Attention, chocolate lovers: You may not be able to help yourselves. Swiss and British scientists have linked the widespread love of chocolate to a chemical "signature" that may be programmed into our metabolic systems.
Read more health news
Hunt for ALS Genes Begins
|
TUESDAY, May 16 (HealthDay News) -- U.S. scientists say they''ve launched the first in-depth screening for genes linked to the fatal neurodegenerative disease sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig''s disease. ALS destroys the motor neurons that enable movement, including eating, speaking and breathing. Sporadic ALS accounts for about 90 percent of ALS cases, but the association between genes and sporadic ALS is unknown. This study, based at the Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, is designed to clarify what role, if any, genes play in the disease. "That role has long been uncertain," Dr. Bryan Traynor, a researcher at the U.S. National Institute on Aging''s Laboratory of Neurogenetics and faculty member at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, said in a prepared statement. "We don''t know, for example, if (sporadic ALS) is triggered by a handful of interacting genes or genes plus environment or environment alone. The study aims to clarify that," he said. This kind of study wasn''t done before, because the screening technology wasn''t available. He and colleague John Hardy plan to screen DNA samples from about 1,200 sporadic ALS patients and healthy people in the United States and Italy. Traynor believes the study will identify several genes associated with sporadic ALS. "But even if we get no associations, that''s still a powerful result. That would suggest sporadic ALS isn''t gene-based, that we should instead focus on the environment," Traynor said. More information The Muscular Dystrophy Association has more about ALS.
Last Updated: May 16, 2006 |