Lilit, reaguj!

[Mme Chauchat]

Nisu. Evo šta stoji na sajtu:

Oxford University Press - obustavljen pristup časopisima
Pored značajnih napora koje smo uložili u pregovorima, kako sa izdavačima, tako i sa Ministarstvom prosvete, nauke i tehnološkog razvoja, ugovor za ovogodišnju realizaciju KoBSON programa nije potpisan.

Najveći broj izdavača nam je na osnovu dugogodišnjih korektnih odnosa (izvršavanje njihovih i naših obaveza) produžio elektronski pristup svojim časopisima za dodatna tri meseca. Na žalost, ta tri meseca su prošla i mnogi izdavači će postepeno ukidati pristupe. Od početka aprila to je učinio i Oxford University Press.

Za svaki obustavljen pristup ćemo, kao i do sada, redovno obaveštavati korisnike. Redovno ćemo ažurirati i podatke o dostupnosti u našem servisu EleČas.

Mi ćemo i dalje u kontaktima s Ministarstvom pokušavati da obezbedimo nastavak rada KoBSON programa, ali nismo u mogućnosti da preuzmemo finansijske obaveze koje su sastavni deo njegove realizacije. Istovremeno, i dalje ćemo komunicirati sa izdavačima u cilju produžavanja pristupa.
(objavljeno 09.04.2013.)

[lilit]

Joj, u frci sam trenutno te razmisljam da li da vam dam link na raj piraterije glede skidanja naucnih radova.
U ponedeljak!

[Mme Chauchat]

Valjda će mi ostali preneti vesti -.-

[tomat]

Joj, u frci sam trenutno te razmisljam da li da vam dam link na raj piraterije glede skidanja naucnih radova.

a ako te lepo zamolimo?

[Mme Chauchat]

Evo, digla se izgleda dovoljna buka da se bar nešto uradi:

Kako stojimo?
Priprema ugovora sa Ministarstvom prosvete, nauke i tehnološkog razvoja za 2013. godinu se ubrzano odvija i privodi srećnom završetku. Obezbeđena su novčana sredstva u visini od 100 miliona dinara. Planirano je da se za KoBSON izvore potroši još toliko, ali će ugovor o tome biti potpisan nakon završetka višemesečnih pregovora sa Elsevierom (najveći izdavač, najviše časopisa, pa i najduži pregovori). Mi sada intenzivno kontaktiramo strane izdavače i obnavljamo pretplatu.

(objavljeno 15.04.2013.)

[Alexdelarge]

lilit, kako i gde mogu da izvršim analizu genoma, hoću da vidim kojim sam bolestima podložan?

,,Čitanje" celog genoma – skupo i nepotrebno

Genetičari i kliničari kažu da za sada od genetskih ispitivanja korist ima kod nekih vrsta raka



Za 30.000 do 50.000 dinara neke privatne laboratorije nude mogućnost da zainteresovanoj osobi ,,pročitaju" njen kompletan genetski materijal. Uzorak se uzima sa bukalne sluzokože, odnosno sa unutrašnje strane obraza, a rezultat se čeka mesec dana, jer se uzorak šalje ovlašćenoj kompaniji i laboratoriji u Grčkoj.

Nadležni u laboratorijama visoku cenu ove usluge objašnjavaju time što se radi analiza ogromnog broja gena i dodaju da se dobije izveštaj u obliku knjige! Uz knjigu sledi i preporuka – da označene genetske promene ipak treba da podrobnije protumači – lekar. Tvrde da je dobijeni genetski zapis pouzdan, ali priznaju da nema mnogo zainteresovanih za ovu analizu, valjda zbog opšte besparice.

Direktor službe za naučna istraživanja u Institutu za onkologiju i radiologiju Srbije dr Siniša Radulović kaže za ,,Politiku" kako su ove analize nesumnjivo budućnost medicine, ali na koju još valja još sačekati – i kod nas i u svetu.

– Sada se svakoj osobi može pročitati ceo genetski kod, ali ne znam čemu bi vam to moglo služiti – iskren je dr Radulović.

Šef laboratorije za molekularnu genetiku Instituta za radiologiju i onkologiju Srbije dr Radmila Janković, genetičar, kaže kako nema nikakve svrhe da građani poveruju ovim reklamama i samoinicijativno plaćaju da im se očita ceo genetski zapis.

– Dobiće knjigu i doći će kod nekog lekara, a pitanje je da li će on znati da kaže mnogo toga o tim promenama. Ni u Americi se to ne radi, osim ako to nije indikovano za davanje neke terapije – kada su nađene predispozicije za razvoj nekog oboljenja ili je pacijent već bolestan, pa se pri određivanju terapije traži pomoć genetičara. Čitanje genoma daje samo ogromnu šumu podataka. Laik može da vidi da mu je izmenjen signalni put faktora rasta, ali njemu to ništa ne znači – kaže doktorka Janković.

Naša sagovornica dodaje kako je laboratorija za molekularnu genetiku Instituta za onkologiju referentna za neke molekularno dijagnostičke testove, pa se tako još od 2008. godine ovde rade analize gena kod karcinoma debelog creva ili pluća.

– To su usluge koje plaća naš Republički fond za zdravstveno osiguranje i odluke definitivno utiču na izbor najoptimalnije terapije, znači tada genska analiza ima konkretnu primenu. Kod nekih naslednih bolesti izmenjen je jedan gen i postoje već rutinske analize. Sasvim druga priča je čitanje celog genoma, takozvana genska ekspresija, gde genetičar na samo jednoj staklenoj pločici ima pred sobom ceo DNK jedne osobe. Tada mora jako dobro da se planira eksperiment – šta naučnik hoće da vidi u toj ,,šumi podataka" i drugo, sa čime će ono što uoči da poredi. To ne radi svaka laboratorija već centralne laboratorije u Evropi i Americi, gde se šalje uzorak. Ni kod nas to još nije registrovano – objašnjava Radmila Janković.

Kako objašnjava naša sagovornica, tipizacija, odnosno čitanje genskog zapisa radi se takozvanim mikroerej metodama, a opremu da to rade prošlog leta dobili su zahvaljujući Ministarstvu nauke.

– Za sada se u dijagnostičke svrhe koriste samo dva komercijalna testa, konkretno za karcinom dojke i debelog creva. Postoje testovi koji se rade na gene BRKA 1 i BRKA 2 za procenu naslednih predispozicija za karcinom dojke i jajnika i rade se i na našem institutu. Radi se takozvani prediktor markeri, faktor predviđanja, što znači da prati samo jedan gen u smislu određivanja konkretne  terapije – navodi doktorka Janković.

