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Researchers at Tel Aviv University say they have developed a new, noninvasive method of discovering genetic disorders that can let parents find out the health of their fetus as early as 11 weeks into pregnancy.

A simple blood test lets doctors diagnose genetic disorders in fetuses early in pregnancy by sequencing small amounts of DNA in the mother’s and the father’s blood. A computer algorithm developed by the researchers analyzes the results of the sequencing and then produces a “map” of the fetal genome, predicting mutations with 99 percent or better accuracy, depending on the mutation type, the researchers said in a study published Wednesday in Genome Research.

The algorithm is able to distinguish between the genetic material of the parents and that of the fetus, said Prof. Noam Shomron of Tel Aviv University’s Sackler School of Medicine led the research, in a phone interview with The Times of Israel.

Continue reading “Israeli team develops way to find genetic flaws in fetus at 11 weeks” »

Incredible new hair dye reacts to your environment.

While it is not a government-led initiative, the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) corporation joined as a partner. If the mission is successful, Israel will become the fourth country, after Russia, the US and China, to reach the moon.

Attempt to become fourth country to send spacecraft to lunar surface blasts off this week.

Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua has unveiled “the world’s first female AI news anchor.” The computer-generated journo will team up with Xinhua’s existing male AI anchors at an upcoming series of political meetings in China.

The virtual reporter, named Xin Xiaomeng, was developed by Xinhua, in conjunction with a search engine company called Sogou. Developers modeled her speech and mannerisms on Xinhua news anchor Qui Meng, and showed her off in a video released on Tuesday.

Xiaomeng is lifelike, blinking and adjusting her hands as she speaks into the camera. Save for some rigid mouth movement, she could pass for the real thing.

Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), which include well-known brand names Prilosec, Nexium and Prevacid, are among the most commonly prescribed medications in the world. Approximately 10 percent of adults in the United States take these drugs for frequent heartburn, acid reflux and gastroesophageal reflux disease. Given their prevalence, researchers at Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of California San Diego mined the FDA Adverse Effect Reporting System (FAERS) database for unexpected consequences of PPI consumption.

In the study, published February 19, 2019 by Scientific Reports, the team found that patients who took PPIs were more likely to experience kidney disease than people who took histamine-2 receptor antagonists, another form of antacid that treats the same conditions and includes the brands Pepcid and Zantac.

“Post-marketing data collected by the FDA and deposited in the FAERS database allows us to look for potential adverse effects beyond what was found in a clinical trial, which may not have lasted as long or included as much diversity as the FAERS does,” said senior author Ruben Abagyan, Ph.D., professor of pharmacy.

Continue reading “Common acid reflux medications linked to increased kidney disease risk” »

A space lottery where proceeds support space and astronomy research and exploration might just be the winning ticket.

We have come to the point where we need an Alt Min Corporate Tax. It is time to take away the Welfare Payments that these parasite Corporations receive.

Jeff Bezos of Amazon has found a way to not paying Corporate taxes for the 2nd year in a row.

Continue reading “Amazon Pays No Tax For Second Year In A Row” »

Soft, squishy, ancient spiders are hard to investigate — they don’t fossilise as easily as bones or exoskeletons. So you can imagine how excited researchers were to find 10 brand new spider fossils in a relatively unexplored area called the Jinju Formation.

The Jinju Formation is a geological area of South Korea from the Mesozoic era, between 252 and 66 million years ago. This new spate of fossils, which researchers from the Korea Polar Research Institute and the University of Kansas found in shale, has increased the number of known spiders in the Jinju Formation from just one to a whopping 11.

But two of these spider finds were even more exciting than the rest – their eyes still reflected light 110 million years after they died.

Continue reading “This Spider Has Been Dead For 110 Million Years, But Its Eyes Still Shine in The Dark” »

A new study published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry is suggesting high iron levels in the brain may fundamentally trigger the progressive neurodegeneration associated with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. A clinical trial is now underway exploring whether Alzheimer’s-related cognitive decline can be slowed by lowering brain iron levels.