Bisphenol A is a widely know endocrine disruptor linked to metabolic disorders and suspected to be involved in metabolic syndrom and type 2 diabetes progresssion.

But do you know where it is accumulating?

A. in the brain?
B. in muscle mass?
C. in bone tissues?
D. in fat mass?

Answer:

According to a recent publication from Fénichel, most Endocrine disruptors are accumulating in Fat Mass. However, other older publication pointed out the role of the route, dosage, gender, species…This raise the need of more studies, taken into account the amount of BPA spread in the nature and the industrial use.

Have you ever heard of  “Summer stress”?

Heat puts stress on your body’s cooling system.

When combined with other stresses such as hard physical work, fatigue or some pre-existing medical conditions, it may lead to heat-related illness, disability and even death.

To better understand, let’s take a look at this practical case highlighting importance of seasonal variation in cortisol biomarkers…Results are edifying!

 Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

In 1921, Otto Loewi , a German pharmacologist and psychobiologist  identified the first neurotransmitter in an experiment that came to him…in a dream!

Do you know about this amazing story? 

Answer: The acetylcholine!

"Ironically, Otto Loewi is better known for the way in which he came upon the idea that won him the Nobel Prize than for the discovery itself."

Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

Gout, which affects about 3 million people every year, causes pain and inflammation in the joints, like arthritis. It’s caused by the build up in the blood of a substance called uric acid, which generates sharp crystals inside joints.

 Did you know that dinosaurs struggled with arthritis just like humans?

 How can we tell? Let’s have a closer look at their bones…

Answer: 

"Some 70 million years ago, a duck-billed dinosaur lived alongside a shallow sea covering what is now New Jersey—and it had a real pain in the arm. At long last, paleontologists are giving it a diagnosis: septic arthritis, a bone disease that often develops when an injury is followed by infection. Even though the scientists had nothing more than two fossilized arm bones to go on, the fossils contain enough evidence to make the postmortem analysis possible. Such an analysis, they add, offers a unique, if painful, window into dinosaurs’ daily lives."

Source: http://www.sciencemag.org - Carolyn Gramling  - Aug. 2, 2016 

Inflammation was defined in the 1st century AD by a Roman encyclopaedist, named Celsus, known for his  medical work “De Medicina.”His "Celsus quadrilateral" describes the main symptoms of inflammatory process due to dilation of vessels, recruitment of circulating leukocytes to tissues and local plasma accumulation.

Would you be able to name them?

Answer:  In latin words....CALOR (heat) – TUMOR (swelling) – RUBOR (redness) - DOLOR (pain)!

Source: "Fundamentals of Inflammation" -  NCBI - 2011

Discovery of Insulin coupled with its purification helped transform childhood diabetes from a fatal disease to a chronic illness.

But who was this unknown, at the time, surgeon behind its discovery?

November 2016 was his 125th anniversary…Any clue?

Answer: Frederick Grant Banting,  Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1923!

"In the early 1920's, the Canadian Surgeon Frederick Banting extracted a compound they named insulin from the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas. When injected into diabetic dogs, the compound decreased the levels of sugar in the dogs’ blood and urine. The discovery, coupled with the purification of insulin, helped transform childhood diabetes from a fatal disease to a chronic illness."

Source: "From metabolic syndrome to cachexia: what’s new about metabolic biomarkers?" By Odile Viltart and Virginie Tolle - INSERM

Would you believe that a single high-fat meal could affect liver metabolism?

A recent study, published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, set out to investigate this interaction at a molecular level…

Results occurred might help understand how and why fatty foods initiate these changes in the liver…and surprise you!

Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com - "How a single high-fat meal affects liver metabolism" -  Tim Newman - Published: Tuesday 24 January 2017

How is your sector going?

According to a recent analysis, Global Biomarker Market is expected to grow at a CAGR*  of 17% during the Period of 2016 to 2022!

Growing acceptance of advanced technologies, entry of new products and a wider usage of biomarkers are some of the factors that will drive the growth.

*Compound annual growth rate

Does Cancer sex bias exist?

There is a striking and yet unexplained male predominance across many cancer types.

Why?
A recent article of the journal Nature Genetics might bring us some important answers. 

Answer: Tumor-suppressor genes that escape from X-inactivation contribute to cancer sex bias!

According to an article from Nature Genetic (21st november 2016), "a subset of X-chromosome genes can escape X-inactivation, which would protect females from complete functional loss by a single mutation."

An Hybrid technology to help Asthma diagnosis ?

A new test to diagnose asthma from a patient’s saliva has been developed by a team of British scientists.

Painless, it would offer a one-stop diagnosis suitable for people of all ages.  Can you guess what technology is behind it?  

