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Cell Biology

USC scientist fishes for stem cell-based arthritis treatments – USC News

Scientist Joanna Smeeton explores stem cell-based approaches to studying and eventually treating the common cause of cold aversion, disability and pain.

We only have treatments for the larger joints where you can provide total replacements, but a lot of people with arthritis actually get it in the joints of their hands, said Smeeton, a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Gage Crump and this years Broad Fellow, the third since 2014. Currently, there really isnt that much we can do for the cartilage in these smaller joints, other than treat the symptoms with steroids or painkillers.

As part of the quest for new and better treatments, her Broad Fellowship project leverages a key discovery that she and her colleagues recently published in the journal eLife. They found that certain joints in zebrafish jaws and fins have features similar to the type of mammalian joint susceptible to arthritis.

By damaging a ligament that stabilizes the adult zebrafish jaw, she can reliably induce cartilage damage and arthritis. Just as reliably, the zebrafish can repair the damage. Smeeton aims to understand which progenitor cells are regenerating the ligament and cartilage in the zebrafish jaws, and why similar repair fails to occur in humans.

In the future, these findings may help in devising strategies to stimulate analogous progenitor cells in patients joints toward boosting cartilage and ligament regeneration, she said.

Smeeton first decided to become a scientist thanks to a very different anatomical structure: the human kidney. As a high school student in the city of St. Catharines near Niagara Falls in Ontario, she developed a fascination with this complex organ, which is composed of 1 million subunits called nephrons that filter the blood, regulate blood pressure and produce urine.

Whenever I had a science class about kidneys, I thought, Oh, nephrons are so cool! she said.

At McGill University in Montreal, she majored in anatomy and cell biology, and observed kidneys and other organs in human cadavers in the anatomy lab.

Ive always been fascinated by how intricately patterned organs are and how that actually happens during development.

Joanna Smeeton

Ive always been fascinated by how intricately patterned organs are and how that actually happens during development, she said.

For her PhD, she learned more about kidney development in a lab at Torontos Hospital for Sick Children and the University of Toronto.

During her postdoctoral studies, she expanded her focus beyond development and into the realm of regeneration.

Id been hearing talks about zebrafish for years and their amazing ability to regenerate parts of themselves that are injured or removed, she said. So I wanted to learn how to use them. I switched to studying cartilage because joint disease seemed like an area that was understudied in the context of natural regeneration and would be ripe for new treatments.

With these goals in mind, she joined the Crump Lab with a two-year postdoctoral fellowship from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine in 2014. Since then, she has not only discovered that zebrafish can develop arthritis, but also lent her talents as a soprano to the USC University Chorus and, with her husband Jeremy, parented twins: Edie and Isaac. Theirs is a true Trojan family: Jeremy Morris graduated in 2012 with an MFA from the Peter Stark Producing Program at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

The twins have made me even more focused in my lab work, said Smeeton, because I know that any second that Im not home with them, I should be giving my 100 percent and really drilling down on the important questions we want to ask.

As she moves ahead with her research, the Broad Fellowship provides an ideal bridge. Established as part of a $2 million gift from The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, the fellowship is designed to support exceptional senior postdoctoral researchers at the transition point to starting their own stem cell laboratories.

Joanna is a motivated, smart and creative researcher who is destined for success in academic research, said Crump, associate professor of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine. This prestigious fellowship gives her the freedom to pursue her novel joint regeneration project, which provides a fundamentally new type of approach toward finding cell-based cures for arthritis.

More stories about: Research, Stem Cells

Gabriel Linares seeks therapies for patients with Lou Gehrigs disease.

The condition is more widespread in the animal kingdom than scientists suspected, USC study finds.

Lori OBrien will use Broad Center support to find her niche in kidney research and regenerative medicine.

The objective of one current research proposal is to push the frontiers of stem cell and tissue engineering technologies.

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USC scientist fishes for stem cell-based arthritis treatments - USC News

Biochemistry

Scientist maps giant virus – Phys.Org

March 28, 2017 by Layne Cameron Kristin Parent mapped the structure of the giant Samba virus with MSU's cryo-EM microscope, which is featured on the cover of the journal Viruses. Credit: Michigan State University

In a laboratory at Michigan State University, scientists took a DIY approach to build a retrofitted cryo-electron microscope that allowed them to map a giant Samba virus one of the world's largest viruses.

"If the common cold virus is scaled to the size of a ladder, then the giant Samba virus is bigger than the Washington Monument," said Kristin Parent, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and co-author of the paper featured on the cover of the journal Viruses. "Cryo-EM allowed us to map this virus' structure and observe the proteins it uses to enter, or attack, cells."

It seems counterintuitive that bigger organisms are harder to see, but they are when using cryo-electron microscopy. That's because these microscopes usually are used to look at thin specimens and can't decipher larger organisms to reveal their biological mechanisms. For thick samples, scientists see only dark gray or black blobs instead of seeing the molecular framework.

Cryo-EM allowed Parent's team to image the giant Samba virus and understand the structures that allow it to enter an amoeba. Once inside, Samba opens one of its capsid layers and releases its nucleocapsid which carries the genetic cargo that sparks an infection. While Samba isn't known to cause any diseases in humans, its cousin, the mimivirus, may be a culprit for causing some respiratory ailments in humans.

