science top stories popular news  

Daily non-political popular news in brief.

'Exercise pill' switches on gene that tells cells to burn fat

04-29-2007 · EurekAlert!

By giving ordinary adult mice a drug -- a synthetic designed to mimic fat -- scientists are now able to chemically switch on PPAR-d, the master regulator that controls the ability of cells to burn fat. Even when the mice are not active, turning on the chemical switch activates the same fat-burning process that occurs during exercise. The resulting shift in energy balance (calories in, calories burned) makes the mice resistant to weight gain on a high fat diet.

Read more »

Keywords: exercise, pill, gene, tells, cells, burn, fat, tell, cell

« Previous | Next »

Similar news on "'Exercise pill' switches on gene that tells cells to burn fat":

  1. Signaling for cartilage
    11-27-2006 · EurekAlert!
    Skeletal progenitor cells differentiate into cartilage cells when one master gene actually suppresses the action of another. Skeletons are made of bone and cartilage cells that are differentiated from the same multipotent stem cell, which gives rise to bone, cartilage, fat and fibroblasts.
    Similar news · Read more »
  2. Jefferson scientists find tumor suppressor gene protects against pre-cancerous development
    11-01-2006 · EurekAlert!
    Cell biologists have provided further evidence that a gene thought to play a role in suppressing tumors actually protects against the development of pre-cancerous cell growth as well. The researchers say that the gene, caveolin-1, which they found in two major types of breast cells, could be a potential target for future drugs aimed at preventing breast cancer. The work also suggests a potentially important role of the tumor "microenvironment" in the cancerous process.
    Similar news · Read more »
  3. Prediction of graft-versus-host disease by gene-expression profiling of donors and more
    01-29-2007 · EurekAlert!
    Graft-versus-host disease is a complication of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation, which results from recognition of recipient antigens by immune T cells from the donor. Two papers published this week investigate how graft versus host disease might be predicted after hematopoietic cell transplantation.
    Similar news · Read more »
  4. Gene, stem cell therapy only needs to be 50 percent effective to create a healthy heart
    10-31-2007 · EurekAlert!
    According to a new study, recently published in Circulation Research, a journal of the American Heart Association, University of Missouri-Columbia researchers have demonstrated that a muscular dystrophy patient should be able to maintain a normal lifestyle if only 50 percent of the cells of the heart are healthy.
    Similar news · Read more »
  5. Insulin -- in need of some restraint?
    03-06-2007 · EurekAlert!
    Knocking out the gene for a peptide associated with insulin secretion protects mice against the harmful effects of a high-fat diet, report researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Their findings, detailed in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that urocortin 3, a new peptide recently discovered in the insulin secreting cells of the pancreas, plays a role in the increased production of insulin in response to high caloric intake in animals.
    Similar news · Read more »
  6. A relative of anti-aging gene Klotho also influences metabolic activity, obesity
    04-23-2007 · UT Southwestern Medical Center
    A relative of the anti-aging gene Klotho helps activate a hormone that can lower blood glucose levels in fat cells of mice, making it a novel target for developing drugs to treat human obesity and diabetes, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found.
    Similar news · Read more »
  7. Fetal heart-cell enzyme important in onset of heart failure
    02-18-2007 · EurekAlert!
    In almost all forms of heart failure, the heart begins to express genes that are normally only expressed in the fetal heart. Researchers have known for years that this fetal-gene reactivation happens, yet not what regulates it. Now, investigators at the Penn have discovered that an enzyme important in fetal heart-cell development regulates the enlargement of heart cells, known as cardiac hypertrophy, which is a precursor to many forms of congestive heart failure.
    Similar news · Read more »
  8. Tumor Suicide: Gene therapy makes cancer cells self-destruct
    07-14-2007 · Science News Online
    Microscopic bubbles of fat that deliver a suicide gene to tumor cells show success in treating pancreatic cancer in mice.
    Similar news · Read more »
  9. Researchers first to map gene that regulates adult stem cell growth
    01-14-2007 · EurekAlert!
    A new discovery in stem cell research may mean big things for cancer patients in the future. After being the first to genetically map and identify a gene that regulates adult stem cells, the researchers investigated the gene's protein product, Latexin, which can be used to ramp up the body's stem cell count. The team's findings are being published in Nature Genetics.
    Similar news · Read more »
  10. Master regulatory gene of epithelial stem cells identified
    05-03-2007 · EurekAlert!
    The skin's ability to replace the tissue it sloughs off is controlled by a variety of genes. A new study from Harvard Medical School published in the May 4 issue of Cell, however, identifies a "master regulator" of this regeneration process not only for skin, but for many epithelial tissues including breast, prostate, and urogenital tract. This master regulator of epithelial stem cells turns out to be the p63 gene, a close relative to the well-known tumor-suppressing p53 gene.
    Similar news · Read more »