The New York Times' "Vital Signs" column reported on a new study chaired by Gary Foster, director of Temple’s Center for Obesity Research and Education. According to the study done for the National Institutes of Health, thousands of sixth graders who participated in a school-based health program were less obese by eighth grade than a group of similar children who did not. But the findings, reported by The New England Journal of Medicine, held a pleasant surprise for the researchers: Overall rates of obesity and excessive weight dropped in both groups, suggesting that childhood obesity may finally be declining. "That's the perplexing but happy part of this," said Foster.