In the big leagues hes known as a dependable reliever.

Once a star pitcher at Wright State and now a stalwart of the Houston Astros bullpen, Joe Smith is awaiting the start of his 14th Major League Baseball season.

Hes appeared in 782 games and is known for his unique delivery, a cross between sidearm and submarine style.

But its his pitch off the mound even more so than on it thats especially impactful.

Were just trying to bring some good into the world, he told me the other day when discussing one of his charitable involvements.

Smith and his wife Allie LaForce the former Miss Teen USA, an Ohio University basketball player and journalism grad and now a TNT sideline reporter known for her coverage of the NBA and college basketball March Madness are the highest profile sports couple in the Miami Valley.

They live in Bellbrook in the offseason, though their careers have them travelling around the country much of the year.

At present theyre ensconced in West Palm Beach. Smith went to Florida for spring training and was joined by Allie when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the sports world over two months ago.

Since then they have been doing some real relief work.

With the help of the Athletes and Causes, the nonprofit organization that runs their charitable ventures, they became the driving force of the Project FRONTLINE effort that has delivered over 15,000 meals from restaurants struggling through the coronavirus closures to over-taxed doctors, nurses and hospital staff.

Were just trying to say a little thank you to those people who are making sacrifices and risking their lives for the rest of us, Smith said. At the same time were getting local restaurants involved and giving them some revenue so hopefully they can pay some employees and keep their doors open.

While the couple made a considerable monetary commitment to the venture, they also got support from other pro athletes and celebrities people like fellow Astro Josh Reddick, former big leaguer Johnny Damon, Cleveland Cavalier Kevin Love, Portland Trailblazer CJ McCollum, Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona, celebrity chef Michael Symon and others as well many everyday people.

Theyve helped hospitals in six states and especially in and around Houston and Cleveland, where Joe had two pitching stints and where Allie, who grew up some 40 miles away in Vermilion, once worked as a sports anchor and reporter at Fox affiliate, WJW Channel 8.

Their effort caught the imagination of many and spun off in some unlikely directions.

A woman from Oberlin called and said, I dont have a restaurant, but I have 1,000 orchid plants Id like to donate. Do you think nurses would want one? Allie said.

We had them shipped to our (Athletes and Causes) headquarters in Tampa and they gave them out. And we heard stories how some nurses were in tears knowing someone cared about them.

While immersed in this project, theyve continued work with their signature HelpCureHD Foundation.

The HD is for Huntingtons Disease, the congenital disorder that causes the progressive breakdown of nerve cells in the brain and erodes mental capacity and physical capability.

There is no cure and it is usually fatal.

Joes grandmother died from HD complications in 2006 and his mother, Lee, a former elementary school teacher in her early 60s, was diagnosed with it eight years ago and for the past 2 years has lived in an Alzheimers facility near Cincinnati.

Theres a 50 percent chance that Joe and his sister Megan could inherit the disease.

When he and Allie began the foundation, the goal was to raise awareness and provide financial backing for research. In recent years the focus has switched to helping families attempt costly in vitro fertilization with genetic testing that would help them end up with HD-free embryos to be implanted.

That not only would guarantee an HD-free child, but it would stop the devastating disease from continuing its generational chain.

They had planned to do the process themselves in April, but precautions against COVID-19 prevented those medical procedures. Thats made it especially tough this month since May is Huntingtons Disease Awareness Month.

They want to help families because the costs are steep. Smith said they already have spent $47,000 in their own attempt and it can be $8,000 with every doctors visit.

Were lucky because I play baseball, but few families can afford that, he said. And a lot of its not covered by insurance. Itd be emotionally devastating to know you couldnt help your child or future generations just because of finances.

He said HD is like a combination of Alzheimers, Parkinsons and ALS:

Its the Devils Disease.

A true love story

And yet something quite angelic has been happening, Allie said:

Joes dad cant get in to see Joes mom, so he sits outside of her window every single day just so she can see him. Hes an incredible man and its a true love story.

Joes mom really isnt talking anymore, but she gets up and sees him out there and they have lunch together.

Although she said Joes mom is losing her memory and motor skills, she likes those visits. Nurses will hold a phone up to her ear and Mike, her husband of 39 years, talks to her.

She always been her sons biggest fan and over the past couple of years the family has taped his night games and played them for her the next day.

That makes these days without baseball especially tough for her.

Allie said there were times when his moms condition first began to worsen that Joe struggled with being away from her to play baseball:

He got to a point where he was questioning: Why am I playing the game? He wasnt feeling any fulfillment at the core of himself.

But then when he found that our foundation could help families get HD-free babies and change a familys future, he realized the platform and the financial capabilities he had with baseball. He started to feel a new fulfillment. That made the game worth it again.

Smith said he knows some peoples beliefs dont allow them to go along with this and thats fine But for me, this is a chance to get rid of a terrible disease.

Youre not changing eye color or height or anything else about the human being. Youre just knocking the Huntingtons gene out.

They had 24 families in their program when the pandemic put everything on hold. But recently they got word that two families one in Ohio, one in Houston have HD-free pregnancies.

That was a really rewarding moment, Smith said. Thats what were trying to do here. Were just trying to bring some good into the world.

Giving back

With their round-the-calendar careers she covering basketball and football, he playing baseball Allie said these have been the first weekends theyve had off together since they married in 2015.

While she said it was awesome for their relationship, they were even more intent on looking out for others.

I think it has to do with both of our upbringings, she said. In my hometown, my parents would run steak fries to raise money if somebody in our high school or community was in need. I can remember working at them growing up.

And when I was Miss Teen USA, I was like 16 and went all over the country raising over $100 million for different charities.

Smith continues to embrace the Wright State program which he joined as a walk-on out of Amelia High School near Cincinnati. He became the Horizon League Pitcher of the Year and in 2006 was a third-round draft pick of the New York Mets.

His career took him to Cleveland, the Los Angeles Angels, Chicago Cubs, Toronto, back to Cleveland and in December of 2017 he signed with the Astros. He suffered a ruptured Achilles in a workout the following December and pitched just 25 innings in the latter part of last season, but still had a 1.80 era.

This past December, three months shy of 36, he re-signed for $8 million over two years.

He said he was impressed with the Astros from the start:

When I walked into that clubhouse in 2018, it was unbelievable. Everybody was looking for ways to give back to the community. A lot of it had to do with the way (Hurricane) Harvey hit the city (in 2017.) They understood what people were going through and tried to help anyway they could.

Now Project FRONTLINE which sent hundreds of meals to places like the Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital and Texas Childrens Hospital is continuing that communal embrace.

And if you want to donate to either Project FRONTLINE orHelpCureHD, go toathletesandcauses.org and follow the prompts.

Back to baseball?

As restrictions are being eased across the nation, preliminary talks have begun about baseballs return this season. Last week Major League Baseball presented a 67-page proposal to the Players Association that addressed some issues.

Its going to be different, but the feeling I get from everybody (players and management) is that they all want to get back on the field and start playing, Smith said. But there are so many questions to be answered:

Whats spring training going to look like? And the regular season? Where will teams play? What will travel be like? And then theres the economic issues.

And one thing cant be overlooked here. It takes a lot more than 25 young guys running around to play baseball.

We have four coaches who are 70 years old and technically in that high-risk category. There are trainers, front office people and so many others in that group, too. We need to keep them safe.

And weve got guys in our league who are literally taking care of their families. Some have 10 people living with them. Some have their parents living with them. God forbid, you bring the virus home because one of your teammates was careless.

But on the flip side, theres also a woman in her early 60s for whom hed certainly like to be back on the field.

For all her physical struggles and cognitive issues, his mom knows exactly what hes doing, Allie said:

She knows if he had a good game or a bad one. She knows how many batters he faced. How many strikeouts he got. She loves her son so much. She knows just what hes doing.

She knows his pitch.

She knows, in so many ways, he and his wife Allie are just trying to bring some good into the world.

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Archdeacon: Trying to bring some good into the world - Dayton Daily News

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Eighteen years ago, former Alabama football coach Gene Stallings made a difference in the life of a grieving woman and her beautiful newborn.It's a story about love and compassion, a story that has not been told until now.This is the story of The Coach and Little Grace:Her heart was heavy on Mother's Day 2002.Laura Davis was depressed and confused as her first child slept at her side.Was she crazy to feel so sad? So hopeless? After all, her daughter Grace was a mere 14 days old. Laura Davis was supposed to be happy.As Grace slept, Laura asked God for answers. How was she supposed to care for a child with Down Syndrome? How was she supposed to see the future as her child had just been diagnosed with two holes in her heart? How was she supposed to have hope when her doctor told her that little Grace would never walk, talk or read?Her husband was doing his residency in Columbus, Ohio, and while Chris was working hard, Laura cried. She was overwhelmed. She missed her hometown of Vestavia Hills. She missed talking about life and Bama football with her friends.And getting out of bed? It just wasn't happening.The phone rang, and Laura took a deep breath, inhaling tears that had fallen from her eyes."Hello," said Laura."Hello, Laura, this is Gene Stallings. I wanted to call to wish you a Happy Mother's Day."Laura's heart jumped.Was it really THE Gene Stallings? The head coach of her beloved Crimson Tide?Why in the world was Gene Stallings calling Laura Davis, who was in Columbus, Ohio?"I also want to congratulate you on your newborn, Grace," the Tide coach said.How in the world did Coach Stallings know about Grace?The two exchanged pleasantries, and then Stallings revealed why he was really calling: To give Laura Davis hope. To get her out of bed.The coach proposed a question to Laura:"What is the one thing that you want for little Grace? You want her to someday go to heaven, right?""Of course," Laura replied.And then came just one of many bits of advice that the coach offered up:"Well, Laura, Grace has a one-way ticket because God loves her and so do you," he said. "You may not know this right now, but you are in for the ride of your life. You will never stop loving little Grace."And another piece of advice from the coach:"If the Lord asked me if I would rather have had John Mark the way he is or had him as a 'normal' child, I would tell Him that I would rather have had Johnny just the way he is."Coach Stallings said "goodbye" and hung up the phone.The tears in Laura's eyes returned. But this time they were happy tears. She had chill bumps.Little Grace remained next to her, asleep.We never know when that moment might come, but on Mother's Day 2002 that moment came for Laura Davis.She closed her eyes and prayed, promising God that she was going to make the most of Grace's life and offer her daughter every ounce of love that she could muster.And suddenly, good things started to happen:The two holes in Grace's heart closed on their own.Grace smiled.Physical therapy began, then speech therapy.Laura and Chris would move back to Vestavia Hills as Grace turned two. Years of hard work followed. Reading, writing, speaking.Vestavia Hills' special education teacher Jennifer Greer came into their lives and Grace blossomed as a cheerleader, a student and a friend.God was good.And now for the cherry on top:Three days ago, Grace Davis, the girl who was doubted, mocked, and given little chance to live a fulfilling life, graduated from Vestavia Hills High School. Grace will enter Auburn's "Eagles" program this fall. Yes, 18 years after doctors doubted her, Grace Davis will be going to college.Chris and Laura Davis are enjoying life in Vestavia Hills. Chris is an ENT doctor, and their sons Jack and Will are growing fast.Laura tells me that she will never forget Mother's Day 2002, the day that she received an unexpected phone call not from a football legend, but rather from the father of a Down Syndrome child.It was a phone call that motivated Laura to get of bed and look to the future one that ended up being more amazing than she could have ever imagined.And now you know the story of The Coach and Little Grace.A story with a happy ending!

Eighteen years ago, former Alabama football coach Gene Stallings made a difference in the life of a grieving woman and her beautiful newborn.

It's a story about love and compassion, a story that has not been told until now.

This is the story of The Coach and Little Grace:

Her heart was heavy on Mother's Day 2002.

Laura Davis was depressed and confused as her first child slept at her side.Was she crazy to feel so sad? So hopeless? After all, her daughter Grace was a mere 14 days old. Laura Davis was supposed to be happy.

As Grace slept, Laura asked God for answers. How was she supposed to care for a child with Down Syndrome? How was she supposed to see the future as her child had just been diagnosed with two holes in her heart? How was she supposed to have hope when her doctor told her that little Grace would never walk, talk or read?

Her husband was doing his residency in Columbus, Ohio, and while Chris was working hard, Laura cried. She was overwhelmed. She missed her hometown of Vestavia Hills. She missed talking about life and Bama football with her friends.

And getting out of bed? It just wasn't happening.

The phone rang, and Laura took a deep breath, inhaling tears that had fallen from her eyes.

"Hello," said Laura.

"Hello, Laura, this is Gene Stallings. I wanted to call to wish you a Happy Mother's Day."

Laura's heart jumped.

Was it really THE Gene Stallings? The head coach of her beloved Crimson Tide?

Why in the world was Gene Stallings calling Laura Davis, who was in Columbus, Ohio?

"I also want to congratulate you on your newborn, Grace," the Tide coach said.

How in the world did Coach Stallings know about Grace?

The two exchanged pleasantries, and then Stallings revealed why he was really calling: To give Laura Davis hope. To get her out of bed.

The coach proposed a question to Laura:

"What is the one thing that you want for little Grace? You want her to someday go to heaven, right?"

"Of course," Laura replied.

And then came just one of many bits of advice that the coach offered up:

"Well, Laura, Grace has a one-way ticket because God loves her and so do you," he said. "You may not know this right now, but you are in for the ride of your life. You will never stop loving little Grace."

And another piece of advice from the coach:

"If the Lord asked me if I would rather have had John Mark the way he is or had him as a 'normal' child, I would tell Him that I would rather have had Johnny just the way he is."

Coach Stallings said "goodbye" and hung up the phone.

The tears in Laura's eyes returned. But this time they were happy tears. She had chill bumps.

Little Grace remained next to her, asleep.

We never know when that moment might come, but on Mother's Day 2002 that moment came for Laura Davis.

She closed her eyes and prayed, promising God that she was going to make the most of Grace's life and offer her daughter every ounce of love that she could muster.

And suddenly, good things started to happen:

The two holes in Grace's heart closed on their own.

Grace smiled.

Physical therapy began, then speech therapy.

Laura and Chris would move back to Vestavia Hills as Grace turned two. Years of hard work followed. Reading, writing, speaking.

Vestavia Hills' special education teacher Jennifer Greer came into their lives and Grace blossomed as a cheerleader, a student and a friend.

God was good.

And now for the cherry on top:

Three days ago, Grace Davis, the girl who was doubted, mocked, and given little chance to live a fulfilling life, graduated from Vestavia Hills High School.

Vestavia Hills City Schools

Grace will enter Auburn's "Eagles" program this fall. Yes, 18 years after doctors doubted her, Grace Davis will be going to college.

Chris and Laura Davis are enjoying life in Vestavia Hills. Chris is an ENT doctor, and their sons Jack and Will are growing fast.

Laura tells me that she will never forget Mother's Day 2002, the day that she received an unexpected phone call not from a football legend, but rather from the father of a Down Syndrome child.

It was a phone call that motivated Laura to get of bed and look to the future one that ended up being more amazing than she could have ever imagined.

And now you know the story of The Coach and Little Grace.

A story with a happy ending!

See more here:
Coach and Little Grace: Mother of child with Down Syndrome gets life-changing phone call - WVTM13

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

By Deepak Chopra, Rudolph E Tanzi, Michelle Williams, Ryan Castle, William C Bushell, Kimberly Brouwer and Paul J Mills

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought with it a second pandemic, not of disease but of stress. We all feel stress as added pressure. This pressure registers psychologically as worry and anxiety, while the body responds with stress hormones. The overall stress response is designed to be a short-term reaction. When stress persists, however, it enters into the mix of threats posed by Covid-19.

So what can the average person do to reduce the threat?

We advocate meditation, yoga, and deep regular breathing (Pranayama), which are practices available to anyone. They can be easily done at home, with the intention of returning to a relaxed, balanced state. Paying attention to stress is always advisable, but doubly so during this crisis. There is a specific connection that wed like to explain.

First, a little background. Although Covid-19 is very easily transmitted from person to person, the risk of being hospitalised or dying primarily affects people who are already at risk because of old age, infirmity, or chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, autoimmune illness, obesity, and heart disease. All of these chronic illnesses are associated with measurable low grade inflammation in the body.

The chronic low-grade inflammation that develops with advanced age has become known as inflammaging. Most people with chronic illness unknowingly have low grade inflammation. Recent research points to a second finding: These same disorders are often accompanied by persistent low grade anxiety and depression.

In a crisis like the current pandemic, anxiety and depression also begin to affect healthy people due to stress. It has become increasingly evident that low level inflammation and chronic stress lie at the heart of many disorders that take years or even decades to develop before symptoms appear that can be treated by a physician.

Against this background, which pertains to countless people in modern society, there is increased danger when acute illness strikes. In addition to the elderly and chronically ill, Covid-19 is causing acute respiratory illness and stroke sometimes leading to death in seemingly otherwise healthy younger people. The transition from SARS-CoV-2 infection to being diagnosed with Covid-19 is typically accompanied by a so-called cytokine storm. Cytokines are proteins that are major drivers of inflammation, and their rapid increase, or storm is one of the bodys immune responses to acute threat.

In addition, studies have connected pro-inflammatory cytokines to the stress response; they regulate well-known stress hormones such as ACTH and cortisol. Three major systems are involved: the immune system, central nervous system and endocrine hormone system.

In the face of these connections, we are coming forward to suggest that complementary practices deep breathing, yoga and meditation can play an important role during this pandemic. These practices have been confirmed by hundreds of scientific studies to bring down over-activity of the autonomic nervous system, calm the mind from anxiety, reduce the stress response, regularise heartbeat, and lower blood pressure. Together, all of these diverse benefits are associated with reducing the invisible presence of chronic low-grade inflammation, especially if added to good sleep, exercise and proper diet.

We dont fully understand how the immune response, linked to stress and inflammation, can turn lethal. As a response to cuts, wounds, invading pathogens, and other threats, prior to antibody formation, the body first responds with inflammation as a normal yet crucial healing function. But it has long been known that inflammation is paradoxical. Acute inflammation can overreact, harming or even killing the patient. (Instances of strokes and heart attacks among young Covid-19 patients might be linked to micro-cytokine storms in the brain and heart.)

The threat from low-grade chronic inflammation was not discovered until recently but seems to be widespread. It is unaccompanied by swelling, burning and redness of the skin that marks acute inflammation and therefore goes undetected by the patient or physician.

