Gene editing: A path to "designer babies"?

So, whose DNA do they stick back in the area they cut out? And how did they figure this out? What might this mean for DNA for family research? Would there be another set of DNA in there from another person who was not in the room when the egg was fertilized?

“The era of human gene editing has begun,” said Vivek Wadhwa in Washington​Post.com. In a major biological breakthrough, a team led by researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have successfully modified the DNA of human embryos to replace defective genes that cause a hereditary heart condition. The scientists used CRISPR, a “gene-editing system” that essentially cuts the faulty DNA portion out and replaces it with a healthy version of the gene. This is a monumental breakthrough—one that could eventually lead to the eradication of “all hereditary diseases,” including cystic fibrosis, early-onset Alzheimer’s, and some cancers. But it has sparked an ethics firestorm. Will gene editing also be used to make people taller, stronger, smarter? Where will we “draw the line”? There are already “plenty of people who wouldn’t think twice about dictating their embryo’s IQ,” said Nicole Russell in the Washington Examiner. The CRISPR research moves us a step closer to “designer babies.”

Sorry, but “these fears are closer to science fiction than they are to science,” said Pam Belluck in The New York Times. CRISPR alters just one gene with a harmful mutation; characteristics like intelligence and height are shaped by thousands of genetic variations. To prevent scientists from going too far with genetic modification, society simply needs strict laws, regulation, and oversight. Every advance of this type has produced “hysterical” predictions of engineered superbabies and mutants, said André Picard in The Globe and Mail (Canada). “We saw it when in vitro fertilization was pioneered” and “when Dolly the sheep was cloned.” Yes, there are potential perils, but with 10,000 single-gene disorders plaguing mankind, think of the “hurt, heartache, and premature death” we can prevent.

Be that as it may, there is still “a great deal we don’t know” about gene editing, said the Los Angeles Times in an editorial. Once people start passing edited DNA to their offspring, “minor issues might become major ones.” When scientists first used genetic modification to create “more uniformly red” tomatoes, for example, they inadvertently “turned off the gene that gave tomatoes flavor.” Who knows what might happen when edited embryos grow and develop? Clearly, preventing disease and suffering is a worthwhile aim. But let’s “get human gene editing right rather than just getting it soon.”

Taken from the August 18, 2017 edition of The Week magazine.

Happy New Year!

I hope your year is full of wonderful surprises and new adventures! If you read this, will you leave a comment below?

Wine wards off diabetes

Back to moderation; as always. This was discussed back in August of 2016 on this blog, here. But even then I was late, as the Week magazine had mentioned it in October 2015. Ironically, readers may have noticed that I am doing the same thing again... writing a lot to clear off my desk.

Consuming alcohol every few days may help protect against type 2 diabetes—even more than not drinking at all. A team at Denmark’s National Institute of Public Health analyzed data from more than 70,000 healthy Danish adults who were surveyed about their health and drinking habits between 2007 and 2012. During that period, nearly 1,750 of the participants developed diabetes. The people who drank alcohol at a moderate rate were significantly less likely to develop the disease: Men who consumed 14 drinks a week had a 43 percent lower risk than teetotalers; women who had nine drinks a week had a 58 percent reduced risk. How often the alcohol was consumed made a difference: Participants who drank three to four days a week were about 30 percent less likely to develop diabetes than those who drank less than once a week. And wine, which contains chemicals that help manage blood sugar, appeared to be more beneficial than beer. Lead author Janne Tolstrup cautioned that the possible benefits of moderate drinking may well be outweighed by the potential health risks. “Alcohol is associated with 50 different conditions,” she tells BBC.com. “We’re not saying, ‘Go ahead and drink.’”

Taken from the August 18, 2017 edition of The Week magazine.

Parabens tied to infertility

And here is another way to trim the family tree... the chemicals in our hygiene products are rendering some men infertile or making their children sick. Pretty scary stuff. You'd think Americans would be outraged. Why aren't we outraged?

