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Human Behavior

What is R-naught for the COVID-19 virus and why it’s a key metric for re-opening plans – ABC News

If you've been reading coronavirus news coverage, you've likely stumbled across a reference to a term called "R0." It's been on the tips of world leaders' tongues in recent months, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel's, whose R0 explanation garnered a striking 9 million views on Twitter in April.

Pronounced "R-naught," the reproductive number is an indicator of how contagious a disease is, or how easily it spreads from person to person in a community. The number is important because government leaders are using R0 as a proxy for determining whether their respective COVID-19 outbreaks are growing, shrinking and or holding steady.

Crucially, R0 is not a fixed number. It's a jumping off point that's influenced by many factors, including human behavior.

People relax in circles marked on the grass for proper social distancing at Brooklyn's Domino Park during the coronavirus outbreak, May 18, 2020, in New York. The circles were added after the park, which offers excellent views of the Williamsburg Bridge and the Manhattan skyline, became severely overcrowded during a spate of warm weather.

The reproductive number of a virus, or R0, is the number of people, on average, that one infected person will subsequently infect. The naught in R0 refers to the zeroth generation of a disease, as in "patient zero." A higher R0 means more people will be infected over the course of the outbreak. A lower number means fewer people will be infected over time. That replication will continue if there are no vaccinations against the illness or immunity in the population.

Because that number is imprecise and variable, it's often expressed as a range.

Here are a few examples:

If R0 is 1, each infected person infects just one other person, on average. Over time, the number of infected people will remain the same.

If R0 is less than 1, each sick person is infection fewer than one person, on average, so the number of infected individuals will shrink over time. In case case of COVID-19, and R0 of less than 1 means lockdown measures could be eased.

If R0 is greater than 1, each sick person is infecting more than one person, on average, so the outbreak will grow. So, lockdown measures may need to remain in place.

And while R0 = 1 and R0 = 2 might seem close, "the difference between a reproductive number of 1 and a reproductive number of 2 is huge, in terms of the number of people who will ultimately be infected," Emily Gurley, an associate scientist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health explained during an online course she teaches about contact tracing.

"Everything we can do to help us get the reproductive number closer to 1 will help us control the spread of a disease," Gurley added.

People wearing masks walk past an recently reopened bar in the East Village amid the coronavirus pandemic, May 14, 2020, in New York City.

Measles, which is one of the most infectious diseases that scientists know of, has an R0 of about 15. (While there's some dispute about this number, measles is frequently cited as having an R0 between 12 and 18 in scientific literature.)

With an R0 of 15, every person infected with measles will go on to sicken 15 additional people.

On the other end of the spectrum, MERS, or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, another type of coronavirus, has an R0 lower than 1, meaning on average, each infected person infects less than one other person. Because of that low reproductive number, MERS does not usually result in large disease outbreaks.

A safe and effective vaccine is not expected until at least 2021, so how does herd immunity work, and how can this method help in getting us back to our lives and preventing the spread of COVID-19?

For now, scientists have calculated the R0 of the novel coronavirus to be between 2 and 3, meaning each infected individual will infect to two to three additional people, on average.

As a historical comparison, the R0 of the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic is estimated to have been between 1.4 and 2.8, according to an article published in BMC Medicine.

They're numerous.

Some government leaders have framed their discussion of R0 as a race to get below 1, but like many scientific concepts, R0 is more complicated than a one-time race to success.

R0, which involves modeling, can change from place to place and is impacted by human behavior. It involves imperfect and different estimates based on assumptions and educated guesswork by scientists. As researchers aptly noted in a paper published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases last year, R0 is "easily misrepresented, misinterpreted, and misapplied."

As in the case of measles, scientists continue to disagree on the R0 of even diseases they've been studying for decades.

In the United States, the COVID-19 outbreak has not been uniform. Different regions, states and cities have had their own micro-outbreaks, which are on different timelines, making it hard to assign one R0 to the entire country. New York City, Seattle and Chicago may have very different R0 numbers than one another.

That's not to say governments shouldn't try to lower their R0 numbers. Though imperfect, it's a useful proxy for estimating how the lockdown and reopening policies of states and cities are working -- or not.

Tune into ABC at 1 p.m. ET and ABC News Live at 4 p.m. ET every weekday for special coverage of the novel coronavirus with the full ABC News team, including the latest news, context and analysis.

