Frederica interviews Tim Mehok of Saints Peter & Paul OCA Church in Lorain, Ohio. Tim is a catechumen and is blind. He talks with Frederica about what Orthodox churches could do to make their worship, parish life, and websites more accessible to the visually impaired.

The technology allows people to scan a code and get information on navigating buildings.

Detroit – Night-shift workers who experience insomnia but report low levels of sleepiness have higher levels of cognitive impairment than those with insomnia who say they experience “excessive” sleepiness, according to a recent study from the Sleep Disorders and Research Center at Henry Ford Hospital.

An infographic presents statistics on motor vehicle deaths involving alcohol impairment during holiday periods.

Gifted and impaired - Tests approved for evaluating students for Exceptional Student Education services, Florida Department of Education.

Dutch startup Speaksee has raised more than $1.1 million to further develop its captioning apps and fuel its international expansion.

Dysfunctional neurons in the cerebellum, a brain region that controls motor functions, reduced REM sleep in mice.

Eleven motorists “failed the alco-analyser test at Hamilton Police Station and were arrested for an impaired driving offence” during checkpoints held from February 23 to February 26. Acting Superintendent Robert Cardwell, Tactical Operations Division said, “As advertised, road side sobriety testing was enforced between last week Thursday, 23rd February 2023 and Sunday, 26th February 2023 […]

A male motorcyclist was arrested on suspicion of driving while impaired after he “lost control of his motorcycle and crashed by mounting the sidewalk” after trying to flee the police. A police spokesperson said, “Shortly after 3:45 a.m. Saturday, 25th November 2023, police officers on mobile patrol on Reid Street observed a disturbance, in the area […]

Six people were arrested for driving whilst impaired over the weekend with at least two of them involved in road traffic collisions. A police spokesperson said, “Troublingly, six people were arrested for driving whilst impaired over the weekend with at least two of them involved in road traffic collisions. “One person recorded a minimum reading […]

Sphingolipids have become established participants in the pathogenesis of obesity and its associated maladies. Sphingosine kinase 1 (SPHK1), which generates S1P, has been shown to increase in liver and adipose of obese humans and mice and to regulate inflammation in hepatocytes and adipose tissue, insulin resistance, and systemic inflammation in mouse models of obesity. Previous studies by us and others have demonstrated that global sphingosine kinase 1 KO mice are protected from diet-induced obesity, insulin resistance, systemic inflammation, and NAFLD, suggesting that SPHK1 may mediate pathological outcomes of obesity. As adipose tissue dysfunction has gained recognition as a central instigator of obesity-induced metabolic disease, we hypothesized that SPHK1 intrinsic to adipocytes may contribute to HFD-induced metabolic pathology. To test this, we depleted Sphk1 from adipocytes in mice (SK1^fatKO) and placed them on a HFD. In contrast to our initial hypothesis, SK1^fatKO mice displayed greater weight gain on HFD and exacerbated impairment in glucose clearance. Pro-inflammatory cytokines and neutrophil content of adipose tissue were similar, as were levels of circulating leptin and adiponectin. However, SPHK1-null adipocytes were hypertrophied and had lower basal lipolytic activity. Interestingly, hepatocyte triacylglycerol accumulation and expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and collagen 1a1 were exacerbated in SK1^fatKO mice on a HFD, implicating a specific role for adipocyte SPHK1 in adipocyte function and inter-organ cross-talk that maintains overall metabolic homeostasis in obesity. Thus, SPHK1 serves a previously unidentified essential homeostatic role in adipocytes that protects from obesity-associated pathology. These findings may have implications for pharmacological targeting of the SPHK1/S1P signaling axis.

