Health News
- Researchers Find Genetic Biomarker That Could Indicate Mental Illness In Women
Patients' behaviors and feelings often serve as identifying factors for psychiatric disorders, which can make diagnoses difficult. Researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine have discovered that the over-production...
- Fragile X Syndrome, A Little Known Disorder, Is The Leading Inherited Cause Of Intellectual Disabilities; U Of L Has Only Clinic For It In Ky.
A common but little-known genetic disorder called Fragile X Syndrome is the leading inherited cause of intellectual disability, autism and developmental delay, and the University of Louisville is home to the only Fragile X clinic in Kentucky, the university...
- People With A Genetic Risk Of Obesity Should Avoid Saturated Fat, National Study Of 2,800 People Suggests
A new study shows that avoiding saturated fat may be advantageous for those whose genetic makeup predisposes them to obesity. Researchers from the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University used 63 gene variants...
- Uk Researcher Part Of Team That Has Identified Usher Syndrome Gene, Responsible For Genetic Loss Of Sight And Hearing In Babies
A University of Kentucky physiologist has teamed with researchers from several institutions to report a novel type of gene associated with Usher Syndrome, a hereditary disease that causes individuals to lose both hearing and sight. The work of Gregory...
- Genes And Breast Cancer
By Deb Kirkland, RN, BSN, MPH Nurse Navigator, Herman & Walter Samuelson Breast Center at Northwest Hospital Cancer is caused by mutations in our genes. Sometimes our body can repair these changes, but other times it cannot. About 90 percent of cancers...
Health News
Two gene variants identified as risk factors for childhood obesity
The largest ever genome-wide study has identified two new gene variants that increase the risk of common childhood obesity.
"We have definitively identified and characterized a genetic predisposition to common childhood obesity," said lead investigator Struan F.A. Grant, associate director of the Center for Applied Genomics at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
The analysis included 14 previous studies "encompassing 5,530 cases of childhood obesity and 8,300 control subjects, all of European ancestry," reports research-reporting service Newswise.
The study team identified two novel loci, or specific locations of a gene or DNA sequence on a chromosome. One is near the OLFM4 gene on Chromosome 13, the other in the HOXB5 gene on Chromosome 17. There was a degree of evidence for two other gene variants as well. "The known biology of three of the genes hints at a role of the intestine, although their precise functional role in obesity if currently unknown," Newswise reports. (Read more)
- Researchers Find Genetic Biomarker That Could Indicate Mental Illness In Women
Patients' behaviors and feelings often serve as identifying factors for psychiatric disorders, which can make diagnoses difficult. Researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine have discovered that the over-production...
- Fragile X Syndrome, A Little Known Disorder, Is The Leading Inherited Cause Of Intellectual Disabilities; U Of L Has Only Clinic For It In Ky.
A common but little-known genetic disorder called Fragile X Syndrome is the leading inherited cause of intellectual disability, autism and developmental delay, and the University of Louisville is home to the only Fragile X clinic in Kentucky, the university...
- People With A Genetic Risk Of Obesity Should Avoid Saturated Fat, National Study Of 2,800 People Suggests
A new study shows that avoiding saturated fat may be advantageous for those whose genetic makeup predisposes them to obesity. Researchers from the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University used 63 gene variants...
- Uk Researcher Part Of Team That Has Identified Usher Syndrome Gene, Responsible For Genetic Loss Of Sight And Hearing In Babies
A University of Kentucky physiologist has teamed with researchers from several institutions to report a novel type of gene associated with Usher Syndrome, a hereditary disease that causes individuals to lose both hearing and sight. The work of Gregory...
- Genes And Breast Cancer
By Deb Kirkland, RN, BSN, MPH Nurse Navigator, Herman & Walter Samuelson Breast Center at Northwest Hospital Cancer is caused by mutations in our genes. Sometimes our body can repair these changes, but other times it cannot. About 90 percent of cancers...