http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. The bones that support our bodies are made of remarkably complex arrangements of materials—so much so that decoding the precise structure responsible for their great strength and resilience has eluded scientists' best efforts for decades. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-decipher-molecular-basis-bone-remarkable.html Medical research Wed, 17 Apr 2013 09:13:35 EST news285408807 Human cells have an intrinsic capacity to destroy HIV. However, the virus has evolved to contain a gene that blocks this ability. When this gene is removed from the virus, the innate human immune system destroys HIV by mutating it to the point where it can no longer survive. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-innate-immune-hiv-viral-gene.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:00:03 EST news283707538 Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have discovered that a certain type of DNA damage long thought to be particularly detrimental to brain cells can actually be part of a regular, non-harmful process. The team further found that disruptions to this process occur in mouse models of Alzheimer's disease—and identified two therapeutic strategies that reduce these disruptions. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-scientists-dna-brain.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Sun, 24 Mar 2013 14:10:01 EST news283335265 Two types of environmental conditions—cold-dry and humid-rainy—are associated with seasonal influenza epidemics, according to an epidemiological study led by researchers at the National Institutes of Health's Fogarty International Center. The paper, published in PLOS Pathogens, presents a simple climate-based model that maps influenza activity globally and accounts for the diverse range of seasonal patterns observed across temperate, subtropical and tropical regions. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-nih-role-climate-influenza-transmission.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 07 Mar 2013 17:00:02 EST news281894759 Natural chemicals found in green tea and red wine may disrupt a key step of the Alzheimer's disease pathway, according to new research from the University of Leeds. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-green-tea-red-wine-alzheimer.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Tue, 05 Feb 2013 18:00:01 EST news279305737 Is athleticism linked to brain size? To find out, researchers at the University of California, Riverside performed laboratory experiments on house mice and found that mice that have been bred for dozens of generations to be more exercise-loving have larger midbrains than those that have not been selectively bred this way. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-athleticism-linked-brain-size-mice.html Medical research Thu, 17 Jan 2013 13:13:40 EST news277650812 Every year, over 300,000 heart valve replacement operations are performed worldwide. Diseased valves are often replaced with mechanical heart valves (MHVs), which cannot yet be designed to suit each patient's specific needs. Complications such as blood clots can occur, which can require patients to take blood-thinning medication. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-simulations-blood-mechanical-heart-valves.html Cardiology Wed, 19 Dec 2012 09:34:54 EST news275132085 Doctors have known for many years that patients with fragile X syndrome, the most common form of inherited intellectual disability, are often also diagnosed with autism. But little has been known about how the two diagnoses are related. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-fragile-protein-linked-genes-involved.html Genetics Wed, 12 Dec 2012 13:00:07 EST news274534172 In laboratory experiments, scientists have eliminated metastasis, the spread of cancer from the original tumor to other parts of the body, in melanoma by inhibiting a protein known as melanoma differentiation associated gene-9 (mda-9)/syntenin. More than 1 million cases of skin cancer are diagnosed each year in the U.S., and melanoma is the deadliest form. With further research, the approach used by the scientists could lead to targeted therapies that stop metastasis in melanoma and potentially a broad range of additional cancers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-breakthrough-halt-melanoma-metastasis.html Cancer Wed, 14 Nov 2012 15:07:31 EST news272128043 (Medical Xpress)—A new type of molecular switch can boost common chemotherapy drugs to destroy bowel cancer cells, according to research presented today (Monday) at the NCRI Cancer Conference in Liverpool. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-molecular-volume-bowel-cancer-treatment.html Cancer Mon, 05 Nov 2012 08:30:06 EST news271326585 A research report appearing in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology helps explain how specific immune cells, called macrophages, accumulate triglycerides to support their function. Because a characteristic finding in atherosclerosis is the accumulation of fat in macrophages in the arterial wall, understanding how macrophages accumulate triglycerides may lead to new approaches toward slowing or stopping the development of atherosclerosis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-macrophage-accumulation-triglycerides-yields-insights.html Medical research Mon, 01 Oct 2012 11:42:52 EST news268310550 A common bacteria ever-present on the human skin and previously considered harmless, may, in fact, be the culprit behind chronic sinusitis, a painful, recurring swelling of the sinuses that strikes more than one in ten Americans each year, according to a study by scientists at the University of California, San Francisco. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-links-sinusitis-microbial-diversity-approach.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 12 Sep 2012 14:00:01 EST news266675084 Parents get physical with their misbehaving children in public much more than they show in laboratory experiments and acknowledge in surveys, according to one of the first real-world studies of caregiver discipline. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-parents-physical-unruly-kids.html Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 03 Aug 2012 11:13:31 EST news263211204 Malaria parasites evolving in vaccinated laboratory mice become more virulent, according to research at Penn State University. The mice were injected with a critical component of several candidate human malaria vaccines that now are being evaluated in clinical trials. "Our research shows immunization with this particular type of malaria vaccine can create ecological conditions that favor the evolution of parasites that cause more severe disease in unvaccinated mice," said Andrew Read, Alumni Professor of Biological Sciences at Penn State. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-vaccine-vigilance-evolution-more-virulent-malaria.html Medical research Tue, 31 Jul 2012 17:00:01 EST news262968492 Thanks to the "flightless" molecule, the spread of cancer from one tissue to another may one day be grounded. In a new report published in the August 2012 print issue of The FASEB Journal, laboratory experiments show that "flightless" (named after its effects on fruit flies) increases the "stickiness" that causes cells, including cancer cells, to attach to underlying tissue, which in turn, slows their movement throughout the body. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-flightless-molecule-cancer-tissue.html Cancer Tue, 31 Jul 2012 10:35:51 EST news262949738 A new class of agents known as c-Src inhibitors is being tested in a number of different ways to treat breast cancer, but researchers at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center caution that they should not be used in combination with estrogen to treat endocrine resistant breast cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-specific-agents-worse-endocrine-resistant.html Cancer Mon, 02 Apr 2012 15:50:01 EST news252586174 Scientists have identified a new compound that rapidly kills hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells, the most common form of liver cancer and fifth most common cancer worldwide, while sparing healthy tissue. The compound, Factor Qunolinone Inhibitor 1 (FQI1), works by inhibiting an oncogene originally discovered by a team of researchers led by Devanand Sarkar, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., Harrison Scholar at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Massey Cancer Center, Blick Scholar and assistant professor in the Department of Human and Molecular Genetics and member of the VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine at the VCU School of Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-compound-rapidly-liver-cancer.html Cancer Wed, 14 Mar 2012 09:47:14 EST news250937223 Pain? Just turn it off! It may sound like science fiction, but researchers based in Munich, Berkeley and Bordeaux have now succeeded in inhibiting pain-sensitive neurons on demand, in the laboratory. The crucial element in their strategy is a chemical sensor that acts as a light-sensitive switch. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-pain-chemists-light-controlled-neural-inhibitor.html Medical research Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:10:02 EST news249125900 In research at SRI International, scientists evaluating new drug targets against tuberculosis (TB) recently validated the preclinical effectiveness of a target that could rapidly eliminate infections and potentially shorten treatment time. The new drug target is a protein called DNA gyrase B, found in bacteria that cause TB infections. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-validate-preclinical-effectiveness-tb-drug.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 29 Nov 2011 15:50:20 EST news241804191 Chinese researchers achieved a major breakthrough in the race to battle influenza by using NVIDIA Tesla GPUs to create the world's first computer simulation of a whole H1N1 influenza virus at the atomic level. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-chinese-gpu-supercomputer-world-simulation.html Medical research Tue, 15 Nov 2011 16:57:52 EST news240598662 Worrying levels of BPA, an industrial chemical with suspected links to cancer, lurk inside canned soups and pasta targeted at American children, the Breast Cancer Fund said Wednesday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-toxic-bpa-children-soup-cans.html Health Wed, 21 Sep 2011 07:55:56 EST news235810538 Often, the goal of science is to show that things are not what they seem to be. But now, in an article which will be published in an upcoming issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, a veteran cognitive psychologist exhorts his colleagues in memory research to consult the truth of their own experience. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-eggs-butter-memory.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 23 May 2011 17:18:11 EST news225389849