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News tagged with metabolism

Study finds that sleep apnea and Alzheimer's are linked

A new study looking at sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) and markers for Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and neuroimaging adds to the growing body of research linking the two.

Alzheimer's disease & dementia created 9 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Getting a grip on sleep

All mammals sleep, as do birds and some insects. However, how this basic function is regulated by the brain remains unclear. According to a new study by researchers from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute, ...

Neuroscience created May 14, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 2

Posttraumatic stress disorder associated with type 2 diabetes

The presence of posttraumatic stress disorder is significantly associated with the development of type 2 diabetes. This is the finding of scientists from the Helmholtz Zentrum München and the University Hospital Gießen ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 16, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Study findings significant for treating infections in Type 1 diabetes

A small University at Buffalo study has found for the first time that in Type 1 diabetics, insulin injections exert a strong anti-inflammatory effect at the cellular and molecular level, while even small amounts of glucose ...

Diabetes created May 16, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Cholesterol-lowering drug may reduce exercise benefits for obese adults, study finds

Statins, the most widely prescribed drugs worldwide, are often suggested to lower cholesterol and prevent heart disease in individuals with obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome, which is a combination of medical disorders ...

Cardiology created May 15, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Become a marathon runner with the protein PGC-1alpha

Even with a greater muscle mass, a sprinter cannot win a marathon. His specially-trained and strengthened muscles will fatigue faster than the endurance-trained muscles of a long distance runner. The research ...

Medical research created May 15, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Individual and small-chain restaurant meals exceed recommended daily calorie needs, study shows

As the restaurant industry prepares to implement new rules requiring chains with 20 or more locations to post calorie content information, the results of a new study suggest that it would be beneficial to public health for ...

Health created May 13, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Discovery of new hormone opens doors to new type 2 diabetes treatments

Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers have discovered that a particular type of protein (hormone) found in fat cells helps regulate how glucose (blood sugar) is controlled and metabolized (used for energy) in ...

Diabetes created May 07, 2013 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (8) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

What role do processing bodies play in cell survival and protection against viral infection?

As scientists learn more about processing bodies (PBs), granules present within normal cells, they are unraveling the complex role PBs play in maintaining cellular homeostasis by regulating RNA metabolism ...

Medical research created May 16, 2013 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Brain region may hold key to aging

While the search continues for the Fountain of Youth, researchers may have found the body's "fountain of aging": the brain region known as the hypothalamus. For the first time, scientists at Albert Einstein ...

Neuroscience created May 01, 2013 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (21) | comments 8 | with audio podcast

Gene identified, responsible for a spectrum of disorders affecting the bones and connective tissue

Researchers from the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences have identified a gene that when mutated is responsible for a spectrum of disorders affecting the bones and connective tissue. This finding ...

Genetics created May 09, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

How can advanced imaging studies enhance diabetes management?

New approaches to applying noninvasive imaging tests such as computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance (MR), and positron emission tomography (PET) may play a bigger role in evaluating and managing patients ...

Diabetes created May 13, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Half the recommended exercise can cut risk of serious illness

Doing just half the amount of recommended exercise can be enough to reduce the risk of serious illness, research from the Department for Health have found.

Cardiology created May 08, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

International consortium builds 'Google Map' of human metabolism

Building on earlier pioneering work by researchers at the University of California, San Diego, an international consortium of university researchers has produced the most comprehensive virtual reconstruction ...

Medical research created Mar 03, 2013 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (5) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Type 1 diabetes and heart disease linked by inflammatory protein

Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes appears to increase the risk of heart disease, the leading cause of death among people with high blood sugar, partly by stimulating the production of calprotectin, a protein that sparks ...

Inflammatory disorders created May 07, 2013 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Metabolism

Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that occur in living organisms to maintain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. Metabolism is usually divided into two categories. Catabolism breaks down organic matter, for example to harvest energy in cellular respiration. Anabolism, on the other hand, uses energy to construct components of cells such as proteins and nucleic acids.

The chemical reactions of metabolism are organized into metabolic pathways, in which one chemical is transformed into another by a sequence of enzymes. Enzymes are crucial to metabolism because they allow organisms to drive desirable but thermodynamically unfavorable reactions by coupling them to favorable ones, and because they act as catalysts to allow these reactions to proceed quickly and efficiently. Enzymes also allow the regulation of metabolic pathways in response to changes in the cell's environment or signals from other cells.

The metabolism of an organism determines which substances it will find nutritious and which it will find poisonous. For example, some prokaryotes use hydrogen sulfide as a nutrient, yet this gas is poisonous to animals. The speed of metabolism, the metabolic rate, also influences how much food an organism will require.

A striking feature of metabolism is the similarity of the basic metabolic pathways between even vastly different species. For example, the set of carboxylic acids that are best known as the intermediates in the citric acid cycle are present in all organisms, being found in species as diverse as the unicellular bacteria Escherichia coli and huge multicellular organisms like elephants. These striking similarities in metabolism are most likely the result of the high efficiency of these pathways, and of their early appearance in evolutionary history.

For more information about Metabolism, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Related topics: genes , protein , cells , amino acids , diabetes