The Parents Zone

Stanford University Dr. Michael Snyder

Dr. Michael Snyder, chairman of the department of genetics at Stanford University School of Medicine, learned firsthand how gene sequencing can change a person’s daily life.

Snyder, who is 56, two years ago decided to see what genetics might tell him about his own health. Hes not alone, as the cost of mapping a persons full genetic profile has been dropping quickly, as WSJ reports, raising questions about how best to use the information.

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With Type 1 diabetes on the rise, researchers are stepping up efforts to screen patients family members, who are at higher risk of also getting the disease, the Informed Patient column reports.

More than 100,000 relatives have been screened through a free program offered by Diabetes Type 1 TrialNet, a research network of 18 centers world-wide seeking volunteers to participate in its studies of ways to prevent, delay and cure Type 1, long known as juvenile diabetes.

TrialNet Chairman Jay Skyler, a professor and diabetes expert at the University of Miami, tells the Health Blog that the program has grown to about 200 sites and aims to expand testing sites further.

Weve been broadening our base and the aim is to convince all medical practices to participate, he says.

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By Sarah Nassauer

Its taking longer to have a baby these days.

A new study by the National Institutes of Health calculates that first-time mothers spend 2.6 hours more in the first stage of labor (before pushing begins) than women did in the early 1960s.

For women who have already had at least one child, labor lasts two hours longer than it did for their historical peers.

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Reuters

A panel of scientists that earlier warned the U.S. government about the risks of disclosing two research papers reversed course Friday, recommending that two studies on avian influenza be published in journals.

In December, the same panel advised federal officials to ask two major journals, Science and Nature, to withhold details of the studies, sparking dueling debates over whether potentially dangerous research should be pursued at all, and what role the government should play in policing its dissemination.

Both researchers had created mutations of the so-called bird flu virus that could easily jump between lab animals.

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