Human Behavior

Wilkinson: The history of personality theory – The Ledger

By Dr. Berney Wilkinson Ledger correspondent

Although he takes a bad rap on late night TV and he is roundly criticized by many in the profession, it is good to stop once in a while to give Freud the respect he deserves. He was, for example, the first to argue that children were not just little adults who didnt know how to act and talk. Thankfully (at least for kids) he taught us that they are still a work in progress, and that we shouldnt expect children to think like or behavior like adults. Likewise, he was the first to offer a unified theory of personality. Prior to Freud, we relied on religion and philosophy to explain human behavior. Freud gave us a biological and more human explanation. And while he may have been wrong about some things and only partially accurate about some others, he gave the foundation on which all other personality theory is built. Simply put, your personality is who you are and why you act and react the way you do. Your personality forms the foundation and provides the lens through which you perceive, interpret, and interact with the world around you. And while it explains why we do the things we do, our personality generally functions in the background. Thus, while we can often identify certain personality traits in others, we sometimes have a difficult time identifying our own. We are who we are, and we generally assume that other normal people are exactly the same. Personality is rooted in our biology. If you are a parent, for example, you were able to identify your childs temperament from very early infancy. Whether easy or difficult, that early appearing temperament formed the foundation from which personality develops. What we build on that foundation, though, is based in large part on our experiences. If a child is nurtured, develops a secure attachment, and has his or her needs met early in life, the child develops a healthy and safe view of the world. Conversely, if a child is neglected, abandoned, or abused, the child is at increased risk for developing a suspicious, fear-based, or even angry world view. Since Freud first wrote about personality, theorists have developed numerous organizing schemes to describe personality. Currently, most professionals refer to the Big Five theory of personality. The Big Five consists of five dimensions of personality that include Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. Extraversion refers to the extent to which you direct your energy and focus to the outside world. Openness to Experience is related to the manner in which you actively seek new and interesting experiences. Conscientiousness explains your degree of organization, motivation, and self-discipline. Agreeableness refers to your interactions with others. Neuroticism identifies how prone a person is to psychological distress. Together, these five traits help to offer an understanding and appreciation of how individual manage their world and make decisions. It is important to keep in mind that while this Big Five model helps explain typical personality traits, it does not offer an adequate basis for a discussion on personality disorders. The latter are extreme or pathological variations in personality that can exert a negative influence and impair a persons ability to function. And that is a discussion for another time. For now, remember that who you are is rooted in an intricate combination of biology and experience. And that our understanding of this critical aspect of ourselves comes from one of the fathers of psychiatry, Dr. Sigmund Freud.

Dr. Berney, a licensed psychologist with Psychological Associates of Central Florida in Lakeland, is a national speaker and the co-author of "Handbook for Raising an Emotionally Healthy Child." You can hear Dr. Berney on his podcasts, "The Mental Breakdown and The Paedeia Education Podcast on iTunes.

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Wilkinson: The history of personality theory - The Ledger

Genetics

Biologists confirm genetics of first ShareLunker Offspring Entered into Program – Weatherford Democrat

ATHENS In March 2006, angler Edward Reid pulled a staggering 14.48-pound largemouth bass from the depths of Lake Conroe near Houston.

On Feb. 10, nearly 11 years later and more than 234 miles away, angler Ryder Wicker caught the 13.07-pound offspring of that fish from Marine Creek Lake near Fort Worth.

The Lake Conroe fish, later called ShareLunker 410, was able to leave a legacy of her big-bass genetics to the state thanks to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Departments Toyota ShareLunker Program, which has been selectively breeding and stocking angler-caught largemouth bass over 13 pounds since 1986 with the goal of increasing the production of trophy-sized fish in Texas reservoirs.

After Reid donated ShareLunker 410 to the program in 2006, TPWD Inland Fisheries biologists took her to the lunkerbunker at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center (TFFC) in Athens to pair up with a male ShareLunker offspring.

