Sunday Times – 17 June 2007-07-02

Breast jobs are more popular than ever, but it’s the middle classes who are the new candidates. Businesswomen, mums, marrieds and over-40s are all getting in on the act, but you wouldn’t know it. Our correspondent reports on the subtle new teardrop shape that gives you back your twentysomething figure

Breast enhancement is now the most common cosmetic-surgery operation in the western world. In Britain, boob jobs have been steadily gaining popularity since the 1960s, but last year the number of operations rose by 30%. The official statistics from the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) say that 6,156 breast augmentations were carried out in 2006, but, since many practitioners are not members of BAAPS, experts agree that trebling that figure would give a more accurate picture.
Talk to any surgeon, and they’ll tell you that the reason for the sudden increase is that intelligent, middle-class, thoroughly un-Barbie-ish women want to improve their cleavage – subtly. The women looking for juicier jugs are not dolly birds. They are businesswomen, mums, marrieds, divorcées and well over 30. They don’t want Playboy-bunny, look-at-me tits – they just don’t want pity-me ones. These are women whose beauty icons are Cate Blanchett and Nigella Lawson. They don’t even want new boobs, really; they just want the old ones back. And, these days, they can get them. Changes in the operation have helped: the old-style missiles occurred because the silicone sac (saline was always the other option, but, frankly, not as good) was placed on top of the pectoral muscle. For the latest “teardrop�, Liz Hurley-style shape, you can elect to have the sac placed under the muscle. You can also choose a slightly pendulous silicone sac, to avoid the lap-dancer look.
Rest of article at: http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/beauty/article1913119.ece

Authors: Baltasar, Aniceto1; Serra, Carlos2; Pérez, Nieves2; Bou, Rafael2; Bengochea, Marcelo2; Ferri, Lirios2
Source: Obesity Surgery, Volume 15, Number 8, September 2005 , pp. 1124-1128(5)
Publisher: Springer

Abstract:
Background: The use of the laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG), a restrictive operation, in different settings, is presented.
Methods: 31 patients underwent LSG in the following groups: 1) 7 patients with very high BMI as a first stage of the duodenal switch (DS); 2) 7 morbidly obese patients with severe medical conditions; 3) 16 obese patients with lower BMI (35-43); and 4) 1 patient converted from a prior gastric banding.
Results: 1 patient with BMI 74 died, a 3.2% mortality. The percentage of excess BMI loss (%EBMIL) in group 1 above was 63.1% from 4-27 months. The %EBMIL of the cirrhotics in group 2 was 76.0% (69-100%). The %EBMIL in group 3 patients was 68.5% (58.3-123%) at 3-27 months. The %EBMIL of the group 4 patient is 13% because she had previously lost almost all of her EBMI.
Conclusion: LSG may become the ideal operation for staging in patients with BMI >55, for treating morbidly obese patients with severe medical conditions, as an excellent alternative to adjustable bands in lower BMI patients, or for conversion of gastric banding patients.

Keywords: MORBID OBESITY; SLEEVE GASTRECTOMY; LAPAROSCOPY; BILIOPANCREATIC DIVERSION WITH DUODENAL SWITCH
Document Type: Research article
DOI: 10.1381/0960892055002248
Affiliations: 1: Clínica San Jorge and Alcoy Hospital, Chief of the Surgical Service, Alcoy, Spain 2: Clínica San Jorge and Alcoy Hospital, Surgical Staff, Alcoy, Spain

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/klu/os/2005/00000015/00000008/art00007

