Category Health/Medical

Buildup in brain cells of the protein alpha-synuclein (dark spots) occurs in the neurodegenerative disorder Multiple System Atrophy (MSA). Jensflorian/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Prions are misfolded proteins that make copies of themselves by inducing others to misfold. By so doing, they multiply and cause disease. The resulting illness in this case is multiple system atrophy (MSA), a neurodegenerative disease similar to Parkinson’s. The study, published August 31 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, adds weight to the idea that many neurodegenerative diseases are caused by prions.

In the 1960s researchers led by Carleton Gajdusek at the National Institutes of Health transmitted kuru, a rare neurodegenerative disease found in Papua New Guinea, and Creutzfeldt–Jakob disea...

Age-related onset of type 2 diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance may be due to the lowered ability of muscle mitochondria to switch from metabolizing fatty acids to metabolizing glucose in healthy elderly people compared to young people. Americans >65yo are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes or glucose intolerance. The reasons for this are largely unknown, but studies have shown that muscle insulin resistance, increased intramyocellular lipid content (IMCL, triglycerides located within muscles), and decreased metabolic rates are related to aging.

Singling out mitochondrial function in muscle cells is hard via indirect calorimetry which provide information about the body’s basal metabolic rate, not just metabolism in muscle cells...

Schematic figure of the arterial wall under healthy conditions (left) and in endothelial dysfunction with increased vasoconstriction from increase ET1

Overweight and obese adults are advised to exercise to improve their health, but more than 50 percent do not do so. New research to be presented at the 14th International Conference on Endothelin: Physiology, Pathophysiology and Therapeutics suggests that taking vitamin C supplements daily can have similar cardiovascular benefits as regular exercise in these adults.

RSV, labeled with GFP to glow green, infects a sample of lung tissue from a deceased donor. New research shows that the virus produces defective genomes that prompt the immune system to eliminate the pathogen. Credit: University of Pennsylvania

Almost all human beings are exposed to the respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, before their second birthdays. For most, the symptoms mimic those of the common cold: runny nose, coughing, sneezing, fever. But in some very young infants – and some older adults – the disease can be serious, causing respiratory problems that require hospitalization and increase the risk of developing asthma later in life.

Even in the hospital, doctors can’t do much more than offer supportive care...