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Neuroscience

Neuroplasticity as seen by neuroscience pioneer Santiago Ramn y Cajal 100 years ago – Huffington Post

The Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis hosts a wonderful temporary exhibit highlighting the medical illustrations of neuroplasticity pioneer Santiago Ramon y Cajal. Titled The Beautiful Brain: The Drawings of Santiago Ramn y Cajal, it will remain open until May 21st, 2017.

Who was Ramon y Cajal? Why does his research matter?

Well, let's start with the concept of neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity--or brain plasticity-- refers to the brain's ability to change throughout life, to rewire itself based on experience. The human brain has an amazing ability to reorganize itself by generating new neurons and by forming new connections between neurons.

It was believed for a long time that, as we got older, the brain became "fixed." Now we know that the brain never stops changing, and that neuroplasticity is the capacity of the brain to change with learning, and that's why there's so much interest and hope around ways to harness that neuroplasticity to lead better lives, to enhance our brains, to delay brain health decline.

And Ramon y Cajal was one of the first scientists to see this and to create the foundations of modern neuroscience.

Fortunately for us he wrote a fascinating memoir--titled "Recollections of My Life"--so we gain peak directly into his research and thinking.

Since he said, "Every man can, of he so desires, become the sculptor of his own brain," thereby emphasizing what we now call lifelong neuroplasticity, let's see what he had in mind by discussing some other things he had to say in his book--published exactly 100 years ago, in 1917:

My comment: Here he shows a strong and hopeful belief in neuroplasticity, even if he couldn't prove it then scientifically.

My comment: Want to encourage neuroplasticity? Go and live in a new city or country for a while.

My comment: Beautiful display of the scientific mindset.

My comment: What a display of wisdomwhat a display of a beautifully-sculpted brain.

And a final reflection to wrap-up this article: What will we think and do about neuroplasticity 100 years from now, in 2117?

-- Alvaro Fernandez is the co-author of The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness: How to Improve Brain Health and Performance at Any Age. SharpBrains.com is a popular blog tracking the latest on neuroplasticity, cognitive health and brain fitness, combined with fun brain teasers and games to help adults sharpen their minds.

Start your workday the right way with the news that matters most.

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Neuroplasticity as seen by neuroscience pioneer Santiago Ramn y Cajal 100 years ago - Huffington Post

Human Behavior

Baby steps to forgiveness – Ashland Daily Tidings

By Charles "Al" Huth

There are people who want to forgive and cant. Others lack the desire to forgive the object of their grievance. Within the deep and long-held grievance is overwhelming emotional pain that has significantly impacted ones life.

In effect, this grievance becomes ones personal antagonist. This negative energy creates an obstacle for one to focus on their full potential possibilities. The pain of a deeply held grievance can be extremely difficult to overcome; therefore, forgiveness may be the only solution. It is easy to turn the lights on just flip the switch. But one cannot flip a magic switch and all is forgiven. However, there is a process one can entertain to forgive oneself and others. It takes a period of time to learn and absorb these steps, but the benefits are many.

The baby steps towards forgiveness include an understanding of the development of human interactions. If you can see that the general developmental pattern of human behavior applies to you as well as to others, then the door to forgiveness opens a little wider.

As a practical matter, hanging onto your grievance may be more harmful to you then to the object of your grievance. The person related to your grievance may not even be aware of your stress in this regard.

A proponent of humanistic psychology, Abraham Maslow, believed that everyone was born inherently good. However, when the path to their full potential was frustrated or blocked, they can become angry, fearful and/or destructive.

It is well known that we cannot walk in someone elses shoes. If one is dealing with someone who is demonstrating harmful behavior, empathy may be required. This is not to say that one should accept physical abuse. In general, most of our human behavior patterns were formed in childhood. Often these patterns of behavior and unique perspectives remain operative in adulthood.

In addition, acceptable behavior patterns in children may not be acceptable as a course of action in adults. As an extreme example: If one was told how much they were loved while somebody was beating on them, one would tend to have a strong, adverse reaction to the word love. Without knowing this persons background information, this extreme reaction would make little sense to others. Sometimes empathy is required when dealing with others that we do not know well. Making assumptions about others is a risky business. The chances of making a correct assumption may be less than 50 percent.

Most of us have regrets about our own past behavior. We relive past events and contemplate over and over again about what we could have done better. There are those who are less forgiving of themselves than of their family, friends and/or acquaintances. I believe that everyone strives to do the best that they can at their level of awareness. As humans, we strive to do better.

