Loss

When roasted at 475 degrees, coffee beans are sometimes described as rich and full-bodied. But for the full-bodied person who is not so rich, unroasted coffee beans - green as the day they were picked - may hold the key to cheap and effective weight loss, new research suggests. In a study presented Tuesday at the American Chemical Society's spring national meeting in San Diego, 16 overweight young adults took, by turns, a low dose of green coffee bean extract, a high dose of the supplement, and a placebo.

Meanwhile, back on the third rock from the sun the rest of us live on, the Dodgers lost. Lost big, lost like regular mortals and everything. The Dodgers fell 11-4 Wednesday to the Diamondbacks in Phoenix to snap their six-game winning streak. There was no pixie dust on this night, no wide-eyed comeback, just a good old-fashioned derriere kicking.

The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday cautioned consumers against using quinine for leg cramps, warning that the drug could cause severe side effects, including death. Quinine, sold in this country under the brand name Qualaquin, is approved for treatment of uncomplicated malaria, but has a long history of use as a remedy for leg cramps, especially at night. In many countries, it is sold over the counter. Studies have shown that it can reduce the incidence of cramps by one-third to one-half but that as many as one in every 25 users can suffer serious side effects.

WASHINGTON — The public won't be protected from the type of risky bets that led to the huge trading loss at JPMorgan Chase & Co. until new rules are approved to allow better monitoring of complicated derivatives transactions, two key federal regulators told a Senate committee. As it was, the heads of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said Tuesday that they learned of the unusual trading activity that led to JPMorgan's $2.3-billion trading loss through media reports.

Until recently, very few people had ever heard of raspberry ketones, the aromatic compounds that give the berries their distinctive smell. Today, health food stores have trouble keeping the capsules or drops of the stuff on their shelves. Almost overnight, an obscure plant compound became the next big thing in weight loss - and all it took was a few words from Dr. Oz. In a February episode of "The Dr. Oz Show," Mehmet Oz told viewers that raspberry ketones were "the No. 1 miracle in a bottle to burn your fat. " Once Oz calls something a "miracle," it doesn't remain obscure for long.

In an age of long commutes, late sports practices, endless workdays and 24/7 television programming, the image of Mom hanging up her dish towel at 7 p.m. and declaring "the kitchen is closed" seems a quaint relic of an earlier era. It also harks back to a thinner America. And that may be no coincidence. A new study, conducted on mice, hints at an unexpected contributor to the nation's epidemic of obesity - and, if later human studies bear it out, a possible way to have our cake and eat it too, with less risk of weight gain and the diseases that come with it. Just eat your cake - or better yet, an apple - earlier.

WASHINGTON - Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana said they improved his strength and posture. Celebrity Kim Kardashian boasted they allowed her to ditch her personal trainer. But federal and state officials said the rocker-bottom Shape-ups and other toning shoes made by Skechers USA Inc. don't live up to the hype from the company and its high-profile endorsers. On Wednesday, the Manhattan Beach company agreed to pay $50 million to settle false-advertising allegations by the Federal Trade Commission and the attorneys general of 44 states, including California, as well as the District of Columbia.

First of three parts Tiffany Lee wanted a car. She was weary of the two-hour bus ride to her job at a UCLA Health System clinic. She hated having to ask friends to drive her 7-year-old son to his asthma treatments. But as a single mother with three children, bad credit and a $27,000-a-year salary, she couldn't find a bank or dealership willing to give her a loan. Then a friend steered her to Repossess Auto Sales in Hawthorne. Another buyer might have balked at the deal she was offered.

"Oh, you mean the guy with the 70-year-old head and the 20-year-old body-builder body? That picture has got to be Photoshopped." Dr. Jeffry Life smiles when I tell him about the general reaction I get about the famous picture of him with his shirt off, the shot that turned a mild-mannered doctor in his mid-60s into a poster boy for super-fit aging and controversial hormone replacement Appearing in medical-clinic ads in airline magazines and...

