January 24, 2013
You probably know that smoking and excessive drinking are bad for you. But did you know that your genetics also factor into how much those vices can impact your health? Healthy lifestyle choice — like avoiding cigarettes — make you less susceptible to a host to diseases. For instance, non-smokers live, [...]
July 16, 2012
Janssen Healthcare Innovation, a unit of Janssen Research & Development, LLC, is sponsoring a study in rheumatoid arthritis patients that will be conducted by MediGuard.org (a subsidiary of Quintiles) and 23andMe. The study, called TogetherRA, will enroll approximately 1,000 patients who are currently [...]
May 17, 2012
Many autoimmune diseases affect women more frequently than men. The ratio of affected women to affected men are given above for several autoimmune diseases on which 23andMe reports. (Source: American Autoimmune Related Disease Association, Inc.) There are many wonderful things about being a woman, but our [...]
September 8, 2011
By Bethann Hromatka Autoimmune diseases are caused by an overactive immune system. In these diseases, white blood cells, which normally help your body fight infections, ramp up and attack your own cells and organs. These disorders can be very debilitating and are relatively common, affecting roughly 1 in [...]
May 12, 2010
Rheumatoid arthritis is a common autoimmune disease in which the individual's own immune system attacks the lining of the joints, causing stiffness and muscle aches. Like other autoimmune diseases, development of rheumatoid arthritis is likely caused by a complex combination of genetic and environmental [...]
November 11, 2009
The most common type of arthritis, osteoarthritis, occurs due to accumulated wear and tear – welcome to old age! – or from repetitive movements or injury. Rheumatoid arthritis, on the other hand, is caused by an autoimmune attack on the lining of the joints, resulting in stiffness, muscle aches, and [...]
July 7, 2009
There's a high likelihood that a disease of some sort affects you or one of your relatives — every family seems to have ripples in its gene pool that define and shape its health dynamics. Your family might have a propensity for rheumatoid arthritis or a particular type of cancer. Whatever it is, there [...]
