Category Health/Medical

A study carried out in mice may help explain why dieting can be an inefficient way to lose weight: key brain cells act as a trigger to prevent us burning calories when food is scarce.

A study carried out in mice may help explain why dieting can be an inefficient way to lose weight: key brain cells act as a trigger to prevent us burning calories when food is scarce. “Weight loss strategies are often inefficient because the body works like a thermostat and couples the amount of calories we burn to the amount of calories we eat,” says Dr Clémence Blouet from the Metabolic Research Laboratories at University of Cambridge. “When we eat less, our body compensates and burns fewer calories, which makes losing weight harder...

This study adds to previous evidence that air pollution causes oxidative stress, which can damage lipids, proteins, and DNA. Credit: © Pink Badger / Fotolia

Children and teens exposed to high levels of traffic-related air pollution have evidence of telomere shortening, reports a study in the May Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Young people with asthma also have evidence of telomere shortening, according to the preliminary research by John R. Balmes, MD, of University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues. “Our results suggest that telomere length may have potential for use as a biomarker of DNA damage due to environmental exposures and/or chronic inflammation.”

The study included 14 children and adolescents living in Fresno, Calif...

Lipogems® is a non-expanded and microfragmented adipose tissue graft that is injected into damaged areas of the body in order to provide a cushion and structural support while promoting a healing environment. Lipogems® preserve the natural healing properties of adipose tissue by maintaining the fats Vascular Stromal Niches which contain mesenchymal cells and pericytes.

Body fat now can help treat bone joint conditions, including injuries and osteoarthritis – the type of arthritis caused by wear and tear in tissue between joints, which affects 27 million people. A new device gently suctions, processes and uses a patient’s own fat tissue to provide a potential source of stem cells and growth factors to promote healing...

Self-Ventilating Workout Suit keeps Athletes Cool and Dry

Ventilating flaps lined with live cells open and close in response to an athlete’s sweat. MIT team has designed a breathable workout suit with ventilating flaps that open and close in response to an athlete’s body heat and sweat. These flaps, which range from thumbnail- to finger-sized, are lined with live microbial cells that shrink and expand in response to changes in humidity. The cells act as tiny sensors and actuators, driving the flaps to open when an athlete works up a sweat, and pulling them closed when the body has cooled.

They have also fashioned a running shoe with an inner layer of similar cell-lined flaps to air out and wick away moisture...