Archive for the ‘Male Genetics’ Category

One young producer is taking the goat industry by the horns and giving it a good shake-up as she aims to breed the ultimate crossbred goat.

Emily Watts is a 22-year-old go-getter from South-West Queensland who runs a goat breeding operation on her family properties between Dirranbandi and Bollon.

Ms Watts runs her goat stud alongside her parents, Catherine and Lachlan, who are also the namesakes for her stud, Catlok goats.

The Watts family, who originally ran trade cattle prior to the recent drought, decided to focus on goats as their main operation in 2016 after the lack of rain forced them to look for a more sustainable option.

Catlok focusses on the cross-breeding of Boer bucks and Rangeland does, which the family currently operate across 17,000 ha on their two properties.

"We started just mustering Rangelands for whoever wanted us to muster them and then we bought some in as well, and just kept doing fences internally," Ms Watts said.

"We got to the point where we put a big exclusion fence around both of our places and then we started to introduce the crossing of the Boers to our Rangeland does."

Catlok focus on cross-breeding Boer bucks with their Rangeland does. Photo: Georgia Hoolihan Photography,

Ms Watts said the Rangelands add invaluable traits to the genetics, something which is often overlooked by breeders looking to build weight in their meat animals.

"We definitely don't want to be going full Boer, we want to keep the Rangeland genetic in there," she said.

"I just think the Rangelands, the way they've adapted to the conditions, they've lived here with no help and no support for so long.

"And their fertility is a massive thing, they're re-breed is unbelievable; they'll come in with a weaner on them and then they'll be back in kid, in an uncontrolled environment as well.

"I think also, they have pretty good feet, so when you cross them you're adding the carcase but you're keeping the tough western durability."

However, she also believes that the introduction of a full or first-cross Boer buck to the herd goes a long way in adding meat value, and in a much shorter timeframe.

"The Boers, their growth rates are unreal and their meat, you can just pick them up, they put so much on and it's so much quicker."

"I just think sometimes that running all rangelands is not as profitable, whereas putting the Boers with them has been a lot more profitable and competitive."

Also read: Future bright for goats

Also read: Nuffield scholar's vision for goat industry

Ms Watts went to work on a cattle station in the Northern Territory during her first year out of school, before going to work at a Brahman stud near Cloncurry in Western Queensland.

Working for the stud gave Ms Watts an insight into the professionalism of a breeding operation and spurred her to "have a good crack" with her own goat stud.

"When I was working on the cattle stud, it was great just being introduced to the way a stud works, what they do, how they go about their herd and how they collect data," she said.

"Then when I came home last year I thought, we've got some really good animals and there is interest in people wanting to put, either a full Boer buck or a first-cross buck, into their herd just to make their operation a bit more profitable.

"So I thought well, we need to really make something of this, start distinguishing our best stock and really having a go at the genetics side of things."

This demand for reasonably-priced stud animals is where Catlok has found their niche, using paddock sales as a platform to market goats that thrive in the tough Western-Queensland conditions.

"I really want to keep producing paddock sales, especially for people who have large mobs of Rangelands out west and they want to be able to purchase say, 20 or 40 bucks at a time to cover their mob," Ms Watts said.

"The prices at the moment are just insane and it's pretty hard for them to go to a sale and just spend all that money.

"I think, it's a pretty niche market that I feel we can fill because our animals are born in western conditions and they're not fed to the hilt on grain, they've just adapted to the conditions."

Catlok Goats is a family run operation in South-West Queensland. Photo: Georgia Hoolihan Photography.

Ms Watts will be furthering her education next year at Marcus Oldham College in Geelong, studying a degree in Agribusiness.

The young producer said she hopes to increase her knowledge in order to make her operation as profitable as possible, focusing on genetics and meat quality to achieve best market results.

"We just really want to focus on improving our genetics and start introducing the Myotonic breed, and purchasing genetics from Contender Meat Goats where they imported those genetics from America, their meat goat is very interesting.

"Meat quality and marbling, that really interests me and I hope that we can develop a product for that because there's going to have to be a time where people are putting more money into their genetics, so there needs to be a premium market.

"There's a really big gap in the market there so I'm pretty keen to improve the meat side of things."

It seems nothing will be slowing Ms Watts down as she plans to grow her business and continue making waves in the industry, saying her being a young woman only makes her work harder for success.

"What people have done in the cattle or sheep industry, that's what we want to do with goats," she said.

"We want to become a really good western goat meat stud, and I'm quite passionate about that.

"I think, especially being a younger person and a female, it's a good challenge because the industry can be a little male-dominated I suppose. I'm pretty keen to keep doing it for the long haul."

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Originally posted here:
Emily Watts takes on goat industry - Queensland Country Life

CEDAR GROVE - One moment the November sky above Cedar Grove Ornithological Research Station was an inert cobalt canvas streakedwitha few white cirrus clouds.

The nextabuff-colored speck soaredover the northern tree line and everything changed.

Danny Erickson of Wauwatosa and Jenn Schneiderman of Madison grabbed binoculars and looked out of the facility's viewing slot toparse out clues onthe fast-approaching mass of feathers, muscle and talons.

"Redtail," saidErickson, CGORS'banding director. "Keep coming, keep coming..."

The raptorsaw a potential meal on the open field below and set its wings indescent.

Seconds later it landed and was captured in a remote-controlled net.

Schneiderman sprinted across the grass to secure the flapping hawk and brought it inside for processing.

"An adult!" Schneiderman said as she presented the bird to the other staff on hand. "And isn't she beautiful?"

Moreover, the bird was exactly the age and speciesresearchers at the station hoped to capture, fit with a high-tech transmitter and release as part of a new Red-Tailed Hawk Project being run by Bryce Robinson of Cornell University.

Cedar Grove Ornithological Research Station got its start as a bird banding site in 1935 under the auspices of the Milwaukee Public Museum with assistance from the Civilian Conservation Corps.

In 1950, Milwaukee natives Dan Berger and HelmutMueller took over and ran it for more than 60 years. It's now runby the CGORS board of directors, volunteers and a few paid staff.

It could well be the mostimportant Wisconsin bird study siteyou've never heard of.

The station has the longest sustained record for observations and trapping of birds of prey in North America.

Since its inception, 45,516 birds, mostly hawks and owls, have been captured, banded and released at the facility.

The work is conducted from Aug. 15 to Nov. 15 each yearin a modest buildingset on31-acres of Department of Natural Resources landnear the Lake Michigan shore in Cedar Grove.

Because of the nature of the work, the property is closed to visitors unless arrangements have been made in advance.

Prevailing westerly winds cause migrating birds of prey to concentrate near Wisconsin's Lake Michigan shoreas they move south.

As such, CGORS is perfectly situated forraptor research studies.

This year the CGORS crew caught, processed and released 788 birds of prey, including 334 saw whet owls, 175 sharp-shinned hawks, 131 red-tailed hawks, 73 merlins, 42 Coopers hawks, 17 peregrine falcons as well as a few each American kestrels, short-eared owls and northern harriers.

The birds are fitted with metal bands and the data areentered in a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service system. If a band is recovered, mostly when a bird is found dead, or if it's captured at another site, the physical tag can help fill in some blanks about bird movements or life history.

But that technology dates back several centuries.

That's why CGORS decided to work with the Red-tailed Hawk Project, said Suzanne Kaehler, board member and volunteer at the facility.

Attaching a GPS transmitter to a bird allows researchers to obtain locational data around the clock, yielding a far richer and more complete catalog of information.

"Redtails may seem common," Kaehler said. "But we actually don't know that much about them."

The species is native to Wisconsin and, since it can live in a range from urban to rural to naturalhabitats, is doing fairly well.

Indeed, if you see ahawk perched along a highway in the Badger State, odds are it's a redtail.

But is it a resident hawk in its year-round territory? Or a migrating bird taking a rest?

In Wisconsin, it could be either.

The Red-tailed Hawk Projectis working across North Americato study the species, said Robinson, a doctoral candidate at Cornell who is coordinating the research.

The two main pillars of inquiry are evolutionary history andmovement ecology.

"We have many unanswered questions," Robinson said. "Modern technology is, we hope, going to be a big assist in answering them."

As part of the work, researchers are attaching the GPS transmitters to the birds as well as taking blood samples for genetic testing and recording images of the individuals to help with phenotyping.

The solar-poweredtransmitters store locational data and download it whenever in range of a cellular phone tower. The technology allows researchers to constructa nearly 24/7/365 record ofthe birds' movements.

Red-tails are foundfrom Alaska and across northern Canada down to Panama and into the Caribbean.

Literature describes 16 subspecies of redtails, Robinson said.

But due to color types and other variations, it's not clear where to draw manyof the lines.

Among questions the work will attempt to answer: Is the Harlan's redtail found mostly in Alaska actuallya separate species? And is the Krider's redtail, a beautiful, lighter-coloredbird found mostly in the northern plains region, a distinct subspecies or simply a blondervariation of the more common redtails found in the Midwest and East?

About 30 transmitters were attached to redtails in 2020 and another dozen or so are being deployed this year, Robinson said.

Already"full cycle" information over the last year hasrevealed breeding sites in Alaska and northern Canada for some birds that flysouth for thewinter as well as identified other birds in the U.S. that are non-migratory.

It's also helped document behaviors of the species, such as the brooding period when maleredtailsfly widely to hunt and supply food for the females. During this time of "provisioning" by its matethe females stay on or very close to the nest.

Robinson has enlistedresearchers across the continent to participate in the study, including Nick Alioto at Michigan State University, Lucas DeCicco at University of Kansas, Allie Pesano at University of Minnesota Duluth and Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory, Neil Paprockie at University of Idaho, Nicole Richardson, Mark Robbins at University of Kansas Museum of Natural History, Brian Sullivan at Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Jesse Watson at HawkWatch International.

When Kaehler heard about it, she knew CGORS could bean ideal cooperator.

She contacted Robinson and organized the fledgling partnership.

Funding for the four transmitters (about $1,500 each) came fromdonations from Madison Audubon, Jim and Suzanne Otto and Kaehler.

They are the only transmitters attached to redtails in Wisconsin as part of the work.

Robinson visited the Cedar Grove facility in Octoberto conduct training on the transmitters and other aspects of the project.

The goal is to place the tracking deviceson adult redtails so data would help reveal breeding sites and migration information, if appropriate.

That's why although the CGORS crew is excited each time it bandsa raptor, the adult with the rust-colored tail carried into the facility by Schneidermanthat November morning generated a special buzz.

Erickson, the banding director, and Kaehler placed a hood over the bird to calm it.

Then they measured its tail and wing feathers, talons and beak.

It was then weighed (1,088 grams) and a 1 milliliter sample of blood was drawn.

Two snippets of feathers were cut, too, to assist with isotope studies.

The bird was then taken outdoors for a photo session with special attention paid to feather colors.

"Just look at those pantaloons," Schneiderman said, admiring the feathers on the hawk's legs.

Then came time for the GPS transmitter to be attached. The device, about half the size of a deck of playing cards, fit on the bird like a backpack.

A special adaptation has been added to the redtail transmitters this year: the solar panel has been raised about 1/4 inch from the main unit to help it extend above the bird's feathers and improve its access to sunlight for charging.

Once Erickson and Kaehler were convinced the unit's straps were tight enough to hold but loose enough for the hawk to fly and move normally, it was time for release.

Schneiderman carried the bird, now called Rosie, into the woodlot on the south of the property.

She held the hawk at shoulder height and with a slight boost, she let go of its legs.

The redtail didn't miss a beat. Itsoared once more, up and away to the south.

This time though its movements will add to the body of science and perhaps one day even help protect its species.

More information: Cedar Grove Ornithological Research Station is a non-profit, mainly volunteer group dedicated to raptor research. Donations can be made toP.O. Box 156, Glenbeulah, WI 53023 or via PayPal to rptrbander@gmail.com.

You can also donate to theCedar Grove Ornithological Research Station Fund established by the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin. Visit wisconservation.org to learn more.

To learn more about the Red-tailed Hawk Project, visit redtailedhawkproject.org.

THANK YOU: Subscribers' support makes this work possible. Help us share the knowledge by buying a gift subscription.

Excerpt from:
Smith: Hawk study seeks to unlock secrets of redtails - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Breast canceris the most common cancer in women after skin cancer and up to 15% of people with breast cancer have a genetic or inherited cause for the disease.

Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit academic medical center. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services.Policy

ResearcherCharis Eng, MD, PhD, explains what you need to know about breast cancer genes and genetic testing.

The termbreast cancer genesmeans genes that, when altered (mutated),increase your risk of getting breast cancer. These gene mutations shut down some of your natural cancer-fighting genes. When you dont have your full army of genes fending off cancer, your risk of certain cancers goes up.

BRCA1 and BRCA2 are the most common breast cancergenes when mutated, followed closely by PTENmutations, says Dr. Eng.But several other breast cancer gene mutations exist. We know ofat least14 differentgenesright now, and we are currently exploring several others, too.

These gene mutations arent limited to breast cancer risk. Some of these gene mutations may also increase the risk of:

Breast cancer gene mutations arent common in the general population, Dr. Eng says, but they are common in people who have breast cancer. About 10% to 15% of people with breast cancer have one of the breast cancer gene mutations.

You can inherit these gene mutations from either of your biological parents, and the cancers theyre linked tocanaffect both men and women so considerallyour relatives when thinking about your family history.

Genetic testing is the only way to know whether you have a breast cancer gene. These blood tests check for BRCA1 and BRCA2, as well as other known breast cancer genes.

If you have already been diagnosed with breast cancer, you may need genetic testing if you:

If you havent been diagnosed with breast cancer, consider genetic testing if you:

Genetic tests are helpful for people with risk factors, but not everyone needs them.

Testing everyone in the general population would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack, Dr. Eng says.Most people would get negative results. And right now, the world doesnt have enough geneticists tosee all those patients and do a follow-up. Knowing your family history is important because it tells us whoneeds to be tested or if you need to be tested.

If your doctor finds that youre at risk for hereditary breast cancer, they will refer you to a geneticsprofessional, such as a geneticcounselor, for genetic evaluation and pre- and post-test genetic counseling. Then, your blood is drawn and sent to a clinical lab for genetic analysis.

A geneticist (genetics expert) reads your blood test results and follows up with your provider. If you have a positive result, youll meet with your genetic counselor to discuss next steps for your care.

Having a positive genetic test result doesnt mean youll get cancer. It means you have a higher risk of getting breast cancer than people without the mutation.

Consider these statistics:

Even if you get tested and get a negative result, dont skip mammograms or other health screenings, and continue to follow the American Cancer Societys guidelines.

Most cases of breast cancer arent hereditary, says Dr. Eng.A negative result means you dont have the known gene mutations for breast cancer. But you can still get breast cancer.

A positive result for breast cancer genes can be difficult to deal with. But you can use this information to your advantage.

If we know you have a breast cancer genealteration, we can take extra steps to catch cancer early, when its most treatable, Dr. Eng says.Your providers can perform enhanced screenings starting at an early age, usually 25 or 30, depending on the gene.Knowledge is power.

More here:
Breast Cancer Genes Explained: How & When to Get Tested - Health Essentials from Cleveland Clinic

Consider 100 baby boys and 100 baby girls born in 1950. Experts predict that 46 of the men and 61 of the women a third more will still be alive at age 80 in 2030.

Even Steven Austad, an expert on aging at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, didnt give statistics like that much thought until about 10 years ago. Everyone knew that women outlived men. He figured it was just because men had more heart disease.

But Austad, who is senior scientific director of the American Federation for Aging Research, is a sucker for topics that others take for granted, and he dug deeper. He learned that girls started out-surviving boys even before they were born and that their survival advantage lasted throughout life. It was present in virtually every country, rich or poor. Women were more likely to live through natural disasters, famines, pandemics (including COVID-19) and many of the diseases that most often kill human beings. Under almost any condition we can imagine, women do better, he said.

A rare upside for men was that those who made it to their senior years were less disabled than female peers. There were also surprising studies that found that a few drugs that extended the life of male mice did nothing for females. Thats a really stunning result, said Richard Miller, a biogerontologist who directs the Paul F. Glenn Center for Aging Research at the University of Michigan and has been studying life-extending drugs in mice. One medication, he said, worked in both sexes.

Austad and a growing cadre of researchers started to think that these differences in aging between men and women were fundamental to human biology and potentially much more complex and divergent than many had assumed. They are now in the early stages of studying how our chromosomes and genes, hormones and immune systems influence how long and how well we live, with an eye toward expanding our healthy lifespans.

If we could find a way to make men live as long as women and make women be as healthy as men later in life, then we would have an enormous impact on our lives, Austad said.

Candace Kerr, a stem cell biologist in the division of aging biology at the National Institute on Aging, agreed that understanding these sex differences could improve the health of both men and women as they aged. It paves the way to finding sex-specific targets for disease, she said.

For decades, scientists assumed that information they gleaned from male patients and male lab animals would naturally apply to females, as well. Since 2016, the National Institutes of Health has required scientists to incorporate males and females into the design, analysis and reporting of clinical research studies of people and vertebrate animals.

Now researchers are finding unexpected differences throughout our bodies, but they say its too soon to draw sweeping conclusions. I think that we are in a renaissance of sorts in really beginning to understand and appreciate the differences, said Dena Dubal, a neurologist at University of California-San Francisco who studies how to slow aging with a focus on hormones and genetics. Her research has found fascinating evidence of the benefits women may derive from their second X chromosome.

The signs that women are the tougher sex when it comes to health are copious. Eighty-five percent to 90% of centenarians are women. All of the worlds 10 oldest people with credible birth records were female, Austad said. In 2018, women died at a lower age-adjusted rate of 13 of the top 15 causes of death, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. There was no sex difference for stroke. Women were more likely to die of Alzheimers disease, although men who get dementia die of it more quickly, said Michelle Mielke, a Mayo Clinic epidemiologist who studies sex differences in neurodegeneration.

Women tend to die of the same basic things that men do, but they die at later ages, Miller said.

At the cellular level, womens brains look four to five years younger than mens, Dubal said. Many biological markers indicate faster aging in almost all of the tissues in male bodies, Kerr said. Women get heart disease later. Their vascular health is generally better than mens, although they have more disease in small blood vessels in late life, Mielke said. Womens immune systems respond more quickly to viral invasions. This is one explanation for why theyre more likely to recover. It may also be why theyre more prone to autoimmune diseases than men.

