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Physiology

This Red Light Means ‘Go’ for Medical Discoveries – University of Virginia

With a little tweak of the color palette, University of Virginia School of Medicine researchers have made it easier for scientists to understand biological processes, track happenings inside individual cells, unravel the mysteries of disease and develop new treatments.

UVAs Hui-wang Ai and Shen Zhang have developed a simple and effective improvement to fluorescent biosensors widely used in scientific and medical research. The biosensors detect specific targets inside cells and sets them aglow, so that scientists can monitor and quantify biological events they otherwise could not.

Most fluorescent protein biosensors give a green or yellow glow, but Ai and Zhang have discovered a way to shift the green to red. This comes with big benefits, including making it easier for scientists to monitor multiple targets at a time and to peer more deeply into tissues.

This innovative method can convert not only existing biosensors, but also any green biosensors developed in the future, Ai said. Multicolor and/or multiplexed imaging with fluorescent biosensors cells will thus become widely accessible.

While there are existing red biosensors, they are typically outperformed by their green counterparts. So scientists have been eager to find ways to shift the green color into red, retaining the benefits of the green sensors while adding new ones, such as reducing the visual confusion that can be caused by the natural fluorescence of tissues and cells.

Ai and Zhang found a solution partly by a stroke of luck or serendipity, as they describe it in a new scientific paper. In the course of their regular lab work, they found that adding a particular amino acid, 3-aminotyrosine, to the green biosensor made it turn red.

This is simple to do and quite effective, they report. The red version preserved the brightness, dynamic range and responsiveness of the green sensor, while offering the additional benefits of a red one.

We modified a panel of green biosensors for metal ions, neurotransmitters and cell metabolites, Zhang said. Spontaneous and efficient green-to-red conversion was observed for all tested biosensors, and little optimization on individual sensors was needed.

The researchers tested their improved biosensor on cells that make insulin in the pancreas. They were able to monitor the effect of high levels of glucose on the cells, gaining new insights and giving the researchers new directions to explore.

They hope their quick-and-easy sensor upgrade will offer similar benefits to many other scientists and lines of scientific research.

It will have lots of applications, Ai said, such as acceleration of our understanding of how pancreas controls insulin secretion or how neuronal activity patterns in the brain correlate with complex behavior.

The researchers have described their technique in the scientific journal Nature Chemical Biology. Ai and Zhang are both part of UVAs Department of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics, UVAs Department of Chemistry, the Center for Membrane and Cell Physiology, and the UVA Cancer Center.

The research was supported by UVA and the National Institutes of Health, grants R01GM118675, R01GM129291, U01CA230817 and R01DK122253.

To keep up with the latest medical research news from UVA, subscribe to the Making of Medicine blog.

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This Red Light Means 'Go' for Medical Discoveries - University of Virginia

Physiology

Landmark Legislation to Create NIH Center for Advancing Non-Animal Research Introduced in Congress Tuesday – PR Web

Lung Chip

WASHINGTON (PRWEB) October 22, 2020

A New York-based nonprofit group, CAARE, that led the drive to create legislation to promote cutting-edge methods of research superior to animal-based testing, today lauded the announcement that the Humane Research and Testing Act of 2020 has been introduced in Congress.

Landmark bipartisan legislation to promote and fund scientifically advanced, human-relevant, non-animal methods through the establishment of a dedicated center under the National Institute of Health (NIH) was introduced here Tuesday (Oct. 20) by Congressional members Alcee Hastings (D-FL) and Vern Buchanan (R-FL).

Barbara Stagno, president of Citizens for Alternatives to Animal Research & Experimentation, commends the effort, noting: CAARE is grateful to Representatives Hastings and Buchanan for introducing this legislation that has great promise to change the current paradigm of routine use of animals in laboratories when there are available alternatives, and gives real impetus to reducing animals by establishing a center exclusively for that purpose.

The "Humane Research and Testing Act of 2020" would create a dedicated center under the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to provide resources, funding and training to advance humane, cost-effective, and scientifically suitable non-animal methods, Stagno added.

Because the exact number of animals used in U.S. research is unknown, ranging between 17 million and 100 million annually, the Humane Research and Testing Act of 2020 is also designed to obtain that data, and requires the NIH to outline a plan for reducing those numbers.