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What is R-naught for the COVID-19 virus and why it's a key metric for re-opening plans - ABC News

Human Behavior

Parenting: Behavior modification was never really proved – NWAOnline

Psychologist B.F. Skinner, the formulator of behavior modification theory, was attempting to prove that the same principles that govern the behavior of amoeba, planaria, rats, dogs and monkeys also govern the behavior of human beings. A very Darwinian proposition, indeed.

What my graduate school professors conveniently "forgot" to tell me: Skinner failed to prove his hypothesis, and no researcher has ever succeeded where Skinner did not. Some have claimed success, but all they've succeeded at proving, really, is the fact that human beings are economists by nature. From a very early age, humans weigh benefits versus costs and make logical decisions, if not always rational ones.

Dogs are not economists. Behavior modification strategies manipulations of reward and punishment compel the behavior of a dog. Their outcomes are predictable. But behavior modification outcomes are not at all reliably predictable in a human, even an infant.

Researchers have found that when the subject is human, rewards and punishments have paradoxical effects at times. Rewards can lessen desired behavior and punishment can increase undesired behavior. Significant numbers of parents have discovered the same paradox, albeit most of them don't understand what it is they're seeing.

Put a 15-month-old child in two minutes of timeout every time he goes after one of his mother's set of limited-edition porcelain figurines and watch as his determination to obtain the figurines increases. Praise and continue to praise a 4-year-old child for making an attempt to draw a horse and watch him stop drawing horses. In both cases, economics is at work.

In the case of the toddler, two minutes in a chair doesn't begin to outweigh the thrill of the chase. The more timeouts, the more of a challenge those figurines become. The 4-year-old stops drawing horses because he figures out, intuitively, that any old horse is good enough to send his mother into clapping spasms, high-fives, and "woo-woos!" That wears thin quickly.

To work, punishments must outweigh a child's determination to win, to prove that no one can tell him what to do. To win over the little rebel/economist, the cost of misbehaving must be significantly greater than the benefit and believe me when I say that rebellion is its own benefit. It scratches a persistent itch. The parental goal should be to punish infrequently, but when punishment is necessary, to do so in ways that establish permanent memories. Timeout is the least memorable of all punishments, by the way. It's merely annoying.

To be motivating, rewards must be dispensed conservatively. The more "everyday" they are, the less meaningful they become. The value of a reward is inverse to its frequency. The scarcity of praise forces a child to self-reward, which characterizes all high achievers.

As I will maintain forever, child-rearing is not complicated; it's almost completely a matter of common sense. Unfortunately, for going on 50 years now, American parents have been listening to professional "parenting" types who have made it seem complicated and anything but common-sensical.

Write to family psychologist John Rosemond at The Leadership Parenting Institute, 420 Craven St., New Bern, N.C. 28560 or email [emailprotected] Due to the volume of mail, not every question will be answered.

Style on 05/26/2020

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Human Behavior

Mel Schilling, Married At First Sight Expert: Age, Profession, Where Is She From? – The Cinemaholic

Unlike other reality dating shows, Married At First Sight has the participants already paired up by relationship experts, after which they immediately get thrust into a committed relationship where they then must figure out how to adjust to a newly married life with a complete stranger. The couples do have access to the experts to help them with all their troubles and problems, but it is mostly their own connections and behavior that determines how their relationship fares on the series.

The relationship experts analyze and determine every aspect of a participants profile before pairing them up with somebody else. While one expert focuses on how an individuals brain can affect a relationship, the other focuses on their behavior and old habits. One such expert on the show is Mel Schilling.

Mel Schilling or Melanie Schilling is a 48-year-old Australian human behavior and performance specialist. Not only is she just a romantic relationship expert, but she has also had the opportunity to successfully work with people from all stages of life from dating to relationships, to parenthood, to career relationships and even with people going through a divorce.

Having more than 20 years of experience in this line of work as a therapist, business consultant, and leadership coach, Mel is extremely passionate about educating, motivating, and inspiring people to be their best possible selves. She believes that a person can only be genuinely happy in life if they are satisfied with their relationships with the people who surround them.

With a degree in Psychology from the University of Melbourne, a Bachelors in Psychology degree from the Deakin University along with a Graduate Certificate in Human Resources and Industrial Relations from the University of Victoria, Mel has worked as not only a therapist but as a public speaker and motivator as well.

With her thorough education in psychology coupled up with her years of experience, Mel has developed a unique delivery, which, more often than not, includes light-hearted humor full of information, that enables her point to come across in a completely effective way. As an advocate for mental health, Mel also focuses on self-confidence and courage. Because of her success in her line of work and her personality, she has been a part of the Australian edition of Married At First Sight for the last five years.

