All posts by admin

Joke, Philosophy

I have found little that is good about human beings on the whole

Being hit by some recent turns in science politics I remember a quote by Freud

“I have found little that is ‘good’ about human beings on the whole. In my experience most of them are trash, no matter whether they publicly subscribe to this or that ethical doctrine or to none at all. That is something you can not say aloud, or perhaps even think, though your experience of life can hardly have been different than mine.”

The source, however, is difficult to find – a letter to Oskar Pfister on Oct, 9, 1918 published in: Psychoanalysis and Faith: The Letters of Sigmund Freud and Oskar Pfister, eds. Heinrich Meng and Ernst L. Freud, trans. by Eric Mosbacher. New York: Basic Books, 1963. The German version is being published in Sigmund Freud, Oskar Pfister, Briefe 1909-1939, Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1963, 2. Aufl. S. 62.
Continue reading I have found little that is good about human beings on the whole →

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 24.03.2026
Allergy, Vitamins

Once more: Calcium and IgE

Here comes the most striking connection between calcium and IgE that updates some earlier posts here

The fact that the regulation of intracellular Ca2+ concentration is different in various T-cell effectors may offer the opportunity to target key intermediates … to inhibit specifically the functions of one given T-cell subset. Continue reading Once more: Calcium and IgE →

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 24.03.2026
Genetics

Multiple layers of heritability like a Russian matryoshka doll

Here comes my most favorite paper in 2010 so far, clearly written and elegant in it’s simplicity. It is printed in this week’ Nature magazine

One reason for this is that epigenetic factors are sometimes malleable and plastic enough to react to cues from the external and internal environments. Such induced epigenetic changes can be solidified and propagated during cell division, resulting in permanent maintenance of the acquired phenotype.

Petronis sees heritability as multiple layers (like a Russian matryoshka doll) which is a far more appropriate view than the current DNA sequence based view.
The paper touches many points that I will also include in a forthcoming review where I am describing epigenetics as a buffering system before changes are permanently written in the genome, yea, yea.

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 24.03.2026
Joke, Theology, Vitamins

Hallelujah

Two new exciting papers about Jewish ancestry in the AJHG and Nature probably missed some of the background. As another blogger noted

It is remarkable that Jews have maintained a tangible cultural identity through those 26 centuries of dispersion, and perhaps even more remarkable that genetic studies now show they have maintained a substantial genetic identity as well.

Here is the answer – sharing faith and music. Continue reading Hallelujah →

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 24.03.2026
Allergy, Genetics

Genes on the fast lane

I need to refer here to a post 3 years ago and the medical literature that genes frequencies may have changed rapidly between generations.
Any empirical proof of this hypothesis, however, is scarce so far. Or I have to say, until this week, when I found a study published earlier in PLoS ONE that tackles this problem: Selection for Genetic Variation Inducing Pro-Inflammatory Responses under Adverse Environmental Conditions in a Ghanaian Population Continue reading Genes on the fast lane →

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 24.03.2026
Software

Optimized data security under Snow Leopard

Filevault is too much of a good thing but slowing down your system and making Time Machine backups difficult if not impossible. No security is also no option, so I thought about creating a sparse image for just a few selected datasets, like mail, calendar, passwords and adressbook. Why should I encrypt 120 Gig when only 8 Gig should be encrypted? The sparsebundle is mounting automatically using a password from the keychain.
I found it, however, difficult to create the correct links that replace the original files.
A Mac OS X hint fortunately explains, how to do that Continue reading Optimized data security under Snow Leopard →

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 24.03.2026
Allergy, Vitamins

Why FFQs don’t predict vitamin D status

Two recent studies used food frequency questionnaires to predict vitamin D status and later allergy (Devereux 2007 and Camargo 2007) probably the only two studies that seem to contradict the vitamin D hypothesis.
New research now reported at the ATS congress [Poster Board # A84] “Measurement of Vitamin D Levels Utilizing Laboratory and Dietary Recall Information from the Tennessee Children’s Respiratory Initiative” and published in Am J Respir Crit Care Med 181;2010:A1890 shows that FFQs don’t predict vitamin D status Continue reading Why FFQs don’t predict vitamin D status →

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 24.03.2026
Allergy, Vitamins

When will they ever learn?

A new abstract shows

Perinatal data for singleton children who were prescribed anti-asthmatic medication (n = 61 256) were compared with corresponding data for all singleton children born in Sweden … (n = 1 338 319). … Being the first-born child, maternal age above 44 yr, involuntary childlessness for more than 1 yr, maternal smoking during pregnancy, maternal diabetes mellitus of any kind, pre-eclampsia, caesarean section, and instrumental vaginal delivery were all associated with an increased prescription of anti-asthmatic medication during childhood. Continue reading When will they ever learn? →

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 24.03.2026
Genetics, Philosophy

Spit Kits, SNP chips and neurosis

Took me some time to find the famous Forbes June 2007 reference but here it is

“The risk is that 20 years from now everyone gets tested and learns they have a 5% risk for developing 10 diseases and a 2% risk for 20 other diseases– and what we do is increase neurosis instead of improving health,” frets Yale University geneticist Richard Lifton.

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 24.03.2026