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Immunology

Update to Previously Announced SARS-CoV-2 Test Development Initiative With Albany Medical College for the Presence of SARS-CoV-2 Virus – GlobeNewswire

CALGARY, Alberta, Sept. 08, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FluroTech Ltd. (TSXV: TEST) (OTCQB: FLURF), (FluroTech or the Company) is pleased to provide an update to its press releases dated April 16 and 20, 2020 in respect of FluroTest LLC (FluroTest), formed through a strategic agreement with the Company, Alberta BioPhotonics Inc. (ABP) and Albany Medical College (AMC) today confirmed successful function of its novel and proprietary low-cost, real-time, point-of-care saliva-based immunoassay for detecting active SARS-CoV-2 infections.

The science behind the FluroTest virus direct detection method is based on a vertical flow immunoassay configuration which utilizes fluorescence spectroscopy to quantitatively determine SARS-CoV-2 viral load in salivary samples. Prototype testing was conducted at Albany Medical Colleges immunology laboratories in Albany, New York supported by FluroTechs Calgary Laboratory.

FluroTest intends to immediately begin the process of seeking Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) status from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in order to commercialize its pandemic platform solution. FluroTest will better understand the costs, time requirements, and next steps for commercialization once the FDA provides further guidance.

The FluroTest solution is a saliva-based, point of collection diagnostic immunoassay designed for accurate, digitally verifiable results, delivered with high throughput capacity, which are transmitted to a secure, managed, cloud environment compliant with thestandards for privacy of individually identifiable health information as promulgated in theU.S. Health Insurance Portability and AccountabilityAct of 1996 (HIPAA).

By combining and leveraging the disciplines of robotics automation, biochemistry (antibody labeling and binding), fluorescence detection and cloud computing, FluroTest believes that it is creating the first pandemic defense platform of its kind. FluroTest anticipates a single platform installation could serve over 3,000 test takers per hour with digitally verifiable results transmitted to a secure, managed, HIPAA compliant cloud environment and immediately available to the test takers mobile device within 5 minutes. The platform is intended to make it possible to test up to 100% of a specific community population every 4 to 7 days at a low cost to the test taker and high value to the communities served by the platform.

FluroTest believes that its pandemic defense platform can benefit organizations serving large, concentrated populations and bearing significant pandemic risk, forcing them to incur consequential business disruptions and closures. Examples include, but are not limited to: colleges and universities, hospitals & large healthcare complexes, athletic stadiums & large performance venues, corporate campus environments, large office buildings & complexes, shopping malls and centers, retail working warehouses, factories, food processing plants, airlines, as well as any public transportation hub such as subway entrances and airport terminals.

FluroTest believes its technology can also be adapted to allow for the detection of specific anti-SARS-CoV-2 human antibodies, potentially confirming the development of immunity.

Readers are cautioned that, although FluroTest has achieved proof of concept prototype, the testing method and device is still in the early stages of research and development and accordingly FluroTest is not currently making any express or implied claims that the technology can, or will be able to, accurately detect the COVID-19 virus. In addition, FluroTest requires additional capital in the near-term to further the development and deployment of its testing device and will be seeking equity investors and is exploring strategic partnerships in connection with the same.

The Team

FluroTests technology development efforts require unique expertise in spectroscopy and fluorescence as well as immunology and virology. This initiative is a collaborative effort between U.S. and Canadian scientists with deep experience in their respective fields.

For immunology and virology expertise, FluroTest has partnered with Albany Medical Colleges immunology and microbial disease department. AMC is located in the State of New York. The Departments research team is led by Dennis Metzger, Ph.D., professor and chair of the department, along with assistant professor Kouacou Konan, Ph.D., who is working with FluroTech to develop the technology. Dr. Konans research program concentrates on virus detection and the mechanisms responsible for viral disease pathogenesis. The program is supported by a Biosafety Level 3 laboratory that allows for the use of highly virulent pathogens and is one of the few such facilities in the state of New York. Dr. Konan has obtained approval for COVID-19 work in his Biosafety Level-3 laboratory. As part of Albany Medical Center, the only academic medical center and Level 1 Trauma Center serving northeastern New York and western New England,Albany Medical College is in a unique position to begin large scale sample collection and clinical trials which will assist in obtaining regulatory/FDA approvals. My colleagues and I look forward to continuing our collaboration on antibodies with the science team of FluroTech led by Dr. Mauricio Arias and on fluorescence spectroscopy with Dr. Elmar Prenner from the University of Calgary, noted Dr. Konan. This initiative enriches our mission of patient care, research and educationthree critical factors to address this difficult viral problem for the people we serve.

FluroTech has a long-standing collaboration on fluorescence spectroscopy with Dr. Elmar Prenner. Dr. Prenner is the original developer of the core technology which is owned by Alberta BioPhotonics. Dr. Prenner, a professor at the University of Calgary within the department of Biological Sciences, serves as senior science advisor of FluroTech and brings over 28 years of expertise in fluorescence spectroscopy.

Elmar Prenner, Ph.D. and Senior Science Advisor of FluroTech, Mauricio Arias, Ph.D. and Kouacou Konan, Ph.D., have helped prepare and approve the proof of concept documentation that is summarized in this press release.

