Evidence for Environmental and Epigenetic Cause of Autism

By jyaron | Published: January 2, 2010

Autism and Retardation Trends

A study published a few months ago in the journal NeuroToxicology investigates the non-random variation in prevalence of autism. The study has shown that the highest frequency of autism occurs in areas of the study location (Minnesota) with increased amounts of pollution in the environment, such as mercury and pesticides. The study concludes there is a statistically significant trend of higher levels of autism (ASD) in EPA Superfund sites than in other sites and that this correlation may be due to increased pollution as well as population heterogeneity of genetic components such as the PON gene family. The PON gene family has been implicated in peroxonase enzyme activity, whose lowered activity tends to correlate with increased frequency of ASD.

This article is vital in the debate regarding vaccinations and autism. The authors of this paper have shown that the increase in ASD over the past number of years (pictured in the chart above) is significantly correlated with an increase in pollution, while mental retardation frequency remains steady. On the other hand, vaccination there is no correlation shown between the number of vaccinations given to children and the non-random distribution of ASD cases.

This paper should be vital reading for anyone who wants to be informed on the debate between autism and vaccinations.

To read the entire article, visit ScienceDirect: Ockham’s Razor and autism: The case for developmental neurotoxins contributing to a disease of neurodevelopment

Posted in AntiScience, Biology, Genetics | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Top 10 Most Cited Biology Articles of 2009

By jyaron | Published: January 2, 2010

With a new year ahead of us and tons of exciting research to be done it’s time to be a little retrospective about all that the scientific community has accomplished this last year. The following are the top 10 most cited biology articles published in 2009 as recorded in the ISI Web of Knowledge:

  1. Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Free of Vector and Transgene Sequences
  2. Jalview Version 2-a multiple sequence alignment editor and analysis workbench
  3. GenBank
  4. Protein structure prediction on the Web: a case study using the Phyre server
  5. The Genome Sequence of Taurine Cattle: A Window to Ruminant Biology and Evolution
  6. Human fetal lymphoid tissue-inducer cells are interleukin 17-producing precursors to RORC+ CD127(+) natural killer-like cells
  7. Human Protein Reference Database-2009 update
  8. ChIP-seq accurately predicts tissue-specific activity of enhancers
  9. Systems biology approach predicts immunogenicity of the yellow fever vaccine in humans
  10. Association of reactive oxygen species levels and radioresistance in cancer stem cells

Happy reading!

Oh, and if you’d be so kind..

Stuggling Scientist

Posted in Biology, Lists | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Transgenic, Green Monkeys Provide Possibility of Primate Model Organisms

By jyaron | Published: January 2, 2010

Transgenic Marmoset Feet

This story is a few months old, but I was reading through the Nature homepage and came across their selected Images of the Year slideshow. Many of these images have to do with various space-related or physics themes, but of particular interest to me when browsing through the images was a gorgeous image of fluorescent green marmoset feet (imaged above).

In May of this past year (happy new year), researchers in Japan (Sasaki et al) successfully injected a self-inactivating lentiviral vector in sucrose solution into marmoset embryos which ended up developing normally. Many of the organs of these marmosets expressed the transgenic information, thus providing proof of concept for the possibility of using marmosets as a non-human primate model organisms. This study will provide a lot of headway into the possibility of having a more direct model for disease research and treatment development that will be more directly applicable to humans.

Take some time and visit the slideshow and appreciate all of the amazing developments in science that highlight this past year. It’s inspiring to think what will come this year.

Read the full publication at Nature: Generation of transgenic non-human primates with germline transmission

Posted in Biology, Genetics, Health & Medicine, Zoology | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Discovery Institute’s Embarrassing Diatribe About Darwinism

By jyaron | Published: December 28, 2009

The Discovery Institute is a dangerous organization to be associated with; not necessarily physically dangerous, but academic careers can spiral to oblivion when members of this Seattle-based Intelligent Design (read: “science needs religion!”) group make statements like the one they did today. This article is title “PBS: Publishing Bad Science” and discusses (with evidence that is virtually only from Intelligent Design sources) how and why PBS is pushing only pro-Darwinian theories on its viewers and how this, in their view, is detrimental. They make note of the how “delirious” it is that the global community celebrated the achievements of Charles Darwin and his impact on the paradigm shift in scientific thinking that lead to the Theory of Evolution this past year.

Read the link above for yourself. See just how mud-slingingly stupid the Discovery Institute is in their post and count how many things you can find wrong in it. I have one right here:

But biologists have now generated all possible developmental mutations in fruit flies, and the evidence shows that there are only three possible outcomes: a normal fruit fly, a defective fruit fly, or a dead fruit fly. Not even a new species of fruit fly, much less a horse fly or a horse.

Excuse me? Since when have biologists induced mutations in each of the 165 million different bases of the Drosophila genome? How about all varieties of combinations of these mutations? Insertions? Deletions? The scientific community is FAR from having generated all possible developmental mutations in fruit flies and to say otherwise is a downright lie. I would normally say that it’s surprising for an organization trying to counter the scientific community to make a mistake as big, yet simple, as this, but then again the Discovery Institute tends to do a lot of things wrong.

What do you think? Are their thoughts founded? How many incorrect statements can you find?

