All posts by student

Genetics

Top researcher gives free lecture on orca genetics – Journal of the San Juan Islands

Submitted by The Whale Museum

Learn about South resident killer whale genetics at a free lecture at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 14 at The Whale Museum.

Dr. Lance Barrett-Lennard, head of the Cetacean Research Program at the Vancouver Aquarium, will discuss genetic comparisons of orca populations in the North East Pacific. This presentation is part of the museums Summer Lecture Series.

Barrett-Lennards research shows that at least nine genetically discrete overlapping populations of killer whales inhabit the northeastern Pacific Ocean. It also shows that resident killer whales avoid inbreeding through an elaborate clan-based mating system. His findings are the reason the Southern resident killer whales are listed as an endangered population through the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. More recently, he co-chaired a panel that produced a comprehensive recovery strategy for resident killer whales.

Barrett-Lennard has performed studies on behavioral and population biology of killer whales in British Columbia, Washington, Alaska since 1984, as well as species in Norway, Spain and the sub-Antarctic. He uses DNA analysis to better understand population divisions, dispersal patterns and mating systems. In addition to killer whales, Lance is involved in research on baleen whales, dolphins, sea otters, and belugas.

The Summer Lecture Series are given by local or visiting experts in their field, who share their recent research projects, stories and experiences. Each lecture is free and held at The Whale Museum. Donations are appreciated.

For more information, call 360-378-4710 ext.30 or visit http://www.whalemuseum.org.

View post:
Top researcher gives free lecture on orca genetics - Journal of the San Juan Islands

Neuroscience

New Neuroscience Reveals Three Secrets That Will Make You Emotionally Intelligent – Observer

The latest research shows that the little we know about emotions is actually all wrong. Pexels

Emotional Intelligence. Its everywhere. They wont shut up about it. And yet nobody seems to be able to explain what it really means or how you develop it.

Face it: you dont even know what an emotionis. Most people would say an emotion is a feeling. And whats a feeling? Umman emotion? Yeah, nice work there, Captain Circular.

And it turns out the latest research shows that the little we know about emotions is actually all wrong. And I meanreallywrong.

Lisa Feldman Barrett is a Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University, with appointments at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Her new bookHow Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brainturns everything you know aboutthe feelsupside down.

Buckle in. Were gonna learn the real story behind how emotions work, why theyre so difficult to deal with, and why the secret to emotional intelligence might just be the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

Time to fire up Occams chainsaw. Lets get to work

Your fundamental emotions are hardwired and universal, right? We all have a crayon box with the same set of colors: anger, fear, happiness, sadness, etc.

And the latest research says thatsall wrong.W-w-w-w-what? You heard me. Actually, some cultures dont have the full crayon box of emotions.

People in Tahiti dont have sadness. Yeah, if you lived on a gorgeous island in the Pacific youd probably feel sadness alotless often but the Tahitian people literally dont possess that emotion.

FromHow Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain:

Utka Eskimos have no concept of Anger. The Tahitians have no concept of Sadness. This last item is very difficult for Westerners to accept life without sadness? Really? When Tahitians are in a situation that a Westerner would describe as sad, they feel ill, troubled, fatigued, or unenthusiastic, all of which are covered by their broader termpeapea.

And other cultures have crayon colors you and I have never seen before.

FromHow Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain:

I know what many people are thinking:Youre cheating. Wanting to hug Hello Kitty isnt arealemotion. And peape-whatever is just sadness by another name.

But thats insisting that emotions are hardwired and universal. And research pretty convincingly shows theyre not.

FromHow Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain:

Where emotions and the autonomic nervous system are concerned, four significant meta-analyses have been conducted in the last two decades, the largest of which covered more than 220 physiology studies and nearly 22,000 test subjects. None of these four meta-analyses found consistent and specific emotion fingerprints in the body.

There is no set crayon box. Emotions arent hardwired or universal. Theyre concepts that we learn. And so they can differ from culture to culture.

If you think thatpeapeaand sadness are the same thing, let me ask you a question: would you mistake regret for heartache? Would you confuse disappointment with mourning?

I didnt think so. Could you call them all sad? Iguess But would that feel remotely accurate to you? Again, I doubt it.

You dont feel Forelsket for the same reason you dont speak Norwegian: you were never taught it.

