Genetics News and Research

Latest Genetics News and Research

Study shows community-based HIV-prevention efforts increase testing rates, reduce HIV incidence

In Africa and Thailand, communities that worked together on HIV-prevention efforts saw not only a rise in HIV screening but a drop in new infections, according to a new study presented this week at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Atlanta.

6 Mar 2013

Screening healthy adults could potentially prevent rare genetic disorders

Millions of people unknowingly carry rare gene mutations that put them at high risk of developing preventable diseases such as colorectal cancer, breast cancer, and several catastrophic blood vessel disorders.

6 Mar 2013

European scientists find root cause of age-related dementia

A team of European scientists from the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf and the Cologne Excellence Cluster on Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases at the University of Cologne in Germany has taken an important step closer to understanding the root cause of age-related dementia.

6 Mar 2013

Link between family support in pregnancy and reduced postpartum depression symptoms

Women who receive strong social support from their families during pregnancy appear to be protected from sharp increases in a particular stress hormone, making them less likely to experience depression after giving birth, a new study by UCLA life scientists indicates.

6 Mar 2013

Viewpoints: Disappointing 'surprises' in health law; Cuts in graduate medical training threatens physician supply; Va. can afford Medicaid expansion

The proposed 2.3 percent reduction in (Medicare Advantage plan) payments, which comes on top of cuts already scheduled under the Affordable Care Act, pays no mind to the potential impact on quality of care throughout the program. These cuts will apply to all plans no matter the value they bring in providing quality care to beneficiaries or offering innovative solutions that could ultimately be scaled and applied to the broader program.

5 Mar 2013

FTO function may encompass more than body mass

Three variants in the fat mass and obesity associated gene are associated with significant predisposition to melanoma, show findings published in Nature Genetics.

5 Mar 2013

Study: Women receiving social support during pregnancy less likely to develop postpartum depression

Women who receive strong social support from their families during pregnancy appear to be protected from sharp increases in a particular stress hormone, making them less likely to develop postpartum depression, according to a new study published in Clinical Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

5 Mar 2013

Schizophrenic people with MIR137 tend to develop illness at younger age

Some of the dramatic differences seen among patients with schizophrenia may be explained by a single gene that regulates a group of other schizophrenia risk genes. These findings appear in a new imaging-genetics study from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).

5 Mar 2013

KMO gene variant associated with increased production of kynurenic acid

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have found an explanation for why the level of kynurenic acid (KYNA) is higher in the brains of people with schizophrenia or bipolar disease with psychosis. The study, which is published in the scientific periodical Molecular Psychiatry, identifies a gene variant associated with an increased production of KYNA.

5 Mar 2013

Five scientists aim to make strides in predicting and preventing preterm birth

Five researchers from four states are investigating how genetics and infections interact to cause preterm birth as well as how proteins and hormones regulate a healthy pregnancy, all with the goal of giving more babies a healthy start in life, the March of Dimes announced today.

5 Mar 2013

AAP, ACMG release guidelines on best practices for genetic testing and screening of children

For the first time, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) spoke with one voice and released a set of recommendations and guidelines on best practices for genetic testing and screening of children.

5 Mar 2013

Researchers identify smoking gun for environmental exposures to affect future generations

Grandmother's cigarette smoking could be responsible for her grandchild's asthma, and the recent discovery of this multi-generational transmission of disease suggests the environmental factors experienced today could determine the health of family members for generations to come, two Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute (LA BioMed) lead researchers write in the March edition of Review of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

5 Mar 2013

People with variations in FTO gene could be at increased risk of melanoma

The research shows that people with particular variations in a stretch of DNA within the FTO gene, called intron 8, could be at greater risk of developing melanoma.

5 Mar 2013

Horizon forms 3 new Centers of Excellence for gene editing in Asia

Horizon Discovery (Horizon), a leading provider of research tools to support the development of personalized medicines, today announced it has established three new Centers of Excellence (CoE's) for gene editing in Asia.

4 Mar 2013

Investigators identify seven new genetic regions associated with AMD

An international group of investigators has identified seven new genetic regions associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a common cause of blindness in older individuals. The findings, reported online March 3 in Nature Genetics, could point to new biological pathways and therapeutic targets for AMD.

4 Mar 2013

Combination of two environmental factors contributes to schizophrenia

The interplay between an infection during pregnancy and stress in puberty plays a key role in the development of schizophrenia, as behaviourists from ETH Zurich demonstrate in a mouse model. However, there is no need to panic.

2 Mar 2013

RNA interference identifies function of genes linked with cardiovascular disease

Studies screening the genome of hundreds of thousands of individuals (known as Genome-wide association studies or GWAS) have linked more than 100 regions in the genome to the risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

1 Mar 2013

Structural connectome maps reveal new details about agenesis of the corpus callosum

Combining hospital MRIs with the mathematical tool known as network analysis, a group of researchers at UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley have mapped the three-dimensional global connections within the brains of seven adults who have genetic malformations that leave them without the corpus callosum, which connects the left and right sides of the brain.

1 Mar 2013

Not all acne bacteria trigger pimples: Study

The bacteria that cause acne live on everyone's skin, yet one in five people is lucky enough to develop only an occasional pimple over a lifetime.

1 Mar 2013

Autism, ADHD, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder and schizophrenia share common genetic risk factors

For the first time, scientists have discovered that five major psychiatric disorders—autism, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder and schizophrenia—share several common genetic risk factors.

28 Feb 2013

Genetics News and Research

Latest Genetics News and Research

Study shows community-based HIV-prevention efforts increase testing rates, reduce HIV incidence

Screening healthy adults could potentially prevent rare genetic disorders

European scientists find root cause of age-related dementia

Link between family support in pregnancy and reduced postpartum depression symptoms

Viewpoints: Disappointing 'surprises' in health law; Cuts in graduate medical training threatens physician supply; Va. can afford Medicaid expansion

FTO function may encompass more than body mass

Study: Women receiving social support during pregnancy less likely to develop postpartum depression

Schizophrenic people with MIR137 tend to develop illness at younger age

KMO gene variant associated with increased production of kynurenic acid

Five scientists aim to make strides in predicting and preventing preterm birth

AAP, ACMG release guidelines on best practices for genetic testing and screening of children

Researchers identify smoking gun for environmental exposures to affect future generations

People with variations in FTO gene could be at increased risk of melanoma

Horizon forms 3 new Centers of Excellence for gene editing in Asia

Investigators identify seven new genetic regions associated with AMD

Combination of two environmental factors contributes to schizophrenia

RNA interference identifies function of genes linked with cardiovascular disease

Structural connectome maps reveal new details about agenesis of the corpus callosum

Not all acne bacteria trigger pimples: Study

Autism, ADHD, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder and schizophrenia share common genetic risk factors

Genetics & Genomics - Second Edition eBook

Real-time Raman monitoring for pharmaceutical hot melt extrusion

Synthetic Psychedelics: A Growing Public Health Concern

How the Vutara VXL simplifies single-molecule imaging