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Neuroscience

5 Neuroscience Experts Weigh in on Elon Musk’s Mysterious "Neural Lace" Company – IEEE Spectrum

Elon Musk has a reputation as the worlds greatest doer. He can propose crazy ambitious technological projectslike reusable rockets for Mars exploration and hyperloop tunnels for transcontinental rapid transitand people just assume hell pull it off.

So his latest venture, a new company called Neuralink that will reportedly build brain implants both for medical use and to give healthy people superpowers, has gotten the public excited about a coming era of consumer-friendly neurotech.

Even neuroscientists who work in the field, who know full well how difficult it is to build working brain gear that passes muster with medical regulators, feel a sense of potential. Elon Musk is a person whos going to take risks and inject a lot of money, so it will be exciting to see what he gets up to, says Thomas Oxley, a neural engineer who has been developing a medical brain implant since 2010 (he hopes to start its first clinical trial in 2018).

Neuralink is still mysterious. An article in The Wall Street Journal announced the companys formation and first hires, while also spouting vague verbiage about cranial computers that would serve as a layer of artificial intelligence inside the brain.

So IEEE Spectrum asked the experts about whats feasible in this field, and what Musk might be planning. First, though, a little background.

Musk did give a few seemingly concrete details at a conference last year (video excerpt below). His neural lace would serve as a digital layer above the cortex, he said. Its components wouldnt necessarily require brain surgery for implantation; instead, the hardware could be injected into the jugular and travel to the brain through the bloodstream.

Neural implants are already a medical reality: Some 150,000 people with Parkinsons disease have had brain surgery to receive deep-brain stimulators, implants that send regular pulses of electricity through patches of brain tissue to control patients tremors. Researchers are now experimenting with these pacemaker-like devices to treat depression and other neuropsychiatric diseases. Some epilepsy patients also have a new type of implant that monitors their brains for signs of impending seizures and sends out stimulating pulses to head them off.

Musks neural lace would presumably be designed to treat some disease first; otherwise, its hard to imagine the technology gaining regulatory approval. But his descriptions dont make it sound like existing brain stimulators, but rather like experimental brain-computer interfaces (BCI) that record brain signals and use the information to control external devices like computer cursors and robotic arms. These BCI implants have shown great promise in giving more autonomy to people with paralysis, but none have yet been approved for clinical use.

Now, to the experts!

Mary Lou Jepsen is a Silicon Valley bigwig who recently founded the startup Openwater to develop a noninvasive BCI for imaging and telepathy (the latter could conceivably be done by reading out thought patterns in the brain). Like Musk, shes interested in both medical applications and augmenting peoples natural abilities. But she says any invasive neural technology brings medical hurdles, even if it doesnt require splitting open patients skulls.

The approach as I understand it (not much is published) involves implanting silicon particles (so called neural lace) into the bloodstream. One concern is that implanting anything in the body can cause unintended consequences, says Jepsen. For example, even red blood cells can clog capillaries in the brain when the red blood cells are made more stiff by diseases like malaria. This clogging can reduce or even cut off the flow of oxygen to the parts of the brain. Indeed, clogging of cerebral capillaries has been shown to be a major cause of Alzheimers progression. Back to neural lace: One concern I would have is whether the silicon particles could lead to any clogging.

Jepsen notes that the Wall Street Journal article lists a few neuroscientists who have reportedly been hired on for Neuralink, but says thats just the first step in a long process. Its exciting, but embryonic, she says.

Thomas Oxley is a practicing neurologist and the inventor of the stentrode, a neural probe that can be delivered to the brain through blood vesselsso he has plenty of thoughts about the technology Musk might be developing. Hes CEO of Synchron, the company thats developing the technology and planning its first clinical trial for 2018 in Australia.

Oxley came up with his stentrode as an alternative to typical electrodes that are placed directly in the brain tissue. Those standard electrodes enable high-fidelity recording from individual neurons, but the stiff silicon and metal structures cause inflammation in the brain tissue, and scar tissue often forms around them over time. The idea of moving up the blood vessel is that you avoid any direct penetration of the brain tissue, Oxley says, and thus avoid damaging it. In Oxleys system, a catheter is snaked up a vein to deliver the stentrode to one of the tiny blood vessels that nourishes the neurons. From there, they cant record neurons activity directly, but Oxley says the different type of signal can be deciphered with the right kind of signal processing.

If Musk is working on a similar delivery system for his neural lace, Oxley says, we shouldnt expect results anytime soon. The medical device pathway takes a long time, and we had to conduct a lot of science to get to the point where we are now, he says. For the past two years, his research group has been working in sheep to develop a catheter delivery system that reliably positions an operational recording system in the motor cortex region of the brain.

Synchrons upcoming clinical trial will test the stentrode as a BCI for people with paralyzed or missing limbs, who will use the recorded neural signals to control exoskeletons and robotic prosthetics. Oxley says theres a big potential market for such devices, including people who have suffered strokes, spinal cord injuries, ALS, muscular dystrophy, and amputations. He notes that a McKinsey Global Institute report from 2013 estimated that 50 million people in advanced economies could benefit from such robotic human augmentation. So if Musks Neuralink is following a similar technological path to Synchron, hell be able to make a sound business case.

As for clotting concerns, Oxley says neurologists routinely use permanent stents in patients brains to keep blood vessels open. They act like scaffolds that push against the walls of the blood vessel. We understand how to manage patients with medication to ensure those stents dont close over, he says.

Charles Lieber and Guosong Hong offer another possibility for delicately inserting a BCI into the brain. Lieber, a Harvard professor of chemistry and engineering, and Hong, one of his postdocs, are developing an electronic mesh that is injected by syringe into the brain tissue, where it unfurls to make contact with many neurons.

