http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Infections can trigger hematopoiesis at sites outside the bone marrow – in the liver, the spleen or the skin. LMU researchers now show that a specific type of immune cell facilitates such "extra medullary" formation of blood cells. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-herpes-infections-natural-killer-cells.html Medical research Thu, 16 May 2013 10:36:54 EST news287919394 Joslin scientists have discovered a mechanism that regulates the production of brown fat, a type of fat which plays an important role in heat production and energy metabolism. The findings, which appear in the upcoming issue of Nature, may lead to new therapies that increase BAT formation to treat obesity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-team-mechanism-production-energy-burning-brown.html Medical research Wed, 13 Mar 2013 14:00:04 EST news282396182 A simple new method better assesses the risks posed by emerging zoonotic viruses (those transmissible from animals to humans), according to a study published in PLOS Medicine this week. Dr. Simon Cauchemez and colleagues from Imperial College London in the UK and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US show that the new tool can produce transmissibility estimates for swine flu (the H3N2v-M virus), allowing researchers to better evaluate the possible pandemic threat posed by this virus. Until now, estimates of transmissibility were derived from detailed outbreak investigations, which are resource intensive and subject to selection bias. In this study, the authors develop a method to derive unbiased estimates of transmissibility with more limited data. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-tool-pandemic-threats.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 05 Mar 2013 17:00:01 EST news281712839 The first animal model of recent human evolution reveals that a single mutation produced several traits common in East Asian peoples, from thicker hair to denser sweat glands, an international team of researchers reports. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-animal-human-evolution.html Genetics Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:12:17 EST news280069915 (Medical Xpress)—Natural killer cells – a vital part of the immune system – have a dual role in protecting against infection and ensuring reproduction. Scientists suggest that the multi-tasking ability of these cells helped humans to spread out of Africa. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-natural-killer-cells-vital-role.html Immunology Fri, 08 Feb 2013 07:29:32 EST news279530965 Researchers at UCLA say it's not just what you eat that makes those pants tighter—it's also genetics. In a new study, scientists discovered that body-fat responses to a typical fast-food diet are determined in large part by genetic factors, and they have identified several genes they say may control those responses. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-genes-obesity-fast-food-isnt.html Medical research Tue, 08 Jan 2013 12:00:01 EST news276862092 Chinese researchers have identified a bacteria which may cause obesity, according to a new paper suggesting diets that alter the presence of microbes in humans could combat the condition. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-china-link-obesity-bacteria.html Overweight and Obesity Wed, 19 Dec 2012 04:21:58 EST news275113067 Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) may have affected humans for much longer than is currently believed. Alfred Roca, an assistant professor in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois, thinks that the genomes of an isolated West African human population provide important clues about how the disease has evolved. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-tracking-hiv.html HIV & AIDS Tue, 18 Dec 2012 14:29:19 EST news275063269 Watch where you jump in for a swim or where your bath water comes from, especially if you live in Africa, Asia or South America. Snails that live in tropical freshwater in these locations are intermediaries between disease-causing parasitic worms and humans. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-treatment-snail-borne-schistosomiasis-haul.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 20 Nov 2012 07:59:04 EST news272620734 Focusing on fine features in order to see "the big picture" seems almost counterintuitive, but that is exactly what is happening in the field of genomics. Researchers are sequencing human genomes, cataloging the variation in people's genetic code – the As, Ts, Gs, and Cs of human DNA that serve as each individual's biological blueprint – to get a broader view of human health, a deeper knowledge of human genetic history, and a clearer understanding of why some people develop certain diseases while others do not. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-genomes.html Genetics Fri, 16 Nov 2012 06:48:59 EST news272270922 (Medical Xpress)—Researchers in the Life Sciences Institute at the University of Michigan have discovered how a particular type of virus hides and protects its genetic information from the immune system, a design that allows it to replicate inside cells of an infected person or animal. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-discovery-advances-phleboviruses.html Medical research Wed, 07 Nov 2012 07:22:40 EST news271495339 (Medical Xpress)—A new study has revealed how the spread of hepatitis B coincides with dates of human migration throughout history, starting around 40 000 years ago. The study could provide a framework for studying the ongoing burden and evolution of the hepatitis B virus. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-reveals-prehistoric-journey-hepatitis.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 11 Oct 2012 06:16:54 EST news269155005 (Medical Xpress)—Gaining more insight into predicting how genes affect physical or behavioral traits by charting the genotype-phenotype map holds promise to speed discoveries in personalized medicine. But figuring out exactly how genes interact has left parts of the map invisible. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-gene-gene-interactions-important-trait-variance.html Genetics Tue, 11 Sep 2012 09:20:01 EST news266571673 Modern lifestyles are generally quite different from those of our hunter-gatherer ancestors, a fact that some claim as the cause of the current rise in global obesity, but new results published July 25 in the open access journal PLoS ONE find that there is no difference between the energy expenditure of modern hunter-gatherers and Westerners, casting doubt on this theory. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-hunter-gatherers-westerners-amount-energy-contrary.html Overweight and Obesity Wed, 25 Jul 2012 17:23:40 EST news262455786 Response efforts to outbreaks of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in Africa can benefit from a standardized sampling strategy that focuses on the carcasses of gorillas, chimpanzees and other species known to succumb to the virus, according to a consortium of wildlife health experts. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-health-experts-narrow-ebola.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 16 May 2012 13:39:09 EST news256394176 A new suite of malaria maps has revealed in unprecedented detail the current global pattern of the disease, allowing researchers to see how malaria has changed over a number of years. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-malaria-disease.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:08:44 EST news246546516 (Medical Xpress) -- Thanks to the sequencing of the 27 known human interferon genes, researchers from the Institut Pasteur and the CNRS reconstruct the genetic history of these proteins so central for our immune system, and put forward potentially innovative ways to improve the clinical use of interferons in the treatment of pathologies such as Hepatitis C, multiple sclerosis, and some cancers. These results are published on December 19th, 2011, in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-genetic-diversity-crucial-survival-ways.html Genetics Tue, 20 Dec 2011 09:00:01 EST news243592512 Shahriar Mobashery, a University of Notre Dame researcher, is one of the coauthors of a new paper by a group of the world's leading scientists in academia and industry that calls for strong steps to be taken to control the global crisis of antibiotic resistance in bacteria. The group issued a priority list of steps that need to be taken on a global scale to resolve the crisis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-paper-strong-tackle-antibiotic-resistance.html Medications Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:41:43 EST news242581293 Fifty years after participating in studies of pentosuria, an inherited disorder once mistaken for diabetes, 15 families again welcomed medical geneticists into their lives. Their willingness to have their DNA analyzed with advanced genomics technologies has solved a mystery more than a hundred years old. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-modern-genetics-age-old-garrod-fourth.html Genetics Mon, 31 Oct 2011 16:02:18 EST news239295728 More than just a tool for predicting health, modern genetics is upending long-held assumptions about who we are. A new study by Harvard researchers casts new light on the intermingling and migration of European, Middle Eastern and African and populations since ancient times. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-population-genetics-reveals-ancestries.html Genetics Tue, 24 May 2011 15:01:20 EST news225468060