All posts by medical

Embryology

Lab-grown humans soon – Times LIVE

Cambridge University researchers mixed two kinds of mouse stem cell and placed them on a 3D scaffold. After four days of growth in a tank of chemicals designed to mimic conditions in the womb, the cells formed the structure of a living mouse embryo.

The breakthrough has been described as a "masterpiece" in bioengineering that might eventually allow scientists to grow human embryos without sperm or an egg.

Growing embryos would help researchers study the early stages of human life so they could understand why some pregnancies fail but the research is likely to raise questions about what constitutes human life.

Currently scientists can carry out experiments on embryos left over from IVF treatments but they are in short supply and must be destroyed after 14 days.

Scientists say that being able to create unlimited numbers of embryos in the lab could speed up research and perhaps overcome some of the ethical boundaries.

"We think that it will be possible to mimic a lot of the embryological development events occurring before 14 days using human stem cells," said the university's Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, who led the research.

"We are very optimistic that this will allow us to study key events of this critical stage of human development without having to work on [IVF] embryos. Knowing how development normally occurs will allow us to understand why it so often goes wrong."

The embryos were created using genetically engineered stem cells coupled with extra-embryonic trophoblast stem cells, which form the placenta in a normal pregnancy.

Previous attempts to grow embryos using only one kind of stem cell proved unsuccessful because the cells would not assemble into their correct positions. But scientists discovered that when they added the second "placental" stem cells the two types of cell began to "talk to each other", telling each other where to assemble.

Together they eventually melded to form an embryonic structure, with two distinct clusters of cells at each end and a cavity in the middle in which the embryo would continue to develop. The embryo would not grow into a mouse because it lacked the stem cells that would make a yolk sack.

However, such work raises ethical questions about the "sanctity" of human life and whether it should be manipulated or created in the lab. Critics warn that allowing embryos to be grown for science opens the door to designer babies and genetically modified humans.

David King, director of the watchdog group Human Genetics Alert, said: "What concerns me about the possibility of artificial embryos is that this might become a route to creating genetically modified or even cloned babies.

"Until there is an enforceable global ban on those possibilities, as we saw with mitochondrial transfer, this kind of research risks doing the groundwork for entrepreneurs, who will use the technologies in countries with no regulation."

UK scientists will need to get permission from the Human Fertility and Embryology Authority before attempting to create human embryos using the technique, and experts have called for international dialogue before research can be allowed to progress.

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Lab-grown humans soon - Times LIVE

Anatomy

Anatomy Of A Takedown: William F. Buckley Jr. Vs. George Wallace – WBUR

wbur Commentary National Urban League President Vernon Jordan Jr., left, and William F. Buckley Jr., host and inquisitor of the public television show Firing Line, find something to laugh about at the 15th birthday celebration of the show in New York, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 1981. Jordan was one of 48 guests on the show who had come to celebrate with Buckley. (Kaye/AP)

Now that congressional Democrats have settled on legislative total war on Trump, some progressives are worried the artillery is wreaking collateral damage on the presidents working-class base. [D]emocrats often sound patronizing when speaking of Trump voters, demonizing them along with their disdain-deserving leader, lamentsNew York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof.

For an example of what concerns him, check out the comments thread to a recent Cognoscenti column urging empathy for the president and his backers. A progressive backlash against preaching empathy for Trump is unsurprising; the anger in some comments against the uneducated people and forgotten men supporting him is something else. In a polarized era of neighbors, family members and protesters screaming at each other over Trumpism, another writer asserts, There is little doubt about our need to find language that illuminates the dark abyss separating those who approve of our new presidents words and executive orders and Cabinet appointments from those appalled by them.

...you might askwhich words should be weaponized to resist an anti-immigrant, anti-environment, anti-safety netchief executive, andshould they be fired at his supporters as well?

If youre in the latter camp, as I am, you might askwhichwords should be weaponized to resist an anti-immigrant, anti-environment, anti-safety netchief executive, andshould they be fired at his supporters as well? To answer this, I found an instructive model from a half-century ago, when another populist double-talker was confronted by a famous wordsmith.

In January 1968, William F. Buckley Jr. featured segregationist Alabama Gov. George Wallace on Buckleys "Firing Line" interview show. You couldnt have paired an odder couple: Buckley, the Yale-educated, sesquipedalian guru of modern conservatism, and Wallace, the farmers son whod futiley blocked the schoolhouse door five years earlier against black students at his states university. The mens' dust-up, broadcast as Wallace readied a third-party presidential bid, today plays like a toned-down foretaste of the long-runningpublic television program "The McLaughlin Group," with repeated interruptions and efforts to out-snark one another. (Said asmiling Buckley:Youre telling me stuff that I knew when I was 3 years old, governor.)

