Monthly Archives: June 2017

‘US rethinks Chinese investment in AI start-ups’ – BBC News

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Gizmodo
'US rethinks Chinese investment in AI start-ups'
BBC News
The Pentagon has raised concerns about China's access to artificial-intelligence-based technology developed in the US, according to Reuters. The news agency says a leaked report proposes that export controls be updated to stop Chinese organisations ...
US Considers Chinese Investment in Artificial Intelligence a National ...Gizmodo
US May Limit Chinese Investment in Artificial IntelligenceDaily Beast
US mulls restricting Chinese investments into artificial intelligence companiesSiliconBeat
e27 -Daily Pakistan
all 13 news articles »

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'US rethinks Chinese investment in AI start-ups' - BBC News

The Unknown Startups Fueling Aerospace With Fancy Tech – WIRED

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The Unknown Startups Fueling Aerospace With Fancy Tech - WIRED

Aerospace industry’s clean air problem – Aerospace Manufacturing and Design (press release)

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Editors note: Part 1 discusses industrial air quality in the aerospace industry. Part 2 in the July 2017 issue will discuss solutions to air quality challenges.

While nearly all manufacturing industries have air quality concerns, the materials and processes used in aerospace present special challenges. From engine rework to extrusion of aluminum support components, each aerospace manufacturing process has its own set of indoor air quality (IAQ) challenges. If particulates generated by welding, blasting, grinding, or machining are not controlled, they will quickly cause problems for worker health and safety, product quality, and in some cases, regulatory compliance.

Aerospace manufacturing companies must comply with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations (or applicable regional/local regulations if outside the U.S.) for indoor air quality. Regulations set maximum permissible exposure limits (PELs) for certain compounds and elements released into the air during manufacturing. Exceeding PELs can subject companies to large fines.

However, the costs of poor air quality go beyond regulations. Failure to control fumes and particulates negatively impacts companies in a variety of ways. including:

Worker productivity Poor IAQ has been estimated to cause six additional lost workdays per year for every 10 employees. OSHA estimates that worker absences and reduced efficiency from poor air quality cost companies $15 billion annually.

Retention and recruiting In a recent survey commissioned by Advanced Technology Services (ATS), 39% of aerospace companies reported that skilled labor shortages are having an extreme impact on their businesses. For manufacturing as a whole, The Manufacturing Institute and Deloitte anticipate a shortage of 2 million skilled workers by 2025. For younger workers, the work environment matters, and that includes air quality. Aerospace companies competing to recruit welders and other skilled tradespeople will find that a clean, pleasant environment will pay dividends through lower turnover and more successful recruiting efforts for in-demand workers.

Product quality Uncontrolled particulates can product quality problems if they permeate sensitive areas such as paint lines or infiltrate electronic components.

Combustion risks Many of the dust types produced by the aerospace industry are highly combustible, including aluminum, titanium, and magnesium. These dusts have Kst ratings (a measure of combustibility) 10x larger than wood dust, making them extremely dangerous if allowed to accumulate in the air.

Of course, the most serious problem faced by companies with uncontrolled fumes and dust are the risks to worker health and safety.

Different processes produce different kinds and levels of particulates, giving each process its own exposure risk profile.

Welding Manual and robotic welding are used in the manufacture of aerospace parts, and the characteristics of fumes generated by the welding process can vary widely. The toxicity and the total volume of fumes generated depend on three variables:

Weld fumes can contain toxic elements and compounds, such as nickel, copper, vanadium, molybdenum, zinc, and beryllium. These fumes are made up of tiny particles that are inhaled deeply into the lungs, where they have both immediate and long-term impacts on worker health. Acute effects of exposure to weld fumes can include shortness of breath and respiratory irritation; eye, nose or throat irritation; or nausea. Long-term exposure to hexavalent chromium (hex chrome), manganese, and other elements can lead to chronic or deadly exposure effects.

Machining Metal processing often requires lubricants, which create fine oil mists that can be invisible. As the mists settle on surfaces, they can create slip and fall hazards for personnel, and have health impacts when inhaled. Depending on the size of the particulates and the chemistry of the lubricant, extended exposure may lead to asthma, chronic bronchitis, chronically impaired lung function, fibrosis of the lung, and cancer.

Cutting and grinding Larger particulates from cutting and grinding dont make their way as deeply into the lungs as the fumed particulates from welding, but the large volume of dust produced by these applications presents special health hazards. Fiberglass, metal, glass, plastics, and epoxy resins can all cause respiratory irritation. Some materials are also carcinogenic when inhaled. Newer materials used in the aerospace industry, including carbon fiber and composites, are associated with skin and respiratory irritation, contact dermatitis, and chronic interstitial lung disease. High-tech nanofiber materials present special risks when cutting and grinding due to the small size of the nanoparticles that have the potential to make their way deep into the lungs and cross into the bloodstream. The health impacts of inhaling nanoparticles are not yet fully understood.

Blasting One air quality hazard unique to the aerospace industry comes from the blasting processes used to clean and refurbish engine parts to meet Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations. The blasting process used to clean accumulated debris off engine components commonly uses hazardous materials such as aluminum oxide. In addition to being a combustion hazard, aluminum oxide exposure is linked to eye, nose, throat, and lung irritation and central nervous system effects. Materials may contain silica, which is implicated in lung cancer, chronic bronchitis, and kidney damage. OSHA recently cut PELs for respirable crystalline silica in half, and companies using silica-based abrasives must comply with the new regulations by June 2018.

Fortunately, there are steps that you can take to ensure that a facility not only meets minimum regulatory requirements but is prepared for any changes that may come in the future. Meeting current OSHA PELs is a necessary start, and many aerospace companies are moving toward stricter internal standards for IAQ to meet productivity and sustainability goals. The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) has developed voluntary exposure guidelines based on rigorous science, which are rapidly becoming internationally recognized best practice for the manufacturing industry.

A well-designed air quality system can protect companies from legal liability and government fines while improving worker health, satisfaction, and productivity. A qualified air quality system designer can help aerospace companies find solutions that balance costs, regulations, and goals. Well take a closer look at the mitigation options in our next IAQ article.

RoboVent

http://www.robovent.com

About the author: Gordon Diener is an application specialist for RoboVent, a provider of ventilation and filtration systems for manufacturing facilities. Diener can be reached at 402.616.3574 or gordon.diener@robovent.com.

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Aerospace industry's clean air problem - Aerospace Manufacturing and Design (press release)

Airstar Aerospace debuts at the Paris Air Show – DefenseNews.com

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WASHINGTON Airstar Aerospace will make its first appearance at the Paris Air Show, debuting its rarely seen tethered surveillance balloon, the Eagle Owl, according to a company announcement.

The France-based company is an industry leader in the design and production of stratospheric balloons, tethered balloons, electric airships and thermal insulation for satellites.

The Eagle Owl is predicted to be a highlight in the 2017 show, showcasing efficient day and night surveillance via optical devices and sensors, target zoom, tracking, and GPS coordinate pointing. The version Airstar Aerospace will deploy this year has never beenpubliclyseen.

Airstar Aerospace will also be announcing a major partnership with a world aerospace industry leader.

The fact that Airstar Aerospace is now exhibiting at the Paris Air Show is a strong message sent to the aerospace and aeronautical industries, Chabert said. People will find in Airstar Aerospace a unique partner, a manufacturer of complex woven fabrics and highly technical tailored films dedicated to the defence, research, telecoms and transport industries.

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Airstar Aerospace debuts at the Paris Air Show - DefenseNews.com

Honeywell aerospace unit under review for spinoff has fared well: chairman – Reuters

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MONTREAL Honeywell International Inc's (HON.N) aerospace business, under review as part of a spinoff proposal, has performed well and benefited from heavy investment from the U.S. technology and manufacturing company, Executive Chairman David Cote said on Monday.

