Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0028754 (obesity)
 124,988 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The treatment of obesity is one of the major measures available today in the field of preventive medicine. In particular, the coronary epidemic of Western civilisation would be halted, and most cases of maturity-onset diabetes prevented, if obesity were to be treated effectively. Anorectic drugs act mainly on the satiety centre in the hypothalamus to produce anorexia. They also have various metabolic effects involving fat and carbohydrate metabolism, but many of these may be secondary to loss of weight. Most of the drugs are related directly or indirectly to amphetamine and in addition act by increasing general physical activity. Anorectic drugs tend to lose their effect after some months, and part of this reduction in effect may be due to chemical alterations produced by the drugs in the brain. All the drugs, with the exception of fenfluramine, have a stimulant effect on the central nervous system in some individuals, resulting in restlessness and nervousness, irritability and insomnia. Fenfluramine commonly produces drowsiness in normal doses, but has stimulant effects with overdosage. Dexamphetamine, phenmetrazine and benzphetamine all tend to cause euphoria and the risk of addiction is therefore considerable. Euphoria occasionally occurs with diethylpropion, phentermine and chlorphentermine, but to a much lesser extent. Side-effects also occur due to sympathetic stimulation and gastro-intestinal irritation. These side-effects may cause some individuals to stop taking the drug, but are never serious or dangerous. Drug interactions may occur with monoamine oxidase inhibitors and to a clinically unimportant extent, with antihypertensive drugs. The anorectic drugs have a very definite part to play in the treatment of obesity, mainly for those individuals who have altered their eating habits but have come to a plateau of weight which they find difficult to get below. The drugs are best given in a long-acting form and can safely be continued as long as weight loss persists, provided that the clinician exercises careful supervision. Dexamphetamine, phenmetrazine and benzphetamine should rarely be used because of the danger of addiction, and chlorphentermine is potentially hazardous for long-term use. Diethylpropion emerges as the drug of first choice, as fenfluramine has a tendency to cause depression and has a higher incidence of side-effects. Fenfluramine is mainly useful for people who are especially tense and for obese maturity-onset diabetics who have been unable to lose weight with the biguanides. Mazindol and phentermine appear to be useful as alternative drugs.
 ...
PMID:Anorectic drugs: use in general practice. 78 35

From 1984 in N.N. Burdenko Surgical clinic of I.M. Sechenov MMA more than 500 horizontal gastroplasties (HGP) were performed for the treatment of patients with extreme degree of alimentary-constitutional obesity. In 1996 for the first time in our country HGP was performed, including laparoscopic method, with use of regulated silicon bandage "Lap-Band" (LB) made by "Bioenterics", USA. Laparoscopic HGP was performed in 29 patients (7 males, 22 females), aged from 23 to 60 years, mean age was 34.2 +/- 10 years. Minimal body weight was 85 kg, maximal--180 kg, mean--131 +/- 27.2 kg. Mean body mass index was 47 +/- 9.9 kg/m2. Open operations were performed in 14 cases, laparoscopic operations--in 15 cases. 11 laparoscopies were performed in initial stages in very stout patients and in the absence of laparoscopic equipment. In 3 cases the conversion from laparoscopic to open operation was necessary: in 1st case because of hemorrhage from lesser omentum's vessels, when hemostasis cannot be performed by laparoscopy; in 2nd case as a result of bronchospasm associated with tense pneumoperitoneum in the patient with bronchial asthma; in 3rd case because of significant enlargement and rigidity of liver left lobe, which didn't permit to create the space for manipulations in cardial portion of the stomach. The mean bed day turnover after traditional HGP with LB and after laparoscopic HGP was 12.2 and 5.4 respectively. Intraoperative complication was observed in one case--hemorrhage from lesser omentum's vessels. One complication was observed in immediate postoperative period, on the 6th day after traditional HGP: the eventration as a result of hard diarrhea due to antibacterial treatment was diagnosed. One more complication was observed in a year after traditional HGP: small stomach evacuatory function disorders as a result of its significant dilatation. These disorders occurred because of gastric mucosa inflammatory edema, decrease of anastomosis diameter and frequent vomiting due to aspirin taking. In this case the repeated operation--bandage's reposition was performed. There were no other complications. The rate of repeated operations was 4% which agrees with literature data.
 ...
PMID:[Use of regulated silicone bandage in horizontal gastroplasty in patients with morbid obesity]. 1107 Jun 65

Anesthesiology is a stressful medical profession. While anesthesia in particular has become safer for the patient in the last decades, anesthesiology as a profession represents a medical field in which the professionals are permanently tense. The various reasons for this situation include the fact that anesthesiology is a team profession that requires perfect cooperation with other specialists. It also entails great responsibility for the patient's life, the daily use of "blind" invasive techniques, and last but not least the production pressure that characterizes the activity in the operating room. There are various methods to quantify professional stress and this article emphasizes the place of measurement of salivary cortisol in order to identify those stressful moments that are part of the anesthesiologist's routine activity, in addition to those individuals who are more prone to develop negative aspects of stress. It seems that there is a strong correlation between the high level of salivary cortisol and stressful events during patient management and also a correlation between this level and a high score of implicit job-stress. This reality created the need to look for remedies; some authors recommend a long list of measures to be taken in order to prevent or reduce the magnitude of professional stress. This list includes a continuous self-care attitude, consisting of having a balanced professional and personal life; adequate sleep; avoiding drugs, obesity, and "workaholic" behavior; as well as better use of leisure. Finally, more studies are needed to find out which preventive means may potentially reduce the risk of professional stress among anesthesiologists.
 ...
PMID:Professional stress in anesthesiology: a review. 2218 Jan 63

Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is an autoimmune subepidermal blistering disease that most commonly affects adults older than 60 years, whereas psoriasis vulgaris (PV) is a chronic immune-mediated disease that affects both children and adults. Bullous pemphigoid and PV may coexist with each other as well as with various other internal disorders, which may lead to early death. We report the case of a 35-year-old man with a 15-year history of PV and obesity who developed tense blisters with annular arrangement and normal-appearing perilesional skin localized mainly on the trunk, arms, and legs resembling linear IgA bullous dermatosis. This case demonstrated the development of BP in a patient with chronic PV and metabolic syndrome. Although the nature of this unique coincidence is not clear, methotrexate (MTX) seems to be first-line regimen for such cases.
 ...
PMID:Development of bullous pemphigoid in a patient with psoriasis and metabolic syndrome. 2781 22