Monthly Archives: September 2016

Rapid evolution of cancer resistance in Tasmanian devil

Posted on September 25, 2016 by DWN

Although cancer rarely acts as an infectious disease, in the past 20 years, a recently emerged transmissible cancer has appeared in the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii), and the cancer appears to be virtually 100% fatal. Devil facial tumor disease (DFTD) … Continue reading →

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Genomic analysis provides insights into ancient human migration into Southeast Asia

Posted on September 25, 2016 by DWN

To shed light on the peopling of South Asia, and the origins of the morphological adaptations there, authors [attached] analyzed whole-genome sequences from 10 Andamanese individuals and compared them with whole-genome sequences of 60 individuals from mainland Indian populations––having different … Continue reading →

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Reply Reply All Forward Move Delete Close Previous Item Next Item Close On the astronomical origin of the Hallstatt oscillation found in radiocarbon and climate records throughout the Holocene

Posted on September 22, 2016 by DWN

Besides gene-environment interactions, the GEITP Chat Group has always covered “fraud and corruption in science”. There is no larger issue of hype, fraud and deception being perpetrated on Western civilization over the past 35 years … than the nonscientific claims … Continue reading →

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“Incomplete penetrance” is poorly understood in genetics

Posted on September 22, 2016 by DWN

“Incomplete penetrance” is a term used in genetics to explain why “having the genotype does not always necessarily result in the phenotype (trait). Even more problematic, penetrance might be 10% or 80%. And the phenotype might be a Mendelian disorder … Continue reading →

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CREBRT variant increases obesity yet decreases risk of T2D in Samoans (??)

Posted on September 22, 2016 by DWN

There are many epidemiological studies showing a link between obesity and type-2 diabetes (T2D). This intriguing Nat Genet paper and News-N-Views editorial [attached] describes an exception to that rule. Samoans are a unique founder population, in part because of their … Continue reading →

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“New and improved” method, Relative Citation Ratio (RCR) ..??

Posted on September 22, 2016 by DWN

Despite all the recognized limitations, bibliometric assessments of scientific productivity have become increasingly widely adopted. Authors [below] describe herein what they believe is “an improved method to quantify the influence of a research article”. They propose to make use of … Continue reading →

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Lack of ethnic diversity in people whose genomes have been sequenced makes “precision medicine” complicated for people of non-European history

Posted on September 22, 2016 by DWN

This concern has been voiced by many––virtually from the beginning of The Human Genome Project in Oct 1990, i.e. that concentration of large-scale genomic data generation on individuals of European ancestry can contribute to healthcare inequalities. Currently, in search for … Continue reading →

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Newly discovered plant receptor protein interacts in an unusual way with the hormone it binds

Posted on September 22, 2016 by DWN

Generally, a receptor and its associated hormone (or other chemical) ligand are often thought of as a lock-and-key, in which the ligand as the “key” fits perfectly into the receptor which is the “lock”. This results in a biological response––with … Continue reading →

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