Preventing and addressing chronic low-grade inflammation and its significant adverse consequences are urgent issues, even more urgent during a pandemic. There seems to be every reason to make the public aware how deep breathing, meditation, yoga and other healthy lifestyle practices can help during this crisis and long afterwards.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

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Stress caused by Covid-19 makes us doubly vulnerable: What the average person can do about it - Economic Times

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Even though male balding is almost as inevitable as gravity, celebrities simply do not like to speak on the IP behind their dramatic hair restoration innovations. What is verifiable, however, is when Elon Musk sold PayPal in 2002 the cash transaction website that made him a billionaire he was indeed abalding man. More present day, however, he is quite the opposite. That requires some kind of scientific explanation, and with a $38.2 billion fortune,the SpaceX and Tesla founder could surely afford a consultation.

"I mean, he had a class three to a class four (out of seven) hair loss pattern and he now shows no evidence, at least in the front, of any hair loss," New York hair transplant specialist, Dr. Jefferey Epstein, told Page Six in 2018, further describing the odds that Musk went under the knife as "highly, highly likely." Epstein added that Musk may have had at least two procedures, running him between $20,000 and $30,000 a sum the engineering mogul likely located between the seats in one of his electric cars.

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Celebs who don't want you to know they're going bald - Nicki Swift

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Some rhesus macaques in Agra. Photo: Thomas Schoch/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

In the first week of May, two videos had social media agog. Both involved monkeys, one robbing a Delhi ATM and the other riding by on a bike. At first glance, these videos seem to offer brief moments of amusement in an otherwise grim time. But why bother with such trivia now? Isnt this fiddling while Rome burns?

Well, a post-coronavirus scenario will certainly require a radical reassessment of the deep, conflicted relationship between human societies and their environment, between us and them, between our habitats and theirs. That is why the monkey tricks we saw captured on video earlier this month dont just offer fleeting moments of shock or levity. They are a guide to our past and to our uncertain future.

Indians relationship with simians is the stuff of legend. Millions venerate the monkey-god Hanuman. Myths such as one about the vanara sena1 that helped King Ram build a bridge to Sri Lanka abound. Temples across the country shelter astonishingly large troupes of monkeys; Haridwar literally gods gateway in Hindi is just the most famous of these sites.

Research in the biological sciences around the world also includes substantial focus on primates. That humans share more than 90% of their DNA with the great apes implies that we share several traits with them. For this reason, vaccine trials, not excluding present ones for the coronavirus, are often conducted on primates. Even without knowing it, then, primates greatly contribute to our well being sometimes at great cost to their own.

These issues of human interaction with simians and other species have been around at least since Charles Darwins work, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872). In this book, Darwin examines the sphere of culture and emotion. He reports on the findings of a questionnaire that he sent to 34 countries, including India, asking how 16 different emotions are expressed across cultures. Through this exercise, Darwin sought evidence for his view that all humans share basic emotions with animals owing to a common evolutionary ancestry. Few will deny that we are witnessing such emotions come to the fore in a heightened manner during the present crisis.

In our research at IIT Delhi, based partly on Darwins insights in the Emotions volume, we investigated the feelings that humans, especially children and their caregivers, experienced as they navigated the seas of social survival. The video below documents a small part of what we discovered, by focusing on a mature female monkey, specifically a rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta).

As viewers will notice, the baby that the monkey mother is holding is actually a puppy. She kisses and fondles it, runs away when she thinks her child is in danger, takes shelter with her partner and another male, possibly her brother, who support her decision to adopt this baby. We observe emotions such as love, trust, bravery, fear, panic, anxiety, anticipation and so on throughout the video.

It happens that this particular simian mother cant have children of her own because male monkeys in the area have been clinically neutered. So she steals a puppy from the locality and attempts to bring it up as her own. In our footage, she hardly lets go of her baby for an instant, bolting as fast as her heavy and precious burden will allow, especially when the alpha male is nearby.

We also hear local villagers talk about how they have witnessed this strange behaviour for some time and how the current pup is in fact one of a series, since the adopted pup always dies. This is because the simian mother treats the puppy just as she would a monkey-baby, feeding it grass and carrying it with her as she leaps from height to height. It is no surprise that the pup eventually dies from injuries and starvation.

This clip teaches us three things at a minimum.

First, it reminds us that animals and humans have shared common spaces for millennia. If we interfere with these spaces, for example by neutering male monkeys, it can have unforeseen, even dangerous, consequences. In this film, the interacting species are humans animatedly discussing the actions of monkeys; the simian troupe that have to assimilate a dog into the everyday routine of their lives; and the small pup at the still centre of this cross-species drama.

Today, we need to understand and respect these relationships (with bats, rats, tigers, bees, bacteria, viruses and plants) more than ever because they determine who we are.

The fact is that we are beings designed by nature for touch-contact with each other as well as with several animal species. Physical distancing may work as an excellent temporary survival strategy. We will, however, have to develop far more innovative ideas in proxemics studies, and invest in understanding technologies of desire and the political economy of inter- and intra-species inequality before humans manage to overcome, even in part, their ancient, touchy feely emotional coding.

Forgetfulness is biological but memorialisation cultural. Both shape us but the evidence thus far indicates that people always return to their old, bad ways after pandemics, however harrowing. It could be the triumph of hope over experience to think that the reset button will be so easy to press this time round.

Second, the video teaches us that there can be individual differences between monkeys as there are among humans. Not all monkeys choose to rear puppies as their own offspring. Not all ride bikes or investigate ATMs.

This insight is important because it tells us that our own human cultures are simultaneously composed of individuals and collectives. Both concepts have great power and potential as we move into an age in which we will have to make increasingly difficult ethical and intellectual choices about our common environment.

Third, the video shows us that humans can learn from their mistakes in a way that other species cannot. The monkey mother in the video repeatedly picks up puppies even though they die on her, remaining a prisoner of her biological instincts. That is her tragedy. Ours is different: that even though we can reflect deeply on our emotions and instincts through language, even though we have the mental capacity to acknowledge our mistakes, we fail to do so. Our greatest gift to argue passionately about something we call the truth can then become our greatest failing, making us prisoners not of our instincts but of our prejudices. That is our tragic flaw.

So it was wonderful to listen to the vociferous debate my students engaged in when I showed them our film. Some thought the macaque mother in question profoundly selfish, others that she was remarkably altruistic. Since the world recently celebrated Mothers Day, the students also debated whether a generic recognition of baby-like characteristics in pets and other creatures might help species survive by triggering a generalised protective circuitry that induces compassionate emotions.

In the 19th century, Darwin knew little about genetics but I imagine he wouldnt have been at all surprised to learn about the current virus that spilled over from bats to humans nor would he have contested the pivotal role empathy can play in preventing humans from self- and others destruction. Towards the end of The Origin of the Species, he wrote presciently:

In the distant future I see open fields for far more important researches. Psychology will be based on a new foundation.

The COVID-19 crisis has shown that we may be at the threshold of that distant future.

Rukmini Bhaya Nair is a cognitive linguist and writer. She teaches at IIT Delhi.

The author is very grateful for the funding received for the Language, Culture and Emotion project from the Department of Science and Technology (DST), 2010-2014. She was Principal Investigator; her co-PIs were Purnima Singh and C.A. Tomy. She also wishes to profusely thank the filmmaker, Muneesh Tarsem, for his work on the rhesus macaque troupe in Himachal Pradesh.

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What One Monkey Mother Could Teach Humans About Themselves - The Wire

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Jason Osterstock, DMV, PhD, vice president of Zoetis and the global head for the genetics portion of the business, said ensuring each animal U.S. agriculture grows must reach its full genetic potential in order to sustainably and responsibly feed a hungry world.

It is by applying genetics and data to commercial operations, he said, so more high-quality beef can be produced.

To this end, Zoetis Genetics has released INHERIT Select, a genetic test borne of a combination of genomic technologies and advancements. The multi-breed genomic test provides predictions for commercial females and, in turn, those predictions provide genetic insights to improved replacement selection and improved breeding decisions.

Dr. Kent Andersen, Zoetis director of global beef genetics, is active on his familys Nebraska cow calf operation though he and his family live in Colorado. Andersen said replacement costs to raise a heifer to the day she has her first calf are second only to feed costs on most operations. Through identification of heifers that express greater lifetime efficiency of production, he said the herd can be frontloaded efficiently.

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Theres things behind the scenes that might be economically relevant that I might be overlooking, he said. Hence, Im likely selling some I should have otherwise kept and vice versa, keeping some I should have otherwise culled.

Andersen said choosing based on which female will be the most productive over her lifetime includes optimum mature cow size and milk production level, teat and udder quality, growth relative to sensible birth weight and, post weaning, which females will produce progeny that will convert most efficiently and produce carcasses that bring the largest premiums. While he said visual appraisal and good cowboy common sense ought not be abandoned, INHERIT can offer a look into those traits that are economically relevant.

The test, which requires an Allflex tissue sampling unit, or an ear punch, is a multibreed genetic evaluation that is designed specifically for commercial cow calf producers running a crossbreeding program. The samples should be collected on any commercial female that meet the visual criteria to be considered as a replacement. It is not, Andersen said, a way to enable commercial producers to breed and keep purebred bulls, and only data on females will be reported. INHERIT Connect, a companion product, enables bull batteries to be tested to allow for parentage determination of the daughters.

Previously, Andersen said, only purebred seedstock producers have had access to genetic evaluation. This test provides predictions for 16 traits, and while there is a tremendous amount of information available, producers are provided Zoetis Indexes to summarize the complex data into a few summaries. The Zoetis Cow Calf Index is designed for producers who sell their calves at weaning, the Zoetis Feedlot Carcass Index ranks animals based on combined genetic merit post-weaning including gain, dry matter intake, carcass weight and grade, and the Zoetis Total Return Index is an economic index that ranks animals for genetic merit across all evaluated traits.

With that one number you can access the ranking of animals from the expected net return perspective for all the evaluated traits, he said.

Genomic approximation of breed composition is also available by taking the marker information and returning a percentage of Angus or Red Angus, British (South Devon and Hereford), or Continental (Simmental, Gelbvieh, Limousin and Charolais) breeds. Other breeds that would show as unknown breed composition include Indicus, dairy and Wagyu. As far as beef on dairy calves, an Angus/Holstein cross calf could certainly be tested for authentication of breed composition but if they are over 25 percent unknown breed, the efficacy of the predictions would be compromised. In the future, Andersen said he looks toward growth and carcass information being added for beef on dairy crosses.

The bottom line, he said, is the tool can identify the strengths and weaknesses of a cowherd to improve bull selection in the future based on where emphasis ought to be placed.

Its good then for a lifetime of mating decisions, particularly for cow calf customers using synchronization and AI on their heifers and maybe even in their cows, he said. We know most of them turn out multiple sires and multiple breeding pastures. It enables more strategic thinking to get bulls matched with females to accentuate and complement the strengths but then to correct any weaknesses.

Marketing is another area that can benefit from the tool. Producers who sell replacement baldie females can authenticate the merit of the animals at time of sale and, he said, although the test is for females, it would provide information about the steer mates, offering ammunition to use in the negotiation of selling cattle.

Results are available in a spreadsheet and also in an online tool called Search Point, an online cow calf management tool that comes with the purchase of the tests. Tests are run weekly, so results are updated weekly as additional information is added from the companys seedstock partners to expand ranking and benchmarking. Additional features may also be added, including a PAP EPD for high altitude cattle.

Gabel is an assistant editor and reporter for The Fence Post. She can be reached at rgabel@thefencepost.com or (970) 768-0024.

Follow this link:
Multi trait genetic evaluation: No longer just for purebred and seedstock operations - Fence Post

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

FROM 1960 till 2020, there has been a 28-fold increase in the number of centenarians. The path to longevity is strewn with false promises of expensive elixirs, exotic supplements, and stem cell rejuvenation. Human longevity is a complex interplay between the genes, the environment and lifestyle.

Genes and longevity

The study of human longevity genes is a developing science. Scientists estimate that between 15 and 30 per cent of the variation in human life span is determined by genes, but it is not clearly understood which genes are relevant, and how they contribute to longevity. In 2015, Ancestry, a genealogy and genetics company, partnered Calico, a Google spinoff, to study data from more than 54 million families and their family trees representing six billion ancestors, and were able to tease out a set of pedigrees that included over 400 million people. These individuals were connected to one another by either a parent-child or a spouse-spouse relationship.

In 2018, they published their results in Genetics, a journal of the Genetics Society of America. The study found that the lifespan of spouses were more similar and better correlated than in siblings of opposite gender. The study concluded that life span heritability is likely 7 per cent or less, and hence the contribution of genes to longevity is even lower.

Although genes seem to have only a small influence on lifespan, they appear to play a larger role in centenarians. Hence, there are a few genetic factors that do give you a headstart in the journey to longevity.

Being a first-degree relative of a centenarian makes it more likely for you to remain healthy longer and to live to an older age than your peers. First-degree relatives are less likely at age 70 years to have the age-related diseases that are common among older adults.

Women generally live longer than men , and the number of female centenarians is more than fourfold higher than that of male centenarians. It is thought that this is due to a combination of social and biological factors. Studies on mammals and Korean eunuchs has shown that the removal of testosterone at a young age was correlated with an increase in lifespan.

Genetic studies show that centenarians have a lower genetic risk of having heart disease, stroke , high blood pressure, high cholesterol, Alzheimer's disease and decreased bone mineral density. A study on Chinese centenarians published in 2013 showed that 55 per cent have normal systolic blood pressure, 82 per cent had normal diastolic blood pressure and less than 20 per cent were on long term medication. Hence, centenarians appear to have genes that reduce that risk of age-related chronic illnesses.

Biological clock

Epigenetics is the study of changes in organisms caused by modification of gene expression rather than alteration of the genetic code itself. One of the major mechanisms in which epigenetics manifest itself is by the process of DNA methylation, which involves the chemical modification of the DNA, thereby modifying the gene function and expression.

Through this process, certain genes can be silenced or activated and potentially impact age-related diseases such as cancer, osteoarthritis, and neurodegeneration. The biological or epigenetic clock in centenarians show a decrease in DNA methylation age, indicating that they are biologically younger than their chronological age. There is also data to suggest that although circadian rhythms deteriorate during ageing, they seem to be well preserved in centenarians, including preserved sleep quality.

Environment and longevity

Environmental factors have a large impact on longevity. Better living environment, clean food, clean water, good sanitation, reduction of infectious diseases, and access to better healthcare have resulted in significant improvement in human longevity.

Using Italy as an example of the impact of a better living environment, the average life expectancy went up from 29 years in 1861 to 84 years in 2020. The number of centenarians in Italy increased from 165 in 1951 to more than 15,000 in 2011, and the incidence of deaths occurring in those less than 60 years of age, decreased from 74 per cent in 1872 to less than 10 per cent in 2011 .

The continuous increase in lifespan in recent decades is mainly due to the advances in medical science. It is estimated that medical advances have allowed an increase in lifespan of five years in the last two decades and additional two years in the last decade.

When comparing two countries at different stages of development in 1950, the average life expectancy increase of 11 years from 68 years in 1950 to 79 years in 2020 in the USA, which was more developed in 1950, was much less remarkable than the increase of 3114 years in average life expectancy from 43 years in 1950 to 77 years in 2020 in China, which was less developed in 1950. The significant improvement in the living environment in China has contributed to the narrowing in the average life expectancy between those living in the US and China.

Lifestyle and longevity

In addition to environmental factors, lifestyle factors have an important impact on longevity. A study of more than 300,000 individuals over 7.5 years showed that individuals with social relationships have more than 50 per cent greater probability of survival compared with those with few and poor social interactions.

A study on centenarians in Utah in the US between 2008 and 2015 suggested that sleep, life satisfaction and social attachment were significant predictors of days lived. There is an extricable linkage between lifestyle and socioeconomic status. The term socioeconomic status as used in longevity studies encompass all the factors that can impact longevity including wealth, geography, education, occupation, ethnicity, cultural environment, neighbourhood environment, quality of healthcare and quality of diet. It is well established that the socioeconomic status of an individual will have a major impact on health and longevity.

A study on more than 120, 000 individuals by researchers from Harvard, published in the Circulation journal in April 2018, identified five low-risk lifestyle factors for increased life expectancy. They were: no smoking, non obese ( body mass index of 18.5 to 24.9 kg/m2), exercise (at least 30 minutes per day of moderate to vigorous physical activity, including brisk walking), low-risk alcohol consumption (5 to 15 gm/day for women and 5 to 30 gm/day for men), and a high score for healthy diet.

In this study, the projected life expectancy at age 50 years was on average 14.0 years longer among female Americans with five low-risk factors compared with those with zero low-risk factors; for men, the difference was 12.2 years.

These findings are consistent with a study on Chinese centenarians in which less than 20 per cent were smokers and less than 40 per cent drank alcohol. Hence, in general, most centenarians do not smoke, do not drink alcohol or are low-risk alcohol drinkers, are sociable, friendly, cope well with stress, are satisfied with life, have healthy diets and sleep well.

In summary, the main drivers of longevity in the first eight decades of life are the socioeconomic environment and lifestyle choices. Beyond the eighties, the inheritance of genes that defer age-related chronic diseases and a younger biological clock will help to propel these individuals beyond a hundred years.

This series is produced on alternate Saturdays in collaboration with Singapore Medical Specialists Centre

Link:
How to live to 100 - Business Times

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

A Pembrokeshire dairy farm is screening the genomics of its heifer calves to select the best replacements for the milking herd.

Rearing replacements is one of the biggest costs on a dairy farm - rearing a calf from birth to calving is estimated to be around 1,800.

The Hannah family believes that testing their heifers for genomic traits is where big gains can be made in their spring calving herd.

They farm at Mountjoy, near Haverfordwest, where they milk a herd of 370 mainly New Zealand Friesian dairy cows and rear 200 replacement heifers.

The farm has embarked on a project to improve the lifetime productivity of cows by selecting efficient genetics for the herd.

Working with the Welsh government's Farming Connect scheme, the business aims to rear only the most productive heifers, to prevent unnecessary costs.

The less productive animals can be sold, removing the unnecessary cost of rearing and, in turn, improving the genetics and performance of the dairy herd.

Genomic testing could help us to select the best herd replacements to match the requirements of our system," said farmer William Hannah.