Ona dodaje da svaki podatak dobijen ,,čitanjem" gena ne znači ništa ako nema poređenja.

– Bilo bi dobro da se poredi tkivo zdravog i bolesnog čoveka. Genetičar će uočiti neke ,,signalne puteve" ili ,,genske ekspresije" za koje zna da su u većini slučaja promenjene zbog karcinoma. Tek kada vidite da su kod obolelog od raka promene pojačano izražene, to nešto znači, jer se može dati određena terapija – navodi naša sagovornica.

Ova genetičarka kaže da su u ovom času sva ta ,,čitanja" genetskih zapisa još u kliničkim istraživanjima i da je veoma dugačak put da se dođe do podatka koji nešto znači za sam tok lečenja.

– Mi sada možemo ovim metodama da vidimo koji su pacijenti reagovali na radioterapiju a koji nisu. Ove analize na genetskom zapisu su veoma dugotrajne i treba puno statistike. Rezultat celog genoma dobija se za tri dana, a statistička obrada traje dve nedelje i to moraju da rade veoma obučeni ljudi. U početku je i nama trebalo tri nedelje da dobijemo neku značajnost ili da vidimo da je ,,iskočilo" pet gena za koje mislimo da su faktori predviđanja, ali sve to treba da se ispita na grupi od 100 pacijenata – objašnjava doktorka Janković, dodajući da ove analize na našim klinikama imaju svoju primenu kod pacijenata koji imaju adenom pluća, jednu specifičnu vrstu karcinoma. Kada se uradi detekcija mutacije određenog gena, može da se potvrdi da li je pacijent dobar kandidat za određenu terapiju.

Olivera Popović
objavljeno: 23.04.2013.

http://www.politika.rs/rubrike/Drustvo/Citanje-celog-genoma-skupo-i-nepotrebno.lt.html

[lilit]

Evo, digla se izgleda dovoljna buka da se bar nešto uradi:

ako se ne uradi, evo ono obecano, vec prosledjeno tomatu, al sto samo on da ima koristi a ima loseg provajdera ionako! 

ovo je guru svih linkova, carstvo free publikacija!!

http://sci-hub.org/

odes na link i prekopiras u prazno polje URL web stranice rada gde ti je odbijen pristup (sign in page). i onda te vodi direktno na rad. ako prvi put ne uspe, klikni na zeleno dugmence da promenis proxy.

ne sirite previse! cesto je zauzeto, rasirilo se. .

[lilit]

lilit, kako i gde mogu da izvršim analizu genoma, hoću da vidim kojim sam bolestima podložan?

,,Čitanje" celog genoma – skupo i nepotrebno

http://www.politika.rs/rubrike/Drustvo/Citanje-celog-genoma-skupo-i-nepotrebno.lt.html

upravo ovako, al bolje da ti je ona rasprsila snove nego ja.

mac,
ostrim se da napadnem svemoguce testove intolerance diljem planete, al sam lenja. uskoro.

[lilit]

Da se ubacim pre Lilit, postoji u Beogradu ordinacija gde mogu da ti otkriju na šta si sve alergičan. Nekakav moderan metod, košta oko 50€. Koristi se struja, ali bukvalno ti sve otkrije.

Ovaj "strujni - Biba - bukvalno sve ti otkrije - metod" se odnosi na testiranje "intolerance" na određenu vrstu hrane, a ne na testiranje na šta si alergičan. Sama intoleranca nema veze sa imunološkim sistemom, to je digestivni problem. Konkretno, kod intolerance na laktozu ljudima nedostaje enzim laktaza i to stvara problem koji pojavno (stomačni problemi, al nema osipa) može da liči na alergiju na mleko, al mu je mehanizam potpuno drugačiji. Btw, procenjuje da je oko 70% svetske populacije netolerantno na laktozu, uglavnom su to blagi oblici netolerance kod ljudi koji skoro nikad ne jedu mlečne proizvode. I to je jedina intoleranca koju priznajem.

Ovi fancy, iPhone5-like , testovi za uzimanje para narodu, po principu: smeta ti ovčetina i kupus, posebno me smaraju jer je to priča koja se vodi po principu - može ovako, a i ne mora, the outcome  najviše zavisi od inicijalnih podataka koje daješ onom ko te testira, i svi rezultati su kvalitativni i bez kvantitativnih podataka "koliko ima tog nečeg sto odredjena hrana provocira". Btw, omiljeni su mi oni sposobni da iz jedne kapi krvi odrede da ti smeta 700 namirnica!

Elem,
1. dijeta zasnovana na ovakvim testovima je relativno bezopasna (posebno za odrasle), ukoliko se ne koristi predugo i ukoliko se balansira ishrana ostalim namirnicama.

2. sva ta merenja nemaju veze sa alergenima & alergijom. Ne mogu da mere alergene, a alergeni su ti koji izazivaju alergijsku reakciju posredovanu IgE i IgG4 antitelima, sledstveno, moraš da imaš setting koji je u stanju da detektuje i kvantifikuje ta antitela (može da se radi na Torlaku, al je skupo ko svetog Petra kajgana, mislim da je po antigenu reda veličine 25 evra).

[Mme Chauchat]

Evo, digla se izgleda dovoljna buka da se bar nešto uradi:

ako se ne uradi, evo ono obecano, vec prosledjeno tomatu, al sto samo on da ima koristi a ima loseg provajdera ionako! 

ovo je guru svih linkova, carstvo free publikacija!!

http://sci-hub.org/

odes na link i prekopiras u prazno polje URL web stranice rada gde ti je odbijen pristup (sign in page). i onda te vodi direktno na rad. ako prvi put ne uspe, klikni na zeleno dugmence da promenis proxy.

ne sirite previse! cesto je zauzeto, rasirilo se. .

Hvala!!!

[lilit]

hm, kako da skinem ovu knjigu?

http://books.google.at/books?id=5iwp3HjEPZUC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

[Ghoul]

poslo sam ti nešto na mejl.

[lilit]

Guli, aj lav ju! ❤

[Tex Murphy]

Guli, aj lav ju! ❤

Don't we all?!

[lilit]

we do, al ja najviše!

[Ghoul]

we do, al ja najviše!

možda, ali po principu "kad je muka - 'de si, đuka; kad jebete, đuku ne zovete!"

[Mme Chauchat]

Guli, aj lav ju! ❤

Don't we all?!

Халп! Харвестер прешо на латиницу!

