(Press-News.org) CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – A diet high in saturated fat is a key contributor to type 2 diabetes, a major health threat worldwide. Several decades ago scientists noticed that people with type 2 diabetes have overly active immune responses, leaving their bodies rife with inflammatory chemicals.
In addition, people who acquire the disease are typically obese and are resistant to insulin, the hormone that removes sugar from the blood and stores it as energy.
For years no one has known exactly how the three characteristics are related. But a handful of studies suggest that they are inextricably linked.
New research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine adds clarity to the connection. The study published online April 10 in the journal Nature Immunology finds that saturated fatty acids but not the unsaturated type can activate immune cells to produce an inflammatory protein, called interleukin-1beta.
"The cellular path that mediates fatty acid metabolism is also the one that causes interleukin-1beta production," says senior study co-author Jenny Y. Ting, PhD, William Kenan Rand Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology.
"Interleukin-1beta then acts on tissues and organs such as the liver, muscle and fat (adipose) to turn off their response to insulin, making them insulin resistant. As a result, activation of this pathway by fatty acid can lead to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes symptoms." Ting is also a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the UNC Inflammatory Diseases Institute.
INFORMATION:
Other authors of the report, all in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, are postdoctoral researcher and first author Haitao Wen, Denis Gris, Yu Lei, Shushmita Jha; Lu Zhang, Max Tze-Han Huang, and Willie June Brickey.
The research was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association Mid-Atlantic Affiliate.
UNC study helps clarify link between high-fat diet and type 2 diabetes
2011-04-12
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Penguins that shun ice still lose big from a warming climate
2011-04-12
WASHINGTON – Fluctuations in penguin populations in the Antarctic are linked more strongly to the availability of their primary food source than to changes in their habitats, according to a new study published online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Funded in part by the Lenfest Ocean Program, this research indicates that species often considered likely "winners" of changing conditions, such as large-scale ice melting, may actually end up as the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
The two penguin species of focus in the study ...
Effective pain management crucial to older adults' well-being
2011-04-12
Improved management of chronic pain can significantly reduce disability in older adults, according to the latest issue of the WHAT'S HOT newsletter from The Gerontological Society of America (GSA).
Based largely on presentation highlights from GSA's 63rd Annual Scientific Meeting in November 2010, the current WHAT'S HOT examines the impact of pain in older adults, strategies for managing pain and preserving function, and methods to improve the assessment and management of pain for residents in long-term care facilities, including those who have dementia. Support for this ...
MRI may contribute to early detection of Alzheimer's
2011-04-12
OAK BROOK, Ill. (April 11, 2011) – New research suggests that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) could help detect Alzheimer's disease (AD) at an early stage, before irreversible damage has occurred, according to a new study published online and in the June print edition of Radiology.
With no known treatment to alter its course, AD exacts an enormous toll on society. The Alzheimer's Association estimates that 5.4 million Americans are living with the disease today, and the cumulative costs for care could top $20 trillion over the next four decades. As a result, there is ...
Stress wrecks intestinal bacteria, could keep immune system on idle
2011-04-12
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Stress not only sends the human immune system into overdrive – it can also wreak havoc on the trillions of bacteria that work and thrive inside our digestive system.
New research suggests that this may be important because those bacteria play a significant role in triggering the innate immune system to stay slightly active, and thereby prepared to quickly spring into action in the face of an infection.
But exactly how stress makes these changes in these bacteria still isn't quite clear, researchers say.
"Since graduate school, I've been interested ...
Media's focus on ideal body shape can boost women's body satisfaction -- for a while
2011-04-12
COLUMBUS, Ohio – When researchers had college-age women view magazines for five straight days that only included images of women with thin, idealized body types, something surprising happened: the readers' own body satisfaction improved.
But the boost in body image came with a catch. Those women whose body satisfaction improved the most also were more likely to report that they engaged in dieting behaviors such as skipping meals or cutting carbohydrates during the course of the study.
That suggests these women may be inspired by the images they view and become momentarily ...
Scientists identify a surprising new source of cancer stem cells
2011-04-12
FINDINGS: Certain differentiated cells in breast tissue can spontaneously convert to a stem-cell-like state, according to Whitehead Institute researchers. Until now, scientific dogma has stated that differentiation is a one-way path; once cells specialize, they cannot return to the flexible stem-cell state on their own. These findings hold true for normal mammary cells as well as for breast cancer cells.
RELEVANCE: These findings may redefine how researchers view cancer stem cells – the cells capable of seeding new tumors at primary and distant sites in the body. Therapies ...
The world's smallest wedding rings
2011-04-12
This release is available in German.
FRANKFURT. Creating artificial structures from DNA is the objective of DNA nanotechnology. This new discipline, which combines biology, physics, chemistry and material science makes use of the ability of the natural DNA-strains' capacity for self assembly. Smileys or small boxes, measuring only 10s of nanometers (10 one-billionths of a meter) were created from DNA in a drop of water. Prof Alexander Heckel and his doctoral student Thorsten Schmidt from the "Cluster of Excellence for Macromolecular Complexes" at Goethe University were ...
Tuberculosis strain spread by the fur trade reveals stealthy approach of epidemics
2011-04-12
Patience may be a virtue in a person, but in an infectious disease, it is insidious. Witness tuberculosis, which can lie dormant in a human host for decades before bursting forth into infection. TB's stealthy nature has made it difficult to decipher how it spreads, seriously hampering efforts to control it. The World Health Organization estimates that a third of the people on Earth are infected.
Now, a study led by Stanford scientists has provided new insights into the behavior of tuberculosis by tracing the travels of a particular strain of the disease that was unintentionally ...
Ambulatory Providers Overly Optimistic about Reaching Meaningful Use
2011-04-12
Although nearly 80 percent of ambulatory providers that have purchased an EMR are confident they will qualify for meaningful use (MU) in 2011, a closer look at what functionalities they have actually implemented reveals that most still have significant holes to fill, according to a KLAS report. Over two thirds of the surveyed providers are not sharing medical records electronically with patients, and nearly half have not implemented clinical decision support (CDS) rules, two key MU requirements.
The report, "Ambulatory EMR: A KLAS Guide to Meaningful Use Success," presents ...
Excessive nitrogen harms the economy and environment -- first Europe-wide assessment published
2011-04-12
A major new study finds that nitrogen pollution is costing each person in Europe around £130 - £650 (€150 – €740 Euros) a year. The first European Nitrogen Assessment (ENA) is launched at a conference today in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The study, carried out by 200 experts from 21 countries and 89 organizations, estimates that the annual cost of damage caused by nitrogen across Europe is £60 - £280 billion (€70 -320 billion), more than double the extra income gained from using nitrogen fertilizers in European agriculture.
Professor Bob Watson Chief Scientific Advisor to ...