Understanding Insulin Sensitivity and Diabetes A new discovery helps explain how adipose tissue (fat) affects insulin sensitivity and results in type 2 diabetes. The finding may lead to new strategies for treating the disease. Diabetes is a disorder in the way the body uses glucose, a sugar that serves as fuel for the body. When […]

Bypass Surgery Shows Advantage Older adults who received bypass surgery to open blocked coronary arteries had better long-term survival rates than those who had angioplasty. The new findings will help patients and their health care providers decide which approach is best for them. Coronary heart disease affects about 14 million men and women nationwide. It’s […]

Diabetes Prevention A Good Investment A new study found that programs to prevent or delay type 2 diabetes make sound economic sense. Nearly 26 million Americans have diabetes. It’s the main cause of kidney failure, limb amputations and new-onset blindness in adults nationwide. It’s also a major cause of heart disease and stroke. Diabetes costs […]

Up Close With Opioid Receptors Researchers have taken the closest-yet look at the structures of opioid receptors, which play key roles in pain relief and addiction. The findings might aid development of safer painkillers and addiction-fighting medications.   Structure of the κ-opioid receptor bound to the experimental drug JDTic is shown resting in a poppy […]

Risk in Red Meat? A new study adds to the evidence that eating red meat on a regular basis may shorten your lifespan. The findings suggest that meat eaters might help improve their health by substituting other healthy protein sources for some of the red meat they eat. Past research has tied red meat to […]

Carnivores Lack Taste for Sweets Some meat-eating mammals have lost their ability to taste sweetness in foods, and those that swallow their food whole may lack bitter and savory tastes. These new findings suggest that certain unneeded taste receptors may be lost through evolution. Cat-like fossa, a carnivorous mammal. Humans and other omnivores that eat […]

Worms Yield Insights into Brain Development Acorn worm embryos don’t have anything resembling a human brain. But researchers have found that developing worms have patterns of gene activity similar to those that direct our own brain development. The discovery suggests that genetic programs in creatures living more than 600 million years ago formed a scaffold […]

Gorilla Genome Yields Surprises Researchers have completed a draft sequence of the gorilla genome. Their analysis reveals that people may be more closely related to gorillas than we realized.   Kamilah. Image courtesy of the San Diego Zoo. Comparing the human genome sequence with those of other organisms helps us understand how we evolved and what […]

Nanocomplexes Label Cells for MRI Tracking Nanocomplexes can be used to label transplanted cells so they can be tracked by MRI, according to a new study. In the future, the technique might be used to monitor whether transplanted immune or stem cells reach their targets. Cell-based therapies have become a major focus in regenerative medicine […]

Organ Transplants Without Life-Long Drugs A new method allowed kidney transplant recipients to eventually stop taking harsh immune-suppressing medications, even though they’d received mismatched organs. These preliminary findings may one day reduce the need for anti-rejection drugs and lead to more options for patients awaiting organ transplants. Organ transplants are life-saving, but finding well-matched donor […]