Goin' downtown
Today we all went shopping downtown, and it was a lot of fun. I'm low on funds, but I did manage to buy a few things to feed my habit for the month!
We went to The Bay first, and spent almost an hour in the cosmetics department. I got new mascara and liquid eyeliner from MAC and then my mom and I went around collecting free perfume samples while my cousins and Kristi laboured over eye shadow decisions. (Bren, I got a sample tube of J'Adore by Dior and mmmm, it smells SO good. Lucky you.)
We went in and out of a few stores along Granville (I got hair wax on sale, woo!) but we just went past most of the expensive stores... even the window displays are too daunting! Although, I can't WAIT until the Tiffany & Co. store opens; it's my life goal to own something that comes in a little blue box. Oh, although, I did get the cutest DKNY tank top and I even paid full ptice since it was a new arrival. ;) Totally worth it, because they give you a cloth bag instead of a paper one. Stylin'. I also got silver and blue earrings and a ring.
Things were interesting downtown today because there was a mini-protest for a Lebanon/Israel cease-fire AND it's the gay pride parade this week, so there were rainbow flags everywhere. My favourite thing was a t-shirt that said "MANTASTIC! Vancouver Gay Pride 2006." I'd totally get that if I were a man. And gay. But, alas...
We ate a yummy dinner at "Earls On Top" and Neil joined us for dinner. We stopped at Starbucks on the way home. The girls are driving home in the mornming, but I'm really glad they came out!
~*~
altair81 sent me this article today, which is really fascinating:
Muscular dystrophy reversal clue
MD affects the muscles of the body
US scientists have found a way to reverse muscular dystrophy (MD) in mice, offering hope of a cure for humans with muscle-wasting diseases.
The animals in the Nature Genetics study had myotonic dystrophy - the most common form of MD in adults.
The therapy targets a particular kind of toxic molecule to "silence" its presence in the diseased muscle.
The University of Virginia team showed the treatment fully restored heart and skeletal muscle function in mice.
In myotonic dystrophy, like the other types of MD, faulty DNA is to blame for the abnormalities that occur.
Weakness
Myotonic dystrophy occurs because of a large expansion of DNA code, which most likely causes an accumulation of toxic messenger RNA molecules in cells.
Messenger or mRNA is a copy of the information carried by a gene on the DNA. If the DNA code is faulty then the mRNA will be faulty too.
These abnormalities lead to the progressive muscle weakness and wasting and heart problems seen in myotonic dystrophy.
They created mice with faulty DNA that could be turned on and off by adding or removing an antibiotic to their drinking water.
In the "on" phase the mice showed all the cardinal features of myotonic dystrophy. When the DNA was turned off, normal skeletal and cardiac muscle function was restored in many, but not all of the mice.
Proof of principle
Although the treatment was not 100% effective, the researchers believe their results provide the proof scientists have been waiting for to demonstrate that it might be possible to reverse muscular dystrophy.
They said: "The results represent the first in vivo proof of principle for a therapeutic strategy for treatment of myotonic dystrophy by ablating or silencing expression of the toxic RNA molecules."
Their work also suggests that it is indeed the toxic mRNA that causes the pathology.
They said: "The fact that the course of the disease can be reversed both overtly and at the molecular level suggests that the toxic RNA functions as a reversible metabolic toxin."
Dr Marita Pohlschmidt, of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, UK, said: "The results of the research are encouraging for finding a treatment for myotonic dystrophy.
"It might be possible to reverse the symptoms of myotonic dystrophy when the toxic substance causing the condition is neutralised.
"However, there is still a lot that needs to be done before we can be sure that this will be successful."
The fact that it can reverse the effects is pretty stunning to me. It's just amazing the things they're discovering... which is why research is so important! *cough*stemcells*cough*
Anyhoo, to bed I go! It's been a long day, but tomorrow things return to boring ol' normal!
We went to The Bay first, and spent almost an hour in the cosmetics department. I got new mascara and liquid eyeliner from MAC and then my mom and I went around collecting free perfume samples while my cousins and Kristi laboured over eye shadow decisions. (Bren, I got a sample tube of J'Adore by Dior and mmmm, it smells SO good. Lucky you.)
We went in and out of a few stores along Granville (I got hair wax on sale, woo!) but we just went past most of the expensive stores... even the window displays are too daunting! Although, I can't WAIT until the Tiffany & Co. store opens; it's my life goal to own something that comes in a little blue box. Oh, although, I did get the cutest DKNY tank top and I even paid full ptice since it was a new arrival. ;) Totally worth it, because they give you a cloth bag instead of a paper one. Stylin'. I also got silver and blue earrings and a ring.
Things were interesting downtown today because there was a mini-protest for a Lebanon/Israel cease-fire AND it's the gay pride parade this week, so there were rainbow flags everywhere. My favourite thing was a t-shirt that said "MANTASTIC! Vancouver Gay Pride 2006." I'd totally get that if I were a man. And gay. But, alas...
We ate a yummy dinner at "Earls On Top" and Neil joined us for dinner. We stopped at Starbucks on the way home. The girls are driving home in the mornming, but I'm really glad they came out!
~*~
altair81 sent me this article today, which is really fascinating:
Muscular dystrophy reversal clue
MD affects the muscles of the body
US scientists have found a way to reverse muscular dystrophy (MD) in mice, offering hope of a cure for humans with muscle-wasting diseases.
The animals in the Nature Genetics study had myotonic dystrophy - the most common form of MD in adults.
The therapy targets a particular kind of toxic molecule to "silence" its presence in the diseased muscle.
The University of Virginia team showed the treatment fully restored heart and skeletal muscle function in mice.
In myotonic dystrophy, like the other types of MD, faulty DNA is to blame for the abnormalities that occur.
Weakness
Myotonic dystrophy occurs because of a large expansion of DNA code, which most likely causes an accumulation of toxic messenger RNA molecules in cells.
Messenger or mRNA is a copy of the information carried by a gene on the DNA. If the DNA code is faulty then the mRNA will be faulty too.
These abnormalities lead to the progressive muscle weakness and wasting and heart problems seen in myotonic dystrophy.
They created mice with faulty DNA that could be turned on and off by adding or removing an antibiotic to their drinking water.
In the "on" phase the mice showed all the cardinal features of myotonic dystrophy. When the DNA was turned off, normal skeletal and cardiac muscle function was restored in many, but not all of the mice.
Proof of principle
Although the treatment was not 100% effective, the researchers believe their results provide the proof scientists have been waiting for to demonstrate that it might be possible to reverse muscular dystrophy.
They said: "The results represent the first in vivo proof of principle for a therapeutic strategy for treatment of myotonic dystrophy by ablating or silencing expression of the toxic RNA molecules."
Their work also suggests that it is indeed the toxic mRNA that causes the pathology.
They said: "The fact that the course of the disease can be reversed both overtly and at the molecular level suggests that the toxic RNA functions as a reversible metabolic toxin."
Dr Marita Pohlschmidt, of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, UK, said: "The results of the research are encouraging for finding a treatment for myotonic dystrophy.
"It might be possible to reverse the symptoms of myotonic dystrophy when the toxic substance causing the condition is neutralised.
"However, there is still a lot that needs to be done before we can be sure that this will be successful."
The fact that it can reverse the effects is pretty stunning to me. It's just amazing the things they're discovering... which is why research is so important! *cough*stemcells*cough*
Anyhoo, to bed I go! It's been a long day, but tomorrow things return to boring ol' normal!