Faster genetic testing method will likely transform care for many patients with breast cancer

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Faster and cheaper DNA sequencing techniques will likely improve care for patients with breast cancer but also create challenges for clinicians as they counsel patients on their treatment options. Those are among the conclusions of a study published recently in the BJS (British Journal of Surgery). The findings provide insights into how genetic advances will soon be affecting patient care.

When a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer, it's important to know as much about her tumour as possible to determine the best treatment. Most cases of breast cancer are sporadic, but a minority are hereditary and caused by one or more mutations in genes such as BRCA1 or BRCA2. To find such genetic mutations in newly diagnosed patients, researchers must sequence the woman's DNA, which is generally a relatively slow process that generates results weeks or months after patients have started treatment. Next generation sequencing (NGS) is a newer method of sequencing DNA that processes large amounts of data. It's faster and more expensive than conventional sequencing, but in recent years it has become cheaper and more widely accessible by rapid advances in computing power. With the use of NGS, which will soon become the mainstay of clinical genetics, breast cancer units will likely be able to get the results of genetic testing before patients begin their breast cancer treatment.

In a collaboration between breast surgeons and medical geneticists at the Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital and Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, UK, Simon Pilgrim, MD, and his colleagues searched the medical literature to identify relevant studies relating to breast cancer genetics and then looked to see what impact NGS will have on breast cancer units as well as what opportunities will arise for improving treatment for patients.

The researchers found that because NGS will allow breast cancer clinicians to know whether patients carry high-risk mutations (which might increase their risk of developing another breast cancer in the same or other breast in the future) before the start of treatment, more women might opt for mastectomy instead of breast-conserving surgery or for double rather than single mastectomy. Dr Pilgrim noted that some of the mutations that are detected might also confer increased risks of developing other cancers, which would indicate the need to monitor at-risk patients closely for these cancers as well. "The converse is also true," he said. "NGS can be used to find genetic mutations in people with other hereditary cancers or conditions. For example, a woman with ovarian cancer might be found to have a BRCA1 mutation, and hence breast units must be prepared to handle questions about the management of breast cancer risk in patients referred by other specialties." Dr Pilgrim added that NGS will have implications for the relatives of people found to have mutations linked to breast or other cancers, and therefore family members may also wish to undergo testing after appropriate counseling.

In the longer term, being able to identify patients with breast cancer who carry certain gene mutations before they start treatment will help researchers conduct clinical trials to establish which treatments are best for carriers of particular mutations. Dr Pilgrim noted that research already suggests that BRCA1-associated breast cancer is more responsive to certain chemotherapy drugs than sporadic breast cancers are.

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Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by Wiley

3-D model links facial features and DNA

DNA can already tell us the sex and ancestry of unknown individuals, but now an international team of researchers is beginning to connect genetics with facial features, degrees of femininity and racial admixture.

"By jointly modeling sex, genomic ancestry and genotype, the independent effects of particular alleles on facial features can be uncovered," the researchers state today (Mar. 20) in PLOS Genetics. They add that "by simultaneously modeling facial shape variation as a function of sex and genomic ancestry along with genetic markers in craniofacial candidate genes, the effects of sex and ancestry can be removed from the model thereby providing the ability to extract the effects of individual genes."

In essence, by including sex and racial admixture, researchers can learn about how certain genes and their variations influence the shape of the face and its features.

"We use DNA to match to an individual or identify an individual, but you can get so much more from DNA," said Mark D. Shriver, professor of anthropology, Penn State. "Currently we can't go from DNA to a face or from a face to DNA, but it should be possible."

The researchers looked at both actual physical face shape and genetic markers of face shape. They then validated their study by asking individuals to look at faces and determine four things. Is this face male or female? How feminine is it? What proportion of this person is West African? What group would you put this person in, Black African or African-American; White, European or European-American; or Mixed?

To look at the physical face shape, the researchers used populations of mixed West African and European ancestry from the U.S., Brazil and Cape Verde. They placed a grid on 3-D images of the faces of the subjects and measured the spatial coordinates of the grid points. They then used statistical methods to determine the relationship between the variation in the faces and the effects of sex, genomic ancestry and genes that affect the shape of the head and face.

