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It's been a while since I last blogged about peer-reviewed science.  In a recent Departmental Journal Club, I discussed a paper outlining the use of transgenic RNAi in Drosophila.  In this paper, the authors utilise the power of Drosophila transgenics to use RNAi mediated gene knockdown to identify components of an important developmental signalling pathway.

In contrast to other systems, such as mammalian cell culture systems, in which RNAi mediated knockdown of gene expression is mediated by the introduction of short double-stranded RNA molecules, in Drosophila researcher use longer double stranded RNA molecules.  There are two method of using RNAi to investigate gene function in Drosophila.

Firstly, and in parallel to mammalian cell culture techniques, dsRNA may be synthesised in vitro and introduced into cultured cells by standard transfection techniques.  This is  powerful method to screen for phenotypes involving

Secondly, we can use the organism's system to synthesise dsRNA from templates introduced by the well-established P element transformation system widely used in Drosophila research.  By using the Gal4-UAS system, the expression of interfering dsRNA can be manipulated in finely tuned spatiotemporal patterns. 

 

This time trial is an annual event for me - and in fact Richard (the organiser) this year emailed to remind me of it!  As has so often been the case this year, it was a pretty windy day, with all the signs indicating the race would be a flyer on the outward leg, but a real grovel back to the finish.

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And so it proved.  However, to backtrack slightly.  It became immediately obvious that there were real problems with my HRM bike computer.  For a start it was registering about twice my actual speed.  This was (and remains) something of a mystery.  I've checked in case it was some kind of prank played by a clubmate - but no.  I can only assume it's the transmitter on the fork blade playing up.  And to cap the dismay, the heart rate display kept leaping up to unfeasible levels, such as 228bpm.  I was using a chest transmitter unit that was really rather old, and I suspect that the battery life was pretty much expired.

For the race, I decided to remove the chest strap, and assume the registered speed was about twice the real speed.  After a brief chat with other riders (and noting that tomorrow's Norlond '30' was to be held on the A1 south of Tempsford, following last weekend's fatal accident), I set off to warm up a bit before the race.

I lined up and started my HRM's timer as my minute man departed.  After a brief bit of banter with the timekeeper in connection with my beard (which does seem to cause quite a considerable amount of interest), I was off.  Sure enough, the outward leg was a flier, interrupted only by traffic obstruction at the Billington roundabout.  But once past the obstruction, I was back up to a decent speed pretty much all the way to the turn.

The short descent from the turn got my speed up again, but all too briefly, as the stiff headwind began to take its toll.  My speed was definitely reduced, particularly on the drags.  Still, I caught at least one rider on the return leg.  I got past the Billington roundabout cleanly, and finished in 23:05 - at least according to my HRM timer.  I was hugely pleased with that time on such a hard day.

Unfortunately I ended up with 23:25 - either my HRM had a further aberration, or there was time-keeping glitch (and I wasn't about to kick up a fuss - remember, the timekeeper is always right!).  That was enough for 13th place, I think, and a result I was pretty happy with.  I've also decided to change my training strategy to allow me by altering my daily routine to allow more time for proper training.  See the Team Grumpy blog for more!

Results:

