Genetic Factors | SilverScorpio.Com

Sleep-inducing genetic differences could offer protection against alcohol dependence

May 5, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Washington, May 5 (ANI): Genetic differences in alcohol-metabolising enzymes, that make you sleepy when you drink, could significantly alter your risk for developing alcohol dependence (AD), according to a study.

One variant of the alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme, ADH1B*3, is observed almost exclusively in populations with African ancestry and has also been associated with reduced rates of AD.

The study has found that greater levels of sedation in African Americans with ADH1B*3 may explain their lower rates of AD.

“In one study looking at genetic samples from a number of African groups, the ADH1B*3 variant was found in almost every group. Furthermore, prior studies had shown that those with ADH1B*3 had reduced drinking and risk for AD, and this was thought to be due to the different form of ADH enzyme that people with this allele have. The goal of our study was to see if those with ADH1B*3 had different subjective and physiological response to alcohol compared to those who do not. This would be one explanation for why they drank less than others – they have a different experience from drinking,” explained Dr. Denis M. McCarthy, associate professor of psychology at the University of Missouri and corresponding author for the study.

Lara Ray from UCLA said that this focus on minority populations such as African Americans is sorely needed.

“In the pharmacogenomics era, failure to account for genetic differences in various ethnic groups may perpetuate or even expand health disparities. In this study, the authors do a very nice job of addressing unique risk and protective genetic factors for alcoholism in African Americans,” she added.

Researchers provided a moderate alcohol dose – 0.72 g/kg for males, 0.65 g/kg for females – to 91 African American adults (52 females, 39 males) aged 21 to 26 years.

All participants were genotyped for ADH1B*3 as well as additional polymorphisms that might contribute to alcohol response.

Results showed that ADH1B*3 was associated with higher levels of sedation, as well as a sharper increase in pulse rate immediately following alcohol consumption.

“The unique part of this study is showing that people with this allele have a different experience when they drink –they get more sedated, particularly when their BrAC is high,” said McCarthy.

“This would be one explanation for their reduced drinking behaviour – people are less likely to drink heavily when doing so makes them tired rather than stimulated or disinhibited. It is important for genetic research to go beyond demonstrating that a gene is related to a drinking disorder and instead demonstrating the steps by which the gene can exert its influence on that disorder,” he added.

The results of the study will be published in the latest issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: african americans, African Ancestry, African Groups, Alcohol Dehydrogenase Enzyme, alcohol dependence, alcoholism, allele, american adults, dr denis, genetic differences, genetic factors, Genetic Samples, Health Disparities, Minority Populations, moderate alcohol, Nice Job, Physiological Response, Polymorphisms, sedation, university of missouri

Two new genes linked to autism

May 3, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Washington, May 3 (ANI): Scientists have identified two additional genes that may be associated with autism.

Study co-author Ning Lei, a researcher at Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Studies, said that there is no known cause of autism, but mutations of several genes have been linked to autism.

For the study, Dr. Lei and her colleagues analyzed data from the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE) on 943 families, most of whom had more than one child diagnosed with autism and had undergone genetic testing.

The researchers compared the prevalence of 25 gene mutations in the AGRE families with a control group of 6,317 individuals without developmental or neuropsychiatric illness.

The researchers identified mutations in four genes within the AGRE families. Two of the genes previously were shown to be associated with autism and often are involved in forming or maintaining neural synapses — the point of connection between individual neurons.

One of the new genes identified was neural cell adhesion molecule 2 (NCAM2). NCAM2 is expressed in the hippocampus of the human brain — a region previously associated with autism.

“While mutations in the NCAM2 gene were found in a small percentage of the children that we studied, it is fascinating that this finding continues a consistent story — that many of the genes associated with autism are involved with formation or function of the neural synapse. Studies such as this provide evidence that autism is a genetically based disease that affects neural connectivity,” Dr. Lei said.

The researchers hypothesize that a substantial percentage of children with autism will be shown to have a mutation in one or more of the many genes necessary for normal function of the synapse.

The study also showed that some parents and siblings of children with autism have the NCAM2 mutation but do not have the disorder themselves.

This suggests that other environmental or genetic factors are involved in causing autism in susceptible individuals.

“These results help the public understand that autism is a very complex disorder, much like cancer and no single gene or gene environment is likely to be causative in most cases,” Dr. Lei said.

The findings have been presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: AGRE, Autism Genetic Resource Exchange, cause of autism, Cell Adhesion Molecule, Child Autism, children with autism, co-author, control group, Gene Mutations, genes, genetic factors, Genetic Resource, Genetic Testing, hippocampus, human brain, mutation, Neural Cell, princeton university, substantial percentage, synapses

Personal political views shape our interpretation of political messages

April 28, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

London, April 28 (ANI): People interpret a politician”s statement according to their personal political views, a new British research has revealed.

Martin McKee, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and David Stuckler from the University of Oxford believe that “it is possible for two well-informed groups of people faced with the same evidence to reach completely different conclusions about what should be done.”

They highlight a recent American study where three groups who described themselves as either Democrats, Republicans or Independents were randomly given four versions of an authoritative news story about diabetes.

