World genetic map finds Genghis Khan’s impact across Asia

LONDON: The world's most exhaustive map has been made detailing genetic histories of 95 different populations across the world revealing genetic impact of European colonialism, Arab slave trade, Genghis Khan's empire and European traders near the Silk Road mixing with people in China.

The map produced by researchers from Oxford University and UCL details the histories of genetic mixing between each of the 95 populations across Europe, Africa, Asia and South America spanning the last four millennia.

Scientists have been saying that Khan and his armies had a genetic impact across Asia but previous analyses were based on more limited genetic data.

Over 10 years ago, comparisons of Y chromosome lineages across Europe and Asia showed that a large number of Asian men shared a common Y chromosome. The breadth of the distribution of this haplogroup, and the extrapolation that roughly 0.5% of the world's population carried the same Y chromosome together with age estimates led to the idea that Khan himself might have left a lasting genetic impact across Asia.

More recently a study using genome-wide data with different methods and genetic markers but on a similar (but smaller) set of populations found evidence of admixture in the Uighurs dating to the time of Genghis Khan.

"As well as the Uighurs, we found evidence of this Mongolian expansion in a further six populations. These populations approximately span the maximum spread of the Mongol empire. Taken together we believe that there is now strong evidence that this event had a major impact on many Eurasian populations," scientists said.

The study identified dates and genetic mixing between populations. To do this the researchers developed sophisticated statistical methods to analyse the DNA of 1490 individuals in 95 populations around the world.

"DNA really has the power to tell stories and uncover details of humanity's past," said Simon Myers of Oxford University.

"Because our approach uses only genetic data many of our observations match historical events and we also see evidence of previously unrecorded genetic mixing. For example, the DNA of the Tu people in modern China suggests that in around 1200 CE, Europeans similar to modern Greeks mixed with an otherwise Chinese-like population. Plausibly the source of this European-like DNA might be merchants travelling the nearby Silk Road," he said.

The technique christened Globetrotter provides insights into past events such as the genetic legacy of the Mongol Empire. Historical records suggest that the Hazara people of Pakistan are partially descended from Mongols and this study found clear evidence of Mongol DNA entering the population during the period of the Mongol Empire. Six other populations from as far west as Turkey showed similar evidence of genetic mixing with Mongols around the same time.

Garrett Hellenthal of the UCL Genetics Institute said, "Although individual mutations carry only weak signals about where a person is from by adding information across the whole genome we can reconstruct these mixing events. For example we identify distinct events happening at different times among groups sampled within Pakistan with some inheriting DNA from sub-Saharan Africa perhaps related to the Arab Slave Trade, others from East Asia and yet another from ancient Europe. Nearly all our populations show mixing events so they are very common throughout recent history and often involve people migrating over large distances".

According to the map, the group with the longest time since admixture of different DNAs is detected are the Kalash from Pakistan with an ancient inferred event prior to 206 BCE involving mixing between a more European and West Asian group and a more Central/South Asian group.

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This app uses your phone for R&D while you sleep

The author has posted comments on this articleAgencies | Feb 17, 2014, 06.12AM IST

Page 1 of 4

WASHIGNTON: A new app that allows you to 'donate' the processing power of your mobile phone for scientific research while you sleep has been developed. Mobile phones lie dormant when users are asleep, which means that millions of powerful processors are going unused for hours at a time.

The University of Vienna's faculty of life sciences and Samsung Austria teamed up to tap the potential of all that unused processing power. They developed the 'Power Sleep' app which provides users with a simple alarm clock function. When the alarm has been set and the user's mobile phone is plugged in, fully charged and connected to a Wi-Fi network, the app begins to process data sent from the Similarity Matrix of Proteins (SIMAP) database.

The research is focused on deciphering protein sequences in order to help with medical advancements in disciplines such as genetics and heredity, biochemistry, molecular biology and cancer research , Gizmag reported.

"In order to fight diseases like cancer and Alzheimers, we need to know how proteins are arranged,"said Thomas Rattei, professor of bioinformatics at the University of Vienna. "This requires trials that need a tremendous amount of processing power. Power Sleep is a bridge between science and society. It promotes not only our research , but allows people in Austria to become part of the project and, at the same time, to do good even while they are sleeping," Rattei said.

Power Sleep is connected to the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing, a network that links around 60,000 PCs worldwide.

Article continues

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Pill to cure ‘couch potatoes’ ?

