Embryology

The World’s Most Powerful Women: July 7 – Fortune

When companies like Facebook and Apple said in 2014 that they would start covering the cost of egg freezing for women, the backlash was swift.

As Fortune 's Leigh Gallagher reported at the time , critics derided the new benefit as "a self-serving move to encourage women to take their eye off the biological clock so that they could double down and work harder throughout their 30s. It was paternalistic, sexist, and a trick to keep women childless and living at the office, all wrapped in the cloak of concern over womens fertility issues."

But a new study of 150 women who had undertaken elective egg freezing in the United States and Israel found that more than 90% said they were not intentionally postponing their fertility because of education or careers. Rather, they were preserving their fertility because they were single without partners to marry. Women lamented the missing men in their lives, viewing egg freezing as a way to buy time while they continued to search for a committed partner.

"[T]here's been this narrative that career women are putting off having children for the sake of their careers," Marcia Inhorn, the study's lead author and a professor of anthropology and international affairs at Yale University, told me . That's incorrect, she says. "They want to be married or at least partnered [before having a child] and they haven't been able to find anyone." Inhorn's unpublished study was presented at the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology conference in Geneva this week.

Women in the study were highly educated, with more than 80% having earned at least a graduate degree. Their failure to find a partner, Inhorn surmises, points to the "lopsided college graduation rate," in which more women are graduating from college and advanced degree programs than men.

One way to resolve this mismatch is to "get boys off to a better start" so more of them obtain higher education, Inhorn says. But a more comprehensive solution may be to update gender roles and what's expected of each sex across the board.

An antidote to the 'axis'

All eyes will be on German Chancellor Angela Merkel starting today as she hosts three of the world's most polarizing heads of state at the G-20 meeting: the U.S.'s Donald Trump, Russia's Vladimir Putin, and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Wall Street Journal quotes a German lawmaker calling the triothe 'Axis of Testosterone.' All three have becomein different waysantagonists of Germany.

Wall Street Journal

A man-free festival

After Sweden's largest music festival, the four-dayBrvalla, was cancelled for next year following reports of sexual assaults at this year's event, Swedish comedian and radio host Emma Knyckare tweeted: What do you think about putting together a really cool festival where only non-men are welcome? It would last until all men have learned how to behave. What seems to have started as a joke quickly turned into a real possibility.

Washington Post

All's fair in love and leadership

South African President Jacob Zuma has given the surest sign yet that he'll endorse his ex-wifeNkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as his successor as leader of the country's ruling African National Congress party ahead of a December election. Dlamini-Zuma, a veteran of the former liberation movement and former minister, is a frontrunner in the race, yet Zuma's critics suspect he's backing the mother of four of his children because hebelieves she won't pursue 783 counts of fraud, corruption, and racketeering that he faces.

Financial Times

Highly charged

A female engineer who filed claims of harassment against Tesla says she was fired in retaliation. They just want to absolutely crush anyone who speaks up, says A.J. Vandermeyden. I spoke up, and I was made a sacrificial lamb for it. Its a scary precedent. (Tesla says she falsely attacked the company in the press.) She also says that other women at the carmaker have voiced similar concerns.

Guardian

Beginner's luck?

The New York Times examines how a series of high-profile interruptions catapulted Sen. Kamala Harris (DCalif.), elected in November, into the position of Democrats' "the Great Freshman Hope, a telegenic object of daydreaming projectionjustified or notfor a party adrift and removed from executive power."

New York Times

Taking stock

Campbell Soup yesterday agreed to buy Pacific Foodsmaker of organic broth, soup, and plate-based beverages like almond milkfor $700 million as consumer tastes continue to shift. Campbell's CEO Denise Morrison told Fortune that the acquisition allows the company " to expand into faster-growing spaces."

Fortune

Courage to come forward

Tech entrepreneur Cheryl Yeoh, a native of Malaysia, tells the BBC why she came forward with allegations of sexual harassment against 500 Startups co-founder Dave McClure, who'd by then resigned his post. "People don't want to be judged and if their names that are going to be linked to a sexual harassment case online, very few people are willing to let that tarnish their name," she said."I'm in a different position, I've done previous work before, I've had publicity online for other good things I've done, so I know my record goes far beyond this and I certainly don't need the publicity for this for myself."

