PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Understanding the antiepileptic benefits of an Atkins-like diet

2011-06-24
(Press-News.org) Some individuals with epilepsy fail to respond to treatment with conventional drugs but benefit from consuming a ketogenic diet — a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet similar to the more commonly known Atkins diet. A team of researchers, led by Detlev Boison, at the Legacy Research Institute, Portland, has now identified in mice the molecular mechanism responsible for the antiepileptic effects of the ketogenic diet.

The team found that a ketogenic diet reduces seizures in mice by decreasing expression of the protein Adk, which is responsible for clearing the natural antiepileptic agent adenosine from the brain. The clinical relevance of these data are highlighted by the team's finding that brain tissue from patients with epilepsy that fails to respond to treatment with conventional drugs shows increased levels of Adk. The team suggests that their data could lead to the development of less-restrictive antiepileptic diets and alternate pharmaceutical approaches to treatment, notions with which Robert Greene, at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, concurs in an accompanying commentary.

### TITLE: A ketogenic diet suppresses seizures in mice through adenosine A1 receptors

AUTHOR CONTACT:
Detlev Boison
Legacy Research Institute, Portland, Oregon, USA.
Phone: 503.232.0589; Fax: 503.232.5465; E-mail: dboison@downeurobiology.org.

View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/57813?key=b823f84a9a31512e6849

ACCOMPANYING COMMENTARY
TITLE: Adenosine: front and center in linking nutrition and metabolism to neuronal activity

AUTHOR CONTACT:
Robert W. Greene
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Dallas VA Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA.
Phone: 214.648.5108; Fax: 214.648.7037; E-mail: robertw.greene@utsouthwestern.edu.

View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/58391?key=dc1ba8608a2fa737a42f


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

JCI table of contents: June 23, 2011

2011-06-24
EDITOR'S PICK: What makes a happy meal? Many people when stressed turn to high calorie "comfort foods". Despite the contribution this behavior makes to the current obesity epidemic, little is known about the molecules and nervous system circuits that control it. Insight into this could provide new targets for the development of therapeutics to curb this potentially detrimental behavior. In this context, a team of researchers, led by Jeffrey Zigman, at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, working with a new mouse model of prolonged psychosocial ...

When matter melts

When matter melts
2011-06-24
In its infancy, when the universe was a few millionths of a second old, the elemental constituents of matter moved freely in a hot, dense soup of quarks and gluons. As the universe expanded, this quark–gluon plasma quickly cooled, and protons and neutrons and other forms of normal matter "froze out": the quarks became bound together by the exchange of gluons, the carriers of the color force. "The theory that describes the color force is called quantum chromodynamics, or QCD," says Nu Xu of the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley ...

Effects of stress can be inherited, and here's how

2011-06-24
None of us are strangers to stress of various kinds. It turns out the effects of all those stresses can change the fate of future generation, influencing our very DNA without any change to the underlying sequence of As, Gs, Ts and Cs. Now, researchers reporting in the June 24th issue of Cell, a Cell Press publication, have new evidence that helps to explain just how these epigenetic changes really happen. "There has been a big discussion about whether the stress effect can be transmitted to the next generation without DNA sequence change," said Shunsuke Ishii of RIKEN ...

How to Avoid Harm at the Doctor's Office After a Tampa Car Accident

2011-06-24
A doctor's office visit can be stressful, no matter what the circumstances, but imagine if you're visiting your doctor after you've been injured in a car accident. If you've spoken with an attorney about your Florida motor vehicle accident, your attorney may have counseled you on how to protect your accident claim in the exam room. If you haven't spoken to an attorney, there are mistakes you want to avoid to prevent damaging any possible claim you have. Mistakes to Avoid at a Visit With Your Doctor Don't Lie About Your Pain or Ignore Pain: The most common, and ...

Leftover embryonic cells connect gastric reflux and cancer

2011-06-24
The ultimate source of some cancers is embryonic cells. Research published in the June 24th Cell, a Cell Press publication, traces the precursor of deadly esophageal cancers to leftover embryonic cells found in all adults. Some people with gastric reflux disease have a greater risk of developing esophageal cancer. These patients often have Barrett's esophagus, a condition in which intestinal-like cells appear in the esophagus. Esophageal cancers are difficult to treat and, together with gastric adenocarcinomas, kill more than a million people each year. "A lot of ...

