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Human Behavior

‘Grey’s Anatomy’s’ Medical Expert: "COVID Is No. 1 on the Call Sheet" in Season 17 – Hollywood Reporter

Grey's Anatomy, television's longest-running primetime medical drama, has dedicated its 17th season to front-line workers battling the novel coronavirus pandemic. It is also not shying away from accurately depicting every facet of how COVID-19 is impacting medical professionals, patients and their families.

Since Grey's returned for its current season in mid-November, many of the headlines have focused on the surprising return of former leading man Patrick Dempsey, whose Derek Shepherd was shockingly killed off in season 11. But for Zoanne Clack, a doctor, writer and exec producer who has been with Grey's since the pilot, COVID-19 is the season's real headliner.

Clack, who spent a year working with the CDC after her residency in emergency medicine at Emory University before following her dreams of writing creatively, is among those charged with overseeing medical storylines on Grey's. After Meredith Grey (series star Ellen Pompeo) was hospitalized with COVID-19 during the Nov. 19 episode and became the second doctor on Grey's to have the virus, Clack revealed that the show's fictional infection rate was similar to the world's and that the show is "going all in" on its portrayal of the pandemic.

Below, Clack interviewed via email talks with The Hollywood Reporter about the lengths to which Grey's Anatomy is going to accurately portray all the ways the pandemic is impacting medical professionals, why the show won't politicize the pandemic (or mask wearing) and her hopes for what the audience takes away from seeing an accurate portrayal of history onscreen.

Krista Vernoff has said she previously didn't think Grey's should tackle COVID-19. As a doctor and a writer on the series, why did you feel it was important for Grey's to not only portray the pandemic but to do so as accurately as possible?

We were definitely concerned about COVID fatigue from the audience: living with COVID news day-to-day and watching it on a fictional show was a hard barrier to cross. But talking to front-linehealth care workers pushed us forward onto our current path. On our show, I've started a program called the Medical Communications Fellowship that allows active surgical residents to spend three to six months with the writers during the research years of their residencies. This has led to a few of them staying on as consultants, and we also always have working residents in our midst. Those doctors, in addition to some of our tried-and-true consultants that we go to for advice and expert opinions on everyepisode, pressed upon us the overall life-changing effects COVID is having and will continue to have on our medical system. We also spoke to a number of otherphysicians once we decided to go in that direction and we felt their stories had to be told.

This pandemic is the single-biggest medical story of our time and likely a permanent game-changer as to how we practice medicine and how we look at the world. Being a medical show that focuses on our doctors' professional and private lives and one that takes great pride in being a voice for the voiceless and understanding that responsibility, we felt compelled to tell the stories of loneliness, fear and bravery that our health care workers and the patients are going through. Of course, we were scared that people would not want to go through the misery of COVID once more, but I think we've found a nice balance of keeping a Grey's vibe on the episodes. It's not all COVID, all the time, but COVID is always the backdrop. As I've heard people say, COVID is No. 1 on the call sheet. I also believe that going through the pandemic with these characters, whom people love dearly or love to hate makes the audience feel like they're going through it with friends, which makes me think it is felt more deeply, and not just a rehash of the constant roll of statistics and mortality rates. The audience is seeing real stories by characters played by real people that they can relate to, and bringing these stories into their homes and feeling like we're all in this together can actually be comforting.

Through two episodes, the series has not politicized the pandemic or wearing masks. As the medical community continues to post videos encouraging things like social distancing and mask wearing, is that territory Grey's will explore?

We will never politicize COVID because COVID should never have been politicized in the first place. We are dealing only with science and facts, not conjecture. We take our information from first-hand experience, medical journals and experts. We will always model mask wearing and social distancing even when we are not directly saying the words. There's a theory in public health that I feel validates my existence being a writer instead of a doctor on the front lines, and that is Bandura's Social Learning Theory. It basically says that a lot of human behavior is learned observationally through modeling, especially when the modeling is done by beloved people or characters to which the learner or in our case, audience has a particular attachment. In the case of Grey's Anatomy, people have grown with these characters some have literally grown up with them over 17 seasons! and the actions that these characters take can be very impactful. We never question the validity of COVID. Every character, like the medical profession, takes it as fact, and it is our hope that the audience does too and goes along this ride with us. And yes, there will be times when it is said outright that people need to wear their mask or stay 6 feet away it was done in the first episodes but we try to make it flow as easily into the stories as the medicine always has; it should never take you out of the story being told. Washing and sterilizing hands is also a big backdrop of the season. There should be a bingo game where you can mark off every time a character uses sanitizer or washes their hands while they're doing their regular dialogue or moving in and out of scenes.

You tweeted that the COVID infection rate on Grey's is similar to where things were at the time in the real world. What have you specifically pushed for in depicting how the pandemic impacts first responders at a hospital?

