Immunology

Some have no COVID symptoms: Could the common cold be a reason? – ABC News

August 22, 2020, 5:19 PM

5 min read

Some infected with the novel coronavirus never develop symptoms. Others get very sick and die. Seven months into the pandemic, scientists are racing to find out why.

There are theories. One theory is that prior exposure to other viruses may help fight off the novel coronavirus. There are four other, far less deadly coronaviruses which cause the common cold.

Earlier this summer, researchers from La Jolla Institute for Immunology published new findings in the journal Cell, offering insight into how human immune systems respond to COVID-19. When people who were previously infected with COVID-19 were exposed to the virus again, their immune system had a strong response because it already knew what the virus looked like.

But what researchers also found was that in around 40 to 60% of those who had never been exposed to COVID-19, their immune systems also had a strong reaction. The researchers said it's possible that human bodies may "recognize" the novel coronavirus because of prior exposure to its close cousins -- the coronavirus strains that cause the common cold.

"Immune reactivity may translate to different degrees of protection," said Dr. Alessandro Sette, professor at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology and a lead author on the study, in a press release.

It's possible, Sette said, that your prior infections with the common cold could give your immune system a boost, making it easier to fight off the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

Many viruses fall under the coronavirus category, including ones that cause the common cold, SARS and MERS.

A study in Science published early August looked at blood samples obtained before the COVID-19 pandemic was discovered. Isolating immune system cells from those samples, scientists found that those cells reacted similarly to the COVID-19 virus as well as to four other coronaviruses known to cause the common cold.

"This could help explain why some people show milder symptoms of disease while others get severely sick," said Dr. Daniela Weiskopf, a research assistant professor at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology and one of the lead researchers, in a statement.

And while almost everyone has had a cold at least once in their life, COVID-19 still affects some people more severely than others. That reason may have more to do with genetics, than previous exposure to the common cold, some experts say.

"People have this idea that we are all pretty much the same. But there is huge variation in our genes in the human population," said Dr. Vincent Racaniello, Higgins professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Columbia University. "Everyone is genetically different. You can find kids who get respiratory infections 10 to 12 times a year, totally atypical. And when you look at their genome, you find that they have mutations that make them more susceptible."

Meanwhile, some scientists say the differences in the way people fare once infected could be chalked up to ailing immune systems among the elderly.

"What we know is that as you age your immune system degrades. It's called 'immunosenescence.' You are not able to control infections like you were used to. So the infection goes a little bit crazy at the beginning. You overreact and you get very sick," said Racaniello.

In the meantime, researchers continue to look at the immune system for answers to fighting COVID-19.

Jonathan Chan, M.D., is an emergency medicine resident at St. John's Riverside Hospital and a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.

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Some have no COVID symptoms: Could the common cold be a reason? - ABC News

Immunology

Cancer Immunology And Oncolytic Virology Market Insights on Scope the COVID-19 – Scientect

The global cancer immunotherapy market should reach $96.5 billion by 2021 from $73.0 billion in 2016 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.7%, from 2016 to 2021.

Report Scope:

The scope of this report covers current cancer immunotherapy markets for most common cancers. The market segments included in this report are therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (with special focus on checkpoint inhibitors), synthetic interleukins, interferons, and colony-stimulating factors; small kinase inhibitors of cancer-related targets; protective and therapeutic cancer vaccines; and adoptive cell therapies. This report also covers treatments that are in development for late-stage and early-stage oncolytic viruses. Detailed epidemiological information, discussion of incidence and mortality trends, overview of regulatory landscapes, and analysis of market shares for leading products and companies are also included in this report.

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Report Includes:

An overview of the global markets for cancer immunotherapies and oncolytic virology. Analyses of global market trends, with data from 2015, 2016, and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) through 2021. Analyses of factors influencing market demand, such as clinical guidelines, demographic changes, and market saturation. Information covering the latest trends, market structure, market size, key drug segments, and trends in technology. Coverage of colony stimulating factors (CSFs), interferon alfa and gamma products, interleukin products and therapeutic monoclonal antibodies, including antibody conjugates, cancer vaccines, and other cancer treatment immunology products. Technological discussions, including the current state, newly issued patents, and pending applications. Profiles of leading companies in the industry.

Report Summary

Cancer is a disease with global implications. There are many different types of cancer, of which the most common types include lung, breast, colon and rectal, stomach, head and neck, prostate, cervical, melanoma, and ovarian cancer, as well as leukemia. Cancer is a genetic disease that is conventionally treated by surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, and immunotherapy. Surgery is the mainstay treatment for all cancers. Usually surgery is complimented with radiation or chemotherapy to ensure the clearance of all residual cancer. Despite the advances in treatment, cancer has great plasticity; therefore, after a certain time the effects of treatment fade and cancer returns with acquired resistance. Combination therapy, using multiple modalities including surgery and pharmaceutical or radiation therapy, improves response to treatment.

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Radiation and chemotherapy have many side effects. Biological treatment options provide less impactful treatment of cancer. Immunotherapy is a type of biological therapy and it incorporates elements of the immune system in cancer treatment. The immune system has various types of cells and proteins that detect and act upon signs of a disease or infection by harmful and foreign substances such as microbes, bacteria and viruses. The immune system differentiates the bodys own cells and tissues through an evolutionary bar-coding system. This system helps the immune system understand encountered foreign substances as nonself. Cancer cells are recognized as nonself as well. The immune system monitors the body for cancer and destroys when it detects a malignancy. Cancer cells can avoid being recognized by the immune system and develop resistance through numerous methods.

