Excessive adiposity, calorie restriction, and aging
Can eating a low-calorie yet nutritionally balanced diet extend human life? Preliminary research suggests it might, so researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are launching a long-term study to find out.
In an editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Luigi Fontana, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine at Washington University and an investigator at the Istituto Superiore di Sanita in Rome, Italy, says calorie-restricted diets point to possible mechanisms of aging and suggest ways to intervene and modify its effects.
In January, Fontana and colleagues found that after an average of six years on calorie restriction, people’s hearts functioned like the hearts of much younger people. And a team from the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge is reporting that six months of calorie restriction reduces two key markers of aging: fasting insulin levels and body temperature.
New Gene Reduces Retinal Degeneration in Fruit Flies
Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered a gene in fruit flies that helps certain specialized neurons respond more quickly to bright light. The study, published in the April 4 issue of Current Biology, also has implications for understanding sensory perception in mammals.
In teasing apart the molecular interactions and physiology underlying light perception, the researchers studied a gene they dubbed “Lazaro” that is expressed 15 times higher in the fly eye than the rest of the fly head. They found that this gene is required for a second biochemical pathway that controls the activity of a protein called the TRP channel. TRP channels are found in fruit fly neurons responsible for sensing light. The fly TRP channel is the founding member of a family of related proteins in mammals that are essential for guiding certain nerves during development and for responding to stimuli including heat, taste and sound.
Pakistanis on alert as bird flu crops up on another farm
According to authorities in Pakistan there has been another outbreak of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus on a poultry farm.
The Agriculture Ministry has confirmed that laboratory tests have established the latest case of the bird flu virus has occurred on a chicken farm in Sihala, 15 miles east of Islamabadon.
Health officials have reportedly destroyed 3,600 chickens at the farm and are testing poultry at nearby farms.
Sleep-wake mix-up may lead to near-death sensation
The brain’s tendency to occasionally blur the line between sleep and wakefulness may help explain the phenomenon of near-death experience, preliminary research suggests.
It’s been an open question as to why some people see bright light, feel detached from their bodies or have other extraordinary sensations when they are close to dying or believe they might die.
Some people view these so-called near-death experiences as evidence of life after death, and many neurologists have considered the phenomenon too complex for scientific study.
Abdominal obesity may boost heart failure risk
Older adults who carry their fat around the middle may be at risk of chronic heart failure, even in the absence of other serious health conditions, research suggests.
In a study of more than 2,400 older men and women, researchers found that those with large waistlines were at increased risk of chronic heart failure - regardless of whether they had major risk factors like high blood pressure, diabetes or a history of heart attack.
The findings suggest that excessive abdominal fat, in and of itself, can contribute to heart failure, according to the investigators, led by Dr. Barbara J. Nicklas of Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Calcium’s Impact on Weight Reduction, Bone Loss in Decade After Menopause
Armed with an $840,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the latest in world-class body scanning technology, a Florida State University researcher in the College of Human Sciences soon will begin the largest, longest study to-date on the efficacy of calcium - through dairy products, supplements or both - for weight reduction and bone preservation in overweight or obese postmenopausal Caucasian women.
Along the way, the comprehensive four-year project at FSU will include nutritional outreach efforts to disadvantaged communities and also will take a look at longstanding assumptions about lactose intolerance in African-Americans.
Department of nutrition, food and exercise sciences Professor Jasminka Ilich will spearhead the calcium research targeting Caucasian women who are two to ten years past menopause and classified as overweight or obese based on a body mass index (BMI) of 26 or greater. Results are expected to shed additional light on calcium’s cell-level role in the overall functioning of bone and adipose (fat) tissue in such women.
