Monthly Archives: September 2022

Biochemistry

Atavistik Bio Announces Formation of Scientific Advisory Board – Business Wire

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Atavistik Bio, a pre-clinical biotechnology company that is leveraging their scalable and systematic platform to identify novel regulatory sites on proteins to restore function in disease, announced the formation of its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) comprised of distinguished leaders in protein sciences, inborn errors of metabolism, and cancer.

We are proud and honored to have these accomplished scientific leaders join our Scientific Advisory Board, said Marion Dorsch, President and CSO of Atavistik Bio. Together, they bring a wealth of knowledge and experience for Atavistik Bio as we leverage our powerful screening and analytics platforms to unlock the potential of protein-metabolite interactions with the goal to bring transformative therapies to patients. Atavistik Bio looks forward to the input of these outstanding scientists and their contribution to our research and development efforts. Feedback and collaboration with our SAB will be critical to advance our efforts to develop therapies to patients in need. It is a very exciting time for all of us at Atavistik Bio.

The founding members of the Atavistik Bio Scientific Advisory Board are:

Dr. Ralph DeBerardinis is Chief of Pediatric Genetics and Metabolism at UT Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW) and Director of the Genetic and Metabolic Disease Program at Childrens Medical Center Research Institute at UTSW (CRI). His laboratory studies the role of altered metabolic pathways in human diseases, including cancer and pediatric inborn errors of metabolism. Work from the DeBerardinis laboratory has produced new insights into disease mechanisms in numerous metabolic diseases, including by defining unexpected fuel preferences in human cancer and uncovering new metabolic vulnerabilities in cancer cells. Dr. DeBerardinis is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and has received numerous awards including the William K. Bowes, Jr. Award in Medical Genetics, the National Cancer Institutes Outstanding Investigator Award, The Academy of Medicine, Engineering & Science of Texass Edith and Peter ODonnell Award in Medicine, and the Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine and the Association of American Physicians.

Dr. DeBerardinis received a BS in Biology from St. Josephs University in Philadelphia before earning MD and PhD degrees from the University of Pennsylvanias School of Medicine. He completed his medical residency and post-doctoral training at The Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) in Pediatrics, Medical Genetics and Clinical Biochemical Genetics.

Dr. Jared Rutter is a Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry and holds the Dee Glen and Ida Smith Endowed Chair for Cancer Research at the University of Utah where he has been on the faculty since 2003. His laboratory has identified the functions of several previously uncharacterized mitochondrial proteins, including the discovery of the long-sought mitochondrial pyruvate carrier. This knowledge has demonstrated that this critical metabolic step is impaired in a variety of human diseases, including cancer and cardiovascular disease. In addition, the Rutter lab is taking multiple approaches to understand how metabolic state influences cell fate and cell behavior decisions. Dr. Rutter has been an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute since 2015 and serves as co-Director of the Diabetes and Metabolism Center at the University of Utah and co-Leader of the Nuclear Control of Cell Growth and Differentiation at Huntsman Cancer Institute.

Dr. Rutter performed undergraduate studies at Brigham Young University and received his PhD from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in 2001, working with Dr. Steve McKnight. After receiving his PhD, he spent 18 months as the Sara and Frank McKnight Independent Fellow of Biochemistry before joining the faculty at the University of Utah.

Karen Allen, Ph.D. is Professor and Chair of Chemistry at Boston University. For over 25 years, she has led research teams at Boston University, in the Departments of Physiology and Biophysics at the School of Medicine, and Chemistry. She is also a Professor of Material Science and Engineering and on the faculty of the Bioinformatics program at Boston University. The structure-aided design approach in the Allen lab encompasses the use of macromolecular X-ray crystallography, small-angle X-ray scattering, molecular modeling, and kinetics.

Karen received her B.S. degree in Biology, from Tufts University and her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Brandeis University in the laboratory of the mechanistic enzymologist, Dr. Robert H. Abeles. Following her desire to see enzymes in action she pursued X-ray crystallography during postdoctoral studies as an American Cancer Society Fellow in the laboratory of Drs. Gregory A. Petsko and Dagmar Ringe.

Kivanc Birsoy, Ph.D. is a Chapman-Perelman Associate Professor at Rockefeller University. His research at Rockefeller focuses on how cancer cells rewire their metabolic pathways to adapt to environmental stresses during tumorigenesis and other pathological states. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Special Fellow award, Margaret and Herman Sokol Award, NIH Career Transition Award, Irma Hirschl/Monique Weill-Caulier Trusts Award, Sidney Kimmel Cancer Foundation Scholar Award, March of Dimes Basil OConnor Scholar Award, AACR NextGen award for Transformative Cancer Research, Searle Scholar, Pew-Stewart Scholarship for Cancer Research and NIH Directors New Innovator Award.

Kivanc received his undergraduate degree in Molecular Genetics from Bilkent University in Turkey in 2004 and his Ph.D. from the Rockefeller University in 2009, where he studied the molecular genetics of obesity in the laboratory of Jeffrey Friedman. In 2010, he joined the laboratory of David Sabatini at the Whitehead Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he combined forward genetics and metabolomics approaches to understand how different cancer types rewire their metabolism to adapt nutrient deprived environments.

