Metabolism News and Research

Latest Metabolism News and Research

Study shows dopamine signaling, biological clock connection in overconsumption and obesity

During the years 1976 through 1980, 15% of U.S. adults were obese. Today, about 40% of adults are obese. Another 33% are overweight.

2 Jan 2020

Grizzly bears' strategy could help prevent muscle atrophy in humans

Grizzly bears spend many months in hibernation, but their muscles do not suffer from the lack of movement. In the journal "Scientific Reports", a team led by Michael Gotthardt reports on how they manage to do this.

30 Dec 2019

Pulmonary fibrosis associated with short and long sleep duration

Scientists have discovered that people who regularly sleep for more than 11 hours or less than 4 hours are 2-3 times more likely to have the incurable disease, pulmonary fibrosis, compared to those that sleep for 7 hours in a day. They attribute this association to the body clock.

30 Dec 2019

Scientists discover potential drug compounds that target common type of liver cancer

Scientists from the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore at the National University of Singapore, and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)'s Genome Institute of Singapore have discovered four potential drug compounds that target hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common type of liver cancer.

30 Dec 2019

Research findings may one day help keep ALS at bay

A new study published in the journal Nature Medicine on December 23, 2019, shows how to silence a defective gene responsible for the degeneration of the motor neurons in Lou Gehrig’s disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), in adult mice. This could help prevent disease progression if the condition is already symptomatic, and even suppress the illness if it has not yet started.

23 Dec 2019

New technique provides real-time images of biomolecules in living cells

Metabolic diseases such as diabetes and obesity are ever more common globally. In addition to genetic disposition, lifestyle contributes strongly to the prevalence of these metabolic diseases.

23 Dec 2019

Age of onset of obesity linked to higher diabetes risk

A new study shows that the timing of onset of obesity is linked to the risk of type 2 diabetes. The paper, published in the journal Diabetologia, examines how the direction of BMI change, as well as the age when obesity began and the number of years a person is obese (obese-years, the product of degree and duration of obesity) over the period of early adult life are reflected in diabetes risk.

22 Dec 2019

New study says obesity increases greenhouse gases

A new study published in the journal Obesity may indicate that increasing body weight trends among humans, as well as the increasing number of people living on earth, could push back efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions of human origin.

22 Dec 2019

Research shows how the hepatitis D virus copies itself

A team of researchers has discovered how one crucial step occurs in the lifecycle of the hepatitis D virus (HDV), which causes the widespread and hard to treat liver inflammation called hepatitis D. The study, which was published recently in the Journal of Virology, could help develop antiviral therapy to control this disease.

22 Dec 2019

Fat over-spills from the liver into the pancreas trigger Type 2 diabetes

For the first time, scientists have been able to observe people developing Type 2 diabetes - and confirmed that fat over-spills from the liver into the pancreas, triggering the chronic condition.

22 Dec 2019

Longevity protein SIRT6 also plays crucial role in burning and regulating liver fat metabolism

Fatty liver, or hepatic steatosis, which develops when the body produces too much fat or doesn't metabolize fat efficiently enough, affects around 25% of the global population. Excess fat is stored in liver cells, where it accumulates and can cause fatty liver and other diseases.

22 Dec 2019

Sphingotec's penKid is a reliable marker for detection and monitoring of acute kidney injury

Diagnostics company SphingoTec GmbH today reported on the publication of novel study results of its proprietary kidney function biomarker penKid® in BMC Emergency Medicine.

21 Dec 2019

Kobe scientists develop mathematical model to predict cancer drug side effects

A research team at Kobe University Hospital have further illuminated the likelihood of cancer drug side effects that can occur due to genetic mutations in the drug-metabolizing enzyme.

20 Dec 2019

Could high cholesterol lead to motor neuron disease?

Researchers suggest that motor neuron disease may be linked to an abnormal build-up of cholesterol and other lipids within cellular compartments.

20 Dec 2019

Obesity may challenge attempts to reduce man-made carbon dioxide emissions

A new analysis suggests that the increasing average body size of people on Earth, in addition to the growing world population may further challenge attempts to reduce man-made carbon dioxide emissions, according to a paper published online in Obesity, the flagship journal of The Obesity Society.

20 Dec 2019

Links between most human diseases and genetics are shaky at best

In most cases, your genes have less than five per cent to do with your risk of developing a particular disease, according to new research by University of Alberta scientists.

20 Dec 2019

Caffeine may offset some negative health effects of obesogenic diet

A new study in rats suggests that caffeine may offset some of the negative effects of an obesogenic diet by reducing the storage of lipids in fat cells and limiting weight gain and the production of triglycerides.

19 Dec 2019

Study hints why some melanomas more likely to spread

Usually starting as a blemish, skin cancer can quickly develop and spread to other parts of the body. The deadliest form of skin cancer, melanoma proliferates rapidly through the lymph nodes, affecting important internal organs. The disease can be variable, wherein some cancer cells never metastasize to the blood and lymph nodes and throughout the body, while others, tend to metastasize.

19 Dec 2019

Edematous severe acute malnutrition linked to DNA modification

A group led by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine has identified significant differences at the epigenetic level - the chemical tags in DNA that help regulate gene expression - between two clinically distinct forms of acute childhood malnutrition known as edematous severe acute malnutrition (ESAM) and non-edematous SAM (NESAM).

19 Dec 2019

Powdered watermelon supplements provide health benefits to obese mice

Eating watermelon in the form of powdered supplements helped adult obese mice avoid some detrimental health effects of an unhealthy diet, according to a new Oregon State University study.

19 Dec 2019