http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Using mutant zebra fish, researchers studying the earliest formation of cartilage of the mouth believe they may have gotten a look at a mechanism involved in a genetic defect linked to Fraser syndrome deafness in humans. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-zebra-fish-mouth-formation-fraser.html Genetics Tue, 31 Jul 2012 13:12:41 EST news262959152 Scientists have found that the anti-inflammatory molecule, IL-10, may improve success rates of skin autografts (skin moved from one site of the body to another). This information provides a valuable drug target that may benefit burn and accident victims. Specifically, researchers from Portugal and Brazil show that IL-10 plays an important role in whether or not an isogenic skin graft (skin from one individual grafted into another genetically identical) is successful and that the cells responsible for this effect are from the donor skin and not from any tissue of the recipient. This finding appears in the August 2012 issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-il-donor-skin-cells-body.html Medical research Tue, 31 Jul 2012 10:44:09 EST news262950238 (Medical Xpress) -- Just because healthful foods are available in school cafeterias doesn't mean children are going to eat them, but in some cases, the very presence of such foods as whole fruit may actually prompt kids to make healthier choices, even if fruit is never selected. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-foods-prompts-kids-healthier.html Health Wed, 25 Jul 2012 05:15:44 EST news262412133 (Medical Xpress) -- Young adult survivors of childhood cancer often have problems maintaining jobs and relationships, researchers have found. A new study of childhood brain tumor survivors by disability researcher David Strauser, a professor of community health at the University of Illinois, suggests that a battle with cancer during a critical developmental period in middle childhood may negatively affect career readiness and achievement as an adult by compromising children’s development of an effective work personality. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-cancer-childhood-negative-impact-career.html Cancer Tue, 03 Jul 2012 07:47:03 EST news260520412 Not only does the type of flu virus affect a patient's outcome, but a new research report appearing in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology suggests that the number of viruses involved in the initial infection may be important too. Scientists from Canada found that when mice were infected by relatively high concentrations of the flu virus, they not only developed immunity against the virus that infected them, but this also promoted the generation of a type of immune cell in the lungs poised to rapidly react against infections with other strains of the flu, as well. Mice that were infected with a relatively low concentration of the virus developed weaker immunity against the strain that infected them, did not build up this crucial population of immune cells in the lungs, and showed only delayed immunity toward other flu strains. This discovery could pave the way for new prophylactic strategies to fight flu infections and provides a novel basis for vaccine design. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-flu-immunity-affected-viruses-infection.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 28 Jun 2012 10:56:40 EST news260099787 High doses of the herb American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) over two months reduced cancer-related fatigue in patients more effectively than a placebo, a Mayo Clinic-led study found. Sixty percent of patients studied had breast cancer. The findings are being presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-ginseng-fatigue-cancer-patients.html Cancer Mon, 04 Jun 2012 09:00:02 EST news257925842 Coronary artery bypass surgery performed whilst the heart is still beating may carry an increased likelihood of death, according to a systematic review by Cochrane researchers. The researchers suggest beating heart surgery should not be recommended except in specific cases where stopping the heart might be risky. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-heart-surgery-patients.html Cardiology Wed, 14 Mar 2012 11:30:28 EST news250943414 Many adolescents frequently expose their ears to loud sounds, for example from portable music players. Some of them may think that 'the doctor said that my hearing is good, so I guess I can handle the loud volume'. A new doctoral thesis from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, shows that research-based teaching in school can be used to positively change adolescents' awareness and behaviour. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-young-people-ears.html Health Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:40:48 EST news250188023 A University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) researcher is examining how environmental triggers might alter gene function in people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. The research could lead to better insights into the disease and eventually to new treatments. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-environmental-triggers-gene-function-chronic.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:13:36 EST news249225210 A French team coordinated by Mathias Pessiglione, Inserm researcher have identified the part of the brain driving motivation during actions that combine physical and mental effort: the ventral striatum. The results of their study were published in PLoS Biology on 21 February 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-center-depths-brain.html Neuroscience Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:55:24 EST news249134115 At the most basic level, the immune system must distinguish self from non-self, that is, it must discriminate between the molecular signatures of invading pathogens (non-self antigens) and cellular constituents that usually pose no risk to health (self-antigens). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-non-self-immune-tolerance.html Medical research Mon, 13 Feb 2012 17:32:06 EST news248376701 (Medical Xpress) -- Want to know why sports fans get so worked up when they think the referee has wrongly called their team's pass forward, their player offside, or their serve as a fault? http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-believing.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:40:03 EST news247295408 While it may appear that infants are helpless creatures that only blink, eat, cry and sleep, one University of Missouri researcher says that studies indicate infant brains come equipped with knowledge of "intuitive physics." http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-babies-born-intuitive-physics-knowledge.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:58:42 EST news246625113 Presenting at the 2011 Defence Human Sciences Symposium, DSTO researcher Greg Carstairs outlined that current generic fitness assessments (including push-ups, sit-ups and chin-ups) are often poor predictors of performance in strength based job tasks. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-push-ups-combat.html Health Thu, 01 Dec 2011 08:30:24 EST news241950600 A new research report appearing in the December issue of the FASEB Journal shows how scientists from the United Kingdom have developed a simple blood test to detect Parkinson's disease even at the earliest stages. The test is possible because scientists found a substance in the blood, called "phosphorylated alpha-synuclein," which is common in people with Parkinson's disease, and then developed a way to identify its presence in our blood. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-simple-blood-parkinson-disease-symptoms.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:40:57 EST news241879178 (Medical Xpress) -- A new research project involving Greenland women with breast cancer shows for the first time a clear link between the risk of breast cancer and exposure to perfluorocarbons found in products such as raincoats, pizza trays and baking paper. More substances ought to be prohibited according to the Aarhus University (Denmark) researcher behind the study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-widespread-pfc-substances-breast-cancer.html Cancer Wed, 16 Nov 2011 05:37:28 EST news240644208 Women under 50 with rheumatoid arthritis are at greater risk of breaking bones than women without the condition, according to a Mayo Clinic study being presented at the American College of Rheumatology annual scientific meeting in Chicago. Men with rheumatoid arthritis also are in more danger of fractures, but that risk seems to surface when they are older, researchers found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-young-women-rheumatoid-arthritis-broken.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Sun, 06 Nov 2011 06:42:08 EST news239784117 Compared to most other cells in an organism, sperm undergo a radical transformation to become compact and mobile delivery systems for paternal DNA. Even though sperm looks and moves quite differently across species, SF State researcher Diana Chu and colleagues now say that there are at least a few key enzymes that are critical for sperm development and mobility in species as different as mice and nematode worms. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-live-action-worm-sperm-track-critical.html Genetics Tue, 01 Nov 2011 09:23:47 EST news239358216 New Zealanders aged 60 and over appear to wrongly believe they are at low risk of the fatal form of skin cancer melanoma, according to a new University of Otago study conducted for the Cancer Society of New Zealand. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-older-people-underestimate-deadly-melanoma.html Cancer Mon, 08 Aug 2011 05:10:01 EST news231997491 A novel virus that spread through a California monkey colony in late 2009 also infected a human researcher and a family member, UCSF researchers have found, the first known example of an adenovirus "jumping" from one species to another and remaining contagious after the jump. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-ucsf-adenovirus-monkeys-humans.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 14 Jul 2011 17:00:01 EST news229875399 Australian primary school students whose mental health and wellbeing improved through KidsMatter showed better academic performance equivalent to having up to six months extra schooling, an independent evaluation by Flinders University has found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-attention-mental-health-boosts-academic.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 21 Jun 2011 10:01:19 EST news227869154