http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. (HealthDay)—A genetic variant associated with weight loss after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) surgery has been identified, according to a study published in the May 2 issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-genetic-variant-weight-loss-post-rygb.html Genetics Tue, 07 May 2013 13:00:01 EST news287149050 A new study looking at the genomes of more than 1,500 patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a rare and devastating lung disease, found multiple genetic associations with the disease, including one gene variant that was linked to an increase in the risk of death. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-gene-pulmonary-fibrosis.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 16 Apr 2013 19:00:03 EST news285354005 (HealthDay)—Implementation of a quality improvement program correlates with a sustained reduction in unnecessary referrals for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS), according to a study published online Feb. 18 in Pediatrics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-unnecessary-referrals-scoliosis-teens.html Pediatrics Tue, 19 Feb 2013 16:10:01 EST news280511246 (Medical Xpress)—Although less than half the size of a walnut and weighing one gram, the brain of a songbird is fully capable of generating complex learned behaviors. Songbirds are one of the few groups of animals other than humans that actually learn the sounds used for their vocal communication and for that reason are fascinating to study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-neural-circuit-songbird-brain-encodes.html Neuroscience Mon, 12 Nov 2012 07:38:09 EST news271928277 A large international study has identified three new gene variants associated with body mass index (BMI) levels in adults. The scientific consortium, numbering approximately 200 researchers, performed a meta-analysis of 46 studies, covering gene data from nearly 109,000 adults, spanning four ethnic groups. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-genes-adult-bmi.html Genetics Thu, 25 Oct 2012 16:27:01 EST news270401008 Three previously unknown loci, or regions of the genome, are associated with an increased risk of Japanese men developing prostate cancer, according to RIKEN-led research on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with this disease1. An SNP associated with prostate cancer at a fourth locus—related to one found earlier in European men—appears to be associated with diet, the first hard evidence of such an environmental link. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-diversifying-populations-japanese-men-plotting.html Cancer Fri, 27 Jul 2012 09:25:24 EST news262599913 In a large and comprehensive investigation into the underlying causes of sudden cardiac death (SCD) – a surreptitious killer of hundreds of thousands annually in the United States – researchers have discovered a variation in the genome's DNA sequence that is linked to a significant increase in a person's risk of SCD. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-genetic-factor-sudden-cardiac-death.html Genetics Tue, 12 Jul 2011 13:14:47 EST news229695262