http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Researchers at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and the Achucarro neurosciences centre have discovered a new therapy for the fragile X chromosome syndrome. This new therapy proposes the modulation of the cerebral endocannabinoid system in order to ameliorate the symptoms of the disease. "Clearly, a cure as such is not going to be achieved, as it involves a disease of genetic origin, but the fact that, by manipulating in a certain way at a cerebral level in order to obtain an improvement in the symptoms of the disease is something highly positive", stated Ms Susana Mato, researcher at the Department of Neurosciences at the UPV/EHU and at the Achucarro centre. This scientific finding has just been published in Nature Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-therapy-fragile-chromosome-syndrome.html Medical research Wed, 10 Apr 2013 09:17:02 EST news284804211 (Medical Xpress)—Busselton residents and researchers from The University of Western Australia have helped a worldwide scientific collaboration identify new genes associated with height and obesity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-obesity-height-genes.html Genetics Mon, 08 Apr 2013 06:47:33 EST news284622445 The European Union on Thursday pledged 144 million euros of fresh funding for research on rare diseases that currently affect some 30 million Europeans, the majority of them children. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-eu-mn-euro-rare-disease.html Genetics Thu, 28 Feb 2013 04:50:01 EST news281247852 Around one in ten Japanese school children suffer from a debilitating form of eczema known as atopic dermatitis (AD). Despite clear signs that the condition is heritable, the genetic origins of the disease have remained elusive. Now, in a study of about 3,300 Japanese individuals with AD and some 15,000 unaffected controls, researchers have discovered eight new loci with ties to the chronic inflammatory skin disorder, a finding that could lead to new treatment options, particularly for Japanese people. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-large-scale-japanese-genomics-loci-linked.html Genetics Fri, 22 Feb 2013 08:40:01 EST news280744189 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 Prostate cancer is often considered an elderly man's disease, and little is known about the approximately 2% of cases that arise in men who are aged 50 years or younger. Research published in the February 11th issue of the Cell Press journal Cancer Cell uncovers the genetic origin of such early-onset prostate cancer. The findings could help in the development of new diagnostic, prognostic, therapeutic, and prevention strategies for the disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-genetic-root-early-onset-prostate-cancer.html Cancer Mon, 11 Feb 2013 12:00:05 EST news279803644 (Medical Xpress)—More than a hundred years after Alois Alzheimer identified Alzheimer's disease in a patient an analysis of that original patient's brain has revealed the genetic origin of their condition. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-alzheimer-case-full-diagnosis-years.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Wed, 09 Jan 2013 06:28:38 EST news276935306 Inherited retinal disease is a major cause of vision impairment in early life - and a researcher at The University of Western Australia hopes a study in which he was involved will contribute towards the development of a drug-based treatment. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-inherited-retinal-disease-treatment.html Medical research Tue, 08 Jan 2013 05:59:10 EST news276847139 Genomic technology has revolutionized gene discovery and disease understanding in autism, according to an article published in the December 20 issue of the journal Neuron. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-high-throughput-sequencing-potentially-hundreds-gene.html Genetics Wed, 19 Dec 2012 14:33:25 EST news275149998 A consortium of Quebec researchers coordinated by the Medical Genetics Service of the Sainte-Justine UHC has just published the findings of a 25-year study on the treatment of tyrosinemia, a life-threatening liver disease of genetic origin, which is screened at birth in the province of Quebec, where it is much more frequent than anywhere else in the world. "After five years of treatment, no trace of the disease can be detected in the liver of newborns who were treated with nitisinone starting from the first month of life," states Dr. Grant Mitchell of the Sainte-Justine UHC and the University of Montreal, who is the senior author of a study published in Molecular Genetics and Metabolism in September 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-nitisinone-efficacy-life-threatening-liver-disease.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 31 Oct 2012 16:18:21 EST news270919052 By decoding the genomes of more than 1,000 people whose homelands stretch from Africa and Asia to Europe and the Americas, scientists have compiled the largest and most detailed catalog yet of human genetic variation. The massive resource will help medical researchers find the genetic roots of rare and common diseases in populations worldwide. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-global-genome-effort-genetic-roots.html Genetics Wed, 31 Oct 2012 14:46:31 EST news270913524 Researchers at the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Center and University of Montreal have identified genetic origins in 10% of an important form of congenital heart diseases by studying the genetic variability within families. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-major-genetic-discovery-percent-aortic.html Genetics Fri, 28 Sep 2012 04:45:42 EST news268026321 Cerebral edemas are accumulations of fluid into the intra- or extracellular spaces of the brain and it can result from several factors such as stroke or head trauma, among others. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-treatments-brain-edema.html Neuroscience Mon, 19 Mar 2012 11:39:58 EST news251375985 A team of EU-funded researchers has successfully identified a gene that triggers a skin disorder in dogs - and the findings could have implications for humans who also suffer from the condition. Whether it manifests in golden retrievers or in humans, the disease ichthyosis has the same common genetic basis; therefore, any new bounds made in understanding the condition in dogs are applicable to humans too. No molecular cause for ichthyosis has previously been identified. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-golden-scientists-track-human-disease.html Genetics Tue, 31 Jan 2012 07:55:07 EST news247218889 Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Genomic Medicine (CGM), together with colleagues at Kyoto University, Tsukuba University, Harvard University, and other medical institutions have identified three new loci associated with susceptibility to adult asthma in the Japanese population. The findings appear in Nature Genetics and derive from a genome-wide study of 4836 Japanese individuals. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-genome-wide-reveals-susceptibility-loci-adult.html Genetics Sun, 31 Jul 2011 13:20:01 EST news231310152 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