Medical Science News

RSS

UM to host Summit on Childhood Obesity at Hilton Baltimore

Science and medical reporters are invited to sample a wide diversity of new research and policy initiatives at a Summit on Childhood Obesity on Tues., Nov. 15 and Wed., Nov. 16 at the Hilton Baltimore.

13 Nov 2011

New stem cell technique hopes to replace damaged cells in Parkinson's

Australian scientists have developed a new technique using stem cells, in the hope to replace damaged cells in Parkinson's disease. The technique could be developed for application in other degenerative conditions.

13 Nov 2011

Penn study on gut cell regeneration reconciles long-standing research controversy

The lining of the intestine regenerates itself every few days as compared to say red blood cells that turn over every four months. The cells that help to absorb food and liquid that humans consume are constantly being produced. The various cell types that do this come from stem cells that reside deep in the inner recesses of the accordion-like folds of the intestines, called villi and crypts.

11 Nov 2011

Mutations make Staph more resistant to antibiotics

Infectious diseases specialists from Austin Health are working closely with Microbiologists from the University of Melbourne to understand how Staph is becoming resistant to all antibiotic therapies.

11 Nov 2011

Cultivating cells in sealed, sterile plastic bags

Using plasmas, sealed plastic bags can be modified at atmospheric pressure so that human cells can adhere to and reproduce on their walls. Cell culture bags of this kind are an important aid for research and clinical purposes and may eventually replace the Petri dishes used today.

11 Nov 2011

Oncostatin M could help heal damaged heart muscle tissue

Oncostatin M regulates the reversion of heart muscle cells into precursor cells and is vitally important for the self-healing powers of the heart

11 Nov 2011

Damaged mitochondria equivalent to an environmental disaster in the cell

Current thinking about Parkinson's disease is that it's a disorder of mitochondria, the energy-producing organelles inside cells, causing neurons in the brain's substantia nigra to die or become impaired.

11 Nov 2011

Fish consumption linked to lower risk of diabetes

A study analyses the dietary patterns of the adult Spanish population with high cardiovascular risk. The results reveal a high consumption of both red meat and fish. However, whilst eating lots of cured meats is associated with greater weight gain and a higher obesity rate, the consumption of fish is linked to lower glucose concentrations and a smaller risk of developing diabetes.

11 Nov 2011

Scientists suppress NCoR1 protein and create mighty mice

A team of researchers at EPFL, the University of Lausanne and the Salk Institute created super strong, marathon mice and nematodes by reducing the function of a natural inhibitor, suggesting treatments for age-related or genetically caused muscle degeneration are within reach.

11 Nov 2011

Olfactory sensory neurons in older people show unexpected response to odor

Scientists studying how the sense of smell changes as people age, found that olfactory sensory neurons in those 60 and over showed an unexpected response to odor that made it more difficult to distinguish specific smells, putting them at greater risk from dangerous chemicals and poor nutrition.

11 Nov 2011

Worm model to evaluate drugs for Parkinson's disease

Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have devised a simple test, using dopamine-deficient worms, for identifying drugs that may help people with Parkinson's disease.

11 Nov 2011

Regulated gene transcription more complex than previously thought

Cells develop and thrive by turning genes on and off as needed in a precise pattern, a process known as regulated gene transcription. In a paper published in the Nov. 9 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine say this process is even more complex than previously thought, with regulated genes actually relocated to other, more conducive places in the cell nucleus.

11 Nov 2011

Researchers identify how to design drugs to target specific brain areas

The future of drug design lies in developing therapies that can target specific cellular processes without causing adverse reactions in other areas of the nervous system. Scientists at the Universities of Bristol and Li-ge in Belgium have discovered how to design drugs to target specific areas of the brain.

11 Nov 2011

Berkeley Lab, Bruker partner to develop and distribute new structural biology methods

Bruker Corporation and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) today announced a collaboration to develop and distribute new structural biology methods and tools to integrate Small-Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS) with Nuclear Magnetic Resonance.

11 Nov 2011

FDA licenses NYBC's HEMACORD stem cell product

The Food and Drug Administration has licensed HEMACORD for allogeneic hematopoietic (blood-forming) stem cell transplantation, the first such approval of a stem cell product in the world.

11 Nov 2011

Study: Primary visual cortex is modulated only by attention

In everyday life, attention and awareness appear tightly interwoven. Attending to the scissors on the rinumber of behavioural observations have recently led scientists to postulate that attention and awareness are fundamentally different processes and not necessarily connected.ght side of your desk, you become aware of their attributes, for example the red handles. Vice versa, the red handles could attract your attention to the scissors.

11 Nov 2011

NCoR deficiency may pump up muscles and prevent diabetes

Two independent studies in the Nov. 11 issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication, suggest a common way to pump up muscles and prevent diabetes. The key is a molecule required for fine-tuning metabolism by selectively and subtly modifying core metabolic programs.

11 Nov 2011

New potential target to slow breast cancer tumor progression and metastasis

A new potential target to slow breast cancer tumor progression and metastasis has been identified by a team of researchers led by Dr. Richard Kremer from the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre.

11 Nov 2011

British researchers discover receptor necessary for malaria parasite to invade red blood cells, offering new vaccine hope

Researchers from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in the U.K. have "made a critical discovery about the way the most deadly species of malaria parasite invades human red blood cells," Reuters reports.

11 Nov 2011

New unsuspected role for nuclear receptor corepressor protein

By knocking out a key regulatory protein, scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland dramatically boosted insulin sensitivity in lab mice, an achievement that opens a new door for drug development and the treatment of diabetes.

11 Nov 2011