http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Research brings together evidence about the potential for misoprostol to prevent bleeding after home births in low resource countries. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-post-birth.html Obstetrics & gynaecology Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:11:48 EST news275044301 (Medical Xpress)—Following the birth of a child, new mothers may have an altered perception of stresses around them, showing less interest in threats unrelated to the baby. This change to the neuroendocrine circuitry could help the mothers adapt to the additional stress often accompanying newborns, say researchers from Indiana University's Kinsey Institute and the University of Zurich. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-postpartum-women-stressed-threats-unrelated.html Neuroscience Tue, 11 Dec 2012 03:44:19 EST news274419845 A large body of research has focused on the ability of oxytocin to facilitate social bonding in both marital and parenting relationships in human females. A new laboratory study, led by Dr. Ruth Feldman from Bar-Ilan University in Israel and published in the current issue of Biological Psychiatry, has found that oxytocin administration to fathers increases their parental engagement, with parallel effects observed in their infants. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-oxytocin-engaged-fathers-responsive-infants.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 10 Dec 2012 09:10:22 EST news274353005 Men in committed relationships choose to keep a greater distance between themselves and an unknown woman they find attractive when given the hormone oxytocin, according to new research in the November 14 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. The findings suggest oxytocin may help promote fidelity within monogamous relationships. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-hormone-affects-distance-men-unknown.html Neuroscience Tue, 13 Nov 2012 17:00:13 EST news272046441 New research led by researchers at North Carolina State University shows that exposure to the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) early in life results in high levels of anxiety by causing significant gene expression changes in a specific region of the brain called the amygdala. The researchers also found that a soy-rich diet can mitigate these effects. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-bpa-affects-gene-anxiety-soy.html Medical research Fri, 07 Sep 2012 13:23:29 EST news266242989 (Medical Xpress) -- In other contexts, oxytocin is already well-known as the “bliss hormone”. The hormone is secreted upon stimulation by touch and is known to result in a feeling of calm and physical relaxation. It is also used to induce labour in childbirth and as an aid for women experiencing difficulties in breastfeeding. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-character-oxytocin-nasal.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 30 Jul 2012 13:26:54 EST news262873594 A reproductive hormone helps regulate food intake and energy metabolism without causing adverse effects, a new animal study finds. The results will be presented Monday at The Endocrine Society's 94th Annual Meeting in Houston. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-hormone-oxytocin-potential-weight-loss-treatment.html Overweight and Obesity Mon, 25 Jun 2012 15:06:34 EST news259855583 The hormone oxytocin - often referred to as the "trust" hormone or "love hormone" for its role in stimulating emotional responses - plays an important role in Williams syndrome (WS), according to a study published June 12, 2012, in PLoS One. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-hormone-oxytocin-heart-rare-genetic.html Neuroscience Fri, 22 Jun 2012 15:05:41 EST news259596331 The velvety voice of Elvis Presley still makes hearts flutter—and in a new study with people who have the rare genetic disorder Williams syndrome, one of the King's classics is among a group of songs that helped to cast light on part of the essence of being human: the mystery of emotion and human interaction. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-hormones-elvis-human-emotion-people.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 13 Jun 2012 09:19:51 EST news258797954 (Medical Xpress) -- Preliminary results from an ongoing, large-scale study by Yale School of Medicine researchers shows that oxytocin — a naturally occurring substance produced in the brain and throughout the body— increased brain function in regions that are known to process social information in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-oxytocin-brain-function-children-autism.html Autism spectrum disorders Mon, 21 May 2012 09:13:11 EST news256810383 (HealthDay) -- Children with autism given a squirt of a nasal spray containing the hormone oxytocin showed more activity in brain regions known to be involved with processing social information, a small study found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-nasal-hormone-autism.html Autism spectrum disorders Wed, 16 May 2012 16:10:02 EST news256399301 (Medical Xpress) -- It turns out that the milk of human kindness is evoked by something besides mom's good example. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-neurogenics-niceness-peoples-relative-reside.