Lowering in Biological News

New approach discovered to lowering triglycerides

CORVALLIS, Ore. Studies done with laboratory rats suggest that supplementation of their diet with lipoic acid had a significant effect in lowering triglycerides, which along with cholesterol levels and blood pressure are one of the key risk factors in cardiovascular disease. In the lab animals...

University of Alberta researchers report breakthrough in lowering bad cholesterol, fatty acid levels

There is heartening news out of the University of Alberta for those who may have overindulged during the recent holidays. U of A medical researchers have found a way to reduce the amount of bad cholesterol and fatty acids that end up in the blood from food the body metabolizes, a key discover...

University of Hawaii at Manoa researchers reveal ocean acidification at Station ALOHA

...id, and lowers seawater pH. Since the beginning of the industrial age, CO 2 -driven acidification of the surface oceans has already caused a 0.1 unit lowering of pH, and models suggest that another 0.3 pH unit drop by the year 2050 is likely. Continued acidification of the sea may have a host of negative im...

Reprogramming human cells without inserting genes

...he current study, the team at WPI and CellThera turned on the existing, yet dormant, stem cell genes OCT4, SOX2 and NANOG already in the skin cells by lowering the amount of atmospheric oxygen the cells were exposed to, and by adding a protein called fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) to the culture medium. (F...

World's largest ocean observatory takes shape

...lumbia coast of NEPTUNE Canada, the world's largest and most advanced cabled ocean observatory. Using three ships and at least one ROV, the team is lowering five 13-tonne nodes and more than 400 instruments and sensors to the seafloor where they are being attached to an 800-km loop of powered fibre-optic c...

Global sunscreen won't save corals

...s injecting small, reflective particles into the upper atmosphere. This would partially block incoming sunlight before it reached the Earth's surface, lowering global temperatures just as volcanic ash from the Mount Pinatubo did following its eruption in 1991. But critics have warned that such a scheme might ...

Siberian jays use complex communication to mob predators

...ael Griesser. Not only our ancestors but also other family group living animals outwit their predators with the help of their cognitive abilities. lowering the risk of relative of being killed benefits the propagation of the own genes through kin selection. In contrast, animals that live in anonymous grou...

Study shows CGM devices also benefit people with type 1 diabetes

...f managing their diabetes continue to do so, while lowering the risk of pushing their blood sugar so low it ca...l, which can have a significant positive impact on lowering the risk of complications, but it enables them to ...evice in the treatment of type 1 diabetes, because lowering of HbA1c was the primary outcome of interest, that...

People of higher socioeconomic status choose better diets -- but pay more per calorie

... and some forms of cancer. In contrast, energy-dense diets have been linked to higher obesity rates and higher disease risk. Improving diet quality by lowering its energy density is standard advice for weight control, cancer prevention and better health. The 164 participants (103 women and 61 men) recorded...

Synthetic chemical offers solution for crops facing drought

... RIVERSIDE, Calif. Crops and other plants are constantly confronted with adverse environmental conditions, lowering yield and costing farmers billions of dollars annually. Plants use specialized signals, called stress hormones, to sense difficult times and adapt to ...

Researcher: Lasers used to detect melamine in baby formula

...melamine, thinking they might be able to do so at high concentrations. After successful tries at higher concentrations, Mauer and the students kept lowering the concentration of melamine until they reached one part per million. ...

Eating fatty fish once a week reduces men's risk of heart failure

...revious research has demonstrated that fatty fish and omega-3 fatty acids help to combat risk factors for a range of heart-related conditions, such as lowering triglycerides [fats in the blood] reducing blood pressure, heart rate and heart rate variability," explains first author Emily Levitan, PhD, a researc...

New drug shows promise in treating drug-resistant prostate cancer

... principal investigator, Dr. Howard Scher of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. In general, the drug, at 240 mg once a day, was very effective at lowering PSA levels and also in reducing the number of circulating tumor cells, without any significant toxicity. "I think it is quite likely that the ex...