Benjamin Cravatt, Ph.D. is the Gilula Chair of Chemical Biology and Professor in the Department of Chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute. His research group develops and applies chemical proteomic technologies for protein and drug discovery on a global scale and has particular interest in studying biochemical pathways in cancer and the nervous system. His honors include a Searle Scholar Award, the Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry, a Cope Scholar Award, the ASBMB Merck Award, the Wolf Prize in Chemistry, and memberships in the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Ben is a co-founder of several biotechnology companies, including Activx Biosciences (acquired by Kyorin Pharmaceuticals), Abide Therapeutics (acquired by Lundbeck Pharmaceuticals), Vividion Therapeutics (Acquired by Bayer Pharmaceuticals), Boundless Bio, Kisbee Therapeutics, and Kojin Therapeutics.

Ben obtained his undergraduate education at Stanford University, receiving a B.S. in the Biological Sciences and a B.A. in History. He then received a Ph.D. from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in 1996, and joined the faculty at TSRI in 1997.

The SAB will be co-chaired by Dr. DeBerardinis and Dr. Rutter, the scientific founders of Atavistik Bio, and work closely with the company to advance their leading-edge metabolite protein screening platform discovery programs. Im delighted to be appointed Co-Chair of Atavistik Bios Scientific Advisory Board, and to be part of such a distinguished group of experts, said Dr. DeBerardinis. Together we aim to guide Atavistik Bio through the development of its pipeline while maximizing the potential of the companys technology platform, stated Dr. Rutter.

About Atavistik Bio

Atavistik Bio is a pre-clinical biotechnology company that is harnessing the power of protein-metabolite interactions to add a new lens to drug discovery with the aim of transforming the lives of patients. By leveraging its optimized Atavistik Metabolite Protein Screening (AMPS) platform and computational approaches, Atavistik Bio aims to evaluate metabolite-protein interactions by screening proteins with their proprietary metabolite library to determine where binding sites with biological relevance might exist. This will enable Atavistik Bio to build an extensive protein-metabolite database map (the Interactome) to reveal unique insights into the crosstalk between metabolite-protein pathways that were previously thought to be unrelated. Utilizing advanced informatics tools, deep expertise in chemistry and computationally rich structure-based drug design, Atavistik Bio will be able to identify and understand the role of these interactions across important biological and disease-relevant pathways to drive the discovery of novel therapeutics with an initial focus on inborn errors of metabolism and cancer. Atavistik Bio is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For more information, visit http://www.atavistikbio.com.

Continued here:
Atavistik Bio Announces Formation of Scientific Advisory Board - Business Wire

Biochemistry

BU investigator wins highly competitive awards to study the role of proteases in regulation of cellular defenses – News-Medical.Net

Mohsan Saeed, PhD, assistant professor of biochemistry at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), has received a five-year, $2 million R35 grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, as well as a five-year, $2.5 million R01 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. It is extremely rare for an early-stage investigator to win these highly competitive awards during the same funding cycle.

Human cells respond to foreign agents such as pathogens and toxins by initiating a strong innate defense response that creates a protective environment in the cells and incapacitates the invading pathogens and foreign substances. The initiation, activation and resolution of this innate defense response is a carefully regulated process designed to avoid both hyperactivation and underactivation of the immune system, either of which can lead to tissue damage, organ dysfunction and microbial diseases.

With his R35 award, Saeed and his colleagues hope to generate new knowledge about the role of proteases (enzyme which breaks down proteins and peptides) in the regulation of cellular defenses and inform the development of strategies to improve the performance of innate defense mechanisms against escalating microbial and environmental threats.

Enteroviruses are human pathogens that replicate in multiple organs and cause a variety of diseases, including gastroenteritis, pneumonia, myocarditis and encephalitis. Currently, little is known about how enteroviruses alter the biology of infected cells. Using his R01 grant, Saeed plans to clarify the role of enteroviral proteases in changing the host cell environment during infection.

Saeed received his MPhil in microbiology from Quaid-e-Azam University, Pakistan, where he studied the molecular epidemiology of polio-like viruses in patients suffering from paralysis. He then joined the University of Tokyo, receiving his PhD in pathology, immunology and microbiology. During his doctoral studies, he developed novel cell culture systems for the study of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and investigated various aspects of this virus in diverse in vitro and in vivo settings.

He then entered the laboratory of Nobel Laureate Dr. Charles M. Rice at the Rockefeller University, New York, for his postdoctoral training. Although his research in the Rice Lab mainly focused on HCV, he also gained expertise with a number of other positive-strand RNA viruses, including enteroviruses, flaviviruses and alphaviruses. In addition, Saeed developed a novel "viral degradomics" technique that allows an unbiased identification of cellular proteins cleaved during viral infections.

Saeed joined BUSM in 2019; his group explores the role of viral and host proteases in disease mechanisms of positive-strand RNA viruses at the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL). In early 2021 when COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, his lab pivoted to SARS-CoV-2 research and has since made contributions to the molecular understanding of how SARS-CoV-2 establishes infection in various tissues and interacts with the human innate and adaptive immune systems.

More here:
BU investigator wins highly competitive awards to study the role of proteases in regulation of cellular defenses - News-Medical.Net

Biochemistry

Will rapid COVID tests be able to detect new variants? – Futurity: Research News

Share this Article

You are free to share this article under the Attribution 4.0 International license.

New research evaluates how rapid tests will perform when challenged with future SARS-CoV-2 variants.

The availability of rapid antigen tests has significantly advanced efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19. But every new variant of concern raises questions about whether diagnostic tests will still be effective.

The new study in Cell attempts to answer these questions.

The researchers developed a novel method for evaluating how mutations to SARS-CoV-2 can affect recognition by antibodies used in rapid antigen tests.

Because most rapid antigen tests detect the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein (N protein), the team directly measured how mutations to the N protein affected diagnostic antibodies ability to recognize their target.