To identify these genes, the researchers looked at known genetic mutations that cause facial and cranial deformation because these genes in their normal variations might also affect the face and head. For example, one gene affects the lips, another changes the shape and configuration of the bones around the eyes, and another influences the shape of the mid face and skull.

"Probably only 5 percent of genes show a difference between populations," said Shriver. "We are using different populations because they have had different environments and different social environments."

The researchers look at the face because it is the most visible part of humans, and characteristics are likely to be influenced by selection. The environment, the local temperatures, rainfall, elevation or other factors in the surroundings may influence certain physical features. Other facial characteristics may be influenced by sexual selection, a recognized or unrecognized preference for a certain look. This changes from group to group and may have no influence on survivability but are instead related to mate choice and contest competition. Both forms of selection will concentrate certain variations in geological areas over time. By looking at groups of mixed ancestry, the researchers can more easily identify the different variations.

"The environment and social environment are major driving factors in changing a whole set of genes that make up how a person looks," said Peter Claes,postdoctoral researcher, research expert in morphometrics, Medical Imaging Research Center, KU Leuven, Belgium and first author on the paper.

Eventually, the researchers think that they might approximate the image of a parent from the DNA of children or better visualize some of Homo sapiens' ancestors by looking at DNA. On a more practical level, law enforcement groups might be able to create a "mug shot" from DNA to identify both victims and criminals. These predictive models fashioned from DNA would be forensically useful.

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by Penn State. The original article was written by A'ndrea Elyse Messer

WHY YOU NEED TO WATCH HOW YOU SHARE PERSONAL INFORMATION ONLINE

It is easy to assume that you do not need to protect your  personal data ONLINE since you are the only who knows your password or that the network is protected BUT it may or may not come as a surprise to know that there are people who specialize in hacking and stealing sensitive information either for financial benefit, economic benefit or simply for blackmail. 

Most times I always check if a website has got what I call ' extra backing' which is https. Web addresses that are secured with SSL begin with https and are more secured than http. When sending information over http, always verify and enforce extra care on the information that you are sending. Having 'extra backing https' is not exactly a perfect guarantee that nothing will happen to your data but at least it gives you a sense of security.

With the advent of social networks, most hackers disguise as genuine companies pretending to have your interest at heart while trying to capture your personal details and using the information to access your bank accounts or private information meant for you and you alone. Sometimes, you are asked to click on a link and win some form of prize, only for you to click and your information is captured.

In an article written by Charles Bryant online titled: 'Top 10 things you should not share on social networks', this is what he has to say 'Unless you've been living under a rock in 2009, you know that social networking Web sites are the latest and greatest way to interact with other users on the Internet. Thirty-five percent of adults on the Internet now have a profile on at least one social networking site, and 51 percent have more than one. Three-quarters of users between the ages of 18 and 24 have an online profile [source: USA Today]. The Pew Research Center found that 89 percent of these people use the sites to keep up with friends, 57 percent to make plans with friends and 49 percent to make new friends. Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Friendster, Urban Chat and Black Planet are just a few of more than 100 Web sites connecting folks around the world who are eager to share their thoughts and feelings. But just like in real life, there's such a thing as sharing too much information (TMI). It's easy to get caught up in the social aspects of sites like Facebook, but what you choose to share is there for all to see if you don't limit who can view your information. The same study by Pew Research found that 40 percent of users have open access to their profiles, allowing anyone to view their information. The other 60 percent restrict access to friends, family and colleagues. Sharing personal information with strangers can be dangerous business, and there are some things you should definitely put on your "do not share" list. 

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU SHARE ONLINE!. READ AND SHARE :).

Have a nice week ahead...Nuela.

