Archive for the ‘Male Genetics’ Category

Queen of Dancehall Spice had a stellar opening week for her new album 10 to say the least. With rave reviews from various outlets (including ours) plus billboards in Times Square, Spice has been over the moon about the response and the only place left for her to go wasup.

The acrobatic deejay takes on an intergalactic space mission to find the perfect male specimen in her latest video, Send It Up. Hilarious antics ensue (with cameos from comedians World Dawg and Slick Whiteline) but Spice didnt come to play, as the old, young and well-endowed see how they measure up with the waistline warrior Queen.

Many have lauded the transportive quality of Spices debut LP: a nostalgic medley of booming 90s dancehall with EDM, R&B and Afropop nudges and an overall inventive cadence. For her fourth music video from the suite, the Inches singer took fans light-years away with a cinematic concept on the sexually charged track. With only ten men left in the universe, Spice must find the chosen one to repopulate the planet Zariah.

Mi cyaan live without man so me ah go find him, Spice says upon receiving her mission and spends the clip fashionably fulfilling her duty.

In the Jay Will directed visuals, Spice reaffirms yet another of 10s track titles: Size Matters. The QOD and her team of experts aboard Starship Spice busily test genetics, waistlines and fitness as Spice lays down the credentials.

One f mi gi yuh, we nuh haffi romantic/ Me ah gyal weh like when di sittn gigantic, Spice declares in the first verse, a lyric that was also quoted by rap queen Nicki Minaj, when she hailed Send It Up as her favorite track on the album.

Even amongst stars and planets, Spice brings her dancehall A game with a Magnum Tonic Wine to power through the mission. After all the raunchy dance moves and lab work, however, the cinematic clip ends in suspense and we never get to see Spices cosmic Prince Charming.

She does leave us a clue though, as an unseen character in a spacesuit makes his way towards the lab and it seems we might be in for a follow-up soon.

10 is clearly the Genie deejays magic number nearly 200K viewers have sent the mini-movie to Top 10 Youtube trending in mere hours. Most weighed in on its cinematic style, while others praised the QOD for taking traditional dancehall to a new frontier.

All hail the Queen SPICEthis video is out of this world. . literally. Absolutely love it, you are blessed beyond measure. Nuff Love and Respect, one fan wrote while another praised the blue haired divas golden touch, Queen, you delivered once again, you have the midas touch, anything you touch is just golden. Once again well done.

Press play on the Send It Up visuals above.

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Spice Goes On Intergalactic Mission In Cinematic Visuals For Send It Up: Watch - DancehallMag

About 30,000 years ago, when enormous mammoths and woolly rhinos roamed the Northern Hemisphere, a tiny cave lion cub with golden-brown fur took her final stroll through the Siberian tundra.

Disaster struck suddenly perhaps a mudslide, or a crack splitting open the permafrost underfoot and the cub fell. Buried in ice, she was quickly mummified; today, her fur, skin, organs and teeth remain almost exactly as they appeared on the day of her death, thousands of years ago.

Scientists named this ill-fated cub Sparta, after mammoth tusk hunters discovered her fossilized remains poking out of the melting permafrost of Yakutia, Siberia, in 2017. Along with Boris a male cave lion cub discovered just 50 feet (15 meters) away in 2018 Sparta is the subject of an extensive new study published Aug. 4 in the journal Quaternary, in which scientists examined the anatomy of the extinct cats in unprecedented detail.

"Sparta is probably the best-preserved ice age animal ever found, and is more or less undamaged apart from the fur being a bit ruffled," study co-author Love Daln, a genetics professor at the Centre for Palaeogenetics in Stockholm, Sweden, told CNN.com. "She even had the whiskers preserved."

Cave lions (Panthera spelaea) are close relatives of modern African lions. They lived widely across the Northern Hemisphere during the last ice age (the chilly epoch that spanned from approximately 2.1 million to 11,600 years ago). Unlike their modern cousins, these large cats adapted to extremely harsh conditions, including freezing winds and long, cold winters marked by continuous nights.

According to the new study, Boris and Sparta didn't get much of a chance to test their mettle against the perils of the ice age. Through a variety of methods including radiocarbon dating, X-ray imaging and partial DNA sequencing, the researchers learned that the two cubs were approximately 1 to 2 months old when they died, with their sharp frontal teeth just beginning to emerge.

Although the cubs' remains were discovered a stone's throw away from each other, their deaths were separated by tens of thousands of years. A radiocarbon analysis of the cubs' skin, hair and muscle showed that Sparta died approximately 28,000 years ago, while Boris met his end more than 43,000 years ago. This finding suggests that the area was probably "attractive to cave lions for making dens, but it was probably also susceptible to them collapsing," the researchers wrote in the study.

X-ray scans of the cubs' bones seem to support a collapse scenario. Both cubs showed skull damage, dislocated ribs and other small "distortions" in their skeletons that could have been caused by "the earth's mass pressure," the researchers wrote. Further distortions likely occurred after the cubs were already buried, as the surrounding permafrost turned their bodies into furry mummies.

For all their injuries, the cubs didn't show any markings indicative of a predator attack, the team added.

At the moment, there's little more that can be learned about how the cubs died but further research could help reveal how they lived. In future studies, the researchers hope to completely sequence Boris and Sparta's DNA, which could put the evolutionary history of cave lions in a broader context and reveal some of their unique genetic features.

Originally published on Live Science.

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Frozen mummy of extinct cave lion is 'best-preserved ice age animal ever found,' researchers say - Livescience.com

He said he had been consuming the blackpill overdose, referring to a fatalistic sector of the incel community who describe themselves as blackpilled and believe there is no hope of life getting any better for them because their genetics rule out any woman ever being attracted to them.

Most incels start by, as they call it, taking the red pill, a metaphor borrowed from The Matrix science-fiction films, in which swallowing a coloured capsule allows the protagonist to see the world as it really is. They claim to have discovered that the whole world is a feminist gynocracy ruled by women, where men are helpless victims.

Some believe it is possible to improve their relationship prospects through strategies like gymmaxxing (working out), but those describing themselves as blackpilled have a nihilistic worldview and tend to see violence against women as a better solution than self-improvement.

Online incel forums are steeped in extremist misogyny, with members regularly suggesting women should be raped and murdered. They encourage each other to rise up in a day of retribution or incel rebellion, when they will punish society, and women in particular, for their suffering, by murdering as many normies (non-incels) as possible.

I know this because I spent two years undercover in incel forums to research these communities and the threat they pose, for my book Men Who Hate Women.

It started when I realised some of the boys I work with on gender inequality and sexual consent in UK schools were parroting extremist beliefs and fake statistics (didnt you know 87 per cent of women lie about rape, one of them said). I soon realised that these teenagers had been radicalised online. But it wasnt a kind of radicalisation anyone was talking about.

So I posed online as Alex, a disillusioned young white man who was tired of being called privileged when he felt deeply unsatisfied with life.

I had to pass tests to be allowed access to certain forums, explaining in detail what kind of incel I was so I began the painstaking process of learning incel terminology and the bizarre pseudoscientific theories incels use to justify their worldview.

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I went undercover in the incel community to try to understand men like Jake Davison - Telegraph.co.uk

It was in 1968 when archaeologists discovered a weapon grave at Suontaka Vesitorninmki in Finland. Ever since then, the remains found in the grave have been at the centre of a major debate over the gender of its occupant. Initial interpretations of the remains suggested that the grave contained a woman but, the interpretations have always been debated.

Now, DNA analysis of the grave, including an examination of its content, soil sample and microremains, have once again challenged long-held beliefs. The analysis suggests that the 1000-year-old grave could be of a non-binary person.

The new findings not only challenge pre-held notions, but also raise the possibility that non-binary people were accepted as well as respected among their peers in ancient times. The findings of the DNA analysis, which were published in the European Journal of Archaeology, state that the occupant of the grave was a respected person whose gender identity may have been non-binary.

The early medieval grave, likely dated 10501300 AD, had a person buried with two swords -- a hiltless sword placed on the persons left side and another buried above the original grave. The interpretation of the occupant being a woman was made based on dress accessories and jewellery, which suggested that the individual was dressed in feminine clothes.

"For decades, the grave has been a popular example of powerful women in Late Iron Age and early medieval societies. The grave was used as evidence of female leaders in the past. The decorated bronze-hilted sword allegedly found in the Suontaka burial is presented as a female warrior's weapon," the researchers behind the latest findings said in their paper.

A plan of the Suontaka burial. Tckdike marks the water pipe trench which led to the discovery of the grave. (Photo: Finnish Heritage Agency)

Ulla Moilanen, an archaeologist from the University of Turku said that the buried individual seems to have been a highly respected member of their community.

Researchers conducted a study of microscopic animal hair and fibre remains from soil retrieved from the grave and studied ancient DNA (aDNA) from the skeletal remains to infer the chromosomal sex of the individual. It is to be noted that historically, the gender identity of buried individuals is inferred based on the remains of objects or items found alongside. However, with the advancement of technology and modern genetics, new methods have been developed to determine gender of remains.

DNA analysis of the 1000-year-old grave in Finland showed that the occupant of the grave had Klinefelter syndrome -- a condition where boys are born with an extra X chromosome. Normally, a female has two X chromosomes (XX) and a male has one X and one Y (XY). According to UK's National Health Service (NHS), the X chromosome is not a "female" chromosome and is present in everyone. The presence of a Y chromosome denotes male sex.

People with Klinefelter syndrome (XXY) don't exhibit any specific symptoms during childhood. They are usually marked with shyness and low self-confidence. During the teenage years, the syndrome leads to broader hips, poor muscle tone, and reduced facial and body hair that starts growing later than usual. In adulthood, the syndrome could lead to inability to have children naturally and a low sex drive.

The objects found in the Suontaka grave. A: bronze-hilted sword; B: hiltless sword with silver inlays (inset); C: two oval brooches with textile fragments; D: twin-spiral chain-bearer ; E: sheathed knife ; F: penannular brooch ; G: sickle. (Photo: Finnish Heritage Agency)

The researchers believe that the body in the Finnish grave had XXY chromosomes and that the person was non-binary. "It is rare in a Nordic context to find a sword in a grave with several artefacts with feminine gender association," the researchers said in the paper.

Non-binary people are those who do not identify themselves with a particular gender. According to the National Centre for Transgender Equality, people whose gender is not male or female use many different terms to describe themselves, with non-binary being one of the most common. Other terms include genderqueer, agender, and bigender among others.

None of these terms mean exactly the same thing -- but all speak to an experience of gender that is not simply male or female.

"The complexity of gender is evident in the problem of determining the sex or gender of individuals based on the artefacts recovered from their graves. It is unclear how well the grave goods represent the gender roles and identities of the past, and whether these roles should be interpreted from a binary perspective," the paper said.

Non-binary identities have been recognised by cultures and societies around the world.

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Man or woman? 1000-year-old grave in Finland likely of a non-binary human being - India Today

Alopecia is an autoimmune disorder that usually results in unpredictable, patchy hair loss. Read to know everything about this hair condition.

Written by Arushi Bidhuri | Updated : August 9, 2021 2:07 PM IST

The first Saturday of August each year is observed as International Alopecia Day to raise awareness about Alopecia, which is an autoimmune disorder that usually results in unpredictable, patchy hair loss. A disease known as androgenetic alopecia is the most prevalent kind of hair loss. Both men and women are susceptible to this form of hair loss. "Male pattern balding" and "female pattern hair loss" are two more names for androgenetic alopecia. But who is more likely to suffer from alopecia men or women? We asked some experts in the industry to help you understand all about alopecia and who is more likely to develop the problem.

Dr Viral Desai says, "Alopecia or androgenetic alopecia is also known as patterned baldness, which may occur in men or women due to several factors such as ageing, genetics, lifestyle disorder, nutritional deficiencies and stress." According to the expert, male-pattern baldness is a well-defined pattern, beginning from the hairline and progressing backwards in a central zone up to the crown region (top part of the head), often progressing to partial or complete baldness. He further states, "In female pattern hair loss, the hair thinning is present all over the head, and the hairline does not recede. Androgenetic alopecia in women rarely progresses to complete baldness."

While alopecia can affect both men and women, studies suggest that men are more likely to suffer from the condition. Dr Desai gave us some statistics, explaining, "a recent study found that alopecia is known to occur in 50 per cent of men above the age of 50 and 30 per cent under the age of 50. In women, the onset of alopecia commonly occurs around menopause. From the above statistics, it is clear that alopecia affects men, both young and old, more than women."

If you are wondering why alopecia affects more men, Mr Vikas Chawla, Founder and Director, Vedas Cure explains how it affects males and why is it more common in men. He says, "Alopecia is much more prevalent in men and occurs especially due to a male sex hormone known as dihydrotestosterone (DHT) leading to male pattern baldness the most common symptom. DHT is thought to cause hair follicles to miniaturize; it inhibits the nutrients to reach the follicles leading to hair loss. This may differ in the pattern as hair starts to recede at the temples and on the crown slowly thin and eventually disappear. Alopecia also occurs due to usage of salty water and begins in men from age 27-35."

The situation today is such that men are presenting with hair loss much earlier than ever before, says Dr Rinky Kapoor, Director - The Esthetic Clinics India, and Inventor of the QR 678 therapy for hair loss treatment. "Earlier, the problem affected men in their thirties and forties, now we see teens and men in their early twenties suffering from hair fall. This leads to physical, social, emotional and psychological stress in the group." Highlighting that women causes of hair fall are also increasing in women, Dr Kapoor says, "There are more and more women suffering from hormonal issues due to stress of modern life, poor lifestyle habits, polycystic ovarian disease and environmental factors. As high as 60% men over the age of 30 and 45% women over the age of 30 seem to be facing some sort of hair fall issue and are increasingly seeking treatment for retaining their hair, and thus, their confidence."

Talking about the treatment for the same, Dr Kapoor says, "The revolutionary QR 678 therapy works really well for both male and female hair loss and also for COVID related hair fall and is a major part of our arsenal now for our young patients, as it is plant based and has zero side effects."

Some of the common cures for this disorder can be keeping a good diet full of nutrients. Vedas Cure has prepared a herbal composition comprising of 30 herbs that contribute to hair growth, prevent hair loss, and facilitate nutrients to the hair. Along with the products a diet plan is also recommended. Hair is made of a tough protein called keratin. It needs proteins for good growth. If the Alopecia symptoms are genetic, then the precautions must be taken from the age of 15-16 years.

Some of the herbs which treat the dehydrated as well as damaged hair and help in gaining hair naturally are Bringraj, Punarnava, Amla, Brahmi etc.

Once alopecia is diagnosed by the doctor, it is vital to find the cause and treat it. Thankfully, there are some non-surgical and surgical treatments available when making lifestyle changes that don't work. Here are the treatments as explained by Dr Viral Desai.

Note: If you are suffering from alopecia or massive hair fall, do consult a dermatologist to get a proper diagnosis.

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International Alopecia Day: Is This Serious Hair Condition Reversible? Here's What You Need To Know - TheHealthSite

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Over the years, many physical traits have been touted as correlated with male success. Tall guys make more money. Attractive men have a better chance of getting hired. Obese fellows suffer in job interviews.

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That height/income correlation is pretty well documented. University of Florida researcher Timothy Judge and colleagues analyzed data from 8,500 American and British subjects and worked out that someone who is six feet tall earns, on average $166,000 more in a 30-year career than someone who is 5 feet 5 inches. This was true for both genders, though shorter men are slightly more likely to encounter height bias in the workplace than are shorter women.

Likewise, the attractiveness bias, sometimes called lookism, is well established. A 2019 article in the Harvard Business Review noted that it starts early. Attractive applicants score higher in college admissions interviews and earn higher grades when they get to class. The author, business psychology professor Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, cites the very well-established halo effect whereby attractive people are generally perceived as being more sociable, healthy, successful, honest, and talented.

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He also makes an interesting suggestion for tackling this type of bias artificial intelligence. If programmed correctly, he writes, AI could become an objective way to measure what we dont always see ourselves. The key phrase there is if programmed correctly. So far, many artificial intelligence models simply automate the biases of their creators.

Testosterone certainly appears to predict some kinds of business success. Researchers led by Sean Harrison of the University of Bristol note that among male executives, circulating testosterone has been linked with a number of subordinates and among male financial traders, with daily profits.

It has been suggested that this happens because higher testosterone levels tend to increase a mans tolerance for risk. This, in turn, leads many guys with high testosterone to choose the path of entrepreneurship, with the attendant risks and rewards. Even for those in standard employment situations, a higher testosterone level may affect willingness to engage in assertive wage bargaining.

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Harrison and colleagues dove into a huge biomedical database, the U.K. Biobank, and studied the records of 306,248 men and women. They were seeking to establish a causal relationship between testosterone levels and what they called socioeconomic position (SEP).

One concern here is the direction of causation. Perhaps having a lower SEP causes lower testosterone levels in men. This would make sense because being poor is stressful and, as they note, psychosocial stress associated with socioeconomic adversity could influence testosterone alongside other aspects of health.

One unique contribution of this study is the fact that it used a technique called Mendelian Randomization. Made possible by advances in genetics, this method analyzes single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) which are determined at conception and related to a single factor, in this case, testosterone production. This allows the researchers to rule out reverse causation and other confounding effects.

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At the end of the day, they concluded that We found little evidence that testosterone affected socioeconomic position, health, or risk-taking. Were previous studies wrong? Not necessarily, but they may have been clouded by reverse causation or other factors.

Another study, also from the U.K., compared men who grew up in the relatively healthy and wealthy environment of London with those raised in Sylhet, Bangladesh. As the authors note, Men in wealthier countries tend to have higher levels of testosterone than men in poorer countries or places with high rates of infectious disease.

What wasnt clear is when this effect took place. Was it in infancy? Childhood? After puberty? New research by Kesson Magid of Durham University studied men who moved to London at various life stages. The researchers looked at factors like height, age of puberty, and testosterone levels as adults.

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Migration before puberty predicted higher testosterone and an earlier recalled pubertal age compared with Bangladeshi sedentees or adult migrants, with more pronounced differences in men who arrived before the age of eight.

They have an interesting explanation for their results, which is based on the energy cost of various activities. Boys in Bangladesh, where sanitation is poor, spend a lot of their biological resources developing immunity. This comes at the expense of building a strong reproductive function.

As the authors write, We found that the longer a man lived in Bangladesh as a child, the shorter he was as an adult. This suggests that boys growing up in Bangladesh had to trade off growing taller for something else, such as immunity.

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Theres not much you can do about your height or attractiveness unless you are ready for serious plastic surgery. As for tweaking your testosterone levels, experts like urologist Dr. Puneet Masson of the University of Pennsylvania urge caution. He treats men with low testosterone levels who are trying to become fathers. Many times Im taking these guys off of supplements or medications and putting them on something to get their body to make its own testosterone, he notes. The Penn Medicine site also cautions that taking exogenous or external testosterone shuts off other hormones essential for sperm development.

