I am 25 kg overweight, but after dieting, I always revert to my old bad habits, and regain any weight lost. I would appreciate it if you could provide information on having a balloon inserted in my stomach to assist with weight loss.
A technique is being used by a small number of specialist doctors, in which a tube with a deflated balloon at its end is swallowed. Once in the stomach, the balloon is inflated, to fill up approximately three-quarters of the stomach volume. The tube is removed, and the balloon can remain in place for weeks or months.
While present, the balloon fools the stomach into believing that it is already full, thus reducing the appetite and desire to eat. The obvious aim is to reduce the calorie (kilojoule) intake of the patient to the point where they lose weight.
There are complications with the procedure. It is possible for the stomach to become inflamed, ulcers to develop, the outlet from the stomach may become blocked, uncontrollable vomiting may occur, and in very rare instances the stomach may rupture.
Obesity and overeating in some people is a habit that is extremely hard to control, and they continue to eat, and further expand the stomach, despite the presence of the balloon. The balloon cannot remain in place permanently, and once it is removed, those who may have lost a great deal of weight often start gorging again and regain all the lost weight.
There is no easy answer to obesity—only lots of different difficult and/or expensive ones. The cheapest and most effective is self-discipline, diet and exercise—but that is certainly not an easy option.

I am 18 years old, female, slightly underweight, very attractive and have a perfect figure. I can eat anything I like and still maintain my figure. How long will it be before I start to put on weight every time I eat something fattening?
I am delighted that you have such self-confidence in your appearance, but I would suggest that you act cautiously around any friends who are even slightly overweight or who have a figure a little less spectacular than your own, or you may not live long enough to find out if you will ever become fat and flabby!
The best way to find out if you will have a weight problem in the future is to look at your parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts. If they are overweight, then you have a high risk of following in their footsteps. Your weight is determined by several factors including inherited tendencies, the metabolic rate of your body (rate at which cells burn energy) and obviously your diet and exercise level.
You should decide on an ideal weight, and merely eat a nutritious diet, low in fatty and processed foods until you reach that weight, be that in a few months or a few years. Once ar that weight, modify your food intake and exercise level to maintain that weight.

Why are some people left-handed? I am 12 years old and the only lefthander in my family. Will it be a problem for me?
The lefties in our society should not feel apologetic for their ‘preferred laterality’, to use the correct medical term for left-handedness. There is an impressive list of left-handed leaders, artists and sports people including Queen Victoria, Harry Truman, Gerald Ford, Michelangelo, Paul McCartney, Judy Garland, Picasso, Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe.
Hand preference does not appear to be a characteristic of animals, but is exclusive to humans. There are many theories to explain this. Some experts claim it is due to emotional contrariness in childhood, others that it is inherited, still others that it is an acquired learning process. It may well be a combination of these factors.
Because most sporting equipment, tools and appliances are designed for right-handed people, this has created preference in the community for the right hand. Parents tend to give children toys and the like in their right hand, thereby adding to the learning process of the child. Hand preference usually begins around 9 months of age, and is established around 18 months to two years.
There is increasing research interest in the proficiency with which lefthanders are able to use their right hand. Some left-handers are quite hopeless using their right hand, while others are much better.

I was a soldier in Japan after the war, and visited Hiroshima. I also worked with yellowcake at a uranium treatment plant in South Australia in the 1950s. Is there any way of telling if I have been damaged by radiation?
Unfortunately there is no way of finding out if you have had any long-term damage to radiation from many years ago. At the time of radiation, blood tests may be abnormal, and if cancer or other disease does develop, once again pathology tests will be able to detect the damage, but in between these two stages, there are no tests that will give any meaningful result.
In order to give you some reassurance, I would point out that yellowcake has a very low level of radiation, and even today is transported in 44 gallon drums with no more protection than a thin layer of steel. It is extremely unlikely that working with yellowcake (which is a uranium ore concentrate) will cause any long-term problems.
I have checked with the Department of Veterans Affairs, and they claim that no Australian servicemen were adversely affected by radiation while serving in Japan.