http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. When the human genome project was completed in 2003, some expected it to herald a new age of personalized genomic medicine, but the resulting single "reference" sequence has significant shortcomings for these applications and does not account for the actual variability in the human population, as reported in a study published July 11 in the open access journal PLoS ONE. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-personalized-genomic-medicine-hurdles.html Genetics Wed, 11 Jul 2012 17:00:10 EST news261242996 A third of the world's human population is infected with a dormant tuberculosis bacteria, primarily people living in developing countries. The bacteria presents a lifelong TB risk. Recent research out of the University of Copenhagen demonstrates that the risk of tuberculosis breaking out is four times as likely if a person also suffers from diabetes. Meanwhile, as a diabetic, a person is five times as likely to die during tuberculosis treatment. The growing number of diabetics in Asia and Africa increases the likelihood that more people will succumb to and die from tuberculosis in the future. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-millions-diabetics-die-tuberculosis.html Diabetes Mon, 09 Jul 2012 11:30:30 EST news261052216 The world population is over seven billion and all of these people need feeding. However, the energy requirement of a species depends not only on numbers but on its average mass. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Public Health has estimated the total mass of the human population, defined its distribution by region, and the proportion of this biomass due to the overweight and obesity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-weight-nations-adult-human-biomass.html Health Sun, 17 Jun 2012 20:00:01 EST news259149118 (Medical Xpress) -- Understanding the genetic diversity within and between populations has important implications for studies of human disease and evolution. This includes identifying associations between genetic variants and disease, detecting genomic regions that have undergone positive selection and highlighting interesting aspects of human population history. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-genetic-method-geographic.html Genetics Thu, 24 May 2012 07:04:43 EST news257061871 A national, phase II clinical trial examining the effects of resveratrol on individuals with mild to moderate dementia due to Alzheimer's disease has begun as more than two dozen academic institutions recruit volunteers in the coming months. R. Scott Turner, M.D., Ph.D., director of Georgetown University Medical Center's Memory Disorders Program, is the lead investigator for the national study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-georgetown-physician-national-resveratrol-alzheimer.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Mon, 14 May 2012 03:41:45 EST news256185692 (Medical Xpress) -- As the Earth's human population has skyrocketed since the rise of agriculture some 10,000 years ago -- to 7 billion people from a few million -- so, too, has the number of rare genetic variants. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-population-rare-genes-human-genome.html Genetics Fri, 11 May 2012 06:00:31 EST news255934820 With a 95 percent genomic similarity to humans, mice have long been used to learn about the genetic causes of human disease. Once researchers can shine a light on the genetic factors that cause disease in mice, they can start to develop prevention and treatment options to protect the human population. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-lab-mice-genetic-links-disease.html Genetics Thu, 05 Apr 2012 11:25:38 EST news252843923 (Medical Xpress) -- Most people know that one of the greatest threats to mankind is a pandemic. As the human population has grown over the years, so too has the threat from diseases that are capable of wiping out huge numbers of people in one fell stroke. And of the types of pandemics that are most likely to occur, most would agree that it would likely be tied to influenza. Yet, despite the very real possibility that a strain could develop almost anywhere in the world at any time; one that could spread very quickly across the planet due to international travel, relatively little is being done to prevent it from happening. Right now today, we are all at risk due to the possibility of a strain developing that would be as lethal as the variant that killed so many during the first World War, and that could spread just as quickly, or worse. Because of this, scientists from across the globe have contributed to commentaries and editorials describing the current state of flu data collection efforts and how the process might be improved. All of which have been published in the journal Nature. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-lack-worldwide-infrastructure-flu-variants.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 29 Mar 2012 07:10:31 EST news252223789 New research from the Trudeau Institute addresses how the human body controls gamma-herpesviruses, a class of viruses thought to cause a variety of cancers. The study, carried out in the laboratory of Dr. Marcia Blackman, awaits publication in The Journal of Immunology. Led by postdoctoral fellow Mike Freeman, with assistance from other laboratory colleagues, the study describes the role of white blood cells in controlling gamma-herpesvirus infections and has implications for the treatment and prevention of certain cancers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-implications-cancers-viruses.html Immunology Mon, 12 Mar 2012 17:01:15 EST news250790469 While some scientists report engineering a super virulent strain of the H5N1 influenza virus, which could potentially wipe out a significant percentage of the human population, another group of researchers from the United Kingdom now reports a discovery that may one day help mitigate the deadly effects of all flu strains. This report, appearing in the March 2012 print issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, describes findings that may help prevent deaths from severe flu outbreaks, especially from seemingly healthy young people. Specifically, the researchers found that immune cells called, "natural killer T cells," may reduce the overwhelming numbers of another type of immune cell, called "inflammatory monocytes," which when present in large numbers, lead to lung injury at the end stage of severe flu infection. