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Anatomy

The Anatomy Of A Corporate Event That Won’t Bore Delegates To Tears – BBN Times

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As a business owner in charge of a team, you can feel an element of responsibility to ensure that the working environment is a positive place to be.

Not only for yourself, but also for the productivity levels of your workforce. However, there are certain aspects of the working environment that can be forgotten. Whether you have a small or large business indoor or outdoor, here are some of the biggest improvements that you can make to your working environment in order to improve the mindset of your employees and increase productivity.

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Many businesses work from an office environment, which often means that you will have staff working at various different levels under one roof. As a manager of the operation, or the business owner, you have a duty of care to ensure that you make the right improvements to ensure that staff can do their job, while maintaining a positive environment. Here are some of the things to think about.

One of the first things to think about would be to ensure that the office has the right technology for you to do the job. It can often be the small things such as a working computer, decent internet connection, which are all functional things for your business. You might want to think about having the right sort of systems in place to ensure that your staff and employees can perform their job roles effectively.

A small change that you could make to your business and working environment when you work indoors is to create a quiet room or a breakout area that staff and employees, including yourself, can go to relax and gather your thoughts. This is going to be free from the distractions of work and even their personal lives. Helping them to improve their mindset and have a positive attitude for their work and job role.

You might also want to implement things such as flexible working options for your staff members. That might be working from home or condensing their hours into longer days. An improved working life can help your employees work life to thrive because of a simple change that you made.

Image source - Pixabay - CC0 License

There are some businesses out there that only require you to stay at your desk, on your phone or attached to your laptop. Working away through the digital spectrum or speaking to customers, to then sell a product and service and have it shipped out. Job done. But some businesses are a little more physical than that. They require building work or manufacturing. Here are some of the things to think about.

One of the first things that you need to consider as a manager is to make sure that you take into account health and safety. Not just for you, but for anyone working with you on site. The working environment may be a bustling yard. Perhaps the business you are in is one of selling houses, for example, or buildings in city centres. Health and safety is going to be of the utmost importance, as not only do you have less control of the surroundings, but you also need to make sure that people are safe. This is because the environment outside of the office might be more dangerous. Such as using different equipment or machinery, for example. Having a decent policy in place can help you ensure that this is covered.

Of course, whether your project is a big one, or something on a smaller scale, you will need to ensure that you have the right level of equipment there ready and waiting. So you need to ensure that you have the right equipment for the job. Whether that is the right sort of crane, fork lift trucks or excavators, ensure that the people you have employed to do a job can do it to the best of their ability because you have supplied the right level of equipment for the job.

As a manager, you need to ensure that there is some form of plan in place to follow. This could be building plans, blueprints that are seen as guides, or even things like meetings so that people know what is expected of them. As a manager, you need to be able to lead. So you may want to ensure that your leadership skills are on point. It could be that you need to be more assertive with things, or ensure that your presence on site is seen and adhered to. Small changes could make a big difference.

It is so important to be prepared for every eventuality when off site and not in the office surroundings. You have less control over outside factors such as the weather. So things like the right level of footwear and clothing should be worn, to ensure safety. It could be things such as foreseeable problems, being discussed and then actions and plans put in place to help overcome them. Be prepared for every eventuality, so that you are never second guessing your next move.

Image source - Pixabay - CC0 License

No matter what your business is, be it outside, in an office, out on the road, specialist or working from home, the workwear you have and the tools that you use are two vital elements to making improvements for staff and employees. Or even your own work ethic. Often the small focuses such as uniform, workwear requirements and having the right tools for the job can be the only elements that give a staff member, including yourself, the confidence to get the job done. Depending on the type of business you have, here are some of the improvements you can make in this area.

Working outside could appear to be the dream job during a heatwave in the Summer, but how about when its winter like now, and the temperatures are plummeting? Working outside often means that you dont get an escape from the elements, and so you need to be dressed appropriately to protect your body and also keep warm. If you can, you may also want to think about a wooly hat and a scarf and glove set to keep your head, neck and hands warm. Your fingers can often feel the cold the most, and if you need to be hands on in your job, it could be a saving grace to have them covered.

Working outdoors can often mean that workers will be using specific tools to take on jobs and tasks. So ensuring that a health and safety check takes place and you supply what that person needs to complete the job is important. You also need to think of the general well being on the staff members that are working. So small things such as an onsite toilet could help to create a decent working environment outside. Thankfully, you can find construction site toilet hire online and you may also want to consider hiring wellness areas and breakout rooms where workers can enjoy a warm drink and rest out of the elements of the weather. This could be especially helpful in winter.

