People who consume frozen microbiome capsules derived from their own faeces when dieting may limit their weight regain, according to a study. ‘Effects of Diet-Modulated Autologous Fecal Microbiota Transplantation on Weight Regain’, published in Gastroenterology, conducted by a team of researchers led by Israeli researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU).
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers have devised a way to apply a temporary synthetic coating to the lining of the small intestine that could be adapted to deliver drugs, aid in digestion or prevent nutrients such as glucose from being absorbed, which could offer a new strategy to treat diabetes or obesity.
A review of COVID-19 studies has revealed an association between coronavirus and obesity, according to research led by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which raises concerns about the impact of obesity on the effectiveness of a future COVID-19 vaccine.
Biomedical engineers at Duke University have shown that the efficacy of a two-pronged type 2 diabetes treatment increases when the drugs are linked by a heat-sensitive tether rather than simply concurrently administered. The combination molecule is formed by an elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) linker that forms a gel-like depot when injected under the skin, which slowly dissolves and releases the active drug over time.
Patients hospitalised with COVID-19 who had a combination of high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes were over three times more likely to die from the disease, according to a study by researchers from Tulane University. The study, ‘Metabolic Syndrome and COVID-19 Mortality Among Adult Black Patients in New Orleans’, published in the journal Diabetes Care, is the first to look at the impact of metabolic syndrome on outcomes for COVID-19 patients.
