Bank sale concerns Cook Islanders

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Westpac's decision to sell its Cook Islands operation has led some customers to consider cancelling their accounts, local media reported.

Westpac recently announced the sale of its operations in Samoa, the Cook Islands, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Tongato the Papua New Guinea-based Bank of South Pacific for A$125 million

Westpac said it would work with BSP, which has existing operations in Fiji and the Solomons, to ensure a smooth transition to the new owner for customers.

But the sale has concerned some Westpac Cook Islands customers, according to a report by Cook Islands News.

Customers who contacted CINews about the sale said they were worried about the stability of BSP, and concerned that it would not give the same access to New Zealand and Australian accounts as Westpac had.

"I believe PNG is one of the most corrupt countries in the world corruption is endemic," one customer told the news service.

Another customer told CINews the sale raised issues about a lack of connectivity by SPB with a New Zealand and Australian branch network.

"Many local businesses have NZ bank accounts used to conduct business. So many Westpac commercial customers would likewise have Westpac NZ accounts."

Westpac has said it will be business as usual for its Cook Islands customers until the sale is completed in the middle of this year.

- Stuff

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Bank sale concerns Cook Islanders

Britain's parliament allows human genome manipulation for first time

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"Life expectancy for a child with mitochondria is very short, very short. And I think that's devastating for a woman"

Mothers day may be about to get more complicated in the UK after parliament voted to allow a three-parent IVF technique.

It is designed to eliminate the possibility of mitochondrial diseases being transmitted to children. As these come through mothers only, the technique removes faulty DNA, replacing it with healthy material from a female donor.

This will be the first time that we would intentionally manipulate the human genome. It is something that governments around the world have agreed for the last 20 years that we shouldnt do, and once you cross that line, then its very hard to stop going down the slippery slope to designer babies, says the Director of Human Genetics Alert Dr. David King.

Advocates say it would be cruel to continue to allow the incurable disease to occur which affects around one in every 6500 births, and 11 international campaign groups are supporting the British government to take the unprecedented step.

When you have a baby, and find out that your babys ill or got something that youve got, and life expectancy for a child with mitochondria is very short, very short. And I think thats devastating for a woman, says Olivia Seaby, who carries the defective DNA.

Few would dispute man is playing God in this case, but a kindly and benevolent one. The danger, say some, is once the precedent is set, characteristics some maintain add variety and richness to the human experience will be airbrushed away.

Mr Robert Meadowcroft, chief executive of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign in the UK

We support this research because it will lead to effective treatment for devastating mitochondrial disorders. In the UK there is a very tight regulatory and licensing regime, so fears of a slippery slope are misplaced.

A vote in favour of regulations is important because these conditions can lead to severe disability and early death for children.

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Britain's parliament allows human genome manipulation for first time

The Scientist: Professor Amy Williams Maps Genes, Tracks Risk of Disease

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By SHIRA POLAN

Prof. Amy Williams, computational biology, is most likely not your relative, at least within the last 10 generations. But the newly instated Cornell professor spends much of her time studying your family tree or rather, the genetic tree of all modern humans in order to better understand the complex history of human demographics.

Williams, a graduate of the University of Utah, first became interested in population genetics and parent-to-child genetic transmission during her Ph.D. work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

I went to grad school expecting to do very traditional computer science but ended up taking a genetics class for my minor [and] really just fell in love with it, she said. For my Ph.D., I ended up developing an algorithm for inferring the way in which DNA gets transmitted from parents to children in single families. I then got a postdoc in a human population genetics lab and have continued to fall in love with the discipline.

Following graduate school, Williams pursued postdoctoral positions at Harvard Medical School and Columbia University before beginning research as an assistant professor in the Department of Computational Biology and Population Genetics last April.

Next fall, Williams will teach a course that will serve as an introduction to computational biology.

[The class] will likely be aimed at individuals who have a little bit of computational background. Well talk about the ways of analyzing genetic data and will begin by asking, What is the human genome? she said. This is something you can download off the Internet and read off all those letters, but how was it actually generated?

Williams said she considers her field of computational biology to be very broad, referring to the many applications computers have in the realm of biology.

Its anything from trying to predict how a protein will fold using computers, to trying to infer relationships between individuals on the basis of their genetic makeup, to comparing the genetic makeup of different species in order to learn about evolution, to methodologies for performing genome-wide association studies that attempt to identify genetic variants that affect a given trait or disease, she said.

