HUM-MOLGEN archive: CALL: september 1996; various

New CALLs! On 4p related syndromes, genetics and autism (abstract), a CALL from China, CALL about gene therapy in India, and about a dominant skin disorder: Darriers disease. The CALL section is open for requests and offering of help and collaboration, info etc. Please send high quality messages only kindly stating purpose and full reply adress. Low quality messages or messages not related to Genetics or molecular biology will be refused without further notification. (Please divert molecular biology or biotechnology request to the BIOT TOPIC) Good CALLs Arthur Bergen ************************************************************************** Reply-to: Chris Newman <chrisn@lowestoft.ac.uk> From: Chris Newman <chrisn@lowestoft.ac.uk> Subject: Company querry chrisn@lowestoft.ac.uk (Chris Newman) sent the following comments: ------------------------------------------------------------ I a Learning Resources Assistant at an English College library (Lowestoft College) and am trying to track down the address and phone number of a Californian based biotechnology company called ESCA Genetics Corporation. I am writing on behalf of a student who has been set an assignment on the biotechnology industry and needs information about this particular company. Any information would be very useful Thank you for your time Christopher Newman ********************************************************************** Subject: diagnosis+call from China yijang.h@public.hk.hq.cn (Huang yijiang) sent the following comments: ------------------------------------------------------------ I want to get the reagent for detecting the antibody of chlamydia penumonia in serum. Other,hope to get the informations about asthmatic gene. ------------------------------------------------------------ Server protocol: HTTP/1.0 Remote host: ppp32.hk.hq.cn Remote IP address: 202.100.193.32 ******************************************************************* >From jacobsen@CARDIFF.AC.UKFri Oct 11 14:06:25 1996 Date: Fri, 04 Oct 1996 12:01:40 +0100 From: Nick Jacobsen <jacobsen@CARDIFF.AC.UK> jacobsen@cardiff.ac.uk (Nick Jacobsen) sent the following comments: ------------------------------------------------------------ Institute of Medical Genetics, U.W.C.M., Heath Park, Cardiff, CF4 4XN Hello there, I am working on Darier's disease, a dominant skin disorder. I am attempting to positionally clone the gene that causes this disease (on chr12q24). My latest piece of work involves cDNA selection. My request for this is a collaboration with anybody who could provide me with a human adult epidermal cDNA library, preferably one that has been prepared from random hexamer generated cDNA. If anyone can help me with this it would be much appreciated as there seems to be a shortage of good commercial skin derived libraries. Thank you in advance for your help Nick Jacobsen. ------------------------------------------------------------ Server protocol: HTTP/1.0 Remote host: sorrel.hensa.ac.uk Remote IP address: 194.83.240.4 **************************************************************************** >From mfrydman@post.tau.ac.ilFri Oct 11 14:06:33 1996 Hi, Do anyone know the E-mail of Dr. M.J. Dixon at the department of cell biology, the University of Mancester? Please send to Moshe Frydman mfrydman@post.tau.ac.il Thanks *************************************************************************** This message was originally submitted by Teresa.Binstock@UCHSC.EDU to the HUM-MOLGEN list at NIC.SURFNET.NL. I am editing a new autism manuscript (not by me) and need several additional readers, so I will first summarize the context and rationale: The etiology of autism is not well understood; a variety of causes are suspected, and certain syndromes (eg, fragile X) are known as capable of inducing autistic-like traits. Currently, the NIH is funding research into genetic indicators associated with autism, even as a goodly number of parents and private physicians and others are developing data suggesting that additional factors need be considered. I believe that the manuscript may be a highly significant contribution to understanding the etiology of autism, in at least a subset of autistics and quite possibly a large subset. The author (Ellen R Bolte) and I are now ready to seek some additional readers to peruse the manuscript -- which is the reason for this e-mail. Ellen has recently submitted a near-final draft of the paper to an established journal and has several weeks to collect some poignant criticisms and modify the manuscript accordingly. The title of the manuscript is: Autism and Clostridium tetani: an hypothesis Ellen R Bolte ***** The basic rationale of Ellen's paper includes but is not limited to the following points: Synaptobrevins are gene-encoded molecules that span the membranes of synaptic vesicles and participate in neuronal signaling. Toxins from Clostridium tetani are known to incapacitate synaptobrevin function on synaptic vesicles. Although generally we think of tetanus as a severe illness resulting from C. tetani infections, medical literature indicates that subacute infections can occur, even in persons who have been immunized against tetanus. Furthermore, already in the literature are studies documenting retrograde axonal, transsynaptic transport of C. tetani toxin from peripheral sources, via the spinal cord and sympathetic nervous system, to various brain regions known to be affected in autism. Ellen's basic hypothesis is that subacute Clostridium tetani infections, localized in the intestine or elsewere, would generate sufficient toxin so as to induce autism and autistic-like traits in persons so infected. The well-documented facts that subacute C. tetani infections occur and that C. tetani toxin trans-axonally migrates toward various parts of the brain and then deleteriously affects synaptobrevin function suggests that Ellen's hypothesis may well be valid. ***** The above statements are just part of the rationale and are here presented to convey a sense of the content and argument so that listees can decide whether or not they would like to peruse such a challenging but very well