Researchers have long tied type 2 diabetes to chronic inflammation, caused by a ramping-up of immune system activity that ultimately damages insulin receptor signalling and leads to insulin resistance. But in September, Umut Ozcan, an obesity researcher at Children’s Hospital Boston, reported that a key inflammatory protein actually reduces insulin resistance in obese diabetic mice, curing them of diabetes. The protein, called XBP-1s, turns on genes that direct the assembly of other proteins that keep insulin function working correctly in the cells.
Could be promising.
Side note: I can’t help but think those donuts in the stock photo look delicious.
Stress can literally break your heart.
I was just reading about Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, or “broken heart syndrome” when I came across this “20 Things You Didn’t Know About Stress” list in Discover. Tako-Tsubo cardiomyopathy is when the bottom of the heart balloons into the shape of a pot (a tako-tsubo) used in Japan to trap octopus. Most often occurring in postmenopausal women, grief or another extreme stressor makes stress hormones flood the heart, which can lead to acute myocardial damage. As if menopause wasn’t difficult enough.
Beer Goggles explained via Discover.
Discover Magazine Vital Signs: Education All Around
Interesting new Vital Signs article on women’s health, medical students and misconceptions about pain.
"Take the world apart and figure out how it works." - Built to Spill, 1994.