FromHow Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain:

Fago, litost, and the rest are not emotions to you. Thats because you dont know these emotion concepts; the associated situations and goals are not important in middle-class American culture. Your brain cannot issue predictions based on Fago, so the concept doesnt feel automatic the way that happiness and sadness do to you Yes, fago, litost, and the rest are just words made up by people, but so are happy, sad, fearful, angry, disgusted, and surprised.

If you had been raised somewhere different, you mightfeelsomething different. Emotions vary between people (do you simmer when you feel angry or do you break furniture?). And they vary dramatically between cultures.

But if you only have concepts for anger, happiness, and sadness then thats all youre ever going to see.

Often we pick these concepts up just from living in a culture, others were taught explicitly as children. And theyre transmitted from one person to the next, from one generation to the next.

When we experience a sensation, an emotion concept is triggered like a memory and actually constructed by the brain. Its nearly immediate and youre largely unaware of the process.

FromHow Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain:

I felt sadness in that moment because, having been raised in a certain culture, I learned long ago that sadness is something that may occur when certain bodily feelings coincide with terrible loss. Using bits and pieces of past experience, such as my knowledge of shootings and my previous sadness about them, my brain rapidly predicted what my body should do to cope with such tragedy. Its predictions caused my thumping heart, my flushed face, and the knots in my stomach. They directed me to cry, an action that would calm my nervous system. And they made the resulting sensations meaningful as an instance of sadness. In this manner, my brain constructed my experience of emotion.

(To learn more about the science of a successful life, check out my new bookhere.)

So now you know how emotions work. And that leads us to how we can develop that fabled emotional intelligence everyone keeps yammering about. So whats the first step?

Its a big understatement to say that if the only emotion concepts you recognize are me feel good and me feel bad youre not going to be very emotionally intelligent.

I see red, blue and green. An interior decorator seesperiwinkle, salmon, sage, magenta and cyan. (And that is only one of many reasons you dont want me decorating your house.)

The more time you take to distinguish the emotions you feel, to recognize them as distinct and different, the more emotionally intelligent you will become. This is called emotional granularity.

FromHow Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain:

So, a key to EI is to gain new emotion concepts and hone your existing ones.

Similar to the interior decorator, emotionally intelligent people dont say me feel good. They distinguish between happy, ecstatic, joyful and awesome.

Theyre like the oenophiles of emotions:This sadness is bittersweet, with fine notes of despondency and an aftertaste of lingering regret.

FromHow Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain:

if you could distinguish finer meanings within Awesome (happy, content, thrilled, relaxed, joyful, hopeful, inspired, prideful, adoring, grateful, blissful...), and fifty shades of Crappy (angry, aggravated, alarmed, spiteful, grumpy, remorseful, gloomy, mortified, uneasy, dread-ridden, resentful, afraid, envious, woeful, melancholy...), your brain would have many more options for predicting, categorizing, and perceiving emotion, providing you with the tools for more flexible and functional responses.

And the people who wont shut up about the importance of EI are right. Having lower emotional granularity is associated with a lot of bad things like emotional and personality disorders.

FromHow Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain:

People who have major depressive disorder, social anxiety disorder, eating disorders, autism spectrum disorders, borderline personality disorder, or who just experience more anxiety and depressed feelings all tend to exhibit lower granularity for negative emotion.

More importantly, when youre able to finely discern what youre feeling, youre able to do something constructive to deal with the problems causing them.

If the only negative emotion concept you have is me feel bad youre going to have a difficult time making yourself feel better. So youll resort to ineffective coping methods like, oh, bourbon.

Note: The results of my exceedingly thorough study on the topic of bourbon as an ineffective emotional copingtechnique (n=1) will be forthcoming.

But if youre able to distinguish the more specific I feel alone from merely me feel bad youre able to deal with the problem: you call a friend.

And having a higher level of emotional granularity leads to good things in life.

FromHow Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain:

Higher emotional granularity has other benefits for a satisfying life. In a collection of scientific studies, people who could distinguish finely among their unpleasant feelings those fifty shades of feeling crappy were 30 percent more flexible when regulating their emotions, less likely to drink excessively when stressed, and less likely to retaliate aggressively against someone who has hurt them.

(To learn 6 rituals from ancient wisdom that will make you happy, clickhere.)

Okay, so youre taking the time to distinguish your feelings. Youre going from white belt me feel bad to black belt I am consumed by ennui. Great. How do you take it to the next level?

