Archive for December, 2019

The task force has about 20 or so active volunteers who comb NamUs and newspaper archives for victims that may be trans. Of course, searching the exact term transgender rarely gets many hits, except for very recent cases. One volunteer, Jessica Veltstra, told me shes learned to search outdated language. In older case, you have to look for derogatory terms, she said. You have to look for things like crossdresser, transvestite, and transsexual. Volunteers also key in on details such as makeup or nail polish on victims reported as male, or mens clothing on victims reported as female. They treat these as clues but not definitive proof of gender identity.

Many of these victims were probably misgendered in life, and when I spoke with Lee and Anthony, they were careful not to misgender them in death. They defaulted to the singular they when referring to Trans Doe Task Force caseswith the exception of Julie Doe, whose breast implants and pitting in her bones were fairly clear signs of transitioning. And they have discussed how to depict the gender of the Does in facial reconstructions. If theres an unidentified person whose forensic art might not reflect what we already know about themif theyre not represented according to a gender they may have lived aswe want to make sure there is art that reflects that, Anthony said. In a couple of cases, volunteers have used the gender-swapping tool on FaceApp to depict Does as they might have looked pre- and post-transition. Its totally amateur, Lee quickly acknowledged, but no one else was doing that for these victims.

Read: She was found strangled in a well, and now she has a name

After all, Michael says, these victims were people who were marginalized in life and marginalized in death. The volunteers I spoke with said theyd joined the task force for precisely this reasonto bring attention to cases that might otherwise be forgotten.

Earlier this year, DNA Doe Project genealogists tentatively made the first ID in a Trans Doe Task Force case called Pillar Point Doe. The victim, who was found stabbed and strangled in Half Moon Bay, California, in 1983, was originally identified as a male in womens clothing. The sheriffs office has not announced the persons identity publicly yet, and Lee Redgrave said the group would wait for the sheriffs investigation to wrap up before digging further into Pillar Point Does identity as potentially trans, to avoid affecting the official police work.

By now, the task force has documented several dozen cases with victims that may be trans and referred at least five to the DNA Doe Project, including the case of Julie Doe. Her case has proved tricky, as labs have been unable to extract enough DNA. But the volunteers havent given up. Her DNA has been to four different labs now, and her latest sequencing results are expected soon.

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Sleuths Are Haunted by the Cold Case of Julie Doe - The Atlantic

HOUGHTON, Mich. The oldest gray wolf at Isle Royale National Park has been killed, apparently by newcomers to the Lake Superior island chain, researchers said Friday.

The 12-year-old male was one of two survivors that remained when officials decided to relocate wolves from the U.S. and Canadian mainland to rebuild the dwindling population.

His body was found in October. A necropsy showed it had been attacked by fellow wolves, park officials said in a statement.

"With the death of the island-born male, travel patterns of the remaining (mostly relocated and newly arrived) wolves are likely to change significantly, and probably dependent on whether or not the island-born female is still alive, whether she is territorial and how she gets along with the newcomers, both males and females. She is the final native wolf, never radio-collared, and searching for her will be a priority during the upcoming winter study," commented Rolf Peterson, a research professor at Michigan Technological University and long-time wolf and moose investigator on Isle Royale.

The fate of that 10-year-old female is yet unknown.

She is the final native wolf, never radio-collared, and searching for her will be a priority for biologists during their annual winter study at the park, said Rolf Peterson, a research professor at Michigan Technological University.

Another female one of the animals taken to Isle Royale beginning in fall 2018 also died in recent months from wounds inflicted by one or more wolves.

These events are not uncommon as wolves defend and establish their territories and social hierarchy, the park statement said.

The current population includes eight males and seven females. Researchers monitoring the other wolves' radio collars say they are feeding, traveling and sleeping near each other in various combinations, although none of the groups yet meet the scientific definition of a pack.

We have a unique opportunity to look simultaneously at the past and future of Isle Royale wolves genetic health. With the death of M183, we can now more fully understand how genetic isolation and inbreeding impacted the historic wolf population and use that to better monitor the new founders. This is an exciting time and we will be using cutting-edge genetic tools to track reproduction, inbreeding, and genetic change through time, hopefully providing a piece of the puzzle for maintaining a thriving Isle Royale wolf population, said Dr. Kristin Brzeski, wildlife geneticist at Michigan Tech University.

The National Park Service and the Isle Royale research group say a wolf group is characterized by two or more wolves traveling and feeding together. Wolf groups are further defined as a pack if groups of two or more wolves are traveling together and/or defending a territory, and if a breeding pair reproduces.

Individual preferences for mating and group or pack formation can be quite variable for a social animal like the wolf. Mate selection and pair bond formation can occur at any time, but wolves only breed and produce pups once per year. Consequently, pack formation can take time. Based on these definitions, there are currently no wolf packs on Isle Royale.

RELATED: Wolf taken to Isle Royale last fall returns to mainland

RELATED: Isle Royale wolf relocation project wraps up for the year

RELATED: Isle Royale National Park: A visitor's guide

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Oldest wolf on Isle Royale killed by recent transplants - KARE11.com

HOUGHTON The National Park Service (NPS) and research partners from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) are using data from GPS collars on introduced wolves to monitor associations between individuals and identify possible pack formation. As researchers and NPS staff anticipated, new wolves immediately began interacting with each other. Researchers confirmed introduced wolves were feeding, traveling, sleeping in proximity to each other, and forming groups.

A wolf group is characterized by two or more wolves traveling and feeding together. Wolf groups are further defined as a pack if groups of two or more wolves are traveling together and/or defending a territory, and if a breeding pair reproduces. Individual preferences for mating and group or pack formation can be quite variable for a social animal like the wolf. Mate selection and pair bond formation can occur at any time, but wolves only breed and produce pups once per year. Consequently, pack formation can take time. Based on these definitions, there are currently no wolf packs on Isle Royale.

GPS collar data shows three wolves, 1 female and 2 males, have been traveling, feeding, and bedding together since March, 2019 (W001F, W007M, and W013M). This is the first wolf group to form and remain associated since introduction efforts began. Additionally, two male wolves shared bed sites and carcasses over the summer with several different female wolves, but their associations lack consistency and are currently not defined as wolf groups. Two female wolves shared bed site areas over the summer (July), but are also not considered a group. Loose associations are common when smaller prey items like moose calves, beaver and snowshoe hare are abundant on the landscape. These animals are easy prey for a single wolf.

Dr. Jerry Belant, Campfire Conservation Fund Professor at SUNY-ESF and project collaborator added Wolves are a highly social species and we continue to monitor their movements to document groups, and ultimately pack formations as demonstrated by reproduction. We developed a public online tool, https://belantlab.shinyapps.io/wolf-networks/ based on these analyses to understand potential associations among these wolves and the areas they occupy.

Researchers monitoring the GPS collar signals identified two wolf mortality events this fall. In September, researchers and NPS staff detected a mortality signal and recovered the remains of female W004F. Field evidence and subsequent necropsy at the U.S. Geological Survey National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, WI, determined W004F died from wounds caused by another wolf or wolves. In October just prior to island closing, NPS staff came across the remains of male wolf, M183, one of the two remaining uncollared resident wolves inhabiting Isle Royale prior to introduction efforts. Necropsy revealed that M183 had also been killed by another wolf or wolves. These events are not uncommon as wolves defend and establish their territories and social hierarchy. With many wolves on the island sorting out their relationships with one another, the dynamic nature of wolf social organization, territoriality, and wolf-on-wolf aggression during group and pack formation is not unexpected.

With the death of the island-born male, travel patterns of the remaining wolves are likely to change significantly, and probably dependent on whether or not the island-born female is still alive, whether she is territorial and how she gets along with the newcomers, both males and females. She is the final native wolf, never radio-collared, and searching for her will be a priority during the upcoming winter study. commented Rolf Peterson, a research professor at Michigan Technological University and long-time wolf and moose investigator on Isle Royale.

Summer wolf location cluster investigations documented 122 instances of two or more wolves with overlapping space use. Twenty-nine cases (23.8%) of space use overlap were associated with prey remains and feeding behavior, 68% were associated with bed sites, and wolf use for the remaining 7.4% of sites was unknown or could not be determined.

Researchers continue to monitor location data weekly for evidence the three newest wolves, released on the island in September, are adjusting to their new homes, interacting and forming associations. These wolves are interacting with each other (W017M and W018F were traveling together in late November) and with the wolves released last spring (W018F and W016M traveled together in early November).

NPS and its collaborators will continue to monitor the interactions, group formation, and genetic diversity of new wolves over winter and spring to document breeding (January/February) and denning (April/May) activity in Isle Royales wolf population. Closely monitoring social organization will provide insights into the genetic health of the population. The NPS has partnered with Dr. Kristin Brzeski, wildlife geneticist at MTU, to sequence the Isle Royale wolf genome for long-term monitoring of genetic health of the population.

We have a unique opportunity to look simultaneously at the past and future of Isle Royale wolves genetic health. With the death of M183, we can now more fully understand how genetic isolation and inbreeding impacted the historic wolf population and use that to better monitor the new founders. This is an exciting time and we will be using cutting-edge genetic tools to track reproduction, inbreeding, and genetic change through time, hopefully providing a piece of the puzzle for maintaining a thriving Isle Royale wolf population, said Dr. Brzeski.

Multiple lines of investigations regarding this population will help the NPS evaluate the success of the project over the next few years. We are using everything we can in our toolbox to track how this population interacts with each other, prey and the landscape. Well continue to learn as much as we can moving forward to help with the decision to add wolves as needed to meet project objectives and document ecosystem effects. stated Mark Romanski, the NPS project coordinator and Division Chief of Natural Resources at Isle Royale.

The current population includes seven females and eight males. All introduced wolves are from the Great Lakes Region, translocated from northeastern Minnesota (W001F), the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (W017M, W018F, W019M), mainland Ontario, Canada (W005F, W016M), and Michipicoten Island in northeastern Lake Superior, Ontario, Canada (W007M, W009M, W010M, W011F, W012M, W013M, W014F and W015F).

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Group formation of new Isle Royale wolves leads to territorial aggression | News, Sports, Jobs - Daily Mining Gazette

Spectrum published hundreds of articles this year on a range of topics, from characterization of candidate genes to immune-system connections. We are proud of all of them, but some in particular stand out: They expose harmful therapies such as chiropractic and stem-cell treatments, upend conventional wisdom about autism, expose uncomfortable truths or adroitly explain complex theories about the condition.

Our staff and some of our readers picked the following seven as particular favorites from the year.

Autism, explained

How might a brain-signaling imbalance underlie autism? What is the female protective effect and, conversely, an extreme male brain? We expanded our compendium of autism explainers this year to include some of the most popular theories about the condition.

False hope for autism in the stem-cell underground

Clinics offering stem-cell treatments for autism are proliferating, and desperate parents pay thousands of dollars to have these products injected into their children despite a lack of evidence that they help. Many, in fact, have the potential to cause serious harm, from introducing life-threatening infections to seeding autoimmune disorders. In this story, investigative reporter Brendan Borrell traces the provenance of one childs treatments through a cast of rogue characters and calls attention to the fact that the products are, as one of his sources says, basically afterbirth thrown in a blender.

Can preventing seizures alter the course of autism?

This story sprang to life when reporter Jessica Wright observed experimental brain surgery on a 12-year-old boy named Kevin Lightner. Kevin has dup15q syndrome, a rare genetic condition that often causes seizures and autism, and his case presented a prime opportunity to explore a provocative question: Can epilepsy lead to or at least contribute to autism? Wright followed Kevin and his family through a risky procedure to implant a responsive neurostimulation device into his brain, and over the weeks that followed.

When autistic people commit sexual crimes

Many autistic people become embroiled in the criminal justice system for sexual behaviors, including collecting child pornography, stalking and sexual assault. Some go to prison, and others become registered sex offenders a status that can prevent them from receiving state services for the rest of their lives. But as Melinda Wenner-Moyer explores in this story, autistic people may engage in these behaviors without understanding the implications of their actions or the law. Some experts are calling for a change in how the criminal justice system treats these autistic people, and for more sexual education for autistic teens.

Autism, through the eyes of a computer

Clinicians are the main arbiters of autism traits. They use their expertise to diagnose autism and judge its severity. But a growing cadre of scientists is betting that computers could do some parts of these tasks better. In this story, reporter Nicholette Zeliadt explores the use of wearable sensors and other devices to track autism traits over time as they collect data from autistic people in their homes and schools. These measurements may never replace the judgment clinicians hone through years of experience, but they may ease the workload of experts and the wait time for people who need evaluations.

Large study supports discarding the term high-functioning autism

Autistic people who excel academically are sometimes referred to as high functioning. The problem is, many dont function at all well: They struggle with everyday tasks, from getting dressed to taking the bus. This story underscores the gaping chasm between intelligence and daily living skills, and the crescendo of voices calling to abandon the high functioning label.