"If you scoop up a handful of water from Lake Michigan, you are literally holding more viruses than there are people on the planet," said Parent, who published the paper with Jason Schrad and Eric Young, MSU biochemistry and molecular biology graduate students. "While scientists can't study every virus on Earth, the insights we glean from viruses like the giant Samba can help us understand the mechanisms of other viruses in its family, how they thrive and how we can attack them."

As bacteria become more resistant to antibiotics, looking for new ways to fight diseases will continue to grow in importance. Parent's lab also studies how bacteria-infecting viruses enter cells using this method, which could potentially lead to new antibacterial treatments. Yet the world's best cryo-EM microscope costs more than $5 million. Limited by funds but not drive, Parent was able to upgrade an existing microscope at MSU to do cryo-EM one that is a tinkerer's dream.

This traditional transmission electron microscope was retrofitted with a cryostage, which keeps viruses frozen in liquid nitrogen while they're being studied. Parent and her team then added a Direct Electron DE-20 detector, a powerful camera the mighty microscope's piece de resistance.

Parent didn't invent cryo-EM, but establishing it on campus serves as a viable proof-of-concept for MSU, opening the door for many interdisciplinary partnerships. This cutting-edge microscopy has applications across many fields, from those addressing a single protein to others studying entire cells. Virtually anyone studying complex molecular machines can advance their work with this tool, Parent added.

Parent has earned an AAAS Marion Milligan Mason Award for Women in the Chemical Sciences. This award, her paper in Viruses and being the co-author who performed cryo-EM work in a recent Nature Communications paper, lays the groundwork to some day have a more advanced cryo-EM microscope housed at MSU to be able to perform high-resolution structural studies.

"We've done quite a bit with our limited resources, but we're primed to do more," Parent said. "I think MSU could serve as a cryo-EM center and to increase the prevalence of this technology in the Midwest and beyond."

As one example, scientists from Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Brazil) and Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) also contributed to this study and benefitted from the technology MSU has to offer.

Explore further: Cryo-electron microscopy achieves unprecedented resolution using new computational methods

Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM)which enables the visualization of viruses, proteins, and other biological structures at the molecular levelis a critical tool used to advance biochemical knowledge. Now Lawrence Berkeley ...

Advances in both light and electron microscopy are improving scientists' ability to visualize viruses such as HIV, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), measles, influenza, and Zika in their native states. Researchers from Emory ...

Scientists at Baylor College of Medicine, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Purdue University have completed a model of unprecedented near-atomic resolution of the chemical ...

An international group of scientists have solved the atomic structure of the Ljungan virus, an infection of rodents that is also associated with a variety of dangerous diseases in humans, including diabetes, neurological ...

Since the discovery of the microscope, scientists have tried to visualize smaller and smaller structures to provide insights into the inner workings of human cells, bacteria and viruses. Now, researchers at the National Institute ...

Next-generation steel and metal alloys are a step closer to reality, thanks to an international research project involving a University of Queensland scientist.

In order for a fuel cell to work, it needs an oxidizing agent. TU Wien has now found a way to explain why oxygen does not always enter fuel cells effectively, rendering them unusable.

A fluorescent probe developed by Michigan Tech chemist Haiying Liu illuminates the enzyme beta-galactosidase in a cell culture, which could help cancer surgeons.

Researchers at the University of York and Simon Fraser University, Canada, revealed the 3-D structure of an enzyme that could provide a crucial step forward in treating neurodegenerative diseases.

The photodissociation of triiodide anion (I3-) is a classic textbook reaction that has been extensively studied both in solution and in gas phase. However, probing the ultrafast dynamics of this reaction in the solid state ...

A study published today shows how Indiana University scientists are speeding the path to new treatments for the Zika virus, an infectious disease linked to birth defects in infants in South and Central America and the United ...

Opioids have long been an important tool in the world of pain management, but the side effects of these drugs - from addiction and respiratory failure to severe itching and dizziness, can be overwhelming. Scientists have ...

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Scientist maps giant virus - Phys.Org

Anatomy

‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Season 13, Episode 18 Spoilers: Be Still My Soul Maggie, Diane Struggle Through Failing Health … – EconoTimes

Greys Anatomy Season 13, Episode 18 Spoilers: Be Still My Soul Maggie, Diane Struggle Through Failing Health; Richard to Forgive Bailey?

Greys Anatomy season 13s episode 18, titled Be Still My Soul, will follow Maggie and her mother Diane as they struggle through the latters failing health. Meanwhile, Richard will come to terms with Baileys betrayal. Perhaps it is possible that he may finally forgive Bailey.

The synopsis for Be Still My Soul posted on TV Guide reads, Maggie's (Kelly McCreary) mom's health deteriorates, and the doctors are at odds over how to treat her. Meanwhile, Richard (James Pickens Jr.) comes to grips with Bailey's (Chandra Wilson) betrayal over the Residency Program.

The upcoming episode will put focus on Maggie and her mother, Diane Pierce (LaTanya Richardson Jackson) as they struggle through her condition. Maggies colleagues will also find themselves divided over how to treat her.

In the previous episode, titled 'Til I Hear It From You, Diane returned to Seattle for a mastectomy to be performed by Jackson (Jesse Williams) after receiving chemotherapy at home. It seems that Maggie was left in the dark about her mothers true health condition that she has breast cancer. Dianes surgery became complicated leaving Maggie devastated.

