Columbia University Irving Medical Center. (2024, August 22). Mitochondria are flinging their DNA into our brain cells. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 1, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/08/240822142624.htm

Stunning finding: "Mitochondria in our brain cells frequently fling their DNA into the nucleus, the study found, where the DNA becomes integrated into the cells' chromosomes. And these insertions may be causing harm: Among the study's nearly 1,200 participants, those with more mitochondrial DNA insertions in their brain cells were more likely to die earlier than those with fewer insertions."

Quote from the article: "Mitochondria are cellular processors and a mighty signaling platform," Picard says. "We knew they can control which genes are turned on or off. Now we know mitochondria can even change the nuclear DNA sequence itself."

Open Access Article Source: Somatic nuclear mitochondrial DNA insertions are prevalent in the human brain and accumulate over time in fibroblasts
Zhou W, Karan KR, Gu W, Klein HU, Sturm G, et al. (2024) Somatic nuclear mitochondrial DNA insertions are prevalent in the human brain and accumulate over time in fibroblasts. PLOS Biology 22(8): e3002723. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002723

Findings from a 2024 Open Access research paper with mention of A, A2, C1, C1c and D4 mitochondrial DNA haplogroups show how old and inter-related Amerindian peoples are here in the Americas -- and that modern populations share the same DNA with ancient ancestors.

 "Radiocarbon dating (14C) demonstrated that the inhabitants of Puyil Cave lived during the Archaic and Classic Periods and displayed tabular oblique and tabular mimetic ACD. These pre-Hispanic remains exhibited five mtDNA lineages: A, A2, C1, C1c and D4. Network analysis revealed a close genetic affinity between pre-Hispanic Puyil Cave inhabitants and contemporary Maya subpopulations from Mexico and Guatemala, as well as individuals from Bolivia, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, and China."

Source: Navarro-Romero MT, Muñoz ML, Krause-Kyora B, Cervini-Silva J, Alcalá-Castañeda E, David RE. Bioanthropological analysis of human remains from the archaic and classic period discovered in Puyil cave, Mexico. Am J Biol Anthropol. 2024 Jun;184(2):e24903. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.24903. Epub 2024 Feb 2. PMID: 38308451. Open Access Report is located here (free to read and share): https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajpa.24903

Many remember the 911 terrorist attack on the Twin Towers as it happened in New York City on September 11, 2001 or the crash of Flight 93 in Pennsylvania. My recollection of the 911 terrorist attack on our country centers on the moment a plane, that had been commandeered by terrorists, plowed into the Pentagon in Washington, DC that same day. We lost friends, co-workers and loved ones in that attack.

I was in downtown Washington D.C., across the river from the Pentagon — at work. Our security officer interrupted a meeting I was in to let us know there had been an incident. I’ll never forget as we watched the news as it unfolded, gathered together in one of the conference rooms — reacting in horror as the Twin Towers were taken out by the first and then later the second of two planes and then we received news that another plane had crashed into the Pentagon.

The phone rang in one of the cubicles near where I was standing and I was asked to answer it. On the other end of the line was my concerned husband who had been trying to locate me after he heard the news. He told me to “Get out of Dodge.” I left the building immediately after hanging up and hurried to the nearest Metro Station. There was black smoke in the sky and the sound of sirens filled the air. Terrified, I stepped onto what would be the last Metro out of town that day — as there were several terror-related incidents that forced the closure of the system soon after I had made it on board the train I took out of the city.

No one spoke during that quiet and somber commute from Washington D.C. into the Maryland suburbs. We were too frightened to speak. I arrived home and received word from my son’s school that parents had been asked to pick up their children as soon as possible. I left my home and found my son among the students gathered in the main office where the school principal was serving cookies to anxious parents and students. After my son and I returned home, we turned on the news, staring in disbelief as the images of the horrific take down of the Twin Towers and the crash into the Pentagon repeated over and again — an endless cycle of smoke, fire, twisted metal, ashes, and human death that I will never forget.

My mother was alive back then; she called me on the phone shortly after we arrived home and told me that we were at war and this would be a day that none would ever forget. She was right. I wore a little silver locket that I had engraved with the words, “In God We Trust” in the shape of a cross for several years after 911 in honor of those who died on that day. I still have that locket. I forever mourn their loss. I learned later that a family friend had been the pilot whose life was lost in the Pentagon crash and we’d not see him again. I watched his sister many times on television petitioning for the 911 memorial that today stands in the place of the gaping hole that was left in the wake of the 911 tragedy in New York.

We are a Nation united, we stand behind our flag and honor those whose lives were lost that day and the first responders who risked their lives to save others. We cannot and will not forget 911.

-- Marie Rundquist
September 11, 2024