Genetic News and Research

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Polycystic ovary syndrome more common than originally thought

Researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the University of Alabama, Birmingham, have found that a complex hormonal disorder affecting the reproductive and metabolic function of premenopausal women may be considerably more common in the United States than previously believed from earlier, smaller studies.

5 Jun 2004

New generation drug therapy targets the individual

The days of ‘one size fits all’ medicines may soon be a thing of the past for people undergoing radical drug therapies for chronic or serious illnesses.

5 Jun 2004

Breakthrough in gene therapy

Despite a roller-coaster ride of ups and downs during the past 15 years, gene therapy has continued to attract many of the world's brightest scientists. They are tantalized by the enormous potential that replacing missing genes or disabling defective ones offers for curing diseases of many kinds.

3 Jun 2004

Fibroid tumors lack crucial structural protein

Fibroid tumors-the sometimes painful uterine growths affecting many American women-lack a key protein that plays a role in holding tissues together, according to a study by researchers from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health

3 Jun 2004

Compulsive hoarding study could improve diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders

A PET imaging study conducted at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute indicates the neurobiology of America's estimated 1 million compulsive hoarders differs significantly from people with other obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms. The findings indicate that different medications could improve treatment success.

2 Jun 2004

Fibroid tumors affecting many American women lack a key protein helps hold tissues together

Fibroid tumors — the sometimes painful uterine growths affecting many American women — lack a key protein that plays a role in holding tissues together, according to a study by researchers from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health.

2 Jun 2004

Study may help oncologists tailor chemotherapy to patients based on their genetic make-up

Genetic variations in an individual’s ability to repair DNA damage may help predict survival in lung cancer patients treated with the common chemotherapy drugs cisplatin or carboplatin, a new study shows.

2 Jun 2004

Why do grandparents systemically prefer some grandchildren to others?

“Maternal grandmothers are closer to their grandchildren than other grandparents. The next closest relationship between grandparents and grandchildren is by maternal grandfathers, then paternal grandmothers and, last of all, paternal grandfathers.”

2 Jun 2004

Suprising discovery in the retinas of colorblind people may help understanding of a number of eye disorders

The discovery of a surprise lurking in the retinas of colorblind people may have ramifications for understanding a number of eye disorders. Using a technique called “adaptive optics,” which was originally developed to help astronomers see more clearly through the Earth’s atmosphere.

2 Jun 2004

Genes that allow nerve cells to communicate may have come from bacteria eons ago

Some of the genes that allow nerve cells and some other types of cells to send elaborate chemical messages to each other appear to have been transferred to animals or their immediate ancestors from bacteria eons ago.

2 Jun 2004

Research laboratory at the forefront of the science of metabolomics

A new $1.8 million research laboratory will catapult Iowa State University to the forefront of the science of metabolomics.

2 Jun 2004

New medical patent covering the generation of genetically enhanced therapeutic antigens

Morphotek, Inc. announced today the issuance of United States Patent 6,737,268 covering the generation of genetically enhanced therapeutic antigens.

2 Jun 2004

Mice may hold the key to longer life

Scientists from the University of Aberdeen, the Aberdeen-based Rowett Research Institute and the Medical Research Council (MRC) in Cambridge have made a major breakthrough in understanding how metabolism affects lifespan.

2 Jun 2004

Reiner Center for Behavioral and Psychosomatic Medicine

Columbia University Medical Center has received a $5 million gift from Edward S. Reiner to establish the Reiner Center for Behavioral and Psychosomatic Medicine, the only center of its kind in New York City.

2 Jun 2004

Gene linked to alcoholism

Alcoholism tends to run in families, suggesting that addiction, at least in part, has an underlying genetic cause. Now, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have discovered a gene linked to alcohol dependency.

1 Jun 2004

Marijuana use does not appear to be associated with an increased risk of developing oral cancer

Contrary to previous research findings that have suggested a link, marijuana use does not appear to be associated with an increased risk of developing oral cancer, according to a large, population-based study led by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

1 Jun 2004

How we pass our genes to our children

An Oxford-led team of researchers has found out more about what happens during recombination, the process by which the genetic information you inherited from your mother and father is mixed up to make a sex chromosome to pass on to your offspring.

1 Jun 2004

Treatment helps 26% of black Americans with chronic hepatitis C

Twenty-six percent (26%) of black Americans (BA) with chronic hepatitis C who received treatment with Pegasys plus Copegus (peginterferon alfa-2a plus ribavirin) achieved a sustained virological response (SVR), according to study results published in the June 2004 issue of Hepatology.

1 Jun 2004

Novel molecular targeting technologies to deliver gene-silencing therapy

Researchers have combined novel molecular targeting technologies to deliver gene-silencing therapy specifically to tumor cells shielded by a normally impermeable obstacle, the blood brain barrier.

1 Jun 2004

Smoking a lot more harmful than previously thought

The U.S. Surgeon General has released a new comprehensive report on smoking and health, revealing for the first time that smoking causes diseases in nearly every organ of the body. Published 40 years after the surgeon general's first report on smoking -- which concluded that smoking was a definite cause of three serious diseases -- this newest report finds that cigarette smoking is conclusively linked to diseases such as leukemia, cataracts, pneumonia and cancers of the cervix, kidney, pancreas and stomach.

30 May 2004