Category Health/Medical

Insulin Sensitivity: One night of Poor Sleep could equal 6 months on a High-Fat Diet, study in dogs suggests

New research finds that one night of sleep deprivation and six months on a high-fat diet could both impair insulin sensitivity to a similar degree, demonstrating the importance of a good night's sleep on health. (stock image) Credit: © tab62 / Fotolia

New research finds that one night of sleep deprivation and six months on a high-fat diet could both impair insulin sensitivity to a similar degree, demonstrating the importance of a good night’s sleep on health. (stock image) Credit: © tab62 / Fotolia

New research finds 1 night of sleep deprivation and six months on a high-fat diet could both impair insulin sensitivity to a similar degree, demonstrating the importance of a good night’s sleep on health. This study used a canine model to examine whether sleep deprivation and a high-fat diet affect insulin sensitivity in similar ways.

When the body becomes insulin resistant, it needs to produce more insulin to keep blood sugar stable. This may eventually lead to Type 2 diabetes which is a/w heart disease...

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Baffling Lab Mystery result leads to Potential New Anemia Rx: triggering production of RBCs

CD24 expressed by cells of hematopoietic origin and not cells in stromal...

CD24 expressed by cells of hematopoietic origin and not cells in stromal compartments is required for extramedullary stress erythropoiesis following in vivo CD24 engagement

This could represent a significant step forward in the battle against anemia, benefitting people with diabetes, kidney disease or cancer, and older people for whom anemia can become a chronic problem. While more work needs to be done before the method could be used in people, the possibilities are tantalizing.

Eg it could allow doctors to turn on red blood cell production whenever necessary;
~be used on the battlefield to triage wounded soldiers until they could receive a blood transfusion; and
~be used to treat people who cannot receive blood transfusions because of religious beliefs.

Note: Anemia is the most common bl...

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3D Printing method capable of Producing Highly Uniform ‘Blocks’ of Embryonic Stem Cells

Schematic representation of this research.

Schematic representation of this research.

These cells – capable of generating all cell types in the body – could be used as the ‘Lego bricks’ to build tissue constructs, larger structures of tissues, and potentially even micro-organs. “It was really exciting to see that we could grow embryoid body in such a controlled manner,” explains Wei Sun. “The grown embryoid body is uniform and homogenous, and serves as a much better starting point for further tissue growth.”

The researchers, based at Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, and Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA, used extrusion-based 3D printing to produce a grid-like 3D structure to grow embryoid body with cell viability and rapid self-renewal for 7 days while maintaining high pluripotentcy.

Images of the printed cellular model with grid structure. (A) Full view of the cellular construct. (B) Phase-contrast images demonstrating the cell morphology and distribution of different cell density at day 3, day 5 and day 7. Scale bar: 1 mm.

Images of the printed cellular model with...

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130yo debate gives new Rx direction. Right side of Brain can compensate for Post-Stroke Loss of Speech

Broca's area , wernicke's area, and other language-processing areas in the brain

Broca’s area , wernicke’s area, and other language-processing areas in the brain

Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center have found that loss of speech from a stroke in the left hemisphere of the brain can be recovered on the back, right side of the brain. This contradicts recent notions that the right hemisphere interferes with recovery. While the findings will likely not put an immediate end to the debate, they suggest a new direction in treatment.

This is the first to look at brain structure and grey matter volume when trying to understand how speech is recovered after a stroke...

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