Congressman Hastings, the leading sponsor points out: As science and medicine advance, we have a better understanding of the relevancy and benefits of animal-based medical research and testing on human health outcomes. We are finding methods that can better predict human results without the needless suffering of animals. This legislation will not just reduce animal testing and research but will ultimately improve medical treatments for humans as they are developed from beginning to end primarily with test subjects that replicate human biology and physiology.

CAARE is excited that the bill has received many influential endorsements including the Jane Goodall Institute, Cruelty Free International, Vanda Pharmaceuticals and Dr. Donald Ingber MD, PhD, one of the pioneers in developing organs-on-chips, a game-changing technology for replacing animals.

I have watched for decades as millions of animals have been used in experiments of every sort that have led to insufficient knowledge gained for human medicine, said Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, Founder, the Jane Goodall Institute & UN Messenger of Peace. We now have the opportunity to go in a more promising direction, based on modern knowledge and innovative technologies that open up a new humane pathway for research.

Dr. Don Ingber, chaired professor at Harvards Medical and Engineering Schools and Founding Director of its Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering expounds, We are reaching a tipping point in the field of in vitro human emulation technologies where they are able to recapitulate human physiology and disease states, as well as response to drugs, radiation, and toxins. A new NIH Center focused on meeting this goal would benefit this field, save animal lives, and expedite the development of more effective and safer therapies.

Cruelty Free International is one of the worlds longest standing and most respected animal protection organizations and has initiated and influenced legislation around the world to eliminate animal testing and advance humane science. Monica Engebretson, Cruelty Free Internationals Head of Public Affairs for North America said The need for cost-effective and reliable tools for the development of medicines and treatments has led to a wealth of new approach methodologies that focus on human biology and utilize modern technologies without the use of animals. Recent global events have highlighted the need for continued investment in these modern approaches to confront public health challenges.

Citizens for Alternatives to Animal Research & Experimentation is a national 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, established to highlight and promote research without animals. CAAREs mission is to reduce animal suffering by disseminating information about the power and progress of research without animals.

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Physiology

What chilly lizards in Miami can inform us about local weather change resilience – The Shepherd of the Hills Gazette

WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS

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IMAGE:CENTRAL AMERICAN BROWN BASILISKS (BASILISCUS VITTATUS) ARE AMONG THE MEMBERS OF A LIZARD COMMUNITY THAT CONVERGED ON A LOWER TEMPERATURE TOLERANCE AFTER A COLD SNAP IN MIAMI.viewmoreCREDIT: PHOTO COURTESY DAYS EDGE PRODUCTIONS

It was raining iguanas on a sunny morning.

BiologistJames Strouds phone started buzzing early on Jan. 22. A friend who was bicycling to work past the white sands and palm tree edges of Key Biscayne, an island town south of Miami, sent Stroud a picture of a 2-foot long lizard splayed out on its back. With its feet in the air, the iguana took up most of the sidewalk.

The previous night was south Floridas coldest in 10 years, at just under 40 degrees Fahrenheit. While most people reached for an extra blanket or a pair of socks, Stroud a postdoctoral research associate in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis frantically texted a collaborator:

Todays the day to drop everything, go catch some lizards.

When temperatures go below a critical limit, sleeping lizards lose their grip and fall out of trees. From previous research, Stroud and his colleagues had learned that different types of lizards in Miami can tolerate different low temperatures, ranging from about 46 to 52 degrees Fahrenheit, before they are stunned by cold. This cold snap provided a unique opportunity to understand how they are affected by extreme climate events.

But when the researchers collected the scaled survivors of that coldest night, they discovered that the lizard community responded in an unexpected way: all of them could tolerate cold temperatures down to about 42 degrees Fahrenheit, regardless of their species previous ability to withstand cold. The findings are reported Oct. 21 in the journalBiology Letters.

Prior to this, and for a different study, we had measured the lowest temperatures that six lizard species in south Florida could tolerate, Stroud said. We realized after the 2020 cold event that these data were now extremely valuable we had the opportunity to re-measure the same lizard populations to observe if their physiological limits had changed; in other words, could these species now tolerate lower temperatures?

