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Human Behavior

Empathy is both a trait and a skill. Here’s how to strengthen it – jacksonprogress-argus

Having empathy for other people goes a long way in fostering strong relationships. In fact, empathy is a fundamental building block for conflict resolution and understanding and bonding with others.

Psychological science has defined the term in many ways, but simply, it's "the ability to perceive accurately what another person is feeling," said Jennifer Lerner, a psychological scientist and the Thornton F. Bradshaw professor of public policy, decision science and management at the Harvard Kennedy School in Massachusetts. Her research examines human judgment and decision-making.

We need empathy because it motivates us to take action when we see that people are suffering, said Sarah Konrath, an associate professor of philanthropic studies at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

"Across time and situations, humans need empathic skills and empathy in order to make societal cooperation possible," said Lerner, also a former chief decision scientist for the US Navy. "As Charles Darwin [observed in 1872], the ability to recognize 'the expression of emotion in man and animals' plays a profound role in all societies, including nonhuman primate societies."

And "in a time like the present, when the Covid-19 pandemic and brutal acts of racism are causing so much suffering," Lerner added, it's important to accurately perceive what others are feeling even if we don't share those feelings.

What better time than now to strengthen your abilities to express different types of empathy and practice them in your everyday life?

Types of empathy

Empathy is more about looking for a common humanity, while sympathy entails feeling pity for someone's pain or suffering, Konrath said.

"Whereas empathy is the ability to perceive accurately what another person is feeling, sympathy is compassion or concern stimulated by the distress of another," Lerner said. "A common example of empathy is accurately detecting when your child is afraid and needs encouragement. A common example of sympathy is feeling sorry for someone who has lost a loved one."

Each is more called for in different situations. But a "common mistake is to leap into sympathy before empathically understanding what another person is feeling," Lerner said. Two types of empathy can prevent that relationship blunder.

Emotional empathy, sometimes called compassion, is more intuitive and involves care and concern for others.

Cognitive empathy requires effort and more systematic thinking, so it may lead to more empathic accuracy, Lerner said. It entails considering others' and their perspectives and imagining what it's like to be them, Konrath added.

Some work managers and colleagues, for example, have had to practice empathy for parents juggling remote work with child care and virtual learning duties, said David Anderson, senior director of national programs and outreach at the Child Mind Institute, in an episode of CNN podcast "Coronavirus: Fact vs. Fiction with Dr. Sanjay Gupta."

But since the outset of the pandemic in March, that empathy has faded reflecting the notion that cognitive empathy does take effort.

It takes work to interpret what someone is feeling by all of his cues: facial expressions, tones of voice, posture, words and more. Then you have to connect those cues with what you know about him and the situation in order to accurately infer his feelings.

"This kind of inference is a highly complex social-cognitive task" that might involve a variation of mental processes, Lerner said.

You've likely heard people call themselves "empaths," in that they're so deeply affected by the struggles of others that they take on the anguish and emotional burden. But there's a difference between empathy and this state, which psychologists call "emotional contagion."

Overwhelmingly feeling exactly what another person feels when she's upset is actually somewhat self-focused and can lead to depression and poor well-being, Konrath said.

It also doesn't help the person who's struggling, because she would end up with a friend who feels as badly as she does and thus doesn't do anything to help her.

"Empathy does not require that someone share the feeling of another although it may sometimes involve that," Lerner said. Emotional and cognitive empathy are better for both you and the person who needs help.

Genetic or learned? What studies have suggested

Empathy is both a trait and a skill.

Some research has found that specific genes are associated with empathy, such as genes that trigger oxytocin the "love hormone" that rises when we make physical contact with another human, helping us to bond, Konrath said. It also may influence human behaviors and social interactions such as recognition and trust.

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Most people have the fundamental capacity to be empathic, Lerner said, which involves a brain network of the mirror neuron system, the insula and the limbic system.

Mirror neurons mimic the actions and behaviors of others, and are linked to more intuitive, emotional empathy. The insula regulates the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, which control the fight-or-flight response and relax the body, respectively. The limbic system regulates bodily functions in response to emotional stimuli and reinforces behavior through memories.

