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AMP-activated protein kinase has a crucial role in coupling substrate availability with substrate oxidation in skeletal muscle. Recent findings suggest that this biochecmical fuel sensor also participates in the hypothalmic recognition of the body's energy status.
Cytokines secreted during tissue damage and inflammation can trigger the formation of fibrous tissue. The cytokine IL-13 is now shown to induce TGF-β, the major fibrotic cytokine. IL-13 does so through a receptor previously thought to relay no signal (pages 99–106).
The influence of hormones on the development of brain circuits has long been recognized. A recent study shows that leptin has a similar effect on the emergence of feeding pathways. There might therefore be a crucial window during which a subject's basal metabolic phenotype can be altered.
Circadian control depends on oscillating transcription factors, master switches synchronized by stimuli such as light and feeding. Recent studies show that altering circadian rhythmicity also results in pathophysiological changes resembling the metabolic syndrome.
In people with Parkinson disease, neurons in certain brain regions are more likely to die than others. A potassium channel may be the key to understanding this differential neuronal death.
Insulin resistance can be good for your health when it is caused by klotho, a hormone that prolongs life. A reduction in insulin-stimulated intracellular glucose availability may prevent intracellular lipid overload and lipotoxicity, a proposed mechanism of hte life-shortening metabolic syndrome.