The program, archived byStanford Universitys Hoover Institution, corroborates the observationthat Wallace was Trump before Trump becameTrump, down to the surly, just-bit-into-a-lemon grimaces at what he calls the pseudo-intellectual Buckley. The latter, coolly, sometimes self-deprecatingly, but relentlessly swatting Wallaces denials of racism, was, admittedly, a problematic defender of racial equality. In 1957, hed suggested that the white South was entitled to thwart African-American aspirations ...because for the time being, it is the advanced race. Like Wallace, Buckleyopposed the 1960s civil rights legislation, a stance hed recant years later.

Destiny, if not Buckley, intended for the Wallaceinterview to beredemptive (the hosts stated goal was to expose Wallace as a non-conservative, not rehash his renowned racial views).

Ive never said that you should have segregation of the school system or any other, Wallace said.

What steps did you take to encourage the enfranchisement of the Negro back before the [federal] government got on your back?" Buckley countered. " Its a clear part of the historical recordthat the South not only didnt encourage its Negroes to vote, but encouraged them not to vote.

In another exchange, when Wallace defended his home region as more law-abiding than the North, Buckley parried that southern law enforcement techniques were, to say the least, unusualthe Ku Klux Klan, for instance...

What does this decades-old brawl teach us about handling Trump? The lesson for liberals seething at the president is that there are more ways to skin a strongman than just venting rage. As necessary as the outrage-fueled mass protests against Trump are, Buckley shows how calm reason andhumor can also dismantle a foe. Anger can go too far; smart liberals know that actions such as blocking Education Secretary Betsy DeVos from visiting a school only sink toTrumps puerile incivility and risk turning off some people who might be open to theirviewpoint.

For their part, Trump voters must understand that theydont get a pass just because theyre genuinely pissed. Wallaces voters sincerely feared their ebbing white privilege; Buckley still called out collective Dixie racism. Today, its fair game to note the data showing that too many Trump supporters are indeed bigots, their Wallace-like disclaimers notwithstanding.

Of course, they're not all bigots.Kristof reminds us that some Trump folks voted for Barack Obama. But their support is even more confounding.If Trump is a con man peddling preposterous promises (Mexico will pay for that wall; Obamacare can be replaced with equal but cheaper coverage; climate change is a dismissible hoax), how gullible can his voters be?

...it's fair gameto hold a reality-reflecting mirror to Trump's supporters when their views are abhorrent or just plain ignorant, as Buckley did with segregationists.

Democratic discourse depends on a common frame of reality among citizens of differing views. I spoke to one pro-Trump friend during the campaign, trying to understand her politics, only to find they relied on half-truths and misinformation.Buckley was right: The voters blow it sometimes, as he said in the Wallace interview.

Should the opposition emulate Trumps rudeness?No.But it's fair gameto hold a reality-reflecting mirror to Trump's supporters when their views are abhorrent or just plain ignorant, as Buckley did with segregationists.

Wallace found the KKK remark insulting to his people. It certainly was. But below-the-belt? I doubt African-Americans living under Jim Crow would have thought so.

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Rich Barlow Cognoscenti contributor Rich Barlow writes for BU Today, Boston University's news website.

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Anatomy Of A Takedown: William F. Buckley Jr. Vs. George Wallace - WBUR

Embryology

For the First Time, Researchers Can Genetically Modify Human Embryos – Futurism

The UK has given researchers at the Francis Crick Institute permission to edit the genes of early-stage human embryos. This is huge news, not only in genetics and biology fields, but for science as a whole. No other researcher has ever been granted permission to perform gene editing on viable human embryos before.

The usual fears of designer babies and slippery slopes popped up, but as most of the general news sources reported, those fears are relatively unwarranted for this research. In fact, this project, with is led by Dr. Kathy Niakan, could arguably be closer to the existential hope side of the spectrum.

Niakans objective is to try to understand the first seven days of embryo development, and shell do so by using CRISPR to systematically sweep through genes in embryos that were donated from in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures. While research in mice and other animals has given researchers an idea of the roles different genes play at those early stages of development, there many genes that are uniquely human and cant be studied in other animals. Many causes of infertility and miscarriages are thought to occur in some of those genes during those very early stages of development, but we can only determine that through this kind of research.

Niakan explained to the BBC, We would really like to understand the genes needed for a human embryo to develop successfully into a healthy baby. The reason why it is so important is because miscarriages and infertility are extremely common, but theyre not very well understood.

