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Researchers Create a Protein Map of Human Spit

Posted by samzenpus on from the doctor-saliva dept.

Ant writes "United States researchers have identified all 1,116 unique proteins found in human saliva glands. It was a discovery they said on Tuesday that could usher in a wave of convenient, spit-based diagnostic tests that could be done without the need for a single drop of blood. As many as 20 percent of the proteins found in saliva are also found in blood, said Fred Hagen, a researcher at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York who worked on the study."

110 comments

  1. well well well by Brian+Gordon · · Score: 0

    dot dot dot

  2. Can't use this test by Pikoro · · Score: 2, Funny

    in Singapore. Damn shame...

    --
    "Freedom in the USA is not the ability to do what you want. It is the ability to stop others from doing what THEY want"
    1. Re:Can't use this test by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      On the other hand, the floorboards of the average autorickshaw in New Delhi will provide enough sample material to keep a supercomputing cluster busy for years.

    2. Re:Can't use this test by Fex303 · · Score: 1

      in Singapore. Damn shame...
      ...lah.
    3. Re:Can't use this test by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Too bad there aren't enough Sinaporean Slashdotters to mod you up.

    4. Re:Can't use this test by Fex303 · · Score: 1

      Hey, I'm just glad I didn't get modded off topic for it by people who've never heard Singlish before.

  3. easy way to get 100% of the proteins by ed__ · · Score: 4, Funny

    punch them in the mouth a few times.

    i call dibs on the patent to beating patients as a diagnostic tool.

    anyone want to participate in clinical trials?

    1. Re:easy way to get 100% of the proteins by sukotto · · Score: 1

      rule #1 You do not talk about Fight Diagnostics
      rule #2 You DO NOT TALK about Fight Diagnostics ...

      --
      Come play free flash games on Kongregate!
    2. Re:easy way to get 100% of the proteins by street+struttin' · · Score: 1

      anyone want to participate in clinical trials? I doubt anyone will be interested in requesting this treatment, but you could probably give out lots of free samples.
  4. Damn by Per+Abrahamsen · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I read it as "Researchers Create a Protein Map of Human Spirit." Much more interesting that way.

    1. Re:Damn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ditto..

      I was thinking that human spirit was due to some chemical changes in the brain.

    2. Re:Damn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I read it as "Researchers Create a Protein Map of Human Spirit." Much more interesting that way. Ditto. Now do you believe in ghosts?
  5. Punch the patient by Forty+Two+Tenfold · · Score: -1, Redundant

    in the face... there'll be more blood associated proteins. Probably even as much as 100%.

    --
    Upward mobility is a slippery slope - the higher you climb the more you show your ass.
  6. GNAA penis birds needed! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    What I want to know is: Where is GNAA?

    I've been visiting site after site, IRC network after network and I hear nothing from them anymore?

    The joy is drained out of my life! I NEED GNAA!

  7. why can't people use the subject field by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    correctly?

  8. where is the "spit" tag by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    time to start a new meme.

    1. Re:where is the "spit" tag by bcdm · · Score: 1

      I'm more thinking the tag should be "spitorswallow".

      --
      I can has sig?
  9. How is this test administered? by Chapter80 · · Score: 1
    Does this mean I have to take my girlfriend into the lab with me, whenever I want to get tested?

    Yeah, I know, Slashdot == no girlfriend. Save your reply.

    1. Re:How is this test administered? by RuBLed · · Score: 0, Troll

      Sorry, but you can't get pregnant.

      Now return that Arnold Schwarzenegger film, it's fiction.

    2. Re:How is this test administered? by iamdrscience · · Score: 5, Funny

      Who said the poster isn't a lesbian woman, talking about her girlfriend?

      Sure, I know you're thinking "this is Slashdot, it's full of virgin nerd males, why would there be any lesbians posting on here"? Well sir, I believe that's just the sort of close-minded thinking that keeps hot lesbians off of Slashdot. To think, if it weren't for intolerant bigots like yourself Slashdot would surely be awash with not just lesbians, but promiscuous heterosexual women and even adventurous bisexual female couples looking for a third. You sir, should be ashamed of yourself.

  10. No blood?! No needles?! by bersl2 · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    DO WANT DO WANT DO WANT DO WANT DO WANT DO WANT DO WANT!!!

    (Yes, I know this is lame, filter. I don't care. It's true.)