Since the early 1900s, the connection between cancer and the immune system has caught the attention of various scientists and medical practitioners. Although the early studies were bluntly done without current technological and scientific tools, they nonetheless shed insights leading to the development of the first monoclonal antibodies and to the use of biologically derived synthetic interleukins and interferons. After many decades of research, immunotherapy finally emerged as a fully functionalclinical area in the 1990s. Since then, the cancer therapeutics landscape has changed dramatically.

With the stream of product approvals in recent years, the global immunotherapy market has reached its current value. In 2015, the global cancer immunotherapy market hit $65 billion. The current immunotherapy market contains several blockbuster products reaching their end-of-market exclusivities; however, the market is mostly comprised of newly introduced and expensive therapies. In 2016, the market expanded by more than 10% over the previous year, reaching $73 billion. During the period of 2016 through 2021, the global cancer immunotherapy market is forecast to grow by a 5.7% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), reaching $96.5 billion in 2021.

The strongest growth is expected to occur in checkpoint-inhibitor drugs with a 19.4% CAGR during the forecast period. Immunomodulators are anticipated to show the second-highest growth rates among immunotherapy products, with an 8.4% CAGR during the same period. The combined sales from both segments are expected to make up for nearly one-third of the market, with a combined sales value of $28 billion in 2021. Checkpoint inhibitors are virtually comprised of monoclonal antibodies; however,they are assessed separately due to their immense commercial and clinical significance. Sales from other therapeutic antibodies accrued to $28 billion in 2016, and this value is expected to remain relatively constant through 2021, due to several patent expiries, pressure from anticipated generic entries, and newly introduced classes of drugs expected by 2021.

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Cancer Immunology And Oncolytic Virology Market Insights on Scope the COVID-19 - Scientect

Immunology

Immunology Drug Market Forecasted To Surpass The Value Of US$ XX Mn/Bn By 2017 2025 – Scientect

Given the debilitating impact of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) on the Immunology Drug market, companies are vying opportunities to stay afloat in the market landscape. Gain access to our latest research analysis on COVID-19 associated with the Immunology Drug market and understand how market players are adopting new strategies to mitigate the impact of the pandemic.

Analysis of the Global Immunology Drug Market

Persistence Market Research (PMR) recently published a market study which provides a detailed understanding of the various factors that are likely to influence the Immunology Drug market in the forecast period (20XX-20XX). The study demonstrates the historical and current market trends to predict the roadmap of the Immunology Drug market in the coming years. Further, the growth opportunities, capacity additions, and major limitations faced by market players in the Immunology Drug market are discussed.

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Regional Overview

Our team of analysts at PMR, trace the major developments within the Immunology Drug landscape in various geographies. The market share and value of each region are discussed in the report along with graphs, tables, and figures.

Competitive Outlook

This chapter of the report discusses the ongoing developments, mergers and acquisitions of leading companies operating in the Immunology Drug market. The product portfolio, pricing strategy, the regional and global presence of each company is thoroughly discussed in the report.

Product Adoption Analysis

The report offers crucial insights related to the adoption pattern, supply-demand ratio, and pricing structure of each product.

key players and products offered

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Key Takeways Enclosed in the Report:

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Immunology Drug Market Forecasted To Surpass The Value Of US$ XX Mn/Bn By 2017 2025 - Scientect

Immunology

Key molecule can be used to assess prognosis of triple negative breast cancer – News-Medical.Net

Hokkaido University scientists have shown that Interleukin-34 is a prognostic marker and drug target for Triple Negative Breast Cancer.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women across the world, affecting 28.9% . Depending on the combination of cell receptor molecules present on the surface of the cancer cells, breast cancer is classified into one of three types: Luminal A, Luminal B and HER2+.

The receptors determine which hormone the cancer is dependent on for survival, and thus indicate which drugs can be used to treat the cancer. A fourth type of breast cancer, Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC), does not have any of these three receptors. This type of cancer does not respond to standard treatments and the prognosis is generally poorer than for other types of breast cancer.

A team of scientists from the Institute for Genetic Medicine (IGM) at Hokkaido University have established a link between a molecule called interleukin-34 (IL-34) and Triple Negative Breast Cancer, and have shown that IL-34 can be used to assess prognosis of TNBC patients. Their findings were published in the specialist journal Breast Cancer.

Interleukin-34 (IL-34) is a cytokine, a type of molecule that transmits signals between cells and is responsible for fighting disease. IL-34 is known to associate well with poor outcomes in lung cancer and liver cancer, among others. For this reason, the scientists decided to determine the relationship between IL-34 and TNBC.

Data from 1083 breast cancer patients was obtained from The Human Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and was statistically analyzed. The scientists investigated the correlation between IL-34 and each type of cancer. They discovered that TNBC is associated with high levels of IL-34. When they looked into the effect of IL-34 on prognosis, they found that the prognosis for TNBC patients with high IL-34 levels was poor.

