Marker beacon

• The report, which is powered by data from consenting 23andMe research participants, is available for its 23andMe+ members.
• As we recognize Lupus Awareness Month , 23andMe’s new report includes helpful insight into a customer’s likelihood of developing this hard to diagnose autoimmune disease.
• Understanding one’s genetic likelihood of developing the disease could help them better understand their overall risk.”
  23andMe’s new report uses machine learning techniques to estimate an individual’s likelihood of being diagnosed with lupus.
• Note that 23andMe’s report on lupus can provide users with helpful information on their estimated genetic likelihood of being diagnosed with the condition.

• In a recent article from Nature Genetics_, scientists raise concerns over the social impacts of recent advances in genomics - i.e.
• the study of genomes, or in other words, the genetic material of an individual or species.
• In passages bringing to mind the dystopian sci-fi film Gattaca, they describe a near future in which one’s DNA could foretell one’s physical and intellectual abilities and near-perfect children be conceived in vitro.

What is a GWAS?

• The markers can be considered as small flags planted along the genome, each flag having two possible colours (the alleles).
• The idea behind GWAS is that an association between a marker and a trait allows for the detection of genetic factors independently of environmental factors.

A new market

• 23andMe managed to keep its doors open by changing its approach and collecting DNA to map out the geographical origins of people’s ancestors.
• An important part of these DNAs has been made available to scientific teams, allowing them to perform and publish GWAS on huge samples.
• Four years later, a study based on 3 million individuals found the number of genetic factors multiplied by 4.

The mistaken assumptions behind Polygenic Risk Scores

• The problem is that these conclusions are based on erroneous assumptions and misinterpretation of associations between the traits to be predicted and genetic markers.
• Indeed, Polygenic Risk Scores are specifically based on assumptions put forward in 1965 by Douglas Scott Falconer.

Misinterpretations of the GWAS studies

• Another problem is that Polygenic Risk Scores are based on a flawed interpretation of the GWAS studies.
• For if the link between a trait and genetic marker could indeed indicate a genetic factor, this remains to be confirmed by subsequent family and functional studies.
• For example, a GWAS study comparing people in France who consume salted butter with those who consume unsalted butter would show a large number of genetic markers associated with this trait.

Sociological consequences

• The IQ variable was originally thought out as a tool to measure the adequacy of a child to a given school programme.
• It is not a universal and timeless measure of cognitive abilities, or even of intelligence.

Ethical implications

• In his presidential address to the American Society of Human Genetics in 2015 [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26942276/ref], geneticist Neil Risch mischievously commented the approach and conclusions.
• He calculated the scores of Craig Venter (pioneer of human genome sequencing) and James Watson (co-discoverer of the DNA structure).
• Risch humorously concluded that a below-average score was enough to land a Nobel Prize or the Medal of Science.

A flawed genetic model

• But they merely raise ethical issues, failing to stress, in the process, that the root of the problem remains an inappropriate genetic model and the misinterpretation of associations with genetic markers.
• Yet to deny the validity of genetic predictions of complex traits is not to deny the effect of genetic factors on these traits.

• African countries are estimated to lose US$17 billion each year to illegal logging.
• Illegal logging is most prevalent in the continent’s tropical rainforests.
• Illegal logging has negative environmental effects that weaken human security.
• Firstly, illegal logging amplifies threats posed by organised criminal groups and violent extremist organisations.

The knock-on effects

• It identifies and tracks criminal networks, state-embedded actors, foreign actors and “mafia-style” armed groups that are locally well known and that control territory.
• The work of these groups has several knock-on effects.
• Violent extremism and insurgency: The illicit timber trade fuels conflict and instability by providing resources for violent actors.
• In Senegal, the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance recently funded its insurgency through the illicit logging of rosewood.

Solutions

• Guinea-Bissau, the DRC and Kenya have controversially ended moratoria on logging.
• It’s easy to get around a moratorium when state security and justice systems do not operate transparently.
• A moratorium can even harden criminal networks without addressing the corruption and livelihood challenges that facilitate illegal logging.
• The Kenya Forestry Service is pioneering an app for officers to use satellite data in community-based initiatives.

Bridging gaps

• For example, in Gabon, civil society has pressured the government for greater transparency in logging contracts.
• Civil society also builds economic resilience to illegal logging.
• In Tanzania and the DRC, civil society has enhanced community control over land management and made legal livelihoods in the logging sector more feasible.

Key takeaways

• External oversight is a key part of countering illegal logging.
• It works best where civil society is strong.
• Inspectors general, specialised prosecutors and independent anti-corruption bodies can help expose the kingpins organising illegal operations.

• The design and development of these new cannabis products leveraged Evogene's GeneRator AI tech-engine to select desirable characteristics such as THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) content and certain terpene profiles.
• Canonic's second generation products are characterized by high levels of THC, the primary psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, at 23% and above; the highest THC percentage allowed in Israel being 24.4%.
• The six new products released into the market in Israel are named: Synergy (THC 24%), Combo (THC 24%), Mosaic (THC 23%), Two Stars (THC 24.2%), Mash Kush (THC 24.4%) and Blend Kush (THC 23.8%).
• The new products were developed through breeding programs carried out by Canonic in parallel to the release in 2021 of Canonic's first-generation two products: G200 (THC 19%) & G150 (THC 18%).