Vitamin D may exacerbate autoimmune disease

...ents, 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-D), is a secosteroid rather than a vitamin. Like corticosteroid medications, vitamin D may provide short-term relief by lowering inflammation but may exacerbate disease symptoms over the long-term. The insights are based on molecular research showing that 25-D inactivates rat...

Fish oils reduce greenhouse gas emissions from flatulent cows

...helping the heart and circulatory system, improving meat quality and reducing methane emissions. These last two benefits may only apply to cows but lowering emissions is important for the environment, as methane given off by farm animals is a major contribution to greenhouse gas levels. Today (Monday 30 Ma...

Diabetics on high-fiber diets might need extra calcium, report UT Southwestern researchers

...intake of dietary fiber, mostly from fruits and vegetables, lowers blood glucose levels and leads to decreased insulin levels in the blood, as well as lowering blood lipid concentrations in patients with type 2 diabetes, the most prevalent type of diabetes. For the current study, 13 patients with type 2 d...

Lancet study supports new, highly effective treatment for blood disorder

...e II study published late 2007 in the New England Journal of Medicine. This trial showed that eltrombopag was effective in raising platelet counts and lowering bleeding in adult subjects with chronic ITP. The Phase II study's results also determined the most promising dose of 50mg, which was given to all of t...

Fighting global warming offers growth and development opportunities

...sented today at "Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges & Decisions" hosted by the University of Copenhagen. Contrary to current cost models for lowering greenhouse gas emissions and fighting climate change, a group of researchers from the University of Cambridge conclude that even very stringent reduct...

Simple test helps predict heart attack risk

...initiating lifestyle changes and medical intervention directed at modifying risk factors (smoking cessation, blood glucose and blood pressure control, lowering cholesterol and exercise)can be started to improve one's health before costlier and more intensive interventions are needed," said Murphy. "Interve...

Lowering your cholesterol may decrease your risk of cancer

... Boston, MA Current research suggests that lowering cholesterol may block the growth of prostate tumors. The related report by Solomon et al, "Ezetimibe Is an Inhibitor of Tumor Angiogenesis," appears ...

Indoor air pollution increases asthma symptoms

... professor in the School of Medicine and co-director of the Center for Childhood Asthma in the Urban Environment. "Improving indoor air quality and lowering indoor PM concentrations may provide additional means of improving asthma health, especially for children living in inner cities," added co-author, Pa...

Social support during breast-feeding helps humans have more children

...ood, then there is a problem," she said. "Women who had social support during lactation were able to avoid subsistence work for a long period of time, lowering their energy expenditure. They also had help meeting their dietary needs, especially during the early period of lactation. The women who did not have ...

Fighting obesity and illness with a novel approach to nutrition

...nimal feeds enriched with extruded linseed improve the health and fertility of animals and the nutritional quality of their meat and dairy products by lowering the level of fat and saturated fats and increasing the level of Omega-3. When the company conducted a further study to determine the effect of a diet ...

Molecular mechanism of anaphylactic shock decoded

...various substances (mediators) from immune cells in the blood. These mediators, e.g. histamine or leukotriene, cause an abrupt drop in blood pressure, lowering of body temperature, arrhythmia, respiratory distress, and acute reactions in stomach, bowels and skin. The combination of reactions leads to the life...

Cutting salt isn't the only way to reduce blood pressure

...redictor of cardiovascular disease than sodium or potassium alone. "There isn't as much focus on potassium, but potassium seems to be effective in lowering blood pressure and the combination of a higher intake of potassium and lower consumption of sodium seems to be more effective than either on its own i...

Researchers describe protease inhibitor that may aid in diabetic retinopathy treatment

...impairment associated with diabetes. Hypertension is a known risk factor for the development of retinopathy. ASP-440 was also found to be effective in lowering the elevated blood pressure in these animals. "These findings represent a pivotal step towards understanding the importance of plasma kallikrein a...

Researchers identify potential new weapon in battle against HIV infection

... in fighting the infection." Increasing the level of the Pk antigen in cells in the laboratory also resulted in heightened resistance to HIV, while lowering it increased susceptibility. The Pk molecule has been previously studied extensively by The Research Institute at the Hospital for Sick Children Senio...

