China cancels waste project after protests turn violent

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2 Patients HIV-Free After Transplants

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By LIZA McCLELLAN, M.D.

Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston have discovered that, following bone marrow transplants, two men no longer have detectable HIV in their blood cells.

The finding is significant because it suggests that by giving these patients transplants while they were on anti-retroviral therapy, they may have been cured of the AIDS-causing virus.

“We expected HIV to vanish from the patients’ plasma, but it is surprising that we can’t find any traces of HIV in their cells,” said Dr. Timothy Henrich, one of the researchers studying the two men. “It suggests that under the cover of anti-retroviral therapy, the cells that repopulated the patient’s immune system appear to be protected from becoming re-infected with HIV.”

The findings were presented Thursday at the AIDS 2012 conference in Washington, D.C. The story shares similarities with that of Timothy Ray Brown, also known as “the Berlin patient,” but there are important differences. While the cells used in Brown’s transplant procedure were specifically chosen from a donor who had a genetic mutation that resisted HIV, these patients received transplants with normal cells. Also, the two patients whose cases were presented at the meeting are still taking anti-retroviral medications normally used to treat HIV-positive patients, while Brown is no longer taking these medications.

Further study will need to be done to prove that the two patients are truly cured.

“Studies over time including biopsies of lymphatic tissue would be required,” said Dr. Michael Saag, an infectious disease expert from University of Alabama at Birmingham. He said only time will tell if these patients remain HIV-free.

While it appears from these cases, as well as that of the Berlin patient, that altering a patient’s immune system may lead to a “cure” for HIV, bone marrow transplants are currently too costly and dangerous for all HIV patients to be able to undergo them.

Separately, scientists are trying to use gene therapy to alter patients’ immune systems to free them of HIV.  Most of the research in this field is very preliminary, but scientists at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center are trying to perform stem cell transplants with cells that have been genetically modified to be resistant to HIV, much like the cells that the Berlin patient received.

“We have not yet transplanted any patient as part of our study,” said Dr. Hans-Peter Kiem of the Clinical Research Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and an attending transplant physician at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. But Kiem and his research team have recently been awarded a research grant to further investigate stem cell transplantation as treatment as a means to find a cure for HIV.

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HIV Undetectable in 2 Men After Bone Marrow Transplants: Study

HealthDay – 1 hr 12 mins ago THURSDAY, July 26 (HealthDay News) -- Following bone marrow transplants, two men infected with HIV no longer have any traces of the AIDS-causing virus in their lymphocytes, researchers report.

Lymphocytes are a type of white blood cell and are a key part of the immune system.

The U.S. researchers suspect that bone marrow transplantation along with continuation of antiretroviral therapy resulted in the dramatic effects evident eight months post-transplant. They are scheduled to present these preliminary findings Thursday at the International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C.

HIV patients on antiretroviral therapy often achieve "undetectable viral loads," meaning there are no virus particles in their blood. But they still have latent HIV in their lymphocytes, and if antiretroviral therapy were discontinued, the latent HIV could reactivate.

But having no traces of HIV in these white blood cells is an indication that this "reservoir" of latent HIV may have been eliminated, the researchers believe.

At this point, they are far from saying these patients are cured. But the findings are "exciting," said Dr. Savita Pahwa, director of the Center for AIDS Research at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, who was not involved with the study.

"Every hint you get that it's possible to wipe out the reservoir needs to be investigated," she said.

"Eliminating the reservoir is the key to the cure," said Pahwa. She also stressed that it would only be possible to say these patients were "functionally cured" if the virus did not rebound when the patients went off antiretroviral therapy.

The two men whose cases are described in the paper underwent chemotherapy for blood cancers before receiving stem cell transplants. One had his transplant two years ago; the other, four years ago. Both also developed graft-versus-host disease (when transplanted cells attack the host cells) and continued with their antiretroviral medications throughout and after the transplant procedures.

Any of these factors could theoretically explain their HIV-free status, but the bone marrow transplantation combined with antiretroviral therapy seems the most likely explanation, said the study authors.