Then we come to what Austad calls the morbidity-mortality paradox. Men who survive into late middle age and old age tend to have less disability than women. One theory is that men die of diseases that women survive, but the women do not emerge unscathed. Many women will survive and remain fairly functional after diseases that men would have died from, Miller said.

Anne B. Newman, a geriatrician and epidemiologist at the University of Pittsburgh, added that women are more prone to arthritis, which causes disability. Everyone loses muscle mass with age, and women start out with weaker muscles and a higher percentage of body fat. Women are also more prone to osteoporosis after menopause, and that puts them at risk for broken hips. There are more older women with frailty, partly because frail men dont live long.

Women are just physically less endowed to keep moving as they get older, Newman said.

READ MORE: It's never too late to start moving, but you may not catch up to lifelong exercisers

As to why women live longer, the theories are many and complex.

The gap between male and female lifespan widened during the 20th century. Caleb Finch, a biologist at the University of Southern California who studied that phenomenon, thought lung cancer and heart disease accounted for most of the difference. He also studied an indigenous Bolivian population whose pre-industrial lifestyle included exercise and a healthy diet. People there had very little coronary artery disease, but men still had more evidence of blood vessel damage than women.

Newman added that women began living longer when better medical care meant they less often bled to death or became infected during childbirth. She thinks that qualities that allow women to successfully carry a child, such as the ability to tolerate stress and store additional nutrition, may lengthen their lifespans.

You cant ignore behavior. Men are more likely to smoke and eat fatty food. Theyre also less likely to see doctors regularly and get cancer screenings and flu and COVID-19 vaccines. They more often age in isolation. Behavior feels like more than half of the picture, said Aroonsiri Howell, a Temple Health geriatrician.

Young men are prone to risky and potentially deadly activities, a period that Austad calls testosterone dementia. Their death rate compared to womens slows after 35 or so, but its still higher.

Finch said trying to tease out whats affecting our aging is like analyzing a hoard of arrows shot into the air at the same time but traveling at different rates. Genes and hormones matter, but the role of culture and society in shaping the outcomes is also huge and not easy to define at the molecular level.

Beyond behavior, much current research focuses on hormones and sex chromosomes. Women have two X chromosomes, one from their mother and one from their father. Men have an X from their mother and a Y from their father.

Those two Xs give women a richer dose of X-related genes. In each cell of a womans body, one X dominates and the other is mostly inactivated, but its not always the same X. Early in life, the mom and dad Xs may split the work fairly evenly, but, as women age, the fitter X may take on a bigger role, Austad said. Plus, scientists now know that the inactivated X isnt really inactivated. About 15% of its genes are functional.

Austad thinks the Y deserves more attention than scientists are giving it, but its clear that it codes for many fewer genes (55) than the X (900). While the second X may give women a safety net of sorts if one of their Xs is faulty, a mans Y chromosome is not much help when theres a problem with his X. This is why certain X-lined diseases, such as fragile X syndrome, hemophilia A, and Duchenne muscular dystrophy are more common in men.

Dubals work with mice suggests that womens extra X complexity also gives women a longevity advantage. She used a technique that allows researchers to grow the gonads of one sex in the bodies of another, thus exposing them to the other sexs hormones. So, genetically female mice could have testicles and penises and male mice could have ovaries and vaginas. She compared four groups of mice: XX mice with ovaries, XX mice with testicles, XY mice with testicles and XY mice with ovaries. The XX mice lived the longest, regardless of their gonads.

The X accounts for about 5% of our genome, Dubal said, and it is rich in brain-related genes. This may help explain why women are more cognitively resilient. One of her studies found that 19 of those genes were associated with slower cognitive aging in women, but not in men. Three genes, meanwhile, were linked to higher levels in men but not women of misformed tau, a protein seen in the brains of people with Alzheimers.

Women may reap the benefits of the double-dose of X throughout their lives, but theres little doubt that things go downhill from an aging perspective after menopause, so hormones are clearly also a factor. Estrogen, the most important female hormone, drops markedly as a woman enters menopause. Testosterone production also slows in men.

Estrogens are thought to be protective against a variety of diseases, whereas testosterone seem to enhance the risk of disease progression, wrote Brnice Benayoun, a geneticist and cell biologist at the University of Southern Californias Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, in a 2020 paper.

The average woman reaches menopause at 51. Studies show that later menopause is associated with longer life.

Jennifer Garrison, a neuroscientist and chemist at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, focuses on the impact of ovarian aging in women. Menopause makes a womans body age about 6% faster, she said. It unleashes this negative cascade of health effects, including more heart disease, cognitive decline, and bone weakening. She said the ovaries are involved in important communication channels with the brain that have systemic physical implications.

She would like to do away with menopause entirely. Theres no biological imperative to have it, she said. She thinks menopause should be a choice, not something imposed on you by some out-of-date biology. She realizes that not every woman dreams of extra decades of periods and pregnancy fears. Pregnancy and fertility and menstruation can potentially be uncoupled from having functioning ovaries, she said.

No doubt it will take a while to figure out how to do that, and there is no similar fix available to aging men.

In the meantime, Temples Howell counsels male and female patients differently. She tells the men to worry about heart disease and high-fat diets. Women need to worry about preventing osteoporosis and falls.

READ MORE: Steps to prevent falls as we age

And we all can do the usual things that promote healthier aging: Eat good food, avoid smoking and exercise.

More:
In most ways, women age better than men and live longer. Scientists are trying to figure out why. - The Philadelphia Inquirer

The new Head & Shoulders Scalp X collection goes beyond just treatment to help you regrow hair and actually keep it around.

Theres a moment in every mans life when he has to look himself in the mirror and ask, am I losing my hair? Statistically, it happens way earlier than youd expect. Around two-thirds of men will see signs of hair loss by the time they are 35 and that number jumps to 85 percent by the time theyre 50, according to the American Hair Loss Association. But knowing youre not alone in the struggle doesnt make it any easier, especially if youre not sure whats causing itor what to do about it.

Read more: Best Grooming Products for Men

According to the American Academy of Dermatology, there are as many as 20 causes of hair loss, but for most men, its genetic (some say upwards of 95% of male hair loss is due to genetics). Obviously, treating something rooted in genetics, as opposed to, say, diet or stress, is tricky. Most traditional hair loss treatments focus on getting back the hair you lost, but dont do much to help it stick around.

Scalp X 5% Minoxidil Hair Regrowth Treatment for Men

$44.94

The new Scalp X collection from Head & Shoulders is designed to not only help regrow hair, but also retain it and strengthen the hair you still have, curbing the genetic aspect of male hair loss. The collection includes two productsa shampoo with zinc pyrithione and vitamin E and a hair regrowth treatment with minoxidil. The duo could help you not only grow back hair that youve lost but keep it around for longer.

Read more: Best Vitamins for Hair Growth

The centerpiece of the collection is the Scalp X Hair Regrowth Treatment For Men With Minoxidil ($44.99 for a 3-pack), a topical foam you apply to your scalp every day. It contains 5% minoxidil, the maximum strength you can get without a prescription and the ingredient is the only FDA-approved hair regrowth treatment on the market. It works by enlarging hair follicles that shrink during the hair loss process and effectively speeds up the life cycle of the hair.

But lets get reala minoxidil foam isnt exactly a new thing (you might know it from Rogaine fame). Whats most intriguing is the Scalp X Shampoo For Men. It contains zinc pyrithione, a typical treatment for dandruff (these are Head & Shoulders products, after all) and in this case, the anti-dandruff shampoo has another purpose. Zinc pyrithione can also increase hair strength to protect against damage, says Rolanda Wilkerson, Ph.D., Principal Scientist and Senior Director of Scientific Communications in Beauty Care at Procter & Gamble. Combined with vitamin E, an antioxidant that helps support scalp and hair health, it can help build up hair follicles to not only strengthen the hair itself, but help the scalp keep them firmly in place and help prevent loss by breakage. And of course, zinc pyrithione still helps with itch and flakes, a bonus for anyone trying to solve both issues at once, she says.

The two products in the collection have their own unique benefits and to get them, you dont necessarily have to use them together (though, we say, why not cover your bases). Use the treatment foam after you wash your hair with (or without) the shampoo , but Dr. Wilkerson recommends using the treatment foam twice a day every day even if you dont wash your hair (because, really, who is washing their hair twice a day) as you dont have to rinse it out. Results begin to show after about three months of consistent use and side effects are minimalthough when you stop using minoxidil, results stop, too. While you should consult a dermatologist before starting any sort of hair loss regimen, you dont need a prescription for Scalp X. Its available now on Amazon and soon at your local drug store. With accessibility like that, were ready to grow.

Read more: Best Hair Products for Men

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Inside Head & Shoulders' New Hair Loss Treatment That Actually Works - menshealth.com

Em is a non-binary person speaking out the pressure they feel to be thin.Photo: Emily Bashforth

Unrealistic beauty standards are pervasive in all areas of society. However, non-binary people face unique pressures to look a certain way in order to be accepted. Restrictive ideals surrounding androgyny and thinness often leave trans, non-binary and gender nonconforming folk feeling invalidated and uncomfortable within their identity. This has led to a spike in eating disorders amongst trans youth, and prolonged battles with gender dysphoria.

25-year-old Em identifies as trans, genderqueer, transmasc and non-binary. They are also fat. They have known they are genderqueer for over four years, but continue to explore their relationship with their gender.

Related: This mom handled her sons coming out as trans in the most mom way possible

Despite feeling assured in their identity for several years, Em often feels that they fail to meet a non-binary beauty standard.

There is a widely accepted image of the skinny androgynous AFAB [Assigned Female At Birth] white enby [non-binary] that is most peoples first conception of what non-binary looks like. I think this image gets held up because it is the most palatable in our current culture of patriarchy and white supremacy. The truth is, there should be no general understanding at all of what non-binary looks like. The only way to be non-binary is to not identify as binary female or binary male. Anything outside of or between that can be grouped under this umbrella label and can look however a non-binary individual wants, they share.

Em explains that the goal of non-binary presentation always seems to be androgyny, and there is something about fatness that we have decided is not androgynous.

On the surface level, there are obvious things like fat AFAB folks are more likely to have larger, harder to conceal chests, and to have fat sitting in places like hips that create a curvier, feminine body type. But deeper than that, Im convinced there is a relationship between the way that fat binary folks are expected to perform gender to a higher standard in order to be deemed attractive, and how to be androgynous you must not be fat at all.

Em feels the pressure to be thin in order to be non-binary has definitely muddied their gender journey.

They find it much easier to present as masc and to identify with maleness, because it is widely accepted that men can be fatter than women and still be considered attractive.

In my experience, I can go shopping and buy pants that fit my waist in the mens section, but they dont sell pants that fit my waist in the womens section. Though fatness is not the beauty standard for men, society is designed to accommodate fat men more than fat women. The result of this is that I am constantly feeling unable to play with gender expression.

19-year-old Alex echoes that standards in the fashion industry take a toll on non-binary people simply being able to exist as themselves.

A lot of mainstream non-binary people are thin, including actors and influencers. As well, I think LGBTQIA+ people are expected to be thin because were supposed to be fashionistas, and there is a widespread issue within fashion that clothes only look good on thin people, and that skinny is synonymous with stylish.

Alex admits that the expectation to be thin as a non-binary person can be overwhelming, and they want people to know that non-binary people arent some type of mass produced doll.

Theres an image that non-binary people are supposed to conform to. This constrains me so badly from wearing what I want to wear, or experimenting. My mental health has really suffered as a result of this, and I fear abuse when I go outside as other people look at my body.

So, how does Alex practise self-care when the pressure to squeeze themselves into a mould mounts up?

I think sweatpants are the greatest invention ever. They allow me to walk around the house without seeing my body. But also, if I need to go out, I can still put together an outfit that makes me feel hot. Its just important for people to do what is comfortable for them, because you are with yourself your whole life. You have to look after yourself.

Anna, 22, knows all too well the feeling of needing to be thin in order for society to recognise them as non-binary.

On top of unaccepting partners and being misgendered by parents, they battle with depression and an eating disorder, mental illnesses that are only exacerbated by pressures to be thin.

Theyre currently in a place of finding their true self, but this proves difficult when the media and misconceptions perpetuate the androgynous non-binary stereotype.

I feel a lot of androgyny is connected to looking like an adult boy. I was born in a female body that cant just turn into a male body. My genetics prevent that. Yet I have breasts and hips that are sexualised and visual female body parts and make people see me as female, which I dont want. Im neither a man nor a woman.

Anna shares that trying to reframe their own transphobia provides comfort when the pressures to look a certain way get loud.

I am who I am. I matter. My identity matters. I find reading about other enby and trans people also helps a lot and reminds me I am not alone with this. I also purchased a binder recently, which brought me gender euphoria, since I can now hide my breasts. I wear it when I feel really uncomfortable in my female body.

They also want society to take the focus away from gender, allowing things to just be rather than labelling them as male or female.

I want to scream at the top of my lungs that non-binary people exist. We are real. We are not a trend. We finally have the vocabulary to express ourselves so, please, dont just tolerate us, accept and respect us.

Visit link:
The pressure to be thin as a non-binary person - LGBTQ Nation

FRIDAY, Nov. 19, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Young African American patients have had an increasing burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and worsened in-hospital outcomes, though with improved survival odds, according to a study presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2021, held virtually from Nov. 13 to 15.

Rupak Desai, M.B.B.S., from the Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and colleagues compared the burden of CVD risk factors and major adverse cardiac events (MACE) and in-hospital outcomes among young hospitalized African Americans (18 to 44 years). The analysis included 1,341,068 admissions in 2007 and 1,581,675 in 2017 identified from the National Inpatient Sample databases.

The researchers found that the 2017 cohort often had younger (mean age, 30 versus 31 years), male (30.4 versus 28.8 percent) patients with higher nonelective admissions (76.8 versus 75 percent). The 2017 cohort also showed a rising burden of traditional cardiometabolic comorbidities, congestive heart failure, chronic pulmonary disease, coagulopathy, and depression, along with an increased likelihood of diabetes, obesity, and smoking and notable reductions in alcohol abuse and drug abuse versus the 2007 cohort. Worsening in-hospital outcomes included MACE (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.21), acute myocardial infarction (aOR, 1.34), cardiogenic shock (aOR, 3.12), atrial fibrillation/flutter (aOR, 1.34), ventricular fibrillation/flutter (aOR, 1.32), cardiac arrest (aOR. 2.55), pulmonary embolism (aOR, 1.89), and stroke (aOR, 1.53). However, the 2017 cohort showed a decreased rate of percutaneous coronary intervention/coronary artery bypass graft and all-cause mortality compared with the 2007 cohort.

"Many potential factors seem to be responsible for these findings, including less frequent annual wellness visits; absent or insufficient screening measures at a younger age; genetics; stress; an unhealthy diet; a lack of awareness or insight into a healthy lifestyle; and even financial constraints," a coauthor said in a statement.

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AHA: Risk for Heart Disease Up for Young Black Adults in the U.S. - HealthDay

When your cannabis strains have remained popular for decades, are named in hundreds of hip hop songs, and inspire countless imitations, we think the title legend is a good fit. Mr. Sherbinski, the Cannabis grower responsible for the beloved Gelato (one of the most highly-sought after strains in the world), is one such legend.

Keep reading to learn where the Sherbinskis brand came from and how its strains have become cannabis cannon.

Before he took on the alias Mr. Sherbinski, the cultivating hegemon was Mario Guzman, son of Mexican immigrants and successful real estate broker in San Francisco. When the dot-com bubble burst the U.S. economy, Guzman made an interesting pivot.

At the suggestion of a friend, Guzman decided to turn to another entrepreneurial endeavor: cannabis cultivation out of his garage.

People hate on garage growing, Guzman said to Cannabis Now. But you look at that picture, the one that shows all the garages where Apple and Microsoft started, its true in cannabis too. A lot of the products that changed the culture of cannabis and strains came from garages.

When Guzman crossed paths with Jigga (the creator of Thin Mint Cookies) he became a co-creator of one of the strains to change the game. His collaborations with Jigga brought Sunset Sherbert and Gelato to life. Then Guzman modified the strains to fruity perfection.

Mr. Sherbinksi reached cannabis stardom once the hip-hop community got their hands on his weed. Rappers like Young Dolph, Future, Berner, and Lil Yachty have shouted out Gelato (often, more than once), helping to make this West Coast strain a global phenomenon.

Thanks to Gelatos explosive popularity, Mr. Sherbinski has come a long way from his garage and basement days. You can still find his strains in rap songs, but you can also purchase his brand of bud from licensed dispensaries across North America. Hes in the dispensary business himself as the owner of an elite cannabis shop (were talking rooftop garden, modern design, and premium products) in Los Angeles.

On top of his posh retail shop, Guzman owns growing facilities across California, including a one million square foot greenhouse in Santa Barbara and a 22 thousand indoor grow space in Sacramento. However, Guzman has created a lifestyle brand that offers much more than top-shelf cannabis.

Browse through the Sherbinskis online shop, and youll find all kinds of merchandise. Everything from Sherbinskis-branded batteries to cannabis leaf-covered accent chairs are available for nationwide delivery. This brand evolution is strategic national cannabis legalization is on the horizon and cannabis culture is shape-shifting once again.

The Sherbinskis origin story is quite different from the beginnings of cannabis corporations like Curaleaf and Green Thumb Industries, but Guzman is confident that theres room for legacy cannabis entrepreneurs like him.

The people that are running these $500 million hedge funds, they have smart people and big checkbooks, but I still feel like theres a shortage of people who are passionate and have been doing this a long time, Guzman said to the New York Times.

A balanced hybrid cross between Sunset Sherbert and Thin Mint, Gelato (AKA Gelato #42 and Larry Bird) is one the most popular weed strains in the world. Gelatos most abundant terpene is caryophyllene and tests show it holds an average of 17% THC.

Fans of Gelato love the strains gentle body high and fruity aroma, but we recommend that consumers new to cannabis or with a THC sensitivity take it easy Gelatos effects can come on quickly and powerfully.

Gelato was only the beginning for the Sherbinskis brand. The following strains are some of our favorite Gelato creations:

We cant include a list of Gelato genetics without starting with Sunset Sherbert. An indica-dominant hybrid cross between Girl Scout Cookies and Pink Panties, this strain was created by accident. Sherbinski left a male Pink Panties in a basement with a female Thin Mint Cookies. We dont know if love or marriage came first, but the two produced Sunset Sherbert, the strain that really got Sherbinksi started.

