Nature Magazine – February 14, 2024: The latest issue cover climate and land-use stresses could push the rainforest past a tipping point as early as 2050. The researchers probed five causes of water stress — global warming, annual rainfall, seasonal intensity of rainfall, length of the dry season and deforestation — using palaeorecords, climate models and observational data.
The blockbuster medications that reduce body weight also reduce inflammation in organs such as the brain, raising hopes that they can treat Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.
Science Magazine – December 14, 2023: The new issue cover features The 2023 Breakthrough of the Year: Obesity meets its match – Blockbuster weight loss drugs show promise for a wider range of health benefits; Runners-Up: At last, modest headway against Alzheimer’s; and Breakdowns of the Year – What went wrong in the world of Science….
Blockbuster weight loss drugs show promise for a wider range of health benefits
Obesity plays out as a private struggle and a public health crisis. In the United States, about 70% of adults are affected by excess weight, and in Europe that number is more than half. The stigma against fat can be crushing; its risks, life-threatening. Defined as a body mass index of at least 30, obesity is thought to power type 2 diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, fatty liver disease, and certain cancers.
Medicine has had little to offer the tens of millions of people worldwide with Alzheimer’s disease, and the few approved treatments have only targeted symptoms. But in January, U.S. regulators greenlit the first drug that clearly, if modestly, slows cognitive decline by tackling the disease’s underlying biology; a second, related treatment is close behind. Neither comes close to a cure, and both have serious risks, but they offer new hope to patients and families.
A popular, growing class of drugs for obesity and diabetes could, in an ideal world, help us see that metabolism and appetite are biological facts, not moral choices.
A class of drugs that quash hunger have shown striking results in trials and in practice. But can they help all people with obesity — and conquer weight stigma?
News, Views and Reviews For The Intellectually Curious
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