StemCell Therapy

Cancer conjures fear, yet many people remain acutely unaware of the silent killer that is cardiovascular disease. It quietly waits and often strikes without warning. Few families are untouched by this disease, including my own.

My family was affected by heart disease long before I was born. My paternal grandfather died in 1961. My dad was only fifteen at the time. Granted, my grandfather did smoke and worked in a highly stressful job that involved long shifts in an iron foundry. He created molds and then poured the molten iron for cast iron cookware and other household items. Each time, while in my own kitchen, I reach for one of the skillets he made, Im reminded of the grandfather I never met.

Cardiovascular disease kills more people than the next seven causes of death combined.

My maternal grandfather, a World War II veteran, died from a major heart attack while sleeping. I also have no memory of him. I was just two years old when he passed away. Again, he had a much different lifestyle and health profile that I do; he smoked and was diabetic. Both factors undoubtedly contributed to his early death.

Both of my grandfathers died in their early fifties and Ive often wondered if that fact weighed heavy on my dad prior to becoming a grandfather himself. Fortunately, my dad is still alive and has seen most of his grandchildren graduate from high school, some from college, and one join the Air Force. He has been afforded the opportunities that his father was denied. My father has always put a huge emphasis on family time. I have a feeling his loss at an early age has given him a deeper appreciation of the time he has.

My wife has also been impacted by heart disease for much of her life. At 12 years old, her mother had her first heart episode. She vividly remembers seeing her mother being taken away in an ambulance, but not understanding words like angioplasty. During her senior year of high school, her mother underwent her first heart bypass surgery. She continued to deal with heart-related issues throughout our marriage. She also smoked for much of her life and did not lead an active lifestyle. She had her second bypass surgery while visiting us over the holidays. My wife watched her mother fight this disease throughout the majority of her adult life. In 2018, she lost her battle and passed away at the age of 69.

My family history may resonate with others who read this story. For an expert view, Ive assembled input from medical experts who have weighed in on the science of heart disease and how this disease is largely preventable.

John A. Osborne, M.D., Ph.D, FACC, FNLA: Dr. Osborne is a Harvard-trained MD, PhD (in Cardiovascular Physiology) Cardiologist-Lipidologist. He also has two decades of experience in clinical trials and in running a large preventative cardiology and lipid practice.He is currently studying at the London School of Economics for a Masters Degree in Cardiovascular Health Outcomes, Economics, and Management.

Salim S. Virani, M.D., Ph.D, FACC, FAHA: Dr. Virani is a tenured Professor in Cardiology and Cardiovascular Research Sections at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. He is also an investigator in the Health Policy, Quality, and Informatics Program at the Michael E. DeBakey VA HSR&D Center of Innovation in Houston, Texas.

Cardiovascular disease kills more people than the next seven causes of death combined, says Dr. Osbourne. Some other staggering facts provided by Dr. Osborne include:

Its estimated that nearly 18 million people (worldwide) die annually from cardiovascular disease, stated Dr. Virani. That is similar to losing the population of Syria each year.

While the above statistics may seem daunting, both Dr. Osborne and Dr. Virani believe that heart disease can be largely preventable with a few lifestyle changes. The Mediterranean diet has shown some of the best research in reducing risks of heart disease, says Dr. Osborne.

A heart-healthy diet can also reduce the risk of developing diabetes, can help reduce the risk of developing some forms of cancer, improve quality of life, and can help with some forms of depression, adds Dr. Virani.

For simplicity, Dr. Virani also broke it down to the ABCs (actually, ABCDEs) of heart health.

Just as there are screening tools for some cancers, there is now a screening that can help predict risk of heart disease, says Dr. Osborne. A coronary artery calcium test (CAC) utilizes a CT scan to gauge the buildup of plaque within the vessels supplying blood to the heart. This measurement can give a score that can help doctors assess an individuals risk for heart disease.

My wife and I have both chosen to live healthy, active lifestyles which includes not smoking, monitoring our cholesterol levels, and maintaining a healthy blood pressure. We know what a cruel impact that heart disease can have on the body and how it affects the family members of those who battle it. While not all heart-related illnesses can be prevented through these choices, a large number can be mitigated. We are thankful to live in a time where much more is understood about heart disease prevention and all of the additional tools that are available to help us avoid the fate of our family members. And while we cant bring back those already lost, we can work to keep not only ourselves healthy but to also educate the next generation of our family. This is a disease that doesnt have to be inherited.

For more information, the American Heart Association is a great resource for additional research findings about heart disease, heart-healthy eating, and other ways to reduce your risk of becoming a victim of this No. 1 killer.

Read this article:
Its Time to Start Thinking About Your Heart Health - The Manual

China has been grappling with the outbreak of a new coronavirus strain for nearly two months, placing millions of people on lockdown as it tries to contain it. The virus, currently known as 2019-nCoV and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), spread quickly since it first emerged in the city of Wuhan in Hubei province home to over 50 million people in late December.

As of February 19, over 75,000 people worldwide have been infected, nearly all of them in mainland China, and 2,012 people have died from the coronavirus, 2,006 of them inside the country, according to a live-updating map of the outbreak that draws figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) and other agencies. The spread reached some 25 countries and has sparked global travel restrictions and emergency measures to reduce the risk of exposure amid a devastating social and economic toll.

HEALTH NEWS: Israeli Startup Sends Novel Antiviral Tech To China In Bid To Stem Coronavirus Spread

This week, all eyes are on a coronavirus-stricken cruise ship off the coast of Japan that was carrying over 3,700 people from more than 40 countries as governments work to get their citizens home, fueling fears of a global contagion. Aboard the Diamond Princess docked off the Japanese port city of Yokohama since February 3, thousands of people were under mandatory quarantine, including several Israeli passengers. Japanese health authorities have been working to test those aboard and have registered over several hundred confirmed cases of coronavirus infection. Among those diagnosed were three Israeli nationals who have been transferred from the ship for medical treatment. The remaining 12 Israelis are set to disembark on Wednesday when the quarantine period ends after which they will be flown to Israel and placed in hospitalized isolation at the Sheba Medical Center. Other countries including the US, have also evacuated their citizens from the Diamond Princess as well as another cruise ship, the Westerdam, docked in the Cambodian seaport of Sihanoukville.

To help stem the spread, the WHO earlier this month announced a $675 million preparedness and response plan through to April 2020 to help support countries with weaker health systems deal with the outbreak. The organization has also hosted meetings in Geneva with leading health experts to fast-track and fund priority research on the virus. And international health experts are currently in Beijing as part of a WHO-led delegation to help investigate the novel coronavirus and understand its origin, spectrum, spread and impact, and to help inform countermeasures such as case isolation, contact tracing, and isolation.

Meanwhile, pharmaceutical companies and research institutions have launched efforts to develop a vaccine (which will not help those currently affected but may prevent future outbreaks) but these plans may take at least another year. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced it was donating $100 million to fund research and treatment

Amid the fear, NoCamels is highlighting six initiatives based in Israel aimed at either providing humanitarian aid and relief to China, developing diagnostics and ways to combat the spread, or just showing solidarity.

Earlier this month, Israeli aid organization IsraAID sent a shipment of medical supplies and protective gear to China on the last flight from Tel Aviv as Israels travel restrictions went into effect. The shipment went directly to the Chinese Ministry of Health for its use as it faces a severe shortage of such supplies particularly in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak.

IsraAID said it will continue monitoring the situation and may launch a secondary response including mental health and psychosocial support for humanitarian aid workers and first responders working in the area.

IsraAID CEO Yotam Polizer said in a statement that it was important for the organization to do its part by sending relief supplies and sharing our expertise in the field of stress management and trauma reduction.

We are all very concerned about the spread of coronavirus, and we are grateful for all the courageous work done by Chinese medical teams, he added.

The shortage of medical supplies is a very problematic issue, says Holo Zheng, a representative of Chinese students and the business community here in Israel.

Zheng has mobilized a small volunteer team and has been working to get supplies to Chinese medical workers, sourcing masks and protective gear globally from Israel and figuring out logistics such as flights, clearances, and shipping. Her team has also assisted in gathering donations from donors to advance these efforts.

Zheng tells NoCamels that the most important aspect is getting the supplies to the right places. China is a mega-sized country, asking where do we send the help? is the very first question and a priority is helping the people with the most urgent needs, especially those on the front lines, she explains.

People can choose to stay at home and not move around, but some cannot do so: doctors, medical staff, police officers and so on. So the focus must be there, she tells NoCamels.

Zhengs #StandWithWuhan initiative has so far helped to coordinate and send several shipments to China. Last week, some 30,000 masks, 7,900 protective suits and 380 goggles from Israel were shipped to hospitals in Baoding and Huangshi, in Hebei province and Hubei province, respectively. This week, another 10,000 masks were sent from Israel to a hospital in the city of Yantai in Shandong province. This last shipment was a joint effort with the tech-focused Israeli aid organization SmartAID, and global logistics provider DHL.

SmartAID founder Shachar Zahavi tells NoCamels the organization is working on preparing additional shipments, in coordination with its Chinese partners, and facilitated by its response teams in Australia and the US as well as its partnership with DHL.

Zheng foresees an increased role for Israel and Israeli tech in helping with the aftermath of the outbreak but most will not be applicable immediately as needed. She cites semiconductor companies that may be able to help with detection, tele-medicine systems which China has but which are more developed in Israel, medical robots for remote treatments of infected patients, and field hospitals with advanced technology.

These things will become more available with time and there are post-coronavirus opportunities for Israeli tech, Zheng tells NoCamels.

She also pointed out that Israel is at work on a vaccine after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the Health Ministry and the Israeli Institute for Biological Research this month to launch efforts. The latter is a governmental research institute specializing in biology, chemistry and environmental sciences and which falls under the jurisdiction of the Prime Ministers Office.

Zheng tells NoCamels that more awareness and education is needed on the unfolding epidemic and on the preventative measures required to protect ourselves and our families from viruses, including wearing masks.

Perception surrounding mask-wearing, which is common in Asia, should be changed, she says. People here see it as a cost and dont want to wear them but people who do should be respected because they are protecting others.

Meanwhile, Israels Bar Ilan University said this week new technology developed by Dr. Amos Danielli of the Alexander Kofkin Faculty of Engineering, could significantly reduce the diagnostic time of coronavirus.

The test, based on a combination of optics and magnetic particles, can rapidly test 100 samples of patients potentially infected with the virus and reduce the diagnostic time to approximately 15 minutes, the university said in a press statement. The test has been proven to reduce the diagnostic time of Zika virus and is currently being used in the Ministry of Healths central virology laboratory at Tel Hashomer Hospital, the university added.

Dr. Danielli is working with MagBiosense, a medical device company, for a device the size of a coffee machine that will be based on his technology and is searching for an investor to accelerate the development of the coronavirus test, so it can rapidly be introduced in hospitals, according to the statement

Dr. Danielli and his team are also collaborating with European universities to identify antibodies that the immune system produces against coronavirus.

Last week, NoCamels reported on Israeli startup Sonovia Ltd, which says it may help stop the spread of the new coronavirus through novel technology for an anti-pathogen, anti-bacterial fabric and textiles. The company sent samples to two medical labs in China the Shanghai branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a medical lab in Chengdu earlier this month and is awaiting results on whether their tech is effective against the virus.

We have identified the methodology to determine the fabrics ability to eliminate viruses and bacteria. We sent a number of fabrics to China and it would require a few days to colonize the coronavirus on the fabric and evaluate if our technology can destroy it, Sonovia co-founder Shay Herscovich told NoCamels.

Based in Ramat Gan, the patented technology that Sonovia aims to commercialize was originally developed as a bacteria-fighting nanoparticle finishing technology by Israeli scientists at the lab of Professor Aharon Gedanken from Bar Ilan University. The technology mechanically infuses metal oxides nanoparticles onto textiles during an ultrasonic-assisted impregnation process with the specialized chemical compound turning the textiles into highly effective blocks against bacteria and fungi.

Sonovia scientist Dr. Jason Migdal tells NoCamels this week in a follow-up interview that additional fabric samples were sent to Singapore for lab testing against the novel coronavirus. Simultaneously, Migdal says Sonovia has partnered with a Singapore-based company developing anti-viral tech based on zinc oxide and that the two entities have applied for a grant to advance research.

Broadly speaking, metallic nanoparticles such as zinc oxide have strong antiviral potential because of their multiple interactions with the viral envelope, deactivating the virus through the formation of free radicals or inhibiting viral replication once internalized, says Dr. Migdal.

For our treated textiles the first mechanism is that of relevance to fixed nanoparticles inside the fibers of the textile. Our clinical studies will focus upon ensuring that the nanoparticles work in harmony with the human respiratory system through an in vitro study, he added.

Sonovia is also getting closer to finalizing a prototype for a mask that will be treated with its technology and is sourcing mask manufacturers, Migdal says.

At the OurCrowd Global Investor Summit last week, NoCamels met with Israeli scientist Dr. Gilly Regev, an entrepreneur with a rich background in anti-infectious research and the co-founder of Vancouver-based company SaNOtize, in which OurCrowd is invested. The company developed a patented platform technology that allows for the topical delivery of nitric oxide (a colorless gas with the formula NO, hence the name) to destroy bacteria, fungi, and viruses.

SaNOtize found a way to deliver the gas in a gel or cream form as well as a liquid.

Dr. Regev says one platform currently being worked on is a nasal spray that uses nitric oxide to kill bacteria and viruses, including the flu which may also work against the coronavirus. The key is in the dosage, she explains.

The tech is undergoing two clinical trials at the moment, Regev says, one for fighting nail fungi and a second for chronic sinusitis. Both conditions currently dont have treatment, Dr. Regev points out.

The technology may also be useful for treating respiratory conditions and there is currently a Phase II clinical trial for cystic fibrosis, an inherited, progressive disorder that causes severe damage to the lungs, digestive system, and other organs.

SaNOtize also licenses its tech for cosmetic applications in treating acne and related inflammatory skin conditions.

Originally posted here:
Coronavirus Crisis: These 6 Israel-Based Initiatives Are Working To Help China | Health News - NoCamels - Israeli Innovation News

Taysiders are being invited to take part in medical trials which could save NHS Scotland tens of millions of pounds over the next five years.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney MSP was in Perth yesterday to announce Scottish Government backing for the next phase of a precision medicine initiative.

The practice focuses on improving clinical efficiency by profiling groups of patients and developing more tailor-made treatments.

Supporters say the project could improve the quality of medical care while saving money NHS Scotland up to 85 million over the next three to five years.

The Scottish Funding Council is investing 7.5 million in the project and another 3 million is coming from Scottish Enterprise.

It is being spearheaded by Precision Medicine Scotland, which brings together academics, health professionals and others with an interest in the field.

The body is seeking to attract another 4.2 million from other sources.

Precision Medicine Scotland chief operating officer Marian MacDonald: We could actually make a considerable saving to the NHS.

We have such a unique opportunity. We [Scotland] are almost the perfect study size. We have a pretty stable population and a very well connected health service.

Sadly though, we also have a high instance of complex diseases. It makes it good for research purposes but we want to change that.

Announcing the scheme in an event at Perth Theatre, Mr Swinney said:We want to make sure that patients experience the benefits by having preventative healthcare interventions right across the country.

Theres people who experience a number of similar medical conditions and the more we can understand those and support individuals, the better.

Some of those people will live here in Tayside and what we want to make sure is that they have the opportunity to participate in clinical trials that will be undertaken to advance this research.

Mr Swinney, who is also cabinet secretary for education and skills, added: The precision medicine investment the government is making is about supporting a collaboration between our world-leading university research, the clinical expertise of the NHS and work of life sciences companies in Scotland.

By joining all of them together, we have a preventative approach which helps us to personalise medicine and anticipate the circumstances that people might experience.

The beauty of that will that it will help to save the NHS money but it will also improve the clinical outcomes for individuals. The fact that its been launched here in Perth is an indication that this must be an approach that reaches the whole of Scotland.

Here is the original post:
Precision Medicine funding announced in Perth could save NHS Scotland 85m in next five years - The Courier

Studies by researchers at University of South Florida Health (USF Health) Morsani College of Medicine have found that a protein known as -arrestin2 increases the accumulation of the neurotoxic tau tangles that cause several forms of dementia, by interfering with the process that cells use to remove excess tau from the brain. The studies demonstrated that an oligomerized form of -arrestin2, but not monomeric -arrestin2, disrupted the process of autophagy, which would normally act to help rid cells of malformed proteins like disease-causing tau.

