Intermittent energy restriction may be an effective strategy for the treatment of overweight and obesity. Intermittent energy restriction was comparable to continuous energy restriction for short term weight loss in overweight and obese adults. Intermittent energy restriction was shown to be more effective than no treatment, however, this should be interpreted cautiously due to the small number of studies and future research is warranted to confirm the findings of this review.

Background Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are lifelong neurodevelopmental disorders. It is not clear whether working memory (WM) deficits are commonly experienced by individuals with ASD. Aim To determine whether individuals with ASD experience significant impairments in WM and whether there are specific domains of working memory that are impaired. Methods We conducted a meta-analysis using four electronic databases EMBASE (OVID), MEDLINE (OVID), PsychINFO (EBSCOHOST), and Web of Science, to examine the literature to investigate whether people with ASD experience impairments related to WM. Meta-analyses were conducted separately for phonological and visuospatial domains of WM. Subgroup analyses investigated age and intelligence quotient as potential moderators. Results A total of 29 papers containing 34 studies measuring phonological and visuospatial domains of WM met the inclusion criteria. WM scores were significantly lower for individuals with ASD compared to typically developed (TD) controls, in both the visuospatial domain when investigating accuracy ( d : -0.73, 95% CI -1.04 to -0.42, p < 0.05) and error rates ( d : 0.56, 95% CI 0.25 to 0.88, p<0.05), and the phonological domain when investigating accuracy ( d :-0.67, 95% CI -1.10 to -0.24, p>0.05) and error rate ( d : 1.45, 95% CI -0.07 to 2.96, p = 0.06). Age and IQ did not explain the differences in WM in ASD. Conclusions The findings of this meta-analysis indicate that across the lifespan, individuals with ASD demonstrate large impairments in WM across both phonological and visuospatial WM domains when compared to healthy individuals.

Aim:To provide a systematic review, of published data, to compare weight losses following very low calorie (<800 kcal per day VLCD) or low-energy liquid-formula (>800 kcal per day LELD) diets, in people with and without type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).Methods:Systematic electronic searches of Medline (1946–2015) and Embase (1947–2015) to identify published studies using formula total diet replacement diets (VLCD/LELD). Random effects meta-analysis using weighted mean difference (WMD) in body weight between groups (with and without diabetes) as the summary estimate.Results:Final weight loss, in the five included studies, weighted for study sizes, (n=569, mean BMI=35.5–42.6 kg/m2), was not significantly different between participants with and without T2DM: −1.2 kg; 95% CI: −4.1 to 1.6 kg). Rates of weight loss were also similar in the two groups −0.6 kg per week (T2DM) and 0.5 kg per week (no diabetes), and for VLCD (<800 kcal per day) and LELD (>800 kcal per day).Conclusions:Weight losses with liquid-formula diets are very similar for VLCD and LELD and for obese subjects with or without T2DM. They can potentially achieve new weight loss/ maintenance targets of >15–20% for people with severe and medically complicated obesity.