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-lung-injury-severe-flu.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 29 Feb 2012 10:52:43 EST news249735151 Last year, in an effort to understand the biology of H5N1, two independent research groups successfully engineered the lethal avian flu virus to be transmissible between mammals, and perhaps among humans. At the end of January, the research community, including the authors of the two studies, agreed to a 60-day moratorium on sensitive H5N1 experiments. In the meantime, the World Health Organization will hold international discussions regarding the future of such research and its availability in the community. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-3qs-potential-impact-h5n1-virus.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 16 Feb 2012 07:40:02 EST news248599368 (Medical Xpress) -- Environmental pollutants, eating habits, lack of exercise and genetic traits have all been raised as possible causes of earlier puberty onset in girls in recent years. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-calories-earlier-puberty.html Health Thu, 09 Feb 2012 06:21:13 EST news247990838 Researchers at the University of Essex have shown that a genetic variant could make some people more sensitive to their emotional environment - and more susceptible to anxiety disorders - than others. The study, funded by the Wellcome Trust, could have implications for predicting how well individual patients will respond to treatments for anxiety disorders. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-scientists-link-gene-sensitivity-emotional.html Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:30:01 EST news245644435 New research published online in the FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org) suggests that the types and levels of bacteria in the intestines may be used to predict a person's likelihood of having a heart attack, and that manipulating these organisms may help reduce heart attack risk. This discovery may lead to new diagnostic tests and therapies that physicians use to prevent and treat heart attacks. In addition, this research suggests that probiotics may be able to protect the heart in patients undergoing heart surgery and angioplasty. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-microbiome-disease-gut-bacteria-severity.html Medical research Fri, 13 Jan 2012 02:00:02 EST news245640484 Health professionals and researchers across the globe believe they are on the verge of eradicating polio, a devastating virus which can lead to paralysis and death. Despite successful eradication in most countries, there are still four countries where the virus is considered endemic -- and many more in which the virus still lurks. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-polio-threat-health.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 07 Nov 2011 13:15:34 EST news239894128 (Medical Xpress) -- Amphetamine use in adolescence can cause neurobiological imbalances and increase risk-taking behaviour, and these effects can persist into adulthood, even when subjects are drug free. These are the conclusions of a new study using animal models conducted by McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) researcher Dr. Gabriella Gobbi and her colleagues. The study, published today in The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, is one of the first to shed light on how long-term amphetamine use in adolescence affects brain chemistry and behaviour. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-adolescent-amphetamine-linked-permanent-brain.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 03 Nov 2011 11:00:13 EST news239535778 A recent study accepted for publication in Molecular Endocrinology, a journal of The Endocrine Society, found that perinatal exposure to environmentally relevant doses of bisphenol A (BPA) alters long-term hormone response and breast development in mice that may increase the propensity to develop cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-bpa-exposure-utero-predisposition-breast.html Health Mon, 03 Oct 2011 08:21:12 EST news236848863 Toxoplasma gondii parasites can invade your bloodstream, break into your brain and prompt behavioral changes from recklessness to neuroticism. These highly contagious protozoa infect more than half the world's population, and most people's immune systems never purge the intruders. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-promiscuous-parasites-hijack-host-immune.html Medical research Tue, 20 Sep 2011 15:50:01 EST news235749844 In dengue-endemic areas such as South-East Asia, in contrast to conventional thinking, rural areas rather than cities may bear the highest burden of dengue fever—a viral infection that causes sudden high fever, severe headache, and muscle and joint pains, and can lead to a life-threatening condition, dengue hemorrhagic fever. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-rural-areas-higher-dengue-fever.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 30 Aug 2011 17:47:56 EST news233945225 Since 1999, several outbreaks of West Nile Virus, which causes fever or severe neurological symptoms and is transmitted from birds to humans by blood-sucking mosquitoes, have been seen in the U.S., usually during the summer months. But researchers aren't certain how the virus migrated here -- and they don't know how, or where, it will appear next. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-west-nile-virus-action.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 25 Jul 2011 03:21:03 EST news230782855