All posts by medical

Anatomy

‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Fans Are Devastated Over the Latest Season 17 Episode News – GoodHousekeeping.com

Season 17 of Grey's Anatomy has already given us so many twists and turns: There's been jaw-dropping character returns, an intense COVID-19 storyline and even a major character's life in the balance. But just when things turned even more suspenseful in the latest episode, it turns out that the ABC medical show is taking a break starting this week which means, sadly, there will not be new episodes of Grey's Anatomy until early next year in March.

If it seems like the new season of Grey's just started, it's because it essentially has it only premiered in early November, and there's only been a total of six episodes since then! Needless to say, fans were devastated over the news especially as last week's episode ended with a major cliffhanger as we saw Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) getting put on the ventilator after her battle with COVID-19 took a turn for the worse.

"So youre telling me I have to wait till March to see if Meredith makes it??" one fan wrote on Twitter. "The fact that I have to wait until March to see what happens after the Grey's Anatomy winter finale, I'm livid," another tweeted.

Following last week's episode, which served as the show's winter finale, Grey's Anatomy is taking a hiatus for the winter season. Though the show has taken mid-season breaks before, this season's hiatus comes only after six episodes which is fairly early even considering the fact that season 17 will have a total of only 16 episodes, making it one of the shortest seasons in the show's history. Still, it's not unusual for shows to go on a hiatus during the holidays.

Unfortunately, it'll be quite a while until we can reunite with the doctors over at Grey-Sloan (and find out what happens with Meredith!), as Grey's Anatomy will be returning on Thursday, March 4, 2021. As usual, the show will air on ABC during its timeslot of 9 p.m. ET.

In the meantime, I guess we'll just have re-watch all those emotional beach scenes over and over again while we patiently wait for Grey's to return!

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'Grey's Anatomy' Fans Are Devastated Over the Latest Season 17 Episode News - GoodHousekeeping.com

Anatomy

‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Keeps Trying to Replace Derek, But It Will Never Work – Showbiz Cheat Sheet

Greys Anatomy wouldnt be in its 17th season if it didnt have a strong opening, and while the show remains a massive hit nearly two decades into its run, it still owes a lot to its earliest days.

While the show is, at its core, an ensemble piece about theworkers at Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital, its really about the titular Meredith Grey. While fans still love the series, many miss a character who hasnt been on the series in years.

Dozens of characters have come and gone throughout the series run, but Ellen PompeosMeredith Grey remains headstrong17 years into her run on the series. Throughout that time, fans have watched Grey fall in and out of love, watched as her loved ones pass away, cope with the tragedies that come with her job, and manage several difficult personalities both through her doctors and her patients.

In many ways, it is Greys private life that shapes everything else. The show has gotten bigger in scale and made stars out of more than one cast member, but had Grey not been there as the hospitals backbone, things might have gone much differently.

As a hard-working doctor with little time to waste on love, several men have tried throughout the series run, but her original relationship with Derek is still the highlight of her love life.

Meredith met Derek through their job. As her married boss, the twotried to keep their relationship professionaluntil a spur-of-the-moment one-night-stand complicated things. However, rather than hiding her feelings, Meredith and Derek eventually come clean after he agrees to leave his wife and start a relationship with Grey.

The relationship had its ups and downs for eleven years, but when Dempsey left the show in season 11, a wrench was put into the whole thing.

From Chris ODonnells Finn, a rebound after Derek resisted her pleas to Nathan, Finn, and William Thorpe, Meredith has had her ups and downs when it comes to her relationships. Pompeo reflected on this shifting tone, acknowledging that she wanted Greys love life to be authentic.

I think that a show that runs for as long asGreys, the show has had to grow with the characters, Pompeo told Good Housekeeping. Im 15 years older now, so Im so much stronger a person than I was then. It just evolves, the actress said (per Good Housekeeping). The writers get to know you, they watch the dailies and they watch the show.Greysis so unique, because weve been on the air for so long, theyve all watched me grow up. Shonda and the writers, weve all grown up together.

Despite Dereks death and Dempseys departure, that initial relationship is still the best the show has had to offer.

Speaking about the men in Merediths life, manyfans on Reddit spoke about their desireto see her end up with someone like Derek. However, as u/HorseToothGary points out, recreating what once worked doesnt necessarily make for compelling television.

Meredith and Derek were too good together. They made the show the hit it was in the beginning. No other combo will ever come close. Patrick Dempsey was just too perfect. It would be like trying to replace Han Solo with Leia. Not possible.

Meredith has to grapple with loss like everyone else, and while the series has had its hits and misses over 17 years, this helps keep the show fresh. After all, Meredith is the driving force that has allowed Greys cast to flourish for as long as it has.With no signs of slowing down, either, perhaps true love still awaits its biggest star.

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'Grey's Anatomy' Keeps Trying to Replace Derek, But It Will Never Work - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

Genetics

Sex, Genetics, and the Relationship Between the Two in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension – AJMC.com Managed Markets Network

Although research has cemented BMPR2 mutations as having associations with the development of pulmonary arterial hypertension, the germline mutations are not the only culprit.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a multifaceted condition, consisting of interactions between estrogens, estrogen metabolites, and BMPR2 signaling, according to new research.