Mel spent ten years in Melbourne as a single woman actively involved in the dating game, so she knows a lot about the dating world from her personal experience as well. This was, of course, before she met the love of her life, Gareth, when she was 40. The two got into a serious relationship quite quickly and went down the IVF road to have their daughter, Maddie, when Mel was 42. The couple got married just last year in a small yet beautiful ceremony in Bali.

Honestly, if you want to be inspired every day and know how to be more confident and build healthy relationships, make sure to follow Mel on her Instagram account.

Read More: Who Is John Aiken?

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Mel Schilling, Married At First Sight Expert: Age, Profession, Where Is She From? - The Cinemaholic

Human Behavior

Is There Inflation in Your Future? Or Deflation? Mother Jones – Mother Jones

For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones' newsletters.

When we finally defeat COVID-19 and everyone goes back to work (think positive!), are we due for a big bout of inflation? Or a big bout of deflation? Youd think top-flight economists could agree on at least this much, but no.

Heres the basic case for inflation: As the economy opens up, people will go back to work pretty quickly. They havent been spending much during the lockdown, and the poor have been showered with money via the stimulus and the bonus unemployment checks. Theyve got a lot of money to spend, and that demand is going to be high while supply is still trying to catch up. Thus inflation.

The case for deflation is basically the mirror image: Businesses that have been shut down can rehire workers pretty quickly and get their factories going in a short time. Ditto for service workers like hair cutters and loan consultants. Meanwhile, consumers are still in a state of shock and are going to be pretty careful with their spending for a while. After all, the UI bonus may have been great for the poor and working classes, but the engine of consumer spending is the middle and upper-middle classes, and they lost income during the pandemic. The result is that supply will get on its feet quickly while demand is still uncertain. Thus deflation.

So which is it? My personal view is neither. With a few exception, businesses dont need to produce at full capacity instantly. Likewise, consumer spending isnt likely to rise to pre-COVID levels immediately. Businesses will get their inventories back up to normal levels while they watch whats happening to consumer spending. Consumers will start spending more as shortages go away and they gain confidence that another coronavirus wave isnt coming. Business will see that and produce more. Consumers will see that and spend more. After a few quarters, everything will be back to normal with no significant effect on inflation at all.

I could, of course, be totally wrong. All of this depends not on twenty pages of Greek-letter math, but on a simple prediction of human behavior. If consumers, in particular, turn out to be far more cautious than I think, deflation may be in our future. Conversely, if it turns out they all want to party and they want to do it now, then we might get some inflation. Im not willing to place a bet on either one, but if you think you know human nature better than me, Wall Street will be happy to take your bet on an inflation target for the next few months. Go for it.

POSTSCRIPT: Of course, this all assumes we dont get a huge second wave of COVID-19 that kills us all, in which case inflation will be the least of our worries. Think positive!

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Is There Inflation in Your Future? Or Deflation? Mother Jones - Mother Jones

Embryology

Fertility treatment starts again. – Ludlow Advertiser

THE heartbreak for women and their partners trying to start a family have been made worse by Covid-19 that has stopped fertility treatment.

But there is new hope as the service opens up again for women in Ludlow and south Shropshire.

The Shropshire and Mid-Wales Fertility Centre, part of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust, is to reopen its services for local families following a change in national guidance.

The centre reopened May 18 with the hope of restarting treatments from June 15.

Fertility treatments across the UK had previously been put on hold until the extent of the current coronavirus pandemic was known.

The announcement, made by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority following the publication of guidance by the Association of Clinical and Reproductive Scientists and the British Fertility Society, was welcomed by the team at the Shropshire and Mid-Wales Fertility Centre, who are now working to reintroduce services in a staged, safe and sustainable manner.

We are delighted we can return to the important work of helping couples to achieve their dreams of parenthood, said Jason Kasraie, Head of Fertility and Consultant Embryologist at the centre.

We are working to ensure that those who need treatment most urgently receive it first and to adapt our processes to allow for social distancing, including a greater use of technology to minimise the need for face to face consultations.

Our key priority is the ongoing safety of our patients and staff and because of this we will begin in a staged manner, with outpatient appointments and investigations first and the hope of our first treatments being undertaken from June 15.

At the beginning of May, the Association of Clinical and Reproductive Scientists and the British Fertility Society published a statement describing the milestones that had been met to allow for a safe reintroduction of fertility treatments in the UK.

On the same day the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority wrote to all licensed clinics advising them that they would be able to apply to reopen for treatment and the Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced that the sector would reopen from May 11.

Additional support is available from the centres trained fertility counsellor.

