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To: Ilaine who wrote (96663)	1/24/2005 11:30:27 PM
From: Glenn Petersen	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793696

I would strongly recommend that anyone with access to HBO watch the BBC production Dirty War. It is about the detonation of a radioactive device in London. Very chilling, very believable. hbo.com DIRTY WAR Rated TVMA: Running Time: 90 minutes Genre: Drama, Suspense In a post-9/11 world, how do you prepare for the unthinkable? This alarming HBO Films thriller chronicles the hypothetical story of how a terrorist "dirty bomb" attack might be planned and executed in London despite the best efforts of law enforcement--as well as how devastating such a strike would be. Warned of the possibility of a radioactive-weapons attack, members of Scotland Yard--including an Islamic undercover detective and several high-ranking terrorism experts--desperately try to find the perpetrators before they can construct and detonate their dirty work. But when the worst happens in the financial heart of London, the city's inadequate emergency-services are put to an immediate test...with disturbing results. Louise Delamere, William El-Gardi, Alastair Galbrait Actors: KOEL PURI, MARTIN SARGE Director(s): DANIEL PERCIVAL

To: Ilaine who wrote (96663)	1/24/2005 11:55:10 PM
From: aladin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793696

CB, I don't think anybody is denying genetic diversity. What I am denying is that skin color is a good proxy for genetic diversity. If you were decrying that skin color is the 'only' proxy you would be taking a reasonable position. But in stating flat out that appearance is not a good proxy for ethnic ailments is seriously deranged. Fair skinned caucasians are more susceptable to skin cancers, blacks of sub-saharan african origin to sickle cell. Now imagine a black family brings a child in to your office (your a doctor in this play) with symptoms of wasting. Do you test for celiac and sickle cell or do you go with the likely event to start treatment? Play it out with the irish kid. But then again your the lawyer - so you would test every kid for every ailment and drive costs through the roof and kill plenty of folks with the delays. John

To: Ilaine who wrote (96663)	1/25/2005 12:34:30 AM
From: neolib	Respond to of 793696

Yeah, skin color does not equal race. Its one of the genetic elements of many. In fact, Africans have the widest genetic differences of any group of humans, despite looking similar (to most Europeans). This just says that ethnic groups within Africa have (at least for significant time periods) been quite exclusive despite being geographically close to each other. BTW, genetic diversity between chimps within Africa is greater than the genetic diversity between the most distant human groups. One does need to be a bit careful when claiming that genetic differences are negligible however. We don't really have good metrics for making such statements at this time. For example, humans have 23 chromosome pairs, which would appear to be quite significant wrt the great apes which have 24. But one of ours (chromosome 2) is the result of a fusion event. It corresponds to two of the ape chromosomes. As another example, chimps and bonobos and us share a common 100K DNA transposition from chromosome 1 unto the Y-chromosome. The other apes lack this. Such changes by themselves are not necessarily significant, although chromosomal number generally impacts fertility. These sorts of things can show up now and again, and may impact specific medical treatments. For instance I found the following regarding a group of families in England: Hum Genet 1997 Dec;101(2):175-80 Inv(10)(p11.2q21.2), a variant chromosome. Collinson MN, Fisher AM, Walker J, Currie J, Williams L, Roberts P Wessex Regional Genetics Laboratory, Salisbury District Hospital, UK. We present 33 families in which a pericentric inversion of chromosome 10 is segregating. In addition, we summarise the data on 32 families in which an apparently identical inv(10) has been reported in the literature. Ascertainment was through prenatal diagnosis or with a normal phenotype in 21/33 families. In the other 12 families, probands were ascertained through a wide variety of referral reasons but in all but one case (a stillbirth), studies of the family showed that the reason for referral was unrelated to the chromosome abnormality. There has been, to our knowledge, no recorded instance of a recombinant chromosome 10 arising from this inversion and no excess of infertility or spontaneous abortion among carriers of either sex. We propose that inv(10)(p11.2q21.2) can be regarded as a variant analogous to the pericentric inversion of chromosome 2(p11q13). We conclude that prenatal chromosome analysis is not justified for inv(10) carriers. In addition, family investigation of carrier status is not warranted in view of the unnecessary concern this may cause parents and other family members. PMID: 9402964, UI: 98066668