An office environment can often mean that your appearance needs to be smart and presentable. Whether you are customer facing or not, many employers prefer to have this sort of dress code as they feel it better aids productivity. There is some truth to that as mentally you feel dressed for the occasion of work, instead of in some clothes that are comfortable and relaxing to you. Most commonly people who work in an office or customer facing environment would wear a suit and smart attire.

Finally, working from home means you get to decide the dress code. You could work in your pyjamas and nobody would be aware of it. But you have to think about your productivity levels and your mindset when working from home. So it is a good idea to treat the day as if you were heading out to work, that means dressing appropriately. Of course, you dont need to be wearing a shirt and tie, but dressing smarter could help your work rate increase.

You might also want to think about joining up with applications like Skype and Zoom so that video conferencing and communication can be made easier for anyone that is working from home, including yourself. Email access, text messaging services and even taking advantage of cloud based software systems can help people who work from home to be fully able to complete tasks and perform their jobs.

We hope these tips will help you when it comes to making improvements in your working environment.

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The Anatomy Of A Corporate Event That Won't Bore Delegates To Tears - BBN Times

Anatomy

Players do not know anatomy of their body: Shoaib Akhtar reveals which Pakistan player is looking very… – Hindustan Times

Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar is not too happy with the way Hasan Ali trained during his recuperation from an injury. There has been a lot of confusion regarding his injury as different players have offered different theories. Former Pakistan bowling coach Azhar Mahmood claimed that it happened when Hasan was made to deadlift 130 to 140 kilograms of weight.

However, Waqar Younis believes Hasan picked up the injury during a first-class match. Akhtar believes it was because the fast bowler did not understand his body and hence, is now looking very weak and frail.

ALSOREAD: Players are just pawns: Former Pakistan skipper says board officials may be involved in fixing

Hasan got injured due to training as well as overwork. Plus, he played a lot of cricket for the past year or two and wasnt managed properly, Akhtar was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan. When I met him 25 days ago, I told him to do light and high repetition training so there is no stiffness and rigidness in his muscle.

He is looking very weak and his shoulders [are] also very thin. He went through wrong training and was asked to lift heavy weights. The learning process of our cricketers is very slow because they do not know the anatomy of their body and how to do high repetition training.

There was a bit mess up from everybody along with Hasan Ali. However, Azhar should have said all this when he was looking after him but I dont understand why he is saying all this now, Akhtar added.

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Players do not know anatomy of their body: Shoaib Akhtar reveals which Pakistan player is looking very... - Hindustan Times

Anatomy

‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Season 16 Finale: Owen hears Teddy having sex with Tom and angry fans tear her apart – MEAWW

Ouch, ouch and double ouch. The worst way you can find out that your fiancee is cheating on you is to hear them having sex with someone else while they accidentally butt dial to your voicemail.

Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) discovered Teddy Altman's (Kim Raver) cheating and obviously did not make it to their wedding. Apparently this was goodbye sex with Tom Koracick (Greg Germann). So, Teddy thought she was done with all her flood of feelings and got dressed for her wedding, which some fans found rather gutsy. The Teddy-Tom-Owen triangle has taken up the latter half of the season, and it goes without saying that this was actually the most entertaining and thrilling part of that mess. However, you do feel sorry for Owen as he listens to the voicemail again in a dark room. The guy thought his whole life was sorted.

Fans are busy cursing Teddy on social media. "Teddy send voicemail of her and Tom sleeping together. Poor Owen I feel so bad for him," tweeted a fan. "So Teddy is complete piece of shit lol," another fan wrote.

Others can't stop laughing, "Owen listening to Teddy's accidental voicemail.. sksksksksksk I have to laugh," tweeted a fan."Teddy broke Owen's heart into a million pieces," another fan wrote.

A fan wrote that Owen and Teddy getting together was a bad idea in the first place. "Honestly, Owen & Teddy shouldnt have gotten back together cause its all just one big f**kery now. Owen deserves someone else & Teddy deserves Tom."

"Think I only want to see another episode of this horrible season to see Owen dump Teddy spectacularly. Damn it!" exulted another fan.

Some fans wrote that Teddy deserved to be stood up. "booo Teddy deserved to be stood up at the alter in public and embarrassed," a fan wrote. Others couldn't believe that she had the guts to wear a wedding dress after cheating on Owen. "Teddy had an affair on Owen and had the balls to put on her wedding dress??" a fan wrote.

"Really teddy still have the guts to get dress smh," a fan tweeted.

Some fans just hope that Owen finds his way back to Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh). "Well that's the end of teddy and owen. I heard cristina is coming back so hmmmm. Cristina and owen was always meant to be," another fan wrote.

