“Kaiser launches genetics study”
(Feb 14) SiliconValley.com reports, “Health-care provider Kaiser Permanente has launched a massive study into the complex interplay of genetics, environment and lifestyles that cause many common diseases.”
“Patenting Life”
(Feb 13) The New York Times reports, “YOU, or someone you love, may die because of a gene patent that should never have been granted in the first place. Sound far-fetched?”
“Study identifies gene variation for mild form of Schizophrenia”
(Feb 13) SAWF News reports, “University of Iowa researchers have learned more about a genetic variation that is a small risk factor for a mild form of schizophrenia, yet also is associated with improved overall survival.”
“A unique twin study on the increased cardiometabolic risk in obesity”
(Feb 13) EurekAlert! reports, “Study finds that obesity, already in its early stages and independent of genetic influences, is associated with deleterious alterations in the lipid metabolism known to facilitate atherogenesis, inflammation and insulin resistance.”
“Biochip allows genes to express themselves”
(Feb 13) News-Medical.Net reports, “Biochip platforms that work as artificial cells are attractive for medical diagnostics, interrogation of biological processes, and for the production of important biomolecules.”
“New patented technology for next generation of DNA and RNA microarrays”
(Feb 13) News-Medical.Net reports, “A novel invention developed by a scientist from New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) could revolutionize biological and clinical research and may lead to treatments for cancer, AIDS, Alzheimer's, diabetes, and genetic and infectious diseases.”
“People with genetic conditions twice as likely to report health insurance denial”
(Feb 12) eMaxHealth reports, “A new study published in the February 2007 issue of the American Journal of Medical Genetics reveals that individuals with genetic conditions are twice as likely to report having been denied health insurance than individuals with other chronic illnesses.”
“Hooked By Genes: Studies Identify DNA Regions Linked To Nicotine Dependence”
(Feb 12) Science Daily reports, “Americans are bombarded with antismoking messages, yet at least 65 million of us continue to light up.”
“Baby's Breath: Newborns With Respiratory Distress Potentially Have Rare Genetic
Disease”
(Feb 12) Science Daily reports, “Newborns with respiratory distress should be evaluated for primary ciliary dyskinesia, a rare genetic disease that has features similar to cystic fibrosis, says Thomas Ferkol, M.D., from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.”
“New diagnostic technology for routine prenatal genetic testing”
(Feb 11) News-Medical.Net reports, “Research studies demonstrating the viability of an approach to routinely detect the presence of fetal DNA in a mother's blood to accurately diagnose or rule out genetic defects -- as early as the first trimester -- was presented today at the 27th Annual Meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine being held in San Francisco.”
“Which genome variants matter?”
(Feb 9) EurekAlert! reports, “Findings published today in Science will accelerate the search for genes involved in human disease.”
“Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Scientists Discover New Gene That Prevents Multiple Types Of Cancer”
(Feb 9) Medical News Today reports, “A decades-old cancer mystery has been solved by researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL).”
“International Study Points To New Breast Cancer-susceptibility Gene”
(Feb 9) Science Daily reports, “A gene whose existence was detected only a couple of years ago may increase women's risk of breast cancer when inherited in a mutated form, and may contribute to prostate cancer as well, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and colleagues in Finland report in a new study.”
“Common Gene Version Optimizes Thinking — but With a Possible Downside”
(Feb 8) NIH News reports, “Most people inherit a version of a gene that optimizes their brain’s thinking circuitry, yet also appears to increase risk for schizophrenia*, a severe mental illness marked by impaired thinking, scientists at the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) have discovered.”
“Second gene discovered for recessive form of brittle bone disease”
(Feb 8) EurekAlert! reports, “Researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions have found a second genetic defect that accounts for previously unexplained forms of osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), a disorder that weakens bones, sometimes results in frequent fractures and is sometimes fatal.”
“Genes may trigger repeated premature birth in blacks”
(Feb 8) STLtoday.com reports, “Black women may be genetically predisposed to giving birth prematurely, according to a new study from Washington University.”