I dont mean you can find the word emotional intelligence in the dictionary. Well, yeah, you can, but thats not what I mean. I mean a dictionary can actually help you develop emotional intelligence.

If you dont know what ennui means, youre not going to be able to distinguish it. Learning more emotion words is the key to recognizing more subtle emotion concepts.

FromHow Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain:

Youve probably never thought about learning words as a path to greater emotional health, but it follows directly from the neuroscience of construction. Words seed your concepts, concepts drive your predictions, predictions regulate your body budget, and your body budget determines how you feel. Therefore, the more finely grained your vocabulary, the more precisely your predicting brain can calibrate your budget to your bodys needs. In fact, people who exhibit higher emotional granularity go to the doctor less frequently, use medication less frequently, and spend fewer days hospitalized for illness.

Now being a Scrabble champ, by itself, doesnt necessarily make you emotionally intelligent. You still need to sit with your emotions and spend the time to distinguish them and label them.

So are you angry, furious, or just cranky? Recognize your emotions. Make the feelings distinct.

(To learn the 4 rituals neuroscience says will make you happy, clickhere.)

But what if the dictionary aint cutting it? What if no word does justice to something you feel on a regular basis?

No problem. Emotions arent hardwired. Theyre concepts. And that means something really, really cool: you can make your own

I know, sounds crazy. ButLisa Feldman Barrett says this is another excellent way to increase emotional intelligence. And its not as hard as you think.

Ever feel out of it or just off? You had sensations but no concept bucket that fit them. So your brain shrugged and threw it in the miscellaneous pile.

So give those feelings a name. That dread you feel on Sunday night knowing you need to go to work tomorrow? Sunday-nitis. Or that special something that you feel around your partner? Passion-o-rama.

Those are unique sensations. Give them an emotion. Learn to distinguish them from the other forms of dread or elation.

Yeah, it might feel a little silly at first but dont let that hold you back. In Japan they have age-otori The feeling of looking worse after a haircut. Weve all felt that. It just took one emotionally intelligent genius to give it a name. Be that genius.

And if you want to make it more real: share the emotion with someone. Tell your partner the name of that unique feeling they give you. Maybe they feel it too.

Happiness and sadness and even age-otori are all constructed concepts. They become real because we have agreed on them with others. Dollars are just green paper rectangles until we all agree they have value.

Add new colors to your emotional crayon box and you can draw a better emotional life for yourself and others.

(To learn how to make friends as an adult, clickhere.)

Alright, weve learned a lot about emotional intelligence. Or emotional smarts. Or emotional genius. (Hey, words matter. Make distinctions.) Lets round it all up and find out the best way to get started

Heres how to be more emotionally intelligent:

I post on this blog weekly. I have not missed a week for the eight years this blog has been in existence. But I have not posted anything new in a month. Because *I* have been dealing with some very icky emotions.

To all who reached out to me, I offer you a heartfelt thanks. (And Jason, Lisa, Jodie, Debbie and Trisha all get gold stars for going above and beyond the call of duty.)

The specifics of how I have been feeling is of little consequence. But the emotion I am feelingnowmay be of some use to you: I feel gratitudinous.

Yeah, thats my own new emotion. Because grateful just aint gonna cut it.

Grateful is how you feel when someone loans you a dollar. Gratitudinous has awe. Its when you get help you didnt expect. At levels you didnt think were possible. And from people who, frankly, you piss off with frightening regularity.

Gratitudinous also has hope and optimism in its recipe in a way grateful doesnt. Autocorrect doesnt like it much, but it works for me just fine. Ive shared it with you. That makes it real.

Whats the emotion that describes how you feel around the people closest to you? Dont reply with one word. I want a concept. A constellation of feelings. Give it a name.

Share this post with those people and tell them your new emotion.The utterly unique way they make you feel. Hopefully it will become a word you use regularly.

Emotions are fleeting. But they are unavoidable and they are the most human of all things.They are not universals; they are arbitrary. But if we feel them deeply and we share them with others, nothing in this life is more real.

Join over 315,000 readers.Get a free weekly update via emailhere.

Related posts:

Eric Barker is the author ofBarking Up the Wrong Tree: The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success Is (Mostly) Wrong. Eric has been featured in theThe New York Times,The Wall Street Journal,WiredandTIME. He also runs theBarking Up the Wrong Treeblog. Join his 290,000-plus subscribers and get free weekly updateshere.

