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GENEVA: Syria was in the dock at an urgent session of the United Nations Human Rights Council which began on Monday and which the US envoy said underscored the increasing international isolation of president Bashar al-Assad .
The United States, the European Union and Arab nations want to set up an international inquiry into atrocities by Syrian government forces.
Islamabad, May 2 (IANS) A son of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has been killed in Pakistan, a media report said.
Xinhua quoted Duniya TV as saying that one of bin Laden’s sons was killed in an operation. The report didn’t name him.
Osama bin Laden was killed Monday in a security operation in Pakistan’s Abbotabad city, less than 100 km from the Pakistan capital.
US President Barack Obama said that the US launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad.
“A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. No Americans were harmed. They took care to avoid civilian casualties. After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body,” said Obama.
Washington, Sept 20 (ANI): As cold and flu season approaches, giving up junk food for more healthy options would help maintain a strong immune system.
Dr Ara DerMarderosian, professor of pharmacognosy for University of the Sciences in Philadelphia and an expert in nutraceuticals and natural foods, have provided guidance to change how you eat and break habits that pack on the pounds and compromise immunity.
? Don’t play “food police”
Be conscious of what and how much you eat, but don’t overdo self-monitoring to the point that a healthy lifestyle shifts from being a choice to becoming overwhelming, pushing other activities away and interfering with relationships.
? Pay attention to true hunger
Listen to your hunger signals and refrain from eating when you’re not hungry. Eating when your body doesn’t need food can cause you to overindulge.
? Eat slowly
Eat like a gourmet – enjoy each bite to have, chewing methodically, and truly enjoy the taste of your food. Eating slowly gives your body time to break down the food, which can prevent post-meal indigestion and feeling bloated.
? Focus on eating
Do not watch television, read or work while you eat. When you’re not focused on eating, it’s unlikely you’ll notice how much is going in your mouth.
? Avoid eating when stressed
Stress is a well-known cause of overeating and digestive issues, such as heartburn. A relaxing atmosphere, enjoyable company and conversation, and not feeling rushed for time makes for a healthy meal.
? Everything in moderation
Eating food is pleasurable, so enjoy a few morsels of candy, but limit the quantity. (ANI)
Landi Kotal (Pakistan), Sep 19 (ANI): Following a warning issued by the leader of a terrorist organization, hundreds of Bara residents fled their houses to move to safer places before the last day of Eidul Fitr festivities.
On Friday morning, Lashkar-i-Islam (LI) chief Mangal Bagh issued a warning over his illegal FM radio station, saying that people should take cover as his armed outfit was about to retaliate the military operation in Bara, The Dawn reports.
Earlier, the militant leader had said that his private miltia would not resist the operation in the area.
Traders and shopkeepers of Bara bazaar have shifted their merchandise to safer places, it has been learned.
Meanwhile, the bullet-riddled body of Wahid son of Hanan, who was kidnapped by Lashkar activists a day earlier, was found in Jamrud Khwar area.
A note was found with the dead body saying that anyone found assisting the security forces would meet the similar fate.
Earlier, the FC media cell had appealed the locals to help security forces in their operation against militants. (ANI)
New York, Sep 19 (ANI): Actress Suzanne Somers, who is herself a cancer survivor, thinks that chemotherapy has killed Patrick Swayze.
The ‘Three’s Company’ star gave her opinion on the ‘Ghost’ star’s death while speaking to Shinan Govani at the party for Tom Ford’s movie, ‘A Single Man’, at the Toronto Film Festival.
“They took a beautiful man” and “put poison in his body,” the New York Post quoted her as saying.
Somers, who has a book about cancer coming out next month, said: “Why couldn’t they have built him up nutritionally and gotten rid of the toxins? . . . I hate to be this controversial . . . but I have to speak out.”
Other stars present at the party included Julianne Moore, Naomi Watts, Clive Owen, and Colin Firth. (ANI)
London, September 19 (ANI): Michael Jackson’s completely new signature dance move in a new footage while rehearsing for his comeback concerts may soon become a rage amongst his fans.
The King of Pop, in the move, being called as the Penguin, was seen flapping his right arm up and down very quickly as his body shimmied while standing on the spot.
Jackson was spotted doing the hilarious Penguin in the video, thought to be from the This Is It movie rehearsal footage, as renowned choreographer Kenny Ortega coached and watched him over, reports the Sun.
The move was due to expand his signature repertoire of dance steps including the legendary Moonwalk, Anti-Gravity Lean, and Crotch Grab.
