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Image copyright GETTY IMAGES Image caption Scientists looked at the genes of people with pulmonary arterial hypertension to find out what was causing the condition Scientists say they have identified genes that cause a deadly heart condition that can only be cured by transplants of the heart or lungs. Pulmonary arterial hypertension kills 50% of those affected within five years, but little was known about what caused the condition in some people. Now experts say they have discovered five genes that cause the illness. The findings could lead to earlier detection of the disease and ultimately new treatments, researchers say. Thousands 'unaware of sudden death risk' New blood test to spot heart conditions Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) currently affects around 6,500 people in the UK and causes the arteries carrying blood from the heart to their lungs to stiffen and thicken, ultimately leading to heart failure . It is often diagnosed in people who have other...

Should Caesarean-section babies be smeared with a sample of their mother's vaginal fluids as soon as they are born? "Vaginal seeding" is not mainstream medicine, but it is  growing in popularity . The idea is to give these newborns something they missed when they emerged into the world - the good bacteria that live in their mother's vagina. A swab is taken of mum's vaginal fluid, which is then rubbed on to her child's skin and mouth. The hope is this microbial gift will boost their child's long-term health - particularly by reducing their risk of immune disorders. It is a crucial time. We might have been sterile in the womb, but in our first few moments of life an invisible bond is being established between baby and bacteria. It's a relationship that will last a lifetime, and the first contact is as important as a first date. "The first time a baby's own immune system has to respond are to those first few bacteria," says ...

Boy or girl? Mothers can control outcome Mothers can adjust the sex of their unborn children in response to the environment where they live, according to new research. The study, published in the latest Proceedings of the Royal Society B, finds that mothers exert far more control than fathers do over whether or not the couple has a son or daughter. The goal is to improve the child’s survival. “It seems likely that when there are large and predictable costs associated with producing and/or rearing either sons or daughters in a given environment, females should bias offspring sex ratios to produce the sex that will perform best in the given environment,” co-author Sarah Pryke told Discovery News. “Altering offspring sex ratios in response to the quality of the local environment is likely to be highly advantageous to any species, as it should allow mothers to best match the phenotype of their offspring to the prevailing condition, and thus maxim...