(Press-News.org) Bariatric surgeries, such as a gastric bypass, are currently the most effective anti-obesity therapies. They also lead to a reduced insulin resistance. However, the pitfall of these surgical interventions is that they are highly invasive and often permanent procedures. An international team of scientists led by Dr. Kirk Habegger, Metabolic Disease Institute, University of Cincinnati, and Prof. Dr. Matthias Tschöp, Scientific Director of the Helmholtz Diabetes Center (HDC) at the Helmholtz Zentrum München (HMGU), Partner of the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), have now developed an equally efficient but less invasive surgical method, thus paving the way for the development of novel safe and efficient anti-obesity therapies.
In their study, a flexible tube, called a DES (duodenal-endoluminal sleeve), was placed in the small intestine. Tschöp, Habegger, and colleagues observed that this intervention in an animal model potently corrects obesity while improving glucose metabolism. The metabolic benefits of this novel surgical intervention seem to be mediated via reduced nutrient absorption in the intestinal lumen and reactive mucous membrane growth in the other intestinal sections, a shift which may lead to improved nutrient utilization. The intervention carries the great advantage that it is less invasive and removable at any time.
The method is consequently seen as a promising approach to treat obesity and diabetes. Further studies now aim to clarify which influence this novel surgical technique has on the complex neuroendocrine network that controls energy metabolism. The long-term goal based on such better understanding is to optimize devices to the level where they can be used successfully in humans, potentially in combination with hormone based drug therapies. (Also see press release "Enhancing weight loss: Gastric banding with hormone therapy.")
The numerous conditions associated with overweight and obesity, such as type 2 diabetes, are among the major widespread diseases in Germany. They are the focus of the research at the Helmholtz Zentrum München.
###
Further Information
Original publication:
Habegger, KM et al (2013). Duodenal Nutrient Exclusion Improves Metabolic Syndrome and Stimulates Villus Hyperplasia, Gut, doi:10.1136/gutjnl-2013-304583
Link zur Fachpublikation
As German Research Center for Environmental Health, Helmholtz Zentrum München pursues the goal of developing personalized medical approaches for the prevention and therapy of major common diseases such as diabetes mellitus and lung diseases. To achieve this, it investigates the interaction of genetics, environmental factors and lifestyle. The Helmholtz Zentrum München has about 2,100 staff members and is headquartered in Neuherberg in the north of Munich. Helmholtz Zentrum München is a member of the Helmholtz Association, a community of 18 scientific-technical and medical-biological research centers with a total of about 34,000 staff members. http://www.helmholtz-muenchen.de
The German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD) brings together experts in the field of diabetes research and interlinks basic research, epidemiology and clinical applications. Members are the German Diabetes Center in Düsseldorf, the German Institute of Human Nutrition (DIfE) in Potsdam-Rehbrücke, Helmholtz Zentrum München – German Research Center for Environmental Health, the Paul Langerhans Institutes of the University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus in Dresden and the University of Tübingen, as well as the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Association and the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres. The objective of the DZD is to find answers to open questions in diabetes research by means of a novel, integrative research approach and to make a significant contribution to improving the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diabetes mellitus. http://www.dzd-ev.de
The Institute of Diabetes and Obesity (IDO) studies the diseases of the metabolic syndrome by means of systems biological and translational approaches on the basis of cellular systems, genetically modified mouse models and clinical intervention studies. It seeks to discover new signaling pathways in order to develop innovative therapeutic approaches for the personalized prevention and treatment of obesity, diabetes and their concomitant diseases. IDO is part of the Helmholtz Diabetes Center (HDC).
Contact for the media
Communication Department
Helmholtz Zentrum München
German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH)
Ingolstädter Landstr. 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany
Phone: +49-89-3187-2238
Fax: 089-3187-3324
E-Mail: presse@helmholtz-muenchen.de
Scientific contact
Prof. Matthias Tschöp
Helmholtz Zentrum München
German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH)
Institute of Diabetes and Obesity
Ingolstädter Landstr. 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany
Phone: +49-89-3187-2103
E-Mail: matthias.tschoep@helmholtz-muenchen.de
Weight loss through the use of intestinal barrier sleeves
2013-10-10
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Malaria, toxoplasmosis: Toward new lines of research?
2013-10-10
This work, published on 10th October on the website of Nature Communications, concerns the role of one protein which is common to these parasites. Called AMA1, it has been at the heart of many years' research on upgrading treatments, such as trying out vaccination against malaria. However, the present authors have reservations about the success of therapeutic strategies which rely solely on the blockage of AMA1, by demonstrating that the malaria and toxoplasmosis parasites, without the protein, can develop normally.
