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Gene therapy costing over £1.6m is approved for NHS patients with inherited blood disorder | UK News
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Patients in England with an inherited blood disorder are to become the first in Europe to benefit from a gene therapy costing well over one million pounds a shot. The treatment, called Casgevy, uses ‘molecular scissors’ to disable a faulty gene that causes the debilitating condition beta-thalassaemia. Currently people severely affected by the disease need…
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British girl’s hearing restored in pioneering gene therapy trial | Science & Tech News
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A British girl has had her hearing restored after becoming the first person worldwide to take part in a pioneering new gene therapy trial. Opal Sandy was born totally deaf due to auditory neuropathy, which disrupts nerve impulses from the inner ear to the brain. But the 18-month-old’s hearing is now almost normal – and…
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Mutated gene ‘found in 4% of people’ could help scientists tackle obesity | Science & Tech News
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A gene variant that helps regulate body weight could aid in tackling obesity, scientists have said. The ZFHX3 gene mutation – thought to exist in 4% of people – has been found to control parts of the brain responsible for appetite. Scientists at Nottingham Trent University and MRC Harwell uncovered the mechanism which allows the…
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Scientists use gene editing to create chickens resistant to bird flu | Science & Tech News
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Scientists have used genetic “scissors” to create chickens able to resist being infected with bird flu. The breakthrough suggests flocks could be protected from the strain of the disease that has spread rapidly around the world in wild birds. More than eight million poultry have died or been culled as a result of outbreaks in…
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Gene mutation which increases risk of breast and ovarian cancer linked to Orkney islands | UK News
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A gene mutation which increases the risk of breast and ovarian cancer has been linked to people with Orkney heritage. Scientists from the universities of Aberdeen and Edinburgh have found that one in one hundred people with grandparents from the islands off the north-eastern coast of Scotland, have a mutation of the gene BRCA1. It…
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1930s, abnormal, baby, deaths, finding, gene, link, mystery, News, researchers, shape, sideeffects, solved, vitamin
Baby deaths mystery from 1930s solved by researchers finding ‘abnormal’ gene shape link to vitamin D side-effects | UK News
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An 80-year-old mystery linked to a wave of baby deaths in the 1930s and 1940s has finally been solved by researchers. The fatal ingredient was found in household staples – milk, bread, cereal, margarine. But it was put there to try and make children healthier. In the early 1900s, more than 80% of children were…