The Cup in Cranbrook

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The "walk and work" desk

From cbc.ca

There's no doubt that sitting at a desk in front of a computer all day is hardly conducive to weight loss. But what if employees could exercise while they work? That's the aim of a specially designed vertical workstation.

The workstation can be locked in place over a treadmill, allowing employees to work at a computer while simultaneously walking on the spot at a speed of their own choosing.

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., who designed the standup "walk-and-work" desk, suggest it could help overweight workers shed pounds as they perform what are traditionally sit-down tasks.

"Along with obesity, the sedentary nature of work is increasing because of the common use of desktop computers," the authors write. "By 2010, it is estimated that more than half of the workforce from developed countries will be working at computers."

"We are therefore interested in devising and validating approaches that promote physical activity in an obese person in the workplace, without sacrificing work time."

In a small study, published online Monday ahead of print in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, the researchers had 15 obese volunteers use the treadmill-cum-desk and measured how many calories they burned compared to sitting at a conventional desk. All of the participants had sedentary jobs and none did regular exercise.

The scientists measured the energy expended by the 14 women and one man with an average body mass index of 32 (a BMI of 25-plus is considered overweight) while they worked and walked for 35 minutes out of an hour, compared to the number of calories used as they worked seated at a normal desk.

Participants burned an average of 191 kilocalories an hour while at the vertical workstation, walking the equivalent of 1.6 kilometres an hour, compared to 72 kilocalories per hour while working sitting down.

Principal researcher Dr. James Levine said that by using the vertical workstation a couple of hours per day — and boosting energy expenditure by 100 kilocalories an hour — an obese employee could shed 45 to 65 pounds over the course of a year.

Commenting on the study, obesity expert Dr. Arya Sharma of McMaster University said the vertical workstation is one idea for incorporating physical activity into the workplace.

"I would love to have a desk like that," Sharma, scientific director of the Canadian Obesity Network, said Monday from Hamilton.

But he cautioned that the study results shouldn't be misinterpreted. Because exercise increases appetite, employees using the device would have to guard against eating more, "which would bring them back to zero," Sharma said.

As well, a person would not keep on losing weight at the same rate by keeping to the same level of exercise, he said.

"For the first 10 pounds, you might have to do two miles [3.2 kilometres] a day, and once you've lost 15 pounds you might have to do three miles [five kilometres] a day … etcetera, because your body, as it gets lighter, uses less energy [calories]."

"If you think this is the solution to make all fat employees thin, you're wrong," Sharma said.

The vertical workstation, designed by Levine and his team, costs about $1,600 US and is available for purchase.

Perdita is back

Perdita Felicien won silver in the 100m hurdles at the World Champs in Osaka Japan. Glad to see she is back after an up and down few years since her fall at the Olympics in 2004.

Canucks re-sign Linden...finally

The Vancouver Canucks announced Tuesday they have re-signed the 37-year-old winger, who will play his 19th NHL season during the 2007-08 NHL campaign.

Terms of the deal were not announced.

Linden, a native of Medicine Hat, Alta., recorded 12 goals and 13 assists in 80 games last season with the Canucks.

Linden, Vancouver's first-round pick (second overall) in the 1988 NHL draft, has 368 goals and 487 assists in 1,323 career regular-season games with the Canucks, New York Islanders, Washington Capitals and Montreal Canadiens.

He was part of the Vancouver club that went to the 1994 Stanley Cup final and was a member of Team Canada at the Nagano Olympics four years later.

He was also the longtime president of the NHL Players' Association until 2006, the tenure soured by the deal he brokered to bring in Ted Saskin, since ousted, as union head.

Linden is Vancouver's all-time leader in games played (1081) and points (721). He's also the franchise leader in the playoffs in games played (118), goals (34), assists (61) and points (95).

Summer 2007 hikes

We have managed to get out for some great hikes this summer...

First up was Mt. Becher in Courtenay - camera batteries died before the top so we didn't get any pictures (you would think by now we would know to carry spares...). Most of the hike ended up being on snow - surprising for July - which made for a fun slide down.

Next was The Chief...on the way down from the first peak we decided we needed a bit more exercise so we went up the 2nd peak and from there we went on to the 3rd peak - cool to get higher on each one and still have the awesome view





























On the August long weekend we went to Manning Park and hiked the Skyline II trail. We had no idea the views would be so spectacular - Hozomeen Mtn in the North Cascades is amazing and there are great views of the peak from many spots along the trail. The mosquitoes and black flies at the Mowich campground were fierce - thank goodness for Deet - so next time we will be finding a quiet spot on the ridge trail to pitch our tent.





























Last weekend we met Allison in Golden Ears and hiked up Alouette Mtn - unfortunately we didn't get much of a view at the top but it was still a nice hike - and a reasonable grade - not too hard on the knees on the way down.

Bone stuff in the Economist

Skeleton keys

Aug 9th 2007, from The Economist print edition

How the body puts flesh on its bones depends on the bones themselves

ANATOMY used to be a straightforward business. The body was divided up neatly into organs and systems that each had well-defined tasks. Indeed, for the past 150 years “Gray's Anatomy”—the 1858 textbook that defines the genre—has dissected the body along these thematic lines: nervous, circulatory, digestive and so on.