The stories were exactly the same apart from how they described the causes of diabetes – one said nothing while the other three alluded to genetic factors, individual lifestyle choices and social determinants such as economic status.

Interestingly, the Democrats and Independents were far more likely to agree with the social determinants explanation but this had no effect on the Republicans.

Moreover, the Democrats were significantly more likely than the Republicans to support action to tackle diabetes, such as restrictions on junk food.

The authors also refer to a study on brain activity in Democrat and Republican research participants who were exposed to contradicting messages from both parties.

They say: “Whereas those registered as Republicans clearly identified the contradictions voiced by Democrat politicians, they saw minimal contradiction in the statements by Republicans, and vice versa.”

They conclude: “Politicians are often criticised for being all things to all people and for making promises that they then fail to keep. However … the problem may be less what the politicians are actually saying but rather how their words are heard and interpreted.”

The study has appeared in the British Medical Journal. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: Brain activity, British Medical Journal, causes of diabetes, contradiction, contradictions, Democrats Republicans, Economic Status, genetic factors, Independents, junk food, lifestyle choices, london school of hygiene, London School Of Hygiene And Tropical, london school of hygiene and tropical medicine, martin mckee, Personal Political Views, political messages, Research Participants, Social Determinants, university of oxford

Scientists link low birth weight and diabetes

April 8, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

British researchers have found two genetic variants that affect a baby’s size at birth and say one of them is also linked with developing diabetes in later life.

The finding, published in the journal Nature Genetics, is the first firm evidence of a genetic link between low birth weight and diabetes and helps explain why small babies have higher rates of diabetes when they grow up.

Professor Mark McCarthy, who leads the diabetes research group at the University of Oxford, says severe malnutrition and low birth weight has a big impact on infant survival.

“It’s become clear in the last 10 to 20 years that there’s a rather strange connection between birth weight and subsequent risk of diabetes and heart disease, for example,” he said.

“So that babies that are born smaller, in general, have higher rates of those diseases later in life.”

It has already been established that all manner of environmental factors can influence the birth weight of a baby.

Factors include birth order, whether the mother smokes or drinks, and how many weeks into the pregnancy the baby is delivered.

But Professor McCarthy says the new study suggests the baby’s genes may play a part as well.

“We actually found some strong genetic effects and were able to identify two specific genetic regions that were quite strongly associated with birth weight,” he said.

“I think these are all factors that go into the mix. These are not genetic effects that will say irrespective of everything else that you will end up with a small baby.

“[They say that] on average you tend to produce a baby that’s at least a little bit smaller than a baby that doesn’t have these genetic factors.”

Professor McCarthy say the genetic variants are quite common.

“[Among] European populations we think that about 10 per cent of the population have at least all four birth weight lowering variants,” he said.

“These particular variants together explain about a difference of about 100 grams, so about four ounces.

“So on their own they’re clearly not explaining why some children are massively larger than others.

“But that equates, for example, the effects on birth weight of a mother smoking about five cigarettes a day in the third trimester of pregnancy, so it’s on a par with some of the environmental exposures that we know. They influence both ways.”

Professor McCarthy says it is likely there will be more than two genetic variants at play in determining birth weight.

And he says that once they are all identified, the finding may lead to new discoveries about how to treat diabetes.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: Birth Order, british researchers, diabetes and heart disease, Diabetes Research Group, European Populations, Genetic Effects, genetic factors, genetic link, genetic regions, genetic variants, Infant Survival, journal nature genetics, low birth weight, Mark Mccarthy, professor mark, Professor Mccarthy, small babies, small baby, Strange Connection, university of oxford

Antibiotics can prevent gastric cancer

March 13, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar 13 (ANI): Japanese scientists have found that it is possible to eradicate Helicobacter pylori infections by using antibiotics.

H. pylori can cause stomach ulcers and, in extreme cases, gastric cancer.

Seiji Shiota and Yoshio Yamaoka from Oita University, Japan and Baylor College of Medicine, Texas, respectively, gave H. pylori antibiotics to patients with early gastric cancer after surgical resection and were followed up for three years.

It was found that patients who received antibiotic treatment had a significantly lower risk of developing gastric cancer, confirming the importance of careful management of H. pylori.

However, certain populations (e.g. India and Thailand) have a high prevalence of H. pylori infection but a low incidence of gastric cancer.

It is believed that certain strains of H. pylori (especially east-Asian cytotoxin-associated gene [cagA]-positive strains) might carry an increased risk of developing gastric cancer, but currently identified cagA genotypes in the Asia-Pacific are not associated with cancer.

“Bacterial virulence factors, host genetic factors, and environmental factors contribute to the risk for developing gastric cancer, and further studies are necessary,” wrote the researchers.

However, they warned that practitioners should exercise caution with regard to widespread antibiotic treatment.

