All posts by medical

Neuroscience

This Neuroscience Study Says Ads Are More Effective on Publishers’ Websites Than Social News Feeds – FishbowlDC (blog)

Publishers own websites couldbe mightier than the almighty news feed when it comes to impact for advertisers, according to newneuroscience research comparing social platforms and premium sites.

Neuro-Insight, a neuro-marketing company, examinedcontent from four major publishersCond Nast, Forbes, Time Inc., and The Atlanticand found that test subjects were 16 percentmore likely to find web postsrelevant or engaging than similar content in social feeds.Tounderstand how readersrelated to different types of content, Neuro-Insight connected 100 people with neuro-mapping technology and showed themvideos inaFacebook newsfeed or a publishers website.

Along with being more personally relevant, publishers websites might be more memorablethey had a 19 percent greater impact on the rational left side of the brain, and an 8 percent greater impact on the emotional right side of the brain, the study found. Memories of video ads were also more detailed on the websites, with 8 in 10performing better than in a social feed.

The results shouldbe welcome news for publishers, which continue to struggleto monetize contenton mobile and social platforms. Some estimates saymajor tech players like Google and Facebook get as much as 85 cents for every new digital dollar spent on advertising.

What weve always understood is that there is strong engagement, said Caryn Klein, Time Inc.s vp of research and insights. But how is that halo to an advertisers message? Thats always been a question. We know there is high engagement, but what were seeing here is that when you go into what the brain is doing, were proving here that there is a lot more resonance of the message from a memory standpoint.

Teads chief marketing officer Rebecca Mahony said the goal was to give publishers a better view of how effective their ads really are.

Time Inc. is increasingly betting on the future of video. The company saw a 150 percent growth in video starts from 2015 to 2016for a total of 4.6 billionaccording to its fourth-quarterearnings.

The study, commissioned by Teads, anonline video advertising firm, featured 15-second ads abouteverythingfrom tech and CPG to fashionand food. Teads chief marketing officer Rebecca Mahony said the goal was to givepublishers a better view of how effective their ads really are. She said in-depth, long-form storiesalso make a reader more invested, which in turn helpsthem recalladsbetter than when theyre passively scrolling.

Certain brands also perform better than others across platforms. For example, health food, coffee and hospitality brands advertising on publishers sites had a big impact onthe detail-oriented left-side of the brain. However, ecommerce and consumer electronics brands resonated withthe right side of the brain. An interesting caveat:hospitality brands and ads for TV programsfaredbest on Facebook.

Advertising can drive a skew, said Matt Engstrom, Teads director of content and insights. It either impacts the detailed left side of the brain more stronglyor the right side of the brain more strongly. And when that sort of imbalance aligns with the reaction of the content on the brain, that makes the advertising more likely to be impactful.

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This Neuroscience Study Says Ads Are More Effective on Publishers' Websites Than Social News Feeds - FishbowlDC (blog)

Immunology

Frontier Pharma: Versatile Innovation in Immunology Report 2017 – Large Therapy Area Pipeline with a High Degree of … – Yahoo Finance

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Frontier Pharma: Versatile Innovation in Immunology - Large Therapy Area Pipeline with a High Degree of Repositioning Potential" drug pipelines to their offering.

Immunology is a large therapy area characterized by disorders of the immune system - specifically an aberrant immune response against healthy tissues present in the body, leading to chronic or acute inflammation. Depending on the specific site affected, this can lead to various types of chronic pain and loss of mobility, and have a negative impact on quality of life.

This disease area has a total of 2,145 products in active development, trailing only oncology, infectious diseases and central nervous system disorders in terms of pipeline size. There are a total of 529 immunology pipeline products that act on first-in-class molecular targets, representing approximately 40% of the total immunology pipeline for which the molecular target was disclosed.

Due to a degree of crossover between immunology indications in terms of their underlying pathophysiology, it is not uncommon for products being developed for this therapy area to have developmental programs testing them across multiple indications.

Approximately one-fifth of first-in-class pipeline products are in development for two or more indications within the therapy area. This presents an opportunity for companies to develop innovative products across multiple immune disorders, and therefore reach a larger pool of patients than products developed for single indications.

Scope

- What are the key points of overlap in the pathophysiology of immune disorders?

- What is the current standard of treatment across these markets, and what lessons can be learned by companies seeking to innovate and build on these products?

- Which molecule types and molecular targets are most prominent within the pipeline?

- Which first-in-class targets are most promising?

- Do immunology products attract high deal values, and which specific product types are able to attract the highest values?

- Which molecule types and molecular targets dominate the deals landscape?

