In a break-through for people suffering from diabetes, research has demonstrated that the intestinal cells could be an accessible and abundant source of functional insulin-producing cells.

Destruction of insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas is at the heart of type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

"We are looking for ways to make new beta cells for these patients to one day replace daily insulin injections," said Ben Stanger, an assistant professor at University of Pennsylvania.

Transplanting islet cells to restore normal blood sugar levels in patients with severe type 1 diabetes is one approach to treating the disease.

Using stem cells to create beta cells is another area of investigation.

However, both of these strategies have limitations.

"Our results demonstrate that the intestine could be an accessible and abundant source of functional insulin-producing cells," Stanger noted.

In the new research, Stanger and his team introduced the three beta-cell reprogramming factors Pdx1 (P), MafA (M) and Ngn3 (N) - collectively called PMN - into the acinar cells of the pancreas.

Remarkably, this manipulation caused the cells to take on some structural and physiological features of beta cells.

They expressed PMN in a wide spectrum of tissues in one-to-two-month-old mice.

Three days later the mice died of hypoglycemia.

The team knew they were on to something given that some of the mouse cells - cells other than acinar cells - were making way too much extra insulin.

"In tracking down which cell type it was, we saw transient expression of the three factors in crypt cells of the intestine near the pancreas," Stanger explained.

They dubbed these beta-like, transformed cells 'neoislet' cells.

These cells express insulin and show outward structural features akin to beta cells.

The neoislets are also responsive to glucose - when exposed to glucose they release insulin.

The cells were also able to improve hyperglycemia in diabetic mice.

What is more, expressing PMN in human intestinal 'organoids' - miniature intestinal units that can be grown in culture - also converted intestinal epithelial cells into beta-like cells.

"Our ultimate goal is to obtain epithelial cells from diabetes patients who have had endoscopies, expand these cells, add PMN to them to make beta-like cells, and then give them back to the patient as an alternate therapy," Stanger expressed.

The report was published in the journal Cell Reports.

A Japanese scientist has asked for the findings of his groundbreaking study in stem cells to be withdrawn amid doubts over its quality.

According to Reuters news agency, Prof Teruhiko Wakayama of the University of Yamanashi told Japanese TV that when he was conducting the experiment, he believed that it was absolutely right, but many mistakes have emerged which has led him to withdraw the research paper, the BBC reported.

Several questions have been raised about the images used in the scientific report which claimed that dipping skin cells in acid could cheaply and quickly convert them into stem cells.

The original study, which was published in the journal Nature, had found that stem cells no longer needed to be taken from embryos or made by complicated and costly genetic tampering, and had been hailed as "remarkable" and as a "major scientific discovery".

For the first time, researchers have shown that an essential biological process known as protein synthesis can be studied in adult stem cells.

The ground-breaking findings also demonstrate that the precise amount of protein produced by blood-forming stem cells is crucial to their function.

"This finding not only tells us something new about stem cell regulation but also opens up the ability to study differences in protein synthesis between many kinds of cells in the body," said Sean Morrison, director of the children's medical centre research institute at University of Toronto.

The discovery measures protein production, a process known as translation, and shows that protein synthesis is not only fundamental to how stem cells are regulated, but also is critical to their regenerative potential.

Different types of blood cells produce vastly different amounts of protein per hour, and stem cells in particular synthesise much less protein than any other blood-forming cells.

"This result suggests that blood-forming stem cells require a lower rate of protein synthesis as compared to other blood-forming cells," Morrison added.

Researchers applied the findings to a mouse model with a genetic mutation in a component of the ribosome - the machinery that makes proteins - and the rate of protein production was reduced in stem cells by 30 percent.

The scientists also increased the rate of protein synthesis by deleting the tumour-suppressor gene 'Pten' in blood-forming stem cells.

In both instances, stem cell function was noticeably impaired.

Together, these observations demonstrate that blood-forming stem cells require a highly regulated rate of protein synthesis - such that increases or decreases in that rate impair stem cell function.

