Recent Comments

    Category Health/Medical

    Endurance Exercise training has beneficial effects on Gut Microbiota composition

    October 16, 2018, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Six-Week Endurance Exercise Alters Gut Metagenome That Is not Reflected in Systemic Metabolism in Over-weight Women. Frontiers in Microbiology, 2018; 9 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.02323

    Six-Week Endurance Exercise Alters Gut Metagenome That Is not Reflected in Systemic Metabolism in Over-weight Women. Frontiers in Microbiology, 2018; 9 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.02323

    According to recent research, endurance exercise training beneficially modifies gut microbiota composition. After six weeks of training, potentially inflammation causing microbes (Proteobacteria) decreased and microbes that are linked to enhanced metabolism (Akkermansia) increased. Even though there was no significant drop in the weight of the subjects, exercise had other beneficial health effects, says Academy of Finland research fellow Satu Pekkala from the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences of the University of Jyväskylä.

    “We found that phospholipids and cholesterol in VLDL particles decreased in respons...

    Read More

    Eczema Drug Restores Hair Growth in Patient with Longstanding Alopecia

    October 16, 2018, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    After 11 months of dupilumab treatment, significant pigmented hair has grown across the patient’s scalp.

    After 11 months of dupilumab treatment, significant pigmented hair has grown across the patient’s scalp.

    Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) physicians are reporting an unexpected side-effect from treatment with dupilumab, which is FDA approved for the treatment of moderate to severe eczema, also called atopic dermatitis. In their case report published in JAMA Dermatology, the physicians describe how their 13-year-old patient, who has alopecia totalis – a total lack of scalp hair – along with eczema, experienced significant hair regrowth while being treated with dupilumab, a drug marketed under the brand name Dupixent.

    “We were quite surprised since this patient hadn’t grown scalp hair since the age of 2, and other treatments that can help with hair loss did not in her case,” says Marya...

    Read More

    Fat: A new player expands our definition of Diabetes

    October 14, 2018, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Protein Kinase C Epsilon Deletion in Adipose Tissue, but Not in Liver, Improves Glucose Tolerance

    Protein Kinase C Epsilon Deletion in Adipose Tissue, but Not in Liver, Improves Glucose Tolerance

    A new study by Australian researchers, out today, is challenging what we know about the causes of diabetes. The new research points to fat tissue as a source of disease, and widens our understanding beyond the traditional focus on liver and pancreas as the main culprits. The findings, uncovered in mice, are published in the high-impact journal Cell Metabolism.

    The new research is centred around the surprising finding that protein kinase C epsilon (PKCε), known to be involved in diabetes, isn’t acting in the liver or the pancreas as was once assumed. Researchers have long known that PKCε is important for the development of diabetes...

    Read More

    Human Retinas grown in a Dish explain how Color Vision develops

    October 14, 2018, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Temporally regulated TH signaling specifies cone subtypes. (A) Embryonic stem cell–derived human retinal organoids [wild type (WT)] generate S and L/M cones. Blue, S-opsin; green, L/M-opsin. (B) Organoids that lack thyroid hormone receptor β (Thrβ KO) generate all S cones. (C) Early activation of TH signaling (WT + T3) specifies nearly all L/M cones. (D) TH-degrading enzymes (such as DIO3) expressed early in development lower TH and promote S fate, whereas TH-activating regulators (such as DIO2) expressed later promote L/M fate.

    Temporally regulated TH signaling specifies cone subtypes.
    (A) Embryonic stem cell–derived human retinal organoids [wild type (WT)] generate S and L/M cones. Blue, S-opsin; green, L/M-opsin. (B) Organoids that lack thyroid hormone receptor β (Thrβ KO) generate all S cones. (C) Early activation of TH signaling (WT + T3) specifies nearly all L/M cones. (D) TH-degrading enzymes (such as DIO3) expressed early in development lower TH and promote S fate, whereas TH-activating regulators (such as DIO2) expressed later promote L/M fate.

    Biologists at Johns Hopkins University grew human retinas from scratch to determine how cells that allow people to see in color are made...

    Read More