Healthcare Providers Could Prevent Opioid-Related Deaths by Testing for Certain Genes – PR Newswire (press release)

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WASHINGTON, June 22, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A review published today in AACC's Clinical Chemistry journal has identified 10 genes that show promise in predicting how patients will respond to opioid pain medications. Using these genetic markers, healthcare providers could potentially tailor opioid therapy better to curb the skyrocketing rate of deaths from these drugs.

More than 17,500 Americans died in 2015 from prescription opioid overdoses, which is more than quadruple the amount of people who died from this cause in 1999. But it is not just abuse of these medications that can lead to overdoses. Even in patients with severe pain and a legitimate need for opioids, the dose required to alleviate pain varies widely and unpredictably between individuals. This means that clinicians must essentially use a trial and error strategy to determine the correct type of opioid and dosage that will help a patient. This approach puts some patients at increased risk of life-threatening side effects such as respiratory depression, while leaving other patients undertreated and in pain. To date, researchers have identified numerous genes that could potentially guide opioid treatment to make it more precise and safe. Despite this, the medical community has only developed treatment guidelines based on one of these genes (CYP2D6) and has not determined which of the other genes should be used in practice.

To identify the genes that could impact patient care the most, a team of researchers led by Ron H.N. van Schaik, PhD, of Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, conducted a systematic review of 4,257 studies on opioid genetics. The researchers assessed the utility of each gene studied based on whether a) several independent studies confirmed the gene's effect on patient opioid response and b) the gene's frequency in the white population was high enough for use in screening tests. Using these criteria, van Schaik's team pinpointed 10 genes that show the highest potential of refining the way opioids are prescribed and that healthcare providers should focus on implementing clinically. In addition to the already well-known CYP2D6, the most notable of these 10 include SLC22A1, the OPRM1 variant 118A>G, and COMT.

Research shows that the presence of two inactive SLC22A1 genes leads to high blood concentrations of tramadol's active metabolite and, in children, to significantly lower clearance of morphine. This means that patients with these mutations might be at increased risk of overdosing from tramadol and morphine, particularly if they also have certain CYP2D6 mutations. On the flip side, studies demonstrate that patients with the OPRM1 118A>G variant need higher doses of opioids prescribed but have a lower risk for adverse events. Finally, certain COMT mutations are associated with both lower opioid requirements and fewer side effects, while still other COMT mutations have been linked with the highest pain scores and opioid consumption in patients who have undergone surgery.

"The most solid evidence of a clinically relevant pharmacogenetics effect on the analgesic treatment with opioids is available for genetic variation in CYP2D6, COMT, SLC22A1, and the genetic variant OPRM1 118A>G," said van Schaik. "As clinical guidelines for codeine and CYP2D6 genotyping have been formulated and CYP2D6 genotyping has been successfully implemented in pediatric clinical practice the application of pharmacogenetics in the management of pain with opioids certainly has the potential to improve therapy."

About AACC Dedicated to achieving better health through laboratory medicine, AACC brings together more than 50,000 clinical laboratory professionals, physicians, research scientists, and business leaders from around the world focused on clinical chemistry, molecular diagnostics, mass spectrometry, translational medicine, lab management, and other areas of progressing laboratory science. Since 1948, AACC has worked to advance the common interests of the field, providing programs that advance scientific collaboration, knowledge, expertise, and innovation. For more information, visit http://www.aacc.org.

Clinical Chemistry is the leading international journal of clinical laboratory science, providing 2,000 pages per year of peer-reviewed papers that advance the science of the field. With an impact factor of 8.008, Clinical Chemistry covers everything from molecular diagnostics to laboratory management.

Christine DeLongAACCManager, Communications & PR(p) 202.835.8722cdelong@aacc.org

Molly Polen AACC Senior Director, Communications & PR (p) 202.420.7612 (c) 703.598.0472mpolen@aacc.org

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/healthcare-providers-could-prevent-opioid-related-deaths-by-testing-for-certain-genes-300478427.html

SOURCE AACC

http://www.aacc.org

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Opinion: Activistsnot biotech companiesresponsible for public backlash against GMOs – Genetic Literacy Project

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Science educator Kevin Folta recently published a blog post about the anti-GMO trolls that dog him in every online forum.

Other distinguished academics have been harassed and publicly disparaged because their research includes the tools of biotechology (genetic engineering). Some scientists fly under the radar, keeping mum about their research in hopes of avoiding the antis furor.

My own sister was stunned to hear about the threats and intimidation Ive experienced as a writer criticizing and scrutinizing the anti-GMO movement, the friendships that have been strained by my stance, the vitriol that has been spewed against me.

All that over GMOs? she asked in bewilderment.

Yes, it is rather astonishing for people who are not in the trenches to discover the intensity that surrounds a plant breeding method especially one that has been in use for nearly three decades, with a solid safety record.

The general public remains largely unaware of the ugliness, the cult-like operations, the slick propaganda, the near-religious fervor of the anti-GMO movement.

Why? Primarily because mainstream media outlets continue to treat anti-GMO activists like credible advocates for environmental and public health, rather than the well-funded bullies they are.

Their actions are rarely called to account; their funding sources are never scrutinized.Indeed, theyre typically not assigned any culpability at all for the contentious and largely manufactured debate around GMOs.

A case in point is the recent Washington Post article: Forget GMOs. The next big battle is over genetically edited foods. Reporter Caitlin Dewey lays all the blame for the unqualified public relations disaster, the public backlash, the consumerskepticism, the global public outcry [that] has prevented seeds from winning government approval on industry. Or more specifically:

Since the late 90s, when Monsanto botched the introduction of genetically modified crops in Europe, consumers have treated the term GMO as if it were a dirty word.

Dewey makes absolutely no mention of how Jeremy Rifkin, Greenpeace, Center for Food Safety, Pesticide Action Network and other individuals and groups have carefully, deliberately and relentlessly waged a fear-mongering campaign intended to sow public distrust of the technology.

[Read GLP profiles on Greenpeace, the Center for Food Safety, and Pesticide Action Network.]

An anti-GMO billboard produced by Center for Food Safety.

This campaign has included the production of slick propaganda in the form of videos, supposedly independent journalism produced by paid sympathizers, advertisements and a steady stream of social media memes and messages.

It has employed despicable bullying and intimidation tactics designed to silence academics, stifle research and scare prospective biotech students, college presidents and politicians.

It has used lawsuits and the threat of litigation, clandestine and undisclosed lobbying activities, and lies about health and environmental impacts to push anti-GMO legislation.

It even coined the now ubiquitous term GMOs as a disparaging phrase.

The public backlash against GMOs didnt occur organically and spontaneously. It was fomented and fed by activists who were motivated by political ideology and/or financial gain, with wealthy philanthropists, anonymous donors and some elements of the organic food industry footing the bill.

Ive written extensively about this, as has author Mark Lynas, a former anti who switched sides, as I did. The fear-based anti-GMO narrative has been picked up around the world not because it has any basis in reality, but because its been systematically pounded into the heads of people who dont understand science.

As Mark recently noted in the new documentary Food Evolution: Its easier to scare people than reassure them.

To which I would add, especially when groups and activists can make so much money and wield so much influence through fear-mongering.

Ive documented the money flow that fueled the growth of the anti-GMO movement in Hawaii and the political power gained at least temporarily by the politicians who embraced its fear-based, fact-challenged mantra.

Groups like Center for Food Safety, Earthjustice and Pesticide Action Network use conflict as a business model, stirring up fears around GMOs and pesticides to attract followers and solicit donations. The organic industry also has benefitted financially from all the lies spread about crop biotech. Not to mention the Non-GMO Project, which makes money certifying that products like salt, which have never been genetically engineered, are indeed GMO-free.

[Read the GLPs profile on the Non-GMO Project.]

As the Risk-Monger blogger noted in a Facebook post:

The global market for certified organic food is 110 billion USD; the GMO seed market is worth 40 billion USD (source: vFluence). It is indeed a David v Goliath situation, but who is the David and who is the Goliath?

