ScienceDaily (May 1, 2012) Toss out another old wives' tale: Sleeping too much does not make you fat. Quite the opposite, according to a new study examining sleep and body mass index (BMI) in twins, which found that sleeping more than nine hours a night may actually suppress genetic influences on body weight. The study looked at 1,088 pairs of twins and found that sleeping less than seven hours a night was associated with both increased BMI and greater genetic influences on BMI. Previous research has shown that genetic influences include things like glucose metabolism, energy use, fatty acid storage and satiety. In this study, the heritability of BMI was twice as high for the short sleepers than for twins who slept longer than nine hours a night. "The results suggest that shorter sleep provides a more permissive environment for the expression of obesity related genes," said principal investigator Nathaniel Watson, MD, MSc, of the University of Washington. "Or it may be that extended sleep is protective by suppressing expression of obesity genes." Watson and colleagues determined that for twins sleeping less than seven hours, genetic influences accounted for 70 percent of the differences in BMI, with common environment accounting … Continue reading →

ScienceDaily (May 1, 2012) Vision and hearing are so crucial to our daily lives that any impairments usually become obvious to an affected person. Although a number of known genetic mutations can lead to hereditary defects in these senses, little is known about our sense of touch, where defects might be so subtle that they go unnoticed. People with good hearing also have a keen sense of touch; people with impaired hearing generally have an impaired sense of touch. Extensive data supporting this hypothesis was presented by Dr. Henning Frenzel and Professor Gary R. Lewin of the Max Delbrck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch, Germany. The two researchers showed that both senses -- hearing and touch -- have a common genetic basis. In patients with Usher syndrome, a hereditary form of deafness accompanied by impaired vision, the researchers discovered a gene mutation that is also causative for the patients' impaired touch sensitivity. The examination was preceded by various studies, including studies with healthy identical and non-identical human twins. In total, the researchers assessed sensory function in 518 volunteers. In all vertebrates, and consequently also in humans, hearing and touch represent two distinct sensory systems that both rely on the … Continue reading →

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Dublin - Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/vw2h92/personalized_medic) has announced the addition of the "Personalized Medicine: Companies, Trends and World Market" report to their offering. This broad, high-level report analyzes the expanding Personalized Medicine market. This world market includes important core medical product areas that will continue to have a powerful impact on current and future healthcare delivery. This business report examines key market segments such as targeted drugs and key personalized medicine diagnostics, including companion diagnostic IVDs, LDTs, diagnostic services and related tools or technologies. Many people already know about DNA, genes and the human genome. The science driving personalized medicine includes pharmacogenetics, pharmacoproteomics and pharmacometabalomix. Personalized medicine uses a targeted drug that depends on the patient information identified by a companion diagnostic (genetic biomarker test). The companion diagnostic identifies which patients would likely benefit from a particular therapy or those who might suffer from a bad side effect. The test information enables doctors to select the drug therapy that would benefit the patient. Drug developers in clinical trials could use a companion diagnostic to select patents that would benefit from a targeted drug. The report discusses important technologies, including microarray, next-generation sequencing, PCR, bioinformatics, nanotechnology and other platforms. … Continue reading →

Diseases that strike different parts of the bodyand that don't seem to resemble each other at allmay actually have a lot in common. Scientists have identified the genetic basis for many separate diseases. Now, some researchers are looking at how the genes interact with each other. They are finding that a genetic abnormality behind one illness may also cause other, seemingly unrelated disorders. Sometimes diseases are tangentially linked, having just one gene in common. But the greater the number of shared genetic underpinnings a group of diseases has, the greater the likelihood a patient with one of the illnesses will contract another. Researchers have found evidence, for example, that there is a close genetic relationship between Crohn's disease, a gastrointestinal condition, and Type 2 diabetes, despite the fact the two conditions affect the body in very distinct ways. Other illnesses with apparently close genetic links are rheumatoid arthritis and Type 1 diabetes, the form of the disease that usually starts in childhood, said Dr. Joseph Loscalzo, chairman of the department of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. This network approach, known among scientists as systems biology, could change the way medical specialists view and treat disease, according to … Continue reading →

Sexual Health Health Home>>Sexual Health>>Health news Written by: QMI Agency May. 2, 2012 U.S. researchers are a step closer to launching human clinical trials of a stem cell therapy to fight HIV. Scientists at the University of California Davis Health System have successfully transplanted anti-HIV stem cells into mice. They found the HIV-resistant cells thrived, and even renewed themselves, even when challenged with the HIV virus. The immune systems in mice parallel those in humans, researchers said in a paper published in the May issue of the Journal of Virology. "After we challenged transplanted mice with live HIV, we demonstrated that the cells with HIV-resistant genes were protected from infection and survived in the face of a viral challenge," lead author Joseph Anderson said in a release. "Clinical trials could give us the critical information we need to determine whether our approach truly represents a functional cure for a terrible disease that has affected millions and millions of people," Pollard said. The research team has submitted a grant application for human clinical trials and is currently seeking regulatory approval. Did you find what you were looking for on our website? Please let us know. Read the original post: Researchers see … Continue reading →

Public release date: 30-Apr-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Vanessa McMains vmcmain1@jhmi.edu 410-502-9410 Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions A team of researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the National Human Genome Research Institute has evaluated the whole genomic sequence of stem cells derived from human bone marrow cellsso-called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cellsand found that relatively few genetic changes occur during stem cell conversion by an improved method. The findings, reported in the March issue of Cell Stem Cell, the official journal of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), will be presented at the annual ISSCR meeting in June. "Our results show that human iPS cells accrue genetic changes at about the same rate as any replicating cells, which we don't feel is a cause for concern," says Linzhao Cheng, Ph.D., a professor of medicine and oncology, and a member of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Cell Engineering. Each time a cell divides, it has the chance to make errors and incorporate new genetic changes in its DNA, Cheng explains. Some genetic changes can be harmless, but others can lead to changes in cell behavior that may lead to disease and, in the worst case, to cancer. … Continue reading →

Milwaukee, WI (PRWEB) May 02, 2012 Academic and industry leaders in gene and cell therapy will be featured at a Media Event in Philadelphia, PA on May 15, 2012, immediately preceding the 15th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT) on May 16-19, 2012. The event will focus on recent clinical developments in targeted biotherapeutics for various diseases. Members of the media will also receive complimentary full-access registration to the ASGCT 15th Annual Meeting at the Pennsylvania Convention. To complete your registration to the Media Event and the Annual Meeting, please visit the ASGCT website. 2:00 pm 2:20 pm: Gene and cell-based immunotherapy for cancer Many cancers are known to acquire the ability to suppress anti-tumor immune responses in the host. The genetically modified cells developed and used in this clinical trial are designed to reawaken immune cells that have been suppressed by the leukemia and stimulate the generation of so-called memory T cells, which can provide ongoing protection against recurrence. Although long-term effectiveness of this novel treatment is not yet known, the doctors have found that months after infusion, the new cells had multiplied and continued their seek-and-destroy mission against cancerous cells throughout the … Continue reading →