Business Opportunities in Africa

When the word Africa is mentioned, lots of things come to mind like "poverty, violence, war etc". When you look at Africa, what do you see? When most people look at Africa, there are two very strong but opposite images that emerge. Some see a continent that is full of problems – unemployment, disease, hunger and insecurity – a place where everything is wrong and nothing works. Some others see a land of vast opportunities and untapped potential. Optimists like to describe Africa as the “world’s last frontier” of lucrative business opportunities. While the ignorant and fearful see a dark and unpromising continent, smart entrepreneurs see the amazing business opportunities that lie beneath all of Africa’s problems. This article looks at eight lucrative business opportunities that will make money for entrepreneurs who can unlock them.

Let us look at the lucrative business opportunities:

1. Food Business
Food is a basic need and a matter of survival. You can hardly ever go wrong with food in 
Africa!. Africa’s failing agriculture industry is arguably the root cause of hunger on the continent. Agriculture, which used to be a booming and attractive industry, has been abandoned for white-collar jobs in the cities. At the current migration rate, more Africans will live in cities than in rural areas in the next 30 years. With decreasing interest from ordinary people and low investments from both the business community and governments, the current state of Africa’s agriculture industry makes it unable to produce the amount of food needed to feed a large and fast growing population.

There are several lucrative opportunities for entrepreneurs who start businesses, no matter how small, that help to solve the hunger problem in Africa. The high demand for food staples is leading to interesting opportunities in vegetable farming, cassava farming, livestock farming (fish, chicken, pigs, ostrich, snails). There is also a huge potential for businesses like animal feed production that support the agriculture industry. 

Africa continent’s population (currently at over one billion) is predicted to rise to 2.3 billion in less than 40 years. With all these mouths to feed, agriculture is more than likely to become a booming industry in Africa’s future.

2. Job Opportunities
  Since jobs must exist before people can be employed, does it mean that there are no jobs in Africa? Of course not! In fact, Africa’s economy has been growing steadily for over a decade and six of the ten fastest growing economies in the world are in Africa. A growing economy is often a clear sign that more jobs are being created. However, the main problem with the job market in Africa is that it is largely disorganized. It is quite difficult for businesses and employers to find potential employees with the right skills, education and experience for the positions they want to fill. To a considerable part, Africa’s unemployment problem has to do with information sharing rather than total unavailability of jobs.

 Several smart Africans are already rising to the challenge of solving our continent’s unemployment problems. In Kenya for example, three ambitious entrepreneurs started    M-Kazi, a mobile phone-based job recruitment service that allows job seekers to get information about available job vacancies and helps employers to target the right talents. This SMS-based information service is used by thousands of Kenyans on basic mobile phones with no internet capability which are still very popular in many parts of Africa.

 In Nigeria, Jobberman.com, which was started by three university undergrads in 2009, has become Nigeria’s Number One job search and recruitment portal. In a country where more than 40 million able-bodied people are unemployed, Jobberman.com is helping millions of people to find their dream jobs. Seeing the huge potentials in this business model, Tiger Global, a New-York based fund with investments in Facebook and LinkedIn became an investor in Jobberman.com in 2011… a little less than three years after it started! The service now has a subsidiary in Ghana and plans to roll out across Africa in the near future.

Apart from providing critical information services that help employers and potential employees to find each other, there is also another angle to the unemployment problem in Africa - unemployability. Many of the people looking for jobs on our continent do not have the required education, training, skills and experience that make them desirable for employment. Businesses and entrepreneurs who can offer solutions to this problem in the form of skill acquisition programs, education and training are very likely to enjoy huge benefits.

3. Drugs and Medicines

Despite having less than 15 percent of the world's population, Africa alone accounts for nearly 24 percent of all diseases that occur in the world. Apart from poor access to essential medicines and vaccines, low quality healthcare, malnutrition, and poverty, our continent’s tropical (warm) climate favours the breeding of disease vectors (like mosquitoes which cause malaria). In addition to these factors, the rise of chronic diseases like heart attacks, cancer, respiratory diseases and diabetes is causing more deaths in Africa every year.