"When we see someone else doing something, in our bodies we have sort of a parallel response," Konrath explained. "If we see someone is expressing emotion, for a moment you might feel a reflection of that emotion that can help motivate you to actually figure out what's going on and try to help them. That can help to explain a little bit about how we are wired for empathy."

In this case, many empathic processes are automatic, but they can also be activated in situations when you have an incentive to be deliberately empathic for example, when you're trying to read your manager's mood.

The other component of empathy is environmental, meaning it can also be reinforced by socialization. Our cultural, school, work and home environments and the values within them can build up or diminish our capacity to express empathy, Konrath said.

One of the best ways to incentivize empathy, Lerner said, is to create interdependence between people.

"If I depend on you for something," she said, "then I have to become motivated to understand what you are feeling and vice versa."

Building and implementing your capacity for empathy

Empathy can be learned, and you can start by practicing how you behave in your relationships with others, Konrath said.

When you're talking with someone, try to imagine what her life is like for her.

Read his body language and utilize reflective or active listening, of which the purpose is to understand the person rather than prepare to respond while he's talking.

During conversations, focus your full attention and time on listening then doing whatever you can so the person feels understood. To accurately perceive his feelings, you can ask questions: "It sounds like you're feeling dejected. Is that right?" Or, "Is it fair to say that you're feeling optimistic?"

Spending time with babies, children and animals can be helpful, Konrath said since they can't verbally express their needs, you'd have to more intuitively assess their needs.

Awareness of someone's pain can feel overwhelming, so you might turn away from it especially if you think you don't have the time to deal with it, Konrath said. But during difficult times, what people really need is someone to be there it's not about saying the right thing, but rather being present, listening and understanding.

"Learning to regulate our emotions and have the capacity to tolerate negativity is very, very important for mature empathy," Konrath added.

The upsides of empathy

When you become more empathic, the people in your life might feel more loved, supported and cared for, Konrath said.

You might also feel more united with others, be able to resolve conflicts faster and achieve greater satisfaction at work, Lerner said.

"Unless you accurately perceive that your child or significant other is mad at you, you don't have the knowledge needed to even begin resolving a conflict," she added.

A mindset focused on others' needs can lower stress hormones as well. Empathic people score lower on scales for depression, Konrath said.

"Empathy is such an important biological system in our bodies that, of course, there's going to be some sort of benefits right back at the empathic person," Konrath said. "Being able to experience a hormonal change that would allow you to continue to care for somebody is very important for human survival."

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Empathy is both a trait and a skill. Here's how to strengthen it - jacksonprogress-argus

Human Behavior

Lockdowns changed animal behaviour. Researchers want to know what that means. – The Weather Network

Wednesday, June 24th 2020, 2:41 pm - Researchers hope the findings will inspire new ways to co-exist with nature post-COVID-19.

A widespread and prolonged reduction in human activity due to COVID-19 lockdowns is likely changing animal behaviour, and a global team of researchers has been formed in response, according to an article published this week in Nature Ecology & Evolution.

We already have anecdotal evidence of animals changing their movements, with multiple reports of animals roaming in areas normally bustling with human life.

And this isn't just happening in Canada -- there have been reports of altered animal behaviour in parts of Europe and Asia as well.

The authors of the new study have dubbed the lockdown period 'anthropause' -- a nod to the slowdown in several sectors.

While some animals are thriving under the new conditions, like the dolphins that have returned to Italy coast now that cruise ships are docked, other animals are struggling.

In a statement, the paper's authors point to city rats or monkeys in urban-dwelling areas, both of which rely on human leftovers to survive.

A map of animal movements. Courtesy: MPIAB/ MaxCine.

While the authors stress humanity's priority is ending the pandemic, they note researchers have a unique, large-scale opportunity to study animal behaviour.

In response to this, a global consortium called the COVID-19 Bio-Logging Initiative has been created. Researchers will work together to "investigate animals' movements, behaviour and stress levels, before, during, and after Covid-19 lockdown, using data collected with nifty animal-attached electronic devices called "bio-loggers," the authors say in a statement.

A cheetah wearing a 'bio-logger' on its ear. Courtesy: Sergio Izquierdo.

