http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Ever since discovering a decade ago that a gene altered in lung cancer regulated an enzyme used in therapies against diabetes, Reuben Shaw has wondered if drugs originally designed to treat metabolic diseases could also work against cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-diabetes-drug-lung-cancer-patients.html Cancer Tue, 29 Jan 2013 10:06:14 EST news278676360 The world's biggest food group Nestle is moving into traditional Chinese medicine by joining forces with Chinese pharma group Chi-Med, the Swiss group said on Wednesday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-nestle-ventures-chinese-medicine-pharma.html Other Wed, 28 Nov 2012 14:59:12 EST news273337139 A*STAR scientists have identified the enzyme, telomerase, as a cause of chronic inflammation in human cancers. Chronic inflammation is now recognized as a key underlying cause for the development of many human cancers, autoimmune disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, and metabolic diseases such as diabetes. This enzyme, which is known to be responsible for providing cancer cells the endless ability to divide, is now found to also jumpstart and maintain chronic inflammation in cancers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-scientists-potential-drug-inflammatory-diseases.html Inflammatory disorders Wed, 21 Nov 2012 08:40:02 EST news272707979 Researchers headed by Erwin Wagner, the Director of the BBVA Foundation-CNIO Cancer Cell Biology Programme at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), have deciphered how a stress-inducible gene regulator, AP-1, controls the survival of liver tumor-initiating cells. These results, published in the online edition of Nature Cell Biology, could provide new preventive strategies and identify potentially targetable molecules to prevent liver cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-oncogenic-network-specific-liver-cancer.html Cancer Sun, 07 Oct 2012 14:01:41 EST news268837278 A research team led by Dr. Christos Mantzoros, MD, PhD, at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, has published new findings elucidating the molecular and clinical role of FNDC5/irisin in humans. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-physiological-role-hormone-fndc5irisin-revealed.html Medical research Mon, 01 Oct 2012 10:15:15 EST news268305309 Flipping a newly discovered molecular switch in white fat cells enabled mice to eat a high-calorie diet without becoming obese or developing the inflammation that causes insulin resistance, report scientists from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-scientists-molecular-link-obesity-insulin.html Medical research Thu, 27 Sep 2012 12:00:25 EST news267965225 In a study to investigate how transplanted islet cells can differentiate and mature into insulin-producing pancreatic cells, a team of Japanese researchers found that using a specific set of transcription factors (proteins that bind to specific DNA sequences) could be transduced into mouse pancreatic stem cells (mPSCs) using Sendai virus (SeV), a mouse influenza virus, as a carrier, or vector. The study is published in a recent issue of Cell Medicine [3(1)], now freely available on-line. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-mouse-pancreatic-stem-cells-successfully.html Medical research Tue, 25 Sep 2012 16:58:40 EST news267811105 (Medical Xpress)—Athletes competing this summer have benefited from an unlikely ingredient to fuel their Olympic and Paralympic success. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-beetroot-juice-properties-boost-athletes.html Health Thu, 20 Sep 2012 08:30:02 EST news267347236 The absence of a specific type of neuron in the brain can lead to obesity and diabetes in mice report researchers in The EMBO Journal. The outcome, however, depends on the type of diet that the animals are fed. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-brain-neurons-diet-onset-obesity.html Medical research Tue, 18 Sep 2012 11:01:23 EST news267184877 Obese patients with type 2 diabetes who consume higher amounts of fructose display reduced levels of liver adenosine triphosphate (ATP)—a compound involved in the energy transfer between cells. The findings, published in the September issue of Hepatology, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, indicate that elevated uric acid levels (hyperuricemia) are associated with more severe hepatic ATP depletion in response to fructose intake. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-dietary-fructose-linked-elevated-uric.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 13 Sep 2012 11:56:49 EST news266756170 Iron overload increases the risk for insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes; however, the exact mechanisms that link the two are unknown. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-iron-link-serum-ferritin-diabetes.html Medical research Mon, 10 Sep 2012 12:00:15 EST news266491243 Most of the DNA alterations that are tied to disease do not alter protein-coding genes, but rather the "switches" that control them. Characterizing these switches is one of many goals of the ENCODE project – a sweeping, international effort to create a compendium of all of the working parts of the human genome that have not been well studied or well understood. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-encode-catalogue-functional-elements-genome.html Genetics Wed, 05 Sep 2012 13:00:21 EST news266058439 Scientists from the United States and Sweden have discovered a new control point that could be important as a drug target for the treatment of diabetes and other metabolic diseases. A-kinase anchoring proteins or AKAPs are known to influence the spatial distribution of kinases within the cell, crucial enzymes that control important molecular events related to the regulation of glucose levels in the blood. In a new study published in The EMBO Journal, the team of researchers led by Simon Hinke and John Scott reveal for the first time that AKAPs influence the levels of glucose in the body by coordinating the spatial positioning of phosphatases, naturally occurring enzymes that counteract the effects of kinase enzymes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-anchoring-proteins-glucose-metabolism-insulin.html Medical research Tue, 04 Sep 2012 11:12:06 EST news265975917 Predictive mathematical models of signalling pathways are powerful biological tools that could be used for drug development. Using a similar approach, European scientists developed a computational model for answering research questions regarding the AMP-activated protein kinase pathway. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-mathematical-tackle-metabolic-diseases.html Medical research Thu, 30 Aug 2012 09:25:34 EST news265537529 Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified a link between patients who undergo total nephrectomy - complete kidney removal - and erectile dysfunction. Results from the multi-center study were recently published online in the British Journal of Urology International. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-link-kidney-erectile-dysfunction.