Cell Biology

Spatial and Temporal Control of Synaptic Transmission Jan. 20 – Vanderbilt University News

Shigeki Watanabe, assistant professor in the Department of Cell Biology at Johns Hopkins University, will discuss Spatial and Temporal Control of Synaptic Transmission on Monday, Jan. 20, beginning at 12:15 p.m. in MRBIII, Room 1220.

The event is hosted by the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology Graduate Student Association and part of the departments spring 2020 seminar series.

Read this article:
Spatial and Temporal Control of Synaptic Transmission Jan. 20 - Vanderbilt University News

Cell Biology

Out of Deep-Sea Mud, a Strange Blob May Hold Secrets to the Origins of Complex Life – Livescience.com

A microbe found in the muddy depths of the Pacific Ocean doesn't look like much other than a blob with tentacles. But this unassuming little organism may hold the secrets to how the first multicellular life-forms evolved, according to new research.

Long before complex organisms existed, the world was home to simple single-celled organisms, archaea and bacteria. Between 2 billion and 1.8 billion years ago, these microorganisms began to evolve, leading to the emergence of more complex life-forms called eukaryotes, a group that includes humans, animals, plants and fungi. But this incredible journey over which life transitioned from swimming blobs to walking (and, in some cases, thinking and feeling) animals is still poorly understood.

Scientists had previously hypothesized that a group of microbes called Asgard archaea were the much-sought ancestors of eukaryotes, because they contain similar genes to their complex counterparts, according to a statement. To analyze what these microbes looked like and how this transition might have happened, a group of researchers in Japan spent a decade collecting and analyzing mud from the bottom of the Omine Ridge off the coast of Japan.

Related: Earth's Oldest Living Things Immortalized in Stunning Photos

The team kept the mud samples and the microorganisms in them in a special bioreactor in the lab that mimicked conditions of the deep sea in which they were found. Years later, they began to isolate the microorganisms within the samples. The scientists' initial purpose was to find microbes that eat methane and that might be able to clean up sewage, according to the New York Times. But when they discovered that their samples contained a previously unknown strain of Asgard archaea, they decided to analyze it and grow it in the lab.

They named the newly found strain of Asgard archaea Prometheoarchaeum syntrophicum after the Greek god Prometheus, who is said to have created humans from mud. They found that these archaea were relatively slow growers, only doubling in number every 14 to 25 days.

Their analysis confirmed that P. syntrophicum had a great number of genes that resembled those of eukaryotes. Indeed, these genes held the instructions for creating certain proteins found inside these microbes; but the proteins did not, as expected, create any organelle-like structures like the ones found inside eukaryotes.

They also found that the microbes had long, branching tentacle-like protrusions on their outside that might be used to snatch up passerby bacteria. Indeed, the team found that the microbes tended to stick onto other bacteria in the lab dishes.

The authors propose a hypothesis for what went on in these ancient waters: Around 2.7 billion years ago, oxygen began to accumulate on our planet. But having lived in a world without oxygen for so long, this element would prove toxic to P. syntrophicum, the authors explained in a video.

So the P. syntrophicum may have developed a new adaptation: a way to form partnerships with bacteria that were oxygen-tolerant. These bacteria would give P. syntrophicum the necessary vitamins and compounds to live, while, in turn, feeding on the archaea's waste.

As oxygen levels increased even further, P. syntrophicum might have become more aggressive, snatching passerby bacteria with its long tentacle-like structures and internalizing it. Inside the P. syntrophicum, this bacteria might have eventually evolved into an energy-producing organelle key to eukaryote-survival: the mitochondria.

The team's "success in culturing Prometheoarchaeum after efforts spanning more than a decade represents a huge breakthrough for microbiology," Christa Schleper and Filipa L. Sousa, both researchers at the University of Vienna who were not involved in the study, wrote in an accompanying editorial in the journal Nature. "It sets the stage for the use of molecular and imaging techniques to further elucidate the metabolism of Prometheoarchaeum and the role of [eukaryotic signature proteins] in archaeal cell biology."

The findings were published Jan. 15 in the journal Nature.

Originally published on Live Science.

