Hypothalamus News and Research

RSS

The Hypothalamus is the area of the brain that controls body temperature, hunger, and thirst.

Brain protein called MC4R that plays a role in the urge to eat has now been found to influence appetite in a second way

A brain protein already known to play a central role in the "feast or fast" signaling that controls the urge to eat has now been found to influence appetite in a second way. The discovery identifies a potential new target for drugs against obesity.

19 Oct 2004

Stress hormones lower threshold for aggression and aggression raises stress hormones

Scientists may be learning why it’s so hard to stop the cycle of violence. The answer may lie in the nervous system.

4 Oct 2004

Histamine is key to narcolepsy

Narcolepsy is a disorder of sleep regulation that affects control of wakefulness and sleep and renders the patient subject to disabling sleepiness during the day.

23 Sep 2004

Switches in the brain that tell the body to stop eating and start burning calories

A Brown-led research team has discovered a pair of universal switches in the brain that tell the body to stop eating and start burning calories.

3 Aug 2004

Leptin's fat-burning role in humans

For nearly a decade, scientists have known that leptin plays an important fat-burning role in humans. But the map of leptin's path through the body – the key to understanding how and why the hormone works – is still incomplete.

27 Jul 2004

Fat hormone leptin affects a specific type of target neurons in the brain

Nina Balthasar and her colleagues have presented direct evidence that the fat hormone leptin affects a specific type of target neurons in the brain -- a prime link in the brain's regulation of the body's energy balance.

24 Jun 2004

Stimulation or drugs that target the pro-opiomelanocortin system will be effective in treating diabetes or obesity

There’s more than one way to slim a cat - at least that’s the hope of University of Florida obesity researchers, who believe pets and even people may someday benefit from gene therapy research aimed at breaking through the biochemical bottleneck that makes many middle-aged mammals gain weight.

17 Jun 2004

Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes, or high blood sugar, that only pregnant women get

Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes, or high blood sugar, that only pregnant women get. If a woman is found to have high blood sugar when she's pregnant, but she never had high blood sugar before, she has gestational diabetes.

15 Jun 2004

Once-daily treatment with Alvesco (ciclesonide) in asthma patients has no effect on normal adrenal function

New data presented at the American Thoracic Society’s 2004 International Conference show that once-daily treatment with the investigational therapy Alvesco (ciclesonide) in mild-to-moderate asthma patients has no effect on normal adrenal function, as demonstrated by measurements of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-axis.

24 May 2004

Side Effects of Diabetes Drugs Involve Unsuspected Brain Region

A brain region involved in emotional and intellectual processes appears to also play an unsuspected role in the body’s visceral response to dangerously low blood sugar levels, according to research at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis. Low blood sugar, called hypoglycemia, is a common and dangerous side effect of drugs that control insulin levels in people with diabetes.

22 Mar 2004

Drug Based on Brain Chemical Could End Narcolepsy and Insomnia

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have discovered a potentially new avenue for treating human narcolepsy, and the work may also lead to more effective ways for insomniacs to boost their wakefulness during the daytime.