RNA breakthrough transforms idea of gene control

Tiny chemical changes that do not alter the sequence of our DNA but modulate how it works have been found to act on a new part of our genetic machinery. The discovery could provide insights into many health problems, including obesity.

It has been long known that DNA can be altered "epigenetically" ? where changes occur without altering the sequence of DNA but leave chemical marks on genes that dictate how active they are by adding chemical methyl groups that silence genes, for example. Numerous environmental factors, such as stress and smoking, have been shown to influence these epigenetic marks.

Now, researchers have discovered that messenger RNA, the mirror-image copy of DNA from which all proteins are manufactured, can be methylated too.

"We've discovered something fundamental to biology," says Samie Jaffrey of Cornell University in New York, and head of the team that made the discovery. "It was there all the time and no-one knew about it."

Fundamental discovery

Jaffrey's team found that around a fifth of the RNA produced in cells from rat brains and human kidneys contained methylated versions of adenosine, one of the four building blocks of our genetic code. "It was exciting to find that 20 per cent had methyl groups, so it must be a pretty fundamental regulatory mechanism," says Jaffrey.

Separate analyses of assorted rat tissues demonstrated that the methylated RNA was concentrated in the brain, liver and kidneys. Also, samples from rat embryos showed that concentrations rose 70-fold in the brain as it reached the final stages of growth, therefore they are likely to play a fundamental role in development.

The team also discovered that the methyl groups are stripped off the RNA by an enzyme linked with obesity. The enzyme is made by a gene called FTO, one variant of which raises the risk of obesity by 70 per cent. People with an overactive copy of the gene are most at risk, suggesting that stripping the methyl groups from RNA might somehow alter our metabolism.

The researchers found that methylated adenosine tended to cluster close to the point on the RNA strand where protein manufacture reaches completion, and on regions where other proteins bind to the strand to alter or halt production. The suggestion is that methylation may therefore dictate how much protein gets made, and when. "It's not changing what would be made, but it might govern how much and when it's made," says Jaffrey. This, he says, could in turn have a big impact on a multitude of physiological processes and disease.

Journal reference: Cell, DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2012.05.003t/k

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Guest Post and Giveaway! Computer Programming for Kids and ...

If your kids love to spend free time on their computers, wouldn?t it be great if that time was productive and skill-building as well as fun? Can you imagine offering a computer course that your students eagerly complete without any arm-twisting? Tell kids they can learn to?write their own computer programs and games, and then watch their eyes light up!

Today, computers are everywhere. Computer software enables most of your daily life, running not only your trusty personal computer but also cell phones, social media websites, car engines, television DVRs, online classrooms, ATM machines?the list is endless! Computers are controlled by their software, and software is written by programmers who have the necessary Computer Science training.?Our society needs software engineers more than ever, so don?t be afraid to encourage your child?s interest in computer programming.

It?s a common misconception that most computer programming jobs have been outsourced overseas. The reality today is that?US-based companies are desperate to hire qualified software engineers, but have a difficult time finding local candidates. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that in the next decade, computer programming jobs will grow by 30%! A graduate with a Computer Science degree will earn nearly $20,000 more per year to start than the average bachelor?s degree recipient. Unemployment among computer programmers is a phenomenally low 4% even during the current economic downturn.

Early Computer Science education can pay off during college also! Students who study for and score well on the AP Computer Science Exam can?earn college credit while in high school. This means your student would save time and money by skipping over some introductory college classes. Early training will also help your student understand if software engineering is a career interest. Students who go to college without any prior experience in a subject may discover it?s just not a good fit, and changing majors one or more times can delay graduation.

Homeschool, private, and public school students all?deserve the opportunity to learn the skills necessary to master our digital age. If you have technically inclined students, what?s keeping you from offering a Computer Science course? If you?re like many parents, you may have dabbled with an old FORTRAN or Pascal course in the distant past, but don?t feel qualified to teach this subject yourself.

That?s why my wife and I have spent the last four years developing a fun, hands-on, self-study computer science curriculum for kids and teens. We teach students how to write their own computer programs, games, and even Android applications using the latest Visual Basic, C#, and Java languages. As professional software engineers, we believe that raising the next generation of computer scientists is critical in an increasingly computer-driven society.?If your student is interested in learning more about computer programming, we invite you to visit us at?http://www.HomeschoolProgramming.com.

