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BERKELEY, Calif., July 8 (UPI) -- California researchers found genes are more important than exercise in determining response to cholesterol. Researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute conducted a study to compare the effects of a high-fat diet and of exercise. Paul Williams gave diets that were either high or low in fat to 28 pairs of identical male twins -- one twin a vigorous exerciser, the other a comparative couch potato. For six weeks the twins ate either a high-fat diet -- 40 percent of its calories from fat,...

Identical twins possess exactly the same set of genes. Yet as they grow older, they may begin to display subtle differences. They may start to look different, develop different diseases or slide into different personalities. Women who are identical twins may differ in their fertility or in the age at which they reach menopause. These discrepancies are usually attributed to ill-defined differences in environment. But a whole new level of explanation has been opened up by a genetic survey showing that identical twins, as they grow older, differ increasingly in what is known as their epigenome. The term refers to...

Poisons may pass down generations Chemicals can change the way genes work Toxic chemicals that poisoned your great-grandparents may also damage your health, US research suggests. A team from Washington State University has produced evidence that some inherited diseases may be caused by poisons polluting the womb. Research on rats indicates man-made environmental poisons may alter genetic activity, giving rise to diseases that pass down at least four generations. The research is published in the journal Science. Poisons may pass down generations Toxic chemicals that poisoned your great-grandparents may also damage your health, US research suggests. A team from Washington...

In what could prove to be one of the first major drugs to emerge from the human genome project, a chemical that singles out a specific gene thought to increase the risk of heart attacks has shown promising results in a preliminary test. Last year DeCode Genetics, a gene-finding company in Reykjavik, Iceland, discovered among Icelanders a variant gene that doubled the risk of heart attack and stroke. Because a drug that inhibited the gene had been developed, although for a different purpose, DeCode was able to begin a clinical trial almost immediately. Results of the trial, published today in...

There was nothing about the appearance of the young woman who stood up to speak at Rahat's new community center that hinted at the heretical statement she was about to make. "I'm five months pregnant, with a daughter, and already they're trying to fix her up with husbands," she said. "But I won't have my daughter marry a cousin." Like most of the 150 women and teenage girls in the hall, the speaker's head was covered with a cloth and she wore a long dress. But her statement reflected a new state of mind that has been infiltrating Bedouin society...

n a startling discovery, geneticists at Purdue University say they have found plants that possess a corrected version of a defective gene inherited from both their parents, as if some handy backup copy with the right version had been made in the grandparents' generation or earlier. The finding implies that some organisms may contain a cryptic backup copy of their genome that bypasses the usual mechanisms of heredity. If confirmed, it would represent an unprecedented exception to the laws of inheritance discovered by Gregor Mendel in the 19th century. Equally surprising, the cryptic genome appears not to be made of...

Scientists say they have identified a genetic variation that substantially raises the risk of age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of severe vision loss in the elderly. The finding, being reported independently by three separate research groups, sheds light on the cause of the disease and could provide clues to how to develop treatments or strategies to prevent the condition. The genetic variation "explains a lot of the risk," said Dr. Albert O. Edwards, an ophthalmology researcher in Dallas who led of one of the studies. "There's a primary biological explanation for A.M.D. now. It gives you some obvious avenues...

WASHINGTON, March 2 - Fifteen years after experiments with human gene therapy began in earnest, a federal drug advisory panel on Friday will discuss the death of a French child in one such experiment and why, after so many years of hope, the technology has been such a disappointment. Three major gene therapy trials in the United States have been suspended pending the outcome of the meeting. Dr. Donald Kohn, the principal investigator in one of those trials, said, "I'm going to tell the committee that there is a significant difference between the French trial and ours." Dr. Kohn, a...

When Karen Coveler and her husband began trying to have a child, she told her obstetrician that she wanted to take all the DNA tests she could to determine whether she was at risk of passing on a genetic disease to her child. Based on her Ashkenazi Jewish background, Ms. Coveler was offered 10 tests, all of which were negative, and went on to have a normal pregnancy. It was not until her son, Benjamin, was born that she discovered he was deaf. And it was not until a few weeks later that she learned a simple blood test could...

For the first time, scientists have identified a gene that appears to influence the development of at least some cases of dyslexia. This learning disorder is characterized by difficulties in perceiving sounds within words, spelling and reading problems, and troubles with written and oral expression. It's estimated that dyslexia affects at least 1 in 25 people. Although scientists are investigating dyslexia's suspected neural roots (SN: 5/24/03, p. 324: http://www.sciencenews.org/20030524/fob4.asp), the condition's causes remain unknown. If confirmed in further studies, the new genetic finding represents a major step forward for dyslexia researchers. Until now, investigators have only been able to link...

Although it would seem that Marx himself was equivocal on the matter (Geras, 1983), it has long been a major Leftist doctrine that there is no such thing as an inherited "human nature". This root and branch rejection of heredity was of course what underlay Stalin's support of Lysenko's otherwise thoroughly discredited theory of evolution -- the idea that characteristics acquired in one's lifetime can be passed on to one's offspring. Leftists reject the importance of heredity in order to justify their frequent claim that "education" can change almost anything in human behaviour. Even Leftists in the “Western” world claimed...

Human nature Something that Leftists have long had in common is the rejection of any idea of "human nature". Basically, Leftists seem to believe that "education" can change almost anything in human behaviour. Even Leftists in the “Western” world claimed for many years that “education” could create “a new Soviet man” who would work for the common good rather than for selfish greed. This root and branch rejection of heredity was of course what underlay Stalin's support of Lysenko's otherwise thoroughly discredited theory of evolution -- the idea that characteristics acquired in one's lifetime can be passed on to one's...