The first step in making a vaccine is identifying the virus it is intended to target. In the case of influenza, there are several strains, each of which mutates frequently. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), laboratories around the...
According to a 2008 article in the journal "Vaccine", influenza strains are constantly evolving and mutating through two processes known as "antigentic shift" and "antigenic drift" genes. Therefore, laboratories around the world routinely collect...
You can have a doctor test your newborn to determine the concentration of sodium and chloride in your baby's sweat. This is the most commonly used screening procedure, and your doctor may recommend waiting until your baby is a few months old...
"Flu" is a generic term for a syndrome of respiratory infection produced by several distinct influenza viruses. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 200,000 people are hospitalized and about 36,000 people...
Sperm abnormalities can be due to sperm production or final maturation errors resulting in defects in sperm quantity and quality. Exposure to environmental toxins can also induce sperm abnormalities.
Heart disease is a multifactorial disease. Along with lifestyle choices such as smoking, exercise habits and diet, the risk of developing heart disease is strongly influenced by genetics. Many genes have been identified that are associated with...
The completion of the Human Genome Project has enabled the development of diet plans based on the genetics of an individual. A genetic diet is not a specific diet; rather, it is a type of diet that uses an individual’s unique genetic...
Breast cancer is the most common cancer affecting American women, with over 200,000 new cases per year and 40,000 deaths. According to the American Cancer Society, one in eight women in the U.S. will suffer from breast cancer in her lifetime--a 12...
You may think excess weight associated with hormonal imbalance is difficult to rectify. In fact, all it requires is an understanding of the relationships among diet, exercise, weight and hormones. As it turns out, leading a healthy lifestyle is...
Imagine a time when the health of your child was a complete mystery until the day of delivery. Amniocentesis was first developed in the late 1950s as a way of determining the sex of a child but was not used until the 1970s for the diagnosis of...
Genetic hearing loss accounts for 30% to 50% of hearing disorders. Thanks to exciting advances in genetic mapping, research is now able to identify more than seventy genes that lead to deafness. The genes responsible for hearing disorders may be...
Parkinson's disease is a neurological condition affecting mobility. More than 1.5 million Americans have Parkinson's disease, according to the American Parkinson Disease Foundation. The main symptoms include rigidity, tremors and slowness of...
The inherited blood disorder thalassemia can range in severity from mild to severe. Mild cases, usually caused by a single defect inherited from only one parent that affects one of the genes controlling the production of alpha or beta globulin,...
Anxiety, which is a disabling mental condition brought on by several psychological and social factors, is usually treated with medication and cognitive behavioral therapy. Several essential oils have been shown to effectively relieve the major...
Researchers estimate that taking birth-control pills can cut your risk of developing ovarian cancer by as much as 50 percent. The longer you take the pill, the more your risk is reduced. Studies show that the greatest preventative effects are...
Hair follicle tests determine if individuals use illegal substances or performance enhancing medications. These tests prove useful for testing employees, athletes and students. Hair follicle tests can detect substances used for a longer time frame...
How early you know your unborn baby's gender is a matter of what method you use to determine it. From advanced medical techniques to old wives tales, there are many ways to predict whether you'll be bringing a boy or girl into the world. If you...
Uric acid is a product of the metabolism of purine, a nitrogenous compound found in certain foods. Excess uric acid plays a role in the formation of kidney stones as well as gout. To reduce the incidence and relieve the symptoms of both kidney...
Lymphomas are a type of cancer that occurs in the lymphatic system. The lymphatic system includes small clusters of immune cells called lymph nodes, which often become involved in lymphoma. When a patient is suspected of having a lymphoma,...
Genes play a large role in determining physical characteristics like gender and eye color. They also have a hand in determining a person's vulnerability to a particular health condition. While scientists do not know the exact mechanism that...
Leaning how to count calories is not difficult. The challenge is dedicating yourself to counting every bite you eat, which is necessary if you want to use this as a method of weight loss. Counting and recording calories consumed at meals quickly...
As genetic influences are thought to play a part in bipolar disorder (BPD), when a person is assessed for this condition she is asked whether anyone in her family has, or had, this or any other psychiatric problems.
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) inflames the joints. Celiac disease is characterized by an adverse reaction to gluten, proteins found in wheat, barley and rye. However, studies suggest that these two autoimmune conditions involving entirely separate...
American adults who are alcoholics or dependent on alcohol climbed from 13.8 million in 1992 to 17.6 million in 2002, growing from 7.41 percent of the population to 8.46 percent, according to a 2004 report by the federal National Institute on...
If you tend to store fat in your arms, you’re more likely to develop hypertension, heart disease and type 2 diabetes than someone who usually gains fat in their legs and hips. Upper body fat is characteristic of the apple body type, as...
The two major forms of the infectious disease typhus are known as epidemic and endemic typhus respectively, both of which are caused by strains of the bacteria Rickettsia. Rickettsia-infected body lice and fleas transmit epidemic and endemic...
No one can dispute the benefits of regular physical activity. Exercise not only can help control weight, but it's also known to maintain healthy bones, muscles and joints as well as reduce the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes...
