http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Insulin is the most potent physiological anabolic agent for tissue-building and energy storage, promoting the storage and synthesis of lipids, protein and carbohydrates, and inhibiting their breakdown and release into the circulatory system. It also plays a major role in stimulating glucose entry into muscle tissue, where the glucose is metabolized and removed from the blood following meals. But gaps exist in understanding the precise molecular mechanisms by which insulin regulates glucose uptake in fat and muscle cells. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-breakthrough-essential-molecule-reveals-important.html Medical research Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:08:15 EST news290862489 In the search for medication against Alzheimer's disease, scientists have focused – among other factors – on drugs that can break down Amyloid beta (A-beta). After all, it is the accumulation of A-beta that causes the known plaques in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. Starting point for the formation of A-beta is APP. Alessia Soldano and Bassem Hassan (VIB/KU Leuven) were the first to unravel the function of APPL – the fruit-fly version of APP – in the brain of healthy fruit flies. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-strategy-required-alzheimer-drugs.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Fri, 24 May 2013 08:42:11 EST news288603723 Pharmaceuticals that inhibit a specific enzyme may be useful in treating progeria, or accelerated aging in children. A new study performed at the Sahlgrenska Academy indicates that the development of progeria in mice was inhibited upon reducing the production of this enzyme. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-treatment-progeria.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 16 May 2013 14:00:12 EST news287931297 Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) are degenerative motor neuron diseases in which the key mutated genes are involved in RNA metabolism. This similarity suggests that a common dysregulation of some aspect of RNA metabolism in motor neurons may underlie both disorders, although the exact cellular effects of the neurodegenerative mutations are unknown. Koji Yamanaka, Hitomi Tsuiji and colleagues from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute and other institutions in Japan have now obtained evidence that a cellular structure that edits messenger RNA (mRNA) transcripts is defective in both of these motor neuron diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-messenger-rna-transcripts-defective-motor.html Medical research Fri, 26 Apr 2013 09:00:01 EST news286184312 All proteins are made from chains of amino acids and their functions can be modified by adding small molecules to specific amino acids. One such modification is the addition of a methyl group, which is made of one carbon and three hydrogen atoms, that is attached to the amino acids lysine or arginine. This methylation occurs in many proteins, but its function is unclear. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-discovery-specific-protein-modification-important.html Cancer Fri, 01 Feb 2013 10:16:49 EST news278936094 The p53 tumor suppressor protein manages DNA repair mechanisms in response to genetic damage and kills off precancerous cells before they multiply. The loss of p53 due to mutation greatly increases risk of tumorigenesis. Even worse, however, are the various 'missense' mutations that change the amino acid sequence of p53: they warp its function to promote rather than prevent cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-cancer-biology-bad-company.html Cancer Wed, 16 Jan 2013 08:36:01 EST news277547752 Researchers from the MRC Centre for Virus Research at the University of Glasgow in Scotland have developed methods to synthesize and change the genome of Schmallenberg virus (SBV). SBV is a recently discovered pathogen of livestock such as cattle, sheep and goats. The researchers have laid bare important ways by which this virus causes disease. The full report about the study publishes on January 10 in the Open Access journal, PLOS Pathogens. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-scientists-schmallenberg-virus-genome-disease.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 10 Jan 2013 17:00:04 EST news277046121 Inherited retinal disease is a major cause of vision impairment in early life - and a researcher at The University of Western Australia hopes a study in which he was involved will contribute towards the development of a drug-based treatment. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-inherited-retinal-disease-treatment.html Medical research Tue, 08 Jan 2013 05:59:10 EST news276847139 Scientists at The University of Manchester have identified how cells know which way up they need to be. The discovery could help in the fight against cancer because in the early stages of the disease the cells become disorganised. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-cell-tackle-cancer.html Cancer Sun, 23 Dec 2012 13:00:15 EST news275488552 New understanding of how drugs called PARP inhibitors, which have already shown promise for the treatment of women with familial breast and ovarian cancers linked to BRCA mutations, exert their anticancer effects has led to the identification of ways in which the patient population that might benefit from PARP inhibitors could be expanded. