DURHAM, N.C. -- Researchers at Duke Universitys Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy (IGSP) have developed a new method that essentially does for the genetic pathways underlying cancer what social networking web sites can do for people: It finds the connections among them.
The team reported its findings in PLoS Computational Biology on Feb. 15, 2008.
Researchers from the University of Chicago have discovered that many of the genetic variations that have enabled human populations to tolerate colder climates may also affect their susceptibility to metabolic syndrome, a cluster of related abnormalities such as obesity, elevated cholesterol levels, heart disease, and diabetes.
A complete scan of the human genome has revealed that a genetic variant in the Reelin gene increases the risk of developing schizophrenia in women only. Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Oxford, who conducted the study in the Ashkenazi Jewish population, confirmed their findings by establishing a multinational collaboration that included populations and researchers from the United Kingdom, Ireland, United States, and China. Their research is published in the February issue of the open-access journal PLoS Genetics.
STANFORD, Calif. - It was no way for an 11-year-old to live. For a month the boy had endured daily episodes of uncontrollable jerking and foaming at the mouth, and his physicians at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford were concerned that the boy had epilepsy. Before starting the boy on a lifetime of anti-seizure medications, though, they turned to an unconventional diagnostic tool: hypnosis.
If the genome is the parts list of the human cell, certain proteins are the production managers, activating and deactivating genes as needed. Scientists funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), part of the National Institutes of Health, now have a clearer understanding of how a key protein controls gene activity and how mutations in the protein may cause disease. The work could provide new avenues to design drugs aimed at cancer, diabetes, HIV, and heart disease.
LIVERMORE, Calif. Harnessing Lawrence Livermores pioneering work in gravitational microlensing, supercomputer modeling and adaptive optics, scientists have found two planets in a solar system much like our very own.
A team of international scientists have discovered a solar system nearly 5,000 light years away that contains two scaled-down gas giant planets. They are about half the distance from their source star as Jupiter and Saturn are from our sun, but the two new planets are the same distance apart as Jupiter and Saturn are to each other.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 15, 2008) − University of Kentucky researchers have discovered a possible added benefit of a novel new drug that lowers blood pressure.
Dr. Lisa Cassis and Dr. Alan Daugherty found in animal studies that aliskiren not only lowered blood pressure but also significantly reduced artery-clogging lesions that are the leading cause of heart attack and stroke, the top cause of death worldwide.
Researchers have found that a gene and a related signaling pathway play a role in the development of glaucoma, which is a common cause of visual impairment and blindness worldwide. The team was led by Alcon Research and included investigators from the University of Iowa and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health.
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