We have been trying to strike a balance between our characters contracting COVID and the rate at which health care workers are contracting it. I wrote that tweet actually coming off of finding out that Koracick (played by Greg Germann) had tested positive for COVID. That story served a double punch: first, that people can walk around asymptomatic and spread the disease unknowingly; and second, that health care workers are out there every day working hard and being exposed especially since this was our second character to contract COVID. It shows that anyone can get it and that it spreads easily. Our decision to start just a bit after the pandemic began in America was a wise one, because we never have to worry about being ahead of the reality. We are basing our characters' actions on what was known early on, and we get more information and integrate it into the show as the world got more information and integrated it into their practice. Fortunately, we have many more therapies now and a decreased mortality rate, but sadly the positivity rates are still increasing exponentially. Historically, people will be able to watch this season of Grey's and see the medical story of our lifetime unfold.

The docs are all in these big almost helmet-like masks with tubes down their backs. Are those an invention of the show designed to see the actors' faces or are they working masks being used in hospitals to battle the pandemic?

Those helmet-like masks are real and are calledPAPR but of course we wanted to see their faces as much as possible! "PAPR" stands for Powered Air Purifying Respirator. In the real world, they are used when individuals have the potential to be exposed to airborne pathogens and are convenient because they don't have to be "fit-tested" like an N95 mask does. I thought they did get fogged up sometimes early on but I asked someone in production and he said it was never a problem probably because they do allow airflow in and out of them. But we had to do a lot of figuring out about how to light them properly to prevent glare and we ended up with some kind of anti-glare material that was fitted into them.

In two episodes, we're seeing the pain of the pandemic told from two COVID-positive doctors in Meredith and Tom, one of whom is on death's door and seeing visions, and the other is asymptomatic. Why is it important to portray both ends of the spectrum?

This goes back to how our knowledge of COVID is increasing daily. New symptoms, no symptoms, asymptomatic spread, less spread from surfaces these are all things we learned as we went and our doctors on the show are just learning. Since testing was and still is in some areas so unavailable at the start, we didn't realize that people could basically be asymptomatic but positive and spreading the disease. Tom Koracickeven says, "I'm not symptomatic," when he's told to go home and quarantine. As the episodes unfold, our doctors will see all or at least very many of the complications of COVID as we learn like science learned that it is very much a vascular disease thatattacks blood vessels and the consequences from that.We'll see people who recover, people who die, people who have mild symptoms, people who have post-COVID syndrome in one way or another the full spectrum. On the one hand, it's a very complicated disease, mostly because it's new and unheard of and we're still trying to figure it out. On the other hand, it's a virus. It spreads like a virus. Once we learn more, we integrate more, we learn how to live with it and how to treat it better, and that journey will be reflected on the show.

Many of the headlines are focusing on the return of Patrick Dempsey. How much of Meredith's visions of Derek are inspired by what COVID-19 patients are experiencing i.e. seeing visions, having visceral dreams?

From the small amount of research that I've done on visceral "COVID dreams," they seem to be the stuff of non-COVID victims, just people going through this pandemic, whether they have COVID or not. We actually started early in the season talking about different characters having very vivid, very surreal COVID dreams in each episode, but it evolved to what you see on your screen. Mer's COVID dreams are more like her experience in season three, where she's kind of in limbo between life and death, holding on to one and reaching out to the other. And it's a chance to bring some joy into the abyss that is COVID and that is 2020. I loved how people on Twitter were saying that Grey's saved 2020 for them. One of our writers said we were making America Grey's again.

This season started by portraying events in April and continues to reflect the early days of the pandemic. Will the number of docs who test positive for COVID continue to be portrayed by the rates hospitals are experiencing?

Yes, we will try to reflect the reality of what's happening out there in the real world. Grey's Anatomy is letting people know that we're all living through this together, and no one is alone, no matter how isolating it might feel.

Creatively speaking, will the season always be a few months behind where we are in the pandemic? How are you talking about ending a season given the uncertainty around rising COVID cases and hospitalization rates and the evolving news around vaccines?

Honestly, the season is ever-evolving, day to day. Some days we think the season will span two weeks, other days we say we're going to catch up to present time. We really just let the stories be our guide. The vaccine looks so promising that maybe there will be a way to integrate it in the future, though we haven't discussed that possibility yet or how we would tackle that subject, if at all.

As you were researching the impact of the pandemic on hospitals, what was the most striking thing you discovered?

Oh, so many things! In speaking with front-line providers, we learned how this pandemic is fundamentally and perhaps permanently changing medicine. The use of masks in hospitals may become permanent because they've noticed other infection rates ones that historically spread within hospitals have gone down. The advancement of telemedicine has led to the ability to perhaps expand access to care in the long run. The creative ways that people were working together to expand their hospitals has led to using cafeterias and ORs for COVID patient care even after we were initially so unprepared for such devastation. And seeing, reading about, and conversing with people has shown us the utter strength and resilience of mankind, especially our health care workers who have been working tirelessly during this pandemic and suffering unfathomable mental and physical strain because of it.

