GenderBiology.net

Found In The Developing Brain: Mental Health Risk Genes And Gender Differences

SOURCE: Medical News Today

DATE:  October 28, 2011

EXCERPT: "Most genes associated with psychiatric illnesses are expressed before birth in the developing human brain, a massive study headed by Yale University researchers discovered. In addition, hundreds of genetic differences were found between  males and females as their brains take shape in the womb, the study in the Oct. 27 issue of the journal Nature shows."   more

RELATED PUBMED LINK:

Kang HJ, Kawasawa YI, Cheng F, Zhu Y, Xu X, Li M, Sousa AM, Pletikos M, Meyer KA, Sedmak G, Guennel T, Shin Y, Johnson MB, Krsnik Z, Mayer S, Fertuzinhos S, Umlauf S, Lisgo SN, Vortmeyer A, Weinberger DR, Mane S, Hyde TM, Huttner A, Reimers M, Kleinman JE, Sestan N. Spatio-temporal transcriptome of the human brain. Nature. 2011 Oct 26;478(7370):483-9. doi: 10.1038/nature10523.

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Sex hormones determine finger length

SOURCE: Futurity

DATE:  September 8, 2011

EXCERPT: "The discovery reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show how differences in sex hormones activate receptors in males and females and affect the growth of specific digits. ...  The new research provides a genetic explanation for a raft of studies that link finger proportions with traits ranging from sperm counts, aggression, musical ability, sexual orientation, and sports prowess, to health problems such as autism, depression, heart attack and breast cancer ..."  more

RELATED PUBMED LINK:

Zheng Z, Cohn MJ. Developmental basis of sexually dimorphic digit ratios. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Sep 7;108(39):16289-94.

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Mitochondrial Mutation Linked to Essential Hypertension

SOURCE: MedPage Today

DATE:  March 31, 2011

EXCERPT: "A single-letter change in DNA passed on only by women appears to be responsible for essential hypertension in a Chinese family, researchers reported."  more

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Wang S, Li R, Fettermann A, Li Z, Qian Y, Liu Y, Wang X, Zhou A, Mo JQ, Yang L, Jiang P, Taschner A, Rossmanith W, Guan MX. Maternally Inherited Essential Hypertension Is Associated With the Novel 4263A>G Mutation in the Mitochondrial tRNAIle Gene in a Large Han Chinese Family. Circ Res. 2011 Apr 1;108(7):862-70.

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Gender And Genes May Determine Effectiveness Of Treatment For Alcohol Dependence

SOURCE:  Medical News Today

DATE:  March 17, 2011

EXCERPT: "Results from a new study suggest that one of the most prescribed medications for alcohol dependence may be more effective in some people. Preliminary results show that naltrexone (Revia), one of the only medications approved for treating people with alcohol abuse problems, may only be effective in women and those with a specific genetic variation."   more

RELATED PUBMED LINK:

Setiawan E, Pihl RO, Cox SM, Gianoulakis C, Palmour RM, Benkelfat C, Leyton M. The Effect of Naltrexone on Alcohol's Stimulant Properties and Self-Administration Behavior in Social Drinkers: Influence of Gender and Genotype. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2011 Mar 15. doi: 10.1111/j.1530-0277.2011.01446.x.

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Gene Study Suggests Why MS Is Women's Disease

SOURCE:  MedPage Today

DATE:  January 6, 2011

EXCERPT: "The mystery of why multiple sclerosis predominantly strikes women may have been unraveled a bit, thanks to a new genetic study. Polymorphisms in major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes and their associated DNA methylation patterns may combine with environmental influences in ways that promote greater susceptibility to the disease in women than in men, ..."   more

RELATED PUBMED LINK:

Chao MJ, Ramagopalan SV, Herrera BM, Orton SM, Handunnetthi L, Lincoln MR, Dyment DA, Sadovnick AD, Ebers GC. MHC transmission: insights into gender bias in MS susceptibility. Neurology. 2011 Jan 18;76(3):242-6.