About Albany Medical Center

Albany Med, northeastern New Yorks only academic health sciences center, is one of the largest private employers in the Capital Region. It incorporates the 766-bed Albany Medical Center Hospital, which offers the widest range of medical and surgical services in the region, and Albany Medical College, which trains the next generation of doctors, scientists and other healthcare professionals. It also includes a biomedical research enterprise and the regions largest physicians practice with more than 500 doctors. Albany Med works with dozens of community partners to improve the regions health and quality of life. For more information: http://www.amc.edu.

About FluroTech (TSXV: TEST) (OTCQB: FLURF)

FluroTechs proprietary spectroscopy-based technology allows for the testing and identification of organic and inorganic compounds contained within biological samples for specific applications. Using technology that was first developed at the University of Calgary, FluroTech has created a two-part solution comprised of its CompleTest platform technology and consumable testing kits. Its accuracy has been independently validated. FluroTech continues to develop additional applications for the CompleTestplatform technology. To learn more, visit FluroTech.com

About FluroTest LLC

FluroTest is seeking additional capital in the near-term and will also be exploring strategic partnerships with manufacturing and distribution companies to advance the deployment of the new test thats being developed. To learn more, visit FluroTest.com

About Alberta BioPhotonics Inc.

Alberta BioPhotonics Inc. focuses on identifying market opportunities to commercialize its proprietary spectroscopy-based technology. ABP is controlled by some of the same officers and directors as FluroTech and currently holds approximately 33% of the common shares of FluroTech.

Contact Information

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities. The securities described herein have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the securities laws of any state and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to or for the benefit or account of U.S. persons, absent such registration or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information generally refers to information about an issuers business, capital, technology or operations that is prospective in nature, and includes future-oriented financial information about the issuers prospective financial performance or financial position. The forward-looking information in this news release includes disclosure about the formation of FluroTest and the capital structure thereof, the ability to adapt FluroTechs CompleTestplatform technology to test for viruses, including COVID-19, as well as accurately determining viral load, the ability to adapt the technology to allow for the detection of specific anti-SARS-CoV-2 human antibodies in a patients blood sample, and the speed and accuracy of such testing, the need for financing of FluroTest in the near term and the formation of strategic partnerships for the deployment and distribution of the technology. The Company made certain material assumptions, including but not limited to prevailing market conditions and general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties, as well as the ability to adopt the CompleTesttechnology as described herein in a timely manner and to obtain the financing required in connection with the same, to develop the forward-looking information in this news release. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Actual results may vary from the forward-looking information in this news release due to certain material risk factors described in the Corporations Annual Information Form under the heading Risk Factors and the failure to adapt the CompleTesttechnology as contemplated herein in a timely manner or at all, the risk that competitors will develop a similar or superior testing platform, the technology not having the anticipated testing benefits, the inability of FluroTest to obtain the necessary financing to achieve its purpose on satisfactory terms or at all, the failure to form strategic partnerships necessary to deploy and distribute the technology. The Company cautions that the foregoing list of material risk factors and assumptions is not exhaustive.

The Company assumes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking information in this news release, unless it is required to do so under Canadian securities legislation.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy of this release.

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Update to Previously Announced SARS-CoV-2 Test Development Initiative With Albany Medical College for the Presence of SARS-CoV-2 Virus - GlobeNewswire

Immunology

The lockdown may be over, but the pandemic is not – Varsity

During the university lockdown caused by the pandemic, an initiative to promote the spread of pertinent information regarding COVID-19 was started by immunology students at UTSG. Graduate students in the Department of Immunology created educational pamphlets on important topics regarding COVID-19, including disease pathogenesis, current therapies, and the process of vaccine development.

As a current student in the Master of Science in Applied Immunology program, I was motivated to get involved and helped contribute to the creation of the vaccine development infosheet. The rationale behind this initiative was to generate scientifically accurate pamphlets that members of the general public can easily access in order to educate themselves and mitigate the spread of misleading information.

Remaining vigilant, maintaining hope

As of late July, Ontario had entered Stage 3, allowing businesses and services to reopen to promote the long-term restart and recovery of the economy. Although this provides a return to normalcy, it certainly does not mean the pandemic is over. Therefore, the information contained in the pamphlets continues to be valuable.

Despite the restrictions easing, this is a time to be more cautious, not more lenient. Currently, progress toward developing a safe and effective vaccine is still ongoing. It is imperative that the public remains vigilant in performing safety precautions to ensure their well-being and that of others.

It may be perceived that this gradual reopening signifies that the pandemic is no longer a threat of the same magnitude as it was earlier in the year, but COVID-19 is still very much a public health risk. This is reflected in the number of reported cases. According to Public Health Ontario there were more than 850 new cases in Ontario in the last week of August. Outbreaks are still occurring.

After the August long weekend, there was an outbreak at the Deerhurst Resort in Muskoka due to individuals reportedly not following physical distancing and social bubble guidelines. The Simcoe-Muskoka District Health Unit had entered Stage 3 a month earlier on July 17.

However, remaining cautious does not mean we should not be hopeful. Clinical trials are underway to generate a safe and efficacious vaccine, but it is important to acknowledge that this process takes time. Vaccine development occurs in several stages, including research of the virus, pre-clinical experimentation in animal models, and human clinical trial phases that test the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.

The pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and Oxford University recently tested a vaccine candidate called ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, which has demonstrated safety in humans and an ability to generate neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, which is the virus that causes COVID-19. ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 is undergoing phase three of clinical trials.

