http://medicineworld.org/news/research-news.html MedicineWorld.Org brings daily research news from various sources to keep you updated on the latest events in the world on this topic. Medicineworld research news service is the most comprehensive research news service on the internet. We keep an archive of previous few days of news on this site. Please go down through the list to find the older news items Sun, 11 May 2008 15:16:20 GMT en-us http://medicineworld.org/images/research-news.jpg http://medicineworld.org/news/research-news.html 94 103 http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/5-2008/concerns-over-childhood-and-adolescent-obesity.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/5-2008/concerns-over-childhood-and-adolescent-obesity.html Sun, 11 May 2008 15:16:20 GMT Study findings presented at the May 2008 Pediatric Academic Societies and Asian Society for Pediatric Research Joint Meeting indicate that childhood and adolescent obesity negatively impacts vascular endothelial function, which relates to cardiac health. Obesity has been increasing rapidly in the U.S. during the past 20 years and obesity in adults has been associated with cardiovascular disease. The occurence rate of obesity in children is also increasing and a number of cardiovascular diseases that are manifested in adulthood may actually begin in childhood. It is known that healthy endothelium (a single cell layer that lines all blood vessels) is key to maintaining vascular health. Endothelial dysfunction is a primary contributor to atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (the buildup of fatty deposits on the inside walls of arteries) in adults and is linked to increased risk of heart attacks, stroke, and congestive heart failure. Endothelial function can be measured non-invasively in children using venous occlusion plethysmography (VOP), a technique that measures responses of arm blood vessel responses to an inflatable cuff that externally halts and restarts blood flow. This method has been shown to correlate with coronary artery function in adults with heart disease........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/5-2008/how-body-size-is-regulated.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/5-2008/how-body-size-is-regulated.html Sun, 11 May 2008 15:16:20 GMT Researchers are beginning to unravel the question why people distinctly vary in size. In cooperation with researchers of the HelmholtzZentrum München, an international genome-wide study has discovered ten new genes that influence body height and thus provides new insights into biological pathways that are important for human growth........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/5-2008/do-antidepressants-enhance-immune-function.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/5-2008/do-antidepressants-enhance-immune-function.html Sun, 11 May 2008 15:16:20 GMT Infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which leads to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), is an epidemic of global concern. As per the most recent estimates, released in November 2007, by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 33.2 million worldwide are living with HIV infection currently. Eventhough the rates of infection appear to be decreasing, there are obviously immense implications for achieving improvements in HIV/AIDS therapy........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/5-2008/new-cancer-gene-discovered.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/5-2008/new-cancer-gene-discovered.html Sun, 11 May 2008 15:16:20 GMT Scientists at the OU Cancer Institute have identified a new gene that causes cancer. The ground-breaking research appears Monday in Nature's cancer journal Oncogene. The gene and its protein, both called RBM3, are vital for cell division in normal cells. In cancers, low oxygen levels in the tumors cause the amount of this protein to go up dramatically. This causes cancer cells to divide uncontrollably, leading to increased tumor formation........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/5-2008/hunger-hormone-makes-food-look-more-attractive.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/5-2008/hunger-hormone-makes-food-look-more-attractive.html Sun, 11 May 2008 15:16:20 GMT A new brain-imaging study by scientists at the Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University reveals that ghrelin - a stomach hormone, acts on specific regions of the brain to enhance our response to food related cues and eating for pleasure. This study, reported in the May 7 issue of Cell Metabolism, is critical to advance understanding and treating obesity, a condition affecting millions world-wide........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/5-2008/safety-of-gene-therapy-using-adult-stem-cells.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/5-2008/safety-of-gene-therapy-using-adult-stem-cells.html Sun, 11 May 2008 15:16:20 GMT A new study by UC Davis scientists provides evidence that methods using human bone marrow-derived stem cells to deliver gene treatment to cure diseases of the blood, bone marrow and certain types of cancer do not cause the development of tumors or leukemia. The study was published online in the May 6, 2008 issue of Molecular Therapy........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/5-2008/neurons-duke-it-out-for-survival.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/5-2008/neurons-duke-it-out-for-survival.html Sun, 11 May 2008 15:16:20 GMT The developing nervous system makes far more nerve cells than are needed to ensure target organs and tissues are properly connected to the nervous system. As nerves connect to target organs, they somehow compete with each other resulting in some living and some dying. Now, using a combination of computer modeling and molecular biology, neuroresearchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered how the target tissue helps newly connected peripheral nerve cells strengthen their connections and kill neighboring nerves. The study was reported in the April 18th issue of Science........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/5-2008/immune-exhaustion-in-hiv-infection.