A must have file for getting rid of unnecessary OS X files: http://macpaw.com/index ]]> http://osmanjunaid.wordpress.com/2009/08/16/clean-your-mac/feed/ 0 Osman http://osmanjunaid.wordpress.com/2009/08/01/defcon-connection-problems/ http://osmanjunaid.wordpress.com/2009/08/01/defcon-connection-problems/#comments Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:25:14 +0000 Osman http://osmanjunaid.wordpress.com/2009/08/01/defcon-connection-problems/ ]]>

I hate it when shit like this happens during a good game.

Simon got merked.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

I’ve decided to move on.

WordPress just doesn’t give me enough customization.

You can find the new design at the usual address.

http://www.osmanjunaid.co.uk

 

R0010238

Originally uploaded by Osman Junaid

It took me a while but I’m happy with it, for now at least!

Chinese scientists have discovered a DNA malfunction is behind the incredibly rare “Wolf man condition”, which sees people born with thick hair covering their body.

Xue Zhang, a geneticist at Peking Union Medical College in Beijing, studied the DNA of a 31-year old Chinese man, whose suffers from a condition called Congenital Generalised Hypertrichosis Terminalis (CGHT). The patient, known as “KK” is one of less than 100 people around the world known to be suffering from CGHT. “KK” has hair covering 96 per cent of his skin.

Zhang and team studied the DNA of “KK” as well as three families with a history of CGHT. This meant scanning the genomes of 16 people with the disease and their unaffected relatives, says New Scientist. The team then looked for differences between the DNA of those suffering from the condition and those who do not.

The results revealed a stark difference in a region on chromosome 17. The New Scientist details: “Zhang’s team showed that family members with CGHT were missing between 500,000 and 900,000 DNA letters on that chromosome. Patient KK, on the other hand, had 1.4 million extra nucleotides at the same place on the genome.

Zhang says in the study, which has been published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, that these mutations could change the structure of the chromosome, but also may then interfere with the production of nearby genes. Science magazine reports: “One neighbour, SOX9, is linked to hair growth: Mice without it are known to suffer from hair loss, or alopecia.

The team hypothesises that if it is the case that the CGHT mutations affect this region of chromosome 17, the SOX9 protein may be overproduced in hair follicle stem cells, which could explain the growth of excessive amounts of hair. Zhang adds that this is “pure speculation” at this stage.

However, Eli Sprecher, a hair disorder expert at the Rappaport Institute in Haifa, Israel told Science that the idea is not so far-fetched. A hair-overgrowth condition called Ambras syndrome has been linked to chromosomal rearrangements. He tolds the magazine that Zhang’s work is “a first and important step” towards solving the puzzle of this rare disease.

Source: Wired Magazine UK

This is just to show how incredibly easy it is to upgrade the hard drives in the latest (2009) Mac Pro.