Medical Xpress news

Medical Xpress / 'Pink noise' can help make anesthesia work better during surgery

In the brain, specific electrical waves are associated with different states of consciousness. For instance, delta waves—also known as slow waves—are especially prevalent during deep sleep, as well as during states of unconsciousness ...

May 21, 2026
Medical Xpress / Scientists capture 'housekeeping' immune cells attacking live melanoma

Scientists at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research have captured, for the first time, "housekeeping" immune cells actively attacking and engulfing live melanoma cells—a discovery that could change the way we approach ...

May 21, 2026
Medical Xpress / Duration of depression may influence how severely the disease alters the brain

Depression affects about 5.8% of the Brazilian population and presents a wide range of symptoms, intensities, and durations. A study published in Scientific Reports involving patients with major depressive disorder demonstrated ...

May 21, 2026
Medical Xpress / The bigger the reward, the faster we learn, researchers find

Scientists long assumed that learning speed depends primarily on our experience—how many times we try and succeed—not the size of the reward. We become better at poker because we keep playing and winning, regardless of the ...

May 21, 2026
Medical Xpress / 'Origami' method could speed up diagnosis of neurodegenerative disease

Researchers have developed a technique that can identify errors caused by mutations linked to a range of genetic disorders, including forms of muscular dystrophy, Huntington's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), ...

May 21, 2026
Medical Xpress / Smartphone data predict smoking cravings and lapses, with potential to treat addiction and other conditions

Minuscule movement patterns collected from smartphones and often undetectable to humans have been used to predict cravings and compulsive behaviors with groundbreaking accuracy—potentially offering timely and bespoke treatment ...

May 21, 2026
Medical Xpress / Simple blood test could catch Alzheimer's and Parkinson's early by spotting misfolded proteins

For the first time, therapeutically effective medications are now available for Alzheimer's disease. Effective symptomatic therapies also exist for Parkinson's disease; however, a prerequisite for successful treatment is ...

May 21, 2026
Medical Xpress / Scientists identify brain circuit that helps us 'change gears'

Most people have experienced the feeling: switching from one task to another, only to find the brain momentarily stuck in the old mode of thinking. Sometimes, even after realizing a strategy no longer works, the mind keeps ...

May 21, 2026
Medical Xpress / Brain's 'tumor hotspots' uncovered in fruit fly study

New research from Peter Mac has uncovered why some parts of the brain may be more vulnerable to tumor growth than others, offering new clues into how brain cancers begin and how they could one day be stopped. Published in ...

May 21, 2026
Medical Xpress / Decoding inflammatory bowel disease—on a chip

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which comprises the inflammatory conditions Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, affects about 1.6 million Americans, many of whom cannot be effectively treated. This is mostly due to ...

May 21, 2026
Medical Xpress / Both heart chambers are more severely affected in atrial fibrillation than previously thought, study reveals

New research findings from the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG) show that both atria undergo profound changes in cases of persistent atrial fibrillation. Until now, the left atrium was considered the primary site ...

May 21, 2026
Medical Xpress / Scientists discover how to harness T cells to combat entire viral families

Scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) have discovered that combining key vaccine ingredients could give the body the tools it needs to fight the entire family of arenaviruses with a single vaccine. This "pan-arenavirus" ...

May 21, 2026