VIDEO: Obesity Drug Contrave Shown To Help Weight Loss, Veterans Increasingly Diagnosed With Mental Health Issues, Gene Variants Found in African Americans Relating to Hypertension

20.07.2009 | 1:51 min

(July 20, 2009 - Insidermedicine) From San Diego - Orexigen Therapeutics has reported that its new obesity drug, Contrave, has been shown to help reduce weight in obese people. Following a one year trial that involved nearly 3, 800 patients, researchers found that 48% of patients given Contrave experienced a loss of at least 5% of their total weight. The experimental drug is slated for FDA review in 2010. From San Francisco - According to a study from the American Journal of Public Health, increasing amounts of veterans from the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts are being diagnosed with mental health issues. Researchers from the San Francisco Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco, studied nearly 300, 000 veterans. Results showed that 37% of veterans received mental health diagnoses--typically suffering from post traumatic stress disorder as well as depression. And finally, from Washington - According to a study published in PLoS Genetics, researchers have discovered gene variants in African Americans related to hypertension. Scientists from the Coriell Institute for Medical Research and the National Human Genome Research Institute, studied DNA samples of over 1,000 African American participants, half with high blood pressure and the other half without. Results found 5 genome variants that were more common in those with high blood pressure. Hypertension, more common among African Americans, can cause both stroke and cardiovascular disease. For Insidermedicine In60, I'm Dr. Susan Sharma.
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