// anybody out there that's still somewhat active?

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@ask-nathan-stark
// anybody out there that's still somewhat active?
how do you feel about fargo having been head of global dynamics?
As annoying as he can be, I will admit that he's actually doing an okay job. Which is a huge shocker to me and anybody that has more than half a brain.
have you met trevor grant?
You mean, the Trevor Grant-- scientist that disappeared in the mid 1940's? I haven't had the pleasure of meeting a missing man from over 50 years ago.
how did you come back from the dead, and what was your favorite reaction when you did?
Probably Carter's. You could see the fear in his eyes. It was delightful.
on a scale of one to fargo how annoying is jack carter?
As annoying as two Fargo chihuahuas.
Technology will save us if it doesnât wipe us out first.
Pete Seeger [x] (via perscientiamlibertas)
ooc: back
sorry for that sudden hiatus! I've been worked to the bone one the spring production of my play. I'll get to replies asap.
She looked at her husband with some worry, âIs it dangerous?â Of course she was going to go with him, he was her other half. But Section 3? Wasnât that primates or something? Who knows, she didnât work there. âI need to call Fargo and let him know that the tour has been canceled and that they need to go back to school.â She grabbed her phone, dialed his number and told him very swiftly, âFargo, Dr. Stark. Take the kids back to school, weâre going to have to reschedule for another time.â She hung up and turned to Nathan, âWhatâs the drill?â
âConsidering what Section 3 is, the only drill is for biological specimen containment.â He told her, thinking once again about how something like this is possible when absolutely no lab is performing an experiment that would result in such a reaction. In another project, in any other section. Arriving at Section 3, the only thing that was out of the ordinary was the fact that the monkeys in their cages were going berserk, not even the scientists were too alarmed and took the chance to record what was happening. Nathan glanced at his wife with a momentary look of confusion before it dissipated, âSomebody here is going to tell me what exactly happened.â The director in charge of this section pushed through the group of over zealous researchers to explain, âThis is such a rare occurrence, for a test subject to react as strongly as they are now while receiving daily dose of muscarinic acetylcholine recep-â âThatâs enough.â Stark said putting a hand on his shoulder. A small seed of realization began to grow, Section 5 scientists donât think any memo they receive applies to them. Fuck.
Research reveals possible reason for cholesterol-drug side effects
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and physicians continue to document that some patients experience fuzzy thinking and memory loss while taking statins, a class of global top-selling cholesterol-lowering drugs.
A University of Arizona research team has made a novel discovery in brain cells being treated with statin drugs: unusual swellings within neurons, which the team has termed the âbeads-on-a-stringâ effect.
The team is not entirely sure why the beads form, said UA neuroscientist Linda L. Restifo, who leads the investigation. However, the team believes that further investigation of the beads will help inform why some people experience cognitive declines while taking statins.
âWhat we think weâve found is a laboratory demonstration of a problem in the neuron that is a more severe version for what is happening in some peoplesâ brains when they take statins,â said Restifo, a UA professor of neuroscience, neurology and cellular and molecular medicine, and principal investigator on the project.
Restifo and her teamâs co-authored study and findings recently were published in Disease Models & Mechanisms, a peer-reviewed journal. Robert Kraft, a former research associate in the department of neuroscience, is lead author on the article.
Restifo and Kraft cite clinical reports noting that statin users often are told by physicians that cognitive disturbances experienced while taking statins were likely due to aging or other effects. However, the UA teamâs research offers additional evidence that the cause for such declines in cognition is likely due to a negative response to statins.
The team also has found that removing statins results in a disappearance of the beads-on-a-string, and also a restoration of normal growth. With research continuing, the UA team intends to investigate how genetics may be involved in the bead formation and, thus, could cause hypersensitivity to the drugs in people. Team members believe that genetic differences could involve neurons directly, or the statin interaction with the blood-brain barrier.
âThis is a great first step on the road toward more personalized medication and therapy,â said David M. Labiner, who heads the UA department of neurology. âIf we can figure out a way to identify patients who will have certain side effects, we can improve therapeutic outcomes.â
For now, the UA team has multiple external grants pending, and researchers carry the hope that future research will greatly inform the medical community and patients.
âIf we are able to do genetic studies, the goal will be to come up with a predictive test so that a patient with high cholesterol could be tested first to determine whether they have a sensitivity to statins,â Restifo said.
