http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Until now, little was scientifically known about the human potential to cultivate compassion—the emotional state of caring for people who are suffering in a way that motivates altruistic behavior. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-brain-compassion.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 22 May 2013 16:00:01 EST news288456434 A new approach for immunizing against influenza elicited a more potent immune response and broader protection than the currently licensed seasonal influenza vaccines when tested in mice and ferrets. The vaccine concept, which was developed by scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), represents an important step forward in the quest to develop a universal influenza vaccine—one that would protect against most or all influenza strains without the need for an annual vaccination. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-approach-influenza-vaccination-early-animal.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 22 May 2013 15:38:42 EST news288455916 Johns Hopkins researchers report that hospitals may be reaping enormous income for patients whose hospital stays are complicated by preventable bloodstream infections contracted in their intensive care units. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-hospitals-profit-patients-bloodstream-infections.html Health Wed, 22 May 2013 15:37:14 EST news288455828 A new study from researchers in Japan indicates that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is independently associated with visceral (abdominal) fat accumulation only in men, perhaps explaining gender differences in the impact of OSA on cardiovascular disease and mortality. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-obstructive-apnea-visceral-fat-accumulation.html Sleep apnea Wed, 22 May 2013 15:36:50 EST news288455804 A 2012 survey of internal medicine residents at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) – one of the nation's leading teaching hospitals – found that more than half rated the training they had received in addiction and other substance use disorders as fair or poor. Significant numbers felt unprepared to diagnose or treat such disorders, results similar to surveys of practicing physicians. In response to the findings, recently published online in the journal Substance Abuse, the MGH has increased residents' training in addiction medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-survey-deficiencies-addictions-medical-residents.html Other Wed, 22 May 2013 15:35:57 EST news288455749 A University of Illinois researcher says that the cornerstone of our efforts to alleviate food insecurity should be to encourage more people to participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) "because it works." http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-alleviating-hunger-snap.html Health Wed, 22 May 2013 15:35:00 EST news288455674 What effect does a father's depression have on his young son or daughter? When fathers report a high level of emotional intimacy in their marriage, their children benefit, said a University of Illinois study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-good-marriage-buffer-effects-dad.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 22 May 2013 15:33:51 EST news288455625 In a series of lab experiments designed to unravel the workings of a key enzyme widely considered a possible trigger of rheumatoid arthritis, researchers at Johns Hopkins have found that in the most severe cases of the disease, the immune system makes a unique subset of antibodies that have a disease-promoting role. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-enzyme-activating-antibodies-revealed-marker-severe.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Wed, 22 May 2013 14:00:01 EST news288447305 Patients with underlying heart failure are more likely to experience adverse outcomes from mild hypothyroidism, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-mild-hypothyroidism-mortality-heart-failure.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 22 May 2013 13:52:40 EST news288449554 Children living in households where the parents are married are less likely to be obese, according to new research from Rice University and the University of Houston. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-children-parents-obese.html Overweight and Obesity Wed, 22 May 2013 13:51:50 EST news288449497 Johns Hopkins researchers have developed new guidelines—the first in more than 35 years—to govern the amount of blood ordered for surgical patients. The recommendations, based on a lengthy study of blood use at The Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH), can potentially save the medical center more than $200,000 a year and improve patient safety, researchers say. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-rewrite-obsolete-blood-ordering.html Surgery Wed, 22 May 2013 13:50:20 EST news288449413 Researchers have developed a new drug delivery system that allows inhalation of chemotherapeutic drugs to help treat lung cancer, and in laboratory and animal tests it appears to reduce the systemic damage done to other organs while significantly improving the treatment of lung tumors. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-approach-treatment-lung-cancer.html Cancer Wed, 22 May 2013 13:49:29 EST news288449361 A new study suggests that disturbed sleep in adolescents is associated with more symptoms of depression and greater uncertainly about future success. However, perceived support and acceptance from parents and teachers appears to have a protective effect. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-parent-teacher-teens-problems-depression.html Health Wed, 22 May 2013 13:48:13 EST news288449286 In the long run, encouraging a baby to finish the last ounce in their bottle might be doing more harm than good. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-overeating-infancy.html Overweight and Obesity Wed, 22 May 2013 13:47:32 EST news288449207 When turned on, the gene p53 turns off cancer. However, when existing drugs boost p53, only a few tumors die – the rest resist the challenge. A study published in the journal Cell Reports shows how: tumors that live even in the face of p53 reactivation create more of the protein p21 than the protein PUMA; tumors that die have more PUMA than p21. And, for the first time, the current study shows a handful of genes that control this ratio. