Learning outcomes After studying this unit you should understand: some of the types of disease that might be treatable by gene therapy the basic principals of genetic manipulation the differences between somatic and germline gene therapy and some of the problems involved in these potential treatments how genetics may be used in the design of drugs.
Introduction This unit is an adapted extract from the Open University course Human genetics and health issues
(SK195) Following on from the advances made in diagnosing disorders using genetic testing, this unit looks at the possibilities for genetic therapies. Two approaches to gene therapy are discussed: correcting genes involved in causing illness; and using genes to treat disorders. Before
Acknowledgements The content acknowledged below is Proprietary (see terms and conditions) and is used under licence. This content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Licence Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this unit:
2.4 ‘Go Use’ science promotion events Science shops, created in the Netherlands in the 1960s and now spread throughout Europe, first emerged in the UK in 1988 (at Queen's University, Belfast). They act as a demand-driven link between a university or independent research facility and the community (usually via citizen groups, such as pressure groups, social groups, consumers and residents associations), putting one in touch with the other upon request. They carry out scientific research on practical, scientific problems at the loc
2.2 ‘Go See’ science promotion events Every year, the BA (British Association for the Advancement of Science) runs a week-long Festival of Science in a different town or city, claiming it to be the largest public celebration of science in the country. The events are diverse in topic and character. The 2004 Festival in Exeter, for example, included a Presidential lecture on the responsibility of scientists, an exhibition on climate change, and an excursion to a nearby car park to test geometry by chalking lines on the ground. Fest
1.2 Defining science promotion A basic definition of science promotion would be useful here: in the context of this unit it means putting forward the benefits of science by motivating and engaging non-scientists. You may be aware of the sociological argument that science is open to social influences and constraints, and it is worth bearing this in mind when thinking about whether the benefits of science are necessarily the same for everyone. Likewise, you will need to remember that the public is not a homogeneous mass with
1.1 The political climate You may have read a lot about recent political moves to involve the public in science policy making. Some commentators, such as Alan Irwin and Brian Wynne, are in favour of it, while others, such as Lewis Wolpert or Richard Dawkins, are circumspect or even hostile to involving the public in science. However, it is generally agreed that increasing public engagement with science is important and worthwhile, with tangible societal value (in other words it has value for experts, policy makers and
Learning outcomes By the end of this unit you should be able to: have an awareness of the issues surrounding public understanding of science; engage with some of the debates surrounding this topic.
Introduction For many years, the view that dominated the science–public realm was that if only ‘the public’ were educated more, they would better appreciate the intrinsic value of science in their lives. Moreover, under this approach, people were too often seen as ‘empty vessels’ waiting to be filled with scientific knowledge that was transmitted one-way from experts to citizens – an idea that you will recognise as the ‘deficit model’ of how ‘the public’ understands science. With a few
5 Summary Domesticated organisms evolve in artificial environments under artificial selection, and opportunistic or enforced hybridisation often occurs between species that would not normally interbreed. Natural selection cannot be eliminated and continues to operate. At least two different forms of dwarfism are common in domesticated livestock and humans, but only the rarer midget type of dwarfism occurs in wild lineages. Domesticated mammals and birds have distinctive patterns of skin pigmentation th
3.1 The origins of domesticated dogs Archaeologists and biologists agree that dogs (Canis familiaris) were the first species to become domesticated. Francis Galton, Darwin's younger cousin, suggested at the end of the 19th century that domestication began when humans captured and raised wolf puppies. The resulting adults ate scraps of human food, assisted in hunting and acted as guard dogs around camps. Among the evidence in support of this hypothesis is the observation that tribal people all over the world take wild anim
2.3 Skin pigmentation and pattern Most domesticated livestock differ from their wild ancestors in the colour and pattern of the skin, hair or feathers. What gene-associated Learning outcomes When you have completed this unit you should be able to: define the terms ‘artificial selection’ and ‘domestication’ and explain the relationship between artificial and natural selection; describe some forms of dwarfism in modern breeds of dogs and explain their relationship to dwarfism in humans and in modern and extinct wild mammals; describe some features of the skin, fur, feathers and the shape of the head frequently observed in domestic 3.2 Angular size, actual size and distance The angular size of an object is determined uniquely by its actual size and its distance from the observer. For an object of fixed size, the larger the distance, the smaller the angular size. For objects at a fixed distance, the larger the actual size of an object, the larger its angular size. For objects with small angular sizes, such as typical astronomical objects, the precise relationship between angular size, actual size and distance is well approximated by th 3 Measuring the Sun Section 2 referred to observations that can only be made using sophisticated telescopes, but this section turns to an observation you can do yourself. There are two reasons for this: one is to give you experience in scientific measuring and the other is to introduce some terminology that astronomers use frequently. 1.1 The Sun at visible wavelengths The Sun is seen as a blindingly bright, yellow object in the sky. The part of the Sun that you normally see is called the photosphere (meaning ‘sphere of light’); this is best thought of as the ‘surface’ of the Sun, although it is very different from the surface of a planet such as Earth. Its diameter is about 1.4 million kilometres, making the Sun's volume roughly one million times that of the Earth. The photosphere is not solid. Rather, it is a thin layer of hot gaseous mater 1 Observing the Sun
Never look directly at the Sun, either with the unaided eye or through spectacles, binoculars or a telescope. You risk permanently damaging your eyes if you do so. Learning outcomes At the end of this unit you should: know about the electromagnetic spectrum and how it is used to infer properties of sources of radiation; know about the range of sizes, distances and motions of objects in the Universe and how they can be measured; know about the structure of, and the main processes operating in, the Sun; comprehend concepts lying well outside everyday experience, including those that involve very large and very smal Acknowledgements The content acknowledged below is Proprietary (see terms and conditions) and is used under licence. Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this unit: The content acknowledged below is Proprietary and is used under licence. 5.3.4 Aye-ayes Perhaps with good reason, the aye-aye has been dubbed by some ‘the strangest of all primates’ and LoM provides some of the reasons [p. 243]. Little wonder that, as DA points out, the species was first classified as a rodent like them, it has powerful incisor teeth that grow continuously.
SAQ 10
Safety warning
Author(s):