Well, what will happen in Season 17?

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'Grey's Anatomy' Season 16 Finale: Owen hears Teddy having sex with Tom and angry fans tear her apart - MEAWW

Anatomy

Avengers Anatomy: The 5 Weirdest Things About Black Widow’s Body, Explained – CBR – Comic Book Resources

Natasha Romanoff' has been a lot of things in the Marvel Universe. From her time as an assassin, a spy, a villain and an Avenger, Black Widow has shown that she's one of Marvel's most skilled fighters, and she also has one of the biggest hearts, even if she doesn't show it.

Outside of her moral compass, wit and fighting ability, Natasha might seem like an average human. However, she still has some enhanced abilities that make her much more than simply human.

RELATED: Black Widow: What Differentiates Women Superheroes From the Men?

In everymedium she appears in -- comics, film, video games and animation -- the Black Widow is always one of Marvel's best hand-to-hand fighters. Trained in the Red Room since she was a child, Natasha Romanoff is an incredible acrobat, marksman, ballerina, assassin and martial artist. Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting's Captain America #27 confirms that she trained beside the Winter Soldier, another one of Marvel's deadliest characters, so it's no wonder shefights so well in the field.

Along with rigorous training, Natasha Romanoff also has a super-soldier serum pumping through her veins.This version of the serum does not grant her the same strength Captain America has, but it does allow Natasha to perform at peak human condition in regards to herstamina and strength. In Kelly Thompson and Annapaola Martello's Captain Marvel#7, Natasha proves how strong she is by single-handedly taking out an alligator without any assistance.

RELATED: Black Widow Addresses Natasha's Life Between Other MCU Films

Along with being incredibly strong, fast and flexible, the serum also makes Natasha physically more durable and gives her a stronger immune system. Injuries that would most likely kill someone or put them out of commission for an indefinite amount of time are not critical for Natasha. In writer Mark Waid and artist ChrisSamnee's2016 Black Widow run,Natashais brutally stabbed by a Black Widow trainee, but she is able to get back into action after some rest and the most minor medical treatment.

While Natasha can still be injured, it takes a lot to cause damage. Thanks to her healing factor, she recovers from these wounds in record time if they're too critical and do not result in severed body parts.

Black Widow is in a dangerous line of work, and Natasha is no stranger to jumping through glass windows, suffering physical blows from villains twice her size, enduring explosions and continuing the fight despite a few knife and bullet wounds. Would this would be fairly debilitating for most people, they're everyday occurrences for Natasha.

Thanks to the health benefits of the super-soldier serum, Natasha'spain toleranceis far beyond a normal human's threshold. It's also thanks to decades of torture, fighting and painful training that she's built up a superhuman endurance that allows her to power through the pain. One of the best examples of this is in Marjorie Liu and Daniel Acuna'sBlack Widow run,where she drags herself out of the hospital after being operated on while conscious,having felt every cut the doctorsmadeas well as their hands digging around her body.

Black Widow was first introduced as an adult in Stan Lee, Don Rico and Don Heck's Tales of Suspense #52, back in 1964, and Chris Claremont and Jim Lee'sUncanny X-Men #268 confirmed thatNatashawas a little girl in World War II prior to entering the Red Room. While she should at least bein her 80s, Natasha still appears to be in the physical prime of her life.

While Marvel has plenty of ways to explain away the age discrepancies of characters who've been adults for decades, Black Widow's aging was slowed by the same serum that gave her other abilities. This has allowed Natasha to age slower, feel younger and maintain her youthful appearance for decades.

RELATED: Endgame: Black Widow's Death Was Originally More Extreme

Prior to the events of Matthew Rosenberg and Travel Foreman'sTales of Suspense: Hawkeye& the Winter Soldier, the Black Widow was believed to be dead. However, those two Avengers discovered that Natasha had been revived through cloning while investigating a string of murders that appeared to be tied to her. Her body is a perfect replica of the original Black Widow, but this one is newer.

Her memories and her personality are also the same, but they were implanted by the Red Room, who conveniently withheld the information thatmakes Natasha an independent hero. However, she quickly realized what was going on and reprogramed her brain so that she could be her true, heroic self again.

