HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: DAN@UMDD.BITNET (Dan Jacobs)
Newsgroups: sci.bio.technology
Subject: Hypertext/graphics help requested
Date: 21 Jul 92 17:41:55 GMT
Reply-To: Biotechnology Discussion List <BIOTECH%UMDD.BITNET@cmsa.Berkeley.EDU>
Distribution: inet
Organization: The Internet

Hello all,

	I am currently involved in a research project that calls for the
creation of a hypertext/multimedia environment system for displaying tech-
nical service and maintenance information on biomedical devices.

	In the past month or so, I have successfully developed a small proto-
type incorporating scanned text and graphics from the service manual of an
ultrasound device, using Microsoft Windows Help as the authoring tool. We are
now looking for something more sophisticated to take the project to the next
stage of development. Basically what we are looking for is a hypertext/
graphics authoring system capable of the following features:

	* displays color/BW bitmaps, preferably in a hires EGA/VGA mode
	* allows for multiple windows (MS Windows Help allows for something
		called a 'definition box' that is only visible temporarily.
		we need something that will remain visible until the user
		decides to remove it).
	* allows bitmap regions to become 'jumpwords'
	* topic search capability
	* browse sequence capability
	* print capability
	* backtracking capability
	* mouse compatibility


	A typical scenario of the use of this system would be where a tech-
nician needs to service a new biomedical device. Starting up the above system,
the tech.  should  be able to quickly access the information about the
desired device, view the manuals, inspect the service procedures, and cross-
reference this information with pictures of the relevant parts, schematics,
diagrams etc. Clicking on pictures should bring up further descriptions of
the part/schematic/diagram/etc.

	I would greatly appreciate it if anyone could recommend some PC-based
authoring system that would let me do all (or most) of the above.

	Thank you all,

			Rishad.


--
			      ___   ____
			     /___\_U_A_/_o  Rishad J. Quazi
			    / \__/    /_ |  RQUAZI @ CSSERV1.IC.SUNYSB.EDU
			   /		    RQUAZI @ SBCCVM.BITNET
From: pscho@Athena.MIT.EDU
Newsgroups: sci.bio.technology
Subject: Re: BIOBALT-92
Date: 24 Jul 92 12:07:12 GMT
Reply-To: Biotechnology Discussion List <BIOTECH%UMDD.BITNET@cmsa.Berkeley.EDU>
Distribution: inet
Organization: The Internet

----------------------------Original message----------------------------

	Hello,

	Please send me more information on your work and facilities.


			Thank you,
			Philip S. Cho
			410 Memorial Drive,
			Cambridge, MA 02139

			pscho@athena.mit.edu
From: daniel.offutt@mixcom.mixcom.com (daniel.offutt)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: function of oogenesis
Date: 21 Jul 92 01:47:02 GMT
Article-I.D.: mixcom.1992Jul21.014702.13234
Organization: Milwaukee Internet Xchange BBS, Milwaukee, WI U.S.A.

I've looked into the literature on oogenesis, searching for an interpretation
or theory of the function of the process.  More specifically I wonder
whether there is a functionalist explanation in the literature of (1) the
very large number of premordial germ cells relative to the few which mature
into fertilizable eggs, and (2) the high rate of atresia among premordial
germ cells.  In short, where can I read the latest and most authoritative
opinions on the purpose of the large number and rapid death rate of egg
precursors in, for example, mammalian ovaries?  My impression is that there
are just a small handful of researchers in the world who specialize in this
area.  Everthing I have found in the literature on this topic consists of
raw, uninterpreted facts.  I am interested in an interpretation,
particularly from the standpoint of evolutionary biology.

