Social Issues

 Researchers at the Weizmann Institute have discovered a genetic explanation for a phenomenon usually considered psychological — obesity — and such side effects as type 2 diabetes and arteriosclerosis, among people subject to stress.

While individuals with depression are known to overeat to relieve their stress, Dr. Alon Chen’s research team at Weizmann’s department of neurobiology have shown that changes in the activity of a single gene of mice brains leads to metabolic changes that cause symptoms associated with diabetes.

 Rachel and her partner had been contemplating artificial insemination for years, but they didn’t actually go ahead with the process until Rachel came to Jerusalem from New York for a one-year teaching fellowship. After some encouragement from another couple that had gone through the process, the decision was clear: they would create their child in Israel, at Hadassah Medical Center in Mount Scopus.

 Jerusalem — Israel is a Mediterranean country, but over the years its diet has
become less about fruits, vegetables and olive oil, and more about fast food — which has fueled a childhood obesity problem similar to the one seen in America.

In the last 10 or so years, autism has exploded into the national consciousness. For parents with young children, the terms “autism spectrum disorder” and Asperger’s
syndrome have become part of a new vocabulary to describe children who seem
withdrawn, uncommunicative, anti-social or slow to pick up on social cues.
 

 Mention the new breast cancer guidelines, and D.J. Schneider Jensen utters a single syllable of disgust. “Uhk!” Like many Jewish women who carry a BRCA genetic mutation or have a personal history of breast cancer, Jensen was appalled by controversial recommendations issued five months ago by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. The new guidelines advise against mammograms until the age of 50, and against teaching self breast exams to women

Researchers have been trying for decades to determine genetic or environmental causes of Parkinson’s disease. They have explored consumption of traces of aluminum in food, environmental toxins such as carbon monoxide and some pesticides and even head trauma.