Content of ecstasy in the Netherlands: 1993-2008.

Aims: The present paper outlines the results of analyses carried out on the content of tablets sold as ecstasy, collected in the Netherlands by the Drugs Information Monitoring System (DIMS) from January 1993 to December 2008.

Methods: During a period of 16 years, the DIMS analysed the content of 33 006 tablets sold as ecstasy that were handed in by numerous individual (potential) substance users. The DIMS results were compared with the results from various seized tablets to determine whether the DIMS is a monitor of the ecstasy consumer market.

An analysis of cocaine powder in the Netherlands: content and health hazards due to adulterants.

Aims: To report on trends in the content and adulterants present in street cocaine (powder) in the Netherlands and to describe the associated health hazards.

Design And Participants: Drug consumers handed in samples of cocaine powder from 1999 to 2007 for analysis. Reports were compiled of users' experiences with the samples received.

Relationship between perilipin gene polymorphisms and body weight and body composition during weight loss and weight maintenance.

Background: Genetic variation in the perilipin (PLIN) gene may play a role in the etiology and treatment of obesity.

Objective: To examine different polymorphisms in the PLIN gene in relation to body-weight regulation.

Methods: 118 subjects followed a 6 wk VLCD, followed by 1 year weight maintenance.

Successful long-term weight maintenance: a 2-year follow-up.

Objective: To find factors associated with successful weight maintenance (WM) in overweight and obese subjects after a very low-calorie diet (VLCD).

Research Methods And Procedures: Subjects (133) followed a VLCD (2.1 MJ/d) for 6 weeks in a free-living situation.

Determinants of overweight in a cohort of Dutch children.

Background: To improve the effective prevention and treatment of obesity, it is important to focus on body weight (BW) development and its determinants during childhood.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of early development, parental and genetic variables, and behavioral determinants on overweight at 12 y.

Design: In a Dutch cohort of 105 children, anthropometric measurements were conducted from birth until age 7 y.

Predictors of long-term weight maintenance.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate available variables of a long-term weight maintenance study to investigate possible factors predisposing to weight regain after a period of weight loss.

Research Methods And Procedures: The Maastricht Weight Maintenance Study is an ongoing longitudinal study of healthy men and women (29 men and 62 women; 18 to 65 years of age; BMI = 30.2 +/- 3.

Effect of green tea on resting energy expenditure and substrate oxidation during weight loss in overweight females.

We assessed the effect of ingestion of green tea (GT) extract along with a low-energy diet (LED) on resting energy expenditure (REE), substrate oxidation and body weight as GT has been shown to increase energy expenditure and fat oxidation in the short term in both animals and people. Forty-six overweight women (BMI 27.6 (sd 1.

Relation of weight maintenance and dietary restraint to peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma2, glucocorticoid receptor, and ciliary neurotrophic factor polymorphisms.

Background: Genetic variation in the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma2 (PPARgamma2), glucocorticoid receptor (GRL), and ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) genes may play a role in the etiology of obesity.

Objective: We examined biological, psychological, and genetic determinants associated with weight maintenance (WM) after weight loss.

Design: Subjects (n = 120) followed a 6-wk diet and then a 1-y period of WM.