BBC

Not even Plan B

The Metropolitan Assembly election in Tokyo on Sunday that dealt a heavy blow to PM Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party also left a mark on Renho, the leader of the Democratic Party, which won just 5 of the 127 seats up for grabs. Rather than voting for her party as an alternative to the Shinzo regime, city residents turned toTokyoites First, the party headed by Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike.

Japan Times

Grace Coddington, Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, and Steve McQueen are new 'BritishVogue' new contributors

The Cut

How Christene Barberich, editor-in-chief and co-founder of Refinery29, gets it all done

New York Magazine

To escape sexual violence at home, female migrants must risk sexual violence on the way to Europe

Washington Post

Trump went to Poland and was met by women dressed as handmaids

Huffington Post

Sheila Michaels, who brought Ms. to prominence, dies at 78

New York Times

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The World's Most Powerful Women: July 7 - Fortune

Embryology

Checkup Medical column for July 7 – SBS

A weekly round-up of news affecting your health.

CANCER AND PREGNANCY

Girls and women who survive cancer are more than a third less likely to fall pregnant, British researchers have found.

A study of girls and women aged under 39 and who were diagnosed with cancer in Scotland between 1981 and 2012 were found to be 38 per cent less likely to conceive than women in the general population.

"The major impact on pregnancy after some common cancers highlights the need for enhanced strategies to preserve fertility in girls and young women," Professor Richard Anderson from the MRC Centre for Reproductive Health at the University of Edinburgh said.

The study looked at 23,201 female cancer survivors and found 6627 pregnancies among them.

The researchers said nearly 11,000 pregnancies would have been expected in a comparable matched control group from the general population.

Cancer treatments are known to affect fertility for several reasons, with some chemotherapy causing damage to the ovary, while radiotherapy can affect the ovary, uterus and potentially parts of the brain controlling reproduction.

Prof Anderson presented the results of the study, which have not been published, at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Geneva this week.

HIVES MYSTERY

The long-running medical mystery about why some people develop recurring itchy hives for no apparent reason could soon be solved.

Researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute and the Royal Melbourne Hospital have discovered how the condition, known as chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU), develops and begun working on a treatment.

Using samples from CSU patients they found in most developed itchy hives when a certain type of white blood cells known as T cells reacted to a specific protein found in skin cells.

The researchers have begun work on new studies to investigate whether the T cells that trigger CSU can be "switched off" using new targeted treatments.

"People with CSU develop recurring hives for periods of at least six weeks - and often for many years - but with no apparent trigger," said Dr Priscilla Auyeung, a clinical immunologist at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

"Our patients often think that they're allergic to their washing powder, soap or shampoo, and sometimes even wonder if it is all in their mind."

UNUSED MEDICINES

A new campaign has been launched to encourage parents to get rid of millions of out-of-date medicines sitting in their homes because of the risk they pose to children.

The federal government-funded Return Unwanted Medicines (RUM) project tells parents how they can safely dispose of expired and unwanted medicines in order to prevent their children getting poisoned.

More than 5000 children end up in hospital due to medicine poisonings each year.

"Last year alone, over 700 tonnes of medicines were collected and safely disposed of by the RUM project, preventing it from ending up in waterways or landfill," RUM project manager Toni Riley said.

"If that's only medicines collected from around 20 per cent of the population, imagine how many more are hiding in bathroom cabinets and kitchen drawers across the country."

Parents wanting more information can go to returnmed.com.au or ask their local pharmacist.

SLEEPY TIME

Employers are being urged to swap older fluorescent lights for more efficient LED bulbs to help their workers become more alert.

The Sleep Health Foundation and Cooperative Research Centre for Alertness, Safety and Productivity say Australia has a worrying rate of sleep disorders and improving lighting in workplaces could help.

Alertness CRC sleep specialist Professor Steven Lockley said using blue-enriched white light bulbs can help increase alertness and performance in the workplace.

"Many companies are considering changing their lights to save energy and we would like businesses to understand that if they choose the right light, they can add additional benefits to their bottom line with improved productivity and safety," he said.

