Medical research

How the body uses fat to fight infection

New research from the University of East Anglia and Quadram Institute reveals how our immune cells use the body's fat stores to fight infection.

Arthritis & Rheumatism

How mitochondrial damage ignites the 'auto-inflammatory fire'

Mitochondria are self-contained organelles (they possess their own mini-chromosome and DNA) residing within cells and are charged with the job of generating the chemical energy needed to fuel functions essential to life and ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

COVID-19: New energy for flagging immune cells

In severe COVID-19 patients, metabolism produces insufficient amounts of certain energy-rich compounds called ketone bodies. However, these energy carriers are needed by two important cell types in the immune system in order ...

Medical research

Scientists eavesdrop on communication between fat and brain

What did the fat say to the brain? For years, it was assumed that hormones passively floating through the blood were the way that a person's fat—called adipose tissue—could send information related to stress and metabolism ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

A new way to fight diseases? Stop viruses from stealing nutrients

The immune system has long been touted as the body's primary defense against invading viruses, with the understanding that a strong immune response swiftly knocks out an infection while a weak one allows it to linger, leading ...

Immunology

Fighting multiple sclerosis with cold

In evolutionary biology, the "life history theory," first proposed in the 1950s, postulates that when the environment is favorable, the resources used by any organism are devoted for growth and reproduction. Conversely, in ...

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