KYUNGBUK KOREA , July 21, 2010
Capsaicin, the stuff that gives chili peppers their kick, may cause weight loss and fight fat buildup by triggering certain beneficial protein changes in the body, according to a new study on the topic. The report, which could lead to new treatments for obesity, appears in ACS’ monthly Journal of Proteome Research.

Chili peppers contain an ingredient that may cause weight loss and fight fat.

Jong Won Yun and colleagues point out that obesity is a major public health threat worldwide, linked to diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and other health problems. Laboratory studies have hinted that capsaicin may help fight obesity by decreasing calorie intake, shrinking fat tissue, and lowering fat levels in the blood. Nobody, however, knows exactly how capsaicin might trigger such beneficial effects.

In an effort to find out, the scientists fed high-fat diets with or without capsaicin to lab rats used to study obesity. The capsaicin-treated rats lost 8 percent of their body weight and showed changes in levels of at least 20 key proteins found in fat. The altered proteins work to break down fats. “These changes provide valuable new molecular insights into the mechanism of the antiobesity effects of capsaicin,” the scientists say.

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Resveratrol - found in red wine, grapes, blueberries, peanuts and other plants - stops out of control blood vessel growth in the eye, according to vision researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Rajendra S. Apte MD,PhD

The discovery has implications for preserving vision in blinding eye diseases such as diabetic retinopathy and age related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in Americans over 50.

The formation of new blood vessels, called angiogenesis, also plays a key role in certain cancers and in atherosclerosis. Conducting experiments in mouse retinas, the researchers found that resveratrol can inhibit angiogenesis. Another surprise was the pathway through which resveratrol blocked angiogenesis. The findings are reported in the July issue of the American Journal of Pathology.

“A great deal of research has identified resveratrol as an anti aging compound, and given our interest in age related eye disease, we wanted to find out whether there was a link,” says Washington University retina specialist Rajendra S. Apte, MD, PhD, the study’s senior investigator. “There were reports on resveratrol’s effects on blood vessels in other parts of the body, but there was no evidence that it had any effects within the eye.”

The investigators studied mice that develop abnormal blood vessels in the retina after laser treatment. Apte’s team found that when the mice were given resveratrol, the abnormal blood vessels began to disappear.

Examining the blood-vessel cells in the laboratory, they identified a pathway - known as a eukaryotic elongation factor 2 kinase (eEF2) regulated pathway - that was responsible for the compound’s protective effects. That was a surprise because past research involving resveratrol’s anti aging effects had implicated a different mechanism that these experiments showed not to be involved.

“We have identified a novel pathway that could become a new target for therapies,” Apte says. “And we believe the pathway may be involved both in age related eye disease and in other diseases where angiogenesis plays a destructive role.”

Previous research into resveratrol’s influence on aging and obesity had identified interactions between the red wine compound and a group of proteins called sirtuins. Those proteins were not related to resveratrol’s effects on abnormal blood vessel formation. Instead, the researchers say that in addition to investigating resveratrol as a potential therapy, they also want to look more closely at the eEF2 pathway to determine whether it might provide a new set of targets for therapies, both for eye disease and other problems related to abnormal angiogenesis.

Apte, an assistant professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences and of developmental biology, says because resveratrol is given orally, patients may prefer it to many current treatments for retinal disease, which involve eye injections. The compound also is easily absorbed in the body.

In mice, resveratrol was effective both at preventing new blood vessels and at eliminating abnormal blood vessels that already had begun to develop.

“This could potentially be a preventive therapy in high risk patients,” he says. “And because it worked on existing, abnormal blood vessels in the animals, it may be a therapy that can be started after angiogenesis already is causing damage.”

Apte stresses that the mouse model of macular degeneration they used is not identical to the disease in human eyes. In addition, the mice received large resveratrol doses, much more than would be found in several bottles of red wine. If resveratrol therapy is tried in people with eye disease, it would need to be given in pill form because of the high doses required, Apte says.

There are three major eye diseases that resveratrol treatment may help: age related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and retinopathy of prematurity. Age related macular degeneration involves the development of abnormal blood vessels beneath the center of the retina. It accounts for more than 40 percent of blindness among the elderly in nursing homes, and as baby boomers get older, the problem is expected to grow, with at least 8 million cases predicted by the year 2020.

