http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. How do fruit flies get high cholesterol and become obese? The same way as people do - by eating a diet that's too rich in fats. http://www.physorg.com/news178980135.html Biology Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:46:34 EST news178980135 The first genetic historical map of the Han Chinese, the largest ethnic population in the world, as they migrated from south to north over evolutionary time. was published online today by the American Journal of Human Genetics by scientists at the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS). http://www.physorg.com/news178382161.html Medicine & Health Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:36:36 EST news178382161 (PhysOrg.com) -- If humans are genetically related to chimps, why did our brains develop the innate ability for language and speech while theirs did not? http://www.physorg.com/news177168331.html Medicine & Health Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:26:18 EST news177168331 A new study uses a creative structure-based remodeling strategy to design a therapeutic protein that exhibits significant advantages over currently available treatments for a rare disease that often leads to cardiac and renal failure. The research, published by Cell Press on October 22nd in the American Journal of Human Genetics, describes a new and highly promising candidate for enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) for Fabry disease. http://www.physorg.com/news175436202.html Medicine & Health Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:30:06 EST news175436202 (PhysOrg.com) -- A genetic mutation found in four children born with multiple abnormalities may provide insight into potential treatments for newborn lung distress and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). http://www.physorg.com/news174827807.html Medicine & Health Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:50:01 EST news174827807 UCLA scientists have identified two chemicals that convince cells to ignore premature signals to stop producing important proteins. Published in the Sept. 28 edition of the Journal of Experimental Medicine, the findings could lead to new medications for genetic diseases, such as cancer and muscular dystrophy, that are sparked by missing proteins. http://www.physorg.com/news173359027.html Medicine & Health Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:18:03 EST news173359027 Recent research on the Cohen Y chromosome indicates the Jewish priesthood, the Cohanim, was established by several unrelated male lines rather than a single male lineage dating to ancient Hebrew times. http://www.physorg.com/news173003001.html Medicine & Health Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:40:02 EST news173003001 An international team, led by researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the National Eye Institute, has discovered gene variants for glaucoma in a black population. The finding could lead to future treatments or a cure for this disease, which leads to blindness in two million Americans each year. http://www.physorg.com/news172767721.html Medicine & Health Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:50:30 EST news172767721 (PhysOrg.com) -- UA geneticist Michael Hammer and his colleagues report that their research shows a number of ancestors fueled the ancient Jewish priesthood that dates back more than three millenia.Their work is currently published online in Human Genetics. http://www.physorg.com/news172414735.html Medicine & Health Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:59:48 EST news172414735 Two recent studies by Dartmouth researchers use individual genetic data to reveal the powers and limits of our current understanding of how the genome influences human health and what genes can reveal about the ancestry of the people of New Hampshire. http://www.physorg.com/news172231224.html Medicine & Health Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:01:25 EST news172231224 (PhysOrg.com) -- In the week that the University of Leicester celebrates the 25th anniversary of the discovery of DNA fingerprinting (Thursday September 10) new findings from the world-renowned University of Leicester Department of Genetics reveal for the first time that the male and female do truly communicate -- at least at the fundamental genetic level. http://www.physorg.com/news171707200.html Medicine & Health Wed, 09 Sep 2009 19:00:01 EST news171707200 A team led by scientists from The Scripps Research Institute has discovered a genetic cause of progressive hearing loss. The findings will help scientists better understand the nature of age-related decline in hearing and may lead to new therapies to prevent or treat the condition. http://www.physorg.com/news171203447.html Medicine & Health Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:40:02 EST news171203447 As part of the intricate ballet of synaptic transmission from one neuron to the next, tiny vesicles - bubbles containing the chemical neurotransmitters that make information exchange possible -- travel to the tip of neurons (synapses), where they fuse with the cell's membrane (a process called exocytosis). http://www.physorg.com/news171203352.html Biology Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:29:47 EST news171203352 At a time when medicine tends to focus on patients as a "collection of visceral organs and a nervous system," systems medicine provides a new approach to medical practice that is "anticipated to result in more comprehensive and systematic patient care." In a commentary published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (Sept 2), Howard J. Federoff, MD, PhD, executive vice president for health sciences and executive dean of the School of Medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center, and Lawrence O. Gostin, JD, associate dean at the Georgetown University Law Center ask, "Is there a future for systems medicine" particularly as the country considers a health care overhaul? http://www.physorg.com/news171046091.html Medicine & Health Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:57:03 EST news171046091 (PhysOrg.com) -- Humans might not be walking the face of the Earth were it not for the ancient fusing of two prokaryotes -- tiny life forms that do not have a cellular nucleus. UCLA molecular biologist James A. Lake reports important new insights about prokaryotes and the evolution of life in the Aug. 20 advance online edition of the journal Nature. http://www.physorg.com/news169907476.html Biology Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:20:01 EST news169907476 A