A hormone that can suppress food intake and increase the feeling of fullness in mice has shown similar results in humans and non-human primates, says a new study.

A hormone that can suppress food intake and increase the feeling of fullness in mice has shown similar results in humans and non-human primates, says a new study.

The study was published in the journal eLife.

The hormone, called Lipocalin-2 (LCN2), could be used as a potential treatment in people with obesity whose natural signals for feeling full no longer work.

LCN2 is mainly produced by bone cells and is found naturally in mice and humans. Studies in mice have shown that giving LCN2 to the animals long term reduces their food intake and prevents weight gain, without leading to a slow-down in their metabolism.

“LCN2 acts as a signal for satiety after a meal, leading mice to limit their food intake, and it does this by acting on the hypothalamus within the brain,” explains lead author Peristera-Ioanna Petropoulou, who was a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, US, at the time the study was carried out and is now at the Helmholtz Diabetes Center, Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen, Munich, Germany. “We wanted to see whether LCN2 has similar effects in humans and whether a dose of it would be able to cross the blood-brain barrier.”

The team first analysed data from four different studies of people in the US and Europe who were either normal weight, overweight or living with obesity. The people in each study were given a meal after an overnight fast, and the amount of LCN2 in their blood before and after the meal was studied. The researchers found that in those who were of normal weight, there was an increase in LCN2 levels after the meal, which coincided with how satisfied they felt after eating.

By contrast, in people who were overweight or had obesity, LCN2 levels decreased after a meal. Based on this post-meal response, the researchers grouped people as non-responders or responders. Non-responders, who showed no increase in LCN2 after a meal, tended to have a larger waist circumference and higher markers of metabolic disease — including BMI, body fat, increased blood pressure and increased blood glucose. Remarkably, however, people who had lost weight after gastric bypass surgery were found to have a restored sensitivity to LCN2 — changing their status from non-responders before their surgery, to responders afterwards.

Taken together, these results mirror those seen in mice and suggest that this loss of post-meal LCN2 regulation is a new mechanism contributing to obesity and could be a potential target for weight-loss treatments.

After verifying that LCN2 can cross into the brain, the team explored whether treatment with the hormone might reduce food intake and prevent weight gain. To do this, they treated monkeys with LCN2 for a week. They saw a 28% decrease in food intake compared with that before treatment within a week, and the monkeys also ate 21% less than their counterparts who were treated only with saline. Moreover, after only one week of treatment, measurements of body weight, body fat and blood fat levels showed a declining trend in treated animals.

“We have shown that LCN2 crosses to the brain, makes its way to the hypothalamus and suppresses food intake in non-human primates,” concludes senior author Stavroula Kousteni, Professor of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. “Our results show that the hormone can curb appetite with negligible toxicity and lay the groundwork for the next level of LCN2 testing for clinical use.”

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who graduated from the Madurai Government Medical College in 2018 has ended up begging on the streets with a group of transgenders as she was sacked from a hospital after undergoing sex change surgery.
The doctor was among a group of transgenders who were rounded up by police recently following complaints that they were begging on the streets in the city and troubling passersby.

Police inspector G Kavitha said she didn’t believe the doctor at first. “We checked her documents and spoke to doctors from Madurai Medical College, who confirmed the story. We were told that the doctor, who was a male in college, was brilliant in studies. It has been 20 days since I met her. She is now staying along with a transgender in the city,” she said.

The inspector said that after working in a city hospital as a male doctor for a year, she underwent a surgery and became a woman. As a result, she lost her job. She needs to get her certificates changed so that she can start working as a doctor again, Kavitha said. She also wants to do post-graduation, the inspector said.

“We are ready to help her as a student of our college. After he completed his house surgency, I heard he was undergoing sex reassignment surgery. After that I did not know what happened,” Dean of Madurai Medical College and Government Rajaji Hospital Dr J Sangumani told TOI.
The police and medical lab owner are setting up a clinic for the doctor in Madurai, They’ve already got her a stethoscope and a doctor’s coat. Police sources said the doctor was a bit upset with all the publicity after her photo in the new coat and with the stethoscope went viral on social media.
Inspector Kavitha said the doctor’s family had disowned her because she underwent sex change surgery.

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A group of medical researchers in Maryland believe the answer for curing HIV/AIDS may be gene therapy.

American Gene Technologies (AGT), a Rockville-based medical research company, has submitted a Investigational New Drug (IND) application with the FDA to begin gene therapy trials that researchers believe could eliminate HIV in people already living with the virus.

The drug—an HIV treatment program called AGT103-T—is a single-dose, lentiviral vector-based gene therapy that AGT says could remove infected cells from the body and decrease or eliminate the need for lifelong antiretroviral treatment in HIV-positive patients.

If approved, the company hopes to begin a Phase 1 clinical trial that will examine the safety of AGT103-T in humans.

In a press statement, AGT chief science officer C. David Pauza, PhD, said the company’s objective is “to treat HIV disease with an innovative cell and gene therapy that reconstitutes immunity to HIV and will control virus growth in the absence of antiretroviral drugs.”

AGT’s approach differs from other medical researchers’ attempts to cure HIV. As NewNowNext reported earlier this year, researchers in Europe made headlines when two separate HIV-positive patients no longer had the virus after obtaining bone marrow transplants from donors with an HIV-resistant mutation to treat unrelated cancers.

