Category Health/Medical

Intrahepatic IFN-I signaling and responsive CD8+ T cells promote metabolic disease in mice and correlate to worsened NAFLD in humans.

A high-fat diet and obesity turn “hero” virus-fighting liver immune cells “rogue”, leading to insulin resistance, a condition that often results in type 2 diabetes, according to research published today in Science Immunology. Using cells from mice and human livers, Toronto General Hospital Research Institute researchers demonstrated for the first time how under specific conditions, such as obesity, liver CD8+ T cells, white blood cells in the control of viral infections, become highly activated and inflammatory, reprogramming themselves into disease-driving cells.

Scientists have been trying for many years to discover why the liver continues to pump out too ...

In a human cell, CHIP (red) is recruited to clusters of a dementia-inducing protein (yellow). There is not enough CHIP for insulin receptor degradation in this situation. The cell undergoes premature aging. (Photo: CECAD)

Researchers uncover the link between protein aggregation, aging. Early in evolution, sugar intake and the regulation of life span were linked with each other. The hormone insulin is crucial here. It reduces blood sugar levels by binding to its receptor on the cell surface. However, many processes for stress management and survival are shut down at the same time. When there is a good supply of food, they appear unnecessary to the organism, although this reduces life expectancy over the long term. The insulin receptor thus acts like a brake on life expectancy...

Thermal measurement of nanopolyethylene (nanoPE) and various textile samples. (A) experimental setup of textile thermal measurement. The heating element that generates constant heating power is used to simulate human skin, and the “skin temperature” is measured with the thermocouple. Lower skin temperature means a better cooling effect. (B) Thermal measurement of bare skin, nanoPE, cotton, and Tyvek. NanoPE has a much better cooling effect than that of cotton and Tyvek because of its infrared (IR)-transparency. (C) Thermal imaging of bare skin and the three samples. Only nanoPE can reveal the H-shape metallic pattern because of its IR-transparency. Photo by Stanford University.

Stanford University researchers, with the aid of the Comet supercomputer at the San Diego Supercomputer at UCSD, ...

Highlights •Tissue-resident macrophages abound in the mouse and human AV nodes •Connexin 43 connects macrophages with cardiomyocytes •Macrophages modulate the electrical activity of cardiomyocytes •Macrophages assist normal AV nodal conduction

Macrophages have a previously unrecognized role in helping the mammalian heart beat in rhythm. Massachusetts General Hospital researchers discovered that macrophages aggregate around central cardiac cells that regulate electrical impulses within the mouse heart, helping the cells conduct electricity. Mice that were genetically engineered to lack macrophages have irregular heartbeats, hinting that these immune cells may also play a role in heart disease.

“This work opens up a completely new view on electrophysiology; now, we have a new cell ty...