Just a quick update – Bang Goes The Theory is due to start on Monday July 27th on BBC One and not July 29th as stated in my preview post, so make sure you don’t miss it!
Bang Goes The Theory – Update
Man’s Best Friend
Researchers from North Caroline State University have discovered that a dog’s genome may be man’s new best friend, rather than the actual canine.
Comparison of human and canine genomes have allowed scientists to discover that the gene commonly believed to be responsible for one-in-four brain tumours may not be as important as originally thought.
Meningiomas are brain tumours which grow in the space between the brain and the skull, rather than on the organ itself. The condition is associated with genetic defects of large segments of chromosomes, making it hard to understand which of the specific genes is involved – it’s like finding a needle in a haystack.
However, now Dr Matthew Breen, professor of genomics at NC State, and a host of colleagues from other universities have published a study in the Journal of Neurooncology. The scientists, including Natasha Olby a veterinary neurologist, have compared the tumours found in both humans and dogs to narrow down the search for the offending gene.
“[W]e compare the affected areas of a human chromosome with related areas on dog chromosomes. This works because dogs and humans are genetically similar and both get the same kind of cancers” explained Breen. “While we share much of our genetic material, the DNA of a dog is organized differently to our own and this makes it possible to isolate smaller ’shared’ regions of genetic data rather than looking at an entire chromosome.”
By studying samples of canine and human meningiomas the researchers have narrowed down their research to focusing on human chromosome 1 and 22, after being able to discard other chromosomes after correlating with the results found in dogs.
Breen is hopeful that this research will allow researchers to narrow down the search for the specific genes involved with the disease and believes his study will benefit both species.
“It’s proof of the ‘One Medicine’ concept – the idea that human and animal health relies on a common pool of medical and scientific knowledge and is supported by overlapping technologies and discoveries.”
Equine Science News
Shameless plug here I’m afraid…I’ve just launced a brand new website dedicated to the latest equestrian science news that also features short veterinary articles.
I’m going to be updating it as soon as equine science news develops and over time I’m going to be expanding the selection of veterinary features available too.
The website is called Equine Science News, and can be accessed by clicking here, so please visit it and check it regularly. You can also follow ESN’s latest developments by subscribing to our twitter feeds:
Pillow Talk
Courtesy of Wikipedia
A University student has created a pillow which is able to record people’s worries when they cannot fall asleep.
Nekani Guezala, 23, is a student at Edinburgh Napier University, and created the specially designed pillow as part of her master’s project.
As people are trying to get to sleep, they can say their worries out loud, while the pillow records their rambling using its built in voice recognition software. The following morning, the machine prints out all of the problems worrying the person just before the fell asleep.
Ms Guezala was inspired after lying awake at night worrying about things and did a survey in which she found out that on average people spend 40 minutes each night worrying before falling asleep. She told the BBC News Website: “I also spoke to a psychologist who said that when his patients come to him complaining about sleep problems then he recommends they write down at the time what they are worrying about, whereas now they could just talk out loud and the sleep microphone would pick it up and print it all out in the morning.”
The pillow recording device was unveiled at a special exhibition in Edinburgh showcasing work by design students.
Science offers hope for ‘broken Britain’
With Britain having one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Europe, it could be argued that things are looking pretty dire. A couple of months ago several British male teenagers (one of whom was still a ‘tweenager’ at the date of the intercourse) were fighting over newspaper space claiming that they had fathered the child of a 15 year old girl. Alfie Patten the now 13 year old was declared the “the exploited face of broken Britain” by the Telegraph.
At the same time, many older couples are still having unwanted pregnancies, whether through carelessness or as a result of pure accident. Now scientists have found a possible way to improve contraception and shift the responsibility of contraceptive preparation onto both sexes.
Researchers in China have found an effective, reversible method for male contraception that is thought to have no serious short-term harmful side-effects.
Copyright of Armin Kübelbeck
Publishing their work in The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM), Dr. Yi-Qun Gu from the National Research Institute for Family Planning in Beijing, China, carried out the largest multi-centre male hormonal contraceptive efficacy clinical trial. Using healthy fertile men between the ages of 20-45 (all of whom had fathered at least one child within the preceding two years), they injected for 30 months the 1,045 participants with 500 mg of a formulation of testosterone undecanoate (TU) in tea seed oil.
The men all had partners aged between 18-38, and results showed a cumulative contraceptive failure (pregnancy) rate of 1.1 per 100 men in the 24-month efficacy phase. There was no serious adverse effects reported and after the injections were stopped normal reproductive function returned in all but two of the 1,045 participants.
Further experiments are required to ensure there are no long-term side-effects (either on the cardiovascular system, prostate or changes in behavior), but this work is surely promising news for both ‘broken Britain’ and couples worldwide.
Shameless Plug..
Just a quick post to say I’m now one of the guest bloggers for the London hub of Nature Network and my first piece – a review of the event “Eat Leaner, Live Longer?” at the Dana Centre has just gone live!
Look out for more blog posts on there from me soon!
The ‘key’ to stopping texting drivers
Last week Science Daily published an interesting story about how technology was being implemented in such a way to possibly help protect many more innocent road users.
Drivers are frequently warned of the dangers of texting or using their mobile phones whilst driving, and the ongoing trial of Philippa Curtis should only serve to highlight the severity of the crime, but with many motorists chosing to ignore the warnings it is pleasing to see that researchers at the University of Utah are using their scientific know-how to help protect the lives of other motorists.
The Amercian scientists have developed a vehicle ignition key that prevents its user from making calls or texting on their phone whilst driving. The key is enclosed in a case and must be released before it can be used to start the ignition. When it is released from its casing a signal is sent to the driver’s mobile phone placing it in ‘driving mode’ with a ‘STOP’ sign shown on the handsets display. The phone is prevented from making any calls apart from emergancy 911 calls and has the ability to warn those trying to contact that driver that they are currently unavailable:
Incoming calls and texts are automatically answered with a message
saying, “I am driving now. I will call you later when I arrive at the
destination safely.”
The device is also clever enough to withstand attempts to disarm it by turning the mobile phone on and off.
Although the researchers are currently aiming the product at teenage drivers in the US, I hope that it’s something car manufacturers worldwide will look into developing into something more suitable for everyday use by all drivers who don’t have handfree car kits.