The offspring of Sunset Sherbert and Thin Mint Cookies, Bacio is an indica-dominant hybrid with more THC than its siblings. An average of 24% THC makes the Bacio the high-tolerance consumers best friend. Enjoy the Bacio at night to wind down with a relaxing body high and gentle euphoria.

Expect a fruity, creamy bouquet when you inhale Mochi, the indica-dominant hybrid member of the GSC family. Mochi consumers return to this strain again and again because of its energizing and creativity-promoting effects. Containing an average of 10% THC, creatives can relax without feeling sluggish, produce art that makes sense, and combine their fun with their therapy in one tasty toke.

Pink Panties was born in Mr. Sherbinskis garage by crossing a Burmese Kush and Florida Kush. Pink Panties is also the unplanned parent of Sunset Sherbert, Sherbinskis flagship strain. Containing an average of 16% THC and an abundance of myrcene, consumers of this strain report a relaxing high and relief from anxiety, depression, and PTSD.

A rare sativa-dominant hybrid, Acai Berry is a cross between Pink Panties and Sunset Sherbert. Fruity and energizing, Acai Berry makes a delicious daytime treat. Reviewers find that the high is relaxing but mild enough for daytime consumption.

Containing an average of 20% THC, Gello offers a potent high with a delicious aroma. Gellos flavor is similar to Bacios and Mochis, combing sweetness with earthiness for a rich and calming experience. Consumers describe Gellos effects as uplifting and enjoyable during the day or night.

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Sherbinskis Genetics and the Gelato Explosion - Wikileaf

Illustration photo by Getty images.

A specialist general surgeon with a passion for cutting-edge breast care, Dr Liana Roodt explains that different breast sizes and types are completely fine, breasts are breasts. "Your breast size is a unique body trait determined by your genetics, body type, hormones and stage of life, she says. Your breasts will undergo many changes during your lifetime love each stage and your body regardless.

Breast size does not determine how attractive you are this is a horrible belief we have made our own mainly due to the often-distorted portrayal of the ideal female body by the media. Own your body and unique beauty with pride.

READ MORE |SA YouTuber on her breast reduction surgery - 'I felt the weight off my back when I woke up post op'

The vast majority of women have some breast asymmetry with one breast slightly larger than the other. This is completely normal. If there is significant asymmetry, especially during adolescence, be patient, it often changes and becomes far less noticeable once the acute developmental phase is over. If it persists and is bothersome, some procedures can assist with achieving better symmetry.

Some people prefer to have a breast reduction or enhancement and Dr Liana explains that people should always do their research before undergoing these procedures.

Cosmetic breast surgery is still surgery and comes with risks be sure that a decision to have a breast reduction or breast enhancement will improve your quality of life and confidence. Neither of these procedures is currently covered by medical aid and is a huge financial commitment too. Breast implants also have a shelf life and often needs removal and/or replacements after 10-15 years keep this in mind when you research these procedures.

READ MORE |Sharon Stones surgeon enhanced her breast size without her consent

Here is what Dr Liana has to say about some common myths regarding breast size.

Myth 1- The size of your breasts is related to how many men you have slept with - the more men you've slept with, the bigger your breasts will be.

This has to be the biggest lie. Absolutely not. Your breast size has nothing to do with your sexual history. Breasts grow and that is normal.

Myth 2 Your breast size is an indication of your femininity and sexual appeal.

This is not true at all. This becomes especially evident when you look at transgender patients who completely identify as male but may have very large breasts. A woman can have very small breasts and be incredibly feminine and appealing those factors have way more to do with your psychology and head space than your bra size.

Myth 3 Your breasts will stay the same size your whole life once you have gone through puberty.

This is not true hormonal fluctuation, pregnancy, menopause and even very subtle weight gain or weight loss can influence your breast size over your lifetime. This is also why we tend to advise young patients not to consider plastic surgery (breast enhancement or breast reduction) too early.

READ MORE |'I threw my breasts a farewell party before having them removed due to cancer concerns'

Myth 4 The bigger your breasts, the more fertile you are and the easier it will be to breastfeed.

This is false. Both fertility and a patients ability to breastfeed, are influenced by a plethora of factors of which breast size is not one.

Myth 5Certain types of exercise can enhance your breast size and prevent sagging.

This is unfortunately not true as the breast tissue is predominantly composed of fatty and glandular tissue not muscle. While having strong and well-developed pectoral muscles, a strong upper back and shoulders will improve your posture, it will not influence your breast size. Many athletes feel that their breasts get smaller as they train more and lose weight. Weight loss or weight gain has a definitive impact on breast size.

Myth 6Your bra size is standardized and therefore the same size bra will always fit you.

This is not entirely accurate although the sizes are standardized, bras are like any clothes. One brands size 34 jeans may fit you perfectly while another brands size 34 may be too small. The shape and other features of a bra (like an underwire) may also impact the comfort and fit of the garment.

Myth 7 Having large breasts means you have a greater risk of developing breast cancer.

This is nuanced and should be interpreted with caution a high BMI and high body fat are associated with an increased risk for cancer. If your body weight is healthy and you have big breasts, that is certainly not going to be a high-risk factor. Cancer risk is complicated whether you have large or small breasts, make sure you do your check-ups regularly.

READ MORE |Womens health is better when women have more control in their society

Stop worrying about your breast size, there are factors that contribute to breast size.Your genetics, and not just from your maternal line. Your mom and sisters may have small breasts, but you may find that a grandmother or aunt on either side of your family has larger breasts.Your body type and body fat as well as certain hormones are the main factors influencing your breast size.

Health is wealth having a healthy and strong body is the biggest gift! Try and focus on that privilege when you feel self-critical. Confidence has very little to do with how we look the most beautiful people in this world often suffer from very low self-esteem. Find your worth beyond your bra-size and embrace your unique beauty, says Dr Liana.

Have you been wrongly convinced that there is something wrong with you based on your breast size? Tell us about it here.

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Your breast size has nothing to do with the number of men youve had sex with, and more myths busted - News24

Women's sports are about to change dramatically. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) recently published a set of guidelines for international sports federations on the issue of transgender people to protect their rights. The new guidelines will take effect after the Beijing Olympics. In 2022 there will be many more transgender athletes, such as weightlifter Laurel Hubbard.

Ildus Akhmetov, M.D., Associate Professor at Liverpool John Moores University Research Institute of Sport and researcher at the Federal Medical and Biological Agency, in an exclusive interview with Metaratings.ru, shared his opinion on the IOC manifesto on transgender athletes.

Recently, we have heard a lot of emotional opinions of the State Duma members on this topic. From the scientific point of view, I would like to understand how dangerous this statement of the IOC is. What can we say about it now?

Yes, that's right, there is a danger to the sports movement. The IOC has removed itself, shifting the responsibility to the federations. In 2015, the IOC said that sports federations had the right to adopt their policies towards trans women. Since then, the federations started to act individually.

Wasn't the IOC originally based on testosterone indicators?

In 2004, the IOC recommended that only men who had undergone a gonadectomy (an operation to remove the reproductive organs) and taken testosterone-reducing drugs to be allowed to compete in women's competitions, but they had to wait two years after the operation.

Then in 2015, the IOC updated the rules and eliminated the need for a gonadectomy. At the same time, testosterone had to be lowered to 10 nanomoles per liter and kept at that level for at least 12 months. It was mandatory to be listed as a woman on the documents.

Some federations went their way, proposing stricter eligibility criteria. The rugby federation banned trans women from competing among women because they understood that there would be great risks of injury and, most likely, trans women would injure regular women. The athletics, cycling, rowing federations said that reducing testosterone to 10 nanomoles per liter was too mild a condition, and we should reduce it to 5.

When the IOC saw that everyone was starting to interpret and understand everything in their way and that there are some peculiarities, they just pulled themselves off. They said: "Guys, you decide everything on your own."

It must be added that the previous admission criteria left a loophole for some men. The fact is that there is a small percentage of people with low testosterone levels among the elite male athletes. For example, we found 2.5% of men with testosterone levels of less than ten nanomoles per liter in our Russian national team. It turns out that these men, who perform on a good level, despite the low level of testosterone, can change the sex in the passport and be easily sent to women's competitions. No one would be able to refuse their participation.

How does the decision to allow trans women to participate in women's competitions look from a scientific point of view?

To put it mildly, not quite logical. It turns out that the fight for minority rights in our sport implies a fight against the rights of the majority. It is not so easy to find a balance here.

There could be two options: a transwoman who became a woman before puberty is one thing. In Europe, in some countries, children before puberty can go for sex reassignment surgery or start hormonal therapy without parental permission. Then the human body will be arranged a little differently.

What if the person is already past puberty?

In such a case, there will be a clear advantage of a man. Firstly, muscle memory remains. Secondly, the male genotype is likely to continue to manifest itself, and there would be a clear advantage for a man who became a trans woman over other women. If we go back to testosterone, it is not a determinant of success in sport. By the way, the IOC has finally recognized this in the new rules. Because the contribution of testosterone to strength and sprinting ability is no more than 30-35%, other factors influence strength and speed. You must understand that men have other advantages besides testosterone that are not affected by surgery and hormone suppression.

A man is always taller, which is already an advantage. Men have a more defined bone mass, a stronger tendon and ligament apparatus, a lower risk of injury from strokes, falls in games, and other contact types of sports. If ciswomen and transwomen clash, ciswomen will break bones or tear ligaments. Men naturally have more muscle mass and less fat than women. Accordingly, this is also an advantage for any athletic activity. Besides, we must realize that men, on average, have 10% more fast muscle fibers, and they are actively used in strength sports, martial arts, and competitive sports, where speed and strength qualities are required.

There is also an element of psychology: men are emotionally more stable, they can get involved faster, they can be more aggressive, for example, in martial arts, and this is another advantage.

How well is this field studied when a person changes genders and prepares to compete among other genders?

Unfortunately, little research has been done on how a person's physical qualities change after sex reassignment surgery or hormone therapy. For sure, muscle mass might slightly decrease after hormonal correction. Accordingly, strength only slightly decreases. However, for example, a person's stamina and agility do not change.

It is well known that men are superior to women in many physical qualities. Therefore, in general, transwomen will keep the advantage. A simple example is Laurel Hubbard. Before the sex change, he lifted 300 kilograms. Seven years later, when the sex change happened, and he resumed training and became a woman, his record in competitions was 285 kilograms, which means that he worsened his results by 15 kilograms. But it's probably because of his age - he's 43 years old now.

Also, he made a pause in his career.

Yes, that could be an important factor, too. Altogether, it had such an effect that his strength performance dropped only by 5%. Most likely not because of the suppression of testosterone levels, but because of age and the long pause. It raises the question: how was he allowed to compete in weightlifting? Especially if you look at the current results of many weightlifters, Laurel claimed silver at the Olympics, but at the expense of all the failed attempts, there was no resonance, no scandal. Everyone got away with it because he failed the weight snatch and left the competition early.

At the same time, Laurel took many medals at local tournaments, outperforming the ciswomen who rightly expressed dissatisfaction. I don't think that's very fair to women. Another thing would be if they weren't winning medals but were just somewhere in the top 100, for example. Then let them do it, and we'll be watching and gathering statistics. But if they are going to qualify for prizes, then, of course, it's unfair to ordinary women.

It's clear with Hubbard. You said that some federations were making refinements on trans athletes, but that was an exception. Now it has to go as a stream. How do you get this kind of work started?

Sports scientists say that special studies need to be done for each sport, but there will be a problem with sampling. It won't be easy to find people, elite athletes, who would agree to participate. We need an adequate sample, at least 20 people in each sport, and, accordingly, to see if there is an advantage or not after the sex change.

How do we deal with the situation now that the number of transgender people in the Olympic movement has increased dramatically?

There are three ways to solve the problem. The first one is to allow the athlete to compete if it is proven that there is no gender reassignment advantage, but we have not seen this yet. It is an unlikely event.

The second option is to introduce a correction factor into the results of competitions within individual sports. For example, sometimes the Wilkes formula is used in strength sports, and it considers a person's weight and gender. Therefore, if there are competitions between men and women of all weight categories, you can equalize everyone with the help of Wilkes formula, and the strongest person may be a girl from a lightweight category. In that case, please compete in weightlifting or powerlifting, but we need to figure out exactly what the correction factor should be for transwomen. So far, it is not known.

The third option is to do separate competitions, but this is also a bit romantic because there are few transgender people, and it is unlikely to attract much attention. The spectacle will be low due to the small number of participants and little competition. In general, there are a lot of problems, and scientists are unanimous in the opinion that, to begin with, it is necessary to collect statistics on individual sports.

We covered the topic of transgender people. But how do scientists feel about allowing women to compete if they have high testosterone levels?

The situation here is different. The fact is that such women have not had a sex-change surgery but have high levels of testosterone naturally. Sports geneticists believe that such women should not be excluded from general women's competitions because it is part of their talent. In modern high-performance sports, medals are won exclusively by gifted men, and each has its advantage over the others. It may be testosterone, high height, defined muscle mass, high hemoglobin levels, reaction speed, and other factors, which may be due to rare genetic traits.

The history of testosterone in athletics is paradoxical. It all started with South African 800-meter runner Caster Semenya. After she won two gold medals at two consecutive Olympics, the IAAF and WADA commissioned a scientific study that showed that in the 400, 800, and 1500 meters, high testosterone levels gave an advantage over women with normal testosterone levels. Based on that study, the IAAF banned Semenya from international competition in the 800-meter run but said that let her testosterone levels drop if she wanted to participate. Caster did not want to do this essentially and continued to compete at the regional level. There are no bans in South Africa; she is a national hero there.

Going back to that sponsored study, there was no evidence that high testosterone levels give any advantage at 100 or 200 meters. Probably because of the small sample size. That's the paradox of the situation because you can't go out for the 400, 800, and 1500 meters, but you can go out for the 100 and 200 meter short sprints. You could say that Namibian track and field athlete Christine Mboma took advantage of this and won Olympic silver this summer in Tokyo. Our study showed that in the 100 and 200 meters, high testosterone also gives an advantage to women with high testosterone, but this has been established in all sprinting disciplines of many sports, not just track and field. Nevertheless, even though testosterone gives an advantage, I believe that women with high testosterone levels should not be prohibited from competing in women's events because every elite athlete has their strengths.

- After the IOC has left this issue alone, will we have to rely on the federations' sanity to introduce the criteria for admission competently?

That's right. The responsibility lies on the federations and their scientific groups. I think the number of scientific studies in this area is about to increase. One of my students, who deals with testosterone in sports, is going to Australia next summer, where he and his colleagues will conduct a series of experiments on transgender volunteers. Now, this is a very hot topic. We hope that in 5 years, when there will be some statistics, the issue will become clearer.

Can we assume that there will already be more transgender people at the Olympics in Paris?

I think so if there are transgender people who are comfortable in competing. Right now, many transgender people are in the shadows. It is psychologically difficult for them to perform because there will be a lot of attention to them, including criticism from female competitors and the media. Hubbard's example showed this. It all depends on how brave transgender people will be and whether the international federations will compete.

Is sport gradually becoming a compromise phenomenon with more blurred boundaries?

Yes, but I think when a lot of scientific evidence comes out, people will react appropriately, and emotional decisions will be reconsidered. Right now, a lot of people are trying to be tolerant of the issue of transgender acceptance. But as specific scientific studies come out, people will realize that somewhere there has been over-tolerance. Fair play should come first. Now the balance has shifted in the direction of tolerance. People are making hasty statements, trying to please minorities, and forgetting that there are science, honesty, and ciswomen, who are the majority. It's unfair to apply some policy to them that will shut them out once and for all from winning a medal. Even in chess, women can't handle the male competition. If we let trans women into all sports, I believe that they would take 90% of the medal places.

Some people might think that you are a person from Russia and say that because we are not the most tolerant country. Is your reasoning the thoughts of the entire global scientific community?

I am now presenting a weighted average opinion of most scientists who deal with the physiology, biochemistry, and genetics of sport. We have experts in sports science in the ethics and psychology of sport. They may have their own opinion on whether or not to allow someone to compete. That's another topic. On the other hand, I speak on behalf of scientists who deal with the biomedical issues of sport. We believe it is too early to allow trans women to compete because no data shows that they have no advantage over regular women.

Does it feel like there will soon be a debate about the participation of queer people who mentally feel that they are of a different gender but have not made any physical or chemical changes to their bodies? Example: This year, Canadian soccer player Rebecca Quinn became the first Olympic champion to identify as transgender publicly, but physically she remains a woman.

This is possible if we are talking about a particular country and local tournaments. But at the level of international competitions, such a scenario is not likely to happen because it is necessary to consider logic, science, and the interests of all countries and different cultures.

Read the original here:
"In a Clash With a Transgender Woman, the Ordinary Woman Will Break Bones." A Scientist From Liverpool On Transgender People In Sports -...

Publication date: Wednesday, November 17, 2021 news release

ROME (Current Affairs) Interview with Professor Guido Brunetti before November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

ilmamilio.it exclusive content

november 25 isInternational Day for the Elimination of Violence against WomenFounded by the United Nations in 1999. The issue is difficult, complex and sensitive. Mr Guido Brunetti Try to guide us in understanding female minds and behaviors.

To understand the dangerous phenomenon of femicide and violence against women, it is necessary to enter the still mysterious planet of the female world, whose analysis presents the specificity and variety of complex neurobiological, mental and emotional characteristics.

From the search emerges a multifaceted personality, always in perpetual change, sometimes an indefinite picture, intersecting with chiaroscuro influences, and difficult to predict. In fact, very little is said about the woman and little or nothing is known. After the remarkable studies of Freud and other authors, it is todays neuroscience that seeks to shed light on the mysterious aspects of women.

A cultural and scientific gap?

Certainly, ancient theories without any scientific value, stereotypes and prejudices have always characterized the female image, which since ancient times was considered inferior to men on a psychological, mental and social level. It is subjected to violence, humiliation, possession, control, evasion and hatred. Unfortunately, the expression is still About an ancient culture pervasive.

For women, the internal tragedy of the millennium.