Unregulated chemicals in everyday items such as toothpaste, soap, and deodorant could be causing fertility problems for men, a new study suggests. Parabens such as methylparaben and propylparaben are preservatives widely used in U.S. grooming products. To examine the effects of these chemicals on fertility, researchers in Poland studied the lab test results of 315 male fertility clinic patients, reports Reuters​.com. They found that those with higher concentrations of parabens in their saliva, blood, urine, and semen had lower testosterone levels and a larger proportion of sperm that was abnormally shaped or slow moving—factors that reduce the likelihood of fertilization. Parabens were also linked to DNA damage in men’s sperm. The researchers remain unsure why the chemicals may affect fertility, or at what levels they can be harmful—but urge caution all the same. Study leader Joanna Jurewicz says avoiding parabens altogether would be “very difficult, because they are widespread,” but suggests checking labels on personal care products to limit consumption where possible.

Taken from the September 8, 2017 The Week magazine.

Disinfectant and superbugs

This is very scary news. It continues to prey on my mind.

Triclosan, a widely used disinfectant, may be contributing to the rise of drug-resistant bacteria, reports LiveScience.com. The antimicrobial agent has been banned from household soaps in the U.S. and European Union over concerns about its safety and effectiveness. But triclosan is still added to hospital soaps and many other household products, including toothpaste, cosmetics, and toys. When researchers at the University of Birmingham in England conducted lab tests on E. coli, they found that when the bacteria mutated to become resistant to powerful quinolone antibiotics, they also became more resistant to triclosan. “We think that bacteria are tricked into thinking they are always under attack and are then primed to deal with other threats, including triclosan,” says researcher Mark Webber. “The worry is that this might happen in reverse and triclosan exposure might encourage growth of antibiotic-resistant strains.”

Taken from the July 21, 2017 edition of The Week Magazine.

Using Viruses to Kill Super-bacteria

I continue to be amazed and horrified by this development in our heath system. And I always think about this wonderful solution found in England using an ancient recipe.

In the intensifying fight against superbugs, researchers are turning to “phage therapy”—a century-old medical technique that predates antibiotics by 25 years. During World War I, microbiologists discovered the existence of viruses that essentially infect and destroy bacteria. While early experiments showed that these “bacteriophages” could be used to treat infections, they were quickly superseded by antibiotics in the 1940s. With the recent rise in antibiotic-resistant bacteria, however, scientists are giving phage therapy another look. Bacteriophages are ubiquitous—found everywhere from sewage to the human gut—and every type of bacteria is thought to be susceptible to at least one of them. The challenge is finding the right phage-bacteria combination. The process currently involves covering the target bacteria with different viruses, monitoring which parts of the bacteria die, and then cultivating the relevant phage. That currently takes five to 10 days, which would be too long to save many patients—but scientists believe it can be streamlined. The Food and Drug Administration has granted doctors permission to use phage therapy in at least four life-threatening infections. “We desperately need something to treat infections resistant to antibiotics,” bacteriophage expert Carl Merril tells The Washington Post. “We are turning back to these viruses, but with new knowledge and new technology.”

Taken from the July 21, 2017 edition of The Week Magazine.

Drink coffee, live longer

I don't know why I am as interested in coffee as I am, except I always associate coffee with my father. It's nice to see that coffee has healthy side-effects.

You can find the other references to coffee by typing coffee in the search box on the upper left of this blog.

People who rely on a cup of joe to wake up or power through the day could be adding years to their lives. Two sweeping new studies reveal that a coffee habit could boost longevity by reducing the risk of death from heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and kidney disease. “If you like to drink coffee, drink up,” researcher Veronica Setiawan of the University of Southern California tells ScienceDaily.com. “If you’re not a coffee drinker, then you need to consider if you should start.” Setiawan’s team examined data on nearly 186,000 adults of various races and ethnicities. The results showed mortality risk dropped 12 percent for those who drank just one cup of coffee each day while two to three cups brought even better odds—18 percent. Another study analyzed the link between coffee and prolonged life span among more than 500,000 Europeans who were followed for about 16 years. Men who drank the most coffee had a 12 percent lower risk of early death. For women, the risk dropped 7 percent. Coffee contains a complex mixture of powerful antioxidants, but it’s unclear what accounts for the drink’s benefits. Apparently it’s not the caffeine—in both studies, researchers found decaf just as effective.

