The protein responsible for detecting sour in taste buds has been difficult to identify. This is partly because sour chemicals are detected both through the sense of taste (taste perception) and through the production of pain (somatosensory perception). Thus, mice lacking the taste pathway still avoid sour-tasting liquids. The Liman lab has been studying sour … Read more
The benefit of breast milk in providing passive immune protection to infants is well known. What may be less known is that the composition of breast milk changes throughout the day, following the 24 hour circadian cycle. I certainly was not aware of this when I had my children. For breastfeeding mothers who are always … Read more
A team of researchers, led by Ronna Hertzano from the University of Maryland School of Medicine (USA) and Michael Bowl from the MRC Harwell Institute (United Kingdom), has identified the gene Ikzf2 as a key regulator critical for the functional maturation of cochlear outer hair cells. The cochlea is part of the inner ear (Figure 1). … Read more
Some anti-aging supplements include compounds, like nicotinamide riboside, that increase nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD: oxidized NAD+ and reduced NADH) and stilbenoid compounds, like resveratrol or pterostilbene, that are anti-oxidants and regulators of protein function. The findings that resveratrol inhibited human platelet aggregation and prevented cancer cell proliferation in culture and cancer in mice created excitement … Read more