The mesh electronics can be precisely targeted to any brain region by syringe injection and forms a seamless and stable interface with neural tissuebecause it behaves very much like the brain tissue we seek to study, Lieber says. Mesh electronics cause negligible damage or chronic immune response. His group has shown that the mesh is stable in the brain and can record from individual neurons over many months.

Hong adds that the mesh electronics can both record from and stimulate neurons, opening up a variety of medical applications. It will provide transformative capabilities for treatment of neurological and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinsons and Alzheimers diseases via deep-brain stimulation, he says, as well as providing next-generation brain computer interfaces.

Although Musk made reference to the neural lace acting as a digital layer above the cortex, these researchers dont think its likely that Musks technology will resemble their unfurling electronic mesh. Hong notes that the three neuroscientists mentioned as Neuralinks first hires work on very different kinds of brain implants.

Vanessa Tolosa of Lawrence Livermore National Lab has been working on flexible polymer probes that look like little dipsticks; Philip Sabes of University of California, San Francisco has experimented with a micro-ECoG array that drapes over the outer surface of the brain; and Timothy Gardner of Boston University works on carbon fiber electrodes that look like bundles of threads.

While Musks description of a neural lace layer makes Sabess superficial array sound like the winning contender, such a device couldnt be injected through the jugular and travel through blood vessels to reach the upper surface of the brain. Its possible that we shouldnt take his works literallyMusk may have been speaking metaphorically about technology that would add a new layer of intelligence to the human brain.

Michel Maharbiz, an electrical engineering professor at UC Berkeley, is working on tiny electrodes called neural dust. These sound like something that Musk would take an interest in; the idea is that tiny wireless electrodes could be scattered through the nervous system, acting together to record signals.

The teams current version of this tech is a device that measures 2.4 cubic millimeters, and theyre working to scale it down much furtherfirst to 1mm3, and eventually down to 50mm3. Recently, Maharbiz and his colleagues demonstrated that their current mote of neural dust could record from a nerve while wirelessly receiving power and sending out data.

While Maharbiz couldnt say whether neural lace and neural dust might have some similarities, he knows that scaling down his own tech to make it small enough to work in the brain is a big challenge. The obstacles are a combination of circuit design, materials, communication schemes, and power, he says, noting that his teams work on miniaturization is a difficult, multi-year endeavor which will happen in phases.

To make a BCI work inside the brains tiny blood vessels, Maharbiz says, it would have to either place electrodes measuring about 100 microns inside the vessels, or use long microwires that connect to a larger piece of electronics sited elsewhere in the vascular system.

Musks Neuralink team clearly has plenty of technical challenges ahead in miniaturizing a device, enabling its safe delivery and positioning in the brain, and figuring out how to use it to treat a serious medical disorder. Once Musk figures all that outand he will, of course, because hes a doerhe can move on to neurotech for the general public. Then we can all get BCIs that channel our thoughts and commands directly to our smartphones and computers, increasing our efficiency and opening up brave new worlds.

Oxley, the stentrode inventor, doesnt expect to see miracles from the Neuralink team anytime soon. But hes excited anyway, saying that Musks willingness to tackle the big technical challenges of neural engineering shows the maturity of the field. Its a huge validating moment, he says. The field of brain-computer interfaces is now taking center stage in Silicon Valley, and being recognized as one of the next great endeavors.

IEEE Spectrums biomedical blog, featuring the wearable sensors, big data analytics, and implanted devices that enable new ventures in personalized medicine.

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5 Neuroscience Experts Weigh in on Elon Musk's Mysterious "Neural Lace" Company - IEEE Spectrum

Cell Biology

Two County Students Honored With Chancellor’s Award – Jamestown Post Journal

Zachary Eklum is pictured with Nancy Zimpher, SUNY chancellor, and Cedric Howard, SUNY Fredonia vice president for student affairs.

FREDONIA Three State University at Fredonia seniors, two from Chautauqua County, who collectively have five majors, two minors and GPAs of 3.9 or higher were among 256 SUNY students from across the state to receive the 2017 SUNY Chancellors Award for Student Excellence.

Maria Gordon from Stephentown, Zachary Eklum of Jamestown and Rebecca Hartling of Falconer were chosen from among eight Fredonia finalists.

The awards ceremony and reception for recipients was held on April 5, at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center in Albany.

It is my honor to celebrate the achievements of students who have surpassed SUNYs highest standards of academic excellence and leadership both on and off campus, said Nancy Zimpher, SUNY chancellor.

Every student recognized has demonstrated a strong commitment to his/her degree program, home campus, greater community and much more, Zimpher added.

Maria, Rebecca, and Zachary are excellent examples of the quality of student Fredonia is preparing for success, said Cedric Howard, SUNY Fredonia vice president for student affairs, who attended the awards ceremony. They are not just leaders in and out of the classroom; they are poised to become future leaders in a global society.

The award was created in 1997 to recognize students who have best demonstrated, and have been recognized for, the integration of academic excellence with accomplishments in the areas of leadership, athletics, community service, creative and performing arts, campus involvement or career achievement.

ZACHARY EKLUM

Eklum, who is majoring in biology and has minors in psychology and chemistry, became the first Fredonia student accepted into the Early Assurance Program at Upstate Medical University, which he will enter this fall. He is a son of Todd and Dawn Eklum and was valedictorian of Jamestown High Schools Class of 2013.

Eklum has been an active member in the Biology Club, Health Professions Club, Golden Key International Honour Society and the Fredonia chapter of Beta Beta Beta, the national biological sciences honor society. He has tutored numerous students in chemistry, biology, psychology and physics and is currently engaged in a research project with Psychology Assistant Professor Catherine Creeley that is studying the effects of NICU neurotoxins on the fetus during the third trimester pregnancy using a mouse model. The effects are quantified by comparing the density of cell death (apoptosis) in various regions of the brain across treatment and control groups.

