -- especially those who are cynical, competitive and aggressive.
"Previous research has found that impulsive individuals are prone to binge eating and alcohol consumption," Sutin said. "These behavioral patterns may contribute to weight gain over time."
Among their other findings: Conscientious participants tended to be leaner and weight did not contribute to changes in personality across adulthood.

Regulating P53 Is a Matter of Life or Death

p53 has much broader importance in the life and death of cells. "It's critical for determining whether a cell survives stress and continues to function in a variety of situations," says Wahl.
One problem with p53 is that it apparently evolved to protect the integrity of the genome for future generations, rather than to prolong the lives of individual cells or animals. From the point of view of an animal, p53 sometimes goes too far in killing cells or suppressing growth. Experiments in mice have suggested that even modest reductions in p53's activity greatly increases survival after exposure to radiation, without raising the long-term cancer risk to unacceptable levels.

they found that p53 lacking its "dimmer switch" turned on too much of a gene called p21, which acts as a brake to halt cells from dividing. "To confirm the significance of that finding, we created mice that expressed the mutant p53, but had only one instead of the normal two copies of p21," Wahl says. "This reduced p21 levels after irradiation. Remarkably, this was enough to significantly reduce the mortality of the 'dimmerless' p53 mice. They were much less sensitive to radiation when they just had one less copy of p21." The study underscores the importance of an evolutionarily conserved regulatory segment of p53 and the importance of p53 activity in the response to conditions that produce DNA damage. "Our study indicates that the amount of damaged DNA caused by radiation or toxins, isn't the sole determinant of life or death," says Wahl. "The extent to which p53 is also very important."
One implication of this research is that drugs to lower p53 levels, or to reduce its transcription of other growth-stopping genes such as p21, might be used temporarily to reduce unwanted tissue damage from DNA-altering drugs or radiation. Another implication is that p53-boosting drugs, which are currently being tested in cancer patients, could have dangerous side effects if used in combination with other drugs that cause DNA damage. "Our mouse model suggests that if you use a p53-activating agent, the last thing you should do is combine it with a general DNA-damaging chemotherapy or radiotherapy," Wahl says.http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110630171717.htm

Is Meditation the Push-Up for the Brain? Study Shows Practice May Have Potential to Change Brain's Physical Structure

"It is possible that actively meditating, especially over a long period of time, can induce changes on a micro-anatomical level," said Luders, herself a meditator.

As a consequence, she said, the robustness of fiber connections in meditators may increase and possibly lead to the macroscopic effects seen by DTI.

"Meditation, however, might not only cause changes in brain anatomy by inducing growth but also by preventing reduction," Luders said. "That is, if practiced regularly and over years, meditation may slow down aging-related brain atrophy, perhaps by positively affecting the immune system."

But there is a "but." While it is tempting to assume that the differences between the two groups constitute actual meditation-induced effects, there is still the unanswered question of nature versus nurture.

"It's possible that meditators might have brains that are fundamentally different to begin with," Luders said. "For example, a particular brain anatomy may have drawn an individual to meditation or helped maintain an ongoing practice -- meaning that the enhanced fiber connectivity in meditators constitutes a predisposition towards meditation, rather than being the consequence of the practice."

Still, she said, "Meditation appears to be a powerful mental exercise with the potential to change the physical structure of the brain at largehttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110714091940.htm

Researchers Demystify a Fountain of Youth in the Adult Brain

The scientists found that neighboring "epithelial-like" ependymal cells -- not stem cells themselves -- maintain a special structure that keeps neural stem cells "neurogenic," able to make new neuronshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110713131413.htm

Prediction Markets on the Debt Ceiling, U.S. Credit Downgrade

Prediction Markets on the Debt Ceiling, U.S. Credit Downgrade

via Freakonomics » Blog by Freakonomics on 7/14/11

Over at Intrade, there are two “hot” markets involving the odds that Congress will raise the U.S. debt ceiling.

- Congress to approve increase in U.S. debt ceiling before midnight on July 31, 2011: 40% (It was 65% a month ago)

- Congress to approve increase in U.S. debt ceiling before midnight Aug. 31, 2011: 75% (It was 85% a month ago)

And at Irish bookmaker PaddyPower.com, here is the line on a Moody’s downgrade:

Will Moody’s downgrade the U.S.?

