New Understanding Of Pulmonary Hypertension Leads To Promising Drug Targets

A groundbreaking new study led by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC has identified a new group of compounds that could have robust effects in treating pulmonary hypertension (PH), an enigmatic but sometimes fatal disease of the blood vessels of the lungs that currently has no cure. The findings, which were published today in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, highlight the use of these drugs to alter vessel stiffness and its downstream control of metabolism, a link previously unknown for people suffering from the progressive disease.

“If we aim to cure this disease, the next set of medications and treatments should be those that target the origin at the molecular level,” said Stephen Y. Chan, M.D., Ph.D., director of the UPMC Center for Pulmonary Vascular Biology and Medicine at the Vascular Medicine Institute at Pitt, and senior author of the study. “As a community, we are struggling right now to understand those origins of PH, and this study aimed to address that untapped need.”

Read more: New Understanding Of Pulmonary Hypertension Leads To Promising Drug Targets

Source: bioengineer

Crohn's disease: Potential treatment to prevent fibrosis uncovered

Scientists from the University of British Columbia in Canada have found a mutation that switches off a hormone receptor, which prevents mice from developing fibrosis. This discovery could lead to potential treatments to prevent fibrosis in people with Crohn's disease.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) - which includes Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis - affects around 1.6 million people in the United States. Most people are diagnosed with Crohn's disease before age 35, and while these life-long conditions can be treated, there is currently no cure.

Crohn's disease is a long-term condition that causes inflammation to the lining of the digestive system. While the disease can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract, the most commonly affected areas are the end of the small intestine (the ileum) or the large intestine (colon).

Read more: Crohn's disease: Potential treatment to prevent fibrosis uncovered

Scientists can potentially block complications of fibrosis in Crohn's disease by dampening particular
inflammatory cell types.

Source: medicalnewstoday

Watch: Discovery offers hope for Crohn's disease sufferers

Electrical Immunosensor Detects Acute Myocardial Infarction

Heart disease and especially acute myocardial infarction (AMI) are the leading causes of death for both men and women and therefore, a fast and reliable diagnosis of heart attack or cardiac episode are urgently needed.

The most commonly used biomarkers are creatine kinase-MB, myoglobin, cardiac troponin T, and cardiac troponin I (cTnI), which is a subunit of the troponin complex found in cardiac muscle and is a highly specific and sensitive biomarker for the clinical diagnosis of AMI.

Read more: Electrical Immunosensor Detects Acute Myocardial Infarction

The core material used for the new immunosensor that detects proteins in the blood stream following

a heart attack, providing results in just one minute (Photo courtesy of Ulsan National Institute of

Science and Technology).

Source: labmedica

Liver Cancer Risk Influenced By Blood Selenium Levels

The risk of developing liver cancer may be significantly higher for people who have low levels of the nutrient selenium in their blood, suggests a new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Selenium is a trace mineral present in soil, animal products, and plant-based foods, including seafood, Brazil nuts, organ meats, milk, and eggs.

The selenium content of food varies greatly, as it depends on how much of the element is in the plants animals consume, as well as how much is in the soil in which plants grow.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), selenium is essential for human health, with beneficial roles for reproduction, the immune system, and DNA synthesis.

Studies have also shown that selenium has antioxidant properties, meaning it can protect against oxidative stress - the process by which uncharged molecules called free radicals damage cells.

Read more: Liver Cancer Risk Influenced By Blood Selenium Levels

Low blood selenium levels may put people at greater risk of liver cancer.

Source: medicalnewstoday

Most Extreme Weight Loss Methods

A number of medical conditions improve with weight loss in general, regardless of the cause.. They include type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, heartburn, joint pain, and depression.

While surgery is not considered “necessary” and is an individual’s choice, it is an option for people with BMI 35 and above if they have a medical condition related to obesity and for people with BMI 40 and above whether or not they have a related medical condition, according to according to Dr. William S. Yancy from Duke University Department of Medicine. Serious complications don’t happen often. But life-threatening side effects are possible, as is the case with any medical operation.

Read more: Most Extreme Weight Loss Methods

Source: www.msn.com/en-ca/health

Watch: Slide Video

Amino Acids in Cancer Metabolism and Neuroscience

These Building Blocks Could Be Valuable Tools for Research

Amino acids are important building blocks for protein synthesis and are also intermediary metabolites that fuel biosynthetic reactions, thus playing a dual role in cellular metabolism. Accurate quantification of L-amino acids in body fluids or purified samples may provide valuable information for diagnostic and basic research studies.

