Improving Access to Physical Activity: Revitalizing the Old Kona Airport Walking/Jogging Path

Environmental approaches to increase access to physical activity facilities are recommended for promoting physical activity. People with easy access to recreational facilities are more likely to achieve the recommended levels of physical activity, and neighborhoods that are walkable and provide access to public parks and jogging trails are associated with higher levels of activity. Friends for Fitness, a grassroots organization in West Hawai‘i spearheaded a community-based planning process and intervention to revitalize the Old Kona Airport into a walking/jogging trail. Through community engagement, support from local media and businesses, and volunteers, Friends for Fitness succeeded in increasing physical activity among residents. After three years, the number of walkers utilizing the trail increased more than 20%

Transcriptome Analysis of Synaptoneurosomes Identifies Neuroplasticity Genes Overexpressed in Incipient Alzheimer's Disease

In Alzheimer's disease (AD), early deficits in learning and memory are a consequence of synaptic modification induced by toxic beta-amyloid oligomers (oAβ). To identify immediate molecular targets downstream of oAβ binding, we prepared synaptoneurosomes from prefrontal cortex of control and incipient AD (IAD) patients, and isolated mRNAs for comparison of gene expression. This novel approach concentrates synaptic mRNA, thereby increasing the ratio of synaptic to somal mRNA and allowing discrimination of expression changes in synaptically localized genes. In IAD patients, global measures of cognition declined with increasing levels of dimeric Aβ (dAβ). These patients also showed increased expression of neuroplasticity related genes, many encoding 3′UTR consensus sequences that regulate translation in the synapse. An increase in mRNA encoding the GluR2 subunit of the α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid receptor (AMPAR) was paralleled by elevated expression of the corresponding protein in IAD. These results imply a functional impact on synaptic transmission as GluR2, if inserted, maintains the receptors in a low conductance state. Some overexpressed genes may induce early deficits in cognition and others compensatory mechanisms, providing targets for intervention to moderate the response to dAβ