Chris Yust is a 14-year veteran of the software industry and a father of two homeschooled boys. ?Chris and his wife Andrea are co-authors of six computer programming textbooks for kids and teens. ?You are welcome to learn more about homeschool computer programming courses or contact Chris at www.HomeschoolProgramming.com.

The Giveaway: ?One very lucky winner will receive their choice of any first semester course and video set from?http://www.HomeschoolProgramming.com. ?Please visit the website and leave a comment at the very end of this post telling me which course you would choose! ?Then come back up to the Rafflecopter contest form and click Enter for the very first entry. ?Please note that some of the courses require Windows and some do work on Mac computers. ?You can watch demonstration videos here.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Finished entering the giveaway? ?Keep Hopping thru the Homeschool Crew Blog Hop! ?Just click on the graphic below.

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Want an honest answer? Send a text, says study

11 hrs.

Devin Coldewey

It may seem that text messages, so impersonal and convenient, aren't the best platform on which to ask sometimes-sensitive questions. But a new study shows that people seem to be less likely to garnish the truth or round it off in texts, at least compared to over the phone.

Michael Schober of The New School and Fred Conrad from the University of Michigan shared the preliminary results of their study, which compared answers given when asked a question over the phone or over text. The over 600 iPhone-owning respondents showed a reliable and surprising trend. As Conrad said, in?The New School's news release:

The preliminary results of our study suggest that people are more likely to disclose sensitive information via text messages than in voice interviews?...?We believe people give more precise answers via texting because there's just not the time pressure in a largely asynchronous mode like text that there is in phone interviews.

The questions weren't very revealing, but still something that a person might fudge just a little when asked point-blank. How many times a week do you exercise? How many times in the last 30 days did you have more than five drinks on the same occasion? Respondents tended to answer more honestly when replying by text than on the phone ?? i.e. they reported drinking more and exercising less.

And it's not just when people have time to reflect; text messaging got more honest answers even when people were shopping or walking around and had to multitask in order to respond.

The researchers refrain from speculating on the reason for this honesty factor, except as Conrad points out, to say that respondents had a little extra time to compose an answer when texting. But in-person communication is a complex social dance, and it may be that people are able to answer more honestly in text or chat because they don't have to worry about the immediate social consequences of an "unpopular" answer, like admitting they don't exercise enough.

Schober notes that there still "in the early stages" of analysis, but the trend is very clear. They are looking into how behavior may differ between generations, or between frequent and infrequent texters.

For now, it seems to be clear, though: texting someone when they'd like to meet might get you a "5:15," while asking on the phone might get you "five-ish." For many, knowing how to get the better answer in a situation like that?is findings enough.

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. His personal website is coldewey.cc.

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Genetic testing may not trigger more use of health services

Thursday, May 17, 2012

People have more and more chances to participate in genetic testing that can indicate their range of risk for developing a disease. Receiving these results does not appreciably drive up? or diminish?test recipients' demand for potentially costly follow-up health services, according to a new study in the May 17, 2012 early online issue of Genetics in Medicine.

The study was done by researchers with the Multiplex Initiative, a multi-center collaborative initiative involving investigators from the National Institutes of Health's Intramural Research Program, Group Health Cooperative in Seattle, and the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit.

The tests are available from a growing number of commercial producers, and health care providers have been uncertain whether people who received information only about risk would follow up by demanding diagnostic testing to check for predicted illnesses.

The study is the first to use electronic health records?rather than self-reported behavior?to measure the impact of genetic testing on the subsequent use of health services by commercially insured, healthy adults. Self-reports, which can be affected by memory lapses and other problems, tend to be less accurate.

"Our study was a best-case scenario, because we chose 15 genes reliably associated with relatively small risks for eight common diseases that health behaviors can affect," said the study's first author Robert J. Reid, MD, PhD. Dr. Reid is Group Health's associate medical director of research translation and an associate investigator at Group Health Research Institute. Those diseases were type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, high blood cholesterol, hypertension, osteoporosis, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, and melanoma. "We hope that testing positive activates patients to make behavior changes that could lower their risk, such as quitting smoking," he added, "without causing them to make many extra visits to their doctors."

