Effect of orlistat in obese patients with binge eating disorder.

OBJECTIVE: Binge eating disorder represents a significant public health problem, with up to 50% of weight loss program participants displaying this disorder. In previous studies with orlistat, patients with binge eating disorder were excluded. The goal of this study was to assess the efficacy of orlistat in obese patients with binge eating disorder. RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Eighty-nine patients with clinically diagnosed binge eating disorder and a BMI > or = 30 kg/m2 were randomized in double-blind fashion to 24 weeks of treatment with 120 mg of orlistat or placebo three times daily, in combination with a mildly reduced-calorie diet. RESULTS: After 24 weeks, the mean weight loss from baseline for orlistat-treated patients was significantly greater than for patients receiving placebo (-7.4% vs. -2.3%; p = 0.0001) (intent-to-treat analysis). The overall Eating Disorder Inventory 2 score at week 24 was significantly lower in patients treated with orlistat than in those in the placebo group (p = 0.011). DISCUSSION: Orlistat may be considered as part of the management for patients with obesity and binge eating disorder.

Laparoscopic Gastric Banding Outcomes Do Not Depend on Device or Technique. Long-Term Results of a Prospective Randomized Study Comparing the Lapband® and the SAGB®.

BACKGROUND: Gastric banding still represents one of the most widely used bariatric procedures. It provides acceptable weight loss in many patients, but has frequent long-term complications. Because different types of bands may lead to different results, we designed a randomized study to compare the Lapband® with the SAGB®. We hereby report on the long-term results. METHODS: Between December 1998 and June 2002, 180 morbidly obese patients were randomized between Lapband® or SAGB®. Weight loss, long-term morbidity, and need for reoperation were evaluated. RESULTS: Long-term weight loss did not differ between the two bands. Patients who maintained their band had an acceptable long-term weight loss of between 50 and 60 % EBMIL. In both groups, about half the patients developed long-term complications, with about 50 % requiring major redo surgery. There was no difference in the overall rates of long-term complications or failures between the two groups, but patients who had a Lapband® were significantly more prone to develop band slippage/pouch dilatation (13.3 versus 0 %, p < 0,001). CONCLUSIONS: Although in the absence of complication, gastric banding leads to acceptable weight loss; the long-term complication and major reoperation rates are very high independently from the type of band used or on the operative technique. Gastric banding leads to relatively poor overall long-term results and therefore should not be considered the procedure of choice for the treatment of morbid obesity. Patients should be informed of the limited overall weight loss and the very high complication rates.

A simple gas chromatography method for the analysis of monoethanolamine in air

A simple method determining airborne monoethanolamine has been developed. Monoethanolamine determination has traditionally been difficult due to analytical separation problems. Even in recent sophisticated methods, this difficulty remains as the major issue often resulting in time-consuming sample preparations. Impregnated glass fiber filters were used for sampling. Desorption of monoethanolamine was followed by capillary GC analysis and nitrogen phosphorous selective detection. Separation was achieved using a specific column for monoethanolamines (35% diphenyl and 65% dimethyl polysiloxane). The internal standard was quinoline. Derivatization steps were not needed. The calibration range was 0.5-80 μg/mL with a good correlation (R(2) = 0.996). Averaged overall precisions and accuracies were 4.8% and -7.8% for intraday (n = 30), and 10.5% and -5.9% for interday (n = 72). Mean recovery from spiked filters was 92.8% for the intraday variation, and 94.1% for the interday variation. Monoethanolamine on stored spiked filters was stable for at least 4 weeks at 5°C. This newly developed method was used among professional cleaners and air concentrations (n = 4) were 0.42 and 0.17 mg/m(3) for personal and 0.23 and 0.43 mg/m(3) for stationary measurements. The monoethanolamine air concentration method described here was simple, sensitive, and convenient both in terms of sampling and analytical analysis.

Differential protein labeling with thiol-reactive infrared DY-680 and DY-780 maleimides and analysis by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis.

Differential protein labeling with 2-DE separation is an effective method for distinguishing differences in the protein composition of two or more protein samples. Here, we report on a sensitive infrared-based labeling procedure, adding a novel tool to the many labeling possibilities. Defined amounts of newborn and adult mouse brain proteins and tubulin were exposed to maleimide-conjugated infrared dyes DY-680 and DY-780 followed by 1- and 2-DE. The procedure allows amounts of less than 5 microg of cysteine-labeled protein mixtures to be detected (together with unlabeled proteins) in a single 2-DE step with an LOD of individual proteins in the femtogram range; however, co-migration of unlabeled proteins and subsequent general protein stains are necessary for a precise comparison. Nevertheless, the most abundant thiol-labeled proteins, such as tubulin, were identified by MS, with cysteine-containing peptides influencing the accuracy of the identification score. Unfortunately, some infrared-labeled proteins were no longer detectable by Western blots. In conclusion, differential thiol labeling with infrared dyes provides an additional tool for detection of low-abundant cysteine-containing proteins and for rapid identification of differences in the protein composition of two sets of protein samples.

Quantify this! Report on a round table discussion on quantitative mass spectrometry in proteomics.

Following the success of the first round table in 2001, the Swiss Proteomic Society has organized two additional specific events during its last two meetings: a proteomic application exercise in 2002 and a round table in 2003. Such events have as their main objective to bring together, around a challenging topic in mass spectrometry, two groups of specialists, those who develop and commercialize mass spectrometry equipment and software, and expert MS users for peptidomics and proteomics studies. The first round table (Geneva, 2001) entitled "Challenges in Mass Spectrometry" was supported by brief oral presentations that stressed critical questions in the field of MS development or applications (Stöcklin and Binz, Proteomics 2002, 2, 825-827). Topics such as (i) direct analysis of complex biological samples, (ii) status and perspectives for MS investigations of noncovalent peptide-ligant interactions; (iii) is it more appropriate to have complementary instruments rather than a universal equipment, (iv) standardization and improvement of the MS signals for protein identification, (v) what would be the new generation of equipment and finally (vi) how to keep hardware and software adapted to MS up-to-date and accessible to all. For the SPS'02 meeting (Lausanne, 2002), a full session alternative event "Proteomic Application Exercise" was proposed. Two different samples were prepared and sent to the different participants: 100 micro g of snake venom (a complex mixture of peptides and proteins) and 10-20 micro g of almost pure recombinant polypeptide derived from the shrimp Penaeus vannamei carrying an heterogeneous post-translational modification (PTM). Among the 15 participants that received the samples blind, eight returned results and most of them were asked to present their results emphasizing the strategy, the manpower and the instrumentation used during the congress (Binz et. al., Proteomics 2003, 3, 1562-1566). It appeared that for the snake venom extract, the quality of the results was not particularly dependant on the strategy used, as all approaches allowed Lication of identification of a certain number of protein families. The genus of the snake was identified in most cases, but the species was ambiguous. Surprisingly, the precise identification of the recombinant almost pure polypeptides appeared to be much more complicated than expected as only one group reported the full sequence. Finally the SPS'03 meeting reported here included a round table on the difficult and challenging task of "Quantification by Mass Spectrometry", a discussion sustained by four selected oral presentations on the use of stable isotopes, electrospray ionization versus matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization approaches to quantify peptides and proteins in biological fluids, the handling of differential two-dimensional liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry data resulting from high throughput experiments, and the quantitative analysis of PTMs. During these three events at the SPS meetings, the impressive quality and quantity of exchanges between the developers and providers of mass spectrometry equipment and software, expert users and the audience, were a key element for the success of these fruitful events and will have definitively paved the way for future round tables and challenging exercises at SPS meetings.