Scientists create human chromosome in breakthrough that could revolutionise medicine -

Scientists create human chromosome in breakthrough that could revolutionise medicine - 



Scientists have created genetically-engineered mice with artificial human chromosomes in every cell of their bodies, as part of a series of studies showing that it may be possible to treat genetic diseases with a radically new form of gene therapy.

In one of the unpublished studies, researchers made a human artificial chromosome in the laboratory from chemical building blocks rather than chipping away at an existing human chromosome, indicating the increasingly powerful technology behind the new field of synthetic biology.

The development comes as the Government announces today that it will invest tens of millions of pounds in synthetic biology research in Britain, including an international project to construct all the 16 individual chromosomes of the yeast fungus in order to produce the first synthetic organism with a complex genome.

A synthetic yeast with man-made chromosomes could eventually be used as a platform for making new kinds of biological materials, such as antibiotics or vaccines, while human artificial chromosomes could be used to introduce healthy copies of genes into the diseased organs or tissues of people with genetic illnesses, scientists said.

Researchers involved in the synthetic yeast project emphasised at a briefing in London earlier this week that there are no plans to build human chromosomes and create synthetic human cells in the same way as the artificial yeast project. A project to build human artificial chromosomes is unlikely to win ethical approval in the UK, they said.

However, researchers in the US and Japan are already well advanced in making “mini” human chromosomes called HACs (human artificial chromosomes), by either paring down an existing human chromosome or making them “de novo” in the lab from smaller chemical building blocks.

Natalay Kouprina of the US National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, is part of the team that has successfully produced genetically engineered mice with an extra human artificial chromosome in their cells. It is the first time such an advanced form of a synthetic human chromosome made “from scratch” has been shown to work in an animal model, Dr Kouprina said.

“The purpose of developing the human artificial chromosome project is to create a shuttle vector for gene delivery into human cells to study gene function in human cells,” she told The Independent. “Potentially it has applications for gene therapy, for correction of gene deficiency in humans. It is known that there are lots of hereditary diseases due to the mutation of certain genes.”

Synthetic biology is loosely defined as designing new kinds of life-forms or making new genetic arrangements that do not exist in nature, which could provide practical benefits to society, notably in medicine, manufacturing or environmental monitoring.

At a speech to the Royal Society last November, the Chancellor George Osborne identified synthetic biology as one of eight areas of scientific development that the Government wants British scientists to focus on in the coming years.

Read more -

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/exclusive-scientists-create-human-chromosome-in-breakthrough-that-could-revolutionise-medicine-8701357.html

Omega-3 fish oil supplements may INCREASE risk of prostate cancer -- by 70%... -

Omega-3 fish oil supplements may INCREASE risk of prostate cancer -- by 70%... - 



Fish-oil supplements credited with a range of health benefits could trigger prostate cancer.
Experts found that omega-3 fatty acids may raise the risk of the most lethal form of the disease by more than 70 per cent.
Researchers warned against omega-3 pills, and recommended eating just one or two meals of oily fish per week.
Fish-oil supplements are said to protect against heart attacks and strokes, stave off arthritis, boost brain power and prevent behaviour disorders in children.

However, scientists found that those with the highest levels of omega-3 in their blood were 71 per cent more likely to develop fast-growing, hard-to-treat prostate tumours.
They were also more likely to contract the slower, less deadly form of the disease, with the overall prostate cancer risk raised by 43 per cent.

The team from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle warned: ‘There is really no evidence that taking dietary supplements is beneficial to health, and there is increasing evidence that taking high doses is harmful.’
Dr Alan Kristal said the levels of omega-3 linked to the increased cancer risk would be reached by taking just one supplement a day, or three or four meals of fish such as salmon and mackerel each week.
Of mealtimes, he said: ‘There are good things in fish, so the message is moderation. It is probably not bad for you, and it tastes good.’

