Body

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA – (October 25, 2011) – 23andMe, Inc., a leading personal genetics company, has announced the first-time discovery of the potentially protective nature of the gene serum/glucocorticoid regulated kinase 1 (SGK1) which appears to be protective against a high-risk leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) mutation for Parkinson's disease (PD).

RICHLAND, Wash. -- Early detection of breast cancer saves thousands of lives each year. But screening for breast cancer also produces false alarms, which can cause undue stress and costly medical bills. Now, a recent study using patient blood reveals a possible way to reduce the number of false alarms that arise during early screening. Researchers found a panel of proteins shed by breast cancer that are easily detected and can distinguish between real cancer and benign lumps.

(HONOLULU, HAWAII, OCTOBER 24, 2011) -- Autism and autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) are currently diagnosed primarily through subjective observation of autistic behaviors. but new research presented at CHEST 2011 suggests that a physical abnormality in the airway may be a prominent indicator for autism and autistic spectrum disorders, making it a possible diagnostic marker for this disease.

Any way you slice it, bread that contains critical nutrients could help combat severe malnutrition in impoverished regions. That is the goal of a group of Johns Hopkins University undergraduate students who are using synthetic biology to enhance common yeast so that it yields beta carotene, the orange substance that gives carrots their color. When it's eaten, beta-carotene turns into vitamin A.

Alexandria, Va., USA - In a report on a preclinical investigation titled "Flagellin Enhances Saliva IgA Response and Protection of Anti-caries DNA Vaccine," lead author Wei Shi, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and his team of researchers demonstrate that anti-caries DNA vaccines, including pGJA-P/VAX, are promising for preventing dental caries. However, challenges remain because of the low immunogenicity of DNA vaccines.

A low-fat diet with fish oil supplements eaten for four to six weeks prior to prostate removal slowed down the growth of prostate cancer cells -- the number of rapidly dividing cells -- in human prostate cancer tissue compared to a traditional, high-fat Western diet.

Tampa, FL -- Researchers at the University of South Florida (USF) College of Public College Health have shown for the first time in a rodent model that the earliest form of malaria parasites can lay dormant in red blood cells and "wake up," or recover, following treatment with the antimalarial drug artesunate.

For years, scientists believed the vast phenotypic differences between humans and chimpanzees would be easily explained – the two species must have significantly different genetic makeups. However, when their genomes were later sequenced, researchers were surprised to learn that the DNA sequences of human and chimpanzee genes are nearly identical. What then is responsible for the many morphological and behavioral differences between the two species?

Researchers in the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech have identified the first strains of hepatitis E virus from farmed rabbits in the United States. It is unknown whether the virus can spread from rabbits to humans.

PHILADELPHIA - Obesity and insulin resistance are almost inevitably associated with increases in lipid accumulation in the liver, a serious disease that can deteriorate to hepatitis and liver failure. A real paradox in understanding insulin resistance is figuring out why insulin-resistant livers make more fat. Insulin resistance occurs when the body does a poor job of lowering blood sugars.

In an experiment on rats, European researchers have proved that eating strawberries reduces the harm that alcohol can cause to the stomach mucous membrane. Published in the open access journal Plos One, the study may contribute to improving the treatment of stomach ulcers.

ITHACA, N.Y. -- With salmonella-tainted ground turkey sickening more than 100 people and listeria-contaminated cantaloupes killing 15 this year, the ability to detect outbreaks of food-borne illness and determine their sources has become a top public health priority.

A new class of anti-inflammatory drugs may one day serve as an alternative to steroid medications and possibly help avoid the serious side effects of steroids, based on research findings at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

Part of managing diabetes involves piercing a finger several times daily to monitor blood sugar levels. Raman spectroscopy could let diabetics monitor glucose without those daily pinpricks. In the past, this would have required a tabletop's worth of equipment. Two former graduate students at MIT's George R. Harrison Spectroscopy Laboratory, Chae-Ryon Kong and Ishan Barman, detail in the AIP's journal AIP Advances how to potentially reduce the overall size of this sensor by making an important part of this equipment smaller.

Tampa, FL -- Researchers at the University of South Florida (USF) College of Public College Health have shown for the first time in a rodent model that the earliest form of malaria parasites can lay dormant in red blood cells and "wake up," or recover, following treatment with the antimalarial drug artesunate.