Medical Research News

RSS

Oxytocin and ingestive behavior

More than 15 years ago Edward Stricker and Joseph Verbalis reported that oxytocin (OT) is involved in the neural control of food and salt intake in adult rats. Linda Rinaman at the University of Pittsburgh is investigating the anatomical organization of this system, and also is taking a developmental approach to determine how OT modulates eating and digestion.

11 Aug 2005

Pre-mRNA that codes for inflammatory protein identified

In a discovery that upends a longstanding tenet of human biology, University of Utah School of Medicine researchers have shown that a key process in gene regulation can occur in human platelets, unique cells that are unusual because they don't have a nucleus (anucleate).

11 Aug 2005

How some antibiotics kill bacteria

Researchers have uncovered how members of one family of antibiotics kill bacteria that make people sick.

11 Aug 2005

Genes interact with behavior to affect how well people move

Genes can keep elderly people from benefiting equally from exercise, no matter how much effort they expend, according to research findings published in today's (Aug. 10) Journal of the American Medical Association.

11 Aug 2005

Key step in the production of beta-amyloid

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have defined a key step in the production of beta-amyloid, a short protein that is thought to be responsible for the development of Alzheimer's disease. Understanding this step may aid in the discovery of drugs that could help block the disease from developing.

11 Aug 2005

Researchers find drug targets for treating metabolic syndrome

Ongoing studies by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center and other institutions have uncovered the biochemical basis of many of the factors contributing to what is known as the metabolic syndrome, suggesting potential new drug targets for treating the condition.

11 Aug 2005

Defect in the gene that makes YAP might contribute to cancer

Johns Hopkins scientists have identified a protein in fruit flies whose counterpart product in humans may help cause cancer.

11 Aug 2005

Early detection of Alzheimer's coming soon?

Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of old-age dementia and has become the fourth most common cause of death in the USA. The cause of the disease is protein deposits, called amyloid plaques, in the brain.

11 Aug 2005

Pig brain cell transplant looks hopeful for treating Huntington's disease

According to researchers at Australian bioscience company Living Cell Technologies (LCT), if approved, pig brain cells wrapped in a seaweed derivative could be implanted into human brains by sometime next year to treat Huntington's disease.

11 Aug 2005

Snorers can blame the shape of their throats

Scientists have discovered, by carrying out head and neck scans of snorers and non-snorers, why it is that some people are chronic snorers.

11 Aug 2005

Ethanol treatment may be instrumental in fighting IV-based infections

Inserted through the skin and into a vein, long-term intravascular devices such as IV catheters deliver to patients a range of life-saving medications, nutrition and fluids, among other uses.

11 Aug 2005

Little convincing evidence that dietary antioxidant supplements such as vitamin E prevent heart disease

Instead there has been a surprise finding, which relates to a synthetic antioxidant, the drug Probucol, which is no longer prescribed in Australia.

11 Aug 2005

Researchers discover that tumors secrete fatty acids which inhibit the cytotoxic T lymphocytes' ability to kill tumor cells

Researchers have discovered that tumors release fatty acids that interfere with the cells that are trying to kill them. Consequently, strategies that reduce the amount of fatty acids surrounding the tumors may give a boost to anti-cancer therapeutics.

11 Aug 2005

Preliminary molecular diagram of the early stages of embryo formation

A team of genomic researchers headed by biologists at New York University's Center for Comparative Functional Genomics, in collaboration with researchers at Harvard University, the Max Planck Institute, and Cenix Biosciences, has mapped out a preliminary molecular diagram of the early stages of embryo formation, offering for the first time a global look at how a single cell begins its path into a multi-cellular organism.

11 Aug 2005

Cancer causing potential of the sex hormones

The cancer causing potential of the sex hormones used in hormone therapy has been known since the 1930s, say researchers and women's health advocates in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

11 Aug 2005

Excessive alcohol consumption increases risk of certain cancers

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new chemical analysis method that has assisted researchers at the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), National Institutes of Health, in demonstrating a potentially important chemical link between alcohol consumption and cancer.

11 Aug 2005

Vestibular organs provide an on-line movement guidance system

Anyone who's had to find his or her way through a darkened room can appreciate that nonvisual cues play a large role in our sense of movement. What might be less apparent is that not all such cues come from our remaining four senses.

10 Aug 2005

Despite warnings about sun exposure, skin cancer rates on the rise in under 40's

Researchers in the U.S. say that among women under age 40, there has been triple the number of cases of skin cancers reported.

10 Aug 2005

Curry spice may help fight oesophageal cancer

Welsh researchers apparently believe a spice used in curry may possibly prevent people from developing cancer of the gullet.

10 Aug 2005

Important breast cancer discovery

Scientists at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) have made an important discovery that will advance our understanding of how the female hormone estrogen causes growth of breast cancer cells. The research, in collaboration with scientists at the Institut de Recherches Cliniques de Montreal (IRCM) identifies 153 genes that respond to estrogen and one in particular that can be used to halt the growth of breast cancer cells.

10 Aug 2005