-Yes: 9/2

-No: 1/8

Changes in Specific Dietary Factors May Have Big Impact On Long-Term Weight Gain

In a series of three separate studies looking at how changes in multiple dietary and other lifestyle factors relate to long-term weight gain, Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers found that modest changes in specific foods and beverages, physical activity, TV-watching, and sleep duration were strongly linked with long-term weight gain. Changes in diet, in particular, had the strongest associations with differences in weight gain.

When relations of lifestyle changes with weight gain were evaluated, the findings were strikingly similar in all 3 studies.

For example, the foods associated with the greatest weight gain over the 20-year study period included potato chips (for each one increased daily serving, +1.69 lb more weight gain every 4 years), other potatoes (1.28 lb), sugar-sweetened beverages (1.00 lb), unprocessed meats (0.95 lb), and processed meats (0.93 lb). Of note, several foods associated with less weight gain when their consumption was actually increased, including vegetables (−0.22 lb), whole grains (−0.37 lb), fruits (−0.49 lb), nuts (−0.57 lb) and yogurt (−0.82 lb). Evaluating all changes in diet together, participants in the lower 20% of dietary changes gained nearly 4 lbs more each 4 years than those in the top 20% -- an amount equivalent to the average weight gain in the population overall.

For diet, focusing only on total calories may not be the most useful way to consume fewer calories than one expends, say the researchers. Other yardsticks, such as content of total fat, energy density, or sugars, could also be misleading. Rather, they found that eating more healthful foods and beverages -- focusing on overall dietary quality -- was most important.

The most useful dietary metrics for preventing long-term weight gain appeared to be:

• Focus on improving carbohydrate quality by eating less liquid sugars (e.g. soda) and other sweets, as well as fewer starches (e.g. potatoes) and refined grains (e.g. white bread, white rice, breakfast cereals low in fiber, other refined carbohydrates).
• Focus on eating more minimally processed foods (e.g. fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, yogurt) and fewer highly processed foods (e.g. white breads, processed meats, sugary beverages).
• http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110622224457.htm

Shoplifting on the rise: A sign of recovery?

http://money.cnn.com/2011/06/23/pf/shoplifting/index.htm?section=money_pf&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmoney_pf+%28Personal+Finance%29

"A lot of times shoplifting is an inside job," said Jim Angel, associate professor of finance at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.

When the economy hit its lowest point, employees were primarily consumed with keeping their jobs, said Richard Hollinger, a criminology professor at the University of Florida and author of the security survey.

Shoplifting rates fell significantly in 2007. But as the recovery takes hold, shoplifting rates are on the rise again.

Workers were deterred from stealing simply because even minimum-wage jobs in retail were scarce. "They were so worried about their future, their families and paying the mortgage, they realized this is what is keeping their family afloat," Hollinger said.

As employees feel more secure in their positions, they may be more inclined to take some risks, Angel said.

At the same time, employers drastically reduced head counts during the recession, which left fewer employees on the floor with heavier workloads in the early stages of the recovery. As workers feel more disgruntled, theft becomes "very tempting," Hollinger said, "especially if they feel that the company can afford it and they're being paid minimum wage."

Interplay Between Cancer and Aging in Mice: Aging Due to Reduction in Cell Proliferation, Not Molecular Damage, Data Suggest

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/04/110405082616.htm


Although scientists know that loss of p16 is associated with numerous human tumors, they know much less about the function of p16 in normal cells and tissues. 

Enders' team engineered a strain of mice that enables them to control p16 expression in various tissues and at various times in an animal's lifespan. They quickly found that turning on p16 blocked cell proliferation in normal tissues. The implications of blocked cell proliferation emerged when they expressed p16 in animals that were not yet fully mature. 

"They developed features of premature aging," Enders says. "To my knowledge, this is the first model that induces striking characteristics of premature aging where there is no macromolecular damage. The premature aging appears to be the result of blocking cell proliferation."

Previous work showed that p16 accumulates in tissues as they age, but these new data suggest that p16 is not just associated with aging. Instead, the protein may be playing a more causal role. "What this suggests to us is that p16 may be an effector of aging -- not just a marker of aging tissues."

