Mutation News

MONDAY, Feb. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have identified a mutation in a small number of black American men with a family history of prostate cancer. This germline mutation of the androgen receptor (AR) may prove to be a genetic biomarker f...

THURSDAY, Dec. 24 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists who identified gene mutations that influence human brain size say their findings may help explain differences in brain size in healthy people and those with neurological and psychiatric disorders. T...

THURSDAY, Jan. 21 (HealthDay News) -- New technology has made it possible, for the first time, to track the potentially deadly bacteria MRSA around the world or from one person to another, a new study reports. The ability to track MRSA (methicilli...

TUESDAY, Jan. 5 (HealthDay News) -- With new rules in place that lifted restrictions on federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research, health-care advocates are looking down the line and wondering when the first medical advances based on s...

SUNDAY, Nov. 15 (HealthDay News) -- Genetic testing of people who've suffered sudden unexplained death is an effective and cost-efficient way of identifying genetic mutations that may put surviving relatives at increased risk for potentially deadl...

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 4 (HealthDay News) -- People with painful, chronic bowel conditions such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis could see a glimmer of hope from new research. Scientists say they've spotted a genetic flaw that could drive a rare...

THURSDAY, Oct. 29 (HealthDay News) -- U.S. researchers say they've spotted the first case of a Tamiflu-resistant H1N1 flu virus passing between two people -- raising the specter that more widespread resistance will render the antiviral drug less u...

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 28 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists have identified two genetic mutations that help account for the presence of recurring yeast infections in certain women. Although the researchers focused their work on small and very specific popul...

FRIDAY, Oct. 16 (HealthDay News) -- Women with a high genetic risk of developing breast cancer are being diagnosed sooner than similar women in the past, which may suggest that tumors are developing earlier in the younger generation, researchers s...

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 14 (HealthDay News) -- U.S. researchers have identified a common gene mutation linked to side effects in people taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs. Statins can reduce high cholesterol and lower the risk of heart attack or str...

MONDAY, Oct. 12 (HealthDay News) -- People with a specific genetic mutation seem to be "smarter," in the sense of being able to adapt to changing situations and continue to make correct decisions quickly, a new German study suggests. And people gr...

FRIDAY, Sept. 25 (HealthDay News) -- The genetic makeup of the H1N1 swine flu continues to remain stable, making the forthcoming vaccine a "good match" for the virus, U.S. health officials reported Friday. And, though the virus continues to spread...

FRIDAY, Sept. 18 (HealthDay News) -- Mutations in a sodium channel gene are associated with fever-induced seizures and a severe form of epilepsy called Dravet syndrome in children 6 months and younger, a new study has found. American and Dutch res...

MONDAY, Aug. 31 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists have isolated a group of genetic mutations involved in the growth of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. Their work may lead to therapies with existing drugs that target the same mutations. L...

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 26 (HealthDay News) -- A genetic tweak of the unfertilized eggs of macaque monkeys effectively prevented the transmission of diseases typically passed down through the maternal line, U.S. scientists reported. The hope is that the m...

FRIDAY, Aug. 21 (HealthDay News) -- A genetic mutation associated with inherited kidney disease has been pinpointed by an international team of researchers, who also identified a potential treatment that's currently being tested in a clinical tria...

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 19 (HealthDay News) -- People with lung cancer who are screened for a genetic mutation and then given a drug called Tarceva, which is believed to work well with that mutation, live longer than those without the mutation who take th...

THURSDAY, Aug. 13 (HealthDay News) -- A lucky few can get by just fine on six hours of sleep, and a new study suggests a genetic mutation might help explain why. The finding doesn't appear likely to help people with insomnia. Still, it "opens a do...

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 5 (HealthDay News) -- Decoding the genome of a man with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) revealed genetic mutations that may be common among other cancer patients. Scientists at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis...

WEDNESDAY, July 22 (HealthDay News) -- Mutations in a protein called thrombomodulin, which is involved in blood clotting and preventing cell damage, may be the cause of some atypical HUS, a new Canadian study suggests. The finding might lead to ne...