With lessons learned, our level of awareness increases our understanding of self and others. When we hang on to our past indiscretions and do not acknowledge our limited awareness at that time, we tend not to be forgiving of ourselves. Ultimately, this can be a heavy, unnecessary burden for us to carry around.

The act of forgiveness does not include condoning the actions of others. It is simply an acknowledgement that each of us has an awareness of our own reality.

Baby steps to forgiveness:

1) Recognize the impact of difficult situations on children raised in situations that are not conducive to becoming a well-adjusted adult.

2) Everyone is trying to do the best they can at their level of awareness. Everyone is not on identical levels of awareness.

3) Learn to forgive yourself. From birth to maturity, we are in a learning environment called the School of Life.

4) When situations are not completely understood, have empathy for others as well as yourself.

5) Accepting the concept of Oneness supports the idea that everyone is interconnected. Therefore, any thought or activity that separates us from others is conflicted with our natural way to be.

If you cant forgive yourself, it is very difficult (if not impossible) to forgive others!

Charles Al Huth, M.Ed., is the author of three books and numerous articles. He currently is teaching a class on human potential at OLLI/SOU. He lives in the Rogue Valley and is an inspirational speaker, teacher and magician. His website is http://JoyAl.org.

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Baby steps to forgiveness - Ashland Daily Tidings

Embryology

Embryology program training for teachers is April 18 – By Haywood … – The Mountaineer

By Haywood County Cooperative Extension | Mar 31, 2017

Haywood County 4-H will host the 4-H School Enrichment Embryology program training at 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 18, at the Haywood County Cooperative Extension Center, 589 Raccoon Road, Waynesville.

In the program, students incubate chicken eggs for 21 days and then watch baby chicks hatch. Students care for the chicks several days before the chicks are returned to a local farmer.

The curriculum training is a free opportunity open to teachers from public, private and homeschool groups. The teacher training will walk teachers through using the kits and curriculum developed by North Carolina State University.

The curriculum was developed to match the second grade Common Core and essential standards, learning about the life cycle of animals. The Embryology School Enrichment and teacher training can be used as continuing education units.

The 4-H school enrichment programs are offered at no-cost to teachers. 4-H school enrichment programs add a learn by doing experimental learning element to classrooms in Haywood County.

Call the Extension Center at 456-3575 to sign-up in advance.

The 4-H program is the youth education program of North Carolina Cooperative Extension, based at North Carolina State and North Carolina A&T State universities. More than 218,000 young people between the ages of 5 and 19 participate in North Carolina 4-H activities. 4-H is a community of young people across America who are developing leadership, citizenship, public speaking, decision-making, and life skills. 4-H is about having fun, learning, exploring and discovering. In 4-H, young people make new friends, develop new skills, become leaders and help shape their communities. Haywood County 4-H has numerous special interest programs, school enrichment programs, day camps, 4-H clubs, and opportunities for youth to learn while doing. For more information on the 4-H program in Haywood County please contact the Extension Center at 456-3575.

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Embryology program training for teachers is April 18 - By Haywood ... - The Mountaineer

Biochemistry

Ligand (biochemistry) – Wikipedia

In biochemistry and pharmacology, a ligand is a substance that forms a complex with a biomolecule to serve a biological purpose. In protein-ligand binding, the ligand is usually a molecule which produces a signal by binding to a site on a target protein. The binding typically results in a change of conformation of the target protein. In DNA-ligand binding studies, the ligand can be a small molecule, ion,[1] or protein[2] which binds to the DNA double helix. The relationship between ligand and binding partner is a function of charge, hydrophobicity, and molecular structure. The instance of binding occurs over an infinitesimal range of time and space, so the rate constant is usually a very small number.

Binding occurs by intermolecular forces, such as ionic bonds, hydrogen bonds and Van der Waals forces. The association of docking is actually reversible through dissociation. Measurably irreversible covalent bonding between a ligand and target molecule is atypical in biological systems. In contrast to the definition of ligand in metalorganic and inorganic chemistry, in biochemistry it is ambiguous whether the ligand generally binds at a metal site, as is the case in hemoglobin. In general, the interpretation of ligand is contextual with regards to what sort of binding has been observed. The etymology stems from ligare, which means 'to bind'.