The series is also portraying the emotional impact on doctors who are losing an ungodly number of patients with Maggie's (Kelly McCreary) character. How closely is Maggie's journey adhering to other doctors you've spoken with?

One-hundred percent accurate. We're portraying the emotional impact with most of the characters in one way or another. During our pre-writing research time, we watched a lot of video diaries of doctors and read innumerablearticles about what they are going through. We talked to a lot of doctors ourselves also, and made a point to speak with a lot of doctors of color since, as you know, COVID is disproportionately hitting marginalized communities. We took a deep dive into that aspect of it and all the rage and sadness that surrounds that fact, and that's a lot of what Maggie is portraying. But I would say that Meredith also had her moment of throwing things around before she got sick, and the audience can see the strain of the shortage of PPE with Koracick beating up boxes with a golf club they're definitely all feeling it.

There's also the grief of having to see patients dying alone as their family members are not permitted in to visit them. What have you heard from other fellow medical professionals about how this especially devastating part of the pandemic is impacting patients and their families?

This was one of the biggest points echoed throughout most of our consultations. The fact that so many people were dying alone. Many doctors were and are trying to make concessions and have family come and see their loved one if they are near death. I had that kindness afforded to me when my own mom was sick in the hospital with COVID. They arranged it so that I could see her and be with her for a short period of time when they thought it was potentially her last day. My mom ended up becoming a COVID survivor but that was after spending many, many weeks in the hospital. But even with that visit, I wouldn't have been able to be there at the moment she took her last breath if that had been the case. I got my hour visit, and then waited for the call that fortunately did not come. The loneliness is on all sides patients dying alone, health care workers not seeing their families for days or sometimes weeks at a time, those that have to quarantine if they're positive. People maintaining 6 feet and avoiding hugging, friendly cheek kisses or even handshakes. This whole disease is isolating and scary.

Grey's Anatomy airs Thursdays on ABC. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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'Grey's Anatomy's' Medical Expert: "COVID Is No. 1 on the Call Sheet" in Season 17 - Hollywood Reporter

Human Behavior

TEXAS VIEW: Why are we bringing thousands of rodeo fans to Fort Worth area? – Odessa American

The advice comes over and over again, often with urgent, dire tones: avoid large gatherings with other people. Its crucial to curtailing the rapidly growing pandemic.

Why, then, are Fort Worth and Arlington eagerly welcoming thousands of rodeo fans to town in early December? After all, theyre not coming here to enjoy our hotels, lovely though they may be. Theyre coming, by the thousands, for public events.

Its confusing at best to say in one moment that a family holiday dinner will spread disease while thousands of people in an arena or other venue Globe Life Field for the 2020 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo or, say, AT&T Stadium for Dallas Cowboys games is fine.

Though the main events for the rodeo are at the Rangers ballpark, Fort Worth will see a host of related activities, especially in the Stockyards. Both cities and event organizers have taken steps to make the events safe, and they vow mask requirements will be enforced.

This Editorial Board has urged adaptation to the virus, following science about how its spread and figuring out how activities can be altered to be safe. But part of adaptation is acknowledging reality about the current moment of the pandemic and whether a gathering that might have been safer before is too dangerous now. With Tarrant County and Texas setting COVID-19 case records, the timing is terrible.

Plans are in place for limited capacity, giving out masks and stringent cleaning, but organizers cant control human behavior. Visitors will cluster in hotels and restaurants. Masks will slip. The virus will spread.

In this phase of the pandemic, the bar for events such as these should be high. When the deal to move the event from Las Vegas to Arlington was announced in September, perhaps it seemed the virus would remain under better control. And the area certainly needs the economic boost, particularly in the hospitality industry. But future requests for crowd permits must be closely scrutinized.

After all, if illness threatens to overwhelm our hospitals, any financial gain will be lost if businesses have to reduce their operating capacity under Gov. Greg Abbotts standing emergency order.

Its a high threshold: If 15% of hospital beds in a region of the state defined as a trauma service area are filled with COVID-19 patients for more than a week, businesses must ratchet back from 75% to 50%. Tarrant County and its urban/suburban neighbors are grouped with more rural counties near the Red River, so itll take more than just the local case surge. But the area has been close to the limit in recent days.

And make no mistake, our hospitals are in danger. A University of North Texas Health Science Center epidemiologist warned that we could quickly run out of beds, based on the explosive growth in coronavirus cases. Overwhelmed health care facilities would be a problem for anyone needing care, not just COVID-19 patients.

Throughout the pandemic, the most difficult question for leaders and policymakers is how to enforce restrictions. County leaders grappled with the question last Tuesday as commissioners voted to extend the local emergency declaration and the mandate that businesses require customers to wear masks.

Theres been confusion over how far the governors order goes. County Judge Glen Whitley, acting on the advice of District Attorney Sharen Wilsons office, says Abbotts order doesnt allow enforcement of social-distancing requirements in businesses, a key question for restaurants especially.

City leaders are adamant that the order does impose such rules. Theyre the ones doing the bulk of enforcing, through code-compliance departments. And the need for distancing should be obvious.