Although research has cemented BMPR2 mutations as having associations with the development of PAH, the germline mutations are not the only culprit, say the researchers, who argue that other, additional genetic and environmental factors play a role. Mutations in several components of the BMPR2 signaling pathway have also been linked to the development of PAH, including ALK1, SMAD8, BMP9, and CAV1.

Despite the strong association between BMPR2 mutations and the development of PAH, and despite the high frequency of BMPR2 mutations in heritable PAH, having a BMPR2 mutation alone is not sufficient; heterozygous carriers of deleterious BMPR2 mutations only have an approximately 20% lifetime risk of disease penetrance, explained the researchers. Decades of investigation have revealed that there are likely multiple genetic and environmental second hits that may be necessary to spur PAH development in the setting of a deleterious BMPR2 mutation.

The intricacies of PAH can be highlighted by the role estrogen and estrogen metabolites play in the condition. For example, some animal models have suggested that the 2 protect against PH in the presence of other provoking factors while human studies have suggested that female predominance actually heightens the risk of PAH. And while females who carry deleterious BMPR2 variants are more likely to develop PAH, they are less likely to have severe disease than men.

However, the researchers argue that the role of estrogen and estrogen metabolites does not paint a full picture of the sex differences in PAH. These differences include those in right ventricular (RV) adaption to chronic pulmonary hypertension, with some research suggests that females might have better RV function than males. According to the researchers, other sex-driven differences, like testosterone and progesterone and nonhormonal sex effects, may contribute to the impact of sex.

Similar to the BMPR2 signaling cascade, essential components of estrogen signaling pathways are expressed in the [endothelial cells], vascular [smooth muscle cells], and fibroblasts responsible for vascular remodeling and the development of PAH, wrote the researchers, noting that estrone, estradiol, and estriol, along with their metabolites signal through estrogen receptors ER and ER and the newly discovered G-protein-coupled receptor.

In their paper, the researchers look at the relationship between estrogen and BMPR2, writing that there have been inclinations that baseline BMPR2 expression and signaling may be reduced in females. They suggest that this deficiency in BMPR2 expression may be that second hit to spur the development of PAH. However, they caveat that the relationship between estrogen and BMPR2 is complex and may be dependent on several factors, such as age, menopausal status, cell type studied, and dose responses and time courses.

Reference

Cirulis MM, Dodson MW, Brown LM, Brown SM, Lahm T, Elliot G. At the X-roads of sex and genetics in pulmonary arterial hypertension. Genes (Basel). Published online November 20, 2020. doi:10.3390/genes11111371

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Sex, Genetics, and the Relationship Between the Two in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension - AJMC.com Managed Markets Network

Genetics

The Genetic Revolution: Is Everything Determined? Is There a Place for Free Will? (in Hebrew) – The Media Line

Tue, Dec 29, 2020, 8:30 to 10 pm Israel Standard Time (UTC+2)

Tickets here.

Are our lives, from the first moment until our final days, determined by our genetics? An introductory lecture on genetics, the Human Genome Project, human cloning and genetic engineering. Are we on the way to the perfect baby? Starting with an understanding of how genetics works at its core to a complete mapping of the human genome to breakthroughs in genetic testing in embryos and genetic engineering. Who was the first killer convicted by DNA evidence and when will we have diets customized to our personal genetic makeup?

Wake up to the Trusted Mideast News source Mideast Daily News Email

The lecture will be given by Dr. Tal Sines, in Hebrew.

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The Genetic Revolution: Is Everything Determined? Is There a Place for Free Will? (in Hebrew) - The Media Line

Embryology

Im a super sperm donor with 150 kids & Im leaving my tier 4 area to impregnate women, its an essential ser – The Sun

SUPER sperm donor, 49-year-old Joe Donor* - who came over to the UK to offer his services in September - admitted he was continuing to impregnate women while living in tier four Essex/London borders - saying it was an 'essential service'.

Earlier this year Joe, from the USA, spoke to Fabulous and told how he travelled the world impregnating people.

Read our coronavirus live blog for the latest news & updates

He arrived in the UK in September and for a while travelled up and down the country from Hull to Wales to Birmingham and Kent.

But tier four hit and he is still continuing to offer his services, claiming it is an 'essential service', although he says he is no longer travelling as far.

His residence is in Essex, a tier four area, but he was yesterday helping a woman in Dover, Kent. This appears to go against travel restrictions.

When approached by Fabulous, who did not pay him to speak, he said: "I believe this is one of the exceptions to lockdown because I believe that I am helping people who who due to advance maternal age if they can't get pregnant now they will forever miss that opportunity.

"I am not having any raves or attending large gatherings but I am meeting people women who need to get pregnant now," he told Fabulous.

"I don't believe I am breaching lockdown because I think this falls as an exception."

For those affected, Tier 4 is essentially a return to the full lockdown which ended in England on December 2.

It began on December 20 and was set to be reviewed on December 30, however, it was revealed that more of England will be plunged into the strictest tier as soon as Boxing Day.

The PM's key message for those in these regions was to stay at home unless it's for essential reasons.

I believe this is one of the exceptions to lockdown because I believe that I am helping people who who, due to advance maternal age, if they can't get pregnant now will forever miss that opportunity.

