PHYSIOLOGY WILL PROVIDE CLUES ON CONFRONTING EPIDEMIC OF INACTIVITY-RELATED CHRONIC DISEASES

Exercise physiologists will meet at the 2000 Intersociety Meeting of the American Physiological Society in Portland, Maine, to discuss the role they will play in the developing relationship between genetics and exercise

Portland, ME—At least 250,000 people die from inactivity-related causes every year, and more than 300 billion dollars is spent on doctors' visits, medical treatments, etc., that arise because of inactivity-related illnesses, says Kenneth M. Baldwin, Ph.D., Professor of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of California, Irvine.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), says Dr. Baldwin, at least 10 diseases are clearly identified as being linked to a lack of activity, among them, Type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke, certain cancers (such as colon cancer), and osteoporosis. The relationship between exercise and health, and the role that the Human Genome Project will play in this developing partnership, will be the focus of a symposium at the 2000 Intersociety Meeting of the American Physiological Society. The meeting, "The Integrative Biology of Exercise," will be held September 20-23, in Portland, Maine.

Background. In 1997 the American Physiological Society established a broad, international "Genes-to-Health Initiative," designed to focus on the issue of genetic physiology, and the link between genome sequencing and mapping to integrative physiology and clinical medicine.

The completion of the Human Genome Project will be one of the greatest achievements in biology. The speed at which the mapping and sequencing of genomes of the human and other diverse life forms is occurring has resulted in a revolution in the biological sciences. The enormous task of linking genes to function has now begun, punctuated by predictions that within 5 years nearly all of the 70-100,000 genes of the human genome will be mapped and sequenced. This revolution in genetics has paved the way for the next great challenge for physiology and medicine—the opportunity to research a wide variety of studies from human and informative model systems with techniques linking genes and pathways to physiology.

"The existing and forthcoming DNA sequences of model organisms and humans are proceeding at an expeditious pace, and the enormous task of linking genes to function has now begun," says Victor J. Dzau, M.D., editor-in-chief of the new Physiological Genomics, one outgrowth of the "Genes-to-Health Initiative." "New genetic knowledge coupled with existing and emerging molecular genetic, bioinformatic, and other biological techniques have paved the way for the next great challenge and opportunity for physiology and medicine: a more complete understanding of whole organism functioning.

"We now can study biological processes from the initial actions of genes within the nucleus through the cellular processes to the functions of tissues and organs and ultimately to the workings of the organism, meaning there are enormous implications of this development for clinical medicine," says  Dr. Dzau, Hershey Professor of Medicine and Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. "We will soon have the opportunity to assess individual variation in normal and disease phenotypes. Understanding the variation in these processes will elucidate how small yet different perturbations can produce the same overt disease in two individuals who have dramatically different responses to treatment. This knowledge will ultimately lead to new therapies, diagnostic tools, and better overall health management."

Along with the establishment of Physiological Genomics, selected other goals of the "Genes-to-Health Initiative" include:

• Developing a system, as well as the technology, to determine the underlying genetic and functional basis of complex diseases affecting our health today.

• Training life scientists to use the human genome structure in solving these diseases that have a significant impact on public health.

• Enhancing the awareness, not only of the medical community, but also of the general public of the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of conditions caused by a lack of activity.

How future scientists in the field of exercise physiology are going to be trained, and how they can receive funding for future research, are two other key topics that will also be brought up during the symposium, says Dr. Baldwin, who observes that the profession is "challenged" to convince the National Institutes of Health that there's a need for expert exercise physiologists to be included on panels established by NIH's Center for Scientific Review.

The objective of this symposium, says Dr. Baldwin, is to lay out the topics that will further engage members of the profession and encourage a "high level of pro-activism" on these issues. "When we consider what inactivity is costing our society in terms of health care dollars, and lives lost," says Dr. Baldwin, "we see that this is not a trivial matter."

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The American Physiological Society is devoted to fostering scientific research, education, and the dissemination of scientific information. By providing a spectrum of physiological information, the Society strives to play a role in the progress of science, and the advancement of knowledge. Providing current, usable information to the physiological community is the Society's primary focus.

Editor's Note: For further information or to schedule an interview, contact Donna Krupa at 703.527.7357; cell: 703.967.2751; or at djkrupa1@aol.com; or visit the APS website at www.the-aps.org.