Metabolic Disease News and Research

RSS

UC Davis scientists show how cells control DNA synthesis in mitochondria

Aging, neurodegenerative disorders and metabolic disease are all linked to mitochondria, structures within our cells that generate chemical energy and maintain their own DNA. In a fundamental discovery with far-reaching implications, scientists at the University of California, Davis, now show how cells control DNA synthesis in mitochondria and couple it to mitochondrial division.

18 Jul 2016

Scientists identify timing of major metabolic shift in developing neurons

Our brains can survive only for a few minutes without oxygen. Salk Institute researchers have now identified the timing of a dramatic metabolic shift in developing neurons, which makes them become dependent on oxygen as a source of energy.

13 Jul 2016

Sex-related difference could have impact on treatment of metabolic diseases

In health research, most preliminary studies in animals only examine effects of drug treatment in one sex, assuming that males and females will have few differences in how a drug works.

8 Jul 2016

Alnylam reports new results from investigational RNAi therapeutic programs

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALNY), the leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today preliminary results from its ongoing Phase 2 open-label extension (OLE) studies with patisiran and revusiran, both investigational RNAi therapeutics targeting transthyretin (TTR) for the treatment of hereditary TTR-mediated amyloidosis (hATTR amyloidosis).

6 Jul 2016

Study links proteins involved in cell division to insulin signaling

Proteins that play key roles in the timing of cell division also moonlight in regulating blood sugar levels, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found.

1 Jul 2016

Scientists identify on/off obesity-induced switch to slow cancer progression

Having established that excessive fat tissue can fuel the growth of certain cancers, researchers have turned their attention to the molecular mechanisms involved in the process in the hopes of developing new cancer treatments.

21 Jun 2016

Many Brazilians not taking advantage of health benefits of exercise

As Brazilians make final preparations to host the world's premier showcase of athleticism, the Olympics, a new paper in the Journal of the American Heart Association reports that many citizens of the host country are not taking enough advantage of the health benefits of exercise.

15 Jun 2016

Tackling healthcare challenges in a changing world: an interview with Professor Jeremy Nicholson

As individuals and as populations our risks of getting diseases are determined partly genetically and partly from the environment that we live in. An important part of that environment that mediates between the outside world and the inside world of our bodies is the microbiome.

10 Jun 2016

University of Colorado Boulder combines Raman spectroscopy and nanoindentation for improved materials characterisation

The University of Colorado Boulder, USA, combines Raman spectroscopy and nanoindentation for improved materials characterisation.

From Renishaw plc - Spectroscopy 16 May 2016

Researchers agree to test new stem cell gene therapy for Sanfilippo disease in human trial

Scientists in Manchester, who have developed a stem cell gene therapy to reverse a fatal childhood illness, have agreed to work with a new therapeutics company to test it in a human trial.

11 May 2016

Unlocking cellular trap door may help in finding cures for many diseases

A team of researchers who two years ago announced a "Trojan horse" method of entering a cell without harming it have now found, in effect, the lock to the cellular "trap door."

6 May 2016

Newly published manuscripts enhance understanding of the immune system

MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca, today announced that it has achieved a significant scientific milestone by publishing three manuscripts in Nature Immunology that advance the understanding of the immune system and highlight underlying mechanisms in two little-understood disease areas -- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

26 Apr 2016

Study reveals how visceral fat contributes to insulin resistance, inflammation

Researchers have long-known that visceral fat - the kind that wraps around the internal organs - is more dangerous than subcutaneous fat that lies just under the skin around the belly, thighs and rear. But how visceral fat contributes to insulin resistance and inflammation has remained unknown.

26 Apr 2016

Transforming MR images into body composition measurements: an interview with Olof Leinhard

Today's medical science utilizes relatively simple anthropometric measures that describe the body, such as body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference. All of these measures are approximations of the body with the intention to characterize what's inside reflecting underlying phenomena that underpin the risk for different diseases.

26 Apr 2016

Improving body clock could protect against metabolic syndrome

Essential biological processes are managed by an internal timer or body clock. When the body clock gets out of whack, conditions such as metabolic syndrome can occur.

15 Apr 2016

Depression combined with behavioral, metabolic symptoms increases risk of type 2 diabetes

Depression may compound the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in people with such early warning signs of metabolic disease as obesity, high blood pressure and unhealthy cholesterol levels, according to researchers from McGill University, l'Université de Montréal, the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal and the University of Calgary.

13 Apr 2016

Novel metabolic pathways help cancer cells thrive under certain conditions

Scientists at the Children's Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern (CRI) have identified a novel metabolic pathway that helps cancer cells thrive in conditions that are lethal to normal cells.

7 Apr 2016

Scientists explore new strategies to prevent onset of type 1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes affects 30,000 individuals throughout Germany and is the most common metabolic disease in children and adolescents. To halt the ever-increasing incidence, the young investigator group "Immunological Tolerance in Type 1 Diabetes" at the Institute of Diabetes Research directed by Prof. Dr. Anette-Gabriele Ziegler is exploring new strategies to prevent the onset of the disease.

16 Mar 2016

Decreased dietary diversity linked to reduced microbiotic richness

Changes in farming practices over the last 50 years have resulted in decreased agro-diversity which, in turn, has resulted in decreased dietary diversity. The significant impact of this change in dietary richness on human health is the topic of an insightful perspective in Molecular Metabolism by Mark Heiman, MicroBiome Therapeutics and Frank Greenway, Pennington Biomedical Research Center

15 Mar 2016

Fertility problems put men at increased risk of metabolic diseases

Men with fertility problems are at risk of metabolic diseases as they age, according to work being presented at the European Association of Urology conference in Munich

14 Mar 2016