Space muscles study to use tiny worms

5 April 2018

Thousands of baby worms will be sent into space later this year to help a study into muscle loss in older people.

Scientists at the University of Exeter in Devon say nematodes are being used because they have a similar muscle structure to humans.

Astronauts lose about 40% of muscle mass after 180 days while onboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Researchers hope the research could help people with conditions including muscular dystrophy and diabetes.

The worms - a nematode species called Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) - will blast off in a rocket from the Kennedy Space Centre, Florida, on 29 November and travel 250 miles (402km) to the ISS.

They are useful to scientists studying long-term changes in human physiology because they suffer from muscle loss under many of the same conditions that people do.

Colleen Deane, a researcher at the University of Exeter, said muscles weakened in space due to a lack of gravity.

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How the science of deer hunting can help patients with diabetes

Date:

March 17, 2014

Source:

American Chemical Society

Summary:

Body odor is a deer hunter’s worst enemy, an alert to animals that an ominous presence is lurking, but the science behind suppressing it to give hunters an edge oddly enough could help researchers develop a life-saving device for diabetes patients. Scientists have now presented the latest advances that tie together these two seemingly unrelated fronts.

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Interspecies Transplant Works in First Step for New Diabetes Therapy

July 12, 2013 — In the first step toward animal-to-human transplants of insulin-producing cells for people with type 1 diabetes, Northwestern Medicine® scientists have successfully transplanted islets, the cells that produce insulin, from one species to another. And the islets survived without immunosuppressive drugs.

Northwestern scientists developed a new method that prevented rejection of the islets, a huge problem in transplants between species, called xenotransplantation.

"This is the first time that an interspecies transplant of islet cells has been achieved for an indefinite period of time without the use of immunosuppressive drugs," said study co-senior author Stephen Miller. "It's a big step forward."

"Our ultimate goal is to be able to transplant pig islets into humans, but we have to take baby steps," said Xunrong Luo, M.D., also co-senior author of the study that will be published online July 12 in the journal Diabetes. "Pig islets produce insulin that controls blood sugar in humans."

Continued

Dogs trained to detect diabetes

SAN ANTONIO - A Texas organization is training puppies to detect diabetes.

Drey's Alert Dogs, in Jasper, trains the animals to paw at people when they can smell that their blood sugar is below 80 or above 180.

The puppies are first placed with children to socialize them.

The alert dogs are already helping people all over the United States.

http://www.woai.com/news/local/story/Dogs-trained-to-detect-diabetes/NT-4fP03wkCv7Hoc0ZDg_w.cspx?rss=68

Roger Brown's Dog Chews His Toes Off In Brazil, Indiana

Let's hope this dog isn't lack-toes intolerant.

Roger Brown, of Brazil. Ind., woke up Wednesday morning to find his trusty puppy licking his feet.

Oh yeah, the dog had also chewed two of his toes off.

According to WISH TV, the 6-month oldpit bull puppy -- named "Bo" -- completely gnawed off Brown's big and small toe on his left foot before Brown wake at around 4:30 a.m.

Brown is diabetic and was suffering from a foot infection, which is likely why he didn't feel the affectionate gnawing.

Police do not consider the incident an attack.

The man told WTHITV that he believes it was his own fault for not properly wrapping up the blistering infection on his foot. According to the New York Daily News, doctors believe that Bo may have been trying to help his owner.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/13/roger-brown-toes-dog_n_3435259.html?utm_hp_ref=weird-news

New Technology Delivers Sustained Release of Drugs for Up to Six Months

ScienceDaily (Aug. 13, 2012) — A new technology which delivers sustained release of therapeutics for up to six months could be used in conditions which require routine injections, including diabetes, certain forms of cancer and potentially HIV/AIDS.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge have developed injectable, reformable and spreadable hydrogels which can be loaded with proteins or other therapeutics. The hydrogels contain up to 99.7% water by weight, with the remainder primarily made up of cellulose polymers held together with cucurbiturils -- barrel-shaped molecules which act as miniature 'handcuffs'.

"The hydrogels protect the proteins so that they remain bio-active for long periods, and allow the proteins to remain in their native state," says Dr Oren Scherman of the Department of Chemistry, who led the research. "Importantly, all the components can be incorporated at room temperature, which is key when dealing with proteins which denature when exposed to high heat."

The hydrogels developed by Scherman, Dr Xian Jun Loh and PhD student Eric Appel are capable of delivering sustained release of the proteins they contain for up to six months, compared with the current maximum of three months. The rate of release can be controlled according to the ratio of materials in the hydrogel.


Continued: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120813203044.htm

Human Insulin Suppresses Mosquito Immune System: Increasing Cases of Type II Diabetes Could Abet Malaria’s Spread

ScienceDaily (June 26, 2012) — Human insulin suppresses the mosquito immune system, according to a paper in the June Infection and Immunity. And while mosquitoes and malaria might seem to go together like baseball and hotdogs, mosquitoes' immunological resistance to the malaria parasite actually slows its spread among H. sapiens.