Ligand binding to a receptor protein alters the chemical conformation by affecting the three-dimensional shape orientation. The conformation of a receptor protein composes the functional state. Ligands include substrates, inhibitors, activators, and neurotransmitters. The rate of binding is called affinity, and this measurement typifies a tendency or strength of the effect. Binding affinity is actualized not only by host-guest interactions, but also by solvent effects that can play a dominant, steric role which drives non-covalent binding in solution.[3] The solvent provides a chemical environment for the ligand and receptor to adapt, and thus accept or reject each other as partners.

Radioligands are radioisotope labeled compounds are used in vivo as tracers in PET studies and for in vitro binding studies.

The interaction of most ligands with their binding sites can be characterized in terms of a binding affinity. In general, high-affinity ligand binding results from greater intermolecular force between the ligand and its receptor while low-affinity ligand binding involves less intermolecular force between the ligand and its receptor. In general, high-affinity binding results in a higher degree of occupancy for the ligand at its receptor binding site than is the case for low-affinity binding; the residence time (lifetime of the receptor-ligand complex) does not correlate. High-affinity binding of ligands to receptors is often physiologically important when some of the binding energy can be used to cause a conformational change in the receptor, resulting in altered behavior of an associated ion channel or enzyme.

A ligand that can bind to a receptor, alter the function of the receptor, and trigger a physiological response is called an agonist for that receptor. Agonist binding to a receptor can be characterized both in terms of how much physiological response can be triggered and in terms of the concentration of the agonist that is required to produce the physiological response. High-affinity ligand binding implies that a relatively low concentration of a ligand is adequate to maximally occupy a ligand-binding site and trigger a physiological response. The lower the Ki concentration is, the more likely there will be a chemical reaction between the pending ion and the receptive antigen. Low-affinity binding (high Ki level) implies that a relatively high concentration of a ligand is required before the binding site is maximally occupied and the maximum physiological response to the ligand is achieved. In the example shown to the right, two different ligands bind to the same receptor binding site. Only one of the agonists shown can maximally stimulate the receptor and, thus, can be defined as a full agonist. An agonist that can only partially activate the physiological response is called a partial agonist. In this example, the concentration at which the full agonist (red curve) can half-maximally activate the receptor is about 5 x 109Molar (nM = nanomolar). Ligands that bind to a receptor but fail to activate the physiological response are receptor antagonists.

In the example shown to the left, ligand-binding curves are shown for two ligands with different binding affinities. Ligand binding is often characterized in terms of the concentration of ligand at which half of the receptor binding sites are occupied, known as the IC50, which is related to but different from the dissociation constant. The ligand illustrated by the red curve has a higher binding affinity and smaller Kd than the ligand illustrated by the green curve. If these two ligands were present at the same time, more of the higher-affinity ligand would be bound to the available receptor binding sites. This is how carbon monoxide can compete with oxygen in binding to hemoglobin, resulting in carbon monoxide poisoning.

Binding affinity is most commonly determined using a radiolabeled ligand, known as a tagged ligand. Homologous competitive binding experiments involve binding competition between a tagged ligand and an untagged ligand.[4] Non-labelled methods such as surface plasmon resonance, dual polarization interferometry and Multi-Parametric Surface Plasmon Resonance (MP-SPR) can not only quantify the affinity from concentration based assays; but also from the kinetics of association and dissociation, and in the later cases, the conformational change induced upon binding. MP-SPR also enables measurements in high saline dissociation buffers thanks to a unique optical setup. Microscale Thermophoresis (MST), an immobilization-free method[5] was developed. This method allows the determination of the binding affinity without any limitation to the ligand's molecular weight.[6]

For the use of statistical mechanics in a quantitative study of the ligand-receptor binding affinity, see the comprehensive article[7] on the configurational partition function.

Binding affinity data alone does not determine the overall potency of a drug. Potency is a result of the complex interplay of both the binding affinity and the ligand efficacy. Ligand efficacy refers to the ability of the ligand to produce a biological response upon binding to the target receptor and the quantitative magnitude of this response. This response may be as an agonist, antagonist, or inverse agonist, depending on the physiological response produced.[8]

Selective ligands have a tendency to bind to very limited kinds of receptor, whereas non-selective ligands bind to several types of receptors. This plays an important role in pharmacology, where drugs that are non-selective tend to have more adverse effects, because they bind to several other receptors in addition to the one generating the desired effect.