The link between obesity and type 2 diabetes (90% of all diabetes cases)  is of such interdependence that the term 'diabesity' has been invented.
In fact, obesity is believed to account for the risk of developing type 2 diabetes of:

• 90-95%
• 80-85%
• 60-65%
• 30-35%

Answer: 80-85%!

"There are many risk factors for type 2 diabetes such as age, race, pregnancy, stress, certain medications, genetics or family history, high cholesterol and obesity. However, the single best predictor of type 2 diabetes is overweight or obesity. People who are overweight or have obesity have added pressure on their body's ability to use insulin to properly control blood sugar levels, and are therefore more likely to develop diabetes..." Source: Obesity Society

What color is a mitochondria?

“Mitochondria are virtually the only colored parts of the cell. If it were not for the melanin in our skin, the myoglobin in our muscles, and the hemoglobin in our blood, we would be the color of mitochondria! 

And if this were so, we would change color when we exercised or ran out of breath, so you could tell how energized someone was from his or her mitochondrial color. Some insects are colored only by their mitochondria and change color when they fly.”

Florence Barrett-Hill Skin Treatment Therapist CIDESCO and ITEC Diplomas

So what’s this color?

Answer: Brownish red!

Monoclonal antibodies are being used in treatment of almost every type of cancer especially two types of them : the naked monoclonal antibodies, and the conjugated monoclonal antibodies.

Do you know what a "naked" antibody means? Can you tell the difference versus a conjugated one? 

Answer: 

Naked monoclonal antibodies are monoclonal antibodies that are “naked”, or in other way, they don’t contain any radioactive material or drug or substance attached to them. On the other hand, conjugated monoclonal antibodies are antibodies that contain radioactive substance, chemotherapy drug or cancer cell killing agent.

Source

Biotech drugs, predicted as the next boom in  the Pharma Market, have indeed  “steadily carved a niche for themselves" but traditional chemical-based drugs  still dominate life sciences sector sales.

In 2010, the respective percentage of sales of theses two technologies  was 18   vs 82%.

According to you, what will be the new delta by 2019?

Answer: 48!

By 2019, 74% of sales will relate to chemicals and 26% to biotechs.

• Read full article here

High level of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) lead to DNA damage. Their detection are therefore primordial for DNA Repair solution researchers. But, their high activity and extremely short life make their measurement a major challenge!

Can you guess a ROS' half-life time?

• A. < 0.04 μs
• B.  2  μs
• C. 164 μs
• D. > 200 μs 

Answer: <0.04μs! 

Half-life is the time required for the amount of something to fall to half its initial value. ROS half-life is extremely short... Incidentally, the average human eye blink takes 350,000 microseconds!

• Read full article here

Other species immunize, too!

When a deadly fungus infects an ant colony, the healthy ones  use  “social immunization”. They do not ostracize their contagious nest mates . Instead, they welcome them…

How do they fight back the infection?

Answer: They lick the infected ones!

 Indeed, according to a study of Plos Biology, the ants "lick their infected neighbors to remove the fungal spores before the pathogens sprout and grow. Apparently, such grooming dilutes the infection, spreading it thinly across the colony. Instead of leaving their infected peers to deal with the infection on their own and die, healthy ants share the burden, deliberately infecting everyone in the colony with a tiny dose of fungus that each individual's immune system can clear on its own. Such "social immunization" also primes the immune systems of healthy ants to battle the infection." 

 In recent years, there has been a great deal of attention toward the field of Oxidative Stress and  its market is worth today $452.36 Million…

 

How much will it be expected to reach by 2020? Any clue?

Answer:  Almost double the figure,  $736.85!

"The global oxidative stress assays market is expected to reach $736.85 Million by 2020 from $452.36 Million in 2015, growing at a CAGR of 10.25%. Rapid growth in the biopharmaceutical industry, strong trend of R&D investments in biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, technological advancements like high-content screening for drug discovery, and government funding for life science research are the primary growth drivers for this market during the forecast period (2015–2020). However, high cost of instruments, and dearth of trained professionals for new and emerging technologies may hinder the growth of this market."

• Read full article here

Check our Oxidative Stress Tools 

In recent years, there has been a great deal of attention toward  the field of Oxidative Stress…

Can you tell how many related  scientific publications have been published in the last 20 years?

Answer: 126 000!

Check our Oxidative Stress Tools 

Oxidative stress is a disturbance in the balance between the production of free radicals & antioxidant defenses. This phenomenon also results from exogenous factors…

Can you cite at least 4 exogenous common sources of free radicals?

Answer: Smoking, radiation, Uv, drugs…!


"Free radicals reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species are generated by our body by various endogenous systems, exposure to different physiochemical conditions or pathological states (...) or from external sources such as exposure to X-rays, ozone, cigarette smoking, air pollutants, and industrial chemicals."

• Read full article here

Check our Oxidative Stress Tools 

Which is the most reactive of the Reactive Oxygen Species?