Detecting, Understanding a Drugsâ Side Effects
Restifo used the analogy of traffic to explain what she and her colleagues theorize.
The beads indicate a sort of traffic jam, she described. In the presence of statins, neurons undergo a âdramatic change in their morphology,â said Restifo, also a BIO5 Institute member.
âThose very, very dramatic and obvious swellings are inside the neurons and act like a traffic pileup that is so bad that it disrupts the function of the neurons,â she said.
It was Kraftâs observations that led to teamâs novel discovery. Restifo, Kraft and their colleagues had long been investigating mutations in genes, largely for the benefit of advancing discoveries toward the improved treatment of autism and other cognitive disorders.
At the time, and using a blind-screened library of 1,040 drug compounds, the team ran tests on fruit fly neurons, investigating the reduction of defects caused by a mutation when neurons were exposed to different drugs. The team had shown that one mutation caused the neuron branches to be curly instead of straight, but certain drugs corrected this. The research findings were published in 2006 in the Journal of Neuroscience.
Then, something serendipitous occurred: Kraft observed that one compound, then another and then two more all created the same reaction â âthese bulges, which we called beads-on-a-string,ââ Kraft said. âAnd they were the only drugs causing this effect.â
At the end of the earlier investigation, the team decoded the library and found that the four compounds that resulted in the beads-on-a-string were, in fact, statins.
âThe âbeadsâ effect of the statins was like a bonus prize from the earlier experiment,â Restifo said. âIt was so striking, we couldnât ignore it.â
In addition to detecting the beads effect, the team came upon yet another major finding: when statins are removed, the beads-on-a-string effect disappears, offering great promise to those being treated with the drugs.
âFor some patients, just as much as statins work to save their lives, they can cause impairments,â said Monica Chaung, who has been part of the team and is a UA undergraduate researcher studying molecular and cellular biology and physiology.
âItâs not a one drug fits all,â said Chaung, a UA junior who is also in the Honors College. âWe suspect different gene mutations alter how people respond to statins.â
Having been trained by Kraft in techniques to investigate cultured neurons, Chuang was testing gene mutations and found variation in sensitivity to statins. It was through the work of Chuang and Kraft that the team would later determine that, after removing the statins, the cells were able to repair themselves; the neurotoxicity was not permanent, Restifo said.
âIn the clinical literature, you can read reports on fuzzy thinking, which stops when a patient stops taking statins. So, that was a very important demonstration of a parallel between the clinical reports and the laboratory phenomena,â Restifo said.
The finding led the team to further investigate the neurotoxicity of statins.
âThere is no question that these are very important and very useful drugs,â Restifo said. Statins have been shown to lower cholesterol and prevent heart attacks and strokes.
But too much remains unknown about how the drugsâ effects may contribute to muscular, cognitive and behavioral changes.
âWe donât know the implications of the beads, but we have a number of hypotheses to test,â Restifo said, adding that further studies should reveal exactly what happens when the transportation system within neurons is disrupted.
Also, given the move toward prescribing statins to children, the need to have an expanded understanding of the effects of statins on cognitive development is critical, Kraft said.
âIf statins have an effect on how the nervous system matures, that could be devastating,â Kraft said. âMemory loss or any sort of disruption of your memory and cognition can have quite severe effects and negative consequences.â
Restifo and her colleagues have multiple grants pending that would enable the team to continue investigating several facets related to the neurotoxicity of statins. Among the major questions is, to what extent does genetics contribute to a personâs sensitivity to statins?
âWe have no idea who is at risk. That makes us think that we can use this genetic laboratory assay to infer which of the genes make people susceptible,â Restifo said.
âThis dramatic change in the morphology of the neurons is something we can now use to ask questions and experiment in the laboratory,â she said. âOur contribution is to find a way to ask about genetics and what the genetic vulnerability factors are.â
The Possibility for Future Research, Advice
The teamâs findings and future research could have important implications for the medical field and for patients with regard to treatment, communication and improved personalized medicine.
âItâs important to look into this to see if people may have some sort of predisposition to the beads effect, and thatâs where we want to go with this research,â Kraft said. âThere must be more research into what effects these drugs have other than just controlling a personâs elevated cholesterol levels.â
And even as additional research is ongoing, suggestions already exist for physicians, patients and families.
