Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

LEED in Ontario - Canada Building industry actors’ perceptions on barriers to LEED and its use as a mandated policy tool

The construction and operation of buildings is resource and energy intensive. As a sector buildings are responsible for roughly a quarter of all greenhouse gasses globally and represent a key intervention point in the fight against climate change. Energy and green building certification schemes are an example of tools that can be used in the design and construction high-performance buildings to help mitigate the negative environmental effects of the built environment. The US Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a market-based third party rating and certification framework increasingly used in the design, construction and operation of buildings in North America. In Ontario, Canada despite LEED’s increasing use both as a government mandated policy tool and private sector certification scheme, the number of buildings registered and certified under the rating system remains small given the overall size of the Ontario building market. With this in mind this research was designed as a qualitative study to investigate what barriers and to what extent those barriers exist in the Ontario building market that prevent the wider implementation of LEED. The study also examined the perception of building industry professionals on the use of LEED as a mandated policy and the potential implications such a policy may have in the building market. Semi-structured interview with building industry experts from four actor groups build design professionals, owners and clients, construction professionals, and green building consultants were used for data collection. The data was analysed through the use of an established barriers to LEED framework. The analysis confirmed the existence of barriers to LEED present in four categories, applicability, process, knowledge, acceptance, and cost. Cost was shown to be the largest barrier to the wider application of LEED while applicability was shown to have the least influence as a barrier. In addition, industry professionals viewed the mandating of LEED with apprehension citing a number of concerns relating funding and liability issues, and LEED being forced into a role it was not intended to fill

Triggering and modulation of the host-parasite interplay by Echinococcus multilocularis: a review

As more facts emerge regarding the ways in which E. multilocularis-derived molecules trigger the host immune response and modulate the host-parasite interplay, it becomes possible to envisage how the parasite can survive and proliferate in its intermediate host, while in other hosts it dies out. Through effects on cells of both the innate and adaptive arms of the immune response, E. multilocularis can orchestrate a range of outcomes that are beneficial not only to the parasite, in terms of facilitating its intrahepatic proliferation and maturation, and thus life cycle over all, but also to its intermediate host, in limiting pathology. The present review deals with the role of metacestode surface molecules as well as excretory/secretory (E/S) metabolic products of the parasite in the modulation of the host responses such as to optimize its own survival