Genetics

Harnessing skin cancer genes to heal hearts

Biomedical engineers at Duke University have demonstrated that one of the most dangerous mutations found in skin cancers might moonlight as a pathway to mending a broken heart.

Obstetrics & gynaecology

How do painful fibroids grow?

Insights into how uterine tumors grow could give hope to millions of women who deal with painful fibroids. Nearly 8 in 10 women develop fibroids, noncancerous tumors that develop in the uterus during child-bearing years. ...

Neuroscience

Common headaches tied to neck inflammation

Researchers have identified objective evidence of how the neck muscles are involved in primary headaches, according to a study being presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). ...

Medical research

Radiation therapy may be potential heart failure treatment

Cardiologists and radiation oncologists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis pioneered the use of radiation therapy—a strategy typically used against cancer—to treat patients with a life-threatening ...

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Muscle

Muscle (from Latin musculus, diminutive of mus "mouse") is the contractile tissue of the body and is derived from the mesodermal layer of embryonic germ cells. Muscle cells contain contractile filaments that move past each other and change the size of the cell. They are classified as skeletal, cardiac, or smooth muscles. Their function is to produce force and cause motion. Muscles can cause either locomotion of the organism itself or movement of internal organs. Cardiac and smooth muscle contraction occurs without conscious thought and is necessary for survival. Examples are the contraction of the heart and peristalsis which pushes food through the digestive system. Voluntary contraction of the skeletal muscles is used to move the body and can be finely controlled. Examples are movements of the eye, or gross movements like the quadriceps muscle of the thigh. There are two broad types of voluntary muscle fibers: slow twitch and fast twitch. Slow twitch fibers contract for long periods of time but with little force while fast twitch fibers contract quickly and powerfully but fatigue very rapidly.

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