Health News, Medical Research Developments, Uptodate health breakthroughs

Brain Circuitry is Different for Women with Anorexia and Obesity (University of Colorado School of Medicine Scientist Looks at Reward Circuits in the Brain)
Listed On: Wednesday, May 16, 2012
University of Colorado Denver

Summary: Why does one person become anorexic and another obese? A study recently published by a University of Colorado School of Medicine researcher shows that reward circuits in the brain are sensitized in anorexic women and desensitized in obese women. Guido Frank, MD, assistant professor director of the Developmental Brain Research Program at the CU School of Medicine and his colleagues used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine brain activity in 63 women who were either anorexic or obese. The authors found that during these fMRI sessions, an unexpected sweet-tasting solution resulted in increased neural activation of reward systems in the anorexic patients and diminished activation in obese individuals. In rodents, food restriction and weight loss have been associated with greater dopamine-related reward responses in the brain.

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Mayo Clinic Researchers Discover Biomarkers for Prostate Cancer Detection, Recurrence
Listed On: Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Mayo Clinic

Summary: Alterations to the "on-off" switches of genes occur early in the development of prostate cancer and could be used as biomarkers to detect the disease months or even years earlier than current approaches, a Mayo Clinic study has found. The study, published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, is the first to capture the methylation changes that occur across the entire human genome in prostate cancer. The PSA test detects any prostate abnormality, whether inflammation, cancer, infection or enlargement, while the DNA methylation changes are specific to prostate cancer, Donkena says. Dr. Donkena and her colleagues analyzed the methylation status of 14,495 genes from 238 prostate cancer patients. The patients included people who remained cancer-free after treatment, those who had a localized tumor recurrence and those whose cancer spread. The researchers found that the DNA methylation changes that occurred during the earliest stages of prostate cancer development were nearly identical in all patients. Currently, the test relies on microarray or gene "chip" technology that assesses methylation status of genes across an entire genome.

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New Inflammation Hormone Link May Pave Way to Study New Drugs for Type 2 Diabetes (Study in Mice Suggests New Possible Pathway of Lowering Sugar Levels, University of Michigan Research Shows)
Listed On: Wednesday, May 16, 2012
University of Michigan Health System

Summary: A new link between obesity and type 2 diabetes found in mice could open the door to exploring new potential drug treatments for diabetes, University of Michigan Health System research has found. Drugs for type 2 diabetes commonly target insulin, which lowers blood glucose levels. "Our study shows for the first time that obesity also affects glucagon action and that this hormone also contributes to high glucose levels found in type 2 diabetes." Authors identified the NIK/NF-B2 pathway, which promotes glucagon responses in obesity. "There is a common theory that inflammation in liver and fat tissue associated with obesity causes insulin resistance and that leads to the biggest problem for type 2 diabetes: high blood glucose levels," Rui says. But blood glucose is also controlled by this other hormone glucagon, which signals to the liver to produce glucose. Inflammation may enhance the ability of glucagon to increase blood sugar. "Obesity is a growing problem worldwide, leading to more cases of type 2 diabetes," Rui adds.

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Researchers Identify Key Genes and Prototype Predictive Test for Schizophrenia
Listed On: Wednesday, May 16, 2012
School of Medicine, Indiana University

Summary: An Indiana University-led research team, along with a group of national and international collaborators, has identified and prioritized a comprehensive group of genes most associated with schizophrenia that together can generate a score indicating whether an individual is at higher or lower risk of developing the disease. Evaluating the biological pathways in which the genes are active, the researchers also proposed a model of schizophrenia as a disease emerging from a mix of genetic variations affecting brain development and neuronal connections along with environmental factors, particularly stress. Schizophrenia is a relatively widespread psychiatric disease, affecting about 1 percent of the population, often with devastating impact. When the test estimating the risk for schizophrenia is refined, it could provide guidance to caregivers and health care professionals about young people in families with a history of the disease, prompting early intervention and treatment when behavioral symptoms of schizophrenia occurred among those at higher risk, Dr. Niculescu said. Multiple different SNPs can spark a particular gene's role in the development of schizophrenia, so evidence for the genes, and the biological mechanisms in which they play a role, was much stronger from study to study than was the evidence for individual SNPs.

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Yale Team Discovers Unexpected Source of Diabetic Neuropathy Pain
Listed On: Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Yale University

Summary: Nearly half of all diabetics suffer from neuropathic pain, an intractable, agonizing and still mysterious companion of the disease. Now Yale researchers have identified an unexpected source of the pain and a potential target to alleviate it. "An interesting line of study is based on the idea that neuropathic pain is due to faulty 'rewiring' of pain circuitry." Once neuropathic pain is established, it is a lifelong condition. A single neuron may contain hundreds to thousands of dendritic spines. The Yale team led by Tan and senior author Dr. Stephen G. Waxman, the Bridget Marie Flaherty Professor of Neurology, professor of neurobiology and pharmacology, found abnormal dendritic spines were associated with the onset and maintenance of pain.

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Protein Inhibitor Points to Potential Medical Treatments for Skull and Skin Birth Defects
Listed On: Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York have found new clues ......continue reading
Mount Sinai Medical Center

Early Biomarker for Pancreatic Cancer Identified
Listed On: Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and M......continue reading
University of California, San Diego

Surgeons Restore Some Hand Function to Quadriplegic Patient (Technique Could Help Those with C6, C7 Spinal Cord Injuries)
Listed On: Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Surgeons at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have restored......continue reading
Washington University in St. Louis

Weight Loss Led to Reduction in Inflammation
Listed On: Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Postmenopausal women who were overweight or obese and lost at least 5 percent o......continue reading
American Association for Cancer Research

Slow-Growing Babies More Likely in Normal-Weight Women; Less Common in Obese Pregnancies
Listed On: Saturday, April 28, 2012
Obesity during pregnancy puts women at higher risk of a multitude of challenges......continue reading
University of Rochester Medical Center

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