Category Archives: DNA

Dani Fitzgerald @dfitzgeraldb

WednesdayJul1,2020at2:34PM

Due to advances in DNA technology, Hermitage Deputy Chief Joel Ristvey said officials are likely able to identify the parents of the newborn baby girl whose remains were found July 2, 1970, in Hermitage, Pa.

HERMITAGE, Pa. A development has surfaced in a 50-year-old case, officials say.

Due to advances in DNA technology, Hermitage Deputy Chief Joel Ristvey said officials are likely able to identify the parents of the newborn baby girl whose remains were found July 2, 1970, in Hermitage.

The babys remains were found near a dirt road off Lynnwood Drive across from the Ohio border just northeast of Youngstown, Ohio. The baby was born less than a week prior and was unable to be identified.

"Due to recent advances in DNA technology, we now believe we will be able to identify this baby and her mother and father. We will be initiating this process shortly and are optimistic we will obtain positive results," Ristvey said in a release. "We would like to speak from the heart to the person who laid the baby down."

The baby was found off of Lynnwood Drive in what was then Hickory Township, near Swamp Road (now Broadway Avenue, Route 760) at the Taylor Sand Banks parking area.

"The DNA will tell us who placed the baby there that day," Ristvey said in the release. "I want to give you this opportunity to come talk to me, to give you the chance to explain to your family and friends before the DNA results come back."

To contact Ristvey with information, call 724-983-6782, ext. 3.

Read more here:
DNA from baby's remains may identify parents in 50-year-old case in western Pa. - Ellwood City Ledger

The team studied 464 pairs of adult twins about half identical and half fraternal aged between 19 and 84 years old. Based on their results, affectionate behaviour in women, specifically, can be explained 45% by heredity, while 55% is linked to environmental influences such as personal relationships.

Twin study design

The researchers enrolled adult twins, as twins are commonly used in studies that investigate how environmental and genetic factors influence particular traits. This is because twins are typically raised in the same household, which means that they've had similar upbringings and early experiences.

On the flip side, their genetic similarities vary depending on whether theyre fraternal or identical twins. Identical twins share 100% of their genetic material, while fraternal twins share only 50%, which is the same as in regular siblings.

Participants asked to rate statements

Each study participant was asked to rate several statements that were designed to measure how much affection they generally express. The researchers then studied their results and gauged the similarity between each pair's responses.

If the scores of people in fraternal twin pairs were similar to the scores of people in identical twin pairs, it could be assumed that genetics didnt play a role. However, the results revealed that the identical twin pairs scored more similarly than the fraternal twin pairs, suggesting that there is, in fact, a genetic component to affectionate behaviour. In a surprising twist, they found that this only applied in the case of women.

It isnt the same for men

For some bizarre reason, the researchers discovered that genetics dont appear to impact the level of affection in men. Instead, a news release by the university explains that, according to the study, men's variation in affectionate behaviour appears to stem entirely from environmental factors, but the studys lead author, Professor Kory Floyd who works at the universitys Department of Communication in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, noted that previous research shows that men, on average, do tend to express less affection overall than women.

Women and men

"The trait of being affectionate may be more adaptive for women in an evolutionary sense, explained Floyd, adding: There is some speculation that affectionate behaviour is more health-supportive for women than it is for men, and that it helps women to manage the effects of stress more than it does for men.

That may be partly why women are more likely than men to inherit the tendency to behave that way rather than that tendency simply being a product of their environment."

Twins shared environments, such as their socioeconomic background, were also found to have minimal effect on their level of affection. Rather, what stood out was unique environmental factors, such as an individual's friends and their experiences from their twin.

"It's not exactly what we would expect, but for many behaviours and personality characteristics including how affectionate you are what twins do and experience differently in their lives plays a much bigger role than anything they experience together," Floyd said.

