People who carry a high-risk gene for Alzheimer’s disease show changes in their brains beginning in childhood, decades before the illness appears, new research from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) suggests. (1)
When does a change start?
When does a disease begin?
Arbitrary definitions, haunting our lives…
Being ill all the time. Because we can never truly define “life”.
It was once thought that each cell in a person’s body possesses the same DNA code and that the particular way the genome is read imparts cell function and defines the individual. For many cell types in our bodies, however, that is an oversimplification. Studies of neuronal genomes published in the past decade have turned up extra or missing chromosomes, or pieces of DNA that can copy and paste themselves throughout the genomes. (1)
Our neurons do not seem to all have the same genome. (2)
If it not the DNA sequence, then what “mystery” does rule our body? Could it be…something NOT in our body? Nuh! My free will based on my deterministic DNA-based body cannot accept that! 🙂
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Painstaking new analysis of the genetic sequence of the X chromosome — long perceived as the “female” counterpart to the male-associated Y chromosome — reveals that large portions of the X have evolved to play a specialized role in sperm production. (1)
Male and female seem to be finally not so different.
Once more, nature itself shows us the way towards One.
It is up to us whether we see the path…
deCODE Genetics, a company known for mining the DNA of Iceland’s population to find links between genes and diseases, has hit a snag. As Science reports in this week’s print issue, a national agency that oversees data privacy in Iceland has rejected a request from deCODE to allow it to apply computational methods to the country’s genealogical records to estimate the genotypes of 280,000 Icelanders who have never agreed to take part in the company’s research and link the data to hospital records. [1]
Led by founder and CEO Kári Stefánsson, deCODE set out in 2006 to combine Iceland’s extensive genealogical records with genetic data and also health records for all citizens to discover disease genes. After it failed to receive legal approval to use the health records without consent, deCODE instead built a research database using DNA and clinical data for more than 120,000 research volunteers. The company has published a slew of papers in top journals tying specific genetic mutations to risks of diseases, but has also weathered bankruptcy. Last December, Amgen purchased the company for $415 million.
After science has battled hard against common logic (won) and ethics (won), now it is fighting the next big fight against Law. A last minor obstacle to the road of full domination…
Do you really think you own your genes? Give it some time…
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