Bivalent ligands consist of two drug-like molecules (pharmacophores or ligands) connected by an inert linker. There are various kinds of bivalent ligands and are often classified based on what the pharmacophores target. Homobivalent ligands target two of the same receptor types. Heterobivalent ligands target two different receptor types. Bitopic ligands target an orthosteric binding sites and allosteric binding sites on the same receptor.

In scientific research, bivalent ligands have been used to study receptor dimers and to investigate their properties. This class of ligands was pioneered by Philip S. Portoghese and coworkers while studying the opioid receptor system.[9][10][11] Bivalent ligands were also reported early on by Micheal Conn and coworkers for the gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor.[12][13] Since these early reports, there have been many bivalent ligands reported for various GPCR systems including cannabinoid,[14] serotonin,[15][16] oxytocin,[17] and melanocortin receptor systems.[18][19][20]

Bivalent ligands usually tend to be larger than their monovalent counterparts, and therefore, not drug-like. (See Lipinskis rule of five.) Many believe this limits their applicability in clinical settings.[21][22] In spite of these beliefs, their have been many ligands that have reported successful per-clinical animal studies.[19][23][24][25][26][27] Given that some bivalent ligands can have many advantages compared to their monovalent counterparts (such as tissue selectivity, increased binding affinity, and increased potency or efficacy), bivalents may offer some clinical advantages as well.

A privileged scaffold[28] is a molecular framework or chemical moiety that is statistically recurrent among known drugs or among a specific array of biologically active compounds. These privileged elements[29] can be used as a basis for designing new active biological compounds or compound libraries.

Main methods to study proteinligand interactions are principal hydrodynamic and calorimetric techniques, and principal spectroscopic and structural methods such as

Other techniques include: fluorescence intensity, bimolecular fluorescence complementation, FRET (fluorescent resonance energy transfer) / FRET quenching surface plasmon resonance, bio-layer interferometry, Coimmunopreciptation indirect ELIS, equilibrium dialysis, gel electrophoresis, far western blot, fluorescence polarization anisotropy, electron paramagnetic resonance, microscale thermophoresis

The dramatically increased computing power of supercomputers and personal computers has made it possible to study proteinligand interactions also by means of computational chemistry. For example, a worldwide grid of well over a million ordinary PCs was harnessed for cancer research in the project grid.org, which ended in April 2007. Grid.org has been succeeded by similar projects such as World Community Grid, Human Proteome Folding Project, Compute Against Cancer and Folding@Home.

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Ligand (biochemistry) - Wikipedia

Biochemistry

Biochemical superglue opens new approach to vaccine development – Phys.Org

March 31, 2017 Credit: University of Oxford

An Oxford University spinout company is developing a molecular superglue for the rapid development of vaccines targeting a range of diseases.

SpyBiotech is using 'biochemical superglue' that can facilitate the rapid development of robust and novel vaccines. The company has raised 4m at launch in seed financing to develop the technology, led by Oxford Sciences Innovation with participation from GV.

The company gets its name from the bacterium Streptococcus pyogenes (Spy), the same organism behind a number of infections including strep throat and impetigo. The team behind SpyBiotech divided Spy into a peptide, SpyTag, and a protein partner, SpyCatcher. Naturally attracted to each other, the two form a covalent bond once combined.

SpyBiotech believes that this bond is the missing link to effective development and production of highly effective vaccines. The company will initially focus on virus-like particles (VLPs), a leading technology to induce immune responses by vaccination. Discovered in 1963, VLPs have become a cornerstone of a number of vaccines. Resembling viruses but without pathogenic material, VLPs can instead be coated with bug-busting antigens. However, the two most common ways in which a VLP can be paired with antigens genetic fusion and chemical conjugation are imprecise, expensive, prone to being misassembled, and consequently can result in the failure of a vaccine.

Conversely, SpyBiotech's SpyVLP can be easily and efficiently combined with a number of antigens, and used to produce stable vaccines that induce robust antibody responses. The company plans to target infectious diseases including major viral infections at first, with a view to developing SpyVLP into a universal platform that can be adapted to target a wide variety of conditions. In particular, owing to the versatile and easy-to-use nature of SpyVLP, the technology could underpin efforts to rapidly combat future outbreaks and pandemics.