    (I'm really serious: that is what I said. Now let me say it.)

  11. heh. by apodyopsis · · Score: 1

    build this diagnostic into paving slabs and fit it in the far East and you could test 98% of the population in a couple of hours I reckon. Seriously, what is it with spitting in the street out there? Yeah, yeah - kinda off topic.

  12. ooook... by debatem1 · · Score: -1, Troll

    and, having solved all OTHER problems, the brightest minds of our world turn to figuring out spit.
    hell, meet handbasket....

  13. At first I wanted to make a funny by Martian_Kyo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    but after rtfa, I must say it is pretty cool. The spit based tests would make the trip to hospitals whole lot less stressful. However what is not mentioned is reliability of these tests, or mainly how many false positives it gives for let's say breast cancer. If 100% of women with breast cancer have a certain protein, but also 60% of women who don't have breast cancer have that same protein, it makes the test...well less effective.

    1. Re:At first I wanted to make a funny by zwei2stein · · Score: 3, Insightful

      As long as you know reliability scope of test, i.e. that it gives false positives and never false negatives, test is worth it.

      Simple test like this could be very effective at bringing up potential problems which can be investigated and verified by more accurate tests.

      Also, you can use lots of such "unreliable" tests to build reliable model ... logic is great tool if used correctly.

      --
      -- Technology for the sake of technology is as pathetic as eschewing technology because it's technology.
    2. Re:At first I wanted to make a funny by Martian_Kyo · · Score: 2

      I suppose if the processing of the spit is cheap enough it could be used as some sort of preliminary test.

    3. Re:At first I wanted to make a funny by value_added · · Score: 2

      but after rtfa, I must say it is pretty cool.

      I decided just for a lark to see if there was a Wikipedia article on spit. And lo and behold, there was an article on both saliva and spitting. The latter is an entertaining read, but the article on saliva is equally good.

      Didja know, for example, spit contains water, mucus, antibacterial compounds, enzymes, and electrolytes? Add sugar and some colour, and it sounds a lot like Gatorade. Or that the average person produces just under a litre a day of it? The brief discussion on licking wounds is interesting, too. I've been in an ongoing debate with everyone that's subjected their dogs to topical antibiotics and funnel collars to prevent the animal from licking its wounds, as instructed by the veterinarian, but contrary to what mother nature intended. Seems there's evidence on my side that licking wounds does help them heal.

    4. Re:At first I wanted to make a funny by William+Robinson · · Score: 1
      Yeah....sounds good to me too.

      I was always skeptical while giving blood sample for any reason....suspecting it could be used for DNA analysis.

      IANAE, but feel that spit can't be (mis)used for DNA analysis. Hope some expert could comment on it.

      --
      hilarious
    5. Re:At first I wanted to make a funny by Idiomatick · · Score: 1

      Yes, yes it can. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/4223156.stm

    6. Re:At first I wanted to make a funny by foniksonik · · Score: 1

      Licking wounds helps them heal for the first few licks.... then it aggravates the wound which will then never heal. Add to the fact that the same vet probably supplied a topical antibiotic that is 100 times more effective for whatever infection the dog has, which the dog would promptly lick off and you have a good case for a funnel collar.

      If our natural immune system (or our dogs') were the best cure for all disease/infection, we wouldn't have discovered more potent treatments.

      Licking is the best immediate action as it will clean the wound, deposit some anti-bacterial enzymes and overall prevent some otherwise nasty infections. Over a longer term healing period though you should take the advice of your health consultant.

      --
      A fool throws a stone into a well and a thousand sages can not remove it.
    7. Re:At first I wanted to make a funny by Hoi+Polloi · · Score: 1

      Well sir, we've gotten your spit test results back and according to this your blood consists of a mixture of chocolate and caramel, and you are packed with peanuts.

      --
      It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
    8. Re:At first I wanted to make a funny by value_added · · Score: 1

      Licking wounds helps them heal for the first few licks.... then it aggravates the wound which will then never heal.

      Well, that's the advice you get from the vet, but it's so general that it's almost as meaningless.

      For example, take the term aggravation. What's aggravating, the pain from the wound itself, or an irritation that would mitigated by cleaning up the wound of what's causing the aggravation. Animals have little to no problem dealing with pain, but if something is irritating them, they'll most certainly stop to fix whatever the problem is. And their noses are sufficiently capable of diagosing it.

