(Press-News.org) A new study from Uppsala University demonstrates that elderly humans carrying a common variant of the fat mass and obesity gene FTO also have a shifted endocrine balance. Low blood concentrations of the satiety hormone leptin and high blood concentrations of the hunger promoting hormone ghrelin makes carriers of the FTO gene put on weight. The findings are published in the journal Diabetes.
In the Prospective Investigation of the Vasculature in Uppsala Seniors, researchers from Uppsala University and the University of Umeå used data from 985 elderly participants (50% females) with an average age of 70 years to examine whether circulating levels of ghrelin and leptin, measured after an overnight fast, are linked to a common variant of FTO.
"We found that elderly carrying an obesity-susceptible variant of the FTO gene had plasma ghrelin levels that were approximately 9 percent higher than in non-carriers. In contrast, serum levels of the satiety enhancing hormone leptin were roughly 11 percent lower", says Christian Benedict, researcher at Uppsala University.
"The present findings suggest that this FTO variant may facilitate weight gain in humans by shifting the endocrine balance from the satiety hormone leptin toward the hunger promoting hormone ghrelin", says Christian Benedict.
INFORMATION:
For more information, please contact:
Christian Benedict, researcher at the Department of Neuroscience, mobile: +46 (0)72-7059019, e-mail:christian.benedict@neuro.uu.se or
Cecilia Yates, information officer at Department of Neuroscience, mobile: +46 (0)704-334801, e-mail:cecilia.yates@neuro.uu.se
Benedict C et al. Brief communication: The fat mass and obesity-associated gene (FTO) is linked to higher plasma levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin and lower serum levels of the satiety hormone leptin in older adults. Diabetes (in press)
Obesity gene linked to hormonal changes that favor energy surplus
2014-06-11
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Toward 24-7 glucose monitoring to help manage diabetes
2014-06-11
Nearly half a million people with diabetes end up in emergency rooms around the U.S. every year due to the seizures and other consequences of dropping or spiking blood-sugar levels associated with the disease. To help prevent serious complications, scientists have now developed a new glucose-sensing protein that could one day be part of an implantable, 24-7 monitoring device. They describe the protein in the journal ACS Chemical Biology.
Sylvia Daunert and colleagues note that scientists have been working on new ways to track glucose levels. Most patients with diabetes ...
American Heart Association conference highlights solutions for reducing sodium intake
2014-06-11
11 June 2014 – Sodium intake around the world continues to be of concern1 and public health authorities hypothesise that it may be linked with cardiovascular disease risk2. In an effort to identify ways to reduce the amount of sodium consumed and provided in the food supply, the American Heart Association brought together over 100 key stakeholders and thought leaders at a special conference in June 2013. Proceedings from the conference were published in the May 2014 edition of Circulation3.
Among the top priorities identified by the group were increasing consumer understanding ...
Gauging local illicit drug use in real time could help police fight abuse
2014-06-11
The war on drugs could get a boost with a new method that analyzes sewage to track levels of illicit drug use in local communities in real time. The new study, a first-of-its-kind in the U.S., was published in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology and could help law enforcement identify new drug hot spots and monitor whether anti-drug measures are working.
Kurunthachalam Kannan and Bikram Subedi note that to date, most methods to estimate drug use in the U.S. are based on surveys, crime statistics and drug seizures by law enforcement. But much illegal drug ...
Viewing deeper into the quantum world
2014-06-11
One of the important tasks for quantum physics researchers and engineers is designing more sensitive instruments to study the tiny fields and forces that govern the world we live in. The most precise measuring instruments devised to date, such as atomic clocks or gravitational wave detectors, are interferometric in nature and operate according to the laws of quantum mechanics.
As with all quantum objects, photons – the basic building blocks of light - display a "wave-particle" duality. Interferometers exploit the wave-like behaviour of photons to measure a signal, known ...
Study finds cognitive performance can be improved in teens months, years after traumatic brain injury
2014-06-11
Traumatic brain injuries from sports, recreational activities, falls or car accidents are the leading cause of death and disability in children and adolescents. While previously it was believed that the window for brain recovery was at most one year after injury, new research from the Center for BrainHealth at The University of Texas at Dallas published online today in the open-access journal Frontiers in Neurology shows cognitive performance can be improved to significant degrees months, and even years, after injury, given targeted brain training.
"The after-effects ...
Guarding against 'Carmageddon' cyberattacks
2014-06-11
The potential value of turning the nation's freeways into "smart transportation systems" is enormous. Equipping the nation's concrete arteries with a nervous system of computers and sensors that directly control on-ramp signals to keep traffic moving smoothly can substantially reduce travel times, fuel consumption and air pollution, not to mention improve road safety. In California alone the economic penalty of traffic congestion has been estimated at $400 million in extra costs and $3.5 million in lost wages every day.
The tightly integrated computing and networking ...
Elucidating optimal biological tissue shape during growth
2014-06-11
A team of European scientists has now extended a previous biophysical model to investigate elongated growth within biological tissues by describing the evolution over time of the shape of a fruit fly's wing. They found the aspect ratio of the typical biological shapes may exhibit a maximum at finite time and then decrease. For sufficiently large tissues, the shape is expected to approach that of a disk or sphere. These findings have been reported by Carles Blanch-Mercader from the University of Barcelona, Spain, and colleagues, in a paper published in EPJ E. They provide ...
The inflatable concrete dome
2014-06-11
This news release is available in German.
Large shell structures made of concrete or stone are hardly ever built any more. The reason is that their construction requires large, expensive supporting structures. At the Vienna University of Technology, a completely new construction method has been developed, which does not require any timber structures at all: a flat concrete slab hardens on the ground, and then an air cushion below the plate is inflated, bending the concrete and quickly forming a sustainable shell. Even large event halls could be built this way. In ...
Mechanism explains complex brain wiring
2014-06-11
How neurons are created and integrate with each other is one of biology's greatest riddles. Researcher Dietmar Schmucker from VIB-KU Leuven unravels a part of the mystery in Science magazine. He describes a mechanism that explains novel aspects of how the wiring of highly branched neurons in the brain works. These new insights into how complex neural networks are formed are very important for understanding and treating neurological diseases.
Neurons, or nerve cells
It is estimated that a person has 100 billion neurons, or nerve cells. These neurons have thin, elongated, ...
HPV testing: IQWiG still sees indications of a benefit in primary screening
2014-06-11
The Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) assessed current study results on the benefit of a test for human papillomavirus (HPV) and examined whether its first assessment from January 2012 is still valid. The rapid report published by the Institute on 11 June 2014 answers this question with "yes". IQWiG still sees indications that precursors of cervical cancer can be detected and treated earlier and consequently tumours occur less often in women who underwent this testing.
HPV testing is not reimbursed by SHI funds
In screening for cervical cancer, ...