The author has posted comments on this articleAgencies | Feb 17, 2014, 06.14AM IST

Page 1 of 4

LONDON: A gene mutation may explain why some people are more likely than others to be couch potatoes , according to a study which offers hope of a personalized pill to counter the problem.

Scientists found that a mutation in a gene may explain why some people are less inclined to exercise and are more likely to put on weight and develop health problems. Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology (IGDB) in Beijing and the University of Aberdeen compared 'normal' mice with mice that had a mutation in a gene called SLC35D3.

The researchers found that SLC35D3 produces a protein which plays a key signalling role in the brain's dopamine system This system is involved in regulation of physical activity levels.

They found that SLC35D3 seems to be key to transporting a type of dopamine receptor, from where they are made inside the cell, to the cell surface, where they can bind with dopamine. Mice with this gene mutation had far fewer of this type of dopamine receptor on their brain cell surfaces. Instead, the dopamine receptors were stuck within the cell. This meant that their signalling process was not functioning properly.

"Mice with this mutation were typical couch potatoes. They walked about a third as much as a normal mouse, and when they did move they walked more slowly," said Wei Li of the IGDB.

Article continues

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World genetic map finds Genghis Khan’s impact across Asia

LONDON: The world's most exhaustive map has been made detailing genetic histories of 95 different populations across the world revealing genetic impact of European colonialism, Arab slave trade, Genghis Khan's empire and European traders near the Silk Road mixing with people in China.

The map produced by researchers from Oxford University and UCL details the histories of genetic mixing between each of the 95 populations across Europe, Africa, Asia and South America spanning the last four millennia.

Scientists have been saying that Khan and his armies had a genetic impact across Asia but previous analyses were based on more limited genetic data.

Over 10 years ago, comparisons of Y chromosome lineages across Europe and Asia showed that a large number of Asian men shared a common Y chromosome. The breadth of the distribution of this haplogroup, and the extrapolation that roughly 0.5% of the world's population carried the same Y chromosome together with age estimates led to the idea that Khan himself might have left a lasting genetic impact across Asia.

More recently a study using genome-wide data with different methods and genetic markers but on a similar (but smaller) set of populations found evidence of admixture in the Uighurs dating to the time of Genghis Khan.

"As well as the Uighurs, we found evidence of this Mongolian expansion in a further six populations. These populations approximately span the maximum spread of the Mongol empire. Taken together we believe that there is now strong evidence that this event had a major impact on many Eurasian populations," scientists said.

The study identified dates and genetic mixing between populations. To do this the researchers developed sophisticated statistical methods to analyse the DNA of 1490 individuals in 95 populations around the world.

"DNA really has the power to tell stories and uncover details of humanity's past," said Simon Myers of Oxford University.

"Because our approach uses only genetic data many of our observations match historical events and we also see evidence of previously unrecorded genetic mixing. For example, the DNA of the Tu people in modern China suggests that in around 1200 CE, Europeans similar to modern Greeks mixed with an otherwise Chinese-like population. Plausibly the source of this European-like DNA might be merchants travelling the nearby Silk Road," he said.

The technique christened Globetrotter provides insights into past events such as the genetic legacy of the Mongol Empire. Historical records suggest that the Hazara people of Pakistan are partially descended from Mongols and this study found clear evidence of Mongol DNA entering the population during the period of the Mongol Empire. Six other populations from as far west as Turkey showed similar evidence of genetic mixing with Mongols around the same time.

Garrett Hellenthal of the UCL Genetics Institute said, "Although individual mutations carry only weak signals about where a person is from by adding information across the whole genome we can reconstruct these mixing events. For example we identify distinct events happening at different times among groups sampled within Pakistan with some inheriting DNA from sub-Saharan Africa perhaps related to the Arab Slave Trade, others from East Asia and yet another from ancient Europe. Nearly all our populations show mixing events so they are very common throughout recent history and often involve people migrating over large distances".

According to the map, the group with the longest time since admixture of different DNAs is detected are the Kalash from Pakistan with an ancient inferred event prior to 206 BCE involving mixing between a more European and West Asian group and a more Central/South Asian group.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

This app uses your phone for R&D while you sleep

The author has posted comments on this articleAgencies | Feb 17, 2014, 06.12AM IST

WASHIGNTON: A new app that allows you to 'donate' the processing power of your mobile phone for scientific research while you sleep has been developed. Mobile phones lie dormant when users are asleep, which means that millions of powerful processors are going unused for hours at a time.