We feel there are real gains to be made from this, by eliminating poor genetics so that only the very best animals are retained within the herd."

Genomic testing could help select the best herd replacements to match the requirements of the farm's system, said farmer William Hannah

Industry figures show that 14.5% of female youngstock fail to reach their first calving, whilst 33% dont make it to their second lactation.

Dairy cows dont start paying back through milk sales until after the second lactation, by which time a vast amount of money and effort have been invested.

Simon Pitt, dairy technical officer with Farming Connect, who is overseeing the project at Mountjoy, said genomic estimated breeding values can be calculated at birth.

As it has a high accuracy, a strategy that utilises these advantages can be used to determine which female calves will be the most cost effective and the most productive.

Compared to traditional herd genetics, which is 18-25% accurate, genomic testing is 50-60% accurate (SCI-Spring Calving Index), he explained.

Genomic selection offers many advantages with regards to improving the rate of genetic gain in dairy cattle breeding programs.

"One benefit of interest to this project is that genetic testing can predict a greater accuracy of predicted genetic merit for young animals," said Mr Pitt.

Health benefits are also flagged up through testing; as Mountjoy sits in a high-risk TB area, among the traits of interest are TB Advantage and calf survival index.

See the rest here:
Dairy farm exploits genomic testing to become more productive - FarmingUK

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

life-style, books,

We all know at least one couple who just make no sense, a perplexing pairing that irks and boggles us. One of them might be vivacious, gregarious, classically attractive and yet the other is a little freeze ray of misery and seems to despise socialising. So why, oh why, are they together? Neuroscience, according to Dr Hannah Critchlow, may have the answer to this eternal question, and plenty more - why we get more opinionated and closed minded as we age, how our political leanings are formed, why some couples don't even seem to like each other much. Critchlow, a British researcher, writer and broadcaster who has been described as "the female Brian Cox", lays out in her brain-bending book - The Science of Fate - just some of the recent research into determinism and the theory that we don't so much make our own decisions as inherit them. The fast-moving field of modern neuroscience will, she believes, "one day be considered as profound as Darwin's Theory of Evolution". So, what can the brain tell us about the laws of opposite attraction? Well, there's a lot more to love than what meets our eyes, and it may well involve senses we didn't know we were even using. "Scientists used to believe we only had five senses, but we're finding more and more we didn't know we had, through experiments, all the time," explains Critchlow, who found herself "happily stuck" in Noosa by the coronavirus lockdown while on an Australian book tour. One fascinating trial, carried out at the Zoological Institute at Bern University and later replicated in the US, showed that women may actually be turning the smell of potential male partners into complex information. Researchers asked men to wear the same T-shirt for a few days without washing, deodorising or eating smelly foods. A group of women were then given the appetising task of sniffing the shirts and rating them for attractiveness. The results clearly showed that women would choose the odour of men whose immune systems were highly differentiated from their own. Finding a mate with different gene variations from your own produces the strongest possible offspring; a child with the greatest resistance to a wide range of infections, and thus the best chance of survival. Just how women were able to detect their biological ideal man using optimum genetics via the smell of a stinky armpit is "quite mysterious", as Critchlow understates it. "But we are, at some level, just animals, driven by the single desire to interact in a way that will pass on our genetic material," she says. "Love, it seems, is largely a by-product of the brain circuitry that prioritises reproduction and the survival of the species." Interestingly, the sniff test does not work with men, but boys are not without their own mysteries. A study of thousands of lap dances in the US found that strippers would make almost twice as much in tips on the few days when they were at the most fertile point of their menstrual cycle. Somehow, the men just found them more attractive on those days, without having any idea why. "When it comes to sex, it seems that a choice that may feel highly personal and deeply intimate is, to a large extent, the behavioural result of our brains' coding to seek maximum opportunities for our genes to be passed on," Critchlow says. Like many of her colleagues, she has come to accept that many of the choices we make are hugely influenced by the genes given to us by our parents, and our grandparents' parents. Even the foods we like are choices driven by what our ancestors were eating, and enjoying. "Basically, we are designed to eat food when we can get it, because there might not be any around tomorrow, but now we live in a world where many of us can have whatever we want, whenever we want it, which obviously leads to obesity," she says. "Genetic mutations to encourage eating less weren't passed on because food was scarce and there was no advantage in that. Mutations that made us eat as much as possible in case there was no more are a problem now that we live in abundance. "Evolution has not caught up with Uber Eats." The reassuring sense we have that we are making our own choices is "just our brains messing with us", in much the same way that we like to perceive the sun as "rising" and "setting", when we know, scientifically, that it is just the world turning. "There is always scope for changing your mind, this is the basis for consciousness, but it's not as big as we perceive it - that scope to change is limited based on the genetics we've been given," Critchlow says. "Remember that our brains use 20 per cent of our daily energy quota to fuel this enormous circuit board, and to save energy your brain filters a lot of information, and makes assumptions, based on past experience. "Judging people in the first few minutes that we meet them is all about saving energy. "With friendship groups, or clans, people look for individuals with a similar outlook and who have similar genetics as well (unlike the way they look for sexual partners). "You are drawn to people, friends, who are genetically similar to you, so you are more likely to see the world in the same way and have the same biases. "You're saving energy because you don't have to explain things." Speaking of biases, just think how reassuring it would be to discover that people who hold political views that strike you as unjustifiable were just born that way. As Critchlow puts it, understanding that people believe in certain things, like religion or politics, because their brains were built that way, "might have massive consequences for reducing conflict at every level - as we discover more about the neurobiology of belief formation and prejudice, we might be able to boost our openness to new ideas". She quotes the work of Jonas Kaplan, Professor of Psychology at USC's Brain and Creativity Institute, who has found that activity in the amygdala, and the size of people's anterior cingulate cortex, can be used to predict whether they are liberal or conservative. His researchers were able to use brain scans to predict the political leanings of American test subjects - whether they voted Republican or Democrat - "with high sensitivity and accuracy". "It's quite incredible and it does help me to understand people a little bit more, because those who are more liberal have a less-sensitive amygdala are more able to think about collaborations and partnerships for the future, rather than being scared in the moment," Critchlow says. "Conservative types have a more reactive amygdala, and that gives them a heightened reactivity to fear. They assess risks and react conservatively. "But the fact is, both types of people are really important for our survival as a species. If we were all one type it would be a disaster, we wouldn't have moved forward as a species." This, of course, raises the interesting quote most often wrongly attributed to Winston Churchill: "if you're not a liberal when you're 25, you have no heart , if you're not a conservative by the time you're 35, you have no brain." Why would people's leanings change as they age? "There's been some research at Oxford into that, following people from the 1960s to see whether they got more conservative as they got older, and it showed a 20-point increase in conservatism by the time they were 80 years old," Critchlow says. "As you get older, you rely on more tried and tested routes within your mind, there is slightly less potential for plasticity, so you might become more risk averse. "You also start to weigh how you process information differently; you place less weight on signals from the outside world, and more weight on the internal capacity of your mind - the information you have stored there. "In a way, older people are not really listening to new ideas, because they take too much energy. They're relying on their own, refined information. Or what we think of as wisdom." Kaplan, from USC, provides the quote in The Science of Fate that most neatly sums up the way most neuroscientists now see the world, which sounds radical to most people but is, Critchlow says, very much the accepted wisdom in her academic milieu. "I don't believe in free will. The universe is deterministic,'' Kaplan says. "We aren't the authors of our own actions, because everything is caused by something prior." He is aware, however, that unlike scientists, many people would find this idea hard to live with, and adds: "Decisions are partially controlled by our emotional state, and most people find it depressing to believe that they have little or no free will, so there is a lot of value in believing in it." Critchlow says abandoning the idea of free will can actually be quite relaxing. She says she frets less about the way she parents her young son, because she's not sure there's much point worrying about it. "I tend to forget that most people don't think this way and I was chatting with my agent recently and she said 'So hang on, you really think we're really just like machines?' And I was like, 'oh yeah, that's what all of the people in my little bubble of neuroscientists think'," she says. "But I think it's an idea that will become more accepted, and it's starting to happen. "Don't forget that Darwin's theories were pretty radical there for a while."

https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/9gmjQxX8MpSQh6J68NHMnY/97fc079b-a059-4a2f-a1e9-c7ff49cbd985.jpg/r74_0_5021_2795_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg

We all know at least one couple who just make no sense, a perplexing pairing that irks and boggles us. One of them might be vivacious, gregarious, classically attractive and yet the other is a little freeze ray of misery and seems to despise socialising. So why, oh why, are they together?

Neuroscience, according to Dr Hannah Critchlow, may have the answer to this eternal question, and plenty more - why we get more opinionated and closed minded as we age, how our political leanings are formed, why some couples don't even seem to like each other much.

Critchlow, a British researcher, writer and broadcaster who has been described as "the female Brian Cox", lays out in her brain-bending book - The Science of Fate - just some of the recent research into determinism and the theory that we don't so much make our own decisions as inherit them. The fast-moving field of modern neuroscience will, she believes, "one day be considered as profound as Darwin's Theory of Evolution".

So, what can the brain tell us about the laws of opposite attraction? Well, there's a lot more to love than what meets our eyes, and it may well involve senses we didn't know we were even using.

"Scientists used to believe we only had five senses, but we're finding more and more we didn't know we had, through experiments, all the time," explains Critchlow, who found herself "happily stuck" in Noosa by the coronavirus lockdown while on an Australian book tour.

One fascinating trial, carried out at the Zoological Institute at Bern University and later replicated in the US, showed that women may actually be turning the smell of potential male partners into complex information.

Researchers asked men to wear the same T-shirt for a few days without washing, deodorising or eating smelly foods. A group of women were then given the appetising task of sniffing the shirts and rating them for attractiveness.

The results clearly showed that women would choose the odour of men whose immune systems were highly differentiated from their own. Finding a mate with different gene variations from your own produces the strongest possible offspring; a child with the greatest resistance to a wide range of infections, and thus the best chance of survival.

Dr Hannah Critchlow, author of The Science of Fate. Picture: Simon Weller

Just how women were able to detect their biological ideal man using optimum genetics via the smell of a stinky armpit is "quite mysterious", as Critchlow understates it.

"But we are, at some level, just animals, driven by the single desire to interact in a way that will pass on our genetic material," she says.

We are, at some level, just animals, driven by the single desire to interact in a way that will pass on our genetic material.

"Love, it seems, is largely a by-product of the brain circuitry that prioritises reproduction and the survival of the species."

Interestingly, the sniff test does not work with men, but boys are not without their own mysteries. A study of thousands of lap dances in the US found that strippers would make almost twice as much in tips on the few days when they were at the most fertile point of their menstrual cycle. Somehow, the men just found them more attractive on those days, without having any idea why.

"When it comes to sex, it seems that a choice that may feel highly personal and deeply intimate is, to a large extent, the behavioural result of our brains' coding to seek maximum opportunities for our genes to be passed on," Critchlow says.

Like many of her colleagues, she has come to accept that many of the choices we make are hugely influenced by the genes given to us by our parents, and our grandparents' parents. Even the foods we like are choices driven by what our ancestors were eating, and enjoying.

"Basically, we are designed to eat food when we can get it, because there might not be any around tomorrow, but now we live in a world where many of us can have whatever we want, whenever we want it, which obviously leads to obesity," she says.

"Genetic mutations to encourage eating less weren't passed on because food was scarce and there was no advantage in that. Mutations that made us eat as much as possible in case there was no more are a problem now that we live in abundance.

"Evolution has not caught up with Uber Eats."

The reassuring sense we have that we are making our own choices is "just our brains messing with us", in much the same way that we like to perceive the sun as "rising" and "setting", when we know, scientifically, that it is just the world turning.

"There is always scope for changing your mind, this is the basis for consciousness, but it's not as big as we perceive it - that scope to change is limited based on the genetics we've been given," Critchlow says.

"Remember that our brains use 20 per cent of our daily energy quota to fuel this enormous circuit board, and to save energy your brain filters a lot of information, and makes assumptions, based on past experience.

"Judging people in the first few minutes that we meet them is all about saving energy.

Abandoning the idea of free will, and leaving everything to fate, can actually be quite relaxing. Picture: Shutterstock

"With friendship groups, or clans, people look for individuals with a similar outlook and who have similar genetics as well (unlike the way they look for sexual partners).

"You are drawn to people, friends, who are genetically similar to you, so you are more likely to see the world in the same way and have the same biases.

"You're saving energy because you don't have to explain things."

Speaking of biases, just think how reassuring it would be to discover that people who hold political views that strike you as unjustifiable were just born that way.

As Critchlow puts it, understanding that people believe in certain things, like religion or politics, because their brains were built that way, "might have massive consequences for reducing conflict at every level - as we discover more about the neurobiology of belief formation and prejudice, we might be able to boost our openness to new ideas".

She quotes the work of Jonas Kaplan, Professor of Psychology at USC's Brain and Creativity Institute, who has found that activity in the amygdala, and the size of people's anterior cingulate cortex, can be used to predict whether they are liberal or conservative.

His researchers were able to use brain scans to predict the political leanings of American test subjects - whether they voted Republican or Democrat - "with high sensitivity and accuracy".

"It's quite incredible and it does help me to understand people a little bit more, because those who are more liberal have a less-sensitive amygdala are more able to think about collaborations and partnerships for the future, rather than being scared in the moment," Critchlow says.

"Conservative types have a more reactive amygdala, and that gives them a heightened reactivity to fear. They assess risks and react conservatively.

"But the fact is, both types of people are really important for our survival as a species. If we were all one type it would be a disaster, we wouldn't have moved forward as a species."

This, of course, raises the interesting quote most often wrongly attributed to Winston Churchill: "if you're not a liberal when you're 25, you have no heart , if you're not a conservative by the time you're 35, you have no brain." Why would people's leanings change as they age?

"There's been some research at Oxford into that, following people from the 1960s to see whether they got more conservative as they got older, and it showed a 20-point increase in conservatism by the time they were 80 years old," Critchlow says.

"As you get older, you rely on more tried and tested routes within your mind, there is slightly less potential for plasticity, so you might become more risk averse.

"You also start to weigh how you process information differently; you place less weight on signals from the outside world, and more weight on the internal capacity of your mind - the information you have stored there.

"In a way, older people are not really listening to new ideas, because they take too much energy. They're relying on their own, refined information. Or what we think of as wisdom."

Kaplan, from USC, provides the quote in The Science of Fate that most neatly sums up the way most neuroscientists now see the world, which sounds radical to most people but is, Critchlow says, very much the accepted wisdom in her academic milieu.

"I don't believe in free will. The universe is deterministic,'' Kaplan says.

"We aren't the authors of our own actions, because everything is caused by something prior."

He is aware, however, that unlike scientists, many people would find this idea hard to live with, and adds: "Decisions are partially controlled by our emotional state, and most people find it depressing to believe that they have little or no free will, so there is a lot of value in believing in it."

Critchlow says abandoning the idea of free will can actually be quite relaxing. She says she frets less about the way she parents her young son, because she's not sure there's much point worrying about it.

"I tend to forget that most people don't think this way and I was chatting with my agent recently and she said 'So hang on, you really think we're really just like machines?' And I was like, 'oh yeah, that's what all of the people in my little bubble of neuroscientists think'," she says.

"But I think it's an idea that will become more accepted, and it's starting to happen.

"Don't forget that Darwin's theories were pretty radical there for a while."

Original post:
Why do opposites attract, and can we change our political leanings as we grow older? Neuroscience has the answers - The Canberra Times

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Ever wake up in the middle of the night dripping in sweat, like you just ran a marathon? Then you're one of many people who have experienced night sweats, or sleep hyperhidrosis.

Night sweats aren't related to your environment, like if your room is too hot. Rather, they're usually caused by hormonal fluctuations in the body or are a side effect of medication.

Either way, they can have a big impact on your sleep. Night sweats often wake you up, and you may have to change your clothes or sheets in order to comfortably fall back asleep.

Here's what you need to know about the common causes of night sweats and when to see a doctor.

Night sweats are often linked to the hormonal fluctuations during menopause and perimenopause.

More than 80% of women in perimenopause and menopause experience hot flashes or sudden, intense feelings of warmth. When these happen at night, they can cause night sweats.

Menopause occurs 12 months after a woman has her last menstrual period, usually between the ages of 45 and 55. Perimenopause occurs in the 7 to 14 years before menopause.

Specifically, the drop in the hormone estrogen, which occurs during perimenopause, is linked to night sweats because it affects the body's temperature regulation.

"Women experience more night sweats related to hormonal changes during perimenopause and menopause," says Soma Mandal, MD, board-certified internist at Summit Medical Group, in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey.

Night sweats during menopause aren't cause for concern, but they can be uncomfortable.

If you're experiencing night sweats during menopause, talk to your doctors about treating the symptoms with medications that help replace estrogen.

Hormonal disorders can make it difficult for your body to regulate its normal temperature, which can cause night sweats.

Body temperature is regulated by the hypothalamus, an area in the brain that produces hormones. When your hormones are out of balance, it sometimes means that the hypothalamus isn't able to regulate temperature correctly.

Hormonal disorders that can affect body temperature and cause night sweats include:

If you experience other symptoms of a hormonal imbalance, such as weight changes or headaches, talk with your doctor about these symptoms.

If you're sick with a viral or bacterial infection, your body raises its internal temperature to fight off the infection, which is what causes fever.

This increase in body temperature can lead to sweating and night sweats are a common symptom associated with fevers.

"Various infections such as HIV, tuberculosis, and infectious mononucleosis can cause night sweats," Mandal says. "These conditions can produce chemicals called cytokines which combat infection. Cytokines can induce fever and night sweats."

If you experience a fever in addition to night sweats, you may want to check in with your doctor about what type of infection you have.

Certain medications can cause night sweats, including antidepressants for depression or anxiety.

A 2018 study found that up to 14% of people on Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) the most common form of antidepressants experience excessive sweating and night sweats.

The study authors concluded that these medications likely affect the areas of the brain that produce hormones, which help control temperature and sweating.

Other medications that may cause night sweats include:

If your medications are causing night sweats, you can try sleeping in lighter clothes or keeping the room cooler. If night sweats continue to interrupt your sleep, you should talk to your doctor about your concerns.

According to Mandal, night sweats by themselves aren't always a cause for concern.