Encouragingly, in vivo studies showed that blocking -arrestin2 oligomerization suppressed disease-causing tau in a mouse model that develops a form of human frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) with dementia, a form of neurodegeneration that is characterized by tau accumulation and the formation of neurofibrillary tangles. Our research could lead to a new strategy to block tau pathology in FTLD, Alzheimers disease, and other related dementias, which ultimately destroys cognitive abilities such as reasoning, behavior, language, and memory, said Jung-A (Alexa) Woo, PhD, an assistant professor of molecular pharmacology and physiology and an investigator at the USF Health Byrd Alzheimers Center. Woo is lead author of the teams published paper in theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences(PNAS), which is titled, -arrestin2 oligomers impair the clearance of pathological tau and increase tau aggregates.

FTLD, which is also called frontotemporal dementia, is second only to Alzheimers disease (AD) as the leading cause of dementia. This aggressive form of dementia is typically earlier onset, in people aged 4565, and is characterized by atrophy of the front or side regions of the brain, or both. The two primary hallmarks of Alzheimers disease are clumps of amyloid-beta (A) protein fragments known as amyloid plaques, and the tangles of tau protein. Abnormal accumulations of both proteins are needed to drive the death neurons in Alzheimers, although recent research suggests that tau accumulation appears to be required for the toxic effects of A in AD, and correlates better with cognitive dysfunction than A. Indeed, tauopathy correlates significantly better than A with cognitive deficits in AD, the team noted, and drugs targeting A have been disappointing as a treatment.

Like Alzheimers disease, FTLD displays an accumulation of tau, which results in the formation of tau-laden neurofibrillary tangles that destroy synaptic communication between neurons, eventually killing the brain cells. There is no specific treatment or cure for FTLD. However, in contrast with AD, A aggregation is absent in the FTLD brain, in which the key feature of neurodegeneration appears to be the excessive tau accumulation, known as tauopathy. In contrast to AD, where amyloid is an integral part of the tangle, there is no accumulation of A in FTLD neurons , the authors noted.

Previous studies have pointed to an association between G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and AD pathogenesis, and have linked the activation of several, diverse GPCRs with A and/or tau pathogenesis in animal models. While it isnt clear how these very different GPCRs can impact on A and tau pathogenesis, and neurodegeneration in AD, one potential commonality among the receptors is their interaction with arrestins, the researchers noted. Interestingly, previous studies have shown that one of the family of -arrestin proteins known as -arrestin2, is increased in AD brains, and genetic studies have shown that endogenous -arrestin2 promotes A production and deposition, linking -arrestin2 to A pathogenesis. Despite this evidence, the authors acknowledged, prior to the current work, however, it was not known whether, or how, -arrestin2 pathogenically impinges on tauopathy and neurodegeneration in AD, or in FTLD where there is no accumulation of A. As Woo commented, Studying FTLD gave us that window to study a key feature of both types of dementias, without the confusion of any A component.

-arrestin2 in its monomeric form is mostly known for its ability to regulate receptors, but -arrestin2 can also form multiple interconnecting units, called oligomers, and the function of -arrestin2 oligomers is not well understood. While the monomeric form was the basis for the laboratorys initial studies examining tau and its relationship with neurotransmission and receptors, Woo said, we soon became transfixed on these oligomers of -arrestin2.

The teams studies confirmed the presence of elevated -arrestin2 levels, both in cells from the brains of TFLD-tau patients, and in a mouse model. This model expresses disease-associated tau in neurons, and displays FTLD-like pathophysiology and behavior and, like FTLD in humans, doesnt accumulate A.

The researchers also found that -arrestin2 acts to increase tau stability via scaffolding potein:protein interactions. Their results indicated that when -arrestin2 is overexpressed, tau levels also increase, suggesting a maladaptive feedback cycle that exacerbates disease-causing tau. As the authors commented, the data suggested that increased tau increases -arrestin2, which in turn acts to further potentiate tau-mediated events by stabilizing the protein, thus indicative of a vicious positive pathogenic feedback cycle.

To determine the effects of reducing -arrestin2 levels, the team crossed a mouse model of early tauopathy with genetically modified mice in which the -arrestin2 gene was inactivated. They demonstrated that genetic knockdown of -arrestin2 also reduced tauopathy, synaptic dysfunction, and the loss of nerve cells and their connections in the brain. Importantly, experiments confirmed that it was oligomerized -arrestin2, and not the proteins monomeric form, which was associated with increased tau. By blocking -arrestin2 molecules from binding together to create oligomerized forms of the protein, the investigators demonstrated that pathogenic tau significantly decreased when only monomeric -arrestin2, which does bind to receptors, was present.

Further experiments indicated that oligomerized -arrestin2 increases tau by impeding the ability of cargo protein p62 to help selectively degrade excess tau in the brain. In effect, this reduces the efficiency of the autophagy process that would otherwise clear toxic tau. The resulting accumulation of tau clogs up the neurons. Blocking -arrestin2 oligomerization also suppressed disease-causing tau in the mouse model that develops human tauopathy with signs of dementia.

Specifically, our results indicate that -arrestin2 oligomers increase tau levels by blocking the self-interaction of p62, an initial step essential in p62-mediated autophagy flux, the team commented. Genetic reduction or ablation of -arrestin2 significantly decreased sarkosyl-insoluble tau and mitigated tauopathy in vivo. Furthermore, -arrestin2 mutants incapable of forming oligomersactually reduced insoluble tau.

It has always been puzzling why the brain cannot clear accumulating tau, said Stephen B. Liggett, MD, senior author and professor of medicine and medical engineering at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. It appears that an incidental interaction between -arrestin2 and the tau clearance mechanism occurs, leading to these dementias. -arrestin2 itself is not harmful, but this unanticipated interplay appears to be the basis for this mystery We also noted that decreasing -arrestin2 by gene therapy had no apparent side effects, but such a reduction was enough to open the tau clearance mechanism to full throttle, erasing the tau tangles like an eraser. This is something the field has been looking foran intervention that does no harm and reverses the disease.

The results point to a potential therapeutic strategy for tauopathies such as FTLD, based on partial inhibition of -arrestin2 oligomerization. For gene therapy of human FTLD-tau, mutants with a somewhat decreased capacity for such inhibition might be desirable, so that some levels of the oligomer are present to carry out other functions Similarly, small molecule inhibitors of -arrestin2 oligomerization, given for treatment or prevention of FTLD-tau, could be designed to spare complete loss of the oligomer in the cell, they suggested. Based on our findings, the effects of inhibiting -arrestin2 oligomerization would be expected to not only inhibit the development of new tau tangles, but also to clear existing tau accumulations due to this mechanism of enhancing tau clearance.

This treatment strategy could be both preventative for at-risk individuals and those with only mild cognitive impairment, and therapeutic in patients with evident FTLD-tau, by decreasing existing tau tangles. Beyond tauopathy, it is conceivable that this strategy could also prove to be beneficial in other neurodegenerative diseases bearing proteinopathies that are cleared via p62, the scientists concluded.

This study identifies beta-arrestin2 as a key culprit in the progressive accumulation of tau in brains of dementia patients, added co-author David Kang, PhD, professor of molecular medicine and director of basic research for the Byrd Alzheimers Center. It also clearly illustrates an innovative proof-of-concept strategy to therapeutically reduce pathological tau by specifically targeting beta-arrestin oligomerization.

Read the rest here:
Protein that Prevents Tau Clearance Linked to AD and Other Tau Tangle Proteinopathies - Clinical OMICs News

Is aging a disease? David Sinclair, PhD, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School one of the worlds top experts on aging and longevity, thinks so.

His new book Lifespan: Why We Ageand Why We Dont Have To covers the latest research on longevity and anti-aging therapies. I was excited to read this book after listening to Sinclair on a podcast.

Sinclair believes that aging is a disease one that is treatable within our lifetimes. According to Sinclair, there is a singular reason why we age: A loss of information. The most important loss occursin the epigenome, the expression of genetic code that instructs newly divided cells what they should be.

Aging is like the accumulation of scratches on a DVD so the information can no longer be read correctly. Every time theres a radical adjustment to the epigenome, e.g. after DNA damage from the sun, a cells identity is changed. This loss of epigenetic information, Sinclair proposes, is why we age.

Scientists have discovered longevity genes that have shown the ability to extend lifespan in many organisms. These include sirtuins, rapamycin (mTOR), and AMPK.

There are natural ways to activate these longevity genes: High intensity exercise, intermittent fasting, low-protein diets, and exposure to hot and cold temperatures. These stressors, or hormesis, turn on genes that prompt the rest of the system to survive a little longer.

Researchers are studying molecules that activate longevity genes rapamycin, metformin, resveratrol and NAD boosters. Resveratrol is a natural molecule found in red wine that activates sirtuins and has increased lifespan in mice by 20 percent. NAD supplementation has been shown to restore fertility in mice that have gone through mousopause.

Sinclair believes these innovations will let us live longer and have less disease. He predicts that humans could live to 150 years of age in the near future, with average life expectancy rising from around 80 now to 110 or higher.

The best ways to activate your longevity genes: Be hungry more often skip breakfast, fast periodically for longer periods, get lean Avoid excessive carbs (sugar, pasta, breads) and processed oils and foods in general Do resistance training lift weights, build muscle Expose your body to hot, cold, and other stressors regularly.

The rest is here:
Lifespan: The New Science Behind Anti-Aging and Longevity that Can Help You Live to 100 - Thrive Global

The goal of life longevity for many is to live a long and healthy life with reduced worries of diseases and health ailments. Its also to live a life of improved mental and physical wellness with reduced frailty and keeping the mind sharp. According to researchers, there is a diet that can help with all of these. What is it?

Participants who adhered strictly to the Mediterranean diet experienced the greatest gain in desirable bacteria, while losing the most bad bacteria.

In other words, their microbiome was re-programmed.

The researchers observed an increase in the types of bacteria previously associated with indicators of reduced frailty, such as walking speed and hand grip strength.

A significant positive change was seen in the gut microbiome of those with reduced frailty.

As a result, their condition was slowed, the researchers said.

The researchers said the most striking finding was how strong the link was between an improved gut environment and markers of ageing.

DONT MISS

The participants in the study followed either a diet rich in healthy fats, fruit and vegetables whilst the others continued eating their normal diet.

By analysing each participants stools they were able to discover that the Mediterranean diet boosted bacteria in the gut.

Trillions of bacteria live in the digestive tract and play an important role in health.

Of the thousands of species of gut microbes that live in the gut, some are healthy for the body - while others are not.

Following the Mediterranean diet, the health and diversity of the gut microbes improved, preventing and treating conditions like obesity, diabetes, heart disease and inflammation associated with autoimmune diseases.

Link:
How to live longer: Follow this diet to improve life expectancy and reduce frailty - Express

Ive been committed to understanding the biology of aging since I was a teenager, and my education and career took aim at this problem from many angles. One aspect that still perplexes me is that there isnt a good, easily communicable answer to this simple question: What is biological aging?

When it comes to biological aging research or, to use a fancier term, translational geroscience, scientists finally have a pretty good understanding of the major components of aging. But theres no consensus definition of it that consolidates the existing framework.

Why do we need such a definition of biological aging? A good definition can grab the essential characteristics of an entity and put them to good use. Two examples illustrate this.

advertisement

Here is an example from medicine, published this month in Nature: Cancer is a catch-all term used to denote a set of diseases characterized by autonomous expansion and spread of a somatic clone. That is a more exact way of saying, Cancer is a disease caused by uncontrolled division of abnormal cells. This definition captures the universal mechanism behind all cancers. As such, it also offers therapeutic options. No matter how diverse cancers get, keeping them under one umbrella is easier compared to the broad-spectrum of biological aging.

A definition from mathematics is also instructive: The derivative of a function is the measure of the rate of change of the value of the function dependent on changes in the input. It is a solid definition as it offers a procedure to compute the extreme values of a function.

Here are three consecutive steps empirical, philosophical, and computational that can be taken to create a good definition of biological aging:

The empirical step involves collecting what is already out there. Over the years, researchers have invented their own idiosyncratic definitions of biological aging, though these generally miss parts of the story.

Scientists often start papers with a summary referring to the consensus knowledge in the field and then ask the particular question they want to address and highlight the results. These summaries, which often contain definitions, are important educational windows into science, used by mainstream media to publicize results and form relevant narratives.

To illustrate the empirical step, I extracted four definitions from scientific papers exploring different aspects of aging that reveal the conceptual mess around defining biological aging.

Aging is characterized by a progressive loss of physiological integrity, leading to impaired function and increased vulnerability to death came from a 2013 paper in the journal Cell by Carlos Lpez-Otn and colleagues.

Aging underlies progressive changes in organ functions and is the primary risk factor for a large number of human diseases was the definition in a 2019 report in Nature Medicine by Benoit Lehallier and colleagues.

Aging is a progressive decline in functional integrity and homeostasis, culminating in death was used in a 2019 review of the genetics of aging in Cell by Param Priya Singh and colleagues.

Finally, a 2020 paper in Nature Medicine on personal markers of aging by Sara Ahadi and colleagues offered this: Aging is a universal process of physiological and molecular changes that are strongly associated with susceptibility to disease and ultimately death.

I analyzed several components of these definitions of biological aging, as indicated by the column headers in the table below, and identified some recurring themes. The final column indicates logical connections between these components.

This analysis offers two lessons, one negative and one positive. The negative lesson is that some definitions have hardly any overlap, as seen in I and II its apples and oranges. The positive lesson is that the recurring themes suggest the possibility of creating a core definition for biological aging using a bottom-up, empirical approach by analyzing many attempted definitions.

However, I dont believe that such a process would be sufficient.

The myriad definitions of biological aging help identify some necessary components of it. But an aggregated mash-up wont guarantee a formally correct and useful definition. Identifying the content itself is not enough, especially when dealing with such a complex and lifelong process. Just because we have found most of the puzzle pieces does not mean we can put the puzzle together without a clue to its shape.

This is where the philosophical step comes into the picture. Here, biologists will benefit from recruiting people trained to come up with a formal definition: philosophers, mathematicians, computer scientists, and the like.

The philosophical step involves identifying a list of criteria that a consensus definition of biological aging should meet. I believe that such a definition should meet at least these five criteria:

Completing the empirical and philosophical steps would yield a good starting point for a well-formed definition that captures the essentials of biological aging.

A consensus definition that meets both content and formal criteria, achieved through the empirical and philosophical steps, might help stabilize not just scientific consensus but consensus on public policy. Here the main issues are the relationship between biological aging and disease; and regulatory, clinical, and social aspects of healthy longevity. But a completed computational step will give us actual tools, helping the biomedical technology that advances healthy lifespans.

Applicability is perhaps the most important feature of a good definition, and this where the computational step comes in. The definition should suggest future experiments and, even more important, lend itself to computability so a formal model of biological aging can be built from it. Such a model can be used to simulate and compute biological aging scores based on input data and assess the effects of planned or real interventions to slow or stop negative aging processes.

Biomedical researchers now have a solid core of knowledge on biological aging, but do not have a working consensus definition to consolidate and represent this core knowledge and capture this so far elusive life process. The lack of an unambiguous and computable formal consensus definition of biological aging severely limits the applicability of this core knowledge to design comprehensive interventions to slow or stop negative aging processes.

A confident answer to the question What is biological aging? in humans will help us ensure that complexity does not hide any magical mysteries. Controlling that complexity to maximize a healthy lifespan wouldnt need a magic wand, either.

Attila Csordas is a longevity biologist and philosopher and the founding director of AgeCurve Limited, based in Cambridge, U.K.

See the original post:
We need to take steps toward building a consensus definition of biological aging - STAT

Whenever Harry Wuest has a doctors appointment in northern Atlantas hospital cluster dubbed Pill Hill, he makes sure to stop by the office of Dr. Douglas Doug Murphy for a quick chat.

And Murphy, unless hes tied up in the operating room, always takes a few minutes to say hello to his former patient. Remember when . . . ? is how the conversation typically starts, and its always tinged with laughter, often joyful, sometimes bittersweet.

Its a reunion of two men who shaped a piece of Georgias medical history.

Almost 35 years ago, Murphy opened the chest of Wuest and sewed in a new heart, giving him a second shot at life. Wuest was the third heart transplant patient at Emory University Hospital.

Tall, lanky, with short curly hair and a quiet demeanor, Wuest is the longest-surviving heart transplant recipient in Georgia and one of the longest-surviving in the world. The 75-year-old accountant still plays golf twice a week and only recently went from working full-time to part-time.

My heart is doing just fine, he says.

Murphy is now the chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Emory Saint Josephs Hospital and still in the operating room almost every day. He has moved on to become the worlds leading expert in robotically assisted heart surgery.

***

Harry Wuest is originally from Long Island, N.Y. After a stint in the U.S. Air Force, he moved to Florida to work and go to school. He wanted to become a physical education teacher. Then, in 1973, he fell ill. It started with some pain on his left side. He didnt think much of it, but when he got increasingly winded and fatigued, he went to see a doctor.

