Nasa to wake up New Horizons spacecraft for voyage into mysterious Third Zone – Telegraph.co.uk

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Nasa is to wake up its New Horizons spacecraft next month following a five month hibernation, ahead of a journey deeper into one of the most mysterious regions of the Solar System.

New Horizons, which captured incredible images of Pluto in July 2015, was powered down in April to conserve energy as it travelled through the Kuiper Belt, a vast region of icy debris which encircles the Sun and planets, also known as The Third Zone.

On September 11, the spacecraft will awaken for its 16 month journey to MU69, an ancient object which is thought to be one of the early building blocks of the Solar System.

The space rock had not even been discovered when the craft launched in 2006 and the flyby will be the most distant in the history of space exploration, a billion miles beyond Pluto, and four billion miles from Earth.

Recent observations of MU69 from the Hubble Space Telescope show it is probably two binary objects or a pair of space rocks stuck-together bodies which are each around 12 miles across.

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Nasa to wake up New Horizons spacecraft for voyage into mysterious Third Zone - Telegraph.co.uk

NASA’s Voyager Spacecrafts Are Still Going Strong 40 Years Later – Futurism

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In BriefThe Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 space probes were launched nearly40 years ago, and continue to operate and travel through space atincredible speeds.

NASAs Voyager spacecrafts were initially launched in 1977, and 40 years later, NASA can confirm that both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are still functioning and making their way through space. Neither is showing any signs of slowing, and its unlikely theyll need to be shut down anytime soon.

Everyday, the pair of spacecrafts send information back to NASA regarding the conditions of their current locations, which includes areas where our Sun has minimal to no influence. Voyager 1, which is 13 billion miles away from Earth, travels through interstellar space, moving northward out of the plane containing our planets. Voyager 2, meanwhile, is 11 billion miles away from Earth, and moving southward.

Both have seen a lot over the years, including Voyager 2s flyby of the four outer planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune volcanoes on Jupiters moon Io, an Earth-like atmosphere on Saturns moon Titan, and geysers of icy cold nitrogen on Neptunes moon Triton. Voyager 1 was the first to reach interstellar space, and is currently the only spacecraft to do so, though Voyager 2 is expected to do the same relatively soon.

I believe that few missions can ever match the achievements of the Voyager spacecraft during their four decades of exploration, said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASAs Science Mission Directorate (SMD) at NASA Headquarters. They have educated us to the unknown wonders of the universe and truly inspired humanity to continue to explore our solar system and beyond.

Thanks to the two probes and their opposing trajectories, NASA scientists have been able to gather invaluable information on the heliosphere the bubble of solar wind containing our systems planets. When Voyager 2 reaches interstellar space within the next few years, scientists will be able to see how the heliosphere interacts with the interstellar medium from multiple locations simultaneously; this medium being a region in which the magnetic field is being affected by nearby solar wind. The existence of this medium was first noticed by NASA in 2015, three years after Voyager 1 made it to interstellar space.

Theres little concern regarding the safety and durability of each spacecraft, despite when they were designed and built. That said, the scientists and engineers of today are different from their 70s counterparts, and as such, maintenance sometimes needs a very specific kind of person. The technology is many generations old, and it takes someone with 1970s design experience to understand how the spacecraft operate and what updates can be made to permit them to continue operating today and into the future, said Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager based at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. During their construction by JPL, the two Voyagers were equipped with three radioisotope thermoelectric generators, giving them enough power to last over a hundred years. By 2065, 88 years after they were launched, only half of their power sources will have been depleted.The JPL team in charge of monitoring and operating Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 doesnt expect to shut down either probe until at least 2030. Voyager 1 will keep running on fuel until 2040, and Voyager 2 will run out of juice in 2034. Even after that happens, their current trajectories and speeds exceeding 48,280 kilometers per hour (30,000 miles per hour), will have them completing an orbit within the Milky Way every 225 million years.

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NASA's Voyager Spacecrafts Are Still Going Strong 40 Years Later - Futurism

NASA creates book to help blind people experience eclipse – KWQC-TV6

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CHARLESTON, S.C. (NBC) - This month's total eclipse will be a sight to behold but what about those who can't see?

A team effort between NASA and professors at the College of Charleston in South Carolina are making sure everyone, including the blind and visually impaired, enjoy it too.

Mariah Williams calls her service dog Keana her best friend. Always by her side Protecting her and leading the way.

"She's my eyes, my left arm, my common sense."

Mariah, blind since birth, uses Braille and touch. It's her way to communicate with the world.

"You're scanning the page with your fingers the same way you would with your eyes. you memorize these symbols and that creates the language."

On August 21st she will be able to look up into the sky.

"I plan to be outside with my glasses on of course. And I have a tiny bit of light sensitivity so I'm hoping I'll be able to see when the sky starts getting darker."

But she will also literally feel the eclipse. Her fingers will help her understand what she can't see with this new braille book.

"Mariah has been a gem to work with, she has been our beta tester all along," said Professor Cassandra Runyon of the College of Charleston.

Professor Runyon and NASA created an eclipse book for the blind. The printer hasn't stopped. Now in its 4th printing.

"There's over 50 million in the united states that are blind or visually impaired, so this book will help bring the eclipse to reality for those who see with their fingers not with their eyes," said Runyon.

Williams is very appreciative of Runyon's work.

"And now it's helping other people. And that really touches me."

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NASA creates book to help blind people experience eclipse - KWQC-TV6

HPE, NASA TO launch a supercomputer into space – ZDNet

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The Spaceborne Computer, a joint experiment between NASA and HPE, will travel to the International Space Station (seen here).

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is teaming up with NASA to launch a supercomputer into space on Monday, with the ultimate aim of building computing resources that could serve on board a mission to Mars.

The supercomputer, called the Spaceborne Computer, will launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on board the SpaceX CRS-12 rocket, developed by Elon Musk's SpaceX. The rocket will send the SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft -- and the supercomputer along with it -- to the International Space Station (ISS) National Lab.

The goal of the joint experiment is to have the Spaceborne Computer operate smoothly in space for on year, which is roughly how long it would take to travel to Mars.

Given the current constraints on computing in space, many calculations needed for space research are performed on Earth. For astronauts on Mars, that could mean waiting as long as 40 minutes for communications to reach Earch and back.

"Such a long communication lag would make any on-the-ground exploration challenging and potentially dangerous if astronauts are met with any mission critical scenarios that they're not able to solve themselves," Alain Andreoli, SVP and GM of HPE's data center infrastructure group, wrote in a blog post. "A mission to Mars will require sophisticated onboard computing resources that are capable of extended periods of uptime."

Andreoli also said the experiment will "spark discoveries for how to improve high performance computing (HPC) on Earth and potentially have a ripple effect in other areas of technology innovation."

The Spaceborne Computer doesn't include any hardware modifications. It includes the HPE Apollo 40 class systems with a high speed HPC interconnect running an open-source Linux operating system.

A high-performance commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) computer system has never run in space before. NASA typically only approves computers for space once they've been "ruggedized" to withstand variables like radiation, solar flares, micrometeoroids, unstable electrical power and irregular cooling.

However, instead of adding costly and bulky hardware modifications, HPE "hardened" the systems with purpose-built software. The software can manage real-time throttling of the computer systems to respond to radiation events and other external conditions. The system does also include a unique water-cooled enclosure for the hardware.

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HPE, NASA TO launch a supercomputer into space - ZDNet

Test uses nanotechnology to quickly diagnose Zika virus … – Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

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May be possible to use approach with other emerging infectious diseases

A Washington University researcher holds a piece of paper coated with tiny gold nanorods that can be used to test blood for Zika virus. If a patient whose blood is being tested has come into contact with Zika virus, the blood will contain substances that react with a protein coating the nanorods. The test paper doesn't need to be refrigerated, and test results are available in about 15 minutes.