In diabetic retinopathy, those blood vessels don’t develop beneath the retina. They grow into the retina itself. Diabetic retinopathy causes vision loss in about 20 percent of patients with diabetes. Almost 24 million people have diabetes in the United States alone.

Retinopathy of prematurity occurs when premature babies with immature retinas experience an obstruction in blood flow into the retina. In response, those children often develop abnormal blood vessels that can cause retinal detachment and interfere with vision. Worldwide, that condition blinds 50,000 newborn babies each year.

Apte says the pathway his laboratory has identified may be active not only in those blinding eye diseases, but in cancers and atherosclerosis as well. If so, then one day it might be possible to use resveratrol to improve eyesight and to prevent cardiovascular disease and some types of cancer, too.

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CINCINNATI - Scientists at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center have discovered that a diet with high levels of fructose - levels equivalent to that in high fructose corn syrup - and of trans fats not only increases obesity, but also leads to significant fatty liver disease with scar tissue.

The study’s main author Rohit Kohli, M.D., gastroenterologist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center Photo: cincinnatichildrens.org

Moreover, the researchers conducted the study in a new mouse model of obesity and liver disease that so closely models human disease they will now be able to test therapies to determine their effectiveness, according to Rohit Kohli, M.D., a gastroenterologist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and the study’s main author.

“Fructose consumption accounts for approximately 10.2 percent of calories in the average diet in the United States and has been linked to many health problems, including obesity, cardiovascular disease and liver disease,” says Dr. Kohli. “We’ve developed a mouse model that is very close to human disease, allowing us to better understand the process involved in the development and progression of obesity-related fatty liver disease.”

The study also includes preliminary data on a simple blood test for a biomarker that differentiates the stages of disease in this model. Physicians currently monitor the progression of fatty liver disease by taking liver biopsies, which are invasive procedures.

The study, which was conducted with scientists from the Metabolic Disease Institute at the University of Cincinnati, is published online in the journal Hepatology.

The study was conducted in mice, some of which were fed a normal diet of rodent chow and some a 16 week diet of high fructose enriched drinking water and trans fat solids. Their liver tissue was then analyzed for fat content, scar tissue formation (fibrosis), and the biological mechanism of damage. This was done by measuring reactive oxygen stress, inflammatory cell type and plasma levels of oxidative stress markers, which are known to play important roles in the development of obesity related liver disease and its progression to end stage liver disease.

The investigators found that mice fed the normal calorie chow diet remained lean and did not have fatty liver disease. Mice fed high calorie diets (trans fat alone or a combination of trans fat and high fructose) became obese and had fatty liver disease. “Interestingly, it was only the group fed the combination of trans fat and high fructose which developed the advanced fatty liver disease which had fibrosis,” says Dr. Kohli. “This same group also had increased oxidative stress in the liver, increased inflammatory cells, and increased levels of plasma oxidative stress markers.”

Dr. Kohli hopes to further investigate the mechanism of liver injury caused by high fructose enriched drinking water and study a therapeutic intervention of antioxidant supplementation. Antioxidants are natural defenses against oxidative stress and may reverse or protect against advanced liver damage, according to Dr. Kohli.

The investigators also would like to use this model to better understand human fatty liver disease and perform clinical trials using novel therapeutic and monitoring tools.

“Our data suggest that supplementation with pharmaceuticals agents should be tested on our new model to establish whether one is able to reverse or protect against progressive liver scarring and damage,” says Dr. Kohli.

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EAST LANSING, Mich. - MAY 18, 2010
Cholesterol crystals, known to be a catalyst for heart attacks and strokes, also cause cells to send out danger signals that can lead to the inflammation and hardening of arteries, according to a Michigan State University cardiologist.

George Abela, chief of the cardiology division in MSU’s College of Human Medicine. of Medicine Photos:news.msu.edu

The protruding elements seen in the different slides are cholesterol crystals. Those elements are arising from within the artery wall, causing tearing and damage to the artery. The colors have been added for enhancement and imagery.

