Plot twist in methane mystery blames chemistry, not emissions, for … – Science News

Posted on April 21, 2017 by Fredricko

A recent upsurge in planet-warming methane may not be caused by increasing emissions, as previously thought, but by methane lingering longer in the atmosphere.

Thats the conclusion of two independent studies that indirectly tracked concentrations of hydroxyl, a highly reactive chemical that rips methane molecules apart. Hydroxyl levels in the atmosphere decreased roughly 7 or 8 percent starting in the early 2000s, the studies estimate.

The two teams propose that the hydroxyl decline slowed the breakdown of atmospheric methane, boosting levels of the greenhouse gas. Concentrations in the atmosphere have crept up since 2007, but during the same period, methane emissions from human activities and natural sources have remained stable or even fallen slightly, both studies suggest. The research groups report their findings online April 17 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

If hydroxyl were to decline long-term, then it would be bad news, says Matt Rigby, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Bristol in England who coauthored one of the studies. Less methane would be removed from the atmosphere, he says, so the gas would hang around longer and cause more warming.

The stability of methane emissions might also vindicate previous studies that found no rise in emissions. The Environmental Protection Agency, for instance, has reported that U.S. emissions remained largely unchanged from 2004 to 2014 (SN Online: 4/14/16).

Methane enters the atmosphere from a range of sources, from decomposing biological material in wetlands to leaks in natural gas pipelines. Ton for ton, that methane causes 28 to 36 times as much warming as carbon dioxide over a century.

Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, atmospheric methane concentrations have more than doubled. By the early 2000s, though, levels of the greenhouse gas inexplicably flatlined. In 2007, methane levels just as mysteriously began rising again. The lull and subsequent upswing puzzled scientists, with explanations ranging from the abundance of methane-producing microbes to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Those proposals didnt account for what happens once methane enters the atmosphere. Most methane molecules in the air last around a decade before being broken apart during chemical reactions with hydroxyl. Monitoring methane-destroying hydroxyl is tricky, though, because the molecules are so reactive that they survive for less than a second after formation before undergoing a chemical reaction.

Neither study can show conclusively that hydroxyl levels changed, notes Stefan Schwietzke, an atmospheric scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colo. The papers nevertheless add a new twist in explaining the mysterious methane rise, he says. Basically these studies are opening a new can of worms, and there was no shortage of worms.

Despite being conducted by two separate teams one headed by Rigby and the other by atmospheric scientist Alex Turner of Harvard University the new studies used the same roundabout approach to tracking hydroxyl concentrations over time.

Both teams followed methyl chloroform, an ozone-depleting substance used as a solvent before being banned by the Montreal Protocol. Like methane, methyl chloroform also breaks apart in reactions with hydroxyl. Unlike methane, though, emission rates of methyl chloroform are fairly easy to track because the chemical is entirely human-made.

Examining methyl chloroform measurements gathered since the 1980s revealed that hydroxyl concentrations have probably wobbled over time, contributing to the odd pause and rise in atmospheric methane concentrations. But to know for sure whether hydroxyl levels varied or remained steady, scientists will need to take a more detailed look at regional emissions of methane and methyl chloroform, Rigby says.

Why hydroxyl levels might have fallen also remains unclear. Turner and colleagues note that the ban on ozone-depleting substances like methyl chloroform might be the cause. The now-recovering ozone layer (SN: 12/24/16, p. 28) blocks some ultraviolet light, an important ingredient in the formation of hydroxyl. Identifying the cause of the hydroxyl changes could help climate scientists better predict how methane levels will behave in the future.

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Plot twist in methane mystery blames chemistry, not emissions, for ... - Science News

Chemistry professor receives NSF CAREER Award – KU Today

Posted on April 21, 2017 by Fredricko

LAWRENCE A question that has eluded scientists for 200 years will be the object for study for a University of Kansas chemistry professor who received a prestigious award from the National Science Foundation.

Marco Caricato, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry, was awarded a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation for his research proposal First Principles Evaluation of Optical Activity in Solids. The award is the highest honor given by the NSF to young researchers.

Caricato will focus on chiral solids and their interaction with light, an effect known as optical activity. Chiral molecules and solids are objects that are nonsuperimposable mirror images of each other, such as right and left hands. Chiral molecules and supramolecular systems also play an important role in biology, as proteins and DNA are made out of chiral molecules (amino acids and sugars), and life has evolved around only one of the two possible mirror images (called enantiomers) for these molecules. Therefore, it is extremely important to be able to distinguish which enantiomerthat researchers have in their samples (for drugs, only one enantiomer will be effective, while the other may even be dangerous).

One way to distinguish these mirror images is through their interaction with chiral light. Scientists have studied optical activity in chiral molecules and crystals for 200 years, and they are able to use this interaction effectively for sample analysis. Nevertheless, scientists have yet to understand the correlation between molecular structure and the electronic response to light. In other words, it is not possible to predict the magnitude and sign of the response by simply looking at the microscopic structure of the material.

It is exciting to study a phenomenon that is still not quite well understood after so much time from its discovery. We are going to use sophisticated computer simulations to try to gain a chemically intuitive understanding of such structure-property relationship of matter, Caricato said.

This project could have implications for materials science, as well. Chiral materials are becoming increasingly popular for applications in catalysis, molecular recognition and electronics. Caricato will use theoretical simulations to develop first principles quantum mechanical methods for the calculation of optical rotation.

Caricato will receive $625,000 over the next five years to support his research as well as an outreach program to bring computational chemistry into high school classrooms in Kansas.

With this award, the Department of Chemistry now counts 14 CAREER Award recipients in its current faculty, reflecting a notably high success rate in applications for this award.

Professor Caricato's state-of the art research in using quantum chemistry to explain and predict the properties of materials complements very well KU's already strong efforts in computational chemistry, said Brian Laird, chair of the Department of Chemistry. This well-deserved award is a testament to the high level of research productivity that he brings to the department and to KU.

Caricato joined the university in 2014. He served as a postdoctoral fellow at Yale and a research scientist at Gaussian Inc. following the completion of his doctorate at Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, Italy, in 2006.

The NSF has existed since 1950 to promote discovery in the sciences and to fund those on the frontier of scientific innovation. The NSF CAREER Award supports junior faculty who engage in outstanding research, education and integration of education and research in their academic roles.

The Department of Chemistry is in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, which is KUs largest, most diverse academic unit.

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Chemistry professor receives NSF CAREER Award - KU Today

GMU students make 3D printed prosthetic arm for violinist | khou.com – KHOU

Posted on April 21, 2017 by Fredricko

Students from George Mason University design prosthetic arm for violist

Peggy Fox, WUSA 9:46 PM. CDT April 20, 2017

FAIRFAX, VA (WUSA9) - A new beginning for a Fairfax County girl who has just received a new prosthetic arm that was designed and 3-D printed by George Mason University college students.

Isabella Nicola, 10, has been raised by her mother, Andrea Cabrera, to never say never.

"My mom's phrase is, when you say 'I can't do it', it's 'I can't do it yet,'" said Nicola.

The fifth grader signed up to play violin in the strings program at Island Creek Elementary in Franconia last year, even though she knew it'd be a little difficult.

RELATED:Dog rescued from slaughterhouse gets prosthetic legs

She was born with an incomplete left arm. Her music teacher fashioned a makeshift prosthetic arm out of PVC to hold her bow. Then he a called his alma mater and got the engineering department on board.

But now, Isabella has a bright pink, custom-made, brand new prosthetic arm that allows her to hold and move the bow properly.

"I have to say thank you to them because without them I couldn't really be able to play," said Nicola.

The five students have been working as a team for more than a year on their capstone senior project. It was designed, 3D printed, and pieced together by five George Mason University bioengineering students, Yasser Alhindi, the lead, Abdul Gouda, Mona Elkholy, Ella Novoselsky and Racha Salha.

Dr. Elizabeth Adams, a GMU music teacher, explained that a player's arm movement affects the violin's sound. Adams worked with the students and Isabella, providing advice.

The faculty mentors are Wilsaan Joiner and Vasiliki Ikonomidou. Laurence Bray is head of the bioengineering department.

"We were brainstorming ideas right away. We were aiming to take the strain off her shoulder to make her as comfortable as possible," said Ella Novoselsky.