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Checkup Medical column for July 7 - SBS

Embryology

Novel technique analyzes sperm morphology and motility in embryo formation process – News-Medical.net

July 7, 2017

The research, presented at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) annual conference, which ends today in Geneva, Switzerland, describes for the first time the use of an experimental technique that has made it possible to analyze the functioning of human sperm in contact with the cytoplasmic content of the eggs in vitro. By doing so, it was possible to verify in the laboratory, and before fertilization occurred, whether in this medium the sperm cell fulfilled its functions before being inseminated into an egg.

The research, led by Dr. Isabelle Vernos, ICREA research professor at the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona, and Eugin Group, has been jointly carried out by a group of researchers in the laboratory at the Barcelona Science Park (BSP) and at the CRG. "The aim of the research was to develop a technique prior to the use of male gametes in an assisted reproduction cycle in order to verify whether their functions were developing correctly," explains Dr. Montserrat Barragan, co-author of the study and head of the Eugin's research laboratory at the BSP.

"The results are preliminary and we have to see more cases, but it seems that there is a relationship between the characteristics of the selected sperm cells and their ability to correctly generate an embryo," Barragan adds. "The first results open the way for further research in this direction," she says.

After a study with 20 semen samples, the researchers, by means of this novel technique, were able to observe the relationship between the visible characteristics of sperm cells detected in the usual seminograms - such as morphology, concentration and motility - and their functional capacity in the first processes of cell division, namely, the first stages of embryo development.

Pioneering Methodology

"The methodology of the study has been novel," says Farners Amargant, the first author of the research and pre-doctoral researcher at CRG and Eugin. "Twenty samples of human sperm - with different morphological characteristics and levels of concentration and motility - were analyzed and incubated ex vivo (outside a living organism) in the eggs of the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis), a model organism widely used in biomedical research". The sample of human sperm is brought into contact with the cytoplasm of the frog oocyte and from here we analyze its ability to construct the bipolar mitotic spindle and other functions involved in cell division.

30% of fertilized eggs in assisted reproduction processes stop developing in the early stages of cell division. This leads scientists to think that functional defects in the sperm cell, such as a defect in pronuclear fusion, or in the construction of the so-called bipolar mitotic spindle - phases subsequent to DNA duplication - could be responsible for these failures. "The technique developed will allow us to observe more closely the incidence of this type of defect in order to understand if they influence the proper development of the embryo," Farners concludes.

Successful case: from basic science to clinical practice

This research project began in 2014 following an internal initiative of the CRG to promote multidisciplinary research aimed at both patients and society. It constitutes a successful case that has given rise to a fruitful scientific partnership between the Eugin group and Isabelle Vernos's laboratory at the CRG. The first author of the paper, the pre-doctoral researcher Farners Amargant, is taking part in an industrial doctorate, which is an initiative by the Generalitat de Catalunya aimed at capturing talent, training scientists and contributing to the competitiveness and internationalization of the business fabric.

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Novel technique analyzes sperm morphology and motility in embryo formation process - News-Medical.net

Biochemistry

Biochemistry serves strong options for tennis player – Purdue Agricultural Communications

Thursday, July 6th, 2017

By Mikaela Wieland

Early every morning, before the sun ever comes up, Andjela Djokovics alarm clock blares.

How did that happen so fast? she often wonders. It seems like I just went to bed.

And while the senior biochemistry major from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, shakes off sleep, she knows that the long workout and even longer school day to come are worth it. Djokovic is a student-athlete who competes for the Purdue womens tennis team on a scholarship.

Photo provided by Charles Jischke Andjela Djokovic is a tennis player and biochemistry major. She says that she plays for a great tennis team while getting amazing academic training.

The only way I have enough time to do everything is to work out at 6 a.m., Djokovic said. Its really difficult, Im always tired, and theres no rhythm in my life.

Djokovic approaches her dedication to tennis in much of the same way that she approaches her homework, classes, and labs.

The challenge is fun, she said. While tennis brought her to Purdue, Djokovic said the academics kept her here.