Those patients marked the second and third time doctors were able to effectively “cure” patients living with HIV via bone marrow transplant in the history of modern medicine. However, HIV/AIDS activists and medical professionals were quick to raise concerns about the feasibility of curing HIV with bone marrow transplants on a more widespread basis.

Kenneth Freedberg, MD, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, told NewNowNext in March that the method “is not a remotely plausible strategy for HIV treatment” for the vast majority of patients.

“A bone marrow transplant is an extraordinarily toxic and life-threatening intervention, which you do if someone has an illness that’s clearly going to be fatal,” Freedberg explained. “There must be no other treatment options available. It puts people at massive risk for infections and toxicity complications.”

As the fight against HIV/AIDS wages on, communities at risk of contracting the virus continue to take preventative measures against new infections—including daily use of Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a potentially life-saving HIV prevention drug that is massively popular among gay, bisexual, and queer men.

In the United States, PrEP is pretty much exclusively available as Truvada, its brand-name version manufactured by Gilead Sciences with a very high retail markup. That may change soon, though: Earlier this week, the government filed a lawsuit against Gilead alleging patent infringement on PrEP, which was patented by public health researchers at the Department of Health and Human Services years ago.

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BioBuzz has reported that a new document submitted to the Food and Drug Administration from American Gene Technologies (AGT) may contain the cure to HIV/AIDS. The group submitted a 1,000 page document with their planned treatment.

The treatment would see an individual’s cells cultured and expanded outside the body, before being reintroduced back, with just a single dose. The aim of this immunotherapy is for the donor’s cells to stop the AIDS virus from progressing and thus build immunity from HIV.

The end goal of the treatment is to restore the body’s natural immunity to HIV, as cells that could prevent the spread of the illness are targeted first by the disease, and therefore the body’s immune system would treat it like any other disease if someone became infected.

In a statement, the CEO of the AGT, Jeff Galvin said: “We want to get these people out of jail and back to normal life. We see this as critically important. We need to move these people from anti-retroviral control to permanent immunity and we think our project may be able to do that.”

The Food and Drugs Administration should report back to the AGT on whether the treatment plan can move onto clinical trials by the end of the year. If successful, the AGT is looking to recruit patients by early next year.

Earlier this week, a research team at Abbott Laboratories published findings that a new strain of HIV had been discovered. This was the first time this had happened in almost 20 years.

The new strain, referred to as ‘HIV-1 Group M, Subtype L’, is one of dozens of mutations of the HIV virus to be discovered. There are currently known to be two main types of HIV and many subtypes which are constantly evolving over time, this is why ART (Anti-Retroviral Therapy) for HIV positive individuals may vary from person to person.   

Mary Rogers, principal scientist at Abbott said in a statement “Identifying new viruses such as this one is like searching for a needle in a haystack. This scientific discovery can help us ensure we are stopping new pandemics in their tracks.”

This new strain belongs to HIV-1 Group M, which has been responsible for the vast majority of infections in the HIV epidemic to date.

There are several ways to prevent HIV infection which include PEP, PrEP, condoms, and U=U (HIV positive people cannot pass on the virus). London based sexual health clinic 56 Dean Street are currently fundraising to help bring PrEP to more younger men, as although overall rates of new infections are declining, young men who have sex with men are increasingly accounting for a greater percentage of new diagnoses.

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Hypertension aka high blood pressure is one of the common ailments which is prevailing among many. Around a billion people are suffering from the same in the world today. The disease has hardly any symptoms and that’s why it is known as a silent killer, and hence, one should get their BP levels checked regularly. For the unversed, many factors can contribute to the increased BP.

Few of them are genetics, stress, diet and smoking among others. Hypertension can also lead to other health disorders such as heart attack, stroke, diabetes and kidney ailments among others. Apart from medications, one can also follow home remedies. Today we have listed out some of the top herbs which can help you to combat the health issue.

1. Ginger
Ginger is one of the best ways to reduce hypertension as it is packed with active compounds and vital volatile oils. Apart from lowering high blood pressure, it also lowers blood sugar and aids to maintain healthy levels of cholesterol.

2. Basil
Basil which is commonly known as tulsi has many benefits including helping in lowering high BP. For the unversed, the chemical eugenol blocks substances that tighten blood vessels. You can easily add it in tea, salads, soups and pasta among others.

3. Cinnamon
Cinnamon aka dalchini can reduce prolonged high blood pressure. One can use the powdered version in breakfast cereal, oatmeal and coffee among others.

4. Cardamom
Cardamom aka elaichi is commonly used in Indian cuisine. As per research, participants’ blood pressure readings were reduced after taking 1.5 grams of cardamom powder twice a day for 12 weeks. 

5 Flax seeds
Flax seeds aka alsi are powerhouses of Omega 3 aids in lowering blood pressure. As per studies, if you eat 30–50 gm seeds per day for more than 12 weeks, then it can bring drastic changes in BP level readings. It also helps to bring down cholesterol levels.

6. Garlic
Just like ginger, garlic aka lasoon is a commonly used condiment in our Indian dishes and the same has the ability to lower blood pressure. For the unversed, it is loaded with nitric oxide and the same aids the blood vessels to relax and the blood flow happens more freely.

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