Manatee beaches see spike in sea turtle nesting

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This was the first sea turtle nest found on Anna Maria Island this year, on May 4 at Bean Point. It is due to hatch on June 28, although predictingwhen baby sea turtles will emerge from the ground and take to the sea is not an exact science. MARC R. MASFERRER/Bradenton Herald.

ANNA MARIA ISLAND -- Beachgoers may have noticed an influx of new building in the past few weeks, totaling 116 new structures as of Wednesday, thanks to some unconventional local developers.

According to statistics from the Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch, Manatee beaches are now home to 116 new sea turtle nests this season alone, an unprecedented amount for the area throughout its recorded history. Usually by now in the season, there are about 50 nests.

Last summer, there were a total of 145 nests, and nesting is expected to continue through at least mid-July.

"You know, we really haven't heard anything," said Will Scott, a 35-year-old Manatee resident and avid beachgoer. "You just come out to the beach one day, there they are."

Suzi Fox, turtle watch director and longtime wild

life conservationist, believes the spike in nesting turtles may simply have resulted from human conservation efforts.

"We believe we may be seeing the return of all the juvenile turtles who benefitted from the adoption of TEDs (Turtle Excluding Devices) in the nets of fishermen around 20 years ago," Fox said.

The other theory proposed by Fox is that their "head start" programs are starting to see some returns. These programs, which ran from 1987 through 1990, involved gathering baby turtles as they hatched and relocating them to conservation facilities where they were kept and raised for the first year of their lives before being returned to the sea.

Considering it takes a loggerhead turtle about 30 years to reach maturity, it's not too far-fetched to believe that this may very well be a timely manifestation of the benefits of human involvement in sea turtle conservation.

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Environmental art heading to Sausalito

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Beaches up and down the West Coast are a repository for trash from around the world.

With each incoming tide, debris washes up onto shores, from old tires and appliances that make their way through rivers and waterways to water bottles and umbrella handles that trek thousands of miles across oceans from China and Japan before planting themselves on rocky shorelines.

Aside from being unsightly, ocean litter can be harmful to all forms of marine life. According to the California Coastal Commission, some animals mistake small pieces of debris for food.

Birds and other sea creatures can become entangled in common items such as fishing lines, rope and packaging material. For humans, broken glass and jagged metal pose risks to barefooted beachgoers.

An 11-foot leopard shark sculpted from thousands of small pieces of plastic, aluminum and miscellaneous beach debris was on display May 9 outside Fish restaurant in Sausalito during a World Ocean Day event hosted by local organizations the Shark Stewards and Turtle Island Restoration Network.

The shark is one of 18 large-scale nautical sculptures created by the nonprofit Washed Ashore project. The organization, based in Bandon, Ore., promotes ocean awareness and environmental responsibility through art. The traveling exhibit has been shown at the Marine Mammal Center and the Earth Day Marin festival.

Everything you see on here came from beaches, said Executive Director Angela Pozzi Washed Ashores lead artist.

A former exhibiting sculptor and art instructor, Pozzi believes in the power of the arts to reach the masses and promote social change. We can reach people in a way talking heads, statistics and charts cannot, she said. Anyone can see that all this stuff is from the beaches, and we can all agree that its wrong.

Sculpted from broken buoys, aluminum cans, stranded beach sandals and numerous plastic fragments, the shark took seven months to create, and more than 100 volunteers lent a hand in some way.

Since January 2010, more than 1,000 Washed Ashore volunteers have cleaned more than 20 miles of beach, collecting more than 3 tons of debris.

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Pegasus launches NASA astronomy satellite

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Posted: Wed, Jun 13, 2012, 8:29 PM ET (0029 GMT) A Pegasus rocket successfully launched a small NASA spacecraft designed to help astronomers track down black holes. An Orbital Sciences Corporation L-1011 aircraft, flying out of Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, released the Pegasus XL rocket at 12:00 pm EDT (1600 GMT). The rocket's first stage ignited five seconds after release, and it and two other stages propelled NASA's NuSTAR into a circular low Earth orbit. NuSTAR, or Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, is designed to detect hard x-ray emissions from astrophysical phenomena, in particular black holes. It will complement observations by other NASA spacecraft at other x-ray energies. The 350-kilogram spacecraft was also built by Orbital, and the project is led by Caltech.

