(BioMed Central) Soon you could be genetically screened for mitochondrial disorders quickly and comprehensively. Research published in BioMed Central’s open-access journal, Genome Medicine, outlines an innovative clinical diagnostic test for the early identification of a wide range of mitochondrial disorders. Mutations to one of the mitochondrial genes, or to a number of nuclear genes with roles in mitochondrial function, can cause diseases which have very similar symptoms, making them difficult to diagnose and treat.
Continue reading about Quick and easy diagnosis for mitochondrial disorders
The Open University (OU) is the first University to team up with Wordia.com, the online visual dictionary, launching a week of themed videos from today. In celebration of the OU’s 40th anniversary year, Wordia.com is running a series of seven videos, one per day, highlighting words of significance to The Open University. Those supporting the week by submitting videos include TV presenter Kate Humble and singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading.
Over the week, seven Word of the Day videos will be published on the front page of Wordia.com exploring words of significance to The Open University – from evolution and inspiration to pedagogy and literacy. Open University broadcaster Dr Janet Sumner said: “Although so much of TV relies on amazing visuals, words are incredibly important in the job that I do. Pictures tell only half the story – and I’ve chosen to define the word “inspiration” in my video. It’s a word that describes what we want our broadcasts projects to be, and it also applies to many of our OU students!”
Wordia is a collaborative, participative online dictionary that encourages users to explore and debate the meanings of words through personal perspectives communicated on video. It gives users the freedom to express their own thoughts, feelings or personal associations with a word or subject in a creative, social context – next to the authoritative textual definition.
Those taking part in the OU Week on Wordia are TV presenter Kate Humble, who defines ‘literacy’; genealogist and TV presenter Nick Barratt who talks about ‘evolution’; dancer, writer and broadcaster Deborah Bull who defines ‘innovative’; singer and songwriter Joan Armatrading who explores the word ‘collaboration’; Times columnist and OU Professor of Law Gary Slapper who defines ‘education’; broadcaster Janet Sumner who talks about ‘inspiration’; architectural historian and TV presenter Dan Cruickshank who explores ‘pedagogy’.
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Editor’s Notes
Wordia was launched on 18 September 2008, on the 299th birthday of Dr Samuel Johnson from his house in Gough Square, Fleet Street. It is the first and best in the field of online visual dictionaries – helping redefine the dictionary for the 21st century.
Continue reading about The word's your oyster – OU Week on online dictionary Wordia.com
We are occasionally approached by TV companies and authors looking for help. In the last few days we have received the following appeals. If you are interested please contact them directly:
What is the story of your house?
We would like to find owners of derelict, historic homes for a new BBC television series, and follow them as they save these architectural gems from ruin and restore them into wonderful 21st century homes, while turning detective to unravel the properties’ extraordinary lives.
What secrets do these houses hold? What events happened? Who lived there over generations? How was the property used?
At the end of it all, we’ll see an important historical property saved from dereliction and brought back to life to become a home once more.
If you are renovating a property and want to discover more about its structural and social history, please call 020 8222 4996 or e-mail homes@endemoluk.com.
Family History – Your Story
Do you have an interesting story to tell about your family history? Has the research you’ve undertaken led you on an interesting quest? Has family history changed the way you think and feel about your ancestors? If so, top author Cherry Gilchrist would love to hear from you! Her new book, Growing Your Family Tree, will be about the experience and meaning of family history, and will include many individual stories and anecdotes.
You can find more about Cherry at http://www.cherrygilchrist.co.uk. Her latest book, Your Life, Your Story: Writing your Life Story for Family and Friends, is published next February by Piatkus. She is also a keen family historian, a member of the Powys and the Montgomeryshire Family History Societies, and has been researching her mother’s family tree for about five years now.
If you are interested please contact Cherry for a questionnaire about your experiences in family history cherry.gilchrist@btinternet.com.
This month, our man with the pith helmet and the solar-powered laptop, Alex Ritchie, ventures south of the Sahara.
Britain has shaped much of Africa, for good or ill. Equally, Africa has influenced Britain in a variety of ways from Born Free to the fictional, traditionally-built lady detective in Botswana, to Um Bongo tropical fruit drink (and no, they don’t drink it in the Congo – that’s just an advertising jingle). It’s perhaps ambitious to try to encapsulate a whole continent in a blog but, faced with the Dark Continent, who can resist the temptation to explore?
Slavery, Gold and Chocolate
That’s the rather mixed heritage of this country, apart from Liberia, the first of the sub-Saharan countries to gain independence in 1957. Unfortunately, in Africa, the exploitation of natural resources doesn’t necessarily translate into prosperity for ordinary people. Think of Nigeria and oil. Or Britain and oil. As to slavery, well I’m not going to say anything that hasn’t been better said elsewhere. There is some very interesting stuff on it, however, if you just follow the links.
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archon/searches/locresult_details.asp?LR=659
Just like Scotland, but with sun
That’s a description of a small African country, formerly known as Nyasaland. There are strong links with Scotland, whose Presbyterian missionaries maintained a presence at Livingstonia. Indeed, their first president, Dr Hastings Banda, was a Church of Scotland elder (as well as once a devoted GP in Harlesden). But it’s strange what happens to people when they become African presidents. Asked to come up with a couple of facts about Malawi, most people would probably come up with Dr Banda and Madonna, who swung through there on adoption business. It’s a pity the two of them never met. They say the people are the nicest in Africa. I’d like to find out someday. Oh yes, and to visit their National Archives in Zomba. But for now, it’s enough just to follow the links.
[/url] www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archon/searches/locresult_details.asp?LR=3178[url]
Balancing boulders
Zimbabwean banknotes carry pictures of a common sight near Bulawayo, improbably stacked piles of boulders. That’s about the only reason for keeping the notes, for these days everyone uses US dollars. There are some who would argue that they provide clear evidence of extra-terrestrial intervention, as such a large number of balancing boulders could not exist naturally. That’s why you should always wear a hat in the sun. Now, when it comes to Zimbabwe I actually know what I’m talking about, Well, a bit. As I stood before the thundering roar of the majestic Victoria Falls, a statue reminded me of an earlier visitor, a remarkable Scottish explorer…follow the link to find out whom.
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra/searches/subjectView.asp?ID=P17621
King Solomon’s Mines
Africa has always provided a naturally dramatic setting for adventure stories. The wildness, the wide landscapes and the idea of a continent where discoveries were still to be made or secrets unearthed, was easily distilled into a heady, fictional mix. South Africa, in particular, inspired John Buchan who not only wrote the African-set Prester John, but repeatedly used characters such as the colonial mining engineer Richard Hannay and his Boer accomplice, Pieter Pienaar. But there was another writer whose fortune derived from African-inspired fiction. With King Solomon’s Mines and the mystical She, he captured the public’s imagination-and mine too, when I was a boy. Click on the link to find out who he was where his papers are.
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra/searches/subjectView.asp?ID=P12528
White Mischief
Now, as I keep explaining, ARCHON is very proud of its overseas coverage. If we exclude mighty South Africa from the equation, then the best represented African country is Kenya. Back in the 1920s if you were an aristocratic loafer who desired a decadent, drink-sodden existence in a colonial setting, then Kenya was the destination of choice. No wonder they called it Happy Valley. You’ve perhaps read the book or seen the film of White Mischief, now check out the websites.
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archon/searches/foreign.asp