That pairing of pure Florida largemouth bass produced thousands of fingerlings that were stocked in Marine Creek Lake and other public Texas reservoirs a few months later, one of which grew into the 13.07 pounder Ryder caught last week: ShareLunker 566.

The genetic link was confirmed Feb. 17, just days after TFFC staff transported a fin clip to the A.E. Wood Hatchery in San Marcos.

The tests confirmed what biologists already suspected based on the results of scanning a tag near the fishs head this was a daughter produced by ShareLunker 410 and a male fish with a more esoteric name, 0LB-0504.

The catch of ShareLunker 566 from Marine Creek Lake not only validates the goal of TPWDs selective breeding program of producing ShareLunker-size bass, but also demonstrates how anglers can help others by donating their ShareLunkers to TPWD for breeding purposes, said ShareLunker Program Coordinator Kyle Brookshear. Mr. Wicker can tip his hat to Mr. Reid for making this moment possible.

ShareLunker 566 was among the tagged fingerlings stocked in Marine Creek Lake 11 years ago for a ShareLunker evaluation research project. Researchers wanted to compare growth of ShareLunker fingerlings to growth of the resident bass population in several Texas lakes.

Researchers on the ShareLunker evaluation project found that over a four year period of time, compared to wild fish of the same age (four years old) and gender (female), ShareLunker offspring weighed more by a half pound on average.

Now those same TPWD biologists are in the process of comparing ShareLunker offspring with regular Florida largemouth bass and the initial results are showing even more significant size differences between the fish.

Mukhtar Farooqi, a TPWD Inland Fisheries biologist, said results from the study could be used as a basis to incorporate ShareLunker offspring into the Florida largemouth bass broodfish in hatcheries across the state.

That would increase the total ShareLunker offspring stocked annually into participating lakes from tens of thousands to more than eight million.

Farooqi also said if ShareLunker 566 is able to spawn, the second generation offspring may have a better chance of obtaining a higher weight due to the concentration of those genes.

We know this fish is a big fish produced by a big fish coming from the selective breeding program, so there is a bit of a lineage, Farooqi said. Thats what you would want to maintain; its the best scenario when youre dealing with known genetics.

ShareLunker 566 is the first 13 pound or larger Florida largemouth bass submitted to the Toyota ShareLunker program so far this season, but anglers have until March 31 to submit their catch for TPWD to collect as brood stock for spawning.

Anglers can enter 13 pound or heavier bass into the program for certified weight, DNA sample and immediate release through April 30.

Lake Conroe, the fishery that produced ShareLunker 410 and 16 other ShareLunkers, is hosting the Bassmaster Classic tournament March 24-26, which could yield another addition to the program.

The Toyota ShareLunker Program is made possible by a grant to the Texas Parks & Wildlife Foundation from Gulf States Toyota.

Toyota is a longtime supporter of the Foundation and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, providing major funding for a wide variety of education, fish, parks and wildlife projects.

For updates on the ShareLunker program and to view photos of ShareLunker 566, visit http://www.facebook.com/ShareLunkerprogram/.

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Biologists confirm genetics of first ShareLunker Offspring Entered into Program - Weatherford Democrat

Genetics

Many genetic changes can occur early in human development – Baylor College of Medicine News (press release)

The genetic material of an organism encodes the instructions that guide its development. These codes are not written in stone; they can change or mutate any time during the life of the organism. Single changes in the code can occur spontaneously, as a mutation, causing developmental problems. Others, as an international team of researchers has discovered, are too numerous to be explained by random mutation processes present in the general population. When such multiple genetic changes occur before or early after conception, they may inform scientists about fundamental knowledge underlying many diseases. The study appears in Cell.

As a part of the clinical evaluation of young patients with a variety of developmental issues, we performed clinical genomic studies and analyzed the genetic material of more than 60,000 individuals. Most of the samples were analyzed at Baylor Genetics laboratories, said lead author Dr. Pengfei Liu, assistant professor of molecular and human genetics Baylor College of Medicine and assistant laboratory director of Baylor Genetics. Of these samples, five had extreme numbers of genetic changes that could not be explained by random events alone.