RELATED:Injured animals get life-changing prosthetics

"It's amazing. They didn't have any background when they started, of the mechanical engineering aspect. I'm amazed. When they came to me with all those designs, and they told me, this is going to go there and this will go like that. 'Ok, sure,'" saidVasiliki Ikonomidou, one of the mentors said about the student designers.

For Thursday's hand-off, the students had a surprise for Isabella. They also made a grip so that she can ride bike with both arms. Isabella beamed as she held it like she was holding the handlebars.

"Very cool and nice...They thought about other things. They went above and beyond," said Isabella.

She and the college students hit if off from the start. At their first meeting, Racha Salha said Isabella was "making jokes and laughing. We were actually the ones who were nervous....She's amazing."

"I want her to play the violin and love playing the violin and be excited. And I want her to believe she can do anything she wants," said Ella Novoselsky.

The bioengineering department has already received more inquiries from other people, so another group of students could soon have a new project on their hands.

2017 WUSA-TV

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GMU students make 3D printed prosthetic arm for violinist | khou.com - KHOU

Anatomy of a Sarin Bomb Explosion (Part II) – bellingcat

Posted on April 21, 2017 by Fredricko

Introduction

Part I describes the basic behaviour and intended function of an air-delivered gravity bomb containing Sarin, designed along US/USSR cold war lines. When we left off in Part I, a well-crafted gravity bomb will have dispensed its Sarin broadly along this distribution:

Sarin, also commonly known by its old NATO nickname GB, is one of a family of chemical warfare agents known as nerve agents. It was invented by German scientists in 1938-1939 who were performing research on organophosphorous pesticides led by Dr. Gerhard Schrader. Sarin was named by the team of researchers who invented it. It is in a family of chemicals known as organophosphates. There are other chemicals within this family, including the chemical warfare agents Tabun, Soman, VX, and the pesticides Malathion, Parathion, and Amiton.

All of the nerve agents affect the human bodys nervous system. The human nervous system requires a delicate balance of chemicals to regulate itself. Nerve agents bind to a chemical known as acetylcholinesterase and, in doing so, disrupt the electrochemical reactions required for the body to operate properly. The binding of acetylcholinesterase leads to a build-up of acetylcholine, which then in turn leads to a syndrome called a cholinergic crisis. In effect, the nervous system starts to over-act and muscles and glands start to work over-time and cause serious problems. The signs and symptoms will vary in severity and timeline depending on the route of exposure and dose (i.e. the amount of Sarin absorbed). This will be discussed at length below.

There are several ways Sarin can enter the human body. These are called routes of exposure and are as follows:

Sarin acts very quickly through respiratory and ocular exposure, with onset of adverse effects within seconds to a few minutes depending on dose. Absorption through the skin is slower, i.e. minutes to hours, depending on dose. Rate of action for wound exposure is believed to be intermediate in speed between respiratory and dermal absorption. Gastrointestinal absorption is not well documented but is likely to be fast.

Sarin, as it is less persistent and evaporates at a faster rate relative to the other nerve agents, is foremost an inhalation hazard. Absorption through skin takes time, and even someone with liquid Sarin on their skin is extremely likely to suffer inhalation effects from the Sarin evaporating off of their clothing and skin, except in very cold weather. In moderate or warm temperature situations, the only realistic exposure scenarios for a liquid Sarin only, through skin absorption are for partially protected troops already wearing protective masks or donning them very quickly at the onset of a chemical attack. So, with unprotected target populations, the route of exposure of most significance is inhalation of aerosol and vapour.

The cholinergic crisis that Sarin (and its other cousins in the same family) provokes manifests itself in signs (things that are externally observable) and symptoms (subjective indications felt by the victim that are difficult or impossible to observe). This graphic, taken from the canonical Medical Aspects of Chemical Warfare (various editions accessible online) lists the major signs and symptoms:

Rhinorrhea is a fancy term for a profusely snotty nose. Miosis means pinpointing of the pupils. The rest is either self explanatory or you can look it up in a normal dictionary if unsure.

The order in which signs and symptoms appear and their severity will vary both with degree of exposure and route of exposure. For Sarin, this is principally inhalation. This graphic describes this exposure category in detail:

In the event of liquid absorption through skin, signs and symptoms progress differently. This is really more relevant for the more persistent, slower evaporating agents like Tabun and VX. In the case of Sarin exposure, an unprotected person with lots of Sarin liquid on them will get respiratory exposure from evaporation, and this is very likely to happen faster than dermal exposure. With Sarin, the likely exposure scenario is for someone who has protective equipment for their respiratory tract and eyes (e.g. a gas mask) but unprotected skin. For comparison purposes, this is the progression of signs/symptoms for dermal exposure:

When people die from nerve agent exposure, the mechanism of death is almost always a pulmonary death. Such respiratory failure, which denies the body oxygen happens through several mechanisms with nerve agent poisoning. Depending on route of exposure and dose, any or all of these will be the exact mechanism by which death occurs:

All of these conditions can cause cyanosis , a tell-tale blueish discolouring of skin due to oxygen deprivation.

Most studies of the toxicity of Sarin are derived from data involving animal research. Much of the information is now quite dated, having been developed in the 1950s and 1960s. These should all be taken with a reasonable margin for error. However, the following chart from the US Armys Field Manual 3-11-9 is as useful a summary as any Ive seen. Anyone interest in the footnotes can go to the Field manual and look them up, although some of the references are to studies and documents not readily available online. You might need a good research library.

These numbers probably mean little to most readers so I am going to unpack this at some length. Concentration is measured in milligrams per cubic meter. As there is almost nothing in toxicology thats instant, concentration is measured over a time domain. So for things like vapor exposure, the figures used are in milligrams per cubic meter per minute. For example 50 mg-min/m3 means 50 mgs of Sarin per 1 cubic meter of air for a period of 1 minute.

The key figure here is something called 50th percentile Lethal Concentration LCt50. This is the concentration that is reckoned to kill half of the exposed population, assuming a normal adult male (these studies were all based around Cold War soldiers) breathing at 15 liters of air per minute. This is the MV (respiratory minute volume) on the table. This is equivalent to a soldier engaged in moderate activity. (Someone asleep will be breathing slower, someone running full tilt is likely to be higher.) So, for Sarin, breathing 35 mg Sarin in aerosol or vapour, per cubic meter of air, continuously for 2 minutes, will kill about 50% of the exposed people. This is extremely lethal. By comparison, the similar figure for phosgene, the most lethal chemical weapon used in World War 1, is about 1500 mg-min/m3.

For severely debilitating effects, the figure for Sarin is 25 mg-min/m3, again over the course of 2 minutes, not much less than the lethal figure. It is likely that there would be some lethality at this level. For mild effects, the threshold is around 0.4 mg.

Sarin vapor and aerosol can enter through the skin. However, if you examine the table, these effects require a FAR HIGHER level of concentration and longer exposure. Lethal concentrations (LCt50) for this route of exposure are 6000 to 12000 mg-min/m3 for much longer durations of exposure (30 mins to 6 hours). This is an entirely difference exposure scenario. (The differences in the figures in the table are that the higher numbers are for warmer temperatures.) So, yes, Sarin is lethal through a route of permeation through the skin, but only at levels that are literally hundreds of times higher than the levels that are dangerous for respiration. The figures for severe effects (4000-800) and minor effects (600-1200) are correspondingly lower, but still MUCH HIGHER than effective concentration levels for absorption via the respiratory route. It should be noted that a very dense aerosol may result in some condensation or deposit of liquid on skin, which behaves as described in the next paragraph.

Percutaneous liquid exposure takes time, as was noted above. Time of exposure is a bit different here, and is less significant than the amount absorbed through the skin. A larg
e gob of Sarin landing mostly on outer clothing and almost instantly removed by decontamination may result in less net absorption of Sarin into the body than a small droplet on the back of the neck that goes unnoticed until symptoms appear.