"Many people think of protein synthesis as a housekeeping function, in that it happens behind the scenes in all cells. The reality is that a lot of housekeeping functions are highly regulated," explained Robert A.J. Signer, a post-doctoral research fellow in Morrison's laboratory.

Many diseases, including degenerative diseases and certain types of cancers, are associated with mutations in the machinery that makes proteins.

Discoveries such as this raise the possibility that changes in protein synthesis are necessary for the development of those diseases, said the study published in the journal Nature.

In a breakthrough, scientists have discovered a new class of antibiotics to fight deadly bacteria such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and other drug-resistant bacteria that threaten public health.

The new class, called oxadiazoles, was discovered by University of Notre Dame researchers led by Mayland Chang and Shahriar Mobashery in silico (by computer) screening and has shown promise in the treatment of MRSA in mouse models of infection.

Researchers who screened 1.2 million compounds found that the oxadiazole inhibits a penicillin-binding protein, PBP2a, and the biosynthesis of the cell wall that enables MRSA to resist other drugs.

The oxadiazoles are also effective when taken orally. This is an important feature as there is only one marketed antibiotic for MRSA that can be taken orally, researchers said.

MRSA has become a global public-health problem since the 1960s because of its resistance to antibiotics.

In the US alone, 278,000 people are hospitalised and 19,000 die each year from infections caused by MRSA, said researchers.

Only three drugs currently are effective treatments, and resistance to each of those drugs already exists.

The researchers have been seeking a solution to MRSA for years.

"Professor Mobashery has been working on the mechanisms of resistance in MRSA for a very long time," Chang said.

"As we understand what the mechanisms are, we can devise strategies to develop compounds against MRSA," said Chang.

"Mayland Chang and Shahriar Mobashery's discovery of a class of compounds that combat drug resistant bacteria such as MRSA could save thousands of lives around the world. We are grateful for their leadership and persistence in fighting drug resistance," said Greg Crawford, dean of the College of Science at the University of Notre Dame.

The research is published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

In a setback to those who have switched to low-saturated fat diets for better heart health, a leading US cardiovascular research scientist has claimed diets low in saturated fat or based on Omega 6 fats do not curb heart disease risk or help you live longer.

"Current dietary advice to replace saturated fats with carbohydrates or omega 6-rich polyunsaturated fats is based on flawed and incomplete data from the 1950s," declared James DiNicolantonio in the medical journal Open Heart.

The best diet to boost and maintain heart health is one low in refined carbohydrates, sugars and processed foods, he recommended.

Anyone who has had a heart attack should not be thinking of replacing saturated fats with refined carbs or omega 6 fatty acids -- particularly those found in processed vegetable oils containing large amounts of corn or safflower oil, he added.

"Dietary guidelines should be urgently reviewed and the vilification of saturated fats stopped to save lives," he insisted.

DiNicolantonio said the idea that fat causes heart disease was based on a flawed 1950s study which used data from six countries but excluded data from another 16.

This study "seemingly led us down the wrong 'dietary road' for decades to follow", he said.

There is now a strong argument in favour of the consumption of refined carbohydrates as the causative dietary factor behind the surge in obesity and diabetes in the US.

While a low fat diet may lower 'bad' (LDL) cholesterol, there are two types of LDL cholesterol.

"Switching to carbs may increase pattern B (small dense) LDL which is more harmful to heart health than pattern A (large buoyant) LDL, as well as creating a more unfavourable overall lipid profile," DiNicolantonio noted.

In the race to cut saturated fat intake, several dietary guidelines recommend upping polyunsaturated fat intake.

However, a recent data shows that replacing saturated fats and trans fatty acids with omega 6 fatty acids, without a corresponding rise in omega 3 fatty acids, seems to increase the risk of death from coronary heart and cardiovascular diseases.

"We need a public health campaign as strong as the one we had in the 70s and 80s demonising saturated fats, to say that we got it wrong," urged DiNicolantonio.

"Eating a Mediterranean-style diet rich in fruit, veg, pulses and fish would help lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of coronary heart disease," he suggested.