http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. (Medical Xpress)—Cornell researchers have uncovered the basic cell biology that helps explain heart defects found in diseases known as laminopathies, a group of some 15 genetic disorders that include forms of muscular dystrophy and between 5 percent and 10 percent of all cases of inherited heart disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-laminopathies-key-components-disease-mechanism.html Medical research Tue, 07 May 2013 07:26:31 EST news287130376 Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) significantly improves muscle function – down to the muscle fibre level – in postmenopausal women, a new study published today in The Journal of Physiology shows. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-hormone-therapy-muscle-function.html Medical research Tue, 30 Apr 2013 19:00:06 EST news286563503 The protein complex mTORC1 promotes muscle growth. However, should this complex remain constantly active, it impairs the ability of the cells to self-clean, causing myopathy. Scientists working with Markus Rüegg, Professor at the Biozentrum, University of Basel, describe the exact mechanism involved in the current issue of the scientific journal Cell Metabolism. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-uncleaned-cells-weak-muscles.html Medical research Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:14:46 EST news285930880 Vitamin D is vital for making our muscles work efficiently and boosting energy levels, new research from Newcastle University has shown. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-vitamin-d-proven-boost-energyfrom.html Medical research Fri, 05 Apr 2013 11:20:09 EST news284379594 (Medical Xpress)—A daily vitamin C intake equivalent to eating two kiwifruit a day is required to ensure our muscles maintain optimal levels, researchers from the University of Otago, Christchurch have found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-optimising-vitamin.html Health Mon, 04 Mar 2013 08:30:30 EST news281608211 University of Delaware researcher Jim Richards has successfully used motion analysis technology to allow elite figure skaters to explore "what-if" scenarios about their jumping technique. Now he hopes that he and his research team can use a similar approach to guide clinicians in treating children with a birth injury called brachial plexus birth palsy (BPBP). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-collaboration-aims-clinically-tool-birth.html Other Thu, 28 Feb 2013 09:30:01 EST news281263104 If co-workers and family members are coming down with infections this winter, you may be tempted to turn to an anti-bacterial soap for protection. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-anti-microbial-soaps-good.html Health Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:40:01 EST news279905601 A collaborative research team including a Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) pediatric neuropathologist successfully mitigated some of the effects of a muscular disease by using a new targeted enzyme replacement therapy strategy from 4s3 Bioscience. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-enzyme-therapy-results-x-linked-myotubular.html Genetics Tue, 22 Jan 2013 11:38:17 EST news278077010 A study published this month by researchers at the University of Toronto and Toronto's Princess Margaret Hospital has shown that cells derived from the umbilical cord, "Human Umbilical Cord PeriVascular Cells" (HUCPVCs), are more effective in restoring heart function after an acute myocardial infarction (in common parlance, a heart attack) in a pre-clinical model than a similar cell population derived from bone marrow. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-umbilical-cord-cells-outperform-bone.html Medical research Thu, 15 Nov 2012 12:29:11 EST news272204941 Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute researchers have found that an experimental compound may help stem the debilitating effects of muscular dystrophy by restoring normal blood flow to muscles affected by the genetic disorder. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-preclinical-muscular-dystrophy.html Medical research Thu, 08 Nov 2012 10:06:22 EST news271591571 Researchers of motor neuron diseases have long had a hunch that two fatal diseases, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), might somehow be linked. A new study confirms that this link exists. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-pathway-links-lou-gehrig-disease.html Medical research Thu, 27 Sep 2012 12:00:04 EST news267965154 A new Johns Hopkins study has unraveled the changes in a key cardiac protein that can lead to heart muscle malfunction and precipitate heart failure. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-scientists-out-of-tune-protein-muscle-demise.html Cardiology Wed, 12 Sep 2012 15:51:47 EST news266683895 Presented last week at the British Science Festival, a new study by University of Aberdeen scientists will examine if the consumption of fish oil combined with weight training exercises could help protect the elderly against muscle deterioration. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-fish-oil-key-sarcopenia-elderly.html Health Mon, 10 Sep 2012 07:50:01 EST news266481562 University of Michigan researchers have discovered a new cause of congenital myopathy: a mutation in a previously uncharacterized gene, according to research published this month in the American Journal of Human Genetics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-gene-mutation-congenital-myopathy.html Genetics Wed, 25 Jul 2012 16:52:27 EST news262453933 A detailed study of heart muscle function in mice has uncovered evidence to explain why exercise is beneficial for heart function in type 2 diabetes. The research team, led by scientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, found that greater amounts of fatty acids used by the heart during stressful conditions like exercise can counteract the detrimental effects of excess glucose and improve the diabetic heart's pumping ability in several ways. The findings also shed light on the complex chain of events that lead to diabetic cardiomyopathy, a form of heart failure that is a life-threatening complication of type 2 diabetes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-heart-function-diabetics.html Diabetes Tue, 17 Jul 2012 10:50:57 EST news261741050 The challenge of treating patients with genetic disorders in which a single mutated gene is simply too large to be replaced using traditional gene therapy techniques may soon be a thing of the past. A Nationwide Children's Hospital study describes a new gene therapy approach capable of delivering full-length versions of large genes and improving skeletal muscle function. The strategy may hold new hope for treating dysferlinopathies and other muscular dystrophies. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-gene-strategy-limb-girdle-muscular.html Genetics Mon, 09 Jul 2012 03:59:42 EST news261025052 An Indiana University study that looked at performance differences between male and female childhood athletes found little difference in certain age groups, even though boys and girls rarely compete against each other in the U.S. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-girls-athletically-boys.html Health Thu, 31 May 2012 00:20:01 EST news257611640 An international team led by the University of Melbourne Australia, has found that increasing a specific protein in muscles could help treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a severe and progressive muscle wasting disease that affects young boys. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-treatment-duchenne-muscular-dystrophy.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 04 Apr 2012 13:00:15 EST news252759461 Exercise which can achieve both cardiovascular function and muscle strength "would be a preferred mode of training for older persons", say investigators http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-older-subjects-regularly-tai-chi.html Cardiology Tue, 03 Apr 2012 20:00:01 EST news252689717 Permanent disconnection between nerves and muscles may be the reason behind progressive loss of muscle mass and function in elderly people, Perth-based researchers have found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-clues-muscle-elderly-people.html Medical research Fri, 24 Feb 2012 07:00:01 EST news249288240 The American Academy of Neurology is issuing an updated guideline that recommends monitoring the spinal cord during spinal surgery and certain chest surgeries to help prevent paralysis, or loss of muscle function, related to the surgeries. The guideline, which was developed with the American Clinical Neurophysiology Society, is published in the February 21, 2012, print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology and also in the Journal of Clinical Neurophysiology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-guideline-spinal-cord-surgery-paralysis.html Neuroscience Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:00:01 EST news248957156 A protein that has shown early promise in preventing the loss of muscle function in mouse models of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, has been found in a new study to be a key player in the process of joining nerves to muscles. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-nerve-muscle-biglycan.html Neuroscience Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:00:01 EST news248438264 "Despite the increasing number of people affected, the prognosis for patients with heart failure has steadily improved," said Gregg C. Fonarow, M.D, chairman of American Heart Association Hospital Accreditation Science Committee and professor of cardiovascular medicine of the University of California, Los Angeles. "This is testament in part to better therapies and systems for treating this condition. There has been so much research and advancement in this area that what used to be a very dismal diagnosis is no longer the norm. Used appropriately, available medical and device therapies are even more effective than originally believed and best practices of care have now been shown to save lives." http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-heart-failure-patients.html Cardiology Mon, 13 Feb 2012 14:57:08 EST news248367423 Heart disease and stroke are emerging complications of treating prostate cancer with drugs to suppress testosterone production, yet standard management of the disease is ignoring this risk, warn specialists in a viewpoint published online in Heart. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-heart-health-prostate-cancer-treatment.html Cardiology Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:30:02 EST news242498007 University of Maryland School of Medicine researchers have uncovered a previously unknown molecular pathway that is critical to understanding cardiac arrhythmia and other heart muscle problems. Understanding the basic science of heart and muscle function could open the door to new treatments. The study, published recently in the journal Cell, examined the electrical impulses that coordinate contraction in heart and skeletal muscles, controlling heart rate, for example. Unraveling how the body regulates these impulses is key to understanding serious health conditions such as paralysis, muscle relaxation and heart arrhythmia. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-pathway-critical-heart-arrhythmia.html Medical research Wed, 26 Oct 2011 14:40:01 EST news238856780 A team of researchers led by Clifford Woolf and Chi Ma, at Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School, Boston, has identified a way to accelerate the regeneration of injured peripheral nerves in mice such that muscle function is restored. In an accompanying commentary, Ahmet Höke, at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, discusses the importance of this work to the clinical problem. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-nerve-regeneration-faster.html Medical research Mon, 03 Oct 2011 12:10:04 EST news236861976 Treatment with the calcium-sensitizing drug levosimendan may be effective in improving muscle function in patients with respiratory muscle weakness, which often accompanies chronic diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and congestive heart failure, according to researchers in the Netherlands, who studied the effects of the drug on healthy volunteers. The drug, which is normally prescribed in patients with acute heart failure,increases the sensitivity of muscle tissue to calcium, improving the muscle'sability to contract. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-heart-drug-treatment-patients-respiratory.html Medications Fri, 23 Sep 2011 04:14:24 EST news235970044 A new procedure is now available for the treatment of chronic bowel incontinence, a disorder impacting the lives of more than 18 million Americans. The treatment, called InterStim Therapy is a minimally invasive procedure which uses electrical impulses to stimulate the sacral nerve and improve muscle function. It is one of the only effective long-term treatments for bowel incontinence available to patients and Northwestern Memorial Hospital is one of the first medical centers in the country to offer the procedure. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-therapy-millions-people-bowel-incontinence.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 18 Jul 2011 14:41:58 EST news230218877 Vitamin D deficiency has been known to cause an assortment of health problems, a recent study being presented at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's (AOSSM) Annual Meeting in San Diego today, suggests that lack of the vitamin might also increase the chance of muscle injuries in athletes, specifically NFL football players. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-vitamin-d-nfl-football-players.html Health Sun, 10 Jul 2011 11:18:04 EST news229515464 (Medical Xpress) -- Obesity appears to impair normal muscle function in rats, an observation that could have significant implications for humans, according to Penn State researchers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-obesity-wimpy-rats.html Medical research Mon, 09 May 2011 11:56:15 EST news224160948