Body

The proportion of Americans who are severely obese -- those people 100 pounds or more overweight -- continues to increase rapidly and much faster than those with moderate obesity, but the rate of growth has slowed, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

The RAND study found that from 2000 to 2010, the proportion of Americans who were severely obese rose from 3.9 percent of the population to 6.6 percent -- an increase of about 70 percent.

Fermented soybean meal (FSBM), considered a promising substitute for fish meal in weanling pig diets because of its protein content, lower cost, and lack of anti-nutritional factors, may have an additional advantage. University of Illinois researchers recently found that pigs digest the phosphorous in FSBM better than the phosphorus in conventional soybean meal.

"Most of the P in soybean meal is bound to phytate, so it's not available to pigs," explained animal sciences professor Hans Stein.

Sea cucumbers and sea urchins are able to change the elasticity of collagen within their bodies, and could hold the key to maintaining a youthful appearance, according to scientists at Queen Mary, University of London.

The researchers investigated the genes of marine creatures such as sea urchins and sea cucumbers, known as echinoderms. They found the genes for "messenger molecules" known as peptides, which are released by cells and tell other cells in their bodies what to do.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 1, 2012) — Usher syndrome is a hereditary disease in which affected individuals lose both hearing and vision. The impact of Usher syndrome can be devastating. In the United States, approximately six in every 100,000 babies born have Usher syndrome.

Several genes associated with different types of Usher syndrome have been identified. Most of these genes encode common structural and motor proteins that build sensory cells in the eye and inner ear.

MAYWOOD, Il. - Loyola University Medical Center has launched the first clinical trial in the Midwest of an experimental melanoma treatment that genetically engineers a patient's immune system to fight the deadly cancer.

A batch of the immune system's killer T cells will be removed from the patient and genetically modified in a Loyola lab. Two genes will be inserted into the T cells so that they will recognize tumor cells as abnormal.

A sugar-loving protein drives the growth of Kaposi sarcoma (KS) tumors, according to a study published on October 1st in The Journal of Experimental Medicine. Interfering with these sugary interactions inhibited growth of Kaposi sarcomas in mice, hinting at the potential for new treatment strategies in humans.

Moderate alcohol consumption increases the risk of atrial fibrillation in older people with heart disease or advanced diabetes, found a study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

Adolescents who sleep poorly may be at risk of cardiovascular disease in later life, according to a study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

A complex genetic regulatory network mediates the regeneration of adult skeletal muscles. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn report that HEXIM1, a protein that regulates gene transcription, is important for skeletal muscle regeneration in mice. M.A.Q. Saddiqui and colleagues found that HEXIM1 blocks gene expression that is required for muscle regeneration after injury.

Sphingolipid metabolism contributes to diabetes-associated heart disease

Bethesda, MD— Being underweight at birth may have consequences above and beyond the known short-term effects says a research report published in the October 2012 issue of The FASEB Journal. The report shows that rats with a low birth weight have an increased long-term risk for developing cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, and diabetes.

Using biological markers--genetic characteristics that are associated with some patients with breast cancer--can increase the success rate of clinical trials for breast cancer drugs by almost 50 per cent, says new research from the University of Toronto Mississauga.

"It's been increasingly difficult for pharmaceutical companies to bring new drugs to market," says Jayson Parker, a faculty member in the Department of Biology and medical biotechnology analyst at the University of Toronto. "On average, about 80 per cent of drugs fail at some point in the clinical trial process."

Bethesda, MD—A research report appearing in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology helps explain how specific immune cells, called macrophages, accumulate triglycerides to support their function. Because a characteristic finding in atherosclerosis is the accumulation of fat in macrophages in the arterial wall, understanding how macrophages accumulate triglycerides may lead to new approaches toward slowing or stopping the development of atherosclerosis.

With a combination of microscopic laser scissors and modern sequencing methods, biologists at the Ruhr-Universität have analyzed the activity of genes in the entire genome of certain fungi in one fell swoop. Especially with organisms in the millimetre size range, it is a particular challenge because little cell material is available. The scientists of the RUB Department of General and Molecular Botany took advantage of the method to investigate the development of small multicellular fungi. The results are reported in the journal BMC Genomics.

Gender roles and norms play a key role in sexual behavior between men and women. It is often assumed that men should dominate women sexually. This assumption may lead to loss of both power and the ability to control sexual behavior among women and men, as well as lead to increased sexual risk-taking, such as not using a female condom. The new study, by Dr. Lisa Rosenthal from Yale University in the US, and her colleagues, is published online in Springer's journal Sex Roles.