Job shadowing has been a key part of his undergraduate education. Eklum has conducted observations in a primary care physicians office, an operating room and radiology department. His internship at UPMC Chautauqua WCA included emergency, cardiac, orthopedic and general surgical departments, among others.

Eklums capstone internship focused on cardiology and the assessment of implantable cardioverter defibrillators in relation to pre-discharge assessments.

Eklum has been the recipient of numerous honors: Yunghans-Mirabelli Biology Achievement Scholarship, Walter Gotowka Award for Excellence, ACS General Chemistry Award, Golden Key International Honour Society Award, Fiat-Lux Let There Be Light Award and Adele Maytum-Hunter scholarships.

REBECCA HARTLING

Ms. Hartling, who is majoring in molecular genetics and psychology, has served two years as a student researcher with Dr. Nicholas Quintyne, where she has explored the resolution of mitotic defects induced by carcinogen treatment in cancer and non-cancer cells. She has also served as a teaching assistant with Drs. Scott Ferguson, Scott Medler and Quintyne, all of the Department of Biology. She is a daughter of Richard and Renee Hartling and a graduate of Falconer High School.

Hartling will attend Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the State University at Buffalo.

Hartling is a member of the Biology Club, Chemistry Club and Pre-Health Professions Club and an undergraduate member of the American Society of Cell Biology. She has given poster presentations of undergrad research at the American Society of Cell Biology annual meeting in San Francisco, the Beta Beta Beta regional convention in Latrobe, Pa., and at Fredonia.

She has served as president and treasurer of Upsilon Chi, the Fredonia chapter of Beta Beta Beta, the national biological sciences honor society, is a member of Psi Chi, the international honor society in psychology, Golden Key International Honour Society and Student Ambassadors Program, and has served as a teaching assistant. The membership ranks in Beta Beta Beta increased dramatically, from seven to 50, during her tenure.

Hartling was accepted into the Fredonia Honors Program as a first-year student, received an Adele Maytum-Hunter Scholarship, Freshman Deans Scholar Award and Fredonia Faculty Staff Scholarship, has served as a mentor in the Biology and Honors programs, was a volunteer in the Relay for Life benefit for the American Cancer Society and participated in Fall Sweep.

Additional campus finalists for the Chancellors Award included: Dean Bavisotto, Emily Bystrak, Madeleine Goc, Connor Hoffman and Mikayla Kozlowski. Also nominated for the award were: Zachary Beaudoin, Jefferson Dedrick, Katelyn Dietz, Bridget Doyle, Joseph Drake, Margaret Fagan, Jonah Farnum, Melissa Goggin, Korrin Harvey, Chelsea Jones, Ilana Lieberman, Chelsea May, Maggie Papia, Charlotte Passero, Ariana Perez, Burgandi Rakoska, John Secunde and Carolyn Sheridan.

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Two County Students Honored With Chancellor's Award - Jamestown Post Journal

Human Behavior

Guest essay: Design streets for human safety – Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

Jason Haremza 2:59 p.m. ET April 14, 2017

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 27: A pedestrian crosses the intersection of 3rd Avenue and 14th Street, one of Manhattan's most dangerous crosswalks for pedestrians, on October 27, 2014 in New York City. Four pedestrians have been killed in the last few weeks in New York City while a total of 212 people have been killed in total traffic deaths so far this year. These numbers have added to the urgency of Mayor Bill de Blasio's Vision Zero program, which aims to eliminate city traffic deaths. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)(Photo: Spencer Platt / Getty Images)

A recent editorial opened with Walking is good for your health and, if you do it instead of driving to your destination, it benefits both the environment and your wallet.

I wholeheartedly agree. However, the tone implies that walking is a good, perhaps even noble activity, but not a requirement- like eating vegetables and turning down the thermostat. That is a very limited view of walking. Walking is an elemental part of humanity. It is, or should be, the basic and primary method of moving about our world. Only in the past 100 years has walking to our destinations come to be seen as alternative.

The phrase pedestrian error, which comes from Pedestrian Safety Action Plans, has a connotation of blaming the victim. Pedestrian error also suggests jaywalking, which is a crime invented by the automobile industry. One hundred years ago, people were outraged over the death and injury caused by motorists. Cities considered strict regulation of motor vehicles. The automobile industry fought back with a self-serving and, tragically successful, public relations campaign to shift the blame to the walker.

The editorial does not mention the role that street design has in human behavior. Narrower streets and narrower lanes have a dramatic impact on driver behavior and human safety, slowing vehicles to safer speeds. Other counties, notably the Netherlands and Sweden, have seen significant reductions in vehicle related injuries and deaths. Frustratingly, and tragically, the United States has only taken the most tentative of steps toward designing streets for human safety. Far too often, the swift and unimpeded flow of vehicles is the design priority. .

Carefully designed streets have safe speed limits that are largely self-enforcing. On the other hand, on wide streets with multiple lanes, it feels okay to drive 40 or 50 mph, regardless of the posted speed. A local example is Chestnut/Monroe from Court to Union. At Court, Chestnut has four wide lanes, and most drivers naturally accelerate. However, once Chestnut turns into Monroe, the street narrows to two lanes with parked cars on either side. Most drivers naturally slow down.

Americans, helped by sensational or superficial media coverage, are fearful of dramatic but rare dangers like terrorism. Yet vehicles kill 40,000 people per year in the United States. Let us commit to public streets that prioritize the health, safety, and comfort of all people.

Jason Haremza of Rochester is an avid walker and an urbanist.

