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Mickey Tsai

Study finds gene variants behind childhood obesity risk - USATODAY.com - 0 views

  • Scientists have discovered two gene variants that appear to play a critical role in the development of common childhood obesity
  • Obesity is the result of a complex interplay among biological, behavioral, cultural, environmental and economic factors
  • a highly heritable condition,
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  • a third of kids are obese or overweigh
  • gene research may provide insight into the biological pathways that contribute to obesity
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    Scientists have found two gene variants that are likely to cause childhood obesity. This could be useful in knowing how to treat and prevent it. Although there is a genetic component to obesity, it is not the only factor. Biological, behavioral, cultural, environmental and economic factors can all play a role in obesity.
Pop karnchanapimonkul

Dieting During Pregnancy Increases Risk Of Obesity And Diabetes For Offspring - 0 views

  • babies of mothers who diet around the time of conception and in early pregnancy, may have an increased risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes throughout their lives. This study provides exciting insights into how behavior can lead to epigenetic changes in offspring related to obesity and disease.
  • dieting around the time a baby is conceived may increase the chance of the child becoming obese later in life
  • changes in the genes that control food intake and glucose levels that may lead to obesity and diabetes.
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  • epigenetic changes with alterations in the structure of the DNA and its associated proteins, histones, which affects the way that genes can behave in later life.
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    Article about how dieting during pregnancy cause offsprings to have a change in genes.
Nitchakan Chaiprukmalakan

How a single gene mutation leads to uncontrolled obesity - 0 views

  • Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center have revealed how a mutation in a single gene is responsible for the inability of neurons to effectively pass along appetite suppressing signals from the body to the right place in the brain.
  • The research team specifically found that a mutation in the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (Bdnf) gene in mice does not allow brain neurons to effectively pass leptin and insulin chemical signals through the brain. In humans, these hormones, which are released in the body after a person eats, are designed to "tell" the body to stop eating. But if the signals fail to reach correct locations in the hypothalamus, the area in the brain that signals satiety, eating continues.
  • He has found that the gene produces a growth factor that controls communication between neurons.
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  • The Bdnf gene generates one short transcript and one long transcript. He discovered that when the long-form Bdnf transcript is absent, the growth factor BDNF is only synthesized in the cell body of a neuron but not in its dendrites. The neuron then produces too many immature synapses, resulting in deficits in learning and memory in mice. Xu also found that the mice with the same Bdnf mutation grew to be severely obese
  • large-scale genome-wide association studies showed Bdnf gene variants are, in fact, linked to obesity.
  • both leptin and insulin stimulate synthesis of BDNF in neuronal dendrites in order to move their chemical message from one neuron to another through synapses. The intent is to keep the leptin and insulin chemical signals moving along the neuronal highway to the correct brain locations, where the hormones will turn on a program that suppresses appetite.
  • "If there is a problem with the Bdnf gene, neurons can't talk to each other, and the leptin and insulin signals are ineffective, and appetite is not modified
  • One possible strategy would be to produce additional long-form Bdnf transcript using adeno-associated virus-based gene therapy, Xu says. But although this kind of gene therapy has proven to be safe, it is difficult to deliver across the brain blood barrier,
chanon chiarnpattanodom

A new class of obesity genes encodes leukocyte adhesion receptors - 0 views

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    Obesity is controlled by a number of factors, mainly 2 factors genetics and the environment. Here they use 2 groups + 1 control group mice to compare obesity.
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