View original post here:
Out of Deep-Sea Mud, a Strange Blob May Hold Secrets to the Origins of Complex Life - Livescience.com

Cell Biology

Hackensack Meridian Health Center for Discovery and Innovation to Host Genomic Medicine Symposium – P&T Community

NUTLEY, N.J., Jan. 17, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Genomic medicine's groundbreaking treatments, and its future promise, will be the focus of a full-day symposium at the Hackensack Meridian Health Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI) on Wednesday, February 19.

This emerging discipline for tailoring active clinical care and disease prevention to individual patients will be the focus of presentations given by eight experts from medical centers in the U.S.A. and Canada.

"The Genomic Medicine Symposium convenes a diverse group of scientific experts who help serve as a vanguard for precision medicine," said David Perlin, Ph.D., chief scientific officer and vice president of the CDI. "At the Center for Discovery and Innovation, we are working to make genomics a central component of clinical care, and we are delighted to host our peers and partners from other institutions."

"The event is one-of-a-kind," said Benjamin Tycko, M.D., Ph.D., a member of the CDI working in this area, and one of the hosts. "We are bringing together great minds with the hope it will help inform our planning for genomic medicine within Hackensack Meridian Health and inspire further clinical and scientific breakthroughs."

Cancer treatments, neuropsychiatric and behavioral disorders, cardiometabolic conditions, autoimmune disease, infectious disease, and a wide array of pediatric conditions are areas where DNA-based strategies of this type are already employed, and new ones are being tested and refined continually.

The speakers come from diverse medical institutions and will talk about a variety of clinical disorders in which prevention, screening, and treatment can be informed through genomic and epigenomic data.

Among the speakers are: Daniel Auclair, Ph.D., the scientific vice president of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation; Joel Gelernter, M.D., Ph.D., Foundations Fund Professor of Psychiatry and Professor of Genetics and of Neuroscience and Director, Division of Human Genetics (Psychiatry) at Yale University; James Knowles, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair of Cell Biology at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn; Tom Maniatis, Ph.D., the Isidore S. Edelman Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, director of the Columbia Precision Medicine Initiative, and the chief executive officer of the New York Genome Center; Bekim Sadikovic, Ph.D., associate professor and head of the Molecular Diagnostic Division of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Western University in Ontario; Helio Pedro, M.D., the section chief of the Center for Genetic and Genomic Medicine at Hackensack University Medical Center; Kevin White, Ph.D., the chief scientific officer of Chicago-based TEMPUS Genetics; and Jean-Pierre Issa, M.D., Ph.D., chief executive officer of the Coriell Research Institute.

The event is complimentary, but registration is required. It will be held from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the auditorium of the CDI, located at 111 Ideation Way, Nutley, N.J.

The event counts for continuing medical education (CME) credits, since Hackensack University Medical Center is accredited by the Medical Society of New Jersey to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Hackensack University Medical Center additionally designates this live activity for a maximum of 7 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit TM. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

For more information, visit https://www.hackensackmeridianhealth.org/CDIsymposium.

ABOUTHACKENSACKMERIDIAN HEALTH

Hackensack Meridian Health is a leading not-for-profit health care organization that is the largest, most comprehensive and truly integrated health care network in New Jersey, offering a complete range of medical services, innovative research and life-enhancing care.

Hackensack Meridian Health comprises 17 hospitals from Bergen to Ocean counties, which includes three academic medical centers Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, JFK Medical Center in Edison; two children's hospitals - Joseph M. Sanzari Children's Hospital in Hackensack, K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital in Neptune; nine community hospitals Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel, Mountainside Medical Center in Montclair, Ocean Medical Center in Brick, Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, Pascack Valley Medical Center in Westwood, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, and Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin; a behavioral health hospital Carrier Clinic in Belle Mead; and two rehabilitation hospitals - JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute in Edison and Shore Rehabilitation Institute in Brick.

Additionally, the network has more than 500 patient care locations throughout the state which include ambulatory care centers, surgery centers, home health services, long-term care and assisted living communities, ambulance services, lifesaving air medical transportation, fitness and wellness centers, rehabilitation centers, urgent care centers and physician practice locations. Hackensack Meridian Health has more than 34,100 team members, and 6,500 physicians and is a distinguished leader in health care philanthropy, committed to the health and well-being of the communities it serves.

The network's notable distinctions include having four hospitals among the top 10 in New Jersey by U.S. News and World Report. Other honors include consistently achieving Magnet recognition for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center and being named to Becker's Healthcare's "150 Top Places to Work in Healthcare/2019" list.

The Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University, the first private medical school in New Jersey in more than 50 years, welcomed its first class of students in 2018 to its On3 campus in Nutley and Clifton. Additionally, the network partnered with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to find more cures for cancer faster while ensuring that patients have access to the highest quality, most individualized cancer care when and where they need it.

Hackensack Meridian Health is a member of AllSpire Health Partners, an interstate consortium of leading health systems, to focus on the sharing of best practices in clinical care and achieving efficiencies.

For additional information, please visit http://www.HackensackMeridianHealth.org.

About the Center for Discovery and Innovation:

The Center for Discovery and Innovation, a newly established member of Hackensack Meridian Health, seeks to translate current innovations in science to improve clinical outcomes for patients with cancer, infectious diseases and other life-threatening and disabling conditions. The CDI, housed in a fully renovated state-of-the-art facility, offers world-class researchers a support infrastructure and culture of discovery that promotes science innovation and rapid translation to the clinic.

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hackensack-meridian-health-center-for-discovery-and-innovation-to-host-genomic-medicine-symposium-300989060.html

SOURCE Hackensack Meridian Health

See more here:
Hackensack Meridian Health Center for Discovery and Innovation to Host Genomic Medicine Symposium - P&T Community

Human Behavior

Q&A: The impact of Australia’s fires on humans and animals – University of Denver

For months, massive swaths of Australia have been on fire, leaving more than 20 people dead, tens of thousands in flight from their homes, 15 million acres burned and millions of animals dead. Shocked by the destruction, the world has turned its eyes Down Under.

With the fires still blazing, the DU Newsroom invited Shannon Murphy, associate professor of biology, to explain the long-term implications for the countrys environment. Philip Tedeschi and Sarah Bexell of the Institute for Human-Animal Connection at DUs Graduate School of Social Work joined the email conversation to share their insights about the fires toll on animals and humans alike.

The fires in Australia are devastating in scale. What long-term ramifications could this have for human society?

Murphy: Its hard to understand the scale of this disaster right now since its still ongoing, but its likely we will feel the effects for decades or longer. We dont know yet how much of the native ecosystems will be lost, since the fire season still has another month to go, but it sounds like a lot of endemic species may have already suffered huge population losses. These are species that are found nowhere else on Earth. For people who value biodiversity, this is a huge tragedy.

Tedeschi/Bexell: Human behavior is causing mass environmental changes, such as climate change, mass extinction, desertification and countless forms of pollution not just air and water, but also light, noise, soil and more. Due to our inability to address the size of our population and our additions to economic growth, events [like this] will only grow in number and severity.

In addition to grieving the loss of homes and communities, Australians are mourning the dramatic loss of their wildlife. Why is that loss so profound?Tedeschi/Bexell: Whether humans realize it or not, other species are deeply embedded in our psychology and mental health. We also, thankfully, have strong aversions to suffering. To see the magnitude of animal suffering and death occurring in Australia right now is painful and traumatic. That pain is exacerbated by feelings of helplessness, as many [people] do not have the skills or financial resources to help the animals who survive the fires but are left with injuries and/or trauma. Yes, other species also experience trauma.

Humans evolved living alongside other species, and as we lose them, many of us also experience a devastating loneliness and, of course, despair and loss. There is a known term called solastalgia that refers to watching places we love changed, altered or destroyed. This causes a sense of homesickness while still at home or feeling like a stranger in your own land.

Many attribute the cause of the fires to climate change. Is that the case? What could have prevented this?

Murphy: Climate change is known to be altering fire regimes around the world, primarily because droughts are becoming increasingly frequent and intense, and when the landscape dries out, its more likely to burn severely. Natural wildfires are a normal part of many ecosystems, including some in Australia. In these ecosystems where fire is an important periodic disturbance, many species are fire-adapted. Indeed, not only are species that live there adapted to survive fire, many even benefit from periodic fires or require fire to reproduce. For example, some tree species require heat for their cones to open and allow seeds to germinate. However, the problem is that fires today are happening more frequently than normal and even fire-adapted species cannot recover when fires happen so quickly in succession. More pertinent to whats happening in Australia right now is that many fires that we see are much more intense than fires have been historically. Long-term droughts are causing the plants and soil to be much drier than they should be, and so there is a greater fuel load than if there had been normal amounts of rain. This means that fires that would normally have been low-severity fires and may have actually helped the ecosystem are now high-severity fires that are scorching the landscape.

