Physicians and clinicians from , and researchers from 91亚色, will speak at an open house Monday about how they are working together 鈥� in the hospital and in laboratories 鈥� to answer these types of questions.

The researchers, physicians and clinicians will be available to speak to reporters about their projects, which include:

• research with the chronic disease, emergency medicine and surgical departments at Southlake to understand how the brain controls complex movements, shedding light on topics ranging from dementia to concussion.
• improved surveillance of cardiovascular disease in 91亚色 Region through the use of geospatial analysis, which applies statistical analysis techniques to geographically-based data.
• investigation of the use of Blackberry smartphones and innovative software to help patients reduce health risks through exercise, diet and improve adherence to medication regimens.
• collaboration with cardiac care and oncology clinicians to develop a more personalized approach for targeting the drugs that are used by individuals with cancer and heart disease.

Four research scientists from 91亚色鈥檚 and have been designed to improve patient care and outcomes, and improve use of technology in the delivery of health care.

Southlake serves 1.5 million people through its regional programs and provides tertiary level care in many areas, offering almost unlimited opportunities for research collaboration between Southlake and 91亚色.

What:聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Southlake Regional Health Centre welcomes 91亚色 research scientists in a celebration event that will highlight the efforts of this partnership.
When:聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Monday, May 9, 2011, 5:30 鈥� 7:30
Where: 聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Southlake Regional Health Centre, Auditorium, Level 1, East Building

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of Southlake Regional Health Centre's Corporate Communications department and Media Relations at 91亚色.

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Are obese girls overweight because they eat poorly and don't get enough exercise or because their bodies don't burn off fat properly? asked :

Seems no one knows. But researchers at 91亚色 want to find out.

They are conducting the first study in the world that looks at how girls burn fat, according to Professor Michael Riddell [School of Kinesiology & Health Science, Faculty of Health], who leads pioneering work on diabetes.

While there have been some studies done on how boys burn fat, with conflicting results, no one has looked at how girls burn fat, particularly during puberty, he said. "It's amazing there's so little done on females," Riddell said. "We're doing cutting-edge research. We're trying to identify why some girls are overweight or obese."

The study is part of a larger [project] funded by the federal government's being run by the .

To conduct their study, the 91亚色 researchers need to look at the diets and exercise levels of girls between the ages of eight and 16. While they haven't had trouble finding lean girls to participate, recruiting overweight and obese girls has been a struggle.

With the body image problems girls face today, that isn't surprising, Riddell said.

But the girls' identities and all the information researchers gather about them is kept confidential, said graduate student Lisa Chu, who is running the project at 91亚色.

Girls who participate in the study will visit the university twice.

During the first visit, they will complete a questionnaire about their exercise and diet habits on week days and weekends and take part in an eight- to- 10-minute cycling test that gets progressively more difficult. The second visit involves a longer but less intense cycling evaluation.

Chu is hoping girls interested in participating may take advantage of March Break next week to volunteer.

The incentive to participate in the study is receiving a custom-made fitness regimen, hopefully something the girls can rely on to lead healthier lives for years to come, Riddell said.

"Having a custom exercise evaluation is something only the very rich can (usually) afford," he said.

Participants will also receive a $20 iTunes voucher.

To volunteer for the study, email Lisa Chu at lisachu@yorku.ca or call Michael Riddell 416-736-2100, ext. 40493.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile 鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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Ritvo has pioneered a study, currently underway, that hopes to explore how mobile technologies such as BlackBerrys can be used as a way of reinforcing good health habits by facilitating ongoing feedback.

Harvey Skinner, the dean of 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Health and a colleague of Ritvo鈥檚, says 鈥渕otivational drift鈥� can make it difficult for people to continue with healthy behavioural changes. 鈥淲e start off with good intentions, maybe initiate a change, say an exercise program, and then days later, weeks later, months later, we start encountering some challenges in keeping to our goal and in keeping to the routine.鈥�

The key, Skinner suggests, is ongoing feedback, and mobile technologies are a tool with the capacity to provide that kind of around-the-clock communication between a patient and a health provider.

According to Ritvo, the goal of the 鈥渆ngaged health coaching program鈥� is to make the patients, who are part of a community that reports high rates of diabetes, to 鈥渞eally feel there鈥檚 somebody who is very concerned about your health, and is giving you the best information you can get at the times when you most need it.鈥�

In the long run, this kind of care has the potential to reduce the strain on the health-care system.

鈥淚 see this as the first step of trying to apply it to a whole range of health problems, including depression, for example, where there wouldn鈥檛 be a physical problem, but there would be ways where people could alter their lifestyles so as to support their moods,鈥� says Ritvo.

The complete article is available on the .

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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The research, which looked at the effects of caloric restriction in a mouse model of ALS, found that restricting caloric intake to 60 per cent of the usual mouse diet significantly hastened the onset and progression of ALS, as well as death. It is the first study to demonstrate that caloric restriction in animal models of ALS produces molecular-level changes that lead to cell death.

The study was published today by the open access peer reviewed journal Public Library of Science (). Former 91亚色 graduate student Barkha P. Patel, supervised by assistant professor Mazen J. Hamadeh (left), led the research at 91亚色鈥檚 Muscle Health Research Centre, in collaboration with researchers at McMaster University.

鈥淩esearch has shown that restricting calories can extend lifespan in animals, so we were surprised to find during an earlier study with the same animal model of ALS that it actually hastened the clinical onset of the disease,鈥� said Hamadeh, of the School of Kinesiology and Health Science in 91亚色鈥檚 . 鈥淚n this study, we set out to discover how caloric restriction actually led to changes at the molecular level.鈥�

ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig鈥檚 Disease, is characterized by degeneration of motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord and is associated with an increase in oxidative stress 鈥� the physiological stress on the body that is caused by damage from free radicals that are not neutralized by antioxidants.

The study sought to unravel the mechanism behind the acceleration of the clinical onset and progression of ALS when calories are restricted. It found that caloric restriction shortens lifespan through an increase in protein involved in lipid damage, inflammation and cell death.

If the results from the animal model of ALS are extrapolated to patients with the disease, caloric restriction would be contraindicated, Patel said.

For more information about nutrition research in ALS at 91亚色, visit Hamadeh's Web site.

By Janice Walls, media relations coordinator. Republished courtesy of 91亚色 Media Relations.

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