Several months and numerous specialists later, he received the diagnosis: Cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle that can make the heart become enlarged, thick and rigid, preventing it from pumping enough blood through the body.

They didnt know how I got it, says Wuest, sitting back in a brown leather armchair in the dark, wood-paneled living room of his Stone Mountain home. Maybe it was a virus. And back then, there wasnt much they could do to treat it, except bed rest.

For the next 12 years, Wuest lived life as best as he could. He got a degree in accounting from the University of Central Florida and worked for a real estate developer. There were good days, but there were more bad days. He was often too weak to do anything, and his heart was getting bigger and bigger.

***

The first successful human-to-human heart transplant was performed in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1967 a medical breakthrough that catapulted the surgeon, Dr. Christiaan Barnard, onto the cover of Life magazine and to overnight celebrity status.

This highly publicized event was followed by a brief surge in the procedure around the world, but overall, heart transplants had a rocky start. Most patients died shortly after the surgery, mainly due to organ rejection. Back then, immunosuppressive drugs, which can counteract rejection, were still in their infancy. Many hospitals stopped doing heart transplants in the 1970s.

That changed with the discovery of a highly effective immunosuppressive agent. Cyclosporine got FDA approval in 1983 and altered the world of organ transplants.

It was shortly thereafter when Emory University Hospital decided to launch a heart transplant program, but none of the senior surgeons wanted to do it. Even with the new drug, it was a risky surgery, and mortality was still high.

Its an all-or-nothing operation, Murphy says, as he sits down in his small office overlooking the greyish hospital compound. Hes wearing light blue scrubs from an early morning surgery. At 70, he still has boyish looks, with a lean build and an air of laid-back confidence. If you have a number of bad outcomes initially, it can be detrimental to your career as a surgeon, he says.

But Murphy didnt really have a choice. He remembers that during a meeting of Emorys cardiac surgeons in 1984, he was paged to check on a patient. When he returned, the physicians congratulated him on being appointed the head of the new heart transplant program. He was the youngest in the group and had been recruited from Harvards Massachusetts General Hospital just three years before.

Yeah, thats how I became Emorys first transplant surgeon, says Murphy.

He flew to California to shadow his colleagues at Stanford University Hospital, where most heart transplants were performed at the time. Back home at Emory, he put together a team and rigorously rehearsed the operation. The first transplant patient arrived in April 1985. The surgery was successful, as was the second operation less than a month later.

Around the same time, Harry Wuest wound up in a hospital in Orlando. He needed a transplant, but none of the medical centers in Florida offered the procedure. One of his doctors recommended Emory, and Wuest agreed. I knew I was dying. I could feel it. He was flown to Atlanta by air ambulance and spent several weeks in Emorys cardiac care unit until the evening of May 23, when Murphy walked into his room and said, Weve got a heart.

***

The heart, as the patient later learned, came from a 19-year-old sophomore at Georgia Tech who had been killed in a car crash.

Organ transplants are a meticulously choreographed endeavor, where timing, coordination and logistics are key. While Murphy and his eight-member team were preparing for the surgery, Wuest was getting ready to say farewell to his family his wife and three teenage sons and to thank the staff in the cardiac ward.

I was afraid, he recalls, especially of the anesthesia. It scared the heck out of me. He pauses during the reminiscence, choking briefly. I didnt know if I was going to wake up again.

The surgery took six hours. Transplants usually happen at night because the procurement team, the surgeons who retrieve different organs from the donor, only start working when regularly scheduled patients are out of the operating room.

Despite the cultural mystique surrounding the heart as the seat of life, Murphy says that during a transplant surgery, its not like the big spirit comes down to the operating room. Its very technical. As the team follows a precise routine, emotions are kept outside the door. We dont have time for that. Emotions come later.

After waking up from the anesthesia, Wuests first coherent memory was of Murphy entering the room and saying to a nurse, Lets turn on the TV, so Harry can watch some sports.

Wuest spent the next nine days in the ICU and three more weeks in the hospital ward. In the beginning, he could barely stand up or walk, because he had been bedridden weeks before the surgery and had lost a lot of muscle. But his strength came back quickly. I could finally breathe again, he says. Before the surgery, he felt like he was sucking in air through a tiny straw. I cannot tell you what an amazing feeling that was to suddenly breathe so easily.

Joane Goodroe was the head nurse at Emorys cardiovascular post-op floor back then. When she first met Wuest before the surgery, she recalls him lying in bed and being very, very sick. When she and the other nurses finally saw him stand up and move around, he was a whole different person.

In the early days of Emorys heart transplant program, physicians, nurses and patients were a particularly close-knit group, remembers Goodroe, whos been a nurse for 42 years and now runs a health care consulting firm. There were a lot of firsts for all of us, and we all learned from each other, she said.

Wuest developed friendships with four other early transplant patients at Emory, and he has outlived them all.

When he left the hospital, equipped with a new heart and a fresh hunger for life, Wuest made some radical changes. He decided not to return to Florida but stay in Atlanta. Thats where he felt he got the best care, and where he had found a personal support network. And he got a divorce. Four months after the operation, he went back to working full-time: first in temporary jobs and eventually for a property management company.

After having been sick for 12 years, I was just so excited to be able to work for eight hours a day, he recalls. That was a big, big deal for me.

At 50, he went back to school to get his CPA license. He also found new love.

Martha was a head nurse in the open-heart unit and later ran the cardiac registry at Saint Josephs Hospital. Thats where Wuest received his follow-up care and where they met in 1987. Wuest says for him it was love at first sight, but it took another five years until she finally agreed to go out with him. Six months later, they were married.

Having worked in the transplant office, I saw the good and the bad, Martha Wuest says. A petite woman with short, perfectly groomed silver hair, she sits up very straight on the couch, her small hands folded in her lap.Not every transplant patient did as well as Harry. And I had a lot of fear in the beginning. Now he may well outlive her, she says with a smile and a wink.

Wuests surgeon, meanwhile, went on to fight his own battles. Two and a half years into the program, Murphy was still the only transplant surgeon at Emory and on call to operate whenever a heart became available. Frustrated and exhausted, he quit his position at Emory and signed up with Saint Josephs (which at the time was not part of the Emory system) and started a heart transplant program there.

At St. Joes, Murphy continued transplanting hearts until 2005. In total, he did more than 200 such surgeries.

Being a heart transplant surgeon is a grueling profession, he says, and very much a younger surgeons subspecialty.

He then shifted his focus and became a pioneer in robotically assisted heart surgery.He has done more than 3,000 operations with the robot, mostly mitral valve repairs and replacements more than any other cardiac surgeon in the world.

***

Since Murphy sewed a new heart into Wuest, 35 years ago, there has been major progress in the field of heart transplants,but it has been uneven.

Medications to suppress the immune system have improved, says Dr. Jeffrey Miller, a transplant surgeon and heart failure specialist at Emory. As a result, we are seeing fewer cases of rejections of the donor heart.

Also, there are new methods of preserving and transporting donor hearts.

Yet patients requiring late-stage heart failure therapy, including transplantation, still exceed the number of donor hearts available. In 2019, 3,551 hearts were transplanted in the United States, according to the national Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. But 700,000 people suffer from advanced heart failure, says the American Heart Association.

New technologies and continued research are providing hope to many of these patients. There has been significant progress in the development of partial artificial hearts, known as Left Ventricular Assist Devices, or LVADs, says Miller.

These are implantable mechanical pumps that assist the failing heart. Patients are back out in society living normal lives while theyre waiting for their donor hearts, he explains.

LVADs are used not only as bridge devices but as destination therapy as well, maintaining certain patients for the remainder of their lives.

Also, total artificial hearts have come a long way since the first artificial pump was implanted in a patient in 1969.

Long-term research continues into xenotransplantation, which involves transplanting animal cells, tissues and organs into human recipients.

Regenerative stem cell therapy is an experimental concept where stem cell injections stimulate the heart to replace the rigid scar tissue with tissue that resumes contraction, allowing for the damaged heart to heal itself after a heart attack or other cardiac disease.

Certain stem cell therapies have shown toreverse the damage to the heart by 30 to 50 percent, says Dr. Joshua Hare, a heart transplant surgeon and the director of the Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute at the University of Miamis Miller School of Medicine.

All of these ideas have potential, says Miller. But they have a lot of work before were ready to use them as alternatives to heart transplantation. I dont think were talking about the next few years.

Besides Emory, other health care systems in Georgia that currently have a heart transplant program are Piedmont Healthcare, Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta and Augusta University Health.

Organ rejection remains a major issue, and long-term survival rates have not improved dramatically over the past 35 years. The 10-year survival is currently around 55 percent of patients, which makes long-term-survivors like Harry Wuest rare in the world of heart transplants.

The United Network of Organ Sharing, or UNOS, which allocates donor hearts in the United States, doesnt have comprehensive data prior to 1987. An informal survey of the 20 highest-volume hospitals for heart transplants in the 1980s found only a scattering of long-term survivors.

***

Being one of the longest-living heart transplant recipients is something that Wuest sees as a responsibility to other transplant patients, but also to the donors family, which hes never met. If you as a transplant recipient reject that heart, thats like a second loss for that family.

Part of this responsibility is living a full and active life. Both he and Martha have three children from their previous marriages, and combined they have 15 grandchildren. Most of their families live in Florida, so they travel back and forth frequently. Wuest still works as a CPA during tax season, and he does advocacy for the Georgia Transplant Foundation. In addition to golf, he enjoys lifting weights and riding his bike.

Hes had some health scares over the years. In 2013, he was diagnosed with stage 1 kidney cancer, which is in remission. Also, he crossed paths with his former surgeon, and not just socially. In 2014, Murphy replaced a damaged tricuspid valve in Wuests new heart. That operation went well, too.

Murphy says there are several reasons why Wuest has survived so long. Obviously, his new heart was a very good match. But a patient can have the best heart and the best care and the best medicines and still die a few months or years after the transplantation, the surgeon says. Attitude plays a key role.

Wuest was psychologically stable and never suffered from depression or anxiety, Murphy says. Hes a numbers guy. He knew the transplant was his only chance, and he was set to pursue it.

Wuest attributes his longevity to a good strong heart from his donor; good genetics; great doctors and nurses; and a life that he loves. Im just happy to be here, he says.

Quoting his former surgeon and friend, he adds: Doug always said, Having a transplant is like running a marathon. And Im in for the long haul.

Katja Ridderbusch is an Atlanta-based journalist who reports for news organizations in the U.S. and her native Germany. Her stories have appeared in Kaiser Health News, U.S. News & World Report and several NPR affiliates.

This is a slightly modified version of the article 34 Years with a New Heart, published by Georgia Health News on February 18, 2020.

See the original post:
34 Years With A New Heart And Counting | 90.1 FM WABE - WABE 90.1 FM

For years, health researchers and entrepreneurs have been studying aging down to the cellular level to see if its possible to slow, stop or even reverse the factors that influence how getting older affects us. Now their findings have the potential to shake up everything we thought we knew about aging but the burning question remains: Can we actually change how we age?

In our culture, we've always noted major milestones by age voting at 18, being legally allowed to drink at 21, and retiring at 65 (or so). All these are based on how long youve been alive, and of course that cant be changed. But our chronological age doesnt account for how we interpret or feel about that number. For many, 40 is the new 30, and 60 is the new 40. Much of this shift in mindset can be attributed to the ever-expanding field of aging research and its perceived infinite potential. Theres a hypothesis that if you can manipulate the aging process, you could possibly forestall the development of chronic disease and get people living longer and healthier, says Marie A. Bernard, M.D., deputy director of the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health. "That's an exciting development since I began my medical career in the 1980s, she adds.

The other development is that some scientists today are less interested in the date on your birth certificate than they are in a different marker: your biological age. Biological age is a measurement that, instead of tracking years, looks at chemical marks on DNA that show how our biological systems are actually aging. People are very diverse in terms of their aging rates. The level one person hits by 50, another may not hit until 60, explains Morgan Levine, Ph.D., assistant professor of pathology at Yale School of Medicine. Shes also head of bioinformatics at Elysium Health, a life sciences company recognized with our GH Innovation Emblem for its commitment to scientific rigor and research. So the real question is, how can we change our biological age?

The rise of epigenetics (a complex field of study that examines specific changes in gene activity) and the identification of biological age have been regarded by some as the holy grail in understanding how we grow older. Previously we assumed that the genome, our entire DNA library, didnt change throughout a persons life. Thats been proven wrong it can be modified by the environment, says Elaine Chin, M.D., founder and chief medical officer at Executive Health Centre and author of Lifelines: Unlock the Secrets of Your Telomeres for a Longer, Healthier Life.

Scientists have now identified biomarkers (chemical changes) in an individuals DNA that correspond with aging. These changes can help predict how well youre going to age, how long youre going to live, and even if youre at increased risk for chronic disease.

Over the past decade, people everywhere have benefited from techs influence on health from wearable trackers and smartwatches that monitor activity, heart rate, and sleep to testing kits that provide info about ancestry, gut microbiome, and fertility.

A new category of at-home tests is now emerging that goes beyond ancestry to assessing aging and more. For about a year, Levine has been working with Elysium Health to create Index, an at-home test that evaluates over 100,000 epigenetic biomarkers on a persons DNA. As with other kits, all you do is provide a saliva sample. Four to six weeks later, you receive your report, in which youll learn your cumulative rate of aging and find out whether your biological age is older or younger than the number on your drivers license. About 68% of people will have a biological age within five years of their chronological age, but you can also find individuals who are a decade or more older or younger, she explains. The most important thing to keep in mind is that if your rate of biological aging is less than one, youre aging more slowly than your actual years.

So what does one do with that information? According to the researchers, take charge. More than 90% of our longevity in terms of life span and health span the healthy years of life is determined by our environment, not genetics, stresses Eric Verdin, M.D., president and CEO of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging.

What you eat, what you drink, how well you sleep, and the quality of your relationships all have a real impact. If you see room for improvement in your biological age, think of it as a chance to reevaluate your choices. That is especially true for people whose biological age is much older than their chronological age. On the other hand, a lower biological age could serve as validation and reinforcement of your current practices.

While aging researchers are still identifying proven adjustments that can move the needle, a number of behaviors are often linked with a lower biological age. These include eating well, getting enough sleep, exercising, not smoking, and avoiding too much alcohol.

Researchers dont have a definitive intervention for aging yet, says Dr. Bernard. But people can turn to actionable lifestyle choices. And while getting into good habits at a younger chronological age is best, she stresses that its never too late to start.

90% of our longevity is determined by environment.

Good Housekeeping has also reported on new science-backed supplements that move beyond standard nutrition, like Elysiums Basis, which is designed to increase levels of NAD+ (a critical coenzyme that declines as we age).

Dr. Verdin says that one of the biggest positive changes to reduce deterioration is doing more physical activity. Even as little as 20 minutes of exercise a day (walking counts!) can dramatically improve your health.

Knowing your biological age can be a great resource for taking control, but it shouldnt replace medical care. The same goes for all at-home kits. A false sense of security can be a widespread issue with these products, cautions Matthew J. Ferber, Ph.D., director of the Mayo Clinic GeneGuide laboratory. Whether youre screening for the BRCA gene or assessing heart health, even good news does not mean you have zero risk. Also, its vital to remember that results from these tools shouldnt negate age-based medical recommendations or doctor-administered tests. Even if your biological age is younger than your chronological age, you should get a Pap smear every three years from age 21 on, annual mammograms starting as soon as age 40 (depending on your risk factors), and colorectal screenings starting at 45.

Dr. Verdin imagines a future when biomarker-based tests will become part of your regular doctor visits and create a sense of empowerment. Aging by itself is a risk factor for a whole range of conditions like heart attack, stroke, certain cancers, Alzheimers disease, and Parkinsons disease, he says. If we could identify our risk before a major event occurred, could we prevent it? Thats the next question researchers are working to answer.

Aging Markers

Index

$499.00

Who wouldnt love to learn if theyre younger or older than their years? What you find out might be motivating.

Exclusive: Get 15% off Index with code GHINDEX20 or one month free of Basis when you subscribe with code GHBASIS20.

Ancestry Markers

Ancestry + Traits

$99.00

If you want to discover more about your heritage, you cant go wrong with the OG kit. The newer version also offers health insights.

Genetic Markers

GeneGuide

$199.99

Get more educated about your genetics and how they can impact your health plus, receive guidance from leading medical experts.

Sign up for our 2020 Aging Challenge to learn more about feeling great as you get older.

