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A pill that can correct a wide range of faulty genes which cause crippling illnesses should be available within three years, promising a revolution in the treatment of thousands of conditions. The drug, known as PTC124, has already had encouraging results in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis. The final phase of clinical trials is to begin this year, and it could be licensed as early as 2009. As well as offering hope of a first effective treatment for two conditions that are at present incurable, the drug has excited scientists because research suggests it should also work...

Scientists in Germany said Thursday they have found compelling evidence of a genetic link to hyperactivity in children, identifying three mutations prevalent in fidgety youngsters. A research team led by Professor Johannes Hebebrand of the University of Duisburg-Essen in western Germany studied 329 families in which one child had attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder syndrome. They found that a great majority -- around 70 percent -- had a combination of three mutations in the gene for the so-called dopamine transporter linked to hyperactivity. "People who have this combination in both copies of the gene have a 2.5 increased ADHD risk. People with...

Source: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Date: April 6, 2007 Good Behavior, Religiousness May Be Genetic Science Daily — A new study in Journal of Personality shows that selfless and social behavior is not purely a product of environment, specifically religious environment. After studying the behavior of adult twins, researchers found that, while altruistic behavior and religiousness tended to appear together, the correlation was due to both environmental and genetic factors. According to study author Laura Koenig, the popular idea that religious individuals are more social and giving because of the behavioral mandates set for them is incorrect. “This study shows that...

For a number of years now, a great deal of discussion has taken place among scientists and in the popular media about the genetic engineering of children. Will it soon be possible, for prices widely affordable at least to the upper-middle class, to guarantee that children have a high IQ, or excellent athletic ability, or be over 6 feet tall, or have blond hair and blue eyes? Is it right to commodify children in this way, and have parents choosing options as they do with cars? And wouldn’t it be boring to live in a world someday where almost everyone...

Source: Yale University Date: March 17, 2007 In Hispanic Women, Genetic Variations Linked To Spontaneous Preterm Birth Science Daily — In Hispanic women, four gene variants are linked to spontaneous preterm birth, according to abstracts presented by researchers at Yale School of Medicine and Washington University at the Society for Gynecologic Investigation Conference in Reno, Nevada on March 16. Preterm birth is a major cause of illness and death in newborns. A genetic cause of preterm birth was suggested by racial disparity, a tendency to occur within families and a high rate of recurrence, according to Errol Norwitz, M.D., associate...

Genetic testing reveals awkward truth about Xinjiang’s famous mummies (AFP) 19 April 2005 URUMQI, China - After years of controversy and political intrigue, archaeologists using genetic testing have proven that Caucasians roamed China’s Tarim Basin 1,000 years before East Asian people arrived. The research, which the Chinese government has appeared to have delayed making public out of concerns of fueling Uighur Muslim separatism in its western-most Xinjiang region, is based on a cache of ancient dried-out corpses that have been found around the Tarim Basin in recent decades. “It is unfortunate that the issue has been so politicized because it...

To see the DNA results of some of the ancient people click here. You'll have to scan around to find this exact page but it contains many links of interest. A compilation of DNA haplotypes extracted from ancient remains Cheddar ManIn 1903, skeletal remains were found in a cave in Cheddar, England. The remains of a 23 year-old man, who was killed by a blow to the face, were discovered to be at least 9,000 years old. Ninety-four years after the discovery of "Cheddar Man", scientists were able to extract mitochondrial DNA from his tooth cavity. Name Haplo Haplotype Cheddar...

Why altruism paid off for our ancestors 19:00 07 December 2006 NewScientist.com news service Richard Fisher Humans may have evolved altruistic traits as a result of a cultural “tax” we paid to each other early in our evolution, a new study suggests. The research also changes what we knew about the genetic makeup of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. The origin of human altruism has puzzled evolutionary biologists for many years (see Survival of the nicest). In every society, humans make personal sacrifices for others with no expectation that it will be reciprocated. For example, we donate to charity, or care for...

Humans show big DNA differences DNA comparisons: Gains (green), losses (red), the same (yellow) Scientists have shown that our genetic code varies between individuals far more than was previously thought. A UK-led team made a detailed analysis of the DNA found in 270 people and identified vast stretches in their codes to be duplicated or even missing. A great many of these variations are in areas of the genome that would not damage our health, Matthew Hurles and colleagues told the journal Nature. But others are - and can be shown to play a role in a number of disorders....

THE SAMURAI AND THE AINU Findings by American anthropologist C. Loring Brace, University of Michigan, will surely be controversial in race conscious Japan. The eye of the predicted storm will be the Ainu, a "racially different" group of some 18,000 people now living on the northern island of Hokkaido. Pure-blooded Ainu are easy to spot: they have lighter skin, more body hair, and higher-bridged noses than most Japanese. Most Japanese tend to look down on the Ainu. Brace has studied the skeletons of about 1,100 Japanese, Ainu, and other Asian ethnic groups and has concluded that the revered samurai of...

