Glucose

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Glucose (Glc), a monosaccharide (or simple sugar) also known as grape sugar, blood sugar, or corn sugar, is a very important carbohydrate in biology. The living cell uses it as a source of energy and metabolic intermediate. Glucose is one of the main products of photosynthesis and starts cellular respiration in both prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea) and eukaryotes (animals, plants, fungi, and protists).

The name "glucose" comes from the Greek word glukus (γλυκύς), meaning "sweet", and the suffix "-ose," which denotes a sugar.

Two stereoisomers of the aldohexose sugars are known as glucose, only one of which (D-glucose) is biologically active. This form (D-glucose) is often referred to as dextrose monohydrate, or, especially in the food industry, simply dextrose (from dextrorotatory glucose). This article deals with the D-form of glucose. The mirror-image of the molecule, L-glucose, cannot be metabolized by cells in the biochemical process known as glycolysis.

For more information about Glucose, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


News tagged with glucose

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Scientists Use Inkjet Printer to Manipulate Genes in New Ways

Scientists Use Inkjet Printer to Manipulate Genes in New Ways

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Oct 05, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (17) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- With recent advances in biochemistry, researchers can control the circuitry in a developing cell, thereby influencing cells to develop into specific phenotypes. Taking a step forward in this ...


Does sugar feed cancer?

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Aug 17, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (7) | comments 3

Researchers at Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah have uncovered new information on the notion that sugar "feeds" tumors. The findings may also have implications for other diseases such as diabetes. The research ...


Nanocube

Nano-tetherball biosensor precisely detects glucose

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Jan 22, 2009 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (4) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have created a precise biosensor for detecting blood glucose and potentially many other biological molecules by using hollow structures called single-wall carbon nanotubes anchored ...


Cancers' sweet tooth may be weakness

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Nov 18, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0

The pedal-to-the-metal signals driving the growth of several types of cancer cells lead to a common switch governing the use of glucose, researchers at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University have discovered.


Implantable Glucose Sensor Could Spell Relief for Millions of Diabetics (w/ Video)

Implantable Glucose Sensor Could Spell Relief for Millions of Diabetics (w/ Video)

Medicine & Health / Research

created Nov 09, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- UConn researchers have developed a tiny wireless device that can be inserted under a patient?s skin to monitor blood glucose levels over a period of several months.


Lifestyle changes, drug lower type 2 diabetes risk

Medicine & Health / Health

created Oct 28, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Intensive lifestyle changes aimed at modest weight loss reduced the rate of developing type 2 diabetes by 34 percent over 10 years in people at high risk for the disease.


Treating even mild gestational diabetes reduces birth complications (w/ Video)

Medicine & Health / Health

created Sep 30, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Treating pregnant women for mild gestational diabetes resulted in fewer cesarean sections and other serious birthing problems associated with larger than average babies, according to a study conducted in part at the University ...


Sugar + weed killer = potential clean energy source

Technology / Energy

created Sep 29, 2009 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (23) | comments 9

A spoonful of herbicide helps the sugar break down in a most delightful way.


Insulin, metformin do not reduce inflammatory biomarkers for diabetes patients

Medicine & Health / Research

created Sep 15, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

In patients with recent onset type-2 diabetes, treatment with insulin or the diabetes drug metformin did not reduce inflammatory biomarkers, such as high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, although the treatment did improve ...


Team reveals molecular mechanism underlying a form of diabetes

Medicine & Health / Research

created Sep 08, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

By investigating a rare and severe form of diabetes in children, University of Iowa researchers have discovered a new molecular mechanism that regulates specialized pancreatic cells and insulin secretion. The mechanism involves ...


Scientists discover new genetic variation that contributes to diabetes

Medicine & Health / Genetics

created Sep 06, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Scientists have identified a genetic variation in people with type 2 diabetes that affects how the body's muscle cells respond to the hormone insulin, in a new study published today in Nature Genetics. The researchers, from I ...


Researchers find possible use for the vine that ate the South

Chemistry / Other

created Sep 03, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Kudzu, the fast-growing vine that has gobbled up some 10 million acres in the Southeast, may prove to be a valuable dietary supplement for metabolic syndrome, a condition that affects 50 million Americans, say researchers ...


Scientists identify gene that predicts post-surgical survival from brain metastasis of breast cancer patients

Scientists identify gene that predicts post-surgical survival from brain metastasis of breast cancer patients

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Sep 01, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Researchers at the National Cancer Institute have identified a gene that may play a role in breast cancer metastasis to the brain, according to a report in Molecular Cancer Research, a journal of the Americ ...


Gut hormone has 'remote control' on blood sugar

Medicine & Health / Research

created Aug 05, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

A gut hormone first described in 1928 plays an unanticipated and important role in the remote control of blood sugar production in the liver, according to a report in the August 6th Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication. What's ...


Peptide linked to glucose metabolism and neuronal cell survival

Peptide linked to glucose metabolism and neuronal cell survival (w/ Video)

Medicine & Health / Research

created Jul 22, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0

A cellular protein that may prevent nerve cells from dying also helps to improve insulin action and lower blood glucose levels, according to a study by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of ...