It would be no surprise if kids and adults tried to ape the Jackson Penguin, which West End star Ricko Baird said was not easy to imitate.
He said: “Michael was just so talented and he made it all look so easy. Some of his moves like the Moonwalk – and now the Penguin – are actually very difficult and need a lot of practice.”
Business analyst Christian Severina, 35, London, said: “I love Michael Jackson and I love his dancing. But this was really tricky to do it with the same grace and speed he does it. I ended up looking like I was having a fit.”
Hannah Turner, 16, of Essex, added: “Oh my god I look like such a wally. Only Michael Jackson can make that look cool.” (ANI)
London, Sep. 19 (ANI): Even before South African star athlete Caster Semenya’s gender was questioned at the World Championships in Berlin, Athletics South Africa (ASA) had found out and withheld the fact that she had internal testes, an e-mail exchange has revealed.
According to the e-mail exchanges published in the Mail and Guardian newspaper, ASA officials were aware of the findings of a Pretoria clinic that Semenya had internal testes and produced abnormal amounts of testosterone for a woman, Times Online reports.
It was ASA’s chief medical officer and team doctor, Harold Adams, who had suggested the need carrying out the tests on Semenya, 18, because of her deep voice, muscular body and facial hair, which later became a subject of controversy in Berlin.
Another email exchange shows that Adams later suggested that the results to be kept confidential while the South African team was in Berlin.
“Thinking about the current confidential matter, I would suggest we make the following decisions. 1. We get a gynae opinion and take it to Berlin. 2. We do nothing and I will handle these issues if they come up in Berlin,” the report quoted from Dr Adams’ email to ASA President Leonard Chuene and General Manager Molatelo Malehopo, as saying.
Following the IAAF establishing that Semenya was a hermaphrodite, South African officials not only angrily denounced it, but also denied carrying out their own tests.
Taking matters a step further, South African Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile lost his temper at a press conference and threatened to start a “third world war” if Semenya was banned from international competition because of her gender.
Earlier, Semenya’s ex-coach Wilfred Daniels had said the ASA had duped Semenya into thinking the gender test carried out on her were routine drug tests. (ANI)
Kuala Lumpur, Sep 18 (ANI): A horny orang minyak, which is supposed to be a ghost in Malay culture, is said to be terrorising about 300 families in Sungai Petani, picking homes where there are young women.
According to Kosmo!, Nurshahirah, 17, revealed that she was awakened at 5.40am on September 14 after she felt a warm sensation on her left ear, and when she opened her eyes she saw an apparition with curly hair and thick moustache standing by her bed.
“I was even more shocked when the ghost took off his kain pelikat and started to fondle himself,” the Star Online quoted her as saying.
Nurshahirah, who lives in Taman Keladi, said she felt powerless to ward off the apparition who started to grope her body, and that it was as though a charm had been placed on her.
In another incident, housewife Fatimah, 42, revealed she heard her two daughters crying out when they were woken up at 5am by dark apparitions that molested them.
Her 15-year-old daughter told her that she had been “violated” by a ghost.
“At first I thought she was talking in her sleep but she insisted that she was molested by a ghost before it moved to the kitchen,” Fatimah said.
She said her 14-year-old, too, cried and ran from the living room, saying a dark apparition had molested her.
“My 14-year-old daughter said she managed to kick the ghost who wore a kain pelikat and black singlet when she felt her body being touched,” she revealed.
“She screamed and the ghost ran out of her room,” she added.
Fatimah said she gave chase with a parang but the apparition disappeared.
She also said the apparition could have placed a charm on her family because none of the neighbours heard her daughters’ screams. (ANI)
Tehran, Sep. 18 (ANI): The father of an Iranian student, who died in jail after being arrested for protesting against President Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election, has claimed that his son was beaten, got his bones broken and toenails pulled out while in prison.
Amir Javadifar, 24, was so badly beaten that he had to treated in hospital before being taken to the notorious Evin prison, Times Online reports.
Later, his father was called to collect his dead body. And, they ordered his family to say that he had died of a pre-existing condition.
“My son was not involved in politics. He loved his motherland – that’s all. I alone mourn him,” the report quoted his father, as saying.
According to reports prepared by the country’s opposition, Javadifar was just one among scores of alleged cases of murder, torture and rape. And, security forces have engaged in systematic killing and torture to try to break the opposition, the report adds.
“The use of rape and torture was similar across prisons in Tehran and the provinces. It is difficult not to conclude that the highest authorities planned and ordered these actions. Local authorities would not dare take such actions without word from above,” the report quoted one investigator referring to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as saying.