      Then there's the possibility that the very act of licking has other benefits. We scratch when we itch. We hold our foot when we stub our toes. Those behaviours were dismissed as psychological rather than medical defenses until recent studies showed that holding your injured foot does mitigate pain by blocking certain nerve impulses. Put another way, it's fair to conclude that not scratching an itch, or not holding an injured foot is counterproductive, if not outright wrong. Hell, it may even stimulate all sorts of immune responses no one knows of. For an animal, their only defense is to lick. To somehow suggest that the defenses mother nature gave are useless is an arrogance possibly only for those who spend all their time in a lab, or shopping in drugstore aisles.

      As for the issue of the potency of any given medication, that may be true but it's simplistic to assume that just because an antibiotic, for example, is prescribed by a trained and qualified professional, the drug is going to fix the problem, and not complicate it. or cause other problems. That's the unfortunate reality of almost all drugs. And who would question that some drugs, antibiotics in particular, are overprescribed?

      I've had dogs with persistent and chronic ear infections that were treated by potent antibiotic/antifugal applications for years. I wan't able to determine whether the antibiotics caused problems, but I did learn they were mostly ineffective. What was effective was a course of treatment suggested by a girlfriend familiar with yeast infections -- use vinegar and keep everything clean. The problem magically disappeared in less than week. Licking, I'm sure would have worked similarly if their tongues could reach that far. Anecdotal evidence? Perhaps, but medical science rarely has good solutions for chronic conditions of any sort.

      The point here is that medical science is limited to what it knows at any point in time. Veterinarian science is the red headed stepchild that gets takes all its cues from its parent. Neither of those groups are going to spend much time studying or giving thought to something like saliva, so the business of selling funnel collars and topical creams will continue unabated, while cats and dogs and animals of all sorts will go on prefering to lick their problems away.

    9. Re:At first I wanted to make a funny by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Saliva often contains tetanus, which can be pretty nasty.

    10. Re:At first I wanted to make a funny by nahdude812 · · Score: 1

      I am not a forensic scientist, but I believe it's common practice to use saliva recovered from discarded coffee cups, cigarette butts, and the like to recover a DNA sample. I don't know how complete the DNA is (ie, could it be used by your health insurance company to deny you coverage for a genetic condition), but I'd imagine it depends on how old the saliva is, and how exposed it is to compromising factors like temperature or chemicals. I believe the source of the DNA is the soft cheek cells which are probably constantly being scraped off by your teeth. Some of these cells may still be living, so it might be possible to recover complete DNA.

      From a medical perspective, spit analysis seems like a fantastic source of valuable medical information. From a privacy perspective, this scares the crap out of me. Collecting a spit sample is a lot less "intrusive" (I quote that because it feels less intrusive, though it's quite possibly just as intrusive in actuality) than contributing a blood sample. It's a simple enough process to collect that it could be collected without consent, or it could be commonplace to require such a collection for completely trivial matters. A person's genetic background may then open and close doors for that person completely independent of if those are valid. It's like Gattaca.

      --
      Slay a dragon... over lunch!
    11. Re:At first I wanted to make a funny by fbartho · · Score: 1

      Well, for example, using the GP's hypothetical situation, knowing that it has no false negatives could be easily used to rule out breast cancer as a cause. So if a patient comes in and tests negative, then they can cheaply, instantly rule out breast cancer, and move on to other possible causes...

      --
      Gravity Sucks
    12. Re:At first I wanted to make a funny by mfnickster · · Score: 1

      > Didja know, for example, spit contains water, mucus, antibacterial compounds, enzymes, and electrolytes?

      Of course! It's got what plants crave!

      --
      "Slow down, Cowboy! It has been 3 years, 7 months and 26 days since you last successfully posted a comment."
  14. Hey he was my neighbor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I grew up in Rochester and he was my next door neighbor!

    Go him!

  15. Hmm. by Psychotria · · Score: 0, Redundant

    What is "As many as 20 percent of the proteins are found in saliva are also found in blood[...]" supposed to mean?

    1. Re:Hmm. by value_added · · Score: 1

      What is "As many as 20 percent of the proteins are found in saliva are also found in blood[...]" supposed to mean?

      That more than 80% of those proteins aren't found in blood?