It may be hard to see how preventing miscarriages could be bad, but this is a controversial research technique under normal circumstances, and Niakans request for approval came on the heels of human embryo research that did upset the world.

Last year, outrage swept through the scientific community after scientists in China chose to skip proper approval processes to perform gene-editing research on nonviable human embryos. Many prominent scientists in the field, including FLIs Scientific Advisory Board Member George Church, responded by calling for a temporary moratorium on using the CRISPR/Cas-9 gene-editing tool in human embryos that would be carried to term.

An important distinction to make here is that Dr. Niakan went through all of the proper approval channels to start her research. Though the UKs approval process isnt quite as stringent as that in the US which prohibits all research on viable embryos the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, which is the approving body, is still quite strict, insisting, among other things, that the embryos be destroyed after 14 days to ensure they cant ever be taken to term. The team will also only use embryos that were donated with full consent by the IVF patients

Max Schubert, a doctoral candidate of Dr. George Churchs lab at Harvard, explained that one of the reasons for the temporary moratorium was to give researchers time to study the effects of CRISPR first to understand how effective and safe it truly is. I think [Niakans research] represents the kind of work that you need to do to understand the risks that those scientists are concerned about, said Schubert.

John Min, also a PhD candidate in Dr. Churchs lab, pointed out that the knowledge we could gain from this research will very likely lead to medications and drugs that can be used to help prevent miscarriages, and that the final treatment could very possibly not involve any type of gene editing at all. This would eliminate, or at least limit, concerns about genetically modified humans.

Said Min, This is a case that illustrates really well the potential of CRISPR technology CRISPR will give us the answers to [Niakans] questions much more cheaply and much faster than any other existing technology.

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For the First Time, Researchers Can Genetically Modify Human Embryos - Futurism

Biochemistry

Biochemical ‘fossil’ shows how life may have emerged without … – Science Daily

One major mystery about life's origin is how phosphate became an essential building block of genetic and metabolic machinery in cells, given its poor accessibility on early Earth. In a study published on March 9 in the journal Cell, researchers used systems biology approaches to tackle this long-standing conundrum, providing compelling, data-driven evidence that primitive life forms may not have relied on phosphate at all. Instead, a few simple, abundant molecules could have supported the emergence of a sulfur-based, phosphate-free metabolism, which expanded to form a rich network of biochemical reactions capable of supporting the synthesis of a broad category of key biomolecules.

"The significance of this work is that future efforts to understand life's origin should take into account the concrete possibility that phosphate-based processes, which are essential today, may not have been around when the first life-like processes started emerging," says senior study author Daniel Segr (@dsegre) of Boston University. "An early phosphate-independent metabolism capable of producing several key building blocks of living systems is in principle viable."

Phosphate is essential for all living systems and is present in a large proportion of known biomolecules. A sugar-phosphate backbone forms the structural framework of nucleic acids, including DNA and RNA. Moreover, phosphate is a critical component of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which transports chemical energy within cells, and a compound called NADH, which has several essential roles in metabolism. But it is unclear how phosphate could have assumed these central roles on primordial Earth, given its scarcity and poor accessibility.

In light of this puzzle, some have proposed that early metabolic pathways did not rely on phosphate. In many of these scenarios, sulfur and iron found on mineral surfaces are thought to have fulfilled major catalytic and energetic functions prior to the appearance of phosphate. One notable origin-of-life scenario suggests that the role of ATP was originally assumed by sulfur-containing compounds called thioesters, which are widely involved in protein, carbohydrate, and lipid metabolism. Despite the availability of iron and sulfur on early Earth, concrete evidence supporting these scenarios has been lacking.

To test the feasibility of the "iron-sulfur world hypothesis" and the "thioester world scenario," Segr and his team used computational systems biology approaches originally developed for large-scale analyses of complex metabolic networks. The researchers used a large database to assemble the complete set of all known biochemical reactions. After exploring this so-called "biosphere-level metabolism," the researchers identified a set of eight phosphate-free compounds thought to have been available in prebiotic environments. They then used an algorithm that simulated the emergence of primitive metabolic networks by compiling all possible reactions that could have taken place in the presence of these eight compounds, which included formate, acetate, hydrogen sulfide, ammonium, carbon dioxide, water, bicarbonate, and nitrogen gas.

