Genetic Factors

Changes in sperm caused by COVID-19 in a mouse could affect the offspring's brain development and cause anxious behaviours, a study has found, suggesting that the viral disease may have long-lasting effects on future generations, even as the results would need to be verified in humans, researchers said. The team from Australia's Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health found that an offspring mouse conceived after a father has been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus and developed COVID-19 symptoms have higher levels of anxiety-like behaviours. "We let male mice recover from SARS-CoV-2 infection for a few weeks before they mated with healthy females. We found that the resulting offspring showed more anxious behaviours compared to offspring from uninfected fathers," Elizabeth Kleeman, research officer and first author of the study published in the journal Nature Communications, said. All offsprings from COVID-19-affected fathers were seen to display increased anxiety-like ..

A Nature Communications study finds women carry 6,000 extra genetic variants linked to major depressive disorder, explaining why depression affects them more than men

A mutation in the immune protein FasL may make humans more vulnerable to solid tumours, but scientists say it could be fixed through combination immunotherapy

A study that analysed genes of South Indian populations suggests a high inbreeding rate of nearly 60 per cent. The historic practice of inbreeding or endogamy in which one marries within a small community, increases chances of passing down disease-causing gene variants -- changes to one's DNA -- to children, thereby raising the risk of genetic disorders. Lead author Kumarasamy Thangaraj, senior scientist at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, said endogamy is the primary cause for population-specific diseases in India. The study, published in the Journal of Genetics and Genomics, also reported a high prevalence of ankylosing spondylitis, a common form of inflammatory arthritis, in the Reddy population of Andhra Pradesh. The researchers attributed this result to the presence of the 'HLA-B27:04' -- a genetic variant known to increase risk of the condition -- and a "strong founder effect". A founder event is w

Just as the atom and the byte needed careful societal control to prevent damage to society, perhaps, so does the gene, particularly in debates like 'genes vs merit'

Genetic defects underlie about a fourth of Chinese children affected by cerebral palsy, and not a lack of oxygen at birth as previously thought, new research has found. Cerebral palsy is a disorder affecting one's ability to move. It is the most common motor disability in children, with symptoms emerging in infancy and early childhood. The disability is sometimes also associated with autism and intellectual deficiencies. Birth asphyxia, or receiving insufficient oxygen at the time of being born, can cause physical harm, especially to the brain, and is considered one of the main causes of cerebral palsy. The world's largest study of cerebral palsy genetics, involving more than 1,500 affected Chinese children, found that mutations were significantly higher in a fourth of these children receiving insufficient oxygen at birth. Researchers said this indicated that birth asphyxia could be secondary to the underlying genetic defects. The results, published in the journal Nature Medicine

On April 17, it is celebrated to raise awareness of Haemophilia and other inherited bleeding disorders

In an interview, Mehta tells Anjuli Bhargava that picking up mutations before a spike in numbers is crucial and genomics is the future of medicine

Sexual rights campaigners welcomed the study, saying it 'provides more evidence that being gay or lesbian is a natural part of human life'

The findings are notable because they diverge from the predominant narrative in divorce literature