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New Applications in Drug Discovery Platforms to Fuel Advance of Stem Cells, Says Frost & Sullivan

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Ethical, Clinical and Commercial Issues to be Navigated before Full Potential of Stem Cell Therapies can be Unleashed

LONDON, June 13, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Stem cells offer exciting potential in regenerative medicine, and are likely to be widely used by mid-2017. Pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies are showing increased interest in stem cell research.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://www.pharma.frost.com), Analysis of the Stem Cell Markets-Unlocking the New Era in Therapeutics, finds that the market will be driven by stem cell applications in drug discovery platforms and by successful academia commercial company partnership models.

"The high attrition rates of potential drug candidates has piqued the interest of pharmaceutical and biotech industries in stem cell use during the drug discovery phase," notes Frost & Sullivan Consulting Analyst Vinod Jyothikumar. "Previously, animal cell lines, tumours, or genetic transformation have been the traditional platform for testing drug candidates; however, these 'abnormal' cells have significantly contributed to a lack of translation into clinical studies."

Many academic institutes and research centres are collaborating with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies in stem cell research. This will provide impetus to the emergence of novel cell-based therapies.

Key challenges to market development relate to reimbursement, ethics and the complexity of clinical trials.

Securing reimbursement for stem cell therapeutic products is expected to be critical for commercial success. However, stem cell therapies are likely to be expensive. Insurers, therefore, may be unwilling to pay for the treatment. At the same time, patients are unlikely to be able to afford these treatments.

"The use of embryonic stem cells raises a host of thorny ethical, legal, and social issues," adds Jyothikumar. "As a result, market prices for various products may be affected."

Moreover, many research institutes are adopting policies promoting the ethical use of human embryonic tissues. Such policies are hindering the overall research process for several companies working in collaboration with these institutes.

"In addition to apprehensions about how many products will actually make it through human-based clinical trials, companies are also worried about which financial model can be applied to stem cell therapies," cautions Jyothikumar. "Possibly low return on investment (ROI) is also resulting in pharmaceutical companies adopting a cautious approach to stem cell therapeutics."

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Childhood obesity linked to math performance, MU researcher says

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Public release date: 14-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jesslyn Tenhouse Chew ChewJ@missouri.edu 573-882-8353 University of Missouri-Columbia

COLUMBIA, Mo. Childhood obesity has increased dramatically throughout the past 40 years and has been tied to many health problems. Now, a University of Missouri researcher has found that children's weight is associated with their math performance.

"The findings illustrate the complex relationships among children's weight, social and emotional well-being, academics and time," said Sara Gable, associate professor in the MU Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology, who led the study.

Gable looked at more than 6,250 children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort, a nationally representative sample. The children were followed from the time they started kindergarten through fifth grade. At five points in time, parents provided information about their families, teachers reported on the children's interpersonal skills and emotional well-being, and children were weighed and measured; they also took academic tests.

When compared with children who were never obese, boys and girls whose obesity persisted from the start of kindergarten through fifth grade performed worse on the math tests, starting in first grade. Their lower performance continued through fifth grade. For boys whose obesity emerged laterin third or fifth gradeno such differences were found. For girls who became obese later, poorer math performance was temporary.

In addition, for girls who were persistently obese, having fewer social skills explained some part of their poorer math performance. For both boys and girls who were persistently obese, feeling sadder, lonelier and more anxious also explained some of their poorer math performance.

"Our study suggests that childhood obesity, especially obesity that persists throughout the elementary grades, can harm children's social and emotional well-being and academic performance," Gable said.

###

The study, "Boys' and Girls' Weight Status and Math Performance from Kindergarten Entry through Fifth Grade: A Mediated Analysis," was published in the journal Child Development. The study was supported by the United States Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service through its Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program. Researchers from the University of Vermont and the University of California, Los Angeles assisted Gable with the study.

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Video: Facts About Nutrition and Healthy Eating–What Is Good Nutrition?

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Im sure youve heard that good nutrition is important to good health. But how? Well, good nutrition helps you in many important ways. For example, eating healthy food helps to prevent diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure and maintain a healthy weight.

In order to get the nutrition you need every day to stay healthy, you must develop and maintain healthy eating habits. Unfortunately, many Americans have very unhealthy eating habits.

