Leptin News and Research

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Leptin is a 16 kDa protein hormone that plays a key role in regulating energy intake and energy expenditure, including appetite and metabolism. It is one of the most important adipose derived hormones. The ''Ob(Lep)'' gene (Ob for obese, Lep for leptin) is located on chromosome 7 in humans.

Two young neuroscientists win CAN Young Investigator Awards for 2014

The Canadian Association for Neuroscience is proud to announce that Dr. Stephanie Borgland, from the Hotchkiss Brain Institute at University of Calgary, and Dr. Brian Chen, from the Centre for Research in Neuroscience at McGill University, are both winners of CAN Young Investigator Awards for 2014.

8 May 2014

Professor wins 2014 Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award from American Diabetes Association

Dr. Joel Elmquist, Director of the Center for Hypothalamic Research at UT Southwestern Medical Center, has been awarded the American Diabetes Association's Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award, the organization's top honor for an early-career scientist.

26 Apr 2014

Professor receives 2014 Rolf Luft Award for research on diabetes and endocrinology

Dr. Roger Unger, Professor of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center has been awarded the 2014 Rolf Luft Award for his identification of glucagon as a pancreatic hormone that raises blood sugar levels, having the opposite effect of insulin.

18 Mar 2014

Researchers find unusual mutation strongly linked to rare liver cancer that affects teens

In the race for better treatments and possible cures, rare diseases are often left behind. In a collaboration of researchers at The Rockefeller University, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the New York Genome Center (NYGC), an unusual mutation has been found that is strongly linked to one such disease: a rare liver cancer that affects teens and young adults.

3 Mar 2014

Teen diagnosed with liver cancer explores genetic link to rare cancers

A father-daughter scientific collaboration that began after the daughter was diagnosed with a rare liver cancer has led to an important finding and could have broader implications for many other rare cancers. Their story is being published this week in a top tier journal, Science.

3 Mar 2014

Obesity, contraceptives pills may increase risk of developing MS in later stages, says study

The role of the so-called "obesity hormone" leptin and hormones used for birth control in the development of multiple sclerosis (MS) is examined in two new studies released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 66th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, April 26 to May 3, 2014.

28 Feb 2014

Cognitive decline in obese diabetic mice can be reversed with regular exercise, surgical removal of belly fat

Cognitive decline that often accompanies obesity and diabetes can be reversed with regular exercise or surgical removal of belly fat, scientists report.

26 Feb 2014

Researchers identify specific biomarkers of obesity and early-stage colon cancer

Obesity is a known risk factor for many cancers including colon cancer, yet the reasons behind the colon cancer link have often remained unclear.

5 Feb 2014

High sodium intake correlates with fatness and inflammation in adolescents

Most adolescents consume as much salt as adults - some more than twice the recommended daily allowance - and that high sodium intake correlates with fatness and inflammation regardless of how many calories they consume, researchers report.

3 Feb 2014

Consumption of probiotics could help promote healthy weight in women, says study

Certain probiotics could help women lose weight and keep it off, according to a recent study published in the British Journal of Nutrition by a team of researchers headed by Universit- Laval Professor Angelo Tremblay.

29 Jan 2014

FDA Advisory Committee recommends metreleptin for treatment of generalized lipodystrophy

AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee (EMDAC) recommends the investigational medicine metreleptin for the treatment of pediatric and adult patients with generalized lipodystrophy (LD).

12 Dec 2013

Childhood exercise help mitigate obesity due to prenatal exposure to high-fat diets

Rats whose mothers were fed a high-fat diet during pregnancy and nursing were able to stave off some of the detrimental health effects of obesity by exercising during their adolescence, new Johns Hopkins research shows.

26 Nov 2013

Study examines impact of sleep on children's eating behaviors

It seems everyone is looking for a culprit when it comes to childhood obesity: fast food, sugary drinks, super-sized everything. But it turns out part of the blame may lie with the simple matter of turning out the lights and rolling into bed.

4 Nov 2013

High levels of leptin in blood may increase risk of heart attack, stroke

High levels of adipose tissue hormone leptin in the blood reduces blood vessels' ability to dilate, and also affects blood clotting, all of which increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.

8 Oct 2013

New insights into how obesity, type 2 diabetes can create stress response in the brain

Joslin researchers have gained new insights into how obesity and type 2 diabetes can create a stress response in the brain, especially in the hypothalamus (the brain region that regulates appetite and energy production), that may contribute to altering metabolism throughout the body. The findings are reported in the October issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

2 Oct 2013

Researchers identify mechanisms necessary to live without insulin

Several millions of people around the world suffer from insulin deficiencies. Insulin is a hormone, secreted by the beta cells in the pancreas, which plays a major role in the regulation of energy substrates such as glucose.

4 Sep 2013

Research: Chronic cocaine use may reduce body's ability to store fat

Chronic cocaine use may reduce the body's ability to store fat, new research from the University of Cambridge suggests. The scientists found that cocaine use may cause profound metabolic changes which can result in dramatic weight gain during recovery, a distressing phenomenon that can lead to relapse.

12 Aug 2013

Health benefits of sufficient sleep: an interview with Dr Monique Verschuren, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, the Netherlands

We used 6 hours or less per 24 hours as the definition of insufficient sleep, with 7 hours or more as sufficient sleep. In general, this is considered the amount of sleep that is sufficient for adults, although there can be differences between persons with respect to the amount of sleep needed.

6 Aug 2013

Researchers identify genetic cause of severe obesity

Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital have identified a genetic cause of severe obesity that, though rare, raises new questions about weight gain and energy use in the general obese population. The research, published in the journal Science on July 19, involved genetic surveys of several groups of obese humans and experiments in mice.

19 Jul 2013

Stress exposure may be associated with increased risk of aggressive breast cancer

Local chemical signals released by fat cells in the mammary gland appear to provide a crucial link between exposure to unrelenting social stressors early in life, and the subsequent development of breast cancer, researchers from the University of Chicago report in the July 2013 issue of the journal Cancer Prevention Research.

19 Jun 2013