(Press-News.org) Binge easting disorder affects approximately 5% of adults in the US. Left unchecked, this disorder leads to health complications, including obesity, hypertension, and diabetes. The cause of this disease is poorly understood and treatment options are limited. A new study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation suggests that estrogen replacement may limit binge-eating behaviors. Using a mouse binge-eating model, Yong Xu and colleagues at Baylor School of Medicine found that estradiol suppressed binge eating behaviors. This effect required the presence of estrogen receptors in serotonin neurons, and direct delivery of an estrogen conjugate to serotonin neurons reduced binge eating in these animals. Additionally, activation of estrogen receptors with the drug propylpyrazole triol suppressed binge eating. Together, these results suggest that targeting estrogen receptors should be further explored as a strategy to inhibit binge eating.
INFORMATION:
TITLE:
Estrogens stimulate serotonin neurons to inhibit binge-like eating in mice
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Yong Xu
Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX , USA
Phone: 7137987199; E-mail: yongx@bcm.edu
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/74726?key=8e4efb9644d3c536b53c
Targeting estrogen receptors prevents binge eating in mice
2014-08-27
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Young children's sipping/tasting of alcohol reflects parental modeling
2014-08-26
A new study examines antecedent predictors of childhood initiation of sipping or tasting alcohol.
Findings indicate that initiation of sipping/tasting was less related to psychosocial proneness for problem behavior and more related to perceived parental approval for child sipping.
Previous research had determined that whether or not a child sips or tastes alcohol is associated with the child's attitude toward sipping and with a family environment supportive of alcohol use. This study extends this former research to examine antecedent predictors of childhood initiation ...
Prenatal alcohol exposure is associated with later excess weight/obesity during adolescence
2014-08-26
Growth deficiency is a defining feature of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD).
A new study has found that rates of excess weight/obesity are elevated in adolescents with partial fetal alcohol syndrome (pFAS).
Females with FASD may be at a greater risk for excess weight/obesity than males during adolescence.
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) refer to a range of disabilities, and include individuals with neurocognitive impairments as well as growth irregularities ranging from deficient to normal. However, very little is known about the prevalence of excessive ...
Alcoholics have an abnormal CD8 T cell response to the influenza virus
2014-08-26
Chronic drinking is associated with an increased incidence and severity of respiratory infections.
A reduced CD8 T cell response was previously implicated in increased disease severity due to influenza virus infections.
New rodent findings indicate that only some CD8 T cell functions are damaged while others remain intact.
It is well known that chronic drinking is associated with an increased incidence and severity of respiratory infections. Previous research had demonstrated that an increase in disease severity to influenza virus (IAV) infections was due, in part, ...
Hypertension self-management program helps reduce blood pressure for high-risk patients
2014-08-26
Among patients with hypertension at high risk of cardiovascular disease, a program that consisted of patients measuring their blood pressure and adjusting their antihypertensive medication accordingly resulted in lower systolic blood pressure at 12 months compared to patients who received usual care, according to a study in the August 27 issue of JAMA.
Data from national and international surveys suggest that despite improvements over the last decade, significant proportions of patients have poor control of their elevated blood pressure. Self-monitoring of blood pressure ...
Collaborative care intervention improves depression among teens
2014-08-26
Among adolescents with depression seen in primary care, a collaborative care intervention that included patient and parent engagement and education resulted in greater improvement in depressive symptoms at 12 months than usual care, according to a study in the August 27 issue of JAMA.
Depressed youth are at greater risk of suicide, substance abuse, early pregnancy, low educational attainment, recurrent depression and poor long-term health. Fourteen percent of adolescents between the ages of 13-18 years have major depression yet few receive evidence-based treatments for ...
EPO may help reduce risk of brain abnormalities in preterm infants
2014-08-26
High-dose erythropoietin (EPO; a hormone) administered within 42 hours of birth to preterm infants was associated with a reduced risk of brain injury, as indicated by magnetic resonance imaging, according to a study in the August 27 issue of JAMA.
Survival of premature infants has improved over the past decades, but at the expense of an increase in the number of infants affected by long-term developmental disabilities. Premature infants are at risk of developing encephalopathy of prematurity, which includes structural changes of brain white and gray matter and is associated ...
Study questions generalizability of findings of CV trials for heart attack patients
2014-08-26
An analysis of a cardiovascular registry finds that of clinical trials that included heart attack patients, participation among eligible patients was infrequent and has been declining, and trial participants had a lower risk profile and a more favorable prognosis compared with the broader population of patients who have had a heart attack, according to a study in the August 27 issue of JAMA.
Jacob A. Udell, M.D., M.P.H., of the University of Toronto, and colleagues evaluated whether participants in cardiovascular trials are representative of contemporary patients with ...
EPO: Protecting the brains of very preterm infants
2014-08-26
Premature babies are far more at risk than infants born at term of developing brain damage resulting in neurodevelopmental delay that may persist throughout their lives. A team of specialists in infant brain imaging from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the University Hospital of Geneva (HUG) has demonstrated the following: administering three doses of erythropoietin – a hormone that stimulates the formation of red blood cells – immediately after birth significantly reduces brain damage in babies. The results are available in more detail in ...
Collaborative care improves depression in teens
2014-08-26
SEATTLE—How best to care for the many adolescents who have depression? In a collaborative care intervention, a care manager continually reached out to teens—delivering and following up on treatment in a primary-care setting (the office of a pediatrician or family doctor, not a psychiatrist or psychologist) at Group Health Cooperative. Depression outcomes after a year were significantly better with this approach than with usual care, according to a randomized controlled trial published in JAMA.
Depression is common in adolescents: Up to one in five have major depression ...
Attacking a rare disease at its source with gene therapy
2014-08-26
PHILADELPHIA — Treating the rare disease MPS I is a challenge. MPS I, caused by the deficiency of a key enzyme called IDUA, eventually leads to the abnormal accumulation of certain molecules and cell death.
The two main treatments for MPS I are bone marrow transplantation and intravenous enzyme replacement therapy, but these are only marginally effective or clinically impractical, especially when the disease strikes the central nervous system (CNS). Using an animal model, a team from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has proven the efficacy ...