    2. Re:Hmm. by Psychotria · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      I wonder if the moderators know what "redundant" actually means. Furthermore, redundancy is actually a *good* thing. We build redundancy into systems all the time to ensure that our message (signal, transfer, whatever) reaches the target as intended. Checksums are a form of redundancy as well. Backups are redundant data. None of these things are bad.

    3. Re:Hmm. by biobogonics · · Score: 1

      What is "As many as 20 percent of the proteins are found in saliva are also found in blood[...]" supposed to mean?

      About 20% of the time, people do NOT secrete blood group antigens into their saliva or other body fluids. Before DNA analysis it was common to look for blood type in crime scene investigations. 80% of people are "secretors", the other 20% are harder to catch.

      see http://www.ncsu.edu/kenanfellows/2002/pligon/forensics/notes/BloodNotes.html

    4. Re:Hmm. by Psychotria · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Oh I see. We need to leave out the "are" just after "proteins", ending up with a sentence that makes sense. Cool.

    5. Re:Hmm. by Wavebreak · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Redundancy in a system and redundancy in discussion are two entirely different things. Perhaps it's you who should check what the word means.

      --
      Nobody expects the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal.
  16. Goatse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Goatse.[goatse.ch]

    You nerds love it.

    1. Re:Goatse by Idiomatick · · Score: 1

      I can't understand these posts. Now normally i'd assume that the spam was from bots. Being all the nerds there are on /. one sick guy would spam goatse crap all the time. But someone dissing nerds? Either its a self hating bot-maker nerd in denial. Or real human beings are posting this which would be an order of magnitude worse.

    2. Re:Goatse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You must be new here.

      (not the same AC as the goatse guy(s))

  17. I'm bodybuilding by jlebrech · · Score: 0

    Will that start drinking spit

    Reads TFA...

    Never Mind..

  18. Yes... by Psychotria · · Score: 1

    They collected saliva from a whopping 23 people to come up with this wonder list of proteins. Ever heard of genetic variation? dot dot dot seems appropriate...

    1. Re:Yes... by Eggplant62 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Funny thing is, companies like Genova Diagnostics of North Carolina have been doing saliva hormone testing for several years now and have touted it as the only way to get true levels of estradiol, testosterone, cortisol, progesterone, DHEA and others. A doctor that I worked for 3-4 years ago to set up a fellowship in functional medicine was big into saliva testing and hormone balancing based on these saliva tests, and she's still doing some good work today. I know she's worked with lots of patients, mostly premenopausal and menopausal women, and has helped them with maladies that go along with menopause like headaches, osteoporosis, and all the uncomfortable changes that go along with the big change in life. Biggest problem she's had is getting the mainstream insurance companies to accept her work and the work of others that have gone toward supporting the use of saliva hormone testing.

    2. Re:Yes... by packeteer · · Score: 2, Funny

      I know she's worked with lots of patients, mostly premenopausal and menopausal women,

      So you mean all women?

      --
      unzip; strip; touch; finger; mount; fsck; more; yes; unmount; sleep
    3. Re:Yes... by Eggplant62 · · Score: 1

      No, I mean women in their 40s and on up, nearing that big change in life called menopause. What, I have to be this bloody specific for you idiots??

    4. Re:Yes... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Time to go back for another saliva test. Hormones might be a bit out of whack.

    5. Re:Yes... by Carnivore · · Score: 2, Informative

      You're using the term "pre-menupausal" in a very specific way, like pre-eclampsia. You mean "in the stages immediately preceding menopause", but to someone not in the field, pre-menupausal can appear to indicate the stage of life before menopause starts--any female who hasn't gone through menopause.

      I don't know a better term for it, but you can see how some people could get confused especially if they're pre-caffeineated.

    6. Re:Yes... by philspear · · Score: 1

      They collected saliva from a whopping 23 people to come up with this wonder list of proteins. Ever heard of genetic variation?


      No, I'm sure they have never ever heard of genetic variation. Being biochemists, they are probably completely ignorant of the basics of biology.

      There are over a thousand proteins in spit apperantly, identifying them from one individual alone is no easy or cheap thing. 23 is a good canvassing given the state of funding of the sciences and how much this must have cost. And how much genetic variation in spit do you expect? You're not likely to have even 100 proteins different between any two individuals. There are probably proteins out there that are in some people's saliva but weren't in the 23 due to genetic variation, but that will be pretty low.

