http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. An article published on the journal Nature describes the major role that Pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) —an enzyme of cellular energy metabolism— plays in the regulation of the cellular senescence induced by the oncogene BRAF, which usually appears mutated in melanoma and other cancers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-factor-oncogene-induced-senescence.html Cancer Tue, 21 May 2013 08:46:11 EST news288344761 (Medical Xpress)—Anyone whose hand or foot has "fallen asleep" has an idea of the numbness and tingling often experienced by people with peripheral nerve damage. The condition also can cause a range of other symptoms, including unrelenting pain, stinging, burning, itching and sensitivity to touch. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-clues-peripheral-nerve.html Neuroscience Thu, 07 Mar 2013 07:07:50 EST news281862461 Ever since discovering a decade ago that a gene altered in lung cancer regulated an enzyme used in therapies against diabetes, Reuben Shaw has wondered if drugs originally designed to treat metabolic diseases could also work against cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-diabetes-drug-lung-cancer-patients.html Cancer Tue, 29 Jan 2013 10:06:14 EST news278676360 A study published in the journal of Biochemical Pharmacology suggests major flavonoid quercetin is beneficial in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-fruit-veg-flavanoids-cardioprotective-effects.html Medical research Wed, 09 Jan 2013 09:21:29 EST news276945657 (Medical Xpress)—A new form of iron may hold the clue that leads to treatment for a fatal inherited nervous system disease that can cause gait disturbance, speech problems, heart disease, diabetes and other symptoms.  http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-international-team-clue-friedreich-ataxia.html Medical research Fri, 23 Nov 2012 06:23:23 EST news272874188 Predictive mathematical models of signalling pathways are powerful biological tools that could be used for drug development. Using a similar approach, European scientists developed a computational model for answering research questions regarding the AMP-activated protein kinase pathway. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-mathematical-tackle-metabolic-diseases.html Medical research Thu, 30 Aug 2012 09:25:34 EST news265537529 In the complex chain of molecular events that underlie eating behaviors and body weight, the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) enzyme has proven to be a critical link. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-discovery-cellular-pathways-converge-food.html Medical research Tue, 03 Jul 2012 10:27:57 EST news260530069 A research team, led by John Guy, M.D., professor of ophthalmology at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, has pioneered a novel technological treatment for Leber Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON), an inherited genetic defect that causes rapid, permanent, and bilateral loss of vision in people of all ages, but primarily males ages 20-40. Genetic mutations in the mitochondria (part of the cell that produces energy) cause the disorder. Currently, there is no cure for LHON. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-team-breakthrough-degenerative-vision-disorder.html Ophthalmology Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:06:00 EST news254419552 The association of the inhaled anesthetic isoflurane with Alzheimer's-disease-like changes in mammalian brains may by caused by the drug's effects on mitochondria, the structures in which most cellular energy is produced. In a study that will appear in Annals of Neurology and has received early online release, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers report that administration of isoflurane impaired the performance of mice on a standard test of learning and memory – a result not seen when another anesthetic, desflurane, was administered. They also found evidence that the two drugs have significantly different effects on mitochondrial function. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-reveals-anesthetic-isoflurane-alzheimer-like-mammalian.html Neuroscience Thu, 01 Mar 2012 11:30:02 EST news249822803 Beyond the personal tragedy of chronic alcoholism there is heartbreak in the biological sense, too. Scientists know severe alcoholism stresses the heart and that mitochondria, the cellular energy factories, are especially vulnerable to dysfunction. But they don't know the precise mechanism. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-heart-probing-chronic-alcoholism-cellular.html Cardiology Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:20:01 EST news249221198 Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have found a protein normally involved in blood pressure regulation in a surprising place: tucked within the little "power plants" of cells, the mitochondria. The quantity of this protein appears to decrease with age, but treating older mice with the blood pressure medication losartan can increase protein numbers to youthful levels, decreasing both blood pressure and cellular energy usage. The researchers say these findings, published online during the week of August 15, 2011, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may lead to new treatments for mitochondrial–specific, age-related diseases, such as diabetes, hearing loss, frailty and Parkinson's disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-cell-power-declines-age-rejuvenated.html Medical research Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:04:51 EST news232733068 (Medical Xpress) -- New data offer hints to why Parkinson's disease so selectively harms brain cells that produce the chemical dopamine, say researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-disruption-nerve-cell-chain-contribute.html Neuroscience Thu, 12 May 2011 16:35:13 EST news224436895