Category Health/Medical

Sunburn. Credit: © jivimages / Fotolia

High doses of vitamin D taken 1 hour after sunburn significantly reduce skin redness, swelling, and inflammation, according to double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial out of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. The trial results were recently published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.

In the study, 20 participants were randomized to receive a placebo pill or 50,000, 100,000, or 200,000 IU of vitamin D one hour after a small UV lamp “sunburn” on their inner arm. Researchers followed up with the participants 24, 48, 72 hours and 1 week after the experiment and collected skin biopsies for further testing...

A mediobasal hypothalamus (MBH) section shows microglia (green) in contact with AgRP neurons (red), which are critical hypothalamic neurons in the regulation of food intake and body weight. Credit: Image by the Suneil Koliwad Lab

Diet study finds link between brain inflammation and obesity in mice. Immune cells in the brain trigger overeating and weight gain in response to diets rich in fat, according to a new study in mice led by researchers from UC San Francisco and the University of Washington Medical Center. Brain-resident microglia could be targets for obesity treatments that might avoid many side effects of the obesity drugs currently in clinical use.

“Microglia are not neurons, but they account for 10 to 15% of the cells in the brain,” said Suneil Koliwad, MD, PhD, assistant profess...

A diagram of the VES-4, a scorpion-milking machine.

A new scorpion-milking robot designed could replace the traditional manual method. Scorpion venom is used in medical applications such as immunosuppressants, anti-malarial drugs and cancer research, but the extraction process can be potentially life-threatening. “This robot makes venom recovery fast and safe,” says Mr Mouad Mkamel who designed the robot with a team of researchers from Ben M’sik Hassan II University, Morocco.

“The extraction of scorpion venom is a very difficult task and usually takes at least two experimenters,” says Mr Mkamel. “There are numerous risks including potentially deadly scorpion stings and electric shocks from the stimulators used to extract the venom...

Highlights
•Plasma TMAO levels are elevated in type 2 diabetic patients
•Levels of the TMAO-producing enzyme FMO3 in adipose tissue correlate with obesity
•Pharmacologic and genetic inhibition of Fmo3 stimulates white adipose tissue beiging
•Inhibition of Fmo3 promotes resistance to obesity

Cleveland Clinic researchers showed that blocking a specific intestinal microbial pathway can prevent obesity and insulin resistance, as well as cause fat tissue to become more metabolically active. The team, led by J. Mark Brown, Ph.D...