The researchers looked at a type of genetic change called copy number variants, which refers to the number of copies of genes in human DNA. Normally we each have two copies of each gene located on a pair of homologous chromosomes.

Copy number variants in human DNA can be compared to repeated or missing paragraphs or pages of text in a book, said senior author Dr. James R. Lupski, Cullen Professor of Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor. For instance, if one or two pages are duplicated in a book it could be explained by random mistakes. On the other hand, if 10 different pages are duplicated, you have to suspect that it did not happen by chance. We want to understand the basic mechanism underlying these multiple new copy number variant mutations in the human genome.

A rare, early and transitory phenomenon that can affect human development

The researchers call this phenomenon multiple de novo copy number variants. As the name indicates, the copy number variants are many and new (de novo). The latter means that the patients carrying the genetic changes did not inherit them from their parents because neither the mother nor the father carries the changes.

In this rare phenomenon, the copy number variants are predominantly gains duplications and triplications rather than losses of genetic material, and are present in all the cells of the child. The last piece of evidence together with the fact that the parents do not carry the alterations suggest that the extra copies of genes may have occurred either in the sperm or the egg, the parents germ cells, and before or very early after fertilization.

This burst of genetic changes happens only during the early stages of embryonic development and then it stops, Liu said. Interestingly, despite having a large number of mutations, the young patients present with relatively mild neurological problems.

The researchers are analyzing more patient samples looking for additional cases of multiple copy number variants to continue their investigation of what may trigger this rare phenomenon.

We hope that as more researchers around the world learn about this and confirm it, the number of cases will increase, Liu said. This will improve our understanding of the underlying mechanism and of why and how pathogenic copy number variants arise not only in developmental disorders but in cancers.

A new era of clinical genomics-supported medicine and research

This discovery has been possible in great measure thanks to the breadth of genetic testing performed and genomic data available at Baylor Genetics laboratory.

The diagnostics lab Baylor Genetics is one of the pioneers in this new era of clinical genomics-supported medical practice and disease gene discovery research, Lupski said. They are developing the clinical genomics necessary to foster and support the Precision Medicine Initiative of the National Institutes of Health, and generating the genomics data that further drives human genome research.

Using state-of-the art technologies and highly-trained personnel, Baylor Genetics analyzes hundreds of samples daily for genetic evaluation of patients with conditions suspected to have underlying genetic factors potentially contributing to their disease. Having this wealth of information and insight into the genetic mechanisms of disease offers now the possibility of advancing medicine and basic research in ways that were not available before.

There is so much that both clinicians and researchers can learn from the data generated in diagnostic labs, Liu said. Clinicians receive genomic information that can aid in diagnosis and treatment of their patients, and researchers gather data that can help them unveil the mechanisms underlying the biological perturbations resulting in the patients conditions.

Other contributors to this work include Bo Yuan, Claudia M.B. Carvalho, Arthur Wuster, Klaudia Walter, Ling Zhang, Tomasz Gambin, Zechen Chong, Ian M. Campbell, Zeynep Coban Akdemir, Violet Gelowani, Karin Writzl, Carlos A. Bacino, Sarah J. Lindsay, Marjorie Withers, Claudia Gonzaga-Jauregui, Joanna Wiszniewska, Jennifer Scull, Pawel Stankiewicz, Shalini N. Jhangiani, Donna M. Muzny, Feng Zhang, Ken Chen, Richard A. Gibbs, Bernd Rautenstrauss, Sau Wai Cheung, Janice Smith, Amy Breman, Chad A. Shaw, Ankita Patel and Matthew E. Hurles. The researchers are affiliated with one of more of the following institutions Baylor, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in the U.K., Fudan University in China, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Houston, the Clinical Institute of Medical Genetics in Slovenia and the Medical Genetics Center in Germany.

