Down Syndrome’s Extra Chromosome Silenced in Lab Cells - Bloomberg
Scientists silenced the extra copy of a chromosome that causes Down syndrome in laboratory stem cells, offering the first evidence that it may be possible to correct the genes responsible for the disorder.
Down syndrome slows physical and intellectual development. About 6,000 babies are born every year with the condition, which is caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21.
While some genetic disorders have been easier to study because a single gene drives them, Down syndrome is more complex, said Robert Nussbaum, chief of genomic medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
“It’s a technical tour-de-force,” Nussbaum said of the research. “We don’t really understand why the extra copy of chromosome 21 causes the problems it does. So this might allow us to have a thorough description of what goes wrong.”
The Science! The Xist Gene
In today’s paper, researchers led by Jeanne Lawrence, a professor of the department of cell and developmental biology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, used a gene called Xist. The gene creates a regulating piece of RNA that ordinarily quiets the second X chromosome in women. In women, the extra RNA makes copies that coat the whole second X chromosome, preventing it from producing proteins. The scientists wondered if this quieting effect could be used specifically to silence the third copy of chromosome 21.
The scientists used skin cells from a Down syndrome patient that had been tricked into reverting into stem cells that, like embryonic ones, can grow into any type of tissue. Then they inserted a copy of Xist into the extra chromosome using technology from Richmond, California-based Sangamo.
Once inserted into the stem cells, scientists switched on Xist using the antibiotic tetracycline, setting off a process that effectively silenced the extra chromosome, Lawrence said.
When the chromosome had been silenced, the cells grew better in the culture, Lawrence said. What’s more, they saw an increased rate of formation of cells that are precursors to neurons.
(via futureofscience)
The spread of the black death.
Poland
Poland, tell us your secret.
Poland is the
oldnew Madagascar.If I remember correctly, Poland’s secret is that the jews where being blamed all over europe (as usual) as scapegoats for the black plague. Poland was the only place that accepted Jewish refugees, so pretty much all of them moved there.
Now, one of the major causes of getting the plague was poor hygiene. This proved very effective for the plague because everyone threw their poop into the streets because there were no sewers, and literally no one bathed because it was against their religion. Unless they were jewish, who actually bathed relatively often. When all the jews moved to Poland, they brought bathing with them, and so the plague had little effect there.
Milan survived by quarantining its city and burning down the house of anyone showing early symptoms, with the entire family inside it.
I reblogged this tons of times, but the Milan info is new.
Damn Italy, you scary.
Poland: “Hey, feeling a bit down? Have a quick wash! There, you see? All better”
Milan: “Aw, feeling a bit sick are we? BURN MOTHERFUCKER, BURN!!!!!”
Also, this might have something to do with it: from what I understand, O blood type is uncommonly… common in Poland. Something to do with large families in small villages and a LOT of intermarriage. The black plague was caused by a bacterium that produced, in its waste in the human body, wastes that very closely mimic the “B” marker sugars on red blood cells that keep the body from attacking its own immune system. Anyone who has a B blood type had an immune system that was naturally desensitized to the presence of the bacterium, and therefore was more prone to developing the disease. Anyone who had an O type was doubly lucky because the O blood type means the total absence of ANY markers, A or B, meaning that their bodys’ immune system would react quickly and violently against the invaders, while someone with an A may show symptoms and recover more slowly, while someone with B would have just died. Because O is a recessive blood type, it shows in higher numbers when more people who carry the recessive genes marry other people who also carry the recessive gene. Poland, which has a nearly 700 year history of being conquered by or partnering with every other nation in the surrounding area, was primarily an agricultural country, focused around smaller, farming communities where people were legally tied to, and required to work, “their” land, and so historically never “spread” their genes across a large area. The economy was, and had been, unstable for a very long period of time leading up to the plague, the government had been ineffective and had very little reach in comparison to the armies of the other countries around for a very very long time, and so its people largely remained in small communities where multiple generations of cross-familial inbreeding could have allowed for this more recessive gene to show up more frequently. Thus, there could be a higher percentage of O blood types in any region of the country, guaranteeing less spread of the illness and moving slower when it did manage to travel. Combine this with the fact that there were very few large, urban centers where the disease would thrive, and with the above facts, and you’ve got a lovely recipe for avoiding the plague.
Interestingly enough, as a result from the plague, the entirety of Europe now has a higher percentage of people with O blood type than any other region of the world.
WHY IS THIS ALL SO COOL
When Tumblr teaches you more about the plague than 12 years of school ever did.
Just to throw a nod in, as a medieval historian, this is all credible, and is the leading theory as to the plagues effectiveness at this point. So. Enjoy your new knowledge!
(via iwilleatyourenglish)
Lemony Snicket’s short letters for his dead ex-fiancee written in his books “A Series of Unfortunate Events”
bawling my eyes out over “I Remember You” for like the seventh time. probably because my grandma had alzheimers that storyline just kills me
Teen creates bio-plastic from banana peels
Sixteen-year-old Elif Bilgin of Turkey has developed a way to replace traditional petroleum-based plastic with banana peels.
The Turkish teen took home a US$50,000 prize for her project “Go Bananas!” Thursday after winning the second annual Scientific American Science in Action Award, associated with Google Science Fair.
“My project makes it possible to use banana peels, a waste material which is thrown away almost every day, in the electrical insulation of cables,” Bilgin said in a media statement.
“This is both an extremely nature-friendly and cheap process, which has the potential to decrease the amount of pollution created due to the use of plastics, which contain petroleum derivatives.”
Bilgin spent two years developing the bio-plastic, which does not decay. She said the process is so easy that it is possible to repeat at home, with special care taken for chemicals used in the production process.
In September, the teen will compete at Google’s California headquarters for the overall Google Science Fair prize for 15-to-16 year olds. She will also have access to a one-year mentorship.
Has anyone else noticed how many brilliant breakthroughs in science are coming from the minds of teenage girls the last few years? Between this story, the four girls in Nigeria who invented a generator that runs on urine, the California girl who invented a twenty-second cell phone charger… Who knows where we’d be today without the patriarchal interference of men, stealing or hiding the brilliance of women?
Our future is in the hands of teenage girls, and I for one feel really good about that.
When I was about 7 I wanted to invent a thing that purified water based off of fish gills. I went to the school library to do research like a good little inventor and one of my teachers asked me what I was doing, and then told me that there were some new barbie books in, and that I’d probably be better off with those.
Don’t forget the girl who invented a torch that’d light up just from the heat of your hands
basically everyone should stop shitting on teenage girls because they do awesome things when you let them
or that one time a girl found the cure for cancer that we could be using in 15 years
(via theseadorkablethings)
Ishimaru highlight reel
Somebody took a picture of their dog everyday for a year kinda like that video on YouTube and it’s so cute :3
PUPPY TURNS INTO A DOGGY!
Cutest gif in the world
HE’S SO HAPPY ON HIS FIRST BIRTHDAY OMG LOOK AT HIM!
(via theseadorkablethings)
To all my recent followers I haven’t greeted
I ask u ur favourite dinosaur, you say “you” and kiss me on the nose
I say “well, mine is a styracosaurus because it has a shield head like a triceratops but its got lots of spikes and its pretty much a cooler version of a triceratops on many levels its like the third evolution of a protoceratops”
(via honted)
don’t think there will ever be another news story with a title like that
(via sempiternus-noctem)