Washington University in St. Louis researchers have developed a test that quickly detects the presence of Zika virus in blood.

Currently, testing for Zika requires that a blood sample be refrigerated and shipped to a medical center or laboratory, delaying diagnosis and possible treatment. Although the new proof-of-concept technology has yet to be produced for use in medical situations, the tests results can be determined in minutes. Further, the materials required for the test do not require refrigeration and may be applicable in testing for other emerging infectious diseases.

Findings from the small study from Washington University School of Medicine and the School of Engineering & Applied Science is available online in the journal Advanced Biosystems.

The researchers tested blood samples taken from four people who had been infected with Zika virus and compared it to blood from five people known not to have the virus. Blood from Zika-infected patients tested positive, but blood from Zika-negative controls did not. The assay produced no false-positive results.

Among the reasons such a test is needed, according to the researchers, is that many people infected with Zika dont know theyre infected. Although symptoms include fever, joint pain, muscle pain and rash, many people dont feel ill after being bitten by an infected mosquito. Testing is particularly important for pregnant women because Zika infection can cause congenital Zika syndrome, which contributes to several neurologic problems in the fetus or newborn infant.

Zika infection is often either asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, said Evan D. Kharasch, MD, PhD, one of the studys three senior investigators. The most effective way to diagnose the disease is not to wait for people to develop symptoms but to do population screening.

That strategy requires inexpensive, easy-to-use and easy-to-transport tests. Kharasch, the Russell D. and Mary B. Shelden Professor of Anesthesiology, collaborated with Srikanth Singamaneni, PhD, an associate professor of mechanical engineering & materials science, and Jeremiah J. Morrissey, PhD, a research professor of anesthesiology, to create the test, which uses gold nanorods mounted on paper to detect Zika infection within a few minutes.

If an assay requires electricity and refrigeration, it defeats the purpose of developing something to use in a resource-limited setting, especially in tropical areas of the world, said Singamaneni. We wanted to make the test immune from variations in temperature and humidity.

The test relies on a protein made by Zika virus that causes an immune response in infected individuals. The protein is attached to tiny gold nanorods mounted on a piece of paper. The paper then is completely covered with tiny, protective nanocrystals. The nanocrystals allow the diagnostic nanorods to be shipped and stored without refrigeration prior to use.

To use the test, a technician rinses the paper with slightly acidic water, removing the protective crystals and exposing the protein mounted on the nanorods. Then, a drop of the patients blood is applied. If the patient has come into contact with the virus, the blood will contain immunoglobulins that react with the protein.

Were taking advantage of the fact that patients mount an immune attack against this viral protein, said Morrissey. The immunoglobulins persist in the blood for a few months, and when they come into contact with the gold nanorods, the nanorods undergo a slight color change that can be detected with a hand-held spectrophotometer.

With this test, results will be clear before the patient leaves the clinic, allowing immediate counseling and access to treatment.

The color change cannot be seen with the naked eye, but the scientists are working to change that. Theyre also working on developing ways to use saliva rather than blood.

Although the test uses gold, the nanorods are very small. The researchers estimate that the cost of the gold used in one of the assays would be 10 to 15 cents.

As other infectious diseases emerge around the world, similar strategies potentially could be used to develop tests to detect the presence of viruses that may become problematic, according to the researchers.

First author and engineering doctoral student Qisheng Jiang (left) works with senior author Jerry Morrissey, PhD, on a test to detect Zika virus with gold nanorods mounted on a small piece of paper.

Jiang Q, Chandar YJ, Cao S, Kharasch ED, Singamaneni S, Morrissey JJ. Rapid, point-of-care, paper-based plasmonic biosensor for Zika virus diagnosis. Advanced Biosystems, published online Aug. 10, 2017.

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation, grant numbers CBET1254399 and CBET1512043. Additional funding was provided by the Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, Washington University in St. Louis.

Washington University School of Medicines 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Childrens hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient-care institutions in the nation, currently ranked seventh in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Childrens hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.

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Test uses nanotechnology to quickly diagnose Zika virus ... - Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

Nanotechnology-based test can quickly diagnose Zika virus – Financial Express

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Representative Image (Reuters)

Scientists, including one of Indian-origin, have developed a nanotechnology-based test that can quickly detect the presence of the Zika virus in the blood, an advance that may also be applicable to other emerging infectious diseases. Currently, testing for Zika requires that a blood sample be refrigerated and shipped to a medical centre or laboratory, delaying diagnosis and possible treatment. The new test, however, relies on a protein made by the Zika virus that causes an immune response in infected individuals, which is then attached to tiny gold nanorods mounted on a piece of paper. The paper then is completely covered with tiny, protective nanocrystals. The nanocrystals allow the diagnostic nanorods to be shipped and stored without refrigeration prior to use, the researchers said.If an assay requires electricity and refrigeration, it defeats the purpose of developing something to use in a resource-limited setting, especially in tropical areas of the world, said Srikanth Singamaneni, Associate Professor at the Washington University in St. Louis. We wanted to make the test immune from variations in temperature and humidity, Singamaneni added.When a drop of the patients blood is applied on the paper mounted on the nanorods, the immunoglobulins in the blood will react with the protein if the patient has come into contact with the virus and demonstrate a colour change.

The immunoglobulins persist in the blood for a few months, and when they come into contact with the gold nanorods, the nanorods undergo a slight colour change that can be detected with a hand-held spectrophotometer, explained Jeremiah J. Morrissey, Professor at the varsity. With this test, results will be clear before the patient leaves the clinic, allowing immediate counselling and access to treatment, he added in the paper detailed in the journal Advanced Biosystems. As other infectious diseases emerge around the world, similar strategies potentially could be used to develop tests to detect the presence of viruses that may become problematic, the researchers said.

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Nanotechnology-based test can quickly diagnose Zika virus - Financial Express

UNCP camp puts aspiring engineers to work – The Robesonian

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These young people participated in Engineering Camp Pembroke at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke from July 24 to Aug. 4. N.C. State is a partner in the camp.

Forty-two students participated in Engineering Camp Pembroke. They were introduced to various fields of engineering, from structural to mechanical.

PEMBROKE Thirteen-year-old Lauren Gerber and her teammates scaled two flights of stairs to a balcony adjoining the Givens Performing Arts Center.

Lauren exuded confidence.

She trusted her teams design of a contraption made to protect an egg would remain intact after being tossed off the two-story ledge. The homemade box pounded the concrete, causing a loud thud. Campers below scrambled to open the box, eager to see if the egg survived.

Not a scratch.

The feat notched another win for Laurens team during Engineering Camp Pembroke at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke. The camp ran from July 24 to Aug. 4 and was among several camps held at UNCP this summer.

I loved all the activities, but the egg drop was my favorite, said Gerber, who attends Prospect School.

She proudly revealed the winning design, which also survived a toss from the Mary Livermore Library.

We placed the egg inside a zip lock bag and placed the bag into a cardboard box, she said. We cut out a hole in a pool noodle, big enough for the egg to fit inside then stuffed the box with napkins and more pieces from the pool noodle. I cut more pieces of the pool noodle and taped it to the outsider corners of the box.

This type of ingenuity is an example of skills participants tapped into during the camp. UNC Pembroke partnered with the N.C. State College of Engineering and the Engineering Place to offer a week-long experience for elementary and middle school students.

Mary Beth Locklear, director of the Office for Regional Initiatives that sponsored the camp, served as one of the lead teachers.

To see the discovery and excitement on the kids faces this week has been empowering, Locklear said.

The participants will leave this camp with a broader imagination and creative problem solving skills. They will be able to look at the world in a different way and hopefully make it a better place for their communities.

Forty-two students participated in Engineering Camp Pembroke. They were introduced to various fields of engineering, from structural to mechanical.