The information problem

During the 2016 outbreak of the Zika virus, a study found an increased usage of Twitter, Google search engine, Google News, YouTube, and Wikipedia pages to acquire Zika-related content. Although social media platforms and search engines allow for the spread of information in a timely manner, they can also be harmful due to the amount of false information being spread by unqualified users.

This is problematic as accurate information is often drowned out by misleading information. Additionally, certain users might see this information and be confused as to what is factual and what is not.

During the early stages of COVID-19, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus referred to the spread of false and misleading COVID-19 information as an infodemic. He expressed that, like a virus, false information spreads rapidly and should be considered dangerous. Therefore, controlling the spread of misinformation on social media and online platforms is vital to ensure the public is receiving accurate knowledge.

It is understandably hard for platforms to manage information due to the number of social media users. Thus, the responsibility is put heavily on the internet user to ensure that they are accessing credible sources to acquire information. Accessibility to accurate information can be promoted by providing easy-to-read online documents and interesting graphics created by the government, academic institutions, and scientists.

Although vaccine development is underway, it is still important that we follow public health guidelines, stay informed via accurate sources, and take preventive measures to avoid a potential second wave of the virus.

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The lockdown may be over, but the pandemic is not - Varsity

Immunology

Bruker Appoints Bonnie H. Anderson to its Board of Directors – Business Wire

BILLERICA, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bruker Corporation (Nasdaq: BRKR) today announced that it has appointed Bonnie H. Anderson to serve on its board of directors, effective as of September 3, 2020.

Ms. Anderson is Co-Founder, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Veracyte, a global genomic diagnostics company that improves patient care by informing diagnosis and treatment decisions in cancer and other diseases. Before Veracyte, Ms. Anderson spent 18 years at Beckman Coulter, where she held leadership positions across the global life sciences and diagnostic business segments, including flow cytometry. After she retired from Beckman Coulter, Ms. Anderson was brought into a life sciences incubator formed by Kleiner Perkins, Versant Ventures and TPG Biotech, where she developed the concept for Veracyte. Veracyte is now a public global company with a market capitalization of nearly $2 billion.

"We are very pleased to welcome Bonnie to the Bruker board, and we especially value her entrepreneurial success, and her many years of genomics testing and diagnostics business expertise. She also has deep insights into oncology, hematology and immunology diagnostic tools and clinical workflows," said Frank Laukien, Brukers Chairman, President and CEO. "The addition of Bonnie to our board is very timely as we continue to evolve our Project Accelerate initiatives in multiomics life-science and clinical research tools towards molecular diagnostics solutions. Bonnie shares our goals to serve life science research and medicine with leading measurement tools and diagnostic solutions, and to enhance value for all of Brukers stakeholders."

I am honored to be appointed to the Bruker board, and I am looking forward to contributing to the success of such a dynamic and innovative company. I have admired the breakthrough work Bruker does in advancing life science and clinical research for many years, and I am thrilled to join such an impressive board, said Ms. Anderson.

Our board regularly evaluates its composition to ensure it includes the appropriate skills, experience and perspectives to support Brukers strategic direction. With Bonnies addition, seven new Bruker directors will have joined Brukers board in the past five years, including three women, said Marc Kastner, the Chair of Brukers Nominating & Governance Committee.

About Bruker Corporation (Nasdaq: BRKR)

Bruker is enabling scientists to make breakthrough discoveries and develop new applications that improve the quality of human life. Brukers high-performance scientific instruments and high-value analytical and diagnostic solutions enable scientists to explore life and materials at molecular, cellular and microscopic levels. In close cooperation with our customers, Bruker is enabling innovation, improved productivity and customer success in life science research, in applied and pharma applications, in microscopy and nanoanalysis, and in industrial applications, as well as in cell biology, preclinical imaging, clinical phenomics and proteomics research, clinical microbiology and infectious disease molecular diagnostics. For more information, please visit: http://www.bruker.com.

Forward Looking Statements

Any statements contained in this press release which do not describe historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements regarding managements expectations for future financial and operational performance, business strategy, business outlook and Board performance. Any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on current expectations, but are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated, including, but not limited to, risks and uncertainties relating to continued adverse changes in conditions in the global economy and volatility in the capital markets, the impact of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak and our ability to recover from its effects, the integration and assumption of liabilities of businesses we have acquired or may acquire in the future, fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, our material weaknesses in internal controls, our ability to successfully implement our restructuring initiatives, changing technologies, product development and market acceptance of our products, the cost and pricing of our products, manufacturing, competition, loss of key personnel, dependence on collaborative partners, key suppliers and contract manufacturers, capital spending and government funding policies, changes in governmental regulations, the use and protection of intellectual property rights, litigation, and other risk factors discussed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC. These and other factors are identified and described in more detail in our filings with the SEC, including, without limitation, our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 and our subsequently filed Form 10-Qs. We expressly disclaim any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements other than as required by law.