documented manuscript. Consider Ellen's hypothesis at a most basic level: if a person's synaptic vesicles have loss of function due to toxin-destroyed synaptobrevins, then many aspects of perception and of responses to perception would be disabled, thereby inducing autistic-like traits or even autism. ***** If you are interested in reading her manuscript during the next several weeks and would communicate to us your critique and/or suggestions, please contact me directly by e-mail and I will e-mail a copy to you. Teresa Teresa.Binstock@uchsc.edu Teresa C. Binstock, Researcher Developmental & Behavioral Neuroanatomy B140 The Children's Hospital 1056 E. 19th Avenue Denver CO USA 80218 Autism and Clostridium tetani: an hypothesis. Ellen R Bolte copyright 1996 manuscript submitted Because this posting describes and summarizes a manuscript that has been recently submitted, this e- mail's contents are copyrighted by: Teresa C. Binstock and Ellen R Bolte eof ***************************************************************************** I have an assignment to interview a geneticist in the San Francisco Bay Area. If you can direct me to one I would really appreciate it. The entire project needs to be completed by 10/28/96, so I would like to do the interview as soon as possible, no later than 10/10/96. Thanks. Rebecca Child San Mateo High School Contact me at BChild888@AOL.com ****************************************************************************** This message was originally submitted by cwong@GPU.SRV.UALBERTA.CA to the HUM-MOLGEN list at NIC.SURFNET.NL. Dear Dr. Bergen: I'd like to make a statement regarding my post on the HUM-MOLGEN newsgroup (under the topic BIOT) which was released on Fri, 13 Sept 1996. The purpose of my post was purely for calling for help from other researchers. I believe everyone understands that getting wrong cDNA clones constantly makes research tougher than it should be. In fact, I still couldn't get one cDNA clone from either distributor (Genome Systems and ATCC). I've tried to e-mail Washington-Merck EST center, but I got no reply. As a result, I tried to get help from HUM-MOLGEN newsgroup. I would just like an indication of how often the Image clone themselves have been incorrect. In my last post I did not intend to imply that either Genome Systems or ATCC is a "bad" IMAGE cDNA clone distributor. In fact, we still have business with these two companies. If my last post caused any damage to the reputation of either company, I would like to offer my sincere apology. Sincerely, Andrew Wong Grad Student, University of Alberta ****************************************************************************** >From hx25@DIAL.PIPEX.COMFri Oct 11 14:07:48 1996 Subject: CALL: Gene Therapy in India This message was originally submitted by hx25@DIAL.PIPEX.COM to the HUM-MOLGEN list at NIC.SURFNET.NL. I am a freelance journalist working on an article for Nature Biotechnology on gene therapy research in India. I would be very grateful if anyone could let me know of people working in this area in India, and perhaps let me know how I can contact them, fax, e-mail or telephone. I understand that work is taking place at the Tata Memorial Centre in Bombay on the treatment of oral cancer, but I have been unable to get any details about this. A fax or e-mail number for the centre would be great. Thank you Sylvia Davidson ************************************************************************* >From 102367.3530@COMPUSERVE.COMFri 14:07:55 1996 I am interested in attendig meetings and/or symposia on the subject of prenatal genetic diagnosis. Does anybody have a schedule of upcoming events in this field? Thanks in advance for the info. Simon Goldbard, Ph.D. 102367.3530@compuserve.com ****************************************************************************** CGENONI@OSINET.NET (c.G.) sent the following comments: ------------------------------------------------------------ 1.WHY ARE FEWER PARACENTRIC THAN PERICENTRIC INVERSIONS REPORTED IN THE MEDICAL LITERATURE? 2.WHY IS IT MUCH EASIER TO ESTABLISH TRUE-BREEDING STABLE LINES OF TETRASOMIC ORGANISMS THAN OF TRISOMIC ONES? IF HAVE ANY INFORMATION FOR THE ABOVE QUESTIONS, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. I WOULD APPRECIATE IT VERY MUCH. THANK-YOU. C.G. ------------------------------------------------------------ Server protocol: HTTP/1.0 Remote host: OsiDial04.osiris.com Remote IP address: 204.50.132.80 ************************************************************************ >From jking@WORLD.STD.COMFri Oct 11 14:08:09 1996 From: Judith M King <jking@WORLD.STD.COM> I am looking for any data that has been collected on the following: genetic education of primary care physicians and the general public general public's perception of genetics and genetic testing primary care physicians' understanding of genetics and genetic testing Info to be used for educational purposes. All information is welcome. Thanks. Judith King PHONE: 508-872-8400 X2513 Education/Communications FAX: 508-872-5663 Genzyme Genetics *************************************************************************** ingrid@ruly46.medfac.leidenuniv.nl (Ingrid Stec) sent the following comments: ------------------------------------------------------------ Dear Sir, dear Madam, I am working in the field of 4p- syndromes, especially Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome (WHS) and Pitt-Rogers-Danks Syndrome (PRDS) to delineate the critical gene region of these syndromes. Therefore, I am looking for patient material of patients with either apparently no deletion (not visible with the common cytogenetic methods) with a WHS or PRDS phenotype, WHS/PRDS patients with small deletions, but also patients with a WHS/PRDS phenotype due to an unbalanced (or balanced) translocation where one of the breakpoints could be (likely) inbetween the critical gene region of WHS/PRDS. Thank you very much. Please contact: Ingrid Stec Anthropogenetica Sylvius laboratory Wassenaarseweg 72 2333 AL Leiden Niederlande ------------------------------------------------------------ Server protocol: HTTP/1.0 Remote host: ruly48.MedFac.LeidenUniv.nl Remote IP address: 132.229.2.48