There have been real concerns about the new strain, which is blamed for a sudden surgein hospitalisations.

Joe, staying in west London, told the Mail he had attempted to impregnate 15 women and three were due to have children. "Helping women create the gift of life is the best present of all," he said. "I'm always ready to climb down that chimney and give women the dream baby they've always wanted.

"'I'd say about three of those women I have met I've had sex with, and two of those are pregnant. But not everyone reports back and lets me know if they're expecting.

"Since my time in the UK I have travelled to Wales, Hull, Birmingham, Portsmouth and Kent. I'm the luckiest man in the world."

Previously Joe told Fabulous how, after every encounter, he leaves with his trademark comment: Good luck and I hope you have good news in two weeks.

He doesn't just use a turkey baster or syringe though - actually having sex with the women.

It was PI, he told Fabulous.

By that he means partial intercourse - sex without kissing or cuddling.

He also has NI, natural intercourse, and AI, artificial intercourse.

Natural intercourse is really full sex, like you might have on a first date, Joe said. So no bedroom gymnastics, but kissing and cuddling. Artificial intercourse is when you use a turkey baster.

Helping women create the gift of life is the best present of all.

He added a lot of people wanted to be inseminated the old-fashioned way - but he only has STI checks once a year (although more frequently if asked).

And he admitted he doesnt do background checks on the people he is potentially impregnating, adding: I think having a baby makes people more mature. I dont do any checks on them though.

He says he has had sex with a lot of people, but won't say the exact number.

Its fewer than 200, he laughed. Im not a rockstar and Im very respectful.

Single Joe, who uses a pseudonym, revealed he had 150 kids worldwide - although with more coming.

Its more than the average person but there are people who have more. Theres some sultans out there who have more, he said.

His name is on a few, not many birth certificates and he wouldnt mind if the children called him daddy but he doesnt really see many of them often. They have my DNA, of course, he said. But I leave it up to the mothers. If they want to send me pictures, great. If they block me as soon as Ive done the deed, thats okay too.

Joe, who anonymously donates his sperm by concealing his real name, said he wasnt paid for his actions but did it to help.

He set up his business 12 years ago after realising he wanted to benefit people - but shockingly his parents dont know although are aware I have a few kids.

He denied it was about ego, explaining: "I have about 150 kids worldwide but there's currently five women pregnant with my children and one already born.

I enjoy seeing more of my children running around.

I dont think there is an inordinate amount of ego associated with it.

Some of them call me daddy, some dont.

Ive met about 50 of them, Ive seen some of them when they were born, but not since.

He wasnt slowed down by the pandemic, despite being stuck in Argentina - instead opting to sow his seed there.

"I feel busier than ever, he said. "I love seeing photos of the babies when they're born as a lot of them do look like me.

"I don't financially gain from providing my sperm to women, I just enjoy helping people.

"Luckily I run a few online businesses so I'm always available and can provide sperm whenever they're ovulating."

Unfortunately, the nature of his work has meant he hasnt managed to maintain his own long-term relationship with his last ending in November last year.

That was with a woman in her 20s when I was living in Australia, he explained. We were going out for about six months but its ended. When we were in the relationship I didnt have sex with other women, but it was difficult.

He admitted sometimes his impregnation sessions could lead into longer relationships, but they almost always ended when people wanted something more stable.

I dont have a girlfriend in the typical sense, he said. But I do develop friendships and sometimes romantic relationships with the women I impregnate, he added.

However, it is not all plain-sailing with some women lying to their men about meeting Joe, he said.

Hes been caught out trying to impregnate women behind their partners back.,

He denies any wrongdoing in relation to this.

I dont pry into peoples personal matters, he said. Im not the one cheating or lying in the relationship. Its them."

He told of one incident where he went to impregnate a woman only to learn her husband didnt want one.

So basically she had arranged an orgy because she didnt want him to know the truth - that it was just her and me and she was planning to get pregnant, he said.

But when the husband found out the truth he started waving a gun about - and Joe only just managed to escape.

Joe has travelled across America, Argentina, Italy, Singapore, The Philippines and the UK donating his sperm.

He added: "I have babies all over the world and although people always worry over incestual issues but that has never happened.

"I started donating sperm in 2008 and have fathered on average 10 children per year.

"I have always said I wouldn't father more than 2500 but that would technically be impossible unless I live until the age of 250.

"I aim to donate my sperm for as long as it works which could be until I'm in my 90s."

Talking about safe sex, Joe opts to have yearly medical checks.

He adds: "I have a health check at least annually but if a woman requests more frequent testing, I will have another check on demand.

"There's always a risk as what I'm doing isn't regulated but women have checks during pregnancy too so they'd soon find out if they'd contracted a sexually transmitted disease, which has never happened."

Joe, who says he doesn't charge for his services, is hoping to head back to his hometown of America after his UK trip but says he's happy to travel anywhere in the world to donate his sperm.

He added: "I'm contacted by women all over the world via Facebook or email.

"I don't mind travelling as I can work wherever I need to in the world.

"I'm hoping that as lockdown eases in some parts of the world again that it'll be easier to travel more frequently."

