Health News: brewerton wedding reception blamed for food poisoning ♦ Food group calls on FDA to stop wasting eggs ♦ Removing genes without a trace

State blames illness outbreak at brewerton wedding reception on food poisoning An outbreak of gastrointestinal illness among guests at a wedding reception in Brewerton July 31 was caused by food poisoning, according to the state Health Department. About 35 people got sick at the party at Arrowhead Lodge, an Onondaga County-owned facility at Oneida Shores Park, and at least nine of them were taken to area emergency rooms.

Food group calls on FDA to stop wasting eggs in wake of avian flu shortages Industry being forced to discard wholesome protein, enough to feed 94,000 Americans a year WASHINGTON, D.C. - This year's outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in the United States and resulting egg price increases have caused the food industry to closely examine a current policy that forces broiler chicken producers to destroy perfectly acceptable and safe

Removing genes without a trace Genes may now be deleted without creating a scar in certain strains of Escherichia coli and other microorganisms, thanks to new research. The technique makes it easier to string together several genetic engineering steps without interference caused by a deletion scar

Preclinical drug developed to prevent gastrointestinal side effects of type 1 diabetes Up to 80 percent of individuals living with long-term type 1 diabetes experience gastrointestinal symptoms such as abdominal distension, irritable bowel syndrome, and fecal incontinence. A study reveals why these symptoms arise and tests an investigational drug in mice that could prevent them from developing.

Exposure to toxic chemicals threatening human reproduction and health Dramatic increases in exposure to toxic chemicals in the last four decades are threatening human reproduction and health, according to experts. Exposure to toxic environmental chemicals is linked to millions of deaths and costs billions of dollars every year, according to the authors.

Health Research: Changing the Color of Light ♦ Changing the Color of Light ♦ Fighting mosquito resistance to insecticides ♦ Clues to turning genes off

Changing the Color of Light Researchers have developed a method that could improve medical imaging and cancer treatments and increase the efficiency of commercial solar cells by 25 to 30 percent.

Gene-sequence swap using CRISPR to cure hemophilia For the first time, chromosomal defects responsible for hemophilia have been corrected in patient-specific iPSCs using CRISPR-Cas9 nucleases. Hemophilia A occurs in about 1 in 5,000 male births and almost half of severe cases are caused by identified "chromosomal inversions." In a chromosomal inversion, the order of the base pairs on the chromosome are reversed so the gene doesn't express properly and the sufferer lacks the blood coagulation factor VIII (F8) gene, which causes blood to clot in healthy people.

Fighting mosquito resistance to insecticides Controlling mosquitoes that carry human diseases is a global health challenge as their ability to resist insecticides now threatens efforts to prevent epidemics. Scientists have identified new genetic markers for mosquito resistance to insecticides, which could improve its detection in the field.

Simple flip of genetic switch determines aging or longevity in animals When does aging really begin? Scientists now have a molecular clue. In a study of the roundworm C. elegans, they found that adult cells abruptly begin their downhill slide when an animal reaches reproductive maturity. A genetic switch starts the aging process by turning off cell stress responses that protect the cell by keeping important proteins folded and functional. Germline stem cells throw the switch in early adulthood, after the animal starts to reproduce, ensuring its line will live on.

Clues to turning genes off Scientists have unraveled how an important plant protein, known as TOPLESS, interacts with other molecules responsible for turning genes off. The findings in plants provide a general model across species for this type of gene silencing, which is linked to several vital biological functions in humans.

