Body’s diarrhea defense
The body has a biological mechanism tailor-made to fend off infections by Clostridium difficile, a bacterium responsible for many hospital-acquired diarrheal infections. Reporting online August 21 in Nature Medicine, researchers at Case Western Reserve University and colleagues from other institutions show that a compound called S-nitrosoglutathione can bind to toxins secreted by the microbe and neutralize them before they damage cells. Increased levels of S-nitrosoglutathione in the guts of mice protected them from C. difficile, the researchers report. —Nathan Seppa
Third graders en route to adult disease
Obese but apparently healthy children 7 to 9 years old were twice as likely to be insulin resistant (a hallmark of impending diabetes) as were normal weight children their age, a team of scientists from U.S. universities finds. The scientists compared a range of features characterizing the blood, vascular health and fat-processing in 123 children. A whole host of prediabetes and pre-heart disease changes were evident in the obese youngsters. These children also were beginning to store fat outside of normal sites, the researchers report online August 25 in Obesity. The results “highlight the importance of interventions to prevent and manage obesity” very early in life. —Janet Raloff