I Want You To Think

Posted in AntiScience, Evolutionary Biology, Genetics, Genomics | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Colo, Oldest Captive Gorilla, Celebrates 53rd Birthday

By jyaron | Published: December 24, 2009

The oldest living gorilla in captivity, Colo (from Columbus, Ohio), celebrated her 53rd birthday with what looks like a giant, great ape-size cake (see video, click image or here). Interestingly, Colo is also the first gorilla every born in captivity. A Western Gorilla, her species is Critically Endangered. Colo is quite the matriarch, with one (of three) children and 16 (of 22) Grandchildren, Great Grandchildren, and Great-Great Grandchildren still living.

The previous holder of the the oldest living gorilla title was held by Jenny (55 years old) who died in September 2008 due to an inoperable stomach tumor.

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More Proof That Smoking Leads to Small-Cell Lung Cancer

By jyaron | Published: December 23, 2009

In a Nature article published earlier this week, UK and US researchers have provided more proof that smoking has a direct effect on the development of small-cell lung cancer. This study describes 22,910 somatic mutations characterized by massively parallel sequencing technology (including 134 in highly important exon coding regions) in the small-cell lung cancer cell line NCI-H209 (karyotype pictured). These mutations disrupt many of the pathways that are vital to preservation of cell growth and division regulation.

As the authors note, the more than 60 carcinogenic chemicals in cigarettes greatly increase the number of mutations by binding and chemically modifying DNA, thus increasing the presence of cancer in lunch cells due to cancer being driven by mutations. This has been suggested to explain the 20x increase in cancer in smoking patients than in non-smoking patients.

This study has provided a huge amount of mutation information for small-cell lung cancer research and will likely lead to vast increases in identifying the specific chemical causes of each mutation.

Read the original article at Nature as an Advanced Online Publication: A small-cell lung cancer genome with complex signatures of tobacco exposure.

Posted in Biology, Cell Biology, Genetics, Genomics, Health & Medicine | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

RNA Interference Technology Will Improve Pharmaceutical Production

By jyaron | Published: November 22, 2009

Chinese Hamster Ovary Cells

RNA interference, or RNAi, has become a novel and useful tool for silencing gene expression in both cells and organisms as well as in developing therapies for diseases. A new study out of Taiwan has recently been published outlining how RNAi technology can be used to vastly increase the quantity and quality of recombinant protein production in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, the key mammalian cell line for biological pharmaceutical production. This may mean faster development of medications, therapies, and vaccines, as well as lower costs for treatment.

Read the full publication at PubMed (Biotechnology Advances): RNA interference technology to improve recombinant protein production in Chinese hamster ovary cells

Posted in Biology, Cell Biology, Genetics, Genomics, Health & Medicine, Proteomics | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

New Insight About Why Chimpanzees Can’t Speak, But We Can

By jyaron | Published: November 13, 2009

chimpanzee

Why is it that humans can speak, but chimpanzees, with their >98% genetic identity to humans, can’t? For almost a decade scientists have known that the FOXP2 gene is responsible for the mendelian development of language in humans. Theories abound about how a mere 2 amino acid change may have been all that was needed to allow us to surpass the grunting and grumbling of our more ancestral relatives to being able to formulate spoken language.

New findings from US researchers have unveiled new insight into exactly how the FOXP2 gene confers differential transcription and have depicted these findings in vitro. The researchers continue and show these observations in vivo in both humans and chimpanzees as well. By doing so, the authors have provided novel relationships in the gene pathways that regulate the speech development of humans, specifically on the development of the central nervous system (CNS). This insight will hopefully be able to provide opportunities for speech and gene therapy and may prove to help us understand just a bit more about what exactly makes us human.

Read more at Nature: Human-specific transcriptional regulation of CNS development genes by FOXP2

Human-specific transcriptional regulation of CNS
development genes by FOXP2
Human-specific transcriptional regulation of CNS
development genes by F
Posted in Biology, Evolutionary Biology, Zoology | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Visualize the Unbelievably Small Scale of the Cell (and other Biological Structures)

By jyaron | Published: November 11, 2009

Cell Size and Scale Visualization

Single cells are small. Really, REALLY small. When you read that a suspended cell is approximately 10-15 microns in diameter it all seems fine and well; you’ll write it down or take note of it, then move along. However, if you stop to think about how small 10-15 microns is, it begins to baffle your mind. I’ve tried so many times to try and picture just how small micron-scale items are that I have a hard time believing anyone can truly imagine a cellular scale.

Fortunately, the Genetic Science Learning Center at the University of Utah has developed a web visualization tool that provides a sliding scale to illustrate the spectrum of sizes from 12 point font all the way down to a single carbon atom. Along the way you’ll run into skin cells, tRNAs, even an amoeba.

Intrigued? Visit the Cell Size and Scale tool now.

Posted in Cell Biology, Genetics, Microbiology, Web Resources | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

First Synthetic Cellulosome In Yeast Created

By jyaron | Published: November 2, 2009

Cellulase

ScienceDaily (Nov. 2, 2009) — A team of researchers led by University of California, Riverside (UCR) Professor of Chemical Engineering Wilfred Chen has constructed for the first time a synthetic cellulosome in yeast, which is much more ethanol-tolerant than the bacteria in which these structures are normally found. Read More »

Posted in Biology, Cell Biology, Microbiology | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

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