Its worth a mention that these testosterone studies were published both in academic journals and, in a more approachable format, on a free website called theconversation.com/ca. Spending some time reading articles there might have an even stronger correlation with your career success than your height, looks, or testosterone levels.

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Keenan: Is your success tied to your testosterone? - Calgary Herald

As well as the objects we find in graves, were able to extract ever more information from the bones themselves. For me, as a biological anthropologist, its been astonishing how the science around this has developed over the past 20 to 30 years.

If Im presented with a skeleton, I can tell quite a lot just by looking at the bones with the naked eye. I have a background as a medical doctor and before I started learning the business of osteoarchaeology, I would have thought: Its just a skeleton. How much can you really tell? You cant ask it about symptoms, you cant do blood tests. But I was astonished at how much you could work out. First, bone responds to disease. Some infections, such as syphilis and tuberculosis, affect bone in very distinctive ways. Osteoarthritis is also easy to identify from tiny holes on the surface of a joint.

Next you can look at teeth. People suffered from dental disease in the past, just as we do today, but most prehistoric people actually had much better teeth than ours because they didnt have such a starchy, sugary diet. They didnt brush their teeth as fastidiously as we do, but their teeth are nevertheless usually in surprisingly good condition.

Employing radiography techniques, such as using X-rays, allows us to uncover more clues hidden features of the bones. And with a micro CT [computed tomography] scanner were able to slice up the bones virtually, allowing us to analyse them without incurring any damage.

Then there are chemical techniques that allow us to analyse the ratios of different elements in bones and teeth. Our bodies are built from what we consume, so we are essentially made out of our surroundings. That means that the signatures of the landscapes in which we grew up are written into our bodies particularly into teeth, because tooth enamel is laid down in childhood.

For instance, your body is constantly incorporating different stable isotopes of oxygen and strontium in various ratios. We can analyse isotopes in ancient human remains, and see how these elemental ratios match those found in the geology of places in Britain or farther afield. This can be really useful for telling where somebody grew up, for instance, or where they spent the last decade of their life.

Finally, we can extract DNA from ancient bones and sequence it. That technology has come on in leaps and bounds in recent years.

Alice Roberts is the author of Ancestors: A Prehistory of Britain in Seven Burials (Simon & Schuster, 2021)

The human genome was fully sequenced in 2003. Since then weve developed the ability to extract DNA from very ancient bones, and to work out how to combine separate fragments of DNA into a complete genome. By doing that, were able to look for rare variants that might give us clues indicating when particular groups of people moved in or out of Britain. Sometimes were able to reconstruct more detailed information about individuals, too. One of the prehistoric skeletons I discuss in the book is known as Cheddar Man, who was discovered in Somerset in 1903, and lived around 10,000 years ago. By analysing his genome, geneticists have revealed that he probably had an unusual combination of dark skin and bright blue eyes. Being able to work that out from just a skeleton is utterly extraordinary.

DNA can also reveal information about kinship and relationships between individuals. Thats been quite profound when it comes to looking at the communal burials found inside Neolithic chamber tombs, for instance. One theory about these chamber tombs is that they were intended to anonymise the dead, and therefore contain people from across the whole community. Another theory is that they effectively acted as family vaults and some recent genetic analyses provide hints that this may indeed have been the case. For example, its been revealed that two bodies buried together in a Neolithic monument at Primrose Grange in County Sligo, Ireland are those of a father and his daughter.

Elsewhere in Ireland, DNA analysis of a man buried at Newgrange Stone Age tomb in the Boyne valley has revealed that he was the son of an incestuous union between either a parent and a child or two siblings. So were finding out some quite extraordinary details, some of which may not even have been public knowledge at the time of those peoples deaths.

Genetic science is not a panacea. Its not as though DNA technology somehow supersedes archaeology in fact, it could actually leave us with more questions than answers. But it does provide important strands of new evidence with the potential to answer some big questions, especially about mobility and migration. We should view it more as a tool for archaeologists to use one that will hopefully help us see the picture more clearly.

Genetics can certainly be disruptive. In fact, its probably as disruptive as radiocarbon dating was when that emerged, from the late 1940s suddenly, archaeologists were able to pin absolute dates on organic material. I think you can see a similar effect playing out with DNA analysis at the moment.

There have been some instances of geneticists treading on archaeologists toes. Theres been a perception by some archaeologists that geneticists have waded into long-standing archaeological debates and simply said: Youve been arguing about this for ages. Well, now weve got the answer. Not surprisingly, archaeologists have responded: Hang on a minute first you need to learn a bit about archaeology and the kinds of questions were asking.

But weve got to capitalise on the power of genetics to help us solve archaeological conundrums. In the book, I talk about a cutting-edge new project called 1,000 Ancient British Genomes, led by Swedish geneticist Pontus Skoglund of the Francis Crick Institute. This is a brilliant example of the power of collaboration between geneticists and archaeologists. Skoglund is engaging with archaeologists up and down the UK, asking them to identify questions that genetics might be able to help solve.

One of the people I became quite obsessed with is Augustus Pitt-Rivers (18271900). Hes best known as a collector, but he also came up with some really interesting ideas about how cultures change and evolve over time, and how these transitions happened. Pitt-Rivers was very influenced by 19th-century evolutionary theory and biology, and wondered how these ideas could apply to culture. He also started to think about whether the origins of new cultures might be linked to the movement of people.

For instance, Bronze Age people in Britain obviously had a different culture from the Neolithic people who preceded them. But where did they pick up this culture from? Pitt-Rivers suggested that there had effectively been a population replacement that Bronze Age culture was actually brought in by a whole load of new people. He tried to back up this theory by measuring skulls, arguing that there were detectable differences between the shapes of Neolithic and Bronze Age skulls. He was trying to use the study of skulls in a similar way to how we would now use DNA studies.

Whats astonishing is that DNA evidence now emerging suggests that Pitt-Rivers may have been right that a lot of people may have arrived in Britain during the Bronze Age, largely replacing Neolithic populations. Those earlier people didnt completely disappear, but there was a really profound turnover of population. Its really interesting to think about the contact between these two groups, and about the ways in which their different cultures may have merged.

Archaeology is a very introspective, self-aware discipline, which I think is extremely useful. Weve long been aware that every archaeologist always has ideas from their own time in the back of their mind whenever they approach a set of observations.

That can impact ideas about gender, for example. Take Iron Age chariot burials: not all of them contain men we know that some, such as the site at Wetwang in East Yorkshire, definitely contain women. I think that in the past antiquarians would have very quickly jumped to a conclusion that the body was male, based on the style of the burial or perhaps artefacts that were buried with the body. This is similar to what Reverend William Buckland (17841856) did when he discovered the oldest skeleton yet found in Britain, on the Gower peninsula in south Wales, which he called the Red Lady of Paviland. The remains are clearly male, but Buckland didnt think it could possibly be a man because the individual was buried with what looked to him like ivory jewellery. As a 19th-century antiquarian, he couldnt stomach the idea that a man might be buried with jewellery.

And these ideas still persist. When we find an Iron Age burial with a sword, theres often an assumption that its a man. Or if a mirror is excavated from a burial, theres an assumption that the remains are that of a woman. In the book, I talk about the need to avoid seeing discoveries through our own current cultural lens to accept that there may have been many more diverse identities in the past than perhaps we understand today, for example. We think that our society and culture is normal in the way that it defines two genders, but perhaps in the past there was a much more diverse approach to identity. Certainly, if you find an Iron Age burial with both a sword and a mirror (and one such site has been excavated), that might be telling us something quite interesting about ancient identities.

I think that new scientific technologies encourage us to move away from our current preconceptions to look at the evidence in isolation to begin with and then to build up a bigger picture.

Its a stunning discovery the most richly furnished Copper Age burial yet found in Britain. This man was buried with almost 100 objects in his timber-lined grave, so he was certainly high status or special in some way. All sorts of things were buried with him: lots of flints and arrowheads, and stone items that we presume are wrist guards for archery hence his name as well as copper knives and five bell-shaped beakers. There were also gold ornaments, thought to be hair wraps or possibly earrings the oldest gold found in Britain.

Because the Amesbury Archer was found only about three miles from Stonehenge, some have suggested that he may have had a link with that site. That may be true, but well never be able to prove it. You can also speculate about who he was his position in that society: are we looking at some kind of Bronze Age shaman or magician? And, connected with that idea, what did people think of those who first developed the ability to extract metal out of stone? It must have been amazing to see a completely new material being produced.

What I find particularly interesting about the Amesbury Archer is that analysis of the stable isotopes in his remains shows that he wasnt a local in fact, he grew up in or near the Alps. Graves such as his show just how far these connections stretched, and the distances that people were travelling. Theres this popular idea that in the ancient past people never travelled farther than the next village, but now we have evidence of some, such as the Amesbury Archer, travelling hundreds of miles in a lifetime.

That burial, found in 2017, is absolutely spectacular. I was lucky enough to visit it with the team that discovered it. We dont see many Iron Age burials across most of Britain, but in Yorkshire several very characteristic chariot burials have been found. These belonged to the Arras culture, which had connections to the near continent and possibly brought this very distinctive funerary style with them.

That Pocklington grave contains the body of a man buried within a chariot. In other similar burials, the chariots tend to have been dismantled before being put in the grave flatpacked, essentially. This one, though, was standing up and intact, with the man placed inside in a crouching position.

Along with the grave, theres evidence of a funeral feast. You get the impression that this funeral was a great spectacle, intended to show off the status of the deceased individual but also that of the surviving family. There are animal bones in the grave, including a rack of ribs, so it looks as if dishes from the feast were being shared with the deceased individual.

The other utterly extraordinary thing is that two pony skeletons were found standing up in the grave. That was just unbelievable. We spent quite a long time scratching our heads, wondering how on earth they got those ponies in there upright. Did they winch dead animals into the grave and then somehow support them, maybe piling up the soil underneath to hold them in a standing position? Or were the ponies led into the grave and then killed? I dont know if well ever quite get to the bottom of how it was achieved, but obviously it was extremely important to the design of the grave to have the chariot looking as though it was ready to depart, taking the dead man off, possibly to the afterlife. That is, of course, if they believed in the afterlife we dont know!

I think that exploring prehistory shows us just how multicultural Britain has always been. What weve seen is that many different groups of people have crossed the North Sea and the Channel in both directions over time, and that those cultures all enriched the others.

Although I write a lot about the power of genetics, I dont think we should be trying to trace direct genetic links between us and people in the ancient past because, once you get back into prehistory, these connections arent terribly meaningful. You dont need to have a direct genetic link with the Red Lady of Paviland or the Amesbury Archer to think about what the lives of these individuals might have been like. Im aiming for an egalitarian approach to ancestry in the landscape. The ancestors I look at in the book belong to everybody.

Alice Roberts is the author of Ancestors: A Prehistory of Britain in Seven Burials (Simon & Schuster, 2021). Buy it now on Amazon, Waterstones or Bookshop.org

This article was first published in the July 2021 issue of BBC History Magazine

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Prehistoric Graves: Why They Are Time Capsules Of Early Britain - BBC History Magazine

Everyone wants their skin to be flawless and younger-looking. Unfortunately, our skin becomes dull and flaky because of regular contact with dust, residue, pollution, and the suns harmful rays. Hyperpigmentation is the umbrella term for these often undesirable skin alterations.

UV light, which encourages the production of melanin, is one of the most common hyperpigmentation culprits. Every dermatologist we spoke with emphasized the necessity of using sunscreen to protect the skin from UV rays, whether you are treating existing spots or attempting to avoid developing new ones.

If you are struggling with skin issues, this article is for you, as it is about the best skin lightening creams for scars and hyperpigmentation. All you have to do now is find the best option for you. So, let us get started.

Before starting with the guide, we will first talk about what this is. Hyperpigmentation is a condition in which an area of skin becomes darker than the surrounding skin. Our bodies produce melanin, a pigment molecule that gives our skin its black color. The organelle that secretes this chemical is the cells melanosomes. It occurs when your melanocytes secrete too much melanin, resulting in a tan or skin discoloration.

Melasma and sunspots, for example, are more prone to affect parts of the skin that are exposed to the sun, such as the face, arms, and legs. Cuts, burns, acne, and lupus are examples of hyperpigmentation that occurs after an injury or with skin inflammation. These can show up anywhere on the body.

Skin problems like scars and pigmentations can be treated with a variety of therapy regimens. Let us take a look at each one individually:

Avoiding sun exposure, which is one of the most common causes of hyperpigmentation, is the simplest option. If you must go out in the sun, an SPF 30+ cream should be used.

You can always go to a cosmetologist or dermatologist for clinically approved therapies including laser treatment, strong pulsed light therapy, chemical peels, and other procedures.

This is the type of product we will be discussing in this article. These lotions are safe, have no negative effects, and are simple to obtain. Hyperpigmentation creams are the greatest option if you do not mind waiting a little longer for results.

Collagen is a natural protein that gives your body its structure. It appears to be effective because it is already present in the human body. It provides us with advantages such as youthful and healthy skin. Unfortunately, the amount of collagen in our skin decreases as we get older.

So, the founders of XYZ have developed a natural cosmetics solution to visible indicators of aging skin that is free of artificial components and side effects. The active ingredients in XYZ Smart Collagen are sourced from organic, responsibly-farmed plants that have been delicately cold-pressed to preserve their important active components.

They devised this anti-aging lotion and made sure that, unlike its competitors, it would not encourage your skin to generate collagen in an uncontrolled manner. In just 12 weeks of application, the skin may be tighter, smoother, and the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles may be reduced.

Apply XYZ Smart Collagen over your entire face and neck, taking care not to get any in your eyes. Use moderate upward strokes to allow this anti-aging lotion to soak thoroughly and effectively into your skin.

Customers praise this cream as an excellent anti-aging product that actually works. XYZ Smart Collagen reviews, case studies, and confirmed components show this product delivers people positive benefits in as little as 84 days. Simultaneously, it demonstrates how it interacts with the human body and seeks a long-term answer. In contrast to fast remedies and long-term adverse effects, this is a positive indicator.

Because of its manufacturers, the product has a guarantee. Wolfson Berg is a well-established corporation with a diverse product line and clientele. All of this adds up to a strong endorsement for XYZ Smart Collagen.

Visit the Official Website of XYZ Smart Collagen for the Best Discount

Zeta White is a three-step skin lightening treatment that consists of a face wash, moisturizer, and sleep cream. All three are suitable for all types of skin. The Zeta White skin whitening technique is marketed as a safe alternative to harsh bleaching treatments.

The lotion contains anti-inflammatory characteristics that brighten skin without causing damage and addresses uneven skin or dark spots. It may also lighten your general appearance.

It is made entirely of safe and natural materials, 95% of which are organic. It is free of the harsh chemicals and poisons found in most bleaching creams. It brightens the skin and provides a calming and anti-inflammatory effect.

It can also treat uneven skin tone caused by acne, aging, freckles, melasma, scars, and sun damage with excellent results. Any part of your body that you desire to lighten can be treated with Zeta White products.

It is a three-part lightening system. When you buy the whole three-step lightening system, you also get a skin-lightening body lotion worth $77.09.

Zeta White is a product of the United Kingdom, made by a reputable producer. In terms of safety and purity, its component list is encouraging. It is entirely organic and manufactured from natural extracts and mineral oils.

If you are looking for the greatest face wash, moisturizer, or night cream to brighten your skin and stimulate skin regeneration, you will have to pay a lot of money and receive no results. However, Zeta White offers you all three for the price of one, as well as a bonus with your order.

Visit the Official Website of Zeta White for the Best Discount

Melanin is a pigment found naturally in the skin that gives it color. Melanin pigment is produced in melanosomes, which are specialized cytoplasmic organelles. Melanosomes in the darker parts of the skin are more active than those found elsewhere on the body. Overactive melanosomes can also lead to apparent skin hyperpigmentation, such as aging, melasma, and other skin color disorders.

Meladerm works by combining the well-documented qualities of the most efficient skin whitening substances to diminish the appearance of hyperpigmentation. Many of the formulas active constituents are taken from natural extracts like Mulberry, Licorice, and Bearberry. Civant Skin Care prioritizes your safety beyond all else. Their products are free of hydroquinone, mercury, steroid hormones, and other bleaching agents.

Meladerm, when used with exfoliation agents, can typically show results in as little as two to four weeks. On average, the full results take about two to three months and depend on the type of skin of the person. In addition, a 30-day money-back guarantee is offered to new customers with their first purchase.

Meladerm may be worth a try if you are having trouble getting rid of dark patches on your skin. It is one of the most natural skincare options available, and many Meladerm reviews back up its efficacy claims.

The product is extremely popular and is the number one skin-lightening formula on the market. Skincare professionals have used and have been recommending it all over the world for more than a decade.

Visit the Official Website of Meladerm for the Best Discount

Illuminatural is a topical serum that must be administered to the skin to eliminate all dark spots and wrinkles. It is part of the Skinception skin care line, which is made in the United States by Leading Edge Health. They focus on the development and marketing of beauty-related items, particularly for women.

It is one of the few skin lighteners on the market today that does not include any dangerous ingredients. The product works by blocking the tyrosinase enzyme, which causes skin cells to create melanin when stimulated. It also exfoliates pigmented dead skin cells, promoting the growth of new skin cells. It is a much safer and more convenient alternative to using a peeler to exfoliate the skin.

The products main goal is to eliminate these skin issues, and users of the topical serum do not experience any skin irritation, which is frequent with similar skincare products. The manufacturers also claim that in as little as four weeks, the solution may lighten the skin and may improve the appearance of unattractive dark areas.

Customer reaction has been overwhelmingly positive thus far for this product. Many people have turned to natural skin whitening methods, mostly because they are 100% safe and have no known adverse effects. Our research, as well as information from other Illuminatural 6i reviews, reveals this product makes a difference, particularly with little dark spots.

It is a highly effective, natural skin-lightening product and is one of the most well-known and widely used whitening products on the market. It is made by a renowned brand, and it also comes with a guarantee.

Visit the Official Website of Illuminatural 6i for the Best Discount

Amaira Natural Lightening Serum is one of Amaira Skincares many plant-based products. The brand promotes skin care regimes that are as natural as possible. Amaira dermatologists use herbal elements to create safe and helpful skincare solutions. The same ingredients are used in Amaira Natural Lightening Serum to whiten skin in delicate regions.

It claims to reduce the appearance of unpleasant dark patches, birthmarks, and freckles. It is suitable for all skin types and contains no hazardous chemicals, parabens, fragrances, or colorants. Natural components in Amaira provide a safe and quick way to lighter skin.