Contact: Michael Seldin mfseldin@ucdavis.edu 530-754-6016 University of California, Davis - Health System UC Davis study finds distinct genetic profiles Results promise to improve genetic studies of human disease (SACRAMENTO, Calif.) --An international team of scientists lead by researchers at UC Davis Health System has found that, with respect to genetics, modern Europeans fall into two groups: a Northern group and a Southern, or Mediterranean one. The findings, published in the Sept. 14 edition of Public Library of Science Genetics (www.plos.org), are important because they provide a method for scientists to take into account European ancestry when looking for genes involved...

In Marxist theory, capitalist drones afflicted by false consciousness are constantly indulging in the fetishism of commodities -- placing material possessions on an absurdly high pedestal. Likewise, critics of the practice of obtaining patent protection on life forms -- generally found on the neo-Marxist left -- object that by patenting life we heartlessly commodify it. More fundamentally than either the argument from exploitation (or that from enclosure), the commodification objection confronts the very essence of the practice of patenting life. If exploitation critics focused on the potential for suffering by one side of the transaction, and if the enclosure opponents...

Everyone knows hot dogs aren't exactly healthy for you, but in a new study chemists find they may contain DNA-mutating compounds that might boost one's risk for cancer. Scientists note there is an up to 240-fold variation in levels of these chemicals across different brands. "One could try and find out what the difference in manufacturing techniques are between the brands, and if it's decided these things are a hazard, one could change the manufacturing methods," researcher Sidney Mirvish, a chemist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, told LiveScience. Mirvish and his colleagues examined hot dogs because...

EXCLUSIVE: ASTONISHING SIDE EFFECT OF SCOT'S RARE GENETIC ILLNESS Treatment turned grey hair dark and smoothed wrinkles A GRANDAD suffering from a rare disease has found a bizarre side effect to his treatment - it makes him look 20 years younger. Reggie Myles, 62, feared he would be crippled for life after being struck down by the genetic disorder Porphyria Cutanea Tarda. He lost his mop of grey hair, his weight dropped to just seven stones and even the simplest tasks such as making a cup of tea became impossible. He was put on a gruelling regime of treatments including...

INNSBRUCK, Austria -- It's been suspected for centuries, but a team of world-renowned scientists has finally confirmed it: Lawyers and leeches have identical genetic makeup. Dr. Andreas Volkenweiler of Austria's famed Innsbruck Institute of Genetic Research confirms that, "While studying the DNA sequences of many genes that control body patterns in various occupations, our research team observed that each lawyer gene contains a stretch of 180 nucleotides -- or structural components of DNA -- which exactly match the structure of those found in leeches. "Once we made that basic match, other similarities between the two species were fairly easy to...

Cattle's Call of the Wild: Domestication may hold complex genetic tale Bruce Bower A new investigation of DNA that was obtained from modern cattle and from fossils of their ancient, wild ancestors puts scientists on the horns of a domestication dilemma. The new data challenge the mainstream idea, based on earlier genetic and archaeological evidence, that herding and farming groups in southeastern Turkey or adjacent Near Eastern regions domesticated cattle perhaps 11,000 years ago. According to that view, these groups then introduced the animals throughout Europe, so current European cattle breeds would trace their ancestry directly back to early Near...

MIDI - ALWAYS A WOMAN Patrick's out late at night...he was driving impaired Everyone who was nearby was certainly scared He had smashed up his car and although that was bad At least there was not a dead woman like there was with dad When he was in his teens he was hooked on cocaine Like all Kennedys, for the law there is disdain He had smashed up his car and although that was bad Well, at least there was not a dead woman like there was with dad Why is he getting a pass...one more Kennedy slides...it is...

This month will be important for the future of agricultural biotechnology in Europe. A World Trade Organization panel is expected to deliver in the next few days its long-awaited verdict on a trade dispute brought by a coalition of countries, including the U.S., Canada and Argentina, against the EU over its continued resistance to the authorization of genetically modified seeds. And while that decision -- whichever way it goes -- will have far-reaching implications for the future of agricultural biotechnology on the Continent, when seen in the context of the global biotech landscape, Europe's continued ambivalence toward this technology seems...

Each year in the United States, about 150,000 babies are born with birth defects ranging from mild to life threatening. While progress has been made in the detection and treatment of birth defects, they remain the leading cause of death in the first year of life. Birth defects are often the result of genetic and environmental factors, but the causes of well over half of all birth defects are currently unknown. Following is a partial list of birth defects: Achondroplasia/Dwarfism Hemochromatosis Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency Huntington's Disease Anencephaly Hydrocephalus Arnold-Chiari Malformation Klinefelter's Syndrome Ataxia Telangiectasia Leukodystrophies Blood coagulation disorders/Hemophilia Marfan Syndrome...

- Plan to breed and sterilise millions of male insects - Leader says project almost ready for testing in wild Genetically modified mosquitoes could soon be released into the wild in an attempt to combat malaria. Scientists at Imperial College London, who created the GM insects, say they could wipe out natural mosquito populations and save thousands of lives in malaria-stricken regions. Led by Andrea Crisanti, the team added a gene that makes the testicles of the male mosquitoes fluorescent, allowing the scientists to distinguish and easily separate them from females. The plan is to breed, sterilise and release millions...