I have a health check at least annually but if a woman requests more frequent testing, I will have another check on demand.

In the UK, donation in exchange for payment is prohibited by law.

If you donate your sperm through a fertility clinic or a sperm bank, you wont have any responsibilities or rights towards a child conceived using your semen.

However, as of April 2005, children conceived through sperm donation do have the right to ask for certain information about their donor once they reach the age of 16.

You can find the clinic that is best for you through theHuman Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) licensed clinic.

Every year, around 2,000 children are conceived with the help of a donor.

Live Blog

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Meanwhile, meet the 57-year-old sperm donor who believes he could have HUNDREDS of children.

And an entrepreneur opened up about how a DNA test revealed her dad wasnt her father and how she discovered her new family.

We also shared how a woman turned to a White Van sperm donor to have her daughter.

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Im a super sperm donor with 150 kids & Im leaving my tier 4 area to impregnate women, its an essential ser - The Sun

Neuroscience

THE PORT RAIL: The research dimension of higher education – Tuscaloosa News

The Tuscaloosa News

As we enter a new year and chase out the tens of thousands Chinese spies inhabiting the halls (and labs) of Ivy and Kudzu across the nation, it may be a good time to take stock of why even colleges and universities exist.

They were established in the Middle Ages places like Oxford, Cambridge, Paris, Salamanca, Bologna to foster Christianity, plain and simple. Universities evolved as did Western civilization over the next thousand years so today they reflect two basic areas: the best in the traditional liberal arts curriculum and the scientific and technological cutting edges of the times. The University of Alabama is no exception.

Television viewers will see the slogan Where Legends Are Made as they watch Tide football. This is marketing your product. It is selling and has nothing to do with research. More insightful are the three words printed in large letters as you approach the university near DCH Regional Medical Center. Teaching, Research, Service

Excellence as the mission of higher education. What does excellence look like?

Many of you remember more than football, girls (or boys), fraternities and sororities, the Strip, and the life of an undergraduate. I do, too. Like you, I remember faculty who woke me up to things I never thought much about, or how to think about them. I even discovered in a botany lab on Saturday mornings somewhere in the Duke University forest that there were worlds I knew absolutely nothing about. The world was bigger than my little microcosm.

Most universities have extensive graduate schools moving forward the research dimension. This research is largely reflected in master's and dissertations based on extensive studyin areas from nanoscience to Shakespeare.

You review these studies across hundreds of universities and can understand why thousands of Chinese have been sent here over the past half century to learn. Lets look at some research-based dissertations this year nominated for best dissertation of 2020.

The geographers nominated a dissertation devoted to identifying and curing water quality: I developed, wrote the author, innovative environmental remote sensing models using geospatial statistical analysis and machine learning techniques to monitor and assess inland water quality. He also suggested solutions.

The information, knowledge, and techniques derived from my dissertation research can help research scientists, water resource planners and managers, state and local officials, and local communities to detect and monitor water quality status in inland waters, and to design intelligent policies and best management practices to prevent, control, and mitigate the occurrence of nuisance algal blooms and other water quality problems.

A dissertation in education linked counseling and neuroscience in a new fashion. His research immerses both neuroscience and counseling. Since neuroscience is new to the counseling field, this work has been both challenging, innovative, and rewarding. His ability to fully engage in pioneering neuroscience work that connected with the counseling field is new and important.

A dissertation in mechanical engineering drew this rave summary from a proud dissertation director professor: I am recommending [him] for this award because of his unique contributions to the multidisciplinary research field of clean combustion that offer the potential for sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in the near and mid-term. His research applies to high-efficiency diesel engines that will benefit from advanced physical concepts based on clean combustion, requiring new ways to diagnose, analyze, and control fuel sprays."

Furthermore, crossing both fields of research and service, his professor wrote that his records in the various departments in engineering are outstanding, showing a deep commitment to his field and advancing it.

One dissertation in commerce and business administrationstudied mergers and acquisitions and how productive and/or efficient, or profitable, they turn out to be. Good questions -and answers for the world of industry and business.

Her study addressed a persistent gap in the M&A(merger-and-acquisition) literature, using a typology of different theoretical applications, to theorize, model, measure, and empirically validate how M&A motives relate to different M&A outcomes.

Another one in the business school researched the passion for your work, pointing to the CEO of the highly successful Southwestern Airlines as an example of mans passion for his lifes work. This study probed the relationship between passion and success or failure, not simply interesting for the scholar, but also with immense applicability for the world of business and organizational behavior. Job satisfaction, engagement, and performance are addressed in a rigorous manner.

The history department nominated a fascinating study on the effects of the Spanish-American-Cuban War of 1898 on the American military. The author described her research as an intimate look into the experience of the common volunteer soldiers during the Spanish and Philippine American wars to illuminate the larger institutional changes in the American military at the start of the 20th century. My main purpose … was simple: to tell the stories of men frequently overlooked by previous historians, their voices drowned out by those more famous and well-known.

We all need to know how rich and profound is UAs commitment, as well as those of hundreds of other universities across the U. S., to studying, analyzing, and improving our world across an immensely varied spectrum, of which the short abstracts above represent only a small sampling.

Larry Clayton is a retired University of Alabama history professor. Readers can email him atlarryclayton7@gmail.com.

