Until not too long ago, scientists who acted unethically in clinical trials did not necessarily face swift justice. Some debarment cases had been pending for over a decade. Now, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says that it is trying to streamline the process of preventing unethical researchers from conducting clinical trials.(Click here to continue reading)
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By Elie Dolgin
When the social networking site Facebook recently updated its privacy policy, the lengthy documentation associated with the changes set off a deafening uproar. Web users bemoaned that the new policy surpassed even the US Constitution in length. Ultimately, their criticisms prompted the site to switch to a simpler format for privacy settings. In the world of research, meanwhile, participants must continue to navigate complicated ‘legalese’ in consent forms. (Click here to continue reading)
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By Josh Sommer
It is not uncommon for potentially life-saving research data to be published years after being generated. But the setback to progress caused by the delay in releasing data is troublesome for people who selflessly participate in trials and desperately await new therapies. Scientists need to feel greater urgency to share their findings quickly, and they need additional avenues to facilitate this process. (Click here to continue reading)
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Swedish scientists have found that a variation of the FTO gene linked to an increased risk of obesity may also be associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Their study also found carrying both the risky FTO allele with another gene known to be associated with Alzheimer’s disease increases the risk of dementia by 50%. The findings were announced earlier today at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Over nine years, researchers followed 1,003 elderly subjects who initially presented no signs of dementia. The found that those people carried two copies of the A variant of the FTO gene had a 58% increased risk for Alzheimer’s disease and a 48% increased risk for developing dementia. The FTO A allele, which occurs at a frequency of about 45% in Central and Western Europeans and 52% in West Africans, has been previously shown to correlate with increased BMI and increased risk for obesity in both children and adults. The Swedish researchers found that those individuals who carried two copies of FTO A as well as the e4 allele of the gene APOE saw their risk factor for dementia double. It’s estimated that about 25% of people carry at least one copy of the APOE e4 allele.
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By Mike May
For many people tracking their family history, the Web offers a wealth of information to aid their genealogical search. And, for the medically inclined, some online discussion forums focus specifically on tracking illnesses in families, such as Huntington’s disease (HD). (Click here to continue reading)
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This month on the Nature Medicine podcast, we explore gene fusions that cause cancer, why some pregnant women develop diabetes and a new initiative to single out dodgy stem cell clinics.
By Cassandra Willyard
Each day, approximately 10 terabytes of data stream out of more than 90 gene sequencers at The Broad Institute and land in the lap of Matthew Trunnell, manager of research computing. He has the unenviable job of figuring out what to do with them. (Click here to continue reading)
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In an effort to better understand skin disorders, researchers have discovered a noninvasive method for silencing genes in the surface epithelia of mouse embryos. This approach, which relies on RNA interference, can now be used to dissect the genetic interactions involved in cancer and other skin diseases, a team led by Rockefeller University’s Elaine Fuchs reports in this month’s issue of Nature Medicine.
Pharmaceutical companies have long handed out free drug samples as a way to promote their products directly to physicians. Watchdogs have estimated that the total retail price of freebies exceeds $18 billion per year. (Click here to continue reading)
If you’re watching the World Cup final from the comfort of your home, count yourself lucky. This Wall Street Journal article warns of potential health risks from vuvuzelas &mdash those plastic horns that sound like a choir of cicadas being tortured in Hell. The vuvuzela emits a 127 decibel blast, and prolonged exposure to anything above 85 decibels can result in hearing loss. Also, the person blowing the horn behind you isn’t just assaulting you with sound. You also get bathed in a fine mist of their spittle, which can transmit all sorts of respiratory infections, from the common cold to chicken pox. With that, have a good weekend!
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