Connection Between Epigenome, Selective Mutability, Evolution, and Human Disease
Li, Harris et al., PLoS Genetics
Researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine and elsewhere propose a "connection between the epigenome, selective mutability, evolution, and human disease" based on the findings of their study on associations of structural mutability with germline DNA methylation and with non-allelic homologous recombination mediated by low-copy repeats. "Combined evidence from four human sperm methylome maps, human genome evolution, structural polymorphisms in the human population, and previous genomic and disease studies consistently points to a strong association of germline hypomethylation and genomic instability," the Baylor-led team writes.
If You Have to Make Cuts, Maybe You Can Still Prevent Some Pain
In an economy like this, everyone's looking at ways to keep costs under control. John Halamka blogs about how he manages budgets (and finds places to cut) at Harvard's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. His many suggestions are targeted toward IT departments, but the advice can certainly be applied to other fields as well. Halamka recommends engaging the whole staff to "identify operational inefficiencies, redundancy, and savings opportunities." A bonus is that if the staff is involved, people will be less likely to speculate and fear for their jobs. Another example is extending project timelines. "Assuming that resources are diminished and scope is already reduced, the last lever a CIO has is to extend the timelines of new projects. Instead of delivering new software this year, delay it to next year," he writes.