They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
For trying to change the system from within
I’m coming now, I’m coming to reward them
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin
I’m guided by a signal in the heavens
I’m guided by this birthmark on my skin
I’m guided by the beauty of our weapons
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin…
(thanks to Leonard Cohen for a true science motto
You may want to read the full story at Public Rambling (fiction), the NYT article of Amy Harmon (fact) or the “Peepshow” article of Marco Evers (fact) and come back here afterwards.
The recent advances in genome sequencing (and typing) has left us with an enormous amount of data. Although technology has been available for a couple of years knowledge exploded only recently, where people now may decide to participate in a genome study or even have their genes tested on their own costs at DeCodeMe, 23andme, Navigenics or other personal genome service provider.
The main question is, what do these data really mean for us? Should we start an Open Source Project Genome Explained to collect the necessary annotation rules and provide a platform to apply these rules to local data? The data mode may be quite simple: Continue reading Genome explained
At least some researchers believe that hayfever is contagious.
Only last week, however, I found this advertisement in Science (April 18, 1890) – so this is not a very new concept. (there is an old saying that obsolete theories only die with their proponents, ;-) Continue reading Is hayfever contagious?
A paper in Pediatr Allergy Immunol asks this question – and it is one of the best questions to ask. Given my sceptical view of farm related explanations I find relief here
The negative association between rural living and the risk of atopy during childhood, which is independent of farming practices, implies that it is mainly driven by an urban living effect.
I have just completed an ultra short letter to JACI on a confusing vitamin D article Continue reading A, then E, then B, then D, and then again E
Steven Pinker complains in this week Nature about the recent review of his book “Stuff of Thought“.
The fact that I (like most cognitive psychologists) have not signed up to these views is the only point of contact between my book and her review.
While Pinker could have got at least his opinion through, my comments on ORMDL3 remained stuck although I also claimed that the authors of this paper
free-associate to her own beliefs.
Yea, yea.
This is a topic occasionally popping up (frequently after some spectacular press article) but there doesn´t seem so much systematic research. Only recently I came across an article on plastic additives and surfactants (alkylphenols) that can suppress Th1 development – so is plastic the “Western life style factor”? The only other study that I have heard before is about benzophenone, octylphenol, and tributyltin chloride (TBT).
or in German “wes Brot ich ess, des Lied ich sing’ – the recent PLoS blog is about Continue reading He who pays the piper calls the tune
Is there a working alternative to Endnote(R) or Reference Manager(R) for Open Office (noR)? The Bibliographic Project Homepage says that Continue reading bibliographic.openoffice.org.call
Last night I completed the prerelase of a new database engine that may be used both for online and offline collection of interview data and laboratory values. Continue reading Prerelease: A universal study database engine
The end of the year 2007 is approaching very fast. I can already vote for the best allergy paper in 2007 – it is a paper from Vienna by Victoria Leb about the molecular and functional analysis of the Ambrosia antigen T cell receptor. They have been able to isolate and transfer alpha (TRAV17-TRAJ45) and beta chain (TRBV18,TRBD1 and TRBJ2-7) TCR chains into Jurkat cells and even other human blood lymphocytes with convicing evidence that the infected cells were Ambrosia Art V1 reactive.
This opens brand new perspectives for developing a truely allergic TCR transgenic mouse that can be easily challenged and desensitized. It may even allow immediate testing of a variety of substance (and constructs) to ultimately cure allergy. My favorite is to feed DCs with antigen coupled to a T cell suicide program on succesfull antigen presentation.
He leaves the lab at 5pm sharp – as a news feature about Shizuo Akira now tells us. This is remarkable as many of us believe that we need to work 80 hours a week. Much happens just by chance – as may be seen even with most-cited paper (of another vitamin researcher…)
Attending last week another Illumina sequencer course, I still have the question how to enrich the target sequence. A colleague calling me this morning (thanks TB!) had a pointer to a new nature methods editorial covering three different methods- a 100-mer capture probe for each exon sized segment with the need of extremely deep resequencing and two other methods using direct hybridization of segments onto commercially oligo arrays. Aren´t there any other protocols?
A new paper in the EJCN examines genetic and non-genetic factors influencing vitamin D serum levels. The authors find 24% of the variability explained by season & intake Continue reading Genetics of 25-hydroxy D3
We always need replication in scientific studies. I therefore can´t understand why there is now such a fuzz in Nature as they
… took the unusual step of soliciting an independent verification of the paper during the process of peer review. This is the first time that Nature has obtained second-party replication ahead of publication.
this could have saved thousands of dollars if it would have been also applied to other studies before, yea, yea.