A high-fat diet is not enough to cause short-term fatty liver disease. However, if this diet is combined with the intake of beverages sweetened with liquid fructose, the accumulation of fats in the liver accelerates and hypertriglyceridemia — a cardiovascular risk factor — can appear, according to researchers. This is explained in a study on…

A healthy, comprehensive diet that lowers the body’s inflammation reduces the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus, reveals a new study. The mother-child study conducted at the University of Turku and Turku University Hospital in Finland examined the connection between dietary intake and onset of gestational diabetes in 351 overweight or obese women. The women’s nutrient…

Nerves in the intestines help regulate the gut’s acidity, new research shows. That helps keep their bacterial communities in balance. Nerves in the intestines help regulate the gut’s acidity, new research from the University of Oregon shows. That helps keep their bacterial communities in balance. «We found an unexpected connection between the nervous system of…

Oxidative stress can be pathological. Now researchers report that the other end of the redox spectrum, reductive stress, is also pathological. Reductive stress causes pathological heart enlargement and diastolic dysfunction in a mouse model. But what happens if the redox teeter-totter goes too far down, creating antioxidative stress, also known as reductive stress? Rajasekaran Namakkal-Soorappan,…

Prior infections appear to shield enteric neurons, preventing these key components of the body’s ‘second brain’ from dying off when future pathogens strike. But there may be an upside to enteric infection. A new study finds that mice infected with bacteria or parasites develop a unique form of tolerance quite unlike the textbook immune response.…

At least in cell-based test systems, the plant compound resveratrol has anti-inflammatory properties. A recent collaborative study has now shown that the bitter receptor TAS2R50 is involved in this effect. Bitter food ingredients not only influence the taste of a food, but often also exert other physiological effects. For example, resveratrol not only tastes bitter,…

Scientists have developed a new gene-therapy technique by transforming human cells into mass producers of tiny nano-sized particles full of genetic material that has the potential to reverse disease processes. Though the research was intended as a proof of concept, the experimental therapy slowed tumor growth and prolonged survival in mice with gliomas, which constitute…

A new therapy prompts immune defense cells to swallow misshapen proteins, amyloid beta plaques and tau tangles, whose buildup is known to kill nearby brain cells as part of Alzheimer’s disease, a new study shows. Led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, the investigation showed that elderly monkeys had up to 59 percent…

A possible explanation for why many cancer drugs that kill tumor cells in mouse models won’t work in human trials has been found. The research was published today in Nature Communications. In the study, investigators reported the extensive presence of mouse viruses in patient-derived xenografts (PDX). PDX models are developed by implanting human tumor tissues…

A research team has engineered novel nanoparticles to serve as ‘molecular traps’ to target SARS-CoV-2, the virus that spreads COVID-19. The traps bind to SARS-CoV-2 and prevent it from attacking macrophages. «These nanoparticles can help maintain white blood cells’ regular function to combat virus infection,» said Changcheng Zhou, a professor of biomedical sciences in the…