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-mechanism-action-parp-inhibitors.html Cancer Fri, 09 Nov 2012 11:29:43 EST news271682973 (Medical Xpress)—University of Washington scientists have succeeded in removing the extra copy of chromosome 21 in cell cultures derived from a person with Down syndrome, a condition in which the body's cells contain three copies of chromosome 21 rather than the usual pair. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-extra-chromosome-syndrome-cell-line.html Medical research Fri, 09 Nov 2012 07:01:12 EST news271666821 (Medical Xpress)—Arterial stiffening has long been considered a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Keeping arteries soft and supple might reduce disease risk, but the mechanisms of how arteries stave off hardening has remained elusive. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-underlying-good-cholesterol-collagen-heart.html Cardiology Thu, 01 Nov 2012 17:01:45 EST news271008097 Diabetic nephropathy is one of the most serious complications related to diabetes, often leading to end-stage kidney disease. Purple corn grown in Peru and Chile is a relative of blue corn, which is readily available in the U.S. The maize is rich in anthocyanins (also known as flavonoids), which are reported to have anti-diabetic properties. Scientists from the Department of Food and Nutrition and Department of Biochemistry at Hallym University in Korea investigated the cellular and molecular activity of purple corn anthocyanins (PCA) to determine whether and how it affects the development of diabetic nephropathy (DN). Their findings suggest that PCA inhibits multiple pathways involved in the development of DN, which may help in developing therapies aimed at type 2 diabetes and kidney disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-purple-corn-compound-aid-future.html Medical research Tue, 18 Sep 2012 17:22:15 EST news267207727 A gene that may possibly belong to an entire new family of oncogenes has been linked by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) to the resistance of breast cancer to a well-regarded and widely used cancer therapy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-oncogene-future-therapy.html Cancer Tue, 11 Sep 2012 16:24:03 EST news266599428 One of cancer's most frightening characteristics is its ability to return after treatment. In the case of many forms of cancer, including the skin cancer known as melanoma, tailored drugs can eradicate cancer cells in the lab, but often produce only partial, temporary responses in patients. One of the burning questions in the field of cancer research has been and remains: how does cancer evade drug treatment? http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-tumor-microenvironment-skin-cancer-cells.html Cancer Wed, 04 Jul 2012 13:08:35 EST news260626109 Controlling diabetes may someday involve mining stem cells from the lining of the uterus, Yale School of Medicine researchers report in a new study published in the journal Molecular Therapy. The team treated diabetes in mice by converting cells from the uterine lining into insulin-producing cells. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-scientists-uterine-stem-cells-diabetes.html Medical research Wed, 14 Sep 2011 13:26:08 EST news235225549 For the first time, researchers have successfully injected cultured red blood cells (cRBCs) created from human hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) into a human donor, according to study results published today in Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology (ASH). As the global need for blood continues to increase while the number of blood donors is decreasing, these study results provide hope that one day patients in need of a blood transfusion might become their own donors. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-successfully-cultured-red-blood-cells.html Medical research Thu, 01 Sep 2011 12:38:18 EST news234099468 A team of researchers from the University of Utah and Brigham Young University has developed a mouse model of focal dermal hypoplasia, a rare human birth defect that causes serious skin abnormalities and other medical problems. This animal model not only provides insight into studying the cause of focal dermal hypoplasia (FDH), but also offers a novel way to study a signaling pathway that is crucial for embryonic development. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-animal-rare-genetic-disorder-pathway.html Medical research Wed, 20 Jul 2011 14:13:58 EST news230390023 Lung cancer is strongly correlated with smoking, and most lung cancer patients are current or former smokers. But it is not rare in nonsmokers. Now, a team of researchers from the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, FL, shows that a protein called ID1 is a key player in lung cancer in both smokers and nonsmokers. The research is published in the July issue of the journal Molecular and Cellular Biology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-protein-boosts-lung-cancer-smokers.html Cancer Tue, 19 Jul 2011 09:55:08 EST news230288088 Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center researchers have identified six subtypes of an aggressive and difficult-to-treat form of breast cancer, called "triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)." http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-subtypes-triple-negative-breast-cancer-therapies.html Cancer Mon, 27 Jun 2011 17:12:43 EST news228413489 A University of Florida review of research finds the polyphenol compound known as resveratrol found in red wine, grapes and other fruits may not prevent old age, but it might make it more tolerable. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-uf-resveratrol-potential-health-boost.html Health Tue, 21 Jun 2011 11:07:30 EST news227873235