This analysis revealed that a few simple prebiotic compounds could support the emergence of a rich, phosphate-independent metabolic network. This core network, consisting of 315 reactions and 260 metabolites, was capable of supporting the biosynthesis of a broad category of key biomolecules such as amino acids and carboxylic acids. Notably, the network was enriched for enzymes containing iron-sulfur clusters, bolstering the idea that modern biochemistry emerged from mineral geochemistry. Moreover, thioesters rather than phosphate could have enabled this core metabolism to overcome energetic bottlenecks and expand under physiologically realistic conditions.

"Before our study, other researchers had proposed a sulfur-based early biochemistry, with hints that phosphate may not have been necessary until later," Segr says. "What was missing until now was data-driven evidence that these early processes, rather than scattered reactions, could have constituted a highly connected and relatively rich primitive metabolic network."

Although this non-experimental evidence does not definitively prove that life started without phosphate, it provides compelling support for the iron-sulfur world hypothesis and the thioester world scenario. At the same time, the study calls into question the "RNA world hypothesis," which proposes that self-replicating RNA molecules were the precursors to all current life on Earth. Instead, the results support the "metabolism-first hypothesis," which posits that a self-sustaining phosphate-free metabolic network predated the emergence of nucleic acids. In other words, nucleic acids could have been an outcome of early evolutionary processes rather than a prerequisite for them.

"Evidence that an early metabolism could have functioned without phosphate indicates that phosphate may have not been an essential ingredient for the onset of cellular life," says first author Joshua Goldford of Boston University. "This proto-metabolic system would have required an energy source and may have emerged either on the Earth's surface, with solar energy as the main driving force, or in the depth of the oceans near hydrothermal vents, where geochemical gradients could have driven the first life-like processes."

In future studies, the researchers will continue to apply systems biology approaches to study the origin of life. "My hope is that these findings will motivate further studies of the landscape of possible historical paths of metabolism, as well as specific experiments for testing the feasibility of a phosphate-free sulfur-based core biochemistry," Segr says. "The idea of analyzing metabolism as an ecosystem-level or even planetary phenomenon, rather than an organism-specific one, may also have implications for our understanding of microbial communities. Furthermore, it will be interesting to revisit the question of how inheritance and evolution could have worked prior to the appearance of biopolymers."

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Biochemical 'fossil' shows how life may have emerged without ... - Science Daily

Anatomy

The anatomy of heartbreak – The Kathmandu Post

What I felt for her was profound and real. I felt every bit of it as much as the hunger that stings my stomach and as much as the anger that blinds me. Yes, it was that real and strong. I know how genuine it was

Mar 5, 2017- The intensity of your love defines the intensity of your heartbreak. The deeper your love, the more unfathomable is your heartbreak. The shallower your love, the more fleeting your heartbreak is.

Perhaps, my love was far too deep. If not, why would I take forever to recover from our abrupt end? Why would I take forever to move on? Why would I take this long to be the person I knew I was supposed to be in the real world? How would I even know my love was deep when, in fact, I wasnt even there? All there was is the love itself. I was the love. Yes, I was love itself.

A heart breaks when your grand expectation from someone seems impossible to be met. A heart breaks when the utopian universe inside your head starts collapsing before it even sees the light of the day. A heart breaks when you surrender your soul to someone who is utterly soulless. A heart breaks when your heart starts beating more for someone else, and less for yourself. A heart breaks when you start thinking and feeling more for someone else, and less for yourself.

A heart breaks when you handcuff yourself to your love, kneel down before your beloved and surrender yourself completely only to become disregarded. A heart breaks when your own existence escapes your memory. A heart breaks not because it is fragile, but because you have been clumsy with it. I have been clumsy, very clumsy.

For the first time in my life, I had developed genuine feelings for somebody. For the first time in my life, I was experiencing the joy of being and sharing my life with someone. For the first time in my life, I felt like if there was someone at all for me out there, it had to be her and nobody else.

What I felt for her was profound and real. I felt every bit of it as much as the hunger that stings my stomach and as much as the anger that blinds me. Yes, it was that real and strong. I know how genuine it was. Only I know how real those tears really were and how sweet that smile really was.

But, maybe she could never see the authenticity in my love. Perhaps, she also thought of me as someone fake.

It kills you when your unconditional love is unappreciated. It maddens you when your utmost care goes unacknowledged. It suffocates you when your admiration is mocked. It hurts you when you become a clown in the most beautiful pair of eyes you have ever seen.

And its all real, every bit of pain. It is as real as the air you are breathing now.

Every winter, as I soak in the snow standing in the middle of a street, hands spread wide open, head bent backward and my two little teary eyes looking into the sky, I think of her. I let her memory envelop me. Every single snow flake reminds me of her.