Its a shame if local businesses, the backbone of our economy, face tougher scrutiny than big, tourist-drawing events. Fort Worth and Arlington leaders need to tread carefully in allowing such gatherings.

This area excels at attracting events and their cash-generating crowds. But right now, we dont need to draw more coronavirus cases, too.

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TEXAS VIEW: Why are we bringing thousands of rodeo fans to Fort Worth area? - Odessa American

Physiology

Utilizing consumer cameras for contact-free physiological measurement in telehealth and beyond – Microsoft

Our research is enabling robust and scalable measurement of physiology. Cameras on everyday devices can be used to detect subtle changes in light reflected from the body caused by physiological processes. Machine learning algorithms are then used to process the camera images and recover the underlying pulse and respiration signals that can then be used for health and wellness tracking.

According to the CDC WONDER Online Database, heart disease is currently the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States. However, most deaths due to cardiovascular diseases could be prevented with suitable interventions. Early detection of changes in health and well-being can have a significant impact on the success of these interventions and boost the chances of positive outcomes. Atrial fibrillation (AFib) is an example of a symptom that can indicate increased risk of heart disease, and when detected early, it can inform interventions that help to reduce risk of stroke.

Physiological sensing plays an important role in helping people track their health and detect the onset of symptoms. However, there are barriers to conducting physiological sensing that act as a disincentive, such as access to medical devices and the inconvenience of performing regular measurements. Making physiological sensing more accessible and less obtrusive can reduce the burden on people to perform physiological assessments of this kind and help catch early warning signs of symptoms like AFib.

Over the past decade, researchers have discovered that increasingly available webcams and cellphone cameras combined with AI algorithms can be used as effective health sensors. These methods involve measurement of very subtle changes in the appearance of the body across time, in many cases changes imperceptible to the unaided human eye, to recover physiological information. In essence, as ambient light in a room hits your body, some is absorbed and some is reflected. Physiological processes such as blood flow and breathing change the appearance of the body very subtly over time.

A smartphone camera can pick up this reflected light, and the changes in pixel intensities over time can be used to recover the underlying sources of these variations (namely a persons pulse and respiration). Using optical models grounded in our knowledge of these physiological processes, a video of a person can be processed to determine their pulse rate, respiration, and even the concentration of oxygen in their blood.

Building on previous work, our team of researchers from Microsoft Research, University of Washington, and OctoML have collaborated to create an innovative video-based on-device optical cardiopulmonary vital sign measurement approach. The approach uses everyday camera technology (such as webcams and mobile devices) and a novel convolutional attention network, called MTTS-CAN, to make real-time cardio-pulmonary measurements possible on mobile platforms with state-of-the-art accuracy. Our paper, Multi-Task Temporal Shift Attention Networks for On-Device Contactless Vitals Measurement, has been accepted at the 34th Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS 2020) and will be presented in a Spotlight talk on Monday, December 7th at 6:15PM- 6:30PM (PT).

Camera-based physiological sensing has numerous fitness, well-being and clinical applications. For everyday consumers, it could make home monitoring and fitness tracking more convenient. Imagine if your treadmill or smart at-home fitness equipment could continuously track your vitals during your run without you needing to wear a device or sync the data. In clinical contexts, camera-based measurements could enable a cardiologist to more objectively analyze a patients heart health over a video call. Contact sensors, necessary for monitoring vitals in intensive care, can damage the skin of infantsremote sensing could provide a more comfortable solution.

Perhaps the most obvious application for camera-based physiological sensing is in telehealth. The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic is transforming the face of healthcare around the world. One example of this revolution can be seen in the number of medical appointments held via teleconference, which has increased by more than an order of magnitude because of stay-at-home orders and greater burdens on healthcare systems. This is due to the desire to protect healthcare workers and restrictions on travel, but telehealth also benefits patients by saving them time and costs. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending the use of telehealth strategies when feasible to provide high-quality patient care and reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission in healthcare settings. The COVID-19 virus has been linked to increased risk of myocarditis and other serious cardiac (heart) conditions, and experts are suggesting that particular attention should be given to cardiovascular and pulmonary protection during treatment.

In most telehealth scenarios, however, physicians lack access to objective measurements of a patients condition because of the inability to capture signals such as the patients vital signs. This concerns many patients because they worry about the quality of the diagnosis and care they can receive without objective measurements. Ubiquitous sensing could help transform how telehealth is conducted, and it could also contribute to establishing telehealth as a mainstream form of healthcare.

It can take many years for new technologies such as these to transition from research discoveries to mature applications. The fields of AI and computer vision, as a whole, are six decades old, yet it is only in the past 10 years that many applications have started to reach fruition. Research on camera-based vital sign monitoring began much more recentlywithin the past 15 yearsso there is still a lot of effort required to help it reach maturity.