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Bruker Appoints Bonnie H. Anderson to its Board of Directors - Business Wire

Immunology

IcanoMAB GmbH Founded with Private Funding to Develop Precision Canonical Monoclonal Antibodies in Oncology, Immune-Modulation, Acute Inflammation and…

POLLING, Germany, September 07, 2020 /B3C newswire/ --IcanoMAB, a privately-funded biotech company focusing on the pre-clinical and clinical development of novel precision canonical antibodies for the treatment of cancer, immune-system related diseases and Covid-19, today announced, that it has been successfully founded and funded.The company has secured three clinical candidates in IND-enabling stage and funding from MAB Discovery GmbH, originally generating the licensed antibodies from a novel antibody discovery platform. After 10 years of more than 50 successful monoclonal antibody discovery projects with large Pharma and mid- and large-size Biotech companies, MAB Discovery sold its antibody production platform and laboratory to BioNTech (NASDAQ: BNTX) in 2019. At the end of 2019, a pre-clinical project in the field of Immuno-oncology was licensed to a Top Pharma company.IcanoMAB will use the proceeds to advance the clinical candidates to allow IND-enabling activities and respective partnering activities with selected third parties.

Particularly urgent are effective treatments for Covid-19 and its potentially fatal outcome driven by Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) and Cytokine Release Syndrome (CRS). While Vaccine development is progressing and sufficient broad population protection yet to be demonstrated, risks of detrimental effects via Antibody Dependent Enhancement (ADE) will require specific therapeutic intervention. In any case, an effective treatment is urgently needed as an option for clinicians to treat severely affected late-stage Covid-19 patients.Significant improvement of clinical outcome is also required for treatment of acute inflammatory conditions including several severe rare diseases like Macrophage-Activation Syndrome, SJIA / Stills Disease or IBD and Gout where sometimes even specific treatments are missing, addressing the underlying cause.The same holds true for clinical outcome in cancer therapy, whether it is the treatment of women with early Breast Cancer and especially through neo-adjuvant treatment, or via novel immuno-oncology treatments across multiple solid cancers.

While monoclonal antibody discovery has progressed significantly in the last decades, precise canonical antibodies have not been well exploited to address clinically validated and/or clinical targets in a physiological manner. The technology of MAB Discovery was developed to generate an unlimited number of diverse antibody-producing B-cells (>10,000) with optimal variability without additional in vitro maturation or engineering to optimize therapeutically relevant paratopes. Resulting antibodies have been applied to Pharma-derived high throughput screening in functional assays to identify lead candidates that fulfill a predefined list of biological activities and provide optimal potency essential for differential therapeutic application. Potential leads have gone through a sophisticated sequence optimization: Humanization, elimination of T-cell epitopes & potential CMC liabilities. Addressing validated targets generated proprietary molecules with novel modes of intervention and the knowledge of first-generation molecules enabled a well guided in vitro differentiation. This approach allows focused activities for in-vivo PoC in animal models and in the clinic with limited remaining CMC risks.

Addressing those needs, IcanoMAB's clinical lead candidates have been developed to date and are in collaborations with leading experts and renowned organizations across the world like

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AboutIcanoMABIcanoMAB is a private Biotech company focusing on the pre-clinical and development of precision canonical antibodies for the treatment of cancer, immune-system related diseases and Covid-19. The company is developing its proprietary clinical candidates to exploit novel approaches improving clinical outcome in immuno-oncology, solid tumors and immunology and inflammation.IcanoMAB was founded by highly experienced entrepreneurs and scientists with a track record of successful drug development in multiple companies including Boehringer Mannheim, Roche, MAB Discovery, Xantos Biomedicine, JSB Partners, Novartis and TVM Capital Life Science. The company was founded by MAB Discovery, represented by Dr. Stephan Fischer, CEO, Dr. Ulrich Pessara and Daniel Parera, M.D..IcanoMAB is headquartered in Polling, Germany.

About MAB DiscoveryFounded in 2010 by Dr. Stephan Fischer, MAB Discovery utilized a unique and proprietary rabbit-based antibody discovery platform to generate and develop high quality, functional monoclonal antibodies targeting traditional proteins and receptors as well as a wide variety of more challenging immunogens such as GPCRs and ion channels. Before the trade sale of its technology to BioNTech (NASDAQ: BNTX), MABD has used its proprietary platform to generate various mAbs for several pharma partners and for the generation of proprietary mAbs focusing on highly attractive targets with proven therapeutic relevance. In the meantime, MAB Discovery did focus on the development of its proprietary therapeutic monoclonal antibodies in inflammation and immuno-oncology.

Contact

IcanoMAB GmbHTassilostr. 2, 82398 Polling, Germany+49 881 39 90 89 40info@icanoMAB.com

Keywords: Animals; Humans; Binding Sites, Antibody; Antibodies, Monoclonal; Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; Antibody Formation; Antibody-Producing Cells; Neoplasms; Models, Animal; Biotechnology; Cell Differentiation; B-Lymphocytes; Early Detection of Cancer; COVID-19

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IcanoMAB GmbH Founded with Private Funding to Develop Precision Canonical Monoclonal Antibodies in Oncology, Immune-Modulation, Acute Inflammation and...

Immunology

2020-2026 Update of Ulcerative Colitis Immunology Drugs Market Share, Growth Rate, Opportunities, Sales Channels and Porters Five Forces Analysis and…

Ulcerative Colitis Immunology Drugs Market Report 2020 by Material, Application and Geographics Global Forecast to 2026 could be a skilled and comprehensive analysis report on the worlds major regional market conditions, specializing in the most regions (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific) and therefore the main countries (United States, Germany, UK, Japan, South Korea and China). This analysis study examines the Ulcerative Colitis Immunology Drugs Market current trends associated with the demand, offer and sales, additionally to the recent developments. Major drivers, restraints, Associate in opportunities are lined to produce an thoroughgoing picture of the market. The analysis presents in-depth info relating to the event, trends and industry policies and rules being enforced by the relevant agencies. Further, the regulative framework of the Ulcerative Colitis Immunology Drugs market has been thoroughly lined to supply stakeholders a higher understanding of the key factors poignant the market environment.

