Obesity Medicine

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Topiramate (Topamax), a migraine agent, appeared to help alcoholic patients curtail their heavy-drinking behavior, according to investigators here.

ST. LOUIS -- A maintenance program emphasizing behavioral or social skills may help overweight kids keep the pounds off after a weight loss intervention, researchers found.

BOURNEMOUTH, England-A campaign to urge kids to stop drinking sugared carbonated beverages-an effort to have them lose weight or prevent obesity-didn’t seem to have much value in the long run, reported investigators here.

LONDON -- Stormy relationships may increase long term wear and tear on the heart physically as well as emotionally, leading to a modestly increased risk of coronary events.

ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands -- Age-related macular degeneration appear linked with high baseline levels of C-reactive protein and associated inflammation, Dutch researchers found.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Adolescents don't get enough milk or calcium in their diets, and those who do consume dairy products tend to favor high-fat varieties, researchers found.

SAN DIEGO -- Once stereotyped as wasting away, HIV patients have joined the rest of America in fighting the battle of the bulge, according to results of a study reported here.

WACOL, Australia-Schizophrenia leads to an age-related mortality rate that is about 2.5 times that of the general population, and the difference appears to be increasing, researchers here reported.

WASHINGTON -- Computer giant Microsoft is surfing into the health-care information field with a free service that allows consumers to store their medical information online.

ST. LOUIS -- Pregnant obese women should gain less weight than currently recommended and women who are severely obese should actually lose weight during pregnancy, researchers here said.

TUCSON, Ariz. -- At least half of overweight patients with stage I hypertension can normalize their blood pressure with modest weight loss, Italian investigators reported here.

WORCESTER, Mass. -- In a collision of the best-selling weight-loss books, the neovegetarian fare pushed by the Ornish diet earned heart-healthy honors, according to the standards of an index that dices the risks of fats and carbohydrates.

For 2 weeks, a 31-year-old man has had a nonhealing, painful abscess on his left shoulder. A week before presentation, he sought treatment at a walk-in clinic; the abscess was incised and drained, and he was given gatifloxacin.

Here: a look at the many possible causes of poorly controlled blood glucose levels, and steps to overcome them.

SAO PAULO, Brazil -- Treatment of obstructive sleep apnea with continuous positive airway pressure reverses early signs of atherosclerosis, according to researchers here.

LEIDEN, The Netherlands -- The risk of symptomatic venous thrombosis for healthy individuals is low after an airflight of four or more hours, but increases with more and longer flights, researchers reported.

HONG KONG -- What's bad for the heart may also be bad for the colon, according to investigators here.

BOSTON -- It sounds like an old wives' tale, but a boy is significantly more likely to be the second child if a woman gains weight after a first pregnancy, found researchers here.

PITTSBURGH -- Preventive care services such as mammography and cholesterol screening are much more likely to be delivered outside the realm of the annual well-patient checkup than as part of it, found researchers here.

AMSTERDAM -- Patients with type 1 diabetes who used insulin detemir (Levemir) for two years had better glycemic control and less nocturnal hypoglycemia than patients on NPH insulin, investigators reported here.

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The FDA said bottles of Baby's Bliss Gripe Water, which is marketed as a remedy for "colic, hiccups, and teething," may be contaminated with a parasite that causes severe diarrhea.

AMSTERDAM -- Type 2 diabetes may be linked to mental health disorders, but age and gender may be contributing factors, according to two separate studies.

AMSTERDAM -- Men are up to two and a half times more likely to have newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes than women, but once a woman is diagnosed, the disease is just as deadly for them as for men.

CHICAGO -- Obesity in older age appears not to be the risk factor for cognitive decline that it is in middle age, researchers found.

AMSTERDAM -- Inflammation in patients with type 2 diabetes is independent of obesity, an observation that may partly explain the increased risk of cardiovascular disease among patients with diabetes.

CALGARY, Alberta -- Exercise strengthens glycemic control for type 2 diabetes patients whether they walk on a treadmill or pump iron, but combining aerobic and resistance exercise appears to have the greatest benefit.

An 88-year-old woman was brought to the emergency department after she choked on a piece of meat. She had dysphagia of many years' duration and progressive weight loss over the past 5 years.

DALLAS -- Patients with elements of metabolic syndrome are more likely to develop highly acidic urine, increasing their risk of forming uric-acid kidney stones, researchers reported.

ATLANTA -- A prostate cancer diagnosis should be a cardiovascular wake-up call, said researchers here.

BILTHOVEN, The Netherlands -- Pounds weigh heavily on the risk of developing coronary heart disease, independent of traditional risk factors, according to a meta-analysis