Even when I try to shake off the snow, there never is enough energy in my body. It just seems to escape me. As I get home, fully covered in snow, I cant help but collapse on my bed. The snow leaves my clothes to melt on the sheets, soaking it in all its glory. I feel like I am laying on a pond, perhaps drowning in one. It is then that I start bawling like a baby. Why should the snow melt into water? Why should anything leave its state of being to become something else? Why did love leave me so soon?

She loved snow. She loved watching snowfall from her balcony. She loved the sound of silence as the entire city quietly snuggled under a blanket of snow. She knew that it was a myth that no two snowflakes are exactly the same. She pretended that she knew all the hundred names that Eskimos had for snow.

She loved snow, just like I did. She knew of snow, as much as I did. It was the snow that brought us together. Our mutual fondness for it invoked conversations and sparked an untold chemistry between us. It was because of the snow that we started opening up to each other, little by little.

Yes, it is strange, but arent all the beautiful things?

When you heart breaks, your ego bruises too. What if my ego is steering my heart, telling it how to feel? What if it is not the heart, but the ego? What if it is not love, but my pride that has been torn apart?

If I tackle this mindfully, love shouldnt be so hard. Maybe there is no such this as a heart break. Hearts never break. Hearts dont hurt. Hearts function perfectly until they stop functioning altogether. Perhaps, when we talk of heartbreak we are talking of our imagination not taking shape. May be when we talk about heartbreak, we are talking of our subtle agendas regarding somebody not being met. Perhaps we are talking about the sudden collapse of our countless expectations and our incapability of loving ourselves in the first place.

Heartbreak has nothing to do with the heart or with love. Maybe even when we cant control how we love, we can decide how we feel about heartbreak. Love is inevitable, heart break is optional. So what should I do now, who should I blame?

It looks like with my heart still intact, heartbreak is just a notion I inventedan emotional play maybe? Is this heartbreak just another excuse to escape from the now, from the reality? Is it my way of justifying why I have failed to love myself in the first place? Is it my way of feeding my ego-telling myself nobody will ever love her like I did?

I have been thinking how she doesnt deserve my love; is this tool of superiority complex? Am I trying to prove something here? Am I demanding more than I should here? Should I demand or prove something at all? Do I really need to claim that I love someone; do I really need to seek for credit? Cant I just love-without any anticipation or greed? The answer escapes me.

Once upon a time, on a beautiful evening I remember saying to her: You are the wind that blows my mind and the silence that soothes my heart. You are the beauty that blinds my eyes and the beast that scares my soul. You are the root that grows underground and the branch that grows towards the sky. You are the question I ask and the answer I find. You are the chaos to my thoughts and the order of my heartbeats. You are the yin and you are the yang. You are the contradiction that confuses me, and the ultimate truth that relieves me. That is why you are so beautiful, so intriguing.

What happened to that statement and all those words? Did I even mean every single thing? Could they have been as meaningless and as empty as I feel right now? Perhaps, she understood it long before I did.

Come to think of it, she loved herself more than anyone else. She was so much in love with herself that my so-called unconditional love didnt amount to anything. She knew how to live every single moment of her life and on her own to the fullest. She was a free soul who didnt entertain any kind of entanglement. She was a rebel who questioned everything and enjoyed basking in the glory of lifes mysteries. She was someone who dared to be nave and perhaps just herself. She was someone who could maintain her curiosity passionately.

Thats the reason why her eyes always twinkled. She was utterly blissful in her own being. She was a peaceful soul.

Thats the reason why everyone around her experienced peace. She was always joyful and that is why being around her was so intoxicating.

She was a dream that you wanted to hold on to. Thats why I loved her, and thats why I lost her.

I remember how she always pushed me to love myself first, when all I wanted to do was love her. Maybe she waited for me to love myself while I thought I could only do so if she loved me back.

The power of your ego defines the intensity of your heartbreak. The deeper your ego, the more unfathomable is your heartbreak. The shallower your ego, the more fleeting your heartbreak is. Look! Its snowing again.

Published: 05-03-2017 09:09

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The anatomy of heartbreak - The Kathmandu Post

Anatomy

Anatomy of a difficult marriage – The New Indian Express

Historical lovers, courtesy researchers and biographers, cant act coy in death. Claretta: Mussolinis Last Lover by RJB Bosworth details the grand passion between Italys prime minister Benito Mussolini and Claretta Petacci, all the way down to that unforgettable portrait of their butchered bodies hung upside down in Piazzale Loreto. Sheela Reddys Mr and Mrs Jinnah: The Marriage That Shook India chronicles a liaison closer home, but no less doomed.

