One of astronomy's big questions is why galaxies forming as recently as 1 billion years after the Big Bang contain so much dust. The leading hypothesis is that supernovae, stars that explode at the end of their lives, contain large amounts of metal-enriched material that, in turn, harbors key ingredients of dust, like silicon, iron and carbon.
An inflammatory factor already linked to several diseases, including pulmonary disease, lung cancer, and arthritis, may also be responsible for the insulin resistance that comes with obesity, according to a new study published in the April issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication.
It's basically a given that diets loaded with fat can lead to considerable health problems. But a new study in the April issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication, shows that in some cases diets that are high in both fat and protein can be even worse.
The researchers led by Christopher Newgard of Duke Medical Center report that rats fed high-fat (HF) diets supplemented with extra so-called branched chain amino acids (BCAA) don't have to eat as much or gain as much weight to develop insulin resistance as do chubbier animals fed a high-fat diet alone. Moreover, those ill effects of branched chain amino acids, which include 3 of the 20 amino acids that are the building blocks of proteins, occurred only in the context of a high-fat diet.
DURHAM, N.C. – A clue about the blood chemistry of obese people who develop insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes, has been confirmed in animal studies at the Duke University Medical Center.
Obese people have been found to harbor proteins called branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) at far higher levels than non-obese people. The suspicion has been that these amino acids, in combination with a high-fat diet, contribute to insulin resistance.
The team found that the BCAA signature in obese humans consisted of the branched-chain amino acids themselves, plus a cluster of several products related to the body's breakdown processes for BCAA.
BOSTON – April 7, 2009 – Researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center have shown for the first time that insulin plays a key role in suppressing levels of glucagon, a hormone involved in carbohydrate metabolism and regulating blood glucose levels.
The study helps in the understanding of why those with diabetes have high blood glucose levels and could lead to development of a drug aimed at targeting glucagon levels.
(Northbrook, IL, April 7, 2009) – Managing pain in the ICU is an ongoing and significant challenge for the critical care team. However, new reports suggest that taking a comprehensive approach to pain management may be the key to managing pain in the ICU and even decreasing the incidence of preventable pain.
COLLEGE PARK, MD, April 7, 2009 -- Roughly 20 percent of the electricity consumed worldwide is used to light homes, businesses, and other private and public spaces. Though this consumption represents a large drain on resources, it also presents a tremendous opportunity for savings. Improving the efficiency of commercially available light bulbs -- even a little -- could translate into dramatically lower energy usage if implemented widely.
The ratio of women to men with the autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is nine to one and the incidence increases after puberty. Hormones secreted by the body are therefore believed to play an important role in the origins of the disease. A new large, population-based observational study found that the use of oral contraceptives was associated with an increased risk of SLE, particularly among women who had recently started taking them. The study was published in the April issue of Arthritis Care & Research (http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/77005015/home).
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Motivation and expectation may be factors in helping older adults regain lost functional ability after hospitalization, say researchers with the Birmingham Veterans Administration Medical Center and UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham). In findings published in March in the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers found that patients hospitalized for surgery returned to normal baseline function more quickly and more completely than did patients hospitalized for illness.
Racial disparities in the delivery of healthcare occur even among insured populations with access to care. This suggests that some of the differences in health care utilization among different racial groups may be due to patient preferences. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treatment decisions are frequently complex, requiring multiple trade-offs between symptom relief, long-term reduction of disability, adverse events and serious complications.
Psoriatic arthritis affects about 11 percent of patients with psoriasis. Anti-tumor necrosis factor α (anti-TNFα) agents, which block signaling molecules that induce inflammation, improve the symptoms of psoriatic arthritis. Golimumab is a new human monoclonal antibody that works against TNFα and has been shown to be beneficial within two weeks of the first subcutaneous injection in a phase II rheumatoid arthritis trial.
During the past few years, several new genetic risk factors for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have been identified. The majority of genetic risk factors identified so far have been associated with autoantibody-positive RA, which affects about two-thirds of RA patients, but distinguishing this variant from autoantibody-negative RA, which is less destructive, is considered increasingly important.
Waterdogs, they're called, these larvae of tiger salamanders used as live bait for freshwater fishing.
With tiger salamander larvae, anglers hope to catch largemouth bass, channel catfish and other freshwater fishes.
They may be in for more than they bargained for: salamanders in bait shops in Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico are infected with ranaviruses, and those in Arizona, with a chytrid fungus called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd).