Contact sensors (electrocardiograms, oximeters) are the current gold standard for measurement of heart and lung function, yet these devices are still not ubiquitously available, especially in low-resource settings. The development of video-based contactless sensing of vital signs presents an opportunity for highly scalable physiological monitoring. Computer vision for remote cardiopulmonary measurement is a growing field, and there is room for improvement in the existing methods.

First, the accuracy of measurements is critical to avoid false alarms or misdiagnoses. The US Federal Drug Administration (FDA) mandates that testing of a new device for cardiac monitoring should show substantial equivalence in accuracy with a legal predicate device (for example, a contact sensor). This standard has not been obtained in non-contact approaches. Second, designing models that run on-device helps reduce the need for high-bandwidth internet connections, making telehealth more practical and accessible. Our method, detailed below, works to improve accuracy with a newly designed algorithm (see Figure 1) and runs on-device.

Camera-based cardiopulmonary measurement is also a highly privacy-sensitive application. This data is personally identifiable, combining videos of a patients face with sensitive physiological signals. Therefore, streaming and uploading data to the cloud to perform analysis is not ideal. This motivated our focus to develop methods that run on devicehelping keep peoples data under their control.

Finally, the ability to run at a high frame rate enables opportunistic sensing (for example, obtaining measurements each time you look at your phone) and helps capture waveform dynamics that could be used to detect atrial fibrillation, hypertension, and heart rate variability where high-frame rates (at least 100Hz) are a requirement to yield precise measurements of the waveform dynamics.

To help address the gaps in the current research, we developed an algorithm for multi-parameter physiological measurement that can run on a standard mid-range mobile phone, even at high frame rates. The method uses a type of deep learning algorithm called a convolutional neural network and analyzes pixels in a video over time to extract estimates of heart and respiration rates. The algorithm extracts two representations of the face: 1) the motion representation that contains the temporal changes pixel information and 2) the appearance representation that helps guide the network toward the spatial regions of the frame to focus on. Our specific design of this method is called a multi-task temporal shift convolutional attention network (MTTS-CAN). See Figure 2 below for details.

We introduced several features to help address the challenges of privacy, portability, and precision in contactless physiological measurement. Our end-to-end MTTS-CAN performs efficient temporal modeling and removes sources of noise without any added computational overhead by leveraging temporal shift operations rather than 3D convolutions, which are computationally onerous.

These shift operations allow the model to capture complex temporal dependencies, which are particularly important for recovering the subtle dynamics of the pulse and respiration signals. An attention module improves signal source separation by helping the model learn which regions of the video frame to apply greater importance to, and a multi-task mechanism shares the intermediate representations between pulse and respiration to jointly estimate both simultaneously.

Multi-task learning is effective for two reasons. First, the heart rhythms are correlated with breathing patterns meaning the two signals share some common propertiesthis is a principle known as Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA). Second, by sharing many of the preliminary processing steps, we can dramatically reduce the computation required.

By combining these three techniques, our proposed network can run on a mobile CPU and achieve state-of-the-art accuracy and inference speed. Ultimately, these features result in significant improvements for gathering real physiological signals, like heart rate and pulse (see Figure 3).

One concern with optical measurement of vital signs is whether performance will work equally across people, including all skin types and appearances (for example, those with facial hair, wearing cosmetics, head coverings, or glasses). We have worked on characterizing these differences and helping to reduce them using personalization and data augmentation. Improving sensing technology to create equitable performance is a central focus to this research.

We hope that this work advances the speed at which scalable non-contact sensing can be adopted. Atrial fibrillation (AFib) is just one of most common cardiovascular symptoms that impact millions of people and could be better detected with more accurate, easily deployed non-contact health sensing systems. Our work is a step in this direction. Through our research we are continuing to develop methods for sensing other physiological parameters, such as blood oxygen saturation and pulse transit time.

If youre interested in learning more about our research in physiological sensing, there are a number of resources available. Our project page is a hub for publications and related content, including links to open-source code. We also recently gave a webinar on contactless camera-based health sensing that further elaborates on this work and dives deeper into how the technology works. Register now to watch the on-demand webinar/Q&A.

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Utilizing consumer cameras for contact-free physiological measurement in telehealth and beyond - Microsoft

Physiology

OCTC to offer 4-week winter session – The Owensboro Times

Owensboro Community & Technical College will offer a condensed four-week winter session due to the popularity of the initial offering in 2019. This term will begin on Dec. 14 and run through Jan. 10.

The session will include online courses in a condensed format, including Accounting; Principles of Marketing; Introduction to Art; Introduction to Biology; Basic Anatomy/Physiology with lab and Basic Anatomy/Physiology Lab (paired courses); Human Anatomy and Physiology/Human A7P with Lab (paired courses); Introduction to Computers; Basic Public Speaking; Introduction to Interpersonal Communication; and History of Women in America.

For the full listing of OCTC Winter session courses,click here. This is an opportunity for students to get ahead, catch up, or lighten their course load for future semesters.

Registration is open now and will continue through Dec. 14.

New students can sign up in person at the START Center, located in the upper level of the Campus Center at 4800 New Hartford Road, open 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m Monday through Thursday.

