Monthly Archives: May 2014

How Does Common Obesity Gene Contribute To Weight Gain?

Posted: May 24, 2014 at 7:41 pm

May 23, 2014

Image Caption: Microscopic image of human cells (stained purple), showing the primary cilium (green). A new study shows how FTO, a gene commonly associated with obesity, contributes to weight gain. Changes in this gene indirectly affect the function of the cilium -- a hair-like appendage found on brain and other cells. Irregularities in the cilium, in turn, can affect receptors for leptin, which suppresses appetite. Credit: Lab of Rudolph L. Leibel, M.D.

Columbia University Medical Center

Researchers have discovered how a gene commonly linked to obesityFTOcontributes to weight gain. The study shows that variations in FTO indirectly affect the function of the primary cilium, a little-understood hair-like appendage on brain and other cells. Specific abnormalities of cilium molecules, in turn, increase body weight, in some instances, by affecting the function of receptors for leptin, a hormone that suppresses appetite. The findings, made in mice, suggest that it might be possible to modify obesity through interventions that alter the function of the cilium, according to scientists at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC).

If our findings are confirmed, they could explain how common genetic variants in the gene FTO affect human body weight and lead to obesity, said study leader Rudolph L. Leibel, MD, the Christopher J. Murphy Memorial Professor of Diabetes Research, professor of pediatrics and medicine, and co-director of the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center at CUMC. The better we can understand the molecular machinery of obesity, the better we will be able to manipulate these mechanisms and help people lose weight.

The study was published on May 6 in the online edition of Cell Metabolism.

Since 2007, researchers have known that common variants in the fat mass and obesity-associated protein gene, also known as FTO, are strongly associated with increased body weight in adults. But it was not understood how alterations in FTO might contribute to obesity. Studies have shown that knocking out FTO in mice doesnt necessarily lead to obesity, and not all humans with FTO variants are obese, said Dr. Leibel. Something else is going on at this location that we were missing.

In experiments with mice, the CUMC team observed that as FTO expression increased or decreased, so did the expression of a nearby gene, RPGRIP1L. RPGRIP1L is known to play a role in regulating the primary cilium. Aberrations in the cilium have been implicated in rare forms of obesity, said Dr. Leibel. But it wasnt clear how this structure might be involved in garden-variety obesity.

Dr. Leibel and his colleague, George Stratigopoulos, PhD, associate research scientist, hypothesized that common FTO variations in noncoding regions of the gene do not change its primary function, which is to produce an enzyme that modifies DNA and RNA. Instead, they suspected that FTO variations indirectly affect the expression of RPGRIP1L. When Dr. Stratigopoulos analyzed the sequence of FTOs intronits noncoding, or nonprotein-producing, portionwe found that it serves as a binding site for a protein called CUX1, said Dr. Leibel. CUX1 is a transcription factor that modifies the expression of RPGRIP1L.

Next, Dr. Stratigopoulos set out to determine whether RPGRIP1L plays a role in obesity. He created mice lacking one of their two RPGRIP1L genes, in effect, reducing but not eliminating the genes function. (Mice that lack both copies of the gene have several serious defects that would obscure the effects on food intake.) Mice with one copy of RPGRIP1L had a higher food intake, gained significantly more weight, and had a higher percentage of body fat than controls.

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How Does Common Obesity Gene Contribute To Weight Gain?

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Politically Incorrect Political Game Show – Video

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Politically Incorrect Political Game Show
Game Show about the Affordable Care Act get the question wrong, get shot with a paintball marker. Informational and funny.

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Answering Nebula FiM on Health Insurance and Economics – Video

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Answering Nebula FiM on Health Insurance and Economics
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Response to Kilgore Trout on the Free Market – Video

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Response to Kilgore Trout on the Free Market
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Dimple Jhangiani loves being the vamp

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Mumbai: Dimple Jhangiani is not one to mince words. Unlike most of her contemporaries, the actress who plays Barkat in Beintehaa believes she is almost always politically incorrect. She admits that she loves playing the vamp who is out to dupe a rich family (in Beintehaa) its a pleasant break from the behenji lead role.

She says, I played the innocent, sympathy-gaining, glycerin-using lead, dressed in a sari and mangalsutra for a long time. Thankfully, my recent shows gave me the opportunity to do something different. In Pammi Pyarelal I got to wear short skirts and be a modern girl like I am off-screen. Beintehaa is a bit of a challenge. I am required to give vamp-like expressions, but my director says that my face is too innocent for that, so I have to make an extra effort at bringing out the right expressions.

While the rest of the cast has been shooting together for a long time, Dimple is a recent addition to the show. She says that she has made an effort to bond with the cast and tries to be cordial with everyone.

She says, Suchitra (Pillai) Maam and Naved Aslam Sir are sweethearts. They always make me feel comfortable on the sets. I also have a lot of fun with Harshad Arora and Vivek Madan. Harshad is sweet and when we have scenes together, I wink at him and he bursts out laughing in between shots. I do not interact much with Preetika Rao. Although Ive heard from other actors that she is insecure and jealous.

Though Dimple does not get along with all her co-stars, one co-star who has now turned into her BFF is Adaa Khan with whom she acted in Amrit Manthan. The duo played sisters in that show.

Dimple says, I am the kind of person who goes out of my way to make my co-stars feel comfortable. I do not like to fight or get into arguments with my co-stars. In fact, on days that I dont shoot, a lot of co-stars text me saying they missed their daily dose of laughter!

