http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Many diseases – obesity, Type 2 diabetes, muscular dystrophy – are associated with fat accumulation in muscle. In essence, fat replacement causes the muscles to weaken and degenerate. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-identification-stem-cells-possibility-therapies.html Medical research Tue, 30 Apr 2013 12:21:49 EST news286543223 Testosterone may trigger a brain chemical process linked to schizophrenia but the same sex hormone can also improve cognitive thinking skills in men with the disorder, two new studies show. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-scientists-testosterone-role-schizophrenia.html Neuroscience Fri, 26 Apr 2013 08:20:01 EST news286182507 Scientists from King's College London have identified patterns of epigenetic changes involved in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) by studying genetically identical twins who differ in autism traits. The study, published in Molecular Psychiatry, is the largest of its kind and may shed light on the biological mechanism by which environmental influences regulate the activity of certain genes and in turn contribute to the development of ASD and related behaviour traits. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-epigenetic-biological-mechanism-autism.html Autism spectrum disorders Tue, 23 Apr 2013 04:00:01 EST news285877545 Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified a previously unknown biological mechanism involved in the regulation of pancreatic islet beta cells, whose role is to produce and release insulin. The discovery suggests a new therapeutic target for treating dysfunctional beta cells and type 2 diabetes, a disease affecting more than 25 million Americans. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-fractalkine-protein-diabetes.html Diabetes Thu, 11 Apr 2013 12:00:11 EST news284898063 The origin of an innate ability the brain has to protect itself from damage that occurs in stroke has been explained for the first time. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-ability-brain-revealed.html Medical research Sun, 24 Feb 2013 13:00:05 EST news280917906 (Medical Xpress)—Though learning to read proceeds smoothly for most children, as many as one in 10 is estimated to suffer from dyslexia, a constellation of impairments unrelated to intelligence, hearing or vision that make learning to read a struggle. Now, Northwestern University researchers report they have found a biological mechanism that appears to play an important role in the reading process. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-biological-marker-dyslexia.html Neuroscience Tue, 19 Feb 2013 17:00:09 EST news280514895 (Medical Xpress)—Scientists have long puzzled over why "bad" bacteria such as E. coli can thrive in the guts of those with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), causing serious diarrhea. Now UC Davis researchers have discovered the answer—one that may be the first step toward finding new and better treatments for IBD. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-scientists-key-growth-bad-bacteria.html Inflammatory disorders Thu, 07 Feb 2013 15:56:09 EST news279474958 By broadly comparing the DNA of children to that of elderly people, gene researchers have identified gene variants that influence lifespan, either by raising disease risk or by providing protection from disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-gene-variants-affect-human-lifespan.html Genetics Mon, 04 Feb 2013 16:15:12 EST news279216902 The Department of Defense's medical system aspires to a standard known as the "Golden Hour" that dictates that troops wounded on the battlefield are moved to advanced-level treatment facilities within the first 60 minutes of being wounded. In advance of transport, initial battlefield medical care administered by first responders is often critical to injured servicemembers' survival. In the case of internal abdominal injuries and resulting internal hemorrhaging, however, there is currently little that can be done to stanch bleeding before the patients reach necessary treatment facilities; internal wounds cannot be compressed the same way external wounds can, and tourniquets or hemostatic dressings are unsuitable because of the need to visualize the injury. The resulting blood loss often leads to death from what would otherwise be potentially survivable wounds. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-darpa-foam-survival-victims-internal.html Medical research Tue, 11 Dec 2012 08:04:01 EST news274435431 (Medical Xpress)—A new study has outlined for the first time a biological mechanism by which zinc deficiency can develop with age, leading to a decline of the immune system and increased inflammation associated with many health problems, including cancer, heart disease, autoimmune disease and diabetes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-zinc-deficiency-mechanism-linked-aging.html Medical research Mon, 01 Oct 2012 15:53:08 EST news268325577 Scientists have discovered the first direct evidence that a biological mechanism long suspected in epilepsy is capable of triggering the brain seizures – opening the door for studies to seek improved treatments or even preventative therapies. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-scientists-biological-mechanism-trigger-epileptic.html Neuroscience Wed, 19 Sep 2012 12:00:01 EST news267273778 Researchers have identified a way in which men can develop prostate cancer after contracting trichomoniasis, a curable but often overlooked sexually transmitted disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-mechanism-trichomoniasis-prostate-cancer.html Cancer Thu, 30 Aug 2012 04:05:55 EST news265518177 Cold feet -- those chilly appendages that plague many people in the winter and an unlucky few all year round -- can be the bane of existence for singles and couples alike. In a new study, scientists led by Selvi C. Jeyaraj of the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital have identified a biological mechanism that may be responsible for icy extremities: an interaction between a series of molecules and receptors on smooth muscle cells that line the skin's tiny blood vessels. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-cold-feet-plaguing-relationship-physiologists.html Medical research Tue, 31 Jul 2012 14:50:17 EST news262965010 The biological mechanism of sunburn – the reddish, painful, protective immune response from ultraviolet (UV) radiation – is a consequence of RNA damage to skin cells, report researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and elsewhere in the July 8, 2012 Advance Online Publication of Nature Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-sunburn-inflammatory-mechanism.html Medical research Sun, 08 Jul 2012 13:00:13 EST news260951191 The human airway is a pretty inhospitable place for microbes. There are numerous immune defense mechanisms poised to kill or remove inhaled bacteria before they can cause problems. But cystic fibrosis (CF) disrupts these defenses, leaving patients particularly susceptible to airway infection, which is the major cause of disease and death in CF. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-cystic-fibrosis-airways-acidic-bacterial.html Medical research Wed, 04 Jul 2012 13:06:34 EST news260625979 A team of researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have successfully flushed latent HIV infection from hiding, with a drug used to treat certain types of lymphoma. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-drug-purge-hidden-hiv-virus.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 08 Mar 2012 15:43:51 EST news250443824 Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have documented a previously unknown biological mechanism in the brain's most important line of defence: the blood-brain barrier. Scientists now know that the barrier helps maintain a delicate balance of glutamate, a vital signal compound in the brain. The research results have just been published in the scientific journal GLIA. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-scientists-mechanism-brain-barrier-tissue.html Medical research Thu, 08 Mar 2012 04:10:01 EST news250401006 (AP) -- The battle of the bulge has been a big, fat failure for U.S. drugmakers. But that hasn't stopped them from trying. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-miracle-diet-pill-safe-drug.html Medications Fri, 24 Feb 2012 12:18:18 EST news249308278 A landmark study in mice identifies a biological mechanism that could help explain how tobacco products could act as gateway drugs, increasing a person's future likelihood of abusing cocaine and perhaps other drugs as well, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health. The study is the first to show that nicotine might prime the brain to enhance the behavioral effects of cocaine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-nicotine-gateway-drug.html Medical research Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:44:28 EST news239467457 Recent research suggests that the modern day-day-night-night shift pattern for shift workers may not be as disruptive or as potentially carcinogenic as older, more extreme shift patterns. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-modern-shift-pattern-potentially-health.html Health Tue, 27 Sep 2011 14:32:39 EST news236352716 Heart specialists at Johns Hopkins have figured out how a widely used pacemaker for heart failure, which makes both sides of the heart beat together to pump effectively, works at the biological level. Their findings, published in the September 14 issue of Science Translational Medicine, may open the door to drugs or genetic therapies that mimic the effect of the pacemaker and to new ways to use pacemakers for a wider range of heart failure patients. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-specialized-pacemaker-biological-hearts.html Cardiology Wed, 14 Sep 2011 14:00:01 EST news235223598 The past two decades have witnessed an epidemic spread of obesity-related diseases in Western countries. Elucidating the biological mechanism that links overnutrition to obesity could prove crucial in reducing obesity levels. In the July 26 issue of PLoS Biology, Dr. Dongsheng Cai and his research team at Albert Einstein College of Medicine describe a pathway that directs the brain to sense the body's glucose dynamics, and they find that a defect of this glucose sensing process contributes to the development of obesity and related disease. Importantly, the team also found that correction of this defect can normalize the whole-body energy balance and treat obesity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-obesity-brain-glucose.html Medical research Tue, 26 Jul 2011 17:27:25 EST news230919926 A team of Scripps Research Institute scientists has found a key biological mechanism underpinning the transition to alcohol dependence. This finding opens the door to the development of drugs to manage excessive alcohol consumption. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-scientists-key-mechanism-transition-alcohol.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 31 May 2011 12:49:45 EST news226064965 Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have uncovered new details of an unusual biological mechanism in the brains of diverse species that not only helps regulate how their brains develop, but also how they function later in life. The discovery could lead to new biomarkers for specific neurological diseases in humans and, possibly, the development of drugs to cure them. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-frogs-chickens-people-highly-dual.html Medical research Thu, 19 May 2011 15:10:01 EST news225033617