For a virtual or scheduled appointment new students may emailoctc.startcenter@kctcs.edu or call 270-686-4522.

Current students may register online or see an advisor in the Pathfinder Den, located in the lower level of the Campus Center.or a personal or virtual appointment students may call 270-686-4683 or emailoctc.pathfinderden@kctcs.edu.

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OCTC to offer 4-week winter session - The Owensboro Times

Physiology

December: optimal stress levels | News and features – University of Bristol

Scientists have created an evolutionary model to predict how animals should react in stressful situations.

Almost all organisms have fast-acting stress responses, which help them respond to threats but being stressed uses energy, and chronic stress can be damaging.

The new study by an international team, including researchers from the Universities of Bristol and Exeter, suggests most animals remain stressed for longer than is optimal after a stress-inducing incident.

The reasons for this are not clear, but one possibility is that there is a limit to how quickly the body can remove stress hormones from circulation.

While the physiological basis for the stress response system has been extensively studied, we previously understood remarkably little about why this system has evolved,"saidDr Sian Englishfrom the University of Bristols School of Biological Sciences.

Weve shown that considering both mechanisms of hormone clearance, and features of the environment - how predictable the threat is across time - can help explain the universal stress response, and how it varies.

Our findings are all the more relevant today when we live in such uncertain times, and stress being a topic of every day discussion."

Dr English worked with experts in mathematical modelling, including Bristol Professor, John McNamara and Dr Tim Fawcett from the University of Exeter, to develop the conceptual framework and to consider the broader implications on stress in fish, birds and mammals.

We have created one of the first mathematical models to understand how organisms have evolved to deal with stressful events," said Dr Fawcett.

It combines existing research on stress physiology in a variety of organisms with analysis of optimal responses that balance the costs and benefits of stress.

We know stress responses vary hugely between different species and even among individuals of the same species as we see in humans.

Our study is a step towards understanding why stress responses are so variable.

The researchers define stress as the process of an organism responding to stressors (threats and challenges in their environment), including both detection and the stress response itself.

A key point highlighted in the study is the importance of how predictable threats are.

The model suggests that an animal living in a dangerous environment should have a high "baseline" stress level, while an animal in a safer environment would benefit from being able to raise and reduce stress levels rapidly.

"Our approach reveals environmental predictability and physiological limits as key factors shaping the evolution of stress responses," said lead author Professor Barbara Taborsky, of the University of Bern.

"More research is needed to advance scientific understanding of how this core physiological system has evolved."

The study was carried out by the universities of Bern, Exeter, Bristol, Stockholm and Turku, and the Brain Mind Institute at cole polytechnique fdrale de Lausanne.

Funding was provided by the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Paper:

Towards an evolutionary theory of stress responses, by Taborsky, B., English, S., Fawcett, T.W. et al.; in Trends in Ecology & Evolution.

Life Sciences at the University of BristolThe Faculty of Life Sciences brings together the five Schools of:

We have a long-standing tradition of excellence in research and teaching. Our broad range of expertise opens up a wealth of opportunities for all our students. Hereyou can study a range of challenging, research-focused, undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, all taught in the context of world-leading research environments, usingspecialist equipment and facilities. We also work closely with the Faculty of Health Sciences contributing to the delivery of the University's three professional programmes:Medicine,DentistryandVeterinary Science.

Our research addresses a range of the important challenges in the life sciences. From tackling ecosystem and global change, to innovation in fundamental biosciences for better human, animal, plant and ocean health. From understanding animal and human behaviour and wellbeing, to developing future synthetic biotechnologies and so driving the UK's bioeconomy. Early career research training in the faculty is supported by a powerful range of3 and 4 year Doctoral Training Programmes.

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December: optimal stress levels | News and features - University of Bristol

Physiology

Elf Physiology, According to Lord of the Rings | CBR – CBR – Comic Book Resources

The Lord of the Rings' Elves are the height of grace amongst fantasy species, unique in their physiology and abilities.

The Elves in The Lord of the Rings are, in many ways, what people think of when they think of the mythical species theclassic, archetypical fantasy Elves with their lithe forms and mystical countenances. However, Tolkien's version of the beings is still unique, as there are many different interpretations of them throughout folklore. The Elves of The Lord of the Rings have specific characteristics that make them particularly special.

Elves are some of the Children of Ilvatar (the others being Men), and Ilvatar is this universe's supreme being. They were the first species to find Middle-earth. Some other names of the Elves are Quendi, which means "those who speak" in Quenya (one of the primary languages spoken by Elves),and Minnnar, which means "Firstborn." Elves are considered the closest beings to the Valar, who are akin to angels in this universe, and the Vala Orom was specifically bonded to the Elves. He was the one that prompted the arrest of the evil Melkor, who is akin to the devil, and the Sundering of the Elves.