The discovery by George Abela, chief of the cardiology division in MSU’s College of Human Medicine, and a team of researchers provides new insights into how arteries harden - a process called atherosclerosis - and gives hope for new and early treatments of cardiovascular disease.

The findings are published in the most recent edition of the journal Nature.

Past research has shown that as cholesterol builds up along the wall of an artery, it crystallizes from a liquid to a solid state and expands, said Abela, who has been studying cholesterol crystals for nearly a decade. As the crystals expand, they can disrupt plaque and cause clotting, leading to cardiac attacks. That research also was recently highlighted recently in the Journal of Clinical Lipidology.

In a new discovery, Abela and the team - while looking at causes of inflammation during atherosclerosis in mice - found that the once cholesterol crystals form in the arterial wall, they activate a biomarker called NLRP3 that induces inflammation.

“What we have found now, at the cellular level, is that the crystals are an early cause rather than a late consequence of inflammation,” Abela said.

The discovery could lead to new treatments for heart disease.

“Since cholesterol crystals form very early in the process of heart disease, with great potential to aggravate atherosclerosis, we can target them early on,” Abela said. “We can target new therapies by reducing cholesterol crystal deposits early on or use an inhibitor to block the inflammatory biomarker.”

Abela added that the biomarker activated by the crystals could be a better indicator of potential cardiovascular disease than others, such as serum cholesterol, or the amount of cholesterol found in the bloodstream.

“Now we treat atherosclerosis on the systematic level; with this discovery we can also treat it the cellular level,” he said.

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BUFFALO, N.Y. - MAY 3, 2010
Obesity, a condition linked to heart disease and diabetes, now appears to be associated with another health problem, but one that affects men only - low testosterone levels.

Sandeep Dhindsa, MD is an endocrinology specialist in the UB Department of Medicine of Medicine Photo:diabetes- endocrinologycenterofwny.com

Results of a study published online ahead of print in the journal Diabetes Care, conducted by University at Buffalo endocrinologists, showed that 40 percent of obese participants involved in the Hypogonadism in Males (HIM) study had lower than normal testosterone readings.

The percentage rose to 50 percent among obese men with diabetes. Results also revealed that as body mass index (BMI) - a relationship of weight to height - increased, testosterone levels fell.

“The effect of diabetes on lowering testosterone levels was similar to that of a weight gain of approximately 20 pounds,” says Sandeep Dhindsa, MD, an endocrinology specialist in the UB Department of Medicine and first author on the study.

“In view of the fact that almost one-third of the U.S. is obese, these observations have profound pathophysiological, clinical, epidemiological and public health implications.”

This is the largest analysis of the association between obesity and low testosterone, and the first to compare prevalence of low testosterone with obesity and diabetes separately and together. The study shows that obesity and diabetes may exert independent influences on testosterone concentrations.

“We published a report in 2004 on the high prevalence of low testosterone levels in men with type 2 diabetes, and multiple studies all over the world have confirmed the association of low testosterone with diabetes,” Dhindsa notes.

“The Endocrine Society now recommends that all men with type 2 diabetes should have their testosterone levels measured. Our new study shows that obese men also have a very high prevalence of low testosterone levels, so physicians should consider screening obese non diabetic men, as well, for low testosterone.”

The HIM study was funded by Solvay Pharmaceuticals Inc., and was conducted from November 2003 to February 2004 in 95 primary care practices throughout the U.S. The study involved 2,165 men 45 years or older who provided blood samples for analysis of testosterone concentrations.

UB researchers excluded participants from the full study who had no BMI data or were on certain drugs that can affect testosterone levels, providing a study population of 1,849 men - 398 with diabetes and 1,451 non diabetics.

“With the rising prevalence of obesity in the U.S. and the rest of the world,” says Paresh Dandona, MD, head of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at UB and Kaleida Health, and senior author of the study, “it is imperative that the prevalence of low testosterone levels in obese men be defined. In addition, the magnitude of the contribution of obesity to subnormal testosterone needs to be quantified.

“We hypothesized that obese men are more likely to have low testosterone than non-obese men, and that we would find more low testosterone levels in men with diabetes than in men without diabetes, both obese and non obese.”

