Weekend Roundup, November 9, 2012
As not everyone may have a chance during the week to read every post, here’s a roundup of last week’s posts: High Demand Leads to Extended Abstract Deadline Get Your 5As of Obesity Management SCOPE Credits Online Brazilian Endocrinologists Embrace EOSS Sold Out House At the Premiere of the Dr Sharma Show Tonight: Premiere of the Dr. Sharma Show Incidentally, few remaining tickets for “Stop Being a Yo-Yo: a Lighter Look at the Ups and Downs of Weight Loss” event in Mill Woods (Nov 14) available online or at the door – so reserve your tickets before they are gone! Have a great Sunday! (or what is left of it) AMS Edmonton, AB
Hindsight: Perivascular Adipose Tissue Regulates Vascular Function
One of the hypotheses that I developed in the early 2000’s, based on the finding that adipose tissue produces a number of molecules that can directly affect vascular function, was that perivascular fat (found around virtually all blood vessels down to the tiniest arterioles) may play an important role in mediating tissue blood flow. In a collaboration with Dr. RM Lee at McMaster, in 2006, we published a paper in Cardiovascular Research, in which we reported our finding that perivascular adipose tissue may promote vasoconstriction through the production on superoxide anion. Using rings of superior mesenteric artery (MA) we fount that rings with intact perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT (+)) showed a greater contractile response to electrical field stimulation (EFS) than rings with PVAT removed (PVAT (-)). Furthermore, superoxide dismutase (SOD) reduced the contractile response to EFS more in PVAT (+) MA than in PVAT (-) MA. Inhibitors of NAD(P)H oxidase and cyclooxygenase exerted a greater inhibition on EFS-induced contraction in PVAT (+) MA than in PVAT (-) MA. We also found that inhibitors of tyrosine kinase (tyrphostin A25) and MAPK/ERK (U 0126) attenuated EFS-induced contraction in PVAT (+) MA in a concentration-related manner, while inactive forms of these inhibitors (tyrphostin A1 and U 0124) did not inhibit the response. Exogenous superoxide augmented the contractile response to EFS and to phenylephrine in PVAT (-) MA, and this augmentation was blunted by inhibition of tyrosine kinase and MAPK/ERK. Finally, EFS increased superoxide generation in isolated PVAT and PVAT (+)/(-) MA, which was attenuated by NAD(P)H oxidase inhibition. We also used RT-PCR to demonstrate the mRNA expression of p(67phox) subunit of NAD(P)H oxidase and immunohistochemical staining confirmed its localization in the adipocytes of PVAT. Thus, we were able to show that PVAT enhances the arterial contractile response to perivascular nerve stimulation through the production of superoxide mediated by NAD(P)H oxidase, and that this enhancement involves activation of tyrosine kinase and MAPK/ERK pathway. Since then, many other laboratories have explored the role of perivascular fat in the regulation of vascular function and this has become quite an area of interest for many labs around the world. According to Google Scholar, this paper has been cited 69 times. AMS Gioâna, Brazil
Brazilian Endocrinologists Embrace EOSS
This morning I am presenting a plenary lecture and workshop on the Edmonton Obesity Staging System (EOSS) at the 30th Annual Brazilian Congress on Endocrinology and Metabolism, in Goiânia. As regular readers will be well aware, EOSS stages overweight and obese individuals based on the presence of medical, mental and/or functional problems and has been validated in large populations as a far better predictor of mortality than BMI, waist circumference and even metabolic syndrome. In clinical practice, EOSS staging takes only minutes and provides a much better assessment of overall health and is therefore a much better guide to clinical decision making. Not only, is EOSS therefore part of the ASSESS step of the 5As of Obesity Management, it is also now increasingly seen as a measure to inform obesity policies and treatment access. Given the growing problem of obesity in South America, I have no doubt that my Brazilian colleagues will find this tool helpful in their practice – certainly a much better way to decide who needs obesity treatment and who does not than BMI alone. AMS Goiânia, Brazil
Get Your 5As of Obesity Management SCOPE Credits Online
As regular readers will recall, since January 2012, the Canadian Obesity Network (CON) is Canada’s very own representative in the International Association for the Study of Obesity (IASO), a global umbrella organisation of 58 national obesity societies. This gives CON members priority access to many of the offerings of IASO, including discounts on the internationally accredited online learning modules of the SCOPE program (Specialised Certification in Obesity Professional Education), an internationally recognized standard of obesity management expertise, promoting and acknowledging excellence in obesity prevention and treatment. This obesity qualification is awarded by SCOPE to healthcare practitioners who have completed the SCOPE training program, comprised of a unique combination of live and e-learning courses on obesity management. Now, as a special one-time offer, CON members can access the newly launched 5As of Obesity Management learning module, developed by SCOPE in collaboration with CON. For just $12, CON members will receive a pass code that will allow them to access this accredited learning module while earning valuable credits towards SCOPE certification. The 25 minute module is based on CON’s 5As of Obesity Management and brings now these tools to a global audience. Check out this module now – I look forward to your feedback. AMS Goiânia, Brazil
High Demand Leads to Extended Abstract Deadline
Continuing in my recap of some of the activities in which the Canadian Obesity Network has changed the professional landscape of obesity in Canada, it would be remiss to not highlight the importance of the National Obesity Summits. The 3rd Summit in this series will take place May 1-4, 2013 in Vancouver and interest is already remarkably enthusiastic – in fact, we have had so many requests for an extension of the abstract submission deadline that this has indeed now been extended to November 19. For whatever reason, researchers and trainees around the country (and even from other countries) were scrambling to get their abstracts in, so certainly this extension should come as a bit of a relief. Pre-registration for the Summit is also proceeding at a steady clip – if anything, an indication that attendance will likely far surpass the over 800, who attended the last summit in Montreal. And remember, if you do plan to come out, the Vancouver Marathon takes place on May 5 – so book your conference hotel and flights early – last minute may just be too late. AMS Edmonton, Alberta
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