Speaking about her camaraderie with Adaa she says, When there were times that we both wanted to wear similar kind of outfits, Id tell her that she can carry on and that Id look for something else. It started out that way and soon we became friends. Just this week, I was shooting in Madh Island and there werent many food options in the area. Adaa drove all the way till there and brought me my favourite butter chicken and naan. After I left Amrit Manthan, Ankita Sharma replaced me. Both Ankita and Adaa couldnt see eye-to-eye they hate each other till date.

A former advertising professional she says, I have studied advertising and used to work at O&M. But soon I got bored of a nine-to-five job and started looking for alternatives. Luckily, my parents have always trusted my decision. Even if I come home at five in the morning after my shoot, they dont question me.

The actress is currently single but says that she would love to get hitched soon. In fact, she does not mind giving up her career after marriage.

She elaborates, I was dating someone for seven years but have been single for a while now!

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Wolfenstein: The New Order – Censorship Comparison – Eurogamer – Video

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Wolfenstein: The New Order - Censorship Comparison - Eurogamer
Wolfenstein: The New Order - Censorship Comparison - Eurogamer Sometimes censorship can be a Nazi business, other times it #39;s a necessity. This was definitely the case with Wolfenstein: The...

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Unnecessary Censorship – StarCraft 2 REMAKE Part 2 (Censored Parody) – Video

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Unnecessary Censorship - StarCraft 2 REMAKE Part 2 (Censored Parody)
Unnecessary Censorship - StarCraft 2 REMAKE Part 2 (Censored Parody) We decided to remake the StarCraft videos and combine them into 2 larger videos, the originals were the first time I ever...

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HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA | Unnecessary Censorship Recap | Censored Funniest Moments / Best Scenes Parody – Video

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HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA | Unnecessary Censorship Recap | Censored Funniest Moments / Best Scenes Parody
This week in unnecessary censorship, Hotel Transylvania! The voicework is so similar to Despicable Me it confuses me... kinda... but it was very well done! love Adam Sandler and Andy Samberg....

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HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA | Unnecessary Censorship Recap | Censored Funniest Moments / Best Scenes Parody - Video

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Twitter Caught Censoring Blasphemous Tweets on Behalf of Pakistani Government

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In the most high-profile act of censorship yet, Twitter, which hails itself as a tool of free speech in oppressive regimes, was found to have blocked blasphemous and unethical tweets on behalf of the government of Pakistan at least five times in May alone. All of the censorship requests came from a Pakistani bureaucrat who wanted Twitter to block material related to anti-Islamic content, the New York Times reports.

While Twitter does have a country-specific censorship policy, which they implemented in 2012 to help the company adhere to local speech laws, this is the first time that the companys actively blocked tweets in Pakistan. As the Times elaborates, it comes at a time when Pakistans government is flexing its censorship abilities, even going so far as to remove an entire op-ed criticizing Pakistani censorship from the pages of the Times itself, leaving a conspicuously blank page:

A number of the accounts seemed to have been blocked in anticipation of the fourth annual Everybody Draw Muhammad Day on May 20.

This censorship comes as challenges to Pakistans draconian blasphemy law have become increasingly deadly, amid a flurry of arrests, killings and assassination attempts on secularists

A civil rights group in Pakistan concerned with Internet access, Bolo Bhi, called the legitimacy of the requests forwarded by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to Twitter questionable. The law that defines the regulators power, the group explained, does not in any form give P.T.A. the authority to arbitrarily restrict content on the Internet.

In a strange coda, they also blocked blasphemous material related to Duke University student and porn star Belle Knox.

[NYT h/t Valleywag] [Image via 1000 Words / Shutterstock.com]

>> Follow Tina Nguyen (@Tina_Nguyen) on Twitter

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Twitter Caught Censoring Blasphemous Tweets on Behalf of Pakistani Government

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Assange names country targeted by NSA's MYSTIC mass phone tapping program

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IDG News Service - The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) has been recording and storing nearly all domestic and international phone calls from Afghanistan, according to Wikileaks' front man Julian Assange.

Wikileaks revealed the name of the country after The Intercept reported Monday that the NSA was actively recording and archiving "virtually every" cellphone call in the Bahamas and one other country under a program called SOMALGET. The Intercept said it did not name the second country because of concerns that doing so could lead to increased violence.

The voice interception program is part of a broader program called MYSTIC revealed in March when the Washington Post published documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

MYSTIC is used to collect phonecall metadata and is used in Mexico, Kenya and the Philippines, according to The Intercept. SOMALGET enables the NSA to gather and store the contents of every conversation in an entire country, it said.

The program gives the NSA the capability to record and store the phone calls of an entire nation for up to 30 days, according to the Washington Post. The paper decided not to identify the countries affected on request of the U.S. government.

While The Intercept revealed the identity of five of the Mystic target countries, Assange said the decision not to name Afghanistan was "censorship."

"Such censorship strips a nation of its right to self-determination on a matter which affects its whole population," ="https://wikileaks.org/WikiLeaks-statement-on-the-mass.html">he said on Wikileak's site. "By denying an entire population the knowledge of its own victimization, this act of censorship denies each individual in that country the opportunity to seek an effective remedy, whether in international courts, or elsewhere," he said.

To protect his source, Assange did not disclose how Wikileaks confirmed the identity of the second country. However, he said, it can also be independently verified through forensic scrutiny of imperfectly applied censorship on related documents released to date, and through correlations with other NSA programs.

The censorship of a victim state's identity directly assists the killing of innocent people, Assange said. The U.S. has been using mass interception programs as a key component in its drone targeting program that has killed "thousands of people and hundreds of women and children in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia in violation of international law," he added.

"We do not believe it is the place of media to 'aid and abet' a state in escaping detection and prosecution for a serious crime against a population. Consequently Wikileaks cannot be complicit in the censorship of victim state X. The country in question is Afghanistan," he said.

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