Medical Xpress news

Medical Xpress / Sitting on Japanese tatami mats may reduce anxiety and support task engagement

Researchers at Kyushu University, publishing in the journal Scientific Reports, found that using mats made from Japanese Igusa, or rush grass, was associated with increased activity in regions of the brain related to concentration ...

1 hour ago
Medical Xpress / Second-hand smoke causes nearly 1.7M deaths globally: Study

More than 2.7 billion people, including children, were exposed to secondhand smoke globally, contributing to nearly 1.7 million deaths in 2023, according to a study published Tuesday in The Lancet Public Health.

1 hour ago
Medical Xpress / A single IV treatment retrains immune cells to fight autoimmune diseases in early trial

CAR T-cell therapy is an immune-reprogramming procedure that turns a patient's own immune cells into cancer-fighting specialists. The entire process is complex, but researchers have now found a faster way to achieve similar ...

20 hours ago
Medical Xpress / How the mouse brain learns from a single experience

Sometimes, even a single experience can be highly impactful, prompting humans and other animals to change their behavior or influencing their future choices. The formation of influential memories from a single, brief experience ...

16 hours ago
Medical Xpress / Understudied gut fungus may help repair radiation-damaged DNA and limit intestinal injury

The gut microbiome has been a popular topic for a while now, but the focus is usually on good bacteria. A new study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that we may want to pay ...

18 hours ago
Medical Xpress / Newly discovered stem cell reveals potential drug target for spinal stenosis

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and Hospital for Special Surgery have discovered the unspecialized stem cells that give rise to the body's tendons and ligaments, the tissues connecting muscles and bones.

19 hours ago
Medical Xpress / How the heart, lungs and brain work together to shape experience

People speak of "butterflies in the stomach," a "racing heart," being "choked up" or needing to "catch breath." Language routinely treats emotion and thought as though they inhabit the body. But why are events of the mind ...

17 hours ago
Medical Xpress / Atherosclerosis may meet key criteria for autoimmune disease, evidence suggests

In autoimmune diseases, the immune system turns against the body through pathogenic high-affinity B cells or T cells, leading to severe organ damage. Multiple sclerosis (nervous system paralysis), type 1 diabetes (a strong ...

15 hours ago
Medical Xpress / Why scientists are looking to provoke disagreement among AI brain models

When people wanted to create better artificial intelligence, they looked to the brain for inspiration. Now the tables are turning, and researchers are using AI models to better understand the brain. But how do we judge which ...

16 hours ago
Medical Xpress / MLC1 antibody identified as possible trigger of rare neurological autoimmune disorder

Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) is a rare autoimmune disease of the central nervous system in which the immune system attacks structures in the brain, spinal cord and optic nerve. It mostly affects astrocytes, ...

16 hours ago
Medical Xpress / Why beauty feels shared: Brain scans map art's content and pleasure pathways

Stand in front of "Turner's Sun Rising Over Water" (1825–30), and something odd tends to happen. The painting holds you, even though observers might struggle to say why. Maybe it is the color, the balance, the composition ...

17 hours ago
Medical Xpress / How losing the 'guardian of the genome' can damage DNA and drive cancer

A new study finds that when p53, one of the most important cancer-protecting genes, stops working, cells produce too much RNA and consume excessive amounts of the building blocks needed to copy their DNA. This shortage disrupts ...

18 hours ago