Results confirmed these hypotheses, showing a 40 percent higher prevalence of low testosterone in obese men compared to the non obese participants. Men with diabetes, whether obese or not, showed lower levels of testosterone than non diabetic men across all weight categories. Testosterone levels decreased significantly in both diabetic and non diabetic men as BMI increased.

“In view of the increasing prevalence of obesity, even in younger populations, it would be important to conduct a similar study in the men at the prime of their reproductive years,” he says.

UB endocrinologists published a study in Diabetes Care in 2008 showing that more than 50 percent of men between 18 and 35 years old with type 2 diabetes had lower than normal testosterone levels.

“In view of the high rates of subnormal testosterone in patients with obesity or diabetes, testosterone concentrations should be measured regularly in these populations, especially when these conditions occur together,” says Dandona.

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Extremely low birthweight infants (ELBW) who received feedings supplemented with probiotics had better weight gain than infants who were not given the supplements, according to a randomized, controlled, double blind study to be presented Saturday, May 1 at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Dr. Al-Hosni is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Saint Louis University School of Medicine Photo:wwwic.ssmhc.com

Dr. Al-Hosni is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Saint Louis University School of Medicine. Probiotics, which means “for life” in Latin, are healthy, live organism supplements that provide benefit to the host. Their effect on digestive health and immune function has been studied. However, the safety and efficacy of probiotic supplementation in ELBW infants has not been explored thoroughly.

In this study, Mohamad Al-Hosni, MD, and colleagues from three medical centers, in collaboration with Vermont Oxford Network, evaluated the effect of supplementing enteral (tube) feedings with probiotics in extremely premature infants who weighed 2 pounds, 2 ounces or less. They hypothesized that infants who received probiotic supplemented feedings would tolerate larger volumes of feeding per day, grow faster and require fewer days of antimicrobial treatment than those in the control group.

Fifty infants received 500 million colony forming units (CFU) of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and 500 million CFU of Bifidobacterium infantis in enteral feedings once a day until discharge or 34 weeks postmenstrual age. Fifty one infants received feedings with no probiotics.

Results showed superior weight gain in infants who received the probiotics even though the average daily volume of their feedings was less than infants in the control group. There were no statistically significant differences in other complications of prematurity such as sepsis or necrotizing enterocolitis. In addition, no side effects were seen as a result of probiotic supplementation, according to Dr. Mohamad Al-Hosni, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Saint Louis University School of Medicine in the division of neonatal perinatal medicine at SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center.

“These findings strongly suggest that probiotic supplementation to enteral feedings plays a major role in feeding tolerance and nutrient absorption,” he said. “Improved tolerance of feedings and nutrient absorption lead to better weight gain in this extremely premature infant group.”

Dr. Al-Hosni concluded that larger clinical trials are needed to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of probiotic supplementation to enteral feeding in this group of infants.

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New research in the FASEB Journal shows that high levels of phosphate in sodas and processed foods accelerate the aging process in mice and contribute to age associated complicationssuch as chronic kidney disease.

Here’s another reason to kick the soda habit. New research published online in the FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org) shows that high levels of phosphates may add more “pop” to sodas and processed foods than once thought. That’s because researchers found that the high levels of phosphates accelerate signs of aging. High phosphate levels may also increase the prevalence and severity of age-related complications, such as chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular calcification, and can also induce severe muscle and skin atrophy.

Mohammed Shawkat Razzaque, PhD,MB Department of Medicine Infection and Immunity, Harvard School of Dental Medicine Photo:hsdm.harvard.edu

“Humans need a healthy diet and keeping the balance of phosphate in the diet may be important for a healthy life and longevity,” said M. Shawkat Razzaque, M.D., Ph.D., from the Department of Medicine, Infection and Immunity at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. “Avoid phosphate toxicity and enjoy a healthy life.”

