WASHINGTON — US researchers have decoded the entire genome of patients to identify the root cause of their diseases paving the way towards individual genomic treatments, according to newly published studies. James Lupski of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, sequenced his own genome to locate the gene responsible for the rare neurological disorder he suffers from, Charcot-Marie-Tooth syndrome. Although not life threatening, the disorder affects nerve function in the body’s limbs, hands and feet, leading to trouble walking and frequently to deformation of the feet. ‘This is the first time we have tried to identify a disease gene this way,’ Lupski, vice chair of molecular and human genetics at Baylor College of Medicine. ‘It demonstrates that the technology is robust enough that we can find disease genes by determining the whole genome sequence,’ he said. He said the technology can now be used ‘to interpret the clinical information in the context of the sequence of the hand of cards you have been dealt. Isn’t that the goal or dream of personalized genomic medicine?’ Lupski’s research, published online Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, identified several inherited mutations in copies of […]
Americans are increasingly less worried about global warming and less convinced its effects are already happening, according to an annual Gallup survey released Thursday. Nearly half, 48%, now believe its seriousness is exaggerated, up from 41% in 2009 and 31% in 1997, when Gallup first asked the question, according to the Gallup Social Series Environment poll of 1.014 adults taken March 4-7. Nearly half, or 48%, of U.S. adults now believe the threat of global warming is exaggerated. The poll also finds a sharp turnaround in views about what’s causing the rise in global temperatures. Half, or 50%, now agree with most climate scientists that human activities are the cause, down from 61% in 2003. Half of U.S. adults now agree with most climate scientsts that human activities are the cause of rising global temperatures, down from 61% in 2003, according to a Gallup poll released Thursday. ‘The survey results show that the reversal in Americans’ concerns about global warming that began last year has continued in 2010 — in some cases reverting to the levels recorded when Gallup began tracking global warming measures more than a decade ago,’ Gallup says. The […]
Big business is now free to blitz the airwaves to attack politicians who support action against climate change, which could smother messages from environmentalists. But it is not yet clear whether corporations have the will or the budgets to use the advertising weapon the climate change wars that emerged in January when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that corporations have the same right as individuals to free political speech, including spending on advertising. The decision could affect every issue and every political race in this congressional election year, but those pushing for a federal law to limit greenhouse gas emissions say it will hit them harder because business interests have much more money to spend on these campaigns. ‘Environmental voices are already far outspent by voices of all sorts of polluting interests, but the Supreme Court decision has really now opened the floodgates for big oil and dirty coal to spend … much, much more money in the electoral arena,’ said Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters. Green groups — including even the powerful Service Employees International Union, which has pushed for cap-and-trade measures as a spur to clean-energy jobs — are at […]
The British have quite a history at getting to the bottom of things. Sherlock Holmes is the world’s most famous detective and Scotland Yard, though it sounds like a cricket field, is actually an organization of highly trained spelunkers of truth. Now, researchers have concluded men want sex until they are almost dead, according to a report in the British Medical Journal. The study states men are more likely to be interested in sex than women, and the disparity between genders grows with age. The difference is greatest among the 75- to 85-year-old group: 38.9 percent of men compared with 16.8 percent of women in that age group were sexually active, according to the study. The study also seems to conclude that a happy sex life can help you live longer. Among the findings: * Men and women reporting very good or excellent health were more likely to be sexually active compared with their peers in poor or fair health. * Among sexually active people, good health was also significantly associated with frequent sex (once or more weekly). * People in very good or excellent health were 1.5 to 1.8 times […]
The new proposals could transform American education, replacing the patchwork of standards ranging from mediocre to world-class that have been written by local educators in every state. Under the proposed standards for English, for example, fifth graders would be expected to explain the differences between drama and prose, and to identify elements of drama like characters, dialogue and stage directions. Seventh graders would study, among other math concepts, proportional relationships, operations with rational numbers and solutions for linear equations. The new standards are likely to touch off a vast effort to rewrite textbooks, train teachers and produce appropriate tests, if a critical mass of states adopts them in coming months, as seems likely. But there could be opposition in some states, like Massachusetts, which already has high standards that advocates may want to keep. ‘I’d say this is one of the most important events of the last several years in American education, said Chester E. Finn Jr., a former assistant secretary of education who has been an advocate for national standards for nearly two decades. ‘Now we have the possibility that for the first time, states could come together around new standards and high school graduation requirements […]
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Remote Viewing the Year 2060
