http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. In a step toward understanding possible genetic differences in smoking behaviors, a team of researchers co-led by SRI International has identified a genetic marker associated with smoking quantity in people of African ancestry. The study's findings may help guide future public health decisions related to smoking, because the more people smoke, the higher their risk of lung cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-genetic-marker-quantity-african-americans.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 22 May 2012 10:09:01 EST news256900018 The cells that slough off from a cancerous tumor into the bloodstream are a genetically diverse bunch, Stanford University School of Medicine researchers have found. Some have genes turned on that give them the potential to lodge themselves in new places, helping a cancer spread between organs. Others have completely different patterns of gene expression and might be more benign, or less likely to survive in a new tissue. Some cells may even express genes that could predict their response to a specific therapy. Even within one patient, the tumor cells that make it into circulating blood vary drastically. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-tumor-cells-equal-reveals-huge.html Cancer Mon, 07 May 2012 17:00:01 EST news255614256 About five years ago, animal studies first revealed the presence of entirely novel types of oral fat sensors or receptors on the tongue. Prior to this time, it was believed that fats were perceived only by flavor and texture cues. With this new information, "everything that we thought we knew about fat perception got turned on its head," said Beverly Tepper, a professor in the Department of Food Science at Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-perception-genetic-link-obesity.html Health Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:26:36 EST news250186951 Drugs are not equally effective on all patients. A treatment that is dramatically effective on some patients can be ineffective on others. Drugs can also have serious side effects; in the worst case, a drug used to treat a disease can produce a fatal outcome. By examining genetic differences among individuals and administering drugs on the basis of such findings, the impact of side effects can be reduced. Taisei Mushiroda, the Laboratory Head of the Research Group for Pharmacogenomics at the RIKEN Center for Genomic Medicine, is making advances in personalized medicine with research into how drugs can be tailored to a patient’s genetic information through the analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-tailoring-drugs-patients-genetic-predisposition.html Medications Mon, 27 Feb 2012 09:03:03 EST news249555770 New research suggests that unrelated individuals may be mistakenly identified as genetic family members due to inaccurate genetic assumptions. This is particularly relevant when considering familial searching: a new technique which extends forensic identification to family members of individuals with profiles in offender/arrestee DNA databases. In a study published this week in PLoS Genetics, researchers at the Universities of Washington and California at Berkeley show that false familial identification may be more likely for individuals with particular genetic backgrounds; for example, in the USA, those of Asian or Native American descent. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-potential-incorrect-relationship-identification-forensic.html Genetics Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:00:21 EST news248009042 Hepatitis C, an infectious disease that can cause inflammation and organ failure, has different effects on different people. But no one is sure why some people are very susceptible to the infection, while others are resistant. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-stem-cells-hepatitis.html Medical research Wed, 01 Feb 2012 04:26:22 EST news247292768 Inner Mongolia Agricultural University (IMAU), Inner Mongolia University for the Nationalities (IMUN) and BGI, the world's largest genomics organization, jointly announced the first complete sequencing of Mongolian genome. This genomic study will help researchers to better understand the evolutionary process and migration of Mongolians and their ancestors from Africa to Asia, which also lays an important genomic foundation for further development of human genetic diseases research. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-chinese-scientists-sequencing-mongolian-genome.html Genetics Mon, 19 Dec 2011 09:19:01 EST news243508718 Most genes associated with psychiatric illnesses are expressed before birth in the developing human brain, a massive study headed by Yale University researchers discovered. In addition, hundreds of genetic differences were found between males and females as their brains take shape in the womb, the study in the Oct. 27 issue of the journal Nature shows. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-brain-mental-health-genes-gender.html Genetics Wed, 26 Oct 2011 14:03:52 EST news238856622 (Medical Xpress) -- A University of Sydney PhD student has discovered the different diets and lifestyles of South Asians compared to Europeans could lead to the two groups requiring very different doses of medicines commonly used to treat illnesses such as depression and psychosis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-south-asians-europeans-react-differently.html Medications Fri, 14 Oct 2011 10:30:24 EST news237807008 Why are some people prone to severe infections, while others handle them with less difficulty? A new research report appearing online in the FASEB Journal attempts to answer this question by shedding light on the genetic differences that influence our ability to fight off bacterial infections. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-scientists-closer-severe-infections.html Genetics Wed, 12 Oct 2011 10:19:10 EST news237633541 (Medical Xpress) -- Recent studies have identified many genes that may put people with schizophrenia at risk for the disease. But, what links genetic differences to changes in altered brain activity in schizophrenia is not clear. Now, three labs at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have come together using electrophysiological, anatomical, and immunohistochemical approaches - along with a unique high-speed imaging technique - to understand how schizophrenia works at the cellular level, especially in identifying how changes in the interaction between different types of nerve cells leads to symptoms of the disease. The findings are reported this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-links-schizophrenia-genetics-disruption-brain.html Medical research Mon, 10 Oct 2011 09:25:09 EST news237457494 Patients with a high degree of African ancestry had a greater incidence of high-risk neuroblastoma and poorer outcomes, according to preliminary results presented here at the Fourth AACR Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities, held here Sept. 18-21, 2011. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-common-genetic-variants-high-risk-neuroblastoma.html Cancer Mon, 19 Sep 2011 16:47:16 EST news235669616 African Americans are four times more likely to develop kidney failure than whites. A new study has found that a condition that occurs when the kidneys are damaged and spill protein into the urine contributes to this increased risk. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-protein-urine-kidney-failure-african-americans.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 26 Aug 2011 04:37:00 EST news233552197 A genome-wide association study published in the August issue of Nature Medicine has found two tiny genetic variations that can predict which patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma are most likely to develop radiation-induced second cancers years after treatment. Knowing in advance who is at risk could help physicians tailor treatment to reduce the risks for patients who are most susceptible to long-term damage. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-genetic-variations-cancers-children-hodgkin.html Cancer Sun, 24 Jul 2011 13:29:59 EST news230732977 Analysis of mutations of the 2009 pandemic influenza A(H1N1) virus by researchers at the RIKEN Omics Science Center (OSC) has revealed major genetic differences between the virus in its early phase of infection in Japan and in its peak phase. While yielding valuable clues on the genetic origins of drug resistance, the findings also pave the way toward the development of new diagnostic kits for detecting and preventing the spread of global pandemic diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-evolution-pandemic-influenza-ah1n1-virus.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 25 Apr 2011 18:20:00 EST news222974368 A new pathway has been discovered that links a common dietary lipid and intestinal microflora with an increased risk of heart disease, according to a Cleveland Clinic study published in the latest issue of Nature. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-link-common-dietary-fat-intestinal.html Medical research Wed, 06 Apr 2011 13:02:40 EST news221313737 MIT cancer biologists have identified a genetic change that makes lung tumors more likely to spread to other parts of the body. The findings, to be published in the April 6 online issue of Nature, offers new insight into how lung cancers metastasize and could help identify drug targets to combat metastatic tumors, which account for 90 percent of cancer deaths. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-biologists-genetic-tumors-body.html Cancer Wed, 06 Apr 2011 13:01:54 EST news221313703