• Dr. Alfredo Halpern, Creator of the First Obesity Center in Brazil, Leading Voice for Brazilian Obesity Research, and a Good Man Has Passed -- (also announced here with video).

Featured

• Sorbitol Treatment Extends Lifespan and Induces the Osmotic Stress Response in Caenorhabditis Elegans.
• New Pathways from Short Sleep to Obesity? Associations Between Short Sleep and Secondary Eating and Drinking Behavior.
• "These findings establish that distinct immune cell populations within adipose tissue underlie ageing- and obesity-associated" Insulin Resistance.

Headline vs Study

• Headline: The Lastest[sic] Rx for Obesity: Sleep Off the Fat.
• Study: No Rx; No Study (yet).

Contrary or Null Findings

• RCT: No Significant Effect of Acupoint Stimulation on Weight Reduction for Obesity.
• "Physical exercise was not associated with neighbourhood characteristics."
• "Parents' perceived neighborhood environment was not related with children's LTPA [leisure-time physical activity] and BMI."
• RCT: "This study could not find any objectively measured effect of ultrasound treatment on excessive skin after bariatric surgery."
• In a Direct Assessment of Payments for COE [Center of Excellence]-designated Hospitals vs Non-COE-designated Hospitals, No Significant Differences in Episode Payments Were Found.
• Five Years Later: Awareness Of New York City’s Calorie Labels Declined, With No Changes In Calories Purchased.
• RCT: In Contrast to Previous Findings, These Findings Suggest that Dietary Carboxymethyl-lysine (CML) May Not Be as Important in Influencing Serum CML as Other Dietary Factors, and Acute Exposure to Dietary CML May Not Influence Inflammation in Adults Without Diabetes or Kidney Disease.
• RCT: No Significant Effect of SSB Reduction on Weight in Adults (but There is an Effect on Intrahepatic Lipid).

Basic

• Choosing Voluntary Exercise Over Sucrose Consumption Depends upon Dopamine Transmission: Effects of Haloperidol in Wild Type and Adenosine A2AKO Mice.
• Burn Induces Browning of the Subcutaneous White Adipose Tissue in Mice and Humans.
• Metabolomic Insights Into the Intricate Gut Microbial-host Interaction in the Development of Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes.
• Thermoneutral Housing Accelerates Metabolic Inflammation to Potentiate Atherosclerosis but Not Insulin Resistance.
• NIH Researchers Find Potential Target for Reducing Obesity-related Inflammation.
• Comparative Lipidomics of Caenorhabditis Elegans Metabolic Disease Models By SWATH Non-Targeted Tandem Mass Spectrometry.
• Oxidative Costs of Reproduction: Oxidative Stress in Mice Fed Standard and Low Antioxidant Diets.
• The MTOR Pathway in Obesity Driven Gastrointestinal Cancers: Potential Targets and Clinical Trials.
• IGF1 Promotes Adipogenesis By a Lineage Bias of Endogenous Adipose Stem/Progenitor Cells.

Scientific Rigor & Scholarly Dialogue

• Marion Nestle retracting opinion piece “The food industry and conflicts of interest in nutrition research: A Latin American perspective".
• NIH Release on Brain Stimulation for Obesity: Too Brief, Too Little Impact, Too Early.
• Letter Requesting BMJ to Retract The Scientific Report Guiding the US Dietary Guidelines: Is It Scientific?
• Effect of Obesity on the Effectiveness of Hormonal Contraceptives…we are Concerned that the FDA …Did Not Distinguish Statistical Significance From Clinically Relevant Importance….
• Mistaken Advice on Red Meat and Cancer.

Clinical

• RCT: Effects of Caloric Restriction with or Without Resistance Training in Dynapenic-Overweight and Obese Menopausal Women.
• Detox Diets for Toxin Elimination and Weight Management: A Critical Review of the Evidence.
• The Effects of Whole Body Vibration in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of RCTs.
• Planned Cesarean Delivery Compared to Induction of Labor in Women with Class III Obesity: A Cost-Minimization Analysis.

Surgery

• RCT: Gastric Band Surgery Leads to Improved Insulin Secretion in Overweight People with Type 2 Diabetes.
• Bariatric Surgery and Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: A Systematic Review of Liver Biochemistry and Histology.
• Bariatric Surgery for Teens: Weight Loss and Health Status 3 Years After Bariatric Surgery in Adolescents.

Drugs

• RCT: Association of Obesity and Inflammatory Marker Levels on Treatment Outcome with Adjunctive L-Methylfolate Calcium in Patients with MDD Who are Inadequate Responders to SSRIs.
• Directly Observable Behavioral Effects of Lorcaserin in Rats.
• Options to Promote Competitive Generics Markets in the United States.

Food & Diet

• Psyllium Fiber Improves Glycemic Control Proportional to Loss of Glycemic Control: A Meta-analysis of Data in Euglycemic Subjects, Patients at Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, and Patients Being Treated for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.
• RCT: Probiotic Soy Milk and Soy Milk: Effects on Epigenetics and Oxidative Stress in Patients with Type II Diabetes.
• Anthocyanin-rich Phytochemicals From Aronia Fruits Inhibit Visceral Fat Accumulation and Hyperglycemia in High-fat Diet-induced Dietary Obese Rats.
• Probiotic Supplementation Attenuates Increases in Body Mass and Fat Mass During High-fat Diet in Healthy Young Adults.

Caloric Restriction

• Dietary Restriction-Induced Alterations in Bone Phenotype: Effects of Lifelong Versus Short-Term Caloric Restriction on Femoral and Vertebral Bone in C57BL/6 Mice.
• Effect of Estrogen on Temporally Targeted Food Restriction: Role of Gastric, Hormonal and Metabolic Factors.

