Obesity research, news and discussion thread

weatheriscool
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Obesity research, news and discussion thread

Post by weatheriscool »

Boosting liver mRNAs curbs appetite, body weight in obese mice

by University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-04- ... etite.html
Scientists from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) today reported that inhibiting a liver enzyme in obese mice decreased the rodents' appetite, increased energy expenditure in adipose (fat) tissues and resulted in weight loss.

The finding, published in Cell Metabolism, provides a potentially desirable drug target to treat metabolic issues such as obesity and diabetes, the authors said.

"We first needed to discover this mechanism and, now that we have, we can develop drugs to improve metabolic syndrome," said senior author Masahiro Morita, Ph.D., assistant professor of molecular medicine in UT Health San Antonio's Sam and Ann Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies.

"We have an enzyme inhibitor that we want to make more specific to increase its effects," said first author Sakie Katsumura, DDS, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow in the Morita laboratory.

The liver enzyme, called CNOT6L deadenylase, turns off messenger ribonucleic acids (mRNAs) that ordinarily carry genetic instructions from the nucleus to sites in the cell where two liver proteins are made.

One of the proteins, growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15), sends signals to two regions of the hindbrain to control food intake. The other, fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21), sends signals to brown and white adipose tissues to increase energy expenditure. CNOT6L deadenylase impedes mRNA code-carrying for both GDF15 and FGF21, which reduces these benefits.
Last edited by weatheriscool on Thu Mar 14, 2024 3:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
weatheriscool
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Re: Obestity research, news and discussion thread

Post by weatheriscool »

Laser light, a dye and a nonsurgical implant could help overcome obesity
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-04- ... esity.html
by American Chemical Society
When dieting and exercise aren't enough, weight-loss surgery can be an effective obesity treatment. But people who don't want surgery have other options, including insertion of an appetite-suppressing balloon or other implant in the stomach. Now, researchers report in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces that they have augmented that procedure in laboratory animals by coating an implant with a laser-activated dye that kills cells producing ghrelin, the "hunger hormone."

Implants can be inserted in the stomach through the mouth after local anesthesia. In 2019, Hwoon-Yong Jung, Jung-Hoon Park and colleagues designed a new type of implant. The "intragastric satiety-inducing device" (ISD) consists of a stent — which lodges in the lower esophagus — attached to a disk that rests in the opening to the stomach. The disk has a hole in the center to let food through. Tests in pigs showed that the ISD lowered food intake and weight gain by enhancing the feeling of fullness and reducing levels of ghrelin, which is produced by cells near the top of stomach. But the device caused complications, including acid reflux and migration into the stomach. In their latest project, Jung, Park, Kun Na and colleagues wanted to find out if they could suppress ghrelin even more by coating the ISD's disk with a compound that, with a shot of laser light, could kill some of the ghrelin-producing cells. The implant could then be removed to avoid the side effects associated with the initial design.
weatheriscool
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Re: Obestity research, news and discussion thread

Post by weatheriscool »

Researchers have uncovered a regulator of body weight that could lead to new treatments for metabolic disorders
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-04- ... bolic.html
by Yale University

Yale scientists have discovered that a protein known as augmentor-alpha regulates body weight in mice, an insight that could lead to new treatments for metabolic disorders.

The findings were published April 11 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The research team decided to take a closer look at augmentor-alpha because of its connection to cancer. The protein is known to bind to and activate the anaplastic lymphoma kinase receptor (ALK), a molecule that when mutated, drives a variety of human cancers, including pediatric neuroblastoma, B-cell lymphomas and certain lung cancers.

To better understand this protein and the role it plays in the body, Yale researchers first wanted to pinpoint where it is commonly located. Looking in mice, they found that augmentor-alpha was most strongly expressed in the hypothalamus region of the brain.

In particular, they found it was expressed within cells called agouti-related peptide (AgRP) neurons, which are known to promote hunger.
weatheriscool
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Re: Obestity research, news and discussion thread

Post by weatheriscool »

Elon Musk said his Neuralink brain chip could help treat morbid obesity. Scientists say it's a long
shot – but not an impossibility.

Elon Musk believes his Neuralink brain chip could help treat morbid obesity. Experts say the billionaire's dream isn't as far-fetched as it may seem.

"I don't think it is any more implausible than other claims for the potential of neurotechnology," Professor Andrew Jackson, an expert in neural interfaces at Newcastle University, told Insider.

Musk made the suggestion in a TED interview on April 14, thereby adding "morbid obesity" to a growing list of ailments he believes Neuralink could help treat.

Experts interviewed by Insider said a commercially-available obesity-busting brain chip was a long way off but the concept was promising if backed by the right science.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-sa ... 00779.html
Nanotechandmorefuture
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Re: Obestity research, news and discussion thread

Post by Nanotechandmorefuture »

weatheriscool wrote: Mon Apr 25, 2022 12:45 am Elon Musk said his Neuralink brain chip could help treat morbid obesity. Scientists say it's a long
shot – but not an impossibility.

Elon Musk believes his Neuralink brain chip could help treat morbid obesity. Experts say the billionaire's dream isn't as far-fetched as it may seem.

"I don't think it is any more implausible than other claims for the potential of neurotechnology," Professor Andrew Jackson, an expert in neural interfaces at Newcastle University, told Insider.

Musk made the suggestion in a TED interview on April 14, thereby adding "morbid obesity" to a growing list of ailments he believes Neuralink could help treat.