Taken from the July 28th edition of The Week magazine.

Food Prices falling

Other than China buying Smithfield and sending all our chicken feet to China, I don't think I knew we were sending food to China. And why have we stopped in the last 19 months? And what does that mean for American farmers and ranchers? A couple years ago beef prices hit a 27 year high. And we also discussed the effects of raising beef cattle here. What does it mean for food deserts in our own country?

Food prices in the U.S. fell for 19 straight months through July, the longest streak of price declines since the 1950s. Prices for staples like beef and eggs have fallen dramatically over the past year and a half, thanks in part to cheaper fuel costs and China buying less food from the U.S.

Taken from the September 22, 2017 edition of The Week Magazine.

How humans are still evolving

I should think this would be a no brainer... proving it, obviously, is the problem. But, animals with shorter life spans are obviously evolving, so why would we think humans would stop?

The findings below, though... It seems that there is so much more disease nowadays, that this seems incredible. And, sometimes human procreate before some of these negative traits are expressed... so how would that work? Unless a fertile female can smell it on a man....

Human evolution is often thought of as a process that ended millennia ago, when our ape-like ancestors morphed into Homo sapiens. But a new study has found that the process of natural selection continues, gradually weeding out life-shortening traits in modern humans, including genes that predispose people to heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and heavy smoking. Geneticists examined the genomes of 210,000 people of European descent in search of mutations associated with greater or lesser longevity. Natural selection—a basic mechanism of Darwin’s theory of evolution—is based on the principle that organisms best suited to their environments tend to survive longer, making it more likely that they’ll pass their genes on to future generations. The researchers found that the ApoE4 gene linked to Alzheimer’s is becoming less common, particularly among women. A gene mutation associated with a strong addiction to cigarette smoking in men is also on the decline, ScienceDaily​.com reports. “It may be that men who don’t carry these harmful mutations can have more children, or that men and women who live longer can help with their grandchildren, improving their chance of survival,” says the study’s co-author, Molly Przeworski. The analysis also reveals that genetic variants linked to heart disease, asthma, obesity, and high cholesterol all appear less frequently in people who live longer—an indication that humans may continue to adapt to a constantly changing environment.

Taken from the September 22, 2017 edition of The Week Magazine.

Yoga’s brain boost

And yet another reason to do yoga and meditation. If only I could get off my butt. Yesterday I sent sewing, so no exercise and no steps... just back and forth between the sewing machine, the refrigerator and the toilet. Yikes.

Yoga and meditation are becoming increasingly mainstream activities in the U.S., and new research helps explain why. Daily sessions of either practice can have dramatic effects on brain function. Scientists asked 31 healthy people to engage in 25 minutes of hatha yoga, mindfulness meditation, and quiet reading in random order. Mental tasks completed before and after each session found that yoga and meditation led to greater improvements in the participants’ energy level, mood, executive function, and ability to control thoughts and emotions. “Hatha yoga and mindfulness meditation both focus the brain’s conscious processing power on a limited number of targets, like breathing and posing, and also reduce processing of nonessential information,” the study’s co-author, Peter Hall, tells ScienceDaily.com. That mental training, he said, apparently enables people “to focus more easily on what they choose to attend to in everyday life.”

Taken from the September 29, 2017 edition of The Week Magazine.

The extinction of parasites

This seemed like a worthwhile Halloween post... something to scare the shit out of us all. If you want to scare yourself, Google parasites in the images section. You will want to vomit. I therefore picked a photograph of parasite pancakes - some very creative person created the images of some parasites out of pancakes. (Is it real, or a picture, I don't know...)

