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Life Sciences	50%

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Prevalence of obesity in Kuwait and its relation to sociocultural variables

OBESITY REVIEWS, Issue 2 2006
Y. Y. Al-Kandari
Summary This study ascertains the prevalence of obesity and its relationship with some sociocultural characteristics in Kuwaiti society. The sample involved 212 men and 212 women, most of whom are overweight and obese. Grades 1 (body mass index [BMI] > 25,30 kg m,2), 2 (BMI > 30,40) and 3 (BMI > 40) of obesity characterize 71.2% of the sample. Most individuals are in grade 2 obesity, 37.2%. Grade 1 obesity is seen in 31.4% of the sample. Obesity increases with age, especially in women. The heaviest women are aged 60 years or older (mean BMI of 33.8), about the same mean as in the 50,59-year-old age group. The highest frequency of grades 1 and 2 obesity occur in women 30,39 years old. Fifty per cent of the underweight women are 20,29 years old or are over 60 years old. Most women of normal weight are 20,29 years old. For the men, 60% of the underweight sample are 50,60 years old. Male respondents between 30 and 39 years old are the heaviest; 42.7% of the sample are within grade 1 obesity and 40.7% of the sample within grade 2 obesity. The smallest percentage of men in grades 1 and 2 obesity are those 50,59 years old. An association was found between some sociocultural variables and obesity. Data show an increasing prevalence of obesity in Kuwait compared with some previous studies. [source]

HISTORY AND RELIGION IN THE MODERN AGE

HISTORY AND THEORY, Issue 4 2006
CONSTANTIN FASOLT
ABSTRACT This essay seeks to clarify the relationship between history and religion in the modern age. It proceeds in three steps. First, it draws attention to the radical asymmetry between first-person and third-person statements that Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations rescued from the metaphysical exile to which it had been condemned by Descartes's definition of the self as a thing. Second, it argues that religion is designed to alleviate the peculiarly human kind of suffering arising from this asymmetry. Third, it maintains that history relies on the same means as religion in order to achieve the same results. The turn to historical evidence performed by historians and their readers is more than just a path to knowledge. It is a religious ritual designed to make participants at home in their natural and social environments. Quite like the ritual representation of the death and resurrection of Christ in the Mass, the historical representation of the past underwrites the faith in human liberty and the hope in redemption from suffering. It helps human beings to find their bearings in the modern age without having to go to pre-industrial churches and pray in old agrarian ways. History does not conflict with the historical religions merely because it reveals them to have been founded on beliefs that cannot be supported by the evidence. History conflicts with the historical religions because it is a rival religion. [source]

Indentation as a technique to assess the mechanical properties of fallback foods

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 4 2009
Peter W. Lucas
Abstract A number of living primates feed part-year on seemingly hard food objects as a fallback. We ask here how hardness can be quantified and how this can help understand primate feeding ecology. We report a simple indentation methodology for quantifying hardness, elastic modulus, and toughness in the sense that materials scientists would define them. Suggested categories of fallback foods,nuts, seeds, and root vegetables,were tested, with accuracy checked on standard materials with known properties by the same means. Results were generally consistent, but the moduli of root vegetables were overestimated here. All these properties are important components of what fieldworkers mean by hardness and help understand how food properties influence primate behavior. Hardness sensu stricto determines whether foods leave permanent marks on tooth tissues when they are bitten on. The force at which a food plastically deforms can be estimated from hardness and modulus. When fallback foods are bilayered, consisting of a nutritious core protected by a hard outer coat, it is possible to predict their failure force from the toughness and modulus of the outer coat, and the modulus of the enclosed core. These forces can be high and bite forces may be maximized in fallback food consumption. Expanding the context, the same equation for the failure force for a bilayered solid can be applied to teeth. This analysis predicts that blunt cusps and thick enamel will indeed help to sustain the integrity of teeth against contacts with these foods up to high loads. Am J Phys Anthropol 140:643,652, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]

Power line frequency electromagnetic fields do not increase the rate of protein synthesis in human skin fibroblasts as previously reported

BIOELECTROMAGNETICS, Issue 7 2003
Biao Shi
Abstract Rodemann et al. [Rodemann et al. (1987): Biochem Biophys Res Commun 145:1,9] reported that human skin fibroblasts increase their rate of protein synthesis by as much as over ninefold in response to long term exposure to 20 Hz, 8.4 mT (84 G) magnetic fields. Here we report studies of protein synthesis using an identical cell type, exposure conditions, and the same means of measuring protein synthetic rates. Our initial goal was to determine if the earlier results could be replicated, but we found an inconsistency in the earlier protocol. It exposed cells to [3H]leucine for 6 h prior to measuring incorporation into protein. We found, however, that 24 h is required for [3H]leucine to reach a steady state distribution across the cells' plasma membranes. In addition, we typically measured 100,200 cpm/thousand cells. This is four- to eightfold higher than the 19,28 cpm/1000 cells previously reported. Using these conditions, we could find no significant difference in protein synthesis rates between control cells and cells exposed for up to three weeks in an identical electromagnetic field. In addition, we investigated the effects of a 60 Hz field since that is the frequency used for electric power distribution in the United States. Again, we could find no significant effect of this field on rates of protein synthesis, even after 21 days of exposure. Bioelectromagnetics 24:465,472, 2003. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]