Proper nutrition depends on a well-balanced diet that includes carbohydrates, fiber, protein, and some unsaturated fat. Carbohydrates give your body the energy it needs to function effectively all day. Carbohydrates are found in fruits, vegetables, bread, cereal, pasta, rice, and milk and milk products. 45 percent to 65 percent of your daily calorie intake should come from carbohydrates. You also need about 14 grams of dietary fiber for every 1,000 calories you eat. Protein is another essential nutrient, and you should get 10 percent to 35 percent of daily calories from proteins.

Most Americans eat more protein than they really need to stay healthy. Protein is found in meat, poultry, fish, eggs, nuts, milk and milk products, grains, and some vegetables and fruits.

Some protein-rich foods such as meat are also high in fat and cholesterol. To keep healthy, you should consume less than 10 percent of your daily calorie intake as fat. Most of your fat intake should be unsaturated, as opposed to saturated, fat. Saturated fat is found in foods such as high-fat cheese, high-fat meat, butter, and ice cream.

Nuts, vegetable oil, and fish are good sources of poly- and monounsaturated fats.

Health experts also say you should consume less than 300 milligrams of cholesterol a day. Cholesterol is a fatty substance found in animal-based foods such as meat, eggs, and whole milk.

Sugar is found naturally in foods such as fruits, vegetables, and milk and milk products. Some foods include added sugar, and these foods are less nutritious than foods containing only natural sugar. To keep healthy, try to avoid added sugar, which provides no nutritional value and also contributes to tooth decay.

Also, remember that fluids, vitamins, and minerals are part of good nutrition, too. You need about 8 glasses of water or other low-sugar fluids a day

Finally, even though youve got a lot of great choices here in your fridge, Im sure you eat out sometimes. When you do, remember to make healthy choices. Restaurant or takeout food can be high in fat, sugar, and salt, and low in required nutrients. When you eat food prepared outside your home, try to pick lower-fat foods, choose smaller portions, go broiled or baked instead of fried, order a vegetables or salad, and skip dessert.

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Nutrition program expands income eligibility

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Idahos special supplemental nutrition program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) will implement new income guidelines that raise household income eligibility limits to help offset cost-of-living increases.

The new eligibility guidelines will become effective July 1.

At no cost to qualified families, WIC provides nutritious supplemental foods like milk, eggs, cheese, cereal, juice, beans and peanut butter. WIC services also include health screenings, nutrition counseling, breastfeeding information and support, help from registered dietitians and referrals to other services that may aid a family in need. The average Idahoan enrolled in WIC receives approximately $55 of healthy foods per month. There are currently 44,000 people per month receiving Idaho WIC assistance.

To be eligible for the WIC program, an individual must be a pregnant or breastfeeding woman; a woman who has recently been pregnant; or an infant or child under five years of age. In addition, the individual must live in Idaho, have a special need that can be helped by WIC foods and nutrition counseling, and have a low-to-moderate income.

To be eligible on the basis of income, an applicants gross income (i.e. before taxes are withheld) must be at 185 percent or below of the U.S. Poverty Income Guidelines. As an example, for a family of three the new guidelines set an upper income limit of $35,317; under the old guidelines a family of three could have earned up to $34,281. If you or a family member are in the categories served by WIC and currently receive Medicaid, SNAP, TANF, or CHIP, you are automatically income-eligible for WIC.

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Little Kiwis Pack Big Nutrition

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SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Kiwifruit have long thought to be a nutritional powerhouse. But a new nutritional analysis published in the peer reviewed journal Nutrition Today further verifies that fact. The author of the paper, Dr. Keith Singletary, Professor Emeritus of Nutrition at the University of Illinois, found that in addition to its antioxidant benefits, kiwifruit can also help the digestive tract and even your skin.

Potential benefits include a rich source of antioxidants, improvement in gastrointestinal laxation, lowering of blood lipids, and alleviation of skin disorders, as stated in the published paper titled, Kiwifruit: Overview of Potential Health Benefits.

The Nutrition Today paper stated that kiwifruit is also a rich source of vitamin C as well as folate, potassium and dietary fiber. The paper cited ongoing, preliminary research that is investigating other possible health benefits associated with kiwi consumption. The fruits content of nutrients and biologically active phytochemicals has stimulated investigations into its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory actions that might then help prevent cardiovascular disease, cancer and other degenerative disorders.

The California kiwifruit growers, as a member of the International Kiwifruit Organization (IKO), partnered with other kiwifruit growers around the world in conducting the research that further affirms these known potential nutritional benefits of consuming kiwifruit.