"We believe the transplanted cells killed off and replaced all of the patients' own lymphocytes, including the infected cells, and the donor cells were protected from becoming infected themselves by the antiretroviral therapy they were taking throughout the transplant period," said study senior author Dr. Daniel Kuritzkes, chief of infectious diseases at Brigham and Women's Hospital and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

Graft-versus-host disease also probably played a role, he said. "The replacement of host cells by donor cells is itself a form of graft-versus-host reaction," Kuritzkes explained.

But the only way to verify that the transplant plus antiretroviral therapy can eradicate HIV is to take the patients off their medication regimens.

That would be the "next logical step," said Kuritzkes, adding that this would require patient consent and adherence to ethics protocols.

But even if the transplant procedure were found to eliminate the reservoir of latent HIV cells, bone marrow transplantation is a very risky procedure. Kuritzkes said he does not "foresee bone marrow transplantation being performed on otherwise healthy HIV-infected patients who are doing well on

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Teen Doing Well 2 Years After Stem Cell Windpipe Transplant

HealthDay – 1 hr 12 mins ago WEDNESDAY, July 25 (HealthDay News) -- Two years after he became the first child to receive a stem cell-supported trachea (windpipe) transplant, a 13-year-old boy is able to breathe normally, has grown about four inches taller, does not require any anti-rejection drugs and has returned to school.

Ciaran Finn-Lynch, born with a structural defect of his large airway, underwent the transplant in March 2010 at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. After his windpipe was removed, it was replaced by a windpipe from a deceased donor in Italy.

The windpipe was stripped of the donor's cells down to the inert structure of collagen. Tissue from the lining of Finn-Lynch's windpipe was implanted in the new windpipe to kick-start the growth of a lining in the new windpipe.

The surgeons laced the transplanted windpipe with Finn-Lynch's own bone marrow stem cells to prevent his body from rejecting the new organ. The teen also received compounds to promote the growth and differentiation of cells within the new windpipe.

It was the first attempt to grow stem cells within the body of a child who had this type of operation, rather than in a laboratory, according to an article published online July 25 in The Lancet.

"Since the treatment plan for Ciaran was devised in an emergency, we used a novel mix of techniques that have proved successful in treating other conditions," paper co-author Martin Birchall, a professor of laryngology at University College London's Ear Institute, said in a journal news release. "To minimize delays, we bypassed the usual process of growing cells in the laboratory over a period of weeks, and instead opted to grow the cells inside the body, in a similar manner to treatments currently being (tested) with patients who have had heart attacks."

He added that more research is needed on stem cells grown deliberately inside the body, rather than grown first in a laboratory over a long time. "This research should help to convert one-off successes such as this into more widely available clinical treatments for thousands of children with severe tracheal problems worldwide," he said.

More information

The U.S. National Institutes of Health has more about stem cells.

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HIV Undetectable in 2 Men After Bone Marrow Transplants: Study

HealthDay – 1 hr 12 mins ago THURSDAY, July 26 (HealthDay News) -- Following bone marrow transplants, two men infected with HIV no longer have any traces of the AIDS-causing virus in their lymphocytes, researchers report.

Lymphocytes are a type of white blood cell and are a key part of the immune system.

The U.S. researchers suspect that bone marrow transplantation along with continuation of antiretroviral therapy resulted in the dramatic effects evident eight months post-transplant. They are scheduled to present these preliminary findings Thursday at the International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C.

HIV patients on antiretroviral therapy often achieve "undetectable viral loads," meaning there are no virus particles in their blood. But they still have latent HIV in their lymphocytes, and if antiretroviral therapy were discontinued, the latent HIV could reactivate.

But having no traces of HIV in these white blood cells is an indication that this "reservoir" of latent HIV may have been eliminated, the researchers believe.

At this point, they are far from saying these patients are cured. But the findings are "exciting," said Dr. Savita Pahwa, director of the Center for AIDS Research at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, who was not involved with the study.

"Every hint you get that it's possible to wipe out the reservoir needs to be investigated," she said.