Some reports are saying koalas are effectively extinct, and certainly other animal populations have been significantly harmed. What could it mean to lose a creature so emblematic of their national identity?

Tedeschi/Bexell: We should assume that we will see human depression and deep anxiety about these losses. Often they can be as profound as the losses of human members of our family, in part because these relationships are so reliable and often seen as permanent parts of our lives. This type of serious biodiversity loss is occurring all over the world. [Consider] the U.S. nearly losing bald eagles and China nearly losing giant pandas. These species are emblematic of entire nations, and to lose them would cause sadness and feelings of loss, but perhaps also guilt and shame. The loss of any of these three species would be due to deleterious human behavior, including pesticide use, overdevelopment and climate change. Earth is undergoing [its] sixth mass extinction event, as we know from the fossil record. This current extinction event is caused entirely by the behavior of one species humans.

Once the fire is out, what happens next? How do the environment and the animal population begin to recover?

Murphy: Recovery can be a very slow process, especially from high-severity fires like we see happening now. When fire-adapted landscapes burn with low-severity fires, recovery starts relatively quickly, with plants re-growing from belowground roots or seeds in the seedbank. However, when fires burn with the severity that we are seeing in Australia, sometimes the heat from the fire kills belowground roots and destroys the seedbank in the soil, which means that recovery depends on recolonization from undisturbed areas. Depending on the extent of the fire, this could take a long time because undisturbed areas may be really far away.

Recovery of animal communities depends on the recovery of the plant community, so [that] may be even more delayed. Lastly, the community may never recover to what it was, and depending on which species arrive, [the communities] may end up very different from the ones we knew.

Go here to see the original:
Q&A: The impact of Australia's fires on humans and animals - University of Denver

Human Behavior

Ken Nystrom to be inducted into Moose Lake Wall of Fame – Moose Lake Star-Gazette

Moose Lake High School will be inducting 1991 graduate Ken Nystrom into the Wall of Fame on Friday January 24, 2020 at 7:00 at the school between the girls junior varsity and varsity games. The public is invited to attend the ceremony and visit with Ken.

Ken Nystrom is a professor in the Department of Anthropology at the State University of New York at New Paltz. He graduated from Moose Lake High School in 1991 and attended the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Following college, he went to the University of New Mexico where he received his Ph.D. in biological anthropology. His research and training focuses on reconstructing human behavior in the past from skeletal remains. Over the years, this background has provided him the opportunity to travel to many different countries including Italy, Honduras, Greece, Greenland, the Canary Islands, Peru, Brazil, Chile, and Egypt. His research has covered many different topics, from examining the impact of imperial conquest in precontact Peru to the impact of manumission on population structure in historic New York. His most significant work looks at social inequality in the past and how this informs on social issues facing todays society.

Moose Lake is proud to induct Ken into the diverse Wall of Fame members. The Wall of Fame qualifications are for the person to have been out of school at least 10 years past graduation or five years past retirement for a staff member. The honorees have been coaches, teachers, lawyers, civic leaders, artists, and academics. Among the honorees in the Wall of Fame are Robert Youso, Paulette Paulson, Triple Crown Winners, Richard Pionk, and Stan Dodge.

View post:
Ken Nystrom to be inducted into Moose Lake Wall of Fame - Moose Lake Star-Gazette

Human Behavior

2020 EGHS Wall of Honor Ceremony Is April 29 – East Greenwich News

East Greenwich High School

The Wall of Honor Committee for the East Greenwich High School Wall of Honor has announced that this years ceremony will be held April 29, at 6 p.m. in the East Greenwich High School auditorium.

Being honored this year are Susan Stevens Crummel, a nationally recognized childrens book author and her sister who is renowned illustrator for childrens books; Dr. Francis J. Pescosolido, currently working at Bradley Hospital and as the clinical associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University; Dennis Lynch, chairman of the board at Cardtronics and chairman of the South Health board of trustees, and Phil Garvey, an outstanding East Greenwich High School athlete who went on to coach and teach at several Rhode Island schools and served his country as a U.S. Marine Corps officer serving in Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom as operation officer for the 3rd Marine Air Wing.