"Understanding personalized genetic information is important because it is becoming more readily available and we need to figure out how to integrate it effectively and efficiently into the clinical care we provide," said coauthor Eric B. Larson, MD, MPH, Group Health Cooperative's vice president for research and Group Health Research Institute's executive director.

"There are a lot of unanswered questions about how genetic test results can be used to guide people toward making positive lifestyle and health behavior changes," said Colleen McBride, PhD, chief of the Social and Behavioral Research Branch at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). "This study goes a long way toward bringing data to these debates and shows that people are not likely to make inappropriate demands of health delivery systems if they are properly informed about the limitations of genetic tests."

Genetic tests, such as those used in this study, can detect common variants of genes associated with modest changes in the chances of developing particular diseases. "Multiplex" means simultaneously performing many genetic tests on one blood sample.

"Good next steps would be to see whether any patients were motivated to make long-term behavior changes?and whether those individuals at highest risk went to their doctors more often," Dr. Reid said. "But this study wasn't designed to answer those questions."

The study included 217 healthy people age 25 to 40 who elected to participate in genetic susceptibility testing that their health plan offered. The researchers analyzed the participants' health care use in the 12 months before genetic testing and the 12 months after it. They also compared the test group's health care use with that of about 400 similar plan members who declined the testing offer.

The researchers counted the doctor visits, lab tests, and procedures the people received, particularly those services associated with four of the eight conditions that the multiplex panel tested. Most of the procedures or screening tests that were counted are not among those currently recommended for people in this age group who don't have symptoms. The researchers found that participants in genetic testing did not change their overall use of health care services compared with those not tested.

Each person who chose to undergo the multiplex test was found to carry at least one at-risk genetic marker. Individuals in the population carried an average of nine at-risk variants. Having a risk version of one of the 15 genes on the multiplex genetic test does not mean that a person is certain to get the condition?only that he or she might have a slightly greater chance of developing the health condition. Many things other than genetics contribute to the risk of common diseases, including such lifestyle factors as diet, exercise, smoking, and sun exposure.

"Much is written about using genetics to personalize health care," said co-author Lawrence C. Brody, PhD, chief of NHGRI's Genome Technology Branch. "Some think this new generation of genetic tests will be a very positive addition to medicine; others believe they have the potential to make things worse." Dr. Brody designed the panel of genetic tests used in the Multiplex Initiative.

The NHGRI Division of Intramural Research and the National Cancer Institute, both at NIH, along with Group Health Cooperative in Seattle and the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, launched the Multiplex Initiative in May 2007. For the first two years of the study, the investigators accumulated data from 2,000 Detroit area residents who were offered a multiplex genetic test for eight common conditions.

Once enrolled, participants were asked to review information online about the multiplex genetic test and to decide whether they were interested in taking the test. Those who agreed to genetic testing met with a research educator, who provided more information about the risks and benefits of testing and obtained the patient's written consent. Test results were mailed to participants. Trained research educators called the participants to help them interpret and understand their results. The study also included follow-up interviews with participants three months after they received their results.

###

Group Health Research Institute: http://www.grouphealthresearch.org/

Thanks to Group Health Research Institute for this article.

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Property Management Forum

Lou Nimkoff

Lou Nimkoff, CCIM, CPM, Principal, Brio Companies, Winter Park, Florida Lou Nimkoff is a Principal at the Brio Companies, a Winter Park, Florida-based real estate investment group. He has been active in commercial real estate since 1983, and a real estate broker in Florida for over fifteen years. He participates on the national and local levels of the CCIM Institute, RPAC, the National Association of Realtors, and IREM, where he also is an Instructor. Lou has been published or quoted in National Real Estate Investor, Commercial Investment Real Estate, Journal of Property Management and Florida Realtor. He has been involved in Acquisitions, Dispositions, and Management of Retail, multi-family, and office properties.

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How to Get a License to Sell Used Cars | Auto Trends Magazine |

How to Get a License to Sell Used Cars

May 16, 2012 by Matt Keegan

Staying within the law while you flip cars.

