Durban - Dr Aisha Pandor needed help around her house one December many years ago but could not find a trustworthy domestic worker quick enough.

Her frustration led the award-winning scientist with a PhD in Human Genetics and business management graduate, to co-found SweepSouth, the countrys first, on-demand cleaning app whichconnects busy people to trusted, background-checked cleaning professionals.

Pandors foray into the on-demand world of a business app came from her inherent curious personality and an enquiring mind that came from growing up in a family of successful and professional people.

Pandor, 36, was a guest speaker on a recent virtual webinar hosted by MANCOSA, a private higher education institution, where she provided students and graduates with practical tools and tips to successfully improve their employability and progress in their chosen career.

Explaining how she came up with the idea for SweepSouth, Pandor said one day during the December holidays some years ago, she was trying to look for a stand-in domestic worker to help out around the house, when she came up with the genius idea.

Pandor drew inspiration from online shopping and food delivery apps and together with her husband, they created the award-winning app.

She wanted to have greater interaction with people,and find out how best to organise domestic work and address the mutual needs of employers.

While studying for my PhD, I always thought about what type of work I would do and whether that work would be aligned with my purpose in life, she said.

The SweepSouth app was launched seven years ago, focusing on changing the mindset of home service professionals.The value of having supportive networks such as a partner, colleagues and family play an important role when having your own business, Pandor said.

She message to students and graduates was: you cannot be taught how to become an entrepreneur, but the skills learnt in courses will provide you with the confidence to become one.

The best learning comes from being able to do things on your own. Having self-confidence and learning to sell yourself by selling your product will be essential for entrepreneurship.

I learnt to become a source of strength and lead people through unforeseen circumstances such as the pandemic.

Entrepreneurship is challenging and there should be no shame in failing as long as you have tried your best and you are aware of the mistakes made and have learnt from them, she said.

Pandor said that success for her is living in the present and trying to make the best out of any day, whilst aligning her purpose in life and being of public service.

She said SweepSouth continues to be a platform that helps combat unemployment and underemployment by helping people find dignified jobs, and contribute to being the voice of women with no voice in public.

IOL

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A widely accepted theory of Native American origins coming from Japan has been attacked in a new scientific study, which shows that the genetics and skeletal biology simply does not match-up.

The findings, published today in the peer-reviewed journal PaleoAmerica, are likely to have a major impact on how we understand Indigenous Americans arrival to the Western Hemisphere.

Based on similarities in stone artifacts, many archaeologists currently believe that Indigenous Americans, or First Peoples, migrated to the Americas from Japan about 15,000 years ago.

It is thought they moved along the northern rim of the Pacific Ocean, which included the Bering Land Bridge, until they reached the northwest coast of North America.

From there the First Peoples fanned out across the interior parts of the continent and farther south, reaching the southern tip of South America within less than two thousand years.

The theory is based, in part, on similarities in stone tools made by the Jomon people (an early inhabitant of Japan, 15,000 years ago), and those found in some of the earliest known archaeological sites inhabited by ancient First Peoples.

But this new study, out today in PaleoAmerica the flagship journal of the Center for the Study of the First Americans at Texas A&M University suggests otherwise.

Carried out by one of the worlds foremost experts in the study of human teeth and a team of Ice-Age human genetics experts, the paper analysed the biology and genetic coding of teeth samples from multiple continents and looked directly at the Jomon people.

We found that the human biology simply doesnt match up with the archaeological theory, states lead author Professor Richard Scott, a recognized expert in the study of human teeth, who led a team of multidisciplinary researchers.

We do not dispute the idea that ancient Native Americans arrived via the Northwest Pacific coastonly the theory that they originated with the Jomon people in Japan.

These people (the Jomon) who lived in Japan 15,000 years ago are an unlikely source for Indigenous Americans. Neither the skeletal biology or the genetics indicate a connection between Japan and the America. The most likely source of the Native American population appears to be Siberia.

In a career spanning almost half a century, Scott a professor of anthropology at the University of Nevada-Reno has traveled across the globe, collecting an enormous body of information on human teeth worldwide, both ancient and modern. He is the author of numerous scientific papers and several books on the subject.