They will be honored on the above mentioned night, and all family, friends, schoolmates, teammates and EG enthusiasts are welcome to attend. The ceremony usually lasts an hour and a half and is followed by a collation in the school cafeteria.

The event is sponsored by Allan Britt Gammons of Gammons Realty in East Greenwich. For further information and details contact Robert Houghtaling at 230-2246 or Chris Cobain at 398-1562.

Read the original here:
2020 EGHS Wall of Honor Ceremony Is April 29 - East Greenwich News

Human Behavior

Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’: A story of power and love for today? – Rutland Herald

King Lear is one of William Shakespeares greatest tragedies in that not only does it chronicle the downward spiral of a self-deceiving head of state and explore the ramifications of a messy regime change, it plumbs the human depths of its characters. In short, its a play for today.

The power of King Lear lies in its nature as both a deeply personal and deeply political play, explains Stephen Brown-Fried, who is directing Northern Stages upcoming production.

On one hand, its the story of how a political regime ends, and of what is left behind after an autocrat is separated from his political power. On the other hand, it is also the story of a family facing the deterioration of its patriarch, and of that patriarchs descent into madness.

When one man commands so much power, both politically for the country he commands, and personally for the people he touches, what lies on the other side of his authority? Brown-Fried said. What exists for him, for his family, and for his country when he can no longer occupy the seat of power that defined him? King Lear deals with a country collapsing under the weight of its ruling regime. In this sense, I find the play chilling and timely.

King Lear is also an icon of the theater and, in particular, its title role. Actor and playwright Jaime Morton will be taking it on for the first time.

Its an amazing journey, one of those that actors spend a career looking forward to. And now I am in the thick of it. Daunting, yes. Thrilling, absolutely, Morton said. The rewards of this play are just extraordinary. The deeper you look, the more there is. The journey is daunting, but really, really rewarding.

Northern Stage will present King Lear Jan. 22-Feb. 9 at the Barrette Center for the Arts in White River Junction.

The play, which was first published in 1608, concerns Lear, who bequeaths his land and power to two of his three daughters after they declare their love for him in a fawning obsequious manner. Because the third, the youngest and his favorite, refuses to flatter Lear, she is banished.

Once the first two sisters and their husbands have taken power, they reject Lear and strip him of his dignity. As he gradually loses his mind, it is only the third who is willing to stand by him.

His mind is beginning to slip away which, in my estimation, makes him inordinately prone to anger and impulsive behavior, Morton said of Lear. And then, over the course of the play, (he) begins, unfortunately too late, to recognize the humanity that has lived around him.

One of the sources of the plays power is that it is both a very big political play about a country and about what happens in a country at the end of a regime and what happens in a country when the country attempts a regime change, Brown-Fried said.

And at the same time its a very personal human story about families and parents and children and things that go off the rails with families. Its also about marriages and fate and destiny and fortune.

What makes it such a brilliant play is that theres very little of the human experience that doesnt show up in it, Brown-Fried said.

Although some of the human behavior is repulsive, there is also deep humanity.

Every moment of it probes at aspects of our own experience, Brown-Fried said. It allows us to actually live out both our worst nightmare and also our greatest hopes simultaneously. It goes to places in our experience that we all have lived through but hopefully we havent lived through everything in the play.

This is Brown-Frieds first time with King Lear too.

One of the things thats daunting about the play and why its an intimidating beast to tackle, it feels like every single relationship in the play is unique and developed with depth to a degree I havent found in any other Shakespeare play.

Theres something you feel when youre in the presence of this play, he said. To me, its like when Im listening to Mozart, or looking at a true masterwork of art. Theres just this awe with this play that the depth that each relationship seems to probe.

The Northern Stage production employs a cast of 17, and some mens roles will be played by women, including Gloucester and Kent. The setting is in an abstract era.

Its an imagined reality, Brown-Fried said. Its a world weve created.

And, if Fried-Brown is correct, we all know that world.

As a citizen of this country, I think were all at a place where the questions of what our relationship to our country is at the forefront of our minds, he said. There are several characters in the play who have lived their lives going with the flow, and at some pint in the play reach a point where they are forced into an activist role. At what point do we reach our limit?