“If all infected persons are to be treated, we should consider the increase in frequency of antibiotic resistance and unexpected consequences such as esophageal adenocarcinoma, asthma, and autoimmune disease,” they said. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: antibiotic resistance, Antibiotic Treatment, Bacterial Virulence Factors, Baylor College of Medicine, Careful Management, college of medicine, Early Gastric Cancer, Gastric Cancer, genetic factors, H Pylori Infection, japanese scientists, Low Incidence, Oita University, Shiota, Stomach Ulcers, Surgical Resection, Unexpected Consequences, University Japan, Yamaoka, Yoshio

Young age at first drink can turn under-15s into alcoholics

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Sept 19 (ANI): Drinking at young age may affect genes linked to alcoholism and make youngsters vulnerable to severe problems, says a new study.

The study led by Dr Arpana Agrawal, from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, revealed that the younger an individual was at first drink, the greater the risk for alcohol dependence and the more prominent the role played by genetic factors.

“There seemed to be a greater genetic influence in those who took their first full drink at a younger age,” said Agrawal.

“That’s very consistent with what has been predicted in the literature and in the classification of types of alcohol dependence, but we present a unique test of the hypothesis,” she added.

During the study, the researchers studied 6,257 adult twins from Australia and measured the extent to which age at first drink changed the role of heritable influences on symptoms of alcohol dependence.

The study showed that when twins started drinking early, genetic factors contributed greatly to risk for alcohol dependence, at rates as high as 90 percent in the youngest drinkers.

The team also found that those who were 15 or younger when they started drinking tended to have a greater genetic risk for alcohol dependence.

However, some who were 16 or older before they took their first drink later became alcohol dependent, but their dependence was related more to environmental factors.

“Something about starting to drink at an early age puts young people at risk for later problems associated with drinking,” Agrawal says.

“We continue to investigate the mechanisms, but encouraging youth to delay their drinking debut may help.

“Some early-onset drinkers do not develop alcohol problems and some late-onset drinkers do – we are working on why that is the case, but it is important to note that this is one risk factor among many and does not determine whether a person will, or will not, develop alcohol dependence.

“But age at first drink is a well-known risk factor, and there have been two main hypotheses about why:

One has been that common genetic and environmental factors contribute both to the risk for alcohol dependence and to the likelihood a person will be younger when consuming their first drink,” she added.

The study will be published Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. (ANI)

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Genes, not beer, lead to ‘beer belly’

July 6, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Melbourne, July 6 (ANI): It’s not the beer, but your genes, that cause that ‘not so loved’ ‘beer belly’, according to British scientists.

In a study of thousands of beer drinkers, it was discovered that although regular drinkers had a tendency to put on weight, they did not necessarily store fat around the abdomen.

For the study, the researchers examined over 20,000 people – 7876 men and 12,749 women – over an average of eight-and-a-half years.

It was found that men, who were classed as the heaviest drinkers-regularly consuming two pints of beer a day- put on the most weight.

However, after measuring hip-to-waist ratios, in order to establish which drinkers developed a potbelly, the researchers found that the results were spread across all drinkers.

The scientists concluded that genetic factors had a larger role in controlling how people put on weight than drinking beer.

The results revealed that the men who were most likely to put on weight were those who drank the most and also those who drank no beer at all.

Light drinkers saw the least variation in their waist size.

For women, drinking more beer was more directly associated with piling on the pounds.

But for all the categories, drinking beer led to overall weight gain on both the waist and the hips, and did not necessarily lead to a beer belly.

“This analysis showed the empirical basis for the common belief of a beer belly, as we found that beer drinking and waist circumference were positively associated,” the Courier Mail quoted the study as saying.

“However, our data provided only limited evidence for a site-specific effect of beer drinking on waist circumference and beer consumption seems to be rather associated with an increase in overall body fatness.

“In terms of public health relevance, it may be therefore important to focus on beer abstention to maintain body weight.

“In terms of the beer belly belief, an explanation could be that all the observed beer bellies in the population result from the natural variation in fat patterning and not from the fact of drinking beer,” it added.

The study by German and Swedish researchers has been published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. (ANI)

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Premature ejaculation may be a genetic disorder

May 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 28 (ANI): A Finnish study suggests that premature ejaculation may be a genetic disorder.

Researchers from Turku came to this conclusion after interviewing more than three thousand men-all pairs of male twins and their older or younger brothers-about the first time they had sex.

Most of the persons surveyed revealed that they had suffered from erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation at their first sexual encounter.

The research confirms the belief that these common problems are often related to external factors like intoxication or nervousness due to peer pressure.

However, according to the researchers, premature ejaculation also appears to be strongly linked to genetic factors, and is not just psychological.

A previous study conducted by researchers in The Netherlands also linked premature ejaculation to a gene for serotonin regulation in a group of two hundred men.

The current study independently shows a genetic link to premature ejaculation in a much larger group, and rule out environmental factors.

Lead researcher David Goldmeier says that the increasing evidence for a genetic cause of premature ejaculation opens the way for the development of new drug treatments, something that many men might benefit from.

He and reviewer Taylor Segraves, however, insist that medicines will not be the only solution. They say that psychotherapy will continue to be a valuable and useful form of treatment for sexual dysfunctions, even for those with a genetic cause.

