All posts by medical

Family Medicine

Letters to the editor: ‘I wonder if the main stumbling block might be doctors themselves.’ The right to a family doctor, plus … – The Globe and Mail

Place blame

Re A young life in Gaza, shattered (Opinion, April 6): The account of Nada and her family in Gaza is a tragedy.

It is a tragedy for that family. Equally it is a tragedy because there are thousands of innocent Palestinian families just like Nadas who have similar experiences, cannot get wounds healed or access health care, have lost their homes, family members and futures.

But Nada is not alone in not forgiving. Many people outside of Gaza will not forgive, either.

Roger Emsley Delta, B.C.

The life of Nada before Oct. 7, 2023, as a student with a bright future living a fairly prosperous life in a modern apartment in Gaza City, is contrasted to her present nightmarish existence. Its shocking.

However, I fail to comprehend who she blames. Had the events of Oct. 7 not occurred, there would be no grudge to bear.

David Sacoransky Toronto

Re Why should Indigenous Canadians not be entitled to the same rights as other Canadians? (Opinion, April 6): Ask First Nations if they signed on to the Charter. If the answer is no, then deference should be given to Indigenous peoples determining their own path.

The Charter is characterized as an altruistic, unchangeable, perfect set of rights for all peoples. But it is interpreted, and I would not presume that to be done in the best manner for another group, especially First Nations.

Supreme Court Justice Malcolm Rowe, as the only dissenter on this point, seems to have got it right.

Jason New Foothills County, Alta.

First Nations that successfully negotiate self-government treaties should be free to bring themselves under the jurisdiction of the Charter.

But one of the purposes of Section 25 seems to be ensuring that the constitutional underpinnings adopted by a First Nation are of its choosing, not necessarily reflective of the values of its colonizers. In other words, the Charter cannot be used to invalidate or detract from the rights of Indigenous peoples, even when those rights are different from Canadians. (The right to an Indigenous fishery comes to mind.)

Why should First Nations not be entitled to the same rights as Canadians? Canadians do not have the right, for example, to govern Quebec when they live in British Columbia. More importantly, a First Nation may decide it wants a different type of rights-and-freedoms regime.

Does colonialism keep us from seeing that possibility?

Brenda Taylor Surrey, B.C.

Re Its time for Canadians to have the right to a family doctor (Opinion, April 6): I would vote for any party committed to implementing primary health care that mirrors the structure of public education systems. However, I wonder if the main stumbling block might be doctors themselves.

It would mean abandoning family practices as sole proprietorships. All physicians would become civil servants. There would be greater accountability for patient loads and hours worked. Team-based models would be required, not optional.

On the other hand, it would address a common complaint among family doctors that, as small business owners, they spend too much time on administration. It would mean more time with patients.

But would they give up the power that accompanies running the show? I would hope so, for the greater good.

Michael Brooks Burlington, Ont.

Kudos to doctor Jane Philpott for her interesting idea. Her model might contribute to solving unnecessary waiting times and rationing Canadian experiences related to failures of primary care governance.

Many Canadian public schools are successful, partly because they have parent-teacher associations and other elements of local participation and governance.

Several years ago, the Nova Scotia Co-operative Council suggested a series of local health co-operatives, governed and managed by local boards. They would have maintained the principle of universality and negotiated salaries and revenue with members, staff and governments.

Unfortunately, both the federal and provincial governments rejected the idea. They preferred to continue the failing model of centralized governance and management.

David Zitner MD, Halifax

The year I was president of the Ontario College of Family Physicians, the provincial government introduced family health teams.

As a member of a team, I witnessed the excitement as medical students watched the renaissance of our specialty. We attracted many young, talented family physicians. The percentage of students choosing this career increased dramatically.

But that was almost 20 years ago. Subsequent governments felt teams were too expensive and a moratorium resulted. Now students mainly see overwhelmed physicians working in non-teams. Recent government announcements have added a small number of new teams that will hardly undo the damage of years of complacency.

Our residency matching process witnessed an abrupt decrease in those choosing family medicine. Teams cannot exist without a physician or nurse practitioner to lead them.

Although I applaud doctor Jane Philpotts ideas, it may well be that our governments have done too little, too late.

Val Rachlis MD, Toronto

As a family physician of 40 years, I appreciate doctor Jane Philpotts eloquent call to action.

The research of doctor Barbara Starfield has shown that investment in primary care was associated with improved system quality, equity and efficiency. Yet in Canada, there is inadequate financial support for primary care practices which provide access to the health system, preventive care, diagnosis and management of disease.

In my role of training future physicians, I hear them speak of their moral dilemma regarding family practice. They want to serve their communities, yet worry about the double debt from medical training and running private offices, as the costs of these have risen sharply.

We should redesign the system together, to meet the urgent needs of our population. Who will have the courage to fund primary care adequately?