That's especially true if they're happening for a common reason like if you're going through menopause or taking SSRIs. However, if you're experiencing other symptoms as well, your night sweats could indicate a bigger problem.

"If they are accompanied by fever, weight loss, general malaise, or change in appetite, then it's time to get checked out by your primary care physician," Mandal says.

Read more:
4 common causes of night sweats and when to be concerned - Insider - INSIDER

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

The surgery was scheduled for March 20. I had already had pretty in-depth discussions with nurses from the surgery and anesthesia departments about all of the preoperative details. But on March 18, I got a call from the physicians assistant who works with my surgeon, and I knew what she was going to say as soon as I heard her voice: Surgery on my reconstructed breast had been canceled due to COVID-19.

Since then, Ive had a unilateral mastectomy, five months of chemotherapy, 28 radiation treatments, and four years of hormone blockers. Ive had no evidence of disease since my mastectomy on June 19, 2015.

Ive also had three different types of breast reconstruction. First, in March 2016, I had reconstruction with a breast implant and a breast reduction on my left breast to match its size. But the implant never really settled well. It was very highit didn't look very natural next to my other breast. And it was very tightthe muscles in my chest felt like they were seizing up or cramping a lot, and it was even uncomfortable to lay on my stomach to go to sleep.

So then, in May 2019, I had something called DIEP flap reconstruction, which is when they basically take your belly, disconnect it from its blood supply, and reconnect it to the chest as new breast tissue. (During that surgery, we learned that the implant had actually ruptured a little bit.)

Almost all DIEP flap surgeries are successful, but mine wasnt. About two weeks after the surgery, I met with my surgeon, and as soon as he saw the tissue, his face fell. The tissue was dead. So a week or two after that, I had to basically have another mastectomy to get the new tissue removed.

Finally, I had whats known as TUG flap reconstruction in November 2019. It involved a third surgeon and using the inner portion of my left thigh. It worked! The only issue is that the breast is really small because its from my inner thigh, so it's basically like an A cup, compared to my native breast, which is now like a D. (Before, I had double Ds. I had a great rack, I'm not gonna lie.)

So I'm pretty lopsided now. Im expecting to still have one or two more fat transfers, probably from my stomach, to my reconstructed breast, and then probably another reduction on my native breast so that they can match in size.

Since my TUG flap, my surgeon took a job out of the country, but we had this little window where he was going to be back to do some surgeries and I was going to be on spring break from both my teaching job and being a PhD student.

At the time, the pandemic was starting to ramp up in Iowa, where I live. The university I teach for had just closed for the rest of the semester. In fact, I was really debating internally with myself: Is it moral for me to get the surgery at this point and take up protective personal equipment (PPE) and resources? Is it safe for the staff there? Is it safe for me? So I was a little relieved when they made the call for me.

After that, I didnt hear from the hospital until mid-May (of course, theyve had bigger issues to deal with), when the physicians assistant called to tell me that my next surgery will take place on June 5.

She assured me that the hospital has enough PPE and is well prepared. My husband will have to drop me off and pick me up without entering the hospital, and the thought of waiting for surgery alone is daunting, to say the least. Ill also have to drive two hours one-way to Iowa City for a COVID-19 throat swab test the day before my surgery because the test has to be done within the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics system. Its inconvenient, but I'm happy to do it and keep my medical team safe.

But Im feeling a little disappointed in a selfish way that I have had to wait longer to have my breast reconstructed. Im just really ready to have my body put back together. One of the worst parts of this surgery being delayed is that we're not just holding on one surgery; theres going to be a series of surgeries and recoveries that follow. So its frustrating to not know what the timeline is going to look like and to not have an idea of what my body is going to look or feel like months or even a year from now.

I have to be on hormone blockers for five years before I can pause them to try to have kids because I had estrogen receptor (ER)-positive and progesterone receptor (PR)-positive breast cancer, which means the cancer cells grow in response to estrogen and progesterone. So when I finish those up in 2021 and my husband and I are 35, I want to get the ball rolling with IVF as soon as I can.

The goal was to have the reconstructions complete by this summer. Then I could have until the end of next year to just exist in my body without having it be something that needs to be fixed or manipulated or changed, have a short amount of time to travel, to swim, to work out normallybecause rumor has it pregnancy is kind of hard.

While the fat transfers are a quicker recovery, the reduction on my native breast is a longer ordeal, and I'm trying not to miss any more of my job or sacrifice working on my PhD. I dont think it will be possible to squeeze in multiple fat transfers and a reduction on my native breast in the next few months, which means the next big chunks of time I have arent until this coming winter break and next summer, or maybe spring break next year. As a result, Ill probably have to either push back IVF or go straight from the surgery into trying to be pregnant.

Plus, experts are predicting a second wave of outbreaks, so really any concept of a timeframe I had is out the window. I think I'm just going to have to undergo my future procedures based on the surgeon's availability, breaks in the school year, and the waves of this pandemic.

Before cancer, you've got all the options in the world open to you, and then cancer goes, Nope, youve got a limited set of choices. And to have that reduced even furtheron one hand, I'm used to it; on the other hand, its getting really old. Im just tired of having cancer and these surgeries dictate the pattern of my life.

But then you get through that terror of treatment, and you start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. You go, Oh, wait, my appearance does matter to me. Im still a young woman, and I still want to be able to wear a sports bra that supports me. I want to be able to buy a wedding dress that I look nice in.

As you start to get back to your normal life, you start to remember those priorities. Reconstruction seems like its just a cosmetic thing, like it's not a big deal. But it changes your mental health, it changes your outlook, and it changes in the way your muscles move and the balance of weight across your chest.

I joke a lot about cancerthats how I copeand so I get why people say that. And yes, technically, the Womens Health and Cancer Rights Act of 1998 says insurance must also cover expenses related to the reconstruction of a breast after a mastectomy. But I would much rather not have gone through cancer than get a free boob job. Its not an equal tradeoffand I have paid so, so dearly, both literally and figuratively, in many other ways.

Reconstruction is a way of feeling normal again and not having this reminder every time I take a shower, every time I dress, every time I buy new clothes, of what Ive been throughand all the work that still has to be done.

Reconstruction is a way of trying to put the trauma of the past five years behind me. And then, even if Im not perfectly happy with my body, I could say, Okay, this is it. I know what I've got to work with, and I could start to embrace it. I could move forward. Right now, its more like being stuck in limbo.

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My Breast Reconstruction Surgery Was Delayed Because Of COVID-19 - Women's Health

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Left foot forward. Right foot forward. While that may well be the mantra playing in 18-year-old Caster Semenyas head as she flies furiously down the length of the track towards the finish line, the spectators watching her would be lucky to be able to distinguish between her feet as she runs. Her high speed reduces her muscular figure clad in a South-African-colored uniform to a blur of green and yellow as she finishes almost a full second before her closest opponent at the World Championships in the 800 meter race.

Semenya didnt just win her event she dominated it.

But later that fateful night in 2009, instead of being celebrated for the young phenom that she had trained arduously to become, Semenya came under fire for potentially having an unfair advantage as the public began to question her biological sex. The intrusive testing and inquisitions that followed affected Semenyas ability to compete, but she did her best to hold her head high and carry on as people picked apart her prowess. Semenyas case was just one of many that deals with the complicated role of gender in sports, a topic that becomes increasingly relevant as athletic science improves and athletes of all genders become faster and stronger than ever before.

When people think of sports, their mind often divides mens sports and womens sports into two separate entities, with the athletes within them as strictly binary. Sports have been categorized this way throughout history with the intention of ensuring that competition that ensues will be fair. But how do we define fair, and will this rigid separation continue to be the norm in the future?

In some sports, such as distance swimming, the average percent difference between men and womens times is a slim 5.5%, according to a 2010 study in The Journal of Sports Science and Medicine. In other sports, such as weightlifting, this difference is more significant at 36.8% according to the same source. Because each sport is unique in the physical challenge it presents to athletes, the same standards for legislation and rules regarding gender and fairness cannot be applied universally.

Recently, there has been an increase in discussion surrounding transgender athletes competing in the gender category that best matches their gender identity. While some push back against trans inclusion in situations such as the Idaho bill passed in March that enforces genital and hormonal testing of athletes, others fight for equality in sport. Harvard graduate Schuyler Bailar a trans swimmer who was accepted onto the mens team and found great success and joy in living life as his most authentic self is one of the athletes leading the fight for gender inclusivity in sports. The role that gender plays in sports is already complexthe way gender and sports will interact in the future is even more so.

Despite a social movement towards increased transgender inclusion and a general heightened understanding of what it means to be transgender, many major sports leagues, such as USA Powerlifting, have chosen to keep their original policies in place. In a statement of the organizations transgender participation policy, the USA Powerlifting league cited both the physical advantage of males and a ban on the androgens often used to transition from female to male as reasons for their stance.

While the term discrimination is used to catch the attention of the public, it is most often misused, the statement read. We are a sports organization with rules and policies. They apply to everyone to provide a level playing field.

While some question whether the USA Powerlifting policies are discriminatory against transgender athletes, the organization said it is fair in a sport largely based on physical strength and compared gender discrimination to policies surrounding age restrictions.

This bill attempts to solve a problem that does not exist while slamming the door shut for transgender student athletes to fully participate in their school communities.

Kathy Griesmeyer

At the high school level, some athletes have protested transgender participation in the gender category of their choice. Recently, at a high school in Connecticut, the families of female track runners filed a lawsuit against the participation of transgender athletes in womens sports, arguing that their female children competing against runners with male anatomy could hinder their personal chances of earning track titles and scholarships.

Those who share the same opinion as those parents have formed conservative groups and are supported by legislators throughout the states that are looking to ban participation of transgender athletes in both mens and womens sports. For example, the Idaho state Senate recently passed Republican-sponsored bill 24-11. If signed, this bill would prohibit both trans and intersex girls from competing in the girls heats of high school and college sports.

If a female athletes sex is questioned by a coach, parent, or administration of the other team, the future of that athletes participation depends on if their biological sex is confirmed by a signed physicians statement that shall indicate the students sex based solely on: The students internal and external reproductive anatomy; the students normal endogenously produced levels of testosterone; an analysis of the studentsgenetic makeup, according to the bill.

This bill fails to acknowledge that the inclusion and acceptance of transgender people and their identity is extremely important to their well being, both physically and mentally. By reducing someone to their biological sex characteristics, one is blatantly disregarding their internal identity.

Additionally, this bill only targets female athletes, requiring them to go the extra step if their sex status is questioned in order to play their sport, while their male counterparts do not have to endure this same burden. This suggests that, should a woman have success in an athletic event, her success may be attributed to genetic alterations rather than talent.

Kathy Griesmyer, a policy director with the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho, is disappointed with this bill, citing that it is intentionally transphobic and that it makes things more difficult for athletes that already face many social hurdles simply for fulfilling their true sense of identity.

This bill attempts to solve a problem that does not exist while slamming the door shut for transgender student athletes to fully participate in their school communities, Griesmyer said in a statement in response to the bill. Idaho has not seen any issues with trans girls competing in the girls sports. This unconstitutional and mean-spirited bill prevents trans girls from finding community and self-esteem in sports, and will certainly result in litigation to defend the civil rights of Idahos transgender community.

In addition to being transphobic, this bill is an invasion of the athletes privacy and puts power in the hands of coaches or parents who may use it to place their competitors at a harsh disadvantage.

In a similar proposition, legislation announced in January could prevent transgender women in Arizona from participating in athletics teams based on their gender identity, requiring some females athletes to provide a doctors note stating their biological sex in order for them to compete in their sport.

However, this rule only applies to womens sport and not to male counterpart sports. The vast majority of the arguments surrounding barring transitioned athletes center solely on male-to-female athletes. Those critics cite the biological differences between men and women that, they claim, could lead to significant competitive advantages for male athletes. Most of these changes take place during puberty: a biological male undergoing puberty will see a host of changes due to their significantly elevated testosterone levels compared with biological females. According to a study comparing female to male testosterone, an adult male will have seven to eight times the natural testosterone coursing through a womans body on average.

This testosterone is accompanied by scores of physiological changes, among them larger muscles, denser bones and a higher proportion of lean body massits these traits that lead to the bigger, faster, stronger notion surrounding male athletes.

While transitioning to female often involves the use of testosterone suppressants and estrogen, most in favor of barring trans athletes argue that these measures dont reverse the increased bone density, superior musculature, and other characteristics of male puberty.

So despite the fact that female-to-male athletes who choose to undergo hormone therapy treatment will also have elevated testosterone levels, this isnt seen as a threat: the vast majority of benefits will be derived from a biological male puberty, not from an addition of testosterone to a body thats undergone female puberty.

But, of course, thats not always the case. A 2016 Washington Post article examining the trans advantage cites that after a year of hormone therapy, female trans distance runners completely lose their speed advantage over cisgender women. Similarly, individuals like Nancy Barto, an Arizona state representative, recognize that regardless of whether a male-to-female athlete will have a greater advantage in sports than a female-to-male athlete, legislature that targets women specifically cis or otherwise puts up barriers to prevent their participation. This type of legislature in sport is counterproductive, introducing yet another in a long line of historical roadblocks for female athletes.

When this is allowed, it discourages female participation in athletics and, worse, it can result in women and girls being denied crucial educational and financial opportunities, Barto said in an interview with NBC News.

The recent passage of such legislation such as the bill signed by Idahos governor on March 30 raises questions about what, exactly, constitutes someone as being transgender. Legislators such as Representative Barbara Ehardt, a sponsor of the bill passed in Idaho, have said that genital exams and genetic and hormone testing could easily determine an athletes sex. However, in reality, sex testing may not be that simple, as it is difficult to come up with metrics to objectively distinguish between different sexes.

Some of the sex testing methods that Ehardt cited may even produce contradictory results. At the 1966 European Track and Field Championships in Budapest, Polish sprinter Ewa Kobukowska passed a genital exam and qualified as female. The following year, Kobukowska failed a chromosomal test, and was barred from participating in the European Cup womens track and field competition in Kiev. An analysis later found that she had a set of XXY chromosomes.

A similar issue arises when it comes to hormone testing. The International Association of Athletics Federation, which sets testosterone limits for women in racing events ranging from the 400-meter to one-mile race, bans athletes who produce abnormally-high levels of testosterone from participating in womens sports.

In 2011, the IAAF set the limit for womens testosterone levels at 10 nanomoles per liter of blood, widely considered the lower end of the typical testosterone level among males. This limit barred Dutee Chand, an Indian sprinter who naturally produces high levels of testosterone, from competition. Chand later won an appeal against her ban; the court agreed with Chand that there was no scientific evidence linking high testosterone levels to better athletic performance. The IAAF commissioned a study in 2017 and justified with data that was highly scrutinized lowered the limit to five nanomoles per liter seven years later, a change that was meant to ensure a level playing field for athletes, IAAF President Sebastian Coe said. Critics argued that the data was flawed, and urged the IAAF to retract the study, which was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

However, the IAAF stood firmly behind its study and said it would not retract the paper. Our evidence and data show that testosterone, either naturally produced or artificially inserted into the body, provides significant performance advantages in female athletes, Coe said. The press release goes on to state that most females have testosterone levels of between 0.12 to 1.79 nanomoles per liter, and that no females testosterone level would exceed the IAAFs new limit unless they had disorders of sex development or a tumor.

An example of a female athlete with higher than usual levels of testosterone is track champion Caster Semenya of South Africa. She began running seriously at age 12, and by the time she became an adult, she was competing in the Olympics. Due to her incredible success and ability, suspicion arose regarding Semenyas biological sex and levels of testosterone. She soon found herself the target of an extremely intrusive media investigation and was eventually barred from competing; after an investigation discovered that she was born with XY chromosomes, Semenyas genetic makeup was ruled an unfair advantage over her competition.

On August 19, 2009, Semenya won the 800-meter event in the World Championship by a landslide, but following this impressive feat came a seemingly never ending public investigation into her biological sex and sex characteristics.

Along with stripping Semenya of any type of celebration or praise for her accomplishments, the public reduced her feats to her gender. The scrutiny Semenya endured is disproportionate to her situation, as she is seconds off the world record and is relatively competitive with other female athletes, disproving the idea that she has an unfair advantage she is simply talented at what she does.

Typically, it is women who endure accusations of this nature. Michael Phelpss abnormally long wingspan is never labeled as an unfair advantage; it is simply a tool that makes him successful. Most professional basketball players are extremely tall compared to the general population, making them genetic oddities, and this is never labeled as an unfair advantage. Yao Ming, for instance, is a staggering 76 tall, a height thats inspired countless conspiracy theories about whether the star was bred in a lab rather than born to his 63 mother and 67 father. Tinfoil hats aside, Mings height enabled him to tower over even his fellow NBA competitors. Ming is nearly a full foot taller than the average NBA player, who stands at 67, and nearly two feet taller than the average American male, who stands at 59, which gives him a clear competitive advantage based on his genetics. And instead of protesting Usain Bolt, society hails him as the fastest man in the world, despite his body being described as built for speed due to his abnormal proportions. In a BBC News article, former Great Britain sprinter Craig Pickering said, Bolt is a genetic freak because being 65 tall means he shouldnt be able to do what he does at the speed he does given the length of his legs.

Along with stripping Semenya of any type of celebration or praise for her accomplishments, the public reduced her to her gender.

The main goal of most professional athletes is to be the best they can, so why was Semenya punished for her gift? The examples listed above are few compared to the gifted male athletes celebrated for the genetic gifts that enable them to compete leaps and bounds ahead of most athletes. And the countless examples seem to point to one central notion: men who are good at what they do are not held to the same unreasonable standards or stigma as their female counterparts.

Although Semenyas case has gained notoriety, she is not the first female athlete to face restrictions from her sport when her performances were deemed, essentially, too good to be true. Maria Jos Martnez-Patio, an internationally-recognized hurdler turned college professor, has a history that eerily parallels that of Semenya, so much so that Martnez-Patio calls herself the Semenya of the 1980s, according to a profile with the United Kingdoms Times. Martnez-Patio faced little scrutiny or public attention initially; at 22, she was given a certificate of femininity after passing a sex test the title is often awarded after enduring humiliating and intrusive tests such as gynecological exams, MRIs, and ultrasounds enabling her to advance to the quarter finals of the 100-meter hurdles at the world championships in Helsinki.

But in 1985, her troubles began.

