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Category Archives: Transhuman News

DNA of World's End accused 'on victim's bra'

Posted: October 31, 2014 at 12:44 pm

The High Court at Livingston heard it was 20 million times more likely the DNA came from a combination of Sinclair and his late brother-in-law Gordon Hamilton than from either of them acting alone or from neither of them.

On the 13th day of the trial of Sinclair, 69, the jury heard a second full day of detailed evidence from forensic scientist Geraldine Davidson.

She took them through DNA evidence found on the clothing of Christine Eadie, who was murdered with her friend Helen Scott in October 1977. They were both 17.

In the majority of cases, the samples yielded partial mixed profiles, with Hamilton and Christine herself the major contributors. But components matching the relevant parts of Sinclair's profile were also found in the ligatures used to bind and kill Christine.

Ms Davidson told the jury there had been particular interest in the knotted areas of the tights and bra used as ligatures on Christine, as the knots would "preserve" the DNA present at the time they were tied.

She added: "This fits with the DNA within the preserved areas having been present at the time the ligatures were tied."

In the case of Christine's bra, recovered with part of her tights from around her head and neck, Ms Davidson said specialist analysis had been carried out. This confirmed Hamilton had been the major contributor of DNA within the knots.

But although Sinclair had been the minor contributor in terms of the amount of material left on the ligature, he was "fully represented".

She added: "It's a full profile. Some of the components of his DNA are shared with the other three reference samples [Hamilton and both victims], but every one of the components of Angus Sinclair's profile are represented in the profile."

She said statistical analysis of the results, carried out by Professor David Balding, who had given evidence earlier in the week, had established Hamilton had been a billion times more likely to be the major contributor to the DNA in knots on the bra than any unrelated person.

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Efficient genetic editing

Posted: at 12:43 pm

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

31-Oct-2014

Contact: Peter Reuell preuell@fas.harvard.edu 617-496-8070 Harvard University @HarvardResearch

As potential next-generation therapeutics and research tools, few life sciences technologies hold more promise than genome-editing proteins molecules that can be programmed to alter specific genes in order to treat or even cure genetic diseases.

There's at least one catch though getting genome-editing proteins into cells, where they need to be to access the genome, is a major challenge, especially in live animals or human patients.

Conventionally, researchers have delivered the DNA encoding these genome-editing proteins into cells and then relied on the cells to produce the corresponding genome-editing proteins. But many DNA delivery strategies cannot be used in animals or human patients. Other DNA delivery strategies such as infecting with viruses that inject DNA into cells can raise complicating long-term safety issues, especially when the editing the human genome is involved.

What may be more promising, the new study finds, is the direct delivery of genome-editing proteins into cells, rather than delivery of the corresponding genes that encode these proteins. And a class of molecules that can open the door for genome-editing proteins, as it turns out, is probably already on the shelves of many biologists.

Led by Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology David Liu and his group members Drs. John Zuris and David Thompson, a team of Harvard researchers have developed a system that uses commercially-available molecules called cationic lipids essentially long, greasy molecules that carry a positive charge at one end to efficiently introduce genome-editing proteins into cells, and have even demonstrated that the technology can be used to modify genes in living animals. The study is described in an October 30 paper in Nature Biotechnology.

"Current drugs that treat genetic diseases cannot address the root cause of the disease," Liu explained. "Unlike infectious diseases, for example, which we treat by killing the disease-causing agent, in the case of diseases that come from mutations in our own genes, one has to go into the cells and do surgery on our genomes to fix the root cause. Thanks to recent discoveries by scientists around the world, we now have genome-editing proteins that can do the surgery. But the challenge is that these proteins, like virtually all proteins, do not enter cells spontaneously.

"In this study we describe a method to very potently deliver genome-editing proteins into cells," Liu added. "And we observed efficient genome modification using this method not just in cultured cells, but also in living animals."

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Power is Coming

Posted: at 12:43 pm

Im so sick of using cables to charge all my devices. Arent you?

