Genetic News and Research

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Men more than women favor paternity testing at birth

Substantially more men than women favor routine paternity testing when a baby is born, according to a recent University of Washington survey, but the surprise to researchers is that the percentage of men favoring such testing wasn't higher.

28 Sep 2004

Researchers have integrated heart cells grown from human embryonic stem cells into a host heart

Researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and Rambam Medical Center have demonstrated that heart cells grown from human embryonic stem cells can integrate into the host heart and help regulate its activity, becoming in effect a biological pacemaker.

27 Sep 2004

Bionomics licences childhood epilepsy test

Bionomics has announced that it has granted a licence to Massachusetts-based Athena Diagnostics to market Bionomics’ childhood epilepsy diagnostic to neurologists in North America and Japan.

27 Sep 2004

Pregnant women are at higher risk for restless legs syndrome

Pregnant women are at higher risk for the occurrence or worsening of restless legs syndrome (RLS), a movement disorder that affects up to 10 percent of the general population, according to a study reported in the September 28 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

27 Sep 2004

Functions of the c-myb gene which leukemia cells depend on for proliferation

Today the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences publishes a paper by Temple University researchers that details one of the functions of the c-myb gene (which leukemia cells depend on for proliferation), the formation of white blood cells.

27 Sep 2004

Marijuana use may increase the risk of ectopic (tubal) pregnancies

It is not known whether drugs that block or, in the case of marijuana, over-stimulate the CB1 receptor can cause ectopic pregnancy in humans. However, "our results raise caution for women of reproductive ages regarding the chronic use of marijuana for recreation or pain alleviation," the researchers concluded.

27 Sep 2004

Prostate cancer treatment leads to declines in sexual and urinary function

Treatment for prostate cancer leads to significant five-year declines in sexual and urinary function, according to a new study. However, general and other specific health-related quality of life factors, such as bowel function, are not affected.

27 Sep 2004

50,000 women whose sisters had breast cancer needed for nationwide study

Women who know the angry, helpless feeling of watching a sister face breast cancer have gained a new, active, and personal way to fight the disease with the nationwide launch of The Sister Study.

26 Sep 2004

Elderly African American men are less likely to get tested for prostate cancer

Elderly African American men are less likely to get tested for prostate cancer than elderly white men, according to an article in the September 27 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

26 Sep 2004

Histamine is key to narcolepsy

Narcolepsy is a disorder of sleep regulation that affects control of wakefulness and sleep and renders the patient subject to disabling sleepiness during the day.

23 Sep 2004

Researcher looks for clues to degenerative, deadly disease called Ataxia-telangiectasia

Few have heard of the degenerative, deadly disease called Ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) but a University of Alberta researcher is hoping to provide clues to this mysterious disorder.

23 Sep 2004

Research may lead to alternatives to antibiotic drugs for treating bacterial diseases

UCLA microbiologists report the discovery of a new class of genetic elements, similar to retroviruses, that operate in bacteria, allowing them to diversify their proteins to bind to a large variety of receptors.

23 Sep 2004

Potential new way to control drug-resistant bacteria

The researchers, who encountered this genetic property while working on an unrelated project, believe that this discovery could lead to the use of genetically engineered phages to treat bacterial infections that have become resistant to antibiotics.

23 Sep 2004

Four or more glasses of red wine per week may reduce risk of prostate cancer by 50 percent

Drinking a glass of red wine a day may cut a man's risk of prostate cancer in half, and the protective effect appears to be strongest against the most aggressive forms of the disease

23 Sep 2004

New link in the growth of Ewing’s sarcoma

To develop new therapeutic approaches to cancer, it is essential to understand the long and extremely complex process that underlies it, in other words the various stages of cancer development from the initial mutation to the tumor.

23 Sep 2004

Research to halt the progress of chronic liver disease

A University of Queensland researcher is working to halt the progress of chronic liver disease, which affects a quarter of million Australians.

22 Sep 2004

Zebrafish atlas will help research community to model human disease

An inch-long tropical fish will enjoy improved global exposure thanks to a five-year, $2.7 million grant from the National Center for Research Resources-National Institutes of Health

22 Sep 2004

Edible vaccine for HIV AIDS

Scientists from Novosibirsk are engaged in the development of an unusual vaccine which, apart from being less expensive to produce, safe and painless to administer, is also edible.

22 Sep 2004

NIH opens new hospital totally dedicated to clinical research

This new hospital totally dedicated to clinical research — research involving patients — is the most significant addition to the NIH campus in more than 50 years and provides a unique opportunity for scientists, clinicians, and patients to study and conquer both chronic and acute disease in the 21st century.

22 Sep 2004

Fish oils appear to reduce breast cancer risk

Researchers who found that fish oils appear to reduce breast cancer risk have now discovered that the oils may especially benefit women with particular genetic makeups.

21 Sep 2004