Blue-collar workers, particularly carpenters and construction workers, have a significantly increased risk for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) compared with white-collar workers, new research shows. Investigators found manual laborers had a twofold increased risk for the fatal neurodegenerative disease, possibly because…
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Wrong Daughter Told She Lacks Melanoma Mutation, Then Gets It
Parents who filed a multiparty claim after their daughters’ genetic cancer test results were mistakenly mixed up will have their day in court, according to a report in the Detroit Free Press. In 1999, Michael and Susan Lonsway brought their…
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Emerging Gene Therapy Offers Window Into Potential Costs of New Class of Therapies
(Reuters Health) – The budget impact to Medicaid of gene therapy to treat severe sickle cell disease offers a window on the potential costs of this emerging class of million-dollar treatments, and requires payers to think about how to ensure…
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Mitochondrial DNA Variant Increases Gallstone Risk
A mitochondrial DNA variant may increase the risk of gallstone disease more than fourfold, according to investigators. Mitochondrial DNA 827A>G disrupts mitochondrial function and leads to abnormal cholesterol transport, which increases gallstone development, reported Dayan Sun, of Fudan University, Shanghai,…
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Researchers Approach Publishers About Errors in 31 Papers
Retraction Watch readers may recall the name Jennifer Byrne, whose work as a scientific sleuth we first wrote about four years ago, and have followed ever since. In a new paper in Scientometrics , Byrne, of New South Wales Health Pathology and the University of…
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