 According to a recent WHO Report, infectious diseases are the leading causes of sickness and death in developing regions like Africa. Of these infectious diseases, malaria, HIV/AIDS, pneumonia, tuberculosis, diarrhoeal diseases, and measles make up more than 90 percent of over 10 million disease-related deaths that occur in Africa every year. Most of these diseases can be treated with the right drugs.

 Africa’s serious disease problem has led to a huge and rapidly growing demand for drugs, medicines and other pharmaceutical products. The size of Africa’s pharmaceutical market is expected to reach nearly $45 billion by the year 2020 and entrepreneurs like Uganda’s Emmanuel Katongole are already taking advantage of this huge opportunity. Both giant drug manufacturing companies (inside and outside Africa) and small neighbourhood pharmacies are reaping huge benefits while they help to fight and reduce Africa’s huge disease burden. 

4. Education

The standard of education in many parts of our continent has deteriorated very badly. Poor access to quality education at all levels – from basic primary education to university – is another serious and nagging problem across Africa. The poor quality of government education and low investment in the education sector has put it in a state of crisis in many African countries. Because many Africans understand that education is one of the few bridges out of poverty, millions of poor families on the continent are desperate to find good schools for their children. However, the existing schools and training facilities are both unaffordable for many people and not even enough to cater to the needs of Africa’s large and rapidly growing population.

 To solve the problem of inadequate opportunities for affordable quality education, some entrepreneurs on our continent have come up with interesting solutions. Omega Schools, based in Ghana, is a chain of low-cost private schools that offers basic primary education to children in poor families for an incredibly low and affordable fee (less than $1 a day per student). Bridge International Schools in Kenya uses a similar low-cost model to provide affordable education to thousands of children in East Africa for less than $5 per month per student. Before these amazing businesses started, it was thought impossible to educate poor people at a profit.

5. Electricity

Some people say that if you look at the African continent from outer space at night, it looks empty and pitch black. Maybe this is why the rest of the world refers to Africa as the ‘dark continent’. The poor supply of electricity to support everyday needs like lighting up bulbs, pumping water and charging mobile phone batteries is a big and very serious problem in many parts of Africa. In many countries on the continent, less than 20 percent of the population have access to electricity; the situation is much worse in rural areas where fewer than 5 percent are connected to the electric power grid. 

 Electricity is such a serious problem for Africa that the growth and prosperity of its economy and the convenience of our daily lives depends on it. Did you know that all the 48 countries of Sub-saharan Africa (with a combined population of more than 750 million people) generate roughly the same amount of electricity as Spain (a single country of less than 50 million people)? Africa arguably has the worst electric power infrastructure in the world with the lowest scores in power generation, consumption and security of supply! (source: WorldBank).

 The explosion of mobile phone use across Africa has increased the demand for electricity and escalated the seriousness of the problem. In many countries of the continent, people have to travel several kilometers to find the electricity they need to charge their phones which they depend on for communication with close family and access to business-critical information (like fertilizer or farm crop prices).

 Entrepreneurs like Tanzania’s Patrick Ngowi are seizing the lucrative opportunities in Africa’s electricity problems. By focusing on solar energy, which is freely and abundantly available in Africa, Patrick has brought electricity to thousands of homes in his country. To date, his company (Helvetic Solar Contractors), has installed more than 6,000 small rooftop solar systems in his country and four other East African countries – Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. These rooftop solar products are used to light up thousands of houses at night. As a result, students can read for longer hours and do their homework while thousands of mobile phone batteries can be charged.

6. Waste

Africa is losing its natural beauty and environment to different forms of degradation especially solid waste pollution. According to the World Bank, Africa generates about 70 million tonnes of waste (both solid and non-solid) every year. As the income and spending power of the average African continues to rise, more goods will be consumed leading to even more waste. The volume of waste generated on our continent is expected to double in the coming years as Africa’s economy becomes more prosperous and the size and population of its cities explode.

 Apart from the dirty and unsightly look that heaps of waste are giving to several cities across Africa, poor waste management is closely related to, and largely responsible for, the outbreak of diseases. Apart from its undesirable effects, the way we handle and treat our waste will play a very significant role in managing Africa’s natural resources in the future. Recycling waste (like kitchen waste, paper, plastic and metals) helps to reduce the pollution in our environment and provides jobs for thousands of people on our continent.

