Cincinnati Section American Chemical Society

The Embassy Suites restaurant will be available for dining. Please make reservations with them directly if you would like to stay for dinner. Phone: 733-8900

Call the section answering line at (513) 622-2495 or e-mail cintacs.im@pg.com Include your name (complete with correct spelling), phone number and affiliation. Please specify if this is your first Cincinnati ACS meeting when making your reservation. All reservations must be received by noon, Monday, September 27. If you have any difficulties, please call Vicki Libbin at (513)622-2495. As a reminder, if you decide you must miss a meeting after you have made reservations, please call to cancel. If you do not cancel, the Section will have to charge you because it will have been charged by the hotel. Payment will be received at the door. Guests are always welcome; emeritus, unemployed, new, and student members are half price.

Embassy Suites Hotel, 4554 Lake Forest Dr., Blue Ash

From I-71, take Exit 15 (Pfeiffer Road), head west on Pfeiffer Road two blocks to Reed Hartman Highway. Turn right (north) on Reed Hartman, turn left on to Lake Forest Dr.

From I-275, take the Reed Hartman Exit, head south on Reed Hartman about two miles, take a right onto Lake Forest Dr.

The incidence of obesity and its associated physical problems continues to rise in the United States and throughout the world and is highly correlated with the consumption of dietary fat. Conventional treatments, such as dieting and stimulant drugs, while effective for short intervals, provide little long-term benefit. Nonetheless, there is considerable optimism at present based upon advances that are being made in our knowledge of the hormones, neurotransmitters and neural pathways that regulate energy homeostasis. Although food intake was historically thought to occur in response to acute energy demands such as low glucose, current evidence suggests rather that individuals initiate meals according to habit and convenience. In fact, meal patterns vary considerably among individuals, yet most individuals maintain stable body weights and levels of adiposity over long intervals. The explanation is that energy homeostasis is accomplished via control of meal size. The presentation will review current understanding of brain controls over energy intake (food intake) and expenditure (metabolism and exercise). A key concept regards the integration of signals generated acutely in response to food being eaten with signals that reflect the current state of energy balance (adipose stores). Meal-related (i.e., "satiety" signals) are typified by cholecystokinin (CCK), and adiposity signals are typified by leptin and insulin. The principle is that when an individual is underweight, decreased levels of adiposity signals allow larger meals to be consumed, and the opposite occurs during states of positive energy balance. Discussion will focus on differences between insulin and leptin as adiposity signals, as well as where metabolic signals are detected and how they are integrated by the nervous system to maintain energy balance over long intervals. Finally, there will be discussion of the brain neurotransmitters thought to be important in controlling appetite and body weight, including neuropeptide Y, melanocortins and others, and where future therapeutic strategies are likely to be directed.

We are delighted to kick off our monthly meetings with such a current research topic as obesity, and with one of the leading scientists in this field, Professor Stephen Woods. Dr. Woods heads the Obesity Research Center at the University of Cincinnati. He has also been prominent in the news lately on this topic both locally and nationally. In the June 19^th 1999 C&E News, he was one of the lead interviewees in the cover story on obesity research in the world today. Also, his leadership in developing the Obesity Research Center at UC and the subsequent collaboration developed with P&G, was recently highlighted in The Cincinnati Enquirer July 16^th and in other national press releases. Professor Woods received a B.S in Zoology, a B.S. in Psychology and a Ph.D. degree in Physiology from the University of Washington, Seattle, WA. He has held a number of Academic positions at Columbia University, the University of Washington and the University of Cincinnati, and has received a number of scientific awards.