The documents suggest that at least 200 demonstrators were killed in Tehran, with 56 others still unaccounted for, and that 173 were killed in other cities.
According to the report, the documents also suggest that a chain of unofficial, makeshift prisons has been set up across Iran where rape and torture are common practice.
In Tehran alone, 37 young men and women claim to have been raped by their jailers. Doctors’ reports say that two males, aged 17 and 22, died as a result of severe internal bleeding after being raped, the report adds.
Female rape victims were mostly held for days, the report claims, adding that some victims had said that their jailers claimed to have “religious sanction” to violate them as they were “morally dirty”. (ANI)
Washington, Sep 18 (ANI): A jab of biomaterial gel into a spinal cord injury site may significantly improve healing, according to researchers at the Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center.
Dr. Mark Preul and Dr. Alyssa Panitch have found in a study that injection of an engineered hydrogel made up mainly of hyaluronic acid (a naturally-occurring body substance) into the spinal cord injury site decreases scarring, and promotes a realignment of the spinal cord fibres around the injury site.
The hyaluronic acid, which forms a scaffold-like configuration may help to structurally stabilize the spinal cord injury site.
The researchers traced cells in the brain stem after injury, and found much higher levels in the hydrogel treated animals as compared to animals that did not receive the treatment, and approached nearly normal levels.
Treated animals had higher functional scores than their non-treated counterparts.
“Spinal cord injury is devastating to civilian and military populations – especially to the young. There has been little progress toward paradigms of regeneration and few results that show real, sustained functional recovery. We’ve been so pre-occupied with regeneration, but that is a highly complicated and difficult to define goal. This project is a synergy of neurosurgeons and bioengineers that attempts repair of the SCI lesion cavity using a tissue-engineering biomaterials approach,” says Preul.
He added that the team aimed at finding ways to structurally allow the body to better heal itself.
“In this project we did not add anything to the hyaluronic acid. It may be that adding growth factors or cells into the gel matrix may allow even better results,” he said.
Preul said that the results show “we may be on a practical path that can give hope to the many people who suffer this sort of injury.”
The work was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons in San Diego where it won the Synthes Prize for Spine Research. (ANI)
Washington, Sept 18 (ANI): A simple vaccine may soon be available to protect against urinary tract infections, thanks to researchers from University of Michigan.
The study conducted over mice showed that the vaccine prevented infection and produced key types of immunity.
It alerts the immune system to iron receptors on the surface of Escherichia coli bacteria that perform a critical function allowing infection to spread.
Administered in the nose, it induces an immune response in the body’s mucosa, a first line of defense against invading pathogens. The response, also produced in mucosal tissue in the urinary tract, should help the body fight infection where it starts.
The researchers used novel systematic approach, combining bioinformatics, genomics and proteomics, to look for key parts of the bacterium that could be used in a vaccine to elicit an effective immune response.
The team, led by Dr. Harry L.T. Mobley, screened 5,379 possible bacterial proteins and identified three strong candidates to use in a vaccine to prime the body to fight E. coli.
Mobley’s team is currently testing more strains of E. coli obtained from women treated at U-M.
If the robust immunity achieved in mice can be reproduced in humans, it could be the first ever vaccine for urinary tract infections.
Most of the strains produce the same iron-related proteins that can be vaccine targets, an encouraging sign that the vaccine could work against many urinary tract infections.
The findings are published in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens. (ANI)
Washington, Sept 18 (ANI): Jennifer Aniston is known for her super svelte body in Hollywood and world over. However, she made heads turn at Los Angeles premiere of “Love Happens” by sporting a bit of a pooch.
The 40-year-old, who was wearing a sequined mini on the Tuesday event, also drew attention because of her sexy toned legs.
“It’s a team of people! I really am physical everyday, it keeps all of the pistons firing,” Aniston recently told FOX News’ Pop Tarts.
“Being physically in shape is important, especially when you have to sometimes work 13-16 hour days,” she added.
Love Happens is a romantic drama that places Aniston opposite “The Dark Knight” hunk Aaron Eckhart. (ANI)
Washington, Sept 18 (ANI): Scientists at University of California, San Diego have identified certain insulin-regulating genes that can also alter the timing of the body clock.
They said that the findings can lead to new approaches to treating disorders such as metabolic syndrome that can result, at least in part, from chronic disruption of the sleep-wake cycle.