novel technique allows researchers to efficiently and precisely modify or introduce genes into the genomes of human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, according to Whitehead scientists. The method uses proteins called zinc finger nucleases and is described in the August 13 issue of Nature Biotechnology. http://www.physorg.com/news169385219.html Biology Thu, 13 Aug 2009 12:27:56 EST news169385219 A genetic search that wound its way from patients to mouse models and back to patients has uncovered an unlikely gene critically involved in a common birth defect which causes mental retardation, motor delays and sometimes autism, providing a new mechanism and potentially improving treatment for the disorder. http://www.physorg.com/news169052103.html Medicine & Health Sun, 09 Aug 2009 15:56:31 EST news169052103 New research reveals that a simple laboratory assay detects a genetic variation in host response to bacterial infection that is associated with an increased susceptibility for inflammatory disease. The study, published by Cell Press online on August 6th in the American Journal of Human Genetics, also provides fascinating insight into the link between evolution and the ability to ward off pathogens. http://www.physorg.com/news168792564.html Medicine & Health Thu, 06 Aug 2009 18:50:01 EST news168792564 (July 29, 2009) - Recycling is a critical component in the process of transmitting information from one neuron to the next, and a large protein called Tweek plays a critical role, said an international consortium of researchers led by Baylor College of Medicine in a report in the current issue of the journal Neuron. http://www.physorg.com/news168092690.html Medicine & Health Wed, 29 Jul 2009 13:40:02 EST news168092690 Genetic evidence is revealing that human populations began to expand in size in Africa during the Late Stone Age approximately 40,000 years ago. A research team led by Michael F. Hammer (Arizona Research Laboratory's Division of Biotechnology at the University of Arizona) found that sub-Saharan populations increased in size well before the development of agriculture. http://www.physorg.com/news168072172.html Biology Wed, 29 Jul 2009 07:43:30 EST news168072172 (PhysOrg.com) -- Research by a group of Montreal scientists calls into question one of the most basic assumptions of human genetics: that when it comes to DNA, every cell in the body is essentially identical to every other cell. Their results appear in the July issue of the journal Human Mutation. http://www.physorg.com/news166882585.html Medicine & Health Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:30:01 EST news166882585 Researchers in human genetics have long known that expansions of GAA repeats - resulting in this nucleotide triplet repeating hundreds or thousands of times - cause the most common hereditary neurological disorder known as Friedreich's ataxia. There is no cure for this condition, which damages the nervous system and can result in heart disease. http://www.physorg.com/news166360897.html Biology Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:50:01 EST news166360897 Practice, practice, practice might get you to Carnegie Hall, but for aspiring musicians, there's new evidence that genes may influence one's ability to get there, as well. http://www.physorg.com/news165772613.html Medicine & Health Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:57:13 EST news165772613 Retinoic acid, a derivative of vitamin A, could lead researchers to a new set of drug targets for treating breast cancer, researchers from the University of Chicago report in the June 25, 2009, issue of the journal Cell. http://www.physorg.com/news165152817.html Medicine & Health Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:00:01 EST news165152817 A rare, deadly developmental disorder of the lungs called alveolar capillary dysplasia with misalignment of pulmonary veins (ACD/MPV) that usually kills the infants born with it within the first month of life results from deletions or mutations in the FOXF1 transcription factor gene, said a consortium of researchers led by Baylor College of Medicine in a report that appears in the American Journal of Human Genetics. http://www.physorg.com/news163341976.html Medicine & Health Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:46:48 EST news163341976 New light has been thrown on how humans choose their partners, a scientist will tell the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics today. Professor Maria da Graça Bicalho, head of the Immunogenetics and Histocompatibility Laboratory at the University of Parana, Brazil, says that her research had shown that people with diverse major histocompatibility complexes (MHCs) were more likely to choose each other as mates than those whose MHCs were similar, and that this was likely to be an evolutionary strategy to ensure healthy reproduction. http://www.physorg.com/news162451924.html Medicine & Health Mon, 25 May 2009 06:32:51 EST news162451924 (May 24, 2009) -- Using a specially adapted tool called P[acman], a collaboration of researchers led by Baylor College of Medicine has established a library of clones that cover most of the genome of Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) and should speed the pace of genetic research. http://www.physorg.com/news162394868.html Biology Sun, 24 May 2009 14:43:59 EST news162394868 New research provides exciting genetic insight into a rare syndrome that first appeared in the medical literature in the mid 1800s with the case of Julia Pastrana, the world's most notorious bearded lady. The study, published by Cell Press in the May 21st issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics, reveals intriguing molecular clues about the pathogenesis of this mysterious condition that has captured the attention of the public since the Middle Ages. http://www.physorg.com/news162129462.html Medicine & Health Thu, 21 May 2009 12:58:57 EST news162129462 (PhysOrg.com) -- The first specific genetic mutation which can cause a potentially serious facial disfigurement has been identified by researchers at Oxford University. The finding, published online in the American Journal of Human Genetics, offers the promise of improved genetic counselling for parents at risk. http://www.physorg.com/news161612123.html Medicine & Health Fri, 15 May 2009 13:17:12 EST news161612123 (PhysOrg.com) -- Through sophisticated statistical analyses and advanced computer simulations, researchers are learning more about the genomic patterns of human population structure around the world. http://www.physorg.com/news161528365.html Medicine & Health Thu, 14 May 2009 14:00:01 EST news161528365