Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have found that plants tends to “pump” as major league baseball players do on steroids when they are given extra shots of the plant steroid, brassinolide. The research team was able to unravel how the growth-boosting hormone performs this job at the molecular level while tracing signal of brassinolide deep into the cell’s nucleus.

The Salk researchers, led by Joanne Chory, a professor in the Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, published their findings in the journal Nature.

From Sciencedaily.com:

Brassinolide, a member of a family of plant hormones known as brassinosteroids, is a key element of plants’ response to light, enabling them to adjust growth to reach light or strengthen stems. Exploiting its potent growth-promoting properties could increase crop yields or enable growers to make plants more resistant to drought, pathogens, and cold weather.

Unfortunately, synthesizing brassinosteroids in the lab is complicated and expensive. But understanding how plant steroids work at the molecular level may one day lead to cheap and simple ways to bulk up crop harvests.

Likewise, since low brassinolide levels are associated with dwarfism, manipulating hormone levels during dormant seasons may allow growers to control the height of grasses, trees or other plants, thereby eliminating the need to constantly manicure gardens.

Based on earlier studies, the Salk researchers had developed a model that explained what happens inside a plant cell when brassinolide signals a plant cell to start growing.

It was remarked by Chory that the study clarifies what happens in the downstream in the nucleus when a signal is transmitted by the brassinolide to a plant cell to grow.

When triamcinolone is directly injected into the human eye, the progression of diabetic retinopathy can be slowed down to a significant extent as per findings reported in the December issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Proliferative diabetic retinopathy is a condition that characterizes formation of new blood vessels on the optic disc or another retina component.

From Sciencedaily.com:

Corticosteroids have been shown to interfere with the creation of new blood vessels, possibly by reducing the production of compounds that spur their growth, the authors note. However, steroids are also associated with other eye diseases.

“Use of this intravitreal [injected into the eye] corticosteroid preparation to reduce the likelihood of progression of retinopathy is not warranted at this time because of the increased risk of glaucoma and cataract associated with intravitreal steroid use,” the authors write. “Any treatment to be used routinely to prevent proliferative diabetic retinopathy likely needs to be relatively safe because the condition already can be treated successfully and safely with panretinal photocoagulation. Nevertheless, further investigation with regard to the role of pharmacotherapy for reduction of the incidence of progression of retinopathy appears to be warranted.”

This study was conducted by Neil M. Bressler, M.D., of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, and colleagues in the Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network and involved 840 eyes of 693 participants having macular edema.

Benfotiamene, a form of vitamin B1, can show its efficacy for treating one of the leading causes of blindness in the world as per researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.

Striking results are possible of being achieved with benfotiamene, a fat-soluble form of vitamin B1, as per the involved researchers in a paper appearing in an issue of the Journal Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science.

This ailment is currently treated with antibiotics or steroid eye drops.

From Sciencedaily.com:

“Benfotiamene strongly suppresses this eye-damaging condition and the biochemical markers we associate with it,” said UTMB associate professor Kota V. Ramana, senior author of the study. “We’re optimistic that this simple supplementation with vitamin B1 has great potential as a new therapy for this widespread eye disease.”

The researchers’ data shows benfotiamene works by suppressing the activation of a crucial signaling molecule called NF-kappa B, which is normally triggered by the stress caused by infection. Shutting down NF-kappa B, they said, prevents the runaway production of inflammatory proteins that generates uveitis.

Benfotiamene’s low cost, rapid absorption by the body and lack of negative side effects make it an ideal candidate for uveitis prevention, according to Ramana.

It was concluded by Ramana that the vitamin B1 type is better than thiamine, which was suggested by clinical trials, and has the capability of offering advantages such as significant improvements in terms of diabetic polyneuropathy in patients.

Steroids called as glucocorticoids are considered important for treatment of diseases such as asthma and arthritis but can trigger diabetes and hypertension, as per a research at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

The involved team was able to find that a a protein called peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-alpha (PPAR-alpha) is important in the process and the finding was believed to have explained the high incidence of diabetes and hypertension in obese individuals.

From News-Bio-Medicine.org:

The team found that when given the glucocorticoid dexamethasone, mice lacking only LDLR had increased levels of insulin, fasting glucose and leptin, all signs of diabetes. The animals also became less hypoglycemic when given insulin, suggesting that they were developing insulin resistance, the precursor to diabetes. Mice lacking both LDLR and PPAR-alpha showed no signs of diabetes.

Surprisingly, dexamethasone also increased blood pressure in mice that had PPAR-alpha but not LDLR; it did not have an affect on blood pressure in mice lacking both PPAR-alpha and LDLR.

“Somehow, animals missing PPAR-alpha were protected from developing diabetes and hypertension,” Semenkovich says.

The team then replaced PPAR-alpha in the liver in mice lacking both PPAR-alpha and LDLR. The animals developed the same symptoms of diabetes and hypertension (high blood pressure) when chronically treated with dexamethasone as mice with normal levels of PPAR-alpha throughout the body.

The study appears online and in the August issue of the journal Nature Medicine. Bernal-Mizrachi led the study, in collaboration with Clay F. Semenkovich, M.D., professor of medicine and of cell biology and physiology and director of the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Lipid Research, and Daniel P. Kelly, M.D., professor of medicine, of molecular biology and pharmacology and of pediatrics and director of the Center for Cardiovascular research.

Steroids may prove effective when it comes to the treatment of vestibular neuritis that leads to dizziness due to a viral infection of the vestibular nerve, as per a new study.

This study was aimed to find out if a steroid drug, antiviral agent, or a combination of the two can prove effective for improving the outcome of patients with vestibular neuritis.

From Bio-Medicine.Org:

Researchers conducted a study to see if a steroid drug, antiviral agent, or a combination of the two could improve the outcome of patients with vestibular neuritis. For the study, 141 patients who were diagnosed with vestibular neuritis were randomly assigned to one of the treatment groups. The treatment groups included the corticosteroid group (that received methylprednisolone, also known as Medrol), the antiviral agent group (that received valacyclovir, also known as Valtrex), a group that received both, and a group that received placebo. Researchers followed up with patients three days after treatment and again 12 months after treatment.

Researchers found that 62 percent of the patients on the steroid improved compared to 39 percent in the placebo group, 36 percent in the antiviral group and 59 percent in the combination group. Researchers say the antiviral drug clearly did not improve the outcome in patients with vestibular neuritis despite the assumed viral cause. In fact, the steroid-alone group had better outcomes than the steroid-antiviral combination group.

It was found by the involved researchers that methylprednisolone alone can significant improve recovery of patients with vestibular neuritis.