https://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Researchers from Amsterdam UMC have overturned a key assumption in the biological pacemaker field. In a new preclinical study, they show that the transcription factor TBX18 does not generate true biological pacemaker activity, while the ion channel Hcn2 does produce robust pacemaker function in the heart. The findings have been published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-06-biological-pacemaker-dogma-tbx18-hcn2.html Thu, 11 Jun 2026 12:00:01 EDT news700321047 A combination of two widely available anti-rheumatic drugs offers the first effective and affordable treatment for patients with Sjögren's disease with systemic disease activity, according to new results from a clinical trial coordinated by UMC Utrecht. The study showed that treatment with leflunomide and hydroxychloroquine reduced disease activity in patients with moderate-to-severe disease while maintaining a favorable safety profile. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-06-common-arthritis-drugs-sjgren-disease.html Sat, 06 Jun 2026 15:40:03 EDT news699978269 Researchers at University Medical Center Utrecht have uncovered a previously underappreciated mechanism that helps immune cells to respond rapidly to infections. Using advanced long-read RNA sequencing, the team shows that alternative RNA splicing, which means how genes are edited into different messenger RNA variants, plays a central role in shaping immune responses. The findings provide new insights into immune-mediated diseases (such as infections, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus) and may open the door to more targeted therapies. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-06-rna-sequencing-method-reveals-hidden.html Tue, 02 Jun 2026 18:40:03 EDT news699636061 An essay presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul, Turkey (12–15 May) suggests that a new age of obesity drugs could shift the blame for living with obesity from individuals to the food industry—just as smoking has been blamed on the tobacco industry and, to a lesser extent, alcohol consumption on the alcohol industry. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-ozempic-era-shift-blame-obesity.html Sun, 10 May 2026 18:10:01 EDT news697451581 Where previous research showed that PSMA therapy for prostate cancer can prolong the lives of patients who have exhausted all other treatment options, a new study now demonstrates that the therapy is also effective in an earlier stage of the disease. As a result, more burdensome hormone therapy can be postponed by twenty additional months, shows research led by Radboudumc. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-psma-therapy-delays-hormone-prostate.html Tue, 31 Mar 2026 12:20:05 EDT news694174321 An international consortium has achieved a major breakthrough in the diagnosis of neurological diseases. In a recent publication in the journal Nature Medicine, they describe the discovery of a new quantitative biomarker in lumbar fluid (cerebrospinal fluid) that is helping doctors to diagnose Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementia more accurately. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-cerebrospinal-fluid-biomarker-diagnosis-parkinson.html Tue, 24 Mar 2026 15:00:01 EDT news693580741 A growing body of evidence suggests that long COVID (or post-COVID syndrome), a condition affecting more than 10% of people after a SARS-CoV-2 infection, may be driven by the immune system turning against the body. Now, new research coordinated by UMC Utrecht and Amsterdam UMC provides some of the strongest functional evidence yet that autoantibodies (antibodies that mistakenly target the body's own tissues) could play a causal role. The work appears in Cell Reports Medicine. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-autoantibodies-implicated-drivers-covid.html Tue, 24 Mar 2026 11:00:06 EDT news693562922 Cancer is often thought of as a single disease. Yet even tumors that arise in the same organ can follow very different genetic paths. A new study shows that these differences can sometimes be traced back to tiny changes in a single gene. Research led by senior researcher Dr. Derya Deniz Özdemir from Koç University School of Medicine and the Research Center for Translational Medicine (KUTTAM), published in Nature Genetics, reveals that mutations in one of the most frequently altered genes in cancer do not all have the same effect. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-cancer-mutations-equal-mutation-strength.html Sun, 22 Mar 2026 14:00:03 EDT news693133140 Researchers at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience have found evidence that type-1 narcolepsy, a condition known for its "sleep attacks," is caused by the body's own immune system. The work is published in the journal Annals of Neurology. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-autoimmune-trigger-narcolepsy.html Sat, 21 Mar 2026 17:00:06 EDT news693147092 An international team of scientists and clinicians has announced the launch of a new open-access 3D portal that allows users to explore intact human organs in unprecedented detail—from the whole organ down to individual cells locally. The Human Organ Atlas, created using a powerful synchrotron imaging method, brings together some of the most detailed 3D images of human organs ever produced. It enables scientists, doctors, educators, students and the wider public to interactively "fly through" organs such as the brain, heart, lungs, kidney and liver, providing a new way of understanding human anatomy and human diseases. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-3d-human-atlas-users-explore.html Wed, 11 Mar 2026 14:00:26 EDT news692438821 Researchers at Amsterdam UMC have discovered that a second pregnancy alters the female brain. Previous research from the same group had already demonstrated the impact of a first pregnancy on the female brain. The new results are published in Nature Communications. The research demonstrates that both a first and a second pregnancy have strong and unique impacts on mothers' brains. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-pregnancy-uniquely-female-brain.html Thu, 19 Feb 2026 05:00:07 EST news690633181 An international research team has gained new insights into the dynamics of myelin swellings in the brain. Myelin swellings are considered as the precursor of lesions in the brain of people with multiple sclerosis (MS). MS is characterized by lesions in the brain and the spinal cord. Aside from these inflammations, damage can also be visible in the myelin, the protective layer surrounding nerve fibers. Myelin swellings are seen as a precursor to damaged myelin. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-specialized-microscopy-enables-visualize-dynamics.html Thu, 12 Feb 2026 16:54:40 EST news690137641 Researchers at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) have identified a mechanism that protects the female brain from genetic diseases. Although one of the two X chromosomes is switched off in female cells at an early stage, cells reactivate selected genes on this chromosome. This results in weaker symptoms of disease. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-mechanism-female-brain-chromosome-reactivate.html Mon, 02 Feb 2026 15:30:02 EST news689264681 Smartwatches with both PPG and ECG functionality improve the detection of atrial fibrillation in comparison with standard care. Researchers from Amsterdam UMC have analyzed the data from 437 patients and detected heart arrhythmia four times more often in those who wore an Apple Watch. These results are published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-smartwatch-heart-arrhythmias-quality.html Thu, 22 Jan 2026 01:00:01 EST news688233943 As immigrants in southeastern Louisiana and Mississippi braced for this month's U.S. Homeland Security operation, Cristiane Rosales-Fajardo received a panicked phone call from a friend. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-12-baby-raids-immigrants.html Wed, 24 Dec 2025 21:40:01 EST news685791496 The risk of sudden cardiac death is higher for people with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, according to a large study published in the European Heart Journal. The increase in risk is especially noticeable among younger adults. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-12-people-diabetes-higher-sudden-cardiac.html Wed, 03 Dec 2025 19:00:01 EST news683910857 An international research group directed by UMC Utrecht has developed and characterized two first-in-class antibodies that specifically block the high-affinity IgG receptor FcγRI. Their findings open new perspectives for therapeutic modulation of FcγRI-driven inflammation in autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-class-antibodies-inhibit-inflammation-autoimmune.html Wed, 19 Nov 2025 12:01:04 EST news682776061 Radboudumc is the first hospital in the world to use a new genetic test on a large scale in clinical practice. This test provides more people with a diagnosis for rare conditions and is faster and more efficient than current diagnostic methods. It can replace around 15 other tests. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-dutch-hospital-genetic-clinical.html Mon, 17 Nov 2025 21:50:01 EST news682602611 Despite effective HIV medication, the immune system of people with HIV remains disrupted in the long term. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-early-hiv-drugs-immune-reprieve.html Fri, 07 Nov 2025 18:30:01 EST news681670741 Aerobic and resistance exercise can significantly improve physical performance in patients living with metastatic breast cancer, according to new results presented at the Advanced Breast Cancer Eighth International Consensus Conference (ABC8). https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-strength-physical-patients-advanced-breast.html Thu, 06 Nov 2025 19:10:01 EST news681640081 Contrary to previous research, transgender women who use the hormone estradiol for their transition do not have an increased risk of heart attack and stroke compared to men in the general Dutch population. This is shown by a large-scale study from Amsterdam UMC, with data from more than 4,000 transgender individuals, published in the European Heart Journal. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-transgender-women-heart-large-scale.html Tue, 04 Nov 2025 19:20:03 EST news681494568 Researchers at UMC Utrecht have discovered that converting monoclonal antibodies from the IgG to the IgM isotype can significantly broaden their ability to recognize and bind multiple human-relevant bacterial pathogens. The study is published in Cell Reports Medicine. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-10-conversion-igg-antibodies-igm-broadens.html Wed, 15 Oct 2025 12:17:03 EDT news679749421 Scientists have found that ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) in women is diagnosed approximately five years later than in men, despite symptoms appearing at the same age. Women with ADHD also suffer greater emotional and functional difficulties than men. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-10-adhd-women-years-men-symptoms.html Mon, 13 Oct 2025 10:16:04 EDT news679569361 The most common type of liver cancer in children, hepatoblastoma, surprisingly appears to contain many immune cells from a type that has long been overlooked. This is according to a study by researchers at the Princess Máxima Center and UMC Utrecht. The discovery of these myeloid cells in liver tumors unveils new avenues for treatment. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-09-myeloid-immune-cells-immunotherapy-liver.html Mon, 29 Sep 2025 13:20:09 EDT news678369062 Researchers from Karolinska Institutet, the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics (Germany), Amsterdam UMC (Netherlands), in collaboration with other international partners, have conducted the most extensive study to date on adults who have never had sexual intercourse. The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that lifelong sexlessness is associated with a multifaceted interplay of psychological, social, and genetic factors. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-09-late-life-virginity-genetic-psychological.html Wed, 17 Sep 2025 12:28:04 EDT news677330882 The addition of the hormone progesterone to gender-affirming hormone therapy leads to increased breast growth for transgender people following feminizing hormone therapy. This is demonstrated by an Amsterdam UMC-led trial among 90 participants and these results were presented at the European Professional Association for Transgender Health (EPATH) annual congress in Hamburg. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-09-addition-progesterone-breast-growth-gender.html Fri, 05 Sep 2025 10:00:01 EDT news676198518 Measurements with a miniature camera inside the coronary arteries can accurately predict whether someone will suffer a recurrent heart attack. Until now, interpreting these images was so complex that only specialized laboratories could perform it. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-08-combination-mini-camera-ai-recurrent.html Mon, 01 Sep 2025 07:00:01 EDT news675590891 A large international study led by researchers at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, shows that major depressive disorder (MDD) not only increases risk for a wide range of diseases and social problems, but is also partly driven by factors such as loneliness, obesity, smoking, and chronic pain. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-08-depression-shown-consequence-poor-health.html Fri, 22 Aug 2025 09:46:29 EDT news675074772 A new study by researchers at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and Amsterdam UMC shows how targeted communication can help patients engage more with online health communities. Using atrial fibrillation (AF) as a case study, the research reveals which messages are most effective in raising awareness and encouraging participation. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-08-communication-strategies-online-patient-engagement.html Wed, 13 Aug 2025 13:00:10 EDT news674308805 Oxygen deprivation around birth can lead to brain damage in babies, with far-reaching consequences. A new stem cell treatment administered via nasal drops is showing promising results. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-08-intranasal-stem-cell-treatment-newborns.html Wed, 06 Aug 2025 14:50:03 EDT news673710124