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THE PORT RAIL: The research dimension of higher education - Tuscaloosa News

Neuroscience

PhD grad uses math to explore the brain – ASU Now

December 21, 2020

Editor's note:This story is part of a series of profiles ofnotable fall 2020 graduates.

Vergil Haynes is graduating this month with a PhD in applied mathematics from Arizona State University. His research approaches old neuroscience questions but in new ways. Although the questions are simple in appearance, long-held assumptions about them have limited new insights for decades. Vergil Haynes wears a surface electroencephalogram (EEG) recording cap. Surface electroencephalography is a method for recording electrical activity associated with brain physiology from the scalp. Download Full Image

Often times when you are recording activity in the brain, you dont know precisely what influences the signals you record and this limits your ability to interpret those signals, Haynes said. Do they come from one type of brain cell or another? I ask, what is the origin of certain brain signals associated with individual brain cells, and whether knowledge of those origins can aid in improving data analysis techniques.

Another problem Im concerned about is community standards for modeling. Many assumptions are built into very detailed simulations of brain cells. For example, cells have protein structures in their membranes. I developed a framework for figuring out whether there are common patterns for these structure in how many there are, where they are, and what they do. For both of these problems, I use a combination of simulations, machine learning, and advanced statistical techniques to also challenge assumptions about how brain cells are grouped based on recorded signals.

Vergil is detail oriented in his research and has an astonishing knowledge of the literature. This helps him see the big picture and understand where his work lies with respect to previous and ongoing research in the community, said Sharon Crook, Haynes adviser and professor in the School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences.

Vergil will stay in our group as a postdoctoral researcher for a year in order to help us advance the research that he has been contributing to. Uniquely, he has the perfect combination of skills for this work which requires both the development and execution of computational models and also machine learning to analyze large datasets, said Crook, lead researcher of the Informatics and Computation in Open Neuroscience (ICON) Lab.

The lab contributes to large, collaborative enterprises such as theNeuroML Initiative,OpenSource Brain, and theHuman Brain Project, which lead to building an interconnected infrastructure for the advancement of computing within neuroscience based on transparency and accessibility.

Vergil Haynes (third from left) with Sharon Crook (center) and other members of the ICON Lab at ASU. Photo courtesy of ICON Lab

Haynes will also continue as a post doc in the Auditory Computation and Neurophysiology Lab in the College of Health Solutions, which investigates the neural mechanisms of perceptual and cognitive functions that support auditory experience.

Im excited to work with the same two labs one is very experimental oriented, and the other is very modeling oriented, and Im at the intersection of these two, he said.

Haynes was born and raised in Melbourne, Florida, about 30 minutes south of NASAs Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. As a kid, he watched the rocket and shuttle launches from the beach.You could actually feel the sonic boom, it would shake windows and everything, he said. Many of his friends back home still think of him as someone who would one day be an astronaut, since that is what he was always saying.

I think it is still a possibility, Haynes said.

Haynes is closest to his one maternal sibling, a brother about 10 years older, born to a different father who was in the Air Force.His mother is from the Philippines and moved to the U.S. a few years after his brother was born. It was here in the states that she met Haynes father.

Haynes is a first-generation college student, raised primarily by his mother. His father was mostly out of the picture.

I could probably count on two hands how many times Ive seen him in my life, he said. His mother had a boyfriend for most of his childhood, but they did not get along.

His brother went to juvenile detention at a young age, and was later incarcerated for marijuana-related offenses that nowadays might not involve jail time.

Due to the lack of social mechanisms to reduce high prison recidivism rates in the U.S., and like many community re-entries, my brother was reincarcerated multiple times over his early adulthood, Haynes said. Even after participating in a recent work-to-release program, Haynes' brother still struggles to figure out how to get his life going.

It was like every direction I looked for a male role model, I just couldnt find one, Haynes said.

Vergil Haynes, a first generation college student, with his mother and niece on the ASU Tempe campus. Photo courtesy of Vergil Haynes.

His mother worked as a restorative technician at a rehabilitation nursing home back in Melbourne. She mostly worked with dementia patients, helping them to be able to feed themselves or walk again.

My mom would work double time, overtime, lots of holiday hours, so usually it was just easier if I just stayed there all day. I mostly lived there as a kid. Id sing to the elderly, take them to lunch, play chess or Uno with them, Haynes said.

My mother often won awards for being compassionate, generous and kind to co-workers and residents at the nursing home. This instilled in me that supporting people was one of greatest gifts you could give someone and sometimes this took hard work and sacrifice.

Those experiences were very formative in a lot of different ways in my life. Especially in trying to understand people. How do they think? Why do they wind up thinking a certain thing, or not be able to think at all, or remember at all?

In school, Haynes teachers would tell him he was unmotivated, didnt have goals but also had a lot of potential. He would sometimes fall asleep in class. He often got in trouble, resulting in suspensions or Saturday school. He failed quite a few classes in high school and almost didnt graduate. His counselor and principal agreed on a plan so he could take adult education classes after school and still be able to graduate.

I was like, Oh, I made all these choices and now Im seeing the consequences of them, which is that I might not get this diploma, Haynes said. And then Ill live this life like the rest of my family has been living, not even having finished high school.