Until the 20th century, most scholars believed that women were nothing more than smaller men in neurobiological terms and in any other sense. Therefore, little attention was paid to the personality of women and their physiology.

violence and humiliation

The phenomenon of violence against women and femicide has increased in recent times. There are many women murder victims, one every three days. The great health, economic, social and moral crisis brought about by the pandemic as Brunetti explains has had an alluvial effect on the emotional, mental and social structure of the individual, with serious repercussions in society. A fact that further emphasizes the urgency and importance of the issue we are studying.

violence? It is transgressive, transgressive, transitive. It is strength. A physical or verbal act of one individual towards another that causes biological, psychological and sexual harm. Violence has a neurobiological significance found in the oldest structure of the human brain. It is a destructive and self-destructive innate impulse, influenced by experiences and the social and cultural environment.

For us, the concept of violence transcends these dimensions. As we have already discussed on other sites with Professor Giovanni Puglia, the father of child neuropsychiatry in Italy, a process rape At the planetary level, its understanding is connected not only with the economic crisis, but above all with the social, moral and spiritual crisis.

We are witnessing an unstoppable decline in the values and principles that have underpinned civilization for thousands of years. A fluid world arises, insecure, anxious, opaque, elusive, devoid of certain points of reference.

What about violence against women?

Violence against women is considered a global scourge, a health problem of great proportions (United Nations). There is an emergency with serious delays in both European and Italian politics, lack of modern visions, unprepared personnel, social and political underestimation of the phenomenon and a lot more. From rhetoric and a lot of hypocrisy.

What is the contribution of feminism and the sexual revolution?

Feminist scholars, as well as many feminist experts, have announced the declining role of women, who are increasingly similar to men, in the competition for power. Over time, the feminist movement and the sexual revolution failed, due to the presence of aspects of utopia and discontent and the unresolved process of emancipation of women. Inverted masculine chauvinism emerged. The woman became a guinea pig, a bargaining chip, turned into a womb, a substance, an object of pleasure. His freedom is a false freedom. The fact is that a woman who today occupies a prominent position both professionally and intellectually angers if she is identified as a feminist.

You, Professor Brunetti, have mentioned scientific advances in womens knowledge.

We are entering an era where we are beginning to discover great female abilities. Indeed, in recent years, neuroscience has shown exciting new discoveries about a womans personality in terms of brain structure, mental processes, sexual impulses, and behaviours.

Women are no longer inferior to men, as women enjoy, among other things, genetic and immune system superiority along with sympathetic superiority.

The research then discovered that a womans neurological aspects, such as the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and childcare, are relevant components of her cognitive, social, and emotional development.

Are you saying that women have special gifts?

They have a unique brain structure.

The first differences in the brain appear as early as the eighth week of fetal development. Other research has indicated that less than 24 hours after birth, a newborn responds to another newborns cry. From a year ago, the girls gained a sense of empathy, became more sensitive to the suffering of others.

What are the other essential features?

And there are a lot of them. Women acquire unique and unusual qualities, such as verbal agility, the ability to decipher feelings and moods, form deep social bonds, the ability to smooth out conflicts, and nurture the people around them. By the age of two, they have a vocabulary three times richer than Those of the boys. In fact, they started talking earlier. They are adept at reading facial expressions and emotional nuances.

It has also been discovered that hormones have tremendous neurological effects and adapt the female brain to the point where they perceive reality and their way of life in a different way. The hormonal influence is important at all stages of female development. Motherhood, for example, causes massive hormonal changes, transforming the female brain, altering her structure and functioning.

sexuality

There are many theories, often conflicting and contradictory to each other. It was Freud who discovered child sexuality, emphasizing its centrality also to the genesis of every form of sexual perversion and neurosis.

Womens sexual circuits are associated with oxytocin, a substance that promotes, among other things, healing and emergence behaviors. Maternal influences contribute to the development of sexual differences.

Neuroscientists have proven that they are essential difference Of feminine nature compared to masculine. It is the gender identity of the brain that determines whether people do it or not they feel female or male. The female brain and the male brain have Different Sex systems also relate to sexual drives and love, a feeling that constitutes one of the most irrational states of the brain that can be assumed.

What conclusions should be drawn?

So there is scientific evidence for the differences between female and male brains. The brains of men and women look different at birth. Our brains are different and so are our minds.

Today, remarkable progress has been made in the fields of genetics, neuroscience, biology, neurohormonal development and thanks to remarkable technologies Mind Fantasies They define the famous author identifies a scientific revolution aimed not only at disrupting the methods of diagnosis and treatment in medicine and psychiatry, but our worldview and our millenarian concepts, starting with philosophical systems.

Therefore, there is a need concludes Professor Brunetti to use and enhance all the talents of the womans brain in order to promote the preservation of the species and the progress of mankind.

Anna Gabriel

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Violence against women a. Brunetti explains the role of science in understanding the female world - Hardwood Paroxysm

Elephants, which typically have tusks, are often hunted for the valuable ivory that their tusks are made of. Due to this poaching, elephants which are born without tusks have a higher chance of living and mating, causing an evolutionary trend towards naturally tuskless elephants. Photo byMagda EhlersfromPexels.

Recentlywhile procrastinating homework and scrolling through Instagram, I came across a picture of an elephant, to which my first response was,oh, cute! Then I read the associated caption,which talked about how,due toexcessive poaching,many African elephantsareevolvingto be born without tusksalsoknown asnaturally tuskless.

This is horrifying to think about on multiple levels. Although this change in the genetics ofelephantsmay seembeneficial to thematfirst glancebecauseit puts them at a lower risk of being hunted,thereis amuchdeeper issue.This isaharmfulmutation in their genetics that is lethal to male elephants,and is thus likely to have long term effects on the African elephant population.

Normally, both male and female African elephants are born with tusksmade of ivory, and thus valued by poachers. When these elephantsare huntedfor their ivory, they are oftenunable to pass down their genesto future generations, making it more likelyfortuskless elephantstopass downtheirgenes.

This has its own problems, genetically speaking. When female elephants are born tuskless, there is a variation on one of their two X chromosomesthatgives maleoffspringa50/50 chancetoinherit this variation. Male elephants that receive this mutated X chromosomeareunable to survive.Although this genetic variation maybe helpfulforfemale elephants astudyshowed that over a 28-year period,female tuskless elephants were five times more likely to survive than female elephants with tusks itislethalto the male elephant population.

Poaching elephants for their ivory is horribleandhas greatconsequences for their speciesand the environment around them. Despite the1989 ban on the international ivory trade, as of 2015,35,000 and 50,000 African elephantswerereportedbeing poached yearly. As of March2021, itwas estimatedthatonly 415,000 elephantsremainon the entire continent of Africa.Thespecies is endangered, with the most prominent cause being poaching for ivory.Thisissuecannot be takenlightly.

On the black market, a pound of ivory costs about$1,500 per pound, with tusks from male elephants weighing about 250 pounds each. Therefore, the monetary value of ivory drives many of these poachers, regardless of the risks and detrimental effects.

Elephant poaching has immense effects on the ecosystem and theenvironment as a whole.Elephant manure, for example, helps fertilize soilthat helpsplant crops,and elephants play large parts inseed dispersalas well. When elephantsare poachedto the degree that they have been throughout history, it compromises their own population as well as the surrounding ecosystem, including the lives of many humans.

The importance of elephants in the environment and the greater ecosystemmust be understoodand widely known. Poaching has gone too far, endangering the elephants themselves as well as the environment around them, which includes other animals and humans.

In order to ensure that elephantsare not poachedfor ivory, other measures must be taken. For example,synthetic ivorycould have immense benefits to elephant populations and theenvironment as a whole. However, this would require immense research and funding to ensurethe synthetic ivory is similar enough to real ivory and so that its prices are affordable enoughtodiscouragepeoplefrom poaching.

There should be more research, time, effort and funding putinto thisissuetoprotect elephants andto ceasepoachingaltogether. The consequences ofnot doing so are far too great for elephants and for thegreater environment.

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Protect the elephants - UConn Daily Campus

In 1989, when elephant ethologist Joyce Poole began carrying out surveys of three East African elephant populations to understand the impact that heavy poaching was having on them, she quickly noted several stark trends. There was a huge skew in the sex ratio, with very few adult males. Many families lacked older femalesand many of those females had no tusks.

Pooles observationswhich were used a few months later to support a ban on international ivory tradewere alarming, but they mostly made sense. Poachers, she knew, prioritized elephants with the largest tusks. Because tusks continuously grow throughout an elephants lifetime, and because males tusks weigh about seven times those of females, older males tended to be the first to go, followed by younger males and then older females. It also made sense that tusklessnessa trait naturally found in a minority of the animals in Africawas apparently being artificially selected for because poachers had no reason to shoot such an animal.

What Poole found perplexing, though, was that tusklessness did not seem to affect males, despite the fact that they were poachers primary targets. Its something I had puzzled over for so long, says Poole, co-founder and scientific director of ElephantVoices, a nonprofit science and conservation organization. The more killing there was, the more tuskless females you got. But why werent there any tuskless males?

More than 30 years later, she finally may have her answer. Tusklessness, according to a new paper in Science, can be attributed in large part to a dominant mutation on the X chromosomea genetic change that also explains the sex skew Poole saw. In females, mutations in a key gene on one of their X chromosomes seems to be responsible for tusklessness. But in males with no other X chromosome to fall back on, that mutation appears to cause death in the womb.

This is a beautiful study that is certain to become a textbook example of how intense human exploitation of wildlife can rapidly change the natural world, says Jeffrey Good, a mammalian evolutionary geneticist at the University of Montana, who was not involved in the research. Such a deep genetic understanding of complex evolutionary changes in large free-ranging animals would have been unobtainable just a few years ago.

Shane Campbell-Staton of Princeton University, co-lead author of the new paper, has spent his career studying the ways that humans force such evolutionary changes across the tree of life. Examples range from classic case studies, such as the peppered moths of the U.K. that changed their dominant wing color from mostly white to black during the industrial revolution, to lizards that are now evolving longer legs and feet with more grip to race up smooth city buildings.

Typically, though, such studies focus on small creatures that have large population sizes and fast generational turnovers because changes they undergo are easier to observe in real time. This has left a notable gap in the literature that the new paper helps to fill. This study is among the first to show that selective killing of large vertebrates can have a direct impact on evolutionary change, says Fanie Pelletier, an ecologist at the University of Sherbrooke in Quebec, who co-authored a perspective piece in Science about the research.

Elephants were not an obvious choice for Campbell-Staton, who has mostly focused on lizards until now. But he found himself sucked into the mystery of tuskless elephants when he watched a YouTube video about the phenomenon. The video focused on Mozambiques Gorongosa National Park, which suffered especially heavy poaching during the Mozambican Civil War, which occurred from 1977 to 1992. Gorongosas elephant population declined by about 90 percent, from more than 2,500 individuals in 1972 to fewer than 250 in 2000. Like other places that had undergone intense poaching, Gorongosas female elephants exhibited an abnormally high proportion of tusklessness.

Campbell-Staton was just as perplexed by this as Poole had been, and he soon struck up a collaboration with her and other elephant ecologists. The researchers first needed to determine whether it was actually the selection from poaching that led to a disproportionate number of tuskless individuals or if it was just some fluke of chance that emerged as the population crashed.

Poole, who is a co-author on the new paper, combed through old natural history films and amateur videos to estimate the prevalence of tusklessness prior to the war. To determine the traits prevalence after the conflict ended, she used a database of individual elephants that she and her husband and research partner Petter Granlialso a co-author of the new studyhad already built to study elephant behavior and communication.

The frequency of tusklessness, the team found, increased from about 18.5 percent before the war to 50.9 percent after. In population simulations, the researchers confirmed that it is extremely unlikely that tusklessness would have changed so drastically by chance alone. Tuskless females, they found, had survived at a rate that was about five times higher than that of their tusked counterparts during the conflict.

Using Pooles database, they further confirmed that, with a single exception, female elephants with two tusks had never been observed to have a tuskless baby. Tuskless mothers, on the other hand, had about an equal proportion of daughters with or without tusks (or, in some cases, with a single tusk). This pattern suggested to the researchers a sex-linked genetic origin for what they were seeing.

The sex ratio of the offspring of tuskless mothers also indicated that the genetics responsible may be lethal for males. Instead of having sons and daughters at an equal proportion, tuskless mothers gave birth to daughters roughly two thirds of the time.

After making these observations, Campbell-Staton decided it was time to use a whole-genome analysis to pinpoint the potential genetic factors. Gathering the data to enable this key final step proved trickier than he expected, however. We were going to drive around at Gorongosa, spot an elephant, see if the elephant had tusks or not, wait for the elephant to poop and then collect its DNA, he says. It seemed simple enoughexcept we drove all day, every day for a week and didnt see a single elephant.

Fortunately, another research team was carrying out a collaring project to track matriarch elephants. Campbell-Staton and his co-first author, Brian Arnold of Princeton, were able to join forces with the other researchers to collect blood samples from 18 femalessome with tusks and some withoutthat would meet the genomic requirements for the project.

Using those samples, they identified candidate regions in the genome that, when mutated, seemed to explain tusklessness and its apparent male lethality. One of the genes, AMELX, is known from decades of basic research in mice and humans to play a role in mammalian tooth development. Additionally, disruptions to the same region of the X chromosome in humans is associated with a syndrome that usually causes male fetuses to abort in the second trimester. Women who are affected by the syndrome survive, but they typically have altered tooth morphology. In particular, they often are missing their upper lateral incisorsthe anatomical equivalent of tusks in elephants.

The study shows that tuskless male elephant offspring are not viable, meaning that population decline is accentuated, Pelletier says. Not only do animals die due to poaching, but there is also additional decline because half of the male offspring from the surviving tuskless mothers do not survive.

Good agrees that the findings are alarming. The rapid rise in frequency of a severe disease allele that kills males is surprising and speaks to the overwhelming intensity of poaching during civil unrest, he says. These changes came with enormous cost to the overall genetic health of these declining populations.

Ultimately, Campbell-Staton says, the study speaks to the ubiquity of the human footprint as an evolutionary force.

There is some good news, however. As poaching in Gorongosa has been stamped out through sustained conservation efforts, the number of baby elephants born tuskless has begun to decrease. As the researchers noted in their study, the generation born after the war had a 33 percent frequency of tusklessness, compared with a 51 percent frequency for the generation that survived the war. Nature, in this case at least, seems to be correcting itself. Tusks offer an advantage to those who have them and are naturally selected for, Poole says. If we keep the pressure off these elephants, the rate of tusklessness declines with each generation.

Link:
Disturbing Answers to the Mystery of Tuskless Female Elephants - Scientific American

The National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences has selected a study published by Wayne State University School of Medicine researchers as an Extramural Paper of the Month.

The paper, Paternal preconception phthalate exposure alters sperm methylome and embryonic programming, published in in the October issue of the journal Environment International by J. Richard Pilsner, Ph.D., professor and Robert J. Sokol, M.D., Endowed Chair of Molecular Obstetrics and Gynecology, and director of Molecular Genetics and Infertility for the C.S. Mott Center for Human Growth and Development; and Stephen Krawetz, Ph.D., the Charlotte B. Failing Professor of Fetal Therapy and Diagnosis, and associate director of the Mott Center, was selected by the NIEHS as a paper of the month for September.

The Extramural Papers of the Month are selected based on their important findings and potential for public health impact.

The researchers reported that male mice exposed to phthalates before conception had DNA methylation changes in sperm, which can be transferred to the next generation as altered gene expression in embryos. DNA methylation occurs when a chemical compound, called a methyl group, attaches to DNA, affecting whether a gene is turned on or off.

They exposed male mice to either a low or high level of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate for two sperm production cycles, or 67 days. Following exposure, they mated the mice with unexposed females. They then assessed genome-wide methylation in sperm, embryos and extra-embryonic tissues, which support the developing embryo.

Compared with unexposed controls, paternal preconception DEHP exposure altered methylation in 704 sperm gene regions, 1,716 embryo gene regions, and 3,181 extra-embryonic gene regions. Of these, 29 gene regions overlapped between sperm and embryonic tissues, suggesting methylation changes related to paternal DEHP exposure may be transmitted to the next generation. The researchers also identified changes in gene expression in embryos in both exposure groups compared with controls. Many of the altered genes were related to pathways important in development.

The researchers said their results indicate that preconception is a sensitive window in which phthalate exposure alters sperm methylation and embryo gene expression in ways that may influence offspring health and development.

Others involved in the research and subsequent publication include Oladele Oluwayiose, a doctoral student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst; Chelsea Marcho, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst; Haotian Wu, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University; Alexander Suvorov, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst; Emily Houle, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst; and Jesse Mager, Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

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Report by Mott Center researchers named NIEHS Extramural Paper of the Month - The South End

Destructive human activity has left a permanent, devastating mark on the African elephant as a species. Over the last few decades, the beloved creatures have evolved to develop without their iconic tusks which are useful in helping them dig, lift trees, and protect themselves in an attack. Poachers had removed and illegally sold them on the black market for several years, and although the evolution happened relatively quickly, it seems as though many of these elephants are now tuskless.

The data that shows the current number of tuskless elephants is truly shocking to animal experts, because it took such a short amount of time for the evolution to take place.

"When we think about natural selection, we think about it happening over hundreds, or thousands, of years," conservationist Samuel Wasser told NPR. "The fact that this dramatic selection for tusklessness happened over 15 years is one of the most astonishing findings."

Over the last several years, increasing numbers of female African elephants in Gorongosa National Park have been born without their tusks, which experts believe is due to a 15-year ivory war in Mozambique, according to CNN. After the war ended in 1992, animal experts noticed the population of tuskless female African elephants had multiplied by three in 28 years.

"During the war, Gorongosa was essentially the geographic center of the conflict," University of Idaho professor, Ryan Long, told CNN.

"As a result there were large numbers of soldiers in the area and a lot of associated motivation... to kill elephants and sell the ivory to purchase arms and ammunition. The resulting level of poaching was very intense," he continued.

Experts attribute the evolution to the fact that female elephants who were born tuskless during the war were 5 times as likely to survive as tusked elephants.

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Many are also shocked that the evolution happened in such a short period of time. This was likely because of how often elephants were having their tusks removed.

"The fact that it occurred so rapidly is rare indeed, and is a direct function of the strength of selection," Long mused. "In other words, it happened so quickly because tuskless females had a MUCH higher probability of surviving the war, and thus a MUCH greater potential for passing their genes on to the next generation."

