http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Researchers from the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences have identified a gene that when mutated is responsible for a spectrum of disorders affecting the bones and connective tissue. This finding opens new avenues for research into a diagnosis and treatment for these until now incurable diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-gene-responsible-spectrum-disorders-affecting.html Genetics Thu, 09 May 2013 12:00:13 EST news287306300 A groundbreaking new study led by the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center's Dr. Peter Zhou found that triple-negative breast cancer cells are missing a key enzyme that other cancer cells contain—providing insight into potential therapeutic targets to treat the aggressive cancer. Zhou's study is unique in that his lab is the only one in the country to specifically study the metabolic process of triple-negative breast cancer cells. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-key-enzyme-aggressive-breast-cancer.html Cancer Thu, 28 Feb 2013 13:45:04 EST news281281484 According to a new study from the Slone Epidemiology Center (SEC) at Boston University, African-American women who reported sexual or physical abuse before age 11 had a greater risk of uterine fibroids in adulthood compared with women who had no such abuse history. The association was strongest for women who experienced sexual abuse. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-abuse-childhood-linked-uterine-fibroids.html Obstetrics & gynaecology Thu, 24 Jan 2013 13:02:52 EST news278254961 (Medical Xpress)—Researchers at Oregon State University today announced the discovery of an underlying genetic cause of atopic dermatitis, a type of eczema most common in infancy that also affects millions of adults around the world with dry, itchy and inflamed skin lesions. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-genetic-basis-eczema-avenue-therapies.html Inflammatory disorders Fri, 21 Dec 2012 13:14:21 EST news275318051 Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) -- such as BPA -- can show tangible effects on health endpoints at high dosage levels, yet those effects do not predict how EDCs will affect the endocrine system at low doses, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Endocrine Reviews. Study authors say current definitions of low-dosage as used by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) do not fully take into account the unique influence that low doses of EDCs have on disease development in humans. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-current-chemical-low-dosage-effects-endocrine-disrupting.html Immunology Thu, 29 Mar 2012 07:40:42 EST news252225620 A chemically altered osteoporosis drug may be useful in fighting malaria, researchers report in a new study. Unlike similar compounds tested against other parasitic protozoa, the drug readily crosses into the red blood cells of malaria-infected mice and kills the malaria parasite. The drug works at very low concentrations with no observed toxicity to the mouse. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-bone-drug-malaria-parasite-mice.html Medical research Mon, 27 Feb 2012 18:13:29 EST news249588798 Researchers at Children's National Medical Center have found that a cholesterol-lowering statin drug appears to be safe in children with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) and may improve learning disabilities, including verbal and nonverbal memory. This is the first time that the drug lovastatin has been studied in children with NF1. The study, led by Maria T. Acosta, MD, a pediatric neurologist and researcher at Children's National and clinical director and cognitive director of the Gilbert Family Neurofibromatosis Institute, appears in the October 2011 issue of Pediatric Neurology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-common-cholesterol-drug-safe-disabilities.html Neuroscience Tue, 27 Sep 2011 12:19:02 EST news236344732 Using a new in vivo screening system, Whitehead Institute researchers have identified a protein in the serine biosynthesis pathway that is essential in estrogen receptor (ER)-negative breast cancer—a notoriously difficult disease to treat associated with low five-year survival rates. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-key-metabolic-pathway-implicated-intractable.html Cancer Mon, 18 Jul 2011 16:52:22 EST news230226730