"Eliminating the reservoir is the key to the cure," said Pahwa. She also stressed that it would only be possible to say these patients were "functionally cured" if the virus did not rebound when the patients went off antiretroviral therapy.

The two men whose cases are described in the paper underwent chemotherapy for blood cancers before receiving stem cell transplants. One had his transplant two years ago; the other, four years ago. Both also developed graft-versus-host disease (when transplanted cells attack the host cells) and continued with their antiretroviral medications throughout and after the transplant procedures.

Any of these factors could theoretically explain their HIV-free status, but the bone marrow transplantation combined with antiretroviral therapy seems the most likely explanation, said the study authors.

"We believe the transplanted cells killed off and replaced all of the patients' own lymphocytes, including the infected cells, and the donor cells were protected from becoming infected themselves by the antiretroviral therapy they were taking throughout the transplant period," said study senior author Dr. Daniel Kuritzkes, chief of infectious diseases at Brigham and Women's Hospital and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

Graft-versus-host disease also probably played a role, he said. "The replacement of host cells by donor cells is itself a form of graft-versus-host reaction," Kuritzkes explained.

But the only way to verify that the transplant plus antiretroviral therapy can eradicate HIV is to take the patients off their medication regimens.

That would be the "next logical step," said Kuritzkes, adding that this would require patient consent and adherence to ethics protocols.

But even if the transplant procedure were found to eliminate the reservoir of latent HIV cells, bone marrow transplantation is a very risky procedure. Kuritzkes said he does not "foresee bone marrow transplantation being performed on otherwise healthy HIV-infected patients who are doing well on

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Many drugs remain legal after "bath salts" ban

"FILE - In this Jan. 26, 2011 file photo, containers of bath salts, synthetic stimulants that mimic the effects of traditional drugs like cocaine and speed, sit on a counter at Hemp's Above in Mechanicsburg, Pa. On July 10, 2012, President Obama signed a law banning more than two dozen of the most common chemicals used to make the drugs. Over the past two years health care and law enforcement professionals have seen a surge in use of the drugs, often sold under the guise of bath salts, incense and plant food. (AP Photo/The Patriot-News, Chris Knight) MANDATORY CREDIT" title

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Joint Replacement Boosts Heart Attack Risk Right After Surgery: Study

HealthDay – 1 hr 40 mins ago MONDAY, July 23 (HealthDay News) -- People who have total hip or knee replacement surgery are about 30 times more likely to have a heart attack in the two weeks after the procedure, a new study finds.

Both surgeries are common treatments for arthritic hips and knees, with almost 2 million done around the world each year, the researchers noted.

"This study confirms the increased cardiac risk in the period following total hip and knee replacement," said lead researcher Dr. Arief Lalmohamed, from Utrecht University in the Netherlands. "Risk assessment and preoperative use of cardiovascular drugs may be necessary to reduce the risk of heart attack."

The effects of the operation are likely responsible for the increased risk of heart attack, Lalmohamed added. While the study showed an association between the two events, it did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

These side effects of surgery include the aftereffects of anesthesia on the cardiovascular system, blood loss, arrhythmias (irregular heartbeat) and lack of oxygen, all of which are known to increase risk of heart attacks, he said.

"In addition, the period before surgery itself is a very stressful time for the patient, even thinking about surgery increases cardiac risk," Lalmohamed said.

The report was published online July 23 in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

For the study, Lalmohamed's team used Danish registries to estimate the risk of heart attack after these operations.

In total, the researchers had data on more than 95,000 patients who underwent total hip or knee replacement surgery between January 1998 and December 2007.

The investigators compared the heart attack risk in these patients to more than 286,000 similar patients who didn't have surgery.

During the first two weeks after surgery, the risk for a heart attack was increased 25-fold for total hip replacement patients and 31-fold for total knee replacement patients, the study authors found.

The risk decreased rapidly after that, the researchers noted.

Six weeks after surgery, the absolute risk of a heart attack had dropped to 0.51 percent in patients who had a total hip replacement and 0.21 percent for those who had a total knee replacement, the investigators found.