SpyBiotech will use the seed funding to get its first candidates ready for Phase I trials. During that period, SpyBiotech's founders will receive support from its investors. The founders are aiming to start a further round of funding in the near future to catalyse the development of SpyVLP and expand into other disease areas. A leadership team, including the company's first CEO, will be announced in the coming months.

Sumi Biswas, Associate Professor at the Jenner Institute, Oxford University, said: 'Researchers in the vaccine field, including us, have struggled to make effective VLPs against many diseases for a long time. We view this superglue technology as a game changer to enable faster development of effective vaccines against major global diseases. We are excited to begin the journey of taking this versatile and innovative approach forward and moving our new vaccines from the laboratory to human clinical testing.'

Oxford Sciences Innovation (OSI), the patient capital investor for Oxford University, led the 4m investment, with GV (formerly Google Ventures), an independent venture capital arm of Alphabet, joining in participation.

Lachlan MacKinnon, Principal at OSI, said: 'We see the Spy technology as the missing link in rapid and robust VLP vaccine design and see GV as a natural co-investment partner to take this forward. We are privileged to be working with four founders who bring such an impressive combination of academic prowess and clinical stage experience to the company.'

Tom Hulme, General Partner at GV, added: 'SpyBiotech has established a novel approach using platform VLP vaccine technology that shows promise in a number of addressable markets. We're looking forward to working with a team of world class scientists with extensive experience in vaccine development spanning from vaccine design through to Phase II clinical trials to develop more effective vaccines for a wide range of global diseases.'

The research underpinning SpyBiotech was developed in conjunction between researchers at Oxford University's Department of Biochemistry and Jenner Institute, with four academics joining SpyBiotech at launch. The team includes: Mark Howarth, Professor of Protein Nanotechnology; Sumi Biswas, Associate Professor of Vaccinology; Simon Draper, Professor of Vaccinology; and Dr. Jing Jin. Combined, the founding team has taken twelve products to Phase I and II trials; filed nine patents on vaccines and other technologies; and has extensive experience in biotech and industrial collaborations and partnerships. The commercialisation of SpyBiotech's technology and company formation is supported by Oxford University Innovation, the research commercialisation company of Oxford University.

Carolyn Porter, Deputy Head of Technology Transfer at Oxford University Innovation, said: 'SpyBiotech punctuates research that's been developing for some time here at Oxford, and is a testament to the benefits of collaboration between our departments and institutes. Oxford is playing a leading role in developing the next generation of vaccines, and SpyBiotech and other spinouts working in this sector showcases the potential impact the University can have on the wider world.'

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Biochemistry

BRIEF-Beijing Leadman Biochemistry plans two medical devices JVs with partners – Reuters

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BRIEF-Beijing Leadman Biochemistry plans two medical devices JVs with partners - Reuters

Anatomy

Ellen Pompeo on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ longevity and future: ‘Why walk away from a hit?’ – Chicago Tribune

"Grey's Anatomy" has seen many faces come and go, but could the series ever exist without Meredith Grey?

Lucky enough, that question won't have to be answered for quite some time because star Ellen Pompeo, who has played the titular character since "Grey's Anatomy" debuted in 2005, isn't going anywhere just yet.

"Shonda [Rhimes] and I have both said that when I'm ready to stop, we're going to stop the show," Pompeo tells Variety, revealing that the series will not ever carry on without her character. "The story is about Meredith Grey's journey and when I'm done, the show will end." With a laugh, she adds, "As far as how much longer I want to do the show, I'm mulling that over as we speak."

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"Grey's Anatomy" has already been renewed for Season 14 for the 2017-2018 television season, and impressively ranks as ABC's top-rated drama -- quite the feat for a show in its 13th season. The forecast for "Grey's" looks like sunny skies of many renewals ahead, but when asked how long the show can remain on air, Pompeo says the future will be up to the fans.

"I'm really open to whatever the universe presents," Pompeo says. "I don't know how long the show will go on. I know the network and the studio like to say they see no end in sight, but I think the audience will tell us when the show is no-longer a fan favorite. I think it's quite arrogant to assume the show can go on forever -- I don't like that approach. Right now, we're very lucky to have the fans still hanging on, and I think the fans will let us know when it's time to stop the show."

Fans globally are hanging on to "Grey's Anatomy" and heading to Netflix helped the show find new life among younger viewers, who discovered it later on in its run. The success has not gone unnoticed by Pompeo.