      A bigger issue would be threshold of detection, how do you know that these proteins actually have functions in spit as opposed to just being detectable in spit? And I would bet good money that non-genetic variation would make the biggest difference. A poster below brought up pre and post menopausal women. Given the immune system's links to mucosal layers, I would think that having a cold would also signficantly change your salivary makeup.

      Again though, they have undoubtedly thought long and hard about these issues and might even talk about it in the paper.
    7. Re:Yes... by philspear · · Score: 1

      Edit: "You're not likely to have even 100 proteins different between any two individuals..." should have continued "because of genetic variation."

    8. Re:Yes... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      following a hormonally balanced diet can also help with menopausal symptoms. as a nice aside, your triglycerides drop, your hdl goes up (tg/hdl is one of the best indicators of chronic disease risk - less than 1 is great, 2 means time to start lowering your number, 3 means chronic disease is knocking at the door and 4+ pretty much means you already have a chronic disease that is impacting your life), you gain muscle faster, you lose excess fat, your energy increases and you feel great every day. There are a lot more good things, but that's a good enough list.

      yes, i have experienced all of the above over the last 9 months:

      1. dropped 20 total lbs (5'11", weigh 160 lbs, leanest i've ever been in my adult life).
      2. progressed from 10 lb flies to benching 200 lbs (muscle gain is about 6 lbs, so i've actually lost over 25 lbs of excess fat).
      3. currently progressing 5 lbs every 3 weeks on my bench press.
      4. 95% of my allergies disappeared.
      5. haven't called in sick in over a year - a first in my life.
      6. energy is better than ever before.
      7. i feel better in my 40s than i did in my late teens and 20s.

      Here's a couple menopause related testimonials:

      http://www.drsears.com/tabid/399/itemid/10858/Fish-oil-eases-her-menopause-symptoms.aspx
      http://www.drsears.com/ArticlePreview/tabid/399/itemid/9854/Default.aspx

      oh, and the two women with the most amount of olympic medals both incorporated the Zone Diet into their lifestyle. they are jenny thompson (12) and dara torres (9). jenny also holds the record for most gold medals by a female with 8. dara will be back competing in the 2008 olympics as a 41 year old - the diet is that good, people.

    9. Re:Yes... by packeteer · · Score: 1

      It was a joke.

      but you can see how some people could get confused especially if they're pre-caffeineated.

      but i think you got it eventually.

      --
      unzip; strip; touch; finger; mount; fsck; more; yes; unmount; sleep
  19. killing me are the sentences by Mystic+Pixel · · Score: 1, Funny
    My apologies for the pedantry, as I'm not normally one to be the grammar police, but I just can't tolerate the sentence structure of this post. Let's try again:

    "Researchers in the United States announced Tuesday that they have identified all 1,116 unique proteins found in human saliva glands. The discovery could usher in a wave of convenient, spit-based diagnostic tests that could be done without the need for a single drop of blood. Fred Hagen, a researcher at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York who worked on the study, said that as many as 20 percent of the proteins found in saliva are also found in blood."

    Not perfect, but much more readable, would you not agree?

    (Coincidentally, the fortune at the bottom of the submit page reads, "Drawing on my fine command of language, I said nothing." I find that more than a little strange...)

  20. Fill this, fill that... by Waccoon · · Score: 5, Funny

    Man, it's hard enough to fill those little cups with urine, but now they want a cup full of spit? They'd better have a good, stimulating magazine to help with that, like Texas Chili Monthly.

    1. Re:Fill this, fill that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you've got the right track, i hear by coin the term "food porn". Just whisper that term in Oprah's or some other talk show host ears and watch them run with it.

  21. Protein Map of Human Swallows? by PHPfanboy · · Score: 2, Funny

    Would that come under biology or ornithology?

    --
    29 mpg. YMMV.
    1. Re:Protein Map of Human Swallows? by i_liek_turtles · · Score: 1

      Pornography.

    2. Re:Protein Map of Human Swallows? by Hillgiant · · Score: 1

      Urology

      --
      -
    3. Re:Protein Map of Human Swallows? by thewiz · · Score: 1

      What about pornography?

      --
      If "disco" means "I learn" in Latin, does "discothèque" mean "I learn technology"?
    4. Re:Protein Map of Human Swallows? by TeknoHog · · Score: 1

      African or European swallows?

