Oils such as olive oil, canola oil, and vegetable oil largely consist of unsaturated fatty acids, whereas animal fat is richer in the saturated ones. After a typical meal, carbohydrates are the primary source of energy production by the heart. Under fasting conditions, however, free fatty acids become the major energy producer.
Saturated fat in a diet is known to be detrimental to heart health, but its impact on the cardiac muscle has been studied only recently.
Stem cells naturally cling to feeder cells as they grow in petri dishes. Scientists have thought for years that this attachment occurs because feeder cells serve as a support system, providing stems cells with essential nutrients. But a new study that successfully grew stem cells with dead, or fixed, feeder cells suggests otherwise.
Centrioles are barrel-shaped structures inside cells, made up of multiple proteins. They are currently the focus of much research, since mutations in the proteins that make them up can cause a broad range of diseases, including developmental abnormalities, respiratory conditions, male sterility and cancer. Publishing in Cell Research (Nature), EPFL scientists show that the original centrioles of a fertilized egg, which only come from the father, persist across tens of cell divisions in the developing embryo.
Turmeric - the familiar yellow spice common in Indian and Asian cooking - may play a therapeutic role in oral cancers associated with human papillomavirus, according to new research published in ecancermedicalscience.
One of the herb's key active ingredients - an antioxidant called curcumin - appears to have a quelling effect on the activity of human papillomavirus (HPV).
HPV is a virus that promotes the development of cervical and oral cancer. There is no cure, but curcumin may offer a means of future control.
Although moderate alcohol consumption appears to lower mortality risk among whites, it may not have the same protective effect among blacks, and its potential benefits also may vary by gender, according to a nationally representative study of the U.S. population by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
New ophthalmology research from the University of Miami shows that dry eye - the little understood culprit behind red, watery, gritty feeling eyes - strikes most often in spring, just as airborne allergens are surging. The study marks the first time that researchers have discovered a direct correlation between seasonal allergens and dry eye, with both pollen and dry eye cases reaching a yearly peak in the month of April. The paper was published online today in Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
Human DNA accumulates damage over time, and older people's bodies can't repair it as well. Many scientists believe a build up of damage can cause cells to enter an irreversible dormant state known as senescence. Cellular senescence is believed to be responsible for some of the telltale signs of aging, such as weakened bones, less resilient skin and slow-downs in organ function.
Major depression comes with an unexpected metabolic signature, according to new evidence reported in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on April 23. The findings in humans and mice offer new insight into the nature of depression. They may also yield new ways to measure and monitor mental health at the molecular level.
"Our most notable finding is that the amount of mitochondrial DNA changes in response to stress," says Professor Jonathan Flint of the University of Oxford.
Mitochondrial diseases are maternally inherited genetic disorders that cause a wide spectrum of debilitating conditions and which currently have no cure. Salk Institute researchers report the first successful attempt using gene-editing technology to prevent mutated mitochondrial DNA associated with multiple human mitochondrial diseases from being passed from mothers to offspring in mice.
Researchers at the University of Michigan and UC Davis have solved a genetic mystery that has afflicted three unrelated families, and possibly others, for generations. These families have been plagued by a variety of congenital eye malformations, including small eyes, with poor vision, and the complete absence of eyes. But until now, no one could figure out the genetic basis for these conditions.
A study by researchers in Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore (Duke-NUS) has shown a new way that brown fat, a potential obesity-fighting target, is regulated in the body. This finding gives researchers and weight-loss companies a possible therapeutic target for obesity.
In an upcoming Cell Metabolism article, Duke-NUS Assistant Professor Sun Lei and his team examined long non-coding RNA (Ribonucleic acid) in adipose (fat) tissue in mice. Long non-coding RNAs have recently become appreciated as important control elements for different biological functions in the body.
Results revealed today at the International Liver Congress 2015 show that the daily consumption of capsaicin, the active compound of chilli peppers, was found to have beneficial effects on liver damage.
In the study, capsaicin was found to reduce the activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) in mice models. HSCs are the major cell type involved in liver fibrosis, which is the formation of scar tissue in response to liver damage.
The mice were split into two groups and received capsaicin in their food:
Though a majority of newborns are exposed in their earliest days to bisphenol A (BPA), a much-studied chemical used in plastics and in food and soda can linings, they rid their bodies of it, according to a study in The Journal of Pediatrics which challenges claims on BPA toxicology promoted in corporate media and on environmental sites.
Tick-borne diseases are a major public health problem around the world. Ticks carry and transmit a variety of microbes that cause disease. These illnesses, which include Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and Tularemia, can cause a variety of symptoms, often serious and sometimes deadly.
Previous guidelines from the American Thyroid Association (ATA) for evaluating and managing thyroid nodules and thyroid cancers targeted adults. Recognizing the potential differences in clinical presentation and long-term outcomes, and the potential risks of overly aggressive therapy in pediatric patients with thyroid cancer, an ATA Task Force developed management guidelines for children with thyroid nodules and differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC), which are published in Thyroid.