now, they understand it is a genetic defect. around 5000 people from just a few families have intermarried over several generations. half of them came down wiwith t disease in their 40's. lucia moved to the region to work as a nurse at the end of the 1980's. >> in 70% of the families we see here, there was at least one case of alzheimer's back them. now, there are still a lot of people with the disease. >> lucia established a catalog of medical records and family trees together. years later, a doctor identified the genetic defect, and mutation of the 14th chromosome, and recognized it offered a -- offefered opportunity. >> worldwide, we have the largest concentration of genetically-inherited alzheimer's. that is perhaps a chance to fight the disease. >> as a result, researchers around the world have turned their attention to the region and i its uversity hospital. the doctor has been preparing a comprehensive study here. it includes research on a large group of people who are certain to get alzheimer's. it is a unique opportunit

the sfusd, regarding the hazard of genetically engineered food. [applause] a couple weeks ago was gmo awareness week put on by places around the state. many other os organized for the dangers of the children and the elderly. i also join a panel of activists that were highlighting this global report on the dangers of genetically engineered food. scientific research has shown that materials could have serious impacts on the level of toxins in our food. and maybe particularly threatening to people and the elderly. her will have more information, and the city to make every choice possible. genetically modified food represents the corporate and industrial food system that we need to change. these goals are not new, and the commission on the environment has unanimously adopted many of these principles in july of 2000. i want to urge my colleagues to support this. and supervisor mirkarimi as well. the rest i will submit. thank you. >> president chiu? president chiu: thank you. i have a couple of items for today. first, i have an in memoriam request for h

this century, the 21st century, it's genetics. the genetics provides molecular clues, rational clues as to what's going on in the disease process. >> narrator: in the past ten years, farrer and other geneticists have found mutations that cause parkinson's in six different genes, and they're looking for more. >> just tell me about your family, and i can just draw them in. >> narrator: okay. so there is me, and i have parkinson's. >> all right. >> narrator: and so does one of my brothers, and my father had parkinson's. d beyond individual family ties, geneticists are now tracking parkinson's genes in whole populations. >> it's my understanding that you come from norway. your background is norwegian? >> narrator: yeah, my grandfather was born in norway, in larvik, norway. >> grandfather on which side? >> narrator: my father's side. in 2004, mayo scientists helped discover the most common parkinson's mutation in the lrrk-2 gene. they've now traced it to several locations, including north africa, near the ancient site of carthage, and,

the amerithrax investigation has a genetic link between the letters and this flask at the army's usamridcount, as many as 20 people in several labs has access to spores from rmr 1029 or their offspring. any one of them could be the killer. >> we were looking at everybody to rule them out and move on to the next person. >> to the feds, everyone seems to lack the expertise and has a credible alibi. everyone except bruce ivans, the man who worked in the lab alone at night before the attacks. >> i was thinking now we're getting somewhere. the feds have a warrant to search ivans house. when asked if he had anything dangerous inside, ivans, embarrassed, brings up women's clothing. >> it brings up the question we saw if we saw that kind of material in his house. >> he was talking about in context of himself wearing it. >> right. >> it does not find a direct link to the anthrax letters, but three pistols and two stun guns are cause for concern. >> this is somebody we know -- are becoming increasingly convinced was the anthrax mailer who was showing increasing signs of mental health difficulties.

. >> there's a lot of testing as far as genetic testing goes now. 2, breast cancer 1 gene and breast cancer 2 gene. how significant is it? first of all, who should get tested for this, and what do you do with that information? >> so the women that should get tested are women who have a history of breast cancer in their family, particularly if their mother had breast cancer at a young age, 20 to 30. they have a father who had breast cancer, prostate cancer, ovarian cancer. when you see the cancer running in the family, you think that there may be one of these mutations of these genes that you are describing. when a woman gets tested, though, we know that if she's positive, they have a mutation, she has about a five time greater chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer over her lifetime. >> so you start to look at these things in aggregate. first of all, there are more women going to be diagnosed with breast cancer who have no family history, right? >> 85% or so. >> so that means you shouldn't take great solace thinking you don't have family histo

nothing. >> the fbi's genetic evidence was also challenged by the national research council.stioned the link between the anthrax in the letters and bruce ivins' flask, rmr 1029. microbiologist annnancy conle, of the authors, says the mutations could have in theory evolved in other labs that work with anthrax. >> rmr 1029 is consistent with the possibility of being the parent flask. the opinion of the committee was that that was not shown definitively. >> and many of ivins' colleagues say he could not make that much dried anthrax without being detected. >> how it was made, where it was prepared, where it was done, over what period of time. there's a total void of evidence. >> not true, say government officials. their evidence is circumstantial. and enough to prove bruce ivins had the means, motive and opportunity. >> we wanted our day in court so that we could -- we could prove -- let a jury and a judge make that final decision in what we would say is the american process. >> without a smoking gun, the case does not seem to end. congressman rush holt, the letters were mailed f

those researchers inserted genetic material from adult skin cells into on fertilized human eggs a.like other content procedures they did not remove genetic material that's because they cannot get an embryo to develop to an advanced age if they removed the eggs genetic material it's a hurdle that will have to be overcome before anyone can use clowning to create stem cells that are suitable for therapy. a new study recommends women who carry the breast cancer gene begin screening as early as age 25 ... compared with no screening at all high-risk patients who received annual screening starting at age 25 extended their life expectancy by almost two years researchers analyze the results of several studies and based their findings on a computer model. if current recommendations said that women should begin screenings at the age of 40. an increased number of older people on medicare are having surgery is at the end of their lives. those facts from a new study published in the lancet journal researchers looked nearly 2 million medicare recipients over age 65 who died in 2008 that found nea

the more i realized that a large population of japanese people seemed to have this genetic defect. it brought me back to the japanese culture even though i was not looking for it. what happened was if she was half japanese. here again you will hear the writing process. as i'm thinking about this and thinking about story line and her parents. if her mother is italian and her father is japanese which would make her half and half the genetic defect would come to the father then things would have to happen if they grew up in california. he grew up in pasadena which means he would be inturned. things start to happen without you looking at it from the beginning when writing a story but as you develop the characters and the year and the situation and the stories a father would tell a daughter. all this came out the camps, what happened. what he hoped for. what he wished for. all the stories he tells the daughters. some of them would have to cover that interment time and a lot is what happened from my research. all that went in the book. does that answer your question? it's not that i purp

. >> brown: ray suarez explores fascinating new research on the genetic makeup of the bubonic plague that killed millions of europeans in the middle ages. >> woodruff: and tom clarke of i.t.n. reports from the remote highlands of colombia, where half the population will inherit early onset alzheimers disease. >> these families' plight has come to attention of the outside world because the mutation they carry could carry the key to preventing alzheimers in millions of sufferers around the world. >> brown: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> auto companies make huge profits. >> last year, chevron made a lot of money. >> where does it go? >> every penny and more went into bringing energy to the world. >> the economy is tough right now, everywhere. >> we pumped $21 million into local economies, into small businesses, communities, equipment, materials. >> that money could make a big difference to a lot of people. >> and by the bill and melinda gates foundation. dedicated to the idea that all people deserve the chance to liv

engineered foods, as well as to assign liability to the commercial developers of genetically engineered technology. supervisor mar: i want to thank the california biosafety alliance and food access advocates. i know it is already a policy of the city throughout former mayor newsom's administration, and supported by our food systems with in the city. i urge support from my colleagues. president chiu: supervisor elsbernd requests this be referred to committee. >> item 26 cancels the board meetings of january 3, january 17, february 21, may 29, october 9, november 13, and november 27, and cancelling all board and committee meetings through summer and winter breaks from august 1 through august 31 and december 12 through december 31. supervisor avalos: colleagues, i would like to motion to cancel the july 3 board meeting, which is the day before july 4, which they have in england as well. i might be away somewhere on vacation with my family that week. it could be in england. i would like to cancel that meeting. president chiu: supervisor avalos has proposed we add july 3 to the list of tuesd

particularly those people who have a genetic predisposition. the jury is still up for the general population. i am leaning more and more into saying that people over 50 should be thinking about adding low dose aspirin to their routine. >> there's a downside to taking aspirin over a long period. ulcers and strokes. this research builds on other studies that show aspirin can be a powerful weapon in the fight against cancer. >> nato is expecting to announce an end to its seven-month air campaign over libya today. overall, nato warplanes over libyan soil make nearly 10,000 strikes. their stated mission was to protect civilians in the country. let's get more from our correspondent, who is at the nato headquarters in brussels. this announcement will be made. they say, from their point of view, mission accomplished, and civilians in libya need no more protection from nato. >> that's right. we just got the statement from the secretary-general of the nato alliance. he says they're very proud of what they have achieved in libya. as we anticipated, given

. >> that has been used when the police have the genetic profile of the defendant, and therefore, they find a track and then they ask this d.n.a. was the scene of the crime and the track of the defendant can be compared with the track that they have found of the scene of the crime. because there's the scene of the crime and a lot of people couldn't be identified. they clearly have the genetic profile raffaele, and i asked myself if it was consistent with the track, and the answer is probably yes. but if the same had been done without the people, the answer would have been the same. this is the odd thing. it was a mixed track, and the number of unidentified people could have been identified with that track, that track, because it is a very confused track. there are a number of profiles in that track. now, if i ask myself then i'm going to answer yes, but even the expert can be seen in that track. >> that was the lawyer for raffaele sollecito, making a statement, as you can see, outside the courtroom. he and amanda knox have made very emotional statements proclaiming their innocence. in

however, the fda deregulated the need to test genetically engineered crops, and said the only test thatdone are by monsanto and others, the biotech companies. so these foods are in there, and there are a lot of pesticides used that are creating super weeds and super pests, which are actually causing the need for more and more chemicals, some of which have already been banned in a lot of countries due to their toxicity, and there've been found in the groundwater. there is a lot of spraying that goes here. they have discovered that agro ecology is a much more sustainable method of farming, so -- was that time for me to stop? ok. so i am just very concerned about this for children and the pollution that it causes and the studies that have been done on rats and animals that have showed aberrations in their stomachs and lesions, and i just think, for example, like cuba, they have -- president chiu: thank you very much. next speaker. >> good afternoon. i am with the library organization. to get rid of, to snuff out all of the murals that exist on the vermont heights branch library is moving a

when you look at genetics and diabetes, type 2 diabetes which is the more common adult onset is geneticallyiven but if you have a family history with diabetes, your risk of developing diabetes may be only 39% to 40% more. if you have both parents with diabetessing maybe about 50% more but nonetheless we know that predominantly type 2 diabetes is linked to insulin and resistance. the best way to prevent diabetes is through diet and exercise regardless. >> a lot of folks nowadays are turning to gastric bypass to control the weight and also control diabetes potentially but that doesn't necessarily solve the problem. does it? >> not necessarily. we are using gastric bypass more commonly particularly in the patients who have large body mass indexes. so that's you know kilograms per meter squared of 35 or more and they have other problems like diabetes, high blood pressure or more. in the patients they can very quickly lose weight but the key as you said is keeping the weight off and maintaining your good diet and exercise habits so that in 10 or 20 years you haven't put back the weight and now b