[lilit]

em đuka, em jebanje, em latinica! 

ajmo, svi šic s ovog ozbiljnog topika!

[Mme Chauchat]

>>Lilit reagovala!!!!1<<< Svrha ovog topika je ispunjena!!! Brißite ga!!!

[lilit]

Spalite ga!!!

[Alexdelarge]

lilit, kako i gde mogu da izvršim analizu genoma, hoću da vidim kojim sam bolestima podložan?

,,Čitanje" celog genoma – skupo i nepotrebno

http://www.politika.rs/rubrike/Drustvo/Citanje-celog-genoma-skupo-i-nepotrebno.lt.html

upravo ovako, al bolje da ti je ona rasprsila snove nego ja.

koješta! ta doktorka je najobičniji diletant! nema nikave sumnje da ću zahvaljujući napretku genomske medicine da živim 200 do 250 godina. ja volim da postojim!

[Ghoul]

ja volim da postojim!

eeee, bernhard se u grobu okreće! 

[Alexdelarge]

a šta se dešava ako je pokojnik kremiran? može li i on da se prevrće u grobu?

[Ghoul]

u tom slučaju mu pepeo brbori.

[angel011]

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/05/03/na0504-th-vaccines/

[lilit]

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/05/03/na0504-th-vaccines/

Tog Wakefielda bi trebalo obesiti na Terazijama zbog štete koju je naneo humankindu, a bazirane na nenaučnoj studiji odrađenoj na 4 pacijenta, koju je, nažalost, neki entuzijasta od rivjuera pustio da bude objavljena u Lancetu. Bez validnog eksperimenta. Što je još jedan argument u prilog moje teze da bi većini lekara trebalo zabraniti da se prtljaju u nauku. Iako, ako ćemo iskreno, i taj broj ljudi koji danas umire od bolesti koje je moguće sprečiti vakcinacijom, je premali da bi oštetio populaciju. No, ako se ovako nastavi, bojim se da ćemo u 21. veku umirati od tetanusa, velikog kašlja i sličnih bolesti.

Problemu (ne)vakcinacije treba prići s više strana.

S jedne strane, imamo anti-vakcina pokrete koji tupe nadugačko i naširoko bez ikakvog predznanja. Gledala sam ovu (zgodnu) propagatoricu kako palamudi, a ne zna ni šta je herd immunity. Mislim, ne radi se o tome da su bolesti iskorenjene i da se "džaba vakcinišemo" već se radi o tome da je većina populacije vakcinisana i tako se štite oni koji, iz opravdanih razloga, ne mogu da budu imunizovani.

S druge strane imaš kompanije (samo dve monopolski pokrivaju celo evropsko tržište: GSK i Sanofi Pasteur) koje žele da prodaju što skuplje vakcine.

S treće strane imaš WHO i FDA koji samo mantraju o safe vaccines, a da li one zaista štite je na drugom mestu. Znaci, prvo ide safety, pa pedeset mesta prazno, pa onda efficacy.

I onda dođeš u situaciju da ti i kod vakcinisane populacije umiru ljudi jer vakcina nije dovoljno efikasna. Evo primer sa vakcinom protiv velikog kašlja (izaziva ga bakterija koja se zove Bordetella pertussis). Ranije je u upotrebi bila vakcina, napravljena od cele bakterije, "whole-cell vaccine" (wP), koja je bila efikasna ali je kod malog broja dece, usled povišene temperature, uzrokovala fras. Onda se u sklopu safe strategy prešlo na "acelularnu" vakcinu (aP) koja, danas se pokazalo a i ranije je bilo naučnika koji su dokazivali i u vetar pričali, prosto nije dovoljno efikasna i onda imas outbrake u USA i 15 vakcinisanih ljudi ti umre od pertusisa. Jeste da je ta vakcina "sigurnija" (i skuplja!) od celobakterijske, al što bih se uopšte rokala nečim što nije efikasno. I kad umru ljudi u sred USA, tek onda se pokrenu pitanja da li Bordetella može da egzistira i intracelularno, jer ako je tako, onda to što meriš antitela nakon vakcinacije do besvesti, prosto ne znači ništa jer su antitela bitna da ti pomognu da fajtuješ Bordetelline toxsine, al treba ti celularni deo imunskog sistema da uništiš bakteriju kad se uvuče u makrofage (to su bitne ćelije koje"prezentuju" strani antigen imunskom sistemu).
E to je sad deo gde zakazuju i nauka (koja nema mehanizme da ubedi industriju), i industrija (koja neće da uleti u nove troškove i pronađe efikasnije adjuvanse za acelularnu vakcinu), i WHO i FDA koji peru ruke i mantraju "sejf, sejf".
Najcrnje, 90% mikrobiološkog sajentifik komjunitija i dalje ne veruje da Bordetella može da uđe u ćeliju a ako ovaj topik pokreneš čak i menđu onima koji godinama prave pertusis vakcinu 95% ljudi će te gledati belo (i 100% pedijatara).

Tako da...ja u stvari nisam sigurna da li su roditelji sposobni da odluče šta je najbolje za njihovu decu, a ni u većinu lekara s kojim sam bila u kontaktu nemam poverenja. Opet, tanka je granica između individual rights i represivne države. Mislim, malo preterujem.  Prosto, u mojoj državi bi svi morali da budu vakcinisani protiv mikroba koji su u stanju da prouzrokuju smrtonosnu bolest. I kraj. Pa ko živ ko mrtav.

Ionako je potpuno nebitno sa stanovišta planete.

[angel011]

Heh, koliko je sa stanovišta planete bitno postoji li ljudska vrsta?

[lilit]

Upravo to.

[angel011]

Zaboravih da se zahvalim na iscrpnom objašnjenju.  (Pržim lignje, pa...)

[Dzimi Gitara]

...i onda imas outbrake u USA i 15 vakcinisanih ljudi ti umre od pertusisa. Jeste da je ta vakcina "sigurnija" (i skuplja!) od celobakterijske, al što bih se uopšte rokala nečim što nije efikasno....

A da je vakcina celobakterijska, kolika bi šteta nastala? Mislim, da li bi (po tvojoj proceni) umrlo manje ili više od 15 ljudi? Ako je više, onda taj sejfti trip ima neko opravdanje. S druge strane, ako bi umrlo manje, onda je ta sejfti politika jednaka zločinu.