Cleo Mavriplis MD Ottawa

Re No kids? No problem: How Canadas child-free and cash-rich couples are spending their time and money (Report on Business, April 6): The people presented all seem solely focused on themselves.

Does the money saved let them support charities? Does the additional leisure time let them become more engaged in their communities?

Are these choices good for Canada? Are these the citizens of the future?

Perhaps immigration is the cure to find people who really care.

Grant Swanson Oakville, Ont.

Fyodor Dostoevsky writes that the soul is healed by being with children. I guess that is one type of healing which DINKs mostly sacrifice.

Paul Thiessen Vancouver

..................................................................................................................................

Letters to the Editor should be exclusive to The Globe and Mail. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Keep letters to 150 words or fewer. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. To submit a letter by e-mail, click here: letters@globeandmail.com

Follow this link:

Letters to the editor: 'I wonder if the main stumbling block might be doctors themselves.' The right to a family doctor, plus ... - The Globe and Mail

Endocrinology

No Link Between GLP-1 Drugs and Suicide, Says European Regulator – Medpage Today

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) found no evidence to support a causal link between GLP-1 receptor agonists and suicidal thoughts, a committee said on Friday following a 9-month review.

An investigation was launched in July 2023 over reports of suicidal ideation and self-harm thoughts and actions not previously reported in any clinical trials. The investigation was extended again last November when the committee requested more postmarketing data from the drugmakers.

But after reviewing the totality of evidence from non-clinical studies, clinical trials, and post-marketing surveillance data, the committee said that an update to the product information is not warranted.

"The marketing authorization holders for these medicines will continue to monitor these events closely, including any new publications, as part of their pharmacovigilance activities and report any new evidence on this issue in their Periodic Safety Update Reports (PSURs)," the committee noted.

This more definitive conclusion comes on the heels of the FDA's preliminary evaluation of the issue, which was released in January.

At that time, the FDA said that while it "cannot definitively rule out that a small risk may exist," its preliminary evaluation did not suggest a causal link. "We will communicate our final conclusions and recommendations after we complete our review or have more information to share," the agency wrote in its safety communication.

The EMA's conclusion was based on the recent Nature Medicine study of 240,618 patients who had overweight or obesity taking semaglutide (Ozempic, Rybelsus, Wegovy). Interestingly, there was a significantly lower risk of suicidal ideation among these patients compared with those on non-GLP-1 anti-obesity medications (0.11% vs 0.43%; HR 0.27, 95% CI 0.20-0.36).

This study also looked at 1,572,885 patients with type 2 diabetes on semaglutide, who had a significantly lower risk of suicidal ideation compared with patients taking other anti-diabetes medications (0.13% vs 0.36%; HR 0.36, 95% CI 0.25-0.53).

In addition, the review included an analysis that the EMA conducted independently that compared type 2 diabetes patients on a GLP-1 receptor agonist with those on an SGLT2 inhibitor, but no results were reported.

The EMA's announcement was exclusive to agents in the GLP-1 receptor agonist class currently approved in Europe -- semaglutide, liraglutide (Victoza, Saxenda), liraglutide/insulin degludec (Xultophy), dulaglutide (Trulicity), exenatide (Byetta, Bydureon BCise), lixisenatide (Adlyxin), and lixisenatide/insulin glargine (Soliqua). It didn't include FDA-approved tirzepatide (Mounjaro, Zepbound), a dual GIP/GLP-1 receptor agonist. These agents have indications for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, obesity, or both.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, call or text 988 or go to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline website.

Kristen Monaco is a senior staff writer, focusing on endocrinology, psychiatry, and nephrology news. Based out of the New York City office, shes worked at the company since 2015.

See the rest here:

No Link Between GLP-1 Drugs and Suicide, Says European Regulator - Medpage Today

Biology

AACR 2024 Plenary: New Insights Into Early Cancer Biology – American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)

Seventy percent of cancer-related deaths are from cancer types with no available screening options, underscoring the importance of detecting cancer early when it is more easily treated. The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2024, held April 5-10, kicked off its plenary program with a session on Discovery Science in Early Cancer Biology and Interception, which was chaired by Daniel De Carvalho, PhD, a professor at University of Toronto and researcher at the Princess Margaret Research Centre.

[Early cancer detection] is where we can have the biggest impact from cancer research on clinical care, De Carvalho said. He noted that novel early detection approaches will depend on understanding the molecular changes that occur as cells evolve from normal to precancer to cancer.

We really need to understand early cancer biology and figure out ways to use this for cancer interception, he said.

Just in time for the newly declared National Cancer Prevention and Early Detection Month, the session featured four presentations that explored the early changes underpinning cancer development and efforts to target these for cancer treatment.

In the first presentation, Margaret Goodell, PhD, FAACR, a professor at Baylor College of Medicine, discussed mechanisms that may drive clonal hematopoiesis, a state characterized by the outgrowth of genetically distinct populations of hematopoietic stem cells. Clonal hematopoiesis commonly occurs with aging and increases an individuals risk for several blood cancers.