This work was supported in part by grants from the US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (R01NS058529), the National Human Genome Research Institute (U54HG003273), a joint NHGRI/National Heart Blood and Lung Institute grant (U54HG006542) to the Baylor Hopkins Center for Mendelian Genomics, and the BCM Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center, IDDRC Grant Number 5P30HD024064-23, from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The work was also partially supported by the Wellcome Trust (WT098051).

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Many genetic changes can occur early in human development - Baylor College of Medicine News (press release)

Embryology

Art Made with Human DNA Explores the Future of Genetics in Birmingham – Labiotech.eu (blog)

Gene Craft: Art in the Biogenetic Ageopened this week at Birmingham Open Media (BOM) in the UK. Aiming to explore thesocial, economic and emotional implications of the most recent breakthroughs in genetics, the exhibition features two living art piecescreated with human DNAby bioartists Laurie Ramsell and Gina Czarnecki.

After theHuman Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) approvedthe technology to create three-parent babies in the UK last December, many have started to question the broader implications of genetic technologies. The Gene Craft exhibition elaborates on this concept by presenting living artwork that makes visitors imagine a future of bioengineered beings built and controlled by humans.

The first piece is by British artist Laurie Ramsell,who explores the genetic relationship between humans and model organisms. One of them is the zebrafish, which is routinely used in research to understand basic molecular processes that can then be extrapolated to human biology.

Laurie Ramsells Homdanio Birminghamensis

Homdanio Birminghamensisis a sculpture taking the shape of a zebrafish embryo made from bacterial cellulose and the artists own DNA. The piecewas created in collaboration with professor and bioartist Simon Park. As part of the 100,000 Genomes Project, it is intended to raise public awareness about research into the human genome being pioneered at the University of Birmingham.

The second piece featured in the Gene Craft exhibition is Gina Czarneckis Heirloom, a living portrait of the artists daughters. Skin cells from the girls are cultured and grown onto glass casts of their faces, creating paper-thin portraits with their own DNA.

Gina Czarneckis Heirloom

Heirloom invites visitors to imagine a future where our own cells are grown on demand for medical applications. But, at the same time, it intends to highlight the ethical implicationsof these procedures regarding the ownership of our own biological materials.

Gene Craft: Art in the Biogenetic Age will be open until May 13 in Birmingham. During that time, the BOM gallery will host a series of talks and workshops to bring together artists and scientists and discuss the issues raised by the bioart pieces exhibited.

Images via BOM and Gina Czarnecki

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Art Made with Human DNA Explores the Future of Genetics in Birmingham - Labiotech.eu (blog)

Cell Biology

New method reveals how proteins stabilize the cell surface – Science Daily

To withstand external mechanical stress and handle trafficking of various substances, a cell needs to adjust its surrounding membrane. This is done through small indentations on the cell surface called caveolae. In order to stabilize its membrane, cells use the protein EHD2, which can be turned on and off to alternate between an inactive closed form and an active open form. The discovery, made by Ume University researchers and colleagues, was recently published in the journal PNAS.

Caveolae play a key role when cells adjust to their surrounding environment. An absence of these small indentations is associated with severe diseases where muscles and fat cells disintegrate or where cells of the blood vessels are malfunctioning. In a collaboration involving a broad spectrum of biophysical, biochemical and cell biological analysis, researchers have identified the mechanistic cycle of the protein EHD2 and how it regulates the dynamics of caveolae on the cell membrane.

"The fact that the EHD2 protein helps the cells to adjust to their environment could be critically important for how caveolae affect the ability of muscle cells to repair or the absorption and storing abilities of fat cells," says Richard Lundmark, who is researcher at the Department of Integrative Medical Biology at Ume University and corresponding author of the article.

The discovery was made by the research group of Richard Lundmark at the Department of Integrative Medical Biology and the Laboratory of Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS), along with colleagues at Gothenburg University in Sweden and Albert-Ludwigs-Universitt Freiburg and Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg in Germany.