[lilit]

Mogu da šacujem da bi umrlo manje, al nije da sad in general propagiram te celovirusne/celobakterijske vakcine posebno kad ih dajemo parenteralno (intramuskularno ili subkutano). Kad se ide u vakcinaciju preko mukoze (intranazalno, konjuntivalno, sublingvalno, oralno, etc), tu vakcine od cele ćelije nisu problem, al razvoj tih vakcina je još uvek u povoju.
Fakat je da celobakterijske vakcine zaista imaju više side effects nego acelularne (proteinske, peptidne ili polisaharidne) vakcine i nauka radi puno na tom polju. Što se tiče konkretno pertusisa, idealno rešenje bi bilo acelularna vakcina + adjuvans (nešto što pojačava efikasnost ili potencu vakcine) koji bi vodio ka ćelijskom imunskom odgovoru (T limfociti) pre nego humoralnom (antitela - B limfociti). Problem sa acelularnom pertusis vakcinom nije samo u tome što taj acelularni deo sam po sebi provocira humoralni imunski odgovor već i što to isto radi i adjuvans (alum) na koji se aP kupluje. Rešenje je naći efikasan i siguran adjuvans koji bi "gurao" ka ćelijskom imunskom odgovoru, al FDA će nove adjuvanse odobriti tek za milion godina. Mrzim, u stvari, što i u ovoj oblasti ima previše politike.

[Dzimi Gitara]

Da. A kad smo već kod toga, kako gledaš na odnos između novca koji se ulaže u lekove spram onoga koji se ulaže u iskorenjivanje bolesti? Koliko ja znam tu postoji neka ogromna disproporcija. Politika, biznis, kriminal, zavera... šta li je po sredi?

[lilit]

hm, mel gibson progovara iz mene, al ako uložiš sve u iskorenjivanje bolesti, kome onda da naplaćuješ lekove na duge staze?
a čak i da uložiš sve u iskorenjivanje bolesti, prvo moraš da dovedeš celu planetu na određeni egzistencijalni nivo ili da zabraniš turizam. a to košta. i još bi ta strategija bi uništila kapitalizam.

meni je strašnije što se i dan danas mnogo više istraživanja radi za bolesti koje pogađaju evropu, usa, a vakcine za bolesti koje pogađaju siromašne delove sveta, popularno nazvane neglected tropical diseases, su još u povoju. najblaže rečeno. recimo, imaš trachomu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trachoma), od koje je afrika slepa, a teško da su ljudi u evropi recimo svesni toga. za hiv ili ebolu je svako čuo, za genitalnu hlamidiju takođe, al za okularne sojeve hlamidije - teško.
dobru stvar sad rade gejtsovi, al i to je kap u moru. iako...poveća kap.
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/What-We-Do/Global-Health/Neglected-Infectious-Diseases#OurStrategy

[Dzimi Gitara]

hm, mel gibson progovara iz mene, al ako uložiš sve u iskorenjivanje bolesti, kome onda da naplaćuješ lekove na duge staze?

Pa da, i kapirao sam da je ključ u tome. A što se izvodljivosti tiče nisam ni mislio da je moguće sve preusmeriti u iskorenjivanje, već postepeno vući klackalicu na tu stranu.

Što se tiče Afrike i Azije, pa odgovor je valjda isti. Što da lečimo bolest ako ne možemo da prodamo lekove sirotinji... A ako bi i iz mene progovorio Mel, rekao bi da su ti siromašni krajevi savršene laboratorije za svaku vrstu eksperimenta.

[lilit]

Pa da, i kapirao sam da je ključ u tome. A što se izvodljivosti tiče nisam ni mislio da je moguće sve preusmeriti u iskorenjivanje, već postepeno vući klackalicu na tu stranu.

Što se tiče Afrike i Azije, pa odgovor je valjda isti. Što da lečimo bolest ako ne možemo da prodamo lekove sirotinji... A ako bi i iz mene progovorio Mel, rekao bi da su ti siromašni krajevi savršene laboratorije za svaku vrstu eksperimenta.

savršene indeed. i bez mela.
verovao ili ne, trenutno je regulativa takva da je lakše da ti se odobri clinical trial na ljudima, nego na majmunima.

[Gaff]

H5N1+H1N1 made in China

via io9

[džin tonik]

...trenutno je regulativa takva da je lakše da ti se odobri clinical trial na ljudima, nego na majmunima.

osim sto smo otkrili ameriku, cemu tuzni smajli? nadajmo se da ce tako i ostati.

[lilit]

http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/13/4325906/bill-gates-details-his-last-visit-with-steve-jobs?utm_source=feedly

[zakk]

      

http://www.novi-svjetski-poredak.com/2013/05/29/zastrasujuce-poljsko-istrazivanje-cjepiva-nisu-imala-nikakve-koristi-u-citavoj-svojoj-povijesti/

[scallop]

Zastrašujuće je preterano. Lilit će to znati bolje, ali sva ta bombastična upozorenja su uvek prenaduvana.

[divča]

Najbolji naslov paranoidnog novinarstva ikada:
Nešto u svemiru i skrivanje informacija o tome

[Meho Krljic]

Why a Saudi Virus Is Spreading Alarm

Dr. Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization, closed the annual World Health Assembly this week [May 27] sounding alarm about a new SARS-like virus circulating primarily in Saudi Arabia.
"My greatest concern right now is the novel coronavirus," Chan warned the representatives of two hundred nations gathered in Geneva. "We do not know where the virus hides in nature. We do not know how people are getting infected. Until we answer these questions, we are empty-handed when it comes to prevention."
But impeding an effective response is a dispute over rights to develop a treatment for the virus. The case brings to the fore a growing debate over International Health Regulations, interpretations of patent rights, and the free exchange of scientific samples and information. Meanwhile, the epidemic has already caused forty-nine cases in seven countries, killing twenty-seven of them.
At the center of the dispute is a Dutch laboratory that claims all rights to the genetic sequence of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus [MERS-CoV]. Saudi Arabia's deputy health minister, Ziad Memish, told the WHO meeting that "someone"--a reference to Egyptian virologist Ali Zaki--mailed a sample of the new SARS-like virus out of his country without government consent in June 2012, giving it to Dutch virologist Ron Fouchier of Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam.
"The virus was sent out of the country and it was patented, contracts were signed with vaccine companies and anti-viral drug companies, and that's why they have a MTA [Material Transfer Agreement] to be signed by anybody who can utilize that virus, and that should not happen," Memish said.
Though Memish referred to a "patent," the Dutch team has not patented the viral genetic sequence but has placed it under an MTA, which requires sample recipients to contractually agree not to develop products or share the sample without the permission of Erasmus and the Fouchier laboratory. Memish said that the Dutch MTA was preventing Saudi Arabia from stopping the MERS-CoV outbreak, which appears to have started eleven months ago in the Eastern part of his country. The Dutch team denies the MTA is slowing work on the outbreak, saying it has given virus samples to any lab that has requested it.
Courts in North America and Europe have ruled that it is possible to patent life forms or their genetic sequences, spurring the practice of claiming patent control on newly identified microoganisms. Such patents give owner rights over royalties on all products derived from the genetic sequence, including vaccines, diagnostics, and genetically targeted treatments. But they have spawned controversy outside of wealthy countries, since they are perceived as guaranteeing profits for Western pharmaceuticals at the expense of country-of-origin use and access.


