In this article, it explains that the federal government has can continue to do research in stem cells research. A U.S. appeals court cleared the way Friday for continued federal funding of research using human embryonic stem cells, a ruling that scientists hailed as a victory for medical progress. Stem cells from embryos are believed to hold great promise for treating hard-to-treat illnesses or conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease or spinal cord injuries. The U.S. court of appeals in Washington, which blocked Lamberth’s injunction while it considered an appeal, called this an “entirely reasonable” interpretation of the law. And when in doubt, the judges say they defer to an agency’s long-standing view. This is important because the research that is done will help with people with genetic disorder and also, it will further research in the field of genetics.
In this story, it explains how discovered two new genes that increase people’s susceptibility to glaucoma. With this discovery there can be better screenings and effective treatments. Glaucoma is a loss of peripheral vision due to damage to the retina and optic nerve, which occurs mainly in older people, and can lead to blindness. The story was published by the journal Nature Genetics. The disease advances very slowly and many people are not diagnosed until they start bumping into things. People with a family history have been known to have a greater risk of glaucoma. A mutation in a gene called “myocilin” is believed to account for just 3 per cent of cases. With this study their can be better and new treatments and have better screenings.
This is a good study because it can help people get help older people to help them with their Glaucoma. This can further help to those people with Glaucoma and it is more helpful that their is research that has genes that are related to Glaucoma.
In this article, there was a discovery made that there is a gene linked to premature births. Researchers at Vanderbilt University, Washington University and the University of Helsinki suspected that there was some evolutionary pressure to ”adapt and shift the time of birth” to produce smaller babies. The researchers looked for DNA which showed evidence of “accelerated evolution”. These are the genes which have mutated more in humans than in other primates and have identified 150 genes. For the research to go on the next step was to look for an association with premature births. What the researchers did was that compared 150 genes in 328 Finnish mothers, some whom had premature births. There was a strong relation to pre-term births with variants of the FSHR – or follicle stimulating hormone receptor – gene. The follicle stimulating hormone acts a s a recptor in the ovaries to encourage follicle (a sphere of cells containing an egg). development and production of the hormone oestrogen.
This study is very early in its stages and needs to become experiments and tested more until their can be conclusive evidence. This is because when scientist find a relation between two variable it is more deeper than those to variables.
The brain has many functions for the body and it can also influence the way that it can affect the brain. Margit Burmeister, research professor at University of Michigan’s Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute has done research in a genetic link between genetic variations associated with alcoholism, impulsive behavior and a region of the brain involved in craving and anxiety. The results suggest that a gene called “GABRA2” has variations that can aid in risk of alcoholism by influencing impulsive behaviors, at least in part through a portion of the cerebral cortex known as the insula said Margit Burmeister. In this article, the research was done through a study with 449 people, who came from 173 families – 129 of whom had at least one member diagnosed with alcohol dependence or abuse. It shows that the people with the variation of this gene most likely had alcohol dependence symptoms and higher measures of impulsiveness in response to distress, the study found. Stronger associations were found in women than in men. Also, there were other test done to the individuals like fMRI( functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) to observe blood flow to the brain. What they discovered from the individuals is that the people with one form of the GABRA2 gene associated with alcoholism showed significantly higher activation in the insula when anticipating rewards and losses than those with other combinations. This higher activation was also related to a greater level of impulsiveness in response to distress.
The association of brain activity and genetic variation should be able to influence a persons behavior. Since the genetic variation affects the brain it seems reasonable that it would have an influence on alcohol dependence and brain activity. However, this study need to do more research with other questions asked to the individuals that they study to get a more better picture to further understand this gene.
At UCLA, researchers have developed a new way to produce butane, and alternative fuel to diesel and gasoline. It can be said that butane is more “greener” fuel when compared to the alternatives. Butane is a four-carbon chain alcohol that has worked well with as a fuel source for other types of devices that need energy like vehicles designed for gasoline. E.Coli or also known as Escherichia coli is the bacteria that the people at UCLA are using for their research. The team of scientist at UCLA had demonstrated success by producing 15 to 30 grams of n-butanol per liter of culture medium using genetically modified E. Coli. This is an increase from the amount of 1-4 grams per liter that was in the past.
The team of scientists, lead by James C. Liao, UCLA’s Chancellor’s Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, first constructed the made the biochemical pathway for E. Coli, even though it is not naturally produce n-butanol. This process cam up short and the production levels were limited. To tackle this problem what the team at UCLA did was add metabolic driving forces to the pathway, the researchers witnessed a tenfold increase in the production of n-butanol. The metabolic driving forces pushed the carbon flux to n-butanol.
We created driving forces by genetically engineering the metabolism,” said Claire R. Shen, a UCLA Engineering graduate student and lead author of the study. While certain microbes, including species of the bacteria Clostridium, naturally produce n-butanol, Liao’s team used E. coli because it is easier to manipulate and has been used industrially in producing various chemicals. The next step in the research, the researchers say, will be to transfer the study to industry for the development of a more robust industrial process.
This idea of alternative fuel through genetic engineering is a good idea. This would not solve the problem with dependence of fossil fuels but it is a step in the right direction. There will definitely be an interest in this topic because a species is being used to make something that is important to people. In this case it is fuel, however like i said this is just the primary step and more research is needed to further this experiment.
The article written is about genetically modified corn that makes it easier to convert it to ethanol. It was approved by the Department of Agriculture. However, there are many people that object this decision claiming that the genetically modified corn, if cross-pollinated or mixed with corm used for food would lead to the products made with the modified corn to produce side effects. This corn was developed by Syngenta, contains a microbial gene that causes it to produce an enzyme that breaks down corn starch into sugar, the first step toward making ethanol. Manufacturers of Ethanol can buy the enzyme “alpha amylase” which is in liquid form, and add it to the corm to start the process. Syngenta says that the enzyme will be in the corn to breakdown to help reduce the use of water and increase the ethanol output. The company said they they have made various measures to prevent the modified corn from getting into the food supply. This corm is called Enogen and is the first genetically modified crop to contain a trait that influences the use of the plant after harvest. Usually the traits are to help farmers for pest resistance. The Agricultural Department said the corn met the statutory requirements for approval. The corn is the third recent one in which the Agricultural Department has has to weigh the risk s of the spread of a genetically engineered trait.
The corn that was genetically modified is not for food consumption so as long as it does not get into the food supply, it is fine. This is because the corn is not made for consumption, rather it is to make ethanol. The only problem with this corn is that if it ever did get into the food supply it would most likely pollute the corn that is made for consumption.
In this article, it discusses how stress had a genetic link with depression. Depression is a major disorder that affects many people in America. There was a study done in the Journal Archives of General Psychiatry that implies that there is a genetic link between stress and depression. The gene that causes the formation of a small peptide in our brains is called Neuropeptide Y. The way that stress is related is that there is something in the bloodstream and spinal fluid that relates to how resilient we are to life’s stress. The more Neuropeptide Y, the more resilient we are to life’s stresses. So they did tests at the University of Michigan to test whether people that had different variations of the Neuropeptide Y gene scored differently in a few tests linked to depression and stress. The scientist founds out some promising results from running tests with different types of people in the experiment.
The evidence in this experiment does have some valid points but there are still more test to be done to make sure that this is a relative correlation. This was just a step in the right direction, but more experiments are required to see if the gene Neuropeptide Y is a correct gene to use to measure peoples stress levels and hoe depressive actions and thoughts effect the gene. Intuitively, the more stress someone possesses the more depressive their behavior could become but this is science so anything is possible.