Key Topics Covered:

1 Table of Contents

2 Executive Summary

3 The Case for Innovation in the Immunology Market

4 Introduction

5 Pipeline Landscape Assessment

6 Immunology Signaling Network, Disease Causation and Innovation Alignment

7 First-in-Class Target and Pipeline Program Evaluation

8 Strategic Consolidations

9 Appendix

For more information about this drug pipelines report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/z8fppq/frontier_pharma

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170221005737/en/

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Frontier Pharma: Versatile Innovation in Immunology Report 2017 - Large Therapy Area Pipeline with a High Degree of ... - Yahoo Finance

Immunology

Immunology Space Attracting High Levels of Investment – Drug Discovery & Development

With a total of 2,145 products currently in development, the immunology market is experiencing a high level of investment compared to many other therapy areas, and companies working within it are seeking to build on the clinical and commercial success of marketed products such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-) inhibitors, according to business intelligence provider GBI Research.

The companyslatest reportstates that, within immunology, the largest pipeline segments are general treatment of inflammation, with 510 products currently in development, and rheumatoid arthritis, with 488. Additionally, psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease, transplantation, ulcerative colitis, lupus, and allergies are all substantial indications with over 100 pipeline products in development.

The immunology pipeline is highly diverse in terms of molecule type. Unlike the market, which is mostly limited to small molecules, the pipeline contains a wide range of other molecule types including monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), gene therapies, vaccines, and cell therapies.

Due to a degree of crossover between immunology indications in terms of their underlying pathophysiology, it is not uncommon for pipeline products to undergo developmental programs testing them across multiple indications. The majority of first-in-class pipeline products are being developed for a single indication, but approximately a fifth are in development for two or more indications within the therapy area.

While small molecules account for 91% of marketed products, they comprise only 43% of the pipeline. Both mAbs and proteins account for a much higher proportion of the pipeline than the market, and a number of other molecules that do not yet have a presence in the market, such as gene therapies, vaccines, and cell-based therapies, have a well-established presence in the pipeline, that is not limited to the early stages of development.

In terms of the market landscape, a total of 497 licensing deals and 433 co-development deals in the immunology therapy area were identified as having been completed between 2006 and 2016, with a combined aggregate value of $46 billion.

This high level of deal-making activity is indicative of a strong willingness on the part of pharmaceutical companies to engage in strategic consolidations in order to mitigate some of the risks associated with drug development in the immunology therapy area. Considering the very strong commercial performance of products in the immunology market, companies have a meaningful incentive to invest in such products.

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Immunology Space Attracting High Levels of Investment - Drug Discovery & Development

Human Behavior

Human Behavior and Evolution Society

HBES is a society for all those studying the evolution of human behavior. Scientific perspectives range from evolutionary psychology to evolutionary anthropology and cultural evolution; and the membership includes researchers from a range of disciplines in the social and biological sciences. Our membership is worldwide.

The two main activities of HBES are holding an annual conference and running a journal called Evolution and Human Behavior (EHB). The conference provides a forum to present and learn about current research in the field, and includes invited plenary talks from leading scientists in the field. The 2017 meeting will take place May 31st to June 3rd in Boise, Idaho and features talks from anthropologists Valerie Curtis, Rebecca Bliege Bird, Peter Gray, and Rebecca Sear; zoologistRufus Johnstone; psychologists Martie Haselton and Cristine Legare; and primatologist Michael Tomasello.

Members of HBES receive a free subscription to EHB, a discount on the journal Human Nature, reduced registration at the annual HBES conference, and a biannual newsletter. Members are also eligible to apply for funds to host meetings on topics relevant to the goals and mission of HBES. Learn more about becoming a member of HBES.

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Human Behavior and Evolution Society

Human Behavior

Owner of new private equity fund says impact investing is ‘the way of the future’ – Greenwich Time

Photo: Matthew Brown / Hearst Connecticut Media

Owner of new private equity fund says impact investing is the way of the future

A longtime Greenwich resident has started a private equity fund committed solely to investing in renewable energy projects.

Impact investing is the way of the future in finance, according to Thomas Yee, who recently started GCT Anchor Fund. The venture, which has its offices in Stamford, began building up capital last fall, but Yee already has big expectations for its success.

Yees team plans to invest in new renewable energy projects overseas, foster their growth and ultimately sell them off. We take the raw project and grow it, Yee said. It requires technical expertise in these particular areas.

Yee expects the results will net a big profit, he said.

The market for investing in renewable energy projects in America is saturated, he said, so the fund will focus on working with ones abroad, such as in Portugal and Argentina.

