Clipmarks | Genes Clips

Stem cell generation from ordinary cells now safe

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 23:13:54 GMT

clipped by: jatfla
clipper's remarks: It's coming. Good news.

Stem cell generation from ordinary cells now safe

Japanese researchers who invented a way to make powerful stem cells out of ordinary cells say they have now found a safer way to do it.

Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University in Japan and colleagues invented a new way to transform ordinary cells into embryonic-like stem cells called iPS cells,

they believe the method can work in people, too,

several teams of scientists have reported finding a handful of genes that can transform ordinary skin cells into iPS cells, which look and act like embryonic stem cells.

NEW TRUE TARGETED FAT LOSS

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 11:56:25 GMT

clipped by: joejoepmc
clipper's remarks: Spare lean muscle in your fight to rid your body of nutrient-wasting unhealthy body fat.

A key problem with nearly all diets is that they do not spare your lean muscle, and if you loss WEIGHT alone your weight is consisting mostly of lean muscle and fat NOT fat alone.

Clip Source: blog.myspace.com

TRUE FAT LOSS SYSTEM

A growing concern is swelling, and it's not just the waists and size of the American people

newest weapon in the fight against "FAT LOSS".

clinical trials "a combination of this natural isolated whey peptides as well as very moderate exercise and restricting the glycemic intake of calories in your daily diet has shown to "TARGET FAT LOSS".

at stored in our body that is related to our genetic hunter/gatherer genes that store fat is for many people the reason they are not able to lose fat at all, and why some have such a hard time even with a lot of exercise and diet restriction. Only the stored unhealthy fat is targeted, it is stored differently than healthy fat stores in our brain, butt, breasts etc.

8 week program just released

product also has a 6 MONTH MONEY BACK GUARANTEE

certification courses available

very moderate exercise was needed

30min 3-5 days a week is a good target.

Tags: fat, weight, health

Candidatus Desulforudis

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 04:17:19 GMT

clipped by: Becker89

Clip Source: environment.newscientist.com

A community of the bacteria Candidatus Desulforudis audaxviator has been discovered 2.8 kilometres beneath the surface of the Earth in fluid-filled cracks of the Mponeng goldmine in South Africa. Its 60°C home is completely isolated from the rest of the world, and devoid of light and oxygen.

Chivian's analysis shows that D. audaxviator gets its energy from the radioactive decay of uranium in the surrounding rocks. It has genes to extract carbon from dissolved carbon dioxide and other genes to fix nitrogen, which comes from the surrounding rocks. Both carbon and nitrogen are essential building blocks for life as we know it, and are used in the building blocks of proteins, amino acids. D. audaxviator has genes to produce all the amino acids it needs.

Mysterious DNA Found to Survive Eons of Evolution

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:23:36 GMT

clipped by: mugofcoffee

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

By Clara Moskowitz, LiveScience Staff Writer

The mystery DNA spippets are about 300 times less likely than other regions of the genome to be lost during the course of mammalian evolution. Credit: Dreamstime

Scientists have discovered mystery snippets of mammal DNA that have survived eons of evolution and yet have no apparent purpose. The finding reveals just how much we don't know about the secrets hidden in our genome and that of other animals.

Most genes change throughout evolution via mutations; useless ones eventually get weeded out of the population while the helpful modifications take hold. However, about 500 regions of our DNA — the body's instruction code made up of base pairs of molecules — have apparently remained intact throughout the history of mammalian evolution, or the past 80 million to 100 million years, basically free of mutations.

Mutations are introduced into these regions just as they are everywhere else, but they're swept out of the genome much more quickly,

Human evolution coming to a halt

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:12:42 GMT

clipped by: valann 47

Clip Source: uk.news.yahoo.com

Human evolution is grinding to a halt, according to a leading genetics expert.

Mutation rate was also slowing down, he said. Although chemicals and radioactive pollution could cause genetic changes, one of the most important mutation triggers was advanced age in men. "Perhaps surprisingly, the age of reproduction has gone down - the mean age of male reproduction means that most conceive no children after the age of 35," said Prof Jones. "Fewer older fathers means that if anything, mutation is going down."

Random alterations to the human genetic blueprint were also less likely in a world that had become an ethnic melting pot, according to Prof Jones.

"Small populations which are isolated can change - evolve - at random as genes are accidentally lost. Worldwide, all populations are becoming connected and the opportunity for random change is dwindling. History is made in bed, but nowadays the beds are getting closer together

We are mixing into a global mass, and the future is brown."

Tags: evolution, humans, genetics, mutation

Inflammatory bowel gene uncovered

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 07:26:03 GMT

clipped by: A53GG4

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Inflammatory bowel gene uncovered

Genetic variations which predispose people to a common inflammatory bowel condition have been uncovered by a team of German and UK researchers.