Access Free Sample Copy of Ulcerative Colitis Immunology Drugs Market Report: https://calibreresearch.com/report/global-ulcerative-colitis-immunology-drugs-market-15856#request-sample

Identification of key industry players within the Ulcerative Colitis Immunology Drugs industry and their revenue contribution to the business or relevant section aligned to the study are lined as a vicinity of competitive intelligence done through in depth secondary analysis. Various studies and knowledge printed by industry associations, analyst reports, capitalist displays, press releases and journals among others are taken into thought whereas conducting the secondary analysis. Each bottom-up and prime down approaches are used to work out the Ulcerative Colitis Immunology Drugs market size of the market and key segments. The prices obtained are related to with the first inputs of the key stakeholders within the globe value chain. The last step involves complete market engineering which has analyzing the information from completely different sources and existing proprietary datasets whereas mistreatment various data triangulation strategies for market breakdown and statement.

NOTE: Our reports include the analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on this industry. Our new sample is updated which correspond in new report showing impact of Covid-19 on Industry trends. Also we are offering 20% discount

The Ulcerative Colitis Immunology Drugs market research concerned the study of Various factors poignant the industry, together with the govt. policy, market environment, competitive landscape, historical knowledge, present trends within the market, technological innovation, future technologies and therefore the technical progress in connected industry and risks, opportunities, barriers and challenges. The subsequent illustrative figure shows the marketing research methodology applied during this report.

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Global Major Market Players indulged in this report are:

Janssen Biotech, Inc.Bristol-Myers Squibb CompanyAbbVie Inc.UCBCaresAMGENCelltrion HealthcareBiogenGenentech USA, Inc.ROCHEPfizer Inc.

The Ulcerative Colitis Immunology Drugs Market report is segmented into following categories:

The Ulcerative Colitis Immunology Drugs market report is segmented into Type by following categories;AdalimumabCertolizumab PegolTofacitinibEtanerceptGolimumabAbataceptInfliximabOthers

The Ulcerative Colitis Immunology Drugs market report is segmented into Application by following categories;Rheumatoid ArthritisCrohns Disease(CD)Ankylosing Spondylitis(AS)Psoriasis(Ps)Ulcerative Colitis(UC)

The report provides elaborate analysis on the Ulcerative Colitis Immunology Drugs market. This analysis provides forecasts for the provided amount in terms important (in US$) for the Ulcerative Colitis Immunology Drugs market, yet as for the revenue and cost markets. The report examines the economy of the country, hack import and provide, estimates the expenditure, capital acquisition and forecasts their growth for subsequent 5 years.

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This Ulcerative Colitis Immunology Drugs Market report has been compiled by combining info obtained from a really wide and wealthy mixture of primary and secondary analysis sources, manufacturing a broad industry summary. These forecasts and analysis provided are underpinned by in depth knowledgeable consultation and embody interviews with industry consultants. The study attracts on a various vary of official company and governmental announcements, media reports, policy documents, industry statements and knowledgeable opinion as a basis for discussing and predicting developments within the Ulcerative Colitis Immunology Drugs market.

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2020-2026 Update of Ulcerative Colitis Immunology Drugs Market Share, Growth Rate, Opportunities, Sales Channels and Porters Five Forces Analysis and...

Human Behavior

Using behavioral insights to make the most of emergency social protection cash transfers – World Bank Group

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, countries across the globe have been adapting social assistance policies to support their populations. In fact, since March 2020, 139 countries and territories have planned, implemented, or adapted cash transfers to support their citizens. Cash transfers specifically make up about half of the social protection programs implemented to address the pandemic. Now more than ever, its crucial that such programs are designed to maximize impacts. Behavioral insights can be mobilized as a cost-effective way to help beneficiaries make the most out of the available support. The World Bank and ideas42 partnership on behavioral designs for cash transfer programs is helping countries achieve this goal.

Cash transfers are a key response instrument in the social protection toolkitand for good reason. Cash transfers have been shown to generate a wide variety of positive benefits, from helping families invest in their children to promoting gender equality. However, we know from our previous work that in order to make the most out of cash transfers, recipients of any program (already facing challenging circumstances that compete for their attention) must undertake complex decisions and actions with their cash. These challenges are only magnified by the global pandemic. COVID-19 has wrought increased uncertainty around future employment and income, which makes calculations and planning to use cash transfer benefits all the more complex.

To help practitioners design programs that account for the complex thought processes and potential barriers recipients face, we mapped out their journey to effectively spend emergency social protection cash transfers. We also created simple, actionable guidance for program designers to put to use in maximizing their programs to help recipients use their cash transfer benefit to most effectively support families and reduce mid- to long-term financial volatility.

For example, the first step is helping recipients understand what the transfer is for. For recipients who have not yet been impacted by financial instability, or indeed have never encountered a cash transfer before, such funds might seem like a gift or bonus, and recipients may spend it accordingly. Providing clear, simple framing or labelling the transfer may signal to recipients that they should use the cash not only for immediate needs, but also in ways that can help them protect investments in their family members human capital and jumpstart their livelihood after the crisis wanes.

