http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Inflammatory bowel disease is relatively rare in Canadian First Nations people but common in white people, possibly due to different genetic variants, according to a new study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) that helps improve understanding of the mechanisms of the disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-inflammatory-bowel-disease-nations-people.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 10 Apr 2012 12:00:04 EST news253273711 Genetics researchers have identified at least two new gene variants that increase the risk of common childhood obesity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-largest-ever-genome-wide-genes-common-childhood.html Genetics Sun, 08 Apr 2012 13:00:23 EST news253087071 Patients with autoimmune diseases often show a predisposition to develop "hardening of the arteries" or atherosclerosis. LMU researchers have now uncovered a mechanism that establishes a causal link between the two disorders. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-arm-dendritic-cell-link-atherosclerosis.html Cardiology Wed, 04 Apr 2012 10:21:17 EST news252753669 (AP) -- The Supreme Court on Monday threw out a lower court ruling allowing human genes to be patented, a topic of enormous interest to cancer researchers, patients and drug makers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-high-court-human-gene-patents.html Genetics Mon, 26 Mar 2012 16:08:48 EST news251996918 Young adults drink more alcohol if they are in the company of peers who drink heavily. NWO researcher Helle Larsen has scientifically confirmed this link for the first time by observing young adults in a research lab converted into a cafe. She defended her PhD thesis on 19 March 2012 at Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-young-adults-company-heavy-drinker.html Health Wed, 21 Mar 2012 08:30:01 EST news251536533 Watching too much TV can worsen your genetic tendency towards obesity, but you can cut the effect in half by walking briskly for an hour a day, researchers report at the American Heart Association's Epidemiology and Prevention/Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism 2012 Scientific Sessions. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-lessen-genes-obesity.html Health Wed, 14 Mar 2012 14:00:14 EST news250952075 An assistant professor at Sam Houston State University, College of Criminal Justice is working to unlock the mysteries surrounding the role that genetics and environmental influences play on criminal and antisocial behavior. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-biosocial-antisocial-behavior.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:42:06 EST news249050514 Chronic inflammation combines with DNA methylation, a process that shuts down cancer-fighting genes, to promote development of colorectal cancer, scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report today in the advance online publication of the journal Nature Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-inflammatory-colorectal-cancer-stifling-genes.html Inflammatory disorders Sun, 22 Jan 2012 13:00:26 EST news246455346 (Medical Xpress) -- Hypertension is an endemic condition with far-reaching consequences. For instance, high blood pressure is the main cause of heart attacks and strokes. Other organs are also damaged by the chronic condition. Hypertension is attributed to a high salt intake and a genetic predisposition. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Bad Nauheim have now discovered that even a normal salt intake can cause hypertension in people suffering from a sodium dysregulation. Researchers have managed to identify the responsible gene. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-genetic-defect-disturbs-salt-blood.html Genetics Fri, 25 Nov 2011 05:57:24 EST news241423032 Researchers at Mayo Clinic have shown that eliminating cells that accumulate with age could prevent or delay the onset of age-related disorders and disabilities. The study, performed in mouse models, provides the first evidence that these "deadbeat" cells could contribute to aging and suggests a way to help people stay healthier as they age. The findings appear in the journal Nature, along with an independent commentary on the discovery. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-tactic-age-related-disorders.html Medical research Wed, 02 Nov 2011 14:00:06 EST news239461095 The genetic predisposition to obesity due to the 'fat mass and obesity associated' (FTO) gene can be substantially reduced by living a physically active lifestyle according to new research by a large international collaboration, led by Ruth Loos from the Medical Research Council Epidemiology Unit, in Cambridge, UK, and published in this week's PLoS Medicine. The researchers found that the effect of the FTO gene on obesity risk is nearly 30% weaker among physically active than in physically inactive adults. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-physical-effect-obesity-gene.html Health Tue, 01 Nov 2011 17:45:43 EST news239388293 (Medical Xpress) -- An international team of scientists, including researchers from Karolinska Institutet, have identified several rare gene variants that predispose to IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease). The study provides new insights into disease pathogenesis, and suggests next-generation sequencing may speed hoped-for personalized treatment of common complex disorders. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-rare-gene-variants-linked-inflammatory.html Inflammatory disorders Mon, 10 Oct 2011 10:26:51 EST news237461097 Researchers at the Salk Institute have discovered how a hormone turns on a series of molecular switches inside the pancreas that increases production of insulin. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-discovery-insulin-pancreas-diabetes-drugs.html Medical research Mon, 26 Sep 2011 16:54:53 EST news236274880 Scientists at deCODE Genetics and academic collaborators from Iceland, The Netherlands, Spain, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, the USA, the UK and Romania today report the discovery of a variant in the sequence of the human genome associated with risk of developing basal cell carcinoma of the skin (BCC), as well as prostate cancer and glioma, the most serious form of brain cancer. The study was done in collaboration with Illumina, Inc., and is published today in the online edition of Nature Genetics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-genetic-factor-skin-prostate-brain.html Genetics Sun, 25 Sep 2011 17:15:41 EST news236187587 The Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), also known as Morbus Sudeck, is characterised by "disinhibition" of various sensory and motor areas in the brain. A multidisciplinary Bochum-based research group, led by Prof. Dr. Martin Tegenthoff (Bergmannsheil Neurology Department) and Prof. Dr. Christoph Maier (Bergmannsheil Department of Pain Therapy), has now demonstrated for the first time that with unilateral CRPS excitability increases not only in the brain area processing the sense of touch of the affected hand. In addition, the brain region representing the healthy hand is simultaneously "disinhibited". The group has been performing research on and treatment of CRPS for a number of years. The researchers are reporting the new findings in the renowned journal Neurology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-disinhibited-brain.html Neuroscience Wed, 21 Sep 2011 11:27:18 EST news235823200 Researchers in Finland said Thursday they had confirmed a link between the swine flu vaccine and the onset of the sleep disorder narcolepsy in children. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-swine-flu-vaccine-linked-narcolepsy.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 01 Sep 2011 07:37:45 EST news234081443 UT Southwestern Medical Center has developed a new lifesaving genetic screening program for families at high risk of contracting colorectal cancer, a deadly yet highly preventable form of cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-ut-southwestern-families-high-colorectal.html Cancer Thu, 01 Sep 2011 04:43:42 EST news234071007 Mums who are overweight or obese when they become pregnant may be programming their children to have asthma-like respiratory symptoms during adolescence, suggests research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-pre-pregnancy-overweight-teen-asthma-symptoms.html Overweight and Obesity Tue, 16 Aug 2011 03:55:16 EST news232685686 A study of seven patients examined use of a pressure device worn overnight to supplement other therapy for auricular keloids (scar tissue buildup of the ear), as reported in an article published Online First today by Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-pressure-device-worn-ear-night.html Other Mon, 15 Aug 2011 17:35:13 EST news232648491 Eight out of ten Australians would radically change their risky behaviour if tests showed they had a genetic susceptibility to depression, a national study has found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-depression.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 02 Aug 2011 06:07:55 EST news231476097 Telomeres, the complex structures that protect the end of chromosomes, of peripheral blood cells are significantly shorter in patients with familial breast cancer than in the general population. Results of the study carried out by the Human Genetics Group of the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), led by Javier Benitez, to be published in open-access journal PLoS Genetics on July 28th, reflect that familial, but not sporadic, breast cancer cases are characterized by shorter telomeres. Importantly, they also provide evidence for telomere shortening as a mechanism of genetic anticipation, the successively earlier onset of cancer down generations. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-telomere-shortening-characterizes-familial-breast.html Cancer Fri, 29 Jul 2011 04:20:01 EST news231130124 People are significantly more likely to inherit a predisposition to heart attack than to stroke, according to research reported in Circulation: Cardiovascular Genetics, an American Heart Association journal. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-genes-greater-role-heart.html Cardiology Tue, 26 Jul 2011 16:00:18 EST news230886140 Mutations in three genes have been identified that are more prevalent in patients with esophageal cancer and Barrett esophagus, a premalignant metaplasia (change in cells or tissue) caused by chronic gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), according to preliminary research reported in the July 27 issue of JAMA. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-genetic-link-barrett-esophagus-esophageal.html Genetics Tue, 26 Jul 2011 16:00:07 EST news230885852 A high-fat diet during pregnancy may program a woman's baby for future diabetes, even if she herself is not obese or diabetic, says a new University of Illinois study published in the Journal of Physiology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-high-fat-diet-pregnancy-child-future.html Health Wed, 25 May 2011 16:05:52 EST news225558251 Using genetic predisposition as a factor in medical conditions presented in Canadian legal cases may diminish the impact of occupational, environmental and social factors in determining health claims, particularly workplace claims, states an analysis in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-genetic-predisposition-argument-canadian-courts.html Genetics Tue, 24 May 2011 12:20:24 EST news225458400 A human genetic variant associated with an almost 30 percent reduced risk of developing severe malaria has been identified. Scientists from the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM), Hamburg, and Kumasi University, Ghana, reveal that a variant at the FAS locus can prevent an excessive and potentially hazardous immune response in infected children. The study appears in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics on May 19. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-malaria-genetic-predisposition-cell-suicide.html Genetics Thu, 19 May 2011 17:33:28 EST news225045169