Despite Caitlin Deweys assertion that industrys rollout was an epic fail, agribusiness companies actually did a very good job of communicating the new technology to their customers farmers. And farmers, especially in the US, have responded in a big way, overwhelmingly adopting genetically engineered crops that offer pest protection and/or herbicide tolerance traits.

Industry didnt realize consumers would care or that activists would launch a global fear-mongering campaign to derail the technology by making consumers worry about made up stuff until it was too late.

Reporters are slowly beginning to acknowledge that public fears around GMOs are not rooted in scientific fact. But they still havent gotten around to telling their readers who planted and fertilized those fears.

By failing to out the activists and disclose their outsized influence on the GMO debate, they allow the fear-mongerers, demagogues and opportunists to continue their work without scrutiny or accountability.

And thats a real shame, both in terms of honest reporting and the lost potential of agricultural biotech.

A version of this article appeared at Joan Conrows website as Credit where credit is due and has been republished here with permission from the author.

Joan Conrow is a longtime Hawaii journalist and blogger who has written extensively about agricultural, environmental and political issues. Follow her on Twitter@joanconrow

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French Nonprofit Partners with Big American Name to Advance a Gene Therapy for Muscular Dystrophy – Labiotech.eu (blog)

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NobleGnthon has teamed up with ignominious Sarepta to develop a gene therapy for the Duchenne variety of the muscle wasting disease.

Dedicated to rare diseases since 1990 and more recently to gene therapy, Gnthon is one of veryfew not-for-profit companies in European biotech. Though it has not yet brought a drug to market, it is well established as a nonprofit, credit for which is due toits creator, the French Muscular Dystrophy Association, AFM Tlthon. The company has nowteamed up with the (in)famous American company, Sarepta, to work on a gene therapy for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD).

DMD first affects the shoulder and upper arm muscles and the muscles of the hips and thighs. (Source: mda.org)

When I last spoke to Gnthons CEO,Frdric Revah, he told me that while the majority of the companys financial support comes from Tlthon, an increasing amount comes fromsuch partnerships.We get more and more support from industrial partnerships as we outlicense more of our drugs, explains Revah. However, Tlthon will always remain the main source of our funding; the funding from out-licensing is a complement.

But is Sarepta the best partner? While the American biotech can boast about its FDA-approved drug for DMD, Exondys 51, (which is just sold to Gilead for $125M,) this achievement isdubious:not only was the key clinical trial tiny, the FDAadmittedthat patients did not receive aclear benefit fromthe drug in the study. These circumstances prompted arenowned journalist to suefor thedocuments pertaining to the decision, an attack thatSareptas stock into a downward spiral in May.

Nevertheless, under the terms of the partnership agreement,Gnthon will trust Sarepta as a potential co-developer ofits DMD candidates, all of which are preclinical. The French biotechhas been developing amicro-dystrophin gene therapythat has proven itself applicable to the disease. As it countswith Europes largest cGMP vector manufactory, YposKesi, andone of the worlds largest research and clinical groups developing rare disease therapies, Gnthon is an attractive partner for any companies prospecting in the field.

Sareptas pricing practices may also offendthe sensibilities of a nonprofit, since theyraised the hackles of the drug pricing patrol with a plan to charge $300k per year for Exondys 51. According to STAT News, the companysCEO, Edward Kaye, saidthis figure isin the middle of the range for rare disease drugs,and given the sensitivity to pricing, we tried to be reasonable when looking at all the costs.

Though financial details of the agreement have not been disclosed, Gnthon may have enough influence to sway Sareptaaway from gouging.Our main goal is to ensure that patients have access to drugs and that they are affordable. Price should not be an obstacle,Revah told me.

Whatever we do here, we hope to apply the same tech to diseases that affect more people, like sickle cell anemia and cancer,he continued. With a crowded arena of companies like CRISPR Therapeutics, AMO Pharma, andDebiopharmall battling to bring the next DMD drug to market, having a back up plan via a platform seemssensible.

Images via Alila Medical Media, Anatomy Insider / shutterstock.com

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Pop Futurist Xenia Rubinos Is A ‘Brown Girl Tearing It Up’ – WBUR

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wbur Xenia Rubinos. (Courtesy)

Last September, musician Xenia Rubinos kicked off a tour to promote her sophomore album, Black Terry Cat, at Great Scott in Allston. Headliners at the college dive bar sometimes dont get started until as late as 11 p.m., so Rubinos lurked unobtrusively at the back of the club, chatting quietly with some friends, while the openers played. When she finally emerged onstage it was without whatever outer layer had allowed her to blend so seamlessly into the shadows. Clad in a peach jumpsuit with spaghetti straps, she wrested the microphone from its stand and bounded out from behind her keyboard. She danced with the kind of exuberant swagger that implored the audience to move, and they did.

The music on Black Terry Cat contains hip-hop beats and funky bass lines, but it is also complicated, zig-zaggy, strange. Rubinos could be forgiven if she chose to perform it cerebrally theres a lot to focus on, many complex passages to execute.

And indeed, there was a time when the Brooklyn-based singer and multi-instrumentalist might have shied away from the spotlight. A graduate of Berklee College of Music, she began her studies intending to major in vocal performance, but after a year turned her focus to composition. For a while, she didnt even really sing.

"I felt like an outcast and I couldnt find my way," says Rubinos, who will return to Great Scott on Wednesday, June 28. I was really into jazz music at the time, and jazz really tends to be a more male-centric, male-dominated, macho kind of environment. I felt like singers especially female singers weretreated like a pretty girl that doesn't know anything about music.

She describes an environment in which students jockeyed to show off their knowledge: Could you name all the players on that rare B-side from 1956? Could you solo over a time signature in seven?Rubinos resented the culture of one-upmanship, and at the same time yearned to belong. I wanted to know all the things that the guys did and I wanted to be taken seriously and I wanted to be accepted, she says.

Needless to say, it was a confusing time, but also a really great time. At Berklee, Rubinos discovered the soul-inflected experimentations of Charles Mingus and Bjrks intrepidpop. It was there, too, that she met her primary collaborator, the drummer and producer Marco Buccelli.

In 2012, Rubinos self-released her debut album Magic Trix. (It was re-released by indie rock/pop label Ba Da Bing! Records in 2013.) Magic Trix was a bare-bones affair, all sharp angles and distorted key parts. The album also contained Spanish lyrics Rubinos traces her roots on her mothers side to Puerto Rico, on her fathers side to Cuba and for a brief moment it seemed as though the media was determined to understandher as a Latin artist, despite the fact that her sound connected more directly to jazz and rock.

In the intervening years, Rubinos appears to have transcended misconceptions about her musicthat might have undermined her.On "Black Terry Cat," which was released on the eclectic Anti- Records,Rubinos emerges as a true polyglot, gesturing deftly toward hip-hop and R&B even as she continues to rummage gleefully through the grab bag of avant-garde inflections that have long been her musical stock and trade. At the same time, despite singing mostly in English, Rubinos wears her identity proudly. You know where to put the brown girl when shes f---ing it up, she intones on the tenacious, slightly zany See Them. Where you gonna put the brown girl now shes tearing it up?

The question of her identity who she is, where she belongs, who to claim as her people is one that Rubinos, who grew up in Hartford, Connecticut, has always grappled with. I've never felt like I've belonged here, but also when I've visited Puerto Rico or Cuba, which is where my family is from, I don't belong there, either, she says. Growing up, I wasn't white enough like nobody looked like me in the places that I wanted to be or the places that I was.

Rubinos says she didnt set out to write an album about that struggle per se. But nowshe sees that certain things were clearly in her thoughts.

I was like, Oh, I'm thinking about my body image and how I'm seen or just racial tensions, racial issues, she says. So Black Lives Matter was on my mind, gun violence was on my mind.