One specific application of Williams work is the characterization of haplotypes, a series of genes that occur on a single chromosome and are likely to be inherited together.

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The Scientist: Professor Amy Williams Maps Genes, Tracks Risk of Disease

Feeling Woozy? 23AndMe Releases First-Ever Genome-Wide Study Of Motion Sickness

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Consumer genetics firm 23AndMe has issued the first ever genome-wide association study of motion sickness. After the rocky legal back-and-forth between 23AndMe and the FDA that prevents the genetics company from extensively analyzing customer genetics, this studys results are a solid win, and vindicate 23AndMes goals of using its vast bank of genetics data benevolently.

The study, published in Oxford Journals Human Molecular Genetics, is the first to reveal the genetic variants of motion sickness and involved 80,000 consenting customers who had submitted material to 23AndMe to be genetically analyzed.

The study found 35 genetic factors associated with motion sickness that statistically stand out at genome-wide scalein other words, significant when compared among the whole human genome instead of just looking at particular genes. Many of these factors are in or near genes involved in balance and eye, ear, and cranial developmentmeaning motion sickness likely triggers effects in these areas. They even found that several of these factors had the potential to hit women harder, potentially tripling motion sickness' effect on those systems.

Given that roughly one in three people are affected by motion sickness, the study is obviously valuableand given the highly hereditary nature of motion sickness effects, mapping genetic effects of motion sickness is a perfect fit for 23AndMe. Results from a 2006 study have estimated that up to 70% of variation in risk for motion sickness is due to genetics.

The study also confirmed what wed already knownthat people suffering motion sickness are more prone to migraines, vertigo, and morning sickness. Overall, the results pointed toward the importance of the nervous system in motion sickness and a possible role for glucose levels in motion-induced nausea and vomiting.

While the FDA is preventing 23AndMe from giving U.S. customers analyses of their genetic data, 23AndMe is still selling genetics-gathering kits (sending the customers back ancestry reports instead of a report analyzing their genetic predisposition to disease) and then selling that data to pharmaceutical giants and academic labs. That sounds like just the data profiteering that Facebook has come under fire for, but the results of the motion sickness study back up 23AndMes claims that it can participate in illuminating research and make money doing it. To date, 23AndMe and its partners have published or contributed to 22 peer-reviewed papers about breast cancer, asthma, hyperthyroidism, and other genetically affected conditions.

23AndMe customers willingness to share data has sped up research speed by magnitudesa true crowdsourcing of genetic data.

"Researchers came to 23andMe to learn whether or not a certain gene was more prevalent in cancer patients," VP of Communications at 23AndMe Angela Calman-Wonson tells Fast Company. "23andMe sent surveys to individuals in our database with that particular gene, asking several cancer-related questions. We received more than 10,000 responses in 12 hours, and were able to determine that the gene was not prevalent among cancer patients. This type of research typically takes months and thousands of dollars, and in this case it took about 48 hours."

[via EurekaAlert ]

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Feeling Woozy? 23AndMe Releases First-Ever Genome-Wide Study Of Motion Sickness

Haslam Convenes Special Session On Insure Tennessee, Saying State Can’t ‘Do Nothing’ – Video

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Haslam Convenes Special Session On Insure Tennessee, Saying State Can #39;t #39;Do Nothing #39;
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- If there #39;s one point Gov. Bill Haslam tried to make in his address to the General Assembly Monday night it #39;s that his health care plan is different from Obamacare. "On...

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Haslam Convenes Special Session On Insure Tennessee, Saying State Can't 'Do Nothing' - Video

Health Care Access Initiative: innovative patient care for the underserved at MetroHealth – Video

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Health Care Access Initiative: innovative patient care for the underserved at MetroHealth
An innovative program that integrates patient care for the urban underserved with primary care training of interdisciplinary learners. This program is a partnership between the Ohio Department...

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Health Care Access Initiative: innovative patient care for the underserved at MetroHealth - Video

Maple Health Care & Rehab – REVIEWS – Maple, ON Physical Therapists Reviews – Video

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Maple Health Care Rehab - REVIEWS - Maple, ON Physical Therapists Reviews
Reviewed Maple Health Care Rehab is a top reviewed Physical Therapists in Maple, ON. This video shows some of the excellent reviews and testimonials that have been offered...

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Maple Health Care & Rehab - REVIEWS - Maple, ON Physical Therapists Reviews - Video