Medical Science News

RSS

Resveratrol helps prevent metabolic syndrome in offspring

Researchers in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta have discovered that resveratrol, a powerful antioxidant found in common foods, prevents a syndrome in some offspring that could lead to later health issues such as diabetes.

3 Sep 2011

UCF, UF receive $5.5 million NIH grant for hemophilia research

At a time when research funding is hard to come by, a University of Central Florida and University of Florida partnership has landed almost $5.5 million in National Institutes of Health highly competitive grants for hemophilia research.

3 Sep 2011

Scientists identify several links between genetic variants and specific metabolic changes

Scientists at Helmholtz Zentrum Munich and LMU Munich, in cooperation with Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and King's College London (KCL), have identified several associations between genetic variants and specific metabolic changes.

3 Sep 2011

Novel analysis of MRI scans reveals distinct features of autistic brain

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital have used a novel method for analyzing brain-scan data to distinguish children with autism from typically developing children.

3 Sep 2011

Nature journal publishes Metabolon's genome wide association study

Metabolon, Inc., the leader in metabolomics, biomarker discovery and biochemical analysis, announced the publication of "Human Metabolic Individuality in Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Research" in the journal Nature.

3 Sep 2011

First report of alternative lengthening of telomeres in human cancer subtypes

The first report of the presence of alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) in cancers arising from the bladder, cervix, endometrium, esophagus, gallbladder, liver, and lung was published today in The American Journal of Pathology. The presence of ALT in carcinomas can be used as a diagnostic marker and has implications for the development of anti-cancer drug therapies.

3 Sep 2011

Study finds link between long-term dietary patterns and human gut bacteria

"You are what you eat" is familiar enough, but how deep do the implications go? An interdisciplinary group of investigators from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have found an association between long-term dietary patterns and the bacteria of the human gut.

3 Sep 2011

Exercise triggers influential stem cells to become bone instead of fat

McMaster researchers have found one more reason to exercise: working out triggers influential stem cells to become bone instead of fat, improving overall health by boosting the body's capacity to make blood.

3 Sep 2011

Scientists uncover one of the benefits of non-monogamous relationships

It's all about the grandkids! That's what a team led by an Indiana University biologist has learned about promiscuous female birds and why they mate outside their social pair.

3 Sep 2011

Plerixafor drug shows promise against WHIM syndrome

A new study reports that a drug already approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in patients undergoing a bone marrow transplant may also have promise for treating people who have a rare immune deficiency known as WHIM syndrome.

3 Sep 2011

Researchers discover mechanisms behind BRCA1 gene mutations in breast and ovarian cancer

It is widely known that mutations in the breast cancer susceptibility 1 (BRCA1) gene significantly increase the chance of developing breast and ovarian cancers, but the mechanisms at play are not fully understood. Now, researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center have shown that certain BRCA1 mutations result in excessive, uncontrolled DNA repair, which challenges the prior assumption that mutations in BRCA1 only contribute to breast cancer through a reduction in function.

3 Sep 2011

NASA, Louisiana Tech to conduct zero-gravity testing of DNA analysis device

Researchers from Louisiana Tech University will be floating high above the Gulf of Mexico this month to conduct zero-gravity testing of an experimental DNA analysis instrument developed at Tech that could benefit future NASA astronauts.

3 Sep 2011

Going bananas may help kids breathe easier

Going bananas may help kids breathe easier. Children who ate just one banana a day had a 34% less chance of developing asthmatic symptoms, according to new British research.

3 Sep 2011

Study: Growth hormone helps regenerate damaged hair cells in zebrafish ear

Loud noise, especially repeated loud noise, is known to cause irreversible damage to the hair cells inside the cochlea and eventually lead to deafness. In mammals this is irreversible, however both birds and fish are able to re-grow the damaged hair cells and restore hearing.

3 Sep 2011

New research puts an unexpected twist on how mitochondria divide within cells

New research from the University of California, Davis, and the University of Colorado at Boulder puts an unexpected twist on how mitochondria, the energy-generating structures within cells, divide.

3 Sep 2011

Scientists clarify endogenous mechanism that can prevent development of allergies

Scientists at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz have clarified an endogenous mechanism that can prevent the development of allergies. They were able to show that certain cells of the immune system, so-called killer dendritic cells, are capable of eliminating allergy cells.

3 Sep 2011

Health care politics: Perry's stem cell controversy, presidential contenders and health law; Biden Medicare fact check

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who recently underwent an experimental injection of his own adult stem cells to relieve back pain, pushed a bill through the Legislature in June that paves the way for a company co-owned by his doctor to become the first state-approved "bank" to store and cultivate such cells for medical treatment that fact illustrates two aspects of his record that are drawing increasing attention as he pursues the presidency: his enthusiasm for ideas that are sometimes outside the scientific mainstream and what critics view as his willingness to use the levers of state government to benefit friends and political benefactors.

3 Sep 2011

Jefferson's two-step bone marrow transplant procedure holds promise for cancer patients

Half-matched bone marrow or stem cell transplants for blood cancer patients have typically been associated with disappointing clinical outcomes. However, a clinical trial conducted at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson testing its unique, two-step half-match procedure has produced some promising results: the probability of overall survival was 45 percent in all patients after three years and 75 percent in patients who were in remission at the time of the transplant.

2 Sep 2011

Alcohol reduces awareness of how much a person cares about making mistakes

Most people have witnessed otherwise intelligent people doing embarrassing or stupid things when they are intoxicated, but what specifically happens in the brain to cause such drunken actions? A new study testing alcohol's effects on brain activity from the University of Missouri says that alcohol dulls the brain "signal" that warns people when they are making a mistake, ultimately reducing self control.

2 Sep 2011

New medicines to target LPA receptors may prevent serious developmental brain diseases

Examining brain damage that occurs when fetuses in the womb are deprived of oxygen, researchers at The Scripps Research Institute have discovered that damage does not occur randomly but is linked to the specific action of a naturally occurring fatty molecule called LPA, acting through a receptor that transfers information into young brain cells.

2 Sep 2011