Category Health/Medical

Divergent effects of resistance and endurance exercise on plasma bile acids, FGF19, and FGF21 in humans

Strength training and cardio exercise affect the body differently with regard to the types of hormones they release into the blood, new research shows. In a new study published in the scientific Journal of Clinical Investigation – Insight, the researchers show that cardio training on an exercise bike causes 3X as large an increase in the production of the hormone FGF21 than strength training with weights. FGF21 has a lot of positive effects on metabolism.

‘Of course it is very exciting for us researchers to see how different forms of physical activity actually affect the body differently...

U.S. county distributions.
a: Proportion of Medicare Sample with Diagnosed CKD by County, b: Average PM2.5 (μg/m3) by County, Non-shaded counties had missing information and were not used in the analysis.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0200612.g002

There is good evidence that polluted air increases the risk of respiratory problems such as asthma – as well as organ inflammation, worsening of diabetes and other life-threatening conditions. But new research suggests air pollution can also fuel something else: chronic kidney disease, or CKD, which occurs when a person’s kidneys become damaged or cannot filter blood properly.

Recently published in PLOS ONE, a University of Michigan study highlights the lesser-known connection...

Weight scale (stock image).
Credit: © Win Nondakowit / Fotolia

In a new study, researchers at Uppsala University now demonstrate that one night of sleep loss has a tissue-specific impact on the regulation of gene expression and metabolism in humans. This may explain how shift work and chronic sleep loss impairs our metabolism and adversely affects our body composition.

Epidemiological studies have shown that the risk for obesity and type 2 diabetes is elevated in those who suffer from chronic sleep loss or who carry out shift work...

The snail-shell-shaped part of the inner ear that houses hair cells. Credit: Holt lab/Harvard Medical School

Scientists at Harvard Medical School say they have ended a 40-year-quest for the elusive identity of the sensor protein responsible for hearing and balance. The results of their research, reported Aug. 22 in Neuron, reveal that TMC1, a protein discovered in 2002, forms a sound- and motion-activated pore that allows the conversion of sound and head movement into nerve signals that travel to the brain – a signaling cascade that enables hearing and balance.

Scientists have long known that when the delicate cells in our inner ear detect sound and movement, they convert them into signals. Where and how this conversion occurs has been the subject of intense scientific debate...