In five minutes a human will burn around 350 joules (J) of energy per kilogram of body mass. A kilogram of mice will burn 3,000 J in the same time, and a 4,000- kg African elephant will burn just 200 J per kilogram. On a gram-for-gram basis, large animals burn less energy and require less…
Read moreAgeing Ageing is not a passive, disorganized process of deterioration, as biologists once thought. Like many biological processes, it is controlled by signalling pathways and transcription factors. Mutations in certain genes can slow down ageing and lengthen lifespan in model organisms, such as yeast, flies and the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Pathways that extend life expectation…
Read moreSirtuins are members of a class of enzyme, deacetylases which remove acetyl groups from proteins. Sirtuin activators increase yeast life span by 70%. It is possible but not absolute that a compound resveratrol may activate sirtuins. A possible mechanism for the putative activity of resveratrol is similar to caloric restriction. It is rumoured that resveratrol…
Read moreObesity has reached epidemic proportions in the USA and affects one in three adult women aged 20 years or older, 62 % of women are overweight or obese (BMI more than 25 kg/m2). Obesity will soon surpass tobacco and become the leading cause of preventable death in the USA Women may be at greater risk…
Read moreInvestigations into the health effects of whole flaxseed or flaxseed products (for example, defatted flaxseed meal, flax¬seed extracts) in human clinical trials and animal models have shown beneficial changes in blood lipid profiles and protection against some types of cancer. However, such studies do not show which flaxseed component(s) the benefits can be attributed, as…
Read moreWhat makes two individuals different.? Less the genome sequence , which has a minor place but the epigenome , a set of chemical modifications, not encoded in DNA , which dictate how and when genes are expressed. There are many ways of epigenetic modification, which includes methylation of the DNA , histones that wind around…
Read moreThis paper describes the effect of fruit and vegetable intake on the chances of developing cancer. The population studied was 500, 000 people or so, aged 25 to 75 from 10 Western European countries. . There is virtually no benefit of 5 fruit and vegetables a day for cancer protection. 200 g of fruit and…
Read moreImmortal time in observational studies can bias the results in favour of the treatment group, but it is not difficult to identify and avoid. Well designed observational studies have made important contributions to our understanding of the risks and benefits of drug treatment. Such studies are often the first to identify or confirm important adverse…
Read moreGroop (2010 Open chromatin and diabetes risk, ) Nature Genetics 42, 190 – 192 (2010) A new study has identified a large number of open chromatin regions harboring active regulatory elements in human pancreatic islets. A type 2 diabetes–associated SNP in TCF7L2 was found to be located in a region of allele-specific open chromatin and…
Read moreAtfi and Baron( 2010) PTH battles TGF-β in bone Nature Cell Biology 12, 205 – 207 (2010) Bone remodelling in vertebrates is coordinately regulated by the opposing effects of parathyroid hormone (PTH) and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β). PTH couples the processes of bone resorption and formation by enforcing simultaneous internalization of TGF-β type II receptor…
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