Source: African Elephant Poaching

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Only female elephants can be born tuskless, and although it had previously occurred naturally on occasion, it's become increasingly more common. And while being tuskless helped elephants during the war, as it increased their chances of survival, there are downsides. According to Live Science, not having tusks makes natural survival trickier they can't lift branches and trees as easily, scratch bark, or protect themselves. It's also harder to dig holes for water without them.

Additionally, it doesn't help with repopulating the species. Due to genetics, tuskless female African elephants who pass on X chromosomes with the mutant gene to their male embryos inhibit their chances of survival. About 50 percent of male embryos (or those who inherit said gene) won't survive.

Since the war, numbers of the African elephant have increased tremendously, but this is a major setback hopefully they will readapt to their post-war state, and get their tusks back.

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African Elephants Are Evolving Without Tusks, Due to Years of Poaching - Green Matters

Breast cancer can affect men too although it's more common in women. Approximately 1-2% of all breast cancer patients are men yet when it comes to diagnosis, they may face a unique set of challenges. Men tend to ignore the symptoms of breast cancer due to fear of stigma and may be diagnosed at an advanced stage and have poorer outcome as compared to women.

"Men suffering from Klinefelter syndrome (where they are born with an extra X chromosome) are at risk of getting breast cancer as they have higher estrogen levels and get gynecomastia that outgrow breast tissue in males," says Dr Aditi Agrawal, Consultant Breast and Laparoscopic Surgeon, Wockhardt Hospital, Mira Road.

Breast cancer starts in the milk ducts and the lobules, which are the structures containing the milk-producing glands. Male and female breast tissue have few ducts under the nipple and areola until puberty. During puberty, females see increased levels of various hormones like estrogen causing ducts to grow and lobules to form. While in males, owing to low levels of these hormones, ducts, lobules are few and tend to consist of fat tissue, according to Dr Agarwal.

ALSO READ: Breast Cancer Awareness Month: 5-step self-examination guide you must follow

In women on the other hand, early start of periods before the age of 12 and late menopause, after age of 55, giving birth for the first time at an older age, or never giving birth increases the risk of breast cancer.

Dr Agarways says age and genetics are common factors seen in both males and females when it comes to breast cancer. She says other common factors which can be taken care at an individual level are smoking, previous radiation therapy, alcohol and lack of exercise.

Symptoms for both men and women

Females and males having breast cancer will spot symptoms such as bumps and lumps, swelling in one or both the breasts, feeling tenderness, soreness, discharge from the breast, itchy skin around nipples, inverted nipple, thickened skin on the breast and pain. "In males as the breast is small in size is recognised at a small size but spreads fast to neighbouring structure/organs," says Dr Agarwal.

A mammogram and a biopsy remain the diagnosis tools for both men and women to determine if the lump is cancerous.

"After the type, location, and stage of the cancer are confirmed, your doctor will decide on a proper line of treatment for you. You will be asked to opt for a mastectomy, lumpectomy that falls under surgery. Apart from that, other options such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and hormone therapy can also be advised to you," says Dr Agarwal when asked about the treatment for breast cancer.

It is also advised to make lifestyle modifications like exercising every day, avoiding weight gain and eat balanced diet of leafy green vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes and whole grains. One should also do self-breast examination from the age of 18.

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Breast Cancer Awareness Month: What men need to know about breast cancer - Hindustan Times

Wednesday, 27 October 2021, 12:13 pmPress Release: Ramari Stewart

Whales are often named after Western scientistsand after men, but that tradition is about to change, as anewly discovered species of whale will carry an Indigenousname and the name of a woman.

Its scientificname will be Mesoplodon eueu, referring to itsIndigenous roots in South Africa, and its common nameRamaris beaked whale after Ramari Stewart, a MtaurangaMori whale expert.

Until now, this beaked whale wasthought to be the Trues beaked whale but almost a decadeago, a female washed ashore on the west coast of TeWaipounamu (South Island), Aotearoa New Zealand. She was 5meters long and pregnant. The local iwi (tribe) of NgtiMhaki named her Nihongore and her bones were sent to TePapa Tongarewa Museum in Wellington-New Zealand forpreservation.

When Nihongore turned up I knew thatshe was something different, I knew it was special because Ihadnt seen it before, Ramari Stewart says.

Thediscovery was made by Ramari Stewart, a renowned TohungaTohor (whale expert) who was raised by her elders in thetraditional Mori knowledge of the moana (sea). Togetherwith biologist Dr Emma Carroll from the University ofAuckland Waipapa Taumata Rau, they would bring the worldof Mtauranga Mori and science together to explore thenature and origins of this whale.

Ramari broughtextensive knowledge to the project, including leading workpreparing Nihongore for Te Papa. Its brilliant thatRamari accepted the honor of having this species named afterher, in recognition of Ramaris Mtauranga and Westernknowledge on whales and dolphins. As Ramari also meansa rare event in Te Reo (Mori language) it is also afitting tribute to the elusive nature of most beakedwhales, says Dr Emma Carroll.

Initially the NewZealand research team thought this was the first Truesbeaked whale found in the country, but that changed duringtheir work with a global network of researchers. They soonrealised that the genetics and skull shape of the Truesbeaked whales in the Northern Hemisphere were very differentto the Trues beaked whales in the SouthernHemisphere. They have been separated for around half amillion years, probably because they dont like the warmwater near the equator. Its clear that they are differentspecies.

Its wonderful that Western science isstarting to recognise that Mtauranga Mori is as equallygreat as Western science and the two can work together.Rather than just bridging a relationship and takingknowledge from Indigenous practitioners, it is better thatwe both sit at the table, Ramari Stewart.

Thisdiscovery brings the total number of beaked whale species to24. These are the most visible inhabitants of the deep oceandue to their large size and need to surface to breath. Thegroup includes the deepest diving mammals, which can dive100s or 1000s of metres to find their prey. Ramarisbeaked whale probably spends a lot of time offshore in deepwaters given so few specimens have beendiscovered.

The scientific name Mesoplodon eueuconnects the male specimens used in this research to theirorigins in South Africa, a territory inhabited by theKhoisan peoples. Guided by the Khoisan Council, the nameeueu was given, meaning big fish in the Khwedamlanguage. This is representative of languages from theregion, as the languages of people that inhabited the coast,where the whales stranded, are now mostly extinct.

Incollaboration with an international team of over 30scientists, research led by Dr Emma Carroll will bepublished in the international journal Proceedings of theRoyal SocietyB.

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Type 2 diabetes is a chronic disease that prevents your body from being able to properly use insulin. Its the result of increased insulin resistance and your pancreas not making enough insulin to manage your blood sugar (glucose) levels.

About 1 in 10 Americans has diabetes, and type 2 diabetes represents 90 to 95 percent of those cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

There are many symptoms of type 2 diabetes. Its important to know what they are because diabetes because the condition can be prevented or delayed if caught early.

Read on for the most common symptoms of type 2 diabetes.

The symptoms of type 2 diabetes vary from person to person. They can develop slowly over many years and might be so mild that you dont notice them.

Polyuria, or excessive urination, is one of the 3 Ps of diabetes.

Your kidneys eventually cant keep up with the extra glucose in your bloodstream. Some of the glucose ends up in your urine and draws in more water. This leads to more frequent urination.

Adults naturally produce 1 to 2 liters of urine per day (a liter is about a quart). Polyuria is defined as more than 3 liters per day.

Excessive thirst, or polydipsia, is often a result of frequent urination. Your body urges you to replace lost fluids by making you feel thirsty.

Of course, everyone gets thirsty sometimes. Extreme thirst is uncharacteristic and persistent, no matter how often you replenish.

Excessive hunger is called polyphagia.

If you have type 2 diabetes, your body has a hard time turning glucose into energy. This makes you feel hungry. Eating introduces even more sugar that cant be processed, and it doesnt alleviate the hunger.

Diabetes increases your risk of several eye conditions, including:

The increased blood sugar from diabetes can damage blood vessels, including those in the eye, leading to blurry vision.

Fatigue can be a mental or physical tiredness that doesnt improve with rest. There are many causes of fatigue.

Its a difficult symptom to research, but a 2016 study concluded that people with type 2 diabetes may experience fatigue as a result of fluctuations between high and low glucose levels.

If you have type 2 diabetes, regular cuts and scratches can take longer to heal. Wounds on your feet are common and easy to overlook. Slow healing foot ulcers occur due to poor blood supply as well as damage to the nerves responsible for blood flow to the feet.

A 2020 study showed that diabetic foot ulcers dont mobilize the immune cells needed for proper inflammation and healing.

High glucose can damage the blood vessels that supply nutrients to your nerves. When your nerves dont receive enough oxygen and nutrients, they cannot function properly.

This is called diabetic neuropathy and is most common in your extremities.

Insulin resistance causes glucose to build up in the bloodstream instead of being turned into energy. This can cause your body to consume other energy sources, like muscle or fat tissue.

Your weight might naturally fluctuate a little. An unexplained loss of at least 5 percent of your body weight is generally agreed as a need to talk with your healthcare professional.

In addition to nerve damage and a weakened immune system, poor blood circulation also increases the chance of developing an infection in people with diabetes. Having more sugar in your blood and tissues allows infections to spread faster.

People with diabetes commonly develop infections of the:

Acanthosis nigricans is a skin condition that can be a symptom of diabetes. It appears as dark bands of skin that may have a velvety texture.

This is most common in body folds such as your armpits, neck, and groin, but can also occur elsewhere.

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Type 2 Diabetes Symptoms in Women and Men: What to Know - Healthline

The Male Breast Cancer Market report examines the short- and medium-term economic and profitability prospects of the Male Breast Cancer industry. The Global Male Breast Cancer Market Report is a professional and comprehensive research report on the market situation in the worlds major regions, focusing on the main regions (North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific) and the main countries (USA, Germany, UK, Japan, South Korea, and China).

Over the years, the Male Breast Cancer market has grown exponentially, driven by the demand from baby boomers. Most people feel comfortable in their own homes, and leaving their comfort zone to seek treatment or care in a facility seems daunting to many. Male Breast Cancer has emerged as a reliable alternative when many seniors who have lived their entire lives at home struggle to adjust to a new institution/facility.

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Market leaders mentioned in this report:

Pfizer, Roche, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi, Novartis, Bayer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca, Teva Pharmaceutical, Sun Pharmaceutical, BioNumerik Pharmaceuticals, Seattle Genetics, Accord Healthcare

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Medication, Chemotherapy, Others

Male Breast Cancer Market Segmentation by Applications:

Hospitals, Clinics, Others

The report provides an in-depth and broad understanding of the Male Breast Cancer market. The report provides dominant data for key players with accurate data covering all key features of the dominant market. An audit of the state of the market by the availability of accurate historical data for all segments during the forecast period is mentioned. Driving forces, restraints, and opportunities are provided to help provide an improved picture of investments in this market during the forecast period 2021-2027.

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The global Male Breast Cancer market is expected to grow at a healthy pace through 2020. The growth of the global baby boom generation population is expected to be a key driver of the global Male Breast Cancer market growth. Also, awareness of the benefits of receiving home care is expected to further propel the growth of this market.

Key Drivers and Regions of Global Male Breast Cancer Market

History Future Analysis and AssessmentHistory: 2015-2020Base year: 2021Estimated Year:2021Forecast Year: 2021-2027

In-depth qualitative analysis involves the identification and investigation of the following aspects:Male Breast Cancer Market Structure, Growth Drivers, Limitations and Challenges, Emerging Product Trends and Male Breast Cancer Industry Opportunities, Porters Five Forces.

The Asia Pacific, the USA, and Western Europe are expected to be major regions for global Male Breast Cancer market growth. The surging elderly population in the densely populated countries of Asia Pacific, particularly India and China, is expected to drive the demand for the Male Breast Cancer market. The easy availability of home care service providers and the increasing number of chronic diseases are expected to be the reasons to revitalize the global Male Breast Cancer market. The cost-effectiveness of Male Breast Cancer is expected to have a good impact on the growth of the Male Breast Cancer market in Western Europe.

Key Challenges of the Global Male Breast Cancer Market

The shortage of trained workers remains a major challenge for the growth of the global Male Breast Cancer market. The leading players in the global Male Breast Cancer market have strict hiring procedures and focus on providing the right training for their employees. However, new entrants to the market are lax about the history of workers and do not have the resources or budget to train them. This remains a key challenge for the growth of the global Male Breast Cancer market.

Key Questions in the Male Breast Cancer Market Report:-

The report analysts have focused on answering some key questions about the Male Breast Cancer market. It is intended to help the reader gain a clear knowledge of the growth of the Male Breast Cancer market and the ongoing changes that will diversify the market in the coming years.

Report Customization https://www.worldwidemarketreports.com/quiry/556539If you have any questions or custom requirements, please contact our experts to make sure your requirements are met.

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Male Breast Cancer Market: Established Keyplayers Will Try to Generate New Growth Opportunities in the Upcoming Years: Pfizer, Roche, GlaxoSmithKline ...

National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

By: Grecia Romero

Para leer en Espaol

A pink ribbon is distinct. Its unique meaning strikes in a millisecond.

The well-known ribbon and its distinctive color has become the official symbol of commitment and awareness in the global fight against breast cancer in October. Organizations and people interested in the cause use it to represent hope for the future while honoring those who have suffered from the disease. The ribbon joins people from all backgrounds in solidarity with those who are currently suffering from it.

This color is not a fashion trend. Its a visible form of awareness and education on prevention, early detection, and treatment of this disease.

Breast Cancer Does Not Discriminate

Breast cancer continues to be the most common type of cancer in women. About 1 in 8 women in the United States will be diagnosed with this cancer in her lifetime, and 1 in 39 will die from the disease. According to the 2021 Cancer Facts & Figures report published last month by the American Cancer Society, it is estimated that by December of this year, there will be 281,550 new cases, which represents 30% of all possible cancer diagnoses.

Breast cancer is not exclusive to women. Men can also suffer from the disease although at a lesser extent. The same report estimates that 2,650 new cases of men will be diagnosed this year with a risk of life of 1 in 1000 cases.

Mary Ann Orlang works as a clinical nurse specialist in genetics at the Regional Cancer Center in Florida. She helps patients with genetic cancer tests that might be inherited. Orlang said that cancer is a disease that does not distinguish between sex and age.

We see a wide range of people with this condition on a daily basis. We serve very young women, in their twenties or thirties, as well as older women, said Orlang. We have also had male patients who have been diagnosed with breast cancer, although their risk is not as high as women.

As Orlang said, learning how this type of cancer behaves plays a very important role in prevention and treatment.

Awareness is importantespecially with risk factors like family history of breast cancer or prostate cancer since prostate cancer is also associated with BRCA genes.

Orlang also said that breast self-exam is highly recommended and should be started as early as 18 years of age for women with high-risk families. This allows the young woman to learn to distinguish what is normal for her and to recognize in time if there is something wrong. This is also true for men because, as Orlang points out, although the detection of breast cancer in men is much easier, it is common that the diagnosis comes as a result of a medical evaluation for the presence of lumps, secretions, or change in the appearance of the breasts.

Risk Factors: What Should You Know?

Breast cancer is not an infectious, bacterial, or transmissible disease like the human papilloma (HPV). Statistics from the American Cancer Society show that approximately 10% of all cases of this type of cancer are hereditary, an additional 10 to 30% have a close family member who also had cancer suggesting a familial link, and 60 to 80% are sporadic cases.

Although it is not possible to point to a direct and specific cause for its occurrence, several studies have verified the relationship of certain factors, some of them controllable, with the appearance of this disease.

The American Cancer Society lists all risk factors that increase the chances of getting the disease: the womans age (risks increase considerably after age 50), starting menstrual periods early, or having her first child at an advanced age, not having breastfed, a personal history of cancer, and direct family inheritance.

Potentially modifiable factors include obesity, physical inactivity, use of alcohol or tobacco, prolonged use of hormones, and excessive radiation exposure.

Prevention: What should be done?

Living a healthy lifestyle is the key to preventing cancer and multiple diseases. This requires different adjustments, but that will be undoubtedly of great benefit in the long term. According to the American Cancer Society, some preventive tips are:

Awareness Breast Cancer Month: Where Do We Start?

The keyword of October is action!

There are several things that can be done to fight this disease and really make an impact on the lives of those who suffer from it.

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Pink Ribbon is not a fashion trend: It is a Symbol of a fight! - Doral Family Journal

This is a rush transcript of "The Ingraham Angle" on October 1, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: I'm Laura Ingraham. This is THE INGRAHAM ANGLE from Washington tonight.

The pandemic of the unvaccinated narrative gets a reality check. My medicine cabinet is here and they'll expose why cases are surging in highly vaccinated areas. And it's not just Texas, Arizona now is under a massive strain from illegals crossing the border there. We're going to bring you a dramatic report from Yuma.

Plus, Pelosi becomes a dancing queen and James Bond gets a makeover from the woke left. Oh say it, ain't so, Raymond Arroyo is here for Friday Follies.

But first, last night special counsel John Durham dropped his second bombshell in just the last two weeks. He issued subpoenas to one of the most politically connected law firms in the country. It's called Perkins Coie.

Now, in 2016, that law firm represented the DNC and the Clinton campaign, who then, of course, used the firm to funnel money to former British spy Christopher Steele. Now Steele, in turn, used the funds to finance his phony dossier on then candidate Donald Trump.

Now, this comes just two weeks, by the way, the subpoena after the federal grand jury indicted former Perkins Coie lawyer Michael Sussman for lying to the FBI during a 2016 meeting that helped spark the Trump Russia probe. Now, we're not sure why it's taken Durham this long to do this. But we may finally, finally be close to learning just how far the Clintons and their allies went, and all their efforts to destroy Donald Trump, his campaign and his presidency.

And when the truth finally comes out, we'll also see how invested the Deep State was in deep siccing Trump. Their goal was to frustrate the Trump agenda, and put them on the defensive from day one.

And as we all remember, the main villains here were aided and abetted by a corrupt left wing media complex that fan the fraudulent Russian collusion accusations for years. By the way, remember, none of those media folks decided to resign after their role in all of this. There were no (inaudible). And as far as I can tell, there's been no accountability. Sound familiar, or sounds like just what's happening at the Biden Pentagon.