LD50 for Sarin is calculated at 1700 mg for a 70 kg male. This means that, for a normal 70kg human male, 1700 mg of Sarin absorbed into the human body would kill about half of the people with that level of poisoning. Statistically, some would die with less, and some could survive with a much higher exposure. ED50 is the level of exposure for serious, disabling effects. For Sarin it is 1000 mg for the same assumptions. Note that at this level of dose, some are likely to die. This is an awful lot of Sarin when compared to the amounts that are needed to kill or seriously incapacitate people through inhalation.

The behaviour of Sarin on skin is important. Several things happen when Sarin is on human skin:

For those who are curious, heres what some of the other columns mean:

Now that we understand the practical toxicology here, it is easy to analyze exposure scenarios in the field. It is clear from the toxicological data that Sarin is far more efficient as a killer in an aerosol or vapour form, easily by several orders of magnitude. A weapon system that dispenses its contents in the form of liquid would largely be a waste of expensive Sarin. So, we are now understandably back to the concept of a weapon system that is designed and tested to optimize the quantity of aerosol.

In our suspected scenario in April 2017, there is a well-substantiated allegation that an air-dropped Sarin bomb was dropped. It appears to have functioned as designed and created an aerosol that drifted downwind, as the victims were a distance away from the bomb. Any person close enough to have been splashed with some liquid was probably close enough to the bomb to die very quickly. In any case, the impact point appears to be in the middle of a road.

So, for a person to be seriously ill or to die, there is a need to create an aerosol of a concentration of 25 to 50 mg-min/m3. So, people exposed to an aerosol of this density will get sick and easily could die. People exposed to an aerosol of only 2 or 5 mg-min/m3 may easily get very ill, particularly if they are in it for minutes. But think it through. A cubic meter is a lot of air. And thats a very small amount of Sarin. How much Sarin is actually going to get deposited on their skin, hair, and clothing. A few milligrams, maximum.

Next, these people either escape or are carried away a significant distance and then receive emergency treatment. There are firm reports of responders going to rescue people becoming victims. However there are videos taken in locations some distance away from the impact site. People wearing little or no protective gear are seen handling the victims. Why are they not being seriously affected by Sarin? The simple answer is that these victims were affected by aerosol and/or vapour. Very little material actually got deposited on them. Even if it did, it would have been in the order of a few milligrams. And it takes 1700 milligrams over a period of time to kill someone by simple absorption. Responders arent falling over because, simply, the math doesnt work and Sarin isnt a magical substance.

Why then do emergency responders in more developed/better equipped situations train to wear full protective equipment? For several reasons. Emergency responders wear equipment that is prescribed through obeisance to occupational health and safety regulations, not a what can I get away with and not die ethos. Second, in the early stages of an incident, the chemical agent that was used may not be known. Even if you knew it was a nerve agent, you arent likely to know it was Sarin and not one of its more persistent cousins. VX, for example, is a different game altogether being primarily a contact/liquid hazard and requiring more skin protection when dealing with victims.

The bottom line is that Sarin evaporates quickly, not much is needed to do harm to people, and people who are exposed only to aerosol and vapour are a minimal contact or respiratory hazard to others. Even given this, some responders reported illness. So, the Responders didnt die on film so it wasnt Sarin is an incorrect line to take here and displays a basic ignorance of the facts.

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Anatomy of a Sarin Bomb Explosion (Part II) - bellingcat

UHS Anatomy Dept named after Prof Tahir – The Nation

Posted on April 21, 2017 by Fredricko

LAHORE - The University of Health Sciences (UHS) has named its Anatomy department after late Prof Muhammad Tahir.

Prof Muhammad Tahir has been the head of UHS Anatomy department for last 11 years. He died on Wednesday at the age of 87, bringing to an end a prolific career as teacher, a researcher, and an administrator. His work in all these domains was distinguished by a highly original critical thinking and personal vision of morality and ethics.

A memorial service for Prof Muhammad Tahir was held at the university on Thursday which was attended by UHS Vice Chancellor Prof Junaid Sarfraz Khan, faculty members and students.

Prof Junaid Sarfraz Khan planted a Banyan tree at Kala Shah Kaku Campus of the university in the memory of the deceased.

Prof Tahir was a graduate of King Edward Medical College Lahore. He did his MBBS in 1952 with gold medal for standing first in the University. He taught in various national and international institutes. He did his PhD from London University. He had more than 50 research publications to his credit.

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Chemistry and cooking collide in a new course at Carlow – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Posted on April 20, 2017 by Fredricko

For a baker, lemon meringue pie is a tart dessert with an airy foam atop a smooth yellow filling.

For students in Carlows molecular gastronomycourse or maybe even Alton Brown lemon meringue pie is a colloidal system, which involves a gas dispersed in liquid, atop a smooth yellow filling.

Thats because baking is chemistry at its core, explained Monique Hockman,the professor who created the class.

Cooking is pretty much an art, she said.But baking is a science. You truly have to measure things.

The perfect lemon meringue pie is no exception to the rule measuring out the ratio of egg whites to sugar in the foamy meringue is vital in trapping gas bubbles. Similarly, yeast and flour must be proportionate to create the soft, chewy dough for sunshine sweet rolls, a play on traditional breakfast rolls that involves shredded carrots and even carrot baby food.

While baking in a chemistry lab that Ms. Hockman converted into a kitchen complete with toaster ovens under the fume hoods four groups of students dashed around, collecting ingredients for the recipes theyd follow in their lab. Cream of tartar, flour, two containers of raspberries, oranges, lemons, pie crusts, yeast and salt (cleverly labeled NaCl for sodium chloride) lined a table toward the back of the classroom.

Ms. Hockman, who holds a doctorate in physical chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh, said she partially modeled the class from a similar course taught at Harvard University called Science and Cooking, which has been turned into a massive open online course through EdX and adapted for a public lecture series.

Outside the food lab where Ms. Hockmans students create mostly traditional foods, fruit juice caviar, flavored foams, and fruit or vegetable spaghetti noodles are just a few of the wacky creations people imagine when they hear the term molecular gastronomy, she said. However, most chefs who create these visionary and experimental dishes dislike the terminology.

Local chef Kevin Sousa was the first to bring molecular gastronomy to Pittsburgh with his Alchemy menu at Bigelow Grille in the DoubleTree Hotel, Downtown. Among other items, the menu offered tiny, liquefied beads of pierogi with a shot glass of highly concentrated sauerkraut consomme.

He said that molecular gastronomy is a silly term because everything is made of molecules, and all cooking is science.He admits there is a certain specificity associated with what some call molecular gastronomy, but he just calls it modern cooking.

Theres a slightly more scientific approach to it, like why things go together that may not have been thought of before as good pairings, he said.

Ms. Hockman also notes that the term molecular gastronomy is merely the chemistry behind cooking, not necessarily art nouveau in food.

The idea is to achieve the tastes but in different physical states than they normally exist,she said.

In a nearly three-hour class one Wednesday in March, the students tried out four recipes, which appeared drastically different at first. However, each employed a leavening agent, or a substance, which causes expansion in baking.

For Ms. Hockman, the differing culinary approaches with similar scientific functions are what constitute the term molecular gastronomy.

Two of the recipes, sunshine sweet rolls and multigrain cinnamon rolls, used yeast to help the sweet dough rise. The other two recipes, for raspberry foam and lemon meringue pie, relied on cream of tartar to puff up egg whites.

In the breads, biological leavening helps dough to rise, Ms. Hockman told the class. When activated with warm water, biological leavening agents ferment sugars and carbohydrates in flour to release carbon dioxide. Yeast is the most common biological leavening agent, although unpasteurized beer, sourdough starter, buttermilk, kefir and yogurt also use the same mechanism.

The group making cinnamon rolls split up the labor. Biology major Kayla Todd, 19, kneaded the dough. Ms. Todd, of Churchill, donned a white apron with a few squares of the periodic table that spell out Iron Chef, and mixed the dough with her hands until it resembled a ball of cookie dough.

Alternately, her classmates used mechanical leavening to make meringue and foam. In this process, meringue requires cream of tartar or potassium bitartrate which is not a cream at all, but a fine powder.

Students use a stand mixer to whip up egg whites and cream of tartar, which stabilizes air bubbles and keeps the fluffy substance from deflating.The heat and force of the mixing causes the soft peaks to form.

