From Raul Bastarrachea comes news that Dr. Hugo
Laviada-Molina, a member of the NAASO-Mexico council and a
close collaborator of SFBR, has been appointed by his party,
Partido Accion Nacional in Mexico, as Senator of the Republic
of Mexico. The appointment is a rare opportunity for a member
of the profession to have an important voice in the future of
Mexico. Congratulations!
Society member Janet Bond Brill, PhD, RD, LDN has
announced publication of her new book CHOLESTEROL DOWN: Ten
Simple Steps to Lower Your Cholesterol in Four Weeks - Without
Prescription Drugs (Crown, December 2006). The book
outlines Dr. Brill's breakthrough 10-step LDL-lowering plan,
and is targeted to the millions of Americans with high
cholesterol who are looking for a natural, safe and effective
way to lower it.
News from the West
By Judith
Stern
Happy New Year to all. Member information
from our western region is below the critical level. As
promised, I am filling some space with an update about
Papaya Stern, our Hahn's McCaw, affectionately referred
to as PecK-o-Saurus Rex. Papaya's favorite breakfast
food is oatmeal with raisins and low fat milk. Actually, he
prefers it with light cream and sugar but he gets it with low
fat milk. Papaya also eats the daily NY Times and
Wall Street Journal, which provide nest- building
material. Finally, does any one know how to calculate his BMI
(Bird Mass Index)?
California
A correction
from the October Obesity Society Newsletter: Anthony
Don Michael (Clinical Professor of Medicine, UCLA) and his
Chief Research Assistant Yasmeen Sultana are presenting
two articles named An Unexpected Late Cardiac Complication
of Bariatric Surgery and Regression of Metabolic
Syndrome and Diabetes Following Weight Loss Surgery.
Judith Stern (yours truly, UC Davis) gave a talk
(Evidence from a consumer and regulatory perceptive: from
RCTs to Testimonials) at a conference on Design, Analysis
& Interpretation of Randomized Clinical Trials in Obesity
run by David Allison (University of Alabama Birmingham)
held in Newark, NJ. Check out the conference
Web site for the PowerPoint® presentations. The conference
was sponsored, in part, by NIDDK and NCI.
Oregon
Bruce Wolfe (Oregon Health
Sciences University) reports that the NIH-funded Bariatric
Research Consortium is actively entering data and is
progressing well.
Washington
David
Cummings (University of Washington), Francesco Rubino
(University of Strasbourg, France), Lee Kaplan
(Harvard University), and Phil Schauer (Cleveland
Clinic) are organizing an international Diabetes Surgery
Summit in Strasbourg, France for March 29-31, 2007. The full
name of the meeting is the "International Conference on
Gastrointestinal (GI) Surgery to Treat Type 2 Diabetes."
The Obesity Society has recently agreed to be one of
the sponsors.
The summit was conceived in response to
growing evidence that several conventional bariatric
operations and newer experimental procedures ameliorate
diabetes through mechanisms beyond just weight loss. These
operations are being used worldwide to treat diabetes in
association with obesity and, increasingly, for diabetes
alone. The conference goal is to develop guidelines for use of
GI surgery to treat type 2 diabetes, including the possibility
of including individuals not overweight enough to qualify for
bariatric surgery under current standards. The organizers hope
to craft a research agenda, and the outcome will be summarized
for publication in the scientific literature.
News from the Midwest
By Melissa
Nelson
Paul Ernsberger (Case Western Reserve
School of Medicine, Department of Nutrition) has been named
Associate Editor of the Journal of Pharmacology and
Experimental Therapeutics (JPET), in the area of
Endocrine Pharmacology. JPET seeks to expand its
coverage in this area, which primarily concerns
pharmacotherapy of diabetes and metabolic disorders. Obesity
Society members are encouraged to submit outstanding
manuscripts on preclinical studies of therapeutic agents
relevant to diabetes and metabolic disorders.
News from Canada
By Paul
Boisvert
Awards
Congratulations to Dr.
Jean-Pierre Després for receiving the 2006 Jean-Davignon
and Paul- Lupien Founders Award, presented by the “Société québécoise de lipidologie, de nutrition et de métabolisme”
(SQLNM).
Nomination
Dr. Paul Poirier
has been nominated vice president of the Obesity
Committee, linked to the American Heart Association's (AHA)
Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism
Council.
McGill Integrative Health Challenge
to
prevent childhood obesity
The McGill Integrative Health
Challenge, held October 25-27, brought together top
economists, business leaders, and marketing and health experts
to engage new thinking on how to speed up actions to prevent
childhood obesity. The challenge was hosted by the Global
Prevention Alliance and the American Heart Association in
partnership with McGill University.
The McGill
Challenge was co-chaired by Prof. Laurette Dub=E9,
Faculty of Management of McGill University, and Prof.
Philip James, chair of the Presidential Council of the
Global Prevention Alliance. An IOTF discussion document
(download here),
entitled Global strategies to prevent childhood obesity:
forging a societal plan that works, was presented to the
meeting (see video
of the challenge's three days of presentations). Professionals
are also invited to respond to the Call to Challenge
'Business as Usual' concerning childhood obesity via the
worldwide "E-Think
and Action Tank."