The researchers demonstrate how the molecule ATP serves as a fuel allowing EHD2 to bind to the cell membrane and assume an open state where parts of the protein are inserted into the cell membrane. This position allows for the formation of so-called oligomers from the protein, which stabilizes the membrane in a fixed state. When the ATP-molecules have been spent, the protein is released from the membrane and assumes an inactive and closed state. The EHD2 protein's internal domains keeps it in this inhibited form when it is not in contact with a cell membrane.

"This research shows how the mechanistic cycle of EHD2 that we describe plays a key role for the caveolae's ability to stabilize cell membranes," says Richard Lundmark.

In the article, the researchers also describe how they used a new method based on the absorption and reflection of infrared light. Together with advanced analytics, this new method can be used to study structures of the membrane-bound states of proteins, which is difficult to achieve using other techniques. Using this method, the researchers were able to show the drastic conformational change in EHD2 when it binds to a membrane.

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New method reveals how proteins stabilize the cell surface - Science Daily

Biochemistry

Biochemistry professor named Emerging Scholar – CSULA University Times

Dr. Cecilia Zurita-Lopez, Cal State LA assistant professor and biochemistry researcher, was awarded as a 2017 Emerging Scholar. As a researcher, she has made advances in detecting and modifying proteins which for improved disease detection.

Mimi Li, Staff Reporter February 24, 2017 Filed under News

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Dr. Cecilia Zurita-Lopez, a biochemistry faculty member at Cal State LA, is named one of the 2017 Emerging Scholars in Diverse: Issues in Higher Education for her research in biochemistry. She is featured alongside twelve other scholars for their academic achievements in higher education.

Growing up in La Puente, she studied biochemistry as an undergraduate student at Cal State LA. She attended graduate school at UCLA, focusing on biochemistry and molecular biology, and conducted postdoctoral research at Caltech and USC.

Zurita-Lopez was initially thinking about heading to medical school when she was in high school. This was during the time when her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, so she had hoped to become a doctor to help cure patients. She also noticed that many of the medications that her mother was taking were for the purposes of reversing the side effects of others. Her mother passed away when she was an undergraduate student.

When I went to Cal State LA, that was my motivation, I thought I wanted to go to medical school, said Zurita-Lopez. And it wasnt until I realized that when you study biochemistry, you can design and do more work to contribute for better medical care. Unlike medical school, you also get to use your creativity to solve problems.

As a postdoctoral researcher at USC, she was a part of a biomedical engineering lab. She collaborated with other researchers to develop a light sensor to detect DNA and protein methylation. In detecting methylation, it is possible to detect cancer at its early stages. Unlike other types of detectors, the researchers measured methylation using changes in the wavelengths of light.

Her research in proteins can be applied to many diseases such as cancer and Alzheimers. In a disease state, she explains, proteins modifications are different and can often change each other incorrectly. In particular, she studies arginine methylation by enzymes called methyltransferases.

I think the long term goal for any researcher is to try to find cures but on a day to day, more than anything, we just want to understand whats happening in the cell, so even that, just to understand whats happening in a healthy cell versus a diseased cell, just to understand the rules would really help us, says Zurita-Lopez.

Zurita-Lopez is grateful to have come back to Cal State LA as an assistant professor since 2014. She enjoys mentoring students in her lab and seeing them excel in their educational pursuits as graduate students. Additionally, she contributes to the Minority Opportunities in Research Programs at Cal State LA.

My advice is not to give up! If you really like what youre doing and like what youre studying put in the time to study and to learn about careers, to make it a point to learn about all the opportunities that are out there, she says. There are many, many programs and internships for students in STEM, so I try to encourage my students to look for these opportunities because thats what makes them stand out and have an edge.

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Biochemistry professor named Emerging Scholar - CSULA University Times

Biochemistry

Cutting Edge Science Literally – Seton Hall University News & Events

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

By Michael Ricciardelli, Christine Aromando

In Seton Hall's Department of Biochemistry, undergraduate students work in the lab alongside graduate students, Ph.D. candidates and professors on some of the leading biochemical and medical questions of the day. Lab 419 was custom built by Professors David Sabatino and Monika Raj to facilitate biomedical research, and the results to date have been groundbreaking.

