A role for β-melanocyte-stimulating hormone in human body-weight regulation

SummaryPro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) expressing neurons mediate the regulation of orexigenic drive by peripheral hormones such as leptin, cholecystokinin, ghrelin, and insulin. Most research effort has focused on α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH) as the predominant POMC-derived neuropeptide in the central regulation of human energy balance and body weight. Here we report a missense mutation within the coding region of the POMC-derived peptide β-MSH (Y5C-β-MSH) and its association with early-onset human obesity. In vitro and in vivo data as well as postmortem human brain studies indicate that the POMC-derived neuropeptide β-MSH plays a critical role in the hypothalamic control of body weight in humans

The 2015 Annual Meeting of SETAC German Language Branch in Zurich (7-10 September, 2015): ecotoxicology and environmental chemistry-from research to application

This report provides a brief review of the 20th annual meeting of the German Language Branch of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC GLB) held from September 7th to 10th 2015 at ETH (Swiss Technical University) in Zurich, Switzerland. The event was chaired by Inge Werner, Director of the Swiss Centre for Applied Ecotoxicology (Ecotox Centre) Eawag-EPFL, and organized by a team from Ecotox Centre, Eawag, Federal Office of the Environment, Federal Office of Agriculture, and Mesocosm GmbH (Germany). Over 200 delegates from academia, public agencies and private industry of Germany, Switzerland and Austria attended and discussed the current state of science and its application presented in 75 talks and 83 posters. In addition, three invited keynote speakers provided new insights into scientific knowledge ‘brokering’, and—as it was the International Year of Soil—the important role of healthy soil ecosystems. Awards were presented to young scientists for best oral and poster presentations, and for best 2014 master and doctoral theses. Program and abstracts of the meeting (mostly in German) are provided as Additional file 1