"I have to say, it's pretty invigorating -- these numbers and this fan appreciation and how much this show touches people, for a silly little primetime soap opera," Pompeo chuckles. "It's this weird anomaly that we're this silly nighttime soap opera and no one can figure out how we keep going and why the numbers are so huge, but the show really makes a difference in people's lives. Everywhere I go, the admiration, and the touching stories that I hear, and the people come up with tears in their eyes and want to hug me, it's as much as it was in the beginning of the show."

Pompeo beams with excitement, explaining that just this week, she received two emails from female viewers who watched last week's episode of "Grey's," which highlighted the issue of inflammatory breast cancer. She says the women wrote her to share that they had been dismissed by doctors, after finding a rash on their breast, and turns out, both went back to their doctors and did indeed have inflammatory breast cancer. "There's a good chance that they will survive because of how early they've caught it because both of them saw last week's episode of 'Grey's Anatomy,' and because of this silly nighttime soap opera!" Pompeo exclaims.

"As a performer and as an artist, your goal is to move people and touch people, and we're still doing that 13 years later, so it's pretty hard to stop when you feel that you are moving people that much," she continues. "As long as the audience is still so interested and so moved, it helps me keep going. It really does. I'm really doing it, at this point, because the people keep inspiring me to do it. They really do."

Pompeo has stayed loyal to the show, despite departures of long-standing stars such as Katherine Heigl, Sara Ramirez, and most notably, Patrick Dempsey.

"Why walk away from a hit?" she says. "You don't walk away from something for nothing. And with the track record out there, I'm good to keep doing it for now," she adds with a laugh.

Whenever the day does come that "Grey's Anatomy" wraps up, Pompeo says she wants to focus on producing through her production company Calamity Jane and possibly add some more directing gigs to her resume, following her directorial debut on this week's episode. She attributes her heightened skills to observing others on the "Grey's" set.

"Shonda has been incredible in letting me evolve with the show. I'm much more involved now, creatively in my storytelling and where the show is going. The longer I stay, the more she empowers me," Pompeo says. "I've learned so much about producing, so much about directing, so much about running a show, that I have a whole other bag of tricks now and a whole other skill set that I've learned, so it goes beyond acting for me. I've taken a much bigger role now and I'm learning a lot. I'm still engaged there."

One thing you can rule out from Pompeo's post-"Grey's" future is another broadcast series.

"I'd never do another 24-episode per season show ever again, no," she admits. "But I have the luxury of not doing that again. I'll probably do a shorter series -- Netflix or Hulu or Amazon with a 10-episode run. Something like that. I would do a shorter run, for sure, but never this many episodes again. I'm very lucky and grateful to be able to say that I don't have to."

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Ellen Pompeo on 'Grey's Anatomy' longevity and future: 'Why walk away from a hit?' - Chicago Tribune

Anatomy

‘Big Bang Theory’ adjusts up; ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ ‘Scandal,’ ‘Mom,’ ‘Powerless’ down: Thursday final ratings – TVbytheNumbers

Final broadcast primetime live + same-day ratings for Thursday, March 30, 2017

The Big Bang Theory adjusted up from its initial rating Thursday, but the 0.1 uptick to a 2.6 still puts it at a series low.

Several shows adjusted down. ABCs Greys Anatomy (2.0) and Scandal (1.5) came down a tenth of a point, although both are still ahead of last week. Mom (1.2) and Powerless (0.5) also adjusted down a tenth, as did a Superstore rerun (0.6).

Upward adjustments in adults 18-49 are in blue; downward adjustments are in red.

Network averages:

Definitions: Rating: Estimated percentage of the universe of TV households (or other specified group) tuned to a program in the average minute. Ratings are expressed as a percent. Fast Affiliate Ratings: These first national ratings are available at approximately 11 a.m. ETthe day after telecast. The figures may include stations that did not air the entire network feed, as well as local news breaks or cutaways for local coverage or other programming. Fast Affiliate ratings are not as useful for live programs and are likely to differ significantly from the final results, because the data reflect normal broadcast feed patterns. Share (of Audience):The percent of households (or persons) using television who are tuned to a specific program, station or network in a specific area at a specific time. Time Shifted Viewing:Program ratings for national sources are produced in three streams of data Live, Live +Same-Day and Live +7 Day. Time-shifted figures account for incremental viewing that takes place with DVRs. Live+SD includes viewing during the same broadcast day as the original telecast, with a cut-off of 3 a.m. local time when meters transmit daily viewing to Nielsen for processing. Live +7 ratings include viewing that takes place during the 7 days following a telecast.