"All over the world, field biologists have fitted animals with miniature tracking devices," explains lead author Professor Christian Rutz, a biologist at the University of St Andrews, UK, and President of the International Bio-Logging Society.

"These bio-loggers provide a goldmine of information on animal movement and behaviour, which we can now tap to improve our understanding of human-wildlife interactions, with benefits for all."

Results from several species of animals will be logged, including fish, birds, and mammals.

A mallard wearing a solar GPS tag. Courtesy: Sergio Izquierdo.

Dr. Matthias-Claudio Loretto, a Marie Skodowska-Curie Fellow at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Radolfzell, Germany, says the lockdown will give researchers a unique opportunity to quantify the impact that human activity has on some animal species.

"We will be able to investigate if the movements of animals in modern landscapes are predominantly affected by built structures, or by the presence of humans," Dr. Loretto says.

"That is a big deal."

Scientists hope the findings will inspire new proposals that will improve human and wildlife co-existence.

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Lockdowns changed animal behaviour. Researchers want to know what that means. - The Weather Network

Human Behavior

The Surprisingly Simple Way Researchers Say a Second COVID-19 Wave Could Be Avoided – SciTechDaily

A Second COVID-19 Wave Could Be Avoided if Social Distancing and the Use of Face Masks Are Maintained

A model developed by ISGlobal shows that deconfinement must be gradual and that individual behavior is a key factor.

Individual behavior has a significant effect on preventing a large second wave of COVID-19 infections. In fact, maintaining social distancing and other interventions such as the use of face masks and hand hygiene could remove the need for future lockdowns, according to a modeling study performed by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), an institution supported by the la Caixa Foundation. The findings, published in Nature Human Behaviour, also show that, in countries that have not yet reached the peak of active cases, lockdowns must remain in place for at least 60 days and deconfinement must be gradual in order to decrease the risk of second waves.

Several countries that initially imposed strict lockdown measures to limit the spread of SARS-CoV-2 are in the process of lifting them. However, how and when to ease the restrictions is a difficult decision a delicate balance between the need to reactivate the economy and the risk of a second wave of infections that could overwhelm healthcare systems. The problem is that assessing this risk is difficult, given the lack of reliable information on the actual number of people infected or the extent of immunity developed among the population, explains Xavier Rod, head of ISGlobals Climate and Health program. In this study, Rods team present projections based on a model that divides the population into seven groups: susceptible, quarantined, exposed, infectious not detected, reported infectious and confined, recovered and death. It also allows to simulate both the degree of population confinement and the different post-confinement strategies.

Our model is different because it considers the return of confined people to the susceptible population to estimate the effect of deconfinement, and it includes peoples behaviors and risk perception as modulating factors, explains Xavier Rod. This model can be particularly useful for countries where the peak of cases has not yet been reached, such as those in the Southern hemisphere. It would allow to evaluate control policies and minimize the number of cases and fatalities caused by the virus explains co-author and ISGlobal researcher Leonardo Lpez.

The use of face masks, hand hygiene and shelter in place mandates have already demonstrated benefits. The aim of this study was to quantitatively evaluate their relevance as containment strategies. The results clearly show that the length of the first confinement will affect the timing and magnitude of subsequent waves, and that gradual deconfinement strategies always result in a lower number of infections and deaths, when compared to a very fast deconfinement process.

In Spain, where the deconfinement was fast for half of the population and gradual for the rest, individual behavior will be key for reducing or avoiding a second wave. If we manage to reduce transmission rate by 30% through the use of face masks, hand hygiene, and social distancing, we can considerably reduce the magnitude of the next wave. Reducing transmission rate by 50% could avoid it completely, says Rod.

The results show that, even in countries that do not have the resources to test and trace all cases and contacts, social empowerment through the use of masks, hand hygiene, and social distancing, is key to stopping viral transmission.

Simulations also show that loss of immunity to the virus will have significant effects on the spacing between epidemic waves if immunity has a long duration (one year instead of a few months), then the time between the epidemic waves will double.

The model considered total lockdowns and used data available until May 25, but did not take into account a possible effect of temperatures on viral transmission.