Vitamins C and E and beta carotene again fail to reduce cancer risk in randomized controlled trial

...d controlled trials that examined supplement use and cancer incidence. He noted that while the trial data reported by Lin are negative with respect to lowering cancer risk, there is valuable information uncovered that should not be overlooked. There was a trend for a reduction in colon cancer with vitamin E s...

Argonne advancing DOE INCITE scientific research projects

...ications fabric that enables science applications to spend more time computing and less time moving data between CPUs, both reducing power demands and lowering operating costs. As part of DOE's Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment program, the ALCF provides in-depth expertise...

Ocean acidification could have broad effects on marine ecosystems

...oking at are disruptions of developmental processes and of populations and communities on many scales." The term "acidification" refers to a slight lowering of the pH of ocean water, pushing it closer to the acidic end of the scale, although it is still slightly alkaline. A small decrease in pH affects the...

Study reveals effects of unconscious exposure to advertisements

...erence for it, initially rapidly increasing preference, and then eventually lowering preference again. This can give way to short-lived fads. But while this may...idence that the object is overabundant, and is likely not valuable, thereby lowering the individual's preference for it. "An individual's preference for an o...

New genes present drug targets for managing cholesterol and glucose levels

... and certain rare forms of diabetes. "Each of these genes is a potentially interesting drug target," said Abecasis. Statins, a class of cholesterol lowering drugs used to reduce the risk of heart disease, target the HMGCR gene, one of the genes identified in the study. The other genes identified in the stu...

Novel bioreactor enhances interleukin-12 production in genetically modified tobacco plants

... therapeutic proteins grown in the roots, all the remaining material is safely destroyed." Traditional pharmaceuticals, like aspirin or statins for lowering cholesterol, are made by synthesizing and combining chemicals in a factory-like production setting. Therapeutic proteins are biologic molecules produc...

UBC researcher reveals humpback whales' dining habits -- and costs

...me large marine mammals are known for their extraordinarily long dive times. Elephant seals, for example, can stay underwater for an hour at a time by lowering their heartbeat and storing large amounts of oxygen in their muscles. "Weighing up to 40 tons, humpback whales and their close relatives have relat...

A scientific breakthrough on the control of the bad cholesterol

...is discovery should pave the way toward the development of a new drug that would lower blood cholesterol to recommended levels. Currently, cholesterol lowering drugs known as "statins" are used by more than 25 million people worldwide. Statins decrease cholesterol synthesis and increase the number of LDL-rece...

New filtering technology has environmental, industrial applications

...a distinctive curvature determined by the "contact angle" of the substance. The higher the contact angle, the more a material is likely to form beads. lowering the contact angle enough prevents substances from beading. "This material maximizes oil's contact angle while minimizing water's contact angle, all...

Vitamin C lowers levels of inflammation biomarker considered predictor of heart disease

...had been unclear whether the beneficial effects of lowering CRP were independent of the effects of lowering cholesterol. Newly released results from a mult...dded. "Researchers found very important effects of lowering CRP in people who had high levels to begin with." ...

Overfishing threatens European bluefin tuna

...tion of Atlantic Tunas) launched a recovery plan whose main objective is to rebuild the population by 2022. Rebuilding would be achieved by gradually lowering fishing quotas between 2007-2010 and implementing other fishery regulations. The management plan is however insufficient to stop the population fr...

MIT creates tiny backpacks for cells

... set up, cells enter the system and flow across the surface, getting stuck on the polymer hooks. The patch is then detached from the surface by simply lowering the temperature, and the cells float away, with backpacks attached. "The rest of the cell is untouched and able to interact with the environment," ...

Food for thought -- regulating energy supply to the brain during fasting

...surprise, after six hours the light went out. Experimentally decreasing the levels of CRTC2 or FOXO1 confirmed there was a two-stage fasting-response. lowering CRTC2 reduced gluconeogenesis only early on, while less FOXO1 only affected late glucose production. As in a relay race, during fasting the baton for ...