There is no cure, rapid diagnostic test, or vaccine for MERS-CoV, or for any of the class of coronaviruses, which includes SARS--the scourge that erupted from China in 2003.
Like the SARS virus, MERS ravages the lungs of infected people, causing pneumonia and acute respiratory distress. Also like SARS, it is previously unknown to human immune systems, so response to infection can include the classic "cytokine storm" reaction of an overresponsive immune system that hits the virus with all it's got, creating collateral damage all over the body. But unlike SARS, it also attacks the kidneys, causing renal failure.
Epidemiologically, MERS seems to be similar to SARS: It is spread by close contact, and can be airborne-transmitted between people. Both viruses can be dangerous for health-care workers and spread within hospitals. There is no rapid diagnostic test for MERS, which puts doctors and nurses at special risk since they cannot easily distinguishthe symptoms between early-stage MERS-CoV patients and regular pneumonia.
The new MERS-CoV is shrouded in mystery right now as Saudi investigators are unable to determine its reservoir species--where did it come from--how it is spread from that species to people, a method for rapid diagnosis, proper treatment, and best approaches to hospital infection control. Suspicions point to fruit bats in the eastern Al-Ahsa province of Saudi Arabia, where the bulk of the cases have occurred.
Eleven months ago, Zaki told the Guardian, he was called in as a consultant on a mysterious case in his Jeddah hospital. Zaki tried to identify the virus, but the patient died less than twenty-four hours after he received the sample. Soon, a second case came his way, and Zaki mailed a sample to his friend, Fouchier. Zaki sent a notice in September 2012 to ProMED, a disease alert system run by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Under pressure from the Saudi government, Zaki's hospital in Jeddah fired him when the ProMED notice was posted, and he moved to Cairo.
Wider recognition of this new disease came with the case of a Qatari man who flew to London and came down with acute respiratory distress and kidney failure. Physicians at St. Thomas's Hospital saw Zaki's September ProMED posting, noted the patient had traveled in Saudi Arabia, and concluded they were dealing with a new virus. The London team isolated a viral sample and compared it to the genetic sequence Fouchier had prepared of Zaki's sample--they were a match. UK authorities went public with the news, spawning the first tier of worldwide attention to the existence of a new human virus. Fouchier, Zaki, and others co-authored an analysis that appeared in the November 2012 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Slow Information Sharing
Saudi Arabia's Memish complained at the WHO meeting that there was a lag of three months, between June and September 2012, "where we were not aware of the discovery of the virus." The WHO's Chan responded by calling on Assembly delegates to share specimens with WHO collaborating centers, not in a bilateral manner. "No IP will stand in the way of public health actions," she said.
Memish last week agreed to send samples of the virus to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. It is clearly more difficult for the Saudis to work around the MTA directly with other governments' labs. Under one crucial arrangement with a nongovernmental U.S. lab, samples have been shared from Memish's office, and data analysis may soon be released. The arrangement is not public at this time, and the research is not completed.
In contrast to the complex and slow pace of MERS-CoV sharing, China shared H7N9 flu sequences with open source Internet sites within four weeks of the first patient cases in Shanghai, and sent viral samples all over the world within less than two months. Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory Director Francis Plummer told the CBC in mid-May that his Winnipeg lab had signed the Dutch MTA and obtained a research sample after prolonged legal negotiations. Plummer contrasted his difficulties in obtaining a sample from the Dutch to China's immediate and open sharing of H7N9 influenza samples with his facility.
In a press release, Erasmus Medical Center spelled out the terms of its original MTA and said it was the first to identify the new MERS coronavirus. "For shipment of the virus it is mandatory that a material transfer agreement [MTA] is signed by the recipient institution," the press statement said. "[The] MTA covers issues like liability and limitations to commercial use. Consequently the virus may not be distributed to third parties without permission."
Virus-hunter Dr. Ian Lipkin of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, who has worked on MERS, told me that "infectious agents that have implications for public health should be shared freely with any and all qualified investigators who are committed to working safely with those agents and are equipped to do so." He added: "Language that restricts basic or applied research or ties it to licensing fees has the potential to cripple global biosecurity."
But international health law expert David Fidler of the University of Indiana told Science, "The press release and the MTA preserve Erasmus's rights to seek IP rights for vaccines and medicines related to research done on the virus sample from Saudi Arabia. [The MTA is] a fairly standard agreement. There is nothing here that suggests to me that this needed a massive amount of negotiation."
'Viral Sovereignty' and Global Health
However, Chan called upon the gathered delegates at the World Health Assembly to stand against intellectual property blocks to epidemic responses. The question of ownership of discovery has become the top wedge issue in global health today, underscoring debate on everything from pharmaceutical safety/counterfeiting to availability of antibiotics for TB care.
Chan and WHO are especially sensitive to the issue because of the 2007-2008 battle between the agency and the Indonesian government regarding the H5N1 flu virus and then-minister of health Siti Supari's insistence on the existence of "viral sovereignty." Supari declined to share samples of the dangerous bird flu viruses that were then rampant in her country with outsiders, on the grounds that they would be used to manufacture patented products that would benefit foreign companies, and that the products they produced would be unaffordable to Indonesians.
Supari's contentions spawned a long, difficult period of negotiations that led to the 2011 PIP, the WHO's Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework. The PIP augments the International Health Regulations, creating a series of understandings that are flu-specific regarding sample sharing, patents, and profits from products derived from viral discovery. Chan's response to Memish's accusations no doubt stems from her concern that the Saudis could invoke provisions of the flu-specific PIP, demanding control over the MERS-CoV samples, patents, and products.

[lilit]

      

http://www.novi-svjetski-poredak.com/2013/05/29/zastrasujuce-poljsko-istrazivanje-cjepiva-nisu-imala-nikakve-koristi-u-citavoj-svojoj-povijesti/

ove bih strpala u zatvor sve zajedno s poljacima. 

