Metabolism News and Research

Latest Metabolism News and Research

Summary of The Euro Heart Survey on the diabetic state of patients with coronary artery disease

The survey engaged 110 centres in 25 countries recruiting 4,196 patients referred to a cardiology department or outpatient clinic due to CAD. A total of 2 107 of these patients were admitted on acute basis while 2,854 had an elective consultation. Patient data were collected via a web-based case record form.

30 Aug 2004

New study confirms benefits of rimonabant in weight loss

Phase III clinical study comparing placebo to rimonabant, the first agent in a new therapeutic class known as selective cannabinoid type 1 (CB1) blockers, showed that overweight or obese people taking rimonabant 20mg once daily benefited from a significant reduction in their body weight

29 Aug 2004

Ephedra substitute - Seville orange may have risks

People taking “ephedra-free” weight loss products that contain the herb Citrus aurantium, or Seville orange, may be doing more harm to their body than good, according to a new review published by Georgetown University Medical Center researchers.

27 Aug 2004

Researchers have produced a marathon mouse that can run twice as far as normal mice

By enhancing the function of a single protein, Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have produced a “marathon mouse” with altered muscle composition and enough physical endurance to run twice as far as normal mice.

23 Aug 2004

Existing hepatitis drug could lead to the development of new drugs for the treatment of anthrax

Thanks to new screening tools, and some luck, researchers at the University of Chicago have discovered three unrelated compounds that inhibit the two toxins – edema factor and lethal factor -- that have made anthrax one of the most feared of potential bioterror agents.

21 Aug 2004

Enzyme activation key to body clock

Feel like time is repeating itself and won’t move on? It could be your internal clock is backpedaling because your PKG-II is out of whack.

20 Aug 2004

Vitamin E has potential benefit in fighting colds in the elderly

Vitamin E supplementation has potential benefit in fighting upper respiratory tract infections such as colds in the elderly, says a study published in the Aug. 18 issue of JAMA.

18 Aug 2004

Inherited gene conflict may key to controlling obesity

Scientists at the Babraham Institute have discovered that conflict between genes inherited from our parents may affect our ability to adapt to life after birth, and have lasting effects on our weight.

17 Aug 2004

Iacocca pledges $1 million to the type 1 diabetes cause

Lee Iacocca the Chief Executive Officer of Chrysler from 1978 to 1992 has announced the launch of "Join Lee Now," a fundraising initiative to investigate a potential cure for type 1 diabetes. Mr Iacocca has personally pledged $1 million to the cause.

17 Aug 2004

Novel treatment of patients with high cholesterol focus of national meeting

Implications of recent lipid-lowering clinical trials and the specific changes to the NCEP guidelines will be the focus of discussion by Neil J. Stone, M.D., professor of clinical medicine of the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University.

6 Aug 2004

Short bouts of exercise reduce the risk of heart disease

Accumulated, short bouts of exercise are more effective than continuous exercise for lowering fat and triglyceride levels in the bloodstream after eating.

6 Aug 2004

Physicians offer several promising and unique approaches to brain tumor treatment

An estimated 41,000 new cases of primary brain tumors are expected to be diagnosed in 2004, according to the American Brain Tumor Association.

5 Aug 2004

A new marker for osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common, crippling age-related disease characterized by the gradual destruction of cartilage cushioning the joints.

5 Aug 2004

Switches in the brain that tell the body to stop eating and start burning calories

A Brown-led research team has discovered a pair of universal switches in the brain that tell the body to stop eating and start burning calories.

3 Aug 2004

Scientists create mice that don't gain weight, even when fed fat-laden, high calorie diets

By altering the expression of a single -- albeit different – gene, Drs. Roger Davis (UMASS Medical School, USA) and Ying-Hue Lee (Academia Sinica, Taiwan) have succeeded in creating two different strains of transgenic mice that don't gain weight, even when fed fat-laden, high calorie diets.

2 Aug 2004

Important step in understanding the genetic mechanisms of aging

Scientists have rendered the first gene and protein networks of human aging, an important step in understanding the genetic mechanisms of aging. The work led by Joao Pedro de Magalhaes from Harvard Medical School is detailed in the July 30 issue of FEBS Letters.

29 Jul 2004

Leptin's fat-burning role in humans

For nearly a decade, scientists have known that leptin plays an important fat-burning role in humans. But the map of leptin's path through the body – the key to understanding how and why the hormone works – is still incomplete.

27 Jul 2004

Traveling to and from work can reduce cardiovascular disease in people with type 2 diabetes

Research published in the current issue of the Journal of the American Heart Association shows that moderate exercise can reduce cardiovascular disease deaths in people with type 2 diabetes, even if that activity comes from work or traveling to and from work.

26 Jul 2004

Correlation between caffeine intake at mealtime and increased glucose and insulin levels among diabetics

Duke University Medical Center researchers at have found a strong correlation between caffeine intake at mealtime and increased glucose and insulin levels among people with type-2 diabetes.