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Pos	No	Name	Club	Cat	Vets Std	Time	+/-	std	Std Pos
1	70	Tony Gibb	Plowman Craven-Madison	Sen		20:41
2	10	Brett Harwood	Westbrook Cycles/Scott	Sen		21:15
3	65	Tim Carter	North Bucks Road Club	Vet	25:54	21:21	+	4:33	6
4	60	Jon Simpkins	Banbury Star CC	Sen		21:23
5	50	Jason Gurney	Team Milton Keynes	Sen		21:44
6	41	Leigh Smith	Alpha RC	Sen		22:12
7	51	Sam Hayes	Beds Road CC	Sen		22:38
8	55	Nick Druce	Didcot Phoenix	Sen		22:45
9	20	Simon Cannings	Team Milton Keynes	Sen		22:47
10	16	Simon Howes	Westbrook Cycles/Scott	Sen		22:50
11	25	Carl Bond	Kenton RC	Sen		23:17
12	21	Richard Webster	Team Welwyn	Vet	25:30	23:19	+	2:11	24
13	56	Rob Saunders	North Bucks Road Club	Vet	27:20	23:25	+	3:55	9
14	31	Dr Simon Baker	Bicester Millennium CC	Vet	26:06	23:27	+	2:39	21
15	11	Jeremy Mulkern	Aylesbury CC	Vet	27:07	23:32	+	3:35	14
16	46	Geoff Perry	Team Milton Keynes	Vet	27:20	23:33	+	3:47	12
17	35	Richard Noon	Icknield RC	Vet	26:42	23:37	+	3:05	19
18	62	Russell Rowles	Spirit Racing Team	Vet	27:07	23:44	+	3:23	17
19	57	Stephen Thomas	Stevenage CC	Vet	27:33	23:55	+	3:38	13
20	15	John Bourton	Fairly United CT	Vet	28:52	23:57	+	4:55	4
21	8	Gareth Richards	Roy Pink Cycles RT	Sen		23:58
21	22	Geoff Bunyan	Spirit Racing Team	Vet	27:07	23:58	+	3:09	18
23	66	Chris Greig	High Wycombe CC	Sen		24:00
24	45	Ian Brazier	Verulam CC	Vet	26:54	24:01	+	2:53	20
25	63	Tim Davies	Icknield RC	Vet	25:42	24:13	+	1:29	31
26	61	Roger Porter	Verulam CC	Vet	30:16	24:26	+	5:50	2
27	12	Dave Wentworth	Team Saleengine.co.uk	Vet	28:38	24:27	+	4:11	7
28	33	David Mobbs	Banbury Star CC	Sen		24:28
29	36	Andrew Murray	Hemel Hempstead CC	Vet	25:30	24:30	+	1:00	34
30	52	Simon Layfield	Team Welwyn	Vet	26:18	24:36	+	1:42	30
31	67	Adrian Feek	Team Quest/The Bike Shop	Vet	25:42	24:49	+	0:53	35
32	9	David Ledgerton	Hitchin Nomads CC	Vet	26:18	24:54	+	1:24	32
33	13	Les Church	Camel Valley C & TC - Dales	Sen		25:07
34	68	Lyndon Lewis	Beds Road CC	Vet	27:33	25:08	+	2:25	22
35	23	Brian Foran	Lampard RC	Vet	27:20	25:18	+	2:02	25
36	37	Alan Harvey	Shorter Rochford RT	Vet	30:30	25:24	+	5:06	3
37	58	Matt Chudley	Beds Road CC	Sen		25:27
38	28	Clive Corns	Icknield RC	Vet	29:20	25:29	+	3:51	11
39	43	Stuart Simmonds	Lewes Wanderers	Vet	26:54	25:33	+	1:21	33
40	42	Frank Pressling	Maidenhead & District CC	Vet	30:30	25:49	+	4:41	5
41	17	Graham Pepperdine	Verulam CC	Vet	26:30	25:51	+	0:39	36
42	38	Merv Player	Herts Wheelers	Vet	33:34	25:55	+	7:39	1
43	69	Paul Hall	Beds Road CC	Vet	25:54	25:57	–	0:03	38
44	64	Clive Faine	Team Milton Keynes	Vet	30:16	26:18	+	3:58	8
45	54	Andy Barrett	Spirit Racing Team	Vet	26:42	26:39	+	0:03	37
46	27	Peter Lock	Victoria/Ciclos Uno/PCA/Pro-lite CC	Vet	25:54	26:41	–	0:47	39
47	49*	Mrs Yvone Gurney	Team Milton Keynes	Lady		27:07
48	24*	Bob Brabbins	Victoria/Ciclos Uno/PCA/Pro-lite CC	Vet	31:00	27:27	+	3:33	16
49	48	Les Morris	VTTA L & Home Cos	Vet	31:15	27:41	+	3:34	15
50	19*	Katherine Dilks	North Bucks Road Club	Lady		27:52
51	14*	John Pfeifer	Icknield RC	Vet	32:00	28: 09	+	3:51	10
52	59*	Chris James	Willesden CC	Vet	30:16	28:20	+	1:56	28
53	18	Brian Moon	Willesden CC	Vet	30:30	28:33	+	1:57	27
54	34*	Tony Baines	Icknield RC	Vet	30:45	28:53	+	1:52	29
55	29*	William Gladwin	Hillingdon CC	Vet	33:18	31:19	+	1:59	26
56	39*	Ronald Purdy	Willesden CC	Vet	34:22	32:07	+	2:15	23
57	7*	Marty Rabbitte	Bossard Wheelers	Vet	26:54	32:23	–	5:29	40
	26	Malcolm Ash	Aylesbury CC	Vet	30:16	DNS Apol
	30	David Johnson	High Wycombe CC	Vet	27:46	DNS
	32	Keith Richardson	Mildenhall CC	Sen		DNS Apol
	40	Gareth Rose	Icknield RC	Vet	25:54	DNS
	47	Aaron McCaffrey	AW Cycles.co.uk	Sen		DNS
	53	Stewart King	High Wycombe CC	Vet	27:07	DNS Apol
	44*	Paul Harknett	Camel Valley C & TC - Dales	Vet	31:00	DNS Apol

 

 

The BBC reports (DNA data plan comes under fire) that the Government's wholly inadequate response to the European Court of Human Rights ruling that retention of DNA profiles of individuals who have not been convicted of an offence is attracting considerable criticism.

In response to a number of commentators' objections to the Government's plans to continue to retain these data for up to 12 years,

Commons Leader Harriet Harman said the plan's critics were "against justice".

Personally, I think the Government needs to sharpen up its thought processes.  Fortunately we have pressure groups to keep a watch out for excessively authoritarian politicians:

Shami Chakrabarti, director of civil rights group Liberty, added: "This isn't necessarily a complete two fingers to the court of human rights but it comes pretty close.

"The logic of the government's position would be to take every man, woman and child in the country and put them on the database, just in case."

Interestingly, the Government's response to the European Court of Human Rights ruling is to define two classes of innocent people, those who have not committed a crime of a violent or sexual nature (who's DNA profile will be retained for 12 years), and those who have not committed a lesser crime, and who are therefore just that bit more innocent,their data being retained for a mere 6 years.  In Scotland, records can only be held beyond three years, up to a maximum of five, if police get court permission - a system deemed "fair and proportionate" by the European court.

Why the Home Office can't just align itself with that system is unknown (except that it's run by a bunch of officious busybodies who want to monitor everything that we do).  Instead, the Home Office proposal is to:

• Destroy all original DNA samples, like mouth swabs, as soon as they are converted into a digital database profile
• Automatically delete after 12 years the profiles of those arrested but not convicted of a serious violent or sexual crime
• Automatically delete after six years the profiles of anyone arrested but not convicted of other offences
• Retain indefinitely the DNA profiles and fingerprints of anyone convicted of a recordable offence
• Remove the profiles of young people arrested but not convicted, or convicted of less serious offences, when they turn 18

It will be interesting to see what the European Court of Human Rights have to say about this.

I have just upgraded this site's blogging software from MyBlog version 2 to version 3 (from Azrul), everything seems to be working OK, but let me know if there are any issues.  I have noticed cosmetic changes, most notably the raindrop panel on the front page, but there seem to be significant improvements in the system's functionality (this posting is mostly to see how they work!).