Secretary Nathaniel McQueen Jr., DATE Director John Yeomans, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Communications Manager Denée Crumrine, Lt. Governor Bethany Hall-Long DOVER, DE – The Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement (DATE) was joined by Lt. Governor Bethany Hall-Long, Safety and Homeland Security Secretary Nathaniel McQueen Jr. representatives from the Office of Highway Safety (OHS) […]

DOVER, Del. (April 26, 2023) The Delaware Office of Highway Safety is teaming up with NASCAR Drivers Ross Chastain and Chad Chastain to encourage Delawareans to “Use Your Melon” and Drive Sober. On Friday, April 28th, OHS and Ross will be at the Buffalo Wild Wings in Dover 680 S Bay Rd, Dover, DE 19901 […]

Background

Immature lung development and respiratory morbidity place preterm-born children at high risk of long-term pulmonary sequelae. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to quantify lung function in preterm-born children and identify risk factors for a compromised lung function.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-backed National Centre for Assistive Health Technologies (NCAHT) launched a wide range of assistive technology

LG Electronics, the South Korean electronics giant will sponsor 1,000 visually impaired Indians for eye surgeries by the end of 2018, mentions a report.

The premier speech and hearing institute in Mysuru collaborates with a Telangana-based NGO to provide hearing aids to the needy among the BPL families

Bumblebees are negatively affected by the insecticide azadirachtin even at concentrations 50 times lower than the recommended levels used by farmers, recent laboratory experiments have revealed. No males hatched in laboratory colonies that were fed on recommended levels of the pesticide and, even at concentrations 50 times lower, the males that did hatch were deformed, and there were significantly fewer compared to an untreated colony.

Passengers acted swiftly to save a visually impaired man who had fallen off a platform near an Atlanta public transit rail line.

Imagine a smartphone for the visually impaired that has the tools most sighted smartphone users have come to take for granted

Four students have developed Google Glass image-recognition app called ThirdEye that verbally identifies objects for visually impaired people.

The common practice of requiring physicians-in-training to work many double, and even triple, shifts results in performance reductions equivalent to the effects of drinking several ounces of alcohol. Thirty-four pediatric residents completed standardized tests following relatively light or heavy schedules, and their responses after putting in long hours were equivalent to their performance after consuming three to four alcoholic drinks.

The Arizona Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, along with the DUI Abatement Council, granted Grand Canyon National Park $10,000 to improve highway safety and stop impaired driving. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/grand-canyon-national-park-awarded-state-grant-to-improve-highway-safety-and-stop-impaired-driving.htm

The Alcohol and Other Drugs Committee's Centennial Paper to review what it has accomplished since its inception in the early 1970s, how it has evolved along with the field, and what challenges and opportunities it confronts going forward. To learn more about the history of impaired driving and the Standing Technical Committee on Alcohol, Other Drugs, and Transportation (ANB50), check out the Committee's Centennial Paper. As part of TRB's Centennial Celebration, the Technical Activities Council invited al...

(MedPage Today) -- Study Authors: Kristen H. Kjerulff, Ian M. Paul, et al. Target Audience and Goal Statement: Obstetrician-gynecologists, pediatricians The goal of this study was to investigate the association between mode of first delivery...

