http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. An enzyme known to cause insulin resistance in muscle is also located in the brain and has a similar function there, a research team that includes a University of Cincinnati scientist has found. http://www.physorg.com/news172153316.html Medicine & Health Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:40:09 EST news172153316 Blame your brain for sabotaging your efforts to get back on track after splurging on an extra scoop of ice cream or that second burger during Friday night's football game. http://www.physorg.com/news172132765.html Medicine & Health Mon, 14 Sep 2009 07:40:18 EST news172132765 A team of scientists from the California Institute of Technology have pinpointed two groups of neurons in fruit fly brains that have the ability to sense and manipulate the fly's fat stores in much the same way as do neurons in the mammalian brain. The existence of this sort of control over fat deposition and metabolic rates makes the flies a potentially useful model for the study of human obesity, the researchers note. http://www.physorg.com/news169818724.html Medicine & Health Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:52:58 EST news169818724 As we all know from experience, people eat not only because they are hungry, but also because the food just simply tastes too good to pass up. Now, a new study in the August 6th Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication, helps to explain how leptin, a hormone produced by fat tissue, influences that motivation to eat. http://www.physorg.com/news168696652.html Medicine & Health Wed, 05 Aug 2009 13:11:17 EST news168696652 (PhysOrg.com) -- Eating a small lunch doesn`t necessarily mean you`ll be so hungry for dinner that you`ll eat more than usual, a new study suggests. http://www.physorg.com/news168102822.html Medicine & Health Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:15:01 EST news168102822 Mice lacking the fat hormone leptin or the ability to respond to it become morbidly obese and severely diabetic -not to mention downright sluggish. Now, a new study in the June Cell Metabolism shows that blood sugar control in those animals can be completely restored by returning leptin sensitivity to a single class of neurons in the brain, which account for only a small fraction of those that normally carry the hormone receptors. http://www.physorg.com/news163164889.html Biology Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:36:37 EST news163164889 Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes of Cardiovascular Disease (GICD) have found that an enzyme associated with the synthesis of fat in the body is also an element in healthy skin and hair. http://www.physorg.com/news153736642.html Chemistry Fri, 13 Feb 2009 08:38:04 EST news153736642 Mice with increased levels of a natural brain chemical don`t gain weight when fed a high-fat diet, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found. http://www.physorg.com/news152344953.html Biology Wed, 28 Jan 2009 06:03:05 EST news152344953 The international GIANT (Genetic Investigation of Anthropometric Parameters) consortium works on the discovery of obesity genes. So far, the scientists have analyzed two million DNA variations in 15 genome-wide association studies with a total of more than 32,000 participants. The hereby identified candidate genes were validated in 14 further studies including 59,000 participants. In addition to the FTO and MC4R genes already known, it was now possible for six more obesity genes to be identified: TMEM18, KCTD15, GNPDA2, SH2B1, MTCH2, and NEGR1. http://www.physorg.com/news150636788.html Medicine & Health Thu, 08 Jan 2009 11:33:08 EST news150636788 (PhysOrg.com) -- The discovery more than a decade ago of leptin, an appetite-suppressing hormone secreted by fat tissue, generated headlines and great hopes for an effective treatment for obesity. But hopes dimmed when it was found that obese people are unresponsive to leptin due to development of leptin resistance in the brain. Now, researchers at Children's Hospital Boston report the first agents demonstrated to sensitize the brain to leptin: oral drugs that are already FDA-approved and known to be safe. Findings were published January 7 by the journal Cell Metabolism. http://www.physorg.com/news150468469.html Biology Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:47:49 EST news150468469