Category Health/Medical

Study finds Dopamine, Biological Clock link to Snacking, Overeating and Obesity

Biology professor Ali Güler’s research links “highly processed foods readily and cheaply available at any time of the day or night” to obesity and its many complications via disrupted circadian rhythms.
Biology professor Ali Güler’s research links “highly processed foods readily and cheaply available at any time of the day or night” to obesity and its many complications via disrupted circadian rhythms. (Photos by Dan Addison, University Communications)

A new study finds that the pleasure center of the brain and the brain’s biological clock are linked, and that high-calorie foods – which bring pleasure – disrupt normal feeding schedules, resulting in overconsumption.

During the years 1976 through 1980, 15% of U.S. adults were obese. Today, about 40% of adults are obese. Another 33% are overweight.

Coinciding with this increase in weight are ever-rising rates of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and health complications caused by obesity, such as hypertension...

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Step toward ‘Ink’ development for 3D Printing a Bioprosthetic Ovary

Schematic of (a) processing the porcine ovary with a tissue slicer, prior to qPCR analysis, decellularization then proteomics analysis and iPCR validation. (b) Ovaries were sliced axially and sagittally. SDS, sodium dodecyl sulfate; decell’ed, decellularized; LC MS/MS, liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry; iPCR, immuno PCR. Credit: Scientific Reports (2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-56454-3

Findings a huge step forward in fertility preservation and hormone restoration. For the first time, scientists identified and mapped the location of structural proteins in a pig ovary. Ongoing development of an “ink” with these proteins will be used for 3-D printing an artificial (or bio-prosthetic) ovary that could be implanted and allow a woman to have a child...

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Fat-Dissolving Bile Acids may help regulate Gut Immunity and Inflammation

fat cells in stomach
The acids that break down fat in our intestines may also play a role in gut immunity and inflammation
Image: Ugreen/iStock / Getty Images Plus

Could bile acids—the fat-dissolving juices churned out by the liver and gallbladder—also play a role in immunity and inflammation? The answer appears to be yes, according to two separate Harvard Medical School studies published in Nature.

The findings of the two studies, both conducted in mice, show that bile acids promote the differentiation and activity of several types of T cells involved in regulating inflammation and linked to intestinal inflammatory conditions. They also reveal that gut microbes are critical for converting bile acids into immune-signaling molecules.

The work suggests possible therapeutic pathways for modulating ...

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New Radiotracer offers opportunities for Earlier Intervention after Heart Attack

 Binding specificity test. (A) PET/CT axial views, autoradiographs, and corresponding H&E stainings of 10-micron cross-sections prepared from MI nonblocked, blocked, and sham-operated rats. Autoradiographs and H&E stainings from nonblocked hearts show increased Ga-68-FAPI-04 uptake in infarcted area at 7 days after MI, whereas uptake is negligible after sham operation or injection of nonlabeled FAPI-04 (blocked). Infarcted areas in H&E stainings are identified with arrows. (B) PET image–derived infarct-to-noninfarct uptake ratio (derived from 6 nonblocked and 3 blocked rat hearts subjected to coronary ligation). (C) Autoradiography image–derived infarct-to-noninfarct uptake ratio (derived from 3 nonblocked and 3 blocked MI hearts). QL = quantum level.

New radiotracer offers opp...

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