The Mood Of Depressed People Improves With Weight Loss.

Research to be presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB), July 28 - August 1, 2009, the foremost society for research into all aspects of eating and drinking behavior, finds that after a 6-month behavioral weight loss program, depressed patients not only lost 8% of their initial weight but also reported significant improvements in their symptoms of depression, as well as reductions in triglycerides, which are a risk factor for heart disease and stroke. The results of this study highlight the need for further research into the effects of weight loss in individuals suffering from psychiatric disorders. "This research is novel because clinically depressed individuals are not usually included in weight loss trials due to concerns that weight loss could worsen their depression," said Dr. Lucy Faulconbridge, lead author of the study. "These concerns, however, are not based on empirical evidence, and the practice of excluding depressed individuals from clinical weight loss trials means that we are learning nothing about this high-risk population."

New Report Advises On How To Reduce Health Inequalities, UK.

A new report, "The Intelligent Board 2009: Commissioning to reduce inequalities", produced by an independent reference group of experts, encourages Primary Care Trust (PCT) Boards to review their understanding of health inequalities in their communities so that they can be addressed. Supported by Dr Foster, a public/private partnership that aims to improve the quality and efficiency of health and social care, the report states that tackling health inequalities is one of the most complex and important tasks facing the healthcare system. The report calls for Primary Care Trusts to use their commissioning power to direct res, build partnerships and reshape services to secure better outcomes for all. Jenne Dixit, Equality and Diversity Manager says: "We welcome the report as it encourages PCTs to do more to address health inequalities. We know that people from deprived areas are 2.5 times more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes.

Delays In Defibrillation Not Explained By Traditional Hospital Factors.

Traditional hospital factors-such as case volume and academic status-do not appear to predict whether patients with cardiac arrest at that facility are likely to experience delays in receiving defibrillation, according to a report in the July 27 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The American Heart Association recommends that defibrillation be performed within two minutes of cardiac arrest, according to background information in the article. Longer delays to defibrillation are associated with lower survival rates following cardiac arrest in the hospital. Previous studies have found that factors associated with individual patients, such as being admitted to the hospital for a non-cardiac diagnosis and experiencing cardiac arrest on evenings and weekends, predicted delayed defibrillation. However, less is known about whether differences between hospitals are associated with these delays.

A Swiss Army Knife For Nanomedicine: All-In-One Nanoparticle.

Nanoparticles are being developed to perform a wide range of medical uses -- imaging tumors, carrying drugs, delivering pulses of heat. Rather than settling for just one of these, researchers at the University of Washington have combined two nanoparticles in one tiny package. The result is the first structure that creates a multipurpose nanotechnology tool for medical imaging and therapy. The structure is described in a paper published online this week in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. "This is the first time that a semiconductor and metal nanoparticles have been combined in a way that preserves the function of each individual component," said lead author Xiaohu Gao, a UW assistant professor of bioengineering. The current focus is on medical applications, but the researchers said multifunctional nanoparticles could also be used in energy research, for example in solar cells.