Appetite News and Research

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Genome clues to amoebic dysentery

Each year, there are an estimated 50 million cases of amoebic dysentery, causing up to 100,000 deaths, mostly in developing countries. On Thursday 24 February 2005, researchers at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and their colleagues reported in Nature magazine the genome sequence of the parasite that causes the disease, Entamoeba histolytica.

1 Mar 2005

Prozac, Xenical and Meridia may help type 2 diabetes patients lose weight

Three commonly used drugs - Prozac, Xenical and Meridia - may help type 2 diabetes patients lose small amounts of weight, although long-term benefits are not clear, a new review of 22 studies suggests.

20 Feb 2005

New findings challenge one of the established views of how nerve cells communicate with one another

Every time we move, feel emotions, think or remember, the nerve cells, or neurons, in our body transmit messages to one another via chemical signals called neurotransmitters. Within neurons are tiny organelles called synaptic vesicles that sequester neurotransmitters and release them when needed into the synapse, or space between nerve cells, where the chemical signal is transmitted to other neurons.

16 Feb 2005

Open source biotechnology from Australia

In a publication in the scientific journal, Nature, a team at CAMBIA in Canberra unveils the 'kernel' of the world's first 'explicit open source' biotechnology toolkit.

13 Feb 2005

Artemisinin could selectively kill cancer cells while leaving normal cells unharmed

Researchers at the University of Washington have blended the past with the present in the fight against cancer, synthesizing a promising new compound from an ancient Chinese remedy that uses cancer cells' rapacious appetite for iron to make them a target.

9 Feb 2005

The role body fat plays in determining one's risk of chronic diseases

As the prevalence of obesity in America approaches epidemic proportions, researchers are scrambling to learn more about how the body stores fat, how fat tissues affect body systems and the role body fat plays in determining one's risk of chronic diseases.

27 Jan 2005

Clinical trials to test the safety of a first-of-its-kind human hookworm vaccine

Clinical trials to test the safety of a first-of-its-kind human hookworm vaccine will begin in the Washington, DC area in a couple of months after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration conferred investigational new drug status on the vaccine.

27 Jan 2005

Cellular fuel gauge could hold clue to diabetes

A molecule in the body could hold the key to explaining why people who exercise regularly are less likely to have illnesses such as type 2 diabetes.

19 Jan 2005

Lancet highlights the global efforts required in 2005 to achieve millennium goals

Today the UN Millennium Project will deliver its reports to the UN Secretary-General. A series of articles to be published by The Lancet over the next few weeks—starting with an overview published online—will highlight the global efforts required in 2005 to ensure that the millennium goals are realisable by 2015.

17 Jan 2005

Pancreatic beta-cells play an important role in the existence of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)

Researchers have discovered that pancreatic beta-cells, which are responsible for insulin secretion, play an important role in the existence of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a hormonal disorder that affects up to 10 percent of reproductive aged women.

12 Jan 2005

Lack of sleep could make you fat

Lack of sleep could make you fat. In an editorial published in the Jan. 10 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, two Northwestern University researchers stress the need to better understand the growing epidemic of obesity in the United States by studying how loss of sleep alters the complex metabolic pathways that control appetite, food intake and energy expenditure.

10 Jan 2005

Gene sequencing explains why natural bioremediation 'bug' has big appetite for chlorinated pollutants

"The born-to-dechlorinate bug" is what Cornell University researchers called Dehalococcoides ethenogenes Strain 195 when they found the bacterium obligingly detoxifying the pollutant PCE, or perchloroethylene (a chlorinated solvent used for dry cleaning), in sludge from an Ithaca, N.Y., sewage treatment plant.

6 Jan 2005

Obesity drug codenamed AOD9604 highly successful in trials

An Australian-owned obesity drug, developed by Melbourne-based biotechnology company Metabolic Pharmaceuticals Limited, is set to enter final human trials next year after successfully completing a Phase 2b human trial which proved that the drug induces weight loss and is very well tolerated with no evidence of the side effects commonly experienced with existing obesity drugs.

16 Dec 2004

The regulation of physical activity in young children

The evidence at present suggests that neither better facilities, nor an increase in the amount of time allocated to PE to four hours a week, will improve physical activity levels in children as a whole and thereby impact on the rising tide of obesity.

16 Dec 2004

Research suggests that lack of sleep may be contributing to the obesity pandemic

The recent rise in obesity may be partly due to the reduced amount of time we spend asleep, according to new research from the University of Bristol, UK.

6 Dec 2004

MRI reveals similarities between the human and chimpanzee brain

New MRI-based studies present more evidence that the brains of chimpanzees are human-like in terms of the relationships among brain asymmetry, handedness and language, according to research undertaken at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta.

6 Dec 2004

Does quitting smoking really make you gain weight?

If your New Year's resolution is to quit smoking, conventional wisdom says you'll probably put on five or 10 pounds.

4 Dec 2004

More than 11 million children in developing countries die every year from preventable illness

More than 11 million children in developing countries die every year from preventable illness, while as many as 500 000 women don't survive during pregnancy or childbirth. More than 39 million people are living with HIV/AIDS and the epidemic is growing.

4 Dec 2004

Pfizer submits regulatory filings for Revatio (sildenafil citrate) as a treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension

Sildenafil is the active ingredient in Viagra, Pfizer's erectile dysfunction medication used by more than 23 million men worldwide.

4 Dec 2004

300 million people in the developing world are seriously ill from intestinal worms

300 million people in the developing world are seriously ill from intestinal worms. Treatment is cheap and effective—and if successfully delivered with other public-health measures could make a substantial contribution to achieving many of the world’s Millennium development Goals (MDGs), concludes the lead editorial in this week’s issue of THE LANCET.

4 Dec 2004

Appetite News and Research

Genome clues to amoebic dysentery

Prozac, Xenical and Meridia may help type 2 diabetes patients lose weight

New findings challenge one of the established views of how nerve cells communicate with one another

Open source biotechnology from Australia

Artemisinin could selectively kill cancer cells while leaving normal cells unharmed

The role body fat plays in determining one's risk of chronic diseases

Clinical trials to test the safety of a first-of-its-kind human hookworm vaccine

Cellular fuel gauge could hold clue to diabetes

Lancet highlights the global efforts required in 2005 to achieve millennium goals

Pancreatic beta-cells play an important role in the existence of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)

Lack of sleep could make you fat

Gene sequencing explains why natural bioremediation 'bug' has big appetite for chlorinated pollutants

Obesity drug codenamed AOD9604 highly successful in trials

The regulation of physical activity in young children

Research suggests that lack of sleep may be contributing to the obesity pandemic

MRI reveals similarities between the human and chimpanzee brain

Does quitting smoking really make you gain weight?

More than 11 million children in developing countries die every year from preventable illness

Pfizer submits regulatory filings for Revatio (sildenafil citrate) as a treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension

300 million people in the developing world are seriously ill from intestinal worms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

Advancing Intracellular Delivery with LumiPore®

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