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Guest essay: Design streets for human safety - Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

Genetics

Genetic testing rates for ovarian cancer low across Ontario – Medical Xpress

April 14, 2017 In a recent study, Dr. Jacob McGee, a professor in the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and a gynecology oncologist at London Health Sciences Centre, found that, on average, less than seven per cent of Ontario women with the most common type of ovarian cancer were seen for genetics consultation within two years of diagnosis. McGee and his colleagues were able to demonstrate that, by changing the way women are referred for ovarian cancer genetic consultation, it is possible to increase genetic testing rates from less than 20 per cent to almost 80 per cent, potentially increasing diagnostic and treatment outcomes. Credit: Crystal Mackay//Special to Western News

Nearly 3,000 Canadian women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer this year. Often undetected, until it progresses to late stages, the disease is the fifth most common and the most serious cancer in women.

Symptoms of ovarian cancer generally appear after it has already spread within the pelvis and abdomen and, once it has spread, the cancer is difficult to treat. In these later stages, it is often fatal. Early-stage ovarian cancer, in which the disease is confined to the ovary, is more likely to respond to treatment an indication early detection and intervention could be key in increasing treatment and survival rates.

Genetic consultation in ovarian cancer testing which has shown promising potential for life-saving benefits isn't as common as it should be, according to Western researchers.

In a recent study, published in the March issue of the International Journal of Gynecological Cancer, Dr. Jacob McGee, a professor in the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and a gynecology oncologist at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC), found that, on average, less than seven per cent of Ontario women with the most common type of ovarian cancer were seen for genetics consultation within two years of diagnosis.

Women at the highest risk of developing high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSC) are those with a mutation in their BRCA (tumour suppression) genes, which can be identified through genetics consultation.

Given the results of the study, McGee and his colleagues were able to demonstrate that by changing the way women are referred for ovarian cancer genetic consultation, it is possible to increase genetic testing rates from less than 20 per cent to almost 80 per cent, potentially increasing diagnostic and treatment outcomes.

The identification of the BRCA mutation can mean the difference between life and death for family members of the affected individual. For women with the BRCA mutation, there is a 50 per cent chance they will pass that mutation on to their children and grandchildren. If the hereditary gene can be found in the affected individual, and then identified in their family members, it can be followed by life-saving interventions including surgically removing the ovaries and fallopian tubes, before there is a diagnosis of cancer. This preventative procedure has been shown to drastically reduce mortality rates, McGee explained.

Identification of the gene also allows for consideration of treatment with a PARP (poly-ADP-ribose polymerase) inhibitor, a new class of medication found to be beneficial only for women with this mutation.

McGee and his research team cite an intervention at LHSC's London Regional Cancer Centre (LRCP), which has increased the rate of consultation in London to well above the provincial average.

In London, the genetics referral process for patients with HGSC was altered from an 'opt-in' to an 'opt-out' process. This involves automatically forwarding the list of new HGSC ovarian cancer patients to the cancer genetics clinic through an advance directive. Seeing a genetic counsellor or geneticist becomes the default, with patients stepping outside of the referral process only if their physician cancels the consultation with genetics. In the first year of implementation, 77 per cent of patients at LRCP diagnosed with HGSC completed genetics consultation, well above the provincial average identified in McGee's study.

"This process has been surprisingly easy to implement, and we think it could be a good fit for other centres across the province," said McGee, a Lawson Health Research Institute scientist.

Despite the province's expanding genetic counselling eligibility in 2001 to all women with HGSC ovarian cancer, consultation rates in Ontario remained low during the study period, between 1997 and 2011. The rates did rise, peaking at 13.3 per cent in 2011, however, the numbers remained well below where McGee believes they should be.

"These numbers show no matter what centre you are in, there have to be better interventions to help patients see a genetic counsellor," he said. "This is something absolutely worth doing because of the impact it has for both the patient's current treatment and in preventing ovarian cancer cases down the road."

Explore further: Drug combination boost PARP inhibitor response in resistant ovarian cancer

More information: Genetics Consultation Rates Following a Diagnosis of High-Grade Serous Ovarian Carcinoma in the Canadian Province of Ontario. International Journal of Gynecological Cancer. DOI: 10.1097/IGC.0000000000000907

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Embryology

Lotamore House has been saved from decay and dilapidation – Irish Examiner

But, now after a chequered past decade of decay, and having been rescued from the point of rapidly deteriorated dereliction during the slump, (or, even from a fate similar to that of Corks Vernon Mount House, gutted last year by fire while empty,) Lotamore House is back in rude good health, and in a use which scarcely could have been thought of, at almost anytime in its last centuries of use.

With Cork Merchant Prince family generations of ownership, renting and occupation behind it, today in its new guise it is the very real point of conception and where new life starts for many, many dozens of generations and the most diverse array of families and precious prince and princess dynasties yet to come.

John Waterstone

Its the sparkling new base for the Cork Fertility Centre, arguably the countrys most advanced such clinic, after having had new life breathed into it by fertility consultant Dr John Waterstone and his wife Susan, self-confessed aficionados of old buildings, and, indeed, private family residents for almost 20 years in one of Corks old rectory homes.

Now spanning 13,000 sq ft of calm, period conserved property and utterly graceful features with purposeful, dedicated medical suites, labs, scan rooms and consulting rooms, at heart Lotamore House this spring is a cutting edge medical and fertility centre employing 55 staff.

It literally is creating and cradling life, where a new-build 1,500 sq ft lab glows with the latest embryology technology, cryopreservation storage area, with diagnostic facilities, which can detect and prevent debilitating genetic conditions being passed on to new-borns and future generations.

When opting to grow their clinic and business from a base on College Road (the Waterstones also have outreach fertility clinics in Limerick, Waterford and now Dublin too) , they could have built or bought almost anywhere.

They might have been expected to buy something more predictably medical than a down-at-heel, 215-year-old Georgian villa on a hill, with water coming through the roof, and gardens lying idle since it ceased guest accommodation uses in 2006: it had sold then for well over 3 million, with investor notions of turning the still-elegant house into a 90-bed nursing home.

