Category Health/Medical

Activity with age. Fluorescence in the fat body of fruit flies tracks the activity of transposable elements of DNA. It increases markedly with age. Credit: Jason Wood/Brown University

A new study increases and strengthens the links that have led scientists to propose the “transposon theory of aging.” Transposons are rogue elements of DNA that break free in aging cells and rewrite themselves elsewhere in the genome, potentially creating lifespan-shortening chaos in the genetic makeups of tissues. As cells get older, prior studies have shown, tightly wound heterochromatin wrapping that typically imprisons transposons becomes looser, allowing them to slip out of their positions in chromosomes and move to new ones, disrupting normal cell function...

3-D bioengineered lung-like tissue (left) resembles adult human lung (right). Credit: UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center

By coating tiny gel beads with lung-derived stem cells and then allowing them to self-assemble into the shapes of the alveoli found in human lungs, researchers at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA have succeeded in creating three-dimensional lung “organoids.” The laboratory-grown lung-like tissue can be used to study diseases including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, which has traditionally been difficult to study using conventional methods. “While we haven’t built a fully functional lung, we’ve been able to take lung cells and place them in the correct geometrical spacing and pattern to mimic a human lung,” said Dr...

Highlights •Prolyl hydroxylase 3 (PHD3) hydroxylates and activates the metabolic enzyme ACC2 •During nutrient abundance, the PHD3/ACC2 axis represses fatty acid oxidation (FAO) •PHD3 is low in AML, fueling a reliance on fats that can be targeted with FAO inhibitors •Re-expressing PHD3 limits FAO via ACC2 and suppresses AML in culture and in vivo

A handful of cancers favor fat over sugar, a propensity that has long mystified scientists. Now, a study from Harvard Medical School reveals how certain tumors develop a taste for fat as their life-sustaining fuel. The findings show how a signaling pathway that normally keeps fat-burning in check goes awry in some cancers, revving up fat consumption and fueling tumor growth.

Specifically, the study found a protein called prolyl hydroxylase ...

Lack of antinociceptive tolerance of YHS (200 mg/kg) in the tail flick assay (n = 7–8).

Root extracts from the flowering herbal plant Corydalis yanhusuo, or YHS, has widely used for centuries as a pain treatment. Yet few studies have investigated how it works on different forms of pain, and little is known about its molecular mechanisms. In a new study, Olivier Civelli, professor and chair of pharmacology at the University of California, Irvine et al show how YHS effectively treats different forms of pain. Most notably it can reduce chronic neuropathic pain which is poorly treated with common medicines. They also show that YHS seems to not lose its potency over time, as happens with many analgesics.

The researchers analyzed YHS pain relief properties in mouse tests that monitor acute, pe...