http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Indiana University biologists have found that specific types of RNA polymerase enzymes, the molecular machines that convert DNA into RNA, can differ in function based on variation in the parts -- in this case protein subunits -- used to assemble those machines. http://phys.org/news249829805.html Biology Thu, 01 Mar 2012 13:12:57 EST news249829805 Breast cancer risk can be assessed by examining the epithelial cells found in breast milk, according to preliminary study results presented at the AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011, held April 2-6. http://phys.org/news221127900.html Medicine & Health Mon, 04 Apr 2011 09:25:14 EST news221127900 A new study uncovers a previously unrecognized link between tobacco smoking and a gene known to influence the cardiovascular system, possibly identifying an early stage of smoking-associated cardiovascular pathology. The research, published by Cell Press in the April issue of The American Journal of Human Genetics, may serve to guide future research strategies aimed at identifying and counteracting mechanisms of smoking-induced pathology. http://phys.org/news220798663.html Medicine & Health Thu, 31 Mar 2011 13:58:00 EST news220798663 A new study provides insight into how stress impacts the brain and may help to explain why some individuals are predisposed to depression when they experience chronic stress. The research, published by Cell Press in the January 27 issue of the journal Neuron, reveals complex molecular mechanisms associated with chronic stress and may help to guide new treatment strategies for depression. http://phys.org/news215267795.html Medicine & Health Wed, 26 Jan 2011 12:50:03 EST news215267795 A new study shows that a test of biomarkers for DNA methylation is technically feasible and could aid in earlier, more precise diagnosis of melanoma. http://phys.org/news215087579.html Medicine & Health Mon, 24 Jan 2011 10:33:08 EST news215087579 People with higher levels of folate in their red blood cells were more likely to have two tumor-suppressing genes shut down by methylation, a chemical off switch for genes, researchers report in the December issue of Cancer Prevention Research. http://phys.org/news212262550.html Medicine & Health Wed, 22 Dec 2010 17:49:24 EST news212262550 Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine and the University of Chicago have developed a method for labeling and mapping a "sixth nucleotide," whose biological role scientists are only beginning to explore. http://phys.org/news211460030.html Biology Mon, 13 Dec 2010 10:54:22 EST news211460030 There is new hope for people with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), a fast-growing cancer of the blood and bone marrow. Research led by Weill Cornell Medical College and published today in the online edition of the journal Cancer Cell reveals a surprising and unexpected cancer-causing mechanism. The investigators discovered that newly identified mutant enzymes in AML create a chemical poison to cause leukemia. Their findings should prove useful in treating patients by providing a molecular target against which to develop new drugs against one subset of AML as well as other cancers. http://phys.org/news210602905.html Medicine & Health Fri, 03 Dec 2010 12:49:27 EST news210602905 Scientists have observed, for the first time, an intermediate stage in the chemical process that repairs DNA methylation damage and regulates many important biological functions that impact health conditions such as obesity, cancer and diabetes. http://phys.org/news208617601.html Chemistry Wed, 10 Nov 2010 13:20:16 EST news208617601 An Australian research team from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, the University of Melbourne and the University of Queensland has identified a new risk factor for developing breast cancer. This has been published online in the journal Cancer Prevention Research. http://phys.org/news208603976.html Medicine & Health Wed, 10 Nov 2010 10:10:01 EST news208603976 DNA methylation plays an important role in many processes such as animal development, X-chromosome inactivation, and carcinogenesis. Understanding the mechanisms and functions of DNA methylation and how it varies from tissue to tissue and between individuals will have profound implications for human health and disease. http://phys.org/news208547045.html Biology Tue, 09 Nov 2010 17:44:17 EST news208547045 The nature-nurture debate is a "giant step" closer to being resolved after scientists studying bees documented how environmental inputs can modify our genetic hardware. The researchers uncovered extensive molecular differences in the brains of worker bees and queen bees which develop along very different paths when put on different diets. http://phys.org/news207939800.html Biology Tue, 02 Nov 2010 18:40:01 EST news207939800 An investigational DNA methylation test could alter the screening landscape for colorectal cancer, according to data presented at the American Association for Cancer Research special conference on Colorectal Cancer: Biology to Therapy, held here Oct. 27-30, 2010. http://phys.org/news207492593.html Medicine & Health Thu, 28 Oct 2010 14:00:07 EST news207492593 For the first time, UK scientists have reported direct evidence that taking up smoking results in epigenetic changes associated with the development of cancer. http://phys.org/news205853654.html Medicine & Health Sat, 09 Oct 2010 15:40:01 EST news205853654 Sept. 30, 2010 — DNA methylation — a modification of DNA linked to gene regulation — is altered with increasing severity in a blood cancer called multiple myeloma, according to a study by Mayo Clinic and the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen). http://phys.org/news205057984.html Medicine & Health Thu, 30 Sep 2010 09:33:25 EST news205057984 Researchers at Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah demonstrate in a study featured in Cell the mechanism by which mutation of the APC gene affects a cellular process known as DNA methylation. http://phys.org/news203963647.html Medicine & Health Fri, 17 Sep 2010 17:34:22 EST