(It also featured on TV news slots for a period when briefly and controversially occupied by protest group, the Rodolphus Allen Private Family Trust, after Lotamore Houses future was to be decided by receivers Deloitte, and it had been effectively squatted in also for a short spell.)

It has grown from 8,000 sq ft on the point of decline to 13,000 sq ft of immaculate space and balancing old side wings with a restored original Georgian villa done to best conservation standards under the guidance of architects, Jack Coughlan Associates.

Getting from first approach to a finished product took the best part of three years, with about half of that spent in layout, detailing and planning etc, and the other 18 months was on-site work with Rose Construction, whove been in operation in Cork for more than 30 years.

As a team effort, its delivery include re-roofing, new sash windows throughout the original building, salvage and repair of old stone such as the Wicklow granite for the steps, conservation of cast iron railings, new lime harling or dash render on the exterior walls.

In particular there was painstaking input from master joiner and carpentry craftsman Frank Gaffney, who saved the original staircase as it was about to sink after a few years of water ingress, and which had also threatened, and damaged, much of the original ceilings.

Key decorative plasterwork sections and friezes were rescued, saved and in cases copied, done by Capitol Mouldings and serve as statement pieces in the central hall, stairs and landings.

Also involved with project manager Susan Waterstone (wholl admit to being a very demanding client!) on the interior design front was Keith Spillane and the likes of MMOS Engineering were vital to knitting old and new uses and services together, while Q Fab were onboard for the stainless steel lab work in what is now a hard-working, repurposed building.

Reversing Lotamore Houses fortunes was, clearly, a labour of love for John and Susan Waterstone, who now are in full operation mode at Lotamore, whose labs also serve the businesss other smaller clinics in Limerick, Waterford and Dublin.

And, while the houses fabric is fully secured, future phases will see the grounds (currently full of young rabbits, as if such symbols of fertility were needed) also taken back to suitable grandeur.

All the essentials are here though, from walled gardens to specimen hardwood trees and spectacular, blazes of in-flower rhododendron, visible from even across the Lee around Blackrock.

On the Irish Examiners visit and tour, the couples commitment and interest down to the minutiae of historic buildings is evident, in every square inch, of patinated old and shiny new.

John Waterstone even designed some of the furniture, such as the single, 18 long dining table in the staff canteen made out of 2 thick pitch-pine floorboards (egalitarian as well as aesthetic, and necessary as staff numbers jumped 30% with the move to Lotamore.)

They commissioned a lengthy history and biography of the 1798-built Lotamore House, linking it to the likes of far grander Lota House itself a few hundred metres along this shouldering, sunny, south-facing Cork valley hill.

S the older sibling, Lota House itself currently houses the Brothers of Charity, and was designed by Davis Duckart for a Robert Rogers, whose family built and leased out the seven-bay Lotamore House to a succession for Cork merchant prince families. Surnames include Harrison, Hackett, Perrier, Mahony, Lunham (of bacon fame), and from the 1920s, the fruiterer family the Cudmores as last private occupants.

Lotamore Houses own architects arent recorded, but in the way of coincidences, the related Lota Houses architect Davis Duckart also designed Corks elegant Mansion House, which is now the main point of entry to the citys Mercy Hospital.

In another unrelated hospital link, Lotamore House was the HQ of the Hospitals Trust/Irish Hospitals Sweepstakes after 1961.

Now again in a new eras medical usage, Lotamore Houses current owners have documented every stage of the physical transition too for future generations to peruse, moving from blueprints and working documents to decorative flourishes and plasterwork conservation, via photography and video.

Initially, an independent TV production company, GoodLookingFilms, started documenting Lotamore Houses transition to reproductive technology/fertility clinic, but in the end RT didnt commission the series which was going to mix embryo technology and micro, medical manouvres with a smattering of Grand Designs with About the House and Room to Improve.

It seems quite the lost opportunity: some of the couples and families that featured in early filming now have one and two-year-old children, as a coda to what would have been TV (and, far more importantly, personal) golden moments.

: New life.

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Lotamore House has been saved from decay and dilapidation - Irish Examiner

Anatomy

Eden Hazard and Jos Mourinho: anatomy of a rollercoaster relationship – The Guardian

Eden Hazard was in imperious form when Chelsea and Manchester United met in the Premier League in October. Photograph: Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images

Fans, content with a perfunctory victory, were beginning to drift away from Stamford Bridge. Chelsea were leading Porto 2-0, having been in control for most of the game. In a turbulent season, the Champions League had again provided a pocket of calm. And then Jos Mourinho decided to take off Eden Hazard, who had been involved in the buildup to both Chelsea goals. It had probably been Hazards best performance of the season to that point and he left the pitch to warm applause. He slapped hands with Loc Rmy but then, as Mourinho went to congratulate him, Hazard shrugged him off.

It is easy, of course, to read too much into individual moments in retrospect but even at the time that felt telling. To show such obvious disdain for your manager in the moment of victory exposed the palpable discord that existed within the squad a week before Michael Emenalo, the Chelsea technical director, spoke of it in the wake of Mourinhos sacking. From that moment, it felt that Mourinho was doomed, that, even with his abilities, there was no way back.

Then, as the curtain was falling, even during that final game away at Leicester City five days later, as Claudio Ranieri dealt the final blow to avenge his own sacking by Chelsea 12 years earlier, there came the strange incident of Hazards hip. Mourinho clearly felt Hazard, who had been troubled by the problem since the summer, was not particularly badly injured and cajoled him to go back on after treatment on the touchline, only for the Belgian to decide within seconds that he did not fancy it and march off, ignoring his manager as he did so.