      --
      Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
  22. PubMed Link by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Here is the link to the Journal article. I'm reading through this now, but I'm hoping to god they characterised the glycosylation on these babies, it should help tie my PhD thesis together quite nicely.

  23. spit research by macshit · · Score: 0, Troll

    It was a discovery they said on Tuesday that could usher in a wave of convenient, spit-based diagnostic tests

    Oh, sure, that's what they told the funding bodies, but let's be honest: they did this research simply so they could publish papers with titles like "A Comprehensive Analysis of Spit."

    --
    We live, as we dream -- alone....
  24. presence - absence - ratios by chrisjbuck · · Score: 1

    Just thought I would point out some techniques that can quickly(?) tell you a great deal about the quantities of various proteins, iTRAQ is one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITRAQ. So an effective assay might look at the ratios of dozens of proteins and their relative abundance, not that iTRAQ is scalable for regular clinical tests. It is quite expensive as kits. On the other hand if twenty proteins seem to be key indicators of cancer a protocol using antibodies for each to partially purify the proteins followed by iTRAQ and MALDI mass spectrometry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maldi could be reasonably cost effective. It depends on how remarkable the differences are between well:sick people. A simple elisa test is all you need is a yes/no question on if a protein is there. The next step is just looking for good correlations between people having diseases and changes from the "fingerprint" of what is normal, it seems quite promising.

  25. clean by MancunianMaskMan · · Score: 1

    My brother, who works in a museum restoring old wooden objects, sometimes uses spit to remove stains. he smiles and says: this needs an enzymatic clean... spit...rub... gone. Does this research mean that some chemical company can now manufacture and sell this stuff? Superfluous nonsense. Spit is brilliant, also excellent for wiping spectacles, and to remove stains from clothes.

    1. Re:clean by tomhudson · · Score: 1

      Spit is also great as an anti-fog agent inside diving masks.

      Ditto for car windshields when you've accidently gotten some Fantastik or Spray 9 on them while cleaning the dash ...

      Also, saying "I protein map on your grave" sounds like something Dougie Howser in "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle" would do ...

  26. Re: why can't people use the subject field correct by Mathinker · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    -ly?

    It's a bit short for my tastes. I often end up having to invest a lot of effort to squeeze down to the character limit.

    Of course, your observation is correct for the post you commented on --- however, the poster might have split the subject text between the subject field and the comment for humorous effect, eh?

    Apologies if you were going for the Funny, also; my "whoosh" detection isn't all that great...

  27. Next step..... by edwardpickman · · Score: 1

    is to clone spit so we might finally have a cure for dry mouth. The makers of Gatoraide have called this Frankenscience and tampering with the natural order of things. They've sponsored a bill called "Ban Dolly's Spit". "Where will it end" said a spokesman for the company? "Are we gonna clone sweat next?"

    1. Re:Next step..... by Overzeetop · · Score: 1

      Maybe the fake spit will be developed at Florida's in-state rival Florida State. Then the new product can be called Seminole Fluid.

      Thanks, folks. I'll be here all week. Don't forget to tip you waiters.

      --
      Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
  28. getting lost will suck from now on by MassiveForces · · Score: 1

    "Hey dude have you got a map?" *gets a wad shot at her* "Ewww! What the hell was that for?!"
    "well you didn't say what kind of map..."

  29. Depending on What/When She Spat... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    there could be a whole lot more than 1116 protiens!!!!!

    Da Bump Chaa.

  30. Re: why can't people use the subject field correct by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
    It is an annoyance for me, yes. I don't think that the humor works at all, when the joke is split. Usually I have already read the punchline, and then after a WTF-moment, I try to figure out what the half-sentence meant.

    It is called "Subject", and not "Setup" or "first half of the joke", after all.

    PS, with a name like mathinker, I have to ask.. who's Mom are you thinking about?

    OK, that was going for the Funny.

  31. Easy Nature Paper by LaskoVortex · · Score: 1

    Find something like spit, earwax, or the gunk between your toes, do shotgun DNA sequencing, and call it a something-ome. For bonus, you could supply the sequences as an attached PDF file (I'm not kidding, something like this has been done--800 pages of PDF "supplemental material"). I find these articles in major journals about once a week and they are as boring to read as the list of ingredients on a box of cereal.