When choosing a college, I wanted a school where I could play on a good tennis team but also get amazing academic training, Djokovic said.

Purdue checked all the boxes and even gave her a full-ride scholarship to play tennis. Djokovic said she is grateful for all the places the tennis team has taken her and excited that shes been able to combine her love for travel with her love for tennis. Shes traveled all over the United States to play in different tennis tournaments, which is one advantage Djokovic sees in being both an international student and an athlete. But while shes had the opportunity to visit places in the United States, it isnt always as a tourist.

Ive gotten to see a lot of the USA, but mostly tennis courts and hotels. Djokovic joked.

Even so, Djokovic said she enjoyed visiting iconic places like Las Vegas and Florida while getting to play the sport that she loves. But the tennis and traveling is just the beginning of Djokovics crazy, daily schedule and unique Purdue journey.

Djokovics normal day includes tennis practice, gym time, class, biochemistry labs, with days so full that she doesnt usually get home from campus to start homework or study until after 7:30 p.m.

For most people, this would be too much stress and too full of a schedule, but Djokovic said the craziness is worth it.

Theres nothing I would change, she said.

She credits the biochemistry faculty for helping her succeed as a student-athlete.

The faculty in biochemistry are amazing, Djokovic said. Most of the professors know me and ask me how my tennis is going.

Djokovic knows that her time at Purdue and her journey with the tennis team will not last forever and is deciding her next step. Djokovic chose biochemistry because of the variety of careers she can pursue. After Purdue, she plans to head back to Australia or New Zealand to continue her studies.

I really, really like biochemistry, she said. Its like knowing a secret code. When doctors give out pills, they know what is literally going to happen as it breaks down in the body. . . . Its the behind-the-scenes of everything thats going on in real life.

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Biochemistry serves strong options for tennis player - Purdue Agricultural Communications

Biochemistry

Biochemistry major mixes science with outreach – Purdue Agricultural Communications

Thursday, July 6th, 2017

By Mikaela Wieland

Most days, Austin Dixon can be found in the dimly lit basement of the Biochemistry Building, surrounded by expensive, high-tech equipment studying proteins for his undergraduate research project.

On other days, he can be found in a bright classroom, demonstrating how to make a rudimentary lava lamp out of Alka-Seltzer tablets to a group of loud elementary school students. In both environments, Dixon thrives because he shares his love of science with the world.

Science gives me the tools and understanding to answer questions about the world we live in, said Dixon, a senior in biochemistry from Greenwood, Indiana. It provides a platform of discovery to move the world forward.

Photo by Mikaela Wieland Austin Dixon works in the laboratory on an uncharacterized class of proteins. His love for science influences everything from his undergraduate research to his volunteer work with middle schoolers.

It isnt enough that he pursues his research goals on his own. Dixon said the next generation must be inspired to discover great things as well. He teaches in classrooms and judges science fairs. Both volunteer efforts are aimed to engage kids and spark their interest in science.

Often, science is something most kids see as dull or uninteresting, Dixon said. Doing this has allowed me to positively influence younger kids and change their perspective on science.

One of the experiments aimed to pique the middle schoolers interest is the Alka-Seltzer lava lamp.

Its a great way to teach them how something they already know about really works, he said.

The kids mix vegetable oil and water with food coloring and an Alka-Seltzer tablet. The experiment demonstrates simple concepts like density and polarity. The tablets produce carbon dioxide bubbles that are less dense than oil and rise to the top of the lamp.

The kids think its really cool to learn from college kids, Dixon said. And, they love hands-on stuff.

The Purdue Biochemistry Club isnt Dixons only outreach. He judges K-12 science projects at the Indiana Regional Science Fair Competition in West Lafayette and volunteers at the annual Celebrate Science Indiana in Indianapolis. At these events, he interacts with and teaches science to more than 1,000 kids.

Im able to interact with hundreds of young, budding scientists and discuss their projects with them, Dixon said.

Dixons outreach mission is to cultivate the next generation of scientists.

These programs are necessary to get children interested in science beyond the textbook, and open their mind to the possibility of pursuing the field in the future, he said.

Dixon knows that the kids arent the only ones benefitting from the experience.

