The Geography of Asthma Risk

Asthma is a nationwide epidemic, but the impact is perhaps felt most strongly in Alameda County where the asthma hospitalization rate is 20.3 per 10,000 children -- almost twice the state average.....

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If you smoke, your grandchildren could pay for it

Over the last decade, our knowledge of the human genome has exploded, but it often seems like the more we learn, the deeper the mystery grows. We have a basic understanding of what many of our 23,000 genes do, but that understanding has not translated into a particularly great ability to predict who among us will develop common pathologies like diabetes or coronary artery disease.....

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Exposure to violence, gene changes linked to asthma in Puerto Rican children

Puerto Rican children who have asthma are more likely to be exposed to violence and to have changes in a gene that is associated with stress, according to a new study led by researchers at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The study, which is the first to examine the links between asthma, stress and gene variation, was recently published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.....

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