View post:
What Is Biological Age? Your Cells Reveal How Old You Really Are - GoodHousekeeping.com

ELDERS managing director and CEO Mark Allison has laid down a challenge to agtech innovators and marketers to focus on what really matters, and ensure their products address the key issues of productivity, profitability and sustainability.

In an opening address to 1400 audience members at the second annual EvokeAg conference in Melbourne this morning, Mr Allison noted that Elders has recently marked 180 years of history.

In that time the company had witnessed many game-changing technological leaps including the grain stripper, the stump jump plough, mechanical wool shearers, the Hendra Virus vaccine and no-till cropping.

Now Agtech is driving further advances that have the potential to make farmers lives easier, better and more profitable.

The changes it is bringing are causing challenges for some industries and opportunities for others.

Five years ago it would have been difficult to imagine we would be listening to a burger giant talk about beef-free burgers, or the reality of a virtual agronomist from NZ, Mr Allison said.

But he also warned what agribusiness needed right now were tangible, on the ground initiatives that will benefit farmers and optimise overall supply chain productivity and sustainability.

As the head of one Australias oldest and largest agribusiness companies, Mr Allison said he attends many conferences and sees thousands of great agtech innovations and propositions spruiking astonishing capabilities.

Of course, anyone can put together a slick PowerPoint presentation and extol the virtues of their latest discovery, the blockchain transformation, a robotic breakthrough, artificial intelligence from the latest cohort of an accelerator program, he said.

Any innovation or idea had to be accountable and had to deliver against a few key criteria:

Anyone running a start-up had to be talking about at least one of the following areas, he said:

Nutrition focusing on how any farmer can boost productivity, whether its through soil and crop nutrition, or in livestock with a delicate mix of protein, energy, roughage and minerals;

Soil moisture conservation improving the water use efficiency on farms whether its in cropping, horticulture, irrigation, or producing feed for livestock or feeding livestock;

Pest management how can a farmer optimise chemical use to combat weeds and pests for maximum impact on productivity with minimal impact on the environment;

Genetics This included genetic gains across all breeds in livestock production, as well as in cropping, where new varieties provide greater drought resistance, pest resistance, salt resistance or defence against weeds and other pest.

Mr Allison cited recent data showing farm income and costs in the Mallee from 1994 to 2017.

A line plotting income started at $300,000 in 1994, gradually rising over the decades, with peaks every five or so years, then dropping, only to rise again, finishing the chart at $1.5 million in 2017 .

Farming may look like the road to riches, he said, but the true story was revealed when the detail of farm costs was overlapped.

It will be no surprise to any of you that those costs have been rising at a rate equal to or greater rate than income.

As a result, farm profit has flatlined for the last 20 years.

To account for the challenges of drier seasons and fluctuating markets farmers were increasing production, and in doing so were employing more staff, adopting the latest technology, innovating in pasture and sheep genetics, and adopting best practices to improve the health, and moisture content of their soils.

Yet the reality was their profit wasnt increasing.

The cost to maintain sustainable production simply outweighed any profit.

Most of the extra costs are labour and capital items such as machinery and farm improvements, but without significant improved efficiency in operation, the farm is simply becoming an expensive lifestyle.

This nut must be cracked, with the combination of productivity and profitability increases being coupled with sustainability from an environmental, social and economic viewpoint.

Mr Allison said Elders longevity had proven that in agriculture you can be profitable and sustainable through good seasons and bad seasons, strong commodity prices and poor commodity prices.

Our business models and agtech innovations must be aimed at not relying on a consistent climate, predictable weather patterns, abundance of rain and stable political environment in order to be profitable and sustainable.

How we manage variability and unpredictability must be in our own hands

The question and debate for the audience at EvokeAg audience should not be on what causes this variability and unpredictability, he said, but rather how can we modify our business models and farming systems to create a profitable and sustainable system.

At Elders we always plan for an average season and, like all good agribusinesses, we have structured our cost and capital base to allow us to make okay money in bad seasons, and great money in good seasons.

Mr Allison said it will take work for Australian agriculture to grow productivity by $40 billion to meet a target of $100 billion by 2030.

Opportunities will come through value-adding and improving infrastructure, in particular transport capabilities nationwide and the ability to get produce out of the paddock and into markets around the globe faster and cheaper than today.

Improvement in telecommunications were also critical. Australia needed to raise connectivity levels across rural and regional Australia to comparable standards as those enjoyed by major agriculture competitors the US and Canada to ensure it remained competitive on a global scale.

Gains would also be made in breeding and genetics, as well as processing and labour efficiencies.

He said Elders is investing in projects including one with the South Australian Research and Development Institute and the SA Government which is implementing worlds best practice on medium scale livestock in Struan in the states south west, and putting the latest animal genetics and pasture varieties, innovative water utilisation processes, disease management and grazing strategies to the commercial test.

He stressed the commercial focus of the projects, saying each must deliver a return.

Elders has also started a similar partnership with Meat and Livestock Australia the MLA Smart Farm Project which is evaluating the best of agtech, trialling Internet of Things services and other agriculture wish list devices and services as a farmer would.

Mr Allison said collaboration was critical to achieving advances in future.

He suggested some of the $430 million in funding that is split between 15 Research and Development Corporations be combined to solve one or two of the most pressing problems facing all farmers soil problems, water issues, or climate adaptability.

Capital in the form of foreign investment was also vital to the industrys future.Last year foreign investment in Australian agricultural land hit $7.9 billion, led by Canadians, followed closely by China and the US .

We absolutely need the capital if we are to deliver the necessary infrastructure and technology gains.

Mr Allison said it was important that farmers are supported, to ensure the digital advancements discussed from events like EvokeAg match the needs of those on the frontline to achieve a productive, profitable and sustainable future of the industry.

Here is the original post:
EvokeAg: Elders MD pinpoints what agtech startups need to be talking about - Beef Central

Top 10 Destinations for Stem Cell Therapy Around the World

Stem Cell Therapy has made tremendous progress over the past decade. The years of approved clinical trials have shown that stem cell therapy works for certain conditions. Patients should understand that although stem cell therapy can do wonders for some diseases and illnesses, it is not for everything and everyone.

Before choosing to undergo stem cell therapy, patients should undergo a thorough research about the viability of the treatment in a certain country. Unfortunately, there are many clinics which state that they are accredited and that their treatment is approved, only to attract patients and money. Stem cell therapy can be categorized into:

Such a clinical trial program costs millions of dollars, therefore only a few accredited institutions and centers had the possibility to undergo such programs.

Competent physicians working in accredited centers can offer non-approved stem cell therapies, as long as the patient is informed about the risks and the lack of scientific support.

Stem cell therapy can be offered by clinics with no accreditation and by physicians with questionable competency. They are the ones who do exaggerated promotional claims about the efficacy and safety of stem cell therapy, which has no scientific backing.

Studies made so far suggest that stem cells have the potential of developing into different types of cells and so repair the tissue and organs affected by various medical conditions. There are hundreds of different stem cells in our bodies, which are formed at different times in our lives and with different purposes. The embryonic stem cells are found only in the early stages of development, while adult stem cells develop and remain in our bodies the entire life.

Stem cell therapy gives hope where mainstream medical science fails to offer results. So far, the most common stem cell therapy is blood stem cell transplantation for conditions and diseases of the blood, the immune system or to restore the blood after treatments for certain cancer types. Some injuries or diseases of the bone, cornea or skin can be treated using grafted tissue which depends on stem cells from these parts of the body. But people should understand that like any other type of treatment, stem cell therapy can have side effects, and these can vary from individual to individual.

As people will try anything to see at least a slight improvement in their health or their dear ones, more and more are flocking to other countries and to clinics which promote safe and successful stem cell therapy for a multitude of serious conditions. Stem Cell Tourism, as it is called, is in a continuous expansion as patients want to try the promising therapy. But which are the best destinations for stem cell therapy?

South Korea has made tremendous progress in stem cell research, thanks to the country's flexible policies in this matter. Scientists have been able to develop stem cells which genetically match patients of all genders, ages, and races, which means that they can produce stem cells that fit each individual's needs and with a lower risk of rejection. South Korea might soon get to the forefront of stem cell research.

Stem Cell Clinic:Yonsei Sarang Hospital

Mexico is a popular destination among medical touristswith plenty of stem cell research centers. Over the years the country has attracted top scientists from all over the world, offering them a host of incentives and the authorization to use embryos for research. This has helped the country to become one of the top stem cell destinations.

Stem Cell Clinic:MexStemCells Clinic

China

China, world-famous for its acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine, plans to become a leader in stem cell research and development. In 2012, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Science started to evaluate all stem cell centers that were functioning illegally. This is of utmost importance for future medical tourists who will seek approved and safe stem cell therapy in China.

Stem Cell clinic: Beijing Puhua International Hospital

It has been years since patients from the US and Canada have started choosing this destination to get stem cell therapy for serious medical conditions such as paralysis, autism or cerebral palsy. Mexico continues to make tremendous progress in this area and provide safe stem cell therapy.

Stem Cell clinics: Progencell-Stem Cell Therapies

Germany continues to attract patients coming from all over the world for stem cell therapy. The country is known as Europe's Stem Cell hub, thanks to the tremendous progress made in the Adult Stem Cell research and development.

Stem Cell clinic: German International Clinic

Stem Cell therapy in Ukraine has helped hundreds of patients suffering from cirrhosis, pancreatic necrosis, burn disease, hepatitis, diabetes, critical lower limb ischemia and multiple sclerosis. The positive results of the therapy, continue to attract international patients.

Stem cell clinics: EmCell Clinic, Unique Cell Treatment Clinic

Austria is another destination preferred by medical tourists for stem cell therapy. Stem cell therapy in Austria has offered a chance to a normal life to patients suffering from Diabetes, Eye Diseases, Neurological Diseases, Gonarthritis or Peripheral vascular disease.

Stem Cell clinic: Institute for Regenerative Medicine

The Caribbean Islandsis fast-tracking stem cell research and development with new approaches being tested by renowned scientists and physicians. Patientsfrom Europe, Asia, and the Middle East come here to take advantage of the benefits offered by stem cell therapy.

Stem Cell Clinic: Garm Clinic

Another stem cell therapy leader in Asia is Thailand, a country which, for the past few years has taken stem cell research to the next level by producing cardiac muscle from human embryonic stem cells, successfully using adult stem cells to treat arthritis and discovering a method to extract stem cells from a human amniotic fluid.

Stem Cell Clinic:StemCells21

Although stem cell therapy might seem for many the last hope, we advise those who begin this journey to look for and seek help from specialists in this type of medical procedure. Experts will help you choose a safe medical destination and a high-quality hospital. Most of all you must understand that stem cell therapy can help some patients, but never cures them.

Being informed and doing a thorough research about what destination, clinic, and doctor to choose is a must when taking such a decision. Get as much information as you can about the center where you plan to undergo the treatment, try to get real patients testimonials, clinical data evaluation, find out about the centers' and doctors' credentials, detailed evaluation of the procedure they use, what methods and types of stem cells they provide, the real cost of the treatment with all expenditures included (airplane, accommodation, meals, hospital and other fees, etc).

By getting informed you will feel more secure, andtraveling abroad for medical carewill be a positive life-changing experience.

PlacidWay can offer you all the information you need for a successful medical experience overseas. Contact us and get more information about any Stem Cell Therapy on our website.Do not hesitate to contact us!

Disclaimer

Stem Cell Therapy is still an experimental treatment. Any information related to Stem Cell Therapy provided on this website is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to either replace a consultation with a licensed physician or be construed as medical advice or any emergency health need you may be experiencing.

Read more from the original source:
Top 10 Destinations for Stem Cell Therapy around the World

The road into Batlow is littered with the dead.

In the smoky, gray haze of the morning, it's hard to make out exactly what Matt Roberts' camera is capturing. Roberts, a photojournalist with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, keeps his lens focused on the road as he rolls into the fire-ravaged town 55 miles west of Canberra, Australia's capital. At the asphalt's edge, blackened livestock carcasses lie motionless.

The grim scene, widely shared on social media, is emblematic of the impact the 2019-20 bushfire season has had on Australia's animal life. Some estimates suggest "many, many billions" of animals have been killed, populations of endemic insects could be crippled and, as ash washes into riverways, marine life will be severely impacted. The scale of the bushfires is so massive, scientists are unlikely to know the impact on wildlife for many years.

But even before bushfires roared across the country, Australia's unique native animals were in a dire fight for survival. Habitat destruction, invasive species, hunting and climate change have conspired against them. Populations of native fauna are plummeting or disappearing altogether, leaving Australia with an unenviable record: It has the highest rate of mammal extinctions in the world.

A large share of Australia's extinctions have involved marsupials -- the class of mammals that includes the nation's iconic kangaroos, wallabies, koalas and wombats. A century ago, the Tasmanian tiger still padded quietly through Australia's forests. The desert rat-kangaroo hopped across the clay pans of the outback, sheltering from the sun in dug-out nests.

Now they're gone.

Australia's 2019-20 bushfire season has been devastating for wildlife.

In a search for answers to the extinction crisis, researchers are turning to one lesser-known species, small enough to fit in the palm of your hand: the fat-tailed dunnart. The carnivorous mouse-like marsupial, no bigger than a golf ball and about as heavy as a toothbrush, has a tiny snout, dark, bulbous eyes and, unsurprisingly, a fat tail. It's Baby Yoda levels of adorable -- and it may be just as influential.

Mapping the dunnart's genome could help this little animal become the marsupial equivalent of the lab mouse -- a model organism scientists use to better understand biological processes, manipulate genes and test new approaches to treating disease. The ambitious project, driven by marsupial geneticist Andrew Pask and his team at the University of Melbourne over the last two years, will see scientists take advantage of incredible feats of genetic engineering, reprogramming cells at will.

It could even aid the creation of a frozen Noah's Ark of samples: a doomsday vault of marsupial cells, suspended in time, to preserve genetic diversity and help prevent further decline, bringing species back from the brink of extinction.

If that sounds far-fetched, it isn't. In fact, it's already happening.

Creating a reliable marsupial model organism is a long-held dream for Australian geneticists, stretching back to research pioneered by famed statistician Ronald Fisher in the mid-20th century. To understand why the model is so important, we need to look at the lab mouse, a staple of science laboratories for centuries.

"A lot of what we know about how genes work, and how genes work with each other, comes from the mouse," says Jenny Graves, a geneticist at La Trobe University in Victoria, Australia, who has worked with marsupials for five decades.

The mouse is an indispensable model organism that shares many genetic similarities with humans. It has been key in understanding basic human biology, testing new medicines and unraveling the mysteries of how our brains work. Mice form such a critical part of the scientific endeavor because they breed quickly, have large litters, and are cheap to house, feed and maintain.

The lab mouse has been indispensable in understanding physiology, biology and genetics.

In the 1970s, scientists developed a method to insert new genes into mice. After a decade of refinement, these genetically modified mice (known as "transgenic mice") provided novel ways to study how genes function. You could add a gene, turning its expression up to 11, or delete a gene entirely, shutting it off. Scientists had a powerful tool to discover which genes performed the critical work in reproduction, development and maturation.

The same capability does not exist for marsupials. "At the moment, we don't have any way of manipulating genes in a devil or a kangaroo or a possum," says Graves. Without this capability, it's difficult to answer more pointed questions about marsupial genes and how they compare with mammal genes, like those of mice and humans.

So far, two marsupial species -- the Tammar wallaby and the American opossum -- have been front and center of research efforts to create a reliable model organism, but they both pose problems. The wallaby breeds slowly, with only one baby every 18 months, and it requires vast swaths of land to maintain.

The short-tailed opossum might prove an even more complicated case. Pask, the marsupial geneticist, says the small South American marsupial is prone to eating its young, and breeding requires researchers to sift through hours of video footage, looking for who impregnated whom. Pask also makes a patriotic jab ("they're American so we don't like them") and says their differences from Australian marsupials make them less useful for the problems Australian species face.

But the dunnart boasts all the features that make the mouse such an attractive organism for study: It is small and easy to house, breeds well in captivity and has large litters.

"Our little guys are just like having a mouse basically, except they have a pouch," Pask says.

Pask (front) and Frankenberg inspect some of their dunnarts at the University of Melbourne.

A stern warning precedes my first meeting with Pask's colony of fat-tailed dunnarts.

"It smells like shit," he says. "They shit everywhere."

I quickly discover he's right. Upon entering the colony's dwellings on the third floor of the University of Melbourne's utilitarian BioSciences building, you're punched in the face by a musty, fecal smell.

Pask, a laid-back researcher whose face is almost permanently fixed with a smile, and one of his colleagues, researcher Stephen Frankenberg, appear unfazed by the odor. They've adapted to it. Inside the small room that houses the colony, storage-box-cages are stacked three shelves high. They're filled with upturned egg cartons and empty buckets, which work as makeshift nests for the critters to hide in.