To demonstrate that this relationship could be replicated in the lab, experiments were carried out in mice models. The scientists compared the growth and development of two cell lines that were identical except for the levels of IL-34 expressed: one cell line expressed high levels of IL-34 while the other expressed low levels.

In cell culture, there was no difference observed between the cell lines; however, once introduced into mice, the cells that expressed high levels of IL-34 caused rapid tumor growth. They discovered that IL-34 promotes creation of a favourable environment for the growth of tumors by protecting them from anti-tumor macrophages.

The group that conducted this study was led by Professor Ken-ichiro Seino, head of the Division of Immunology, IGM.

Currently, chemotherapy is the only reliable means of treating TNBC, but it frequently develops resistance to chemotherapy. Our findings show that IL-34 is an attractive molecular target for targeted cancer therapy."

Ken-ichiro Seino, Professor and Head of Division of Immunology, Institute for Genetic Medicine

For the last five years, Seino's lab has worked on the relationship between IL-34 and different types of cancer. In a closely related study, his group has shown that treatments to reduce IL-34 leads to reduced tumor growth in mice; what remains to be studied is whether this can be used in humans, and how effective it will be.

Source:

Journal reference:

Kajihara, N., et al. (2020) Interleukin-34 contributes to poor prognosis in triple-negative breast cancer. Breast Cancer. doi.org/10.1007/s12282-020-01123-x.

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Key molecule can be used to assess prognosis of triple negative breast cancer - News-Medical.Net

Physiology

Its never too late to make it to the top, meet the riders who did – Cycling Weekly

We all know the pathway to turning pro: sportsmen and women start their sport young, commit wholly in their mid-teens, and by the time they are in their early-20s, all theyve ever known as an adult is being a professional athlete. But that isnt the only route by which those we admire, our cycling heroes, have become so masterful that theyre paid to do what is, at its core, their passion and hobby. Whether your goal is to become an elite category rider, to win a regional championship on the track, a World Masters Championship, or even land a professional contract and win UCI races, it is almost never too late.

The performance trajectory of a cyclist is: improving up until about 30, then plateauing until about 40, Richard Davison, a professor of exercise physiology at the University of West Scotland, tells Cycling Weekly.

There are certain elements at 40 you could not achieve in your teenage years, but between 20 and 40, the changes are relatively small. It is only from about 50 that there is a significant decline in actual performance.

Alex Spratt, a former rugby union player who had trials for England, started track racing aged 27 and holds a personal best for the 200m individual pursuit of 9.987 seconds the first amateur to record a time below 10 seconds.

Physiologically, I am still increasing my power and speed and will continue to do so until I am 35 or older, says the 30-year-old. More from Spratt later.

The narrative, despite a smattering of isolated cases to the contrary, is that if youre not a professional by your early-20s, you never will be. Perhaps its time to overturn this idea. Is there a major difference in physiological potential between a 15-year-old and 25-year-old? I would say no, Davison says. In other words, starting out in your mid-20s may not place you at a significant disadvantage. In fact, it may even confer certain advantages what if late-starters hold the ace card?

We may not have been in an athletic institution, but we have more life experiences and can draw on that, says Australian pro Brodie Chapman, who started racing professionally in 2018, aged 26. I dont think, Oh s**t, Im at a disadvantage because they have 10 years more experience. I was a backpacker in my early-20s and had to navigate different cities, languages, accommodations, foods, staying with people who I didnt know.

Now 29, Chapman believes that her life experience gained before she got serious about cycling works to her advantage.

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I didnt know anything about training, nutrition or physiology, but I have been to uni, and having a degree makes it easier for me to read and pick out information that will serve me as a cyclist.

The Womens WorldTour rider also thinks her years make her more resilient and mentally stronger.When youre young, it feels all very big, like time is spilling away from you and an injury would kill off all your chances. But I have been through setbacks in work and normal life. I have had these feelings before and I have the tools to deal with them. I know myself and my limits, and I can deal with loss and adversity.

Spratt talks about the mental benefit of low expectations while starting out in cycling. Id do a time and then ask if it was good or bad, because I didnt know. Those who have been in the sport a while are fighting against others and their own times.

This bright-eyed freshness, thinks Spratt, made him less prone to disappointment.

Younger people might be more advanced technically and tactically, but they can over-think things and let things get in their head too much. I have the maturity and age to cope with that. I want to better myself, not necessarily be better than everyone else. Generally, coming in later has been an advantage because of the hard shifts I have had in life and my sporting background.

Some late starters are very, very late getting serious about cyclingin their 30s, 40s, 50s or even after retiring from work. Veterans and masters competitions exist because there is a thirst for competition.

We all at some point bump down the slope of age-related decline, but boy can we mould it and give ourselves the right stimulus to slow that decline, if not improve, adds sports scientist Davison. There is no reason, physiologically, why you can cannot get back up in line with your optimal ageing profile. Your body will adapt to training. Dont be shy of high intensity exercise.

One very late starter is the reigning World Masters points and individual pursuit champion Andrew Bruce. He made his racing debut eight years ago, aged 41. Key for him was mastering technique as quickly as possible.

