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| News Around World |
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| Recent studies have shown that Bt cotton grown by Arizona farmers actually have the same yields as normal cotton, but with fewer use of pesticides. The finding is from the first large scale study on the effects of Bt cotton to yield, pesticide and biodiversity. In fact, among the many factors affecting biodiversity in the study, scientists have shown that transgenics were not one of them.
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| In a great step to increase the values of its exports, Brazil has given its strong support in developing agricultural nanotechnologies. These microscopic products are aimed at improving the quality of farm produce, and Brazil has defined several areas of research including nanofibres to strengthen natural fibres, and nanoparticles that contain pesticide and control their release. The US$1.9 million laboratory will be housed at Embrapa’s agricultural instrumentation unit in Sao Paulo. |
Scientists at the Seattle-based Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute, the Seattle Institute for Systems Biology and the University of Washington has developed a method for analyzing the Major Histocompatability Complex of the human genome. The region, found on Chromosome 6, encodes up to 400 genes that may play a multitude of roles in immunity to infections and cancer. The procedure is touted to have great potential in the study of gene complexes and mapping of genes.
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New Insulin-production Method Holds Promise for Diabetics, Impacts Other Fields |
Insufficient
production of insulin in the pancreas is the primary causes of adult-onset
diabetes. A study, using atomic force microscopy has been able to shown
a novel insulin crystal formation process, which may revolutionize the
way scientists view insulin production. In fact, the finding is historically
significant as this is only the third mechanism of crystal formation
ever discovered. |
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