Dan Offutt
From: eric@bcserv.wustl.edu (Hugo (Eric R.))
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: Heavy Water
Date: 26 Jul 92 20:50:58 GMT
Organization: Washington University in Saint Louis, MO USA
Distribution: usa
NNTP-Posting-Host: bcserv.wustl.edu

>In article <1992Jul20.152331.1426@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> nshomron@magnus.a
cs.ohio-state.edu (Noam Shomron) writes:
>>Can anyone supply me with information or references dealing with the effects
of
>>heavy water on human and animal physiology?  I would like to know if there
>>have been any recent studies on this topic.
 D2O can also effect the polymerization of microtubules.  If I remember
correctly heavy water hyperstablizes microtubules thus messing mitosis
and intracellular transport phenomena which are dependent upon
polymerization/depolymerization cycles.
-- 
  Eric R. Hugo, Postdoctoral Research Associate |eric@bcserv.wustl.edu
  Dept. of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics|                
  Washington University School of Medicine      |               
  Box 8231, St. Louis, MO 63110_________________| (314) 362-3342
From: srh3@Ra.MsState.Edu (Steven R. Hollis)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: Fireflies
Date: 30 Jul 92 01:41:06 GMT
Organization: Mississippi State University

love@geophysics.harvard.edu (Jeff Love) writes:

>Does anyone know how fireflies work?

>Why did fireflies evolve butts that light up?  
>What is the use of this light?

Well, the light is a mating call to opposite fireflies on the ground.  They 
light up to attract one another.  How it works is simple but far out.

There are certain chemicals in a fireflies stomach area that are dormant, 
when the fly breathes in , the chemicals mix with the oxygen and they light
up, when the fly breathes out the light goes out



Enjoy.

Steve
 
--
srh3@ra.msstate.edu                              Oh, bother.

Steve Hollis                                      ---Winnie-the-Pooh
Newsgroups: sci.bio
From: winalski@adserv.enet.dec.com (Paul S. Winalski)
Subject: Re: origin of gelatin
Reply-To: winalski@adserv.enet.dec.com (Paul S. Winalski)
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation, Nashua NH
Distribution: sci
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 17:28:50 GMT


In article <KH.92Jul30110853@litsun17.epfl.ch>,
kh@litsun17.epfl.ch (Mark S.) writes:
|>
|>Does anybody know what the origin of gelatin (foodstuff) is?
|>
|>Opinions on red.food.cooking range from hooves to skin to cow bones. 
|>Animal matter anyway. Is pectin the same, or something different?

Gelatin indeed is extracted from animal connective tissue.  Pectin comes from
plant tissue and is different both in origin and chemically, although both
pectin and gelatin jell.

--PSW
Xref: sparky sci.bio:2761 rec.arts.sf.science:2357
From: hughes@dogwood.botany.uga.edu (Wayne Hughes)
Newsgroups: sci.bio,rec.arts.sf.science
Subject: Another _Jurassic Park_ mistake
Date: 27 Jul 92 22:28:54 GMT
Organization: Botany Department - U of Georgia, Athens
Originator: hughes@dogwood


The following correspondence appeared in the recent issue of _Nature_
(A.C. Christensen and S Henikoff, Nature 358, 271 (1992)).  We can
add this observation to the fairly lengthy list of mistakes already
made by Michael Crichton in _Jurassic Park_.

(Reproduced without permission)

  We have discovered a startling similarity between a dinosaur DNA  
  sequence reported in the novel _Jurassic Park_ and a partial 
  human brain cDNA sequence from the Venter laboratory described
  in _Nature_ (Adams, M.D. et al., Nature 355, 632-634 (1992)).
  The dinosaur sequence consists of duplication, with 117 base
  pairs from the first member of the repeat aligning with the
  human sequence, HUMXT01431, at the 95% level of identity with
  only two gaps.  The extraordinary degree of nucleotide sequence
  conservation between organisms as distantly related as dinosaur
  and human suggests strongly conserved function.  Expression of
  HUMXT01341 in human brain raises the possibility that the 
  dinosaurs were smarter than has been supposed, arguing against
  the hypothesis that their extinction resulted from lack of 
  intelligence.
  Our discovery also seems to raise the interesting legal question
  as to whether the copyright on _Jurassic Park_ takes precedence over 
  the pending patent on the human sequence.  However, it appears that
  neither group is entitled to legal protection for its sequence,
  because both sequences also align with cloning vector pBR322,
  raising the possibility that both groups inadvertently sequenced
  vector DNA.
Newsgroups: sci.bio,sci.med,soc.women
From: spears@bobcat.lmc.edu (Gene Spears)
Subject: Re: Provocative DATA about sexes, brains, animals, intelligence
Keywords: SUMMARY OF RESULTS + HELP NEEDED!!
Organization: Lees-McRae College, Banner Elk, NC
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 13:46:54 GMT