During an interview with E! News, McCreary hinted at what to expected from Maggie in the upcoming episodes. The 33-year old actress said, "I think, first and foremost, Maggie is the brightest person she knows And she's going to try to solve her problems herself. And of course, when you try to do everything yourself, you get tuckered out."

Meanwhile, Richard is set to come to terms with Baileys betrayal after the latter attempted to mend their broken friendship. It would be interesting to see if Richard can finally forgive Bailey for going behind his back and taking his Residency Program away in favor of Eliza (Marika Dominczyk).

Greys Anatomy season 13s episode 18, titled Be Still My Soul, is scheduled to air on March 20, 2017 on ABC. It was directed by Ellen Pompeo and written by Meg Marinis. It will be followed by episode 19, titled "What's Inside", scheduled to be released on April6 and directed by Nzingha Stewart.

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'Grey's Anatomy' Season 13, Episode 18 Spoilers: Be Still My Soul Maggie, Diane Struggle Through Failing Health ... - EconoTimes

Anatomy

‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Star Giacomo Gianniotti Gets Filthy for Tough Mudder – TheWrap

Robert Laberge/Getty Images

From a surgeon to a Navy SEAL elite team, these actors characters have some of the toughest jobs in the world, but the stars themselves proved they can also survive the grind by completing the infamous Tough Mudder race on Saturday at theGlen Helen Raceway in San Bernadino, California.

Greys Anatomy actor Giacomo Gianniotti, who plays Dr. Andrew DeLuca on ABCs ShondaLand drama, led a team fundraising for My Friends Place, a Los Angeles-based organization which helps homeless youth during their darkest hours.

Gianniotti ran the 11-mile, 25-obstacle race last year with some of his Greys co-stars, and while a fewof them had to drop out this year because of scheduling clashes, they still raised $25,000 this time around, so it just keeps getting bigger and better, he told TheWrap.

Also Read: 'Dancing With the Stars' Alum Noah Galloway Teams Up With Tough Mudder

Originally from Rome, Italy, and more recently Toronto, Canada, Gianniotti saysthat when he moved to Los Angeles, Iimmediately saw that homelessness is a big problem. He began working with My Friends Placeafter being introduced to it by Greys Anatomy costar, Jerrika Hinton.I think its a really important part of being an artist, and knowing withsuccess there is a responsibility to give back, because were very fortunate to be in the position we are, he said.

Edwin Hodge, Juan Pablo Raba, Donny Boaz, Kyle Schmid, Jaylen Moore and Barry Sloane Robert Laberge/Getty Images

Meanwhile, the cast of History Channels SIX (above) Edwin Hodge, Juan Pablo Raba, Donny Boaz, Kyle Schmid, Jaylen Moore and Barry Sloane were literally dropped in at the deep end fortheir first Mudder as they fundraised forGot Your 6.

As Liverpool, England-born actor Sloane said, you run as a team and you finish as a team.

There is nothing individual about it, the former Hollyoaks actor told TheWrap. You are never going to get through it on your own as youve got to literally pull each other over obstacles, but thats part of the charm of it.

Also Read: History's New Slate Includes Marvel-DC Comics Origin Stories Doc 'Superheroes Decoded'

The guys have survivedthe hard-as-nails training for SIX playing SEAL Team Six(one of the U.S. Armed Forces primary counter-terrorism units) so even though they were in great shape, this was no walk in the park.

A lot of the obstacles were similar to the training weve gone through for the show, Sloane, who plays Joe Bear Graves, said of themilitary-training based course.

Also Read: Leonardo DiCaprio to Executive Produce History Channel Documentary 'Frontiersmen'

While endurance wasnt a problem, heights were for Hodge, who admitted he had to take a couple tries to make some of the highest leaps from obstacles such as The King of Swingers (where you have to leap from a 12 foot platform to catch a swing arm and reach with all your might to tap the bell dangling from above).

Gianniotti and his teammates didnt seem fazedby any of the obstacles in the Tough Mudder Half, and even went back to do some of the extra challenges such as the Kongand the Augustus Gloop, admitting that staying in shape is a necessary part of his job.

The 27-year-old didnt even seem out of breath by the end of it and had a (complimentary) beer in his hand even before the mud had dried.

Other notable participants featured in the fourth annual Tough Mudder Los Angeles included YouTube star and The Amazing Race 28 winner Matt Steffanina, and Olympians Jade Jones (2016 Gold Medalist) Ashley McKenzie, Perri Shakes-Drayton, Anthony Fowler and Jessica Varnich.

Season 1 of SIX, which was shot in Wilmington, North Carolina, culminated on March 8. History has sincerenewed the drama for a second season, which will likely premiere in 2018 and will be filmed in Vancouver, Canada.

Greys Anatomy is currently in its 13th season airing Thursdays at 8 p.m. on ABC.

"Grey's Anatomy" is quite possibly one of the most dramatic shows on TV and naturally so are its characters.

We've ranked them from least to most dramatic.

14. Andrew DeLuca

We don't know much about DeLuca other than he dumped Maggie for stupid reasons and was the reason for Alex going to jail.

He's not a very dramatic person, just kinda boring.

13. Nathan Riggs

One of the most calm, collected and chill dudes at the hospital.

Like, seriously does nothing get to him? He's so smooth, charming and SO not dramatic.

Other characters, take note.

