http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. For six months last year, a deadly outbreak of antibiotic-resistant bacteria kept infection-control specialists at the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Clinical Center in a state of high alert. A New York City patient carrying a multi-drug resistant strain of Klebsiella pneumoniae, a microbe frequently associated with hospital-borne infections, introduced the dangerous bacteria into the 243-bed research hospital while participating in a clinical study in the summer of 2011. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-genome-sequencing-quell-bacterial-outbreak.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 22 Aug 2012 14:27:29 EST news264864440 Scientists have identified new genetic alterations underlying a high-risk subtype of the most common childhood cancer that could be effectively targeted with existing leukemia therapies. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-drugs-treatment-options-high-risk-childhood.html Cancer Mon, 13 Aug 2012 12:52:00 EST news264081090 With whole genome sequencing quickly becoming more affordable and accessible, we need to pay more attention to the massive amount of information it will deliver to parents – and the fact that we don't yet understand what most of it means, concludes an article in the Hastings Center Report. The authors are current or former scholars at the National Institutes of Health's Department of Bioethics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-prenatal-genome-sequencing.html Genetics Fri, 10 Aug 2012 16:37:48 EST news263835431 An uncommon mutation of the BRAF gene in melanoma patients has been found to respond to MEK inhibitor drugs, providing a rationale for routine screening and therapy in melanoma patients who harbor the BRAF L597 mutation. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-uncommon-braf-mutation-melanoma-sensitive.html Cancer Mon, 16 Jul 2012 13:09:14 EST news261662921 Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have for the first time sequenced the genome of an unborn baby using only a blood sample from the mother. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-method-enables-sequencing-fetal-genomes.html Genetics Wed, 04 Jul 2012 13:07:29 EST news260626027 In a new study released today in New England Journal of Medicine, researchers demonstrate that whole genome sequencing can provide clinically relevant data on bacterial transmission within a timescale that can influence infection control and patient management. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-tracking-mrsa-real-highlights-benefits.html Genetics Wed, 13 Jun 2012 17:00:01 EST news258811176 The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center at Scottsdale Healthcare have conducted whole genome sequencing (WGS) of a rare nasal tract cancer called olfactory neuroblastoma (ONB). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-genome-sequencing-rare-olfactory-neuroblastoma.html Genetics Wed, 23 May 2012 17:00:22 EST news257010468 In two back-to-back reports published online on 17 May in Cell, researchers have sequenced the genomes of 21 breast cancers and analysed the mutations that emerged during the tumours' development. The individual results are described below. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-comprehensive-genome-evolution-breast-cancers.html Cancer Thu, 17 May 2012 12:00:12 EST news256474382 Melanoma – the deadliest and most aggressive form of skin cancer – has long been linked to time spent in the sun. Now a team led by scientists from the Broad Institute and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has sequenced the whole genomes of 25 metastatic melanoma tumors, confirming the role of chronic sun exposure and revealing new genetic changes important in tumor formation. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-melanoma-whole-genome-sequencing-tumors-role.html Cancer Wed, 09 May 2012 13:00:04 EST news255779247 With sharp declines in the cost of whole genome sequencing, the day of accurately deciphering disease risk based on an individual's genome may seem at hand. But a study involving data of thousands of identical twins by Johns Hopkins investigators finds that genomic fortune-telling fails to provide informative guidance to most people about their risk for most common diseases, and warns against complacency born of negative genome test results. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-genome-sequencing.html Genetics Mon, 02 Apr 2012 12:37:12 EST news252589010 Because cases of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) are so genetically different, whole-genome sequencing is needed to detect the subtle molecular differences that might point to specific treatments for individual patients. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-preliminary-whole-genome-sequencing-triple-negative-breast.html Cancer Mon, 02 Apr 2012 04:58:09 EST news252561463 With whole-genome and whole-exome sequencing declining in price and improving in accuracy, these technologies are rapidly being integrated into clinical medicine. However, one of the most difficult obstacles to this integration is the uncertainty about searching for and reporting genetic results that are "incidental" or unrelated to the reasons the test was initially ordered. