Category Archives: Genetics
Childhood obesity has been known to have some genetic basis, now there is more evidence
Genetics researchers have identified at least two new gene variants that increase the risk of common childhood obesity. “This is the largest-ever genome-wide study of common childhood obesity, in contrast to previous studies that have focused on more extreme forms … Continue reading
Posted in Exercise: Benefits, Genetics, Obesity, Pediatric Health
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Kindness is genetic, say scientists
It turns out that the milk of human kindness is evoked by something besides mom’s good example. Research by psychologists at the University at Buffalo and the University of California, Irvine, has found that at least part of the reason … Continue reading
Personalized cancer treatments even closer with new DNA sequencing techniques
Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are using powerful DNA sequencing technology not only to identify mutations at the root of a patient’s tumor – considered key to personalizing cancer treatment – but to map the … Continue reading
Posted in Cancer, Genetics, Health Care: Technology, Personalized Medicine
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DNA testing at the patient’s bedside for the first time
Developed in Canada and conducted by researchers from the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, in partnership with Spartan Bioscience, the world’s first bedside genetic test has received acknowledgment by The Lancet, the world’s leading general medical journal. The article Point-of-care … Continue reading
Posted in Genetics, Personalized Medicine
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Mitochondria, a quick guide, by Chrissie Wells via the Wellcome Trust
While you may or may not have your mum’s eyes, something you’ve definitely inherited from her is the DNA inside your mitochondria. These membrane-bound organelles are a vital part of aerobic respiration – how our cells use oxygen to transfer … Continue reading
Posted in Genetics
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Pain sensitivity has genetic basis
Newswise — Nearly one in five people suffers from the insidious and often devastating problem of chronic pain. That the problem persists, and is growing, is striking given the many breakthroughs in understanding the basic biology of pain over the … Continue reading
Opioids may promote breast cancer tumor growth
Newswise — CHICAGO – March 21, 2012 – A new study in the April issue of Anesthesiology analyzed inherited (genetic) differences in how the body responds to its own morphine-like chemicals and pain-relieving opioid drugs, and whether they influence breast … Continue reading
Walking may lessen the influence of genes on obesity by half
Watching too much TV can worsen your genetic tendency towards obesity, but you can cut the effect in half by walking briskly for an hour a day, researchers report at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology and Prevention/Nutrition, Physical Activity and … Continue reading
Posted in Exercise: Benefits, Genetics
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Diseases’ Big Bang: we are truly closing in
These days, most of us don’t head to the doctor until we are already ill. What if you could see disease approaching just as it starts to head your way? A study in a special March 16th issue of Cell … Continue reading
Posted in Genetics, Health Care: Technology, Personalized Medicine
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Pre-birth DNA could predict our later body weight: PLoS
Marks on the genetic ‘code’ that babies have at birth are different for children who go on to be obese or overweight compared to those who do not, new research from the universities of Newcastle and Bristol has found. Using … Continue reading
Why stress is a risk factor for depression, the latter of which may be hard-wired
Depression is common enough – afflicting one in ten adults in the United States – that it seems the possibility of depression must be “hard-wired” into our brains. This has led biologists to propose several theories to account for how … Continue reading
Posted in Genetics, Human Behavior: Fatigue, Human Behavior: Phobias, Human Behavior: Stress, Inflammation, Mental Health: Depression
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How drugs can be matched to a patient’s genetic information through the study of single nucleotide polymorphisms
ScienceDaily (Feb. 24, 2012) — The RIKEN Center for Genomic Medicine is examining how drugs can be matched to a patient’s genetic information through the study of single nucleotide polymorphisms. Taisei Mushiroda from the Laboratory for Pharmacogenetics explains… Drugs are … Continue reading
Posted in Genetics, Health Care: Technology, Personalized Medicine
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Preventing kids’ obesity via diabetes drugs, such as Pioglitazone, may be in the pipeline
In a study to be presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine’s annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting, in Dallas, Texas, researchers will report findings that show that short therapy with the anti-diabetic medication Pioglitazone can prevent the long term … Continue reading
Posted in Diabetes, Gene Therapy, Genetics, Obesity, Pediatric Health, Science Updates
Tagged Arshag Kalanderian, Egle Bytautiene, George R. Saade, Igor Patrikeev, Massoud Motamedi, Monica Longo, Nicola Abate, peroxisome proliferator-activated, pioglitazone, Pioglitazone Therapy in Offspring Exposed to Maternal Obesity
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Colon cancer: 80 percent have variants of a gene, HNF4A, out of balance
An international research team led by cell biologists at the University of California, Riverside has uncovered a new insight into colon cancer, the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. The research provides potential new avenues for … Continue reading
Genetic brain abnormality makes it difficult to exercise self-control: Cambridge U study
Researchers funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) at the University of Cambridge have identified a brain abnormality which is found in drug-dependent individuals as well as their siblings who have had no history of drug addiction. The brain abnormality … Continue reading