The study has been published in the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy. (ANI)

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Now, test that predicts when a woman will reach menopause

May 26, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 26 (ANI): Scientists have made a new discovery that might be of great help for women planning to have babies later in life.

For the first time, scientists have been able to identify the genetic factors that influence the age at which natural menopause occurs.

It is hoped that this can allow women in their late 30s and early 40s to pinpoint accurately how long they have left in which to conceive and when they should start trying for a baby.

Lisette Stolk, a researcher from Erasmus University Medical Centre in the Netherlands, said at the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics that a greater understanding of the factors influencing age at menopause might also help to improve the clinical treatment of infertile women.

Stolk and colleagues analysed genetic data from nine studies involving 10,339 menopausal women.

They found 20 single letter changes in the genetic code that were associated with having an early menopause.

The variants, known as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), were located at four different sites on chromosomes 19 and 20, two of the coiled packages of DNA that house the genes.

None of the variants had been identified before. What effect they have is unclear, but the scientists suspect they influence the ovaries or the brain.

“We found that the 20 SNPs were all related to a slightly earlier menopause and women who had one of them experienced menopause nearly a year earlier than others,” said Stolk.

“We know that ten years before menopause women are much less fertile, and five years before many are infertile. In Western countries, where women tend to have children later in life and closer to menopause, age at menopause can be an important factor in whether or not a particular woman is able to become a mother,” Stolk added.

Other effects of earlier menopause include an increased risk of the bone disease osteoporosis, the joint disease osteoarthritis and of heart disease, although it can also offer some protection against the risk of breast cancer. (ANI)

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‘Happy hour’ gene may help boozers stay away from alcohol

May 22, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 22 (ANI): A newly identified gene, dubbed happyhour, controls fruit flies’ response to booze. Researchers now claim that drugs mimicking the effects of the gene may offer a new treatment against alcohol addiction.

Animals with a mutant version of the gene grow increasingly resistant to alcohol’s sedative effects, the research shows.

The researchers report further evidence that the gene normally does its work by blocking the so-called Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF) pathway. That EGF pathway is best known for its role in cancer, and drugs designed to inhibit the EGF receptor, including erlotinib (trade name Tarceva) and gefitinib (trade name Iressa), are FDA-approved for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer.

Now, the researchers show that flies and mice treated with erlotinib also grow more sensitive to alcohol. What’s more, rats given the cancer-fighting drug spontaneously consumed less alcohol when it was freely available to them. Their taste for another rewarding beverage-sugar water-was unaffected.

“This is a very powerful example of how simple model organisms-and the little fruit fly in particular-can be used to move quickly from an unknown gene to a potential therapy for drug addiction,” said Ulrike Heberlein of the University of California, San Francisco, noting that erlotinib and gefitinib, along with other EGFR inhibitors, not only cross the blood-brain barrier in humans, but they are also well-tolerated in general.

Heberlein’s team explained, genes and pathways involved in the acute response to alcohol can yield insight into the genetic factors contributing to the more complex process of addiction.

In the study, researchers screened mutant flies for those less sensitive to ethanol. That screen led them to happyhour, a gene closely related to mammalian enzymes known as the Ste20-family kinases of the GCK-1 subfamily.

Heberlein said they still don’t know exactly how alcohol exerts its influence on the EGFR pathway or how that leads to the telltale changes in behavior that come with alcohol intoxication. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: alcohol addiction, blood brain barrier, california san francisco, Cell Lung Cancer, drug addiction, Egf Receptor, egfr pathway, erlotinib, fruit fly, gefitinib, genetic factors, heberlein, iressa, model organisms, mutant version, Non Small Cell Lung Cancer, sedative effects, Small Cell Lung Cancer, study researchers, tarceva, university of california san francisco

Genetic factors play lead role in crime victimisation of teens

May 15, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 15 (ANI): Genes rather than the environment may help explain why some teens are more likely than others to be victimized by crime, says a new study.

The research is believed to be the first to investigate the genetic basis of victimization.

“Victimization can appear to be a purely environmental phenomenon, in which people are randomly victimized for reasons that have nothing to do with their genes,” said lead author Kevin M. Beaver of The Florida State University.

“However, because we know that genetically influenced traits such as low self control affect delinquent behaviour, and delinquents, particularly violent ones, tend to associate with antisocial peers, I had reasons to suspect that genetic factors could influence the odds of someone becoming a victim of crime, and these formed the basis of our study,” he added.

For the study, Beaver analyzed a sample of identical and same-sex fraternal twins drawn from a large, nationally representative sample of male and female adolescents interviewed in 1994 and 1995 for the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.

“Add Health” interviewers had gathered data on participants that included details on family life, social life, romantic relationships, extracurricular activities, drug and alcohol use, and personal victimization.

The data convinced Beaver that genetic factors explained a surprisingly significant 40 to 45 percent of the variance in adolescent victimization among the twins, while non-shared environments explained the remaining variance.

However, among adolescents who were victimized repeatedly, the effect of genetic factors accounted for a whopping 64 percent of the variance.

