Obesity

WASHINGTON -- Mississippi has exceeded the 30% obesity rate, the first time any state's population has done so, reported a health advocacy group. But 19 other states with large obese populations are not far behind.

BOSTON -- Myocardial infarction more than doubles the risk of new-onset diabetes and leads to a 15-fold increased risk of impaired fasting glucose, results of a study of more than 8,000 MI patients show.

Take this MedPage Today survey on bariatric surgery.

DALLAS -- An over-abundance of a key hormone protects the "world's fattest mice" from the metabolic effects of their excess fat, researchers said.

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Adolescent boys deprived of a high glycemic index junk-food diet had better clearing of acne vulgaris in 12 weeks than a medicine chest full of pimple medications can provide.

BOSTON -- Obesity may be caused -- at least in some cases -- by a virus, researchers said here.

GOTHENBURG, Sweden -- Two research groups have provided long-awaited evidence that bariatric surgery saves lives, up to 136 per 10,000 operations.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- Physiologically appropriate infant weight loss is less for babies fed formula in the hospital than for those who are breastfed, suggesting that hospitals feed too much, researchers said.

IOANNINA, Greece -- Clinicians may have to reassess the ABCs of the gender differences in disease manifestations specifically linked to X or Y chromosomes.

BOSTON -- Childhood hypertension is there, if only pediatricians would look for it. Most of the time, they don't, investigators here reported.

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- A decade before women develop dementia, they may begin to have an unexplained loss of weight, according to investigators here.

CLEVELAND -- The efforts to raise HDLs to reduce atherosclerosis is still a worthy objective despite a series of disappointments with new drugs, said clinicians here.

WASHINGTON -- The 2007 President's Cancer Panel blasted industry policies and government inaction for failing to help the public make lifestyle changes needed to protect against cancer.

NEW YORK -- Women who develop gestational diabetes may be at increased risk for pancreatic cancer decades later, reported researchers here.

BOSTON -- A previously unsuspected independent risk factor for pancreatic cancer may be a low level of plasma insulin-like growth factor binding protein-1 (IGFBP-1), found researchers here.

LONDON -- An "eating for two" approach to junk food during pregnancy and breastfeeding may boost baby's appetite for the same and lead to obesity, researchers said.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.-- Only one in three patients who are told they have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have had that diagnosis confirmed with spirometry.

BOSTON -- After curative surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy for stage III colon cancer, patients who ate a high-fat diet were more likely to have a recurrence than those who ate a so-called prudent diet, researchers here reported.

BELFAST, Ireland -- Sedentary adults who took a brisk half-hour walk on only three days a week lost weight and were rewarded with improved fitness and cardiovascular benefits, researchers reported.

NEW YORK -- As breast cancer diagnosis and treatment options grow more complex, race plays a larger role in survival, researchers here reported.

DALLAS -- For assessing obesity's impact on atherosclerosis risk, the waist-to-hip ratio tops body mass index and waist circumference, investigators here found.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Better diabetes detection over the past 25 years has actually reduced estimates of skyrocketing disease and shifted disparities from race and ethnicity to education.

EDMONTON, Alberta -- Diet food may train young rats-and possibly children-to overeat by confusing calorie-content cues, researchers said.

WATERTOWN, Mass. -- Statins do not seem to reduce production of circulating testosterone and related androgens, researchers here reported.

NEW YORK -- Bone-generating osteoblasts secrete a protein that appears to regulate insulin function and glucose metabolism, revealing an endocrine role for the skeleton, researchers here said.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Common complaints of aging such as memory problems, falls, or incontinence may be overlooked by clinicians focused on chronic diseases, found investigators here.

ATLANTA -- About 30% of babies born in the U.S. in 2004 were exclusively breastfed for the first three months and by six months only 11.3% of babies were exclusively breastfed, CDC investigators found.

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Obesity is more than twice as likely to be treated seriously if physicians jot the formal diagnosis down in medical records -- a relatively uncommon act by clinicians here.

A 39-year-old woman complained of excruciating pain that radiated from a chronic lesion on the left upper lip to the entire left side of the face. She had AIDS but was not receiving antiretroviral therapy.

A large right adrenal mass was noted incidentally on an MRI scan of the lumbar spine, which had been performed for other reasons in a 55-year-old non-obese woman. The bright heterogeneous mass (T2-weighted image) measured 6.2 3 6.2 3 4.1 cm and sat like the head of a serpent on the superior pole of the right kidney. Its margins were smooth, but signal intensity was increased on T2 weighting because of high water content. The left adrenal gland was normal.