And when the Durham subpoena news did break, Hillary's collaborators in the press, they kind of just decided to downplay it or just ignore it entirely. So last night, ABC and CBS fond over Biden's moves to save his mega spending bill and also to keep our borders wide open. And the Durham probe didn't make NBC Nightly News either, but, well, they did find time to do a very important feature on the lineup for the Super Bowl halftime show.

But come on, it's understandable. Eminem, Snoop Dogg over here versus boring old Durham and Perkins Coie over there. Maybe it's time to strike the whole word, news, from NBC Nightly News at this point, more like NBC Nightly Distraction. Of course, the news blackout extended to MSNBC, which spent years dining out in the twisted Russian conspiracies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump was trying to do business with Russia. And then six months later, Russia is trying to help the Trump campaign. It's not very complicated.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: This is not how presidents behave. It's a dark moment in American history today.

DEXTER FILKINS, THE NEW YORKER CONTRIBUTOR: Eric Lichtblau of the 'New York Times' calls Alpha Bank's lobbyists in Washington. 48 hours later, the Trump domain vanishes from the internet. And--

RACHEL MADDOW, MSNBC HOST: One thing, if the alpha side of it disappeared, they called alpha and the Trump side disappear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Ok, ok. But surely CNN gave the Durham developments their due.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It seems like he's not delivering that big fish that former President Trump and Attorney General Bill Barr promised.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. Exactly after 2.5 years or so, there's only been these two indictments. And they frankly have been very thin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Now, what's really thinnest here is their credibility and objectivity. It's not existent. Wolf Blitzer even trotted out one of the slimiest guys in this ongoing drama, former FBI Director Andrew McCabe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Is this the action of a special counsel, who after once again two years of investigating has found essentially not much, at least not yet?

ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR: Well, that's absolutely right. There's really very little here relevant to what he supposedly was hired to investigate. The recent indictment and these subpoenas really hold the FBI more in the position of victim rather than subject of an investigation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: The spin just never ends. Just remember, Andy's always going to play the victim though. So the FBI, our Intel agencies, the media, and dishonest Democrats, they did incalculable harm to the office of the presidency and the people's faith in these institutions. And none of the guilty parties in this saga, not the press, the DOJ, certainly not the Intel community, have learned anything over the last few years.

Since we discovered that the Russia probe was a fraud from the outset, they've just moved on to targeting innocent Americans, who oppose the Biden agenda, while dismissing Biden's conflicts of interests on China and his general incompetence and managing the affairs of our nation. It's a complete an ongoing disservice to the hard working people of America who deserve to know the truth about the lengths to which our own government and media will go to take and keep power.

Joining me now is Mollie Hemingway, senior editor at the Federalist; and Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary, both Fox News contributors.

Mollie, this attempt to gloss over the Durham news, as if the first thing they're going to announce is that they have Jim Comey, or somehow Andy McCabe is going to be marched out in handcuffs. That's not how investigations ever work.

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, SENIOR EDITOR, THE FEDERALIST: Well, the thing about this conspiracy is that it was complicated and very difficult to unravel. There are three different sets of bad actors. There are the Clinton campaign and their law firm who made up the hoax, invented it, mostly out of whole cloth. There are the corrupt intelligence officials, who weaponized it. And then there are the completely reprehensible media, who uncritically regurgitated it.

There is some accountability that can be had for the corrupt FBI officials and for the Clinton campaign. But the media are really the bad actors. They're the ones who reported this day in and day out for years, undermining administration affecting the 2016 election, the 2018 election, and the 2020 election. And because of the laws of our land, there's not so much you can do even though they probably knowingly lied about all of this. But one thing that can be done is that conservatives and victims and Republicans, who were victims of this need to hold them accountable.

And here's one way you don't hold them accountable. Chuck Todd, who's at a different network, lied about the Russia collusion for years. He brutally attacked Republicans who tried to fight back. He defended deep state actors as they lied. The Virginia Republicans had him host their gubernatorial debate, where they allowed that to happen where their candidate debated with him moderating. There is no reason that conspiracy theorist and liar at that level should have any access to Republicans.

And Republicans need to have greater self respect for themselves, that they don't allow these people to continue to act like nothing happened. What happened to this country was evil and wrong, and they need to be held accountable.

INGRAHAM: Ari, do you agree? It seems like Republicans are so quick to forgive what are frankly unforgiveable moves by an independent media, supposedly independent media. So they're basically just now an extended comm shop of the Democrat Party. So why shouldn't they at some point be treated as such?

ARI FLEISCHER, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Yes, Laura. I'm not willing to forgive or move beyond. I'm actually writing a book about it and how much the media has led America down. But let's reset the table here.

First and foremost, the Democrats and much of the media never accepted the results of the 2016 presidential election in which Donald Trump won. And as a result of Trump's win, they did everything in their power to undermine the win and make the claim that it was somehow illegitimate that he's not the duly elected president, that the only reason he won was because of Russian interference in America's election. And they perpetrated that myth, and it became the dominant theme of the early years of the Trump era.

Everything Donald Trump did seem to be tainted by the press, falling over themselves, to make it lead the evening news, front page coverage, websites, everywhere about Donald Trump and Russia, and went as far as I'm accepting much of the Steel Dossier too. And so what do you have now with what happened last night in this revelation about subpoenas, a total media hypocritical approach.

Every time a subpoena was issued by Bob Mueller and his investigation of Donald Trump, it was hysteria in the media about this and where it could lead. And now, in the case of a subpoena issued to the Clinton law firm, 'The New York Times' and 'The Washington Post' buried it. One paragraph in each of those papers.

And as you pointed out, Laura, the network's poo-pooed it, made it act like it was nothing. A total hypocrisy by those who said the election was stolen by Donald Trump.

INGRAHAM: Now, moving on to another issue, which is I think, really hurting Biden is his approach to the border and immigration. And Mollie, the AP is reporting that "The administration announced new rules that require authorities to only pursue migrants who recently crossed into the country since November 1 without permission - or they're deemed to pose a threat to public safety".

Mollie, what message does that send to the 60,000 Haitians plus, who are making their way to our southern border?

HEMINGWAY: It sends the same message that the Biden administration has sent since before it was even in office. When Biden campaigned, he encouraged people to illegally cross the border. He tore down all of the rules and restrictions that we had put in place, kind of patchwork that we had in place, in other countries, in our country to ensure that some of the trafficking that we've seen would be controlled.

And so it's not - you know, it's a crisis of his own making. He chose this, he wants this. And so it's very difficult to solve, because he doesn't actually view this as a problem, even as much of the country is having to pay for this and deal with the consequences of his open borders policy.

INGRAHAM: And, Ari, yesterday's hearing on Capitol Hill in Congress was meant to strike back against Texas and other states that are putting abortion restrictions in place. And a lot of people didn't believe what they were seeing. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RASHIDA TLAIB (D-MI): Black Lives Matter should be very much at the forefront and every policy that we ever do in this country.

REP. AYANNA PRESSLEY (D-MA): Abortion bans like this are rooted in patriarchy, white supremacy, and perpetuate systemic racism.

GHAZALEH MOAYEDI, OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY SPECIALIST: I know firsthand that abortion saves lives. Abortion is a blessing. Abortion is an act of love. Abortion is freedom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Ari, does that help the Democrats with those kind of working class Democrats, a lot of Catholic voters and others. But Congresswoman came up when they basically told their abortion stories and others, and it's an act of love now. Is that going to fly? What happened to safe legal and rare under Clinton?

FLEISCHER: Yes. And Hispanic voters too, Laura, between immigration and this. That's another reason the Democrats are suffering erosion in the Hispanic community. But now, that type of rhetoric, that type of extremist language never works on either side.

And that's why I've made a career of trying to carve out treating people with respect, understanding two different sides of an argument, coming down on a principal position and holding to it. But you don't vilify and demonize the other side. And on a host of issues, that's the only Democratic approach they have left, demonize and vilify. And that's why they're not getting majorities for anything they're doing on the Capitol Hill these days.

INGRAHAM: Mollie, does that work, that abortion tech they took?

HEMINGWAY: It's extreme, and it's mostly just sad to hear people talk this way about the ending of unborn human life. And it's a reminder that everybody needs to care for the women in their midst and the children that they bear. But this language is so extreme, and it doesn't match with what we know about Americans, which is that they, in general, would like to see restrictions - some restrictions on abortion, and that we have the most radical policies relative to any country on Earth. So not wise on their part.

INGRAHAM: All right. Mollie, Ari, great to see you. Have a great weekend.

And over on Capitol Hill, my next guest was hammering HHS secretary Xavier Becerra for twisting the science on COVID. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): Do you want to apologize to the 100 million Americans, who suffered through COVID, survived, have immunity, and yet you want to hold them down and vaccinate them? Do you want to apologize for calling those people flat earthers?

XAVIER BECERRA, HHS SECRETARY: We follow the facts and the science at HHS, we use the expertise of the medical professionals, scientists at HHS to make decisions. It's a team effort. And we rely on what is on the ground showing us results.

PAUL: Except for the dozens and dozens of studies, in fact, most if not all of this studies, show robust immunity from getting the disease naturally. You're selectively doing this because you want us to submit to your will.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Joining me now, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. Senator, I had so many friends send me that exchange, texted it to me last night. It is stunning. The bureaucracy uninformed, ignorant, certainly no medical background. What's going to happen here?

Now, Dianne Feinstein has introduced legislation to stop the unvaccinated, prevent them from traveling domestically on an airplane.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): You know, the truth is actually the opposite. For those of us who have had the disease and survived, we're more at risk in being around only vaccinated people. So these people who are hysterical about the unvaccinated, it's actually the opposite of the truth. The riskiest people to catch it from are people who are vaccinated versus people who have had the disease.

Now, there are some people who are unvaccinated, who haven't had the disease, and I do recommend that they voluntarily get the vaccine. But the thing is, is think of all the doctors, think of all the lawyers, the orderlies in the hospital, who worked for a year and a half to save lives without any vaccine at all. They got COVID, they survived. They now have immunity. And the hospitals are just saying, you're worthless. We're getting rid of you unless you submit to a vaccine. But it doesn't go with the science. The science actually shows greater immunity if you've had the disease than if you've just simply been vaccinated.

INGRAHAM: Well, the court is ultimately going to have to settle this one. They're just not going to change their view on that. But getting back to my point about this radical legislation seeking to isolate and punish unvaccinated Americans to prevent them from flying domestically.

Dianne Feinstein, when we haven't seen her much lately, but she apparently introduced legislation to do just that. Your reaction, Senator?

PAUL: The ever present, Dr. Fauci agrees with her. He wants to ban people from flying as well, unless they're vaccinated. It totally goes against the science. It's ignoring the 100 million people that already have immunity who got it naturally. It's a terrible idea. It goes against, sort of, the very basic idea of a free society.

I said, yesterday, one of the most incredible, our primary medical rights we have is to decide what goes into our body, what kind of injections we get, which doctor we go to, whether we have surgery, or we don't have surgery. And so everything they're doing is against the science, but also against really the foundation of what are - the freedom that our country was founded upon.

INGRAHAM: And yesterday, on a separate issue, Senator, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, well, she addressed just how bad our national debt is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANET YELLEN, TREASURY SECRETARY: The debt held by the public relative to GDP is around 105 percent.

REP. TED BUDD (R-NC): Do you believe that there is a level of debt that is unsustainable in our economy?

YELLEN: If interest rates are zero, and negative in real terms, certainly we could have a substantially higher burden.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: So, I guess if there's no end to the debt we can rack up. That is terrifying. Real quick.

PAUL: Yes. The other way to look at it is that we're approaching the same percentage of debt that Greece had when Greece declared bankruptcy. So, yes, great nations can declare bankruptcy. The checks will all go out. But the question is, will the checks buy anything?

I think inflation is coming back in a big way. And I think the whole bait and switch of Democrats offering you free stuff, you will ultimately pay for it with higher prices. Don't be fooled. Nothing in life is really free.

INGRAHAM: Senator Paul, incredible exchange (inaudible) about yesterday. Thanks for joining us.

PAUL: Thank you, Laura.

INGRAHAM: And you've heard it repeated, ad nauseum. COVID is the pandemic of the unvaccinated, Biden said that, Fauci said it. Well, tonight we're giving that narrative our own INGRAHAM ANGLE reality check. My medicine cabinet is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: Now, just as predicted by anyone who has studied viruses, the Delta variant looks to have run its course in the south. Over the last two weeks, daily caseloads have fallen precipitously in states like Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, Texas and South Carolina.

Meanwhile, it looks like COVID has migrated northward toward more heavily vaccinated states. Maine has seen a jaw dropping 34 percent increase in cases over the last 14 days. Vermont's caseload jumped 29 percent. And even New York, the land of vaccine mandates has seen a surge.

Let's bring in my medicine cabinet. Dr. Steven Smith, founder of the Smith Center for infectious diseases and Urban Health; and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Stanford Professor, University Professor of Medicine there.

Dr. Bhattacharya, what should we take away from this COVID trend from south to north? Is it related to the strict mandates, the controls? Or is there something else going on?

JAY BHATTACHARYA, PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE, STANFORD: Laura, there's an illusion of control that we sometimes have with this virus that somehow we - if we just lock down hard enough, if we just bay enough we can stop the virus from spreading.

But, in fact, the virus spreads on a seasonal, regional basis, it's very, very difficult to stop a virus like this from spreading. It's unfortunate fact. That's why it's so important to protect the vulnerable with the vaccine and whatnot. But it's also important to realize that these measures that we take have enormous harms. We have to acknowledge that and we basically get away from it.

INGRAHAM: And, Steve, Dr. Smith, the other thing that's going on, is it not, as it has been reported is that, the vaccines overtime did begin to wane in their effectiveness. So after five months or so, you start to see waning antibodies. Is that also what's going on, because they went early all in on the vaccines in these states?

STEPHEN SMITH, SMITH CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Of course. And I agree with Jay. He is one of my favorite experts on TV. We don't know what the virus does, or why it does what it does.

But as far as we do know a few things, and one of the things as we know that the vaccine induce immunity or protection against infection and disease, more importantly disease. It wanes overtime, and that's not unexpected at all. We just didn't know what timeframe and we couldn't know what timeframe and in which hosts, older people of course, who is a quicker, without having time.

And with time and, of course, the experience in Israel has shown us that, it does wane and relatively quickly and especially in people that don't have perfect immune systems in other words, the elderly or otherwise. You may have compromised hosts.

INGRAHAM: Dr. Bhattacharya, President Biden chimed in earlier this week on the percentage that would need to be vaccinated, not taking into account any natural immunity, but percentage that would need to be vaccinated to kind of be done with this. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: how many Americans need to be vaccinated for us to get back to normal?

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I think we get the vast majority by just going on with some of these, some industries and some schools, 97 -- 98 percent. A quarter of the country can't go unvaccinated and us not continue to have a problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: OK. Dr. Bhattacharya, the phrase vast majority now means 97 percent. That's kind of almost 100 percent. But he's not taking into account as neither is Fauci nor any of the other public health experts, the fact that a lot of - millions of millions of people have already been infected with this virus, correct?

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'The Ingraham Angle' on Durham investigation blackout - Fox News

Our study provides an insight into the similarities and differences between England, France and Germany through a comprehensive literature review focusing on arguments about,and regulations of, prenatal testing and reproductive choices (specifically on NIPT).

Between December 2020 and April 2021, we reviewed approximately250 sources in legal and regulatory texts; public reports of national ethics committees and professional bodies; parliamentary debates; medical press; academic literature in prenatal genetics, bioethics, social sciences; and daily press. The sources covered a wide range of issues related to the implementation of NIPT such as ethical and practical issues; public, political and scientific debates; regulations and guidelines; criteria for offering the test free of charge; and communication of results. We focused on literature regarding the English, French and German context, since 2011, when NIPT became first available in the private sector before several countries decided to fund it within their public health system. We searched the databases of Cairn journals (Humanities and Social Sciences), Google Scholar, PubMed and SAGE journals. The review of documents and terminologies was guided by the following questions: how is NIPT regulated in each country? Who are the main stakeholders and institutions involved in the offer of NIPT? What are the ethical arguments used by stakeholders in public, political, parliamentary and professional debates? What are the meanings of these arguments in each context? We identified differences with regard to the ethical questions associated with NIPT and the ways these are discussed in each country.

This analysis is part of a wider comparative study combining literature review, empirical research (semi-structured interviews with stakeholders) and conceptual analysis to explore the ethical issues arising from prenatal genetics in England, France and Germany [5].

We propose to start with an overview of the practical regulations defining how and to whom NIPT is (or will) be offered as a publicly funded screening test in the three countries studied. In France, since January 2019, NIPT is reimbursed as a second-tier screening test, between the 11 and 14th week for pregnancies with a probability of trisomy 21 (T21) (between 1:51 and 1:1000), following cFTS (UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC)). In England, in 2016, UK NSC has recommended that NIPT should be offered to women with an increased probability of having a baby with T21, T13 and T18 with a higher cut-off than in France, at 1:150, following first trimester combined (1114 weeks) or second trimester quadruple screening (1420 weeks). This recommendation was implemented in June 2021 as part of the NHS Fetal Anomaly Screening Programme (FASP). Similarly, in Germany, it was decided in 2019 to cover NIPT for pregnancies with an increased likelihood of T21, T13, and T18 through the publicly funded health insurance system from 2021. Unlike in France and in England, the risk cut-off is determined individually and is independent of a quantifiable risk calculation [6, 7]. In Germany, a statistically increased risk is not seen as a sufficient criterion to reimburse the test [8]. It is stated that only a particular situation, where the pregnancy and its consequences present a burden to the pregnant woman and could lead to serious harm of her mental health, can justify the test; hence offering the test requires a case-by-case decision [6].

In the three countries, pregnant women are usually referred by their gynaecologistobstetrician, midwife or general practitioner to fetal medicine units, prenatal clinics or medical genetics service that offer NIPT. Because of the high accuracy of NIPT in detecting the common chromosomal trisomies (T21, T13 and T18), and in particular for T21, all three countries have decided to publicly fund the test only for these trisomies, and not for other conditions or traits for which the test is less accurate.Footnote 1

NIPT for T21, T18 and T13 is not used as a diagnostic test at present, and so a positive NIPT test requires further testing for confirmation in the second trimester (e.g. amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling (CVS)) [9]. However, because of its higher accuracy than cFTS in detecting trisomies, fewer women will need to undergo such confirmatory tests, which may involve some, albeit minimal, risk of miscarriage for amniocentesis and CVS (0.11% and 0.22% respectively) [10]. This clinical advantage has been one the main arguments mobilised for its use in routine prenatal care in the three countries, but also in other countries where NIPT is implemented.