• A. Hypochlorous acid
• B. Superoxide radical
• C. Oxygen
• D. Hydrogen peroxide
• E. Hydroxyl radical
  
  

Answer: The Hydroxyl radical!

"Hydroxyl radical (·OH) is formed not only by the interaction between hydrogen peroxide and the reduced forms of metal ions, i.e., Cu²⁺ and Fe²⁺, but also by reduction of hydrogen peroxide as well as the interaction of superoxide with hydrogen peroxide. The hydroxyl radical is particularly unstable and is the most reactive of the free radical molecules."
Source: Aprioku JS. Pharmacology of Free Radicals and the Impact of Reactive Oxygen Species on the Testis. J Reprod Infertil. 2013;14(4):158-172.

• Read full article here
  

How many types of cancer are there?

A) less than 50

B) more than 100

C) roughly 300

D) more than 1000

Answer: more than 100!

"Cancer" is the single name assigned to more than 100 diseases. 

Any part of the body can be affected and symptoms depend on the type of cancer and which organs contain cancer cells.

It is the result of abnormal cells that multiply and spread out of control to various points in the body, damaging healthy cells along the way. 
Most types of cancer result in tumors but cancers that affect the blood do not.

Treatment of cancers may include surgery, radiation, gene therapy and chemotherapy, or combinations of these treatments.

• Source

Statins…Look for the odd one out!

Cholesterol lowering drugs, many statins are currently on the market:

Atorvastatin, fluvastatin, lovastatin, obestatin,  pitavastatin, pravastatin, rosuvastatin or simvastatin…

But can you identify the one that doesn’t belong in this list?

Answer: The Obestatin!

Despite its spelling, Obestatin doesn't belong to the Statins class as it is not a cholesterol lowing drug!

Get to know more about Obestatin and check out our brand new Kit : Obestatin (human) EIA Kit and its benefits:

Can you tell the percentage of identity that human and yeast ubiquitins actually share of their protein sequence?

Answer: 96%

Ubiquitin is so called because it is localized in all subcellular compartments of all the cells of organisms. Its structure is highly conserved among different eukaryotic species: indeed human and yeast ubiquitins share 96% for their protein sequence.

Want to read more facts about Ubiquitin?

Our partner Cayman Chemicals focus on Autophagy & Ubiquitin-Proteasome Pathway in Recycling cell system in its Current issue#24!

• On this occasion, we offer you 30%OFF  on a selection of Autophagy & Ubiquitin Kits listed in this Current!

 Are you able to tell which treatments researchers are currently studying 20E effect for?

Answer: Obesity & Diabete treatments!


Little is known about the function of ecdysteroids in the vertebrates.
There are several reports which indicate an effect of the phycoecdysteroid 20E on muscle growth and fat loss in mammals. Some dietary supplements are marketed to enhance physical performances of athletes, and particularly of bodybuilders.
Besides, researchers are currently studying the effect of 20E in the treatment of obesity and diabetes [14, 15]. And there are on-going investigations on the possible interest of 20E in the prevention and the treatment of diseases such as osteoporosis and osteoarthritis [16, 17]. >Know more

20E is also  the object of investigations in various research areas such as Ecotoxicology, Endocrinology & Biodiversity, in applications like Cell Signaling, Plant-herbivore interactions and development of nervous systems especially in Drosophila models…

Interested?

• Check out the only Ready-to-Use Kit 20 Hydroxyecdysone on the market now!
  
  

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How often is a single strand of DNA in need of repair?

And the answer is...CONSTANTLY!

The official website of the Nobel Prize just released the names of the 3 awarded of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2015  “for mechanistic studies of DNA repair",  and take the opportunity to tell us more about how our cell repair damaged DNA and safeguard our genetic information on a daily basis:

“The reason our genetic material does not disintegrate into complete chemical chaos is that a host of molecular systems continuously monitor and repair DNA.”
"The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2015 - Press Release". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 12 Oct 2015

It is widely known Fish is good for Heart Condition. But, are you able to name at least 5 reasons why?

Cayman Current Issue 25 gives you the answer:

“Epidemiological, clinical, and animal studies provide substantial support that the long chain ω-3 fatty acids from fish and fish oils, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), are cardioprotective, particularly in the setting of secondary prevention. Population studies have shown that ω-3 fatty acids have anti-arrhythmic effects that protect against sudden cardiac death. ω-3 Fatty acids benefit multiple cardiometabolic risk factors including blood pressure, vascular reactivity, arterial compliance, cardiac function, and lipid metabolism, as well as having antithrombotic, anti-oxidative, and anti-inflammatory actions.” - Cayman Current Issue 25

Bertin Bioreagent, official Distributor of Cayman Products in Europe is glad to offer you:

30%OFF on Dietary Fatty Acids related products listed in this Current!