New insights into how DNA differences influence gene activity, disease susceptibility

• GTEx investigators reported initial findings from a two-year pilot study in several papers appearing online May 7, 2015, in Science and other journals. These efforts provide new insights into how genomic variants — inherited spelling differences in the DNA code — control how, when and how much genes are turned on and off in different tissues, and can predispose people to diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes.
• “GTEx was designed to sample as many tissues as possible from a large number of individuals in order to understand the causal effects of genes and variants, and which tissues contribute to predisposition to disease,” said Emmanouil Dermitzakis, Ph.D., professor of genetics at the University of Geneva Faculty of Medicine, Switzerland,. “The number of tissues examined in GTEx provides an unprecedented depth of genomic variation. It gives us unique insights into how people differ in gene expression in tissues and organs.”
• NIH launched the GTEx Project in 2010 to create a data resource and tissue bank for scientists to study how genomic variants may affect gene activity and disease susceptibility. Investigators are collecting more than 30 tissue types from autopsy and organ donations in addition to tissue transplant programs. The DNA and RNA from those samples are then analyzed using cutting-edge genomic methods. The project will eventually include tissue samples from about 900 deceased donors. GTEx is supported by the NIH Common Fund and administered by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), all part of NIH.
• In the main Science paper, researchers analyzed the gene activity readouts of more than 1,600 tissue samples collected from 175 individuals and 43 different tissues types. One way that researchers evaluate gene activity is to measure RNA, which is the readout from the genome’s DNA instructions. Investigators focused much of their analyses on samples from the nine most available tissue types: fat, heart, lung, skeletal muscle, skin, thyroid, blood, and tibial artery and nerve.
• The genomic blueprint of every cell is the same, but what makes a kidney cell different from a liver cell is the set of genes that are turned on (expressed) and off over time and the level at which those genes are expressed. GTEx investigators used a methodology — expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) analysis — to gauge how variants affect gene expression activity. An eQTL is an association between a variant at a specific genomic location and the level of activity of a gene in a particular tissue. One of the goals of GTEx is to identify eQTLs for all genes and assess whether or not their effects are shared among multiple tissues.
• Investigators discovered a set of variants with common activity among the different tissue types. In fact, about half of the eQTLs for protein-coding genes were active in all nine tissues. They identified approximately 900 to 2,200 eQTL genes – genes linked to nearby genomic variants — for each of the nine tissues studied, and 6,486 eQTL genes across all the tissues. “We didn’t know how specific this regulation would be in different tissues,” said co-corresponding author Kristin Ardlie, Ph.D., who directs the GTEx Laboratory Data Analysis and Coordination Center at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “The analysis showed a large number of variants whose effects are common across tissues, and at the same time, there are subsets of variants whose effects are tissue-specific.”
• Comparing tissue-specific eQTLs with genetic disease associations might help provide insights into which tissues are the most relevant to a disease. The researchers also found a great deal of eQTL sharing among tissues, which can help explain how genomic variants affect the different tissues in which they are active.
• Even when active in multiple tissues, the same variant can sometimes have a different effect in different tissues. GTEx researchers found, for example, that a variant that affects the activity of two genes associated with blood pressure had a stronger effect on gene expression relevant to blood pressure in the tibial artery – even though there was greater overall gene activity in other tissues. They also noted that the same gene activity profiles characterizing tissues from living donors were seen in the GTEx samples from deceased donors.
• Two companion studies in Science used GTEx data to examine other aspects of gene activity in different tissues. One study characterized the effects of protein-truncating variants (PTVs) on gene activity. PTVs shorten the protein-coding sequence of genes, and affect their function. Some rare PTVs can lead to diseases, such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Each person’s genome carries about 100 PTVs, though most have little or no effect (and in some cases can even protect against disease).
• Manuel Rivas, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Oxford, and his colleagues used GTEx data and information from a large European project to examine the gene readouts from more than 600 individuals. The team found PTVs that affect protein production either through the degradation of gene transcripts or by disrupting a process called splicing. In both cases, the researchers were able to use the GTEx data to measure these effects across individuals and tissue types. The group is now developing better methods for predicting the impact of PTVs identified in patients with diseases.
• In another companion study in Science, Roderic Guigo, Ph.D., coordinator for the Bioinformatics and Genomics Program at the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona, Spain, and his colleagues examined patterns in gene readouts across nearly 1,500 GTEx tissue samples. The researchers found that gene activity differed substantially more across tissues than across individuals.  
• Investigators discovered just under 2,000 genes that vary with age, including genes related to neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. They also found more than 750 genes with differences in activity between men and women. Some genes are related to diseases with differences in prevalence between men and women, including five related to heart disease.