“It stands to reason that, if genetics are part of the reason why some young people are victimized in the first place, and genetics don’t change, there’s a good chance these individuals will experience repeat victimization,” Beaver said.

The study is to be published in a July 2009 special issue of the journal Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice dealing with biosocial criminology. (ANI)

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Negative mood-related drinking may lead to major depression, alcohol dependence

May 13, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 13 (ANI): A study has shown that negative mood-related drinking can make people vulnerable to developing both Major depression (MD) and alcohol dependence (AD).

“Although the frequent co-occurrence of AD and MD is widely recognized, the association between the disorders works differently for different people. There are likely multiple mechanisms that result in the disorders co-occurring, for example, having MD increases the risk to develop AD, having AD increases the risk to develop MD; and causal factors – such as genetic risk or social circumstances – also contribute to developing both disorders,” said Kelly Young-Wolff, whose master’s thesis provided the stimulus for the study.

Victor Hesselbrock, professor of psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, said that the link could also differ by gender.

“Studies of both clinical and community samples have found that primary depression – depression occurs first, followed by alcoholism – is more typical in females while primary alcoholism – alcoholism followed by depression – is more common among males.

Furthermore, while most persons affected with alcoholism do report a lifetime history of significant depressive symptoms, the reverse is not true. Most people with depression do not report long periods of heavy drinking nor do they report significant numbers of lifetime AD symptoms,” Hesselbrock said.

Young-Wolff added: “Previous research had shown that individuals with higher than average scores on mood-related drinking scales are at increased risk to develop heavy drinking and AD. There is also evidence for familial risk factors, such as shared social and environmental or genetic factors, that contribute to overlapping risk for MD and AD, and for AD and mood-related drinking motives. Yet no study had examined whether mood-related drinking motives explain the overlapping familial risk for MD and AD.”

The new findings are based on an examination of 5,181 individuals aged 30 and older (2,928 males and 2253 females), drawn from the Virginia Adult Twin Study of Psychiatric and Substance Use Disorders, a longitudinal study of psychopathology in two samples of adult twins.

The researchers have revealed that the subjects completed a clinical interview which assessed lifetime MD, AD, and mood-related drinking motives.

“Our study suggests that the familial factors that underlie mood-related drinking motives are the same factors that contribute to the overlapping familial risk for MD and AD. The results are consistent with an indirect role for mood-related drinking motives in risk for depression and AD, and suggest that individuals with strong mood-related drinking motives may be vulnerable to developing both MD and AD,” said Young-Wolff.

Hesselbrock added: “In short, the findings indicate that the drinking motives for both males and females who are well into the period of risk for both AD and for major depressive disorder are similar.

However, it should be noted that the findings do not address motives regarding the initiation of drinking behaviour in adolescence; the findings apply only to the subjects’ current drinking behaviour. Since this was not a longitudinal study that began in adolescence, it cannot be assumed that these subjects’ motives for beginning to drink when they were teenagers were to cope with feelings of depression.”

Carol A. Prescott, professor of psychology at the University of Southern California, as well as corresponding author for the study, said: “We might remember that there are many people with high mood-related drinking motives who do not have a history of MD or AD. We would argue that the occasional use of alcohol to relax or unwind is not necessarily a bad idea.

What should be avoided is heavy drinking as a regular coping strategy, since this can lead to other problems and is often a means of avoiding dealing with the issues that are contributing to the negative emotions.”

The researchers are of the opinion that their findings may help doctors identify individuals at risk for both MD and AD, with a focus on examining motives for drinking, as well as finding alternative strategies for coping with negative mood states.

Hesselbrock said: “I think it is important that family members understand that there is a real link between drinking and depression. While the family member who is drinking may believe that they are doing so to cope with and relieve their symptoms of depression -and there is some pharmacological basis for this – they probably do not realize that their drinking will only prolong and exacerbate the negative feelings.

For the person without AD, reducing/stopping drinking will help reduce the negative effect/depression. For the person with MD, stopping drinking will help reduce depression symptoms but not totally relieve the depression. It is a complex picture.”

The study, to be published in the August issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, is currently available at Early View. (ANI)

Filed Under: Health News Tagged With: alcohol dependence, alcoholism, Causal Factors, connecticut school, depressive symptoms, familial risk, gender studies, genetic factors, Genetic risk, lifetime history, long periods, major depression, Negative Mood, previous research, risk factors, school of medicine, significant numbers, social circumstances, university of connecticut, university of connecticut school of medicine

Genes raise melanoma risk even in those who tan easily

April 23, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr 22 (ANI): The traditional risk factors for melanoma may not be as helpful in predicting risk in all people as previously thought, claims a new study.

The research has been presented at the American Association for Cancer Research 100th Annual Meeting 2009.

“Traditionally, a clinician might look at a person with dark hair who did not sunburn easily and classify them as lower risk for melanoma, but that may not be true for all people in the population,” said Peter Kanetsky, Ph.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania.

Kanetsky and his colleagues have identified that genetic variants in MC1R could help to predict melanoma risk in people who are not usually classified as high risk.

While this link previously has been observed, Kanetsky said it is now time to begin discussing genetic factors as part of the overall melanoma risk model.