Honeywell said in May it would decide by this fall whether to separate the business, its biggest with $14.75 billion in 2016 sales, which makes auxiliary power units and engines for aircraft.

"The business has actually performed pretty well," said Cote in an interview on the sidelines of the International Economic Forum of the Americas in Montreal.

"And if you take a look at margin improvement and you take a look at the wins that we've had over a long period of time since 2013. We've invested very heavily in that business."

Hedge fund investor Third Point LLC has argued in favor of the spinoff, which it said could create more than $20 billion in shareholder value.

Cote said Honeywell Chief Executive Darius Adamczyk was reviewing the unit with the company's board and discussions would be held with investors at some point.

"I can promise you that whatever Darius does, it's going to be consistent with 'how do you keep growing that overall return for our shareholders,'" he said.

Cote, Honeywell's former CEO, also said that while he would have preferred that the United States not leave the 2015 global Paris agreement to fight climate change, he did not believe the move was "catastrophic."

While the decision would erode the ability of the United States to influence other countries, it will not stop America from achieving its own emissions reductions goals, in part because of the conversion from coal to natural gas use for power generation, he said.

Cote also said he believed it was worth modernizing and updating the North American Free Trade Agreement to include technological developments.

"Twenty years ago when they were negotiating NAFTA the whole idea of cyber was not all that big a deal," he said. "It's very different today."

(Reporting By Allison Lampert; Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Richard Chang)

SEATTLE General Electric Co said on Wednesday it will combine its power and energy distribution businesses to create its largest unit by revenue as the top executive at GE Power announced his retirement after failing to win the conglomerate's CEO job.

Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman said Saudi Arabia could be a "major opportunity" for the firm as the country unveiled plans for oil giant Saudi Aramco's $100 billion initial public offering and introduced a series of reforms to attract foreign capital in 2015.

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Honeywell aerospace unit under review for spinoff has fared well: chairman - Reuters

Can India emerge as a major contender for aerospace manufacturing? – Business Standard

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With global aerospace worth $ 100 billion, the potential for the Indian aerospace industry is only expanding year on year. The numbers speak for themselves. The ninth largest civil aviation market in the world has witnessed 40 percent growth in passenger traffic in the past two years and the demand for commercial aircraft exists & is ever increasing. The industry is defined by its enthusiasm and demand for very high levels of technology, dragging project life cycles and high costs. Hence, India was following the perfectionist import substitution route, where the country met its demand with partnerships with imported original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for licensed-production of aircraft. The Make in India initiative launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in September 2014 as part of a wider set of nation-building initiatives, has paved way for airframe manufacturers to increasingly use aerospace suppliers in the country. This path-breaking movement has given India great advantages on the global aerospace industry scenario. The intention is to accelerate the investments in acquisitions and infrastructure, creating a voice among the worldwide aerospace players. However for now, the momentum seems a little slow but steady. In October 2015, the Department Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) proposed to raise the FDI cap to 74 per cent allowing to manufacture defence products by private players. This initiative aims for a certain percentage of the aircraft to be produced in India. This has encouraged a lot of Indian companies to enter into joint ventures with foreign companies to launch defence subsidiaries in the country, giving them a significant role in the industry. Although the overall industry momentum is constrained, the efforts put in the defence products manufacturing is on a steady growth path, with the new government policy. India has the highest domestic air traffic among all countries, with a significant increase of 23 per cent in January 2015, according to the International Air Transport Associations (IATA) monthly air traffic report. By 2034, IATA projects India will account for 367 million air travellers. This increases the demand in the industry, thus benefiting the aerospace manufacturers in India. India primarily has to concentrate on the improvisation of the Air Traffic Management (ATM), a ground level infrastructure modernisation, for a clutter-free growth in the industry. With the support of government policy and initiatives, the manufacturing sector has boomed, with many Indian companies becoming transnational. The sector has seen the adoption of best practices and maintains international standards in quality. India must also address the need to go beyond being merely a soft power in this space, by developing more facilities that provide an end-to-end aerospace solution. This can only happen when there is cross pollination of knowledge and technologies from more advanced nations. Currently, Indias share of the global aerospace industry is only $ 250 million, but according to a joint report by IESA, Nasscom and Roland Berger, the total market opportunity for aerospace and defence (A&D) market in India will reach $70 billion by 2029. India is the seventh largest A&D market globally but with the current scenario, one can expect a lot more from the country. The demand for aerospace manufacturers is so high that competition is more than welcome. An aircraft may easily have more than 3 million parts and it is impossible to expect one or few companies to take on the challenge. The Indian aerospace industry is closer to catapulting itself into the global arena, with the support from the governments new policies, setting the industry on to a firm path to transformational change. With a steady growth in this path, there are positive signs for the Indian aerospace industry to emerge as a major factor in the countrys increasing self-reliance.

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Aravind Melligeri

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Can India emerge as a major contender for aerospace manufacturing? - Business Standard

JPMorgan Has 4 Aerospace and Defense Stocks to Buy for Big Upside – 24/7 Wall St.

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One sector that has been on fire since the election last November has been defense and aerospace, and with good reason. The president has made it clear that improving the nations defense capability and upgrading the armed forces is a huge priority. Toss in some billion dollar deals with Arab countries recently, and the future continues to look bright.

One area of concern is the elevated stock prices, and in a new report, while JPMorgan remains positive overall, only six companies in the firms research universe are rated Overweight. We screened those stocks for the ones with double-digit upside potential to the analysts price target and found four that look solid.

This top defense sector play is way cheaper than peers and could be an outstanding buy at current levels. Harris Corp. (NYSE: HRS) provides technology-based solutions that solve government and commercial customers mission-critical challenges.

The company designs, develops and manufactures a line of secure radio communications products and systems for manpack, handheld, vehicular, airborne, strategic fixed-site and shipboard installations that span the communications architecture from high-capacity line of site, backbone radios, small soldier personal radios and tablet computers, as well as offers assured communications systems and equipment, including Internet Protocol based voice and data communications systems.

Shareholders are paid a 1.95% dividend. The JPMorgan price objective for the stock is $120, and the Wall Street consensus target is $121.90. The shares closed most recently at $109.31.

This is one of the companies that many analysts like into the second-quarter earnings.L3 Communications Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LLL) provides aerospace systems and a range of communication and electronic systems and products used on military and commercial platforms in the United States and internationally.

The company operates in three segments: Electronic Systems, Aerospace Systems and Communication Systems. It offers a range of products and services, including components, products, subsystems and systems, as well as related services to military and commercial customers in business areas, including precision engagement and training, power and propulsion systems, aviation products and security systems, sensor systems, warrior systems, and optics, telescopes and precision optical subsystems.

Investors are paid a 1.8% dividend. JPMorgan has a $190 price objective, while the consensus target price is $184.40. The shares closed on Tuesday at $167.69.

The JPMorgan team sees this stock as one of the only pure plays on defense electronics. Mercury Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: MRCY) provides secure processing subsystems for various critical defense and intelligence programs in the United States. Its products and solutions are deployed in approximately 300 programs with 25 defense prime contractors. Its principal programs include Aegis, Patriot, Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program, Gorgon Stare, Predator, F-35 and Reaper.

The company also designs, markets and licenses software and middleware environments under the MultiCore Plus name to accelerate development and execution of signal and image processing applications on a range of heterogeneous and multi-computing platforms.The analysts are looking for multiple expansion and see upside to current guidance and estimates.

The $48 JPMorgan price target compares with the consensus target of $44.86. Shares closed most recently at $38.04.