Which? UK 22/6/07

It failed to provide evidence to back its claims
A US company has promised to stop targeting British consumers with adverts for quick-fix slimming products.
It comes after more than 120,000 UK households received mailings promoting the weight loss qualities of the SlimBall.
The company behind the mailings – Kirkwood Advertising – described the device as a ‘surgery free gastric balloon’ and the ‘No.1 weight loss treatment that’s beating obesity in the USA’.
Consumers were told that a ‘bio-granule’ taken 15 minutes before a meal would swell the stomach by up to fifty times its original size and suppressed users’ appetites, ensuring safe and fast weight loss.
More than 4,000 people in the UK placed orders for the treatments, which cost up to £45.
Quick fixes
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) asked Kirkwood Advertising to back up the claims but the company failed to provide any proper evidence.
Instead it said it would stop sending the mailings to UK consumers.
The OFT’s Director of Consumer Affairs and Trading Standards, Christine Wade, said: ‘Lots of people are looking for an easy way to lose weight.
‘Sadly mailings that promise quick fixes rarely deliver.’
Consumers who are unsure about claims made in mailings offering easy weight loss ‘treatments’ or ‘health cures’ should contact Consumer Direct for clear, practical advice on 08454 04 05 06 or visit the Consumer Direct web site before they part with any money.

 Stomach reduction procedures are effective in suppressing the body’s ability to produce Ghrelin, the hormone attributed to hunger and weight gain.
Scientists and researchers have discovered that the hormone responsible for stimulating the human appetite, Ghrelin, has been reduced and even neutralized by bariatric surgical procedures like vertical gastrectomy, (also known as sleeve gastrectomy), gastric bypass and duodenal switch.
Most of the hormone Ghrelin is produced in the stomach, and scientists believe that it evolved to fight weight loss in the human body. Professor Stephen Bloom, a British obesity researcher, describes it this way: “We are machines designed to live through famine. We are survivors of the obese. All we need is a plentiful supply of food and we gain weight. That’s the way we are made and how we evolved.”
To combat this predisposition to weight gain, bariatric surgical procedures have become popular in helping counteract the debilitating effects of obesity. Bariatric surgeons like Dr. Paul Cirangle, of Laparoscopic Associates of San Francisco, have seen the effects of neutralizing Ghrelin firsthand. “We have discovered that, after performing a vertical gastrectomy and other stomach reduction procedures, the Ghrelin levels have decreased dramatically within 24 hours of the stomach being removed. We consider this proof that surgery can favorably alter the hormonal drive to eat and allow individuals to lose large amounts of weight without feeling hungry.”
Researchers found elevated levels of Ghrelin in people who lost weight through dieting whenever they were measured for it, leading them to conclude that the body was signaling its owner to eat more in order to gain back lost weight. This conclusion has lent additional credence to the surgical option for obese people searching for a long-term solution to losing weight and keeping it off.
The reduction of Ghrelin levels from vertical gastrectomy and other bariatric procedures has captured the attention of scientists around the world who are striving to find the magic bullet to the obesity epidemic. Controlling the way the body produces Ghrelin, through surgery and medical research, may hold the key to the future of fighting an ever-increasing worldwide disease.

Article courtesy of  “the Morbid Me�  14/06/07

Jun 4 2007 by Madeleine Brindley, Western Mail

WEIGHT-LOSS surgery could “cure� diabetes in overweight patients according to Welsh research.  As many as 95% of morbidly obese people – those with a body mass index of more than 40 – have type 2 diabetes.  But eight out of 10 of these patients who have gastric bypass surgery to reduce the size of their stomachs and small intestines, have found that their diabetes disappears within two to three days – before any weight loss has occurred.

Scientists at Swansea University have been awarded £93,000 to further investigate the reasons for the phenomenon.  The research could have a huge impact on the management of diabetes and could even lead to new non-surgical treatments.

Jeffrey Stephens, senior clinical lecturer, who is leading the research, said, “Although patients with type 2 diabetes do not always require insulin treatment, the average diabetic needs about 30 units of insulin a day to control blood sugar levels.

“For obese patients, this can rise to 200 units a day. To go from such a high level of insulin-dependency to not needing insulin in a matter of a few days is a dramatic result, and we need to understand the reasons why this happens.�

The research team, which includes Professor Steve Bain and Professor Rhys Williams from Swansea University’s School of Medicine, and Professor John Baxter, a bariatric surgeon at Swansea NHS Trust, will focus its research efforts on a protein known as Glucagon Like Peptide 1 (GLP-1), which is produced in the small intestine.