Engineering Camp Pembroke is a tremendous opportunity for area elementary and middle school students to learn more about science and engineering, and engage in some really cool projects along the way, said Jeff Frederick, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

UNCP currently offers a 3-plus-2 dual degree engineering program with N.C. State University. Laura Bottomley, director of the Engineering Place and Women in Engineering, made the trip to Pembroke and sat in on the elementary sessions.

As part of our expanded STEM offerings and engineering partnership programs with NC State, UNCP is a place where science comes alive for students of all ages, Frederick said.

Eleven-year-old Rylan Oxendine is an aspiring engineer. He wants to design prosthetics for military veterans who return home with injuries. He enjoyed the bungee cord challenge and fabricating a chair using only newspaper and masking tape.

This camp has taught me a lot, Oxendine said. The excitement that you get from designing something with your team its awesome.

Other activities included building a nano bug maze to simulate a dog park and designing shoes fit for walking upstairs and jumping.

Chavonda Brown, another lead teacher, said the goal was to spark the students interest in various types of engineering fields.

We focused a lot on design, she said. We emphasized that before they could get their materials they must show us their design.

Bladdon Hammonds, 12, lives on a farm near Prospect and has dreams of becoming a veterinarian. But after a week at Engineering Camp Pembroke, he is on the fence.

I might change my mind, he said. I like the teachers here. They let us work in groups and we got to talk a lot with the ones on our team. Its been a lot of fun.

These young people participated in Engineering Camp Pembroke at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke from July 24 to Aug. 4. N.C. State is a partner in the camp.

http://www.robesonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_stem1201781211134313.jpgThese young people participated in Engineering Camp Pembroke at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke from July 24 to Aug. 4. N.C. State is a partner in the camp.

Forty-two students participated in Engineering Camp Pembroke. They were introduced to various fields of engineering, from structural to mechanical.

http://www.robesonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_stem2201781211158473.jpgForty-two students participated in Engineering Camp Pembroke. They were introduced to various fields of engineering, from structural to mechanical.

Mark Locklear is a Public Relations specialist for The University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

.

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UNCP camp puts aspiring engineers to work - The Robesonian

Early cancer-detection method said to find tumors from blood – Press Herald

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A recently developed method of diagnosing 13 kinds of cancer from a single drop of blood can lead to early detection of the disease. The relatively inexpensive test puts less burden on patients, but it still needs further improvement in accuracy.

The new blood test was developed by a team of researchers from the National Cancer Center Japan in Tokyo and other entities. They began a clinical test of the method this month. Until now, there has not been a test that could detect so many kinds of cancer at one time.

The test builds hope for treatment at an early stage to reduce cancer deaths, and is also expected to cut down on medical expenses. The team plans to ask the government to put it into practical use as early as within three years.

By using a blood sample taken for a comprehensive medical examination or other checkups, this new test can detect which type of cancer a patient has from an early stage. It is an unprecedented examination method, said Takahiro Ochiya, chief of the Molecular and Cellular Medicine Division at the National Cancer Center Research Institute, who leads the team for the new test.

The researchers focused on a molecular substance called microRNA, or miRNA, as the key to the new technologies. Cancer cells secrete specific kinds of miRNA, which differ depending on the type of cancer.

The team began the research in 2014. After obtaining 8 billion yen of government funds, the team examined secretion patterns of types of miRNA by using blood samples of 40,000 elderly individuals that had been preserved by the institute and other entities. The samples included those from cancer patients as well as people without cancer.

The team successfully detected the patterns of breast, colorectal, pancreatic, biliary tract, esophageal, liver, ovarian, lung, stomach, bladder and prostate cancers, which are major cancers among Japanese people.

They also detected patterns for glioma, which accounts for 30 percent of brain tumors, as well as a rare bone cancer and a type of soft tissue tumor.

The progression of cancer is indicated in four different stages from the early Stage 1 to the most advanced Stage 4.

The researchers were able to diagnose patients with breast cancer including those at Stage 1 by analyzing five types of miRNA, with 97 percent accuracy.

The team also detected other kinds of cancer with at least 95 percent accuracy.

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Early cancer-detection method said to find tumors from blood - Press Herald

‘Celebrity Big Brother’: Trisha Paytas Slams Paul Danan And Sarah Harding After Quitting Series – HuffPost UK

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Trisha Paytas has wasted no time in revealing what she really thought of her Celebrity Big Brother housemates, posting a tell-all video on her YouTube page less than 12 hours after quitting the show.

And while fans will have to wait until Saturday (12 August) nights show to see Trishas exit, shes already told her side of the story online:

In the first of two videos, Trisha explains to fans that she actually regrets leaving, but it doesnt take long for her to change her mind.

In the second - expletive-filled - upload, she explains: I was just editing my [Why I Regret Leaving] video and putting it up for you guys but fuck that shit.

I just watched Paul [Danan] body-shaming me, basically saying I have my ass hanging out and walk around with my legs showing. Fuck Paul, fake motherfucker.

She also slams the star for only having 3000 followers on Instagram, before turning on Sarah fucking Harding.

Fuck you Sarah Harding, who the fuck are you? she says, after making the bold claim that: Perez [Hilton] even said they save the good names for the January season because no-one watches the summer one.

As if that wasnt enough, Trisha has also taken to Twitter to vent:

While her exit will be screened on Saturday, bosses have shared a clip of the housemates finding out about Trishas decision to walk. Watch it below

Katie Price - 'I'm A Celebrity' (2009)

She lasted right till the end first time around, but at her second crack of the 'I'm A Celeb' whip, the Bushtucker Trials proved too much for Katie, who had returned to the jungle to get "closure" after splitting from Peter Andre.

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'Celebrity Big Brother': Trisha Paytas Slams Paul Danan And Sarah Harding After Quitting Series - HuffPost UK

The Tower Is An Awesome VR Obstacle Course Built For Room-Scale Rift – UploadVR

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My first trip up The Tower took 45 minutes that Im not likely to forget anytime soon.

At a time which Im finding myself increasingly rooted to the spot when playing in VR, this short little adventure from Headroom.one reminded me of the joys of the physicality of the medium, much in the same way Superhot VR did when it launched last year.

In The Tower, available now on the Oculus Rift, you stand on a conveyor belt that ascends a sprawling complex of ancient buildings with traps littered along the path. Your goal is simple; avoid the many perils on your way to the top, and try and get there as quickly as possible with as few deaths as possible. Its a little like the active brilliance of Triangular Pixels Unseen Diplomacy, but it manages to circumnavigate that games claustrophobic confines for something that gives you a better sense of progression.

Though comparatively small in scale to other VR games, theres a budding sense of adventure and journey to The Tower. You start by emerging from a cave at the base of the buildings. From here you can see the gauntlet laid down right in front of you; the course winds and weaves its way up through the buildings, reaching further than you can see. Its truly an epic sight, and even then I didnt fully comprehend the trials and tribulations that lay ahead.

Avoiding obstacles in The Tower is a little complex. Simply ducking is easy enough, but youll need to be careful when dodging from side-to-side, as leaning too far one way or the other will send you falling off the conveyor belt. If you die youll start back at the nearest checkpoint, and a blood splatter will appear where you previously met your end.

Youll probably also need to stretch. In my 45 minute ascent I was regularly throwing myself to the ground, quickly hopping one way to the other, and leaning in awkward positions. Clearing your room space is essential, because youll need the peace of mind to take full confidence in the steps and movements you make.I cant tell you how many times I crawled into a table leg Rift-first.

If youve got the space, though, The Tower offers some of the most exciting VR gameplay Ive seen of late. At one point I found myself laying flat on the floor, praying I was low enough to avoid a saw blade before quickly picking myself up to dance around darts that were being shot at me. The game requires guts; at times youll need to force yourself to take a step forward to avoid a swinging axe, or lightly tread backward as you wait for a spike to disappear into the wall. These movements can be hard to make when your brain thinks youre a few hundred meters up in the air and overlooking certain death.