Top Wall Street analysts are positive on this top aerospace player and cite the recent closure of the B/E Aerospace deal as a catalyst. Rockwell Collins Inc. (NYSE: COL) is a leader in providing design, production, integration and support of communications and aviation electronics for military and commercial customers worldwide.The companys products include avionics suites for business and commercial aircraft, radios, GPS navigation and IFE systems.

Rockwell Collins paid a total of $8.6 billion to buy B/E Aerospace in a deal that unites two of the biggest suppliers to airliner and plane makers. The arbitrage accounts that were long B/E and short Rockwell should have taken those positions off, giving Rockwell solid upside potential.

Shareholders are paid a 1.26% dividend. The JPMorgan price target is $125. The posted consensus target is $116.69. The stock closed Monday at $105.94.

With the pledge to rebuild the military and global sales remaining strong, the sector remains a solid space to stay weighted in. All four of these companies could take-off on continued good earnings, and the added catalysts may be additional fuel for the fire.

By Lee Jackson

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JPMorgan Has 4 Aerospace and Defense Stocks to Buy for Big Upside - 24/7 Wall St.

Laboratory IT systems grapple with genetic testing surge – Healthcare IT News

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BOSTON Precision medicine holds big promise, but it's also posing big challenges for hospital labs trying to manage a huge increase in requests for genetic tests.

At the HIMSS Precision Medicine Summit on Tuesday, Patrick Mathias, associate director of laboratory medicine informatics at University of Washington, spotlighted just how complex the genetic testing boom has become for clinical technology.

Hospital laboratories are "feeling the first wave of precision medicine," said Mathias, as they're "on the front lines of coordinating high-complexity testing."

[Also:How Penn Medicine primed its IT infrastructure for precision medicine]

Many hospitals rely on having to send out tests to reference laboratory when testing is unavailable at primary lab. But that leads to IT challenges for hospitals. Most distinct tests aren't integrated into EHRs and there's a big potential for order entry errors from tests not defined in clinical information systems.

As genetic testing has evolved in complexity beyond the single-gene paradigm, the genetic testing market has become similarly complex and dynamic, he said with more than 69,100 genetic testing products on the market and as many as 10 new ones every day.

[Also:EHRs and health IT infrastructure not ready for precision medicine]

To improve the management of tests and better integrate their genetic information into workflow, Seattle Childrens Hospital which spends more than $1,000,000 annually on genetic sendout testing helped launched the Pediatric Laboratory Utilization Guidance Services, or PLUGS, a nationwide network with more 60 other hospitals and health systems, with the aim of improving ordering, retrieval, interpretation and reimbursement for genetic tests.

Along the way, within its own walls, coordination between clinical and IT staff was key, said Mathias, and demanded a nuanced approach to process improvement from both sides of the equation.

The initiative required staff at Seattle Children's to embrace workflow standardization improve the efficiency of manual sendout processes through. The hospital had to bolster lab staff expertise to improve ordering process, streamlining test comparison and get better test result management.

It also made used lab genetic counselors to improve quality and reduce costs they help spot and correct errors that could impacting patient safety, said Mathias, leading to cost savings that in turn justify the addition of more resources.

Having achieved those successes, "the challenge was how can we do that so we can scale across all health systems," said Mathias.

PLUGS enables hospital labs across to decrease testing costs and errors. Seattle Children's says network members that have implemented smart utilization management have achieved savings of 10 percent or more on their sendout testing.

Within his hospital, Mathias said clinicians and IT staff are still grappling with certain aspects of precision medicine especially making better use of testing results in clinical workflow.

"There's this foundational question of, if you want data in the workflow, there has to be some EHR integration," he said. "I don't think we've really solved that question yet.

HL7 and FHIR standards are helping, he said, but "this is the tip of the iceberg we need to lower the barrier to move usable genetic data."

But while integrating genomic data remains "an ongoing challenge," said Mathias, "we are creating actionable results today."

Twitter:@MikeMiliardHITN Email the writer: mike.miliard@himssmedia.com

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Laboratory IT systems grapple with genetic testing surge - Healthcare IT News

Researchers show how a cancer gene protects genome organization – Phys.Org

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June 13, 2017 UNC scientists discovered how the enzyme Set2 keeps gene transcription working properly when cells are under stress. Credit: Christ-claude Mowandza-ndinga

UNC School of Medicine researchers have cracked a long-standing mystery about an important enzyme found in virtually all organisms other than bacteria. The basic science finding may have implications for understanding cancer development and how to halt it.

Researchers have known that the enzyme Set2 is important for transcribing genes - the process of making strands of RNA from the DNA. Transcription is critical for making proteins and other functional molecules. But Set2's precise role in transcription hasn't been clear. Now, UNC scientists discovered that the enzyme is particularly important for keeping transcription working properly when cells are under stress. Without Set2, cells that become stressed through the lack of nutrients begin mis-transcribing genes in a way that prevents cells from adapting properly to the stress.

"We think this solves a mystery about the purpose of Set2, and we now understand much better how gene transcription is prevented from happening at the wrong place and time," said study senior author Brian Strahl, PhD, professor of biochemistry and biophysics and member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Set2 enzymes in yeast and other lower organisms have close relatives in all animal species and plants. Its human cousin SETD2 is often found mutated in cancerous cells.

"These fundamental findings may help explain how SETD2 mutations could lead to inappropriate transcription within genes, which might then promote cancer initiation or progression," Strahl said. His team's research on SETD2 is ongoing.

The research, published in Cell Reports, involved collaboration between Strahl's laboratory and that of Ian J. Davis, MD, PhD, associate professor of pediatrics and genetics at the UNC School of Medicine and member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The discovery comes 15 years after the first studies of Set2 by Strahl and others, who found that the enzyme works by attaching molecules known as methyl groups to a support protein - or histone - around which DNA is spooled.

This methyl-attaching process is called methylation. Research has shown in recent years that the particular histone methylation performed by Set2 serves as a quality control check on gene transcription.

Transcription of a gene should start at a precise spot at the beginning of a gene and then continue until the end in order to fully transcribe the RNA. But in the absence of histone methylation laid down by Set2, transcription begins at the wrong places in the middle of a gene instead of at the beginning. If that is allowed to happen, the production of "cryptic" RNA transcripts can then interfere with the normal expression of a gene. The mis-expression of our genetic material can result in diseases such as cancer.

Strahl's team thought Set2 might have something to do with these cryptic transcripts arising during stress. Previously, it was shown that Set2's histone-methylating activity has the effect of attracting another enzyme to clear away chemical tags in the middle of a gene that, otherwise, can lead to inappropriate new transcription from within that gene.

"But under typical laboratory conditions, the deletion of Set2 and the subsequent increase in cryptic transcripts didn't seem to harm cells very much," Strahl said.

Strahl's team then thought about cells under stress, which is what cells are like in disease states. His team conducted experiments to observe what happens in cells that don't have Set2 when vital nutrients are removed. In this stressed state, cells normally activate a complex set of gene expression programs to help cope with the reduced nutrient resources.

"Nutrient depletion more accurately mimics what yeast cells experience in the wild," Strahl said.

The scientists examined yeast cells that were deprived of nutrients, or were exposed to chemicals that reliably trigger the low-nutrient response. In these cells, not having Set2 proved to have major consequences.

"We found that this inappropriate transcription at the wrong place in genes exploded to high levels in stressed cells, and often interfered with the normal genes," Strahl said. "As a result, the normal changes in genes that help cells survive under low-nutrient conditions did not happen correctly, and the cells became extremely sick."

To Strahl and colleagues, the finding suggests that Set2 evolved to guard against harmful abnormal transcription in times of stress, when cells seem particularly vulnerable to this type of error. Why would cells be so vulnerable to cryptic transcription during the nutrient stress response? Strahl isn't sure. But his team suspects that when there's a sudden and widespread rearrangement of the molecular machinery of gene transcription, genes across the genome are left relatively open to inappropriate transcription.