2/15/15 Health News:Ranchers use growth drugs with unclear safety records -- Many US wells tainted with arsenic -- Genetic link to obesity -- Cannabis Causing of mania symptoms

Big Beef keeps getting bigger, thanks to growth drugs with unclear safety records When it comes to cattle, size certainly does matter. But how big is too big? And at what cost? The beef industry has come to rely on growth-inducing drugs to bulk up cattle before slaughter. But the consequences of using such drugs are a concerning unknown Continue Reading

Many US wells tainted with arsenic Arsenic is the biggest public-health problem for water in the United States -- yet we pay far less attention to it than we do to lesser problems. Private wells present continuing risks. Even low doses of arsenic may Continue Reading

SOY COMPANY SHUT DOWN UNTIL IT CAN MEET FDA REGULATIONS San Francisco-based Fong Kee Tofu Co. Inc. has agreed to indefinitely shut down operations, or until its manufacturing facility can meet federation food safety regulations. The company, which makes soy drinks, tofu and related products, had been cited by Food and Drug Administration officials for food safety violations several times Continue Reading

Largest ever genome-wide study strengthens genetic link to obesity While diet and exercise are important, new findings sharpen the role genetics play in people’s tendency to gain weight and where the fat is stored. This work is the first step toward finding individual genes that play key roles in body shape and size. Continue Reading

Significant link between cannabis use and onset of mania symptoms Researchers have found evidence to suggest a significant relationship between cannabis use and the onset and exacerbation of mania symptoms.Continue Reading

Immune System Shaped by Environment More Than Genes

The immune system is a complex network of cells, tissues, and organs that work together to protect our bodies from infection. The system must fight off invading microbes, infected cells, and tumors while ignoring healthy tissues.

Blood samples from healthy twins helped reveal how the environment affects the immune system. Credit: Feverpitched/iStock/Thinkstock.

There can be significant variation in immune system function between people. It’s not known how much of the variation is caused by genetic differences (heritable) and how much is due to exposure to environmental (non-heritable) factors such as microbes.

To determine the basis of immune system variation, a team led by Dr. Mark M. Davis at Stanford University School of Medicine applied the most recent advances in immune monitoring technologies to a classic research model: studying twin pairs. The study was funded in part by NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Results appeared in Cell on January 15, 2015.

In twin studies, researchers compare identical (monozygotic) twins, who share almost all of their genes, with fraternal (dizygotic) twins, who share about half of their genes. Twin pairs share the same prenatal environment and usually have a similar childhood environment. Thus if identical twins show more similarity on a given trait compared to fraternal twins, it suggests that genes significantly influence that trait.

The team took blood samples from 210 healthy twins, ranging in age from 8 to 82, who were part of a twin registry. Of the 105 twin pairs, 78 were identical and 27 were fraternal. The researchers measured more than 200 different immune system parameters, including the frequency of different immune cell types—such as B cells and T cells—and levels of 43 cytokines, chemokines, and other serum proteins that modulate the immune response. The team assessed the impact of heritable versus non-heritable factors overall, after receiving the seasonal influenza vaccine, and during a microbial infection.

The researchers found that non-heritable influences outweighed heredity in about 75% of all the immune parameters, and almost exclusively determined more than half of the parameters. Some of the immune measures showed more variability with age, suggesting that over time environmental factors drive many immune system variations.

In the seasonal flu vaccine analysis, no detectable contributions from heritable factors were seen in the resulting antibody responses, suggesting that antibody responses are likely due to environmental factors such as previous vaccinations or infections.

To assess the effects of microbial exposure, the team surveyed immune responses to cytomegalovirus (CMV), which infects 50% to 80% of all adults in the U.S. by the age of 40. Identical twins with only one twin positive for CMV had much greater immune system variation between them than identical twins who were both negative for CMV. This demonstrates how a single microbial exposure can affect the immune system of a healthy person.