KEEP READING: Marvel Artist Tutorial Includes Look at Black Widow's New Costume

Star Wars: Grievous Used Two IMPOSSIBLE Lightsabers in Revenge of the Sith

After moving to New York, Caitlin Sinclair Chappell got a job at Forbidden Planet, a science fiction and comic book mega store, working as a sales associate and a writer for their newsletter, the Weekly Planet. Prior to moving across country, Caitlin was a honors student at Lewis & Clark College, where she was an editorial intern at Dark Horse Comics, a director on several short films, and a writer for the Odyssey and the Piolog - her articles focusing on comics, film, and theatre. With several friends from Portland, Caitlin co-started the Comic Book Buds podcast, which she still co-hosts to this day. In her free time, Caitlin volunteers for festivals and conventions like NewFest, Screamfest, and Wizard World. Shes currently working on a handful of creative projects, including her first comic and a two act play.

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Avengers Anatomy: The 5 Weirdest Things About Black Widow's Body, Explained - CBR - Comic Book Resources

Anatomy

Worth Watching: ‘Will & Grace’ Loves ‘Lucy,’ ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Ends Its Season, ‘Good Fight’ Returns – TVInsider

A selective critical checklist of notable Thursday TV:

Will & Grace (9:30/8:30c, NBC): Who doesn't love I Love Lucy? Even so, this campy comedy is especially well equipped to pay homage to the sitcom classic in the high point of a mostly uneven final season. Naturally, gay/straight-man Will (Eric McCormack), up to his knees in dishwater suds, sees himself as Ricky, but the rest of the gang fancies themselves alter egos of Lucille Ball's wacky Lucy Ricardo, especially Grace (Debra Messing): "I'm the kooky redhead everyone loves and you're the guy who overreacts to every little things I do." Her recreation of the peerless "Vitameatavegamin" sketch is indeed uncanny. Later, she switches off with fellow Lucys Jack (Sean Hayes) and Karen (Megan Mullally) as Ethel and Fred in other sketches, including the grape-stomping incident featuring Leslie Jordan as Karen's nemesis in the grape tank and the chocolate factory, where Lucie Arnaz makes a strong cameo as the boss of the slapstick assembly line.

Grey's Anatomy (9/8c, ABC): It wasn't supposed to end this way. But like so many other shows this spring, the long-running hit medical drama had to halt production several episodes short of the finish line. So where we're left in the 21st episode (of a projected 25) is Link (Chris Carmack) trying to keep Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) calm in the final stage of her pregnancy, Owen (Kevin McKidd) making a "shocking discovery," and Dr. Hayes (Richard Flood) taking Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) by surprise. What happens next? We'll have to wait until fall if we're lucky once it's safe for filming to resume.

The Good Fight (streaming on CBS All Access): Always politically charged, the Good Wife spinoff opens its third season in a bizarro fantasy land with a satirically over-the-top episode that finds Diane (Christine Baranski) waking up to an alt-world reality where Hillary Clinton became president. As in all be-careful-what-you-wish-for scenarios, Diane soon discovers the dark side to what she might have imagined to be a liberal utopia. Just wait till you see who receives a Presidential Medal of Freedom. (It's possibly even more awful than the clown who got one this year.) Not to worry, next week the show returns to its regularly heightened version of normal. Can't wait.

Shaq Life (9/8c, TNT): With the NBA season currently suspended, TNT has moved up the premiere of this reality show focusing on the home life of basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal. Making it a "ShaqNight," TNT opens with Shaq screening Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (6/5c) with Rob Riggle. Then Snoop Dogg joins Shaq for the back-to-back series premiere, in which Shaq tries his hand as a DJ in Las Vegas and then hopes to revitalize the Papa John's pizza brand when made the brand's first African-American board member.

Inside Thursday TV: Amanda Fuller (Kristin) directs an episode of Fox's Last Man Standing (8/7c) in which Joe (Jay Leno) feels more underappreciated than usual by Mike (Tim Allen) after he's sidelined in an article about the guys' car-restoration business Getting high is an easy go-to place for comedians to get laughs, but few do it as hilariously and movingly as Pamela Adlon in another first-rate episode of FX's Better Things (10/9c). After visiting a weed dispensary to get relief for her aching hands, Sam overindulges just in time to be presented by a family emergency and an unexpected revelation by one of her daughters. Can it all be fixed with homemade peppermint ice cream? CBS's Tommy (10/9c) deals with cybercrime when an online "swatter" endangers the LAPD and first responders with fake 911 calls. Worse, the perp threatens to reveal private details about members of the LAPD which shouldn't affect police chief Tommy (Edie Falco), who has already publicly come out.

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Worth Watching: 'Will & Grace' Loves 'Lucy,' 'Grey's Anatomy' Ends Its Season, 'Good Fight' Returns - TVInsider

Anatomy

15 Forgotten Facts About Isaiah Washington And Patrick Dempsey’s Grey’s Anatomy Feud – TheThings

Throughout sixteen seasons - and a whole lot of hospital beds -Grey's Anatomy has maintained its spot as one of the top medical dramas in television history. With a cast of characters that is difficult to rival,Grey's has provided viewers with some spectacular (and tear-inducing) moments over the years on the screen.