Not surprisingly, Hazard was one of three players highlighted as rats by disgruntled Chelsea fans the following weekend as the post-Mourinho age began with a comfortable victory over Sunderland. Of all the many things that went wrong for Mourinho at Chelsea last season, the most significant was surely the disintegration of his relationship with the Belgian. It would be misleading to suggest some feud still simmers between the two but as Chelsea go to Old Trafford on Sunday for what appears the last significant obstacle on their run-in to the title, the fraying of their bond stands as an emblem of the collapse of Mourinhos Chelsea reign.

Right from the start, Mourinho would provoke Hazard in front of the squad, telling the team: Today were playing with 10, to try to goad him into great defensive effort. Initially, Hazard, used to more overtly supportive managers, was troubled. If he looks you in the eye, its terrifying, he said.

Hazard is not a natural rebel, however. He accepted his managers ways, even if he preferred to go home and spend time with his family after training rather than staying at Cobham for extra gym work. The two found an understanding and, while there were occasional hiccups, as when Mourinho publicly criticised Hazard after the Champions League defeat by Atltico Madrid in 2014 Eden is the kind of player who is not so mentally ready to look back at his left-back and live his life for him, he said, after Hazard had commented that Chelsea were better counterattacking than taking the game to the opposition the relationship worked. When Hazard was named Chelseas players player of the year and joked that the other nominees would have to work harder, Mourinho appreciated the dig.

That was the height of their connection. The manager recognised Hazard as a humble, diligent player lacking a little ambition. Hazards father announced that he saw Mourinho as the manager to give his son a little more ego, to make him a wonderful player as well as the fantastic dad and wonderful husband he already was. Mourinho began to acknowledge his respect for Hazard, highlighting an opponent in team meetings and saying he was no Maradona, no Messi, no Hazard.

The warmer approach brought the best out of Hazard and Chelsea won the Premier League as Hazard was named PFA and Football Writers player of the season.

But then Mourinho ramped up the pressure, describing Hazard as my new Messi while at the same time urging him to take more defensive responsibility. At the same time, Hazard was struggling to recover from a hip problem that afflicted him until last April. At one point a frustrated Mourinho allegedly told him: Youre not good enough for the top. Ill have to sell you. He began to criticise him in press conferences again.

As reports surfaced that the pair had fallen out, they met to discuss the situation. Hazard asked to play centrally and Mourinho agreed for the home game against Liverpool. With the score at 1-1, though, Mourinho took him off, shattering what remained of Hazards confidence.

Yet there is no acrimony between the two. When Mourinho was sacked, Hazard sent him a text message saying he felt responsible because he had not been at the same level as before. Mourinho replied, accepting Hazards sentiment and wishing: Good luck to you and your wonderful family. Mourinho felt he lacked the necessary hardness; by the end Hazard, along with a number of players, felt wearied by Mourinhos relentless abrasiveness. In Hazard was expressed a wider malaise.

Hazard has clearly benefited from taking a more central role this season. Playing almost as an inside-left in Antonio Contes 3-4-2-1, he has been able to drift infield, knowing Marcos Alonso is always there to go outside him and offer creative width, while also being able to initiate the press, if required, on the opposing full-back. For all the meticulousness of Contes planning, that perhaps has made his movement less predictable and with that freedom within a system some of the swagger has returned to his play, most notably in that goal against Arsenal when he beat Laurent Koscielny at both the beginning and the end of a 40-yard burst.

Hazard has taken full toll on Mourinho as well, scoring one and generally sparkling with menace in Chelseas 4-0 win over Manchester United. So dangerous was he that for the FA Cup quarter-final in March, Mourinho seemingly targeted Hazard. Whatever the rights and wrongs of Ander Herreras dismissal in that game, the red card resulted from Hazard being kicked every time the ball came near him, an intriguing focus, taking into account Chelseas slickness as a unit this season.

Given the way that game went, any strategy to counter Hazard on Sunday will have to be rather more subtle. And if United are to prevail, Hazard will have to be neutralised. For Mourinho, perhaps, that is not only a tactical imperative but also a psychological one.

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Eden Hazard and Jos Mourinho: anatomy of a rollercoaster relationship - The Guardian

Anatomy

TJC to host Human Anatomy & Physiology Society regional conference – Tyler Morning Telegraph

Tyler Junior College has been selected as the host site for Saturdays regional conference of the Human Anatomy & Physiology Society.

HAPS is a national society of more than 1,700 educators from high schools, two- and four-year colleges, universities, and private businesses in the United States, Canada and throughout the rest of the world, said Dr. Betsy Ott, TJC biology professor and recent past president of the organization.

Ott has been a professor at TJC since 1982, teaching anatomy and physiology, general biology for non-science majors, and biology for majors.

In addition to her term last year as HAPS president, Ott was also named an honorary member of the National Association of Biology Teachers, the groups highest honor.

Meetings and workshops will be in the newly renovated Anatomy & Physiology labs in the Pirtle Technology building on the TJC main campus. Exhibitors will be on hand from textbook, teaching and technology companies, along with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Workshops will range from content updates to innovations in teaching techniques and technology. At the end of the day, participants will be given a tour of the state-of-the-art simulation labs in TJCs Rogers Nursing & Health Sciences Center.

For more on TJC science programs, go to http://www.tjc.edu/science .

-Melissa McTee

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TJC to host Human Anatomy & Physiology Society regional conference - Tyler Morning Telegraph

Human Behavior

Uber Shows How Not to Apply Behavioral Economics – Harvard Business Review

Executive Summary

ANew York Timesarticleon how Uber is using insights from behavioral economics to push, or nudge, its drivers to pick up more fares sometimes with little benefit to them has generated quite a bit of criticism of Uber. It raises a question that executives often ask about how their own organizations might apply behavioral economics: Isnt there a danger it will be used with ill intent? Behavioral economics takes the view that people have fallible judgment and malleable preferences and behaviors, can make mistakes calculating risks, can be impulsive or myopic, and are driven by social desires.Organizations that embrace behavioral economics design processes to use these tendencies to nudge people to do something. The determining factor between when nudges should be deemed good and when they should be deemed bad is: Are they being used to benefit both parties involved in the interaction or do they create benefits for one side and costs for the other?