Back in the early 1890s, famed inventor Nikola Tesla (hes the guy that really invented the alternating current) predicted that one day, electricity would be ubiquitous, wireless and free.

He called it free energy or ambient power.

Ambient power was the idea that you could transmit energy through the air, rather than through a metal wire, to any device within range.

Not only was the thought of wireless power considered ludicrous, but it was also considered useless.

Well, times have changed. Now we have some 2 billion smartphones; soon, well have a trillion sensors needing power.

And Nikola Tesla was right.

Wireless power is right around the corner, and before I tell you about a specific, incredible company that will rock this world, let me briefly cover the recent past.

Whats Out There?

Wireless charging has been out there for some time, waiting for the right interface moment to make it brain-dead easy to adopt.

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Power is Coming

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Eczema Tied to Bone Fracture Risk in Study

Posted: at 12:43 pm

Steven Reinberg HealthDay Reporter Posted: Friday, October 31, 2014, 4:00 AM

(HealthDay News) -- The skin condition eczema may increase slightly the risk of broken bones and injured joints, a new study reports.

In a study of 34,500 adults, researchers found that among 7 percent of people who had an eczema flare-up in the past year, 1.5 percent had a bone or joint injury and 0.6 percent had an injury that caused a limitation of function.

Compared to people without eczema, those with the skin condition had more than double the risk of having had a fracture or bone or joint injury, according to the study.

"Adults with eczema have higher rates of injuries, including fractures and bone and joint injuries," said lead researcher Dr. Jonathan Silverberg, an assistant professor of dermatology at Northwestern University in Chicago.

Although this study found an association between eczema and bone and joint injuries, it wasn't designed to prove whether eczema is somehow a direct cause of those injuries.

Another expert said follow-up research is necessary. "Further studies would be needed to show if there's a direct effect or association of eczema with bone condition and strength over time," said Dr. Doris Day, a dermatologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

"The skin is often a reflection of the general health and well-being of our patients. Sometimes the connection is direct, but often it's more subtle," Day said.

The study was published online Oct. 29 in JAMA Dermatology.

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UCLA Gene Discovery Shows How Stem Cells Can Be Activated to Help Immune System Respond to Infection

Posted: at 12:42 pm

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Newswise In a study led by Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research member Dr. Julian Martinez-Agosto, UCLA scientists have shown that two genes not previously known to be involved with the immune system play a crucial role in how progenitor stem cells are activated to fight infection. This discovery lays the groundwork for a better understanding of the role progenitor cells can play in immune system response and could lead to the development of more effective therapies for a wide range of diseases.

The two-year study was published online October 30, 2014 ahead of print in the journal Current Biology.

Progenitor cells are the link between stem cells and fully differentiated cells of the blood system, tissues and organs. This maturation process, known as differentiation, is determined in part by the original environment that the progenitor cell came from, called the niche. Many of these progenitors are maintained in a quiescent state or "standby mode" and are ready to differentiate in response to immune challenges (such as stress, infection or disease).

Dr. Gabriel Ferguson, a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Martinez-Agosto and first author of the study, built upon the lab's previous research that utilized the blood system of the fruit fly species Drosophila, showing that a specific set of signals must be received by progenitor cells to activate their differentiation into cells that can work to fight infection after injury. Dr. Ferguson focused on two genes previously identified in stem cells but not in the blood system, named Yorkie and Scalloped, and discovered that they are required in a newly characterized cell type called a lineage specifying cell. These cells then essentially work as a switch, sending the required signal to progenitor cells.

The researchers further discovered that when the progenitor cells did not receive the required signal, the fly would not make the mature cells required to fight infection. This indicates that the ability of the blood system to fight outside infection and other pathogens is directly related to the signals sent by this new cell type.

