Inherit News and Research

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Inherited human herpesvirus 6 affects telomere stability and reactivates

Up to half a million people in Britain today may not know it, but in their genetic material they carry a particular form of herpesvirus 6 inherited from a parent.

21 Sep 2013

Findings underscore importance of communicating risks and benefits of CPM to women

Young women with breast cancer often overestimate the odds that cancer will occur in their other, healthy breast, and decide to have the healthy breast surgically removed, a survey conducted by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators indicates.

17 Sep 2013

Professor to develop DNA sequencing technologies to search for long-range genome interactions

Why do some people develop disease while others with the same genetic mutation don't? For example, the National Cancer Institute estimates that women who inherit a harmful BRCA2 mutation have a 45 percent chance of developing breast cancer by age 70.

11 Sep 2013

Obesity gene testing may help reduce self-blame

Obesity gene testing does not put people off weight loss and may help to reduce self-blame, according to a new study by researchers from the Health Behaviour Research Centre at UCL (University College London).

5 Sep 2013

Drug for children with sickle cell anemia reduces hospitalizations and treatment costs

A drug proven effective for treatment of adults and children with sickle cell anemia reduced hospitalizations and cut annual estimated medical costs by 21 percent for affected infants and toddlers, according to an analysis led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The report appears today in the advance online edition of the journal Pediatrics.

2 Sep 2013

Researchers discover new gene mutations which cause devastating mitochondrial disorders

Researchers have identified a novel disease gene in which mutations cause rare but devastating genetic diseases known as mitochondrial disorders.

30 Aug 2013

Experts share tips on preventing ovarian cancer

Ovarian cancer is the fourth leading cause of death in American women. Approximately 22,000 women are diagnosed annually and 14,000 die from the disease. September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness month and Mount Sinai experts are sharing tips on prevention.

29 Aug 2013

URI professor studies rare hereditary disorder Fanconi anemia in children

When 2-year-old Logan Stevenson served as best man at his parents' wedding just days before he died of a rare genetic disorder, it drew international attention to a disease about which few people had ever heard. Hearing about Logan's story added another level of urgency to the research being conducted by University of Rhode Island Associate Professor Niall Howlett.

28 Aug 2013

Model including dozens of mutations helps clarify genetic factors involved in Crohn's disease

A statistical model accounting for dozens of different genes in combination-and the interactions between them-is an important step forward in understanding the genetic factors affecting the risk of Crohn's disease (CD), reports a study in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, official journal of the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA). The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

26 Aug 2013

Understanding genetic factors that affect Crohn's disease risk

A statistical model accounting for dozens of different genes in combination—and the interactions between them—is an important step forward in understanding the genetic factors affecting the risk of Crohn's disease, reports a study in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, official journal of the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America.

23 Aug 2013

Study: Mother's mitochondrial DNA seems to influence our own aging

As we age, our cells change and become damaged. Now, researchers at Karolinska Institutet and the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Aging have shown that aging is determined not only by the accumulation of changes during our lifetime but also by the genes we acquire from our mothers.

22 Aug 2013

Study: Gene that controls ageing process linked to cancer

A gene that helps control the ageing process by acting as a cell's internal clock has been linked to cancer by a major new study.

19 Aug 2013

Kinetin stops the effects of Parkinson's disease on brain cells, say scientists

The active ingredient in an over-the-counter skin cream might do more than prevent wrinkles. Scientists have discovered that the drug, called kinetin, also slows or stops the effects of Parkinson's disease on brain cells.

16 Aug 2013

Researchers discover why early pregnancy reduces breast cancer

An international scientific collaborative led by the Harvard Stem Cell Institute's Kornelia Polyak, MD, PhD, has discovered why women who give birth in their early twenties are less likely to eventually develop breast cancer than women who don't, triggering a search for a way to confer this protective state on all women.

13 Aug 2013

Study shows schizophrenia, bipolar disorder share the most common genetic variation

The largest genome-wide study of its kind has determined how much five major mental illnesses are traceable to the same common inherited genetic variations. Researchers funded in part by the National Institutes of Health found that the overlap was highest between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder; moderate for bipolar disorder and depression and for ADHD and depression; and low between schizophrenia and autism.

12 Aug 2013

Study shows how bioactive component in soy foods plays a role against colon cancer

University of Illinois scientists have evidence that lifelong exposure to genistein, a bioactive component in soy foods, protects against colon cancer by repressing a signal that leads to accelerated growth of cells, polyps, and eventually malignant tumors.

6 Aug 2013

Study reveals epigenetic mechanisms contribute to chronic disease susceptibility prior to birth

If you think stress is killing you, you may be right, but what you don't know is that stress might have harmed your health even before you were born. In a new report appearing in the August 2013 issue of The FASEB Journal, Harvard researchers find that epigenetic disruptions, which are associated with chronic disease later in life, are already common at birth.

2 Aug 2013

p53 and cancer research: an interview with Professor Sir David Lane, Scientific Director of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research

P53 is a tumor suppressor gene. The gene encodes for a protein that monitors the state of the cell. If something goes wrong, it stops the cell from dividing or causes the cell to commit suicide. I call it the “guardian of the genome” as it is the molecule that seems to keep cells normal. It is one of our big defenses against cancer.

22 Jul 2013

Longer looks: Immigrant health tied to their status; one end-of-life expert confronts a personal journey

Every week reporter Ankita Rao selects interesting reading from around the Web.

20 Jul 2013

Obese fathers may pass their obesity to children and grandchildren

New research from the University of Adelaide shows that the sperm of obese fathers could increase the risk of both their children and their grandchildren to inherit obesity.

16 Jul 2013