Cancer :: Hybrid molecule causes cancer cells to self-destruct
By joining a sugar to a short-chain fatty acid compound, Johns Hopkins researchers have developed a two-pronged molecular weapon that kills cancer cells in lab tests.
Sugar
Bulimia :: Bulimia may result from hormonal imbalance
Bulimia is normally regarded as a mental illness that should be treated with cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). A newly published doctoral thesis from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, however, shows that the condition depends in certain cases on a hormonal imbalance that can be corrected with common oral contraceptives.
Cholesterol :: Sugars in liver found to clear fats from the bloodstream
In work with mice, researchers at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine discovered a factor that could be responsible for many unexplained cases of elevated triglyceride levels.
Diabetes :: Glucose levels trigger compensation for type 2 diabetics
Many individuals with type 2 diabetes are diabetic because the cells of their body no longer respond to the hormone insulin, which is crucial for lowering blood sugar levels (blood glucose levels). However, before individuals become clinically diabetic their body tries to compensate for the increasing resistance to the effects of insulin by increasing both the amount of insulin secreted and the mass of insulin-secreting cells (beta cells) in the pancreas.
Diabetes :: Japan’s Otsuka to develop saxagliptin for type 2 diabetes
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) and Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. announced Otsuka has been granted exclusive rights in Japan to develop and commercialize the investigational compound saxagliptin, being studied for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes. Saxagliptin, discovered by Bristol-Myers Squibb, is a dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor currently in Phase III development in the United States and Europe.
Malnutrition :: Deaths of severely malnourished children – identifying those most at risk
Severe malnutrition is responsible for the deaths of millions of children every year. Even when such children are admitted to hospital, up to one in five of them will die. Research published in PLoS Medicine has shown that certain clinical signs in severely malnourished children can predict those who are most likely to die. This should help health care workers focus their attentions on those who are most at risk.
HIV :: HIV treatments improve health, but nutritional issues remain
New studies on nutrition and HIV from researchers at Tufts University in Boston find that a high percentage of people with HIV have the same two characteristics of metabolic syndrome, and that people with HIV on HAART may be at risk for zinc deficiency.
Five new technologies that promise to transform medicine
Fat zapping to shed excess weight, miniature telescopes to restore vision, and smart nappies to detect common childhood infections — these are some of the new technologies that promise to transform medicine, according to this week’s Christmas issue of the BMJ.
Durable critters providing insight for human egg preservation
A tiny, six-legged critter that suspends all biological activity when the going gets tough may hold answers to a better way to cryopreserve human eggs, researchers say.
Cancer :: MIT implant could measure tumor growth, treatment
A tiny implant now being developed at MIT could one day help doctors rapidly monitor the growth of tumors and the progress of chemotherapy in cancer patients.