âMost physicians assume that if a patient doesnât report side effects, there are no side effects,â Labiner said. âThe paternalistic days of medication are hopefully behind us. They should be.â
âWe can treat lots of things, but the problem is if there are side effects that worsen the treatment, the patient is more likely to shy away from the medication. Thatâs a bad outcome,â he said. âThereâs got to be a give and take between the patient and physician.â
Patients should feel empowered to ask questions, and deeper questions, about their health and treatment and physicians should be very attentive to any reports of cognitive decline for those patients on statins, she said.
For some, it starts early after starting statins; for others, it takes time. And the signs vary. People may begin losing track of dates, the time or their keys.
âThese are not trivial things. This could have a significant impact on your daily life, your interpersonal relationships, your ability to hold a job,â Restifo said.
âThis is the part of the brain that allows us to think clearly, to plan, to hold onto memories,â she said. âIf people are concerned that they are having this problem, patients should ask their physicians.â
Restifo said open and direct patient-physician communication is even more important for those on statins who have a family history of side effects from statins.
Also, physicians could work more closely with patients to investigate family history and determine a better dosage plan. Even placing additional questions on the family history questionnaire could be useful, she said.
âThere is good clinical data that every-other-day dosing give you most of the benefits, and maybe even prevents some of the accumulation of things that result in side effects,â Restifo said, suggesting that physicians should try and get a better longitudinal picture on how people react while on statins.
âStatins have been around now for long enough and are widely prescribed to so many people,â she said. âBut increased awareness could be very helpful.â
Image: Top - Of 1,040 drugs tested, only four caused nodules to form inside the neurites, resembling beads on a string. All four drugs were statins.
Bottom - Neurons whose mitochondria are labeled with green fluorescent protein (GFP) reveal that statins cause mitochondria to pile up inside the branches that neurons use to connect with each other.
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âGlobal Dynamics was spawned during WWII, not WWI but WWII,â Fargo carried on as Fargo does with his hand gestures and slight âI work here and am smarter than all of youâ attitude, making Mia chuckle. âPoor Nathan, he has no idea how much he is rubbing off on the kid.â She thought to herself. This was going to be a long day, but the prospect of seeing some friends, talking to Nathan and maybe, just maybe, a typical GD day happening, kept her mind from wandering. She did think about the various paintings she was doing and if she should change tactics with Kevin, but that was it. âNow, who can tell me why the town was created next to GD?â Fargo asked. âWe know, the town was created because Einstein wanted the people who worked here to bring their families. Weâre not dumb Fargo.â one of the young girls rolled her eyes at the young scientists. âKate, behave. Your fatherâs office is two floors down, do not make me take you there,â Mia warned. âWhy donât we go see some of the work being done in the Biosphere and you can tell us when it was installed and the different hazards and leaps it has made.â Fargo looked at her in confusion, but when he realized that it would take them passed Nathanâs office as they headed towards he elevator, he nodded. âYes! The Biosphere! Our way of controlling mother nature! Now, in 1985 we here at GDâŚâ Mia tuned him out, like always and wondered if GD would have a normal day. She wasnât asking much, she just wanted to maybe create a little chaos today. Have some sort of laughing helium happen, or something.