Remarkably, the team also has preliminary evidence that they may be able to reverse the features of early aging in the immature mice by turning off p16.

The experiments also provide insight into how p16 suppresses tumor formation. Looking closely at the intestines of wild-type and engineered mice, the researchers saw that the p16 protein accumulates in the stem cells of the tissue and prevents them from dividing. Additionally, p16 expression reduced tumor formation in a mouse model of intestinal cancer. Putting those two observations together, Enders and colleagues think that p16 suppresses tumor formation by restraining proliferation of pre-cancerous stem cells, as well as tumor cells. They are currently testing that hypothesis.

Retiring in 10 years: Should I invest in annuities?

http://money.cnn.com/2011/06/14/pf/expert/retirement_saving_annuities.moneymag/index.htm?section=magazines_moneymag&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmagazines_moneymag+%28Money+Magazine%29

Aside from guaranteeing income for life -- which no other investment can do -- annuities have another advantage: They can generate a higher level of sustainable income than any other investment earning the same return.

How, you may ask, is that possible? Well, some people who buy annuities will die before life expectancy, while others will live longer.

That allows insurers to build into their annuity payouts extra payments known in insurance circles as a "mortality credits." "The insurer is essentially passing along money that would have gone to the people who die early to those who are still alive," says David Blake, director of the Pensions Institute at the Cass Business School in London. "That amounts to an additional return."

For extra safety, you can spread however much you plan to invest among two or three such insurers and also take care that the amount you invest with any single company doesn't exceed the coverage limit of the life insurance guaranty association in your state.

Stanford biostatistician talks about saving your aging brain

http://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2011/06/qa-with-stanford-biostatistician-on-how-to-save-your-aging-brain/

Previous studies have shown that eating berries can boost brain health. How can certain foods slow the brain’s natural aging process?

Three major food choices affect our brain function. The first is total caloric intake, which dramatically affects both lifespan and cognitive decline. In animal studies, for every 2 percent reduction in total calories, we see about a 1 percent to 2 percent extension of lifespan. So reducing calories by 20 percent gives about a 10 percent to 20 percent extension in lifespan. There is a limit: 100 percent reduction doesn’t work. Up to 50 percent calorie reduction appears to extend lifespan.  In the island of Okinawa in Japan, more people live to over 100 years of age than anywhere else in the world. Their rates of stroke, cancer, dementia and other age-associated diseases are among the lowest in the world. Why? While many factors may contribute, caloric restriction appears to be one of the most important. In the course, we’ll look at effective ways to reduce caloric intake.

The second is the type of fat we eat. The type and amount of fat you eat determines:

• The number of dendrites and synapses in your neurons
• The type and amount of neurotransmitters your neurons produce
• Your ability to learn
• Your mood
• Your risk of stroke, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease

Good fats (polyunsaturated fats such as omega-3 fatty acids) are major components of our neural synapses and the mitochondria that produce the energy our neurons need. Insufficient omega-3 can contribute to loss of cognitive abilities as well as to early death from heart disease. Saturated fats and hydrogenated fats are bad for your brain.

Carol Greenwood, PhD, at the University of Toronto has studied the effects of fat on the brain.  In one set of experiments, Dr. Greenwood fed rats diets containing up to 10 percent saturated fat and tested their learning ability. The result: The rats’ ability to learn fell directly with the amount of saturated fat in the diet. For rats on a diet of 10 percent saturated fat, their learning ability was near zero. The average saturated fat in Americans diets? About 11 percent.

The third food choices with major effects on our brain function are the antioxidants. This is where berries come in. Many studies in animals show that high levels of anti-oxidants can greatly extend lifespan and maintain cognitive function. However, for humans, achieving these benefits probably requires more antioxidants that we get from food sources. In the course, we’ll talk about which supplementary sources are effective.

Buffett: How inflation swindles the equity investor (Fortune, 1977)

Let's wade through a little arithmetic about book and market value. When stocks consistently sell at book value, it's all very simple. If a stock has a book value of $100 and also an average market value of $100, 12% earnings by business will produce a 12% return for the investor (less those frictional costs, which we'll ignore for the moment). If the payout ratio is 50%, our investor will get $6 via dividends and a further $6 from the increase in the book value of the business, which will, of course, be reflected in the market value of his holdings.

