TUESDAY, March 29, 2022 (HealthDay News) — An experimental cream-based gene therapy may soon become the first U.S. government-approved means for treating a rare and devastating skin disease that produces “butterfly children.” Patients with recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (EB) are called butterfly children “because their skin is as fragile asContinue Reading

MONDAY, March 14, 2022 (HealthDay News) — German shepherds are one of the most noble dog breeds on the planet, but they can fall prey to an often deadly swallowing disorder. Now, researchers report they have not only identified a gene variant that explains this susceptibility, but they have alsoContinue Reading

THURSDAY, March 10, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Scientists have developed a single test that can rapidly detect a collection of rare genetic diseases — an advance they hope will shorten the “diagnostic odyssey” that people with these conditions can face. The test diagnoses conditions known collectively as “STR-expansion” disorders, whichContinue Reading

MONDAY, Feb. 21, 2022 (HealthDay News) — An experimental drug may help build bone mass in some adults with a rare brittle-bone disease, a small preliminary study suggests. The disease is called osteogenesis imperfecta. It’s caused by defects in certain genes involved in making collagen — a key protein inContinue Reading

MONDAY, Feb. 7, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Omicron COVID-19 patients are younger and have more breakthrough infections, a new study finds. But people infected with Omicron are also less likely to be hospitalized or need intensive respiratory support than those who’d gotten the earlier Alpha and Delta variants. The researchersContinue Reading