Medical Xpress news

Medical Xpress / By cutting selected synapses, brain circuit 'editing' could make memory stronger and rewire how learning works

Every thought, memory, and feeling we experience depends on trillions of tiny connection points in the brain called synapses. These are the junctions where one neuron passes signals to another, forming the vast communication ...

Apr 15, 2026
Medical Xpress / Buprenorphine found to be a safe treatment for opioid addiction in pregnancy

Children born to mothers who used buprenorphine for opioid addiction during pregnancy do not have a greater risk of neurodevelopmental disorders, such as ADHD and autism, compared with children whose mothers took methadone, ...

Apr 15, 2026
Medical Xpress / Air pollution associated with increased migraine activity

Air pollution is associated with increased migraine activity, according to a study published in Neurology. Both short-term and cumulative exposure to air pollution as well as climate factors such as heat and humidity were ...

Apr 15, 2026
Medical Xpress / A powerful new cancer map tracks hundreds of mutations to one escape route and exposes a drug target

Diseases like cancer or neurodegeneration are known to arise from genetic misfires. But treating such complex conditions hasn't been simply a matter of identifying the malfunctioning genes involved. With hundreds of genetic ...

Apr 15, 2026
Medical Xpress / Australian bee glue delivers a scar-fighting compound that shuts down raised scars before they take hold

A natural compound made by Australian bees to seal their hives may help stop scarring in human skin after surgery, injury and burns, according to University of the Sunshine Coast researchers. The scientists say the laboratory ...

Apr 15, 2026
Medical Xpress / A major cancer protein hijacks RNA editing, exposing a new weakness in prostate tumors

Northwestern Medicine scientists have uncovered an unexpected role for a well-known cancer-related protein, revealing a new layer of genetic regulation that could reshape how certain cancers are treated. In a new study published ...

Apr 15, 2026
Medical Xpress / Off-label cancer drugs deliver durable benefit for some patients in large trial

The largest published prospective evaluation of off-label targeted cancer therapies has shown that more patients could benefit from existing drugs. After including over 1,600 patients in the Dutch multicenter DRUP trial, ...

Apr 15, 2026
Medical Xpress / Ultra-processed food intake tied to sharply higher obesity risk in adolescents

Adolescents who consume more ultra-processed foods (UPFs) have significantly higher odds of being overweight or obese, according to a new systematic review and meta-analysis published in the open-access journal PLOS One by ...

Apr 15, 2026
Medical Xpress / RNA sequencing platform unlocks rare disease diagnoses missed by standard tests

Researchers from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) developed a new RNA sequencing strategy that can reveal how genetic variants disrupt gene function and improve the diagnosis of rare diseases.

Apr 15, 2026
Medical Xpress / Genetic atlas reveals how human liver cells divide their labor

If scientists could shrink themselves to microscopic size and take a journey through the human body—like the submarine crew in the 1966 science fiction classic "Fantastic Voyage"—one of their first stops would no doubt be ...

Apr 15, 2026
Medical Xpress / Genome-wide analysis reveals host–virus genetic interactions in cancer risk

A study from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health reports a major advance in understanding how interactions between human and viral genomes shape disease risk. The research found that variations in the Epstein–Barr ...

Apr 15, 2026
Medical Xpress / Immune system uses a conveyor belt-like process to edit defective antibodies, new research finds

The immune system's B cells create antibodies that can mount a response against just about anything—either destroying a pathogen or instructing the rest of the immune system to go after the offender. But what happens when ...

Apr 15, 2026