When turned on, the gene p53 turns off cancer. However, when existing drugs boost p53, only a few tumors die - the rest resist the challenge. A study published in the journal Cell Reports shows how: tumors that live even in the face of p53 reactivation create more of the protein p21 than the...
A large, multi-institutional research team involved in the NIH Epigenome Roadmap Project has published a sweeping analysis in the current issue of the journal Cell on how genes are turned on and off to direct early human development. Led by Bing Ren of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research...
Amoeba eat bacteria and other human pathogens, engulfing and destroying them - or being destroyed by them, but how these single-cell organisms distinguish and respond successfully to different bacterial classes has been largely unexplained. In a report in the journal Current Biology, researchers...
A study appearing in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry¹ demonstrates that grapes are able to reduce heart failure associated with chronic high blood pressure (hypertension) by increasing the activity of several genes responsible for antioxidant defense in the heart tissue. Grapes are a...
Researchers from Dartmouth's Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Sciences (iQBS) and the Center for Genomic Medicine have helped to discover three unique genetic variations that influence body size and obesity in men and women of African ancestry. This study, a meta-analysis that examined 3.2...
Hate to exercise? Blame your parents (Or, more likely, their genes). More »
Why You Have Your Genes To Thank For Your (Lack Of?) Exercise Motivation is a post from Blisstree - Get tips on healthy living, work outs, wellness & health food recipes. Advice & news on mental health & healthcare..
Another new study takes a further step toward revealing the pervasive influence microbial communities that inhabit plants and animals have on their biology. Scientists in the US have discovered that the luminous bacterium Vibrio fischeri regulates the daily rhythm of its host, the Hawaiian...
About 90 percent of children with two copies of a common genetic variation and who wheezed when they caught a cold early in life went on to develop asthma by age 6, according to a study published by the New England Journal of Medicine. These children, all from families with a history of asthma...
Infectious disease experts at Johns Hopkins have found that among people infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV), co-infection with HIV, speeds damage and scarring of liver tissue by almost a decade. In a second study of HCV infection, the Johns Hopkins research team participated in the...
...(including what it means to be homo? What is the relationship between: the genome, chromosomes, genes, alleles (including what it means to be homozygous/heterozygous) and epigenetic markers (acetyl and methyl groups). Explain fully! THIS IS FOR MY BIO ESSAY I REAAAAAALLLYY NEED AN ANSWER...
Researchers from King's College London have identified 24 new genes that are responsible for causing myopia, a very common eye disorder also known as short-sightedness. The finding, published in Nature Genetics, finally reveals the genetic causes of the condition; this is very promising and...
More good news on the health benefits of olive oil: A recent Spanish study found that polyphenols present in olive oil could change the way our genes respond to high density cholesterol (HDL). More »
Olive Oil May Activate Genes That Help Clear Cholesterol From Arteries is a post from Blisstree...
New research from the US finds the action of three gene variants already linked with Parkinson's may contribute to a defect in how brain cells move internal proteins around. The discovery could help explain the cause of, and point to treatment for, the common, non-familial form of the disease...
US scientists have found two new mutations in non-coding (formerly dubbed "junk") DNA that occur in 71% of malignant melanomas. They say the highly recurrent mutations may be the most common in this deadliest form of skin cancer, more common than the already well-known protein-coding BRAF...
Fox Chase Cancer Center, a National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, is now offering patients with advanced cancer a cutting-edge clinical test that will provide them with a unique blueprint of their cancer genes. The new clinical test, known as CancerCode-45TM, evaluates...
Genes are not the only drivers of colon cancer. A new study suggests cellular factors play an equally important part, and these not only drive tumor growth, but also affect how well the disease responds to chemotherapy. Senior study author John Dick, of the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre...
Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) - inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract - have puzzled the scientific community for decades. Ten years ago, researchers recognized that both genes and the environment contributed to these diseases but knew little about precisely how...
The genes responsible for inherited diseases are clearly bad for us, so why hasn't evolution, over time, weeded them out and eliminated them from the human genome altogether? Part of the reason seems to be that genes that can harm us at one stage of our lives are necessary and beneficial to us...
Vulnerability to major depression is linked with how satisfied we are with our lives. This association is largely due to genes. This is the main finding of a new twin study from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health in collaboration with the University of Oslo. The researchers compared...
Chronic morphine exposure has the opposite effect on the brain compared to cocaine in mice, providing new insight into the basis of opiate addiction, according to Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers. They found that a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is...