Overseas theres more risk but opportunity for higher returns, Yee said, whose background includes working as a trader at Moore Capital Management and in the renewable energy sector.

His expertise in renewable energy, particularly in solar energy, together with a carefully-curated team equips GCT Anchor Fund with the tools to turn a profit for its investors while making a positive impact on the environment with its projects, Yee said.

We view social and environmental sustainability as a strategic imperative and as a select investment opportunity with a disciplined focus for acquiring investments from a pipeline of clean tech projects that offer high and steady returns with minimal market risk, the fund says on its website.

Opportunities are limited for investors to make money since the birth of large regulatory measures, such as the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act, combined with highly volatile markets, Yee outlines in an industry paper titled How to Obtain Alpha in Todays Volatile and Unpredictable Markets.

His new funds emphasis on impact investing derives from Yees belief in its ability to make clients money, but it also has a lot of positive socio-economic ramifications, Yee said. It provides a social ethic, creates jobs and the economy increases. Theres a need for society to develop the most efficient energy.

In addition to his new fund, Yee is working on another project he hopes will do even more to revolutionize the world of finance. As outlined in his paper, market volatility plays a big role in frustrating investors portfolios.

Right now, theres no existing model that can quantify a sudden change in the market, Yee said. Computers dont provide for the financial effect of human emotions.

Its no small undertaking, but Yee hopes to one day produce a model that can react to any market swing, including the black swans. It would take into account the human effect on market volatility and anticipate a trade beneficial to investors. The answer to creating such a model comes from Yees academic studies in ontology, which he describes as a comprehensive set of meanings which describe human behavior.

Creating an algorithm which can translate expected human behavior into trades with a high rate of return is my real interest, Yee said.

MBennett@greenwichtime.com, 203-625-4411; Twitter @Macaela_

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Owner of new private equity fund says impact investing is 'the way of the future' - Greenwich Time

Genetics

BRIEF-DE Shaw reports 5 pct passive stake in Myriad Genetics – Reuters

Northern Trust uses blockchain for private equity record-keeping

NEW YORK, Feb 22 Northern Trust Corp has deployed a new blockchain-based system built with International Business Machines Corp to record information on transactions involving private equity funds, in one of the first commercial deployments of the nascent technology.

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BRIEF-DE Shaw reports 5 pct passive stake in Myriad Genetics - Reuters

Embryology

Embryology program started by Lincoln Northeast Kiwanis Club – Lincoln Journal Star

Lincoln Northeast Kiwanian Dick Earl, who recently passed away at the age of 95, managed a hatchery in Lincoln. He thought learning about embryology would be a great educational tool for kids and helped start the program in 1975. Dick worked with the Lancaster County Extension Service to get this program started. Lincoln third graders have benefited from Embryology in their classroom for over 40 years.

What started out in three classrooms at one school has turned into every third-grade classroom in the Lincoln Public School system as well as Waverly, Norris and many parochial schools.

Embryology has been a part of the core (required) science curriculum in LPS since 1993. Students learn about embryonic development and the life cycle during the 21-day incubation process of chicken eggs. They care for the eggs, witness the hatching process and then care for the baby chicks for 23 days. Last spring, 3,513 third graders from 165 classrooms and 54 schools participated during three sessions. Last fall, a new session added four new schools and 137 students in home schools.

This year, Embryology plans to increase to 186 classrooms. Each classroom receives one dozen fertilized chicken eggs. Students turn the eggs three times a day and provide water for humidity in the incubators.

After seven days of incubation, Extension staff candle the eggs with the students. By candling (shining a bright light) on the eggs, students can see if the eggs are developing (viable), have stopped developing (died), or were never fertile.

This is an exciting time for students and teachers with much anticipation of what they will see. For many students, this is the first time they have experienced seeing a developing embryo and for many, it is the first time theyve experienced life and death. Students are also learning respect for living creatures.

Because the program grew so much, a partnership was formed with a hatchery in Iowa which donates nearly 200 dozen eggs per year. Kiwanis club members from Lincoln Northeast drive 200 miles to Spencer, Iowa, three times a year to get the eggs so we can keep Dick Earl's dream alive for thousands of third graders each year.

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Embryology program started by Lincoln Northeast Kiwanis Club - Lincoln Journal Star

Cell Biology

Protein once thought exclusive to neurons helps some cancers grow, spread, defy death – Medical Xpress

February 21, 2017 Dr. Ping-Hung Chen, Dr. Sandra Schmid, Dr. Marcel Mettlen and other research team members determined that aggressive cancer cells adapt nerve cell mechanisms to maintain or squelch signals needed to survive and grow. Credit: UT Southwestern

How we think and fall in love are controlled by lightning-fast electrochemical signals across synapses, the dynamic spaces between nerve cells. Until now, nobody knew that cancer cells can repurpose tools of neuronal communication to fuel aggressive tumor growth and spread.

