Medical research

Muscle health depends on sugar superstructure

For many inherited diseases, such as cystic fibrosis or Huntington disease, the disease-causing genetic mutation damages or removes a protein that has an essential role in the body. This protein defect is the root cause of ...

Genetics

Bacterial genes tell the tale of an outbreak's evolution

Researchers at Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital Boston have retraced the evolution of an unusual bacterial infection as it spread among cystic fibrosis patients by sequencing scores of samples collected during ...

Medical research

Insights gained from growing cold-causing virus on sinus tissue

Using sinus tissue removed during surgery at University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have managed to grow a recently discovered species of human rhinovirus (HRV), the ...

Medical research

Seeking medical insights in the physics of mucus

As much as we might not want to think about it, mucus is everywhere in our bodies. It coats our airways and our digestive systems and serves as a first line of defense against pathogens, a habitat for our microbiomes, and ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Zinc discovery holds promise for people with cystic fibrosis

University of Queensland researchers have identified an opportunity to reduce infections in people living with cystic fibrosis (CF). Professor Matt Sweet, Dr. Kaustav Das Gupta and Dr. James Curson from UQ's Institute for ...

Health informatics

Two-channel sensor measures biomarker concentration in sweat

Sensors applied to the skin hold promise for a non-invasive and low-cost method of identifying key biomarkers in sweat, which could help clinicians make earlier and more accurate diagnoses. Up until now, however, sensors ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Understanding how Aspergillus fumigatus shapes the lungs

Aspergillus fumigatus strains that infect humans have a significantly altered metabolism compared to other strains in the environment. At the same time, infection with the fungus leads to an apparent change in the human lung ...

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Cystic fibrosis

Cystic fibrosis (also known as CF, mucovoidosis, or mucoviscidosis) is a genetic disorder known to be an inherited disease of the secretory glands, including the glands that make mucus and sweat.

The hallmarks of cystic fibrosis are salty tasting skin, normal appetite but poor growth and poor weight gain, excess mucus production, and coughing/shortness of breath. Males can be infertile due to the condition Congenital absence of the vas deferens. Often, symptoms of CF appear in infancy and childhood. Meconium ileus is a typical finding in newborn babies with CF.

Although technically a rare disease, cystic fibrosis is ranked as one of the most widespread life-shortening genetic diseases. It is most common among nations in the Western world; one in twenty-two people of Mediterranean descent is a carrier of one gene for CF, making it the most common genetic disease in these populations.[citation needed] An exception is Finland, where only one in 80 people carry a CF mutation. In the United States, 1 in 4,000 children are born with CF. In 1997, about 1 in 3,300 caucasian children in the United States was born with cystic fibrosis. In contrast, only 1 in 15,000 African American children suffered from cystic fibrosis, and in Asian Americans the rate was even lower at 1 in 32,000.

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