In chemistry terms, the amino acid chains in the egg whites uncoil in a process called denaturation. After they uncoil, they begin to mesh back together again but with pockets of air stuck inside. Adding sugar, as the students did, keeps the gas bubbles from popping.

At the end of class, Ms. Hockman rolled in a cart with a coffee machine and lined up the baked goods on a lab table. The room fell silent as students sampled the fruits of their labor.

Despite the chemistry and hard work, Ms. Todd was, ironically, most concerned with the icing on her cinnamon rolls, which her partner made out of powdered sugar, half-and-half and butter.

Its amazing. You have to taste it, she said, adding,I want to cook now because I hadn't done it at home before.

Courtney Linder: clinder@post-gazette.comor 412-263-1707. Twitter: @LinderPG.

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Why Investors remained confident on L Brands, Inc. (LB), Puma Biotechnology, Inc. (PBYI)? – StockNewsJournal

Posted on April 20, 2017 by Fredricko

StockNewsJournal

Why Investors remained confident on L Brands, Inc. (LB), Puma Biotechnology, Inc. (PBYI)?
StockNewsJournal
Puma Biotechnology, Inc. (NASDAQ:PBYI), at its latest closing price of $36.85, it has a price-to-book ratio of 6.95, compared to an industry average at 11.13. A lower P/B ratio could mean that the stock is undervalued. This ratio also gives some idea ...
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Team characterizes the underlying cause of a form of macular … – Medical Xpress

Posted on April 20, 2017 by Fredricko

April 19, 2017 by Katherine Unger Baillie The Penn-led research team characterized the underlying mechanism that leads to the blinding Best disease; a loss of the microvilli that support and "feed" photoreceptor cells. The contrast can be seen above, with a normal retina on the right and an affected on on the left. Credit: University of Pennsylvania

Named for Friedrich Best, who characterized the disease in 1905, Best disease, also known as vitelliform macular dystrophy, affects children and young adults and can cause severe declines in central vision as patients age. The disease is one in a group of conditions known as bestrophinopathies, all linked to mutations in the BEST1 gene. This gene is expressed in the retinal pigment epithelium, or RPE, a layer of cells that undergirds and nourishes photoreceptor cells, the rods and cones responsible for vision.

Despite the century of work on bestrophinopathies and the identification of genetic mutations responsible for the conditions, no one had identified the underlying mechanism that led to the vision loss seen in Best disease until now.

Using an animal model of Best disease in combination with biochemical and optical assays, a team of researchers at the University of Pennsylvania has pinpointed a number of abnormalities that give rise to the impairments seen in the disease.

"The genetic cause of the disease has been known for 20 years, but no one had samples of patients at the stage when the disease starts," said Karina E. Guziewicz, research assistant professor of ophthalmology in Penn's School of Veterinary Medicine and lead author on the study. But "we were now able to pinpoint this early stage and find out what factors trigger the development of lesions."

The new information sets the team up for testing a gene therapy to treat the disease, as the researchers will be able to observe whether or not these structural and biochemical abnormalities have been corrected.

"Now that we understand what we're seeing, it allows us to judge the success of a particular therapy," said Gustavo D. Aguirre, professor of medical genetics and ophthalmology at Penn Vet.

Kathleen Boesze-Battaglia, a professor in the Department of Biochemistry in Penn's School of Dental Medicine, also contributed her expertise in lipid biochemistry and spectral analysis of lipid debris to the study, which was published in the journal Progress in Retinal and Eye Research, the top ranked journal in the eye-research field.

"Interestingly, the lipid debris accumulation is similar to cholesterol rich plaque formation, compounded by a complexity of vitamin A metabolism," said Boesze-Battaglia. "Alterations in lipid metabolism likely contribute to the secondary disease pathology in this model."

The main puzzle surrounding Best disease was why, despite the BEST1 gene being mutated in the RPE throughout the retina, vision loss struck the macula and fovea, the central areas of the retina responsible for reading and tasks requiring high-resolution vision, while seeming to spare the rest. Researchers had observed lesions in this area, but it was unknown why they developed.

In this study, the Penn-led team discovered that this predilection of the macula to develop lesions has to do with differences in the supporting structures of rods versus cones.

Rods, which make up more than 90 percent of photoreceptor cells in the retina and are responsible for dim-light vision, have a cluster of supporting structures known as RPE microvilli that cup the cell like stakes holding up a plant. In contrast, cones, the color-sensing photoreceptors that make up 3 to 5 percent of all photoreceptors but are overrepresented in the macula, are engulfed in a sheath of microvilli. In addition, cones are supported by an insoluble matrix.

Examining cross-sections of the fovea-like region in the canine macula of dogs affected with the canine equivalent of Best disease, the researchers found that the microvilli don't form and that the matrix is fragmented. The susceptibility of the macula is due to the fact that cones are the predominant cell type there and rely on the matrix for support and nutrient exchange.

"We were not expecting to find such dramatic structural abnormalities," Guziewicz said. "For a hundred years, this has been thought to be a disease of the RPE, but we have now identified this as a disease of the RPE-photoreceptor interface."

"The RPE provides transport of nutrients to the cones and engulfs the discarded part of cones and rods," said Aguirre. "When you lose the matrix, you lose the connection between those cells and the RPE and that leads to disease."

To determine if the same would be true in humans, the researchers looked at human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived RPE from Best disease patients and found similar signatures: microvilli numbers were decreased in length and density. These experiments were conducted in collaboration with David Gamm's laboratory from the McPherson Eye Research Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Looking ahead, the research team would like to continue to probe the biochemical signals that lead to the improper development of the microvilli and matrix and push ahead with developing and testing a gene-therapy approach to treating bestrophinopathies.

"Knowing where the disruptions occur will allow us to develop proper outcome measures for a gene therapy, which is in the works," said Guziewicz.

Explore further: Fighting blindness: Scientists bring a key protein into focus

More information: Karina E. Guziewicz et al, Bestrophinopathy: An RPE-photoreceptor interface disease, Progress in Retinal and Eye Research (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.preteyeres.2017.01.005

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Aspen Princess: Anatomy of a meltdown – Aspen Times

Posted on April 20, 2017 by Fredricko

I honestly don't even know where to begin.

Do I start with how I was robbed on the street in Miami and my purse was stolen with my laptop in it so I am now typing this column on my old computer, the one with a little plastic nub where the letter "R" key fell off so I get a blister on the tip of my finger?

Or a compelling opener might be an excerpt from a dinner conversation at the Naples Beach Hotel where everyone in my crazy extended family was comparing what dosage Zoloft they're on.

Do I write about what it was like to travel with a toddler who was getting over the flu, and how, even though he was cleared to travel by his pediatrician, puked all over me, himself, his car seat, and his grandparents the night before we left? Or how I got, like, four minutes of sleep before my 5 a.m. wake-up call because I was up all night worrying, wondering if I should travel with him?

Maybe I could explain how, even on a good day, traveling with a 400-pound diaper bag o' tricks that bottomless pit of diapers, wipes, sippy cups, food pouches, teething wafers, books, toys, snacks and whatever other crap modern life has done to make our lives so much more pushed me to the brink? Or I could talk about when he'd drop something on the floor of the plane for the 500th time and I had to become a contortionist just so I could reach the one thing that would keep us both sane all while feeling like I was going to bust an organ.

I also could write about the award-winning tantrum the babe had the night of our arrival when he threw his head back so violently while sitting in my lap that the back of his noggin left a nice welt on my cheekbone.

That's when I lost it.

Yes, after 15 months of baby bliss I had my first official, bona fide meltdown. Talk about a slap in the face my sweet little angel had basically cold-cocked me.

I could write about what it's like to drive in a car in a new city with my parents, who absolutely refuse to trust GPS unless it's the one in their own car, as if their GPS was an old friend they could rely on and any other GPS was not to be trusted.

I explained to them, for the 50th time, that our iPhones can do the same thing as the GPS in their beloved Mazda CX-5. Soon everyone in the car had their iPhones programmed with the address so each time there was a direction we'd hear it multiple times, like an echo. "In half a mile, merge left onto Interstate 75 East In half a mile In half a mile "

Still, my mother insisted the GPS was wrong. "She's confused," she'd chime in from the back seat. "She doesn't understand." I have no idea why she thought she knew better, considering she'd never been to Naples in her entire life.