California represents 98% of U.S. kiwifruit production or about one-third of all the fresh kiwifruit supplies in the United States during the season. California farmers produce up to eight million trays of the nutritious fruit from September to May with its primary production in October and November. As domestic production from California has increased, kiwifruit has become an increasingly popular fruit for Americans.

The 2012/13 crop is well on its way into the growing season and the mild summer weather California has experienced thus far is sure to promote good size and great flavor.

The full Nutrition Today article can be viewed here.

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Research and Markets: NBJ 2012 Global Supplement & Nutrition Industry Report

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DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/wkv5lr/nbj_2012_global_su) has announced the addition of the "NBJ 2012 Global Supplement & Nutrition Industry Report" report to their offering.

The global nutrition industry- which Nutrition Business Journal defines as including all dietary supplements, natural & organic foods and beverages, functional foods and beverages, and natural & organic personal care & household products- has become a $300 billion global industry. In this report, NBJ will break down each of these segments and look at the sales data for all seven regions of the world.

Once every two years, Nutrition Business Journal compiles all research pertaining to the global supplement and nutrition industry into our most anticipated report. Our report provides market and sales data by global region through 2010, with projections up through 2016.

This year's Global Nutrition Industry Report includes:

- A timeline of nutrition industry developments tracing back over two centuries

- Data and analysis on the dietary supplement, natural & organic food, functional food, and natural & organic personal care markets worldwide

- An overview of both the challenges and the potential opportunities in the U.S. & Global markets

- Trend reporting and case studies on each of the seven global regions, including interviews with influential CEOs and worldwide thought leaders

- Profiles on the global industry's top 20 companies, including SWOT analyses and sales data.

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Longevity Risk and Longevity Insurance for Pensions (Part 1) – Video

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12-06-2012 07:27 In this live recording of an AEGON Global Pensions online seminar, Chris Madsen and Martijn Tans discuss the nature of longevity risk for pension funds and how companies can protect their pension funds against longevity risk. In part 1, Chris and Martijn discuss ageing populations and the use of stochastic modelling for assessing longevity risk. They also discuss the potential impact that longevity risk has on a typical company pension plan.

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Longevity Risk and Longevity Insurance for Pensions (Part 3) – Video

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12-06-2012 07:26 In this live recording of an AEGON Global Pensions online seminar, Chris Madsen and Martijn Tans discuss the nature of longevity risk for pension funds and how companies can protect their pension funds against longevity risk. In part 3, Chris and Martijn discuss longevity insurance and how pension funds can protect against longevity risk.

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Venable most impressed with dad's longevity

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ByCorey Brock/MLB.com|06/12/12 10:30 PM ET

SEATTLE -- With three hits on Sunday against the Brewers, Padres outfielder Will Venable surpassed his father, Max, with 339 career hits.

SEATTLE -- Carlos Quentin had the distinction of being the Padres' first designated hitter this season. Chances are, it will happen more often than not this week.

SEATTLE -- Three hours before Tuesday's game against the Mariners, a group of Padres relievers as well as bullpen catchers Griffin Benedict and Justin Hatcher and starting catcher Nick Hundley huddled for a quick video shoot to wish bullpen coach Darrel Akerfelds a happy 50th birthday.

Shortstop Everth Cabrera rejoined the Padres on Tuesday after his trial in Phoenix was canceled on Monday.

According to UT San Diego, prosecutors dismissed the case, which allowed for him to return to the team without missing any games. San Diego was off on Monday after flying late Sunday to Seattle from Milwaukee.

The trial was set for Monday to accommodate the Padres' off-day. Cabrera was charged with misdemeanor assault upon his wife, stemming from a March 16 incident in Glendale, Ariz.

Corey Brock is a reporter for MLB.com. Keep track of @FollowThePadres on Twitter. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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Sleep helps predict pro athlete's longevity

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BOSTON, June 13 (UPI) -- Studies involving NFL and MLB players suggest evaluating an athlete's sleep helps determine his or her professional longevity, U.S. researchers said.

Sleep researcher Dr. W. Christopher Winter said he uncovered a link between a pro athlete's longevity and the degree of sleepiness experienced in the daytime.

"A team's ability to accurately judge a prospect or a potential trade in terms of the value they will get for that player is what makes or breaks many professional sport teams," Winter, a sleep adviser for Men's Health magazine, said in a statement.

