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. Researchers on Sunday said they had pinpointed the biochemical pathway by which cannabis causes memory loss in mice. http://www.physorg.com/news168440808.html Medicine & Health Sun, 02 Aug 2009 15:10:01 EST news168440808 University of Florida researchers were able to program bone marrow stem cells to repair damaged retinas in mice, suggesting a potential treatment for one of the most common causes of vision loss in older people. http://www.physorg.com/news168257942.html Medicine & Health Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:23:05 EST news168257942 Cancer researchers at Georgetown University's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center have successfully tested a small, engineered antibody they say shuts down growth of human glioblastoma tumors in cell and animal studies. Glioblastoma is the deadliest of brain cancers; there is no effective treatment. http://www.physorg.com/news168253487.html Medicine & Health Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:05:36 EST news168253487 Not satisfied with simply thwarting its host's defensive maneuvers, HIV actually twists one to its advantage, based on new findings from Kyei et al. in the July 27, 2009 issue of the Journal of Cell Biology. Vojo Deretic and colleagues suggest that autophagy -a stress response process -helps HIV to proliferate and that conversely, blocking autophagy lessens HIV production. http://www.physorg.com/news167904778.html Medicine & Health Mon, 27 Jul 2009 09:30:02 EST news167904778 (PhysOrg.com) -- A UCLA study has identified a way to turn off a key signaling pathway involved in physiological processes that can also stimulate the development of cancer and other diseases. The findings may lead to new treatments and targeted drugs using this approach. http://www.physorg.com/news167314425.html Medicine & Health Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:30:01 EST news167314425 (PhysOrg.com) -- Learning complex skills like playing an instrument requires a sequence of movements that can take years to master. Last year, MIT neuroscientists reported that by studying the chirps of tiny songbirds, they were able to identify how two distinct brain circuits contribute to this type of trial-and-error learning in different stages of life. http://www.physorg.com/news166120274.html Biology Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:32:28 EST news166120274 Patients who survive an initial diagnosis of breast cancer often succumb to the disease years later when the cancer shows up in a different part of the body. Now, scientists have identified key signals that support the long term survival of breast cancer cells after they have spread to the bone marrow. The research, published by Cell Press in the July issue of the journal Cancer Cell, may lead to development of treatment strategies that decrease the likelihood of breast cancer recurrence in the bone and other organs. http://www.physorg.com/news166104644.html Medicine & Health Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:11:20 EST news166104644 Clinical pathways have been used in surgeries since the 1980s, but their nature and usefulness are still subjects of much debate, especially as procedures such as hip and knee joint replacement represent a significant cost to hospitals. Now authors publishing in the open access journal BMC Medicine have concluded that using clinical pathways can effectively improve the quality of the care provided to patients undergoing joint replacement. http://www.physorg.com/news165647116.html Medicine & Health Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:10:02 EST news165647116 Specific variations or mutations in a particular can gene raise a man's risk of familial, or inherited, testicular germ-cell cancer, the most common form of this disease, according to new research by scientists at the National Institutes of Health. This is only the second gene to be identified that affects the risk of familial testicular cancer, and the first gene in a key biochemical pathway. The study appears in the July 2009 Cancer Research. http://www.physorg.com/news165493609.html Medicine & Health Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:27:24 EST news165493609 Differences in growth factor (GF) signaling may cause the poor prognosis in some breast cancer cases. A new study, published in the open access journal BMC Medical Genomics, suggests that some estrogen receptor-positive breast cancers respond poorly to tamoxifen because of increased GF signaling. http://www.physorg.com/news165005770.html Medicine & Health Wed, 24 Jun 2009 04:00:01 EST news165005770 (June 21, 2009) - Notch signaling helps determine the fate of a number of different cell types in a variety of organisms, including humans. In an article that appears in the current issue of Nature Cell Biology, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine report that a new finding about the Notch signaling pathway in sensory organ precursor cells in the fruit fly could explain the mystery behind an immunological disorder called Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome. http://www.physorg.com/news164809934.html Biology Sun, 21 Jun 2009 14:10:02 EST news164809934 In the normal lung, the airways are lined by a balanced mixture of ciliated, secretory and neuroendocrine cells which perform functions as diverse as air humidification, detoxification, and clearance of environmental particles. This balance can be altered dramatically by faulty adaptation responses of the lung to cigarette smoke or allergens in patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and asthma. http://www.physorg.com/news163690468.html Medicine & Health Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:34:49 EST news163690468 Latent HIV genes can be 'smoked out' of human cells. The so-called 'shock and kill' technique, described in a preclinical study in BioMed Central's open access journal Retrovirology, might represent a new milestone along the way to the discovery of a cure for HIV/AIDS. http://www.physorg.com/news163328174.html Medicine & Health Thu, 04 Jun 2009 09:58:56 EST news163328174 (PhysOrg.com) -- University of New Mexico Cancer Center researchers have identified a genetic mutation underlying one of the most common childhood cancers, acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The discovery could lead to more effective treatments for a subset of ALL patients who experience minimal benefit with current therapies by using drugs that are already in clinical trials for similar blood diseases in adults. http://www.physorg.com/news163263827.html Medicine & Health Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:04:46 EST news163263827 Researchers at McGill University and the University of Pennsylvania have discovered that a widely used anti-diabetic drug can boost the immune system and increase the potency of vaccines and cancer treatments. Their findings will be published June 3 in the journal Nature. http://www.physorg.com/news163253883.html Medicine & Health Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:18:27 EST news163253883 In recent years, obesity has taken on epidemic proportions in developed nations, contributing significantly to major medical problems, early death and rising health care costs. