http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Research conducted by a pair of physicians at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston Medical Center (BMC) has led to the development of a test that can help diagnose membranous nephropathy in its early stages. The test, which is currently only offered in the research setting and is awaiting commercial development, could have significant implications in the diagnosis and treatment of the disease. Currently, the only way to diagnose the disease is through a biopsy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-blood-membranous-nephropathy.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 01 Dec 2011 10:20:02 EST news241952697 Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have identified a cellular protein that plays a central role in the formation of new blood vessels. The molecule is the protein Shc (pronounced SHIK), and new blood vessel formation, or angiogenesis, is seriously impaired without it. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-cell-molecule-central-player-formation.html Medical research Mon, 28 Nov 2011 13:53:25 EST news241710764 (Medical Xpress) -- Scientists at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research (FMI) of the Novartis Research Foundation have elucidated the mechanisms underlying the repair of UV-induced damage in DNA, which frequently causes skin cancer. The protein structures additionally determined by these researchers will improve our understanding of how the body protects itself against skin cancer. These studies lay the foundations for the development of a new class of anti cancer agents. The findings were published today in Cell. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-internal-skin-cancer-uv.html Cancer Thu, 24 Nov 2011 07:55:16 EST news241343677 A blood-based gene expression test was found to be more effective for ruling out obstructive coronary artery disease in stable symptomatic patients than myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI), a common test that uses a radioactive agent to evaluate the blood flow and function of the heart. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-blood-based-genomic-imaging-obstructive-coronary.html Cardiology Tue, 15 Nov 2011 15:41:20 EST news240594041 A surprising new University of Colorado Boulder study shows that huge amounts of fatty acids circulating in the bloodstreams of feeding pythons promote healthy heart growth, results that may have implications for treating human heart disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-python-circulating-fatty-acids-implications.html Medical research Thu, 27 Oct 2011 14:00:05 EST news238940339 A novel mechanism has been identified in which Chlamydia trachomatis tricks host cells into taking up the bacteria. Researchers from University of California San Francisco, led by Joanne Engel, report their findings in the Open Access journal PLoS Pathogens on October 6th. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-chlamydia-trojan-horse-tactics-infect.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:00:08 EST news237128697 Ever wondered why you wake up in the morning -- even when the alarm clock isn't making jarring noises? Wonder no more. Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have identified a new component of the biological clock, a gene responsible for starting the clock from its restful state every morning. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-alarm-clock-gene-wake-up-function.html Genetics Thu, 29 Sep 2011 16:47:18 EST news236533629 Dietary salt intake and obesity are two important risk factors in the development of high blood pressure. Each packs its own punch, but when combined, they deliver more damage to the heart and kidneys than the sum of their individual contributions. Discovering the molecular mechanisms behind this lethal synergy has presented a challenge to scientists, but research led by Toshiro Fujita, MD, professor and chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine and chief of the Department of Nephrology and Endocrinology at the University of Tokyo, suggests that high dietary salt intake and obesity work together to trigger an abnormal activation of a cellular protein called Rac1. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-abnormal-protein-deadly-link-high.html Medical research Mon, 19 Sep 2011 11:40:01 EST news235650317 All stem cells -- regardless of their source -- share the remarkable capability to replenish themselves by undergoing self-renewal. Yet, so far, efforts to grow and expand scarce hematopoietic (or blood-forming) stem cells in culture for therapeutic applications have been met with limited success. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-scientists-successfully-bone-marrow-derived-stem.html Genetics Thu, 15 Sep 2011 03:11:52 EST news235275062 The stomach bacterium Helicobacter pylori is one of the biggest risk factors for the development of gastric cancer, the third most common cause of cancer-related deaths in the world. Molecular biologists from the University of Zurich have now identified a mechanism of Helicobacter pylori that damages the DNA of cells in the gastric mucosa and sets them up for malignant transformation. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-stomach-bacterium-human-dna.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 06 Sep 2011 13:27:52 EST news234534453 The first report of the presence of alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) in cancers arising from the bladder, cervix, endometrium, esophagus, gallbladder, liver, and lung was published today in The American Journal of Pathology. The presence of ALT in carcinomas can be used as a diagnostic marker and has implications for the development of anti-cancer drug therapies. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-role-telomeres-tumor-growth.html Cancer Thu, 01 Sep 2011 04:18:37 EST news234069499 Obesity is growing at alarming rates worldwide, and the biggest culprit is overeating. In a study of brain circuits that control hunger and satiety, Yale School of Medicine researchers have found that molecular mechanisms controlling free radicals—molecules tied to aging and tissue damage—are at the heart of increased appetite in diet-induced obesity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-free-radicals-crucial-suppressing-appetite.html Medical research Sun, 28 Aug 2011 13:00:55 EST news233754272 New research may help to explain why the location of postnatal neural stem cells in the brain determines the type of new neurons that are generated. The research, published by Cell Press in the July 28 issue of the journal Neuron, demonstrates that a signaling pathway which plays a key role in development also actively regulates the fate of neural stem cells in the adult brain. Manipulation of this signaling pathway redirected the fate of adult stem cells, a finding that may impact the design of future strategies for creating stem cell therapies. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-site-affects-fate-postnatal-neural.html Medical research Wed, 27 Jul 2011 13:24:34 EST news230991784 BK channels (large-conductance, Ca2+-dependent K+ channels) are essential for the regulation of important biological processes such as smooth muscle tone and neuronal excitability. New research shows that BK channel activation involves structural rearrangements formerly not understood. The study appears in the August 2011 issue of the Journal of General Physiology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-clues-dynamics-bk-channels.html Medical research Thu, 14 Jul 2011 11:00:07 EST news229859134 Lung adenocarcinomas in people who have never smoked show greater genome instability than those in smokers, supporting the theory that lung cancer in never smokers arises through different pathways, according to research presented at the 14th World Conference on Lung Cancer in Amsterdam, hosted by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-lung-tumors-never-smokers-greater-genomic.html Cancer Tue, 05 Jul 2011 04:50:46 EST news229060229 While alcohol has a wide range of pharmacological effects on the body, the brain is a primary target. However, the molecular mechanisms by which alcohol alters neuronal activity in the brain are poorly understood. Participants in a symposium at the June 2010 annual meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism in San Antonio, Texas addressed recent findings concerning the interactions of alcohol with prototype brain proteins thought to underlie alcohol actions in the brain. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-alcohol-effects-brain.html Medical research Wed, 15 Jun 2011 17:40:58 EST news227378446 A team led by Joan Brugge, the Louise Foote Pfeiffer Professor of Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School, recently shed light on how ovarian cancer spreads. In a paper published in the July edition of the journal Cancer Discovery, the newest journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, Brugge and colleagues found that ovarian cancer cells act like bullies, using brute force to plow their way through tissue and colonize additional organs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-scientists-image-stages-ovarian-cancer.html Cancer Tue, 14 Jun 2011 13:38:29 EST news227277494 National Institutes of Health researchers have identified a new pathway that sets the clock for programmed aging in normal cells. The study provides insights about the interaction between a toxic protein called progerin and telomeres, which cap the ends of chromosomes like aglets, the plastic tips that bind the ends of shoelaces. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-nih-clues-aging.html Medical research Mon, 13 Jun 2011 12:57:35 EST news227188620 Fat-rich food makes you fat. Behind this simple equation lie complex signalling pathways, through which the neurotransmitters in the brain control the body's energy balance. Scientists at the Cologne-based Max Planck Institute for Neurological Research and the Cluster of Excellence in Cellular Stress Responses in Ageing-associated Diseases (CECAD) at the University of Cologne have clarified an important step in this complex control circuit. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-insulin-action-brain-obesity.html Neuroscience Mon, 06 Jun 2011 12:05:05 EST news226580679 A human genetic variant associated with an almost 30 percent reduced risk of developing severe malaria has been identified. Scientists from the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM), Hamburg, and Kumasi University, Ghana, reveal that a variant at the FAS locus can prevent an excessive and potentially hazardous immune response in infected children. The study appears in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics on May 19. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-malaria-genetic-predisposition-cell-suicide.html Genetics Thu, 19 May 2011 17:33:28 EST news225045169 Over the past decades, researchers seeking to understand molecular mechanisms underlying various diseases, notably cancer, have taken advantage of DNA microarrays to interrogate tissues specimen of patients for the expression status of thousands of genes at once. Jointly, such gene expression status of each gene in the genome, measured as the level of their transcripts, constitutes the gene expression profile. Since each of the tens of thousands of genes can be switched on or off, a gene expression profile contains complex information, akin to a huge bar code with tens of thousands of digits for every sample. While microarray data was initially used by gene hunters to identify novel genes, such as those which are only active in samples of particular cancer tissues, researchers have later learned to employ sophisticated computational tools to classify these bar codes into subgroups and to find subgroup specific signatures. In cancer research such statistical analysis of gene expression patterns can serve to identify new cancer subtypes and help classify patients more accurately. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-medusa-structure-gene-regulatory-network-dominance.html Genetics Fri, 06 May 2011 16:48:47 EST news223919291 A new study identifies the mutation that underlies a rare, inherited accelerated-aging disease and provides key insight into normal human aging. The research, published by Cell Press online May 5 in the American Journal of Human Genetics, highlights the importance of a cellular structure called the "nuclear envelope" in the process of aging. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-mutation-insight-molecular-mechanisms-aging.html Genetics Thu, 05 May 2011 13:06:44 EST news223819543 Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is a disabling condition that affects almost 50% of women over the age of 50. It occurs when the muscles and ligaments supporting a woman's pelvic organs weaken such that the pelvic organs slip out of place, often protruding into the vagina. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-pelvic-protein-fibulin-.html Medical research Mon, 25 Apr 2011 12:29:16 EST news222953342 A gene called PVT1 may help reduce the kidneys ability to filter blood, leading to kidney disease, kidney failure and death, according to a study published today by researchers at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-contribute-diabetic-kidney-disease.html Genetics Sat, 23 Apr 2011 04:50:56 EST news222753040