At the World University Games, a new test karyotype analysis that examined her chromosomes directly found that she had an XY 46th chromosome, the chromosomal pattern typical of a biological male. Martnez-Patios story was more complex than her chromosomes she has androgen insensitivity syndrome which means her body doesnt respond to testosterone in a typical fashion, so any advantage she was perceived to have was likely naturally negated but the storm of public backlash that poured down on her was indifferent to that fact. After her test, Martnez-Patio was ruled ineligible to participate in femaleathletics, and even encouraged to fake an injury to leave quietly. She suddenly found herself barred from the sport shed played and loved all her life and newly privy to information regarding her sex that would leave anyones head spinning if not reconsidering what theyd thought was the truth about their gender their entire life. If the sudden onslaught that had struck Martnez-Patio wasnt already enough, the humiliation and shame of being pushed to lie, to leave gracefully not to make a scene was the final straw. Despite her initial compliance with the injury scheme, Martnez-Patio chose to fight back. In 1986, despite the public media skewering shed endured, she entered the Spanish national championships 60-meter hurdles event. She was told she had two options: withdraw from the event discreetly, or face public condemnation. She chose the latter. After competing and winning, she was stripped of her scholarship and athletic residency, and faced consequences in her private life that were far more hurtful than any Spanish press article.

In The Times article, Martnez-Patio describes how she suffered after the test. I lost my boyfriend because all the media said I was a man, Martnez-Patio said. On many occasions, I thought the best thing was to die because I could not stand so much suffering and injustice. I had to leave my residence in a high-performance center in Madrid within 24 hours. I was on the street. The most complicated thing is having to publicly demonstrate your status as a woman before the whole world. You feel as if everyone is talking about the amount of woman that you are. And this stigma accompanies you for the rest of your life.

Similarly to Martnez-Patios situation, when she was told to cease competing until her chromosomal test results were returned, the International Amateur Athletic Federation, or IAAF, requested Semenya to refrain from competing until there was a definitive conclusion from sex verification tests. As this all occurred, Semenya, her family and her team upheld the statement that she was biologically female and had identified as a woman since birth, regardless of her abnormal hormone levels.

However, this type of testing is not as accurate or conclusive as many hoped it would be. According to many studies and Dr. Gerald Conway, an endocrinologist who worked on the study of Semenyas hormones, while it is true that higher-than-usual levels of testosterone can give an individual an advantage in sport, this is not always the case.

There is an advantage to exposure to testosterone, which is why people use testosterone as an anabolic steroid, Conway said. There are natural conditions, where women normally have more testosterone in circulation, and they would have a biological advantage in many sports arenas.

But the quantitative level of testosterone in ones blood isnt the end all be all, as some women do not react to having high levels of the hormone because their bodies simply dont recognize it.

Katrina Karkazis, a cultural anthropologist and research fellow at Yale, co-authored the book Testosterone: An Unauthorised Biography with Rebecca Jordan-Young, a sociomedical scientist. In it, Karkazis and Jordan-Young critique and dismantle the previously believed effects testosterone has on the body.

In an interview with The Guardian, Karkazis discussed misconceptions about the actual impact testosterone can have on an athlete.

Testosterone is a very dynamic hormone, Karkazis said. Its actually responsive to social cues and situations. For example, if a coach gives you positive feedback, that can raise your testosterone level Where we run into trouble is trying to make comparisons across individuals based on testosterone levels. Sometimes its individuals with lower testosterone who do better. So its not as simple as saying more testosterone equals better performance.

Schuyler Bailar made history as the first openly transgender swimmer in the NCAA. As a member of the graduating class of 2019 from Harvard, the Virginia native took a gap year after high school during which he came out as transgender. After becoming a star swimmer in high school, Bailar had been recruited to swim for the womens team at Harvard, although after coming out he was unsure if he would be able to swim on the mens team once his education at Harvard began.

In an interview on the Ellen Show, Bailar said that while he has not been as competitive in mens heats in comparison to the dominance he showed when racing against women, he doesnt mind. Bailar admits that while he is no longer placing first, he is holding his own in races, defying people who support barring trans athletes from existing as themselves.

Im not winning anything, but I think Im not awful, Bailar said with a smile on his face. I keep up with my teammates and I keep up with the people around me, but Im not winning anything like I used to and thats definitely humbling.

While some people may argue that trans athletes fight to change which gender category they compete in for an advantage or other external reasons, Bailar is simply living life in a way that feels true to himself and because the sport is important to him. Along with being a swimmer, Bailar has become a public speaker, and aims to raise awareness about transgender youth in sports.

It [not winning] has helped me develop something I was working on before, which was learning to love swimming just for swimming, and I think that theres a lot of other kinds of glory in that, Bailar said.

I was just ecstatic and it was as much glory as I wouldve gotten in first place. Probably more, because I was myself.

Schuyler Bailar

Bailar has found that having the support of his team and improving on his own personal times can be just as exciting and rewarding as a medal.

In my last meet, I got sixteenth place, which obviously is not first place, Bailar said with a laugh. But the whole team was on the side of the deck and they jumped up and were screaming for me because I dropped a lot of time from my best, so I did really well relative to myself, and I was just ecstatic and it was as much glory as I wouldve gotten in first place. Probably more, because I was myself.

Elizabeth Edwards, an 18-year-old senior at the Urban School of San Francisco and a transgender woman, believes legislation which requires sex testing doesnt work and unfairly discriminates against transgender women like herself.

The requirement of gender reassignment surgery is ridiculous, especially considering the absurdly strict medical standards currently held in the US to qualify trans people to undergo them, Edwards said. Also, sex verification standards leads without fail to unfair standards of gender expression normativity that bear down on cis people, and result in cis people being disqualified on bases of uniquely high/low chemical levels that result from normal variance in such factors across the cisgender population.

A study conducted by researchers from the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Biochemistry at Brown University found that as many as 2% of the population have traits which deviate from the ideal male or female, including hormone levels and the structure of the internal genital duct systems and external genitalia. This seems to suggest that sex testing would not necessarily be as straightforward as critics suggest.

According to Edwards, at the professional level, the highest reasonable requirement should be proof that an athlete has undergone hormone reduction therapy for 18 months.

By that point, trans and cis people are chemically identical, and such quote-unquote biological dis/advantages such as bone density will have fallen to the wayside, Edwards said.

While research on this subject has hardly reached a consensus, a meta-analysis of eight research articles conducted by researchers from the Nottingham Centre for Gender Dysphoria and Loughborough University concluded that there is no evidence that hormones such as testosterone give transgender female athletes an advantage.

The analysis also reviewed 31 sport policies from various national and international competitions and found that rules restricting participation from transgender athletes discourage transgender athletes from participating in sports.

Within competitive sport, the athletic advantage transgender athletes are perceived to have appears to have been overinterpreted by many sport organisations around the world, which has had a negative effect on the experiences of this population, the analysis reads.

The researchers also write that sports organizations need to improve their policies to be more inclusive.

Given the established mental and physical health benefits of engaging in physical activity and sport, the barriers transgender people experience are a significant limitation to the promotion of healthy behaviours in transgender individuals, the analysis reads.

Kay Svenson, a Paly alum and recent graduate of Wellesley college, is a trans activist and believes that trans people, like all people, have the right to be treated in accordance with their gender identity, and this includes sports.

Sex-based discrimination is prohibited under Title IX, and that amendment is not up to the free interpretation of the (potentially transphobic) governing bodies of the state or local school district, Svenson said. We need to work harder to ensure that differences in birth anatomy do not shape our definition of athletic fairness.

Svenson believes that it is important that transgender people have the means and support to pursue their personal athletic careers, free of judgment.

Trans athletes have just as much of a right as cis athletes do to compete in the gender category that they identify with, Svenson said.

While there is no explicitly correct answer or proposed set of regulations surrounding the role of gender identity in sports today, if athletes and fans alike continue to ask hard questions respectfully and work towards giving everyone the opportunities to enjoy sports, compete as themselves, and make sure matches remains competitive, it will be a victory for everyone. Nonetheless, as gender identity and societal views surrounding the gender spectrum become more well understood and all-encompassing, the issues described will only become more complex. Its time to have conversations about this topic now so were ready for the more complex questions later.

Read more from the original source:
On the Basis of Gender - The Viking Magazine

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Life was hard enough for the one-third of Americans who had wrestled with anxiety prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, the disease that has killed almost 100,00 in the United States, left millions unemployed, and socially distanced many people from friends and family is causing fear, isolation, and financial distressa mentally toxic combination for many.

In fact, almost half of adults in the United States, 45 percent, say that worry and stress related to the coronavirus and the resulting economic downturn are hurting their mental health, according to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

We asked Harvard Business School experts who study well-being to share strategies for coping with this unsettling period to prevent the coronavirus blues from taking a huge toll, both personally and professionally.

You're not going to be a good [business] leader unless you know how to lead yourself, says Arthur C. Brooks, Arthur C. Patterson Faculty Fellow. You're not going to be a good entrepreneur unless you see that your life is your enterprise; your life is your startup.

Heres what Brooks and four other HBS experts recommend:

Focus on the here and now. In a matter of weeks, as the coronavirus rapidly began taking an increasing number of lives and livelihoods, people suddenly felt as if their future became murkier.

When uncertainty and disappointment morph into fear, people often try to gather information that might help them reduce their risksincluding spending hours reading or watching the news.

Rather than ruminating on the virus and replaying possible future outcomes in our minds, its best to let go of the notion that anyone can completely control the COVID-19 fallout and instead focus on today, say Brooks and Leonard A. Schlesinger, the Baker Foundation Professor.

This is such an impermanent state of affairs that we just have to do as best we can, Brooks says.

Make time for introspection. The coronavirus represents a historic inflection point that is likely to forever change us, as did the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

Brooks suggests using this period as an opportunity to take stock of your own life. Does your work reflect your values? Have you let some important relationships languish? Did you give up on a dream too soon?

One of the things that I feel is really important is that people not waste this moment, Brooks says. When something causes you to become introspective, that should be a moment and opportunity for intense personal growth.

Indeed, when we focus our energy on our strengths, we feel more authenticand that increases resilience and happiness, improves relationships, and reduces stress, according to research by Francesca Gino, the Tandon Family Professor of Business Administration. If we take time to reflect on what were good at and enjoy, we may discover that all the meetings we used to hold in the office sucked up too much time or that a trip to the childrens museum wasnt the key to bringing the family joy.

Rather than fighting for ways to get back to our usual routine or even just waiting for this crisis to end, a better approach is to embrace this time, Gino says. We might find new routines and activities that we appreciate more.

Tap into your inner spark of curiosity. Curiosity is critical to learning, innovation, and even higher levels of life satisfaction, so getting inquisitive could help us now. Preliminary results of a study Gino conducted during the coronavirus crisis shows that people with a heightened sense of curiosity feel less stress and approach their days thinking about what they might learn during this strange period, rather than feeling paralyzed by their changed circumstances.

To pique your own curiosity, consider setting regular learning goals, whether its figuring out a challenging piece of software, trying a new recipe, or searching for answers to the deep questions children ask because theyre naturally more curious, given that curiosity peaks at ages four and five.

When my child asks, Why is the sky blue? I turn it around and say, Why do you think its blue? How can we find the answer? Maybe before the pandemic we had places to go and we felt we didnt have a few extra minutes to look for the answers to those questions, says Gino, who has four children. Now we have an opportunity to do just that. Even learning something small can give you pleasure and a sense of accomplishment.

And if the house gets a little messy during a curiosity quest, thats OK. Gino recalls her two-year-old exclaiming it was snowing while scattering salt from an open jar all over the floor, or her young children running around the kitchen, flinging open cabinets, and putting colanders on their heads as hats.

I used to ask them to stop but, at some point, I realized I was contributing negatively to my own curiosity and theirs, she says. Usually, the chaos or mess is not as big or loud as I envisioned it would get. And the joy that comes out of the little mess is significantly higher than the small amount of cleaning you have to do afterward.

Schedule each day. Many parents are caring for their children and guiding their remote learning while trying to do their own jobsand feeling like theyre failing on all fronts. Eventually, thoughts about unfinished work tasks encroach on relaxation time, making people feel as though theyre always working.

Youre trying to stuff too much into a little sack and it keeps tearing open, Brooks says.

He recommends people schedule everything they need or want to do, whether its finishing a presentation or talking a walk. Sticking to the schedule will help restore some work-life balance and reduce cognitive load, freeing up mental bandwidth to efficiently process all the tasks people need to accomplish.

Focus on important projects. When people get stressed, they often look to accomplish tasks that are unimportant but feel urgent in the moment. So they spend their days feeling like theyre putting out small fires everywhere by answering emails and crossing relatively menial obligations off the to-do list.

To relieve time stress, people would benefit by setting aside blocks of time every day or even just once a week to work on the important heavy-lifting projects they put off but that weigh them downwhether personal or work-related, says Assistant Professor of Business Administration Ashley Whillans. If colleagues try to schedule meetings during that time, say no, and turn off alerts so youre not getting pinged with messages while trying to focus. Protect that time at all costs, Whillans says. It will help you feel more in control.

Its also OK to request more time to get work projects done if necessary, since studies show managers are generally willing to extend deadlines when employees ask. Its taking us longer to accomplish tasks right now, so we should ask for the time we reasonably need to get things done, Whillans says.

Gracefully bow out of extraneous activities. Many employers are trying to help their employees unwind by scheduling virtual coffee breaks, lunch gatherings, and happy hours with coworkers. But Whillans says companies should be careful about adding too many obligations to peoples already-full plates, even if their intention is to relieve stress through social interactions. And, if youre on the receiving end of these invitations and can tactfully decline, do it.

Adding more things to peoples schedules is not the way to go. All the video calls are especially exhausting, Whillans says.

Take time off, if you can. The demands of work havent slowed for many. And even in the best of times, people who report greater time scarcitythose who feel overwhelmed by having too much to do with not enough time to do everythingare more anxious and less satisfied with their lives, according to research by Whillans and Michael I. Norton, the Harold M. Brierley Professor of Business Administration.

Workers who are able to take time off and recharge during this disconcerting period will be more engaged when they return.

People often dont take the vacation time they have coming to them, and many are feeling even more hesitant to ask for time off right now. But they are also feeling really burned out, Whillans says. We have all had to do a lot of adapting in a short time, and we dont know when this is going to end. All the things we cant control are emotionally taxing, so, now more than ever, we need to take the personal time we have accumulated.

On days we do work, we should build in mini-mental health breaks to take a walk or enjoy coffee with a family member or friend, virtually or in person. Just taking 10 minutes to slow down can be helpful for our mental health, rather than being constantly in motion, Norton says.

Put your family first. People who stake their self-worth on financial success spend less time with family and feel lonelier as a result, Whillans recent research shows. We need to remember to set work aside and make time to connect in meaningful ways with family and friends, says Whillans, whose partners stressful work as an emergency room physician is a daily reminder to set her priorities straight.

I am really walking the talk in terms of my research right now, she says. The weight of whats going on underscores what really matters. We should be mindful about how we spend our timeand spending time together is much more precious than an abstract paper or phone call I dont need to take. Life is inherently unpredictable and uncontrollable, but what we say yes to are things we can control.

Naturally, emotions may flare when people are confined together. If you want your relationships to outlast the pandemic, resist the urge to express frustration through contempt, whether its a dismissive eye-roll or a sarcastic jab, Brooks says. Research by relationship scholar John M. Gottman found that couples who expressed contempt were more likely to divorce.

Hug it out. Schlesinger and Brooks recommend a simple strategy for relieving tension among friends and families who are quarantining together: Hug each other regularly for 20 seconds. This is the amount of time it takes to boost levels of oxytocinthe so-called love hormonein the brain to peak levels.

If youre lucky enough to have the physical presence of other folks in your house, grab one of them and hug them, Schlesinger says. And if youre social distancing alone, use videoconferencing tools to reach out to family and friends, so that you can look at each other as you talk, since eye contact also lifts oxytocin levels.

Connecting on social media, however, doesnt offer the same benefits. While use of social platforms has increased during the pandemic, with Facebook traffic rising by 50 percent in some countries, people dont get a boost of oxytocin from these interactions. Seeing random photos of happy families or political memes may even have the opposite effect and sap those good feelings. Outside of professional networking, its best to limit social browsing time to 30 minutes a day, Brooks and Schlesinger advise.

Lean on rituals. Continuing with longtime rituals, like making a partners coffee every morning or reading two storybooks to children before bed, can help couples and families bond and provide comfort at a time when so many other aspects of our lives have changed, Norton says.

With little kids, we dont mix up the bedtime ritual. We do the same thing in the same order because we know this is really important to them, Norton says. We think as grownups we dont need rituals anymore, but thats not the case. They help us calm our nerves.

Now people are adapting old ritualsby holding virtual Sunday dinners or gathering for church onlineand inventing new ones by going for walks on the same route every day or designating certain nights to playing games.

Preliminary data from a new study by Norton and HBS doctoral candidate Ximena Garcia-Rada shows more than half of parents have introduced new rituals since the crisis startedand many say they help their families cope. Even rituals that may seem annoying or kids complain about and ask why they have to do them are centering for families, Norton says. People need the familiar things that bond them even more during this crisis.

Rituals can also help employees working from home add boundaries around their workday. When people typically arrive home from work, they often have a corner or a mudroom where they drop their stuff, Norton says. Now many people have work all over the place. He advises storing laptops and work-related materials in a certain spot to mark the end of the workday.

Perhaps most tragically, social distancing has halted many in-person communal grieving rituals like wakes and funerals, adding to the sorrow of people mourning loved ones. Yet, even if the typical ceremonies arent practical right now, people can benefit from creating their own private, idiosyncratic rituals. One woman who lost a spouse years ago told Norton, I washed his car every week as he used to do.

Theres no ancient text to say you should wash someones car, Norton says. But, by doing something personally relevant and symbolic, she felt better.

Share your money and time with others. Material purchases are less satisfying than buying experiences like taking a trip or attending a show, Nortons research shows. Even though vacations and restaurant outings may not be in the cards right now, we can still spend money in ways that foster shared experiences with loved ones.

For example, buying a ping-pong table, TV, or online movie subscription for the family to enjoy together might make you happier than purchasing a phone to use by yourself, he says.

