May 8, 2013
The story of H is really the story of people in modern Europe. H refers to a maternal lineage — also known as a maternal haplogroup — that originated long ago in the Near East but expanded into Europe with the recession of the last Ice Age. H —with its dozens of subgroups — is the most prevalent [...]
June 30, 2010
Alopecia areata is a form of hair loss many people are unfamiliar with, although the condition affects more than five million people in the United States. Unlike male (or, more rarely, female) pattern baldness, which is thought to be caused by hormones, alopecia areata results from an autoimmune attack on [...]
April 5, 2010
The tenth anniversary of the completion of the first draft of the human genome is approaching, apparently putting a lot of scientists in the mood for reflection on the past and speculation about the future of genetics. The journal Nature has a series of opinion articles and two news articles on the [...]
February 22, 2010
People chronically infected with the hepatitis C virus currently have only one treatment option: a combination of polyethylene glycol (PEG)-ylated interferon alpha and ribavirin (RBV). Not only does this drug regimen fail to eradicate the virus in about half of all patients who receive it, but even when [...]
February 10, 2010
Artist's impression of Inuk based on genetic analysis Nuka Godfredsen/Nature Tufts of hair rescued from the permafrost in Greenland and then tucked away in a basement in Denmark for more than 20 years have given scientists their first glimpse into the genetics of an ancient human. Eske Willerslev and [...]
September 25, 2009
For as long as humans have lived in complex communities, cities and civilizations, they have divided and classified their societies. Those divisions have been based on age, gender, appearance or - in many cases - occupation. In many traditional societies artisans would share the same social status; as would [...]
September 18, 2009
Unlike the flu virus, which the body is generally able to fight off completely, infection with hepatitis C is often chronic. That means for most of the three to four million people worldwide who are newly infected each year the virus will persist in the body, where it greatly increases risk for chronic [...]
August 17, 2009
SNPwatch gives you the latest news about research linking various traits and conditions to individual genetic variations. These studies are exciting because they offer a glimpse into how genetics may affect our bodies and health; but in most cases, more work is needed before this research can provide [...]
June 18, 2009
It's no secret that obesity rates are rising -- quickly. Between 2000 and 2005 the prevalence of obesity rose by 24%. Extreme obesity increased by more than 50%. If current trends continue, more than half of all Americans will be clinically obese by the year 2030. Rapid changes in the prevalence of a [...]
February 25, 2009
SNPwatch gives you the latest news about research linking various traits and conditions to individual genetic variations. These studies are exciting because they offer a glimpse into how genetics may affect our bodies and health; but in most cases, more work is needed before this research can provide [...]