Reference: The end of social confinement and COVID-19 re-emergence risk by Leonardo Lpez and Xavier Rod, 22 June 2020, Nature Human Behaviour.DOI: 10.1038/s41562-020-0908-8

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The Surprisingly Simple Way Researchers Say a Second COVID-19 Wave Could Be Avoided - SciTechDaily

Human Behavior

Colombia experiments with blockchain to curtail corruption – Contxto

Don't worry, we speak : Espaol (Spanish), too!

Contxto Gimme your lunch money! While thats usually the type of phrase that comes from your playground bullies, its also used by other punks: government officials in Colombia who tamper with public funds tagged for school meals.

So to cut back corruption, the World Economic Forum (WEF), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the Office of the Inspector General of Colombia partnered up.

And last Wednesday (17), they announced that through a joint team theyve developed blockchain-based proof-of-concept (PoC) software. Through it they hope to reduce corruption within government procurement processes.

Dubbed Unlocking Government Transparency with Blockchain Technology this system was designed and tested to add transparency to a public-school meal program.

The Programa de Alimentacin Escolar (PAE) is a public initiative in Colombia for procuring lunches to vulnerable children. According to the WEF, the PAE has been the object of corruption for quite a long time.Primarily in the vendor bidding process.

But thats also why the team chose the PAE to pilot its new permissionless blockchain software that works over the Ethereum network.

As a result of the trial, the WEF concluded that there were a few unexpected challenges in relation to the use of permissionless blockchain to reduce corruption.Primarily when it came to scalability and handling vendor anonymity.

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The team concluded that adopting a hybrid approach with blockchain might be a better approach to manage scalability.

Terminology cheat sheet

Permissionless blockchain: Anyone can participate in the system. In this case, to cut back corruption, permissionless blockchain offers the advantage of evidencing when someone tries to trifle with the data. Although permissionless blockchain can be less scalable because the system is literally overloaded with data to process.

Permissioned blockchain: Implies that a party needs approval to mess with the data stored on the network. It allows for more transactions on the network to be processed quickly because not just anyone can add on information.

Hybrid blockchain: A combination of the previous two. By using two protocol-level blockchain networks, the team believes countries can get the best of both worlds to cut down corruption.

A useful and technical experiment to tackle a problem that plagues most of Latin America. But as the report by the WEF states, it can only do so much.

Technology cannot fully solve what is at the heart of human behavior problems.

To truly kill corruption, tech solutions will prove an invaluable ally. But if the social and cultural practices linked to corruption dont change, then as Metallica put it, nothing else matters.

Related articles: Tech and startups from Colombia!

-ML

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Colombia experiments with blockchain to curtail corruption - Contxto

Physiology

Affluent Medical kicks off first-in-human trial of Epygon valve – BioWorld Online

French startup Affluent Medical SA has launched a European pilot study in humans of its native-like transcatheter mitral valve technology. The Epygon valve is designed to restore the normal blood flow vortex in the left side of the heart and treat left ventricle disease, particularly in so-called functional patients.

Coinciding with the launch of the pilot, the company announced 10.3 million (US$11.6 million) in new financing and the addition of three new members on its board of directors.

According to the Aix-en-Provence company, the Epygon valves asymmetric, D-shaped and one-leaflet design allows it to restore the natural vortex, a rotational blood flow that is thought to be more efficient that a straight, steady flow. To our knowledge, no other mitral valve in development is a one-leaflet allowing the restore the physiological vortex, CEO Michel Finance told BioWorld.

The unique design is expected to result in high procedural success, restore left ventricular blood flow and avoid thrombus formation and left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) obstruction, while also reducing left ventricular effort.

Finance called the pilot study a major milestone for the company.

Epygon is a world premiere and a potential best-in-class valve in a market where physiology has been overlooked for decades, he said. This pilot study aims to confirm the improved clinical outcomes already demonstrated in preclinical testing. It should open up a new era both for surgeons and patients, with physiology as a key factor in cardiac surgery.