This latest paper applied multivariate statistical techniques to a large sample of teeth from the Americas, Asia, and the Pacific, showing that quantitative comparison of the teeth reveals little relationship between the Jomon people and Native Americans. In fact, only 7% of the teeth samples were linked to the non-Arctic Native Americans (recognized as the First Peoples).

And, the genetics show the same pattern as the teethlittle relationship between the Jomon people and Native Americans.

This is particularly clear in the distribution of maternal and paternal lineages, which do not overlap between the early Jomon and American populations, states co-author Professor Dennis ORourke, who was joined by fellow human geneticists and expert of the genetics of Indigenous Americans at the University of Kansas, Jennifer Raff.

Plus, recent studies of ancient DNA from Asia reveal that the two peoples split from a common ancestor at a much earlier time, adds Professor ORourke.

Together with their colleague and co-author Justin Tackney, ORourke and Raff reported the first analysis of ancient DNA from Ice-Age human remains in Alaska in 2016.

Other co-authors include specialists in Ice-Age archaeology and ecology.

Shortly before publication of the paper, two other new studies on related topics were released.

A new genetics paper on the modern Japanese population concluded that it represents three separate migrations into Japan, rather than two, as previously believed. It offered more support to the authors conclusions, however, about the lack of a biological relationship between the Jomon people and Indigenous Americans.

And, in late September, archaeologists reported in another paper the startling discovery of ancient footprints in New Mexico dating to 23,000 years ago, described as definitive evidence of people in North America before the Last Glacial Maximumbefore expanding glaciers probably cut off access from the Bering Land Bridge to the Western Hemisphere. It remains unclear who made the footprints and how they are related to living Native Americans, but the new paper provides no evidence that the latter are derived from Japan.

Professor Scott concludes that the Incipient Jomon population represents one of the least likely sources for Native American peoples of any of the non-African populations.

Limitations of the study include that available samples of both teeth and ancient DNA for the Jomon population are less than 10,000 years old, i.e., do not antedate the early Holocene (when the First Peoples are understood to arrive in America).

We assume, the authors explain however, that they are valid proxies for the Incipient Jomon population or the people who made stemmed points in Japan 16,00015,000 years ago.

Human tissue samples

Peopling the Americas: Not Out of Japan

13-Oct-2021

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

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Newswise LA JOLLA, CALIF. October 11 Researchers from Sanford Burnham Prebys have discovered a new source of stem cells just outside the liver that could help treat people living with Alagille syndrome, a rare, incurable genetic disorder in which the bile ducts of the liver are absent, leading to severe liver damage and death. The findings, published recently in the journal Hepatology,have extensive biomedical implications for Alagille syndrome and for liver disease in general, including cancer.

Weve been aware of the regenerative power of the liver for a long time, possibly even going back to the ancient Greek myth of Prometheus, says lead authorDuc Dong, Ph.D., an associate professor in theHuman Genetics Programat Sanford Burnham Prebys. But the existence and nature of liver stem cells remains an intensely debated topic.

The new study suggests that the reason these cells have been so hard to find may be that researchers have been looking in the wrong place.

The stem cells that we found are actually outside the liver, not within it, which may have made their discovery difficult, adds Dong. We think these outside the box liver stem cells act more like reserves, only traveling into the liver when all other options are exhausted. It only requires a few of these cells to enter the liver and multiply to repopulate all of the cells lost to the disease.

Over 4 thousand babies each year are born with Alagille syndrome, which is caused by a mutation that prevents duct cells from forming in the liver. And while the syndrome can occasionally resolve naturally, and there are treatments available to manage the symptoms, the disease is incurable, carrying a 75% mortality rate by late adolescence for those without a liver transplant.

"We have known and supported Dr. Dong for years and we feel the work he and his team have done on this disease to date is extraordinary," says Cher Bork, Executive Director of the Alagille Syndrome Alliance. "Hope can be difficult to come by for families dealing with any incurable disease, and discoveries like this help give that hope back to families living with this life-dominating condition."

Using zebrafish, which have many of the same genes and cellular pathways as humans, Dongs research team were able to create a model of Alagille syndrome by selectively deactivating genes associated with Alagille syndrome. These genes encode for chemical messengers from the Notch pathway, a signaling system found in most animals that is involved in embryonic development and adult cell maintenance.

