Researchers have discovered a method to predict how a particular gene will spread through a population, providing insight into how animals evolved and will continue to evolve in the future. The method could show which mutations are beneficial to the organism and which are not, under various types of migration. The findings, published in the Institute of Physics and German Physical Society’s New Journal of Physics, could also help doctors understand how viruses spread among people.
“Suppose we are speaking of the spread of epidemics. A virus can jump from one individual to another during a single encounter. The migration pattern in this case is then the network of people meeting each other.… An epidemiologist could use our formulas to compute the best way to limit encounters between individuals and therefore slow the spread of epidemics,” says Professor Bahram Houchmandzadeh, lead author on the study.
On a related note, researchers from the Cleveland Clinic and Syft Technologies have developed an easy breath test that can detect the presence of H1N1, specifically peak levels of nitric oxide (NO), roughly three days after exposure to the H1N1 vaccine. Increased nitric oxide levels are a typical biological reaction to influenza.
The breakthrough could help health workers avoid unnecessary vaccinations and thus better manage vaccination stockpiles in the event of an outbreak.
Sources: Download the paper on predicting mutation survival here.
Syft Technologies: Download the PDF here. email: info@als-alexander.org or interalex2@gmail.com
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