“The immune system has to think on its feet,” Davis says. “A healthy human immune system continually adapts to its encounters with hostile pathogens, friendly gut microbes, nutritional components and more, overshadowing the influences of most heritable factors.”

—by Carol Torgan, Ph.D.

11/14/14 Health News: Body weight influenced by gut microbes ♦ High-fat diet postpones brain aging ♦ Children And Especially Babies Need to Eat Fish: Allergies

Why Children And Especially Babies Need to Eat Fish: Allergies

This past June, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) encouraged Americans to eat more fish. They pointed out that fish has lots of health benefits; not only is it a great source of protein, it’s a great source of other nutrients, including some that can help developing brains. That’s why they particularly want pregnant women and children to heed the advice. Continue reading

High-fat diet postpones brain aging in mice

New research suggests that signs of brain aging can be postponed in mice if placed on a high-fat diet. In the long term, this opens the possibility of treatment of children suffering from premature aging and patients with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.Continue Reading

Body weight heavily influenced by gut microbes: Genes shape body weight by affecting gut microbes

Our genetic makeup influences whether we are fat or thin by shaping which types of microbes thrive in our body, according to a new study. Scientists identified a specific, little known bacterial family that is highly heritable and more common in individuals with low body weight. This microbe also protected against weight gain when transplanted into mice. The results could pave the way for personalized probiotic therapies that are optimized to reduce the risk of obesity-related diseases based on an individual's genetic makeup.Continue Reading

10/10/14 Healthy News: Milk powder sales suspended over food poisoning ♦ Healthy eating can becomes an obsession ♦ Heavy coffee drinker? Blame your genes

Sri Lanka suspends Fonterra milk powder sales over food poisoning

DBR Staff Writer Published 06 October 2014 Sri Lanka has temporarily halted the sale of Fonterra's Anchor milk powder after children in a village fell ill on consumption of the product. The country's government health officials suspended the sale and distribution of three batches of 400 g Anchor full cream milk powder after receiving three complaints. Reuters reported …Continue Reading

Orthorexia: When healthy eating becomes an obsession

Three years ago, after suffering from chronic abdominal pain, digestive problems and a crushing breakup that left her depressed and sluggish, Ashley Bailey started researching whether “clean eating” could help her feel better. Continue Reading

Heavy coffee drinker? Blame your genes, study suggests

Ever wonder why you can’t get through the day without your two cups of java, but your spouse and college-age daughter shun the brew? (Okay, I have.) A new study led by Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital researchers found genes may be at least partly to blame — and not necessarily those that govern our taste buds. Continue Reading

How Genes Affect Facial Development

Experiments in zebrafish shed light on how the structure of the face forms. Problems with equivalent genes in people can cause facial defects and other developmental issues.

DiGeorge syndrome (also called 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, among other names) affects an estimated 1 in 4,000 people. Children with DiGeorge syndrome often have facial defects that include an undeveloped chin, heavy eyelids, and ears that are rotated back. Other common signs and symptoms include heart defects and recurrent infections caused by problems with the immune system.

Zebrafish studies can yield insight into human development.

Structures within the head and neck develop from embryonic features called pharyngeal pouches. These emerge from the endoderm, the inner layer of the embryo. DiGeorge defects are thought to be at least partly due to malformation of these pouches. However, the details of these developmental steps remain poorly understood.

To understand how genes cause complex developmental problems, researchers often use model systems, such as fish, worms, and mice. DiGeorge syndrome has been associated with deletion of a region of chromosome 22, which contains the TBX1 gene. Zebrafish with Tbx1 mutations have severe defects in pouch formation and facial skeletal development. Similarly, Tbx1 mutant mice lack pouches and have defects that mimic those of people with DiGeorge syndrome.

Drs. Chong Pyo Choe and J. Gage Crump at the University of Southern California used zebrafish to investigate how Tbx1 might control craniofacial formation. Their study was supported in part by NIH’s National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR). Results were published in the September 2014 issue of Development.