Its rewarding to me personally because Im able to make an impact in my community and within the lives of these children, which they will remember forever, he said.

Positive memories and experiences associated with science are important, Dixon said, because he wants people to understand the benefit of scientific research and the scientific process. He also wants to erase the stigma associated with science. Dixon said that requires a dialogue with the public that needs to be more transparent and more people need to know how long and detailed of a process science is.

Part of that starts with the way he speaks about his own research. He said that he tries to make sure to explain that his work has a practical use.

You have to talk about the why, he said. People care about what the impact of the science is.

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Biochemistry major mixes science with outreach - Purdue Agricultural Communications

Biochemistry

UHS considers theses, synopses – The News International

LAHORE: The 127th meeting of Advanced Studies and Research Board of the University of Health Sciences (UHS) was held here on Thursday with Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Junaid Sarfraz Khan in the chair.

According to a press release issued here, the board considered the thesis reports of Dr Muhammad Afzal MPhil (Biochemistry), Dr Hira Sohail MPhil (Biochemistry), Dr Muhammad Sohail Nazir MPhil (Chemical Pathology), Adil Bashir, a student of MPhil (Medical Laboratory Sciences - Immunology), Hafiz Talha Qayyum MPhil (Medical Laboratory Sciences Molecular Pathology & Cytogenetics), Dr Saima Noreen MPhil (Pharmacology), Dr Gulfreen Waheed MHPE, Dr Mumtaz Ali MS (General Surgery), Dr Ishfaque Ahmad MS (Neurosurgery), Dr Mian Maqbool Hussain MS (Orthopaedics), Dr Ahmad Raza Khan MPhil (Forensic Medicine), Dr Raza Younas MHPE, Dr Shazia Tufail MHPE, Dr Deepen Maharjan MD (Internal Medicine) and Dr Adnan Sadiq Butt MS (General Surgery).

The following synopses were also considered for registration of students in various postgraduate courses: Protective effect of aqueous extract of lawsonia inermis (Henna) leaves on acetylsalicylic acid induced gastric mucosal toxicity in adult albino rats by Dr Asma Fayyaz MPhil (Anatomy), The expression of beta human chorionic gonadotrophin ( -hCG) in different grades of human urothelial carcinoma by Dr Ammara Anwar MPhil (Morbid Anatomy & Histopathology), Mean platelet volume, immature platelet fraction and beta thromboglobulin in patients of acute coronary syndrome and normal subjects by Dr Sadia Ijaz MPhil (Haematology), Flow cytometric analysis of IIb 3 integrin protein and its activating mutations in exon 10 and 11 of ITGB3 gene in Glanzmanns thrombasthenia patients by Dr Saira Gul MPhil (Haematology), Antimicrobial activity of various fractions from Aleo vera against extended spectrum beta lactamases producing gram negative rods by Dr Zoobia Nazar Dar MPhil (Microbiology), Identification of candida species and gene expression of (CgCDR1) gene in fluconazole resistant Candida glabrata as compared to sensitive strains by Muhammad Roman MPhil (MLS - Microbiology), Phenotypic identification of Candida species and relative expression of (CDR1) gene in fluconazole resistant and sensitive Candida albicans by Muneeza Anwar MPhil (MLS - Microbiology), Identification of Candida species and relative gene expression of ergosterol (ERG11)gene in fluconazole resistant and sensitive Candida tropicalis by Sahar Imtiaz MPhil (MLS - Microbiology), Serum leptin, estrogen, progesterone and mammographic density in post-menopausal women with and without carcinoma breast by Dr Nighat Parveen MPhil (Physiology), Serum gamma-glutamyl transferase and short-term mortality in ischemic stroke by Dr Farhat Rafi MPhil (Chemical Pathology), Measurement of abrasivity of newly-developed bioactive dentifrices: An invitro study by Dr Daud Anthony MPhil (Science of Dental Materials), Evaluation of monomer leaching and biocompatibility of a novel bioactive fiber reinforced dental composite by Dr Mehvish Saleem MPhil (Science of Dental Materials), Synthesis and characterisation of novel miswak fibers based dental composites by Dr Muhammad Zeeshan MPhil (Science of Dental Materials, Synthesis and characterisation of smart biodegradable polymer based fluoride containing novel injectable bioactive glass material by Dr Nadia Irshad MPhil (Science of Dental Materials), Synthesis, degradative and fluoride release behaviour of a novel fluoride containing bioactive glass by Dr Noureen Jahanzeb MPhil (Science of Dental Materials), Effect of reactive calcium phosphate and poly lysine on chemical, mechanical, adhesive and biochemistry properties of novel dental composites by Dr Saadia Bano Lone MPhil (Science of Dental Materials), Evaluation of dentine regeneration with injectable bioactive glass by Dr Sundus Iftikhar MPhil (Science of Dental Materials), Synthesis and characterisation of a novel bioactive fiber based dental resin composite by Dr Usama Siddiqui MPhil (Science of Dental Materials), Effect of reactive calcium phosphate fillers and chlorhexidine on chemical, mechanical and antibacterial properties of dental composite by Dr Zahra Shafqat MPhil (Science of Dental Materials), Assessment of chemical, mechanical and microscopic properties of novel self-adhesive dental composite by Dr Zainab Sultan MPhil (Science of Dental Materials), Exploration of the underlying causes of stress among undergraduate medical students and their coping strategies by Dr Izza Umbrin MHPE, Obstructive hydrocephalus with posterior fossa tumours: outcome comparison between ventriculoperitoneal shunt versus endoscopic third ventriculostomy by Dr Pramanand Shah MS (Neurosurgery), A comparison of trans vaginal repair of vesicovaginal fistula with and without Martius flap by Dr Habib Akbar MS (Urology) and Role of alpha-blockers, anticholinergic or combination therapy in treatment of symptoms related to double J stent by Dr Wesh Ansari MS (Urology).

