Obesity News and Research

Latest Obesity News and Research

Molecular ‘timetable’ could aid personalized medicine

Researchers have developed a method, based on analysis of circadian rhythm metabolites in blood samples, which can pinpoint the time of the body’s internal “clock” to within 3 hours.

4 Sep 2012

GE Healthcare introduces KUBio factory

GE Healthcare, the healthcare business of GE, today introduced KUBio, an innovative off-the-shelf, modular factory designed to save manufacturers of biopharmaceuticals both time and money.

4 Sep 2012

Prenatal exposure to maternal cigarette smoking may promote obesity in adolescents

Prenatal exposure to maternal cigarette smoking appears associated with an increased risk for adolescent obesity, and is possibly related to subtle structural variations in the brain that create a preference for eating fatty foods, according to a report published Online First by Archives of General Psychiatry, a JAMA Network publication.

4 Sep 2012

Obesity no barrier to knee replacement surgery

Health policy should not withhold total knee arthroplasty from patients on the basis of obesity, say UK researchers.

3 Sep 2012

Usefulness of liver biopsy for CALI preoperative assessment questioned

Liver biopsy is not a reliable tool for preoperative assessment of chemotherapy-associated liver injuries except for steatosis, suggest study findings published in the Archives of Surgery.

3 Sep 2012

Obesity and breast cancer recurrence: an interview with Dr. Joseph Sparano

Breast cancer recurrence is a major problem after treatment of localized breast cancer. The risk of recurrence depends on several factors including the stage of presentation and the biology of the disease.

3 Sep 2012

Metabolic syndrome associated with cognitive and brain impairments in adolescents

A new study by researchers at NYU School of Medicine reveals for the first time that metabolic syndrome (MetS) is associated with cognitive and brain impairments in adolescents and calls for pediatricians to take this into account when considering the early treatment of childhood obesity.

3 Sep 2012

Articles explore potential policy measures that could promote healthier behaviour

Obesity rates in North America are a growing concern for legislators. Expanded waistlines mean rising health-care costs for maladies such as diabetes, heart disease and some cancers. One University of Alberta researcher says that if people do not take measures to get healthy, they may find that governments will throw their weight into administrative measures designed to help us trim the fat.

3 Sep 2012

UI Hospital surgeons perform first robotic-assisted kidney transplant and sleeve gastrectomy

Surgeons at the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System are developing new treatment options for obese kidney patients.

1 Sep 2012

Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System initiates Pathway Fit clinical trial in obesity

Pathway Genomics Corporation, a San Diego-based genetic testing laboratory, has announced a clinical trial with the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System (VASDHS).

1 Sep 2012

French data highlight women under 60 at risk for heart disease

An analysis of four French registries has shown a dramatic drop in ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction mortality from 1995 to 2010, accompanied by a significant change in patient characteristics.

31 Aug 2012

Prenatal exposures to polyfluoroalkyl compounds may lead to obesity in babies

Pregnant women who are highly exposed to common environmental chemicals - polyfluoroalkyl compounds (PFCs) - have babies that are smaller at birth and larger at 20 months of age, according to a study from Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health published online in the August 30 edition of Environmental Health Perspectives.

31 Aug 2012

Researchers identify several genetic factors linked to C-reactive protein

African Americans have higher blood levels of a protein associated with increased heart-disease risk than European Americans, despite higher "good" HDL cholesterol and lower "bad" triglyceride levels. This contradictory observation now may be explained, in part, by a genetic variant identified in the first large-scale, genome-wide association study of this protein involving 12,000 African American and Hispanic American women.

31 Aug 2012

Study confirms link between hormone replacement therapy use and breast cancer

The Million Women Study is a study, conducted by UK researchers, of women's health analyzing data from more than one million women aged 50 and over. It is a collaborative project between Cancer Research UK and the National Health Service (NHS), with additional funding from the Medical Research Council (UK).

31 Aug 2012

Healthy diets during infancy and early childhood can prevent obesity in future

Rats born to mothers fed high-fat diets but who get normal levels of fat in their diets right after birth avoid obesity and its related disorders as adults, according to new Johns Hopkins research.

31 Aug 2012

Studies examine how PML gene regulates the fatty acid oxidation pathway

Two papers led by scientific teams from the Cancer Genetics Program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) shed new light on the genetic mechanisms underlying cellular energy and metabolism and, at the same time, highlight both the challenges and opportunities of genetic approaches to cancer treatment.

31 Aug 2012

Enrollment complete in Arrowhead’s CALAA-01 phase 1b trial on solid tumors

Arrowhead Research Corporation, a targeted therapeutics company, today announced that, through its Calando Pharmaceuticals subsidiary, it has completed enrollment of a phase 1b clinical trial of CALAA-01, its RNAi therapeutic candidate targeting solid tumors. All patients participating in the trial have completed dosing with the exception of one patient who is still receiving treatment and will continue to be monitored.

31 Aug 2012

Grb10 plays a crucial role in increasing muscle mass during development

Scientists have moved closer toward helping people grow big, strong muscles without needing to hit the weight room. Australian researchers have found that by blocking the function of a protein called Grb10 while mice were in the womb, they were considerably stronger and more muscular than their normal counterparts.

31 Aug 2012

Single serve packages may help reduce energy intake at breakfast

Mega-sized portions clearly have contributed to our nation's obesity problem, but it is not just the super-sized menu items that are a concern. Serving sizes at home have also crept up over recent decades, with plates and bowls much larger than the dishes used by our great-grandparents. Packaged foods that are available in portion packs might be an easy aid for reigning in portion sizes, but do they actually help us to eat fewer calories overall?

30 Aug 2012

Stowers investigators define factors that regulate size of cellular fat pools

As the national waistline expands, so do pools of intra-cellular fat known as lipid droplets. Although most of us wish our lipid droplets would vanish, they represent a cellular paradox: on the one hand droplets play beneficial roles by corralling fat into non-toxic organelles. On the other, oversized lipid droplets are associated with obesity and its associated health hazards.

30 Aug 2012