An Appetite and Sun Connection

According to recent research from Tel Aviv University, exposure to the sun makes men more hungry but not women. The research, which was conducted using lab models, reveals how the metabolic mechanism is activated differently in men and women. 

According to the researchers, sun exposure in males of both animal species and humans triggers a protein called p53 to repair any DNA damage that may have been done to the skin as a result of the exposure.

Ghrelin, a hormone that increases hunger, is produced by the body in response to the activation of p53. The hormone estrogen prevents the interaction of p53 with ghrelin in females, which prevents the urge to eat after exposure to the sun.

Professor Carmit Levy and Ph.D. student Shivang Parikh of the Department of Human Genetics and Biochemistry at TAU’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine led the groundbreaking study. 

 It was carried out in partnership with numerous Israeli and international researchers, including Tel Aviv Sourasky (Ichilov), Assuta, Meir, and Sheba Medical Centers, as well as Dr. Yiftach Gepner and Dr. Lior Bikovski from TAU’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine and Professor Aron Weller from Bar-Ilan University. 

The study was published in the renowned journal Nature Metabolism.  READ MORE...

Humans Apex Predators

Paleolithic cuisine was anything but lean and green, according to a 2021 study on the diets of our Pleistocene ancestors. For a good 2 million years, Homo sapiens and their ancestors ditched the salad and dined heavily on meat, putting them at the top of the food chain.

It's not quite the balanced diet of berries, grains, and steak we might picture when we think of 'paleo' food. But according to anthropologists from Israel's Tel Aviv University and the University of Minho in Portugal, modern hunter-gatherers have given us the wrong impression of what we once ate.

"This comparison is futile, however, because 2 million years ago hunter-gatherer societies could hunt and consume elephants and other large animals – while today's hunter gatherers do not have access to such bounty," said Miki Ben‐Dor from Israel's Tel Aviv University in April last year.

A look through hundreds of previous studies on everything from modern human anatomy and physiology to measures of the isotopes inside ancient human bones and teeth suggests we were primarily apex predators until roughly 12,000 years ago.

Reconstructing the grocery list of hominids who lived as far back as 2.5 million years ago is made all that much more difficult by the fact plant remains don't preserve as easily as animal bones, teeth, and shells.

Other studies have used chemical analysis of bones and tooth enamel to find localized examples of diets heavy in plant material. But extrapolating this to humanity as a whole isn't so straight-forward.  READ MORE...

Vaccine No Worky

FROM THE TIMES OF ISRAEL...


The South African variant of the coronavirus is notably more adept at “breaking through” the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine than other variants are, Israeli scientists have found, in a first-of-its-kind real-world study.

Israel has used the Pfizer vaccine almost exclusively to vaccinate millions of citizens, with a version by Moderna, based on similar innovative mRNA technology, used minimally.

A team from Tel Aviv University and the Clalit healthcare organization sequenced the swabs of 150 Israelis who tested positive for COVID-19 despite having been vaccinated.

In their study, the prevalence of the South African strain among vaccinated individuals who were infected despite their inoculation was eight times higher than its prevalence in the unvaccinated infected population. Though the number of such infections among the vaccinated was relatively small, the findings indicated that this variant was far more successful in getting through vaccinated individuals’ defenses than other strains.

“Based on patterns in the general population, we would have expected just one case of the South African variant, but we saw eight,” Prof. Adi Stern, who headed the research, told The Times of Israel. “Obviously, this result didn’t make me happy.”  READ MORE

https://www.timesofisrael.com/real-world-israeli-data-shows-south-african-variant-better-at-bypassing-vaccine/