 To tackle the menace of plastic waste in Nairobi (the Kenyan capital), Lorna Rutto, a former banker decided to start a small plastic recycling business. Her business uses plastic waste collected from dumpsites and garbage cans across Nairobi to manufacture fencing posts. These posts, which are used to fence houses and forest reserves, are becoming a preferred alternative to timber. So far, her innovative business has created over 7,000 fencing posts, 500 new jobs, generated more than $150,000 in yearly revenues, saved over 250 acres of forests and removed more than 1,000 tonnes of plastic waste from the environment.

 Another interesting business that is solving the problem of waste disposal in Africa is DMT Mobile Toilets in Lagos (Nigeria) – one of Africa’s most populated cities. In its bid to reduce the public disposal of human waste, this business provides affordable access to toilet facilities in public spaces (bus parks, events, etc) across Lagos. To date, this company has manufactured over 3,000 mobile private toilets. It produces about 200 units every month for sale and for hire across Nigeria and in the West Africa region.

7. Transportation

With millions of human cargoes and goods that are moved around in villages, towns and cities across Africa, transportation has become central to the functioning of Africa’s economy and basic survival on our continent. With very bad roads, poor transport networks, absent rail lines and weak water transportation, the options for moving people and goods around on the continent are quite limited.

 Although the roads are bad, people and goods still need to move around. With a population that is growing faster than anywhere else on earth, transportation remains a problem of the present and future for Africa. In spite of its challenges, smart entrepreneurs are rising to the occasion to solve everyday transport needs for millions of Africans. Motorcycles, taxis, buses, trucks and ferries are some of the ways of tackling the transportation problem.

8. Shelter

After food, shelter is arguably the next most important necessity in our lives. Shelter in this regard refers to housing accommodation, office space and public buildings. The growing migration of Africans from rural to urban areas is putting a lot of demand on available housing in the cities and towns. Another factor responsible for the shortage of housing accommodation in Africa is its fast growing population. By 2050, the number of people on our continent would have grown to 2.3 billion; this would mean that the current housing problem could worsen in the near future if nothing is done to solve it. 

 Seeing the huge opportunities and potentials in our continent’s housing problem,entrepreneurs like Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote, who is currently Africa’s richest man, has been making very significant investments in cement production, a very critical material in building construction. Other building and construction materials like wood, glass, aggregates and steel have become hot-selling products. 

 Individuals, businesses and governments are making huge investments in Africa’s real estate market. Smart entrepreneurs are buying up undeveloped land around major cities in a bid to build their own houses and possibly earn rental income from tenants who need shelter too. Other popular real estate investments are in office spaces and shops for traders.

Do you still see problems instead of opportunities?

Africa is full and overflowing with amazing potentials for people like you to make money. The challenge is that most of these opportunities are buried inside tough and challenging problems. It’s the same with everything in life. It is the same with finding gold, diamonds or crude oil; there is usually a lot of hard and dirty work involved. Somebody has to dig or drill many metres into the belly of the earth to find these precious resources. It’s also the same thing with Africa’s problems. If you want to make money on our continent, you will need to roll up your sleeves and solve a serious problem. The tougher the problems you solve, the more money you are likely to make!

 This article is intended to open your eyes to the possibilities around you. Have you noticed a serious problem or suffering lately in your environment? What have you been doing about it? Nagging? Complaining? Blaming the government? Well, you now know you should change the way you look at and react to problems. Problems are huge opportunities to make money. Find one and fix it!

 Culled from www.smallstarter.com 

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Education For All

The importance and benefits of being educated CANNOT be OVEREMPHASIZED. The difference between an educated person and one who is not educated is always CLEAR especially when it comes to making decisions!.

Education is the means through which sustainable development can be achieved. It enables people to develop the knowledge, values and skills to participate in decisions. It also helps in decision making whether as an individual or as a group.

Apart from getting a good job and improving quality of life, there are other benefits of education or being educated which are also very IMPORTANT!.