In article <1992Jul23.010013.6334@news.columbia.edu> stone@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Glenn Stone) writes:

...deletions....

>The high-IQ male brains tend to be especially large in levels of the
>cortex involved in language, association, and visual-spatial tasks;
>among the females, these areas didn't vary as much with IQ.  Some
>levels of the high-IQ brains were actually smaller than the low-IQ's.

>So the "question #1" seems to be looking for a simple black & white
>answer, but it's actually a gray matter.  We are barely beginning the
                             -----------
>process of answering it. 



Pun intended?????

>-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  Glenn Davis Stone                                BITNET: stone@cunixf
>  Columbia University            INTERNET: stone@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gene Spears
spears@bobcat.lmc.edu
Xref: sparky sci.bio:2740 sci.med:14386 soc.women:14054
From: wats@scicom.AlphaCDC.COM (Bruce Watson)
Newsgroups: sci.bio,sci.med,soc.women
Subject: Re: Provocative DATA about sexes, brains, animals, intelligence
Keywords: SUMMARY OF RESULTS + HELP NEEDED!!
Date: 23 Jul 92 19:12:54 GMT
Followup-To: sci.bio
Organization: Alpha Science Computer Network, Denver, Co.

In article <1992Jul22.200809.12088@ttinews.tti.com- hollombe@polymath.tti.com (The Polymath) writes:
-In article <1992Jul20.073549.24935@cco.caltech.edu- bes@cco.caltech.edu (Behnam Sadeghi) writes:
-
-}-1.  Is there any correlation between brain size and intelligence?
-}
-}None proved yet.
-
-In fact, I believe there's considerable evidence to the contrary.  I
-recall reading somewhere the largest brain on record belonged to an idiot.
-The brain of Albert Einstein is reported to be relatively small.
-
-The Polymath (aka: Jerry Hollombe, M.A., CDP, aka: hollombe@polymath.tti.com)
-Head Robot Wrangler at Citicorp                   Turn the rascals out!
-3100 Ocean Park Blvd.   (310) 450-9111, x2483     No incumbents in '92!
-Santa Monica, CA  90405 {rutgers|pyramid|philabs|psivax}!ttidca!hollombe

Daniel Webster's head (and therefore brain) was very small. He was the US
senator, not Noah the dictionary guy.

-- 
 __________________________________________________________________________   
|wats@scicom.AlphaCDC.com|    "Another Case of too many scientists and     |
|Bruce Watson            |     not enough hunchbacks." -- Gary Larson      |
From: robison1@husc10.harvard.edu (Keith Robison)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: Intestinal Flora
Date: 28 Jul 92 03:07:03 GMT

annick@cortex.physiol.su.oz.au (Annick Ansselin) writes:

>In <1992Jul27.030608.2757@sserve.cc.adfa.oz.au> rim@csadfa.cs.adfa.oz.au (Bob McKay) writes:

>>...
>>the vast majority of people from non-European cultures do not drink milk, and

>Are you referring to cow's milk or all types of milk? Surely new-borns are
>breastfed for at least a few months? and what about milk from goats, sheep
>and camel?