To make this discovery, Razzaque and colleague examined the effects of high phosphate levels in three groups of mice. The first group of mice was missing a gene (klotho), which when absent, causes mice to have toxic levels of phosphate in their bodies. These mice lived 8 to 15 weeks. The second group of mice was missing the klotho gene and a second gene (NaPi2a), which when absent at the same time, substantially lowered the amount of phosphate in their bodies. These mice lived to 20 weeks. The third group of mice was like the second group (missing both the klotho and NaPi2a genes), except they were fed a high phosphate diet. All of these mice died by 15 weeks, like those in the first group. This suggests that phosphate has toxic effects in mice, and may have a similar effect in other mammals, including humans.

“Soda is the caffeine delivery vehicle of choice for millions of people worldwide, but comes with phosphorous as a passenger” said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of the FASEB Journal. “This research suggests that our phosphorous balance influences the aging process, so don’t tip it.”

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In a large study in Japan, women who reported eating more foods containing the B-vitamins folate and B-6 were less likely to die from stroke and heart disease.
Japanese men reporting diets high in these B vitamins were less likely to die of heart failure.

Eating more foods containing the B vitamins folate and B-6 lowers the risk of death from stroke and heart disease for women and may reduce the risk of heart failure in men, according to Japanese research reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Hiroyasu Iso M.D. professor of public health at Osaka University Photo:Osaka University

“Japanese people need more dietary intake of folate and vitamin B-6, which may lead to the prevention of heart disease,” said Hiroyasu Iso, M.D., professor of public health at Osaka University.

The findings on the value of B vitamins were consistent with studies in Europe and North America, although the dietary consumption of vitamin B-6 is generally lower in Japan than in the United States.

Researchers analyzed data from 23,119 men and 35,611 women (ages 40-79) who completed food frequency questionnaires as part of the large Japan Collaborative Cohort (JACC) Study. During a median 14 years of follow up, 986 died from stroke, 424 from heart disease and 2,087 from all diseases related to the cardiovascular system.

Investigators divided participants into five groups based on their intake of folate, vitamin B-6 and vitamin B-12. Comparing those with the diets lowest and highest for each nutrient, they found that higher consumption of folate and vitamin B-6 was associated with significantly fewer deaths from heart failure in men, and significantly fewer deaths from stroke, heart disease and total cardiovascular diseases in women. Vitamin B-12 intake was not associated with reduced mortality risk.

The protective effects of folate and vitamin B-6 didn’t change when researchers adjusted for the presence of cardiovascular risk factors, nor when they eliminated supplement users from the analysis. Folate and vitamin B-6 may help guard against cardiovascular disease by lowering homocysteine levels, the investigators said. Homocysteine is an amino acid in the blood that’s affected by diet and heredity. Folic acid and other B vitamins help break down homocysteine in the body.

A direct causal link hasn’t been established, but evidence has shown that too much homocysteine may damage the inner lining of arteries and promote the formation of blood clots.

Sources of folate include vegetables and fruits, whole or enriched grains, fortified cereals, beans and legumes. Sources of vitamin B-6 include vegetables, fish, liver, meats, whole grains and fortified cereals.

Co authors include: Renzhe Cui, M.D.; Chigusa Date, M.D.; Shogo Kikuchi, M.D.; Akiko Tamakoshi, M.D.; and the JACC study group. Press Release:American Heart Association.

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Blossoming Teas, also known as Blooming Tea or Flowering Tea, are the latest craze in tea drinking. Blossoming Teas come as a handmade ball made from top quality long leaf white tea, hand tied with flowers before drying. When added to hot water they unfold and release a delicate, fragrant and aromatic flavour. These teas are referred to in China as GongYi Hua Cha, literally translated meaning Art Flower Tea.

Young tea buds, leaves and flowers are used to make these showy teas.

The teas used for Blossoming Tea are primarily green, white (usually Oolong) and jasmine tea. For the flowers, edible young and fresh flowers such as jasmine, chrysanthemum, lily, hibiscus, Amaranth flower, Marigold flower, and Sweet Osmanthus are utilized.

Flowering Teas also have high antioxidant levels, and are quite beneficial to your health.

Blossoming Tea preperation:
Start with a clear glass pot for maximum visual effect.

Place the Flowering Tea ball into your teapot and add water almost brought to a boil. Keeping the water below the boiling point allows the Blossoming Tea to open slower and give a better showing. The ball will fully open in about 5 minutes.

