http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. In Parkinson's disease, the protein "alpha-synuclein" aggregates and accumulates within neurons. Specific areas of the brain become progressively affected as the disease develops and advances. The mechanism underlying this pathological progression is poorly understood but could result from spreading of the protein (or abnormal forms of it) along nerve projections connecting lower to upper brain regions. Scientists at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) in Bonn have developed a novel experimental model that reproduces for the first time this pattern of alpha-synuclein brain spreading and provides important clues on the mechanisms underlying this pathological process. They triggered the production of human alpha-synuclein in the lower rat brain and were able to trace the spreading of this protein toward higher brain regions. The new experimental paradigm could promote the development of ways to halt or slow down disease development in humans. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-animal-insights-mechanisms-parkinson-disease.html Parkinson's & Movement disorders Fri, 24 May 2013 11:38:10 EST news288614282 Seasonal epidemics of influenza result in nearly 36,000 deaths annually in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Current vaccines against the influenza virus elicit an antibody response specific for proteins on the outside of the virus, specifically the hemagglutinin (HA) protein. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-two-pronged-immune-cell-approach-universal.html Medical research Thu, 14 Mar 2013 17:00:05 EST news282498498 Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are neurodevelopmental disorders typically characterized by difficulties in social interactions and delayed or abnormal language development. Although ASD reportedly affects 1 in 88 people in the United States, to date there have been no distinctive biomarkers to diagnose the disease. In a special themed issue of Disease Markers, investigators report on the current understanding of ASD genetics and the possibilities of translating genetic research toward biomarker development in ASD. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-biomarker-early-autism-spectrum-disorder.html Autism spectrum disorders Fri, 30 Nov 2012 10:43:51 EST news273494616 Deliberately inflicting carefully controlled painful stimuli on human volunteers and seeing how well specific drugs reduce the feeling of pain can be an effective way of testing new drugs. So conclude two researchers who reviewed the available literature on these types of tests in a paper published in the British Journal of Pharmacology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-pain-killers-humans-money-drugs.html Medications Thu, 08 Nov 2012 12:55:57 EST news271601744 A recent study led by Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) demonstrates that the A2b-type adenosine receptor, A2bAR, plays a significant role in the regulation of high fat, high cholesterol diet-induced symptoms of type 2 diabetes. The findings, which are published online in PLoS ONE, also identify A2bAR as a potential target for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-receptor-role-obesity-diabetes.html Diabetes Thu, 26 Jul 2012 13:23:09 EST news262527780 (Medical Xpress) -- Researchers from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), collaborating with scientists from Northwestern University in Illinois, have provided direct experimental evidence that diabetes is linked to the onset of Alzheimer's disease. The study, published online this week in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, used an experimental model that shows potential as an important new tool for investigations of Alzheimer’s disease and of drugs being developed to treat Alzheimer’s. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-link-alzheimer-disease-diabetes.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Thu, 19 Jul 2012 04:22:55 EST news261890551 The human airway is a pretty inhospitable place for microbes. There are numerous immune defense mechanisms poised to kill or remove inhaled bacteria before they can cause problems. But cystic fibrosis (CF) disrupts these defenses, leaving patients particularly susceptible to airway infection, which is the major cause of disease and death in CF. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-cystic-fibrosis-airways-acidic-bacterial.html Medical research Wed, 04 Jul 2012 13:06:34 EST news260625979 Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have demonstrated in experimental models that blocking the Sigma-1 receptor, a cellular protein, reduced binge eating and caused binge eaters to eat more slowly. The research, which is published online in Neuropsychopharmacology, was led by Pietro Cottone, PhD, and Valentina Sabino, PhD, both assistant professors in the pharmacology and psychiatry departments at BUSM. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-role-cellular-protein-binge.html Neuroscience Wed, 20 Jun 2012 15:36:47 EST news259425400 Researchers from South Korea, Sweden, and the United States have collaborated on a project to restore neuron function to parts of the brain damaged by Huntington's disease (HD) by successfully transplanting HD-induced pluripotent stem cells into animal models. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-neuron-function-brains-huntington-disease.html Neuroscience Tue, 29 May 2012 11:41:22 EST news257510422 (Medical Xpress) -- Despite a century of research, memory encoding in the brain has remained mysterious. Neuronal synaptic connection strengths are involved, but synaptic components are short-lived while memories last lifetimes. This suggests synaptic information is encoded and hard-wired at a deeper, finer-grained molecular scale. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-brain-memory-code.html Neuroscience Fri, 09 Mar 2012 13:31:47 EST news250522295 Bone marrow-derived cells (BMDCs) participate in the growth and spread of tumors of the breast, brain, lung, and stomach. To examine the role of BMDCs, researchers developed a mouse model that could be used to track the migration of these cells while tumors formed and expanded. Their results, published in the November issue of The American Journal of Pathology, strongly suggest that more effective cancer treatments may be developed by exploiting the mechanism by which bone marrow cells migrate to tumors and retard their proliferation. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-bone-marrow-cells-migrate-tumors.html Cancer Fri, 07 Oct 2011 09:38:51 EST news237199123 Regular exercise could help prevent brain damage associated with neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's, according to research published this month in Elsevier's journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-brain-alzheimer-disease.html Neuroscience Mon, 15 Aug 2011 10:25:14 EST news232622670