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Genetics and Health

Archive for the ‘General Genetics and Health’ Category

May 18th, 2008

Insomnia - body clock ‘reset button’ found

Cambridge University researchers have identified a small molecule that appears to play a major role in making our body clocks tick.  Studies in mice have shown cAMP - a common signalling molecule - is involved in keeping the body clock “rhythms” going (circadian rhythms).
The body’s internal clock is a highly sensitive mechanism able to anticipate changes in the […]

By Elaine -- 0 comments

May 18th, 2008

Sexual transmission of HIV by a handful of virus variants

A team from The University of Alabama (UAB) have found that among billions of HIV variants only a few lead to sexual transmission.
George M. Shaw Professor in the UAB departments of Medicine and Microbiology and senior author on the report, said the research sheds new light on potential vulnerabilities in the virus at a time when […]

By Elaine -- 0 comments

May 8th, 2008

Is your toilet cleaner than your keyboard?

 
Which? magazine in the UK swabbed their Head Office computer keyboards and the results, with horror, revealed some computer keyboards had dangerously high levels of bacteria normally associated with a toilet. 
In summary, 4 of the keyboards were so infested with germs they posed a health hazard that could give someone a bad stomach upset; two […]

By Elaine -- 3 comments

May 8th, 2008

Suicide - genetic changes in brain as a result of childhood abuse

Researchers have found marked genetic differences between brains of men who committed suicide and the brains of men who did not. Of those individuals studied, all had been victims of child abuse.
Even though the genetic sequence was the same in the suicide and non-suicide brains, researchers at the McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, led by Moshe Szyfa, […]

By Elaine -- 4 comments

May 7th, 2008

Genetic Ethics - testing and storing our kids’ DNA

 
Scientists and policy developers at the Translating ELSI, Ethical Legal Social Implications of Human Genetics Research conference have been mulling over the myriad of ethical arguments over testing and storing our kids’ DNA.
The biggest driver for the advancement of genetic testing is the ‘early detection improves outcomes’ argument and if an individual is found to be at […]

By Elaine -- 1 comment

May 7th, 2008

Genetic testing ethics - consent forms becoming incomprehensible

Following my recent article on ethical guidelines for informed consent in genomic studies, a group of scientists met at the Translating ESLI conference in Cleveland to debate this whole ethical argument. This issue is particularly critical for genome-wide association studies and in establishing and using large biobanks.
It was universally acknowledged that consent forms are difficult to read for […]

By Elaine -- 0 comments

May 7th, 2008

CFS and ME, Chronic fatigue syndrome - genetic origin not only psychological

(Image source:  www.livingwithcfs.wordpress.com) 
Researchers from St George’s Hospital, University of London have identified a biological basis for 7 different genetic types of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS).
The St George’s study looked at 55 patients from the US and UK with the condition, and carried out a genetic analysis of them and 75 healthy blood donors.
It identified the seven […]

By Elaine -- 0 comments

May 5th, 2008

Weight gain, diabetes, expanding waist line and a gene sequence

 
Scientists from Imperial College London and other international institutions have discovered a gene sequence that is associated with a 2cm expansion in waist circumference, a 2kg gain in weight, and a tendency to become resistant to insulin, which can lead to type 2 diabetes. The sequence is found in 50% of the UK population.
The study shows that the […]

By Elaine -- 2 comments

May 4th, 2008

Genetics blogs round up - Gene Genie#30

(Image courtesy of Ricardo Vidal at My Biotech Life) 
Many thanks to Razib at Gene Expression for hosting Gene Genie#30, the carnival of genetics blogs. Click on the following link to get a great summary on all that is happening in the genetics blog word.  There are some great articles, including some from G&H.
http://scienceblogs.com/gnxp/2008/04/gene_genie_30.php
Here are links to […]

By Elaine -- 0 comments

May 4th, 2008

Meet GNA - DNA’s ‘ambidextrous’ cousin

GNA 
(Source: John Chaput, University of Arizona)
Nanotechnology researchers are continually on the lookout for new building blocks to push innovation and discovery to scales much smaller than the tiniest speck of dust.  At present DNA nanotechnology researchers are basically limited by what they can buy off the shelf.
In the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, researchers led […]

By Elaine -- 0 comments