People who are obese but metabolically healthy still have a significantly increased risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease, MedPage Today reported.
In a study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, researchers analyzed a cohort of 4,202 people for a seven-year period in order to assess the biggest risk factors for developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
Researchers focused on tracking both the body mass index and metabolic health of each participant. Metabolic health was measured by tracking the participants’ blood pressure, triglyceride and glucose levels, insulin resistance and high-density lipoprotein levels.
Throughout the study, 9.3 percent of participants developed diabetes, and 3.4 percent developed cardiovascular disease.
Overall, both obese people and normal-weight people who were metabolically unhealthy appeared to have the highest risk for developing both cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
According to the study’s authors, these findings support the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute’s recommendations that doctors spend more time focusing on obesity – and treatments for obesity – during patient visits.
Glendale, AZ – Radim Vrbata scored both goals, Mike Smith got his sixth shutout of the season and the Phoenix Coyotes jumped to No. 7 in the Western Conference with a 2-0 win over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.
Phoenix snapped a two-game losing streak and moved from ninth in the standings to seventh with 89 points -- one more than San Jose and idle Los Angeles.
Antti Niemi gave up both goals on 33 shots for the Sharks, who have lost two in a row on the heels of a three-game winning streak.
San Jose pulled Niemi with more than two minutes remaining, but still couldn&apos;t solve Smith, who had trouble explaining his success against the Sharks this season other that to credit the players in front of him.
The Phoenix goaltender had 15 saves in the first period, nine in the second and stopped 14 in the third.
Coyotes forward Ray Whitney had the primary assist on both of Vrbata&apos;s tallies to reach 999 career points, while Vrbata snapped a 12-game goalless streak.
Vrbata&apos;s first goal came on a power play 3:49 into the second period after a flurry in front of the net produced a rebound low on the left side, where he was able to whack it in.
It came at the end of a 2-on-1 in the third period when he flipped a pass over the stick of San Jose defenseman Dan Boyle and got Vrbata streaking down the right side for a one-timer at 8:17.
The Coyotes, behind Smith, went 4-1-1 against the Sharks this season. They are 1-1 on a four-game homestand that continues Saturday versus Anaheim...San Jose was coming off a 3-1 loss at Anaheim on Wednesday and opens a home-and-home in its own building Saturday against Dallas.
ACCRA, Ghana – Two 16-year-old British girls were convicted Wednesday of trying to smuggle cocaine out of the West African country to Europe in laptop bags, officials and lawyers said.
Both girls were found guilty on counts of possession and trafficking of narcotic drugs, said Gary Nicholls, a British High Commission spokesman who announced the ruling outside the courthouse.
The students from London were arrested at the Accra airport in July with about 13 pounds of the drug in their computer cases.
Officials had said earlier the two had been recruited in London by drug traffickers who promised them an all expenses-paid vacation in return for serving as drug couriers. The teens reportedly left for Africa telling their parents they were going on a trip to France.
"We are deeply disappointed at the verdict. These are two extremely vulnerable young girls whose naivete was ruthlessly exploited by the man who lured them to Ghana and led them to this terrible fate," Sabine Zanker said.
West Africa is increasingly becoming a transit point for drugs headed to Europe. Cocaine, mostly from Colombia, is brought on small planes and dropped on islands off the little-policed Atlantic Ocean coast, then distributed to couriers who carry it into Europe.
British and Ghanaian officials began collaborating last year after the number of drug-related arrests at London airports linked to West African flights surged.
PORTLAND, Ore. – A Las Vegas bound plane was diverted to Portland International Airport Thursday afternoon when at least one passenger said a couple was trying to join the "mile high club," FOX 12 Oregon is reporting.
"The people across the aisle from us were fooling around in their seats and they decided to go to the bathroom and fool around and they threatened the flight attendant,” said passenger Jessica Smith, according to FOX 12 Oregon.
YUMA, Ariz. – Authorities say a bullet apparently was fired into an office of a Democratic congressman who has been an outspoken opponent of the state&apos;s immigration law.
The apparent bullet hole was found in a window Thursday in the Yuma office of Rep. Raul Grijalva (gree-HAHL&apos;-vuh).
The discovery came on the same day that vocal immigration protests were held in Arizona. A judge a day earlier delayed most of the controversial new law from taking effect.
Grijalva called for a national boycott of Arizona after the law was passed in April. He reversed course after the judge&apos;s ruling.
New Zealand isn’t often in the news, but the earthquake that devastated its second city, Christchurch, was so dramatic and shocking that it managed to overtake reports of the seismic shifts taking place in the Middle East.
The earthquake couldn’t have hit a more beautiful place. Christchurch is known as the garden city, which says it all.
The city, in fact, dodged a bullet five months ago when a larger quake struck. Thankfully, nobody was killed. But seismologists suggest the earlier one was deeper and Christchurch was not as close to its epicenter.
Still, the quake is likely to have weakened many buildings, and when the second one struck those structures came tumbling down.
Rescue teams have been working through the night to try and find those still trapped under the debris from the quake.
Some trapped survivors have made calls for help by mobile phone, including a group of Japanese exchange students.
The earthquakes experienced in recent years -- such as in China, Indonesia and Pakistan -- show that the next 24 hours is crucial if these people are to be saved.
The magnitude 6.3 quake struck during the lunch hour in New Zealand’s second city, its streets packed with shoppers and office workers.
The earthquake left the center of the city devastated, with buildings collapsing and dazed and bleeding survivors on the streets.
Multi-story buildings folded like packs of cards and rubble flew down onto traffic crushing vehicles, including two double-decker buses.
The city’s cathedral lost its spire and the six-story Canterbury TV building collapsed, leaving a pile of smoking rubble.
Emergency services were quickly overwhelmed by the size of the disaster, but survivors joined them to help carry the injured away.
Helicopters and cranes were used to pluck people to safety from atop buildings that were in danger of collapsing.
The main airport had been closed for a while because the air traffic control tower was damaged by the quake.
New Zealand has now mobilized Hercules transport aircraft to bring in much-needed supplies. The rescue effort is also being hampered by power and mobile phone networks being disrupted and burst water mains that have created torrents of water in some areas of the city.
Christchurch had been hit by a larger quake five months ago, and amazingly nobody was killed.Still, buildings are likely to have been weakened by the last earthquake and that’s possibly why this quake has caused so much devastation.
Seismologists said that despite this quake being smaller, it was more destructive than the earlier quake because it was nearer to Christchurch’s center and much closer to the earth&apos;s surface.
New Zealand sits on the "pacific ring of fire," a vast circle of seismic activity stretching along South America on one side to Japan and Indonesia on the other.