See more here:
Shakespeare's 'King Lear': A story of power and love for today? - Rutland Herald

Human Behavior

Human-Caused Biodiversity Decline Isnt New It Started Millions of Years Ago – SciTechDaily

(Click image for full view.) Dinofelis, painting by Mauricio Antn. The picture shows a saber-toothed cat Dinofelis eating while one of our ancestors is watching. Dinofelis has been considered a predator that our ancestors were greatly fearing. But new research suggests that it was human ancestors that may have caused the eventual extinction of the species along with other major predators. Credit: University of Gothenburg

The human-caused biodiversity decline started much earlier than researchers used to believe. According to a new study published in the scientific journal Ecology Letters the process was not started by our own species but by some of our ancestors.

The work was done by an international team of scientists from Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

The researchers point out in the study that the ongoing biological diversity crisis is not a new phenomenon, but represents an acceleration of a process that human ancestors began millions of years ago.

Elephant. Credit: Hans Ring, Naturfotograferna

The extinctions that we see in the fossils are often explained as the results of climatic changes but the changes in Africa within the last few million years were relative minor and our analyses show that climatic changes were not the main cause of the observed extinctions, explains Sren Faurby, researcher at Gothenburg University and the main author of the study

Our analyses show that the best explanation for the extinction of carnivores in East Africa is instead that they are caused by direct competition for food with our extinct ancestors, adds Daniele Silvestro, computational biologist and co-author of the study.

Our ancestors have been common throughout eastern Africa for several million years and during this time there were multiple extinctions according to Lars Werdelin, co-author and expert on African fossils.

By investigating the African fossils, we can see a drastic reduction in the number of large carnivores, a decrease that started about 4 million years ago. About the same time, our ancestors may have started using a new technology to get food called kleptoparasitism, he explains.

Leopard. Credit: Hans Ring, Naturfotograferna

Kleptoparasitism means stealing recently killed animals from other predators. For example, when a lion steals a dead antelope from a cheetah.

The researchers are now proposing, based on fossil evidence, that human ancestors stole recently killed animals from other predators. This would lead to starvation of the individual animals and over time to extinction of their entire species.

This may be the reason why most large carnivores in Africa have developed strategies to defend their prey. For example, by picking up the prey in a tree that we see leopards doing. Other carnivores have instead evolved social behavior as we see in lions, who among other things work together to defend their prey, explains Sren Faurby

Humans today affect the world and the species that live in it more than ever before.

But this does not mean that we previously lived in harmony with nature. Monopolization of resources is a skill we and our ancestors have had for millions of years, but only now are we able to understand and change our behavior and strive for a sustainable future. If you are very strong, you must also be very kind concludes Sren Faurby and quotes Astrid Lindgrens book about Pippi Longstocking.

Reference: Brain expansion in early hominins predicts carnivore extinctions in East Africa by Sren Faurby, Daniele Silvestro, Lars Werdelin and Alexandre Antonelli, 13 January 2020, Ecology Letters.DOI: 10.1111/ele.13451

Read this article:
Human-Caused Biodiversity Decline Isnt New It Started Millions of Years Ago - SciTechDaily

Human Behavior

Why I Will Never Lose Hope, Even After My Brother’s Tragedy – Thrive Global

I remember looking over my left shoulder out of the large rear window of the limousine. My breath caught in my throat. I hadnt expected to see so many cars. Slowly, respectfully, they snaked around the curve at the end of the long somber street. Headlights on.I didnt know there were so many people who cared. How did I not know that?

If only he had known how much he was loved. Perhaps he did know. Perhaps it just wasnt enough.

I dont remember much about those few days. It was as if I were living someone elses life. In someone elses body. Even as I look back now, there are distinct and specific moments I remember. And they follow a continuum. But its the stuff in between thats gone.

In the early morning hours on Monday, July 25, 1988, I received a frantic call from my sister Kathleen. The ring jolted me out of a deep sleep. She was in London, Ontario, still living in the house that our mother owned. She shared the house with David.

Our mother, who at that time was spending the majority of the year on a little Caribbean island named Montserrat, had called Kathleen a few minutes prior. She was trying to reach David.

Apparently, Mom called him the night before but couldnt get through. So she thought shed just try again that morning.

Kathleen went to rouse David so that he could take the call. After knocking on his bedroom door a few times with no answer, she let herself in.

There he was. Lying face up on his bed. Naked. Eyes open. Blood coming out of his mouth.

