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Category: biotech/medical – Page 2635

Excellent read on the brain’s inhibitory circuits v. excitatory circuits when involving the processing of smells.

Summary: Inhibitory neurons form neural networks that become broader as they mature, a new study reports.

Source: Baylor College of Medicine.

Scientists have discovered that networks of inhibitory brain cells or neurons develop through a mechanism opposite to the one followed by excitatory networks. Excitatory neurons sculpt and refine maps of the external world throughout development and experience, while inhibitory neurons form maps that become broader with maturation. This discovery adds a new piece to the puzzle of how the brain organizes and processes information. Knowing how the normal brain works is an important step toward understanding the nature of neurological conditions and opens the possibility of finding treatments in the future. The results appear in Nature Neuroscience.

Continue reading “New Mechanism of How Brain Networks Form Identified” | >

Caloric restriction can help tumour supression.

Tumor suppressors stop healthy cells from becoming cancerous. Researchers from Charité — Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the Medical University of Graz and the German Institute of Human Nutrition in Potsdam-Rehbruecke have found that p53, one of the most important tumor suppressors, accumulates in liver after food withdrawal. They also show that p53 in liver plays a crucial role in the body’s metabolic adaptation to starvation. These findings may provide the foundation for the development of new treatment options for patients with metabolic or oncologic disorders. Results of this study have been published in The FASEB Journal.

Previously described as the ‘guardian of the genome’ and voted ‘Molecule of the Year’ in 1993, p53 is one of the most important proteins regulating cell growth and a major focus for oncology research. It is a protein that has the ability to interrupt the cell cycle and block the division of diseased cells. In order to better understand its physiological regulation, the researchers around Prof. Dr. Michael Schupp from Charité’s Institute of Pharmacology studied the regulation and function of p53 in normal, . After withholding food from mice for several hours, the researchers were able to show that p53 protein accumulates in the liver. In order to determine which type of cause this accumulation, the researchers repeated the experiment using cultured hepatocytes. They found that the starvation-induced accumulation of p53 was indeed detectable in hepatocytes, irrespective of whether these cells were of mouse or human origin.

“Our data also suggest that the accumulation of p53 is mediated by a cellular energy sensor, and that it is crucial for the metabolic changes associated with starvation,” explains Prof. Michael Schupp. The researchers were able to show that mice with an acute inactivation of the p53 gene in liver had difficulties in adapting their metabolisms to starvation. “Food intake seems crucial in determining the protein levels of p53 in liver, and p53 also plays an important role in normal liver metabolism,” says Prof. Schupp. The researchers are planning to study whether their observations are limited to liver cells, or whether this p53 accumulation also occurs in other tissues and organs. Prof.

Continue reading “Food withdrawal results in stabilization of important tumor suppressor” | >

Scientists are hailing a pioneering stem cell technique that promises “off-the-shelf” treatment for people with damaged muscles without the existing risks.

Researchers have for the first time successfully implanted “synthetic” cardiac stem cells which successfully repaired muscle tissue that had been weakened by a heart attack.

Traditional stem cell therapy comes with a risk of cancer because scientists are unable to stop the cells replicating and forming tumours.

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Time to work off that Chritmas Turkey bigsmile

Making muscles burn more fat and less glucose can increase exercise endurance, but could simultaneously cause diabetes, says a team of scientists from Baylor College of Medicine and other institutions.

Mouse muscles use (carbohydrate) as fuel when the animals are awake and active and switch to fat (lipid) when they are asleep. The team discovered that disrupting this natural cycle may lead to diabetes but, surprisingly, can also enhance exercise endurance. The switch is controlled by a molecule called histone deacetylase 3, or HDAC3. This finding opens the possibility of selecting the right time to exercise for losing body fat but also raises the concern of using HDAC inhibitors as doping drugs for endurance exercise. The study appears in Nature Medicine.

“How the uses glucose is regulated by its internal that anticipates the level of its activity during the day and at night,” said senior author Dr. Zheng Sun, assistant professor of medicine—diabetes, endocrinology and metabolism, and of molecular and cellular biology at Baylor. “The circadian clock works by turning certain genes on and off as the 24-hour cycle progresses. HDAC3 is a key connection between the circadian clock and gene expression. Our previous work showed that HDAC3 helps the liver alternate between producing glucose and producing lipid. In this work, we studied how HDAC3 controls the use of different fuels in .”

Continue reading “Losing body fat could be facilitated” | >

The year 2016 presented the world with a number of big surprises. Some positive, some negative, depending on whom one asks. Here at Medgadget, 2016 will be remembered for many amazing and pleasantly unexpected medical technology developments, many of which are foreshadowing cures for spinal cord injuries, effective treatment of diabetes, new ways to fight heart disease, and many other long sought-after medical solutions. Virtual and augmented reality systems, new imaging techniques, and innovative delivery approaches are changing the way doctors learn and take care of patients.

Looking back on the past year, we selected what we felt to be the most important, innovative, and surprising medical technology developments. They naturally fell into a few categories. Here we share with you Medgadget’s choices of Best Medical Technologies of 2016.

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