Studies of autism treatments lack standard yardsticks

An analysis of 36 years of clinical trials showed that researchers do not use a consistent set of tools to measure the efficacy of autism treatments. Nearly 70 percent of the tools were used in just one study, making it difficult to compare the treatments. And only three validated tools that measure core autism traits were used in more than 5 percent of the studies. But these tools are not designed to measure treatment outcomes, so they may miss subtle signs that a drug, dietary supplement or psychotherapy is working.

Continue reading here:
In case you missed them: Spectrum's standout stories from 2019 - Spectrum

KEY POINTS

With more than 30,000 Americans and about 1000 new cases diagnosed every year, with cystic fibrosis is on the rise. More than 75% of the cases are diagnosed by 2 years of age and about 50% of them are diagnosed about 18 years or older.

Cystic fibrosis is a progressive, genetic disease that causes persistent lung infections and identifying early warning signs are very important.

Taste in the skin to watch out for: A high salty taste

Among individuals affected by this condition, the salt travels to the surface of their skin alongside water but doesnt get reabsorbed. Due to this, the skin of an individual with cystic fibrosis becomes abnormally salty. Parents happen to notice the salty-tasting skin when they kiss their child.

Cystic fibrosis also affects the epithelial cells in the sweat glands located in the skin and individuals with the condition will get a salty frosting on their skin and might also lose abnormally large amounts of body salt while sweating, especially during hot weather.

Other symptoms of cystic fibrosis include persistent coughing, sometimes with phlegm, wheezing, shortness of breath, very frequent lung infections, bronchitis, pneumonia, poor growth or weight gain despite having a good appetite, male infertility, frequent greasy, bulky stools or difficulty alongside bowel movements.

Being a complex disease, the types and severity of the conditions symptoms tend to differ widely from an individual to another. Several factors including the age of diagnosis can affect an individuals health and the course of the condition. Through these years, there have been tremendous advancements in specialized care for cystic fibrosis alongside dramatic improvements.

Since the type and severity of the symptoms differ widely, treatment plans might contain tailored elements based on each persons unique circumstances.

Cystic fibrosis affects both males and females and the most important risk factor for cystic fibrosis is a family history of the disease, especially if either of the parents is a known carrier of this genetic disease.

Individuals with cystic fibrosis are recommended not to meet each other in person because of certain bacteria that they all carry, which can cause serious infections. They now have online groups via which they can interact with each other.

Non-Smokers Are At Increased Risk Of Lung Damage Due To Air Pollution Photo: Pixabay/kalhh

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Cystic Fibrosis: This Taste In Your Skin Could Be A Warning Sign - International Business Times

ASHEBORO Twenty-eight students participated in the College and Career Readiness graduation ceremony out of 40 High School Equivalency Diploma graduates and five Adult High School Diploma graduates who were eligible Thursday, Dec. 12, at the R. Alton Cox Learning Resources Center Auditorium at Randolph Community College.

Three of the graduates spoke Alex Ruiz, Randy Perry and Kenneth Brown.

Ruiz was originally enrolled in Randolph Early College High School, but had to drop out due to unforeseen circumstances, including a sibling in the hospital. Once his brothers health improved, he returned to RCC to explore his options.

My counselors guided me to the CCR department, Ruiz said. I was welcomed by the sweet people here. They helped me decide to begin which path I wanted to do in this program. My message to you all is: When one door closes, another door opens, so dont wait for that closed door. Keep moving and unlock your next door.

Perry, who is 60 years old, thanked everyone in the crowd for coming to the ceremony, including many family members.

My graduation was a great milestone for me and the lifetime achievement, he said. Now I have people who have encouraged me and believed in me, and it is so rewarding and such a good feeling. My teachers at [RCC] were such a major part of my work and efforts to do well in school. Although I'm 60 years young, it meant so much to me to be able to inspire and encourage young men and old men that they too can achieve this great accomplishment.

I also want to thank the staff at RCC for allowing this program to be offered at our facility. I'm an inmate from the Randolph correctional facility here in Asheboro. RCC offers this program to inmates who want to learn and obtain their high school equivalency diploma. We have a classroom setting. It's just real school. And we work really hard and I want you all to know that I've been incarcerated since 1992, and I've been through six or seven community colleges, I have many certificates, but I've never had my high school diploma. I can say firsthand, I've never met the president of a community college. Ive never met a vice president. It really touched my heart when they came in and dropped in on us. It was such a warm feeling.

Brown dropped out of school during his junior year, taking an entry-level job in the textile industry and working there for 40 years.

Over that time, I began to feel brain-dead, he said. In hopes of finding another job, I felt that I needed to jump-start my brain. I've always been one to never finish anything. For years, I thought about going back to school. Finally, I decided I was going to go back to school, to jump-start my brain, to finish what Id started many years ago. I proudly stand before you tonight as a graduate as a testament that it is never too late to finish what you started. My brain has been stimulated; I feel confident.

RCC President Dr. Robert S. Shackleford Jr. gave the welcome, noting the many graduations he has attended. He then spoke about his mother, whose father died when she was a teenager and who dropped out of school and took a job in the mill to help her family.

I love graduation, he said, listing several, but saying that those were not his favorite. My mother got married and had her children, me and my two sisters, and she always made every effort to encourage us to get the education that she herself was never afforded the opportunity to get. Many years later, after I was married and out of college and out of graduate school, my mother went to our local community college.

She told them she had dropped out of high school. She signed up for their adult education classes and after several semesters she completed her work and she graduated high school. I knew how unlikely it seemed that she would ever achieve it. I knew how hard she worked for it, and I knew how much she deserved it. That was my favorite graduation. I feel that way about you being here tonight.

Former Miss Randolph County and current Miss Cabarrus County Tiffany Rush gave the graduation address. A RECHS valedictorian and current Appalachian State University student, Rush was born with Turners Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder with a 2-percent chance of survival.

The important thing to remember is that we all carry heavy loads we just may carry them differently than other people do, she said. After all, a good story has to have conflict, excitement and struggles. You may have made it to this moment by different paths and roads, but you made it here.

This great achievement requires three main qualities: Courage, discipline and commitment. It took immense courage for you to take the first step toward your personal and professional goals. You had to have incredible discipline to take classes after a long work day or when other responsibilities overlapped. You had to be committed completing homework and studying can be easy to overlook, especially when you already have a job, family or other things going on. These three characteristics shine brightly through each and every one of you, and they empower you all on this journey. And the beautiful thing is, is your story does not end here.

She then presented a $20 bill to the crowd, ripped it, crumpled it up, stepped on it, asking the crowd if they would take it if she offered it to them at each step.

The value of the money does not change, Rush said. It got stepped on. It got rained on. Its still $20. I want you to remember that whatever you go through, your value stays the same.

Elbert Lassiter, vice president for Workforce Development and Continuing Education, and Jordan Williamson, director of Adult Basic Education, ESOL and Adult High School, presented the candidates for graduation. The awarding of the diplomas was handled by F. Mac Sherrill, chairman of the RCC Board of Trustees, and Williamson gave the faculty invitation and closing remarks, referencing College and Career Readiness In-Take Specialist Dahlia Oldham, who graduated from the program 10 years ago.

As a department, we believe in always putting the students first in everything we do, Williamson said. You guys are absolutely amazing. This is such a unique group of graduates you are all are so goal-driven and focused on what comes next. The truth is, there is no road map, although it probably would make things much simpler if there were. I think of someone who walked across this very same stage that you did tonight 10 years ago. She would say to you, Just keep pushing, do not give up because you can do this, and I believe in you.

Adult Basic Education Instructor Philip Schuyler was the faculty marshal.

The graduates listed alphabetically by their cities of residence follow:

High School Equivalency Diploma graduates

Archdale: Maria Dominguez.

Asheboro: Dakota Ball, Shawn Carson, Tiffany Creed, Kasey Hazelwood, Charity Lamar, Nancy Neese, Bryce Roig, Alex Ruiz, Mohamed Salamatou, Caleb Shinault, Elijah Stevenson, Erica Talent, Jose Tinoco Jr., Sandra Vargas, Maviel Vazquez-Arriaga and Leslie Vences.

Burlington: Edson Hernandez.

Columbia, S.C.: Dustin Garrett.

Durham: Franklin Goy.

Franklin: Kevin Johnston.

Franklinville: Christina Belmontes Gonzalez.

Lexington: Heriberto Mendez and Morgan Scott.

Liberty: Kenneth Brown.

Monroe: Randy Perry.

Pageland, S.C.: Lakeya Powe.

Ramseur: Christina Brown and Randael Taylor.

Randleman: Hollie Bailey, Terri Cooke, Danielle Gayness, Wyatt Robinson and Cheyenne Skryzmoski.

Robbins: Shane Childers.

Sophia: Darren Vaughan.

Trinity: Brittany Hill and Hannah Smith.

Adult High School Diploma graduates

Liberty: Travis Smith.

Ramseur: Shelby Moser.

Randleman: Brittany Merrick.

Seagrove: Ivy Street.

Sophia: Paige Wilson.

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RCC College and Career Readiness graduates persevere to reach goal - Asheboro Courier Tribune

A Texas Air National Guard fighter squadron flying F-16s is one of the first units to paint its planes in a new, radar-absorbing paint scheme. The paint signals the Air Forces reluctant decision to keep old F-16s flying through the 2020s, at least.

The Air National Guards paint facility in Sioux City, Iowa in mid-December 2019 rolled out a Block 30 F-16C with the new version the Have Glass paint jobs. The F-16C, a Block 30 model, belongs to the 149th Fighter Wing flying out of Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland.

The new, single-color paint scheme is a recent departure from the older two-tone gray paint scheme normally associated with F-16s that belong to the United States Air Force, the Pentagon stated.

Most American F-16s for decades have worn a mostly light-gray paint scheme. Since around 2012, however, the Air Force under the Have Glass V initiative slowly has been applying a new, single-tone, dark-gray livery to some F-16s

The new ferromagnetic paint, which can absorb radar energy, first appeared on some of the roughly 200 F-16s the Air Force assigns to the dangerous suppression-of-enemy-air-defenses, or SEAD, mission. SEAD squadrons reside in Minnesota, South Carolina, Germany and Japan.

The Texas Air National Guard F-16 apparently is the first Block 30 F-16 to receive a variant of the Have Glass V paint. Where previous Have Glass V paint jobs included a lighter-tone radar radome, the current scheme covers both the radome and the rest of the plane in the same, dark tone.

No paint can compensate for a plane's shape. In particular, the shapes of its wings, engine inlet and engine nozzle. Square shapes, right angles and perpendicular planes such as engine turbines strongly reflect radar waves.

Even with Have Glass, the F-16 on average has a 1.2-square-meter radar cross-section, according to Globalsecurity, while the F-22 and F-35 boast RCSs smaller than .005 square meters.

So the Have Glass V F-16s arent stealth fighters. But they are stealthier than are F-16s with older paint schemes. Since Have Glass V undoubtedly is expensive, the Air Force logically prioritized repainting planes in units flying the dangerous SEAD mission.

Its noteworthy that Block 30 F-16s, which first appeared in 1986, also are getting Have Glass V treatment. The roughly 300 Block 30s are some of the oldest fighters in the Air Force inventory, and strictly fly with Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve units.

The Air Force for years struggled to define a replacement plan for the Block 30 F-16s, which on average have accumulated more than 7,000 flight hours. The F-35 eventually could replace the Block 30s. But with F-35 production rates fall far below projections, even under the best of circumstances it could take a decade or more to replace all the Block 30s.

The 149th Fighter Wing is one of several Air National Guard units that for years has lobbied the Air Force to bump it higher in the list for new F-35s. But the flying branch so far has tapped Guard wings in Vermont, Wisconsin and Alabama to get F-35s, leaving a couple dozen other units in limbo for the time being.

Conceding that it cannot acquire F-35s fast enough, the Air Force now plans to conduct a service-life extension on more than 800 of its roughly 900 F-16s, apparently skipping over only the oldest Block 25 models that entered service in the early 1980s.

The life-extension could help the Block 30s fly for a few years longer. Some Block 30s also are receiving new electronically-scanned-array radars to replace their old analogue units. Stealther paint also helps the aging F-16s stay relevant.

The U.S. Air Force isnt the only air arm to apply radar-absorbing paint to otherwise non-stealthy fighters. The Chinese air force in early 2019 also began applying ferromagnetic paint to its roughly 50 J-16s fighters.

The J-16 is an upgraded version of the older J-11 fighter that China copied from the Russian Su-27.

David Axe serves as Defense Editor of the National Interest. He is theauthor of the graphic novelsWar Fix,War Is BoringandMachete Squad.

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Did the F-16 Just Go Stealth? - The National Interest Online

Fact.MRs report on Global Plant Hydrocolloids Market

A new report composed by Fact.MR, global plant hydrocolloid market will record a CAGR of 6.1% in terms of volume, between the forecast period 2017 and 2026. Sales of plant hydrocolloid around the world are poised to bring in nearly US$ 8,000 Mn in revenues by 2026-end. Plant hydrocolloid have been substantially utilized in pharmaceutical and food industries as an emulsifying, coating, gelling, stabilizing, and thickening agent. Plant hydrocolloid help in quality enhancements as well as shelf life extension in a wide variety of products. Inclination toward processed and convenience food has surged tremendously around the world over the past few years.

