Life is Healthy

The experimental anti-obesity drug tesofensine not only helps patients with obesity to lose weight, but also helps them to lose the right kind of weight and in the right places, researchers reported here at the 16th European Congress on Obesity (ECO). Danish researchers studied the effects of tesofensine on body composition, including body weight, fat mass, waist circumference, and sagittal diameter (a measure of the upper abdomen).

The team was led by Anders Sjodin, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Human Nutrition, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.

The study, presented on May 16, was a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 2b trial of 203 otherwise healthy men and women with obesity (defined as body mass index between 30 and 40).

After a diet and exercise lead-in period of 2 weeks, the patients were put on 24 weeks of tesofensine in once-daily doses of 0.25 mg, 0.5 mg, 1.0 mg, or corresponding placebo.

Body weight loss was 2.3 kg for the placebo group, 6.8 kg for the 0.25-mg group, 11.4 kg for the 0.50-mg group, and 12.7 kg for the 1.0-mg group.

Sagittal diameter decreased 0.6 cm in the placebo group, 2.1 cm in the 0.25-mg group, 3.3 cm in the 0.5-mg group, and 3.5 cm in the 1.0-mg group.

Waist circumference decreased 3.0 cm in the placebo group, 6.4 cm in the 0.25-mg group, 9.8 cm in the 0.5-mg group, and 9.8 cm in the 1.0-mg group.

Of particular importance to the research were the measurements for reduction in fat mass. Fat mass decreased 2.8 kg in the placebo group, 5.7 kg in the 0.25-mg group, 9.2 kg in the 0.5-mg group, and 10.1 kg in the 1.0-mg group. The reductions accounted for 108% of total weight loss in the placebo group, 85% in the 0.25-mg group, 81% in the 0.5-mg group, and 79% in the 1.0-mg group.

"Eighty percent [of the weight reduction] could be accounted for by a reduction in fat mass," said Dr. Sjodin.

"The concomitant decrease seen in sagittal diameter and waist circumference, therefore indicates that tenofensine is highly effective in reducing central obesity," Dr. Sjodin concluded.

Dr. Sjodin and his collaborators also claimed that tesofensine was shown to result in weight reductions that are twice that produced by currently available anti-obesity drugs.

Tesofensine acts by inhibiting the presynaptic uptake of the neurotransmitters noradrenaline, dopamine, and serotonin.

Source: Docguide.com

Spain's Drought: A Glimpse At Our Future?

Barcelona is a dry city. It is dry in a way that two days of showers can do nothing to alleviate. The Catalan capital's weather can change from one day to the next, but its climate, like that of the whole Mediterranean region, is inexorably warming up and drying out. And in the process this most modern of cities is living through a crisis that offers a disturbing glimpse of metropolitan futures everywhere.

Its fountains and beach showers are dry, its ornamental lakes and private swimming pools drained and hosepipes banned. Children are now being taught how to save water as part of their school day. This iconic, avant-garde city is in the grip of the worst drought since records began and is bringing the climate crisis that has blighted cities in Australia and throughout the Third World to Europe. A resource that most Europeans have grown up taking for granted now dominates conversation. Nearly half of Catalans say water is the region's main problem, more worrying than terrorism, economic slowdown or even the populists' favourite – immigration.

The political battles now breaking out here could be a foretaste of the water wars that scientists and policymakers have warned us will be commonplace in the coming decades. The emergency water-saving measures Barcelona adopted after winter rains failed for a second year running have not been enough. The city has had to set up a "water bridge" and is shipping in water for the first time in the history of this great maritime city.

A tanker from Marseilles with 36 million litres of drinking water unloaded its first cargo this week, one of a mini-fleet contracted to bring water from the Rhone every few days for at least the next three months. So humbled was Barcelona when prolonged drought forced it to ship in domestic water from Tarragona, 50 miles south along the Catalan coast, 12 days ago, that city hall almost delayed shipment and considered an upbeat publicity campaign to lift morale and international prestige.

