Alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and mitochondria! aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2) are responsible for metabolizing the bulk of consumed ethanol . These enzymes also affect the rate of ethanol elimination from the blood. They are expressed at highest levels in liver, but at lower levels in many tissues. This pathway probably evolved as a detoxification mechanism for environmental…
Read moreAgeing is of interest to everyone, except the young who welcome growing older and those who don’t make old age.Many ageing related genes which alter longevity for good or bad have been identified. A gene that influences ageing is the daf-16 gene which is called a gerontogene.The protein encoded by daf-16 is a transcription factor…
Read moreAs vertebrate embryo grows, the development of its brain and spinal cord is controlled by complex and precisely regulated patterns of gene activity. Writing in Nature Lacalli ( Nature 2003, vol 424 , pp263-4) reviews a paper discussing the genes responsible for patterning the body along its antero-posterior axis (that is, from front to back),…
Read moreNutritionists and other Professionals use statistics to help decide what is best for the general public. This is a very important paper in Lancet setting out the principles that are necessary for good practice. (Murray Lancet 2007, vol 369, 862-73) Towards good practice for health statistics: lessons from the Millennium Development Goal health indicatorsHealth statistics…
Read moreTemperature has a strong influence on how we taste. The sweetness of diluted sugar solutions increases strongly with temperature. Merely cooling or heating the tongue is sufficient to cause sensations of taste in approximately 50% of subjects.Several members of the TRP super family function as thermosensors and this has been studied by Talavera et al…
Read moreFunctional foods Functional foods are modified foods that claim to improve health quality of life or well being.To many these are a cause for concern. The producers of these products seize on some half fact, utilise this to sell a well priced product to a gullible public. My wife and I have raised cholesterol concentrations…
Read moreThere are many theories of why we age, Curious we accept the ageing of a car or some tool more than ourselves. We accept growth but decline and its anticipation of death is less attractive. More personal perhaps.Theories of ageing include the accumulation of toxins produced by gut bacteria (curable by eating yoghurt) and reduced…
Read moreWhippet are very fast runners, can reach 60 km an hour and have traditionally been used for racing. A rather unfortunate complication has arisen in that some whippets are experiencing doubling muscling, a cramp in the shoulders and thighs.This is due to a mutation on the MSTN gene which encodes myostatin, a protein important in…
Read moreGenetics,nutrition, environment and healthCan a well established known environmental or dietary threat or precipitant of ill health affect a person who does not have the innate genetic predisposition?
Read moreIn Science there are two recent reports of single-nucleotide polymorphism ( SNP) which give an enhanced risk of heart disease in white populations. These are found in the same tight area in chromosome 9 , in a non coding region close to two tumour suppressing genes. ( Science doi:10.1126/science 1142447 and doi : science 10.1142843…
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