Medical Research News

RSS

Scientists discover way to increase metabolism for weight loss

Scientists from Melbourne's Howard Florey Institute have discovered a way to aid weight loss and reduce the likelihood of developing diabetes by manipulating fat cells to increase the body's metabolism.

28 Apr 2008

Scientists explore brain's reaction to potent hallucinogen

Brain-imaging studies performed in animals at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory provide researchers with clues about why an increasingly popular recreational drug that causes hallucinations and motor-function impairment in humans is abused.

28 Apr 2008

Smokers more prone to depression

Researchers in Spain suggest that smokers are significantly more at risk of suffering depression than non-smokers.

28 Apr 2008

Research links low-frequency hearing to shape of the cochlea

Shape matters, even in hearing. Specifically, it is the shape of the cochlea - the snail-shell-shaped organ in the inner ear that converts sound waves into nerve impulses that the brain deciphers - which proves to be surprisingly important.

27 Apr 2008

Scientists discover 4th major set of common genetic variants linked to risk of estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer

Scientists from deCODE genetics report the discovery of two common single-letter variants (SNPs) on chromosome 5 of the human genome that are associated with risk of estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer.

27 Apr 2008

Gene therapy restores vision in patients with rare congenital blindness

In a clinical trial at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, researchers from The University of Pennsylvania have used gene therapy to safely restore vision in three young adults with a rare form of congenital blindness.

27 Apr 2008

3D view of neurons provided by new technique

A new technique that marries a fast-moving laser beam with a special microscope that look at tissues in different optical planes will enable scientists to get a three-dimensional view of neurons or nerve cells as they interact, said Baylor College of Medicine scientists in a report that appears in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

27 Apr 2008

Different processes govern sight, light detection

A Johns Hopkins University biologist, in research with implications for people suffering from seasonal affective disorder and insomnia, has determined that the eye uses light to reset the biological clock through a mechanism separate from the ability to see.

27 Apr 2008

Epigenetic research uncovers new targets for modification enzymes

Enzymes regulating genetic expression can be just as important as the genome itself, increasing evidence shows.

27 Apr 2008

Maitake mushrooms lead to breakthrough in protein research

Using an enzyme of the Japanese mushroom Grifola frondosa (Maitake or dancing mushroom), proteins can be identified without knowing the organism's genetic composition.

26 Apr 2008

Discovery of important markers of high risk of type 2 diabetes

Doctors are aware of a range of risk factors, mostly related to the patients' family history, overweight, and lifestyle, that contribute to the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

26 Apr 2008

Cancer immunotherapy shows long-term promise in lung cancer

New, long-term results from a clinical trial presented at the 1st European Lung Cancer Conference jointly organized by the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and the International Association of the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) show that MAGE-A3 ASCI (Antigen-Specific Cancer Immunotherapeutic), an immune-boosting treatment for lung cancer patients, reduces the risk of relapse after surgery -- to the same extent as chemotherapy but without the side-effects of chemotherapy.

26 Apr 2008

Viruses may play a role in lung cancer development

Papers presented at the 1st European Lung Cancer Conference, jointly organized by the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) in Geneva, Switzerland highlight emerging evidence that common viruses may contribute to the development of lung cancer.

26 Apr 2008

Newly refined antibody therapy may be potent treatment for autoimmune diseases

An old, fickle therapy for a variety of autoimmune diseases is getting a makeover, thanks to a decade-long investigation by Rockefeller University researchers.

26 Apr 2008

Regulatory T cells orchestrate reaction to a virus invasion

Just as fire engines arrive quickly at the scene to save people and property, the cells that fight viruses have to reach the site of an infection promptly to mount a protective response.

24 Apr 2008

New insight into how the nervous system processes sensory information

The Stowers Institute's Yu Lab has published the results of large-scale imaging experiments examining how social signals are represented in the sensory system.

24 Apr 2008

Researchers identify Heme detoxification protein - potential target for developing new malaria drugs

Researchers at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) at Virginia Tech have identified Heme Detoxification Protein (HDP), a unique protein encoded in the malaria genome that represents a potential target for developing new malaria drugs.

24 Apr 2008

Clearer understanding of how neurons give rise to motor behaviors

When the eye tracks a bird's flight across the sky, the visual experience is normally smooth, without interruption. But underlying this behavior is a complex coordination of neurons that has remained mysterious to scientists. Now, UCSF researchers have broken ground in understanding how the brain generates this tracking motion, a finding that offers a window, they say, into how neurons orchestrate all of the body's movements.

24 Apr 2008

Beta arrestins found to generate new proteins

Duke University Medical Center researchers have recently discovered that a crucial communications pathway in cells not only stops cells from making proteins, it also makes them go. The team was able to define the way in which proteins called beta arrestins (for their role in stopping signals) also turn on pathways that ultimately lead to the production of new proteins in virtually all tissues in the body.

24 Apr 2008