"The beauty of this study is that we now have a system in which we can investigate how a signaling cell uses these two genes Yorkie and Scalloped, which have never before been shown in blood, to direct specific cells to be made," said Dr. Martinez-Agosto, associate professor of human genetics. "It can help us to eventually answer the question of how our body knows how to make specific cell types that can fight infection."

Drs. Martinez-Agosto and Ferguson and colleagues next hope that future studies will examine these genes beyond Drosophila and extend to mammalian models, and that the system will be used by the research community to study the role of the genes Yorkie and Scalloped in different niche environments.

"At a biochemical level, there is a lot of commonality between the molecular machinery in Drosophila and that in mice and humans," said Dr. Ferguson. "This study can further our shared understanding of how the microenvironment can regulate the differentiation and fate of a progenitor or stem cell."

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Gene advance for spotting autism

Posted: at 12:42 pm

By Danielle Ryan, Special to CNN

October 30, 2014 -- Updated 1846 GMT (0246 HKT)

Genetic research has been used to treat all kinds of disorders and diseases.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- Researchers have found dozens of new genes that may play a role in causing autism, according to two studies published Wednesday in the medical journal Nature.

Scientists identified 60 genes with a greater than 90% chance of increasing a child's autism risk. Previous research has yielded only 11 genes that had been confirmed with this level of certainty.

Though other studies have shown the importance of genetics in the development of autism, experts say these new studies zero in on the exact nature of the genetic mutations that cause the disorder.

The researchers say these genes appear to be clustering around three sets of key biological functions.

The first set focuses on the development of synapses in the brain, which are responsible for all kinds of communication between nerves. The second set is responsible for the creation of genetic instructions, and the third is responsible for DNA packaging within cells.

Each of these functions could have an effect on the individual that would cause the traits commonly associated with autism, according to one of the studies.

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How to Be "Heroic" – Video

Posted: at 12:42 pm


How to Be "Heroic"
There #39;s the right way and wrong way, the easy way and the hard way to becoming "heroic." You can find more of Aaron #39;s droll and indifferent politically incorrect (but truthful) observations...

By: AaronClarey

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Beyonders: Mountain people have deep sense of pride

Posted: at 12:42 pm

Published: Thursday, October 30, 2014 at 03:38 PM.

I appreciate the idea behind political correctness. It has helped the way people interact with one another and favors inclusiveness of individuals and cultures often maligned by society. Sometimes, however, it has become exclusionary.

One example of the reversal of intent has become contentious and has personal and deep rooted implications for this old mountain boy. Anything hillbilly, has become politically incorrect to a significant number of well-intended, intelligent authorities on the subject of mountain culture and society. They cite the likes of The Beverly Hillbillies, Snuffy Smith and the movie Deliverance as belittling and degrading to mountain people.

I agree that outsiders, that is, flatlanders and city folks, have often made fun of those of us from the high country. They portray us as ignorant, dirty, lazy and insular. They are correct if they include all other regions of the world. Practically every place, flat or not, includes similar elements. They also cite that mountain people talk funny, have a dialect. Every region of the country has its distinctive dialect or accent: Boston, Eastern Shore, Low Country, Charleston, New Orleans, Northern, Southern. Someone from up-north, in asking Joyce where she was from, said to her, I thought you might be from Texas, you have an accent. Whereupon my quick witted wife replied, Yes I do, and you do too, so did Presidents Kennedy and Carter. I think its a good thing.

My father, as a Christmas gag gift once gave my uncle a hand-drawn cartoon, a framed picture of a bedroom in a cold drafty mountain cabin deep in a Blue Ridge winter night, including a mountain man in Long-Johns, taking care of his necessity. He named his character Cajo Hunkenfelter. This hillbilly character has remained a family tradition for three-quarters of a century, being passed down in drawings, poems and songs through several generations. Cajo now has his own family group on my nieces Facebook page. Family members and close friends post hillbilly material there. It is a fun way for us to stay in contact, share laughs and memories of many family members now past.

