Stress? It is all in the genes
Feeling stressed? Then blame your parents as scientists claim they have found an inherited gene that affects one’s ability to deal with tense situations. Dutch scientists at Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour in Nijmegen found that a gene, which people inherit from their parents, influences the ability to cope with the going gets tough and keep emotions in check. The finding explains why some people keep a cool head in even the most difficult of times, while others fall to pieces, the Daily Mail reported.
The scientists, led by Professor Guillen Fernandez, used scanners to look at how people’s brains lit up under stress. In this case, the stress took the form of a violent scene in a film, followed by a series of pictures of angry and frightened faces. They found the amygdala — a “primitive” brain region that helps keep our emotions in check — was more active in those who had inherited the “stressed out gene”.
Around half of us have this gene, making us more wary of problems and vulnerable to pressures, the scientists told the Forum of European Neuroscience Societies annual conference.
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Test detects family roots within miles
London, July 6: Believe it or not, a new genetic test could soon enable people to discover the exact origins of their family to within a few miles. A European team, led by University of Edinburgh, has carried out a research and found DNA analysis can accurately predict the origins of rural people to within five miles of their family’s home, the Daily Mail reported.
The findings suggest it may eventually be possible to work out the rural roots of city dwellers who have ancestors from different pa-rts of the same country, the researchers say. The researchers, working with scientists in Italy and Croatia, tested whether the same analysis could be used to distinguish between people from the same country who were separated only by short distances. The team studied the genes of people whose four grandparents came from the same village in Scotland, Croatia or Italy. None of the volunteers were related to each other. —Reuters
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