Our work suggests that there is potential for liver regeneration in Alagille patients, but because this signaling pathway is mutated, the regenerative cells fail to fully mature into functioning liver duct cells, says Dong.

In further animal studies, the team showed that by genetically restoring this signaling pathway, the regenerative cells could remobilize to form liver ducts, restoring the function of the liver and improving survival. The researchers are now leveraging their discovery to develop new therapies for Alagille syndrome.

Weve shown not just that regeneration is possible in models of Alagille syndrome, but, importantly, how it can be enhanced, says Dong. These missing duct cells can regenerate if Jagged/Notch is restored, and our lab has developed the first drug that can boost this pathway.

While the new drug requires further studies to advance into clinical trials, the team has already found that it could enhance regeneration and survival in animal models and can trigger the Notch pathway in cells from Alagille patients. These results will be published in separate studies.

Were hopeful that this drug will restore the regenerative potential of the liver in Alagille patients, to be more like the liver of Prometheus, adds Dong.

###

About Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Research Institute

Sanford Burnham Prebys is a preeminent, independent biomedical research institute dedicated to understanding human biology and disease and advancing scientific discoveries to profoundly impact human health. For more than 40 years, our research has produced breakthroughs in cancer, neuroscience, immunology and childrens diseases, and is anchored by our NCI-designated Cancer Center and advanced drug discovery capabilities. For more information, visit us atSBPdiscovery.orgor on Facebookfacebook.com/SBPdiscoveryand on Twitter@SBPdiscovery.

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The topic of birth control has taken progressive strides over the last few years, and its transparency helped make reproductive education and products more accessible. Yet the fight for reproductive freedom is far from over in the U.S alone, states like Texas and Florida recently passed appalling laws banningabortions.

However, women like Elizabeth Ruzzo, who received her PhD from Duke University in human genetics and genomics, are leading the charge toward change.

Ruzzo is the founder and CEO of adyn, which is a medical company that strives to make the birth control experience easier by ensuring inclusiveness and patient-centricity.

"Because most clinical research is based on single-sex studies of males, women, on the whole, are disproportionately affected. Implicit bias in healthcare is real and well-documented," says Ruzzo."Medical gaslighting is an unfortunate reality which disproportionately impacts BIPOC, LGBTQ, and women, and has real & measurable consequences that can result in life-threatening scenariosthe most blatant being maternal mortality rates in non-Hispanic black women and American Indian/Alaska Native women."

RELATED: Are Women Really More At Risk Taking Birth Control Than The Johnson & Johnson Vaccine?

While female ob-gyns are now the majority, the gynecology field was historically dominated by men. Even as recently as 1970, only 7% of women were gynecologists. And while women have contributed to its creation, IUDs have historically been designed by men.

"The unfortunate fact is that our scientific knowledge of women and people of non-European descent is insufficient," says Ruzzo. "Women werent required to be included in clinical trials in the US until 1993, which led to less research around womens health as well as less knowledge about how women experience diseases and conditions that impact everybody."

Ruzzo believes it's important for inventors and decision-makers to not only consider, "a womans reproductive and health goals, but also her preferences when considering a birth control method." And according to her, both copper and hormonal IUDs are a highly effective method of birth control that can workwell for some people.

The way women have been advised to take contraceptive pills in the last 60 years is directly linked to Catholicism(namely, the Pope). Oral contraceptive pills are designed to be taken for 21 days, followed by a seven-day break. During this break, women refrain from taking the pill, which leads to vaginal bleeding. It should be notedthis method, however, increases the likelihood of unplanned pregnancies.

Carl Djerassi, a Bulgarian-American chemist, was nicknamed the "father of the pill" for his contribution to the development of oral contraceptive pills. Djerassi said the seven-day break was an intentional design with one very specific purpose in mind to persuade the Vatican to accept contraception. The hope was that the Church would view the pill as an "extension" of the natural menstrual cycle.

Planned Parenthood found that access to the pill before the age of 21 was the most influential factor in enabling women who were in college to stay in college. After the legalization of birth control,the number of women who complete higher education is now six times what it was before!