Understanding how clonal hematopoiesis develops is key to identifying novel approaches to prevent this premalignant condition from progressing to cancer, Goodell noted.

In three separate vignettes, she shared distinct mechanisms underlying clonal hematopoiesis, including commonly occurring mutations in PPM1D, the gene that encodes the p53 suppressor protein WIP1. Goodell showed that these mutations inactivated DNA repair and cell death mechanisms and made cells more likely to proliferate with unresolved DNA damage, particularly after exposure to chemotherapy drugs. Consistent with these preclinical findings, blood samples from patients who had received chemotherapy were enriched for PPM1D-mutated cells.

Chemotherapy exposure also increased the occurrence of mutations in the chromatin regulator SRCAP, the focus of Goodells second vignette. In contrast to PPM1D mutations, the commonly occurring SRCAP mutations increased DNA repair by upregulating the expression of DNA damage genes through histone alterations. Goodell noted that, although mutations in PPM1D and SRCAP had contrasting effects on DNA repair, they both provided survival advantages to hematopoietic stem cellsa phenomenon that might be explained by different environmental contexts.

Finally, Goodell discussed mutations in DNMT3A, which she described as the most important tumor suppressor in the hematopoietic system. She explained that hematopoietic stem cells with DNMT3A mutations exhibit enhanced self-renewal and suggested that this may be due to the mutants epigenetic impacts.

Goodell proposed that these mechanistic insights could lay the foundation for future cancer interception efforts. In the long term, she said, we think there will be great opportunities for interventions if we can understand which mutations are particularly bad, in which contexts they arise, and how we can interfere with their functions.

Most breast cancers are diagnosed in individuals 55 years of age or older, and research presented by Kornelia Polyak, MD, PhD, FAACR, a professor at Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, shed light on the cancer-promoting changes that occur with aging.

Using rat models, Polyak and colleagues discovered that aging was associated with dysregulated proliferation of mammary epithelial cells (from which most breast cancers arise), altered gene expression, changes to the proportion of certain immune cells, modified tissue states, and the decline of various cellular functions.

Among the genes whose expression increased with aging was midkine (MDK), a growth factor that has been implicated in cancer and other diseases. Polyak shared data demonstrating that MDK was upregulated with aging in rat mammary tissue, as well as in plasma samples from older individuals and in human breast cancers. Additionally, individuals under the age of 55 whose normal breast tissue had higher levels of MDK were found to have a greater five-year risk of breast cancer, and young patients whose breast cancers had high levels of MDK had lower disease-free survival rates.

Further experimentation revealed that MDK may impact breast cancer development by activating the tumor-promoting PI3K signaling pathway, repressing tumor suppressive pathways, and enhancing metabolic activityconsequences mediated by SREBF1, a regulator of cell metabolism.

Don Cleveland, PhD, FAACR, a professor at the UC San Diego School of Medicine, shared mechanistic insights into chromothripsis (chromosome shattering) and its contributions to cancer development. He demonstrated that abnormal chromosomes accumulate in micronuclei, where they undergo chromothripsis through the action of the N4BP2 nuclease. Shattered chromosome fragments remain near one another due to tethering by the DNA repair protein TOPBP1, and this proximity facilitates aberrant ligation of the chromosome fragments into circular DNAs that amplify the expression of certain oncogenes and drive drug resistance.

Separately, he proposed that Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) may promote cancer through a similar tethering action as shattered chromosome fragments. He showed that the viral protein EBNA1 becomes tethered to an EBV-like DNA sequence in chromosome 11, which leads to chromosome breakage and the separation of the MLL gene from the rest of chromosome 11. The MLL-containing DNA fragment enters micronuclei and undergoes chromothripsis, re-ligation, and amplification of MLL. This, in turn, inactivates the DNA repair protein ATM and may promote the formation of cancer. (MLL is a negative regulator of ATM.)

The accumulation of DNA damage can lead to cancer and, if left unresolved, trigger cell death. For this reason, many researchers are exploring inhibiting DNA repair as a potential approach to treat cancer. Michael Kastan, MD, PhD, FAACR, a professor at Duke University and executive director of Duke Cancer Institute, demonstrated the potential of an investigational chemical inhibitor of the DNA repair proteins ATM and DNA-PK to sensitize cells to radiation.

ATM and DNA-PK are signal transducers activated early in the response to DNA damage and regulate a multitude of downstream effector proteins that ultimately repair the damage or trigger cell death.

Kastan explained that ATM and DNA-PK are logical targets because 1) they are important regulators of DNA repair, 2) their activity is not essential to the survival of cells, and 3) cells that lack either protein remain sensitive to radiation.

He and colleagues identified XRD-0394, a novel dual inhibitor of ATM and DNA-PK, that could be delivered systemically. In preclinical models, XRD-0394 inhibited both proteins in a dose-dependent manner. Importantly, it led to cell death only in the presence of radiation, which allowed the drug to be delivered systemically without widespread toxicities.

