Health & Medicine
Through the study and use of genetics, we can identify measures that could lead to the improvement of human health and wellness. These methods and procedures aim to prevent years of chronic disease and thousands of dollars in health care costs, and provide families and communities with knowledge of how to live healthier.
Below is the complete archive of related articles sorted by date.
Proceed with caution: National Academies offers ‘qualified support’ for gene editing ‘abnormal’ embryos
The door to gene-edited humans was opened a crack by a joint National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of ...
Irish Travellers: Wanderers not genetically connected to ‘gypsies’, may provide clues to understanding genetic diseases
IRISH TRAVELLERS HAVE no connection to Roma gypsies, did not descend from the famine and are genetically as different to ...
Kawasaki disease: Rare children’s heart condition linked to interplay of fungi and gene mutations
Kawasaki disease (KD) is the mostly common acquired heart disease in children. Untreated, roughly one-quarter of children with KD develop...balloon-like ...
Food poisoning alert: Salmonella strain prevalent in Africa mutates, slowing health response
The Salmonella strains responsible for most food-poisoning cases occurring in developed countries pretty much limit their residence in the human body to the gut...But a ...
Cholesterol and heart disease risk could be lowered with a single injection
A one-off injection could one day lower your cholesterol levels for the rest of your life. People born with natural ...
Brain implants might soon restore vision to the blind, improve digestion, relieve PTSD symptoms
[Brain implant experiments] like those that let a paralyzed person swig coffee using a robotic arm, or that let blind ...
Progression of HIV triggered by each patient’s genes
Scientists have long observed important differences in the rate of disease progression among individuals infected with HIV. It is now ...
Growing embryos from skin cells: Could it replace in vitro fertilization?
[In the process called in vitro gametogenesis,] adult cells, such as skin cells, can be reprogrammed to behave like embryonic ...
Seeking to reduce genetic disorders, Iran orders mandatory premarital DNA screens
Every day, 80 infants with some form of disability are born in [Iran]. That equals to over 30,000 new disabilities ...
Chinese parents embrace dubious DNA tests to uncover their child’s ‘natural talents’
[Due to a widely popular trend among anxious parent,] thousands of children in China have undergone genetic testing which purportedly ...
Harvard School of Public Health accused of scare mongering about conventional food, promoting organics
[Editor's note: Kevin Folta is a molecular geneticist and chair of the horticultural sciences department at the University of Florida.] Apparently ...
Genetically modified humans? CRISPR edges us toward ‘revolutionizing life’
The [CRISPR] technique is significant because it gives genetic biologists a powerful tool for gene editing. More importantly, it's cheap ...
Autism risk higher for females with ‘male-like brains’
One feature of brain anatomy that is characteristic of males is associated with an increased risk of autism, according to ...
Genetics of height: It may be too complex for scientists to crack the code
[W]hen the human genome was sequenced, scientists like [Joel Hirschhorn, a geneticist at Boston Children’s Hospital and the Broad Institute] ...
Non-GMO? Organic? Natural? Do food ‘buzzwords’ help consumers make healthy choices?
Picture the cereal aisle (and marvel at the fact that there is an aisle just for cereal). Next, think of ...
Stress reaction: Women more vulnerable to certain diseases, allergies because of immune cell differences
Michigan State University researchers are the first to uncover reasons why a specific type of immune cell acts very differently ...
‘Alphabet of life’ expanded by 2 synthetic letters, may help make organisms ‘Earth has never seen’
Until very recently, life on Earth was dictated by strings of just four letters: G, A, T, and C...Deciphering nature’s ...
Nigerian biotech expert says GMOs won’t replace conventional seeds, refutes common GMO myths
[Editor's note: The following is an interview with Rose Gidado, Country Coordinator of the Open Forum for Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB) in ...
Why high-risk breast cancer patients are foregoing genetic testing and counseling
Doctors often fail to recommend genetic testing for breast-cancer patients, even those who are at high risk for mutations linked ...
Generating tissue to repair knee cartilage and hearts more likely in wake of stem cell study
A new study from the National Institutes of Health, or NIH, has found that induced pluripotent stem cells would be ...
Epigenetics Around the Web: Chemo affects sperm? Cancer causes. Younger looking skin?
Epigenetics Around the Web is a weekly roundup of studies and news in the field of epigenetics presented by GLP ...
Women may be buffered from traumatic stress by high estrogen levels
Whether a woman’s estrogen level is high or low could determine if she may be susceptible to developing post-traumatic stress ...
Sore shoulder, rotator cuff disease may be a genetic trait
Rotator cuff disease is a common disorder that affects 30 to 50 percent of people over the age of 50 ...
Multiple sclerosis, inflammatory diseases linked to 27 high-protein gene regions
A genome-wide study has identified DNA regions associated with higher levels of circulating cytokines, small proteins that play a role in ...
For people with congenital hearing loss, gene therapy successful in mice offers promise
An improved gene therapy vector restores hearing and balance in genetically deaf mice, according to Boston's Children's Hospital researchers...[T]he mice's ...
Iowa farmer debunks 8 popular myths about GMOs
[Editor's note: Michelle Miller, known on social media as the Farm Babe, raises lamb and beef cattle, and grows almost ...
New GMO book shifts debate from science to fears of ‘corporate control’ of food and farming
The Pew Research Center recently polled Americans on their concerns about genetically modified foods. Predictably, given the popular consternation around ...