Read this article:
New Neuroscience Reveals Three Secrets That Will Make You Emotionally Intelligent - Observer

Human Behavior

Book Review: A handy guide to human behavior – India New England

By Vikas Datta

Title: Hands: What We Do with Them and Why; Author: Darian Leader; Publisher: Penguin Random House UK; Pages: 128; Price: Rs 499

If you think the current trend of people, publicly and privately, paying ferocious attention to their smartphones or other hand-held devices and furiously typing, clicking or scrolling away is technology making a travesty of human nature, you may well be wrong. For these habits may represent its crucial parts latest preoccupation.

While the radical effect of the internet, the smartphone and the PC is said to be on who we are and how we relate to each other and whatever we make of the changes, psychoanalyst Darian Leader notes that experts stress that these are changes which have made the world a different place and the digital era is incontestably new.

But what if we were to see this chapter in human history through a slightly different lens? What if, rather than focusing on the new promises or discontents of contemporary civilisation, we see todays changes as first and foremost changes in what human beings do with their hands? he poses.

For while the digital age may have transformed many aspects of our experience, but its most obvious yet neglected feature is that it allows people to keep their hands busy in a variety of unprecedented ways.

Leader, in this slim but more than a handful of a book, contends that the body part that most defines us humans is not our advanced brain but rather our restless upper pair of limbs. Thus, a considerable amount of our history and habits can be related to what we can do or cannot do with our hands and why we must keep them busy.

This, he says, brings us to examine the reasons for this strange necessity to know why idle hands are deemed dangerous, how their roles for infants changes as they grow, what links hands to the mouth, and what happens when we are restrained.

The anxious, irritable and even desperate states we might then experience show that keeping the hands busy is not a matter of whimsy or leisure, but touches on something at the heart of what our existence embodies.

And to ascertain this something, Leader goes on to draw from popular culture (especially films, mostly horror and science fiction but also classics like Dr Zhivago), language, religion, social and art history, psychoanalysis, modern technology, clinical research, the pathology of violence and more to find the what, why, and how.

In this process, we come to know why zombies and monsters (like Frankenstein) are shown walking with outstretched arms, why newborns grip an adult finger so tightly that they can dangle unsupported from it, the reason for prayers beads in various religions (Leader misses out Hinduism), why nicotine patches may not help smokers, the constant preoccupation (for some of us) with texting, tapping and scrolling and our behaviour on public transport.

And as Leader is a founding member of the Centre for Freudian Research and Analysis, people will expect sex to figure somewhere and they will not be wrong or fully right. For he only tackles one aspect, which involves the hand.

He recalls when friends and others asked him what he was working on during the preparation of this book, my reply that it was to be an essay about hands produced the almost invariable response, Oh! A book about masturbation!'. He dryly notes that the association appeared to be so intractable that it seemed foolish not to at least devote a chapter to this.

His observations on hands and their motivations and manifestations break new ground and it will suffice to say that you will never look at fairy tales, from those of the Grimm Brothers to Arabian Nights to J.R.R. Tolkien, the same way again.

His chapter on violence seems a bit out of place, but Leader brings his argument a full circle as he closes on the compulsive use of technological devices what we (and their makers) must know about them.

More of a long essay than a book, it brings to fore to the issue that, despite all our technical prowess, we are still to plumb the mysteries of our mind and body, which can be more complex than anything we invent. (IANS)

Related

Follow this link:
Book Review: A handy guide to human behavior - India New England

Human Behavior

This Start-Up Wants To Use CCTV Footage To Develop Self-Driving Car Technology – Jalopnik

Autonomous tech start-ups have offered a number of waysall of which they believe to be the most appropriate and correctto approach the development of self-driving cars. A new company out of the United Kingdom, FiveAI, has a fresh take, though: CCTV cameras.

What to do when you get rear-ended: remain calm and exchange information. What not to do:

The company has raised about $31 million, and its hoping to deploy autonomous cars on the streets of London by 2019, according to Wired UK. Like most developers in the field, FiveAI is going to use LiDAR and other sensors to make their cars function appropriately, but it has to figure out how to handle a similar issue that makes perfecting the technology difficult: what to do with big, dumb humans.

Theres a big difference in human behavior and the human behaviors in one city vary to the next city, Stan Boland, FiveAIs CEO, told Wired.

So, Boland and his firm want to lean on Londons existing, insanely expansive CCTV camera system.

