Hypothalamus News and Research

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The Hypothalamus is the area of the brain that controls body temperature, hunger, and thirst.

Poor diet during pregnancy increases risk of child being obese

It is common knowledge that a well balanced diet in pregnancy is crucial, but now scientists say they believe a poor diet during pregnancy appears to raise the chances of having an obese child.

12 Jun 2005

Missing link between mothers' diets and obesity in kids

New work may have found the missing link between mothers' diets and obesity in kids. A study published in the June issue of Cell Metabolism suggests that a hormone may explain the connection between mothers who are poorly nourished and an increased risk of obesity in their children.

8 Jun 2005

Secrets of how the brain is wired for sex revealed

There are two brain structures that a mouse just can't do without when it comes to hooking up with the mate of its dreams--and trying to stay off the lunch menu of the neighborhood cat. These are the amygdala, which is involved in the initial response to cues that signal love or war, and the hypothalamus, which coordinates the innate reproductive or defensive behaviors triggered by these cues.

23 May 2005

Swedish study suggests gay men's brains differ from heterosexual men's

Researchers in Sweden have found that a compound taken from male sweat stimulates the brains of gay men and straight women but not heterosexual men, which raises the possibility that homosexual brains are different.

9 May 2005

Brain system that controls the sleep/wake cycle might also play a role in regulating appetite and metabolism

A new mouse study suggests that a brain system that controls the sleep/wake cycle might also play a role in regulating appetite and metabolism. Mice with a mutation in a gene called "Clock," which helps drive circadian rhythm, ate significantly more and gained more weight.

22 Apr 2005

Propensity for obesity, diabetes may occur in utero

The adage "You are what you eat" should be rephrased to include "and so are your children," based on metabolic research pioneered by researchers at the University at Buffalo.

22 Apr 2005

Link between insomnia and obesity

A possible link between lack of sleep (insomnia) and obesity has been traced to hypocretin/orexin cells in the hypothalamus region of the brain that are easily excited and sensitive to stress, Yale School of Medicine researchers report in the April issue of Cell Metabolism.

13 Apr 2005

New twist on the role that estrogens play in the development of behavioral differences between men and women

What makes a man behave like a man and a woman a woman? The answer may be partly in your genes. Researchers at the University of Virginia Health System have discovered a new twist on the role that estrogens play in the development of behavioral differences between males and females.

14 Mar 2005

Vasoactive intestinal polypeptide needed by the brain's biological clock to coordinate daily rhythms

A biologist at Washington University in St. Louis is giving the VIP treatment to laboratory mice in hopes of unraveling more clues about our biological clock.

7 Mar 2005

Insulin levels linked to Alzheimer's disease

Insulin and its related proteins are produced in the brain, and according to researchers from Rhode Island Hospital and Brown Medical School, reduced levels of this combination can be linked to Alzheimer's disease. The findings are reported in the March issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.

7 Mar 2005

Growing evidence base supports focus on mind-body connection in heart disease

Cardiologists should recognize and help manage depression, stress and other common psychosocial risk factors that play a powerful role in the wellbeing and health outcomes of heart disease patients, according to an article(PDF) in the March 1, 2005 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

1 Mar 2005

What causes puberty to begin?

Puberty, that awkward phase when boys and girls are primed for their sexual reproductive years as men and women, appears to be triggered by the brain's own version of "It takes two to tango," whereby a signal literally gets turned on by a molecule that is produced by a gene aptly named KiSS-1.

31 Jan 2005

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

Novel anti-obesity compound shows promise for treatment of obesity

Arena Pharmaceuticals announced today results from the dosing phase of its Phase 1b clinical trial of APD356, an orally administered small molecule designed to regulate satiety (and perhaps metabolism) for the treatment of obesity.

30 Nov 2004

Low testosterone production appears to be a common complication of type 2 diabetes in men

Moreover, results of the investigation show that this condition, known clinically as hypogonadism, is caused not by a defect in the testes, where testosterone is produced, but by improper functioning of the pituitary gland, which controls production of testosterone, or of the hypothalamus, the region of the brain that controls the pituitary.

29 Nov 2004