http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. A collaborative study by scientists at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) and the Montreal Neurological Institute of McGill University, and published March 20 in the online, open access journal PLoS Biology, has discovered that mutations in the same gene that encodes part of the vital machinery of the mitochondrion can cause neurodegenerative disorders in both fruit flies and humans. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-collaboration-rapidly-gene-discovery-human.html Genetics Tue, 20 Mar 2012 17:00:09 EST news251481050 (Medical Xpress) -- We get wrinkles. Our hair turns gray, or we lose it altogether. Our job prospects diminish and our chances of incurring disease increase. Researchers across the globe focus their efforts on increasing our life span because so many of us believe getting old stinks. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-aging-older-people-happier.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 16 Feb 2012 07:50:03 EST news248599475 While environment and family history are factors in healthy aging, genetic variants play a critical and complex role in conferring exceptional longevity, according to researchers from the Boston University Schools of Public Health and Medicine, Boston Medical Center, IRCCS Multimedica in Milan, Italy, and Yale University. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-genetic-signatures-exceptional-longevity-re-published.html Genetics Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:24:46 EST news246129879 (Medical Xpress) -- Restricting calorie intake extends life span in many species, and a new study at the School of Medicine helps illuminate how: Low-nutrient conditions activate an enzyme that helps cells complete their normal division process. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-nutrient-affect-enzyme-aging.html Medical research Mon, 12 Dec 2011 07:35:05 EST news242897696 (AP) -- More and more people are donating one of their kidneys to a loved one, a friend, even a stranger, and now a move is on to make sure those donors really fare as well as they're promised. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-kidney-donors-fare.html Other Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:02:16 EST news241718526 British patients will soon take part in a trial of a Cuban-designed therapeutic lung cancer vaccine, the first of its kind, a company executive announced Thursday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-britons-cuban-lung-cancer-vaccine.html Cancer Fri, 25 Nov 2011 05:16:32 EST news241420577 An estimated 300,000 people in North America are afflicted with dystonia, a disorder characterized by a progressive loss of motor control. Patients with generalized dystonia grapple with involuntary muscle spasms that lead to uncontrolled twisting and turning in awkward, sometimes painful postures. Although cognition, intelligence and life span are often normal, the disorder can have a devastating impact on quality of life, as its victims frequently struggle to perform simple activities of daily living. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-mystery-dystonia-advanced-imaging.html Neuroscience Mon, 14 Nov 2011 09:27:11 EST news240485223 A University of Michigan Health System laboratory study reveals a key trigger for producing normal red blood cells that could lead to a new treatment for those with sickle cell disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-reveal-potential-treatment-sickle-cell.html Medical research Wed, 02 Nov 2011 04:55:50 EST news239428526 Huntington disease is a devastating neurogenerative disorder that causes a progressive loss of functional capacity and reduced life span. It is an inherited condition caused by a mutant HTT gene. Although this has been known for many years, the functions of the normal Htt protein and the mechanisms by which the mutant protein generated from the mutant HTT gene causes disease are not well understood. A team of researchers led by Frédéric Saudou, at the Institut Curie, France, has now uncovered a new function for normal Htt protein and determined that this function is disrupted in a mouse model of Huntington disease and in patients with the disorder. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-insight-cellular-defects-huntington-disease.html Medical research Mon, 10 Oct 2011 12:00:01 EST news237465719 The consequences of psychological stress, resulting from racial discrimination, may contribute to racial health disparities in conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other age-associated diseases. This is according to analyses of data from the epidemiologic study Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity across the Life Span (HANDLS)1, conducted by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), National Institutes of Health. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-link-racial-discrimination-stress.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 14 Sep 2011 13:02:41 EST news235224112 People who volunteer may live longer than those who don't, as long as their reasons for volunteering are to help others rather than themselves, suggests new research published by the American Psychological Association. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-volunteering-health.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 06 Sep 2011 14:47:24 EST news234539226 New research from the Jefferson Heart Institute shows that patients in the United States who receive cardiac electrophysiological devices (CIEDs), including permanent pacemakers and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) are now at greater risk of contracting an infection over the life span of the device. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-infection-patients-cardiac-electrophysiological-devices.html Cardiology Mon, 22 Aug 2011 16:25:47 EST news233249132 The neurotransmitter dopamine is best known for its roles in the brain – in signaling pathways that control movement, motivation, reward, learning and memory. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-kidney-dopamine-blood-pressure-life.html Medical research Tue, 19 Jul 2011 15:21:39 EST news230307685 Eating a low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet may reduce the risk of cancer and slow the growth of tumors already present, according to a study published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-low-carbohydrate-high-protein-diets-tumor-growth.html Cancer Tue, 14 Jun 2011 10:21:45 EST news227265690 Since the 1930s scientists have proposed food restriction as a way to extend life in mice. Though feeding a reduced-calorie diet has indeed lengthened the life spans of mice, rats and many other species, new studies with dozens of different mouse strains indicate that food restriction does not work in all cases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-mouse-fat-losslongevity-link.html Medical research Tue, 03 May 2011 15:56:32 EST news223656978