UTSouthwestern Medical Center researchers report those findings in two recent studies, one in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and the second in Developmental Cell

"Many properties of aggressive cancer growth are driven by altered cell signaling," said Dr. Sandra Schmid, senior author of both papers and Chair of Cell Biology at UTSouthwestern. "We found that cancer cells are taking a page from the neuron's signaling playbook to maintain certain beneficial signals and to squelch signals that would harm the cancer cells."

The two studies find that dynamin1 (Dyn1) - a protein once thought to be present only in nerve cells of the brain and spinal cord - is also found in aggressive cancer cells. In nerve cells, or neurons, Dyn1 helps sustain neural transmission by causing rapid endocytosis - the uptake of signaling molecules and receptors into the cell - and their recycling back to the cell surface. These processes ensure that the neurons keep healthy supplies at the ready to refire in rapid succession and also help to amplify or suppress important nerve signals as necessary, Dr. Schmid explained.

"This role is what the cancer cells have figured out. Aggressive cancer cells have usurped the mechanisms that neurons use for the rapid uptake and recycling of neural transmitters. Instead of neural transmitters, the cancer cells use Dyn1 for rapid uptake and recycling of EGF (epidermal growth factor) receptors. Mutations in EGF receptors are drivers of breast and lung cancers," she said of the Developmental Cell study.

In order to thrive, cancer cells must multiply faster than nearby noncancerous cells. EGF receptors help them do that, she explained.

Cancer cell survival is another factor in disease progression. In the PNAS study, the Schmid lab found that aggressive cancer cells appear to have adapted neuronal mechanisms to thwart a key cancer-killing pathway triggered by activating "death receptors" (DRs) on cancer cells. Specifically, aggressive cancer cells appear to have adapted ways to selectively activate Dyn1 to suppress DR signaling that usually leads to cancer cell death.

"It is amazing that the aggressive cancers use a signaling pathway to increase the activity of EGF and also turn on Dyn1 pathways to suppress cancer death - so you have this vicious circle," said Dr. Schmid, who holds the Cecil H. Green Distinguished Chair in Cellular and Molecular Biology.

She stressed that less aggressive cancers respond to forms of chemotherapy that repress EGF signaling and/or die in response to the TRAIL-DR pathway. However, aggressive lung and breast cancer cells have adapted ways to commandeer the neuronal mechanisms identified in these studies.

The hope is that this research will someday lead to improved strategies to fight the most aggressive cancers, she said. Currently, her laboratory is conducting research to identify Dyn1 inhibitors as potential anticancer drugs using a 280,000-compound library in a shared facility at UTSouthwestern.

"Cancer is a disease of cell biology. To grow, spread, and survive, cancer cells modify normal cellular behavior to their advantage. They can't reinvent the underlying mechanisms, but can adapt them. In these studies, we find that some cancer cells repurpose tools that neurons use in order to get a competitive advantage over nearby normal cells," she said.

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How we think and fall in love are controlled by lightning-fast electrochemical signals across synapses, the dynamic spaces between nerve cells. Until now, nobody knew that cancer cells can repurpose tools of neuronal communication ...

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Protein once thought exclusive to neurons helps some cancers grow, spread, defy death - Medical Xpress

Human Behavior

Data Science Meets Behavioral Science – Datanami

(Dooder/Shutterstock)

In the United States alone, 38 million people start their day by eagerly fastening a device to their wrist that is not worn for the purpose of fashion or keeping time. It is a fitness tracker and these little gadgets have swept the nation. Why? Because people love having instant access to their performance, activities and goals. They enjoy tracking their progress throughout the day. They are addicted to the gratifying notifications of success, and the social aspects of competing with friends, family members, and coworkers.

The fitness tracker market has achieved tremendous success by providing its consumers with relevant data and motivating incentives. They are successfully inspiring the world to be more active by leveraging principles from both data science and behavioral science.

For centuries, traditional economic theory dictated that humans make logical, self-interested decisions, always choosing the most favorable conditions. However, reality often demonstrates otherwise.

Every January, how many people do you know say that they want to resolve to save more, spend less, eat better, or exercise more? These admirable goals are often proclaimed with the best of intentions, but are rarely achieved. If people were purely logical, we would all be the healthiest versions of ourselves.