In a recent business intelligence study, Fact.MR presents the nitty-gritty of the global Plant Hydrocolloids market considering 2012-2016 as the historic year and 20172026 as the stipulated timeframe. The business report highlights the drivers, restraints, opportunities and trends affecting market growth. Further, all the market shares associated with the market as well as the segments are expressed in terms of value and volume.

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The Plant Hydrocolloids market study outlines the key regions North America, Latin America, Europe, South Asia, East Asia and Middle East & Africa along with the countries contributing the most in the respective regions. The report presents detailed insights about each market player, including SWOT analysis, main market information, market share, revenue, pricing and gross margin.

Prominent players covered in this research are CP Kelco, Cargill, Inc., Dow, FMC, Ashland Inc., E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Rousselot S.A.S., Symrise AG, Furest Day Lawson Holdings Limited, Kerry Group Plc., Tate & Lyle PLC, Lonza Group Ltd., Dohler GmbH, and Sensient Technologies Corporation.

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I have formerly spent over 3 years as a trader in U.S. Stock Market and is now semi-stepped down. I work on a full time basis for News Cast Report specializing in quicker moving active shares with a short term view on investment opportunities and trends.

Address: 4026 Armbrester Drive Rancho Dominguez, CA 90220, USAPhone: (+1) 310-537-4242Email: Randymorales@newscastreport.com

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Plant Hydrocolloids Market Expected to Grow at a Massive CAGR of over 6.7% by 2026 - News Cast Report

Soy Extract Market: Snapshot

Soy extract is mainly produced from soyabean. High protein and low fat properties of soy makes it a healthy constitute of food. Soy helps in mitigating night sweats and hot flashes for women going through menopause. Moreover, people with lactose intolerance issues may use soymilk as a substitute to buffalo or cow milk.

Soy extracts are used for making many food products. Additionally, manufacturers are further discovering new applications for soy extracts in variety of food products. The increasing number of food products using soy extract is likely to bolster the growth of the globalsoy extract market. It is further found that usage of soy in cosmetics may help in acting as an anti-aging product for the skin. Aging causes skin to lose suppleness, elasticity, and firmness which, in turn triggers the occurrences of wrinkles and fine lines. Proteins and nutrients in soy extract make it a perfect solution for addressing aging skin and it has been used in China for producing anti-aging solutions for centuries now. Furthermore, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties of ginger help to reduce free radicals in the body.

Some new studies have stated that the health benefits of soy may be used to prevent or treat age-related diseases, osteoporosis, or even some types of cancers. However, it is very expensive and difficult to obtain the required amount of isoflavones and genistein from soy extracts. Soy extract also find applications in protein supplements attributing to its high protein content and other healthy vitamins. Some studies also claim that daily consumption of soy has increased the life of Asian people. The global soy extract market is poised to grow owing to all these applications and continuous research being conducted for discovering new medical abilities of soy extract.

Soy extract is obtained from soybean which is produced majorly in the United States during the year 2017-2017 according to SOPA. Soy extract is very beneficial for the women suffering from menopause as it helps in relieving the hot flashes and night sweats. Soy extract also helps to provide a relief to women who are expecting hormonal changes and provide nutritional support for healthy bones by inhibition of bone resorption. Soy has shown the super effect in Asian people who consume soy daily in their diet, it has increased the life of Asian people. Soy extract is perfect for people suffering from lactose intolerance as they can now have soymilk in place of traditional cow and buffalo milk.

Soybean production has increased by many folds according to the data provided by SOPA which is a clear indication that the demand for soy extract in the market is huge which a good news for the manufacturer is as strategies can be made to increase the revenues by the end of 2027. This market is expected to grow as more and more products enters the market.

Soy extract Market segmentation

Soy extract market is segmented on the basis of form as Beverages, Capsules, Crme, gel and powder. Soy extract is widely used as the ingredient for many products like it is used in the beverage industry for soy milk and soy drinks which are the nutritious and wonderful product for the people who are lactose intolerant. Soy extract capsules are available in the market which is very useful for women suffering from hot flashes due to menopause and are going through hormonal changes. Soy extract is also used in the cosmetic industry for making crme and gel for anti-ageing skin, to keep healthy and soft. Soy extract powder is used in protein supplements as soy is packed with high protein content and it is perfect protein supplement for vegans.

Soy extract market is segmented on the basis of application as in food market, pharmaceutical market, and cosmetics market. Soy extract has the wide range of application and can be used as the ingredient for the different-different market.

Soy extract regional outlook

Soy extract market is segmented in the key regions like North America, South America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific region, Japan, Middle-east, and Africa. The United States is the leading producer of soybean globally since last 5 years, followed by Brazil, Argentina, Canada, Paraguay, Europe, China, and India.

Soy extract Market Drivers

Soy extract has the wide range of application in the different market, this ingredient is required in ample amount by the manufacturers to produce useful products for the end users. The end user product will shape the market of soy extract and will generate revenue for the manufactures of soy extract. Major driver of soy extract market is wide of products requiring this particular ingredient and the benefits linked with the consumption of soy extract by the end users. Soy contains 40% protein, 22% fat, 25% carbohydrates, and 8% fiber making it is demanded in the food, beverages, healthcare and cosmetic market.

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Soy extract market Restraints

Restraint for soy extract market is the risk factor involved in the consumption of soy extract. Phytates in soy extracts can down regulate the absorption of basic nutrients like zinc, calcium, magnesium and iron. Another concern with soy extract is that consumption of soy extract at the high rate by men can cause feminine characters in men. So if these factors are kept under control then soy extract can be boosted.

Soy extract market key players

The key players of soy extract market identified in this value chain are Natrol LLC, Beiersdorf Australia Limited, Novaforme, Alpro, WhiteWave Services Inc., and Life Extension. These players are making strategies to be on the top of Soy extract market by the end of 2027 and are forecasted to gain great revenues during the term of 2017-2027 keeping the high demand in mind.

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Soy extract Market- Forward-Looking Perspective on Different Factors Driving the Growth of the Industry - News Cast Report

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Novartis is in discussion with patient groups over its lottery-style free drug program for its multi-million-dollar gene therapy for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) after criticism that the process could be unfair to some babies with the deadly disease.

FILE PHOTO: The company's logo is seen at the new cell and gene therapy factory of Swiss drugmaker Novartis in Stein, Switzerland, November 28, 2019. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

The company said on Friday that it will be open to refining the process in the future, but it is not making any changes at this time. The program is for patients in countries where the medicine, called Zolgensma, is not yet approved for the rare genetic disorder, which can lead to death and profound physical disabilities.

At $2.1 million per patient, Zolgensma is the worlds costliest single-dose treatment.

Novartis said the program will open for submission on Jan. 2 and the first allocation of drugs would begin in February. Novartiss AveXis unit, which developed the drug, will give out 50 doses of the treatment through June for babies under 2 years old, it said on Thursday, with up to 100 total doses to be distributed through 2020.

Patient advocacy group SMA Europe had a conference call with the company on Friday, according to Kacper Rucinski, a board member of the patient and research group who was on the call.

There are a lot of ethical questions, a lot of design questions that need to be addresses. We will be trying to address them in January, Rucinski said. He said the program has no method of prioritizing who needs the treatment most, calling it a Russian roulette.

The company said it developed the plan with the help of bioethicists with an eye toward fairness.

This may feel like youre blindly passing it out, but it may be the best we can do, said Alan Regenberg, who is on the faculty at Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics and was not among the bioethicists Novartis consulted with on the decision. It may be impossible to separate people on the basis of prognosis out of the pool of kids under 2, he said.

According to Rucinski, the parties will continue their discussion in January to see what can be improved in the design of the program.

Novartis said on Thursday that because of manufacturing constraints it is focused on providing treatment to countries where the medicine is approved or pending approval. It has one licensed U.S. facility, with two plants due to come on line in 2020.

Zolgensma, hit by turmoil including data manipulation allegations and suspension of a trial over safety concerns, is the second SMA treatment, after Biogens Spinraza.

Not all of the SMA community are opposed to Novartis program.

Rajdeep Patgiri moved from the United Kingdom to the United States in April so his daughter could receive Zolgensma. She has responded well to the treatment, and Patgiri worries that negative attention to the program could keep patients from receiving the drug.

The best outcome for all patients would be if everybody could get the treatment. Given all the constraints, a lottery is probably the fairest way to determine who receives the treatment, he said.

Reporting by Michael Erman; Additional reporting by John Miller in Zurich; Editing by Leslie Adler

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Novartis in talks with patients upset about lottery-like gene therapy giveaway - Reuters

Roche obtains the exclusive right to launch and commercialize SRP-9001 outside the United States

At closing, Sarepta will receive an upfront payment of $1.15 billion, comprising $750 million in cash and $400 million in Sarepta stock, priced at $158.59 per share of common stock

Additionally, Sarepta is eligible to receive up to $1.7 billion in regulatory and sales milestones, plus royalties on net sales

Sarepta will continue to be responsible for clinical development and manufacturing of SRP-9001 with global clinical development costs shared equally with Roche

Sarepta will host a conference call on Monday, Dec. 23 at 08:30 a.m. ET

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Dec. 23, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRPT), the leader in precision genetic medicine for rare diseases, today announced that Sarepta and Roche have entered into a licensing agreement providing Roche exclusive commercial rights to SRP-9001 (AAVrh74.MHCK7.micro-dystrophin), Sareptas investigational gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), outside the United States. Under the agreement, Sarepta will receive $1.15 billion in an upfront payment and an equity investment; up to $1.7 billion in regulatory and sales milestones; and royalties on net sales, anticipated to be in the mid-teens. In addition, Roche and Sarepta will equally share global development expenses. Sarepta retains all rights to SRP-9001 in the United States.

The collaboration combines Sareptas leading gene therapy candidate for DMD with Roches global reach, commercial presence and regulatory expertise to accelerate access to SRP-9001 for patients outside the United States. DMD is an X-linked rare degenerative neuromuscular disorder causing severe progressive muscle loss and premature death. SRP-9001, currently in clinical development for DMD, is designed to deliver the micro-dystrophin-encoding gene directly to the muscle tissue for the targeted production of the micro-dystrophin protein.

As a mission-driven organization, we are inspired to partner with Roche with the goal of bringing SRP-9001 to patients outside the United States. This collaboration will not only increase the speed with which SRP-9001 could benefit DMD patients outside the United States, but will also greatly expand the scope of territories within which we could potentially launch SRP-9001 and improve and save lives, said Doug Ingram, president and chief executive officer, Sarepta. In addition to the validation that comes from joining forces with Roche, this licensing agreement one of the most significant ex-U.S. licensing transactions in biopharma will provide Sarepta with the resources and focus to accelerate our gene therapy engine and, if successful, bring SRP-9001 to patients as quickly as possible, potentially transforming the lives of countless DMD patients across the globe.

Said James Sabry, Head of Roche Pharma Partnering, We are excited to enter this licensing agreement with Sarepta. By working together to provide SRP-9001 to patients, we hope to fundamentally transform the lives of patients and families living with this devastating disorder for which there are currently only limited treatment options.

As part of the agreement, Sarepta will continue to be responsible for the global development plan and manufacturing build out for SRP-9001. Through its leading hybrid manufacturing platform, Sarepta will remain responsible for manufacturing of clinical and commercial supplies. Sarepta has also granted Roche an option to acquire ex-U.S. rights to certain future DMD-specific programs, in exchange for separate milestone and royalty considerations, and cost sharing.

The closing of the transaction is subject to the expiration or termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 and other customary conditions. The parties anticipate that the agreement will close in the first quarter of 2020.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC is acting as the lead financial advisor to Sarepta. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC is also serving as a financial advisor and Ropes & Gray LLP is serving as legal advisor to Sarepta.

Conference Call InformationThe conference call may be accessed by dialing (844) 534-7313 for domestic callers and (574) 990-1451 for international callers. The passcode for the call is 2077714. Please specify to the operator that you would like to join the Sarepta Therapeutics Conference Call. The conference call will be webcast live under the investor relations section of Sareptas website at http://www.sarepta.com and will be archived there following the call for 90 days. Please connect to Sareptas website several minutes prior to the start of the broadcast to ensure adequate time for any software download that may be necessary.

AboutSarepta TherapeuticsSarepta is at the forefront of precision genetic medicine, having built an impressive and competitive position in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and more recently in gene therapies for limb-girdle muscular dystrophy diseases (LGMD), Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT), MPS IIIA and other CNS-related disorders, totaling over 20 therapies in various stages of development. The Companys programs and research focus span several therapeutic modalities, including RNA, gene therapy and gene editing. Sarepta is fueled by an audacious but important mission: to profoundly improve and extend the lives of patients with rare genetic-based diseases. For more information, please visit http://www.sarepta.com.

