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The Blog for AGiR!
Wednesday, 21 May 2014
fair play!
Mood:  energetic

Hello! 

Just for your info, here is what the first clause of the Swiss Charter of 'Fair-Play' says:

No matter which role I play in this sport, even as a spectator, I pledge to make every sporting event, whatever is at stake and regardless of the strength of the opponent, a special moment, a kind of celebration.

(on doit) faire de chaque rencontre sportive, peu importe l'enjeu et la virilité d'affrontement, un moment privilégié, une sorte de fête. 

 Cool, huh?

Here's a picture of the whole thing, from a gym in Nyon... 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, if only 'fair play' on the part of big manufacturers could become standard practice!

Some (good job!) *are* really trying to remove suspect ingredients from their products (as mentioned in previous posts), but sometimes one doesn't really know whether the replacement ingredients are also risky, perhaps even for genomic integrity... 

AGiR! hopes to go beyond each individual ingredient - as so many, like the EWG, point out, there are simply 1000s out there which we might be better off without - to get people to realize the 'why' and personally change habits when possible!

Who has posted the new one page summary somewhere already, I wonder?

Here it is!

 

 

 

Give it a try and let me know about it!

 

On another point, I am sorry about the long delay in getting AGiR! really multi-lingual - more translations for the French side are in progress, but the Italian section is really behind.  Any volunteers??   

Thanks to all those who have already helped!  

 

best 

 

 


shared by AGiR! at 7:49 AM MEST
Updated: Saturday, 21 June 2014 7:49 PM MEST
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Tuesday, 22 April 2014
hair issues (again!?) and new content for AGiR!
Mood:  incredulous

The first time I heard about 'ombre' hair (of course via my daughter) I thought, how weird, people have made the dreaded 'root hair line,' an abrupt color change in hair color, into the new fashion!  Amazing!  I also wondered whether somehow this new trend could be partially due to people trying to grow out their natural hair color (as, of couse, I have been known to recommend!  Take the challenge!   https://raronoff.tripod.com/gradgray_bilangue.pdf !) 

Much to my surprise, even my worse suppositions came nowhere near the current situation, with teen-agers not only unsure of their natural hair color, but dying their hair with multiple colors in a sequence to create an abrupt change in color from one part of the hair to another!

Then there's the 'just for easter' pastel shades, on top of cotton candy hair (so damaged by the necessary complete bleaching needed for these colors to work)!

magenta pink fading to pale rose

- sure, it looks lovely, but is it really a good idea? 

Dying their hair grey, too!!   sigh

What is someone like me to do??  AGiR! 

This fashion trend of course really is great for the hair dye manufacturers, but not for the genomic integrity of the trend-setters or the other life forms being exposed ...

In better news, on a recent trip to Denmark I saw many fewer smokers!! Amazingly, change seems to be occurring (though people still start smoking - this is why more information is still needed! & not just 'smoking kills' warning labels)!

It's knowing the 'why' that moves people to action - this is my current refrain...

In other good news, there is some new content on the site: a personal statement https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1jaPHOkH_42dHpRbEdhalpKdFU

a new link in the sidebar to the 'selected publications' page selected publications page  

 

a link to a list of things that can damage DNA 

list 

 

and a link to a new Prezi I made about DNA damage, its repair, and ways to measure it  

http://prezi.com/3fqlced46dio/dna-damage-and-its-repair/

 

Enjoy!!

(and spread the word!)

best 

 

 

 


shared by AGiR! at 2:11 PM MEST
Updated: Wednesday, 21 May 2014 8:03 AM MEST
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Wednesday, 2 April 2014
100 Swiss flags

Word up!  100 'local' views of the AGiR! site...

individual computers are scored by the flag counter, so at least 100 different sites in Switzerland have had a look (in Lausanne on average 5.9 pages, and 7 min according to the analytic suite today), and it was a Lausanne site that got us to this milestone!  Will there be a tipping point (one dare not say 100 monkey effect these days, which of course is a very different thing)?  

A twitter account for AGiR! has also been begun, to help increase the gain of AGiR's message by use of social networking sites...  

You can do your bit by 'sharing' pages too, please!

Whatever the means, the spread of knowledge is difficult and uncertain, needing constant attention for each generation.  

I just saw a warning article (really quite echoed in much more recent articles) about Xrays and mutations in the NYTimes in 1981! 

from 1981!!

http://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/01/garden/personal-health-179832.html

 

(testing to see if the link works...)

