Tag Archives: genetics
Urbanization facilitates migration of the human health pest, Western black widow spider
By 2050, more than half of the global human population is expected to live in urban areas. As these urban areas rapidly grow, they replace some of our most pristine habitats. One effect that urbanization has is
Discovery of new genes in schizophrenia: the importance of rare diseases in psychiatry
Schizophrenia is a major psychiatric illness affecting one percent of the population worldwide. Patients suffering from schizophrenia present delusions, hallucinations, abnormal behavior, impairment in daily life and cognitive deficits. Current treatments are insufficient in addressing all of
Repetitive DNA in the ABCA7 gene influences Alzheimer’s disease
Dementia, which is characterized by decline of memory or other cognitive traits to the extent that a person’s daily functioning is affected, is one of the most important global health challenges of our time. Approximately 50 million
PREMM: A mobile application to drive your own hereditary cancer prevention
In the recent publication, ‘Community Practice Implementation of a Self-administered Version of PREMM1,2,6 to Assess Risk for Lynch Syndrome’, Dr. Luba and colleagues at the Monterey Bay GI Consultants Medical Group in Monterey, California, present the use
Low-cost enrichment of datasets for genetic analysis: imputation and electronic health record linkage
The human genome consists of 3 billion base-pairs built from the nucleotides adenine (A), thymine (T), cytosine (C) or guanine (G). DNA sequencing is the process of reading and recording the nucleotide at each base in the
Heavy alcohol drinking and potassium channel genes
Alcohol use disorder is a chronic and relapsing brain disease that has damaging, sometimes deadly, consequences for the individual and costs society billions of dollars a year (approximately $223 billion). Despite alcohol use being one of the
Variation in fecundity among species and its evolutionary consequences
Predicting the evolutionary trajectories of living species give us the chance to develop informed management policies and preserve species at the brink of extinction. Also, the possibility to understand the consequences of climate change and of introduced,
Family, cholesterol and the genes from the ground up or why screening matters
In 1913, the “cholesterol theory” of atherogenesis was proposed. In the 1930s a genetic disorder, familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), which is associated with elevated levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and high risk of heart attack at an
Early-onset Alzheimer disease: what are we missing?
Memory is the first brain function that starts to fade away when Alzheimer disease (AD) pathology affects the brain of a patient. Decline of additional cognitive functions, shortly follows. This progressive and irreversible disease, intrudes the life
Mutations in the SORL1 gene affect risk of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia, leading to an enormous burden on societies worldwide. In brains of patients with AD, abnormal tangles of a protein called tau are found within nerve cells, in
Sub-Antarctic Fish – how do they do when things get warm?
Scientists are concerned about the fate of marine species, in particular fish, under future climate warming. Because fish body temperature varies as a consequence of variation in the ambient environmental temperature (they are “poikilotherms”), scientists expect that
Embryogenesis explained, organelle of differentiation
The greatest mystery of life is how a single fertilized egg, which is one cell, develops into a fully functioning, sometimes conscious being with many cells of many kinds. We offer a new theory of how embryos
Plants versus pathogens: detection and deception
Novel research has unveiled more about the deception tactics used by plants in their continuous battle against attacks from disease-causing pathogens. These findings could help in breeding better crops to reduce losses and produce more food. In
Impacts of life at 2300 m
Populations all over the world live high up in the mountains. The main mountain ranges with long term settlements include the Himalayas in Asia, the Andes in South America and the Ethiopian highlands in Africa. Researchers could
The genetic secrets of Uveal Melanoma
Uveal melanoma (UM) is the most common primary cancer occurring in the eyes of adults, with 1/100,000 new cases per year in the Western world. Most patients are between 60 and 65 years old. Although it is a
The potential of LINGO-1 as a therapeutic target for essential tremor
Essential tremor (ET) is probably the most common movement disorder. Because the etiology of ET is unknown, treatment of ET is symptomatic and is geared towards reducing the patient’s embarrassment and disability. The first line treatment is
Prader-Willi syndrome: most common genetic cause of life-threatening obesity
Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a rare complex multisystem genetic disorder. It is recognized as the most common known genetic cause of obesity in humans which can be life-threatening, if not controlled. PWS affects about 1 in 15,000
Which regions of the skull contain the most information about genetic relatedness in monkeys?
The primate fossil record is plagued by issues with assessing phylogeny (genetic relationships among species) due to the fact that fossilized specimens are composed entirely of rock and contain no DNA. Paleontologists studying the primate fossil record
Producing recombinant proteins for human use
Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cell lines are the most frequently used cell lines in the biopharmaceutical industry for the production of therapeutic recombinant proteins, because they can be easily genetically manipulated, grow quickly, can be easily adapted