Andrew Pask

Frankenberg reaches in without hesitation and plucks one from a cage -- nameless but numbered "29" -- and it hides in his enclosed fist before peeking out of the gap between his thumb and forefinger, snout pulsing. As I watch Frankenberg cradle it, the dunnart seems curious, and Pask warns me it's more than agile enough to manufacture a great escape.

In the wild, fat-tailed dunnarts are just as inquisitive and fleet-footed. Their range extends across most of southern and central Australia, and the most recent assessment of their population numbers shows they aren't suffering population declines in the same way many of Australia's bigger marsupial species are.

Move over, Baby Yoda.

As I watch 29 scamper up Frankenberg's arm, the physical similarities between it and a mouse are obvious. Pask explains that the dunnart's DNA is much more closely related to the Tasmanian devil, an endangered cat-sized carnivore native to Australia, than the mouse. But from a research perspective, Pask notes the similarities between mouse and dunnart run deep -- and that's why it's such an important critter.

"The dunnart is going to be our marsupial workhorse like the mouse is for placental mammals," Pask says.

For that to happen, Pask's team has to perfect an incredible feat of genetic engineering: They have to learn how to reprogram its cells.

To do so, they collect skin cells from the dunnart's ear or footpad and drop them in a flask where scientists can introduce new genes into the skin cell. The introduced genes are able to trick the adult cell, convincing it to become a "younger," specialized cell with almost unlimited potential.

The reprogrammed cells are known as "induced pluripotent stem cells," or iPS cells, and since Japanese scientists unraveled how to perform this incredible feat in 2006, they have proven to be indispensable for researchers because they can become any cell in the body.

"You can grow them in culture and put different sorts of differentiation factors on them and see if they can turn into nerve cells, muscle cells, brain cells, blood vessels," Pask explains. That means these special cells could even be programmed to become a sperm or an egg, in turn allowing embryos to be made.

Implanting the embryo in a surrogate mother could create a whole animal.

It took about 15 minutes to get this dunnart to sit still.

Although such a technological leap has been made in mice, it's still a long way from fruition for marsupials. At present, only the Tasmanian devil has had iPS cells created from skin, and no sperm or egg cells were produced.

Pask's team has been able to dupe the dunnart's cells into reverting to stem cells -- and they've even made some slight genetic tweaks in the lab. But that's just the first step.

He believes there are likely to be small differences between species, but if the methodology remains consistent and reproducible in other marsupials, scientists could begin to create iPS cells from Australia's array of unique fauna. They could even sample skin cells from wild marsupials and reprogram those.

Doing so would be indispensable in the creation of a biobank, where the cells would be frozen down to -196 degrees Celsius (-273F) and stored until they're needed. It would act as a safeguard -- a backup copy of genetic material that could, in some distant future, be used to bring species back from the edge of oblivion, helping repopulate them and restoring their genetic diversity.

Underneath San Diego Zoo's Beckman Center for Conservation Research lies the Frozen Zoo, a repository of test tubes containing the genetic material of over 10,000 species. Stacked in towers and chilled inside giant metal vats, the tubes contain the DNA of threatened species from around the world, suspended in time.

It's the largest wildlife biobank in the world.

"Our goal is to opportunistically collect cells ... on multiple individuals of as many species as we can, to provide a vast genetic resource for research and conservation efforts," explains Marlys Houck, curator at the Frozen Zoo.

The Zoo's efforts to save the northern white rhino from extinction have been well publicized. Other research groups have been able to create a northern white rhino embryo in the lab, combining eggs of the last two remaining females with frozen sperm from departed males. Scientists propose implanting those embryos in a surrogate mother of a closely related species, the southern white rhino, to help drag the species back from the edge of oblivion.

For the better part of a decade, conservationists have been focused on this goal, and now their work is paying off: In the "coming months," the lab-created northern white rhino embryo will be implanted in a surrogate.

Sudan, the last male northern white rhinoceros, was euthanized in 2018.

Marisa Korody, a conservation geneticist at the Frozen Zoo, stresses that this type of intervention was really the last hope for the rhino, a species whose population had already diminished to just eight individuals a decade ago.

"We only turn to these methods when more traditional conservation methods have failed," she says.

In Australia, researchers are telling whoever will listen that traditional conservation methods are failing.

"We've been saying for decades and decades, many of our species are on a slippery slope," says John Rodger, a marsupial conservationist at the University of Newcastle, Australia, and CEO of the Fauna Research Alliance, which has long advocated for the banking of genetic material of species in Australia and New Zealand.

In October, 240 of Australia's top scientists delivered a letter to the government detailing the country's woeful record on protecting species, citing the 1,800 plants and animals in danger of extinction, and the "weak" environmental laws which have been ineffective at keeping Australian fauna alive.

Institutions around Australia, such as Taronga Zoo and Monash University, have been biobanking samples since the '90s, reliant on philanthropic donations to stay online, but researchers say this is not enough. For at least a decade, they've been calling for the establishment of a national biobank to support Australia's threatened species.

John Rodger

"Our real problem in Australia ... is underinvestment," Rodger says. "You've got to accept this is not a short-term investment."

The current government installed a threatened-species commissioner in 2017 and committed $255 million ($171 million in US dollars) in funding to improve the prospects of 20 mammal species by 2020. In the most recent progress report, released in 2019, only eight of those 20 were identified as having an "improved trajectory," meaning populations were either increasing faster or declining slower compared to 2015.

A spokesperson for the commissioner outlined the $50 million investment to support immediate work to protect wildlife following the bushfires, speaking to monitoring programs, establishment of "insurance populations" and feral cat traps. No future strategies regarding biobanking were referenced.

Researchers believe we need to act now to preserve iconic Australian species like the koala.

In the wake of the catastrophic bushfire season and the challenges posed by climate change, Australia's extinction crisis is again in the spotlight. Koalas are plastered over social media with charred noses and bandaged skin. On the front page of newspapers, kangaroos bound in front of towering walls of flame.

Houck notes that San Diego's Frozen Zoo currently stores cell lines "from nearly 30 marsupial species, including koala, Tasmanian devil and kangaroo," but that's only one-tenth of the known marsupial species living in Australia today.

"Nobody in the world is seriously working on marsupials but us," Rodger says. "We've got a huge interest in maintaining these guys for tourism, national icons... you name it."

There's a creeping sense of dread in the researchers I talk to that perhaps we've passed a tipping point, not just in Australia, but across the world. "We are losing species at an alarming rate," says Korody from the Frozen Zoo. "Some species are going extinct before we even know they are there."

With such high stakes, Pask and his dunnarts are in a race against time. Perfecting the techniques to genetically engineer the tiny marsupial's cells will help enable the preservation of all marsupial species for generations to come, future-proofing them against natural disasters, disease, land-clearing and threats we may not even be able to predict right now.

Pask reasons "we owe it" to marsupials to develop these tools and, at the very least, biobank their cells if we can't prevent extinction. "We really should be investing in this stuff now," he says. He's optimistic.

In some distant future, years from now, a bundle of frozen stem cells might just bring the koala or the kangaroo back from the brink of extinction.

And for that, we'll have the dunnart to thank.

Originally published Feb. 18, 5 a.m. PT.

Continue reading here:
Building a 'doomsday vault' to save the kangaroo and koala from extinction - CNET

The road to Batlow is full of dead.

In the gray, smoky mist of the morning, it is difficult to distinguish exactly what Matt Roberts' camera captures. Roberts, a graphic reporter for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, keeps his lens focused on the road while rolling towards the devastated by fire 55 miles west of Canberra, the capital of Australia. On the edge of the asphalt, the blackened carcasses lie motionless.

The grim scene widely shared on social networks, is emblematic of the impact that the forest fire season 2019-20 has had on the animal life of Australia. Some estimates suggest that "many, billions" of animals have been killed, endemic insect populations could be crippled and, as the ashes go down to the waterways, marine life will be severely affected. The scale of forest fires is so large that scientists are unlikely to know the impact on wildlife for many years.

But even before wildfires roared across the country, the only animals native to Australia were in a terrible struggle for survival. Habitat destruction, invasive species, hunting and climate change have conspired against them. Native wildlife populations are plummeting or disappearing altogether, leaving Australia with an unenviable record: it has the highest rate of mammalian extinctions in the world.

A large part of the extinctions in Australia have involved marsupials, the kind of mammals that include kangaroos, wallabies, koalas and the nation's iconic wombats. A century ago, the Tasmanian Tiger He was still walking quietly through the forests of Australia. The desert rat kangaroo leapt through the clay containers inside, taking refuge from the sun in excavated nests.

Now they are gone.

Australia's 2019-20 forest fire season has been devastating for wildlife.

John Moore / Getty

In a search for answers to the extinction crisis, researchers are turning to a lesser-known species, small enough to fit in the palm of their hand: the fat-tailed dunnart. The mouse-shaped carnivorous marsupial, no bigger than a golf ball and almost as heavy as a toothbrush, has a small snout, dark, bulbous eyes and, as expected, a fat tail. Their Baby yoda adorable levels, and can be so influential.

The dunnart genome mapping could help this small animal to become the marsupial equivalent of the laboratory mouse, a model organism that scientists use to better understand biological processes, manipulate genes and try new approaches to treat the disease. The ambitious project, driven by the marsupial geneticist Andrew Pask and his team at the University of Melbourne over the past two years, will see scientists take advantage of the incredible feats of genetic engineering, reprogramming the cells at will.

It could even help the creation of a frozen Noah's ark of samples: a vault at the end of the world of marsupial cells, suspended in time, to preserve genetic diversity and help prevent further deterioration, returning species to the edge of the extinction

If that sounds exaggerated, it is not. In fact, it is already happening.

The creation of a reliable marsupial model organism is a long-standing dream for Australian geneticists, dating back to research initiated by the famous statistician Ronald Fisher in the mid-20th century. To understand why the model is so important, we must look at the laboratory mouse, a staple of science labs for centuries.

"A lot of what we know about how genes work and how genes work with each other, comes from the mouse," says Jenny Graves, a geneticist at La Trobe University in Victoria, Australia, who has worked with marsupials for five decades.

The mouse is an indispensable model organism that shares many genetic similarities with humans. It has been key in Understand basic human biology, try new medications and unravel the mysteries of how our brains work. Mice form such an important part of the scientific effort because they reproduce quickly, have large litters and are economical to house, feed and maintain.

The laboratory mouse has been indispensable for understanding physiology, biology and genetics.

Getty / Picture Alliance

In the 1970s, scientists developed a method to insert new genes into mice. After a decade of refinement, these genetically modified mice (known as "transgenic mice") provided new ways to study how genes work. You could add a gene, changing its expression to 11, or remove a gene completely, turning it off. The scientists had a powerful tool to discover which genes performed the critical work in reproduction, development and maturation.

The same capacity does not exist for marsupials. "At the moment, we have no way of manipulating genes in a demon, a kangaroo or an opossum," says Graves. Without this ability, it is difficult to answer more specific questions about marsupial genes and how they compare to mammalian genes, such as mice and humans.

So far, two species of marsupials, the Tammar wallaby and the American opossum, have been the focus of research efforts to create a reliable model organism, but both pose problems. The wallaby reproduces slowly, with only one baby every 18 months, and requires vast tracts of land to support itself.

Short-tailed possum could be an even more complicated case. Pask, the marsupial geneticist, says that the little South American marsupial is prone to eat his young, and the young requires researchers to examine hours of video, looking for who impregnated who. Pask also makes a patriotic jab ("they are Americans, so we don't like them") and says that their differences with Australian marsupials make them less useful for the problems facing Australian species.

But the dunnart has all the features that make the mouse such an attractive organism for the study: it is small and easy to accommodate, reproduces well in captivity and has large litters.

"Our little boys are like having a mouse basically, except they have a bag," says Pask.

Pask (front) and Frankenberg inspect some of their dunnarts at the University of Melbourne.

Jackson Ryan / CNET

A severe warning precedes my first encounter with Pask's fat-tailed dunnarts colony.

"It smells like shit," he says. "They shit everywhere."

I quickly discover that he is right. Upon entering the homes of the colony on the third floor of the utilitarian BioSciences building at the University of Melbourne, a musty smell and feces hit you in the face.

Pask, a relaxed investigator whose face is almost permanently fixed with a smile, and one of his colleagues, researcher Stephen Frankenberg, is not frightened by the smell. They have adapted to that. Inside the small room that houses the colony, the storage cages are stacked on three shelves high. They are full of cartons of overturned eggs and empty buckets, which function as makeshift nests for creatures to hide.

The dunnart will be our marsupial workhorse as the mouse for placental mammals.

Andrew Pask

Frankenberg approaches without hesitation and pulls one out of a cage, without a name but numbered "29", and hides in his clenched fist before peering through the space between his thumb and index finger, with his muzzle pressing. While I see Frankenberg cradling him, the dunnart seems curious, and Pask warns me that he is agile enough to make a great escape.

In nature, thick-tailed dunnarts are equally curious and floating-legged. Their range extends over most of southern and central Australia, and the most recent assessment of their population numbers shows that they are not suffering population declines in the same way as many of Australia's largest marsupial species.

Move aside, Baby Yoda.

Jackson Ryan / CNET

While I see 29 running around Frankenberg's arm, the physical similarities between him and a mouse are obvious. Pask explains that the DNA of the dunnart is much more related to the Tasmanian devil, a carnivore the size of an endangered cat native to Australia, than the mouse. But from a research perspective, Pask points out that the similarities between the mouse and the dunnart are deep, and that is why he is such an important creature.

"The dunnart will be our marsupial workhorse as the mouse for placental mammals," says Pask.

For that to happen, Pask's team has to perfect an incredible feat of genetic engineering: they have to learn to reprogram their cells.

To do this, they collect cells from the skin of the ear or the foot pad of the dunnart and place them in a flask where scientists can introduce new genes into the skin cell. The introduced genes can deceive the adult cell, convincing it to become a specialized "younger" cell with almost unlimited potential.

Reprogrammed cells are known as "induced pluripotent stem cells" or iPS cells, and since Japanese scientists unraveled how to perform this incredible feat in 2006, they have proven indispensable for researchers because they can become none cell in the body

"You can grow them in culture and put different types of differentiation factors on them and see if they can become nerve cells, muscle cells, brain cells, blood vessels," explains Pask. That means that these special cells could even be programmed to become a sperm or an egg, allowing embryos to occur.

Implanting the embryo in a surrogate mother could create a whole animal

It took about 15 minutes to make this dunnart stand still.

Jackson Ryan / CNET

Although there has been a great technological leap in mice, it is still a long way from fruiting the marsupials. Currently, only the Tasmanian devil has created iPS cells from the skin, and no sperm or ovules have been produced.

Pask's team has been able to trick dunnart cells into stem cells, and they have even made some slight genetic adjustments in the laboratory. But that is only the first step.

He believes there are likely to be small differences between species, but if the methodology is still consistent and reproducible in other marsupials, scientists could begin to create iPS cells from the unique Australian fauna variety. They could even take samples of wild marsupial skin cells and reprogram them.

Doing so would be indispensable in creating a biobank, where cells would freeze at -196 degrees Celsius (-273 F) and store until needed. It would act as a safeguard: a backup copy of the genetic material that could, in the distant future, be used to bring species back to the brink of oblivion, helping to repopulate them and restore their genetic diversity.

Under the Beckman Center for the Conservation Research of the San Diego Zoo is the Frozen Zoo, a repository of test tubes containing the genetic material of more than 10,000 species. Stacked in towers and refrigerated inside giant metal vats, the tubes contain the DNA of threatened species from around the world, suspended in time.

It is the largest wildlife biobank in the world.

"Our goal is to collect cells opportunistically in multiple individuals of as many species as we can, to provide a vast genetic resource for research and conservation efforts," explains Marlys Houck, curator of the frozen zoo.

The zoo's efforts to save the northern white rhino from extinction have been well publicized. Other research groups have been able to create a northern white rhino embryo in the laboratory, combining ovules from the last two remaining females with frozen sperm from deceased males. The scientists propose to implant these embryos in a surrogate mother of a closely related species, the southern white rhinoceros, to help drag the species towards the edge of oblivion.

For most of a decade, conservationists have focused on this goal, and now their work is paying off: in the "coming months," the northern white rhino embryo created in the laboratory will be implanted in a substitute.

Sudan, the last white rhino of the male north, was sacrificed in 2018.

Tony Karumba / Getty

Marisa Korody, a conservation geneticist at the frozen zoo, emphasizes that this type of intervention was really the last hope for the rhinoceros, a species whose population had already declined to only eight individuals a decade ago.

