Medical Xpress news

Medical Xpress / Night shifts aren't just tiring, they can be deadly: Disrupted sleep cycles linked to aggressive breast cancer

Working the night shift, frequently flying across time zones or keeping an irregular sleep schedule does more than just leave us exhausted; it can fuel the risk of aggressive breast cancer. Exactly how and why this happens ...

Dec 23, 2025 in Oncology & Cancer
Medical Xpress / Brain's 'pulse generators' grow and shrink as memories are formed, study finds

Memories and learning processes are based on changes in the brain's neuronal connections, and as a result, in signal transmission between neurons.

Dec 23, 2025 in Neuroscience
Medical Xpress / To flexibly organize thought, the brain makes use of space

Our thoughts are specified by our knowledge and plans, yet our cognition can also be fast and flexible in handling new information. How does the well-controlled and yet highly nimble nature of cognition emerge from the brain's ...

Dec 23, 2025 in Neuroscience
Medical Xpress / New ALS drug stabilizes decline with a trend toward improved strength and mobility for some

Historically, people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) experience a relentless decline in neurological function that eventually robs them of the ability to move, speak, eat or breathe. Now, researchers from Washington ...

Dec 23, 2025 in Neuroscience
Medical Xpress / Scientists grow mini brains to uncover cells behind autism-related brain overgrowth

A new study in the lab of Jason Stein, Ph.D., modeled brain development in a dish to identify cells and genes that influence infant brain growth, a trait associated with autism.

Dec 23, 2025 in Autism spectrum disorders
Medical Xpress / Fathers' microplastics exposure tied to their children's metabolic problems

A study led by biomedical scientists at the University of California, Riverside, has shown for the first time that a father's exposure to microplastics (MPs) can trigger metabolic dysfunctions in his offspring. The research, ...

Dec 23, 2025 in Genetics
Medical Xpress / Molecular difference in autistic brains may explain signaling imbalance

Yale School of Medicine (YSM) scientists have discovered a molecular difference in the brains of autistic people compared to their neurotypical counterparts.

Dec 23, 2025 in Neuroscience
Medical Xpress / Modified tau thwarts aggregation in neurodegenerative disease—while retaining its biological function

A designer version of the tau protein, developed by a team led by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers, maintains its biological function while resisting aggregation, a pathological trait linked to neurodegenerative ...

Dec 23, 2025 in Neuroscience
Medical Xpress / Inflammation fuels one of the most aggressive forms of lung cancer

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is one of the most aggressive forms of lung cancer, with a five-year survival rate of only 5%. Despite this poor prognosis, SCLC is initially highly responsive to chemotherapy. However, patients ...

Dec 23, 2025 in Oncology & Cancer
Medical Xpress / System replicates womb lining to 'listen in' to embryo-mother interactions during implantation

By engineering a system replicating the womb lining with high biological accuracy, researchers at the Babraham Institute and Stanford University have been able to study the implantation of human embryos, opening up this enigmatic ...

Dec 23, 2025 in Obstetrics & gynaecology
Medical Xpress / Birth control can ease PCOS symptoms without added heart or diabetes risk, clinical trial finds

Birth control pills, taken alone or paired with the drug metformin, did not raise the risk of metabolic syndrome, a precursor of heart disease and diabetes in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) even if those women ...

Dec 23, 2025 in Obstetrics & gynaecology
Medical Xpress / Signature neural patterns may help predict recovery from traumatic brain injury

After traumatic brain injury (TBI), some patients may recover completely, while others retain severe disabilities. Accurately evaluating prognosis is challenging in patients on life-sustaining therapy.

Dec 23, 2025 in Neuroscience