Wednesday, March 31, 2004
Ro/Dents
A draft of the rat genome sequence has been released. It clocks in at about 2.75 billion base pairs, versus humans' 2.9 billion and the mouse 2.6 billion. Lots of homology in key areas. Very very cool! Will lead to better animal modeling, and also further confirms utility long-standing use of rats in medical research.
Chewing Big Red gum actually does fight bad breath. No real surprises here, anyone who pays much attention knows that herbal components (particularly hot ones, like cinnamon) generally have pretty potent antimicrobial properties.
NAIAD has found its experimental SARS vaccine effective in mice. Unbelievably fast turnaround on that one, hopefully it'll work in people too. Then I can stop worrying about my perpetual coughs.
Researchers have found a gene whose removal seems to increase birth defects in mice. It serves to protect from oxidative stress. Which we all know may be bad. But any new hints and tricks are a Good Thing.
Chewing Big Red gum actually does fight bad breath. No real surprises here, anyone who pays much attention knows that herbal components (particularly hot ones, like cinnamon) generally have pretty potent antimicrobial properties.
NAIAD has found its experimental SARS vaccine effective in mice. Unbelievably fast turnaround on that one, hopefully it'll work in people too. Then I can stop worrying about my perpetual coughs.
Researchers have found a gene whose removal seems to increase birth defects in mice. It serves to protect from oxidative stress. Which we all know may be bad. But any new hints and tricks are a Good Thing.