Six weeks of treatment is usually suggested; however, some people get effects in as little as two weeks.

The formula for Amaira Natural Lightening Serum is FDA certified and can be used by men and women of all skin types. This lightening cream is gentle enough to use on both the face and the body, giving you even-toned, young skin from head to toe.

This is a popular, well-designed product that claims to minimize the appearance of dark spots and discoloration by working with the skins natural renewal cycles. It appears to provide satisfactory outcomes, although not every user is totally happy with this product.

Customers have given the product a thumbs up in product reliability. A vast number of users around the world have given positive feedback. One point of worry is the packaging, as there have been several instances of the pump assembly on the bottle breaking relatively quickly, making use of the product more difficult.

Overall, we found Amaira Natural Lightening Serum to be a reasonable product. The result matters most, and the vast majority of users are able to attain their desired outcomes in the end.

Visit the Official Website of Amaira Natural Serum for the Best Discount

Hyperpigmentation might affect any region of your body. However, those that damage the face, chest, or limbs require rapid attention. Melasma, sunspots, and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation are the most prevalent.

Melasma is mostly caused by hormonal changes and is most commonly seen in pregnant women. Hyperpigmentation can affect any part of the body, however, it most typically affects the stomach and face.

Sunspots, also known as liver spots or solar lentigines, are a common occurrence. However, if you are routinely exposed to the sun, it will only happen over time.

This is caused by a skin injury or inflammation. Post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation includes acne, pimples, and scar discoloration.

When opposed to ordinary whitening face creams, these ones offer a wide range of benefits. The following are some highlights:

Because all of the items mentioned above are 100% natural, safe, and organic, there are no long-term side effects. The following are some of the possible adverse effects which you may face:

If you are on a budget and want to save money on hyperpigmentation treatments, the best option is to use a lightening cream. Treatments like intense pulsed light therapy, laser peel, chemical peels, etc. come with adverse effects and are very expensive too.

As a consumer, you are looking for therapy that gives the best possible answer to your problem at the lowest possible cost. So, a lightening cream is the greatest option for this.

Hydroquinone is a natural pigment lightening and skin brightening combination derived from African potato and tara tree. It also boosts collagen and infuses your skin with beneficial antioxidants. Your dark spots will lighten as a result, and your complexion will become more even. In addition, the solution protects your skin, slowing the formation of new hyperpigmentation.

Gigawhite is a skin lightener and brightener that helps to reduce the appearance of age spots and melanin concentrations in the skin. This substance has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that help to soothe your skin and even out skin tone and dark spots.

Licorice Root works as a natural skin lightening agent by inhibiting the enzymes that cause melanin formation. It helps to prevent future hyperpigmentation while also reducing the appearance of existing dark spots on your skin. Licorice Root is also an anti-inflammatory, so it will benefit your skin by lowering swelling and redness, as well as assisting in skin regeneration for a more balanced complexion.

We have already discussed the mechanism of hyperpigmentation. A variety of factors can cause this phenomenon, including sun exposure and possibly an underlying ailment. Some of the most common causes are:

Melasma can be passed down across generations. According to studies, over half of all women with melasma have a family member who is also affected. As a result, if you are a woman and your mother has melasma, you are more likely to get it as well.

Melasma can be caused by a variety of factors, including your gender. Melasma affects more women than it does men. While female-to-male ratios vary by the group due to factors including skin type and sun exposure, studies have reported female-to-male ratios ranging from 6:1 to 39:1. Melasma is typically provoked by sun exposure in men with this skin disorder.

One of the most common things that causes Melasma is exposure to the sun. To protect the skin from prolonged sun exposure, the body creates more melanin. This might cause age spots or sunspots, which are dark spots or patches on the skin. In addition to sun exposure, extremely bright artificial light can exacerbate melasma. Melasma might be difficult to cure for people who work in these types of environments. Heat, which is scientifically known as infrared radiation, can also aggravate melasma.

Antimalarial medicines and tricyclic antidepressants, for example, can produce hyperpigmentation. One of the most researched causes of melasma is inflammation caused by skin irritants.

Certain scents, soaps, and cosmetics can irritate the skin. The usage of these products can create inflammation in people who have melasma due to their genetics, gender, or skin type, which can lead to a melasma flare.

Although it may seem self-evident, popping pimples causes hyperpigmentation. This is one of those skin-care guidelines that has not changed in a long time. When you get a pimple, your body interprets it as an injury and rushes to the scene to fix it. However, instead of letting your body cure itself, many people pick at their spots.

When you pop a pimple, it causes further irritation. Inflammation then triggers melanin production. As a result, long after the inflammation has faded, you may get acne scars.

It should go without saying that touching or plucking your skin regularly can aggravate hyperpigmentation. Exfoliating too much might cause inflammation and compromise the skins moisture barrier, which is the first line of protection against bacteria and other contaminants. Your moisture barrier can no longer fully protect you if it becomes damaged.

As a result, acne and hyperpigmentation may become more prevalent. If you give in to the temptation to use severe pressure or too abrasive materials on your skin, you may wind up doing more harm than good.

We do not always consider it, but eating a 15-minute lunch outside in direct sunlight can exacerbate hyperpigmentation. You have probably heard it before, but skincare protection is critical for preventing hyperpigmentation.

Inflammation is exacerbated by prolonged sun exposure. As a result, the formation of acne scars is aided. Applying sunscreen and going about your day is not enough. You should reapply throughout the day.

As the name implies, these are creams that whiten the current layer of skin to improve skin tone. Depending on the cream, the process used to accomplish this may differ.

Plant extracts are used in the normal whitening or lightening creams mentioned above to suppress the production of the tyrosinase enzyme, which catalyzes melanin synthesis.

A bleaching cream, on the other hand, would diminish the number of melanocytes in skin cells, lowering melanin secretion. Other creams act by exfoliating the outer or pigmented skin to promote the growth of new skin cells.

Yes, you can apply makeup over these items. However, allow enough time for the lightening cream to seep into your skin. These items might be sticky and can cause problems with makeup.

However, once the cream has thoroughly diffused into the skin, no sign of it remains. Some brands also exfoliate the dead skin as a bonus, resulting in greater highlights on the fresh skin.

Breastfeeding women are permitted to use skin-lightening cosmetics discreetly. These are all-natural items that are free of dangerous chemicals.

However, it is preferable to avoid using this product on feeding days because it may be absorbed into the bloodstream. The study is still underway, and convincing proof of the safety of this cream during pregnancy or feeding days has yet to be established.

As a result, if you require expert advice before using these items, you should consult your doctor.

In the beginning, mens skincare products were quite rare. However, many products in the womens market are now available for males as well.

Nowadays, most items are designed to be unisex; so, people of any gender may use them, and their gender has no bearing on how well they operate.

All of the products described above are safe for both men and women to use. The creams are based on a universal molecular phenomenon that whitens the skin and is found in everyone.

As a result, males can use the skin whitening cream without fear.

However, because of differences in skin texture and roughness, certain product categories, such as moisturizers, may act differently on men and women.

Benefits may be visible in a few days. Depending on the product, the complete result, i.e., the improvement in uneven skin tone, may take up to eight weeks.

These products must first diffuse into the skin before being able to control melanin synthesis. You must wait until new cells proliferate before doing anything with the already created pigments.

After that, the hyperpigmentation begins to recede, and after long-term use, it may totally vanish.

No, you do not have to see a doctor to utilize these lotions. However, it is a good idea to schedule a simple consultation.

To begin with, these skin-lightening creams are produced with natural components that are safe to use on the skin.

Second, before being formed into a product, they are thoroughly researched in the lab and clinically evaluated. So, you do not need to see a doctor unless you have a skin issue that is being treated or has been treated previously.

We all have a highly hectic routine in our daily lives and are often outside in the sun. In the process, we overlook the factors that affect our skin, such as dust, sunshine, or anything else that causes hyperpigmentation.

Hyperpigmentation is a challenging skin condition to treat; but, with the provided knowledge in this article, you can easily overcome that obstacle. When looking for the best lightening cream for hyperpigmentation, keep in mind that each persons hyperpigmentation responds to treatment differently.

We trust that we have provided you with sufficient information to protect you against its negative consequences. You may see the effects soon if you use the lightning cream correctly and follow the instructions.

More here:
5 Best Skin Lightening Creams for Hyperpigmentation in 2021 - The Island Now

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dovetail Genomics, the world-leader in high-quality de novo genome assembly, and Revive & Restore, the leading wildlife conservation organization promoting the incorporation of biotechnologies into standard conservation practice, announced today a new partnership that will accelerate the use of de novo genome assembly in the conservation efforts of threatened and endangered species.

Through its Wild Genomes program, Revive & Restore is funding high-quality, de novo genome assembly for select species in which an immediate, practical application of genomic data can inform and improve conservation efforts. Dovetail Genomics will be the preferred de novo genome assembly provider for this effort, building on the companys near decade-long success in delivering over 1600 high-quality plant and animal assemblies to hundreds of researchers across the globe.

We are honored that Revive & Restore has selected Dovetail to be their preferred genome assembly partner, said Todd Dickinson, CEO of Dovetail Genomics. Applying high-quality reference genomes more broadly to biodiversity efforts will advance conservation efforts globally as it quickly becomes a standard tool for the conservation biologist.

Global biodiversity is being lost at an alarming rate due to climate change and other human-based pressures. Perhaps one of mankinds most important responsibilities is the preservation and even enhancement of biodiversity, for this generation and those to come. A high-quality reference genome assembly is required to fully understand the biology of any organism and is a critical tool for species preservation.

Genomic insights are foundational to genetic rescue. The information that is held within a species DNA can help conservationists discover the genetic basis of adaptability and resilience, reveal breeding structures, the genetics of stress and immune responses or local adaptations. This information can help us predict a species responses to climate change, and allow people to make better wildlife management decisions, said Revive & Restores Wild Genomes program manager Bridget Baumgartner.

Revive & Restore will initially leverage Dovetail Genomics experience and sample-to-assembly workflow to build reference genomes for 15 endangered species in the Revive & Restore Wild Genomes program. One of these species, the Banggai cardinalfish, will be funded using a unique crowd-sourcing arrangement. Dovetail Genomics will donate $500 on behalf of every Dovetail services customer starting August 9, 2021, until enough funds are raised to sequence and assemble the cardinalfish genome. The genome assembly will be available as an open resource to the scientific community.

Learn more about this program: https://dovetailgenomics.com/a-genome-for-basuki/. To view, use this password: Basuki

The male Banggai cardinalfish specimen that will be sequenced has been nicknamed Basuki, which means to prosper or flourish. The goal of this program is to help restore the Banggai cardinalfish population back to historical numbers. Banggai cardinalfish went from discovery to near extinction in a matter of a few years due to high demand in the aquarium trade; their current status is endangered and their population is in severe decline. The Banggai cardinalfish distribution range is extremely small a 23 km2 region of the Banggai Archipelago in Indonesia. Several local populations are now either extinct or vanishing. Unlike most other coral reef fishes, Banggai cardinalfish lack a pelagic larval phase that portion of their life where dispersal occurs. Instead, they exhibit mouthbrooding and direct development, where juveniles remain close to their parents. This unique life history results in genetically distinct local populations that are ecologically and evolutionarily significant, but also extremely vulnerable.

We are thrilled to finally have the opportunity to utilize a genome assembly for this critically endangered fish, stated Giacomo Bernardi, Ph.D., Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UC Santa Cruz. The genome assembly will be an important tool that we will put to use immediately to measure population diversity, heterozygosity and other metrics that will help us in our quest to save this species.

About Revive & Restore

Revive & Restore is the leading wildlife conservation organization promoting the incorporation of biotechnologies into standard conservation practice. The Sausalito, California non-profit was formed in 2012 with the idea that 21st century biotechnology can and should be used to enhance genetic diversity, build disease resistance, facilitate adaptation and more. Its mission is to enhance biodiversity through the genetic rescue of endangered and extinct species.

Wild Genomes is part of Revive & Restores Catalyst Science Fund, which supports proof-of-concept science to advance the development of new biotechnology tools for conservation. Launched in 2018, the Catalyst Science Fund is designed to hasten impactful innovations in conservation. A key barrier to the adoption of genomic solutions by the conservation community has been the lack of success stories. To that end, the Catalyst Science Fund supports early-stage, transformative bio-science research, and proof-of-concept projects.

For more information visit https://www.reviverestore.org/wild-genomes and follow Revive & Restore on Twitter @Revive_Restore.

About Dovetail

Dovetail Genomics LLC is transforming genomics by making long-range information readily accessible to all. The company enables researchers and clinicians to solve complex problems involving de novo assembly, structural variation, microbiome analysis, cancer research, phasing analysis and more by providing them a more comprehensive view of the genome. With 68 pending applications and 14 issued patents, its proprietary in vitro proximity ligation approach and assembly algorithms simplify genomic discovery by integrating the highest quality long-range genomic information with next-gen sequencing output. Dovetail is based in Scotts Valley, California. For more information on Dovetail, its technology, and service offerings, visit https://dovetailgenomics.com/omni-c/. Follow Dovetail on Twitter @DTGenomics.

See original here:
Dovetail Genomics and Revive & Restore Form Partnership to Sequence and Assemble Genomes of 15 Endangered Species - Business Wire

On the great philosophical question of why bad things (i.e. injuries) happen to good people (i.e. runners who obey the ten percent rule), the sages are divided. Some say its because we havent yet figured out precisely which form flaw, muscle imbalance, or training error triggers a given injury. Others say that the problem runs deeperthat we need a comprehensive causal framework that links together training and life stresses, the resulting biomechanical loads applied to different parts of the body, and the ever-changing capacity of each joint and tissue to absorb those loads.

In a new (and free to read) opinion piece in the International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy, running injury experts Chris Napier of the University of British Columbia and Rich Willy of the University of Montana advance that latter perspective. For example, they point out, simple rules about training load are doomed to failure because increasing the stress on a tissue like a tendon by just ten percent will cause it to fail 50 percent earlier. Thats one reason that the addition of speedwork so often triggers problems even if youre not running any farther than usual. You cant prevent an injury unless you understand the sequence of events thats likely to cause it.

But drawing that web of causal arrows remains a tall ordera point illustrated nicely by another new study, this one on Western States ultramarathoners. A team led by Emily Kraus, a sports medicine doctor and researcher at Stanford University, studied 123 runners (83 men, 40 women) who ran the 100-mile race in 2018 and 2019, publishing the results in the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine. Their goal: to explore the components of the female and male athlete triads, including the risk of stress fractures and other bone stress injuries, in ultramarathoners.

In women, the athlete triad refers to the combination of low energy availability, menstrual irregularities, and low bone mineral density (BMD). In men, low levels of sex hormones such as testosterone substitute for menstrual irregularities. Its a subset of the broader condition known as relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S).

In theory, the causal arrow here is pretty straightforward. If you dont eat enough, either overall or during the periods of the day when you need it most to support your training, youll end up with lower levels of sex hormones. Thats what triggers the warning sign of irregular or absent periods. And over time, it can lead to lower bone mineral density, which in turn leaves you vulnerable to stress fractures, even at training loads you might previously have been able to handle. Theres good evidence for every step of this chain.

Based on a self-reported questionnaire (sample question: Are you trying to change your body weight or body composition to improve your performance?), lots of the Western States runners appeared to be at risk of disordered eating: 62.5 percent of the women and 44.5 percent of the men. Quite a few (16.7 and 30.1 percent, respectively) had low bone density, defined as a Z-score less than -1. Many (37.5 and 20.5 percent) had a history of stress fractures, which matches data from other studies of hardcore runners. Add in a few other variables like low body mass and irregular periods, and you can calculate a cumulative triad risk score, which identified 61.1 percent of women and 29.2 percent of men as being at moderate risk for bone stress injuries and 5.6 percent of each as high risk.

In a sense, this is a nice illustration of Napier and Willys point. If you zero in on a single risk factor like bone mineral density, youre not going to get a very useful gauge of injury risk. Relatively few of the women had low BMD, but lots had stress fractures; for men, it was the opposite. Hormone levels, measured using InsideTrackers blood testing battery, were similarly ambiguous. In women, there did seem to be a link between low levels of testosterone and estradiol and low bone mineral density. The same pattern didnt show up in men, though.

If you broaden the causal diagram, as with the cumulative triad risk score, you get a more meaningful assessment of injury risk. In one of Krauss previous studies, for example, every one-point increase in the cumulative risk score for male athletes (which doesnt even include any direct assessment of hormones, since theres no simple proxy like menstrual dysfunction for men) produced a 57 percent increase in the risk of a subsequent stress fracture. For women, its even more pronounced: a diagnosis of moderate risk doubles your chances of a stress fracture, and high risk quadruples it.

Thats still just one part of Napier and Willys grand plan, though. Napier co-authored another recent paper (with Karrie Hamstra-Wright of the University of Illinois at Chicago and Kellie Huxel Bliven of A.T. Still University) that describes a holistic approach to bone stress injuries, suggesting that athletes have their own cumulative risk profile that influences their capacity to withstand specific training loads. Here theyre no longer talking only about triad risk factors: instead theyre summing up a vast web of non-modifiable (sex, race, age, genetics, alignment, prior injury) and modifiable (strength, fatigue, flexibility, biomechanics, stress, recovery, nutrition) intrinsic factors, as well as extrinsic factors like footwear, training surface, and training load.

Theres no equation for this hypothetical super-calculation of injury riskyet. In a sense, this is simply an attempt to mathematically describe what already goes on inside the head of a good clinician when he or she is assessing an athlete. The big question is whether the equationor, more likely, a future machine-learning algorithmwill ever be able to combine all those inputs and produce injury advice thats meaningfully better than, say, the ten percent rule plus occasional reminders not to do anything stupid. Only time, and a lot of painstaking research, will tell.

For more Sweat Science, join me on Twitter and Facebook, sign up for the email newsletter, and check out my book Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance.

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Seeking a Grand Theory of Injury Prevention - Outside Magazine

On last nights episode of Beauty & The Geek,they went on a makeover frenzy, giving four geeks incredible glow ups. But did you know there was another geek who is just as hot, yet he never had a makeover?

Yes, Jackson Palmer, is an undercover hottie who could honestly be a Calvin Klein model. The geek has been posting some fire pics on his Insta post-show and OOFT.

Palmers beauty on the show was Jessica Antoniou, who made a TikTok about how she actuallyhad the hot geek this season.

Remember this guy?

Well this is what he actually looks like.

The TikTok has over 1.5 million views and isnt even the first time the Beauty & The Geek star has gone viral. Antoniou has made a number of TikToks about her BATG journey, including ones made within the mansion (or apartment) they were staying in.