"We found that a lot of the genes that show this crazy jump in cryptic transcription were not even related to the nutrient stress response," Strahl said. "It's as if there are genes throughout the genome that are just predisposed to this error, especially at this time when transcription is shifting dramatically."

Strahl and Davis and their colleagues plan further research to determine why cryptic transcription rises so dramatically during nutrient stress. They also intend to find out whether Set2 is important for safeguarding transcription during other types of cellular stress.

In addition, the scientists are now studying Set2's human counterpart, SETD2, which for unknown reasons is often mutated in tumor cells, especially in kidney cancers.

"It's possible that SETD2 normally works as a major tumor suppressor by preventing inappropriate transcription," Strahl said.

Explore further: Study pinpoints new role for enzyme in DNA repair, kidney cancer

More information: Cell Reports (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2017.05.057

Twelve years ago, UNC School of Medicine researcher Brian Strahl, PhD, found that a protein called Set2 plays a role in how yeast genes are expressed specifically how DNA gets transcribed into messenger RNA. Now his lab ...

The first step in gene expression is the exact copying of a segment of DNA by the enzyme known as RNA polymerase II, or pol II, into a mirror image RNA. Scientists recognize that pol II does not transcribe RNA via a smooth ...

Two opposing teams battle it out to regulate gene expression on the DNA playing field. One, the activators, keeps DNA open to enzymes that transcribe DNA into RNA. Their repressor opponents antagonize that effort by twisting ...

Clarification of how human blood vessels are constructed is desperately needed to advance regenerative medicine. A collaborative research group from Kumamoto University, Kyoto University, and the University of Tokyo in Japan ...

(Phys.org)An international team of researchers has found that gene transcription in an organism that has died continues for several days. In their paper published in the journal Royal Society Open Biology, the team describes ...

Scientists at the University of Birmingham have described a previously-unknown molecular mechanism that could lead to the genetic mutations seen in certain types of aggressive cancer cells, involving a cell's own transcription ...

Animals living in areas where conditions are ideal for their species have less chance of evolving to cope with climate change, new research suggests.

The arrangement of the photoreceptors in our eyes allows us to detect socially significant color variation better than other types of color vision, a team of researchers has found. Specifically, our color vision is superior ...

Using high magnification imaging, a team of researchers has identified several never before seen structures on bacteria that represent molecular machinery. The research is published this week in the Journal of Bacteriology, ...

UNC School of Medicine researchers have cracked a long-standing mystery about an important enzyme found in virtually all organisms other than bacteria. The basic science finding may have implications for understanding cancer ...

One of the main types of fossil used to understand the first flowering plants (angiosperms) are charred flowers. These charcoals were produced in ancient wildfires, and they provide some evidence for the types of plants that ...

One of biology's most enduring relationships, credited with helping plants to colonise land more than 400 million years ago, has yielded a fundamental survival secret with implications for agriculture and biotechnology.

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Controversial CRISPR paper blasted by gene-editing companies Editas Medicine, Intellia Therapeutics – Genetic Literacy Project

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Two gene-editing companies are hitting back at a scientific publication that caused their stocks to plummet, calling it wrong, filled with errors, and saying it shouldnt have been published.

In separate letters sent to Nature Methods, scientists from Intellia Therapeutics and Editas Medicine criticized a report in the journal that claimed the gene-editing tool CRISPR had caused unexpected mutations in the genomes of mice and which cast a shadow over efforts to initiate human studies using the technique.

A spokesperson at Springer Nature, which publishes Nature Methods, said the organization had received a number of communications already about the paper. We are carefully considering all concerns that have been raised with us and are discussing them with the authors, the journal said.

On Twitter and elsewhere, other scientists quickly pointed out basic mistakes in the paper, including misidentifying genes, the small number of animals involved and, most seriously, that it had mislabeled normal genetic differences between animals as the result of CRISPR editing.

In our opinion the conclusions drawn from this study are unsubstantiated by the disclosed experiments, wrote Vic Myer, chief technology officer of Editas, in a letter signed by 11 other company scientists.

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post:Gene Editing Companies Hit Back at Paper That Criticized CRISPR

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Controversial CRISPR paper blasted by gene-editing companies Editas Medicine, Intellia Therapeutics - Genetic Literacy Project

Genome editing tools set to bring monumental change to healthcare – Healthcare IT News

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It may still seem like science fiction, but the ability to nip-and-tuck problematic genomes to cure disease is easier than ever and will soon be getting easier.

At the HIMSS Precision Medicine Summit on Monday, Ross Wilson, principal investigator at UC Berkeley's California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, explained how tools such as CRISPR-Cas9 are set to transcend the confines of the lab to fundamentally change clinical care.

While there have been some intriguing recent strides made with gene editing technology, Wilson admits that so far, at least CRISPR's "hype eclipses early success stories."

But five to 10 years from now, he said, it "will come into its own and be safe and effective."

The process of fixing certain inheritable diseases by accessing the genome and fixing the root cause is clearly far more complex than the "cut-and-paste" analogies Wilson used to explain advanced precision medicine techniques to non-scientists.

But CRISPR-Cas9 is a "readily programmable genome-editing tool" that makes the process more intuitive and usable for researchers and clinicians than ever before.

[Also:How precision medicine can fix a broken healthcare system]

For an analogy, Wilson likened the use of similar techniques known as zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs) and transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) as wheeling in an '80s-era arcade game to play Frogger or Pac-Man. CRISPR-Cas9, he said, was more akin to an easy and agile Playstation.

That said, the "future of medicine" is still some way off from full fruition. There are three key hurdles to overcome, said Wilson:

Efficacy. Although cutting out a gene can be done reliably, it's still not easy or efficient to "paste" the corrected gene.

Delivery. Researchers still lack robust and reliable technology for sending genome-editing enzymes to the cells in need of repair.

Genetic understanding. Clinicians' ability to cure disease remains hamstrung by an impressive but still too limited knowledge of the underlying genetic causes, said Wilson.

"The total scope of genome editing will be defined by our genetic understanding," he said.

There are currently three conceivable approaches to genome-editing, in order of prevalence, said Wilson: ex vivo, in vivo (systemic), in vivo (targeted).

The "earliest success stories will be ex vivo" enabling clinicians to snip and edit genomes in a petri dish with a "high-efficiency that will let you do the 'pasting' of the effective gene that's hard to do in the host," he said.

In vivo delivery essentially allowing gene editing to be done by injection, whether into the body as a whole or "compartmentalized" to specific places such as the brain or the eye is the "holy grail," said Wilson. The challenge, of course, is that it's hard to distribute effectively to the correct areas of the body.

[Also:Eric Dishman wants precision medicine to move from personal to universal]

Taken as a whole, gene editing has come a long way in recent years. Early trials have been promising for diseases such as cancer, sickle cell anemia and eye disease, he said. Soon after, "I expect to see good progress on" cystic fibrosis, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Huntington's disease and hemophilia.

Then there are areas where "I think we'll be able to see genome editing applied to things that might be a bit more elective, but could have huge impact, since they're so common," said Wilson, such as Alzheimer's, diabetes, osteoporosis, HIV risk and cholesterol.

Still, he cautioned, "we have to wait a few years to see how safe effective this could be."

One complication for therapeutic genome editing is simply the existence of such a dizzying array of genetic diversity.

Wilson notes that it's "kind of incredible" that, of 3 billion bases in the human genome, just 3 million bases ("a fraction of a percent") of are responsible for all human diversity." Moreover, 100 to 200 bases worth of new changes arise per generation.

