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Study: Gene combinations may increase risk of hip osteoporosis in women

Women with osteoporosis in their hip suffer menopause two years earlier than healthy women, a study conducted at the University of Granada says. Additionally, although further study is required, researchers have found at least three genetic markers associated with osteoporosis in the hip in postmenopausal women.

30 Mar 2011

Australian researchers say the search must widen for genes that cause heart defects in babies

Australian scientists have discovered a new group of genes that could be responsible for causing heart defects in children, which affect more than 2000 babies born each year in Australia.

29 Mar 2011

New schizophrenia research reveals difference in identical twins genetic makeup

Just like snowflakes, no two people are alike, even if they're identical twins according to new genetic research from The University of Western Ontario. Molecular geneticist Shiva Singh has been working with psychiatrist Dr. Richard O'Reilly to determine the genetic sequencing of schizophrenia using identical or monozygotic twins. The study is published in this month's PLoS ONE.

29 Mar 2011

Study: Donor's DNA level in heart transplant recipient's blood can reveal organ rejection

Heart transplant recipients and their physicians are likely more concerned with the function of the donated organ than with the donor's DNA sequences that tag along in the new, healthy tissue.

29 Mar 2011

Altitude Research Center receives Department of Defense grant to prevent AMS in soldiers

As the American military rushes to confront adversaries in some of the world's highest mountain ranges, the Department of Defense is giving $4 million to the Altitude Research Center at the University of Colorado School of Medicine to develop revolutionary ways to combat high altitude sickness in soldiers, sailors and marines.

29 Mar 2011

Drugs for prevention of breast cancer

According to an international panel of cancer experts, women at high risk of developing breast cancer should be given preventative drugs. The experts write in the Lancet Oncology adding, drugs such as tamoxifen could reduce the chances of developing breast cancer. They suggest that this would be something similar to prescribing statins to patients at risk of heart disease. But tamoxifen has been linked with womb cancer, blood clots and stroke.

28 Mar 2011

Genetic link to attempted suicide discovered - Findings could lead to new avenues of treatment

Johns Hopkins scientists, reporting in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, have identified a small region on chromosome 2 that is associated with increased risk for attempted suicide. This small region contains four genes, including the ACP1 gene, and the researchers found more than normal levels of the ACP1 protein in the brains of people who had committed suicide. This protein is thought to influence the same biological pathway as lithium, a medication known to reduce the rate of suicidal behavior.

28 Mar 2011

Everist Genomics announces global launch of OncoDefender-CRC colorectal cancer assay

Everist Genomics today announced the worldwide commercial availability of its OncoDefender-CRC colorectal cancer assay, the first and only molecular prognostic test capable of accurately predicting the risk of recurrence of cancer in patients previously treated with surgical resection of a Stage I/II colon cancer tumor or Stage I rectal cancer tumor.

28 Mar 2011

Essex scientists receive £205,000 grant for breast cancer research

Scientists from the University of Essex have received a £205,000 grant from Cancer Research UK to investigate the early reversible changes in the genes associated with breast cancer development.

28 Mar 2011

Researchers identify genetic conspirators underlying acute myeloid leukaemia

Researchers have described how the most common gene mutation found in acute myeloid leukaemia starts the process of cancer development and how it can cooperate with a well-defined group of other mutations to cause full-blown leukaemia.

28 Mar 2011

People living at high altitudes have lower chance of dying from heart disease

In one of the most comprehensive studies of its kind, researchers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in partnership with the Harvard School of Global Health have found that people living at higher altitudes have a lower chance of dying from ischemic heart disease and tend to live longer than others.

28 Mar 2011

Plasmid containing Sindbis replicase genes can destruct lung cancer

Alpha viruses, such as Sindbis virus, carry their genetic information on a single strand of RNA. On infection they use a protein, replicase, to produce double stranded RNA which is used as genetic material to make more viruses. However the body recognizes dsRNA as foreign, and infected cells initiate an immune response.

28 Mar 2011

HIV uses base excision repair pathway to insert DNA into host-cell genome

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the cause of AIDS, makes use of the base excision repair pathway when inserting its DNA into the host-cell genome, according to a new study led by researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute. Crippling the repair pathway prevents the virus from completing this critical step in the retrovirus's life cycle.

25 Mar 2011

Study develops new approaches for sorting out complexities of cancer cells

New drugs that specifically target the mutated genes responsible for cancer growth have shown great success in extending the lives of patients, with far fewer side effects than conventional anti-cancer therapies. Unfortunately, many patients become resistant to these drugs due to secondary mutations.

25 Mar 2011

Two new studies on post-traumatic stress disorder

Two related studies released by this week by Geisinger Health System researchers identify specific genetic risks associated with post-traumatic stress disorder and help identify key psychosocial predictors that may lead to PTSD.

25 Mar 2011

Stemedica begins allogeneic mesenchymal stem cell Phase I/II trial in patients with ischemic stroke

Stemedica Cell Technologies, Inc., a leader in adult allogeneic stem cell manufacturing, research and development, announced today that its specially formulated ischemic adult allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells have been successfully used to treat the first patient in an ischemic stroke study conducted at the University of California, San Diego.

25 Mar 2011

New discovery on fat metabolism in worms can lead to novel obesity treatment

Researchers exploring human metabolism at the University of California, San Francisco have uncovered a handful of chemical compounds that regulate fat storage in worms, offering a new tool for understanding obesity and finding future treatments for diseases associated with obesity.

25 Mar 2011

New study implicates microRNAs in panic disorder

A new study published in the current issue of Biological Psychiatry now implicates one type of molecular switch, microRNAs, in panic disorder.

25 Mar 2011

Mother's gene variation can influence alcohol-related disorders in fetus

Exposure to alcohol in the womb doesn't affect all fetuses equally. Why does one woman who drinks alcohol during pregnancy give birth to a child with physical, behavioral or learning problems -- known as fetal alcohol spectrum disorder -- while another woman who also drinks has a child without these problems?

24 Mar 2011

New insights into multiple myeloma research

Scientists have unveiled the most comprehensive picture to date of the full genetic blueprint of multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer. A study of the genomes from 38 cancer samples has yielded new and unexpected insights into the events that lead to this form of cancer and could influence the direction of multiple myeloma research.

24 Mar 2011