loading ...
Medicine & Health / Genetics news 1234

Scientists discover key patterns in the packaging of genes

July 11, 2008 | User rating: 4.8 / 5 after 14 vote(s) | User comments: 1

Although every cell of our bodies contains the same genetic instructions, specific genes typically act only in specific cells at particular times. Other genes are "silenced" in a variety of ways. One mode of gene silencing ...


Testosterone and body fat are controlled by the same genes

August 05, 2008 | User rating: 4.7 / 5 after 7 vote(s) | No comments yet

Genes that control percentage of body fat are also responsible for circulating levels of testosterone in men, research published in the latest edition of Clinical Endocrinology shows. The research shows a 23% overlap between ...


Cutting the brakes on the immune system

August 01, 2008 | User rating: 4.5 / 5 after 14 vote(s) | User comments: 2

Your immune system may have more in common with a Corvette than you thought. When a virus or bacteria enters a human body, the immune system revs up to fight and expel the invader. Once the invader is gone, the body puts ...


When our protective armor shows weakness

August 01, 2008 | User rating: 4.3 / 5 after 6 vote(s) | No comments yet

New knowledge points to the fact that a genetically induced lack of filaggrin, a key protein of the skin barrier, plays a decisive role in the origin of allergies. In a large study on more than 3000 school-children scientists ...


Mutant testis cells behind genetic disorder have survival advantage

July 14, 2008 | User rating: 4.3 / 5 after 7 vote(s) | No comments yet

In a cruel irony, testis cells carrying the mutation that causes Apert's syndrome are fitter than normal cells, even though children born from sperm derived from those cells are weakened by fused fingers, toes and skulls, ...