Based on our findings, none of the major past and present SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern contain mutations that would affect the capability of current rapid antigen tests to detect antibodies, says first author Filipp Frank, an assistant professor in the department of biochemistry at Emory University. Further, these data allow us to look one step ahead and predict test performance against almost any variant that may arise.

The study used a method called deep mutational scanning to evaluate all possible mutations in the N protein in a single, high-throughput experiment. Researchers then measured the impact of the mutations on their interaction with antibodies used in 11 commercially available rapid antigen tests and identified mutations that may allow for antibody escape.

Accurate and efficient identification of infected individuals remains a critically important strategy for COVID-19 mitigation, and our study provides information about future SARS-CoV-2 mutations that may interfere with detection, says senior study author Eric Ortlund, a professor in the department of biochemistry. The results outlined here can allow us to quickly adapt to the virus as new variants continue to emerge, representing an immediate clinical and public health impact.

Findings show that its relatively rare for variants to have mutations to the N protein that allow them to evade diagnostic tests, but there are a small proportion of sequences that could affect detection. Researchers, public health officials, and test manufacturers can use these data to determine if a diagnostic test needs to be evaluated for its ability to detect these mutations or to inform future test design.

Considering the endless cycle of new variants, the data from this study will be useful for years to come, says Bruce J. Tromberg, director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) and lead for the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) Tech program at National Institutes of Health.

While many variants of concern contain multiple mutations to the N protein, the study authors note that their method does not evaluate how multiple mutations could affect diagnostic antibody recognition, representing a limitation of the study.

Support for the project came from NIBIB as part of the RADx initiative.

Source: Emory University

Link:
Will rapid COVID tests be able to detect new variants? - Futurity: Research News

Human Behavior

What Are the Brits Mad at Meghan Markle for This Time? – The Cut

Photo: Gregorio Borgia/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

Ever since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepped down from their royal responsibilities, the only thing more inescapable than bean drama in England is all the silly reasons people are mad at Meghan. The period of national mourning over Queen Elizabeth IIs death has proven no exception. From the moment news broke that the queen was critically ill and that the royal family was en route to Balmoral Castle to be with her, Meghan became the subject of obsessive speculation. In those first few hours, her critics were mostly concerned with her decision not to join the family at the queens side. While some reports claimed Harry was told his wife wasnt welcome, other British media outlets attacked Meghan for choosing to stay back, all while praising Williams wife, Kate, for choosing to stay back. (Kate was said to have stayed home to care for their children on their first day of school.)

After the queens death, Meghan joined Harry in England (a presumably painful and difficult decision considering how she has described her time there) and spent the weekend appearing at various royal engagements. Unsurprisingly, her entirely neutral presence at these events has offered many new opportunities for people to take issue with totally normal human behavior. It didnt take long for the hashtag #GoHomeMeghanMarkle to trend on Twitter alongside accusations that Meghan was pretending to mourn for attention after causing the queen so much pain, even as she and Harry joined William and Kate for a walkabout outside Windsor Castle. (It was the first time the couples have appeared together in over two years.)

For what its worth, Meghan and Harry seemed to be on fairly good terms with the queen; the couple told Oprah in 2021 that they were still chatting with her regularly, even while Charles was ignoring Harrys calls, and Meghan said the queen has always been wonderful to her. The queen released an official statement at the time saying that Harry, Meghan, and Archie will always be much loved family members. But why would that stop anyone from getting pissy for no reason? Below, every other ridiculous reason people have found to criticize Meghan since the queens death.

Saying hello. While Meghan was shaking hands with mourners gathered outside Windsor Castle last Saturday, several women refused to engage with her, looking down to avoid eye contact and ignoring Meghans hand when she reached out for a handshake. The women got plenty of support on Twitter, where one user called the person who rejected her handshake her spirit animal.

Having flowers. Another point of scrutiny while Meghan greeted the public was her decision to hang on to a bouquet of flowers that had been handed to her by a fan in the crowd. One video shows a royal aide trying to take the flowers over to the rest of the queens tributes on Meghans behalf, and she seems to kindly tell him she wants to do it herself. In another video taken shortly after this exchange, a new aide takes bouquets from both Meghan and Harry after a brief exchange in which Meghan seems to be reiterating that she wanted to hold the flowers herself.

Apparently, protocol dictates that royals arent supposed to hold bouquets, which could contain small bombs or other weapons inside. That didnt stop people from calling the mix-up awkward and accusing her of wanting to place the flowers down herself for a photo op.

Wearing a dress. In the most, um, creative takeaway from the same appearance outside Windsor Castle, a handful of conspiracy theorists have become convinced that a crease on Meghans dress was actually a microphone she wore to help her turn the queens funeral into content for her podcast and/or Netflix deal. Do they think she doesnt have enough material?

Holding Harrys hand. At a service marking the beginning of the queens lying in state, Harry and Meghan held hands, which was, per Twitter, inappropriate, disrespectful, and a disgrace. While its true that PDA is generally looked down upon in the royal family, Princess Annes daughter, Zara Tindall, also held hands with her husband, Mike, at the exact same event something no one seems to have had an issue with. Hmmm!

Get the Cut newsletter delivered daily

By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice and to receive email correspondence from us.

Originally posted here:
What Are the Brits Mad at Meghan Markle for This Time? - The Cut

Human Behavior

This Week in the Garden: Do deer get high? – The Mercury News

When the hydrangea, day lily and camellia flowers have been eaten, it is not a ridiculous to ask: Do deer get high? The answer, it would seem, is yes, judging by what they eat and will go to great lengths to get to.