And, for the first time, Rubinos decided to hone her lyrics something she had always been afraid to do, without really knowing why. It was always easier to pretend that words didnt matter. I think part of it, ultimately, is the obvious answer of just feeling afraid to be judged or to be wrong, Rubinos says. Being called out. And maybe that's imposter syndrome like you don't really know that thing. But the way that I fought against that was to talk about things that are really personal to me. I'm not prescribing anything or telling anyone what they should do or what time it is. I'm just telling you what time it is for me.

Rubinos most deeply-felt verses draw onpain namely, the slow decline, and eventual passing, of the singer's father, who suffered from Parkinsons disease. But for Rubinos, the personal is political, too. On the singsongy Mexican Chef, she neatly unpacks the hypocrisies and ignominies embedded in Americas reliance on exploitable labor immigrant labor, brown labor in plain, devastating language: Brown cleans your house/ Brown takes the trash/ Brown even wipes your granddaddys ass, Rubinos croons. Its a party across America/ Bachata in the back. And later, with brutal clarity: Brown has not/ Brown gets shot/ Brown gets what he deserved cause he fought.

Rubinos says she did not set out to write a political song. I was really in a moment of musical joy, she recalls, explaining how Mexican Chef started out as a jokey rhyme that she made up while she was running errands in her neighborhood.Riffing on a bass line inspired by Rufus'Tell Me Something Good, she and Buccelli fleshed out the rest of Mexican Chef in the studio. It was only later that Rubinos understood its impact on listeners. I certainly didnt think that it would be a single on the record, she says. There is power, it turns out, in telling things like you see them.

As rewarding as it is to analyze Rubinos lyrics, it can be devilishly difficult to articulate her sound. Sometimes, in my most optimistic moments, her music feels to me like a premonition of pops future: adventurous, unexpected and defiantlydanceable.

The aesthetic I was going for in the album was this concept of rough elegance, Rubinos tells me. Something that has hard edges but then is also really beautiful or beautiful in an unusual way.

When considering Rubinos artistry, it makes sense tohomein on her ideas an impulseencouraged, no doubt, by that long-ago pivot away from singing and toward authorship, that early bid for respect.Paradoxically, the move may have contributed to the diminishment of Rubinos main tool: her voice. Long before she was a composer, a keyboardist or a bass player, she was a singer. Her voice cannot be detached from her musicianship, of course, but it is worth studying and appreciating on its own merits, a weightless, supple thing that seems to vibrate with its own electrical current.

And so, even as her visible interaction with instruments and technology has helped her to be taken seriously, Rubinos greatest triumph has arguably been getting out from behind that keyboard.

"That show in Boston was one of the first times that I've really ever gotten to do that with my music. Just being free with my body, being free with my voice," she says. The pressure to prove herself, to show off her chops, has finally receded. "It's like, no Im a singer. I love singing. And feeling like: Im enough."

Amelia Mason Music Reporter/Critic, The ARTery Amelia Mason is a music critic and reporter for WBURs The ARTery, where she covers everything from indie rock to avant-garde to the inner workings of the Boston music scene.

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Europe’s Space Program Will Launch a Gravitational Wave Hunting Spacecraft in 2034 – Futurism

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In Brief At a recent ESA Science Program Committee meeting the LISA mission was set for a 2034 launch. The trio of satellites will search for gravitational waves from collisions of supermassive black holes millions of times larger than those detected by LIGO. LISA Launch Set

The ESAs Science Program Committee met on June 20, and at the top of their agenda was addressing planning for theagencys missions to come over thenext 20 years one ofwhich will be athree satellite Laser Interferometer Space Antenna mission (LISA). The space antennawas designed to detect gravitational waves. The LISA mission has been selected to move forward and is set to launch in 2034.

The project uses the satellite trio to create a huge triangle in space. The satellites form the corners and lasers bouncing across the 2.5 million kilometers (1.55 million miles) between them form itssides. The triangle itself will follow Earth as it orbits the Sun. Meanwhile, the satellites will be sorting through an impressive array of cosmic noise to determine which signals are the most promising signs of supermassive black holes, and which are just false leads.

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) first detected gravitational waves in September 2015, confirming its initial findings when the waves weredetected again in June of 2016. By February of 2017, scientists learned that LIGO also produces the waves. Earlier this year, LIGOdetected the waves for the third time.They appearto be from a supermassive black hole thats 49 times larger than our sun.

LISA is taking the detection of gravitational waves to the next level by searching for supermassive black holes millions of times larger than those found by LIGO. LISA should also be able to give scientists enough lead time to observe the black holes with telescopes, enabling us to discover more about how these collisions work.

Well be able to see signals for months, so well have time to point all these other telescopes at that point in the sky to see if theres any other signals coming from that area when the merger happens, ESAs senior advisor for science & exploration Mark McCaughrean told New Scientist.

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Google Now Employs AI to Help You Land a New Job – Futurism

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In Brief Google launched it's personalized job search function in the U.S. today as part of its efforts to utilize artificial intelligence in everything it does. Now, you can search for jobs that you prefer without the hassle of going through multiple sites and job boards.

As promised during its annual developer conference earlier this month, Google launched its search engine for jobs yesterday. Powered by artificial intelligence (AI), this specialized job search uses Googles Cloud Jobs API that launched back in 2016 as part of the companys AI-first approach. Instead of requiring users to downloada newapp, this new AI-powered tool allows job seekers in the U.S. to use Googles existing search function, which are accessible via desktop and mobile.

The new feature, currently available only in English, uses the same simple language Google searches are known for. Simply type jobs near me, teaching jobs, writing jobs, or any other query along these lines. The results page would then show the new job search widget, accompanied by a wide range of jobs from across several online job boards like LinkedIn, Monster, WayUP, and even Facebook which you could then refine further depending on your preferences.

Speaking of preferences, once you find a job that interests you, you could turn on notifications that would send you alerts through the Google app or through email when a new job matching your personalized search gets posted. TheAI filters out all duplicate listings posted on various job sites. However, Google wont handle any of the actual application process, and will simply direct you to the existing job application site.

Google hopes to cut the time job seekers spend on searching for jobs that may not be a good fit. As Nick Zakrasek, project manager for this new search function, wrote in a Google blog, Whether youre a young adult looking for your first job, a veteran hoping to leverage your leadership experience in civilian life, or a parent looking for a job with better pay to support a growing family, we hope this new experience on Google will help make the job search simpler and more effective.

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New Evidence Suggests That Our Solar System Has 10 Planets – Futurism

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Ten Strong

The Solar System hasnt been the same since Pluto was downgraded from a planet to a dwarf planet, and all bets have been off since this monumental decision. Case in point, last year, scientists at the California Institute of Technology proposed that there might be a true Planet Ninein our solar system. The team asserted that it appears to be 10 times the mass of Earth and that it is hiding out in the remote recesses of our solar systemwell beyond the orbit of Pluto.

At the time of the discovery, Mike Brown, who was behind the work, noted that the existence of a 9th planet is extremely likely: Hey Planet Nine fans, a new eccentric KBO was discovered. And it is exactly where Planet Nine says it should be, Brown tweeted. Furthermore, he says, the new object takes the probability of this being a statistical fluke down to ~.001% or so.

Similar discoveries have been made in relation to new dwarf planets. Located about 13.7 billion km (8.5 billion miles) from the Sun, 2014 UZ224 measures about 530 km (330 miles) in diameter and takes around 1,100 Earth years to complete its orbit. And so, our littler corner of the cosmos has been in quite the state of flux.

Kathryn Volk and Renu Malhotra at the University of Arizona have noticed some strange movement out in the Kuiper beltmovement that they believe could suggest the existence of a tenth planet. To break this down a bit: Objects in the Kuiper belt are far enough away from the other major bodies in our solar system that the gravitational influence of the large planets doesnt impact them (at least, not to a measurable degree); however, their movements can still be predicted, thanks to sky surveys and a host of advanced technologies.

Notably, if these predictions dont match up, it may mean theres another objectanother large bodypast our vision whose gravity is impacting themovements of the Kuiper belt objects.