Fertility counselling is available without charge for NHS patients and the first session is also free for self-funded/private patients.

Couples requiring further information should visit the centres website at http://www.shropshireivf.nhs.uk.

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Fertility treatment starts again. - Ludlow Advertiser

Embryology

Counselling is more important than ever as clinics seek to reopen their doors – BioNews

26 May 2020

BICA London group coordinator, accredited fertility counsellor and senior accredited bereavement and grief therapist.

The announcement made a couple of weeks ago that from Monday 11 May 2020, fertility clinics can apply to reopen, has prompted a huge surge of relief and hope within the industry and, even more so, among the patientsfor whom treatment may have been postponed or put on hold, seeminglyindefinitely.

However, many of the people seeking treatment I have been working with, inadvertently refer to 11 May as the date that treatment will resume. To them, I stress that this date marks when clinics can apply to reopen, if they choose, to which they often reply, 'Ah yes, that's what I meant'.

Fertility counselling provides a safe space for managing expectations, and for offloading and unburdening oneself of the emotions and feelings whirling around in these uncertain times, so that we might feel supported and hopefully develop strategies that can help us move forward.

Going into lockdown provoked anger, confusion, despair, distress, confusion in addition to new layers and levels of helplessness, powerlessness and uncertainty to those that already accompany fertility treatment. The overriding concern hadn't changed, however, and remained the arch-nemesis of all fertility treatment, namely, time. Time was now on hold.

That said, during its initial phase, lockdown appeared to provide some levelling and a measure of comfort for some. Suddenly almost everyone was in the same boat, all feeling some element of loss and uncertainty. We were all at risk in one way or another and everyone's world had changed. That was comforting for some. Additionally, no excuses were required to avoid social gatherings or to explain why you might not be drinking.

Now, with clinics applying to reopen, there is new hope, but also uncertainty. When will the clinic'sapplications be submitted? When will this be accepted or rejected? How long will it take the clinic toreopen and who then has priority? What is the waiting time for your treatment?

Many clinics haven't been communicating very clearly with their patients (or staff) over the past couple of months, and this means that some people might be receiving a call out of the blue, likely leading to mixed emotions.

Some patients I have spoken with have indicated concerns around not knowing what tests they may have to repeat, when and where these will be done, how long the results will take to come through and, most critically, whether their results may have changed, or their fertility levels compromised, possibly causing further delays or at worse cancellation of their treatment.

Many have lost their jobs along with the maternity packages these provided, leading tofinancial concerns. Others may be hesitant to resume treatment, having lost people close to them, may be cautious about going through with treatment with the looming possibility of a second wave or further health scares and lockdowns.

On the clinic's side, many staff were released from service, let go or fired. They may themselves be harbouring a range of emotions as they are called back into work and it might be useful for them to have access to counselling too.

Likewise, some staff members may have moved over to support the NHS or other medical centres and may be witnessing traumatic incidents, they too may benefit from knowing they have support available to them.

Two years ago, in an article I wrote for BioNews, I explained why I felt counselling should be mandatory for everyone going through fertility treatment. Over the last two years, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), along with the British Infertility Counselling Association (BICA) have increased awareness and improved the delivery and overall support and care available for people seeking fertility treatment. These changes are encouraging and hopefully mark that start of further improvements.

I do appreciate that not everyone feels counselling is a priority. Many will be impatient, wanting to get on with things with as few hurdles as possible but it is important that we provide the emotional support to make this return sustainable for all involved.

The HFEA has been updating its websitethroughout this lockdown period, advising when possible on all dimensions of the conversations that have been, and continue to go on, behind the scenes to enable this sector to reopen its doors.

Communication is key, and this is what counselling is all about. As counsellors, we will listen and support. Whoever you are, whatever your story, and no matter what yourfear or worry, you will be in safe and confidential hands.

I do hope that alongside the opening of their doors and tills, clinics will be open to provide counselling support to both patients and staff. If ever there was a time to promote and make use of this precious resource, it's now.

I sincerely wish the sector, everyone working within it and using it, the very best.

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Counselling is more important than ever as clinics seek to reopen their doors - BioNews

Embryology

‘My mother’s fertility doctor secretly fathered me and he’s still practicing’ – iNews

NewsLong ReadsJessica Stavena has spoken out for the first time after finding her half-siblings via a DNA website

Tuesday, 26th May 2020, 10:27 am

On 23 February this year, it was a typical Sunday morning for Jessica Stavena as she played with her children. That was until 11.36am the moment her life changed forever.

The mother-of-three had known from an early age that she was a sperm donor baby. She knew very little about her biological father, identified on records only as "donor no. 10", except for basic details such as height and hair colour.