Based on these preclinical data, Kastan and colleagues initiated a phase I clinical trial to evaluate the safety and pharmacokinetics of the drug in patients. The drug has not led to any dose-limiting toxicities thus far, and patient tumor samples indicate that the drug successfully inhibits ATM in patients. Kastan plans to explore combining XRD-0394 with various other therapies, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors, PARP inhibitors, and cytotoxic drugs.

Read the original:

AACR 2024 Plenary: New Insights Into Early Cancer Biology - American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)

Biology

Analytics for Spatial Biology: DNA and RNA Imaging – LCGC Chromatography Online

Gradient boosting machine (GBM) learning is applied to analyzing DNA and RNA images created using AI and multiple analytical techniques. AI and GBM hold promise for simplifying and standardizing discovery for spatial biology. During a lecture at the 2024 Analytica conference in Munich, Germany, several experts spoke about this technology.

To begin this session, Denis Schapiro, from the University Hospital Heidelberg and Heidelberg University in Germany, presented "From oncology to cardiology: Spatial omics technologies for topographic biomarker discovery," emphasized the development of the histoCAT software toolbox designed for highly multiplexed image analysis, particularly from imaging mass cytometry (IMC). Imaging mass cytometry (IMC) is a technique that displays the spatial distribution of proteins or other biomolecules within tissue samples. These images are generated by combining mass spectrometry using metal-tagged antibodies, enzymatic methods, or by using fluorescence spectroscopy. Schapiro introduced histoCAT's advanced machine learning (ML) approaches and its integration with the modular computational pipeline, MCMICRO, enabling proteomic and transcriptomic analysis across various spatial technologies. Additionally, Schapiro discussed the highly multiplexed tissue imaging (MITI) standard and a spatial power analysis framework to enhance experimental design strategies, demonstrated through data processing related to myocardial infarction.

The second talk by Ralf Jungmann, of LMU Munich and Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Germany, gave a lecture titled "From DNA Nanotechnology to Biomedical insight: Towards Single-Molecule Spatial Omics," outlined advancements in DNA-PAINT software for converting standard fluorescence microscopy into a spatial omics tool. The analytical toolkit used for spatial omics typically includes techniques such as imaging mass cytometry (IMC) and spatially resolved RNA sequencing (spatial transcriptomics). These methods enable the simultaneous measurement of molecular and spatial information within tissue samples, facilitating the study of cellular heterogeneity, interactions, and spatial organization in biological systems. Jungmann introduced improvements achieving sub-nanometer spatial resolution and spectrally unlimited multiplexing, along with strategies to increase imaging speeds in DNA-PAINT. Furthermore, he presented cell surface receptor quantification techniques and their potential for therapeutic applications.

In the third session talk, Manuel Liebeke, from the University of Kiel, presented, "Deciphering Metabolism in HostMicrobe Interactions with Mass Spectrometry Imaging and Microscopy," discussing the use of mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI-MSI) and spatial metabolomics fluorescence in situ hybridization (metaFISH). These methods are used to study hostmicrobe interactions by allowing direct and simultaneous mapping of diverse metabolites within biological tissues. Liebeke showcased metaFISH's ability to assign spatial distribution of metabolites to specific microbiome members at single-cell resolution, providing insights into metabolic interactions in dynamic environments. Through metaFISH, precise localization of bacteria, host cells, and associated metabolites in animal tissues was demonstrated, enhancing understanding of metabolic interactions.

The final presentation of this session was given by Martin Seifert, of 10X Genomics in Leiden, the Netherlands. The talk was titled, "New Possibilities for the Discovery of Disease Relevant Information. Gaining a new Picture of Biology with Single Cell and Spatial Analyses." This talk highlighted the integration of single-cell sequencing, spatial transcriptomics, and targeted in-situ analyses for disease tissues. Seifert emphasized their potential in elucidating molecular patterns crucial for understanding various disease processes, exemplified through data processing related to formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) cancer samples. The lecture highlighted the complementary nature between different analytical technologies, providing new insights into disease-relevant processes. Mass spectrometry (MS) is most often employed to analyze the proteome and metabolome of single cells.

Visit link:

Analytics for Spatial Biology: DNA and RNA Imaging - LCGC Chromatography Online

Biology

Here’s what I teach my students about finding jobs in marine biology and conservation – Southern Fried Science

Our field is competitive, some job postings are confusing, and some career advice is contradictory or wrong. Heres an exercise I have my students perform that I hope can help you.

Graphic via Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Hardly a day goes by that I dont see a heartbreaking post from a prospective marine biologist in one of the professional Facebook groups. People are (at best) giving up on their dreams, and some even find themselves in serious financial trouble, or standed far from home. People report that they graduated without taking an optional class that they now realize they should have taken to get a job, or that they spent 5-8 years getting a Ph.D. only to learn that their dream job doesnt require one. People realize after spending years training for a job that it does not pay enough to support them and their family and that they have to pursue another career entirely. There are daily complaints from students and new graduates that the job market is complicated and confusing, or that the advice they received from mentors didnt help them.