Benefits

Education brings wide-ranging benefits to the society. Early philosophers such as Aristotle and Plato pointed out that education was central to the moral fulfilment of individuals and the well-being of the society in which they live. In the past few decades, research has supported this conventional wisdom, revealing that education not only enables individuals to perform better in the labour market, but also helps to improve their overall health, promote active citizenship and contain violence.

An article written by Nicholas Coates in 2007 and published on gulfnews.com sums it up
" There is more to education than learning the three R's - reading, writing and arithmetic. While not wanting to undermine the necessity of these subjects, it is also important a pupil receives a rounded education which incorporates a number of disciplines that will benefit and improve a person's life.

Many nations provide free education for children - and it is even compulsory in some countries. Generally, a child is expected to go to school from about the age of four or five, until around 15. Further education may be available at colleges or universities, but it is usually based on a child's academic ability.

Yet there are countries which cannot provide adequate education for their youth or, if it is provided, is of poor quality. It is often in these countries where parents decide they cannot afford to send their children to school but need them to work at home. This is especially rife in the poorer African countries, where generations of uneducated youth impede upon a nation's progress.

This can become self-perpetuating. An uneducated mother, who is generally recognised as the mainstay of the home, will have little knowledge of the importance of raising a family that will lift them out of their situation. Issues such as hygiene, adequate diet - science tells us that without proper nutrition the body and mind fail to develop to full potential - and of course, the importance of educating the offspring, as well as being instrumental in decisions on family size.

Without proper education, in some countries mothers are looked upon as baby-making machines so children will look after parents in old age. But with an extended family, poverty, inadequate diet and lack of education, the situation continues from generation to generation. In some countries female foeticide is practised because girls are deemed to be less beneficial than boys. This phenomenon has become so widespread that in China, for example, where a "one child" policy is followed (but occasionally ignored) the imbalance between males and females will affect future development.


India does not restrict the size of a family, and has even banned female foeticide, but in some areas a female foetus is destroyed as it is believed boys will provide for the family later in life - girls are seen as a burden in rearing and in the future when a dowry is called for. So the tendency is to have many boys as an insurance against premature death of a child, which may happen as large families can often be ill-afforded.

It would be unfair to attribute all these problems onto developing nations. Even in the West, the US and UK, for example, the consequences of inadequate education, or neglected opportunity to educate, can be seen.


In the inner cities, unemployed, and unemployable, youth congregate into gangs which resort to crime, drugs and violence as they are of little or no benefit to society. Ghetto-type areas are created, often caste inspired, which can create no-go areas in a city.


There are numerous recorded incidents of young girls leaving school early and becoming single mothers. Without adequate education, the mother is unable to raise her child in a proper manner, which is why over successive generations, the literacy and moral standing of a section of society declines.


It is a disinterest in education by some members of society, or the inadequacy of its implementation, that hinders nations from developing. All children must be given access to education, and its importance must be emphasised, for it not only improves minds but is also an investment in the future of the nation. Unless initiatives are taken to educate children, then it is almost a certainty a nation will remain impoverished and will always need assistance from other countries as it will not be able to manage.


It was the late president Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan who, on the founding of the United Arab Emirates in 1971, stated in the country's first budget that a major investment was being made in education as the youth, is the "real wealth of a nation". Since then, successive governments have set aside considerable sums of money to ensure and maintain a high level of education is not only for Emiratis but also the large expatriate population in the country.


So strongly has Shaikh Zayed's message been instilled into the leadership of the UAE that His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has instituted a new drive, called Dubai Cares, intended to provide education to over 120 million children around the world. The initiative has been warmly received by individuals and commerce, who have responded to the challenge of raising Dh200 million. To further demonstrate the active participation of Shaikh Mohammad and his family, he has set his children the challenge of also raising funds for the project.


But aside from any competitive element, it is important not to lose sight of its purpose. Namely, that children should be given every opportunity to access to education and improve their life. Without education, no nation can flourish and prosper".

Education is WEALTH!

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