That means that close attention must be paid to genetic diversity and novel mutations in order to minimize the serious risks of off-target genomic editing.

Still, Wilson is convinced that genome sequencing will "come to the forefront" of primary care in the near future, with these techniques more commonly identifying genetic risk factors.

That comes with big responsibilities. Clinicians will have to design sequences to minimize off-target risks something that demands whole-genome analysis and "an established gene target will have several validated flavors of enzyme, and the appropriate one will be administered based on the patients genetic profile," he said.

Twitter: @MikeMiliardHITN

Link:
Genome editing tools set to bring monumental change to healthcare - Healthcare IT News

CPS Chemistry Students to Study Toxic Metals, Environmental Racism – Chicago Tonight | WTTW

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Chicago Tonight | WTTW
CPS Chemistry Students to Study Toxic Metals, Environmental Racism
Chicago Tonight | WTTW
Chemistry students from seven Chicago public high schools will team up with university scientists this summer to study the impact of toxic metal contamination on local communities. The effort is part of a nearly $450,000 National Science Foundation ...

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CPS Chemistry Students to Study Toxic Metals, Environmental Racism - Chicago Tonight | WTTW

Exam board AQA apologises after error in A-level chemistry exam – TES News

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Exam board AQA has apologised for including an unanswerable question inits A-level Chemistrypaper.

Pupils sitting the exam this afternoon were told to leave out one of the questions in the paper.

Schools were contacted about the mistake before today's exam to ensure students could be told, AQA has said.

But some pupilson social media claimed that they were onlynotified in the middle of the exam and some say they were nottold at all:

Pupils will be awarded the two marks from the question, which has had to be discounted.

An AQA spokesperson said: "This shouldn't have happened and we are sorry it did.

"Each of our exam papers goes through a lot of checks, but unfortunately errors can very occasionally slip through.

"When they do, we always make sure that students don't lose out. But one error is still one too many, so we are carrying out a detailed investigation".

The mistake came on the same dayTes revealed that exam board OCRhad made an error in its Biology A-level paper.

Want to keep up with the latest education news and opinion? FollowTeson Twitterand likeTeson Facebook.

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Exam board AQA apologises after error in A-level chemistry exam - TES News

Biotechnology FAQs | USDA

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1. What is Agricultural Biotechnology?

Agricultural biotechnology is a range of tools, including traditional breeding techniques, that alter living organisms, or parts of organisms, to make or modify products; improve plants or animals; or develop microorganisms for specific agricultural uses. Modern biotechnology today includes the tools of genetic engineering.

2. How is Agricultural Biotechnology being used?

Biotechnology provides farmers with tools that can make production cheaper and more manageable. For example, some biotechnology crops can be engineered to tolerate specific herbicides, which make weed control simpler and more efficient. Other crops have been engineered to be resistant to specific plant diseases and insect pests, which can make pest control more reliable and effective, and/or can decrease the use of synthetic pesticides. These crop production options can help countries keep pace with demands for food while reducing production costs. A number of biotechnology-derived crops that have been deregulated by the USDA and reviewed for food safety by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and/or the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have been adopted by growers.

Many other types of crops are now in the research and development stages. While it is not possible to know exactly which will come to fruition, certainly biotechnology will have highly varied uses for agriculture in the future. Advances in biotechnology may provide consumers with foods that are nutritionally-enriched or longer-lasting, or that contain lower levels of certain naturally occurring toxicants present in some food plants. Developers are using biotechnology to try to reduce saturated fats in cooking oils, reduce allergens in foods, and increase disease-fighting nutrients in foods. They are also researching ways to use genetically engineered crops in the production of new medicines, which may lead to a new plant-made pharmaceutical industry that could reduce the costs of production using a sustainable resource.

Genetically engineered plants are also being developed for a purpose known as phytoremediation in which the plants detoxify pollutants in the soil or absorb and accumulate polluting substances out of the soil so that the plants may be harvested and disposed of safely. In either case the result is improved soil quality at a polluted site. Biotechnology may also be used to conserve natural resources, enable animals to more effectively use nutrients present in feed, decrease nutrient runoff into rivers and bays, and help meet the increasing world food and land demands. Researchers are at work to produce hardier crops that will flourish in even the harshest environments and that will require less fuel, labor, fertilizer, and water, helping to decrease the pressures on land and wildlife habitats.

In addition to genetically engineered crops, biotechnology has helped make other improvements in agriculture not involving plants. Examples of such advances include making antibiotic production more efficient through microbial fermentation and producing new animal vaccines through genetic engineering for diseases such as foot and mouth disease and rabies.

3. What are the benefits of Agricultural Biotechnology?

The application of biotechnology in agriculture has resulted in benefits to farmers, producers, and consumers. Biotechnology has helped to make both insect pest control and weed management safer and easier while safeguarding crops against disease.

For example, genetically engineered insect-resistant cotton has allowed for a significant reduction in the use of persistent, synthetic pesticides that may contaminate groundwater and the environment.

In terms of improved weed control, herbicide-tolerant soybeans, cotton, and corn enable the use of reduced-risk herbicides that break down more quickly in soil and are non-toxic to wildlife and humans. Herbicide-tolerant crops are particularly compatible with no-till or reduced tillage agriculture systems that help preserve topsoil from erosion.

Agricultural biotechnology has been used to protect crops from devastating diseases. The papaya ringspot virus threatened to derail the Hawaiian papaya industry until papayas resistant to the disease were developed through genetic engineering. This saved the U.S. papaya industry. Research on potatoes, squash, tomatoes, and other crops continues in a similar manner to provide resistance to viral diseases that otherwise are very difficult to control.

Biotech crops can make farming more profitable by increasing crop quality and may in some cases increase yields. The use of some of these crops can simplify work and improve safety for farmers. This allows farmers to spend less of their time managing their crops and more time on other profitable activities.

Biotech crops may provide enhanced quality traits such as increased levels of beta-carotene in rice to aid in reducing vitamin A deficiencies and improved oil compositions in canola, soybean, and corn. Crops with the ability to grow in salty soils or better withstand drought conditions are also in the works and the first such products are just entering the marketplace. Such innovations may be increasingly important in adapting to or in some cases helping to mitigate the effects of climate change.

The tools of agricultural biotechnology have been invaluable for researchers in helping to understand the basic biology of living organisms. For example, scientists have identified the complete genetic structure of several strains of Listeria and Campylobacter, the bacteria often responsible for major outbreaks of food-borne illness in people. This genetic information is providing a wealth of opportunities that help researchers improve the safety of our food supply. The tools of biotechnology have "unlocked doors" and are also helping in the development of improved animal and plant varieties, both those produced by conventional means as well as those produced through genetic engineering.

4. What are the safety considerations with Agricultural Biotechnology?

Breeders have been evaluating new products developed through agricultural biotechnology for centuries. In addition to these efforts, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) work to ensure that crops produced through genetic engineering for commercial use are properly tested and studied to make sure they pose no significant risk to consumers or the environment.

Crops produced through genetic engineering are the only ones formally reviewed to assess the potential for transfer of novel traits to wild relatives. When new traits are genetically engineered into a crop, the new plants are evaluated to ensure that they do not have characteristics of weeds. Where biotech crops are grown in proximity to related plants, the potential for the two plants to exchange traits via pollen must be evaluated before release. Crop plants of all kinds can exchange traits with their close wild relatives (which may be weeds or wildflowers) when they are in proximity. In the case of biotech-derived crops, the EPA and USDA perform risk assessments to evaluate this possibility and minimize potential harmful consequences, if any.

