A protein that regulates cholesterol levels in the body also is responsible for maintaining a healthy balance between fat storage and fat burning, according to a UT Southwestern Medical Center study that may lead to new drug targets in the fight against obesity.

In animals and humans, a protein called the liver X receptor, or LXR, senses cholesterol levels. When these receptors detect rising amounts of cholesterol, they activate genes and a series of biochemical reactions that

Liver-specific knock out mouse has improved liver function

A collaborative effort led by The Burnham Institute’s Gen-Sheng Feng has created a mouse with improved glucose tolerance and insulin activity in the liver, and generated new findings about insulin-signaling in the liver that could prove useful in understanding the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. These results, to be published by Nature Medicine in May, were made available to the scientific community by advance pos

A breakdown in brain cell communication may contribute to the most common biochemical cause of mental retardation, University of Florida scientists have discovered.

The process is akin to a baseball game gone bad. Imagine if a pitcher were joined by six players simultaneously winding up on the mound. Crouched behind home plate, the single catcher would soon be overwhelmed. Even if the coach sent in teammates to catch the extra balls, confusion would reign on the field.

Your mother was right. Eat your fruits and veggies — they’re good for you!

And if that’s not reason enough, a new study suggests antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables may limit brain damage from stroke and other neurological disorders. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of South Florida (USF)College of Medicine, James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, is posted online and will be published in the May issue of t

A possible link between lack of sleep (insomnia) and obesity has been traced to hypocretin/orexin cells in the hypothalamus region of the brain that are easily excited and sensitive to stress, Yale School of Medicine researchers report in the April issue of Cell Metabolism.

“If these neurons are over-activated by environmental or mental stress in daily situations, they may support sustained arousal, triggering sleeplessness, leading to overeating,” said lead author Tamas Horvath,

A researcher studying drug design for nerve damage therapies has gotten her answer to questions by following some old advice: she used the library.

It’s not the kind of library her mother or teacher suggested, but a combinatorial chemistry library of many different protein sequences that some day might help her and her colleagues develop a successful timed drug delivery system.

Shelly Sakiyama-Elbert, Ph.D., assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Washington Uni

Scientists from Wake Forest University School of Medicine have identified a protein that seems to control the malignant features of brain tumor cells, suggesting a new treatment target for anti-cancer drugs. The research is reported in the current issue of Molecular Cancer Research.

“This protein seems to be important in how cells acquire malignant characteristics and how they spread to healthy tissue,” said Waldemar Debinski, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Brain Tumor Center of Exce

In an Australian first, UNSW researchers have developed three clones of cells from existing human embryonic stem cells. The breakthrough could lead to new treatments for diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and spinal cord injury.

“This cloning of cells involves a new technique, which is a very accurate way of extracting and then growing a single cell,” said UNSW Senior Lecturer Dr Kuldip Sidhu, who is leading the research and is based at the Diabetes Transplant Unit (DTU) at the Pri

As more of the population begin to recognise the benefits of sporting activity, there is a need for improved sports pitches which not only deliver increased access to sport, but also reduce the risk of injury.

With this in mind, Cranfield University’s Centre for Sports Surfaces, together with the University of Exeter’s Sports Science Department, is investigating how to improve the engineering of sports surfaces, such as those used for football and cricket, to minimise this inju

A research team headed by Professor Helena Edlund at Umeå University in Sweden has achieved a breakthrough in our understanding of how obesity causes increased levels of insulin, sugar, and blood fats leading to diseases like type-2 diabetes and liver degeneration. The findings also indicate a direct way to prevent these diseases.

Today obesity is epidemic in the industrialized world, causing disturbances in blood levels of insulin, sugar, and blood fats that lead to high blo

Scientists carrying out a major epidemiological study at Karolinska Institutet and Uppsala University have discovered that there is no clear correlation between routine ultrasonic scans and intellectual impairment.

“Fears have been expressed that sonography can lead to diminished intellectual capacity,” explains Helle Kieler, research scientist at Karolinska Institutet.

Previous epidemiological studies have shown that young men who had been exposed to in utero ultr

The deaths or clinical complications in heart attack patients given potent drugs to re-open clogged arteries is more likely to be due to individual patient characteristics than to modest misdosing of the drugs, researchers from the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI) have determined. Thus, they said, physicians should not be overly worried about the possibility of minor errors in dosing — a concern that the Duke physicians said likely contributes to insufficient prescribing of the drugs t

On March 31, Joel Dyels celebrated his 72nd birthday by having coronary bypass surgery at Stanford Hospital. He also became the third patient at Stanford – and in the United States – to benefit from a new imaging system that lets doctors see the blood pathways they have created while the patient’s chest is still open.

Until now, doctors were almost never able to confirm whether bypass surgery had been successful while the patient was still on the operating table. In most cas

Surgeon’s choice of laser or blade for corneal flap plays role in visual outcome of procedure

New scientific data being presented at this year’s ASCRS meeting reveals the key to a better-than-20/20 outcome in LASIK surgery may depend on whether your doctor uses a blade or a laser to create the corneal flap in the first step of the procedure.
“It turns out that the flap that we make in LASIK is not an innocent bystander,” says Roger F. Steinert, M.D., 2005 ASCRS president,

A team of scientists from Colombia, the United States and elsewhere has successfully completed a 15-year-plus search for the genetic problems behind the very rare Roberts syndrome, whose physical manifestations often include cleft lip and palate and shortened limbs that resemble those of babies whose mothers took thalidomide during pregnancy.

The discovery, which is reported in the April 10 advance online section of Nature Genetics, proves that genes behind very rare inherited d

Study predicted cardiovascular risk of Cox-2 inhibitors

Amid the recent controversy and confusion over serious side effects from pain medications, a new UCLA and Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System study demonstrates that for arthritis sufferers at high risk for gastrointestinal problems who traditionally may have used a drug like Vioxx, the most cost-effective and safest treatment is actually a common painkiller combined with an acid-reducing drug.

Publ