The risk of having a heart attack was highest in those aged 60 and older, particularly patients aged 80 and older, and those who had experienced a heart attack in the six months before surgery. The latter increased the risk fourfold in the six weeks after the procedure, the authors noted.

"There is cardiac risk when a patient has a major operation," said Dr. Arthur Wallace, chief of the Anesthesia Service Veterans Affairs Medical Center in San Francisco.

"Anesthesiologists, surgeons and hospitalists need to use preoperative cardiac risk reduction to reduce that risk," added Wallace, who wrote an accompanying journal editorial.

Dr. Gregg Fonarow, a professor of cardiovascular medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that "total hip replacement and total knee replacement are commonly performed surgeries, yet the risk of heart attacks occurring during or in the weeks following surgery have not been well-defined compared to the general population."

This new study shows the risk of a heart attack after these surgeries is small in absolute terms (one in 200 to one in 500 patients), he said.

"This increased heart attack risk may be lessened by careful preoperative cardiovascular risk assessment, continuation of aspirin, use of statin medications and careful monitoring in the first two to six weeks after orthopedic surgery," Fonarow said.

More information

For more information on joint replacement, visit the U.S. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.

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German parliament defends circumcision after court ban

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Scientists see AIDS vaccine within reach after decades

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Weight gain after quitting smoking higher than previously thought

ScienceDaily (July 10, 2012) — Giving up smoking is associated with an average weight gain of 4-5 kg after 12 months, most of which occurs within the first three months of quitting, finds a study published on the British Medical Journal website.

See Also:Health & MedicineDiet and Weight LossFitnessObesitySmokingMen's HealthDiseases and ConditionsReferenceLiposuctionGeneral fitness trainingStretch marksOverweight

Although this figure is higher than previously thought, an accompanying editorial argues that the health benefits of quitting far outweigh this modest gain in body weight and should not deter people from quitting.

It is well known that giving up smoking is often followed by an increase in body weight, but estimates vary. Concern about weight gain is also widespread among smokers and it may deter some -- particularly women -- from trying to quit.

So a team of researchers based in France and the UK analysed the results of 62 studies to assess weight change among successful quitters -- with and without the help of nicotine replacement therapy -- after 12 months.

In untreated quitters, the average weight gain was 1.1 kg at one month, 2.3 kg at two months, 2.9 kg at three months, 4.2 kg at six months, and 4.7 kg at 12 months.

This is higher than the typical 2.9 kg often quoted in smoking cessation advice leaflets and more than the 2.3 kg many female smokers report being willing to tolerate, on average, before attempting to quit, say the authors.

However, the changes in body weight varied widely, with around 16% of quitters losing weight and 13% gaining more than 10 kg after 12 months. This, say the authors, indicates that the average value does not reflect the actual weight change of many people who give up smoking.

Estimates of weight gain for people using nicotine replacement therapy were similar, as were estimates from people especially concerned about weight gain.

Previous reports have underestimated the average amount of weight gained when people stop smoking, they conclude. "These data suggest that doctors might usefully give patients a range of expected weight gain."

They suggest that further research is needed to identify the people most at risk of gaining weight and to clarify the best way to prevent continued weight gain after quitting.

In an accompanying editorial, experts from the Catalan Institute of Oncology/University of Barcelona and University of Sydney say that more data is needed to settle this question, and they point out that previous studies have shown that many smokers gain more weight than never smokers for a few years, but then the rate of weight gain falls to that seen in people who have never smoked.

"Although obesity is positively associated with an increased risk of all cause mortality, cohort studies indicate that modest weight gain does not increase the risk of death; smoking does," they conclude.

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Dutch Euthanasia Rates Unchanged After Legalization

HealthDay – 1 hr 2 mins ago TUESDAY, July 10 (HealthDay News) -- The rates of euthanasia and assisted suicide in the Netherlands in 2010 were comparable to the rates before the practices became legal in 2002, a new study finds.

In euthanasia, a doctor administers lethal drugs to a patient who has requested that his or her life be ended. In assisted suicide, a patient self-administers lethal drugs provided by a doctor.

