Scientists offer hope for genetically determined obesity
London, June 3: Unable to maintain weight loss due to your genetic predisposition to obesity? Take heart, an injectable drug widely used to lower blood sugar levels can help you fight overweight, suggest a study.
Around two to six per cent of all people with obesity develop obesity already in early childhood because they are genetically programmed to do so.
Obesity-causal mutations in one of their "appetite genes" gives them a strong genetic predisposition for developing obesity, also called monogenic obesity. Their experience of hunger is over-ruling and their feeling of satiety limited.
Researchers discovered that this group of people with obesity can lose weight with the help of the medicine liraglutide -- a modified form of the appetite-inhibiting hormone GLP-1 naturally secreted from the intestine when we eat.
"The appetite-inhibiting drug liraglutide has a positive effect on them. They feel less hungry and lose six per cent of their body weight within four months," said lead author Signe Sorensen Torekov, associate professor at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.
In the study, published in the journal Cell Metabolism, the team have examined a small group with obesity caused by pathogenic mutations in the so-called MC4R gene and those with obesity without the mutations.
Both groups were treated with the medicine for four months; no changes were made to their diet and level of exercise in this period.
The individuals with this most common form of monogenic obesity lost 7 kg of their body weight compared to 6 kg for the people with common obesity.
Medicine acting as an analogue to our natural GLP-1 hormone is already available, as it has been approved by both the US Food Drug Association and European Medicines Agency for the treatment of obesity and Type 2 diabetes.
The study thus makes it possible to treat the most common form of genetically caused obesity, where patients respond poorly to existing treatments, the researchers noted.
As MC4R mutations cause obesity already in early childhood, the researchers hope the results can pave the way for new studies on young people in the future.
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England sticking with Key, McCullum and Stokes despite Ashes humbling
London (AP): England is not sacking anybody following the 4-1 Ashes loss in Australia.
A review of the tour by the England and Wales Cricket Board, announced within hours of the final match in January, was concluded on Monday. Firing people would “be the easy thing to do,” ECB chief executive Richard Gould said but he insisted, "This is not the time to throw everything out."
Managing director Rob Key, coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes kept their jobs after the best England side to go to Australia in 14 years lost the Ashes in 11 days with two games to spare.
“Moving people on can sometimes be the easy thing to do. That's not the route that we're going to take,” Gould said. “I've seen the driving ambition and determination that we're lucky enough to have within our leadership group to take the lessons from the Ashes and move forward.”
Gould previously was the chief executive of Bristol City soccer club and said the ECB would not follow the same route as soccer's hire-and-fire culture.
“Cricket is a very unique sport in that it takes a team of leadership ... it's not like football where there's a single point of failure or success with a manager," he said. He added the ECB would not “select or deselect management based on a popularity campaign.”
The main criticisms of England's tour were poor preparation, player misbehavior, and selection mistakes.
At a press conference at Lord's, Gould and Key said McCullum and Stokes have not had a “bust up,” they did not want McCullum to “completely change” but “to evolve,” the behavior of some players was “unprofessional,” there will be more consequences for underperforming, and a commitment to “better long-term planning” ahead of major test series.
Some changes were already implemented for the Twenty20 World Cup, where England reached the semifinals. Gould implied that performance saved McCullum.
Key acknowledged that England supporters would be disappointed to see the management team go unpunished.
“I know people want punishment and that people then should be sacked for that,” Key said. “That doesn't mean we don't feel like we've gone through some serious pain: Brendon, myself, Ben. It's been as tough a time as I think I've had.”