The search for Planet Ninehas lead scientists to believe that it is orbiting around700 AU from the Sun. However, Volk and Malhotra believe that this tenth planet could be much closer,as the orbit of Kuiper belt bodies shifted just beyond 50 AU. They also contend that the planet would be roughly comparable to Mars, in terms of size.

Other astronomers, however, are not so quick to hop on this train of thought. Alessandro Morbidelli at the Cte dAzur Observatory in Nice, France tellsNew Scientist I am dubious that a planet so close and so bright would have remained unnoticed.

Still, Volk is confident in these findings, which are set to be published in The Astronomical Journal. It would have to be quite a fluke for this to not be a real effect, she says. We think there is a real signal there and this implies an additional planet.

The discovery of more bodies in the Kuiper beltwill help to support or debunk these findings. Either way, our little solar family is going to continue to grow with these long-lost distant relations.

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Elon Musk: With the Right Tires, a Tesla Could Travel 1000+ Kilometers on a Single Charge – Futurism

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In Brief A pair of drivers from Belgium just set a new record for distance traveled on a single charge in a Tesla Model S, but CEO and founder Elon Musk says the vehicle could've gone even farther if it had the right set of tires.

Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk claims that aModel S P100D could travel a distance of over1,000 kilometers (~621 miles) if driven efficiently on a single charge as long as it had the right tires. Musks assertion was made after he retweeted a post by Electrekfeaturing a link toan article about a new Model S hypermiling record.

For the unfamiliar, hypermiling is done to test just how far a vehicle can go on a single tank of fuel or, in the case of electric vehicles, a single charge when driven to maximize efficiency.

In the article, a hypermiling duo from Belgium drove a Model S P100D currently the fastest Tesla caravailable in a 26-km (16-mile) closed loop for nearly 24 hours. Traveling at speeds of 40 km/h (24mph), they were able to run the car for 901.2 km (roughly 560 miles) on a single charge.

The previous record was set byCasey Spencer, who drove a Model S 85D ~885 kilometers (550.3 miles) on one charge.The Model SP100Dhas a higher energy capacity, which accounts for Musks confidence that it could go even farther under ideal conditions.

While the average driver wont be operating their Tesla under hypermiling conditions, the significance of this new record is clear: Teslas EVs are now more efficient than ever before. Thats a plus for anyone considering an electric car, as a primary obstacle to adoption has been concerns aboutlimited range, and the more EVs we can get on the roads, the fewer of their fossil fuel-powered counterparts will be contributing to carbon emissions.

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Religious freedom isn’t just for Hobby Lobby it’s for indigenous rights, too – Salon

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This article originally appeared on Grist.

Last week, the Standing Rock Sioux celebrated what they believe isa ground-breaking legal victoryin the protracted fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in its expedited review of the pipeline, which was ordered by President Trump shortly after taking office. According to Judge James Boasberg, the Army Corps did not adequately consider the impacts of an oil spill on fishing rights, hunting rights, or environmental justice.

On Wednesday, the parties in the DAPL case will appear in court for a hearing about how to respond to the NEPA ruling. Oil could stop the flowing under Lake Oahe, the fourth-largest dam reservoir in the Dakotas. But that stoppage would be temporary.

If the Army Corps does revise its environmental assessment, the court could allow the pipeline to resume operation. The court and the Army Corps would have served environmental justice under NEPA merely by paying lip service to the struggle for indigenous rights in the United States.

Lake Oahe stands at the center of a painful, decades-long story regarding the marginalization of Native Americans. In 1958, the Army Corps took over 200,000 acres from the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux, forcing them from their homes and sacred religious sites, so it could build a dam. Fast-forward nearly 60 years, and the reservoir created by the dam draws a million yearly tourists to its more than 50 recreational sites. Its under the Siouxs once hallowed ground now at the bottom of Lake Oahe where the Army Corps decided to route part of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Earlier this year, as I was completing my law degree at New York University, President Trump fast-tracked the projects completion. In the legal battles that ensued, teams of lawyers both large and small took up the cause of the tribes and the thousands of pipeline activists that joined them, collectively known as water protectors.

Benjamin Eichert, director of the grassroots movement Greenpower, formed the Lakota Peoples Legal Project to highlight the statutory issues regarding the construction of the pipeline. I joined the effort as legal researcher.

The oil flowing under Lake Oahe is not only a potential environmental calamity, it is a dagger through the heart of the Sioux tribes and the NEPA ruling, while certainly a win, will not offer meaningful justice to those at Standing Rock.

One unlikely legal strategy that nearly did and could loom large in future fights to protect indigenous land is the Religious Restoration Freedom Act, a fan-favorite amongst the religious right.

Conservatives successfully employed the statute to argue that corporations with deeply-held religious beliefs, like the arts-and-crafts chain Hobby Lobby, could deny contraceptive coverage to female employees. In 2014, the Supreme Court sided with Hobby Lobby, finding that providing that perk against its corporate values constituted a substantial burden on the companys free exercise of religion.

In February of this year, attorneys for the Sioux tribes turned to the same playbook when seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent the completion of the Dakota Access Pipeline under Lake Oahe. They argued that its construction desecrated the sole water source for the sacredInipiceremony and would release untold calamities upon the Cheyenne River Sioux, as prophesied by their elders.

The argument framed the #noDAPL movement as an indigenous rights issue and not just an administrative violation for the first time in the legal realm.

Judge Boasberg pressed attorneys for the Sioux on whether they attributed the religious burden to the pipeline itself or the oil flowing through it. When the lawyers conceded that it was the oil which wouldnt flow for a few more weeks the court found the pipeline would not present an imminent harm to the Siouxs religious practices.

While the argument collapsed in this case of DAPL, its worked in the past. In 2008, a federal judge in Oklahoma granted an injunction in response to a religious freedom claim by the Comanche tribe against the United States government. The ruling prevented the construction of a military warehouse that would block the last clear view of the Medicine Bluffs, an essential vista for the tribes religious practices.

With numerous other encroachments onto indigenous land on the horizon, the religious freedom argument remains viable and relevant, with the Medicine Bluffs case as a hopeful precedent. The Trump administration may construct a border wall on burial sites in Arizonas Tohono Oodham Nation. And its moving toopen up the sacred Bears Ears National Monumentin Utah to industrial development.

Using the Religious Restoration Freedom Act to connect environmentalism with indigenous rights does far more for environmental justice than procedural laws like NEPA. In the legal and grassroots battles to come, we should remember that these legal challenges are not just about oil spills or environmental impact statements, they are about the very fabric that unites a people.

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Religious freedom isn't just for Hobby Lobby it's for indigenous rights, too - Salon

US bishops launch 2017 Fortnight for Freedom – Catholic News Agency

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Washington D.C., Jun 21, 2017 / 09:08 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The U.S. bishops have launched a website and video to mark the beginning of this years Fortnight for Freedom, focusing on religious freedom issues both at home and abroad.

The video, about ten minutes long and viewable on the Fortnight for Freedom website, features a number of legal, religious, and other personalities discussing the importance of religious liberty. The Fortnight for Freedom takes place June 21 - July 4.

Religious freedom is one of the basic freedoms of the human person because without religious freedom, the freedom of conscience, all other freedoms are without foundation, Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami says at the beginning of the video.

A government that doesnt acknowledge limits on its own power to regulate religious institutions is probably going to come after other institutions as well, said Professor Rick Garnett of the Notre Dame Law School.

The video chronicles the struggle between the Little Sisters of the Poor and the HHS mandate of the Affordable Care Act.

Its over three now that this issue has been pursuing us, says Sr. Constance, L.S.P.

Testimonies from beneficiaries of the Sisters work are showcased in the video.

There is a spiritual component in the way that they live their lives that adds to not only enrichment of the residents lives but to those who are in contact with them, who work with them, who just hear about them, says Carmel Kang.

When religious freedom goes away, and there is no transcendent authority, then the law is the only norm, and the people in power now are always the only power, says Professor Helen Alvare of George Mason University Law School.

The video emphasizes the United States historical connection to freedom of religion.