I love my career, I hate seeing students upset, and I want to try and help people out a little. So with that in mind, here is an abbreviated version of the exercise that I have my students do in class to learn about the marine biology and conservation job market. Please note that while most of the principles here are broadly applicable, local conditions may vary in some countries, and not all of this will make sense outside of a USA context.

What general types of jobs are there?

Generally speaking, I find that lots of people are not always super clear on the difference between a marine biology job and an ocean conservation job. With the understanding that positions are increasingly interdisciplinary and these lines are often blurred, and the understanding that there are lots of jobs that dont fit neatly into any of these categories, heres a quick general description of what types of groups generally hire ocean scientists. This is very basic and does not begin to cover all the nuances out there, but many people dont even know this much, so lets start with the basics.

-Academia. Colleges and Universities are where most scientific research takes place. Relevant positions here include faculty positions, postdoctoral positions (which require a Ph.D.), graduate student positions (both to earn your Masters or your Ph.D.), and research technican/field technician positions. Jobs here are generally a mix of research and teaching.

-Government agencies. In the USA, there are jobs available in government agencies both at the Federal and state level (for coastal states). Government agencies employ research scientists as well as managers and regulators whose job it is to synthesize science into a conservation and management plan. Note that USAJobs.gov is the way to apply for (almost) all Federal jobs, and is possibly the worst website ever created by humanity, so you should seek out USAJobs specific advice.

-Environmental non-profit groups. If you want to do conservation as opposed to scientific research, this type of position is often the best opportunity. Environmental non-profits hire advocates and campaign leaders to try and persuade the public and/or government officials to help protect the ocean, and an understanding of marine biology can help here. These groups increasingly also hire scientific advisors whose job it is to advise their staff advocates, and even scientific researchers to perform research relevant to that groups goals (see above about blurry lines between positions).

-Aquariums, zoos, and environmental education centers. If you want to work with animals directly (to help take care of captive animals) or to talk about ocean science and conservation to the public (as a docent or environmental educator,) this may be the career path for you.

What should you look for in a job?

The reason that I dont like giving anything but the most general career advice on social media is that I dont know you very well. I dont know your hopes and dreams. I dont know what youre willing to compromise on vs. whats a dealbreaker for you. I dont know your familiy life, or your hobbies. So instead of telling you how to make a decision, Ill tell you how to find the information needed to make your own choices.

I have my students examine current job board postings (more on how to find these below), and I have them look at currently posted jobs even though theyre not actually applying yet. The reason for this is simple: the most effective way to learn what kinds of jobs are available, what theyd be like, and what they require is to examine what kinds of jobs are available, what theyd be like, and what they require.

I ask students to look for the following pieces of information in the job ads they find on job boards, and to reflect on them accordingly:

-Where would you be living if you took this job? Some jobs are possible to do fully remotely, some require moving. If youd have to move for this job, would you be living somewhere where you would be happy? When I talk about this on social media, some people flippantly reply that of course marine biology jobs are near the coast and students not willing to move there are lazy, but of course its more complicated than that. Maybe your partner has a great job where you currently live and cant move. Maybe you need to live near a family member who you help take care of. Lots of coastal states arent especially friendly to LGBTQ+ people or other minorities. Maybe your life isnt complete unless you can go ballroom dancing once a week with an active ballroom dancing club. Your reasons are your own, but you should consider them carefully before taking a job where you wouldnt be happy, because your job is not the only part of your life that matters.

-What would your day be like if you got this job? Look at the actual duties of the job, they may surprise you. To put it mildly, it is unlikely that youre going to find a job that consists entirely of SCUBA diving on coral reefs all day every day. Are those duties something youd enjoy doing? Would you feel challenged and valued? (Its also worth noting that a universal truth in most fields is that the higher up you go in a career, the more supervision and managerial/admin type tasks youll be doing).

-How much freedom would you have? Some people really love to just perform their assigned tasks with lots of guidance and supervision, some people prefer to have flexibility to let their creativity run wild. Most entry level jobs have relatively little flexibility, youre far more likely to be a proverbial cog in a machine than to be asked to help to design the machines structure and outputs.

-What kind of job security and opportunities for advancement are there? Some positions are explicitly temporary (seasonal field tech, maternity leave cover, one-year fellowship, etc.) It may not make sense for you to move halfway around the world for a six month job with no possibility of extension.

-What skills or degrees does the job require? If the job does not require a Ph.D. and you could see yourself being happy doing this job (or ones like it) your whole career, it may not be worthwhile to get a Ph.D. If the job requires a Masters, you should probably plan on getting a Masters to do this job or one like it. If the job explicitly requires a technical skill like using ARCGIS or Python or MARXAN or rescue diver certification or something, you should strongly consider trying to learn those skills through an elective course while youre still a student. You should be aware of the difference between required skills and desired skills, as one is, well, required. If a job ad lists 10 desired skills and you dont have any of those skills, youre probably not a strong candidate for that position, but if you have 2 or 3, Id encourage you to apply because its likely that no one has all 10 and the people posting the job ad know that.