But the lines are becoming increasingly blurred. Gerard Karsenty of Columbia University and his colleagues report another such smudging in Cell this week. They have found that people's bones do much more than just provide scaffolding for their floppy innards. They have caught the skeleton behaving as part of the endocrine system, the scheme by which the body uses hormones to signal its needs.

It has long been known that the human skeleton constantly constructs and destroys cells, according to the stresses that its bones experience. Some cells produced in bone, called osteoblasts, build bone where it is needed. Another set of cells, osteoclasts, destroy it where it is deemed no longer necessary.

The researchers decided to examine the role of osteocalcin, a protein produced by osteoblasts. To do so, they used some mice that had been bred to lack the gene that instructs the body to make osteocalcin. The rodents were rather rotund, because osteocalcin helps regulate the cells that produce insulin in the pancreas and release it into the bloodstream. Insulin, in turn, controls the levels of sugar in the bloodstream by directing how much of it is taken up by the liver. Mice that produced no osteocalcin lacked this hormonal weight-control mechanism.

Moreover osteocalcin also sends signals to fat cells directly, causing them to release another hormone called adiponectin that makes the body more sensitive to the effects of insulin. This dual control on how the body deals with blood sugar is ultimately what determines weight gain and whether or not fat is burned.

Because osteocalcin is produced only by osteoblasts yet acts on cells far away in the pancreas, the researchers concluded that bone is part of the endocrine system, and that it may hold a key to both obesity and diabetes. Indeed, when Dr Karsenty fed his mice traces of osteocalcin, their blood sugar levels dropped and their insulin production increased. The researchers hope that the effects will be the same in people. The team is trying to find this out, with a view to developing a treatment for those with diabetes.

More secrets may be revealed by research into the skeleton's more acknowledged role of scaffolding. The osteoblasts are the foremen of bone construction, and they appear to respond to the flow of fluid in the tiny channels within bone. When bones have to help lift a weight, the fluid gets sloshed about, leading to the proliferation of osteoblasts in the areas under the most stress. But just how the bones sense this flow of fluid has been an open question, at least until now.

Christopher Jacobs, of Stanford University, and his colleagues, reporting last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, have identified the sensors as hair-like protrusions called primary cilia. These are found on the surface of many of the body's cells, and sway to and fro in moving fluid. When they were removed, Dr Jacobs and his colleagues found that no osteoblasts grew nearby. The finding could eventually prove useful in the treatment of osteoporosis, which is caused by overactive osteoclasts and underactive osteoblasts.

Three years ago “Gray's Anatomy” was reorganised according to the regions of the body rather than the functions of the systems. That bones continue to blur the boundaries of functional anatomy means that the classical textbook may yet see further revisions.

It's all in the packaging...

Kids think food in McDonald's wrapper tastes better

The Associated Press

Any food packaged by McDonald's tastes better to most preschoolers, says a study that powerfully demonstrates how advertising can trick the taste buds of young children.

Even carrots, milk and apple juice tasted better to kids if it was wrapped in the familiar packaging of the Golden Arches. The study had youngsters sample identical McDonald's foods in name-brand or unmarked wrappers. The unmarked foods always lost the taste test.

"You see a McDonald's label and kids start salivating," said Diane Levin, a childhood development specialist who campaigns against advertising to kids. She had no role in the research.

Study author Dr. Tom Robinson said the kids' perception of taste was "physically altered by the branding." The Stanford University researcher said it was remarkable how children so young were already so influenced by advertising.

The study involved 63 low-income children aged three to five from Head Start centres in San Mateo County, Calif. Robinson believes the results would be similar for children from wealthier families. The research, appearing in August's Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, was funded by Stanford and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The study will likely stir more debate over the movement to restrict ads to kids. It comes less than a month after 11 major food and drink companies, including McDonald's, announced new restrictions on marketing to children under 12.

McDonald's says the only Happy Meals it will promote to young children will contain fruit and have fewer calories and less fat.

"This is an important subject and McDonald's has been actively addressing it for quite some time," said company spokesman Walt Riker. "We've always wanted to be part of the solution and we are providing solutions."

But Dr. Victor Strasburger, an author of an American Academy of Pediatrics policy urging limits on marketing to children, said the study shows too little is being done.

"Advertisers have tried to do exactly what this study is talking about — to brand younger and younger children, to instil in them a … desire for a particular brand-name product," he said.

Just two of the 63 children studied said they'd never eaten at McDonald's, and about one-third ate there at least weekly. Most recognized the McDonald's logo, but it was mentioned to those who didn't.

The study included three McDonald's menu items — hamburgers, chicken nuggets and french fries — and store-bought milk or juice and carrots. Children got two identical samples of each food on a tray, one in McDonald's wrappers or cups and the other in plain, unmarked packaging. The kids were asked if they tasted the same or if one was better. (Some children didn't taste all the foods.)

McDonald's-labelled samples were the clear favourites. French fries were the biggest winner; almost 77 per cent said the labelled fries tasted best while only 13 per cent preferred the others.

Fifty-four per cent preferred McDonald's-wrapped carrots versus 23 per cent who liked the plain-wrapped sample. The only results not statistically clear-cut involved the hamburgers, with 29 kids choosing McDonald's-wrapped burgers and 22 choosing the unmarked ones.

Less than 25 per cent of the children said both samples of all foods tasted the same.