In the days that followed the January cold snap, researchers collected representatives of as many different kinds of lizards as they could find in the local area, rounding up small and large lizards and those that are active during the day and at night. Then the researchers tested their response to cold.

A major unexpected result of this study was that all species converged on the same new, lower level of thermal tolerance, Stroud said. While there was great variation in temperature tolerance before the cold event some, like the large-bodied brown basilisk, were very intolerant of low temperatures, while others like the Puerto Rican crested anole were more robust we observed that all species could now tolerate, on average, the same lowest temperature.

Given great variation in body size, ecology and physiology, this was unexpected, he said.

Only one of the species in the study is native to the area; the rest have been introduced to Florida over the past century, researchers noted.

The results provide evidence that tropical, cold-blooded creatures often characterized as unable to withstand rapid changes in climatic conditions can sometimes endure conditions that exceed their established physiological limits.

The shifts to tolerate significantly lower temperatures that we observed were so large that we found it unclear whether natural selection was responsible, Stroud said. And so in our paper we discuss other alternative processes which may also have led to this pattern.

The results of this study are surprising and unexpected. Who would have thought that tropical lizards from places like Puerto Rico and Central America could withstand temperatures near freezing? said Jonathan Losos, the William H. Danforth Distinguished University Professor and professor of biology in Arts & Sciences and director of the Living Earth Collaborative at Washington University.

What we now need to find out is how this was accomplished. Is this evidence of natural selection, with those lizards that just happened to have a lower cold tolerance surviving and others freezing to death, or was it an example of physiological adjustment termed acclimation in which exposure to lower temperatures changes a lizards physiology so that it is capable of withstanding lower temperatures?

Regardless of the underlying mechanism, the new study provides a critically important piece of information for understanding the impacts of climate change.

Scientists expect that air temperatures will gradually become warmer under climate change, but also that temperatures will become more chaotic.

Events that spike temperature to extremes both exceptionally hot and exceptionally cold episodes will increase in frequency and magnitude. As such, it is important to understand both the effects of gradual, long-term increases in air temperatures as well as the consequences of abrupt, short-term extreme events.

It is widely thought that tropical and subtropical species are going to be especially vulnerable to changes in temperature particularly extreme spikes of heat or cold as tropical areas do not typically have strong seasons, Stroud said. Unlike temperate species, which are adapted to summer highs and winter lows, tropical species have typically evolved in very thermally stable environments.

While there is no doubt that climate change represents a major threat to species and ecosystems around the world, and deserves as much research attention as possible, this study provides fascinating insight and a glimpse of hope, he said. Perhaps tropical and subtropical species can withstand more extreme climatic conditions.

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What chilly lizards in Miami can inform us about local weather change resilience - The Shepherd of the Hills Gazette

Anatomy

Anatomy of a deal: How MyoKardia got BMS to bump up its buyout to $13B – FierceBiotech

MyoKardia wasnt looking for a buyout when it started discussing potential partnerships with Bristol Myers Squibb last year. But when the Big Pharma came knocking in September to ink a quick acquisition, the biotechs executives made sure they wrung as much as they could out of the deal.

Early partnering discussions between the two focused on danicamtiv, MyoKardias midphase heart failure drug, rather than its lead program, mavacamten, a cardiomyopathy med poised for an FDA filing early next year. But in April this year, BMS upped the ante with a request to broaden to talks beyond danicamtiv, according to a securities filing.

In July, MyoKardia presented its pipeline to BMS, while BMS laid out its capabilities, as well as a potential global partnership. The next month, MyoKardia revealed updated phase 3 data for mavacamten at the European Society of Cardiologys virtual annual meeting, whichit appearsinspired the Big Pharma to go all out.

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RELATED: Bristol Myers strikes $13B MyoKardia buyout to gain heart drug

On Sept. 2, Bristol Myers CEO Giovanni Caforio , M.D., called MyoKardia CEO Tassos Gianakakos with an offer to buy all outstanding shares of MyoKardia at $185 apiece, in cash. Gianakakos replied that MyoKardias plan didnt include a sale, but that hed check with his board. He didnt have much timeBMS proposal would expire on Sept. 30, Caforio said in a letter laying out the offer.