"We only resort to these methods when the more traditional conservation methods have failed," she says.

In Australia, researchers tell whoever hears that traditional conservation methods are failing.

"We've been saying for decades and decades, many of our species are on a slippery slope," says John Rodger, a marsupial conservationist at the University of Newcastle, Australia, and CEO of the Wildlife Research Alliance, who has long advocated time by the bank of species genetic material in Australia and New Zealand.

In October, 240 of Australia's top scientists delivered a letter to the government detailing the country's unfortunate history of species protection, citing 1,800 plants and animals in danger of extinction, and "weak" environmental laws that have not been effective in keeping Australian wildlife alive. .

Australian institutions, such as the Taronga Zoo and Monash University, have been samples of biobanks since the 1990s, which rely on philanthropic donations to stay online, but researchers say this is not enough. For at least a decade, they have been calling for the establishment of a national biobank to support threatened species in Australia.

No one in the world is working seriously on marsupials except us.

John rodger

"Our real problem in Australia is the lack of investment," says Rodger. "You have to accept that this is not a short-term investment."

The current government installed a commissioner of endangered species in 2017 and committed $ 255 million ($ 171 million in US dollars) in funds to improve the prospects of 20 mammal species by 2020. In the most recent progress report, published in 2019, only eight of those were identified that 20 had an "improved trajectory", which means that populations increased faster or decreased more slowly compared to 2015.

A spokesman for the commissioner described the $ 50 million investment to support immediate work to protect wildlife after forest fires, talking about monitoring programs, establishing "insurance populations" and traps for wild cats. No reference was made to future strategies regarding biobank.

Researchers believe that we must act now to preserve iconic Australian species such as koala.

Fairfax Media / Getty

Following the catastrophic season of forest fires and the challenges posed by climate change, Australia's extinction crisis is once again in the spotlight. Koalas are covered in social networks with charred noses and bandaged skin. On the front page of the newspapers, kangaroos tied in front of imposing walls of flame.

Houck notes that the San Diego frozen zoo currently stores cell lines "of almost 30 species of marsupials, including koala, Tasmanian devil and kangaroo," but that is only one tenth of the known marsupial species that live in Australia today in day.

"No one in the world is working seriously on marsupials except us," says Rodger. "We have a keen interest in keeping these guys for tourism, national icons whatever."

The researchers I speak with feel a growing sense of fear that perhaps we have passed a turning point, not only in Australia, but throughout the world. "We are losing species at an alarming rate," says Korody of the frozen zoo. "Some species are becoming extinct even before we know they are there."

With so much at stake, Pask and his dunnarts are in a race against time. Improving the techniques to genetically design the small cells of the marsupial will help allow the preservation of all species of marsupials for generations to come, future-proof against natural disasters, diseases, clearings and threats that we cannot even predict at this time.

Pask reasons "we owe it" to the marsupials to develop these tools and, at least, biobank their cells if we cannot avoid extinction. "We should really invest in these things now," he says. He is optimistic.

In the distant future, within years, a package of frozen stem cells could bring the koala or kangaroo back to the brink of extinction.

And for that, we will have the dunnart to thank.

Originally published on February 18 at 5 a.m. PT.

Here is the original post:
Build a & # 39; vault of the end of the world & # 39; to save the kangaroo and the koala from extinction - NewsDio

VCTORIA -- B.C. Finance Minister Carole James delivered the NDP's third balanced budget in a row Tuesday. Below is the text of her budget speech in its entirety:

Id like to begin by acknowledging that we are on the traditional territory of the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations and I want to give a warm welcome to everyone here today. A budget is built with the work and input of many thanks to all the staff in the Ministry of Finance and my office for their extraordinary efforts.

Thank you to everyone who wrote and took part in the Select Standing Committee on Finances budget consultations and thank you to the many people who have shared their ideas and hopes for the future of our province. Working together will help us build a stronger B.C. for everyone. Thats what Budget 2020 is all about.

Its about the fundamental changes our government has been making for the people of British Columbia. Its about continuing to fix the problems facing families today. And its about delivering the results that keep us moving forward together. The changes we have made are all about making lives better today and creating opportunities that last a lifetime opportunities to put down roots, contribute to your community, and have a job that provides a good quality of life.

These are the things that drive us and my family is no exception. In the 1950s, my grandparents left England and moved to Saskatchewan with my mum. Like so many others who immigrated to Canada, they left the only home they had ever known in search of a better life for their family.

Times were tough, money was tight. My grandmother soon found a job at the local hospital. Together, she and my grandfather worked day in and day out to put food on the table and keep a roof over our heads. For my grandparents, family was never just immediate family it was anyone in our community who needed a hand up. Over the years, our family grew to include dozens of foster kids.

Growing up alongside children of all ages and abilities showed me that while everyone has something to contribute to this world, not everyone is given the opportunity they need to make their mark. While my grandmother possessed a quiet, solid strength, my mother is the trail-blazer and fierce community advocate.

As a young single parent with two children, my mum enrolled in teachers college, about two hours away from our family home in Saskatchewan. During the week, my grandparents would take care of me and my sister, while my mum put herself through school.

Looking back, I can see the barriers she faced as a single parent to two young girls living in a small prairie town. I also recognize that access to education creates opportunities that span generations it has the power to change a family forever.

Had the door to opportunity remained closed for my mother, I have no doubt that my life would have looked very different.

These personal experiences also reflect what I have heard from so many British Columbians. People want to do for themselves; sometimes they just need a door to open for that to happen. As Finance Minister, its my job to make sure that the benefits of B.C.s strong economy are felt by everyone, not just the few at the top.

After nearly three years of choices that put people first, were starting to see the results. From new roads, hospitals, schools, and housing, to new services and job opportunities life in B.C. is getting better every day.

And our economy is stronger because we are putting B.C. on a path to a cleaner, better future. This is my third full budget as Finance Minister.

As with previous years, our government continues to work from a balanced budget. Our fiscal strategy lays out a solid plan with layers of planning and foresight. B.C. remains an economic leader in Canada. We are the only province with triple-A credit ratings from the three major international rating agencies.

We have the lowest unemployment rate in the country, and zero operating debt. Our fiscal foundation remains strong, as does our commitment to:

We know that delivering on these priorities means strong climate action, meaningful reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and a commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion.

Supported by the Confidence and Supply Agreement with the BC Green Party caucus, government is advancing these priorities.

Moving forward, together

Together, we have made a lot of progress and, today, I am presenting our plan to keep B.C. moving forward.

Budget 2020 breaks down barriers to opportunity for you, your children and your neighbours.

Budget 2020 delivers access to a good education, quality health care and vital community supports.

And Budget 2020 supports British Columbians who are working hard to get ahead by making life more affordable.

We are not here to deliver the largest surplus possible, at all costs.

The point of a budget is to plan ahead, to set priorities and to make responsible decisions that are good for people over the long term.

That is what we have done for the last two and a half years, and we cant afford to turn back.

Choosing a different path

Over the last decade our provinces economy has remained strong, but many people and communities fell further behind.

There was a bright future in British Columbia, but only for the few who could afford it. I am proud to say that, as a province, we are now on a different path. We are making different choices. And Budget 2020 backs up our choices with action. Mr. Speaker, the days of cashing in on a hot real estate market at the expense of hardworking British Columbians are done.

Instead of turning a blind eye to money laundering and the housing crisis, were acting so that everyone can afford a future in British Columbia. Money laundering in our economy must end. Our goal is to ensure balance and it is not balanced to have an economy distorted by dirty money. Budget 2020 delivers on our commitment to conduct a public inquiry and get people the answers they deserve.

Mr. Speaker, the old practice of hoarding surplus at the expense of people is over. Instead, we are choosing a balanced fiscal approach, one that maintains a reasonable surplus while investing in people. Because we understand that when the door to opportunity closes one too many times, people can lose hope. A little support can be life changing.

Building on our governments poverty reduction plan, Budget 2020 increases earnings exemptions for people receiving income and disability assistance. This gives people a chance to increase their household income, remain connected to the workforce, and build up the kind of valuable work experience that can lead to a good-paying job. And after years of cuts that hurt people most in need, Budget 2020 provides new funding for children in care and adults with diverse abilities.

A commitment to ongoing funding for the cultural connections program will provide more support for Indigenous children to stay connected with their communities and families. Mr. Speaker, in partnership with Indigenous peoples, we are choosing a more stable and prosperous path for everyone.

We got right to work with new money for language revitalization, a historic revenue-sharing agreement, and changes to the child welfare system that will keep more Indigenous children in their communities. Aboriginal friendship centres now have long-term, stable funding. And we stepped up as the first province to fund on-reserve housing in Canada.

I am proud to say that the human rights of Indigenous peoples are now enshrined in law as the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. I recognize the road ahead is not without its challenges. But if we invite the conversation and work from a place of respect, we will build a better future together. And to achieve that future, Mr. Speaker, our government is not waiting to take action on complex problems that defy simple solutions.

Our government has taken significant steps to help address sustainability at ICBC and affordability for British Columbians.

While the old government ignored the problems with auto insurance, we are transforming ICBC to make it work for you.

Instead of pushing problems down the road, we are standing up for the best interests of British Columbians.

I want to recognize that, right now, the people who depend on B.C.s forest industry are hurting. A thriving forest sector has provided good, stable jobs for many families going back generations. However, over the last number of years, the mountain pine beetle infestation, wildfires and the softwood lumber dispute have reduced timber supply and triggered a wave of mills to close their doors or scale back shifts.

These changes didnt happen overnight, but that doesnt lessen the hardship that forest workers and their families are facing right now.

We wont turn our backs on the people who have helped power our province for so long. Our governments top priority is to provide the help that people need to get on with their lives, to support their families, and to plan for a good future in our province.

Workers are now getting job placement and skills training, equipment loans for coastal logging contractors, grants for hard-hit communities, and programs to support early retirement. Investments in public infrastructure are building a better British Columbia, and wherever possible, B.C. engineered wood will serve as the foundation.

These are important steps. But a healthy and sustainable forest industry depends on bringing together industry, First Nations, unions and government to find solutions.

Budget 2020 takes another step forward with new funding to begin developing opportunities for B.C.s bio-economy and revitalization within the forest sector.

We will keep working hard to make sure that forest workers, contractors, and communities get the support they deserve.

A better future, together

Because we are all in this together. And only when we work together, will we succeed in the kind of fundamental change that provides relief from the problems facing people now and inspires hope for a better future.

A future where your opportunities are not defined by your age, income bracket or home address. Instead, our plan creates a lifetime of opportunity for everyone in British Columbia.

For my family as it does for so many others it all started with a good education. Going back to school and building up her career meant that my mother was able to put away a little money each month and build a better future for herself and our family. Growing up, we didnt always have a lot, but we had enough for both me and my sister to know that nothing was out of reach.

As Finance Minister, I am unwavering in my commitment to delivering the opportunities that our children and grandchildren deserve. But for too long, families were left to struggle as their monthly bills kept going up, while the health, education, and community supports they counted on were slashed. In a prosperous province like British Columbia, we can and must do better. And we are.

Launching this fall, the new BC Child Opportunity Benefit will help lift up thousands of kids and give them the opportunities they deserve, now and down the road. Families with one child will be eligible to receive up to $1,600 annually. For two children, that goes up to $2,600, and its up to $3,400 for three kids. People can bank on this tax-free support up until their childs eighteenth birthday. On top of the new benefit, this will be the first full year that people wont have to pay the unfair MSP premium.

Together, these two measures could save families thousands of dollars that they can put towards what really matters: setting up the next generation for success. For many, that starts with access to affordable, high-quality child care. Child care for all is closer than ever to becoming a reality in our province. Thousands of new licensed child care spaces are opening, and some parents are saving nearly $20,000 annually. Budget 2020 builds on the progress with total investments reaching $2 billion over three years for child care in British Columbia.

Child care is critical to achieving equality in the workplace, helping to close the gender pay gap, and giving more parents particularly women the opportunity to take their careers to the next level. We are also investing in B.C.s early childhood educators again, almost entirely women with more bursaries and increased wages.

Additionally, B.C.s minimum wage will rise to more than $15 per hour by 2021. For the almost 140,000 people who currently earn minimum wage, more than half of which are women, this will provide a much-needed boost.

Weve also invested over $12 million to provide more opportunities for women to become todays electricians, carpenters and heavy-duty mechanics, while opening the door for the next generation of girls.

Mr. Speaker, our government is putting children and families first. Child care for all is a fundamental change that will redefine an entirely new generation of children and their parents. Not only does quality child care give parents peace of mind, it can help provide kids with the solid start they need for a smooth transition to school.

Record investments in education mean that B.C. kids are learning in some of the smallest class sizes in a decade with more supports available for children of all ages and abilities. New schools are opening in some of our fastest growing communities, from Surrey to Fort St. John, and Chilliwack to Langley, to inspire hope, curiosity and confidence in young learners. As Finance Minister, but also as a mother and grandmother, I know the success of our province depends on giving our kids the best possible start in life.

Inside the classroom, we are supporting students with more than 4,200 teachers, including 700 new special education teachers, and nearly 200 new teacher-psychologists and counsellors. I am proud to say that Budget 2020 includes new funding of $339 million over the next three years to continue improving B.C. schools and setting students up for success.

Together, these investments add to the work already underway to strengthen our K-12 system, build better and safer schools, and prepare students for life after graduation. Mr. Speaker, we are making sure that our young people have the skills and training to excel in the economy of tomorrow.

In the next 10 years, there will be more than 800,000 job openings in health care, early childhood education, skilled trades, tech and much more. There are good things happening in our province, and we want everyone to be a part of it. That is why our government has focused on breaking down barriers and creating pathways to opportunities. Adult Basic Education and English Language Learning are now free. Twelve hundred former youth in care are now attending college, university and trade schools for free. B.C. student loans are now interest free. And were partnering with post-secondary institutions to build thousands more student housing beds. Because we want our young people to focus on gaining the skills, knowledge and experience they need to provide for themselves and help power B.C.s economy. From my own experience, I saw how being able to go to school and build up my mums career changed her and my family. As a single parent, it put her on the pathway to economic independence and opened doors for me and my sister.

At the same time, being able to rely on the support of family helped my mum overcome the obstacles that may otherwise have kept her out of school. She was able to seize the opportunity and build a better life for herself and our family.

These are the kinds of opportunities that every person and every family deserve. And as Finance Minister, this is exactly what I intend to deliver.

As part of Budget 2020, I am proud to announce the new BC Access Grant for post-secondary students. Starting in September 2020, the new BC Access Grant will provide upfront funding to more than 40,000 students who may otherwise struggle to pay for post-secondary education. Between the new access grant and the Canada Student Grant, students can receive up to $4,000 a year to help them with the cost of tuition.

And for the first time provincial grants will be available to part-time students and students enrolled in programs of less than two years. This will help people land good-paying jobs in high-demand fields like early childhood education, health care and the skilled trades.

This grant is about investing in our shared future A future where B.C.s workforce is flexible, innovative and ready to thrive in a world shaped by advancing technology, global trade and climate action.

And, I believe B.C. will rise to that challenge thanks to the passion and talents of the people who call our province home.

Building up a skilled workforce is one part of the equation. But we also need to build affordable housing to keep people in the neighbourhoods where they live, work and learn. Sweeping change is on the way thanks to the largest investment in affordable housing in B.C.s history $7 billion over 10 years to deliver 114,000 homes. In just two and a half years, almost 23,000 new homes are underway or complete throughout the province.

We started where the impact was most immediate. More than 2,000 people who were homeless now have stable housing and access to 24/7 support. And another 800 supportive homes are on the way. This years budget provides additional funding for more emergency shelter spaces, supportive homes and navigation centres to provide wraparound supports for people in need. Overall, government is delivering more than $4 billion over three years to help bring affordable housing within reach for people of all ages and income levels. We have a long way to go and we will get there in partnership with all levels of government, Indigenous peoples, not for profits and the private sector.

Mr. Speaker, our government is delivering the homes British Columbians need, along with the infrastructure and services that people count on, from our kids to our parents and grandparents. We know there is nothing more important than being able to access high-quality health care when you or your loved one needs it the most. As B.C.s population grows and ages, we need to make sure we are ready to meet the demand.

And Budget 2020 delivers. We are providing an additional $1 billion over three years for British Columbias health-care system. This new funding will help bring down surgical wait times and address the growing demand for services. Budget 2020 delivers better care for you and your family by building on the steps we have already taken to transform B.C.s health care system.