The United States is the greatest country in the history of the world precisely because of the exceptional character of its relationship to faith which permeates every dimension of its evolution, says Eugene Rivers II, an activist and Pentecostal pastor.

The video also highlighted the struggle of religious peoples in other parts of the world.

Tragically, we see the killings, the martyrdom of Christians in Iraq, and Libya, and Egypt, Syria, says Archbishop Wenski. The video then showed clips from the video of 21 Coptic Christians being martyred by the Islamic State in early 2015.

Professor Thomas Farr of Georgetown University noted the increased threat since the Obergefell vs. Hodges Supreme Court decision in June 2015, and also observed that viewpoints motivated by religion are being silenced.

The video also summarized Dignitatis humanae, the Second Vatican Councils declaration on religious freedom, as well as noting Pope Francis concern for persecuted Christians around the world.

We have to bring not just optimism, but genuine Christian hope, says Archbishop Lori of Baltimore, head of the USCCBs Committee on Religious Liberty, which was made a permanent structure of the conference at their annual spring meeting last week.

The video closed with a montage of scenes and figures including the Selma to Montgomery March, St. John Paul II, and the collapse of the Berlin Wall. The USCCBs Fortnight for Freedom website provides a host of prayer and practical resources on the topic of religious freedom.

The prayer resources are based in Scripture as well as the examples of St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher, and are available in both English and Spanish.

Among the practical resources is a brief guide to the issue, which seeks to defend and clarify the bishops views, responding to concerns that defense of liberty is an affront to treating people with equal dignity.

Also included are summaries of religious liberty concerns in the United States and internationally. Domestically, issues listed include the HHS mandate, the right to practice faith in business, and religious institutes right to aid undocumented immigrants. Internationally, concerns are presented from the Central African Republic, Myanmar, and Mexico.

On May 4, the National Day of Prayer, President Trump signed an executive order on religious liberty while surrounded by faith leaders, including Cardinal Donald Wuerl of D.C. and the Little Sisters of the Poor. The order called for agencies to consider different enforcement of the mandate and looser enforcement of the Johnson Amendment. It was modified from an earlier, leaked version which critics claimed would have allowed for unjust discrimination of LGBT people.

On May 31, a draft rule providing blanket protection from the mandate was leaked.

The bishops website does not include the Johnson Amendment among its concerns.

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US bishops launch 2017 Fortnight for Freedom - Catholic News Agency

Gay Life in New York, Between Oppression and Freedom – New York Times (blog)

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Luis Carle sees himself, and his work, as a bridge between the gay and straight communities, between the younger and older generations of the L.G.B.T. community, and between past and the present. The Puerto Rican photographer was 17 when came out in San Juan in 1980, and in subsequent years witnessed the AIDS crisis, the culture wars, and the march toward broader L.G.B.T. rights. All along, he made pictures of his community and the seismic waves that were reshaping it.

My generation was the one between oppression and freedom, he said. I feel proud of seeing both sides. I was right there in that period of time and my work documented some of the magic that went on in those days. A lot of that is not going to happen anymore.

Mr. Carle grew up on a dead-end street in San Juan. His father worked in insurance, and often used a Polaroid camera in his work. He made sure to teach his son how to use the camera, so from an early age Mr. Carle understood photographys role as record.

Soon after coming out, he bounced between studying pre-med in San Juan and business in Orlando, Fla., before winding up at Parsons School of Design, where he quickly was immersed in photography and documenting the gay community of which he was part. There was art everywhere, he said of that time. To help pay for school, he started assisting fashion and commercial photographers, and then began making his own work. He captured the infamous black parties, the marches and rallies, and throughout, the close-knit ties of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

I was going back and forth between Puerto Rico and New York, he recalled. And I kept recording all my gay friends. As his career took off and he made a living from his photography, he and his friends started traveling, and he kept documenting along the way: Montreals gay scene, marches on Washington, and the goings on in Puerto Rico and New York City. At the same time, he was making elegant and provocative fashion and fine art images.

His documentary work is replete with the heady energy and intimacy forged by the dual forces that shaped the L.G.B.T. community of the time: pride and righteous self-determination colliding with a broader society that wasnt ready to accept them. In one image (Slide 8), Christina Hayworth, a transgender Puerto Rican woman and L.G.B.T. rights pioneer, stares stonily into the camera. To her left is the transgender icon Sylvia Rivera, the activist and veteran of the Stonewall riot, who looks more amused. At far right is Julia Murray, Ms. Riveras partner and also a transgender woman, whose gaze is the most stoic of all. All three have their hands knit together and on the ground at their feet is a sign demanding Respect TRANS. The National Portrait Gallery acquired the image in 2015, and Mr. Carle said it was the first portrait of a transgender American to be added to its collection.

It neatly captures Mr. Carles devotion to recording moments that he knew needed to be remembered, all while celebrating the powerful families that L.G.B.T. people made for themselves. In the 70s and 80s, gay people were a family, he said. There was a community before and they would take care of each other. Some of the titans of that time, including many friends and mentors of Mr. Carles, died of AIDS. Others simply passed before their time. As one of the survivors, he feels it is crucial that he carry forward the memories and lessons.

I have all this information that I needed to share, because I was present in all these places, he said. If we dont say it, nobody knows.

Follow @nytimesphoto on Twitter. Luis Carle and Jake Naughton is on Instagram. You can also find Lens on Facebook and Instagram.

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Ukrainians now have more freedom of travel – but less freedom of thought – New Statesman

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Its the most predictable trick in the big book of property development. A developer signs an agreement with a local council promising to provide a barely acceptable level of barely affordable housing, then slashes these commitments at the first, second and third signs of trouble. Its happened all over the country, from Hastings to Cumbria.But it happens most often in London, and most recently of all at Battersea power station, the Thames landmark and long-time London ruin which I wrote about in my 2016 book, Up In Smoke: The Failed Dreams of Battersea Power Station.For decades, the power station was one of Londons most popular buildings but now it represents some of the most depressing aspects of the capitals attempts at regeneration. Almost in shame, the building itself has started to disappear from view behind a curtain of ugly gold-and-glass apartments aimed squarely at the international rich. The Battersea power station development is costing around 9bn. There will be around 4,200 flats, an office for Apple and a new Tube station. But only 386 of the new flats will be considered affordable.

What makes the Battersea power station development worse is the developers argument for why there are so few affordable homes, which runs something like this. Thebottom is falling out of the luxury homes market because too many arebeing built, which means developerscan no longer afford to build the sort of homes that people actually want. Its yet another sign of the failure of the housing market to provide what is most needed. But it also highlights the delusion of politicians who still seem to believe that property developers are going to provide the answers to one of the most pressing problems in politics.

A Malaysian consortium acquired the power station in 2012 and initially promised to build 517affordable units, which then rose to 636.This was pretty meagre, but with four developers having alreadyfailed to develop the site, it was enough to satisfy Wandsworth council. By the time I wrote Up In Smoke, this had been reduced back to 565 units around 15 per cent of the total number of new flats. Now the developers want to build only 386 affordable homes around 9 per cent of the final residential offering, which includes expensive flats bought by the likes of Sting and Bear Grylls.

The developers say this is because of escalating costs and the technical challenges of restoring the power station but its also the case that the entire Nine Elms area between Battersea and Vauxhall is experiencing a glut of similar property, which is driving down prices. They want to focus instead on paying for the new Northern Line extension that joins the power station to Kennington. The slashing of affordable housing can be done without need for a new planning application or public consultation by using a deed of variation. It also means Mayor Sadiq Khan cant do much more than write to Wandsworth urging the council to reject the new scheme. Theres little chance of that. Conservative Wandsworth has been committed to a developer-led solution to the power station for three decades and in that time has perfected the art of rolling over, despite several excruciating, and occasionally hilarious, disappointments.