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Link Between Genetic Alteration And Disorders Of Sex Determination

SOURCE:  Medical News Today

DATE:  December 6, 2010

EXCERPT: "A variety of genetic factors are involved in sex determination. If something goes wrong with one of these factors, people who have a chromosome set that predicts they will be of one sex may develop as the other sex or have traits on the spectrum between the two sexes."   more

RELATED PUBMED LINK:

Pearlman A, Loke J, Le Caignec C, White S, Chin L, Friedman A, Warr N, Willan J, Brauer D, Farmer C, Brooks E, Oddoux C, Riley B, Shajahan S, Camerino G, Homfray T, Crosby AH, Couper J, David A, Greenfield A, Sinclair A, Ostrer H. Mutations in MAP3K1 cause 46,XY disorders of sex development and implicate a common signal transduction pathway in human testis determination. Am J Hum Genet. 2010 Dec 10;87(6):898-904.

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Sex Differences Determined Not Simply By Gender

SOURCE:  Medical News Today

DATE:  September 17, 2010

EXCERPT: "Researchers funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) have uncovered an inherent difference in the way the genes of males or females can be 'switched off' or silenced in the body's developing immune system. This finding will have a significant impact on the way researchers approach diseases that have a disproportionate effect on one sex over the other, such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis or multiple clerosis, which all occur more frequently in women than men.  The results of the study show that the sex chromosomes, XY in males and XX in females, have a highly significant influence on how hundreds of genes behave in males and females. Distinguishing characteristics between males and females, such as face shape or body outline are often been put down to either differences in development or hormones."   more

RELATED PUBMED LINK:

Wijchers PJ, Yandim C, Panousopoulou E, Ahmad M, Harker N, Saveliev A, Burgoyne PS, Festenstein R. Sexual dimorphism in mammalian autosomal gene regulation is determined not only by Sry but by sex chromosome complement as well. Dev Cell. 2010 Sep 14;19(3):477-84.

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Heart Disease Tracks Y Chromosome

SOURCE:  MedPage Today

DATE:  August 26, 2010

EXCERPT: "Certain genetic patterns carried on the Y chromosome from father to son may hold the key to the "male disadvantage" in heart disease, researchers suggested.Men carrying the I haplogroup within the male-specific region of the Y chromosome also carried 55% higher age-justed coronary artery disease risk (P=0.0002) compared with all others, Nilesh J. Samani, MD, of the University of Leicester, England, and colleagues found in pooled results of two British cohorts."   more

RELATED LINK:

Genetic control of heart rate in the general population - a large-scale genetic analysis" [abtNilesh J. Samani, MD, et al August 29 at the European Society of Cardiology meeting, 28-31 August 2010, Stockholm, Sweden

Genetics Home Reference: X-linked lymphoproliferative disease

SOURCE:  Genetics Home Reference

DATE:  August 23, 2010

EXCERPT: "X-linked lymphoproliferative disease (XLP) is a disorder of the immune system and blood-forming cells that is found almost exclusively in males. More than half of individuals with this disorder experience an exaggerated immune response to the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). EBV is a very common virus that eventually infects most humans. In ome people it causes infectious mononucleosis (commonly
known as "mono"). Normally, after initial infection, EBV remains in certain immune system cells (lymphocytes) called B cells. However, the virus is generally inactive (latent) because it is controlled by other lymphocytes called T cells that specifically target EBV-infected B cells.

People with XLP may respond to EBV infection by producing abnormally large numbers of T cells, B cells, and other lymphocytes called macrophages."   more

Gene Knockout Makes Female Mice Masculine

SOURCE: Medical News Today

DATE:  July 9, 2010

EXCERPT:"The mammalian fucose mutarotase enzyme is known to be involved in incorporating the sugar fucose into protein. Female mice that lack the fucose mutarotase (FucM) gene refuse to let males mount them, ..."    more

RELATED PUBMED LINK:

Park D, Choi D, Lee J, Lim DS, Park C. Male-like sexual behavior of female mouse lacking fucose mutarotase. BMC Genet. 2010 Jul 7;11(1):62.

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