Aquaporin related to obesity
Dr. Gema Fruhbeck, director of the Metabolic Research Laboratory of the University Hospital of the University of Navarra, has published a commentary in the latest issue of Nature. The article presents aquaporin as a new modulator of the biology of the adipocyte. It is a new concept concerning how the permeability of glycerol in fat cells is able to modulate the size of the adipocyte and, as a result, can contribute to the development of obesity.
Aquaporins are related to the transport of water through cell membranes, but only recently has they been linked to weight control and adiposity. There is a subfamily, the aquaglyceroporins, which transport water as well as smaller solutes, such as glycerol. It has been shown that if one eliminates the specific aquaporin of the adipose tissue, aquaporin-7, glycerol is no longer able to leave the fat cell and instead accumulates in the cell interior.
Discovery reveals how malaria infects humans
Researchers at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) in India and a unit of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in France have made a key discovery about a molecule that helps the malaria parasite infect human cells. India is one of the countries most affected by this disease, which has infected 300 million people across the world and leads to over one million fatalities per year. The breakthrough, which was achieved at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, may represent an important step towards finding new therapies. The study appears in this week’s online edition of Nature (December 21).
Malaria is caused by a one-celled organism called Plasmodium, which is passed to humans through the bite of Anopheles mosquitoes.
Mice breathing bad air suffer heart disease
Breathing polluted air found in urban areas promotes heart disease, especially when accompanied by a fatty diet, researchers who tested the theory on mice said on Tuesday.
The animal study was aimed at determining how air pollution—specifically small airborne particles spewed by car exhaust and power plants—combined with a high-fat diet sped up the deterioration of the body’s cardiovascular system.
“We established a causal link between air pollution and atherosclerosis,” said the study’s lead author, Lung Chi Chen of New York University’s School of Medicine.
Diabetes Guidelines Should Change - Lower Blood Sugar Needed
A Pennington Biomedical Research Center researcher and diabetes expert believes that physicians with diabetic patients should aim for much lower levels of blood glucose than current guidelines suggest. He believes the current recommendations for blood-sugar levels are not low enough to avoid a major complication of diabetes: heart disease.
Citing research published in this month’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), PBRC researcher William Cefalu, M.D., says that if the medical community believes long-term control of blood sugar levels can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, then “a reassessment of our clinical goals may be in order.”
The work, to be published December 22, shows that more aggressive control of blood sugar levels, by use of a more intensive insulin regimen, appears to help avoid long-term cardiovascular disease. Cefalu made his remarks in an editorial in the same issue of the NEJM.