While the drama has always been hot and heavy at Seattle Grace (or Grey-Sloan) Memorial Hospital, the action behind the scenes has been just as intense. To journey back in time to the show's humble beginnings, two of their main actors began a feud. Patrick Dempsey and Isaiah Washington - who played Dr. Derek Shepherd and Dr. Preston Burke - started a rivalry that wound up sending shockwaves through theGrey's Anatomy universe that fans are still feeling the effects of today.

Here are15 Forgotten Facts About Isaiah Washington And Patrick Dempsey's Grey's Anatomy Feud:

Perhaps some of their fight was triggered due to some jealousy over the casting process forGrey's Anatomy. Current starEllen Pompeorevealed that Isaiah Washington was once in the running for the lead role of Dr. Derek Shepherd before Patrick Dempsey received it. While Washington did get three seasons in a high profile role at the height of the series' popularity, there is no doubt that he would have preferred to be in the starring role.

The more widely reported reason as to why these two stars came to blows was over McDreamy's tardiness when arriving on set. Instead of arriving on time, Dempsey had a tendency to arrive late which upset his fellow cast members. As a way of standing up to Dempsey, Washington confronted him which led to the fight breaking out.

While McDreamy was always pleasant around Seattle Grace, he did have an unfortunate reputation on set for being less than cheery to deal with. According to Washington, he had heard that Dempsey was difficult to deal with as an acting partner and had a reputation as a bully. While it ultimately did not work out for Washington, it seems like he was trying to stand up for everyone else.

RELATED:20 Surprising Facts About Grey's Anatomy Star, Patrick Dempsey

While T.R. Knight was not involved in the physical altercation, his presence does mean a lot the story. Instead of being hit with a punch, the words that were exchanged during the fight between Washington and Dempsey hurt him emotionally. During the fight, Washington said some insulting remarks regarding sexual orientation, which personally insulted Knight who identifies as gay.

Considering how much time each man spends on their figure and facial features, it is surprising that they would engage in such a physical brawl. However, for those that were on set at the time of their altercation and called it a "violent brawl" complete with throat grabbing and hard punches. Scary stuff!

When entering a professional fight setting, the athletes normally receive a "tale of the tape" to show how they match up against each other. While neither man is a professional cage fighter, it is entertaining to think of them that way. Despite being three years older than Dempsey, Washington has both a weight and height advantage over McDreamy.

Despite the fight being called "violent", Washington was quick to say that everyone involved has completely moved on from the situation. When discussing the fight to ABCNews afterwards Washington said, "We apologized after we went in the room and we cleared up what I implied or whatever".

RELATED:15 Questions We Need Grey's Anatomy To Answer Before The Finale

The fight between these two actors made national headlines, and was very frightening for all the people on set. However, Washington was quick to begin making jokes about the ordeal soon after it occurred. When asked about the fight, Washington said he had never been so close to Dempsey's "pretty blue eyes" before.

There is no denying that the comments which Washington made during the argument were uncouth. In fact, that is what cost him his coveted role onGrey's Anatomy. However, Washington maintains that there was no ill will meant by his comments, and that they were all directed towards Dempsey.

When Washington says that his comments were directed towards Dempsey only, he is referring to the orientation slurs which upset T.R. Knight during the confrontation. Washington maintains that since Knight was not involved in the scuffle directly, that none of the slurs were directed towards him.

Not only does Washington maintain that he meant no mark to Knight, but that Knight used the fight as a platform to help his own agenda. According to an article in the Houston Chronicle, Washington said "I'm saying to you has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he's gay. He came out October 19 as purely a tactical move to do exactly what he did, get public opinion in an outrage to lead him to believe that he is being picked on because he is gay".

While many of the cast members ofGrey's Anatomy agreed with Washington's eventual exit from the show, is close co-star Sandra Oh stayed close with him. While the details of their conversation have not been revealed to the public, Washington revealed that afterwards he got a "wonderful e-mail from Sandra Oh" following the incident.

RELATED:15 Times Cristina Yang Proved She's The Best Grey's Anatomy Character Ever

In the aftermath of the incident, show runner Sondra Rhimes felt it best to remove Isaiah Washington from the cast, and his contract was not renewed following season three. Despite Dr. Burke having plenty of story left to tell - including the fall out from leaving his wedding to Cristina Yang - he left the show abruptly, and has hardly been mentioned since. Except until...

