Medical Research News

RSS

New method for measuring protein synthesis

In a major breakthrough for future research and drug development, a team of Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute (LA BioMed) investigators developed a new, more reliable method for measuring protein synthesis and turnover, processes that are critical to understanding cellular functions.

23 Jan 2008

Genetic switches could lower cost of producing drugs, proteins

Bacteria have evolved complex mechanisms called quorum sensing systems that provide for cell-to-cell communication, an adaptation that allows them to wait until their population grows large enough before mounting an attack on a host or competing for nutrients.

23 Jan 2008

Food peptides activate bitter taste receptors

Researchers from the Monell Center and Tokyo University of Agriculture have used a novel molecular method to identify chemical compounds from common foods that activate human bitter taste receptors.

23 Jan 2008

Do national dietary guidelines do more harm than good?

For nearly three decades, Americans have become accustomed to hearing about the latest dietary guidelines, which are required by federal regulation to be revised and reissued at five-year intervals.

23 Jan 2008

Researchers look at link between inability to express emotions and sleep disturbances

A group of Finnish investigators has explored the relationship between alexithymia (the inability to express emotions) and sleep disturbances in the 2008 January issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics.

23 Jan 2008

Red meat and diet sodas - a recipe for metabolic syndrome

The latest research from the U.S. has found that people who eat two or more servings of red meat a day and drink diet sodas, are at risk of developing conditions leading to heart disease and diabetes.

23 Jan 2008

Computer model for osteoporosis diagnostics

Osteoporosis, a common age-related disease, is being investigated by a group of biomechanical engineers at Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna).

23 Jan 2008

A good fight with your spouse may be good for your health!

Couples in which both the husband and wife suppress their anger when one attacks the other die earlier than members of couples where one or both partners express their anger and resolve the conflict, according to preliminary results of a University of Michigan study.

23 Jan 2008

Why certain people cannot express emotions

A report in the 2008 Jan issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics by a group of Dutch investigators explores the relationship between alexithymia (the inability to express emotions) and the tolerance of negative emotions.

22 Jan 2008

New research finds way for wounds to heal without scars

The researchers from Bristol University believe their discovery has major implications not just for wound victims, but also for people who suffer organ tissue damage through illness or abdominal surgery.

22 Jan 2008

New understanding of the link between heart disease and belly fat

By now, everyone knows that overweight people have a higher risk of heart attacks, strokes and other problems that arise from clogged, hardened arteries. And people who carry their extra weight around their waist - giving them a "beer belly" or an "apple" shape - have the highest risk of all.

22 Jan 2008

Gene therapy promises relief from chronic pain

Researchers in the U.S. have discovered that chronic pain can be successfully treated with a new gene therapy technique.

22 Jan 2008

Stem cell therapy restores muscle function in mice with muscular dystrophy

Scientists in Texas have been able to restore muscle function in mice with muscular dystrophy by using embryonic stem cells.

21 Jan 2008

New diagnostic technique using bioimpedance spectroscopy to diagnose cervical and skin cancers

A non-invasive diagnostic tool to detect surface cancers quickly and painlessly using technology currently employed by gyms to calculate body composition has been developed by a QUT PhD medical physics researcher.

21 Jan 2008

Minute genetic differences have major consequences

A study led by McGill University researchers has demonstrated that small differences between individuals at the DNA level can lead to dramatic differences in the way genes produce proteins.

21 Jan 2008

Stem-cell transplantation improves muscles in MD animal model

Using embryonic stem cells from mice, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have prompted the growth of healthy - and more importantly, functioning - muscle cells in mice afflicted with a human model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

21 Jan 2008

Stem cell research aims to tackle Parkinson's disease

Scientists in Sweden are developing new ways to grow brain cells in the laboratory that could one day be used to treat patients with Parkinson's disease, an international conference of biologists organised by the European Science Foundation (ESF) was told last week.

21 Jan 2008