The whole country is suffering from its worst drought in 40 years and the shipments from Tarragona prompted an outcry from regions who insist they need it more. For now the clashes are being soothed by intervention from Madrid, and plans to ship water from desalination plants in parched Almeria in Andalusia are shelved until October. But there is little indication of a strategy to deal not just with an immediate emergency but an ongoing crisis. Buying water on an epic scale from France has given the controversy an international aspect as French environmentalists question whether such a scarce natural resource should be sold as a commodity to another country.
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As I continue to read daily about this global crisis, it is obvious the pattern that has emerged throughout the world is the one that has been coming and warned about for years. Countries whether rich or poor are experiencing severe repercussions environmentally, and these effects are most pronounced regarding drought and water scarcity.

And once again we are seeing the truth about human nature which knows no nationality, race, creed, or political persuasion: We don't understand the urgency of the situation we are creating by our behavior until it begins to affect our lives. Are we then truly incapable as human beings of conserving freshwater? Of doing the right thing for our future? Of caring for those who live a world away? Has our society worldwide become so consumptive, selfish, and greedy, that even in the face of repercussions that threaten our very lives we will not change?

We are wasting the very substance that sustains our lives as if it will always be there. It won't. And if we as a species are going to ever survive this challenge, we must wake up to the reality surrounding our behavior that is contributing to the global water crisis.

And it will require:

Education. Education. Education.

Moral strength.

Moral will.

Moral conviction.

Then after that:

Global cooperation with water scarcity and waste being one of the main issues covered in any new global climate treaty that also prohibits making water a commodity to be sold at the expense of the right of humans to access to it. To commoditize it will only exacerbate inequality in its distribution which will lead to war.

Finally considering population in the developing world as one of the chief factors in any water policy and looking to educate people about family planning.

Effective water management being mandatory and enforced with particular emphasis on water footprints of nations being used to determine water policy much like carbon caps.

Effective water catchement and conservation techniques being taught to people in countries experiencing the worst droughts.

Agricultural methods such as drip irrigation that allow for the least amount of water to be used to grow crops without waste, with an emphasis on less water intensive crops being planted in areas with more severe conditions so that at least those who farm will still have an income to rely on.

Standing up to corporations that continue to privatize water for a profit, especially in poor countries in Africa, South America, and Asia.

Mandatory clean up of rivers and other waterways required with penalties assessed for those who do not comply. *Corporations must be made accountable for their actions.* Willfully polluting a river or other freshwater resource to save money knowing that such resources sustain humans and other species should be seen as an act of negligence punishable by law.

***All of us coming together to mitigate the amount of greenhouse gases we spew into the atmosphere that are making the conditions that cause drought.***

Declaring access to potable water a human right that is not to be commoditized at the expense of the weak and the poor, with an emphasis on holding companies like Coca Cola, Nestle, and private companies like Thames Water, American Water, Suez, Vivendi and other companies to stringent standards regarding price and quality. There must also be the threat of penalty for gouging customers or using the climate crisis as a vehicle to raise prices beyond what is needed to maintain water infrastructure.

However, can we do this? Are we capable as a species of coming together to do what needs to be done to ensure our continued survival? Is greed truly an overriding quality of human nature that cannot be overcome for the good of us and this planet?

Only through education and action will we know the answer to those questions and they must be answered because time is running out while we continue to look the other way while taking our most precious resource for granted.

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU

I stumbled across this great work of art / graffiti very well done and must have taken ages!
enjoy ;)

In a study conducted at Stanford University, obese patients who took probiotics after undergoing gastric bypass surgery lost more weight than patients who had the surgery but did not take the supplements. These findings were presented Tuesday during Digestive Disease Week 2008 by Dr. John M. Morton, during a session on the management of patients with obesity.


"We have better treatments for crack cocaine addiction than we do for obesity," Dr. Morton asserted, "but there has been a real revolution with bariatric (obesity) surgery. It provides strikingly durable weight loss...As a result, blood pressures will normalize...We have seen diabetes cure rates of 82 percent, and this can occur within weeks of surgery."

According to the World Health Organization: "probiotics are live microorganisms which, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit." Most probiotics are bacteria similar to the type normally found the people's guts, the "good" bacteria, which helps maintain a balance in the digestive tract and may confer natural protection against disease. The most common probiotics taken as supplements are Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium.

