Inside the Year in Industry programme – The Engineer

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Gennie Dearman is chief operating officer for the Engineering Development Trust (EDT), the organisation that runs the Year in Industry programme for interns looking to get a feel for engineering.

The Year in Industry has a good claim to be the original internship programme. Founded 30 years ago, it has been much imitated to the extent that many university courses for engineers and scientists describe the time with a company that their students take mid-degree as a year in industry.

The concept remains very simple: potential interns, both gap year students and undergraduates, are interviewed by companies of all sizes in a variety of sectors and those who are successful at interview enjoy a year on a sensible salary, working on projects set by the company that takes them on. They remain supported by my organisation EDT, the charity that runs the Year in Industry (YINI) programme, but for the most part, the success or failure of the internship is down to the relationship between the student and the company.

The keys to success for any internship can be found from talking to those involved, as evidenced in the case of Andrew Robinson who has just finished his Year in Industry with Precision Varionic International Ltd, a consultancy that designs and manufactures automotive position sensors for some of the worlds most iconic cars, where he reported to Dr Pufinji Obene, Operations Director at PVI, and the leader of its R&D team. Andrew will be starting a degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Swansea in September.

What was the main project?

Andrews main project was the further development of the novel Electro-Static Jet (ESJET) method for printed electronics, which is superior to current inkjet or screen printers. ESJET overcomes the current limitations of resolution, viscosity and metal loading when compared to state of the art printing methodologies. In particular, Andrew designed a new printhead system and utilised a marginal gains approach to the challenge of reducing the minimum printed line width and ensuring repeatable prints.

What was the companys perception of the project?

Andrews fearless contribution to this project is way beyond my wildest expectations for a pre-university intern, said Dr Obene. Because of his application we are now on track to complete the project on time and, in fact, are being entered for the prestigious Euronanoforum 2018 competition as one of the 10 most impactful and influential scientific projects being funded by the EU.

Andrew not only applied himself to the work extremely successfully but also gave presentations for both Innovate UK and EU projects as well as writing the minutes of these 3-monthly meetings. Andrew has shown his exceptional ability to work in a team of his peers both internally within PVI and externally as a representative of PVI.

Andrew designed, manufactured and evaluated the first pilot line and print head nozzle system leading to printed nano-materials down to a 10m resolution. The initiative to redesign the original ESJET printing rig both increased safety of use and provided more consistent prints.

As ESJET printing technology is entirely novel in concept, Andrews work has given PVI a head-start in the commercialisation of the technology. As well as enabling much more consistent printing and a reduced line width, the new glass capillary print head system that he developed has reduced the purchasing cost by 99 per cent.

Andrew Robinson

What was the interns perspective?

Learning the value of approximating scientific principles to the first order and applying them to engineering problems has enabled me to make technological advancements with ESJET and to conduct research experiments, Andrew explained. Learning this and applying this same approach to my degree will enable me to get the maximum out of university.

I have also learnt transferable engineering skills during my YINI such as:

By completing the YINI, I will be going to university with the ability to see how the learning I will undertake is applied in industry.

This is the second year that PVI has employed YINI interns and our first years experience was equally positive. PVI uses YINI students because, if challenged, they are fearless. They understand being fortunate enough to be selected and then applying themselves can give them a head start at university and better job opportunities after. The extra maturity they gain in working with shop floor operators to directors of companies gives them a real taste on industry. This is strategically important for UK PLC and contributes to sculpting the next leaders in industry.

There are, however, some basic rules that companies must follow:

For more information about The Year in Industry visit

http://www.etrust.org.uk/the-year-in-industry

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Inside the Year in Industry programme - The Engineer

Rise of nanoscience among UNL community promotes creativity – Daily Nebraskan

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The intersection of art and science can be found on a nanoscopic scale at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

For the month of August, the NanoArt of a few UNL STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) students can be viewed on the third floor of the Nebraska East Union.

According to Stephen Ducharme, UNL professor of physics and astronomy, NanoArt is a growing form of scientific creativity that aims to capture natural or synthetic structures on a nano scale and add aesthetic elements to create a work of art.

The average width of a human hair is 50 micrometers. The nanoscale deals with structures that are about 1000 times smaller than that, most of which are invisible to the human eye.

Creators of NanoArt find the focus of their piece at the atomic level, using electron microscopes to illuminate their seemingly otherworldly subject. After taking an image of a nano-structure, artists use color along with familiar shapes to create images that may resemble a garden or a spring meadow.

In nanoscience, were dealing with things you cant see with the naked eye or even an ordinary microscope, Ducharme said.

Ducharme specializes in materials and nanoscience and has been an avid organizer and supporter of the NanoArt competition.

The NanoArt competition was created in 2012, Ducharme said, offering STEM students a chance to showcase their artistic side every spring. Their artwork is distributed and judged during NanoDays at UNL, an annual, nationwide celebration of nanoscience.

Ducharme said judguing is based both on creativity and a short paragraph describing the science behind the artwork.

The science is in the art, Ducharme said. Normally, well say the art is representing the science. Here, we want the art to be supported by the science.

After the competition, the artwork is stored at UNL and occasionally displayed for different audiences around Nebraska, most recently at the Nebraska East Union.

When displaying their NanoArt, Ducharme said they put together 15 pieces of past and present artwork to showcase as an exhibit.

UNL NanoArt has been displayed in spaces such as the Burkholder Project in downtown Lincoln, Innovation Campus and the Hastings Museum.

Xiaopeng Zheng, a graduate research assistant in mechanical engineering and mechanics, conducts research with materials and nanoscience and said he admires NanoArt that can be seen in Jorgensen Hall and the Nebraska East Union.

Zheng, although not a nano-artist himself, is familiar with the technology and nanoscience used to create images of such small structures. He said nanoscientists use transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy to view synthetic structures.

[For nanoscience], we use scanning electron microscopy to see the detailed morphology of the film that has the nanostructures, Zheng said. We can see the image from the top surface, and we can see a cross-section image to obtain the thickness.

Nano-artists selectively sculpt their nanostructures before capturing an image using scanning electron microscopy.

Electron microscopy, Ducharme said, is essential for taking detailed pictures of structures as small as individual atoms without damaging them.

Those images are reconstructed indirectly, Ducharme said. We send a beam of electrons, see how they bounce around and with some algorithmic techniques, you can get your image.

One of the most important aspects of post-production is the addition of color, chosen carefully by the artist.

These are almost all false colors, Ducharme said. Were not using light, so you use [false color] to highlight.

Ducharme said the basic data will be a two-dimensional image with a topographic map. Artists can turn that into coloration by using that data to determine which elements they want to be colored.

The addition of color to these nanoscopic topographical maps is left entirely to the artist. Whether the artist is trying to convey a better scientific message using color, or simply adding color for aesthetic purposes, the choice is up to them.

Creativity in nanoscience and other scientific fields isnt always entirely aesthetic, and according to Ducharme, it's pertinent to cultivating a better understanding of different scientific ideas.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, Ducharme said. The more information you can conveniently convey, the better its going to be. Its going to save you a lot of writing and allows people to take a more holistic view.

Ducharme said NanoArt is a growing realm of art for this very reason, as it allows a scientist a better way to convey scientific (or artistic) messages.

Scientific magazines and journals all use different forms of art to portray scientific ideas in a more approachable way, offering a better understanding for those reading a full written paper. Ducharme said NanoArt is a great way to communicate scientific ideas on the cover of a journal.

We derive satisfaction from our work being appreciated, and I think the tools are making it more possible to achieve this form of visual scientific communication, Ducharme said.

arts@dailynebraskan.com

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Ongole youth develops nano missile – The Hans India

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Ongole: Dacharla Panduranga Rohith, a student of SRM University in Chennai, was recognised by World Records of India, for developing a nano missile. He wanted to hand over the missile to DRDO for the use of Indian Army and local police in fighting terrorism after developing it for launch through a robot.

Highlights:

Rohith is the elder son of Dacharla Tirumala Rao and Sridevi, residents of Kammapalem in Ongole. He completed his high school and Intermediate education from Sriviswasanthi Educational Institutions in Vuyyuru of Krishna district and studying final year Computer Science Engineering at SRM University in Chennai.

As an active student since childhood, Rohith is said to be interested in the flight technologies and missiles. The interest is increased after he got a chance to serve as a flying cadet in the aero show organised by the Indian Air Force in Vijayawada a few years ago. As the family conditions are not supporting, he obeyed his parents' decision to study computer science than joining aeronautics but continued his research about the flying machines.

Rohith says, After watching reports of a number of terrorist and militant attacks in the country, I wanted to make a weapon that comes handy to the armed forces. In situations like Mumbai attack, the military forces cannot enter the buildings and risk the lives of the innocent people in the custody of terrorists. So, I thought of creating a nano robot that can carry about six poisonous missiles and shoot them at the terrorists.

Working on his project, Rohith prepared a missile one cm length, which can fly by burning the red phosphorus, and hit the target of three metres distance.

He is now working on the changing the fuel to give more thrust and reduce the weight of the missile so that it can be targeted at longer distances. He said, The missile works on the basic cannon principle.

The basic prototype of the missile is tested in the presence of Assistant Commissioner of Police Ramapuram in Chennai and the video is submitted to World Records of India for recognition in July 2017. The Bureau of the World Records of India accepted the entry and recognised the prototype as the smallest working missile.