Taking omega-3 was also associated with a 44 per cent greater chance of developing low-grade prostate cancer
However, he stressed that when compared to fatty acids received by eating oily fish, the amount consumed via pills was ‘huge’.
It is unclear how fish oil could trigger tumours, but omega-3 may restrict the immune system, or damage our DNA. It is also unclear if it helps tumours to grow and spread.
The finding came amid a wider research project of more than 2,000 men, examining whether supplements of vitamin E and the mineral selenium can help prevent prostate cancer – the most common cancer in British men, killing more than 10,000. Selenium provided no benefit, and vitamin E increased the odds of contracting the disease.
Dr Kristal said: ‘As we do more and more of these studies – and I have been involved in them most of my career – we find high doses of supplements have no effect or increase the risk of the disease you are trying to prevent.
‘There is not really a single example of where taking a supplement lowers chronic disease risk.’ 
Professor Malcolm Mason, of Cancer Research UK, said: ‘The results of this study are surprising, and we clearly need more research to understand what is behind them.’
Although he stressed the researchers could not be certain whether the study’s participants ate oily fish or took omega-3 supplements, he said the results ‘show how complex the effects of food supplements might be’.
Dr Iain Frame of Prostate Cancer UK agreed that ‘larger and more complex studies will need to take place before we understand how the risks of a diet high in omega-3 balance against [its] benefits’.
Several recent studies have called omega-3’s benefits to the heart into question, too. One, which examined 20 studies involving almost 70,000 people, found that those who took omega-3 were no less likely to die of a heart attack or stroke than others


Read more: -

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2359466/Taking-omega-3-fish-oil-supplements-increase-risk-aggressive-prostate-cancer-70.html

The NSA Has Inserted Its Code Into Android OS, Or Three Quarters Of All Smartphones -

The NSA Has Inserted Its Code Into Android OS, Or Three Quarters Of All Smartphones - 



Over a decade ago, it was discovered that the NSA embedded backdoor access into Windows 95, and likely into virtually all other subsequent internet connected, desktop-based operating systems. However, with the passage of time, more and more people went "mobile", and as a result the NSA had to adapt. And adapt they have: as Bloomberg reports, "The NSA is quietly writing code for Google’s Android OS."

Is it ironic that the same "don't be evil" Google which went to such great lengths in the aftermath of the Snowden scandal to wash its hands of snooping on its customers and even filed a request with the secretive FISA court asking permission to disclose more information about the government’s data requests, is embedding NSA code into its mobile operating system, which according to IDC runs on three-quarters of all smartphones shipped in the first quarter? Yes, yes it is.

Google spokeswoman Gina Scigliano confirms that the company has already inserted some of the NSA’s programming in Android OS. "All Android code and contributors are publicly available for review at source.android.com." Scigliano says, declining to comment further.

From Bloomberg:

Through its open-source Android project, Google has agreed to incorporate code, first developed by the agency in 2011, into future versions of its mobile operating system, which according to market researcher IDC runs on three-quarters of the smartphones shipped globally in the first quarter. NSA officials say their code, known as Security Enhancements for Android, isolates apps to prevent hackers and marketers from gaining access to personal or corporate data stored on a device. Eventually all new phones, tablets, televisions, cars, and other devices that rely on Android will include NSA code, agency spokeswoman Vanee’ Vines said in an e-mailed statement. NSA researcher Stephen Smalley, who works on the program, says, “Our goal is to raise the bar in the security of commodity mobile devices.”

See, there's no need to worry: the reason the NSA is generously providing the source code for every Google-based smartphone is for your own security. Oh but it's open-sourced, so someone else will intercept any and all attempts at malice. We forgot.

The story continues:

In a 2011 presentation obtained by Bloomberg Businessweek, Smalley listed among the benefits of the program that it’s “normally invisible to users.” The program’s top goal, according to that presentation: “Improve our understanding of Android security.”

Well one wouldn't want their bug to be visible to users now, would one...