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 10 Apr 2012 06:52:51 EST news253259558 Researchers have designed a new version of a labor-tracking tool for pregnant women that they predict could reduce the use of hormonal intervention during labor and lower the number of cesarean sections performed on low-risk, first-time mothers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-labor-tracking-tool-c-sections-first-time-moms.html Obstetrics & gynaecology Wed, 14 Mar 2012 13:01:53 EST news250948815 Neuroscience might seem to have little to do with economics, but over the last decade researchers have begun combining these disparate fields, mining the latest advances in brain imaging and genetics to get a better understanding of the biological basis for human behavior. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-brain-science-economics.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 06 Mar 2012 11:33:08 EST news250255977 Post-partum haemorrhage (PPH; excessive bleeding) immediately after giving birth is a major killer of women in developing countries, responsible for a third of maternal deaths in Africa and Asia. Results of an international trial published Online First in The Lancet are the first to show that omitting controlled cord traction has little effect on the risk of severe bleeding, indicating that effective prevention of PPH could be accomplished with just a uterotonic agent (e.g. oxytocin). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-approach-post-birth-safe-effective.html Health Mon, 05 Mar 2012 18:30:02 EST news250174567 (Medical Xpress) -- Gazing into your lover’s eyes isn’t only romantic; it also releases a brain chemical called oxytocin that strengthens social bonds in a variety of species.  For some people who suffer from depression, the so-called “hormone of love” might hold out hope. Researchers at the UC San Diego School of Medicine are conducting a clinical trial to study whether oxytocin – the brain hormone released with touches, hugs, or when a mother and her newborn baby bond – might help patients with depression. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-hormone-depression.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:00:01 EST news248427953 Testosterone makes us overvalue our own opinions at the expense of cooperation, research from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at University College London has found. The findings may have implications for how group decisions are affected by dominant individuals. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-testosterone-cooperative-egocentric.html Medical research Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:00:04 EST news247248764 First dates, job interviews or Christmas cocktail parties can be stressors for some people. Such social rites of passage have no doubt made shy or introverted individuals wish for a magic potion that could make them feel like socialites, yet the answer might actually come from a nasal spray. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-oxytocin-people-extraverted.html Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 09 Dec 2011 11:31:16 EST news242652661 Scientists have discovered that a gene that influences empathy, parental sensitivity and sociability is so powerful that even strangers observing 20 seconds of silent video identified people with a particular genetic variation to be more caring and trusting. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-kindness-strangers-linked-genetic-variation.html Genetics Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:00:11 EST news240490316 For a hormone, oxytocin is pretty famous. It’s the “cuddle chemical”—the hormone that helps mothers bond with their babies. Salespeople can buy oxytocin spray on the internet, to make their clients trust them. It’s known for promoting positive feelings, but more recent research has found that oxytocin can promote negative emotions, too. The authors of a new review article in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, takes a  look at what oxytocin is really doing. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-dark-side-oxytocin.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 01 Aug 2011 11:50:03 EST news231417249 A new Cochrane review says that oxytocin, a medication often used to quicken slow-paced labor in its early stages, doesn’t boost the prospects for normal births. Riskier births that required cesarean section or the use of forceps didn’t become less common. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-drug-labor-doesnt-c-sections.html Health Fri, 15 Jul 2011 05:43:19 EST news229927388 Prader-Willi syndrome is a rare genetic disorder which affects one child in 25,000. Children born with this syndrome have a range of complex neurological and developmental problems which continue into adult life. These can manifest as cognitive and behavioral difficulties, weight gain, problems in controlling their temper and attendant difficulties in socialization. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases, demonstrates that the hormone oxytocin is able to positively affect patients by improving trust, mood, and reducing disruptive behavior. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-oxytocin-prader-willi-syndrome.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 24 Jun 2011 04:39:58 EST news228108251 (Medical Xpress) -- According to a new study published in Neuropsychopharmacology, researchers, led by Gunther Meinlschmidt, PhD, may have found a connection between the brain chemical oxytocin and postpartum depression. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-oxytocin-postpartum-depression.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 16 May 2011 13:40:01 EST news224768961 5 May 2011 - The use of animal models to study human disease is essential to help advance our understanding of disease and to develop new therapeutic treatments. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-social-deficits-autism-schizophrenia-animals.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 05 May 2011 10:11:22 EST news223809041