Latest Exocrine system Stories

Michael Harper for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online Scott Napper certainly has a way of making a first impression. In his biochemistry classes at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada, Napper poses the following question to his first year students: “Does eating your boogers boost your immune system?” This, says Napper, gets the students instantly engaged in the class, exchanging ideas rather than dutifully taking notes. It’s a question which is sure to...

Researchers look for answers in a most obvious, but surprisingly overlooked, place: Nasal mucus Snot. It's not something most of us spend a lot of time thinking about, but, for a team of researchers in Washington, D.C., it's front and center. Robert I. Henkin, founder of the Taste and Smell Clinic in is charmingly self-deprecating. He says with a chuckle that he's often called a "spit and snot doctor," but he knows all too well that for his patients – those who no longer can...

Researchers have shown for the first time that it is possible to reduce the distressing symptoms of dry mouth in patients treated with radiotherapy for head and neck cancers if the radiation dose to a salivary gland (called the submandibular gland) on the opposite side to the tumor is kept to the minimum. The largest study yet to show a correlation between radiation doses to the submandibular glands and their output of saliva was presented today (Saturday) at the 2nd Forum of the European...

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online Head and neck cancer patients who experience dry mouth after being treated with radiotherapy can have that symptom reduced if the radiation dose to a salivary gland on the opposite side of the tumor is minimized, researchers from the Netherlands claim in a new study. Dr. Chris Terhaard, an associate professor and radiation oncologist at the University Medical Center (UMC-Utrecht) in The Netherlands, and colleagues discovered a...

Salimetrics will present two Spit Camp Workshops as part of the 2013 SRCD Preconference on April 17th, 2013. These enhanced workshops will be presented by Douglas Granger, PhD, Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Salivary Bioscience Research at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, and educate attendees on the basics of incorporating salivary analytes into their research. (PRWEB) January 29, 2013 Researchers attending the 2013 SRCD biennial meeting or in the Seattle,...

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 14, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- New research suggests that testing a portion of a person's saliva gland may be a way to diagnose Parkinson's disease. The study will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 65th Annual Meeting in San Diego, March 16 to 23, 2013. "There is currently no diagnostic test for Parkinson's disease," said study author Charles Adler, MD, PhD, with the Mayo Clinic Arizona and a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology. "We...

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online The search for a diagnostic test for Parkinson’s disease may soon be over, as new research suggests that testing part of a patient’s saliva gland could detect the degenerative disorder. As part of a study released Thursday, Charles Adler of the Mayo Clinic in Arizona and colleagues recruited 15 Parkinson’s patients with an average age of 68. The study participants had dealt with the disease for an average of 12 years, had...

Washington University School of Medicine Respiratory conditions that restrict breathing such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are common killers worldwide. But no effective treatments exist to address the major cause of death in these conditions – excess mucus production. "There is good evidence that what kills people with severe COPD or asthma is mucus obstructing the airway," says Michael J. Holtzman, MD, the Selma and Herman Seldin Professor of Medicine at...

Connie K. Ho for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online Researchers from the University of Michigan recently discovered that sweat glands can impact how human wounds heal, thus paving the way for new, effective therapies that can deal with diabetic ulcers and other conditions. To begin, the human skin has millions of eccrine sweat glands that allow the body to cool down. Individuals can notice the reduction in heat in places like the gym, where the body will gradually change from hot to...

The characteristic shape of a man's urine can help diagnose urinary problems Scientists at Queen Mary, University of London have discovered that the characteristic shape of a man's urine stream could be used to help diagnose urinary problems. The research, published in PLOS One today (16 October) is the first study to analyze the specific pattern a man's urine makes and whether it could be used to detect prostate problems. Co-author Dr Martin Knight from Queen Mary's School of...