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive subtype of breast cancer with very limited therapeutic options. We have recently shown that the combined inhibition of EGFR and ROCK in TNBC cells results in cell death, however, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. To investigate this, here we applied a mass spectrometry-based proteomic approach to identify proteins altered on single and combination treatments. Our proteomic data revealed autophagy as the major molecular mechanism implicated in the cells' response to combinatorial treatment. We here show that EGFR inhibition by gefitinib treatment alone induces autophagy, a cellular recycling process that acts as a cytoprotective response for TNBC cells. However, combined inhibition of EGFR and ROCK leads to autophagy blockade and accumulation of autophagic vacuoles. Our data show impaired autophagosome clearance as a likely cause of antitumor activity. We propose that the inhibition of the autophagic flux on combinatorial treatment is attributed to the major cytoskeletal changes induced on ROCK inhibition, given the essential role the cytoskeleton plays throughout the various steps of the autophagy process.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the protective role of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor-alpha (PPARα) against diabetic keratopathy and corneal neuropathy. Corneal samples were obtained from diabetic and non-diabetic human donors. Streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats and mice were orally treated with PPARα agonist fenofibrate. As shown by immunohistochemistry and Western blotting, PPARα was down-regulated in the corneas of diabetic humans and rats. Immunostaining of β-III tubulin demonstrated that corneal nerve fiber metrics were decreased significantly in diabetic rats and mice, which was partially prevented by fenofibrate treatment. As evaluated using a Cochet-Bonnet aesthesiometer, corneal sensitivity was significantly decreased in diabetic mice, which was prevented by fenofibrate. PPARα^-/- mice displayed progressive decreases in the corneal nerve fiber density. Consistently, corneal sensitivity was decreased in PPARα^-/- mice relative to wild-type mice by nine months of age. Diabetic mice showed increased incidence of spontaneous corneal epithelial lesion, which was prevented by fenofibrate while exacerbated by PPARα knockout. Western blot analysis revealed significantly altered neurotrophic factor levels in diabetic rat corneas, which were partially restored by fenofibrate treatment. These results indicate that PPARα protects corneal nerve from degeneration induced by diabetes, and PPARα agonists have therapeutic potential in the treatment of diabetic keratopathy.

Maria Sörhede Winzell
Dec 1, 2004; 53:S215-S219
Section V: The Incretin Pathway

The ability to switch fuels for oxidation in response to changes in macronutrient composition of diet (metabolic flexibility) may be informative of individuals’ susceptibility to weight gain. Seventy-nine healthy, weight-stable participants underwent 24-h assessments of energy expenditure and respiratory quotient (RQ) in a whole-room calorimeter during energy balance (EBL) (50% carbohydrate, 30% fat) and then during 24-h fasting and three 200% overfeeding diets in a crossover design. Metabolic flexibility was defined as the change in 24-h RQ from EBL during fasting and standard overfeeding (STOF) (50% carbohydrate, 30% fat), high-fat overfeeding (HFOF) (60% fat, 20% carbohydrate), and high-carbohydrate overfeeding (HCOF) (75% carbohydrate, 5% fat) diets. Free-living weight change was assessed after 6 and 12 months. Compared with EBL, RQ decreased on average by 9% during fasting and by 4% during HFOF but increased by 4% during STOF and by 8% during HCOF. A smaller decrease in RQ, reflecting a smaller increase in lipid oxidation rate, during HFOF but not during the other diets predicted greater weight gain at both 6 and 12 months. An impaired metabolic flexibility to acute HFOF can identify individuals prone to weight gain, indicating that an individual’s capacity to oxidize dietary fat is a metabolic determinant of weight change.

OBJECTIVE

Impaired insulin-stimulated myocardial glucose uptake has occurred in patients with type 2 diabetes with or without coronary artery disease. Whether cardiac insulin resistance is present remains uncertain in subjects at risk for type 2 diabetes, such as individuals with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) or those with normal glucose tolerance (NGT) and 1-h postload glucose ≥155 mg/dL during an oral glucose tolerance test (NGT 1-h high). This issue was examined in this study.

Impaired fetal growth is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular diseases in adulthood and is associated with arterial wall thickening, a noninvasive measure of subclinical atherosclerosis, in early childhood. No preventive strategy has been identified.

Dietary omega-3 fatty acid supplementation in early childhood prevented the association of impaired fetal growth with arterial wall thickening, suggesting that this early-life intervention may mitigate the risk of cardiovascular disease in those with impaired fetal growth. (Read the full article)

Motor vehicle crashes, heavy drinking, and drug use are serious, interactive health concerns for the teenage population. Teenage alcohol-impaired driving behaviors are associated with heavy drinking, parenting practices, and exposure to drinking and driving.

Earliness of exposure to alcohol/drug impaired driving (DWI) and early licensure were independent risk factors for teenage DWI. A strong, positive dose-response existed between DWI and amount of prior exposure to DWI in the form of riding with an impaired driver. (Read the full article)

Approximately 20% of US child passenger deaths involve an alcohol-impaired driver, typically in the child’s own vehicle. The higher the blood alcohol concentration of a driver, the more likely his or her child passenger was unrestrained in the fatal crash.