I tried to explain that "she" is actually a computer and in fact does know exactly where we're going and how to get there and how long it will take. But Lindarose wasn't buying it. Every time the GPS dictated a direction she'd say, "OK, honey," in this really patronizing tone dripping in sarcasm as if the GPS was a little old lady suffering from dementia and we were all just humoring her.

It didn't help matters when we rushed out to buy diapers and I plugged in the wrong street address on the way back and we ended up on Mahogany Lane (which is in the only trailer park in all of Naples) instead of Mahogany Run Lane, which is in the fancy-pants golf resort where we were staying.

I could write about what it's like to travel with my parents, who are not only retired from working, but also anything that takes any work in general, like all the rigmarole involved with caring for a toddler. That meant I was the one loading and unloading the baby and the 500 pounds of other crap that this tiny little person somehow requires. It seemed like I was always red-faced and sweating, my clothes wrinkled and disheveled, on the brink of pulling my frizzy humidity hair out and leaving it in heaps on the pavement like dryer lint screaming, "Help me!"

I could talk about how it's taken me this long to realize that I don't need high heels or nice outfits because I am so catatonic by the time I finally get my little monster to bed that I no longer care if I have drool and crusted baby food all over my shirt sleeves and would rather stick a needle in my eye than put on uncomfortable shoes or a shirt that requires a bra.

I could write about the Airbnb my brother and I rented in Miami that was supposed to be all hip and eclectic, when in reality it was a dump in a neighborhood where we were robbed on the street in broad daylight.

Or I could write about how one of my favorite things about being a mother is sharing my baby with my family. How despite it all, it's one the most joyful experience of my life. I could talk about how my brother is the most loving uncle my baby boy could ever ask for. Or how my cousin Leslee showered the babe with an ocean love that came pouring out of her oversized heart.

I also might mention how the baby was oblivious to it all, happy to play in the sand and kick his feet in the sea and to grace us all with the song of his laughter.

The Princess is getting a serious blister on her "R" finger. Email your love to alisonmargo@gmail.com.

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Grey’s Anatomy: Every Reason We Have to Believe Cristina Will Return – POPSUGAR

Posted on April 20, 2017 by Fredricko

How has Grey's Anatomy managed to survive without badass cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Cristina Yang for the last three seasons? Well, the popular medical drama has devoted quite some time to exploring Meredith's often precarious yet devoted sisterly bonds to Maggie and Amelia. As much as we love this new dynamic, there's no one quite like Mer's unapologetic soul sister or "person," as Mer puts it. From the pilot episode to Cristina's departure in season 10, Meredith and Cristina grow together, rising through the ranks from clueless interns to fearless attendings as they support each other through the worst of times. And we really do mean the worst of times: shootings, plane crashes, you name it.

Last Summer, Sandra Oh, the talented actress behind Cristina, sparked some hope in Grey's fans. She tweeted a picture with her Grey's Anatomy ex-husband Kevin McKidd, who plays trauma surgeon Dr. Owen Hunt, and former Grey's Anatomy screenwriter Tony Phelan.

Was it a merely a benign gathering of old chums, or were they discussing some Grey's business? It's most likely the former, but no one ever really knows when it comes to Shondaland. After all, the show has featured cameos from past main cast actors, like Kate Walsh and Isaiah Washington. On the matter of Cristina's return, McKidd casually commented in a recent interview that he'd "love it if she came back," and that he thinks "she might eventually for fun, for maybe a couple of episodes."

With Amelia and Owen's marriage on the rocks in season 13, some of us are speculating that Oh may return to add a plot twist or some unprecedented drama. Cristina is killing it in her career right now in Switzerland, and we couldn't be happier for her . . . but we wouldn't necessarily object to her return.

While promoting her new comedy film Catfight on Access Hollywood Live, Oh said that she doesn't think she'll come back to Grey's Anatomy, but gave a more evasive and uncertain answer about the possibility of returning for the series finale. Hinting that she had previously talked to showrunner Shonda Rhimes about it, Oh said: "I just don't know. It would just have to feel right." That's not a no!

We don't definitively know whether or not Cristina will be coming back, but if Oh does come back, it'll likely be a cameo or guest star appearance rather than a recurring role. If you miss seeing Oh on prime-time television, she'll be guest starring as a social worker in a three-episode story arc in the ABC series American Crime. For now, we'll just be rewatching throwback Grey's episodes and crying over this brilliant character brought to life by Oh's tour-de-force performance.

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Grey's Anatomy: Every Reason We Have to Believe Cristina Will Return - POPSUGAR

Protein isolated from human cord blood has antiaging effects on memory in mice – Science Magazine

Posted on April 20, 2017 by Fredricko

A protein in umbilical cord blood boosted memory in old mice.

Pixelistanbul/iStockphoto

By Jocelyn KaiserApr. 19, 2017 , 1:00 PM

Researchers have found a protein in the blood of human umbilical cords that improves memory and learning in old mice. The provocative finding joins a flurry of other recent, sometimes controversial work attempting to find factors that explain the apparent antiaging properties of young blood.

These are exciting results, says Sally Temple, scientific director of the Neural Stem Cell Institute in Rensselaer, New York, who was not involved with the work. She and others say the new finding suggests that this and other factors in young blood may have different, complementary effects on the aging brain.

Decades ago in somewhat grisly experiments, researchers found that sewing together the circulatory systems of an old and young mouse so that they shared the same blood supply rejuvenated the old animals. In 2014, as part of renewed interest in this unusual procedure, known as parabiosis, neuroscientist Tony Wyss-Corays lab at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, reported that it could mimic some of the brain-boosting effects of parabiosis withinjections of young mouse plasma, the cell-free part of blood.

Identifying the responsible factors in such blood is a challenge, however. Because mice are so tiny, its hard to collect enough mouse plasma to do biochemical and other analyses. As an alternative, Wyss-Corays lab recently tested the youngest human blood availableumbilical cord blood, which is traditionally thrown away after a birth but has become increasingly prized as physicians explore its therapeutic uses.

In the new work, Wyss-Corays group gave human cord blood plasma to mice of varying ages that had defective immune systems and so did not reject the foreign human tissue. Like young mouse plasma, human cord plasma injected every 4 days for 2 weeks into the circulation activated neurons in old mices hippocampi, where memories are made and stored. (This activation did not happen in the hippocampi of young mice treated with cord blood.) After the injections, the aging animals also navigated a maze more quickly and performed better on other tests of learning and memory, Wyss-Corays teamreports today inNature.

The team then looked for blood proteins that are abundant in human cords but decline in the general circulation with age. They ultimately homed in one called TIMP2, which was previously known to control the production of enzymes that chop up the matrix around cells and play a role in wound healing as well as the spread of cancer. (Its full name is tissue metallopeptidase inhibitor 2.) Old mice injected with mouse TIMP2 scored almost as well on memory tests as those given cord plasma, although they still didnt match the cognitive skills of young mice, Wyss-Coray says. To help clinch its case for TIMP2, the Stanford group also showed that cord blood depleted of TIMP2 did nothing for old mice, and blocking TIMP2 in young mice impaired their memory.

The researchers search for antiaging factors did not point to another protein,GDF11, which some scientists have reported stimulates the growth of new blood vessels and neural stem cells in the brain. (Another claimthat GDF11 rejuvenates musclehas been hotly contested by several labs, partly becausetheir studies suggest GDF11 levels rise with age.)

But Wyss-Coray says the new study does not rule on a role for GDF11 in the brain. Harvard University neuroscientist Lee Rubin, who co-led the GDF11 brain study, says the new findings suggest it isnt just one thing. A lot of individual factors in blood can improve function. Indeed, one might want to combine GDF11 and TIMP2 treatments to both generate new neurons and get the most out of the cells that are there, Temple suggests.

Some experts are less impressed by the study. Parabiosis researcher Irina Conboy of the University of California, Berkeley, notes that the paper doesnt put the modest memory and learning improvements from TIMP2 in context by comparing them to, say, putting an old mouse on an exercise wheel, which can also improve cognitive function. Her own work suggests that the apparent antiaging effects of young blood may reflect the fact thatit contains less of certain factors in old blood that her lab and others have reported contribute to aging.

