http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. When eating is motivated by pleasure, rather than hunger, endogenous rewarding chemical signals are activated which can lead to overeating, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM). The phenomenon ultimately affects body mass and may be a factor in the continuing rise of obesity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-pleasure-triggers-body-reward-overeating.html Medical research Thu, 03 May 2012 03:04:02 EST news255233034 Certain genes and proteins that promote growth and development of embryos also play a surprising role in sending chemical signals that help adults learn, remember, forget and perhaps become addicted, University of Utah biologists have discovered. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-genes-proteins-important-embryos-adult.html Medical research Thu, 29 Mar 2012 12:00:10 EST news252239655 When the intestines are not able to properly process our diet, a variety of disorders can develop, with chronic diarrhea as a common symptom. Chronic diarrhea can also be inherited, most commonly through conditions with genetic components such as irritable bowel syndrome. Researchers in Norway, India, and at the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology have identified one heritable DNA mutation that leads to chronic diarrhea and bowel inflammation. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-genetic-mutation-familial-chronic-diarrhea.html Genetics Wed, 21 Mar 2012 17:00:12 EST news251566027 Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center have revealed how a mutation in a single gene is responsible for the inability of neurons to effectively pass along appetite suppressing signals from the body to the right place in the brain. What results is obesity caused by a voracious appetite. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-reveal-gene-mutation-uncontrolled-obesity.html Genetics Sun, 18 Mar 2012 14:00:06 EST news251296225 Results of a new study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill may help pave the way to a treatment for a neurogenetic disorder often misdiagnosed as cerebral palsy or autism. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-discovery-treatment-angelman-syndrome.html Genetics Wed, 21 Dec 2011 13:00:01 EST news243693945 Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have identified a cellular protein that plays a central role in the formation of new blood vessels. The molecule is the protein Shc (pronounced SHIK), and new blood vessel formation, or angiogenesis, is seriously impaired without it. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-cell-molecule-central-player-formation.html Medical research Mon, 28 Nov 2011 13:53:25 EST news241710764 For people who initially survive a heart attack, a significant cause of death in the next few days is cardiac rupture -- literally, bursting of the heart wall. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-heart-rupture.html Cardiology Thu, 17 Nov 2011 15:16:59 EST news240765397 About 90 percent of cancer deaths are caused by secondary tumors, known as metastases, which spread from the original tumor site. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-uncovering-key-player-metastasis.html Cancer Tue, 15 Nov 2011 07:40:04 EST news240562107 Researchers at the University of Missouri have identified a communication breakdown between nerves and muscles in mice that may provide new insight into the debilitating and fatal human disease known as spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-insight-spinal-muscular-atrophy.html Neuroscience Mon, 26 Sep 2011 15:41:04 EST news236270454 (Medical Xpress) -- University of Florida researchers have identified two key steps required to activate the body’s innate immune system, its first line of defense against infection. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-chemical-body-immune-response.html Medical research Fri, 09 Sep 2011 07:12:33 EST news234771082 University of Iowa scientists have discovered a new role for a protein that is mutated in Usher syndrome, one of the most common forms of deaf-blindness in humans. The findings, which were published Aug. 8 in Nature Neuroscience, may help explain why this mutation causes the most severe form of the condition. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-role-protein.html Neuroscience Mon, 15 Aug 2011 13:15:25 EST news232632866 New research led by scientists from Imperial College London explains why around half of people with asthma experience a 'late phase' of symptoms several hours after exposure to allergens. The findings, published in the journal Thorax, could lead to better treatments for the disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-late-phase-asthma.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Sat, 13 Aug 2011 05:00:30 EST news232430269 Pheromone preference, and the initiation of a complex programmed sexual behavior, is determined by the specificity of a single sex pheromone receptor protein expressed in a population of olfactory receptor neurons in the silkmoth (Bombyx mori). The study, which will be published on June 30th in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics, provides the first direct proof of the long-held belief that the control of sexual behavior in male moths originates in the chemical specificity of the pheromone receptor proteins expressed in pheromone receptor neurons. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-reproductive-behavior-silkmoth-pheromone-receptor.html Genetics Thu, 30 Jun 2011 17:42:27 EST news228674525 Just like human teenagers, fruit flies that spend a day buzzing around the "fly mall" with their companions need more sleep. That's because the environment makes their brain circuits grow dense new synapses and they need sleep to dial back the energy needs of their stimulated brains, according to a new study by UW- Madison sleep researchers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-flies-enriched.html Medical research Thu, 23 Jun 2011 14:00:30 EST news228055592