Yangzijiang 30 mins chart

Attempted to enter major resistance zone in afternoon trading but met with resistance at $1.42.

Price action may be restricted in the $1.42 to $1.55 resistance zone while the bulls and bears fight to gain control over this zone.

Immediate lower support zone is $1.32 to $1.26.

Monitor 200 EMA and resistance and support zones.

Tiny genetic differences have huge consequences

A study led by McGill University researchers has demonstrated that small differences between individuals at the DNA level can lead to dramatic differences in the way genes produce proteins. These, in turn, are responsible for the vast array of differences in physical characteristics between individuals. The study, part of the Genome Regulators in Disease (GRID) Project funded by Genome Canada and Genome Quebec, was led by Dr. Jacek Majewski of McGill University's Department of Human Genetics and the McGill University and Genome Quebec Innovation Centre, and first-authored by his research associate Dr. Tony Kwan. It was published January 13 in the journal Nature Genetics.

The study was originally initiated by Dr. Tom Hudson, former director of the McGill University and Genome Quebec Innovation Centre, and drew upon the data collected by the vast HapMap (Haplotype Map) Project, a global comparative map of the human genome, which Hudson and his colleagues were instrumental in completing.

This study solves in part the mystery of how a relatively small number of differences within DNA protein coding sequences could be responsible for the enormous variety of phenotypic differences between individuals. It had previously been shown that individual differences reside in simple, relatively small variations in the DNA sequence called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs, often pronounced "snips"), which exist primarily in the "junk code" of the DNA not previously known to have any profound genetic effect.

http://www.brightsurf.com/news/headlines/35427/Tiny_genetic_differences_have_huge_consequences_McGill_researchers.html

Chinese scientists join genome project

Scientists in London, Washington and Shenzhen on Tuesday jointly launched the 1,000 Genomes Project, which will involve sequencing the genomes of at least 1,000 people worldwide to create the most detailed and medically useful picture of human genetic variation yet.

The project's international research consortium includes scientists from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (WTSI) in England, the Beijing Genomics Institute, Shenzhen (BGI Shenzhen) in China, and the National Human Genome Research Institute in the United States and their academic networks.

The work will involving developing a new map of the human genome that will provide a view of biomedically relevant DNA variations at a resolution unmatched by current resources, a news release said.

Data from the project will be made available to the international scientific community through public databases.

The detailed map of human genetic variation will be available to researchers around the world seeking to relate genetic variation to particular diseases.

The research is also said to lay the groundwork for a new era of medicine, where people can routinely have their genomes sequenced to predict individual risks of disease and response to drugs.

"Such a project would have been unthinkable only two years ago," Richard Durbin of the WTSI, who is co-chairing the consortium, said.

"We are moving forward to build a tool that will greatly expand and further accelerate efforts to find more of the genetic factors involved in human health and disease."

In the first phase of the project, which will last about a year, researchers will conduct three trials and the results will be used to decide how to most efficiently and effectively produce a detailed map of human genetic variation.

During its two-year production phase, the project will deliver sequence data at an average rate of about 8.2 billion bases per day, the equivalent of more than two human genomes every 24 hours.

"At 6 trillion DNA bases, the 1,000 Genomes Project will generate more sequence data over its three-year course than has been deposited into public DNA databases over the past 25 years," Gil McVean of Oxford University, one of the co-chairs of the consortium's analysis group, said.

"Once up and running, the project will generate more sequences in two days than what was added to databases all last year," he said.

Among the populations whose DNA will be sequenced in the genomes project are the Yoruba in Ibadan, Nigeria; Japanese in Tokyo; Chinese in Beijing; Utah residents with ancestry from northern and western Europe; Luhya in Webuye, Kenya; Maasai in Kinyawa, Kenya; Toscani in Italy; Gujarati Indians in Houston; Chinese in metropolitan Denver; those of Mexican ancestry in Los Angeles; and those of African ancestry in the southwestern US.

The samples will be sourced from volunteer donors, who will be anonymous and will not have any medical information collected on them, the consortium said.

Wang Jun, deputy director of BGI Shenzhen, which mapped the first East Asian gene, said its participation in the project places China's research on genes and related medical fields among the most advanced in the world.

"It will greatly encourage the research of genomic medicine in China.

"The research results will have significant impact on China's medical development and will definitely nurture the growth of new, related industries," Wang said.

http://news.nabou.com/cgi-bin/newsframe/437892yks4328903Dnabou2BInews421789994asgw3798etys6787/18A8047A97056E4D9B2CDA039BFF5E58backheadline3DHow2Bdo2BI2Bcut2Ba2Boout3Fnews26o3D0/FrameIt.cgi?Url=http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r1268254215

Gene Therapy May Be Future Prescription For Patients

Researchers in the Department of Medicine and Department of Neurosciences at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have discovered that chronic pain can be successfully treated with novel targeted gene therapy. In an effort to find a more effective treatment for chronic pain, researchers at Mount Sinai developed a gene therapy technique that simulates the pain-killing effect of opiate drugs. In the new study "Sensory neuron targeting by self-complementary AAV8 via lumbar puncture for chronic pain" published in the January 22, 2008 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), researchers suggest that gene therapy for pain might in the future become a treatment alternative for patients with severe chronic pain.

"Fifty million Americans suffer from chronic pain. Chronic pain patients often do not experience satisfactory pain relief from available treatments due to poor efficacy or intolerable side effects like extreme sleepiness, mental clouding, and hallucinations," said Dr. Andreas Beutler, MD, principal investigator of the study and Assistant Professor of Medicine/ Hematology And Medical Oncology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

Mount Sinai researchers designed a viral vector to carry the prepro-b-endorphin gene into primary sensory neurons in order to activate opiate receptors selectively, in a rat model. The agents were delivered directly into the spinal fluid of rats via a lumbar puncture, or spinal tap with only one injection. Results showed that the rats remained symptom-free for an extended period of time.

"Our research found that treating chronic pain with Adeno-Associated Virus vector-based gene therapy allows for pain relief for more than three months after a single injection, targeting selectively the pain gate. The technique worked successfully with opioid- and non-opioid therapeutic genes," said Dr. Beutler. "Targeted gene therapy will likely avoid the unwanted side effects associated with opioid painkillers such as morphine. Based on our findings, this targeted gene therapy via lumbar puncture appears to be a promising candidate for bench-to-bedside research that might ultimately be tested in patients with intractable chronic pain, e.g., to help patients suffering from severe pain due to advanced cancer."

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/94869.php

Jiutian 30 mins chart 24 Jan 2008 1036 AM

Trading in the range.

Immediate support 23.5 - 23 cents.

Monitor the support and resistance zones.