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 30 Jul 2012 16:27:46 EST news262884458 Scientists from Western University in London, Canada and the Children's Health Research Institute, an Institute within the Lawson Health Research Institute, have identified the critical role of a receptor called c-Kit in the development and function of insulin-producing beta cells, making it an exciting therapeutic target for the management of diabetes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-kit-insulin-production.html Diabetes Tue, 17 Jul 2012 15:57:42 EST news261759446 For more than 20 years, doctors have been using cells from blood that remains in the placenta and umbilical cord after childbirth to treat a variety of illnesses, from cancer and immune disorders to blood and metabolic diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-neurons-derived-cord-blood-cells.html Medical research Mon, 16 Jul 2012 16:22:15 EST news261674525 Researchers at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) have developed a method of isolating biospecimens that could lead to a less costly, less invasive and more accurate way of diagnosing chronic kidney disease, or CKD. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-tgen-method-isolates-biospecimens-treatment.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 11 Jul 2012 09:46:06 EST news261218753 In the complex chain of molecular events that underlie eating behaviors and body weight, the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) enzyme has proven to be a critical link. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-discovery-cellular-pathways-converge-food.html Medical research Tue, 03 Jul 2012 10:27:57 EST news260530069 Just how important a gender-specific perspective and the personalised treatment of illnesses are between men and women is being demonstrated by two current studies at the MedUni Vienna, which are being led by Alexandra Kautzky-Willer from the University Department of Internal Medicine III (Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases, Gender Medicine Unit). On the one hand, the studies have shown that women have better protection against diabetes before the menopause than men, while on the other it has become apparent that women with diabetes are more likely to suffer hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar) than men, a condition that can be fatal. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-women-prone-hypoglycaemia-men.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 27 Jun 2012 09:34:22 EST news260008396 Alterations in the formation of ribosomes (the elements of the cell where proteins are made) cause the induction of p53 protein and cell cycle disruption. This process is crucial to understand fundamental biological processes and the emergence of various diseases. Now, scientists at the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) have found that this response is achieved independently, depending on which subunit of the ribosome (40S and 60S) is impaired, by the joint action of two proteins of the ribosome. The research results are published in the latest issue of the journal Genes and Development. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-ribosome-subunits-cell.html Genetics Tue, 22 May 2012 10:39:10 EST news256901871 It turns out that when we eat may be as important as what we eat. Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have found that regular eating times and extending the daily fasting period may override the adverse health effects of a high-fat diet and prevent obesity, diabetes and liver disease in mice. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-drug-free-intervention-obesity-diabetes.html Medical research Thu, 17 May 2012 12:00:19 EST news256474173 Gut flora, otherwise knows as gut microbiota, are the bacteria that live in our digestive tract. There are roughly one thousand different species of bacteria, that are nourished partly by what we eat. Each person has their own specific gut flora and metabolism and these differ according to our dietary habits. Previous studies in mice have shown that a high-fat diet is capable of causing an imbalance in the gut flora, thus causing metabolic diseases such as diabetes or obesity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-people-bodies-react-differently-high-fat.html Medical research Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:55:25 EST news254652585 Cardiac researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) have found that a certain cellular pathway is linked to obesity-related disorders, like diabetes, heart disease and fatty liver disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-cellular-pathway-linked-diabetes-heart.html Medical research Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:20:03 EST news254058299 High fat diets cause damage to blood vessels earlier than previously thought, and these structural and mechanical changes may be the first step in the development of high blood pressure. These findings in mice, by Marie Billaud and colleagues from the University of Virginia School of Medicine in the US, are published online in Springer's Journal of Cardiovascular Translational Research. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-mice-fed-high-fat-diet-artery.html Cardiology Tue, 03 Apr 2012 11:21:20 EST news252670776 In a finding that may challenge popular notions of body fat and health, researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have shown how fat cells can protect the body against diabetes. The results may lead to a new therapeutic strategy for preventing and treating type 2 diabetes and obesity-related metabolic diseases, the authors say. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-gene-fat-cells-therapeutic-diabetes.html Medical research Sun, 01 Apr 2012 13:00:10 EST news252494117 Proteins belonging to the large and important family of ABC transporters have been associated with metabolic diseases and can cause resistance to antibiotics. Biochemists from the University of Zurich and the NCCR Structural Biology have succeeded in determining the atomic structure of a new ABC transporter. The insights gained could give rise to new therapies to treat multi-resistant bacteria, cystic fibrosis or gout, for instance. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-hot-trail-metabolic-diseases-resistance.html Medical research Wed, 28 Mar 2012 10:06:56 EST news252148005 In the first published study of its kind, researchers from the Catholic University/Policlinico Gemelli in Rome, Italy, and NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center found that bariatric surgery dramatically outperforms standard medical treatment of severe type 2 diabetes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-bariatric-surgery-outperforms-standard-treatment.html Diabetes Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:38:30 EST news251984190 Researchers at Rush University Medical Center are conducting an early phase clinical trial of a novel drug therapy for patients with dementia due to Alzheimer's disease. The drug is a new compound called MSDC-0160, which is an insulin sensitizer that modulates mitochondrial metabolism. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-mitochondrial-function-potential-therapeutic-alzheimer.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Wed, 15 Feb 2012 09:48:00 EST news248521671 A well-conducted experimental study in mice has provided potentially important new insights into the association of the intake of resveratrol and like compounds with health benefits. Resveratrol is a constituent of red wine and other vegetable products, and is being evaluated in high-doses as a pharmaceutical. The biologic mechanisms demonstrated in this study could provide key new approaches for the prevention or treatment of a number of chronic diseases in humans, especially those related to vascular and metabolic diseases and to the risk of mortality. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-potentially-important-mechanisms-anti-aging-effects.html Medical research Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:10:42 EST news248015431