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UHS considers theses, synopses - The News International

Human Behavior

CAL FIRE: Human behavior causes fire near Coleman Fish Hatchery – KRCRTV.COM

ANDERSON, Calif. - A mutual response of CAL FIRE Shasta and Tehamaunits brought a three and a half acre fire near the Coleman National Fish Hatchery under control Wednesday night.

CAL FIRE said the fire broke out around 8:30 p.m. one mile away from the hatchery. Crews utilized five engines, two watertenders, two air tankers, a helicopter and two bulldozers to bring it under control.

No structures were damaged and there were no reports of injuries.

Crews said dry river bottom vegetation caught fire. An official at the scene said the fire was caused by human behavior, but the exact cause has not been determined, pending an investigation.

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CAL FIRE: Human behavior causes fire near Coleman Fish Hatchery - KRCRTV.COM

Human Behavior

Sexual Violence Among Baboons Shows Links to Human Behavior … – Seeker

T T heir relationship began innocently enough. He started to pay extra attention to her, and her attraction to him grew over time. One day, however, the dynamic changed. While she was peacefully sitting having a meal, he attacked her without warning. The unprovoked abuse continued, yet she stayed with him, still feeling the attraction and too afraid to go anywhere else. Later, his presence benefitted their youngsters.

Such is a typical story of a wild, female chacma baboon, which in many ways is a tale that mirrors those of certain chimpanzees and human domestic abuse survivors the world over, a new study published in the journal Current Biology indicates. Males of all three species may use long-term sexual intimidation to control their mates, suggesting that this mating strategy has a long history in primates, including humans.

The behavior has often been reported in our species, and has been documented in male chimps over the past decade. The new study focuses on chacma baboons, which are among the largest of all monkeys.

What is interesting is that the forms of sexual violence reported in chacma baboons may resemble some common patterns of sexual intimidation in humans, namely domestic violence, in the sense that they are similarly expressed in the context of long-term relationships between one male and one female, which are otherwise characterized by close spatial proximity and sometimes high levels of affiliation, said senior author Elise Huchard of the University of Montpelliers Institute of Evolutionary Sciences.

There is nothing paradoxical in forming a strong bond with someone, and displaying aggression in the context of such relationship, added Huchard. Conflict is an integral part of social life in every species including humans, and it's often with those people that you often see that you may have a conflict.