Other potential risks considered in the assessment of genetically engineered organisms include any environmental effects on birds, mammals, insects, worms, and other organisms, especially in the case of insect or disease resistance traits. This is why the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and the EPA review any environmental impacts of such pest-resistant biotechnology derived crops prior to approval of field-testing and commercial release. Testing on many types of organisms such as honeybees, other beneficial insects, earthworms, and fish is performed to ensure that there are no unintended consequences associated with these crops.

With respect to food safety, when new traits introduced to biotech-derived plants are examined by the EPA and the FDA, the proteins produced by these traits are studied for their potential toxicity and potential to cause an allergic response. Tests designed to examine the heat and digestive stability of these proteins, as well as their similarity to known allergenic proteins, are completed prior to entry into the food or feed supply. To put these considerations in perspective, it is useful to note that while the particular biotech traits being used are often new to crops in that they often do not come from plants (many are from bacteria and viruses), the same basic types of traits often can be found naturally in most plants. These basic traits, like insect and disease resistance, have allowed plants to survive and evolve over time.

5. How widely used are biotechnology crops?

According to the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), biotechnology plantings as a percentage of total crop plantings in the United States in 2012 were about 88 percent for corn, 94 percent for cotton, and 93 percent for soybeans. NASS conducts an agricultural survey in all states in June of each year. The report issued from the survey contains a section specific to the major biotechnology derived field crops and provides additional detail on biotechnology plantings. The most recent report may be viewed at the following website: https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/adoption-of-genetically-engineered-crops-in-the-us.aspx

For a summary of these data, see the USDA Economic Research Service data feature at: https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/adoption-of-genetically-engineered-crops-in-the-us.aspx

The USDA does not maintain data on international usage of genetically engineered crops. The independent International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), a not-for-profit organization, estimates that the global area of biotech crops for 2012 was 170.3 million hectares, grown by 17.3 million farmers in 28 countries, with an average annual growth in area cultivated of around 6 percent. More than 90 percent of farmers growing biotech crops are resource-poor farmers in developing countries. ISAAA reports various statistics on the global adoption and plantings of biotechnology derived crops. The ISAAA website is https://www.isaaa.org

6. What are the roles of government in agricultural biotechnology?

Please note: These descriptions are not a complete or thorough review of all the activities of these agencies with respect to agricultural biotechnology and are intended as general introductory materials only. For additional information please see the relevant agency websites.

Regulatory

The Federal Government developed a Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of Biotechnology in 1986 to provide for the regulatory oversight of organisms derived through genetic engineering. The three principal agencies that have provided primary guidance to the experimental testing, approval, and eventual commercial release of these organisms to date are the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Department of Health and Human Services' Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The approach taken in the Coordinated Framework is grounded in the judgment of the National Academy of Sciences that the potential risks associated with these organisms fall into the same general categories as those created by traditionally bred organisms.

Products are regulated according to their intended use, with some products being regulated under more than one agency. All government regulatory agencies have a responsibility to ensure that the implementation of regulatory decisions, including approval of field tests and eventual deregulation of approved biotech crops, does not adversely impact human health or the environment.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is responsible for protecting U.S. agriculture from pests and diseases. APHIS regulations provide procedures for obtaining a permit or for providing notification prior to "introducing" (the act of introducing includes any movement into or through the U.S., or release into the environment outside an area of physical confinement) a regulated article in the U.S. Regulated articles are organisms and products altered or produced through genetic engineering that are plant pests or for which there is reason to believe are plant pests.

The regulations also provide for a petition process for the determination of non-regulated status. Once a determination of non-regulated status has been made, the organism (and its offspring) no longer requires APHIS review for movement or release in the U.S.

For more information on the regulatory responsibilities of the FDA, the EPA and APHIS please see:

https://www.fda.gov

https://www.epa.gov

APHIS Biotechnology Regulations

Market Facilitation

The USDA also helps industry respond to consumer demands in the United States and overseas by supporting the marketing of a wide range of agricultural products produced through conventional, organic, and genetically engineered means.

The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) and the Grain Inspection, Packers, and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) have developed a number of services to facilitate the strategic marketing of conventional and genetically engineered foods, fibers, grains, and oilseeds in both domestic and international markets. GIPSA provides these services for the bulk grain and oilseed markets while AMS provides the services for food commodities such as fruits and vegetables, as well as for fiber commodities.

These services include:

1. Evaluation of Test Kits: AMS and GIPSA evaluate commercially available test kits designed to detect the presence of specific proteins in genetically engineered agricultural commodities. The agencies confirm whether the tests operate in accordance with manufacturers' claims and, if the kits operate as stated, the results are made available to the public on their respective websites.

GIPSA Link: https://www.gipsa.usda.gov/fgis/rapidtestkit.aspx

GIPSA evaluates the performance of laboratories conducting DNA-based tests to detect genetically engineered grains and oilseeds, provides participants with their individual results, and posts a summary report on the GIPSA website. AMS is developing a similar program that can evaluate and verify the capabilities of independent laboratories to screen other products for the presence of genetically engineered material.

2. Identity Preservation/Process Verification Services: AMS and GIPSA offer auditing services to certify the use of written quality practices and/or production processes by producers who differentiate their commodities using identity preservation, testing, and product branding.

GIPSA Link: https://www.gipsa.usda.gov/fgis/inspectionweighing.aspx

AMS Link: https://www.ams.usda.gov/fv/ipbv.htm

Additional AMS Services: AMS provides fee-based DNA and protein testing services for food and fiber products, and its Plant Variety Protection Office offers intellectual property rights protection for new genetically engineered seed varieties through the issuance of Certificates of Protection.

Additional GIPSA Services: GIPSA provides marketing documents pertaining to whether there are genetically engineered varieties of certain bulk commodities in commercial production in the United States. USDA also works to improve and expand market access for U.S. agricultural products, including those produced through genetic engineering.

The Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) supports or administers numerous education, outreach, and exchange programs designed to improve the understanding and acceptance of genetically engineered agricultural products worldwide

1. Market Access Program and Foreign Market Development Program: Supports U.S. farm producer groups (called "Cooperators") to market agricultural products overseas, including those produced using genetic engineering.

2. Emerging Markets Program: Supports technical assistance activities to promote exports of U.S. agricultural commodities and products to emerging markets, including those produced using genetic engineering. Activities to support science-based decision-making are also undertaken. Such activities have included food safety training in Mexico, a biotechnology course for emerging market participants at Michigan State University, farmer-to-farmer workshops in the Philippines and Honduras, high-level policy discussions within the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group, as well as numerous study tours and workshops involving journalists, regulators, and policy-makers.

3. Cochran Fellowship Program: Supports short-term training in biotechnology and genetic engineering. Since the program was created in 1984, the Cochran Fellowship Program has provided education and training to 325 international participants, primarily regulators, policy makers, and scientists.

4. Borlaug Fellowship Program: Supports collaborative research in new technologies, including biotechnology and genetic engineering. Since the program was established in 2004, the Borlaug Fellowship Program has funded 193 fellowships in this research area.

5. Technical Assistance for Specialty Crops (TASC): Supports technical assistance activities that address sanitary, phytosanitary, and technical barriers that prohibit or threaten the export of U.S. specialty crops. This program has supported activities on biotech papaya.

Research

USDA researchers seek to solve major agricultural problems and to better understand the basic biology of agriculture. Researchers may use biotechnology to conduct research more efficiently and to discover things that may not be possible by more conventional means. This includes introducing new or improved traits in plants, animals, and microorganisms and creating new biotechnology-based products such as more effective diagnostic tests, improved vaccines, and better antibiotics. Any USDA research involving the development of new biotechnology products includes biosafety analysis.

USDA scientists are also improving biotechnology tools for ever safer, more effective use of biotechnology by all researchers. For example, better models are being developed to evaluate genetically engineered organisms and to reduce allergens in foods.