It is estimated that thousands of people in Wales could have undiagnosed type 2 diabetes and experts fear that increasing levels of obesity in society could cause an explosion in diabetes, especially in the young. Although often regarded as a benign condition, diabetes can cause serious, and even potentially fatal, complications such as heart disease, blindness and kidney failure.

Bariatric surgery has become an accepted, but drastic, surgical treatment for obesity, but Health Commission Wales, which took over commissioning the service, does not routinely provide funding for the operation on the NHS!!

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk

Human Face Made Up of Distinct Fat Compartments; Busts Myths About Facial Aging and Anatomy
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill., June 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ –
Plastic surgeons are tossing out the old-school belief that gravity is the primary culprit for facial aging. A study in June’s Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery(R), the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), reveals the human face is made up of distinct fat compartments that individually change with age and the degree to which our faces age is dependent, in part, on how these compartments change over time.
“Contrary to popular belief, the human face does not age uniformly,” said Joel Pessa, MD, ASPS Member Surgeon and study lead author. “We thought facial fat was one confluent mass that eventually got weighed down by gravity, creating sagging skin. However, we were shocked to find not only is the face made up of individual fat compartments but these compartments gain and lose fat at different rates.”
According to Dr. Pessa, the face is a three-dimensional puzzle with fat partitioned into discrete units around the forehead, eye, cheek and mouth. A youthful face is characterized by a smooth transition between these compartments, but as we get older abrupt contour changes occur between these regions due to volume loss, volume gains, and repositioning of the compartments. These changes lead to tell-tale signs of facial aging such as sagging or hollowed skin and wrinkles.
With this breakthrough, plastic surgeons will be able to more accurately pinpoint trouble areas and use injectable fillers to add volume to individual sections of the face, creating a more effective way to turn back the clock.
According to the study, this discovery may also benefit cancer and trauma patients who require reconstructive plastic surgery. The authors uncovered that the individual fat compartments have boundaries between them that act like fences. These fences allow the face to maintain its blood supply should it become injured. This anatomical discovery may allow for better results for reconstructive plastic surgery patients. In addition, plastic surgeons can begin to use this new way of thinking to better understand facial deformities, such as cleft lips and vessel tumors.
“Much of facial anatomy remains a mystery,” said Dr. Pessa. “This discovery will undoubtedly play a role in how we view aging and how we approach facial reconstructive plastic surgery.”

http://sev.prnewswire.com/health-care-hospitals/20070614/DCTH06314062007-1.html
CATEGORY:  FACELIFT

Date Released: 06/18/2007    

MyCosmeticSurgeryBlog.com, an authoritative, informative and open forum for those looking for frank, straightforward answers on the risks and benefits of cosmetic plastic surgery is now available to everyone

NewImage.com, the ultimate online destination for personal image enhancement solutions, launches MyCosmeticSurgeryBlog.com in a joint effort with cosmetic surgery and patient education advocate, Marianne Guarena. Reliable information, emotional support, commitment, and education are the “invisible� arms that prepare consumers for a successful “aesthetic journey.� Undergoing cosmetic surgery is not a decision that people take lightly. Various reasons go into the consideration of any cosmetic or elective surgery, and the process is one that isn’t necessarily consumer-friendly. MyCosmeticSurgeryBlog.com is here to provide consumer-friendly, informative and emotional support within a forum that will open the lines of communication with the public through real-life experience, honest answers, and advice.
“Having plastic surgery is exciting, scary, and fulfilling all at the same time. It not only can change how other people see you … but how you see yourself—inside and out,� says Marianne Guarena. Cosmetic surgery information is available through many sources, but finding someone with the personal experience and honesty to be frank about the experience, including its risks and benefits, is very difficult to find. By sharing her plastic surgery before-and-after experiences, the medical knowledge she gained, her passion about plastic surgery, and the latest cosmetic surgery procedures and news, Marianne is looking forward to providing those interested with friendly and emotional support and honest advice throughout the entire “aesthetic journey.�
The goal of MyCosmeticSurgeryBlog.com is for everyone to walk away as informed as they can be, and to get an honest idea of what may be in store for them should they choose to undergo a cosmetic plastic surgery procedure. It’s like getting advice from a knowledgeable friend……………………………………………….. Read more at:
http://www.fastpitchnetworking.com/pressrelease.cfm?PRID=11806

David Rose  The Times July 9, 2007 
A hospital that is failing to tackle superbug infections has been served with an official warning in the first case of its kind, the health watchdog will announce today.