Don’t remove the bloom or tea leaves until you are done with the Tea, as Flowering Tea can be refreshed up to 3 times by adding more water as needed. The Blooming Teas do not get bitter with with extended steeping.

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KINGSTON, R.I.

URI pharmacy researcher finds beneficial compounds in pure maple syrup
Most are disease fighting anti-oxidants

Before you dig in to your next stack of French toast or waffles, you might want to pour on pure maple syrup.

That’s because University of Rhode Island researcher Navindra Seeram, who specializes in medicinal plant research, has found more than 20 compounds in maple syrup from Canada that have been linked to human health, 13 of which are newly discovered in maple syrup. In addition, eight of the compounds have been found in the Acer (maple) family for the first time.

The URI assistant professor of biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences in URI’s College of Pharmacy presented his findings Sunday, March 21 at the American Chemical Society’s Annual Meeting in San Francisco. The project was made possible by Conseil pour le développement de l’agriculture du Québec (CDAQ), with funding provided by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Advancing Canadian Agriculture and Agri-Food (ACAAF) program.

Several of these anti-oxidant compounds newly identified in maple syrup are also reported to have anti-cancer, anti-bacterial and anti-diabetic properties.

Prior to the study, the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers already knew that its product was full of naturally occurring minerals such as zinc, thiamine and calcium. But it enlisted Seeram to research the presence of plant anti-oxidants. The Federation awarded Seeram a two-year, $115,000 grant with the help of the CDAQ and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. His research continues to determine if the compounds exist in beneficial quantities.

Serge Beaulieu, president of the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers, said Seeram’s lab is but one in an expanding multi-national network of research facilities dedicated to the study of maple products from Canada.

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An Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientist is helping to sort through the jumbled genetics of Echinacea, the coneflower known for its blossoms - and its potential for treating infections, inflammation, and other human ailments.

An ARS scientist is studying the jumbled genetics of Echinacea, the coneflower known for its blossoms-and its potential for treating infections, inflammation, and other human ailments. photo: David Cappaert, MSU

Only a few Echinacea species are currently cultivated as botanical remedies, and plant breeders would like to know whether other types also possess commercially useful traits. ARS horticulturist Mark Widrlechner, who works at the ARS North Central Regional Plant Introduction Station (NCRPIS) in Ames, Iowa, is partnering in research to find out how many distinct Echinacea species exist. Previous studies have put the number between four and nine species, depending on classification criteria.

Working with Iowa State University scientists, Widrlechner selected 40 diverse Echinacea populations for DNA analysis from the many populations conserved at the NCRPIS. Most of these Echinacea populations were found to have a remarkable range of genetic diversity.

DNA analysis suggested that when much of North America was covered with glaciers, Echinacea found southern refuges on both sides of the Mississippi River. But when the glaciers receded after thousands of years, the groups came together as they moved northward and began to hybridize, which might have blurred previous genetic distinctions.

The research team also analyzed the same populations for chemical differences in root metabolites. These metabolites, which are often essential for survival and propagation, can vary widely among species and may have benefits for human health.

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Cholesterol’s link to heart disease gets clearer - and more complicated
By considering molecular level events on a broader scale, researchers now have a clearer, if more complicated, picture of how one class of immune cells goes wrong when loaded with cholesterol. The findings reported in the February 3rd issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication, show that, when it comes to the development of atherosclerosis and heart disease, it’s not about any one bad actor - it’s about a network gone awry.

The new findings also highlight a pretty remarkable thing, Heinecke says: “Despite 30 years of study, we still don’t know how cholesterol causes heart disease.” But, with the new findings, scientists are getting closer.

Earlier studies had shown that heart disease is about more than just high LDL (”bad”) cholesterol. Cells known as macrophages also play a critical role. Macrophages are part of the innate immune system that typically gobble up pathogens and clear away dead cells. But they also take up and degrade cholesterol derivatives. When they get overloaded with those lipoproteins, they take on a foamy appearance under the microscope to become what scientists aptly refer to as foam cells. Those foam cells are the ones that seem to have critical importance in the development of atherosclerosis.

