Archive for February, 2012


Scientists have created a DNA robot that is programmable to kill diseased cells. This robot is able to detect the diseased area, as programmed, and once the bad cells are detected the robot releases the antibodies or “payload” to kill or reconfigure the diseased cells.

Advancements like these can put predisposition testers more at ease with their results.DNA strands DNA Can Kill Cancer Cells

This DNA robot is configured like a clam shell in that it holds the “payload” inside until it has detected the unwanted cells, which it then opens to release the disease fighters. This design is made by folding over many strands of DNA. DNA strands have “sticky” ends that when stuck to other ends of different DNA creates a zipper. When both “sticky” ends, or zipper, meets its programmed destination the clam shell design opens to release what then kills the mutated cells. The robot has tested successful against leukemia and lymphoma cells in a laboratory dish where the bad cells self-destructed after the “payload” was delivered.dna robot 300x550 custom DNA Can Kill Cancer Cells

The next step for these scientists is to test them on animals. Mice are planned to be used in order to insure that these robots can withstand being in the blood stream for long amounts of time.

Today’s therapies fall short in killing only bad cells and eliminating the entire amount of diseased cells most of the time. This method would recognize only the bad cells and kill them and not stop until they were all found. This in turn could mean for a cure in the disease. Very exciting news considering the horror this disease creates everyday for millions of people.

Another reason this method would be superior to current drug delivery systems would be the ability to deliver the antibodies based on a timed delivery to ensure a beneficial disease state. This means that throughout the life cycle of a disease there are more opportune times than others to attack the abnormal cells. This robot can be programmed to attack at specific states, making for a more effective strike on the disease.

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wdytya Who Do You Think You Are?

Have you ever wondered about your ancestry?

Not only does it cure an individual’s curiosity, but an ancestry DNA test can also uncover any past medical history that may have been passed on. Ancestry DNA testing has linked many families to notable heroes in American history. How do you know that you aren’t connected to one of them too? Better yet, are you sure you know who you really are? ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ is a television series on NBC that attempts to answer that question.

‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ helps celebrities unravel their genealogy in hopes of finding surprising or interesting stories about their ancestors. The themes of all the findings revolve around freedom, love, betrayal, opportunity and tragedy.  Although some findings are bigger than others, by the end of their journeys, each celebrity learns a little more about whom it is he/she really is.

Emmit Smith

Emmit Smith, one of the NFL’s greatest running backs, overcame poverty because of his incredible athletic talents. Grateful for his success, Smith set out to learn a little more about his past. The NFL star was featured on season one of ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’

emmit smith 169x127 custom Who Do You Think You Are? Emmit was linked to a young female slave through a reliable DNA test. As the show goes on, we learn that the young woman’s father was a Caucasian slave owner. As a result, these interesting developments made Emmit realize that the slave owner was his great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, a tough pill to swallow for the ex-running back. Emmit eventually finds positive light in discovering how courageous the young slave was.

Other celebrity findings

‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ is full of results. Throughout their journeys, celebrities found new and intriguing information about their lineage:

  • Ashley Judd: The famous actress learned that going back 12 generations of ancestry, one of her ancestors, William Brewster, migrated on the Mayflower.
  • Gwyneth Paltrow: The academy award-winning actress learned that one of her ancestors was seen as a miracle worker as the town used to pray to him when disaster struck. A story of ‘Tzvi’, Gwyneth’s ancestor, states that the healing man saved a town from a fire.
  • Kim Cattrall: The ‘Sex and the City’ star learned that her grandfather had abandoned his first family and remarried only a year later. Kim’s grandfather, George, left his first family with nothing and provided very well for his second family. Kim goes on to deem him a bastard.
  • Sarah Jessica Parker: Also a ‘Sex and the City’ star, Sarah learned that one of her ancestors was accused of being a witch and charged with the murder of a young girl.

An ancestry test will certainly satisfy your curiosity. Want to know who you really are? Get answers with a DNA test.

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Who needs a private investigator when worried spouses can cheaply and quickly learn the fate of their relationship through DNA testing?

Over the course of history there has been countless acts of infidelity, from JFK to Jesse James, which has to make one wonder, what can be done to put a mind at ease if there is suspected unfaithfulness in a relationship? Proving the infidelity of a significant other has become drastically easier with the evolution of DNA testing.

 

infidelity P.I.’s or Panties? The Choice for Proof of Infidelity is Yours

 

These days, all a skeptical spouse needs is something, preferably underwear, on this list of approved objects for infidelity DNA testing. Simply send in the selected item, be it a used tissue or a dirty band-aid. It is only $150 for the first item tested, and a low additional charge for further items. As seen on the chart of acceptable objects, there are fluctuating probabilities for success in the testing, with a cheek swab or blood being best option if available.

Sixty-percent of those who submit items to be tested were male. Testing of this kind usually comes once a spouse has no other options and is at the end of their wits in terms of knowing what to do in a potentially rotten commitment with someone. Once it is confirmed that the substance is indeed present, there is the option to do comparative analysis to find the source of the substance.

With a sensitive subject like cheating, it might not always be the wisest route to ask your significant other for a DNA sample, i.e. a cheek swab. It can be a lot easier to send in underwear, a used toothbrush, or hair from a brush. The days of funky cologne smells and lipstick on the collar are long gone. DNA testing is the modern way to confirm any assumptions about your partner.

One of many clear positives for DNA testing over the discovery of foreign underwear or unfamiliar perfume is that DNA stands practically never to be wrong. A suspected partner will not be able to wiggle out of an accusation with lies because the DNA stands as scientific fact. Excuses will not be enough to temporarily put the worried partner at ease. Some of the possibly accused begin to worry that they may be wrongfully charged, but in the end it is simple…If you don’t cheat, you have nothing to worry about.

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New York Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed a bill in early January that would require many more felons and criminals to submit their DNA to the state database. The New York Senate has since passed the bill and it is now onto the State Assembly for their vote.

 DNA Required From Everybody?The current bill requires only penal felons and a few selected misdemeanor offenders to submit their DNA to the state. If the Assembly passes this bill it would require traffic and business felons, as well as, penal misdemeanors, to submit DNA.

It is proven that DNA is an extremely successful, almost fail proof, way to solve crimes, violent crimes at that. Under these supervisions, someone who forged a check would have their DNA held in a database. A nonviolent criminal’s DNA being held for an assumption of an eventual violent crime? It is now up to the Assembly to decide whether it is worth it to the state to spend $700,000 this year and $1.4M every year after in order to maintain the DNA testing facility. Feed the Poor or take precautions in case a nonviolent criminal turns violent? You decide.

DNA 443x287 custom DNA Required From Everybody?

What happens if a violent crime did happen involving one person’s DNA as the only evidence and the suspected criminal was an identical twin? These siblings will have the same DNA, or genome type. Under this prospective bill, would the police authorities assume it was the twin because he forged a check, and now his DNA was in the database, or the other twin, with no DNA in the database, who was the real offender?

It’s a tough call to make on which way lean on the fence. Everyone has the right to know everything is being done to keep them safe, but there are also parts on this bill that might seem to go overboard with nonviolent offenders and cause unnecessary financial struggles for the state.