That set off a back-and-forth, where Gianakakos repeatedly asked for an improved proposal, and Caforio kept increasing Bristol Myers bid. The board was expecting additional value, Gianakakos said, according to the filing, noting MyoKardias potential as a stand-alone company and the expectation that the price would reflect such potential.

Caforio upped the offer from $185 per share to $210, then to $220, eventually landing at $225. Along the way, he kept pointing to the first week of October as the target signing date, according to the filing.

In late September, MyoKardias board decided that the $225 offer was in the best interests of the company and its shareholders, and the duo inked the merger agreement on Oct. 3, right on schedule. The $13.1 billion acquisition will see BMS pay a 61% premium over MyoKardias closing price on Oct. 2 of $139.60.

RELATED: Anatomy of a deal: How Merck closed Immune Design for $300M

MyoKardias leadership team is picking up a premium, tooGianakakos himself is exiting the deal with $1.6 million in severance and bonus pay, as well as $80.6 million in equity awards, according to the filing. The rest of the C-suite isnt doing too shabby either, with Chief Business Officer Jake Bauer, Chief Scientific Officer Robert McDowell, Ph.D., and Chief Financial Officer Taylor Harris each leaving with more than $600,000 in severance and bonus pay. All three of them, plus Chief Commercial Officer William Fairey, each exit with more than $20 million in equity awards.

The deal is slated to close in the fourth quarter.

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Anatomy of a deal: How MyoKardia got BMS to bump up its buyout to $13B - FierceBiotech

Anatomy

Anatomy of campaign hit literature, part II: When tweets become ‘facts’ – MinnPost

This year, health care and health insurance arent the dominant campaign issues they were in 2018, when candidates support for the Affordable Care Act helped determine winners, especially in the suburbs.

But the issues still have resonance, placing second in a recent MinnPost poll when voters were asked to list the issues that most factor in their vote. As such, it has again been the topic of negative campaign mailers, especially those created by the DFL and DFL-leaning activist groups working against incumbent GOP members of the state Senate. Flipping just two seats would give the DFL control of that chamber.

One such mailer has been used in Senate District 26, a Rochester-area district where Sen. Carla Nelson is being challenged by Aleta Borrud.

But while incumbents take hundreds of votes, some of which are unpopular with some groups of voters, so much so that theyre frequently cited in negative mailers, the mailer against Nelson doesnt actually reference a Senate vote. Instead, it cites a tweet.

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Politicians like Carla Nelson supported a plan that would make our health care more expensive, they supported a plan to eliminate protections for people with pre-existing conditions, including cancer, heart disease, Alzheimers, diabetes, and even pregnancy and now were in a pandemic, reads the mailer from Everytown for Gun Safety, a national gun-control group funded predominantly by former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg.

A footnote takes a voter to a box titled Follow the Facts that asserts the proof for that claim against Nelson can be found at Twitter, @MNGOP, 3/14/17.

The tweet in question, sent by the Republican Party of Minnesota, says: Its Time To Repeal & Replace #Obamacare So That Minnesotans Have More Choice, Increased Access, Lower Costs, & Better Healthcare.

A related tweet provided by Everytown to support the first tweet reads: Thank you @RepTomEmmer @RepJasonLewis @RepErikPaulsen for voting in favor of the AHCA today! That was sent by the state GOP on May 4, 2017.

AHCA stands for the American Health Care Act. Passed by the U.S. House in 2017, the bill engendered broad disagreement as to how it would cover pre-existing conditions, and 20 House Republicans voted against the measure. It did not pass the Senate.

Finding a tweet that is 3 years old is possible but its not easy. But even if the tweets could be found by an average voter, is that enough to say Nelson supported the elimination of pre-existing condition coverage? Did she actually take that position, or was it only politicians like Nelson? Or is that just a way to remind voters that the incumbent is, in fact, a politician?

When asked to support the claim, Everytown for Gun Safety provided two quotes it attributed directly to Nelson. One, from the Albert Lea Tribune on Nov. 13, 2017, said: Obamacare is a disaster, and if I am elected, I will stand with President Trump to repeal Obamacare. That was said while she was a candidate for Congress, eventually losing the GOP primary to Jim Hagedorn.

The second quote came from the podcast Up and At Em, on Aug. 28, 2017, said Everytown for Gun Safety: So its critical that the misnamed Affordable Care Act be fixed because it is causing significant problems, Nelson said.