Longing to know more about her ancestry she took a DNA test with 23andMe.com. As her two young daughters giggled with their dolls, she froze when a phone notification popped up to say her results were ready.

"It felt like the longest 30 seconds of my life as I clicked on the 'view your relatives' button and waited for the page to load," said the 33-year-old medical spa manager from Texas. Her heart "nearly thumped out" of her chest when she read that she'd been matched with two half sisters and a half brother.

Jessica and her husband immediately called her mother, Pauline Chambless, to share the news. Excited, she then began looking up her siblings on Facebook and found two of them, who she messaged. Within minutes, one of them, Eve Wiley, responded.

With her mother still on speaker phone, she read out the messages. Eve had written, "Do you know the details of our birth story? Was Dr Kim McMorries your mom's doctor?"

He was indeed: Pauline and her then husband, who had one son, had struggled to conceive again and so she had seen Dr McMorries, a well-respected fertility doctor running a clinic in Nacogdoches, Texas, where the couple then lived, on a monthly basis for two-and-a-half years until she fell pregnant with Jessica on in June 1986.

Pauline had always sang the doctor's praises and thought of him as "a very caring man who was passionate about his work".

But Eve's next message said: "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Dr McMorries is also our biological father".

'How can my mom's fertility doctor be my father?'

The notion that McMorries had artificially inseminated Pauline with his own sperm left both women "speechless". "I thought, there's just no way," said Jessica, who lives in Houston. "We were both in shock and thought this can't be true. How can my mom's fertility doctor be my father? I felt like I'd been flipped upside down and shaken and thrown in the middle of a tornado."

Jessica would find out that last year Eve had told her story in the press, after she discovered through 23andMe that she had a cousin, and he revealed that his uncle was her mother's fertility doctor. Eve revealed the existence of another half brother, whose mother was a patient of Dr McMorries, on Ancestry.com.

ABC News consulted with a genetic genealogist who said she was confident Eve's findings were correct.

'It's my mother I feel for. He violated and deceived her'

Jessica Stavena

Eve was especially devastated because 14 years previously she had tracked down the man she believed was her biological father, "donor no. 106", and had developed a father-daughter relationship with him. She called him "Dad" and they said "I love you" to each other. She waited three months to tell him. When she did, she recalls listening to him cry for what felt like 15 or 20 minutes.

Jessica contacted i to speak out about her story for the first time after reading the story of Inge Herlaar, the daughter of the now deceased Dutch doctor Jan Karbaat, who used his own sperm to impregnate his clients and secretly father around 60 children.

Jessica explains that she discovered a further bombshell: Dr McMorries is still practicing. He is registered as running a clinic in Nacogdoches called the Womens Center.

"He broke no law at the time," she acknowledges. "But I feel it's deeply unethical. It's my mother I feel for. She was just a woman who desperately wanted another baby and she'd put her total trust in her doctor. He violated and deceived her. "

Meeting up was 'emotional'

Two weeks after the news, Jessica met up with Eve and her other half sister who wants to remain anonymous. "It felt so surreal," said Jessica. "You have this build up for years of wondering if you have siblings out there and what meeting them would be like. It was exciting, very emotional and overwhelming, but in a good way."

Jessica now speaks or texts both sisters multiple times a day every day. "We are close and it's really great that we get along so well and that we have that. My sisters have known each other much longer and they've been through all the emotions when they discovered their origins, so it's been great to have had their support."

Jessica hasn't yet met her two half brothers, but they are in contact.

'It's difficult to wrap my mind around his reasoning'

There was also the issue of telling her children about their grandfather. "I've told my son, who is 13. He was shocked and couldn't understand how this has been possible. I feel my daughters, aged six and four, and too young to for that conversation yet."

Jessica has felt angry that she and her family have been at risk of meeting and having a physical relationship with relatives without knowing. "It horrifies me to think that could have happened to myself or my children. My father has more children with his wife. I'm relieved we moved away from Nacogdoches."

Now that she's had a few months to let the news sink in, she's starting to come to terms with it all. "I'm not sure it fully has sunk in, but I'm a positive person and I keep my chin up."

Jessica says she doesn't want to talk to Dr McMorries. "I do have lots of questions. But it just would feel odd to have contact."

'I have the daughter I prayed for'

'It's difficult to wrap my mind around his reasoning. If I could ask him one question, it would be, "Why"?'

Pauline Chambless

It's Pauline who Jessica worries about the most. "It took a while for my mother to open up and be able to talk about it. I think it has really affected her and that's what hurts me. Something like this impacts so many lives."

