Glucocorticoid News and Research

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Glucocorticoid is a compound that belongs to the family of compounds called corticosteroids (steroids). Glucocorticoids affect metabolism and have anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive effects. They may be naturally produced (hormones) or synthetic (drugs).

Researchers find cause of severe metabolic disorders

A healthy body stores fat in the form of so-called triglycerides in specialized fatty tissue as an energy reserve.

9 Sep 2008

The brain under pressure: Bristol Neuroscience attracts BBSRC grant

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) has awarded a grant of over £0.5 million to groups in the Laboratories for Integrative Neuroscience and Endocrinology and the MRC Centre for Synaptic Plasticity (project leader, Professor Kei Cho). The funding will support research into how brain cells maintain their performance, and create memories, during periods of acute stress.

23 Jul 2008

GILZ protein may have big role in making more bone and less fat

A small protein may have a big role in helping you make more bone and less fat, researchers say. "The pathways are parallel, and the idea is if you can somehow disrupt the fat production pathway, you will get more bone," says Dr. Xingming Shi, bone biologist at the Medical College of Georgia Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics.

1 Jul 2008

New hay fever jab promises year long relief for sufferers

Relief is in sight for millions of hay fever sufferers with the promise of a jab, which lasts for a year, that significantly reduces symptoms.

15 May 2008

Effect of tumor necrosis factor a inhibitors on heart failure risk in rheumatoid arthritis

A chronic autoimmune disease, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is characterized by persistent inflammation of the synovial membrane and progressive joint destruction.

28 Feb 2008

Cause of effectiveness discovered for a cirrhosis treatment useful in 40 percent of patients

Scientists of the Center for Applied Medical Research (CIMA) of the University of Navarra have discovered the molecular mechanism responsible for the effectiveness of an existing treatment for primary biliary cirrhosis, which combines two substances in order to produce an effect that does not result from either substance separately.

28 Feb 2008

Stress hormone impacts memory, learning in diabetic rodents

Diabetes is known to impair the cognitive health of people, but now scientists have identified one potential mechanism underlying these learning and memory problems.

18 Feb 2008

Computer model for osteoporosis diagnostics

Osteoporosis, a common age-related disease, is being investigated by a group of biomechanical engineers at Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna).

23 Jan 2008

Head-to-head comparison of Forteo and Fosamax

The osteoporosis drug Forteo works better than Fosamax to strengthen bones in arthritis patients with prednisone-induced osteoporosis, according to a new study from a researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB.)

15 Nov 2007

Prazosin curbs brain damage from post-traumatic stress disorder

A drug used to treat high blood pressure and enlargement of the prostate may protect the brain from damage caused by post-traumatic stress disorder, Alzheimer's disease, depression and schizophrenia.

6 Nov 2007

Large dose dexamethasone plays important roles in severe acute pancreatitis

Severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) is a fatal systemic disease featuring acute onset, serious conditions, high incidence of complications and 20 - 30% mortality, mainly due to multiple organ failure at its early stage.

5 Nov 2007

Psychological stress increases susceptibility to skin infections in mice

It is well known that being stressed increases our susceptibility to infections by impairing the function of our immune system, but the molecular links between stress and diminished immune function have not been determined.

2 Nov 2007

Skin-healing pseudoceramides

Researchers report in the September 2007 issue of the Journal of Lipid Research that they have made synthetic lipids called pseudoceramides that are involved in skin cell growth and could be used in treating skin diseases in which skin cells grow abnormally.

29 Aug 2007

Treating bronchiolitis with steroids doesn't work

For infants with a common and potentially serious viral lower respiratory infection called bronchiolitis, a widely used steroid treatment is not effective.

27 Jul 2007

Dexamethasone steroid treatment shows no benefit for kids with bronchiolitis

DMC Children's Hospital of Michigan has found that a common steroid treatment often prescribed for kids with bronchiolitis has no impact on improving their symptoms or in reducing hospitalization.

26 Jul 2007

Steroid medications don't work in treating lower respiratory infections in children

The use of steroid medication to treat bronchiolitis, a common viral lower respiratory infection in infants , does not prevent hospitalization or improve their respiratory symptoms, according to a study published in the July 26 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

26 Jul 2007

Stress and Alzheimer's disease

Subjecting mice to repeated emotional stress, the kind we experience in everyday life, may contribute to the accumulation of neurofibrillary tangles, one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease, report researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

17 Jun 2007