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Editor’s Note: Gastric bypass surgery, sleeve gastrectomy, duodenal switch and the lap band procedure are among the surgical methods to help reduce weight in morbidly obese patients. Together they comprise the surgical side of what’s called bariatric medicine, the treatment of obesity. The New England Journal of Medicine recently published two studies online that confirm weight-loss surgery can reverse and possibly cure Type 2 diabetes brought on by obesity. In addition, doctors at UTHealth are currently conducting a surgical clinical trial using experimental surgery aimed at overweight or obese (but not morbidly obese) adults who have Type 2 diabetes.
At 535 pounds, Rex Adams felt like a prisoner, not just because of his weight, but because he was taking as many as a dozen pills a day to help manage complications of obesity.
“When I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and had to go on oral medication, that’s when it really hit me,” Adams says. “I had done this to myself. I knew I had to do something to lose the weight and free myself from all the pills I was taking.”
Adams sought a surgical solution to control the weight and his blood sugar. He took one last pill the day before the surgery.
Since then, he hasn’t required any medication to manage his type 2 diabetes and is no longer considered diabetic.
“It was like a complete release,” Adams says. “I had the surgery, and I never looked back.”
Full story »
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The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), the most comprehensive academic health center in The UT System and the U.S. Gulf Coast region, is home to schools of biomedical informatics, biomedical sciences, dentistry, medicine, nursing and public health. UTHealth educates more healthcare professionals than any health-related institution in the State of Texas and features the nation’s seventh-largest medical school. It also includes a psychiatric hospital and a growing network of clinics throughout the region. The university’s primary teaching hospitals include Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital and Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital. Founded in 1972, UTHealth’s 10,000-plus faculty, staff, students and residents are committed to delivering innovative solutions that create the best hope for a healthier future.
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Tetanus booster
for adults
Tetanus does not result from the rusty nail or whatever created the wound. The danger lies in the bacterium Clostridium tetani that lives in thesoil or manure on that nail or gardening tool. When these spores get into a wound—deep or shallow—they can produce a potent toxin. Also called lockjaw, tetanus seriously affects the central nervous system and can be fatal.
Onset of symptoms can occur anytime from three days to three weeks. Call your health care provider if you have an open wound, particularly if:
Adults should have a tetanus booster shot every 10 years, known as the Td vaccine. It is a "2-in-1" vaccine that protects against tetanus and diphtheria. It contains a slightly different dose of diphtheria vaccine than what you received as a child. It can be given to anyone older than 7 years and is injected, usually into the arm.
Instead of the standard Td booster every 10 years, adults between the ages of 19 and 65 should receive Tdap one time in their adulthood to boost the immune system for pertussis, as well as tetanus and diphtheria.
Diphtheria, a contagious bacterial infection causes severe inflammation of the throat and larynx and can also affect the whole body. Pertussis or “whooping cough” is a serious bacterial infection that can be very serious in infants and young children. Adults may be infected later in life as their immunities wane. Neither of these infections is related to tetanus, but both vaccines are compatible and convenient to use with the tetanus booster.