“People knew that the clock regulates many different processes, but what they didn’t realize what that when you tweak those processes, it feeds back and alters the clock,” said Steve Kay, Dean of the Division of Biological Sciences at the University of California, San Diego, who led the study along with John Hogenesch of the University of Pennsylvania.
A molecular clock controls daily physiological rhythms in many types of cells, even cells grown in culture.
By engineering cultured cells to glow yellow when a particular clock gene switched on, the team made the cycle visible. They then interfered with every human gene to see which would shift the clock. They found that hundreds altered the timing.
“We just suddenly discovered 350 new genes that affect the clock that weren’t known before,” Kay said.
However, subsequent screening to confirm the genes’ effect on a second clock gene narrowed the list to 200.
Seven genes involved in insulin control also influenced the rhythms of the clock.
“What came out very strongly was this close relationship between circadian regulation and insulin signalling. There’s a reciprocal relationship between circadian dysfunction and metabolic dysfunction,” said Kay.
The researchers suggest that genetically altered mice with malfunctioning clocks become obese and develop diet-induced diabetes.Understanding this close relationship between circadian regulation and metabolic homeostasis should provide novel ways of identifying new therapies for metabolic disease,” Kay added.
The study appears in journal Cell. (ANI)
Washington, Sep 18 (ANI): Scripps Research Institute scientists have offered new hope for parents whose children suffer from the rare genetic disorder ‘cystinosis’ by showing through an experiment on mice that stem cell transplantation can successfully correct the defect.
“After meeting the children who suffer from this disease, like an 18-year-old who has already had three kidney transplants, and the families who are desperately searching for help, our team is committed to moving toward a cure for cystinosis, a lysosomal storage disorder. This study is an important step toward that goal,” said principal investigator Stephanie Cherqui.
In the study, the researchers used bone marrow stem cell transplantation to address symptoms of cystinosis in a mouse model.
The procedure virtually halted the cystine accumulation responsible for the disease, and the cascade of cell death that follows.
Cystine is a by-product of the break down of cellular components the body no longer needs in the cell’s “housekeeping” organelles, called lysosomes.
Normally, cystine is shunted out of cells, but in cystinosis a gene defect of the lysosomal cystine transporter causes it to build up, forming crystals that are especially damaging to the kidneys and eyes.
Cystinosis is a rare but devastating disease affecting children as young as six months, who begin to suffer renal dysfunction, which grows progressively worse with time. Other symptoms include diabetes, muscular disease, neurological dysfunction, and retinopathy.
The only available drug to treat cystinosis, cysteamine, while slowing the progression of kidney degradation, does not prevent it, and end-stage kidney failure is inevitable.
In the new study, the researchers found that transplanted bone marrow stem cells carrying the normal lysosomal cystine transporter gene abundantly engrafted into every tissue of the experimental mice.
This led to an average drop in cystine levels of about 80 percent in every organ.
Not only it prevented kidney dysfunction, there was less deposition of cystine crystals in the cornea, less bone demineralization, and an improvement in motor function.
“The results really surprised and encouraged us. Because the defect is present in every cell of the body, we did not expect a bone marrow stem cell transplant to be so widespread and effective,” says Cherqui.
Cherqui said that adult bone marrow stem cell therapy is particularly well suited as a potential treatment for cystinosis because these cells target all types of tissues.
In addition, stem cells reside in the bone marrow for the duration of a patient’s life, becoming active as needed, a particular benefit for a progressive disease like cystinosis.
The study has been published in the journal Blood. (ANI)
Washington, Sep 17 (ANI): It seem that Megan Fox is tired of her fame and sexiness, for she doesn’t want to let people know more about herself.
The 23-year-old actress is currently promoting new film ‘Jennifer’s Body’ at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Although the ‘Transformers’ star never complains about being the hottest female star in Hollywood, she does seem a little tired of all the attention she is getting.
Asked whether playing a high-schooler made her nostalgic for her own high school days, Fox dodged the question saying that she’d instead like to “go back to a time where I didn’t have any responsibility.”
In fact, she seemed wary of the exposure she has had recently.
“I feel like I cling to my privacy and I don’t need to expose myself further to people,” Fox News quoted her as saying. (ANI)
Melbourne, Sept 16 (ANI): The hype created by celebrity yummy mummies like Angelina Jolie and Jessica Alba has put women under pressure to lose weight quickly after giving birth, reveals a new Australian study.
The study conducted by Deakin University showed that more than one in four women are “usually or always dissatisfied” with their post-baby body.