In any event, all those unintended consequences of the things we do. But then again, I believe I heard there have been six major extinctions on the planet earth... so we'll be just one more as parasites either take over or allow other creatures to take over.

Humorous image taken from here.

Climate change could wipe out up to one-third of the Earth’s 3.5 million known parasite species over the next 53 years. That might sound like a good thing, but scientists warn that the extinction of pests such as tapeworms, fleas, and ticks could dramatically alter the delicate balance of ecosystems around the world, The New York Times reports. An international team of scientists mapped the global distribution and habitats of 457 different species of parasites and analyzed how climate change could affect them. Up to 30 percent of parasite species, they concluded, may be extinct by 2070. A mass die-off could produce many undesirable consequences: Where parasites help control their hosts’ populations, those populations could grow out of control, the way deer did when wolves left their habitats. Other parasites might flourish in the absence of competition. Still others could migrate to new ecosystems, invading new species. An example: the mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus spreading north into the U.S. Colin Carlson, lead author of the study, said parasites are “a huge and important part of ecosystems,” and warned that extinctions will have consequences we can’t foresee.

Taken from the same edition of The Week as yesterday - September 29, 2017.

Diet soda and dementia

Ignore the bad background colors... seems to hard for me to figure out how to change the formatting, but we have discussed this subject here, Christmas 2015.

Sugar-free versions of soda may increase people’s risk of suffering a stroke or developing dementia, reports The Washington Post. Scientists at Boston University studied more than 4,000 people over a 10-year period. They found that those who consumed at least one artificially sweetened drink a day were almost three times more likely to have a stroke or be diagnosed with dementia than those who had one or fewer a week. To the researchers’ surprise, a parallel study of sugary drinks did not find a similar association. Matthew Pase, the study’s lead author, offered several caveats on the findings, most notably that the actual number of diagnoses was very low and that the results showed only correlation, not causation. He also urged people not to see the study as an incentive to switch to regular soda, noting that sugary drinks have been linked to obesity, poor memory, and accelerated brain aging. But Pase did say the findings suggested consumers should be “cautious” about their diet soda intake and switch to water or other unsweetened drinks.

New fears over red meat

I don't know what to say? How about lamb and goat which are easier on the environment?

Once again researchers are raising a red flag over red meat. A National Cancer Institute study tracked nearly 537,000 adults between 50 and 71, monitoring their diet and health over the course of 16 years. They found those who routinely ate the most processed and unprocessed red meat, such as beef, lamb, and pork, had a 26 percent greater risk of dying from one of nine ailments: cancer, heart disease, lung disease, stroke, diabetes, infections, Alzheimer’s, kidney disease, and liver disease. On the other hand, replacing red meat with white meat, including fish and poultry, was linked with a 25 percent lower risk of death from most causes, The New York Times reports. The researchers speculate that iron and nitrates found in red and cured meats trigger an imbalance known as oxidative stress, which may explain the risk discrepancy, but emphasize that their findings are preliminary. “This is an observational study, and we can’t determine whether red meat is responsible for these associations,” says lead author Arash Etemadi, “But we have a 16-year follow-up.”

From the June 2, 2017 print edition of The Week Magazine.

How exercise slows aging

Rigorous exercise? Crap. So my newly resurrected 25 minutes on the treadmill with a book isn't going to cut it?

Man, and I learned this back in February 2016 and have done nothing really since then to improve my chances. In order to write this blog entry alone I am sitting at a desk and not exercising. Dang, my posts give me all the information I should need to get me exercising; here's another discussion.

