2.4 Current UK provision One way of describing the organizational shift that the advent of predictive medicine would demand is to suggest that genetics would become a general, rather than a specialist service. But it is much easier to say that than to explain how it will happen. For all the publicity about genes, genomes and genetic information, medical genetics is a very small part of current health services. In the UK, an indication that a patient or a family has a genetic problem will lead to a referral to a
2.3 Scaling up They may look at dozens of alleles, and involve thousands of people, but existing screening programmes have been concerned with individual genes. But the technologies now being developed will soon permit the recording of hundreds of genes at a time. So-called gene chips combine the skills of microchip designers with DNA sequence information to offer rapid, easy-to-read results for an individual covering hundreds of genetic variants. A gene chip is a thin slice of glass about the
2.2.4 Longer-term considerations Something else to ponder is the effect that screening might have on the longer-term incidence of disease and (not the same thing) on the incidence of gene variants linked to disease. Sometimes, the impact on a disease can be dramatic. Take thalassaemia, a haemoglobin disorder similar to sickle cell disease, in which premature destruction of haemoglobin-containing red blood cells leads to anaemia. It is relatively common in some Mediterranean countries. Like sickle cell disease, it is understo
2.2.3 Cystic fibrosis A different model for the genetic tests of the future is screening for cystic fibrosis (CF). This is a DNA-based test, which became possible after the gene involved in CF was identified in 1989. CF is a recessive disease, and it should be easy to test to see if prospective parents carry a mutated allele. A simple mouthwash yields enough cells for DNA extraction. If both partners are carriers, they can consider further counselling before conception, and/or pre-natal testing of any potentially
2.2.1 Phenylketonuria The classic example of population screening is testing new-born babies for phenylketonuria (PKU). Individuals with PKU fail to make a protein, a certain enzyme, and develop mental retardation. The absence of the enzyme results in both an accumulation of phenylalanine, which causes the mental retardation, and a deficiency of tyrosine in the body, as shown in Author(s):
2.2 Population screening for genetic disease: the precedents Knowing about particular genes, or their effects, also permits screening – the search in a population for persons with certain genotypes that are associated with a particular disease. Thus the test may be offered to one and all. Until now, screening programmes have focused on one gene at a time, or one disease at a time, in cases where a mutated gene poses serious health problems and something can be done for those who are found to carry the mutation. What that something is varies with the
1.1 What is the future of healthcare? When someone in the UK visits their GP for a flu jab, to confirm a pregnancy, or to report an unexpected pain, they know that behind him or her stands a vast system for diagnosis, treatment or prevention of disease in the whole population. The details differ from country to country but, like all industrialized countries, the UK has a healthcare system that is one of the largest industries. Tens of thousands of people and tens of billions of pounds a year come together inside a complicated net
Defrag Tools #129 - Networking - Part 2 | Defrag Tools In this episode of Defrag Tools, Andrew Richards and Chad Beeder continue to discuss Networking. We look at more inbox tools (netsh, tracert, ping, psping, net) and talk about Receive-Side Scaling (RSS), TCP Chimney Offload and the TCP Receive Window. Timeline: [00:00] - LAN Manager (Larry Osterman Author(s):
4.7 Summary Water in its 'natural' state supports a complex, yet fragile, ecosystem. The ability of natural watercourses to sustain aquatic life depends on a variety of physical, chemical and biological conditions. Biodegradable compounds, nutrients and dissolved oxygen must be available for the metabolic activities of the algae, fungi, bacteria and protozoa which are at the lowest level of the food chain. In addition, plant and animal growth cannot occur outside narrow ranges of temperature and pH. Susp
4.6 Tidal rivers and estuaries Most of the major cities and harbours in the world are located on estuaries. The estuarine ecosystem is a unique intermediate between the sea, the land and fresh water. A rather precise definition of an estuary is 'a semi-enclosed coastal body of water, which has a free connection with the open sea, and within which sea water is measurably diluted with fresh water derived from land drainage'. This excludes large bays with little or no freshwater flow, and large brackish seas and inland
2.8 Surface run-off In some inland drainage areas, all water is removed by evaporation and infiltration. However, precipitation not penetrating the land surface usually runs off the surface along defined channels which have been produced by geological processes, previous storms, or possibly by people. This accelerates the process. Its eventual destination is the ocean, except, of course, where it runs to inland seas such as the Dead Sea. It is in the runoff phase of the cycle that physical intervention by humans
Inuit Throat Singing
In many cultures, song is perhaps one of the most important traditions. What is extraordinary about the Inuit musical tradition is the way they create their songs - with notes originating from their throats. The song isn't interrupted even when a breath has to be taken. The 6 tracks in this album focus on Tanya Tagaq, who describes the amazing art of throat singing and how her heritage and culture, carried in her heart forever, has driven her to continue with this unique tradition. This mater
References 2.6 Houses at Carthage, Bulla Regia and Thugga Your next activity is to watch a video on houses of the Roman élite. The video presents houses from different parts of the empire. Houses of the Roman élite (part 1 (Intro); 2 minutes) Chartered teachers in Scotland Introduction The underlying premise of this course is that we are all experts in different ways, and that our different experiences and understandings are of value. Inclusive education is presented and discussed as under construction, both in educational settings and as a concept. The materials to be found in this course are largely rooted in the social model of disability and human/disability rights frameworks. This OpenLearn course provides a sample of Level 2 study in Author(s): 3.1 Introduction The binding of features emerges as being a very significant process when displays are brief, because there is so little time in which to unite them. With normal viewing, such as when you examine the letters and words on this page, it is not obvious to introspection that binding is taking place. However, if, as explained above, it is a necessary precursor to conscious awareness, the process must also occur when we examine long-lived visual displays. Researchers have attempted to demonstrate th 2.6 Summary of Section 2 The results of the visual attention experiments we have considered can be interpreted as follows. Attention can be directed selectively towards different areas of the visual field, without the need to re-focus. The inability to report much detail from brief, masked visual displays appears to be linked to the need to assemble the various information components. The visual information is captured in parallel, but assemb 1.6.1 Introduction The process of keeping up-to-date in your chosen subject area is useful for your studies and afterwards, for your own personal satisfaction, or perhaps in your career as part of your continuing professional development. There are a great many tools available that make it quite easy to keep yourself up to date. You can set them up so that the information comes to you, rather than you having to go out on the web looking for it. Over the next few pages, you will be experimenting with some Zimmerman blames Obama in video
Teachers often have little spare time to reflect on the day's lessons and challenges. However, this evaluation of teaching and learning experiences is vital to their professional development. This free course, Chartered teachers in Scotland, is an extract from the OU's Chartered Teacher Programme for Scotland and will help teachers to evaluate their practice and development opportunities.Author(s):
Subscribe: http://smarturl.it/reuterssubscribe
George Zimmerman, acquitted of murder charges in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, blames President Obama for stoking racial tensions in the case. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).
Subscribe: http://smarturl.it/reuterssubscribe
More Breaking News: http://smarturl.it/BreakingNews
Reuters tells the world's stories like no one else. As the largest international multimedia news provider, Reuters provides coverage around the globe and across topi