Sharing his happiness, Rohith said, I know that a lot of research, tools and hard work is required to make the perfect nano missile, that I am dreaming of. But I am sure that I can make it and now forming a team with the likeminded people and looking for sponsors. When the project is completed, I will handover it to the DRDO for tests and inclusion in the weaponry of the armed forces.

BY Naresh Nandam

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Moore Pushes Ridiculous Islamophobia Claim – Patheos (blog)

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Christian fascist Roy Moore, the odds-on favorite to be the next Senator from the state of Alabama (and you didnt think it could get worse than Jeff Sessions), is casually passing along the ridiculous claim that Sharia law is being imposed on cities in the Midwest while admitting he has no idea what hes talking about.

There, reporter Jeff Stein of the website Vox.com asked him, Some right-wing conservatives think Sharia law is a danger to America do you?

Moore responded, There are communities under Sharia law right now in our country. Up in Illinois. Christian communities; I dont know if they may be Muslim communities. But Sharia law is a little different from American law. It is founded on religious concepts.

Says the man who claims that American law is all based on the Bible and that any law that conflicts with the Bible is unconstitutional! For crying out loud, the lack of self-awareness is absolutely mind-blowing.

Stein pressed Moore to name the communities under Sharia law. He responded, Well, theres Sharia law, as I understand it, in Illinois, Indiana up there. I dont know.

Says the man who wrote an opinion saying that the state had the power of the sword and must use it to punish and discourage homosexuality. So its okay when Christians advocate that, but when Muslims advocate the very same thing, thats totally different and un-American. Fascinating. And notice how he admits that he doesnt know, but someone told him that so hes happy to claim it. Come up to Dearborn with me, Roy, and Ill show you all the liquor stores and strip clubs. Thats one of those communities where ignorant bigots like you claim Sharia law is being enforced. No one who lives there seems to have noticed, including the 60% of the population that isnt Muslim.

Ignorance, stupidity, hypocrisy, a total lack of concern for whether what he says is true or not. Yep, those are the telltale signs of a Christian fascist.

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Moore Pushes Ridiculous Islamophobia Claim - Patheos (blog)

New method for the 3D printing of living tissues | Scientist Live – Scientist Live

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Scientists at the University of Oxford have developed a new method to 3D-print laboratory- grown cells to form living structures.

The approach could revolutionise regenerative medicine, enabling the production of complex tissues and cartilage that would potentially support, repair or augment diseased and damaged areas of the body.

In research published in the journal Scientific Reports, an interdisciplinary team from the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics at Oxford and the Centre for Molecular Medicine at Bristol, demonstrated how a range of human and animal cells can be printed into high-resolution tissue constructs.

Interest in 3D printing living tissues has grown in recent years, but, developing an effective way to use the technology has been difficult, particularly since accurately controlling the position of cells in 3D is hard to do.

They often move within printed structures and the soft scaffolding printed to support the cells can collapse on itself.

As a result, it remains a challenge to print high-resolution living tissues. But, led by Professor Hagan Bayley, Professor of Chemical Biology in Oxfords Department of Chemistry, the team devised a way to produce tissues in self-contained cells that support the structures to keep their shape.

The cells were contained within protective nanolitre droplets wrapped in a lipid coating that could be assembled, layer-by-layer, into living structures.

Producing printed tissues in this way improves the survival rate of the individual cells, and allowed the team to improve on current techniques by building each tissue one drop at a time to a more favourable resolution.

To be useful, artificial tissues need to be able to mimic the behaviours and functions of the human body. The method enables the fabrication of patterned cellular constructs, which, once fully grown, mimic or potentially enhance natural tissues.

Dr Alexander Graham, lead author and 3D Bioprinting Scientist at OxSyBio (Oxford Synthetic Biology), said: We were aiming to fabricate three-dimensional living tissues that could display the basic behaviours and physiology found in natural organisms. To date, there are limited examples of printed tissues, which have the complex cellular architecture of native tissues. Hence, we focused on designing a high-resolution cell printing platform, from relatively inexpensive components, that could be used to reproducibly produce artificial tissues with appropriate complexity from a range of cells including stem cells.

The researchers hope that, with further development, the materials could have a wide impact on healthcare worldwide. Potential applications include shaping reproducible human tissue models that could take away the need for clinical animal testing.

The team completed their research last year, and have since taken steps towards commercialising the technique and making it more widely available. In January 2016, OxSyBio officially spun-out from the Bayley Lab. The company aims to commercialise the technique for industrial and biomedical purposes.

Over the coming months they will work to develop new complementary printing techniques, that allow the use of a wider range of living and hybrid materials, to produce tissues at industrial scale. Dr Sam Olof, Chief Technology Officer at OxSyBio, said: There are many potential applications for bioprinting and we believe it will be possible to create personalised treatments by using cells sourced from patients to mimic or enhance natural tissue function. In the future, 3D bio-printed tissues maybe also be used for diagnostic applications for example, for drug or toxin screening.

Dr Adam Perriman from the University of Bristols School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, added: The bioprinting approach developed with Oxford University is very exciting, as the cellular constructs can be printed efficiently at extremely high resolution with very little waste. The ability to 3D print with adult stem cells and still have them differentiate was remarkable, and really shows the potential of this new methodology to impact regenerative medicine globally

The full citation for the paper is High-resolution patterned cellular constructs by droplet-based 3D printingA.D. Graham et. al. Scientific Reports 7, Article number: 7004 (2017).

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New method for the 3D printing of living tissues | Scientist Live - Scientist Live

Bio-inspired Materials Give Boost to Regenerative Medicine – Bioscience Technology

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What if one day, we could teach our bodies to self-heal like a lizards tail, and make severe injury or disease no more threatening than a paper cut?

Or heal tissues by coaxing cells to multiply, repair or replace damaged regions in loved ones whose lives have been ravaged by stroke, Alzheimers or Parkinsons disease?

Such is the vision, promise and excitement in the burgeoning field of regenerative medicine, now a major ASU initiative to boost 21st-century medical research discoveries.

ASU Biodesign Institute researcher Nick Stephanopoulos is one of several rising stars in regenerative medicine. In 2015, Stephanopoulos, along with Alex Green and Jeremy Mills, were recruited to the Biodesign Institutes Center for Molecular Design and Biomimetics (CMDB), directed by Hao Yan, a world-recognized leader in nanotechnology.

One of the things that that attracted me most to the ASU and the Biodesign CMDB was Haos vision to build a group of researchers that use biological molecules and design principles to make new materials that can mimic, and one day surpass, the most complex functions of biology, Stephanopoulos said.

I have always been fascinated by using biological building blocks like proteins, peptides and DNA to construct self-assembled structures, devices and materials, and the interdisciplinary and highly collaborative team in the CMDB is the ideal place to put this vision into practice.

Yans research center uses DNA and other basic building blocks to build their nanotechnology structures only at a scale 1,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

Theyve already used nanotechnology to build containers to specially deliver drugs to tissues, build robots to navigate a maze or nanowires for electronics.

To build a manufacturing industry at that tiny scale, their bricks and mortar use a colorful assortment of molecular Legos. Just combine the ingredients, and these building blocks can self-assemble in a seemingly infinite number of ways only limited by the laws of chemistry and physics and the creative imaginations of these budding nano-architects.

Learning from nature

The goal of the Center for Molecular Design and Biomimetics is to usenatures design rulesas an inspiration in advancing biomedical, energy and electronics innovation throughself-assembling moleculesto create intelligent materials for better component control and for synthesis intohigher-order systems, said Yan, who also holds the Milton Glick Chair in Chemistry and Biochemistry.

Prior to joining ASU, Stephanopoulos trained with experts in biological nanomaterials, obtaining his doctorate with the University of California Berkeleys Matthew Francis, and completed postdoctoral studies with Samuel Stupp at Northwestern University. At Northwestern, he was part of a team that developed a new category of quilt-like, self-assembling peptide and peptide-DNA biomaterials for regenerative medicine, with an emphasis in neural tissue engineering.

Weve learned from nature many of the rules behind materials that can self-assemble. Some of the most elegant complex and adaptable examples of self-assembly are found in biological systems, Stephanopoulos said.

Because they are built from the ground-up using molecules found in nature, these materials are also biocompatible and biodegradable, opening up brand-new vistas for regenerative medicine.

Stephanopoulos tool kit includes using proteins, peptides, lipids and nucleic acids like DNA that have a rich biological lexicon of self-assembly.

DNA possesses great potential for the construction of self-assembled biomaterials due to its highly programmable nature; any two strands of DNA can be coaxed to assemble to make nanoscale constructs and devices with exquisite precision and complexity, Stephanopoulos said.

Proof all in the design

During his time at Northwestern, Stephanopoulos worked on a number of projects and developed proof-of-concept technologies for spinal cord injury, bone regeneration and nanomaterials to guide stem cell differentiation.

Now, more recently, in a new studyin Nature Communications, Stephanopoulos and his colleague Ronit Freeman in the Stupp laboratory successfully demonstrated the ability to dynamically control the environment around stem cells, to guide their behavior in new and powerful ways.

In the new technology, materials are first chemically decorated with different strands of DNA, each with a unique code for a different signal to cells.

To activate signals within the cells, soluble molecules containing complementary DNA strands are coupled to short protein fragments, called peptides, and added to the material to create DNA double helices displaying the signal.

By adding a few drops of the DNA-peptide mixture, the material effectively gives a green light to stem cells to reproduce and generate more cells. In order to dynamically tune the signal presentation, the surface is exposed to a soluble single-stranded DNA molecule designed to grab the signal-containing strand of the duplex and form a new DNA double helix, displacing the old signal from the surface.