Burke returned toGrey's Anatomy after a seven season absence for a two-episode arc in season 10. While there was plenty of interaction (and closure) between Burke and Yang that audiences had been waiting for, there was no interaction between Washington and Dempsey's characters through either of the episodes. Despite their characters being very close previously, it was best that these two actors did not cross paths.

There were many things that could have been on the show while Dr. Burke was present, but the circumstances of his exit assured that they would never happen. In fact, there were original plans for Meredith Grey and Dr. Burke to be the main couple of the show, but that was stopped during the original writing phases. Considering how things all played out, it could have meant a quick end to the series if this had been followed through.

NEXT:Grey's Anatomy: Interns Ranked From Useless To Valuable

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15 Forgotten Facts About Isaiah Washington And Patrick Dempsey's Grey's Anatomy Feud - TheThings

Neuroscience

Funding roundup: At-home medical exams and a Parkinson’s treatment – MedCity News

Tyto Cares kit includes a connected otoscope among other things

Numerous startups offering telehealth or remote monitoring solutions closed funding rounds this week, despite slowing activity due to the Covid-19 pandemic. One of them is Tyto Care, a startup with a platform for at-home medical exams. It actually includes a kit with several tools that can allow physicians to remotely listen to a patients heart, measure their temperature, and image their throat and ears. Several hospitals in Israel, including Sheba Medical Center, deployed its technology to care for patients remotely.

On the biotech side, there were some notable rounds, too, including $70 million for Aspen Neuroscience, which is developing a new treatment for Parkinsons disease. The company was founded by Scripps Research Professor Emeritus Jeanne Loring, who developed a way to turn pluripotent skin cells derived from skin cells or other adult cells into neurons that produce dopamine.

Read more about the companies that recently raised funding:

Tyto Care

Funding amount: $50 million

Headquarters: New York, Israel

Tyto Care, a company that lets people conduct at-home medical exams, already saw rising demand before the Covid-19 pandemic. The company said it saw threefold growth in sales last year and has continued to see its users increase during the pandemic. Its at-home telehealth kit includes a handheld device with attachments that allow physicians to remotely listen to the heart and lungs, measure temperature, and look at the throat and ears during an exam.

The company closed an oversubscribed $50 million round, co-led by Insight Partners, Olive Tree Ventures and Qualcomm Ventures. Tyto Care plans to use the additional funds to further expand its footprint in the U.S., Europe and Asia, and add new features to its platform, such as home diagnostics.

Aspen Neuroscience

Funding amount: $70 million

Headquarters: San Diego, California

Aspen Neuroscience is developing a treatment for Parkinsons disease using a patients own cells. The company uses induced pluripotent stem cells to make dopamine-producing neurons, which are affected by the disease.

The company closed a $70 million series A round, led by New York-based healthcare investor OrbiMed, with participation from ARCH Venture Partners, Frazier Healthcare Partners, Domain Associates, Section 32 and Sam Altman.

We are impressed by the progress Aspen has made to date against its goals to develop innovative therapies to treat Parkinson disease and encouraged by the broader investment communitys support of the company, OrbiMed Managing Partner Jonathan Silverstein said in a news release.

The company plans to use the capital to fund the development of its lead candidate, including completing studies needed to submit an investigational new drug application to the FDA, and recruiting for clinical trials.

Tango Therapeutics

Funding amount: $60 million

Headquarters: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Tango Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focusing on developing cancer therapies, closed a $60 million series B round. The company is working on developing treatments to counteract the loss of tumor suppressor genes, reverse cancer cells ability to evade the immune system, and identify new combinations that are more effective than single-agent therapies. The oversubscribed financing was led by Boxer Capital, with additional new investors in Cormorant Asset Management and Casdin Capital.

SonderMind

Funding amount: $27 million

Headquarters: Denver, Colorado

SonderMind, a startup that matches users with in-network therapists, raised $27 million in funding. The series B round was led by prominent VC General Catalyst and F-Prime Capital. Existing investors include the Kickstart Seed Fund, Di?ko Ventures and Jonathan Bush.

The company has a large network of behavioral providers in Colorado, and is expanding in Texas and Arizona. It plans to use the proceeds of the funding round to expand its partnership with payors, employers and health systems.

SilverCloud

Funding amount: $16 million

Headquarters: Boston, Massachusetts

SilverCloud has seen an uptick in users tapping into its mental health programs for depression, anxiety and other conditions. The company raised a $30 million series B round, led by MemorialCare Innovation Fund, the VC arm of MemorialCare Health System. Other participating investors included LRVHealth, OSF Ventures and UnityPoint Health Ventures.

