Vitamin D for human physiology- How far is it true?

We would never have thought in our dreams that a single vitamin would affect our physiology to a great extent. Believe it or not, it is absolutely true. Vitamin D known to all as calciferol has numerous links with human physiology.

As layman knowledge, it is only useful for bones, but it has lot more importance than that.

Most studies show that a lack of vitamin D increases the risk of osteoporosis and the likelihood of hip and other non spinal fractures. Vitamin is said to have an important role in regulating cell growth. Laboratory experiments suggest that it helps prevent the unrestrained cell multiplication that characterizes cancer by reducing cell division, restricting angiogenesis, increasing apoptosis of cancer cells and even reducing metastasis. A report in the February 2006 issue of The American Journal of Public Health suggests that taking 1,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D a day may cut in half a person’s risk of developing some forms of cancer, including cancer of the colon, breast, or ovariesScientists in Harvard said that the vitamin D supplements can reduce the inflammation in cardiovascular disease.           

Scientists from Colorado Denver School of Medicine have stated that this vitamin can even be an antagonist against common cold and simple health concerns.

Vitamin D can not only beat cancers but also protect the body from getting cancers. That is, immunomodulating the body. High vitamin D doses can help people recover from tuberculosis more rapidly, researchers reported in September 2012 in the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

An insufficient serum concentration of vitamin D generally leads to a stunt in optimal muscle development and function. Many scientists like Hazell TJ from Mc. Gill University (School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition) have affirmed that the vitamin D has direct impact on muscle function.

It would be more surprising to know that vitamin D can even aid in weight loss. A novel study presented at The Endocrine Society's 91st Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. has emphasized that vitamin D can help in healthy way of reducing the weight. In this study, they have measured circulating blood levels of vitamin D in 38 overweight men and women before and after the subjects followed a diet plan for 11 weeks consisting of 750 calories a day fewer than their estimated total needs. Subjects also had their fat distribution measured with DXA (bone densitometry) scans.

For each 1-ng/mL increase in the active or "hormonal" form of vitamin D (1, 25-dihydroxycholecalciferol), subjects lost nearly one-quarter pound (0.107 kg) more.

Additionally, higher baseline vitamin D levels (both the precursor and active forms) predicted greater loss of abdominal fat. Their results suggested that the possibility that the addition of vitamin D to a reduced-calorie diet will lead to better weight loss.

In future, scientists can sum up more pragmatic studies on vitamin D to come out with more efficient drugs. If worked well ,we can come out with “one for many” pill with vitamin D.

Meditation and brain physiology: any togetherness?

Mindfulness is typically defined as nonjudgmental attention to experiences in the present moment suggest a two-component model of mindfulness, where the first component is the regulation of attention in order to maintain it on the immediate experience, and the second component involves approaching one’s experiences with an orientation of curiosity, openness, and acceptance, regardless of their valence and desirability. Mindfulness is typically cultivated in formal meditation practices, such as sitting meditation, walking meditation, or mindful movements.

Behavioral findings affirm that it has been proved from various approaches that mindfulness training program did show reduction in emotional interference compared to a relaxation meditation. Physiological studies also support the proposition that meditation training leads to decreased emotional reactivity and facilitates a return to emotional baseline after reactivity.

Neural mechanisms:

During emotion regulation, prefrontal control systems modulate emotion generative systems, such as the amygdala, which is responsible for the detection of affectively arousing stimuli (Ochsner & Gross, 2005). More specifically, these prefrontal structures include dorsal regions of the lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) that have been implicated in selective attention and working

memory; ventral parts of the PFC implicated in response inhibition; the ACC, which is involved in monitoring control processes; and the dorso-medial PFC implicated in monitoring one’s affective state (Modinos, Ormel, & Aleman, 2010; Ochsner & Gross, 2008). A typical pattern detected when individuals deliberately regulate affective responses is increased activation within the PFC and decreased activation in the amygdala (Beauregard, Levesque, & Bourgouin, 2001; Harenski & Hamann, 2006; Schaefer et al., 2002), suggesting that PFC projections to the amygdala exert an inhibitory top-down influence (Banks, Eddy, Angstadt, Nathan, & Phan, 2007).

Evidence:

Perspectives on Psychological Science 6(6) 537– 559

Prolactin endorses liver regeneration

The hormone prolactin is probably best known for its role in stimulating milk production in mothers after giving birth. But apart from the lacto-production, prolactin also has an important function in the liver. This organ has the highest number of prolactin receptors in the body, ports that allow this hormone to enter liver cells. There, prolactin signals these cells to multiply and new blood vessels to grow to fuelthis organ's expansion.

Wondering if these properties might be useful to encourage the liver to regrow after surgery to remove part of it-sometimes necessary to treat cancer or other liver diseases, or to donate liver tissue for transplants-Carmen Clapp of the Universidad Nacional Automoma de Mexico and her colleagues worked with animal models on both ends of a prolactin spectrum: rats that overproduced the hormone, and mice specially bred to have no prolactin receptors, the equivalent of a dearth of the hormone since prolactin can't enter these animals' cells.

The researchers found that the animals with extra prolactin had larger livers, regenerated their livers faster after partial removal, and were significantly more likely to survive that liver surgery compared to the animals that couldn't process prolactin. Researchers may also come out with direct correlation of molecular pathways and affirm a solution.