Stanford has filed for patents on using TIMP2 to treat aging-associated conditions, and Alkahest, a company in San Carlos, California, that Wyss-Coray co-founded, plans to develop it. An Alkahest-sponsored trial at Stanford testing young human plasma as a treatment in 18 Alzheimers disease patients ended in January; results will be presented at a meeting in November, says Alkahest CEO Karoly Nikolich. (Rubin serves on Alkahests advisory board.) Meanwhile, some clinics are already offering young blood injectionsto reverse aging in people. But Wyss-Coray and others say such treatments are premature.

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Protein isolated from human cord blood has antiaging effects on memory in mice - Science Magazine

All women should get tested for cancer gene, says scientist who led discovery – Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette

Posted on April 18, 2017 by Fredricko

URBANA The scientist who led the discovery of genes responsible for 15 percent of all breast cancers says every woman age 30 and over should be tested for those genetic mutations, regardless of family history.

And women with a family history of reproductive cancer not linked to the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes should get more extensive genetic testing, says Mary-Claire King, professor of genome sciences and medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

King spoke at the University of Illinois on Monday afternoon at a talk marking the 10th anniversary of the Institute of Genomic Biology.

King said genetic testing is important for cancer prevention and treatment and for families themselves, and should be part of every woman's complete medical care. More than 40,000 women die of breast cancer, and 14,000 from ovarian cancer, each year.

"It's technically easy to do. It's not expensive to do," King said. "The major cost is not the testing itself. The major cost is how to care for women who turn out to have mutations, because they have to be cared for."

But preventive surgery is much less expensive than caring for a cancer patient, she said.

King and her colleagues spent 17 years finding and mapping the BRCA1 gene, which can cause both breast and ovarian cancer. In 1994, the gene was successfully cloned, and the closely related BRCA2 gene was cloned the following year. The discovery revolutionized genetics and cancer treatment.

Mutations in the gene interfere with the repair of DNA, deoxyribonucleic acid, the hereditary material in every human cell.

Women, or men, who carry the mutation have a higher risk of developing cancer. One study showed 80 percent of women with the mutation developed breast or ovarian cancer by age 80. In some families, there's also an increased risk of pancreatic or prostate cancer with the genetic mutations, though not as large, she said.

The mutation can be inherited through a father, not just a mother. One big challenge is getting physicians to ask patients about a history of breast or ovarian cancer in their father's family, not just their mother's, King said.

Because families are smaller than in the past, a history of breast or ovarian cancer might not be as obvious as it was in the 19th or early 20th centuries, when multiple family members may have gotten the disease, she said.

"In about 50 percent of the women in whom we identify inherited mutations of these genes, there's no immediate family history of breast or ovarian cancer that would have triggered concern," she said.

Before the work of King and other geneticists, scientists had different theories about the causes of breast cancer, from diet and stress to the use of contraceptives to a possible genetic link.

King started by identifying hundreds of families with long histories of breast and ovarian cancer.

She was able to show linkages across multiple generations and eventually narrowed the gene to a specific chromosome, then went on to isolate the gene in the lab.

There are more than 1,000 different mutations within the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, and more left to discover, she said.

King and her colleagues have now studied more than 5,000 families, including some "mystery families" where no common genetic mutation has been found. Researchers are sequencing the entire genome for women in those families, she said.

The cost of genetic sequencing has dropped precipitously since the Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that human genes cannot be patented, she said. The cost, around $250, is well within the budget of middle-class women, but "DNA repair does not care if you are middle class or not," she said.

It should be considered a public health issue, similar to vaccinations for contagious diseases, so every women has access to screening, she said.

The disease is an important public health problem, the risk of disease due to genetic mutation is high, the mutations responsible for the disease can be accurately identified, and effective treatments exist for women identified at risk, she said.

"They are not pretty, but they exist, and they work," she said.

Preventive surgery, such as a mastectomy or the removal of the ovaries and fallopian tubes between the ages of 35 and 40, has proven to drastically reduce cancer risk, she said.

And the study of how the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes work has led to chemotherapy treatments that effectively target the tumors, she said.

Studies of women with the genetic mutation show that those born more recently have a higher risk of developing breast cancer, even if it's the same mutation in the same family, King said.

"This difference cannot be genetics. The difference must be changes in lifestyle," she said.

Research has shown that the earlier a girl starts her period, and the later she has her first child, her cancer risk increases. At the start of the 20th century, the average girl started menstruating at age 16 and had her first child by age 21. Today, the average start is about age 11, and more women are postponing childbirth until after age 30, King said.

Other than the genetic mutations, much of the increase in breast cancer worldwide can be pinned on those factors, she said.

UI Professor Gene Robinson, director of the Institute for Genomic Biology, said King's work has "changed the way we think of the role of genes in diseases that have both genetic and environmental causes," and how genetic therapy can help cancer patients make decisions about their health.

King has also used genetic science for humanitarian causes, to identify victims of human rights abuses in Rwanda, Serbia, the Philippines and South America, he said.

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All women should get tested for cancer gene, says scientist who led discovery - Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette

Horizon baseball uses solid team chemistry to formulate success – Scottsdale Independent

Posted on April 18, 2017 by Fredricko

Pitcher Colin King tosses out a pitch during Horizons 53 home win over Mountain Ridge Wednesday, April 12. (Independent Newsmedia/Josh Martinez)

Most creations need time to set into place before they can reach their full potential and that is no different with the Horizon High School baseball team.

As of Friday, April 14, the Huskies are basking in a 2031 record and have recently drummed out a five-game winning streak to rank among some of the top teams in 6A. With all this success on his hands, head coach Eric Kibler said he thinks his team is enjoying the effects of many years of playing together.

These kids have played together since they were little kids, so that chemistry developed a long time ago and has increased, he said in an April 13 interview. They care for each other a lot, they pull for each other, theyre not willing to give anything up. I think that is the key, theyve played together for so much that they want it so much for each other.

This familiarity has led to a strong bulwark of team chemistry, one that pitcher Colin King said has pushed the team to a high level.

I just want to emphasize how good our team chemistry is this year, he said. I know everybody is enjoying the season. Even our role players are doing a good job coming off the bench, knowing their job and everybodys contributing.

King is part of a solid pitching rotation of which Coach Kibler said is one of the teams biggest strengths. As of Friday, April 14 morning, Horizon as a team has an earned run average of 3.05 and a total of 157 strikeouts, according to statistics on MaxPreps.com.

King has dialed up a 2.15 ERA and 43 strikeouts in 45 and two-thirds innings pitched to pace the rest of the rotation. King is one of three Husky pitchers with an ERA of 3.0 or lower and one of four pitchers with 20 or more strikeouts.

Horizon outfielder Sam Brown jogs to the dugout after an out during Horizons 53 home victory Wednesday, April 12 over Mountain Ridge High School. (Independent Newsmedia/Josh Martinez)

King said the key to the pitching crews success is an aggressive approach from the mound.

We like to get ahead early that way we get them to swing at maybe a breaking pitch or get a ground ball to get the out, he said.

Another aspect King said makes his job a lot easier is the trust he has for the defense behind him, especially in the outfield. King credits four-year starting centerfielder Evan Williams as being the anchor in the outfield. King was not the only one to notice and appreciate the outfields contributions.

Our defense out there is one of the best weve had here, Coach Kibler said. Thats really helped our pitchers, obviously. They have a lot more confidence that if a ball goes out there, its going to get caught.

While Coach Kibler doesnt see much wrong with his teams defensive and pitching efforts, he would like some improvements in the teams hitting. The team has a season batting average of .318 and have recorded an average of three runs per game over its past five.

Along with this, Coach Kibler said he would like to see his team play loose and have fun in the game over the rest of the regular season. The Huskies play their final regular season game Monday, April 24.

Through King and the rest of the team, it appears Coach Kiblers wish is becoming a reality.

This is the most fun Ive had in awhile playing baseball, King said. Its the best team chemistry Ive seen in the three years Ive been on varsity. Weve been playing together most of us since eighth grade, a lot of guys since little league. We play ping pong in the clubhouse before games. We do competitions at the end of practice every day. Its just been a lot of fun this year.

