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Obama Nominates Genetics Researcher Collins To Be NIH Director
President Obama on Wednesday nominated Francis Collins, a physician and genetics researcher, to be NIH director, the Washington Post reports (Brown, Washington Post, 7/9). Collins worked at the agency during the administrations of former Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush and served as director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, where he helped lead the Human Genome Project to sequence all human DNA (Young, The Hill, 7/8). He is also known for a 2006 best-selling book presenting scientific evidence for a belief in God. Collins resigned as head of the institute last year but remained a consultant. Since then, he established the BioLogos Foundation to "contribute to the public voice that represents the harmony of science and faith" (Maugh, Los Angeles Times, 7/9).Many researchers and health care experts praised Collins" nomination, though some others were not "entirely enthusiastic," according to the New York Times. The two major objections to his nomination involve his "very public embrace of religion" and his "important role in raising expectations [of gene research] impossibly high," according to the New York Times (Harris, New York Times, 7/9). Collins and his colleagues at the University of Michigan discovered the defective gene that causes cystic fibrosis in 1989. According to the Los Angeles Times, Collins is expected to be quickly confirmed (Los Angeles Times, 7/9).Broadcast Coverage NPR"s "Morning Edition" on Thursday included a discussion with NPR science correspondent Jon Hamilton about the nomination (Inskeep, "Morning Edition," NPR, 7/9).
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Women Over 55 Underestimate Risk Of Fracture
Most women who are likely to have a bone fracture do not think they are at greater risk, said a leading Italian rheumatologist at a European conference today. This could help to explain why many women do not adhere to preventive treatment.
News of the day
JAOtech Launch Anti-bacterial, Self-monitoring Keyboards
New wireless keyboards for use with hospital patient entertainment and point-of-care terminals are hygienic, monitoring their own disinfect status to give reminders when sterilisation is due.
Oncology

After Menopause, Hormone Therapy Plus Physical Activity Reduce Belly Fat, Body Fat Percentage

Older women who take hormone therapy to relieve menopausal symptoms may get the added benefit of reduced body fat if they are physically active, according to a new study. The results were presented at The Endocrine Society"s 91st Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. The study provides new information on the health benefits of any type of physical activity, not just exercise, said the presenting author Poli Mara Spritzer, MD, PhD, a professor at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and chief of the Gynecological Endocrinology Unit at the university"s Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre. After menopause, a woman"s percentage of body fat tends to increase and redistribute to the abdomen, Spritzer said. Excess belly fat is a risk factor for diabetes and heart disease. Postmenopausal women who exercise have a lower percentage of body fat than sedentary women, past research shows. However, Spritzer said less is known about the influence on body fat composition of physical activity in women receiving hormone replacement therapy, or HRT. Some data suggest that estrogen treatment may add to the effect of exercise in reducing fat. Spritzer and her colleagues studied 34 healthy women who had an average age of 51 years, had experienced menopause for less than 3 years and sought HRT to relieve hot flashes, night sweats and vaginal dryness. They evaluated the women"s cholesterol levels, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (a measure of abdominal fat) and percentage of body fat before and after 4 months of HRT. The women received estrogen plus progesterone therapy in either non-oral (nasal and vaginal) or low-dose oral preparations. For 6 consecutive days before starting HRT and 6 days at the end of HRT, women wore a pedometer to estimate their level of physical activity. The device measured the steps they took, including walking, working, and doing house chores and leisure activities. They were instructed to not change their usual activities. Most of the women did not play sports or do any structured physical exercise, according to Spritzer. Results showed that 24 of the women were physically active - defined as taking 6,000 steps or more per day - and 10 were inactive (less than 6,000 steps a day). For a woman who has a step, or stride, length of 2 feet (60 cm), 6,000 steps would be around 2.25 miles (3.6 km), Spritzer estimated. For active women, the higher the number of steps they took, the lower was their waist measurement and the better their level of "good" (high-density-lipoprotein, or HDL) cholesterol, the authors reported. The inactive women did not have any changes in body fat or cholesterol. However, when all 34 women were considered in the analysis, body fat still declined significantly after HRT. "Data from our study suggest that active women could benefit from hormone therapy beyond the relief of menopausal symptoms - by preserving a good body fat percentage and distribution," Spritzer said. "Further studies with a larger number of subjects are needed in order to answer whether a specific physical activity is better than others." The Brazilian National Council for Science and Technology and the Brazilian National Institute of Hormones and Women"s Health funded this study. Aaron Lohr The Endocrine Society


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