After enrolling in the program, recipients must then plan how to spend their cash. In order to make a plan that effectively allocates cash for immediate needs and what might be needed in the future, recipients must think about when they might get more support (or when they might have income restored) in the future. Clearly communicating if and when future payments will come can help recipients manage and best allocate the cash they receive.

After completing all other steps in the journeypaying attention to and acting on any additional messages and receiving their cashrecipients must spend the cash according to their plan to help smooth consumption during the crisis and reduce long-term financial volatility.

Barriers can emerge that make it difficult for beneficiaries to stick to their plan. For example, they may look to the spending patterns of others, and decide to deviate from their original plan if it does not match what they see their peers doing. The stress of the crisis may also prompt them to focus on short-term issues, rather than longer-term plans. Simple designssuch as using posters, flyers, SMS or media poststo communicate norms around productive spending or providing a tool that recipients can use to separate their cash immediately upon receiptcan help recipients stay on track with their own plans.

While suggestions should always be tailored to the context and cultural nuances of each program, and adjusted to minimize risks (health or otherwise) to beneficiaries, this guidance aims to provide principles that can be applied to a wide range of cash transfer programs with a variety of goals.

The current global pandemic and its ensuing economic crisis make it all the more important that cash transfer recipients use the income support as effectively as possible. Light-touch, low-cost tweaks, derived from evidence and a deep understanding of human behavior, can ensure programs are designed in a way that do just thatpotentially improving countless lives.

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Using behavioral insights to make the most of emergency social protection cash transfers - World Bank Group

Human Behavior

Owner behavior affects effort and accuracy in dogs’ communications – Jill Lopez

Human communication has evolved mechanisms that can be observed across all cultures and languages, including the use of communication history and the principle of least effort. These two factors enable us to use shared information about the past and present and to conserve energy, making communications as effective and efficient as possible. Given the remarkable sensitivity of dogs to human vocalizations, gestures and gazes, researchers have suggested that 30.000 years of domestication and co-evolution with humans may have caused dogs to develop similar principles of communication - a theory known as the domestication hypothesis.

On this basis, researchers designed an experiment that would examine the factors influencing the form, effort and success of dog-human interactions in a hidden-object task. Using 30 dog-owner pairs, researchers focused on a communicative behavior called showing, in which dogs gather the attention of a communicative partner and direct it to an external source.

While the owner waited in another room, an experimenter in view of a participating dog hid the dogs` favourite toy in one of four boxes. When the owner entered the room, the dog had to show its owner where the toy had been hidden. If the owner successfully located the toy, the pair were allowed to play as a reward. Participants were tested in two conditions: a close setup which required more precise showing and a distant setup which allowed for showing in a general direction.

The researchers found no evidence to suggest that dogs adhere to the principal of least effort, as they used as much energy in the easier far setup as they did in the more difficult close setup. However, this might have been a result of the owners influence on their dogs' effort. Secondly, dogs were not affected by different communication histories, as they performed similarly and used similar amounts of energy in both setups regardless of which condition they began with. Despite putting in similar amounts of effort, dogs adapted their showing strategies to be more or less precise, depending on the conditions.

The findings indicate that a crucial factor influencing the effort and accuracy of dogs' showing is the behaviour of the dog's owner. Owners who encouraged their dog to show where the toy was hidden increased their dog's showing effort but generally decreased their showing accuracy.

"We've seen in previous studies that if we keep eye contact with the dog or talk in a high-pitched voice, we seem to prompt a 'ready-to-obey attitude' which makes dogs very excited to follow our commands. So when owners asked their dogs 'Is the toy here?' and pointed at the boxes, they might have caused dogs to just show any box," says Melanie Henschel, main author of the study.

Although the researchers found no effects of communication history or the principal of least effort, the current study indicates for the first time that owners can influence their dog's showing accuracy and success.

"We were surprised that encouragement increased mistakes in dogs` showing accuracy. This could have impacts on the training of dogs and handlers in fields where dogs are working professionals. Future studies should focus on the complex effects of the owner's influence and the best strategies for handlers communicating with a dog." adds Juliane Bruer, senior author and head of the DogStudies Lab at MPI-SHH in Jena.

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Owner behavior affects effort and accuracy in dogs' communications - Jill Lopez

Human Behavior

Modeling the impact of testing, tracing, and quarantine – MIT News

Testing, contact tracing, and quarantining infected people are all tools in the effort to mitigate the spread of Covid-19. So are mask-wearing and social distancing. But what impact does each have? A study co-authored by MIT researchers finds that robust testing, contact tracing, and quarantining by household can keep cases within the capacity of the health-care system preventing a second wave while allowing for the reopening of some economic activities.

The paper, published Aug. 5 in Nature Human Behaviour, details a novel model that integrates anonymized, real-time mobility data with census and demographic data to map Covid-19 transmission in the Boston, Massachusetts area. The authors include Esteban Moro, a visiting research scientist in the MIT Media Lab and MIT Connection Science, and Alex Sandy Pentland, director of MIT Connection Science and a professor in the Media Lab and the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS).