If Mussolini was 49 to Clarettas 20, Mohammad Ali Jinnah was 40 to Ruttie Petits 16. Ruttie, a social butterfly in her gauze saris and backless blouses, romances a reticent and charismatic politician whom no one, not even her, called by his first name. He was her J.

Despite their elopement and Muslim-Parsi tag, the Jinnahs too had to contend with domestic ennui. The man from Karachi and the girl from Bombay fall for each other in haste but they repent in exquisite leisure.

While Motilal Nehru escapes having a son-in-law from another caste, Sir Dinshaw Petit was tricked into revealing his doublespeak when Jinnah asked him his opinion on inter-caste marriage and, after ascertaining his support for it, requested his daughters hand and the father refused.

It was Ruttie who chased after Jinnah and nothing stopped them from being one of the historys tempestuous couples. Prominent figures are part-narrators, like Sarojini Naidu, whose letters, maternal advice and perceptive insight into the matrimonial disaster between two such dissimilar people via letters to daughters Padmaja and Leilamani are a testimony to the timeline.

Ruttie sashays off the pages with great panache. Jinnah hardly blinked when his first wife, Emi Bai, died but Rutties death changes the tone of his silence. He had shaved off his moustache to marry hera precondition she laid downand been a most indulgent husband, letting her shop infinitely, getting out of his car to buy her roadside chaat, handing only child over to nannies so Ruttie could gallivant around. But couldnt give her what she wanted most, his time.

He was grooming himself for destiny, she was dressing up for him. It was her sparkling mischief against his staidness, her pout against his stiff upper lip. Naturally, they suffered. The same woman who told the court: Mr Jinnah has not abducted me... I abducted him, when her father sued him for kidnap, much later, when not a star was left in her eyes, told Sarojini he could never satisfy her mind and soul.

Sarojini documented Rutties changing persona in a letter to her daughter: There is something hard and cold about it all paint, powder, bare back...

Bedridden with discontent, Rutties body seemed unable to rise to the ordeal of breaking free even after she mentally fled the marriage. She kept her only daughter nameless through sheer lack of interest.

Since the book bats for Ruttieit is all about her desire, her disappointments and her deaththe reader awaits a husbandly version. One cant help wonder what Jinnahs matrimonial take might have been. It is not the first time a childish, high-strung flibbertigibbet wife drove mad a man inherently disinterested in coochie-coo.

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Anatomy of a difficult marriage - The New Indian Express

Human Behavior

Philadelphia launches GovLabPHL to improve agency performance with behavioral science – StateScoop (registration)

By suggesting low-cost adjustments to existing programs, the new team is showing how a better understanding of human behavior can improve performance across government.

People do strange things.

To help explain why, in February, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney's Policy Office launched GovLabPHL, a multi-agency team for developing "innovative and evidence-based practice" in city government.

The team aims to increase participation in government services and remove barriers to access by studying the minds and actions of its citizens. Born initially out of a Living Cities grant awarded to the city in September 2014, GovLabPHL codifies and expands the creation of a team that puts human behavior first. Now with workshops, a 10-month speaker seriesand six projects underway covering topicsfrom bike share to littering the team is gaining interest from agencies across the city thatwant the low-cost human-centric treatment.

Prior to the formal launch of the team, GovLabPHL proved its efficacy by targeting the Department of Revenue's senior citizen water bill discount program. There were some who were eligible but no matter what the city did, it couldn't get those residentsto apply. The team did research and put out surveys to discover that people thought the paperwork was too confusing. So the city began sending out paperwork with pre-populated fields. It tried different sized envelopes to see which people responded to most. Ittried hand-writing addresses on the envelopes instead of printing them. The team found what worked and that became the new way of doing things.

Agencies are interested because the team is finding low-cost tweaks to improve theirmissions without turning anyone's office upside down, explained Anjali Chainani, director of policy at the mayor's office.

"We want to ensure we're getting our best return on investment, and what that means is that we have people on the ground from the front lines all the way through to the service delivery folks that are engaged in the process of how that program or how that service is actually being designed," Chainani said.

Six projects underway now include:

Chainani reported that about 20 other agencies have expressed interest in partnering with the team and its allies. GovLabPHL pairs behaviorists from five universities who are donating their time to help agencies achieve their program goals. The five partner universities are University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, Drexel University, Princeton University, and Swarthmore College.Dan Hopkins from University of Pennsylvania and Syon Bhanot from Swarthmore College are the program's lead academic partners.

The program can be broken into three components helping citizens and city employees to learn, piloting new programs and increasing engagement.

