http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Researchers at the Monell Center and collaborators have identified a protein that is critical to the ability of mammals to smell. Mice engineered to be lacking the Ggamma13 protein in their olfactory receptors were functionally anosmic – unable to smell. The findings may lend insight into the underlying causes of certain smell disorders in humans. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-critical-link-mammalian-odor.html Neuroscience Mon, 06 May 2013 15:09:41 EST news287071771 Scientists have identified an influential link in a chain of events that leads to autoimmune inflammation of the central nervous system in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-key-protein-central-nervous-inflammation.html Medical research Thu, 02 May 2013 09:41:12 EST news286706459 For a long time, scientists have dreamed of converting undesirable white fat cells into brown fat cells and thus simply have excess pounds melt away. Researchers at the University of Bonn have now gotten a step closer to this goal: They decoded a "toggle switch" in mice which can significantly stimulate fat burning. The results are now being presented in the scientific journal Nature Communications. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-decode-kind-trigger-conversion-fat.html Medical research Tue, 23 Apr 2013 11:47:54 EST news285936465 Ever since the appetite-regulation hormone called leptin was discovered in 1994, scientists have sought to understand the mechanisms that control its action. It was known that leptin was made by fat cells, reduced appetite and interacted with insulin , but the precise molecular details of its function —details that might enable the creation of a new treatment for obesity—remained elusive. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-block-protein-appetite-suppressing-hormone.html Medical research Wed, 17 Apr 2013 17:13:00 EST news285437571 Atherosclerosis – sometimes called "hardening of the arteries" – is a leading cause of death and morbidity in Western countries. A cell-permeable peptide containing the NF-kB nuclear localization sequence (NLS) shows promise as a potential agent in controlling the development of atherosclerotic disease. This study is published in the May 2013 issue of The American Journal of Pathology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-cell-permeable-peptide-cardiovascular-disease.html Cardiology Wed, 17 Apr 2013 06:22:09 EST news285398523 Findings from a Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine study could lead to the development of new drugs to treat gout. The study, led by Liang Qiao, MD, and his colleagues and collaborators, was published March 19 in the journal Nature Communications. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-aid-drugs-gout.html Immunology Tue, 19 Mar 2013 16:02:20 EST news282927733 Women who are pregnant or using synthetic progesterone birth control injections have a conspicuous vulnerability to certain infections including malaria, Listeria, HIV, and herpes simplex virus. A new research report appearing in the March 2013 issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology offers strong evidence for a possible explanation: the progesterone receptor, a pregnancy hormone sensor, targets a part of the immune system responsible for protection against these and other invaders. In addition to helping explain why some women are more vulnerable to certain infections, it also sheds light on why some autoimmune diseases, notably rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis, often go into remission during pregnancy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-progesterone-pregnant-women-vulnerable-infections.html Medical research Thu, 28 Feb 2013 11:11:23 EST news281272260 Marked for death with molecular tags that act like a homing signal for a cell's protein-destroying machinery, a pivotal enzyme is rescued by another molecule that sweeps the telltale targets off in the nick of time. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-scientists-protein-reins-runaway-network.html Medical research Tue, 22 Jan 2013 16:57:03 EST news278096211 (HealthDay)—Treating mice fed a high-fat diet with telmisartan reverses insulin resistance and glucose intolerance, but only when the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-δ (PPAR-δ) gene is present, according to a study published online Dec. 13 in Diabetes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-telmisartan-reverses-insulin-resistance-mice.html Diabetes Thu, 03 Jan 2013 14:40:01 EST news276442581 (Medical Xpress)—Research led by Queen Mary, University of London, has opened up the possibility that drug therapies may one day be able to restore the integrity of the blood-brain barrier, potentially slowing or even reversing the progression of diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS). The study, funded by the Wellcome Trust, is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-possibility-therapies-blood-brain-barrier.html Medical research Wed, 02 Jan 2013 10:55:59 EST news276346551 A protein that is necessary for lactation in mammals inhibits the critical cellular transition that is an early indicator of breast cancer and metastasis, according to research conducted at the University at Buffalo and Princeton University and highlighted as the cover paper in November issue of Nature Cell Biology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-lactation-protein-suppresses-tumors-metastasis.html Cancer Wed, 24 Oct 2012 09:00:01 EST news270284902 (Medical Xpress) -- Australian and UK scientists have shown that a large percentage of genes are likely to affect bone strength, potentially around 2,000 of the 21,000 genes in our bodies. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-knockout-reveals-large-genes-affect.html Genetics Wed, 08 Aug 2012 13:03:10 EST news263649784 Scientists have known for some time that throwing off the body's circadian rhythm can negatively affect body chemistry. In fact, workers whose sleep-wake cycles are disrupted by night shifts are more susceptible to chronic inflammatory diseases such as diabetes, obesity and cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-molecular-link-circadian-clock-disturbances.html Medical research Wed, 01 Aug 2012 09:19:47 EST news263031580 A Penn research team, led by Mitchell Lazar, MD, PhD, director of the Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, reports in Nature Medicine that mice in which an enzyme called histone deacetylase 3 (HDAC3) was deleted had massively fatty livers, but lower blood sugar, and were thus protected from glucose intolerance and insulin resistance, the hallmark of diabetes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-liver-fat-wake-up-blood-sugar.html Medical research Sun, 06 May 2012 13:00:23 EST news255508086 The ability to navigate using spatial cues was impaired in mice whose brains were minus a channel that delivers potassium — a finding that may have implications for humans with damage to the hippocampus, a brain structure critical to memory and learning, according to a Baylor University researcher. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-clues-reverse-cognitive-deficits-humans.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 26 Apr 2012 12:51:42 EST news254663455 Women who have eggs that cannot mature will not become pregnant, and they cannot be helped by in vitro fertilization (IVF). Now researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have identified a molecule called Cdk1 that has an important function for mammalian egg maturation. In the future this could lead to an increased rate of successful IVF. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-discovery-molecule-maturation-mammalian-eggs.html Genetics Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:22:08 EST news250186919 Who knew that male fertility depends on sperm-cell architecture? A University of Illinois study reports that a certain omega-3 fatty acid is necessary to construct the arch that turns a round, immature sperm cell into a pointy-headed super swimmer with an extra long tail. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-scientists-link-dietary-dha-male.html Health Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:31:05 EST news245349044 A biochemical pathway long associated with diarrhea and intestinal function may provide a new therapeutic target for treating ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) other neuropsychiatric disorders, according to a team of scientists from China and the United States reporting Aug. 11 in Science. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-intestinal-protein-role-adhd-neurological.html Attention deficit disorders Thu, 11 Aug 2011 14:00:01 EST news232286782 In humans, inherited mutations in a gene called HPRT1 lead to very specific self-destructive behavior. Boys with Lesch-Nyhan disease experience uncontrollable urges to bite their fingers, slam their arms into doorways and otherwise harm themselves. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-gene-clues-self-injurious-behavior-rare.html Medical research Wed, 27 Jul 2011 17:00:04 EST news231001165 Scripps Research Institute scientists have discovered new elements of the blood clot-formation process. The findings could lead to better drugs for preventing heart attacks and other clot-related conditions. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-blood-clots.html Medical research Mon, 13 Jun 2011 15:15:45 EST news227196866 In a mouse study, scientists at Mayo Clinic Florida have demonstrated the feasibility of a promising new strategy for treating human type 2 diabetes, which affects more than 200 million people worldwide. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-team-alternative-approach-diabetes.html Medical research Thu, 09 Jun 2011 18:10:01 EST news226861252 Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have shown in an animal study that transplantation of adult stem cells enriched with a bone-regenerating hormone can help mend bone fractures that are not healing properly. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-stem-cell-treatment-option-broken.html Medical research Sun, 05 Jun 2011 13:58:24 EST news226501077 Today's anticancer drugs often work wonders against malignancies, but sometimes tumors become resistant to the effects of such drugs, and treatment fails. Medical researchers would like to find ways of counteracting such resistance, but first they must understand why and how it happens. New findings by Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers identify one protein, Abcc10 (also known as Mrp7), as being intimately involved in resistance to certain drugs used to treat breast, ovarian, lung, and other cancers. The results suggest that blunting the activity of Abcc10 might help counter resistance and extend the effectiveness of these anticancer drugs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-abcc10-effective-effectiveness-anticancer-drugs.html Cancer Mon, 16 May 2011 09:58:57 EST news224758722 5 May 2011 - The use of animal models to study human disease is essential to help advance our understanding of disease and to develop new therapeutic treatments. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-social-deficits-autism-schizophrenia-animals.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 05 May 2011 10:11:22 EST news223809041