I got some old Tacx rollers and for three weeks they seemed ridiculous, dangerous and I couldnt ride them, recalls the Scotsman. But I eventually focused on learning how to ride them. You have 36cm to ride within, so you cant wobble, and you learn how to ride where you want to be riding. You can identify someone in the bunch who can ride on the rollers because those who cant, wobble everywhere.

Bruces headline successes have come on the track, and he believes even recreational riding on the boards can have a significant impact on a road racer.

Riding the track teaches you the ability to control your speed, because in a bunch, your brakes are your left and right legs, and you have to control your rhythm on the track and adjust accordingly to what other riders are doing, he says. Compared to road riding, youre much more aware of where your front wheel is in relation to the back end of other riders and how stable you are.

Out on the road, Bruce discovered the importance of effective cornering. You have to corner confidently, adjust your position in the saddle to get your weight set up as you go into a corner. If you cant corner in a crit race, youre spat out of the back.

Lets not be idealistic, there are major challenges for late starters: naivety, tactics, technique, time, family sacrifices and finances. And perhaps most importantly: age. The adage goes that children learn faster, and the science tends to agree. The prefrontal cortex of the brain, where working memory is stored, is less developed in children, allowing them to be more creative and flexible essentially, they have more space to learn. Adults prefrontal cortex is more developed, less well suited to invention, but thats not to say we cant learn provided we have the desire.

Gripped by the simple pleasure of being on a bike, and driven by improvement that eventually led to winning, Damien Clayton committed completely to the sport after a charity bike ride from London to Brighton in 2016, aged 23.

In my first year, I rode 1,200 hours while having a full-time job, says the 27-year-old, who won the 2019 GP des Marbriers in France his maiden UCI race and now rides for Ribble-Weldtite. That volume was crucial, as it fast-tracked my development. People asked why I was doing so much, but it was because I was bloody enjoying it.

Being able to accumulate fitness and build resistance will lead to what is commonly referred to as a cycling engine cardiovascular fitness and many late starters report success in local races simply by possessing greater raw strength than their peers. According to the research, it takes around four months to develop our cycling engine and maximise VO2 max, from then on, its a case of maintaining volume and intensity economy, resilience and endurance continue to improve over many years. Of course, once youve progressed through the categories and are facing tougher competition, the barriers are no longer solely fitness-related.

There is a huge amount of skill and technique required to race effectively and avoid wasting energy, Davison says. This is harder to pick up, but is all very coachable. I tell coaches that you will progress a greater amount in a short time by improving technique rather than physiology.

OK, but what exactly is cycling technique? Its a question that another late starter, former 800m international runner Dani Christmas, found herself asking after she switched to cycling in 2013 aged 25.

Dani Christmas (Daniel Gould)

When youre watching cycling on TV, you think it looks so easy. Theyre riding in a straight line, how hard can it be? But do it yourself and the first time you think holy moly, this is terrifying.

Daunted by bunch riding for two years, Christmas who now rides for Lotto-Soudal already knew she had potential.

I had a good engine, so I won local races without riding in the middle and just sitting at the back or at the front with a quick smash up the outside. When I actually had to force myself to ride properly within the bunch, it hit me just how much skill was required. You have to learn how to control your bike as best as you can, and working on my bike-handling skills progressed me morethan anything.

The consequences of lacking bunch skills barely need spelling out. If youre new to racing and suddenly someone leads on your shoulder, the chances are you will freak out, slam on your brakes and the person behind you wont have time to react, says Christmas. You have to learn to read peoples body language so that you can analyse what they will do, giving you that extra reaction time if they deviate from their line or they signal to you that theyre going to move.

Aware of the critical omission in her repertoire, Christmas began working on her skills, even in 2018 after she started racing for Bizkaia Durango-Euskadi Murias, her first UCI team, aged 30.

Pick a white line on the side of the road and practise riding as slow as possible. The slower you go, the harder it is to stay on the white line, she advises. When riding in a bunch with 38cm handlebars, you have a gap either side of you of around 6cm to the next rider, so you have to be able to keep your bike still and not move around all over the place. Only when I set aside time every week even just 20 minutes to work on these skills did I make a big step forward.

The 32-year-old explains how she also had to work hard on her cornering.

On my rides, I planned routes where I used corners that I could safely take four or five times on a ride, and I worked on that until I was confident, she says. The pro road racer has since taught skill-based workshops for beginners in traffic-free, safe, closed circuit environments, something she regrets not doing during her formative years.

You will learn more in one afternoon than I did in three seasons of racing.

To learn tactical astuteness, it is necessary to race again and again. Chapman, who now rides for FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope, and has eight UCI wins to her palmars, has experienced this first-hand.

Stepping up to the biggest races, I had to learn how to distribute energy more wisely. Its not a 100m sprint race, its about who can apply energy in the right moments and throughout the race. You cant do that instantly, you have to learn how to hold a good position and thats the most energy-sapping thing to do. There is no way to be good at that instantly. You do that by racing.

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In learning from your races, your friends and coaches can help you. You cant watch yourself, so if you can get someone to watch you and maybe even film parts of the race, especially if its on a closed circuit, Christmas suggests. That way, you can receive feedback and you can analyse the race: what position was the winner in? When did I burn my matches? Write three things down to improve, and if you keep making the same mistakes, you then set process goals to improve on.

