Medicalxpress

Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine.
  1. Unlike heterosexual couples, men who have sex with men (MSM) experience worse sexual health when depressed even in strong relationships, meaning mental health and sex could be more closely related for this population.
  2. Gay, bisexual, and queer men have worse body image than our heterosexual counterparts—a finding I, as a gay man, can personally attest to.
  3. While it's known that sleep plays a crucial role in strengthening memory, scientists are still trying to decode how this process plays out in the brain overnight.
  4. Diet influences the incidence, growth and progression of cancer, to the extent that one-third of the most common cancers can be prevented, at least in part, by dietary changes. And indeed, preclinical studies using food as an anticancer tool have shown promising results. However, these results have not yet reached the clinic.
  5. The human costs of tobacco and smoking worldwide are huge. 1.3 billion people use tobacco, mostly in low- and middle-income countries. More than 8 million people die prematurely because of tobacco, at an annual economic loss of at least US$1.4 trillion. And you don't have to be a smoker to be harmed: secondhand smoke exposure kills nearly 400,000 women every year.
  6. A new study presents an innovative approach to the crucial detection of pre-cancerous lesions using large, high-res images. A team of researchers from Portugal developed a machine learning solution that assists pathologists in the detection of cervical dysplasia, making the diagnosis of new samples completely automatic. It's one of the first published works to use full slides.
  7. Despite the use of similar assessment criteria when deciding whether new cancer drugs should receive funding, there are substantial differences in drug funding decisions, across comparable high-income countries.
  8. A team of doctors, nurses and medical researchers affiliated with multiple institutions in Australia has found that ultrasound devices can serve as reliable diagnostic tools for children presenting symptoms of distal forearm fracture. In their study, reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, the group tested the use of ultrasound devices in diagnosing arm fractures in children.
  9. In the past five years, several new drugs have been brought to market that could lead to a profound, if not revolutionary, change in how health care providers—and the public—view weight loss.
  10. New Peter Mac research recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) has discovered a fundamental breakthrough related to the development of liver cancer.
  11. People who are socially engaged when middle aged and beyond are 30-50% less likely to develop dementia later on, finds a new review of evidence led by UCL researchers.
  12. So far, it has not been possible to explain the causes of around half of all rare hereditary diseases. A Munich research team has developed an algorithm that predicts the effects of genetic mutations on RNA formation six times more precisely than previous models. As a result, the genetic causes of rare hereditary diseases and cancer can be identified more precisely.
  13. Researchers from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) recently discovered that extremely thorough "deep sequencing" of the genome in tissue samples and cell-free DNA of patients with potentially life-threatening vascular anomalies captured several genetic variants related to disease that were not captured with conventional genetic sequencing methods. More than 60% of patients saw an improvement in their condition after being placed on targeted therapies related to these newly found genetic variants. The findings were published June 1, 2023, in the journal Nature Medicine.
  14. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a fatal motor neuron disease that causes people to gradually lose control of their muscles. There is no cure, and current treatments focus on reducing symptoms and providing supportive care. Reporting June 1 in the journal Cell Stem Cell, researchers from Japan show in an early clinical trial that the Parkinson's disease drug ropinirole is safe to use in ALS patients and delayed disease progression by 27.9 weeks on average.
  15. Influenza, or the flu, is a virus transmitted by respiratory droplets from coughing and sneezing. It can cause the sudden onset of a fever, cough, runny nose, sore throat, headache, muscle and joint pain.
  16. The accuracy of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening for prostate cancer can be improved by accounting for genetic factors that cause changes in PSA levels that are not associated with cancer, according to a multi-center study led by UC San Francisco and Stanford University.
  17. ,Australians' access to a range of contraceptive options depends on where they live and how wealthy they are. A recent parliamentary inquiry recommends ways to end this "postcode lottery" for people who want to use long-acting reversible contraception.
  18. Researchers at the University Health Network and University of Toronto have discovered a new biotherapeutic molecule—produced by a strain of oral probiotic bacteria—that kills infectious pathogens while promoting a healthy microbiome.
  19. A Harvard-led study has identified genetic markers associated with preeclampsia and gestational hypertension in a large cohort study. In the paper, "Polygenic prediction of preeclampsia and gestational hypertension," published in Nature Medicine, the researchers detail how these genetic markers could be used as a predictive risk assessment and offers mechanistic insights into pregnancy disorders.
  20. A team led by Prof. Li Yu from the Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health (SINH) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), in collaboration with Prof. Fu Wenguang and Prof. Fang Jing, identified a novel mechanism for the HIF prolyl hydroxylase domain protein 3 (PHD3)-dependent proline hydroxylation of cAMP responsive element binding protein (CREB)-regulated transcriptional coactivator 2 (CRTC2) in the regulation of hepatic gluconeogenesis. This study was published online in PNAS on May 30.