Why this study matters

Floyds research interests include the communication of affection in close relationships and its effects on stress and physiological functioning. He commented:

"The question that drove the study was: Recognising that some people are more affectionate than others, what accounts for that variation, and is any part of that variation genetic?" Floyd said, further commenting:

"In my field, there is a really strong underlying assumption that whenever we see differences in a trait level in people's social behaviours like how talkative they are or how shy they are or how affectionate they are those differences are learned; they're a function of the environment.

"A study like this makes room for us to talk about the possibility that a number of social and behavioural traits that we automatically assume are learned may also have a genetic component."

However, Floyd also pointed to the importance of not drawing full conclusions, as their findings are at the population level, and not the individual level. This means that it may not be the case that every single womans level of affectionate behaviour is 45% hereditary and 55% attributable to environmental factors, nor do the researchers suggest that an individual cant be more or less affectionate based on their gene suggestions. Floyd explained:

"Our genes simply predispose us to certain kinds of behaviours; that doesn't automatically mean we're going to engage in those behaviours. And it certainly doesn't mean that we have no control over them."

Skin hunger during the Covid-19 pandemic

Those who are genetically predisposed to being more affectionate may especially be struggling with "skin hunger" during the Covid-19 pandemic, considering the implementation of strict measures, such as lockdown and physical distancing.

"Skin hunger", also known as touch deprivation, occurs when we feel deprived of physical contact. The pandemic has stripped us of every sense of normality, among them "normal" human connection. Being cut off from our loved ones lowers that confidence-boosting feeling we usually get from social connection.

Meaningful contact produces hormones in the brain such as serotonin, dopamine, and the bonding hormone oxytocin to help foster positive emotions, says Jo Ham, psychotherapist at the Human Givens Institutetold Marie Claire UK.

As well as making you feel good, human touch can slow down heart rate, reduce blood pressure, and boost the immune system. Even a friendly touch on the arm can be very soothing for somebody who is feeling upset or alone, Ham added.

Coping with skin hunger

In the absence of human touch, there are certain alternatives that may fill that void, suggested Floyd. Among them are petting your dog or cat; cuddling your pillow or blanket; or practising self-massage all of which have been found to help relieve stress and experience comfort.

"None of these is a perfect substitute," said Floyd, "but when being able to hug or hold hands with our loved ones isn't feasible or safe for us, these sorts of things are certainly better than nothing."

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Are you a hugger? It might just be in your DNA - Health24

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Mitochondrial DNA copy number in cervical exfoliated cells and risk of cervical cancer among HPV-positive women - BMC Blogs Network

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Hermitage police issue plea, announce DNA probe in 50-year mystery of newborn's remains - TribLIVE

Investment incentives, the reduction of labor costs through tax and social security contribution cuts, incentives against undeclared labor, and encouraging Greek enterprises to grow are the governments objectives for the transformation of the economy, according to the prime ministers chief economic adviser Alexis Patelis.

The government intends to fund these interventions partly through the emergency recovery fund of the European Union, from which Athens anticipates some 32 billion euros. We shall see how we can use some of the resources from Next Generation EU to transform the economy, Patelis told an online conferenceon Wednesdayorganized by the European Commission and the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE).

Patelis also referred to three other priorities of the government plan that Athens will submit to the Commission by October 15, so as to collect the resources promised. They concern green development, the digital transition and the support of employment and social cohesion. Reforms are in our DNA, added Patelis.

The next great challenge for Greece is the full absorption of the EU funds, agreed European Commissioner for EconomyPaolo Gentiloni and the deputy director-general of the Commissions economy and finance department, Declan Costello.

Speaking at the event, Gentiloni referred to the economic sectors where Greece could utilize the EU package: improving its tax system organization, speeding up justice, improving energy sector efficiency, public administration, and the promotion of active policies for employment. Costello stressed the need for the strengthening of exports and increasing investments so as to cover the investment gap and improve the countryscompetitiveness.

Gentiloni went on to clarify that the recovery fund will not introduce any additional surveillance for countries: We will try to maximize synergies with the post-bailout surveillance, so as to avoid an additional burden, stated the Italian commissioner.

