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UrduYou may be familiar with a range of tips for living a healthy life: Watch your weight, exercise, eat nutritious food and don’t smoke, for example. What if you could combine these lifestyle factors with a host of other variables to learn your risk of developing specific diseases, to help catch and treat them early or prevent them altogether? Victor Ortega, M.D., Ph.D., associate director for the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine in Arizona, explains how science is drawing ever closer to making such personal health forecasts possible.
Tag: Genetic Predisposition
Penn Study Highlights Inconsistencies of Genetic Markers for Predicting Heart Disease
Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) are a cutting-edge tool in genetics, combining information from genetic markers across the genome to estimate a person’s risk of developing certain diseases, such as coronary artery disease (CAD). By analyzing a person’s DNA, PRSs offer insights into an individual’s genetic predisposition for conditions like heart disease, potentially informing a more personalized approach to healthcare. But there can be significant variability across currently available PRSs, which may limit their reliability for individual predictions, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published this week in JAMA and presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions in Chicago.
The hidden health risks of styrene and ethylbenzene exposure
A recent study conducted by the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health at Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, reveals a strong link between exposure to styrene and ethylbenzene, common air pollutants, and an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).
A genetic predisposition to alcohol use is not the same as a genetic destiny for alcohol misuse
There is a clear relationship between alcohol and neurodegeneration; for example, an alcohol use disorder correlates with a higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease. It is unclear, however, whether individual differences in brain structure and connectivity are risk factors for, or consequences of, alcohol use. New research exploring this relationship will be shared on Wednesday, 26 June 2024 at the 47th annual scientific meeting of the Research Society on Alcohol (RSA) in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Beethoven’s Genes Reveal Low Predisposition for Beat Synchronization
Ludwig van Beethoven, one of the most celebrated musicians in human history, has a rather low genetic predisposition for beat synchronization, according to a Current Biology study co-authored by Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) and the Max Planck Institutes for Empirical Aesthetics in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
How Air Pollution Accelerates Alzheimer’s Disease
Investigators from the Department of Neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai have determined that exposure to polluted air could accelerate development of Alzheimer’s disease in those with genetic risk factors for the neurodegenerative condition.
Breast Cancer Awareness Is for Men, Too
Although breast cancer is more common in women, during October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, experts from Cedars-Sinai Cancer are reminding men that they are at risk as well. One in every 100 breast cancers in the U.S. is diagnosed in a man, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Why We Want to Drink, What That Has to Do with Genes, and Why it Matters for Our Alcohol Risk
Motives for drinking — to party, to conform, to cope, or to feel good — are consistent through young adulthood, and genes play a role in how those motives influence alcohol use, a new study of college students suggests. Understanding the mechanisms linking genetic variants to differences in drinking behaviors could present opportunities for predicting individuals’ vulnerability to Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) and intervening to prevent it. Genetic factors are responsible for about 50% of individual risk of AUD. Much of how that heritability functions is unexplained, however. The relationship between genes and drinking behavior is complex, involving thousands of genetic variants that each have small effects. Critical factors known as endophenotypes, or intermediary phenotypes, affect how an individual’s genetic predisposition manifests as a behavioral trait. For the new study in Alcoholism: Clinical & Environmental Research, investigators sought to determine whether drinking motives are o
Comprehensive clinical sequencing opens door to the promise of precision medicine
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital study highlights the power of comprehensive whole genome, whole exome and RNA sequencing to better understand and treat each patient’s cancer.
Genetic variants linked to heart health in African American childhood cancer survivors
Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have identified genetic variants in African American childhood cancer survivors that have implications for up-front care and long-term surveillance.
SHE Center at Dana-Farber and Silverberry Genomix form SHE Biobank, a Population Health Initiative for Research and Education
Dana-Farber and Silverberry Genomix launch the SHE Biobank initiative — a long-term study to investigate the impact of genetic predisposition and environmental exposure to development of disease.