For the current study, researchers analyzed 779 patients with melanoma from the Pigmented Lesion Clinic of the University of Pennsylvania and compared them with 325 healthy control patients.

Overall, the presence of certain MC1R variants was associated with a more than two-fold risk of melanoma, but this risk was largely confined to those patients who would not usually be considered to be at elevated risk.

Although those with dark hair are not thought to be at increased risk for melanoma, if they had dark hair and also inherited certain MC1R genetic variants, their risk for melanoma increased 2.4-fold. However, no elevated risk was associated with these same MC1R variants in those with blond or red hair.

MC1R was also associated with increased risk among those with dark eye color (3.2-fold increase), who did not freckle (8-fold increase), who tanned after repeated sun exposure (2.4 fold increase) or who tanned immediately without burning (9.5-fold increase). People with these characteristics are usually thought to be at reduced risk for melanoma.

Kanetsky said a clinical screening test for MC1R is not yet available. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: assistant professor, cancer research, clinician, control patients, dark eye, dark hair, eye color, freckle, genetic factors, genetic variants, high-risk, lesion, melanoma, Red Hair, risk model, study researchers, sun exposure, sunburn, traditional risk factors, university of pennsylvania

Childhood abuse raises psychosis risk in women

April 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr 1 (ANI): Women with a history of childhood abuse are twice as likely to suffer from severe mental problem, suggests a new study.

However, the same association has not been found in men, which suggests that both boys and girls respond to traumatic and upsetting experiences differently.

During the study, the researchers looked at people aged 16-64 and divided them into two groups.

Those in the first group had experienced psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations or delusions and received treatment for depression, mania or schizophrenia.

While the second group had no mental health problems, and acted as a control sample. Both groups were asked whether they experienced physical or sexual abuse during their childhood.

The study showed that women with psychosis were twice as likely to report either physical or sexual abuse compared to healthy women.

One possible explanation, according to researchers could be that girls are more likely to ‘internalise’ difficulties than boys.

In other words, girls who are abused may distance themselves from other people, and become overly suspicious of other people’s behaviour.

This may put them at greater risk of psychotic symptoms in the future, such as paranoid delusions.

However, boys may be more likely to ‘act out’ following physical abuse and potentially be at greater risk for antisocial behaviour.

“These findings do not mean that if a child is abused they will develop psychosis; but women with such disorders are more likely to reveal a background which included childhood abuse,” said lead author Helen Fisher, Researcher in Psychosis at the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London.

“These findings point to the need for gender-specific interventions for abused children to prevent later mental health and behavioural problems.

“We also know that there are psychological, biological and genetic factors that may contribute to this condition in women and more attention needs to be given to understanding how adult psychosis develops,” she added.

The study appears in the British Journal of Psychiatry. (ANI)

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Anorexia drugs on the anvil

March 29, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Mar 29 (ANI): Anorexia treating drugs could be developed following study which found that subtle differences in brain development in the womb can be responsible for the condition.

In a research, scientists have found that 70 per cent of anorexic individuals show signs of problems with neurotransmitters, chemicals which help brain cells communicate, reports The Telegraph.

The report, which will be released at a conference at the Institute of Education in London this week, suggests that these developmental changes meant the patients were particularly vulnerable to eating disorders – a finding which prompted authors to propose screening children at the age of eight and experts to claim it could “pave the way for the first drugs”.
One of the report’s authors, Ian Frampton, an honorary consultant in paediatric psychology at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital, said: “Our research shows that certain kids’ brains develop in such a way that makes them more vulnerable to the more commonly known risk factors for eating disorders, such as the size-zero debate, media representations of very skinny women and bad parents.

“Arguments that social factors such as girls feeling under pressure to lose weight in order to look like high-profile women in the media contain logical flaws because almost everyone is exposed to them, yet only a small percentage of young people get anorexia.”

Susan Ringwood, chief executive of Beat, an eating disorder charity, said the research could “pave the way for the first drugs to be developed to treat eating disorders, similar to the way that anti-depressants help rebalance the brain of people with depression”.

“Parents always blame themselves,” she said, “but what we are learning more and more is that some people are very vulnerable to anorexia and that is down to genetic factors and brain chemistry and not them trying to look like celebrity models or suffering a major traumatic even early in their lives.” (ANI)

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Air pollution increases heart attack risk

March 23, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar 23 (ANI): Heart disease is not only a product of genetic factors or lifestyle choices, air pollution also puts people at an increased heart attack risk, suggests a study led by Aruni Bhatnagar of the University of Louisville.

Evidence has shown that increase in particulate air pollution is also associated with an increase in heart attacks and deaths.

During the study, Bhatnagar found that risk of heart attack increases in parallel with time spent in traffic.

In animal experiments, she has found that aldehydes — a toxic class of chemicals present in most forms of smoke, including cigarette smoke and car exhaust-can increase blood cholesterol levels and activate enzymes that cause plaque in the blood vessels to rupture.

When the plaque ruptures, it can cause a blood clot that may, in turn, block an artery and lead to a heart attack.