If the stock sold at 150% of book value, the picture would change. The investor would receive the same $6 cash dividend, but it would now represent only a 4% return on his $150 cost. The book value of the business would still increase by 6% (to $106) and the market value of the investor's holdings, valued consistently at 150% of book value, would similarly increase by 6% (to $159). But the investor's total return, i.e., from appreciation plus dividends, would be only 10% versus the underlying 12% earned by the business.

When the investor buys in below book value, the process is reversed. For example, if the stock sells at 80% of book value, the same earnings and payout assumptions would yield 7.5% from dividends ($6 on an $80 price) and 6% from appreciation -- a total return of 13.5%. In other words, you do better by buying at a discount rather than a premium, just as common sense would suggest.

During the postwar years, the market value of the Dow Jones industrials has been as low as 84% of book value (in 1974) and as high as 232% (in 1965); most of the time the ratio has been well over 100%. (Early this spring, it was around 110%.) Let's assume that in the future the ratio will be something close to 100%, meaning that investors in stocks could earn the full 12%. At least, they could earn that figure before taxes and before inflation.

The arithmetic makes it plain that inflation is a far more devastating tax than anything that has been enacted by our legislatures. The inflation tax has a fantastic ability to simply consume capital. It makes no difference to a widow with her savings in a 5% passbook account whether she pays 100% income tax on her interest income during a period of zero inflation, or pays no income taxes during years of 5% inflation. Either way, she is "taxed" in a manner that leaves her no real income whatsoever. Any money she spends comes right out of capital. She would find outrageous a 120% income tax, but doesn't seem to notice that 6% inflation is the economic equivalent.

http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2011/06/12/warren-buffett-how-inflation-swindles-the-equity-investor-fortune-1977/?section=money_pf&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmoney_pf+%28Personal+Finance%29

HOW, AND WHEN, TO MAKE A DECISION

Tuk tested two sets of participants. The first was told to drink five cups of water; the second to take just five sips. After 40 minutes, they were tested on their decision-making abilities. Tuk says that the group who were, by now, crossing their legs, were better able to exercise self-control and hold out for larger rewards.  http://moreintelligentlife.com/content/ideas/bill-ridgers/how-and-when-make-a-decision
Sometimes the interviewers held a heavy clipboard, sometimes a light one. When holding a heavy clipboard, the interviewer was more likely to view the applicant as having gravitas. Those interviewed by someone holding a light clipboard were seen as more flaky. It seems our minds take many such physical metaphors literally. Other studies have found that sitting on a hard chair when negotiating the price of a car will make you negotiate harder, and that holding a hot cup of tea when meeting someone will make you more warmly disposed towards them than if you are holding an iced drink.
The reason, Ackerman believes, is that touch is the first sense that we develop after birth. “People learn how to make decisions about the world by understanding what they’ve already experienced, and that means the physical world.” The ability to think in the abstract, of course, comes much later.
most of us already realise that making decisions when we are exhausted is not advisable. Yet the effect that tiredness has on us is counter-intuitive. Chee says that we tend to believe that we become overly cautious in order to compensate. But the truth, he says, is that a lack of sleep makes us much too optimistic in our decision-making.

Yo-Yo Dieting Vs. Obesity? Dieters May Be Healthier, Live Longer, Mouse Study Suggests

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110606142342.htm

In the first study on yo-yo dieting of its kind, List and colleagues followed 30 mice on one of three dietary regimens over the course of a little over two years, the typical lifespan of this particular strain of laboratory mouse. The animals on the high-fat diet ate more, weighed more and had higher levels of body fat and fasting blood glucose. They also become glucose intolerant, or pre-diabetic, said List, whose research is supported by the National Institutes of Health, AMVETS and Ohio University.

The health profile of the mice on the yo-yo diet declined during their high-fat food phases, but their weight and blood glucose levels returned to normal levels during their low-fat diet stages. Lifespan -- the "gold standard" for lifelong health status -- was 2.04 years for the yo-yo dieting mice, compared to 1.5 years for the obese mice. The control group lived, on average, for 2.09 years.

