Down syndrome (Trisomy 21) increases a child's risk of developing leukemia (a blood cancer) nearly 20-fold. Researchers at the University of Minnesota matched 158 children with Down syndrome who developed ... Read More

Children born with Russell-Silver syndrome have difficulty feeding and growing. They have distinctive facial features and may have asymmetric limbs. Although adolescents and adults with Russell-Silver syndrome will be shorter ... Read More

A group of genetic disorders called porphyria all involve defects in the enzyme pathways that produce the iron compound heme in the body. Doctors have known that fasting can cause ... Read More

According to research published in the August 2, 2005, issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, genomic biomarkers in blood can be used to monitor the progress of ... Read More

Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome is characterized by distinctive facial features, mental retardation, and broad great toes and thumbs. Research has found a genetic error on chromosome 16 in about 20% of individuals ... Read More

Researchers at University of California-Davis and Simon Fraser University, Canada, have uncovered some of the mechanisms behind Bardet-Biedl syndrome, a genetic disorder which includes progressive blindness, extra or fused fingers ... Read More

Currently there is no measure to prevent the spread of Lassa fever, a viral hemorrhagic fever similar to Ebola virus. Though not as deadly as Ebola, there are many more ... Read More

Patau syndrome, Trisomy 13, is the least common of the autosomal trisomies, after Down syndrome (Trisomy 21) and Edwards syndrome (Trisomy 18). Patau syndrome causes severe neurological and heart defects ... Read More

Two research teams funded by the National Institutes of Health (U.S.) have identified how Nipah and Hendra viruses are able to get into human and animal cells. These deadly viruses ... Read More

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration expanded the orphan drug status on July 20, 2005, of Bronchitol, a dry powder formulation of mannitol manufactured by Pharmaxis. Bronchitol's original orphan drug ... Read More

Angelman syndrome, caused by a genetic defect on chromosome 15, includes developmental delay, near absence of speech, and facial abnormalities. The most striking characteristic of someone with Angelman syndrome, though, ... Read More

The Associated Press (AP) reported on August 6, 2005, that two boys, ages 7 and 9, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, died on Friday, August 5, from infection with Naegleria fowleri. This ... Read More

Individuals with multiple myeloma, a bone marrow cancer, normally receive a standard round of chemotherapy prior to bone marrow transplant to reduce the number of cancer cells in the body. ... Read More

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved orphan drug status for a cytostatic drug, CTCE-9908, made by Chemokine Therapeutics Corp for the treatment of osteogenic sarcoma (osteosarcoma), a ... Read More