Hormone News and Research

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A hormone is a chemical released by one or more cells that affects cells in other parts of the organism. Only a small amount of hormone is required to alter cell metabolism. It is essentially a chemical messenger that transports a signal from one cell to another.

Low affinity analogs of thyrotropin-releasing hormone are super-agonists

Chemical knockoffs resembling a key thyroid-related hormone are, in certain cases, more effective than the real thing at activating the target receptor.

16 May 2006

Exercise, diet may protect against colorectal cancer

Voluntary exercise and a restricted diet reduced the number and size of pre-cancerous polyps in the intestines of male mice and improved survival, according to a study by a University of Wisconsin-Madison research published in the journal Carcinogenesis.

16 May 2006

Ghrelin involved in development of diabetes

Ghrelin, a hormone long considered a key player in obesity, may instead take a major role in maintaining the balance between insulin and glucose and the development of diabetes, said Baylor College of Medicine researchers in a report in the current issue of the journal Cell Metabolism.

11 May 2006

Abortion pill in trouble again

Clostridium sordellii is a rare germ that has killed four women who took the abortion pill RU-486 and has also been implicated in the deaths of at least 11 other women following childbirth or miscarriage.

11 May 2006

Intrauterine device as satisfactory as surgery for treating heavy menstrual bleeding

For women who experience heavy periods, surgery is more effective than oral or intrauterine medication in reducing volume of bleeding at one year, according to a systematic review of studies.

11 May 2006

Long term oestrogen-only hormone replacement therapy increases breast cancer risk

According to new research women who take oestrogen-only hormone replacement therapy for 20 years or longer to treat the symptoms of menopause, put themselves at greater risk of developing breast cancer.

10 May 2006

Gene "CGI-58" linked to rare disease activates fat breakdown

A gene earlier linked to a rare disease plays a critical role in the body's "finely tuned balance" of fat storage and break down, new evidence reported in the May Cell Metabolism reveals.

10 May 2006

New insulin-production method holds promise for diabetics

A University of Houston professor and his student have made a major discovery in the field of diabetes research and diagnosis, finding a new mechanism for the formation of insulin crystals in the pancreas.

9 May 2006

Long-term estrogen therapy may be related to a higher risk of breast cancer

Previous studies have linked the use of hormone therapy to breast cancer among postmenopausal women, but have primarily focused on the hormone combination of estrogen plus progestin, according to background information in the article.

9 May 2006

Social stress prompts hamsters to overeat

Put a mouse or a rat under stress and what does it do? It stops eating. Humans should be so lucky. When people suffer nontraumatic stress they often head for the refrigerator, producing unhealthy extra pounds.

9 May 2006

Novel protein JHDM2A offers new look at male hormone regulation

For the second time in less than a year, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill scientists have purified a novel protein and have shown it can alter gene activity by reversing a molecular modification previously thought permanent.

8 May 2006

Discovery of gene that appears to play an important role in the onset of type 2 diabetes

In a painstaking set of experiments in overweight mice, scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison have discovered a gene that appears to play an important role in the onset of type 2 diabetes.

8 May 2006

New male contraceptive

Men and women have long been promised a male version of the female contraceptive pill. But the first new male contraceptive to market may not be hormonal at all.

8 May 2006

Hormone therapy still the most effective for menopause symptoms

A new study has found that estrogen therapy is the best treatment for menopause-related hot flashes.

3 May 2006

$Men with low estrogen levels have an increased risk for future hip fracture$

Men with low estrogen levels have an increased risk for future hip fracture

A new study has found that men with low estrogen levels have an increased risk for future hip fracture, and those with both low estrogen and low testosterone levels have the greatest risk.

3 May 2006

Melatonin, taken orally can improve ability to sleep

Researchers from the Divisions of Sleep Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School have found in a double-blind placebo-controlled clinical study, that melatonin, taken orally during non-typical sleep times, significantly improves an individual's ability to sleep.

3 May 2006

Study helps explain why aerobic training helps heart failure patients

Aerobic training is associated with a reversal of abnormal hormonal patterns that underlie many of the debilitating symptoms of heart failure, according to a new study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

3 May 2006

Hormones may affect how brain listens

From zebra fish to humans, reproductive hormones govern behavioral responses to courtship signals.

3 May 2006

Researchers test secret herb to stop hot flushes associated with breast cancer

Researchers at the University of Manchester are testing a secret herb in a bid to stop the severe hot flushes that besiege breast cancer patients on hormone treatment.

From The University of Manchester 3 May 2006

New drug lixivaptan reduces excess fluid build-up in patients with congestive heart failure

Researchers believe they may have identified a new agent to reduce the excess fluid build-up in patients with congestive heart failure, one that avoids the relative sodium-depleting effects of diuretics, now the most commonly used drugs for this purpose.

3 May 2006