Sarepta Forward-Looking StatementThis press release contains forward-looking statements. Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Words such as believes, anticipates, plans, expects, will, intends, potential, possible and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include but are not limited to statements regarding the closing of the transaction; Sareptas right to receive any upfront payment or equity investment from Roche pursuant to the agreement; Sareptas right to receive regulatory and sales milestones, and royalty payments from Roche pursuant to the agreement; Roches obligation to share global development expenses pursuant to the agreement; the continued development and manufacturing of SRP-9001; SRP-9001 expected delivery of micro-dystrophin-encoding gene directly to the muscle tissue and the expected production of the micro-dystrophin protein; the expected increased speed with which SRP-9001 could benefit patients outside the United States and expansion of territories within which Sarepta could launch SRP-9001; the expectation that the licensing agreement will provide Sarepta with the resources and focus to accelerate its gene therapy engine and potentially bringing SRP-9001 to patients as quickly as possible and transforming the lives of countless DMD patients across the globe; potential regulatory approvals of SRP-9001; and the potential launch and commercialization of SRP-9001.

These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Sareptas control. Known risk factors include, among others, market conditions, the expected benefits and opportunities related to the licensing agreement may not be realized or may take longer to realize than expected due to a variety of reasons, including any inability of the parties to perform their commitments and obligations under the agreement, challenges and uncertainties inherent in product research and development and manufacturing limitations; success in preclinical testing and early clinical trials, especially if based on a small patient sample, does not ensure that later clinical trials will be successful, and early results from a clinical trial do not necessarily predict final results; our data for SRP-9001 may not be sufficient for obtaining regulatory approval; Sarepta may not be able to execute on its business plans, including meeting its expected or planned regulatory milestones and timelines, research and clinical development plans, and bringing SRP-9001 to market, for various reasons, some of which may be outside of Sareptas control, including possible limitations of company financial and other resources, manufacturing limitations that may not be anticipated or resolved for in a timely manner, and regulatory, court or agency decisions; and those risks identified under the heading Risk Factors in Sareptas most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018 and most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as well as other SEC filings made by the Company which you are encouraged to review.

Any of the foregoing risks could materially and adversely affect the Companys business, results of operations and the trading price of Sareptas common stock. We caution investors not to place considerable reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Sarepta does not undertake any obligation to publicly update its forward-looking statements based on events or circumstances after the date hereof.

Internet Posting of Information

We routinely post information that may be important to investors in the For Investors section of our website atwww.sarepta.com. We encourage investors and potential investors to consult our website regularly for important information about us.

Source: Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc.

Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc.

Investors:Ian Estepan, 617-274-4052iestepan@sarepta.com

Media:Tracy Sorrentino, 617-301-8566tsorrentino@sarepta.com

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Sarepta Therapeutics Announces Partnership with Roche in Territories Outside the United States for its Investigational Micro-dystrophin Gene Therapy...

MONTPELLIER, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regulatory News:

Sensorion (Paris:ALSEN) (FR0012596468 ALSEN / PEA-PME eligible) a pioneering clinical-stage biotech company which specializes in the development of novel therapies to restore, treat and prevent within the field of hearing loss disorders, announces that the French government has awarded the PATRIOT consortium a Structuring Research and Development Project for Competitiveness (Projet de recherche et dveloppement Structurant pour la Comptitivit - PSPC) non-dilutive funding. This grant will be used to finance the development of SENS-401 in SSNHL, including work by Institut Pasteur to identify response biomarkers. This project fits with the spirit of the strategic collaboration established between Sensorion and Institut Pasteur and announced on the 27th of May 2019. The financing is conditioned upon the execution of a financing agreement with Bpifrance within three months.

The PATRIOT consortium consists of Sensorion, the French Army Biomedical Research Center (IRBA), Institut Pasteur and Electronique du Mazet1, a French MedTech company focusing on hearing assessment and diagnostics. This project structures collaborative research and development to respond to a high unmet medical need and contributes to the development of SENS-401 as a treatment option, up to regulatory approval.

The commitment and active involvement of the French ministry of Armed Forces to this project emphasizes on a clear unmet medical need and on the necessity to have efficient diagnostics and therapeutic solutions. Auditory deficit is an invisible injury causing disabilities and potential social isolation. An epidemiological surveillance report from the French armed forces epidemiology and public health center revealed that 62% of military personnel suffered from hearing loss following an acute noise trauma over the 2014-2016 period.2

The participation of the French Army in the Phase 2 study represents the largest military trial ever conducted in France. It will be carried out in multiple military sites where patients will be recruited according to the protocol approved by an ethics committee.

We are extremely pleased to have the support of the French ministry of Armed Forces and the involvement of military personnel in our ongoing Phase 2 study. We believe their involvement significantly de-risks the overall study and increases the quality of the data we can collect. The project will receive 10.8m non-dilutive funding, staged over five years. Sensorion will receive 5.6m over the duration of the project, says Nawal Ouzren, CEO of Sensorion.

About SENS-401

SENS-401 (Arazasetron), is a drug candidate that aims to protect and preserve inner ear tissue from damage that can cause progressive or sequelar hearing impairment. A small molecule that can be taken orally or via an injection, SENS-401 has received Orphan Drug Designation in Europe for the treatment of sudden sensorineural hearing loss, and Orphan Drug Designation from the US FDA for the prevention of platinum-induced ototoxicity in pediatric population. It has received Investigational New Drug (IND) clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

About SENS-401 Phase 2 trial

The AUDIBLE-S Phase 2 is a multi-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of SENS-401 in subjects with severe or profound sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL). Included patients will receive twice a day for 4 weeks one of the following: a 43,5mg dose of SENS-401, a 29mg dose of SENS-401 or a placebo. The primary endpoint is change in pure tone audiometry PTA (dB) in the affected ear from baseline to the end of treatment visit (day 28).

About Sensorion

Sensorion is a pioneering clinical-stage biotech company, which specializes in the development of novel therapies to restore, treat and prevent within the field of hearing loss disorders. Its clinical-stage portfolio includes one Phase 2 product: SENS-401 (Arazasetron) for sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL). Sensorion has built a unique R&D technology platform to expand its understanding of the pathophysiology and etiology of inner ear related diseases enabling it to select the best targets and modalities for drug candidates. The Company has also identified biomarkers to improve diagnosis and treatment of these underserved illnesses. Sensorion has launched in the second half of 2019 two preclinical gene therapy programs aiming at correcting hereditary monogenic forms of deafness including Usher Type 1 and deafness caused by a mutation of the gene encoding for Otoferlin. The Company is uniquely placed through its platforms and pipeline of potential therapeutics to make a lasting positive impact on hundreds of thousands of people with inner ear related disorders; a significant global unmet medical need.

http://www.sensorion-pharma.com

Label: SENSORION ISIN: FR0012596468 Ticker symbol: ALSEN

Disclaimer

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements concerning Sensorion and its business. Such forward looking statements are based on assumptions that Sensorion considers to be reasonable. However, there can be no assurance that such forward-looking statements will be verified, which statements are subject to numerous risks, including the risks set forth in the "Document de reference" registration document filed with the "Autorit des Marchs Financiers" (AMF French Financial Market Authority) on September 7th, 2017 under nR.17-062 and to the development of economic conditions, financial markets and the markets in which Sensorion operates. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are also subject to risks not yet known to Sensorion or not currently considered material by Sensorion. The occurrence of all or part of such risks could cause actual results, financial conditions, performance or achievements of Sensorion to be materially different from such forward-looking statements.

This press release and the information that it contains do not constitute an offer to sell or subscribe for, or a solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for, Sensorion shares in any country. The communication of this press release in certain countries may constitute a violation of local laws and regulations. Any recipient of this press release must inform oneself of any such local restrictions and comply therewith.

1 Through its subsidiary named ECHODIA2 Traumatismes sonores aigus dans les armes - Rsultats de la surveillance pidmiologique 2014-2016 Centre dpidmiologie et de sant des armes July 12, 2018

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Sensorion Announces 5.6m Non-Dilutive Funding to Support SENS-401 Phase 2 Study in Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss; French Ministry of Armed Forces...

Charles River Labs is stumping up $380 million in cash to buy out cell therapy biomaterials producer HemaCare.

This will boost Charles Rivers work in cell therapy by adding HemaCares ability to produce human-derived cellular products for this growing market.

It supplies biomaterials, including human primary cell types, and cell processing services to support the discovery, development and manufacture of cell therapies, including allogeneic (donor-derived cells) and autologous (patient-derived cells) programs.

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This builds on the hope and hype around cell therapies like CAR-T and their capacity to hit back at certain oncology targets, namely blood cancers.

The CRO said that the deal will create a unique, comprehensive solution for cell therapy developers and manufacturers worldwide to help accelerate their critical programs from basic research and proof-of-concept to regulatory approval and commercialization.

James Foster, chairman, president and CEO Charles River, said: Cell and gene therapies are important new modalities, with an estimated 10 to 20 new product approvals per year within five years. In order to continue to enhance our ability to support our clients research efforts, particularly in biologics discovery and development, we are expanding our scientific capabilities in this emerging, high-growth market with the acquisition of HemaCare.

The addition of HemaCares innovative cell therapy products and services to our integrated, early-stage solutions will create a unique, go-to partner for clients to work with Charles River across a comprehensive cell therapy portfolio from idea to novel therapeutic.

RELATED: Charles River swoops on early-stage CRO Citoxlab

Pete van der Wal, president and CEO of HemaCare, added: We are very pleased to be joining the Charles River team, which is widely recognized as the industry-leading, early-stage contract research organization. Partnering with Charles River will strengthen the value proposition for our clients, enabling them to work seamlessly with one scientific partner to enhance the speed and efficiency with which they can advance their cell therapies. The transaction will offer compelling value to our shareholders. This is an exciting day that will usher in a new era for HemaCare and my talented colleagues.

Cell therapy is becoming a focus for biopharma, but the relatively new area requires cutting-edge tech to help nurture new research like CAR-T into an established market.

Charles River says its work in the area is currently making around $100 million a year, but it sees the addressable market for HemaCares products is expected to increase from approximately $200 million today to nearly $2 billion in 10 years and wants to be a part of that.

While spending nearly $400 million in cash (the company had a market cap of $257 million at the end of play last week, with Charles River paying a 33% premium), HemaCare is expected to immediately drive profitable revenue growth, with estimated revenue growth of at least 30% annually over the next five years, the CRO estimated.

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Charles River Labs snaps up HemaCare, eyeing the growing cell therapy market - FierceBiotech

The world awoke to the need to combat global heating

Was 2019 the year people finally started to listen to climate scientists on global heating? The previous year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had laid out the monumental challenge of limiting warming to 1.5C. Global CO2 emissions would need to halve within 12 years, and reach zero around 2050. But emissions are still rising, while UN summits make tiny steps towards agreeing how to reduce them. The emissions gap between target and reality grows ever wider and becomes ever harder to close.

This struck a chord with vast numbers of people, especially the young, who are thinking ahead to what their world could look like. Greta Thunberg kickstarted a global movement of school strikers, demanding that governments listen to the science and act as if the house is on fire. Although some countries have ramped up their own emissions cuts targets the UK now officially aims for net zero emissions by 2050 public concern and frustration has kept growing. More and more members of the public have taken extreme steps to call for urgent action on climate, with Extinction Rebellion protesters being arrested en masse and controversially keeping the issue in the news.

What if we dont turn things around quickly? Major impacts are already baked in, with glaciers melting worldwide, Greenland losing ice rapidly, and heatwaves and fires happening more often and more severely. Heavy rainfall is increasing, as is drought in some places. We already need to live with a different climate. Although some campaigners rhetoric is not scientific (we dont seriously expect 6 billion deaths), unchecked warming would still expose tens or even hundreds of millions to extreme heat stress conditions and flooding from the sea. The worst can still be avoided, but the longer we keep heating the planet, the harder it gets. Prof Richard Betts, climate scientist, University of Exeter and Met Office Hadley Centre

Right now, on top of the world, a ship is frozen into the Arctic sea ice at the north pole. The RV Polarstern is pirouetting on the spot in the dark, with no prospect of sunlight for months to come. This region of Earth, the Arctic Ocean, is still one of the most remote and inaccessible places on our planet. We know very little about what happens here during the polar night, when temperatures can easily drop to -30C, and thick sea ice crunches and bends in the darkness. But this region is critical to Earths climate, and its essential to understand more.

The Polarstern is here on a once-in-for-ever opportunity to fill that data gap. Its the centrepiece of the Mosaic expedition, probably the biggest polar expedition that will ever be launched. Twenty years from now, it may not be possible to do this: to freeze into the sea ice for an entire year and to drift inside this vast cold environment to watch and learn from the inside. Its taken 20 years to organise, and over the year of the expedition (September 2019 to September 2020), 600 scientists will rotate on and off the ship, supported by many more in research institutes around the world. There is no question that the data being gathered now will drive a revolution in our understanding of the north pole and our climate, and every one of us will be affected by what they find. Helen Czerski, physicist and oceanographer

The laws of physics can be expressed in a handful of compact equations, but their reach is simply breathtaking. A stunning demonstration of this came with our first picture of a black hole, captured by the Event Horizon Telescope.