About 34 percent of American adults are considered to be obese; an additional 34 percent are classified as overweight, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although millions of Americans diet each year, research has shown that few people maintain long-term weight loss.

Hidden temporal order unveiled in stock market volatility variance

In summary, our methodology can be used as a quantitative measure for the amount of local
temporal order. For any specific sample length n, the comparison between the variance of the samples
volatility for the original series and that of the shuffled one can be used as a measure for the temporal
order for that specific n. Repeating that procedure for each value of n, we get an integral measure for
the temporal order. Furthermore, it seems that the volatility is very important for technical analysis.
Our results suggest that traders who use technical analysis should use local temporal behavior of the
volatility, besides local temporal order of the return and the trade volume.  http://scitation.aip.org/getpdf/servlet/GetPDFServlet?filetype=pdf&id=AAIDBI000001000002022127000001&idtype=cvips&doi=10.1063/1.3598412&prog=normal http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110608122819.htm

They analyzed the volatility time series of 10 different stock markets from seven countries over a period of about 50 years and, rather than following traditional economic analyses, they analyzed time variations in the volatility -- or the "volatility of volatility," a.k.a. "fear volatility."

In all markets studied, analysis revealed the existence of hidden temporal order in the volatility and very high correlations between the volatility and the magnitude of price variations. This marks the first time hidden temporal order has been found in these market "human factors."

The existence of such volatility order, or "ordered fear," implies that proper portfolio design should take into consideration the "volatility of volatility," according to the team. For example, the common approach to reducing risk is to select stocks with negative or low correlations in their sequence of returns. The new findings suggest that selection criteria should incorporate the correlations in the stocks' volatility dynamics.

"We're working on incorporating human factors into market analysis," Ben-Jacob says, "by constructing a new parameter to replace the traditional systemic risk parameter."

Active Social, Spiritual and Physical Life Helps Prevent Health Decline in Seniors, Study Finds

Guided by lifestyle advisors, seniors participating in the study made small, sustainable changes in their routines (such as visiting a museum with a friend once a week) that led to measurable gains in quality of life, including lower rates of depression and better reported satisfaction with life.

The study validates the current trend in public health strategies to focus on preventing illness and disability, as opposed to treating issues once they have already begun to negatively impact health, according to lead investigator Florence Clark."Being engaged in a social life has a positive effect on health," she said, "but the public is not sufficiently aware of how key this is to successful aging."

To determine the results of the trial, quality of life was measured using a variety of indicators, including physical health, mental health, social well-being and life satisfaction. The program participants were compared to a control group that did not receive the intervention.

Though the two groups started out roughly equivalent, the intervention group showed significant improvement in lessening bodily pain and depression while improving vitality, social function, mental health and overall life satisfaction.

Lesser, though still measurable, gains were made in general health and physical abilities.

At the end of the first phase of the trial, the control group was provided with the same treatment that had been given to the intervention group -- and made identical progress.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110608093948.htm

Invest for income: How to do it now

Analysts at Edward Jones studied the performance of stocks from 1972 through 2010. They found that when you factor in a stock's yield and changes in share price -- in other words, its total return -- the highest-yielding shares in the S&P 500 actually lost an average of 0.3% annually. By contrast, stocks that increased their dividends returned 9.6% on average during this stretch.

Say you invested $100,000 in a stock yielding 3%. You'd earn $3,000 in income this year. But assuming that payout grew 15% annually, it would take only five years for your annual income to grow to $6,000. True, you'd have earned $6,000 right off the bat by going with a 6% yielder. But if the company was straining to meet those lofty payouts and was forced to cut its dividends, then where would you be?

Dividend growth can also help your income keep up with inflation, says Edward Jones strategist Kate Warne. She points out that since 1947, the rate of dividend growth has outpaced inflation by nearly two percentage points a year.

SPDR S&P Dividend (SDY) (SDY) 3.1% yield; three-year annual return: 5.8%. This MONEY 70 fund sets the dividend growth bar high: It invests only in companies that have increased their dividends for 25 consecutive years. That makes for an exclusive club of 60 companies, including McDonald's (MCD, Fortune 500) and Exxon Mobil (XOM, Fortune 500).

