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Gene mutation can slow child growth, puberty: study

AFP

Scientists have identified a gene mutation that affects the brain’s ability to sense a body’s nutrition and can impact childhood growth and delay puberty, a study said Wednesday.

Average human height has increased over time with greater access to food.

By identifying the gene responsible for the brain receptor known as MC3R, scientists may have uncovered one of the reasons behind this trend.

Analysing data from 500,000 participants in the UK Biobank biomedical research database, they identified a few thousand carrying rare natural mutations in the gene responsible for MC3R receptors.

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The study published in Nature shows those individuals were on average shorter and hit puberty later than people without the mutation.

“MC3R deficiency is… associated with reduced childhood growth, adult height and lean mass” the study concludes, noting that the effects are greater the more severe the dysfunction.

Previous studies had shown that mutation in genes responsible for brain receptors known as MC4R lead to obesity in humans.

While studies in mice had suggested MC3R played a role in development, it was not clear how this worked in humans. 

“Analysis of the MC3R gene should become part of the routine genetic analysis of patients with delayed puberty, short stature,” the study says. 

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It concludes that medically stimulating MC3R receptors might be a potential treatment for delayed puberty, short stature and a condition associated with chronic illness that affects muscle mass known as sarcopenia. 

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International

Trump urges Putin to reach peace deal

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his desire for Russian President Vladimir Putin to “reach a deal” to end the war in Ukraine, while also reaffirming his willingness to impose sanctions on Russia.

“I want to see him reach an agreement to prevent Russian, Ukrainian, and other people from dying,” Trump stated during a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House.

“I think he will. I don’t want to have to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil,” the Republican leader added, recalling that he had already taken similar measures against Venezuela by sanctioning buyers of the South American country’s crude oil.

Trump also reiterated his frustration over Ukraine’s resistance to an agreement that would allow the United States to exploit natural resources in the country—a condition he set in negotiations to end the war.

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International

Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links

A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.

Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.

However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.

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International

Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”

Guatemalan court decides Wednesday whether to convict journalist José Rubén Zamora

The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.

“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.

The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.

His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”

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