Medical research

Can we turn back the clock on an aging thymus?

As we age our thymus shrinks and is replaced by fatty tissue, losing its essential ability to grow and develop T cells and leaving us susceptible to infections, immune disorders and cancers.

Medical research

Changes in the diet affect epigenetics via the microbiota

You are what you eat, the old saying goes, but why is that so? Researchers have known for some time that diet affects the balance of microbes in our bodies, but how that translates into an effect on the host has not been ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Fatty liver hepatitis is caused by auto-aggressive immune cells

Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), often called 'fatty liver hepatitis,' can lead to serious liver damage and liver cancer. A team of researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has discovered that this condition ...

Medical research

How fat becomes lethal—even without weight gain

Sugar in the form of blood glucose provides essential energy for cells. When its usual dietary source—carbohydrates—is scarce, the liver can produce it with the aid of fat. But new research from Johns Hopkins now adds ...

Medications

Novel drug makes mice skinny even on sugary, fatty diet

Researchers from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) have developed a small-molecule drug that prevents weight gain and adverse liver changes in mice fed a high-sugar, high-fat ...

Medical research

Omega-3 fatty acids stimulate brown adipose tissue metabolism

Omega-3 fatty acids are able to stimulate the activation of brown and beige adipose tissues, a discovery that would promote the development of new therapies for obesity and other metabolism diseases, according to a research ...

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Adipose tissue

In histology, adipose tissue or body fat or just fat is loose connective tissue composed of adipocytes. Adipose tissue is derived from lipoblasts. Its main role is to store energy in the form of fat, although it also cushions and insulates the body. Obesity or being overweight in humans and most animals does not depend on body weight but on the amount of body fat—specifically, adipose tissue. Two types of adipose tissue exist: white adipose tissue (WAT) and brown adipose tissue (BAT). Adipose tissue also serves as an important endocrine organ by producing hormones such as leptin, resistin and the cytokine TNFα. The formation of adipose tissue appears to be controlled by the adipose gene. Adipose tissue was first identified by the Swiss naturalist Conrad Gessner in 1551.\

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