Just kidding already knew jackson was a qt #beautyandthegeek#batg#jessickbish#foryoupage#makeover

Know Yourself Drake

Many of the comments asked if the pair were still together. However, Antoniou hasnt been able to reveal anything and thats likely because Beauty & The Geek is still airing and shes under a contract.

But *fingers crossed* they still are, because they are cute AF.

Theyre not the only couple either where real love looks like a possibility. George and Josie (who are still on the show) seem to really be obsessed with each other and I am so here for it.

Kiran and Bryanna are my other favourite couple, who also genuinely seem smitten with one another. They also played coy when asked about their relationship, which only makes it seem more likely that they are together IRL.

No comment, both Bryanna and Kiran told PEDESTRIAN.TV when asked if they were still together last week.

Inject Beauty & The Geek into my veins. I am truly obsessed.

Originally posted here:
One Of The Geeks From BATG Had A Post Show Glow Up & Damn, I Could Cut Steak With That Jaw - Pedestrian TV

Matt Damon is copping mass backlash for revealing in an interview that fa**ot (a homophobic slur) was part of his vocabulary up until months ago when his daughter pointed out that its a fucked-up thing to say.

Speaking to The Sunday Times, he recounted dropping the word in conversation while at the table with his family.

The word that my daughter calls the f-slur for a homosexual was commonly used when I was a kid, with a different application, he toldThe Times.

I made a joke, months ago, and got a treatise from my daughter. She left the table. I said, Come on, thats a joke! I say it in the movieStuck on You!, Matt Damon added, referencing the 2003 film in which he plays a conjoined twin with Greg Kinnear.

She went to her room and wrote a very long, beautiful treatise on how that word is dangerous. I said, I retire the f-slur! I understood.

After the interview did the rounds online, folks on Twitter began calling him out for thinking it was okay to use it as of 2021. Come on, man..

Matt Damon actor has three daughters Isabella, 15, Gia, 12, and Stella, 10, with his wife of 16 years, Luciana Barroso.

It comes shortly after rapper DaBaby was called out for going on a gross homophobic rant at a recent performance.

According to avideo posted by TMZ, DaBaby encouraged the audience to hold up their phones, but only if they didnt show up today with HIV/AIDS or any of them deadly sexually transmitted diseases that will make you die in two to three weeks, among other derogatory remarks about HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ+ people.

Following the backlash, DaBaby tried to defend the comments he made at the show via Instagram Live, but he dug himself an even deeper hole by making further offensive statements.

He denied that the rant was homophobic, but rather a call to action. He also said that his gay fans dont got fucking AIDS because they arent nasty or junkies.

Several stars have slammed his actions, including Dua Lipa and Madonna, and he has been subsequently dropped from Lollapalooza, Apple Music and Boohoo (to name a few).

Wonder if Matt Damon will cop similar repercussions

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Matt Damon Is Copping A Pasting After Revealing He Used The Homophobic F Word Until Recently - Pedestrian TV

5 July 2021

It is becoming clear that our gene functions are influenced by a variety of epigeneticfactors throughout our lives and even before we are conceived. Environmental context may affect gene expression and which genes are 'activated' or not in children conceived via IVFmay be influenced by the dietary and lifestyle habits of an embryo's parents or grandparents, as well as by the culture medium in which eggs and embryos are kept in vitro. These findings have implications for the way we think about fertility, assisted reproduction, and genetic identity.

Epigenetics and bioethics of human embryonic development is a multidisciplinary project that spans disciplinary boundaries in order to better understand how scientists, clinicians, patients, and society should respond to these challenges. The project is funded by the University of Oslo Life Sciences, as part of its convergence environments initiative which has seeninterdisciplinary research groups formed to address major health and environmental challenges faced. The project started in 2017, and is now drawing towards its close. Here, three of our project members explain their work within the project.

Trine Skuland is a developmental biologist who works on epigenetic regulation of early embryo development.

When an egg and a sperm unite to form a zygote, numerous events need to be coordinated in order to achieve successful development. Out of the ~30,000 human genes, the right selection has to be switched on/off at the appropriate time point. No wonder these events are error-prone!

Upon fertilisation, extensive reprogramming happens in order to reset the epigenetic marks of the egg and the sperm DNA, and to set up a new pattern that is compatible with further embryo development. Epigenetic marks are chemical groups that are attached either to the DNA itself or to the proteins the DNA wraps around inside the cell nucleus. The pattern of these epigenetic marks will decide whether genes are activated or silenced.

When an embryo reaches the eight-cell stage, one of the most critical events takes place. This is when the first major set of genes is activated. My team is currently studying one specific epigenetic mark that we think is important for the embryonic genome activation and we hope our research will contribute in further characterisation of epigenetic factors involved in this crucial part of embryo development.

Our aim is to find another piece of the big genome activation puzzle in order to get a more complete picture of what is necessary for normal embryo development. This is as more than half of the embryos created during assisted reproduction develop abnormally and have to be discarded. Our ultimate goal is giving infertile people higher quality embryos to increase their chances of becoming parents.

Birgit Kvernflaten is a medical anthropologist who looks at prospective parents' experiences of assisted reproductive technologies.

My role in the project is to explore prospective parents' experiences and perspectives of practices and treatments used in assisted reproduction.It starts from the idea that their experiences do not take place in a vacuum, but are shaped within a particular socio-cultural and political context. The project further aims to explore and understand prospective parents' experiences and perceptions of the status of the embryo, embryo donation, research, and selection, in light of increased epigenetic knowledge.

This project has highlighted how prospective parents' experiences of infertility treatment are related to and shaped by social and cultural discourses on Norwegian family life.

In Norway, biological or genetic ties are considered central to people's understanding of kinship and identity, shaping couples' negotiations about gamete donation, family, relationships, and responsibilities. Yet people's understanding of genes is also ambiguous. As for the concept of epigenetics; it seems it has not yet entered the public's imagination.

Although the role of environmental factors in shaping who we are is acknowledged in Norwegian society, couples tend to view genetics in a rather deterministic way, in that they believe it shapes both looks, personality, and risk of disease. While difficult to truly grasp, the role of genetics is central to people's ideas about reproduction and parenthood. New epigenetic knowledge raises questions about the interface between nature and nurture, as well as opening up discussion related to the role mothers and their bodies play in determining the health of future offspring.

Joona Rsnenis a bioethicist who works on the philosophical and ethical implications of epigenetics.

Epigenetics raises challenging ethical issues throughout the human life cycle. Epigenetic transmission from one generation to the next may raise questions of moral responsibility of parents and grandparents. Epigenetics plays an important role in a range of chronic diseases, such as diabetes. Our lifestyle habits during pregnancy and even before, may influence whether our future children will live healthy lives or suffer from lifelong illness.

It is commonly known that we should eat healthily for our own sake, but these developments in our understanding of epigenetic could imply that we should eat healthily for the sake of our future children as well. Does this demand too much of future parents?

Epigenetics seems to put prospective parents under pressure since they would be partly responsible for their future child's health even before the child is conceived. Pregnant women are often advised to abstain from alcohol and tobacco, but maybe it is worth reminding them to eat healthily as well and this advice applies not only to future mothers, but to prospective fathers too, since epigenetic inheritance occurs through the male germline as well.

Conclusion

The interplay between science, anthropology, and philosophy in the context of epigenetics is complex.Skuland notes that a key aim for scientists working to unravel the epigenetic mechanisms involved in early embryo development, is to fulfil the needs of IVF patients to have their 'own' child. Dr Kvernflaten shows how genetics is central to patients' ideas about kinship and identity, yet epigenetics is still something unfamiliar to most prospective parents. Rsnen's example suggests that if parents did take on board some of the moral implications of epigenetics, they might find that the scope of their responsibility for future offspring is dramatically expanded.

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Harappan seals, pottery, figurines and animal bones reveal many real and mythical animalsdog, tiger, birds, wild ass, unicorn, humped bull, elephant, rhinoceros, water buffalo, short-horned humpless bull, goat, antelope, crocodile and harebut not horse, one-humped camel or donkey. The horse appears in the subcontinent after the collapse of the Harappan Civilization. It likely arrived in numbers along with the Aryans from Central Asia, a horse-riding nomadicpastoralist people with perhaps some knowledge of crops. What also accompanied them was their language and religion: proto-Sanskrit, proto-Vedas and Vedic godsmostly male gods, such as Indra, Agni, Mitra, Varuna, Rudra and Surya, and a few female gods, such as Usha and Prithvi. They used iron, revered fire and the cow (though they also slaughtered it and ate beef), and preferred cremating the dead. By the time these Aryan herders entered the subcontinentin the middle centuries of the second millennium BCEurban Harappans had largely dissolved into rural life.

Notably, the Vedic lore of the Aryans mentions defensive armour, weapons, chariots and warfare against dark-skinned foes named Dasas. But the Dasas were not Harappans, who no longer lived in fortified cities by the time the Aryans reached the Indus Valley. Based on the styles of Dasa forts described in the Rig Veda, Parpola and others have argued that the Dasas were proto-Sakas, a pastoralist group of the Central Asian steppes, and the major fights between the Aryans and the Dasas probably took place not in the Indus Valley but in the Indo-Iranian borderlands, en route to the Indus Valley. Nor does the description of the Saraswati River in the Rig Veda fit the Ghaggar-Hakra River that dried up c. 2000 BCE, and instead maps on to the river called Haraxvaiti (in Avestan) or Harahuvati (in Old Persian), which is very likely the Arghandab River, or less likely the Helmand River, both in modern Afghanistan.

After the arrival of the Aryans to the Indus Valley, the locals (rural descendants of the Harappans) probably saw them as an aggressive bunch and their encounters were likely not all peaceful. One indicator of this is the very skewed genetic footprint of the Aryan male in later populations, despite the fact that, like all migrating groups, they had come with entire families. According to a scientific study in 2017, Genetic influx from Central Asia in the Bronze Age was strongly male-driven, consistent with the patriarchal, patrilocal and patrilineal social structure attributed to the inferred pastoralist early Indo-European society. Further, while archaeologists havent found any telltale signs of war or invasion, its reasonable to expect that the locals would have initially resisted the imposition of the Aryan language, religion and culture, since thats how such encounters usually play out.

Also read: Indias native horses disappeared by 8000 BC. But Rig Veda mentions them more than the cow

The Aryans also brought with them a form of social hierarchy with priests at the topa proto-varna system without endogamy (i.e., marrying only within a specific social group). They had no linguistic script and the need for it was reduced due to the lack of an urban civilization. The priests may also have impeded the rise of a script that might have democratized their oral chants and deflated their esoteric powers. Notably, such instincts seem alien to the Harappan ethos, given the ubiquity of the artefacts with their script on them. For instance, their script often appears as graffiti-like scribbles on stone blocks in non-elite parts of Dholavira, and as messages stamped on pottery items used by ordinary people (possibly brand or ownership details?).

After a millennium of mixing and migration in the subcontinent, numerous sites arose in the Gangetic Plain, whose settlers had learnt to fire a more durable and sophisticated series of ceramics known as painted gray ware (PGW), writes historian Sudipta Sen. They evolved social formations in which clans, lineages, and tribes began to yield to new ruling councils and kings. From this came new urban life, hybrid cultures, languages, pantheons and religio-spiritual ideas that we now associate with mid-first millennium BCE India. These developments had strong contributions from both the Aryan and the Harappan substrates. New political and social conflicts en route also seem to have inspired many of the stories in the great epic Mahabharata.

Could the Harappan social hierarchy have included endogamy based on occupation, i.e., a proto-caste system? Did a hereditary group of manual scavengers clean the sullage jars of Dholavira homes? Current archaeology and genetics consider this unlikely (more ancient DNA analysis of Harappans may provide conclusive evidence). Scientists trace the earliest instances of endogamy to the first millennium BCE, probably more than a millennium after the Aryan migration into the subcontinent; mixing of populations was the norm until then. Thereafter, mixing coexisted with a few groups practicing endogamy, which eventually led to a more widely endogamous caste system.

But can we say which cultural substratethe Aryan or the Harappandrove the creation of the caste system? A strong clue comes from the fact that Aryan genes register far more strongly in the higher castes, who are also lighter skinned on average. Further, DNA evidence has shown that endogamy first appeared and became the norm among upper castes and Indo-European speakers. Indeed, as many scholars have long argued, the roots of the Indian caste system almost certainly trace back to the Aryan substrate.

Also read: Was Harappa wet or arid? Rhinos hold a clue

Further, patriarchal practices like Sati, too, appear to be a legacy of the Aryan substrate. Satis earliest noted occurrence in India dates to the fourth century BCE, as recorded by two first-century-BCE writers, Diodorus Siculus and Strabo. Though now mostly associated with India, sati also occurred back then in the Near East and Europe, among descendants of earlier migrants of the root proto-Indo-European culture, the Yamnayaalso the parent culture of the Indo-Aryans. In the fifth century BCE, Greek historian Herodotus wrote about a Thracian tribe where the most beloved wife of a dead husbanddeemed so by family and friends, and intended to be a coveted honourwas sacrificed and buried with him.

A century later, the Thracian wife of Philip II, father of Alexander the Great, was burned on her husbands funeral pyre, as per the custom of her people. In the first century CE, Roman historian Tacitus observed that in a Germanic tribe (descended from the Yamnaya), the wife refused to survive her husband, but killed herself in order to be burnt on the same funeral pyre as him. He noted that many other tribes disliked widow remarriage. In the tenth century CE, Arab historian Al Masudi noted sati among Slavic and Russian tribes (also descended from the Yamnaya) in the Caucasus region and in India. Such funerary customs have a distinctly patriarchal script. Theyre qualitatively different from those of ancient Egyptians, where servants were sometimes sacrificed and buried with an important man. Sati was likely alien to the Harappans, but in the mixed culture that arose later, it gained a foothold among the warrior elites and became part of the Indo- Aryan cultural legacy in the subcontinent.

In the last decades of the twentieth century, however, cultural chauvinism reared its ugly head in the scholarship of Indian prehistory. A host of Hindu nationalists and motivated scholars (almost entirely brown or white Hindu men) began championing an alternative view of the Aryan migration, arguing that there was no Aryan migration at all! That the Aryans and the Harappans were one people, both fully indigenous. They claimed that the proto-Indo-European language family, of which Sanskrit is a part, was created by these indigenous folks and taken to the westthe Out of India Theory (OIT). This also implied that the Harappans spoke proto-Sanskrit and codified it in their as-yet-undeciphered script, that they composed the Rig Veda, which describes their own fortified cities like Dholavira. Such bogus scholarship, as is now amply clear, has fed hordes of middlebrow Hindutva ideologues since the 1980s. Armed with little knowledge and misplaced pride, well-heeled urban Hindus began to confidently assert that the Aryan Migration Theory was discredited. Countless websites carry this fake news.

In fact, the controversy about Aryan migration was never an honest disagreement among scholars. Parpola, for instance, has long considered it impossible that the Vedic Aryans were indigenous to South Asia. The massive weight of evidence from linguistics, philology, and archaeologythough it had gaps that its rivals tried to exploit has long favoured whats now being proven or refined by population archaeogenetics, a field whose impact on ancient history may end up being as significant as radiocarbon dating (1949).

The OIT was motivated by bad politics rather than by good scholarship.

This excerpt from Indians: A Brief History Of A Civilization by Namit Arora has been published with permission from Penguin Random House India.

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CONSERVATIONISTS at Dudley Zoo and Castle are playing a major role in helping to secure the future of endangered black lemurs.

Senior figures at the Castle Hill attraction have been managing the European Endangered Species Programme for black lemurs for almost two decades, first overseen by zoo director Derek Grove before curator Richard Brown took over the reins in 2015.

But Richard is now not just the co-ordinator of the entire European captive population, but hes also overseeing the International Studbook and studying the genetic make-up of captive black lemurs as far afield as America and Japan.

He said: Its really exciting to have a bigger gene pool of the captive black lemur population to work with.

Im now overseeing 350 black lemurs in more than 75 collections worldwide, studying their genetics and making recommendations about which of these lemurs are suitable for exchanges or breeding.

Zoo registrar Nicola Wright has also been helping with the Studbook and collates details of all births, deaths and transfers within collections as well as identifying surplus animals.

Richard added: Its crucial for the survival of the species that we keep the gene pool viable, so we have to get the genetics right when matching pairs together.

We have to identify who is genetically closely related, to avoid in-breeding and prevent any defects.

Its a really interesting task and hopefully the new role may also open up the potential for us here at DZC working with Japanese zoos in the future.

Lemurs can live up to 30 years in captivity and, on average, they make between one and two moves throughout their lifetime.

The zoo has a breeding pair, Florence and Bryan, and their three-year-old offspring, Jimmy.

Ten-year-old Florence moved to Dudley in 2016 from Bioparc Fuengirola in Spain, while, Bryan, aged 15, relocated to the Midlands from Luxembourg in 2009 after originally being born in France.

The pairs first offspring, daughter Kimmy, who was born at DZC in 2017 and was the zoos first black lemur birth in a decade, was moved to Planckendael Zoo in Belgium in 2019 after Richard successfully matched her to a male there.

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Dudley Zoo staff are part of global effort to protect endangered black lemurs - Dudley News

Living to be 100 used to be a novelty, so much so that Willard Scott, the Today Show weatherman, would announce your name on air in awe (Al Roker still does). Yet, these days it's not so uncommon to live that long. We're all living longer than ever. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently pegs 78 years of age as the average life expectancy. That's not too shabby considering a century ago people lived to be around 39 (due to an influenza outbreak).

But what if we could push it 25 years more?

Worldwide, there are nearly 500,000 people who have made, or surpassed, the 100-mark, and this number is projected to grow to 3.7 million by 2050. Here, Eat This, Not That! Health rounds-up the latest research that'll not only help you to live to be triple digits, but ensure you're happy doing so. Read onand to ensure your health and the health of others, don't miss these 19 Ways You're Ruining Your Body, Say Health Experts.

Don't down a bottle of Jgermeister in hopes of a long life ahead. But a glass of red wine, by all means. "Our research shows that light-to-moderate drinking might have some protective effects against cardiovascular disease," says Bo Xi, MD, associate professor at the Shandong University School of Public Health in China and the lead author of a study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, "while heavy drinking can lead to death. A delicate balance exists between the beneficial and detrimental."

The Rx: Red wine contains antioxidants, can lower cholesterol, reduces the risk of stroke and increases bone density. Enjoy one to two glasses a day if you wish.

Eating meat less than once a week may increase longevity by 3.6 years, according to a study published in the American Journal of Nutrition. Another 22-year study out of Finland found increased mortality and disease among individuals with higher animal protein intakes.