The Battersea power station situation also highlights the sophistry developers will use to excuse any decision. When I interviewed Rob Tincknell, the developers chief executive, in 2014, he boasted it was the developers commitment to paying for the Northern Line extension (NLE) that was allowing the already limited amount of affordable housing to be built in the first place. Without the NLE, he insisted, they would never be able to build this number of affordable units. The important point to note is that the NLE project allows the development density in the district of Nine Elms to nearly double, he said. Therefore, without the NLE the density at Battersea would be about half and even if there was a higher level ofaffordable, say 30 per cent, it would be a percentage of a lower figure and therefore the city wouldnt get any moreaffordablethan they do now.

Now the argument is reversed. Because the developer has to pay for the transport infrastructure, they cant afford to build as much affordable housing. Smart hey?

Its not entirely hopeless. Wandsworth may yet reject the plan, while the developers say they hope to restore the missing 250 units at the end of the build.

But I wouldnt hold your breath.

This is a version of a blog post which originally appeared here.

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Ukrainians now have more freedom of travel - but less freedom of thought - New Statesman

Bipartisan Resolution Promotes Academic Freedom as Hungary Attempts to Shutter University – Human Rights First

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Washington, D.C.Human Rights Firstpraised the introduction ofHouse Resolution 394Supporting International Academic Freedom and American Universities Abroad. The resolution comes as the Hungarian government attempts to shutter Central European University (CEU), a graduate school located in Budapest, Hungary, and accredited in New York State. The resolution sends a clear signal to the Hungarian government that members of the House of Representatives reject an overtly political attack on an institution of higher learningand expect negotiations to go forward in good faith. Negotiations between Hungarian authorities and the State of New York are expected this month.

The bipartisan legislation was introducedby Representatives Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) and Paul Cook (R-CA). Human Rights First has previously urged the Trump Administration and Congressto oppose the Hungarian government's attempts to stifle civil societyandprotect academic freedom.

Thislegislation is a clear signal from the Congress that a political and unjustified attack on an American educational institution will not be taken lightly, said Human Rights Firsts Rob Berschinski. Having already eroded checks and balances, undermined independent media, scapegoated refugees, and targeted NGOs, Prime Minister Orbans government turned its sights on a university dedicated to an idea it cant toleratecritical thinking.

CEU was endowed by Hungarian-American philanthropist George Soros in 1991, as Hungary emerged from communist rule.It is considered one of the top international universities in the world, and among the most prestigious universities in central Europe.Each year it educates over 1,500 students from over 100 countries.

On April 4, 2017, with no consultation and only a weeks notice, the Hungarian parliament passed amendments to Hungarys higher education law that would have the effect, if implemented, of forcing CEU out of the country. The legislation sets new, onerous, and legally unnecessary requirements on universities registered in foreign countries, several of which apply only to CEU. These include a requirement to establish a national-level agreement on the university between the United States and Hungary, and the need for the university to operate a campus in the United States in addition to its existing campus in Budapest. If these conditions are not met, CEU may lose its operating license as early as October 2017.

Since the legislation assailing CEU was introduced, the university has received an outpouring of support from Hungarian citizens, academics, government officials, and human rights activists around the world. Tens of thousands of Hungarians of all ages and political affiliations have repeatedly taken to Budapests streets to protest their governments assault on a center of learning. Twenty-seven Nobel laureates, the International Association of Universities, and the presidents of Yale, Harvard, Princeton, New York University, Duke, and Oxford, as well as thousands of scholars and researchers, have called for CEU to be allowed to remain in Hungary.

On May 23, theDepartment of State urgedthe Hungarian government to suspend its attack on CEU, noting that the recent amendments place discriminatory, onerous requirements on U.S.-accredited institutions in Hungary and threaten academic freedom and independence. The State Department further made clear that it would not negotiate with the Hungarian government over CEU.

Republican and Democratic members of the Congress in both theHouseandSenatehave called on the Hungarian government to cease its attack on CEU and academic freedom, noting that compromising the universitys operations would negatively impact bilateral relations with the United States.

The European Commission initiated infringement proceedings against the Hungarian government regarding CEU in late Apriland on May 17 the European Parliament passed a resolution explicitly calling on Hungary to repeal the recent amendments.

To learn more about how the United States can counter Hungarys erosion of democratic institutions and its attacks on civil society, read Human Rights Firsts new fact sheet,Hungary: Eroding Democratic Institutions, Closing Space for Civil Society. Human Rights Firsts recent report on the Hungarian government's attack on civil society and overtures to Russia can be foundhere.

For more information or to speak with Berschinski, contact Christopher Plummer at PlummerC@humanrightsfirst.org or 202-370-3310.

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Bipartisan Resolution Promotes Academic Freedom as Hungary Attempts to Shutter University - Human Rights First

Britain is looking away as China tramples on the freedom of Hong Kong and my father – The Guardian

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Angela Gui: My fathers case is only one out of many that illustrate the death of the rule of law in Hong Kong. Photograph: Angela Gui

I am too young to remember the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997 and its promise for the new world I would live in. But I have lived to see that promise trampled.

The Sino-British Joint Declaration, signed to pave the way for the handover, was supposed to protect the people of Hong Kong from Chinese interference in their society and markets until 2047. Yet as the handovers 20th anniversary approaches, China muscles in where it promised to tread lightly while Britain avoids eye contact.

As Xi Jinping has consolidated his grip on Chinese politics since he took office in 2013, Beijing has increasingly ignored the principle of one country, two systems on which the handover was based and actively eroded the freedoms this was supposed to guarantee.

In October 2015, my father Gui Minhai and his four colleagues were targeted and abducted by the agents of the Chinese Communist party for their work as booksellers and publishers. My father a Swedish citizen was taken while on holiday in Thailand, in the same place wed spent Christmas together the year before. He was last seen getting into a car with a Mandarin-speaking man who had waited for him outside his holiday apartment. Next, his friend and colleague Lee Bo was abducted from the Hong Kong warehouse of Causeway Bay Books, which they ran together. Lee Bo is legally British and, like any Hong Konger, his freedom of expression should have been protected by the terms of 1997.

Their only crime had been to publish and sell books that were critical of the central Chinese government. So paranoid is Beijing about its public image, that it chooses to carry out cross-border kidnappings over some books. Causeway Bay Books specialised in publications that were banned on the mainland but legal in Hong Kong. The stores manager, Lam Wing-kee, who was taken when travelling to Shenzhen, has described Causeway Bay Books a symbol of resistance. In spite of Hong Kongs legal freedoms of speech and of the press the store is now closed because all its people have been abducted or bullied away. Other Hong Kong booksellers are picking politically sensitive titles off their shelves in the fear that they may be next; the next brief headline, the next gap in a family like my own.

I continue to live with my fathers absence his image, messages from his friends, the cause he has become. Turning 53 this year, he spent a second birthday in a Chinese prison. Soon he will have spent two years in detention without access to a lawyer, Swedish consular officials, or regular contact with his family.

My fathers case is only one of many that illustrate the death of the rule of law in Hong Kong. Earlier this year, Canadian businessman Xiao Jianhua who had connections to the Chinese political elite disappeared from a Hong Kong hotel and later resurfaced on the mainland. In last years legislative council elections, six candidates were barred from running because of their political stance. The two pro-independence candidates who did end up getting elected were prevented from taking office. If intolerable political stance is now a valid excuse for barring LegCo candidates, then it wont be long before the entire Hong Kong government is reduced to a miniature version of Chinas.

The Joint Declaration was meant to guarantee that no Hong Kong resident would have to fear a midnight knock on the door. The reality at present is that what happened to my father can happen to any Hong Kong resident the mainland authorities wish to silence or bring before their own system of justice. Twenty-one years ago, John Major pledged that Britain would continue to defend the freedoms granted to Hong Kong by the Joint Declaration against its autocratic neighbour. Today, instead of holding China to its agreement, Britain glances down at its shoes and mumbles about the importance of trade. It is as if the British government wants to forget all about the promise it made to the people of Hong Kong. But Chinas crackdown on dissent has made it difficult for Hong Kongers to forget.