So far, the company had drummed up partnerships with more than 300 companies. Notably, it was also one of the products selected for Express Scripts first digital health formulary. SilverCloud said it would use the additional funds to expand access to mental health support services for healthcare professionals, as well as their families and their patients.

CyberMDX

Funding: $20 million

Headquarters: New York

Healthcare security startup CyberMDX closed a $20 million funding round. Sham, a French risk management and insurance provider, led the funding round, with participation from Pitango Venture Capital and Oure Ventures.

CyberMDX monitors a providers network for threats to its IT systems, connected medical devices, and other IoT devices. The company said it will use the $20 million to expand its platform to new markets.

Photo credit: Tyto Care

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Funding roundup: At-home medical exams and a Parkinson's treatment - MedCity News

Neuroscience

This Is How We Can Train Ourselves to Become More Compassionate – Thrive Global

Richard Davidson studies the science behind meditation and positive emotions including kindness and compassion. A neuroscience professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a meditation practitioner himself, Davidson puts meditators into brain scanners and looks at how the practice changes their neural connections. We discuss his belief that humans are hard-wired for compassion and love, the use and potential misuse of meditation and how our wellbeing requires committed practices, much like going to the gym or exercising our physical health. (Our conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.)

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1. What does neuroscience tell us about kindness and compassion?

One of the things that weve learned is that there is a really important distinction between empathy and compassion. They look totally different in the brain. Empathy is taking on the emotions of another. If someone else with whom youre empathizing is in pain or is anxious, the empathizer activates networks in the brain associated with pain and anxiety. It may be helpful to do that just a little bit to get a taste of what theyre experiencing. But if you envision experiencing that in a more enduring way, it really could be toxic. A lot of health care providers and other people on the front line often talk about compassion fatigue. Its not compassion fatigue, its empathy fatigue. They are taking on the anxiety, the pain, the fear, the suffering of others and over time that can really be toxic. Compassion is different it is the disposition to relieve another persons suffering and it involves activating networks in the brain that are important in positive emotion and in caring and these are totally different networks than the networks that are activated in empathy.

2. Are people predisposed to either compassion or empathy?

There are large individual differences in how a person expresses their empathy and the extent to which they show empathy versus compassion. Weve studied this in young children, for example by having an adult simulate getting fingers stuck in a clipboard and showing a facial expression of pain. If a three-year-old toddler sees an adult injure herself, there are some toddlers that wince in pain, some begin to cry, others go and kiss the finger of the experimenter and really try to relieve the distress. Theres tremendous variation probably due to both early learning and to genetic factors. We really dont know in detail what theyre due to but we do know that these qualities of compassion can be learned, cultivated and developed.

3. If meditation practices make people more present, how do compassion and kindness fit into the equation? Is mindfulness a morally neutral practice?

Well, in some sense its neutral. Although all meditation practices come from different contemplative traditions and are embedded within an ethical framework, which is often part of the religious context from which those practices are derived. But I also believe that there is a universal ethics that is not explicitly religious and that can be conveyed in a secular form, like the ethics of non-harm. Its important to recognize that meditation is kind of like sports. There are literally hundreds of varieties and they are meant to accomplish different sorts of goals. In order to promote optimal human flourishing, there are many different components that need to be nourished. Mindfulness is one component. But if you just nurture mindfulness, it would be equivalent to going to the gym and just working out on your upper body. Its only activating and exercising one piece of the overall puzzle.

4. Youve advocated for calling some meditations attention training instead. Would that help to reach more people, or by secularising the practises do you remove some part of their essence?

Youre asking a very important question and there arent simple answers. I believe that it is important to place these practices within an ethical framework. It doesnt need to be a religious framework. If all you did is attention training, with a form of mindfulness thats completely stripped from the ethical framework, you can become a more mindful killer. But if its embedded within the proper ethical framework, we think that will decrease the likelihood that these practices will be abused.

5. Youve spoken before about how the same mechanisms in the brain that facilitate adversity can also allow our awakening. Can you talk more about that?

Well, the simple answer is its the mechanism of plasticity. Our brains are changing wittingly or unwittingly, constantly. And when we are subjected to adversity, our brains are being changed by the adversity unwittingly. We dont choose to become captives of adversity, it just happens. But the very same mechanisms in our brain that change in response to adversity can be harnessed so that we can actually engage them to promote human flourishing.

6. How does your brain imaging work relate to this?

Most importantly, the imaging work shows us that the brain can change with very little intervention. It doesnt take much to begin to see objective changes in the brain. It doesnt mean that those changes will stick. It simply means that theyre accessible. And just like physical exercise: we know if we go to the gym and work out for two weeks and then stop exercising, we will eventually revert back to our base. So too with the mind, we need to keep practicing. But the data show us that it doesnt take much to get these changes going in the first place.

