Category Archives: Center for Environmental Genetics

Meta-analysis of GWAS of gestational duration, and spontaneous preterm birth, identifies new maternal risk loci

GEITP is aware that this project has been a focus of Ge Zhang [Division of Genetics, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital] for >6 years; finally, the results are published and can be shared [see attached]. 😊 More than 15 million pregnancies per … Continue reading

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The crusade against carbon dioxide and integrity in climate science

In September 2023, Princeton University’s Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor Emeritus of Physics, William Happer, spoke at the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) to an audience in Brisbane, Australia about the crusade against carbon dioxide and integrity in climate science. Will … Continue reading

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Pioneers of mRNA COVID vaccines win the 2023 Medicine Nobel

As I understand it — here is yet another example of a grad student or postdoc (perhaps in particular because she was a female?) being ridiculed, or passed over, while it was her original idea that represented the breakthrough. But … Continue reading

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Tasmanian tiger RNA is first to be recovered from an extinct animal

This technical breakthrough — boggles the mind. 😉 DwN 19 September 2023 Tasmanian tiger RNA is first to be recovered from an extinct animal Genetic sequences from a museum specimen offer fresh clues about the physiology of thylacines, which went … Continue reading

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How to train your jellyfish: brainless box jellies learn from experience

This story is an amazing example of gene-environment interactions. For example, it explains how the “Scarecrow could function without a brain” in the movie, The Wizard of Oz. And it also explains how many politicians are able to survive in … Continue reading

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NIEHS Superfund Research Program: Modified Iron Particles Could Improve Bioremediation of PFAS

MORE COMMENTS: I certainly am not dismissing most structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies. Kepone binding to the estrogen receptor was simply a very memorable exception. 😊 As I recall, the main clinical effect of chlordecone was neurotoxicity — even small children … Continue reading

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NIEHS Superfund Research Program: Modified Iron Particles Could Improve Bioremediation of PFAS

This report summarizes a promising approach to bioremediation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) — which comprise a group of “forever chemicals” which are almost impossible to break down in our environment. 😊 DwN September 2023 woman doing science Modified … Continue reading

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Tonga Eruption Blasted Unprecedented Amount of Water into Stratosphere

This is what I’ve told several of you. I think this (Jan 2022) volcano explains why these past 5 months (in western Oregon) have been +3 to +6 degF warmer (and more humid) than normal. And the U.S. Southwest and … Continue reading

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Breast cancer often spreads to spine — newly discovered stem cell might explain wh

Yours truly certainly remembers hearing in medical school that “forceful events such as coughs (i.e., the Valsalva Maneuver) can momentarily reverse blood flow and jolt cancer cells loose, into the vicinity of the spine” — where they might form new … Continue reading

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Human ancestors passed through a very serious bottleneck

This recently-published paper [see attached Hu et al. paper] has been all over the news this past week. Human ancestors (hominins) diverged from gorilla and chimpanzee ancestors between 8 million and 5.5 million years ago. One of these lineages ultimately … Continue reading

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