Orlando, FL (Scicasts) – The hardening of arteries is a hallmark of atherosclerosis, an often deadly disease in which plaques, excessive connective tissue, and other changes build up inside vessel walls and squeeze off the flow of oxygen-rich blood throughout the body.
Arlington, VA (Scicasts) – The newest public health threat in Africa, scientists have found, is coming from a previously unknown source: the banded mongoose.
Bethesda, MD (scicasts) – Pregnant mothers’ exposure to the flu was associated with a nearly fourfold increased risk that their child would develop bipolar disorder in adulthood, in a study funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Bethesda, MD (Scicasts) – Findings from the first large-scale sequencing analysis of congenital heart disease bring us closer to understanding this most common type of birth defect. [Video]
Providence, RI (Scicasts) – Doctors often diagnose tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) based on the abnormal growths the genetic disease causes in organs around the body.
St. Louis, MO (Scicasts) – Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have described a missing link in understanding how damage to the body’s cellular power plants leads to Parkinson’s disease and, perhaps surprisingly, to some forms of heart failure.
Seattle, WA (Scicasts) – High sugar levels in the body come at a cost to health. New research suggests that more sugar in the body could damage the elastic proteins that help us breathe and pump blood. The findings could have health implications for diabetics, who have high blood-glucose levels.
Boston, MA (Scicasts) – Healthy cells don't just happen. As they grow and divide, they need checks and balances to ensure they function properly while adapting to changing conditions around them.
Orlando, FL (Scicasts) – Many recent studies have suggested that obesity is associated with chronic inflammation in fat tissues. Researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) have discovered that an imbalance between an enzyme called neutrophil elastase and its inhibitor causes inflammation, obesity, insulin resistance, and fatty liver disease.
Champaign, IL (Scicasts) – A 98-year-old researcher argues that, contrary to decades of clinical assumptions and advice to patients, dietary cholesterol is good for your heart – unless that cholesterol is unnaturally oxidized (by frying foods in reused oil, eating lots of polyunsaturated fats, or smoking).
Nashville, TN (Scicasts) – Disruption in the body's circadian rhythm can lead not only to obesity, but can also increase the risk of diabetes and heart disease.
La Jolla, CA (Scicasts) – A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has identified specific cellular events that appear key to lupus, a debilitating autoimmune disease that afflicts tens of millions of people worldwide. The findings suggest that blocking this pathway in lupus-triggering cells could be a potent weapon against the disease.
La Jolla, CA (Scicasts) – Most patients with an inherited heart condition known as arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia/cardiomyopathy (ARVD/C) don't know they have a problem until they're in their early 20s. The lack of symptoms at younger ages makes it very difficult for researchers to study how ARVD/C evolves or to develop treatments.
Seattle, WA (Scicasts) – Misguided killer T cells may be the missing link in sustained tissue damage in the brains and spines of people with multiple sclerosis, findings from the University of Washington reveal. Cytoxic T cells, also known as CD8+ T cells, are white blood cells that normally are in the body's arsenal to fight disease.
Los Angeles, CA (Scicasts) – Researchers at UCLA say it's not just what you eat that makes those pants tighter ― it's also genetics. In a new study, scientists discovered that body-fat responses to a typical fast-food diet are determined in large part by genetic factors, and they have identified several genes they say may control those responses.
Boston, MA (Scicasts) – As part of their ongoing research on the physiologic factors that contribute to the development of obesity, Joslin Diabetes Center scientists have identified a cell cycle transcriptional co-regulator – TRIP-Br2 – that plays a major role in energy metabolism and fat storage.
La Jolla, CA (Scicasts) – In many cases, obesity is caused by more than just overeating and a lack of exercise. Something in the body goes haywire, causing it to store more fat and burn less energy. But what is it? Sanford-Burnham researchers have a new theory―a protein called p62.