New or upgraded hospitals are coming to Fort St. James, Surrey, Williams Lake, Burnaby, Quesnel, Vancouver, Trail, Richmond, Nanaimo, North Vancouver, Dawson Creek, the Cowichan Valley and Terrace. New urgent and primary care centres are now open in Kamloops, Quesnel, Langford, Surrey, Vancouver, Nanaimo, Prince George, Burnaby, North Vancouver, Kelowna, Vernon, Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows. And another two centres are opening soon in Victoria and East Vancouver. After years of cuts, investments in long-term care and respite services are giving seniors and their caregivers a well-deserved boost.

No one should be forced to decide between buying groceries or prescription medicine. This year marks the first anniversary of eliminating or reducing Fair Pharmacare deductibles for 240,000 families. And soon, every post-secondary student will have access to 24/7 mental-health support services. This builds on a province-wide expansion of Foundry Centres to provide youth and families with a one stop shop for mental-health and substance-use supports.

Because its crucial to reach out to people early, before challenges escalate. We know theres more to do, especially when it comes to keeping our young people healthy. As part of Budget 2020, B.C. will begin charging PST on sweetened carbonated drinks to help address the health and economic costs of these beverages.

Research shows that teens between the ages of 14 and 18 are the top consumers of pop. This is a step that health professionals and an all-party committee have long supported. Because this is about keeping young people healthy while taking in a bit of revenue to continue to pay for enhanced health care services for everyone.

An economy that works for people

We know that people work hard to build a good life for themselves and their family. And in turn, people deserve an economy that works hard for them

By delivering good, stable jobs in all corners of the province. By building a connected and resilient network of communities. And by recognizing that a prosperous future means a clean future. To do that, we need an economy that works for people. When people thrive, our economy thrives. As Finance Minister, I often speak about the importance of building a diverse, sustainable and resilient economy. But what does that mean?

I think about my own story. My grandparents were both able to find good jobs that allowed them to provide for our family. My mum was able to go back to school and build up her career because my grandparents were willing and able to look after me and my sister. To me, this gets at the heart of what resilience looks like, for families and communities. It doesnt come down to our own individual strength, but rather the strength of the community we build around us. And this comes back to the core value guiding our government. It does not come down to a choice between investing in a strong economy, a clean environment, or in the people that call this province home. Investing in people, communities, and a clean future is fundamental to building a strong and sustainable economy.

This is a significant departure from what people experienced throughout much of the past decade. While British Columbias economy remained strong, many people and communities fell further behind. Now, together, we are building a better future grounded by an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top.

As part of Budget 2020 and our governments ongoing work to improve the services and infrastructure that we all depend on, a new tax bracket is being introduced for the top 1% of income earners in our province.

Nearly half the revenue will come from people making more than $1 million annually. This will help to deliver the infrastructure and services that create good jobs and keep B.C.s economy moving, while maintaining B.C.s tax system as one of the most competitive in the country. As Ive said before, we continue to do our part and look carefully at spending across government. This is simply part of ongoing responsible budget management.

No matter where you call home whether its our provinces north, south, east or west our plan creates opportunities for you.

I know that as proud British Columbians, there is more that unites us than divides us. We all want life to be more affordable. We all want a quality education for our kids. We all want access to health care when we need it. And we all want to feel the benefits that come with a strong provincial economy.

These are the priorities that have shaped our provinces historic capital plan. The scale of change is staggering: $18 billion worth of work is happening in all corners of the province. By building the schools, roads, hospitals, housing, post-secondary facilities and more that our growing province needs, our plan is supporting 100,000 direct and indirect jobs during construction. Together, we are building our way to a better quality of life no matter where you live.

For our urban centres, parents taking their kids to soccer practice will be able to hop on the Broadway Subway. Or, an electrician travelling from her home in Surrey to a job in New West will get where she needs to go because of the new Pattullo Bridge.

Metro Vancouver is already home to one of the top transit systems in the world. Our government is committed to building on the momentum, creating transit-oriented housing, good jobs and a path towards a cleaner future.

Looking to our rural communities, Highway 1 upgrades between Kamloops and Alberta will improve travel for locals, visitors and commercial drivers. And east of Golden, we are on the final phase of the Kicking Horse Canyon Project.

Investments in BC Transit are shortening daily commutes for people, while the BC North Bus connects our northern residents to jobs and services, along with family and friends.

After years of cuts to ferry service, our government is prioritizing coastal communities. Sailings have been added, fares have been frozen on major routes, and the seniors discount is back in effect. But infrastructure is about more than ferries, roads, bridges and transit it is also about the flow of ideas, knowledge and opportunity.

We are close to bringing our 500th connected community online. This means a digital world of opportunity is now open to people in Deka Lake, Clinton, Tofino, and Haida Gwaii.

British Columbia is growing, and we need to ramp up infrastructure investments digital and otherwise to keep goods, services, and people moving and B.C. businesses thriving. As government, we are working closely with the Business Council of British Columbia and the BC Chamber of Commerce to foster a competitive environment. And I want to say thank you to the many businesses and entrepreneurs who have chosen to set up shop in B.C.

We know that our economy must provide opportunities for businesses to succeed and they are. Named as one of 2019s top global cleantech companies, Semios gives B.C. farmers real-time data on their crops.

This kind of innovation feeds into the work of our governments Food Security Task Force, which aims to unlock the potential for agri-tech in B.C, create more jobs and reduce waste. And we are making good progress. Thanks to the hard-working people who make up B.C.s agriculture sector, 2018 was a record year for revenue. Another boost will come from new regional food hubs in Surrey, Port Alberni, Quesnel and Vancouver.

Mining, another one of B.C.s key industries, is joining forces with clean-tech to give local companies a global advantage.

As one example, Saltworks has created a new energy efficient technology that turns contaminated water from resource extraction into clean, fresh water.

In the rapidly expanding field of biotech, homegrown talent like STEMCELL Technologies is on track to create hundreds of new jobs in Burnaby.

And as work scales up on LNG Canadas $40 billion project, our province will benefit from an estimated 10,000 construction jobs and 950 permanent jobs. This new industry will create a legacy of skills and economic opportunity to sustain people and communities from the northeast to the north coast. Its clear that good things are happening in B.C.

In 2019, more than 45,000 jobs were added in the private sector, along with continued wage growth. In partnership with the BC Green Party caucus, the Emerging Economy Task Force will help keep B.C. at the cutting edge of clean tech, artificial intelligence and quantum computing. As Ive said before, we cannot have a strong economy without creating more opportunities for B.C.s rural regions to prosper.

Tourism has become a major province-wide employer and an economic driver for many small and rural communities. Growing the tourism industry can help boost local businesses and provide life-long careers for people right around our province.

New and upgraded infrastructure delivered through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program is also helping to build healthy and resilient communities.

Were working with the federal government, local governments and First Nations to deliver projects that support local growth, a green economy and inclusive communities. Projects are underway throughout the province with more on the way this year.

Originally posted here:
'A stronger B.C., for everyone': Read the full text of the B.C. Budget 2020 speech - CTV News

The 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak has sparked a speedy response, with scientists, physicians, and front-line healthcare professionals analyzing data in real-time in order to share findings and call out misinformation. Today, The Lancet published two new peer-reviewed studies: one which found that the new coronavirus is genetically distinct from human SARS and MERS, related viruses which caused their own outbreaks, and a second which reports clinical observations of 99 individuals with 2019-nCoV.

The first cases of the coronavirus outbreak were reported in late December 2019. In this new study, Nanshan Chen and colleagues analyzed available clinical, demographic, and laboratory data for 99 confirmed coronavirus cases at the Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital between Jan 1 to Jan 20, 2020, with clinical outcomes followed until 25th January.

Chen and colleagues reported that the average age of the 99 individuals with 2019-nCoV is around 55.5 years, where 51 have additional chronic conditions, including cardiovascular and cerebrovascular (blood flow to the brain) diseases. Clinical features of the 2019-nCoV include a fever, cough, shortness of breath, headaches, and a sore throat. 17 individuals went on to develop acute respiratory distress syndrome, resulting in death by multiple organ failure in 11 individuals. However, it is important to note here that most of the 2019-nCoV cases were treated with antivirals (75 individuals), antibiotics (70) and oxygen therapy (75), with promising prognoses, where 31 individuals were discharged as of 25th January.

Based on this sample, the study suggests that the 2019 coronavirus is more likely to affect older men already living with chronic conditions but as this study only includes 99 individuals with confirmed cases, it may not present a complete picture of the outbreak. As of right now, there are over 6,000 confirmed coronavirus cases reported, where a total of 126 individuals have recovered, and 133 have died.

In a second Lancet study, Roujian Lu and their fellow colleagues carried out DNA sequencing on samples, obtained from either a throat swab or bronchoalveolar lavage fluids, from eight individuals who had visited the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan, China, and one individual who stayed in a hotel near the market. Upon sequencing the coronaviruss genome, the researchers carried out phylogenetic analysis to narrow down the viruss likely evolutionary origin, and homology modelling to explore the virus receptor-binding properties.

Lu and their fellow colleagues found that the 2019-nCoV genome sequences obtained from the nine patients were very similar (>99.98% similarity). Upon comparing the genome to other coronaviruses (like SARS), the researchers found that the 2019-nCoV is more closely related (~87% similarity) to two bat-derived SARS-like coronaviruses, but does not have as high genetic similarity to known human-infecting coronaviruses, including the SARS-CoV (~79%) orMiddle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) CoV (~50%).

The study also found that the 2019-nCoV has a similar receptor-binding structure like that of SARS-CoV, though there are small differences in certain areas. This suggests that like the SARS-CoV, the 2019-nCoV may use the same receptor (called ACE2) to enter cells, though confirmation is still needed.

Finally, phylogenetic analysis found that the 2019-nCoV belongs to the Betacoronavirus family the same category that bat-derived coronaviruses fall into suggesting that bats may indeed be the 2019-nCoV reservoir. However, the researchers note that most bat species are hibernating in late December, and that no bats were being sold at the Huanan seafood market, suggesting that while bats may be the initial host, there may have been a secondary animal species which transmitted the 2019-nCoV between bats and humans.

Its clear that we can expect new findings from the research community in the coming days as scientists attempt to narrow down the source of the 2019-nCoV.

More here:
On #WorldPangolinDay, we celebrate this roly-poly scaly anteater, one of the world's most trafficked mammals - Massive Science

Beronda Montgomery, MSU Foundation Professor, was listed as one of the 100 inspiring black scientists in America byCrossTalk, the official blog ofCell Press, a leading publisher of cutting-edge biomedical and physical science research and reviews.

It is an honor to be listed among other highly accomplished, established and emerging scientists who I admire and celebrate, said Montgomery.

Montgomery has also been aCollege of Natural Sciencefaculty member since 2004 who holds joint appointments in theDepartment of Biochemistry and Molecular Biologyand theDepartment of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics.

Based on my engagement with students, both undergraduate and graduate, and early-career professionals in venues such as annual conferences, professional development workshops, campus visits and online, representation matters greatly, Montgomery said.

The inaugural list was established to help solidify the legacy of 100 accomplished scientists from African, Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Latinx and African American backgrounds in the fields of life sciences, chemistry, engineering and physics.

CrossTalk contributor Antentor O. Hinton Jr., postdoctoral fellow at the University of Iowa, and two of his colleagues recognized a pressing need to increase the visibility of black scientists and took action to highlight 75 established investigators, including Montgomery, and 25 rising stars.

The scientists were chosen based on their position, teaching and mentorship history and roles as advocates for Diversity in STEM.

Hinton hopes that illuminating these scientists through social media will underscore the necessity for diversity in the academy and encourage the next generation of young, black scientists.

We are hoping to spread the word around the science community about how to teach, train and mentor minority scientists by showing them they are not the only ones in science that look like them, Hinton said. This type of list is something that is rarely captured or recognized.

Montgomery, who is also a member of theMSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory, was chosen for her outstanding research, commitment to creating literature about diversity and inclusion and her dedication to mentoring and developing scientists of diverse backgrounds.

Individuals with shared demographics or backgrounds have shared poignantly how meaningful it is to engage and see individuals who are further along a career trajectory on highly visible platforms, Montgomery said. In this sense, the curators of this list are providing a highly visible platform for representation and potentially recognition.

Montgomerys exemplary career has been highlighted with several honors.

She was chosen for a National Science Foundation CAREER Award and was named a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology for seminal contributions to understanding physiological and morphogenic adaptation of photosynthetic microbes to light.

For these and other outstanding contributions to the university, Montgomery became an MSU Foundation Professor in 2016.

CrossTalk plans to publish another list in 2021. For a full listing of this years 100 inspiring black scientists, please visitcrosstalk.cell.com.

More here:
MSU's Beronda Montgomery recognized as one of the 100 most inspiring black scientists in America - MSUToday

Montana wildlife officials investigate unusual elk that they found was taken from Washington and set loose in Montana.

GREAT FALLS, Mont. It reads like a forensic crime drama and in a very real sense it is.

A Montana game warden learns of an unusual elk shot along the Rocky Mountain Front. The animal has physical peculiarities unlike anything the department has seen before. Genetic testing reveals that the young bull is of an exotic sub-species, and that it came from a herd more than 600 miles from where it was shot.

How did it get here? Who released it into the wild? What would have happened had the bull lived, intermingling for years with Montana's native elk population?

When a new disease appears in humans, pathologists make every effort to identify 'Patient Zero' the first person to become infected with the new pathogen. Finding patient zero is important because knowing that person's history can help to determine how and when the outbreak started.

This unusual 2-year-old elk harvested 16 months ago in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains is FWP's Elk Zero.

"It wasnt just an elk," remarked Dave Holland, game warden captain for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, to the Great Falls Tribune. It had the ability to be an ecological disaster.

The elk with florescent antlers

On Oct. 20, 2018, a 'spike' bull elk was legally harvested north of Choteau. The hunter didn't immediately notice anything unusual about the animal, and took it to a wild game processor to have it butchered. It was there that things began to get interesting.

According to Holland, when the hunter returned to check on his order the processor asked him what the deal was with the elk's antlers. The bull's spikes had been painted orange, but the hunter hadn't noticed because he is color blind.

The elk's florescent antlers weren't its only unusual feature. When Warden Ron Duty inspected the animal's carcass he discovered it had been castrated. Duty began asking people around Choteau if they'd ever seen the elk, or knew who was responsible for it.

People had videos of this elk," Holland recalled. "It would walk right up to people. Obviously, humans had been interacting with this elk, probably since it was a calf."

Some of the locals had even given it a name "Buford" but no one claimed responsibility, nor claimed to know its origin.

The possibility that the elk had somehow escaped or been released from a regional game farm also was explored, but there was no record of a missing animal, something that would have almost surely existed had it been raised in commercial captivity.

Game farms are highly regulated," Holland noted. "They have to be fenced. All the animals have to be documented, and when they're harvested they have to be inspected.

FWP's interest in the case was motivated by more than simply idle curiosity about an unusual domesticated elk. Not knowing where Elk Zero came from, or whether it was just one member of a larger group of introduced elk, could have serious animal health implications.

The importation of any animal brings with it a full community of parasites and pathogens," explained Emily Almberg, disease ecologist for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Some things might be pretty benign, but there are things that we worry about that might be difficult to detect just by looking at an animal.

Chronic wasting disease, bovine tuberculosis and brucellosis are all diseases carried by elk, and which can be transmitted by them to other animals in some cases to livestock. Not knowing where Elk Zero had come from or what it had been exposed to was a serious consideration.

Yet, no one in the Choteau area seemed to know or would claim to know very much about it. There were, however, two individuals more directly connected to Elk Zero than the rest of the community.

FWP investigators were able to prove that two people from Choteau had been feeding the elk, which is a violation of state law.

In Montana it's a misdemeanor offense to attract wildlife of any type with food or other attractants like salt licks; the lone exception being the recreational feeding of birds. Violators face potential penalties of up to a $1,000 fine, six months in jail and a loss of their hunting, fishing, or trapping privileges.

Why feeding wildlife is a crime

Many Montanans feel a strong urge, born in compassion, to feed wild animals that appear to be struggling. Not only is feeding wildlife illegal, its also a bad idea.

People have the impression that wildlife need help; that we have to feed them to get them through the winter," said Game Warden Captain Dave Holland. "But when you put out an attractant like salt or food, you start unnaturally congregating the animals, which will help spread disease."

A recent example of this is the rapid spread of chronic wasting disease in deer congregating in and around Libby. The fatal neurological disease was unknown west of the continental divide until the spring of 2019, when a single white-tailed deer in Libby tested positive for the disease.

Since then more than 60 deer in the area have tested positive for CWD, many of them congregated in areas where people were actively feeding deer.

Feeding wildlife also habituates them to human food sources making it more likely they will be unable to survive on their own.

Youre actually doing them a disservice because if they dont learn how to forage for themselves theyre not going to survive after youve stopped feeding them," Holland notes. "It cant go on forever."