Having an expert to cast their judgement made a big difference to Clayton. One hundred per cent, having a coach has been integral to my results, the Yorkshireman says. Having trained without a coach for the first two years, he was approached by Canyon dhb Soreen rider Rory Townsend after the South East Regional Championships in 2017 a race where he finished third, joining winner Townsend and fellow late-starter Alex Richardson on the podium.

The first thing Rory did was laugh at what I was doing, Clayton says. Once you click with a coach, its the most important thing and, in my mind, the best investment you can make into your results. I dont think I would have achieved any of this without him as a coach. Hes an advisor, a good friend and you cant put a price on what he has been able to do for me within the sport.

Spratt hired a coach almost as soon as he started cycling. I didnt have a clue how to train in the sport, he admits. In rugby, I trained until the day before a match, played and then had a day off. I had no idea about peaking.

The impact of having guidance was observable within his first year. In the 2018 National Championships, I finished fourth in the individual pursuit and I had no idea what I was doing. A few months later, I became the first amateur to ride sub-10 seconds and that was only because I had a coach who understood the sport and knew what I needed to do and why I needed to do it. Without that help I wouldnt have got to where I did Without a coach youre going in blind.

Not everyone has to dream big, but they can achieve their potential. There will be doubts along the way, though. Be kind to yourself, Chapman advises. Instead of being caught up in how challenging it is or how much you have to learn, congratulate yourself on each achievement. Finishing a race is an achievement.

All of the late starters CW speaks to have hardships to share, common problems they each overcame, and they are all unanimous in their conviction that age need not be a barrier to achieving at a very high level. Chapman urges older riders not to get hung up on a sense of being disadvantaged: You may ask: should I be here? And after some success: how did I get here? But everyone has a story of why they are not as good as they could be, or why they are less experienced, and I saw a lot of other women who had entered the sport late. I soon realised my story is not unique. Lets not forget, racing is the great leveller. Once youre on the start line, everyone is equally your rival; age no longer matters.

This feature originally appeared in the print edition of Cycling Weekly, on sale in newsagents and supermarkets, priced 3.25.

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Its never too late to make it to the top, meet the riders who did - Cycling Weekly

Physiology

A JCC beginning and beyond | Local – Olean Times Herald

JAMESTOWN For many, a community college education often serves as the beginning of a career.

For Karin and Herb Meiselman, Jamestown Community College was just that, but it was also the start of something much greater. Although the institution has changed a lot in 60 years, the Meiselmans' memories from there have not.

We visited JCC at various times through the years when we come through Jamestown and we know its changed a lot physically, but were still fairly attached to our memories of it, Karin said. Its something that, I guess you could say, is a part of our marriage; that we both have the memories of JCC, that it was a nice, small place where you got to know other students and the faculty.

In 1960, Karin was a first-year student majoring in psychology at JCC. Herb was a sophomore, finishing his final semesters at the two-year institution focused on engineering. Though both of them were local Jamestown High School graduates Herb graduating in 1958 and Karin in 1959 they had never met.

That all changed in 1960 when both of them attended a JCC Jayhawks basketball game. There, they first noticed each other when brief small talk ensued between Karins group of friends and Herbs corresponding collective.

He got to talking to me and eventually asked for my phone number, and that was the beginning, Karin says.

Married in 1963, the couple now lives in California near Pasadena. Karin and Herb have two children, Sharon and Ben, and three grandchildren, Issac, Ilana and Theodore.

In 2016, Karin concluded a career in psychology while Herb retired as a scientist and professor at the University of Southern California School of Medicine. A professor for 45 years, Herb taught physiology and biophysics at USC. Prior to transitioning to the role of teacher, he attended Caltech in Pasadena for a post-doctoral fellowship.

Focusing his research on the physiology of red blood cells and their flow through microcirculation, Herb is credited with more than 300 scientific publications. Through National Institute of Health grant funding, he was able to travel overseas for his work, often accompanied by Karin. Herb even visited Antarctica twice, studying blood flow in seals.

I kind of hitched on to a lot of that travel, Karin says of Herbs work-related adventures, adding that the two of them were able to travel separately from work and on their own time, too.

Karins career as a private practice psychologist focused on the long-term effects of child sexual abuse. She authored two books and frequently lectured to professional groups on the topic. Karin was consulted by actress Barbra Streisand about a role in the film "Nuts," in which she portrays a sexual abuse survivor.

Though the two now reflect on a life and a career that was truly seeded in 1960 at JCC, Karin admits not knowing which career path shed pursue at the time. But she also didnt intend on meeting her husband of 57 years either. Though unexpected, she welcomed both opportunities at JCC.

I had no idea what I was going to become, Karin says. I just started taking courses that I liked.

After that night at their favorite watering hole, as Herb describes it, the two hit it off.

Herb, a year ahead of Karin, left for Michigan Technological University (MTU) in 1960 after graduating from JCC. He later earned a Ph.D. from MTU before heading to California.

Meanwhile, Karin began her second year at Jamestown that fall. Though separated, the moments they had at JCC would not soon be forgotten. They wrote to each other constantly in that year apart and the years that followed. Those letters consisted of the two professing love to each other and describing their coursework, as Karin puts it. Postage stamps only cost four cents at the time.

After graduating from JCC, Karin attended Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Herb graduated from MTU and was accepted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They returned to Jamestown to be married and shortly after moved to Boston, where Herb attended MIT.

