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The
mouse that cures
This Universe Trends
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The mouse that cures
The
importance to medical research of genetically modified (GM) mice was highlighted on Thursday as official statistics showed that their use in scientific experiments has exploded over the past decade. Almost all of the increase in animal testing since 2000 has resulted from the revolution in research that means biologists now routinely alter the genes of laboratory mice in order to mimic a range of human diseases, from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases to cancer and cystic fibrosis. For the first time, the number of scientific experiments and other “procedures” involving lab animals that have been either genetically modified or afflicted with harmful genetic mutations has exceeded the number using normal animals. More than a million GM mice were created in Britain last year alone. Such tests have already enhanced our understanding of a range of human diseases, from cancer to Alzheimer’s and the common cold. The total number of scientific procedures involving animals fell by 1 per cent last year, Home Office figures showed yesterday, but there was a steady and significant rise in the use of GM mutants, which accounted for nearly 53 per cent of the 3.6 million procedures carried out in Britain. Most of the increase resulted from using or breeding GM mice for medical research, in which human diseases can be mimicked in animals as a result of changes to their DNA. This allows scientists to study human disorders in more detail under controlled conditions, and to test drugs and other potential treatments on animals before trying them on people. About 3.5 million animals were used in last year’s 3.6 million procedures — about 1 per cent fewer than were used in 2008. Researchers say the ability to breed GM mice that mimic human diseases, or have other traits that would not exist naturally, has revolutionised our understanding of the fundamental biology of human disorders and led to many breakthroughs in treatments. However, those opposed to vivisection question the value of such work, arguing that it offers only limited benefits and causes more suffering for animals. Gemma Buckland, a science and policy officer at Humane Society International, an animal rights charity, said it was troubling to see such a rise in the use of GM animals that often suffered organ damage, physical deformities and tumours. She said that despite “very bold claims” made about their medical application, the truth was that “GM technology is still merely an attempt to add or knock out a gene in a different species to make it a less crude surrogate for humans”. Scientific procedures using cats, dogs, monkeys and horses — which have special protection under law — all fell last year, by 7 per cent in the case of monkeys, by 3 per cent among dogs and 24 per cent among cats. Procedures involving mice accounted for three-quarters of all animal tests, while those involving monkeys, cats, dogs and horses accounted for less than 1 per cent. The Home Office minister Lynne Featherstone said the figures showed the important work done to regulate vivisection in Britain, which was widely regarded as having the world’s toughest laws for the licensing and monitoring of animal research. By arrangement with
The Independent
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This
Universe Copernicus said that all planets move around sun. However, on the Discovery channel, a scientist said that planets move around the black hole. Is it true? The Copernican Revolution brought forth a blasphemous and surprising proposal: “that the earth is not the planet around which the whole solar system revolves.” The idea that the sun was the central object that dominated the directions of motion of various planets. This went against the theological ideas of the Catholic Church, and Galileo had to suffer the wrath of Inquisition for supporting ideas of Copernicus. At that time the Universe was confined to our solar system. The stars were just decorations in the sky. It was natural to think that the sun was fixed in space. Kepler gave the laws of planetary motion and the sun therefore did become the supreme, fixed light. After Newtonian mechanics explained the elliptical orbits of the planets, it was obvious that what mattered was the gravitation field of masses, and this depended on the masses and the distance between objects. Truly revolutionary ideas emerged when scientists began to study the evolution of stars. A star starts with a large mass of getting together, perhaps through collapse of a very large cloud of dust and gas. The collapsing force can be only gravitation. This force increases as collapsing proceeds because the distance between the masses goes on decreasing. The energy of the falling matter heats up the interior of the cloud, with temperature rising to a level where nuclear reactions begin, and there is simultaneous generation of energy and conversion of hydrogen into helium. The increase of the central pressure begins to support and star is born. A star, like our sun. Billions of stars in our galaxy and in other billions upon billions in other galaxies have had a childhood history like this. But then one can ask the question: “What will happen when all the energy production mechanism in the star is exhausted?” S. Chandrasekhar was the person who pursued this question with great ingenuity and vigour. He came to the conclusion that if the star starts out with a mass greater than 1.4 solar masses then after nuclear burning inside it will not be able to sustain the gravitational pressure and collapse into a neutron star. And further, if the mass is greater than several solar masses then even the neutron star stage will be unsustainable and the catastrophic collapse will lead to a few kilometre diameter object so dense that its gravity will not allow even a light ray to escape. This is the stage when it would have become a “black hole”. Black holes can be detected only through the intense gravitational field surrounding them. From the discussion just given it becomes clear that centres of most galaxies would contain a black hole with a very large mass. Also, black holes can also have stars and planets going around them. What you saw in that television program might have referred to some thing like that. Even black holes cannot be considered stationary in space, but they would have systems around them that might suggest some thing like that.
Readers wanting to ask Prof Yash Pal a question can e-mail him at palyash.pal@gmail.com
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Trends OTTAWA: Canadian archaeologists have discovered the wreckage of the ship that has been credited with discovering the fabled Northwest Passage, saying the vessel remains in good condition after being abandoned more than 150 years ago in the Arctic ice. Archaeologists were able to snap sonar images of HMS Investigator on the weekend not long after they arrived at the remote Mercy Bay site in the Northwest Territories.
Rabbits grow own joint replacements WASHINGTON:
Rabbits implanted with artificial bones re-grew their own joints, complete with cartilage, researchers reported on Thursday. Only a single compound called a growth factor was needed to induce the rabbits’ bodies to remodel the joint tissue, said the team at Columbia University in New York, Clemson University in South Carolina and the University of Missouri.
Mental health: Will anyone be normal? LONDON:
An updated edition of a mental health bible for doctors may include diagnoses for “disorders” such as toddler tantrums and binge eating, experts say, and could mean that soon no-one will be classed as normal. Leading mental health experts gave a briefing on Tuesday to warn that a new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), could devalue the seriousness of mental illness and label almost everyone as having some kind of disorder.
Inching towards finding “God particle” PARIS: Scientists working with particle accelerators in Europe and the United States said on Monday they may be closing in on the elusive Higgs Boson, the “God particle” believed crucial to forming the cosmos after the Big Bang. Researchers from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) project near Geneva said in just three months of experiments they had already detected all the particles at the heart of our current understanding of physics, the Standard Model.
Russia to use space tech for energy sector MOSCOW: Russia will employ technologies, initially meant for outer space research programs, to develop its vast energy sector, in yet another sign of the Kremlin’s modernisation drive. The Energy Ministry signed a long-term agreement with Russian space agency “to secure effective exploration, production, transportation and usage of the energy resources by employing modern space technologies, products and services.”
— Reuters
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Steve
Connor looks at the GM revolution in medical research laboratories
