http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress provides the latest news from Harvard Medical School (Medical Xpress)—The endothelium, the cellular layer lining the body's blood vessels, is extremely resilient. Measuring just a few hundred nanometers in thickness, this super-tenuous structure routinely withstands blood flow, hydrostatic pressure, stretch and tissue compression to create a unique and highly dynamic barrier that maintains the organization necessary to partition tissues from the body's circulatory system. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-endothelium-thyself-fresh-resilient-tissue.html Medical research Thu, 16 May 2013 06:58:10 EST news287906284 (Medical Xpress)—Approximately 90 percent of cancers start within tissues that form the inner linings of various organs. Decades of accumulated genetic mutations can, on occasion, induce cells specialized for growth in one-cell deep sheets to form disordered clumps that eventually become tumors. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-cancer-driver-monoclonal-antibody-therapy.html Cancer Wed, 08 May 2013 07:40:04 EST news287216212 Millions of seniors are turning down free money. The Low Income Subsidy for Medicare Part D is a rare beast in economics research. The subsidy provides prescription drug coverage essentially free for low-income adults. That means it is what economists call a dominant option. For those who are eligible, there is no rational reason not to choose it. And yet, a new study shows that many eligible seniors do not take advantage of the program, despite outreach efforts by the Social Security Administration. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-millions-free-health-subsidy.html Health Mon, 06 May 2013 16:00:11 EST news287073584 It is widely accepted that medical insurance helps older adults with chronic health problems to receive better care. But what about young adults between the ages of 18 and 25, a demographic that also tends to have the lowest levels of health insurance coverage? http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-age-asthma-deteriorates.html Pediatrics Mon, 22 Apr 2013 00:20:01 EST news285790080 (Medical Xpress)—In 1999, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania injected 19 people with a virus carrying a gene designed to correct a rare metabolic disease. Early results appeared promising: Among the first 17 adult subjects, the worst symptom was a fever, an expected response to the modified virus that carried the therapeutic gene. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-gene-therapy-renaissance-experimental-technique.html Genetics Fri, 19 Apr 2013 08:20:01 EST news285576916 (Medical Xpress)—Scientists have long pondered the roots of aggression—and ways to temper it. Now, new research is beginning to illuminate the cellular-level circuitry responsible for modulating aggression in fruit flies, with the hope of someday translating the findings to humans. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-link-individual-neurons-aggressive-behavior.html Neuroscience Fri, 19 Apr 2013 07:47:48 EST news285576460 (Medical Xpress)—Healthy cells don't just happen. As they grow and divide, they need checks and balances to ensure they function properly while adapting to changing conditions around them. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-mitochondrial-metabolic-sirt4-dna.html Cancer Fri, 05 Apr 2013 06:21:59 EST news284361702 (Medical Xpress)—It is a familiar note struck when authors conclude their reports on experiments conducted in mouse models: They suggest caution when translating their findings from mouse to human. A variation of this refrain can be heard when a small molecule that works in mice fails in human clinical trials. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-mouse-human-immune-differences-humans.html Medical research Tue, 02 Apr 2013 05:42:26 EST news284100138 (Medical Xpress)—Researchers have found that missteps in a basic cellular process, RNA splicing, is the culprit behind a class of rare neurological disorders manifested by intellectual disability and stunted development. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-errors-rna-splicing-class-neurological.html Genetics Fri, 29 Mar 2013 06:50:17 EST news283758597 (Medical Xpress)—Botulinum toxins are feared as a food poison and bioterror threat, and for good reason. It takes only minute amounts of these bacterial toxins to block signals from nerve cells that control muscles. People die when the toxin paralyzes the muscles they need to breathe. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-wrinkle-botox-reveals-botulinum-toxins.html Medical research Wed, 27 Mar 2013 08:00:01 EST news283588953 (Medical Xpress)—Cell biologists studying Parkinson's disease are training their sights on mitochondria, the energy source of the cell, whose activity in neurons appears to go awry in this devastating neurodegenerative illness. A neuron needs its mitochondria to be healthy and mobile, particularly during their continual cycles of fission and fusion in which damaged bits are removed and healthy mitochondria are renewed. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-gene-mutated-parkinson-disease-function.html Medical research Fri, 22 Mar 2013 10:00:05 EST news283163411 (Medical Xpress)—Researchers have known that two seemingly distant human maladies—a devastating set of hereditary disorders called Walker-Warburg syndrome and infection with the virus that causes hemorrhagic Lassa fever—both involve a cellular protein involving sugar. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-lassa-virus-gene-mutations-result.html Medical research Fri, 22 Mar 2013 09:50:01 EST news283163356 (Medical Xpress)—Aggressive drug regimens used to treat multidrug-resistant tuberculosis reduce the risk of death by about 40 percent when they include at least five drugs likely to be effective against a patient's tuberculosis strain, a retrospective study conducted amid an epidemic of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in Peru has found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-aggressive-regimen-mortality-drug-resistant-tb.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 15 Mar 2013 06:56:21 EST news282549365 (Medical Xpress)—Stroll through the Harvard Museum of Natural History and gaze up at the whale skeleton looming overhead. Look down at the furry foxes curled up inside their glass display cases. Don't forget the bat with shadowy wings spread like a delicate shawl. They are all mammals, but their body proportions are so distinct one can tell them apart just by glancing at their calcified skeletons. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-sizing-bone-growth-cellular-mechanism.html Medical research Thu, 14 Mar 2013 08:52:02 EST news282469908 A new study demonstrates what researchers consider conclusive evidence that the red wine compound resveratrol directly activates a protein that promotes health and longevity in animal models. What's more, the researchers have uncovered the molecular mechanism for this interaction, and show that a class of more potent drugs currently in clinical trials act in a similar fashion. Pharmaceutical compounds similar to resveratrol may potentially treat and prevent diseases related to aging in people, the authors contend. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-validates-longevity-pathway-universal-mechanism.html Medical research Thu, 07 Mar 2013 14:00:08 EST news281885738