mahiwaga

Back in July 2015, a correlation between depression and two genetic loci was discovered. #CorrelationDoesNotImplyCausation

One is near SIRT1, the other is in an intron of LHPP.

2015 Jul 15 • Heidi Ledford • nature

Sparse whole-genome sequencing identifies two loci for major depressive disorder • 2015 Jul 30 • CONVERGE consortium • Nature

Sirtuins seem to be involved in RNA splicing, responsible for generating alternate transcripts.

The homologous gene in yeast is responsible for regulation of epigenetic silencing and suppressing rDNA recombination

SIRT1 is also associated with a form of xeroderma pigmentosum.

LHPP is not that well understood. It seems to be a mitochondrial enzyme associated with oxidative phosphorylation.

Tomorrow will be 30 years since the Challenger disaster

I vaguely remember that I was in fourth grade. Mr. Calderon had wheeled out the TV and we watched the broadcast of the space shuttle’s fuel tank rupturing and creating a fireball and the rest of the shuttle breaking apart. (I recall this as being the live broadcast, but looking back, most people actually watched a taped replay.)

I remember crying when the Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off more than two years later, the first shuttle mission after the loss of the Challenger. The taped broadcast played “One Moment in Time” by Whitney Houston.

It is also nearly 13 years since the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated on re-entry and I actually blogged about it a week after it happened.

I am glad that there were no other mishaps during the space shuttle program, but I am very sad that the space shuttle program is over and that the U.S. no longer has human space flight capability.

Here’s to hoping we start looking at the stars again.