Exercise & Physical Activity

• Use of the Fitbit to Measure Adherence to a Physical Activity Intervention Among Overweight or Obese, Postmenopausal Women: Self-Monitoring Trajectory During 16 Weeks.
• Exploring Perceptions of Barriers, Facilitators, and Motivators to Physical Activity Among Female Bariatric Patients: Implications for Physical Activity Programming.

Epidemiology

• Does Active Commuting Protect Against Obesity in Mid-life? Cross-sectional, Observational Evidence From UK Biobank.
• Gender-Specific Associations in Age-Related Changes in Resting Energy Expenditure (REE) and MRI Measured Body Composition in Healthy Caucasians.
• Abdominal Obesity and Low Skeletal Muscle Mass Jointly Predict Total Mortality and Cardiovascular Mortality in an Elderly Asian Population.
• Associations Between Body Composition and Lifestyle Factors with Bone Mineral Density According to Time Since Menopause in Women From Southern Brazil: A Cross-sectional Study.
• Late Nights, Food, Drinks, and Obesity.

Psychology

• The Effect of Background Music on Food Pleasantness Ratings.
• Self-regulatory Predictors of Eating Disorder Symptoms: Understanding the Contributions of Action Control and Willpower Beliefs.
• Existing Food Habits and Recent Choices Lead to Disregard of Food Safety Announcements.

Equity and Disparities

• Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Impact of Obesity on Breast Cancer Risk and Survival: A Global Perspective.
• Traversing Myths and Mountains: Addressing Socioeconomic Inequities in the Promotion of Nutrition and Physical Activity Behaviours.
• Epidemiology of NAFLD and Type 2 Diabetes: Health Disparities Among Persons of Hispanic Origin.

Ethics

• Emotion in Obesity Discourse: Understanding Public Attitudes Towards Regulations for Obesity Prevention.
• Personal Responsibility or Shared Responsibility: What is the Appropriate Role of the Law in Obesity Prevention?

Stigma

• RCT: Weight Acceptance Versus Body Dissatisfaction: Effects on Stigma, Perceived Self-esteem, and Perceived Psychopathology.
• Influencing Weight Bias: The Impact of Biased Questionnaire Anchors on Stereotype Beliefs and Judgments.
• RCTs: Effects of Visual Adaptation on Perception of and Satisfaction with Own Body Size.

Policy Related

• Berkeley: Academic Studies on Soda Tax Effect on Retail Prices.
• Review of WIC Food Packages: Proposed Framework for Revisions: Interim Report.
• Primary Care Practitioners’ Perspectives on Delivery System Changes.
• The Efficacy of Sugar Labeling Formats: Implications for Labeling Policy.

Intergenerational Effects

• Effects of High Intensity Interval Training on Pregnant Rats, and the Placenta, Heart and Liver of Their Fetuses.
• Effect of Maternal Obesity on Insulin Action in Male Adult Offspring Rats.
• The Transgenerational Study of Insulin Action in Female Offspring Adult Wistar Rats.

Ecology, Evolution, & Energetics

• The Bioenergetic Costs of a Gene.
• An energetics-based honeybee nectar-foraging model used to assess the potential for landscape-level pesticide exposure dilution.

Methods

• Can Geodata Be Used to Determine the Distribution of Fast Food Outlets in Relation to the Prevalence and Severity of Asthma? A Novel Methodology.
• Recalibration of Overweight and Obesity Prevalence From Body-mass Index in UK Children of South Asian and Black African Origin: Cross-sectional Study Based on National Child Measurement Programme Data.
• Measuring Breath Acetone for Monitoring Fat Loss: Review.

Commentary

• You Can Catch a Cold From Your Coworkers and Obesity.
• Corporate Funding of Food and Nutrition Research.
• Should You Avoid Saturated Fats This Thanksgiving?
• Selling Magic Weight Loss Potions.
• Given the Need to Equip Patients and Physicians with Evidence-based Healthcare Options, We Support Adequate Funding for FDA and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Reform of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) in Order to Develop Standard Guidelines and Tools to Regulate the Promotion of Dietary Supplements with Medicinal or Curative Claimed Effects, Specifically as It Pertains to Weight Loss or Weight Management.
• A False Alarm on Red Meat and Cancer.

General

• Calibrating the Human Mutation Rate Via Ancestral Recombination Density in Diploid Genomes.
• SciCafe: How the Brain Shows its Feminine Side.
• Improving Reproducibility: What Can Funders Do?
• Researchers Manipulate Flatworms to Grow Other Species' Heads.
• Consumption of Garlic Positively Affects Hedonic Perception of Axillary Body Odour.
• UAB Engineers Develop New Method to Repair Elephant Tusks.
• The Data Sharing Advantage in Astrophysics.
• RCT: Testing the Efficacy of a Novel Approach to Weight Loss Among Men with Overweight and Obesity.
• Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects.
• The Science of Gratitude.

Video & Audio

• Andrew T. Gewirtz - "Gut Microbiota, Chronic Inflammation, and Metabolic Syndrome".
• Brian Mangum: Childhood Obesity Prevention Programs: Comparative Effectiveness of Interventions.

Announcements

• Prof Thorkild Sorenesn's Receipt of the Mickey Stunkard Lifetime Achievement Award.
• Hursting receives National Cancer Institute's Outstanding Investigator Award.
• UAB School of Medicine Seeking Applications for Two Faculty Positions in Obesity Research.
• UAB School of Health Professions Seeking Applications for Three Faculty Positions in Obesity or Diabetes Research.