This course examines the growing importance of medicine in culture, economics and politics. It uses an historical approach to examine the changing patterns of disease, the causes of morbidity and mortality, the evolution of medical theory and practice, the development of hospitals and the medical profession, the rise of the biomedical research industry, and the ethics of health care in America.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Looking at these two figures, does one of the solid black circles appear larger than the other? What about these apples? If the apple or the circle on the right looks bigger, your eyes have been fooled by an optical illusion. One that may help fight obesity. Inspired by these illusions, researchers have recently developed a portion-control plate as a means to promote smaller meal sizes. A new study published in the journal, BMC Obesity, evaluates the success of this plate. The World Heath Organization has officially declared obesity to be a global epidemic, with 38% of women and nearly as many men affected world-wide. An important reason for this is an increase in energy intake without the corresponding energy expenditure, and large portion sizes have been implicated as a key player in creating this imbalance. Unfortunately, many people find it a difficult task to learn healthy portion sizes and consistently consume the proper amount of food for every meal..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Diet has a strong influence on our gut microbiota, even stronger than that of host genetic background. Caloric restriction is a specific diet change that can delay the development of metabolic disorders and has been shown previously to delay immune senescence, which is the shift towards more immune memory cells with age. However, the interactions among caloric restriction, the microbiota, and the immune system are not well understood. To close this gap, researchers examined the impact of fecal microbiota transfer from a woman in a research diet trial to germ-free mice. The fecal samples were collected before (AdLib) and eight weeks into a very low-calorie formulated diet (CalRes). CalRes-microbiota recipients had a restructured gut microbial community compared to AdLib-microbiota recipients. These mice also had reduced body fat accumulation and improved glucose tolerance compared to the AdLib-microbiota recipients..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Obesity is a prevalent problem worldwide with major health effects. In addition to overall effects, obesity can cause a wide array of gynecological and obstetric complications in women. Because shifts in the vaginal microbiota (VMB) can also be a risk factor for adverse reproductive and health outcomes, researchers examined the relationship between the VMB and obesity. Using sequencing to assess the microbiota in 67 obese women, 42 non-obese women, and 27 women who underwent bariatric surgery, they found a lower prevalence of Lactobacillus and higher prevalence of high-diversity species in the VMB of obese subjects. Local vaginal levels of many inflammatory cytokines were also elevated in obese women, but only IL-1β and IL-8 levels were correlated with VMB diversity. The VMB did not change significantly within 6 months of bariatric surgery, but many womens’ BMIs also remained within the obese range during that time..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Losing weight through lifestyle interventions alone can be challenging. Unfortunately, the options for effective drug treatment are limited. And those that are available require frequent, daily dosing. Now, a new treatment option tested among patients with diabetes could be a solution for those with obesity but not diabetes. Shown to significantly reduce body weight vs. placebo, efpeglenatide is one of the latest of an entire class of diabetes-targeted drugs observed to have beneficial effects beyond glycemic control. Efpeglenatide is a long-lasting glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist, or GLP-1 RA. The drug is currently being developed to improve glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes as a once-weekly subcutaneous administration. But like other GLP-1 RAs, efpeglenatide also helps patients lose weight..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Dietary fiber is an important part of a healthy diet, but how it interacts with our gut microbiome and the mechanisms underlying its benefits are poorly understood in humans. A recent exploratory trial examined how two structurally distinct purified fibers affected adults with excess weight. One of the dietary fibers, arabinoxylan (AX), was fermentable by the microbiome, while the second, microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), was not fermentable. An innovative technique called biorthogonal non-canonical amino acid tagging (BONCAT) was also used to identify specific microbes involved in AX fermentation. AX supplementation increased satiety after a meal compared to non-fermentable MCC. Using machine learning models, these effects on satiety could be predicted by BONCAT identified microbes that fermented AX. AX also attenuated insulin resistance relative to MCC, but the effects were not linked to the microbiome..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"The gut microbiome – comprising the microbes that reside inside our digestive systems – produces many metabolites that affect human physiology. The composition and diversity of gut microbes has been associated with diseases as diverse as GI disorders, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, depression, and rheumatoid arthritis. To better understand the relationship between diet and gut microbiota, a recent study used a cross-sectional approach. By examining fecal microbiota from the Cooperative Health Research in the Region of Augsburg study, including 1,992 participants, researchers applied latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) to identify 20 microbial subgroups within the population. They found that 8 of 20 subgroups were associated with dietary habits, while 9 of 20 were associated with the prevalence of metabolic diseases and risk factors..