The trial involved 44 patients who underwent gastric bypass surgery and were randomly assigned to receive either 2.4 billion lactobacilli daily or no probiotic therapy for the next 6 months. Quality of life, hydrogen (H2) breath tests, vitamin B12 levels and weight were measured before surgery and at 3 and 6 months afterward.

At six months, the probiotic group had lower H2 breath tests, lower fasting insulin, lipoprotein A and triglyceride levels, and higher HDL cholesterol levels compared with the placebo group, although the differences were not statistically significant.

There was, however, a significantly greater improvement in quality of life in patients taking probiotics compared with those taking placebo.

"What was surprising was that probiotic patients lost more weight after surgery," Morton told Reuters Health. The study group lost 70 percent of their excess weight after 6 months compared with a loss of 66 percent of excess weight in controls.

He added, "This suggests that the cause of the weight increase may be bacterial...and may help explain the observation that fat people have fat friends...Some of it may be environmental and related to social factors, but it may also be related to high bacteria levels in some way."

"We know that probiotics have to be live cultures and you have to (ingest) a minimum of two billion colonies a day," Morton said. "We don't know exactly which probiotic organisms are best and how much to recommended...The populations vary. They are different in the gut flora in different patient types."

At the very least, probiotics are safe, Morton said. "There doesn't seem to be any downside to taking them," he added.

Source: Yahoo news

Remember Eli?

Eli has taken to chasing his tail (and catching it) again, an activity that apparently became an obsession when I was in London (he doesn't have to like me, apparently to miss my presence in the house during the day). Upon my return, it became routine for us to wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of a hissing, spitting cat fight taking place at the foot of the bed (and we only have the one cat).

Last Monday morning, I was sitting in the living room when I heard ear-splitting yowling coming from the kitchen. I ran into a scene straight out of a horror movie, as blood gushed from a three-inch gash at the end of Eli's tail. I simultaneously applied pressure and called the vet.

It turns out that he also had severely impacted anal glands (sorry if this grosses you out, I did warn you, though the blog is "Not Just About Cancer") and is hyperthyroid (this will mean medication for the rest of his life.

Every morning, I now find myself administering antibiotics and thyroid meds, then feeding wet food that has been sprinkled with metamucil to the cat, even before I have had coffee or breakfast.

And we haven't even begun to deal with the crazy (because although the anal glands and the thyroid problem may have made things worse, they aren't really the root of the problem).

OK, so maybe I feel a little sorry for him.


After fourteen years, it's hard not to be a little attached.

And he's always had a certain sociopathic charm.

I've got to go hold him down now, so that my spouse can change his bandages.

I didn't go to work today, and I need to be careful because it's starting to become a pattern for me. Anyway, I woke up and my right calve was aching--it had been aching all night. I decided to take the day off from everything--work and workouts. I think I might be pushing myself a little too hard.

But I'm seeing such great results in the way I look. I hate to stop anything I'm doing. I'm not really losing weight right now, but I'm firming up so much. I must've lost a good half inch from my thighs, and at least that much from other areas. In fact, my measurement under my breasts is 37 inches. My butt is 40. Waist about 33. Around my boobs it's 43. My waist when I started all of this was 45 inches. So I've lost an entire foot of fat from around my middle. When I think of it like that I'm amazed myself.

Here's the rotation plan that I'm doing for my diet: 1200 calories for three days, 1500 for four, and then a week at 1800. And then I start all over again. The diet includes lots of fruit and vegetables, lean meat like chicken and fish (certain kinds of fish like tuna and salmon), low fat dairy, and whole grains. I'm going to work up some menus ahead of time so I'm less likely to cheat. I'm also writing it all down. OK, that's to kick start me. Then after three weeks, I'm moving to a 1200 day, 1500 day, 1800 day and back again so my body doesn't get used to any kind pattern. I'm hoping that if I mix it up enough, I'll begin to see some progress on the scale again. I know that the scale isn't the only measure of success. But so many things make the scale important--even Weight Watchers.

So that's where I am now. Until next time.

Read about three more bloggers who have had success losing weight here. One of them, is Shauna, pictured here. She used to weigh 350 pounds and now weighs 175. She's written a book about her weight loss journey and her blog is at The Amazing Adventures of Diet Girl.