Researcher Lucia Bongiorno said that the hype created by celebrity yummy mummies has also contributed to an unrealistic ideal.
“People are obsessed with celebrity babies and celebrity pregnancies,” the Courier Mail quoted her as saying.
“Babies have become a must-have sort of item,” she added.
Although the study involving 346 mothers of infants aged 1-12 months compare themselves with their peers with babies and child-free friends, they felt the most pressure to lose post-baby weight from the media.
Moreover, some fathers also pressured their partners not to gain too much weight while pregnant and to lose it quickly after giving birth.
Bongiorno said while mums compared themselves most to peers, their peers were also likely to be influenced by the same media images.
“Both mothers and their peers with new babies, when confronted by media pictures of celebrity mothers such as Bec Hewitt, are saying ‘I’ve got to look like that’,” she said.
“But celebrity mothers typically have nannies and personal trainers … the average mother doesn’t. So such an expectation is unfair on themselves,” she added.
The study will be presented at the Australian Psychological Society conference in Darwin. (ANI)
Washington, September 16 (ANI): In a new research, a team of scientists has unraveled the chemical evolution of the orange-brownish colored atmosphere of Saturn’s moon Titan, the only solar system body besides Venus and Earth with a solid surface and thick atmosphere.
Scientists at University of Hawai’i at Manoa carried out the research.
The UH Manoa team, including Xibin Gu and Seol Kim, conducted simulation experiments mimicking the chemical reactions in Titan’s atmosphere utilizing crossed molecular beams in which the consequence of a single collision between molecules can be followed.
The team’s experiments indicate that triacetylene can be formed by a single collision of a “radical” ethynyl molecule and a diacetylene molecule.
An ethynyl radical is produced in Titan’s atmosphere by the photodissociation of acetylene by ultraviolet light.
Photodissociation is a process in which a chemical compound is broken down by photons.
“Surprisingly, the photochemical models show inconsistent mechanisms for the production of polyynes,” said Kaiser, who is the principal investigator of this study.
The mechanism involved in the formation of triacetylene, was also confirmed by accompanying theoretical calculations by Alexander Mebel, a theoretical chemist at Florida International University.
These theoretical computations also provide the 3D distribution of electrons in atoms and thus the overall energy level of a molecule.
To apply these findings to the real atmosphere of Titan, Danie Liang and Yuk Yung, planetary scientists at Taiwan’s Academia Sinica and California Institute of Technology (Caltech), respectively, performed photochemical modeling studies of Titan’s atmosphere.
All data together suggest that triacetylene may serve as a building block to form more complex and longer polyynes and produce potential precursors for the aerosol-based layers of haze surrounding Titan.
The study demonstrated for the first time that a sensible combination of laboratory simulation experiments with theory and modeling studies can shed light on decade old unsolved problems crucial to understand the origin and chemical evolution of the solar system.
The researchers hope to unravel next the mystery of the missing ethane lakes on Titan – postulated to exist for half a century, but not detected conclusively within the framework of the Cassini-Huygens mission.
In the future, the UH Manoa team will combine the research results with terrestrial-based observations of Titan’s atmosphere. (ANI)
Melbourne, September 16 (ANI): An Australian study suggests that men seem to be more concerned about what their mates think rather than their partners, when it comes to the stature and size of their penis.
Annabel Chan, a PhD student at Melbourne’s Victoria University who obtained penis measurements from more than 500 men worldwide, describes this phenomenon as the “locker room syndrome”.
She has revealed that the men also answered questions designed to probe the link between penis size, male body image and mental health.
“It’s the locker room syndrome,” the Courier Mail quoted her as saying.
“That’s when they feel they should be bigger whereas when they are on their own they are actually quite happy with themselves,” she added.
During the study, the researchers asked the men, aged 18 to 76, to indicate their ideal body size, and compare that to what they believed other men would nominate.
About 65 per cent of the participants said that their ideal male body size would be smaller than the ideal size suggested by others.
The men were also asked whether they believed they would be a better sexual partner if they had a bigger penis.
Chan said: “(The men were) more concerned about how their overall body-size compared to the perceived male ideal than they are about how their size might impact on their sexual relations.”
The online survey asked men to measure their erect penises.
Chan said that she expected to receive some overstated measurements, but the self-reported data fell within the normal range of about 10 to 15cm.
“I thought people would report themselves as being very big, but they have been quite average,” she said.
The study showed that men with larger than average penises also reported higher levels of self-esteem, better general health and higher overall body satisfaction.