The Rx: If you must eat meat, opt for leaner proteins (chicken, turkey, lean cuts of beef) and keep off the bacon and sausages since diets heavy in processed meats are linked to higher risk of cancer and heart disease. Otherwise, explore the exciting new world of plant-based nutrition, with a product like Beyond Meat, made with pea protein.

Be mindful of your surroundings, and what you're breathing in. Everything from Benzene (found in gasoline), smoke, and other toxins can lead to cell degeneration and increase mortality rates, studies show.

The Rx: Don't miss this essential list of 100 Ways Your Home Could be Making You Sick.

Olive oil, veggies, fruits, nuts, seafood and a moderate amount of wine and cheesewe've all heard the Mediterranean diet is the secret to a longer life. In fact, numerous studies have linked the diet to improving brain health and function, lower risk of cancer and other diseases.

The Rx: Now it's time you tried it. Eat almonds, hummus, wild salmon, garlic, lemon, quinoa, cauliflower, chia seeds and olives frequently. Eat eggs, Skyr, and chicken moderately. And eat red meat rarely. Avoid entirely the packaged, processed, store-bought items that are loaded with additives.

RELATED: 9 Everyday Habits That Might Lead to Dementia, Say Experts

Gene variants found in centenarians have been linked to their longer lives. A healthy lifestyle can help people live into old age, but these genes help maintain basic maintenance and function of the body's cells in individuals of advanced age, in their 80s and beyond.

The Rx: You can't outrun genetics but you can learn about yours. Consider taking a DNA test, in which you'll learn about your proclivity to certain diseases.

Japan is doing something right! It currently holds the title of longest life span, according to the World Health Organization. This may have something to do with the size of their plates. When it comes to diet, the Japanese tend to eat smaller portionsspecifically the size of a salad plateand don't overstuff themselves. Centenarians studied in Okinawa stop eating when they are 80 percent full. They also tend to live seven years longer than Americans, according to a study, and have fewer cases of heart disease and cancer.

The Rx: Experiment with the 80% rule. Or at the very least, don't keep eating when you feel full.

Don't work so hard; your life depends on it. A Finnish study followed male businessman born between 1919 and 1934, and found that those who didn't sleep enough, were overworked, and didn't take enough time off (i.e. vacation) were 37 percent more likely to die between the years of 1974 and 2004. By 2015, some of the oldest participants, who always took their vacay, reached 81 to 96 years of age.

The Rx: Our current culture rewards non-stop go-and-do work. But at what cost? If you have vacation days, use them to unplug, and be firm with your boss if you must. He'll value your work more if you're alive than dead.

RELATED: The #1 Reason You Could Get Cancer, According to Science

Each hour you binge Netflix, Hulu, HBOthe list goes onafter the age of 25 may cut your life by 22 minutes, according to research out of the University of Queensland, Australia. Those who spent an average of six hours in front of the tube per day were also likely to die five years earlier than those that didn't watch TV at all.

The Rx: There are other reasons to stop clicking "next episode." They can be addictive and eat up your time. (Robert De Niro is currently suing an ex-employee because he watched 55 episodes of Friends in a row.) Enjoy your One Day at a Timeone episode at a time.

A study out of the University of Naples found that too little or too much sleepsleeping less or more than six to eight hours on averageis linked to a 30 percent higher chance of premature death.

The Rx: Seven to eight hours of shuteye is the sweet spot.

RELATED: This Supplement Can Raise Your Heart Attack Risk, Experts Say

Packed with vitamin C and other nutrients, studies have found mustards, also known as Brassicaceae, will keep you around longer, according to researchers.

The Rx: Enojy cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radishes, watercress, Brussels sprouts and a few spices like horseradish, wasabi and, yes, white, Indian and black mustard.

Hey, none of us are getting out of this alive, but that's no reason to keep that sour mug. Researchers examined smile intensity among photos of baseball players from the 1950s. Of the players who had died in the years 2006 to 2009, those who were not smiling in those photos lived an average of 72.9 years, while the big smilers lived nearly 80 years. They concluded that there's a clear link between smiling intensity and longevity.

The Rx: Men, stop telling women to smile. It's demeaning and implies they're subservient. However, given the impact on our health (mental and otherwise), we could all stand to turn that frown upside down.

Old dogs can't learn new tricks but you can. Education, coupled with a healthy weight, leads to a longer life expectancy, revealed a study out of the University of Edinburgh, with almost a year added to your life for each year spent studying beyond school.

The Rx: Pull a Dangerfield and go back to schooleven if it's just an herbalism course, knitting class or continuing ed program.

RELATED: I'm A Doctor And Warn You Never Take This Supplement

Avoid certain jobs, some of the deadliest out there, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, if you want to stick around longer. On the flip side, find a job you love. You'll be happier, longer, which can impact you positively long-term.

The Rx: Truck driver, farmers and construction laborers are among the most dangerous, mainly owing to vehicular accidents.

Country life is serene, but the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging found that living in a major city can also support longer life spans because of stronger health systems, and more access to learning, arts, culture, and other healthy stimulants.

The Rx: Eat This, Not That! Health is based in New York City and our editors can attest living here indeed makes you feel young, although struggling to afford it might age you. Weigh the fantasy versus reality before any leaps.

Good relationships, more than money or fame, are what keep people happy throughout their lives, a Harvard study revealed. Another study in Personal Relationships looked at 270,000 people in nearly 100 countries with a strong link to better health in older age among those with strong friend and family connections.

The Rx: Send a "friend request" to someone you'd like to be closer toand meet them in person, not just online.

Compared with persons with a normal body mass index (18.5 to 25), those who are underweight, overweight, and obese have an increased risk of death over a 30-year period. Being too underweight, or at the extreme, obese, can impact health significantly over time, show studies.

The Rx: A book like Zero Belly Diet can help you cut dairy, reduce bloat, stay plant-based and be leaner for life.

Stay away from men. That's what centenarian Jessie Gallan, at one time Scotland's oldest woman, credited for her longevity. "They're more trouble than they're worth," she said in an interview before her death in 2015. Granted, Gallan was a tough woman without or without a man. She started working at the age of 13 and spent her 109 years staying fit and having good people in her life but never walked down the aisle.

The Rx: There's no definitive research supporting a link between marriage and longevity one way or the other, although one study found that "current marriage is associated with longer survival. Among the not married categories, having never been married was the strongest predictor of premature mortality." Our advice: Marry the person you want to spend your life with, and give one another room to grow.

If you want to live longer, make sure you and your spouse are happy. A study published by the Association for Psychological Science found that a happy marriage can lead to a longer life.

The Rx: A good marriage is linked to a more active life and healthier habits, overall. How's your relationship?

RELATED: The #1 Cause of Obesity, According to Science

As stressful as parenthood gets at times, having kids can actually keep you around longer since it encourages a healthier lifestyleyou're more likely to give up smoking and stay active, shows one study.

The Rx: Don't have children just to live longer. But if you do have or want kids, remember that your habits become theirs. Set the example.

Keep a good pace. Brisk walking will keep your heart healthy and add some years to your life, according to a recent Mayo Clinic study. Researchers reported that women who walked more quickly had a life span of about 87 years compared to 72 years for women who walked slowly. Meanwhile, men who walked quickly had a life span of about 86 years compared to 65 years for men who walked more slowly.

The Rx: "Walking is man's best medicine," said Hippocrates. Get steppin'.

A handful of nuts a day may keep the doctor away, according to Harvard University research, which found that people who crunch some nuts daily lived 20 percent longer than those who didn't.

The Rx: Our favorite is almonds. Besides being an easy go-to snack that you can whip out of your bag during a good ol' 9-5 shift, almonds are also chock-full of essential vitamins and minerals, with vitamin E and biotin being the most predominant. Those nutrients enable your skin to remain smooth and gives your lush hair and strong nails the nutrition they need to flourish.

Don't stopever! The moment you become stagnant, things may go downhill. Stay active. A 2016 study found that elderly people who exercised for just 15 minutes a day, at an intensity level of a brisk walk, had a 22 percent lower risk of early death compared to people who don't exercise.

The Rx: "For most healthy adults, the Department of Health and Human Services recommends these exercise guidelines: Get at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity a week, or a combination of moderate and vigorous activity," reports the Mayo Clinic.

To quote Dr. Nelly of Nellyville: It's getting hot in here. Frequent spicy food consumption is linked to a longer life. Those who eat spicy foods nearly every day have a 14 percent chance of living longer, according to a Harvard study. Capsaicin and other compounds in chili peppers have been linked to fighting cancer, obesity, and more.

The Rx: Sprinkle some cayenne pepper into your eggs every morning, for a one-two punch of protein and spice.

RELATED: Signs You're Getting One of the "Most Deadly" Cancers.

Researchers at the Carleton University in Canada say that having a sense of purpose may add more years to your life, because of positive relations and emotions and overall well-being.

The Rx: Start small. Rather than ask yourself, "Why am I here? What is my place in the Universe" ask yourself, "What can I do today that will make me feel like I've enriched my life, or the lives of others?"

Yoga can help improve digestion, calm the nervous system, lower blood sugar, and so many other tangible benefits. It's no wonder researchers say it will help increase your overall life span.

The Rx: Get your chaturanga on! There's no doubt a yoga studio near you, with teachers who will welcome first-timers. For long-timers, consider a retreat.

Taking care of your teeth and gums isn't just about preventing cavities or bad breath. The mouth is the gateway to the body's overall health. Not flossing allows plaque to build up, which then turns into tartar that can eventually irritate the gums, which can lead to various infections and disease over time. Researchers followed more than 5,400 people for 18 years and found that those who did not brush their teeth daily had a 22 to 65 percent greater risk of dementia than those who brushed three times a day.

The Rx: The American Dental Association recommends brushing your teeth twice a day. Use fluoride toothpaste, and brush for two minutes.

Coffee is packed with tons of healthy compounds, including antioxidants, which can protect the body against cellular damage that can lead to disease, studies show.

The Rx: Drinking four to five cups daily is also associated with a reduced risk of early death.

This one is pretty self explanatory. An active lifestyle will keep you around longer. Exercising at a moderate level for at least 150 minutes can add on 3.4 years to your life, according to the National Institute of Health.

The Rx: Try one of these 25 Easy Exercises That Boost Your Health Fast. They really work.

Helping others can only make you feel good, and it helps boost overall mental health throughout time, which impacts the body's immunity to fight disease, according to a study published in BMC Public Health.

The Rx: Animal rescue shelters, national parks, Habitat for Humanity, local libraries, political campaigns and the YMCA are a few places that rarely say no to help.

RELATED: Sure Signs You Had COVID and Didn't Know It

Studies show sex releases endorphins and hormones in the body, which can help combat feelings of loneliness and depression, keep you physically active, reduce stress relieving, and boost mental wellness.

The Rx: Take this advice seriously. Having sex is one of theSimplest Ways to Avoid a Heart Attack, Say Doctors.

Are there stairs nearby? Good. Use them. The European Society of Cardiology released a study showing how brisk movement, particularly being able to climb three flights quickly, can reduce your risk of early death from cardiovascular and oncologic, and other diseases.

The Rx: Skip the elevators and escalators, and track your steps with a fitness watch, if you need more motivation.

The sweet stuff won't get you far in lifeliterally. Too much sugar is linked to shorter life spans, according to one study. Sugar has even been linked to reprogramming how our genes function. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that about 14% of the daily calories the average Ameican consumes comes from added sugars. And it shows. According to a Population Health Management publication, the number of Americans diagnosed with diabetes increased more than three times between 1990 and 2010. This just so happens to be the same years sugar starting becoming more prevalent in our food.

The Rx: A book like Sugar Free 3 can teach you how to identify added sugarsand how to give them up.

Get in touch with your spiritual side. People who attend religious services, or have some spiritual connection, typically experience lower levels of anxiety, depression, have lower blood pressure, and are generally in better health. An 18-year study published in PLOS One found that regular service attendance was linked to reductions in the body's stress responses, and worshippers were 55 percent less likely to die.

The Rx: You read that right: 55 percent less likely to die. Start by defining what spirituality means to you, and then see if there's a community that supports that common interest.

If you're not connected to a particular religion, you can still find your spiritual balance through meditation. Not only does it improve mental health, but meditating has been linked to a lower risk of cancer and other diseases, according to a study from the University of California-Davis, which found that regular meditation produces higher levels of telomerase, an enzyme that helps lengthen the telomeres in our chromosomes, which impact aging.

The Rx: Apps like Insight Timer, Headspace and Calm have taken meditating mainstream; try one. One of our favorite apps is 10% Happier, from ABC News man-turned-meditator Dan Harris.

If you know how to laugh at things, you'll live longer. A 15-year study out of Norway assessed the link between a sense of humor and mortality rates among 53,556 men and women and found that women who had a good sense of humor lived longer, despite illnesses, including cardiovascular disease; cheerful men faired just as well with laughter protecting them from infection.

The Rx: We've been obsessed with the funniest lines from HBO's Successionand aren't even sure it's a comedy!

RELATED: Everyday Habits That Make You Look Older, According to Science

Want to live to 85 or longer? Optimistic thinking can add years on to your life, say researchers at Boston University School of Medicine. Optimistic people can better regulate emotions so we can bounce back from stressors and difficulties more effectively.

The Rx: Technically, the glass is always half full. The other half is air.

Creativity keeps the brain healthy and may decrease mortality rates. Researchers agree. Creative people just tend to live longer.

The Rx: Remember this, if something's blocking you: You don't have to be "creative" to create.

Be good to yourself. Self compassion goes a long way, say researchers. It's associated with better moods, can improve body image, and is linked to happiness, optimism, wisdom, personal initiative, and more. Overall, it improves our entire mental health, which keeps our body more resilient to stress and illnesses.

The Rx: Did we mention we love that thing you said today? So smart! So funny! So wise.

People who eat fiber-rich foods, including some good 'ole oatmeal or porridge, cut their risk of dying from cardiovascular, infectious, and respiratory diseases by 24 to 56 percent in men and by 34 percent to 59 percent in women, shows one study.

The Rx: Buy "regular" oatmeal and add berries for sweetness. Anything else may be loaded with dangerous added sugars.

Owning a dog is linked to a longer life, according to researchers out of Uppsala University in Sweden, who reviewed national registry records of 3.4. million men and women, ages 40 to 80.

If you're a cat person, you'll get some extra years from kitties as well. A study by the Minnesota Stroke Institute found that people who owned cats were 30 percent less likely to suffer a heart attack.

The Rx: We mentioned volunteering at the ASPCA. If you feel truly capable of caring for a pet, discuss taking one home. We like these questions from Nylabone:

Get back to basics with food. Those who incorporate more whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and fish and limiting too much sodium, unhealthy fats, excess red meat, sugar, and processed foods, improved their overall health and life expectancy.

The Rx: For the web's #1 nutrition resource, and to make the right food choice every time, head to Eat This, Not That!

Does longevity run in your family? Dig deeper into your family history, including lifestyle habits, illnesses, deaths, and beyond. It may help us tap into how long we ultimately have here.

The Rx: Put together a family treewith dates of birth, death, and causes.

Tea contains flavonoids, a compound that works to boost health. One study found that 88 percent of women were 40 percent more likely to live longer because they drank two cups of tea per day.

The Rx: Go green. The most potent catechin in green tea is EGCG, the powerhouse compound that's responsible for most of green tea's weight loss properties. In addition to revving your metabolism and boosting the breakdown of fat, EGCG can also block the formation of new fat cells.

Read more:
Simple Ways to Never Age, According to Experts | Eat This Not That - Eat This, Not That

Patients with germline and/or homozygous tumor DNA damage response (tDDR) alterations among male patients with heavily pretreated metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) were most likely to respond to treatment with the PARP inhibitor talazoparib (Talzenna), according to data from a retrospective ad hoc exploratory subgroup analysis presented during the 2021 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Virtual Annual Meeting.1

The open-label, international phase 2 TALAPRO-1 trial (NCT03148795) examined single-agent oral talazoparib at 1 mg daily in patients with mCRPC previously treated with taxane-based chemotherapy, as well as abiraterone acetate (Zytiga)/prednisone), enzalutamide (Xtandi), or both hormonal agents. All patients had at least 1 homologous recombination repair (HRR) gene alteration from a panel of 11 genes (HRR11) likely to sensitize their tumor to PARP inhibition: ATM,ATR,BRCA1, BRCA2,CHEK2,FANCA,MLH1,MRE11A,NBN,PALB2,RAD51C.

The data cutoff was September 4, 2020, and the primary end point was objective response rate (ORR) by blinded independent central review (BICR). The study met its primary end point as the final analysis showed that among 104 patients in the efficacy population, the ORR by BICR was 29.8% (n = 31).

The strongest antitumor effect was observed in patients with BRCA alterations, with a confirmed ORR of 45.9% and a median radiographic progression-free survivalof 11.2 months, said Johann de Bono, MB, ChB, FRCP, MSc, PhD, FMedSci, head of drug development at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.

Talazoparib also induced objective responses in patients with non-BRCA HRR gene alterations, including PALB2 and ATM alterations.

Both the antitumor activity and tolerability was promising [with talazoparib] for this heavily pretreated population of mCRPC patients, said de Bono.

Regarding the ad hoc analyses presented during the AACR meeting, de Bono said, We explored the importance of germline versus somatic origin and the zygosity of these DNA repair defects [in association with] response.

De Bono explained, Characterization of alteration origin was based on a comparison of DNA sequences from matched tumor and saliva samples. FoundationOne was used to test tumor tissue and Ambry Genetics CustomNext-Cancerpanel was used to test saliva. The somatic-germline-zygosity (SGZ) computational algorithm established by Sun et al2 was used to predict zygosity.

Both the characterization of origin and zygosity prediction were limited to short variants. The analysis was focused on the HRR-altered measurable disease population, defined as patients who had measurable soft-tissue disease at screening and a DNA-repair gene defect presumed to directly or indirectly sensitize [the tumor] to PARP inhibition as assessed in the HRR11 core gene panel, and had received at least 1 dose of talazoparib, said de Bono.

The assessment of tumor alterations by origin showed that 25 were germline, 43 were somatic, and 33 were unknown or not evaluable.

BRCA2 and ATM were the most commonly altered genes. The BRCA2 alterations were evenly split between germline and somatic, at 13 versus 19, respectively. In contrast, the ATM alterations tended to be somatic in origin, said de Bono.

Among 25 patients with germline alterations, the ORR was 28% (n = 7), comprising 1 CR and 6 PRs. An additional 10 patients had stable disease (SD), 6 patients had progressive disease (PD), and 2 patients were not evaluable.

The ORR was 25.6% (n = 11) among 43 patients with somatic mutations; this included 3 CRs and 8 PRs. Another 16 patients reached SD, 9 had PD, and 5 were not evaluable. Two other patients were categorized by the investigators as non-CR/non-PD.

ORRs were similar for germline and somatic alterations, said de Bono.