A recent New York Times article on how Uber is using various insights from behavioral economics to push, or nudge, its drivers to pick up more fares sometimes with little benefit to them has generated quite a bit of criticism of Uber. Its just one of several stories of late that have cast the company in a poor light.

When I read the piece, it reminded me of a question executives often ask me when I talk to them about the benefits of behavioral economics or give them examples of how they could use it in their own organizations: Arent you afraid itwill be used with ill intent?

I always respond that, like many tools, it can be used in good and bad ways. Before I delve into the differences between the two, I should first make sure you are familiar with the somewhat new field of behavioral economics.

According to the traditional view in economics, we are rational agents, well informed with stable preferences, self-controlled, self-interested, and optimizing. The behavioral perspective takes issue with this view and suggests that we are characterized by fallible judgment and malleable preferences and behaviors, can make mistakes calculating risks, can be impulsive or myopic, and are driven by social desires (e.g., looking good in the eyes of others). In other words, we are simply human.

Behavioral economics starts with this latter assumption. It is a discipline that combines insights from the fields of psychology, economics, judgment, and decision making, and neuroscience to understand, predict, and ultimately change human behavior in ways that are more powerful than any one of those fields could provide on its own. Over the last few years, organizations in both the private and public sectors have applied some of the insights from behavioral economics to address a wide range of problems from reducing cheating on taxes, work stress, and turnover to encouraging healthy habits, increasing savings for retirement as well as turning up to vote (as I wrote previously).

Uber has been using similar insights to influence drivers behavior. As Noam Scheiber writes in the Times article, Employing hundreds of social scientists and data scientists, Uber has experimented with video game techniques, graphics and noncash rewards of little value that can prod drivers into working longer and harder and sometimes at hours and locations that are less lucrative for them.

One such approach, according to Scheiber, compels drivers toward collecting more fares based on the insight from behavioral sciences that people are highly influenced by goals. According to the article, Uber alerts drivers that they are very close to hitting a precious target when they try to log off. And it also sends drivers their next fare opportunity before their current ride is over.

Now lets return to the question of when are nudges good and when are they bad. In discussing this topic with executives, I first provide a couple of examples. One of my favorites is the use of checklists in surgery to reduce patient complications. Checklists describe several standard critical processes of care that many operating rooms typically implement from memory. In a paper published in 2009, Alex Haynes and colleagues examined the use and effectiveness of checklists in eight hospitals in eight cities in the Unites States. They found the rate of death for patients undergoing surgery fell from 1.6% to 0.8% following the introduction of checklists. Inpatient complications also fell from 11% to 7%.

In a related paper published in 2013, Alexander Arriaga and colleagues had 17 operating-room teams participate in 106 simulated surgical-crisis scenarios. Each team was randomly assigned to work with or without a checklist and instructed to implement the critical processes of care.

The results were striking: Checklists reduced missed steps in the processes of care from 23% to 6%. Every team performed better when checklists were available. Remarkably, 97% of those who participated in the study reported that if one of these crises occurred while they were undergoing an operation, they would want the checklist used.

Another example I often give concerns the use of fuel- and carbon-efficient flight practices in the airline industry. In a recent paper, using data from more than 40,000 unique flights, John List and colleagues found significant savings in carbon emissions and monetary costs when airline captains received tailored monthly information on fuel efficiency, along with targets and individualized feedback. In the field study, captains were randomly assigned to one of four groups, including one business as usual control group and three intervention groups, and were provided with monthly letters from February 2014 through September 2014. The letters included one or more of the following: personalized feedback on the previous months fuel-efficiency practices; targets and feedback on fuel efficiency in the upcoming month; and a 10 donation to a charity of the captains choosing for each of three behavior targets met.

The result? All four groups increased their implementation of fuel-efficient behaviors. Thus, informing captains of their involvement in a study significantly changed their actions. (Its a well-documented social-science finding called the Hawthorne effect.) Tailored information with targets and feedback was the most cost-effective intervention, improving fueling precision, in-flight efficiency measures, and efficient taxiing practices by 9% to 20%. The intervention, it appears, encourages a new habit, as fuel efficiency measures remained in use after the study ended. The implication? An estimated cost savings of $5.37 million in fuel costs for the airline and reduced emissions of more than 21,500 metric tons of CO2 over the eight-month period of the study.

Both in the case of surgeons using checklists or captains receiving feedback about fuel efficiency, one of the main goals of the intervention was to motivate the participants to act in a certain way. So, in a sense, the researchers were trying to encourage a change in behavior the same way managers at Uber were trying to bring about a change in their drivers behavior.

But there is an important difference across these three examples. Are the nudges used to benefit both parties involved in the interaction or do they create benefits for one side and costs for the other? If the former, then (as Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein argue in their influential book Nudge) we are nudging for good. Thaler and Sunstein identify three guiding principles that should be on top of mind when designing nudges: Nudges should be transparent and never misleading, easily opted out of, and driven by the strong belief that the behavior being encouraged will improve the welfare of those being nudged.

Thats where the line between encouraging certain behaviors and manipulating people lies. And thats also where I see little difference between applying behavioral economics or any other strategies or frameworks for leadership, talent management, and negotiations that I teach in my classes. We always have the opportunity to use them for either good or bad.

If the interests of a company and its employees differ, the organization can exploit its own members as Uber appears to have done. But there are plenty of situations where the interests are, in fact, aligned the company certainly benefits from higher levels of performance and motivation, but the workers do, too, because they feel more satisfied with their work.

And that is where I see great potential in applying behavioral economics in organizations: to create real win-wins.