-What does the job pay? None of us pursue this career to get rich, but weve all got bills to pay and some of us have families to support. If you cannot survive on the provided salary and cant afford to take that job and need to consider another career path, its probably best to learn that now rather than after youve spent years pursuing a stressful and technical graduate degree. Lots of jobs dont post their salary, which is bad, because they should. But you can often find a similar job that does post a salary and assume itd be fairly similar. And salary commensurate with experience is not a great sign if you are looking for your first job and therefore dont have very much experience yet.

Discussion with students

Students are asked to look at lots of different types of jobs, but specifically to find one that looks like a dream job for them, one that looks miserable to them, and one surprising one that they didnt know was a job. After I have students look for jobs and record all of the information above, which can be done individually or in small groups depending on your class size, I bring everyone back together for a discussion.

Students are asked to share jobs they found and relevant info about those jobs. Students are asked to discuss if anything surprised them. Students are asked to think about if their current degree program provides them with the types of skills needed for these jobs, or if a new class or program is needed. And finally, students can ask questions.

Jobs boards

There are many marine biology jobs boards, but here are the ones I use for my course. It is likely that you will be able to find most currently posted jobs by examining and comparing these three. And be sure to check back reguarly, as now jobs are added weekly!

SevenSeas ocean jobs

Conservation Careers

Florida SeaGrants Facebook page (weekly job postings)

Conclusions

If youre a student or prospective student interested in marine biology as a career, Id encourage you to try this exercise. If youre teaching students, Id encourage you to incorporate some version of this into your course or lab meetings. Anyone is free to modify this however you like, I just ask that you let me know if you find a way that works better!

I cant help to create more jobs or better paying jobs or jobs in different places, but I hope that Ive helped to clear up some of the confusing parts of the marine biology and conservation job market.

Happy job hunting!

Follow this link:

Here's what I teach my students about finding jobs in marine biology and conservation - Southern Fried Science

Biology

Biology, not technology, will save the planet | Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber – Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber

Regenerating Life offers a different, challenging, yet hopeful message about the climate crisis.

By Rondi Lightmark April 11, 2024 1:30 am

Regenerating Life by director John Feldman is a cant-miss film that offers a different, challenging, yet hopeful message about the climate crisis.

Consider this: what if the entire climate conversation about CO2 emissions and fossil fuels is a dangerous distraction from the real reason our planet is dying? What if rising CO2 levels and global warming trends are not causes, but symptoms of ecological loss?

We have lots of evidence every day about whats gone wrong the dying of ecosystems, plant and animal extinctions, fires, droughts and floods, melting glaciers, poisoned air. But Regenerating Life says we are missing the why. The story of excess greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is only one part of the picture.

The bigger view includes the countless relationships in nature that have been all but severed as a result of centuries of mismanagement of our natural resources because of human ignorance and greed.

Even as we seem to be standing on the brink of extinction, amazing revelations about the systems of the Earth are appearing: growing awareness of the symbiotic relationships between plankton and whales in the oceans, ruminants and grasslands, beaver and watersheds, trees and salmon in the Pacific Northwest, how the moisture content of soil and the transpiration of trees influences weather, how microbes are the workhorses of all life processes.

Weve been stuck in a limited narrative, bowing to chemistry and technology, discounting biology and natures intricate wisdom.

Regenerating Life takes on this challenge in three parts. Part one is titled Water Cools the Planet. Even though water vapor is the biggest greenhouse gas of all, water is not mentioned at all in discussions about emissions. Yet its role in both the biology and the hydrology of the planet is the basis of all life, and there is no subject more important to grasp.

Much of our current global turmoil is a direct result of the disappearance of water in countries all over the globe, from the war that began in Syria because of unrelenting drought, to the turmoil along our southern border.

Part two is Life Sustains the Planet. Nature knows best how to heal and manage life on the planet if we can just get out of the way. This part presents a biologically focused argument with inspiring examples of how this can be accomplished through ecological restoration even on vast areas of land in as little as 20 years. The big takeaway is that protecting and nurturing good soil will help balance solar radiation in and out from the planet.

Part three, Small Farms Feed the World, presents a great reason for valuing our Vashon farmers. This section advocates for nurturing small, local farming communities (by which most global food is already grown, more productively than corporate farms). An examination of the failures of the Green Revolution in Africa, the corporate push for growing crop monocultures, and genetic ownership of seed varieties is eloquently discussed by environmental activist Vandana Shiva, who has led the farmers resistance movement in India.

The Sorcerors Apprentice is a well-known poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Written in 1797, its about the chaos created when an old sorcerer leaves his workshop with his apprentice in charge.

