Posts for 'Research' Category

Tiny genetic changes are responsible for almost half of the variation in height between individuals, scientists have announced.

Genetic inheritence accounts for about 80% of height variation in humans, while factors such as nutrition determine the rest.

But scientists have only found genetic changes accounting for 5% of the variation, leaving them puzzled over where the rest come from.

Now researchers publishing their results online today in the journal Nature Genetics say they have found this 'missing heritability'.

They say that changes in single 'letters' of the genetic code - known as single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs - actually account for 45% of the variation, not just 5%.

The scientists, led by Professor Peter Visscher, a geneticist at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, analysed the DNA of almost 4000 people.

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Scientists announced Thursday they had cracked the genetic code of an African clawed frog, the latest project aimed at understanding how genes work for potential applications in human health.

The genome -- or collection of genetic information -- of Xenopus tropicalis, a frog living entirely in water in sub-Saharan Africa, was published in the April 30 issue of the journal Science.

Authors included Jacques Robert, an immunologist at the University of Rochester Medical Center, one of two dozen institutions worldwide that cooperated in the study.

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One of the most significant archaeological finding was reported to be in 2008, when a 9 year old boy named Matthew Berger found a set of 2 million year old fossils outside of a cave near Johannesburg, South Africa.

It is reported that the boy was with his father, who is a paleoanthropologist by profession in U. S, out on a trip to the caves. While onsite, Berger's father instructed the boy to look for fossils outside of the cave.

It is reported to be a new hominid species called Australopithecus sediba. The fossil were the bones of a four-foot, two-inch hominid boy.

Dr. Berger comments on his first reaction to his son's discovery in the April 8, 2010 The New York Times article "New Hominid Species Discovered in South Africa", "I couldn't believe it. I took the rock, and I turned it .

sticking out of the back of the rock was a mandible with a tooth, a canine, sticking out. And I almost died.. What are the odds?". After the initial discover, Berger and fellow collaborators have reportedly discovered more bones of the boy, including a well-preserved skull, in addition to the bones of three other hominids.

Published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, the findings demonstrate that new mutations in the SHANK3 gene are found in schizophrenic patients.

“That these de novo or new mutations occur in schizophrenia is rather unexpected and may explain why the identification of the genes linked to this disease has been.

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Chronic kidney disease affects about one in 10 adults and can require dialysis or even an organ transplant. The genes identified by the international team of researchers control kidney functions such as filtering waste from the blood.

Experts said the Nature Genetics study was "a great breakthrough". Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a long-term condition in which the kidneys progressively lose their function.People tend not to notice symptoms, which can include swollen ankles and hands or blood in the urine, until the condition is advanced.

It is linked to ageing - about one in five men and one in four women aged between 65 and 74 will have some degree of CKD. The most common cause of CKD is damage caused by other long-term conditions, such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

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An international study has found a relationship between low birth weight and adulthood diabetes. They have been declared to be genetically linked to each other. The discovery has been declared to be of much help to curb the disease.

The study was undertaken on 38,000 Europeans and the team included researchers from Exeter's Peninsula Medical School. Though the risk sustained by lower weight babies.

In contracting diabetes is more, other aspects were also taken in to consideration like the impact of mother's prenatal diet on child's growth. It was a study which was composite of both environmental and genetic factors.

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Tyrannosaurus rex was one of the largest land carnivores of all time, measuring up to 43.3 feet long, and 16.6 ft tall, with an estimated mass that goes up to 7 tons.

Like other tyrannosaurids, Tyrannosaurus was a bipedal carnivore with a massive skull balanced by a long, heavy tail.

Relative to the large and powerful hindlimbs, Tyrannosaurus forelimbs were small and they retained only two digits.

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DNA Sour Cream Feminized cannabis seeds are the best of both worlds with the classic Haze taste mixing with the high yield of Sour and G13.  We don't know why anyone would pass DNA Genetics Sour Cream Feminized up, it's a Haze plant with a difference, having Sour nugs all over her and produces a heavy yield. The original Sour Diesel cutting was used, in combination with the G13 Haze cannabis seeds to bring Sour style buds with haze flavour.  It is a Sour Creamy blend of Sativa with a dash of Indica. This DNA Sour Cream Feminized has an amazing mix of Haze n' Sour!

Yet another group of lab mice have been "humanized" so researchers can seek cures for infections that normally only strike people. Earlier this month, researchers at the University of North Carolina and Chapel Hill reported pre-exposure administration of a pair of anti-AIDS drugs help mice with humanized immune system warded off HIV infections.

Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have now announced they have created mice with livers full of human cells and then infected them with the B and C forms of hepatitis. Mice normally aren't susceptible to the viruses that cause these chronic liver ailments.

A team at Salk, in La Jolla, Calif., had previously generated a mouse with a partially "humanized" liver, but wanted to improve their method to achieve almost complete transformation. To that end, they used a special mouse that has liver problems of its own, but whose problems could be kept in check with a drug. Taking away the drug allows human liver cells, known as hepatocytes, to take hold within the mouse liver.

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 At least three newly discovered genetic variants may contribute to pancreatic cancer risk, according to a new study. Researchers say it’s the largest study to date to identify potential genetic risk factors for the mysterious disease.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers, with 200,000 new cases diagnosed each year worldwide, and nearly that many deaths caused by the disease each year. Statistics show that less than 5% of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer are alive more than five years after diagnosis.

Risk factors for pancreatic cancers include diabetes, obesity, smoking, and a family history of pancreatic cancer.
 Although genetics appears to play a major role in pancreatic cancer risk, researchers say only a small percentage of hereditary pancreatic cancer cases can be explained by currently known genes associated with the disease.

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