Category Health/Medical

a neural circuit taxonomy for depression and anxiety

A team led by neurologists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) has pinpointed the regions of the brain that may play a role maintaining consciousness. “For the first time, we have found a connection between the brainstem region involved in arousal and regions involved in awareness, 2 prerequisites for consciousness,” said Michael D. Fox, MD, PhD, Director of the Laboratory for Brain Network Imaging and Modulation and the Associate Director of the Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation at BIDMC.

Arousal is likely regulated by the brainstem, responsible for the sleep/wake cycle and cardiac/ respiratory rates. Awareness has long been thought to reside in the cortex...

Highlights •Galectin-3 blood levels are elevated in human and rodent obesity •Galectin-3 directly impairs insulin action in myocytes, adipocytes, and hepatocytes •Galectin-3 treatment causes systemic insulin resistance in vivo •Galectin-3 loss of function improves insulin sensitivity in obesity

By removing the protein galectin-3 (Gal3), a team of investigators led by University of California School of Medicine researchers were able to reverse diabetic insulin resistance and glucose intolerance in mouse models of obesity and diabetes. By binding to insulin receptors on cells, Gal3 prevents insulin from attaching to the receptors resulting in cellular insulin resistance...

Genetic damage caused by smoking measured in different organs of the body

Genetic damage caused by smoking measured in different organs of the body. Scientists have measured the catastrophic genetic damage caused by smoking in different organs of the body and identified several different mechanisms by which tobacco smoking causes mutations in DNA. Researchers at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, the Los Alamos National Laboratory and their collaborators found smokers accumulated an average of 150 extra mutations in every lung cell for each year of smoking one packet of cigarettes a day. The study provides a direct link between the number of cigarettes smoked in a lifetime and the number of mutations in the tumour DNA...