RELATED: How Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings Movies Changed the Book's Characters

The Elves are split into groups, which are defined less by physical differences and more by the choices of their forebears. The Avari Elves, chose to remain in Middle-earth after Orom suggested they migrate to Valinor, the "Land of the Valar," in Aman, the "blessed realm;" others, theVanyar and the oldor, were quick to make the journey, while the Teleri arrived later and were therefore seen as lesser, and these groups became the Eldar. In Valinor, they learned to excel in art, building and metalwork. After Melkor escaped, sowed chaos in Valinor and prompted a war, some Elves returned to Middle-earth and lived there until the Third Age, when The Lord of the Rings takes place. This includes the Elves of Rivendell and Mirkwood, who are featured most prominently in the story. The Rivendell elves are some of the oldor, while Mirkwood's population is comprised of Sindar and Silvan Elves, descended from the Teleri.

Like many fictional immortal species, Elves are somewhat immortal not in the sense that they cannot be killed, but in the sense that they are long-lived, it is incredibly difficult to kill them and they are immune to things like age and illness. Some Elves have healing powers, which are connected to their fa or spirit, and can also create items to aid in healing. Physical injury can kill them, however, and they are capable of wasting away if they lose their will to live. When Elves do die, they pass to the Halls of Mandos in Valinor, where they wait and reflect on their lives until, (unless they do not wish to be or have committed serious crimes in their lives) they are reincarnated. If an Elf with mortal ancestry chooses to become fully mortal, like Arwen (Liv Tyler) did, they will be able to die of natural causes.

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Elf Physiology, According to Lord of the Rings | CBR - CBR - Comic Book Resources

Physiology

In Alzheimers, Connection Between Bone, Brain, and Microbiome May Be Critical – Newswise

Newswise TROY, NY - An estimated 50 million people worldwide live with dementia, a syndrome that progressively affects a persons cognitive function. Alzheimers disease is the most common form of dementia, but a full understanding of the mechanisms behind how and why it occurs remains elusive.

With the support of a new grant from the National Institutes of Health, a team from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will examine the interactions between the brain, bone, and the gut microbiota in relation to Alzheimers disease. What the researchers learn could lead to new biomarker and therapeutic discoveries for both diagnosis and treatment.

We believe that we live in a very bone-centric world, said Deepak Vashishth, the director of the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS) at Rensselaer. Anything that goes on in the body is somehow stored in bone, so it has a memory.

Vashishth, a foremost expert on osteoporosis, is leading this research with Blanca Barquera, a professor of biological sciences and member of CBIS. Their angle on Alzheimers is unique.

They are focusing their efforts on osteocalcin, a bone-specific protein that affects a number of physiological processes, including energy expenditure and glucose levels. Osteocalcin also has the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier, where it binds to neurons and affects the synthesis of neurotransmitters.

Our theory is that the bone produces a protein, osteocalcin, which gets modified or not modified by the microbiome and then affects the brain function, Vashishth said. We are trying to determine if there is a correlation and a mechanistic link between the two, especially in the context of Alzheimers disease.

In the microbiota the collection of bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and viruses that live inside the human body vitamin K, produced by some bacteria in the gut, regulates carboxylation, which in turn regulates the level of osteocalcin in the body. An altered composition of bacteria in the gut could affect vitamin K production, therefore affecting the level of osteocalcin in the body. Distorted levels of osteocalcin may affect glucose metabolism, leading to the formation of advanced glycation end-products, which are linked to Alzheimers disease and diabetes-related skeletal fragility.

This project, a collaboration between an engineer who studies bones and a biochemist who studies bacterial physiology, is an example of how fruitful interdisciplinary cooperation can be, Barquera said.

This collaboration embodies the New Polytechnic model that drives education and research at Rensselaer. Leaning on Vashishths expertise in bone health and Barqueras expertise on the gut microbiota, the team will determine the bone and microbiome alterations that happen alongside Alzheimers progression. Vashishth and Barquera will evaluate the effects of altering vitamin K production by gut bacteria on carboxylated osteocalcin, which may affect the onset of Alzheimers disease.

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In Alzheimers, Connection Between Bone, Brain, and Microbiome May Be Critical - Newswise

Physiology

Lindsey Bryant: a track and field star for the Wildcats – The Orion

Ryan McCasland/Chico State Sports Information

Lindsey Bryant, a sophomore and exercise physiology major who is a current member of the high jump/javelin track and field team at Chico State.

Lindsey Bryant is a sophomore at Chico State and is a member of the womens track and field team. Bryant was born in Paradise and attended Durham High School.

Bryant represents the team as a member of the high jump and javelin squad. Bryants mom participated with the track and field team at Chico State as well, so the family legacy has been of great inspiration.

My mom did track at Chico State, Bryant said. She opened me up to the idea of doing it at Durham High School and from there, I fell in love with it. I missed it once I graduated high school.

Before coronavirus shut down the teams season last semester, Bryant got a chance to compete in an event called The Stanislaus State Kim Duyst International in Turlock, California on March 6 and 7.

