Body

The research team led by Manel Esteller, director of the Cancer Epigenetics and Biology Program at the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), professor of genetics at the University of Barcelona and ICREA researcher, has updated the latest findings in applied epigenetics in a review paper published in Nature Reviews Genetics.

OTTAWA, Canada, September 12, 2012—Vitamin D is increasingly being recognized as important for good health. Vitamin D is a hormone made in the skin following sun exposure or acquired from diet and supplement intake. Previous medical research has shown that low body levels of vitamin D make people more susceptible to problems such as bone fractures, poor mental health and infections like the common cold. Until recently, there had been little consideration given to the role of vitamin D in more severe diseases, which is why Dr.

CINCINNATI – New research indicates marijuana-like compounds called endocannabinoids alter genes and biological signals critical to the formation of a normal placenta during pregnancy and may contribute to pregnancy complications like preeclampsia.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Four new studies on the treatment of early breast cancer, spanning from diagnosis through surgery, were released today in advance of the 2012 Breast Cancer Symposium. The Symposium will take place September 13-15, 2012, at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis in San Francisco.

Four major studies were highlighted in today's presscast:

Using newly available genetic sequencing scientists discovered cells infected with prions (the infectious agent responsible for these diseases) release particles which contain easily recognized 'signature genes'.

Associate Professor Andrew Hill — from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Bio21 Institute — said these particles travel in the blood stream, making a diagnostic blood test a possibility.

"This might provide a way to screen people who have spent time in the UK, who currently face restrictions on their ability to donate blood," he said.

The ongoing obesity epidemic is creating an unprecedented challenge for healthcare systems around the world, but what determines who gets fat? Two experts debate the issue on bmj.com today.

Timothy Frayling, Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Exeter thinks that genetic factors are the main driver for obesity in today's environment. Twin and adoption studies show consistently that variation in body mass index has a strong genetic component, with estimated effects of up to 70%, he says.

The cellular cause of birth defects like cleft palates, missing teeth and problems with fingers and toes has been a tricky puzzle for scientists.

Now Professor Emily Bates and her biochemistry students at Brigham Young University have placed an important piece of the developmental puzzle. They studied an ion channel that regulates the electrical charge of a cell. In a new study published by the journal Development, they show that blocking this channel disrupts the work of a protein that is supposed to carry marching orders to the nucleus.

Potentially worrisome weight gains following tonsillectomy occur mostly in children under the age of 6, not in older children, a study by Johns Hopkins experts in otolaryngology- head and neck surgery shows.

Sudden increases in body mass index, or BMI, have been routinely observed for months after some of the more than half-million surgeries performed annually in the United States to remove the sore and swollen tissues at the back of the throat.

PARSONS, W. Va., September 12, 2012 – Using old deeds and witness trees, a U.S. Forest Service scientist has created a glimpse of the composition of the forests that covered today's Monongahela National Forest before settlement and logging changed the landscape.

Cancer chemotherapy can be a life-saver, but it is fraught with severe side effects, among them an increased risk of infection. Until now, the major criterion for assessing this risk has been the blood cell count: if the number of white blood cells falls below a critical threshold, the risk of infection is thought to be high.

DNA consists of regions called exons, which code for the synthesis of proteins, interspersed with noncoding regions called introns. Being able to predict the different regions in a new and unannotated genome is one of the biggest challenges facing biologists today. Now researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi have used techniques from information theory to identify DNA introns and exons an order of magnitude faster than previously developed methods.

Sex can trigger remarkable female responses including altered fertility, immunity, libido, eating and sleep patterns - by the activation of diverse sets of genes, according to research from the University of East Anglia.

Publishing today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the researchers studied how female Drosophila melanogaster - or fruit flies – respond to mating.

The Little Ice Age allowed a new wave of arctic foxes to colonise Iceland, according to new research.

A "bridge" of sea ice appeared during a dip in temperatures between 200 to 500 years ago allowing arctic foxes to migrate to Iceland from different Arctic regions including Russia, North America and Greenland.

The research, led by scientists at Durham University, UK, said their findings showed the importance of sea ice in creating and maintaining the genetic population of the arctic fox across the polar regions where the animal is found.

The ongoing obesity epidemic is creating an unprecedented challenge for healthcare systems around the world, but what determines who gets fat? Two experts debate the issue on bmj.com today.

Timothy Frayling, Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Exeter thinks that genetic factors are the main driver for obesity in today's environment. Twin and adoption studies show consistently that variation in body mass index has a strong genetic component, with estimated effects of up to 70%, he says.