Huchard, lead author Alice Baniel, and co-author Guy Cowlishaw studied wild chacma baboons at Tsaobis Nature Park, a semi-arid environment in Namibia. The study occurred over four different periods from 20052014, during which time the researchers documented 222 chases or attacks led by males.

The researchers observed that males often formed social bonds with particular fertile females, which they then attacked and chased repeatedly usually without provocation in the weeks preceding her ovulation and prior to their mating.

It can also be that there is an event triggering the attack, such as a rival approaching or vocalizing, or the proximity of another baboon group, Huchard said. The latter case is typical: males often chase and attack some females of their own group when meeting another group, and they generally target sexually receptive females in such occasions.

RELATED: Human Hands More Primitive Than Chimp Hands

Some of the females were badly injured in the attacks, with certain individuals suffering premature deaths after repeated bouts of injuries.

The prior studies on sexual intimidation in chimps found that fertile females have higher levels of cortisol, a hormone indicative of stress. Increased stress can alter immune response. It can also disrupt reproduction and growth.

If a female baboon does give birth to offspring sired by the male, his behavior somewhat changes.

Several studies (on baboons) have shown that its often the male who has been monopolizing a female during her conceptive estrus who becomes her friend when she gives birth, Huchard explained. The female follows the male everywhere with her newborn, and the male essentially tolerates her presence; however, studies have shown that males defend their female friend's offspring against predators or infanticidal attacks, which are not uncommon in baboons.

She continued, Male-female bonds progressively dissolve as infants grow towards independency, and are often finished when a female becomes fertile again, when her juvenile is fully weaned.

A common factor among primates that practice long-term sexual intimidation is that the species tend to have males that are larger than the females. Such size differences, in turn, appear to be driven by patterns of male-to-male competition. This can happen when there are several adult males for each sexually receptive female within a population.

Since sexual coercion can stunt a victims growth, it might even further drive sexual size dimorphism, helping to keep the vicious cycle going.

Not all primate species have males that engage in long-term sexual intimidation, though. In lemurs, for example, it is common that females are larger than males. Even among baboons, chimps, and certainly humans, not all males practice sexual coercion.

There is increasing research to show that animals are capable of innovations, rational decisions, self-control, empathy, strategic behavior, etc., Huchard said. So, it's possible that male baboons are just driven by their sexual hormones, but it's also very possible that their actions are strategic and adjusted to the social context.

In humans, the intensity and frequency of long-term sexual intimidation by males vary widely across cultures. This points to a strong cultural component affecting the behavior.

Its even possible that there is a cultural basis for baboon sexual intimidation, as for human sexual intimidation, Huchard said. Thats a question for future research, but it wont be an easy one to answer.

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Sexual Violence Among Baboons Shows Links to Human Behavior ... - Seeker

Human Behavior

In quest to replace Common Access Card, DoD starts testing behavior-based authentication – FederalNewsRadio.com

A year after then-chief information officer Terry Halvorsen first publicly floated the idea of killingDoDs Common Access Card in favor of a collection of more flexible authentication technologies, the Pentagon is beginning to test drive at least one of the potential replacements for the CAC.

Last week, the Defense Innovation Unit-Experimental reached an agreement with Plurilock Technologies, a Victoria, British Columbia-based firm that holds several patents on behavior-based authentication (or, behaviour-based, to our friends to the north).

The company claims that after spending about 20 minutes monitoring and analyzing the specific patterns people engage in when using their computers particularly their habits when pressing keys on their keyboards and their mouse movement techniques its software can build a reliabledigital fingerprint for any user that can be used later on to sound an alarm when an impostor is logged onto a system using someone elses credentials.

Human behavior has a degree of variability its organic, Plurilocks CEO, Ian Paterson said in an interview. A person may have had coffee in the morning, they may be tired at the end of the day, but they still retain unique characteristics, and thats what we track.

Sponsored Content: Register for our free webinar to learn how DHS, Department of Transportation, FirstNet and FEMA are implementing their emergency communications strategies.