"We want to work with behavioral scientists and design experts in looking at the barriers we may unknowingly put up that may prevent residents from connecting with the city or engaging with a particular program," she said. "If there's a messaging campaign already invested in and going out, we layer that with design methods and we layer it with behavioral science to really look at what evidence has already told us about what motivates people's actions and how to keep people engaged."

Philadelphia follows similar programs launched in cities and federal agencies under the Obama administration. The Social and Behavioral Sciences Team (SBST), a subcommittee of the National Science and Technology Council, includes more than a dozen federal departments and agencies who completed more than 30 pilots. The United Kingdom runs a similar office called The Behavioral Insights Team. The Office of the City Administrator's Lab @ DC has embedded more than 30 researchers inside Washington, D.C., government.

"There are so many triggers in our environment that lead us to take a specific action that we don't really pay attention to and then there are equally enough things that we just ignore because there's mass information that comes to us," Chainani said. "We're looking to really be innovative in a government that's investing all this money in these programs, and is really able to reach a level that is comfortable for the citizens and where they feel comfortable approaching the city and applying for these programs."

Editor's Note: Minor edits were made to quotes for readability.

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Philadelphia launches GovLabPHL to improve agency performance with behavioral science - StateScoop (registration)

Genetics

High-quality, profitable beef made possible by genetic tests – Springfield News-Leader

David Burton, University of Missouri Extension 6:03 a.m. CT March 4, 2017

David Burton(Photo: Submitted photo)

Using genetic testing helps make quality beef production and farm profits more predictable, according to University of Missouri Extension livestock specialists.

The upcoming Beef Cattle ReproGeneworkshop is designed to help producers take steps in beef cattle reproduction and genetics that go beyond breeding advances taught in the Show-Me-Select Replacement Heifer Program.

Options will be explained in the three-hour session (including a live demonstration), and a meal will be served. The workshop takes place from 4-8:30 p.m.March 16 at the Springfield Livestock Marketing Center.

Registration is required by calling the Lawrence County Extension at 417-499-3102.

Missouri herd owners can learn to produce more profitable cattle with better genetics.

The protocols now used depend on proven genetics of the bulls. EPDs, expected progeny differences, guide improvement.

With genomic testing, all heifers in a herd can be DNA-tested. This provides accurate predictions of future calf performance.

On the reproduction side, Dave Patterson will tell of new research that offers better conception rates from artificial insemination (AI). Split-time AI gets more cows pregnant. Also coming is the use of sex-sorted semen, which makes it possible to set the sex before insemination.

DNA samples can come from blood drawn from a calfs ear or the root bulb from tail hair. Many producers use convenient tissue sampling units that take a punch from the ear.

New technology allows breeding higher-value animals, selecting traits that improve pregnancy rates and carry-through to final product at the packing plant.

A series of workshops dealing with the direct marketing of farm products is planned for the Missouri State University Fruit Experiment Station, 9740 Red Spring Road, Mountain Grove, beginning on March 17.

The workshops are designed to assist producers of agriculture products as they work to add direct marketing to their farm business plan.

Session 1: March 17, 1p.m.is titled, Getting Started Planning the Business and Developing a Marketing Strategy.

Session 2: April 19, 1p.m.is titled, Direct Marketing Animal Products Rules, Regulations & Practical Tips. Also, Personal Experiences with Direct Marketing Beef, Lamb, and Pork, will be presented that same day.

Session 3: June 8, 2017, 5p.m.is titled, Direct Marketing Produce.

There are three options for attending this series.Producers interested in marketing animal products can enroll in sessions 1 and 2 for a fee of $20.Those interested in marketing horticultural products can enroll in sessions 1 and 3 for $20.Anyone who would like to attend all three workshops may do so for $25.

To reserve a seat in the series, call Wright County MU Extension at 417-547-7545.

David Burton, civic communication specialist for University of Missouri Extension, 2400 S. Scenic Ave., Springfield, MO 65807, can be reached at 881-8909 or burtond@missouri.edu.

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High-quality, profitable beef made possible by genetic tests - Springfield News-Leader

Immunology

Immunology and Infectious Diseases Journal Club – Gazette

Immunology and Infectious Diseases Journal Club

Thursday, March 2, 12-1:30 p.m.

Computer Lab B, Health Sciences Centre

Development of rapid and high throughput human 293T cell and yeast-based systems for expression and purification of AID/APOBECs, presented by Faezeh Borzooee, M.Sc. candidate.

Presented by Division of BioMedical Sciences

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Immunology and Infectious Diseases Journal Club - Gazette

Genetics

KDA seeks participants for beef genetics trade mission – La Junta Tribune Democrat

The Kansas Department of Agriculture is seeking individuals to participate in a beef genetics trade mission to Costa Rica on April 23-27, 2017.

