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Only skin deep.

The aptly named Max Gassmann from the University of Zurich has evaluated an interesting paper which points at mammalian skin playing an important role in systemic responses to environmental oxygen.

The experiment involved first removing the hypoxia-responsive transcription factor (HIF-1alpha) from the epidermis in mice and noting systemic responses to hypoxia. The team noticed that this appeared to inhibit renal erythroprotien (EPO) synthesis. On the other hand, when the von-Hippel-Lindau (VHL) factor (a negative regulator of HIF) was removed from the epidermis, results demonstrated increased EPO synthesis and polycythemia.

Gassmann sums the whole thing up nicely when he says:

Overall, this interesting paper demonstrates that the mammalian skin plays a so far unknown key role in the response to environmental changes in oxygen supply.

Meat to die for?

This evaluation by faculty member Zecharia Madar concerns a paper that has been picked up by plenty of media sources recently. The paper suggests that there is a link between the consumption of processed meat and risk of heart disease and diabetes.

However, it is not the results of the paper, but the methods which concerned Madar. He notes,

the studies do not assess the degree of fat-trimming or method of cooking used, and their method of assessing meat intake is potentially prone to error or bias. In addition, not all studies were consistent in how they measured meat consumption, with many including processed meat as red meat in their analysis and fewer studies examining lean red meat per se.

So, although future research in this area would be wise to look at health effects of unprocessed versus processed meats