Your habit of buying and selling used cars privately is a hobby, but your state may have something else to say about it. In Michigan, an individual that buys, sells, brokers, leases, negotiates a lease or deals in five or more vehicles within any 12-month period is required to hold a dealer?s license. [1] In Michigan?s case, a vehicle is described as a motor vehicle, trailer coach or trailer weighing when it weights more than 2,500 pounds. Read on for some tips on how to get a license to sell used cars.

DMV Rules

Given that 50 states and the District of Columbia establish rules governing motor vehicles registered within their jurisdiction, a visit to your Department of Motor Vehicle will ensure that you?re complying with local statutes as a used car retailer. The process offered here is general and not specific to any state.

In Florida, individuals selling three or more used vehicles within a 12-month period are considered as a motor vehicle dealer. [2] Like most other states, Florida has multiple license types including franchise dealer, service facility and auctions. You?ll want to obtain the independent dealer license in the Sunshine State by filling out the appropriate application.

When you fill out your application and submit it to the DMV you?ll include the related fee. In Arizona, you?ll be required to undergo a criminal records check, by submitting a personal history form and fingerprint cards to the Motor Vehicle Division. [3] Expect your application to be denied if a felony conviction is found on your record. Arizona will reject your application if you?ve been convicted of fraud or a felony within the past five years.

Bonded and Insured

Your DMV will most likely require you to obtain a surety bond, an amount that can vary depending on what you?ll be selling. In Minnesota, that bond is $5,000 for dealers of boats and snowmobiles, but $50,000 for passenger vehicles. [4] As part of the bond and application process, the DMV may require zoning approval for you to sell cars. Check with your municipality about its requirements for you to sell an occasional car from your home. Submit that information with your application.

Once you receive approval from the DMV to operate a used car business, you?ll need to obtain liability insurance, to insure against loss. Liability limits vary from state to state and may necessitate you obtaining other insurance such as uninsured motorists liability protection.

References

[1] Michigan Department of State: Who Needs a Dealer License?

[2] State of Florida: Licensing Requirements for Motor Vehicle Dealers

[3] Arizona Department of Transportation: Licensing Information

[4] State of Minnesota: Motor Vehicle Dealers License

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You are what you eat: Why do male consumers avoid vegetarian options?

ScienceDaily (May 16, 2012) ? Why are men generally more reluctant to try vegetarian products? According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, consumers are influenced by a strong association of meat with masculinity.

"We examined whether people in Western cultures have a metaphoric link between meat and men," write authors Paul Rozin (University of Pennsylvania), Julia M. Hormes (Louisiana State University), Myles S. Faith (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), and Brian Wansink (Cornell University). The answer, they found, was a strong connection between eating meat -- especially muscle meat, like steak -- and masculinity.

In a number of experiments that looked at metaphors and certain foods, like meat and milk, the authors found that people rated meat as more masculine than vegetables. They also found that meat generated more masculine words when people discussed it, and that people viewed male meat eaters as being more masculine than non-meat eaters.

Most of the studies took place in the United States and Britain, but the authors also analyzed 23 languages that use gendered pronouns. They discovered that across most languages, meat was related to the male gender.

"To the strong, traditional, macho, bicep-flexing, All-American male, red meat is a strong, traditional, macho, bicep-flexing, All-American food," the authors write. "Soy is not. To eat it, they would have to give up a food they saw as strong and powerful like themselves for a food they saw as weak and wimpy."

If marketers or health advocates want to counteract such powerful associations, they need to address the metaphors that shape consumer attitudes, the authors explain. For example, an education campaign that urges people to eat more soy or vegetables would be a tough sell, but reshaping soy burgers to make them resemble beef or giving them grill marks might help cautious men make the transition.

"In marketing, understanding the metaphor a consumer might have for a brand could move the art of positioning toward more of a science," the authors conclude.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Chicago Press Journals, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Paul Rozin, Julia M. Hormes, Myles S. Faith, and Brian Wansink. Is Meat Male? A Quantitative Multi-Method Framework to Establish Metaphoric Relationships. Journal of Consumer Research, October 2012

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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