http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. In new research published on March 21, 2013 in the online issue of The American Journal of Human Genetics, researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) demonstrate that some variants in our genes that contribute to a person's risk for inflammatory diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease or rheumatoid arthritis, have been the target of natural selection over the course of human history. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-evolution-inflammatory-disease.html Genetics Thu, 21 Mar 2013 14:33:24 EST news283095196 New work from the Broad Institute's Klarman Cell Observatory, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard University, MIT, and Yale University expands the understanding of how one type of immune cell – known as a T helper 17 or Th17 cell – develops, and how its growth influences the development of immune responses. By figuring out how these cells are "wired," the researchers make a surprising connection between autoimmunity and salt consumption, highlighting the interplay of genetics and environmental factors in disease susceptibility. The results of their work appear in three companion papers in Nature this week. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-circuitry-cells-involved-immunity-autoimmune.html Medical research Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:00:05 EST news281796782 (Medical Xpress)—A novel way to image the entire brain's glymphatic pathway, a dynamic process that clears waste and solutes from the brain that otherwise might build-up and contribute to the development of Alzheimer's disease, may provide the basis for a new strategy to evaluate disease susceptibility, according to a research paper published online in The Journal of Clinical Investigation. Through contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and other tools, a Stony Brook University-led research team successfully mapped this brain-wide pathway and identified key anatomical clearance routes of brain waste. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-scientists-image-brain-alzheimer-diagnostic.html Neuroscience Mon, 25 Feb 2013 07:38:50 EST news281000324 For the first time, scientists have combined genomic and proteomic analysis of blood plasma to enhance identification of genetically regulated protein traits. This could be applied to any large association study of civilization diseases where blood plasma has been collected, vastly improving a clinician's ability to identify disease susceptibility in individuals and populations. This advance is published in the February 2013 issue of the journal Genetics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-combining-plasma-screening-methods-diagnostic.html Genetics Fri, 08 Feb 2013 09:34:02 EST news279538434 University of Michigan research sheds new light on why certain people are more likely to suffer from rheumatoid arthritis – paving the way to explore new treatments for both arthritis and other autoimmune diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-uncover-gene-role-rheumatoid-arthritis.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Thu, 24 Jan 2013 11:06:58 EST news278248007 Scientists have adopted a novel laboratory approach for determining the effect of genetic variation on the efficiency of the biological process that translates a gene's DNA sequence into a protein, such as hemoglobin, according to a presentation, Nov. 6, at the American Society of Human Genetics 2012 meeting in San Francisco. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-method-link-genomic-variation-protein.html Genetics Tue, 06 Nov 2012 19:30:01 EST news271440596 Plasma levels of proneurotensin are associated with the development of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cardiovascular and total mortality, and breast cancer in women during long-term follow-up, according to a study in the October 10 issue of JAMA. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-hormone-linked-diabetes-cardiovascular-disease.html Medical research Tue, 09 Oct 2012 16:28:35 EST news269018755 Since the 1960s, when the defoliant Agent Orange was widely used in Vietnam, military, industry and environmental groups have debated the toxicity of its main ingredient, the chemical dioxin, and how it should be regulated. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-dioxin-disease-reproductive-problems.html Medical research Wed, 26 Sep 2012 17:00:15 EST news267894676 (HealthDay) -- A genome-wide association study of antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis shows a genetic contribution to disease susceptibility, which differs between granulomatosis with polyangiitis and microscopic polyangiitis, according to a study published in the July 19 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-anca-associated-vasculitis-genetic-component.html Genetics Thu, 19 Jul 2012 21:10:01 EST news261941503 The number of viral infections during infancy is not associated with wheezing later in childhood, according to a new study from researchers in the Netherlands. While viral illnesses with wheezing in infancy predicted wheezing later in childhood, this association was due in part to decreased neonatal lung function. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-viral-infections-infancy-wheezing-symptoms.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 23 May 2012 09:50:00 EST news256985384 (Medical Xpress) -- An international team of scientists, including researchers from Karolinska Institutet, have identified several rare gene variants that predispose to IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease). The study provides new insights into disease pathogenesis, and suggests next-generation sequencing may speed hoped-for personalized treatment of common complex disorders. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-rare-gene-variants-linked-inflammatory.html Inflammatory disorders Mon, 10 Oct 2011 10:26:51 EST news237461097 For tens of thousands of years, the genomes of malaria parasites and humans have been at war with one another. Now, University of Pennsylvania geneticists, in collaboration with an international team of scientists, have developed a new picture of one way that the human genome has fought back. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-evidence-genetic-arms-malaria.html Genetics Thu, 09 Jun 2011 13:17:57 EST news226844262