Pauline said Dr McMorries discussed using a fresh donor with her after frozen samples had failed and she'd suffered several miscarriages. But she says he never told her that that fresh sample was from him.

"I'd have never had agreed to that, I didn't want a local donor," said the 67-year-old. ''It's still sinking in. I felt we had a great doctor-patient relationship. It's hard for me to believe he has done this.

"It's difficult to wrap my mind around his reasoning. If I could ask him one question, it would be, 'Why'? Did he justify it by telling himself he was just helping us?"

Does she forgive him? "He had no right to do what he did to me. And he's denied Jessica the chance to have a normal daughter-father relationship.

"I don't really focus on whether to forgive him or not. What's done is done. I have the daughter I prayed for for 16 years and I'm thoroughly blessed to have her."

Fertility industry compared to 'the Wild West'

As at-home DNA tests gain popularity, instances of so-called fertility fraud have cropped up in 12 US states, as well as in England, South Africa, Germany, and the Netherlands, according to Jody Madeira, a law professor at Indiana University who is following more than 20 cases worldwide. She compared the fertility industry to the Wild West, saying, "Theres very, very little criminal [charges] holding these people accountable".

Indeed in the US, there's no national law criminalising doctors using their own sperm without a patient's consent. Last year Indiana became the first state to make it illegal, followed by California. Eve has campaigned for change in more states, last June Texas enacted laws that go even further by classifying this activity as a form of sexual assault. Now other states are following suit.

In the UK in 2012, a story claiming Australian biologist Bertold Wiesner, who ran a fertility clinic in London since the 1940s, fathered 600 children by using his own sperm without telling the mothers shocked the world.

Today, laws here prohibit men from making bulk donations (there's a 10-family limit). Information about the donor must be kept so that the children can apply to identify their biological father and siblings after they turn 18.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, which regulates UK fertility clinics, was not aware of a specific UK law that would make a doctor using his own sperm a crime. But the General Medical Council strikes off doctors who it finds have failed to uphold standards.

Doctor: 'It was acceptable practice for the times'

'It was not wrong 33 years ago as that was acceptable practice for the times'

A quote allegedly from a letter from Dr Kim McMorries

Dr McMorries declined to comment for this article. ABC News reports the same with Eve's story last year.

Eve says she contacted Dr McMorries and he wrote back, admitting he mixed his sperm with that of other donors to increase her mother's chances of conception. She says he claims he gained her mother's consent to use a local donors sperm which she denies and that laws regarding donor anonymity prevented him from telling her he used his own sample.

Eve and Jessica claim their medical records were falsified, stating "donor 106" and "donor 10" respectively, when Dr McMorries reportedly said he was "donor 12" in his letters.

Eve claims that in his correspondence, he apologised for all the grief this has caused you and your family, but defended his actions by stressing that changing attitudes had merely put his past practices in a new light. It is easy to look back and judge protocols/standards used 33 years ago and assume they were wrong in todays environment, he reportedly wrote. However, it was not wrong 33 years ago as that was acceptable practice for the times.

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'My mother's fertility doctor secretly fathered me and he's still practicing' - iNews

Embryology

Global Sperm Bank Market Revenue to Record Robust Growth in the Years After the End of COVID-19 Crisis and Forecast 2015 2021 – WaterCloud News

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic can be felt across the Healthcare Industry The growing inability in the production and manufacturing processes, in the light of the self-quarantined workforce has caused a major disruption in the supply chain across the sector. Restrictions encouraged by this pandemic are obstructing the production of essentials such as life-saving drugs.

The nature of operation in Pharmaceuticals plants that cannot be easily stopped and started, makes the operational restrictions in these plants a serious concern for the industry leaders. Restricted and delayed shipments from China have created a price hike in the raw materials, affecting the core of the Healthcare Industry.

Sperm bank is a specialized organization, that collects and stores the sperms collected from human sperm donors for the provision to women who need such sperm to have a pregnancy. Sperm bank also known as cryobank or semen bank, and sperms donated in the bank are known as donor sperm, whereas the process of sperm insertion is known as artificial insemination. It is notable that the pregnancy achieved by using sperms in the sperm bank is similar to natural pregnancy, achieved by sexual intercourse.

