Obesity syndrome

Lesions of the lateral hypothalamic area (LHA) cause anorexia, whereas ablation of the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) cause a hyperphagic obesity syndrome. Consistent with these results, LHA neurons express the orexigenic neuropeptides MCH and orexin. PVN neurons produce several neuropeptides that are anorex-igenic when administered directly into the brain (CRH, TRH, oxytocin), in addition to their better known roles as endocrine regulators. LHA and PVN receive rich inputs from axons of NPY/AgRP and aMSH/CART-producing neurons in the arcuate nucleus. 

Fan W, Boston BA, Kesterson RA, Hruby VJ, Cone RD. Role of melanocortinergic neurons in feeding and the agouti obesity syndrome. Nature 1997 385 165-168. 

Goldlust IS, Hermetz KE, Catalano LM et al (2013) Mouse model implicates GNB3 duplication in a childhood obesity syndrome. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 110 14990-14994... 

Vettor, R., Zarjevski, N., Cusin, I., RohnerJeanrenaud, F. Jeanrenaud, B. (1994) Induction and reversibility of an obesity syndrome by intracerebroventricular neuropeptide Y administration to normal rats. Diabetologia 37, 1202-1208. 

Gosztonyi, G., Kao, M., Bode, L., and Ludwig, H. 1991. Obesity syndrome in experimental infection of rats with Boma disease virus. Clin. Neuropathol. 10, 33-34. 

Most recently the relation between immune response and obesity was analyzed and the interleukin-1 receptor antagonist gene polymorphisms were shown to associate with normal weight obese syndrome and obesity-related diseases [94],... 

Moussa, N. M. and Claycombe, K. J., The yellow mouse obesity syndrome and mechanisms of agouti-induced obesity, Obes. Res., 1, 506-514, 1999. 

Di Renzo, L. et al., Interleukin-1 (IL-1) receptor antagonist gene polymorphism in normal weight obese syndrome Relationship to body composition and IL-1 alpha and beta plasma levels, Pharmacol. Res., 55 (2), 131-138, 2007. 

Human growth hormone, used as a human pharmaceutical, is approved for only one indication in the United States, treatment of growth failure owing to hGH deficiency, a condition known as pituitary dwarfism. However, clinical trials are under way to test its efficacy in Turner s syndrome, bums, wound healing, cachexia, osteoporosis, constitutional growth delay, aging, malnutrition, and obesity. 

The wide range of inflammation-related factors that adipocytes secrete is linked to the inflammatory response that the tissue exhibits in obesity [1]. Obesity in general, like an increasing number of other diseases, is characterised by a state of mild chronic inflammation, and adipose tissue plays a central role in this. The production of most inflammation-related adipokines increases markedly in obesity and there is an elevated circulating level of a number of these factors as well as of other inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein (CRP). The increased production of inflammatory adipokines (and decreased production of adiponectin with its anti-inflammatory action) in the obese is considered to play a critical role in the development of the obesity-associated pathologies, particularly type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome [1]. 

Obese people are predisposed to diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The term diabesity (sometimes referred to as syndrome X or metabolic syndrome ) reflects the intricate association between these disorders. 

In addition to the NOD mouse, Entelos has models for several human metabolic diseases (diabetes, obesity, and metabolic syndrome), inflammatory diseases (rheumatoid arthritis), and respiratory diseases (asthma and COPD). 

Rice bran fiber has fructo-oligosaccharides - a pre-biotic that helps friendly bacteria to proliferate in the gastrointestinal environment and improves intestinal and colon health (Tomlin and Read, 1988). Recent studies in humans (Kahlon and Chow, 1997) have revealed that rice bran fiber not only normalizes bowel function, but also helps in conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and Crohn s disease, and lowers the lipid levels. Rice bran fiber has been shown to significantly reduce renal stones (Jahnen et al., 1992). It is a good source of fiber in weight loss programs and therapeutic fiber diets for diabetics and heart patients. Fiber diets prevent cancer of the colon and large bowel, control obesity and improve bowel function. 

Patients with multiple risk factors, particularly those with diabetes, are at the greatest risk for IHD. Metabolic syndrome is a constellation of cardiovascular risk factors related to hypertension, abdominal obesity, dyslipidemia, and insulin... 

Patients with metabolic syndrome are twice as likely to develop type 2 diabetes and four times more likely to develop CHD.3,11 These individuals are usually insulin resistant, obese, have hypertension, are in a prothrombotic state, and have atherogenic dyslipidemia characterized by low HDL cholesterol and elevated triglycerides, and an increased proportion of their LDL particles are small and dense.3... 

Insulin resistance has been associated with a number of other cardiovascular risks, including abdominal obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, hypercoagulation, and hyperinsulinemia. The clustering of these risk factors has been termed metabolic syndrome. It is estimated that 50% of the United States population older than 60 years of age have metabolic syndrome. The most widely used criteria to define metabolic syndrome were established by the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III Guidelines (summarized in Table 40-2). 

Differential diagnoses include diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome because patients with these conditions share several similar characteristics with Cushing s syndrome patients (e.g., obesity, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, hyperglycemia, and insulin resistance). In women, the presentations of hirsutism, menstrual abnormalities, and insulin resistance are similar to those of polycystic ovary syndrome. Cushing s syndrome can be differentiated from these conditions by identifying the classic signs and symptoms of truncal obesity, "moon faces" with facial plethora, a "buffalo hump" and supraclavicular fat pads, red-purple skin striae, and proximal muscle weakness. 

True Cushing s syndrome also must be distinguished from other conditions that share some clinical presentations (as well as elevated plasma cortisol concentrations), such as depression, alcoholism, obesity, and chronic illness—the so-called pseudo-Cushing s states. 

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