Discover the Science of Health
A recent study published in the journal Epilepsia indicates that there is a bidirectional relationship between schizophrenia and epilepsy [1]. This means that people with schizophrenia are at a higher risk of developing epilepsy, and those with epilepsy face a higher risk of developing schizophrenia. The fact that each disorder acts as a risk factor for the other indicates that the two may share some underlying causative factors, be they genetic, environmental, or neurological in origin.
Biomarker Bulletin is an occasionally recurring update of news focused on biomarkers aggregated at BiomarkerCommons.org. Biomarkers are physical, functional or biochemical indicators of normal physiological or disease processes. The individualization of disease management — personalized medicine — is dependent on developing biomarkers that promote specific clinical domains, including early detection, risk, diagnosis, prognosis and predicted response to therapy.
A summary of talks from day 1 of the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) 2011 Systems Biology and P4 Medicine symposium.
A summary of talks from day 2 of the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) 2011 Systems Biology and P4 Medicine symposium.
The Alzheimer’s Disease Genetics Consortium (ADGC) led by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, the University of Miami, and the Boston University School of Medicine, recently identified five new genes linked to late-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers have found that a combination biomarker approach improves risk prediction for chronic kidney disease (CKD).
New England Peptide recently announced that it and twelve other product and service companies have started the global Proteomics Innovation Network to collaborate on unmet needs in drug discovery and personalized medicine.
A group of researchers led by scientists from the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) at Virginia Tech have developed a new technology that detects distinct genetic changes differentiating cancer patients from healthy individuals [1]. The technology is described in a recent study published in the journal Genes, Chromosomes and Cancer and may one day serve as the basis for a cancer predisposition test.
It is old news that aspirin is good for your heart. But a recent report published in The Lancet, the premiere medical journal in the United Kingdom, claims that at least 75mg of aspirin every day can also reduce the risk of developing many different types of cancers.
There is already evidence that taking aspirin every day for five years can reduce the risk of colorectal cancer. Moreover, aspirin has been shown to reduce the incidence and/or growth rate of a number of cancers in animal models. To determine if aspirin can reduce the risk of other cancers in humans, Peter Rothwell and colleagues at the University of Oxford undertook a meta-analysis of eight randomized trials originally performed to study aspirin’s role in preventing vascular events. This study was independent of any commercial interests.
We all deal with stress. Whether it’s stress from a job, financial, or relationship issues, chronic stress has been linked to an increased risk for developing cardiovascular disease [1-2]. However, there hasn’t been a biological marker that could be used to measure an individual’s level of stress. A recent study performed by researchers at the University of Western Ontario Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and published in the journal Stress has found that the level of cortisol in hair can be used as a biomarker to measure chronic stress and the risk of heart attack in men [3].
