Genetics News and Research

Latest Genetics News and Research

High blood pressure induces low fat metabolism in heart muscle

Hearts of non-diabetics with muscle thickening due to high blood pressure have an energy metabolism skewed in the opposite direction -- away from the use of fat for energy.

4 Aug 2006

Transgenic goat's milk could help tackle children's intestinal disease

Milk produced by transgenic goats, which carry the gene for an antibacterial enzyme found in human breast milk, altered the intestinal bacteria in young goats and pigs that were fed the milk.

4 Aug 2006

Genomic expansion and diversification in a African sleeping sickness parasite allow it to evade host detection

A team of scientists headed by Dr. Sara Melville at the University of Cambridge has shown that the parasite known to cause African sleeping sickness has evolved an unusual chromosomal structure as a result of environmental adaptation.

3 Aug 2006

BRIT1 gene plays a pivotal role in DNA damage detection and repair

A single gene plays a pivotal role launching two DNA damage detection and repair pathways in the human genome, suggesting that it functions as a previously unidentified tumor suppressor gene.

3 Aug 2006

Structural alterations in breast stromal and epithelial DNA

Researchers have uncovered a pattern of DNA damage in connective tissues in the human breast that could shed light on the early stages of breast cancer.

3 Aug 2006

Better understanding of intravenous immunoglobulin

For years, researchers have struggled to understand how IVIG worked. It's ability to treat autoimmune diseases seemed to bean apparent contradiction.

3 Aug 2006

Toxoplasma may be affecting human behavior on a mass scale

A common parasite found in cats may be affecting human behavior on a mass scale, according to a scientist based at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

3 Aug 2006

Fatty acids found in dairy products shown to treat diabetes

Fatty acids commonly found in dairy products have successfully treated diabetes in mice, according to a researcher at Penn State.

3 Aug 2006

Check list for dementia and its all about lifestyle

Researchers from Sweden and Finland have created a dementia-risk test for middle-aged adults, and say the test can be used to help spot risk factors that people can change before dementia starts.

3 Aug 2006

Bone marrow lesions in the knee may be hereditary

There is a significant genetic component to the occurrence and severity of bone marrow lesions in the tibia and femur.

3 Aug 2006

Different genes may be responsible for causing autism in boys and girls

In the on-going search to find the cause of Autistic Spectrum Disorders, the latest research says different genes may be responsible for causing autism in boys than in girls, and the discovery may help explain why the condition is more common in boys.

3 Aug 2006

Specialized skin cells use GPS like mapping system to identify where they belong in the body

Until now it's been a mystery as to how adult skin, which consists of basically the same components all over the body, knows to grow hair in some areas like the scalp, while manufacturing sweat glands, calluses and fingerprint whorls in others

2 Aug 2006

Variation in the CHEK2 gene may triple a woman's risk of developing breast cancer

Study shows that women in the general population who carry a specific CHEK2 mutation are three times as likely as women without the mutation to develop breast cancer.

2 Aug 2006

Different genes may be responsible for causing autism in boys than in girls

Like detectives trying to solve a murder case, researchers searching for the biological cause of autism have come up with some surprising suspects.

2 Aug 2006

Genetic mutations may be responsible for schizophrenia

The higher risk of schizophrenia among offspring of expectant mothers living through famine could help us understand the genetic basis for that debilitating mental disorder.

2 Aug 2006

Uterine cancer may be clue to Lynch syndrome

A new study suggests that women with endometrial cancer should be screened for inherited mutations that could lead to a high risk of several other cancers.

2 Aug 2006

Protein CD86 raises antibody output

Cancer immunologists here have discovered how a protein on the surface of antibody-making immune cells boosts the amount of antibody the cells make.

2 Aug 2006

Genetics researchers identify second gene that gives rise to Alagille syndrome

In a finding that may have broader implications for understanding kidney disorders, genetics researchers at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia have identified a second gene that gives rise to Alagille syndrome.

2 Aug 2006

Molecular switch that regulates fat and cholesterol production identified

Researchers at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital have identified how a molecular switch regulates fat and cholesterol production

2 Aug 2006

How kidneys retain proteins, discard waste

New research may finally settle a decades-old debate about how the kidney keeps valuable blood proteins from harmfully slipping into the urine, a serious health symptom that often precedes kidney failure.

2 Aug 2006