The aforementioned CIO, Terry Halvorsen, said last June that DoD would eliminate the CAC within two years. The replacement, he continued to emphasize in subsequent public statements, would not be a single technology, but a collection of 10 or more different authentication factors that give the department a higher degree of identity assurance than it currently haswithout tying users to a single piece of plastic with an embedded microchip.

The evaluation thats now underway with Plurilocks system appears to be consistent with that game plan. Paterson said the test deployment thats now beginninginside one of DoDs combat support agencies (the company declined to say which one) will monitor users behavior only after theyve logged into a computer by some other means.

If the system detects something unusual, it can be configured to do a number of things, from delivering immediate alerts to security administrators, to locking the users terminal, to simply asking a user to authenticate themselves again. And depending on how they re-authenticate, it can take a series of steps that rely on other factors to provide higher degrees of identity assurance.

Paterson argued that sort of continuous monitoring of users behavior is the only realway to know whether the person sitting behind a computer screen is truly who they claim to be.

For some of our large clients in the financial sector, theyve told us it only takes one oops for someone to walk away and leave their terminal unlocked, he said. It doesnt take much imagination to think that if somebodys going through a divorce, if theres been money changing hands, it becomes a liability for that business. Because were sitting in the background continuously, the second an intruder would sit down and start trying to interact with that desktop, we would be able to stop them in real time.

Worried about the Trump administration's proposed cuts to federal retirement? Find out what these 100 members of Congress have to say about it.

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In quest to replace Common Access Card, DoD starts testing behavior-based authentication - FederalNewsRadio.com

Human Behavior

Muslim group calls for Starbucks boycott over LGBT stand – The Jerusalem Post

Customers sit outside of a Starbucks cafe in Jakarta, Indonesia July 1, 2017.. (photo credit:REUTERS)

KUALA LUMPUR - A prominent Muslim group in Malaysia has joined calls by Islamic conservatives in Indonesia for a boycott of Starbucks to protest against the international coffee chain's support of gay rights.

Activists say intolerance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people has spiked in recent years in Indonesia and Malaysia, both majority Muslim, multi-ethnic Southeast Asian countries.

Perkasa, a group with about 700,000 members that campaigns for the rights of ethnic Malay Muslims, said it agreed with calls this week by Muhammadiyah, Indonesia's second-largest Muslim group, for a boycott of Starbucks over its pro-LGBT stand.

Perkasa also agreed with the Indonesian group's call for Starbucks' operating license to be revoked, it said.

Amini Amir Abdullah, who heads Perkasa's Islamic affairs bureau, said Starbucks' position challenged Malaysia's constitution, which recognized Islam as the country's official religion.

"Our objection is because they are promoting something that is against the human instinct, against human behavior and against religion. That's why we are against it," Amini told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday.

Muhammadiyah's call for a boycott has gained support from the Indonesian Ulema Council, its top clerical body.

The religious groups' opposition to Starbucks came after a video from 2013 circulated online of pro-LGBT comments made by the company's chairman and former chief executive, Howard Schultz.

In the video, Schultz said Starbucks embraced diversity and "not every decision is an economic decision," in response to a shareholder who complained that the company had lost customers because of its support for gay marriage.

Starbucks Malaysia could not be reached for comment.

PT Sari Coffee Indonesia, which holds the license to run the Starbucks chain in Indonesia, said in a statement it was not affiliated with any political or ideological groups.

"We are grateful and proud to have been a part of local communities in Indonesia for 15 years, always maintaining the deepest respect for, and adherence to, Indonesia's local laws, culture and beliefs," said Fetty Kwartati, a director at PT MAP Boga Adiperkasa, the parent company of PT Sari Coffee Indonesia.

Some Muslims in Indonesia, however, said the boycott call would not stop them from buying Starbucks coffee.

"I love their products, not their CEO," said Jakarta resident Kornelius Kamajaya.

The boycott call got a similar response from some in Malaysia.

"Don't make it such an issue that we have to boycott a company because of one small statement," said Muhammad Azril Maridzuan, an assistant bank manager in Kuala Lumpur.

Muslim groups should not "be so extremist" even though gay rights was against their religious beliefs, he said.

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Muslim group calls for Starbucks boycott over LGBT stand - The Jerusalem Post