The game does a wonderful job of playing on that split second in VR in which you forget this isnt all real. At one point a deafening canon unloaded its ammunition on me, and I jumped out of my skin with each passing shot. Just when the base concept starts to grow stale, it throws new concepts in, like keys youll have to hold onto to unlock doors later down the line, or swords youll grab to cut down tethers and fend off incoming fire.

I couldnt stop my heart from racing in moments like this, even when the fun turns further toward frustration as things get more difficult in the final section. Its a little too hard to juggle dodging traps and not falling off the side at times, which feels especially unfair when your feet havent moved from the spot. The Tower could really benefit from Vives full body tracking with the new Trackers, though that obviously limits its appeal even more so in an already niche market.

That said, Im really glad that The Tower is in Early Access because Id love to see a lot more content on offer. In fact, my brain is bursting with new ideas beyond extra levels and traps. Id love to see procedural generation to add endless replay value, for example, or courses with multiple paths that could make each players experience different. Thinking beyond that, I could see an awesome co-op mode where two players might have to work together to overcome obstacles in their path. I may have reached the top of The Tower but I felt like the game is only just getting started with potential ideas.

But dont let the room for growth keep you waiting; at $4.99 Id class The Tower as a trip essential trip for any Rift owner with the room for it.

The Tower is available now on Oculus Home for $4.99.

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The Tower Is An Awesome VR Obstacle Course Built For Room-Scale Rift - UploadVR

Researchers encode malware in DNA, compromise DNA sequencing software – Ars Technica

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Enlarge / This data could potentially contain malware.

With everyone from academics to Microsoft looking at the prospect of storing data using DNA, it was probably inevitable that someone would start looking at the security implications. Apparently, they're worse than most people might have expected. It turns out it's possible to encode computer malware in DNAand use it to attack vulnerabilities on the computer that analyzes the sequence of that DNA.

The researchers didn't find an actual vulnerability in DNA analysis softwareinstead, they specifically made a version of some software with an exploitable vulnerability to show that the risk is more than hypothetical. Still, an audit of some open source DNA analysis software shows that the academics who have been writing it haven't been paying much attention to security best practices.

DNA sequencing involves determining the precise order of the bases that make up a DNA strand. While the process that generates the sequence is generally some combination of biology and/or chemistry, once it's read, the sequence is typically stored as an ASCII string of As, Ts, Cs, and Gs. If handled improperly, that chunk of data could exploit vulnerable software to get it to execute arbitrary code. And DNA sequences tend to see a lot of software, which find overlapping sequences, align it to known genomes, look for key differences, and more.

To see whether this threat was more than hypothetical, the researchers started with a really simple exploit: store more data than a chunk of memory was intended to hold, and redirect program execution to the excess. In this case, said excess contained an exploit that would use a feature of the bash shell to connect into a remote server that the researchers controlled. If it worked, the server would then have full shell access to the machine running the DNA analysis software.

Actually implementing that in DNA, however, turned out to be challenging. DNA with Gs and Cs forms a stronger double-helix. Too many of them, and the strand won't open up easily for sequencing. Too few, and it'll pop open when you don't want it to. Repetitive DNA can form complex structures that get in the way of all the enzymes we normally use to manipulate DNA. The computer code they wanted to use, however, had lots of long runs of the same character, which made for a repetitive sequence that was very low in Gs and Cs. The company they were ordering DNA from couldn't even synthesize it.

In the end, they had to completely redesign their malware so that its translation into nucleic acids produced a DNA strand that could be synthesized and sequenced. The latter created another hurdle. The most common method of sequencing is currently limited to reading a few hundred bases at a time. Since each base has two bits of information, that means the malware has to be incredibly compact. That limits what can be done, and it explains why all this particular payload did was open up a remote connection.

Then, there was the matter of getting the malware executed. Since this was a proof of concept, the researchers made it easy on themselves: the modified an existing tool to create an exploitable vulnerability. They also made some changes to the system's configuration to make the execution of random memory locations easier (made the stack executable and turned off memory address randomization). While that makes the test environment less realistic, the goal was simply to demonstrate that DNA-delivered malware was possible.

With everything in place, they ordered some DNA online then sent it off to a facility for sequencing. When their sequences came back, they sent them through a software pipeline that included their vulnerable utility. Almost immediately, the computer running the software connected into their host, providing them with access to the machine. The malware worked.

Given how easy the authors made thingsa known vulnerability and a number of safeguards turned offdoes this really pose a threat? There's good news and bad news here.

On the good side, there's the complications of translating computer instructions into DNA that can be synthesized and sequenced. Plus there's the issue that most sequencing machines are limited in how long a sequence they can read. The machine used in this work maxes out at 300 bases, which is the equivalent of 600 bits, and most facilities keep things shorter than that. Longer read machines are available, but they're also error prone, and any errors will typically disable the malware.

But it's also common for the software used to analyze DNA to look for places where two short sequences overlap and use that to build up longer sequences. This has the potential to expand the size of the malware considerably, although less of the analysis software pipeline will be exposed to these longer, assembled sequences.

Similar issues exist with how the malware is encoded. While the authors used each base to encode two bits, DNA analysis software handles DNA in various ways internally. For example, if sequencing doesn't provide a clear indication of what a base is, other characters may be used (for example, N for any base, or R for G or A). Any software that handles these ambiguous bases has to have a more complex encoding scheme; many simply use ASCII characters.

As a result, different pieces of software will be vulnerable to different malware encodings. While that means some software will be immune, the size of the DNA analysis pipelines typically means that a dozen or more pieces of software will be run in succession. Chances are good that at least one of them will use the same encoding as the malware.

The research community's habits are also a major point of vulnerability. The analysis software was generally not written with security in mind. Using the Clang compiler's analysis tools and HP's Fortify compiler, the authors searched a collection of open source DNA analysis software for potential vulnerabilities. They found widespread use of functions that are prone to buffer overflows (strcat, strcpy, sprintf, vsprintf, gets, and scanf)about two instances for every 1,000 lines of code. "Our research suggests that DNA sequencing and analysis have not to date received significantif anyadversarial pressure," they conclude.

The second issue is how easy it is to infiltrate malicious code onto other machines via DNA. The sequencing machines have such a high capacity, work from several different labs is run on a single machine at the same time. As a result, some of the sequences returned from the machine will end up mixed into an unrelated sample. When the researchers checked with another group that had their sequencing performed at the same time, they found that the other group's results contained 27 instances of the malware.

Separately, lots of services simply allow you to send in any DNA for sequencing, putting their software at risk. And many public repositories allow people to upload their sequence for analysis by others. So, you wouldn't even have to synthesize any DNA to have your exploit analyzedyou can simply upload the text of the sequence you've designed to someone else's data repository.

None of this means that a DNA-based exploit is around the corner. But it's a healthy warning that the research community and commercial DNA companies should look to improve their practices before this does become a problem.

Originally posted here:

Researchers encode malware in DNA, compromise DNA sequencing software - Ars Technica

Editas Medicine’s (EDIT) CEO Katrine Bosley on Q2 2017 Results – Earnings Call Transcript – Seeking Alpha

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Editas Medicine (NASDAQ:EDIT)

Q2 2017 Earnings Conference Call

August 9, 2017 17:00 ET

Executives

Mark Mullikin - Senior Director, Finance & IR

Katrine Bosley - President & CEO

Andrew Hack - CFO

Charles Albright - CSO

Vic Myer - CTO

Analysts

Marc Frahm - Cowen & Company

Cory Kasimov - JP Morgan

Vikram Purohit - Morgan Stanley

Peter Lawson - SunTrust Robinson Humphrey

Operator

Good afternoon and welcome to Editas Medicine's Second Quarter 2017 Financial Results and Update Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that this call is being recorded at Editas Medicine's request.

