http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. The ongoing dance between a virus and its host distinctly shapes how the virus evolves. While human adenoviruses typically cause mild infections, recent reports have described newly characterized adenoviruses that can cause severe, sometime fatal, human infections. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-eye-pathogen-analysis-adenovirus.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 10 Apr 2013 16:29:09 EST news284830140 Researchers have been able to reconstruct the genome sequence of an outbreak strain of Shiga-toxigenic Escherichia coli (STEC) using metagenomics (the direct sequencing of DNA extracted from microbiologically complex samples), according to a study in the April 10 issue of JAMA, a Genomics theme issue. The findings highlight the potential of this approach to identify and characterize bacterial pathogens directly from clinical specimens without laboratory culture. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-genomics-id-outbreaks-infectious-disease.html Genetics Tue, 09 Apr 2013 16:00:01 EST news284735301 UConn researchers are at the forefront of new discoveries and understanding about the smallest molecules in the body that can have a momentous impact on human health. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-dna-sequencing-landscape-science-biology.html Genetics Tue, 26 Mar 2013 08:21:37 EST news283504887 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 A pair of studies published by Cell Press on February 14th in the journal Cell sheds new light on genetic variation that may have played a key role in human evolution. The study researchers used an animal model to study a gene variant that could have helped humans adapt to humid climates, and they used whole-genome sequence data to identify hundreds of gene variants that potentially helped humans adapt to changing environmental conditions over time. The findings provide a road map for understanding human biological history as well as modern-day variability. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-reveal-genetic-variation-human-evolution.html Genetics Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:24:09 EST news280070633 (Medical Xpress) -- Current U.S. drug policy is proving insufficient in shrinking the damage caused by drug abuse, but promising alternative approaches could lead to improved results, according to an article in the summer 2012 edition of Issues in Science and Technology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-tactics-drug-abuse.html Medications Thu, 02 Aug 2012 08:10:06 EST news263113768 deCODE Genetics, together with their colleagues from the pharmaceutical company Genentech, reported today in the journal Nature the discovery of a variant of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) gene that confers protection against both Alzheimer's disease (AD) and cognitive decline in the elderly. The findings also indicate a linkage between age-related cognitive decline and late-onset forms of AD, the most common cause of dementia. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-natural-alzheimers-disease.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Wed, 11 Jul 2012 17:18:33 EST news261245882