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Objective: To compare the thermic response to a meal between men and women of varied body composition and to determine whether adrenergic amines extracted from citrus aurantium (CA) induce an increase in metabolic rate and enhance the thermic response to the meal. Research Methods and Procedures:In 30 healthy weightstable subjects (17 women, 13 men; BMI: 20 to 42 kg/m 2 ), body composition was determined by bioimpedance analysis followed by resting energy expenditure for 20 minutes, and the thermic effect of food (TEF) of a 1.7-MJ, 30-gram protein meal was determined intermittently for 300 minutes by indirect calorimetry. In a subset of 22 subjects, the TEFs of CA alone and when added to the same 1.7-MJ meal were determined. Blood pressure and pulse before and throughout the studies and catecholamine excretion were determined. Results: TEF was significantly lower in women than men (152 Ϯ 7 vs. 190 Ϯ 12 kJ and 8.8 Ϯ 0.4% vs. 11.0 Ϯ 0.7% of meal), independently of age and magnitude of adiposity. The thermic response to CA alone was higher in men, but, when added to the meal, CA increased TEF only in women and to values no longer different from men. CA had no effect on blood pressure and pulse rate but increased epinephrine excretion by 2.4-fold. Discussion: A 20% lower TEF in women suggests a diminished sympathetic nervous system response to meals, because with CA, TEF increased by 29% only in women. However, this acute response may not translate into a chronic effect or a clinically significant weight loss over time.

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Proposes an empirical analysis of regional convergence in Canada based on the growth model of Barro et al. In an open economy with perfect capital mobility, if domestic residents cannot borrow abroad with human capital as collateral, the dynamics of human capital accumulation is the driving force of per capita income growth. Empirical results indicate that, as predicted by the theoretical model, various indicators of the stock of human capital did converge at the same speed as per capita income during the 1951‐1996 period. A substantial part of the relative growth of per capita income indicators across Canadian provinces since the early 1950s could be explained by the convergence process of human capital indicators based on the percentage of the population, both sexes and males, who have at least a university degree. The estimates of the human capital share in national income based on those indicators are in the neighbourhood of 0.5, a number consistent with other measures of the implicit income share of human capital. The convergence speed of per capita income at the regional level might have been two to three times faster, if all persons had invested in education at the same rate as the young.