New Joslin-led study uncovers role of appetite-related melanin concentrating hormone (MCH) in the brain to beta cell growth and insulin secretion. Findings may lead to treatments that stimulate insulin production.
For the first time, scientists have discovered that cells passed from mother to child during pregnancy can differentiate into functioning islet beta cells that produce insulin in the child.
For years cardiologists and other specialists have disagreed over the condition known as metabolic syndrome, a complex confluence of factors such as abdominal obesity, low HDL, or “good” cholesterol and hypertension.
A Bristol team has looked for maternal cells in children with type 1 diabetes, an immune-mediated disorder, and found that around 20 percent of these children have unusually high levels of maternal DNA in their circulation.
Last month, New York City outlawed the use of partially hydrogenated oils, known as trans fats, in restaurants, a ban now under consideration in other cities, including Boston and Chicago. But novel research conducted in Malaysia and at Brandeis University shows that a new method of modifying fat in commercial products to replace unhealthy trans fats raises blood glucose and depresses insulin in humans, common precursors to diabetes. Furthermore, like trans fat, it still adversely depressed the beneficial HDL-cholesterol.
Researchers studying a group of vegetarians who’d maintained a diet relatively low in protein and calories found that they had lower blood levels of several hormones and other substances that have been tied to certain cancers.
University of Pittsburgh investigators have successfully prevented the onset of type 1 diabetes in mice prone to developing the disease using an antibody against a receptor on the surface of immune T-cells. According to the investigators, these findings, which are being published in the January issue of the journal Diabetes, have significant implications for the prevention of type 1 diabetes.
The phrase “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” has taken on new meaning for teenagers. A new study suggests that as teens enter adulthood, they are more likely to skip breakfast and increase their fast food consumption, and that both behaviors lead to an increased risk of weight gain. Researchers at the Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center at the Miriam Hospital and Brown Medical School conducted the study.
Most of us think of chromium as the shiny metal in the bumpers of cars. Chrome bumpers are long gone, but the metal plays a crucial role in human health, reports the January 2007 issue of Harvard Men?s Health Watch.
Caucasian patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) are more likely to have hepatic steatosis, or fat in the liver, compared to African-American patients. However, steatosis is not associated with HCV treatment response.