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Newly identified height genes may lead to treatments for arthritis and cancer

New research which has identified 20 sections of genetic code linked to height may also lead to new treatments for arthritis and cancer.

7 Apr 2008

Discovery of new genetic links to psoriasis

In the first comprehensive study of the genetic basis of psoriasis, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered seven new sites of common DNA variation that increase the risk of the troublesome skin condition.

4 Apr 2008

Rare genetic syndrome may hold key to cure for heat stroke

A genetic disorder that can cause a fatal rise in body temperature in some patients undergoing general anesthesia may hold the key to a cure for heat stroke, according to research published in the April 4 edition of the journal Cell.

4 Apr 2008

Human breast tumors' 'microenvironment' primes them for metastasis

The environment within primary breast tumors can "empower" cells that break free and enter the bloodstream to successfully invade other organs, researchers report in the April 4th Cell, a publication of Cell Press.

4 Apr 2008

Answer to troublesome question of why some genetic assoc. studies have failed replication attempts

A team of researchers from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), and elsewhere have described a possible reason why some studies have been unable to replicate associations between genes and traits -- namely that the strength of a gene/trait association might vary with age and that current study designs typically fail to take that into account.

4 Apr 2008

Mouse calls help search for emotion-controlling genes

Scientists have long known that emotions and other personality traits and disorders run together in families.

3 Apr 2008

Surviving without sex - Bdelloid rotifers do!

Birds and bees may do it, but the microscopic animals called bdelloid rotifers seem to get along just fine without sex, thank you.

3 Apr 2008

Genetic variations raise lung cancer risk for smokers and ex-smokers

Two common inherited genetic variations are associated with increased risk of lung cancer for smokers and former smokers, a research team led by scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reports April 2 in the online edition of Nature Genetics.

3 Apr 2008

Genetic mutations tied to immune comeback during therapy for HIV-1

Researchers with the Infectious Disease Clinical Research Program (IDCRP) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) here and the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio have published a patient outcome study in the March 30 online edition of Nature Medicine that may signal a need for a change of thought in the management of HIV.

3 Apr 2008

HDAC inhibitors show potential as therapeutic agents in treating alcoholism

Reshaping of the DNA scaffolding that supports and controls the expression of genes in the brain may play a major role in the alcohol withdrawal symptoms, particularly anxiety, that make it so difficult for alcoholics to stop using alcohol.

3 Apr 2008

Menopause - nature's way of dealing with reproductive competition

Why the females of some species undergo menopause while others do not has always been a conundrum despite our understanding of the biological mechanisms involved.

2 Apr 2008

New clues to risk of Hodgkin lymphoma discovered

A long-term study of twins has led University of Southern California (USC) researchers to find potential links between Hodgkin lymphoma and levels of an immune response protein (interleukin-12).

2 Apr 2008

Body mass often down to our genes

Your friend can eat whatever she wants and still fit into her prom dress, but you gain five pounds if you just look at that chocolate cake.

2 Apr 2008

Newly identified gene may prompt pancreas cells to form

Before a pancreas is a pancreas, it?s part of the endoderm, one of three layers of cells in a developing embryo that eventually form its organs.

2 Apr 2008

Molecular evolution of influenza A viruses circulated in Fujian Province, China

Fujian Center for Disease Control & Prevention, China, reported the molecular evolution of influenza A (H3N2) viruses in Fujian Province, south of China during the period 1996 to 2004 and demonstrated some key codons responsible for antigenic drift.

2 Apr 2008

11 "snips" associated with type 2 diabetes

Mathematicians at Michigan Technological University have developed powerful new tools for winnowing out the genes behind some of humanity's most intractable diseases.

2 Apr 2008

New breakthrough discovery on TB

Medical scientists from the University of Leicester, together with colleagues from St Georges, University of London, funded principally by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and The Wellcome Trust, have published details of a new breakthrough discovery on TB.

1 Apr 2008

Racial differences in response to bowel cancer genetic risk factor

Scientists have for the first time discovered that people with the same cancer susceptibility genes respond differently depending on their race.

1 Apr 2008

New insight into the menopause

Insight into why females of some species undergo menopause while others do not has proven elusive despite an understanding of the biological mechanisms behind the change.

1 Apr 2008

New genetic clues to diabetes

An international team that included scientists from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), today reported it has identified six more genetic variants involved in type 2 diabetes, boosting to 16 the total number of genetic risk factors associated with increased risk of the disease.

1 Apr 2008