New genes for lung disease discovered

An international team of scientists have discovered five genetic variants that are associated with the health of the human lung.

The research by an international consortium of 96 scientists from 63 centres in Europe and Australia sheds new light on the molecular basis of lung diseases.

The new findings provide hope for better treatment of lung diseases like Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and asthma. In the past, it has been difficult to develop new treatments because the molecular pathways that affect the health of the lung were not completely understood.

It is hoped the new pathways discovered could in the future be targeted by drugs.

The ground-breaking research involved a genetic study of 2.5 million sites across the human genome involving samples from 20,000 people across the world. The consortium was led by Dr Martin Tobin from the University of Leicester and Professor Ian Hall from The University of Nottingham.

The research published in Nature Genetics represents a significant advance because it is for the first time that these five common genetic variations have been definitely linked with lung function.

The scientists said, "This work is important because until now we have known very little about the genetic factors that determine an individual's lung function.

By identifying the genes important in determining lung function, we can start to unravel the underlying mechanisms which control both lung development and lung damage. This will lead to a better understanding of diseases such as COPD and asthma. Crucially, it could open up new opportunities to manage and treat patients with lung conditions".

The authors added, "A large reduction in lung function occurs in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which affects around 1 in 10 adults above the age of 40 and is thought to be the fourth most common cause of death worldwide.

Smoking is the major risk factor for development of COPD. Lung function and COPD cluster within families, indicating that variations in genes also predispose individuals to reduced lung function.

The scientists of the SpiroMeta consortium compared genetic variants at each of 2.5 million sites across the human genome in over 20,000 individuals of European ancestry with their lung function measures.

In five different locations in the human genome, genetic variants resulted in alterations in lung function.

The scientists showed that these were real findings by checking the effects of the same variants in over 33,000 additional individuals. They also compared their results to those of a second consortium, CHARGE, which has published a paper in the same issue of the journal.

The scientists emphasise that they do not expect these findings to lead to immediately to genetic tests to predict who will develop lung disease.

What is more important, they say, is that the findings will help understand the underlying causes of lung diseases and thus may indicate new ways of treating the condition.

Blame genes for early sex

Some children have their first sexual intercourse at an early age not because they were raised without a father at home, but because it is in their genes, according to US researchers.

In the study, the researchers at the University of Oregon tested for genetic influences as well as factors like poverty, educational opportunities, and religion.

They found that the more genes the children shared, the more similar their ages of first intercourse were, irrespective of whether they had an absent father or not.

A spokesman for the charity, Brook, said that children needed early education to help them make informed choices.

While several theories have been advanced about the environmental factors, which influence this association between absent fathers and early sex, the current study has shown that these factors are not as important as genes in determining early sexual behaviour.

The researchers compared the average age of first intercourse among children whose fathers were always absent, partially absent or always present throughout childhood.

They looked at more than 1,000 cousins aged 14 and older from the American National Longitudinal Survey of Youth.

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It was found that the children whose fathers were always absent, 63.2 percent reported having had sex, as compared to 52.5 percent of children whose fathers were sometimes absent and only 21 percent of children whose fathers were always present.

The average age of first intercourse for children whose fathers were always absent was 15.28, compared to partially fathered children at 15.36 and 16.11 for children whose fathers were present for all of their childhood.

The researchers compared children who were related in different ways to each other, and who differed in whether they had lived with their fathers.

Surprisingly, they found that the more genes the children shared, the more similar their ages of first intercourse, regardless of whether they had an absent father or not.

"The association between father's absence and children's sexuality is best explained by genetic influences, rather than by environmental theories alone," the BBC quoted Jane Mendle, professor of psychology at the University of Oregon, who led the study, as saying.

"While there is clearly no such thing as a ''father absence gene'', there are genetic contributions to traits in both mums and dads that increase the likelihood of earlier sexual behaviour in their children," she added.
But she said that her study did not have the power to discriminate conclusively between genetic and environmental factors and further research with a larger number of children would be necessary.

Simon Blake, from the sexual health charity, Brook Advisory Centre, said: "All young people need access to confidential sexual health services as well as high quality education about sex and relationships from a young age."

The study has been published in the journal Child Development.

Blame your genes for your Beer belly

It's not the beer, but your genes, that cause that 'not so loved' 'beer belly', according to British scientists.

In a study of thousands of beer drinkers, it was discovered that although regular drinkers had a tendency to put on weight, they did not necessarily store fat around the abdomen.

For the study, the researchers examined over 20,000 people - 7876 men and 12,749 women - over an average of eight-and-a-half years.

It was found that men, who were classed as the heaviest drinkers-regularly consuming two pints of beer a day- put on the most weight.

However, after measuring hip-to-waist ratios, in order to establish which drinkers developed a potbelly, the researchers found that the results were spread across all drinkers.

The scientists concluded that genetic factors had a larger role in controlling how people put on weight than drinking beer.

The results revealed that the men who were most likely to put on weight were those who drank the most and also those who drank no beer at all.

Light drinkers saw the least variation in their waist size.

For women, drinking more beer was more directly associated with piling on the pounds.

But for all the categories, drinking beer led to overall weight gain on both the waist and the hips, and did not necessarily lead to a beer belly.

"This analysis showed the empirical basis for the common belief of a beer belly, as we found that beer drinking and waist circumference were positively associated," the Courier Mail quoted the study as saying.

"However, our data provided only limited evidence for a site-specific effect of beer drinking on waist circumference and beer consumption seems to be rather associated with an increase in overall body fatness.

"In terms of public health relevance, it may be therefore important to focus on beer abstention to maintain body weight.

"In terms of the beer belly belief, an explanation could be that all the observed beer bellies in the population result from the natural variation in fat patterning and not from the fact of drinking beer," it added.