http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. In our interaction with our environment we constantly refer to past experiences stored as memories to guide behavioral decisions. But how memories are formed, stored and then retrieved to assist decision-making remains a mystery. By observing whole-brain activity in live zebrafish, researchers from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute have visualized for the first time how information stored as long-term memory in the cerebral cortex is processed to guide behavioral choices. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-visualize-memory-formation-zebrafish.html Neuroscience Thu, 16 May 2013 12:00:01 EST news287923163 (Medical Xpress)—When brain cells are overwhelmed by an influx of too many calcium molecules, they shut down the channels through which these molecules enter the cells. Until now, the "stop" signal mechanism that cells use to control the molecular traffic was unknown. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-cells-calcium-influx.html Neuroscience Thu, 09 May 2013 07:53:13 EST news287304785 New research examines the role of PKC in airway smooth muscle contraction and raises the possibility that this enzyme could be a therapeutic target for treating asthma, COPD, and other lung diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-explore-pkc-role-lung-disease.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 25 Feb 2013 17:47:36 EST news281036845 Using powerful X-rays at the Canadian Light Source synchrotron, scientists have reconstructed the scenario of heart arrhythmia in action, making critical progress towards preventing deadly conditions and saving lives. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-heart-arrhythmia-x-rays-cls.html Medical research Fri, 22 Feb 2013 11:01:35 EST news280753276 (Medical Xpress)—If you want to read a mouse's mind, it takes some fluorescent protein and a tiny microscope implanted in the rodent's head. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-tool-minds-mice-video.html Neuroscience Tue, 19 Feb 2013 16:20:01 EST news280513186 (Medical Xpress)—In a pair of new papers, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences upend a long-held view about the basic functioning of a key receptor molecule involved in signaling between neurons, and describe how a compound linked to Alzheimer's disease impacts that receptor and weakens synaptic connections between brain cells. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-rewriting-receptor-role-synaptic-molecule.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Tue, 19 Feb 2013 13:44:20 EST news280503847 Using powerful X-rays, University of British Columbia researchers have reconstructed a crime scene too small for any microscope to observe – and caught the culprit of arrhythmia in action. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-arrhythmia-culprit-caught-action.html Medical research Sun, 17 Feb 2013 13:30:02 EST news280329612 Last year, a team of researchers at Brown University discovered that certain skin cells use a light-sensitive receptor found outside of the eye to sense ultraviolet light and quickly begin pumping out melanin to protect against DNA damage. In a new study, lab members identify a key player in that biomolecular chain of events that could someday become a pharmacological target for improving this protective response. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-linchpin-skin-response-uva.html Medical research Mon, 21 Jan 2013 15:00:01 EST news277985598 (Medical Xpress)—Bisphenol A, a substance found in many synthetic products, is considered to be harmful, particularly, for fetuses and babies. Researchers from the University of Bonn have now shown in experiments on cells from human and mouse tissue that this environmental chemical blocks calcium channels in cell membranes. Similar effects are elicited by drugs used to treat high blood pressure and cardiac arrhythmia. The results are now presented in the journal Molecular Pharmacology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-adverse-effects-bisphenol-calcium-channels.html Medical research Thu, 06 Dec 2012 08:11:37 EST news274003814 Researchers at Temple University's Center for Translational Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania have identified a protein that serves as a gatekeeper for controlling the rush of calcium into the cell's power source, the mitochondria. Without this calcium spigot under control, calcium levels can run amok, contributing to cardiovascular disease, diabetes and neurodegeneration. The findings, reported online October 25, 2012, in the journal Cell, add important new insights into the inner workings of the mitochondria and may eventually help scientists better understand and target certain cellular processes gone awry, leading to new therapies for disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-gatekeeper-protein-cell-power-source.html Medical research Thu, 25 Oct 2012 13:50:01 EST news270389746 A team led by MIT neuroscientists has developed a way to monitor how brain cells coordinate with each other to control specific behaviors, such as initiating movement or detecting an odor. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-calcium-reveals-neurons.html Neuroscience Wed, 17 Oct 2012 12:33:45 EST news269695996 (Medical Xpress)—Exactly how Alzheimer's disease kills brain cells is still somewhat of a mystery, but University of Michigan researchers have uncovered a clue that supports the idea that small proteins prick holes into neurons. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-alzheimer-brain-cells.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Wed, 17 Oct 2012 06:45:02 EST news269675093 Neural excitotoxicity can be involved in spinal cord injury, traumatic hearing loss and Alzheimer's. The Stressprotect project has gathered data on this often devastating phenomenon at biochemical, genomic and physiological levels. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-excitotoxicity-nerve-cell-death.html Medical research Tue, 25 Sep 2012 08:41:39 EST news267781288 Triclosan, an antibacterial chemical widely used in hand soaps and other personal-care products, hinders muscle contractions at a cellular level, slows swimming in fish and reduces muscular strength in mice, according to researchers at the University of California, Davis, and the University of Colorado. The findings appear online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-triclosan-chemical-widely-antibacterial.html Medical research Mon, 13 Aug 2012 15:00:08 EST news264066027 Cardiovascular researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) have identified a genetic variant in a cardiac protein that can be linked to heart rhythm dysfunction. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-genetic-variant-heart-rhythm-dysfunction.html Cardiology Wed, 30 May 2012 12:00:01 EST news257590200 Researchers from the Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Gothenburg have managed for the first time to obtain detailed information about the role of the protein metastasin in the spread of tumour cells. Published recently in the renowned Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the study paves the way for the development of new drugs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-tumor-cells.html Cancer Mon, 02 Apr 2012 12:38:32 EST news252589104 (Medical Xpress) -- Despite a century of research, memory encoding in the brain has remained mysterious. Neuronal synaptic connection strengths are involved, but synaptic components are short-lived while memories last lifetimes. This suggests synaptic information is encoded and hard-wired at a deeper, finer-grained molecular scale. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-brain-memory-code.html Neuroscience Fri, 09 Mar 2012 13:31:47 EST news250522295 A research team from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Wako, Japan, has visualized and accurately modeled the molecular changes that open and close the internal membrane channels for calcium ions within cells. The ions moving through these channels act as intracellular messengers, relaying information that regulates the activity of the proteins that control many critical processes of life and death—from fertilization through to development, metabolism and, ultimately, death. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-channeling-cell.html Medical research Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:00:01 EST news246273204 German neurobiologists have found that certain receptors for the neurotransmitter glutamate determine the architecture of nerve cells in the developing brain. Individual receptor variants lead to especially long and branched processes called dendrites, which the cells communicate with. The researchers also showed that the growth-promoting property of the receptors is linked to how much calcium they allow to flow into the cells. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-architects-brain-scientists-decipher-role.html Neuroscience Wed, 26 Oct 2011 11:04:21 EST news238845848 B cells maintain stockpiles of calcium ions (Ca2+), which are released during the course of the immune response. When the presence of a foreign antigen stimulates the B cell receptor (BCR) complex, these internal reserves of Ca2+ get released into the cell, subsequently triggering the opening of channels in the cell membrane that allow the entry of even more Ca2+. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-immunity-restrained-ion-influx.html Medical research Fri, 22 Jul 2011 10:51:01 EST news230550649 The human genome encodes 243 voltage-gated ion channels. Mutations in calcium channels can cause severe inherited diseases such as migraine, night blindness, autism spectrum disorders and Timothy syndrome, which leads to severe cardiovascular disorders. Katrin Depil and Anna Stary-Weinzinger together with colleagues from the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Vienna analyzed changes in molecular organization of calcium channels caused by Timothy syndrome mutations. Recently, they published their current research results in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-timothy-syndrome-mutations-insights-l-calcium.html Medical research Thu, 14 Jul 2011 11:20:03 EST news229860333