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A study has explored whether adding branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) to an exercise program could improve outcomes for older adults. In a small, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, the team found that BCAA supplementation improved performance, reduced fatigue, and alleviated depression symptoms for many participants. His research focuses on how inflammation impairs central nervous system function. BCAAs—leucine, isoleucine, and valine—are essential amino acids that not only serve as the building blocks of protein and muscle but also appear to play specific roles in inflammation and brain health. "Through supplementation, we thought perhaps we could restore balance and reduce the burden of...

A common energy drink ingredient has been linked to the progression of the blood cancer leukemia, prompting researchers to voice concerns about the consumption of those beverages. Taurine — an amino acid that occurs naturally in proteins like meat and fish — is a common ingredient in energy drinks like Red Bull. As the Mayo Clinic explains it can help balance fluids, salts and minerals. But according to research published in Nature, taurine may promote leukaemogenesis — the development of leukemia cells — and “identifies taurine as a key regulator of myeloid malignancies,” which, like leukemia, are cancers that begin...

Close up of the hip bone of an Edmontosaurus. Credit: University of Liverpool Liverpool researchers’ discovery of collagen in fossilized bones could provide new insights into dinosaurs. For years, scientists widely believed that the fossilization process destroyed all original organic molecules, leaving fossils devoid of their original biological material. However, a groundbreaking study led by the University of Liverpool has provided strong evidence that Mesozoic fossils, including dinosaur bones and teeth, still contain preserved organic materials. Using advanced mass spectrometry and other analytical techniques, researchers detected remnants of collagen in the hip bone of an Edmontosaurus, a duck-billed dinosaur. This...

A study conducted by researchers has uncovered a pivotal role of asparagine metabolism in regulating B cell homeostasis and immune response. Germinal center (GC) B cells are responsible for producing antibodies. The cells have some of the highest proliferation rates of all mammalian cells, yet their metabolism is unusual and incompletely understood, so a team from the Kennedy Institute and collaborators set out to understand more. The findings identify the non-essential amino acid asparagine as a critical regulator of germinal center (GC) B cell function, structures critical for refining antibodies to target infections effectively. "When asparagine is scarce, B cells...

A new paper shows how an amino acid may hold the secrets of oral cancers. Upper aerodigestive squamous cell carcinoma is a common and aggressive malignancy—it attacks more than half a million people each year, leaving them battling fatal tumors in the airways of the head and neck. Even with so many individuals impacted, there are few effective therapeutic options. Assistant Professor Dechen Lin may just have a solution. New research shows that a pathway of a particular amino acid may be critical in shutting down the growth and proliferation of oral cancers, and a specific diet could be a...

Research in mice shows limited intakes of one particular essential amino acid can slow the impacts of aging and even lengthen their lifespan. Scientists are now wondering if these findings could help people improve their longevity and quality of life. Isoleucine is one of three branched-chain amino acids we use to build proteins in our bodies. It is essential for our survival, but since our cells can't produce it from scratch, we have to get it from sources like eggs, dairy, soy protein and meats. But there can always be too much of a good thing. Earlier research using data...

Scientists wanted to investigate the anti-cancer properties of carnosine against cells derived from both primary and metastatic prostate cancer. Carnosine, which can be produced by the body and is also found in meat, has long been advocated for use as an antioxidant to facilitate healthy aging. There have been reports of carnosine being effective against the development of a number of different cancers but this is the first time it has been studied in relation to prostate cancer. The researchers found that carnosine stopped the cells from multiplying and at higher doses even killed cancer from both primary and metastatic...

Researchers have identified an amino acid that may play a key role in predicting poor clinical outcomes and the treatment of long COVID. In research, the team says it has developed a predictive test to determine which patients with COVID-19 will go on to develop longer-term symptoms and proposes a clinical trial of an already-approved supplement as a potential treatment. "This research helps us understand what's happening in the bodies of people with long COVID and could lead to better treatments," says Gavin Oudit. The team followed 117 patients who were admitted to hospital with acute COVID-19, taking blood samples...

It will be the first time wheat created using a gene editing technique known as CRISPR has been grown in fields in the UK or Europe, although it is in use in China and the US. He said acrylamide has been a very serious problem for food manufacturers since it was first discovered in 2002, shown to cause cancer in rodents, and has been considered 'probably carcinogenic' for humans. 'It occurs in bread and increases substantially when the bread is toasted, but is also present in other wheat products and many crop-derived foods that are fried, baked, roasted or toasted,...

Preclinical studies in mice that model human COVID-19 suggest that an inexpensive, readily available amino acid might limit the effects of the disease and provide a new off-the-shelf therapeutic option for infections with SARS-CoV-2 variants and perhaps future novel coronaviruses. Researchers report that an amino acid called GABA, which is available over-the-counter in many countries, reduced disease severity, viral load in the lungs, and death rates in SARS-CoV-2-infected mice. Said Daniel Kaufman: "If our observations of the protective effects of GABA therapy in SARS-CoV-2-infected mice are confirmed in clinical trials, GABA could provide an off-the-shelf treatment to help ameliorate infections...

Chemists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have chemically synthesized a new peptide (a short protein fragment) that can bind to part of SARS-CoV-2's spike protein, a key protein responsible for getting the virus into mammalian cells, potentially disarming it. "We have a lead compound that we really want to explore, because it does, in fact, interact with a viral protein in the way that we predicted it to interact, so it has a chance of inhibiting viral entry into a host cell," said senior author Dr. Brad Pentelute, a researcher in the Department of Chemistry at MIT. Coronaviruses,...

Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. Tryptophan and methionine are essential amino acids -- the diet must provide them because cells cannot make them. Normally, the lack of an essential amino acid in the diet can lead to serious diseases and even death. Foods rich in tryptophan and methionine include cheese, lamb, beef, pork, chicken, turkey, fish, eggs, nuts and soybeans.

The parents of an eight-year-old boy with a rare blood disorder have amazed doctors by finding a cure for him after refusing to give up hope. Reuben Grainger-Mead suffered a condition so rare that doctors did not even have a name for it. The schoolboy suffered from a low level of red blood cells, which left him with a weak immune system and needing blood transfusions once a month. Doctors compared his condition to living with a permanent hangover. But after years of research his parents Michelle and Peter, discovered Reuben lacked vital amino acids and proteins and put him...

Washington, Oct 06: A meteorite, which crashed into Australia 40 years ago, is telling researchers new things about how life may have started on Earth, and how that almost universal protein left-handedness came to be. For more than 150 years, scientists have known that the most basic building blocks of life - chains of amino acid molecules and the proteins they form - almost always have the unusual characteristic of being overwhelmingly “left-handed.” The molecules, of course, have no hands, but they are almost all asymmetrical in a way that parallels left-handedness. This observation, first made in the 1800s by...

About 15 tons of it on a recent day, imported from China, neatly pressed into mats and ready to ship to farmers and nursery growers who swear by the horticultural benefits of Blacker's hairy wares. The mats stored in southern Miami-Dade County are part of a world marketplace for human hair. Uses range from the obvious, such as false eyelashes and wigs, to the more obscure: it's a common raw-material source for l-cysteine, an amino acid frequently used in baked goods such as pizza dough and bagels