Changing genes; losing lactase

Changing genes; losing lactase.

Junying Yuan: Changing avenues without losing focus

An interest in neurodegenerative diseases drove Junying Yuan to study cell death as a graduate student at Harvard University. Now a full professor at the hallowed institute, Yuan is moved by the same interest in a new direction--the removal of misfolded proteins.

The changing economic circumstances of children: Families losing ground

The success of government policy in shielding the elderly from economic adversity is apparent in the decline in their poverty rates. In contrast, recent studies portray a disturbing situation concerning changes in the well-being of children. The 1983 poverty rates of various age groups depict what Senator Daniel P. Moynihan termed, in the Godkin Lectures he delivered last year at Harvard, a "pe...

Neonatal intestinal lactase activity.

The sequential changes in intestinal lactase activity of 40 neonates were measured indirectly from the differential uptake and excretion of lactose and the non-metabolisable disaccharide lactulose contained in formula feeds. A daily decline in urinary lactose:lactulose excretion ratios, reflecting a rise in intestinal lactase activity, followed formula feeding. Percentage decline was related di...

Evolution of Lactase Persistence

Though humans are known to lose lactase ability post-weaning, some people maintain lactase production into adulthood, a condition known as lactase persistence. Global distribution patterns of lactase persistency are inconsistent; the condition is much more prevalent in some populations than others. Using results across independent studies, the existence of such a phenomenon can be attributed to...