News Services Reporter Josh Martinez can be contacted at jmartinez@newszap.com or at 623-445-2738

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Horizon baseball uses solid team chemistry to formulate success - Scottsdale Independent

Three College of Science students honored by Barry Goldwater Scholarship Foundation – Clemson Newsstand

Posted on April 18, 2017 by Fredricko

Bridget Luckie (left), Caitlin Seluzicki and Jessica Zielinski were honored by the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation. Image Credit: Jim Melvin / Clemson University

CLEMSON, South Carolina To win one of the nations most prestigious undergraduate awards, students must be intelligent, productive and tireless.

But theres one more element that cant be missing in their resumes: a passion for their work.

Clemson Universitys winners of the 2017 Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship Caitlin Seluzicki and Jessica Zielinski, both of the College of Science ranked passion above everything else.

I think we are driven by the passion to want to accomplish something that is going to help people, said Seluzicki, a junior majoring in microbiology. Science is hard work, but the desire to get up every morning and stay up late every night in order to discover something and help others is what motivates us to never give up.

As a scientist, you get out what you put in, added Zielinski, a junior majoring in biochemistry. Its an investment that grows with time and effort, and the more invested you become in the process, the more you treasure your accomplishments and appreciate the broader scope of your research.

The Goldwater Scholarship is the premiere undergraduate award in the fields of mathematics, natural sciences and engineering. This year, Clemson University nominated four students. Of those nominees, Seluzicki and Zielinski were winners; and a third, Bridget Luckie, received honorable mention.

Seluzicki and Zielinski will receive one-year scholarships that will cover the cost of tuition, fees, books and room and board up to a maximum of $7,500. Though Luckie will not receive any funds, she will share equally in the prestige. Goldwater scholars and honorable mentions often go on to win numerous other distinguished awards during their collegiate careers.

My mentors in the academic setting have told me that you dont become a scientist for wealth or glory, said Luckie, a junior majoring in both genetics and biochemistry. It takes passion to stick it out and establish yourself. Without passion and also curiosity you can become disheartened by a lot of the extraneous hurdles that surround science, whether its bureaucracy or simply failed experiments.

The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation awarded 240 scholarships for the 2017-18 academic year to undergraduate sophomores and juniors from the United States. An additional 307 nominees received honorable mentions. The scholars were selected from a field of 1,286 students nominated by campus representatives from among 2,000 colleges and universities nationwide, according to a Goldwater Foundation media release.

Caitlin Seluzicki is a junior majoring in microbiology. I think we are driven by the passion to want to accomplish something that is going to help people, she says. Image Credit: Caitlin Seluzicki

I was very honored and very shocked to open the email that told me I had been awarded the Goldwater Scholarship, said Seluzicki, who plans to pursue a Ph.D. or degree in medicine and doctorate in developmental neuroscience. I really appreciate all the opportunities Ive received here at Clemson. My mentors have had a lot of faith in me and it feels great to show them that their faith was well-placed.

Its definitely very validating to see the accumulation of my research turn into something official like this award, added Zielinski, who will pursue a Ph.D or MD-Ph.D in cancer cell differentiation or drug resistance. It makes me want to continue onward with renewed energy and an even greater sense of purpose.

David Feliciano, assistant professor and researcher in the College of Sciences department of biological sciences, has worked with Seluzicki since her freshman year.

During her time at Clemson, Caitlin hasdevotedmore than 1,200 hours of work in my laboratory, said Feliciano, who received a $442,000 National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant in 2016 to study the molecular causes of autism and epilepsy.Caitlin is a brilliantstudent with anunrelenting work ethic. She has an outstanding trajectory that is forged by her passion for knowledge. She is a calm and steady force whose work ethic, intelligence and kindness are an inspiration to everyone around her. Its the combination of these characteristicsand her contributionsto the field of neuroscience that make her an ideal Goldwater Scholar andfuturescientist.

Jessica Zielinski is a junior majoring in biochemistry. As a scientist, you get out what you put in, she says. Image Credit: Jessica Zielinski

Lukasz ,assistant professor and researcher in the College of Sciences department of genetics and biochemistry, has worked with Zielinski since Spring 2016.

I am very fortunate that Jessica decided to join my laboratory. Jessica is a born leader. She is a fast learner and fearlessly navigates new experiments and techniques. She is a natural scientist, said Kozubowski, who conducts NIH-funded research aimed at elucidating mechanisms of virulence of human fungal pathogens.

Jessica strives for perfection and is relentless in her pursuit to understand the cause of an unexpected result. Her innate curiosity and genuine passion for science make her an ideal candidate for this prestigious award, and I have no doubts that Jessica will go on to make significant contributions to science in her future.

Kerry Smith, professor in the College of Sciences department of genetics and biochemistry, said that Luckie is a student who has already matured well beyond her years.

When discussing science with Bridget, it is very easy to forget that she is a junior and not a second- or third-year Ph.D. student, said Smith, who is director of Clemsons Eukaryotic Pathogens Innovation Center. It is stunning how well-read she is, especially in terms of the scientific literature. She has all of the tools intelligence, desire and curiosity necessary to make significant scientific contributions in her career and eventually lead her own research lab.

Bridget Luckie is a junior majoring in both genetics and biochemistry. My generation will represent the future, and Im very excited to see what we come up with, she says. Image Credit: Bridget Luckie

During a recent get-together, Clemsons three young scientists made it clear that they are not deterred by a growing concern that science is taking a back seat to political machinations. Instead, they refuse to back down to this or any challenge.

I think its really valuable to bridge the gap between the scientific community and the general public, said Seluzicki, whose hometown is Baltimore. Scientists need to demonstrate the value of our pursuits and the implications of what were pursuing and the implications if we stop pursuing.

We, as future scientists, can take an active role in the policy that influences the research community, said Zielinski, who was born and raised in Clemson Even now as students, I think advocacy and public outreach are ways we can help the field grow.

Scientists have the ability to recognize whats wrong and then fix it, saidLuckie, whose hometown is Fort Mill. This is what ignites the fire in me. My generation will represent the future, and Im very excited to see what we come up with.

END

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Three College of Science students honored by Barry Goldwater Scholarship Foundation - Clemson Newsstand

Carillon Miami Wellness Resort Announces Partnership with Leading Functional Medicine Expert Adonis Maiquez, M.D. – Yahoo Finance

Posted on April 18, 2017 by Fredricko

MIAMI BEACH, Fla., April 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --Carillon Miami Wellness Resort, a world-class beachfront boutique hotel and luxury spa in Miami Beach, today announced that leading wellness clinician Adonis Maiquez, M.D., ABAARM, will join the Carillon. In his capacity, Dr. Adonis Maiquez will provide Carillon residents and guests with access to premier medical advice and will serve as a resource for achieving total wellness through proven medical practices to bring the body into complete balance.

Dr. Adonis Maiquez will begin his residency on April 19, 2017. In addition to clinical practice, he will host regular seminars and talks with residents and guests at The Spa at Carillon Miami, the resort's 65,000 square-foot integrated wellness space that features spa, medical, wellness and fitness programs. Prior to joining the Carillon, Dr. Adonis Maiquez was a key member of the medical team at the Miami Institute for Age Management and Intervention at the Four Seasons. Certified by the American Academy of Anti-Aging and Regenerative Medicine, Dr. Adonis Maiquez is also a trained Neurosurgeon and is well-known in Miami for his work on a broad spectrum of wellness topics, including the restoration of body chemistry affected by the aging process. He is an active member of the Institute for Functional Medicine and the American Academy for Anti-Aging Medicine.

"We are thrilled that Dr. Adonis Maiquez is joining our team and together we are committed to cementing Carillon's status as a world-class wellness resort," said James Zenni, Chairman of Carillon Miami Wellness Resort's Board of Directors and President and Chief Executive Officer of Z Capital Partners. "Dr. Adonis Maiquez brings to Carillon Miami unparalleled experience in the wellness space, and we are confident that our guests will appreciate his deep knowledge about achieving total wellness. This is an important step in continuing to improve the guest and resident experience and provide them access to premier medical professionals across an array of specialties, including orthopedics, reconstruction, dentistry, functional medicine and other areas of interest."