Source: The Nielsen Company.

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'Big Bang Theory' adjusts up; 'Grey's Anatomy,' 'Scandal,' 'Mom,' 'Powerless' down: Thursday final ratings - TVbytheNumbers

Anatomy

‘Grey’s Anatomy’ star Chandra Wilson opens up about her daughter’s – ABC News

Actress Chandra Wilson, who plays a doctor on ABC's long-running hit drama "Grey's Anatomy," opened up about her family's real-life medical saga in an interview with "Good Morning America" that aired today.

Wilson, who has played Dr. Miranda Bailey on "Grey's Anatomy" for the past 13 seasons, described the uncertainty and fear she faced when her daughter, Sarina McFarlane, 23, first became ill as a teenager.

The Emmy-nominated actress said her daughter became afflicted with nausea, vomiting and crippling abdominal pain. McFarlane's mysterious illness baffled doctors, and Wilson said they went nearly 10 months before she finally got a diagnosis -- cyclic vomiting syndrome, or CVS, a neurological disorder characterized by a series of prolonged attacks of severe nausea and vomiting, with no apparent cause.

"It presented itself like a real bad case of food poisoning," Wilson explained. "It didn't go away for four or five days so because of that we went to the ER."

Wilson said emergency room doctors hydrated her daughter but none of the tests showed it was anything different.

"A month later, the exact same presentation happened and this was month after month after month for 10 months," she said.

Wilson kept a running log of her daughter's symptoms in multiple, 5-inch thick binders to note any progress or changes and to streamline the often-arduous check-in process at hospitals.

"I started looking for patterns," Wilson said. "When you are the parent of someone who is a chronic pain sufferer, you end up creating these binders for all of the hospital stays so you can keep track of every visit and any new thing that comes out."

Dr. Richards Boles, medical director at Courtagen Life Sciences -- a medical facility that specializes in genetic testing to find solutions for complicated neurological and metabolic diseases -- said McFarlane could have suffered years had it not been for her mom's tenacity.

"Serena was lucky because of the care and persistence of her mother," Boles said. "Most patients go many years without a diagnosis."

"The name gave us a direction to go in," Wilson said of receiving the diagnosis. "And it put us in a community of other people that seriously were going through the exact same thing stage by stage."

Motivated by her daughter's condition, the "Grey's Anatomy" star went one step further and directed an episode that mirrored her own scramble for a diagnosis for this mysterious disease.

"Being able to be on 'Grey's Anatomy' with all of those people able to watch it and hear it and say, 'Oh my God. That's what that is. I've heard of that. That's my kid. That's my husband. That's my aunt,'" Wilson said. "That means so much because I just remember what it meant to us."

She added, "[If] that's something that I can do sitting in this chair on the set, then my daughter has said, 'Go ahead. Go and do that.'"

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'Grey's Anatomy' star Chandra Wilson opens up about her daughter's - ABC News

Neuroscience

Neuroscience Honor Society Induction Will Be March 31 – University of St. Thomas Newsroom

The sixth annual Distinguished Lecture in Neuroscience and Nu Rho Psi honorary society induction will be held Friday, March 31, at 3 p.m. in John Roach Center, Room 126. The neuroscience program will induct 15 new members into Nu Rho Psi, the neuroscience national honor society.

The new members who will be inducted in Nu Rho Psi are: Kaycie Anderson, Katelyn Baier, Elizabeth Baker, Joana Beyer, Brooke Finch, Salman Irfanullah, Katherine Leininger, Tyler Lifke, Kha Lor, Elliot Magnuson, Zachari Mertes, Catherine Minz, Hannah Moyer, Molly Richardson and Georgianna Younger.

Following the program, Dr. Keith B. Hengen will deliver the Distinguished Lecture in Neuroscience. Hengen, an assistant professor of biology at Washington University in St. Louis, uses computation approaches to explore the homeostatic self-organization of intact neural networks that support sensation, perception and cognition, and how appropriate information transmission in these systems is established during development and disrupted in disease. His lecture, Keeping it together at every level: Self-organization of neurons and networks will discuss the role of sleep wake in chaperoning the interactions between distinct plasticity mechanisms.

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Neuroscience Honor Society Induction Will Be March 31 - University of St. Thomas Newsroom