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-doctor-didnt-exploring-incidental-clinical.html Genetics Thu, 15 Mar 2012 11:49:27 EST news251030956 Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University say advanced computational tools will be the key to a new research project that, if successful, could enable doctors to routinely use information extracted from a patient's DNA to diagnose and guide treatment of diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-cmu-advanced-methods-doctors-patients.html Genetics Tue, 10 Jan 2012 10:35:24 EST news245414109 Smoking is a well-known risk factor for lung cancer, but nearly 25% of all lung cancer patients have never smoked. In a study published online today in Genome Research, researchers have identified a previously unknown gene fusion event that could explain a significant proportion of lung cancer cases in never-smokers, and might serve as a target for new therapies. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-gene-fusion-lung-cancer-afflicting.html Genetics Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:00:01 EST news243777177 Initial results from an ongoing clinical trial, the first designed to examine the utility of whole-genome sequencing for triple negative breast cancer, were reported today during the CRTC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-genome-sequencing-clinical-trial-triple.html Cancer Thu, 08 Dec 2011 12:13:57 EST news242568809 The era of widely available next generation personal genomic testing has arrived and with it the ability to quickly and relatively affordably learn the sequence of your entire genome. This would include what is referred to as the "exome," your complete set of protein-coding sequences. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-power-direct-to-consumer-genome.html Genetics Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:24:23 EST news242410997 Scientists at the University of Liverpool have identified high levels of a number of genes in the naked mole-rat that may suggest why they live longer than other rodents and demonstrate resistance to age-related diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-scientists-genes-life-naked-mole-rats.html Cancer Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:20:51 EST news239559622 (AP) -- George Eberhardt turned 107 last month, and scientists would love to know how he and other older folks like him made it that far. So he's going to hand over some of his DNA. He's one of 100 centenarians taking part in a project announced Wednesday that will examine some of the oldest citizens with one of the newest scientific tools: whole-genome sequencing, the deciphering of a person's complete collection of DNA. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-secrets-life-sought-dna-elderly.html Genetics Wed, 26 Oct 2011 11:07:26 EST news238846036 Scripps Health announced today it has launched an innovative clinical research study that is using whole genome sequencing to help determine the causes of idiopathic human diseases -- those serious, rare and perplexing health conditions that defy a diagnosis or are unresponsive to standard treatments. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-scripps-genome-sequencing-root-idiopathic.html Genetics Tue, 18 Oct 2011 02:22:42 EST news238123346 Autism Speaks, the world's largest autism science and advocacy organization, and BGI, the largest genomic organization in the world and a global leader in whole genome sequencing, jointly announce their partnership to create the world's largest library of sequenced genomes of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Using the Autism Speaks Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE), this collaboration will perform whole genome sequencing on more than 2,000 participating families who have two or more children on the autism spectrum. The data from the 10,000 AGRE participants will enable new research in the genomics of ASD, and significantly enhance the science and technology networks of both Autism Speaks and BGI. In addition, Autism Speaks and BGI will collect and sequence genome samples from individuals in China. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-autism-bgi-genome-sequencing.html Genetics Thu, 13 Oct 2011 12:14:39 EST news237726861 (Medical Xpress) -- The small island nation of the Faroe Islands is planning to offer free full genome sequencing to all of its 50,000 citizens. Though only partially sponsored as yet (by genome-sequencing company Illumina) the project is expected come to fruition and will eventually cost close to $50 million and take up to five years to complete. Its main purpose is to provide better medical care for the population, though such a project would undoubtedly provide a great deal of useful information for medical research studies as well. The project was announced at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory during a meeting of genome researchers this past week. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-small-island-nation-sequence-genome.html Genetics Thu, 06 Oct 2011 11:35:23 EST news237119708 When Noah and Alexis Beery were diagnosed with cerebral palsy at age 2, their parents thought they at last had an answer to the problems that had plagued their twin infants from birth. However, that proved only a way station on a journey to find an answer to the children's problems that combined their mother's determination, the high tech world of next-generation sequencing in the Baylor Human Genome Sequencing Center (HGSC) and the efforts of talented physicians from across the country. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-mother-next-generation-sequencing-solutions-twins.html Genetics Wed, 15 Jun 2011 14:00:01 EST news227362031 Combining the cutting-edge technology of whole genome sequencing of bacteria with social networking analysis, public health officials can get a more detailed picture of disease outbreaks that will better help track and stop them, say researchers today at the 111th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-genomics-social-network-analysis-team.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Sun, 22 May 2011 13:00:38 EST news225288008