    --
    Just callin' it like I see it.
  32. Why do they call it a "map"? by mapkinase · · Score: 1

    Genome is called a "map", because you "map" genes to the positions in chromosomes and plasmids. This is the first time I see proteome (idiotic term as well) being called a "map".

    --
    I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
    1. Re:Why do they call it a "map"? by Wavebreak · · Score: 1

      English is a living language, thus the word 'map' has come to mean something somewhat different in the context of biology, medicine etc.. And no, that's not a bad thing.

      --
      Nobody expects the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal.
    2. Re:Why do they call it a "map"? by mapkinase · · Score: 1

      Are you a molecular biologist?

      --
      I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
    3. Re:Why do they call it a "map"? by Wavebreak · · Score: 0

      No, and I'm not even a native English speaker, yet I still understand what's meant by the word in this context, so as far as I'm concerned it's a perfectly legitimate use. Claiming otherwise is just pedantry. (How's that for a run-on sentence?)

      --
      Nobody expects the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal.
    4. Re:Why do they call it a "map"? by mapkinase · · Score: 1

      The problem is that you are talking about matters that you have no idea of. Now, please, go away and contribute to something you know about.

      --
      I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
    5. Re:Why do they call it a "map"? by Wavebreak · · Score: 0

      The problem is that you are resorting to ad hominem attacks rather than actually arguing your point. Now, please, go away and bully some schoolchildren or something.

      --
      Nobody expects the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal.
  33. Hmmmmm..... by IHC+Navistar · · Score: 1

    Is that the protein level before or AFTER a date?

    Ya know, there are just too many jokes that can be made about this article.....

    --
    Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
  34. at least we know the ingredients...... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    & that they're more valuable than robbIE's patentdead/fully censored/stock markup FraUDster owned decaying blog.

  35. Like a Family Circus map? by rodney+dill · · Score: 1

    Mt. Hoark
    Drool Falls
    Booger Bayou
    Loogie River
    Ptui Peak

    --

    Use your head, can't you, use your head,
    You're on earth, there's no cure for that     - S. Beckett
  36. Why have the proteins been unknown until now? by Bromskloss · · Score: 1

    Are there some difficulties involved in finding them? How does one do?

    Side note: I for one like needles and stuff, cause I'm interested in medicine and that is as close as I usually get to it. I donate blood, that's a great thing! You get in contact with medical care and get to do things to your body (which is nice, if you're bent like me), you save other people's lives in an old-fashioned "every one need to help now" way (makes it feel like war times) and you can play jokes on the overly caring nurses by standing up quickly and pretending you are about to faint from blood loss. :-)

    --
    Swedish plasma phys. PhD student; MSc EE; knows maths, programming, electronics; finance interest; seeks opportunities
  37. Wow! Metabolomics is progressing! by flajann · · Score: 1

    Metabolomics has progressed from urine to spittle! Wow, and less smelly!

    --
    Ruby Neural Evolution of Augmenting Topologies
  38. Re:ooook? by Jedi+Alec · · Score: 1

    Librarian, is that you?

    --

    People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
  39. gnifffffff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    9hh9h99h9hUIHHO yh88hh88hh8h8 lnljln 5d5d5d5d5dd5 FCCFRTFC flsflhhophopho;fdsa PO NEGAte neGAte negATE d7ga5rqrfvcCRFRC ..,.,.,.,, ,fd, feds fggT^GGTGTG fsaaaaaaq

  40. Re:ooook? by debatem1 · · Score: 1

    Not to the best of my knowledge. Am I missing a meme?

  41. Just ring a bell by Dareth · · Score: 1

    Soon patients will be properly conditioned to "drool" for the doctor when he rings a bell.
    All the research has been done. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Pavlov/

    --

    I only look human.
    My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
  42. Slightly more in depth article by bhovinga · · Score: 1

    http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/pr/news/story.cfm?id=1932

  43. Tricking the test by aarku · · Score: 1

    Make sure and gargle with egg whites before you walk into the doctor's office?

  44. Re:ooook? by FiloEleven · · Score: 1

    Not a meme, but a possibly obscure reference to the orangutan librarian of Discworld.

    --
    Your brain is not a computer.
  45. Re:ooook? by debatem1 · · Score: 1

    Got about 20 words into the first one and never found time to pick it back up again. Worth it?