In the BRCA2 subpopulation, among 13 patients with germline BRCA2 alterations, the ORR was 53.8% (n = 7), comprising 1 CR and 6 PRs. An additional 5 patients had SD and 1 patient was not evaluable.

The ORR was 36.8% (n = 7) among 19 patients with somatic BRCA2 alterations; this included 2 CRs and 5 PRs. Another 6 patients reached SD, 2 patients had non-CR/non-PD, 2 patients had PD, and 2 patients were not evaluable.

As expected, for the BRCA2-altered tumors we saw the highest ORR, independent of germline versus somatic origin, said de Bono.

The assessment of the prevalence of tumor alterations by zygosity across all HRR11 alterations found that 30 were homozygous, 30 were heterozygous, and 13 were not evaluable.

Among 30 patients with homozygous alterations, the ORR was 40% (n = 12), comprising 3 CRs and 9 PRs. An additional 9 patients had SD, 2 patients had non-CR/non-PD, 6 patients had PD, and 1 patient was not evaluable.

The ORR was 13.3% (n = 4) among the 30 patients with heterozygous alterations; this included 1 CR and 3 PRs. Another 12 patients reached SD, 10 had PD, and 4 patients were not evaluable.

The ORR was significantly higher for homozygous alterations. Interestingly, the short variants not evaluable for SGZ prediction (n = 32) exhibited an ORR (40.6%) similar to homozygous alterations, although the interpretation of these data are unclear, said de Bono.

Regarding zygosity in the BRCA2 subgroup, alterations were primarily homozygous; there were 18 homozygous and 9 heterozygous alterations. This breakdown contrasted with some of the other variants, such as CHEK2, in which the alterations were mainly heterozygous.

In the 18-patient BRCA2 homozygous group, the ORR was 50% (n = 9), comprising 2 CRs and 7 PRs. An additional 5 patients had SD, 2 had non-CR/non-PD, 1 had PD, and 1 patient was not evaluable.

Among the 9 BRCA2 patients with heterozygous alterations, the ORR was 44.4% (n = 4), comprising 1 CR and 3 PRs. Another 2 patients reached SD, 1 had PD, and 2 patients were not evaluable.

The ORR was higher for BRCA2 patients, independent of detectable zygosity. The difference in response by zygosity observed in the BRCA2 subset and the larger HRR panel does suggest a higher ORR for homozygous loss across the DNA repair genes and may reflect differences in zygosity distribution between the genes. For example, we saw 1 homozygous, 6 heterozygous, and 3 non-evaluable alterations for CHEK2, explained de Bono.

Summarizing his discussion, de Bono said, Based on this retrospective ad hoc exploratory analysis in this heavily pretreated mCRPC population, patients with diverse DDR alterations demonstrated responses to talazoparib monotherapy.

Based on analysis of short variants, tumors exhibiting homozygous DDR alterations were more likely to respond to talazoparib than those with heterozygous DDR alterations. Potential explanations include gene-specific imbalances in zygosity of alterations and/or sensitivity to talazoparib, but further investigation in a larger data set is needed, de Bono added.

Reference

1. de Bono JS, Laird AD, Mehra N, et al. TALAPRO-1 final data: Talazoparib (TALA) monotherapy in men with DNA damage response alterations (DDRalt) and metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC)exploration of DDRalt germline/somatic origin and zygosity. Presented at: 2021 AACR Virtual Annual Meeting Week 1; April 10-15, 2021. Abstract CT027

2. Sun JX, He Y, Sanford E, et al. A computational approach to distinguish somatic vs. germline origin of genomic alterations from deep sequencing of cancer specimens without a matched normal. PLoS Comput Biol. 2018;14(2):e1005965. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005965

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Talazoparib Most Likely to Inhibit Response in Men With Heavily Pretreated mCRPC - Cancer Network

SECAUCUS, N.J. and HELSINKI, Finland, April 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX), the world's leading provider of diagnostic information services, and Blueprint Genetics announced today that they will present results of 10 studies at the virtual 2021 American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) Annual Meeting, to be held April 1316, 2021. These studies demonstrate the value of a broad range of genomic sequencing and other technologies to help diagnose several inherited disorders across various medical specialties.

In January 2020, Quest Diagnostics acquired Blueprint Genetics, a leading specialty genetic testing company with deep expertise in gene variant detection using next generation sequencing (NGS), proprietary bioinformatics, and clinical interpretation. Since that time, Quest and Blueprint Genetics have broadened access to actionable insights in genetic disorders and inherited diseases for patient care and anticipatory management as well as pharmaceutical drug research and development and clinical trials, particularly in the United States.

"Genomic testing is an essential component of patient care as results can impact treatment and management on many levels. Too often, patients experience a diagnostic odyssey, spending months, years or even a lifetime searching for a diagnosis because they lack access to genomic testing insights," said Carrie Eglinton Manner, Senior Vice President, Advanced Diagnostics, Quest Diagnostics. "Quest and Blueprint Genetics are working together to bring innovative advanced diagnostics from test ordering to gene variant interpretation and clinical reporting to patient populations with unmet medical needs."

Featured studies focus on mitochondrial disease, hearing loss and skeletal dysplasias

Among the research is the study "Retrospective review of mitochondrial genome analysis in over 6600 cases using clinical grade mtDNA sequencing" (Poster: eP345), which demonstrates that including high-quality mitochondrial mtDNA analysis by next generation sequencing (NGS) in panels in multiple medical specialties increases the ability to make diagnoses for patients with mitochondrial disease. Mitochondrial disorders can be difficult to diagnose, as many of the symptoms, such as vision or hearing loss, seizures or poor muscle tone, can be mistaken for other diseases. While mitochondrial disorders have no cure, patients often do better when the underlying cause of their symptoms is diagnosed and addressed early.

"It's exciting to witness first-hand how mtDNA analysis increases diagnostic yields: Greater than a 1 percent increase in diagnostic yield, on average, across all panels, and a greater than 5 percent increase in multiple panels. The NGS-based technology we developed and extensively validated is specifically optimized for the detection of large mtDNA deletions and low levels of heteroplasmy. Mitochondrial disorders need to be considered in the diagnostic workflow for patients with suspected inherited disorders to provide more molecular diagnoses for all patients, not just those with complex presentations," said Jennifer Schleit, Blueprint Genetics Laboratory Director, North America.

Molecular genetic testing is now considered a standard part of the evaluation of hearing loss in infants. However, comprehensive genetic testing in hearing loss using standard NGS methods is complicated. A comprehensive testing strategy that includes difficult-to-sequence regions is needed for the most accurate diagnosis. A study titled "Next-generation sequencing panels for hereditary hearing loss testing with approaches for difficult-to-sequence regions" (Poster: eP345) demonstrates that the inclusion of difficult-to-sequence genes, such as STRC and OTOA, contributed to more than 10 percent of the diagnostic yield.

Another study, "Diagnostic utility of next-generation sequencing panel tests in the diagnosis of skeletal dysplasias" (Poster: eP346), found that NGS panels enabled diagnosis in 42 percent of patients. Skeletal dysplasias involve more than 450 heritable conditions that cause abnormalities of cartilage and bone, but diagnosis is challenging given significant overlap in symptoms. The analysis also demonstrated a diagnostic yield of 62 percent in prenatal cases, suggesting that testing in prenatal situations has significant clinical utility.

Abstracts can be accessed on the ACMG website.

Among the scientific and clinical work being presented at the meeting are:

Quest Diagnostics and Blueprint Genetics are improving patient outcomes through high-quality genomic testing. Quest Diagnostics is the leader in advanced diagnostics, including in genetics and genomics. The company offers more than 1,000 genetic tests, including whole exome sequencing, germline and somatic gene sequencing, noninvasive prenatal screening, pharmacogenomics as well as cytogenetics and biochemical genetic testing. With a global customer base in over 70 countries, Blueprint Genetics brings specialty genetics knowledge in sequencing and bioinformatics and variant interpretation and reporting to Quest, which complements and extends its existing genetics leadership. Quest Diagnostics' 600 MDs and PhDs and genetic counselors aid physicians in test selection and interpretation and publish hundreds of studies each year.

About Quest DiagnosticsQuest Diagnosticsempowers people to take action to improve health outcomes. Derived from the world's largest database of clinical lab results, our diagnostic insights reveal new avenues to identify and treat disease, inspire healthy behaviors and improve health care management. Quest Diagnostics annually serves one in three adult Americans and half the physicians and hospitals intheUnited States, and our nearly 50,000 employees understand that, in the right hands and with the right context, our diagnostic insights can inspire actions that transform lives. http://www.QuestDiagnostics.com.

About Blueprint GeneticsBlueprint Genetics, a Quest Diagnostics company, is a leading specialty genetics and bioinformatics company focused on providing genetic testing for inherited diseases. The company is based in Helsinki and Seattle, with a customer base spanning over 70 countries.www.blueprintgenetics.com

SOURCE Quest Diagnostics

http://www.questdiagnostics.com

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Quest Diagnostics and Blueprint Genetics to Present New Insights from Genetic Testing at the 2021 Annual American College of Medical Genetics and...

This spring, the biotechnology company Oxitec plans to release genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes in the Florida Keys. Oxitec says its technology will combat dengue fever, a potentially life-threatening disease, and other mosquito-borne viruses such as Zika mainly transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.

While there have been more than 7,300 dengue cases reported in the United States between 2010 and 2020, a majority are contracted in Asia and the Caribbean, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. In Florida, however, there were 41 travel-related cases in 2020, compared with 71 cases that were transmitted locally.

Native mosquitoes in Florida are increasingly resistant to the most common form of control insecticide and scientists say they need new and better techniques to control the insects and the diseases they carry. There arent any other tools that we have. Mosquito nets dont work. Vaccines are under development but need to be fully efficacious, says Michael Bonsall, a mathematical biologist at the University of Oxford, who is not affiliated with Oxitec but has collaborated with the company in the past, and who worked with the WHO to produce a GM mosquito-testing framework.

Bonsall and other scientists think a combination of approaches is essential to reducing the burden of diseases and that, maybe, newer ideas like GM mosquitoes should be added to the mix. Oxitecs mosquitoes, for instance, are genetically altered to pass what the company calls self-limiting genes to their offspring; when released GM males breed with wild female mosquitoes, the resulting generation does not survive into adulthood, reducing the overall population.

But Oxitec has been proposing to experimentally release GM mosquitos in the Keys since 2011, and the plan has long been met with suspicion among locals and debate among scientists. Some locals say they fear being guinea pigs. Critics say they are concerned about the possible effects GM mosquitoes could have on human health and the environment. In 2012, the Key West City Commissionobjected to Oxitecs plan; in a non-binding referendum four years later, residents of Key Haven where the mosquitoes would have been released rejected it, while residents in the surrounding county voted in support of the release. With the decision left up to the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District, officials approved the trial to be conducted elsewhere in the Keys.

According to Oxitec, the release was delayed due to a transfer of jurisdiction over the project from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The company reapplied for approval to release a new version of the mosquitoes, called OX5034, in the Keys. In May, the EPA granted a two-year experimental use permit, which the agency can cancel at any time. State and local sign-off soon followed finally giving the project the greenlight.

Oxitecs OX5034 mosquitoes are the first GM mosquitoes approved for release in the US. The company has already conducted a trial with the OX5034 mosquitoes in Brazil and released more than a billion of a previous version, called OX513A, there and in other locations over the years including the Cayman Islands. The company says it is confident in the effectiveness and safety of the technology.

But some scientists want to hit pause on Oxitecs Florida trial, to find what they say is a fairer process in deciding to release the mosquitoes. Others want to see clearer proof that this technology is even necessary, claiming that the company has only released its most positive data with the public and has kept other key data, including whether the mosquitoes curb disease transmission, private. And if the release actually launches as planned, some Keys residents say they aim to interfere.

Critics also say that Oxitec failed to engage with local communities in Florida and get their consent to release the mosquitoes. Whats the most upsetting is that the very people that are going to be most impacted, both by the benefits or the risks of such a decision, have like the smallest voice in how these choices are made. I think thats a really big issue, says Natalie Kofler, a molecular biologist and bioethicist who founded Editing Nature, a platform that advocates for inclusive decision-making processes to steer the use of genetic technology. If Oxitec doesnt do this right, she adds, we could have a huge impact on delaying the use of other beneficial technologies like that in the future.

Oxitecs OX5034 mosquitoes are programmed to combat the transmission of mosquito-borne illnesses by suppressing local Aedes aegypti populations. Oxitec which is US-owned and based in the United Kingdom describes their mosquitoes as friendly because they will only release males, which, unlike females, do not bite humans or transmit disease.

Also read: Clever Approach: Scientists Create GM-Free Organisms Using Genetic Engineering

At Oxitecs laboratory in the UK, the company genetically engineers the mosquitoes, giving the insects the self-limiting gene that makes the females dependent on the antibiotic tetracycline. Without the drug, they will die. Eggs from these genetically-altered mosquitoes which will hatch both male and female insects will be shipped to the Keys. Mosquitoes require water to mature from an egg to an adult; when Oxitecs team adds water to the boxes the mosquitoes will be deployed in, both GM males and GM females will hatch. With no tetracycline present in the box, the GM females are expected to die in early larval stages.

The male mosquitoes will survive and carry the gene. When they leave the boxes, the insects will, hypothetically, fly away to mate with wild females to pass the gene to the next wild generation, according to Nathan Rose, head of regulatory affairs at Oxitec. Kevin Gorman, the companys chief development officer, says the local female mosquito population will be increasingly reduced which will also reduce the number of wild male mosquitoes in the treatment areas.

Gorman emphasised to Undark that the EPA and other regulators found no risk in using tetracycline in breeding their genetically-altered mosquitoes. But some scientists think the presence of this antibiotic in the environment does pose a risk. According to Jennifer Kuzma, co-founder and co-director of the Genetic Engineering and Society Centre at North Carolina State University, tetracyline is commonly used in Florida to prevent bacterial diseases in agriculture particularly in citrus groves and to treat bacteria in sewage plants.

The use of the antibiotic for these purposes may mean that it will remain in the environment, especially in water where the mosquitoes breed, which could allow Oxitecs female mosquitoes to survive. While the company does not plan to release the mosquitos near areas where the antibiotic is used, Kuzma says the EPAs risk assessment did not include testing of any standing water for tetracycline something, she adds, would have been easy enough to do for good due diligence.

Skeptics of Oxitecs GM mosquitoes include local residents, physicians, scientists and environmental activists. Many of these opponents say they arent anti-GMO, but disagree with how the approval process has been handled. One group has even kept a running list of what it sees as Oxitecs wrongdoings since it first began experimental releases. The list includes Oxitecs lack of disease monitoring in the countries where it has released mosquitoes; the unknown price of its technology; and complaints that the company has overstated the success of some of it its trials.

I cannot trust this company. I cannot trust this technology, says Mara Daly, a resident of Key Largo who says shes been following Oxitecs plans for nine years.

This is not a traditional pesticide, she adds. This is not a chemical that you can trace. This is something completely different, new emerging technology, and we need better regulation.

Phil Goodman, chairman of the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District (FKMCD), an independently-elected commission carrying out mosquito control within Monroe County, says that many of those who discredit Oxitecs evidence do not understand the technology. Theyre fear-mongering, he says.

They have very little credibility here in the Florida Keys as far as Im concerned, he adds.

But people like Daly and Barry Wray, executive director of the Florida Keys Environmental Coalition, disagree. We want to know its safe, says Wray, who notes that his group more generally supports GM technology. We dont have another Florida Keys ecosystem. We dont have another Florida Keys community. We have this one.

Daly, Wray, and others point to what they perceive as the FKMCDs disrespect for public opinion. They argue that the community wasnt given a chance to consent before the EPA approval. There was a 30-day public forum in September 2019 about Oxitecs technology application, with 31,174 comments opposing release and 56 in support. A statement emailed to Undark by Melissa Sullivan, an EPA spokesperson, noted that the agency considered these comments during the review, but critics think it happened too quickly to be of real use.

In June, Kofler and Kuzma wrote an opinion piece in The Boston Globe about the EPA approval, critiquing the agencys regulatory system and calling for a better process for evaluating new biotechnologies. The researchers expressed concern that the EPA did not convene an independent, external scientific advisory panel to review Oxitecs claims about its mosquito strategy and that the agency only publicly released its risk assessment after approving the technology. The American public, Kofler and Kuzma wrote, needs to be assured that these decisions are made free of conflicts of interest. The statement from the EPAs Sullivan noted that the agency conducted anextensive risk assessment based on the best available science.

Some critics also wanted there to be more public engagement. Kofler and Kuzma say they offered to provide their expertise, along with other outside experts, to the mosquito control district to allow more discussion about the GM mosquitoes with the Keys community. But Kofler says the district wasnt responsive. Oxitec itself launched webinars about their new product, but not until after the EPA approval. Here we are, like in the final hour, having these conversations that needed to be happening a year ago, says Kofler.

Without public trust and enthusiasm, it doesnt matter whether Oxitecs mosquito technique works, says Guy Reeves, a genetic researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Germany, who stresses that he doesnt think the companys approach is unsafe. If the population in Florida Keys becomes so sensitised to this issue that they can no longer cooperate with each other thats good for the mosquitoes, not good for the people, he adds.

Based on their first generation mosquito OX513A, Oxitec says it has shown that the approach reduces a targeted mosquito population in trials in both Brazil and the Cayman Islands. But theres no evidence that this new OX5034 mosquito release will actually be worth it for mosquito suppression, says Reeves. Oxitec also hasnt explained how their new mosquito will directly curb human diseases, such as dengue. Reducing disease transmission and burden should be measures of efficacy for this technology, says Kofler.

According to Gorman, independent disease suppression data has only been collected by municipalities in Brazil because thats where most of the companys trials have been released in larger scales. These municipalities have shown that Oxitec mosquitoes have reduced dengue cases in areas of release, Gorman says. In order for Oxitec to collect additional data, he adds, the company needs to release and test large areas over sustained periods of time. Gorman maintains that the company is not required to report formal health impact studies.

Reeves adds that Oxitec also hasnt explained what resources are needed to sustain this product, how long it could take to be effective, or the cost. When asked about the cost of the Florida Keys project, Oxitec responded to Undark by email: Oxitec is a pre-commercial, pre-profit company. We will not profit from this pilot project in Florida. We are paying for it ourselves.

Oxitec has released more than a billion of their OX513A mosquitoes over the past 10 years. According to independent scientists, some of those experiments did not go well.