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'Reforms are in our DNA' | Business | ekathimerini.com - http://www.ekathimerini.com

Two men accused in the slaying of a Coachella Valley couple who went missing more than three years ago were charged with murder and could face the death penalty if convicted, Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said Tuesday.

The announcement came during a news conference in Palm Desert, where it was unveiled that hundreds of interviews and more than 50 search warrants led to what appears to be the discovery of the bodies of Audrey Moran, 26, and Jonathan Reynoso, 28, who disappeared on May 12, 2017.

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said DNA results have not yet come back to verify the identity of the remains, which were discovered somewhere in the Coachella Valley recently, he said.

The investigation that led us to the remains indicates we did find them, Bianco told reporters.

You can view the entire press conference below.

Three men were arrested in connection with the disappearance of the couple over the weekend.

Manuel Rios, 28, of Coachella, Abraham Fregoso, 32, of Indio and Jesus Ruiz Jr., 41, of Coachella were charged on Tuesday.

Ruiz is scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday in Banning, while Rios and Fregoso Jr. are expected to be arraigned the following day, according to Riverside Superior Court spokeswoman Marita Ford.

Rios is charged with two counts of murder, and faces a special circumstance allegation of killing a witness. Fregoso is charged with one court of murder, and also faces a special circumstance allegation of killing a witness. The special circumstance allegations make the defendants eligible to receive the death penalty if convicted, although Hestrin said a decision on whether or not to seek the death penalty has not yet been made.

Ruiz Jr. was charged with two counts of being an accessory to murder after the fact.

Bianco declined to share additional information on the alleged crimes, citing the ongoing investigation, but did tell reporters the witness referred to in the charges reflected one of the victims, although it was not immediately clear which.

No motive was disclosed.

Hestrin said he was very confident that the charges against the three men were warranted.

Prior to the couples disappearance, Moran left her Coachella home to pick up Reynoso, who may have been returning to the Coachella Valley from the Brawley area the day the couple went missing, according to investigators.

Moran said she was going to give Reynoso a ride to his Palm Desert home, but the SUV she drove was later found parked on the side of Interstate 10 in Beaumont. A police bloodhound detected their scent near the SUV, but the trail disappeared about 50 feet from the vehicle.

Authorities said the investigation remains ongoing, and urged anybody with additional information to call the departments missing persons tip line at 760-393-3544.

Article from: City News Service

Read more from the original source:
DNA Remains Being Tested, Believed to be those of Missing Couple Jonathan and Audrey - NBC Palm Springs

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an orange alert in Mumbai and Konkan region in view of heavy rain forecast. The IMD has said that heavy rainfall is expected on Mumbai, Thane, and Palghar till July 5.

An orange alert with a forecast of heavy to very heavy rain at isolated places for Friday and Saturday has been issued for Mumbai.

There is also a forecast of heavy rain at isolated places in Mumbai on Thursday.

High convergence of strong moist westerly/southwesterly winds at low tropospheric level from the Arabian Sea is very likely along the west coast till July 5. Under the influence, fairly widespread rainfall activity with isolated heavy to very heavy showers are likely along the west coast, Gujarat, interiors of Maharashtra in the next five days. Heavy to very heavy with extreme heavy showers (over 200 mm) is very likely over Konkan and Goa on July 3 and 4 and over Madhya Maharashtra on July 4, an IMD bulletin issued on Wednesday said.

The IMD has warned people in Mumbai to stay indoors this week and only venture outside in case of extreme necessity.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) also issued warning for severe lightning in areas including coastal areas of Maharashtra.

An orange alert has been for Western ghats in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa, Daman, Diu, south Gujarat, Bihar, North Jharkhand, North Bengal, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh for July 2.

NDMA also issued a Red warning for several states.