'The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond' MPAA rating: PG-13 for some sexuality and drug content Running time: 1 hour, 42 minutes Playing: In selected theaters

Here's one indication how far the Galaxy has fallen since winning the Major League Soccer Cup six months ago: Last year it led the league with 17 shutouts en route to the title. Wednesday it couldn't protect a two-goal lead for 18 minutes, losing to the San Jose Earthquakes, 3-2, at the Home Depot Center. The game-winner came four minutes into stoppage time when second-half substitute Alan Gordon cut in front of Galaxy defenders A.J. DeLaGarza and Sean Franklin and headed a bouncing pass over keeper Brian Perk.

Jamie Dimon, chairman and chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co., still won't say how much the bank could wind up losing from risky trades that cost it at least $2 billion. "We're not going to give a running tally on losses," Dimon said at a Deutsche Bank investor conference in Manhattan. JPMorgan recently disclosed the bank lost $2 billion in complicated trades in its chief investment office, and said the losses could widen by as much as $1 billion. A recent account in the Wall Street Journal reported the trades could result in as much as $5 billion in losses.

The Clippers were eliminated from the playoffs Sunday evening following a 102-99 loss to the San Antonio Spurs in Game 4 of their Western Conference semifinal series. Even though they were swept out of the postseason, many consider the team's season a success, regularly selling out Staples Center , reenergizing their fanbase and making the playoffs for the first time since 2006. Here's a glimpse of what Coach Vinny Del Negro and the players had to say in their post-game interviews.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Andrew Bynum was right. Close-out games can be easy. The Oklahoma City Thunder stepped all over the Lakers in the fourth quarter of their 106-90 Game 5 victory Monday night at Chesapeake Energy Arena, ending the Lakers' season yet again in the Western Conference semifinals. It wasn't as bad as last season's 36-point blowout loss in Dallas, and there won't be any carry-over suspensions for next season, but the two-championship run the Lakers put together couldn't have seemed any further in the past.

If success had dulled the Kings' memory of what it felt like to lose, if eliminating the Vancouver Canucks in five games, sweeping the St. Louis Blues and taking the first three games of the Western Conference finals against the Phoenix Coyotes had made them forget how deeply a defeat can sting, it all came back to them Sunday afternoon. On the day they could have clinched a berth in the Stanley Cup finals, they instead had to pack for another trip to the desert to face a team that rediscovered its identity in a scrappy 2-0 victory at Staples Center.

SAN DIEGO — There was a time this season when the Angels had too many outfielders. There was a time this season when the Angels fancied themselves World Series contenders. And then there was Sunday, when the Angels dropped back into last place in the American League West, when the second baseman forced into duty as an emergency left fielder botched the final play of the game. That the Angels lost a series to the bumbling San Diego Padres is bad enough. The Angels also lost Vernon Wells and Ryan Langerhans — probably to the disabled list — leaving them short-staffed in the formerly overloaded outfield.

Now's the chance . . . cover the Coliseum and get this city the arena football team it so richly deserves. RICH GARON Mar Vista

Incomnet Inc., a Woodland Hills operator of computerized trading networks for the auto parts industry, said it lost $419,277 in the third quarter, despite a threefold growth in revenue, to $1.66 million from $466,556 a year earlier. Incomnet attributed the loss, which compares with a profit of $139,308 in the third quarter of 1991, mainly to about $800,000 in losses resulting from its May acquisition of National Telephone Communications Inc. in Newport Beach for a total of $2 million.

After spending a season fighting age, battling immaturity, struggling with old habits and jabbing with a new coach, the Lakers have ended up where we pretty much thought they would. Out of breath and on the ropes. Their veteran star is exhausted and annoyed. Their kid center is angry and distant. Their power forward is uncertain and embattled. And their season is officially on the brink after they blew a 13-point lead in a 103-100 loss to Oklahoma City on Saturday in the fourth and perhaps deciding game of their first-round playoff series.

The Clippers didn't go easily when they could have, when many thought they would have. They played Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinal series against the San Antonio Spurs right up to the final few seconds of the game Sunday night. Still, in the end, the Clippers dropped a 102-99 decision to the Spurs at Staples Center, getting swept out of the playoffs. Chris Paul had been the Clippers' savior all season, their closer. But he couldn't save the day this time, missing two shots late when the game hung in the balance.