Thornburg Investment Income Builder (TIBAX) (TIBAX) 5.6% yield, three-year annual return: 5.5%. Since Income Builder was launched in late 2002, the dividends it has produced have grown 11% annually. The fund takes a global approach, investing 49% of its assets overseas and holding 23% in bonds and cash.

Vanguard Dividend Appreciation (VIG) (VIG) 1.9% yield; three-year annual return: 4.2%. This ETF tracks stocks with at least a 10-year history of hiking payouts, such as Caterpillar (CAT, Fortune 500) and Coca-Cola (KO, Fortune 500).http://money.cnn.com/2011/06/08/pf/investing_for_income.moneymag/index.htm?section=money_pf&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmoney_pf+%28Personal+Finance%29

 Why to invest in companies serving the middle class in Asia like BMW and Walt Disney.McKinsey predicts that some 2 billion people in a dozen emerging economies will spend $20 trillion annually in a decade, up from $7 trillion today. "People will reach a point where their basic needs are taken care of and disposable income increases at a very rapid rate," 

What to major in at college? Ivy League Prep

It's not what you know, but who you know: play sports at a top notch college -> get to Wall Street.

Opinions article about Reinventing Death in the American Medical System

"We need to change our priorities for the elderly. Death is not the only bad thing that can happen to an elderly person," the authors write. "An old age marked by disability, economic insecurity, and social isolation are also great evils."http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110531141830.htm

• shift resources for the elderly to greater economic and social security and away from more medical care;
• subsidize the education of physicians, particularly those who go into primary care, and decrease medical subspecialization;
• train physicians better to tell the truth to patients about the way excessively aggressive medicine can increase the likelihood of a poor death;
• shift the emphasis in chronic disease to care rather than cure

Inflammation leading to Diabetes

Several years ago, Daniel and Shawn Winer began to speculate that different types of immune cells, including T cells and B cells, can cause inflammation in the fatty tissue that surrounds and cushions organs in the body. This inflammation occurs in mice fed a high-fat, high-calorie diet when the rapidly growing fat cells outstrip their blood supply and begin to die. (It’s also seen in humans with type-2 diabetes.) The dying cells spew their contents, and immune system cells called macrophages are summoned to clean up the mess.

“This immune reaction causes havoc in the fatty tissue,” said Engleman, “and we’ve found that it involves two other immune system cells — T cells and B cells — in addition to macrophages.” The resulting onslaught by the immune system inhibits the ability of the remaining fat cells to respond to insulin and causes fatty acids to be shed into the blood. This sets in motion a physiological cascade that leads to fatty liver disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and further insulin resistance throughout the body.

The researchers found that mice genetically engineered to lack B cells were protected from developing insulin resistance even when they grew obese on the high-fat diet. However, injecting these mice with B cells or purified antibodies from obese, insulin-resistant mice significantly impaired their ability to metabolize glucose and caused their fasting insulin levels to increase.

The researchers then studied 32 age- and weight-matched overweight people who differed only in their sensitivity to insulin. “We were able to show that people with insulin resistance make antibodies to a select group of their own proteins,” said Engleman. “In contrast, equally overweight people who are not insulin-resistant do not express these antibodies. http://med.stanford.edu/ism/2011/april/engleman.html

How a 6 lb gallon of gasoline produces 20 pounds of Carbon Dioxide

It seems impossible that a gallon of gasoline, which weighs about 6.3 pounds, could produce 20 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) when burned. However, most of the weight of the CO2 doesn't come from the gasoline itself, but the oxygen in the air.

When gasoline burns, the carbon and hydrogen separate. The hydrogen combines with oxygen to form water (H2O), and carbon combines with oxygen to form carbon dioxide (CO2).

A carbon atom has a weight of 12, and each oxygen atom has a weight of 16, giving each single molecule of CO2 an atomic weight of 44 (12 from carbon and 32 from oxygen).

Therefore, to calculate the amount of CO2 produced from a gallon of gasoline, the weight of the carbon in the gasoline is multiplied by 44/12 or 3.7.

Since gasoline is about 87% carbon and 13% hydrogen by weight, the carbon in a gallon of gasoline weighs 5.5 pounds (6.3 lbs. x .87).

We can then multiply the weight of the carbon (5.5 pounds) by 3.7, which equals 20 pounds of CO2!  http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/co2.shtml