This new duplex can then be washed away, turning the signal off. To turn the signal back on, all that is needed is to now introduce a new copy of single-stranded DNA bearing a signal that will reattach to the materials surface.

One of the findings of this work is the possibility of using the synthetic material to signal neural stem cells to proliferate, then at a specific time selected by the scientist, trigger their differentiation into neurons for a while, before returning the stem cells to a proliferative state on demand.

One potential use of the new technology to manipulate cells could help cure a patient with neurodegenerative conditions like Parkinsons disease.

The patients own skin cells could be converted to stem cells using existing techniques. The new technology could help expand the newly converted stem cells back in the lab and then direct their growth into specific dopamine-producing neurons before transplantation back to the patient.

People would love to have cell therapies that utilize stem cells derived from their own bodies to regenerate tissue, Stupp said. In principle, this will eventually be possible, but one needs procedures that are effective at expanding and differentiating cells in order to do so. Our technology does that.

In the future, it might be possible to perform this process entirely within the body. The stem cells would be implanted in the clinic, encapsulated in the type of material described in the new work, and injected into a particular spot. Then the soluble peptide-DNA molecules would be given to the patient to bind to the material and manipulate the proliferation and differentiation of transplanted cells.

Scaling the barriers

One of the future challenges in this area will be to develop materials that can respond better to external stimuli and reconfigure their physical or chemical properties accordingly.

Biological systems are complex, and treating injury or disease will in many cases necessitate a material that can mimic the complex spatiotemporal dynamics of the tissues they are used to treat, Stephanopoulos said.

It is likely that hybrid systems that combine multiple chemical elements will be necessary; some components may provide structure, others biological signaling and yet others a switchable element to imbue dynamic ability to the material.

A second challenge, and opportunity, for regenerative medicine lies in creating nanostructures that can organize material across multiple length scales. Biological systems themselves are hierarchically organized: from molecules to cells to tissues, and up to entire organisms.

Consider that for all of us, life starts simple, with just a single cell. By the time we reach adulthood, every adult human body is its own universe of cells, with recent estimates of 37 trillion or so. The human brain alone has 100 billion cells or about the same number of cells as stars in the Milky Way galaxy.

But over the course of a life, or by disease, whole constellations of cells are lost due to the ravages of time or the genetic blueprints going awry.

Collaborative DNA

To overcome these obstacles, much more research funding and recruitment of additional talent to ASU will be needed to build the necessary regenerative medicine workforce.

Last year, Stephanopoulos research received a boost with funding from the U.S. Air Forces Young Investigator Research Program (YIP).

The Air Force Office of Scientific ResearchYIP award will facilitate Nicks research agenda in this direction, and is a significant recognition of his creativity and track record at the early stage of his careers, Yan said.

Theyll need this and more to meet the ultimate challenge in the development of self-assembled biomaterials and translation to clinical applications.

Buoyed by the funding, during the next research steps, Stephanopoulos wants to further expand horizons with collaborations from other ASU colleagues to take his research teams efforts one step closer to the clinic.

ASU and the Biodesign Institute also offer world-class researchers in engineering, physics and biology for collaborations, not to mention close ties with the Mayo Clinic or a number of Phoenix-area institutes so we can translate our materials to medically relevant applications, Stephanopoulos said.

There is growing recognition that regenerative medicine in the Valley could be a win-win for the area, in delivering new cures to patients and building, person by person, a brand-new medicinal manufacturing industry.

Stephanopoulos recent research was carried out at Stupps Northwesterns Simpson Querrey Institute for BioNanotechnology. The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research of the National Institutes of Health (grant 5R01DE015920) provided funding for biological experiments, and the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences provided funding for the development of the new materials (grants DE-FG01-00ER45810 and DE-SC0000989 supporting an Energy Frontiers Research Center on Bio-Inspired Energy Science (CBES)).

The paper is titled Instructing cells with programmable peptide DNA hybrids. Samuel I. Stupp is the senior author of the paper, and post-doctoral fellows Ronit Freeman and Nicholas Stephanopoulos are primary authors.

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Bio-inspired Materials Give Boost to Regenerative Medicine - Bioscience Technology

Cancer Treatment Centers of America and Foundation Medicine Join Forces to Advance Precision Cancer Treatment – PR Newswire (press release)

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"Precision cancer treatment using advanced genomic testing is changing the science of cancer care," said Maurie Markman, M.D., President of Medicine & Science at CTCA. "As oncologists, we have an obligation to the patients we serve to keep pace with, and, whenever possible, lead the way in the application of the latest diagnostic tools that may help inform treatment decisions. Our partnership with Foundation Medicine empowers our physicians to customize treatment plans according to the individual patient's clinical profile right down to the molecular level, and therefore furnish care in a much more comprehensive and effective manner."

The partnership brings together CTCA, a national network of five cancer treatment hospitals at the forefront of delivering precision cancer treatment to address individual patients' unique treatment needs, and Foundation Medicine, a leader in molecular information that offers a suite of comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) assays that identifies the molecular alterations in an individual's cancer and matches them with potentially relevant targeted therapies, including immunotherapies.

Through their shared patient-centered philosophy, CTCA and Foundation Medicine will educate the medical community about the successful approach CTCA is using to incorporate FoundationOne for solid tumors into clinical care. Specifically, the educational initiative will feature several patients with cancer, chronicling each person's journey from cancer diagnosis to tumor profiling to treatment. Through this case-based approach, the program aims to provide insights into precision medicine treatment approaches based on an individual's unique cancer, including the selection of targeted therapies, appropriate clinical trials and responses to immunotherapy.

"Precision medicine, and a move to a more personalized, targeted approach to cancer care, is becoming ever more ubiquitous as the published data continues to validate this approach as leading to better clinical outcomes for patients," said Vincent Miller, M.D., Chief Medical Officer for Foundation Medicine. "As such, it's critical that every stakeholder in a patient's care planphysician, patient and care teamis knowledgeable about the benefits of genomic profiling, and importantly, that they have the right tools at the ready to implement such an approach. We applaud CTCA leadership in this area and we're delighted to collaborate with them on this educational initiative."

To learn more about genomics and precision cancer treatment, visit cancercenter.com. To learn more about genomic testing and FoundationOne, visit FoundationMedicine.com.

About Cancer Treatment Centers of AmericaCancer Treatment Centers of America Global, Inc. (CTCA), headquartered in Boca Raton, Fla., is a national network of five hospitals that serves adult patients who are fighting cancer. CTCA offers an integrative approach to care that combines advancements in genomic testing and precision cancer treatment, surgery, radiation, immunotherapy and chemotherapy, with evidence-informed supportive therapies designed to help patients physically and emotionally by enhancing their quality of life while managing side effects both during and after treatment. CTCA serves patients from around the world at its hospitals in Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Tulsa. Reflecting our patient-centered approach to cancer care, our patient satisfaction scores consistently rank among the highest in the country for cancer care providers, and CTCA is also rated one of the most admired hospital systems in the country in national consumer surveys. For more information, visit cancercenter.com, Facebook.com/cancercenter and Twitter.com/cancercenter.

About Foundation Medicine Foundation Medicine(NASDAQ: FMI) is a molecular information company dedicated to a transformation in cancer care in which treatment is informed by a deep understanding of the genomic changes that contribute to each patient's unique cancer. The company offers a full suite of comprehensive genomic profiling assays to identify the molecular alterations in a patient's cancer and match them with relevant targeted therapies, immunotherapies and clinical trials.Foundation Medicine'smolecular information platform aims to improve day-to-day care for patients by serving the needs of clinicians, academic researchers and drug developers to help advance the science of molecular medicine in cancer. For more information, please visithttp://www.FoundationMedicine.comor followFoundation Medicineon Twitter (@FoundationATCG). Foundation Medicineand FoundationOne are registered trademarks ofFoundation Medicine, Inc.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, statements regarding the objectives of any educational initiatives between CTCA and Foundation Medicine; the importance of integrating comprehensive genomic testing of solid tumors early in an individual's care plan to improve clinical outcomes for individuals with cancer; and the value and performance capabilities of Foundation Medicine's comprehensive genomic profiling assays. All such forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations of future events and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include the risk thateducational initiatives are not developed or launched in the anticipated manner; Foundation Medicine'sCGP andservices will not be able to identify genomic alterations in the same manner as prior clinical data or prior experience; and the risks described under the caption "Risk Factors" inFoundation Medicine'sAnnual Report on Form 10-K for the year endedDecember 31, 2016, which is on file with theSecurities and Exchange Commission, as well as other risks detailed inFoundation Medicine'ssubsequent filings with theSecurities and Exchange Commission.All information in this press release is as of the date of the release, andFoundation Medicineundertakes no duty to update this information unless required by law.

Contact: Michael Myers Cancer Treatment Centers of America michael.myers@ctca-hope.com 561-923-3179

Lee-Ann Murphy Foundation Medicine 617-245-3077 pr@foundationmedicine.com

View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cancer-treatment-centers-of-america-and-foundation-medicine-join-forces-to-advance-precision-cancer-treatment-300504156.html

SOURCE Cancer Treatment Centers of America

http://www.cancercenter.com

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Cancer Treatment Centers of America and Foundation Medicine Join Forces to Advance Precision Cancer Treatment - PR Newswire (press release)

Hot Chips: Microsoft Xbox One X Scorpio Engine Live Blog (9:30am PT, 4:30pm UTC) – AnandTech

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12:10PM EDT - This week it's the Hot Chips conference in Cupertino. We're sat nice and early, with the first talk today from Microsoft. John Sell, a Microsoft hardware veteran, is set to talk about the Scorpio Engine, found in the Xbox One X. It's practically the only talk this week where the slides were not given out early, so I wonder what will be discussed, especially given the large amount of interest in what the Scorpio Engine is. So never mind the eclipse, let's talk consoles.