I would now like to turn the call over to the Editas Medicine team. Please proceed.

Mark Mullikin

Good afternoon. This is Mark Mullikin, Senior Director of Finance and Investor Relations at Editas Medicine. Welcome to our second quarter 2017 conference call.

We issued a press release earlier this afternoon reviewing our second quarter 2017 results and updates regarding the company, which will be covered on this call. A replay of today's call will be available on the Investors & Media section of our website approximately two hours after its completion. After our prepared remarks, we will open the call for Q&A.

As a reminder, various remarks that we make during this call about the company's future expectations, plans and prospects constitute forward looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provision under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including those discussed in the Risk Factors section of our most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q, which is on file with the SEC.

In addition, any forward-looking statements represent our views only as of today and should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date. While we may elect to update these forward looking statements at some point in the future, we specifically disclaim any obligation to do so, even if our views change. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to today.

I will turn the call over to our Chief Executive Officer, Katrine Bosley.

Katrine Bosley

Thanks, Mark. Good afternoon, everybody, and thank you for joining us for our corporate update call for the second quarter. I am joined today by several members of our executive team, including Andrew Hack, our Chief Financial Officer; Vic Myer, our Chief Technology Officer; and Charlie Albright, our Chief Scientific Officer.

We made progress on multiple fronts during the second quarter. On our call today, we'll review how we advanced our product pipeline and platform technology, continued to build the business for the long term and strengthened our organization.

First, I'd like to discuss our pipeline progress and starting with our lead program in Leber congenital amaurosis type 10 or LCA10. We remain on track to file our IND by mid-2018 for EDIT-101, which is our preclinical product candidate for LCA10. There are a number of points about the program I'd like to highlight as well. We are pleased to announce today that we received institutional review board approval for the first site in our LCA10 clinical natural history study.

This is a prospective study that will evaluate patients with LCA10 to assess the course of the disease and it will also assess potential endpoints and aspects of the trial design for interventional clinical studies with EDIT-101 down the road. We anticipate this natural history study will enroll approximately 40 patients, ages three and above at multiple sites in the U.S. and Europe, and will evaluate and follow patients for at least one year. We are currently finalizing logistical details at their clinical trial sites and will then proceed to begin patients' enrollment.

In the second quarter, we received advanced therapy medicinal product or ATMP designation from the European Medicines Agency for EDIT-101 as well. The classification is reserved for new potentially revolutionary medicinal products based on genes, cells or tissues, and it's an essential step in commercializing products effectively across the European Union, and it's an important step for this program.

As you know, we presented data from a nonhuman primate study in our LCA10 program in May at ASGCT. In this study, we demonstrated efficient editing of the CEP290 gene, which causes LCA10 in the retina of nonhuman primates. We showed that we productively edited 15% of the total CEP290 wheels in nonhuman primate retina, and this translates to a projected 50% editing of the CEP290 wheels in photoreceptors, the target cells in the retina. This significantly exceeds our prespecified therapeutic threshold of 10% editing.

We also sought to understand how EDIT-101 performs in mature human photoreceptors. And to do this, we developed a human retinal explant system. And in this system, we obtained human eyes three to five hours postmortem, isolated retinal tissue and exposed the retina to EDIT-101 in tissue culture. After four weeks in culture, we then performed tissue staining and we quantified the editing. That tissue staining showed the Cas9 expression was limited to the photoreceptor layer as we anticipated. We then used our proprietary UDiTas technology to quantify the editing. Similar to our nonhuman primate studies, we measured editing directly in the entire retinal sample and then calculated projected editing in the photoreceptors themselves.

Similar to nonhuman primates, photoreceptors represent only about a 0.25% of the cells in human retinal explants, and the EDIT-101 gene-editing machinery is only expressed in photoreceptors. Our preliminary data from these studies showed productive editing as high as 16% across the entire retina, and based on this, we estimate that we productively edited approximately 50% of the CEP290 wheels in mature human photoreceptors. This data is consistent with what we've seen in experimental animals and was recently presented at the Cold Spring Harbor Genome Engineering Conference.

In addition to achieving potentially therapeutic levels of editing, we aim to create therapies that minimize risks from off-target editing. Developing and applying robust methods for setting specificity has been a fundamental component of our platform from the very beginning. For this reason, it is encouraging that neither our biased nor our unbiased methodologies have detected any off-target editing in the human genome from EDIT-101. Taken together, these results reinforce our confidence in the therapeutic potential of EDIT-101.

Beyond our LCA10 program, we achieved an important technical milestone in our work with Juno Therapeutics. As a reminder, we're working with Juno on three programs combining our genome editing platform with Juno's CAR and TCR technologies to create engineered T-cells to treat cancer. This most recent milestone arises from the program to overcome the tumor microenvironment. Enabled -- enabling T-cells to overcome the tumor microenvironment has the potential to expand the range of cancers that these therapies may be able to address. This program is distinct from the program to improve T cell persistence, in which we previously achieved a technical milestone, and we'll receive a $2.5 million milestone for this achievement from Juno Therapeutics.

Over the course of the quarter, we also presented progress in multiple other programs at scientific conferences. In our discovery program to treat sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia, we demonstrated a substantial increase in fetal hemoglobin protein with a novel genome-editing strategy that has the potential to be more potent than the approaches reported by others in the field. We think this data is a promising foundation to advance a best-in-class therapy for these patients.

We also reported high-efficiency editing using our proprietary CRISPR Cpf1 system in both human T-cells and adult hematopoietic stem cells. Cpf1 is a new CRISPR genome-editing system that substantially expands the range of genomic sites we can target, and it may also have advantages in terms of specificity, manufacturing and delivery. In addition, Cpf1 may enable us to achieve more efficient gene repair relative to Cas9. It's separate and distinct from Cas9, and is underpinned by completely separate intellectual property, which is exclusively licensed to Editas.

We believe the properties of Cpf1 have the potential to expand the reach of our genome-editing medicines even further. Together with our portfolio of multiple Cas9 species and proprietary engineered variance of each, as well as the broad range of propriety platform innovations that we have shown publicly, we believe we have an unparalleled CRISPR platform and product engine, which has the potential to deliver the best and widest range of genome-editing medicines.

Overall, this year, we've demonstrated the productivity of our team and platform through more than 20 presentations and posters at a wide range of scientific and medical conferences and across a range of programs and technical advancements. We expect to present additional progress in multiple programs and platform advancements through the remainder of this year.

Outside of our progress on advancing our pipeline of CRISPR medicines, we have also further strengthened our business and our organization. We have further matured our intellectual property portfolio with the issuance of the first patent for CRISPR Cpf1, which we have exclusively licensed. As a reminder -- Cpf1 is the only CRISPR system in addition to Cas9 that has been made to work in human cells, and although this is only one of many positive patent developments in the quarter, we thought it was worth specifically calling out because we do anticipate Cpf1 will be an important contributor to our pipeline of products and in the field of genome editing broadly.

We continue to further develop our organization by adding key capabilities to our team, including important hires in pharmacology, manufacturing and operations. And we also welcome Andrew Hirsch to our Board of Directors, where in addition to his roll of an independent director, he will serve as the chair of the Audit Committee. He is currently the Chief Financial Officer of Agios Pharmaceuticals.

And now, I'd like to hand the call over to Andrew Hack, our Chief Financial Officer, to review the results from the quarter.

Andrew Hack

Thanks, Katrine. We filed our Form 10-Q after the close today and have summarized our financial statements in the press release that we made available one hour ago.

Starting with the balance sheet and cash flow statement, we ended the quarter with approximately $325 million of cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities. Our net cash used in operations was approximate $26 million. Based on our current cash position as well as research support under our collaborations, but excluding any assumption for future business development transactions or milestones, we believe we have at least 24 months of capital to fund the business.

