http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. According to a new study being published early online in Annals of Internal Medicine, the flagship journal of the American College of Physicians, birth cohort screening for hepatitis C is cost effective in the primary care setting. A proactive screening strategy could identify over 800,000 currently unidentified cases, which could save many thousands of lives each year. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-birth-cohort-screening-hepatitis-effective.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 04 Nov 2011 10:40:03 EST news239621282 Researchers have identified a large number of areas in the human genetic code that are involved in regulating the way in which the liver functions, in a new study of over 61,000 people, published today in the journal Nature Genetics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-largest-genetic-liver-function-treatments.html Genetics Sun, 16 Oct 2011 13:00:21 EST news237981802 NYU School of Medicine researchers have discovered that dendritic cells in the liver have a protective role against the toxicity of acetaminophen, the widely used over-the-counter pain reliever and fever reducer for adults and children. The study's findings are published in the September issue of the journal Hepatology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-dendritic-cells-liver-acetaminophen-toxicity.html Medical research Thu, 01 Sep 2011 16:24:11 EST news234113022 Total joint replacement surgeries can help relieve joint pain common in people with conditions like osteoarthritis. But sometimes, the debris from prosthetic joints leads to aseptic loosening, or disintegration of surrounding bones. In 2009, a Wayne State University researcher determined that the anti-inflammatory antibiotic erythromycin can prevent and treat such disintegration. There was one caveat, however: there are side effects associated with long-term usage of erythromycin. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-antibiotic-localized-treatment-bone.html Medical research Tue, 09 Aug 2011 08:33:15 EST news232097583 New research confirms that a variant on the patatin-like phospholipase-3 (PNPLA3) gene increases risk of steatosis and fibrosis progression in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV). The PNPLA3 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs 738409 may represent an important genetic predictor and potential therapeutic target in chronic HCV liver damage. Study details are published in the July issue of Hepatology, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-gene-variant-fatty-liver-fibrosis.html Genetics Tue, 28 Jun 2011 10:45:37 EST news228476717 Johns Hopkins researchers have demonstrated that human liver cells derived from adult cells coaxed into an embryonic state can engraft and begin regenerating liver tissue in mice with chronic liver damage. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-adult-stem-cells-root-livers.html Medical research Wed, 11 May 2011 14:00:07 EST news224338920 People take billions of doses of over-the-counter pain relievers like Tylenol every year, but many do not pay attention to the active ingredients they contain, such as acetaminophen, according to a new Northwestern Medicine study. That lack of knowledge about popular pain relievers plus particular ignorance of acetaminophen's presence in more than 600 over-the-counter and prescription medicines could be a key reason acetaminophen overdose has become the leading cause of acute liver failure in the U.S. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-ingredients-pain-relievers.html Medications Tue, 03 May 2011 04:37:59 EST news223616196 An antioxidant may prevent damage to the liver caused by excessive alcohol, according to new research from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The findings, published online April 21, 2011, in the journal Hepatology, may point the way to treatments to reverse steatosis, or fatty deposits in the liver that can lead to cirrhosis and cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-antioxidant-alcohol-induced-liver-disease.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 02 May 2011 17:10:31 EST news223575004 Extremely premature babies fed human donor milk are less likely to develop the dangerous intestinal condition necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) than babies fed a standard premature infant formula derived from cow's milk, according to research by investigators at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center and elsewhere. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-formula-fed-preemies-higher-dangerous-gi.html Health Sun, 01 May 2011 05:41:59 EST news223447294