For July 3, heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected at a few places with extremely heavy falls at isolated places very likely over and Konkan & Goa. Heavy to very heavy rainfall is also expected at isolated places with extremely heavy falls at isolated places very likely over Sub-Himalayan West Bengal & Sikkim.

On July 3, heavy to very heavy rainfall forecast has been issued for a few places with extremely heavy falls at isolated places very likely over Konkan & Goa.

Link:
Heavy rainfall expected in Mumbai this weekend, orange alert issued - DNA India

What is DNA? We hear it all the time on crime shows and judicial documentaries, it solves cold cases and points the finger at the guilty party but what is it really? In the short answer, it is the instructions for building a new cell in a living organism.

The molecules, or nucleotides, have four labels A,T,G and C and their order in a DNA strand gives a cell an identity, so to speak. These are coiled into 46 chromosomes and this is split into two sets of 23. All humans have two sets of 23. Most flowering plants have 12 sets, porcupines and red fox have 17 sets. This number does not necessarily dictate the complexity or simplicity of a species, its just the number of chromosome sets.

In Switzerland, 1869 a chemist by the name of Friedrich Miescher accidentally discovered DNA while characterizing protein components in white blood cells. He knew immediately that he had discovered something important but it took over 50 years for the discovery to be recognized in the scientific community. In that time, DNA took a dark turn in research in the bunk field of eugenics which applied a general set of non-scientific rules to all species and did notable damage to the study of DNA.

In 1950, a young biochemist by the name of Emmett Chappelle began his career in plant DNA research. He discovered that even single celled plant organisms photosynthesize and isolated the ATP pair in the plant DNA responsible for this. Later, while working with NASA, he used his research in plant DNA to develop the first real-life space exploration farming situation, the design for which is the current system to be used in potential NASA and Space Force colonization efforts in the future.

DNA research has made leaps and bounds since then and the pursuit for information speeds up every day. In 1986, distinguishing DNA took months and cost thousands, today, it takes a couple minutes and costs pennies. It wins court cases, jails bad guys and liberates innocent people.

It shows us the connection we all have as a species of human across the planet and the origins we all share. DNA research has become so mainstream, even childrens toys come in representations of DNA to teach kids about the instructions for the building blocks of life. With this interest in youth, the future is bright. From DNA detecting disease at the earliest possible moment to taking preventive measures to maybe, one day, eliminating the disease all together with DNA specific medicine and treatment.

From the beginnings and the rocky road out of the gate to the bright future and the attempt at leveling opportunities for all Americans and humans in general, DNA is an important field to understand on the most basic level for humans to appreciate similarities in themselves as a species on Earth.

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What is DNA? A look at the basics - Williston Daily Herald

Early Irish royalty may have been buried in Newgrange tomb, shown at dawn on the winter solstice.

By Andrew CurryJun. 17, 2020 , 11:00 AM

Twenty-five kilometers north of Dublin, a masterpiece of Stone Age engineering rises from the hills: a circular structure 12 meters high, almost the area of a U.S. football field, and made up of more than 200,000 tons of earth and stone. Some of the first farmers to arrive in Ireland erected this monument, called Newgrange, nearly 1000 years before Stonehenge or Egypts first pyramids were built. Archaeologists have assumed it was a ceremonial site and communal tomban expression of an egalitarian society.

Now, DNA from a middle-aged man buried in 3200 B.C.E. at the center of this mighty mound suggests otherwise. His genes indicate he had parents so closely related they must have been brother and sister or parent and child.

Across cultures, incest is almost always tabooexcept in inbred royal families. Its genetic traces at Newgrange suggest social hierarchy took hold in Ireland earlier than thought, according to a new study. Maybe weve been arguing too far that [these people were] egalitarian, says Jessica Smyth, anarchaeologist at University College Dublin who was not part of the team.

