- The ARC - California Edition -

Food for Preventive Thought

Counting the Human Genes -- The human genome is probably more complex than the scientists originally thought, according to some genetic researchers. Previously they had estimated that there were about 80,000 to 100,000 genes making up the proteins which program the cells in the human body. Recent tests are now indicating that the number of genes that makes up one human genome might be as many as 140,000 genes.

Scientists are fairly certain that 3 billion of the number of base pairs of DNA molecules that make up a single set of human genes is still a valid estimate. The number of genes - each a particular sequence of DNA - has always been more of a guesstimate, according to the scientists.

Air Bags Are Safer – Since 1997, the air bags installed in new automobiles are safer and causing fewer deaths, according to test results reported by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The redesigned air bags now deliver inflation pressures less forcefully than the earlier versions and contain features which would turn off the devices in the event of detecting a potential risk of injury to children.

The October 1999 report by the NHTSA cited test results which have verified that the modifications are leading to fewer deaths from the safety devices, particularly among adults.

Misleading Drug Research? – The November 10, 1999 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) contained an article and an editorial about how scientific research reports into the benefits of, and the problems with drugs, “tend to exaggerate” the benefit side of what might result from using that drug. According to the basic article, exaggeration of the test results occurs because positive results are perceived by most researchers to be more often published than negative results are published. The authors also pointed out that almost all of the research which is published are articles sponsored by pharmaceutical companies.

Of course this only becomes a problem when individuals within the medical profession rely solely on the faulty information in their decisions that leads to treatment.

The summary of the issues voiced in these articles appears to be related to a concern about decisions which doctors might make based on misinformation. The authors proposed that the patients may often end up taking an inferior drug based on misleading information.

Can Males Have Rett Syndrome? — Males have only one X chromesome. The specific gene which appears to cause Rett Syndrome seems to be caused by what is currently known as the MeCP2 gene.

There are a number of things about the MeCP2 gene which are very important to the point being made here. The gene is quite large. The parts of this gene which have already been analyzed have revealed mutations which account for about one half of the cases of Rett Syndrome.

The MeCP2 gene appears to be so critical to life that a disfunctional version in males will cause death before or shortly after birth.

The next step is to search the remainder of the gene in Rett patients to find all of the mutations.