This research sheds new light on possible pitfalls and solutions as cities look to lift restrictions that have been in place throughout the summer in many locations. Using data from approximately 85,000 people in the greater Boston area, combined with known information about Covid-19 transmission rates, duration of stages, and other data points, the authors model forecasts the number of new cases and hospitalizations under various scenarios of lifted restrictions.

If we want to re-scale our lives, economy, and cities, we need to understand better how the infection is spreading across people and communities, says Moro. Shutting down the whole economy and our cities because of a second wave might not be needed if we include accurate information about how people are behaving, moving, shopping, et cetera in our society.

In establishing a baseline, the study found that unmitigated lifting of restrictions would likely lead to a second wave that would quickly overwhelm Bostons health-care facilities, with peak of daily incidence of 25.2 newly infected individuals per 1,000 people, leading to a need for about 12 times the available intensive-care unit (ICU) beds.

A second scenario, referred to as LIFT, assumed an additional eight weeks of stay-at-home order, followed by another four of partial reopening, including work and community spaces, but not full reopening of restaurants and other spaces with mass social gatherings. After the total 12-week period, there would be a full lifting of all restrictions. In the LIFT scenario, the modeled impact was still well beyond the capacity of health-care facilities, with a need for over nine times the ICU beds available at the peak of the likely second wave.

It might be that only a safe, effective, and widely distributed vaccine will allow the world to return to life as usual. However, the authors propose a third scenario called LET, short for Lift and Enhanced Tracing that keeps cases and hospitalizations manageable while allowing for a wide return to work and social activity.

The LET scenario involves the same LIFT measures, but adds robust testing, contact tracing of symptomatic people, and quarantining of all household members of people who came in close contact with someone who tests positive for the virus. After lifting restrictions, at rates of 50 percent detection of positive cases within two days of onset of symptoms, tracing of 40 percent of contacts, and quarantine of all household members of those contacts, the model shows just 0.29 people per thousand in hospitals per day, compared with more than five per day under LIFT measures alone and more than seven under the unmitigated scenario. ICU beds would be more than adequate at all times under this scenario.

The advantage of whole-household quarantine is that it simplifies contact tracing, working at the level of small groups of people, rather than individuals. Followup calls to check for compliance would also be streamlined. Furthermore, the model assumes no additional precautions, such as masks and social distancing. Therefore, it is expected that new cases and hospitalizations could be even lower if people were to continue some of the practices that have helped combat the spread of Covid-19 thus far.

This approach is not without sacrifice. Quarantining full households presents unique challenges it might be hard for quarantined families to obtain necessities, and quarantining together with others with known risk of infection may not be desirable. The study notes that at the peak, with 40 percent contact tracing, as many as 9 percent of all people in the city could be under quarantine. However, this number would gradually decline to around 3 percent. The total number in quarantine could be further reduced if testing ramps up more significantly. The authors suggest that the trade-off of higher numbers of people in quarantine compared with the massively disruptive long-term social isolation policies that would otherwise be needed to keep new infections manageable is well worth it. Life could return to some degree of normalcy, and the economy could begin to recover.

Since the study was carried out, Massachusetts has moved toward a manual tracing strategy in which thousands of people have been hired to trace potential infections. Moro explains that this could work if the number of cases is small and controlled, but it might be insufficient if the number of cases scales up. He also notes that hiring contact tracers has been problematic. He suggests a possible solution to deal with sudden growth in the number of cases: combine manual and digital contact tracing via an app.

The model used in the study will continue to be developed and enhanced, and the authors plan to examine other cities beyond Boston. They will use real-time behavior data to investigate how infection is actually propagating and detect when, where, and why spreading events are happening.

MIT Connection Science is a research group hosted by the Sociotechnical Systems Research Center, a part of IDSS.

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Modeling the impact of testing, tracing, and quarantine - MIT News

Human Behavior

The Singularity of iek – PopMatters

Hegel in A Wired Brain Slavoj iek

Bloomsbury Academic

July 2020

Slavoj iek's latest book, Hegel in a Wired Brain, mixes perspicacity and paradox in brain-teasing ways that have become his signature style but there is novelty too in this punchy addition to his oeuvre. Dialectics between past and present are the dynamic characteristically powering his writing but this time the subject matter is the future: the prospect of digitally linking the human brain with a machine, a direct neural connection, heralding an era in our evolution that could be called, without hyperbole, the post-human.

We're not talking here about the smart human, able to turn on a home's air conditioning by thinking about it, but the possibility of a digital sharing of thoughts and experiences between people via machines. This is Singularity and if you believe what people like inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil is saying, it goes beyond the stuff of weird sci-fi: it's feasible and imminent.

What Marx said about the commodity 'full of metaphysical subtlety and theological perversities' also applies to Singularity. It provokes questions about what it means to be human and whether it holds out the promise of a collective space, prelapsarian in nature, that we all can share.

iek does not buy into this and to illustrate his reluctance returns to he Wachowski Brothers The Matrix and repeats what he said about the film in his 2006 book The Parallax View. Neo's (Keanu Reeves) success in bringing about a systems failure in The Matrix is not quite the liberation of humankind it might seem. The enlightenment he effects will allow people to transcend physical laws and fly like ballet dancers through the air but they remain inside the virtual reality of the Matrix. The 'desert of the real' that he can offer a welcome to is the digital universe that sustains the slave-like world of the Matrix; outside are the ruined remains of a destroyed Chicago that Laurence Fishburne's Morpheus offers a glimpse of.

