New role for bacterial enzyme in gut metabolism revealed
Bile acids long have been known to play a role in human metabolism. Synthesized from cholesterol in the liver, bile acids are involved in digestive processes, particularly in absorbing fat. They also are modified...
Similarities and differences in human and insect vision formation
Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have discovered profound similarities and surprising differences between humans and insects in the production of the critical light-absorbing molecule of the retina, 11-cis-retinal, also known as the...
Link between high levels of niacin — a common B vitamin — and heart...
Cleveland Clinic researchers have identified a new pathway that contributes to cardiovascular disease associated with high levels of niacin, a common B vitamin previously recommended to lower cholesterol.
The team, led by Stanley Hazen, M.D.,...
Eating too much protein is bad for your arteries, and this amino acid is...
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers discovered a molecular mechanism by which excessive dietary protein could increase atherosclerosis risk. The findings were published in Nature Metabolism today.
The study, which combined small human trials...
Blocking an essential nutrient inhibits malaria parasite growth
Living organisms often create what is needed for life from scratch.
For humans, this process means the creation of most essential compounds needed to survive. But not every living thing has this capability, such as...
Heart organoids simulate pregestational diabetes-induced congenital heart disease
An advanced human heart organoid system can be used to model embryonic heart development under pregestational diabetes-like conditions, researchers report February 8 in the journal Stem Cell Reports. The organoids recapitulate hallmarks of pregestational...
One of the keys to healthy sleep and blood sugar has been found
Only recently was it discovered that amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, exist in two different forms: L- and D-forms. While all natural proteins consist exclusively of L-amino acids, the function of D-amino...
Archaeological evidence of seasonal vitamin D deficiency discovered
Rickets ran rife in children following the Industrial Revolution, but University of Otago-led research has found factory work and polluted cities aren't entirely to blame for the period's vitamin D deficiencies.
In a Marsden funded...
Switching to vegan or ketogenic diet rapidly impacts immune system
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health observed rapid and distinct immune system changes in a small study of people who switched to a vegan or a ketogenic (also called keto) diet. Scientists closely...
Energy-starved breast cancer cells consume their surroundings for fuel
Breast cancer cells ingest and consume the matrix surrounding them to overcome starvation, according to a new study publishing January 16 in the open access journal PLOS Biology, by Elena Rainero of the University...
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Take it from the rats: A junk food diet can cause long-term damage to...
A new USC-led study on rats that feasted on a high-fat, sugary diet raises the possibility that a junk food-filled diet in teens may...
Repurposing non-pharmacological interventions for Alzheimer’s disease through link prediction on biomedical literature
The complete workflow is depicted in Fig. 1. To investigate the association between NPIs and AD, we initially conducted preprocessing and integration of biomedical triples...
Degenerative Dementias and Their Medical Care in the Movies
Compared with other neurologic problems, few films have been dedicated to degenerative dementia. To our knowledge, this is the first systematic review about the...