The University of Vienna's faculty of life sciences and Samsung Austria teamed up to tap the potential of all that unused processing power. They developed the 'Power Sleep' app which provides users with a simple alarm clock function. When the alarm has been set and the user's mobile phone is plugged in, fully charged and connected to a Wi-Fi network, the app begins to process data sent from the Similarity Matrix of Proteins (SIMAP) database.

The research is focused on deciphering protein sequences in order to help with medical advancements in disciplines such as genetics and heredity, biochemistry, molecular biology and cancer research , Gizmag reported.

"In order to fight diseases like cancer and Alzheimers, we need to know how proteins are arranged,"said Thomas Rattei, professor of bioinformatics at the University of Vienna. "This requires trials that need a tremendous amount of processing power. Power Sleep is a bridge between science and society. It promotes not only our research , but allows people in Austria to become part of the project and, at the same time, to do good even while they are sleeping," Rattei said.

Power Sleep is connected to the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing, a network that links around 60,000 PCs worldwide.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Pill to cure ‘couch potatoes’ ?

The author has posted comments on this articleAgencies | Feb 17, 2014, 06.14AM IST

Page 1 of 4

LONDON: A gene mutation may explain why some people are more likely than others to be couch potatoes , according to a study which offers hope of a personalized pill to counter the problem.

Scientists found that a mutation in a gene may explain why some people are less inclined to exercise and are more likely to put on weight and develop health problems. Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology (IGDB) in Beijing and the University of Aberdeen compared 'normal' mice with mice that had a mutation in a gene called SLC35D3.

The researchers found that SLC35D3 produces a protein which plays a key signalling role in the brain's dopamine system This system is involved in regulation of physical activity levels.

They found that SLC35D3 seems to be key to transporting a type of dopamine receptor, from where they are made inside the cell, to the cell surface, where they can bind with dopamine. Mice with this gene mutation had far fewer of this type of dopamine receptor on their brain cell surfaces. Instead, the dopamine receptors were stuck within the cell. This meant that their signalling process was not functioning properly.

"Mice with this mutation were typical couch potatoes. They walked about a third as much as a normal mouse, and when they did move they walked more slowly," said Wei Li of the IGDB.

Article continues

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

World genetic map finds Genghis Khan’s impact across Asia

LONDON: The world's most exhaustive map has been made detailing genetic histories of 95 different populations across the world revealing genetic impact of European colonialism, Arab slave trade, Genghis Khan's empire and European traders near the Silk Road mixing with people in China.

The map produced by researchers from Oxford University and UCL details the histories of genetic mixing between each of the 95 populations across Europe, Africa, Asia and South America spanning the last four millennia.

Scientists have been saying that Khan and his armies had a genetic impact across Asia but previous analyses were based on more limited genetic data.

Over 10 years ago, comparisons of Y chromosome lineages across Europe and Asia showed that a large number of Asian men shared a common Y chromosome. The breadth of the distribution of this haplogroup, and the extrapolation that roughly 0.5% of the world's population carried the same Y chromosome together with age estimates led to the idea that Khan himself might have left a lasting genetic impact across Asia.

More recently a study using genome-wide data with different methods and genetic markers but on a similar (but smaller) set of populations found evidence of admixture in the Uighurs dating to the time of Genghis Khan.

"As well as the Uighurs, we found evidence of this Mongolian expansion in a further six populations. These populations approximately span the maximum spread of the Mongol empire. Taken together we believe that there is now strong evidence that this event had a major impact on many Eurasian populations," scientists said.

The study identified dates and genetic mixing between populations. To do this the researchers developed sophisticated statistical methods to analyse the DNA of 1490 individuals in 95 populations around the world.

"DNA really has the power to tell stories and uncover details of humanity's past," said Simon Myers of Oxford University.

"Because our approach uses only genetic data many of our observations match historical events and we also see evidence of previously unrecorded genetic mixing. For example, the DNA of the Tu people in modern China suggests that in around 1200 CE, Europeans similar to modern Greeks mixed with an otherwise Chinese-like population. Plausibly the source of this European-like DNA might be merchants travelling the nearby Silk Road," he said.

The technique christened Globetrotter provides insights into past events such as the genetic legacy of the Mongol Empire. Historical records suggest that the Hazara people of Pakistan are partially descended from Mongols and this study found clear evidence of Mongol DNA entering the population during the period of the Mongol Empire. Six other populations from as far west as Turkey showed similar evidence of genetic mixing with Mongols around the same time.