For detailed insights on enhancing your product footprint, request for a sample here @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/5330

The major mechanism involved in the operation of sperm bank underlies the provision of sperms, donated by sperm donors, to the needy women, who, due to various reasons, such as, physiological problems, widow, age and others, are not able to achieve pregnancy. Sperm bank forms the formal contract with sperm donors, usually for the period of 6-24 months, during which he has to produce sperms and donate to the bank. Usually, monetary compensation will be offered to sperm donors. Although, a donor can donate his sperms for more than two years, but, due to laws and regulations of various countries and a potential threat of consanguinity, a contract is made for maximum two years only. A donor produces his sperms in a specialized room, called mens production room. From this, the semen fluid is washed, in order to extract the sperms from other materials present in the semen. In case of frozen storage, a cryoprotectant semen extender is added in the sample. Usually, around 20 vials can be extracted from one sample of semen, collected from a sperm donor. These vials are stored in cryogenically preserved condition, in the liquid nitrogen (N2) tanks. Usually, sperms are stored for the period of around 6 months. However, it can be stored for a longer period of time.

The services offered by sperm bank includes provision of sperms, donors selection, guiding recipient for selection of donor, sex selection of baby, and sales of sperms. Although, sperm banks play a major role in the women who are not able to achieve pregnancy, due to some controversial issues, such as, use of sperms by lesbian couples and others, government healthcare bodies of various countries imposed strict regulations on the sperm bank. In the U.S., sperm banks are regulated by FDA, and treated as Human Cell or Human Tissue or Human Cell and Tissue (HCT/Ps), in the European Union, it is been regulated by EU Tissue Directive, whereas, in the U.K., it is regulated by Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority.

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The global market for sperm banks is expected to increase in steady manner in the forecast period, due to market growth propellers, such as, increased prevalence of women miscarriage, technological innovations in the sperm storage industry, and growing awareness towards this type of pregnancy. Increased miscarriage rate is one of the major drivers that fuels market growth. According to the study report published by HopeXchange, out of 4.4 million pregnancies carried every year in the U.S., around 1 million pregnancies result into miscarriage. Similarly, due to growing concerns towards such pregnancy that achieved without sexual intercourse is also an important market growth propeller. On the other hand, various governmental regulations, negative mindset towards sperm banks and donor, high cost associated with the operating of sperm bank and limited spread across the various regions of the world are some of the major hurdles in the market growth.

Major players operating in the market includes ,

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Global Sperm Bank Market Revenue to Record Robust Growth in the Years After the End of COVID-19 Crisis and Forecast 2015 2021 - WaterCloud News

Cell Biology

Eye Injury Sets Immune Cells On Surveillance To Protect The Lens – Newswise

Newswise PHILADELPHIA The lens of the eye is an unusual organ. Unlike most of the bodys organs, blood vessels dont reach the lens. If they did, theyd obscure our vision and we wouldnt be able to see. The lack of vasculature led scientists to believe immune cells, which travel via the bloodstream, couldnt get to this part of the body either. But a few years ago, Jefferson researchers challenged this long held assumption by demonstrating that immune cells populate the lens in response to degeneration. Now the Jefferson team finds the eye also launches an immune response in the lens after injury. The discovery adds to a growing body of evidence that is working to overturn the accepted dogma of the field.

Why would we evolve a tissue that is so central to our being able to see without ways to ensure its protection, its ability to repair itself? says, Sue Menko, PhD, Professor in the Department of Pathology, Anatomy and Cell Biology atThomas Jefferson University,who led the research. "Immune cells are central to that protection and repair.

The lens of the eye works like a camera lens. Its main purpose is to focus images coming in through the cornea the transparent front layer of the eye onto the retina at the back of the eye. The images are detected by the retina and then translated in the brain as what we see. That lens must be crystal clear. As a result, scientists have always described the lens as a tissue without vasculature and therefore no source of immune cells either.

At some point, you think about it and you wonder how thats possible, Dr. Menko says. It doesnt really make a lot of sense.

The puzzle led Dr. Menko and her team to investigate whether immune cells are present in the eye. In a previous study, they discovered that when the lens is in a diseased state, immune cells are not only recruited there, but they also show up in the cornea, retina, and vitreous body all parts of the eye that dont normally have immune cells. Dr. Menkos work suggested that the immune cells come from the ciliary body, a sort of muscle that helps squeeze and pull the lens, changing its shape, and helping it focus.

The ciliary body is also a place that is vascular rich so it seemed like the most obvious place to look, Dr. Menko says.

Now, in the latest work, Dr. Menko and colleagues show that after injury to the cornea, immune cells travel from the ciliary body to the lens along fibers known as ciliary zonules. The researchers used fluorescent markers and high-powered microscopes to observe structures of mouse eyes one day after receiving a scratch on the cornea. The high-tech imaging analysis Dr. Menkos team used revealed that following injury to the cornea, the immune system launches a response to protect the lens. Immune cells are recruited to the lens via the ciliary zonules, and crawl along the surface of the lens to surveille and protect from adverse impacts of the corneal wound.

