http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. (Medical Xpress)—The breakthrough technique that allowed scientists to obtain one-of-a-kind, colorful images of the myriad connections in the brain and nervous system is about to get a significant upgrade. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-brainbow-version-refine-breakthrough-images.html Neuroscience Thu, 16 May 2013 08:09:06 EST news287910539 Suppose you had $1,000 to invest in the stock market. How would you decide to pick one stock over another? Scientists have made great progress in understanding the neuroscience behind how people choose between similar options. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-rats-average-reward.html Neuroscience Fri, 19 Apr 2013 09:04:50 EST news285581065 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 We're all fatheads. That is, our brain cells are packed with fat molecules, more of them than almost any other cell type. Still, if the brain cells' fat content gets too high, they'll be in trouble. In a recent study in mice, researchers at Johns Hopkins pinpointed an enzyme that keeps neurons' fat levels under control, and may be implicated in human neurological diseases. Their findings are published in the May 2013 issue of Molecular and Cellular Biology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-fatheads-neurons-excess-fat.html Medical research Mon, 08 Apr 2013 10:58:41 EST news284637510 Mutations in a protein called SPOP (speckle-type POZ protein) disarm it, allowing another protein called steroid receptor coactivator-3 (SRC-3) to encourage the proliferation and spread of prostate cancer cells, said researchers led by those at Baylor College of Medicine in a report that appears online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-loss-tumor-suppressor-spop-cancer.html Cancer Mon, 01 Apr 2013 15:00:15 EST news284032822 Bone marrow cells that produce brain-derived eurotrophic factor (BDNF), known to affect regulation of food intake, travel to part of the hypothalamus in the brain where they "fine-tune" appetite, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine and Shiga University of Medical Science in Otsu, Shiga, Japan, in a report that appears online in the journal Nature Communications. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-blood.html Medical research Tue, 26 Feb 2013 11:00:11 EST news281091463 Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) may play a wide-ranging role in staving off aging, according to a paper published online ahead of print in the journal Molecular and Cellular Biology. In this review article, a team from China explores the compound's plethora of potential anti-aging pathways. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-hydrogen-sulfide-anti-aging-agent.html Medical research Tue, 29 Jan 2013 12:03:46 EST news278683401 A synthetic "poop" developed at the University of Guelph can cure nasty gastrointestinal infections caused by Clostridium difficile, a toxin-producing bacterium. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-synthetic-poop-difficile-infection.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 08 Jan 2013 19:00:03 EST news276875562 (Medical Xpress)—As anyone familiar with the X-Men knows, mutants can be either very good or very bad—or somewhere in between. The same appears true within cancer cells, which may harbor hundreds of mutations that set them apart from other cells in the body; the scientific challenge has been to figure out which mutations are culprits and which are innocent bystanders. Now, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine have devised a novel approach to sorting them out: they generated random mutations in a gene associated with lymphoma, tested the proteins produced by the genes to see how they performed, and generated a catalog of mutants with cancer-causing potential. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-technique-lymphoma-linked-genetic-variations.html Cancer Thu, 27 Dec 2012 13:14:18 EST news275836453 More than a century after it was first identified, Harvard scientists are shedding new light on a little-understood neural feedback mechanism that may play a key role in how the olfactory system works in the brain. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-nose-year-old-olfactory-feedback-mechanism.html Neuroscience Wed, 19 Dec 2012 13:26:18 EST news275145923 Prostate cancer presents a dilemma for patients and the physicians who treat them. Which cancers are essentially indolent and present no risk and which are life threatening? Which can be watched and which need aggressive treatment? http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-coup-tfii-prostate-cancer.html Cancer Wed, 28 Nov 2012 13:00:28 EST news273327643 Researchers have mapped the precise 3-D atomic structure of a thin protein filament critical for cells in the inner ear and calculated the force necessary to pull it apart. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-bond-proteins-critical.html Medical research Wed, 07 Nov 2012 13:00:01 EST news271507105 It is one of the ironies of sleep research that scientists stay up all night to do it. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-probing-drowsy-mystery-nights-rhythms.html Health Mon, 05 Nov 2012 09:35:59 EST news271330549 Researchers from Inserm and CNRS from the Institute for genetics and molecular and cellular biology (IGBMC) and from the Research Institute at the Strasbourg school of biotechnology (Irebs) have focussed their efforts on PARG, currently thought to be a promising new therapeutic target in the treatment of cancer. Their work has revealed the role of this molecule in regulating gene expression. The results were published on 25 October 2012 in the on-line Molecular Cell review. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-reveal-molecule-function-terms-cancer.html Cancer Tue, 30 Oct 2012 12:10:02 EST news270815672 In the quest to understand how the brain turns sensory input into behavior, Harvard scientists have crossed a major threshold. Using precisely-targeted lasers, researchers have been able to take over an animal's brain, instruct it to turn in any direction they choose, and even to implant false sensory information, fooling the animal into thinking food was nearby. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-precisely-targeted-lasers-neurons-worms-brains.html Neuroscience Mon, 24 Sep 2012 10:08:19 EST news267700090 How can a cancer come back after it's apparently been eradicated? Three new studies from American, Belgian, British and Dutch researchers are bolstering a long-debated idea: that tumors contain their own pool of stem cells that can multiply and keep fueling the cancer, seeding regrowth. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-cancer-debate-tumors-fueled-stem.html Cancer Wed, 01 Aug 2012 14:43:45 EST news263051010 Ask the average person the street how the brain develops, and they'll likely tell you that the brain's wiring is built as newborns first begin to experience the world. With more experience, those connections are strengthened, and new branches are built as they learn and grow. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-mice-brains-wired-birth.html Neuroscience Wed, 06 Jun 2012 13:40:01 EST news258206913 A genetically-modified version of the rabies virus is helping scientists at Harvard to trace neural pathways in the brain, a research effort that could one day lead to treatments for Parkinson's disease and addiction. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-rabies-virus-tracks-dopamine-neurons.html Neuroscience Wed, 06 Jun 2012 12:57:14 EST news258206224 University of Guelph researchers have found the location and effect of abnormal heart proteins that can cause cardiac failure, a discovery that points to potential new ways to treat the most costly health problem in the world. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-discovery-heart-disease-treatments.html Cardiology Tue, 08 May 2012 17:00:01 EST news255710608 The heart relies heavily on oxidation of fatty acids for energy production. However, excess storage of fatty acids as triglycerides, within heart muscle cells, frequently observed in patients with obesity and diabetes, is often associated with cardiac dysfunction. The question remained: was this cause and effect? Now a team of investigators shows that baseline heart function "showed moderate, but significant improvement" in mouse models that overproduce an enzyme that breaks down these triglycerides, says principal investigator Jason Dyck, of the University of Alberta, Edmonton. The research is published in the February Molecular and Cellular Biology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-breakdown-triglycerides-heart-muscle-boosts.html Cardiology Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:59:17 EST news248540347 Excessive levels of certain saturated fatty acids cause mitochondria to fragment, leading to insulin resistance in skeletal muscle, a precursor of type 2 diabetes, according to a paper in the January issue of the journal Molecular and Cellular Biology. This is the first time mitochondrial fragmentation has been implicated in insulin resistance, says corresponding author Yau-Sheng Tsai, of the College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan, Republic of China. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-saturated-fatty-acids-mitochondrial-dysfunction.html Medical research Fri, 20 Jan 2012 08:28:20 EST news246268857 Harvard scientists have developed the fullest picture yet of how neurons in the brain interact to reinforce behaviors ranging from learning to drug use, a finding that might open the door to possible breakthroughs in the treatment of addiction. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-neurons-interact-treatment-addiction.html Neuroscience Wed, 18 Jan 2012 13:00:04 EST news246104934 An international team of scientists led by UC Davis researchers has discovered that DNA repair in cancer cells is not a one-way street as previously believed. Their findings show instead that recombination, an important DNA repair process, has a self-correcting mechanism that allows DNA to make a virtual u-turn and start over. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-cancer-cells-resistant-dna-damage-inducing.html Cancer Sun, 23 Oct 2011 13:31:05 EST news238595455 Low oxygen can silence the BRCA1 tumor suppressor gene and contribute to the progression of cancer, according to a paper in the August 2011 issue of the journal Molecular and Cellular Biology. Silencing this particular gene is one of the steps on the malignant pathway to breast cancer. The research may ultimately lead to ways of reactivating this and other tumor suppressor genes, in order to thwart cancer, says corresponding author Peter Glazer of Yale University, New Haven. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-breast-cancer-tumor-suppressor-gene.html Cancer Tue, 16 Aug 2011 10:10:02 EST news232707067 Lung cancer is strongly correlated with smoking, and most lung cancer patients are current or former smokers. But it is not rare in nonsmokers. Now, a team of researchers from the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, FL, shows that a protein called ID1 is a key player in lung cancer in both smokers and nonsmokers. The research is published in the July issue of the journal Molecular and Cellular Biology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-protein-boosts-lung-cancer-smokers.html Cancer Tue, 19 Jul 2011 09:55:08 EST news230288088 Scientists have shown a molecular chaperone is working like a waste management company to collect and detoxify high levels of toxic amyloid beta peptide found in Alzheimer's disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-natural-alzheimer-weapon-treatment.html Medical research Mon, 20 Jun 2011 10:55:56 EST news227786109 A breakthrough in understanding a biological process that causes many common cancers including lung and breast cancer opens up a whole new realm of possibilities for the development of improved cancer drugs. The results are featured on the front cover of the journal Molecular and Cellular Biology published today. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-octopus-cancer-breakthrough.html Cancer Fri, 13 May 2011 06:25:38 EST news224486698