http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. As soon as babies are born, they are susceptible to diseases and infections, such as jaundice and e-coli. For up to a month, their immune systems aren't adequately developed to fight diseases. Although these infections are often minor, they can lead to serious problems if left untreated. To help strengthen newborns' immune systems, University of Missouri researchers have pinpointed a group of depleted white blood cells, which might lead to an immune-strengthening vaccine. http://www.physorg.com/news180101488.html Medicine & Health Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:12:07 EST news180101488 Fruit flies may seem like unlikely heroes in the battle against drug abuse, but new research suggests that these insects - already used to study dozens of human disease - could claim that role. Scientists are reporting that fruit flies can be used as a simpler and more convenient animal model for studying the effects of cocaine and other drugs of abuse on the brain. Their study appears online in ACS Chemical Neuroscience, a new monthly journal. http://www.physorg.com/news179051952.html Medicine & Health Thu, 03 Dec 2009 08:39:43 EST news179051952 With flu season in full swing and the threat of H1N1 looming, demand for vaccines is at an all-time high. Although those vaccines are expected to be effective, University of Missouri researchers have found further evidence that some over-the-counter drugs, such as aspirin and Tylenol, that inhibit certain enzymes could impact the effectiveness of vaccines. http://www.physorg.com/news178902940.html Medicine & Health Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:30:01 EST news178902940 For cancer patients on chemotherapy, the "cure" can be as deadly as the disease itself. Adverse drug reactions are one of the leading causes of death among patients receiving cancer treatment. http://www.physorg.com/news177769379.html Medicine & Health Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:00:02 EST news177769379 Removing the PKCI/HINT1 gene from mice has an anti-depressant-like and anxiolytic-like effect. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Neuroscience applied a battery of behavioral tests to the PKCI/HINT1 knockout animals, concluding that the deleted gene may have an important role in mood regulation. http://www.physorg.com/news177276531.html Medicine & Health Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:30:03 EST news177276531 While too much amyloid beta protein in the brain is linked to the development of Alzheimer's disease, not enough of the protein in healthy brains can cause learning problems and forgetfulness, Saint Louis University scientists have found. http://www.physorg.com/news177010856.html Medicine & Health Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:10:02 EST news177010856 For parents of children with cancer, the hopeful news is that pediatric survival rates have steadily improved for decades. Among the bad news -treatments that enable survival often cause infertility. http://www.physorg.com/news176997811.html Medicine & Health Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:20:11 EST news176997811 Two genes, each one of which is known to cause cancer on its own, together can lead to aggressive leukaemia. This is the conclusion from new research carried out on gene-modified mice at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. The discovery has surprised scientists, and may lead to new treatments. http://www.physorg.com/news176465080.html Medicine & Health Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:20:01 EST news176465080 A research team at Vanderbilt University has developed an innovative optical system to simultaneously image electrical activity and metabolic properties in the same region of a heart, to study the complex mechanisms that lead to sudden cardiac arrest. Tested in animal models, the system could dramatically advance scientists' understanding of the relationship between metabolic disorders and heart rhythm disturbances in humans that can lead to cardiac arrest and death, and provide a platform for testing new treatments to prevent or stop potentially fatal irregular heartbeats, known as arrhythmias. http://www.physorg.com/news176138251.html Medicine & Health Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:18:05 EST news176138251 For men coping with painful erections lasting for long periods of time, or priapism, new research published online in The FASEB Journal offers hope. That's because researchers from the United States and China show that the enzyme adenosine deaminase may prevent priapism from progressing to penile fibrosis, a condition associated with the build up of scar tissue and eventual impotence. As penile fibrosis is a complication of priapism, so priapism is a complication of sickle cell disease. Adenosine deaminase, which breaks down adenosine, is already used in humans as a treatment for a rare immune disorder. http://www.physorg.com/news175792495.html Medicine & Health Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:20:01 EST news175792495 Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston report that an enzyme known as Mst3b, previously identified in their lab, is essential for regenerating damaged axons (nerve fibers) in a live animal model, in both the peripheral and central nervous systems. Their findings, published online by Nature Neuroscience on October 25, suggest Mst3b - or agents that stimulate it - as a possible means of treating stroke, spinal cord damage and traumatic brain injury. Normally, neurons in the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord) cannot regenerate injured nerve fibers, limiting people's ability to recover from brain or spinal cord injuries. http://www.physorg.com/news175702600.html Medicine & Health Sun, 25 Oct 2009 15:17:24 EST news175702600 (PhysOrg.com) -- Carbon nanotubes are being considered for use in everything from sports equipment to medical applications, but a great deal remains unknown about whether these materials cause respiratory or other health problems. Now a collaborative study from North Carolina State University, The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences shows that inhaling these nanotubes can affect the outer lining of the lung, though the effects of long-term exposure remain unclear. http://www.physorg.com/news175702180.html Nanotechnology Sun, 25 Oct 2009 15:12:24 EST news175702180 More than half the people who take antidepressants for depression never get relief. Why? Because the cause of depression has been oversimplified and drugs designed to treat it aim at the wrong target, according to new research from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. The medications are like arrows shot at the outer rings of a bull's eye instead of the center. http://www.physorg.com/news175521459.html Medicine & Health Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:00:21 EST news175521459 Two experimental treatments, a retinal prosthesis and fetal tissue transplant, restored some vision