I knew many mountain people who would fit the contemporary political incorrectness of the image of hillbillies. They were just people with their peculiarities as we all have. Some were the hard working poor driven from farms to the mills by the loss of the agrarian way of life. Some were enterprising and started successful businesses. Some went to war or service professions. Some were lost alcoholics. And, no, I did not know any snake handlers, except myself, a herpetologist. Mostly, the mountain people retain a deep sense of pride in being from the mountains, cherishing their traditions, even embracing the term hillbilly. This has become even clearer recently when I discovered a Facebook group called Appalachian Americans. There, one will find humor, sadness, expressions of traditions and beautiful photos of mountain life and landscape today. I especially love the old sepia images of the highland world of bygone times. But mostly the group members display pride in being mountain people, hillbillies.

Les and Joyce Brown are retired from Gardner-Webb University. They write this column each month, sometimes separately and sometimes together. The Browns enjoy reading, writing, music and anything Appalachian. Les is a potter while Joyce tries to write a bit of poetry.

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Are GOLD and SILVER dealers already closing down and limiting sales? – Video

Posted: at 12:42 pm


Are GOLD and SILVER dealers already closing down and limiting sales?
The GOLD and SILVER fetish of the Ron Paul advocates that attempted to take on the Federal Reserve Bank along with J.P. Morgan and other leading world financial institutions are finally being...

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Ali Regained Title in Historic Fight 40 Years Ago

Posted: at 12:41 pm

Forty years ago, on Oct. 30, 1974, two American heavyweights slugged it out in Zaire - today's Democratic Republic of Congo - in a historic boxing match. The Rumble in the Jungle, as the fight was advertised in the U.S. and abroad, matched former heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali against the reigning champ, George Foreman. Ali knocked Foreman out to regain the crown, which he had lost seven years earlier when the U.S. government accused him of draft-dodging and boxing officials revoked his license.

Ali had traveled a long road to reach this point. After a three-and-a-half-year exile from boxing, he was reinstated in 1970. But he lost a heavyweight title fight in 1971 to Joe Frazier, who later succumbed to Foreman.

American sportswriter Jerry Izenberg said the impact of Alis victory in Zaire may be the greatest ever for a heavyweight bout. Alis legacy as a fighter, he said, would have been different had he lost.

It was a fairy tale," Izenberg said. "This guy was chasing a golden fleece and when he finally got within inches of it, someone else held the golden fleece. Frazier was out. It was fits and starts. It was like a morality play.

Ali made news not only by winning the fight, but also in the days leading up to it. Training in Zaire, he tried to endear himself to the country's people. He jogged with fans and spoke to the crowds, and he painted Foreman as the bad guy.

'Ali Bomaye'

Zaire was a Belgian colony before gaining independence in 1960. Knowing that Zaireans disliked Belgians, Ali told the media that the Texas-born Foreman was actually Belgian. Fans started chanting Ali Bomaye, or Ali, kill him!"

So Ali got off the plane, puts his hands in the air and he yells, `I hereby declare George a Belgian," Izenberg said. "Well, the place went nuts. Beyond that, then that chant started, and they asked the interpreter what that meant and he said it meant `Ali, kill him. For the rest of the time that he was there, he was leading those chants all over town and all over the compound that we lived in.

As he had done with other fighters, Ali taunted Foreman, using his wit and penchant for creative word choice. Case in point:

I said last night, I had a dream. When I got to Africa, I had one hell of a rumble. I had to beat Tarzans behind first for claiming to be the king of the jungle. For this fight, Ive wrestled with alligators, Ive tussled with a whale. Id handcuff lightning and put thunder in jail. You know Im bad. I have murdered a rock. I injured a stone, and I hospitalized a brick. Im so bad I made medicine sick. Im so fast, man, I can run through a hurricane and dont get wet. When George Foreman meets me, hell pay his debt. I can drown a drink of water and kill a dead tree. Wait 'til you see Muhammad Ali.

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