The study involving football looked at 55 randomly selected college players who reached the NFL. It found sleepier athletes had only a 38 percent chance of staying with the team that originally drafted them. In comparison, 56 percent of the less sleepy players were considered a "value pick" because they stayed with their original team.

The baseball study analyzed the sleepiness scale of 40 randomly selected players and found those who reported higher levels of daytime sleepiness had attrition rates of 57 percent to 86 percent, well above the 30 percent to 35 percent major league average.

"Addressing sleepiness in players and correcting the underlying issues causing sleepiness may help to prolong a player's career," Winter said.

Winter presented the two studies at Sleep, the 26th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Boston.

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No trace of DNA on wine bottle

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KUANTAN: NO traces of accused, Asni Omars deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) were found on the wine bottle alleged used in the murder of French tourist Stephanie Foray.

Chemist Nor Aidora Saedon, who took the witness stand at the trial yesterday, replied the above in response to a question by counsel Datuk Ng See Teong who is acting for 37-year-old petty trader Asni.

Ng: When the bottle was given to you, was it in the same condition as it is now?

Nor Aidora: Yes, it was in the same physical condition as shown in court now (referring to the stained Malibu wine bottle tendered as part of the prosecutions exhibits).

When Ng asked Nor Aidora if she had opened the bottle when she was performing the DNA profiling test, she replied no.

Ng: You did not open the bottle at all to analyse even its contents?

Nor Aidora: No, I did not.

Ng: What was the result you got from analysing the bottle?

Nor Aidora: No blood traces were found on the bottle.

Ng: Did you perform DNA profiling test on the bottle?

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DNA Scans Can Spot Cause of Brain Issue in 25% of Kids

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By Robert Langreth - 2012-06-13T18:00:00Z

Scanning the genes of children with inherited brain disorders pinpoints the precise cause more than a quarter of the time, often changing the diagnosis, according to one of the largest studies of child DNA sequencing.

The study published today in Science Translational Medicine examined the genes in 118 people with child-onset brain development disorders where obvious causes had been excluded. Researchers found new disease-causing mutations in 22 patients. In 10 more people, the scans found rare genetic diseases that had been misdiagnosed because symptoms were atypical. In two cases, the new diagnosis led to changes in treatment.

The study is a remarkable demonstration of the power of sequencing in the clinic -- precise, molecular, root cause diagnosis, said Eric Topol, a professor of genomics at the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego in an e-mail. Virtually all diseases will be more precisely defined through gene sequencing in the not-too-distant future, he wrote.

The research shows how often DNA scans can improve diagnosis in kids with brain disorders such as autism, severe epilepsy, or intellectual disability, said Joseph Gleeson, a child neurologist and study author. Brain development disorders afflict as much as 4 percent of children and are often genetic, yet the precise causes can be elusive, he said. Sequencing lets researchers examine all genes for abnormalities, instead of testing for one genetic disorder at a time as done now.

The biggest surprise is that some children with genetic brain disorders have diseases that have been known for a long time, said Gleeson, of the University of California, San Diego. The kids werent diagnosed correctly because frequently their symptoms dont match those in the textbook.

As a consequence, doctors may not have thought of ordering gene tests for those rare diseases, Gleeson said.

This is taking the whole medical field by surprise, Gleeson said. It used to be that the gray-haired professor was the gold standard, and if patient didnt respond to treatment then patient was an anomaly.

Gene sequencing eliminates the problem of misleading or vague symptoms by testing all genes, Gleeson said. It will change the way we practice medicine, he said.

The study follows research published in the June issue of the Journal of Medical Genetics, where scientists at Duke University used sequencing to diagnose six of 12 kids with genetic disease of unknown origin. In five of the cases, the children had had mutations in genes known to cause disease, said David Goldstein, the study leader and director of the Center for Human Genome Variation at Dukes School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina. One child had been diagnosed with autism, yet turned out to actually have Pitt-Hopkins Syndrome.

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DNA Brands selects Titan Distributors for Canadian foray

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DBR Staff Writer Published 13 June 2012

US-based energy drink maker DNA Brands has entered into an exclusive agreement with Titan Distributors to expand its footprint in Canada.

The company manufactures DNA Energy Drink and DNA Shred Stix.

DNA Energy Drink is a proprietary blend of ingredients in four flavors - Citrus, Lemon Lime, Sugar Free Citrus and Cranrazberry.