CE mark pivotal study targeted for 2022

Affluent Medical estimates that as many as 4 million people in the U.S., Europe and Asia suffer from mitral valve regurgitation, due to the lack of optimal therapies. The global market is expected to reach $3.5 billion to $5 billion by the end of 2022, growing at an annual rate of 35%.

The prospective, nonrandomized, single-arm, multicenter MINERVA (Mitral valve INsufficiency with the Epygon TRanscatheter mitral VAlve system) study will enroll up to 20 patients in three centers in Austria, Italy and Spain. Affluent Medical plans to complete enrollment by the first quarter of 2021 and report the results after one year of follow-up.

We are anticipating our first human implant in the next weeks, Finance said.

If the pilot study is successful, the company plans to launch a pivotal trial to support CE marking of the Epygon valve in early 2022.

Finance said the company will be pursuing a similar approach for U.S. FDA approval, starting most probably in the next six to 12 months.

Capital injection

The 10.3 million private placement financing was led by Truffle Capital via the Truffle Biomedtech FCPI Fund and Truffle Innov FRR France. Other participants included Head Leader Ltd., Affluent Medicals partner for two ventures in Shanghai, Ginko Invest, Fate and Simone Merkle. The company has earmarked the funds to advance its cardiology clinical programs, particularly the MINERVA study, completion of its OPTIMISE II pivotal trial of Kalios, an adjustable mitral ring, as well as the start of a pilot/pivotal study of its Artus implantable urinary sphincter for urinary incontinence.

The OPTIMISE II trial got underway in December and is slated to complete enrollment of about 62 patients in four European countries this quarter. The goal is to demonstrate Kalios safety and effectiveness as a treatment for post-operative residual valve insufficiency. Primary outcomes from the trial are after 12-month follow-up early next year, with commercialization possibly in about two years, Finance said.

Additionally, Affluent Medical announced 5.5 million (US$6.2 million) in financing from two government-backed loans: 2.2 million from the banks Socit Gnrale and BNP Paribas to mitigate COVID-19s economic impact; 1 million by Bpifrance to support cardiology R&D; and 2.3 million in grants from Bifrance for the MINERVA study.

The new funding brings Affluent Medicals total capital raised to about 38 million since 2012.

In conjunction with the financing, the company named Jean-Franois Le Bigot, CEO of Oncovita and chairman of Ginko Invest, and Benot Adelus, president of Fate, as board members. Rounding out the board appointments was Finance, who was elected as chairman.

We are very pleased to welcome Jean-Franois Le Bigot and Benot Adelus to our board of directors, Finance said. Their expertise along with the 15.8 million in refinancing should allow Affluent Medical to make rapid progress on its clinical programs and its commitment to bring new-generation, minimally invasive medical devices to the market for the treatment of large unmet medical needs.

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Affluent Medical kicks off first-in-human trial of Epygon valve - BioWorld Online

Physiology

USF researchers working to find early warnings for severe COVID-19 illness – ABC Action News

TAMPA, Fla. -- Researchers at the University of South Florida are working to identify the physiological response to COVID-19, in hopes of developing an early warning system for patients who may be at risk for severe illness.

Researchers explained their goal is to understand which physiological patterns may give an indicator of a more serious infection.

Well be able to define how long people have these different abnormalities, their vital signs, their activity level, their heart so that we will know more about how to triage patients, characterize patients, tell them what to expect coming down the line on different days of their illness, said Dr. Asa Oxner, an associate professor at USF and operations director of the TGH-USF Health COVID Clinic.

What we intend to do is monitor a large enough sample population of people who have contracted the COVID virus but do not have otherwise some other secondary condition that would indicate they are at high risk and see if we can identify relative to their those outcomes which of the variables might give us an early indication that for a particular physiology youre going sideways, said Dr. Matthew Mallarkey, director of the USF Muma College of Businesss Doctor of Business Administration Program.

They are monitoring up to 150 COVID-19 patients with no underlying risk factors for up to a month after their diagnosis. The patients will wear a device from Shimmer Research Inc., partnering with USF on the study, to measure things like heart rate, oxygen, heart rhythm and activate levels.

