It’s almost every woman’s dream: Getting rid of unwanted fat and getting a breast enhancement at the same time.
Dr. Lu Jean Feng is one of a handful of surgeons in the country using a revolutionary procedure that separates stem cells found in fat and then redistributing it into the breasts.
View the original article here: New procedure uses stem cells & patient’s own body fat to rebuild breasts – WVLA-TV
The campaign to defeat the measure is now running a statewide television ad called “Arbitrary Exemptions.”
What’s the charge? Henry I. Miller, a fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution who was founding director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Biotechnology, argues that “the way Prop. 37 has been crafted really makes no sense at all.” He says the measure would cover “the meat in dog food” but not “meat for human consumption.” Images point to products such as cow milk and beer that would not have to be labeled.
View the original article here: Reality check: Anti-Proposition 37 ad is partially misleading – San Jose Mercury News
A breakthrough in fertility research lays open the possibility that gay and lesbian couples could someday have children who are completely their own, genetically speaking.
Researchers at Kyoto University in Japan have created eggs from stem cells in mice and used them to produce healthy offspring, NPR reports. They first used embryonic stem cells, then repeated the results stem cells created from adult cells, such as blood or skin. The same team previously created sperm from stem cells. “Stem cells can morph into any cell in the body,” observed NPR reporter Rob Stein.
View the original article here: Create a Baby From Stem Cells? Research Suggests Possibility – Advocate.com
An isolated outbreak of a deadly disease known as acute hemorrhagic fever, which killed two people and left one gravely ill in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the summer of 2009, was probably caused by a novel virus scientists have never seen before.
Described this week in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens, the new microbe has been named Bas-Congo virus (BASV) after the province in the southwest corner of the Congo where the three people lived.
View the original article here: Genetic sleuthing uncovers deadly new virus in Africa
After a French researcher published an alarming study on genetically modified crops, Indonesian scientists say they will scrutinize research from around the globe before commenting on the use of transgenic products in the country.
“We will check empirical data from independent research bodies to determine whether the genetically-modified products are safe for consumption, Bambang Purwantara, a member of the National Genetically-Modified Product Biosafety Commission, said at a press conference in Jakarta on Friday.
All genetically engineered crops in Indonesia had been “thoroughly” evaluated, Purwantara said. “There’s no need to worry about anything.”
View the original article here: Transgenic products safe, say RI scientists – Jakarta Post
A British scientist has won the Nobel Prize for Medicine for his work in creating stem cells to battle hitherto untreatable diseases.
Sir John Gurdon, 79, shared the £750,000 prize with Japan’s Shinya Yamanaka for their ‘groundbreaking work’ that has revolutionised science’, the Nobel Assembly at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute said.
Their research has effectively offered a new way to create stem cells with the ability to become different types of tissue by effectively turning back the clock on adult cells, restoring them to a so-called ‘pluripotent’ state.
View the original article here: Brit and Japanese scientists share Nobel Prize for ‘groundbreaking’ stem cell … – Daily Mail
An African mosquito species with a deadly capacity to transmit malaria has a perplexing evolutionary history, according to discovery by researchers at the Fralin Life Science Institute at Virginia Tech. Closely related African mosquito species originated the ability to transmit human malaria multiple times during their recent evolution, according to a study published this week in PLoS Pathogens by Igor Sharakhov, an associate professor of entomology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Maryam Kamali of Tehran, Iran, a Ph.D. student in the department of entomology. The discovery could have implications for malaria control by enabling researchers to detect and target specific genetic changes associated with the capacity to transmit a parasite.
View the original article here: Mosquito genetics may offer clues to malaria control
Researchers have identified genetic “signatures” for aggressive prostate cancer (the second most common cause of death in men, after lung cancer). The findings could one day help improve patient treatment and outcomes. These genetic patterns were identified from simple blood tests, with no tissue or biopsy was needed.Mouse eggs can now be cooked up from scratch. Using stem cells, a Japanese team has created healthy eggs that, once fertilised, grow into normal mouse pups.
Both egg and sperm cells start life as primordial germ cells (PGCs). Last year, Katsuhiko Hayashi and his colleagues at Kyoto University in Japan found they could generate PGC-like cells from either mouse embryonic stem cells or body cells that can turn into stem cells – known as induced pluripotent stem cells or IPSCs. What’s more, the team managed to coax these PGC-like cells into becoming sperm (Cell, DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2011.06.052).
View the original article here: Mouse eggs created from stem cells
The debate about the possible harmful effects of GM foods came roaring back after a French scientific research linked the appearance of cancerous tumors in rats consuming GM corn. The study caused an uproar and the French Prime Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, came to announce incentive measures for banning GMOs (genetically modified organisms) in all of Europe, if it confirms the result of the harmfulness of the product.
