Advanced Biology: Genetics and Neuroscience

HER-2/neu activation in breast cancer is based on gene amplification and is an important prognostic indicator.

People with cerebral palsy have various motor problems, such as spasticity, paralysis and even seizures.

This nerve cell contains a single long axon and many dendrites.

These cells line the walls of the ventricles of the brain.

Determination of HLA haplotype is based on association of particular haplotype with risk of disease, particularly autoimmune disease. It does not diagnose disease, and finding at-risk haplotype does not guarantee that disease will eventually occur. Rather, it identifies individuals who are predisposed to disease.

10% is usually used as an indicator of risk sufficient to justify genetic testing for BRCA mutation.

Hemophila A is associated with episodes of bleeding. Current treatment involves infusion of factor VIII to promote blood clotting during a bleeding episode.

Huntington disease displays age-dependent penetrance. So, her risk is now less than 50% though it is still possible that she will develop the disorder.

Adeno-associated virus contains single-stranded DNA.

RET mutation is responsible for increased risk of medullary thyroid cancer as well as multiple endocrine neoplasia 2, in which pheochromocytoma and parathyroid adenoma also occur.

Herpes viruses preferentially infects nerve cells, and therefore are attractive vectors to treat disorders that are expressed in neurons.

Decreased activity of TMPT leads to increased levels of active 6-mercaptopurine, since the drug is normally inactivated by the enzyme. This is associated with toxicity of the chemotherapeutic drug.

Adenovirus does not integrate into the host genome, and infects both dividing and non-dividing cells.

Schwann cells are defined as a group of cells of the peripheral nervous system that wrap around a nerve fiber in a jelly-roll fashion forming the myelin sheath around the neuron.

Insertion of a retrovirus adjacent to an oncogene can activate that gene and lead to malignant transformation.

The putamen lies just under and behind the front of the caudate. It controls the automatic behaviors like riding a bike, driving a car or working on an assembly line.

It carries information away from the soma to the synaptic sites of other neurons (dendrites and somas), muscles, or glands.The neurotransmitters are stored in vesicles of the axon.

The terminal buttons are the small knobs at the end of an axon that release chemicals called neurotransmitters. The terminal buttons form the presynaptic neuron of the synapse.

Yes, the fat containing mylein sheath cells can speed up the rate of transmission across the nerve fibre.

The surface of the rough endoplasmic reticulum is studied with protein-manufacturing ribosomes giving it a rough appearance. It is credited for the emergence of Nissl bodies in the cell bodies of motor neurons.

The amsterdam criteria is used to assess risk of HNPCC or hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer to guide identification of individuals for whom genetic testing may be helpful.

It is associated with reasoning, planning, parts of speech, movement, emotions and problem solving.

Predispositional tests usually result in relative risk estimates.

The perineurium is composed of connective tissue. It is a protective sheath surrounding the fascicles of axons in the PNS.

The important organs of body, like heart, stomach and intestines are regulated by a part of the nervous system called the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The ANS is part of the peripheral nervous system and it controls many organs and muscles within the body.