metabolic disease

He advanced the field of medical genetics, spoke out about reducing the stigma associated with mental illness, and captured attention for asserting that scientific evidence failed to demonstrate that life begins at conception.

Results from a small sample of Indian males suggest that lean individuals with a history of malnutrition suffer from a distinct type of diabetes characterized by a defect in insulin secretion.

Vesicles containing fragments of the organelles released from stressed adipocytes protect the heart against oxygen deprivation, a study in mice shows.

Synthetic biologists introduced an engineered microbe that may lead to new treatment options for phenylketonuria.

A long noncoding RNA from humans appeared to help the enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase work better in a mouse model of phenylketonuria, the disorder characterized by reduced activity of that enzyme.

Obese mice that exercised while pregnant gave birth to pups that grew up free of the metabolic issues present in the adult young of sedentary obese mothers—possibly by staving off epigenetic changes to a key metabolic gene.

Lactation boosts the quantity and quality of insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas, likely reducing a woman’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Low levels of a biochemical process involved in fat breakdown predicts weight gain and metabolic complications more than a decade later.

Limiting food intake leads to the conversion of white fat cells into more metabolically active brown fat cells through an immune response, a mouse study shows.

The results of studies on humans and zebrafish suggest how hyperglycemia can cause cognitive deficits.

Researchers unveil the most comprehensive atlas of genes underlying human metabolic pathways, paving the way for improved understanding and treatment of metabolic diseases.

Circadian time zones and metabolism

Why eating at the wrong times is tied to such profound and negative effects on our bodies

Many of the body's tissues can tell time, and these peripheral clocks can be influenced by environmental cues, such as the timing of food consumption.

Meet some of the people featured in the December 2012 issue of The Scientist.

Certain immune cells keep adipose tissue in check by helping to define normal and abnormal physiological states.