In the final results of the Womens High Jump, Bryant finished in a three way tie for 11th place at 1.48m. She also took home ninth place in the Womens Javelin competition with a mark of 31.27m.

Even though sports are halted this semester, Bryant still finds ways to stay active so that when it comes time to return to action, she is ready to go.

I run on my own time, Bryant said. Ive been getting big into yoga because thats good for the mind especially with everything going on. I do workouts at home trying to stay fit that way.

While Bryant may not be out on the field competing, she does manage to keep strong relationships and friendships going with her roommates, Jacqueline Massey-Blake and Lara Condosta, both of which are also on the track and field team.

Shes very laid back, Condosta said. Shes one of the chillest people Ive ever met. She has a funny personality. Shes very honest in the best way. Shes just a very real friend.

When Bryant is not hanging with her friends, she is working hard in school and has a dog who she has a strong relationship with.

Im an exercise physiology major, Bryant said. I have a dog named Ace. He is my pride and joy. I spend a lot of time with him. I take him on walks and things like that.

With the pandemic going on and all classes being on Zoom, Bryants head coach Robert Nooney stays in touch with the team pretty regularly to make sure everyone is doing good. Nooney has a strong relationship with Bryant and has nothing but positive things to say about her.

Shes a local gal, Nooney said. Thats always really cool. Shes a very good athlete. Shes super positive and a great teammate. It was almost as if she had been with our team for a while.

Outside of just talking with one another whether its on the phone or via Zoom, Nooney and Bryant have even had a chance to workout together outside of school.

Ive had a chance to connect with her (Lindsey) in person just a few times weve done some curbside meetups, Nooney said. On Monday I would do the workout with her in the hills. It was fun. We didnt say much at times because we were training and we were tired, but I think there was that connection and that respect.

Alex Martin can be reached at [emailprotected] or @alexmartinjour on Twitter.

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Lindsey Bryant: a track and field star for the Wildcats - The Orion

Cell Biology

Stunning imagery on display in 2020 ASCB Image and Video Contest – Newswise

Newswise The American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) hosted its second image and video contest, and we could not be more delighted with all entries that were submitted this year. We received 55 submissions in total, and they represent some of the most stunning cell biology visualizations and imaging techniques you can imagine.

Congratulations to the winners (see below) of the 2020 Cell Bio Image & Video Contest! Click here to see a video of all the winning images and videos.

Entries were judged by members of the ASCB Public Information Committee. Choosing winners was a difficult task. They looked for striking images that feature any aspect of cell biological research, including light and electron micrographs, movies, images of gels or other assays, data visualization, and computer simulations. Submissions were either still images or short (up to 15 seconds) videos. Click to see a gallery of all the submissions here.

Image Winners

1st place (tie) Aidan Fenix, University of Washington: Through the Worm Hole

1st place (tie) James Hayes and Dylan Burnette, Vanderbilt University: The Incredible Hulk of Cells: The Cardiac Myocyte

1st place (tie) Nilay Taneja, Vanderbilt University: Human Cardiac Myocyte

2nd place Dylan Burnette, Vanderbilt University: Actin Filaments, Mitochondria, and Golgi Apparatus

3rd place James Hayes and Dylan Burnette, Vanderbilt University: Natures Disco Ball

Video Winners

1st place Andrew Moore, Howard Hughes Medical Institute: Actin Dynamics in an Interphase HeLa Cell

2nd place Grace Hsu and Janet Iwasa, University of Utah: TRIM5 Forming a Lattice around HIV Capsid

3rd place Dylan Burnette, Vanderbilt University: Actin Filaments in a Mouse Embryonic Fibroblast Z Series

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Stunning imagery on display in 2020 ASCB Image and Video Contest - Newswise

Cell Biology

Planet of the Apes redux? Human brain gene inserted into monkey fetuses enlarged their brains, raising ethical concerns – Genetic Literacy Project

Researchers from Germanys Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Germany and Japans Central Institute for Experimental Animals introduced a specifically human gene,ARHGAP11B, into the fetus of a common marmoset monkey, causing the enlargement of its brains neocortex. The scientistsreported their findings in Science.

The neocortex is the newest part of the brain to evolve. Its in the nameneo meaning new, and cortex meaning, well, the bark of a tree. This outer shell makes up more than 75 percent of the human brain and is responsible for many of the perks and quirks that make us uniquely human, including reasoning and complex language.

The scientists call these human-monkey hybrids transgenic non-human primates, which may be enough to ring the alarm of any doomsdayer. It certainly raises a lot of ethical questions when doing experiments on primates, let alone when introducing human genes into other animals.

For this reason, the researchers limited their study to monkey fetuses, which were taken out by C-section after growing for 100 days. Allowing the experiment to go past the fetal phase and let the human gene-carrying monkeys to be born would beirresponsible and unethical, study coauthor Wieland Huttner said in the press release.

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Planet of the Apes redux? Human brain gene inserted into monkey fetuses enlarged their brains, raising ethical concerns - Genetic Literacy Project