Researchers analyzed the Netherlands' death-registry data and found that the total number of euthanasia and assisted-suicide deaths in 2010 was 4,050, slightly less than 3 percent of all deaths.

The rates of euthanasia and assisted suicide in the Netherlands decreased between 2002 and 2005, but increased between 2005 and 2010. The increase was due largely to a rise in the number of patients requesting to end their lives, the researchers said.

The study was published online July 10 in the journal The Lancet.

Contrary to concerns expressed by critics, these findings show that "the frequency of physicians ending a patient's life in the absence of an explicit request does not seem to be increased in countries where euthanasia is legalized," lead author Bregje Onwuteaka-Philipsen, a professor at the VU University Medical Centre in Amsterdam, said in a journal news release. "In the Netherlands, it decreased significantly."

Euthanasia is legal in three countries: the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. Assisted suicide is legal in the aforementioned countries, as well as in Switzerland and the U.S. states of Montana, Oregon and Washington.

Dr. Bernard Lo, director of the program in medical ethics at the University of California, San Francisco, said in an accompanying editorial that the researchers should be commended "for their careful, rigorous study."

"But additional information from in-depth interviews in cases that raise ethical concerns is needed," said Lo, who also is president of the Greenwall Foundation, a bioethics research-funding foundation in New York City.

"How do physicians think through these difficult cases? What key ethical or clinical concepts are uncertain, misunderstood or might need modification? How do doctors talk with patients and families about these cases, and are there missed opportunities to improve such discussions?" Lo said. "By answering these questions, physicians can improve the quality of care for dying patients and their families irrespective of their views on euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide."

More information

The U.S. National Institute on Aging offers a guide on comfort and care for people nearing death.

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UN limits melamine in formula after China scandal

A U.N. commission has set a recommended limit on the amount of melamine allowed in liquid infant formula after a 2008 scandal in China in which six babies died from drinking formula and milk products containing the industrial chemical.

Two years ago, the U.N. food security body known as the Codex Alimentarius Commission set the maximum limit of melamine in powdered infant formula at 1 milligram per kilogram of formula. On Wednesday, the commission said it had adopted a limit for liquid formula at 0.15 milligrams/kilogram.

The recommendations are not binding. The commission, which is jointly run by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization, is made up of 184 government representatives plus the European Commission.

Melamine is used to make dishes and kitchenware, and trace amounts can sometimes get into food from packaging. In China, melamine was being added to watered-down milk to elevate protein levels. In addition to the six deaths, some 300,000 babies became sick after consuming the tainted formula and milk.

The U.N. commission also made recommendations to limit the spread of salmonella and listeria in pre-packaged melon slices. Codex said the exposed pulp from the fruit can become a breeding ground for bacteria and that the risk was increasing since melon is increasingly being sold in easy-to-eat slices. It recommended that melon be wrapped quickly and refrigerated at 4 degrees Centigrade (39.2 Fahrenheit) or less.

And Codex issued a warning about dried figs: the fruit can host carcinogenic aflaxotoxins, which are produced by mold, if not stored properly. The commission agreed to limit the amount of aflaxotoxins in dried figs at 10 micrograms/kilogram.

The commission, which wraps up its meeting Saturday, is expected to make recommendations on a big issue in livestock circles: the use of growth-promoting veterinary drugs. The commission plans to set maximum residue limits for these drugs, though its members are deeply divided on the issue.

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Berlin hospital suspends circumcisions after court ruling

"A baby is blessed by a group of Jewish priests belonging to his family in 2004 during a circumcision ceremony. Berlin's Jewish Hospital will suspend circumcisions after a German court ruled this week that performing the procedure on religious grounds is unlawful, a hospital spokesman said Friday. (AFP Photo/Menahem Kahana)" title

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Exercise Program Boosts Health After Lung Transplant: Study

HealthDay – 31 mins ago WEDNESDAY, June 27 (HealthDay News) -- A structured exercise program boosted the overall health of lung transplant patients and reduced their risk of cardiovascular problems, a new study reports.

