Inside this issueCover storiesA love of Yale, a vision for its futureA faster pipeline speeds new treatments from lab to patient“Teacher’s teacher” to oversee curriculum as education deanPartnershipsBiology, medicine unite in new grad initiativeGrants & contractsPeoplePioneer of antiviral therapies is awarded the Parker Medal, school’s highest honorExpert on autism is named new director of Child Study CenterBlood cell researcher is named new chair of Laboratory MedicineYale biochemist is elected to the world’s oldest scientific societyLifelines: Rebel with a causeOut & aboutAwards & honorsEducationSuperb teaching is rewarded at graduationScienceNew protein chips are a window on the wombAn eye for scienceAdvances: Trading life and limb in pursuit of being thin | How immunity is MIFfed by malaria | Placenta may hold autism's earliest mark| Curbing the scourge of deadly diarrhea 
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AdvancesHealth and science news from YaleTrading life and limb in pursuit of being thin
Considering the social stigma and adverse health effects, most people would never choose to be obese. But just how far would people go to avoid being fat? Marlene B. Schwartz, Ph.D., director of research and school programs at Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, and colleagues polled nearly 4,300 individuals across the weight spectrum—from underweight to extremely obese—and asked what they would sacrifice to not be fat. As reported in the March issue of Obesity, 46 percent of the respondents said they would give up a year of life, 30 percent would divorce their spouse, and 25 percent would forego bearing children. Some went further: 5 percent reported that they would prefer to lose a limb and 4 percent said they would rather be blind than obese. The researchers found anti-fat bias in all respondents, even those who are obese. “The fact that even obese individuals exhibited a significant implicit anti-fat bias suggests that they have internalized negative stereotypes, such as believing they are lazy,” says Schwartz, who adds that such stereotypes may undermine people’s motivation to make healthy behavior changes. How immnity is MIFfed by malariaHalf of the 2 million deaths from malaria each year result from severe anemia caused by the duplicitous Plasmodium parasite, which not only destroys healthy red blood cells, but also blocks the production of new cells to replace them. New research shows Plasmodium adds insult to injury in accomplishing this latter task by turning the immune system against itself. Richard Bucala, M.D., Ph.D., professor of medicine and pathology, and collaborators discovered that the macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), a key immune system protein that is often expressed at high levels during malarial infection, suppresses red blood cell production. Mice lacking the MIF gene were better at regenerating red blood cells after malarial infection, thereby curbing the severity of anemia and boosting their chance for survival. Bucala’s group identified subtle variants of the human MIF gene that lead to low or high MIF levels during Plasmodium infection. The research, published in the May issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine, points the way to a genetic test that could identify individuals prone to severe malarial anemia. Placenta may hold autism's earliest mark
Autism, a complex disability affecting social interaction and communication skills, typically emerges in children between 1 and 3 years of age. But autism is a so-called spectrum disorder—symptoms vary widely across individuals in both degree and kind. Early diagnosis is therefore challenging, yet critical for initiating specialized intervention programs, which have the greatest impact if begun as soon as possible. A new study by Harvey J. Kliman, M.D., Ph.D., research scientist in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, may make it possible to diagnose autism at birth. The research, conducted with research scientist George M. Anderson, Ph.D., and colleagues at the Yale Child Study Center and published in the June 22 issue of Biological Psychiatry, shows that abnormal foldings known as trophoblast inclusions (dark purple area, center left; dark oval, lower right) appear three times more frequently in placentas of autistic children than in placentas of normal individuals. Further studies based on these findings will seek to understand the relationship between placental abnormalities, brain development and the incidence of autism. Curbing the scourge of deadly diarrheaThe human body favors balance. Too much of one thing or too little of another often tips the scales toward ill effects. So it is with the devastating diarrhea seen in V. cholera and E. coli infection. Toxins produced by these bacteria force cells in the intestine to secrete water and salts at rates faster than the cells can reabsorb them, leading to severe dehydration that kills millions of children each year. In the June 20 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, John P. Geibel, M.D., professor of surgery, Steven C. Hebert, M.D., C.N.H. Long Professor and chair of the Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, and colleagues report that switching on a specific calcium-sensing receptor protein on the surface of intestinal cells with a jolt of calcium or with agents that modulate the receptor blocks fluid loss and enhances absorption. According to Geibel and Hebert, stimulating the receptor destroys cellular signaling molecules triggered by bacterial toxins, and “development of specific agents to target this intestinal receptor could provide a new approach for treating life-threatening diarrhea.” 
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