Another fun fact: women also make up the majority of undergraduate students in the U.S.

Many will be surprised to learn that the synthetic estrogen found in the birth control pill has unexpected effects on aquatic ecosystems. A British study found that synthetic estrogen negatively impacted the reproductive cycles of the fathead minnow. It interfered with the species' ability to reproduce and nearly lead to the population's extinction.

And as recently as 2020, another study showed that estrogenic steroids are more potent than previously thoughtand can further harm fish populations by malformations, decreased egg production, and DNA methylation, which represses gene transcription.

A common misconception Ruzzo often hearsis that "Side effects and birth control are a package deal; its just the price to pay for avoiding unwanted pregnancies."

"Side effects do not have to be part of your experience with birth control," Ruzzo explains.

"The best birth control is not only effective, but side-effect free. The best birth control for you is the one that is optimized for your body, your genetics, and your preferences."

This is why Ruzzo emphasizes the importance of choosing a method that works best for your individual body a pill that works for one person may not work for you.

RELATED:Where & How To Get Birth Control During A Pandemic

The man responsible was an American post inspector named Anthony Comstock, whose "anti-obscenity" crusade was fueled by his Christian faith.

Comstock drafted an anti-obscenity bill in 1872, which included a ban on contraceptives, and took it toWashington. The Comstock Act was later passed by Congress on March 3, 1873, and defined contraceptives as "obscene and illicit." In turn, the statute made it a federal offense to distribute birth control through the mail or across state lines.

These laws remained unchallenged until birth-control advocate Margaret Sanger was arrested in 1916 for opening the first birth control clinic in America. Her initial arrest is whatprompted the first successful change in the law.

Ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian women used crocodile dung, which was mixed with other ingredients, to create a type of pessary.The Egyptians also used honey and acacia fruit & leaves as spermicides, which they would insert inside of themselves before having sex.

In Greece, the philosopher Aristotle proposed that women should use olive and cedar oils to decrease sperm mobility. Greek and Roman women also used an oral contraceptive called "silphium," which was a type of giant fennel that eventually became extinct due to its extreme usage.

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Globally, ancient women from civilizations like Egypt, Assyria, Greece, and China all consumed liquid mercury, lead, or arsenic to prevent unwanted pregnancies. While this was technically an effective method, these poisons lead to horrific consequences such as organ failure, brain damage, anddeath.

All of which have varying formulations, Ruzzo says. "Having that much choice is a blessing and a curse: there is no way to know whether you or your doctor are choosing the right one - until now! This is the problem Adyn is solving."

Other methods besidespills and UIDs are birth control shots, implants, and patches, as well as vaginal rings, diaphragms, spermicide, and tubal ligation/vasectomy.

According to Ruzzo, the most effective form of birth control is the one picked based on your unique biology one that is optimized for your body, your genetics, and your preferences. "There are statistics about birth control method efficacy, but pinpointing one as singularly more effective than another is complicated," she adds.

Dr. Sarah Hill, a research psychologist and professor whostudieswomen, health, and sexual psychology,suggestedbirth control pills can, "influence pretty much everything that matters when it comes to love, sex, and relationships."

Though Hill specifies this research is still"in its infancy," there's already data to back this theory up. One study showed that heterosexual women who started taking the pill found men with "less masculine" faces to be more attractive. A second study confirmed that not only do pill-taking women prefer less masculine features; they are also more likely to choose such men as partners.

While the methods& products we have today surpass those used by our ancestors by a long shot, you may be surprised to hear that contraception goes way, way back!

Researchers believe a French cave painting, which could be 15,000 years old, depicts what some think is the first illustration of a man wearing a condom. Similarly, there are mentions of condoms in Greek legends that date back to 3000 BC specifically that of the infamous King Minos of Crete.

The 18th-century memoirs of Giacomo Casanova also show us that Casanova believed he "invented" a type of cervical cap, which was made of partly squeezed lemon halves. However, researchers believe these "caps" were probablyused asprotection against venereal disease rather than pregnancy.

RELATED: Taking Control Of My Body: Why I Quit Birth Control After 12 Years

Yona Dervishi is a writer who is currently working at YourTango as an editorial intern. She covers topics pertaining to health & wellness, news, and entertainment.

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