Monthly Archives: October 2017

Polycomb group (PcG) proteins are essential for regulation of cell identity and development in plants and animals. PcG proteins are organized into diverse Polycomb repressive complexes (PRCs), among which PRC2 is probably the best described and most evolutionarily con­served. The … Continue reading →

This news is a little bit misleading –– because scientists will continue to uncover increasingly more information, with each passing month and year. Wednesday, October 11, 2017 Sections of the genome, known as expression Quantitative Trait Loci (eQTL) work to … Continue reading →

These articles represent the follow-up (the scientific data) to the GEITP email of October 16th [see far below]. How does the same DNA sequence, present in virtually every cell in the body, give rise to diverse tissues that have distinct … Continue reading →

These articles represent the follow-up (the scientific data) to the GEITP email of October 16th [see far below]. How does the same DNA sequence, present in virtually every cell in the body, give rise to diverse tissues that have distinct … Continue reading →

Parkinson disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder (Alzheimer disease being first). The prevalence of PD is 3–4% in individuals over 80 years of age. PD is characterized by loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra and … Continue reading →

This is a layman’s report on several published papers by researchers from ~300 institutions worldwide (the scientific reports will follow later). As GEITP has shared often on these pages, breast cancer is just another of many multifactorial traits –– contributed … Continue reading →

Obesity, which appears to be at least in part heritable, is a risk factor for various diseases. Numerous genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified more than 100 DNA loci associated with body mass index (BMI) –– the most commonly used … Continue reading →

The vitamin D endocrine system in mammals is very complex –– regulating mineral homeostasis via enzyme activities in the intestine, kidney, and bone. Metabolic activation of vitamin D3 to its hormonal form, 1a,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25(OH)2D3], i.e. most potent ligand for … Continue reading →

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a highly heritable (h2 = 0.27–0.65), debilitating neuropsychiatric disorder –– characterized by intrusive thoughts and time-consuming repetitive behaviors [as discussed recently in these GEITP pages, the h2 heritability index ranges from 1.00 (a trait reflecting 100% … Continue reading →

This report summarizes a project of trying to further understand human complex diseases. WHY should this topic be of interest to gene-environment interactions? As we’ve often discussed in these GEITP pages, multifactorial traits include height, body mass index, type-2 diabetes, … Continue reading →