The U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) reports that approximately 1.1 million American adults suffer from schizophrenia in any one year, affecting men and women in equal numbers. Schizophrenia is a severe and chronic brain disorder...
The information contained in DNA is used by each cell to create the proteins needed for life, which support the cells of the body and help govern cell behavior. Mutations to DNA lead to changes in the proteins the cell produces, which modify the...
Although evidence shows that depression has a genetic component, scientists have struggled to identify the genes that contribute to its manifestation. Depression is common, influenced by the environment and life events. It is also complex in that...
Sickle cell anemia is a genetic disease that affects more than 70,000 Americans. The disease is caused by the production of abnormal hemoglobin, which is able to connect to itself and make long chains. As a result, red blood cells lose their...
A cell mutation is an accidental change in the genetic code, or DNA. Most mutations cause a protein to be missing or malformed. Some genetic mutations are inherited, while others occur as a result of environmental factors, such as UV radiation,...
Genetic mutations cause permanent changes in a DNA sequence that makes up a gene, according to Medline Plus. Mutations can range in size, varying from a single DNA block to a large segment of a chromosome. Individuals inherit genetic mutations...
The human hairless (HR) gene is found on chromosome 8 and has been implicated in several hereditary diseases that result in permanent hair loss. The HR protein normally acts as a genetic manager, controlling the expression of other genes....
Popular culture holds many misconceptions regarding the nature of microwaves and microwave ovens. Even the colloquial term for microwaving -- "nuking" -- suggests that there's a common perception that microwaves employ nuclear technology and...
Breast cancer develops when the cells that make up healthy breast tissue progressively develop numerous genetic mutations. These mutations eventually allow the cell to proliferate rapidly and continually while evading cellular death. As the cancer...
Lung cancer occurs when cells of the lung accumulate genetic mutations, causing them to divide uncontrollably to form a tumor. According to the National Cancer Institute, approximately 220,000 new cases of lung cancer were diagnosed and 160,000...
Lung cancer can affect the airways or the air sacs deep within the lungs. Patients with cancerous growth in the lungs develop a number of symptoms of tumor growth, such as difficulty breathing, shortness of breath, persistent coughing and coughing...
All humans have both "male" (testosterone) and "female" (estrogen) hormones naturally circulating in their body. Males normally have much higher levels of testosterone and lower levels of estrogen, compared to females. However, these low amounts...
A normal, healthy body detects and removes cancerous cells before they spread and cause disease. Mutations in genes that control normal cancer surveillance or that allow abnormal cells to evade it can increase a person's risk for developing...
Tuberous sclerosis causes the growth of many small, non-cancerous tumors on the skin and in the organs. The severity of the disease varies widely for unknown reasons and the exact manifestations of the disease depend on where the tumors grow. Some...
Alzheimer's disease is a devastating neuro-degenerative disorder characterized by the death of nerve cells within the brain. Progressive cell death leads to memory loss, changes in personality and behavior, loss of motor functioning and ultimately...
The most common forms of diabetes, type 1 and type 2, result from an interaction of environmental triggers with the additive effects of several gene mutations that predispose the patient to diabetes. Rarer forms, collectively called monogenic...
Over 200,000 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed every year in the United States, according to the National Cancer Institute. Between 5 and 10 percent of these cases are believed to be due to an inherited predisposition, where a genetic...
The breasts are hormonally-regulated tissues that undergo a series of growth and development cycles throughout life. Breast cancer, the uncontrolled proliferation of cells within the breast, is a progressive and devastating disease that can be...
Breast cancer develops when cells of the breast become mutated and fail to respond to normal growth regulation from the body. The cells begin to divide uncontrollably, leading to the formation of a tumor. A number of genes control normal cell...
Radiation can cause changes to the DNA in our cells, which can lead to a variety of problems. The low levels of radiation encountered by most people, plus the ability of our DNA to repair itself to some extent, means that the majority of radiation...
Cancer of any form is the result of genetic mutations that occur in previously normal cells. It takes many different genetic mutations to turn a normal cell into a cancerous cell. These genetic changes may occur as a result of mutations that can...
The behavior of cells within your body is tightly controlled and regulated by a number of genes and proteins. Dysregulation of cell behavior can lead to uncontrolled cell division, and cancer. Often, the initiating stages of cancer occur in a...
Every person has two kidneys--one on each side of the spine--located behind the abdominal organs. Kidney cancer begins in the kidneys, and while more than one type of kidney cancer exists, the most common in adults is renal cell carcinoma,...
All men have breast tissue, as it one of the tissue types present at birth. When breast cells become cancerous, the change is often related to multiple genetic mutations that accumulate in a cell until normal control of cell growth is lost....
Genetic diseases are present in 8 percent of live births. Based on a population study reported in the "American Journal of Human Genetics" in May 1988, about 0.4 percent of the population have a single gene disorder, 0.2 percent have a chromosomal...
Each cell within the human body contains DNA, made up of a sequence of billions of chemicals called base pairs. The sequence of specific base pairs codes for thousands of genes found on two sets of 23 chromosomes--large pieces of DNA, each...
Hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer (HNPCC) is a heritable type of cancer that affects the digestive tract, most often the colon, as well as the endometrium, ovaries, brain, skin, liver or bile ducts, and the urinary tract. In the United States,...
The National Cancer Institute estimates that in 2009 more than 20,000 American women were diagnosed with, and over 14,000 women died from, ovarian cancer. Because of the difficulty in detecting ovarian cancer, this disease is known as a "silent...
People who are lactose intolerant cannot digest lactose, the primary sugar found in milk and dairy products. Lactose intolerant individuals suffer bloating, gas and other intestinal problems when they ingest foods containing lactose. Lactose...
Brittle bone disease, or osteogenesis imperfecta, is a genetic bone disorder wherein sufferers lack proper proteins to make healthy bones. Learn about brittle bone disease, including treatments, in this video.
Muscular dystrophy is a hereditary muscular disease that causes progressive muscle weakness. Get expert tips and advice on diagnosing and treating muscular dystrophy in this video.
Bird flu has led to the deaths of hundreds of millions of wild and domestic birds and to a small number of human deaths. Bird flu remains difficult for humans to contract. Learn about the different causes, symptoms, and treatments of bird flu in...