She rushed back to the phone to let our mother know what she found, and was immediately told to call me. When I listened to Kathleens voice, I thought there must have been some mistake. That somehow she just saw something else. I told her to go to the neighbors house, and I hung up the phone.

A few minutes later, the phone rang again. She whispered, Hes dead. And I screamed.

Vaughn, a new tenant who was staying in the bedroom beside mine (I was living in my brother Deniss house in Toronto), came rushing into my room. I dont remember what I said to him. I dont remember anything I said or did.

Shortly thereafter, Bruce K., a longtime friend of Deniss (and a friend of my familys), rang the doorbell. I opened the door to see his face heavy with grief, shock, and sadness. Unforgettable.

It must have been a couple of hours later when I was in my car, driving along the QEW highway, en route to London. I was frozen in shock. Dont Give Up started playing on the radio. And it was while I was listening to Kate Bushs ethereal, haunting voice that it hit me. When the reality of the situation could not be denied.

When I knew I would never see him again.

My dear, beautiful, sweet, sensitive, funny, intelligent, little brother David.

I dont remember anything that was said that day when I arrived in London. Surely phone calls were made. Arrangements were handled. But for the life of me, I cant remember a damn thing.

The only clear image I have is of my mother walking through the front door that night after her long and heartbroken journey home. I had never before seen her face look the way it did that night. I dont have the words to describe it. There was insurmountable sorrow emanating from her body. It halted her gait and weighed her down to such an extent that I thought she would never be able to lift her head again. I felt as though I not only lost my little brother, but that my mother was gone as well.

No memory of what was said or done. Until Thursday morning.

The limousine continued its crawl. We were almost at our destination. The Forest Lawn Cemetery was just another mile or so ahead.

I returned my gaze to the front of the procession. My eyes locked on the car that held the hearse where my little brother lay silent and dreamless.

As the wrought iron archway of the cemetery entrance passed above, I prayed that Davids spirit was at peace. I hoped that somehow, somewhere he knew that he was loved.

September 2004

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline receives approximately two million calls a year. Two million. And those are the people who choose to reach out for help.

How many countless others suffer in silence?

Why has suicide become such a pandemic in our society?

I hate to say thisI feel ashamed in doing sobut I am growing numb to the news of another life being tragically taken by someones own hands. There are times when I must choose to numb my feelings, otherwise its just too heartbreaking.

I cannot help but ask myself, sometimes out loud: What the fuck is going on?

Is it the crumbling of the family unit? How much does that play a part in the disappearance of hope for a fulfilling future?

Is it the secrecy, shame, and stigma that still exist about mental health issues, even though much progress has been made?

Is it because its too damn easy to label someone as having mental health issues, when all it really is, is loneliness, and isolation, and fear of intimacy?

Is it just being fucked over too many times and giving up hope on humankind? Believing that no one is trustworthy?

Is it the lack of community that too many of us experience?

Is it our stupid smart phones and social media that oftentimes make us feel both connected and brutally disconnected from life and real human interaction?

Is it the pharmaceutical companies that offer so many drugs for depression and anxiety, and then peddle other drugs if the frst drugs dont work? I love how part of the disclaimer for a lot of these antidepressants is, May cause suicidal thoughts. Are they fucking kidding me??

We now know that a young mind isnt fully formed until around the age of twenty-four. And if that brain is under the infuence of these drugs, it may not be able to handle the full side effects. David was twenty-one when he died from a pharmaceutical drug overdose. I still dont know who his psychiatrist was. Fucker.

Clearly, I have some anger issues to deal with.

Is suicide the last and only option when a tender heart is too broken to heal? Is that what happened with my David?

I dont have the answers. And try as I might, I will never know what was going through Davids mind as the night of July 24, 1988, closed in.

But heres what I do know. I know that my family structure was never solid. And it began to unravel around the time of my fathers death.

I know that living in isolation, even while (and maybe especially while) living under the same roof with many family members, destroys the soul.

I know that secrecy was rampant in my family. Still is. I know that I get very scared as I walk around my city of New York, witnessing person after person hunched over, their eyes locked like a zombies on their glowing screens. Unable or unwilling to peer up and risk looking around at whats happening right in front of them. Not taking the chance to look another human being in the eye.