With 1 million victims every year, malaria is the most ...
I'm ok, you're not ok
2013-10-10
This news release is available in German. Egoism and narcissism appear to be on the rise in our society, while empathy is on the decline. And yet, the ability to put ourselves in other people's shoes is extremely important for our coexistence. A research team headed by Tania Singer from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences has discovered that our own feelings can distort our capacity for empathy. This emotionally driven egocentricity is recognised and corrected by the brain. When, however, the right supramarginal gyrus doesn't function properly ...
'Ship in a bottle' detects dangerous vapors
2013-10-10
Rice University scientists took a lesson from craftsmen of old to assemble microscopic compounds that warn of the presence of dangerous fumes from solvents.
The researchers combined a common mineral, zeolite, with a metallic compound based on rhenium to make an "artificial nose" that can sniff out solvent gases. They found that in the presence of the compound, each gas had a photoluminescent "fingerprint" with a specific intensity, lifetime and color.
Rice chemist Angel Martí and his students reported their results this month in the journal Angewandte Chemie.
The ...
3D model reveals new information about iconic volcano
2013-10-10
The volcano on the Scottish peninsula Ardnamurchan is a popular place for the study of rocks and structures in the core of a volcano. Geology students read about it in text books and geologists have been certain that the Ardnamurchan volcano have three successive magma chambers. However, an international group of researchers, lead from Uppsala University, Sweden, has now showed that the volcano only has one single magma chamber.
The new study is published in Scientific Reports, the new open access journal of the Nature Publishing Group.
The 58 million year old Ardnamurchan ...
Several top websites use device fingerprinting to secretly track users
2013-10-10
A new study by KU Leuven-iMinds researchers has uncovered that 145 of the Internet's 10,000 top websites track users without their knowledge or consent. The websites use hidden scripts to extract a device fingerprint from users' browsers. Device fingerprinting circumvents legal restrictions imposed on the use of cookies and ignores the Do Not Track HTTP header. The findings suggest that secret tracking is more widespread than previously thought.
Device fingerprinting, also known as browser fingerprinting, is the practice of collecting properties of PCs, smartphones and ...
After almost a century, a question answered; genes protect themselves against being silenced
2013-10-10
Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) researchers have settled a century-old debate over whether occurrence of DNA methylation acts to silence gene expression, or if genes are turned off by other means before they are methylated.
As explicated today in the journal Nature, methylation in fact enforces gene silencing, and it is levels of a newly identified form of RNA produced by individual genes that determines whether they are turned off by the addition of a methyl (CH3) group by the enzyme DNA methylase 1 (DNMT1).
The study, led by HSCI Principal Faculty member Daniel ...
'Stadium waves' could explain lull in global warming
2013-10-10
One of the most controversial issues emerging from the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) is the failure of global climate models to predict a hiatus in warming of global surface temperatures since 1998. Several ideas have been put forward to explain this hiatus, including what the IPCC refers to as 'unpredictable climate variability' that is associated with large-scale circulation regimes in the atmosphere and ocean. The most familiar of these regimes is El Niño/La Niña, which are parts of an oscillation in the ocean-atmosphere ...
New hepatitis C drug shows potential in phase 2 trials
2013-10-10
Bethesda, MD -- The addition of danoprevir to the current treatment regimen for patients with hepatitis C leads to high rates of remission, according to a new article in Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association. The current standard of care for hepatitis C patients includes a combination of peginterferon and ribavirin.
"Despite recent advances, the current hepatitis C treatment regimen is burdensome on the patient and prone to adverse events," said Patrick Marcellin, lead study author from the Service d'Hépatologie and Inserm ...
Increased risk of depression linked to mountaintop coal mining
2013-10-10
New Rochelle, NY, October 10, 2013—People who live among the destructive environmental effects of mountaintop coal mining face an increased risk of major depression. The results of a study conducted in the coal mining regions of Central Appalachia that explored the relationship between psychological health and environmental degradation are published in Ecopsychology, a peer-reviewed, online journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Ecopsychology website.
Michael Hendryx (current affiliation Indian University, Bloomington) and ...
Massive spruce beetle outbreak in Colorado tied to drought, according to new CU study
2013-10-10
A new University of Colorado Boulder study indicates drought high in the northern Colorado mountains is the primary trigger of a massive spruce beetle outbreak that is tied to long-term changes in sea-surface temperatures from the Northern Atlantic Ocean, a trend that is expected to continue for decades.
The new study is important because it shows that drought is a better predictor of spruce beetle outbreaks in northern Colorado than temperature alone, said lead study author Sarah Hart, a CU-Boulder doctoral student in geography. Drought conditions appear to decrease ...