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-genes-tumors-die-p53-drugs.html Cancer Wed, 22 May 2013 13:46:04 EST news288449154 Moving objects attract greater attention – a fact exploited by video screens in public spaces and animated advertising banners on the Internet. For most animal species, moving objects also play a major role in the processing of sensory impressions in the brain, as they often signal the presence of a welcome prey or an imminent threat. This is also true of the zebrafish larva, which has to react to the movements of its prey. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg have investigated how the brain uses the information from the visual system for the execution of quicker movements. The animals' visual system records the movements of the prey so that the brain can redirect the animals' movements through targeted swim bouts in a matter of milliseconds. Two hitherto unknown types of neurons in the mid-brain are involved in the processing of movement stimuli. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-analyse-behaviour-fish-larvae-virtual.html Neuroscience Wed, 22 May 2013 13:45:37 EST news288449119 A new study provides neurobiological evidence for dysfunction in the neural circuitry underlying emotion regulation in people with insomnia, which may have implications for the risk relationship between insomnia and depression. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-insomnia-dysfunction-emotional-brain-circuitry.html Health Wed, 22 May 2013 13:43:09 EST news288448981 It is known that signs of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's and Huntington's disease can appear years before the disease becomes manifest; these signs take the form of subtle changes in the brain and behavior of individuals affected. For the first time, an international group of researchers led by the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases and the Bonn University Hospital has proven the existence of such signatures for motor disorders belonging to the group of "spinocerebellar ataxias." http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-motor-disorders-years-disease-manifestation.html Neuroscience Wed, 22 May 2013 13:41:40 EST news288448892 Taking a calcium supplement of up to 1,000 mg per day can help women live longer, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-calcium-supplements-linked-longer-lifespans.html Health Wed, 22 May 2013 13:40:57 EST news288448851 Widely-used fish oil supplements modestly increase amounts of a hormone that is associated with lower risk of diabetes and heart disease, according to a study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-fish-oil-supplements-diabetes.html Diabetes Wed, 22 May 2013 13:38:20 EST news288448691 Why is fish oil good for the heart? A new study suggests that this omega 3 fatty acid-rich nutrient could blunt some cardiovascular effects of mental stress. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-fish-oil-heart-mental-stress.html Health Wed, 22 May 2013 13:30:30 EST news288448215 Top AIDS scientists were optimistic Wednesday of finding a cure for the disease that has claimed 30 million lives—but said it might not work for all people. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-aids-scientists-optimistic.html HIV & AIDS Wed, 22 May 2013 13:19:39 EST news288447572 The human gut is loaded with commensal bacteria – "good" microbes that, among other functions, help the body digest food. The gastrointestinal tract contains literally trillions of such cells, and yet the immune system seemingly turns a blind eye. However, in several chronic human diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), HIV/AIDS, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes, the immune system attacks these normally beneficial bacteria, resulting in chronic inflammation and contributing to disease progression. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-immune-peacefully-co-exists-good-bacteria.html Medical research Wed, 22 May 2013 13:03:21 EST news288446557 Swiss scientists reveal the mechanism responsible for aging hidden deep within mitochondria—and dramatically slow it down in worms by administering antibiotics to the young. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-aging-processonly-antibiotics.html Medical research Wed, 22 May 2013 13:00:11 EST news288446394 Researchers from Queen Mary, University of London have led the largest sequencing study of human disease to date, investigating the genetic basis of six autoimmune diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-largest-genetic-sequencing-human-disease.html Genetics Wed, 22 May 2013 13:00:08 EST news288446235 Scientists have reversed behavioral and brain abnormalities in adult mice that resemble some features of schizophrenia by restoring normal expression to a suspect gene that is over-expressed in humans with the illness. Targeting expression of the gene Neuregulin1, which makes a protein important for brain development, may hold promise for treating at least some patients with the brain disorder, say researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-gene-reverses-schizophrenia-like-abnormalities-mice.html Neuroscience Wed, 22 May 2013 12:00:05 EST news288435164 Researchers at Johns Hopkins have unraveled the molecular foundations of cocaine's effects on the brain, and identified a compound that blocks cravings for the drug in cocaine-addicted mice. The compound, already proven safe for humans, is undergoing further animal testing in preparation for possible clinical trials in cocaine addicts, the researchers say. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-scientists-uncover-molecular-roots-cocaine.html Neuroscience Wed, 22 May 2013 12:00:02 EST news288435228 Costs to treat stroke are projected to more than double and the number of people having strokes may increase 20 percent by 2030, according to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-america.html Cardiology Wed, 22 May 2013 12:00:01 EST news288435573 University of Granada scientists have patented a new treatment for acne that is based on completely natural substances and is much more effective than artificial formulas because it does not create resistance to bacteria and has no secondary effects. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-acne-treatment-natural-substance-based-formula.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 22 May 2013 11:52:58 EST news288442366 The new 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) appears to be as safe as the previous version used prior to 2010, the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7), according to a Kaiser Permanente study published today in Vaccine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-pneumococcal-vaccine-safe-previously.html Medications Wed, 22 May 2013 11:00:01 EST news288435605