Obesity Week: A Matter of Taste

A study that shows how patients who reported diminished taste intensity after bariatric surgery lost more weight than those whose sense of taste remained intense. So the better it tastes and smells, the more you crave it and eat it even if you are full. Genes determine the types and number of smell and taste receptors one has. http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/ObesityWeek/48322?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2014-10-31&utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DailyHeadlines&utm_source=ST&eun=g721819d0r&userid=721819&email=amydugan2%40gmail.com&mu_id=5883165&utm_term=Daily

Speed At Which One Loses Weight May Not Be Linked To Likelihood That They Will Keep That Weight Off.

Using diet and exercise, unfortunately only about 15 percent may be able to successfully lose weight and keep it off, he said. “Pharmacotherapy could be a consideration for those regaining weight,” he said. “But, we do not have solid evidence at this time that pharmacotherapy confers long-term success.” The rate of weight loss also did not influence the changes in hunger controlling hormones that occur with weight loss," said Proietto, who also heads the weight control clinic at Austin Health in Melbourne. while appetite suppression after weight loss should be considered, the problem is that there are not many effective agents and none of them have been tested for long-term safety. “Our study shows again that drugs are not essential for achieving weight loss but they are probably important for assisting with weight maintenance,” he said. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/30/us-health-weightloss-idUSKBN0IJ28O20141030

Most People Diagnosed With Cancer In England In Recent Years Are Surviving For Longer.

more people were surviving cancer then ever before "thanks to better treatments, earlier diagnosis and greater awareness". "But the story's not so positive for all types of cancer," he said. "Lung, pancreatic, oesophageal cancer and brain tumours still have relatively low survival rates, partly because they tend to be diagnosed at a later stage when they're much harder to treat." He added: "We're working to beat all cancers sooner, increasing our research into cancers with lower survival rates and boosting our investment to help diagnose cancer earlier - accelerating progress to save more lives." http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29832237

Blood Test For Ebola Doesn't Catch Infection Early

The test uses a technology called PCR, for polymerase chain reaction. It can detect extraordinarily small traces of genetic material from the Ebola virus. But the catch is, the test is usually used on blood samples. And in the beginning, that's not where the Ebola virus hides. "The initial sites of replication actually are not in the blood itself — they're mostly in tissues like spleen or liver," says Thomas Geisbert, a microbiologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Dr. Bhadelia spent 12 days caring for the sick in an Ebola ward. Her experience has convinced her that she must return. Goats and Soda A Doctor's Diary: Encountering Chaos And Kindness In An Ebola Ward It's not practical to sample these organs to look for Ebola http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/10/28/359567808/blood-test-for-ebola-doesnt-catch-infection-early

Exposure To Plastics’ Chemical During Pregnancy May Impact Genital Development In Baby Boys

Researchers found that baby boys born to moms with greater exposure to a chemical called DiNP tended to have a shorter anogenital distance -- the space between the genitals and anus. Anogenital distance is set in the womb, and it's considered a marker of exposure to androgens ("male" hormones) during pregnancy. Chemical is added to plastics to make them more flexible and difficult to break. They are used in a huge range of products, from electrical cables, auto parts and construction materials to cosmetics, shoes and toys (though U.S. manufacturers stopped using them in pacifiers, teething rings and rattles in 1999). People can also be exposed to low levels of phthalates in food, since much of the food supply comes in contact with plastics. http://consumer.healthday.com/women-s-health-information-34/birth-health-news-61/plasticizer-may-affect-baby-boys-genital-development-693162.html

Report: World May See More Cases Of Tuberculosis If Action Is Not Taken To Reduce Diabetes Rates.

Cases of tuberculosis are set accelerate worldwide unless action is taken to curb diabetes, a chronic condition that weakens the immune system and triples the risk a person will develop the lung disease, health experts warned on Wednesday. Tuberculosis (TB), which killed an estimated 1.5 million people last year according to the World Health Organization (WHO), is caused by bacteria that lie dormant in many people. However, diabetics TB become sick from latent TB infection far more often than other people because their immune systems are compromised -- a fact that could unleash an epidemic of co-infection as diabetes rates soar along with growing obesity. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/29/us-health-diabetes-tuberculosis-idUSKBN0II0U620141029

FDA OKs First Vaccine for Group B Meningitis

The agency gave the nod to Trumenba, a vaccine based on a recombinant protein from Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B and aimed at people ages 10 through 25. A second vaccine, already on the market in 34 countries as Bexsero, is still in the approval process. Some 30,000 doses of Bexsero were given last year, under an investigational new drug application, to students at Princeton University and the University of California Santa Barbara, in response to meningitis B outbreaks on those campuses. "Recent outbreaks of serogroup B meningococcal disease on a few college campuses have heightened concerns for this potentially deadly disease," commented Karen Midthun, MD, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. http://www.medpagetoday.com/InfectiousDisease/Vaccines/48304?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2014-10-30&utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DailyHeadlines&utm_source=ST&eun=g721819d0r&userid=721819&email=amydugan2%40gmail.com&mu_id=5883165&utm_term=Daily