Theresa May often emphasises the importance of British values in her speeches. But Britains limpness over Hong Kong seems to demonstrate only how easily these values are compromised away. I worry about the global implications of China being allowed to just walk away from such an important treaty. And I worry that in the years to come, we will have many more Lee Bos and Gui Minhais, kidnapped and detained because their work facilitated free speech. Hong Kongs last governor, Lord Patten, has repeatedly argued that human rights issues can be pushed without bad effects on trade. Germany, for example, has shown that this is entirely possible, with Angela Merkel often publicly criticising Chinas human rights record. With a potentially hard Brexit around the bend, a much reduced Britain will need a world governed by the rule of law. How the government handles its responsibilities to Hong Kong will be decisive in shaping the international character of the country that a stand-alone Britain will become. I for one hope it will be a country that honours its commitments and that stands up to defend human rights.

Angela Gui is the daughter of Gui Minhai, a Hong Kong bookseller who disappeared from his home in Thailand in October 2015

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Britain is looking away as China tramples on the freedom of Hong Kong and my father - The Guardian

Relatives of eugenics victims opt not to appeal to NC Supreme Court – Winston-Salem Journal

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Relatives of eugenics victims have opted not to appeal to the N.C. Supreme Court a ruling that denies some of them the ability to inherit payment as heirs.

An N.C. Court of Appeals panel ruled June 6 that eugenics victims seeking compensation from the state had to be alive on June 30, 2013, for their heirs to qualify for payment following a relative's death.

The Winston-Salem Journal series on eugenics in 2002, "Against Their Will," brought awareness to the state's program, which sterilized about 7,600 people before it ended in 1974.

The three-judge panel unanimously upheld the denials by the N.C. Industrial Commission related to compensation established by the Republican-controlled General Assembly in 2013.

The June 30, 2013, date was set in the law, which created a $10 million pool for compensation payments.

"Our clients have decided not to seek further review by the N.C. Supreme Court," Elizabeth Haddix, senior staff attorney for UNC Center for Civil Rights, said Thursday.

"Although the forced sterilization of their loved ones hurt them personally and impacted their lives forever, their goal has always been to honor their loved ones, whose most fundamental rights were violated by the states 40-year eugenics program.

"They have honored them with these appeals," Haddix said.

At least 213 victims are considered by the commission to have qualified for compensation, and they received two partial checks$20,000 in October 2014 and $15,000 in November 2015.

A third and final payment is to be made after all appeals have been decided. It is not clear whether that stage has been reached.

Lawsuits were filed by the estates of three eugenics victims Hughes, Redmond and Smith, whose first names were not listed in the filings. The plaintiffs claimed the deadline for qualification "was unconstitutional on its face because it arbitrarily denied compensation to the heirs of some victims while allowing compensation to others."

The appellate judges said in their ruling that state law does not treat heirs of living victims differently than it treats heirs of deceased victims. Instead, it said, heirs of victims are treated differently than the victims themselves.

The commission denied the claims in April and May 2015. The Appeals Court ruled in February 2016 that it lacked the jurisdiction to address the constitutional challenge.

In March, the state Supreme Court sent the case back to the Appeals Court to consider the constitutional challenge.

The panel ruled June 6 "we cannot agree" that the state law violated the plaintiffs' rights to equal protection under the law.

Victims who, before June 30, 2013, were determined to be qualified and have a vested interest in compensation would have their compensation rights passed onto heirs as part of their estate.

Qualified victims were required to submit compensation forms to the commission by June 30, 2014, and 780 of a potential 2,000 living victims did.

The panel lists 250 claims as having been approved by the commission, with a "handful" awaiting final resolution on appeal.

At that rate, the compensation per approved claim would be in the $40,000 range, about $10,000 short of the recommended goal in the initial eugenics compensation legislation.

"There is nothing in the preamble indicating that the General Assembly intended to compensate the heirs of individuals who had been sterilized under the authority of the eugenics board," according to the panel ruling.

In 2002, Gov. Mike Easley apologized for the sterilizations, but it took another decade for lawmakers to set up the compensation program.

In October 2016, President Barack Obama signed a law preventing any such compensation from being used to deny need-based assistance to the victims. The bipartisan legislation was introduced by U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who led the N.C. compensation program while state House speaker.

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Relatives of eugenics victims opt not to appeal to NC Supreme Court - Winston-Salem Journal

Building the ‘perfect’ GMO baby – Metro US

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Many people shun GMOs food that has been genetically modified but what about GMO babies?

A recent survey asked 500 American and 500 European parents or those who planned to be parents some day if they would genetically alter their offspring and how much money they would pay for the perfect child.

The idea might seem unsavory to some eugenics will forever be linked to Hitler and his crazed mission to create a master race but this sort of technology isnt too far off, considering that science has mastered cloning animals.

Cloning humans successfully became less of a dream (nightmare, to some) after science figured out how to clone a human embryo to make stem cells.

If given the chance, would you alter your babys DNA to make him or her smarter, stronger or blue-eyed? Of those who believe genetically designing a child would be unethical, one out of five admitted they would still modify the baby for intelligence while a third would give their childs DNA a boost to ensure good health.

Those who believe genetic alterations are morally acceptable also called intelligence and health priorities, with 28 percent voting for an active mind, and 27 percent voting for an active immune system.

Both groups would also modify creativity and weight; 7 percent of participants with ethical concerns voted for kindness while 8 percent of those without qualms voted to make their child more attractive.

Half of the men and half of the women agreed that intelligence is a trait they would alter, and they also agreed on the importance of creativity and kindness.

Moms and dads differed when it came to other traits: One in 10 men ranked courage in their top five preferred traits while women voted for independence and charisma.

Maybe moms are hoping for their child to become POTUS. If Kanye wins 2020, lets all just agree anything is possible.

Around one in four potential moms and dads were willing to alter things like attractiveness and weight (because pizza is amazing and counting calories is the worst, right?).

Men wanted their kids to be like Mike and know like Bo knows with increased strength and athleticism, while moms preferred to dictate eye color.

Americans and their friends across the pond agreed bigly on the importance of intelligence, followed by creativity, but when given a list of changeable traits, Americans placed more importance on independence while Europeans opted for courage. Considering both cultures, those choices make sense; Americans value independence while Europeans are in closer proximity to other cultures and might need to call upon courage to learn and engage.

Regardless of continent, a quarter of those surveyed said they would opt to alter attractiveness and weight. Americans were more concerned about athletic ability than their European counterparts.

Men, and Americans in general, were willing to shell out quite a few clams for a smarter baby; one in four were willing to drop around $10,000 for a kid who does better in school.

Women and Europeans went Jimmy McMillian (the rent is too damn high) and were only willing to fork over between $1,000 and $2,000.

More than a third of all men and women surveyed agreed a health upgrade would be worth $10,000 or more.

Europeans prefer blond-haired, blue-eyed girls over boys; Americans choose dark-haired, blue-eyed boys. Women, regardless of country of origin, in general favored girls with blue eyes and black hair while men favored blond hair and blue eyes for their above-average-height son.

What is it worth to you?

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Ecosystem diversity – Wikipedia

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Ecosystem diversity deals with the variations in ecosystems within a geographical location and its overall impact on human existence and the environment.

Ecological diversity is a type of biodiversity. It is the variation in the ecosystems found in a region or the variation in ecosystems over the whole planet. Ecological diversity includes the variation in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Ecological diversity can also take into account the variation in the complexity of a biological community, including the number of different niches, the number of trophic levels and other ecological processes. An example of ecological diversity on a global scale would be the variation in ecosystems, such as deserts, forests, grasslands, wetlands and oceans. Ecological diversity is the largest scale of biodiversity, and within each ecosystem, there is a great deal of both species and genetic diversity.[1][2][3][4]

Diversity in the ecosystem is significant to human existence for a variety of reasons. Ecosystem diversity boosts the availability of oxygen via the process of photosynthesis amongst plant organisms domiciled in the habitat. Diversity In an aquatic environment helps in the purification of water by plant varieties for use by humans. Diversity increases plant varieties which serves as a good source for medicines and herbs for human use. A lack of diversity in the ecosystem produces an opposite result.