Timing could have never been better, Stark walked out of the office as the first kids in the front of the group were just down the hall. He put his hands in his pockets as he waited for the rest of the group to come to a stop before him. âAh, Fargo. I see your being⌠productive.â âWell Dr. Stark, without me Global Dynamics would be in pieces.â The young man answered exuberantly. âI highly doubt that but your optimism is, how can I put this, inspiring.â Nathan flashed his prize winning smile to the group, momentarily locking eyes with Mia. âWelcome to Global Dynamics, Iâm the Director of Research, Dr. Nathan Stark. I expect a number of you to be working here in the nearâŚâ His eyes landed on youngest boy in the room who was approximately 10 years old, âFuture.â The students lined up to shake hands with him, which by the end of he had at least five scraps of paper handed to him or placed in his blazer pocket by a few of the teenage girls. Crumpling them up and tossing them into a wastebasket, he waited until the group had advanced to the biosphere to grab Miaâs wrist and into his office, hold her by the waist and pull her in for a kiss. âI have been waiting way too long to do this.â
Mia wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned into his kiss. When they broke she leaned her forehead against him and whispered, âBecareful Dr. Stark, my husband might see us.â She kissed him again, breathing in his smell, âI missed you last night. Next time you think itâll be a late night, call. Iâll bring you dinner next time. How is the great âthink tank of GDâ going?â
âThe treads are turning, maybe a bit slower than I would like for it to go.â Nathan answered, he knew he was working these people to the bone but results were mandatory if these worn down employees wanted to hold onto a job. âThe DoD is breathing down my neck like always.â He mumbled as his lips grazed her own neck and smiled. âI want you to expect me home for dinner tonight and dessertâ They both had jobs to return to, but he was almost reluctant to let her out of his grasp. Before departing her kissed her forehead and grinned. If only he could walk more than a dozen steps without something going wrong. A deep rumble came from the floor beneath them that was accompanied by a his phone going off. âStark. Yes, I figured. I guess people donât read the memos anymore. What do you mean Section 3? It was never authorized, what do they think they were doing? Iâll be there.â In the confusion, Nathanâs cool seemed to irradiate onto the people that stood around him, it was control that most people looked for similar situations. If there was a sense of control then they had nothing to worry about. âMia, should you get back to the kids or do you want to come with me to Section 3?â If she was there, he knew he wouldnât flip.
Meanwhile in Eureka...
âGlobal Dynamics was spawned during WWII, not WWI but WWII,â Fargo carried on as Fargo does with his hand gestures and slight âI work here and am smarter than all of youâ attitude, making Mia chuckle. âPoor Nathan, he has no idea how much he is rubbing off on the kid.â She thought to herself. This was going to be a long day, but the prospect of seeing some friends, talking to Nathan and maybe, just maybe, a typical GD day happening, kept her mind from wandering. She did think about the various paintings she was doing and if she should change tactics with Kevin, but that was it. âNow, who can tell me why the town was created next to GD?â Fargo asked. âWe know, the town was created because Einstein wanted the people who worked here to bring their families. Weâre not dumb Fargo.â one of the young girls rolled her eyes at the young scientists. âKate, behave. Your fatherâs office is two floors down, do not make me take you there,â Mia warned. âWhy donât we go see some of the work being done in the Biosphere and you can tell us when it was installed and the different hazards and leaps it has made.â Fargo looked at her in confusion, but when he realized that it would take them passed Nathanâs office as they headed towards he elevator, he nodded. âYes! The Biosphere! Our way of controlling mother nature! Now, in 1985 we here at GDâŚâ Mia tuned him out, like always and wondered if GD would have a normal day. She wasnât asking much, she just wanted to maybe create a little chaos today. Have some sort of laughing helium happen, or something.
Timing could have never been better, Stark walked out of the office as the first kids in the front of the group were just down the hall. He put his hands in his pockets as he waited for the rest of the group to come to a stop before him. "Ah, Fargo. I see your being... productive." "Well Dr. Stark, without me Global Dynamics would be in pieces." The young man answered exuberantly. "I highly doubt that but your optimism is, how can I put this, inspiring." Nathan flashed his prize winning smile to the group, momentarily locking eyes with Mia. "Welcome to Global Dynamics, I'm the Director of Research, Dr. Nathan Stark. I expect a number of you to be working here in the near..." His eyes landed on youngest boy in the room who was approximately 10 years old, "Future." The students lined up to shake hands with him, which by the end of he had at least five scraps of paper handed to him or placed in his blazer pocket by a few of the teenage girls. Crumpling them up and tossing them into a wastebasket, he waited until the group had advanced to the biosphere to grab Mia's wrist and into his office, hold her by the waist and pull her in for a kiss. "I have been waiting way too long to do this."
