http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Conventional dendritic cells (cDCs) are the immune system's patrol. They recognize foreign threats and trigger a defensive response, while restraining immune reactions against inappropriate targets like host proteins. They achieve the former via a mechanism called cross-presentation, which displays pieces of pathogens to cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs)—the immune system's 'attack dogs'—while the latter function relies on cDC interactions with regulatory T (Treg) cells. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-cellular.html Medical research Fri, 30 Nov 2012 09:00:23 EST news273488412 If you're looking to get some of the benefits of exercise without doing the work, here's some good news. A new research report published online in The FASEB Journal shows that low-intensity vibrations led to improvements in the immune function of obese mice. If the same effect can be found in people, this could have clinical benefits for obese people suffering from a wide range of immune problems related to obesity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-mild-vibrations-benefits-obese-people.html Overweight and Obesity Thu, 29 Nov 2012 12:51:42 EST news273415890 Autism Speaks Chief Science Officer Geraldine Dawson, Ph.D. describes how the dramatic progress in autism research has paralleled increased recognition of autism's prevalence and financial impact in the December issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry published on line today. "This issue of the journal features three articles on autism," she writes in her editorial. "A decade ago, the journal published about the same number of autism articles per year." http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-autism-prevalence-parallels-explosion.html Autism spectrum disorders Mon, 26 Nov 2012 16:25:32 EST news273169525 Researchers from Aarhus University, Denmark, have now discovered an important mechanism behind one of our most fundamental lines of immune function. The discovery has been published in the esteemed scientific journal, The Journal of Immunology, where it has been highlighted as a top story. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-immune-pathway.html Immunology Tue, 06 Nov 2012 09:51:21 EST news271417870 (Medical Xpress)—There is no benefit for the average healthy adult to follow a gluten-free diet, according to research published by an Arizona State University professor in the September 2012 issue of the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The study debunks the idea that going gluten-free is an effective way to lose weight. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-gluten-free-craze-population-science-professor.html Health Wed, 10 Oct 2012 08:05:09 EST news269075100 (Medical Xpress)—Leptin—commonly dubbed the "fat hormone"—does more than tell the brain when to eat. A new study by researchers at The University of Akron and Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED) shows that leptin may play a role in hearing and vision loss. This discovery, made in zebrafish treated to produce low leptin, could ultimately help doctors better understand sensory loss in humans. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-skinny-leptin.html Medical research Wed, 26 Sep 2012 15:14:48 EST news267891278 New Australian research shows that the brains of people with schizophrenia may be under attack by the immune system, providing the strongest evidence to date of a link between immune function and schizophrenia. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-brains-people-schizophrenia-red.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 08 Aug 2012 09:54:30 EST news263638422 Wayne State University School of Medicine researchers, working with colleagues in Canada, have found that one or more substances produced by a type of immune cell in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) may play a role in the disease's progression. The finding could lead to new targeted therapies for MS treatment. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-team-clue-multiple-sclerosis.html Neuroscience Tue, 31 Jul 2012 16:41:14 EST news262971603 Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have uncovered one of the mechanisms by which aging may compromise the ability of the immune system to fight infections and respond to vaccines. The study, conducted in aging mice, shows that administering antioxidants may help reverse this loss of immune function. The findings were published online this month in the journal Cell Reports. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-aging-impairs-immune-response.html Medical research Tue, 17 Jul 2012 16:42:43 EST news261762141 Scientists at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine have used injections of antibodies to rapidly reverse the onset of Type I diabetes in mice genetically bred to develop the disease. Moreover, just two injections maintained disease remission indefinitely without harming the immune system. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-antibodies-reverse-diabetes-immunotherapy.html Diabetes Thu, 05 Jul 2012 16:48:57 EST news260725717 Recent work in mice suggested that the immune system is involved in removing beta-amyloid, the main Alzheimer's-causing substance in the brain. Researchers have now shown for the first time that this may apply in humans. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-immune-alzheimer-humans.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Fri, 25 May 2012 10:12:30 EST news257159529 New research suggests that there could be health hazards associated with consuming excessive amounts of beta-carotene. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-potential-dark-side-diets-high.html Health Tue, 01 May 2012 14:50:06 EST news255101110 Caring for a wife with breast cancer can have a measurable negative effect on men's health, even years after the cancer diagnosis and completion of treatment, according to recent research. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-stress-wife-breast-cancer-health.html Health Mon, 16 Apr 2012 12:26:35 EST news253797988 (Medical Xpress) -- Immunity experts at the University of Birmingham have found biological evidence to suggest that bereavement lowers physical immunity, putting older people at risk of life-threatening infections.. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-die-broken-heart-bereavement-weaken.html Immunology Wed, 28 Mar 2012 06:46:57 EST news252135993 A new article in The Quarterly Review of Biology helps explain why the immune system often makes us worse while trying to make us well. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-healthy-worse-sick.html Immunology Tue, 20 Mar 2012 15:53:32 EST news251477606 (HealthDay) -- A gene expression profile in peripheral blood correlates with glycemic control in the first year for patients recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, according to a study published online March 8 in Diabetes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-gene-profile-glycemia-diabetes.html Diabetes Fri, 16 Mar 2012 14:27:16 EST news251126828 Although additional selenium might benefit people who are lacking in this essential micronutrient, for those who already have enough selenium in their diet (including a large proportion of the USA population), taking selenium supplements could be harmful, and might increase the risk of developing type-2 diabetes, concludes a new review of the evidence published Online First in The Lancet. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-selenium-supplements-people-diet.html Health Tue, 28 Feb 2012 18:30:01 EST news249670510 A University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) researcher is examining how environmental triggers might alter gene function in people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. The research could lead to better insights into the disease and eventually to new treatments. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-environmental-triggers-gene-function-chronic.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:13:36 EST news249225210 The offspring of women who were given micronutrient supplements (minerals needed in small quantities, such as iron, iodine and vitamin A) before they became pregnant had gene modifications at birth as well as when they were tested at 9 months. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-exposure-micronutrients-pre-pregnancy-gene-modifications.html Genetics Wed, 22 Feb 2012 12:03:04 EST news249134560 A number of different immunological mechanisms ensure the successful establishment and maintenance of pregnancy. Imbalance in these mechanisms is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. In a review published in Advances in Neuroimmune Biology, researchers from the Institute of Life Science, College of Medicine at Swansea University in the UK examine the impact of maternal obesity on the inflammatory responses in tissues of both the mother and the child. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-inflammation-link-obesity-adverse-pregnancy.html Health Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:43:22 EST news245432586 Battling colds and doing (or pledging to do) more exercise are familiar activities for most of us in January. But different levels of exercise can actually significantly increase or decrease your chances of catching a respiratory infection, says Professor Mike Gleeson from Loughborough University. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-couch-potato-elite-athlete-happy.html Health Thu, 05 Jan 2012 09:49:46 EST news244979380 In times of stress, we're often encouraged to pause for a moment and simply be in the 'now.' This kind of mindfulness, an essential part of Buddhist and Indian Yoga traditions, has entered the mainstream as people try to find ways to combat stress and improve their quality of life. And research suggests that mindfulness meditation can have benefits for health and performance, including improved immune function, reduced blood pressure, and enhanced cognitive function. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-dont-happy-ndash-mindfulness-meditation.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:04:16 EST news239292211 It is no easy task to preserve the delicate balance that allows us to maintain a strong immune system that can defend us from harmful pathogens, but that is sensitive enough to correctly identify and spare our own cells. Therefore, it is not surprising that the mechanisms that underlie immune activation and tolerance are not completely understood. Now, a new research study published by Cell Press in the journal Immunity and available online on September 15th provides intriguing insight into the complex immune regulatory mechanisms that underlie immune tolerance. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-insight-immune-tolerance-furthers-autoimmune.html Medical research Thu, 15 Sep 2011 13:12:43 EST news235308079 One of the beneficial compounds found in green tea has a powerful ability to increase the number of "regulatory T cells" that play a key role in immune function and suppression of autoimmune disease, according to new research in the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-mechanism-health-benefit-green-tea.html Medical research Thu, 02 Jun 2011 14:00:49 EST news226242011 (Medical Xpress) -- There's a wealth of health information hiding in the human immune system. Accessing it, however, can be very challenging, as the many and complex roles that the immune system plays can mask the critical information that is relevant to addressing specific health issues. Now, research led by scientists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has shown that a new generation of microchips developed by the team can quickly and inexpensively assess immune function by examining biomarkers—proteins that can reflect the response of the immune system to disease—from single cells. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-health-cell.html Medical research Tue, 24 May 2011 07:50:47 EST news225442189 In a novel approach that works around the gene defect in Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome, an inherited immune deficiency disorder, researchers used an alternative cell signaling pathway to significantly improve immune function in a 13-year-old boy with the disease. The study, at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, provides a proof-of-principle that immunotherapy, which harnesses elements of the body's immune system, may be used to treat this rare but often deadly disorder. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-therapy-immune-function-teen-rare.html Medical research Thu, 14 Apr 2011 17:08:21 EST news222019687