12. Stephanie Edwards

Edwards is the neutral point when it comes to "Grey's Anatomy's" dramatics.

She's extra when she needs to be and when the situation calls for it, but for the most part she's pretty level-headed.

11. Owen Hunt

Like Edwards, Owen is also pretty level headed and most of the time, he can serve as a voice of reason -- he didn't even take sides between Webber and Minnick.

Yes, he refused to work with Nathan Riggs, but that's only because he thought he was the reason for his sister's untimely death.

10. Meredith Grey

Honestly, for everything this woman has gone through (her mother's attempted suicide, her father abandoning her and starting a new family, her sister dying, the love of her life passing away, etc. etc. etc.) she's not nearly as dramatic as she's allowed to be.

Meredith has her moments, but for the most part she's pretty chill.

9. Miranda Bailey

Bailey has her freak out moments, but given her circumstances -- running an entire hospital -- she's pretty calm.

Except for that one time she suspended her husband for accidentally killing a lady during surgery, but that's another story.

8. Richard Webber

Dr. Webber is usually the voice of reason on "Grey's Anatomy," but he definitely has his petty moments ... like when he wouldn't give up his throne as the Resident Director -- which was well warranted if we're being frank.

7. Arizona Robbins

Dealing with dying kids and being able to keep a smile on your face obviously means that Arizona can keep calm under pressure, but she definitely has her dramatic moments.

Remember when her leg had to get amputated and she was like ready to kill Callie Torres over it -- even though she pretty much saved her life? Yeah ...

6. Alex Karev

As seen in Karev's most recent run-in with the law, the kid can overreact a tad bit.

But he's just trying to live his life and do right in the world, so we can forget his little dramatic antics here and there.

5. Jackson Avery

We thought Avery was a pretty chill dude, that is until April left him to go serve in the military after they recently lost their child.

He. Would. Not. Let. That. S---. Go.

4. Maggie Pierce

She's like a teenager.

Granted, she is pretty young compared to her colleagues but she literally freaks out over the smallest things and can be really petty at times.

3. April Kepner

Kepner seems like she's always on edge and sometimes cracks under pressure, which is probably why she's always so dramatic.

Woosah, Kepner, woosah.

2. Jo Wilson

Ugh. Sorry, but Wilson is low-key annoying.

She's had a tough life, we'll give her that but she just continues to push away people who love and care about her -- Alex.

1. Amelia Shepherd

Come on ... homegirl is like beyond dramatic.

She wanted to get married to Owen, then ran away on her wedding day, then finally realized she was being ridiculous and they started living happily ever after ... that is until she ran away from her husband again for whatever reason we can't remember because she runs away a lot.

"Grey's Anatomy" is quite possibly one of the most dramatic shows on TV and naturally so are its characters.

We've ranked them from least to most dramatic.

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'Grey's Anatomy' Star Giacomo Gianniotti Gets Filthy for Tough Mudder - TheWrap

Physiology

Ask the Vet | Studying Feline Anatomy and Physiology – Macau Daily Times

Feline anatomyis an interesting and unique subject in the animal kingdom. Cats have extreme strength and agility for their size, along with heightened senses and the ability to reason. Their eyes are complex organs with keen eyesight and a broad range of hearing. Due to the intricate nature of a cats body and physiological properties, a delicate balance must be upheld with care. Cats are extremely resilient, but when the immune system or inner organs are affected by infection or disease, the outcome is often bleak.

Cat anatomy

The feline anatomy consists of many similarities to that of other species, namely the human body. A cat skeleton has a few more bones, but many of these are identical to those of the human skeleton. Uniquely, a cats collar bone is unattached to the other bone structures, and its muscular structure is designed for agility, allowing it to leap, twist and fall with grace. Cats have 30 teeth and claws that not only help with hunting and foraging, but assist the cat in maintaining balance, and scratching.

Cat digestive system

Since a cats dietin the wild consists primarily of the meat of other animals, the feline anatomy contains a digestive systemthat creates acids and enzymes appropriate for the breakdown of food and destruction of bacteria. A cats teeth also play a role in digestion by tearing sharply at meats and other substances. Much like other species, the salivary glands, esophagus, stomach, intestines, liver and kidneys work together to aid the digestive process.

Cat nervous system

A cats nervous systemis a unique part of the feline anatomy. Cats are born both blind and deaf, and these senses normally dont develop until about two weeks of age. The nervous system fully develops as the kitten ages, barring any trauma or infection that can hinder this process. The central nervous system is responsible for the brain and spinal cord messages, the peripheral nervous system affects muscles and movement, and the autonomic nervous system controls the involuntary functions of the body.

Cat reproductive system

The reproductive systemis the part of the feline anatomy thats responsible for mating, copulation, pregnancy and birth. Female cats, or queens, can produce 2 to 3 litters per year and can give birth to multiple kittens per pregnancy. Cats will usually not go into heat in the winter months, and spaying or neuter will not only prevent unwanted litters and strays, but can also make for a calmer and more relaxed house pet.