7. Why do you think were hardwired to be compassionate? That would come as a surprise to many people, especially in this political moment.

The evidence comes from a study of very young infants. If you take a three to six month old infant and expose them to, for example, puppets that are playing altruistically, where one puppet is helping another puppet versus another scenario with the same puppets, where theyre playing aggressively and selfishly, the infants prefer the altruistic encounter. There are many behavioural ways of assessing the preference of a young infant. We can see which puppet it reaches for, we can see where it smiles more, we can track the eye movements of an infant. All of those measures show that 95% of young babies prefer the altruistic encounters. These kinds of data show us that pro sociality is built in to us, kind of like how language is built in. But in order for us to cultivate language we need to be raised in a normal linguistic immunity community. So we think of compassion in the same way that other scientists might think of language.

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This Is How We Can Train Ourselves to Become More Compassionate - Thrive Global

Neuroscience

Commentary: Why teenagers may be the downfall of preventing the spread of the coronavirus – CALmatters

As the rest of us hunker down in place or, donning our masks and gloves, venture tentatively outdoors, there is a subset of individuals particularly maladapted to this coronavirus pandemic lifestyle.

No doubt youve seen some of them mingling in public spaces, socializing in large groups laughing, talking, kissing. You may even be one of the 42 million unfortunate adults to have one in your home during this era of COVID-19.

What is it about teenagers?

As an epidemiologist and behavioral researcher in Los Angeles, I develop strategies to promote healthier decisions among adolescents, particularly for the prevention of HIV. Through this work, I often draw from research in neuroscience, psychology and behavioral economics to better understand why humans in general, and adolescents in particular, make decisions that are not in their best interest.

Of no surprise to parents and educators anywhere, teenagers are particularly susceptible to errors in judgement that lead to risk-taking. Recent studies of the adolescent brain provide evidence that the unique development of neural networks during adolescence can make these individuals hypersensitive to immediate rewards and less equipped to regulate their impulses. It also suggests that adolescents may be less able to resist social pressure, especially when they are aroused or excited.

This predisposition toward impulsivity could explain in part why individuals in this age group drive recklessly with friends, participate in binge drinking, or even gather in groups amid a worldwide pandemic. Behaviors which seem to reflect a decayed moral sensibility perhaps have more to do with the state of their brains than the state of their souls.

Teenage risk-taking could also be linked to the unique ways in which younger individuals evaluate new information. Humans undergo a process of belief updating, in which we adjust our prior beliefs based on new facts. A persons nave belief that the earth is flat, for instance, might be updated upon learning that one can circumnavigate the world.

The extent to which new information can shift beliefs can depend on whether it is good or bad; we are, in general, more apt to incorporate good news into our beliefs and discount the bad. And, while all are susceptible to this bias, adolescents are particularly inclined to demonstrations of irrational optimism.

So, in the not-so-hypothetical event of a pandemic, adolescents may be more likely to discount news about the severity of the novel coronavirus, focusing instead on the fact that they are unlikely to die from COVID-19.

Adolescents are not to be released from all personal responsibility. While their brains are still developing, they nonetheless have brains. Still, their susceptibility to social pressure and tendency toward optimism could inform how we, as public health practitioners, family members, friends and the general public, can encourage safer behaviors.

First, we must acknowledge that communicating the threat of disease may have limited impact. Reality is a bitter pill to swallow right now, and one that teenagers are likely to spit out. Second, we should find ways to make social distancing immediately rewarding.

Research suggests that social approval and acceptance are massively gratifying and strong motivators for behavior change, and so young people may be more inclined to engage in social distancing if they are publicly lauded as paragons on social media. Along these lines, as teenagers are particularly apt to respond to social pressure, we should seek to communicate information about social norms (i.e., informal standards of behavior). If teenagers learn that majority of their peers engage in social distancing, they are likely to follow suit.

In this crucial moment in history, the welfare of our society depends on mutual collaboration from every member. Our actions, and their consequences, are not our own. And yet we often cannot force people to behave the way we want, especially teenagers. We must find better ways to persuade these individuals to take greater care, for their safety as well as our own.

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Jessica Londeree Saleska is a post-doctoral fellow at UCLAs Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, [emailprotected] Her current research centers on the use of behavioral economic principles to encourage health behaviors to prevent HIV transmission.

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Commentary: Why teenagers may be the downfall of preventing the spread of the coronavirus - CALmatters