http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. 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 USC have found that a class of pharmaceuticals can both prevent and treat Alzheimer's Disease in mice. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-drugs-alzheimer-disease-mice.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Tue, 21 May 2013 14:17:42 EST news288364654 A study in The Journal of General Physiology presents new methods to evaluate how astrocytes contribute to brain function, paving the way for future exploration of these important brain cells at unprecedented levels of detail. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-methods-explore-astrocyte-effects-brain.html Medical research Mon, 29 Apr 2013 18:54:48 EST news286480480 Scientists at the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw investigate mice with a very precisely modified genome. Because it is possible to turn off the Dicer gene in adult mice, they can be used to investigate the processes related to such cognitive functions such as learning and memory. Also Nencki scientists have just shown that the new transgenic mouse is suitable to study metabolic dysfunctions resulting in obesity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-transgenic-mice-ready-obesityand.html Genetics Thu, 25 Apr 2013 07:50:01 EST news286093571 Pancreatic beta cells store and release insulin, the hormone responsible for stimulating cells to convert glucose to energy. The number of beta cells in the pancreas increases in response to greater demand for insulin or injury, but it is not clear if the new beta cells are the result of cell division or the differentiation of a precursor cell, a process known as neogenesis. Knowledge of how beta cells are created and maintained is critical to understanding diseases in which these cells are lost, such as diabetes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-rebirth-insulin-secreting-pancreatic-beta.html Medical research Wed, 24 Apr 2013 12:00:05 EST news286022653 The retina is a highly vascularized tissue, but too much or too little vascularization can lead to visual impairment and diseases such as familial exudative vitreoretinopathy or macular degeneration. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Alfred Nordheim and colleagues at Tuebingen University in Tuebingen, Germany, identified the DNA transcription factor SRF and its cofactors MRTF-A and MRTF-B as critical regulators of vascularization in the postnatal mouse eye. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-transcription-factors-retinal-vascularization.html Medical research Mon, 08 Apr 2013 12:00:04 EST news284639184 The flip of a single molecular switch helps create the mature neuronal connections that allow the brain to bridge the gap between adolescent impressionability and adult stability. Now Yale School of Medicine researchers have reversed the process, recreating a youthful brain that facilitated both learning and healing in the adult mouse. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-flip-molecular-brain-young.html Neuroscience Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:00:11 EST news281792897 New research in animals triggered by a combination of serendipity and counterintuitive thinking could point the way to treating fractures caused by rapid bone loss in people, including patients with metastatic cancers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-steroids-reverse-rapid-bone-loss.html Medical research Tue, 05 Feb 2013 17:00:01 EST news279305366 Ottawa scientists have discovered a trigger that turns muscle stem cells into brown fat, a form of good fat that could play a critical role in the fight against obesity. The findings from Dr. Michael Rudnicki's lab, based at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, were published today in the prestigious journal Cell Metabolism. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-fat-stem-cell-discovery-potential.html Medical research Tue, 05 Feb 2013 12:00:01 EST news279282444 One of the indicators of a cell's health is the state of its DNA and containers—the chromosomes—so when these fuse together or suffer anomalies, they can become the source of illnesses like cancer and/or ageing processes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-caloric-restriction-effect-chromosomes.html Medical research Wed, 23 Jan 2013 13:57:12 EST news278171824 A new imaging method for the study of insulin-producing cells in diabetes among other uses is now being presented by a group of researchers at Umeå University in Sweden in the form of a video in the biomedical video journal, The Journal of Visualized Experiments. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-technology-diabetes.html Diabetes Mon, 21 Jan 2013 08:29:05 EST news277979331 (Medical Xpress)—Researchers at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute have identified the key gene in ensuring that our immune defences develop infection-fighting cells. No cells of the adaptive immune system - key to attacking and destroying bacteria and other pathogens - develop in the absence of the gene Bcl11a. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-gene-knockout-immune-cell.html Immunology Tue, 11 Dec 2012 08:26:24 EST news274436728 If you're looking to get some of the benefits of exercise without doing the work, here's some good news. A new research report published online in The FASEB Journal shows that low-intensity vibrations led to improvements in the immune function of obese mice. If the same effect can be found in people, this could have clinical benefits for obese people suffering from a wide range of immune problems related to obesity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-mild-vibrations-benefits-obese-people.html Overweight and Obesity Thu, 29 Nov 2012 12:51:42 EST news273415890 Reduced production of myelin, a type of protective nerve fiber that is lost in diseases like multiple sclerosis, may also play a role in the development of mental illness, according to researchers at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. The study is published in the journal Nature Neuroscience. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-nerve-cells-contribute-mental-illness.html Neuroscience Wed, 28 Nov 2012 11:36:13 EST news273324965 Researchers from McGill University and the University of Montreal have identified a crucial link between protein synthesis and autism spectrum disorders (ASD), which can bolster new therapeutic avenues. Regulation of protein synthesis, also termed mRNA translation, is the process by which cells manufacture proteins. This mechanism is involved in all aspects of cell and organism function. A new study in mice has found that abnormally high synthesis of a group of neuronal proteins called neuroligins results in symptoms similar to those diagnosed in ASD. The study also reveals that autism-like behaviors can be rectified in adult mice with compounds inhibiting protein synthesis, or with gene-therapy targeting neuroligins. Their results are published in the journal Nature. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-uncover-crucial-link-protein-synthesis.html Autism spectrum disorders Wed, 21 Nov 2012 13:00:32 EST news272724414 Animals that are socially isolated for prolonged periods make less myelin in the region of the brain responsible for complex emotional and cognitive behavior, researchers at the University at Buffalo and Mt. Sinai School of Medicine report in Nature Neuroscience online. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-brain-plasticity-social-isolation-disrupts.html Neuroscience Sun, 11 Nov 2012 13:00:40 EST news271860226 Millions of people with "wet" macular degeneration are prescribed a class of medication known as anti-VEGF drugs. But now scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have found that a drastic reduction of VEGF activity may do more harm than good. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-caution-drugs-macular-degeneration.html Cancer Thu, 25 Oct 2012 09:12:46 EST news270375134 (Medical Xpress) -- In a two-day-old mouse, a heart attack causes active stem cells to grow new heart cells; a few months later, the heart is mostly repaired. But in an adult mouse, recovery from such an attack leads to classic after-effects: scar tissue, permanent loss of function and life-threatening arrhythmias. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-heart-early-life-adults.html Cardiology Tue, 31 Jul 2012 06:59:22 EST news262936701 A research team in the United Kingdom has found that insulin-like growth factor (IGF1) impacts cell transplantation of photoreceptor precursors by manipulating the retinal recipient microenvironment, enabling better migration and integration of the cells into the adult mouse retina. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-retina-transplantation-recipient-retinal-microenvironment.html Ophthalmology Wed, 11 Jul 2012 16:00:10 EST news261240401 A recent study finds that a new compound reverses many of the major symptoms associated with Fragile X syndrome (FXS), the most common form of inherited intellectual disability and a leading cause of autism. The paper, published by Cell Press in the April 12 issue of the journal Neuron, describes the exciting observation that the FXS correction can occur in adult mice, after the symptoms of the condition have already been established. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-fragile-syndrome-reversed-adult-mouse.html Neuroscience Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:00:10 EST news253364173 The latest research developments to reprogram scar tissue resulting from myocardial infarction (MI) into viable heart muscle cells, were presented at the Frontiers in CardioVascular Biology (FCVB) 2012 meeting, held 30 March to 1 April at the South Kensington Campus of Imperial College in London. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-scar-tissue-hearts.html Cardiology Sun, 01 Apr 2012 12:35:46 EST news252502521 Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have identified a cell-signaling pathway that plays a key role in increasing insulin secretion during pregnancy and, when blocked, leads to the development of gestational diabetes. Their findings are available online today in Diabetes, one of the journals of the American Diabetes Association. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-cell-signaling-pathway-key-role-gestational.html Diabetes Fri, 16 Mar 2012 13:13:49 EST news251122323 Female mouse fetuses exposed to very high doses of a common industrial chemical that makes plastics more pliable develop significant reproductive alterations and precancerous lesions as they grow up, according to a new toxicology study conducted at Brown University. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-highly-exposed-phthalates-fetuses-female.html Medical research Fri, 16 Mar 2012 13:10:46 EST news251122237 A new study unravels key signals that regulate protective and sometimes pathological inflammation of the skin. The research, published online on January 26th in the journal Immunity by Cell Press, identifies a "gatekeeper" that, when lost, can cause inflammatory skin disease in the absence of injury or infection. The findings may eventually lead to new treatment strategies for the more than 10% of people in the western world that suffer from inflammatory skin diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-gatekeeper-skin-inflammation.html Medical research Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:35:13 EST news246803700 New research highlights the possibility of reversing ageing in the central nervous system for multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. The study is published today, 06 January, in the journal Cell Stem Cell. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-reversing-age-associated-effects-ms-patients.html Medical research Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:27:02 EST news245075204 Mice become profoundly anti-social when the creation of new brain cells is interrupted in adolescence, a surprising finding that may help researchers understand schizophrenia and other mental disorders, Yale researchers report. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-sociability-brain-cells-adolescence.html Neuroscience Tue, 04 Oct 2011 17:28:41 EST news236968099 Johns Hopkins scientists investigating chemical modifications across the genomes of adult mice have discovered that DNA modifications in non-dividing brain cells, thought to be inherently stable, instead underwent large-scale dynamic changes as a result of stimulated brain activity. Their report, in the October issue of Nature Neuroscience, has major implications for treating psychiatric diseases, neurodegenerative disorders, and for better understanding learning, memory and mood regulation. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-scientists-fickle-dna-brain.html Neuroscience Fri, 30 Sep 2011 17:11:10 EST news236621461 Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have identified the key signal that prompts production of insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas -- a breakthrough discovery that may ultimately help researchers find ways to restore or increase beta cell function in people with type 1 diabetes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-key-prompts-production-insulin-producing-beta.html Medical research Mon, 12 Sep 2011 10:23:05 EST news235041457 A new atlas of gene expression in the mouse brain provides insight into how genes work in the outer part of the brain called the cerebral cortex. In humans, the cerebral cortex is the largest part of the brain, and the region responsible for memory, sensory perception and language. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-gene-mouse-brain.html Neuroscience Wed, 24 Aug 2011 12:24:32 EST news233407452 (Medical Xpress) -- A Johns Hopkins team has discovered in young adult mice that a lone brain stem cell is capable not only of replacing itself and giving rise to specialized neurons and glia – important types of brain cells – but also of taking a wholly unexpected path: generating two new brain stem cells. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-nervous-stem-cells-variety-cell.html Medical research Thu, 30 Jun 2011 07:14:21 EST news228636766