Symptoms of heart disease and diabetes usually seen in adults are increasingly being found in adolescents according to a longitudinal study, which suggests that reducing the intake of sugar-sweetened beverages during childhood may lessen the risk of chronic disease in later life.
The rising levels of obesity could bankrupt the NHS if left unchecked, a British Medical Journal report warns.
Scientific, technological and medical advances made in the past two decades are leading to more definitive diagnoses, earlier and more effective treatment options and better outcomes for patients suffering from a condition called acromegaly, according to an article published in today’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine and authored by a specialist in endocrinology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
A drug commonly used to slow the loss of central vision has shown promise in stemming a common precursor of blindness in diabetics, which involves the same central light-sensitive area of retina, Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute scientists report.
Scientists at the University of Bonn have identified a new gene which could play an important role in the development of diabetes. Flies in which this hereditary factor is defective are also significantly smaller than other members of their species and live appreciably longer. In the current issue of the prestigious journal Nature the Bonn researchers have published two articles on this topic.
Scientists at the Scripps Research Institute, the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute have revealed in atomic detail how the toxins that cause botulism target and bind to nerve cells. This new understanding could ultimately lead to new ways for treating botulism, as well as to improved therapies for nervous system diseases such as dystonias, cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis.
Two Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) research teams working independently have discovered new information about how the botulinum neurotoxin shuts down neurons with deadly efficiency. By providing detailed views of the toxin plugged into its neuronal receptor, the new studies could aid efforts to engineer specialized versions of the powerful neurotoxin that is used to treat a wide array of medical problems.
At the American Society for Cell Biology’s 2006 conference, researchers will report that applying insulin directly to skin wounds significantly enhanced the healing process. Chronic or nonhealing wounds take an immense toll on American health and on health-care systems.
“Low-fat” foods may not help in the fight against obesity. Cornell studies in movie theatres, holiday parties and homes show people eat an average of 28 percent more total calories when they think a food is low-fat. This is worse for obese people, who tend to eat up to 50 percent more.
Research reported in the Plant Cell reveals important aspects of plant metabolism associated with grain filling and kernel yield in maize. The scientific breakthrough of this research is its indication that two closely related isoforms of the cytosolic enzyme glutamine synthetase determine two major and distinct yield components in maize, kernel size and kernel number. The results point to a dominant role of nitrogen retranslocation rather than carbon allocation during grain filling.