With their most recent work published in a number of prestigious biochemistry journals, Professor Raj and her team of student researchers focus on developing new biochemical methodologies for the rapid sequencing, or "mapping," of proteins and their building blocks, peptides.

In sequencing or "mapping" these peptides and proteins in a sense the building blocks of life scientists can better see, identify, diagnose and fix malfunctions that can lead to disease.

To that end, the Raj research group works at synthesizing peptides and proteins to ultimately block disease states including cancer, Parkinson's and age-related maladies such as Alzheimer's.

Professor Raj was named Seton Hall Faculty Researcher of the Year in 2016. Notably, her article, "Site-Selective Chemical Cleavage of Peptide Bonds," authored along with Ph.D. student Hader Elashal and published in The Royal Society of Chemistry's Chemical Communications, was named "F1000 Prime recommended," which means that a global Faculty of the world's leading scientists and clinicians selected and honored this research as "important" work.

Chemical Cleavage

At its most basic level, life is comprised of amino acids and the proteins they help to form. Amino acids are bonded together to form peptides, and strings of bonded peptides form proteins. On some level, life itself can be described as a series of protein to protein interactions. In fact, most diseases can be linked to proteins within the body and the brain interacting badly, with one protein being the "instigator" so to speak.

Much like a mother separating two unwieldy children, as the study of disease and its cures advances, modern molecular and medical research has put much of its emphasis on separating these proteins behaving badly. Unlike parenthood, however, the ultimate goal in medical research is to isolate the instigator and kill it.

But to kill a bad acting protein, one must know itand that's where the work of Professor Raj and her students comes in. They have found a way to chemically cleave or break the offending proteins apart in a way that gives researchers a clear view of the transgressor, allowing them to sequence, or "map," the diseased or mutated proteins. Previous cutting methods, although good for healthy proteins, were not compatible with the cutting of these diseased or mutated ones.

The cutting or cleavage process developed by Professor Raj's team allows researchers to clearly see and map the constituent parts of malfunctioning proteins as well as, importantly, isolating them. This allows researchers the ability to devise remedies including synthesizing unique peptides and proteins to essentially eliminate the diseased or mutated ones that are specific for these affected molecules without adversely affecting other healthy molecules in near proximity.

Revolutionizing Protein Synthesis: Faster, Better, More

If most of life itself can be seen as a series of protein to protein interactions (it can), then a laboratory that specializes in examining and attempting to repair life on a molecular level is going to have to synthesize a great many peptides and proteins.

The Raj group has revolutionized protein synthesis. In laboratories all across the world, scientists synthesize peptides and then group these peptides together to formulate proteins. At present, it is a cumbersome and tedious process, with many steps burdened by the necessary addition of many extraneous substances; it is largely governed by the limitations of the current state of lab machinery which allows for the combination of only 50 amino acids at a time to create peptides. Proteins often contain 100,000 amino acids. The process can take days.

Through their discovery of a totally chemical process for synthesizing protein, Professor Raj and her team of students have cut that time down to hours, excised many of the input substances from the process (thus extremely limiting a number of extraneous byproducts in the results) and increased the yield of protein by double-digit multiples. In short, they have found a way to synthesize proteins chemically in significantly less time with greater purity and a far greater yield: Faster, better, more.

What does all of this mean for the general public? The ability to clearly observe mutated proteins and then synthesize new ones more efficiently and in less time will ultimately pave the way for pinpoint accuracy in disease eradication. This level of accuracy can be readily appreciated by anyone who has experienced the ravages of chemotherapy and other disease treatments that are necessarily widespread in their application.

The revolutionary research on protein synthesis, published for 2017 as an Advance Article in The Royal Society of Chemistry's high-impact journal, Chemical Science, is entitled "Serine promoted synthesis of peptide thioester-precursor on solid support for native chemical ligation." Professor Raj authored the work along with graduate students Hader Elashal and Yonnette Sim.