The apprentice tries out some magic to enchant a broom to do his fetching-water work for him, but the shop is flooded when he realizes he does not know how to stop the spell. Its a fitting example of the hubris exhibited by those searching for technological solutions to the climate crisis from capturing carbon emissions and burying them underground, to sending solar shields into space, to creating fake food to feed the masses.

By contrast, John Feldmans film is a compelling and powerful lesson that nature can help us solve our climate problems if we give her a chance.

Regenerating Life, sponsored by The Whole Vashon Project, will be shown at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 16. Donations are welcome at the door.

Rondi Lightmark is the founder of The Whole Vashon Project. To find out more about the organization, and get involved, visit wholevashonproject.com.

See more here:

Biology, not technology, will save the planet | Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber - Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber

Biology

Bonobos are more aggressive than previously thought – EurekAlert

image:

Bonobos

Credit: Maud Mouginot

Chimpanzees and bonobos are often thought to reflect two different sides of human naturethe conflict-ready chimpanzee versus the peaceful bonobobut a new study publishing April 12 in the journal Current Biology shows that, within their own communities, male bonobos are more frequently aggressive than male chimpanzees. For both species, more aggressive males had more mating opportunities.

Chimpanzees and bonobos use aggression in different ways for specific reasons, says anthropologist and lead author Maud Mouginot of Boston University. The idea is not to invalidate the image of bonobos being peacefulthe idea is that there is a lot more complexity in both species.

Though previous studies have investigated aggression in bonobos and chimpanzees, this is the first study to directly compare the species behavior using the same field methods. The researchers focused on male aggression, which is often tied to reproduction, but they note that female bonobos and chimpanzees are not passive, and their aggression warrants its own future research.

To compare bonobo and chimpanzee aggression, the team scrutinized rates of male aggression in three bonobo communities at the Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve (Democratic Republic of Congo) and two chimpanzee communities at Gombe National Park (Tanzania). Overall, they examined the behavior of 12 bonobos and 14 chimpanzees by conducting focal follows, which involved tracking one individuals behavior for an entire day and taking note of how often they engaged in aggressive interactions, who these interactions were with, and whether they were physical or not (e.g., whether the aggressor engaged in pushing and biting or simply chased their adversary).

You go to their nests and wait for them to wake up and then you just follow them the entire day from the moment they wake up to the moment they go to sleep at nightand record everything they do, says Mouginot.

To their surprise, the researchers found that male bonobos were more frequently aggressive than chimpanzees. Overall, bonobos engaged in 2.8 times more aggressive interactions and 3 times as many physical aggressions.

While male bonobos were almost exclusively aggressive toward other males, chimpanzees were more likely to act aggressively toward females. Chimpanzee aggression was also more likely to involve coalitions of males (13.2% vs. 1% of bonobo aggressions). The researchers think that these coalitions might be one reason why aggression is less frequent among chimpanzees. Altercations involving groups of males have the potential to cause more injuries, and within-community fighting could also weaken the groups ability to fight off other groups of chimpanzees. Bonobos dont have this issue because most of their disputes are one on one, they have never been observed to kill one another, and they are not thought to be territorial, which leaves their communities free to bicker among themselves.

For both chimpanzees and bonobos, more aggressive males had greater mating success. The researchers were surprised to find this in bonobos, which have a co-dominant social dynamic in which females often outrank males, compared to chimpanzees, which have male-dominated hierarchies in which male coalitions coerce females into mating.

Male bonobos that are more aggressive obtain more copulations with females, which is something that we would not expect, said Mouginot. It means that females do not necessarily go for nicer males.

These findings partially contradict a prevailing hypothesis in primate and anthropological behaviorthe self-domesticating hypothesiswhich posits that aggression has been selected against in bonobos and humans but not chimpanzees.

The researchers were not able to assess the severity of aggressive interactions in terms of whether they resulted in wounds or injuries, but this is data that they hope to collect in future. They also want to compare aggressive behavior in other groups of chimpanzees and bonobos as its possible that behavior varies between communities and subspecies.

I'd love to have the study complemented with comparable data from other field sites so we can get a broader understanding of variation within and between species, says Mouginot.

###

This research was supported by Harvard University, Duke University, Franklin and Marshall College, George Washington University, the University of Minnesota, the Max Planck Society, the Institute for Advanced Study Toulouse, the Leakey Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Arcus Foundation, Carnegie Corporation, the Leo S. Guthman Foundation, Margo Marsh, Mazuri, the Morris Animal Foundation, the National Geographic Society, the Harris Steel Group, the Waitt Foundation, the William T. Grant Q12 Foundation, the Windibrow Foundation, and the Jane Goodall Institute.

Current Biology, Mouginot et al., Differences in expression of male aggression between wild bonobos and chimpanzees https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(24)00253-7

Current Biology (@CurrentBiology), published by Cell Press, is a bimonthly journal that features papers across all areas of biology. Current Biology strives to foster communication across fields of biology, both by publishing important findings of general interest and through highly accessible front matter for non-specialists. Visit http://www.cell.com/current-biology. To receive Cell Press media alerts, contact press@cell.com.