This came to mind when imagining what humans put in their systems, that deliberately make them feel unwell, but then gladly repeat the behavior. It appears that, at times, wildlife can be guilty of the same thing.

My trail cam is fired up. Lets see what happens.

The largest sunflower is missing in the side yard. All is forgiven. Lets just plant another one. Although, no matter what we plant, animals, like the rest of us, enjoy variety. And like humans, they make mistakes. Animals dont care what plant guides say they like or dont like, they will take risks if their food sources are scarce. This is occurring more often with diminishing habitat.

In various parts of the United States, birds have been known to become intoxicated with ripening berries. Blackbirds and cedar waxwings have been seen flying under the influence. Fruit bats of Central America are also susceptible to intoxicating evening gatherings. No surprise, squirrels also are accused of occasional public drunkenness from eating mulberries and other fruit. An old article from the Washington Post once reported Squirrel gets drunk, causes hundreds of dollars of damage.

In the state of Michigan, corn toxicity is a fatal situation for deer and elk. The excessive consumption of grain causes an escalated level of lactic acid where the animal develops acidosis or enterotoxemia (overeating disease). Corn and other domesticated grains are carbohydrates that do not include the woody substances of their usual diets. The problem arose from public feedings to help with animal viewing.

A family member reminded me of a pet rabbit, Easterby. He ran loose in the backyard during the day, and went into a hutch at night. Easterby would nibble on fallen rose petals in the garden, then run about crazily soon after. Perhaps it was sheer joy, or could the rose petals have contained something that elevated his energy levels? He was a moody rabbit, so it was good he found his own medicine.

In general, the smell of fermented fruit will attract almost every animal you can imagine insect, mammal, bird, human. When the barbecue aromas of yesterday linger and with wine glasses are left on the deck, wildlife visitors will visit during the night. When your compost bin is not properly secure, you will certainly draw a crowd. Now that some communities take kitchen scraps in the green recycling bins, these bins might need to be weighted on their lids.

The human and nonhuman diets are not interchangeable. Although your dog did not die from the cheese puffs you tossed him, it doesnt mean that it system runs well with it. The expression sicker than a dog, came from somewhere. A childhood memory of my dog, Blue, is of me on the backyard swing, eating a fudge ice cream. Every time I was on the upswing I took a lick, and on the downswing my dog took a lick. It is human to project our abilities onto animals, but it is not so safe for them.

Oddly enough, deer, squirrel, rodents, turtles and other wildlife can eat many things that would kill us. There are mushrooms that are highly toxic to humans, but cause no harm to animals. Natures situation is wonderful here; what might harm us is left alone by humans so that animals can forage to survive. Deer can eat huge amounts of hemlock, nightshade and even poison ivy without illness.

Their trick is to mix up their diet and chase it with clay soil and natural minerals to neutralize toxins. Deer have a four-chambered stomach. With one for storage called a rumen, they can manage diverse foliage. This explains their ability to eat non-native plants and survive. According to the wildlife nonprofit, For Fox Sake, deer in particular seem to be attracted to the psychoactive effects of some poisonous plants.

All judgment aside, animals do get high. It is however infrequent and points to certain seasonal plants and circumstances. Unfortunately, just as with humans, there can be casualties. If there is enough safe natural habitat and food sources, the likelihood of animal tragedies might diminish.

With every writing, I try to convince my fellow gardeners to find environmentally sound ways to keep the balance. My garden was created especially for wildlife. Perhaps, yours was not; it is a service to grow plants at all. If I prize a plant, I practice camouflage gardening. When the deer stop by, I will not worry, I will be glad that they are in a safe place.

View post:
This Week in the Garden: Do deer get high? - The Mercury News

Human Behavior

New RSOs span a variety of interests and passions – Illinois State University News

Although there are already more than 400 registered student organizations (RSOs) on Illinois State Universitys campus, students inspired by their personal passions continue creating new RSOs that connect fellow Redbirds with similar interests.

Learn more about some of the RSOs that are new to campus and how you can get involved:

One day, Jayda Peoples was searching YouTube and discovered the topic of modeling; something she couldnt imagine doing herself. But upon further thought, Peoples, now the president and founder of The Kat Walk, decided to give modeling a try.

The whole reason I started modeling was because I wanted to gain more confidence, Peoples said.

Peoples is a senior elementary education major at Illinois State. Originally from Matteson, Peoples spent time in Champaign, where she gained inspiration from The Kat Walk student chapter there and decided to bring it to Normal.

The Kat Walk encourages students to join who are interested in learning modeling and performance techniques, hair and makeup practices, and displaying or boosting self-confidence. Peoples said everyone is welcome to join no matter their gender, sex, race, or size. According to Peoples, The Kat Walk believes, supports, and promotes that everyone can be a model and can practice building and demonstrating confidence.

I never would have pictured myself being a model or starting a modeling RSO, but Ive gained so much confidence and personality through it, said Peoples.

She said there is a special culture fostered by The Kat Walk; a culture that is not limited to one certain group of people. Its for everyone, said Peoples, adding that the RSO strives to embody a culture of inclusivity and positivity.

When Emily Drew traveled to Kenya over the summer for an alternative break, she had no idea that it would lead her to co-founding a new campus RSO: Friends of Doctors Without Borders.

Friends of Doctors Without Borders was launched at Illinois State by Drew and Delaney Reynolds, both sophomores and biology neuroscience physiology and human behavior majors on the pre-med track. The RSO co-presidents met in class and became study partners last year.