The newly sequenced genomes from Newgrange and other Irish tombs are part of a wider re-evaluation of the Neolithic era, which is marked by the advent of agriculture. Over the past decade, researchers have used ancient DNA to track a slow-motion, 5000-year expansion of ancient farmers from Anatolia across Europe. The Neolithic settlers who arrived in Ireland around 3700 B.C.E. were the westernmost limit of that expansion.

Most Irish Neolithic settlements are small scale, with houses of roughly equal size. As seen in Neolithic graves across Europe, their burials show little sign of hierarchy. Even in major monuments like Newgrange, human remains were jumbled together, as if in a communal tomb. Archaeologists [have] argued for a long time for a more egalitarian Neolithic, says co-author Thomas Kador, an archaeologist at University College London.

Newgrange is pierced by a passage that leads to a central chamber; its entrance is oriented so a ray of sunlight illuminates the chamber at dawn on the shortest day of the year. Its clearly a place of public ritual and must have taken a lot of manpower to construct, says geneticist Lara Cassidy of Trinity College Dublin. Hundreds of such passage tomb monuments are found across Ireland.

Most of the bodies in those tombs were cremated. But at the heart of Newgrange, excavators in the 1970s found the unburnt bones of one man, labeled NG10, in a niche decorated with elaborately carved stones. Cassidy and her co-authors were able to extract DNA from NG10s petrous bone, a dense part of the inner ear.

Comparing NG10s DNA and that of other Neolithic burials with DNA from people living on the island centuries earlier shows Neolithic farmers arrived in Ireland as part of a mass migration, and soon swamped or eliminated the genetic legacy of earlier hunter-gatherers, says geneticist Daniel Bradley, a co-author also at Trinity College Dublin.

NG10s DNA also reveals his unusual parentage. In a paper published today in Nature,Cassidy and her co-authorsdraw on parallels in the historical record to argue that the son of an incestuous union buried in such a prominent tomb points to a hereditary ruling class. Matings like that are taboo pretty much universally, with very few exceptions, she says.

Those exceptions include Egyptian pharaohs, who were considered deities who needed to marry each other. Royal siblings in Hawaii and the Incan empire were also known to marry, concentrating power in one family. I believe were seeing a similar social dynamic at play among colonists of Neolithic Ireland, Cassidy says.

Additional DNA from more than 40 people buried at other Neolithic sites, including three passage tombs, supports the existence of a close-knit elite. People buried in passage tomb sites were more closely related to each other than to people buried in other types of tombs, even though the passage tombs were separated by hundreds of kilometers and spanned more than 500 years. Some individuals in the far-flung passage tombs could have been second or third cousins or great-great-great-great-grandparent and child.

Chemical isotopes in their bones show the people in the passage tomb burials ate more meat and animal products than their contemporaries. The burials also include women and children, suggesting social status was inherited rather than won in a single lifetime, for example in battle. Were not talking about strong men, were talking about something that could be inherited and maintained over several generations, Kador says. A small [related] elite called the shots, like in Egypt.

But other archaeologists are cautious. To go from [NG10] to saying these are proto-state societies where you have a godlike elite is pushing it a bit far, says University of Manchester archaeologist Julian Thomas. Its one guy. He notes Newgrange was a burial place for almost 1000 years, too long to make generalizations from a single burial.

Monuments like Newgrange may have been used communally at certain times and co-opted as personal tombs for brief periods, says Alasdair Whittle, an archaeologist at Cardiff University. Its a really stunning discovery, he says of NG10 parentage. But social difference in the Neolithic, when it occurs, was often relatively short lived.

He suggests that in the years before NG10 was born, an elite may have emerged temporarily in response to crisis. A climate downturn in the middle of the fourth millennium B.C.E., around the time the passage tombs reach their peak, could have led to famine, prompting dramatic but temporary change in the way society was organized.

One way to settle the debate is to look at similar passage tombs built on the Orkney Islands and in Wales and France. The question is whether this arose in Ireland or whether they were importing existing social structures into the island, Cassidy says. Its going to be very exciting to see if this is a pattern we see in other areas.