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Once considered little more than “cell dust”, exosomes are receiving much deserved attention from the research community. Exosomes are tiny sacs whose job includes clearing the cell of certain lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. But researchers are learning that exosomes are also crucial to signaling and communication between cells. A new review explores various ways exosomes help coordinate the metabolism of lipids in the body. Some of the most promising research describes what happens when exosomes’ ability to synthesize, transport, and degrade lipids is compromised. In some cases, that can lead to disorders such as atherosclerosis, cancer, obesity, and Alzheimer’s disease. Understanding how exosomes orchestrate metabolic activities could clue researchers in on new ways to diagnose and treat related diseases..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Too much dietary fat can be bad for our health. Chronic high lipid intake results in the accumulation of triglycerides in the liver, causing nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). One contributor to NAFLD is the inhibition of a process called autophagy, where the body’s cells clean up intracellular components that are damaged or no longer needed. Unfortunately, how autophagy inhibition results in NAFLD is unknown. A recent study aimed to determine what molecular pathways inhibit autophagy to cause NAFLD. Using yellow catfish as a model, they compared the effects of regular and high-lipid diets on autophagy and lipid metabolism. RNA sequencing showed that a high-fat diet altered the expression of many genes associated with lipid metabolism and autophagy. A pair of proteins, FXR and CREB, served as a switch to regulate these changes, maintaining a proper fatty acid balance and protecting cells from lipid-induced damage..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"The balance between hunger and satiety plays a key role in metabolic health. Specifically, disrupted appetite can lead to eating disorders or obesity. Appetite control is influenced by a complex web of factors - including our gut microbiota. Gut microbiota influence appetite through a variety of mechanisms, including regulating appetite-related hormones such as leptin, ghrelin, and insulin, influencing the immune system and acting directly on hypothalamic neurons. Recently, there has been interest in exploring the gut-microbiota-brain axis in several research fields. Some research has suggested that the gut microbiota can regulate host body weight and even psychiatric disorders, but the effects of gut microbiome interventions have been inconsistent and require more research. Overall, there are many links between gut microbiota and host appetite, but the interaction is complicated by many outside variables, and the precise mechanisms have yet to be fully deciphered..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

In the course we will use a feminist interdisciplinary lens and invite students to look critically at how practices like privatization, shrinking public “safety nets”, de-regulation, and the commodification of health services intersect inevitably with gender, race and class, for both men and women. We will draw on a blend of empirical studies, policy materials, films and guest speakers to examine specific health issues like menstrual health, corporate obstetrics, abortion, obesity, intersex, harassment and other forms of gendered violence, mental health and stress, parent-child attachment, as well as ethics and pharmaceuticals.
The Graduate Consortium in Women’s Studies (GCWS)
This course is part of the Graduate Consortium in Women’s Studies. The GCWS at MIT brings together scholars and teachers at nine degree-granting institutions in the Boston area who are devoted to graduate teaching and research in Women’s Studies and to advancing interdisciplinary Women’s Studies scholarship. Learn more about the GCWS.

This course explores the values (aesthetic, moral, cultural, religious, prudential, political) expressed in the choices of food people eat. Analyzes the decisions individuals make about what to eat, how society should manage food production and consumption collectively, and how reflection on food choices might help resolve conflicts between different values.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Overconsumption of food is one factor linked to obesity. In certain individuals, the pleasure experienced from food rewards may override signals indicating “I’m full.” One possible influencer in this process is the gut microbiome. The composition of the gut microbiota is known to be unbalanced in obesity. But how it contributes to further dysregulating eating behaviors via the food reward system is poorly understood. To assess the role of the gut microbiota in food intake regulation, researchers transferred gut-microbe-containing fecal material from obese donor mice into lean recipient mice. Experiments revealed that recipient mice developed excessive motivation for a food reward and that the gut microbes from obese donor mice altered the brain reward system of recipient mice. Motivation for food rewards was associated with changes in gut microbe-produced metabolites. with the metabolite 33HPP being identified as a modulator of neurotransmitter signalling..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"B-cells are a type of white blood cell that play an important role in the immune system, and some of these cells secrete a protein known as IL-35, which has been shown to regulate inflammation. Because the microorganisms living in the digestive system can have critical effects on the immune system of their host, scientists recently set out to uncover the link between these microbes and IL-35 production. The team found that certain microbes inhabiting the guts of mice, such as Lactobacillus bacteria, can promote the generation of IL-35-secreting B-cells and that they do this by producing 3-indoleacetic acid (IAA) in the presence of lipopolysaccharides. They also found that IL-35 may help prevent mice fed a high-fat diet from becoming obese and observed lower levels of IAA in obese mice than in nonobese mice..