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Study identifies genetic link between vitamin D and heart disease

Previous studies have shown a link between low vitamin D status and heart disease. Now a new study shows that patients with high blood pressure who possess a gene variant that affects an enzyme critical to normal vitamin D activation are twice as likely as those without the variant to have congestive heart failure.

2 Dec 2009

Sperm genes may have a detrimental effect on longevity, says new study

Researchers in Japan have found that female mice produced by using genetic material from two mothers but no father live significantly longer than mice with the normal mix of maternal and paternal genes. Their findings provide the first evidence that sperm genes may have a detrimental effect on lifespan in mammals.

1 Dec 2009

New form of pathogen becomes a healthcare challenge in Africa

Research shows how a new, more deadly strain of Salmonella emerged over an 18-month period. Becoming resistant to antibiotics, acquiring the ability to spread from person to person and losing genes along the way, the new strain has become a healthcare challenge in Africa, killing up to one in four patients.

1 Dec 2009

New research suggests high fat, energy-dense foods may activate genes that make us obese

Those extra helpings of gravy and dessert at the holiday table are even less of a help to your waistline than previously thought. According to a new research report recently appearing online in The FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org), a diet that is high in fat and in sugar actually switches on genes that ultimately cause our bodies to store too much fat.

1 Dec 2009

Phase 1 study of preventive HIV vaccine testing a novel delivery mechanism completed

A Phase 1 study of a preventive HIV vaccine testing a novel delivery mechanism known as electroporation – the use of electrical pulses to increase the immune responses elicited by DNA vaccines – was recently completed in New York City.

1 Dec 2009

Bantam miRNA linked to the circadian clock

How does our biological system know that it is supposed to operate on a 24-hour cycle? Scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have discovered that a tiny molecule holds the clue to the mystery.

30 Nov 2009

Scientists provide the first comprehensive picture of minimal cell

What are the bare essentials of life, the indispensable ingredients required to produce a cell that can survive on its own? Can we describe the molecular anatomy of a cell, and understand how an entire organism functions as a system? These are just some of the questions that scientists in a partnership between the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, and the Centre de Regulacio Genòmica (CRG) in Barcelona, Spain, set out to address.

28 Nov 2009

Study on placebo effect

A short time ago, Swedish scientists published a paper suggesting the existence of a genetic disposition to respond to placebo, thus giving rise to debate in the media about a possible "placebo gene." In the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2009; 106[46]: 751-5), Matthias Breidert and Karl Hofbauer summarize the most recent data about placebos.

28 Nov 2009

Researchers devise new tools for typing cells from children with acute lymphatic leukemia

Researchers at Uppsala University and University Children's Hospital in Uppsala have devised powerful new tools for typing cells from children with acute lymphatic leukemia and for prediction of how children with leukemia will respond to chemotherapy.

28 Nov 2009

Study examines fundamental aspects of fertility in yeast

Research at the University of Leicester analyzing common Baking and Brewers yeast is providing new insights into aspects of human health and fertility.

27 Nov 2009

Whitehead researchers develop new type of genetic screen for human cells

Whitehead researchers have developed a new type of genetic screen for human cells to pinpoint specific genes and proteins used by pathogens, according to their paper in Science.

27 Nov 2009

International collaborative research projects to decipher the biology behind the ageing process

Research efforts to help the world's ageing population live longer healthier lives have been given a major boost with the announcement of six new transatlantic research projects aiming to understanding the biology of the ageing process.

26 Nov 2009

Breast Cancer Campaign awards a three year project grant to Cambridge scientist

Individualised treatment for each breast cancer patient could soon become a reality, according to Breast Cancer Campaign.

26 Nov 2009

GIS scientists publish the first genetic historical map of Han Chinese

The first genetic historical map of the Han Chinese, the largest ethnic population in the world, as they migrated from south to north over evolutionary time was published online today by the American Journal of Human Genetics by scientists at the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS).

26 Nov 2009

Wnt and EGFR signaling pathways interact to promote tumor cell invasion and metastasis

Two signaling pathways essential to normal human development - the Wnt/Wingless (Wnt) and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) pathways - interact in ways that can promote tumor cell invasion and metastasis, researchers from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in the Nov. 25 issue of Molecular Cell.

26 Nov 2009

Three high risk indicators that aid mammography screening

Mammography Reporting System, Inc. (MRS) will demonstrate their newest high risk indicator at RSNA 2009, in Chicago. MRS is the only company in the industry offering three separate high risk indicators to alert radiologists of potentially at-risk patients at the very point they interpret a mammogram.

26 Nov 2009

Findings show the relationship between neurotransmitter dopamine and ADHD

Scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have uncovered evidence of a primitive emotion-like behavior in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster.

26 Nov 2009

Lethality of H1N1 virus has dropped from its peak of 3.7, shows new data

Biotech firm Replikins Ltd., which has analyzed the H1N1 virus' genomic data from the 1918 pandemic through the prediction, outbreak, and progress of the current H1N1 pandemic, today issued its latest biochemical analysis of the virus.

25 Nov 2009

Plasma albumin levels and cardiovascular disease risk factors influenced by common genetic components

Two indicators of liver function, glutamyl transferase (GGT) and albumin (ALB) have been implicated in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. It is known that the variation in the plasma level of these liver related proteins is genetically influenced.

25 Nov 2009

Health watch: When you eat just as vital to what you eat

When you eat may be just as vital to your health as what you eat, found researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Their experiments in mice revealed that the daily waxing and waning of thousands of genes in the liver—the body's metabolic clearinghouse—is mostly controlled by food intake and not by the body's circadian clock as conventional wisdom had it.

25 Nov 2009