Feline behavior

A cats behaviouris usually evidenced by its stance or meow. Thebehaviouralaspects of the feline physiology lead us to believe thatitsa very intelligent animal. Cats have reasoning abilities, and express anger with certain posture, movements and sounds. The temperament of cats varies greatly and can swing from docile and laid back to finicky and aggressive, even pertaining to the same cat. A quick change in attitude or evidence of unexpected hiding or aggressive behavior can indicate a problem. Cats dont react well under stressful conditions and an examination may prove helpful in this case.by Dr Ruan Du Toit Bester

Hope this info helps with understanding cats moreTill next week

Ask the Vet:Royal Veterinary CentreTel: +853 28501099, +853 28523678Emergency: +853 66776611Email: info@rvcmacau.com

Dr Ruan

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Ask the Vet | Studying Feline Anatomy and Physiology - Macau Daily Times

Physiology

Why Understanding Intelligent Design Helps Us to Understand Physiology – Discovery Institute

Editors note: We are delighted to welcome Dr. Anderson as a new contributor to Evolution News.

I am an anesthesiologist in South Africa. As in the United States, physicians in South African must pass certifying examinations to qualify as anesthesiologists, and I am an examiner for the Faculty of Anaesthesiologists of the College of Medicine of South Africa.

A while back I was sitting across from a candidate who had been studying hard for his oral certifying exam in anesthesiology. He had already passed his exams in medicine and had been a physician for five years. His internship (called a housemanship in South Africa) was complete; he had finished a year of national community service (required of physicians in South Africa); and he had spent a year gaining experience in ear, nose, and throat surgery before deciding that he wanted to pursue a career in anesthesiology. He had already passed the difficult written exams for his specialization and was waiting to be invited to the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine in Durban to face his oral examiners.

My goal was to help him prepare for the exam by giving him practice orals and tips on how to do well in such a situation. I tried to make the practice exercise as close to the real thing as possible. Even though he knew that our exercise was not for marks and had no bearing on his future career, he was feeling nervous and under pressure to pass.

I asked him about the transport of oxygen in the body, and I concentrated on the features of the hemoglobin molecule that make it well suited for the role it plays. Specifically, the hemoglobin molecule has an increased affinity for oxygen (O2) in the alveoli of the lung, where the O2 level is high. But it has a decreased affinity for O2 in the capillaries of the peripheral tissues, where the O2 is low and the high level of carbon dioxide (CO2) makes the tissues more acidic. (This is called the Bohr effect, after Danish physiologist Christian Bohr.) So hemoglobin releases O2 at precisely the point where it has the shortest path to diffuse from the blood to the mitochondria of the cells.

By a different mechanism, hemoglobin in the peripheral capillaries binds to CO2. This converts the molecule to carbaminohemoglobin, which has a low affinity for O2. In the alveolar capillaries of the lung, where the level of CO2 is low and the level of O2 is high, carbaminohemoglobin releases its CO2 and reverts to hemoglobin, with its high affinity for O2. (This is called the Haldane effect, after Scottish physiologist John Haldane.)

We are able to plot an Oxyhemoglobin Saturation curve comparing the degree of oxygen saturation of hemoglobin to the level of oxygen in the blood. Under conditions in the lung represented by the green curve (high O2, low CO2) hemoglobin takes up oxygen more readily; under conditions represented by the red curve in the peripheral tissues (low O2, high CO2), hemoglobin takes up oxygen less readily

The candidate I was questioning tied himself up in knots trying to remember and explain what factors shift the curve left and what factors shift it right. He had been taught that hemoglobin had evolved by randomly mutating genes and that this amazing molecule was undesigned. But if he had taken a design perspective in physiology, he would have thought, If I were to design a molecule to do this job, what properties would it have? He would have known that a designed molecule would have greater affinity for oxygen in a milieu where it is most advantageous for the body to extract oxygen from its surroundings, and decreased affinity in a milieu where it is most advantageous for the body to receive oxygen, despite there being no advantage to the molecule itself. From a design perspective, it would be common sense to know what would shift the curve left or right.

The candidate was not unintelligent; quite the contrary. Its just that the Darwinian evolution he was taught was like a millstone holding him back, whereas an understanding of intelligent design would have freed him to embrace physiology for all it is worth. Hemoglobin is only one molecule, and its changing affinity for oxygen relative to its position in the body is only one aspect of it. Name any organ, structure, enzyme, or function of the body, and I will happily explain its design features.

The progress of my career from wide-eyed and nervous first year medical student to head of an anesthesiology department and examiner for the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa was at no point aided by an understanding of Darwinian evolution, even though I was taught it and was first in my university class in biology. And my understanding of Darwinian evolution has not in any way benefited the manner in which I treat patients. Quite the opposite!

Every year, when I give the annual opening address at our hospital when welcoming new graduates and senior medical officers, I point out that it is only when you understand the human body as the pinnacle of design that you can truly care for patients.

Studying the Darwinian theory of evolution at medical school may align the beliefs of medical students with those of their colleagues in the biology department, but it in no way benefits them as physicians or helps them practice medicine. On the contrary, as the candidate I was helping illustrates, a lack of understanding of design in physiology may hinder their performance. A student happy to embrace design will have one less mental hurdle to overcome.

Images: Top: Anesthesiologist, U.S. Navy photo, by Photographers Mate 2nd Class Jeffrey Russell [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons; lower: oxyhaemoglobin dissociation curve, by Ratznium [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

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Why Understanding Intelligent Design Helps Us to Understand Physiology - Discovery Institute

Human Behavior

Contagious yawning, laughing and scratching gives clues to how the human brain works – KRCU

In 1962, a strange epidemic swept through several communities in Tanganyika, present-day Tanzania. It wasnt a virus, but laughter among teenage schoolgirls. The contagious laughter, which lasted for about two and a half years, afflicted about 1,000 people and forced at least 14 schools to temporarily shut down.