In another study, researcher Robert Brook of the University of Michigan found a link between air pollution and hypertension.

He said that fine- and ultra-fine particles that get into the lung might make their way into the blood vessels, and within 15 minutes of inhaling pollutants, there is a very rapid increase in blood pressure.

For people living in areas with high levels of air pollution, Brook recommended to exercise indoors, because indoor air is filtered.

He also advised to avoid peak traffic times.

The researchers are trying to find out which pollutants are harmful, and how the harmful pollutants work to damage the cardiovascular system.

They have focused on smaller, microscopic particles that can get into the lungs, and may gain entrance to the blood stream. (ANI)

Filed Under: Health News Tagged With: animal experiments, bhatnagar, blood cholesterol levels, car exhaust, cause plaque, cigarette smoke, genetic factors, harmful pollutants, heart attack increases, heart attack risk, heart attacks, increases heart, lifestyle choices, microscopic particles, particulate air pollution, peak traffic times, risk of heart attack, robert brook, toxic class, ultra fine particles

Cleft lip and palate: Genes more important than thought

March 9, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Mar 9 (ANI): After comparing 500,000 snippets of human DNA, scientists at the University of Bonn have found that people with cleft lip and palate are frequently found to have a genetic variant on chromosome 8, which may be linked with the disease.

Cleft lips and palates are among the most frequent innate abnormalities in children and is usually characterised by a gap remaining between lip, jaw and sometimes the palate, because different tissue processes of the face and mouth area do not fuse together or do so insufficiently.

While both environmental influences affecting the child in the womb and genetic factors contribute to the deformity, the new study has claimed that genes play a major role in the formation of clefts.

In the study, the scientists examined the DNA of 460 persons with clefts, analysed more than 500,000 items of information from their DNA, and compared them with the genetic snippets of a control group.

And then a specific area in the human genome caught the scientists’ attention.

“This was a point on the long arm of chromosome 8, where the cleft group conspicuously often had a variant, far more frequently than people who had no abnormality,” Nature magazine quoted Dr. Elisabeth Mangold, a lecturer from the Institute of Human Genetics at the University of Bonn, as saying.

This is a notable clue that a gene located in this region has something to do with the occurrence of clefts.

“Without this genetic factor on chromosome 8, the probability of a child in our population of getting clefts would be significantly less than 1 in 700. In effect, this is good news for all mothers of the children affected, who always thought, ‘I must have done something wrong while I was pregnant.’ You just can’t help having the genes you have got,” said Mangold.

The researchers are now aiming to show exactly which genes on chromosome are responsible and how it works.

“We are currently looking for it. It could indeed be what is known as a regulatory element that controls other genes,” said Mangold.

The results appear in the forthcoming issue of the journal Nature Genetics. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: child in the womb, chromosome 8, cleft lip and palate, cleft lips, Cleft Palate, clefts, control group, environmental influences, genetic factor, genetic factors, genetic variant, human dna, human genome, institute of human genetics, long arm, mouth area, nature magazine, palates, regulatory element, snippets, university of bonn

Scientists uncover new genetic markers linked to increased heart attack risk

February 18, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, February 18 (ANI): Scientists have identified new gene variants associated with an increased risk for heart attack.

The international team of researchers behind this work say that the identified genes and their underlying mechanisms provide new starting points for understanding genetic patterns in heart attack, and for developing new treatment options.

One of their findings is that the heart attack risk is more than twice as great in individuals who carry not only one but several of the genetic markers.

The team, including researchers from Germany’s University of Lubeck and Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen, performed a genome-wide scan of thousands of patients with hundreds of thousands of genetic markers.

The researchers included in their studies heart attack patients from the KORA study as well as healthy control persons from the population.

“The future challenge for us will be to integrate the insights we have gained about genetic factors and lifestyle factors in order to provide effective preventive measures for the population,” said Prof. Dr. Annette Peters, research group leader at Helmholtz Zentrum M|nchen.

The first of the three studies investigated a million genetic markers in 1,200 MI patients and the same number of healthy test persons, while subsequent control studies on an additional 25,000 patients and healthy persons confirmed the initial suspicion: Culprit genes for MI are located on chromosomes 3 and 12. Scientists suspect that one of these genes, the MRAS gene, plays an important role in cardiovascular biology.

The second gene, the HNF1A gene, is closely associated with cholesterol metabolism.

The researchers not only studied individual genetic markers as to their influence on the risk of heart attack, but they also investigated combinations of up to ten neighbouring markers, believing that the approach could enable them to derive additional genetic information.

Thus, they were able to identify another region, this time localized on chromosome 6, which is associated with heart attack risk. The LPA gene at this locus regulates the concentration of a specific lipoprotein (Lp(a)), a particle which transports lipids in the blood. This finding, too, may be useful in the future for developing new therapeutic interventions.

The third study was able to identify three further, previously unknown MI genes on chromosomes 2, 6 and 21. It also showed that in individuals with not just one but several genetic markers, the heart attack risk was more than double.

The higher the number of disease genes now identified, the higher the disease risk.

