Genetics News and Research

Latest Genetics News and Research

Common form of thalassaemia can be managed without blood transfusion

Haemoglobin E â thalassaemia - the commonest form of severe thalassaemia in many Asian countries - can be managed without transfusion in many patients, suggests a research letter published online today (Thursday September 29, 2005) by The Lancet.

28 Sep 2005

Pain-free needles!

Millions of fearful patients could be saved the pain of vaccinations thanks to revolutionary pain-free needles to be revealed today for the first time at the British Pharmaceutical Conference in Manchester.

28 Sep 2005

Survival of heart attack patients placed on beta-blocker therapy corresponds to specific variations in their genes

Survival of heart attack and unstable angina patients placed on beta-blocker therapy corresponds to specific variations in their genes, according to a study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City.

27 Sep 2005

Possible therapy that could control blood pressure

A newly developed virus that introduces a blood pressure-lowering gene into cells and enables that gene to maintain blood pressure at healthy levels for four months promises to take gene therapy for the disorder a step closer to reality, said researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in a report released online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

27 Sep 2005

Equine flu virus jumps to dogs

A Cornell University virologist has isolated a highly contagious equine flu virus that is spreading a sometimes-fatal respiratory flu among dogs, and is responsible for a major dog-flu outbreak in New York state. There is no evidence that the virus could infect people.

27 Sep 2005

Fndings could lead to a treatment for idiopathic interstitial pneumonia

An incurable, deadly lung disorder, "idiopathic interstitial pneumonia" (IIP), whose causes were mysterious arises from a combination of a genetic predisposition and damage due to inhaled chemicals, notably from cigarette smoking, Duke University Medical Center researchers have found.

27 Sep 2005

Gene variants and beta-blockers associated with increased risk of death

Patients with certain gene variants who were prescribed beta-blocker drugs after acute coronary syndrome (ACS) had an increased risk of death over the next three years, according to a study in the September 28 issue of Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

27 Sep 2005

New centre to advance child health research

The Medical Research Council (MRC) and the Institute of Child Health (ICH) at UCL (University College London) have announced a partnership to establish a centre for research to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases affecting children's health, and to promote their health and well-being.

27 Sep 2005

New virus-based gene therapy delivery system to help fight cancer

A Mayo Clinic research team has devised a new virus-based gene therapy delivery system to help fight cancer. Researchers say their findings will help overcome hurdles that have hindered gene therapy cancer treatments.

27 Sep 2005

Discovered of gene mutations associated with hereditary neuralgic amyotrophy

In a significant advance toward understanding a perplexing and painful neurological disorder, an international team of researchers has discovered gene mutations associated with an inherited chronic pain and weakness syndrome known as hereditary neuralgic amyotrophy (also called HNA).

27 Sep 2005

Possibility of tailored treatments for addiction based on how a person's genes behave

Scientists have learned how a genetic variation long suspected in making some people susceptible to alcoholism and narcotic drug addiction actually does so.

27 Sep 2005

Temperature can regulate the circadian clock in zebrafish

The biological clock controls the circadian rhythms of a wide range of physiological and behavioral processes, from fluctuating hormone levels to sleep - wake cycles and feeding patterns.

27 Sep 2005

Pursuit of potential drugs and small molecules that target the IGF-1 receptor

Pharmaceutical companies around the world still come knocking on Renato Baserga, M.D.,'s door. And for good reason.

27 Sep 2005

Farnesyl transferase inhibitors may help chidren with Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome

Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered that a drug currently being tested against cancers might help children with a rare, fatal condition called Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, which causes rapid, premature aging.

27 Sep 2005

Gene responsible for Neuralgic Amyotrophy identified

Neuralgic Amyotrophy is a painful disorder of the peripheral nervous system. This heritable disease causes prolonged acute attacks of pain in the shoulder or arm, followed by temporary paralysis.

27 Sep 2005

New method to measure circadian cycles

Everyone knows morning people and late-night owls. The variation in individual circadian rhythms is an anecdotal as well as experimentally verified fact. But, until now, to systematically study circadian differences (and thereby hope to rout out the underlying genetic causes), scientists have had to rely on prolonged behavioural observation.

27 Sep 2005

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have identified three new genetic mutations in brain tumors

...a discovery that could pave the way for more effective cancer treatments.

27 Sep 2005

Nature may play a larger role than nurture when it comes to family relationships

Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin and George Washington University in Washington, D.C., used data on 674 families, each with a same-sex adolescent pair, to evaluate the factors that made up the relationships and individual personalities.

26 Sep 2005

Extreme gene pin-pointed

One teenager likes to snowboard off a cliff. Another prefers to read a book and wouldn't think of trading places. Why these differences exist is a mystery, but for the first time researchers have identified a possible genetic explanation behind risk-seeking behavior.

26 Sep 2005

Mutations in receptor tyrosine kinases provide potential for highly-targeted cancer therapies

Scientists from J. Craig Venter Institute, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, and The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine identified three novel mutations in two receptor tyrosine kinases in glioblastoma tumors using high throughput sequencing.

26 Sep 2005