The epigenetic modifications, which alter the way genes function without changing the underlying DNA sequence, can apparently be detected in the blood of pregnant women during any trimester, potentially providing a simple way to foretell depression in the weeks after giving birth, and an opportunity to intervene before symptoms become debilitating.
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Researchers from Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah have discovered that while the genes provided by the father arrive at fertilization pre-programmed to the state needed by the embryo, the genes provided by the mother are in a different state and must be reprogrammed to match.
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A large, multi-institutional research team involved in the NIH Epigenome Roadmap Project has published a sweeping analysis in the current issue of the journal Cell of how genes are turned on and off to direct early human development.
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Scientists have long known that control mechanisms known collectively as "epigenetics" play a critical role in human development, but they did not know precisely how alterations in this extra layer of biochemical instructions in DNA contribute to development.
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Two studies from The Cancer Genome Atlas program reveal details about the genomic landscapes of acute myeloid leukemia and endometrial cancer.
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A Big Data analysis that integrates three large sets of genomic data available through The Cancer Genome Atlas has identified 37 RNA molecules that might predict survival in patients with the most common form of breast cancer.
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Gastric bypass surgery can drastically reduce the body weight of obese individuals in a short timeframe. For reasons that are not entirely clear, the surgery also leads to early remission of type 2 diabetes in the vast majority of patients.
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Researchers at Mayo Clinic Cancer Center have identified a novel gene that can contribute to a woman's susceptibility for developing ovarian cancer. Researchers identified the gene, called HNF1B, through large-scale analysis of more than 16,000 women with ovarian cancer and more than 26,000 healthy women.
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Inflammation can be thought of as taking two major forms: acute or chronic. Acute inflammation, which can be painful, usually arises quickly and resolves quickly. It accompanies bacterial infections, traumatic injury and is useful to fight infections and promote healing.
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Food and environment can chemically alter your gene function and scientists have identified a gene that is consistently altered in obesity.
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The Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis, the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation, and the American Thoracic Society-the world's leading professional organization for pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine-today announced that the CPF and the PFF will again partner with the ATS to fund pulmonary fibrosis research.
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Type 2 diabetes has strong hereditary tendencies and the genes we are born with cannot be changed. However, new research from Lund University in Sweden shows that we can modify the function of the genes through the epigenetic changes that take place in the course of life.
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At the 28th Annual EAU Congress currently ongoing in Milan until Tuesday, W. Tan and colleagues presented their study on neoadjuvant cisplatin-based chemotherapy which showed that epigenetic changes are potential key drivers in the development of chemo resistance in bladder cancer.
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Pioneering studies by U. S. Department of Agriculture-funded research molecular geneticist Robert A. Waterland are helping explain how the foods that soon-to-be-moms eat in the days and weeks around the time of conception-or what's known as periconceptional nutrition-may affect the way genes function in her children, and her children's health.
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Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have identified patterns of epigenomic diversity that not only allow plants to adapt to various environments, but could also benefit crop production and the study of human diseases.
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Adding the dietary supplements folate and vitamin B12 to treatment with antipsychotic medication improved a core symptom component of schizophrenia in a study of more than 100 patients.
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Scientists from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD have developed a new way to identify heterogeneous brain cells by looking at epigenetic variation (the heritable alterations in gene expression caused by mechanisms other than changes in DNA sequence).
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A review article by researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) proposes a new epigenetic hypothesis linked to tumor production and novel ideas about what causes progenitor cells to develop into cancer cells. Published in the February 2013 issue of Epigenomics, the article provides examples of how epigenetic drug treatments could be beneficial in treating cancers while also decreasing the likelihood of cancer relapse.
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Researchers employed an extensive analysis of genomic information to identify a new, high-risk cohort of ovarian cancer patients, characterize their tumors, find a potential treatment and test it in mouse models of the disease.
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A father's obesity is one factor that may influence his children's health and potentially raise their risk for diseases like cancer, according to new research from Duke Medicine.
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