gene clustering challenges textbook thinking

, 12 labs fail to replicate effects of PYY3-36 on appetite and body mass

Courtesy of Ray Clark & Mervyn Goff/Photo Researchers, Inc."I'm a potential obese person," says Steve Bloom of Imperial College London. "I feel hungry all the time and have to keep [jogging] and restraining myself when they put chocolate biscuits on the table.... I keep my weight down, but I've still got a potbelly. And that's in spite of being an [obesity] expert and knowing what I'm supposed to do."Which, presumably, is to burn off and eliminate as many calories as one eats. It's an equati

Triglycerides prevent leptin from crossing the blood-brain barrier

Study suggests angiosperm expansion caused, rather than hindered, a fern renaissance

I have never thought stuffed birds make good museum exhibits. A stuffed bird looks exactly that – stuffed. Compared to mammals or arthropods, birds lack physical diversity; their behavior and song are far more interesting, but neither survives the stuffing process. Which is why, on childhood trips to London's Natural History Museum, I'd always hurry through the bird gallery to get to the insects beyond (dead insects are nearly as good as live ones). However, one particular avian exhibit wo

bacteriocins may promote, rather than eliminate, microbial diversity

Digital VisionIn April 2003, the UK's Medical Research Council established a task force to assess possible future research models for the council's National Institute of Medical Research. "We've been looking ... for any hard data that helps us look at the relative merits of different models," says MRC task force secretary David Smith, "and we're not finding it." While the council gathered lots of anecdotal material, Smith continues, "I don't think it obviously leads to any clear conclusion.No wo

Manipulation of soil communities enables some introduced species to turn into 'monsters'

Figure 1ADIPONECTIN, A FAT CELL HORMONEFactors including PPAR-gand caloric availability influence adiponectin synthesis and secretion. Once released, adiponectin increases free fatty acid (FFA) transport, oxidation, and dissipation in skeletal muscle. It also increases the liver’s sensitivity to insulin either directly or by lowering circulating lipids. (Reprinted with permission from A.R. Salitel, Nature Med, 7:887–8, 2001.)Starvation is rarely a problem these days for those in indu

Homo sapiens has no shortage of distinguishing features: We alone among primates are furless (that most mammalian of characteristics); we are the only species clever enough to ponder why that might be; and we can ponder such matters while pacing back and forth on two legs. Our cleverness, however, hasn't helped us determine why we have these qualities, but as recent developments in the hirsute-less debate reveal, they make for interesting pondering. A mammal needs a good reason to discard it

Redrawn from images by Masayasu Kojima  THE ONE SIDE OF HOMEOSTASIS: Ghrelin, produced by the stomach, increases appetite, growth hormone (GH) release, and adiposity. But the process is far less straightforward than previously thought. Obesity is big. A public with a seemingly insatiable appetite for weight-loss products spends more than $35 billion (US) annually on diet products or programs in North America, according to the US Federal Trade Commission. And, basic research findings are