Monday October 19, 2009 Public Release: 19-Oct-2009
PLoS ONE
Smart rat 'Hobbie-J' produced by over-expressing a gene that helps brain cells communicate
Over-expressing a gene that lets brain cells communicate just a fraction of a second longer makes a smarter rat, report researchers from the Medical College of Georgia and East China Normal University.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-10/mcog-sr101909.php
***"Taking advantage of data collected as part of a 60-year study of more than 2000 North American women in the Framingham Heart Study, the researchers analyzed a handful of traits important to human health. By measuring the effects of these traits on the number of children the women had over their lifetime, the researchers were able to estimate the strength of selection and make short-term predictions about how each trait might evolve in the future. After adjusting for factors such as education and smoking, their models predict that the descendents of these women will be slightly shorter and heavier, will have lower blood pressure and cholesterol, will have their first child at a younger age, and will reach menopause later in life."
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-10/nesc-ahs101909.php
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