Additional research and publications from the Raj Group for 2016

Organic Letters, "Glutamic Acid Selective Chemical Cleavage of Peptide Bonds," authored by Professor Raj along with Ph.D. student Neelam Lahankar and undergraduate students Lyssa Buiserreth and Joseph Nalbone '16.

Chemical Communications, "Fmoc solid-phase synthesis of C-terminal modified peptides by formation of a backbone cyclic urethane moiety" authored by Professor Raj along with Ph.D. students Hader Elashal and Ryan Cohen.

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Cutting Edge Science Literally - Seton Hall University News & Events

Anatomy

The Anatomy of Populist Economics – Project Syndicate

PARIS For at least the past year, populism has been wreaking havoc on Western democracies. Populist forces parties, leaders, and ideas underpinned the Leave campaigns victory in the United Kingdoms Brexit referendum and Donald Trumps election as President of the United States. Now, populism lurks ominously in the background of the Netherlands general election in March and the French presidential election in April and May.

But, despite populisms seeming ubiquity, it is a hard concept to pin down. Populists are often intolerant of outsiders and those who are different; and yet Geert Wilders, the far-right Dutch populist leader, is a firm believer in gay rights. In the US, Trumps presidential campaign was described as an anti-elite movement; and yet his administration is already practically a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs.

While todays populist resurgence comes from the nationalist right, some of the leading populist exponents in recent decades such as Venezuelas late president, Hugo Chvez were firmly on the left. What they share is a zero-sum view of the world, which necessitates the creation of scapegoats who can be blamed for all problems. Moreover, because populist leaders claim to embody the uniform will of a mythical people, they consider democracy to be a means to power, rather than a desirable end in itself.

But populists have more in common than an obsession with cultural boundaries and political borders. They also share a recipe for economic governance, one that Project Syndicate commentators have been tracking since long before todays brand of populism began dominating the worlds headlines. Guided by their insights, we can begin to understand the origins of todays populist resurgence, and what is in store for Western countries where its avatars come to power.

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The Anatomy of Populist Economics - Project Syndicate

Physiology

Organovo (ONVO) Publishes Data Describing Physiology of 3D Bioprinted Human Kidney Tissues for Drug Toxicity … – StreetInsider.com

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Organovo Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: ONVO) (Organovo), a three-dimensional biology company focused on delivering scientific and medical breakthroughs using its 3D bioprinting technology, today announced the publication of data in Frontiers in Physiology showing the companys 3D bioprinted proximal tubule tissue model exhibits key characteristics of renal physiology that allow for in vitro kidney toxicity testing.

Traditional preclinical models often fall short in their ability to inform clinical outcomes accurately, largely due to the limited functionality of simple in vitro models and species differences, said Dr. Sharon Presnell, chief scientific officer, Organovo. Our newly published data demonstrate that Organovos 3D bioprinted human kidney tissue has great potential to assess the toxic effects of compounds and the development and progression of complex, multicellular processes such as fibrosis.

Key findings and attributes described in the publication include the following:

In addition to the kidney publication, the Company noted a recent article published in ILAR Journal. The publication explores new technologies that could reduce both dependency on animal models and occurrence of liver toxicity in clinical trials. The article, written by scientific executives and experts from the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), Merck & Co., Inc and LifeNet Health, provides a thorough review of human tissue models and how they can accelerate drug development across all discovery stages, including Organovos 3D bioprinted liver model.

The authors reference Organovos technology as a significant innovation in the study of drug-induced liver injury, as it addresses many of the shortcomings associated with traditional in vitro culture models and animal models. They also state that 3D bioprinted tissues exhibit a broad range of highly differentiated in vivo like features and functions.

The authors reference results from Organovos drug-induced liver injury studies that have shown very good reproducibility and concordance with observed outcomes in vivo at the functional and histological levels and that treatment of the bioprinted human liver model with known fibrotic agents mimicked closely that of patient liver samples with drug-induced fibrosis.