12:12PM EDT - Despite the big hall booked, there's a few hundred people here

12:13PM EDT - Hot Chips is a specialised conference, after all. Most people here are from tech companies, not press

12:13PM EDT - A number of familiar faces in the crowd, however. Talks later today from AMD, NVIDIA and Intel. Talks tomorrow on Server hardware too

12:13PM EDT - Just me on text and images today, it might get a bit fast paced

12:19PM EDT - Now starting with an intro to the conference

12:19PM EDT - 10% more attendees this year, 20% more paper submissions

12:23PM EDT - Had to restart my laptop, keeps freezing with intermittent wifi which is odd

12:24PM EDT - Eclipse viewing in 35 minutes - the conference were going to provide glasses, but they got stuck at customs

12:29PM EDT - Moving to mobile data

12:30PM EDT - Scorpio engine, 7b transistors, 359mm2 die, 50mm module

12:30PM EDT - Yellow areas on die shot is GPU

12:30PM EDT - 4 shader arrays, contain 11 CUs

12:30PM EDT - 10 active, 1 spare

12:31PM EDT - Spares are for reliability and yield

12:31PM EDT - dark green are clusters of CPU

12:31PM EDT - Green around the outside are the 12 GDDR5 controllers

12:32PM EDT - photos don't seem to be uploading

12:32PM EDT - 326GB/s mem bandwidth

12:33PM EDT - 6.8 GHz memory data rate

12:33PM EDT - 12 GB of main memory, dev systems have 24GB

12:33PM EDT - GPU core at 1.172 GHz

12:34PM EDT - 285 GB/s peak in the lab for mem bandiwdth

12:35PM EDT - Pairs of channels can be cache coherent

12:35PM EDT - Coherent traffic is vertical to the crossbar

12:36PM EDT - 8x 256KB render caches

12:36PM EDT - 64 outbound and 40 inbound 256-bit data paths for drawing

12:37PM EDT - raw performance is a hair over 6 TF

12:37PM EDT - 4.688G primitives/second

12:37PM EDT - 128 FLOPS * 40 CUs * 1.172 GHz

12:37PM EDT - 187.5 G bilinear texels/second

12:37PM EDT - 2MB L2 cache with bypass and index buffer access

12:38PM EDT - out of order rasterization, 1MB parameter cache, delta color compression, depth compression, compressed texture access

12:39PM EDT - Xbox One S and 360 compatibility

12:39PM EDT - 8 CPU cores, 2.3 GHz

12:40PM EDT - 32 KB L1-I, 32 KB L1-D per core

12:40PM EDT - 4 MB shared L2 (2MB per quad cluster), lower main memory average latency (up to 20%)

12:40PM EDT - 12 channels and 192 banks of main memory (3x and 6x)

12:41PM EDT - 2048 entry L2I TLB and L2D TLB for 4KB pages

12:41PM EDT - 32 entry L1I TLB for 4KB pages, 8 entry L1I TLB for 2MB pages

12:41PM EDT - Hypervisor based system

12:41PM EDT - 40 entry L1D TLB for 4KB pages, 8 entry L1D TLB for 2MB pages, 256 entry L2D TLB for 2MB pages

12:42PM EDT - Page Descriptor Cache of nested translations (up to 4.3% perf over last gen)

12:43PM EDT - 4K p60 HEVC, VP9, AVC

12:43PM EDT - 10-bit HDR for HEVC and VP9

12:44PM EDT - 4k60 HEVC video encoding for DVR and streaming

12:44PM EDT - Support for 4K display, 3-surface resize/blending, pre-multiplied FP alpha

12:44PM EDT - DP 1.2a, HDMI 2.0b, HDCP 2.2, two stream MST

12:45PM EDT - Audio with new firmware features, such as spatial surround (will come avail for Xbox One S)

12:46PM EDT - 1TB HDD, 4K UHD Bluray player

12:46PM EDT - Coming November 7 2017

12:46PM EDT - Video showing now, rendered on the system

12:48PM EDT - Looks like Forza

12:48PM EDT - 'in-game 4K footage'

12:48PM EDT - Will upload pictures when we can, something just isn't working properly here with either my devices or the data

12:49PM EDT - So only a 20 minute talk, some Q&A

12:49PM EDT - No 32 MB SRAM

12:50PM EDT - Same CPU caches as before

12:50PM EDT - 'Any problems with backwards compatibility?'

12:51PM EDT - 'No, the additional bandwidth will help and the previous will be emulated'

12:52PM EDT - 'While there is added latency, there's no compatibility issue. The GPU used to consider the SRAM just as another part of the main memory'

12:53PM EDT - 'Q: Page descriptor cache was giving +4.5% perf in SPEC. Was that running in a VM?' 'Yes, the benefit we get negates the VM loss'

12:54PM EDT - 'Does designing the SoC give better options for power management?'

12:56PM EDT - 'Yes, to a significant degree with Scorpio but since the original Xbox One - we want every system to give the same perf, and we don't want to give people an unfair advantage in MP games (like in PCs), so we strive we don't have variation which makes power management more challenging, and we don't want to through chips way. Every chip is married to its circuit board, variations in the power supply, and trying to tune out all the margin possible'

12:57PM EDT - 'Shader power gating?' 'We have clock gating throughout the design, but for power gating, we do not do any power gating within the shader array. We change to operate at lower frequencies in certain modes, e.g. BluRay discs can go through fixed function hardware we clock gate the shaders'

12:57PM EDT - That's all for the talk, let me upload the pictures if I can

01:07PM EDT - Now that everyone in the hall has left to watch the eclipse, some photos are going through. Of course, photos that were sent straight to upload aren't saved on my devices. I'm waiting for the slide deck and we'll do a proper analysis on this.

01:07PM EDT - That's all for the live blog. There's a Knights Mill talk later today that we'll try and get a better experience for 🙂

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Hot Chips: Microsoft Xbox One X Scorpio Engine Live Blog (9:30am PT, 4:30pm UTC) - AnandTech

Medicine bawl – Inquirer.net

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Aside from drug abuse among the youth, the motorbiking Duterte Harley may just have to open up another front in his war: The lucrative market in counterfeit drugs.

One report in the Wall Street Journal estimated the value of fake medicine sold here at more than P8 billion a yearand growing fast.

According to TechTrace, the Swiss company in the information business for fighting illicit trade and counterfeiting, fake drugs already became one of the fastest growing and most lucrative income sources for organized crime worldwide.

One literature on counterfeit medicine warned: It may be contaminated or contain the wrong or no active ingredient. They could have the right active ingredient but at the wrong dose. Counterfeit drugs are illegal and may be harmful to your health.

Therethe thing with fake medicine was, first and foremost, it could kill people. TechTrace estimated more than a million deaths a year worldwide.

Here the proliferation of fake medicines already turned into police matter under Duterte Harley, and you know how the police handled things under him.

That was perhaps why the Food and Drugs Administration, or FDA, under its young director general handpicked by Duterte Harley, its first non-doctor boss named Nela Charade Puno, tapped the PNP to launch a massive campaign against counterfeit goods i.e. medicines, food items and cosmetics.

The FDA has established that the fake drugs came mainly from China and India. In short, smuggled! Uh-oh, the Bureau of Customs again!

But it also discovered that, aside from over-the-counter sales, the marketing was done by legitimate outfits hiding behind the secrecy of internet sales.

To stop the trend, the FDA needed an ocean of money, which it did not have, more so because its mother unit, the Department of Health, even cut its budget.

By the way, the DOH also cut the budgets of some 50 government hospitals, and still Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial reportedly was confident on her confirmation by the Commission on Appointments.

The CA of course rejected Judy Taguiwalo as head of DSWD for no apparent reason, although Rep. Ronaldo Zamora, who headed the House of Representatives group in the CA, said that Taguiwalo was not fit for the job.

In what way? Well, according to Zamora, she would not even question the massive funding in the DSWD for the doleout program, conditional cash transfer, or CCT.

And all the while I thought that Congress should have asked the question, since it was the job of Congress to allot or not to allot the billions for CCT.

Theredespite being clean and all, Taguiwalo was not fit for the job, because she did not do the job that Congress was supposed to do.

Still her boss, Duterte Harley, went all out for Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon, despite the latters admission that the 3 oclock habit remained in the BOC under his watch.

Anyway, under Duterte Harley, the FDA refused to bawl over its lack of funding to stop the proliferation of counterfeit medicine, even when the DOH cut its budget for law enforcement.

It is up to you to determine whether or not the DOH cut the budget to protect syndicates in the fake drug racket.

In the past year or so, however, the FDA regulatory reinforcement unit (REU) already seized millions of pesos worth of the counterfeit products even including fake ball pens.

Now the FDA, which last week celebrated its 54th anniversary, had this Regulatory and Advocacy Fair, showing how the agency cut red tapes in its systems.

That should be good news to the P190-billion a year local pharmaceutical industry, particularly the small companies, mostly owned by Filipinos, which must get FDA approval for their products.

