There's good news coming out of a British laboratory that studies Rett Syndrome, a severe form of an autistic disease that affects mostly girls:
The study, reported on-line by Science Express today, suggests that the mutant gene, MECP2, can successfully be replaced. Healthy genes were administered to mice bred to be born with the Rett syndrome gene.
Researcher Professor Adrian Bird, of Edinburgh University, Scotland, said: "Like many other people, we expected that giving MeCP2 to mice that were already sick would not work. "The idea that you could put back an essential component after the damage to the brain is done and recover an apparently normal mouse seemed farfetched, as nerve cells that developed in the absence of a key component were assumed to be irrevocably damaged. "The results are gratifyingly clear, though, and must give hope to those who are affected by this distressing disorder."
The four week treatment eradicated tremors, restored breathing to normal and restored mobility and steady gait to the animals.
http://NL8287.celltherapynews.com
23 comments:
I believe that half the subjects died - a sort of kill or cure solution.
Best wishes
I've read the study, published in Science, and it appears that some mice died, most likely due to over-expression of the therapeutic gene. I wouldn't be overly discouraged by this result, since gene dosage is something that can be addressed in later studies.
Hy Doc:
Easy for you to say. You don't have to live with Minnie on SSRI's in Orlando.
How about if you stick to your own species for your experiments like Mengele Mouse did?
Just one mouse's humble opinion.
M. Mouse.
eya doc!
thanks for brunch!
Hiya, Jim!
Nice brunching with ya!
I went to Frankens blog about 6 times. Each time my eyes were drawn to your posts. They were often like the two above here where you are just pinging others with dumb social comments and hiya how ya doin crap. I quickly realized the whole blog was filled with the most inane jabber about nothing at all. I found it totally disappointing. There was never any discussion or reflection on what they were discussing on the show.
I was always grateful for the show and completely disgusted at the embarrassingly stupid gathering of posts on the blog. Your's were the worst.
You completely wrecked the Franken forum for me and made the whole web site too icky to post to and a waste of time to read.
I am going to say good riddance to you, your coconuts, and I am now going to put my mouse and keyboard in the dishwasher and wash up after actually posting to your site.
Wow. You took the time and effort to come to my blog to post your annoyance at me? What was that supposed to accomplish?
For many of us who were at the Franken blog every day, it was more of a social scene and many of us have met in person as friends.
I'm sorry you had a bad experience there. But please don't blame me for your woes. My greetings to the others weren't all that lengthy and you could have easily scrolled by them.
I greet the people who come here as I did there. You are welcome to come back here any time.
well doc, you're a patient gentle sort. i think we (long time bloggers at Als) always appreciated having you there.
at least you've the courage to post under your 'sig'...
Thanks, Sunshine.
I stewed about that post way too long last night and didn't sleep well.
Maybe if they had joined in the comraderie, it would have been more fun for them.
HY Doc:
I can't believe that you lost any sleep over that at all.
Anonymous is obviously deranged.
I can assure you that, with great effort and no small amount of pride that:
MY POSTS WERE THE WORST POSTS ON THE AL FRANKEN BLOG.
NOBODY can ever take that away from me. I dare them to even try.
I find that the same people who confuse cyberspace with reality confused the AFB and AAR with a PAC.
Relax, you're still my role model.
T2
hard to tell what the motivation is for a hit and run eh? we've had so many we usually shrug em off.
the Anon choice instead of a sig indicates a bit of malice.
"FU! you can't see me!"
it also is equivalent to the content.
meaningless inaccurate drivel just meant to inflict pain.
we counter with love, appreciation and respect.
sadism vs love... simple choice eh?
Anonymous is very brave to post anonymously, yes? Very brave indeed!
GMTA! I was thinking the exact same thing about "Anonymous".
You have to wonder how fulfilling their life is to go around to blogs and tell everyone how bored they are.
Scroll the troll.
Hy again doc:
I just had another thought on your stalker.
Since your blog is dedicated to Science & HUMOR it should be a prerequisite that those who post here know about one or the other.
Since Anon is obviously lacking the Humor Gene perhaps they could enlighten us as to the various definitions of Chimera?
Myth, science, whatever their strong suit is.
Very generous response Eyedoc. Don't lose any further sleep about this "person". Obviously, as we learned from elsewhere, people who post anonymously are generally a weak group of people both in character and internal fortitude.
FWIW I thoroughly enjoyed your presence on the Blog.
Looking on the bright side...it sure brought some traffic to my quiet little blog!
Hmmm...maybe I should invite a stalker next time! :D
night folks
looking forward to satadiddy!
love ya all (even the grumpy anon)
by the way that article was a mindblower...
"The idea that you could put back an essential component after the damage to the brain is done and recover an apparently normal mouse seemed farfetched, as nerve cells that developed in the absence of a key component were assumed to be irrevocably damaged."
that whole direction of exploration is fascinating!
Isn't science wonderful? :)
flat furfin amazin'
i wandered off into metallurgy,
and collecting formularies with odd chemical recipes.
i can make 23 bronze patinas for your sculptures, neat artist stuff.
my favorite is from 1903, with 17 different quench formulas for tempering steel.
i envy you life sciences peeps. my distinguishing chareteristic has always been persistent curiousity.
of which i is one as well.
the Al Franken bloggie has had it's last post... RIP!
was some fine people there, hope they show up in my future again.
i posted throughout, from #1 to #5149.
made a hundred or more friends there and had many a good rant and yak with them.
gonna miss em all. they were an outstanding political community.
*sheds a tear for AFB*
Let's stay connected!
you betcha!
don't know if you know about riverbend but she posted after a month and a half just now.
Baghdad Burning
... I'll meet you 'round the bend my friend, where hearts can heal and souls can mend...
http://www.riverbendblog.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
The Rape of Sabrine...
It takes a lot to get the energy and resolution to blog lately. I guess it’s mainly because just thinking about the state of Iraq leaves me drained and depressed. But I had to write tonight.
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