[lilit]

Why a Saudi Virus Is Spreading Alarm


...........The case brings to the fore a growing debate over International Health Regulations, interpretations of patent rights, and the free exchange of scientific samples and information. Meanwhile, the epidemic has already caused forty-nine cases in seven countries, killing twenty-seven of them.

najzastrašujuće u svim ovim pričama, ne samo ovoj, je odlaganje tretmana dok se tretman ne patentira. a to zna da traje.
sad ne možeš ni da objaviš radu u časopisu pre nego ti oni za koje radiš ne pročešljaju rezultate i vide da li je nešto "patentabilno".
a saudi virus ko i svaki drugi.

[Meho Krljic]

New Links Found Between Bacteria and Cancer

Bacteria-Human Somatic Cell Lateral Gene Transfer Is Enriched in Cancer Samples

Abstract

There are 10× more bacterial cells in our bodies from the microbiome than human cells. Viral DNA is known to integrate in the human genome, but the integration of bacterial DNA has not been described. Using publicly available sequence data from the human genome project, the 1000 Genomes Project, and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), we examined bacterial DNA integration into the human somatic genome. Here we present evidence that bacterial DNA integrates into the human somatic genome through an RNA intermediate, and that such integrations are detected more frequently in (a) tumors than normal samples, (b) RNA than DNA samples, and (c) the mitochondrial genome than the nuclear genome. Hundreds of thousands of paired reads support random integration of Acinetobacter-like DNA in the human mitochondrial genome in acute myeloid leukemia samples. Numerous read pairs across multiple stomach adenocarcinoma samples support specific integration of Pseudomonas-like DNA in the 5′-UTR and 3′-UTR of four proto-oncogenes that are up-regulated in their transcription, consistent with conversion to an oncogene. These data support our hypothesis that bacterial integrations occur in the human somatic genome and may play a role in carcinogenesis. We anticipate that the application of our approach to additional cancer genome projects will lead to the more frequent detection of bacterial DNA integrations in tumors that are in close proximity to the human microbiome.


  Author Summary

There are 10× more bacterial cells in the human body than there are human cells that are part of the human microbiome. Many of those bacteria are in constant, intimate contact with human cells. We sought to establish if bacterial cells insert their own DNA into the human genome. Such random mutations could cause disease in the same manner that mutagens like UV rays from the sun or chemicals in cigarettes induce mutations. We detected the integration of bacterial DNA in the human genome more readily in tumors than normal samples. In particular, extensive amounts of DNA with similarity to Acinetobacter DNA were fused to human mitochondrial DNA in acute myeloid leukemia samples. We also identified specific integrations of DNA with similarity to Pseudomonas DNA near the untranslated regulatory regions of four proto-oncogenes. This supports our hypothesis that bacterial integrations occur in the human somatic genome that may potentially play a role in carcinogenesis. Further study in this area may provide new avenues for cancer prevention.

[tomat]

[Mme Chauchat]

"U niškom Domu zdravlja već dvadesetak dana nema vakcine protiv hepatitisa B, koja se daje jednomesečnim bebama."

http://www.b92.net/video/videos.php?nav_category=905&yyyy=2013&mm=07&dd=14&nav_id=732555

Prvi komentar:

Ne znam kako je u ostalim delovima Srbije, ali u Valjevu već mesecima nema HiB vakcine protiv oboljenja izazvanih hemofilusom influence tipa B. Ova bakterija kod nevakcinisane dece može da izazove akutne infekcije disajnih puteva i zapaljenje mozga - meningitis. A meningitis može dovesti do teških oštećenja mozga, čak kada je i antibiotska terapija data pravovremeno. U 15-30% slučajeva meningitis izazvan Haemophilus-om Influenzae tipa B praćen je neurološkim posledicama u koje spada i gubitak sluha. Ova bakterija je čest izazivač i upale pluća kod dece.

Moje dete je rođeno 19.januara ove godine. Do sada nije primilo ni jednu od tri predviđene doze. Sa Polio i DTP vakcinom nije bilo problema, ali HiB vakcine nema već više od 4 meseca. U Domu zdravlja kažu da će nas zvati kad dobiju vakcinu i na tome se završava priča o vakcinaciji.

Dalji komentari javljaju da je isto i u Loznici, Novom Sadu itd.

[zakk]

http://uanews.org/story/putting-the-brakes-on-inflammation



Researchers have uncovered a signal that prevents the immune system from spinning out of control. The findings could help develop more effective therapies for autoimmune disorders, allergies, chronic inflammation and cancer.


...



"The dendritic cells activate the T-cells," Ghosh explained. "Only when they're activated, not when they're resting, do the T-cells produce this protein that we knew only from the blood clotting process, called Protein S."

The T-cells display Protein S on their surface, where it makes contact with a receptor the dendritic cells carry on their surface. This triggers a signal telling the dendritic cell to stop switching on T-cells, causing the immune response to slow down.

[Meho Krljic]

Međutim, s druge strane:
Fifteen Years After Autism Panic, a Plague of Measles EruptsNaravno, možda ovaj izvor nije unbiased i sve to, ali cifre deluju upozoravajuće...

PORT TALBOT, Wales—When the telltale rash appeared behind Aleshia Jenkins's ears, her grandmother knew exactly what caused it: a decision she'd made 15 years earlier.
Ms. Jenkins was an infant in 1998, when this region of southwest Wales was a hotbed of resistance to a vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella. Many here refused the vaccine for their children after a British doctor, Andrew Wakefield, suggested it might cause autism and a local newspaper heavily covered the fears. Resistance continued even after the autism link was disproved.
The bill has now come due.
A measles outbreak infected 1,219 people in southwest Wales between November 2012 and early July, compared with 105 cases in all of Wales in 2011.
One of the infected was Ms. Jenkins, whose grandmother, her guardian, hadn't vaccinated her as a young child. "I was afraid of the autism," says the grandmother, Margaret Mugford, 63 years old. "It was in all the papers and on TV."


