http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress provides the latest news from University of Utah Health Sciences Vision scientists long have thought that lack of very long chain fatty acids in photoreceptor cells caused blindness in children with Stargardt type 3 retinal degeneration, an incurable eye disease. But researchers at the University of Utah's John A. Moran Eye Center have shown in a new study that lack of these fatty acids does not cause blindness, meaning that the search for the mechanism that robs sight from children with the disease must start anew. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-long-suspected-eye-disease.html Ophthalmology Mon, 11 Mar 2013 17:02:40 EST news282240153 Geneticists led by University of Utah Nobel Prize Laureate Mario R. Capecchi, Ph.D., have engineered mice that develop clear cell sarcoma (CCS), a significant step in better understanding how this rare and deadly soft tissue cancer arises. The mouse model also can potentially speed the development of drugs to target genes that must be activated for the cancer to form. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-mouse-cell-sarcoma.html Cancer Mon, 11 Feb 2013 12:00:04 EST news279802041 Researchers have discovered that adding lovastatin, a widely used cholesterol-lowering drug, to traditional antimalarial treatment decreases neuroinflammation and protects against cognitive impairment in a mouse model of cerebral malaria. Although there are differences between mouse models of cerebral malaria and human disease, these new findings indicate that statins are worthy of consideration in clinical trials of cerebral malaria, according to an article published in the Dec. 27 issue of PLOS Pathogens. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-statin-drug-malaria-effects.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 27 Dec 2012 17:00:03 EST news275848796 Buprenorphine is a safe and effective drug for treating opioid addiction. But as the prescribed use of buprenorphine has dramatically increased in recent years, accidental exposure of children to the drug has risen sharply, placing them at risk for serious injury and in extremely rare cases even death, according to researchers at the Utah Poison Control Center (UPCC), U School of Medicine's Department of Family and Preventive Health, and the Utah Department of Health (UDOH). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-drug-opioid-addiction-poses-accidental.html Medications Fri, 14 Dec 2012 15:30:29 EST news274721415 People who reside in rural areas of Utah are less likely to follow colorectal cancer (CRC) screening recommendations than their urban counterparts, according to researchers from Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah. This geographic disparity is evident across all risk groups, including those who have a family history of the disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-rural-dwellers-cancer-screening-guidelines.html Cancer Fri, 14 Dec 2012 09:54:19 EST news274701254 Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) researchers Michael Deininger, M.D., Ph.D., and Thomas O'Hare, Ph.D., were part of a team that found a potent oral drug, ponatinib, effective in patients who have developed resistance to standard treatments for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and Philadelphia chromosome positive acute lymphoblastic lymphoma (Ph+ ALL). The New England Journal of Medicine released results of the trial today. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-clinical-trial-good-results-leukemia.html Cancer Fri, 30 Nov 2012 09:10:17 EST news273489005 Discovery of a new drug with high potential to treat Ewing sarcoma, an often deadly cancer of children and young adults, and the previously unknown mechanism behind it, come hand-in-hand in a new study by researchers from Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah. The report appears in today's online issue of the journal Oncogene. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-treatment-ewing-sarcoma.html Cancer Mon, 26 Nov 2012 13:49:26 EST news273160157 A new discovery from researchers at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah concerning a fundamental understanding about how DNA works will produce a "180-degree change in focus" for researchers who study how gene packaging regulates gene activity, including genes that cause cancer and other diseases. The discovery, by Bradley R. Cairns, PhD, Senior Director of Basic Science at HCI and a professor in the Department of Oncological Sciences, is reported in this week's online issue of the journal Nature. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-dna-packaging-discovery-reveals-principles.html Genetics Fri, 16 Nov 2012 19:35:15 EST news272316905 In a discovery that can fundamentally change how drugs for arthritis, and potentially many other diseases, are made, University of Utah medical researchers have identified a way to treat inflammation while potentially minimizing a serious side effect of current medications: the increased risk for infection. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-discovery-medications-inflammation-infection.html Inflammatory disorders Sun, 11 Nov 2012 13:00:44 EST news271860828 Many patients who have genetic testing for Lynch syndrome, a hereditary predisposition to colon cancer, receive the inconclusive result "variants of uncertain clinical significance." This can be a problem, as people with Lynch syndrome have a much higher probability to develop colon cancer, and often develop colon cancer at an earlier age than is common among the general population; consequently, they need to begin screening at a much younger age. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-genetic-results-lynch-syndrome.html Cancer Thu, 01 Nov 2012 13:36:24 EST news270995773 Researchers from the University of Utah have gained new insight into the regulation of adult nerve cell generation in the hypothalamus, the part of the brain that regulates many aspects of behavior, mood, and metabolism. In the Sept. 10, 2012, issue of Developmental Cell they report that a cell-to-cell communication network known as the Wnt signaling pathway plays an important role in both the production and specialization of nerve cell precursors in the hypothalamus. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-wnt-pathway-key-role-adult.html Medical research Mon, 10 Sep 2012 12:00:01 EST news266491163 For the first time, a mutation in HIF2α, a specific group of genes known as transcription factors that is involved in red blood cell production and cell metabolism, has been identified in cancer tumor cells. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-hif-gene-mutation-tumor-cells.html Cancer Thu, 06 Sep 2012 10:05:04 EST news266144696 Using advanced computer simulations, University of Utah College of Pharmacy researchers have produced moving images of a protein complex that is an important target for anti-cancer drugs. This advancement has significant implications for discovering new therapies that could attack cancer without damaging the DNA of healthy cells, according to an article published July 31, 2012 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-molecular-movies-anti-cancer-drug-discovery.html Genetics Fri, 17 Aug 2012 09:20:03 EST news264413053 A new study of the genetic makeup, or genome, of Ewing sarcoma, a rare cancer that strikes children, teenagers, and young adults, has produced multiple discoveries: a previously unknown sarcoma subtype, genetic factors related to long-term survival, and identification of a genetic change between the primary and metastatic stages of the disease that could lead to better, more targeted treatment. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-genomic-rare-children-cancer-yields.html Cancer Thu, 09 Aug 2012 09:26:20 EST news263723174 Women battling stubborn major depression may have a surprising new ally in their fight—the muscle-building dietary supplement creatine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-creatine-aids-women-outmuscling-major.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 06 Aug 2012 13:12:57 EST news263477559