Ulcerative colitis is caused by inflammation in the intestines

It was known that ulcerative colitis, which affects around 100,000 people in the UK, runs in families.

Now researchers have linked the condition with the gene that encodes for interleukin 10 (IL10) - a compound which regulates inflammation.

IL10 therapy has been tested in early studies, Nature Genetics reported.

Ulcerative colitis normally appears in people aged 15-30 and symptoms include bloody diarrhoea, abdominal pain, a frequent need to go to the toilet and weight loss.

Although symptoms can be mild, it can kill in severe cases if surgery is not performed in time.

Individuals with first-degree relatives who are affected are known to be at higher risk, but the individual genes involved had not been determined.

Tags: health

Is Aging an Accident of Evolution? Scientists Say "Yes"

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 06:06:40 GMT

clipped by: einbar

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

"Everyone has assumed we age by rust. But how do you explain animals that don't age? Some tortoises lay eggs at the age of 100, there are whales that live to be 200 and clams that make it past 400 years."

Prevailing theory of aging challenged by Stanford Universit

Their discovery contradicts the prevailing theory that aging is a buildup of tissue damage similar to rust. The Stanford findings suggest specific genetic instructions drive the process. If they are right, science might one day find ways of switching the signals off and halting or even reversing aging.

“Everyone has assumed we age by rust,” Kim said. “But then how do you explain animals that don’t age?”

“A free radical doesn’t care if it’s in a human cell or a worm cell,” Kim said.

If aging is not a cost of unavoidable chemistry but is instead driven by changes in regulatory genes, the aging process may not be inevitable. It is at least theoretically possible to slow down or stop developmental drift.

Genome@home

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 18:06:10 GMT

clipped by: milmufmas

Clip Source: www.stanford.edu

The Human Genome Project is nearing completion, and scientists are working hard to develop the understanding needed to use this wealth of genetic information in ways that will be significant to medicine and humankind

partner project, Folding@home, is striving to understand how existing proteins attain their specific, functional three-dimensional structures. The goal of Genome@home is to design new genes that can form working proteins in the cell. Genome@home uses a computer algorithm (SPA)

How you can help

running the Genome@home protein sequence design client, you can lend us your computer while you're not using it

A day or two's worth of running Genome@home is enough to design new protein sequences that the world has never seen before. All the sequences get added to the Genome@home database, so every little bit helps.

Decoding the sense of smell

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 08:49:46 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: In future work, the team plans to work with researchers worldwide, including MIT's Media Lab and Department of Biology, to develop a portable microfluidic device that can identify an array of different odors. Such a device could be used in medicine for the early diagnosis of certain diseases that produce distinctive odors, such as diabetes and lung, bladder and skin cancers, Zhang said. There are also a wide range of industrial applications for such a smell-based biosensing device, he said.

One application i can think of is developing an antidote for smelly things, people etc..

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

'Artificial Nose' Progress: Engineers Mass-produce Smell Receptors

"Smell is perhaps one of the oldest and most primitive senses, but nobody really understands how it works. It still remains a tantalizing enigma,"

Artificial noses could one day replace drug- and explosive-sniffing dogs, and could have numerous medical applications, according to Zhang and his colleagues. DARPA recently approved funding for the team's MIT (microfluidic-integrated transduction) RealNose project.

Until now, efforts to understand the molecular basis of smell have been stymied by the difficulty in working with the proteins that detect odors, known as olfactory receptors.

Now, it's finally available as a raw material for people to utilize, and should enable many new studies into smell research

Humans have a vast olfactory system that includes close to 400 functional genes, more than are dedicated to any other function. Animals such as dogs and mice have around 1,000 functional olfactory receptor genes

Tags: smell, sense, artificial

Is it a fear? Is it real? no, it's just a protein

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 08:43:53 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: Interesting discovery. Fear has been feared for so many years, that the protein is an important discovery, yet surely not enough.

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

'Hub' Of Fear Memory Formation Identified In Brain Cells

Scientists have found that a protein required for the earliest steps in embryonic development also plays a key role in solidifying fear memories in the brains of adult animals

beta-catenin could be a potential target for drugs to enhance or interfere with memory formation.

