New imaging technology provides insight into abnormalities in the brain circuitry of patients with anorexia nervosa (commonly known as anorexia) that may contribute to the puzzling symptoms found in people with the eating disorder.

Eating disorders, such as anorexia, are frequently seen as psychological or societal diseases, but do they have an underlying biological cause? A new study shows that the levels of a brain protein differ between healthy and anorexic women.

Results of Recent Survey Also Reflect the Critical Need for Cross-Disciplinary Eating Disorder Treatment

You decide. While she didn't win, Stephanie Naumoska, 19, competed in the Miss Universe Australia contest in Sydney (the winner goes to the Miss Universe finals), and drew attention not for her beauty, but for being, well, gaunt.

The study was initiated in 1985. A total of 51 teenagers with anorexia nervosa were studied, together with an equally large control group of healthy persons. The groups have been investigated and compared several times as the years have passed.

A new study by Rhode Island Hospital and Brown University suggests that the DSM-IV criteria for eating disorders have limited clinical utility. Researchers recommend a broadening of the criteria for bulimia, anorexia and binge eating disorder.

People given a biological and genetics-based explanation for the causes of anorexia nervosa were less likely to blame people with anorexia for their illness than those given a sociocultural explanation, a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study found.

Even after more than a year of maintaining a normalized body weight, young women who recovered from anorexia nervosa show vastly different patterns of brain activity compared to similar women without the eating disorder, Walter H. Kaye, M.D., professor of psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and colleagues report in the December issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Providing accurate information and improving knowledge of the illness is the most effective preliminary strategy against eating disorders, according to a study in Early Intervention in Psychiatry published by Wiley Blackwell.

Colonic lipomas have been found in related literature. One extremely rare case was recently reported in the November 14 issue of the World Journal of Gastroenterology because of its maximum diameter of 8.5 cm. The article discussed age and sex factors, clinical and histopathological findings, diagnostic methods and treatment by reviewing the present case and previously available literature.

Italy's advertising watchdog has banned a controversial advertising campaign showing a naked anorexic young woman.

Anorexia nervosa is a disorder with a grim reputation. Even experts say that anorexia is often devastatingly chronic and carries high mortality rates. However, these views are highly biased. A study recently conducted in Finland among young women uncovers a completely different side to anorexia.