The researchers say that the newly gained knowledge will aid in assessing the risk for heart attack in order to develop preventive and early intervention strategies.

They say that their findings suggest that there may be many mechanisms involved in heart attack that are still to be discovered. (ANI)

Filed Under: Health News Tagged With: annette peters, cardiovascular biology, cholesterol metabolism, genetic factors, genetic information, genetic markers, genetic patterns, heart attack, heart attack patients, heart attack risk, helmholtz, initial suspicion, lifestyle factors, mras, preventive measures, research group leader, risk of heart attack, s university, test persons, university of lubeck

Scientists uncover genetic ‘hotspot’ for breast cancer risk

February 16, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Feb 16 (ANI): Scientists at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center have uncovered a new genetic “hotspot” that is linked with breast cancer susceptibility in Asian women.

Dr. Wei Zheng, who led the research team, has revealed that this region is on chromosome 6.

The researcher said that the genetic “locus” might help guide efforts to find the specific genes linked with non-inherited forms of the disease.

Genetics have a major role to play in breast cancer, and scientists have already identified a few of breast cancer susceptibility genes – such as BRCA1 and BRCA2. Mutations in such genes increase risk of inherited forms of breast cancers.

“But the genetic factors identified so far explain only a small percent of all the cases in the general population,” Nature magazine quoted Zheng, an Ingram Professor of Cancer Research, professor of Medicine and the director of the Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, as saying.

The genetic factors responsible for the vast majority of cases are unclear, “so there has been a lot of interest to identify additional genetic factors for breast cancer,” said Zheng.

For the study, the researchers focussed on a population of Asian women in Shanghai, China, which they had been studying for more than a decade to identify nutritional, environmental and genetic factors associated with disease risk.

By using “genome-wide association,” the researchers started searching for genetic variations in Asian women with breast cancer compared to healthy controls.

The investigators analysed more than 600,000 genetic markers – called SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) – for differences between the groups.

From the first group of more than 3,000 women, they selected 29 of the most promising SNPs associated with breast cancer. Then they narrowed down these 29 candidate SNPs to a single SNP that exhibited strong and consistent association with breast cancer.

They also found a similar association in an independent group of American women, indicating that the results might be relevant for other ethnic populations.

“This SNP explains about 18 percent of the (breast cancer) cases in the general population. Compared to other previously identified SNPs, “this one would probably rank as No. 1 or No. 2 in terms of effect size,” said Zheng.

If a woman has just one copy of this SNP, her risk of breast cancer increases about 40 percent. With two copies of this SNP, the risk increases about 60 percent.

The SNP lies on chromosome 6 in a part of the genome with no known genes, “upstream” from the gene that encodes the estrogen receptor 1 (ERa).

While ERa is known to influence breast cancer aggressiveness, the impact of this candidate SNP on ERa is unclear.

“At this point, we actually don’t know the function of this SNP we identified,” he said.

However, the SNP does appear strongly associated with ER-negative cases of breast cancer, which carry a worse prognosis than ER-positive cases.

Zheng said: “Eventually, we hope that we can use this model to identify high-risk women for chemoprevention or regular cancer screening to reduce their breast cancer mortality.”

The study has been published in the journal Nature Genetics. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: brca1 and brca2, brca2 mutations, breast cancer, breast cancer susceptibility, breast cancers, cancer research, cancer susceptibility genes, candidate snps, chromosome 6, disease genetics, genetic factors, genetic locus, genetic markers, Genetic variations, ingram professor, london feb, nature magazine, shanghai china, single nucleotide polymorphisms, wei zheng

Genetic variants linked to early heart attack risk identified

February 9, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Feb 9 (ANI): Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have identified nine genetic variants associated with the risk of early heart attack.

In the largest study of genetic factors linked to heart attacks, the researchers have pinpointed nine genetic regions, including three previously unknown, that are likely to increase the risk for early-onset myocardial infarction.

“For several decades, it has been known that the risk for heart attack clusters in families and that some of this familial clustering is due to differences in DNA sequence,” Nature magazine quoted Dr Sekar Kathiresan, director of Preventive Cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and corresponding study author, as saying.

“We set out to find specific, single-letter differences in the genome, what are called single-nucleotide polomorphisms (SNPs), that may be responsible for an increased familial risk for heart attack,” he added.

During the study, the researchers identified SNPs that could be associated with heart attack risk.

They found significant associations with the risk of early-onset heart attacks in nine genetic regions.

The team claimed that three of those associations with heart attack risk were identified for the first time.

“One of the known variants we identified is at a gene called PCSK9, which was originally identified in 2003,” Kathiresan said.

“Extensive study of that gene region has led to significant insight into the biology of atherosclerosis and heart attack and to efforts to develop targeted drugs,” he added.

The findings appear in the journal Nature Genetics. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: atherosclerosis, dna sequence, familial risk, gene region, genetic factors, genetic regions, genetic variants, heart attack, heart attack risk, heart attacks, journal nature genetics, london feb, massachusetts general hospital, mgh, myocardial infarction, nature magazine, nucleotide, preventive cardiology, snps, study author