Antibiotics for cesarean section births are just as effective when they’re given after the umbilical cord is clamped as before clamping – the current practice – and could benefit newborns’ developing microbiomes, according to Rutgers co-authored research. The study, by far the largest of its kind and published in the journal Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control, challenges current recommendations for antibiotic use. Administering antibiotics after clamping does not increase the risk of infection at the site of C-section incisions, the study concludes.
Tag: Metabolism
Obesity impairs immune cell function, accelerates tumor growth in mice
New study in mice finds that a high-fat diet allows cancer cells to outcompete immune cells for fuel, impairing immune function and accelerating tumor growth. Findings suggest new strategies to target cancer metabolism, improve immunotherapies.
New targeted therapy blocks metabolism in brain cancer cells with genetic vulnerability
Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have developed a novel targeted therapy, called POMHEX, which blocks critical metabolic pathways in cancer cells with specific genetic defects. Preclinical studies found the small-molecule enolase inhibitor to be effective in killing brain cancer cells that were missing ENO1, one of two genes encoding the enolase enzyme.
What Drives Painful Bone Metastasis in Prostate Cancer, and Can it Be Prevented?
While prostate cancer originates within the prostate, metastasis, or the spread of a tumor from the site of origin to other organs, remains a leading cause of death among people with the disease. Prostate tumors can metastasize to a number of different organs, including the liver, lymph nodes and bone.
Metabolic signaling plays a crucial role in regulating specialized T cells
Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have identified how metabolic signaling pathways influence key immune cells with implications for treating autoimmune disorders and cancer.
‘Rewiring’ metabolism in insulin-producing cells may aid Type 2 diabetes treatment
Researchers have discovered a previously unknown way that pancreatic cells decide how much insulin to secrete. It could provide a promising new target to develop drugs for boosting insulin production in people with Type 2 diabetes.
Marine animals live where ocean is most ‘breathable,’ but ranges could shrink with climate change
Research shows that many marine animals already inhabit the maximum range of breathable ocean that their physiology allows. The findings are a warning about climate change: Since warmer waters harbor less oxygen, stretches of ocean that are breathable today for a species may not be in the future.
Excessive Fructose Consumption May Cause a Leaky Gut, Leading to Fatty Liver Disease
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine report that fructose only adversely affects the liver after it reaches the intestines, where the sugar disrupts the epithelial barrier protecting internal organs from bacterial toxins in the gut.
Perfectly Balanced: The Yin and Yang of Inflammation Controlled By A Single Molecule
Penn Study Reveals A Molecular Mechanism That Helps The Body Mount Perfectly Balanced Responses to Deadly Infections
How good gut bacteria help reduce the risk for heart disease
Scientists have discovered that one of the good bacteria found in the human gut has a benefit that has remained unrecognized until now: the potential to reduce the risk for heart disease.
The Gut Shields the Liver from Fructose-Induced Damage
After one consumes food or a beverage containing fructose, the gut helps to shield the liver from damage by breaking down the sugar. However, the consumption of too much fructose can overwhelm the gut, causing fructose to “spill over” into the liver, where it wreaks havoc and causes fatty liver, researchers discovered.
Research News Tip Sheet: Story Ideas from Johns Hopkins Medicine
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johns Hopkins Medicine Media Relations is focused on disseminating current, accurate and useful information to the public via the media. As part of that effort, we are distributing our “COVID-19 Tip Sheet: Story Ideas from Johns Hopkins” every Tuesday throughout the duration of the outbreak.
2020 Warren Alpert Prize Recognizes Seminal Discoveries in Metabolism
The 2020 Warren Alpert Foundation Prize has been awarded to a trio of researchers for seminal discoveries about the function of key intestinal hormones, their effects on metabolism and the subsequent design of treatments for type 2 diabetes, obesity and short bowel syndrome.
Scientists Reveal How Mutations in Metabolism Can Drive Cancers
Yale Cancer Center scientists have identified mutations in metabolite-producing genes as a disruption of DNA repair. These mutation-driven “oncometabolites” may make cells more prone to developing cancer—but also more vulnerable to new cancer treatment strategies.
Scientists shed light on essential carbon-fixing machinery in bacteria
Scientists have been studying cyanobacteria and its many potential applications for decades, from cutting CO2 emissions to creating a substitute for oil-based plastics, but there wasn’t a deep understanding of the full life cycle and metabolism of specialized compartments within these common bacteria – until now.