Cellular Roles of Amino Acids in Cancer and Neurobiology

Cancer cells have altered metabolism and are known for their metabolic abnormalities. One example is the Warburg effect, in which there is increased glycolytic activity even in the presence of oxygen. Cancer cells depend on a high rate of aerobic glycolysis for continued growth and survival.

Read more: Amino Acids in Cancer Metabolism and Neuroscience

Figure 1. Glutamine and the metabolism of other amino acids as targets for cancer therapy.

[Int J Mol Sci 2015;16:22830–22855; doi:10.3390/ijms160922830]

Source: genengnews

Cracking the Enigma of Fatty Liver Disease

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) affects one out of four people in the world, making it the most prevalent of all liver diseases and a major public health problem. The disease is defined by abnormally increased fat deposition in liver cells, which can progress with the addition of inflammation and cell damage to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), leading to progressive stages of fibrosis and, finally, cirrhosis. Early NASH is characterized by fat and inflammation associated with minimal amounts of fibrosis, and late NASH is associated with advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis. NAFLD is most closely associated with obesity and diabetes, although there are likely other genetic, nutritional, and environmental factors involved in the pathogenesis.

Although there are no approved pharmacologic treatments for NAFLD, NASH, or cirrhosis, there are over a dozen different companies researching possible treatments. However, the development of drug therapies for the NAFLD spectrum of disease is hampered by a number of challenges:

• the chronic nature of the disorder and ultimately low morbidity and mortality,
• the impact of weight loss on the disease,
• a complex and poorly defined pathophysiology,
• the lack of easily administered diagnostic testing, and
• the evolving status of regulatory endpoints.

Read more: Cracking the Enigma of Fatty Liver Disease

The results of multiple clinical trials over the next few years will clarify potential therapies and target
pathways.  © Sebastian Kaulitzki/Fotolia]

Source: genengnews

If You Are In Danger Of BREAST CANCER, Your Body Will Give You These 5 Signs!

Invasive breast cancer affects 1 in 8 women in the US only. It’s the type of cancer with the highest incidence among women. According to the American Cancer Society, by the end of 2016, 246,660 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in America, 40,450 of which will be terminal.

Detecting the cancer early significantly increases the chances of successful treatment. Knowing the early signs and symptoms of invasive breast cancer can help you detect it in its early stages.

1. FATIGUE

Fatigue is a common symptom in many types of cancer, including breast cancer. The thing is this type of fatigue cannot be alleviated by sleep or rest. Cancer-related fatigue is not caused by physical strain and is often accompanied by other symptoms such as pain, sleep disturbance and depression. This fatigue is caused by an imbalance of chemicals in the body the cancer creates, according to scientists.

Read more: If You Are In Danger Of BREAST CANCER, Your Body Will Give You These 5 Signs!

Source: healthylivingstyle

Watch: Female Breast Exam 

Heatwaves, Cold Snaps May Raise Preterm Birth Risk

Being pregnant during a heatwave is far from the most pleasant scenario for a woman, but new research finds such extreme temperatures may do more than make expectant mothers uncomfortable; they could increase the risk of preterm birth.

In a study published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) found that exposure to extreme cold or intense heat during pregnancy increased women's preterm birth risk by up to a fifth.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2014, around 1 in 10 infants in the United States were born preterm - defined as the birth of a baby before 37 weeks of pregnancy.

Preterm birth is the leading cause of infant death in the U.S., and it is also a primary cause of long-term disabilities and neurological disorders, such as cerebral palsy and developmental delay.

Read more: Heatwaves, Cold Snaps May Raise Preterm Birth Risk

Researchers say exposure to extreme heat or cold during pregnancy may increase the risk of preterm
birth.

Source: medicalnewstoday

From Krebs to Clinic: Glutamine Metabolism to Cancer Therapy

The resurgence of research into cancer metabolism has recently broadened interests beyond glucose and the Warburg effect to other nutrients, including glutamine. Because oncogenic alterations of metabolism render cancer cells addicted to nutrients, pathways involved in glycolysis or glutaminolysis could be exploited for therapeutic purposes. In this Review, we provide an updated overview of glutamine metabolism and its involvement in tumorigenesis in vitro and in vivo, and explore the recent potential applications of basic science discoveries in the clinical setting.

• Cancer cells show increased consumption of and dependence on glutamine.
• Glutamine metabolism fuels the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, nucleotide and fatty acid biosynthesis, and redox balance in cancer cells.
• Glutamine activates mTOR signaling, suppresses endoplasmic reticulum stress and promotes protein synthesis.

Read more: From Krebs to Clinic: Glutamine Metabolism to Cancer Therapy

Major metabolic and biosynthetic fates of glutamine

Source: NatureReviewsCancer

Download: From Krebs to clinic: glutamine metabolism to cancer therapy.pdf