Turning to the income statement, we began recognizing revenue from the Allergan upfront payment with a total of $2.4 million being recorded in the quarter. In addition, we recognized $0.7 million of revenue related to our Juno collaboration.

Moving down the income statement to research and development, it's worth noting that the results in the quarter include a $5.1 million payment to our licensors related to the Allergan upfront. Key noncash items recorded in our income statement in the quarter includes $5 million of stock-based compensation.

Overall, our financial performance so far this year has been in line with our expectations, and we expect that we have the capital we need to fund the advancement of multiple therapeutic programs in parallel, while also further extending our technology leadership.

And with that, I'll hand it back to Katrine.

Katrine Bosley

Thank you, Andrew. As we're at the midpoint of 2017, I'd like to close by reviewing where we stand with respect to our most important corporate goals. Through our strategic alliance with Allergan, we have achieved our goal of establishing a significant additional alliance which is in line with our business development strategy. Pipeline progress includes demonstrating preclinical proof-of-concept and high specificity for our LCA10 program, achievement of a technical milestone in one of our Juno programs and data presentations from several other early programs. We remain on track to initiate our LCA10 clinical natural history study as planned and to submit an IND for EDIT-101 by mid-2018. And finally, we continue to build an outstanding organization and culture that we believe will enable us to drive the creation of this new class of medicines.

We're actually approaching the 4-year anniversary of the founding of Editas, and I've been in this industry a long time. And reflecting on these four years, it's hard to compare it to any other company or fields that I know. The implications for medicine and for patients who have, as yet, untreatable diseases; the scientific intensity as we work to overcome challenges translating the science into medicines; the intensity of the public spotlight from many directions, given the profound implication for this the technology, we bear great responsibility to patients, to their families and to society broadly. We take that very seriously. We're here for the long term, and I think we are very well-positioned to take the next steps in this revolutionary field.

So we thank you for your continued interest and support. And with that, we will open it up for questions and answer. Operator?

Question-and-Answer Session

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And our first question comes from Marc Frahm from Cowen & Company. Your line is open.

Marc Frahm

Hi, thanks for taking my question. First is -- one question just on the -- going back to the delay that happened last quarter; I mean, has the -- at the time of the last call kind of the precursor molecules had been -- products had been made. Has the AAV now been made? And if so, is that set of technological studies waiting on that AAV the only thing that needs to be done to get the IND ready or are there other kind of modules that you need to work on still?

Katrine Bosley

So I'll ask Vic to speak to the manufacturing timing and with regard to the work between us and the IND. You're sort of pointing to the right point, it's the normal work to get to an IND, which is completing the preclinical safety studies. Other things go alongside that, but that's -- here, as pretty much with any other drug, the critical path to the IND is usually the safety and that's the case here too.

Vic Myer

Yes. So not much here to add beyond the fact that we're on track for our mid-2018 and so all the production is moving forward as planned.

Marc Frahm

Okay. And then I guess another kind of question longer term in the pipeline. Maybe, now that you're getting closer to this IND, when do think you'd be in a position to name what the next official candidate would be? I mean, you made some presentations in hemoglobinopathy, also previously some alpha-1 antitrypsin, which ones are kind of coming to the fore? And is there really more preclinical work that needs to be done to make a selection? Or is it kind of market research and making sure that you know kind of the path forward that's going to determine which one you choose?

Katrine Bosley

Yes. So let me ask Charlie Albright to speak to the question of our pipeline and how that is emerging.

Charles Albright

Thanks for the question. We do have -- we are active -- quite active on other programs in the portfolio. As you've already mentioned, we made presentations at the ASGCT meeting on our sickle cell program and our alpha-1 antitrypsin program. And in both cases, we made significant advances. In the sickle cell program, we have identified new sites that allow us to achieve levels of fetal hemoglobin expression that we're quite excited about. And then the alpha-1 antitrypsin program, we showed we're able to efficiently edit liver cells in a mouse -- in a mouse model of the disease and effectively reduced the circulating levels of alpha-1 antitrypsin.

So both of these programs have made significant progress. They remain in the preclinical stage, as do our other programs, but we have a portfolio that's defined and not -- and is not limited by market research, it's limited by scientific progress.

Marc Frahm

Great, thank you.

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from Cory Kasimov from JP Morgan.

Cory Kasimov

Good afternoon guys, thank for taking my questions. So I guess first with regard to the differentiation in potential advantages you discussed for Cpf1 over Cas9. Can you talk about how you see this system being used over time? And do you plan to use both or -- and keep both going indefinitely? Or would your expectation be that you eventually transition over to Cpf1? And I have a follow-up.

Katrine Bosley

Yes. So I'll ask Vic to talk about this in a bit more detail, but broadly speaking, we're here to make genome-editing medicines, and we want to have the most robust toolkit to do that, so that for any given gene we can find the best solution. Vic?

Vic Myer

Yes. As I think you've pointed out, there's a couple of differences with Cpf1 that we think make it a really interesting enzyme. We do think it complements Cas9 and it's not necessarily going to supplant Cas9, and it's going to ultimately be sort of a case-by-case edit-by-edit sort of question. What we're really set up to do now is to test multiple enzymes for any given program and then pick the one that looks the most active and the most specific. Cpf1 is distinct from Cas9 in that it's got a very different PAM recognition motif so that it greatly increases our genome targeting space. Secondly, it's got a small single-guide RNA. So as we think about RNP-based manufacturing, it's got some definite CMC advantages. And the third thing that we know about the enzyme is it leaves a different cut.

So it's not a blunt cut, it's actually a staggered cut, and that leads to a different resolution by the cells. So you actually get a different editing outcome using Cpf1. And so for any given program, we'll often test both enzymes side-by-side and pick the one that looks the best.

Cory Kasimov

Okay, great, that's helpful. And then the follow-up is, is there anything else that you can say on the milestone achieved in the Juno collaboration? I guess, what comes next there? And how close is this technology to be implemented in the clinic when you think about the combination of the genome editing with CAR-T?

Katrine Bosley

Yes, so we haven't disclosed further details about the specifics of the technical milestone, although, we and Juno do work together to share data at scientific meetings. We've done that in the past and I would anticipate we'll continue to work together to do that where it makes sense going forward. We haven't -- with them, we haven't disclosed specific timelines on those programs yet, but our work with them continues to reinforce. The reason we wanted to work with them in first place was that they really do have that broad expansive mission and view of how CAR-T and engineered T-cells can be made into therapies on a broader basis, and how genome editing can further enable that.

So the reason we started the collaboration continues to really to ring true through the two years we've been working together. We've made nice progress together. And I know everybody is always eager for timelines and we are too, but we'll have to share those in due course.

Cory Kasimov

Okay. Thanks for taking the questions.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Matthew Harrison from Morgan Stanley. Your line is open.

Vikram Purohit

Hi, thanks. This is Vikram on for Matthew. So just one question from our side. For the LCA10 program, do you expect to provide a new additional disclosure before filing the IND in mid-2018? And for the program, do you envision needing an RSA -- RAC meeting?

Katrine Bosley

Sure. So I think that we try to be pretty transparent about our programs and how they're moving forward. Certainly, you've seen us regularly present at scientific meetings and that's the best first forum for new data. So I'm not projecting what specific data we'll present at which meetings. I think we certainly want to continue to be communicative about our science in LCA10 as well as our other programs. With regard to the RAC at the NIH, we do anticipate that, that will apply here.

Certainly if you look at how the RAC provides the way of working a year or so, with that incorporated, understanding the genome editing -- anticipated genome editing programs and the way that they revise their rules, we would anticipate that these programs would go to the RAC, yes.

Vikram Purohit

That's helpful, thank you.