It terrifies me when I see a two-year-old, four-year old, ten-year-old glued to their phone or tablet while in a stroller or in a restaurant dining with their family. No social skills learned. No needing to learn how to behave respectfully in public, or how to gauge human behavior around them. Just placated and soothed by another world that gleams from their screens.

Talk about isolation.

I call it the new AA. Apple Anonymous. But heres the thing: where theres life theres hope.

And the hope lies in knowing that Im not alone in thinking this way. Im not the only one who despairs over the lack of human connection that seems to be the new normal.

Theres hope in knowing that theres more research, tests, and knowledge around pharmaceutical drugs and how they affect the mind.

I garner hope when I see people dining and having a conversation at a restaurant with no cell phones sitting on their table.

Hope rises when a smile is shared between me and a stranger as we pass each other on the street on a cool, crisp, sunny autumn day in NYC.

My heart is lifted with hope when precious time is spent with a close friend, as we muse over ways we can inspire more human connection through art.

And those two million people who reach out for help every yearI pray that every single one of them receives a seed of hope that will be planted deep in their hearts. Tended to. Nurtured and protected. So that in time, they will experience the strength in knowing that they belong here in this world. Come what may.

I hope they will know that they are already loved. Even though sometimes it feels like they arent.

They arent alone.

We arent alone.

We are already loved.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255

Excerpted from My Brothers Keeper: Two Brothers. Loved. And Lost. by Gloria Reuben. Used with Permission of Post Hill Press.

Follow us here and subscribe here for all the latest news on how you can keep Thriving.

Stay up to date or catch-up on all our podcasts with Arianna Huffington here.

The rest is here:
Why I Will Never Lose Hope, Even After My Brother's Tragedy - Thrive Global

Human Behavior

What Impact is Big Data Having on Soccer? – Analytics Insight

Throughout the last few years, big data has become an increasingly vital component of many different sports across the globe. One of the most prominent examples of its influence relates to the NFLs Big Data Bowl, which seeks to encourage the next generation within the analytics community. Moreover, the use of such data has also proved to be highly effective in the soccer world, with numerous teams utilizing the technology to increase their chances of both short- and long-term success.

As a result, were going to look at how big data has affected soccerwhile also considering how further analysis has changed the outlook of the sport.

While the role of a sides coaching staff cannot be underestimated, the introduction of analytics and big data into soccer has significantly reduced the time spent on analyzing statistical patterns, as the role of the process is to computationally reveal patterns and trends which relate to human behavior. Because the analysis method can deal with such vast data sizes, its therefore able to enhance the total number of results that can then be studied. In turn, from a coaching and management standpoint, this allows for tactical developments to be made around the strengths discovered through analysis of individual players performance.

This numbers-driven influence has resulted in clear-cut differences to on-field performances over the last decade. The German national team, who won the 2014 World Cup, built a database that analyzed varying data points from both their team and their opponents. Crucially, this success can be attributed to data-related speed improvements, with the average time a player had on the ball falling from 3.4 seconds in 2010 to 1.1 just four years later.

Aside from noticeable on-the-field differences, big data is also having an impact on player transfers. Within soccer, the sudden abundance of player-level data has seen squad recruitment methods arguably go through the most significant transformation. Moneyball, which is a market value analysis theory, has long been utilized by Liverpool Football Club since Fenway Sports Group took over the reigning European Champions. As of January 2019, the Reds had the 12th-highest net spend in Europe and, despite that, have achieved back-to-back Champions League finals and a second-place finish in the Premier League, which highlights the noticeable improvement that analytics have had on their recent transfers.

Furthermore, data has also influenced supporter-focused elements of soccer, such as fantasy gaming sites and sports betting. Many of the existing fantasy soccer platforms, for example, provide selection advice based on acquired analytics and statistics to assist prospective gamers with their player picks. Moreover, users can also find soccer-related data to take into account at sports betting platforms such as NetBet, whereyou can browse data across a wide array of varying sports, leagues and players including finding first and last goal data, along with goals per match averages.

Following its introduction, soccer has been late to the trend of utilizing data to its full potential but, having now accepted the analytical side of the game, the sport is thriving like never before. In addition to improving coaching methods and on-field performances, big data has also revolutionized fantasy gaming platforms and the sports betting market.

Original post:
What Impact is Big Data Having on Soccer? - Analytics Insight