News by Subject Medicine & Health

Scientists from the UNC School of Medicine discovered that the anti-inflammatory protein NLRP12 normally helps protect mice against obesity and insulin resistance when they are fed a high-fat diet. The researchers also reported that the NLRP12 gene is underactive in people who are obese, making it a potential therapeutic target for treating obesity and diabetes, both of which are risk factors for cardiovascular disease and other serious conditions.

Type 2 diabetes has been linked with an increased risk of cognitive dysfunction and dementia, but the underlying mechanisms are uncertain. In a new Diabetic Medicine study, imaging tests revealed that changes in white matter regions of the brain that are indicative of small vessel disease are associated with decreased processing speed (the the time it takes a person to do a mental task) in people with Type 2 diabetes.

The new system did not minimize pre-transplant dialysis exposure for patients who were not waitlisted preemptively.

In a first study of its kind study, researchers have found that a common chemical consumers are exposed to several times a day may be altering insulin release. Results of the study, led by scientists at the University of Missouri, indicate that the Food and Drug Administration-approved 'safe' daily exposure amount of BPA may be enough to have implications for the development of Type 2 diabetes and other metabolic diseases.

Recent research finds that MAPK pathway, which is typically altered in many cancers, is required for regulation of normal renal differentiation during embryogenesis.

A team of researchers from Oslo University Hospital performed experiments on blood-deprived cells that were subsequently exposed to blood serum. Remarkably, all the cells started to move and grow in the same direction as soon as the blood serum was added. Researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology developed a matching simulation model, revealing new insights into the mechanisms of wound healing. The results were published in the journal Nature Communications this week.

A novel high throughput screening (HTS) assay compatible with an ion channel biosensor component was used successfully to identify selective and active small molecule modulators of G protein-coupled receptor 119 (GPR119), a promising target for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and related metabolic disorders.

Newer criteria mean more women are diagnosed with gestational diabetes than before. This observational study assessed whether untreated gestational diabetes defined after the fact based on newer criteria was associated with long-term risk of glucose metabolism disorders among 4,700 mothers and overweight or obesity in their children 10 to 14 years after pregnancy.

Obesity and its related ailments like type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease pose a major global health burden, but researchers report in Nature Communications that blocking an RNA-silencing protein in the livers of mice keeps the animals from getting fat and diabetic conditions.