Also, the research shows spending money on other people makes us happier than spending it on ourselves. Many are doing just that, donating a portion of their stimulus checks to food banks or to friends who are out of work. Some are helping others in non-financial ways, including recovered coronavirus patients donating plasma to help the sick.

During this crisis, you see people doing incredibly altruistic, kind, giving things, such as people getting food and medicine to the elderly neighbors theyve never met before, Norton says. When you give generously to others, it makes you happier than when you focus only on yourself.

Expressing gratitude also acts as a powerful source of well-being, increasing dopamine levels and boosting productivity, says Gino. Ive gotten into the habit of calling or writing a note to people I havent talked to in a while to express gratitude for something they have done, she says. Showing someone else appreciation makes us feel good.

While life might have seemed simpler and more predictable prior to the coronavirus invading our world, thats probably an illusion. A cluttered home will probably still be messy when the virus abates.

Don't romanticize what life was before the coronavirus, Schlesinger says. Your house wasnt perfect.

When Schlesinger checks in with his grown children, he reminds them that the COVID-19 pandemic will end. Eventually, people will return to work, whether at their old jobs or new positions. Children will go back to school and catch up on missed lessons. The economy will stabilize.

And then, Brooks says, we'll look back on this and say, Hey, remember when we were all home together?

Dina Gerdeman is senior writer at Harvard Business School Working Knowledge, and Danielle Kost is senior editor.

[Image: jeffbergen]

Share your insights below.

Originally posted here:
Fighting the COVID Blues: Advice from Business Research - Harvard Business School Working Knowledge

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

SAN FRANCISCO, May 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The global hormone replacement therapy marketsize is expected to reach USD 39.6 billion by 2027, expanding at a CAGR of 7.7%, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. A significant rise in the incidence rate of hormonal disorders in the newborns, adults, and elderly and populations is driving the market. The Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) affects one in every 15,000 newborns, thereby boosting the demand for the therapy.

Key suggestions from the report:

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Estrogen replacement hormone therapy helps in reducing the vaginal indications of menopause, such as dryness, burning, itching, and pain during intercourse. Estrogen is available in the forms of pill, gel, skin patch, cream or spray form. It is highly successful for treating problematic menopausal night sweats and hot flashes. Around 45% of women between the ages of 40 to 60 years of age were reported taking counseling sessions from a physician regarding the advantages and disadvantages of using hormone replacement therapy (HRT) after menopause.

Growing awareness about menopausal signs and the treatment options is growing the HRT market. Owing to the significant development for ERT, there has been an initiation of very safe treatment options for the patients situated in various geographies of the world. For example, augmentation of innovative drug delivery systems like transdermal estrogen patches and vaginal estrogen drugs.

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About Grand View Research

Grand View Research, U.S.-based market research and consulting company, provides syndicated as well as customized research reports and consulting services. Registered in California and headquartered in San Francisco, the company comprises over 425 analysts and consultants, adding more than 1200 market research reports to its vast database each year. These reports offer in-depth analysis on 46 industries across 25 major countries worldwide. With the help of an interactive market intelligence platform, Grand View Research helps Fortune 500 companies and renowned academic institutes understand the global and regional business environment and gauge the opportunities that lie ahead.

Contact:

Sherry JamesCorporate Sales Specialist, USAGrand View Research, Inc.Phone: +1-415-349-0058Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519Email: sales@grandviewresearch.com

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Hormone Replacement Therapy Market Size Worth $39.6 Billion By 2027: Grand View Research, Inc. - P&T Community

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Newtown May 18, 2020 (Thomson StreetEvents) -- Edited Transcript of Onconova Therapeutics Inc earnings conference call or presentation Thursday, May 14, 2020 at 8:30:00pm GMT

* Abraham N. Oler

Onconova Therapeutics, Inc. - Senior VP of Corporate Development & General Counsel

Onconova Therapeutics, Inc. - CFO

Onconova Therapeutics, Inc. - Chief Medical Officer and Senior VP of Research & Development

* Steven M. Fruchtman

Onconova Therapeutics, Inc. - CEO, President & Director

Laidlaw & Company (UK) Ltd., Research Division - MD of Healthcare Research & Senior Biotechnology Analyst

H.C. Wainwright & Co, LLC, Research Division - MD of Equity Research & Senior Healthcare Analyst

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standby, and welcome to the Onconova Therapeutics First Quarter 2020 Earnings and Corporate Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Mr. Avi Oler, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and General Counsel. Thank you, sir. Please go ahead.

Abraham N. Oler, Onconova Therapeutics, Inc. - Senior VP of Corporate Development & General Counsel [2]

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon and welcome to Onconova's First Quarter 2020 Corporate Update and Financial Results Conference Call. Earlier this afternoon, we issued a press release outlining our financial results and business progress during the quarter. If you have not seen this press release, it is available on the Investor Relations page of our website at http://www.onconova.com.

On today's call, Dr. Steve Fruchtman, President and CEO, will discuss the company's recent highlights and anticipated clinical and business milestones. After Steve completes his opening remarks, Mark Guerin, our Chief Financial Officer, will review first quarter financial results. Following Mark's report, we will move to the Q&A portion of the call, which will be joined by Dr. Rick Woodman, our Chief Medical Officer. Lastly, Steve will come back with some final comments and a review of our upcoming milestones.

Before we begin, I remind everyone that statements made today during this conference call will include forward-looking statements under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve risks and uncertainties that can cause actual results to differ materially. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made as the underlying facts and circumstances may change. Except as required by law, Onconova disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future information, events or circumstances. Please see the forward-looking statements disclaimer in the press release issued this afternoon and the risk factors in the company's current and future filings with the SEC.

With that, it is my pleasure to now turn the call over to Steve.

Thank you, Avi. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining today's call. First, our hearts go out to the many individuals and families impacted by the devastating COVID-19 pandemic. The world has truly changed, and we hope that brilliant scientists from around the world can bring new therapies and preventions to this devastating plague.

Onconova demonstrated significant progress during the first quarter of 2020, highlighted by the completion of enrollment of our pivotal Phase III INSPIRE trial in higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes. We are fortunate to have achieved full enrollment prior to the profound impact of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced disruptions to research studies at many hospitals and cancer centers across our globe.

With enrollment now completed, Onconova's pivotal Phase III INSPIRE trial is advancing to the next pivotal catalyst. Based on historical survival trends in the INSPIRE trial, we continue to anticipate reporting top line survival data in the second half of 2020. And we expect to present the results of the INSPIRE trial at a major medical meeting later this year. With INSPIRE enrollment now complete, we are preparing for when we reach 288 survival events before analyzing and releasing top line survival data.

To shorten time lines for our anticipated NDA submission to the FDA, we have already begun NDA work prior to data readout. We are working with regulatory consultancy experts on our NDA document for the U.S. FDA as well as on the MAA document for the EMA to be in position to expedite our health authority applications when data becomes available.

We are also advancing our plans to be ready for commercialization. And to develop internal Onconova expertise, we have nominated a commercial expert, Ms. Terri Shoemaker, to our Board, who was instrumental in the commercialization of azacitidine, the most frequently prescribed pharmaceutical agent in higher-risk MDS.

As you recall, INSPIRE is an open-label, randomized, controlled, international study designed to determine the efficacy, safety and tolerability of single-agent intravenous rigosertib in the treatment of patients with second-line, high-risk MDS. Patients in this study are less than 82 years of age and have progressed on, relapsed or failed to respond to previous treatment with the standard of care hypomethylating agent therapy. The study randomized patients to receive either intravenous rigosertib with best support of care or the physician's choice of therapy with best support of care.

The primary end point of this study is overall survival of all randomized patients in the intent-to-treat population. There is also a second opportunity for an FDA approval, which is the sequential analysis of the overall survival of the very high-risk subgroup as defined by the revised International Prognostic Scoring System. Should rigosertib prolong survival in the INSPIRE trial in a statistically significant manner, we believe rigosertib could be the first new treatment for higher-risk MDS in more than 15 years.

Today, we disclosed that at the European Hematologic Association's upcoming virtual congress, Onconova and our collaborators at MD Anderson Cancer Center and the centers participating on the INSPIRE trial have an accepted presentation. The presentation, which was just posted to the European Hematology Association's website, detail the impact of the RAS pathway mutations on patients failing azacitidine and is entitled, Mutations in RAS Pathway Genes Correlates with Type of Failure to Azacitidine: Genomic Analysis at Randomization onto the INSPIRE Trial.

As you know, advances in the understanding of genomics have revolutionized cancer care. Participants on the INSPIRE trial received deep genomic sequencing of their blood or bone marrow at randomization and at multiple time points in their treatment during the study. The genomic data from the INSPIRE trial identifies the most common mutations in high-risk MDS following azacitidine failure, including those of the RAS pathway that may be targeted by rigosertib. We believe this data presentation will further advance the learnings about MDS, the important role of genomics and the possible place of rigosertib treatment for MDS and other RAS-driven cancers.

We have made important progress with our additional pipeline programs as well. In addition to the INSPIRE trial, we are advancing plans for a pivotal Phase II/III combination trial of oral rigosertib and azacitidine in adult patients with HMA-naive, higher-risk MDS. We received feedback from the FDA in 2019 and are preparing a Phase II/III protocol for submission based on their guidance. We anticipate meeting with the FDA in the third quarter of this year after submitting a Type C meeting request to consult with FDA. We anticipate this new registration trial will begin later this year following the FDA feedback and following the survival pivotal data readout from our INSPIRE study.

We have also received notification that the Phase I trial, which forms the basis for this new pivotal trial with oral rigosertib combined with azacitidine in HMA-naive, high-risk MDS patients, has been accepted for publication in Leukemia Research and anticipate its publication in the upcoming months.

In addition to studying rigosertib in MDS, we are primed for additional rigosertib development progress, including the to be initiated Phase I/IIa study of rigosertib plus nivolumab in Stage 4 KRAS-mutated lung adenocarcinomas following the reopening of clinical cancer research programs post the COVID-mandated stoppage as well as additional planned indications for rigosertib in other KRAS-mutated cancers and our pipeline programs. The study in KRAS-mutated lung adenocarcinoma will be an investigator-sponsored trial, and we anticipate the first patient will be enrolled following the mitigation of the burden of the COVID pandemic that has been placed on our academic medical centers.

While checkpoint inhibitors represent a significant advancement in the standard of care in treating lung cancer and have achieved blockbuster status many times over, tremendous unmet medical need continues to exist following disease progression. In our view, this makes our novel combination approach with rigosertib a very attractive option to pursue in lung cancer and potentially beyond.

And beyond rigosertib, ON123300 is our investigational first-in-class dual inhibitor of CDK4/6 and ARK5. We believe ON123300 has the potential to treat numerous cancers, including refractory metastatic breast cancer, with CDK4/6 inhibitors already commercially available. For those who are not familiar with this field, CDK inhibitors have emerged as promising compounds targeting very large cancer indications such as hormone receptor-positive metastatic breast cancer. Due to its unique targeting of ARK5 as well as CDK4 and 6, we believe ON123300 has the potential to overcome many of the existing agents' limitations, making it potentially suitable for certain cancers that may not be responsive to the current generation of commercially available CDK4/6 inhibitors. If successful, we believe ON123300 could address this very large market opportunity.

We maintain global rights of ON123300 outside of China. Our partner in China for this compound is HanX Biopharmaceuticals, who funded the Chinese IND-enabling studies. The Chinese IND was approved in January of 2020 by the Chinese health authority. We anticipate a Phase I study may begin in China in the second half of 2020. We also intend for the Chinese IND-enabling studies to comply with our FDA standards. To the U.S. and the rest of the world outside of China, our manufacturer for ON123300 is now qualified. We plan to file a U.S. IND in the fourth quarter of 2020 after obtaining the required manufacturing data.

With regard to business development. During the first quarter, we reacquired rigosertib rights in Greater China. As a result, Onconova controls the rights for rigosertib in the U.S., Europe and China, which are among the largest pharmaceutical markets in the world. Last year, we announced plans to launch an early access program with Inceptua Medicines Group. We anticipate launching this program in select countries in the second half of this year. We expect to continue to evaluate opportunities as we progress from one milestone to the next milestone.

As a reminder, our upcoming Annual General Meeting of Stockholders is coming up on May 27. I encourage stockholders to vote at our upcoming Annual General Meeting. Our proxy materials are available on our website. I am very excited that Onconova's Board of Directors has nominated life science industry veteran, Terri Shoemaker, to join the Board at this time. As mentioned, Terri has highly relevant experience in the MDS space. Terri was a key executive in the launch of azacitidine in MDS and will be a very valuable addition to our Board of Directors. We believe her experience in developing and managing commercial organizations in the life science industry will be instrumental in our efforts moving forward as we prepare for potential commercialization of rigosertib.

And now I'd like to turn the call over to Mark Guerin, our Chief Financial Officer, for a discussion of our financial results for first quarter 2020. Mark?

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Mark Patrick Guerin, Onconova Therapeutics, Inc. - CFO [4]

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Thanks, Steve, and good afternoon, everyone. Cash and cash equivalents as of March 31, 2020, totaled $31 million compared to $22.7 million as of December 31, 2019. As previously noted, common stock warrant exercises since our financing transaction in November 2019 have added $10.6 million of cash to our balance sheet. Also, of the almost 29 million stock warrants outstanding as of March 31, 2020, over 80% of them were in-the-money as of May 13. Based on our current projections, we expect that our cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to fund our ongoing trials and operations into the third quarter of 2021.

Our net loss was $5.1 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2020, compared to $7.6 million for the comparable period in 2019. Research and development expenses were $3.4 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2020, and $4.1 million for the comparable period in 2019. General and administrative expenses were $1.8 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2020, and $3.2 million for the comparable period in 2019.

This completes my financial review. I'll now turn the call back to Steve.

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Steven M. Fruchtman, Onconova Therapeutics, Inc. - CEO, President & Director [5]

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Thank you so much, Mark. With that, we'd like to open the call for questions. After the Q&A, I'll finish with some final closing remarks. Operator, please open the call to Q&A session, and thank you.

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Questions and Answers

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Operator [1]

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(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Joe Pantginis with H.C. Wainwright.

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Joseph Pantginis, H.C. Wainwright & Co, LLC, Research Division - MD of Equity Research & Senior Healthcare Analyst [2]

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Glad you're all doing well. So I have 3 questions, 2 of which, I think, are pretty much logistical. The first one is with regard to INSPIRE, it's great that you enrolled everyone right now and things are progressing and the time lines are still on track. So I was just curious, as part of your -- I guess, call it, your statistical assumptions now with COVID, is there a potential for any loss to follow up for any of these patients that you might not hear about some of these events? Or is it not a concern?

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Steven M. Fruchtman, Onconova Therapeutics, Inc. - CEO, President & Director [3]

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I'll ask Rick to take that question, and thank you, Joe.

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Richard Charles Woodman, Onconova Therapeutics, Inc. - Chief Medical Officer and Senior VP of Research & Development [4]

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Yes, Joe. Thank you. The main challenge with the COVID pandemic for our global study has been monitoring of the sites. Fortunately, the number of patients in which we are not able to confirm survival events is extremely small. And we anticipate that continuing in part due to the efforts of our CRO and the clinical research assistance in the field and the team in Onconova as well as some good luck. And I think that we anticipate for the remainder of the collection of survival events that we will be able to continue doing that monitoring. But it is a challenge, and the monitors and the team have -- had to develop unique ways in which to interact with the sites because of the pandemic.

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Joseph Pantginis, H.C. Wainwright & Co, LLC, Research Division - MD of Equity Research & Senior Healthcare Analyst [5]

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Got it, Rick. And then my second logistical question, if you will. I know we discussed this in the past, but sometime has elapsed, and I just want to make sure if your thinking is still the same with regard to the communication strategy around putting out the data for INSPIRE. So since you're looking to present them at a major medical meeting in the second half, I'll just say presumably ASH, would you look to then have one of those typical top line press releases to say, okay, it hit, and we'll give the further data at an upcoming conference? Or not hit as...

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Steven M. Fruchtman, Onconova Therapeutics, Inc. - CEO, President & Director [6]

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Avi, why don't -- I'll ask Avi to take that one, if I may. Go ahead, Avi.

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Abraham N. Oler, Onconova Therapeutics, Inc. - Senior VP of Corporate Development & General Counsel [7]

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Sure. Sure thing. In terms of communication, Joe, thanks for the question, but you're exactly right that we would anticipate announcing the data when it is ready at a top line level and presenting full data at an upcoming major medical meeting such as ASH or another major medical meeting.

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Joseph Pantginis, H.C. Wainwright & Co, LLC, Research Division - MD of Equity Research & Senior Healthcare Analyst [8]

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Got it. And then my question is -- or my third and last question. With regard to the upcoming Type C meeting, obviously, you've already had a lot of productive discussions with the FDA around the study design. So I guess I would ask it 2 ways. What's your wish list of what you want to get out of there? And what are the key outstanding things that you need to get solidified?

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Steven M. Fruchtman, Onconova Therapeutics, Inc. - CEO, President & Director [9]

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Rick?

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Richard Charles Woodman, Onconova Therapeutics, Inc. - Chief Medical Officer and Senior VP of Research & Development [10]

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Yes, Joe. So I think the first part to your question is that we want to get agreement from the FDA on a novel, unique, adaptive design, a combination of a Phase II/III. And this adaptive design we presented at ASH and some of the unique features. We feel this design is particularly advantageous for us in a variety of ways as well as the medical community and the health authorities. And I think it is the additional challenge that we have is developing, particularly, as we indicated in the abstract at ASH, a very rigorous and robust interim analysis that allows us to move forward into the Phase III part of the study.

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Operator [11]

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Your next question comes from the line of Naureen Quibria with Maxim Group.

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Naureen Quibria, Maxim Group, LLC - Senior Equity Research Associate [12]

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So first, I guess, starting first with INSPIRE. Can you remind us or are you able to disclose what the current event rate is right now? And is there an average number of events that you're seeing per month? Are you able to discuss that in any detail?

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Steven M. Fruchtman, Onconova Therapeutics, Inc. - CEO, President & Director [13]

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I think I'll try my hand at that, and thank you very much. We did reveal, I believe mid-March, that we have over 85% of our survival events that we require of the 288. And the reality is it's quite variable. We do monitor by month every -- the survival events that we see, it is variable. But based on what we are observing, we anticipate reaching pivotal data the second half of 2020. So before the end of the year. It's harder -- it's very hard to make a more accurate prediction than that.