Despite the advantages of the test, offering NIPT as part of routine clinical service raises important ethical questions. Through our literature review, we identified similarities among issues raised in England, France and Germany, for example by patient associations, national ethics committees, medical experts, politicians and journalists. The issues presented here are also largely discussed in the international literature on NIPT and are not particular to the three countries. For example, while it is acknowledged that NIPT offers a range of benefits such as earlier and more accurate results compared to cFTS, better understanding of fetal aneuploidies and, ultimately, better informed reproductive decision-making, concerns are expressed that its use in routine antenatal care may increase the risk of stigmatisation and discrimination of people living with an autosomal aneuploidy, having a negative impact on the support for women who decide to raise a child with a trisomy [11,12,13].

One other major concern discussed in the literature is that NIPT could become a routine test, which could intensify the already existing challenge of prenatal testing, potentially putting pressure on women to undergo testing, and hence undermining informed decision-making, and weakening reproductive autonomy [14]. Other arguments concern the risks of prenatal sex-selection and the risks of screening for less severeconditions, adult-onset conditionsand carrier status [15, 16]. Especially in England, there are concerns about prenatal sex-selection as expressed in parliamentary questions addressed to the Department of Health in 2016, and inthe Labour Partys call to ban early fetal sex testing in 2018 (BBC, Labour calls for ban on early foetus sex test, 2018). There are also ethical questions about the communication of results and information management in cases of misattributed paternity, secondary or incidental findings that may have implications not only for the fetus health but also the health of the mother or other family members [17]. Furthermore, where women use commercial companies, the quality of information returned and the counselling provided by some of these companies is criticised and challenges the idea of informed decision-making [18]. However, ethical issues of direct-to-consumer testing are not the focus of this paper.

Through our comparison, differences emerged in the ways in which the ethical issues related to reproductive autonomy are addressed in each country. First of all, in England, the debate highlights the risk that NIPT could be recommended to women as a standard test, a simple blood test that may not involve the same level of pre-test counselling and information as an amniocentesis or CVS. The concern, which is particularly highlighted in a 2017 report of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics is, that the less invasive nature of NIPT could make it difficult for women to refuse the test [19] and, therefore, undermine informed consent and reproductive autonomy [19, 20]. In order to address this concern, there is a strong focus on understanding and recognising the needs, beliefs and preferences of women in order to enable them to make autonomous decisions. In 2020, a collective of professional bodies (Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Royal College of Midwives, Society and College of Radiographers) have developed a consensus statement suggesting that information about NIPT is provided by healthcare professionals in a non-directive way so that women are able to make choices that are right for them. In the same way, the Public Health England Fetal anomaly screening programme, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics and NHS England emphasise clarity, accuracy and non-directiveness when informing women on benefits and limitations of the NIPT [19, 21]. Parliamentary questionsFootnote 2 and daily pressFootnote 3 also reflect the importance of helping women to make informed decisions by providing appropriate information, explaining the different options, offering support and respecting their decision. This reflects the autonomy-focused approach in England [22].

Concerns are raised also in France about the negative impact NIPT may have on womens choices, emphasised in a regulatory framework of 2018 stating that: The woman is at the centre of the system and makes all decisions regarding her pregnancy. Her autonomy must be respected [23]. However, unlike England, France puts emphasis on the content of the information (e.g. organisation of screening and timeframes, results communication) rather than on it being non-directive. The focus is less on enabling women to make informed decisions than on the need to protect women from the risks of commercial exploitation of genetic screening tests (NIPT) and leaving couples alone and helpless when faced with non-validated tests [13], as described by the National Ethics Committee (Comit Consultatif National dEthique), in 2013. This concern about women as victims of the commercialisation of risk, the lobby of diagnostic merchants and pregnancy monitoring is present also in the daily pressFootnote 4. According to these accounts, women are described as likely to lack full understanding of complex genetic information and therefore ought to be protected in order to make their own decisions. Consistent with this discourse, empirical studies have confirmed a certain paternalistic attitude among French health professionals when it comes to prenatal decisions and informing women of the choice they have with regard to prenatal testing [24]. In France, the possibility for women to make informed choice is important [13] and has been included in the law (Loi n 2002303 du 4 mars 2002), reflecting an increased focus on a patient-centred approach as part of what is called a health democracy (dmocratie sanitaire) [25, 26]. In the case of NIPT, however, the concern for womens autonomous choice shows itself in the form of a rather protective approach that can be seen as restricting reproductive choice. In contrast, although France insists on free choice and the right to revoke the decision of consent to carry out examinations [23], it puts more emphasis on the content of the information than on the way it is delivered (provide fair and appropriate information, inform about stages of screening and diagnosis, times between the different examinations, distinction between risk and certainty of diagnosis, possibility to continue or not the pregnancy, etc.).

In Germany, the debate on reproductive autonomy in the context of NIPT often focuses on the womans right not to know or her right to decline available prenatal tests [27,28,29]. It is also suggested that, in addition to information provided by professionals, a woman should be put in contact with associations or families who have a child living with a trisomy [6, 30], so, she is able to make a fully informed decision about whether to continue or terminate herpregnancy. Furthermore, concerns are raised about the scope and limit of the respect for the dignity of the future child, and its right to life and to be recognised as a human being. The potential conflict between the future childs right to life and the womans right over her own body was also highlighted in the 2019 report of the Committee on Education, Research and Technology Assessment of the German Bundestag, on the current situation and development of prenatal diagnosis [31]. Generally, in the German debate, we notice a strong focus on enabling women to make their own informed decisions as well as a cautious approach with regard to new reproductive technologies that could compromise the dignity of human life from its very beginning. Public debates on bioethical issues in post-war Germany often emphasise the importance of respecting both individual autonomy and human dignity [32], two principles that echo Kants influence on contemporary debates. Policies aim to weigh the autonomy and dignity of one human life, that of the woman, against the autonomy and dignity of another human life, the future child. The first (womans autonomy and dignity) can outweigh the latter (future childs autonomy and dignity) only where there is guarantee that the woman makes a truly informed autonomous decision free of any undue pressure [27].

We have seen how reproductive autonomy is discussed differently in each country, and how it is associated with different ethical concerns, echoing different prevailing norms and values in each country. These aspects and nuances are also reflected in the various public reactions in England, France and Germany, as we will see below.

The incorporation of NIPT into public healthcare systems has led to criticism at different levels depending on perceptions and values associated with disability, new biomedical technologies and reproductive rights. In England, several campaigns have put NIPT on the political agenda. For example, in 2016, the Dont Screen Us Out campaign, led by a Downs syndrome advocacy group, started a petition which was signed by over 900 people with Downs Syndrome and their families denouncing the violation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). That same year, a documentary by the British actress, Sally Phillips, A World Without Downs Syndrome? (BBC, 5 October 2016) denounced the devaluation of families and children living with Downs syndrome, the biased information given to pregnant women about the condition, and the risk of the decline of members of this community. However, in England, such critical voices are outweighed by the value accorded to the right of women to make independent and informed choices [33, 34]. Furthermore, as evidenced in parliamentary questionsFootnote 5 and the daily press,Footnote 6 the public discourse favours the benefits and technological progress of NIPT such as its safety and accuracy.

In Germany, protests by civil society organisations (German Down Syndrome InfoCenter, KIDS Hamburg, Lebenshilfe, Joint Declaration on World Down Syndrome Day, Network against Selection through Prenatal Diagnostics) emerged in 2011, following an investigation by the weekly newspaper Die Zeit, revealing that the laboratory LifeCodexx had received around 300,000 Euros from the Federal Ministry for Research and Education for test development of NIPT. In response to these protests, the Federal Government commissioned the German Ethics Council to provide an expert opinion on NIPT [35]. The report mainly focuses on arguments in favour or against the public funding of NIPT. It offers an insight into the German context where access to NIPT through individualised genetic counselling is prioritised over the definition of a numerical risk threshold. Following a call for political transparency and a public debate around biotechnological innovations through an Open letter to the Federal Joint Commission (G-BA) by several patient organisations in 2016, there has been a plea for regular evaluations of the new prenatal test, including its ethical and social implications. In Germany, despite the importance given to reproductive autonomy, public attitudes showcase scepticism towards prenatal genetic technologies [36, 37]. As mentioned above, we notice also here a certain criticism and questioning of the use of new technologies, and an emphasis on risk prevention and management in the German debate [37]. These public attitudes reflect on the implementation of prenatal technologies in the public healthcare system; for example, cFTS is not reimbursed if there is no reason for concern such as advanced maternal age, which explains the slightly lower uptake of prenatal screening when compared to other European countries [38].

In France, criticism of NIPT has emerged in different formats within the associative space: examples of this are the organisation of a conference by the Jrme Lejeune Foundation, Stop Discriminating Down, in 2017, aiming to denounce the mass elimination of children with Downs syndrome before birth by the arrival of NIPT; or the publication of the book, Les premires victimes du transhumanisme. Dpistage prnatal de la trisomie 21 (The first victims of transhumanism. Prenatal screening for Downs syndrome), by Jean-Marie Le Mn, president of the Jrme Lejeune Foundation, in reaction to the reimbursement of the test in 2019. Also, a March for Life was organised in 2019, in Paris, to warn against a new step in eugenics as a response to the decision to reimburse NIPT. In France, these public reactions were largely driven by associations and had no impact on policies.

In addition to these critical reactions to NIPT, in the following section, we will discuss how the charges of eugenics have emerged at the centre of public debates in France and Germany, while remaining relatively marginal in England.

In the three countries, the reference to the risk of a drift toward eugenics appears in different forms and is used as an argument, especially in France and Germany, against the implementation of NIPT. While advocates of NIPT emphasise that the use of the test relies on an individual choice [33, 39] and is not linked to eugenic or coercive policy [40], critics express concerns that individual abortion practices could lead to widespread selection of babies and the lack of tolerance and care for people with disability [41].

In England, concerns about the risk to screen out and, hence, significantly reduce the number of births of children with Downs syndrome have been expressed, among others, by the campaign group Dont screen us out, the Church of England,Footnote 7 and in parliamentary questions.Footnote 8 Yet, generally, the public debate in England focuses more on the offer of NIPT and how to guarantee respect for womens decisions, accuracy of information, regular training of health professionals, and designing care pathways for women continuing their pregnancy with a baby who has Downs syndrome [42]. Also the Church of England states that it welcomes medical advances as long as women receive comprehensive and unbiased information about the condition [43]. It is rare in England to hear strong accusations against NIPT as a form of eugenics.

In France, the association between NIPT and eugenics, elimination eradication or selection is more explicit and recurrent. In 2007, prior to the revision of the bioethics laws, Le Monde published an interview with the president of the National Consultative Ethics Committee, Didier Sicard, where he warned against the risk of eugenics and social eradication if prenatal screening becomes routinised. This perspective is also reflected in parliamentary debates on NIPT where representatives of the centre-right refer to eugenicsFootnote 9 or elimination.Footnote 10 Similarly, the risk of increasing fetal selection, a new form of eugenics (no longer through the State, but the individual) and of further discrimination, is highlighted by the National Consultative Ethics Committee in its 2016 report n 124. The question of the re-emergence of eugenics with reference to Nazism is also raised by established media,Footnote 11 the Catholic Church in Paris which denounces the pressure on women to be screened for Downs syndrome [44] and the Jrme Lejeune Foundation which uses the terms elimination [45], disappearance, extinction [46] and eradication [47] to refer to NIPT. Despite the links made between NIPT and eugenics in the French debate, there is no evidence that expecting parents would desire a perfect child rather than just wanting to bring a healthy child into the world [40]. It should therefore be pointed out that there is a fine line between health and expectation of normality and that this should not lead to a search for the improvement of the genetic characteristics of the child, in the sense that we understand the term eugenics here [48]. In Germany, despite its Nazi past, eugenics is not as explicitly referred to as in France. The arguments used against potential discrimination or genetic selection, as a consequence of NIPT, are based on the principle of respect for the dignity of the unborn child [27, 31], which may conflict with the respect for the womans dignity as an autonomous individual [27, 28]. However, the possibility to terminate pregnancy in order to protect the life or the mental or physical health of the woman (Strafgesetzbuch 218a) indicated that the dignity of the unborn child can be suspended in favour of the protection of the dignity of the pregnant woman. As mentioned above, the German discourse is inspired by the Kantian concept of human dignity, and its adoption as the first constitutional principle since 1949.

As prenatal technologies such as NIPT have evolved, all three countries have seen discussions about the potential risk of eugenics. Although each country emphasises that reproductive decisions belong to the woman, critical voices caution against decisions that could be implicit forms of eugenics. To date however, there is no evidence that the introduction of NIPT has led to an increase in termination rates due to fetal anomalies [49]. The results highlight that, in many cases, women accept NIPT to obtain information about the fetus health and prepare for the childs arrival without intending to terminate pregnancy if an aneuploidy is discovered [49].

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The ethical landscape(s) of non-invasive prenatal testing in England, France and Germany: findings from a comparative literature review | European...

Abstract

Male breast cancer is a rather uncommon and understudied disease. It accounts for less than 1% of all breast cancers, but in recent decades its frequency has been on the rise. Clinical trials of breast cancer have traditionally excluded men. Due to the lack of large-scale prospective studies, most published data come from single-institution, small-cohort studies, and treatment recommendations are based on the extrapolation of data from clinical trials enrolling only women. Although to some extent etiology, diagnosis, and treatment characteristics can be similar, male breast cancer exhibits some distinct features. Men tend to be diagnosed with breast cancer at an older age and at a more advanced stage. A better understanding of the biologic features, clinically relevant differences, effective treatments, and outcomes of male breast cancer is crucial to appropriately manage these patients. We present a male breast cancer case with a germline BRCA2 mutation and discuss the epidemiologic, pathologic, and clinical characteristics along with treatment and follow-up recommendations in view of our recent understanding of this disease.

Male breast cancer is a rare disease accounting for less than 1% of all breast cancers, and less than 1% of all cancers in men. Worldwide estimated incidence of male breast cancer has been reported to be 1 per 100,000 men per year, with a mean age at diagnosis of 60 to 70 years.1,2 The average age at diagnosis is approximately 5 years older than it is for women (67 years vs 62 years, respectively).3 Based on data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program, the age-adjusted incidence rate has increased from 0.85 cases per 100,000 in 1975 to 1.43 cases per 100,000 in 2011. Black men appear to be at greater risk than non-Hispanic White men.4,5

Male breast cancer seems to be an estrogen-driven disease; it has been likened to late-onset, postmenopausal, estrogen receptor/progesterone receptorpositive (ER+/PR+) female breast cancer.6 Male breast cancer tends to occur at a later age and to present at a more advanced stage, with more hormone receptor positivity.7 However, there are differences, resulting in an ongoing debate regarding the level of similarity.

Male breast cancer may be a unique tumor type with biological and clinicopathological features distinct from female breast cancer. However, similar to female breast cancer, family history has been shown to be an important risk factor.8,9 The risk of breast cancer doubles for men who have a first-degree relative with the disease.10 Population-based studies indicate that mutations in the 2 major high-penetrance breast cancer genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, account for approximately 10% of male breast cancers11; 0% to 4% of men with breast cancer have BRCA1 mutations and 4% to 16% have BRCA2 mutations.8,9,12,13 The lifetime risk of developing male breast cancer has been estimated to be in the range of 1% to 5% for BRCA1 and 5% to 10 % for BRCA2 mutation carriers, compared with a risk of 0.1% in the general population.14-17

Genes other than BRCA1/2 may also be involved. A truncating mutation (CHEK2*1100delC) has been shown to increase the risk of male breast cancer by a factor of 10, compared with the risk among men who do not have the mutation.13,18 Also reported have been mutations in other genes, including the PTEN tumor suppressor gene and the androgen receptor gene, as well as TP53 mutations (Li-Fraumeni syndrome), PALB2 mutations, and mismatch repair mutations associated with hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (Lynch syndrome).13,19-21 Other risk factors for male breast cancer are hormonal imbalances (caused by liver disease, Klinefelter syndrome, or obesity) and environmental factors (eg, chronic exposure to heat or radiation).22-26

A White man, aged 64 years, presented with complaints of a palpable lump on the upper outer quadrant of his left breast along with some pain for the past several months. On physical exam, he was noted to have a 2.5-cm left breast mass along with retraction of the retroareolar and nipple region without discharge (Figure 1). A left breast mammogram showed scattered areas of fibroglandular density throughout the breast. Ultrasound (US) confirmed a 1.9 cm 1.7 cm irregular hypoechoic mass with no identifiable axillary nodes. US-guided biopsy reported an invasive ductal carcinoma grade 3, ER+ (85%), PR negative (<1%), HER2 negative, and Ki-67 (30%). MRI of the bilateral breasts confirmed a retroareolar mass on the left consistent with known malignancy, with no chest wall or axillary involvement, and normal appearance of the right breast (Figure 2).

The patient was treated with left mastectomy and axillary sentinel lymph node (LN) sampling. Pathology revealed a 2.1-cm invasive ductal carcinoma, grade 3, with no ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) (Figure 3). One of the 3 sentinel nodes showed isolated tumor cells. Pathologic stage was pT2, pN0(i+). Tumor Oncotype-Dx Breast Recurrence Score (BRS) was 42. Pretest cancer genetic counseling followed by germline targeted multigene mutation analysis revealed a pathogenic mutation, c.1147delA in the BRCA2 gene, consistent with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC) syndrome. Family pedigree is shown in Figure 4.

The most common clinical presentation in men with breast cancer is a painless, retroareolar mass. Nipple retraction, bleeding from the nipple, skin ulceration, and palpable axillary adenopathy are among other reported signs and symptoms.27 To differentiate from gynecomastia, a highly prevalent condition, breast imaging should be considered. The American College of Radiology recommends initial US for men aged younger than 25 years with an indeterminate palpable mass. For men 25 years or older or those with questionable findings on physical examination, mammography is recommended as the initial diagnostic test followed by US if the mammographic findings are inconclusive or suggestive of cancer.28 On mammograms, male breast cancers appear as eccentric, retroareolar masses with irregular, spiculated edges.29,30 Due to low public awareness and the lack of screening mammograms for men, male breast cancers are more frequently diagnosed as larger tumors with regional nodal metastases.31 Staging for breast cancer in men is the same as for women with no gender-specific recommendations.