Dr. Adonis Maiquez was a post-grad and fellow in the Department of Surgery and Neurosurgery at the University of South Florida in Tampa, where he developed expertise in neurosurgery, neuro-oncology and neuro-endocrinology. In addition, Dr. Adonis Maiquez has pursued advanced training in pain management and family and preventive medicine. He is fluent in English and Spanish.

Carillon Miami Wellness Resort is a portfolio company of Z Capital Partners, L.L.C.

ABOUT CARILLON MIAMI WELLNESS RESORT:Located along the white sand shores of Miami Beach, Carillon Miami Wellness Resort presents an authentic and specialized approach to health, wellness and complete well-being. Exuding the "luxury of wellness," the resort focuses on aligning physical, mental and spiritual health by offering a comprehensive retreat, the largest spa in the region (65,000 sq. ft.), a one-of-a-kind Thermal Experience and an integrative medical wellness center. The resort features 150 spacious one- and two-bedroom suites, ranging in size from 720 1,200 sq. ft. An array of recreational activities are at guests' fingertips, with over 200 fitness classes offered each week, access to the resort's two-story indoor rock wall and four pools located throughout the property: the Sunrise Pool, Cabana Pool, Sunset Pool and the adult-only rooftop Atlantic Pool. Serving fresh, locally-sourced, cuisine, the resort features four dining venues including Thyme, Carillon Lounge, The Cabana, and the Juice Bar. Carillon Miami Wellness Resort promotes a path to discovery and provides tools for a healthier lifestyle extending beyond each guest's stay. Carillon Miami Wellness Resort is a member of The Leading Hotels of the World and Leading Spas. For more information, please visit http://www.carillonhotel.com.

ABOUT Z CAPITAL PARTNERSZ Capital Group, L.L.C. is a leading alternative asset management firm with $2.3 billion in regulatory assets under management across complementary private equity and credit businesses. Z Capital manages both opportunistic, value-oriented private equity and credit funds with offices in New York, NY and Lake Forest, IL.

Z Capital's investors are some of the largest and most sophisticated global institutional investors in North America, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East including, public and corporate pension funds, university endowments, foundations, sovereign wealth funds, central banks, and insurance companies. For more information, please visit http://www.zcapgroup.net.

Media Contact:Julie Oakes / Tim Ragones / Kate Clark Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher 212-355-4449

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/carillon-miami-wellness-resort-announces-partnership-with-leading-functional-medicine-expert-adonis-maiquez-md-300440816.html

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Carillon Miami Wellness Resort Announces Partnership with Leading Functional Medicine Expert Adonis Maiquez, M.D. - Yahoo Finance

M3 Biotechnology Raises $1.4M in Second Funding Round – FinSMEs (blog)

Posted on April 17, 2017 by Fredricko

M3 Biotechnology Raises $1.4M in Second Funding Round
FinSMEs (blog)
M3 Biotechnology, a Seattle, WA-based therapeutics company, raised $1.4m in a second funding round. Backers included Dolby Family Ventures and the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF). The company, which has raised $14M in total financing ...

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M3 Biotechnology Raises $1.4M in Second Funding Round - FinSMEs (blog)

Puma Biotechnology Announces FDA Advisory Committee to … – Business Wire (press release)

Posted on April 17, 2017 by Fredricko

LOS ANGELES, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Puma Biotechnology, Inc. (Nasdaq: PBYI), a biopharmaceutical company, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has scheduled the New Drug Application (NDA) for neratinib for discussion by the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) on May 24, 2017. Neratinib is an investigational therapy for the extended adjuvant treatment of early stage HER2-positive breast cancer that has previously been treated with a trastuzumab containing regimen.

ODAC is an independent panel of experts that evaluates data concerning the efficacy and safety of marketed and investigational products for use in the treatment of cancer and makes appropriate recommendations to the FDA. Although the FDA will consider the recommendation of the panel, the final decision regarding the approval of the product is made by the FDA solely, and the recommendations by the panel are non-binding.

Puma Biotechnology announced on September 20, 2016 that the FDA had accepted for filing the NDA for neratinib. The NDA for neratinib is based on results from both the Phase III ExteNET trial in extended adjuvant early stage HER2-positive breast cancer and the Phase II CONTROL trial in extended adjuvant early stage HER2-positive breast cancer.

About Puma Biotechnology Puma Biotechnology, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company with a focus on the development and commercialization of innovative products to enhance cancer care. The Company in-licenses the global development and commercialization rights to three drug candidatesPB272 (neratinib (oral)), PB272 (neratinib (intravenous)) and PB357. Neratinib is a potent irreversible tyrosine kinase inhibitor that blocks signal transduction through the epidermal growth factor receptors, HER1, HER2 and HER4. Currently, the Company is primarily focused on the development of the oral version of neratinib, and its most advanced drug candidates are directed at the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer. The Company believes that neratinib has clinical application in the treatment of several other cancers as well, including non-small cell lung cancer and other tumor types that over-express or have a mutation in HER2. Further information about Puma Biotechnology can be found at http://www.pumabiotechnology.com.

Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the ODACs scheduled review of the NDA for neratinib. All forward-looking statements included in this press release involve risks and uncertainties that could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results and expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions, and actual outcomes and results could differ materially from these statements due to a number of factors, which include, but are not limited to, the fact that the Company has no product revenue and no products approved for marketing, the Company's dependence on PB272, which is still under development and may never receive regulatory approval, the challenges associated with conducting and enrolling clinical trials, the risk that the results of clinical trials may not support the Company's drug candidate claims, even if approved, the risk that physicians and patients may not accept or use the Company's products, the Company's reliance on third parties to conduct its clinical trials and to formulate and manufacture its drug candidates, the Company's dependence on licensed intellectual property, and the other risk factors disclosed in the periodic and current reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time, including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The Company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

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Puma Biotechnology Announces FDA Advisory Committee to ... - Business Wire (press release)

iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (IBB) Upgraded at Vetr Inc. – Markets Daily

Posted on April 17, 2017 by Fredricko

iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (IBB) Upgraded at Vetr Inc.
Markets Daily
iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index logo Vetr upgraded shares of iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (NASDAQ:IBB) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Wednesday. They currently have $301.57 target price on the stock.

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iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (IBB) Upgraded at Vetr Inc. - Markets Daily

Puma Biotechnology, Inc. (NASDAQ:PBYI) held by 19 SEC 13F Filers – Post Analyst

Posted on April 17, 2017 by Fredricko

Post Analyst

Puma Biotechnology, Inc. (NASDAQ:PBYI) held by 19 SEC 13F Filers
Post Analyst
Puma Biotechnology, Inc. (NASDAQ:PBYI) reached 80.6% versus a 1-year low price of $19.74. The stock was last seen -0.14% lower, reaching at $35.65 on Apr. 13, 2017. At recent session, the prices were hovering between $35.4 and $36.75. This company ...

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Puma Biotechnology, Inc. (NASDAQ:PBYI) held by 19 SEC 13F Filers - Post Analyst

‘Anatomy of Gray’ puts ‘interesting twist’ on Midwestern small town – Portland Tribune

Posted on April 17, 2017 by Fredricko

The upcoming Tigard Mask and Mirror production is billed as a 'children's play for adults.'

Sarah Ominski brought the play "Anatomy of Gray," by Jim Leonard Jr., with her on a beach vacation about a year and a half ago. Before she even finished reading the opening dedication, she was hooked.

"I get teary-eyed just thinking about it," said Ominski, who is directing the upcoming production of "Anatomy of Gray" for Mask and Mirror Community Theater in Tigard.

That dedication was about Leonard's friend John Geter, an actor who died of AIDS in the early 1990s. Leonard tried to write something for his friend shortly after his death, but found it too difficult so he put the project away for about 10 years, until he was finally prompted by a dream to finish "Anatomy of Gray."

Both Leonard and Geter were from small Midwestern towns, and Geter's family and hometown neighbors found it difficult to accept the cause of his death, because AIDS was then seen as disease specific to gay men.

"They were upset that he was dying," Ominski said, "yet they were disturbed what he was dying from."

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'Anatomy of Gray' puts 'interesting twist' on Midwestern small town - Portland Tribune

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‘Anatomy of Gray’ puts ‘interesting twist’ on Midwestern small town – Portland Tribune