 

Still hoping that this new 'big picture' concept of 'genomic integrity' makes people rethink choosing to do so much that might harm it (cigarette smoking, hair dying, fitness issues).  We can prevent more than 50% of cancers, simply through behavioral and attitude changes.  Why not try? 

 

Take care!

 

 

 


shared by AGiR! at 11:43 PM MEST
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Sunday, 30 March 2014
updates
Mood:  sharp

Hello!

Here it is, already 88 days into 2014, the year for genomic integrity!

In terms of the old EFV site, at least a few people have now said they are indeed 'taking the natural hair color challenge' !!!   (and all are really LOOKING FORWARD to seeing what their real hair color might be like!)

For AGiR!  the work party meetings were super, and much needs to be done, but, in terms of 'outreach' by this group, here are some numbers as of now:

from the 'flag counter' at the bottom of the English main page of the site 96 swiss peoples' computers have seen the site, 65 from the states, 10 from the UK, 8 from holland, 6 from canada, 5 from germany, 4 from japan, 3 from sweden, and a dozen more countries with 1 or 2 visitors so far...

There have been 1160 views of the english slideshare intro and

601 of the french slideshare intro!

 

In the meantime, a twitter account has begun!  Follow us @AGIRgenomes

Also, a prezi about things that impact genomic integrity and ways to assess this has been begun...  more to come! 

 

Thanks for everything to those who are helping, and welcome to anyone interested!!

take care! 

 


shared by AGiR! at 8:58 PM MEST
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Thursday, 13 March 2014
working party meeting for AGiR! plus!
Mood:  a-ok

just a few days until the first AGiR! working party meeting!!  

Either 16:30 at the Rolex building or 19:15 at my place - and joining in by skype is also possible at either time! 

while the agenda is already partly taken by hair dye concerns, all ideas are welcome, to help spread the word about the many threats to genomic integrity and ways to protect it...  

 AGiR! 

 www.genomicintegrity.org

 

take care! 

 


shared by AGiR! at 3:16 PM MEST
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Thursday, 20 February 2014
RNA watching out for DNA damage (and more!)
Mood:  special

There are more data out there than we can examine closely, but sometimes just a bit of luck is what is needed for key realizations to spread.  

After a great meeting, where someone working on artificial genetic elements pointed out how the 'RNA world' could have arisen in a period of the earth's history when everything was basically frozen, from his experiments with 'eutectic' ice, I was fortunate to also attend some super seminars that showed not only the involvement of helicase (nucleic acid unwinding enzymes) in chromosomal end maintenance but also that RNA molecules, processed as special microRNAs termed diRNAs, help bring DNA Damage Repair (DDR) factors to the site of double stranded breaks in DNA.  

Incredibly, these RNAs may actually need to be made from the region where the damage occurs for proper recognition of the site for repair.  (Alternatively, if the damage is too great for the cell to fix, cell death pathways could be activated...) This makes sense in a way, because basepairing interactions could provide specific recognition.  It also may help account for the fact that most of the genomic DNA is actually transcribed into RNA (even though just a small fraction of the human genome actually encodes gene products).

The difficult thing to imagine is how so many non-coding RNAs are made and processed and 'watch out' for DNA damage.   Because blocking RNA polymerase prevents reformation of DDR foci after RNAse treatments (exciting work from a group in Milan), the model that such surveillance is necessary seems sure to get further support in the not so distant future!

Interestingly, the 53bp1 factor, which makes foci with many DDR components at ds breaks in DNA and interacts with the p53 product to help make the choice between cell death and repair, also contains an RNA binding domain!!  (and this factor, just in case you missed this, is the basis for the measurement of DNA damage proposed by the bay area startup mentioned in an earlier post!)

more exciting times ahead!

 

best wishes!

 


shared by AGiR! at 3:50 PM CET
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Friday, 7 February 2014
still more!
Mood:  a-ok

Today on the radio, I heard the swiss docs are rethinking recommendations about mammograms, yesterday my dad's friend was still worrying about X-ray doses from his CT scans (and the ny times had an editorial on the same topic), and finally the big 'tidal wave' of cancer was warned against by the WHO...

 

Guess it's in the news!  2014 is the year of genomic integrity!

 

Tell me what you hear! 

 

But what proportion of people have actually learned more from the headlines, to realize that ordinary things, like smoking cigarettes, tanning and other common activities can damage your DNA?  People would like clear demonstrations, even as they continue to 'experiment' on themselves!  Maybe one such demo will be organized for the bay area soon, with luck?    