Unfortunately, COVID-19 is likely to be with us for a while. By monitoring patients, we can direct healthcare resources to those who really need it and intervene in severe cases before they turn critical. This can be done remotely without bringing infectious patients to hospitals or doctors offices where they can infect other people. We are excited to work with the excellent team at USF, who bring world-class medical and AI expertise to this project, the company stated.

Researchers said theyll look at the data to see if there are the same signs in patients.

We can look back on the ones who got worse, what was the first sign that theyre about to get worse and do they all have the same sign? If they did, thats very very helpful for the people out in the community. We could have patients self-monitor that or we could have primary care doctors self-monitor that so that we would know whos gonna get sick and we know early as possible so we can start changing things for them, said Oxner.

Were hearing about sports teams, for example, where whole teams -- one or two members of the team -- contract the virus and maybe whole teams are at risk of contracting the virus. We would imagine that theres a better world where those otherwise healthy young adults are given a wearable device that could continuously monitor and compare their physiologies to these identified archetypes that these archetypes that are gonna go sideways and they dont go sideways for the same reason, said Mallarkey.

The project is funded through the USF COVID-19 Rapid Response Grant.

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USF researchers working to find early warnings for severe COVID-19 illness - ABC Action News

Physiology

Prevalence of Diabetic Retinopathy and Its Associated Factors among Di | DMSO – Dove Medical Press

Melkamu Tilahun,1 Teshome Gobena,2 Diriba Dereje,2 Mengistu Welde,2 Getachew Yideg3

1Department of Biomedical Sciences (Medical Physiology), College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Debre Markos University, Debre Markos, Ethiopia; 2Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia; 3Department of Biomedical Sciences (Medical Physiology), College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Debre Tabur University, Debre Tabur, Ethiopia

Correspondence: Melkamu TilahunDepartment of Biomedical Sciences (Medical Physiology), College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Debre Markos University, PO Box 269, Debre Markos, EthiopiaTel +251 93-355-5884Fax + 0587780673Email melkamutilahunalamir@gmail.com

Background: Diabetic retinopathy is a well-known sight-threatening microvascular complication of diabetes mellitus. Currently, 93 million people live with diabetic retinopathy worldwide. There are insufficient studies addressing the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy and risk factors in Ethiopia.Objective: To assess the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy and its associated factors among diabetic patients on follow-up at Debre Markos Referral Hospital, northwest Ethiopia, 2019.Methods: This institution- based cross-sectional study was conducted among 302 patients. They were selected through systematic sampling. Explanatory data were extracted from medical records and interviews. Blood pressure, weight, height, and visual acuity tests were assessed. Retinal examination was performed with a Topcon TRC-NW7SF fundus camera. Data were entered in EpiData 3.1 and exported in to SPSS 20 for analyses. Binary logistic regression with 95% CIs was used for analyses. Simple binary logistic regression followed by multiple binary logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify associated factors.Results: There were 302 patients in this study, of which 57 (18.9%) had diabetic retinopathy. Among the diabetic retinopathy patients, 75.4% had the preproliferative type. Four in ten (37.7%) of the patients had visual acuity problems. Poor glycemic control (AOR 4.58, 95% CI 1.86 11.31), > 10 years diabetes duration (AOR 3.91, 95% CI 1.86 8.23), body-mass index > 25 kg/m2 (AOR 3.74, 95% CI 1.83 7.66), and hypertension (AOR 3.39, 95% CI 1.64 7.02) were factors significantly associated with diabetic retinopathy.Conclusion: About a-fifth of diabetic patients had diabetic retinopathy. Diabetic retinopathy was significantly associated with glycemic control, hypertension, body-mass index, and duration of illness. Routine assessment and early control of those associated factors may be important in reducing both the prevalence and impact of diabetic retinopathy, as evidenced in the current study.

Keywords: diabetes mellitus, diabetic retinopathy, associated factor, Ethiopia

This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution - Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License.By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms.

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Prevalence of Diabetic Retinopathy and Its Associated Factors among Di | DMSO - Dove Medical Press

Physiology

Local students named to U of I Dean’s List – Oskaloosa Herald

IOWA CITY More than 8,500 undergraduate students at the University of Iowa were named to the dean's list for the 2020 spring semester, including 47 students from Mahaska and Marion Counties.