Mia smiled into her phone and gave Nathan a coy reply, â¨âWell, whenever itâs done wonât be soon enough. I have a surprise at home for you and a nice dinner wonât be the only thing youâre getting. You can bet your Nobel Prize on that.â â¨She glanced over her shoulder at her class to make sure they werenât listening in on her shameless flirting with her husband. â¨âThey shut down the more dangerous experiments? Well, I guess that is the smartest thing to do. Trust me, from all the âdeath-raysâ, âice-canonsâ, and âsuper-powered, Eco-friendly potato gunsâ Iâve confiscated, shutting down Section Five for the day will make all our lives a little easier. Itâs alright love, take youâre time today, if you can see us, great, if not, Iâm not going to be heartbrokenâŚthough a few of the girls in the class? Maybe.â â¨A few of Miaâs students had a huge crush on the good Dr. Stark, something she found quite funny. â¨âHey, I have to let you go, Fargo just arrived and I donât think he can handle all of âTeslaâs finestâ by himself. Iâll call you later, I love you! Oh! And you should have a new, clean suit hanging in your office closet, I put it there yesterday. Bye.â â¨As she hung up, Fargo approached her, ready to start the tour or have a heart attack, she wasnât sure which one. â¨âAre we ready, Mrs. Stark?ââ¨Mia smiled at the frazzled young man and nodded, âYes Fargo, I believe we are. â¨âListen up everyone! Dr. Fargo here has kindly agreed to help out on our little excursion today. So pay attention and remember the rules. Oh, and no asking questions on classified experiments. You know what Iâm talking about.â As she finished her small opening statement to her class, they began to descend the halls of Global Dynamics.
Nathan looked at his otherwise empty schedule, âI guess I could push a few things around and make an appearance as the heartthrob during the tour.â He informed the empty room that was normally stood witness to his snarky or sarcastic remarks while putting the phone back in his pocket. Better to get all the testing out of the way, Nathan would never be able to concentrate completely unless he did everything he could to complete it. In no way did he wish to rush the testing but he definitely didnât plan on staying in the office for another night. Ah yes, the suit. Mia was absolutely an angel. For the few times Nathan had almost missed something, she was there to make sure he didnât. The change of clothing helped him prepare for the rest of the day, starting off with making it feel like a new day had started and not like a never ending yesterday. Maybe if he took a route that would just so happen to intersect with the one for the tour.
âAlright everyone, stick together. We have special permission from Dr. Blake to tour GD. That means ground rules: A) No touching the experiments. B) No bothering other scientists. Remember, you are all still in high school.â â¨A student raised his hand, trying to ask a question. â¨âNo, Daniel, I do not care if you are eleven and in 12th Grade Advanced Thermonuclear Physics. They are trained professionals and have had far more schooling than any of you. So do not bother them! And finally C) Pay attention to the lecture. It will be on the test.â She smiled at the American History class she brought to GD. They all had a mixture of boredom and excitement on their faces. They all pretty much thought American history was useless, especially coming from a teacher who only had a Masters in History. Of course, they didnât know about her other degrees, but that didnât matter. She had no problem flunking them for not taking the course serious.
Nathan looked up from the reports in his hand and straight to the clock that he had blocked with a picture frame, a habit he had developed so he wouldnât worry about how late it got until his work was completed, suddenly aware that he had probably been in the office well past the night. Pushing the picture over, he revealed the glowing red numbers that read 8:15 AM. Wonderful. The workday had started fifteen minutes ago, and there was no time to run home or to get a coffee to aid him through the day. There was an extra shirt around here somewhere, all he had to do was figure out where⌠Until he noticed that he was already wearing the extra shirt because he needed it yesterday too. This week was simply not one of his best, as much as he loved work he missed actually sleeping on a bed. Taking out his phone and flipping through the memos for the day. Ring. Ring. Ring. Hello? âMia, I think I spent another night at the lab.â
Miaâs phone we off as her tour was just about to begin. âHello? Oh hi Nathan.â She laughed gently at him and gave a âbe quiet for two secondsâ look to Zoe. Zoe Carter, the ever knowing and bossy daughter of the Sheriff, took her que and made the class stay under control. âYou stayed late again? I kind of figured when I didnât see you home at all or that your dinner was still in the fridge. Please tell me you got some sleep last night? Pretty soon Section 2 is going to want to use you some sort of caffeine patch expirement.â
"You know me, I can't get get any sleep when I'm so close to a breakthrough. Though, I don't think I can say the same for the rest of the team." Nathan chuckled, remembering the sheer number of Vinspressos ordered in the past week so nobody fell asleep on the job. He figured that by the end of today they'd get to wrap up and get a well deserved nice home cooked dinner. With Nathan's help, they were able to advance a year in the span of a month. "Why are they shutting down all classified projects today?" He asked her before he remembered, "You have that little tour with the kids from Tesla, how could I have not included that into the time table?" As frustrated as he was his voice remained calm, there was nothing else to do other than run the final tests. "I think I have a free day." He said surprised, the words almost didn't sound right coming out of his mouth.