There was a lot of hopelessness around that period of time. But there was also the peer pressure of seeing a lot of his friends were set to graduate, so he wanted to. One of the most motivating things for him was how much time he was spending with other peoples families.

My mom had moved out of the projects and into this fairly nice suburban area, and I had met some friends and started hanging out at their houses. It was like, Oh wow, your dad works at NASA, your mom is a financial adviser, and you have this nice house. For the most part, there might be some yelling here or there, but its not constantly hostile here. I remember them giving me a lot of validation, as well.

He spent considerable time with academic advisers figuring out how he could pay for college. He got a Medallion Scholarship which paid for 75% of his tuition for a four-year degree. To cover the rest, he took out loans and worked a couple of jobs throughout his undergraduate years.

I told my mom I was going to get a PhD and she was like, How are you going to do that? We dont have the money for that, said Haynes. All her co-workers said, Let him dream and let him do his thing, and hell figure it out as he goes.

At the same time, Haynes found himself repeating old patterns, using avoidance behaviors. If a class interested him, he would do well. But if a class stressed him out, he would stop going. He was convinced the system was trying to keep him down. There were many setbacks, and he ended up failing a math class.

I remember that was also the time in my life where my dad and I had tried to start talking with one another again, and I think I was still hesitant. I was finding out more about who is this person, and I wasnt really liking what I was seeing, but I was trying to reach out and say this is something that I want to try to rebuild.

Asking his dad for help led to a huge family blowup. It got to the point where it was like, OK, that was my last attempt.

That situation drove him forward, in a sense, since there was less constraining him to be near family. He was ready to go forward on his own. After getting his two-year associate degree, he transferred to the University of Central Florida, one of the largest public universities in the country. He was excited about all the different kinds of classes he could take. By the end of his first year at UCF, he changed his major from pre-med/biology to mathematics.

He was taking Calculus III, Linear Algebra, Introduction to C Programming those were the classes that convinced him to keep going. He took a logic and proof class that he thought was really fun.

Just the process of doing homework with people, doing projects with people and how intellectually stimulating that was, and also this sense of how I contributed some sort of value to this discussion. That was when I really started defining my personal value in relationship to math, Haynes said. People started coming to me asking for help or wanting for me to explain certain things. I was like, okay, actually Im good at this.

He had a network of people who were supporting him, but also had some people who were trying to get in his way. Particularly the faculty undergraduate adviser in the mathematics department, who he met with a couple of times. Haynes wanted to major in math with a concentration in physics. The advisor briefly looked over his academic record, which was not stellar, and then dissuaded him from pursuing that route. Maybe this isnt something for you, he said to Haynes.

I remember that resonated with me for a long time.

Haynes knew he had an interest in research, so he reached out to a professor who studied mathematics and biology, and would later become his faculty adviser.

It was a lot of leaning into him, weekly sessions with him. He would teach me how to read math papers and how to do research. He also instilled in me a sense of beauty.

I still remember the time I came to him with my first result. It was really simple. And it was something he had been missing for a while. I showed it to him and he had this moment where he stepped back, leaned against the table and was like, Wow, thats beautiful. And I was like, whoa, I had never shared that kind of moment with someone before. And I was kind of hooked.

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PhD grad uses math to explore the brain - ASU Now

Neuroscience

Understanding how mosquitoes smell humans could save thousands of human lives: researchers – CTV News

Of the more than 3,000 species of mosquitoes in the world, just a small number have evolved to specialize in sucking human blood.

How human-biting mosquitoes track us down so effectively isn't currently known, but it matters, since they don't just make us itch. They also carry dangerous diseases such as Zika, dengue, West Nile virus and malaria that can be deadly.

In fact, stopping these pesky insects in their tracks could save up to half a million lives lost to those diseases each year.

"In each of those cases where a mosquito has evolved to bite humans which has only happened two or three times they become nasty disease vectors," said Carolyn "Lindy" McBride, an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the Princeton Neuroscience Institute in New Jersey.

That's why she wants to understand how they find and target humans.

"Mosquitoes mostly choose what to bite based on odour," said McBride, whose lab focuses on the Aedes aegypti mosquito species that evolved to bite humans specifically.

Only female mosquitoes suck blood since they need it to produce their eggs. Knowing how a potentially disease-carrying female mosquito sniffs out a person, while ignoring other warm-blooded animals, is a key query.

Once that's better known, much more effective repellents or bait to lure mosquitoes away from humans could be made, saving lives, said Christopher Potter, associate professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University's Center for Sensory Biology.

If scientists can control their sense of smell, "we can really control what these mosquitoes are doing," said Potter, who studies another human-specific mosquito, Anopheles, which carries malaria.

It's not an easy question to answer, since any animal smell is made up of hundreds of chemical compounds mixed together in specific ratios.

"The actual chemicals that are found in human odour are basically the same as the chemicals found in animal odour it's the ratios and the relative abundance of those compounds in human mixtures that's unique," said McBride, whose research focuses on those issues.

Each time a hungry female mosquito flies by, it's doing complex chemical math in its tiny brain, figuring out what's a human, what's dog and what's a flower.