Karin worked at various proofreading jobs but her ambition for psychology would not go unfulfilled. The Meiselmans moved to Pasadena in 1966. Karin was accepted into a graduate program for clinical psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she earned her Ph.D. Meanwhile, Herb continued his research and expanded his career as a scientist and a professor.

Though continuing on from Jamestown to Los Angeles and around the world, their beginnings at JCC are not lost on them and neither is the impact the college had on their lives.

My experience was small classes, getting to know faculty members, and having a good social life while saving gobs of money, Herb says of his experience. JCC means good personal memories and a good start on my career path. I would definitely recommend it to today's high school grads.

Karin adds that JCC is the place where she learned her work ethic. While maintaining solid grades in high school, she admits she was mentally tested upon entering college. But the impact of those trials was only positive on her life and career.

Were deeply indebted to JCC for giving us the motivation and interest for pursuing our studies and working and getting eventual success, she says.

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A JCC beginning and beyond | Local - Olean Times Herald

Physiology

Fans crowd into an indoor concert in experiment on how to return to normality – CTV News

Ever since the coronavirus pandemic shuttered clubs, bars and concert halls around the world, music fans have been dreaming of the day they can once again visit a busy, sweaty venue to enjoy a gig with friends.

With infection rates rising in many European countries, this dream could be far off for now. But some music fans in Leipzig, Germany, have been given the chance to rock for a day in the name of science -- with the help of some glowing hand sanitizer and electronic trackers.

Researchers in the German city of Leipzig staged a 1,500-person experimental indoor concert on Saturday to better understand how Covid-19 spreads at big, busy events, and how to prevent it.

At the gig, which featured a live performance from musician Tim Bendzko, fans were given respiratory face masks, fluorescent hand gel and electronic "contact trackers" -- small transmitters that determine the contact rates and contact distances of the individual experiment participants.

Using data from the contact trackers, scientists from The University of Halle will monitor the number "critical contacts" had by each participant during specific times and locations, while the residue left by fluorescent hand gel will identify frequently touched surfaces. Researchers hope to use the data to find ways to bring big events, including sports, back safely.

Professor Michael Gekle, the dean of the university's medical faculty and a professor of physiology, told CNN the experiment was being conducted to better prepare authorities on how to conduct events in the upcoming autumn and winter seasons.

"We cannot afford another lockdown," he said. "We have to gather the data now in order to be able to make valid predictions," he said.

"There is no zero risk if you want to have life. We want to give the politicians a tool in order to decide rationally whether to allow such an event or not. That means they have to have the tool to predict how many additional infected people such an event will produce," he said.

Researchers directed volunteers to run three scenarios -- one that simulated a concert pre-coronavirus, a second simulating a concert during the pandemic, with improved hygiene measures in place, and a third, with reduced participants. Scientists will gather the data, apply a mathematical model, and evaluate the hygiene interventions, with conclusions ready by the end of the year.

Researchers believe this is the first time an experiment of this scale has taken place in Europe, but say that different considerations would have to be applied depending on the type of event, the behavior of concert goers and whether patrons were allowed to consume alcohol.

"Of course, a concert with Rammstein would be different," he said.

Gekle told CNN that due to a low prevalence of the virus in the states of Saxony and Lower Saxony, participating in the study was low risk for volunteers, who underwent coronavirus testing 48 hours before participation, and were wearing masks during the show. "It's safer than flying to Majorca," he said.

The number of coronavirus infections in Germany has been climbing again since the end of July. On Saturday, the country saw its highest number of daily infections since April 26, with 2,034 new cases of Covid-19, according to Robert Koch institute, the country's center for disease and control.

The experiment may have been controlled, but for some in the crowd -- despite the lack of alcohol -- it felt like a return to normality.

"This was our first real applause from the audience in months," Bendzko told CNN. "The atmosphere is surprisingly good -- it almost felt like a real concert.

"I wish that it will be possible to play at big concerts again someday soon," he said. "But we all understand that we now have to live with the virus and we have to take a certain risk."

Elli Blesz, 20, from Leipzig told CNN: "The atmosphere was really great, we all enjoyed the music -- it was nice to listen to live music after six months."

And Kira Stuetz, a 26-year-old student who attended the concert with her husband, said: "It was a little crazy." Recalling one of the pre-coronavirus simulations, where audience members sat together, she said that "at first it almost felt wrong all people came so close together. We thought this 'is a dream' because it's not allowed to be sitting together so close! But then it was really cool. I could not believe it that we were at a real concert again!"

Organizers around the world have been dipping their toes into the water to see when and how live events can be brought back in a world still suffering from the coronavirus pandemic -- in the UK, event organizers trialled concerts at an outdoor, purpose-made socially distant concert venue, where patrons sat in small groups on distant, raised platforms.

Some venues are experimenting with virtual events, drive-through concerts, mandated personal protective equipment, or temperature checks on arrival.

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Fans crowd into an indoor concert in experiment on how to return to normality - CTV News

Genetics

Iowa research team wins grant to study growth, genetics and nutrition in pigs – The Pig Site

A research group led by Jack Dekkers, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Animal Science at Iowa State University, has received a grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture to further genetic improvement of livestock by integrating biological models of growth that have been developed by animal nutritionists.

