Update on the management of obesity

This article updates a paper published in this journal more than a decade ago. We detail the ensuing decade's developments in the treatment of obesity, reviewing innovations, established techniques, and the current status of behavior modification. We evaluate newer developments, such as anorectic drugs, very low calorie diets, and intragastric balloon bezoars, and we describe other approaches to the treatment of obesity, such as residential and comprehensive outpatient programs. We conclude by recommending a multidisciplinary approach to this complex problem.     

Use of a Strecker oesophageal stent in the treatment of benign oesophageal stricture

The use of self-expanding prostheses in the management of malignant oesophageal strictures has become well established. The majority of benign peptic oesophageal strictures can be successfully managed using endoscopic or fluoroscopically guided balloon oesophageal dilatation combined with long-term drug therapy, particularly using proton pumper inhibitors. Although endoscopic oesophageal dilatation can be performed on an outpatient basis, it requires repeated hospital visits. There is a small risk of oesophageal perforation whilst cardio-respiratory complications may be encountered during the use of intravenous sedation in an elderly population. The use of a self-expanding Strecker stent in a 98 year old woman with a benign oesophageal stricture is described.     

Plasmids of Ewingella americana: supplementary epidemiologic markers in an outbreak of pseudobacteremia.

During an outbreak of pseudobacteremia in a children's hospital, Ewingella americana was found in blood cultures from 20 patients. E. americana was inoculated into blood culture bottles at the time of specimen collection due to cross contamination from nonsterile, citrated blood collection tubes used for coagulation studies. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing and plasmid profiling were used to assess the association between patient isolates and isolates from unused blood collection tubes. All E. americana isolates had similar antibiograms (i.e., resistance only to cephalothin) when tested at 37 degrees C. However, when the same isolates were tested for antimicrobial susceptibility at 25 degrees C, a different antibiogram (i.e., resistance to chloramphenicol, ampicillin, and cephalothin) was found. The majority of these isolates also demonstrated a unique four-plasmid profile (130, 56, 4.6, and 3.1 megadaltons), and two of these plasmids (130 and 56 megadaltons) were characterized as temperature-sensitive plasmids. An epidemiologic link between outbreak-associated isolates obtained from different time periods in the outbreak was supported by evidence of a significant trend in the ability of the outbreak-associated isolates to reduce nitrate, together with the presence of the resistance antibiogram at 25 degrees C and the demonstration of the unique four-plasmid profile.     

Unusual Enterobacteriaceae: H2S+ Shigella sonnei, one authentic and one false positive due to contamination with the obligate anaerobe Eubacterium lentum.

A mixture of Shigella sonnei and Eubacterium lentum produced H2S in triple sugar iron agar; however, neither produced any in pure culture. A second culture of S. sonnei, isolated in Japan, is thought to be the first documented H2S+ Shigella.