http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. For decades, the human genome could only tell us what we already suspected about the evolution of certain traits. Researchers were able to trace the genetic origin stories of lactose tolerance (as opposed to lactose intolerance), malaria resistance, and more only after observing these successful traits in specific populations. Now, the study of positive selection – the ability to determine which genetic changes have conferred an evolutionary advantage – has reached a turning point: the genome itself can be used as a starting point to guide scientists to important genetic locations, leading to hypotheses about human health and disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-footprints-positive.html Genetics Fri, 15 Feb 2013 10:50:01 EST news280145094 The first animal model of recent human evolution reveals that a single mutation produced several traits common in East Asian peoples, from thicker hair to denser sweat glands, an international team of researchers reports. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-animal-human-evolution.html Genetics Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:12:17 EST news280069915 A research team led by Children's National Medical Center has identified a trigger that causes latent Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) to rapidly replicate itself. KSHV causes Kaposi's sarcoma, primary effusion lymphoma, and other cancers that commonly affect immunocompromised patients, including those with AIDS. Appearing in the online edition of the Journal of Virology, the study identifies apoptosis, or the programmed death of a virus' host cell, as the trigger for high-level viral replication. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-trigger-alternate-reproduction-hiv-related-cancer.html Cancer Tue, 17 Apr 2012 11:30:04 EST news253880290 (Medical Xpress) -- In the war between drugs and drug-resistant diseases, is the current strategy for medicating patients giving many drug-resistant diseases a big competitive advantage?, asks a research paper that will be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The paper argues for new research efforts to discover effective ways for managing the evolution and slowing the spread of drug-resistant disease organisms. The ultimate goal of this new research effort is to develop a new science-based model for drug-resistance management that will inform treatment guidelines for a wide variety of diseases that affect people, including malaria and other diseases caused by parasites, MRSA and other diseases caused by bacterial infections, AIDS and other diseases caused by viruses, and cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-drug-resistant-diseases-goal-area.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 22 Jun 2011 12:40:31 EST news227965214