The point is that there is no automatic escape from a symbolic order governing our sense of identity - the matrix that is Lacan's 'Big Other' and it is an illusion to think of Singularity as redeeming us from the Fall. In iek's 'Christian atheism', the Fall designates the presumption that humans are constitutively divided from other life forms that cannot comprehend finitude. Our comprehension creates the yearning for some organic wholeness and substantial unity, a state of happiness that is the very dimension from which traditional theology says we have fallen. Our sense of loss creates a paradisal point of origin that was never there, and iek looks to Hegel for a way of recognizing the illusion of ontological completeness and living with the fractured contingency this entails.

Hegel in a Wired Brain is not denying Singularity but seeks to rescue it from simplification through applied philosophy. He wants to know how direct neural links will handle the Unconscious, a mode of subjectivity that also retroactively creates a point of origin (the unconscious as a psychic area of the mind). But this only happens after its effects in human behavior. By way of understanding such a paradox, he reads Rupert Wyatt's undervalued film Captive State (2019) as an example of how its familiar fiction aliens conquering earth can become a virtual point of reference for our lived experience, more "real" than our real plight at the mercy of corporate rule.

A central tenet running through the seven chapters of this book is the void that defines the human subject and its consequences for Singularity. The fundamental failure at the heart of our being as sexual, mortal creatures dividing us from ourselves as well as other animals is the obstacle to notions of a spiritual order that the failure gives rise to. The libidinal energy and disquiet that feeds the Matrix, jouissance, has a parallel in capitalism's success and Singularity will be no different unless self-alienation is acknowledged; a new kind of Fall from the Fall is necessary.

It's tempting to read iek too quickly, approaching him as a hip iconoclast whose ideas can be readily digested. There's relish to be had in an intellectual cocktail that mixes a wealth of cultural knowledge, academic rigor, and risqu jokes but only before getting bogged down in abstruseness and stepping aside from the need to grapple with some complex ideas that he initially seems to make easy to comprehend. Byron's description of Coleridge - 'Explaining metaphysics to the nation / I wish he would explain his Explanation' in his poem, Don Juan: Dedication - has become a response shared by many after dipping into his books. Such moments are not altogether missing from Hegel in a Wired Brain but the book rarely departs for too long from its focus on the difficulties and opportunities that will emerge as forms of Singularity become a part of our world.

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The Singularity of iek - PopMatters

Human Behavior

Zombie wildfires are blazing through the Arctic, causing record burning – Live Science

"Zombie" wildfires that were smoldering beneath the Arctic ice all winter suddenly flared to life this summer when the snow and ice above it melted, new monitoring data reveals.

And this year has been the worst for Arctic wildfires on record, since reliable monitoring began 17 years ago. Arctic fires this summer released as much carbon in the first half of July than a nation the size of Cuba or Tunisia does in a year.

That's according to monitoring by the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, the European Union's Earth-monitoring organization. More than 100 fires have burned across the Arctic since early June, according to Copernicus. "Obviously it's concerning," Copernicus senior scientist Mark Parrington told the BBC. "We really hadn't expected to see these levels of wildfires yet."

Related: In photos: Devastating look at raging wildfires in Australia

The "zombie fires" tracked by Copernicus were likely smoldering beneath the ice and snow in the carbon-rich peat of the Arctic tundra. When the ice and snow melt, these hotspots can ignite new wildfires in the vegetation above.

"The destruction of peat by fire is troubling for so many reasons," Dorothy Peteet, a a senior research scientist at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, told Earth Observatory. "As the fires burn off the top layers of peat, the permafrost depth may deepen, further oxidizing the underlying peat."

The fires then release carbon and methane from the peat, both greenhouse gases that further contribute to the warming of the planet.

But zombie fires aren't the only cause for the rough wildfire season; lightning strikes and human behavior are also causing conflagrations.

Parrington and his colleagues had previously tracked the vicious wildfire season of 2019, but were surprised at how the fires intensified this year over the course of July, Parrington told Earth Observatory.

Siberia wasn't the only wildfire hotspot in the Arctic this summer. Northern Alberta, Canada has also been particularly impacted. The Chuckegg Creek Fire in northern Alberta, for example, burned more than 1,351 square miles (350,134 hectares) and took three months to contain, according to Global News Canada.

The Arctic fire season runs from May to October, with the worst fires usually occurring between July and August. The 2019 fire season broke records for the number of fires and carbon released, with Copernicus reporting that in June alone, the fires released 50 megatonnes of carbon dioxide.

The 2020 fires are already outpacing 2019's conflagrations. All told, Copernicus estimates that between January and August, the fires released 244 megatonnes of carbon. That's more than the entire nation of Vietnam released in 2017. The fires also release other pollution that has worsened air quality in Europe, Russia and Canada, according to Copernicus. Earth scientists are expecting similar conditions for 2021 and beyond.

"We know that temperatures in the Arctic have been increasing at a faster rate than the global average, and warmer/drier conditions will provide the right conditions for fires to grow when they have started," Parrington said in a statement released by Copernicus, adding, "Our monitoring is important in raising awareness of the wider scale impacts of wildfires and smoke emissions which can help organizations, businesses and individuals plan ahead against the effects of air pollution."

Originally published on Live Science.

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Zombie wildfires are blazing through the Arctic, causing record burning - Live Science