Men with abnormal imaging findings suggestive of malignancy should undergo core biopsy to confirm the diagnosis. Approximately 10% of men with breast cancer present with DCIS compared with 20% to 25% of women. Lobular carcinoma in situ in men is very rare due to anatomical absence of terminal lobules in the male breast. Most male breast cancer cases are invasive ductal carcinomas, but rarely papillary cancers (in 2% to 3% of cases) and mucinous cancers (in 1% to 2% of cases) can be seen.3,32,33 Invasive lobular carcinoma is much less prevalent among men, accounting for only 1% to 2% of cases.3,34 In the largest series of male patients with breast cancer analysis, tumor samples from 1483 men showed 99% ER+, 97% androgen receptor positive, 87% PR+, and 9% HER2+. Less than 1% of male breast cancer specimens were triple negative.34

In a genomic profiling study of 59 male patients with breast cancer, 29% of samples were classified as luminal Alike and 71% as luminal Blike, with a heterogeneous repertoire of somatic genetic alterations. PIK3CA and TP53 mutations, and losses of 16q, which are typically seen in ER+/HER2-negative female breast cancers, were less frequent in male breast cancer samples. Mutations affecting DNA repairrelated genes were more frequent.35 Using unsupervised clustering approach, a gene-expression analysis study identified 2 unique and stable subgroups of male breast cancer with differences in tumor biological features and outcome: luminal M1 tumors with low expression of ER signaling genes, aggressive clinical behavior, and worse prognosis; and luminal M2 tumors with activated ER signaling genes, upregulated immune response genes, and favorable clinical behavior. Both subgroups differed from the established 4 intrinsic subgroups of female breast cancer.36

Evidence from observational studies shows that breast-conserving therapy in men is associated with similar survival rates as mastectomy.37-40 Interestingly, however, men with breast cancer, even in early-stage disease, are being treated with mastectomy and either with axillary LN dissection or sentinel node biopsy despite the absence of any medical contraindication for breast conservation. Based on a SEER registry data analysis, only 18% of men with T1N0 tumors underwent breast-conserving surgery.38 Sentinel node biopsy, the standard approach for women with a clinically negative axilla, has been shown to be feasible and effective in men with breast cancer.41,42

Due to the rarity of male breast cancer and lack of randomized trials, the role of radiotherapy after mastectomy in node-positive male breast cancer has not been well studied. Hypofractionated radiotherapy regimens have not been tested in male breast cancer, as men were excluded from the UK START trials as well as the Canadian trial(NCT00156052.)43-44As adjuvant radiotherapy has been shown to decrease the rate of relapse, adjuvant radiotherapy should be offered to men who have undergone breast-conserving surgery, based on the same guidelines developed for women with breast cancer.2 Indeed, population-based observational studies suggest a benefit in this setting.45-47

In real-world practice, however, radiotherapy seems to be underutilized in men with breast cancer. Also, patient compliance rates with adjuvant radiation therapy seem to be generally low. Based on the SEER data, only 42% of men with stage I breast cancer received radiotherapy after breast-conserving surgery.38,48 Recently published National Cancer Data Base study data are somewhat encouraging and show that adjuvant radiotherapy was given to 70% of patients undergoing breast-conserving surgery in stage I to III male breast cancer.49 Worldwide data involving 1483 male patients with breast cancer treated between 1990 and 2010, examined in a retrospective study in collaboration with the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer, the Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium, the North American Breast Cancer Group, and the Breast International Group period, showed that about one-half of men who were treated with breast-conserving surgery did not receive radiotherapy.34

Due to exclusion of male patients with breast cancer from clinical trials involving female breast cancer, there are no randomized studies of adjuvant or neoadjuvant chemotherapy or of HER2-targeted therapy in this population. There has been 1 reported prospective National Cancer Institute study evaluating adjuvant chemotherapy in 31 men who had stage II breast cancer with LN involvement. Patients were treated with mastectomy and 12 cycles of cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and fluorouracil between 1974 and 1988. This cohort was followed for more than 20 years; survival was 80% at 5 years, 65% at 10 years, and 42% at 20 years, comparing favorably with historical rates.50 In a more recent study of 32 men with breast cancer treated with systemic adjuvant/neoadjuvant chemotherapy, the 5-year and 10-year overall survival rates were 86% and 75%, respectively, for men with LN-negative disease, and 70% and 43%, respectively, for men with LN+ disease. For men with LN+ disease, adjuvant chemotherapy was associated with a lower risk of death (HR, 0.78).51 Additional observational cohort studies in men have suggested improved survival with the use of adjuvant chemotherapy.52-55

Since the majority of male breast cancers are HR+, endocrine therapy plays an important role in both in the adjuvant and metastatic settings. Observational studies of adjuvant treatment with tamoxifen suggest a survival benefit. Male patients with breast cancer were shown to benefit more from endocrine therapy with tamoxifen than from aromatase inhibitors (AIs) in a cohort of 257 patients.56,57 Population-based series have shown inferior survival rates when men were treated with adjuvant AIs as compared with tamoxifen. The lack of complete estradiol suppression due to feedback loops in the hypothalamus and pituitary glands has been shown to be the reason for the lower efficacy of AIs in men.58,59 For men who are not good candidates for tamoxifen, a GnRH analogue with or without an AI can be used to overcome this.60

Gene expression profiling assays have been widely used to quantify the risk of recurrence as well as to guide systemic therapy in early-stage breast cancer in women. The 21-gene BRS and 70-gene MammaPrint assay tests provide individualized estimates of distant recurrence risk and help predict benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy in women with ER+ breast cancer.61 Data on the utility of these assays in male patients with breast cancer are limited. Crozier et al reported that while similar MammaPrint index distributions between male and female breast cancer tumors existed, there were distinct biological pathways between male and female breast cancernotably, upregulation of estrogen response and MTORC1 signaling in male compared with female breast cancer specimens.62 Similarly, Oncotype DX results have shown comparable mean BRS in men and women, but mean quantitative gene expression for genes related to ER, proliferation, and invasion were higher in men compared with women.63-65

Germline mutations in BRCA1/2 are inherited in an autosomal dominant manner with the majority of individuals having inherited it from a parent (de novo rate 5%).66 The parent with the mutation may or may not have had a cancer diagnosis for several reasons, including penetrance of the mutation, gender and age of the parent, cancer risk reduction due to screening/prophylactic surgeries, or early death.67 It is appropriate to offer germline testing to both parents of an individual with a BRCA1/2 mutation to determine which side of the family is at risk; however, the parent with the family history of BRCA1/2-related cancers can be tested first. Being a carrier of a BRCA1/2 mutation also comes with reproductive risks. For example, in cases where both partners carry a BRCA2 mutation, there may be a high risk for the offspring to develop Fanconi anemia, a rare autosomal recessive condition.68 Additionally, a case has been found in which biallelic BRCA1 mutations caused a Fanconi anemialike disorder.69 The current estimates of the frequency of BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations in the population is approximately 1 in 500 individuals.70

Male carriers of BRCA1/2 mutations are at increased risk for development of several types of cancers, including breast (BRCA1, 1.2% lifetime; BRCA2, 7% to 8% lifetime), prostate (BRCA1, exact risk unknown; BRCA2, 20% to 30% lifetime), pancreas (BRCA1, 2% to 3% lifetime; BRCA2, 3% to 5% lifetime), and melanoma (BRCA2, 3% to 5% lifetime).14,16,71-73 The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (v1.2021) recommends breast self-exam training and education starting at age 35 years, a clinical breast exam every 12 months starting at age 35 years, and consideration of annual mammogram screening in men with gynecomastia starting at age 50 years or 10 years before the earliest known male breast cancer in the family (whichever comes first).74

While tamoxifen can be used as a chemopreventive agent for female breast cancer, there are no data for men in this setting. Similarly, prophylactic mastectomy has not been offered due to lack of data to support this type of risk reduction. However, Jemal et al.75 reported an increase in contralateral mastectomy in men diagnosed with a unilateral breast cancer. The procedure was more common in younger, White, and privately insured patients. For male patients harboring BRCA2 mutations,prostate cancer surveillance with annual prostate-specific antigen and digital rectal examination beginning at age 40 years is recommended, and these should be considered for male BRCA1 carriers as well. Pancreatic cancer screening with contrast-enhanced MRI/ magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography and/or endoscopic US is recommended for BRCA1/2 carriers at age 50 years (or 10 years younger than the earliest pancreatic cancer in the family, whichever comes first who have 1 or more first- or second-degree relatives with pancreatic cancer. No BRCA1/2-specific screening guidelines exist for melanoma, but general melanoma management, with annual full-body skin examination and minimizing ultraviolet exposure, is a sensible option.74

Here, we discuss a male patient with breast cancer presenting with a palpable mass; surgical treatment and staging led to a diagnosis of pT2, pN0(i+) invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast with a Oncotype Dx BRS of 42. Pretest cancer genetic counseling followed by germline targeted multigene mutation analysis revealed a pathogenic mutation, c.1147delA in the BRCA2 gene, consistent with HBOC syndrome.

Although breast cancer in men and in women is similar in some ways, thereremain gaps in our understanding of breast cancer in men. Examination of the biology of the disease would help identify the differences and determine whether identified differences have therapeutic implications. Further work that focuses on appropriate treatment of men with breast cancer is needed.

Following surgical treatment, the patient was treated with adjuvant chemotherapy (docetaxel/ cyclophosphamide) for 4 cycles; postmastectomy radiation; and adjuvant tamoxifen therapy to be given for 5 years. Currently he does not have any evidence of disease.

Financial Disclosure: The authors have no significant financial interest in or other relationship with the manufacturer of any product or provider of any service mentioned in this article.

References

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A 64-Year-Old Man With Germline BRCA2-Mutated Breast Cancer: Known and Unknown Aspects of Male Breast Cancer - Cancer Network

One-third of the members of the editorial board of a leading American medical journal has resigned in protest against the publication of several research papers that could help the Chinese regime in its persecution of minorities. According to a report by The Intercept, after a slew of research papers that can help racial profiling of minorities in China were published by the journal named Molecular Genetics & Genomic Medicine, eight of the 25 editorial board members resigned in protest. The members protested after the management of the journal failed to take any action on the papers despite repeated complaints.

According to The Intercept, emails accessed by it shows that the editor-in-chief of the journal was slow in responding to several controversial papers related to Tibetans, Uyghurs and other ethnic groups in China. Molecular Genetics & Genomic Medicine is published by Wiley, a New Jersey based company, and the company also took a long time to respond to concerns about the papers published by the journal.

The papers under question were first flagged by Yves Moreau, a Professor of Engineering and a bioinformatician at the University of Leuven in Belgium, and according to The Intercept, he has been fighting a tireless campaign to get journals to retract troubling or unethical papers. He has been successful in getting an order of Kuwait govt overturned, which had called for compulsory DNA collection from all citizens.

He was studying the DNA profiling of the minorities done by the Chinese authorities. During such searches, he found 18 papers published by Molecular Genetics & Genomic Medicine, which dealt with various genetic topics related to the people in China. Some analysed the genetic differences between ethnic groups, including the genetic gaps between the majority Han community and minorities like Tibetans and Hui Muslims, and some had relied on samples that Moreau suspects were collected without proper consent.

Many of the papers were related to forensic genetics, a problematic subject in the entire scientific community. It refers to the collection of DNA for forensic databases, which is used by the police in criminal investigations. But although in theory it should be used only to find suspect criminals, it has the potential to conduct racial profiling, a highly problematic area. Moreover, scientists also worry about collection of DNA sample from ethnic minorities without their consent, which is happening in China.

The Chinese government is already DNA from its male citizens to build a massive a national forensic DNA database. Reportedly, the Communist government aims to collect and store genetic profiles of around 70 million people, around 10% of the countrys male population. Apart from that, Chinese police also forcibly collecting DNA samples from ordinary citizens, including migrant workers, dissidents, and minority Uyghur Muslims.

Although the Chinese govt says it is being done to fight crimes, researchers dont believe that, they say it is a part of the government efforts to deepen social control. Although most western countries collect DNA sample of convicts, the collection of such samples from ordinary citizens have been described as unprecedented. Human Rights Activists say the only purpose of this genetic profiling is the oppression of ethnic minorities by the Chinese govt.

This concern is being raised because of the kind of data collected by the Chinese govt. They are cataloguing markers known as short tandem repeats (STRs), which are repeating regions of DNA that are specific to the Y chromosome found in men. These STRs are extremely similar between men in the same male lineage, which means, when the authorities nab a dissident man, they can track all his male relatives using the database, even if they are not identified as relatives in official documents.

Since 2019, Molecular Genetics & Genomic Medicine has published several papers authored by Chinese authors on the topic of forensic genetics, which means they used samples collected by the police, many of which could be done without consent. Many of the papers listed institutions as co-authors which work closely with the police or receive funding from the police. One paper even lists the Public Security Bureau in Tibet as the co-author, which is the police agency in the region.

All these show that the research papers published by the American journal were effectively authored or sponsored by the Chinese govt.

After discovering the papers, Yves Moreau had written in March this year to Suzanne Hart, the journals editor-in-chief and deputy director at the medical genetics and genomic medicine training program with the U.S. National Institutes of Healths National Human Genome Research Institute. He noted that before 2019, the journal had published only two papers on forensic genetic studies from outside China, which shows that the Chinese govt has specifically identified the journal where the papers on forensic genetic studies of vulnerable Tibetan and Muslim minorities can be published.

However, although Suzanne Hart acknowledged the mail and promised to look into the matter, he received no update for months after that. As a result, he wrote to the entire Editorial Board in June, describing the concerns with the papers published by them. Many of the board members agreed with him for a probe in the matter, and many said that they were not even aware of the papers.

When the board members wrote to Hart, she said she will get back with further information on how the management intends to address this issue. But when no communication came from her for several weeks, the board members started to resign in protest. Ophir Klein, a board member and a pediatric medical geneticist at the University of California San Francisco said that he left the board as he was really concerned about the lack of communication.

However, not all editorial board members who question the paper have resigned, some have decided to stay on to push for scrutiny of the papers, including Joris Veltman, the dean of the Biosciences Institute at Newcastle University Medical School in UK. After he wrote to the management escalating the issue, they responded that Wiley would begin an investigation immediately.

After that, the company released a statement saying that the Integrity in Publishing Group of the company was overseeing the matter. However, they informed that they are only contacting with the authors and the institutional review boards associated with the published papers to clarify the consent procedures undertaken for collecting the DNA samples.

Although the consent was a major issue, it was not the only one. The company kept silence on the much larger issue of use of scientific instruments in racial profiling and discrimination by authoritarian governments. Moreau said the focus on consent is too narrow, and the larger question is whether the journal should be publishing research on vulnerable minorities, some of which directly involves the authorities persecuting them.

The board members are saying that if the papers are determined to be unethical, at least they should be retracted.

This is not the first time that Wileyhas been accused of allying with China. In September 2000, the editor of another journal published by the company had resigned over the issue of freedom of speech. Prof David Curtis, from University College Londons Genetics Institute, had resigned as the editor-in-chief of the Annals of Human Genetics, after he was prevented from publishing an article which said that academic journals should boycott papers from China protesting against Chinas human rights violations in Xinjiang.

Wiley, and Lancet which also refused to published the article, had said that publication of the article could pose difficulties for their offices in China. Yves Moreau was one of the co-authors of the article.

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One-third of editorial board members of American medical journal resign over papers that could help China persecute its minorities: Details - OpIndia

Ungulate keepers and scientists at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) in Front Royal, Virginia, are celebrating the birth of two scimitar-horned oryx calves born via non-surgical artificial insemination. A male calf was born July 9 to 6-year-old female Esmerelda, and a female calf was born July 10 to 5-year-old female, Leanne. Both mothers and calves are doing well and bonding. As the calves grow, their vocalizations and play behavior with each other and interactions with the rest of the herd will increase.

Assisted reproduction for rare and endangered species is constantly evolving, said Budhan Pukazhenthi, reproductive physiologist at SCBI. Scimitar-horned oryx have similar estrous cycles to those of cattle, so we tried a protocol developed for the artificial insemination of livestock called CO-Synch. Narrowing the insemination window helped increase the chance of conception. These births are proof positive we can apply this protocol with increased success in scimitar-horned oryx population management in zoos and for animals being prepared for reintroduction to the wild.

Though once distributed across most of North Africa, scimitar-horned oryx are currently considered extinct in the wild due to a combination of widespread over-hunting, habitat loss and persistent drought.A reintroduction project led by the Environmental AgencyAbu Dhabi and including the Sahara Conservation Fund, the Zoological Society of London and SCBI is working collaboratively with the government of Chad and the international zoo community to return oryx to their native habitat. The first release, consisting of 23 individuals bred in human care, began in 2016. Smithsonian scientists monitor the release of every animal via satellite tracking collars. The tracking collars provide data on oryx movements and survival, as well as a means for tracking and monitoring individuals on the ground through radio telemetry.

Artificial insemination helps zoos and conservation breeding facilities with limited space maximize genetic diversity and minimize the number of animals needing to be transported, which can be costly and potentially stressful for the animal. In 2017, SCBI scientists developed an alternate protocol for inseminating scimitar-horned oryx where animal handling takes place in a hydraulic restraint device without the need for anesthesia. In June 2018, there was a successful birth using this modified approach.

The revised CO-Synch protocol included three hormone injections over nine days leading up to the non-surgical artificial inseminations in November 2020. Esmerelda and Leanne were artificially inseminated using frozen-thawed semen collected from two different male oryx ranked in the top 45 of male oryx in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan. The samples were originally collected 20 and 13 years ago.

SCBI plays a leading role in the Smithsonians global efforts to save wildlife species from extinction and train future generations of conservationists. SCBI spearheads research programs at its headquarters in Front Royal, Virginia, the Smithsonians National Zoo in Washington, D.C., and at field research stations and training sites worldwide. SCBI scientists tackle some of todays most complex conservation challenges by applying and sharing what they learn about animal behavior and reproduction, ecology, genetics, migration and conservation sustainability.

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Two Scimitar-Horned Oryx Calves Born as Result of Artificial Insemination at Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute - Smithsonian's National Zoo...