After Drew returned from Kenya, she wanted to get involved with Doctors Without Borders, a global health organization, and discovered the Friends of Doctors Without Borders group she could bring to campus with the help of Reynolds.

Our mission is to educate people on global health inequities, said Drew. Its a unique organization because its one of the only ones pulling from multiple majors like health sciences, public health, pre-med track, nursing, and more.

Anybody who cares about global health inequities can join, said Reynolds.

Friends of Doctors Without Borders is planning a blood drive January 27, 2023, to donate blood to those in need. In the future, they plan to host a documentary night about the humanitarian crises in Ukraine, and they hope to bring in professionals to speak about global health issues.

Its really about bringing a community together, said Reynolds. Its focused on the care side, and how to care about global health issues.

As a parent starting college, Honesti ONeal wanted to create a resource for parents who are also students in college, which led her to founding the Family Matters Parenting Group.

ONeal is currently a senior accounting major who plans to complete her masters degree at Illinois State after graduation. She became a parent in high school and wanted to create an environment at college for parents to get to know each other and each others families.

I started noticing that people would come to me for parental support because they knew I had a child, so I figured I could connect parents with other parents and resources through an organization, said ONeal.

ONeals RSO meets every third Wednesday of the month and hosts occasional special events, such as an upcoming series of parenthood workshops being planned for the fall semester.

Originally, ONeal assumed only parents would join the group. But after receiving interest from non-parents, the Family Matters Parenting Group also welcomes the support of allies and hopes to form a support group within their organization.

I want all parents to be a motivational tool and benchmark for all college and/or teenage parents, said ONeal. Because if we can do, anyone can do it.

Womens Ice Hockey Club

The Womens Ice Hockey Club was founded by Makenna Spearman, a sophomore middle school education major. Currently the president of the group, Spearman has been on the ice as a figure skater since she was three years old.

It wasnt until her senior year of high school that Spearman gave ice hockey a try, and she fell in love with it. She heard ISU already had a mens ice hockey club team, and she knew that she didnt want to stop playing. This led her to starting the Womens Ice Hockey Club.

Hockey is a great way to make friends, said Spearman. Youre playing together, youre practicing together, youre always together. Its also a really great workout.

The Womens Ice Hockey Club is currently open to anyone regardless of experience. Their season will run from September through February, and they will play 12 games against teams from across Central Illinois. They practice once a week on Tuesdays at the Bloomington Ice Center, also the location of their games. Their hope is to move into an official league next year.

Follow this link:
New RSOs span a variety of interests and passions - Illinois State University News

Human Behavior

Mental health benefits of replacing social media with exercise – Medical News Today

Social media use exploded with COVID-19s lockdowns and contact restrictions. Millions turned to Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, and other platforms to escape feelings of isolation, anxiety, and hopelessness.

However, excessive screen time has led to addictive behaviors, stronger emotional attachment to social media, and deeper mental anguish for many people.

Researchers at the Ruhr-Universittt in Bochum, Germany investigated the effects of reducing social media use (SMU) and increasing physical activity, or both, on emotional well-being and tobacco consumption.

Julia Brailosvskaia, Ph.D., an assistant professor at the universitys Mental Health Research and Treatment Center, led the two-week experiment.

Brailosvskaia and her team observed that the interventions they suggested may have helped enhance participants satisfaction with life. At a 6-month follow-up, the subjects continued to report spending less time on social media, maintaining physical activity, feeling happier, and smoking fewer cigarettes.

The Journal of Public Health recently published these findings.

The studys authors noted that mental health consists of two interrelated but separate dimensions: positive and negative.

With this paradigm, they hypothesized that the positive dimension of their intervention would increase life satisfaction and subjective happiness. The negative dimension would decrease depression symptoms and addictive tendencies of SMU.

Medical News Today discussed this study with Dr.Sheldon Zablow, an author and nutritional psychiatrist. He was not involved in the research.

When asked about the effects of social media on mental health, Dr. Zablow asserted:

If activities interfere with customary basic age-appropriate milestones of economic self-sufficiency, socialization, or health maintenance, then they are detrimental. The activities could be alcohol use, substance use, dietary choices, exercise choices, or entertainment choicesspecifically social media.

Dr. Zablow warned that excessive social media use weakens social interpersonal bonds, which can negatively impact mental health.

MNT also spoke with Dr. David A. Merrill, adult and geriatric psychiatrist and director of the Pacific Neuroscience Institutes Pacific Brain Health Center at Providence Saint Johns Health Center in Santa Monica, CA, regarding the present study. He was not involved in the research.

Dr. Merrill argued that the term social media is a misnomer thats almost like a bait and switch, designed to increase user engagement.

Too much social media use, he said, could end up exacerbating mental issues for people with behavioral health conditions or addictive vulnerabilities.

Theres the brain reward system that you get from clicking or scrolling or maintaining the use of the social media, Dr. Merrill said.

I think [that the authors are] demonstrating causally that you both need to have a conscious awareness of the need to limit the self-soothing aspect of social media use, and you also need to have alternatives, so you need to have some other way to bring joy into your life, and especially during the pandemic.

As a psychiatrist, Dr. Zablow emphasized that the essential part of any treatment program recommended is exercise. Psychotherapy and, when indicated, medication, will not work well if a person does not exercise.

Dr. Zablow added that exercise increases the production of neurotransmitters, the brains natural antidepressants and antianxiety molecules.

Consequently, more exercise can build mental health, while less activity due to social media overuse can curtail healthy brain chemistry.