The protein beta-catenin acts like a Velcro strap, fastening cells' internal skeletons to proteins on their external membranes that connect them with other cells

If mice are electrically shocked just after they hear a certain tone, they gradually learn to fear that tone, and they show that fear by freezing.

genetically engineered virus paired with mice that had the DNA around their beta-catenin genes modified. Once a cell is infected, the virus deletes the beta-catenin gene

injected the virus into the amygdala

their fear doesn't seem to be retained

moving memories from short-term to long-term is complete, beta-catenin doesn't appear to be necessary anymore

Tags: memory, fear, protein

Even Royal Eugenicists Can't Stop GM Foods

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 01:55:53 GMT

clipped by: katsteevns
clipper's remarks: -Professor Norman Ellstrand, ecological geneticist at the University of California, and Dr. Harash Narang, a microbiologist at the university of Leeds have both echoed Prince Charles' assertion that GM foods are a potential ecological disaster, along with dozens of other scientists and researchers who admit that GM foods have not been properly tested. [link]

Clip Source: www.corbettreport.com

Even Royal Eugenicists Can't Stop GM Foods

British government tells Prince Charles to prove GMOs are a problem

James Corbett
The Corbett Report

18 August, 2008

-Attempts to create GM peas were abandoned when it caused allergic lung damage in mice. [link]

-Rats fed on GM soy ended up stunted, dead or sterile in a two-year scientific study. [link]

-GM oil seed rape was never approved in Britain after trial results showed it would be harmful to the environment and wildllife. [link]

-A four-year German study found that GM genes could jump the species barrier and cause bacteria to mutate. [link]

-A scientific study found that Bt corn disturbed numerous biological parameters in test rats, including significant changes in organ weight and urine chemistry. [link]

-GM foods are created using Antibiotic Resistant Marker (ARM) genes which can lead to the creation of antibiotic-resistant diseases. [link]

Hot offspring!

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:52:23 GMT

clipped by: pcmkrfn

Clip Source: www.cracked.com

Bryce Dallas Howard (Ron Howard)

Odds of Hotness Based on Gene Pool:

Daisy Lowe - (Gavin Rossdale, lead singer of crap '90s band Bush)

Sofia Coppola (Francis Ford Coppola)

Odds of Hotness Based on Gene Pool: Not good at all, but way to overcome the odds, Sofia! The fat, hairy, hideous odds. Luckily, the Oscar-winning gene wasn't connected to the "beaten in the face with an ugly stick" chromosome.

Papa Was a Rolling Stone - Jade & Elizabeth Jagger, Theodora & Alexandra Richards, Leah Wood

Odds of Hotness Based on Gene Pool: Straight 50-50 shot. When horrific, albeit talented, skeleton men with bad teeth and skin like a crocodile's ass seduce hot models, we're never sure how it's gonna turn out. But knowing that gorgeous genes can overcome even Keith Richards' decrepit, heroin-riddled semen proves that Darwin should be taught in schools.

Clip Source: www.cracked.com

Zoe Kravitz (Lenny Kravitz, Lisa Bonet)

"Penicillin bug genome unravelled"

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 18:25:59 GMT

clipped by: cakebelly

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Penicillin bug genome unravelled

Dutch researchers have decoded the DNA sequence of the fungus which produces penicillin.

It is hoped that uncovering the genome of Penicillium chrysogenum will boost the development of new antibiotics to overcome problems of resistance.

The findings come just in time for the 80th anniversary of the discovery of penicillin by Sir Alexander Fleming.

Full details of the 13,500-gene sequence will be published in Nature Biotechnology in October.

Penicillium chrysogenum is used in the production of antibiotics such as amoxicillin, ampicillin, cephalexin and cefadroxil.

If we understand the genome we might be able to manipulate the genes

Professor Hugh Pennington

Sigma Xi Fall 08

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:11:51 GMT

clipped by: erothman

Clip Source: www.science.smith.edu

Steven A. Williams
Biological Sciences

In Search of the Endangered Black-Footed Ferret: A Tale of Genes, Parasites and Recovery

21 October

4 November

Nat Fortune
Department of Physics

If magnets were voters: geographic frustration, fluctuating opinions, and cooperative solutions to magnetic ordering in a triangular Heisenberg antiferromagnet

2 December

Per Lundgren

EE, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden

Differences that matter - contrasting higher education in science and engineering in Sweden

Why do leaves fall off trees ?

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 08:13:24 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Why leaves fall off trees is discovered

Deciduous - Latin for 'falling' - trees, use an elaborate cellular mechanism to part company from their leaves, which act as "solar cells" in the summer but become superfluous in the darker winter months.

At the base of each leaf is a special layer called the abscission zone. When the time comes in autumn to shed a leaf, cells in this layer begin to swell, slowing the transport of nutrients between the tree and leaf.

Once the abscission zone has been blocked, a tear line forms and moves downwards, until eventually the leaf is blown away or falls off. A protective layer seals the wound, preventing water evaporating and bugs getting in.

Leaves naturally turn yellow as the green chlorophyl that generates energy from sunlight is drained from them but the colour attracts aphids. To conceal themselves from the invading insects, some species inject a bright red pigment.

the first to identify a pathway of genes

molecular genetics and imagine techniques.

Tags: trees