https://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Certain nutrients in food can trigger a mild stress response in nematodes. But instead of making them sick, this actually helps them stay healthier as they age, according to researchers at the University of Basel, Switzerland. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-10-longevity-dietary-stress-healthy-aging.html Wed, 01 Oct 2025 15:10:01 EDT news678549914 A 115-year-old Surrey woman named Ethel Caterham has officially been handed the title of the oldest living human alive. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-05-lifestyle-habits.html Mon, 19 May 2025 12:28:04 EDT news666876481 High-profile sports like football and soccer have brought greater attention in recent years to concussions—the mildest form of traumatic brain injury. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-11-brains-remarkable-ability-rewire-injury.html Wed, 15 Nov 2023 12:19:07 EST news619273142 Every day in Australia, six people are diagnosed with a brain tumor and four will die, making services to enhance quality of life for individuals and their families imperative. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-07-quality-life-brain-tumor-survivors.html Tue, 25 Jul 2023 10:51:04 EDT news609501062 Pelvic floor disorders (PFDs), which occur when women's pelvic floor muscles are weakened or injured, significantly affect quality of life and require surgery for hundreds of thousands in the U.S. each year. Now a study led by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers has found a noninvasive test that could identify women at risk for these conditions and improve treatment. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-07-early-diagnosis-pelvic-floor-disorders.html Wed, 05 Jul 2023 15:40:22 EDT news607790415 A study coordinated by the Institute of Neurosciences of the UAB (INc-UAB) analyzes in old rats the effects of a calorie-restricted diet on the hippocampus, a brain structure that is critical in learning and memory processes. The results corroborate that there is a cognitive improvement derived from diet, linked to a reduction in the levels of inflammation and neuronal loss in the hippocampus. The work is published in the journal Nutrients. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-05-hypocaloric-diet-attenuate-brain-age-associated.html Thu, 04 May 2023 14:00:51 EDT news602427646 An international study led by the Molecular Physiology Laboratory at the UPF Department of Medicine and Life Sciences (MELIS) identifies new genes that modulate the toxicity of the protein β-amyloid, responsible for causing Alzheimer's disease. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-03-genes-modulate-toxicity-protein-amyloid.html Tue, 21 Mar 2023 17:06:57 EDT news598637214 Can we objectively tell how fast we are aging? With a good measure, scientists might be able to change our rate of aging to live longer and healthier lives. Researchers know that some people age faster than others and have been trying to concisely measure the internal physiological changes that lead to deteriorating health with age. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-02-epigenetic-social-factors-aging-health.html Tue, 21 Feb 2023 14:00:10 EST news596210405 A new 'toolkit' to repair damaged DNA that can lead to ageing, cancer and Motor Neurone Disease (MND) has been discovered by scientists at the Universities of Sheffield and Oxford. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-03-experts-toolkit-dna-linked-aging.html Mon, 09 Mar 2020 06:00:03 EDT news502946699 Chaperone proteins in human cells dynamically interact with the protein α-Synuclein, which is strongly associated with Parkinson's disease. A disturbed relationship to these "bodyguards" leads to cell damage and the formation of Lewy bodies typical for Parkinson's disease. The findings by researchers from the University of Basel's Biozentrum have been published in Nature. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-12-molecular-bodyguards-parkinson-disease.html Wed, 04 Dec 2019 13:00:03 EST news494676016 Nanosecond pulsed electric fields (nsPEFs) produce strong electrical effects by focusing a high powered electrical pulse over a very short period of time. They are attracting attention as a method of physically stimulating matter in various fields, particularly in the life sciences. Recently, researchers from Kumamoto University in Japan found that stimulating immune cells with nsPEFs can cause them to respond as if they were being stimulated by bacteria. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-08-nanosecond-pulsed-electric-fields-immune.html Wed, 07 Aug 2019 10:25:49 EDT news484392340 Increased glucose, transformed into energy, could give people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, improved mobility and a longer life, according to new findings by a University of Arizona-led research team. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-06-als-patients-benefit-glucose.html Thu, 27 Jun 2019 02:03:41 EDT news480819813 Virginia Tech biochemist Brandon Jutras has discovered the cellular component that contributes to Lyme arthritis, a debilitating and extremely painful condition that is the most common late stage symptom of Lyme disease. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-06-breakthrough-paves-lyme-disease-treatment.html Mon, 17 Jun 2019 15:00:03 EDT news479966679 In the battle of nature versus nurture, nurture has a new recruit: epigenetics—brought in from molecular biology to give scientific heft to the argument that genes are not destiny. The overwhelming evidence for genetic effects on our psychological traits conjures up a fatalistic vision for many people, one in which we are slaves to our biology, not in control of our own psyche and our own behaviour. Epigenetics, a mechanism for regulating gene expression, seems to offer an escape from genetic determinism, a means to transcend our innate predispositions and change who we are. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-01-impact-epigenetics-psychology.html Thu, 24 Jan 2019 11:00:04 EST news467549297 It was about 400 BC when Hippocrates astutely observed that gluttony and early death seemed to go hand in hand. Too much food appeared to 'extinguish' life in much the same way as putting too much wood on a fire smothers its flames. If obesity led to disease and death, he thought, then perhaps restraint was the secret to a longer life? https://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-09-aging-cellular.html Thu, 22 Sep 2016 07:05:16 EDT news393746702 A new generation of drugs that prevent cancer and Alzheimer's could be developed, thanks to research from the University of Warwick. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-08-cancer-alzheimer.html Wed, 03 Aug 2016 08:55:42 EDT news389433328 (Medical Xpress)—Age-induced memory impairment can be suppressed by administration of the natural substance spermidin. This was found in a recent study conducted by Prof. Dr. Stephan Sigrist from Freie Universität Berlin and the Neurocure Cluster of Excellence and Prof. Dr. Frank Madeo from Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz. Both biologists, they were able to show that the endogenous substance spermidine triggers a cellular cleansing process, which is followed by an improvement in the memory performance of older fruit flies. At the molecular level, memory processes in animal organisms such as fruit flies and mice are similar to those in humans. The work by Sigrist and Madeo has potential for developing substances for treating age-related memory impairment. The study was first published in the online version of Nature Neuroscience. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-09-fruit-flies-spermidin-suppresses-age-dependent.html Mon, 02 Sep 2013 10:20:02 EDT news297334840 Scientific progress in Huntington's disease (HD) relies upon the availability of appropriate animal models that enable insights into the disease's genetics and/or pathophysiology. Large animal models, such as domesticated farm animals, offer some distinct advantages over rodent models, including a larger brain that is amenable to imaging and intracerebral therapy, longer lifespan, and a more human-like neuro-architecture. Three articles in the latest issue of the Journal of Huntington's Disease discuss the potential benefits of using large animal models in HD research and the implications for the development of gene therapy. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-large-animal-huntington-disease-options.html Mon, 22 Apr 2013 13:12:16 EDT news285855128 Researchers at the University of Calgary's Hotchkiss Brain Institute have discovered that stress circuits in the brain undergo profound learning early in life. Using a number of cutting edge approaches, including optogenetics, Jaideep Bains, PhD, and colleagues have shown stress circuits are capable of self-tuning following a single stress. These findings demonstrate that the brain uses stress experience during early life to prepare and optimize for subsequent challenges. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-stress-circuits.html Sun, 07 Apr 2013 13:00:02 EDT news284557977 A team of researchers from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), headed by CNIO Director María Blasco, has demonstrated in a pioneering study on mammals that longevity is defined at a molecular level by the length of telomeres. The work—which is published today in the online edition of the journal Cell Reports—opens the door to further study of these cellular components in order to calculate the rate at which cells age and thus be able to determine life expectancy for a particular organism. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-real-indicator-longevity-mammals.html Thu, 27 Sep 2012 12:00:14 EDT news267965399 (Medical Xpress) -- In cancer cells, normal mechanisms governing the cellular life cycle have gone haywire. Cancer cells continue to divide indefinitely, without ever dying off, thus creating rapidly growing tumors. Swiss scientists have discovered a protein complex involved this deregulated process, and hope to be able to exploit it to stop tumor formation in its tracks. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-demystifying-immortality-cancer-cells.html Thu, 05 Jul 2012 08:10:01 EDT news260692489 As they work together to form body parts, cells in developing organisms communicate like workers at a construction site. The discovery of a new signaling molecule in flies by Brown University biologists not only helps explain how cells send many long-haul messages, but also provides new clues for researchers who study how human development goes awry, for instance in cases of cleft lip and palate. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-newly-protein-cells-tissues.html Mon, 02 Apr 2012 11:03:20 EDT news252583391 A collaborative study by scientists at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) and the Montreal Neurological Institute of McGill University, and published March 20 in the online, open access journal PLoS Biology, has discovered that mutations in the same gene that encodes part of the vital machinery of the mitochondrion can cause neurodegenerative disorders in both fruit flies and humans. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-collaboration-rapidly-gene-discovery-human.html Tue, 20 Mar 2012 17:00:09 EDT news251481050