Genomics News

• Schizophrenia: Genetic Mutation Alters Teen Brain, Raises Risk Schizophrenia may be caused by a genetic mutation in the SLC39A8 gene that leads to a structural abnormality in the brain during adolescence, suggesting a new target for therapy.
  Medscape Medical News, January 2019
• Madariaga Virus on the Move in the Americas
  Reuters Health Information, January 2019
• Nef Gene Function and HIV Subtype Influence Viral Reservoir Size In patients with HIV, the size of the viral reservoir depends, at least in part, on their HIV subtype and the level of Nef gene activity, researchers say.
  Reuters Health Information, January 2019
• ACP Ethics Guidance Now Addresses Health Technology New sections include use of EHRs, electronic communication, telemedicine, and genetic tests. Two ethics experts say the guidelines are valuable but gaps remain.
  Medscape Medical News, January 2019
• Lilly Eyes More Cancer Deals, but Wary of CAR-T, Gene Therapy Eli Lilly and Co remains in the hunt for cancer drugs even after announcing an $8 billion purchase of Loxo Oncology this week, but it plans to remain on the sidelines when it comes to two of the hottest areas of drug development.
  Reuters Health Information, January 2019
• Genomic Sequencing Detects Risks in Seemingly Healthy Newborns Newborn genomic sequencing (nGS) can identify risk and carrier status for a wide range of conditions not detectable by currently available newborn screening assays or predicted based on an infant's clinical or family history, researchers say.
  Reuters Health Information, January 2019
• Chinese Scientist Criticized for Risking 'Gene-Edited' Babies' Lives A leading geneticist who ran the conference where a Chinese scientist said he had made the world's first "gene-edited" babies condemned him on Monday for potentially jeopardizing lives and having no biology training.
  Reuters Health Information, January 2019
• Cord Blood Test May Flag Neonatal Hypoxia Risk Umbilical cord blood microRNA may aid in the detection of impending hypoxic-ischemic brain injury in newborns, new research suggests.
  Medscape Medical News, January 2019
• FDA Approved Record Number of Drugs in 2018 The FDA approved 59 novel drugs last year, including 19 first-in-class agents, 34 novel drugs for rare diseases, and a record seven biosimilars.
  Medscape Medical News, January 2019
• Human Papillomavirus DNA Common in Penile Cancers Human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA is commonly present in penile cancers and penile intraepithelial neoplasias, researchers from Denmark report.
  Reuters Health Information, January 2019
• Kids With Duarte Galactosemia Have Normal Developmental Outcomes Developmental outcomes in children with Duarte galactosemia do not differ from those in unaffected children, even with milk exposure in infancy, researchers report.
  Reuters Health Information, December 2018
• Nearly 100 Genetic Variants Linked to Colorectal Cancer Risk Identification of 40 new genetic risk variants brings the total to nearly 100 variants that influence the risk of colorectal cancer, researchers report.
  Reuters Health Information, December 2018
• U.S. Drug Developer Capricor Places Duchenne Drug Trial on Hold Capricor Therapeutics Inc said on Wednesday it had put on hold a clinical trial of its drug to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a muscle-wasting disorder, citing a safety review.
  Reuters Health Information, December 2018
• Liquid Biopsy Tracks Herceptin Resistance in HER2+ Gastric Cancer Circulating tumor DNA profiling can provide novel insights into gene alterations that underlie trastuzumab resistance in HER2+ metastatic gastric cancer.
  Medscape Medical News, December 2018
• Type 2 Diabetes Could Be a Cause of Erectile Dysfunction Erectile dysfunction may be caused by type 2 diabetes, mediated by insulin resistance, say European researchers, who suggest that lifestyle changes and diabetes drugs may treat the condition.
  Medscape Medical News, December 2018
• Excellent 25-Year Survival After Tetralogy of Fallot Correction Long-term survival in a large cohort of young patients who had surgery to repair tetralogy of Fallot shows that the vast majority have survived without transplant.
  Medscape Medical News, December 2018
• U.S Body Says Gene Therapy May Be More Cost Effective for Spinal Muscular Atrophy Biogen Inc's Spinraza (nusinersen) treatment for spinal muscular atrophy and Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG's experimental gene therapy are both expensive, but the gene therapy could be more cost effective once more is known about its U.S. price and long-term success rates, a preliminary report from an independent U.S. nonprofit organization said on Thursday.
  Reuters Health Information, December 2018
• Battling 'biopiracy,' Scientists Catalog the Amazon's Genetic Wealth
  Reuters Health Information, December 2018
• Alzheimer's Disease Subgroups Identified Researchers have categorized Alzheimer's disease into six distinct conditions based on cognitive function at the time of diagnosis and genetic data demonstrating biological differences across groups.
  Reuters Health Information, December 2018
• Alert FDA Warns of Aortic Aneurysm Risk With Fluoroquinolones The agency is advising healthcare providers avoid prescribing the powerful antibiotics in certain patients, citing nearly twice the risk of aortic aneurysm.
  News Alerts, December 2018