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Neither of these quotes was used on the mailer itself to justify the assertion, however. And supporting repeal of the Affordable Care Act doesnt necessarily mean support for an end to covering pre-existing conditions, one aspect of Obamacare that is very popular with the public.

The lack of a replacement passed by both the U.S. House and Senate has allowed Democrats to say that the provision would be eliminated. Also, a lawsuit before the U.S. Supreme Court brought by a group of Republican state attorneys general seeks to have the law tossed out, a move that if successful would eliminate the pre-existing conditions mandate.

But the Minnesota Legislature didnt vote on either the Affordable Care Act or the American Health Care Act. It did, however, vote to implement the Affordable Care Act with a state marketplace for individuals to buy policies, which Nelson voted against. And they voted on a GOP measure to provide health insurance companies with help covering the claims of the most expensive insured people, which Nelson supported.

Republicans in the state Legislature who oppose Obamacare often point to an earlier state program to assure health insurance for those with pre-existing conditions. The Minnesota Comprehensive Health Association was established in 1976 by the Minnesota Legislature to provide health insurance for people turned down for other coverage. Sometimes called an assigned risk pool, the plan provided policies to anyone who needed one (though usually at a higher cost, and much more than under the current system).

That program went away when the state created the individual insurance marketplace, where residents without employer-provided insurance and who arent eligible for Medicaid or Medicare could buy policies. Pre-existing conditions could not be a reason for denial and could also not cause higher premiums for those people versus someone without pre-existing conditions.

While the individual market has stabilized, the first few years were volatile with fewer than hoped providers and higher than hoped premiums, leading Republicans in the Legislature to create a reinsurance program with a governmental subsidy. That was meant to cover the highest insurance claims as a way of bringing more providers into the market and keeping basic premiums lower. Democrats opposed it when it was created, but then-Gov. Mark Dayton allowed it to become law without his signature.

MNCHA was the Minnesota high risk pool that provided insurance for any Minnesotan denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions, Nelson told MinnPost. Furthermore, the premiums were held down by state subsidies. I have always supported coverage for pre-existing conditions and always will.

Everytown for Gun Safety says it stands by the allegation. Time and again shes called for repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and said shed stand with President Trump to end it, which would eliminate protections for Minnesotans with pre-existing conditions, said Andrew Zucker, a spokesperson for the group.

Walker Orenstein contributed to this report.

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Anatomy of campaign hit literature, part II: When tweets become 'facts' - MinnPost

Anatomy

The "Grey’s Anatomy" Creator Says This Is Why She Left ABC – Yahoo Lifestyle

Stalwart medical drama Grey's Anatomy, whose 17th season kicks off in November, is the longest-running primetime show on ABC. It was the first major series success for creator Shonda Rhimes, though more would follow, including Scandal (which she also created) and How to Get Away With Murder (which she executive produced)both also hits for the same network. So it was a shock to the industry when it was reported in 2017 that Rhimes (and her production company Shondaland) was making the move from ABC Studios to Netflix to create shows for the streaming service. While it's a fair bet that the move was at least partially motivated by the bottom line, Shonda Rhimes opened up about another reason why she left ABC in a recent Hollywood Reporter interview, and it involves passes to Disneyland.

Working for ABC, which is owned by Disney, got Rhimes the perk of all-inclusive passes to Disneyland. She told the outlet she had two: one for herself and one for her nanny. When Rhimes's sister came to visit, she attempted to get a pass for her as well, so that she could help keep an eye on the creator's three children during a trip to the park. Rhimes wasn't able to give her own pass to her sister, as it was personalized. After a frustrating negotiation process with the network during which, Rhimes claimed, she was told over and over again, "We never do this," the pass was arranged. When the family arrived at Disneyland, it didn't work at the gate. And when Rhimes called again to sort it out, an ABC executive who she didn't name asked her, "Don't you have enough?"

To Rhimes, this was last straw. It put a point on her increasingly strained relationship with the studio, for whom she was running so many tentpole shows, and the exhausting demands of network television in general. "I felt like I was dying," she told THR. "Like I'd been pushing the same ball up the same hill in the exact same way for a really long time."

