Category Biology/Biotechnology

A new Yale study shows the brain responds to taste and calorie counts in fundamentally different ways. And only one of these responses explains why most New Years’ resolutions have already disappeared under a deluge of Boston Crème Pies. It’s the brain’s desire for calories – not sweetness – that dominates our desire for sugars.

“It turns out the brain actually has two segregated sets of neurons to process sweetness and energy signals,” said Ivan de Araujo of the John B. Pierce Laboratory. “If the brain is given the choice between pleasant taste and no energy, or unpleasant taste and energy, the brain picks energy.”

Both sweet taste and nutrient value register in the striatum, an ancient region of the brain involved in processing rewards...

Congestive heart failure (CHF) after acute myocardial infarction. Credit: Image courtesy of Osaka University

The onset of cardiac failure after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a serious problem throughout the world. Researchers at Osaka University clarified cell adhesion inhibition of periostin1 damages myocardinal cells, inducing compromised cardiac myocyte contractile force and myocytes death, leading to the onset of cardiac failure after AMI through the administration of periostin neutralizing antibodies they had developed on their own.

If the onset of cardiac failure in the chronic phase can be inhibited by this group’s research results that will not only improve patients’ quality of life, but also reduce high medical costs of cardiac failure treatment as a whole.

AMI generates me...

We really can’t have our astronauts getting loopy after just a few weeks on-planet, though, so researchers have been trying to find a way to re-program the body’s sleep cycle to the Martian standard. One method showing promise is the use of light-therapy — not just using bright light to knock the rhythm off kilter, but using the light’s specific wave-length as well. Extending the human sleep cycle might be as simple as exposing an astronaut to pale blue light at the end of their day. They hope to continue their research and determine which wavelengths have have an effect and what that is at different times of the day. http://www.geek.com/science/mars-explorers-may-suffer-never-ending-jet-lag-1616740/

New research reveals the importance of a circadian body clock that matches the r...

Variety of fiber-rich foods. Credit: ATS

A diet rich in fiber may not only protect against diabetes and heart disease, it may reduce the risk of developing lung disease, according to new research. Analyzing data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, researchers report in “The Relationship between Dietary Fiber Intake and Lung Function in NHANES,” that among adults in the top quartile of fiber intake:
• 68.3% had normal lung function, vs 50.1% in the bottom quartile
• 14.8% had airway restriction, vs 29.8% in the bottom quartile.

In 2 important breathing tests, those in the top quartile had a greater lung capacity (FVC) and could exhale more air in one second (FEV1)r.

“Lung disease is an important public health problem, so it’s important to identify modifiable risk...