In previous work, the team found that the genes fgf8a and wnt11r are expressed in the mesoderm, the middle layer of the embryo, when pouches begin to form. Both genes are required for pouch development. In this study, the researchers showed that Tbx1 is required for the expression of both genes in the developing mesoderm. Restoring fgf8a and wnt11r expression in the mesoderm bypasses mutant tbx and rescues its effects on pouch development.

Using advanced time-lapse imaging techniques to track individual cells, the scientists showed that pouch-forming epithelial cells from the endoderm migrate toward areas expressing fgf8a in adjacent mesoderm. Wnt11r enables these cells to respond to Fgf8a and begin the process of forming pouches.

This research showed that Tbx1, acting through fgf8a and wnt11r, functions in the facial mesoderm to coordinate multiple steps in pouch formation. “Whereas it has been recognized that mutations in TBX1 underlie DiGeorge syndrome in patients, our study reveals how this master control gene works to organize the complex cellular rearrangements that build the face,” Crump says.

Defects in pouch development underlie several human birth defects. Continuing studies in model systems such as zebrafish will help us understand the signaling pathways involved and yield critical insights into the origins of many congenital disorders.

Tanning Gene Linked to Increased Risk of Testicular Cancer

A gene important in skin tanning has been linked to higher risk for testicular cancer in white men, according to a study led by scientists from the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the University of Oxford in England. Nearly 80 percent of white men carry a variant form of this gene, which increased risk of testicular cancer up to threefold in the study.

The research appeared online October 10, 2013 in the journal Cell, and is the result of an integrated analysis of big data supported by laboratory research. The team suspected that variations in a gene pathway controlled by the tumor suppressor gene p53 could have both positive and negative effects on human health.

The Prevalence of the G allele in African and European Populations:The G allele of the gene KITLG is associated with a greater risk of testicular cancer and is more frequent in whites than Africans or those of African descent. (Courtesy of the KITLG researchers)

“Gene variations occur naturally, and may become common in a population if they convey a health benefit,” said Douglas Bell, Ph.D., author on the paper and researcher at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of NIH. “It appears that this particular variant could help protect light-skinned individuals from UV skin damage, like burning or cancer, by promoting the tanning process, but it permits testicular stem cells to grow in the presence of DNA damage, when they are supposed to stop growing.”

Bell explained that p53 stimulates skin tanning when ultraviolet light activates it in the skin. It then must bind a specific sequence of DNA located in a gene called the KIT ligand oncogene (KITLG), which stimulates melanocyte production, causing the skin to tan.

To conduct the analysis, Xuting Wang, Ph.D., of NIEHS, co-author and lead bioinformatics scientist on the paper, led a data mining expedition to sieve through many different data sets. The team selected possible leads from the intersection of more than 20,000 p53 binding sites in the human genome, 10 million inherited genetic variations genotyped in the 1000 Genomes Project, and 62,000 genetic variations associated with human cancers identified in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). These data sets were gathered through joint efforts of thousands of researchers from around the world.

“In the end, one variant in the p53 pathway was strongly associated with testicular cancer, but also, surprisingly, displayed a positive benefit that is probably related to tanning that has occurred as humans evolved. Wang noted.

“White males with a single nucleotide variation in KITLG, called the G allele, have the highest odds of having testicular cancer. In fact, the twofold to threefold increased risk is one of the highest and most significant among all cancer GWAS conducted within the past few years,” said Bond. “The high frequency of this allele in light skin individuals may explain why testicular cancer is so much more frequent in people of European descent than those of African descent.”

Bond said although the G allele increases testicular cancer risk, it may explain why testicular tumors are often easily cured with chemotherapy. “Most other tumors have a mutant p53, but in these testicular cell tumors, the p53 is functioning properly, and the drugs used for testicular cancer appear to work in concert with p53’s tumor suppression function to kill the cancer cells.”