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According to NICE, over 700,000 people in the UK are so overweight they need gastric band surgery. In response to the UK's growing obesity epidemic, the BMI McIndoe Surgical Centre, the UK's largest specialist unit dedicated to cosmetic and reconstructive plastic surgery, has purchased the first operating table in Europe capable of holding patients up to 330kg (51 stone).

Researchers have determined that the two most popular brands of football helmet faceshields can withstand a hit equivalent to a kick in the face and provide that protection without disrupting players' vision. The eye specialists at Ohio State University used an air cannon to hurl baseballs at the plastic faceshields. The impact was designed to mimic the force of a kick to the face, considered the riskiest way to sustain an eye injury in football.

Severely obese patients who underwent two different gastric bypass techniques had lost up to 31 per cent of their Body Mass Index (BMI) after four years, with no deaths reported among the 50 study subjects, according to the November issue of the British Journal of Surgery.

A new study by researchers from The Miriam hospital's Centers for Behavioral and Preventive medicine suggests increased physical activity after bariatric surgery can yield better postoperative outcomes. According to the study, published online by the journal Obesity, previously inactive patients who became physically active after bariatric surgery lost more weight and achieved greater improvements in quality of life than those patients who remained inactive.

Why not buy that treadmill? You'll be exercising every day, right? A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research examines why our expectations of our behavior so often don't match reality. Authors Robin J. Tanner (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and Kurt A. Carlson (Duke University) uncovered a specific process that they believe contributes to unrealistic optimism. They also suggest a method to encourage consumers to think more realistically about their future actions.