It was bad news to the facilitators in and out of FDA, who reportedly already launched a demolition job against the agency, particularly its head Puno, similar to the recent smear campaign by a big foreign company against her, because she stood her ground regarding the FDA ban on its product.

As for Duterte Harley, the FDA campaign against fake drugs seemed to be the kind of war that he would love.

Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer & other 70+ titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download as early as 4am & share articles on social media. Call 896 6000.

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Medicine bawl - Inquirer.net

Stanford Medicine magazine reports on the future of vision – Stanford Medical Center Report

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Many of the strategies being explored at the Stanford University School of Medicine to protect, improve and restore vision sound seriously sci-fi. Among them: cornea transplants conducted with magnetic fields instead of scalpels, virtual reality workouts to repair damaged retinas, and bionic vision.

The new issue of Stanford Medicine magazine, a theme issue on eyes and vision, includes details about these projects and others pushing the boundaries of biology and technology to help people see.

Studies show that when it comes to their health, the thing people most worry about, after death, is losing their vision, said Jeffrey Goldberg, MD, professor and chair of ophthalmology, in the reports lead article. Peoples productivity and their activities of daily life hinge critically on vision, more than on any other sense.

The lead article explains the basic workings of the eye and describes an array of ophthalmological research, including Goldbergs work to repair damaged corneas by injecting healthy cells into the eye and using magnets to pull the cells into position. A patient in a small early study entered the trial legally blind, with 20/200 vision, and left it with 20/40 vision close to normal. A larger study is planned to begin soon.

The fear of vision loss, even for people in lesser stages of disease, can be quite dramatic. So anything we can do to stabilize, better diagnose and hopefully one day restore vision in some of these diseases, I think, will have an enormous global impact, Goldberg said. This type of work is an example of Stanford Medicines focus on precision health, the goal of which is to anticipate and prevent disease in the healthy and precisely diagnose and treat disease in the ill.

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Stanford Medicine magazine reports on the future of vision - Stanford Medical Center Report

Drugmaker Hikma’s US unit raises medicine prices – Financial Times – CNBC

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Michael Fein | Bloomberg | Getty Images

An employee works in a lab at Momenta Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Hikma Pharmaceuticals Plc's U.S. subsidiary has raised the price of a common diarrhea drug by more than 400 percent and is charging more for five other medicines as well, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

West-Ward Pharmaceuticals, the U.S. division of London-listed Hikma, increased the prices at the start of August by between 75 percent and 430 percent, for a mean of 237 percent, according to figures seen by the Financial Times.

In the United States, generic drugmakers such as Hikma are able to dictate prices of their products that have a monopoly or face little competition, the FT said.

Among the six drugs, West-Ward is either the only U.S. supplier or one of two manufacturers.

The average wholesale price of a 60 ml bottle of liquid Atropine-Diphenoxylate, a common diarrhea drug also known as Lomotil, went from about $16 a bottle to $84, the FT reported.

Brian Hoffmann, president of U.S. generics at West-Ward, said the prices of 94 percent of the group's copycat medicine portfolio had either fallen or stayed the same in 2017, and that they had fallen overall this year.

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Drugmaker Hikma's US unit raises medicine prices - Financial Times - CNBC

I wish someone had told me about the challenges of being a woman in medicine – STAT

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A

friend asked me to give a pre-med student some advice about a career in medicine. That request made me think about the one thing I most wish someone had told me about: the challenges of being a woman in medicine.

One issue I often encounter is being mistaken for a non-physician staff member. I used to gently correct these errors and continue on with my day. But one comment from a patient made me change the way I approach these situations.

I had been taking care of a pleasant elderly gentleman who was in the hospital after a leg amputation. Its not uncommon for patients to meet several physicians during a hospital stay, so I re-introduced myself the second day I saw him. Hello, I said. Im Dr. Julia Reilly. I didnt expect his response: Oh. Ive been picturing Dr. Reilly as a strong, male doctor.

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Im not sure why that was my tipping point, but it was. It made me look back and think about how incidents like that have affected me, consciously and subconsciously, over the course of my training. It also made me wonder what I would have wanted a medical student to have learned from the situation if one had been in the room with me.

Such interactions arent rare. Last week, I spent 75 minutes with a new patient and, after we had discussed his assessment and treatment plan, he asked to speak with a physician. Last month, a different patient told me he preferred male physicians because he felt he could trust them more.

Each time Im not recognized as a doctor, or a patient dismisses my advice in favor of a male physicians, I question myself.

Much attention has been drawn to impostor syndrome, a phenomenon characterized by feelings of self-doubt and fear of being discovered as an intellectual fraud. Imposter syndrome is troubling for various reasons. One is that it is highly associated with burnout, and is the strongest predictor of psychological distress among medical, nursing, and dental students.

Im not surprised that women in medicine demonstrate higher levels of impostor syndrome than their male colleagues. Perhaps these feelings of self-doubt are responses to the obstacles that women in medicine face, such as a dearth of women physicians holding top department leadership positions, the gender pay gap, and, as my research group discovered, being underrepresented as recipients of recognition awards from medical societies.

Until this year, I had not discussed my experiences with implicit (unconscious) bias or workforce disparities with any of the medical students I had mentored, and I had seldom discussed these issues with my mentors. Yet these discussions are an essential part of medical education.

I have been fortunate to be mentored by an experienced physician who has kept open an honest dialogue with me about the nearly universal hurdles that women physicians face today and that are even more profound for those who are also facing other challenges, such as having a disability or being a person of color. Indeed, overlapping social constructs often elevate the barriers that women physicians encounter. With my mentors guidance, I have become more educated about diversity and inclusion and therefore feel more empowered and prepared to succeed in academic medicine. I have also become more vocal about my experiences as a female physician.

Sadly, not all my colleagues have had this kind of opportunity

I believe that mentors should initiate honest discussions with their female trainees about the unconscious biases and workforce disparities they may face. That way, trainees can feel primed for the challenges and supported in knowing they are not alone. I encourage female physicians to speak more candidly about their experiences in medicine good and bad and to share them with their colleagues through various mediums. I have started to have these discussions with the younger physicians I now mentor.

I support increasing communication and networking between women physicians in different fields of medicine, as well as with those in different health care professions. An excellent way to participate in this effort is to join the virtual community across all fields of medicine that has developed around the #ILookLikeASurgeon and #ILookLikeAPhysician campaigns on Twitter.

These discussions arent just for women. Male physicians should be part of them, as they share in the responsibility to mentor and support female trainees. I am encouraged by Dr. Douglas Merrills recent opinion piece in the Journal of the American Medical Association, which urges physicians, especially male physicians, to speak up when they see abusive behavior directed at the their colleagues, as well as by the #HeForShe campaign.

At the end of my email to the pre-med student, I added a short paragraph in which I asked her to start thinking of herself not only as a future physician, but as a future female physician. I indicated that her experience in medicine would be different than that of her male colleagues. I suggested that she seek out strong women mentors and encourage her friends to do the same.

I also told her that I thought there has never been a more exciting time to be a woman in medicine, and I cannot wait to see the type of change this generation will make.

Lets have honest conversations with this generation and the next so we validate the experiences of all women in medicine and they know that they are not alone or imposters.

Julia M. Reilly, M.D., is a third-year resident physician in physical medicine and rehabilitation at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston and Harvard Medical School.

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I wish someone had told me about the challenges of being a woman in medicine - STAT

Essential California: How the USC med school scandal could affect a major court case – Los Angeles Times

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Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. Its Monday, Aug. 21, and heres whats happening across California:

TOP STORIES

Long shadow of a scandal at USC

Of the many consequences of the drug scandal involving former USC medical school dean Carmen Puliafito, few are as high-stakes as the possible effect on the legal battle between the University of California and USC over the defection of a star UC Alzheimer's disease researcher. Puliafito was a key figure in luring the researcher to USC. Hundreds of millions of dollars are potentially at stake in the legal battle. Los Angeles Times

Plus: USC moved to further distance itself from the former dean of its medical school at the center of a scandal, downplaying Puliafitos much-touted performance as a fundraiser for the university. USCs senior vice president for university advancement said in a letter to alumni and supporters that assertions that Puliafito raised more than $1 billion while leading the Keck School of Medicine were overblown and that the physician was personally responsible for collecting barely 1% of that amount over the last seven years. Los Angeles Times

Talking about the end of life

Some doctors in California felt uncomfortable last year when a new law began allowing terminally ill patients to request lethal medicines, saying their careers had been dedicated to saving lives, not ending them. But physicians across the state say the conversations that health workers are having with patients are leading to patients fears and needs around dying being addressed better than ever before. They say the law has improved medical care for sick patients, even those who dont take advantage of it. Los Angeles Times

Trash sticker shock

El Sereno resident Scott Toland is another unhappy customer of L.A.s new refuse and recycling program. Toland recently learned that because of an assortment of extra fees, all backed by Mayor Eric Garcetti and the City Council as part of RecycLA, the monthly trash bill at the 10-unit condominium complex where he lives could double at a minimum. And thats only if his homeowner association cuts back on regular trash pickup. Los Angeles Times

L.A. STORIES

Eclipse watch: L.A. residents wont see a total eclipse of the sun this morning a partial eclipse is all they can hope for but if the weather cooperates, it should still be a pretty good show. Above Southern California, the moon will start to edge into the sun just after 9 a.m. Pacific time. The maximum eclipse will happen at 10:21 a.m. Heres our guide to watching safely. Los Angeles Times