Vines wouldn’t say whether the agency’s work on Android and other software is part of or helps with Prism. “The source code is publicly available for anyone to use, and that includes the ability to review the code line by line,” she said in her statement. Most of the NSA’s suggested additions to the operating system can already be found buried in Google’s latest release—on newer devices including Sony’s Xperia Z, HTC’s One, and Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S4. Although the features are not turned on by default, according to agency documentation, future versions will be. In May the Pentagon approved the use of smartphones and tablets that run Samsung’s mobile enterprise software, Knox, which also includes NSA programming, the company wrote in a June white paper. Sony, HTC, and Samsung declined to comment.

Apple appears to be immune from this unprecedented breach of customer loyalty, if only for now, although open-sourced Linux may not be as lucky:

“Apple (AAPL) does not accept source code from any government agencies for any of our operating systems or other products,” says Kristin Huguet, a spokeswoman for the company. It’s not known if any other proprietary operating systems are using NSA code. SE for Android is an offshoot of a long-running NSA project called Security-Enhanced Linux. That code was integrated a decade ago into the main version of the open-source operating system, the server platform of choice for Internet leaders including Google, Facebook (FB), and Yahoo! (YHOO). Jeff Zemlin, the executive director of the Linux Foundation, says the NSA didn’t add any obvious means of eavesdropping. “This code was peer-reviewed by a lot of people,” he says.

But that's not all:

The NSA developed a separate Android project because Google’s mobile OS required markedly different programming, according to Smalley’s 2011 presentation. Brian Honan, an information technology consultant in Dublin, says his clients in European governments and multinational corporations are worried about how vulnerable their data are when dealing with U.S. companies. The information security world had been preoccupied with Chinese hacking until recently, Honan says. “With Prism, the same accusations can be laid against the U.S. government.”

In short: the (big brother supervised) fun never stops in Stasi 2.0 world. Just buy your 100 P/E stocks, eat your burgers, watch your Dancing With The Stars, pay your taxes, and engage in as much internet contact with other internet-addicted organisms as possible and all shall be well.

Read more -

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-07-09/nsa-has-inserted-its-code-android-os-bugging-three-quarters-all-smartphones

‘Baby Bangs’ Wigs For Bald Babies The New Craze -

‘Baby Bangs’ Wigs For Bald Babies The New Craze - 



There’s some outrage in the parenting world about what could be the latest accessory for infants: Wigs.

Some babies have it and some don’t, and there are some parents going to great lengths to make sure their baby has a full head of hair.

As CBS 2′s Emily Smith reported Tuesday, a company called baby-bangs.com makes that happen with wigs for infants. They come in an array of colors and styles to suit all different bald babies.

Online baby bloggers and other social media sites have taken issue with the accessory. Some local parents also had plenty to say about it.

“I don’t feel like babies should be subjected to wearing wigs just yet. They’re just babies,” a mom told Smith.

“I think kind of the charm of a new baby is the little bird fuzz that they have,” said another woman.

“Is it made out of real hair?” one man wondered.

The product is made of silky strands of a man-made fiber, according to the company’s website. It’s a simple hair and headband accessory.

As a maternity fashion designer, pregnancy and parenting guru Rosie Pope said she has seen some outlandish products.

“It’s endless — baby stilettos were a big thing last year for babies that can’t walk,” she told Smith.

Pope admitted her daughter gets mistaken for a boy.

“She’s pushed around in her brother’s stroller, which is all blue, and she has hand-me-downs which are blue, too. But I know she’s a girl,” Pope said.

Another mom said she has a baby without a lot of hair too, and wouldn’t even consider a wig.

“Never the baby wigs. I think that’s kind of ridiculous,” the woman told Smith.

Her 4-month-old, Ava, doesn’t have any hair yet. The wigs are made for newborns to 9 month olds.

“Yeah, no thanks!” one mom told Smith.

While the product’s mantra is believing in the beauty of childhood, parents Smith spoke to said bald is beautiful and added they will all grow hair in due time.

The wigs start at $20 and go up depending on custom designs.

Read more -

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/07/09/baby-bangs-for-bald-babies-the-new-craze-but-not-all-parents-on-board/