Garrett Hellenthal of the UCL Genetics Institute said, "Although individual mutations carry only weak signals about where a person is from by adding information across the whole genome we can reconstruct these mixing events. For example we identify distinct events happening at different times among groups sampled within Pakistan with some inheriting DNA from sub-Saharan Africa perhaps related to the Arab Slave Trade, others from East Asia and yet another from ancient Europe. Nearly all our populations show mixing events so they are very common throughout recent history and often involve people migrating over large distances".

According to the map, the group with the longest time since admixture of different DNAs is detected are the Kalash from Pakistan with an ancient inferred event prior to 206 BCE involving mixing between a more European and West Asian group and a more Central/South Asian group.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

This app uses your phone for R&D while you sleep

The author has posted comments on this articleAgencies | Feb 17, 2014, 06.12AM IST

WASHIGNTON: A new app that allows you to 'donate' the processing power of your mobile phone for scientific research while you sleep has been developed. Mobile phones lie dormant when users are asleep, which means that millions of powerful processors are going unused for hours at a time.

The University of Vienna's faculty of life sciences and Samsung Austria teamed up to tap the potential of all that unused processing power. They developed the 'Power Sleep' app which provides users with a simple alarm clock function. When the alarm has been set and the user's mobile phone is plugged in, fully charged and connected to a Wi-Fi network, the app begins to process data sent from the Similarity Matrix of Proteins (SIMAP) database.

The research is focused on deciphering protein sequences in order to help with medical advancements in disciplines such as genetics and heredity, biochemistry, molecular biology and cancer research , Gizmag reported.

"In order to fight diseases like cancer and Alzheimers, we need to know how proteins are arranged,"said Thomas Rattei, professor of bioinformatics at the University of Vienna. "This requires trials that need a tremendous amount of processing power. Power Sleep is a bridge between science and society. It promotes not only our research , but allows people in Austria to become part of the project and, at the same time, to do good even while they are sleeping," Rattei said.

Power Sleep is connected to the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing, a network that links around 60,000 PCs worldwide.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Pill to cure ‘couch potatoes’ ?

The author has posted comments on this articleAgencies | Feb 17, 2014, 06.14AM IST

LONDON: A gene mutation may explain why some people are more likely than others to be couch potatoes , according to a study which offers hope of a personalized pill to counter the problem.

Scientists found that a mutation in a gene may explain why some people are less inclined to exercise and are more likely to put on weight and develop health problems. Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology (IGDB) in Beijing and the University of Aberdeen compared 'normal' mice with mice that had a mutation in a gene called SLC35D3.

The researchers found that SLC35D3 produces a protein which plays a key signalling role in the brain's dopamine system This system is involved in regulation of physical activity levels.

They found that SLC35D3 seems to be key to transporting a type of dopamine receptor, from where they are made inside the cell, to the cell surface, where they can bind with dopamine. Mice with this gene mutation had far fewer of this type of dopamine receptor on their brain cell surfaces. Instead, the dopamine receptors were stuck within the cell. This meant that their signalling process was not functioning properly.

"Mice with this mutation were typical couch potatoes. They walked about a third as much as a normal mouse, and when they did move they walked more slowly," said Wei Li of the IGDB.

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Now, a robotic arm that can take orders in Malayalam

KOZHIKODE: A team of researchers from the computer science department of Calicut University has developed a robot that takes orders in Malayalam. This is the first attempt in using Malayalam in speech recognition technology for robotic navigation.

The robotic arm, developed by the team, can do numerous chores, including lifting objects, turning around, raising and lowering the arm, opening and closing of the gripper - all responding to voice commands in Malayalam.

Lajish V L, assistant professor at the computer science department who led the two-year research in developing Malayalam speech interface, said the development of the robotic arm was a technology demonstrator as part of the broader research into developing a speaker-independent automatic speech recognition platform for Malayalam language.

"Speech recognition technology has made it possible for computers and robots to understand human languages and follow human voice commands but there has not been much research on developing such a platform in Malayalam . This can have extensive use in emerging areas like intelligent call steering, mobile computing and developing voice-controlled interfaces that will help the masses communicate with computers and machines in a natural way in their mother tongue," he said.

The team is using the technology to develop an advanced, speech-enabled interactive voice recognition system (IVRS) for Kozhikode Medical College, which will guide calls to various departments through voicebased self-service transactions. It is also in talks with government authorities to develop an agro advisory system for farmers in Wayanad using the technology.

"We have developed an algorithm that can process simple Malayalam words and are working on introducing more complex activities and sentences to the system and to develop the functionality that makes use of a dialogue system in speech interface," he said, adding that the technology can also be used to develop voice-controlled wheelchairs .