People had typically thought about this problem in terms of linear pathways, Heinecke explained. In essence, macrophages end up with too much cholesterol going in and not enough coming out. The macrophages get overwhelmed and trapped in the artery wall, and somehow plaques form as a result.

But the new results show that it isn’t really about simple paths in and out; rather, there is an integrated network of macrophage proteins involved. When that network gets disrupted, as it does when too much cholesterol comes in, atherosclerosis forms. “It’s definitely a different way to think about what is going on,” Heinecke says.

Heinecke’s group applied sophisticated technologies and statistical tools to get a global view of what happens to macrophage proteins when they turn into foam cells. Their analysis revealed what they call a macrophage sterol responsive network (MSRN), including proteins already known to work together. Most of them are also found in one place, within microvesicles outside the macrophage cells.

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Universite de Montreal research team developing leptin based pill to control hunger. A Universite de Montreal research team is developing a pill composed of leptin, the protein that tells our brain to stop eating. “Mice deprived of leptin will not stop eating. They become so big they have trouble moving around,” says Moise Bendayan, a pathology professor at the Universite de Montreal Faculty of Medicine who has studied the leptin protein extensively.

“Dr Moise Bendayan Universite de Montreal Faculty of Medicine photo: Universite de Montreal

Leptin regulates appetite in mammals and its levels decrease when fasting and rise during meals. It has been proven to be an appetite suppressant when administered intravenously to pathologically obese people.

Postdoctoral student Philippe Cammisotto is leading the charge for a leptin based, appetite suppressing pill with Dr. Bendayan and Emile Levy, a professor from the Department of Nutrition. “Taken orally, such a pill would provide obese people with the sensation of being full. They would eat less and in turn lose weight,” says Dr. Cammisotto.

“We hope to start animal testing in 2010,” says Bendayan. “The molecule is easy to synthesize and the protocol is ready.”

After decades of building his reputation in fundamental research, Bendayan is happy to collaborate on something more tangible. “Obesity is a big problem in our society, no pun intended,” says Bendayan. “To develop medication to combat obesity would be a great way for our laboratory to contribute to public health.”

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Regulate trans fats now.
The Heart and Stroke Foundation calls on the federal government to live up to the commitment made two years ago to regulate trans fats in Canada’s food supply, based on Health Canada’s final set of monitoring results released today. “Canada’s trans fat verdict is in,” says Sally Brown, CEO of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. “This fourth and final round of monitoring has demonstrated that levels of heart clogging trans fats are still far too prevalent in our food.

They can even be found at dangerous levels in foods in children’s hospitals - the very places that are meant to improve the health of our children. Without government intervention, the trend will sadly continue.”

This final set of data focused on small and medium sized restaurants and fast food chains, as well as other institutions such as high schools, CEGEPs, movie theatres, hospitals and universities.

“Once again, the levels of trans fats in baked goods, pastries and cookies, products which are frequently consumed by children, is particularly disturbing,” says Brown.

Fourth round data shows 21 per cent of French fries, 26 per cent of chicken products, 50 per cent of bakery products and 60 per cent of cookies are still made with high levels of trans fats. “Without a clear signal to the market, oil producers will not produce healthy alternatives that can be used in majority of food categories that have remained an issue.”

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Famous for its antioxidant properties and role in tissue repair, vitamin C is touted as beneficial for illnesses ranging from the common cold to cancer and perhaps even for slowing the aging process. Now, a study published online on December 24th by Cell Press in the journal Cell Stem Cell uncovers an unexpected new role for this natural compound: facilitating the generation of embryonic like stem cells from adult cells. Over the past few years, we have learned that adult cells can be reprogrammed into cells with characteristics similar to embryonic stem cells by turning on a select set of genes. Although the reprogrammed cells, called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), have tremendous potential for regenerative medicine, the conversion is extremely inefficient.

“The low efficiency of the reprogramming process has hampered progress with this technology and is indicative of how little we understand it. Further, this process is most challenging in human cells, raising a significant barrier for producing iPSCs and serious concerns about the quality of the cells that are generated,” explains senior study author Dr. Duanqing Pei from the South China Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

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