Medical Xpress news

Medical Xpress / What we now know about how smoking stiffens lungs

For the first time, scientists have directly measured how smoking changes the mechanical behavior of human lung tissue. Published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, the study, directed by UC Riverside mechanical ...

1 hour ago
Medical Xpress / Early warning signs: Poor grip strength linked to greater odds of developing depression

Handgrip strength is the maximum force a person can apply with their hand, and it is often used as a proxy for overall muscular strength, functional capacity, and aging. Scientists have found that it can also be an indicator ...

1 hour ago
Medical Xpress / Common asthma drug may turn off tumor 'switch' tied to immunotherapy resistance

A drug widely used to treat asthma and allergies may also help fight aggressive cancers, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study that uncovered how tumors hijack common white blood cells to evade immunotherapy.

5 hours ago
Medical Xpress / How early brain activity may shape speech-linked circuits before babies ever speak

Communication begins long before children learn to speak. Researchers at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU) in Taiwan have now uncovered how early brain activity helps build developing communication circuits ...

5 hours ago
Medical Xpress / Why brain cells learn better: NMDA receptor maps may explain memory-linked calcium flow

The human brain constantly adapts in response to experiences, forming new connections between neurons and reorganizing existing ones. The brain's ability to adapt in response to experiences is known as neuroplasticity.

20 hours ago
Medical Xpress / A new way to recharge aging muscle stem cells by restoring a key metabolic component

Losing muscle strength is a natural part of aging. At the core of this decline is a drop in the number of muscle stem cells (MuSCs), the specialized cells responsible for maintaining and regenerating muscle tissue throughout ...

19 hours ago
Medical Xpress / How chemotherapy can backfire: An immune shift tied to tumor resistance and poorer outcomes

Chemotherapy can be life-saving for many patients, but not all tumors respond—and some that do, may eventually become resistant. Investigators at Houston Methodist have identified a possible explanation for this resistance, ...

16 hours ago
Medical Xpress / By age 4, one side of the brain is already calling the shots on language

The brain's capacity to use and understand language expands rapidly in the first years of life, as babies start to make sense of the words they hear and eventually begin to piece together sentences of their own. The language-processing ...

17 hours ago
Medical Xpress / At 'most favored nation' prices, can Medicare break even on GLP-1 drugs?

In November 2025, the White House announced pricing deals with multiple pharmaceutical manufacturers to lower domestic prices for glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist drugs (GLP-1RAs) including Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, ...

17 hours ago
Medical Xpress / Blood test spots failing prostate cancer treatment within 6-12 weeks, study finds

A new blood test could help doctors identify whether a treatment for advanced prostate cancer is failing weeks earlier than current tests, according to a U.K.-wide study led by UCL researchers. The study, published in Nature ...

18 hours ago
Medical Xpress / Baseline MRI lets AI predict Alzheimer's progression without cognitive testing

Millions of people are diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease each year, comprising 60% to 70% of dementia cases worldwide. While cognitive impairment and structural brain changes are indicative of Alzheimer's disease progression, ...

18 hours ago
Medical Xpress / Nutrition support during pregnancy improves birth outcomes, global study finds

In parts of the world where daily nutrition is unstable, pregnancy and newborn health are more precarious. A recent study led by epidemiologist Dongqing Wang of the George Mason University College of Public Health adds to ...

18 hours ago