USDA researchers monitor for potential environmental problems such as insect pests becoming resistant to Bt, a substance that certain crops, such as corn and cotton, have been genetically engineered to produce to protect against insect damage. In addition, in partnership with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and the Forest Service, the Cooperative States Research, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) administers the Biotechnology Risk Assessment Research Grants Program (BRAG) which develops science-based information regarding the safety of introducing genetically engineered plants, animals, and microorganisms. Lists of biotechnology research projects can be found at https://www.ars.usda.gov/research/projects.htm for ARS and at https://www.nifa.usda.gov/funding-opportunity/biotechnology-risk-assessment-research-grants-program-brag for NIFA.

USDA also develops and supports centralized websites that provide access to genetic resources and genomic information about agricultural species. Making these databases easily accessible is crucial for researchers around the world.

USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) provides funding and program leadership for extramural research, higher education, and extension activities in food and agricultural biotechnology. NIFA administers and manages funds for biotechnology through a variety of competitive and cooperative grants programs. The National Research Initiative (NRI) Competitive Grants Program, the largest NIFA competitive program, supports basic and applied research projects and integrated research, education, and/or extension projects, many of which use or develop biotechnology tools, approaches, and products. The Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) funds competitive grants to support research by qualified small businesses on advanced concepts related to scientific problems and opportunities in agriculture, including development of biotechnology-derived products. NIFA also supports research involving biotechnology and biotechnology-derived products through cooperative funding programs in conjunction with state agricultural experiment stations at land-grant universities. NIFA partners with other federal agencies through interagency competitive grant programs to fund agricultural and food research that uses or develops biotechnology and biotechnology tools such as metabolic engineering, microbial genome sequencing, and maize genome sequencing.

USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS) conducts research on the economic aspects of the use of genetically engineered organisms, including the rate of and reasons for adoption of biotechnology by farmers. ERS also addresses economic issues related to the marketing, labeling, and trading of biotechnology-derived products.

Link:
Biotechnology FAQs | USDA

Anatomy of a doomed campaign – The Economist (blog)

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Anatomy of a doomed campaign - The Economist (blog)

London Theater Review: ‘Anatomy of a Suicide’ – Variety

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The sins of the father revisited on the son its a stage staple that tracks back to Ancient Greece. From Captain Alving in Ibsens Ghosts to Arthur Millers arms-dealing Joe Keller in All My Sons, a mans acts live on. Feminist playwright (Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again.) and screenwriter (Lady Macbeth) Alice Birch offers an alternative in this chilly triptych, now play at the Royal Court Theater. Not once, but twice, a mothers trauma rebounds on her daughter. Mental illness becomes a baton passed between three generations: a frazzled 1970s housewife, a 1990s riot girl, a detached doctor in 2033. Katie Mitchells clinical staging forces us to watch forensically, sifting for clues about causality. Is this nature, nurture or social structure?

Birch splits the stage in three, so that three women, decades apart, appear side by side. In 1971, Carol (Hattie Morahan) emerges from hospital with her wrists wrapped in bandages, her husband berating her for ruining the floorboards. In 1997, Anna (Kate OFlynn) wobbles on her feet, off her bloodied head, with one arm in a sling, as a male nurse checks her over and ticks her off. In 2033, a third woman holds her bleeding hand, a fishhook dug into the palm but its her expressionless doctor, Bonnie (Adelle Leonce), who assumes importance.

These women couldnt be more different, and yet their individual stories echo each other sometimes exactly, as phrases and gestures ripple through time. Carol sits at home, alone, infantilized by her stern, shambolic husband (Paul Hilton), smoking at the kitchen table, a child crying somewhere in the house. Anna rampages off the rails, a laddette with a heroin addiction partying through the millennium. Bonnie, meanwhile, shuts everyone out. She might seem the most sorted of the three, but shes not really. All three incur mental health problems of some form or another: a mix of anxiety, depression and detachment.

Its only gradually that we realise that theyre related three generations of the same family. As each individual narrative unfolds, it adds a little more context to the next. One womans life encompasses the others childhood, and so explains the issues they face in adulthood. Eerily, you intuit their deaths before they take place. Each is strangely absent from their daughters life and yet, equally, ever-present.

Its a beautifully organised play, an elegant information overload. Birch is an exacting writer; Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again proved her precision with language, but here, as in her recent film Lady Macbeth, she lets small slices of life assume momentous significance. As Carol smokes a sly cigarette at a childrens party, Anna crashes into a drug-induced coma. Bonnie stands outside a birthday bash, bottle in hand. Many of the micro-scenes have a painterly quality, a stark, unsentimental beauty.

Set designer Alex Eales encases the women in a grey concrete cell so that the world seems oddly absent, and only James Farncombes articulate lighting gives a sense of place. Melanie Wilsons soundscapes swim around like underwater echoes. Between scenes, as the years pass, the women stand, still as mannequins, as castmates undress and reclothe them. Fashions change, women dont, nor society neither any shifts are merely superficial. Birchs play is, among other things, a history of the care system. Patrician doctors become scrubbed-up careworkers, but the treatment prescribed is still the same: electric shock therapy.

As youd expect of the meticulous Mitchell, all three women are played with extraordinary clarity. Morahan wears a faraway frown as Carol, her eyes wide and watery, while OFlynn chews her words as if permanently brain-fuzzed and physically discombobulated. Leonce plays Bonnie with a clean-cut aloofness that almost borders on dissociation, as if to complete the cycle.

Theres something schematic in a play that works entirely through patterns. Birch asks us to compare and contrast, but the triptych form can feel like the complete-the-sequence section of an IQ test: A, B, ?. A mother who feels too little produces a daughter who feels too much. Her daughter, in turn, retreats to a numb silence. Sarah Blenkinsops costumes stress the point: Carol in red, Anna in green and black, Bonnie in white with hints of red. The driving concept is too close to the surface here, the causal chain too certain to ring true. That each woman is so of-their-own-era only exacerbates the problem. All three feel emblematic, rather than idiosyncratic individuals, and it can feel like Birchs thesis is leading her play.

Thats a small grumble, though, in an otherwise unflinching examination of motherhood and mental health, articulated with a sharp sense of theater.

Royal Court Theatre, London; 465 seats; 45, $57 top. Opened, June 8, 2016 reviewed June 8, 2016. Running time:2 HOURS.

A Royal Court production of a play in one act by Alice Birch.

Directed by Katie Mitchell; Set design,Alex Eales; costume design, Sarah Blenkinsop; lighting, James Farncombe; sound, Melanie Wilson; composer, Paul Clark.

Gershwyn Eustache Jnr, Paul Hilton, Peter Hobday, Adelle Leonce, Sarah Malin, Jodie McNee, Hattie Morahan, Kate OFlynn, Sophie Pettit, Vicki Szent-Kirallyi, Dickon Tyrrell.

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E3 2017: Grey’s Anatomy Star Jesse Williams Joins Detroit: Become Human – IGN

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Quantic Dream's upcoming neo-noir adventure, Detroit: Become Human, has a new cast member: Grey's Anatomy star Jesse Williams.

The actor plays a character named Marcus, and he was unveiled in a new gameplay demo on-stage, which saw him leading a group of androids in revolt against Detroit's humans.

Williams confirmed the news on Twitter, where he retweeted several mentions of the latest footage and simply said "It goes down in Detroit." Developer Quantic Dream confirmed on Twitter that Marcus is the third playable character in Detroit, joining previously-revealed characters Kara and Connor.

Detroit: Become Human was announced during Sony's Paris Games Week keynote in 2015. Based on Quantic Dream's "Kara" tech demo from 2012, Detroit: Become Human follows a number of playable characters in a world of sentient androids.

