Category Archives: Transhuman News

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The color of the eyes and hair of ancestors dead for hundreds of years can now be revealed from their DNA alone, researchers say.

These findings suggest investigators not only can uncover new details from centuries-old human remains, but can also help identify crime victims, scientists added.

By comparing genomes across thousands of people, researchers identified genetic variations at 24 different points in the human genome that are linked with eye and hair colors, which past studies used to help determine the appearance of people who had died relatively recently. Now a team of researchers from Poland and the Netherlands have developed this system further to reveal the appearance of people long dead.

- Wojciech Branicki, a geneticist at the Institute of Forensic Research and Jagiellonian University in Krakw, Poland

"We were able to look at the appearance of people who died several hundred years ago," researcher Wojciech Branicki, a geneticist at the Institute of Forensic Research and Jagiellonian University in Krakw, Poland, told LiveScience.

For instance, the researchers analyzed DNA from Gen. Wladyslaw Sikorski, who was born in 1881 and died in 1943. During World War II, Sikorski was commander-in-chief of the Polish Armed Forces and was also prime minister of the Polish government in exile. He died in an airplane crash at Gibraltar. By analyzing genes from one of his teeth, the researchers confirmed he had the blue eyes and blond hair seen in portraits painted many years after his death.

"This system can be used to solve historical controversies where color photographs or other records are missing," Branicki said.

The researchers say their system, called HIrisPlex, can predict either blue or brown eye colors with about 94 percent accuracy. When it comes to hair color, it has accuracies of 69.5 percent for blond, 78.5 percent for brown, 80 percent for red and 87.5 percent for black.

For medieval samples, where DNA is relatively degraded, this system was still capable of predicting eye and hair color from remains about 800 years old. For instance, the researchers identified one mysterious woman from between the 12th and 14th centuries A.D. who was buried in a crypt of the Benedictine Abbey in Tyniec near Krakw, where only remains of male monks were expected. The results hint that she had dark blond or brown hair and brown eyes. [Science of Death: 10 Tales from the Crypt & Beyond]

Although this research can help reveal what ancient human ancestors might have looked like based on their DNA alone, Branicki thinks the most practical aspect of their work is how it can help identify corpses for forensic analysis. For instance, "some of our samples were from unknown inmates of a World War II prison," he said. "In these cases, HIrisPlex helped to put physical features to the other DNA evidence."

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DNA Reveals Faces of Dead

irishtimes.com - Last Updated: Tuesday, January 15, 2013, 21:08

ALISON HEALY, Food and Farming Correspondent

The presence of horse DNA has been found in more than one third of beef burger products tested in a study by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. Pig DNA was found in 85 per cent of the beef burgers tested.

The Food Safety Authority (FSAI) said it conducted the study to examine the authenticity of a number of beef burger, beef meal and salami products available in retail outlets.

Of the 27 beef burger products analysed, ten, or 37 per cent, tested positive for horse DNA. The beef burger products which tested positive for horse DNA were produced by two Irish plants, Liffey Meats and Silvercrest Foods and by Dalepak Hambleton in the UK.

They were on sale in Tesco, Dunnes Stores, Lidl, Aldi and Iceland.

The level of horse DNA in a Tesco Everyday Beef Burger indicated that horsemeat accounted for approximately 29 per cent relative to the beef content. In the other nine beef burger samples, horse DNA was found at very low levels.

The samples were taken from: Aldis Oakhurst Beef Burgers; St Bernard Beef Burgers and Flamehouse Chargrilled Quarter Pounders from Dunnes Stores; Lidls Moordale Beef Burgers, Moordale Ultimate Beef Burgers and Moordale Quarter Pounders; Tescos Beef Quarter Pounders; and Iceland Quarter Pounders.

Some 23 beef burger products, or 85 per cent, tested positive for pig DNA. Some 31 beef meal products such as cottage pie, beef curry pie and lasagne were also analysed and 21 were positive for pig DNA. No traces of horse DNA were found in these products.

All 19 salami products analysed tested negative for horse DNA. Traces of horse DNA were also detected in batches of raw ingredients, including some imported from the Netherlands and Spain.

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Horse DNA found in third of burger products surveyed

Tesco Plc (TSCO)s efforts to win back U.K. shoppers were dealt a blow after the discovery of horse DNA in some beef products caused the U.K.s largest grocer to remove them from stores and prompted a barrage of negative publicity.

The Daily Mail and Daily Mirror newspapers both ran front- page headlines on the story, contributing to a decline in Tescos share price less than a week after it reported its strongest sales growth in about three years. The affected meat was also sold elsewhere, including Iceland Foods Ltd. and Lidl.

