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New research hints at a few ways fatty foods affect cells in the brain, a finding that could help explain the link between a high-fat diet and impaired memory—especially as we age. The study of cell cultures found the omega-3 fatty acid DHA may help protect the brain from an unhealthy diet's effects by curbing fat-induced inflammation at the cellular source. Separate experiments using brain tissue from aging mice showed a high-fat diet may lead specific brain cells to overdo cell-signaling management in a way that interferes with the creation of new memories. For this work, the researchers focused on...

Research led by Nicolas Bazan, MD, Ph.D. suggests that age-related macular degeneration (AMD) decreases an essential fatty acid, preventing the formation of a class of protective molecules and reducing repair potential. The discovery may also open new therapeutic avenues for AMD. The study shows that AMD decreases peripheral retinal docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) 22:6 in rod photoreceptor cells, limiting the elongation of fatty acids to form very-long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (VLC-PUFAs). VLC-PUFAs are precursors of elovanoids, bioactive chemical messengers made from omega-3 very- long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids. Elovanoids, discovered by the Bazan lab, have been shown to restore the structure and...

Atherosclerosis is a disease in which fat, cholesterol, and other substances build up inside artery walls. This can can block arteries and cause heart attacks and strokes. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an omega-3 fatty acid, has been shown to have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, which could help to prevent the buildup of fatty deposits in arteries— a major cause of heart attacks and strokes. DHA supplements are often consumed orally, but most are poorly absorbed by the gut. . To improve the absorption, a research team worked on laboratory models to deliver DHA to the bloodstream that could be more effective...

Researchers report that blood levels of the omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) were inversely correlated with hearing difficulty in a new population-based cross-sectional study. Middle-aged and older adults with higher DHA levels were 8–20% less likely to report age-related hearing issues than those with lower DHA levels. The results showed that people in the highest quintile (one-fifth of participants) of blood DHA levels were 16% less likely to answer yes to the question "do you have difficulty hearing" compared with those in the lowest quintile of DHA levels. Similarly, those in the highest quintile for DHA levels were 11%...

Researchers have identified a potential dietary supplement that may improve recovery following acute kidney injury (AKI). The finding comes from a long-running research program investigating how cells take up a specialized omega-3 lipid called LPC-DHA. A major public health concern, AKI has a mortality rate of 20 to 50%. One of the main causes of AKI is ischemic reperfusion injury, which occurs when the kidney's blood supply is restored after a period of restricted blood flow and poor oxygen delivery due to illness, injury or surgical intervention. In particular, it damages a crucial part of the kidney called the S3...

Long-running research into the omega-3 transporter protein Mfsd2a has shown that it plays a key role in a specific mechanism that prevents the liver from storing too much fat from food. This latest study signals the possibility that a dietary supplement could be developed to help prevent non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Eating too much fatty food increases the risk of many health problems, including cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes and NAFLD. The excess fat that accumulates in the liver during the onset of NAFLD leads to inflammation and progressive deterioration and scarring, called cirrhosis of the liver. The rate of...

For the first time, researchers have developed a form of the omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) that is capable of crossing into the eye's retina to ward off visual declines related to Alzheimer's disease, diabetes and other disorders. The DHA found in fish oil capsules is called triacylglycerol (TAG) DHA. Although TAG-DHA has benefits in other parts of the body, it does not reach the eyes. For the study, researchers created a new lysophospholipid form of DHA, or LPC-DHA. In studies using mice, LPC-DHA successfully increased DHA in the retina and reduced eye problems associated with Alzheimer's-like processes. In...

New research has found a link between the omega-3 fatty acid known as docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and increased IQ among children born prematurely. Preterm children are more likely to have lower IQ scores and cognitive impairments compared with term-born children. Dr. Jacqueline Gould says infants born at the earliest gestations are deprived of the natural supply of DHA that normally builds up in the brain during the last trimester of pregnancy. "These babies have low concentrations of DHA in their brain tissue, which may contribute to poorer cognitive outcomes," Dr. Gould said. "The goal of our research was to test...

3D tumors that disintegrate within a few days thanks to the action of a well-known omega-3 (DHA, found mainly in fish) -- this is a promising discovery. Hungry for fatty acids, tumor cells in acidosis gorge themselves on DHA but are unable to store it correctly and literally poison themselves. The result? They die. …the team quickly identified that these acidotic tumour cells responded in diametrically opposite ways depending on the fatty acid they were absorbing. Within a few weeks, the results were both impressive and surprising. "We soon found that certain fatty acids stimulated the tumour cells while others...

