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The system, designed by San Diego firm Obalon Therapeutics, allows a gastric balloon to be inserted into the stomach without invasive surgery. The balloon is being launched in the UK after successful trials here and in the US. What makes this system different from other gastric balloons is that it can be swallowed and then inflated without the need for anaesthetic or sedation. It is packed inside a gelatine capsule that dissolves in the stomach and is inflated through a tube. Then the tube is pulled out, allowing a self-sealing valve to keep the balloon inflated. Two or even three balloons could be placed in the patient's stomach, and after three months they are removed using a traditional endoscopic procedure. The balloon works by taking up space in the stomach, making the patient feel fuller after eating a reduced portion of food, and so reducing their calorific intake. Picture: Universal News And Sport (Scotland) 21 January 2014.
Ballooning weight? Try this...
PIC BY DAN ROWLANDS / CATERS NEWS (PICTURED: HARRY HAMILTON WITH BARNEY THE EUROPEAN EAGLE OWL ON A DRIVE) - Council bosses have forked out almost £5,000 for a man to walk his pet OWL around town - to scare off PIGEONS. Oswestry Town Council have been spending £75 a day letting bird enthusiast Harry Hamilton, 61, walk around the town of Oswestry, Shropshire, with his owl Barney in tow, in a bid to scare away pigeons. Bird of Prey enthusiast Harry has been walking around the town with the owl on his arm twice a week, since June 2013 as part of a pigeon deterrent trial. SEE CATERS COPY.
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