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates, at least a quarter of all American adults and more than 15 percent of children and adolescents are obese. http://www.physorg.com/news163165465.html Medicine & Health Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:45:29 EST news163165465 Cancer develops when cells known as cancer stem cells begin to divide in an uncontrolled manner. Researchers from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified roles for the gene PTEN, which is already well known for its ability to suppress tumor growth, and for several pathways linked to PTEN in the growth of cells that give rise to breast cancer. The work, published in this week's issue of the open-access journal PLoS Biology, also reports that a drug that interferes with the activity of one of these pathways leads to a 90 percent decrease in the number of cells able to form tumors in mice. http://www.physorg.com/news163145779.html Biology Tue, 02 Jun 2009 07:16:42 EST news163145779 (PhysOrg.com) -- As the best drugs become increasingly resistant to superbugs, McMaster University researchers have discovered a completely different way of looking for a new antibiotic. http://www.physorg.com/news162736732.html Chemistry Thu, 28 May 2009 13:39:36 EST news162736732 Pain, the most common reason for adults to visit a primary care physician, and depression, the most frequent mental complaint requiring a doctor's appointment, occur together as often as half the time. http://www.physorg.com/news162578741.html Medicine & Health Tue, 26 May 2009 17:46:03 EST news162578741 It is the concentration of a few signaling molecules that determines the fate of individual cells during the early development of organisms. In the renowned journal Current Biology, a team of molecular biologists led by Pia Aanstad of the University of Innsbruck reports that a variety of molecular mechanisms accounts for the interpretation of the concentration of the signaling molecule Hedgehog. http://www.physorg.com/news162215335.html Biology Fri, 22 May 2009 12:49:30 EST news162215335 Researchers of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch, Germany, have gained crucial insight into how mechanosensitivity arises. By measuring electrical impulses in the sensory neurons of mice, the neurobiologists and pain researchers Dr. Stefan G. Lechner and Professor Gary Lewin were able to directly elucidate, for the first time, the emergence of mechanosensitivity. At the same time they were able to show that neurons develop their sensitivity to touch and pain during different developmental phases but always coincidentally with the growth of the neuronal pathways. (EMBO Journal, 2009, doi:10.1038/emboj.2009.73). http://www.physorg.com/news162211904.html Medicine & Health Fri, 22 May 2009 11:52:24 EST news162211904 Just as scientists finished sequencing the human genome, they got a new surprise. Inside the genetic pathway, where DNA produces proteins to sustain life, they found microRNA. These tiny ubiquitous molecules have opened a new research channel in biology, allowing scientists to more closely examine what causes genetic diseases, and what makes our cells tick. http://www.physorg.com/news160922147.html Biology Thu, 07 May 2009 13:36:09 EST news160922147 UCLA scientists, in partnership with 30 research institutions across the country, have identified a new gene variant that is highly common in autistic children. And when researchers scrutinized the activity of the gene, known as CDH10, in the fetal brain, they discovered that it is most active in key regions that support language, speech and interpreting social behavior. http://www.physorg.com/news160145737.html Medicine & Health Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:56:02 EST news160145737 The addition of a chemotherapeutic drug for leukemia to a standard regimen of two other chemotherapy drugs appears to enhance the response of certain ovarian cancers to treatment, according to a pre-clinical study led by researchers in the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center. http://www.physorg.com/news159366863.html Medicine & Health Sun, 19 Apr 2009 14:32:45 EST news159366863 A new study reveals the importance of adenylylation in the regulation of cell signaling from bacteria to higher organisms. The research, published by Cell Press in the April 10th issue of the journal Molecular Cell, provides new insight into bacterial pathogenesis and opens intriguing avenues for exploring post-translational modifications in eukaryotic cells. http://www.physorg.com/news158503513.html Biology Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:45:33 EST news158503513 It's basically a given that diets loaded with fat can lead to considerable health problems. But a new study in the April issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication, shows that in some cases diets that are high in both fat and protein can be even worse. http://www.physorg.com/news158328667.html Biology Tue, 07 Apr 2009 13:11:35 EST news158328667 Researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) have identified a signaling pathway that helps regulate the movement of blood-forming stem cells in the body -a finding that provides important new insight into how stem cells move around the body and which may lead to improvements in the efficiency of bone marrow transplants. http://www.physorg.com/news157211633.html Medicine & Health Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:54:27 EST news157211633 The bacterium Escherichia coli is part of the healthy human intestinal flora. However, E. coli also has pathogenic relatives that trigger diarrhea illnesses: enterohemorrhagic E.coli bacteria. During the course of an infection they infest the intestinal mucosa, causing injury in the process, in contrast to benign bacteria. http://www.physorg.com/news156686308.html Biology Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:02:20 EST news156686308 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at The University of Nottingham have uncovered a vital new biological clue that could lead to more effective treatments for a children's brain tumour that currently kills more than 60 per cent of young sufferers. http://www.physorg.com/news156609796.html Medicine & Health Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:44:35 EST news156609796 (PhysOrg.com) -- For years, researchers have known that under normal conditions, the breast cancer protein BRCA1 orchestrates the repair of damaged DNA, but the details of just how BRCA1 moves to the damaged site and recruits the right nuclear repairmen for DNA restoration remains a mystery. http://www.physorg.com/news156528576.html Medicine & Health Tue, 17 Mar 2009 17:10:12 EST news156528576