Heres more from Wired:

A lot of London, for example, does have CCTV camera footage which we can use. By transforming CCTV footage to a birds-eye view, using computer simulations, Boland says it will be possible to build models of what happens at street junctions.

The self-driving car race is going to be a heated bloodbath thats going to cost billions in failed investments, and who knows where FiveAi is going to come out in the end. Its still early! But relying on an endless stream of CCTV footage is novel, so FiveAI at least has that going for it.

Read this article:
This Start-Up Wants To Use CCTV Footage To Develop Self-Driving Car Technology - Jalopnik

Embryology

Stars’ tributes pour in for inspirational Birmingham student who has died at 21 – Birmingham Mail

Tributes have been pouring in for an inspirational Birmingham student and journalist after his death from cancer at 21.

Dean Eastmond shared his battle with Ewings Sarcoma, a rare form of bone and soft tissue cancer, on social media and his blog.

And he also managed to change the rules regarding equal fertility rights.

Condolences have been paid by heartbroken celebrities including Judge Rinder, Sir Matthew Bourne and Zoe Ball.

And before his death, stars including Nicole Scherzinger, Dua Lipa and Michelle Visage sent him messages of support.

Today his close friend, Birmingham publicist Amy Stutz, said: Dean was the most selfless, kind and humble person Ive ever known.

He made such an impact on so many people. He would be really touched by the messages flowing in.

He was such a fighter. Even at the end he was determined he wasnt going to die.

Dean was recognised at the 2017 Attitude Pride Awards, where he met Gok Wan and Nick Grimshaw, for his work with the LGBT community.

He launched the gay lifestyle magazine HISKIND and campaigned for a change in the rules regarding fertility.

During chemotherapy, Dean was advised to store his sperm as it was likely to make him infertile. But he was shocked to be told that his boyfriend, Adam Packer, would not be able to access the sperm because of their same-sex relationship.

He was furious and contacted the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority and, after several discussions, his request changed the rules to allow all people, regardless of sexual orientation, to stipulate who can use their sperm after death.

Dean was studying English Language at the University of Birmingham when he discovered a large lump in his chest.

He was forced to drop out after the second yet but was treated in Birmingham because of the reputation of Queen Elizabeth Hospital and its Teenage Cancer Trust ward.

Dean wrote regularly for Redbrick, the paper for Birmingham University students, and for The National Student.

He was particularly well known in Birminghams theatre scene as he reviewed productions at Birmingham Hippodrome and Birmingham Royal Ballet.

BRB tweeted: We are saddened to hear of the passing of a friend. An inspirational person who will be missed.

Dance supremo Sir Matthew Bourne tweeted after his death: A true hero RIP sweet Dean - you made a difference. Today I feel heartbroken.

Zoe Ball said: Heartbroken. Incredible force, truly inspired so many.

And Judge Rinder posted: You are proof that its not the years in your life that count, its the life in your years.

Guardian columnist Owen Jones said: An amazing, courageous, inspirational queer young journalist. He moved so, so many people.

BBC broadcaster Victoria Derbyshire, who has been treated for breast cancer, retweeted what Dean said when she asked: In a sentence, what would you write to cancer?

He replied: #DearCancer though youve stripped me of my identity as I enter my last weeks of life, youve been a gift in so many ways and taught me so much.

To which Victoria had replied: Ive just been reading some of your articles. Beautiful, visceral, searingly poignant. Coherent, well-written, honest, and by sharing what you experience, you help others.

See the original post:
Stars' tributes pour in for inspirational Birmingham student who has died at 21 - Birmingham Mail

Cell Biology

UM Life Sci Institute Looks Ahead with $150M Initiative, Symposium – Xconomy

Xconomy Detroit/Ann Arbor

The University of Michigans Life Sciences Institute (LSI) is hosting its 16th annual Saltiel Life Sciences Symposium later this month, and for the first time, rather than focusing on a narrow segment of the industry, the lineup of speakers will discuss the technologies behind some of the sectors most exciting recent innovations.

Alan [Saltiel] started the tradition of a cutting-edge symposium in different areas of life sciences, says Roger Cone, who leads the LSI. Weve never focused on the technology itself, but were doing it this year because its the universitys 200th anniversary and because over the past decade, weve seen an explosion of new technologies completely changing how we do research in life sciences.

