Body

In the face of the growing obesity epidemic, much research has focused on the neuronal control of feeding behavior. Agouti-related protein (AgRP) neurons express three proteins that have been implicated in changes in energy balance, but the studies linking AgRP neurons to feeding behavior have produced mixed results.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – New research has identified a small subset of normal white blood cells in the body that gives rise to a rare incurable form of leukemia.

The study, led by investigators at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James), shows that large granular lymphocyte leukemia can occur in a small subset of white blood cells called NKT cells. NKT cells share features of immune cells called T lymphocytes and features of immune cells called natural killer (NK) cells.

Scientists at the UCSF Cardiovascular Research Institute have discovered how a change in growth hormone activity in mice leads to fatty liver disease, a condition whose human counterpart is of rising concern worldwide.

Disruption of a key protein in the pathway that responds to growth hormone could explain how fatty liver disease develops, the researchers said, but may also offer insights into how our bodies regulate fat in general.

MADISON, WI, MARCH 1, 2011 – Methane is an extremely potent greenhouse gas. Wetlands, gas hydrates, permafrost, termites, oceans, freshwater bodies, non-wetland soils, are all natural sources of atmospheric methane; however, the majority of methane presence ca n be accredited to human-related activities. These activities include: such as fossil fuel production, biomass burning, waste management and animal husbandry. The release of methane into the atmosphere by cattle and other large grazing mammals is estimated to account for 12 to 17% of the total global methane release.

Alcoholism is a tough addiction to kick. Eventually, most people return to drinking. But some Dutch and German psychological scientists have tested a short-term regime that promises to help alcoholics stay sober. Their study is published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association of Psychological Science.

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Recent Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) limits aimed to enhance patient safety may compromise the quality of doctors' training, according to a study by Mayo Clinic researchers published in the March issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings (http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com).

SEATTLE – Millions of people worldwide may be at risk of early death from diabetes and related cardiovascular illnesses because of poor diagnosis and ineffective treatment, a new study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington shows. The study examines diabetes diagnosis, treatment, and management in Colombia, England, Iran, Mexico, Scotland, Thailand, and the United States.

SAN FRANCISCO–Teens, children, and even infants sometimes require corneal transplants, although most such surgeries are performed in adults. Australian researchers led by Keryn A. Williams, PhD, tracked transplant success and visual outcomes in 640 young patients who received new corneas between 1985 and 2009 and report on their work in the March issue of Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

WASHINGTON, March 1, 2011 — The latest episode in the American Chemical Society's (ACS) award-winning podcast series, "Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions," focuses on the discovery that household sewage has far more potential as an alternative energy source than previously thought.

AMES, Iowa – Invasive plant species have long had a reputation as being bad for a new ecosystem when they are introduced.

Stan Harpole, assistant professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology at Iowa State University, is founding organizer of a team of more than 70 researchers working at 65 sites worldwide that tested that assumption.

They wanted to know if it is true that problematic invasive species often spread widely in their new habitats because they don't encounter predators or diseases that help keep them in check in their home ranges.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Recent research suggests vitamin D may be able to stop or prevent cancer. Now, a new study finds an enzyme that plays a role in metabolizing vitamin D can predict lung cancer survival.

The study, from researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, suggests that this enzyme stops the anti-cancer effects of vitamin D.

A new review published in WIREs Nanomedicine and Nanobiotechnology explores how nanotechnology may provide powerful new tools that could have a marked impact on the therapeutic and diagnostic measures available to surgeons.

Nanotechnology uses very small objects—billionths of a meter—to achieve tasks that would be difficult at larger scales. Nanodevices travel relatively freely throughout the body and can enter cells, making them useful for drug delivery, or mimic the features of the environment outside cells, making them useful for tissue engineering.

By examining historical data, statisticians in the College of Science at Virginia Tech have quantified biases that play a role in granting Division I at-large basketball teams inclusion in the NCAA March Madness Tournament.

Assistant professors Leanna House and Scotland Leman found that in addition to the standard Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) used by the 10-member selection committee, biases such as the team's marquee and the strength of its schedule are also factors.

Scientists have discovered how tendons – the fibrous tissue that connects muscle to bone – become damaged through injury or the ageing process in what could lead to new treatments for people with tendon problems.

The University of Manchester team, working with colleagues at Glasgow University, have been investigating 'adhesions', which are a build up of unwanted fibrous tissue on internal organs that have been damaged as a result of surgery or injury.

Scientists have unravelled the shape of the protein that gives human tissues their elastic properties in what could lead to the development of new synthetic elastic polymers.

University of Manchester researchers, working with colleagues in Australia and the United States, used state-of-the-art techniques to reveal the structure of tropoelastin, the main component of elastin.

Elastin allows tissues in humans and other mammals to stretch, for example when the lungs expand and contract for respiration or when arteries widen and narrow over the course of a billion heart beats.