He said the challenge in developing speech database for Malayalam had been the variations in regional dialects. "For the robotic navigation project, we had got every single voice command uttered by 16 different speakers for training the system," he said.

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World's first butterfly bacteria sequenced

WASHINGTON: Scientists have for the first time sequenced the internal bacterial makeup of the three major life stages of a butterfly species, a project which found that surprising events occur during metamorphosis.

Researchers led by the University of Colorado Boulder used powerful DNA sequencing methods to characterize bacterial communities inhabiting caterpillars, pupae and adults of Heliconius erato, commonly known as the red postman butterfly.

The red postman is an abundant tropical butterfly found in Central and South America.

The results showed the internal bacterial diversity of the red postman was halved when it morphed from the caterpillar to the chrysalis, or pupal stage, then doubled after the pupae turned into active adult butterflies.

The study is important because communities of bacteria inhabiting other insects have been shown to affect host nutrition, digestion, detoxification and defense from predators, parasites and pathogens, said CU-Boulder doctoral student Tobin Hammer.

"What we saw was that the microbial community simplified and reorganized itself during the transition from caterpillar to pupa," he said.

"Then we saw the diversity double after the adult butterflies had emerged and began going about their business of feeding. That was a little surprising to us," he said.

The butterflies were collected at a field site in Gamboa, Panama, and data analysis was done at CU-Boulder.

"Butterflies are ecologically and scientifically important, and their transformation from caterpillar to chrysalis to winged adult is one of the most remarkable phenomena of the natural world," Hammer said.

"But almost nothing had previously been known about what kind of internal microbes they have and how they change over the butterfly life cycle," he said.

One reason to study the microbial makeup of caterpillars has to do with the potential damage caterpillars can do to crops, said Hammer.

"People are starting to think about the microbiome of insects as targets for pest control, including insecticides, so we need to know what specific bacteria they contain and how they work," Hammer said.

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Sleeping more than normal can cause depression: Study

NEW DELHI: Less or more sleep than normal can cause depression, a new study of adult twins and adolescents has found. One major cause of depression is genetic, but the study found that short and long sleep durations activated the genes related to depressive symptoms. The studies are published in the Feb 1 issue of the journal Sleep.

"We were surprised that the heritability of depressive symptoms in twins with very short sleep was nearly twice the heritability in twins sleeping normal amounts of time," said principal investigator Dr Nathaniel Watson, associate professor of neurology and co-director of the University of Washington Medicine Sleep Center in Seattle, Wash. "Both short and excessively long sleep durations appear to activate genes related to depressive symptoms," added Watson, who also serves on the board of directors of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

A study of 1,788 adult twins is the first to demonstrate a gene by environment interaction between self-reported habitual sleep duration and depressive symptoms. Results suggest that sleep durations outside the normal range increase the genetic risk for depressive symptoms. Among twins with a normal sleep duration of seven to 8.9 hours per night, the total heritability of depressive symptoms was 27 percent. However, the genetic influence on depressive symptoms increased to 53 percent among twins with a short sleep duration of five hours per night and 49 percent among those who reported sleeping 10 hours per night.

Another study of 4,175 individuals between 11 and 17 years of age is the first to document reciprocal effects for major depression and short sleep duration among adolescents using prospective data. Results suggest sleeping six hours or less per night increases the risk for major depression, which in turn increases the risk for decreased sleep among adolescents.

"Healthy sleep is a necessity for physical, mental and emotional well-being," said American Academy of Sleep Medicine President Dr M Safwan BaDr "This new research emphasizes that we can make an investment in our health by prioritizing sleep."

According to Watson, the study suggests that optimizing sleep may be one way to maximize the effectiveness of treatments for depression such as psychotherapy.

"These results are important because they suggest that sleep deprivation may be a precursor for major depression in adolescents, occurring before other symptoms of major depression and additional mood disorders," said principal investigator Dr Robert E Roberts, professor of behavioral sciences in the School of Public Health at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, Texas. "Questions on sleep disturbance and hours of sleep should be part of the medical history of adolescents to ascertain risk."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that about nine percent of adults in the US meet the criteria for current depression, including four percent with major depression. The National Institute of Mental Health reports that depressive disorders have affected approximately 11 percent of U.S. teens at some point during their lives, and three percent have experienced a seriously debilitating depressive disorder.

The monthly, peer-reviewed, scientific journal Sleep is published online by the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC, a joint venture of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society.

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