news203963647 Johns Hopkins scientists who specialize in unconventional hunts for genetic information outside nuclear DNA sequences have bagged a weighty quarry — 13 genes linked to human body mass. The experiments screened the so-called epigenome for key information that cells remember other than the DNA code itself and may have serious implications for preventing and treating obesity, the investigators say. http://phys.org/news203780325.html Medicine & Health Wed, 15 Sep 2010 14:39:02 EST news203780325 In groups with high rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), such as the survivors of the Nazi Death Camps, the adjustment problems of their children, the so-called "Second Generation", have received attention by researchers. Studies suggested that some symptoms or personality traits associated with PTSD may be more common in the Second Generation than the general population. It has been assumed that these trans-generational effects reflected the impact of PTSD upon the parent-child relationship rather than a trait passed biologically from parent to child. http://phys.org/news203162778.html Medicine & Health Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:07:06 EST news203162778 Having charted the occurrence of a common chemical change that takes place while stem cells decide their fates and progress from precursor to progeny, a Johns Hopkins-led team of scientists has produced the first-ever epigenetic landscape map for tissue differentiation. http://phys.org/news201177089.html Medicine & Health Mon, 16 Aug 2010 12:10:03 EST news201177089 (PhysOrg.com) -- The vitamin folate appears to promote healing in damaged rat spinal cord tissue by triggering a change in DNA, according to a laboratory study funded by the National Institutes of Health. http://phys.org/news196623294.html Medicine & Health Thu, 24 Jun 2010 19:20:01 EST news196623294 A rare but fatal disease of blood vessels in the lung may be caused in part by aberrant silencing of genes rather than genetic mutation, new research reports. http://phys.org/news195134100.html Medicine & Health Mon, 07 Jun 2010 16:00:01 EST news195134100 A gene shown to play a role in the aging process appears to play a role in the regulation of the differentiation of embryonic stem cells, according to researchers from the Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine and the Department of Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University. http://phys.org/news194876927.html Medicine & Health Fri, 04 Jun 2010 13:29:15 EST news194876927 A previously unknown pattern in DNA methylation - an event that affects cell function by altering gene expression - has been uncovered for the first time by stem cell researchers at UCLA, a finding that could have implications in preventing some cancers and correcting defects in human stem cell lines. http://phys.org/news194690650.html Biology Wed, 02 Jun 2010 09:45:01 EST news194690650 A class of brain tumor that tends to emerge in younger patients but is less aggressive than others can be identified by examining DNA methylation of a specific set of genes, scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and colleagues with The Cancer Genome Atlas report today online at Cancer Cell. http://phys.org/news190570519.html Medicine & Health Thu, 15 Apr 2010 18:50:01 EST news190570519 A study conducted by a collaborative team led by researchers from the University of Southern California (USC) may lead to better insight into the clinical outcome for some patients with a particularly aggressive type of brain cancer. The research may also provide a framework for development of targeted drug treatments. http://phys.org/news190557117.html Medicine & Health Thu, 15 Apr 2010 13:40:01 EST news190557117 A University of British Columbia doctoral candidate has discovered a previously unknown mechanism for silencing retroviruses, segments of genetic material that can lead to fatal mutations in a cell's DNA. http://phys.org/news189919589.html Medicine & Health Thu, 08 Apr 2010 04:27:05 EST news189919589 Scientists from Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research have published a paper, online today in Nature Cell Biology, describing gene expression in a prostate cancer cell: more sweeping, more targeted and more complex than we could ever have imagined, even five years ago. http://phys.org/news186140086.html Medicine & Health Tue, 23 Feb 2010 09:35:00 EST news186140086 More than three million children have been born as a result of assisted reproductive technologies since the birth of the first "test tube baby" in 1978. While the majority of these children are healthy and normal, as a group they are at greater risk of certain kinds of birth defects and being low birth weight, which is associated with obesity, hypertension and type 2 diabetes later in life. http://phys.org/news185947344.html Medicine & Health Sun, 21 Feb 2010 12:00:02 EST news185947344 Researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP), King's College London, have identified numerous novel regions of the genome where the chemical modifications involved in controlling gene expression are influenced by either genetic variation or the parental origin of that particular stretch of DNA. This contradicts previous assumptions that epigenetic signals are generally equal across both copies of a given region of the genome, except at a small number of known imprinted genes. http://phys.org/news185197342.html Medicine & Health Fri, 12 Feb 2010 11:42:41 EST news185197342 Mechanisms of gastric carcinogenesis are still not yet understood. Studies have linked genetic and epigenetic factors or microbiological agents to gastric cancer, but they didn't look for these events together. Dr. Ferrasi from Brazil verified the methylation profile, microsatellite instability (MSI), Helicobacter pylori status and Epstein Barr virus infection in gastric cancer samples. Intestinal and diffuse adenocarcinoma showed different methylation profiles and an association was found between methylation and Helicobacter pylori-cagA+. http://phys.org/news184963044.html Medicine & Health Wed, 10 Feb 2010 01:10:02 EST news184963044