Helicobacter pylori infects up to 90 percent of people in the developing world and causes gastric ulcers and cancers of the gut. Now scientists have revealed a subterfuge used by the bacterium to trick stomach cells into playing along. By injecting a protein into the stomach lining that mimics a native protein but has its opposite effect, the bacterium shuts down a process that helps properly structure stomach tissue, scientists say. C. Erec Stebbins, head of the Laboratory of Structural Microbiology at Rockefeller University, Research Associate Dragana Nesic and colleagues deciphered the atomic structure of an important segment of the large H. pylori protein CagA as it attached to a human enzyme called MARK2.

San Diego, CA – February, 22 and Osaka, Japan – February 23, 2010 – Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMLN) and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TSE: 4502) announced today that the companies have selected the combination treatment of pramlintide, an analog of the natural hormone amylin, and metreleptin, an analog of the natural hormone leptin, for advancement toward Phase 3 development. The decision to advance the program followed encouraging results from a 52-week blinded, placebo-controlled Phase 2 extension study. The pramlintide/metreleptin combination met the key target criteria of sustained and robust weight loss

Epidemiological studies indicate that being overweight or obese is associated with increased cancer risk. The most dramatic effect of obesity on cancer risk has been noted for a common form of liver cancer called hepatocellular carcinoma or HCC. Modeling the effect of obesity in mice, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have conclusively demonstrated that obesity is tumor-promoting and have obtained evidence that this effect depends on induction of low-grade, chronic inflammation.

Work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Superfund Research Program and the Wellcome Trust to Michael Karin, PhD, an American Cancer Society Research Professor.

February 17, 2010- Obesity in general nearly doubles the risk of developing kidney stones, but the degree of obesity doesn’t appear to increase or decrease the risk one way or the other, a new study from Johns Hopkins shows.