Modest weight loss appears to reverse many of the damaging changes often seen in the immune cells of obese people, particularly those with Type 2 diabetes, according to a new research.
The recent study, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology Metabolism looked at 13 obese people with Type 2 diabetes or prediabetes who were limited to a diet of between 1000 and 1600 calories a day for 24 weeks. Gastric banding was performed at 12 weeks to help restrict food intake further.
The results showed an 80% reduction of pro-inflammatory T-helper cells, as well as reduced activation of other circulating immune cells (T cells, monocytes and neutrophils) and decreased activation of macrophages in fat.
It's well known that serious air pollution can cause of all kinds of nasty health problems - headaches, nausea, allergic reactions, chronic respiratory disease, lung cancer and heart disease counted among them. But according to new statistical correlation, it can also make unborn children stupid at small levels.
Research conducted at the University of Alberta confirms that fat people are often labeled lazy simply because of their size.
The new study found that when a thin person was seen laying down watching television, people assumed they were resting. But when an overweight person was relaxing, the same group assumed that the husky individual was lazy and unmotivated.
Study participants viewed a number of pictures that would flash on a computer screen. After each photo a sedentary word such as "lazy" would appear. After the participants looked at each picture they were asked to say the color of each word.
In a study study likely to increase travelers' trust in the TSA, Duke university researchers say identifying a prohibited item such as a water bottle may keep airport security from detecting harder-to-spot items in the same scan.
In the new study, published online in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, researchers asked college students to identify specific targets on a computer display – in this case, two perpendicular lines that form the letter "T" amid distracters, such as Ls and non-Ts. In some cases, Ts were easy to spot, and in other cases more difficult because they blended in with the background.
3 NASA employees out of the 22,000 people about to lose their jobs sat in a room full of loyal Democrats and listened to President Barack Obama talk about how much he loved NASA. Then he talked about how he was gutting it.
Not everyone is buying hope in this instance. Buzz Aldrin agrees with Pres. Obama that the Moon has been done but Neil Armstrong, first man on the Moon, and Gene Cernan, the last, think it is a big step backwards to instead go to an asteroid. I am probably not the first to say it but it seems we will now boldly go where no one really wants to go.
"The common curse of mankind - folly and ignorance." - Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida
"And of all plagues with which mankind are cursed, ecclesiastical tyranny's the worst." - Daniel Defoe, Jure divino: a satyr
Moral behavior may increase our capacity for willpower and physical endurance, according to new research from Harvard University.
Participants in the new study who did good deeds -- or even just imagined themselves helping others -- were better able to perform a subsequent task of physical endurance. The research shows a similar or even greater boost in physical strength following dastardly deeds.
Results of the study are published in Social Psychological and Personality Science.
A common treatment for patients with type 2 diabetes could one day help smokers avoid lung cancer, say scientists at the National Cancer Institute.
Metformin decreases levels of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and circulating insulin, which is important in patients with type 2 diabetes. Early laboratory research presented at the American Association For Cancer Research's annual meeting shows that the drug may also inhibit tumor growth as well.
"This well tolerated, FDA-approved diabetes drug was able to prevent tobacco-carcinogen induced lung tumors," said Phillip A. Dennis, M.D., Ph.D., senior investigator in the medical oncology branch of the National Cancer Institute.
Many Americans go to foreign news sources for coverage of the war in Iraq and Palestinian-Israeli conflict because western media outlets censor gruesome war-time images, according to a study in Media, War and Conflict.
Researchers conducted two online surveys of Al-Jazeera Web users during November and December 2004. They found that most of those who use the Al-Jazeera English-language website are from the U.S., Canada, the U.K and Australia. Respondents indicated that they appreciate the graphic pictures of war they find on the site that they don't see in mainstream media. As one user explained:
Researchers say they have found another potential risk factor for breast cancer--Grandma's diet.
Georgetown University scientists say that pregnant rats that ate a high fat diet not only increased breast cancer risk in their female daughters but also in that daughter's offspring – the "granddaughters." Details of the study will be presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2010.
Why the risk is passed on through two generations is unknown, but experts believe it occurs through as-yet unknown "epigenetic" changes that result in an increase in terminal end buds in the breast tissue – an increase that apparently can then be passed on through generations.
