Lifestyle

        Smoke free: Tobacco-Free Ohio is working to make college and university residence halls tobacco-free.

        A study released in April found students who live in housing where tobacco is banned are 40 percent less likely to start using it.

        Tobacco-free dorms limit students' opportunity and time for smoking, say researchers from the Harvard Public School of Public Health.

        Tobacco-free Ohio is a partnership of the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association and the Ohio Department of Health. Check out (www.tobacofreeohio.org) for information on how to keep tobacco out of the hands of Ohio's children and teens and information on smoking-cessation programs.

Shelf Help

        Good book: The Diabetes Food and Nutrition Bible: A Complete Guide to Planning, Shopping, Cooking and Eating (American Diabetes Association; $18.95) by Hope Warshaw and Robyn Webb. This new cookbook/nutrition guide helps people with diabetes navigate food labels, learn to control food portions and plan healthy meals.

Sitings

        Click here: Just how bad is bad nutrition? Check out the Center for Science in the Public Interest's Nutrition Action Healthletter at (www.cspinet.org/nah/index.htm). One quick read through the “food porn” section, and you'll never eat a bacon cheeseburger again.

Calendar

        Tee time: The Second Annual Golf for the Green Benefit Golf Scramble for Hospice of Cincinnati takes place July 30 at Triple Crown Country Club in Union. Start time is 11 a.m. Cost: $150 per player or $600 per foursome. Registration: Carol Skawinski, (859) 441-6332.

Research

        Alzheimer's hope: A new study could explain why certain antibodies seem to slow or reverse changes in the brain that are characteristic of Alzheimer's disease, say researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Eli Lilly and Co.

        The study focused on an antibody that targets a section of the amyloid-beta protein. The protein accumulates in the brain to form amyloid plaques, a major feature of Alzheimer's disease.

        “We think the antibody is drawing amyloid-beta out of the brain and into the blood as a clearance mechanism,” says Dr. David M. Holtzman, an associate professor of neurology at the medical school.

        Hours after mice were injected with the antibody, dubbed m266, amyloid-beta concentrations in their bloodstreams rose about 1,000 times higher than before the injections. Researchers say the antibody was binding all the amyloid-beta in the blood and additional amyloid-beta entering the blood from the brain.

        Over several months, mice injected with the antibody developed fewer amyloid plaques in the brain than mice who didn't receive the antibody.

        Researchers also found that the antibody helped clear amyloid-beta from the brain even when it didn't directly reach the brain, but only stayed in the bloodstream.

        The finding suggests a new mechanism for using certain amyloid-beta antibodies to prevent or treat Alzheimer's disease, says Dr. Steven M. Paul, group vice president at Lilly Research Laboratories.

        Contact Peggy O'Farrell by phone: 768-8510; fax, 768-8330; e-mail pofarrell@enquirer.com.

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