Category Biology/Biotechnology

A University of Iowa-led study has identified a hormone that appears to be involved in sugar cravings and consumption. The research could improve diet and help patients who are diabetic or obese. Credit: University of Iowa

While sugar cravings are common, the physiological mechanisms that trigger our “sweet tooth” are not well defined. A University of Iowa-led study in mice shows that a hormone produced by the liver, fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21), suppresses the consumption of simple sugars. The researchers report that FGF21 is produced in the liver in response to high carbohydrate levels. FGF21 then enters the bloodstream, where it sends a signal to the brain to suppress the preference for sweets...

Dr. Joshua Mendell CREDIT: UT Southwestern Medical Center

A gene called NORAD has been found to help maintain the proper number of chromosomes in cells, and that when inactivated, causes the number of chromosomes in a cell to become unstable, a key feature of cancer cells.

Previously, genes that encode the recipe for making proteins have been implicated in maintaining the proper number of chromosomes in a cell. The NORAD gene, however, does not encode a protein. Instead, NORAD produces a long noncoding RNA, a type of molecule that was not previously known to be important in chromosome maintenance.

Researchers began studying this particular molecule because the RNA kicks into action after DNA is damaged; they therefore termed it Noncoding RNA Activated by DNA Damage, or NORAD.
The scientist...

Stephen LaVoie at the University of Georgia studies inorganic mercury, which is known to cause neurological, kidney and autoimmune diseases. Credit: Dorothy Kozlowski/University of Georgia

Inorganic mercury, which was previously thought to be a less harmful form of the toxic metal, is very damaging to key cell processes. This study is the first to compare the effects of inorganic and organic mercury compounds at the biochemical, physiological and proteomic levels in any model organism.

Inorganic mercury from the ore cinnabar was used for centuries against infections; in modern times, humans synthesized organic mercurials as antimicrobials, such as merthiolate...