For example, researchers at Yale University and collaborators from Brazil analysed Oxitecs 2015 release of OX513A in Brazil. The scientists confirmed that some offspring of the genetically modified mosquitoes which were supposed to die and not pass new genes to the wild population survived to adulthood and mated with their native counterparts. Between 10 and 60 percent of the native mosquitoes contained genes from Oxitec, according to the Yale study, which published in Nature in 2019. The papers authors concluded they do not know what impacts these mixed mosquitoes have on disease control or transmission, but added that their findings underscore the importance of monitoring the genetics of the insects.

Oxitec disagreed with the findings and responded on the journals website. Oxitec told Gizmodo that Yales study includes numerous false, speculative, and unsubstantiated claims and statements about Oxitecs mosquito technology. And when Kofler and three other scientists wrote about Oxitecs Brazil trial in The Conversation, Oxitec pushed to have the article retracted, says Kofler.

For this coming release, some Key Largo locals are willing to act on their anger. Daly, for instance, says that if the mosquitoes are deployed in her neighbourhood, shell try to put insecticide in any box she finds or send it to an expert to test even if it means getting in trouble with the federal authorities. I already have my arresting officer and she said shes gonna clean her handcuffs for me, she says. I dont care.

Ideally, Daly says, it wont have to come to that. She and other locals hope to stop Oxitec before the latest mosquitos are delivered. Daly says she has been busy organising protests like one that happened recently in Key Largo and giving out yard signs to residents who dont want their property used in the trial. Locals are pissed off. So I have been busy getting the press to cover the local opposition, Daly wrote in an email to Undark.

The first flying insect or animal that can actually use our human blood for a friggin trial for a product to come to market without my consent, Daly says.

Thats my blood, she adds. Thats my sons blood. Thats my dogs blood.

Taylor White is a freelance journalist based in Cape Cod, MA and a graduate of the Science, Health & Environmental Reporting Program at the NYU school of journalism. Her work has appeared in NOVA GBH, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, GenomeWeb, Spectrum and Science Vs.

This article was originally published on Undark. Read the original article.

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In the US, Imminent Release of Genetically Modified Mosquitoes To Fight Dengue - The Wire Science

All young children display impulsive or defiant behavior occasionally. Sometimes, this is part of a normal emotional reaction. But if these behaviors are extreme or outside the norm for their level of development, it could be a sign of a behavioral disorder.

The most common behavioral disorders in children are:

In this article, we discuss some of the most prevalent behavioral disorders in children, their symptoms, causes, diagnosis, and management.

Sex and gender exist on spectrums. This article will use the terms male, female, or both to refer to sex assigned at birth. Click here to learn more.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services describes behavioral disorders as involving a pattern of disruptive behaviors in children that last for at least 6 months and cause problems in school, at home, and in social situations.

This is different from the challenging behaviors children sometimes display. Almost all children will have tantrums, or act in aggressive, angry, or defiant ways at some point.

While challenging, these behaviors are a normal part of childhood development. Often, they are the result of strong emotions that the child is expressing in the only way they know how.

As a result, healthcare professionals only diagnose a behavioral disorder when the disruptive behaviors are severe, persistent, and outside the norm for the childs developmental stage.

Behavioral disorders are also different from autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which is an umbrella term for neurodevelopmental conditions that affect how some children communicate, socialize, and process sensory stimuli.

ASD may cause behaviors in children that caregivers find unusual or challenging, but these are the result of how they experience the world.

The following sections look at some specific behavioral disorders and their symptoms.

ADHD is a disorder that causes difficulty focusing attention. It can also cause hyperactivity and impulsivity.

There are three ADHD subtypes, with the diagnosis depending on the symptoms the child displays most often. The subtypes are:

A child with inattentive type ADHD may:

A child with hyperactive-impulsive type ADHD may:

A child with combined ADHD will exhibit a mixture of the above behaviors.

Doctors often diagnose ADHD after the age of 6. This is because the symptoms can be more apparent when a child starts school, and struggles to adjust to more quiet, sedentary activities.

Learn more about how ADHD can manifest differently in girls.

Those with CD tend to violate basic social rules and the rights of others. This can have a significant impact on someones academic, social, and home life. It can develop both in childhood or in adolescence.

The symptoms of CD include:

Many young people with CD have difficulty interpreting the behavior of others. For example, they may believe a person is behaving in a hostile way toward them when they are not. This causes them to escalate toward aggressive or violent behavior.

People with CD may also have difficulty feeling empathy, or have another condition, such as anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder that affects their thoughts and behavior.

According to Mental Health America, CD may affect 616% of boys in the general population, and 29% of girls. If CD first manifests before age 11, it is more likely to persist into early adult life.

Children and adolescents with ODD display an ongoing pattern of hostile behavior toward authority figures, such as parents, caregivers, or teachers. Unlike conduct disorder, children with ODD tend to violate minor rules, rather than major rules and social norms.

The potential signs of ODD include:

It is worth noting that some clinicians have criticized the concept of ODD, arguing that it medicalizes normal child behavior. It is common for children to behave angrily or defiantly when they are unhappy, so it can be difficult to distinguish between ODD and behavior that is related to stress.

Doctors can only diagnose ODD if the behavior has been persistent for 6 months, causes constant disruption at home or school, and is not the result of another mental health condition.

There is no single cause for behavioral disorders. It is likely that a mixture of physiological and environmental factors play a role.

But it is important to note that a child of any background, sex, or gender can have a behavioral disorder.

The following factors may influence their development:

Evidence suggests that changes in brain structure, development, and neurotransmitter levels may influence behavioral disorders. For example, areas of the brain that control attention are less active in children with ADHD.

Low serotonin and high sensitivity to cortisol, a stress hormone, may also play a role in aggression.

Additionally, conditions that affect learning ability may have an impact, as children with intellectual disabilities are twice as likely to have a behavioral disorder.

Behavioral disorders appear to be more common in children with a low birth weight, or who were born prematurely.

ODD may also be more common in children exposed to toxins in the womb, such as tobacco smoke, or in children whose parents or caregivers have substance abuse disorders.

Behavioral disorders can run in families. This could indicate a genetic predisposition for some people to develop them.

But in the case of ODD, scientists have not identified a specific gene that could explain this. Older studies have shown that people with ADHD, ODD, and CD share similar genetic traits, but none were unique to these disorders.

Male children are more likely to have behavioral disorders than female children. It is unclear if this is due to biological differences, or whether differences in gender norms and expectations influence how male children behave or develop.

For example, girls with ODD may be more likely to express aggression through words, rather than actions. This may mean the behavior is less obvious, and so less likely to receive a diagnosis.

Psychological trauma is a complex emotional and physical response to severe or chronic stress. Early exposure to trauma can impact child development.

Any experience that causes significant distress can be traumatic, but common examples that may affect children include:

Behavioral disorders are more common in people from low-income backgrounds, which may be due to increased levels of stress.

It is also possible to confuse child traumatic stress with a behavioral disorder, as they have overlapping symptoms.

It is important to consult a mental health professional if a child may have a behavioral disorder. A specialist can diagnose the disorder through an assessment process. This may include:

It is not possible for parents or caregivers to diagnose behavioral disorders themselves. An early diagnosis can significantly improve the effectiveness of treatments.

But many child psychologists will not diagnose a behavioral disorder in very young children, particularly those of preschool age or younger. This is because it can be challenging to distinguish between normal and abnormal behavior in this age group.

Over 80% of preschoolers have mild tantrums occasionally. Because young children experience huge developmental changes in a short period of time, they may outgrow short-term behavioral difficulties.

The management of behavioral disorders can vary depending on the childs needs, their familys needs, and the type and severity of their disorder. Approaches that may help include:

Patience, empathy, and encouragement are important for helping to boost self-esteem. An authoritative parenting style, which involves listening to children whilst also setting reasonable rules and boundaries, is also helpful.

It is important to note that bootcamp-style programs and tough love are not effective for behavioral disorders. In fact, they can be very damaging.

Caregivers should speak with a pediatrician if they think their child may be showing signs of a behavioral or developmental disorder. The doctor may refer the child to a specialist, such as a:

It is also important for caregivers to seek support for their own well-being. They may wish to make use of respite care, if available, or to speak with a therapist. There are also support groups where caregivers can connect with others raising children with behavioral disorders.

Most children have temper tantrums or display impulsive or defiant behavior at some point. These are usually a normal part of child development.

But in cases where the behavior is persistent and constant, or outside the norm for the childs age and level of development, it may be a sign of a behavioral disorder.

With early and appropriate treatment, families can learn to manage the behaviors. In many cases, careful treatment improves behavior over time.

Read the rest here:
Behavioral disorders in children, their symptoms, and treatment - Medical News Today

The relationship between psychosocial stress and CHD seems to be stronger in women than in men. It may also vary depending on the type of stress or stressor.

However, it is unclear how different types of psychosocial stress impact womens risk of developing CHD.

For this reason, a research team from Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health in Philadelphia, PA, decided to investigate the association of psychosocial stressors including job strain, stressful life events, and social strain with the incidence of CHD in women.

They combed through the data collected as part of the Womens Health Initiative Observational Study (WHIOS), to assess the independent and combined impact of stressful life events, social relationships, and paid work.

Their findings, which appear in the Journal of the American Heart Association, indicate that work and social strain seem to pack a double punch, increasing womens risk of developing CHD by 21%.

Stressful life events and social strain, that is, the negative aspects of social interactions or relationships, also increased womens risk of developing CHD by 12% and 9%, respectively.

Our findings are a critical reminder to women, and those who care about them, that the threat of stress to human health should not go ignored, says Dr. Conglong Wang, the studys lead author. This is particularly pertinent during the stressors caused by a pandemic.

If true, these findings could shift the focus of preventing CHD in women from managing current stress to finding ways to prevent stress at the source.

It would also serve as a serious reminder that stress is a major threat to human beings, women in particular, and that this threat must be addressed promptly and properly.

Over the past few years, several major studies have established that psychosocial stress from different aspects of life may impact the risk of developing CHD.

This is likely because psychosocial stress can disrupt homeostasis the optimal internal functioning of organs and their systems which can lead to an illness.

As a result, stress can intensify cardiovascular inflammation and reactivity, resulting in metabolic changes that increase the risk of developing CHD.

Psychosocial stress is also linked with behavioral patterns such as alcohol consumption, smoking, or being physically inactive. Certain medical conditions, including diabetes and hypertension, affect the risk of CHD as well.

Stress may impact men and women differently. The findings from a few studies indicate that the link between psychosocial stress and CHD may be stronger in women than in men.

In one study, women were more likely than men to document high average stress levels and associated emotional and physical symptoms, including exhaustion and depression.

Another study found that women may be exposed to psychological stressors that men experience less commonly.

However, scientists still do not know how different stressors influence womens risk of having CHD. It is therefore unclear which stressors affect the risk of developing this condition the most.

This makes it difficult for healthcare professionals to advise women on the best ways to reduce their likelihood of developing CHD. It also means women cannot be sure which stressors are most important to address to keep CHD at bay.

In the new study, the research team analyzed data collected as part of the WHIOS, an initiative aimed at finding better ways to prevent heart disease, cancer, and osteoporosis in women.

The scientists analyzed data from 80,825 women living in a diverse array of states across the United States that had experienced menopause.

Participants were aged 5079 when the WHIOS started tracking them, and the average time women were tracked was 14 years and 7 months. Women assessed stressors in the WHIOS using self-reporting questionnaires.

After adjusting for variables such as job tenure, socioeconomic factors, age, and additional stressors, the researchers found a high stressful life events score increased the risk of developing CHD by 12%, and high social strain by 9%.

The team also noted that the impact of work and social strain seem to work synergistically, increasing womens CHD risk by 21%. Job strain alone was not linked with a higher CHD risk.

These findings could have important implications for how healthcare professionals and women themselves decide to best tackle stress to reduce their CHD risk.

It is of note that a disproportionately large number of participants in the study were white and held more than a high school diploma. The teams findings may also be impacted by the healthy worker bias, according to which people who are less healthy are more likely to be unemployed.

Moreover, the team did not take into account other important compounding factors, such as working hours and social support systems, which are associated with CHD.

Also, the scientists only focused on the impact of stress related to a persons most recent or current job, ignoring the change of jobs throughout life.

The researchers write that more studies are necessary to determine the impact of job demands as they align with sex.

A persons sex and socioeconomic status may also affect their ability to manage stress. That is why future studies will also have to identify subgroups of people that are more likely to benefit from preventative stress interventions than others.

However, these new findings help fuel the need for more advanced, diverse research exploring the link between stress, heart disease, and sex or gender.

They may also encourage healthcare professionals and women alike to reconsider their best options for reducing their CHD risk and improving overall health.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted ongoing stresses for women in balancing paid work and social stressors. We know from other studies that work strain may play a role in developing CHD, but now, we can better pinpoint the combined impact of stress at work and at home on these poor health outcomes.

Dr. Yvonne Michael, senior author and associate professor in the Dornsife School of Public Health

My hope is that these findings are a call for better methods of monitoring stress in the workplace and remind us of the dual burden working women face as a result of their unpaid work as caregivers at home.

Read the original:
How stress impacts women's heart health - Medical News Today

Leafly honors the 50th anniversary of 4:20 (aka 420 or 4/20) this April with a celebration of legendary strain families. Weve already covered famous Hazes, Tangies, Purples, and OG Kushes. Now for the headliner: Cookies and Cakes!

Why do people wait two hours in line to spend $70 on an eighth-ounce of weedin the middle of a pandemic?

Easy: the Cookies strain of cannabis transcends mere geneticsits a lifestyle.

On November 4, cannabis brand Cookies new Apples and Bananas release drew several hundred young, heavy-THC smokers to Berners on Haight in San Francisco. In less than 90 minutes, guys in crisp, white sneakers and basketball shorts bought up all the pricey, designer weed.

They Instagrammed the chic bags of chunky, fragrant, mega-potent bud, flexing on their friends. One group couldnt wait to get home. They ripped bongloads out the side seats of a dusty, parked Hyundai with no hubcaps.

Cookies and Cakes strains of cannabisincluding Sunset Sherbert, Gelato, Runtz, Wedding Cake, and GMO Cookiescomprise modern pots center of gravity. Thin Mint Cookies, Animal Cookies, Platinum Cookies, and on and onthey are the top-selling cultivars in legal stores today, and their genes appear in the lions share of hyped new weed varieties.

From 2007 to the presentand emanating out of the San Francisco Bay AreaCookies hard-hitting, hybrid indica power, and its complex, sweet- scrumptious aroma has made fans of elite pot snobs, medical marijuana patients with PTSD, all-star rappers, and now almost everyone who partakes.

Cookies got this way because breeders like Jai Jigga Chang and Mario Mr. Sherbinski Guzman hybridized the best of the early 2000s OG Kushes to some truly exotic sativas. They carved up a wave of medical marijuana and adult-use legalization with rapper/business mogul Berner and wrote the playbook for viral weed marketing.

The Cookies story spans the recent histories of cannabis, weed law reform, San Francisco, and hip-hop. Its a story of plant worship and profit-chasing, of the serendipity of city life, and the power of sharing gifts instead of hoarding them.

Grower Ghost at ABF Genetics, short for Always Be Flowering, and spreader of Forum Cut Cookies, said growing Cookies is something that changed my life.

It became that thing, he said. I challenge people to say what since Cookiesor that was not derived through that whole gene poolhas really changed cannabis.

Haters gonna hate, but the future still happens first in San Francisco.

So it went with weed strain Girl Scout Cookies, which San Francisco breeder Jigga developed for the exploding medical marijuana market in the late 2000s.

In SF, peak prohibition met surging demand for cannabis and prices bloomed. Californias police arrested smokers by the tens of thousands per year. Growers used pseudonyms only, and feared being followed home from a party and beaten and robbed, or followed home from the hydroponics store and raided by police.

Californians legalized medical marijuana in 1996, and personal defenses against cannabis prosecution had become collective defensesgreen-lighting the first dispensaries and more grows.

There was this feeling of energy in the Bay Area that there was something going on that was truly special.

The profits outweighed the risk. The Bay Areas medical and recreational consumers, including its rappers, adored weed. In that climate, wholesale pounds of OG Kush, the then-reigning champion strain, might go for $3,500-$4,000.

There was this feeling of energy in the Bay Area that there was something going on that was truly special, said Mr. Sherbinski. An industry was being born.

Just like so many other thingsmusic, or technologycannabis also had its first place there, he said.

Today most states have medical laws, and 18 have adult-use legalization, now including New York, Virginia, and New Mexico. The legal industry generates $18.3 billion and employs 321,000.

Mr. Sherbinski relates how San Francisco breeder Jigga took his favorite OG Kush, called a Flo Rida OG (pronounced Flow Rider), and crossed it to his mix of a rocket-like strain he named F1 and another strain called Durb.

Mr. Sherbinski told Leafly Durb was not Durban Poison.

Ive had the F1. And Ive had the Durb. And Ive had the Flo Rida OG, said Sherbisnki.

(In 2014, Jigga told High Times that Durb was in fact Durban Poison. Bottom line: Jigga crossed three strains, F1 Durb to Flo Rida OG, to make Cookies.)

Jigga stayed busy, too. He also crossed the F1 Durb to another leader of the day, Granddaddy Purple, thus creating Cherry Pie.

Other, more apocryphal origin stories exist, but what happens is theres little pieces of info that get out and people build on that, said Sherbinski. The above facts are what I was told by Jigga.

Jigga didnt call us back, but either way, Cookies became a sleeper hit.

And I remember grinding it up and smoking it and thinking, Wow, its a super-unique, tasty flower. And I said, Yeah, I gotta track down the cut.

Ghost at ABF Genetics said he got introduced to the strain through a friend from Jigga and Sherbinskis Sunset District clique. (Many of these guys grew up together, going to the same high schools, playing pick-up basketball, smoking weed, listening to rap.)

The veteran grower from back East had collected many, many leading strains. But he still remembered the day his buddy from the Cookies circle brought over a nug of GSC, in about 2008.

It was like curled up in a Ziploc baggy, this little, abused piece of flower, Ghost recalled. And I remember grinding it up and smoking it and thinking, Wow, its a super unique, tasty flower. And I said, Yeah, I gotta track down the cut.

Your reporter has been sampling Cookies since that time period as well.

Cookies nugs present as dense, multicolored, and resinous. It first smells flat and musty, but complex. Break it up and grind it and the smell decoheres into a rowdy mix of sweet, berry, incense, and the savory, burnt part of a sugar cookie. The exhaled smoke hit might contain a note of grape and fuel or gas from the OG.

You get real high with a heavy effect that doesnt make you fall asleep per seyoure just super-lit.

Ghost couldnt get a cut of Cookies that easily. Back then, growers kept new strains to themselves or in a tight circle.

Initial supplies of Cookies remained low, limited to small indoor grows sometimes shielded from police by a medical marijuana defense.

San Francisco rapper and entrepreneur Gilbert Berner Milam Jr. gets credit for truly marketing Cookies, first through hip-hop and rap, and later through social media. Today, Cookies Enterprises commands a global lifestyle brand with licensed stores, unique strains, and partner farms in several legal states.

Cookies benefited from the advent of social media and was the first cannabis strain mentioned relentlessly in hip-hop, said Keith Stephenson, the Oakland, CA owner of Purple Heart Patient Center, reportedly the nations oldest black-owned dispensary.

If you wanted Cookies back then, you had to schlep out to the Hemp Center on Geary Ave. in the Sunsetthis grungy lounge with a Mos Eisley cantina vibe where Berner sometimes budtended. Your fearless reporter distinctly remembers that one and only visit: Junk piled up in the lobby. The weed equivalent of old barflies stared at you from the corner. I bought a gram of GSC there back around 2013(?), and that nug was fire.

Ghost got his hands on one Cookies plant in 2008, when two buddies paid $3,500 for a cut from a relative of a grower in the original circle. He grew out the GSC cutting and verified the result. Ghosts friend who first brought him the flower said, Thats it.

Cookies got loose into the wild when Ghost shared cuttings of his plant with four close friends. Rare strains become a type of currency among high-end connoisseurs that have everything else. Ghosts cut would become known as the Forum Cut, in reference to the internet forums where they debated it.

And the next thing I know, one of them is selling cuts to people; one of them is giving them away; one of them is doing giveaways behind, like, dumpsters. And then the rest of them just kind of spread through the network, he explained. One cutting, or clone, made it to the UK.

Ghosts wholesale pounds of indoor Cookies fetched $4,000, he said, at places like the Green Door.

At this point, a weed grower might assume fame and riches lie in making something special and being the only person with it. Actually, its the opposite.

Supplies stimulate demand, which induces growers, thus increasing supplies, and supporting more demand.

If we hadnt got that cut out as much as it did, it wouldnt have become known as what Cookies is, said Ghost. If its not available, people cant see it. If they cant try it, it doesnt really exist for them. Itll just fade and die off.

If you were a dispensary back then that didnt have Cookies, you werent a dispensary, Mr. Sherbinski said.

The perpetual motion machine of growing, marketing, selling, buying, smoking, and enjoying Cookies added more and more people each harvest.

It was a huge seller for some retailers, said Stephenson at Purple Heart in Oakland, CA. He started carrying Cookies strains in 2012. It definitely deserves to be celebrated.

The core Cookies team released Animal Cookies. There was Thin Mint Cookies. Green Door had Platinum Cookies.

A strain truly arrives when counterfeiting and the name game commences, said Mr. Sherbinski. Everyone slapped a name on a cookies cultivar.

We make the strains and they change the names, he said.

At that point, it became a clusterfuck, added Ghost.

Nowadays, Cookies offspring Gelato and its descendants run the world. But we wouldnt be here without the happy accident of Sunset Sherbert.

By 2012, the original Cookies craze was well underway, and San Francisco grower Mario Guzman, now known as Mr. Sherbinsnki, stood ready to partake in it.

Out in the residential Sunset District of San Francisco, he had crossed a dark, dark, dark purple, stringy sativa Burmese to the best OG Kush around the Bay Area, where pounds sold for $4,200 and $4,300.

Mr. Sherbinksis Burmese crossed with Larry OG became his Pink Panties, due to its pink hairs, or pistils, on the buds. With Pink Panties seeds in hand, he started a crop of seedlings. For research, he stuck one six-inch baby plant into his special, flowering room at his grandmas house.

Flowering room lights are timed to make the plant bloom instead of grow. But instead of blooming a female bud that he could study, the Pink Panties matured into a male. Before Guzman noticed, the male Pink Panties pollinated the entire room of Girl Scout Cookies females in the flowering room.

I didnt realize it would pollinate in a matter of weeks, but it did. It just took off.

All of a sudden, that commercial crop of Cookies bud became a research crop of new seeds. And inside one of them? What we call Sunset Sherbert.

Mr. Sherbinski said the name came to him when he first smoked the strain, and it reminded him of Thrifty ice cream rainbow sherbet, an iconic California childhood flavor for decades. He remembered his mom buying him a scoop for about 10 cents as a kid when they did laundry.

It was a really popping strain in the Bay Area. We were promoting it. Rappers were rapping about it.

When I first smoked Sunset Sherbert I tasted berry, citrus, the lemon, the orange, a little lime, all these different flavors, and I was like, Man, this tastes like Sherbert, he recalled.

He then added the district it came from and boom, Sunset Sherbert. The strain hits smooth, sweet, but still enough power in it to hit your lungs, he said. Everyone likes it, he added, including atypical consumers like women and older smokers, and especially veterans with PTSD.

Related

Pleased as Purple Punch: A Purps family genealogy

The Cookies team applied their marketing formula to Sunset Sherbert and repeated the success of Cookies, Guzman said.

It was a really popping strain in the Bay Area. We were promoting it. Rappers were rapping about it.

Mr. Sherbinski spread small-batch, indoor harvests of sherbert around to influential stores across the statestores like Harborside Health Center in Oakland and the Vapor Room on Haight St.

Part of what created the hype, for me, was it was created with love. There was not a lot of it; I made sure to spread it around to the dispensaries and friends doing a good job of getting it out to the public, he said.

The Cookie and Sunset Sherbert formula may have reached its most evolved form with Gelato, a cross of Sunset Sherbert and Girl Scout Cookies.

For this one, Jigga and Mr. Sherbinski used a substance called colloidal silver to make a female Sunset Sherbet flower produce pollen, then pollinated a GSC.

The resulting seeds are all female, and the team grew them all out, hunting for the best-looking and smelling offspringcalled a phenotype. This pheno-hunt concluded with a private, invite-only tasting by industry heads on June 16, 2014, at a Cuban food restaurant, said Guzman.

The nights picks are so famous, the numbers on the side of the flower pots became famous and emerged as the keepers:

Again, high-quality indoor production, plus on-point influencer marketing, equaled huge demand for the elite plant. And again, rather than hoarding the strain close, Mr. Sherbinski distributed cuts of Gelato 33, sparking a national bumper crop of the stuff.

Ghost uses the word, saturation.

Its one of those things where it just spun and spun and spun, he said.

Today, theres a reason why everything contains Gelato 33 genes: because Gelato grows, looks, smells, and feels amazing. Its architects stimulated the demand and provided the supply. They didnt hoard their fire in a closet. They brought it to others, Prometheus-style, and unlocked weed god mode.

Nowadays, Cookies genes appear in everything. Quality can vary, but it often bests its rivals.

The strains are over-produced now in California. However, its something that people expect to find as a standard variety, said Stephenson.

Even the cheapest of knockoffs attest to the allure of the real thing. If imitation means flattery, the weed world bows to the Cookies strain family. Look at all the headlines:

There are just so many dimensions to Cookies, a seemingly infinite array of facets, all reflecting off this heavy remix of global genetics. Lemon Tree strains and Zkittlez certainly command attention, but theyre still fads, compared to Cookies, said Mr. Sherbinski.

I think what makes a truly good strain is when people come back to it. Its such a good strain that even if people get away from it for a while when they come back to it, shes going to be there with open arms.

David Downs

David Downs directs news and lifestyle coverage as the California Bureau Chief for Leafly.com. He's written for WIRED, Rolling Stone and Billboard, and is the former cannabis editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, as well as the author of several cannabis books including 'Marijuana Harvest' by Ed Rosenthal and David Downs. He co-hosts The Hash podcast. TW: @davidrdowns | IG @daviddowns

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Just desserts: The Cookies and Cakes family genealogy - Leafly

Timothy the hippo, otherwise known as Fiona's biggest admirer, has been known to give Fiona lavish gifts for her birthday and Valentine's Day. But on Timothy's sixth birthday Wednesday, Fiona gave Timothy quite a special gift.Timothy, who's known to write Fiona love letters on Facebook on Thursdays with the help of his friends at the San Antonio Zoo, wrote Fiona this week to thank her for giving him what he called a "kiss painting." The painting showed Fiona's mouth on a canvas in rainbow paint."Ive been practicing my kisses you know....blush! Thank you so much and remember I always think you are the most beautiful hippo Ive ever seen!" the Facebook post said.Timothy lives more than 1,100 miles away at the San Antonio Zoo, but he's been madly in love with Fiona for years now.For her birthday last year, Timothy gifted Fiona an Edible Arrangement, and clearly, by looking at the joy in her face in the image below, you can tell how happy she was.This year for Valentine's Day, Timothy stepped up his game and went the extra mile or 3,000 extra miles to be more exact to give an extra special gift to his longtime crush.Timothy purchased a small property of Scottish land in Fionas name, giving her the name Lady Fiona.The Cincinnati Caledonian Pipes and Drums Band helped in the celebration with song and dance.Fiona needs to be at least 5 years old before she starts thinking about boys, according to Wendy Rice, the head keeper at Cincinnati Zoo's Africa Department. Fiona turned 4 years old this year."The genetics are basically what's going to matter most," Rice said. "If and when Fiona were to get a breeding recommendation some day, it would be based entirely on who was genetically the best match for her -- that may or may not be Timothy."Fiona's genes are valuable in the world of Nile hippopotamuses. And eventually, Rice said, the goal is to have Fiona breed if she can. But we're talking way down the road, Rice said, when Fiona is at least 5 years old.What happens then?"We obviously don't want her going anywhere," Rice said. "We love her. She's our baby and this hometown loves her. We're fairly certain people would riot if we said Fiona was leaving. We're hopeful that if she gets a breeding recommendation, that a male would be brought here for her so she wouldn't have to leave Cincinnati."

Timothy the hippo, otherwise known as Fiona's biggest admirer, has been known to give Fiona lavish gifts for her birthday and Valentine's Day. But on Timothy's sixth birthday Wednesday, Fiona gave Timothy quite a special gift.

Timothy, who's known to write Fiona love letters on Facebook on Thursdays with the help of his friends at the San Antonio Zoo, wrote Fiona this week to thank her for giving him what he called a "kiss painting." The painting showed Fiona's mouth on a canvas in rainbow paint.

"Ive been practicing my kisses you know....blush! Thank you so much and remember I always think you are the most beautiful hippo Ive ever seen!" the Facebook post said.

Timothy lives more than 1,100 miles away at the San Antonio Zoo, but he's been madly in love with Fiona for years now.

For her birthday last year, Timothy gifted Fiona an Edible Arrangement, and clearly, by looking at the joy in her face in the image below, you can tell how happy she was.

This year for Valentine's Day, Timothy stepped up his game and went the extra mile or 3,000 extra miles to be more exact to give an extra special gift to his longtime crush.

Timothy purchased a small property of Scottish land in Fionas name, giving her the name Lady Fiona.

The Cincinnati Caledonian Pipes and Drums Band helped in the celebration with song and dance.

Fiona needs to be at least 5 years old before she starts thinking about boys, according to Wendy Rice, the head keeper at Cincinnati Zoo's Africa Department. Fiona turned 4 years old this year.

"The genetics are basically what's going to matter most," Rice said. "If and when Fiona were to get a breeding recommendation some day, it would be based entirely on who was genetically the best match for her -- that may or may not be Timothy."

Fiona's genes are valuable in the world of Nile hippopotamuses. And eventually, Rice said, the goal is to have Fiona breed if she can. But we're talking way down the road, Rice said, when Fiona is at least 5 years old.

What happens then?

"We obviously don't want her going anywhere," Rice said. "We love her. She's our baby and this hometown loves her. We're fairly certain people would riot if we said Fiona was leaving. We're hopeful that if she gets a breeding recommendation, that a male would be brought here for her so she wouldn't have to leave Cincinnati."

See the original post here:
Fiona gives her biggest admirer, Timothy the hippo, 'kiss painting' for his 6th birthday - WLWT Cincinnati

At any given time on The New York Times website, a quick search for gender will yield an array of articles on the ins and outs of sex personified and the endless ways biology teams up with political adversaries to oppress queer people.

One recent so-called gender headline offered A Guide To Neopronouns, those nonsensical sounds like ze and zir that break from the sex binary and thus from reality. Are you a person, place or thing? the article posed, going on to imply that identity is nothing more than an aesthetic.

How Do I Define My Gender if No One Is Watching Me? probed another title, with all the flavor of If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? without the philosophy. Instead, this article refocused on what happens to so-called gender expression when its relegated to the stay-at-home privacy of pandemic lockdown. How does gender is a social construct work when theres no social? the author probed, unintentionally revealing the utter emptiness of gender identity when one tries to separate it from biological sex.

The articles are somehow baffling yet mind-numbing. Pieces like these, which seem to be ubiquitous now, are meaningless screeds of semantic acrobatics to convey the experiences of a group of Americans so out of touch with science that they would suppress the wonders of their sex and subscribe to a new doctrine that cannot even share a common language with reality. It is sad and foreign and exhausting, but the New York Times caters to it, creating room in its scarce pages for stories about folks whose prefixes include Mx. where Mr. or Ms. should be.

The brain boggles considering how such science-devoid content can square with another recent Times article. Its a collection of frequently asked COVID-19 vaccine questions. Is the Second Dose Bad? If I Feel OK, Is It Working? Can I Take Tylenol? asked last weeks headline as more and more Americans get vaccinated.

One particular subheading stands out: Is it true that women are more likely to get worse side effects from the vaccine than men?

The answer is full of science-y explanations. Apparently, females can produce double the antibodies of men after getting flu shots or vaccines for hepatitis A or B or for measles, mumps, and rubella.

It also turns out that in aggregate, women have had worse bodily responses to the vaccine than men do, with more women than men experiencing side effects and nearly all the life-threatening anaphylactic reactions, although rare, occurring in women. The Times cites a study revealing that over nearly 30 years, women have made up 80 percent of all anaphylactic vaccine reactions among adults.

[T]he higher rate of side effects in women also has a biological explanation, the article says. While testosterone can weaken a bodys immune response, estrogen can galvanize it. Additionally, many immune-related genes are on the X chromosome, of which women have two copies and men have only one, the Times declares. These differences may help explain why far more women than men are afflicted with autoimmune disease, which occurs when a robust immune response attacks the bodys healthy tissue.

Here, the Times isnt shy about making sex distinctions. Its right there in the science: Men and women are obviously different in myriad ways, with immune and vaccine reactions just being the latest in the spotlight. If its so easy to articulate the innate differences between the sexes, why does the New York Times entertain such gender gibberish as ze/zir and moon/moonself?

For years, the left has shouted that gender has nothing to do with sex. To insist that sex is genetic and results in only men and women is to evoke the LGBT clap-backs that gender is a social construct and chromosomes dont determine your gender.

A paragraph from one of the Times gender articles, however, reveals the deep and depressing hole in that worldview. The self-termed transgender-nonbinary author writes of the pandemic experience:

I was surprised by how much my gender instead seemed to almost evaporate. No longer on the alert for how to signal a restaurants waitstaff that neither he nor she applied to me, or for whether colleagues and neighbors would use the right language devoid of anyone to signal my gender to I felt, suddenly, amorphous and undefined. It was as though when I had swapped my Oxford shoes and neckties for fuzzy slippers and soft sweatpants, I, too, had lost my sharply tailored definition. Where did my own gender reside, then, if not in sending signals of difference?

These reflections are heartbreaking. Not only do they signal the amount of energy that some queer people derive from policing the perceptions of others and the apparent pleasure this may afford them, but it exposes the emptiness of finding ones identity in finding ones identity.

Thats all this futile pursuit truly boils down to. In rejecting the scientific sex binary in favor of amorphous and transient gender theory, a trans persons identity doesnt just become the opposite sex or an association with its pronouns. Rather, his or her identity becomes the lifelong task of asserting that their identity is not what you think.

Thats because the answer to the question, Where did my own gender reside, then, if not in sending signals of difference? is in ones sex. Thats where gender resides. Thats where it has always resided.

When the performative displays inherent in normal everyday life are stolen by pandemic lockdowns, and science and truth are all that remain, were forced to look in the mirror and confront reality: Human beings are genetically male and female, and since language is made to correspond with reality, we refer to those people as either he/him or she/her, consistent with their sex. Although we differ, our identities and thus the language we use to describe them are forever linked to our immutable genetics.

Any deviation from or internal confusion about these realities warrants compassion and assistance, but as weve known since time immemorial and as has been made yet more apparent through pandemic science, social experiments, and personal anecdotes, men and women are real and immutable categories, and they are different.

For a political stripe that prides itself on faithfulness to science, the lefts media and adherents dispense with it wholesale and then cant understand the emptiness that remains. The same science that explains why men and women respond differently to COVID vaccines also explains why eschewing sex in pursuit of gender fluidity is an exercise in futility.

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The New York Times Can Tell The Difference Between Men And Women With Vaccines But Not Pronouns - The Federalist

A 23andMe study from 2015 revealed that close to 4 percent of the companys customers who identified as white Americans had at least 1 percent African ancestry, consistent with an African ancestor within the last 11 generations or so. About 12 percent of whites from Southern states like South Carolina and Louisiana had 1 percent or more of African ancestry.

The Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. has calculated that there are millions of contemporary whites who, according to the old, notorious one- drop rule of the Jim Crow era, would have been considered legally black proof not only of the absurdity of that definition of difference, he writes, but of the power of modern science to blow up false narratives about race and about American history. If modern DNA tests had existed during the heyday of mainstream eugenics in the early 20th century, Dr. Gates and others have suggested, they might have served as direct repudiation of that pseudoscience.

So, what happens when Americans learn about the diversity within themselves? The jury is still out on whether direct-to-consumer genetic testing reinforces our sense of immutable racial categories or breaks them down.

Research by Wendy Roth, a sociologist at the University of Pennsylvania, has found that customers basic knowledge of genetics going into testing may play a role in whether tests accentuate or reduce their racial essentialism. Besides, we are not our ethnicity estimates: For a variety of reasons, including the ways in which were shaped by community, family and personal experience, DNA and identity are not the same.

But whats clear from research and from my conversations with hundreds of consumers is that genetic revelations can inspire journeys of self-discovery, helping people rewrite their understandings not only of their families but of their orientations as Americans.

Some people I spoke with recounted how theyre thinking long and hard, for the first time, about what boxes to check on medical forms asking for race. Some have legally changed their names to reflect their forebears. Others are using research to illuminate the lives of ancestors in Africa before the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

One man I interviewed discovered through DNA and genealogy that his grandfather was Black, and that his mother claimed fictional Sicilian heritage to protect her family from the discrimination shed experienced growing up. He has spent the years since researching the Vermont community where his mom grew up, meeting his Black relatives, and rethinking his place in America. The truth about the past is so important, he told me without it, We cant evolve.

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Opinion | DNA and Race: What Ancestry and 23andMe Reveal - The New York Times