Fast-Mutating DNA Sequences Shape Early Development; Guided Evolution of Uniquely Human Traits

What does it mean to be human? According to scientists the key lies, ultimately, in the billions of lines of genetic code that comprise the human genome. The problem, however, has been deciphering that code. But now, researchers at the Gladstone Institutes have discovered how the activation of specific stretches of DNA control the development of uniquely human characteristics -- and tell an intriguing story about the evolution of our species.

In the latest issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, researchers in the laboratory of Gladstone Investigator Katherine Pollard, PhD, use the latest sequencing and bioinformatics tools to find genomic regions that guide the development of human-specific characteristics. These results offer new clues as to how the activation of similar stretches of DNA -- shared between two species -- can sometimes result in vastly different outcomes.

"Advances in DNA sequencing and supercomputing have given us the power to understand evolution at a level of detail that just a few years ago would have been impossible," said Dr. Pollard, who is also a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco's (UCSF's) Institute for Human Genetics. "In this study, we found stretches of DNA that evolved much more quickly than others. We believe that these fast-evolving stretches were crucial to our human ancestors becoming distinct from our closest primate relatives."

These stretches are called human accelerated regions, or HARs, so-called because they mutate at a relatively fast rate. In addition, the majority of HARs don't appear to encode specific genes. The research team hypothesized that HARs instead acted as "enhancers," controlling when and for how long certain genes were switched on during embryonic development.

Through experiments in embryonic animal models, combined with powerful computational genomics analyses, the research team identified more than 2,600 HARs. Then, they created a program called EnhancerFinder to whittle down that list to just the HARs were likely to be enhancers.

"These results, while preliminary, offer an unprecedented glimpse into how very recent changes to the human genome have modified the genetic programs that control embryonic development to potentially yield different results," said Dr. Capra. "We anticipate that if we were to look at the activity of HARs that are enhancers during later developmental stages, we would see even more differences between humans and chimpanzees."

"It's been 10 years since the Human Genome Project was declared 'complete,' but the amount of genomic knowledge we've gleaned since then -- in large part due to advances in bioinformatics and supercomputing -- have catapulted us far beyond what we thought we knew," added Dr. Pollard. "I'm confident that as we continue to dive deep into important regions such as HARs, we'll come ever closer to answering the question: what makes us human?'"

Read More: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131110204417.htm

Lower Education Levels Linked to Unhealthy Diets

People with lower levels of education may eat larger amounts of unhealthy, calorically dense food than those with a higher education level, possibly because they are more physically active, according to new research published November 6th in the open-access journal PLOS ONE, by Jonas Finger and colleagues at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin, Germany.

Studies consistently show that unhealthy diets are seen more often in people of lower socioeconomic status, a term based on factors such as education level, income level, and occupation. Overall physical activity, however, may also be related to socioeconomic status and dietary habits.

In this study, the authors used a large-scale survey approach to investigate the relationship between education level, food consumption, and physical activity. They analyzed a large database from a representative German adult population and found that German adults with a low level of education consumed more sugar- and fat-rich foods than adults with a high education level. They also consumed fewer fruits and vegetables than those with higher education levels.

Read more: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131106202251.htm

NFL player walks away from $1m contract because he 'wants to be happy'

Many people dream of quitting the rat race - but few would expect a star NFL player to forgo fame and fortune.

John Moffitt, who plays for Denver Broncos has quit the league because he thought it was crazy to risk his happiness and health for wealth.

The third-year guard from Wisconsin said he knows teammates and fans don't understand how he could wave goodbye to his career.

Many people dream of quitting the rat race - but few would expect a star NFL player to forgo fame and fortune.

John Moffitt, who plays for Denver Broncos has quit the league because he thought it was crazy to risk his happiness and health for wealth.

The third-year guard from Wisconsin said he knows teammates and fans don't understand how he could wave goodbye to his career.

'I just really thought about it and decided I'm not happy. I'm not happy at all,' he said.

'And I think it's really madness to risk your body, risk your well-being and risk your happiness for money.

'Everybody, they just don't get it and they think it's crazy. But I think what I was doing is crazy.'

He said he didn't want to see things through this season for the shot at a Super Bowl.

'I don't care about the Super Bowl. I used to. I mean, anytime I played this game, I gave my heart to it and I'm a person that does thing with his heart.

'I don't need the Super Bowl experience. I played in great stadiums and I played against great players. And I had that experience and it's enough.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2488414/NFL-player-John-Moffitt-rejects-1m-contract-wants-happy.html#ixzz2jt0ewfBp

Stage 4 cancer sufferer writes how Obamacare means she no longer has her life-saving healthcare plan

A stage 4 cancer sufferer has written a powerful op-ed explaining that as a direct result of Obamacare she has lost her life-saving medical insurance and the team that has kept her alive.

Edie Littlefield Sundby, who has been battling gallbladder cancer since 2007, explained in a piece for the Wall Street Journal that she is 'one of the losers' in the president's signature healthcare plan.

'I am a determined fighter and extremely lucky,' she writes. 'But this luck may have just run out: My affordable, lifesaving medical insurance policy has been canceled effective December 31.'

Since learning that her plan with United Healthcare PPO will end within weeks, she has been scrambling to find out the alternatives for her care, she writes.

But she has learned that she must now either accept the government exchange plan and lose her world-class doctors or pay more for private insurance with an unfamiliar company.

It means that after fighting the cancer, which has a five-year survival rate of just two per cent, for nearly seven years, she faces the prospect of losing her team of primary doctors and oncologists, who have been crucial to saving her life.

She explains that her insurance company has paid $1.2 million for her treatment and has never doubted her doctors, but now it is pulling out of the individual California market.

There is no one health-exchange plan accepted by both of the medical centers she has come to rely on; it means she needs to choose between either keeping her primary oncologist at Stanford University or her primary care doctors at the University of California, San Diego.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2487123/Obamacare-means-stage-4-cancer-sufferer-NO-healthcare-plan-OR-doctors.html#ixzz2jhNo1Gqy

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