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| News Around World |
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| Novel 'Gene Toggles' In Rice, World's Top Food Crop |
Turning off genes is like
flipping a “micro-switch”, that is what has been discovered
by researchers from University of Delaware, in collaboration with
U.S. and international colleagues. Natural antisense microRNAs (nat-miRNAs),
target the genes sitting directly across from them on the opposite
strand of DNA in a rice cell, and are composed of short lengths of
ribonucleic acids (RNAs), on the order of about 20 nucleotides long.
In addition to uncovering a new genetic switch and gaining insight
about its pathways and evolution, which are important to the health
of a grain that feeds most of the world, the research also may help
scientists locate this type of novel gene regulator in other organisms,
including humans. |
| A common weed in India, the key to the effective fighting of dengue fever? Sounds impossible? Not really. Researchers from Burdwan University have found that using plant extracts from the Solanum villosum weed, or hairy nightshade, are known to eliminate larvae in stagnant water bodies, commonly known as the breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Up to 2.5 billion people across the world live in areas where they are at risk of dengue fever. |
| Clinical trials for the development of a human vaccine for the H5N1 virus has begun in Hanoi. Eleven volunteers, all researchers, have received their second dosage of a trial vaccine yesterday at medical rooms of a company run by the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology in Hanoi. Epidimeologist and virologist, Dr. Nguyen Tuyet Nga, who is heading the clinical trials announced that researchers were using highly-pathogenic strains of H5N1 taken from humans in Vietnam. The country has recorded 52 deaths from bird flu to date. |
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