"A fair portion actually fight off the infection," says first author Nazzy Pakpour of the University of California, Davis.

But now the rate of type 2 diabetes is climbing in Africa as in most of the rest of the world, to the point where by 2030, one in five adults there are predicted to be so-afflicted. More diabetes means more hyperinsulinemia -- more human insulin to inhibit mosquitoes' immune response to Plasmodium falciparum, thus aiding and abetting transmission of this dread disease.

As horrific as the medical consequences of all this might be, the science is intriguing. "It's crazy to think something in our blood could change how mosquitoes respond to parasites," says Pakpour.

In earlier work, Pakpour and collaborators showed that ingested human insulin activates the insulin/IGF-1 signaling pathway in Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes, making them more vulnerable to invasion by P. falciparum. The new study showed that insulin signaling reduced expression of certain mosquito immunity genes that are under the same regulatory control, and that human insulin suppressed mosquito immunity by activating the so-called PI3K signaling pathway, and that artificially inhibiting that pathway could reverse the immunosuppressive effects of human insulin.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120626061206.htm

Drugs from Gila Monster Lizard Saliva Reduces Cravings for Chocolate and Ordinary Food

ScienceDaily (May 15, 2012) — A drug made from the saliva of the Gila monster lizard is effective in reducing the craving for food. Researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, have tested the drug on rats, who after treatment ceased their cravings for ordinary food and also chocolate.

An increasing number of patients suffering from type 2 diabetes are offered a pharmaceutical preparation called Exenatide, which helps them to control their blood sugar. The drug is a synthetic version of a natural substance called exendin-4, which is obtained from a rather unusual source -- the saliva of the Gila monster lizard (Heloderma suspectum), North America's largest lizard.

Unexpected effect
Researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, have now found an entirely new and unexpected effect of the lizard substance.

Reduces cravings for food
In a study with rats published in the Journal of Neuroscience, Assistant Professor Karolina Skibicka and her colleagues show that exendin-4 effectively reduces the cravings for food.

"This is both unknown and quite unexpected effect," comments an enthusiastic Karolina Skibicka: "Our decision to eat is linked to the same mechanisms in the brain which control addictive behaviours. We have shown that exendin-4 affects the reward and motivation regions of the brain."

Continued:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120515165405.htm

What Do Marine Snails and Insulin Have in Common? New Approach to Treat Diabetes?

ScienceDaily (May 10, 2012) — The cone snails are predators of the sea. They capture fish by injecting a venom into the prey that consists of a cocktail of different substances. The single components of the snails' venom, so-called conopeptides, are known for their extraordinary pharmacological properties and potential.

One example is Ziconotid (Prialt), a conopeptide that is prescribed as a pain medicine. That makes it one of the first medicines to contain substances from marine organisms. In collaboration with scientists from Canada and the USA, research teams at the Universities of Kiel, Lübeck, and Göttingen have examined the venom of the cone snail Conus striatus. They were able to demonstrate that a certain peptide (Conkunitzin-S1) alters the release of insulin in the pancreas cells. Their findings were recently published in the scientific magazine EMBO Molecular Medicine.

"This potentially could be a new approach to the treatment of type 2 diabetes," says Professor Heinrich Terlau from the Physiological Institute of Kiel University and associate member of the Excellence Cluster "Future Ocean." "The action of some substances that are ordinarily used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes is independent of the blood glucose level," Terlau describes. This can lead to low blood glucose, also known as hypoglycemia. "What is new about this substance is that it has a very specific effect. Because of this fact, the likelihood of side effects such as hypoglycemia is minimal," Terlau continues.

Read on:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120510100228.htm

Scientists Redraw the Blueprint of the Body's Biological Clock

ScienceDaily (Apr. 5, 2012) — The discovery of a major gear in the biological clock that tells the body when to sleep and metabolize food may lead to new drugs to treat sleep problems and metabolic disorders, including diabetes.


Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, led by Ronald M. Evans, a professor in Salk's Gene Expression Laboratory, showed that two cellular switches found on the nucleus of mouse cells, known as REV-ERBα and REV-ERBβ, are essential for maintaining normal sleeping and eating cycles and for metabolism of nutrients from food.

The findings, reported March 29 inNature, describe a powerful link between circadian rhythms and metabolism and suggest a new avenue for treating disorders of both systems, including jet lag, sleep disorders, obesity and diabetes.

"This fundamentally changes our knowledge about the workings of the circadian clock and how it orchestrates our sleep-wake cycles, when we eat and even the times our bodies metabolize nutrients," says Evans. "Nuclear receptors can be targeted with drugs, which suggests we might be able to target REV-ERBα and β to treat disorders of sleep and metabolism."

Read on:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120405224456.htm