dbSNP has a warning that the assignment of functional class might be wrong in many SNPs:
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All posts by admin
Why we didn´t find the asthma gene
The J Int Med has a symposium series about the “origins of the developmental origins theory” scienceblog:doi:10.1111/j.1365-2796.2007.01809.x or the so called “Barker hypothesis” Continue reading Why we didn´t find the asthma gene
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A sense for justice
Hans-Werner Bierhoff (in a recent ZEIT interview) believes that our ability to recognise a punishment as fair/just or not fair/just depends on social norms. The ultimate driving force to sense justice, however, seems to be an inborn trait. I even believe in a QTL – a quantitative trait that can clearly defined and even mapped some time to distinct genetic variants.
Monkeys reject unequal pay (scienceblog:doi:10.1038/nature01963:) in the famous Brosnan study – why should humans do?
More details may be found at tit-for-tat.
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The third largest problem in epidemiology
Some people are writing their diaries on the web (“blogs”), other are sharing photos (“flickr”), their social background (“big brother”) or are broadcasting themselves (“YouTube”); others let you trace their current location (“twitter”) or look at their desktops (“wakoopa”) or computer files (“BitTorrent”). Why is it still so difficult to run an epidemiological study with an adequate response rate? Is that excessive profiling a minority habit only?
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On the fast lane
Thanks to C.S.J. for telling me about the studies of Robert Levine and others.
The pace of life in cities around the world is literally getting faster, a study shows.
Psychologists have measured the speed at which people walk and discovered a 10 per cent increase in the past decade. The findings, from 32 countries, reflect the increasing numbers of people living in the fast lane.
The page above Continue reading On the fast lane
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Fit for Fat or so
“Fit statt fett” is a program discussed today in German parliament. Although all experts agree on the problem they disagree on goals and methods, saying that this is a waste of money by overweight experts sitting round the table. Continue reading Fit for Fat or so
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Osteopontin bridging air pollution and immunology of allergic inflammation
Ostepopontin (OPN) is a remarkable substance. The many aliases already point towards a multitude of biological functions: SPP1=secreted phosphoprotein 1, BSPI 1=bone sialoprotein-1, CIT, ETA-1, GC110940, nephropontin, osteoprotegerin, uropontin, bone sialoprotein I, early T-lymphocyte activation among others. Continue reading Osteopontin bridging air pollution and immunology of allergic inflammation
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Asthma no more a disease but a symptom
There already some rumors – an earlier Lancet perspective named asthma a symptom “like fever” (scienceblog:doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(06)69271-4:). A new editorial now compares it to “diarrhea” Continue reading Asthma no more a disease but a symptom
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The search for the worst sound
There is a nice online study by Trevor Cox on bad vibes which reminds me to a recent comment in Nature: Let the people sing … The most recent development is certainly the digitalorchestraleague postmodern conductors will have game consoles to arrange sound files.
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Ca2+ and IgE
Two decades ago, 10% calcium gluconate had been recommended for the treatment of anaphylaxis (couldn’t find any explanation for that but renember one of my teachers saying it will stabilize the membranes). There is now an update in scienceblog:doi:10.1038/ni1441: Continue reading Ca2+ and IgE
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May I introduce to you
Voice recognition has been on the forefront for many years; genetic fingerprinting is standard use while now nearly all surfaces of common products can be recognized by a phenomenon called laser speckle. Continue reading May I introduce to you
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Where do I come from, where will I go
The fate of an individual cell in the human body is a mystery. A new Nature paper now provides a follow up of single cells of the epithelial cell layer. It is certainly a paper that will rank among the top 10 this year, Continue reading Where do I come from, where will I go
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Illumina 1G Solexa roadshow
I attended today a seminar organized by Illumina here at Mariott in Munich covering their new sequencing technology after the recent acquistion of Solexa. Maybe it is easy to impress me but it seems that also the rest of the audience shared my amazement. Continue reading Illumina 1G Solexa roadshow
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Human head with wrong orientation?
There was a funny comment by Friedemann Schrenk in a recent radio duo podcast [link to br online] that the human head sits with a wrong orientation on the human body as the pipelines for food and air cross over. Continue reading Human head with wrong orientation?
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Vitamin D as a treatment of tuberculosis
There is now a lot of hype around the usefulness of vitamin D in the treatment of tuberculosis (scienceblog:doi:10.1164/rccm.200701-007OC ). The authors mention even their previous review (scienceblog:doi:10.1016/j.jsbmb.2006.12.052:) summarizing 13 studies between 1947 and 1998. Continue reading Vitamin D as a treatment of tuberculosis
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