SUNDAY, Feb. 8 (HealthDay News) — Perhaps five years from now, you might actually hear your doctor casually say, “While we’re at it, let’s do a blood test to see if your genetic makeup puts you at high risk of having a heart attack.”
So says Dr. Sekar Kathiresan, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of preventive cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is the leader of a group that has identified three Read the rest of this entry »

ScienceDaily (Jan. 4, 2009)
— An international team led by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers has identified genetic markers associated with risk for ulcerative colitis. The findings, which appear today as an advance online publication of the journal Nature Genetics, bring researchers closer to understanding the biological pathways involved in the disease and may lead to the development of new treatments that specifically Read the rest of this entry »

SUNDAY, Feb. 8 (HealthDay News) — Perhaps five years from now, you might actually hear your doctor casually say, “While we’re at it, let’s do a blood test to see if your genetic makeup puts you at high risk of having a heart attack.”
So says Dr. Sekar Kathiresan, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of preventive cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is the leader of a group that has identified three Read the rest of this entry »

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 19 (HealthDay News) — Testing for 18 different gene variations associated with type 2 diabetes was no better at predicting a person’s risk for the blood sugar disease than a doctor’s assessment, researchers report.
The news is both encouraging and discouraging.
“The genomics revolution is here. You can be tested for disease risk,” said Dr. James Meigs, lead author of one of two studies published in the Nov. 20 issue of the
. Read the rest of this entry »

Facebook has nothing on George Church when it comes to sharing sensitive personal details. This Harvard Medical School genetics professor happily posts his family medical history and ailments (narcolepsy, motion sickness) on the Web—and he’s telling the world just what’s in his DNA. As one of the first 10 people to publish their genomes online, Church hopes to make the point that sharing genes on the Internet can advance science further than Read the rest of this entry »

For more than two years, Jody Uslan had been taking the drug tamoxifen in hopes of preventing a recurrence of
. Then a new test suggested that because of her genetic makeup, the drug was not doing her any good.
“I was devastated,” said Ms. Uslan, 52, who stopped taking tamoxifen and is now evaluating alternative treatments. “You find out you’ve been taking this medication for all of this time, and find out you are not getting Read the rest of this entry »

If you knew you or your family were more likely than others to get a certain disease, would you alter your lifestyle to try and protect yourself from the disease?
system in San Diego.
The study will provide personal genetic testing on up to 10,000 people, then monitoring to see if they make lifestyle changes such as exercising, altering eating habits, and quitting smoking. Participants will have their genomes scanned and will be given an analysis Read the rest of this entry »

Aetna is one of the nation’s leading
diversified health care benefits companies, serving approximately 37.2
million people with information and resources to help them make better
informed decisions about their health care. Aetna offers a broad range
of traditional and consumer-directed health insurance products and
related services, including medical, pharmacy, dental, behavioral
health, group life and Read the rest of this entry »

For more than two years, Jody Uslan had been taking the drug tamoxifen in hopes of preventing a recurrence of
. Then a new test suggested that because of her genetic makeup, the drug was not doing her any good.
“I was devastated,” said Ms. Uslan, 52, who stopped taking tamoxifen and is now evaluating alternative treatments. “You find out you’ve been taking this medication for all of this time, and find out you are not getting Read the rest of this entry »

Nov. 19, 2008 –
,
, and
do not appear to cause genetic damage in children who take them for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a new government-funded study concludes.
The findings should reassure parents concerned that the stimulant drugs used to treat ADHD may be linked to an increased risk of
.
taking Ritalin.
The new study, conducted by researchers from the National Institutes of Health and Duke University Medical Read the rest of this entry »