http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. In 2009, more than 30,000 people in the U.S. learned they had cancer linked to the human papillomavirus, or HPV. This virus is best known for causing cervical cancer, but it's also the culprit behind many cancers of the mouth, throat, anus, and genitals. Unlike many forms of cancer, for which we lack the knowledge and tools to prevent, scientists have figured out how to dodge HPV-triggered cancers—by HPV vaccination. Vaccination against HPV thwarts the viruses' spread, wrecking its ability to jump between people. Wiping out HPV could mean shutting down a big source of cancer cases—more than 3 percent of all diagnoses nationwide. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-hpv-vaccination.html Cancer Mon, 21 Jan 2013 08:40:05 EST news277979447 Excessive immune reactions against the body's own skin cells can lead to painful and even chronic dermatitis. An international team of researchers at the MedUni Vienna, the MedUni Graz and the Salk Institute in California, led by Herbert Strobl, has now unencrypted the mechanism that contributes towards this unwanted autoimmune reaction being suppressed. This may in future lead to common conditions such as chronic allergic dermatitis or psoriasis being halted as they develop and treated. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-dermatitis-suppressed.html Immunology Fri, 09 Nov 2012 07:43:01 EST news271669367 For the first time, Wisconsin researchers have taken skin from patients and, using induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology, turned them into a laboratory model for an inherited type of macular degeneration. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-cells-skin-eye-disease.html Genetics Thu, 08 Nov 2012 10:23:43 EST news271592604 Excessive turnover of cells in the placenta may trigger an unnatural increase in blood pressure that puts mother and baby at risk, researchers say. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-preeclampsia.html Obstetrics & gynaecology Tue, 06 Nov 2012 13:19:58 EST news271430391 The body's blood clot-busting enzymes are much busier than previously imagined, with new research showing that they also dispose of every cell that dies prematurely from disease or trauma. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-clot-busting-enzymes-jobs.html Medical research Thu, 04 Oct 2012 12:03:23 EST news268570987 (Medical Xpress)—Two Colorado State University professors have developed a nanostructured surface coating for bone that is expected to help improve the lifetime of bone implants. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-coating-bone-implants.html Medical research Thu, 20 Sep 2012 07:20:01 EST news267343191 Scientists generally think that reduced insulin production by the pancreas, a hallmark of type 2 diabetes, is due to the death of the organ's beta cells. However, a new study by Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers shows that beta cells do not die but instead revert to a more fundamental, undifferentiated cell type. The findings suggest that strategies to prevent beta cells from de-differentiating, or to coax them to re-differentiate, might improve glucose balance in patients with type 2 diabetes. The study, conducted in mice was published today in the online edition of the journal Cell. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-decrease-insulin-producing-beta-cells-diabetes.html Diabetes Thu, 13 Sep 2012 12:53:01 EST news266759555 The skin, which is an essential barrier that protects our body against the external environment, undergoes constant turnover throughout life to replace dead cells that are constantly sloughed off from the skin surface. During adult life, the number of cells produced must exactly compensate for the number of cells lost. Different theories have been proposed to explain how this delicate balance is achieved. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-stem-cells-responsible-tissue.html Medical research Tue, 04 Sep 2012 07:41:22 EST news265963274 One of the biggest risk factors for liver, colon or stomach cancer is chronic inflammation of those organs, often caused by viral or bacterial infections. A new study from MIT offers the most comprehensive look yet at how such infections provoke tissues into becoming cancerous. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-comprehensive-chemical-genetic-inflammation-cancer.html Inflammatory disorders Mon, 11 Jun 2012 15:00:05 EST news258645053 The discovery of how a vital immune cell recognises dead and damaged body cells could modernise vaccine technology by 'tricking' cells into launching an immune response, leading to next-generation vaccines that are more specific, more effective and have fewer side-effects. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-immune-next-gen-vaccines.html Immunology Thu, 05 Apr 2012 12:00:06 EST news252844180 Scientists modified a protein in the heart which dramatically reduced cell damage after heart attacks, according to new research published the American Heart Association journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-protein-heart.html Cardiology Thu, 01 Mar 2012 16:39:08 EST news249842335 Coronary patients with low levels of an immune system antibody called anti-PC, which neutralises parts of the "bad" cholesterol, run a greater risk of suffering complications following an acute cardiac episode and thus of premature death. This according to new research from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published in the scientific periodical The International Journal of Cardiology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-lipid-antibodies-complications-heart.html Cardiology Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:52:54 EST news247744348 A research team led by Nancy Speck, PhD, professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has discovered a molecular marker for the immediate precursors of hematopoietic (blood) stem cells (HSCs) in the developing embryo, which provides much-needed insights for making these cells from engineered precursors. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-blood-stem-cells.html Medical research Fri, 09 Dec 2011 08:58:52 EST news242643517 A study published in the current issue of Cell Transplantation (20:5) investigating optimal routes for transplanting neural stem/progenitor cells (NS/PCs) in animal models of spinal cord injury (SCI) has demonstrated that intralesional (IL) injection conferred benefits over intravenous injection (IV) and intrathecal (IT) injection. The study, by a team of Keio University (Japan) researchers, is now freely available on-line. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-neural-stem-progenitor-cell-transplantations.html Medical research Mon, 11 Jul 2011 11:30:02 EST news229602591 A new study links the intermittent interruption of breathing that occurs in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) to enhanced proliferation of melanoma cancer cells and increased tumor growth in mice, according to researchers in Spain. The study also found tumor cells of OSA mouse models tended to contain more dead cells, indicating a more aggressive type of cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-obstructive-apnea-linked-cancer-growth.html Sleep apnea Tue, 17 May 2011 14:03:24 EST news224859783 (Medical Xpress) -- Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have discovered that human proteins with an affinity for Dermatan Sulfate (DS) have the propensity to become autoantigens. In a companion article, the researchers also found that DS physically interacts with dead cells and that the resulting DS–autoantigen complexes drive autoreactive B-1a cell responses and autoantibody production both in-vitro and in mouse models. These findings, which appear in two back-to-back papers in the May issue of the American Journal of Pathology, provide a promising tool for discovery of autoantigens, molecular diagnosis of autoimmune diseases and development of cause-specific therapies. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-pathophysiologic-mechanism-responsible-autoimmunity.html Medical research Mon, 25 Apr 2011 11:50:14 EST news222950995 Given how effectively the immune system can eliminate foreign threats such bacteria and viruses, hopes are high for the development of strategies that might turn these same defense mechanisms against cancerous targets. However, attempts to train the immune system to recognize malignancies via the intravenous injection of vaccines that present tumor-derived antigens have fallen short. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-tumor-vaccines-proper-introduction.html Cancer Fri, 08 Apr 2011 12:04:04 EST news221483025