Dr. Brailosvskaia and her colleagues reasoned that a conscious and controlled reduction of time spent on SMU as well as an increase of time spent on physical activity could causally reduce negative mental health consequences of the COVID-19 situation. They also believed that combining both interventions might amplify this effect.

The professor mentioned that the methods can easily fit into everyday life with little cost, effort, or risk of violating COVID-19 protocols.

Further, the scientists expected their experiment to reduce stress caused by COVID-19 and diminish smoking behavior.

The researchers recruited 642 healthy adult social media users and placed them in 4 experimental groups.

The social media (SM) group had 162 individuals, the physical activity (PA) group of 161, a combination group of 159, and a control group of 160.

Over 2 weeks, the SM subjects reduced their daily SMU time by 30 minutes and the PA group increased their daily physical activity by 30 minutes. The combination group applied both interventions, while the control did not change their behaviors.

Following the World Health Organizations physical activity recommendations for adults, the first three groups increased their exercise time by 30 minutes.

The participants completed online surveys and daily compliance diaries at the start of the trial, 1 week later, and after the 2-week period. They also submitted follow-up surveys at 1, 3, and 6 months post-experiment.

Dr. Brailosvskaia and her team concluded that their interventions helped people decrease the time they spend with SM.

Even 6 months after the experiment, the participants had reduced their daily initial SM time by about 37 minutes in the SM group, by about 33 minutes in the PA group, and by about 46 minutes in the combination group.

Moreover, participants reported having a decreased emotional bond with social media.

All the interventions encouraged more physical activity as well. Six months later, our participants had enhanced their initial weekly physical activity time for 26 minutes in the SM group, for 40 minutes in the PA group, and for 1 hour 39 minutes in the combination group, the authors wrote.

Even the control group increased their activity by 20 minutes.

Dr. Merrill was impressed with the studys striking findings with the combination of reducing social media with increasing physical activity. He agreed with the notion that SMU restrictions need a complementing activity that brings joy or a sense of achievement.

According to the studys authors, the experimental longitudinal design of their present research allowed them to establish causality.

However, the study population lacked diversity. All the participants were young, female, German, Caucasian, and highly educated.

Dr. Merrill felt that, while it would be interesting to replicate this investigation in the United States with a more diverse group, the results would likely be similar.

The study did not consider which form of SMU the subjects were using or specify which type of physical activity the participants engaged in. The researchers hope that future work will focus more on these factors.

Dr. Brailosvskaias research suggests that modest changes in SMU and physical activity could help protect and enhance mental health conveniently and affordably.

The professor and her team recognize how SMU can minimize isolation and help spread information.

From time to time, it is important to consciously limit ones online accessibility and to go back to the human roots [] a physically active lifestyle to stay happy and healthy in the age of digitalization, the researchers wrote.

Read more:
Mental health benefits of replacing social media with exercise - Medical News Today

Human Behavior

Facial recognition coming to Lincoln Corsair as partnerships formed for automotive biometrics – Biometric Update

Several companies in the automotive space have recently unveiled new partnerships or products showcasing the potential of biometrics in the car industry. Joint venture Rheinmetall Dermalog SensorTec made its public debut at the InCabin trade show in Brussels this week and Lincoln confirmed its 2023 Corsair model will offer biometric tech, while Smart Eye partnered with ams Osram to deliver biometric sensing for enhanced driver monitoring and passenger safety.

Lincoln, the luxury vehicle division of American automobile manufacturer Ford, confirmed its 2023 Corsair model will offer a combination of facial recognition, sensor, and GPS capabilities.

These technologies will be delivered as part of Lincolns ActiveGlide highway driving system (called Blue Cruise in Ford models), which allows hands-free driving on over 130,000 miles of roads in North America.

Additionally, the new Corsair system will also enable the vehicle to check traffic and change lanes when the driver hits the turn signal stalk. According to Fox News, it can also automatically lower speeds for upcoming turns and alert drivers to vehicles and pedestrians, among other things.

Lincoln is already taking orders on the 2023 Corsair, with initial deliveries scheduled for early next year. The Lincoln Grand Touring Corsair version with ActiveGlide will cost roughly US$8,000 more than its basic counterpart.

The announcement comes months after Ford was awarded a patent for facial recognition systems built into vehicles that would recognize drivers and unlock the doors on sight.

Rheinmetall Dermalog SensorTec is a joint venture of the tech enterprise Rheinmetall AG and Dermalog Identification Systems, one of Europes largest biometrics providers.

SensorTec unveiled its biometric product for the first time at the InCabin tradeshow in the Autoworld Museum in Brussels on Thursday.

According to a company announcement, the strategic goal of SensorTec is to integrate biometric technology, artificial intelligence (AI) software and digitization solutions in the vehicle interior to prevent accidents due to inattentiveness.

Dermalog owns numerous patents related to biometric technology. It has also collaborated on more than 250 major international projects in the field of human biometrics.

Most recently, the company has been working with officials of the Land Transportation Office in the Philippines to help improve the delivery of a biometrics project that was previously deemed in danger because of dissatisfaction with its execution.

ams Osram has joined forces with human behavior prediction specialist Smart Eye to work on driver monitoring systems (DMS) and occupant monitoring systems (OMS).

By merging Smart Eye interior sensing software with ams Osrams dot illumination technology in the Icarus: Structured Light Evaluation Kit, the company will design solutions that can accurately detect the driver and passenger status and position.

The proof-of-concept (POC) technology is designed to leverage existing architecture inside a vehicle to efficiently and cost-effectively provide high-performance 3D sensing capabilities for DMS and OMS applications.

