http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. In fall 2012, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved the modified adeno-associated virus AAV-LPL S447X as the first ever gene therapy for clinical use in the Western world. uniQure, a Dutch biotech company, had developed AAV-LPL S447X for the treatment of a rare inherited metabolic disease called lipoprotein lipase deficiency (LPLD) which affects approximately one or two out of one million people. The disease causes severe, life-threatening inflammations of the pancreas. Afflicted individuals carry a defect in the gene coding for the lipoprotein lipase enzyme which is necessary for breakdown of fatty acids. AAV-LPLS447X shall be used as a viral vector to deliver an intact gene copy to affected cells. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-danger-cancer-gene-therapy-virus.html Genetics Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:24:26 EST news290859857 New data, published today in Menopause International, suggests that post-menopausal women in Britain are experiencing less sex, and less satisfying sex compared to their European and North American counterparts1, because they are considerably less likely to access appropriate treatment for a common, taboo condition called vaginal atrophy1. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-british-women-percent-likley-recieve.html Health Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:23:07 EST news290859776 The motor neuron disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, progresses in a stepwise, sequential pattern which can be classified into four distinct stages, report pathologists with the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in the Annals of Neurology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-staging-als-potential-tracks-disease.html Neuroscience Wed, 19 Jun 2013 10:58:16 EST news290858240 Diapocynin, a synthetic molecule derived from a naturally occurring compound (apocynin), has been found to protect neurobehavioral function in mice with Parkinson's Disease symptoms by preventing deficits in motor coordination. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-antioxidant-parkinson-disease.html Parkinson's & Movement disorders Wed, 19 Jun 2013 10:38:15 EST news290857075 Thanks to vaccination, polio has been pushed to the brink of extinction – but can we finish the job? This is one of the big questions which a Bristol academic addresses in his new book, published next week. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-paralysed-story-polio.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 19 Jun 2013 10:37:07 EST news290857016 More than 1,500 pedestrians were estimated to be treated in emergency rooms in 2010 for injuries related to using a cell phone while walking, according to a new nationwide study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-distracted-injuries-soar-pedestrians.html Health Wed, 19 Jun 2013 10:06:06 EST news290855063 Despite the fact that the incidence of cancer is many fold higher in persons over 65 years of age, we still have an inadequate understanding on how best to treat these older cancer patients. Furthermore, even though elderly patients are occasionally included in clinical trials, those elderly patients who are eventually included are mostly 'healthy' (fit) elderly patients. Thus, the broader elderly patient population is not well represented in clinical trials. The EORTC Cancer in the Elderly Task Force is now starting a new phase 2 trial in precisely this group of patients: EORTC 75111 – 10114 for non-fit elderly patients with HER-2 positive metastatic breast cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-eortc-elderly-patients-her-positive.html Cancer Wed, 19 Jun 2013 10:00:15 EST news290854794 For years, Alzheimer's researchers have focused on two proteins that accumulate in the brains of people with Alzheimer's and may contribute to the disease: plaques made up of the protein amyloid-beta, and tangles of another protein, called tau. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-alzheimer-interaction-proteins-brain.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Wed, 19 Jun 2013 09:25:13 EST news290852704 The age at which many children in the U.S. take their first sip of alcohol is surprisingly young, finds a new study in the Journal of Adolescent Health. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-alcohol-grade.html Health Wed, 19 Jun 2013 09:20:01 EST news290851533 For years, the mantra of neurologists treating stroke victims has been "time equals brain." That's because getting a patient to the emergency room quickly to receive a drug that dissolves the stroke-causing blood clot can make a significant difference in how much brain tissue is saved or lost. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-treatment-crucial.html Cardiology Wed, 19 Jun 2013 09:19:23 EST news290852355 Could drugs that block the body's system for repairing damage to the genetic material DNA become a boon to health? As unlikely as it may seem, those compounds are sparking optimism as potential treatments for ovarian and breast cancers driven by a mutation in BRCA, a gene that made headlines when actress Angelina Jolie revealed she carries the mutation. The compounds, termed PARP inhibitors, are the topic of the cover story in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News. C&EN is the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-renewed-once-abandoned-cancer-drug-class.html Cancer Wed, 19 Jun 2013 09:13:46 EST news290852008 Labeling foods and beverages as less-healthy and taxing them motivates people to make healthier choices, finds a recent study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. When faced with a 30 percent tax on less healthy items, consumers were 11 percent more likely to purchase healthy alternatives. Labeling choices as "less healthy" influenced purchases by 7 percentage points. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-taxing-unhealthy-food-spurs-people.html Health Wed, 19 Jun 2013 09:05:21 EST news290851514 (Medical Xpress)—A team of researchers from the U.S. and Scotland has developed a new type of retinal prostheses designed to restore sight to blind patients. In their paper published in the journal Nature Communications, the team describes how they developed a device that can be placed below the surface of the retina to send signals directly to neurons behind damaged photoreceptor cells. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-wireless-subretinal-prostheses-mice.html Ophthalmology Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:52:15 EST news290850714 The future of the investigation and treatment of retinal disorders is already here at the MedUni Vienna: in the new Christian Doppler "OPTIMA" (Ophthalmic Image Analysis) laboratory headed by Ursula Schmidt-Erfurth, Director of the University Department of Ophthalmology and Optometry, new technologies in optical coherence tomography (OCT) and computer programmes are being developed, which should help to produce the optimal diagnosis and thus, for the first time, completely individual treatment plans. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-technologies-retinal-therapies.html Ophthalmology Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:50:01 EST news290849349 Women with a family history of breast cancer, or with breast cancer themselves, are likely cheering the June 12 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, which found that patents granted to Myriad Genetics Inc. for the "breast cancer genes" BRCA1 and BRCA2 are invalid. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-court-decision-good-patients-gene-patent.html Genetics Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:40:06 EST news290848460 Shares of Protalix BioTherapeutics Inc. jumped in premarket trading Wednesday after the drug developer announced a deal that requires the Brazilian government to buy at least $280 million of the company's Gaucher disease treatment. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-protalix-brazilian-govt.html Medications Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:40:01 EST news290849083 New research shows despite more than 50 years of campaigning, too many mothers are still being denied their human rights in childbirth. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-women-childbirth-denied-human-rights.html Health Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:30:01 EST news290847104 (Medical Xpress)—Nitrous oxide—best known as laughing gas—is one of the world's oldest and most widely used anesthetics. Despite its popularity, however, experts have questioned its impact on the risk of a heart attack during surgery or soon afterward. But those fears are unfounded, a new study indicates. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-gas-heart.html Cardiology Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:28:18 EST news290849291 (AP)—The European Union has fined Danish pharmaceuticals multinational Lundbeck and several other producers a combined 146 million euros ($195 million) for delaying the market entry of cheaper generic alternatives to a major antidepressant. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-eu-fines-pharma-firms.html Medications Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:25:30 EST news290849124 Long before Amy Chua's provocative 2011 memoir, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, raised the bar for tough-love parenting, psychologists at UC Berkeley were studying the effects of three kinds of child-rearing: authoritarian (too hard), permissive (too soft) and authoritative (combo). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-verdict-tiger-parenting-poor-mental-health.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:20:01 EST news290847955 (Medical Xpress)—There's a reason osteoarthritis is often called wear-and-tear arthritis: Repeated stress on joints over time results in degeneration of the soft cartilage that normally distributes loads to the joints. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-recreates-osteoarthritis.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:10:01 EST news290846835 Women say they place a priority on a potential partner's earning prospects, and men claim to value a potential partner's physical attractiveness; these sex differences have been widely studied by psychologists for decades. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-sex-differences-face-to-face.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:00:01 EST news290846562 (Medical Xpress)—Researchers with the Network Dynamics and Simulation Science Laboratory at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute have revealed new information about the latest strain of type A influenza, known as H7N9, in a report in the journal PLOS Currents: Outbreaks. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-reveals-h7n9-influenza-infections-suddenly.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 19 Jun 2013 07:46:50 EST news290846802 A study of vocal impersonations has shown for the first time how speech production and voice perception systems in the brain interact to influence the way our voices sound. The research, supported by the Wellcome Trust, marks a significant step towards understanding how our brains affect our speech and vocal identity, and could one day help with the rehabilitation of stroke sufferers whose speech has been impaired. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-vocal-impersonations-reveals-voices.html Neuroscience Wed, 19 Jun 2013 07:42:11 EST news290846524 (Medical Xpress)—Human bone breaks down and regenerates naturally all the time, in a perfectly balanced dance that maintains skeletal integrity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-osteoporosis.html Medical research Wed, 19 Jun 2013 07:40:29 EST news290846418 (Medical Xpress)—Success feels good, but it is better when people win in big groups—even if the chance of success is the same, a new University of Michigan report indicates. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-thrill-victory-success.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 19 Jun 2013 07:40:01 EST news290845048 (Medical Xpress)—Understanding the full consequences of environmental exposure to asbestos has proved a demanding venture, and for the past two summers University of Pennsylvania senior Shabnam Elahi has worked on just that: Mapping this risk in Ambler, Pa. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-student-asbestos-exposure-factory-town.html Health Wed, 19 Jun 2013 07:39:15 EST news290846346 The innumerable divisions of the bronchi often turn the hunt for tumours in the lungs into a game of chance. But soon, lung specialists will be able to navigate accurately inside the airways by "GPS". http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-lung-tumours-gps.html Cancer Wed, 19 Jun 2013 07:37:32 EST news290846243 (Medical Xpress)—Some people feel so "creeped out" that they would decline an organ or blood that came from a murderer or thief, according to a new University of Michigan study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-donating-blood.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 19 Jun 2013 07:30:01 EST news290845026 A far-reaching disorder of the self-esteem is denoted as a narcissistic personality disorder. Persons with pathological narcissism on the one hand suffer from feelings of inferiority, while on the other hand projecting themselves to the world as arrogant, disparaging and self-absorbed. One of the key features of a narcissistic personality disorder is the lack of empathy. Although patients suffering from such a disorder are well able to recognize what other persons feel, think and intent, they display little compassion. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-brain-pathological-narcissism.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 19 Jun 2013 07:17:56 EST news290845069