Some examples of ecosystems that are rich in diversity are:

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Ecosystem diversity - Wikipedia

CMO Today: Reddit’s Ad Pitch; P&G CMO on Improving Digital … – Wall Street Journal (subscription)

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Here's your morning roundup of the biggest marketing, advertising and media industry news and happenings.

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Days Gone’s zombies are part of a ravenous, lethal ecosystem – but they’re better behaved than you might think – GamesRadar

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Fast zombies. Slow zombies. Cursed zombies. Virus-infected zombies. Its safe to say were all used to walking corpses by now. Featuring them in a game in an entirely new way is becoming increasingly difficult. Left 4 Dead gives us the Infected who absolutely sprint towards us, The Last of Us has the feral fungus zombies, and Resident Evil is home to the grossly-mutated T-Virus victims. It seems like all the bases are covered. And they probably are. Yet Days Gone has decided to not focus on how their zombies look or were created, but how they behave as part of their very own undead ecosystem.

Us humans are at the top of the food chain. Except, that is, in the world of Days Gone, where most of the human race has been infected by an unknown virus and turned into feral, flesh-hungry zombies - sorry, Freakers - with razor-sharp hearing. But were not the only ones affected by the viral outbreak. Whether its an airborne virus or some sort of curse, its relatively rare to see zombie apocalypses that have affected animals. There are some examples where reanimated animals have reared their not-so-furry heads, such as Resident Evils famous zombie Dobermans (plus who can forget the zombie elephant in Resident Evil Outbreak: File #2?). Days Gone is bucking that trend, and is welcoming zombie mammals with open, slightly-decaying arms.

Because of course the virus hasnt just affected humans. Its somehow spread to animals too, including the grizzly bear (now Rager Bear), and wolves (called Runners as they can outrun Deacons bike). What does all this mean? In short, Bend Studio has created an ecosystem. Consisting of various interacting organisms - yeah, thats right, I looked up the definition - this ecosystem is a blend of animal and human zombies, each with a defined role to play. Relieving human Freakers from following the same structure as say, Left 4 Dead, this small tweak allows Bend Studio to emphasise their behavioural quirks rather than physical ones. You see, the stumbling, lurching infected in Valves multiplayer masterpiece occupy various strategic roles and are physically defined by them. The rotund Boomer distracts the survivors with its horde-attracting bile attack, the Smoker breaks up the group by dragging one away using a grossly long tongue, and the bulky Tank (and the emaciated Witch, to a lesser degree) are boss encounters. In Days Gone some of these roles are delegated to animals. Runners act as disruptors while Rager Bears are mini boss encounters. Freakers are kept relatively simple. There are newts (adolescent freakers who have a penchant for ambushing), swarms, and hordes, but by the looks of it theres not the array of zombie archetypes were used to seeing in Dead Island, Dead Rising, Resident Evil, or Dying Light.

Ordinarily this might make it look like the Freakers are simpler. In a way they are, and in another way they most certainly are not. Sure, theyre in the same vein of infected humans we know from Left 4 Dead and Resident Evil. They all look mostly similar with the usual array of ripped clothing and blistering sores. But they have rules. And whats more, the survivors in Days Gone understand these rules and have built their lives around manipulating them. Gnashing their teeth and emitting various whoops and growls, the Freakers are tenacious. Theyre attracted to meat (even if its dead), so the meat wall that borders the scavenger camp is to distract any ambling Freakers that wander their way. Theyre stronger when its cold, which isnt determined by different levels of the game but rather depends on Days Gones dynamic weather system, which will alter randomly to vary your encounters. Most obviously, they are incredibly sensitive to sound.

Us humans are part of this ecosystem too. Deacon and his fellow survivors (both good and bad) dont just kill Freakers - they manipulate them. Freakers have become so synonymous with the world of Days Gone (well, with whats left of it) and humans have become to used to them that a chunk of the fear has gone, being replaced by the knowledge that these emaciated infected are a weaponizable force. Hung upside down from trees to catch anyone who walks by, or attracted by the sound of an explosion to gnaw on the massive group of bandits you couldnt handle alone, Freakers are far from being solely an enemy. They have the same moral indifference as wild animals, with their lack of intelligence an odd kind of benefit for you.

Even when they start to run after any humans who mistakenly enter their line of sight, they have rules. Taking the quickest possible route to grab those tasty fleshy bodies, they dont really take the time to stop and consider strategy. Which bandits and survivors know very well, building their camp on stilts because the Freakers cant climb particularly well. Especially if there are humans below to distract them. The way NPCs have built their lives around manipulating Freakers (and avoiding their animal friends), around interacting with these different undead not only to avoid their bite but also to use them tactically, is astounding. And thats all thanks to this carefully-crafted ecosystem thats as deadly as it is exploitable. Days Gone is sure to get hearts racing, just remember - if you use them right, the Freakers are your friends.

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Days Gone's zombies are part of a ravenous, lethal ecosystem - but they're better behaved than you might think - GamesRadar

FinTech Australia releases fintech ecosystem map – Finextra – Finextra

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Australias fintech industry body today released its first member ecosystem map, which helps build domestic and international understanding of the nations fintech strengths and diversity, particularly in wealth generation and lending.

The map is arguably the best visual representation yet of our fintech industry, which is the largest startup sub-sector in Australia according to the most recent Startup Muster survey, said FinTech Australia CEO Danielle Szetho.

Click for larger.

The broad range, depth and quality of fintechs on this map shows just how far Australias fintech environment has come in less than two years.

Given that FinTech Australia represents about a quarter of all fintech companies operating in Australia, it is in fact arguable that Australia has a greater number of fintech companies than Hong Kong and is on par with or close behind Singapore.

The ecosystem map shows that wealth and investment, and consumer and business lending, are Australias two largest fintech sub-sectors - an outcome that is consistent with findings from last years EY FinTech Australia Census.

The strong focus on wealth and investment to some extent reflects the fact that, in 2016, Australia had Asias largest pool of funds under management - and the 6th largest in the world.

In addition, Australias US$1.6 trillion largest superannuation (also known as pension) market is the fourth largest in the world.

Ms Szetho said fintechs operating in the consumer-facing wealth and investment space have already made major penetrations into the Australian market. For instance, budgeting fintech Pocketbook already has more than 300,000 users, while micro-savings fintech Acorns has well over 200,000 users.

Many of our fintechs in the wealth and investment area are run by highly experienced financial services executives, who have left large corporate institutions to begin their own innovative startup companies that are unencumbered by large legacy systems, Ms Szetho said.

In addition, the map shows that Australias fintech lenders are rapidly filling market gaps in both consumer and business lending.

For instance, in regard to business lending, a recent survey found that one in five small-to- medium enterprises are now planning to use non-bank financing, compared to just one in ten in 2014.

Our business lenders are typically using in-house or third party technology to analyse the financial information of small businesses, so they can then offer the best and fastest possible deals, Ms Szetho said.

They are able to operate in spaces that banks traditionally found hard to service, and are now playing a valuable role helping our small businesses to grow.

Other strong areas of Australias lending space include invoice financing, peer-to-peer personal loans and also home loan marketplaces that are empowering consumers to get a better mortgage deal on their most valuable assets.

Ms Szetho said the map also showed the many other growing areas of the Australian fintech ecosystem, including payments, wallets and wearables, blockchain/distributed ledger, regtech, insurtech, data aggregators and cybersecurity.

The map also takes a unique approach to laying out the fintech ecosystem by seeking to show where there are overlaps between different sub-sectors.

For instance, the map shows lending and wealth and investment products that rely on marketplace style solutions along with wallets, payments and wearables companies which rely on distributed ledger solutions.

FinTech Australia plans to update the map at least once every six months. The map is available at http://www.fintechaustralia.org.au Download the document now 3.8 mb (JPEG image)

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FinTech Australia releases fintech ecosystem map - Finextra - Finextra