Medical Xpress news

Medical Xpress / Common blood storage bags may leach microplastics into stored blood

In the 1970s, PVC bags revolutionized the storage of blood and blood products for transfusion. Disposable plastic (PVC) bags replaced reusable glass bottles, making the process more convenient and safer from contamination. ...

Aug 6, 2026
Medical Xpress / Why women need to be prioritized in longevity research

Why do women, on average, live longer than men yet often face a greater burden of chronic disease later in life? Why do some of the most fertile animals in nature, including queen bees and naked mole-rat queens, also live ...

Aug 6, 2026
Medical Xpress / Human genome milestone opens door for personalized genomics

Scientists have reconstructed the complete genome of a real person, with full sets of chromosomes from each parent, a breakthrough expected to advance research, improve the diagnosis of genetic diseases and make personalized ...

Aug 6, 2026
Medical Xpress / A new front in the fight against malaria: Experimental bed nets halt parasite growth inside mosquitoes

Flaminia Catteruccia is not a mosquito lover; she won't hesitate to kill one if it lands on her arm. But she does respect their adaptability and resilience. "They've been on the planet for 400 million years—much longer than ...

Aug 6, 2026
Medical Xpress / Why the same antibiotic can cure one infection but fail in another

A group of researchers has uncovered why one common antibiotic works for urinary tract infections but often fails elsewhere, offering greater insight into how the body's own chemistry can determine whether antibiotics succeed ...

Aug 6, 2026
Medical Xpress / Map of tonsil's genetic 'spaghetti' yields insights into immunity

About 2 meters (6.6 feet) of genetic material must fit into the nucleus of each of most of our trillions of cells, coiling and winding to form what looks like a tangled mess. But when genes are used, how they are used and ...

Aug 6, 2026
Medical Xpress / Bacterial supplements may boost female fertility

As women get older, their uterine environment changes. This includes a decrease in a beneficial bacterium called Lactobacillus gasseri, which may make conception—whether natural or via in vitro fertilization—difficult. In ...

Aug 6, 2026
Medical Xpress / Mammography use has dropped among some groups, study finds

Researchers at WashU Medicine have found a significant decline in mammography use among certain groups of women. A recent study, led by Adetunji Toriola, MD, Ph.D., a professor of surgery and a William H. Danforth Washington ...

Aug 6, 2026
Medical Xpress / First complete marmoset genome will enable research on Alzheimer's and neurodegenerative diseases

To study complex diseases like Alzheimer's, scientists and clinicians analyze how genes change and malfunction in other species. Marmosets, a species of tiny monkey from South America, have become an important animal model ...

Aug 6, 2026
Medical Xpress / Gene mutations behind serious bone marrow conditions identified

Inherited bone marrow failure syndrome, or IBMFS, describes a group of disorders in which inherited genetic abnormalities impair the bone marrow's ability to produce sufficient healthy blood cells. Patients with these disorders ...

Aug 6, 2026
Medical Xpress / How oxygen levels synchronize heart muscle and blood vessel development

During development, regional dips in oxygen levels serve as a signal that triggers the coordinated growth of heart muscle and coronary vessels, according to a study led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine. The findings, ...

Aug 6, 2026
Medical Xpress / Soluble signals released by neighboring cells direct how the human kidney is built

A human kidney is built once, before birth, and the rules guiding its construction have been largely inferred from animal models. Researchers at Penn Medicine have now read those rules directly in human tissue. They found ...

Aug 6, 2026