Category Archives: Pharmacogenetics

Another form of fraud and corruption in science: This time it has to do with fake data in drug trials

We’ve shared articles on “predatory online open-access” journals (at least 15,000 of them having popped up in the past 6-8 years) and recently fake research reagents being sold to scientists. Here [see attached article] is yet another form of fraud … Continue reading

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Double edged sword of DDT

This (Feb 2o17) article is a worthwhile read and relevant to Gene-Environment Interactions. “Too much of a good thing –– is not necessariily a good thing.” The Double-Edged Sword of DDT On Jan. 24, 2017, PBS aired a two-hour special … Continue reading

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Do antibiotics have a larger therapeutic window than other drugs? A simple lesson in pharmacoloogy

A recent email chain has led to this GEITP topic worth sharing, a lesson in “Genetic Differences in Drug Response.” My original comment was that, “It would seem that all drugs exhibit interindividual differences in genetic response.” The (slight) challenge … Continue reading

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Marijuana usage appears to weaken heart muscle Nebert, Daniel (nebertdw)

This was reported yesterday on CNN News. Immediate thoughts that any scientist should consider include: ––– How important are genetic differences in THC response, between people? ––– Epidemiologically, this is a retrospective study, having various caveats. ––– “One swallow does … Continue reading

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Genetic differences in addiction to morphine … in ants, no less …!!!

Here is a GREAT example of “evolutionary conservation” of genetic pathways in the central nervous system (CNS) between the Order Hymenoptera (including ants) and Primata (primates, including humans). Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and––along with the related wasps and bees––belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors … Continue reading

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Evidence that 5p12 variant rs10941679 confers susceptibility to estrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer through FGF10 and MRPS30 regulation

Etiology (underlying causes) of breast cancer remain among the biggest mysteries in current cancer research. And, after this publication, breast cancer etiology remains as big a mystery as before. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have revealed increased breast cancer risk associated … Continue reading

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“New and improved” method, Relative Citation Ratio (RCR) ..??

Despite all the recognized limitations, bibliometric assessments of scientific productivity have become increasingly widely adopted. Authors [below] describe herein what they believe is “an improved method to quantify the influence of a research article”. They propose to make use of … Continue reading

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Discovery of a eukaryote not having mitochondria !!!

Every living organism is categorized as either a prokaryote (having single chromosomes) or eukaryote (having pairs of chromosomes). Eukaryotes also contain a nucleus surrounded by a membrane, and its DNA is bound together by proteins (histones) into chromosomes. Eukaryotic cells are … Continue reading

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“Polypharmacy” is the clinical term for drug-drug interactions (DDIs) in clinical pharmacy

This article appeared in a recent issue of the New York Times. Each drug can be considered as “an environmental chemical”, with regard to studying one drug’s effect on a patient, or the patient’s response to that one drug.  REPOSTED … Continue reading

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Having “disease mutational variants” (genotype) but not exhibiting the disease (phenotype)

This is a very interesting exciting study, a great example of “thinking outside the box”. Genetic studies of human Mendelian diseases (one or few mutations in one or few genes) have traditionally focused on detection of the disease-causing mutations in … Continue reading

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