The following students were named to the list:

Austin Adrian of Pella, Accounting; Chance Bodart of Oskaloosa, Journalism and Mass Communication; Payton Bumgardner of Pleasantville, History; Allison Clark of Leighton, History; Spencer De Jong of Oskaloosa, History; Alicia Edmundson of New Sharon, English and Creative Writing; Taylor Fleener of Oskaloosa, Anthropology; John Hammes of Oskaloosa, Economics; Kaila Hembrook of Knoxville, Communication Studies; Tessa Hutchings of Pleasantville, Art; Kaley Iddings of Pleasantville, Speech and Hearing Science; Anna Kain of Oskaloosa, Art; Emma Kelderman of Oskaloosa, Pre-Business; Joseph Kesteloot of Knoxville, Microbiology; Makayla Kruse of Pella, Human Physiology; Alice Lickteig of Pella, Elementary Education; Isaiah Martin of Pella, Actuarial Science; Emily Masek of Otley, Speech and Hearing Science; Blake McClung of Knoxville, Business Analytics and Information Systems; Jared McClung of Knoxville, Mechanical Engineering; Jackson McDonald of Knoxville, Communication Studies; Bailee Meyer of Pella, English Education; Carson Milledge of Oskaloosa, Computer Science; Aubrey Miller of Oskaloosa, Elementary Education; John Moore of Oskaloosa, Finance; Maria Moore of Hamilton, Geoscience; Camryn Norton of Knoxville, Environmental Engineering; Lucy Olson of Knoxville, Neuroscience; Emma Padellford of Pleasantville, Enterprise Leadership; Victoria Palmer of Oskaloosa, Health and Human Physiology; Emily Parker of Pleasantville, English; Aleona Pronina of Pella, Psychology; Jarod Robertson of Pella, Art; Cara Roquet of Fremont, Elementary Education; Joel Ruiter of Otley, Human Physiology; Jordyn Sanders of Bussey, Science Studies; Victoria Sheehey of Pleasantville, Art; Colton Spaur of Bussey, Sport and Recreation Management; Kelli Spaur of Bussey, English; Andelyn Sunderman of Pella, Communication Studies; Daniel Thompson of Pella, Music Education; Morgan Thorpe of Pleasantville, Speech and Hearing Science; Tianna Torrejon of Pleasantville, Journalism and Mass Communication; Colin Vasina of Pella, Management; Jessica Vogel of Pella, Ancient Civilization; College: Josephine Vroom of Pella, Management; and Jennifer Wieser of Pella, Management.

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Local students named to U of I Dean's List - Oskaloosa Herald

Physiology

Empatica and BARDA Join Forces to Validate Wearable System That Detects COVID-19 Before Symptoms Appear – PRNewswire

The aim is to validate Empatica's algorithm in real-life settings, with the participation of healthcare workers who are exposed to a high viral load while treating hospitalized COVID-19 patients.They will wear the E4, Empatica's medical-grade research wearable wristband, for 30 days, and their physiological data will be reviewed against daily nasopharyngeal (NP) samples and a daily qRT-PCR swab, ensuring the highest ground truth.

Empatica CEO Matteo Lai, stated, "We are very proud to join forces with BARDA to help improve the health and safety of millions of Americans going back to work. This product introduces a new paradigm: empowering individuals and institutions with smart health monitoring, so that they will know early when they need to self-isolate and take care of themselves. Without BARDA's leadership and foresight over the past year, our early detection algorithm would not have reached this pivotal stage of clinical validation, which will accelerate our request for FDA's approval of Aura as a medical product for use by people at risk of contracting COVID-19."

BARDA Acting Director, Gary Disbrow, Ph.D., added, "We anticipate that access to real-time and actionable health information will empower people to seek medical advice and care sooner, or to adopt behavioral changes such as temporary self-isolation that can help reduce the spread of COVID-19 and similar infections."