Both liver and kidney drug toxicities are significant challenges for pharmaceutical companies working to advance safe and effective therapeutics, said Mr. Keith Murphy, CEO, Organovo. Previous validation data of our 3D bioprinted human liver tissue, combined with the data published in the peer-reviewed journal, Frontiers of Physiology, on our 3D bioprinted kidney proximal tubule tissue, clearly show that Organovos technology can address the unmet needs of our pharma customers and partners by providing timely, cost-effective, and more accurate human tissue models for evaluating drug toxicity and drug-induced fibrotic disease.

Organovos publication titled 3D Proximal Tubule Tissues Recapitulate Key Aspects of Renal Physiology to Enable Nephrotoxicity Testing, was published online on February 15, 2017 and can be found on the journals website: http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fphys.2017.00123/abstract

The review titled The Promise of New Technologies to Reduce, Refine, or Replace Animal Use while Reducing Risks of Drug Induced Liver Injury in Pharmaceutical Development, was published December 31, 2016 and can be found on the journals website: https://academic.oup.com/ilarjournal/article-abstract/57/2/186/2806701/The-Promise-of-New-Technologies-to-Reduce-Refine

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Organovo (ONVO) Publishes Data Describing Physiology of 3D Bioprinted Human Kidney Tissues for Drug Toxicity ... - StreetInsider.com

Neuroscience

Neuroscience in the Classroom | Pattaya Today Newspaper – Pattaya Today

by Rob Cable

The application of educational neuroscience in schools has faced a lot of criticism with many believing that there is a sufficient lack of concrete evidence to support its effectiveness and validity in the classroom. Despite this, the interest that surrounds this emerging topic is continually growing and this is encouraging to gain a clearer understanding of the correlation between childrens education and brain development. Although neuro-myths have distorted public perception and casted some doubts, many agree that advances in neuroscience and our understanding of the brain could have a profound impact on how we teach young children to enhance their learning.

The fundamentals of educational neuroscience are at a relatively advanced stage. We are now able to use sophisticated scanners to capture images inside the brain which can be directly related to the classroom. This has been particularly useful when understanding and dealing with problem children with regards to social and emotional development, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism and dyslexia. The hope for educational neuroscience is that we will be able to set biological markers to recognise learning difficulties in children and assist the developmental process of the brain from a much earlier age.

Neuroscience has improved our knowledge of the reading and mathematical processes in the brain. Research has shown a connection between phonological awareness (the patterns of speech and sound) and reading ability. Children who have developed a solid foundation in phonics tend to be better readers in comparison to children who have not established such skills. In mathematics neuroscience has helped to identify areas of the brain which specifically deal with numerical processing and mental arithmetic. Some childrens brains develop abnormally or slower than others. Therefore, neuroscientists recommend specialised interventions for children who find mathematics challenging, rather than subjecting every child to standardised interventions, which could be detrimental to some childrens academic development.

Neuroscientists contend that uncertain reward can be far more motivating than certain reward because humans have an attraction to challenges with equal odds. It is for this reason that educational games are extremely motivating for young learners because they are not focused on reward consistency.

Furthermore, neuroscience argues that the brain is a complex, interactive and interconnecting system that uses multiple senses to absorb, interpret and process information simultaneously. A student may have a preferred learning style such as visual or auditory however research shows that this is dictated by the development of the brain and that it is unethical to label a child a kinaesthetic learner. Instead, neuroscientists suggest that the more difficult a task is the greater the chance we have of memorising it.Thus, inadequate or incompetent learning styles should be practised to strengthen them.

There is currently a debate among neuroscientists about how the brain functions; whether we use certain parts of the brain for specific types of learning or whether learning occurs throughout the whole brain. Thus, it is important that neuroscientists do not overstate their findings and instead take time to provide conclusive evidence for educators to successfully implement neuroscience into their classrooms.

Rob Cable is a primary year 3/1 classroom teacher at the Mooltripakdee International School.

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Neuroscience in the Classroom | Pattaya Today Newspaper - Pattaya Today