DNA Brands president and CEO Darren Marks said that the company intends to support and grow the DNA name in Canada through conventional marketing initiatives including sampling programs, TV and radio, and by utilizing Titan's close relationships with premier athletes and celebrities to act as brand ambassadors and spokesmen

"An August launch is expected," Marks said.

Titan Distributors president and CEO David Coriaty said that the company looks forward to work hand-in-hand with DNA's dedicated management team to first ensure a successful product launch and ultimately a huge success throughout Canada.

Independent retailers throughout the US and national retailers including Walgreens, Race Trac and Circle K sell the DNA Brands products.

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DNA Brands selects Titan Distributors for Canadian foray

Posted in DNA

Scientists map DNA of our ape cousin

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Behold the bonobo, our ape cousin that's kinder and gentler than the chimp or, well, us. Now scientists have mapped the primate's DNA, and some researchers say that may eventually reveal secrets about how the darker side of our nature evolved.

Scientists have found that we are as close genetically to the peace-loving but little-known bonobo as we are to the more violent and better understood chimpanzee. It's as if they are siblings and we are cousins, related to them both equally, sharing some traits with just bonobos and other characteristics with just chimps.

Bonobos and humans share 98.7 per cent of the same genetic blueprint, the same percentage shared with chimps, according to a study released on Wednesday by the journal Nature.

The two apes are much more closely related to each other - sharing 99.6 per cent of their genomes - said study lead author Kay Prufer, a geneticist at the Max Planck Institute in Germany.

'Humans are a little like a mosaic of bonobo and chimpanzee genomes.'

Bonobos and chimps have distinctly different behaviours that can be seen in humans, with bonobos displaying what might be thought of as our better angels, said Duke University researcher Brian Hare.

Bonobos make love, not war. Chimps have been documented to kill and make war.

Bonobos share food with total strangers, but chimps do not.

Bonobos stay close to their mothers - who even pick out their sons' mates - long after infancy like humans. But chimps tend to use tools better and have bigger brains, like humans.

'Is the bonobo genome the secret to the biology of peace?' asked Hare, who was not involved in the new research. 'They have done something in their evolution that even humans can't do. They don't have the dark side we do.

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Posted in DNA

Dechaine witness: Test more for DNA

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1:00 AM That could clarify whether thumbnail DNA evidence came from contamination during the autopsy, he says.

By Ann S. Kim akim@mainetoday.com Staff Writer

PORTLAND - More testing of items from the investigation of Sarah Cherry's murder could help clarify whether the DNA found on one of her thumbnails came from contamination, a witness said Wednesday at a hearing on Dennis Dechaine's motion for a new trial.

click image to enlarge

Dennis Dechaine, right, and defense attorney Steven Peterson.

John Ewing/Staff Photographer

Swabs of certain items from the 1988 kidnapping and murder of the 12-year-old Bowdoin girl have already been tested for male DNA and come up negative. Those items include sticks that were used to assault the girl, the rope that bound her hands and the scarf that was over her mouth.

Witness Rick Staub, the forensics laboratory director of a company in Texas that handled some of the tests, testified that there could be value in doing additional DNA analysis on evidence in the case. If DNA similar to the thumbnail DNA was found on other items, it would make it unlikely that the thumbnail DNA came from contamination during the autopsy.

The partial DNA profile extracted from the girl's left thumbnail is at the center of Dechaine's attempt to get another trial. On Wednesday, his lawyer, Steve Peterson, continued to present witnesses' testimony aimed at convincing Superior Court Justice Carl Bradford that jurors would not have convicted Dechaine in 1989 had they known about the DNA.

One of those witnesses, Rick Staub, said it's hard to imagine that DNA was transferred to the thumbnail by clippers used in the autopsy -- as Deputy Attorney General William Stokes has argued is the most likely scenario -- unless the clippers had wet blood on them and were used immediately afterward.

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Posted in DNA

Agreement on DNA testing in Skinner case, but "key" evidence missing

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DNA testing of evidence in the Henry Skinner triple murder case hit yet another snag this week as prosecutors admitted that a blood-stained windbreaker termed "perhaps the key piece of evidence" by the killer's lawyer cannot be found.

In a motion laying out terms of a joint agreement to begin testing filed late Tuesday, the state and Skinner attorney Rob Owen identify 40 items to be submitted for testing. Among them are clippings from a victim's fingernails, vaginal swabs, and knives found at the scene of the 1993 New Year's Eve Pampa murder.

