For some Canadians, any cut such as from dental work or surgery can cause days or more of bleeding. Although they are not hemophiliacs, for some an ordinary bruise can balloon into the size of an orange. For others, knees, elbows and ankles are crippled when bleeding seeps into joints. In very serious cases, hundreds of blood transfusions are required for recovery.

Sonic hedgehog, a gene that plays a crucial rule in the positioning and growth of limbs, fingers and toes, has been confirmed in an unexpected place in the embryos of developing mice -- the layer of cells that creates the skin. Named for a video game character, Sonic hedgehog describes both a gene and the protein it produces in the body. Its study is important to increase understanding of human birth defects.

The signaling molecule CD95L, known as "death messenger," causes an inflammatory process in injured tissue after spinal cord injuries and prevents its healing, according to a new study published by scientists of the German Cancer Research Center in the journal Immunity. In mice, the researchers found out that if they switch off CD95L, the injured spinal cord heals and the animals regain better ability to move. Therefore, substances which block the death messenger might offer a new approach in the treatment of severe inflammatory diseases.

For some Canadians, any cut such as from dental work or surgery can cause days or more of bleeding. Although they are not hemophiliacs, for some an ordinary bruise can balloon into the size of an orange. For others, knees, elbows and ankles are crippled when bleeding seeps into joints. In very serious cases, hundreds of blood transfusions are required for recovery.

The underlying causes of the debilitating psychiatric disorder schizophrenia remain poorly understood. In a new study published online March 2, 2010 in Genome Research, however, scientists report that a powerful gene network analysis has revealed surprising new insights into how gene regulation and age play a role in schizophrenia.

A breakthrough in decoding gene regulation of Helicobacter pylori has been made by an international research team led by Jörg Vogel of the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin. Using a newly developed sequencing technique, the researchers discovered 60 small ribonucleic acids (sRNAs) -- tiny RNA-particles which can regulate genes -- in the genome of this human pathogen. These findings could facilitate the development of new therapeutic strategies against this wide-spread pathogen.

In ongoing work to identify how genes interact with social environments to impact human health, UCLA researchers have discovered what they describe as a biochemical link between misery and death. In addition, they found a specific genetic variation in some individuals that seems to disconnect that link, rendering them more biologically resilient in the face of adversity.

Many people who undergo treatment for hepatitis C develop hemolytic anemia, a disorder that destroys red blood cells. In some cases, it is so severe they have to reduce their medication or stop therapy altogether. But now, scientists in Duke University's Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy (IGSP) have discovered two genetic alterations linked to a benign enzyme condition that keep some patients anemia-free.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. African-Americans age 65 and younger are more than twice as likely to have a stroke compared with Caucasians in any region, and people who have a stroke are more likely to die in the South than elsewhere, according to researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Public Health.