Obesity Medicine

A 74-year-old woman presented with a refractory pruritic eruption. Four months earlier, she had sought evaluation of a thickened, slightly crusted 6 3 8-cm patch on her right ankle of 2 months' duration. Contact dermatitis with secondary impetigo from scratching was suspected, and a topical corticosteroid and an oral antibiotic were prescribed.

Hidradenitis suppurativa is a chronic acneiform infection of the cutaneous apocrine glands.

Over the past 20 years, the treatment armamentarium for diabetes has greatly expanded: 8 different classes of non-insulin drugs and 8 different types of insulin are now available. The newer classes of agents include disaccharidase inhibitors, thiazolidinediones, meglitinides, glucagonlike peptide analogs, and dipeptidyl peptidase IV inhibitors.

PITTSBURGH, Oct. 15 -- About 1% of bariatric surgery patients die within a year of surgery, researchers here found, and the cumulative case fatality rate approaches 6% after five years.

DANVILLE, Pa. -- Losing between 5% and 10% of body weight before bariatric surgery improves outcomes for morbidly obese patients, researchers here said.

PHILADELPHIA -- Unexplained weight gain in patients with Crohn's disease treated with infliximab remains a mystery, according to investigators in a small study reported here.

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- A new picture of adenoviruses and the disease associated with them in the U.S. is emerging from a novel molecular technique, according to researchers here.

DURHAM, N.C. -- Oncologists need to think heart when treating early breast cancer, according to clinicians here.

BRISBANE, Australia -- Obesity even without reflux disease is associated with six times the risk of developing esophageal adenocarcinoma compared with those of normal weight, researchers here found.

BOSTON -- Women with high or rising blood pressure are up to three times more likely to develop diabetes, researchers here found.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Topiramate (Topamax), a migraine agent, appeared to help alcoholic patients curtail their heavy-drinking behavior, according to investigators here.

ST. LOUIS -- A maintenance program emphasizing behavioral or social skills may help overweight kids keep the pounds off after a weight loss intervention, researchers found.

BOURNEMOUTH, England-A campaign to urge kids to stop drinking sugared carbonated beverages-an effort to have them lose weight or prevent obesity-didn’t seem to have much value in the long run, reported investigators here.

LONDON -- Stormy relationships may increase long term wear and tear on the heart physically as well as emotionally, leading to a modestly increased risk of coronary events.

ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands -- Age-related macular degeneration appear linked with high baseline levels of C-reactive protein and associated inflammation, Dutch researchers found.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Adolescents don't get enough milk or calcium in their diets, and those who do consume dairy products tend to favor high-fat varieties, researchers found.

SAN DIEGO -- Once stereotyped as wasting away, HIV patients have joined the rest of America in fighting the battle of the bulge, according to results of a study reported here.

WACOL, Australia-Schizophrenia leads to an age-related mortality rate that is about 2.5 times that of the general population, and the difference appears to be increasing, researchers here reported.

WASHINGTON -- Computer giant Microsoft is surfing into the health-care information field with a free service that allows consumers to store their medical information online.

ST. LOUIS -- Pregnant obese women should gain less weight than currently recommended and women who are severely obese should actually lose weight during pregnancy, researchers here said.

TUCSON, Ariz. -- At least half of overweight patients with stage I hypertension can normalize their blood pressure with modest weight loss, Italian investigators reported here.

WORCESTER, Mass. -- In a collision of the best-selling weight-loss books, the neovegetarian fare pushed by the Ornish diet earned heart-healthy honors, according to the standards of an index that dices the risks of fats and carbohydrates.

For 2 weeks, a 31-year-old man has had a nonhealing, painful abscess on his left shoulder. A week before presentation, he sought treatment at a walk-in clinic; the abscess was incised and drained, and he was given gatifloxacin.

Here: a look at the many possible causes of poorly controlled blood glucose levels, and steps to overcome them.

SAO PAULO, Brazil -- Treatment of obstructive sleep apnea with continuous positive airway pressure reverses early signs of atherosclerosis, according to researchers here.

LEIDEN, The Netherlands -- The risk of symptomatic venous thrombosis for healthy individuals is low after an airflight of four or more hours, but increases with more and longer flights, researchers reported.

HONG KONG -- What's bad for the heart may also be bad for the colon, according to investigators here.

BOSTON -- It sounds like an old wives' tale, but a boy is significantly more likely to be the second child if a woman gains weight after a first pregnancy, found researchers here.

PITTSBURGH -- Preventive care services such as mammography and cholesterol screening are much more likely to be delivered outside the realm of the annual well-patient checkup than as part of it, found researchers here.

AMSTERDAM -- Patients with type 1 diabetes who used insulin detemir (Levemir) for two years had better glycemic control and less nocturnal hypoglycemia than patients on NPH insulin, investigators reported here.