Juice from potato cures heartburn and ulcers

Posted on August 10, 2012 by ev1

(IANS) / 10 August 2012

Juice from the humble potato could treat gastric ulcers, thanks to its unique anti-bacterial properties, says a new research.

A Manchester University microbiology team now hopes the compound, dubbed 'potato juice' could go into production as a daily diet supplement. Inspiration came as one of the department's scientists tucked into a spud for Sunday lunch.

It led to the discovery of a key molecule which could both cure and prevent the bacteria that lives in the stomach and causes stomach ulcers and heartburn.

Uniquely, unlike with anti-biotics, the gut bug cannot develop resistance to the 'potato juice' which also does not cause any side-effects. Scientists even carried out the test on different types of potatoes -- discovering that Maris Piper and King Edward varieties worked the best.

The process to extract the as yet unnamed molecule has now been patented, with hopes it could one day be sold as a supplement similar to pro-biotic yoghurt drinks, the Daily Mail reported.

Ian Roberts, professor of microbiology at the Faculty of Life Sciences, who worked on the discovery, said: "When I first heard about the idea of using potatoes to treat stomach ulcers I have to admit I was a bit sceptical. But on another level I wasn't surprised - a lot of botanical products have very interesting compounds and we just have to find them."

"We see this 'potato juice' as a preventative measure to stop stomach ulcers developing that people would take as part of a healthy lifestyle. It could be a huge market if we can get it developed," added Roberts.

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Juice from potato cures heartburn and ulcers

Longevity Protein Has Diabetes-Prevention Qualities

Posted on August 10, 2012 by ev1

Editor's Choice Main Category: Diabetes Also Included In: Seniors / Aging Article Date: 10 Aug 2012 - 10:00 PDT

Current ratings for: Longevity Protein Has Diabetes-Prevention Qualities

More than ten years ago, Leonard Guarente, a biology professor at MIT, discovered that the protein SIRT1 had properties that boosted longevity. Since then Guarente has investigated how the protein works in several different body tissues.

In this study, Professor Guarente set out to determine what happens when the protein is missing from adipose cells, which made up body fat.

Guarente fed mice a high-fat diet and discovered that mice lacking SIRT1 started to develop metabolic disorders, such as diabetes, significantly faster than normal mice consuming a high-fat diet.

Guarente, the Novartis Professor of Biology at MIT, explained:

Results from the study indicate that medications designed to enhance SIRT1 activity may help protect against diseases associated to obesity.

The effects of SIRT1 and other sirtuin proteins were discovered by Guarente while he was studying yeast in the 1990s. According to the researchers, these proteins have been shown to help keep cells alive and healthy, coordinate a variety of hormonal networks, regulatory proteins and other genes.

In order to examine the effects of the gene more precisely, the researchers deleted the gene from organs such as the brain and liver. In earlier studies, the team found that SIRT1 protects against neurodegeneration in the brain observed in diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases.

SIRT1 removes acetyl groups from other proteins by modifying their activity. According to Guarente "the possible targets of this deacetylation are numerous, which is likely what gives SIRT1 its broad range of protective powers."

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Longevity Protein Has Diabetes-Prevention Qualities

'Selfish' DNA in animal mitochondria offers possible tool to study aging

Posted on August 10, 2012 by ev1

ScienceDaily (Aug. 9, 2012) Researchers at Oregon State University have discovered, for the first time in any animal species, a type of "selfish" mitochondrial DNA that is actually hurting the organism and lessening its chance to survive -- and bears a strong similarity to some damage done to human cells as they age.

The findings, just published in the journal PLoS One, are a biological oddity previously unknown in animals. But they may also provide an important new tool to study human aging, scientists said.

Such selfish mitochondrial DNA has been found before in plants, but not animals. In this case, the discovery was made almost by accident during some genetic research being done on a nematode, Caenorhabditis briggsae -- a type of small roundworm.

"We weren't even looking for this when we found it, at first we thought it must be a laboratory error," said Dee Denver, an OSU associate professor of zoology. "Selfish DNA is not supposed to be found in animals. But it could turn out to be fairly important as a new genetic model to study the type of mitochondrial decay that is associated with human aging."

DNA is the material that holds the basic genetic code for living organisms, and through complex biological processes guides beneficial cellular functions. Some of it is also found in the mitochondria, or energy-producing "powerhouse" of cells, which at one point in evolution was separate from the other DNA.

The mitochondria generally act for the benefit of the cell, even though it is somewhat separate. But the "selfish" DNA found in some plant mitochondria -- and now in animals -- has major differences. It tends to copy itself faster than other DNA, has no function useful to the cell, and in some cases actually harms the cell. In plants, for instance, it can affect flowering and sometimes cause sterility.

"We had seen this DNA before in this nematode and knew it was harmful, but didn't realize it was selfish," said Katie Clark, an OSU postdoctoral fellow. "Worms with it had less offspring than those without, they had less muscle activity. It might suggest that natural selection doesn't work very well in this species."

That's part of the general quandary of selfish DNA in general, the scientists said. If it doesn't help the organism survive and reproduce, why hasn't it disappeared as a result of evolutionary pressure? Its persistence, they say, is an example of how natural selection doesn't always work, either at the organism or cellular level. Biological progress is not perfect.

In this case, the population sizes of the nematode may be too small to eliminate the selfish DNA, researchers said.

What's also interesting, they say, is that the defects this selfish DNA cause in this roundworm are surprisingly similar to the decayed mitochondrial DNA that accumulates as one aspect of human aging. More of the selfish DNA is also found in the worms as they age.

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'Selfish' DNA in animal mitochondria offers possible tool to study aging

DNA of cancer-stricken hibakusha preserved

Posted on August 10, 2012 by ev1

Saturday, Aug. 11, 2012

NAGASAKI Nagasaki University has been preserving DNA from cells extracted from cancer-stricken A-bomb survivors since 2008 in an effort to identify tumors caused by radiation exposure.

"It may become possible to find distinctive features in DNA mutated by radiation through a detailed investigation of cancer cells from hibakusha," said Masahiro Nakashima, professor of pathology at the university's Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.

With patients' consent, both cancerous and healthy cells are extracted from the affected region. DNA and RNA are then taken from the cells, frozen at minus 80 degrees and stored in a DNA bank at the university. The work is being conducted at Nagasaki University Hospital and the Japanese Red Cross Nagasaki Genbaku Hospital.

So far, the university has collected 365 samples not enough to reveal any distinctive features of cancers related to radiation. The situation is further complicated by the city's aging atomic bomb survivors, whose average age now stands at 77 years.

Nakashima said it is necessary to "devote all energy" to the research, despite a lack of manpower.

According to a survey conducted by the Radiation Effects Research Foundation on 94,000 hibakusha in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, a high possibility exists that radiation exposure was connected to cancer in 61 percent of patients exposed to 2 or more sieverts of radiation from the A-bombings.

It has not yet proved possible, however, to identify the causes of individual cases of cancer.

On the risk of developing cancer from small amounts of radiation emitted during the Fukushima nuclear crisis, Nakashima said "the investigation may open a door to research the effects of low-level exposure."

JIJI

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DNA of cancer-stricken hibakusha preserved