A large number of people in Birmingham are obese according to the CDC and various other organizations that collect health data. Almost one third of the people of Birmingham can be considered obese.
A large part of the people who are obese are poor. Being poor, many of these people cannot afford air-conditioning when the weather gets abominably hot like it does in the summer in Birmingham. There were several heat related deaths in Birmingham in 2011.
Research headed by scientists from Baylor University’s College of Medicine in Houston have found the first drug that can prevent heat stroke. An added bonus is the drug has already been shown to build muscle and increased endurance in completely inactive mice. The research was reported in the journal Nature Medicine on January 8, 2012.
The drug (AICAR) is still in the early stages of development but may get FDA fast tracking because of the dual effect that it has demonstrated in mouse models.
This drug may also be useful in preventing heat stroke and related heat disorders in athletes and the military.
Robert T. Dirksen, Ph.D., professor of Pharmacology and Physiology at the University of Rochester Medical Center, Susan L. Hamilton, Ph.D., from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Johanna T. Lanner, Dimitra K. Georgiou, Adan Dagnino-Acosta, Qing Cheng, Aditya D. Joshi, Zanwen Chen, Joshua M. Oakes, Chang Seok Lee, Tanner O. Monroe, Arturo Santillan, Keke Dong, Iskander I. Ismailov and George G. Rodney. Laura Goodyear from the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston and Alina Ainbinder, Viktor Yarotsky, and Robert T. Dirksen of the University of Rochester Medical Center also took part in the research. Funding came from the National Institutes of the Health, the U.S. Department of Defense, the Muscular Dystrophy Association of America, the Swedish Research Council and the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología of Mexico participated in the research that was reviewed at the Eureak Alert web site on December 8, 2012, here and here.
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