"To investigate, we decided to record neural activity in the brain of females while exposing them to natural human and animal odour extracts," wrote Zhilei Zhao, a graduate student in McBride's lab, in a Twitter thread describing the lab's work. It took four years to develop "the necessary genetic reagents, odour delivery systems, and analytical approaches," Zhao wrote.

McBride's lab team created a library of the chemical composition of animal odours. "That data set doesn't really exist so we decided to go out and collect it ourselves," said Jessica Zung, a graduate student in McBride's lab.

Zung has collected scent samples from about 40 different animals so far, including guinea pigs, rats, quail and more.

Comparing some of those to the 16 human samples, something jumped out. Decanal, a simple, common compound, is particularly abundant in human skin, Zung said.

Ubiquitous in the natural world, in humans, decanal comes from another, more complex compound. Zung dug into the archives to find research from the 1970s (much of it originally done to find an acne cure) that detailed how when one component of our skin's natural oils, sapienic acid, breaks down, decanal is left over. This acid (as indicated by its name) is only found in human beings. It's what likely leads to the high levels of decanal that help the mosquitoes smell their way to us, but more studies need to be done.

Understanding what the mosquitoes are sniffing out is only part of the story; knowing how they do it is also important. To see exactly how mosquitoes use this sense, scientists bred genetically modified Aedes aegypti mosquitoes "so that we could cut open their little tiny heads and put them under a fancy microscope and actually watch neurons firing when they're exposed to human and animal odours," McBride said.

The research team already knew that mosquitoes have about 60 different types of neurons that sense odours, so when they looked in the insects' brains, they thought they might see a lot of activity. But it was surprisingly quiet, meaning that the signal was perhaps quite simple, down to just a couple types of neurons.

"One type of neuron responded really strongly to both humans and animals. Another type of neuron responded to both but it responded much more strongly to humans than animals," McBride said of that work. So it may be as simple as that mosquito's brain comparing just two types of neurons.

This kind of research has only been possible since the technology to study mosquito brains in detail became available, which only happened recently. "It's been traditionally very hard to study this at the level we're doing it now," Potter said.

Incredibly, mosquitoes that target humans have evolved to be able to do this in just the last 5,000 years, so it's a "really amazing example of rapid evolution," McBride said.

The Aedes aegypti, aka "yellow fever mosquito" also carries dengue, Zika and chikungunya. The critter originated in Africa and likely made its way to its current range in the southern United States and Central and South America on slave ships during the 1600s, according to McBride.

These diseases combined kill and sicken thousands of people a year, which is why mosquitoes have been called "the world's deadliest animal" by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. McBride and Potter both hope their work could be used by others working on repellents and attractants to prevent disease.

As far as insider knowledge on how to keep from being bitten in your own backyard, McBride said she uses a fan.

"Have it blow air over where you're sitting outside or over the barbecue or under the table where they're biting your feet." It's not that you're blowing the scent around to knock the mosquitoes off track, she said.

It's simply because these deadly creatures, McBride said, "are not great fliers."

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Understanding how mosquitoes smell humans could save thousands of human lives: researchers - CTV News

Neuroscience

2020 in Neuroscience, Longevity, and AIand What’s to Come – Singularity Hub

Covid-19 sucked most of the oxygen out of science this year. But we still had brilliant wins.

The pandemic couldnt bring rockets or humans down: multiple missions blasted off to the red planet in the summer of Mars. Two astronauts launched to the International Space Stationand made it safely backin a game-changer for commercial space travel. NASA released dozens of findings on how space travel changes our bodies, paving the way to keep us healthy in orbitor one day, on Mars and beyond.

Back on Earth, scientists scoured mud ponds and fished out a teeny-tiny CRISPR enzyme that packs a massive punch for genome editing. AI and neuroscience became even more entwinedsometimes literally. Biological neurons got hooked up to two silicon-based artificial neurons, across multiple countries, into a fully-functional biohybrid neural network. Others tapped dopaminethe main messenger for the brains reward systemto unite electricity and chemical computing into a semi-living computer. While still largely a curiosity, these studies take brain-inspired computers to another level by seamlessly incorporating living neurons into AI hardware. Now imagine similar circuits inside the brainNeuralink sure is.

More abstractly, biological and artificial brains further fed into each other in our understandingand craftingof intelligence. This year, scientists found mini-computers in the input tree-like branches of neurons. Like entire neural networks, these cables were capable of performing complex logical calculations, suggesting our brain cells are far brainier than we previously thoughtsomething AI can learn from. On the flip side, a hotshot algorithm inspired by the brain called reinforcement learning pushed neuroscientists to re-examine how we respond to feedback as we learn. AI also helped build the most dynamic brain atlas to date, a living map that can continuously incorporate new data and capture individual differences.

As we leave 2020 behind, two main themes percolate in my mind, not just for what theyve accomplished, but as indicators of what lies ahead. These are the trends Ill be keeping my eyes on in the coming year.

Why we age is extremely complex. So are methods that try to prevent age-related diseases, or slow the aging process itself. This nth-dimensional complexity almost dictates that longevity research needs to self-segregate into lanes.