Scientists Have Discovered the Origins of the Building Blocks of Life
Rutgers researchers have discovered the origins of the protein structures responsible for metabolism: simple molecules that powered early life on Earth and serve as chemical signals that NASA could use to search for life on other planets. Their study, which predicts what the earliest proteins looked like 3.5 billion to 2.5 billion years ago, is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Using new genomic technology, UCI researchers discover breast cancer cells shift their metabolic strategy in order to metastasize
New discovery in breast cancer could lead to better strategies for preventing the spread of cancer cells to other organs in the body, effectively reducing mortality in breast cancer patients.
According to a study, published today in Nature Cell Biology, breast cancer cells shift their metabolic strategy in order to metastasize. Instead of cycling sugar (glucose) for energy, they preferentially use mitochondrial metabolism.
Metabolic Pathway Can Be Effectively Targeted to Treat Prostate Cancer, Roswell Park Team Shows
A Roswell Park team has identified a new strategy for treating prostate cancer — the first to target metabolic processes uniquely important to prostate cancer.
People who eat a big breakfast may burn twice as many calories
Eating a big breakfast rather than a large dinner may prevent obesity and high blood sugar, according to new research published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
A Fat-Fighting Drug Discovery
Cancer-fighting compound fights obesity and diabetes: Eric Prossnitz, PhD, and his team reported that G-1, a cancer-fighting compound they discovered some years ago, reduces fat in obese mice. Although G-1 is currently in phase 1 clinical trials for cancer, Prossnitz and his team are planning preclinical studies to use G-1 to fight fat in obese people.
Study: Neuron Found in Mice Could Have Implications for Effective Diet Drugs
A cell found in mice may be able to stop feeding in humans without subsequential nauseating effects as well as influence the long term intake of food.
UCI-led study reveals how consuming alcohol affects the circadian rhythm of the liver leading to disease
Weekend binge drinking and chronic alcoholism have long been known to contribute to alcoholic liver diseases (ALD). A new study reveals how alcohol affects the liver’s circadian rhythm, uncovering a potential new target for ALD treatments.
One-two punch drug combination offers hope for pancreatic cancer therapy
Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute have identified a combination of two anti-cancer compounds that shrank pancreatic tumors in mice—supporting the immediate evaluation of the drugs in a clinical trial. U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)–approved versions of the compounds are used today to treat certain leukemias and solid tumors, including melanoma. The study was published in Nature Cell Biology.
Mount Sinai Researcher’s Examine the Metabolic Effects of an Oral Blood Cancer Drug
Recent study found that an effective blood cancer treatment was associated with weight gain, obesity, and increased systolic blood pressure
Peering into a more ‘human’ petri dish
The recent development of physiologic cell culture media, which models in vivo conditions, holds immense potential to improve understanding of human biology.
Subtle Mitochondrial DNA Mutations Alter Expression of Nuclear Genes, with Profound Clinical Effects
Subtle changes in the DNA of mitochondria, the tiny power plants in cells, can have profound consequences for a patient’s health. Research on biological mechanisms suggests that relatively minor changes in mitochondrial energy flow and metabolism could offer significant future benefits to patients with complex diseases.
When studying immune cells, environment matters
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (Oct. 10, 2019) — For years, scientists have used cells grown in petri dishes to study the metabolic processes that fuel the immune system. But a new report in Immunity suggests looking outside the dish and into living organisms gives a drastically different view of the way immune cells process and use energy.
Researchers Discover New, Treatable Pathway Known to Cause Hypertension in Obese People
There’s no question that as body weight increases, so too does blood pressure. Now, in a study of mice, Johns Hopkins researchers have revealed exactly which molecules are likely responsible for the link between obesity and blood pressure. Blocking one of these molecules — a signaling channel that’s found in a tiny organ on the side of your neck — effectively lowers blood pressure in obese mice, the researchers reported recently in the journal Circulation Research.
Researchers Identify Metabolic Cycles in Baby Teeth Linked to ADHD and Autism in Children
Mount Sinai researchers have identified elemental signatures in baby teeth that are unique to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, and cases when both neurodevelopment conditions are present, which suggests that the metabolic regulation of nutrients and toxins play a role in these diseases, according to a study published in Translational Psychiatry in September.
Study suggests new metabolic target for liver cancer
Disrupting a metabolic pathway in the liver in a way that creates a more “cancer-like” metabolism actually reduces tumor formation in a mouse model of liver cancer. This surprising finding from a Univ. of Iowa study identifies the mitochondrial pyruvate carrier as a potential target for preventing liver cancer.
2019 Frontiers in Metabolism meeting explores advances in metabolic research
This fall, the Morgridge Institute for Research will convene international leaders in metabolic research at the third Frontiers in Metabolism—Mechanisms of Metabolic Diseases meeting. Disrupted metabolic processes underlie a broad swath of rare inborn errors of metabolism and prominent human…