Hot MedFax

Who knew?  Sex can save your life.  It's really quite simple, but in its own way, beautiful.  Mixing our genes helps weed out gene mutations that cause disease. You've probably been hearing about all these amazing discoveries scientists have been making about how mutations in our genes can lead to cancer and other diseases.  Mutations are the things that make our cells not do what they're supposed to.  Researchers have found mutations that lead to breast cancer, and though only about 10% of cancers are inherited, and there are hundreds of thousands of mutations that can lead to it, it's at least a start at identifying where cancer comes from, and how it starts. And, best of all, what to do if you have one, before it develops into cancer, like the test for the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genetic mutation that tells a woman she is at high risk of breast cancer.  Our predispositions to disease gradually decrease the more we mix our genetic material together, accordi...

So we visit the dentist to have our teeth cleaned, maybe a cavity filled, sometimes even to affix a crown. But did you know one day sitting down at your dentist  could result in more than even a doctor might be able to tell you? A new study says dentists one day soon may be required to get a detailed look at how genes in a patient's body are being switched on or off. That means which genes are activated, and which are shut down.    It's called  epigenetics and researchers are now studying how it relates to oral health, newswise.com reports.  "Our genetic code, or DNA, is like an orchestra - it contains all of the elements we need to function - but the epigenetic code is essentially the conductor, telling which instruments to play or stay silent, or how to respond at any given moment," the Web site quotes study author associate professor Toby Hughes, University of Adelaide. Epigenetics has had an increasing role in biological and medical research, newsw...

OK.  So do you really know how many calories are in that pomegranate soda?  Mary Clare Jalonick writes that up until now, it's been hard for the government to keep up with all the new foods -- and their nutritional content -- that are constantly streaming into the marketplace. But the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill is hoping to put a stop to that by creating a ginormous map of what Americans are buying and eating, according to Jalonick. Chocolate milk has long interested researchers because, though the government lists chocolate milk with 2% milk as one unit, the UNC group, using scanners from grocery stores and other commercial data "founds thousands of different brands and variations of 2% chocolate milk and averaged them out, Jalonick reports. What they found was that this wasn't just happening with chocolate milk, it was pretty much occurring with every food product.  Can you imagine making sense of all that, enough to truly have accurate cal...