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    Category Biology/Biotechnology

    Green Tea cuts Obesity, Health Risks in Mice

    March 15, 2019, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Green tea.
    Credit: © KMNPhoto / Fotolia

    Follow-up study in people underway. Green tea cut obesity and a number of inflammatory biomarkers linked with poor health in a new study. Mice fed a diet of 2% green tea extract fared far better than those that ate a diet without it, a finding that has prompted an upcoming study of green tea’s potential benefits in people at high risk of diabetes and heart disease.

    The benefits seen in the new study, published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, appear to stem from improved gut health, including more beneficial microbes in the intestines of the mice and less permeability in the intestinal wall – a condition typically called “leaky gut” in people.

    “This study provides evidence that green tea encourages the growth of good gut bacter...

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    Danger of Vitamin B12 Deficiency

    March 14, 2019, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Rice University researchers found vitamin B12 promotes survival during infection by improving mitochondrial health. The expression of a fluorescent protein (top left) reflects buildup of a toxic metabolic product, propionate, in mitochondria on diets low in B12, as compared (bottom left) to those receiving sufficient B12. Mitochondrially targeted fluorescent protein (center) reveals fragmentation of mitochondria when B12 is low, and dead worms stained with fluorescent dye (bottom right) demonstrate the decreased survival rate of worms infected by the pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
    Credit: Natasha Kirienko/Rice University

    Direct link between low-B12 diet, increased risk of infection...

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    Scientists Demonstrate use of Ultrasound to Alter Inflammatory and Metabolic Response

    March 12, 2019, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Fig. 1
    Modulation of the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway through the vagus nerve, splenic nerve and spleen. a Electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve or US stimulation of the spleen is thought to modulate the neural communication with T Cells and Macrophages, blocking the production of inflammatory cytokines and promoting an anti-inflammatory state. bTimeline of a typical experiment performed in the presented study in which animals were injected with 300 μl of K/BxN serum on day 0 and treated with focused US that targeted the spleen on days -1 through 6

    GE Research and Feinstein Institute for Medical Research bioelectronic medicine teams have demonstrated potentially breakthrough non-invasive methods to regulate dysfunction in the body’s metabolic or inflammatory control systems ...

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    New Optical Imaging system could be deployed to find Tiny Tumors

    March 10, 2019, Categories  Biology/Biotechnology

    MIT researchers have devised a way to simultaneously image in multiple wavelengths of near-infrared light, allowing them to determine the depth of particles emitting different wavelengths.
    Credit: Image courtesy of the researchers

    Near-infrared technology pinpoints fluorescent probes deep within living tissue; may be used to detect cancer earlier. Many types of cancer could be more easily treated if they were detected at an earlier stage. MIT researchers have now developed an imaging system, named “DOLPHIN,” which could enable them to find tiny tumors, as small as a couple of hundred cells, deep within the body.

    In a new study, the researchers used their imaging system, which relies on near-infrared light, to track a 0...

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