Skinner, 50, was convicted of fatally bludgeoning his girlfriend, Twila Busby, and stabbing to death her two adult sons. He consistently has maintained his innocence, saying that consumption of codeine and alcohol had rendered him incapable of killing the victims.

Prosecutors in Tuesday's filing concede that the windbreaker, collected from the scene by the Pampa Police Department, has not been found.

"According to the state, every other single piece of evidence in this case has been preserved," Owen said in an email. "It is difficult to understand how the state has managed to maintain custody of items as small as fingernail clippings while apparently losing something as large as a man's windbreaker jacket. To date, the state has offered no explanation for its failure to safeguard evidence in this case."

A spokesman for the Texas Attorney General's Office declined immediate comment.

Owen said the jacket, which appears to be stained with perspiration and blood, may have been worn by the assailant. Owen said that, since the trial, a witness has identified the jacket as one worn by Busby's uncle.

That man, now dead, reportedly was seen stalking Busby at a party shortly before her murder.

Skinner has had at least two execution dates set. Last November, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a stay to ascertain how revised laws regarding such testing may apply to his case.

Skinner has endeavored for more than a decade to obtain DNA testing of seemingly important evidence gathered at the crime scene.

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Posted in DNA

Informatics, Biology Team Demonstrates Role of Foreign DNA Strands in Life-Supporting Bacteria

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IU role in Human Microbiome Project exposes battle history between bacteria, viruses in human body

Newswise BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- An Indiana University team of researchers has conducted the most in-depth and diverse genetic analysis of the defense systems that trillions of micro-organisms in the human body use to fend off viruses. The work is among a collection of 16 research papers released today by the Human Microbiome Project Consortium, a National Institutes of Health-led effort to map the normal microbial make-up of healthy humans.

CRISPRs

Led by IU Bloomington assistant professor of informatics and computing Yuzhen Ye, the team of bioinformaticists and biologists reconstructed arrays of clusters of regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats -- CRISPRs -- which function as immune systems to the bacteria that play a vital role in human health. Between genomic repeats, CRISPR locations carry short strands of foreign DNA called spacers, which provide a history of past exposures to outside invaders like plasmids and bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria), and allow the bacteria to fight off viruses they have already encountered.

"By studying CRISPRs and their sequences, we ask the same types of questions we ask about viral infections in humans and other animals: Do individuals make antibodies to a particular virus? If they do, we then know they have been exposed to that virus," Ye said. "By examining CRISPR sequences, we learn about what viruses there have been infecting different species of bacteria in a particular environment."

Bacteriophages are the most abundant life form on the planet and are in a constant arms race with bacteria, which in the human body outnumber human cells by 10 to 1. Scientists want to better understand how microbes -- a group that contributes more genes responsible for human survival than humans themselves do -- battle the viruses that seek to infect them.

Using a targeted assembly strategy to reconstruct CRISPR arrays that otherwise are impossible to identify from whole metagenome assemblies, the team identified the distributions of 64 known and 86 novel types of CRISPRs (based on the CRISPR repeat sequences) from the 751 shotgun datasets (containing 3.5 terabases of genomic sequences) of microbial DNA extracted from the 242 healthy U.S. volunteers participating in the Human Microbiome Project.

The Human Microbiome Project collected tissues from 15 body sites in 129 men and from 18 body sites in 113 females, with up to three samples taken from each volunteer's mouth, nose, skin and lower intestine, in addition to three vaginal sites in women. The entire research consortium included 200 researchers at nearly 80 universities and institutions, and today's release of new data is the result of five years of work and an investment of $173 million.

The IU team confirmed that by using targeted assembly, longer CRISPR arrays were produced that allowed more spacers to be identified for analyzing CRISPR evolution. The Streptococcus CRISPR SmutaL36, for example, was observed in 38 of 751 datasets using whole metagenome assembly, but targeted assembly identified SmutaL36 in 386 datasets. For 142 out of 150 CRISPRs, their traces were identified in more datasets by targeted assembly as compared to whole metagenome assembly, and for 36 CRISPRs, they were seen in at least 10 times more datasets. Enterococcus faecalis

"We know that CRISPRs adapted to a virus or other infectious agent are extremely important to the bacteria carrying those CRISPRs: They live or die," Ye said. "But we really don't understand how this leads to changes in the entire biology of an individual."

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Informatics, Biology Team Demonstrates Role of Foreign DNA Strands in Life-Supporting Bacteria