AIMS Several studies funded by the UK government have been influential in understanding rates of 'binge drinking' in the UK. This analysis aims to establish consistency between results and clarify UK rates of binge drinking. METHOD The relevant sections of these surveys were compared: the Scottish Health Survey (SHS) 1998, the General Household Survey (GHS) 2002, and the Health Survey for Eng...

BACKGROUND Behavioural lifestyle interventions can be effective at promoting initial weight loss and supporting physical activity and dietary behaviour change, however maintaining improvements in these outcomes is often more difficult to achieve. Extending intervention contact to reinforce learnt behavioural skills has been shown to improve maintenance of behaviour change and weight loss. This ...

The orexigenic and anabolic effects induced by ghrelin and the synthetic GH secretagogues (GHSs) are thought to positively contribute to therapeutic approaches and the adjunct treatment of a number of diseases associated with muscle wasting such as cachexia and sarcopenia. However, many questions about the potential utility and safety of GHSs in both therapy and skeletal muscle function remain ...

We propose a preference condition called shifted difference independence to model the reference point dependent measurable time preference. Based on this condition, we axiomatize a general habit formation and satiation model (GHS) to capture both effects of habit formation and satiation. This model allows for a general habit formation function and satiation function that contain the functional ...

In this paper, a new space-time spectral algorithm is constructed to solve the generalized Hirota-Satsuma coupled Korteweg-de Vries (GHS-C-KdV) system of time-fractional order. The present algorithm consists of applying the collocationspectral method in conjunction with the operational matrix of fractional derivative for the double Jacobi polynomials, which will be employed as a basis function ...

This paper presents a new optimization algorithm called GHS+LEM, which is based on the Global-best Harmony Search algorithm (GHS) and techniques from the Learnable Evolution Models (LEM) to improve convergence and accuracy of the algorithm. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated with fifteen optimization functions commonly used by the optimization community. In addition, the results obta...

Loss of appetite in the medically ill and ageing populations is a major health problem and a significant symptom in cachexia syndromes, which is the loss of muscle and fat mass. Ghrelin is a gut-derived hormone which can stimulate appetite. Herein we describe a novel, simple, non-peptidic, 2-pyridone which acts as a selective agonist for the ghrelin receptor (GHS-R1a). The small 2-pyridone demo...

We have described an e-platform, with an IP camera for managing toxic and hazardous chemicals within an organization. The system allows: 1) a worker to understand the globally harmonized system (GHS) of classification and labeling of chemicals and printout the GHS-based safety data sheets with 16 sections of listed information, according to the GHS, 2) a director of a chemical laboratory to inv...

Employing in vitro selection techniques, we have generated biostable RNA-based compounds, so-called Spiegelmers, that specifically bind n-octanoyl ghrelin, the recently discovered endogenous ligand for the type 1a growth hormone secretagogue (GHS) receptor. Ghrelin is a potent stimulant of growth hormone release, food intake, and adiposity. We demonstrate that our lead compound, L-NOX-B11, bind...

Ghrelin is an orexigenic brain-gut hormone promoting feeding and regulating energy metabolism in human and rodents. An increasing number of studies have reported that ghrelin and its identified receptor, the growth hormone secretagogue receptor 1a (GHS-R1a), produces remarkably wide and complex functions and biological effects on specific populations of neurons in central nervous system. In thi...