The symposiums organizers deliberately chose speakers who are pioneers focused on areas of research that dont yet have a huge presence at U-Mor anywhere else outside of the researchers lab, in some cases. The topics they will cover at the symposium include gene editing, single-cell biology, optogenetics, and cryo-electron microscopy. (More on the speakers in a minute.)

Cone feels single-cell technologies are among the most promising new innovations in biotech, especially when researchers can look at why a healthy cell becomes malignant. Thats an area where U-M has already made some inroads, he adds. Last month, U-M professor Arul Chinnaiyan published the results of a study in Nature that examined the genetic and molecular landscape of advanced cancer.

What kills people is metastatic disease, Cone explains. Its extremely important to know the changes that allow cells to become metastatic. Both in cancer and neuroscience, gene expression in single cells is revolutionary biology, and the university will absolutely play a role in developing that technology.

In fact, Cone feels this area is so important that next years life sciences symposium will be solely dedicated to single-cell innovations.

Just this week, the university announced that a multidisciplinary faculty committee has been tasked with identifying and pursuing emerging research opportunities. As part of U-M president Mark Schlissels Biosciences Initiative, a 16-member committee will have $150 million over five years to invest in new faculty hires, equipment, and other tools meant to facilitate progress and spark collaboration.

The Saltiel Life Sciences Symposium will be held on Sept. 15 at Forum Hall in Palmer Commons, on U-Ms campus. The event is free and open to the public. See below for details about the featured speakers and what theyve been working on.

George Church, a professor at Harvard and MIT and co-founder of numerous startups, wants to reanimate the woolly mammoth, edit pig genes so their organs can be transplanted safely into peopleoh, and reverse aging, according to a profile in STAT News.

Karl Deisseroth, a Stanford psychiatrist, will discuss his optogenetics technique, which the New Yorker said has given researchers unprecedented access to the workings of the brain, allowing them to observe the neural circuitry of lab animals as well as control behavior through cell manipulation.

Phillip Keller is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute researcher whose team developed a microscope that can quickly produce 3D images of whole organisms.

University of Texas Southwest Medical Center professor Daniela Nicastro uses cryo-electron microscopy, an advanced imaging technique where human samples are rapidly frozen to preserve their structure, then an electron microscope is used to produce images that can be transformed into 3D models. This helps researchers pinpoint diseases that affect tiny structures such as cilia, the infinitesimal hairs in the human body.

David Walt, a scientist at Harvard and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, has had a long career as a chemist, entrepreneur, and engineer, founding successful startups focused on genetic screening and ultra-sensitive protein analysis.

Sarah Schmid Stevenson is the editor of Xconomy Detroit/Ann Arbor. You can reach her at 313-570-9823 or sschmid@xconomy.com.

Excerpt from:
UM Life Sci Institute Looks Ahead with $150M Initiative, Symposium - Xconomy

Genetics

The 2 Major Catalysts Behind Myriad Genetics, Inc.’s 26% Gain in August – Motley Fool

What happened

Shares of Myriad Genetics (NASDAQ:MYGN), a leading developer of molecular diagnostic tests, surged by 26% during the month of August, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. Why the sudden surge? The bulk of the gains look traceable to the company's fourth-quarter and full-year earnings release on Aug. 8, as well as positive insurance coverage decisions made on a key diagnostic product mid-month.

The rally really began for Myriad Genetics following the release of its fourth-quarter report. During Q4, Myriad wound up generating $200.5 million in sales, an 8% year-over-year improvement, largely helped by growth in its GeneSight test.Despite the jump in sales, its adjusted profit fell by 17% to $0.30 per share. Nevertheless, Myriad wound up topping Wall Street's sales and profit projections for the fourth quarter. This beat, coupled with growth from newer diagnostic products, which have helped offset competitive weaknesses in its hereditary cancer testing franchise (e.g., BRCA gene tests), clearly have investors upbeat about Myriad's prospects.

Image source: Getty Images.

The other catalyst driving big gains in August was favorable insurer coverage decisions for EndoPredict, a next-generation prognostic test that helps physicians determine a best course of care for patients with breast cancer. Myriad wound up announcing that Palmetto GBA, the Medicare contractor that oversees the MoIDx (Molecular Diagnostics) program, and Anthem, the second-largest insurer nationally, have decided to cover EndoPredict.Following the implementation of these decisions, Myriad will be able to cover more than 90% of breast cancer patients, which is pretty impressive considering EndoPredict was launched less than six months ago.

