Factor has pivotal role in obesity, metabolic syndrome

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HOUSTON (January 7, 2009) – A protein known to play a role in development and the formation of organs is also an important factor in the control of obesity and diabetes, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in a report that appears in the current issue of the journal Cell Metabolism.

Vision problems prompt older drivers to put down the keys

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Rockville, MD — With 30 million drivers in the US aged 65 and over, we count on older Americans to recognize when they can no longer drive safely and decide that it's time to stay off the road. A new study finds that a decrease in vision function is a key factor in bringing about this decision.

International experts weigh-in on harmful algal blooms

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Cambridge, Md. – An international group of scientists is linking nutrient pollution in the world's coastal seas to an increase in the number of harmful algal blooms reported in recent years. When harmful algal blooms (HAB's) occur, they taint seafood with toxins, cause human respiratory and skin irritations and cause fish or mammal kills in coastal waters.

In the December edition of the journal Harmful Algae, scientists present a compilation of 21 articles outlining the role of nutrient pollution in the increasing frequency of these events.

NYU scientists discover dangerous new method for bacterial toxin transfer

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NEW YORK, Jan. 6, 2009 – Scientists have discovered a new way for bacteria to transfer toxic genes to unrelated bacterial species, a finding that raises the unsettling possibility that bacterial swapping of toxins and other disease-aiding factors may be more common than previously imagined.

NC State researchers find new bartonella species that infects humans

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Researchers at North Carolina State University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have produced the first link between a species of bacteria most commonly found in sheep and human illness.

Dr. Edward Breitschwerdt, professor of internal medicine at NC State's College of Veterinary Medicine, and NC State colleague Dr. Ricardo Maggi isolated the bacterium Bartonella melophagi from samples of human blood.

Wonderful cheese is all in the culture

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It's an age-old tradition that dates back at least 8,000 years but it seems we still have much to learn about the bacteria responsible for turning milk into cheese.

Now an international research team led by Newcastle University has identified a new line of bacteria they believe add flavour to some of the world's most exclusive cheeses.

The team used DNA fingerprinting techniques to identify eight previously undiscovered microbes on the French cheese Reblochon.

Approved drugs restore sensitivity to appetite suppressant fat hormone

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A new study in the January 7th issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication, helps to explain why obese people and animals fail to respond to leptin, a hormone produced by fat that signals the brain to stop eating. What's more, they show that two FDA-approved drugs might restore leptin sensitivity, offering a novel treatment for obesity.

" Most importantly, our study is the first success in sensitizing obese mice on a high-fat diet to leptin," said Umut Ozcan of Harvard Medical School. "If it works in humans, it could treat obesity."

On a high-fat diet, protective gene variant becomes bad actor

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New evidence in mice bolsters the notion that a version of a gene earlier shown to protect lean people against weight gain and insulin resistance can have the opposite effect in those who eat a high-fat diet and are heavier, reveals a report in the January 7th issue of the journal Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication.

Obesity: Reviving the promise of leptin

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The discovery more than a decade ago of leptin, an appetite-suppressing hormone secreted by fat tissue, generated headlines and great hopes for an effective treatment for obesity. But hopes dimmed when it was found that obese people are unresponsive to leptin due to development of leptin resistance in the brain. Now, researchers at Children's Hospital Boston report the first agents demonstrated to sensitize the brain to leptin: oral drugs that are already FDA-approved and known to be safe. Findings were published January 7 by the journal Cell Metabolism.

A protein that protects against Alzheimer's?

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Research on the mechanisms involved in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, stroke, dementia, Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis, to name a few, has taken a step forward thanks to the work of biological sciences Ph.D. student Sonia Do Carmo, supervised by Professor Éric Rassart of the Université du Québec à Montreal (UQAM) Biological Sciences Department, in collaboration with researchers at the Armand-Frappier Institute and the University of Valladolid in Spain.