The stop and start of blood flow to the heart during and after a heart attack causes severe damage to heart cells, reducing their capacity to function and potentially causing their death. But a recent study led by researchers at Temple University School of Medicine suggests that it is possible to limit the extent of that damage using a drug. In experiments in mice that recapitulated a human clinical scenario, they discovered that inhibition of a heart protein called TNNI3K reduced damage from heart attack and protected the heart from further injury.

About 120 million people around the world with Type 2 diabetes - and two million in Canada - take the drug metformin to control their disease. While doctors know metformin needs to interact with insulin to be effective, and that it can't lower blood sugar on its own, no one has been able to explain how and why this happens. Researchers at McMaster University are the first to unlock that mystery with their discovery metformin works on fat in the liver.

A team of 22 scientists from 11 research institutes led by Professor Bazbek Davletov, now at the University of Sheffield, created and characterised a new molecule that was able to alleviate hypersensitivity to inflammatory pain. The work is featured on the cover of the October 2013 issue of the scientific journal Bioconjugate Chemistry.

An international team led by University of Adelaide researchers has identified the mechanism of pain relief of a new drug for treating Irritable Bowel Syndrome with Constipation (IBS-C), based on nonclinical studies, and quantified its effectiveness in pain relief in human trials. Published in the journal Gastroenterology, the study describes the pain mechanism of action for Linaclotide, a recently approved drug for the treatment of chronic abdominal pain and constipation in adult IBS-C patients.

A new review suggests that omega-3 fatty acids taken in excess could have unintended health consequences in certain situations, and that dietary standards based on the best available evidence need to be established. "What looked like a slam dunk a few years ago may not be as clear cut as we thought," said Norman Hord, associate professor in OSU's College of Public Health and Human Sciences and a coauthor on the paper.

University of Miami Miller School of Medicine researchers played a key role in the largest international Alzheimer's disease genetics collaboration to date, which identified 11 new regions of the genome that contribute to late-onset Alzheimer's disease, doubling the number of potential genetics-based therapeutic targets to investigate.

In a feat of modern-day alchemy with huge potential for regenerative medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine scientists have developed a fast, efficient way to turn cells extracted from routine liposuction into liver cells. The scientists performed their experiments in mice, but the adipose stem cells they used came from human liposuction aspirates and became human, liver-like cells that flourished inside the mice's bodies.