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas declined Sunday to provide a timeline for when the Biden administration will open new facilities capable of handling the surge of unaccompanied children at the southern border. "We established three new facilities last week. ... We are working on the system from beginning to end. We are working around the clock 24/7," Mayorkas told CNN's Dana Bash on "State of the Union" when pressed on the administration's timeline for having new processing facilities up and running. "We have dealt with surges in the past and the men and women of Department of Homeland Security will...

There are reports of an active shooter situation at Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

Federal immigration officers refused to let an armed team of agents into their office to detain the accused conspirator in December’s San Bernardino terrorist attack, government officials acknowledged Tuesday, exposing an embarrassing lack of communication within the Department of Homeland Security. Those who ran the legal immigration benefits office in San Bernardino refused to let a team from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement enter to detain and hold Enrique Marquez so the FBI could interview him later, Sen. Ron Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said. It turned out Mr. Marquez didn’t show for the meeting at the...

They may have had better luck on Santa’s sleigh, but more than 35,000 holiday-themed rubber ducks from China were detained by U.S. Customs officials at the Port of Los Angeles. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized the ducks -- dressed as snowmen, gingerbread men, penguins and reindeer -- which were valued at $18,522, after determining they contained the chemical phthalate in excess of the limit which may be harmful to children.

Researchers have just reported that among the list of bodily ills that fructose contributes to, it may also "make you dumb." Luckily, eating a diet rich in the healthy omega-3 fatty acids seems to counteract this phenomenon. The rats also had important differences in how their bodies - and brains - were metabolizing sugar and functioning overall. The rats who had eaten diets without omega-3s had higher triglyceride levels as well as higher glucose and insulin levels. In fact the rats seemed to enter a state of insulin resistance (a precursor to diabetes), but this too was reversed by the...

Quebec City, August 25, 2011—A diet rich in omega-3s reduces the severity of brain damage after a stroke, according to a study conducted by Université Laval researchers. The team, co-directed by professors Jasna Kriz and Frédéric Calon, showed that the extent of brain damage following a stroke was reduced by 25% in mice that consumed DHA type omega-3s daily. Details of the study can be found on the website of the journal Stroke. Researchers observed that the effects of stroke were less severe in mice that had been fed a diet rich in DHA for three months than in mice...

Darrell Issa has picked his first real fight with the Obama administration, accusing the Department of Homeland Security of letting political appointees interfere with freedom of information requests. Issa is claiming that he has information from an unnamed whistleblower that top DHS officials were involved in restricting information released under FOIA requests. DHS officials say it is extremely rare for anyone outside the FOIA department to be involved to such requests — and when they do, they do not restrict the data that’s being released.

The Dallas Housing Authority begins accepting online applications today for court-ordered rental assistance available to black residents who want to live in predominantly white neighborhoods.The DHA is required to offer the vouchers only to blacks as part of a court settlement to address past discrimination....

It's good news that we are living longer, but bad news that the longer we live, the better our odds of developing late-onset Alzheimer's disease. Many Alzheimer's researchers have long touted fish oil, by pill or diet, as an accessible and inexpensive "weapon" that may delay or prevent this debilitating disease. Now, UCLA scientists have confirmed that fish oil is indeed a deterrent against Alzheimer's, and they have identified the reasons why. Greg Cole, professor of medicine and neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and associate director of UCLA's Alzheimer Disease Research Center, and his colleagues...

The US coast guard is staging a huge exercise in Florida in preparation for a possible mass exodus from Cuba in the event of the death of Fidel Castro.More than 300 agents and 85 law enforcement agencies are taking part in the two-day Operation Vigilant Sentry. Actors are playing imaginary Cuban migrants in mock interceptions. The operation has taken on a renewed urgency since President Castro fell ill and handed temporary power to his brother Raul last July. President Castro recently spoke in a live broadcast with his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez, but has not been seen in public...

By Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS, October 19, 2005, abstracted from “Anticancer properties of propofol-docosahexaenoate and propofol-eicosapentaenoate on breast cancer cells” in the June 7, 2005 issue of Breast Cancer Research   Despite increases in technology, research, and education, breast cancer incidence in the U.S. has increased from one in twenty people in 1960 to one in eight today, with a woman being diagnosed every three minutes. In addition to the 216,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer expected to be diagnosed in 2004, 59,390 new cases of non-invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed, both expected to claim the lives of...