NEWS & COMMENTS

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THE MARKET

When the market is down, many stocks go down for no reason except indisceminate selling by a great number of shareholders. The sellers are those who do not base their stock buying and selling on the firms’ fundamentals and those who get scared. In the biotech sector, many firms have lost market value despite the fact that their fundamentals are stronger than ever and their sciences have reached the highest point in their history and their products are advancing without problems in clinical trials. It all depends on the causes of the general investor’s pessimism and the duration of pessimism. 

Nothing unusual has really occurred in the biotech sector that could cause a negative attitude towards the group. Thee whole negative situation could abruptly turn around.

HEART ATTACK-CAUSING GENES

Two genes associated with an increased risk of early heart attacks were identified by researchers from the University of California, San Francisco; Cleveland Clinic; Case Western Reserve University; Brigham Young University; and Celera Genomics, 

Those with the genes had twice the risk of an early-onset heart attack as those without. The research linked one form of a gene known as VAMP8 to the early stages of blood-clot formation, which, when formed in the heart, can block oxygen and lead to a heart attack. The other gene, HNRPUL1 might be strongly associated with heart attack risk. The nature of the connection was not fully understood.

Dr. John Kane, professor of medicine at University of California and co-author of the study, said the relatively large scale of the trial reduced the risk that the findings were the result of chance and potentially sets the stage for a diagnostic test that can predict which people are at greatest risk for a heart attack.

"A number of studies have identified genes linked to increased heart attack risk, but many of the studies have been so small that there has been a high risk of false positives," he said.

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