Most wildlife has evolved without humans helping them," he added. "Theyve got it figured out. They know how to survive. We don't find salt blocks in nature."

Holland said the residents were cited for feeding the elk, but repeatedly and adamantly denied having anything to do with his presence in Choteau, or to knowing who did.

"We are not saying they introduced the animal," Holland emphasized. We were able to prove they fed the animal, which is a violation of (Montana law.)

Potential impact of introduction

FWP officials were at a dead end, but there remained one possible avenue of investigation.

There was this rumor around the community that possibly this elk could have been brought to Montana from Washington," Holland said.

Holland contacted his counterpart with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to see if was possible to connect Elk Zero with a herd in that state.

The possibility that Elk Zero was transported to the Choteau area from out of state added another layer of concern. Montana's elk herd belongs to a unique genetic subspecies identified as Rocky Mountain elk, which are prized by hunters for their large antlers. Those roaming the temperate forests of western Washington are Roosevelt elk, which have larger bodies, are slightly darker in color and have smaller antlers.

Despite the fact that Elk Zero had been castrated, the presence of a free-roaming bull elk, from a different subspecies and just reaching its sexual maturity, caused alarm among some wildlife managers.

If you start intertwining those populations (Roosevelt and Rocky Mountain) they lose the characteristics that made them distinct," Holland explained. "You run the risk of losing a distinct sub-species."

Almberg said its an open question whether the introduction of a single animal would make a meaningful genetic contribution, to the point where it would have any irreversible effects on the native herd. However, she does agree that cross-breeding between subspecies can result in a negative outcome for the species as a whole.

"If you mix distinct sub-species you have the potential of losing the genetics that control local adaptation," Almberg said. There is something called 'out breeding depression' where you see the decreased fitness of offspring when you cross those different subspecies, so lower reproductive output.

Finding the origin

Unlike Montana, Washington state has compiled a comprehensive genetic database of its elk herds. Wildlife geneticists there have identified 10 herds, which may intermingle at times, but maintain distinct genetic profiles.

However, submitting a single tissue sample from Elk Zero would not be enough to veritably identify it as a member of one of Washington's herds. Wildlife managers would need to obtain multiple samples collected from a variety of elk within the Choteau area to compare with the DNA profiles cataloged by Washington's Department of Fish and Wildlife.

During the remaining months of the 2018 hunting season and throughout the 2019 hunting season, FWP biologists and wardens collected 10 distinct tissue samples from elk harvested in the Choteau and Augusta areas. Along with a sample previously collected from Elk Zero, they were sent to Washington's molecular genetics laboratory in Olympia for DNA analysis.

"Using Washington state elk reference baselines, the unknown elk 1 (Elk Zero) genetically assigned to the Washington State Yakima elk herd with a positive probability of 99.98%," the lab results reported.

In other words, within a minute fraction of statistical probability, DNA testing had proven that the elk had been taken from a herd in southwest Washington; probably as a calf, and was transported to Montana where it was then released. FWP finally knew where Elk Zero had come from, but knowing that raised another concern.

Beginning in 2008, wildlife managers in Washington began receiving reports of elk with deformed, broken or missing hooves. The condition has now been identified as elk hoof disease, a bacterial infection that eventually cripples the animal, and which has now spread to parts of Oregon and Idaho.

"The disease appears to be highly infectious among elk, but there is no evidence that it affects humans," a report from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife states. "Currently there is no vaccine to prevent the disease, nor are there any proven options for treating it in the field."

Elk Zero tested negative for hoof disease, but keeping it out of Montana is a primary concern for herd managers.

"That lameness, the severe inflammation of hooves can cause ... a deterioration of body condition," Almberg said of the impacts of elk hoof disease. "They have a harder time moving around, they have a harder time feeding and keeping up with the herd. Those things can all contribute to lower survival."

"This hoof disease is a major issue impacting their elk herd," Holland added. We dont have it in Montana yet and we dont want it.

Who knows what the consequences would have been

At this point it appears that the illegal theft and release of Elk Zero had no impact on Montana's elk population, but that was solely due to dumb luck.

Holland acknowledges that whoever brought the animal to Montana probably didn't understand the ramifications of what they were doing, but the consequences could have been just as detrimental no matter the person's intentions.

With nearly 17 years of service as a game warden, Holland said he's never experienced anything quite like Elk Zero.

This is the first time Ive ever seen a large mammal moved from one state to another and released," he said. Ive been involved in removing fawns from houses where they were kept in the kids bedrooms, or theyre being raised as pets, but thats usually local people out walking locally and theyll bring an animal home. This is a whole different level. They literally went out and found an elk in Washington, put it in a trailer, drove it to Montana and let it go."

As an agency we move wildlife, but its highly regulated," Holland added. "Well spend years planning for and getting ready to move wildlife. If somebody just willy-nilly picks a calf elk up, throws it in a horse trailer and drives it to Montana theyre not thinking about hoof disease or CWD or the genetic aspects. Thats where this can become very dangerous to wildlife populations."

FWP District Supervisor, Gary Bertellotti, put the case of Elk Zero into the broader context of invasive species across the U.S. a problem becoming increasingly critical in Montana.

"Quagga mussels, CWD, feral pigs, lake trout we can see what the impacts are by looking at other things going on," Bertellotti said. "In all of those cases it was because somebody transported something. They all started with one person."

We dont know what that would be. Weve never had to deal with that," Bertellotti said of the implications, had Elk Zero been left fertile and undiscovered. Roosevelt elk may not be as compatible with the habitat and the weather systems we have here. If those genetics start to become more prevalent ... all of a sudden you could see that population not surviving as well as it should. It could have been anything from more susceptibility to diseases to the viability of the species. Who knows what the consequences would have been."

Closing the case

While a portion of the mystery surrounding Elk Zero has been solved, the investigation into who is responsible for taking the elk from Washington and releasing him in Montana is ongoing. Wardens in both states continue to ask questions.

What we really want to know is who brought it here," Holland said. We have a strong theory that it came from Enumclaw (a city roughly 30 miles east of Tacoma). We've developed the theory that it came from that area based upon information other than the genetics. We want contact with anybody with knowledge of how the animal arrived in Montana alive and who released it.

Just as with any crime drama, investigators hope someone will come forth with information regarding Elk Zero that will ultimately lead to an arrest.

Montana FWP maintains a confidential, toll-free hotline where people can report violations of fish, wildlife or park regulations. Since its establishment in 1985, TIP-MONT has received reports resulting in 1,521 convictions. To report a fish, wildlife or park violation call 1-800-TIP-MONT (1-800-847-6668). Callers can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a cash reward of up to $1,000. Nearly $155,000 in TIP-MONT rewards have been paid to citizens since the program was established.

I believe that there are people in Washington who have information about where this elk came from," Holland said. I believe theres people here in Montana who also know that. If they come forward with information that helps us find answers to this, then yes, absolutely theres going to be a TIP-MONT reward."

Read the original here:
How one smuggled elk could have caused an ecological crisis - The Register-Guard

UCLA genomic research uses statistics rather than ancient DNA to look back more than 600,000 years

Leticia Ortiz/UCLA

The UCLA researchers studied four populations that mostly live in the area marked by the white band, in West Africa.

UCLA computational biologists have discovered that four populations in West Africa can trace about 8% of their genetic ancestry to an archaic hominin, an extinct relative of humans that branched off from the hominid evolutionary tree more than 600,000 years ago about 100,000 years earlier than Neanderthals did. The study is published in Science Advances.

Over the past decade, advances in computing, statistical analysis, molecular biology and genetics have revealed a richer picture of humans and their interactions with ancient relatives, such as Neanderthals. But research on the genetic ancestry of African populations has lagged behind discoveries about people with ancestral roots in Europe.

The researchers, from the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, analyzed modern DNA obtained from an international repository of genomic data. In the past, researchers would have needed to compare the modern DNA to so-called reference DNA from ancient fossils to draw such conclusions. But the improved statistical techniques available today enabled them to look backward in time hundreds of thousands of years without fossil DNA.

This opens a new path in understanding the complexity of human evolutionary history in Africa, where the picture hasnt been as clear, said Sriram Sankararaman, the studys principal investigator, a UCLA assistant professor with appointments in computer science, human genetics and computational medicine.

The archaic hominin identified in the UCLA research is a close evolutionary relative of humans.

There is not a lot known about these archaic hominins, which makes finding out how this ghost population fits into human evolutionary history challenging. But our findings are very exciting, said Sankararaman, who also is a member of UCLAs Bioinformatics Interdepartmental Program.

Previous genomic studies have presented evidence that modern populations in Africa have complex genetic lineages, in which humans and close evolutionary relatives intermixed as recently as just a few thousand years ago. But this study may provide the strongest evidence yet that this intermixture took place.

The UCLA research reveals much more of that story for the four modern groups of people, the Yoruba of Nigeria, the Mende of Sierra Leone, the Esan of Nigeria and the Gambian in Western Divisions of Gambia.

We dont need reference DNA from fossils of the archaic hominin to confirm that, somewhere deep in our ancestry, humans intermixed with them, Sankararaman said. We can now see that such events took place by looking at our DNA itself.

Segments of Neanderthal DNA extracted from fossils have been found in most modern populations outside of Africa. DNA has also been extracted and analyzed from the more recently discovered Denisovans, another extinct group of archaic humans, whose DNA is found in people living today in South Asia and Oceania.

Archaeological evidence shows that modern and archaic humans coexisted in Africa, and some fossils have features that suggest mixing between the two populations. However, usable DNA has not yet been extracted from archaic human fossils that have been found in that region which is why the researchers ability to draw conclusions about evolution without reference DNA information could go such a long way toward solving previously unanswered questions.

Although the researchers found evidence of the archaic populations DNA in modern humans, the findings are not clear enough to determine whether these two distinct populations intermixed just once or several times over hundreds of thousands of years.

Sankararaman and Arun Durvasula, a UCLA graduate student studying human genetics, used two new statistical methods that look for patterns in the genome that could reveal the presence of DNA from a distantly related unknown archaic population. They looked at genomic data of 405 people from the1000 Genomes Project, an international public repository of genomic data from around the world. The results of both analyses were consistent.

The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Okawa Foundation.

Read more here:
Study finds genetic link to extinct relative of humans in 4 modern West African populations - UCLA Newsroom

This article discusses how to estimate the probability of regulatory/registration success for pharmaceutical products in development. The authors define the factors and methods used to assess regulatory/registration success and offer objective and data-driven methods to define probabilities for the purposes of documenting specific factors and/or risks relative to a likelihood of success. They provide a case study demonstrating how to use data and make estimate adjustments based on a variety of factors specific to individual programs. While this example applies to a drug and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the same strategic approach can be applied to biologics, medical devices and combination products under review with any global regulatory Health Authority (HA).The article is based on a presentation by the authors at RAPS Regulatory Convergence in September 2019.IntroductionDetermining the Probability of Regulatory Success (PRS) for a product approval is a key driver for ensuring business/market readiness, including prioritization for the purposes of budgeting and resource planning. When considering PRS, a decision sciences approach focusing on facts is critical for avoiding biases. To do this consistently requires an ability to evaluate a program and create an objective PRS in a concise, well-documented, transparent manner along with objective, analytically driven decision-making. While a gut feeling about regulatory success may be based on experience and regulatory acumen, it cannot be objectively revised for changes in the regulatory environment and does not allow for a documented, well-vetted strategic and holistic analysis of the risks (downward adjustment) or strengths (upward adjustment) of regulatory considerations. Furthermore, gut-feeling does not support development of actionable mitigation strategies based on facts. Thus, this approach provides an objective framework for forming comparable assessments across a variety of projects.Technical vs. Regulatory SuccessIt is important to note that technical and regulatory success are different objectives and need to be assessed separately. Probability of Technical Success (PTS) applies to the probability a given clinical trial/study will be successful based on pre-defined endpoints, feasibility and other factors. Probability of Regulatory Success (PRS) is about whether FDA or another regulatory authority will grant approval for a product and based on factors within the scope of regulatory affairs, which often includes evaluation of the HAs perspective regarding the clinical relevance for a particular endpoint as it applies to suitability for defining efficacy in the context of an approval application for registration. The overall probability of success will need to consider both the PRS and the PTS and is calculated as PTRS = PRSxPTS.Six Elements of Good Decision MakingThere are six elements for good decision-making.Figure 1. Six Elements1

Read more:
Estimating the Probability of Regulatory Registration Success - Regulatory Focus

Global Molecular Microbiology Market 2019 by key players, regions, type, and application, forecast to 2025. Molecular Microbiology Market Report contains a forecast of 2019 and ending 2025 with a host of metrics like supply-demand ratio, Molecular Microbiology Market frequency, dominant players of Molecular Microbiology Market, driving factors, restraints, and challenges. The report also contains market revenue, sales, Molecular Microbiology production and manufacturing cost that could help you get a better view of the market. The report focuses on the key global Molecular Microbiology manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the sales volume, value, market competition landscape, market share, SWOT analysis and development plans in future years.

Download Free Sample Copy of Molecular Microbiology Market Report: https://dataintelo.com/request-sample/?reportId=110545

The report provides information on trends and developments and focuses on market capacities, technologies, and the changing structure of the Molecular Microbiology Market . The new entrants in the Molecular Microbiology Market are finding it hard to compete with the international dealer based on quality and reliability.

Major Players included in this report are as follows RocheQiagenIlluminaAbbottHologicBioMerieuxDanaher (Cepheid)Myriad GeneticsDAAN GeneAgilentGenomic HealthBDFoundation Medicine

Molecular Microbiology Market can be segmented into Product Types as Quantitative PCR Detection Diagnostic KitsPathogenic Microorganisms Diagnostic Kits

Molecular Microbiology Market can be segmented into Applications as HumanVeterinary

Molecular Microbiology Market: Regional analysis includes: Asia-Pacific (Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Japan, Philippines, Korea, Thailand, India, Indonesia, and Australia) Europe (Turkey, Germany, Russia UK, Italy, France, etc.) North America (United States, Mexico, and Canada.) South America (Brazil etc.) The Middle East and Africa (GCC Countries and Egypt.)

Buy the full version of this report at: https://dataintelo.com/checkout/?reportId=110545

Influence of the Molecular Microbiology Market report: Comprehensive assessment of all opportunities and risk in the Molecular Microbiology Market. The Molecular Microbiology Market recent innovations and major events. A detailed study of business strategies for growth of the Molecular Microbiology Market-leading players. Conclusive study about the growth plot of Molecular Microbiology Market for forthcoming years. In-depth understanding of Molecular Microbiology Market-particular drivers, constraints and major micro markets. Favourable impression inside vital technological and market latest trends striking the Molecular Microbiology Market.

Objective of Studies: 1. To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast of the various segments and sub-segments of the global Molecular Microbiology Market. 2. To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth. To analyse the Molecular Microbiology Market based on various factors- price analysis, supply chain analysis, Porte five force analysis etc. 3. To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- North America, Europe, Asia, Latin America and Rest of the World. 4. To provide country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospective. 5. To provide country level analysis of the market for segment by application, product type and sub-segments. 6. To provide strategic profiling of key players in the market, comprehensively analysing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market. 7. To track and analyse competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the global Molecular Microbiology Market.

Customize Report and Inquiry for The Molecular Microbiology Market Report: https://dataintelo.com/enquiry-before-buying/?reportId=110545

The huge assortment of tables, graphs, diagrams, and charts obtained in this market research report generates a strong niche for an in-depth analysis of the ongoing trends in the Molecular Microbiology Market. Further, the report revises the market share held by the key players and forecast their development in the upcoming years. The report also looks at the latest developments and advancement among the key players in the market such as mergers, partnerships, and achievements.

In short, the Global Molecular Microbiology Market report offers a one-stop solution to all the key players covering various aspects of the industry like growth statistics, development history, industry share, Molecular Microbiology Market presence, potential buyers, consumption forecast, data sources, and beneficial conclusion.

About DataIntelo: DATAINTELO has set its benchmark in the market research industry by providing syndicated and customized research report to the clients. The database of the company is updated on a daily basis to prompt the clients with the latest trends and in-depth analysis of the industry. Our pool of database contains various industry verticals that include: IT & Telecom, Food Beverage, Automotive, Healthcare, Chemicals and Energy, Consumer foods, Food and beverages, and many more. Each and every report goes through the proper research methodology, validated from the professionals and analysts to ensure the eminent quality reports.

Contact Info DataIntelo Name Alex Mathews Email [emailprotected] Website https://dataintelo.com Address 500 East E Street, Ontario, CA 91764, United States.

Read more:
Molecular Microbiology Market Global Production, Growth, Share, Demand and Applications Forecast to 2025 - Keep Reading