>>lack the gene for lactase (which is likely of recent origin even in European 
>>populations).

>Have you got the data to back this statement? I find it difficult to
>believe that a whole population lacks the lactase gene when the newborns are
>dependent on maternal milk until they are weaned.

No, they do not lack the gene.  I don't know of a good reference, 
(many Genetics textbooks mention it, but not my old Suzuki) but
I believe it is true that in most populations the lactase gene is
developmentally regulated and shuts off around the time of weaning.
Since many cultures do not consume unadulterated milk as adults, the
lack of lactase as an adult is no hinderance.  European cultures did
rely on milk throughout their lives, and so there was pressure to
eliminate the regulation.


Keith Robison
Harvard University
Program in Biochemistry, Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology

robison@ribo.harvard.edu
From: josh@cqs.washington.edu (Josh Hayes)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: Question concerning different areas of Biology
Date: 24 Jul 92 21:07:26 GMT
Organization: University of Washington

CHARLES1@ua1vm.ua.edu (Charles Harless) writes:
> 
>Hello.

Well, howdy.
> 
>I am a sophmore here the University of Alabama and I am carrying a double
> major.  My primary major is Biology, and my secondary major is Computer
> Science.  I have not yet decided on a specific area of Biology in which I am
>  interested in.
> 
>What areas of Biology would computers be used more in?  I am open to all
>  comments.  Please reply to me personally or to the newsgroup.

This is an excellent question. But I'm a little concerned about the, uh,
nature of the request. You seem to think that you can "make" yourself
interested in some area of biology simply because it's a good place to
involve computer-based approaches. I dunno. If I had to choose an area
of biology to have been interested in, it SURE wouldn't be marine
ecology, but there you go; that's what tickled my fancy. Don't paint
yourself into a corner: if you find that you're interested in some
biological area that doesn't immediately seem to be computer-friendly,
go with it. Or don't. But don't force yourself to do something you don't
find interesting.

That said, however, I think that darn near ALL areas of biology are ripe
for interesting computer-based approaches. Two that are particularly
hot are 1) molecular modeling approaches - this plays into pharmacology,
"intelligent drug design", and a lot of other really neat sub-cellular
stuff; and 2) systems ecology modeling, especially large-scale resource
modeling. Acid rain, global warming; endangered stocks living in a 
stochastic world...lots of opportunities.

At the same time, I can see applications in developmental biology,
physiology, genetics - heck, the possibilities are almost limitless.
DISCOVER the neat applications in fields that nobody else thought of.
Go for it.

> 
>Thank you for your time.

Ah, you say that NOW, but tomorrow.....
> 
>Charles Harless

Josh 
> 
--
Josh Hayes, Quantitative Sciences HR-20 U of Washington
josh@mowgli.cqs.washington.edu             206 685-2793
Exclaimer: Hey!           Plan: Birth School Work Death
Xref: sparky sci.bio:2706 sci.med:14144 sci.cryonics:416
From: jdale@cats.ucsc.edu (Jonathan Dale)
Newsgroups: sci.bio,sci.med,sci.cryonics
Subject: Re: Better Living through DNA Encryption
Keywords: Public Key Encryption, DNA Transcription
Date: 21 Jul 92 08:30:27 GMT
Organization: University of California; Santa Cruz
NNTP-Posting-Host: si.ucsc.edu


An intriguing idea.  I will now attempt to shoot it down for you.  My 
apologies if I fail (succeed?).  :)

As I see it, your proposal is in two parts.
  1) All genetic material is encoded.
  2) An error checking mechanism (CRC) has been added.
 
I'll address part 2) first.  Good idea.  Do it.  What more can I say?  :)
Seriously, there are some kinds of error repair, but totally wiping out the
damaged cell would help avoid things like, say, cancer...