The black hole is situated at the centre of the Messier 87 galaxy, 54m light years away. The glowing ring of radiation, emitted by tortured matter spinning through warped space-time, is already iconic. The matter is plunging towards an event horizon as big as the solar system, containing the mass of 6.5bn suns.

Remarkable aspects of the image abound. The theory of general relativity, published by Einstein a hundred years ago, predicted the existence and features of this beast remarkably well. The cataclysmic whirlpool may be beyond our imagination, but it is not beyond our mathematics.

The singularity predicted at the heart of a black hole is a different story though. That is where quantum mechanics and relativity conflict and break down. We would love to know what answers lie there, and we will be scouring the image for any clues.

Finally, the global collaboration necessary to capture the image shows we can work together on a worldwide scale to a common goal something that our science tells us we need to do more of, if we want to survive as a species and continue our exploration of the amazing universe in which we find ourselves. Jon Butterworth, professor of physics, University College London

Ebola in 2019 highlights both the achievements of scientific progress and the persistent deep-rooted challenges of improving health in the most difficult settings. The 2014 Ebola outbreak in west Africa killed more than 11,000 people and alerted the world to its dangers. It highlighted the rich worlds neglect of research and development for infectious diseases that only rarely present a global risk.

At the end of 2019 we have a licensed Ebola vaccine, another hopefully soon to be licensed, and two effective therapeutic drugs. We can now treat those infected as well as prevent spread of the disease, allowing us to move from reactive containment to primary prevention, as a result of large and innovative collaborations that demonstrate how to help develop new and effective technologies, now and in the future.

But the current outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has lasted more than 15 months and killed more than 2,000 people. Treatment and control continues to be hugely difficult in a setting characterised by political, economic and social fragility. Effective vaccines and drugs are part of what is needed for epidemic prevention, but we must continue to strive to address the fundamental causes of ill health in these settings. Anne Mills, professor of health economics and policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Remember that time when we were young, and we had those nice neat family trees about human evolution? Lucy, Homo erectus, skip a few, Neanderthals and finally us? That whole scheme has been thoroughly binned in the last decade, with more fossil discoveries and the addition of ancient DNA to the armoury. We now have less confidence in the relationships between many more members of the human family, apart from the ones whose legacy we can see in our own DNA our Neanderthal and Denisovan ancestors. Others will be found soon enough.

We remain an African species. Homo sapiens evolved in multiple places in Africa, and a few thousand left some 70,000 years ago to populate the rest of the world. But now we know that there were earlier diasporas from the motherland. This year, we discovered that we had made it all the way to Greece. Embedded in the roof of a cave in the southern Peloponnese, two crushed skulls were found by Katerina Harvati and her team, one a sprightly 170,000-year-old Neanderthal, but the other is us, Homo sapiens, and is more than 210,000 years old. This is far older and much farther afield than we had previously found. The revolution in the story of how we got here shows no signs of calming down. Dr Adam Rutherford is a geneticist and author. His book How to Argue With a Racist is out in February (W&N, 12.99)

Although announced in November 2018, the shock waves from the announcement by the Chinese scientist He Jiankui that two girls had been born from embryos that were genetically modified using genome editing have been reverberating throughout 2019, and will no doubt continue to do so for years to come. This was a misguided and badly conducted attempt to make children resistant to infection by HIV, the virus that causes Aids, by mutating the CCR5 gene, which encodes a protein expressed on the surface of white blood cells that the virus uses to gain entry. He showed disregard for normal scientific and clinical practice, ignored risks to the children born and potentially to subsequent generations.

But the work made the prospect of altering our genetic makeup more immediate rather than theoretical. It also raised concerns about where to draw the line with the possibility of not just avoiding genetic and perhaps infectious disease, but ultimately carrying out forms of enhancement. However, it had the positive benefit of stimulating debate worldwide and it has led to the launch of international efforts, notably a science academies panel to judge the science, clinical need, and the conditions that would have to be met for germline (potentially heritable) genome editing to be carried out; and a WHO-appointed committee to develop a framework of governance that can be adopted to control the use of the genome editing methods in treating or avoiding disease. Both of these efforts will report next year.

Meanwhile, the science of genome editing and its application in both the field and clinic are progressing rapidly. A novel and ingenious new method termed prime editing, published by David Liu and colleagues, can efficiently make precise, small changes in DNA, without the problems associated with earlier methods, such as those used by He Jiankui. Given that about 85% of disease-causing mutations in humans could, in theory, be corrected by prime editing, it clearly offers great promise. Ways to make animals and plants resistant to disease and to allow plants to cope with climate change have been developed using genome editing, and this year we have seen a huge jump in the number of clinical trials using the methods to treat patients with genetic diseases (somatic or non-heritable gene therapy), including cancers, blindness and sickle cell disease. Robin Lovell-Badge, group leader, the Francis Crick Institute, London

The rechargeable lithium-ion battery has helped power the global revolution in portable electronics, and, indeed, many of you will be reading this article on a mobile phone, laptop or tablet computer. In October this year, the three pioneers of the lithium-ion battery, John Goodenough from the University of Texas at Austin, Stan Whittingham from Binghamton University, New York, and Akira Yoshino from Japans Meijo University, were awarded the Nobel prize in chemistry.

For me, this award was long overdue and finally recognised an exciting area of materials chemistry. There are lots of reasons to welcome this news. For the sheer beauty of literally holding the result of their fundamental research in our hands. For the celebration of John Goodenough, who at 97 is the oldest person ever awarded any Nobel prize. For the fact that new materials lie at the heart of developing green technologies that can change the way we live and work. For spurring further development of better batteries for electric vehicles and for storing energy from wind and solar.

Perhaps most of all because it helps to shine a light on one of the most urgent challenges of our time: a low-carbon future to deal with climate change. Saiful Islam, professor of materials chemistry at the University of Bath

Menabe, a dry forest in western Madagascar, is on fire. The only habitat of the worlds smallest primate (Berthes mouse lemur) is going up in flames as hungry people, many escaping droughts in the south, clear land for agriculture (despite the area being officially protected). Worryingly, we learned in October that this is far from an isolated problem and protected areas are less effective than previously thought.

Using a global data set of population density, night-time light and agriculture, researchers compared the changes in human pressures over time in more than 12,000 protected areas with similar unprotected areas. On average, pressures have increased faster inside than outside protected areas and those in poorer countries are particularly likely to suffer higher pressures. A decade ago, governments agreed a target to increase the proportion of the globe under conservation by 2020. Next year they gather to review progress and, potentially, commit to new targets.

The evidence is clear; when it comes to protecting sites for conservation, quality matters. Designating protected areas without effective management (including support for local communities) wont stop the fires, hold back the expansions of farms, or, ultimately, protect species from extinction. Julia Jones, professor in conservation science, Bangor University

Games of hide-and-seek are among my favourite childhood memories, and I still case novel environments for good hiding places. Researchers in Germany studied how rats can learn to play hide-and-seek with humans. All the rats learned to look for the hiding experimenter and all but one learned to hide from her. The only reward the rats received was the experimenter tickling and playing with them.

The data suggests that the rats were enthusiastically engaging in the game, looking frantically for the experimenter, squeaking and executing Freudensprnge (joy jumps) when they found her. They seemed to understand what it means to hide, preferring opaque boxes rather than clear boxes, and remaining silent (no squeals) until found. Frequently when they were found, they would tease the experimenter by running away and hiding again.

Its worth bearing in mind how complex this hide-and-seek is involving changes in role (hider or seeker) and theory of mind, and its almost alarming how well these rats learned to do this, all in the absence of classic psychological rewards like food. The experimenters conclude that the rats learn to play this game for the sheer joy of playing the game, and this is disconcertingly similar to the way human children play. Sophie Scott, professor of cognitive neuroscience, University College London

Once, during an ill-judged holiday in Borneo, I tried to climb a small mountain. While I crawled, panted and coughed on the slopes, my Malaysian guide, Miki, shuffled around politely, hands in his pockets, playing football with small rocks to slow his pace enough to match mine. Unacclimatised to altitude, it took me a day and a half to get to the summit. When I asked Miki how long it would normally take him to do the same he told me that, unencumbered by tourists like me, he could run up and down the mountain in just over three hours.

The molecular mechanisms that underpin Mikis apparently superhuman adaptation to high-altitude life revolve around a family of proteins known as hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs). These substances trigger alterations in a host of genes, which together help regulate oxygen levels in the human body. Their discovery helped explain how oxygen levels could be sensed and gave scientists insight into the mechanisms that allow the body to adapt and survive when demand for oxygen greatly outstrips supply.

This year Sir Peter Ratcliffe, Gregg Semenza and William Kaelin shared a Nobel prize for their part in unpicking that mystery.

Their work informs more than ill-advised summit attempts. HIFs and the regulation of oxygen levels are together central to almost all aspects of human life, whether in health or disease. The work has already been applied to develop drugs to treat anaemia and may one day lead to new treatments for stroke, spinal cord injury, chronic inflammation and even cancer. Prof Kevin Fong is a consultant anaesthetist at University College London Hospital

My choice is a venture that failed but was a heroic failure: the Israeli effort to land a small robotic vehicle on the moon. This project, named Beresheet (Hebrew for in the beginning), was supported by private and philanthropic funding. It attracted wide interest among the young, and showed what can be achieved with hi-tech ingenuity. To minimise the weight of fuel, it didnt follow a direct track but was boosted into successively higher orbits around the Earth until it was captured by the moons gravity. It was launched on 22 February and was planned to soft-land on 10 April. But a gyroscope malfunctioned; the retro-jets didnt ignite soon enough, and it crash-landed. I highlight Beresheet because its a precursor of a new style of space ventures small scale, privately funded, and genuinely involving the public. (Indeed, Beresheet carried, as a school project, hundreds of tardigrades, microscopic water bears, which may have survived the impact.) Were moving beyond an era when all space projects must involve national agencies or large commercial conglomerates.

Groups from many nations will be able to launch follow-ups similar in concept to Beresheet. Sophisticated, privately funded miniaturised probes will gather data about the moon as well as the Earth. Some may go deeper into space, using advanced robotics, and the sophisticated electronics developed for smartphones. There will still be scope for big projects maybe even some carrying humans. But space will become an arena for independent experimenters even hobbyists. Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal

There have been so many significant science stories in 2019 that I have been spoilt for choice. I could have gone with the climate crisis (David Attenboroughs speech at Davos or Greta Thunbergs at the UN); or maybe the announcement of the first image of a black hole by scientists on the Event Horizon Telescope project, which seems to have already achieved iconic status. Or I could have chosen Googles recent announcement that they had achieved quantum supremacy with their new quantum computer. But instead, Ive gone with quirky rather than significant. In May, it was announced that the international SI units of measurement had been redefined. For example, the kilogram will no longer be compared with a cylinder of metal sitting under a bell jar outside Paris. Instead check this out it can be fixed just by knowing the frequency of vibration of an atom of caesium. That frequency defines the length of a second, which together with the speed of light defines the length of a metre, which in turn, together with knowing Plancks constant of quantum theory, allows us to calculate what a kilogram is. It is so utterly cool, but probably only fascinating to geeky physicists like me. Still, I make no apology. Jim Al-Khalili, professor of physics and public engagement in science at the University of Surrey and presenter of The Life Scientific (BBC Radio 4)

See the article here:
The science stories that shaped 2019 - The Guardian

Shares of Axovant Gene Therapies Ltd (NASDAQ:AXGT) have received a consensus rating of Buy from the eleven research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $24.72.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Zacks Investment Research upgraded Axovant Gene Therapies from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating and set a $6.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Chardan Capital raised their price objective on Axovant Gene Therapies from $10.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, October 28th.

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXGT. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Axovant Gene Therapies in the second quarter worth approximately $1,482,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its holdings in Axovant Gene Therapies by 955.3% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,221 shares of the companys stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 3,821 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its holdings in Axovant Gene Therapies by 28.8% in the 2nd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 46,455 shares of the companys stock valued at $289,000 after purchasing an additional 10,375 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC acquired a new stake in Axovant Gene Therapies during the 3rd quarter worth $65,000. 14.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Shares of Axovant Gene Therapies stock traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $5.26. The stock had a trading volume of 610,255 shares, compared to its average volume of 197,557. The stocks 50 day moving average is $5.42 and its 200 day moving average is $6.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. Axovant Gene Therapies has a twelve month low of $3.81 and a twelve month high of $19.60.