It further revealed that men who were happy with the size of their penis were also less likely to have used an online dating service, or to have used Viagra.
Overweight men had lower self-esteem, higher body dissatisfaction and greater use of the Internet for socialising, said the researchers.
“We have relatively little data about the body image of men because most of the research in this area concentrates on women,” Chan said.
“It means men don’t really get much help in terms of therapy, and options out there to get help,” she added. (ANI)
London, Sep 16 (ANI): A technology that was claimed as the ultimate solution to give a boost to women’s breasts by using fat removed from thighs is not viable as it seems, say experts.
Mel Graham, chairman of the Harley Medical Group, recently claimed that the “two for one” procedure could extract excess fat from where it was not wanted – the belly, hips or thighs – and relocate it to the bust.
However, rival cosmetic surgeons criticised the “hype” surrounding the new operation, insisting that it was “premature”.
“(This) is setting consumers up for disappointment and there are many reasons for vigilance,” the Independent quoted Dai Davies, of Plastic Surgery Partners in Harley Street, as saying.
He said that doctors have long been experimenting with innumerable aids to give women larger busts, including using body fat as a procedure.
The technique of removing fat by liposuction, and then injecting it into the chest has been tried for almost 20 years but with limited success, said Davies.
“Where you are injecting small amounts of fat into the face, which has a good blood supply, there is good evidence that it works. Most plastic surgeons would agree there is a place for it. But this involves injecting a large blob of fat into the breast area. Fat consists of living cells and living cells must have a blood supply, otherwise they die,” he explained.
In a Japanese study last year, 230 women underwent fat transfer, and it was found that, on average, half the fat injected was lost and all the women needed a second procedure after a year.
There are also fears that dying fat cells could cause micro-calcification in the breast leading to difficulties in breast screening and an increase in biopsies – an invasive procedure to remove tissue to check for cancer.
“I don’t think we should be a testing ground for all these techniques. You are feeding on a susceptible group of people. There should be controls but, sadly, the Government has decided it won’t implement regulation,” said Davies.
Professor David Sharpe, a plastic surgeon in Yorkshire and the founding chairman of the breast special interest group of BAAPS, said: “This sounds like another example of creative marketing. Breast implants are a well-tried and tested method. At the moment, I would stick with that.”
Mel Braham, chairman of the Harley Medical Group, said results of a US trial to be presented next month would demonstrate the success of the operation.
“The results will be assessed by our medical board and, if approved, the operation will be introduced next year. I don’t take risks with patients. I am confident this is a safe procedure,” he said. (ANI)
Washington, Sep 16 (ANI): Ever wondered how some people successfully maintain a significant weight loss, while others tend to regain the weight? Well, researchers at The Miriam Hospital attribute such tendencies to a difference in brain activity patterns.
The researchers showed that when individuals who had kept the weight off for several years were shown pictures of food, they were more likely to engage the areas of the brain associated with behavioural control and visual attention, as compared to obese and normal weight participants.
The findings of the study suggest that successful weight loss maintainers may learn to respond differently to food cues.
“Our findings shed some light on the biological factors that may contribute to weight loss maintenance. They also provide an intriguing complement to previous behavioral studies that suggest people who have maintained a long-term weight loss monitor their food intake closely and exhibit restraint in their food choices,” said lead author Dr. Jeanne McCaffery.
Long-term weight loss maintenance continues to be a major problem in obesity treatment.
Participants in behavioural weight loss programs lose an average of 8 to 10 percent of their weight during the first six months of treatment, and will maintain approximately two-thirds of their weight loss after one year.
However, despite intensive efforts, weight regain appears to continue for the next several years, with most patients returning to their baseline weight after five years.
The researchers used functional magnetic resource imaging (fMRI) to study the brain activity of three groups- 18 individuals of normal weight, 16 obese individuals (defined as a body mass index of at least 30), and 17 participants who have lost at least 30 lbs and have successfully maintained that weight loss for a minimum of three years.
When the participants were shown pictures of food items after a four-hour fast, it was found that those in the successful weight loss maintenance group responded differently to these pictures compared to the other groups.
Specifically, researchers observed strong signals in the left superior frontal region and right middle temporal region of the brain – a pattern consistent with greater inhibitory control in response to food images and greater visual attention to food cues.
“It is possible that these brain responses may lead to preventive or corrective behaviors – particularly greater regulation of eating – that promote long-term weight control. However, future research is needed to determine whether these responses are inherent within an individual or if they can be changed,” said McCaffery.
The study has been published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. (ANI)
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