Lung transplant patients often have weak muscles and limited physical endurance due to inactivity before the transplant and the drugs they must take after, the researchers said.

Many patients remain inactive after their transplant, and up to half develop conditions such as high cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, diabetes and osteoporosis, the study authors noted.

Exercise can help prevent these problems.

The new study included 40 patients with an average age of 59 who had single or double lung transplants. About half were assigned to a three-month exercise program while the rest (the control group) received usual care.

The patients in the exercise group did three 90-minute workouts per week after they were discharged from the hospital. The activities included cycling, walking, stair climbing and leg presses. Exercise intensity increased over the course of the training program.

The control group did not engage in the training regimen, but did perform daily mobility exercises -- such as walking, cycling and stair climbing -- for about six weeks after their surgery.

One year after being discharged from the hospital, patients in the exercise group were walking an average of 85 minutes a day, compared with 54 minutes for those in the control group.

The patients in the exercise group also had significantly more leg strength and self-reported physical functioning, could walk farther in six minutes, did much more physical activity and had lower blood pressure and better cardiovascular health than those in the control group.

The study was published in the June issue of the American Journal of Transplantation.

"Our study showed patients who had uncomplicated lung transplant surgery benefited greatly from supervised exercise training, which was initiated immediately after they were discharged from

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Diabetes Can Make a Comeback After Weight-Loss Surgery: Study

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Risk factors for heart attack remain low seven years after gastric bypass

ScienceDaily (June 20, 2012) — Total cholesterol, triglycerides and C-reactive protein levels are among 11 risk factors for heart attack that remained greatly reduced up to seven years after gastric bypass surgery, according to a new Stanford University study

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Some May Drink More After Weight-Loss Surgery: Study

HealthDay – 4 hrs ago MONDAY, June 18 (HealthDay News) -- The risk of alcohol problems goes up somewhat in patients who have undergone weight-loss surgery, but not until more than a year after undergoing the procedure, new research finds.

The study doesn't prove that the procedures directly boost the risk of alcohol problems, and it's not clear why the likelihood goes up in the second year after surgery instead of the first. However, previous research suggests that weight-loss surgery may disrupt how the bodies of patients absorb alcohol, giving more of a punch to individual drinks.

One weight-loss surgery specialist questioned the value of the study. But lead author Wendy King, a University of Pittsburgh assistant professor of epidemiology, said the findings "really point to the need for discussions of the benefits and risks to include this."

Weight-loss surgery, also known as bariatric surgery, aims to treat severe obesity by physically limiting the amount of food that the body can process. Several types of bariatric procedures allow physicians to accomplish this by shrinking the size of the stomach.

King said there have been reports in the media about patients who became alcoholics after the surgery, but research is lacking. So King and colleagues followed 2,458 patients -- with an average age of 47 years, 79 percent were female and 87 percent were white -- before and after they underwent weight-loss surgeries. The patients had the procedures between 2006 and 2011.

A year after surgery, the percentage of patients who showed signs of alcohol problems stayed steady at about 7 percent. But two years after the surgery, almost 10 percent showed signs of alcohol problems.

Still, "it's certainly not a surgery that going to make everyone become an alcoholic," King said. "That's not the case."

Alcohol problems were more common in younger patients, males and those who smoked, drank at least a couple of drinks a week or used drugs. Those who underwent a procedure known as Roux-en-Y gastric bypass were also more likely to develop alcohol problems, confirming the results of a Swedish study presented at the Digestive Disease Week conference in 2011.

That procedure, which restricts food intake by creating a small pouch out of the stomach, allows alcohol to be absorbed more quickly by the body, King explained.

Why might weight-loss surgery lead to higher rates of alcohol problems? King said there are several theories. Perhaps, she said, patients become tired of strict rules about what they eat and drink. Or maybe they develop new social lives that include drinking after losing large amounts of weight.

Dr. Edward Phillips, chief of general surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, pointed to another potential factor: Extremely obese people -- for example, a 450-pound man -- will lose some of their tolerance for alcohol consumption when they lose weight. "Some just don't realize that less alcohol produces as much or more of an effect," he said.