The $500,000, two-year grant for Dekkers and his team will support the project, Integration of Biological Models in Genomic Evaluation: Pig-Growth-Model Whole Genome Prediction (PGM-WGP),as part of a national USDA initiative for Research in Tools and Resources for Animal Breeding, Genetics and Genomics Research.

Genomic evaluation and selection are used to improve the rate of genetic gain by identifying the animals with the best genetics for traits of economic importance. Using these animals for breeding future generations results in a more profitable final product, increased value of by-products and more. However, existing genomic evaluation models often fail to predict how the progeny of an animal will perform when they are exposed to diverse environmental conditions.

This research will take an existing genomic model and integrate it with models of growth that have been developed and used to formulate diets for pigs. This will allow breeders to better predict the genetics of an animal that underpin an animals ability to grow under different environmental conditions, including temperature, humidity, diets and disease.

"The idea to incorporate a biological growth model into genomic evaluation of pigs is based on similar work that has been conducted by scientists at Corteva, formerly Pioneer, who have successfully integrated crop-growth models into genomic evaluation to predict the performance of corn hybrids under normal versus drought conditions," said Dekkers.

Co-director Nick Sero, assistant professor of animal breeding, agreed, The integration of biological models with genomic models is expected to have a significant impact on genetic improvement for different environments in the swine industry.

To develop the model, the team will use in-depth data on feed intake, body weights and body composition on pigs from several lines from a commercial breeding company. The resulting model will be validated using this data to demonstrate its ability to improve prediction.

This project is being directed by Dekkers and will be co-directed by Sero and Andrea Doeschl-Wilson, reader and group leader of the Mathematical Modeling Group and Deputy Head of Genetics and Genomics Division of the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh.

Other team members include Iowa State faculty Rohan Fernando, professor of animal breeding, Jayasooriya Ranga Appuhamy, assistant professor of animal nutrition, along with a post-doctoral fellow and a PhD student who will be appointed to help conduct the research. Another collaborator is Jaap van Milgen, senior researcher and deputy-head of the INRAe-Agrocampus West Research Unit and developer of the INRA-Porc growth nutrition model. Several industry partners are also involved to supply insight, provide access to data and help facilitate model validation.

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Iowa research team wins grant to study growth, genetics and nutrition in pigs - The Pig Site

Genetics

Organigram Joins Medical Cannabis by Shoppers Inc. and TruTrace in Effort to Track Source and Genetics of Cannabis Used by Medical Patients – Business…

MONCTON, New Brunswick--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Organigram Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: OGI) (TSX: OGI), the parent company of Organigram Inc. (the Company or Organigram), a leading licensed producer of cannabis, is pleased to announce it has partnered with Medical Cannabis by Shoppers(Shoppers) on Phase 2 of Shoppers Pilot Program powered by software partner TruTrace Technologies Inc. (CSE: TTT; OTCQB: TTTSF) (TruTrace).

The program is designed to genetically finger-print all participating cannabis products, tracking them throughout the supply chain, from genome to patient, in order to provide real-time information about the composition of each cannabis product used by Medical Cannabis by Shoppers customers.Organigram will provide cannabis products to Shoppers for use in the tracking program.

Standardized and validated testing of medical cannabis, ensuring consistent quality and efficacy, are critical to the products value as a viable treatment option. Likewise, product information such as strain composition and potency can help healthcare practitioners and patients make more informed and confident decisions about their medical cannabis treatment regimens.

Organigram is proud of our long-standing commitment to our medical cannabis community. From the development of innovative products to the support offered by our patient care team and programs, patients and their needs are at the heart of our medical cannabis business, says Greg Engel, CEO, Organigram. We also recognize how critical consistency is to patients and their healthcare providers so are pleased to partner with Shoppers, providing our products so that they can be followed from raw material to finished product, to offer them important, useable product insights.

Using Trutraces StrainSecure system, the program collects plant testing data and performs genomic verification in plant batches which are then registered in a blockchain-enabled database for intellectual property protection and strain validation. All information gathered from the plants, including their molecular and chemical makeup, can be tracked via the technology.

As jurisdictions around the world have begun to legalize and adopt cannabis as a medical treatment, there has been an influx ofnew breeders and growers and a profusion of new cannabis strains, each with a different representation of at least 500 known metabolites. Subtle changes in the chemical expression of various strains, whether by genetic structure or environmental conditions, may have significant clinical effects on the patients using this treatment option.With so many strains available, and with relatively limitedinformationon strain composition or genetic lineage and their relation to their chemical output, patients havelittleability to control what they aretaking over time.

In the absence of assigned drug identification numbers (DIN)for cannabis products, quantifying the genetics and metabolomics, as well as potency and equivalencies ofcannabis products is of interest to producers, distributors, shippers, government agencies, payers, clinicians and patients.

Maintaining an effective traceability ecosystem about these details throughout the supply chain is a component of providing consistent medicine, says Engel.

Using TruTrace technology, Shoppers has partnered with University Health Network in Toronto (UHN) to launch Medical Cannabis Real World Evidence (MCRWE), a new ground-breaking study on cannabis and health which will track outcomes with TruTrace validated product for the first time in history.