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from Peter Lawson from SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. Your line is open.

Peter Lawson

Katrine, just thinking about natural clinical history data. Is that going to be a mid-2018 event?

Katrine Bosley

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Editas Medicine's (EDIT) CEO Katrine Bosley on Q2 2017 Results - Earnings Call Transcript - Seeking Alpha

UR Medicine performs 3 heart transplants in 1 week – Spectrum News

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ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- July was a busy month for the U of R Medical Center. At one point surgeons there performed three heart transplants in just one week.

One of the those patients who received that life-saving surgery expressed their relief.

"I feel great, and my heart survived the Bills game!" said Tom Mancuso, Livonia.

He's sharing some humor in light of a serious sitution. He's one of three men who had heart transplants just a couple weeks ago at the hospital.

UR Medicine typically performs only 14 heart transplants each year.

"You don't have a choice of when it comes and obviously we're very appreciative a donor has come for one of our patients. When the time comes we just have to go, and even if we had two or three in the same day we'd try very hard to pull it off," said Dr. Leway Chen, Heart Transplant Medical Director.

Strong Memorial Hospital currently has 25 other people on the waiting list for a new heart. Doctors wants to remind you New York has a severe shortage of registered organ donors..

Anyone can opt to be an organ donor through the DMV.

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UR Medicine performs 3 heart transplants in 1 week - Spectrum News

MyCode genetics program brings predictive medicine to South Jersey – Press of Atlantic City

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John Bennett Jr. sat in a cushioned chair, stretched out his left arm and watched as Blanca Steffens filled a vial with his blood on a recent afternoon inside the clinical lab at AtlantiCare Physician Group Primary Care Plus in Northfield.

With just a little bit of that blood, researchers and geneticists with Geisinger Healths MyCode project will be able to tell Bennett whether his DNA carries genetic markers for certain diseases and health conditions.

The field of genomics has grown by leaps and bounds, and the testing once reserved for a select few has become available on a large scale. Dubbedprecision or predictive medicine, researchers hope to use genetic information to improve disease prevention, treatment and outcomes.

Rather than waiting for people to get sick, we can identify risks in people earlier and may prevent them from getting sick, said Andrew Faucett, director of policy and education in Geisingers Office of the Chief Scientific Officer. Its less expensive to keep someone healthy than it is to care for them sick.

Pennsylvania-based Geisinger launched MyCode in 2014 across its system of heath providers and hospitals, and now works with Regeneron Genetics Center. MyCode came to AtlantiCare locations and patients one year after it merged with Geisinger in 2015.

Faucett, also a professor atGeisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, said theprogram has enrolled more than 150,000 patients, more than 10,000 of whom are from AtlantiCare.

Officials say the program intends to eventually include 250,000 enrollees. DNA has been analyzed so far for about 60 percent of participants as of Aug. 1, MyCode reports show.

Bennett, 55, of Somers Point, had read about the rise of genetic testing in medicine and had a family member who had it done years ago, so he jumped at the chance to participate in MyCode when the opportunity came, he said.

Anything to do to help with medical research and Im in, he said.

By collecting and analyzing genetic data from more than 150,000 people, Faucett said, researchers will be able to conduct comprehensive studies on how diseases can affect large populations.

For health providers and their patients, test results can provide information about a persons risk of developing certain disorders, such as cancers or cardiovascular conditions. Results can lead to discussions about medical care decisions with doctors and genetic counselors.

Scientists with the National Human Genome Research Institute completed sequencing of the human genome, or the complete human set of genetic instructions, in April 2003.

Experts can now look at someones DNA to see if their genetic coding has irregularities. A gene change can confirm if a person already has a disease, may develop a disease or is at risk of passing along a genetic disorder to his or her children.

Genetics can tell if a woman has a BRCA-1 or -2 gene mutation, which puts her at an increased risk for breast cancer, Faucett said. Now, she can use mammograms or preventative surgery to avoid cancer, or an advanced case.

Before genetic testing was more accessible to the general population, it was used primarily for patients at risk of rare conditions, such as Huntingtons disease, sickle cell disease, cystic fibrosis and others.

The MyCode program looks for variations in 76 genes associated with 27 clinically actionable disorders, or medical issues that can be prevented or managed better with knowledge of the gene mutation. The program does not test for Alzheimers disease or some rare conditions like those mentioned previously.

Faucett said preventive measures and sometimes treatment can be a one-size-fits-all approach, similar to how adults are generally recommended for colonoscopies starting at age 50, or women for mammograms starting at age 40 or 45.

But if someone has an identified gene mutation for colon or breast cancer, testing may be recommended at earlier ages. Faucett said genetic results for one person may also influence other family members to be more aware that they too may be more susceptible to these disorders.

Jessica Romanowski, research consenter for the MyCode program at AtlantiCare, explained to Bennett that it could take several months for his results. If there is a gene variation, Romanowski said, researchers will notify his primary care physician, who will schedule a follow-up with Bennett.

If they are gung-ho for research, (patients) are usually really supportive about participating, she said. Also, people want to know how it will benefit them. Some want to know about privacy and what will happen with their DNA. Patient privacy and confidentiality are very important to us.

A patients genetic information and results for the research end of things is identified only by a number, Faucett said. When variations are identified, researchers directly contact the patient's physician.

Under the program's current list of medically actionable diseases, Faucett said, about 3.5 percent of patients will get a call from their physicians with a positive, or gene-variation, result.

Because it is a research program, there is no cost to participate for patients who consent at any AtlantiCare Physician Group primary care location, the obstetrics and gynecology office or AtlantiCare Health Park, both in Egg Harbor Township. More specialty locations are being added, AtlantiCare officials said.

Faucett said much remains to be discovered in genomics, but Geisinger plans to use collected data to more precisely understand diseases, which may lead to solutions on how to better prevent or predict their occurrence in people.

Sometime in next five to 20 years, having your genes looked at will be part of normal care, he said. "Theres still a lot to learn how to use those results, but were learning. Its very exciting.

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MyCode genetics program brings predictive medicine to South Jersey - Press of Atlantic City

Obsession With Studying Medicine – Financial Tribune

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Be it lucrative income or parental pressure, studying medicine has become an obsession for high schoolers, pushing them to take up life science courses in high school to prepare for the daunting task of scoring high in the university entrance exam, Concour. According to Fardanews.com, recent statistics reveal a gradual but visible shift in students preference from mathematics and humanities to life science courses, raising concern among education officials. To curb the trend, the Education Ministry announced last year a limit on the number of students who were allowed to study life sciences, much to the chagrin of both students and parents. The vocal protests even dragged President Hassan Rouhani into the mix, who said it was wrong to impose restrictions on students and everyone must be allowed to study what they please. With the restrictions now removed, high schools find themselves under pressure to cater to the number of students seeking to enroll in the limited life science courses. Moreover, only one in 30 students who sit the Concour score high enough to major in medicine, meaning the vast majority of students have to prepare themselves for what can only be described as emotional trauma. Those who fail to get the necessary score find themselves at a crossroads: Either settle for another major which their Concour score allows them to enroll in, or wait another year and try for medicine again. Becoming a doctor has become such a debilitating obsession that two years ago, an undergraduate student at Sharif University of Technologyone of the most prestigious centers of higher learning in Irantook time off from studies to take the Concour for medicine. Worse yet, according to Dr. Alireza Zali, president of the Iran Medical Council, nearly half of all medical graduates leave Iran in search of greener pastures. Not only do we lose intelligent people, but weve essentially spent resources on educating and training people for other countries. Experts say one effective measure that wouldnt encroach on students right to pick a major is to seek help from career councilors at high schools, who can theoretically encourage students to consider non-medicine related majors. If the present trend holds, Iran runs the risk of having a glut of medical practitioners who will eventually leave the country, and a scarcity of specialists in other fields. At the end, the society stands to lose.