If working out makes you feel younger, a new study suggests it’s no illusion—vigorous exercise can actually slow the aging process on a cellular level, turning back the clock nearly a decade. Researchers analyzed 6,000 adults based on their physical activity and biological markers of aging, Time.com reports. Most importantly, they used DNA samples to measure the length of participants’ telomeres, protein caps that protect chromosomes, like the plastic tips of shoelaces. Telomeres shrink with age—we lose bits of them every time a cell divides. “In general, people with shorter telomeres die sooner and are more likely to develop many of our chronic diseases,” says study author Larry Tucker. Taking into account risk factors such as smoking, alcohol consumption, and obesity, the researchers found people who exercised strenuously—say, running for 30 to 40 minutes five days per week—had longer telomeres. That gave them about a nine-year “biological aging advantage” over sedentary adults; those who exercised more moderately had a two-year edge. The researchers speculate physical activity could help preserve telomeres by reducing stress and inflammation. “We all know people who seem younger than their actual age,” Tucker says. “Exercise can help with that, and now we know that part of that may be because of its effect on our telomeres.”

June 2, 2017 The Week Magazine

A good week for:

Digging for treasure, after scientists at several U.S. universities revealed that eating boogers can improve dental hygiene and overall good health, thanks to their “rich reservoir” of good bacteria.

Ahhhhhhhh! Holy crap. The benefits of good bacteria, not to be overlooked, though if this becomes a health trend I am not jumping on that bandwagon.

And, ahhhh, several US Universities? Is this how we spend our research dollars? And how did they get several universities to join the studies? That doesn't make sense. I am sure it was all clinically done, but still.

Taken from the May 19, 2017 print edition of The Week Magazine.

Seed Vault under threat

Photo taken from here.

Ahhhhh, sounds like some of our calculations were off. Protect those seeds, but yet our own efforts were thwarted by our own behavior.

Unusually high Arctic temperatures caused permafrost to melt and seep into the “Doomsday” seed vault—a fail-safe trove intended to protect food supplies in case of a global calamity—it was revealed last week. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which is buried in a frozen mountain on a Norwegian island, stores some 500 million seeds from around the world. But late last year temperatures soared on Svalbard, pushing the permafrost around the vault above melting point. Water seeped into the entrance tunnel, but didn’t reach the seeds. “It was not in our plans to think that the permafrost would not be there,” said Norwegian official Hege Njaa Aschim.

Taken from the June 2, 2017 print edition of The Week Magazine.

Bad Week For:

A side of fries, after researchers in Italy revealed that study subjects who ate french fries two or more times per week were at double the risk of an early death compared with those who didn’t. “The frequent consumption of fried potatoes appears to be associated with an increased mortality risk,” the researchers concluded.

Found the information here (the Week, of course, June 30, 2017) and the image here.

Hope for a Heart Disease Vaccine

I wonder how much this would cost? And the follow up booster? Once you got the original vaccine at a give-away price would the booster price sky rocket? Hmmmm. Am I sounding cynical? Wouldn't it be nice if we could all eat well enough to make this unnecessary? But I know how hard that is, don't I?

A vaccine against heart ­disease has worked successfully in mice, raising the possibility that scientists will develop a breakthrough technique that could save millions of lives. Researchers in Europe tested the experimental vaccine on mice that were fed an unhealthy, high-fat Western diet, leaving them with high cholesterol and atherosclerosis, fatty buildup in the arteries that increases the risk of heart attack and stroke. The vaccine effectively lowered the total blood cholesterol level of the mice by 53 percent, The Guardian (U.K.) reports. It also reduced arterial damage linked to atherosclerosis by 64 percent and led to a 28 percent drop in markers of blood vessel inflammation. The vaccine works by triggering the production of antibodies that block an enzyme called PCSK9, which prevents the body from clearing LDL, or “bad” cholesterol from the blood. The antibodies produced by the vaccine remained at high levels throughout the entire 18-week study, suggesting the shot has long-term benefits, unlike daily cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, which can cause muscle pain, confusion, digestive issues, and other side effects. The vaccine is currently being tested on 72 people, with results of the Phase I clinical trial expected by the end of the year. “If these findings translate successfully into humans,” says Gunther Staffler, one of the vaccine’s developers, “we could develop a long-lasting therapy that, after the first vaccination, just needs an annual booster.”

