Gene Responsible For Statin-induced Muscle Pain Identified. Statins, the popular class of drugs used to lower cholesterol, are among the most commonly prescribed medications in developed countries.
But for some patients, accompanying side effects of muscle weakness and pain become chronic problems and, in rare cases, can escalate to debilitating and even life-threatening damage. Now a study led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), helps explain the source of these problems. Published in the December 2007 issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigation, the findings offer the first evidence that a gene known as atrogin-1 plays a key role in statin-related muscle toxicity. "Although it is not known exactly how many of the 500 million individuals who take statins experience muscle pain and weakness, muscle symptoms are generally considered the most common side effects of these medications," explains co-senior author Vikas P. They proceeded to conduct three separate experiments to test this hypothesis. Genetic screening raises new series of questions.
Preserving Cabrini-Green's images In the sharp sun of an April afternoon, Nate Lanthrum walks through the remains of Cabrini-Green giving away what he has taken.
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Geneticists Report Finding Central Asian Link to Levites - New Y. A team of geneticists studying the ancestry of Jewish communities has found an unusual genetic signature that occurs in more than half the Levites of Ashkenazi descent. The signature is thought to have originated in Central Asia, not the Near East, which is the ancestral home of Jews. The finding raises the question of how the signature became so widespread among the Levites, an ancient caste of hereditary Jewish priests. The genetic signature occurs on the male or Y chromosome and comes from a few men, or perhaps a single ancestor, who lived about 1,000 years ago, just as the Ashkenazim were beginning to be established in Europe.
Ashkenazim, from whom most American Jews descend, are one of the two main branches of Jews, the other being the Sephardim, whose ancestors were expelled from Spain. They say that 52 percent of Levites of Ashkenazi origin have a particular genetic signature that originated in Central Asia, although it is also found less frequently in the Middle East. Dr. Chicago Center for Jewish Genetics Disorders - About Jewish Gene. FAQS: Ashkenazi Jewish Genetic Testing @ DNADirect.com. Www.balouka.net - Frames. Criticism on papers regarding Jewish genetics. A.
Zoossmann-Diskin has a new article in Homo in which he casts significant doubt on the practices of population geneticists publishing on the subject of Jewish origins, with an emphasis on the purported "Ashkenazi Levite" haplotype. While I have also criticized the identification of the so-called Cohen Modal Haplotype whose alleged correspondence with the Aaronic line of priests is invalid, this new article casts some even more serious doubt on a long string of research results. I will comment on the subject after a careful reading of the paper. The point of the article is that the frequency of the LMH in the original publication is much less than that in the later publication. In the initial publication it is 21% among Ashkenazi Levites and it becomes 42% in the later publication.
So, either: 1. Or: 2. So, either the researchers botched the first publication and kept quiet about their mistake, or they massaged their second sample to increase the frequency of the LMH. A. Abstract Link. No significant crypto-Jewish ancestry in Spanish Americans. A new paper debunks the claim that Spanish-Americans are significantly crypto-Jewish, i.e., descended from Spanish Jews who hid their Jewish status to blend in, and eventually even forgot their origin.
Ann Hum Biol. 2006 Jan-Feb;33(1):100-11. Toward resolution of the debate regarding purported crypto-Jews in a Spanish-American population: Evidence from the Y chromosome. Sutton WK, Knight A, Underhill PA, Neulander JS, Disotell TR, Mountain JL. Background: The ethnic heritage of northernmost New Spain, including present-day northern New Mexico and southernmost Colorado, USA, is intensely debated. Local Spanish-American folkways and anecdotal narratives led to claims that the region was colonized primarily by secret- or crypto-Jews. Link. Y chromosome evidence for a founder effect in Ashkenazi Jews.