Axovant Gene Therapies (NASDAQ:AXGT) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported ($0.61) EPS for the quarter, beating the Zacks consensus estimate of ($1.15) by $0.54. As a group, equities analysts predict that Axovant Gene Therapies will post -3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Axovant Gene Therapies Company Profile

Axovant Gene Therapies Ltd., a clinical-stage gene therapy company, focuses on developing a pipeline of product candidates for debilitating neurological and neuromuscular diseases. The company's current pipeline of gene therapy candidates targets GM1 gangliosidosis, GM2 gangliosidosis, Parkinson's disease, oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and frontotemporal dementia.

Further Reading: How to build a Fibonacci channel

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Axovant Gene Therapies Ltd (NASDAQ:AXGT) Given Consensus Recommendation of Buy by Brokerages - Riverton Roll

Until recently, he and his mate who was also his daughter and half-sister on his twisted family tree were the last two island-born wolves to call it home. But when the National Park Service last year began an effort to relocate new wolves to Isle Royale to restore predator packs in the face of a fast-rising moose population, some scientists knew those wolves' days could be numbered.

They were right. The park service announced Friday that two more wolves were found dead on the island this fall killed by other wolves in what researchers are calling territorial aggression.

The remains of M183 were found in October by park staff, just before the island closed to visitors for the winter season. A month earlier, researchers monitoring the new wolves GPS trackers saw a female wolfs collar was transmitting a mortality signal. They pinpointed the location and found her remains. They belonged to a wolf known as W004F, a 3-year-old that had been one of the first wolves captured for this relocation project. She had been captured near Grand Portage in October 2018, and released near Isle Royales Siskiwit Bay.

Necropsies of both animals determined the same thing: Their wounds showed they had been killed by another wolf or wolves.

These events are not uncommon, as wolves defend and establish their territories and social hierarchy. With many wolves on the island sorting out their relationships with one another, the dynamic nature of wolf social organization, territoriality, and wolf-on-wolf aggression during group and pack formation is not unexpected," the park service said.

With the death of the island-born male, travel patterns of the remaining wolves are likely to change significantly, and probably dependent on whether or not the island-born female is still alive, whether she is territorial and how she gets along with the newcomers, both males and females," said Rolf Peterson, a research professor at Michigan Technological University and longtime wolf and moose investigator on Isle Royale. "She is the final native wolf, never radio-collared, and searching for her will be a priority during the upcoming winter study.

Last winter, research data showed there was one spot on the island the new wolves were not venturing: the territory staked out by the island-born pair.

In all, six wolves have died and one has used an ice bridge to head back to the mainland in the 15 months since the park service began its multi-year effort to bring predator packs back to Isle Royale. Of those who died, one captured wolf died of anesthesia-related stress before she could be brought to the island, and another wolf that had been on Isle Royale for weeks died of pneumonia, park officials have said. One wolf caught in the U.P. this fall died within days of his release on the island.

These last two deaths bring the islands wolf population down to 15: seven females and eight males. These include the last native-born female and 14 new wolves that hail from Minnesota, Michigans Upper Peninsula, mainland Ontario, Canada, and Michipicoten Island in northeastern Lake Superior, Ontario, Canada.

Some see M183u2032s death as a chance for a new angle on the plethora of data researchers are collecting. Tracking collars on the new wolves are allowing scientists to map where they are traveling on the island archipelago, which sits about 60 miles northwest of Michigans U.P. mainland. What they are killing and eating is also being studied. Researchers are looking at everything from bones at kill sites to piles of wolf scat.

We have a unique opportunity to look simultaneously at the past and future of Isle Royale wolves genetic health. With the death of M183, we can now more fully understand how genetic isolation and inbreeding impacted the historic wolf population and use that to better monitor the new founders," said Dr. Kristin Brzeski, a wildlife geneticist at Michigan Tech, whom the park service has partnered with to sequence the Isle Royale wolf genome for long-term monitoring of the populations genetic health.

"This is an exciting time and we will be using cutting-edge genetic tools to track reproduction, inbreeding, and genetic change through time, hopefully providing a piece of the puzzle for maintaining a thriving Isle Royale wolf population, she said.

In addition to the decadeslong wolf/moose study ongoing on the island by Michigan Tech, other research teams from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry Multiple are using the wolves GPS data to study if and how wolves are traveling in groups, and to identify any packs that eventually form.

We are using everything we can in our toolbox to track how this population interacts with each other, prey and the landscape. Well continue to learn as much as we can moving forward to help with the decision to add wolves as needed to meet project objectives and document ecosystem effects," said Mark Romanski, NPS project coordinator and Division Chief of Natural Resources at Isle Royale.

The wolf relocation effort began in the fall of 2018. Its a three-to-five year plan to bring up to 30 new wolves onto the island, where more than 2,000 moose are chewing their way through its forests. The concern is that a huge moose population will deforest this island wilderness, which in the warmer months draws hikers, backpackers and paddlers to enjoy its trails and bays.

Years ago, there were up to 50 wolves in different packs on Isle Royale. But a combination of inbreeding, accidents and disease caused their numbers to dwindle to just two island-born wolves.

The goal of creating strong, healthy wolf packs on this remote island means the NPS is trying to establish a good genetic stew, demonstrated by how they are trapping wolves from various points around the Great Lakes and bringing them together on Isle Royale. The hope is that with these new arrivals, the genetic problems that doomed the islands past wolves wont be replayed.

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Isle Royale's last native male wolf among 2 killed by new wolves - Duluth News Tribune

Wolves brought to Isle Royale National Park to bolster predators on the island have killed one, if not both, of the resident wolves/NPS file

Wolves moved to Isle Royale National Park to help balance the burgeoning moose population there have killed a male wolf that was one of the last two island-born wolves in the park, and it's possible they also killed the other, a female.

In October, just prior to island closing to the public for winter, park staff came across the remains of a male wolf, M183, one of the two remaining uncollared resident wolves inhabiting Isle Royale prior to wolf recovery efforts. A necropsy revealed that M183 had been killed by another wolf or wolves.

These events are not uncommon as wolves defend and establish their territories and social hierarchy, park staff said. With many wolves on the island sorting out their relationships with one another, the dynamic nature of wolf social organization, territoriality, and wolf-on-wolf aggression during group and pack formation is not unexpected.

"With the death of the island-born male, travel patterns of the remaining wolves are likely to change significantly, and probably dependent on whether or not the island-born female is still alive, whether she is territorial and how she gets along with the newcomers, both males and females," said Rolf Peterson, a research professor at Michigan Technological University and long-time wolf and moose investigator on Isle Royale. "She is the final native wolf, never radio-collared, and searching for her will be a priority during the upcoming winter study."

Researchers monitoring the relocated wolves' GPS collar signals identified a second wolf mortality event this fall. In September, researchers and park staff recovered the remains of female W004F. Field evidence and subsequent necropsy at the U.S. Geological Survey National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin, determined she died from wounds caused by another wolf or wolves.

Meanwhile,National Park Service biologists andresearch partners from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry have been following the GPS data to monitor associations between individuals and identify possible pack formation. As researchers and park staff anticipated, new wolves immediately began interacting with each other. Researchers confirmed introduced wolves were feeding, traveling, sleeping in proximity to each other, and forming groups.

A wolf group is characterized by two or more wolves traveling and feeding together. Wolf groups are further defined as a pack if groups of two or more wolves are traveling together and/or defending a territory, and if a breeding pair reproduces. Individual preferences for mating and group or pack formation can be quite variable for a social animal like the wolf. Mate selection and pair bond formation can occur at any time, a park release said, but wolves only breed and produce pups once per year. Consequently, pack formation can take time. Based on these definitions, there are currently no wolf packs on Isle Royale.

GPS collar data shows three wolves, a female and two males, have been traveling, feeding, and bedding together since March 2019 (W001F, W007M, and W013M). This is the first wolf group to form and remain associated since introduction efforts began. Additionally, two male wolves shared bed sites and carcasses over the summer with several different female wolves, but their associations lack consistency and are currently not defined as wolf groups. Two female wolves shared bed site areas in July, but are also not considered a group. Loose associations are common when smaller prey items like moose calves, beaver and snowshoe hare are abundant on the landscape. These animals are easy prey for a single wolf.

Dr. Jerry Belant, Campfire Conservation Fund Professor at SUNY-ESF and project collaborator, said, Wolves are a highly social species and we continue to monitor their movements to document groups, and ultimately pack formations as demonstrated by reproduction.We developed a public online tool,https://belantlab.shinyapps.io/wolf-networks/based on these analyses to understand potential associations among these wolves and the areas they occupy.

Summer wolf location cluster investigations documented 122 instances of two or more wolves with overlapping space use. Twenty-nine cases (23.8 percent) of space use overlap were associated with prey remains and feeding behavior, 68 percent were associated with bed sites, and wolf use for the remaining 7.4 percent of sites was unknown or could not be determined.

Researchers continue to monitor location data weekly for evidence the three newest wolves, released on the island in September, are adjusting to their new homes, interacting and forming associations. These wolves are interacting with each other (W017M and W018F were traveling together in late November) and with the wolves released last spring (W018F and W016M traveled together in early November).

National Park Service staff and their collaborators will continue to monitor the interactions, group formation, and genetic diversity of new wolves over winter and spring to document breeding (January/February) and denning (April/May) activity in Isle Royales wolf population. Closely monitoring social organization will provide insights into the genetic health of the population. The NPS has partnered with Dr. Kristin Brzeski, wildlife geneticist at MTU, to sequence the Isle Royale wolf genome for long-term monitoring of genetic health of the population.

We have a unique opportunity to look simultaneously at the past and future of Isle Royale wolves genetic health. With the death of M183, we can now more fully understand how genetic isolation and inbreeding impacted the historic wolf population and use that to better monitor the new founders. This is an exciting time and we will be using cutting-edge genetic tools to track reproduction, inbreeding, and genetic change through time, hopefully providing a piece of the puzzle for maintaining a thriving Isle Royale wolf population, said Dr. Brzeski.

Multiple lines of investigations regarding this population will help the NPS evaluate the success of the project over the next few years.

We are using everything we can in our toolbox to track how this population interacts with each other, prey and the landscape. Well continue to learn as much as we can moving forward to help with the decision to add wolves as needed to meet project objectives and document ecosystem effects, said Mark Romanski, the NPS project coordinator and division chief of natural resources at Isle Royale.

The current wolf population in the park includes seven females and eight males. All introduced wolves are from the Great Lakes Region, translocated from northeastern Minnesota (W001F), the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (W017M, W018F, W019M), mainland Ontario, Canada (W005F, W016M), and Michipicoten Island in northeastern Lake Superior, Ontario, Canada (W007M, W009M, W010M, W011F, W012M, W013M, W014F and W015F).

Excerpt from:
Wolves Relocated To Isle Royale National Park Kill Resident Wolf - National Parks Traveler

On December 22, 1997, the FDA approved Propecia, a once-a-day pill for combating the genetic condition known as male pattern baldness.

The supposed link between hair and virility dates back to at least the Biblical story of Samson. Advertisements touting supposed baldness cure-alls flourished during the 19th century, and absolutely blossomed during the TV age.

As for Propecia, a prescription-only pill, it CAN slow hair loss, or even promote limited hair growth among some men, but in a bitter irony it can adversely affect virility in some who take it as well.

Definitely ask your doctor, would be our best advice.

Far from camouflaging their hair loss, some bald but bold men have always embraced it. Way back in 1985, our late colleague Bob Simon paid a visit to a Bald-Headed Men of America convention. "If you don't have it, flaunt it!" said one participant.

And in 2004 our John Blackstone dropped in for lunch at a bald-friendly restaurant in Lodi, California. There's even a bald guy's menu the less hair, the bigger the discount!

Treat it, hide it, or flaunt it ... more than enough options for any bald man to try to wrap his head around.

Story produced by Robert Marston.

2019 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Almanac: On December 22, 1997, the FDA approved Propecia, a once-a-day pill for combating the genetic condition known as male pattern baldness - CBS...

In the forest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, scientists noticed something odd happening among wild bonobos. Females were behaving like males during competition over other females aggressively getting in the way of some copulations.

When the scientists analyzed the bonobos genes, the results, reported in May 2019, led to even more questions: The fussing female bonobos turned out to be the adult males mothers.

This is #11 on Inverses 20 most incredible stories about our planet from 2019.

Martin Surbeck, study author and research group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, explained to Inverse at the time that further observations revealed that the mothers were actually helping out their sons in active and passive ways.

Aside from the fighting, the moms sometimes physically pulled their sons into close spatial proximity with females in heat, taking helicopter parenting to a whole new level. In a more subtle move, those bonobo moms with high social rankings lent their clout to their sons, allowing them better mating opportunities. Bonobos live in matriarchal societies, so an endorsement from mom can mean a lot.

The meddling appears to pay off. Male bonobos who lived in close proximity to their moms were approximately 3 times more likely to sire offspring than males who did not. Moms may want to make sure their sons get out there in order to ensure that their genetic line continues, the researchers theorize.