Neediest cases: Steve Lopezs columns have been something special of late. Heres his latest about a woman whose life unraveled in Los Angeles and is now living in her car. She hopes to regain her health and her job. Los Angeles Times

Saying no to hate: A popular Southern California pastor denounced white nationalists and called for a spiritual awakening as he kicked off an annual Christian retreat in Anaheim this weekend attended by more than 25,000 people. Los Angeles Times

Dont pick up the phone: Robocalls are annoying, but some Southern California area codes get more than others. Its an especially bad problem in the 310 and 949. Heres a breakdown. Orange County Register

Trojans horse: Traveler, USC's mascot, is coming under scrutiny for having a name similar to that of Robert E. Lee's horse. Los Angeles Times

Hindenburg Park: How La Crescenta has dealt with its own Nazi history. Salon

IMMIGRATION AND THE BORDER

Protest in Laguna Beach: Hundreds of counter-protesters showed up at Sundays America First! rally, apparently far outnumbering those participating in an event billed as a vigil for victims of crimes committed by immigrants in the U.S. illegally. The protests were largely peaceful, if tense and loud, for much of the evening. Los Angeles Times

Arrested: The brother of a leader of the powerful Sinaloa cartel was indicted on drug smuggling charges Friday, a day after he was arrested at the border in Nogales, Ariz., the U.S. attorneys office in San Diego said. San Diego Union-Tribune

Innovative: In a change of tactics, smugglers are using drones to fly meth over Mexican border into San Diego, officials say. Los Angeles Times

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

No help for residents: For five years, Los Angeles has been issuing health advisories to housing developers, warning of the dangers of building near freeways. But when the city moved to alert residents as well, officials rejected it. Planning commissioners axed a provision to require traffic pollution signs on some new, multifamily developments from an environmental ordinance on the grounds that it would burden developers and hurt market values. Los Angeles Times

Cool graphic: Now that hes left the White House and returned to Breitbart, heres how Steve Bannon became the face of a political movement with roots in Los Angeles. Los Angeles Times

For your radar: The concern over the cost of prescription drug prices has been overshadowed for the past year by the marquee healthcare battles gripping Sacramento and Washington. Thats not likely to be the case much longer. The effort to rein in pharmaceutical costs is poised for a major showdown as state lawmakers enter their final month of the legislative year. Los Angeles Times

California versus the USA: California is writing a new chapter in the centuries-old states rights conflict. Sacramento Bee

CRIME AND COURTS

Teacher arrested: A female teacher at the elite Brentwood School has been arrested on suspicion of having sex with an teenage student. Los Angeles Times

Drawing a line: City Atty. Mike Feuer said Friday that he would urge Los Angeles officials to consider imposing restrictions or even deny permits to hate groups seeking to rally here to prevent the kind of violent clashes that erupted at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va. Los Angeles Times

Paintball attacks on the rise: In South Los Angeles, paintball attacks have nearly tripled in the last year, with the Los Angeles Police Departments South Bureau counting 68 paintball victims, compared with 24 at this time last year. Los Angeles Times

My son deserves justice: The father of the good Samaritan who died after he tried to break up a fight in Riversides downtown area Friday asked for witnesses or others with knowledge about who might have been involved to come forward. San Bernardino Sun

THE ENVIRONMENT

Some help for beachgoers: The San Mateo County sheriffs office says visitors to Martins Beach wont be arrested if they go around gates locked by billionaire Vinod Khosla. The Mercury News

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

Comfort fare: With more than 450 original series in production this year, television is booming, yet viewers are also turning to such well-worn fare as as The Golden Girls, Full House and the political drama The West Wing, which debuted when Bill Clinton occupied the White House. Streaming services are giving these shows new life. Los Angeles Times

Sticker shock: Resale websites StubHub, SeatGeek and VividSeats report that secondhand tickets to Lin-Manuel Mirandas smash Broadway hit Hamilton are selling for $467 to $510 a ticket, on average. That bests the 2013 Pantages run of The Lion King, which had an average ticket resale value of $209. Los Angeles Times

Physically idealized roles: Body acceptance is becoming a big deal in many parts of American culture but not so much in Hollywood. New York Times

A deeply personal film: A story about the L.A. riots, seen through the perspective of Korean Americans, makes its way onto the big screen. Los Angeles Times

Ubers next leader? Former General Electric Chief Executive Jeff Immelt has emerged as the front-runner to become Ubers CEO. Recode

Third-shift magic: Disneyland Resort honored its overnight workers with a middle-of-the-night party. Orange County Register

CALIFORNIA ALMANAC

Los Angeles area: sunny and 77. San Diego: sunny and 73. San Francisco area: mostly sunny and 67. Sacramento: mostly sunny and 88. More weather is here.

AND FINALLY

This weeks birthdays for those who made a mark in California: Google co-founderSergey Brin (Aug. 21, 1973), former Gov. Pete Wilson (Aug. 23, 1933), retired Laker Kobe Bryant (Aug. 23, 1978), 12-time Olympic swimming medalist Natalie Coughlin and Rep. Raul Ruiz (Aug. 25, 1972).

If you have a memory or story about the Golden State, share it with us. Send us an email to let us know what you love or fondly remember about our state. (Please keep your story to 100 words.)

Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to Benjamin Oreskes and Shelby Grad. Also follow them on Twitter @boreskes and @shelbygrad.

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Essential California: How the USC med school scandal could affect a major court case - Los Angeles Times

Albemarle native earns top medical school scholarship – Stanly News & Press

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An Albemarle native has been awarded the most prestigious scholarship available at East Carolina Universitys Brody School of Medicine.

Lindsey Burleson is one of three students in the medical schools Class of 2021 chosen for the Brody Scholar award, valued at approximately $112,000.

She will receive four years of medical school tuition, living expenses and the opportunity to design her own summer enrichment program that can include travel abroad. The award will also support community service projects she may undertake while in medical school.

Burleson is a 2016 graduate of Western Carolina University Honors College, where she earned a degree in chemistry. She was a student athlete on the WCU Womens Basketball team for four years and a recipient of the Curtis and Enid Meltzer Endowed Scholarship.

Burleson was involved in multiple WCU medical research efforts and volunteered at Blue Ridge Health (formally known as Jackson County Good Samaritan Clinic) throughout her undergraduate education and subsequent gap year.

Burleson has known she wanted to work in healthcare since she was young. During her time at WCU she was given opportunities to explore the clinical and laboratory research side of medicine and credits the experience for helping her make the decision to attend medical school.

She plans to become involved in more research with clinical implications during her time at Brody.

In addition to her love for research, Burleson has another focus when it comes to healthcare.

I am particularly passionate about providing healthcare to women in underserved populations, said Burleson. I someday hope to be able to dedicate a portion of my career to providing free care for women and educating populations on healthcare disparities in rural communities.

Being named a Brody Scholar is a huge honor and I feel blessed to have the support of the Brody Family and their commitment to the students and future physicians of North Carolina, Burleson added. As someone who has attended North Carolina public schools for my entire life, I am consistently blown away and inspired by the willingness of North Carolina residents to educate and mentor their students.

In its 35th year, the Brody Scholars program honors J.S. Sammy Brody. He and his brother, Leo, were among the earliest supporters of medical education in eastern North Carolina. The legacy continues through the dedicated efforts of Hyman Brody of Greenville and David Brody of Kinston. Subsequent gifts from the Brody family have enabled the medical school to educate new physicians, conduct important research and improve health care in eastern North Carolina.

Since the program began in 1983, 137 students have received scholarships. About 70 percent of Brody Scholars remain in North Carolina to practice, and the majority of those stay in eastern North Carolina.

In her spare time, Burleson enjoys cooking and baking and stays active by running and continuing to play basketball.

She is the daughter of Jeff and Kathy Burleson and a graduate of North Stanly High School.

B. J. Drye is editor of The Stanly News & Press. Contact him at (704) 982-2121 ext. 25, bj@stanlnewspress.com or PO Box 488, Albemarle, NC 28002.

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Albemarle native earns top medical school scholarship - Stanly News & Press

Program paves way for medical school – The Augusta Chronicle

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Shelby Howard and Aditi Talkad might be in their first year at Medical College of Georgia but the two have been at Augusta University working toward a medical degree for three years.

The two are among 29 students who began the seven-year BS/MD program in 2014, 18 of whom are now in their first year of medical school. The combined undergraduate and health sciences programs were envisioned as one of the fruits of consolidating Augusta State and then-Georgia Health Sciences universities in 2013. Dr. Paul Wallach, vice dean for academic affairs at MCG, brought the program with him five years ago after creating similar programs at the University of South Florida.

This is my brainchild, he said, and it benefits both the students and the university.

The advantage for the student is they have a clear pathway into medical school, Wallach said. The advantage for the institution, which I thought was considerable as we were going through our consolidation, is it creates a premier program for recruitment into the undergraduate campus and permits very highly performing students to be recruited to Augusta University.

Both Howard and Talkad were considering other, larger universities in Georgia and had not heard much about Augusta prior to learning about the program. Now that has changed.

Augusta is a lot more on the map from at least when I started college, Howard said.

I think the program has put it on the map, Talkad said. There are people applying from out of state, from California, to come here to come to Augusta. She and Howard both talk to high school students about the program and its advantages.