This novel observational study is targeting a minimum of 2,000 patients who will be followed over a 24-week period. Enrolled patients will have access to certain fully verified products on the Medical Cannabis by Shoppers platform, which have been tested for detailed cannabinoid and terpene profiles.More information about the study can be found here.

About Organigram Holdings Inc.

Organigram Holdings Inc. is a NASDAQ Global Select and TSX listed company whose wholly owned subsidiary, Organigram Inc., is a licensed producer of cannabis and cannabis-derived products in Canada.

Organigram is focused on producing high-quality, indoor-grown cannabis for patients and adult recreational consumers in Canada, as well as developing international business partnerships to extend the Company's global footprint. Organigram has also developed a portfolio of legal adult use recreational cannabis brands including The Edison Cannabis Company, AnkrOrganics and Trailblazer. Organigram's facilityis located inMoncton, New Brunswick and the Company is regulated by theCannabis Act and theCannabis Regulations(Canada).

This news release contains forward-looking information. Often, but not always, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as plans, expects, estimates, intends, anticipates, believes or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events, or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, events, performance or achievements of Organigram to differ materially from current expectations or future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information contained in this news release. Risks, uncertainties and other factors involved with forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information include factors that change supply quantities; risks associated with international jurisdictions including regulatory risk; receipt of any required permits from Health Canada and other authorities; including general risks related to COVID-19 and risks as disclosed in the Companys most recent annual information form, managements discussion and analysis and other Company documents filed from time to time on SEDAR (see http://www.sedar.com) and filed or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission on EDGAR (see http://www.sec.gov). Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. The forward-looking information included in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and the Company disclaims any intention or obligation, except to the extent required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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Organigram Joins Medical Cannabis by Shoppers Inc. and TruTrace in Effort to Track Source and Genetics of Cannabis Used by Medical Patients - Business...

Anatomy

Virtual anatomy labs and at-home dissections: Stanford summer programs thrived online – Scope

In early July, a package arrived at the family home of Caitlin Dinh in Fallbrook, California. Inside were a vacuum-sealed sheep brain and pig heart, a suturing kit, a blood pressure cuff and a stethoscope.

Dinh had received the package so she could participate in Stanford Medicine's Clinical Summer Internship program. As instructors watched via Zoom, she applied the blood pressure cuff and stethoscope on her mom (vitals all normal!), and she dissected the heart and brain. She also practiced suturing a fresh pig's foot she bought at a butcher shop.

When Dinh, a rising junior at the University of Southern California, had registered for the program in January, she expected to spend two weeks on the Stanford campus with other undergraduate and high school students, attending lectures and learning clinical skills. Disappointed but not surprised when COVID-19 forced the program online, Dinh said she nevertheless "really enjoyed the course."

"I learned more about medicine in two weeks than I did in two years of college," she said.

Stanford Medicine offers about 20 programs for high school and undergraduate students every summer; they focus on various aspects of medicine, such as anesthesia, research and public health. While the pandemic caused the cancellation of some courses that required in-person learning, others shifted online.

One course went a step further: The Clinical Anatomy Summer Program moved into virtual reality. In addition to sending suturing tools, Stanford Medicine staff shipped VR kits to the high schoolers enrolled in the two-week course.

Wearing headsets, the students "met" in a virtual reality anatomy lab where their avatars could explore three-dimensional models of hearts, lungs and other organs. They "held" the organs, rotated them around, even poked their heads inside for a look at the inner workings.

Sakti Srivastava, MD, professor of anatomy, said that when shelter-in-place orders happened, he knew his department couldn't offer the program in person. But he and others had been developing a VR course for medical students studying in low-resource countries, and they wondered if it might work for the high schoolers.

"We scratched our heads and said, 'We've been doing this other VR work. Can we put something together on short notice?'" Srivastava said.

They reorganized the course, offering two one-week sessions of online lectures interspersed with VR visits to the anatomy lab. "The great majority of students liked it and said they learned a lot," Srivastava said.

Another course, Explore, a lecture series on biomedical research for high school students, became a webinar. In years past, students commuted to the Stanford campus for three hours of lectures and discussions; this summer, they tuned in every weekday morning for a month, learning about bioengineering, cancer, neuroscience and many other aspects of a career in research.

With 154 students, a webinar was the only viable option, said Cindy Limb, managing director of the program. Though the high schoolers were muted, they were able to type in questions and receive answers in real time.

"They constantly submitted questions," Limb said. "They were really engaged in the topics."

The directors of the Clinical Summer Internship also found the multitude of questions to be one of the upsides of virtual classes: Students who are normally shy about raising a hand in a class often have no trouble typing in a question during an online session, they said. Another benefit was that they could magnify a video of an instructor showing a dissection.

"The students were great, really adaptable and flexible," said Sarita Khemani, MD, a clinical associate professor of medicine and co-director of the internship. "They were so eager to learn, they made it work."

Photo of Maximilian Floridia, a rising high school senior from Redlands, California, taking his mom's blood pressure and photo of Kayla Stephens courtesy of Stanford Medicine's Summer Clinical Internship program. Image of Stanford Medicine's Clinical Anatomy Summer Program's virtual lab by technology consultant Matt Hasel.

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Virtual anatomy labs and at-home dissections: Stanford summer programs thrived online - Scope