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Obsession With Studying Medicine - Financial Tribune

Baby medicine much stronger in 1800s – Ricentral.com

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RICHMOND Its amazing some of our ancestors lived as long as they did not because of the illnesses they faced, but because of their cures. Back in the 1800s, there were few medicines that did not contain some form of alcohol or dangerous, addictive drug; cough medicines with cocaine to stimulate the body, under-the-weather syrups with opium for pain relief, little bottles of chloroform to help one get to sleep. Whats most disturbing about the potential danger there was in using these over-the-counter medicines is that they were distributed as freely to babies and children as they were to adults.

Clear glass bottles of laudanum, a derivative of opium, was sold to help sleepless babies. Paregoric, another opium product used for diarrhea, warned this is a dangerous preparation, especially for children but went on to list a dosage table: a baby of three days old may take two drops, a baby of one week old may take four drops, a baby of six months old may take six drops, a one-year-old child may take ten drops, and a five-year-old may take twenty drops. The concoction was comprised of forty-six percent alcohol and 1.82 grams of opium per fluid ounce.

On September 3, 1894, Ernest and Henrietta Callaghan of Main Street in Carolina lost their six-day-old son who hadnt yet been named. An Irish immigrant and long-time cigar-maker for the Cross family of Charlestown, Ernest had experienced fatherhood four times previous to the latest birth, and had just buried another child, 1-year-old Walter, less than a month before. While Walter had succumbed to cholera, the newest additions cause of death was listed as Russells White Drops.

However, it would be nineteen years before the company that produced the anti-convulsion medicine Russells White Drops would find themselves held accountable for being the cause of infant deaths. It was determined that the company failed to properly label the amount of codeine and alcohol in their drops. While the label on the bottle declared it to be safe for babies and children, the Food & Drug Administration discovered that it was entirely unsafe for the young.

While many adults found themselves addicted to cocaine and opium during the 1800s, through their use of over-the-counter pain and cough medications, the efforts to use the same cures for their infants maladies unfortunately had a great likelihood of proving to be a fatal decision.

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Baby medicine much stronger in 1800s - Ricentral.com

Medical school places to increase next year – BBC News – BBC News

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BBC News
Medical school places to increase next year - BBC News
BBC News
An extra 500 medical school places in England have been confirmed for next year by the government. The Department of Health announced in October it ...
Doctors Aren't Too Excited About The Government's Plans To Increase Medical School PlacesBuzzFeed News

all 20 news articles »

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Medical school places to increase next year - BBC News - BBC News

Brunswick High stuns Liberty County in scrimmage, 42-0 – Brunswick News

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Editors note: The game story from Brunswick High Schools scrimmage Friday against Liberty County was omitted from the Saturday print edition of The Brunswick News in error. We regret the omission and apologize for the mistake.

The Brunswick High School football team was effective on offense and defense Friday night in Hinesville in a 42-0 win in the Pirates preseason scrimmage against Liberty County.

Brunswick had a pair of scoring plays called back by penalties in the first half, but the Pirates' defense held Liberty County in check.

After a false start negated a touchdown pass, Jagaryon Marcus scored the Pirates first touchdown by recovering a fumble forced by George Mincey. Brunswick was off to a stingy start on defense with three first-half turnovers, including interceptions from seniors Sean Ward and Aubrey Williams.

Another bad break on offense occurred later in the half when penalty negated a second potential offensive touchdown in the second quarter. On that drive, the Pirates converted a field goal from Dalton Thrift. The Pirates entered the half up 10-0. In the second half, Brunswick made up for its lost points.

Without crucial penalties, the Pirates offense rolled. Quarterback Jamarius Stevens scored in the third quarter on a sweep, recording the Pirates first offensive touchdown. He later threw a touchdown pass to Shaq Robinson to extend the Pirates lead.

Temhaj Wright scored Brunswicks third offensive touchdown and Jaylen Trimmings scored in the final quarter to cap off the offensive display at Liberty County.

Officials with Brunswick High School said Stevens was 18-for-26 passing for 229 yards and one interception.

Multiple players stood out in the shutout effort for the Pirates. Marcus had 1.5 sacks, three tackles for loss and three quarterback pressures in the game. Ten different players on the Pirates defense recored tackles for loss, led by Ward with eight tackles, one interception and two tackles for loss. Sophomore defensive lineman Justin Akra recorded two sacks and two tackles for loss. Linebackers Kam Futch and Tevin Small also recored multiple tackles for loss and pressured the quarterback throughout the first three quarters of varsity action. In his first varsity start, Stacy Young recored two tackles for loss.

Varsity players were substituted in the fourth quarter, and the junior varsity team continued the shutout effort.

The Pirates have a scheduled bye week on Aug. 18, and will open the regulars season and Coffee on Aug. 25.

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Brunswick High stuns Liberty County in scrimmage, 42-0 - Brunswick News

East Liberty McDonald’s Robbed At Gunpoint – CBS Pittsburgh / KDKA

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August 12, 2017 2:18 PM

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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) Pittsburgh Police were dispatched to an East Liberty McDonalds Friday morning for a report of an armed robbery.

According to the police investigation, two black males entered the store and proceeded to head to the bathroom.

Upon exiting the bathroom, the suspects robbed the store at gunpoint.

One male described as 6-foot-3-inches tall and thin, was wearing a tan coat, grey mask, sunglasses and a black ball cap. The suspect pointed the gun at the cashier and demanded cash from the registers.

The other suspect, who is approximately 5-foot-1-inch tall with a large build, was wearing a red shirt and a red bandana. Both suspects were wearing medical gloves.

The suspect who pointed the gun at the cashier directed the store manager to the back to open the safe while also making employees get on the floor.

Paramedics took a 17-year-old victim to the hospital to be evaluated for breathing problems.

The investigation is ongoing.

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East Liberty McDonald's Robbed At Gunpoint - CBS Pittsburgh / KDKA

Tina Charles on track to pass Becky Hammon in Liberty history tonight – Summitt Hoops

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LOS ANGELES, CA - AUGUST 4: Tina Charles

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Going into tonights game in Atlanta, Tina Charles is six points shy of tying Becky Hammon for third on the all-time scoring list for the Liberty franchise. Hammon scored 2,367 points in 227 career games for New York (also third most in games played).

Tina Charles has tallied 2,361 points in 125 games with New York. Her next seven points will be enough to surpass the Liberty Ring of Honor member Becky Hammon. She will still trail Cappie Pondexter (2,970 points) and Vickie Johnson (3,246 points) in the Liberty history books.

This season, Charles is averaging 20.1 points per game, an improvement from her career average of 18.1 points per game. At this rate, she is on track to surpass Pondexter by the close of next year. If New York can make a deep playoff run either this season or next, she could surpass Johnson as well.

These numbers state just how key Charles has been to the Liberty since arriving in New York from Connecticut. Additionally, in four years with the franchise, Charles in top ten in eight categories including scoring average (1st,19.3%), rebounds (1st, 1,162) and assists (8th, 344). There is no telling how many more years Charles can, or will continue to play basketball in New York or elsewhere. Nevertheless, Charles has undisputedlymade her mark on the New York Liberty and shows no signs of stopping.

In addition to posting ring of honor-worthy stats in New York, Charles is also making her mark on the all-time league leading charts. As of today, Charles has a total of 4,604 career points, good enough for 22nd in WNBA history behind Penny Taylor (4606). Therefore, from her very first made shot in Atlanta tonight, Charles will have caught up to a legend of the league and added to her own legacy.

New York will take on the Atlanta Dream tonight at 7:30pm ET on the MSG Network. The Liberty return home on Sunday to host the Los Angeles Sparks at 3:00pm ET on NBA TV.

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Tina Charles on track to pass Becky Hammon in Liberty history tonight - Summitt Hoops