Observational study

Animals

Differences in expression of male aggression between wild bonobos and chimpanzees

12-Apr-2024

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

Continue reading here:

Bonobos are more aggressive than previously thought - EurekAlert

Biology

Debating sex and gender: Whose ‘biological reality’ is it anyway? – The Boston Globe

Marie Caradonna

Ashland

Alan Sokal and Richard Dawkins are creating their own anxiety over dogma. We have sat through countless medical meetings and trainings of health care professionals, and everyone wants to deepen our understanding of how sex and gender affect people every day. Failing to do so means that doctors make medical mistakes and public health professionals overlook health disparities. Medicine and public health cannot rely on just asking sex or just asking gender.

Patients like us, our friends, and our families in the LGBTQ community have a lifetime of mistrust and fear built up around the health care system. Much of this mistrust stems from a denial that sex and gender are different for some people.

We are professionals who can handle the nuance of real peoples lives. No one denies the role of biology or the role of anatomy or the existence of categories of sex and gender. We just know that simple categories arent accurate, and we aim for accuracy. Anyone who does not want to ask someone about their sex assigned at birth or their current gender identity should not go into the helping professions. Over here we care about real people.

Jessica Halem

Senior director

The Eidos LGBTQ+ Health Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia

Dr. Carl G. Streed Jr.

Associate professor of medicine

Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Boston

If the current leadership of organizations and agencies such as the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention want to provide the best medicine and future for Americans, they should heed the warning and follow the guidance of Alan Sokal and Richard Dawkins in their op-ed, Sex and gender: The medical establishments reluctance to speak honestly about biological reality.

Sokal and Dawkins are spot-on with their caution of the harm that would be done if public health and health care leaders continue to adopt and promote phrasings such as sex assigned at birth. Though perhaps politically well-intended toward promoting greater social justice, this language misleads people into thinking that a persons biological sex is arbitrary, when it never is. As the authors warn, obscuring biological facts has real medical import and can misinform people in ways that validate ignorance, which itself only enables social injustice.

I am the proud parent of two self-described queer children, one a gender nonconforming woman and one transgender nonbinary. However, their biologically determined sex is female, and that determination matters for their health and medical care no matter how they experience and live their lives socially.

Though some may disagree, our world improves as we better understand and embrace male boys, male men, male girls, male women, male nonbinary people, female boys, female men, female girls, female women, and female nonbinary people. We can do this without falsifying or muddying long-established scientific knowledge about the determination of the sex of human beings.

Dr. James L. Sherley

Boston

The writer is a physician scientist.

At 13 years old, my gynecologist dismissed my severe pain. At 18, my insurance denied coverage for stage 3 endometriosis treatment. At 22, I find myself frustrated by debates over inclusive language in medicine.

Regarding the concerns raised by Alan Sokal and Richard Dawkins, the training of future doctors is indeed at risk. However, its not the denial of biological sex that jeopardizes this training. Rather, its the systemic disregard for the needs of individuals with vaginas within our health care system.

I applaud the decision by the American Medical Association and other groups to prioritize human rights. I am more than willing to recognize a lexical revision in the hope of fostering a more inclusive environment. Please, we need to spend less time scrutinizing progress and more time identifying areas where progress is desperately needed.

Sofia Long

Boston

I am very concerned about a society that encourages diversity in every life form but our own. Human nature is more expansive than the binary categories we are limited to. In reality, there are more physiological patterns that disprove binary sex and gender than support it. Approximately 1 out of 2,000 children are born with sex or reproductive anatomy considered atypical, and 1 out of 1,666 people have nonbinary chromosomes (XXY, XO, XYY, XXYY, or mosaic).

The damage such limited thinking does has rallied millions of intersex survivors to speak out about nonconsensual, nonemergent genital surgeries we were subjected to as children to reinforce this binary myth. The United Nations has even linked those medical protocols to forms of torture, and Human Rights Watch has raised concern. As a survivor of such protocols, I wholeheartedly agree.

Esther Leidolf

Jamaica Plain

The writer is president of the MRKH Organization, a patient-run network for women with Mayer-von-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hasers Syndrome.

Despite Alan Sokal and Richard Dawkinss authoritative tone in making pronouncements about sex and gender and their concern over the growing use of the phrase sex assigned at birth, they apparently know little about people born with various intersex syndromes. Sadly, many physicians also know little about this reality and perform medically unnecessary operations on newborns to make their anatomy conform to existing norms. The surgeries performed on intersex newborns inflict lives of pain, repeated surgeries, anguish, and, often, sexual dysfunction.

Susan Jacoby

Jamaica Plain

See the article here:

Debating sex and gender: Whose 'biological reality' is it anyway? - The Boston Globe