Glucocorticoids (GCs) are steroids produced by your body. These reduce swelling in your body and help us use the nutrients in foods. GCs also play an important role in fetal growth. If a woman is at risk for giving birth too early, she is sometimes given GC drugs. These speed Read more…
Seborrheic keratosis (SK) is a disease that causes extra skin to grow. SK can look like skin cancer, but it is not cancer. It can affect people of any age. The growths can sometimes look like warts. Sometimes SK can be darker in color than your normal skin. It can Read more…
Vitamin D is an essential vitamin that promotes bone and heart health. Many people don’t get enough of this vitamin. Low vitamin D levels have been linked to diseases like cancer and diabetes. In addition to the sun, vitamin D can be absorbed from food or vitamin supplements. Vanderbilt researchers Read more…
Your DNA contains instructions for making RNAs and proteins. RNAs and proteins do many jobs in the body. But only a small part of your DNA contains these instructions. People have many differences in their DNA. These differences are called variants. Some variants might affect whether you get a disease. Read more…
Gallstones are hard particles that form in the gallbladder. They cause problems when they block bile ducts. These ducts carry fluid between your liver and other organs. Many people get gallstones and mutations in certain genes may make a person more prone to getting them. Researchers at Vanderbilt are using Read more…
Keloids are thick raised scars that spread beyond the original wound. These scars can cause pain and itching. They can also be disfiguring. This can affect a person’s quality of life. There is no good way to treat keloids once they have formed. We do not know why some people Read more…
Mitochondria are tiny structures inside each cell of your body. They make the energy your cells need. These structures have their own set of genes. People have differences in these genes. Some of these differences are inherited as a set called a haplogroup. People with the same ancestry often have Read more…
Kidney stones are hard objects that form in urine. Most stones pass when you go to the bathroom. But if stones get stuck, they can cause a lot of pain and make you very sick. Some people need surgery to remove them. We don’t know why some people are more Read more…
Large studies have associated differences (variants) in hundreds of genes to different diseases. But most of these variants do not cause the diseases directly. They act as markers. This means that there is a gene near the marker that actually causes the disease. To find those specific genes, scientists have Read more…
Osteoporosis is bone loss that causes the bones to be weaker. This makes bones more likely to break. It is most common in older women. The condition leads to broken bones, or fractures, in nearly half of all older women. Osteoporosis may affect some ethnic groups more than others. Studies Read more…