Discover the Science of Health
A new study published in the American Heart Association journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology found that people with blood type A, B, or AB — 66% of the American population — had a higher risk for coronary heart disease compared to those with blood type O [1].
It’s obvious that obese people more have fat than non-obese people, but it’s not as clear how it happens. Do obese individuals have more adipocytes (fat cells) than lean people, or do they have the same number of adipocytes, just larger ones? It turns out to be both. But the way that comes to pass is just being worked out by scientists. Engineering Professor Dr. Amit Gefen and his colleagues at Tel Aviv University recently demonstrated in a mouse cell line model that preadipocytes (precursors to fat cells) subjected to prolonged periods of “mechanical stretching loads” — the kind of weight we put on our body tissues when we sit or lie down — differentiate significantly faster, and retain significantly larger fat droplets, than those that are not. The research was published in the American Journal of Physiology — Cell Physiology [1].
Biomarker Bulletin is an occasionally recurring update of news focused on biomarkers aggregated at BiomarkerCommons.org. Biomarkers are physical, functional or biochemical indicators of normal physiological or disease processes. The individualization of disease management — personalized medicine — is dependent on developing biomarkers that promote specific clinical domains, including early detection, risk, diagnosis, prognosis and predicted response to therapy.
Taking many breaks from muscular inactivity, even just 1-minute breaks, appears to lower levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and may result in a smaller waist circumferences. That’s the result of a recent study in the European Heart Journal, which evaluated sedentary time and breaks in sedentary time with continuous cardio-metabolic and inflammatory risk biomarkers.
Researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center have identified biomarkers of poor outcomes in preterm infants that may help identify new approaches to prevention. The study investigated a polymorphism in a gene important for the immune system. Scientists found that the polymorphism raises the risk of bad outcomes in preterm infants, including death, necrotizing enterocolitis (death of intestinal tissue), and gram negative sepsis, an overwhelming infection.
Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center have discovered massive over-expression of certain non-protein coding DNA sequences in common tumor cells. The DNA sequences, called satellite repeats, have not been previously thought to have a role in cancer. The study appears in the journal Science.
According to a recent JAMA study, patients who underwent coronary artery bypass graft surgery and had elevated levels of the cardiac enzymes creatine kinase or troponin in the 24 hours following surgery had an associated intermediate and long-term increased risk of death.
A new study in the journal Chest concludes that the amino acid cysteine may be a biomarker for the development of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The plasma biomarker was found to be elevated in patients with OSA, independent of obesity status.