But what works for bonobos doesnt work for all primates. While the effectiveness of human mother matchmakers is still up for debate, the team also evaluated how helpful chimpanzee moms were at getting their sons laid. They found that though chimp moms did want to meddle just as much as the bonobo moms, they should probably stay out of romance: The sons of match-making chimp moms were 1.26 times less likely to sire offspring than the sons of more hands-off mothers.

As 2019 draws to a close, Inverse is revisiting the years 20 most incredible stories about our planet. Some are gross, some are fascinating, and others are truly incredible. This has been #11. Read the original article here.

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Science confirms: Moms meddle in their children's love lives - Inverse

Basel, 23 December 2019 - Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) and Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRPT), today announced the signing of a licensing agreement providing Roche exclusive commercial rights to SRP-9001 (AAVrh74.MHCK7.micro-dystrophin), Sareptas investigational gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), outside the United States. Under the terms of the agreement, Sarepta will receive an upfront payment of $750million in cash and $400million in equity. In addition, Sarepta is eligible to receive regulatory and sales milestones, and royalties on net sales. Roche and Sarepta will equally share global development expenses.

This collaboration demonstrates Roche's commitment to gene therapy and its transformational potential for patients. It combines Roches global reach, commercial presence and regulatory expertise with Sareptas gene therapy candidate for DMD to accelerate access to SRP-9001 for patients outside the United States. DMD is an X-linked rare degenerative neuromuscular disorder causing severe progressive muscle loss and premature death. SRP-9001, currently in clinical development for DMD, is designed to deliver the microdystrophin-encoding gene directly to the muscle tissue for the targeted production of the microdystrophin protein.

Commenting on this new collaboration James Sabry, head of Roche Pharma Partnering said, We are excited to enter this licensing agreement with Sarepta. By working together to provide SRP-9001 to patients, we hope to fundamentally transform the lives of patients and families living with this devastating disorder for which there are currently only limited treatment options.

Doug Ingram, president and chief executive officer, Sarepta, said, As a mission-driven organization, we are inspired to partner with Roche with the goal of bringing SRP-9001 to patients outside the United States. This collaboration will not only increase the speed with which SRP-9001 could benefit patients outside the United States, but will also greatly expand the scope of territories within which we could potentially launch SRP-9001 to improve and save lives.

As part of the agreement, Roche also obtains an option to acquire ex-U.S. rights to certain future DMD-specific programs from Sarepta, in exchange for separate milestone and royalty considerations, and cost sharing.

The transaction is subject to the expiration or termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 and other customary conditions. The parties anticipate that the agreement will close in the first quarter of 2020.

About RocheRoche is a global pioneer in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics focused on advancing science to improve peoples lives. The combined strengths of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics under one roof have made Roche the leader in personalised healthcare a strategy that aims to fit the right treatment to each patient in the best way possible.

Roche is the worlds largest biotech company, with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, immunology, infectious diseases, ophthalmology and diseases of the central nervous system. Roche is also the world leader in in vitro diagnostics and tissue-based cancer diagnostics, and a frontrunner in diabetes management.

Founded in 1896, Roche continues to search for better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat diseases and make a sustainable contribution to society. The company also aims to improve patient access to medical innovations by working with all relevant stakeholders. More than thirty medicines developed by Roche are included in the World Health Organization Model Lists of Essential Medicines, among them life-saving antibiotics, antimalarials and cancer medicines. Moreover, for the eleventh consecutive year, Roche has been recognised as one of the most sustainable companies in the Pharmaceuticals Industry by the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI).

The Roche Group, headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, is active in over 100 countries and in 2018 employed about 94,000 people worldwide. In 2018, Roche invested CHF 11 billion in R&D and posted sales of CHF 56.8 billion. Genentech, in the United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group. Roche is the majority shareholder in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan. For more information, please visit http://www.roche.com.

About Duchenne Muscular DystrophyDMD is an X-linked rare degenerative neuromuscular disorder causing severe progressive muscle loss and premature death. One of the most common fatal genetic disorders, DMD affects approximately one in every 3,500 - 5,000 male births worldwide.

All trademarks used or mentioned in this release are protected by law.

Roche Group Media RelationsPhone: +41 61 688 8888 / e-mail: media.relations@roche.com- Nicolas Dunant (Head)- Patrick Barth- Daniel Grotzky- Karsten Kleine- Nathalie Meetz- Barbara von Schnurbein

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Roche enters licensing agreement with Sarepta Therapeutics to improve the lives of patients living with Duchenne muscular dystrophy - GlobeNewswire

Thousands of years ago, a young Neolithic woman in what is now Denmark chewed on a piece of birch pitch. DNA analysis of this prehistoric "chewing gum" has now revealed, in remarkable detail, what she looked like.

The team nicknamed the young Neolithic woman "Lola" after Lolland, the island in Denmark on which the 5,700-year-old chewing gum was discovered. The Stone Age archaeological site, Syltholm, on the island of Lolland, pristinely preserved the gum in mud for the thousands of years after Lola discarded it.

It was so well-preserved that a group of scientists at the University of Copenhagen were able to extract a complete ancient human genome all of the young girl's genetic material from it. They were also able to extract DNA from ancient pathogens and oral microbes that she carried in her mouth.

Related: In Images: An Ancient European Hunter Gatherer

This is the first time that an entire human genome was extracted from something other than human bones, according to a statement from the University of Copenhagen. The team's analysis revealed that the chewer of the prehistoric gum was female, and likely had dark skin, dark hair and blue eyes. They found that Lola's genes matched more closely to hunter-gatherers from the European mainland than those who lived in central Scandinavia at the time.

The ancient chewing gum also held traces of plant and animal DNA, such as DNA from hazelnuts and duck, which might have been part of Lola's diet, according to the statement. Finally, scientists found genes associated with "lactase non-persistence," meaning Lola likely didn't digest dairy very well.

Other previous archeological finds from the site had suggested "that the people who occupied the site were heavily exploiting wild resources well into the Neolithic, which is the period when farming and domesticated animals were first introduced into southern Scandinavia," lead author Theis Jensen, a postdoctoral fellow from the Globe Institute at the University of Copenhagen, said in the statement.

Finally, the researchers found DNA from oral microbes in the chewing gum, including DNA that could belong to the Epstein-Barr virus, which causes mononucleosis, otherwise known as "mono" or the "kissing disease."

The birch pitch is a blackish-brown substance that's created by heating up birch bark. This substance has been used since the Paleolithic era as glue for hafting stone tools, according to the statement.

But previously, pieces of birch pitch have been found with tooth marks, so archeologists think that as the pitch cools and solidified, it was chewed to make it moldable again before using it to glue.

Other theories suggest that people chewed the slightly antiseptic birch pitch to relieve toothaches or other illnesses. Birch pitch might also have been used for toothbrushing, to suppress hunger or even just for fun as chewing gum, according to the statement.

Ancient "chewing gums" are a relatively new source of DNA to analyze, and can help reveal the microbiome of our ancestors. It may also help explain how bacteria and viruses have changed over time.

"It can help us understand how pathogens have evolved and spread over time, and what makes them particularly virulent in a given environment," senior author Hannes Schroeder, an associate professor from the Globe Institute at the University of Copenhagen, said in a statement. "At the same time, it may help predict how a pathogen will behave in the future, and how it might be contained or eradicated."

The findings were published on Dec. 17 in the journal Nature Communications.

Originally published on Live Science.

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This Is 'Lola,' a 5,700-Year-Old Woman Whose Entire Life Is Revealed in Her 'Chewing Gum' - Livescience.com

FROM genotyping and repronomics to datasets for hard-to-measure traits both on and off-farm, the next era of genetic improvement in Australian red meat involves cutting-edge technology and science barely even imagined in the not-too-distant past.

Success, however, will be in closely linking genetic progress in beef and sheep to consumer outcomes, along with the ability to effect culture change both on-farm and further along the supply chain to drive adoption and return value to livestock producers.

This is the belief of those at the wheel of the National Livestock Genetics Consortium, a skills-based taskforce set up three years ago to provide a formal industry consultation platform for the investment in livestock genetics led by researchers and key industry stakeholders.

DNA WORK: Genotyping - providing reliable DNA tools for improving the accuracy of selection for traits that are hard to measure - is a big theme in the research.

The NLGC is on track to increasing the value of genetics to the red meat industry by $400 million by 2022, through doubling the rate of annual genetic gain in the commercial livestock industry value chain.

To date, it has invested in 55 projects with cultural change to drive adoption and consumer outcomes the high priorities.

NLGC executive officer Michael Crowley said the investment portfolio was mapped across a number of different areas which all focussed on improving the accuracy of selection decisions producers make.

The majority of the portfolio currently focuses on both maintaining and building the essential reference populations needed to provide DNA tools to industry and enhance selection accuracy, he said.

"Examples are the hard-to-measure traits like fertility, new traits like net feed intake and carcase quantity and quality traits like intra-muscular fat and shear force," he said.

Cultural change - that is improvement in the acceptability, trust and use of genetic tools and technologies - will be crucial to realising the full potential of genetics work, the NLGC believes.

Adoption of genetic tools is currently lower than desired, said Meat & Livestock Australia's program manager for adoption David Packer.

The plan for genetics adoption hones in on demonstrating value and growing demand, pathways to learning, simplifying the language and tools and embedding adoption into R&D.

Projects currently underway which address culture change include proof of profit in northern beef, a review of valuing phenotypes and developing technologies to make recording measurements easier for stud producers.

Projects to simplify the process and language of selecting a sire, particularly for commercial producers are also happening. MLA released a genetics marketing campaign in June targeted at commercial producers.

Seamless transfer of information and provision of easy-to-use data sharing products and services will also be critical to future genetic gains.

"The goal here is an accessible data platform, which allows data collected across various R&D projects to be searchable, linkable and re-usable for the future," Mr Packer said.

Linking genetics to consumer outcomes is an ongoing priority.

"The focus is on developing traits that influence improved eating quality outcomes for consumers into a breeding value. This has successfully ensured we can provide tools (through genetic evaluations) for producers to rely on when selecting for both carcase quantity and quality within their flock or herd, and accordingly improved consumer outcomes without negatively impacting productivity," said Hamish Chandler, MLA's livestock genetics program manager.

There are currently 12 cattle and six sheep projects underway which collect both on-farm and off-farm measurements to reinforce the linking of genetics to consumer outcomes.

These include the Beef Information Nucleus (BIN) herds, a retail beef yield project providing predictions before slaughter and upcoming work linking genomics to Meat Standards Australia grading.

In sheep, research is developing technologies to underpin objective measurement and value based marketing.

Cut-based MSA lamb, for example, will underpin supply and price signals.

"Another example is the MLA Resource Flock which is designed to better capture eating quality measurements and consumer sensory data," Mr Chandler said.

"This will lead to more accurate breeding values for eating quality, allowing producers to better select animals which perform for both the producer, in terms of productivity, and the consumer, in terms of eating quality."

Looking ahead, R&D that will continue to focus on linking genetics to consumer outcomes includes sustainability and welfare traits and improved phenotype collection technologies.

The big areas in the research that will deliver the ambitious $400m goal include genotyping, repronomics and BIN projects.

Genotyping is developing and providing reliable DNA tools for improving the accuracy of selection for traits that are hard to measure.

There were now more than 50 000 Merino animals with a genotype used in the genetic evaluation and more than 21,000 of these had been added in the last nine months, Mr Chandler said.

Maternal and terminal breeds have seen similar rates of adoption of genomics.

"Genomics allows a breeder to select animals at a younger age with a higher level of precision, therefore driving genetic gain. It also allows more accurate selection of hard-to-measure traits or traits that are measured later in life, such as eating quality and adult traits respectively," he said.

"In terminal breeds, there is evidence that producers have been able to dramatically improve the rate of progress for eating quality traits through the uptake of genomic technologies."

The flock profile test has allowed commercial ram buyers to use genomics commercially to genetically benchmark their flocks, ultimately leading to more informed decisions around purchasing rams with Australian Sheep Breeding Values (ASBVs) coupled with the sire selection tool RamSelect.

"While reproduction trait improvements cannot yet be attributed to genotyping, we have seen significant improvement within some breed groups and individual flocks towards eating quality traits without detriment to productivity traits," Mr Chandler said.

Repronomics is the intensive recording of early-in-life female reproduction phenotypes using real-time ultrasound across tropical breeds with the aim of providing crucial data for boosting the accuracy of selection for reproduction, particularly in young bulls.

The BIN projects, run with breed societies, are about the development of the datasets necessary for reliable breeding values for traits that are not well measured within industry.

Seamless transfer of information and provision of easy-to-use data sharing products will be critical.

The story Next era of genetic gain first appeared on Farm Online.

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The next era of genetic improvement - Farm Weekly

People often ask me how I select the nominees for best biopharma CEO of the year an honorific that Ive been giving out since 2008. The winnowing process starts with public companies private company CEOs are not considered. (Sorry, startup CEOs, you need to grow up first.) Delivering significant value to shareholders is very important. Beyond that, the process gets more subjective. Theres no algorithm, spreadsheet, or fancy analysis that spits out definitive answers. I solicit potential nominees via social media and ask some trusted sources for advice, but the final list relies a lot on my gut and experience. A big jump in stock price is nice, but how was the outperformance delivered and why? Is there a compelling story behind the achievement?