There is a problem though.  What unit has the CRC check?  Each gene?  Each
chromosome?  Some other unit?  Remember that promoters and other important
non-coding things are in the DNA.  To determine whether or not you need to
decode and use the DNA, you need to decode and look at the DNA...  Hmmm....
If you don't encode the non-coding regions, they can be corrupted; corruption
of promoters and such could be a cause of cancer because of suddenly increased
production of a gene product.  If you encode it, you have to keep decoding
it to look at, either taking lots of energy or leaving a decoded promoter
around where it can be corrupted.

1) I think encoding your DNA would be a good defense against retro-viruses
which attempt to place their DNA in yours.  However, you mistakenly
suggest that all viruses work this way.  Most viruses enter the cell,
use its enzymes to replicate itself, lyse the cell and go on their merry 
way.  I suppose you could limit the cell's enzymes to working only on
encoded DNA, but I think you have to have enzymes that work on decoded
DNA because you have to decode DNA to access the promoter regions and such.
Maybe you can find a way around this.  Anyway, retro-viruses include AIDS but
not the common cold.  So, you may have a cure for AIDS, but we'll all still
have the sniffles.  They'll probably give you the Nobel Prize anyway.  :)

Just some loose thoughts there.  Bizarre idea.  You could probably simplify it
a lot (at least the engineering parts) by ripping out all the useless garbage 
in our DNA, which is over 95% (?) useless....

Say, I wonder if transposons would cause cells to fails their CRCs and die?
From: love@geophysics.harvard.edu (Jeff Love)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Fireflies
Date: 29 Jul 92 23:26:25 GMT
Reply-To: love@geophysics.harvard.edu
Organization: Dept. of Earth & Planetary Sciences, Harvard University

Does anyone know how fireflies work?

Why did fireflies evolve butts that light up?  
What is the use of this light? 
Newsgroups: sci.bio,sci.med,sci.cryonics
From: kqb@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (kevin.q.brown)
Subject: Re: Better Living through DNA Encryption
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 23:01:06 GMT

------------------------ Forwarded Message ------------------------

>From: alcor@cup.portal.com
>Message-Subject: Re: DNA Encryption
>Date: Wed, 22 Jul 92 02:08:44 PDT

Re message #1034, it's the first I've heard that there is a quadruple-
stranded DNA.  There is a triple-stranded form, but it is not obvious to
me how quadruple-stranding would occur.  Cite, please.

The radiation-resistant bug I know a little about is *micrococcus
radiodurans*, and it was discovered during early attempts to radiation-
sterilize foods.  I believe it is an archebacterium.  It withstands
four million rads without special culturing, six million rads with special
culturing, and has been cultured with fission products.  It protects itself
from radiation damage with large amounts of superoxide dismutase and catalase
among other things.  The original paper is at least 30 years old, and the 
author is Raj.

Hugh Hixon at alcor@cup.portal,com
Organization: Queen's University at Kingston
Date: Tuesday, 21 Jul 1992 09:33:24 EDT
From: <FORSDYKE@QUCDN.QueensU.CA>
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: function of oogenesis

  The best reference I know on the function of oogenesis, as requested by
Dan Offutt, is "Aging, Sex and DNA Repair" by Carol and Harvey Berstein,
Academic Press. 1991.
  Sincerely,
           Don Forsdyke
From: kh@litsun17.epfl.ch (Mark S.)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: origin of gelatin
Date: 30 Jul 92 09:08:53 GMT
Reply-To: kh@litsun.epfl.ch
Distribution: sci
Organization: Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne

Does anybody know what the origin of gelatin (foodstuff) is?