In research published in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology, 200 rats were fed for two years in different ways: the first group with NK603 grains of corn genetically modified and the pesticide Roundup, the second with the GMO, but without the pesticide, the third party without GMOs, but with the pesticide, and the fourth without GMOs or pesticides. The results showed a high mortality rate of the first three groups due to high incidence of cancer.
View the original article here: Transgenic grains again scare Europe | EUTimes.net
Indian state Chhattisgarh has begun an ambitious programme to increase the population of the wild buffalo through cloning.
As a first step towards this goal, the government has set in motion the process for preparing a clone of Asha, the lone female wild buffalo left in the state’s Udanti Wildlife Sanctuary, about 150 km from here, in Gariaband district. Though there are eight other buffaloes in the 247.59 sq km sanctuary, Asha is the only female.
View the original article here: Bid to save Indian state Chhattisgarh’s wild buffaloes through cloning – BioScholar News
U.S. researchers have developed a system, triggered by blue light, that can seek out and turn on or off any desired gene, which could be useful for research in biotechnology and in medicine.
This is the first time specific sections of DNA have been turned on and off. The researchers could control where and when a gene was turned on, and how quickly this happened. They also report tuning the level of gene expression using the intensity of the light in their paper published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
View the original article here: Gene therapy gets the blue light – Cosmos
In two papers in major scientific journals, researchers today suggested pushing DNA sequencing into more routine use in the clinic, and not just as a research tool.
Dutch researchers are proposing that DNA sequencing replace older forms of genetic tests for diagnosing the cause of severe intellectual disability, the second time in a day that researchers have pushed the emerging technology as a first-choice diagnostic test for severe illness. Those results were published this evening in the New England Journal of Medicine.
View the original article here: DNA Sequencing: Is Science Fiction Becoming Medical Fact? | Forbes
The pistachios I grow on my farm aren’t genetically modified, so I was astonished to learn that if Proposition 37 passes next month, the new labeling law will affect my crop.
There won’t even be a good reason for it. Prop 37 would deliver another hard blow in a bad economy–and it will hurt not just me, but every Californian. Advocates of Prop 37 say they support the “right to know.” They repeat this phrase like a mantra.
So let’s exercise our right to know. Prop 37 is widely described as a referendum to require special labels for foods with genetically modified ingredients, but it’s much more than this. Its wording is full of political agendas, bizarre contradictions, and hidden costs that will drive up your grocery-store bill.
View the original article here: The unintended consequences of California Prop 37
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has found that a controversial study, which claimed to link genetically modified (GM) crops to early death and tumor development in rats, is not scientifically valid or useful in assessing health risks, according to a statementreleased last week (October 4).
The study, published September 19 in Food and Chemical Toxicology and authored by Gilles-Eric Séralini of the University of Caen in France and colleagues, claimed that rats fed GM corn—which is approved for use in Europe and America—developed massive mammary tumors and died earlier than rats fed conventional corn during a two year study. But scientific experts swiftly pointed out flaws in the study’s design and analysis. The day after its publication, the EFSA announced that it would create a task force to evaluate the study and any possible risks to public health it reported.
View the original article here: Anti-GMO Study is “Inadequate” – Scientist (blog)
The old battle between seed companies and opponents of genetically engineered agriculture is being waged anew in California, where voters will decide in November on a proposition that would require the labeling of some — but not all — foods made with biotech grains.
Fearing that California would again set off a trend, big seed companies (including Johnston-based DuPont Pioneer), grocery chains, soft drink companies and other food processors have put up a war chest estimated as big as $35 million to defeat California’s Proposition 37.
View the original article here:How Prop 37 will impact Midwest farmers
There’s a growing gap between what grocery shoppers think they know about their food and the reality. Those tomatoes with the evenly rich red color that look ripened to perfection? They were bred to avoid showing streaks of green, a result of genetic prodding that also stole away most of their flavor. Unless the carton says otherwise, the eggs didn’t come from chickens that scratched around in barnyards but rather spent their lives in cramped battery cages that offered no room to move around. There’s a good chance the meat came from animals that were given antibiotics from their youngest days, both to promote growth and to prevent disease from sweeping through their crowded pens. Pesticides were almost certainly used on the fruits and vegetables. And the sweetener in the soda, or the golden corn on the cob, probably was a product of genetic engineering.
View the original article here: LA Times comes out against Prop 37
The ACLU has petitioned the US Supreme Court to review a Federal Circuit Court’s decision that an isolated DNA sequence is a “composition of matter” that is eligible to be patented under federal law.View the original article here: ACLU asks Supreme Court to rule on gene patents
View the original article here: How genetics shape political beliefs