In a world of personalized medicine, Myriad Genetics continues to lead the charge. Unfortunately, this is also an increasingly crowded space that tends to rely on healthy reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid. With the Trump administration looking to cut long-term payouts to both programs, it leaves Myriad's future somewhat cloudy.

By a similar token, the company has also seen price erosion from competition in its hereditary cancer segment, from which it derives about three-quarters of its sales. However, growth from new products, compounded with volume growth in hereditary cancer testing, even at a lower margin, could still fuel substantial sales and profit improvements in the coming years.

So, what's an investor to do? I'd suggest that modest optimism seems fair at these levels. It's probably going to take a few more years before sales in Myriad's core operating segment level off, but at the same time it should be able to continue to grow its newly launched diagnostic products. Once the company has a more balanced revenue stream, it should be able to throttle back a bit on its operating expenses and allow its operating margin to soar. Patient investors with at least a five-year time horizon should do just fine.

Sean Williams has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Go here to see the original:
The 2 Major Catalysts Behind Myriad Genetics, Inc.'s 26% Gain in August - Motley Fool

Biochemistry

Dangerous driver was tracked by police dog after hiding in empty bus – Nottingham Post

A dangerous driver was tracked down by a police dog after dumping his car and hiding in an empty bus.

Mohamed Mansaray abandoned his Ford Fiesta after speeding through Sutton-in-Ashfield.

He headed for a bus depot and hid there - but was sniffed out by a sharp-nosed four-legged canine.

Nottingham Crown Court heard on Tuesday, September 5, police wanted to speak to him after he was spotted using his mobile phone at the wheel in the uninsured car.

But instead of stopping when they indicated him to, Mansaray drove off - hitting 60mph in a 30mph zone, and overtaking on a bend after 9.15pm on June 1.

Now he hopes to go on the straight and narrow and study biochemistry.

As he was sentenced for dangerous driving, Recorder William Harbage QC told him in the dock: "This was very bad driving".

Handing him four months in youth custody, suspended for two years, he commented: "You drove off at speed. Clearly you knew you were required to stop by the police and they wanted to speak to you.

"You drove at an excessive speed in a residential area. You were going up to 60mph in a 30mph limit.

"You were detained by the police dog".

The judge watched police dash camera footage of the mile-long chase. He said Mansaray put road users, police, himself and two passengers at risk.

"There was no accident, no one was hurt, by good fortune than anything else".

The judge gave Mansaray, 19, of Walworth Place, Southwark, South London, 150 hours of unpaid work.

And he ordered he attend a 'thinking skills programme', eight days of a rehabilitation activity requirement, and be subject to a 12-month driving ban.

Solicitor-advocate Felicity Campbell said the driving was a short distance and duration.

"No one was hurt," she stressed. "There were no collisions. He made off on foot".

Mansaray, who pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, has previous convictions for robbery and shoplifting.

Miss Campbell said "a flurry of dishonesty offences" led to his imprisonment in August this year and it "had a real impact on him".

He has been serving his sentence away from his family and found the whole process difficult and unpleasant, she explained.

"He comes from a supportive family," she added. "He lives with his mother and older sister. His sister helped him complete an application for university to study biochemistry. He has applied to Leicester University and is hopeful he can complete a biochemistry degree.

"He sees his criminal behaviour comes from hanging around with the wrong people. His past has caught up with him".

View post:
Dangerous driver was tracked by police dog after hiding in empty bus - Nottingham Post

Biochemistry

Texas Tech student receives prestigious Amgen award – The Daily Toreador (registration)

Amanda Miller, a senior biochemistry major from Plano, spent her summer at Harvard University conducting research as a 2017 Amgen Scholar. This experience opened doors for her future career.

When I first came to Tech, my goal was to become a pediatrician, but after being involved with this hand-on experience, I want to incorporate research into my career, Miller said. I want to get my M.D. after my undergraduate biochemistry degree. It is a huge commitment, but after seeing professionals act in this field, I know it is for me.

Miller was one of 200 students chosen for the Amgen Scholars program. According to its website, Amgen Scholars gives undergraduate students from across the world the opportunity to participate in prestigious research programs at high-ranking institutions.

Miller is the first Texas Tech student to participate in the program at Harvard University.

Applying for the Harvard program is different from some of the other institutions because it requires not only a transcript, resum and letters of recommendation, but I also had to do a Skype interview, Miller said.

For the 10 weeks she was in Massachusetts, Miller said she worked on Project Abbie.