The risk of a child passenger dying while being transported with an alcohol-impaired driver varies meaningfully across states. These state-specific rates may help to inform renewed prevention efforts. (Read the full article)

Early-life lower respiratory illnesses, including pneumonia, are associated with increased prevalence of asthma and diminished lung function in children. Whether early-life pneumonia is associated with subsequent impaired lung function and asthma in adults is not yet clear.

This is the first article providing strong data for an association between early-life pneumonia in an outpatient setting and airflow limitation and asthma into adulthood, supporting the hypothesis of the early-life origins of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. (Read the full article)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 19, 2019 Cynthia Cavett, Marketing Specialist II and Public Information Officer (OHS) Cynthia.Cavett@Delaware.Gov Results of July 12th Impaired Driving Checkpoints Over 60 Law Enforcement Officers operated July Checkpoint StrikeForce    Dover, DE (July 19, 2019) – Three DUI checkpoints in all three counties were set up on July 12, 2019, from […]

Office of Highway Safety brings Impaired Driving Awareness to the Centennial Celebration of the Delaware State Fair Dover, DE (July 22, 2019) – The Delaware Office of Highway Safety has partnered with NASCAR driver Ross Chastain for the fourth year in a row, in the “Use Your Melon, Drive Sober, Arrive Alive DE,” campaign and will be on-site […]

Title: Study Links Menopausal Night Sweats to Impaired Thinking
Category: Health News
Created: 9/25/2019 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 9/25/2019 12:00:00 AM

Drivers with blood-alcohol levels below legal limits cause 15% of all crash deaths that involve alcohol, a study in the March issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine finds.

Growing evidence indicates that oxidative and endoplasmic reticular stress, which trigger changes in ion channels and inflammatory pathways that may undermine cellular homeostasis and survival, are critical determinants of injury in the diabetic kidney. Cells are normally able to mitigate these cellular stresses by maintaining high levels of autophagy, an intracellular lysosome-dependent degradative pathway that clears the cytoplasm of dysfunctional organelles. However, the capacity for autophagy in both podocytes and renal tubular cells is markedly impaired in type 2 diabetes, and this deficiency contributes importantly to the intensity of renal injury. The primary drivers of autophagy in states of nutrient and oxygen deprivation—sirtuin-1 (SIRT1), AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), and hypoxia-inducible factors (HIF-1α and HIF-2α)—can exert renoprotective effects by promoting autophagic flux and by exerting direct effects on sodium transport and inflammasome activation. Type 2 diabetes is characterized by marked suppression of SIRT1 and AMPK, leading to a diminution in autophagic flux in glomerular podocytes and renal tubules and markedly increasing their susceptibility to renal injury. Importantly, because insulin acts to depress autophagic flux, these derangements in nutrient deprivation signaling are not ameliorated by antihyperglycemic drugs that enhance insulin secretion or signaling. Metformin is an established AMPK agonist that can promote autophagy, but its effects on the course of CKD have been demonstrated only in the experimental setting. In contrast, the effects of sodium-glucose cotransporter–2 (SGLT2) inhibitors may be related primarily to enhanced SIRT1 and HIF-2α signaling; this can explain the effects of SGLT2 inhibitors to promote ketonemia and erythrocytosis and potentially underlies their actions to increase autophagy and mute inflammation in the diabetic kidney. These distinctions may contribute importantly to the consistent benefit of SGLT2 inhibitors to slow the deterioration in glomerular function and reduce the risk of ESKD in large-scale randomized clinical trials of patients with type 2 diabetes.

A visually-impaired passenger died after falling from a station platform in south-east London and being hit by a train, accident investigators have said.

First-generation headsets helped magnify objects for people with impaired vision, but they also prompted motion sickness. A redesign is aimed at fixing this, but problems persist as patients adjust.
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