Experts interviewed by Insider said a commercially-available obesity-busting brain chip was a long way off but the concept was promising if backed by the right science.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-sa ... 00779.html
Lol! He really wants people to put those brain chips in them early on. There is a motorcycle cop that got in a crash not too long ago here in Miami, Fl. That sounds like a good candidate and many more if they are looking for legit people who could be interested. I say that because the other selling point of Neuralink was neck and spine issues.
Tadasuke
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Re: Obestity research, news and discussion thread

Post by Tadasuke »

In 2010, when I was wildly optimistic, I wrote predictions for 2015, 2020, 2025 and 2030 for many areas, including dealing with obesity.
Citing from my notes:
"In the year 2015 there is a new drug, which completely solves the problem of obesity, by not allowing human metabolism to store more fat than necessary. Because it just became available after decades of research, it's expensive and not many people benefit from it right away. In recent years, it was accelerated and developed with the help of petascale supercomputers and AI.
In the year 2020, anti-obesity drugs are cheap, mass produced and widely available. Obesity is a problem of the past, there's no more such an issue as being overweight. Everyone is slim and healthier. Happiness levels are improving worldwide, partially because of it."

In reality instead of what I wrote, we are seeing this kind of "progress":
Image

Truly very depressing. In my country there's an increasingly bigger problem with obesity, I see more and more obese people and at the same time, more and more people who go to the gym or run. It's weird. I am not overweight, but I feel sad every time I see someone overweight. I think that normalizing obesity is wrong and unhealthy. I wanted us to seek perfection, not accept that we are shit. :(
Global economy doubles in product every 15-20 years. Computer performance at a constant price doubles nowadays every 4 years on average. Livestock-as-food will globally stop being a thing by ~2050 (precision fermentation and more). Human stupidity, pride and depravity are the biggest problems of our world.
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peekpok
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Re: Obestity research, news and discussion thread

Post by peekpok »

As someone who struggles with their weight I feel that the root of the problem for most is food addiction. Exercise helps of course, but realistically the only way to lose weight reliably is through caloric restriction. It's easy in theory but not in practice. I can notice a palpable, negative difference in my mental health when I am eating at a deficit. Food really does help people cope with their troubles in life, unfortunately it causes other troubles.
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SerethiaFalcon
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Re: Obestity research, news and discussion thread

Post by SerethiaFalcon »

I would add it is also a vicious feedback loop. As your body adjusts to the new normal, it thinks you are starving when you try to restrict your caloric intake, making it harder to keep to the caloric restriction. Starvation is a positive sensation in nature for survival, but it surely doesn't help people that want or need to lose weight for health. There is something I stumbled upon that is a different approach, where you restrict caloric intake to different amounts each day making it easier to lose weight and not plateau, but the starvation reaction of the body would still be difficult to manage. I'm experimenting with it myself, but it is difficult to make headway.

As far as weight goes, while calories and exercise are the main contributors, I still theorize that there are other factors that can make things worse. Certain hormone disorders, at least in women, cause problems with certain types of food, which means weight can be more challenging to keep off, as more foods have to be avoided to be successful (lest the hormones affected by certain foods get out of control). Drugs for mental health are still something that is poorly studied, in my opinion, and I have seen so much weight gain from people being on them. The worst offenders are antipsychotics, and I'm not sure if they have tested what happens if they put someone on them that was misdiagnosed. It does happen, especially with overzealous psychiatrists and hospital environments where they quickly diagnose people instead of taking the time to figure out things (and with the overlap of symptoms in so many disorders). These types of drugs can significantly affect appetite, for things like antidepressants, it is probably due to feeling better, but antipsychotics are a different story. They severely mess with your body, especially the digestive system etc. They can even cause heart palpitations in some people. I also have an odd theory that if you go from a society with little processed food to a society with highly processed food, the gut microbiome is badly affected, which could also change how the body responds to food, perhaps. It's unproven, just a thought process of mine. This is probably even worse if antibiotics are used too, as that tends to wipe out your microbiome anyway. Of course, there are the more commonly known problems like thyroid issues and genetics too. These are just added factors that contribute to the difficulty of losing weight for some people.
Tadasuke
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Re: Obestity research, news and discussion thread

Post by Tadasuke »

This may perhaps also be a factor in obesity:
Global economy doubles in product every 15-20 years. Computer performance at a constant price doubles nowadays every 4 years on average. Livestock-as-food will globally stop being a thing by ~2050 (precision fermentation and more). Human stupidity, pride and depravity are the biggest problems of our world.
weatheriscool
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Re: Obestity research, news and discussion thread

Post by weatheriscool »

Mapping brain stem's control of eating could lead to better treatments for obesity
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-08- ... esity.html
by Kelly Malcom, University of Michigan

Every meal you sit down to makes an impression, with foods filed away as something delicious to be sought out again, or to be avoided in disgust if we associate the flavor with gut malaise.

How this decision is made turns out to be so fundamental to our well-being—determining what foods to seek and avoid—that the signals are coordinated within the most primitive parts of our brains, the brain stem or hindbrain. This brain region also helps us decide when we are "full" and should stop eating.

To date, scientists interested in how and why people gain weight and the diseases that can result from overeating and obesity have focused on a part of the brain called the hypothalamus, following discoveries of two intertwined systems that play important roles in controlling energy balance, the leptin and melanocortin systems.
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