Soon you could be genetically screened for mitochondrial disorders quickly and comprehensively. Research published in BioMed Central`s open access journal, Genome Medicine, outlines an innovative clinical diagnostic test for the early identification of a wide range of mitochondrial disorders. Mutations to one of the mitochondrial genes, or to a number of nuclear genes with roles in mitochondrial f...

It is very difficult to predict whether a cancer drug will help an individual patient: only around one third of drugs will work directly in a given patient. Researchers at the Heinz Nixdorf Chair for Medical Electronics at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) have developed a new test process for cancer drugs. With the help of microchips, they can establish in the laboratory whether a patien...

Elderly people exhibiting memory disturbances that do not affect their normal, daily life suffer from a condition called "mild cognitive impairment" (MCI). Some MCI patients go on to develop Alzheimer`s disease within a few years, whereas other cases remain stable, exhibiting only benign senile forgetfulness. It is crucial to develop simple, blood-based tests enabling early identificatio...

In a dramatic illustration of the power of emerging genetic technologies, Yale University researchers have reported making a clinical diagnosis for the first time using comprehensive DNA sequencing of all the protein-coding genes in the genome. The information changed the course of treatment of a baby boy suffering from symptoms of dehydration thousands of miles away in Turkey. The new approach to...

Yes-associated protein (YAP) is a type of cellular adaptor protein and transcriptional co-activator. In recent years, some investigators have found YAP to be overexpressed and highly activated in hepatic cancers and mammary cancers, suggesting its tumorigenicity. Survivin is a new member of the inhibitor of apoptotic protein (IAP) family, which was initially cloned by the cDNA of the effector cell...

Researchers at Keele University have identified two genes which may help improve the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer patients. The research team, which also included colleagues from Nottingham and Cambridge universities and King’s College London, are identifying and studying genes which control whether a cell lives or dies. They found that the survival rate for patients with a low e...

hronic inflammatory lung diseases like chronic bronchitis and emphysema are a major global health problem, and the fourth leading cause of death and disability in developed countries, with smoking accounting for 90% of the risk for developing them. Work by scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and its Molecular Medicine Partnership Unit (MMPU) with the University of Heidel...

A meta-analysis of more than 50,000 patients has shown that general practitioners (GPs) have great difficulty separating those with and without depression, with substantial numbers of missed and misidentified. GPs looking for depression make more misidentifications (false positives of depression) than the number of depressions they correctly spot following an initial consultation but accuracy coul...

Researchers from NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center have discovered a new gene fusion that is highly expressed in a subset of prostate cancers. The results may lead to more accurate prostate cancer testing and new targets for potential treatments. Experts believe that gene fusions — a hybrid gene formed from two previously separated genes — may be at the root of...

Genetics researchers have unveiled a powerful new resource for scientists and health providers studying human illnesses–a reference standard of deletions and duplications of DNA found in the human genome. Drawn from over 2,000 healthy persons, the study provides one of the deepest and broadest sets of copy number variations (CNVs) available to date, along with a new research tool for diagnos...