Project Abbie is inspired by Abbie Benford, a young girl who died from anaphylactic shock, Miller said. Essentially, Project Abbie is creating a sensor that detects the early symptoms of an allergic reaction and injects epinephrine automatically.

Miller said this device will help save lives because it involves early detection and will aid in injecting medicine into individuals who are unable to do so themselves.

Anaphylaxis is a huge problem, she said. Getting help in time is a huge issue. So much time is already wasted even before the symptoms are noticeable.

As an Amgen Scholar, Miller said the Amgen Foundation funded her research at Harvard.

Amgen is one of the biggest biotechnology companies in the United States, Miller said. Because of its funding, the Amgen Scholars program is possible.

Wendoli Flores, director of National and International Scholarships and Fellowships in Techs Honors College, said being chosen as an Amgen Scholar will open many career avenues for Miller in the future.

Honors like these hold a lot of prestige and gives the student credibility, she said. The nature of summer research is very beneficial to students because it exposes them to a different way of learning through other universities.

Miller said her love for research began in her general chemistry course, taught by Dominick Casadonte, Minnie Stevens Piper Professor in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry.

Amanda (Miller) was one of the strongest general chemistry students that I have had here at Texas Tech in over 25 years, Casadonte said. She has a lot of research and intellectual attributes that I would see in senior graduate students. Her ability to think through a problem clearly is one of the strongest I think I have ever seen.

Along with his general chemistry class, Casadonte has also had Miller partake in his undergraduate research for three years.

She takes everything she does very seriously and does it very well, he said. That seriousness characteristic is something that I think stood out in terms of her application.

Along with the Amgen program, Miller was also awarded the Goldwater Scholarship in the spring.

At the time, Amanda (Miller) was applying for the Amgen Scholars, she was honorable mentioned for the Goldwater Scholarship. She had not officially received it yet, Flores said. The Goldwater Scholarship is such a prestigious award that even just being honorable mentioned helped her get into the Amgen program.

Miller said this program was a great experience because she did not have to take actual classes: It was entirely research oriented.

This program was amazing because I got to work as if I was a graduate student when I have not even finished my undergraduate degree yet, she said. I also got to meet and talk to some of the celebrities of the biotechnology field. It was an incredible experience.

Read the original here:
Texas Tech student receives prestigious Amgen award - The Daily Toreador (registration)

Genetics

Could genetics be the reason behind obesity? – SBS

Twenty-five per cent of Australian adults are estimated to be clinically obese. The common view is that obesity is a self-inflicted condition. But one Melbourne clinic is challenging that perception.

Austin Health Obesity Physician, Professor Joe Proietto says he treats obesity as a chronic genetic disease.

"The view that obesity is genetic is controversial, however the evidence is very strong that there is a genetic predisposition to obesity," said Professor Proietto.

In a new SBS documentary Obesity Myth, doctors are trying to treat patients through a combination of diet, medication and surgery, tailored specifically for their genetic make-up.

Professor Proietto believes the environment has far less bearing on weight than genetics.

But Sydney University Obesity Research Director, Dr Nick Fuller says blaming genetics is only going to make the obesity crisis worse.

"We are finding more and more genes that contribute to obesity but genetics are not the reason for the increase in prevalence of obesity," said Dr Fuller.

Dr Fuller believes dieting is not the most effective solution.He believes weight loss should happen slowly, to trick the body into believing it is at a new set weight point.

"They need to lose a small amount of weight before the usual response to weight loss kicks in and maintain that weight so they can reprogram their set weight before going on to lose weight," said Dr Fuller.

Helene Jagdon has been trying to lose weight for 30 years. She has tried every fad diet and training regime in the book.

Only in the last few years under Dr Fuller's strategy has she been able to lose 14 kilograms and keep it off.

"He didn't make us feel like we were on a diet, he was just guiding us to what foods we can eat and not really saying what foods we can't eat.

"He was just saying if you feel like having a laksa, have a laksa, but maybe limit it to one takeaway treat in a week," said Ms Jagdon.

Now sitting at a comfortable 68 kilograms, Helene has maintained her passion for cooking and is inspiring people half her age to lose weight without dramatically changing their lives.

Preview: The Obesity Myth

The three-part documentary series The Obesity Myth starts September 4 on SBS at 7.30pm.

More here:
Could genetics be the reason behind obesity? - SBS