The flames of Betelgeuse

The flames of Betelgeuse
2011-06-24
Betelgeuse, a red supergiant in the constellation of Orion, is one of the brightest stars in the night sky. It is also one of the biggest, being almost the size of the orbit of Jupiter — about four and half times the diameter of the Earth's orbit. The VLT image shows the surrounding nebula, which is much bigger than the supergiant itself, stretching 60 billion kilometres away from the star's surface — about 400 times the distance of the Earth from the Sun. Red supergiants like Betelgeuse represent one of the last stages in the life of a massive star. In this short-lived ...

Mechanism for stress-induced epigenetic inheritance uncovered in new study

Mechanism for stress-induced epigenetic inheritance uncovered in new study
2011-06-24
Researchers at RIKEN have uncovered a mechanism by which the effects of stress in the fly species Drosophila are inherited epigenetically over many generations through changes to the structure of chromatin, the material that makes up the cell nucleus. Published in the journal Cell, the results highlight the role of the transcription factor dATF-2 in chromatin assembly, marking a major advance in our understanding of non-Mendelian inheritance. Recent years have seen growing interest in the phenomenon of epigenetic inheritance: the idea that our genome, through epigenetic ...

Senators Latest Target: Smartphone DUI Apps

2011-06-24
An app created by the Canadian based creators of Blackberry, Research In Motion, has recently been pulled off the company's online store after a formal request from four U.S. Senators. Known as the "DUI app," it allows users to pinpoint the exact locations of local police checkpoints using GPS. The apps also locate traffic cameras and speed traps. Web applications like these, however, are gaining widespread attention by law enforcement and legislative officials across the country. Senators Harry Reid, D-Nevada; Charles Schumer, D-New York; Frank Lautenberg, ...

Oxytocin promises hope in Prader-Willi syndrome

2011-06-24
Prader-Willi syndrome is a rare genetic disorder which affects one child in 25,000. Children born with this syndrome have a range of complex neurological and developmental problems which continue into adult life. These can manifest as cognitive and behavioral difficulties, weight gain, problems in controlling their temper and attendant difficulties in socialization. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases, demonstrates that the hormone oxytocin is able to positively affect patients by improving trust, mood, and reducing ...

Synthetic collagen from maize has human properties

2011-06-24
Synthetic collagen has a wide range of applications in reconstructive and cosmetic surgery and in the food industry. For proper function in animals a certain number of prolines within the protein need to be hydroxylated. BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Biotechnology reports that for the first time the α1 chain of type 1 collagen has been produced in maize with similar levels of proline hydroxylation to human collagen. Most collagen used is derived from animals but there are risks associated with this collagen containing infectious agents or being rejected ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Older teens who start vaping post-high school risk rapid progress to frequent use

Corpse flowers are threatened by spotty recordkeeping

Riding the AI wave toward rapid, precise ocean simulations

Are lifetimes of big appliances really shrinking?

Pink skies

Monkeys are world’s best yodellers - new research

Key differences between visual- and memory-led Alzheimer’s discovered

% weight loss targets in obesity management – is this the wrong objective?

An app can change how you see yourself at work

NYC speed cameras take six months to change driver behavior, effects vary by neighborhood, new study reveals

New research shows that propaganda is on the rise in China

Even the richest Americans face shorter lifespans than their European counterparts, study finds

Novel genes linked to rare childhood diarrhea

New computer model reveals how Bronze Age Scandinavians could have crossed the sea

Novel point-of-care technology delivers accurate HIV results in minutes

Researchers reveal key brain differences to explain why Ritalin helps improve focus in some more than others

Study finds nearly five-fold increase in hospitalizations for common cause of stroke

Study reveals how alcohol abuse damages cognition

Medicinal cannabis is linked to long-term benefits in health-related quality of life

Microplastics detected in cat placentas and fetuses during early pregnancy

Ancient amphibians as big as alligators died in mass mortality event in Triassic Wyoming

Scientists uncover the first clear evidence of air sacs in the fossilized bones of alvarezsaurian dinosaurs: the "hollow bones" which help modern day birds to fly

Alcohol makes male flies sexy

TB patients globally often incur "catastrophic costs" of up to $11,329 USD, despite many countries offering free treatment, with predominant drivers of cost being hospitalization and loss of income

Study links teen girls’ screen time to sleep disruptions and depression

Scientists unveil starfish-inspired wearable tech for heart monitoring

Footprints reveal prehistoric Scottish lagoons were stomping grounds for giant Jurassic dinosaurs

AI effectively predicts dementia risk in American Indian/Alaska Native elders

First guideline on newborn screening for cystic fibrosis calls for changes in practice to improve outcomes

Existing international law can help secure peace and security in outer space, study shows

[Press-News.org] Understanding the antiepileptic benefits of an Atkins-like diet