Experts later determined that the origin of the epidemic was psychological, perhaps related to stress caused by the presence of British colonialism. But such events have raised scientific questions about why humans cant control behaviors such as laughing, yawning, coughing and shivering and why they spread among groups of people.

We are a part of a human herd whose behavior is often the involuntary playing out of an ancient neurological script that is so familiar that it goes unnoticed, wrote neuroscientist Robert Provine in his book, "Curious Behavior."

Consider what is really happening when your body is hijacked by an observed yawn or you spontaneously join others in a communal chorus of ha-ha-ha," Provine wrote. "You dont decide to yawn or laugh contagiously. It just happens.

Provinediscovered that people are 30 times more likely to laugh around others than alone. To date, there has been much research thats observed socially contagious behaviors in humans and animals, but scientists are just starting to look into what makes them ripple through groups of people.

Empathy may not have much to do with it

Many studies have suggested that empathy could explain contagious yawning. A study published a year ago, for example, indicated that women are more susceptible to catch yawns than men. Researchers also noted that women score higher on empathy tests, and thought the two might be associated.

Another study published in 2008 found that dogs may yawn in response to their owners, but not to strangers or other dogs. Researchers wrote that because dogs are incredibly skilled at reading human cues and generally have unique social interactions with people, there is the potential that dogs may also have developed the capacity for empathy towards humans, and may catch human yawns.

Other studies, however, suggest that empathy is less significant in contagious behaviors than we might think. A paper in 2014 published by Duke University researchers, for example, analyzed various factors that influenced yawning among more than 300 human volunteers. Scientists considered a number of influencers such as empathy, energy levels and age. They saw that contagious yawning decreased among older people.

In our study, there was a connection between contagious yawning and empathy, but it was explained by a stronger connection between contagious yawning and age, said Elizabeth Cirulli, a geneticist at Duke University and an author of that paper.

Other research also showed that young children arent likely to catch yawns from other people, either.

Itch researchers at Washington University believe empathy has very little to do with such behaviors. This month, they published a study in the journal Science that showed that mice will scratch themselves in response to seeing videos of other mice that have chronic itch problems.

At the beginning, this [experiment] may sound like a crazy idea because, as you know, mice are nocturnal. They have very poor vision, said Zhou-Feng Chen, director for the schools Center for the Study of Itch.

Chen and his colleagues examined the brains of the non-itchy mice in the study and found that a specific

region, called the suprachiasmatic nucleus, released a chemical thats been known to signal when theres an itch that needs to be scratched.

Basically, our study shows those kinds of contagious behaviors are instinctive behaviors and are hardwired into our neurocircuitry, Chen said.

However, more research is needed to understand exactly how involved the brain is when we uncontrollably copy each others behaviors. As Cirulli noted, other factors need to be examined. Empathy, she said, shouldnt be ruled out, but is likely just as connected to such behaviors as height is to weight.

I dont think empathy is totally unrelated, Cirulli said. Its just that its absolutely not everything thats going on with contagious yawning. In some cases, its a proxy for something else.

We behave like the pack to survive

In the animal kingdom, one principle that prevails is strength in numbers. Snow geese, for example, will fly in groups as large as 5,000. A pack of zebras will whine loudly when they detect a predator nearby.

Some scientists believe that humans evolved to uncontrollably copy others behavior, as a means of communicating important information.

You can imagine millions of years ago when animals lived widely and maybe living in places where there are parasites," Chen said. "If all the animals begin to scratch, it could mean the area that theyre in may be dangerous.

He further speculated that as scratching became a regular way to alarm others that they needed to leave certain environments, its possible that the behavior became innate and written into our genetics over time.

From an evolutionary point of view, contagious behaviors actually help animals to better survive because you dont have to learn everything from scratch, Chen said.

How the brain works

While it might seem frivolous to study why we catch yawns and participate in other kinds of unconsciously provoked micmicry, the research could provide fundamental insight into how our brains work and develop. For instance, a 2009 study by University of Zurich researchers showed that contagious yawning and laughing happened much less frequently with people who have schizophrenia. Yawning also spread much less among people with autism.

Such findings still need further research to be understood. However, its promising that contagious scratching is observed among mice, for example, since theyre often used as experimental subjects to understand brain diseases.

Reflecting on her contagious yawning study, Cirulli mused that it would be interesting to study how genetics might influence a persons susceptibility to this behavior and how that might be connected to neurological conditions.

Because big genetic studies have been done on schizophrenia and autism and other diseases, you can calculate someones risks of developing those diseases from their genetic information and you can see if its associated with contagious yawning, she said.

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Contagious yawning, laughing and scratching gives clues to how the human brain works - KRCU

Human Behavior

Security awareness relies on balance of technical, human-behavior skill sets – ZDNet

Imagine a teeter totter (or seesaw, if you will). One one side, sits a technical security practitioner. On the other side, sits a person with advanced skills in changing behaviors and community engagement. In order for the teeter totter to stay level, each person needs to have equal experience, or one needs to move further to the center to achieve the desired equilibrium. If one level of experience too demonstrably outweighs the other, the right balance of talent won't be achieved.

Talent for what? The oft-misunderstood role of the security awareness professional.

