DNA News and Research

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DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms. Nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same DNA. Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus (where it is called nuclear DNA), but a small amount of DNA can also be found in the mitochondria (where it is called mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA).

Peginterferon alfa-2b produced sustained responses in patients with chronic hepatitis B

Results from a large international clinical study reported in this week's issue of The Lancet showed that peginterferon alfa-2b produced sustained responses in patients with chronic hepatitis B. The investigator-initiated study is the largest clinical trial to date with peginterferon alfa-2b therapy for chronic hepatitis B.

7 Jan 2005

Now significantly easier to search long stretches of DNA for genetic changes associated with disease

The researchers developed a method called direct genomic selection that accelerates the transition between family or population-based studies of disease inheritance patterns and identification of genetic variations that may contribute to disease.

6 Jan 2005

Processes shed light on how DNA recombination mechanisms are related

Peter W. Atkinson, a University of California, Riverside professor of entomology and member of the university’s Institute for Integrative Genome Biology, is part of a team that has linked the movement of small pieces of DNA, known as transposable elements, to a process called V(D)J recombination that produces the genetic diversity responsible for the production of antibodies.

6 Jan 2005

Herpes virus is everywhere and it's unavoidable

While not the first, the researchers report that this study uses the most sensitive techniques in a cross-sectional assessment performed to date of the presence of HSV-1 DNA in the eyes and mouths of healthy individuals, in terms of population size and total samples collected.

6 Jan 2005

Stem cells could reveal secrets of illness in later life

Mums to be have known for some time that what they eat when pregnant affects their unborn child but now scientists believe that the diet of our mothers during pregnancy may even affect our predisposition to illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure in late life.

5 Jan 2005

New genetic clues provide better understanding of epilepsy

Two specific areas in chromosome 7 and chromosome 16 have been associated with photosensitivity, an epilepsy-related trait, by a team of European scientists in the January issue of Human Molecular Genetics.

5 Jan 2005

Genomics tools provide clues to what causes 400 million cases of gastrointestinal disease each year

In a study that could benefit medical and food-safety research, scientists have used comparative genomics tools to find clues about why some strains of the bacterium Campylobacter – which each year cause more than 400 million cases of gastrointestinal disease – are more virulent than others.

4 Jan 2005

Evolution has been working very hard to produce us humans

The genes that regulate brain development and function evolved much more rapidly in humans than in nonhuman primates and other mammals because of natural selection processes unique to the human lineage. Researchers reported their findings in the cover article of the Dec. 29, 2004, issue of the journal Cell.

28 Dec 2004

Significant advance in understanding the human genome

An Oregon Health & Science University-led development of a technique for identifying control elements that drive the expression of genes in brain cells could unleash the disease-fighting potential of the much-hailed human genome.

28 Dec 2004

New technique for tracking gene regulators

Finding out where gene-regulator proteins bind to DNA and identifying the genes they regulate just got a step easier thanks to a new technique developed by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory.

28 Dec 2004

FDA go ahead for first of kind genetic lab test

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the marketing of the first laboratory test system that will allow physicians to consider unique genetic information from patients in selecting medications and doses of medications for a wide variety of common conditions such as cardiac disease, psychiatric disease, and cancer.

27 Dec 2004

Discovery shows how embryonic stem cells perform 'quality control' inspections

Biologists at the University of California, San Diego have found a fundamental mechanism used by embryonic stem cells to assure that genetically damaged stem cells do not divide and pass along the damage to daughter stem cells.

26 Dec 2004

Needling chromosomes yields insights into cell division

By impaling individual chromosomes with glass needles one thousandth the diameter of a human hair, a Duke University graduate student has tested their "stickiness" to one another during cell division. Her uncanny surgical skills have added a piece to the large and intricate puzzle of how one cell divides into two -- a process fundamental to all organisms.

23 Dec 2004

Researchers can now inexpensively program the chemical synthesis of entire genes on a single microchip

Devices the size of a pager now have greater capabilities than computers that once occupied an entire room. Similar advances are being made in the emerging field of synthetic biology at the University of Houston, now allowing researchers to inexpensively program the chemical synthesis of entire genes on a single microchip.

23 Dec 2004

Jumping genes help explain immune system's remarkable ability

A team led by Johns Hopkins scientists has found the first clear evidence that the process behind the human immune system's remarkable ability to recognize and respond to a million different proteins might have originated from a family of genes whose only apparent function is to jump around in genetic material.

22 Dec 2004

DNA stool testing is more effective in detecting colon cancer than a widely used stool test

A study in the current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine concludes that DNA stool testing is more effective in detecting colon cancer than a widely used stool test, but a Virginia Commonwealth University family medicine and public health physician argues in the same issue that its superiority is still in doubt.

22 Dec 2004

New DNA sequence translation device

Chemists at New York University have developed a device that allows for the translation of DNA sequences, thereby serving as a factory for assembling the building blocks of new materials.

21 Dec 2004

Major step forward in using saliva to detect oral cancer

Scientists funded by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research reported taking a major step forward in using saliva to detect oral cancer.

21 Dec 2004

New way of viewing genetic variations

Human geneticists can now see which variations on the human genome are inherited together, thanks to a new way of viewing genetic variations in the latest release of the Ensembl genome browser [a joint project between EMBL's EBI and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute].

21 Dec 2004

Eating more tomatoes and watermelons can reduce prostate cancer

A new study by researchers at Curtin University of Technology shows that eating yellow, orange and red fruits such as tomatoes, watermelon and citrus, and vegetables such as red capsicum or sweet pepper, pumpkin and spinach may reduce the risk of developing prostate cancer by up to 50 per cent.

21 Dec 2004

DNA News and Research

Further Reading

Peginterferon alfa-2b produced sustained responses in patients with chronic hepatitis B

Now significantly easier to search long stretches of DNA for genetic changes associated with disease

Processes shed light on how DNA recombination mechanisms are related

Herpes virus is everywhere and it's unavoidable

Stem cells could reveal secrets of illness in later life

New genetic clues provide better understanding of epilepsy

Genomics tools provide clues to what causes 400 million cases of gastrointestinal disease each year

Evolution has been working very hard to produce us humans

Significant advance in understanding the human genome

New technique for tracking gene regulators

FDA go ahead for first of kind genetic lab test

Discovery shows how embryonic stem cells perform 'quality control' inspections

Needling chromosomes yields insights into cell division

Researchers can now inexpensively program the chemical synthesis of entire genes on a single microchip

Jumping genes help explain immune system's remarkable ability

DNA stool testing is more effective in detecting colon cancer than a widely used stool test

New DNA sequence translation device

Major step forward in using saliva to detect oral cancer

New way of viewing genetic variations

Eating more tomatoes and watermelons can reduce prostate cancer

Exploring the intersection of biology and proteomics

Unlocking the Secrets of Multiple Sclerosis Progression: Brain-Immune Cell Communication

Passing on Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: Health risks for male offspring of women with PCOS

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