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Naureen Quibria, Maxim Group, LLC - Senior Equity Research Associate [14]

Original post:
Edited Transcript of ONTX earnings conference call or presentation 14-May-20 8:30pm GMT - Yahoo Finance

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

RALEIGH, N.C., May 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Marius Pharmaceuticals announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued two key patents related to its lead asset, Kyzatrex*. Kyzatrex is an oral Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) that uses an innovative formulation to improve effectiveness and safety.

These allowed claims will provide strong IP protection to December 2030, over 8 years of potential commercial runway. They supplement Marius Pharmaceuticals already robust global patent portfolio for Kyzatrex, which includes granted patents in the European Union, Canada, China, Taiwan, Japan, New Zealand and other key markets, and pending applications in India, and US. Marius Pharmaceuticals patent portfolio includes filings that extend protection to 2033, with the potential to extend protection out to 2040.

The allowed claims protect Kyzatrex, an innovative formulation designed to increase bioavailability and provide a favorable pharmacokinetic (PK) profile compared to other therapeutic alternatives. Om Dhingra, Chief Executive Officer of Marius commented This innovation is truly exceptional as we have created a formulation with a unique PK profile which we believe drives important clinical significance.

Marius Pharmaceuticals Chief Financial Officer Shalin Shah said We are very pleased to strengthen the intellectual property portfolio for Kyzatrex and excited that it has tremendous potential to be differentiated and unique option in the TRT space. We are also drawing a line in the sand between a new treatment paradigm and old testosterone therapies.

Marius Pharmaceuticals has recently completed its pivotal Phase 3 study for Kyzatrex and intends to submit its New Drug Application (NDA) to the Food & Drug Administration (FDA).

About Kyzatrex

Kyzatrex is an experimental therapy for the treatment of primary and secondary hypogonadism (congenital or acquired). Testosterone is a crucial hormone that plays key roles in human growth and development and a wide range of other functions including metabolic and cardiovascular. Sources estimate that 15 million men in the United States suffer from hypogonadism, but only approximately 10% are currently treated. The co-morbidities of men suffering from hypogonadism are also a significant burden on patients and the healthcare system, these include Type 2 Diabetes and other serious chronic conditions.

Current marketed treatments are dominated by painful injections and messy topical applications with transference risk. Kyzatrex is an orally administered therapy, which avoids those drawbacks. Market research points to 93% of patients indicating they would ask their physician about Kyzatrex and more than half would consider a switch from their current regimen.

About Marius Pharmaceuticals

Marius pharmaceuticals is a cutting-edge biopharma company focusing on treating widespread conditions that have been triggered primarily through Androgen deficiency. Our pipeline consists of assets focused on inflammation while our commercial arm is at the forefront of data science technologies core to our commercialization of our lead asset Kyzatrex.

*Kyzatrex is a tentative Tradename currently under review with the FDA

For more information, contact:Shalin Shahshalin@mariuspharma.comwww.mariuspharma.com

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Marius Pharmaceuticals Announces Issuance of Two Key Patents Protecting its Proprietary Oral Testosterone Therapy - Yahoo Finance

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

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The Economic Impact of Coronavirus on Male Hypogonadism Market Analysis and Value Forecast Snapshot by End-use Industry 2019-2021 - 3rd Watch News

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Breakthrough genome editing companies includingEditas (NASDAQ:EDIT) and Intellia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NTLA) have been in a tailspin since late 2019, and the latest earnings reports from both of those companies show that their revenue from collaborations and partnerships has started to dry up despite positive revenue growth overall.

Both companies aim to produce gene therapies utilizing CRISPR-based genetic editing in living patients, though their methods of delivering that therapy differ substantially. Neither company has a product on the market, though Editas beat Intellia to clinical trialsin April when it began testing EDIT-101 for Leber congenital amaurosis, a type of congenital blindness. Nonetheless, Editas is many years away from its first therapy being approved for sale, assuming that EDIT-101 proceeds past phase 1.

Investors considering either of these two companies should be aware that both are risky choices with no guarantee of a payoff over any term. There is one significant difference that wise investors will weigh carefully, however: Editas's partnerships and strategic collaborations appear positioned to be far more fruitful for the company than Intellia's.

Image source: Getty Images.

Intellia is a slightly smaller company than Editas, but its pipeline is comparable in breadth. The companies are of similar age, with Editas having been founded in 2013 and Intellia in 2014. However, Intellia's network of collaborations and research partnerships is far less lucrative, and its pipeline projects may soon require new funding to move forward.

Intellia's partners include pharma giantNovartis (NYSE:NVS) and biotechRegeneron (NASDAQ:REGN). Novartis made a substantial equity investment in Intellia as part of that partnership, and Novartis also retained exclusive rights to develop any engineered CAR-T cancer therapies produced by the collaboration. Intellia also agreed to give Regeneron the exclusive right to develop CRISPR-based therapies targeted at any of 10 different genes in the liver.

The terms of these collaborations make Intellia unable to capitalize on major successes beyond extending the depth of integration with its partners. Thus, in the long view, the company's path forward would still require moving its wholly owned therapy candidates to market, even if its approach is proven by a collaborator's success.

Editas's partnerships, on the other hand, are substantially more equitable. Editas's major drug development collaborations include Allergan (now part of AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) and biopharma giantBristol Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY). The expectation with these collaborations is that the more mature partner companies will be responsible for clinical-stage development, with Editas providing trial-ready therapy candidates and a technology platform to develop similar therapies according to the partners' needs.

Should these candidates show promise in phase 2 clinical trials investigating preliminary efficacy, the company's collaborators would likely respond by initiating new collaborations to capitalize on Editas's platform before its output is replicated by a competitor like Intellia. But Editas isn't in the same position as Intellia with regard to its major collaborations because it has a chance to capture the upside of collaborators' successes as well.

Editas's collaboration with Allergan specifies that both parties have optionality to co-develop any successful programs, and that Editas will share the revenue and losses of those programs equally with Allergan.And Editas's previous collaborations with companies like Celgene demonstrate that companies collaborating with Editas do so to access its gene-editing platform as customers as much as partners.

Editas also has partnerships with research-stage small preclinical companies such as Sandhill Therapeutics. Sandhill's therapeutic platform could benefit immensely from integrating Editas' genetic editing technologies. A similar research-stage pact with BlueRock Therapeutics initiated in 2019 has already advanced to clinical pipeline collaborations for Editas, proving that working with external peers is one of the company's organizational strengths.

It's important to remember that Editas's collaboration advantage is far from the only ingredient the company needs to survive in the medium term. Reliable revenue remains absent, and collaborations are vulnerable to amendment if the company can't deliver what its collaborators need to move products through the clinical trial process.

Data by YCharts

For the moment, neither Editas nor Intellia warrants a definite buy, and present holders of Intellia may want to consider selling. If Intellia cancels any of its preclinical programs, consider it a strong sign that the company's health is deteriorating. Look at Editas's performance in the second and third quarters to see if they're on the right track for a buy early next year, but understand that waiting until next year to reevaluate the company's situation is probably the wisest path.

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Here's Why Editas Could Beat Intellia to a CRISPR Therapy - Motley Fool

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

A desperately needed tool to curb the COVID-19 pandemic is an inexpensive home-based rapid testing kit that can detect the coronavirus without needing to go to the hospital.

The Food and Drug Administration has approved a few home sample collection kits but a number of researchers, including myself, are using the gene-editing technique known as CRISPR to make home tests. If they work, these tests could be very accurate and give people an answer in about an hour.

I am a biomolecular scientist with training in pharmaceutical sciences and biomedical engineering and my lab focuses on developing next-generation of technologies for detecting and treating cancer, genetic and infectious diseases.

The COVID-19 disease is caused by a coronavirus named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Unlike humans which carry their genetic material encoded in DNA, the coronavirus encodes theirs in a related molecule called RNA.

My research group recently engineered a sensitive CRISPR-based technology, that we named CRISPR-ENHANCE, and used it to create a rapid test for SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Our assay works like a pregnancy test and shows two purple colored lines if the sample is positive for the virus. Using our technology, I envision developing a test kit that would allow rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in saliva within 45-60 minutes at home without needing any expensive equipment.

The FDA recently gave a green light to a couple of sample collection kits from LabCorp and Everywell under the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) that would allow people to ship out the nasal swab samples for analysis. Patients can take a swab of their nose, ship the samples to a lab, and wait for a few days to get the results back.

Although not an at-home testing kit, the test allows the samples to be shipped directly to a lab for detecting SARS-CoV-2 RNA. There they use a technique called reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), which converts the viral RNA into DNA so that it can be easily multiplied and detected.

Although most FDA-approved tests are based on detecting SARS-CoV-2 RNA at an early stage, before symptoms even appear, such tests can only be performed in a laboratory setting with expensive equipment and can take multiple days to get the results.

Several antibody testing kits have been approved by the FDA that use a paper-based lateral flow strip, also similar to an at-home pregnancy testing strip, for detecting antibodies called IgM and IgG. Almost all SARS-CoV-2 infected patients make antibodies within 19 days of onset of symptoms and then the body continues to make detectable antibodies for several weeks to months even after symptoms fades away. Therefore, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends using antibody tests for detecting past infections.

However, the coronavirus is usually very active and contagious in the first week of infection and peaks on the day of onset of symptoms. Therefore, to prevent the spread of coronavirus, it is extremely important to detect coronavirus early to block the spread.

The antibody testing can be great for detecting past infections but they cannot reliably detect current or early infections. The delayed appearance and patient-to-patient variability of antibodies in a blood test further complicates the COVID-19 diagnosis with antibody testing kits.

In addition, the variability between different antibody testing methods have raised doubts about the reliability of these test kits.

Therefore, the National Institutes of Health recently announced a Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) which offers up to US$500 million in funding for ramping up the technologies that detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Most people know of CRISPR/Cas systems as a famous gene-editing technology that can precisely edit DNA. Researchers engineer a guide RNA molecule with a target genetic sequence that serves like a GPS and zooms in on a location on the DNA where a Cas protein, a pair of molecular scissors, can cut at the desired location.

Scientists in the labs of Feng Zhang at MIT, Jennifer Doudna at UC Berkeley and others discovered several newer versions of CRISPR/Cas systems, including ones using the proteins Cas12a and Cas13a-d, which get crazy cutting once they find their match.

My colleagues and I have used this Cas12a-based CRISPR technique to detect the coronavirus.

The coronavirus RNA activates CRISPR/Cas, transforming a pair of controlled molecular scissors into an unstoppable chainsaw. When the the CRISPR/Cas enzyme activates, we know that the genetic sequence of the coronavirus is present in the saliva sample. To make the signal of the coronavirus stronger in the testing kit, we add millions of synthetic reporter molecules which are also chopped up by the CRISPR/Cas mechanism. This means that within minutes we can detect detect the presence of coronavirus.

Under EAU, the FDA recently approved the first CRISPR-based SARS-CoV-2 RNA testing kit from Sherlock Biosciences for testing nasal swabs in a lab. Although not yet approved for at-home testing, this is a big leap toward the development of CRISPR-based diagnostics.

While similar CRISPR-based test kits are in development including one from Mammoth Biosciences and others, our CRISPR-ENHANCE technology relies on engineered CRISPR RNAs that increases the speed of Cas12a chainsaw by between three- and four-fold.

This technique dramatically enhances the sensitivity of detection. Our system can detect fewer virus in a clinical sample faster with a clear visual readout. We are in the process of clinically validating the CRISPR-ENHANCE technology for SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection.

Standard collection method for detecting respiratory viruses in the clinic is the nasal swab. However, coronaviruses have been detected at comparable levels in saliva so some researchers are now turning to saliva for diagnostic testing.

Collecting saliva is not only less invasive than the nasal swabs but also contains more virus, which makes it easier to detect with RT-PCR. In fact, an at-home saliva collection kit just received a green light by the FDA on May 8, 2020. In our validation study we will be internally comparing our test between the nasal swabs and saliva for FDA approval.

We are developing a six-step procedure for home-based testing for saliva along with the nasal swabs. Here is how it would work with saliva.

Spit into a sample collection tube that contains dry chemical reagents that will begin to react with your saliva when you drop the closed tube into the warm water for 30 minutes.

The heat helps the chemicals break up the virus particle and expose the viruss genetic material RNA. The RT-PCR reagents basically multiply the viral RNA creating billions of copies, which are more easily detected.

After 30 minutes, transfer the contents of the collection tube to a second tube containing dried CRISPR components and leave it at room temperature for 10-15 minutes.

Only if CRISPR/Cas finds the specific coronavirus RNA, will it become active and chop up the synthetic reporter molecules that are engineered and added to this second tube. This part happens in just six minutes.

We then drop a paper strip into the second tube. Within 30 seconds one or two purple bands reveal the results.

The health care provider can then direct the individual to either quarantine, isolate and/or recommend further testing such as antibody-based tests. In our study, currently under peer review, we demonstrated that the ENHANCE technology itself is versatile and can also be adopted for detecting a range of targets including HIV, HCV and prostate cancer.

While there are several labs and companies are rushing to develop similar CRISPR-based coronavirus detection kits for saliva testing, we believe our approach offers the fastest detection. We hope to bring the cost of the kit down to between $1 and $2 so that developing countries can also afford a rapid and reliable coronavirus testing kit.

[You need to understand the coronavirus pandemic, and we can help. Read The Conversations newsletter.]

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Rapid home-based coronavirus tests are coming together in research labs were working on analyzing spit using advanced CRISPR gene editing techniques...

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

On May 18, 2020, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) heard argument in Interference No. 106,115,University of California1v. Broad Institute2. The interference involves 10 patent applications of University of California (UC), and 13 patents and one patent application of Broad Institute (Broad), all of which have claims covering CRISPR-Cas9 technology in eukaryotic cells. The hearing took place before a panel of three administrative patent judges, Judge Katz, Judge Lane, and Judge Moore.

A patent interference is a proceeding formerly used to determine who first invented a claimed invention. Interferences were phased out in 2012 legislation, but patents or applications effectively pending before March 2013 still can be subject to an interference.

In January 2017, the PTAB declared a first interference between Broad and UC to determine which party was the first to invent the CRISPR-Cas9 technology. Instead of holding either party as prevailing, the PTAB determined there was no interference-in-fact, because Broad's invention, directed to CRISPR-Cas9 in eukaryotic cells, would not have been obvious from UC's invention, which claims the CRISPR-Cas9 system generically. Hence, the parties' patent claims were not directed to the same invention. The decision was upheld by the Federal Circuit in April 2018.

Shortly after the PTAB decision in the first interference, UC filed patent applications with claims directed to CRISPR-Cas9 system in eukaryotic cells. The newly filed UC claims cover essentially the same scope as Broad's claims that survived the first interference.3The patent examiner decided these claims were otherwise in condition for allowance except for a potential interference with Broad's claims. Subsequently, the PTAB declared the current interference on June 24, 2019.

Typically, one of the parties in an interference is deemed the "senior party," which means the party is entitled to the presumption that it is the prior inventor to make the earliest constructive reduction to practice. Any other party would be a "junior party." Curiously, neither Broad nor UC was accorded the benefit of the priority date of their first provisional application. Rather, both parties were accorded the date of the non-provisional applications involved in the interference, which made Broad the senior party based on dates of their non-provisional applications. Both parties have submitted motions and exhibits to support arguments for the benefit of an earlier priority date, and arguments against the other party's benefit. Most other motions have been deferred until a decision on the issues argued before the PTAB on May 18.

The arguments on May 18, 2020 mainly involved three issues: 1) whether the current interference should be barred by the PTAB's decision in the first interference as affirmed by the Federal Circuit; 2) whether UC should be accorded benefit of the date of its first provisional application (P1); and 3) whether Broad's motion for a different count should be granted.

Regarding the first issue, Broad took the position that the current interference should be barred under the doctrine known as estoppel. Essentially, Broad contended that the current interference proceeding should not have taken place, because the same issues based on same facts were already litigated in the first interference. In rebuttal, UC argued that the legal issue, i.e., whether UC's P1 would have sufficiently enabled a skilled person to use CRISPR-Cas9 in eukaryotic cells, was never litigated or decided.

The first and the second issues are more or less related. According to Broad, even though UC's P1 was not litigated in the first interference, it contained no new facts or experiments other than a laundry list of routine techniques. Broad also pointed to UC's own scientists' frustration and difficulties with CRISPR in eukaryotic cells, which they successfully relied on in the first interference. In response, UC maintained that P1 enclosed all necessary and sufficient components to use CRISPR-Cas9 in eukaryotic cells, because one would only need ordinarily known techniques to make the eukaryotic application. Judge Katz asked if there was anything special about one of the technologies (microinjection in zebrafish embryo, in particular) that UC argued as readily available at the time of P1, but didn't get a clear answer.

The third issue relates to a patent "count." At an early stage of an interference, the PTAB would determine a count, which defines the scope of the proofs for priority. The losing party of an interference would not be entitled to claims patentably indistinct from the count. In the current interference, the original count was directed to a eukaryotic cell comprising CRISPR-Cas9 system with a single guide RNA. Broad has submitted motions for a count that is not limited to single guide RNA only, but covers both single and dual guide RNAs. When UC argued that Broad should be held to the single guide RNA count it originally proposed, Judge Katz questioned the consistency of claim interpretation, as some of Broad's claims would fall out of the scope of the current count.

We expect the PTAB to issue a decision on the above discussed motions in the next one-to-three months. A decision for Broad on estoppel should result in a quick final judgment: the current interference proceeding will then be terminated. If the PTAB decides for UC with accorded benefit of priority, the interference will be redeclared, with UC as the senior party. If either party ends up with a significantly earlier accorded benefit date, the other party might face an order to show cause from the judges, because it would have to prove a massive amount of diligence to get behind the other party's benefit. The PTAB may also decide to change the count based on Broad's claims, or designate certain Broad claims as not corresponding to the count.

If the PTAB makes any decision other than a final judgment or an order to show cause, the parties will likely proceed to a phase where priority is determined, and where the deferred substantive motions may be argued and decided, for example, the parties' motions on patentability and inequitable conduct. Given the history of the patents and applications involved, this next phase could be quite complex and expensive for both parties.

[1] The Regents of the University of California, University of Vienna, and Emmanuelle Charpentier, collectively referred to as UC.