Icarus features include support for high-precision augmented reality heads-up display (AR-HuD), secure driver authentication, and advanced body position to enhance road safety by delivering inputs to airbag deployment decisions and pre-crash safety measures.

The low-cost update can reportedly be installed near infrared-based DMS hardware without the need to overhaul an entire system.

The Icarus POC comes nearly a year after Smart Eye acquired behavioral software solutions developer iMotions.

As for ams Osram, the company partnered with trinamiX in July to develop a solution that enables biometric face authentication suited to mobile payments from behind an OLED screen.

ams Osram | automotive biometrics | biometrics | consumer electronics | facial recognition | monitoring | personalization | Rheinmetall Dermalog SensorTec | Smart Eye

See more here:
Facial recognition coming to Lincoln Corsair as partnerships formed for automotive biometrics - Biometric Update

Human Behavior

DPI receives $1.5 million grant from National Science Foundation to fund international research partnership on clean transportation | The Board of…

Three-year project is designed to ameliorate urban pollution affecting health and climate change

September 15, 2022 (CHICAGO) A multi-institutional and multidisciplinary team led by the Discovery Partners Institute has been awarded a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation PIRE program to reduce pollution in South Asian cities and accelerate a transition to clean transportation.

Researchers in the three-year project will employ weather and climate modeling to predict how switching from vehicles that burn fossil fuels to electric vehicles will affect urban air quality.

The team of physical scientists, engineers, social scientists and educators will also study impacts on human behavior during this changeover, with the hope of encouraging swifter adoption of clean transportation.

The projects principal investigator is Ashish Sharma, who recently joined DPI as climate and sustainability lead. Sharma is also an adjunct professor in the department of atmospheric sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Exhaust from internal combustion engines adds to air toxins that worsen health particularly in large, dense cities. The worlds 1.4 billion conventional cars and trucks, which are concentrated in cities, also are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, which cause global warming and climate change.

This project is critical and timely as transportation emissions contribute not only to the changing climate but also to extreme events, such as making heatwaves stronger and storms more intense, Sharma said.

The work will primarily focus on three Indian cities Delhi, Pune and Bhubaneswar, with a combined metro population of 36.5 million with potential to scale to other South Asian cities. This project also could help guide U.S. cities, where pollution from gasoline-powered vehicles remains a major challenge.

We would like to learn from this international experience and prepare U.S. cities before these issues worsen, Sharma continued. Our U.S. team in Chicago, Colorado and Phoenix will use existing partnerships to establish research and education programs at their home institutions.

DPI is a public-private R&D center under the University of Illinois System.

We are excited that DPI will lead this effort to develop research-driven solutions for air quality issues, guide investments in transportation and thus directly impact global economic growth and human health, said Venkat Venkatakrishnan, director of research at DPI.

We are committed to leverage DPIs in-house knowledge base and connections, he added, to develop an international hub for cross-cutting research and education to address climate change and clean energy challenges head on.

The NSFs Partnership for International Research and Education program is extremely selective in awarding grants, approving only 10 to 15 a year. The NSF-PIRE program selects visionary, ambitious, interdisciplinary, use-inspired research proposals that address scientific challenges related to climate change and/or clean energy.

We look forward to the results and accomplishments of your interesting, interdisciplinary, international work, both for the scientific outcomes and for societal benefits, said Fahmida Chowdhury, a program director in the NSFs Office of International Science and Engineering.

Along with DPI, this team will include members from the University of Illinois Chicago, the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, the University of Chicago, Arizona State University and the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. International partners include the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Researchs Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology in Bhubaneswar.

About DPI

The Discovery Partners Institute empowers people to jumpstart their tech careers or companies in Chicago. Led by the University of Illinois System in partnership with top research universities, it does three things: Train people for high-demand tech jobs; conduct applied R&D; and support business building. With state investment and a new innovation district in development, DPI has the resources to attract, develop, and leverage the most ambitious people and companies the region has to offer and keep them here.

More here:
DPI receives $1.5 million grant from National Science Foundation to fund international research partnership on clean transportation | The Board of...

Human Behavior

Christian Montag, psychologist: Technostress is when you think, Id like to smash the computer – EL PAS USA

Christian Montag is a Professor of Molecular Psychology at Ulm University in Germany, and the author of works and research that investigate the influence of technology on the human mind. His broader field of research encompasses personality psychology, the study of individual differences that determine cognitive abilities, such as intelligence, or why we are more cooperative, extroverted, or anxious. With technology playing an increasingly important role in our lives, the 45-year-old researcher says a multidisciplinary approach is needed to understand how this is affecting us psychologically. Montag has supported the development of a study (the 2022 Wellness and Home Working report) by NFON, a European provider of cloud-integrated business communications. He talks to EL PAS about the findings of the report, which are based on a survey carried out by Statista Q, a specialist in data, analytics and market research of 8,000 people in eight European countries.

Question. What is technostress?

Answer. Its a term that was introduced into the scientific literature a couple of years ago, and it came about when people started to deal with those situations that we all face when technology doesnt work. When you think: Id like to smash the computer, thats technostress. There have been studies that show how hormones could trigger people to punch machines. We all face technostress in our daily lives, and now with the prevailing home offices for many of us, we face many new challenges resulting in technostress. Just think of the situation created by the pandemic, which forced many people to use video calls and other programs for the first time.

Q. But doesnt that happen in conventional workplaces as well?

A. True, but even so, if we compare the situation at the beginning of the pandemic and the situation today, we see a change: many people were not adequately prepared from a technological point of view for a well-functioning home office. Digitalization comes with costs to our well-being when the internet connection does not work properly or is too slow or you simply have very old equipment at home. Many people had to renew their devices out of necessity.