The students along the way have had to meet the same or higher standards for others getting into medical school, including taking the Medical College Admission Test and interviewing with the Admissions Committee. The difference with these students is they had to face the committee when they were college freshmen. But they got a lot of support from the medical school faculty before they had to do it, including three mock interviews.

They groomed us for that interview, Howard said. It also let them know the level of professionalism and standards they would need to succeed in medical school, Talkad said. Some of their new classmates may just now be finding out they are surrounded by people with similar interests and passions but weve been doing that for the past three years, she said. That was a huge benefit of coming here.

It also spared them the anxiety of applications and months of waiting to find out if they would get in or not. Howard took an MCAT preparation class with students going through that process and they were so stressed out of their minds, she said. It saved us that, which I am grateful for.

And a year, Talkad added. That will be important down the road especially with how much time goes into becoming a doctor, Howard said.

The experience has also bonded them into a close-knit group that is family to each other, Talkad said.

Especially because college is such a time of personal growth and figuring out who you are so weve gone through those growing periods and growing pains with each other, Howard said.

And they expect it to stay that way.

You grow up so much with them that you dont lose track of that, Talkad said.

Reach Tom Corwin at (706) 823-3213

or tom.corwin@augustachronicle.com.

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Program paves way for medical school - The Augusta Chronicle

Dell Medical School touts growing number of residents in new report – Austin American-Statesman

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The number of medical residents and fellows providing care in Travis County clinics and hospitals is up by 30 percent since 2012, according to a report released this week by the University of Texas Dell Medical School.

In 2016, there were 287 residents working in county clinics and hospitals, up from 218 in 2012, the community benefit report says. That number is projected to grow to more than 300 by 2020.

When pressed at a Central Health meeting Wednesday night by board member Julie Oliver about why that number would only grow by about 13 in four years, the schools dean, Clay Johnston, said that was a conservative estimate.

The 300 is just reflecting commitments weve already made, Johnston said in his presentation. We actually expect the number to grow faster as we open new residency spots.

Johnston also noted that residency programs roll over every two to four years, bringing new residents into the community and producing new physicians. The programs are funded primarily by a partnership with Seton Healthcare Family.

The report also highlights other areas that Dell Medical School considers it made progress in the past year, including that 79 percent of women in the recently redesigned perinatal care system are keeping postpartum appointments, up from about 40 percent previously, and that the yearlong wait for orthopedic appointment is down to three weeks.

We think the real impact of our work is the redesign, Johnston said at Wednesdays meeting. Because if (care is) provided where the outcomes are better and the costs are lower, we all win even more than having those additional (provider) positions.

The third-annual report comes as the school and Central Health, the county health care district, face criticism from some community groups over the transparency of the schools use of $35 million of taxpayer funds annually. Travis County voters agreed in 2012 to raise property taxes to make that contribution.

Officials argue that the schools doctors and residents work in its affiliated clinics to take care of low-income patients, and in the long term the school will help attract and retain providers.

The report also shows that in the fiscal 2016-17 year, most of taxpayer funds, or a projected $46.1 million, have been used for compensation and employment-related expenses. The rest, $100,000, was used for information technology equipment and software.

Johnston told board members that compensation is the largest budget item at most medical schools, and Dell Medical Schools building costs are covered by other funding sources.

As for whats next, the school plans to open new clinics in the early winter and will continue to work on clinical model redesigns, Johnston said.

No one spoke during citizens communication on Wednesday about the benefit report. Board members on Wednesday were mainly congratulatory of Dell Medical School for the work it has accomplished.

Central Health updates

At Wednesdays regular Central Health meeting, enterprise chief administrative officer Larry Wallace updated the board on proposed efforts to expand health care in eastern Travis County.

Del Valle

Expansion of adult health care services from UT Nursing School, possibly at Creedmoor Elementary. Status: Pending approval from Del Valle school board.

Creation of Del Valle Wellness Clinic at Travis County Employee Healthcare Clinic site on FM 973 that would be open 2 to three days a week. Status: CommUnityCare, a network of public clinics affiliated with Central Health, is seeking federal approval to provide primary care at the site. The project will go before the Travis County Commissioners Court this month.

Long-term, Central Health hopes to build a permanent health canter on existing county property on FM 973. Status: Project will require approval from county commissioners.

Northeastern Travis County

The Austin school district has offered a portable classroom building at Overton Elementary to be used as a Northeast Health Resource Center. Status: School board should make decision in September.

Expansion of operation days at Turner-Roberts Recreation Center, where CommUnityCare provides clinical care through a mobile care team. Status: Central Health discussing with city.

Austins Master Plan calls for the construction of a health care facility in Colony Park. Status: Timeline unknown.

Mobile Loaves and Fishes co-founder and CEO Alan Graham has offered to provide land and assist with the construction of a health center on Hog Eye Road near the Community First Village. Status: Planning stages with Graham and other partners.

Manor

Renovations to existing CommUnityCare health center or construction of new health center. Status: Very early planning stages.

Central Health budget

Central Health is proposing to lower its tax rate to 10.74 cents per $100 taxable valuation from 11.05 cents per $100 taxable valuation. However, because the average homestead value increased from $285,152 to $305,173, the average homestead would still see an increase of about 4 percent, or $12.50, on their tax bill.

The proposed budget includes an increase of $11.7 million in health care delivery operations, which includes reserves and debt service.

The proposed budget and property tax rate will go before the Travis County Commissioners Court on Tuesday. Central Health will hold public hearings on Aug. 30 and Sept. 6, both at 6 p.m. at Central Health Administrative Offices, 1111 E. Cesar Chavez St.

For more information, visit http://bit.ly/2v5HQAC.

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Dell Medical School touts growing number of residents in new report - Austin American-Statesman

Why Med Schools Are Requiring Art Classes – Artsy

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Efforts to better communicate with patients also drive much of Dr. Flanagans Impressionism course. One particularly original exercise sees students partner up to paint. One student is given a postcard with a famous Impressionist painting on it, while the other student, who cannot see the card, stands at a canvas with a paintbrush in hand, and must ask their partner questions about the painting in order to reproduce it. The painter becomes like the physician whos taking a history and trying to get information from the patient, Dr. Flanagan says. They experience firsthand how much easier it is to gain information when you ask open-ended questions, when you stop and let that patient tell their story.

At many schools, programming around the arts is also happening outside of the classroom. Yale has its Medical Humanities & the Arts Council, which promotes interaction among the medical school and other schools at the university, while also supporting student-run organizations and eventslike Rocks art tour and a series of drawing sessions started by one of his classmates, Sue Xiao.

Yale med student Nientara Anderson says her involvement in an on-campus interdisciplinary group and other artists initiatives has helped widen her perspective on important issuesperspective that will ultimately make her a better doctor.

I noticed in my first year of medical school that we were talking about things like race, mental health, sexuality, and we werent really reaching outside of medicine and asking people who really study these things, Anderson says. I see art as a way, especially art in medicine, to bring in outside expertise.

Rock agrees, stressing that a sense of criticality, more than anything, is what I would hope that the arts and the humanities bring to the medical profession. He points to incidents of unconscious bias, where preconceived notions about things like how a certain disease presents or where an individual lives can negatively affect a doctors decision making. There are a lot of apparent assumptions in Western society that can be extremely problematic and very dangerous when aligned with the power that a physician has in the clinic, operating room, or emergency department, he adds.

Dr. Taylor notes that at Columbia, students are similarly receptive to taking humanities courses. The application to medicine is very obvious, we dont have to tell our medical students why theyre doing this, she says. And visual art, it seems, has a special role to play.

Dr. Schwartz suggests that visual art is somewhat unique in what it can offer to medical professionals. For me, the greatest asset with visual art in particular, when it comes to teaching medical students, is just that it gently takes us out of our comfort zone, he says. It gives us a great opportunity to have these stop and think moments. Doctor or not, we could all stand to have more moments to stop and think.

Casey Lesser

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Why Med Schools Are Requiring Art Classes - Artsy

Aphria and Liberty Respond to TMX Group Statement Regarding Regulatory Engagement – New Cannabis Ventures (blog)

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TORONTO, Aug. 21, 2017 /CNW/ Aphria Inc. (TSX: APH) (Aphria) and Liberty Health Sciences Inc. (CSE: LHS) (Liberty) jointly respond to the TMX Group Statement Regarding Regulatory Engagement.

We are pleased to receive confirmation from the TMX Group that there is no CDS ban on the clearing of securities of issuers with marijuana-related activities in the U.S. and we look forward to continuing our ongoing dialogue with the TSX and CDS in respect of this matter.

We are also pleased to receive further confirmation from the TMX Group that they are working with regulators to arrive at a solution that will clarify this matter for issuers, investors, participants and the public.

Vic Neufeld continued, Aphrias common shares have traded on the TSX and previously the TSX Venture Exchange for almost 3 years during which time we have raised over $216 million from investors by way of five offerings by short form prospectus, all of which have been settled by CDS, and we look forward to this continued support from the TMX Group.

We concur with the TMX Group that working with regulators on a solution that will clarify this matter for all Canadian capital market participants is desired and required and we are prepared to work collaboratively with regulators to achieve this end result on a timely basis.

In addition to the TSX and CDS, Aphrias securities continue to trade on the OTCQB and it is a client of the Depositary Trust Company (DTC) and any trades in its securities are eligible to be settled via DTC. Similarly in the case of Liberty, in addition to the CSE and CDS, its securities currently trade on the OTC grey market and it expects that its securities will be listed on OTCQX and that trades in its securities will be eligible to be settled via DTC over the next several weeks.