The story of Detroit: Become Human, similar to Heavy Rain, will feature several branching paths depending on player choices and character deaths. For more on the games of E3 2017, stay tuned to our E3 event hub.

Chloi Rad is an Associate Editor for IGN. Follow her on Twitter at @_chloi.

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OSU baseball: The anatomy of the Beavers’ extraordinary win streaks – Albany Democrat Herald

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The two longest winning streaks in Division I baseball this year belong to Oregon State.

The top-seeded Beavers (54-4), who open the College World Series at noon Saturday against Cal State Fullerton (39-22), will take the field at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska as winners of 21 consecutive games. OSU closed the regular season with 16 straight victories and has outscored opponents 44-9 during its five NCAA tournament games.

Earlier this year, the Beavers won a program-record 23 in a row from Feb. 25 to April 9, including a 12-0 start in Pac-12 play.

The two streaks have accounted for 44 of the teams 54 victories, another single-season school record. With a winning percentage of .931, OSU is on pace to break Arizona States 45-year-old all-time mark of .914 (the Sun Devils finished 64-6 in 1972).

Below is a breakdown of the Beavers winning streaks.

Runs scored: 136 (5.9 per game)

Runs allowed: 49 (2.1 per game)

A loss to Ohio State, which finished 148th in the NCAA RPI, dropped Oregon State to 5-1 early in the season.

The Beavers began the longest winning streak in school history with a 5-2 neutral-site victory over Nebraska, which later came to Oregon for the Corvallis Regional. OSU then got revenge against the Buckeyes to wrap up play in Surprise, Arizona before sweeping consecutive home series with UC Davis and Ball State.

Entering Pac-12 play 14-1 overall, the Beavers outscored Arizona State 16-1 during the three-game set to seize an immediate stranglehold on the conference standings. Starting pitchers Luke Heimlich (eight two-hit innings), Bryce Fehmel (eight innings, one run, four hits) and Jake Thompson (7 two-hit innings) were close to untouchable in the desert.

OSU picked up its first of six walk-off wins at Goss Stadium on March 24, knocking off Arizona 4-3 on a KJ Harrison single that plated Adley Rutschman. The Beavers trailed 3-1 entering the eighth.

One night later, OSU again overcame a deficit and walked off again when Preston Jones scored all the way from second on a wild pitch for a 5-4 win. A comfortable 11-7 decision in the series finale pushed the team to 20-1 overall and 6-0 in Pac-12 play.

The Beavers kept the streak alive with another come-from-behind effort, scoring three times in the ninth to steal a 4-3 victory at Saint Marys on March 28. Nick Madrigal collected the game-winning hit, a two-out, two-RBI single with the bases loaded.

Following another road sweep in which the Beavers outscored Stanford 25-8, OSU pulled out a 4-3 road decision at Portland for its 20th win in a row. Rutschmans two-run single in the sixth put the Beavers in front for good.

A home sweep of Utah including two more walk-offs left OSU 28-1 overall (12-0 Pac-12). Steven Kwan hit a game-winning single in the opener while a Rutschman sacrifice fly brought home Jack Anderson for a 5-4, 16-inning victory in Game 2.

The streak finally came to an end April 13, a 3-2 loss at Washington. But the Beavers fought back to win the final two games of the series.

Runs scored: 158 (7.5 per game)

Runs allowed: 41 (2.0 per game)

After starting the year 28-1, the Beavers went just 5-3 during a two-week span from April 13-29. The rocky patch included a 7-5, 10-inning home loss to USC, which finished in the Pac-12 basement with Arizona State.

Oregon State came back to rout the Trojans 10-1 in the series finale, igniting a winning streak that has yet to end.

A midweek home victory over Oregon followed by a three-game sweep of California put the Beavers on the brink of the Pac-12 championship. After cruising past the Ducks in Game 1 of the Civil War conference series, Mitchell Verburg struck out Ryne Nelson with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth to seal a 5-4 victory and the outright Pac-12 title.

Verburgs heroics also delivered career win No. 1,000 for coach Pat Casey.

The Beavers blanked Oregon 1-0 to sweep the series and cruised by Portland two days later before coming out flat against Washington State May 19. Trailing 3-2 entering the ninth, Steven Kwan and Jack Anderson drew consecutive base-loaded walks off Cougars closer Scott Sunitsch for a true walk-off.

OSU went on to outscore Washington State 19-3 in the final two games of the series, finishing with the best record in conference history at 27-3.

The streak nearly ended again May 26 against Abilene Christian, the Beavers final regular-season opponent. Knotted at 4 in the bottom of the 11th, Anderson knocked in Andy Atwood with a single for the teams sixth walk-off of the year. Reliever Mitch Hickey proposed to his girlfriend on the Goss Stadium turf immediately following the game.

The Beavers entered the NCAA tournament with a 49-4 record and breezed through the Corvallis Regional, outscoring Holy Cross and Yale by a combined margin of 27-3. Two comfortable wins over Vanderbilt in the Corvallis Super Regional pushed the winning streak to 21 as OSU prepares for its CWS opener.

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OSU baseball: The anatomy of the Beavers' extraordinary win streaks - Albany Democrat Herald

Fennel Reduces Postmenopause Symptoms – Anti Aging News

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Posted on June 13, 2017, 6 a.m. in Women's Health Botanical Agents Sleep

Study confirms the benefits of fennel in reducing postmenopause symptoms such as sleeplessness, hot flashses, vaginal dryness, and anxiety.

A recent study has confirmed that fennel helps minimize postmenopause symptoms. This herbal medicine is rapidly growing in popularity as it has helpedcountless women across the globe manage their postmenopause symptoms. Women love the fact that fennel doesnot have any serious side effects.

About Fennel

Fennel is an herb commonly used in cooking. It has an anise flavor that is quite pleasing to the palate. The herb has long been valued for providing an array of health benefits for all sorts of issues ranging from digestion problems to premenstrual symptoms. Fennel has essential oils and phytoestrogenic properties. Similar to estrogen-like chemicals found in plants, phytoestrogens are used to successfully treat myriad menopause symptoms.

The New Study

The study referenced above confirms fennel is quite effective in managing postmenopause symptoms like anxiety, sleeplessness, hot flashes, irritability, depression, joint discomfort and vaginal dryness. The study results were recently published in The North American Menopause Society (NAMS) online journal Menopause.

Women have made use of alternative and complementary medicine for menopause symptom management across the past decade-plus. There has been a steady movement away from hormone therapy (HT) as it has its fair share of side effects. Though HT is a highly effective means of treating the majority of menopause symptoms, women are turning to herbal medicine in droves. Some are not candidates for HT while others are fearful of the side effects.

The study was conducted in Tehran, Iran. Women who live in Tehran reach menopause at a younger age (48.2 years) than women who reside in the United States (51 years). Soft capsules with 100 mg of fennel were provided to Iranian women between the ages of 45 and 60. The capsules were consumed two times per day over an 8-week period. The study was comprised of 79 women, some of whom were in a placebo group.

The intervention and placebo groups were compared at the following intervals: four, eight and 10 weeks. A major statistical difference was noted. Fennel proved to be an effective and safe means of decreasing menopause symptoms without inducing major side effects. This is one of the first clinical studies to determine if the benefits of fennel for the management of menopause symptoms had merit. Fennel was previously studied to determine if it was effective in managing premenopause symptoms. It was determined that fennel helped in managing these symptoms.

The Findings

The study determined that consuming fennel two times per day alleviated the severity of menopause symptoms. The placebo had minimum effect. It is still necessary to conduct a longer and larger randomized study yet these findings make it clear that fennel is quite effective for reducing postmenopausal symptoms.

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Fennel Reduces Postmenopause Symptoms - Anti Aging News