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Genetics and Health

March 13th, 2008

Genetic basis for painful peripheral artery disease

Peripheral artery disease image showing ‘furring up’ of arteries 
Peripheral vascular disease (PVD) can affect the arteries, the veins or the lymph vessels. The most common and important type of PVD is peripheral artery disease, which affects about 8 million Americans.  It becomes more common as a person gets older, and by age 65, about 12 to 20 % of […]

By Elaine -- 0 comments

March 8th, 2008

Galileo’s body to be exhumed for DNA testing

 
Galileo’s tomb 
Over 360 years ago Galileo died living as a recluse in Italy, a convicted heretic.  His crime - he fell foul of the religious authorities of the day by arguing that the Earth revolved around the sun and not vice versa.  His theory was subsequently found to be perfectly true.
Italian researchers, led by Prof Paulo Galluzzi, want to […]

By Elaine -- 4 comments

March 6th, 2008

Michael J Fox Foundation offers their Parkinson’s data to world

(Image courtesy of CIMA http://www.cima.es/areas1_neuro/areas1_neuro_english.html) 
Data from one of the first genome-wide association studies (GWAS), which focused on Parkinson’s diseases and was funded in part by The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF), is now being made available to researchers through the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) and the National Center for Biotechnology […]

By Elaine -- 0 comments

March 2nd, 2008

Drug responses vary between Africans and Europeans

Further to my various articles on our ancestry, differences in gene expression levels between people of European versus African ancestry appear to affect how each group responds to certain drugs or fights off specific infections, report researchers from the University of Chicago Medical Center and the Expression Research Laboratory at Affymetrix Inc. of Santa Clara, CA.
The researchers […]

By Elaine -- 2 comments

March 2nd, 2008

Electronic structure of DNA revealed - may lead to easier sequencing of DNA

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem scientists and others have revealed for the first time the electronic structure of single DNA molecules.  In their work, the researchers were able to decode the electronic structure of DNA and to understand how the electrons distribute into the various parts of the double helix, a result that has been […]

By Elaine -- 0 comments

February 24th, 2008

‘Out of Africa’ - 3 studies trace human global migration

 
Papers published in Nature and Science this week support the previously held theory that humans originated in East Africa, migrating outward until they reached all parts of the globe. But the genetic work from these studies brings a new level of precision to human migration studies, with each group finding subtle and intriguing details that shed light on different aspects of […]

By Elaine -- 2 comments

February 24th, 2008

More on personal genomics services

Family Tree DNA advises it is now offering DNA Traits a personal genomics service that specializes in DNA testing for specific diseases. This company offers individual tests, group tests, and even a membership plan, all for relatively cheap prices compared to the other companies offering genome-wide SNP scans. The difference between them and their competitors, they […]

By Elaine -- 0 comments

February 16th, 2008

Genetic adaptations to surviving a cold climate linked to diabetes, obesity and heart disease

 
Our early human ancestors originated from a hot, humid climate where natural selection focused on dispersing heat.  As humans migrated to colder climates there would have been evolutionary pressure to adapt to their new settings by boosting the processes that produce and retain heat.
Genes involved in energy metabolism are therefore likely to be central to heat and cold […]

By Elaine -- 0 comments