 

The initial aims of the association, AGiR, the active side of genomicintegrity.org were to increase by 30% public awareness of this problem in the first 2 years. Could this have already happened in the first 2 months?!?  

 

(There are 20 flags now, on the site!  and my friend from taiwan says the japanese site should be intellegible to people in china - where the toxic brew in some cities includes microbes with particulate matter and chemicals!!  maybe action will happen there, where something really needs to be done!?) 

Help spread the word, and do your best!

 

take care! 

 

 


shared by AGiR! at 8:34 PM CET
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Saturday, 25 January 2014
a new 'start up' to measure DNA damage!
Mood:  surprised

It really does seem that 2014 is the year for genomic integrity!

 

A new start-up in the bay area wants to measure the DNA damage in *your* DNA, and they have a cute idea about 'citizen scientists' (in addition to a patented high-throughput microscopy platform)!

There is great potential for the anonymized data they will mine from this commercialization.  

However, bias in the subject pool (towards educated and well-to-do hypochondriacs) might predicted from such an enterprise, unless a serious aim toward some more strictly controlled experimental protocols is implemented.  

 

Still, it's exciting!  (Thanks SB for the heads up!!) 

And  of course, if they really acquire tons of random data, eventually some correlations might be significant. 

 

The first kits (for you to draw and send your own blood samples) are planned to be sent out in June 2014!  Tell me if you are signing up please!  

 

Here's a link to their indiegogo project page:

http://www.indiegogo.com/project/preview/2c2dc164

 

Take care !

 

 

 


shared by AGiR! at 10:11 AM CET
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Tuesday, 14 January 2014
14 January 2014
Mood:  a-ok

2 weeks into this year for genomic integrity!  2014!

At a time when the American Cancer Society says there is a 1 in 3 (if female) to 1 in 2 (if male) lifetime chance of developing an invasive tumor in the US, it seems like what risks that can be avoided probably should be considered!

Challenges to be met, perhaps?

Hope you are having a great start to the year!

For more sobering statistics you can look at -

http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/content/@epidemiologysurveilance/documents/document/acspc-036845.pdf

 

best wishes! 

 


shared by AGiR! at 10:30 PM CET
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Monday, 30 December 2013
2014, the year for genomic integrity!
Mood:  a-ok

Hi!! 

Here's something to think about, as we finish off this year and look forward to the next (2014, the year for genomic integrity!):

 

Many risk factors for cancer and disease share the propensity to cause DNA damage and/or inhibit its repair.  

 

Genomic integrity really needs some protection!

 

Compromising genomic integrity (not simply creating new DNA mutations, since copy number variation, which some don't count as 'mutation' per-se, is also extremely important in carcinogenesis, for example) is the common element that results from basically *all* the worse life-style risk factors for disease and cancer!

For example, smoking is not only directly mutagenic, but inhibits DNA repair; obesity concentrates greater levels of mutagenic factors like dioxins in the body and provides more hormones to stimulate cells to become out of control; lack of exercise leads to a sluggish immune system and overall metabolism, so mutated cells are allowed to spread and general de-toxification is decreased.

The list goes on.  Have a look at table 1 in this paper from Science Translational Medicine, Applying What We Know to Accelerate Cancer Prevention, Graham A. Colditz et al. Sci Transl Med 4, 127rv4 (2012);DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3003218 

http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/4/127/127rv4.full.html

From their synthesis, it can be seen that top 4 risk factors on their list (smoking, overweight/obesity, diet, lack of exercise) cause about 63% of cancers, and that greater than 50% of this could be prevented!  

 

If we turn around our thinking, to say that it is disruption of genomic integrity that is the true 'cause' of cancer - not each behavior, or each individual chemical exposure - perhaps people will become more motivated to make the appropriate behavioral changes needed??

When potential diseases that might be due to inherited disruption of genomic integrity (which recent evidence from epigenomic analyses demonstrates why inherited traits can 'skip' a generation, and we really are greatly affected by the things to which our grandparents were exposed) are also considered, perhaps making this new year, 2014, the 'year for genomic integrity' should be adopted!?

 

  Hoping this will be the case!

 

Happy New Year!

2014: For genomic integrity! 

 

 


shared by AGiR! at 10:18 AM CET
Updated: Monday, 30 December 2013 10:34 AM CET
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