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Meanwhile, Netflix and specifically Chief Content Officer and co-CEO Ted Sarandos had been trying to woo her over to their side. In their very first meeting, Rhimes said that she made it clear that she wasn't looking to make carbon copies of her existing shows.

"'You're not going to get another Grey's Anatomynot Grey's Anatomy in a cornfield, Grey's Anatomy on a baseball field or Grey's Anatomy at an airport, that's just not happening,'" she remembered telling him. "And then I said, 'I just want to be in a place where I can make stuff and no one's going to bother me or make me feel like I'm beholden.'" Sarandos assured her that would be the case. And on that fateful Disneyland day, Rhimes was finally moved to call her team and put the shift in motion.

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While Rhimes is still the end of the creative line at Grey's, she confirmed in a 2018 interview with Entertainment Weekly that she no longer signs off on each episode script, trusting new showrunner Krista Vernoff, who also runs the spinoff, Station 19, to keep the ship afloat.

As for Rhimes's Netflix first projects, Bridgerton, a period drama based on a series of Regency-set novels, comes out on Christmas Day, while a documentary about the dance school run by Debbie Allen (who not only acts on Grey's but has also directed episodes of Grey's, Scandal, and HTGAWM), Dance Dreams: Hot Chocolate Nutcracker, premieres on November 27. Fans of Rhimes's eye for juicy drama are no doubt most excited for Inventing Anna, her drama about Anna Delvey, a real young woman who posed as a fake heiress to live it up in New York City society. A release date has yet to be announced for that show, but one thing's for sure: if you're a Shonda Rhimes fan, you're going to need that Netflix subscription.

And for more beloved series, check out The 50 Most Popular TV Shows of All Time.

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The "Grey's Anatomy" Creator Says This Is Why She Left ABC - Yahoo Lifestyle

Anatomy

Boston Childrens Hospital will no longer perform two types of intersex surgery on children – USA TODAY

Shefali Luthra, The 19th Published 6:01 a.m. ET Oct. 22, 2020

This story was published in partnership with The 19th, a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy.

A top pediatric hospital has agreed to stop performing certain types of genital surgeries on intersex children if they are too young to meaningfully consent a decision that activists say could be a watershed moment for intersex rights.

A spokesperson for Boston Childrens Hospital told The 19th that it will not perform clitoroplasty or vaginoplasty in patients who are too young to participate in a meaningful discussion of the implications of these surgeries, unless anatomical differences threaten the physical health of the child. The decision came from the hospitals behavioral health, endocrinology and urology program.

Each year, about 1.7 percent of people are born intersex,or people with sexual or reproductive anatomy that doesnt neatly align into a binary of male or female. Some people develop those anatomical traits in adolescence or childhood, while others are born with them.

Boston Children's Hospital says it will no longer perform certain intersex surgeries on children too young to consent, unless their health is in danger.(Photo: AP File Photo)

For decades, the standard medical protocol was to use surgery and hormonal therapy to try to change intersex childrens physical appearance. Clitoroplasties, the surgical creation of a clitoris (which can involve reducing its size), and vaginoplasty, which involves constructing a vagina, are two such surgeries. Activists have been protesting these practices for decades, and though legal worldwide they have been condemned by theUnited Nations,Amnesty InternationalandHuman Rights Watch.

Boston Childrens decision could reflect a turning point, activists said. It comes on the heels of a similar move bythe Ann and Robert H. Lurie Childrens Hospitalof Chicago, which announced in July it would suspend such intersex surgeries.

One hospital was cool, but people might be like, Oh, thats an anomaly. Now that there are two hospitals, people in the community are going to feel more ability to pressure their hospitals to do the same, said Pidgeon Pagonis, co-founder of the Intersex Justice Project.

Advocates are pushing for similar changes in other major cities, including New York, Seattle, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Oklahoma City, Pagonis said. Both New York City Human Rights Commissioner Carmelyn Malalis and its former health commissioner Oxiris Barbot have also spoken out against performing intersex surgeries in children.

Still, Boston Childrens change isnt exhaustive. The hospital has not indicated it will drop other intersex surgeries, including gonadectomies, which constitute the removal of certain reproductive glands, or phalloplasties, which enlarge penises.