However, the truth is that humans are not 100% rational; we are emotional creatures that are not always predictable. Behavioral economics evolved from this recognition of human irrationality. Behavioral economics is a method of economic analysis that applies psychological insights into human behavior to explain economic decision-making.

Essentially, it is the intersection between economics and behavioral psychology. Behavioral economics helps us understand why only one-third of Americans floss daily, why most peoples expensive home treadmills turn into overpriced coat racks, and why motivating humans is more complicated than ever before.

Traditional economic theory does not address human irrationality

Human behavior can be seen as the byproduct of millions of years of evolution. With a nature forged from hunger, anxiety and fear, it is no wonder the behaviors of modern man can often be irrational driven by forces like peer pressure, availability bias and emotional exhaustion. To change human behavior, we must embrace our human nature, instead of fight it. And one of the most powerful tools to help enable change is data.

Data science is the discipline that allows us to analyze the unseen and with machine learning, it allows us to look at large sets of data and surface patterns, identifying when past performance is indicative of future results. For instance, it lets us forecast what products are most likely to be sold and which customers are most likely to buy. But what if you not only want to understand potential outcomes, what if you want to completely change outcomes, and more specifically, what if you want to change the way in which people behave? Behavioral economics tells us that to make a fundamental change in behavior that will affect the long-term outcome of a process, we must insert an inflection point. What is the best method to create an inflection point or get someone to do something they would not ordinarily do? Incentives.

As an example, you are a sales rep and two years ago your revenue was $1million. Last year it was $1.1 million, and this year you expect $1.2 million in sales. The trend is clear, and your growth has been linear and predictable. However, there is a change in company leadership and your management has increased your quota to $2 million for next year. What is going to motivate you to almost double your revenues? The difference between expectations ($2 million) and reality ($1.2 million) is often referred to as the behavioral gap (see chart below).

When the behavioral gap is significant, an inflection point is needed to close that gap. The right incentive can initiate an inflection point and influence a change in behavior. Perhaps that incentive is an added bonus, Presidents Club eligibility, a promotion, etc.

The behavior gap depicted above represents the difference between raised expectations (management increasing quota) and the trajectory of current sales performance.

In the US, studies from Harvard Business Review and other industry publications posit that companies spend over one trillion dollars annually on incentives. That number is four times the money spent on advertising in the US annually. What that means is that, as a nation, we are deeply invested in incenting people to act in ways that are somewhat contrary to how they would normally act, if left to their own devices. Incentives appear in many forms such as commissions and bonuses for sales personnel and channel sellers, rebate payments and marketing incentives for partners and customers, and promotions, discounts and coupons for end consumers.

Incentives are most effective when they are intelligent, or data driven. Deloitte University Press published a report stating that when it comes to the relationship between data science and behavioral science, it is reasonable to anticipate better results when the two approaches are treated as complementary and applied in tandem. Behavioral science principles should be part of the data scientists toolkit, and vice versa.

Data scientists work with product and sales teams, employing data and patterns to manage incentive programs. Using forecast modeling and behavior mechanics, teams can plot out the path from one goal to the next and analyze and implement proper incentives.

As an example, lets say your company is a furniture manufacturer that uses a CPQ tool to manage its complex quoting and pricing processes. One of the major reasons your company invested in the CPQ solution was to curb chronic, costly discounting by the sales team.

You are a new sales rep using CPQ to build a quote. What if, mid-quote, your system alerts you that the discount you entered, while within the approved range, may not be ideal. Machine learning ran in the background and identified a different discount used by the top 10% of reps that has had more success. Additionally, you learn that if you choose the prescribed discount, you will earn 40% more commission! Talk about a relevant incentive, based on powerful data.

In a real-world implementation, one Quote-to-Cash customer lets call them Company X who links websites with advertisers, needed to be able to better forecast the potential revenue for each deal. The nature of the business does not allow Company X to recognize revenue until a user clicks on an ad. They harnessed machine learning to understand past behavior, used behavioral science to influence future behavior, and implemented A/B testing (comparing two versions of a web page to see which performs better) on incentive effectiveness programs. The A/B testing data allowed Company X to understand the effectiveness of certain incentives to guide customer behavior.

When applied together, data science and behavioral economics provide powerful business results by collecting relevant, timely insight and defining incentives that align human behaviors with organizational goals.

About the author: Sarah Van Caster is a Data Analyst at Apttus and Lead Strategist for Incentives. She has decade of experience in high-tech, communications and logistics industries and she enjoys designing innovative, customer-focused content and solutions. Sarah has degrees from the University of Wisconsin and Drake University.

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Data Science Meets Behavioral Science - Datanami