http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. A change to the so-called TERT gene considerably increases the risk of breast and ovarian cancer. This is the result of a current, multicenter study in which the University Department of Gynaecology and the Comprehensive Cancer Center Vienna (CCC), an establishment belonging to the MedUni Vienna and Vienna General Hospital, were taking part. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-gene-mutation-breast-ovarian-cancer.html Cancer Fri, 10 May 2013 09:00:02 EST news287394495 (HealthDay)—As scientists mark the 10th anniversary Sunday of the completion of the Human Genome Project, they will note how that watershed effort has led to the discovery of the genetic underpinnings of almost 5,000 diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-ten-years-human-genome.html Genetics Fri, 12 Apr 2013 12:58:11 EST news284990283 Using DNA tracking of an outbreak among cystic fibrosis patients at a treatment centre in the UK, the scientists identified frequent patient-to-patient transmission despite stringent infection control measures. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-genome-reveals-human-to-human-multidrug-resistant.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 28 Mar 2013 18:30:01 EST news283707839 UConn researchers are at the forefront of new discoveries and understanding about the smallest molecules in the body that can have a momentous impact on human health. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-dna-sequencing-landscape-science-biology.html Genetics Tue, 26 Mar 2013 08:21:37 EST news283504887 The 18th century natural philosopher Jean-Baptiste Lamarck proposed that the necks of giraffes lengthened as a consequence of the cumulative effort, across generations, to reach leaves just out of their grasp. This view of evolution was largely abandoned with the advent of modern genetic theories to explain the transmission of most important traits and many medical illnesses across generations. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-life-insights-epigenetics.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 14 Feb 2013 10:25:18 EST news280059911 French police investigating a series of rapes in the southern city of Marseille are confounded after tracing DNA evidence to a set of twins but not knowing which one may be to blame. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-french-police-confounded-twins-dna.html Genetics Sun, 10 Feb 2013 11:10:04 EST news279716991 Our genetic material is constantly exposed to damage, which the body's own proteins normally repair. One of these proteins works like a scanner, continually scouring the genetic material for signs of damage. Researchers from the Institute of Veterinary Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Zurich see new possibilities in this damage recognition for improving cancer treatment in humans. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-scanner-hereditary-defects.html Genetics Thu, 24 Jan 2013 12:00:01 EST news278249862 The notion that police can identify a suspect based on the tiniest drop of blood or trace of tissue has long been a staple of TV dramas, but scientists at Harvard have taken the idea a step further. Using just a single human cell, they can reproduce an individual's entire genome. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-cell-technique-sequence-entire-genome.html Genetics Mon, 07 Jan 2013 07:39:09 EST news276766740 An international team, led by researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, has discovered that "random" mutations in the genome are not quite so random after all. Their study, to be published in the journal Cell on December 21, shows that the DNA sequence in some regions of the human genome is quite volatile and can mutate ten times more frequently than the rest of the genome. Genes that are linked to autism and a variety of other disorders have a particularly strong tendency to mutate. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-genomic-hotspots-clues-autism-disorders.html Genetics Thu, 20 Dec 2012 12:00:32 EST news275227217 (Medical Xpress)—A new Australian study led by Professor Susan Clark from Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research shows that large regions of the genome – amounting to roughly 2% – are epigenetically activated in prostate cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-cancer-overturns-current-gene.html Cancer Tue, 18 Dec 2012 16:06:03 EST news275069088 Data, data everywhere. In genomics research, there is a data deluge, so innovative ways to analyze all that information will play a critical role in future breakthroughs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-psychology-professor-clues-psychiatric-disorders.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 12 Dec 2012 08:29:22 EST news274523356 The causes underlying the development of certain types of common cancers have not yet been elucidated. In order to better determine the origin and the sequence of events responsible for the onset of colon cancer, the teams led by Thanos Halazonetis and Stylianos Antonarakis, professors at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, have sequenced the DNA of biopsied tissue from colon polyps. The results show that these precancerous lesions have a specific profile called 'mutator', which is associated with an increased frequency of acquisition of certain mutations. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-mechanism-colon-polyps.html Cancer Sun, 02 Dec 2012 02:22:43 EST news273637341 (Medical Xpress)—A study dating the age of more than 1 million single-letter variations in the human DNA code reveals that most of these mutations are of recent origin, evolutionarily speaking. These kinds of mutations change one nucleotide – an A, C, T or G – in the DNA sequence.  Over 86 percent of the harmful protein-coding mutations of this type arose in humans just during the past 5,000 to 10,000 years. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-genetic-variation-varies-populations.html Genetics Wed, 28 Nov 2012 13:00:37 EST news273327980 (Medical Xpress)—A new study in the US and Germany has added to our understanding of the human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) and how it manipulates the cells it infects. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-proteins-human-cytomegalovirus.html Medical research Fri, 23 Nov 2012 09:01:51 EST news272883691 A new study published November 20 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology has identified hundreds of small regions of the genome that appear to be uniquely regulated in human neurons. These regulatory differences distinguish us from other primates, including monkeys and apes, and as neurons are at the core of our unique cognitive abilities, these features may ultimately hold the key to our intellectual prowess (and also to our potential vulnerability to a wide range of 'human-specific' diseases from autism to Alzheimer's). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-evolution-human-intellect-human-specific-neuronal.html Genetics Tue, 20 Nov 2012 17:00:03 EST news272647874 Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide and is associated with exposure to hepatitis B virus (HBV). Patients carrying the virus have a 100-fold greater risk of developing HCC, but exactly why was unclear until now. Wing Kin Sung at the A*STAR Genome Institute of Singapore and the National University of Singapore, John Luk at the A*STAR Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology and the National University of Singapore and co-workers have now identified genetic mechanisms by which a virus contributes to this common form of cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-molecular-mechanisms-virus-contributes-cancer.html Cancer Wed, 29 Aug 2012 08:50:05 EST news265447292