Inspectors from the Healthcare Commission have found Chase Farm Hospital in Enfield, North London, to be in “serious breach� of the Hygiene Code, the latest government rules to manage healthcare-associated infections such as MRSA and C. difficile.

Even basic requirements, such as providing hand-washing gels at a patient’s bedside, were not in place, the watchdog said.

Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust, which manages the hospital, has now been served with an improvement notice, ordering immediate changes to infection control practices. Despite reporting more than 600 superbug infections in a six-month period last year, there was “no evidence� that the trust learnt from its mistakes, the commission said.

Related Links
Hospital warned over superbug failures
Among “fundamental problems� highlighted during a spot-check were failures to keep wards clean, to properly assess the risks of superbug infection and to isolate infected patients so that they could not spread illness.

The commission was given powers to issue improvement notices last year. This is its first.
Continues: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article2045643.ece

[14-01-2007] By Ian Willoughby  -  Radio Prague
 Around a month ago I was sitting in a café on Manesova Street, near the centre of Prague, when in walked a small blonde woman of about 40 and sat down at the table beside me. One doesn’t like to stare of course, but she appeared to have two black eyes covered with slender strips of plaster. Minutes later another woman, a brunette, walked in wearing big, dark sunglasses and with a bandage on her nose. They both spoke with broad Geordie accents and I couldn’t help but wonder about them. Were they friends united in misery who had escaped violent partners in England for a quiet weekend in Prague?
 But then the penny dropped. A colleague had conducted interviews with UK clients – is patients the right word for those who undergo non-necessary surgery? – who stay in hotels and luxury flats on the street before and after their procedures. Overheard snippets of conversation touching on operating times confirmed they were not battered brides. The blonde’s freshly unhooded eyes and her pal’s new nose may even have been an early Christmas present from their partners.
Just a few days ago the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) strongly protested against a lottery launched in the UK in which the prize was free cosmetic surgery performed in Prague. The competition was held by one of a number of British firms which facilitate cosmetic surgery in the Czech Republic.
It seems BAAPS’s protest had nothing to do with a fear of losing clients to eastern European rivals. They said marketing tricks like lotteries had no place in medicine, and they would be just as strongly opposed if the prize operation were to be performed in Britain itself.
But why are the competition’s organisers and other agencies bringing their clients to Prague? For two main reasons it seems. Nips and tucks in the Czech capital cost British people around a third of what they would cost them at home. And apparently Czech plastic surgeons have acquired a reputation in the UK for professionalism. (By the way, there is quite a history of cosmetic surgery in this country: Professor Frantisek Burian, who established a chair of plastic surgery at Prague’s Charles University in 1938, is regarded as one of the fathers of modern plastic surgery.)
Cheap flights from regional centres all around the UK are also a factor: groups of beery lads on stag weekends aren’t the only beneficiaries of the budget airline boom.

Date: 02 Jul 2007           Medical News Today.com

US Scientists have discovered how stress activates weight gain in mice and have also found a way to add and remove fat in targeted areas of the bodies of laboratory animals using simple, non-toxic chemical injections.

The research is published in the online edition of Nature Medicine.

The findings have been described as “stunning” and could revolutionize treatments for weight loss, obesity, cosmetic and reconstructive surgery in humans.

Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington DC, hope their discoveries will eventually lead to better control of what has been termed “metabolic syndrome”, a group of risk factors that together increase a person’s chance of getting heart disease, diabetes and stroke.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), estimates made in the year 2000 suggest some 60 Million Americans are affected by metabolic syndrome. Stress causes some people to lose weight and others to gain it. Scientists have suspected a link between stress and obesity but until now have not been able to pin it down.

The Georgetown researchers found a mechanism based on neurotransmitters that may explain why chronically stressed people put on more weight than would be expected from the calories they consume……..
Full article at: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/healthnews.php?newsid=75768