Vaginoplasties and cliteroctomies are very destructive, and its very welcome news, Pagonis said. But it means theres still more work to do.

There are a host of physical consequences to intersex surgeries: loss of sexual sensation, incontinence, fertility problems and pain during intercourse are just a few. And beyond physical consequences, intersex surgeries can have lifelong pyschological impact.

There are cases when surgery can provide benefits namely, if a child is unable to pass urine, said Sean Saifa Wall, another IJP co-founder. But those arent the norm. Broadly, a2017 reportauthored by three former U.S. Surgeons General noted little benefit to conducting genital surgery on children.

The level of hypervigilance, of just trauma, the emotional and mental health trauma is lifelong, Wall said. We can lessen the potential psychological and physical trauma.

Wall said he hopes Bostons shift spurs change, not only from other hospitals, but from insurance companies and lawmakers as well, so that it is not incumbent on activists to pressure their individual medical providers.

Politics: Trump has gutted LGBTQ rights. Could aBiden presidencyundo the damage?

In recent years, state lawmakers in California, New York and Connecticut have put forth bills to halt intersex surgeries, though none ended up becoming law.

We need legislation with teeth, Wall said. We need legislation that is actually going to say that these surgeries cannot be done on children unless the medical providers can prove these surgeries are necessary.

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Boston Childrens Hospital will no longer perform two types of intersex surgery on children - USA TODAY

Anatomy

‘Grey’s Anatomy’: 1 of April’s Best Scenes Was Also 1 of the Most Tragic – Showbiz Cheat Sheet

Greys Anatomy is known for many things stellar acting, intense, emotional storylines, heartfelt romance, and a revolving cast of popular actors. One of the most popular and controversial performers from the shows history is Sarah Drew, who appeared on the show for nearly ten years.

While Drew is no longer on Greys Anatomy, fans still look back on her time with the series with appreciation. Recently, some fans on Reddit discussed one of Drews most iconic scenes, featuring some of her very best acting.

There are a lot of medical dramas on television, but few are as popular or influential as Greys Anatomy. The series premiered in 2005, and over the years, has become the gold standard in long-running medical shows. Greys Anatomy tells the story of a group of dedicated residents, physicians, and staff that work at the fictional Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital in Seattle, Washington.

From love stories to tales of powerful loss, nothing is off-limits for Greys Anatomy and viewers love it.

The cast has changed a great deal over the years, but the show has featured stars such as Patrick Dempsey, Eric Dane, Katherine Heigl, Sandra Oh, and Kate Walsh. One of the actresses who made a splash on Greys Anatomy was Sarah Drew, who joined the cast in 2009 and was the subject of several of the shows most dramatic storylines.

Sarah Drew was born in 1980 and started acting when she was still a teenager. Her early roles included voiceovers in animated projects as well as some parts in theater productions. Drews first big break came in 2004 when she was cast as Hannah Rogers in the series Everwood. She appeared on the show for two years, after which she went on to guest roles in shows like Medium, Castle, Cold Case, Supernatural, and Private Practice.

In 2009, Drew was cast as Dr. April Kepner on Greys Anatomy. She quickly became a fan favorite, in spite of the fact that Dr. Kepner was disliked by many of the main characters in the series.

Dr. Kepner undergoes a dramatic transformation over the course of the seasons, going from an innocent, insecure character to an independent physician who is willing to do what it takes to make a difference in the world. Drew acted on Greys Anatomy until 2018 when she made her much-publicized exit from the series.

For the character of Dr. Kepner, leaving Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital in order to serve homeless communities felt like the right choice, even if it was tough for fans at the time. These days, fans are debating the possibility of her return to Greys, all while reminiscing about her character arc in previous seasons.

RELATED: Why Did Sarah Drew Leave Greys Anatomy as April Kepner?

Recently, some fans on Reddit discussed the scene in season six where April Kepner discovers Reeds body and runs to alert Derek. The highly emotional scene was made even more dramatic by the fact that it was still early on in Dr. Kepners tenure at the hospital, and she was still very much struggling with finding her bearings.

Theres no doubt that Sarah Drew really sold the scene, and, as one fan on Reddit pointed out, her acting in the scene may have solidified Sarah becoming a regular on the show.

Another fan praised Drews performance, stating she even gets that pale, I just saw some s**t look.

