How Obesity Abets Type 2 Diabetes
Human fat can be healthy or sick - healthy in lean people and sick in obese. And a new research effort shows sick fat cells can produce proteins that contribute to type 2 diabetes. The study, performed by researchers at Temple University, discovered that fat cells in obese people bear a great deal of stress in a cellular component called the endoplasmic reticulum, which is the cells' protein factory. The stress, says lead researcher Dr. Guenther Boden, apparently produces proteins connected with insulin resistance, a major contributor to obesity-related diabetes. In particular, 19 proteins were more abundant in obese people's fat cells than lean people's, including three that were related to a specific endoplasmic reticulum stress-related response.
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Incision-Free Technique Treats Gastric-Bypass Weight Regain
A few doctors around the United States are beginning to use an elegant new procedure to reduce the size of the stomach, without incisions, in gastric-bypass-surgery patients who have started to regain weight. Because their stapled stomachs start to stretch out and enlarge, some 44 percent of gastric-bypass patients regain weight after a few years, and again become subject to the morbidities of obesity. But with the new technique, called "ROSE" (Restorative Obesity Surgery, Endolumenal), doctors can reduce the patient's stomach pouch and the opening (stoma) to the small intestine to their original post-gastric-bypass size.
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What is Gastroenterology?
Video: Dr. Jonathan Cohen of the Concorde Medical Group discusses Gastroenterology. Gastroenterology is a specialized field of medicine that focuses on the digestive tract - from the mouth to the anus. Gastroenterolgy studies the functioning and disorders of the esophagus, stomach and intestines, as well as its associated organs such as the liver, pancreas and gall bladder. There is documented evidence that some forms of Gastroenterolgy were practiced in ancient Egypt. Greek, Roman and Arab practitioners studied the digestive tracts of the human body with specially designed spatula and mirrors illuminated by candles or oil lamps. More complex tools for examining the rectum with dilating specula were found in the ruins of Pompeii.
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Critical Age for Childhood Weight Gain
New research reveals a critical period when a child is at risk of becoming obese. A study from Columbia University Medical Center found that during the ages of 1-3 years, children are at risk of gaining significant weight. The researchers reviewed growth charts of over 1,700 children in New York City between the ages of one through five. They found that the rate of being overweight increased significantly with each year of age, with the biggest gains between ages of one and three years.
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