Modifying the body’s immune system to help treat Type 1 diabetes
In a new study, a team of researchers from the University of Missouri, Georgia Tech and Harvard University has demonstrated the successful use of a novel Type 1 diabetes treatment in a large animal model. Their approach involves transplanting insulin-producing pancreas cells — called pancreatic islets — from a donor to a recipient, without the […]
Scientists study links between obesity, age and body chemistry
A team of Clemson University scientists is making inroads in understanding the relationship between certain enzymes that are normally produced in the body and their role in regulating obesity and controlling liver diseases. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data collected in 2017-18, more than 42% of U.S. adults and 19% of […]
Emissions tied to the international trade of agricultural goods are rising
Earth system scientists at the University of California, Irvine and other institutions have drawn the clearest line yet connecting consumers of agricultural produce in wealthier countries in Asia, Europe and North America with a growth in greenhouse gas emissions in less-developed nations, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere. In a paper published today in Science, the […]
Mental illness plays havoc with the mind as well as the heart
University of South Australia scientists have uncovered another reason why society should be paying more attention to mental health: it is closely aligned to blood pressure and heart rate variations. A new study published in BioMedical Engineering draws a link between mental illness and widely fluctuating blood pressure, which can lead to cardiovascular disease and […]
Diet type can increase potentially harmful gas in the gut
Published in Clinical Nutrition, researchers from the University of Minnesota Medical School looked at colonic hydrogen sulfide — a toxic gas in the body that smells like rotten eggs — production in people in response to animal- and plant-based diet interventions. “Although the role of hydrogen sulfide has long been a subject of great interest […]
A novel therapy ameliorates obesity and Type 2 diabetes in mice fed a high-fat diet: This therapy, using sustained release of nitric oxide, may be a novel, efficient and safe way to prevent and treat multiple metabolic diseases.
A novel therapy developed at the University of Alabama at Birmingham ameliorates obesity and Type 2 diabetes in mice fed a high-fat diet. The therapy acts through sustained release of nitric oxide, a gaseous signaling chemical whose most important function in the body is relaxing the inner muscles of blood vessels. “Because reduced bioavailability of […]
Sampling the deep graveyard of Earth’s earliest crust
In an international collaboration, Earth scientists at the University of Cologne and Freie Universität Berlin discovered that some magmas on Earth, which made their way through the deep terrestrial mantle and erupted at Earth’s surface, originate from mantle portions that contain remnants of Earth’s earliest crust. This ancient material must have been buried in a […]
A new polymer system to revolutionize the delivery of therapeutics
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently announced that they have engineered a new class of material, called a “polyzwitterionic complex,” or “pZC,” which is able to both withstand the harsh acidic conditions of the stomach and then dissolve predictably in the comparatively gentle environment of the small intestine. This property means that pZCs […]
Genetic diversity of C. difficile, a particularly problematic pathogen
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Jacobs School of Engineering, with colleagues at Baylor College of Medicine, have used a systems biology approach to parse the genetic diversity of Clostridioides difficile, a particularly problematic pathogen in health care settings. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that the bacterium causes approximately […]
Differences in children’s behavior predict midlife health behaviors, study finds
A recent study by the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences at the University of Jyväskylä and the Gerontology Research Center (Finland) investigated the paths from childhood socioemotional behaviour to midlife health behaviour decades later. Socioemotional behaviour at age 8 predicted health behaviour both directly and indirectly through education. There are a wide variety of […]