Security awareness at its most basic level is the act of applying technical security knowledge to programs and activities that raise the awareness -- and diminish risky behaviors -- of employees within a given organization. This includes everything from phishing and password test programs, to community engagement with educated practitioners teaching less security savvy users how to change their behavior to better secure protect themselves or their companies.

It's long been stated that security is not convenient, and for many years cybersecurity teams were challenged with addressing the human element of security risk (patch your systems! change your passwords! no, that is not a real email from George Clooney!) while also trying to create a secure infrastructure that defends the organization from external attackers. While the challenge of insider threats is real and malicious employees do exist, there's an equal chance that human faux pas creates a significant risk -- whether it be someone losing a device, clicking on a malicious link, or emailing the wrong file to the wrong person.

Hence the importance of security awareness programs.

According to Masha Sedova, co-founder of Elevate Security, and former trust engagement leader at Salesforce, a good awareness program gets feedback from the rest of the security organization into what the top people-centric risks are for the company and, then creates an effective campaign to address those risks.

"Security awareness was initially started about 10 years ago with the advent of regulation and compliance requirements," Sedova said. "Unfortunately, they were designed with the wrong question in mind. They ask 'show me how many people have taken your training.' Instead they should have asked 'show me metrics that your program yields improvement in X behavior.' The companies leading the charge in the awareness space today are creating their programs around this question."

This leads back to the discussion around the right balance of talent for creating these programs. According to the SANS 2016 report on security awareness, more than 80 percent of security awareness personnel have a technical background, but also need soft skills such as communications, change management, learning theory, and behavior modeling, in order to be most effective.

The report calls out one option to address this gap: Adding a communications professional to the security awareness team. Although not wrong, this is a tricky one. While facets of marketing and communications expertise are helpful for many teams, as represented in the soft skills written above, the old adage applies: "you can't secure what you don't see." And if you don't have a firm understanding of security, and how risk can be created by humans and how such risk tracks back to security technology and implementation, marketing and communications skills alone cannot create the robustness required for a security awareness team.

In fact, too much of a focus on the communications elements of the security awareness role can somewhat water down its criticality. While communications programs, educational events, community dialogue and networking are important components, security awareness programs are not built on this kind of skill. These are just merely channels for influencing more people to understand their part in securing their organizations, or their communities at large.

"Most marketing people can't identify the underlying behaviors that need most focus, and unfortunately most technology-focused security people aren't great at that either," Sedova said. "Security folks will say 'employees need to be less dumb' which is hard to measure and drive a specific campaign for. And marketing people will say 'don't click on phishing links' but can't spend the time to explain why an employee should care about not clicking on phishing links and how it connects to a bigger picture. A good security awareness practitioner can bridge both skills sets."

The other component in achieving the proper torque in the seesaw, is ensuring there are resources available to fuel these security awareness programs. They are must-haves as much as basic security programs are themselves. According to the same SANS security awareness report, more than 50 percent of security awareness professionals survive on a budget of less than $5,000, or those professionals are not able to dedicate all of their time to awareness. The report also says that the amount of support is relative to the maturity of a security awareness program, so a focus on education, the human actor, and demonstrable metrics is crucial.

Corporate support, whether it be freeing up budget or resources, for security awareness programs and professionals is a must-have, as they need to scale as their organizations do.

"What needs to happen are programs that can create and educate local security champions throughout the organization," Sedova said. "This includes subjects such as secure coding, vulnerability identification and remediation, and threat sharing. These programs are great areas for security awareness practitioners to partner with security subject matter experts and create effective programs that scale. Overtime, I hope to see this happening more in this field."

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Security awareness relies on balance of technical, human-behavior skill sets - ZDNet

Genetics

The weirder side of obesity: genetic forms of obesity are rare yet numerous – CNN

Despite their focus on rare genetic syndromes, the researchers say their work will be helpful to the millions worldwide who have lost control of their weight for reasons other than genetics.

"If you know the gene and the function of the gene, then you know which biological mechanism is defective," said David Meyre, senior author of the study and an associate professor at McMaster University's School of Medicine in Ontario, Canada. This knowledge of obesity genetics, then, can be applied to more common forms of the condition, he said.

A case in point would be leptin, which is a hormone produced by the body's fat cells and is found to be deficient in some people due to genetic mutations. The gene responsible for producing the "satiety hormone," as leptin is known, was first identified in 1990. Since then, knowledge of this gene has shifted our understanding of fat cells and how weight gain occurs.

"The reason we studied this is very simple," said Meyre. "Every time I was writing a research paper and I was describing what we knew about the genetics of obesity, I didn't have a reference." One day, he decided to write the necessary reference himself, since he suspected the 20 to 30 commonly known genetic syndromes might be, in fact, an underestimation.

"For the study, we focused on monogenic forms of obesity," said Meyre. He explained that monogenic or "Mendelian" forms mean that if you have one mutation, you develop the disease. "It's not that it increases your risk, it's 100% sure you develop the disease," he said. For example, Huntington's disease, a progressive brain disorder that causes uncontrolled movements and loss of thinking ability, is caused by a single inherited gene mutation.

The monogenic obesity syndromes are very rare, Meyre noted, so rare they may collectively represent only 0.5% of the obese population in Canada -- one in a million births.