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/5-2008/immune-exhaustion-in-hiv-infection.html Sun, 11 May 2008 15:16:20 GMT Its the virus, stupid: immune exhaustion in HIV infection As HIV disease progresses in a person infected with the HIV virus, a group of cells in the immune system, the CD8+ T lymphocytes, become exhausted, losing a number of of their abilities to kill other cells infected by the virus. For a number of years researchers have debated whether this exhaustion of CD8+ T cells is the cause, or the consequence, of persistence of the HIV virus. As per a research findings published this week in PLoS Medicine, Marcus Altfeld and his colleagues studied the immune response over time amongst 18 individuals who had very recently become infected with HIV........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/4-2008/how-cancer-spreads.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/4-2008/how-cancer-spreads.html Sun, 11 May 2008 15:16:20 GMT Metastasis, the spread of cancer throughout the body, can be explained by the fusion of a cancer cell with a white blood cell in the original tumor, as per Yale School of Medicine researchers, who say that this single event can set the stage for cancers migration to other parts of the body. Their work was Reported in the recent issue of Nature Reviews Cancer. The studies, spanning 15 years, have revealed that the newly formed hybrid of the cancer cell and white blood cell adapts the white blood cells natural ability to migrate around the body, while going through the uncontrolled cell division of the original cancer cell. This causes a metastatic cell to emerge, which like a white blood cell, can migrate through tissue, enter the circulatory system and travel to other organs........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/4-2008/brains-reaction-to-potent-hallucinogen.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/4-2008/brains-reaction-to-potent-hallucinogen.html Sun, 11 May 2008 15:16:20 GMT Brain-imaging studies performed in animals at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory provide scientists with clues about why an increasingly popular recreational drug that causes hallucinations and motor-function impairment in humans is abused. Using trace amounts of Salvia divinorum - also known as "salvia," a Mexican mint plant that can be smoked in the form of dried leaves or serum - Brookhaven researchers observed that the drug's behavior in the brains of primates mimics the extremely fast and brief "high" observed in humans. Their results are now published online in the journal NeuroImage........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/4-2008/stem-cells-in-the-pituitary.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/4-2008/stem-cells-in-the-pituitary.html Sun, 11 May 2008 15:16:20 GMT A team of scientists led by researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have for the first time identified stem cells that allow the pituitary glands of mice to grow even after birth. They observed that, in contrast to most adult stem cells, these cells are distinct from those that fuel the initial growth of this important organ. The results suggest a novel way that the hormone-secreting gland may adapt, even in adolescents and adults, to traumatic stress or to normal life changes like pregnancy........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/4-2008/new-technology-for-boosting-vaccine-efficiency.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/4-2008/new-technology-for-boosting-vaccine-efficiency.html Sun, 11 May 2008 15:16:20 GMT One of the most pressing biomedical issues is the development of techniques that increase the efficiency of vaccines. In a paper published on April 24, 2008 in the journal Vaccine, a Massachusettss biotechnology company, Cure Lab, Inc. has proposed a new technology for anti-viral vaccination. This technology consists of two major elements. First, each vaccine antigen should be made in two forms. One is easily processed within the organisms cells by an intracellular chopping machine called the proteosome, while another is resistant to the chopping. Thus both these forms of an antigen would be used in combination to elicit a much stronger immune response than either of them would be able to do alone........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/4-2008/heart-derived-stem-cells-develop-into-heart-muscle.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/4-2008/heart-derived-stem-cells-develop-into-heart-muscle.html Sun, 11 May 2008 15:16:20 GMT Dutch scientists at University Medical Center Utrecht and the Hubrecht Institute have succeeded in growing large numbers of stem cells from adult human hearts into new heart muscle cells. A breakthrough in stem cell research. Until now, it was necessary to use embryonic stem cells to make this happen. The findings appear in the latest issue of the journal Stem Cell Research........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/4-2008/why-teens-get-hooked-on-cocaine-more-easily.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/4-2008/why-teens-get-hooked-on-cocaine-more-easily.html Sun, 11 May 2008 15:16:20 GMT New drug research suggests that teens may get addicted and relapse more easily than adults because developing brains are more powerfully motivated by drug-related cues. This conclusion has been reached by scientists who observed that adolescent rats given cocaine a powerfully addicting stimulant were more likely than adults to prefer the place where they got it. That learned association endured: Even after experimenters extinguished the drug-linked preference, a small reinstating dose of cocaine appeared to rekindle that preference but only in the adolescent rats........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/4-2008/fairness-as-it-does-to-money-and-chocolate.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/4-2008/fairness-as-it-does-to-money-and-chocolate.html Sun, 11 May 2008 15:16:20 GMT The human brain responds to being treated fairly the same way it responds to winning money and eating chocolate, UCLA researchers report. Being treated fairly turns on the brain's reward circuitry. "We may be hard-wired to treat fairness as a reward," said co-author of study Matthew D. Lieberman, UCLA associate professor of psychology and a founder of social cognitive neuroscience........ ]]>