The outbreak presents a cautionary tale about the limits of disease control. Wales is a modern society with access to modern medical care and scientific thought. Yet legions spurned a long-proven vaccine, putting a generation at risk even after scientists debunked Dr. Wakefield's autism research.
The outbreak matters to the rest of the world because measles can quickly cross oceans, setting back progress elsewhere in stopping it. By 2000, the U.S. had effectively eliminated new home-grown cases of measles, though small outbreaks persist as travelers bring the virus into the country. New York City health officials this spring traced a Brooklyn outbreak to someone they believe was infected in London.
      Measles outbreaks are a "canary in the coal mine," says James Goodson, the lead measles expert at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People who refuse one vaccine may be spurning others, setting communities up for outbreaks of other dangerous diseases that are slower to propagate, he says, such as diphtheria and whooping cough.
"Despite the fact that it's one of the greatest health measures ever invented by man or woman, there seems to still be a small residue of humanity that objects to the very idea of immunization," says Dai Lloyd, a doctor in Wales who treated many of the recent measles cases. "If you go around the cemetery you can see the historical evidence of childhood slaughter from pre-immunization days."
Measles is a respiratory condition causing fever, cough and rash. Most people who catch it recover fully. But measles can lead to deafness and pneumonia, and, in about one in 1,000 cases, death. It is one of the most contagious diseases, spread by coughing and sneezing.
It is also among the most preventable, with an effective inoculation since the 1960s that is now commonly given with mumps and rubella vaccines in a combined "MMR" vaccine. The U.K., as did the U.S., categorized measles as "eliminated" over a decade ago, meaning it was no longer circulating from within its borders.


Child deaths from measles world-wide fell 71% to 158,000 in 2011 from 2000, says the Measles & Rubella Initiative, a partnership of global-health groups.
Most measles occurs in developing countries. But it is resurging in some of the very countries that have led global campaigns against it. France was close to eliminating it in 2007 before an outbreak infected more than 20,000 people between 2008 and 2011. Philosophical opposition to vaccines helped cause the outbreak, says the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
The 117 U.S. cases reported so far this year are up from 54 in all of 2012 and could put the U.S. on track to match the 220 logged in 2011, the highest since 1996. England reported 1,168 cases in 2013 through May, up 64% from the year-earlier period and the highest recorded level since 1994.
"It's very galling we had measles eliminated and now we've got it again" in the U.K., says Paul Cosford, medical director of Public Health England, the government public-health agency.
The autism scare behind the Wales outbreak tracks to the era of Dr. Wakefield, then a researcher at London's Royal Free Hospital, whose suggestion of a vaccine-autism link began to get press in 1997.
A paper Dr. Wakefield published in 1998 in the Lancet, a medical journal, described 12 "previously normal" children who developed gastrointestinal problems and developmental disorders including autism. His paper concluded that "in most cases, onset of symptoms was after measles, mumps, and rubella immunization. Further investigations are needed to examine this syndrome and its possible relation to this vaccine."
Medical experts immediately warned parents that they considered the research incomplete and speculative, and said there was no evidence of a link. Among other studies debunking his research, a 2004 review of epidemiological studies by the U.S. Institute of Medicine found no evidence MMR caused autism.


The Lancet retracted Dr. Wakefield's paper in 2010 after the U.K.'s General Medical Council concluded that his work was "irresponsible and dishonest." The council that year stripped him of his medical license, saying in a report that he had engaged in "serious professional misconduct."
Dr. Wakefield says he questioned MMR's safety but strongly urged parents to continue with a measles-only vaccine. "MMR doesn't protect against measles," he says. "Measles vaccine protects against measles." He says he stands by his work despite contrary conclusions by other scientists. He didn't respond to subsequent requests for comment on his license revocation.
His report helped spark backlash against MMR, especially in English-speaking countries, say health officials in the U.S., U.K., Australia and other countries. An estimated 2.1% of U.S. children who received other routine vaccines weren't immunized with MMR in 2000, up from 0.77% in 1995, according to a 2008 study published in Pediatrics that concluded the change was "associated with" Dr. Wakefield's study.
Dr. Wakefield says he rejects the idea that his research helped cause measles outbreaks, because he told parents to keep vaccinating with measles-only vaccine.
U.S. critics, including some who questioned vaccines in general, continued to campaign against the vaccine. Among them, former Playboy model and actress Jenny McCarthy, who has been named a co-host of ABC's "The View," became a leader of the anti-vaccine movement in the U.S. several years ago when in televised interviews she linked her son's autism to vaccinations. A publicist for Ms. McCarthy, who wrote the forward to a 2010 book by Dr. Wakefield, didn't respond to requests for comment.
Dr. Wakefield's work especially reverberated in the U.K. MMR vaccination rates among 2-year-olds in England fell to 80% in the 2004 fiscal year from about 92% in 1997.
But nowhere did the toxic mix of dubious science, sensational headlines and parental fear take a bigger toll than in southwest Wales. As Dr. Wakefield's concerns gathered steam in Britain's national media in 1997, a Port Talbot mother, Jackie Eckton, phoned the South Wales Evening Post to ask whether other parents had experienced problems with MMR.
In one 1997 article, Ms. Eckton told the Post the vaccine turned her 3-year-old, Daniel, who had been diagnosed with autism, into a "distant and silent recluse." She told the paper she wanted to form "some sort of action group so people can help each other fight this thing and what it does."
The Post instructed parents wanting to join her campaign to phone its news desk.
Within days, parents of 20 other children formed a group led by Ms. Eckton, and demanded an investigation into whether the shots—"jabs" in the U.K.—were faulty. The Post ran a headline: "Jab Mums Fear a Rogue Batch."



The health department told parents there was nothing wrong with the vaccine. The U.K.'s state-run health system encourages parents to vaccinate children but, unlike the U.S. system, doesn't require vaccinations for school enrollment.
Ms. Eckton's group grew, and stories about other children followed, with headlines like "Mum fears twins may be jab victims." After Dr. Wakefield's paper was published in February, 1998, the Post stepped up its coverage, with dozens of stories about worried parents. 
Health experts in Wales say the Post's coverage was probably the main reason vaccination rates fell further here than elsewhere. By the third quarter of 1998, uptake of the vaccine in 2-year-olds fell by 14% in the newspaper's distribution area, compared with a 2.4% drop in the rest of Wales, according to a report in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.
Doctors urged parents to vaccinate anyway, says Charlotte Jones, a general practitioner in Swansea, Wales. "We'd chase them up by letter, by telephone," she says, but many "weren't having it."
Ms. Jenkins's grandmother, Ms. Mugford, wasn't having it. "I got frightened—what if she ends up with autism? And I just let it go," she says of her decision not to vaccinate.
The backlash lingered for years. Hannah Williams, a 31-year-old mother of two boys, ages five and six, says she skipped their MMR vaccinations over autism fears. Her nephew had been vaccinated and developed autism, she says, so she and her husband "decided we weren't willing to take the risk."
Their pediatrician badgered them to vaccinate, she says, but "we'd just say no."


