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Insight into the dazzling impact of insulin in cells

Australian scientists have charted the path of insulin action in cells in precise detail like never before. This provides a comprehensive blueprint for understanding what goes wrong in diabetes.

Medical research created 17 hours ago | popularity 4.6 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Hundreds of alterations and potential drug targets to starve cancer tumors identified

A massive study analyzing gene expression data from 22 tumor types has identified multiple metabolic expression changes associated with cancer. The analysis, conducted by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center, ...

Cancer created Apr 21, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Lift weights to lower blood sugar? White muscle helps keep blood glucose levels under control

Researchers in the Life Sciences Institute at the University of Michigan have challenged a long-held belief that whitening of skeletal muscle in diabetes is harmful.

Medical research created Apr 07, 2013 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New technology measures oxygen in individual red blood cells in real time

In an engineering breakthrough, a Washington University in St. Louis biomedical researcher has discovered a way to use light and color to measure oxygen in individual red blood cells in real time.

Medical research created Mar 25, 2013 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Team finds mechanism that regulates production of energy-burning brown fat

Joslin scientists have discovered a mechanism that regulates the production of brown fat, a type of fat which plays an important role in heat production and energy metabolism. The findings, which appear in the upcoming issue ...

Medical research created Mar 13, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

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

Gut microbes at root of severe malnutrition in kids

A study of young twins in Malawi, in sub-Saharan Africa, finds that bacteria living in the intestine are an underlying cause of a form of severe acute childhood malnutrition.

Medical research created Jan 30, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Taking stairs, raking leaves may equal a trip to the gym, study finds

New research at Oregon State University suggests the health benefits of small amounts of activity – even as small as one- and two-minute increments that add up to 30 minutes per day – can be just as beneficial ...

Health created Jan 29, 2013 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (8) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Cancer suppressor gene links metabolism with cellular aging

The tumor suppressor protein p53 is an attractive target for drug developers. But this path has so far proven difficult, as most p53 regulatory proteins operate via protein-protein interactions, which make for poor drug targets, ...

Cancer created Jan 13, 2013 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers identify new target for common heart condition

Researchers have found new evidence that metabolic stress can increase the onset of atrial arrhythmias, such as atrial fibrillation (AF), a common heart condition that causes an irregular and often abnormally fast heart rate. ...

Cardiology created Jan 08, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Study finds important factor in fat storage and energy metabolism

As part of their ongoing research on the physiologic factors that contribute to the development of obesity, Joslin Diabetes Center scientists have identified a cell cycle transcriptional co-regulator – ...

Medical research created Jan 06, 2013 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Research uncovers a potential role of two proteins in diabetes

(Medical Xpress)—Flinders University researchers are breaking new ground in a decade-long journey to pinpoint the function of two closely related proteins.

Diabetes created May 20, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Treatment of sleep apnea improves glucose levels in prediabetes

Optimal treatment of sleep apnea in patients with prediabetes improves blood sugar (glucose) levels and thus can reduce cardiometabolic risk, according to a study to be presented at the ATS 2013 International Conference in ...

Sleep apnea created May 20, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

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 May 19, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

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

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