BiotechMashup

(United States Department of Agriculture-Research, Education, and Economics) Feeding the amino acid tryptophan to young female pigs as part of their regular diet makes them less aggressive and easier to manage, according to a study by Agricultural Research Service scientists and cooperators.

by Kazumi Narita, Kenji Nagao, Makoto Bannai, Toru Ichimaru, Sayako Nakano, Takuya Murata, Takashi Higuchi, Michio Takahashi

by Katharina Kurz, Michael Fiegl, Bernhard Holzner, Johannes Giesinger, Marianna Pircher, Guenter Weiss, Hubert A. Denz, Dietmar Fuchs
Background Patients with cancer often suffer from fatigue and decreased quality of life which might be related to the breakdown of essential amino acid tryptophan.

by Katharina Kurz, Michael Fiegl, Bernhard Holzner, Johannes Giesinger, Marianna Pircher, Guenter Weiss, Hubert A. Denz, Dietmar Fuchs
Background Patients with cancer often suffer from fatigue and decreased quality of life which might be related to the breakdown of essential amino acid tryptophan.

New research from Denmark shows that guinea pigs subjected to vitamin C deficiency have 30 percent less hippocampal neurones and markedly worse memory than guinea-pigs given a normal diet. Like guinea pigs, humans are dependent on getting vitamin C through their diet, this leads to the speculation that vitamin C deficiency in pregnant women may also lead to impaired early brain development.

by Marco Zimmermann, Marco Grabemann, Christian Mette, Mona Abdel-Hamid, Jennifer Ueckermann, Markus Kraemer, Jens Wiltfang, Bernhard Kis, Florian Daniel Zepf

by Marco Zimmermann, Marco Grabemann, Christian Mette, Mona Abdel-Hamid, Jennifer Ueckermann, Markus Kraemer, Jens Wiltfang, Bernhard Kis, Florian Daniel Zepf

Chronic excess of linoleic acid (omega 6), coupled with a deficiency in alpha-linoleic acid (omega 3), can increase obesity down the generations. Researchers exposed several generations of male and female adult and young mice to a "Western-like" diet of this type, and then assessed the consequences of such a lipid environment in the human diet.

(Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research) Scientists from the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in Brussels identified a new target for cancer therapy, an enzyme which prevents the immune system from recognizing and destroying certain types of tumors. Called tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase or TDO, the enzyme works by depriving immune cells of tryptophan, an amino acid essential to their activity. TDO is produced by a significant number of human tumors.