It can take years for an outbreak to follow dropping vaccination rates. Doctors in Wales reported from 104 to 223 cases a year from 1999 to 2008. Reported cases rose to 567 in 2009 and fell to 117 in 2010.
Then, in November 2012, doctors started seeing a marked increase. There were dozens of new cases a week, and authorities declared an outbreak.
The outbreak especially hit children 10 to 18 years old who went unvaccinated during the autism scare.
About 10% of infected children in the outbreak area were admitted to the hospital, with complications including severe dehydration and pneumonia, says Sara Hayes, a director of public health in the outbreak area. Most of the infected have recovered. A 25-year-old man died of pneumonia related to the measles, according to Public Health Wales.
Ms. Jenkins in April joined thousands of other children who lined up for belated vaccinations. It was too late: She found the rash soon thereafter, she says. Ms. Jenkins, now 16, says her measles got so bad she had to visit the hospital. She recovered, as have most others.
"It took her getting measles for me to realize how dangerous it was," her grandmother says.
Dr. Wakefield rejects the idea that he helped cause the Welsh outbreak. The government's decision not to offer a measles-only vaccine, he says, "lays the blame fairly on their shoulders."
Measles-only vaccines weren't approved in Britain at the time, says Brendan Mason, an epidemiologist with Public Health Wales. Global health officials have long viewed single-disease vaccines as inferior to combination shots because they increase the likelihood children will miss some doses.
Dr. Wakefield in 2005 moved to Austin, Texas, where he helped found an autism research-and-treatment center. He resigned from the center in 2010 after the U.K. revoked his medical license and says he is now helping run an Austin-based video-production company.
Efforts to reach George Edwards, who edited the Post during the autism scare, were unsuccessful. In April, the BBC quoted him as saying that "at no time did the newspaper ever say to parents 'do not let your children have this jab.'"
The Post's current editor, Jonathan Roberts, wrote in an April editorial: "It is clear that there were genuine concerns in the mid-1990s about MMR and the Post gave them full and responsible coverage." Mr. Roberts says he doesn't have anything to add to his editorial.
Wales declared the outbreak over on July 3. But there may be other ripples from the late-1990s scare. U.K. health officials say the drop in MMR vaccination has contributed to a spike in mumps in the U.K. in recent years.
Public Health Wales warned in recent weeks that many people remain unvaccinated with MMR and leave Wales vulnerable to future outbreaks of measles and mumps.
And resistance persists: Even some Welsh parents who belatedly inoculated remain suspicious of MMR.
Ms. Williams, who had skipped her sons' vaccinations, took her boys to an emergency vaccination clinic during the outbreak. She says she isn't as worried about autism now that her children are older but still isn't convinced of MMR's safety.
Ms. Eckton, who started the parents' group, says she still believes MMR damaged her son, now 18, who she says is severely autistic.
"I'm only a parent who watched what happened to my son," says Ms. Eckton, 46. "When you feel guilt for that, that's quite hard."

[Meho Krljic]

A sa druge druge strane:

'Female' Chromosome May Leave a Mark on Male Fertility

  Behind every great man, the saying goes, there's a great woman. And behind every sperm, there may be an X chromosome gene. In humans, the Y chromosome makes men, men, or so researchers have thought: It contains genes that are responsible for sex determination, male development, and male fertility. But now a team has discovered that X—"the female chromosome"—could also play a significant role in maleness. It contains scores of genes that are active only in tissue destined to become sperm. The finding shakes up our ideas about how sex chromosomes influence gender and also suggests that at least some parts of the X chromosome are playing an unexpectedly dynamic role in evolution.
Each mammal has a pair of sex chromosomes. Females have two copies of the X chromosome, and males have one, along with a Y chromosome. The body needs only one active copy of the X chromosome, so in females, the second copy is disabled. Almost 50 years ago, a geneticist named Susumu Ohno proposed that this shutdown slowed the evolution of the X chromosome, and he predicted that its genes would be very similar across most mammals. David Page, a geneticist at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts, wanted to check if that was true between mice and humans, which are separated by 80 million years of evolution.
Although the genomes of both species had already been decoded, there were gaps and mistakes in the DNA sequence of the human X chromosome that first needed to be filled in or fixed. Using a special sequencing technique that it developed, Page's research team determined the order of the DNA bases in those gaps—many contained multiple duplicated regions of DNA that were impossible to decipher with the technology available when the X chromosome was first sequenced. Then the researchers compared the genes in the mouse and human versions of the chromosome.
The two share a majority of their 800 or so genes, Page and his colleagues report online today in Nature Genetics. Those shared, relatively stable genes are active in both males and females and exist as single copies on the chromosomes. Mutations in these previously described genes are responsible for the so-called X-linked recessive diseases such as hemophilia and Duchenne muscular dystrophy. "These are the genes of the X chromosome of textbooks," Page says.
But his team's search uncovered a different, wilder side to this chromosome as well. There are 144 human X chromosome genes with no counterparts in mice, and 197 such mice genes are unique. Of the 144 human ones, 107 exist in multiple copies in the newly sequenced duplicated regions of the X and seem to be changing rapidly. Based on such evidence, Page concludes that these genes have appeared since the ancestors of mice and humans split off from each other.
"I am surprised by the large number of unshared genes between the human X and mouse X," says Jianzhi Zhang, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, who was not involved with the work. "The finding suggests that X chromosome gene content is probably changing all the time."
When genes change, they have the opportunity to influence evolution, and Page thinks that the new X chromosome genes may be particularly potent. Some previously identified X chromosome genes, for example, seem to have played a role in mouse speciation. He and his colleagues surveyed eight human male and female tissues to begin to see what the genes do. Unlike the textbook X genes, "in many cases these [unshared] genes are not even expressed in females," Page says. Instead, they are active in the testis, primarily in tissue destined to become sperm, Page's team reports. "We think the X chromosome is leading a double life," he says, with one part being stable and behaving as the textbooks say, and another part changing and influencing male traits.
Elsewhere in the genome, duplicated regions "are already known to be of immense biomedical significance" in cancer and other diseases, Page says. He is hoping that other researchers will start looking more closely at whether genes in the duplicated regions of the X chromosome are likewise important, particularly with respect to male fertility and testis cancer.
Zhang is cautious. "We must first know the function of these genes," he says, to understand their impact on health and on speciation. One thing is for certain, however: "People will start paying attention to the recent evolution of the X chromosome."