Aphria has had marijuana related activities in the US since 2015 which has been reflected in its continuous and timely disclosure record, including its Copperstate transaction, which was approved by the TSX Venture Exchange prior to its closing. Libertys principal asset in the US is the recently acquired Florida license and operations as disclosed in the Information Circular of SecureCom Mobile Inc. (the predecessor corporation of Liberty) dated June 19, 2017. For all US based operations, both Aphria and Liberty are operating in compliance with the official guidance from both the US Treasury Department and the US Department of Justice through banks compliant with the federal government directives. Both Aphria and Liberty will continue to work with their governmental advisors at the federal level to provide assistance to governmental officials with the ongoing US policy making initiatives related to medical cannabis in the Unities States.

Aphria and Liberty will both continue to focus on their existing strategies for the medical cannabis industry in Canada and the United States, respectively. Specifically, the focus is to supply the growing demand in both countries for reliable and affordable medical grade marijuana to improve the quality of peoples lives. Each of Aphria and Liberty will continue to monitor and work with its US and Canadian advisors on strategies to timely and effectively respond on behalf of its stakeholders to any new policy initiatives in both Canada and the United States within the medical cannabis industry.

About Aphria

Aphria Inc., one of Canadas lowest cost producers, produces, supplies and sells medical cannabis. Located in Leamington, Ontario, the greenhouse capital of Canada. Aphria is truly powered by sunlight, allowing for the most natural growing conditions available. Aphria is committed to providing pharma-grade medical cannabis, superior patient care while balancing patient economics and returns to shareholders. Aphria was the first public licenced producer to report positive cash flow from operations and the first to report positive earnings in consecutive quarters.

About Liberty Health Sciences Inc.

Liberty Health Sciences Inc. is an investor and operator in the medical cannabis market, capitalizing on new and existing opportunities in the United States. Libertys stringent investment criteria for expansion maximizes returns to shareholders, while focusing on significant near and mid-term opportunities. Liberty has an extensive background in highly regulated industries, with expertise in becoming a low-cost producer. Liberty leverages commercial greenhouse knowledge to deliver high-quality, clean and safe pharmaceutical grade cannabis to patients.

Original press release:http://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/aphria-and-liberty-respond-to-tmx-group-statement-regarding-regulatory-engagement-641261723.html

The most reliable, fact-based information on Liberty Health Sciences found only on its Investor Dashboard.

Before this cannabis stock news is here, it's published to subscribers on 420 Investor.

The NCV Newswire by New Cannabis Ventures aims to curate high quality content and information about leading cannabis companies to help our readers filter out the noise and to stay on top of the most important cannabis business news. The NCV Newswire is hand-curated by an editor and not automated in anyway. For questions contact us.

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Aphria and Liberty Respond to TMX Group Statement Regarding Regulatory Engagement - New Cannabis Ventures (blog)

Some Liberty University Graduates Returning Diplomas to Protest Trump – Slate Magazine (blog)

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President Donald Trump and Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University, pose for photos with members of gospel choir Lu Praise during a commencement at Liberty University May 13, 2017 in Lynchburg, Virginia.

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A small, but apparently growing, group of Liberty University alumni are launching a campaign to return their diplomas to the evangelical Christian school to protest its alignment with President Donald Trump. The group began organizing after Trumps response to the violence in Charlottesville.

In a group letter, the group criticizes the head of the university, Jerry Falwell Jr., for praising Trumps comments that there were very fine people protesting on both sides. Falwell Jr. characterized the comments as bold and truthful. This is incompatible with Liberty University's stated values, and incompatible with a Christian witness, notes the open letter.

"I'm sending my diploma back because the president of the United States is defending Nazis and white supremacists," Chris Gaumer, a 2006 Liberty University graduate, said. "And in defending the president's comments, Jerry Falwell Jr. is making himself and, it seems to me, the university he represents, complicit.

Another 2006 Liberty University graduate said that I think all of the alumni have been troubled by Jerry Falwell Jr.s intense defense of Trump. The closed Facebook group for Liberty alumni to discuss this issue says they will be mailing their diplomas back to the offices of Falwell on September 5 with letters expressing our reasons for revoking all support.

It doesnt seem Falwell is too concerned about the angry alumni though and he went on ABCs This Week to double down on his support for Trump, going as far as to say that the reason why Trump could say there were fine people on both sides in Charlottesville was because as commander in chief he has inside information.

I don't know if there were historical purists [at the protests] who were trying to preserve some statues. I don't know, Falwell said of the president. I think he saw videos of who was there. I think he was talking about what he had seen He had information I didnt have.

Falwell also said that his tweet supporting the president has been misinterpreted. The bold and truthful statements I was referring to were his willingness to call evil and terrorism by its name, to identify the groups, the Nazis, the KKK, the white supremacists, Falwell said. And that's something a leader should do. And I admire him for that.

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Some Liberty University Graduates Returning Diplomas to Protest Trump - Slate Magazine (blog)

Liberty continue commitment to racial justice by hosting Unity Game – ESPN

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Liberty coaches Bill Laimbeer, Katie Smith and Herb Williams link arms before the national anthem on Sunday at the Garden.

Katie BarnesespnW.com

As the notes of the national anthem floated through Madison Square Garden on Sunday, players from the New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx linked arms with members of the New York Police Department. Earlier, a video showcasing the Liberty players' continued investment in conversations about police brutality and racial justice played on the big screen. Image after image of the protests that rolled through the WNBA a season ago, many also featuring the Lynx, were displayed high above the Garden floor.

The message to the 10,000-plus fans in attendance was clear: The Liberty had been out here, and will continue to be moving forward.

Partnering with the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE), founded by Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, the Liberty hosted a panel to foster solution-oriented discussion about racial justice. The pregame panel was one part of the Unity Game event, which also featured a pickup game between NYPD officers and youth from Covenant House, a Garden of Dreams Foundation partner that serves homeless youth.

"We started holding town halls with teams about a year ago, and this is our first with the WNBA," RISE CEO Jocelyn Benson said. "What we found last year is that the women in the WNBA are leading on these issues in a way that is extraordinary and courageous and cohesive, so we were really eager to work with the Liberty."

"It's important that we realize that we are stronger together," Liberty guard Shavonte Zellous said. "It's huge to see how many fans came out to support the cause, and [for us] to have a platform for it."

The panel featured Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the national Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law; Ambassador Attallah Shabazz, diplomat, professor, consultant and lecturer; NYPD Assistant Chief Juanita Holmes; William Rhoden, a writer for The Undefeated, and former Liberty players Sue Wicks and Tanisha Wright. It was moderated by scholar Michael Eric Dyson. The conversation ranged from the challenges within the police department to the responsibility of white teammates to support non-white teammates, as well as the aftermath of Charlottesville and the overall political climate.

"It's important that we realize that we are stronger together."

Suggestions for solutions were recorded on a flip chart, keeping attendees and panelists alike on topic because the panel was not intended as an opportunity to vent, but to engage citizens in thinking about how to move forward after identifying problems.

"Athletes have the right to be agnostic and not say a word if they choose to, and at the same time, they have the right to speak if they choose to," NBA Players Association executive director Michele Roberts said. "As an athlete, you don't forfeit your rights to the First Amendment."

Last season, Liberty players wore Black Lives Matter shirts following the deaths of Philando Castile, Alton Sterling and five Dallas police officers, and were among the teams originally fined for their violation of the uniform policy. Those fines were rescinded.

"This is a continuation of where we started last year, to give our players a vehicle to continue to voice their thoughts and try to impact society," team president Isiah Thomas said.

"The entire union standing up, not only last season, but this season makes for a powerful message," said WNBA Players Association executive board member Jayne Appel-Marinelli. "We all do it together regardless of race, orientation, or religion."

The WNBA more broadly has engaged in cohesive engagement in conversations of social justice. The Lynx kicked off last year's protests (though they were not fined), followed by the Liberty, Indiana Fever and Phoenix Mercury. Members of the Seattle Storm posted team photos of their solidarity on social media. While the NFL and NBA have been having conversations driven by the individual actions of Colin Kaepernick, Michael Bennett, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, etc., the actions in the WNBA have been defined by the participation of full teams.

"As much as I appreciate and love the guys in the NBA, when it comes to social conscience being wedded to athletic glory, ain't nobody got nothing on the WNBA," Dyson said to open the panel. "The ladies are out there doing mad, crazy, uplifting and responsible actions."

WNBA players Brittney Griner and Layshia Clarendon published an op-ed criticizing a proposed Texas bill that would affect the LGBTQ community.

With just over three weeks left in the WNBA regular season, the Lynx and Sparks look headed for another epic playoff battle. The Sparks evened the regular-season series with a win in Minnesota on Friday.

2 Related

"We're not looking to have credit, we're looking to have a voice," Wright said. "I don't care if [WNBA players] get their due, as long as they continue to push forward and speak out. As long as the needle is moving, who cares who gets the credit?"

After the game, a 70-61 Liberty win, Tina Charles met with the family of Eric Garner, a man who was killed during an altercation with an NYPD officer in 2014. Charles donated her Black History Month shoes to the Garner family and plans to support more families affected by police brutality.

"We're affected, just as everyone else is, by the news," Charles said. "The fact that the organization has allowed us to speak up and use our platform means the world to us. I am personally very thankful to be a part of this organization."

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Liberty continue commitment to racial justice by hosting Unity Game - ESPN