Meyre and his colleagues from McMaster University and University of British Columbia searched seven databases for papers on the topic. The team adopted a systematic strategy for reviewing the scientific literature, which included two independent reviews of each paper.

All told, the researchers analyzed 161 papers and found 79 obesity syndromes reported in the scientific literature.

"My intuition was correct," said Meyre.

In the monogenic obesity syndromes, not only does the genetic defect result in obesity but it also causes additional abnormal features, including mental disability, characteristic facial features, kidney disease and heart malformation.

Of the 79 syndromes identified, 19 had the genetics worked out completely so that a simple lab test would be able to confirm the condition. Another 11 had been partially clarified, while 27 had been mapped to a chromosomal region. For the remaining 22 syndromes, researchers had not yet identified the genes or location along the chromosomes.

"Identifying genes is very important for the families," said Meyre. He explained that some of the more common syndromes have been treated with a hormone that works very well to improve symptoms. If the genetics are worked out for each of these syndromes, that should enable scientists to find or develop appropriate treatments.

"We also hope that our study will help clinicians to recognize these syndromes," said Meyre. Since in the entire course of their careers, doctors may encounter just one, maybe two patients with these syndromes, most of the time, due to a lack of familiarity and information, the conditions go unrecognized and patients do not get help.

Additionally, the results will help scientists better understand the genes and molecules important to obesity among members of the general population.

Mary Freivogel, president of the National Society of Genetic Counselors, found the comprehensive nature of the new study to be a strength.

"One weakness of the study is that some of these obesity syndromes are so rare that it was not possible for the authors to determine how often the syndrome occurs in the general population nor how reliable the information reported about the syndrome was," said Freivogel, who played no part in the new study.

"Most of the obesity in the United States is NOT syndromic, said Freivogel. She explained that the overwhelming majority of cases are "polygenic and multifactorial," meaning it has resulted from a combination of multiple genetic factors, as well as environmental and lifestyle factors. Freivogel added that anyone wishing to undergo a genetic test might want to talk with a counselor to ensure the test is the right choice and any results are interpreted correctly.

Beales, who was not involved in the new study, also felt pleased that someone had updated this "specialised category of obesity." However, he disagrees with the recommendation proposed by Meyre and his co-authors to name each disease after the scientists who discovered them.

"This is an antiquated notion and unhelpful," said Beales, who observed the preferred name for DiGeorge syndrome -- a common genetic disorder resulting in cognitive impairment and other medical complications -- is now called Deletion22 syndrome, which is a more useful way to look at the disease.

Still, the work has its virtues, said Beales.

"I think where a catalogue of this nature is valuable is that it provides a good resource for researchers who are interested in extrapolating from rare to common," said Beales. "The Mendelian disorders have an untapped potential to reveal mechanistic insights (and possibly new treatments) to common (non-syndromic) obesity."

Dr. Liam R. Brunham, an assistant professor of medicine at University of British Columbia, said the most remarkable finding of the review may be that of the 79 obesity syndromes, the genetic basis of only one-quarter of them is known. Very likely, then, there is "a huge amount regarding the genetics of obesity that remains to be discovered," said Brunham. He was not involved in the study.

Using leptin as an example, Brunham said there's much that can be learned regarding the biology of obesity from even a single gene.

"This suggests that discovering the genetic basis of the remaining obesity syndromes will yield huge advances in our understanding of obesity, which could lead to new opportunities for its treatment and prevention," said Brunham.

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The weirder side of obesity: genetic forms of obesity are rare yet numerous - CNN

Genetics

An Exclusive Q&A with DNA Genetics’ Don and Aaron – Cannabis Business Times

Industry veteran Mel Frank speaks with the duo about genetics, the international seed market, the hype around THC and more.

This article originally appeared in the March 2017 print edition ofCannabis Business Times. To subscribe, clickhere.

DNA Genetics exemplifies the modern cultivation business one that was attracted to the industry out of a love for the plant and now carefully balances the culture of the cannabis community with a hugely successful, global business. Since opening in 2003, the company, owned by brothers Don and Aaron, has grown to approximately 40 employees and has operations in California, Amsterdam, Canada and Chile.

DNA has a track record with which few can compete including more than 150 awards for their genetics and induction into the High Times Seed Bank Hall of Fame in 2009. And recently, the duo has been forging a new track, not only with their thriving seed company, but through a consulting business that has already landed them a partnership with Canadian cannabis titan Tweed, Inc. (a subsidiary of Canopy Growth Corporation).

We have added an award-winning global powerhouse in breeding and genetics, acclaimed for the unique strain profiles their cannabis possesses," said Tweed President Mark Zekulin in a press release announcing the partnership in October 2015. According to the release, The only place where Canadian patients will be able to acquire true, certified DNA strains grown to DNA standards will be Tweed.

Here, Don and Aaron are interviewed by one of the most well-known names in cannabis cultivation, Mel Frank. Frank has nearly five decades of cultivation experience, is an internationally recognized marijuana book author, publisher and photographer, and has been contributing original articles to cannabis magazines since 1976.

In this revealing interview, Frank talks with Don and Aaron about the origins of and current state of the international seed market, genetics and the future of patents in the industry, why the hype around THC is misguided, an announcement the team makes publicly here for the first time, and more.

To read the full article inCannabis Business Times'March edition, clickhere.

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An Exclusive Q&A with DNA Genetics' Don and Aaron - Cannabis Business Times