TWO NEW GENES FOR RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS: Two genetic mutations raise  the risk of rheumatoid arthritis, one by as much as 87 percent, researchers reported in a discovery that sheds more light on a complex and baffling disease. They said their findings also show a link between rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases caused when the immune system mistakenly attack healthy tissue, such as lupus. People who had two copies of one gene, found in a region known as STAT4, had a 60 percent higher risk of rheumatoid arthritis, the international team of researchers reported in New England Journal of Medicine. A double shot of the second genetic mutation, in an area known as TRAF1-C5,increased the risk by 87 percent, the same team of researchers reported in a second study, based on a scan of more than 3,000 people. The findings do not apply to osteoarthritis, which affects 21 million Americans and is known as "wear and tear "arthritis because it breaks down the cartilage that cushions the ends of bones. Rheumatoid arthritis is an inflammatory condition that affects 2.1 million people in the S. Treatment for rheumatoid arthritis include dangerous immune-suppressing drugs, which can leave patients vulnerable to infections and cancer. Researchers hope that if they can understand the genes involved in the disease, they can design better treatments.

GENOMIC PROFILING OF LUNG TUMORS: Determining the genetic profile of a particular lung tumor can help clinicians make the crucial decision about which chemotherapy treatment to try first. A new study led by researchers from the Duke University Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences &Policy (IGSP) found distinct differences in the susceptibility different tumors have to widely used chemotherapy drugs."We were able to predict which tumors would be most likely to respond to standard first-line therapy and which would respond better to what has traditionally been a second-line therapy, based on gene expression profiling,"said David Hsu,M.D., Ph.D.an oncologist at Duke and lead author on the publication."

MUGA SILK GETS GI PROTECTION: After Madhubani painting, Alleppey  coir, Mysore sandal soap,Coorg orange, Kancheepuram silk and Solapur terry towel, now Assam ’s Muga silk has been added to the list of products granted the protection of geographical indication (GI).The distinctive ‘golden thread ’, linked to Assam ’s Brahmaputra valley and tracing back to being traded through the Silk Route, has become the 38th product that has got protection from the GI Registry in Chennai. GI protection will bring in standardisation of processes, which in turn would help commercialization and export of the product. Other products globally protected for being intrinsically linked to the local culture and region they come from include France ’s champagne, Darjeeling tea and,of course,basmati rice. GI is granted when a product is distinctively linked to a region or endemic to popular culture in that the process of making the product is community knowledge handed down traditionally.

EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS TO GROW CARTILAGE: Rice University biomedical engineers have developed a new technique for growing cartilage from human embryonic stem cells, a method that could be used to grow replacement cartilage for the surgical repair of knee, jaw, hip, and other joints. Since native cartilage is unable to heal itself, researchers have long looked for ways to grow replacement cartilage in the lab that could be used to surgically repair injuries. Using a series of stimuli, the researchers developed a method of converting the stem cells into cartilage cells. Building upon this initial work, the university researchers then developed a process for using the cartilage cells to make cartilage tissue. The results show that cartilages can be generated that mimic the different types of cartilage found in the human body, such as hyaline articular cartilage (the type of cartilage found in all joints) and fibrocartilage (a type that is found in the knee meniscus and the jaw joint).