  46. Why people can't use the subject field correctly by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

    1. Boring, plain subjects (like this one) don't get attention, and don't get moderated. You have to use a subject that grabs attention and stimulates curiosity if you don't want to get completely ignored. A lot of good comments go unnoticed because of they have nice proper subject lines.
    2. In some cases, it enhances the humor (as has already been mentioned).

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  47. Saliva serves many functions by peter303 · · Score: 1

    It starts digesting food.
    It attacks germs coming into mouth and alimentary canal.
    It may have aphrodesiac properties, stimulating love making.
    Its an emergency fluid/lubricant.
    It may be social communication - spitting, drooling.
    Its state is indicative of physical health.
    Others, I've forgotten.

    A thousand proteins sounds fair.

  48. "University of Rochester in New York" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes, Rochester is in New York State, but it's quite far from New York. A common observation from someone who isn't familiar with the region would be, "oh, it's in New York City!" It's actually a 7 or so hour drive.

    Yet when people say Buffalo, Syracuse, or Albany, no one gets confused.

  49. How many human proteins total? by SiliconEntity · · Score: 1

    How many different proteins are made by the human body as a whole, if over 1,000 are in saliva? Do current DNA maps tell all the proteins? What are the current esimates?

  50. Great News! by QuantumFTL · · Score: 1

    And kissing just got even sexier!

  51. Link to the journal publication by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18361515?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

  52. knobligate seizure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ya know, there are just too many jokes that can be made about this article..... Unsurprising some people feel a little overwhelmed by the humour prospects of a glandular fluid that doesn't make your sweat socks crunchy. The brain locus responsible for obligate low humour contains a mere 1100 neurons, with extensive dentritic projections to bad hair day and tilting sideways to release gas.

    This lobe is easily traumatized, such as discovering that the girl in your class you've been fantasizing about daily for three years still doesn't know your first name.

    Primary symptom of knobligate seizure is incessant repetition of memes that long ago ceased to be funny, until the extreme repetition itself is momentarily funny again, at which point the trauma of psycho-sexual oblivion is finally discharged.

    Immunity is conferred by owning a jersey with your name lettered in all-caps across the shoulders.

    Partial immunity is conferred by owning a jersey with someone else's name lettered across the shoulders, if the person is known to have outrageous earning potential, has a tribal affiliation in good standing to the local community, plays a full contact sport (NB: in a men's league), and never, ever grips another man's testicles except to better recover a fumble.

    For some reason, lettering your name onto the back of your Van Halen T-shirt with masking tape has not been observed to work.
  53. Re:ooook? by Captain+Nitpick · · Score: 1

    Got about 20 words into the first one and never found time to pick it back up again. Worth it?

    The Colour of Magic isn't that great. It's basically a bunch of loosely-connected stories parodying fantasy tropes. The book has its moments, but it mostly serves to introduce the setting for the later and IMO better novels.

    --
    But then again, I could be wrong.
  54. Re:ooook? by debatem1 · · Score: 1

    huh. skip it and read the next one?

  55. Straightforward subjects are OK by Mathinker · · Score: 1

    > 1. Boring, plain subjects (like this one) don't get attention, and don't get moderated.

    My experience indicates that the only things you have to avoid are:

    1) leaving the subject "Re: ..."
    2) using a subject which lacks content

    I get lots of positive mods using straightforward, rather boring, subjects.

  56. Sure..... by EmbeddedJanitor · · Score: 1

    But it's still slashdot.

    --
    Engineering is the art of compromise.
  57. If you think saliva is social communication by patio11 · · Score: 1

    You've been playing too much ForumWarz. (http://www.forumwarz.com, browser-based MMORPG about trolling message boards, and one character class has a "Drool on Keyboard" attack)

    --
    Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
  58. Re:ooook? by Captain+Nitpick · · Score: 1

    huh. skip it and read the next one?

    The problem with that is that The Colour of Magic ends with a (fairly literal) cliffhanger, and The Light Fantastic picks it up and runs with it.

    The Colour of Magic is not a bad book, it just doesn't contain much of a story. I suppose one could call it a travelogue about a naive tourist and his cowardly escort.

    --
    But then again, I could be wrong.
  59. Re:ooook? by FiloEleven · · Score: 1

    My personal favorites from the series are Thief of Time and Reaper Man, the second featuring Death as one of the main characters. These two struck me as having some very good content character-wise as well as maintaining the usual Discworld quirkiness.

    --
    Your brain is not a computer.