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| News Around World |
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| By genetically altering the cotton plant, researchers of the Texas A&M University has been successful in providing a way make the cotton plant to fit human consumption. The cotton plant has long being a source of fiber for human clothing but has been inedible due to the high levels of gossypol in cottonseed, a toxic chemical. The new cottonseed may be ground into flour and made into bread and other foodstuff.
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| Researchers are beginning to question the idea that everyone on Earth is 99.9% identical, with the comparison of new versions of the human genetic map beginning to show differences up to 10% among individuals. The new version of the human genetic map has been lauded as filling in many missing pages and chapters in the “book of life” explaining the utility of genes in common diseases. This may help explain why some people are more susceptible to diseases.
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In a report in esteemed weekly British science journal Nature, US scientists have reported discovering a potential weakness in the H5N1 virus. Their target, a long flexible protein tail essential for replication, plays its role after the virus hijacks a host cell. The Rice University team show that a single mutation in the amino acids composing a loop in the tail is enough from preventing the tail from forming building blocks to copy the viral genome.
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| New chip that can diagnose diseases unveiled |
A new diagnostic chip has been unveiled that may be used to diagnose infectious diseases like malaria, Ebola, influenza etc. with a single test. The innovative chip, known as the GreeneChip, has the potential of quick diagnosis using tissue, blood, urine and stool. When a patient exhibit symptoms of illnesses, medical doctors may quickly tell the strain of the ailment, and whether it may be a dangerous strain of flu or some relatively harmless virus.
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