Taken from the July 7, 2017 print edition of The Week Magazine.

Olive oil boosts the brain

Enough to negate this health scare?

I am always so concerned because they say not to cook with olive oil, so I cook with coconut oil, bacon fat, ghee or other saturated fats. I wonder what I am doing to myself. I guess I'll need to report in real time when and if I decline... or maybe my writing will be the proof of that.

Nutritionists have long touted the heart-healthy benefits of olive oil, but a new study suggests this “superfood” and its powerful antioxidants may also act to protect the brain from tumors. Researchers at the University of Edinburgh homed in on a key ingredient in olive oil, known as oleic acid. The team performed tests on living cells and human cell extracts to assess the effects of this fatty acid on a brain molecule, called microRNA-7, that helps stop the growth of tumors. They found that oleic acid prevents a protein, known as MSI2, from halting the production of microRNA-7. By indirectly supporting this tumor-blocking molecule, oleic acid may ultimately help prevent the growth and spread of cancer, reports NatureWorldNews.com. “Our findings do suggest that oleic acid can support the production of tumor-suppressing molecules in cells grown in the lab,” says lead author Gracjan Michlewski. “Further studies could help determine the role that olive oil might have in brain health.”

Taken from the June 30, 2017 rint edition of the Week Magazine.

A global obesity crisis

But it tastes so good....

And if we didn't have companies making and selling all this processed food what would people do for a living so they can buy more stuff/food? Farm? Guffaw! Don't be ridiculous. We'd be putting people out of jobs. We need this so that we can make more pharmaceuticals to be sold. If we got rid of that, then what would the people in the pharmaceutical industry do for money? It all spirals if we change this. Think of all that job loss.

I am so ready to get some land and try my hand at organic farming. Wish actually I knew what to do and had a strong back. But maybe I could have my llamas and their nutrient-rich poop.

Bringing Western food to the developing world has a major downside: More than 2 billion people across the globe are now overweight, and it’s taking a toll on their health, new research reveals. “Excess body weight is one of the most challenging public health problems of our time, affecting nearly 1 in 3 three people,” study author Ashkan Afshin tells The Guardian (U.K.). After analyzing data compiled on 68.5 million people in 195 countries, a 2,300-member research team found that obesity rates have doubled since 1980 in 73 countries. Today, 10 percent of all people are considered obese—meaning their body mass index, a height-weight ratio, is 30 or above. That includes nearly 13 percent of children in the U.S., up from 5 percent 37 years ago. Experts contend that poor diet is fueling the global obesity epidemic as more people around the world gain access to cheap, processed foods that are devoid of nutrients but loaded with chemicals and calories. Even if people are overweight (with a BMI between 25 and 29) but not officially obese, says researcher Azeem Majeed, that’s still associated with heart disease, cancer, and other chronic health issues. “The risk of death and diseases increases as your weight increases.”

From the June 30, 2017 print edition of the Week Magazine.

Drinking Speeds Mental Health Decline

And yet another reason to stop drinking.... I suspect I take after my maternal grandmother's family and both my grandmother and her mother suffered from dementia. You'd think my present self would be eager to look out for my future self.

Yet more bad news for drinkers: As little as one glass of wine or beer a night may accelerate mental deterioration later in life. Researchers analyzed data from a British study that tracked 550 men and women for 30 years. The subjects were tracked for alcohol intake and monitored for brain structure and function. The researchers found that those who drank moderately, consuming about five to eight drinks each week, were three times more likely than the nondrinkers to suffer from shrinkage in the hippocampus, a brain region involved in memory and learning. Shrinkage in this region is associated with dementia, and the more people drank, the worse their mental decline. The moderate drinkers also performed worse on verbal fluency tests used to assess language and executive function. “These findings raise a question mark over the safety of current U.S. alcohol guidelines,” study author Anya Topiwala tells CBSNews.com. “These are people who are drinking at levels that many consider social drinkers.”

Taken from the June 23, 2017 edition of The Week Magazine.