to people with blinding eye diseases. The findings, presented at Neuroscience 2009, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience and the world's largest source of emerging news on brain science and health, may lead to new treatments for the blind. Researchers also reported that an engineered protein restored vision in an animal model and identified ways to improve stem cell treatments. http://www.physorg.com/news175275493.html Medicine & Health Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:30:01 EST news175275493 Migraine sufferers, beware. You may be more prone to an alcohol-induced headache after a night of drinking, according to researchers from the Jefferson Headache Center. The research will be presented at Neuroscience 2009, the Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, in Chicago. http://www.physorg.com/news175157842.html Medicine & Health Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:10:01 EST news175157842 While studying an HIV protein that plays an essential role in AIDS progression, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have discovered compounds that show promise as novel treatments for the disease. http://www.physorg.com/news174664492.html Chemistry Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:10:03 EST news174664492 A recent United States Army study found that excessive bone growth, also known as heterotopic ossificiation (HO), affects up to 70 percent of soldiers who are severely wounded during combat. A much smaller percentage of the civilian population also suffers from HO following trauma or invasive surgery. The excessive bone forms within muscles and other tissues causing severe pain, reduced mobility and even local paralysis if untreated. http://www.physorg.com/news172924973.html Medicine & Health Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:00:05 EST news172924973 The blood brain barrier is generally considered an obstacle to delivering therapies from the bloodstream to the brain. However, University of Iowa researchers have discovered a way to turn the blood vessels surrounding brain cells into a production and delivery system for getting therapeutic molecules directly into brain cells. http://www.physorg.com/news172762279.html Medicine & Health Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:32:13 EST news172762279 As part of efforts to understand drug abuse, Georgia State University researchers are finding that adolescent rats appear to be less vulnerable to the long-term effects of withdrawal and relapse in certain types of drug use than rats that take the drugs in adulthood. http://www.physorg.com/news172337762.html Medicine & Health Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:50:01 EST news172337762 An enzyme known to cause insulin resistance in muscle is also located in the brain and has a similar function there, a research team that includes a University of Cincinnati scientist has found. http://www.physorg.com/news172153316.html Medicine & Health Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:40:09 EST news172153316 Scientists led a rat to the fatty food, but they couldn't make it eat. Using an animal model of binge eating, University of Missouri researchers discovered that deactivating the basolateral amygdala, a brain region involved in regulating emotion, specifically blocked consumption of a fatty diet. Surprisingly, it had no effect on the rat wanting to look for the food repeatedly. http://www.physorg.com/news171643402.html Medicine & Health Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:30:01 EST news171643402 UCSF researchers have successfully used protease inhibitors to restore to normal levels a key protein involved in early brain development. Reduced levels of that protein have been shown to cause the rare brain disorder lissencephaly, which is characterized by brain malformations, seizures, severe mental retardation and very early death in human infants. http://www.physorg.com/news171459656.html Medicine & Health Sun, 06 Sep 2009 12:41:58 EST news171459656 An injectable biomaterial gel may help brain tissue grow at the site of a traumatic brain injury, according to findings by a Clemson University bioengineer. http://www.physorg.com/news171131636.html Biology Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:00:02 EST news171131636 Researchers at the National Cancer Institute have identified a gene that may play a role in breast cancer metastasis to the brain, according to a report in Molecular Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. http://www.physorg.com/news171031223.html Medicine & Health Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:41:22 EST news171031223 Chronic alcohol consumption blunts the biological clock's ability to synchronize daily activities to light, disrupts natural activity patterns and continues to affect the body's clock (circadian rhythm), even days after the drinking ends, according to a new study with hamsters. http://www.physorg.com/news171006931.html Medicine & Health Tue, 01 Sep 2009 06:55:57 EST news171006931 Small interfering RNA (siRNA), a type of genetic material, can block potentially harmful activity in cells, such as tumor cell growth. But delivering siRNA successfully to specific cells without adversely affecting other cells has been challenging. http://www.physorg.com/news170600432.html Biology Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:10:01 EST news170600432 An exploration of the molecular links between insulin resistance and inflammation may have revealed a novel target for diabetes treatment, say scientists at the John G. Rangos Sr. Research Center, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. Their findings were published earlier this month in the online version of Diabetes, one of the journals of the American Diabetes Association. http://www.physorg.com/news170504200.html Medicine & Health Wed, 26 Aug 2009 11:17:40 EST news170504200 Victorian stem cell scientists from Monash University have modified a human embryonic stem cell (hESC) line to glow red when the stem cells become red blood cells. http://www.physorg.com/news170333155.html Biology Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:00:02 EST news170333155 "Thick" blood can cause heart attack and stroke, but also prevent them. Scientists at Heidelberg University Hospital have explained the mechanism of this clinical paradox for the first time on an animal model. Mice with a greater tendency to form blood clots have larger plaques in their vessels, but they are more stable. Thus, there is less risk that these plaques will rupture and obstruct circulation. The results of the study have been published in the prestigious journal Circulation. http://www.physorg.com/news170328047.html Medicine & Health Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:21:46 EST news170328047 A new method for attaching a large protective polymer molecule to a protein appears to improve protein drugs significantly. http://www.physorg.com/news169915782.html Biology Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:20:02 EST news169915782