This years best biopharma CEO finalists four in total come from a list of just over two dozen names. Congratulations to them all. There were two or three worthy candidates who were close but didnt quite make the cut. Apologies, but perhaps next year.

Perhaps next year we can also see a better gender balance; the industry, despite talking the talk lately on diversity, has precious few women CEOs. Emma Walmsley of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is the only female CEO among the 25 largest drug makers. Next year, Reshma Kewalramani will join Walmsley when she takes over the top job at Vertex (VRTX) Pharmaceuticals.

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As in previous years, youll have the opportunity to vote for your favorite CEO at the end of this post. Our champion will be announced on Friday. Oh, and stay tuned for my list of the worst CEO nominees, coming Tuesday

Doubt Global Blood CEO Ted Love at your peril. Thats a good lesson coming out of 2019.

Love said he was going to develop a drug that treats sickle cell disease in an entirely new way. Done. Love said he was going to raise much-needed awareness of sickle cell disease and bring patients into the decision-making process on clinical trial design and endpoints that mattered. Done. Love said he was going to convince the FDA that the traditional review methodology for approving a sickle cell drug was not the only way. Done.

The only thing Love didnt promise was that the FDA would approve Global Bloods sickle cell drug three months faster than expected. But thats what happened. The newly approved drug is called Oxbryta. Love delivers and then surprises.

I doubted Love at various times over the past year and he proved me wrong. Im not making that mistake again.

This is Marganores second best biopharma CEO nomination. In 2017, I chose him as a finalist for steering Alnylam to its first Phase 3 clinical trial win with a drug that works via RNA interference, a technology that uses snippets of genetic code to shut down disease-causing genes. That drug, Onpatrro, was approved and launched commercially in 2018.

Why does Maraganore deserves another slot on this hallowed list? Because a second Alnylam RNAi drug called Givlaari was approved in November, three months faster than expected. And with that approval, RNAi can no longer be dismissed as a scientific novelty, albeit one that won the Nobel Prize. RNAi is real. It works, and the direct effects can be seen in patients with rare inherited diseases who are benefiting from treatment. Maraganore deserves a lot of credit for making that happen.

Indirectly, Maraganores leadership in establishing RNAi has spawned renewed interest in RNAi-based drug development deals across the industry. There was a time when Big Pharma embraced RNAi, then abandoned the technology. Maraganore and Alnylam stuck with it. Now, smaller RNAi companies like Dicerna and Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (ARWR) are scoring lucrative partnerships with Roche (RHHBY), Alexion Pharma, Novo Nordisk (NVO), and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). The biggest RNAi deal took place at the end of November, when Novartis (NVS) announced plans to acquire The Medicines Co. for nearly $10 billion. Inclisiran, the RNAi drug at the center of the deal, was developed originally at Alnylam.

2019 was the year that Seattle Genetics became more than a one-product story. A string of clinical successes established a legit cancer pipeline that sets the drug maker up for new approvals and accelerated growth. Seattle Genetics stock price more than doubled this year, and with a $20 billion market valuation, the company is now banging on the door to the large-cap biotech club.

The long knock on Seattle Genetics has been its reliance on Adcetris, an antibody-drug conjugate approved to treat two different types of lymphoma that is not quite a commercial blockbuster. The emerging pipeline this year changed the fundamental story.

First, Seattle Genetics and partner Astellas unveiled strong clinical data and submitted a marketing application to the FDA for enfortumab vedotin, a second antibody-drug conjugate targeting bladder cancer. On top of that, the company scored a major victory with the successful outcome from a late-stage clinical trial involving its HER2-targeted breast cancer drug called tucatinib.

In July, van de Stolpe negotiated a deep research partnership with Gilead Sciences (GILD) that brought in $5.1 billion in cash and equity while still allowing Galapagos to maintain its independence.

The deal had upside for both sides. Gilead needed a pipeline recharge and had cash to spend, so it secured a preferential relationship with a highly regarded bench of European scientists and drug developers, plus ownership or option rights on more than two dozen drugs.

Galapagos received acquisition-type money without being acquired and a relationship with one of the most successful and experienced commercial companies in the industry.

Gilead and Galapagos were already collaborating on the development of filgotinib, a drug for rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases of the immune system, but the July partnership turned the relationship into something akin to what Roche had with Genentech before the two companies formerly merged. Galapagos stock price has more than doubled this year.

Heres your chance to vote:

Update: Voting was closed on Dec. 19, 2019.

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Here are the nominees for best biopharma CEO of 2019. Vote here! - STAT

Last week, The Daily Wire reported that author J.K. Rowling was smeared as a transphobe and threatened with being canceled because she spoke out in support of researcher Maya Forstater, who was fired from her job with the Centre for Global Development for saying that while transgender individuals can change their outward appearance, male-to-female transgenders remain male and can never be, biologically, women.

What I am so surprised at is that smart people who I admire, who are absolutely pro-science in other areas, and champion human rights & womens rights are tying themselves in knots to avoid saying the truth that men cannot change into women (because that might hurt mens feelings), Forstater said, originally.

Dress however you please, the Harry Potter author replied on social media. Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult wholl have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? #IStandWithMaya #ThisIsNotADrill

Forstaters case is particularly egregious. Not only was she terminated from her position for articulating scientific facts, but when she brought a case against her former employer to a tribunal in the U.K., which found not just that CGD was justified in firing Forstater, but that Forstaters basic beliefs that men can never become biological women was harmful, even if Forstater was simply saying what she believed.

Paying due regard to the qualified right to freedom of expression, people cannot expect to be protected if their core belief involves violating others dignity, the court said. Forstaters absolutist views on the subject of gender were actually violent, the court found, and her opinion violates their dignity and/or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.

Rowling met with a torrent of abuse for her statement, with LGBTQ+ activists and their allies across the spectrum, threatening Rowlings livelihood, and demanding that she apologize and admit that she was in error when she spoke out in support of someone who merely acknowledges biological and genetic reality.

GLAAD has been among Rowlings most vocal critics, often saying on social media that Rowling is putting transgender individuals at risk because she refuses to believe men can be considered women for the purposes of things like privacy and sport. On Friday, the pro-LGBTQ rights group put out a statement blasting Rowling and challenging her to meet with transgender activists and cherry-picked scientists in order to expand her worldview.

In other words, Rowling should submit to indoctrination and bullying until she agrees that male-to-female transgender individuals are, indeed, women.

J.K. Rowling, whose books gave kids hope that they could work together to create a better world, has now aligned herself with an anti-science ideology that denies the basic humanity of people who are transgender, the groups head of talent said in a statement, according to Variety. Trans men, trans women and non-binary people are not a threat, and to imply otherwise puts trans people at risk. Now is the time for allies who know and support trans people to speak up and support their fundamental right to be treated equally and fairly.

Rowling, of course, never said trans men, trans women, or non-binary people are a threat. She merely spoke out in support of those who acknowledge biology and genetics, suggesting that they shouldnt be punished for their lack of wokeness.

In a move that must have been shocking to GLAAD, Rowling herself ignored them. Her representatives declined GLAADs offer of re-education.

If Rowling continues to stand firm against the wokescolds, she may strike a significant blow for freedom of speech. Although ordinary researchers, writers, and comedians can often be forced to apologize for their wrong opinions Star Wars Mark Hamill, for example, apologized for merelyliking Rowlings tweet Rowlings net worth is well into the billions. People are unlikely to stop consuming Harry Potter books and merchandise simply because some on social media, who once lauded Rowling as a heroine of the Resistance, are now left disappointed and ignored.

But once the pressure has little effect on one person, it may lose its tooth altogether.

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GLAAD Tried To Force JK Rowling To Apologize For 'Transphobic' Comments. She Refused. - The Daily Wire

Before social media, if you wanted to learn the beauty secrets of celebrities and fashionistas, your only option was to go out and get a magazine. How quaint.

These days, learning the tips and tricks of the 'beautiful' (as judged by the media and advertising industries) is as simple as logging onto YouTube or Instagram.

So-called Get Ready With Me (or in internet speak, GRWM) videos have become incredibly popular, and despite my better judgement, I find myself watching as many random videos as the algorithms throw up (most of which feature women or non-binary people.)

So you can imagine my delight when I recently came across American actress (and music legend Diana Ross' daughter) Tracee Ellis Ross' GRWM routine.

In the 13-minute video, Ross describes in detail the many, MANY products she uses to keep her skin looking good: multiple serums, eye cream, face cream, moisturiser (yes, that's different to a cream), some odd 'face vibrating' tool, a cold face massager, and finally, a lip mask. If you hadn't guessed, hers is a very expensive skin care regime, costing upwards of $1,000. One cream alone costs more than $500.

Ross completes her 'everyday look' by applying red lipstick and grooming her eyebrows. She proudly states that at 46 years old, she's not a "big make-up girl". "It doesn't bother me" to not wear foundation or concealer. "I feel like I've earnt these stripes," she says as she points to the wrinkles around her eyes. The video has now been watched over a million times in less than a month.

While I applaud Ross for some level of transparency into what it takes to look good (lots of products and lots money, apparently), watching the video, I couldn't help but think she'd reinforced the beauty myth that with the right products, you too could leave your house with minimal make-up and look fabulous.

Whether it's the lotions or potions, treatments or access to the best doctors money can buy, 'healthy' skin isn't cheap.

Then there's the other factor that influences 'good skin': genetics.

Alexa Boer Kimball, a researcher and the chief executive officer at Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, told Popular Science that when it comes to ageing, there are two important factors.

"First, the genes you are born with affect how you age But also, which genes are turned on over time matter, too. That can be affected by your inherent characteristics but also what you are exposed to and what you do" like pollution, stress or smoking.

These days, I'm fortunate to be able to wear my hair as I please without retribution. And it's for that reason that I braid my hair, Santilla Chingaipe writes.

Dr Kimball told the publication that while sunscreen and certain products like moisturisers can make a difference, how much of a difference depends on genetics and environmental factors. In the best-case scenario, you can reduce the signs of ageing by years but not decades, she says.

What does this all mean for those that can't afford to 'look good' and haven't won the genetic lottery? I think these questions are important, and as superficial as beauty may seem, it is an industry worth billions of dollars. It cashes in on selling aspiration: if you buy this face cream that promises to rid your face of all the wrinkles, then success and happiness are plentiful.

I've often fallen for this kind of messaging.

Growing up, I felt the pressure to look a certain kind of beautiful because most of the women I saw on television or magazines looked that way straight hair, flawless skin. I thought if I made myself fit that beauty mould, then job opportunities and love would surely follow.

What I didn't understand was the role race, gender and class play in determining who is considered 'beautiful' and that no matter how much I straightened my hair, black women aren't generally viewed as 'beautiful' because beauty standards are typically rooted in western and Eurocentric ideals.

If it's not youthfulness we're chasing (which requires spending money), it's a certain body type or hair style. At every turn, the patriarchy and capitalism asks us to bend to the myth of beauty.

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In her book, Thick: And other essays, American sociologist Tressie McMillan Cottom writes that beauty can be political:

"It can exclude and include one of the basic conditions of any politics. Beauty has it all. It can be political, economic, external, individualized, generalising, exclusionary. Our dominant story of beauty is that it is simultaneously a blessing, of genetics or gods, and a site of conversion. You can become beautiful if you accept the right prophets and their wisdoms with a side of products thrown in for good measure."

Beauty ideals can make us all self-conscious for some, race complicates the issue.

What happens if you refuse to conform to patriarchal definitions of beauty?

British classicist and broadcaster Mary Beard has talked about the abuse and harassment she's experienced from people over her appearance.

Known for television appearances and fronting history documentaries in the UK, the 64-year-old has chosen to focus on her work rather than what she looks like eschewing make-up and keeping her natural hair colour. The New Yorker has described her as being an avatar for middle-aged and older women, who appreciate her unwillingness to fend off the visible advancement of age.

This act of free will and choice was been met with much vitriol, with some of her critics calling her "too ugly for television". A few years ago, she responded to her bullies by saying, "Grey is my hair colour. I really can't see why I should change it. There clearly is a view of female normative beauty, but more women of 58 do look like me than like Victoria Beckham."

It's clear beauty isn't achievable for everyone. Not in the way we're told to aspire for it no matter how much money we spend trying to buy our way into this ideal, very few people attain it.

Understanding that helped me to stop chasing an ideal that I'd never be able to meet, and instead embrace the body (and face) I was born with.

In many ways, it's easier said than done, because let's be honest it's hard to tune out the constant bombardment of images that push perfection. But if you can recognise how subjective, market-driven and narrow beauty ideals usually are, you can, perhaps, start letting go of some of the pressure to conform.

Read the rest here:
Why we need to stop buying into the beauty myth - ABC News