Opinions on red.food.cooking range from hooves to skin to cow bones. 
Animal matter anyway. Is pectin the same, or something different?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Soekarjo				Living in a postcard

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		Ch. des Clos 53		fax		+41'21'693'41'11
		CH-1024 Ecublens	voice		+41'21'693'37'02
		****europe*****
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postcards to 	la Maison Rose		e-mail to	kh@litsun.epfl.ch
		Ch. des Clos 53		fax		+41'21'693'41'11
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		****europe*****
Newsgroups: sci.bio
From: neufeld@helios.physics.utoronto.ca (Christopher Neufeld)
Subject: Re: Heavy Water
Organization: University of Toronto Physics/Astronomy/CITA
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 06:03:04 GMT

In article <eric.712183858@bcserv> eric@bcserv.wustl.edu (Hugo (Eric R.)) writes:
>>In article <1992Jul20.152331.1426@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> nshomron@magnus.a
>cs.ohio-state.edu (Noam Shomron) writes:
>>>Can anyone supply me with information or references dealing with the effects
>of
>>>heavy water on human and animal physiology?  I would like to know if there
>>>have been any recent studies on this topic.
>
> D2O can also effect the polymerization of microtubules.  If I remember
>correctly heavy water hyperstablizes microtubules thus messing mitosis
>and intracellular transport phenomena which are dependent upon
>polymerization/depolymerization cycles.
>
   I was talking to one of the professors here (a physicist, not a
biologist) a year or so again, and he indicated that he thought the first
acute problem from chronic deuterium loading was that it interfered with
the strength of the base-pair bonding in DNA and RNA, blocking the
unzipping required for gene expression. This was supposed to take place
around a body burden of deuterium of ~10% of the body's hydrogen. I
suppose an acute deuterium exposure would not easily affect the nucleic
acids, and so a different toxic mechanism would be important.

>  Eric R. Hugo, Postdoctoral Research Associate |eric@bcserv.wustl.edu


-- 
 Christopher Neufeld....Just a graduate student  | Talk sense to a fool
 neufeld@helios.physics.utoronto.ca    Ad astra  | and he calls you
 cneufeld@terranet.cts.com                       | foolish.
 "Don't edit reality for the sake of simplicity" |       - Euripides
From: CHARLES1@ua1vm.ua.edu (Charles Harless)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Question concerning different areas of Biology
Date: 24 Jul 92 20:16:50 GMT
Organization: The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa


 
Hello.
 
This is my first time posting to this news group so bear with me for a moment.
   (We here at the Univerity of Alabama have just received capability to post.)
 I have been reading this group for sometime now though.
 
I am a sophmore here the University of Alabama and I am carrying a double
 major.  My primary major is Biology, and my secondary major is Computer
 Science.  I have not yet decided on a specific area of Biology in which I am
  interested in.
 
What areas of Biology would computers be used more in?  I am open to all
  comments.  Please reply to me personally or to the newsgroup.
 
Thank you for your time.
 
Charles Harless
 
-----------------------------
Charles E. Harless
   CHARLES1@UA1VM.UA.EDU
   CHARLES@SSS.CBA.UA.EDU
   CHARLESS@BUSTER.ENG.UA.EDU
-----------------------------
Newsgroups: sci.bio
From: paulk@garfield.cs.mun.ca (Paul E. King)
Subject: Re: Mutations: Mostly Harmful, or Not?
Organization: CS Dept., Memorial University of Newfoundland
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 00:56:53 GMT

bcking@HQ.Ileaf.COM (Christine King) writes:

>On another thread ("Better Living through DNA Encryption"), Jonathan Dale
>(jdale@cats.ucsc.edu) writes:

>  ...You could probably simplify it a lot (at least the engineering
>  parts) by ripping out all the useless garbage in our DNA, which is
>  over 95% (?) useless....

>I keep reading and hearing statements like this.  Then there's the one
>that goes, "Most mutations are fatal."

The second assertion is false. Mutation is random, and it is likely that a
random mutation will affect a piece of nucleotide which does not code for
anything. However, "ripping out the useless garbage" in our genome does us no 
good, since the prevention of mutations is exactly the reason why the "useless 
garbage" is there in the first place. It lowers the probability of the "useful"
DNA becoming affected.

paulk :-)

Newsgroups: sci.bio