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Obesity is a global health problem with wide-reaching health effects and limited effective treatment options. One new treatment, fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), has received attention for its ability to affect the gut microbiota and microbial metabolism. Although researchers have found that donor selection influences microbiota engraftment and therefore the efficacy of FMT, the degree, variation, and stability of strain engraftment have not yet been examined in the context of multiple donors. In a new double-blind randomized control trial of FMT, researchers examined 87 adolescents with obesity receiving either multi-donor FMT or placebo. They found that over time, multi-donor FMT sustainably altered the structure and function of the gut microbiome. Two donor microbiomes – one female, one male – dominated in strain engraftment. These “super-donors” were characterised by high microbial diversity and a high Prevotella-to-Bacteroides (P/B) ratio..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"This small hormone found in the mitochondria is known as MOTS-c. MOTS-c is known to regulate metabolic functions throughout the body, most importantly turning glucose into usable energy. Now, new research shows that MOTS-c could help boost glucose metabolism when injected into obese mice fed a high-fat diet. The implications for humans: improved control over blood sugar levels for those with type 2 diabetes and obesity. The findings are among the latest supporting the use of MOTS-c as an exercise mimetic, a drug that stimulates biochemical changes normally activated only through exercise. In animal models of obesity and diabetes, researchers have found that certain metabolic pathways are overactivated. These include the breakdown of fats and energy sources other than glucose. The detection of products and by-products of this breakdown serve as clues that normal, healthy metabolism has gone astray..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Obesity is rapidly becoming a critical health concern globally. Growing evidence connects the microbiota-gut-brain axis to the pathophysiology of obesity. Gut bacteria can produce proteins that influence our hormonal and metabolic pathways, regulating satiety and hunger hormones. One such protein is ClpB, a chaperone protein expressed by E. coli. ClpB mimics the body’s hormones -- promoting satiety and regulating energy, blood pressure, and growth. A recent study examined the association between gut bacterial ClpB-like gene function and obesity. Using DNA sequencing and metabolomics, the researchers examined gut bacteria from people with or without obesity. They found that the bacterial species associated with more ClpB-like gene function were reduced in subjects with obesity and important bacterial characteristics, such as high ClpB expression and a negative association with obesity, could be transferred to mice through fecal transplantation..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common metabolic disease that can progress to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Iron level is a known factor in the development of NAFLD, but the details of its involvement are unclear. To elucidate the mechanisms at play, researchers applied an integrative systems medicine approach. They examined the fecal metagenome, plasma and urine metabolome, and hepatic transcriptome in three human cohorts, confirming the findings in vitro and using mice. Serum ferritin levels, a marker of hepatic iron stores, was linked to liver fat accumulation and a decrease in gut microbial gene richness. Elevation in ferritin was also associated with changes in the abundance of several bacterial families. Those families were strongly correlated with iron-related liver genes. This iron-related microbiome signature was also associated with the degree of liver fat accumulation..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Metabolic syndrome is a combination of cardiovascular risk factors including obesity, hypertension, hyperglycemia, and insulin resistance. Although its effects on entire organ systems are well-studied, researchers are beginning to appreciate the importance of thinking smaller. Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) in tissues like fat are able to self-renew and differentiate into many lineages, giving them powerful roles in regulating the immune response and angiogenesis. However, in individuals with metabolic syndrome, MSCs can become senescent, impairing their function and causing inflammation. Recently, researchers evaluated the effect of metabolic syndrome on extracellular vesicles (EVs) – membrane-bound vesicles secreted by MSCs. Using EVs collected from fat-derived MSCs in pigs, they found that micro-RNAs in EVs were altered by metabolic syndrome, some of which targeted senescence-associated genes..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"One promising way to fight obesity and its complications is to keep fat tissue in the body from expanding But as simple as that sounds, researchers aren’t yet sure where to start While the antioxidant-regulating protein Nrf2 is known to play a role in the development of fat tissue activating or de-activating Nrf2 appears to have the same fat-reducing effect Now, researchers could have a better handle on Nrf2’s role Through genetic and protein analyses, one team has discovered that Nrf2 works in concert with the receptor PDGFRα PDGFRα is critical for the development of certain organs and tissues, including body fat The team found that, in the absence of the adaptor protein Nck1, PDGFRα activation and Nrf2 expression are increased Activating the PDGFRα-Nrf2 pathway in mice impaired bone marrow cells’ ability to turn into fat These findings mirror those obtained by the same team for cells gathered from white fat tissue in mice Though it’s not yet clear how the results will carry o.."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.