The Kansas Department of Agriculture is seeking individuals to participate in a beef genetics trade mission to Costa Rica on April 23-27, 2017. In an effort to increase market opportunities for U.S. and Kansas beef genetics, this program provides an opportunity for Kansas purebred beef cattle producers and allied industry to continue developing relationships with livestock producers in Costa Rica. KDA strives to encourage and enhance economic growth of the agriculture industry and the Kansas economy by exploring and expanding both domestic and international marketing opportunities.

The Kansas Department of Agriculture is seeking individuals to participate in a beef genetics trade mission to Costa Rica on April 23-27, 2017. In an effort to increase market opportunities for U.S. and Kansas beef genetics, this program provides an opportunity for Kansas purebred beef cattle producers and allied industry to continue developing relationships with livestock producers in Costa Rica. KDA strives to encourage and enhance economic growth of the agriculture industry and the Kansas economy by exploring and expanding both domestic and international marketing opportunities.

Attendees will participate in a field day showcasing calves sired by U.S. Red Angus and Charolais bulls crossed with local Costa Rican Brahman dams in an effort to demonstrate the advantages of heterosis in a tropical climate. Initial data from this project supports the use of U.S. genetics. Attendees will also visit a local research university implementing projects utilizing U.S. beef genetics. Additional opportunities to engage with potential buyers of beef semen and embryos and visit Costa Rican ranches will be arranged as part of the mission. Kansas ranchers and related agribusinesses specializing in producing germplasm qualified for export are invited to participate.

This trade mission is funded in part by the U.S. Livestock Genetics Export, Inc. Selected participants will be eligible for travel stipends for airfare depending upon number of applicants and fund availability. Participants will be responsible for the cost of hotels, meals and other incidental expenses.

Individuals interested in participating should complete the application form available on the KDA website at http://www.agriculture.ks.gov/international. The application deadline is Monday, March 6, 2017.

For more information, please contact KDA agribusiness development coordinator Billy Brown at billy.brown@ks.gov or 785-564-6752.

From the Land of Kansas and Farmers Market Event Registration Opens

The From the Land of Kansas Annual Meeting and Farmers Market Conference will be held March 16-17, 2017, in Manhattan. The conference includes the annual meeting for members, partners and farmers markets. It will feature general sessions, specialized workshops and a wholesale trade show for all attendees. This years theme, Focus on our Future, embraces how members from the trademark program and farmers market groups can learn to make their companies and programs more successful.

The From the Land of Kansas Annual Meeting and Farmers Market Conference will be held March 16-17, 2017, in Manhattan. The conference includes the annual meeting for members, partners and farmers markets. It will feature general sessions, specialized workshops and a wholesale trade show for all attendees. This years theme, Focus on our Future, embraces how members from the trademark program and farmers market groups can learn to make their companies and programs more successful.

The annual meeting is an opportunity to network with other Kansas entrepreneurs in the ag industry, said Jackie McClaskey, Kansas Secretary of Agriculture. In addition, sessions will cover a diversity of topics and presentations by experts in the industry for continued learning and growth.

The keynote speaker will be Jon Schallert, destination business expert, whose presentation will focus on reinventing businesses into consumer destinations. Participants in the conference and trade show also will be able to hear from other experts in the agriculture, marketing and food industries. Topics which will be featured in sessions and workshops include:

Small business marketing

Successfully coordinating, managing and sustaining a farmers market

Food industry updates

To register or learn more about the conference, visit FromtheLandofKansas.com/AMeeting. This event is sponsored by Network Kansas; Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism; Hy-Vee; Kansas Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Alternative Crops; Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce Economic Development; Kansas Association of Conservation Districts; Marion County Economic Development; Visit Manhattan; and Pottawatomie County Economic Development.

From the Land of Kansas is the states agriculture trademark program in the Kansas Department of Agriculture. The program works to promote and support Kansas farmers, ranchers and agribusinesses that grow, raise or manufacture agriculture products or products for agriculture use. KDA is committed to its mission to help make Kansas businesses more successful, grow rural communities and expand markets for Kansas agricultural products.

If you have questions, please contact Janelle Dobbins, From the Land of Kansas marketing manager, at 785-564-6759 or Janelle.Dobbins@ks.gov. To learn more about From the Land of Kansas, become a From the Land of Kansas member, or find local Kansas food, products or services, visit FromtheLandofKansas.com.

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KDA seeks participants for beef genetics trade mission - La Junta Tribune Democrat