The news is likely to, at least temporarily, reduce consumers trust in the quality of Tescos products, which is unhelpful at a time when Tesco is trying to rebuild customers trust in the quality underpinning Tesco own-label and Everyday Value products, Caroline Gulliver, an analyst at Espirito Santo, said in a note received by e-mail.

The burgers that were withdrawn from stores in the U.K. and Ireland were own-brand products, an area that Tesco has been focusing on as cash-strapped shoppers seek cheaper alternatives to big brands. Chief Executive Officer Philip Clarke last year rebooted the companys cheapest own-label range, dubbing it Everyday Value, and promising a focus on quality. Thats part of his 1 billion-pound ($1.6 billion) investment program aimed at regaining customers as discounters such as Aldi and upscale chains like Waitrose erode its still-dominant market share.

Tesco dropped as much as 1.7 percent in London trading and was down 1.2 percent at 345.4 pence as of 1:04 p.m. That trimmed the stocks gain this year to 2.8 percent.

The negative publicity brought about by the discovery of horse DNA in some products is damaging because people dont want to think theyre eating horse and it brings into question the whole trust issue, said Matt Piner, research director at Conlumino. Retail trust is harder to build than throw away.

Tesco withdrew two frozen beef burger products from stores following tests by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. The Irish body said yesterday that about 37 percent of the beef burger products it examined tested positive for horse DNA, while 85 percent showed pig DNA. They listed Tesco as one of the retailers that sold the products, along with Aldi, Lidl, Iceland Foods and Dublin-based Dunnes Stores.

One Tesco product contained 29 percent horsemeat relative to the beef content, according to the Irish safety authority, which said the levels in most samples it tested were very low.

Alan Reilly, chief executive of the Irish agency, said the beef doesnt pose any public health concerns. There is no clear explanation for the presence of the horse DNA, he said.

Aldi said in a statement on its website today that it has withdrawn three burger products from sale in the U.K. as a purely precautionary measure. The discounter pulled eight- packs of its Oakhurst burgers from stores in Ireland yesterday.

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Tesco’s U.K. Revival Suffers Blow as Horse DNA Found in Burgers

ALBANY, New York, January 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

New Report Added in ResearchMoz Reports Database Global DNA Sequencing Products Market 2012-2016

ResearchMoz announces that it has published a new study Global DNA Sequencing Products Market 2012-2016.

TechNavio's analysts forecast the Global DNA Sequencing Products market to grow at a CAGR of 18.48 percent over the period 2012-2016. One of the key factors contributing to this market growth is the introduction of whole genome sequencing. The Global DNA Sequencing Products market has also been witnessing an increase in the number of DNA sequencing projects. However, the low adoption of genomic technology could pose a challenge to the growth of this market.

To Browse Full TOC, Tables & Figures visit:http://www.researchmoz.us/global-dna-sequencing-products-market-2012-2016-report.html

TechNavio's report, the Global DNA Sequencing Products Market 2012-2016, has been prepared based on an in-depth analysis of the market with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the Americas, and the EMEA and APAC regions; it also covers the Global DNA Sequencing Products market landscape and its growth prospects in the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.

The key vendors dominating this market space are Agilent Technologies Inc., Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Illumina Inc., and Pacific Biosciences of California Inc.

The other vendors mentioned in the report are Genia Corp., International Business Machines Corp., Knome Inc., Life Technologies Corp., Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd., and RainDance Technologies Inc.

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ResearchMoz: Global DNA Sequencing Products Market 2012-2016 - Market Research Report

16 January 2013 Last updated at 08:26 ET

Police have apologised to a gay man who was forced to give a DNA sample for a national database under new powers for investigating historical crimes.

Former soldier Stephen Close, 50, from Salford, said the sample was taken because of a 30-year-old conviction for having consensual sex with another man.

However, the law under which Mr Close was convicted is no longer in force.

Greater Manchester Police said the decision to take the sample had been made without "proper consideration".

The sample had now been destroyed, the force added.

The force said it was also reviewing decisions to demand DNA samples from other people as part of an operation to gain more information about historical offenders.

Mr Close was convicted of gross indecency in 1983 because he had sex with another soldier when both men were under 21, which was the age of consent at the time.

Deputy Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said: "Following a full review of all the circumstances Greater Manchester Police has decided to destroy DNA samples taken from Mr Stephen Close.

I am very conscious of the very personal and sensitive issues raised by Mr Close in relation to his own case

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Police apologise over DNA sample