NightBlogger

BBC
First-born babies may be programmed in the womb to have a higher risk of asthma and allergy, research suggests. A University of South Carolina led team carried out tests on more than 1,200 newborns from the Isle of Wight. They found first borns were more likely to carry a gene variant which raised their risk of allergy.

The study, to be presented to the American Thoracic Society, found this seemed to translate to a higher risk of allergy through to the age of ten. The researchers measured levels of an antibody called Immunoglobulin E (IgE) in the babies’ umbilical cord blood. This is known to play a key role in the development of allergic responses. Read more

Recombinomics Commentary 05:21
May 15, 2008
It differs from the virus which in the past is verified in the country, presently has become popular in Indonesia and Vietnam

The above comments on the H5N1 in whooper swans in Japan indicate clade 2.1 or clade 2.3 has moved into long range migratory birds. Comments from South Korea on similarities between the H5N1 there and H5N1 in Vietnam suggest that H5N1 in both countries is clade 2.3 (Fujian strain). Although movement of H5N1 via migratory birds in eastern Asian is not well defined, an elaborate distribution route in areas west of China has been defined by surveillance and analysis of clade 2.2. Read more

Photo courtesy of ynse

Last week, the US Senate passed a bill that would bar employers and insurance providers from considering the results of a person’s genetic tests when making hiring or coverage decisions, but in the wake of the bill’s passage, Ars Technica reports “that a number of people have questioned why it shouldn’t be an employer’s or insurer’s right to make decisions based on genetics…these questions were answered a decade ago, and the intervening progress in human genetics has only reinforced some of the reasoning of the initial decision.
Read more

Photo courtesy of jurvetson

Good news but this law won’t prevent unscrupulous businesses and corporations from buying your personal genetic information on the black market if it’s available.

The US Senate has voted unanimously to outlaw genetic discrimination. The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act bans US employers from using genetic information in hiring, firing, promotion and compensation decisions, and from collecting genetic information from employees. Similarly, the bill prevents health plans and insurers from denying coverage or boosting premium prices based on a person’s genetic information, such as whether they have gene variants known to increase disease risk. It also forbids them from requesting or requiring people to take genetic tests.
Read more