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Uber Shows How Not to Apply Behavioral Economics - Harvard Business Review

Genetics

NewLink Genetics to Host Its First Quarter 2017 Financial Results Conference Call on May 4, 2017 – Yahoo Finance

AMES, Iowa, April 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NewLink Genetics Corporation (NLNK), today announced that it will release its first quarter 2017 financial results on Thursday, May 4, 2017. The company has scheduled a conference call for 8:30 AM ET the same day to discuss the results and to give an update on its clinical and development activities.

NewLink Genetics' senior management team will host the conference call, which will be open to all listeners. There will also be a question and answer session following the prepared remarks.

Access to the live conference call is available by dialing (855) 469-0612 (U.S.) or (484) 756-4268 (international) five minutes prior to the start of the call. The conference call will be webcast live and a link can be accessed through theNewLink Geneticswebsite at http://edge.media-server.com/m/p/qa52gxjk. A replay of the call will be available for two weeks from the date of the call and can be accessed by dialing (855) 859-2056 (U.S.) or (404) 537-3406 (international) and using the passcode 7503837.

About NewLink Genetics Corporation

NewLink Genetics is a biopharmaceutical company at the forefront of discovering, developing and commercializing novel immuno-oncology product candidates to improve the lives of patients with cancer. NewLink Genetics product candidates are designed to harness multiple components of the immune system to combat cancer. For more information, please visit http://www.newlinkgenetics.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements ofNewLink Geneticsthat involve substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, contained in this press release are forward-looking statements, within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "target," "potential," "will," "could," "should," "seek" or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. These forward-looking statements include any statements other than statements of historical fact. Actual results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions and expectations disclosed in the forward-looking statements thatNewLink Geneticsmakes due to a number of important factors, including those risks discussed in "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in NewLink Genetics' Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year endedDecember 31, 2016and other reports filed with theU.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The forward-looking statements in this press release represent NewLink' Genetics' views as of the date of this press release.NewLink Geneticsanticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause its views to change. However, while it may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, it specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. You should, therefore, not rely on these forward-looking statements as representing NewLink Genetics' views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.

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NewLink Genetics to Host Its First Quarter 2017 Financial Results Conference Call on May 4, 2017 - Yahoo Finance

Genetics

‘Human knockouts’: Genetics in families reveals basic biology and … – News-Medical.net

April 12, 2017 at 8:24 PM

More than 1,800 individuals carrying loss-of-function mutations in both copies of their genes, so-called "human knockouts," are described in the first major study to be published in Nature this week by an international collaboration led by the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and colleagues. The program, which has so far sequenced the protein-coding regions of over 10,500 adults living in Pakistan, is illuminating the basic biology and possible therapeutics for several different disorders.

The team has identified more than 1,300 genes completely knocked out in at least one individual. They first turned their attention for deeper analysis to genes involved in cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. One gene in particular, APOC3, which regulates the metabolism of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins in the blood, was missing in several dozen individuals in a small fishing village on the coast of Pakistan where first-cousin marriages are culturally prevalent. These APOC3-knockout individuals had very low triglyceride levels. The researchers challenged their system with a high-fat meal. Compared with family members who were not APOC3 knockouts, the APOC3 knockout family members did not have the usual post-meal rise in plasma triglycerides.

"These are the world's first APOC3 human knockouts that have been identified," said co-first author and the principal investigator of the study, Danish Saleheen, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Penn. "Their genetic makeup has provided unique insights about the biology of APOC3, which may further help in validating APOC3 inhibition as a therapeutic target for cardiometabolic diseases - the leading cause of death globally.

In addition to Penn, the team includes scientists from the Center for Non-Communicable Diseases (CNCD) in Karachi, Pakistan, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and the University of Cambridge, UK.

Saleheen has been working for over a decade in Pakistan, in collaboration with the CNCD to collect blood samples from all over his country. This Pakistan-based study already includes more than 70,000 participants and the recruitment is rapidly being expanded to include 200,000 people. "We are continuing protein-coding region sequencing studies in the Pakistani population. If we are able to sequence 200,000 participants, we will be able to identify human knockouts for more than 8,000 unique genes." Saleheen said. "These observations provide us with a roadmap, a systematic way to understand the physiological consequences of complete disruption of genes in humans," Saleheen said.

"The Human Genome Project gave us a 'parts' list of 18,000 genes. We are now trying to understand gene function by studying people who naturally lack a 'part,'" said co-senior author Sekar Kathiresan, Director of the Center for Genomic Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. "We think that over the next ten to twenty years, with a concerted, systematic effort, it's possible to find humans who naturally lack any one of several thousand genes in the genome and understand what the phenotypic consequences are."

"The project highlights the value of looking at diverse populations, particularly for genetic analyses--you'll find variants in one ethnicity and not another," said co-first author Pradeep Natarajan, an associate scientist at Broad Institute and a postdoctoral research fellow in Kathiresan's lab.

Co-senior author Daniel J. Rader, MD, chair of Genetics at Penn, hopes that future dives into this rich dataset will bring even more novel insights into human biology and point toward new therapeutic targets for treating and preventing disease. "Linking DNA sequencing with deep phenotyping at scale in this population will be an incredible source of new knowledge about how gene alterations influence human health and disease," Rader said. In addition to a continued focus on the biology of heart attacks, type 2 diabetes, and stroke, the team will also be looking for clues for early-onset Parkinson's disease, autism, congenital blindness, and mental retardation, among many other conditions.

Penn scientists are now collaborating with CNCD researchers to conduct deep phenotyping studies in all human knockouts the project identifies. These studies will include detailed physiological and mechanistic studies to understand the biological and pharmacological consequences of both partial and complete disruption of genes in humans.

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'Human knockouts': Genetics in families reveals basic biology and ... - News-Medical.net