Rare Mutation Kills Off Gene Responsible For Diabetes

Re:Rare Mutation Kills Off Gene Responsible For Diabetes by alashley on Sunday March 02, 2014 @10:53PM (#7331951)

I found the gratuitous use of the word 'fat' in this article kind of jarring.

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Re:Rare Mutation Kills Off Gene Responsible For Diabetes by Zikes on Sunday March 02, 2014 @11:35PM (#7332067)

It only appears three times, is a proper medical term, and is absolutely relevant to the article subject.

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Re:Rare Mutation Kills Off Gene Responsible For Diabetes by daeken on Sunday March 02, 2014 @11:50PM (#7332108)

"Fat" as a description of a person is as medically valid as "stupid". That is to say, not at all. "Overweight", "obese", and others are actual medical terms that have real definitions, quite unlike "fat".

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Re:Rare Mutation Kills Off Gene Responsible For Diabetes by sdrothrock on Monday March 03, 2014 @12:13AM (#7332153)

Agreed. All instances of the word "fat" are used by the writer. The only instance of a medical professional saying something that would warrant the word "fat" is Dr. Rolph, who is quoted as saying "overweight."

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Re:Rare Mutation Kills Off Gene Responsible For Diabetes by nevvvermind on Monday March 03, 2014 @02:43AM (#7332525)

Oh, I see. So synonyms of the word "fat" have real medical definitions. I think it's just that "fat" doesn't sound pretentious enough, so it's not clinical.

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Re:Rare Mutation Kills Off Gene Responsible For Diabetes by irremediable on Monday March 03, 2014 @09:06AM (#7333727)

They don't mean precisely the same thing. "Overweight" and "obese" can be defined, as categories, according to BMI, WHR, body fat percentage or similar. "Fat" is a lot less clearly definable.

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Re:Rare Mutation Kills Off Gene Responsible For Diabetes by Zikes on Monday March 03, 2014 @02:47AM (#7332535)

I guess someone should notify Merriam-Webster: http://www.merriam-webster.com/medlineplus/fat

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Re:Rare Mutation Kills Off Gene Responsible For Diabetes by StavrosK on Monday March 03, 2014 @07:41AM (#7333359)

Maybe it's like "retarded"? It was jarring to see in medical texts, but they use it.

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Re:Rare Mutation Kills Off Gene Responsible For Diabetes by rimantas on Monday March 03, 2014 @03:41AM (#7332684)

Yup, the proper term is gravitationally challenged. Now can we stop this PC bovine excrements thing?

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