Take probing the biological mechanisms that drive aging. For example, our cells energy factory spews out bullet-like molecules that damage the cell. The genome becomes unstable. Cells turn zombie-like. Working stem cells vanish. Tissue regeneration suffers. Scientists often spend entire careers understanding one facet of a single hallmark of aging, or hunting for age-related genes. The lucky ones come up with ways to combat that one foefor example, senolytics, a family of drugs that wipe out zombie cells to protect against age-related diseases.

But aging hallmarks dont rear their heads in isolation. They work together. An increasing trend is to unveil the how of their interactions workcrosstalk, in science-speakwith hopes of multiple birds with one stone.

This year, longevity researchers crossed lanes.

One study, for example, took a stem cell playbook to rejuvenate eyesight in aged mice with vision loss. They focused on a prominent aging hallmark: epigenetics. Our DNA is dotted with thousands of chemical marks. As we age, these marks accumulate. Using gene therapy, the team introduced three superstar genes into the eyes of aged mice to revert those marks and reprogram cells to a younger state. Youve probably heard of those genes: theyre three of the four factors used to revert adult skin cells into a stem-cell-like state, or iPSCs (induced pluripotent stem cells). Resetting the epigenetic clock was so powerful it improved visual acuity in old mice, and the team has now licensed the tech to Life Biosciences in Boston to further develop for humans.

Another study combined three main puzzle pieces in agingzombie cells, inflammation, and malfunctioning mitochondriainto a full picture, with the surprise ending that senolytics has multiple anti-aging powers in cells. Talk about killing two birds with one stone. Finally, one team (which I was a part of) combined two promising approaches for brain rejuvenationexercise and young bloodto begin pushing the limits of reigniting faltering memory and cognition due to aging.

Longevity research has long been fragmented, but its starting to coalesce into a multidisciplinary field. These crossovers are just the start of a rising trajectory to combat the multi-headed Hydra thats aging. More will come.

If youre looking for a sign that AI is leaving the digital realm of Atari games and heading into the real world, this year was it.

In biotech, theres no doubt of AIs promise in drug discovery or medical diagnoses. In late 2019, a team used deep learning and generative modelssimilar to AlphaGo, the DeepMind algorithm that trounced humans at Go and wiped the Atari libraryto conjure over 30,000 new drug molecules, a feat chemists could only dream of. This year, the viral hurricane thats Covid-19 further unleashed AI-based drug discovery, such as screening existing drugs for candidates that may work against the virus, or newlydesigned chemicals to fight off SARS-CoV-2 infectionthe virus that causes Covid-19.

For now, we dont yet have an AI-designed drug on the market, an ultimate test for the technologys promise. However, although AI wasnt able to make a splash in our current pandemic battle, the scene is set for tackling the next oneand drug discovery as a whole.

In contrast, AI-based medical diagnosis had a resounding win. This year, the FDA approved a software that uses AI to provide real-time guidance for ultrasound imaging for the heart, essentially allowing those without specialized training to perform the test. The approval brings a total of 29 FDA-approved AI-based medical technologies to date. Even as the debate on trust, ethics, and responsibility for AI doctors cranked up in temperature, the Pandoras box has been opened.

Medicine aside, deep learning further honed its craft in a variety of fields. The neuroscience-AI marriage is one for the ages with no signs of fracture. Outside the brain, AI also gave synthetic biology a leg up by parsing the interactions between genes and genetic networksa mind-bending, enormously complex problem previously only achieved through trial and error. With help from AI, synthetic biologists can predict how changes to one gene in a cell could affect others, and in turn, the cells biochemistry and behavior. Bottom line: it makes designing new biological circuits, such as getting yeast to pump out green fuels or artificially hoppy beer, much easier.

But the coup de grce against AI as an overhyped technology is DeepMinds decimation of a 50-year-long challenge in biology. With a performance that shocked experts, DeepMinds AlphaFold was able to predict a proteins 3D structure from its amino acid sequencethe individual components of a proteinmatching the current gold standard. As the workhorses of our bodies, proteins dictate life. AlphaFold, in a sense, solved a huge chunk of the biology of life, with implications for both drug discovery and synthetic biology.

One more scientific brilliance this year is the use of light in neuroscience and tissue engineering. One study, for example, used lasers to directly print a human ear-like structure under the skin of mice, without a single surgical cut. Another used light to incept smell in mice, artificially programming an entirely new, never-seen-in-nature perception of a scent directly into their brains. Yet another study combined lasers with virtual reality to dissect how our brains process space and navigation, mentally transporting a mouse to a virtual location linked to a reward. To cap it off, scientists found a new way to use light to control the brain through the skull without surgerythough as of now, youll still need gene therapy. Given the implications of unauthorized mind control, thats probably less of a bug and more of a feature.

Were nearing the frustratingly slow, but sure, dying gasp of Covid-19. The pandemic defined 2020, but science kept hustling along. I cant wait to share what might come in the next year with youmay it be revolutionary, potentially terrifying, utterly bizarre* or oddly heart-warming.

* For example, Why wild giant pandas frequently roll in horse manure. Yes thats the actual title of a study. Yes, its a great read. And yes, its hilarious but has a point.

Image Credit: Greyson Joralemon on Unsplash

Link:
2020 in Neuroscience, Longevity, and AIand What's to Come - Singularity Hub