Q. Some 28% of respondents say they are working more and, conversely, 36% say they have more time to spend with the family

A. Its the paradox of working at home. On the one hand, people feel that they are working more, that the workload is intensifying and that they are spending more hours in front of the computer. But on the other hand, they say they have more time for family or leisure. From my view, the key to explaining this paradox is that people do not work need to commute anymore or to a lesser extent. For example, you commute two hours a day. Then we see a worker spending half an hour longer at work, but they also gained an extra hour and a half. This gives them more flexibility to see the doctor or do the grocery shopping, things which before they would do on the weekend. Now they can do it on Wednesdays, when there are not so many people in the supermarket. We are becoming more flexible in many ways.

Q. Another surprising result is that some (8.7%) find it stressful to eat at home.

A. Obviously there are different eating cultures, but I think the main reason has to do with convenience. Not all of us know how to cook properly, and many of us have to learn this. Also, even a simple dish involves preparation or shopping of groceries some people were not used to this situation.

If I were to investigate happiness, I would ask you how much you have danced, enjoyed yourself in the last few weeks

Q. Self-medication has also increased. Thirty-four percent of respondents say they have self-medicated for the sake of their mental health. Is this related to technostress?

A. If humans are experiencing negative emotions, they tend to try to get rid of them, because negative emotions such as anger, fear and sadness feel bad. Trying to get rid of these, therefore, represents a natural response. For some people, one way to achieve such a downregulation of negative affect, is self-medication. Covid has been a big stressor, and then there came the new situation where we were working exclusively from home. Some people were stressed out not only due to technostress, but they also felt alone because they did not have a person to interact with in times of physical distancing. Also, in the survey we found that people have problems saying: Okay, here is where work stops and my private life begins. Work is intruding in everyday life, and it is really difficult to disengage from these things, so this also can be stressful. This led some people to self-medicate (as we saw in our work, where we studied non-prescribed medication). Recent studies beyond our work also suggest that whereas as some people reduced alcohol consumption during the pandemic, others started to drink a lot more. In the end, many factors, including ones own vulnerability and resilience, play a role in understanding human behavior.

Q. And up to 72% of those surveyed reported taking melatonin to improve their sleep.

A. I think this is not surprising after the pandemic. If people fear the pandemic or experience uncertain situations, they start to ruminate, to think about things that worry them, so lying awake prevents them from getting the right amount of quality sleep.

Q. According to the study, 21.7% of European respondents (25.6% in Spain) say they plan to resign because of their experience working from home and 9.9% have already left their job. Why?

A. We discussed already several challenges arising from the new home office situation and also the problems, which arose from the pandemic, which from my view in part, explain why people decide to quit their jobs. A crucial variable, not named in the context of quitting, is that they many of the study respondents saw no option to realize their own potential. Beyond this, I also want to mention that the pandemic has been an opportunity to reflect on life. Up to this point, many lives were going on rather automatically: getting up, working, taking care of children, housework and sleeping. There wasnt even time to think about misery. Now we have more time on our hands to reflect and think. When we get out of that automatism and let our brains run free for a moment, we give it the chance for mind wandering, self-reflection and even creativity. In this context, we saw in our study that some people came to the conclusion that they didnt want the life they had before. We saw that life is precious and not infinite. We all strive for a good life and not a bad life, right?

Q. Even if you lose purchasing power?

A. From my personal experience and that of others, I believe that money is ultimately not the most important driver for choosing a job when you are at certain stage in your careers. Psychologist Daniel Kahneman researched, years before the pandemic, the associations between life satisfaction, wellbeing and salary. There comes a point where a salary supplement doesnt make you happier; maybe it makes you a little bit more satisfied with life, which is more the cognitive aspect, but it doesnt really make you more happy. If I were to investigate happiness, for instance, I would ask you how much you have danced, enjoyed yourself, in the last few weeks and how much you have cried due to sadness. And again, if you ask about emotional experiences, there comes a point where the salary is not so important (in Kahnemanns work the threshold is around $75,000 a year). From that point on, happiness doesnt increase with more money and this is, I think, what a lot of people intuitively know and accept: that they have a decent salary and that what really matters to them is family, that what they want is more time for the good things. It will be really interesting to see whether these perceptions endure when we are confronted again with the automatisms of everyday post-pandemic life, when we fall into the traps and patterns again.

Q. What should companies and workers do in the face of this new reality?

A. We have talked a lot about the downsides, but obviously working from home has given many people many more degrees of freedom to deal with the hassles of everyday life and also to spend more time with the family, but still get the job done. We need to combine the best of both worlds. Working from home is going to stay. But also our research reflects a deep longing to meet and see colleagues, to have real social interactions beyond virtual encounters. There is work looking at video conferencing fatigue and its shows associations with burnout. At the moment, it is discussed that videoconference-fatigue might be triggered due to anxieties about being constantly monitored and about appearing in front of screens (mirror anxiety or being dissatisfied with ones own facial experience). Moreover, our interaction with others are limited to the frame of the screens. This is not healthy. Videoconferences can be tiring, and it is also harder to read emotions of our interaction partners via screens. We need, from time to time, to see each other in person and also to have a good time. It is the nexus that brings people together, and it is important to develop trust between people. From my view, combining elements of both worlds, the old office and the new home office, would be a solution so that companies and the rest of society come up with a proper plan for what a healthy working life will look like in the near future

Read this article:
Christian Montag, psychologist: Technostress is when you think, Id like to smash the computer - EL PAS USA