[2]The Broad Institute, Inc., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Presidents and Fellows of Harvard College, collectively referred to as Broad.

[3] See, for example, U.S. Patent Application No. 15/981,807, claim 156.

View post:
Patent Trial and Appeal Board Hears Argument in CRISPR Patent Priority Dispute - JD Supra

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Researchers are racing against time to find ways to treat and prevent COVID-19. There is currently no treatment for the disease, and the World Health Organisation has created Solidarity, a global clinical trial which is testing four drugs as possible treatment. There are also more than 90 vaccine trials being undertaken worldwide, but it may take more than a year before a vaccine is developed. And there is currently a global shortage of COVID-19 testing kits.

One of the methods researchers are exploring to combat COVID-19 is gene editing. Gene editing could potentially be used on the genome of the virus that causes COVID-19, to make it harmless. It could be used to develop better testing kits, and could even be used to edit the human genome to prevent people from being infected by the virus.

But gene editing is associated with a range of ethical issues such as safety, equal access and consent. Bioethicists and researchers believe that gene editing in humans must be proven to be safe before it can be offered as a treatment option. There is also the issue of equal access to treatment, which must be considered.

To ensure that an ethical approach to research for a cure for COVID-19 is taken, the International Bioethics Committee and the World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology issued a joint statement calling for an interdisciplinary dialogue among scientific, ethical and political stakeholders. The joint statement does not describe specific treatment options, but it calls on the research community to work together to find a cure using a bioethics and ethics of science and technology perspective which is rooted in human rights.

Scientists have considered the possibility of CRISPR (or clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) technology being used to address the COVID-19 pandemic. CRISPR is a mechanism that arose in bacteria millions of years ago to fight off disease. The CRISPR protein can be used to target specific sequences of DNA, which it then cuts like a pair of scissors. The cut DNA strand can then repair itself, or a new DNA sequence can be inserted. It has now been turned into a biological tool for editing genomes of biological organisms in order to modify them or target disease. It therefore has a number of different uses, from improving crop quality to correcting genetic conditions.

There are three potential ways that CRISPR may help fight COVID-19:

CRISPR has the potential to disable the virus that causes COVID-19 by editing its genome so that it is, in effect, made harmless. Using an approach called PAC-MAN (Prophylactic Antiviral Crispr in huMAN cells), researchers at Stanford University have shown that CRISPR has the ability to attack the SARS-CoV-2 genetic makeup and reduce the amount of virus in a test solution by 90%. Research is ongoing, but its thought that this approach is so effective, it might have the potential to stop the disease in people. There would be no barrier to this research as long as researchers abide by the ethical and legal guidelines that apply to their institution and country.

Gene editing tools have the potential to improve testing rates and could be an answer to the global shortage of COVID-19 tests. Apart from being a gene editing tool, CRISPR is also a diagnostic tool, and can be used to detect infection in cells. Scientists are hopeful that CRISPR based testing will alleviate the global testing burden. While many of these tests are still in the development stage, the Food and Drug Administration approved a CRISPR-based COVID-19 diagnostic test by a Cambridge biotech start-up on 8 May 2020. The test can provide results within an hour, and the company making it claims that more than 1 million tests can be performed in a week. In order for these tests to be legally made available for use, they would need to be approved by the appropriate regulatory authority, such as the Food and Drug Administration in the US, or South Africas Health Products Regulatory Authority.

CRISPR creates the potential to edit peoples genes to make them resistant to infection. So, if we cant stop the virus, can we stop ourselves from getting infected? Gene editing in humans takes one of two forms: somatic cell editing and germline editing.

Somatic cell editing affects a persons body cells, while germline editing involves editing the DNA in sperm, eggs or embryos, resulting in genetic changes in an individuals descendants. There are a number of somatic cell CRISPR clinical trials being undertaken and some treatments have been successful. But germline editing is more controversial and over 40 countries prohibit it in their law.

When the Chinese scientist He Jiankui used CRISPR to edit the genomes of two children, he was criticised as acting unethically, since the safety and efficacy of germline editing has not been established. Scientists around the world called for a five-year moratorium on it. He Jiankui was sentenced to three years in prison in 2019.

There are also laws which will obstruct this potential use of CRISPR. Article 3 of the Oviedo Convention states that an intervention seeking to modify the human genome may only be undertaken for preventive, diagnostic, or therapeutic purposes and only if its aim is not to introduce any modification in the genome of any descendants. This has been interpreted as expressly forbidding germline gene editing.

National law can also prohibit this. Section 57 of South Africas National Health Act states that a person may not manipulate any genetic material, including genetic material of human gametes, zygotes or embryos. Section 57 is enacted to prohibit human reproductive cloning. But this law was enacted before CRISPR even existed and it mimics the approach taken in international law against genetic manipulation of gametes and embryos. There are licensed somatic cell CRISPR therapies available. But there are potential legal barriers to the lasting protection which germline CRISPR intervention would give us.

There is pressure on researchers to develop safe and effective treatment and vaccines. CRISPR technology has been used in a variety of ways, but it raises a series of ethical and legal issues with regard to its potential use in humans.

So far, scientists have been cautious about putting CRISPR technology to use in humans. But should CRISPR be considered as a legitimate weapon in the fight against the pandemic, knowing that time is of the essence? While we all act together in the fight against COVID-19, it cannot be at the expense of ethical and legal standards.

Continue reading here:
COVID-19 and gene editing: ethical and legal considerations - The Conversation Africa

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Global Genome Editing Market By Technique (CRISPR, Zinc Finger Nucleases, TALENs, Restriction enzymes, Others), By Applications (Synthetic Biology, Engineering Cell Line and Organisms, Others), By Source, By End-User, By Region, Forecast & Opportunities, 2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global Genome Editing Market is expected to grow at a brisk rate during the forecast period owing to growing number of research activities for treatment of various chronic diseases using this technology. Further, increased government funding for genomics technology around the globe, growing preference for personalized medicine and increase in R&D expenditure are fueling the market growth of genome editing.

Genome editing is a way of making specific changes to the DNA of a cell or organism. It could be used to edit the genome of any organism. It uses a type of enzyme called an engineered nuclease' which cuts the genome in a specific place. After cutting the DNA in a specific place, the cell naturally repairs the cut. It finds application in large number of areas, such as mutation, therapeutics, and agriculture biotechnology. Moreover, rise in the number of chronic and infectious diseases is likely to fuel the market for genome editing in the coming years.

The Global Genome Editing market is segmented based on technique, applications, source, end-user and region. Based on applications, the market is segmented into synthetic biology, engineering cell line & organisms, therapeutic genome editing and others. Among them, the cell line engineering is expected to witness the highest growth rate in the coming years due to increase in the number of people suffering with genetic disorders and rising government funding for stem cell research.

Based on end-user, the Global Genome Editing Market is segmented into pharmaceutical & biotechnology companies, clinical research organization and research institutes. Pharmaceutical & biotechnology companies contribute to the largest share of revenue generation for the Global Genome Editing Market. Growing establishments of biotech and pharma companies in emerging economies and growing usage of gene editing technique in research activities undertaken by them to manufacture and develop drugs for rare diseases anticipated to fuel the market across the globe.

Companies Mentioned

Objective of the Study:

Key Topics Covered:

1. Product Overview

2. Research Methodology

3. Executive Summary

4. Global Genome Editing Market Outlook

4.1. Market Size & Forecast

4.2. Market Share & Forecast

4.3. Market Attractiveness Index

5. Asia-Pacific Genome Editing Market Outlook

5.1. Market Size & Forecast

5.2. Market Share & Forecast

5.3. Market Attractiveness Index

5.4. Asia-Pacific: Country Analysis

6. Europe Genome Editing Market Outlook

6.1. Market Size & Forecast

6.2. Market Share & Forecast

6.3. Market Attractiveness Index

6.4. Europe: Country Analysis

7. North America Genome Editing Market Outlook

7.1. Market Size & Forecast

7.2. Market Share & Forecast

7.3. Market Attractiveness Index

7.4. North America: Country Analysis

8. South America Genome Editing Market Outlook

8.1. Market Size & Forecast

8.2. Market Share & Forecast

8.3. Market Attractiveness Index

8.4. South America: Country Analysis

9. Middle East and Africa Genome Editing Market Outlook

9.1. Market Size & Forecast

9.2. Market Share & Forecast

9.3. Market Attractiveness Index

9.4. MEA: Country Analysis

10. Market Dynamics

10.1. Drivers

10.2. Challenges

11. Market Trends & Developments

12. Competitive Landscape

12.1. Competition Outlook

12.2. Players Profiled (Leading Companies)

13. Strategic Recommendations

14. About Us & Disclaimer

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/tgb83z

Read the original:
Outlook on the Worldwide Genome Editing Industry to 2025 - Featuring Pfizer, Bayer Crop Science & Editas Medicine Among Others -...

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Global CRISPR Technology Market 2020 offers detailed research and analysis of the COVID-19 impact provided in-depth information on leading growth drivers, restraints, challenges, trends, and opportunities to offer a complete analysis of the global CRISPR Technology market. Market participants can use the analysis on market dynamics to plan effective growth strategies and prepare for future challenges beforehand. Each trend of the global CRISPR Technology market is carefully analyzed and researched about by the market analysts.

Click the link to get a Sample Copy of the Report:

https://www.marketinsightsreports.com/reports/05212028897/COVID-19-Impact-on-CRISPR-Technology-Market-Global-Research-Reports-2020-2021/inquiry?source=coleofduty&Mode=48

Top Companies in the Global CRISPR Technology Market: Thermo Fisher Scientific, Merck KGaA, GenScript, Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT), Horizon Discovery Group, Agilent Technologies, Cellecta, GeneCopoeia, New England Biolabs, Origene Technologies, Synthego Corporation, Toolgen

CRISPR technology is a relatively new technology used in genome editing or gene editing; CRISPR-CAS-9 is a palindromic repeats cluster and is found naturally in bacteria. This sequence allows the bacteria to protect them from the virus by producing segments enzyme that cuts RNA or DNA virus and inactivate the virus. This ability of the CRISPR-CAS9 has allowed scientists to make DNA and RNA library as needed and their applications. CRISPR-CAS9 technology has potential applications in treating human disease, creating a gene library, and manipulate cell functions such as metabolism.

Market Segmented by Types:

Enzymes

Kits

gRNA

Libraries

Design Tools

Market Segmented by Applications:

Biomedical

Agricultural

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Regional Analysis:

For comprehensive understanding of market dynamics, the global CRISPR Technology Market is analyzed across key geographies namely: United States, China, Europe, Japan, South-east Asia, India and others. Each of these regions is analyzed on basis of market findings across major countries in these regions for a macro-level understanding of the market.

Important Features that are under Offering and Key Highlights of the Reports:

Detailed overview of Market

Changing market dynamics of the industry

In-depth market segmentation by Type, Application etc.

Historical, current and projected market size in terms of volume and value

Recent industry trends and developments

Competitive landscape of Market

Strategies of key players and product offerings

Potential and niche segments/regions exhibiting promising growth

Take a look at some of the important sections of the report:

Market Overview:It starts with product overview and scope of the global CRISPR Technology market and later gives consumption and production growth rate comparisons by application and product respectively. In addition, it provides statistics related to market size, revenue, and production.

Production Market Share by Region:Apart from the production share of regional markets analyzed in the report, readers are informed about their gross margin, price, revenue, and production growth rate here.

Company Profiles and Key Figures:Each company profiling of leading players operating in the market growth keeping in view vital factors markets served, production sites, price, gross margin, revenue, production, product application, product specification, production sites and product introduction.

Manufacturing Cost Analysis: Readers are provided with detailed manufacturing process analysis, industrial chain analysis, manufacturing cost structure analysis, and raw materials analysis.

Market Dynamics:The analysts explore critical influence factors, market drivers, challenges, risk factors, opportunities, and market trends.

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Finally, CRISPR Technology Market report is the believable source for gaining the Market research that will exponentially accelerate your business. The report gives the principle locale, economic situations with the item value, benefit, limit, generation, supply, request and Market development rate and figure and so on. This report additionally Present new task SWOT examination, speculation attainability investigation, and venture return investigation.

Note: All the reports that we list have been tracking the impact of COVID-19. Both upstream and downstream of the entire supply chain has been accounted for while doing this. Also, where possible, we will provide an additional COVID-19 update supplement/report to the report in Q3, please check for with the sales team.

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CRISPR Technology Market Technology Advancements, Overview and Developments in Medical Industry 2020 to 2021 - Cole of Duty

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

The global Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats(CRISPR) Technology market study encloses the projection size of the market both in terms of value (Mn/Bn US$) and volume (x units). With bottom-up and top-down approaches, the report predicts the viewpoint of various domestic vendors in the whole market and offers the market size of the Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats(CRISPR) Technology market. The analysts of the report have performed in-depth primary and secondary research to analyze the key players and their market share. Further, different trusted sources were roped in to gather numbers, subdivisions, revenue and shares.

The research study encompasses fundamental points of the global Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats(CRISPR) Technology market, from future prospects to the competitive scenario, extensively. The DROT and Porters Five Forces analyses provides a deep explanation of the factors affecting the growth of Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats(CRISPR) Technology market. The Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats(CRISPR) Technology market has been broken down into various segments, regions, end-uses and players to provide a clear picture of the present market situation to the readers. In addition, the macro- and microeconomic aspects are also included in the research.

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The key players covered in this studyThermo Fisher ScientificMerckGenScriptIntegrated DNA TechnologiesHorizon Discovery GroupAgilent TechnologiesCellectaGeneCopoeiaNew England BiolabsOrigene TechnologiesSynthego CorporationToolgen

Market segment by Type, the product can be split intoProductsServicesMarket segment by Application, split intoBiomedical ApplicationsAgricultural ApplicationsIndustrial ApplicationsBiological Research

Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaCentral & South America

The study objectives of this report are:To analyze global Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats(CRISPR) Technology status, future forecast, growth opportunity, key market and key players.To present the Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats(CRISPR) Technology development in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India and Central & South America.To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their development plan and strategies.To define, describe and forecast the market by type, market and key regions.

In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats(CRISPR) Technology are as follows:History Year: 2015-2019Base Year: 2019Estimated Year: 2020Forecast Year 2020 to 2026For the data information by region, company, type and application, 2019 is considered as the base year. Whenever data information was unavailable for the base year, the prior year has been considered.

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The Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats(CRISPR) Technology market research covers an exhaustive analysis of the following data:

The Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats(CRISPR) Technology market research addresses critical questions, such as

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The global Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats(CRISPR) Technology market research considers region 1 (Country 1, country 2), region 2 (Country 1, country 2) and region 3 (Country 1, country 2) as the important segments. All the recent trends, such as changing consumers demand, ecological conservation, and regulatory standards across different regions are covered in the report.

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COVID-19: Potential impact on Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats(CRISPR) Technology Market by Application Analysis 2019-2029 -...

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

The Smithsonians National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute is asking the public to help name the litter of four cheetah cubs born April 8 at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) in Front Royal, Virginia. The births were streamed live on the Zoos new cheetah webcam, and virtual viewers have been watching them grow ever since. Keepers currently identify each cub by a small shave mark on their left shoulder (male), right hip (female), left hip (male) and base of the tail (male). Voters can select their favorite names from May 22 to May 26on the Zoos website.

The names were selected from a list submitted to SCBIs cheetah animal care team by staff from across the Zoo, SCBI and Friends of the National Zoo (FONZ), the Zoos membership organization. There are three possible name choices for the female cub and five choices for the three male cubs. The names that receive the most votes will be bestowed on the cubs. Keepers will assign the winning names to the individual animals. The winning names will be announced May 27.

The name choices for the female cub are:

The name choices for the three male cubs are:

The cubs were born to first-time mom, 5-year-old Echo and sired by 4-year-old Scott. Staff have been closely monitoring Echo and her cubs via the webcam. Keepers approached the cubs for the first time April 14. Less than a week later, the cubs were sexed and weighed. The cubs had their first vet exam May 20. Follow #CheetahCubdates on the Zoos Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to stay up-to-date on cheetah cub milestones.

The cheetah webcam is one of six live animal webcams hosted on the Zoos website. A downloadable animal webcam educational activity packet is available. As the cheetah cubs continue to grow, they will spend more time outside the den. If the cubs are not on the cam,the public can check out the photos and videos located on the cams page.

SCBI is part of the Cheetah Breeding Center Coalitiona group of 10 cheetah breeding centers across the United States that aim to create and maintain a sustainable North American cheetah population under human care. These cubs are a significant addition to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan for Cheetahs, as each individual contributes to this program. Earlier this year, SCBI experts performed a successful in vitro fertilization resulting in two cubs.

Cheetahs live in small, isolated populations mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. Many of their strongholds are in eastern and southern African parks. Due to human conflict, poaching and habitat- and prey-base loss, there are only an estimated 7,500 to 10,000 cheetahs left in the wild. TheInternational Union for Conservation of Natureconsiders cheetahsvulnerableto extinction.

As a public health precaution due to COVID-19, the Smithsonians National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute is temporarily closed to the public. Animal keepers and veterinary staff remain working on site at the Zoo and SCBI to provide the usual highest quality care for the animals.Due to the public closure, a COVID-19 Emergency Fund has been created as the Zoo is no longer receiving important funds on which it relies.Additional information on the Zoos COVID-19 response is posted to theZoos website. During the closure, the Zoo is sharing animal updates from behind the scenes using the hashtag #NatZooZen onFacebook,InstagramandTwitter.

The Zoos legacy of conservation work extends beyond the public Zoo in Washington, D.C., to SCBI in Front Royal, Virginia. Scientists at SCBI study and breed more than 20 species, including some that were once extinct in the wild, such as black-footed ferrets and scimitar-horned oryx. Animals thrive in specialized barns and building complexes spread over more than 3,200 acres. The sprawling environment allows for unique studies that contribute to the survival of threatened, difficult-to-breed species with distinct needs, especially those requiring large areas, natural group sizes and minimal public disturbance.

SCBI spearheads research programs at its headquarters in Virginia, the Zoo in Washington, D.C., and at field research stations and training sites worldwide. SCBI scientists tackle some of todays most complex conservation challenges by applying and sharing what they learn about animal behavior and reproduction, ecology, genetics, migration and conservation sustainability.

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Smithsonian's National Zoo Seeks Help in Naming Four Cheetah Cubs - Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith