OBJECTIVE Bariatric surgery is gaining acceptance as an efficient treatment modality for obese patients. Mechanistic explanations regarding the effects of bariatric surgery on body composition and fat distribution are still limited. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Intra-abdominal and subcutaneous fat depots were evaluated using computed tomography in 27 obese patients prior to and 6 months follow...

Environmental cues often trigger memories of past events (associative retrieval), and these memories are a form of prediction about imminent experience. Learning is driven by the detection of prediction violations, when the past and present diverge. Using intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG), we show that associative prediction violations elicit increased low-frequency power (in the slow-...

False memories are often demonstrated using the misinformation paradigm, in which a person's recollection of a witnessed event is altered after exposure to misinformation about the event. The neural basis of this phenomenon, however, remains unknown. We used fMRI to investigate encoding processes during the viewing of an event and misinformation to see whether neural activity during either enco...

This study examines the relationship between the nutrient intake, including total dietary fiber (TDF) and fat, and the age-adjusted mortality from breast cancer (MBC) in Japanese females during the period from 1948 to 2000. The information for MBC in females was based on the data in Vital Statistics of Japan. Nutritional data were collected from the National Nutrition Survey reports. The data w...

The brown fat-specific mitochondrial uncoupling protein (UCP) provides a mechanism for generating heat by uncoupling respiration and oxidative phosphorylation. It has been suggested that this system of thermogenesis can provide a defense against obesity. To test this idea, we created a transgenic mouse in which the fat-specific aP2 gene promoter directed Ucp expression in white fat and provided...

Visceral fat adiposity plays an important role in the development of metabolic syndrome. We reported previously the impact of human visceral fat adiposity on gene expression profile of peripheral blood cells. Genes related to circadian rhythm were highly associated with visceral fat area and period homolog 1 (PER1) showed the most significant negative correlation with visceral fat area. However...

Male inbred F344 weanbing rats were fed semipunified diets containing 20 or 5% beef fat. At 7 weeks of age, all animals except controls were given 1,2-dimethylhydrazine [DMH (150 mg/kg body weight s.c.; one dose)], methyl azoxymethanol acetate [MAM acetate (35 mg/kg body weight i.p.; one dose)], or methylnitrosourea (2.5 mg/rat/ week intrarectally; two doses), and autopsied 35 weeks later. No m...

Introduction: Gluten is a protein found in grains.  Research has shown that the gluten that is in grains of wheat, barley, rye, and oats (to a lesser degree) is toxic to many individuals.  While gluten is essential for the make-up of these 4 grains, our bodies do not need it. Is it healthful?  The protein in today’s wheat is poorly digested and can be harmful.  An estimated 95% of prepared fo...