Metabolism News and Research

Latest Metabolism News and Research

Strong relationship between our health as adults and our early diet

If you have trouble keeping weight off and you're wondering why - the surprising answer may well be the cheeseburgers you ate - when you were a toddler.

15 Jan 2009

Smoking during pregnancy impacts thyroid function of mother and fetus

Cigarette smoking during pregnancy is associated with potentially harmful changes in both maternal and fetal thyroid function, according to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism ( JCEM ).

14 Jan 2009

Important discovery in human insulin-producing cells

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have successfully induced human insulin-producing cells, known as beta cells, to replicate robustly in a living animal, as well as in the lab.

13 Jan 2009

Wyeth and Santaris Pharma to collaborate on RNA-based medicines

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a division of Wyeth, and Santaris Pharma have announced that the companies have entered into a worldwide strategic alliance to discover, develop and commercialize new medicines based on Santaris Pharma's proprietary Locked Nucleic Acid (LNA) drug platform, which allows specific targeting and regulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) and messenger RNAs (mRNAs) as a means to affect gene expression mediated by the targeted RNAs.

12 Jan 2009

Vitamin D offers widespread benefits for health

Vitamin D is quickly becoming the "it" nutrient with health benefits for diseases, including cancer, osteoporosis, heart disease and now diabetes.

12 Jan 2009

New evidence in support of Warburg theory of cancer

German scientist Otto H. Warburg's theory on the origin of cancer earned him the Nobel Prize in 1931, but the biochemical basis for his theory remained elusive.

12 Jan 2009

Researchers find link between two aging pathways in mice

Two previously identified pathways associated with aging in mice are connected, say researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

9 Jan 2009

New Benzothiazepine test will catch sports cheats

Avoiding detection just got harder for drug cheats who try to use a particular range of untested, but potentially enhancing, compounds.

7 Jan 2009

Control of blood vessels a possible weapon against obesity

Mice exposed to low temperatures develop more blood vessels in their adipose tissue and metabolise body fat more quickly, according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet. Scientists now hope to learn how to control blood vessel development in humans in order to combat obesity and diabetes.

7 Jan 2009

Fat busting drug Leptin could make a comeback

When an obesity drug called Leptin was first discovered by scientists 13 years ago, experts hoped the appetite-suppressing hormone would be a possible cure for obesity.

7 Jan 2009

New drug being tested for Fragile X syndrome

A pilot trial of an oral drug therapy called fenobam has shown promising initial results and could be a potential new treatment option for adult patients with Fragile X syndrome (FXS).

6 Jan 2009

People with Ala12 gene variant need to watch out for high fat in their diets

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.

6 Jan 2009

New hope for leptin as a solution to obesity

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.

6 Jan 2009

COUP-TFII plays pivotal role in obesity, metabolic syndrome

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.

6 Jan 2009