Despite the findings, weight-loss operations remain the best surgery for severely obese people, King said.

Dr. T. Karl Byrne, a professor of surgery and director of bariatric surgery at the Medical University of South Carolina, was unimpressed by the study, saying it's "not particularly useful."

"The rise in alcoholism after bariatric surgery doesn't seem that significant," he said. "Patients who are morbidly obese are addicted to food. If this addiction is altered or improved with bariatric surgery, there may be transfer of the addiction to alcohol, gambling, hypersexuality, spending and shopping, etc. It's not the surgery. It's the addictive personality."

Phillips, however, found the study useful and said it shows the importance of following up with patients over time, even years after a procedure. "Most patients don't come back if they are OK, or are embarrassed that they are regaining weight, or are using drugs or alcohol," he said.

The study was published online June 18 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

While the study found an association between weight-loss surgery and increased drinking, it did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

More information

For more about weight-loss surgery, try the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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Stem cells can be harvested long after death: study

"Stem cells are fed at the University of Connecticut's Stem Cell Institute in 2010. Some stem cells can lay dormant for more than two weeks in a dead person and then be revived to divide into new, functioning cells, scientists in France say. (AFP Photo/Spencer Platt)" title

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Female fat prejudice persists even after weight loss, study finds

ScienceDaily (May 29, 2012) — Overweight women may never escape the painful stigma of obesity - even after they have shed the pounds, new research suggests.

See Also:Health & MedicineObesityDiet and Weight LossMind & BrainDieting and Weight ControlNutrition ResearchScience & SocietyPublic HealthSportsReferenceBody mass indexOverweightGeneral fitness trainingNutrition and pregnancy

The study, by the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, The University of Manchester, and Monash University, examined whether anti-fat prejudice against women persisted even after they had lost significant weight and were now thin.

The researchers asked young men and women to read vignettes describing a woman who had either lost weight (70 pounds/32 kilograms) or had remained weight stable, and who was either currently obese or currently thin. Participants were then asked their opinions about this woman on a number of attributes, such as how attractive they found her, and their overall dislike for fat people.

The team found that participants in the study - published in the journal Obesity - expressed greater bias against obese people after reading about women who had lost weight than after reading about women who had remained weight stable, regardless of whether the weight-stable woman was thin or obese.

"We were surprised to find that currently thin women were viewed differently depending on their weight history," said Dr Janet Latner, study lead at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, US. "Those who had been obese in the past were perceived as less attractive than those who had always been thin, despite having identical height and weight."

One of the more disturbing findings from the study, the researchers noted, was that negative attitudes towards obese people increase when participants are falsely told that body weight is easily controllable.

Co-author, Dr Kerry O'Brien, from the University of Manchester's School of Psychological Sciences and Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, said: "The message we often hear from society is that weight is highly controllable, but the best science in the obesity field at the moment suggests that one's physiology and genetics, as well as the food environment, are the really big players in one's weight status and weight-loss.

"Weight status actually appears rather uncontrollable, regardless of one's willpower, knowledge, and dedication. Yet many people who are perceived as 'fat' are struggling in vain to lose weight in order to escape this painful social stigma. We need to rethink our approaches to, and views of, weight and obesity."

The findings, say the authors, demonstrate that residual obesity stigma persists against individuals who have ever been obese, even when they have lost substantial amounts of weight. Obesity stigma is so powerful and enduring that it appears to even outlast the obesity itself.

Dr Latner added: "Descriptions of weight loss, such as those often promoted on television, may significantly worsen obesity stigma. Believing that obese people can easily lose weight may make individuals blame and dislike obese people more.

"The findings demonstrate that residual obesity stigma persists against individuals who have ever been obese, even when they have lost substantial amounts of weight. Obesity stigma is so powerful and enduring that it may even outlast the obesity itself. Given the great number of people who may be negatively affected by this prejudice, obesity discrimination clearly needs to be reduced on a societal level."

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