Early detection can protect frontline workers, reduce spread, and improve the overall public health response as lockdowns ease globally. Recent estimates byCDC suggest that 35% of infections are asymptomatic, making contact tracing and containment of the virus a challenge. Meanwhile,the most infectious period could be 1 to 3 days before symptoms start, so even those patients who eventually display symptoms can still infect their family, colleagues and other people they interact with, before realizing they are ill. Digital biomarkers like Aura can help efficiently triage patients, enabling more effective care and prioritization of cases, and potentially saving lives.

Contact [emailprotected] for more info on Aura.

Empatica

Empatica Incis an MIT spinoff based in Boston, MA, and a pioneer in physiology-based biomarker development and continuous, unobtrusive patient monitoring driven by AI. Empatica's platform uses a combination of biosensors to detect features of human physiology that are distilled in AI-based algorithms and can remotely monitor autonomic activity, movement, sleep and cardiac activity. Empatica's E4 and Embrace2 smartwatches are CE-marked and have been sold to thousands of institutional partners for research purposes, in trials and studies examining Stress, Sleep, Epilepsy, Migraine, Depression, Addiction and other conditions.

HHS/ASPR/BARDA

HHS works to enhance and protect the health and well-being of all Americans, providing for effective health and human services and fostering advances in medicine, public health, and social services. The mission of ASPR is to save lives and protect Americans from 21st century health security threats. Within ASPR, BARDA invests in the innovation, advanced research and development, acquisition, and manufacturing of medical countermeasures vaccines, treatments, diagnostic tools, and non-pharmaceutical products needed to combat health security threats.

SOURCE Empatica

https://www.empatica.com/

Excerpt from:
Empatica and BARDA Join Forces to Validate Wearable System That Detects COVID-19 Before Symptoms Appear - PRNewswire

Biochemistry

Black people are underrepresented in medical research. She wants to change that. – News@Northeastern

For as long as Shellaina Gordon can remember, the word research for her has conjured images of white laboratory coats and tubes of solution. But inside those lab coats, she never saw anyone who looked like her.

And yet, growing up in a family of seven that has dealt with plenty of sickness, Gordon has always found herself drawn to the field of difficult-to-treat diseases, and specifically the study of the proteins involved in human disease, and how their expression, structure and function cause illness.

She decided early on that she wanted to pursue a career in science and medicine to help reduce the healthcare disparities that adversely affect underrepresented communities.

There is a lack of physician-scientists working at this level and especially those of color, says Gordon, a biochemistry student who is in her third year at Northeastern. My hopes are to counteract this reality by exploring disease proteomics at the molecular levelunderstanding the fundamental differences between different groups of people will be instrumental in developing useful, effective therapeutics.

An aspiring physician-scientist, Gordon says she intends to learn how the intricacies of medicine intersect with socioeconomic status and race in the development of treatments. Her research goals include learning about the onset and progression of disease in different ethnic groups. She also wants to teach and mentor undergraduate students, especially those who come from underserved backgrounds.

At some point in my career, I hope to become a tenured professor at a research-intensive university running my own lab, she says.

Gordons research career began in the lab of Teresita Padilla-Benavides, an assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular pharmacology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Under Padilla-Benavides tutelage, Gordon has published three scientific journal articles on projects she completed that explored the role of transition metalswhich include metals such as manganese, copper, and zincin the development of cells.

At Northeastern, Gordon is treasurer of the student diversity advisory council of the College of Science and of the womens club water polo team. She is also a member of the Black Engineering Student Society, where she says she has found community and interdisciplinary discussions of science.

I have been able to network and take advantage of opportunities in STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics], she says.

Earlier this year, Gordon was rewarded with a Goldwater Scholarship to support her pursuit of a career in medicine and science.

Established by Congress to honor Sen. Barry Goldwater, the Goldwater Scholarship is a highly competitive, merit-based award given to college students who plan to pursue research careers in mathematics, engineering, and the natural sciences.

I am incredibly honored to be a part of such an elite, aspirational community, Gordon says. Although I aspire to be a physician-scientist, I anticipate my path to this career will not be linear. In this final year, I hope to further understand where I can make an impact on science and in the world and then act on it.

For media inquiries, please contact media@northeastern.edu.

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Black people are underrepresented in medical research. She wants to change that. - News@Northeastern