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DNA from ancient Irish tomb reveals incest and an elite class that ruled early farmers - Science Magazine

Researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) have shed light on the reproductive role of 'dark matter' DNA - non-coding DNA sequences that previously seemed to have no function.

Their findings, published today in Nature Communications, have revealed that a specific non-coding genomic region is essential for the proper development of the male and female reproductive organs in rice.

"Rice is one of the major global crops and is the staple food in many countries, including Japan," said Dr. Reina Komiya, senior author of the research paper and associate researcher from the OIST Science and Technology Group. "Further research into how these genomic regions affect plant reproduction could potentially lead to increased productivity and more stable yields of rice."

Many previous developmental studies have focused on genes - the sections of DNA that provide instructions for making proteins. But in complex creatures like plants and animals, a large fraction of the genome - typically between 90-98% - doesn't actually code for proteins.

The vast expanse of this 'junk DNA' has long puzzled biologists, with many dubbing it the 'dark matter' of the genome. But recent research suggests that many of these non-coding genomic regions may have a function after all, giving rise to non-coding RNA.

Scientists have now identified numerous types of non-coding RNA, ranging from small molecules only 20-30 nucleotide bases in length to long molecules of over 200 nucleotides. Although studies show that non-coding RNA plays a vital role in the regulation of gene expression - the process where a gene's instructions are used to make RNA or protein - the precise function of each specific non-coding RNA remains poorly understood.

Dr. Komiya is particularly interested in reproduction-specific RNAs. "These are non-coding RNAs that are produced as the reproductive system forms. I wanted to uncover what role they play in the development of stamens and pistils, the male and female reproductive organs in plants."

In the study, Dr. Komiya's group focused on a reproduction-specific microRNA - a major class of small non-coding RNAs - called microRNA2118.

The scientists created mutant rice strains by deleting a region of the genome that contains multiple copies of the specific DNA sequence that gives rise to microRNA2118. They found that the mutant strains were sterile and showed abnormalities in the structure of the stamens and pistils.

"This means that the role of microRNA2118 in the proper development of the stamens and pistils is essential for plant fertility," said Dr. Komiya.

In order to delve deeper into how microRNA2118 controlled development of the anther, the scientists then identified which other molecules were affected by microRNA2118.

They found that microRNA2118 triggered the cleavage of long non-coding RNA, producing many tiny RNA molecules, called secondary small RNAs.

"Interestingly, these small RNAs were rich in uracil, one of the four nucleotide bases found in RNA, which is very unusual compared to other small RNAs," said Dr. Komiya. "We hope to find out the exact function of these small RNAs - and whether this difference in nucleotide composition is important - in further research."

The scientists also discovered that two Argonaute proteins that were only produced in the stamen were dependent on the presence of microRNA2118. Previous research has shown that Argonaute proteins team up with small RNAs to carry out many regulatory functions, such as silencing genes and cleaving RNA.

Dr. Komiya's group therefore proposes that the Argonaute proteins may interact with microRNA2118 to trigger production of the secondary small RNAs. The proteins may also interact with the secondary small RNAs to silence specific regions of the genome. The team hopes to elucidate exactly how the Argonaute proteins and secondary small RNAs affect development of the plant reproductive system in further research.

"Reproduction is an important phenomenon of passing genetic information to the next generation and is essential for maintaining a stable yield supply. However, development of the reproductive system is complicated, and many aspects remain unknown," concluded Dr. Komiya. "This study shows that non-coding RNAs, derived from regions of the genome that were thought to be non-functional, are vital for plant reproduction. Exploring non-coding RNAs further is an exciting and important area of research."

ReferenceAraki, S., Le, N.T., Koizumi, K. et al. miR2118-dependent U-rich phasiRNA production in rice anther wall development. Nat Commun 11, 3115 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16637-3.

This article has been republished from the following materials. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.

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Essential Role in Rice Reproduction Revealed for "Dark Matter" DNA - Technology Networks