This is really the first demonstration that surveillance by immune cells of the lens in response to injury somewhere else in the eye, Dr. Menko says.

The researchers also found that some immune cells were able to cross the lens capsule, a membranous structure that helps to keep the lens under tension. The results could point to a role for immune cells in cataract formation.

Together, the findings indicate that in response to damage or disease, the eye utilizes alternative mechanisms rather than direct contact with the bloodstream like non-transparent tissues do to ensure that immune cells get to sites to provide healing and protection.

Were excited to go from thinking this doesnt make sense to proving that the body is amazing and can adapt to anything. You just have to go in and look for it, Dr. Menko says.

We should be willing to challenge dogma because that's where discovery is, she adds. It can enlighten what we know if we always keep our mind open to what doesnt make sense and what maybe should be challenged to understand things better.

Dr. Menko and colleagues published the results on May 25th in The FASEB Journal.

Article reference: JodiRae DeDreu, Caitlin J. Bowen, Caitlin M. Logan, Sonali Pal-Ghosh, Paola Parlanti, Mary Ann Stepp, and A. Sue Menko, An immune response to the avascular lens following wounding of the cornea involves ciliary zonule fibrils, The FASEB Journal, DOI: 10.1096/fj.202000289R, 2020.

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Eye Injury Sets Immune Cells On Surveillance To Protect The Lens - Newswise

Cell Biology

New Liver Cancer Research Targets Non-Cancer Cells to Blunt Tumor Growth – Newswise

Newswise PHILADELPHIA Senotherapy, a treatment that uses small molecule drugs to target senescent cells, or those cells that no longer undergo cell division, blunts liver tumor progression in animal models according to new research from a team led by Celeste Simon, PhD, a professor of Cell and Developmental Biology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and scientific director of the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute. The study was published in Nature Cell Biology.

This kind of therapy is not something that has been tried before with liver cancer, Simon said. And in our models, so-called senolytic therapy greatly reduced disease burden, even in cases with advanced disease.

Loss of the enzyme FBP1 in human liver cells significantly increases tumor growth. Previous research has shown FBP1 levels are decreased in stage 1 tumors, and further reduced as the disease progresses. In this study, Simon and her team used RNA-sequencing data to identify FBP1 as universally under-expressed in the most common form of liver cancer, hepatocelluar carcinoma, regardless of underlying causes like obesity, alcoholism, and hepatitis.

The loss of FBP1 in liver cells activates the neighboring hepatic stellate cellswhich make up ten percent of liver masscausing fibrosis (tissue scarring) and subsequent stellate cell senescence, both of which promote tumor growth. Researchers found that these senescent stellate cells can be selectively targeted by senolytics, including Navitoclax (already in clinical trials for other diseases, like hematological malignancies), in order to blunt tumor progression driven by liver cell-specific FBP1 loss.

The team provides the first genetic evidence for FBP1 as a bona fide metabolic tumor suppressor in the liver and that its loss in liver cells promotes the growth of tumors because of effects on other cells within the tumor microenvironment.

Using genetically engineered mouse models, the team eliminated FBP1and found the disease progressed more rapidly and tumor burden greatly increased in carcinogen-mediated, dietary, and other forms of hepatocellular carcinoma.

The case with liver cancer is very dire, once you get beyond a certain stage there are limited, if any, treatments available, Simon said. As obesity rates continue to increase and viral infections continue to be a problem, there is going to be an increasing surge of liver cancer which currently has few treatment options. And since FBP1 activity is also lost in renal cancer,FBP1depletion may be generally applicable to a number of human cancers. Whats unique about our senotherapy approach is that we are specifically targeting other cells in the liver tumor environment rather than the cancer cells themselves.

Next steps, according to researchers will be to begin to test these treatments in a clinical setting. Additional Penn authors include Fuming Li, Peiwei Huangyang, Michelle Burrows, Kathy Guo, Romain Riscal, Jason Godfrey, Kyoung Eun Lee, Nan Lin, Pearl Lee, Ian A. Blair, and Brian Keith, as well as Bo Li, of Sun Yat-sen University. This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program (2016YFA0502600) of China and the National Cancer Institute (P01CA104838, R35CA197602 and P30CA016520).

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New Liver Cancer Research Targets Non-Cancer Cells to Blunt Tumor Growth - Newswise