The Role of Physical Activity Prescription in Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Amongst South Asian Canadians

Unequivocal evidence suggests an increased prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) amongst South Asian Canadians (SACs) compared to other ethnic cohorts, due to a combination of their unique cardiometabolic profile and environmental factors. This unfavorable CVD profile is characterized by an elevated risk of dyslipidemia, high apolipoprotein B/apolipoprotein A1 ratio, hypertension, glucose intolerance, type 2 diabetes mellitus, as well as increased BMI, body fat percentage, abdominal and visceral adiposity. Despite the overwhelming evidence for the effectiveness of physical activity (PA) in circumventing the onset of CVD and in the reduction of CVD risk factors, SACs are among the most physically inactive cohorts in Canada. This relates to a set of common and unique socio-cultural barriers, such as gender, beliefs and perceptions about illness, immigration, unfavorable PA environments, and their high prevalence of debilitating chronic diseases. Several strategies to improve PA participation rates in this high-risk population have been suggested, and include the implementation of culturally sensitive PA interventions, as well as clinician training in PA prescription through workshops that emphasize knowledge translation into clinical practice. Therefore, the purpose of this mini-review is to highlight and discuss: (1) the burden of heart disease in SACs (2) the cardiovascular benefits of PA for SACs; (3) factors affecting PA participation among SACs and how they can be addressed; (4) the impact of culturally sensitive PA prescription on CVD prevention; (5) barriers to culture-specific PA prescription by clinicians, and strategies to improve its use and impact

A novel allosteric modulator of the cannabinoid CB1 receptor ameliorates hyperdopaminergia endophenotypes in rodent models

Funding and disclosure The authors declare the following financial and biomedical conflict of interests: Ruth A. Ross, Catharine A. Mielnik, Amy J. Ramsey, Iain R. Greig, Laurent A. Trembleau, Mostafa H. Abdelrahman are co-inventors on a patent application related to ABM300 and structural analogs. Kim S. Sugamori, David B. Finlay, Hayley H.A. Thorpe, Matthieu Schapira, Nirunthan Sivananthan, Chun Kit Li, Vincent M. Lam, Sean Harrington, W. McIntyre Burnham, Jibran Y. Khokhar, Ali Salahpour, Michelle Glass reported no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest. W. McIntyre Burnham received Δ9- (THC) as a gift from MedReleaf. The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge Wendy Horsfall for mouse colony maintenance. The work was funded by grants to RAR from CIHR (PPP-125784, PP2-139101), CIHR funding to AJR (MOP119298) and CIHR funding to AS (PJT-15619).Peer reviewedPostprintPublisher PD