While Drew would go on to act in many more dramatic moments throughout the course of her time on the series, this particular moment from season six stands out as a testament to Sarah Drews powerful acting abilities.

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'Grey's Anatomy': 1 of April's Best Scenes Was Also 1 of the Most Tragic - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

Anatomy

‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Season 17: From Teddy to Jackson, all the characters who have overstayed their welcome – MEAWW

Over the course of 16 years, 'Grey's Anatomy' has had a rich assortment of varied characters, many of whom have stayed with us. Others have fallen through the cracks because they couldn't quite leave an impact, to say the least, some have been unceremoniously killed off, while a precious few managed to leave the show unscathed. There have been car and plane accidents, George (TR Knight) got hit by a truck, Izzie (Katherine Heigl) survived cancer but left the show anyway, and there's a slight chance that Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh) was eaten by animals *shudder*. Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) is just one of those lucky ones, who got a promotion and took off.

We're on the verge of catching Season 17 of the show and keeping the favorites aside, there are still so many characters whose arcs have been stretched too thin, and honestly, it's time to say goodbye to them. Many have lost their spark and value and don't seem to offer anything to the show anymore. Here's our pick.

Teddy Altman (Kim Raver)

Haters gonna hate, but from having complexity of character in the earlier seasons with powerful storylines, Teddy is now just a character who is torn between two men....which leads to her infidelity. This was the arc for Season 16, and it's such an insult to her normally steadfast and compassionate character. What did they to do Teddy for Season 16? The best way for her story to end is, get her married off to Tom Koracick and both of them leave the show. Teddy has no chemistry with Owen, whatsoever.

Jackson Avery

Sorry, but not sorry. Jackson's (Jesse Williams) arc was best when he was with April (Sarah Drew) and he showed the full range of his acting capabilities. He didn't seem like just a playboy, who was unable to make up his mind, which is what he has now become. Like Maggie, we're pretty sick of his indecisive behavior. But what hurts is that he is slowly receding into the mass of forgettable characters on the show. He was usually a favorite. Get him a good storyline or make him leave for 'Station 19', so he has a better chance with Vic.

Tom Koracick

The Tom-Teddy-Owen drama was one of the most annoying arcs of Season 16. Tom Koracick, who is usually a snarkfest and an unlikeable soul, is in love with Teddy and wasn't pleased when she announced her wedding to Owen (Kevin McKidd). Due to some insecurity about Owen being the father of Amelia's (Caterina Scorsone) baby, Teddy slept with Tom a couple of times, even before her wedding. Unfortunately, Owen found out and stood her up at the altar. Tom Koracick and Teddy should get married and leave? Maybe?

Levi Schmitt

Levi Schmitt's (Jake Borelli) back-and-forth love story with Nico as the token same-sex tangent on the show doesn't have the same depth as Callie (Sara Ramirez) and Arizona's (Jessica Capshaw) turbulent tale. In fact, Levi and Nico's story just seems to be filled with bland gaslighting and manipulating and sometimes serves as a deviation from the actual storylines of the show. 'Grey's Anatomy' used to be known for its complex characters and at the moment, Levi seems to be receding into nothingness.

Nico

Like we said, Nico (Alex Landi) has turned into a gaslighting and manipulative individual. His storyline with Schmitt doesn't add any weight and is just plain annoying. Time to say bye?

'Grey's Anatomy' Season 17 will release on November 12, ABC Thursdays at 9 pm.

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'Grey's Anatomy' Season 17: From Teddy to Jackson, all the characters who have overstayed their welcome - MEAWW

Anatomy

Greys Anatomy season 16 recap: What happened in Grey’s Anatomy series 16? – Daily Express

Baileys child

Viewers will remember how Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) suffered a miscarriage in season 16.

However, by the end of the series, she had made a decision to become a foster parent, inviting a teen to move in with her family.

Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone) found out she was pregnant at the start of season 16.

However, there was a lot of mystery about who the father of her child was.

In the finale, she had her baby boy and it was revealed Link Lincoln (Chris Carmack) was his dad.

Greys Anatomy season 17 will begin on ABC on November 12, 2020.

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Greys Anatomy season 16 recap: What happened in Grey's Anatomy series 16? - Daily Express