Latest news with #lab
ABC News
04-08-2025
- ABC News
Queensland DNA lab at 'point of critical failure' with victims of crime waiting years for testing, report finds
Victims of serious crimes like rape and murder are waiting well over a year for vital DNA evidence in Queensland when it should take just 10 days, a damning new report has revealed. An investigation into Queensland's beleaguered forensics lab has found it is at a "point of critical failure", leading to years-long delays in the justice system. It follows two commissions of inquiry into Forensic Science Queensland (FSQ), which found evidence may have been compromised for criminal trials dating back to 2007 and potentially led to miscarriages of justice. The report, led by Dr Kirsty Wright, found serious issues persisted despite those inquiries. "Victims are waiting over a year for the rape kits to be tested. In other jurisdictions, that's taking five to 10 days, so you can see the chasm in the service that we need to rebuild." More than 13,000 samples still need to be retested, which is expected to take two years to complete. Cases in the magistrates' court relying on DNA evidence are being delayed by up to three years, the report found. Recommendations from the first inquiry saw changes to the DNA testing method, but the report found this had been done incorrectly, noting a "poor quality culture". "We've found systemic contamination. We've found shortcuts are being taken. We've found that the accreditation standards aren't being adhered to as well," Dr Wright said. "Test methods are being used that haven't been properly tested. So we need to go back and examine that further to see how many cases in the last two-and-a-half years might have been compromised." Dr Wright found testing was being done in a "dirty lab", resulting in environmental contamination on a weekly basis. "There was evidence of this for at least a year, a year and a half." The second six-week inquiry was launched in 2023, after lobbying from Dr Wright and the family of stabbed Mackay woman Shandee Blackburn, where DNA evidence was central to the case. In a letter, Ms Blackburn's mother Vicki and sister Shannah said their trauma had been compounded following the revelations exposed in each inquiry. "We hope no-one endures losing a beloved family member in the way we have. However, that is not a reality," they said. An anonymous victim-survivor noted in a letter to the review that there had been no progress in the result from a rape kit she submitted in April 2024, and no information as to when it might be processed. "The uncertainty — not knowing when or if justice will be done — prevents survivors from healing and moving forward," they said. The report outlined the tangible impact of DNA processing delays on the courts. On one occasion, a case went to trial without DNA evidence despite the prosecution pleading its relevance. In another, an alleged murderer, who was "considered a risk of reoffending", was released on bail due to delays in samples. The government has appointed former NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller to head a new expert team to overhaul operations at the lab. "I think it's disastrous. I'm not lost in terms of the challenges, but to be clear, I'm not here to do another review. I'm here to drive the recommendations," Mr Fuller said. The review made 26 recommendations, which Dr Wright said would provide a "comprehensive blueprint" for change. "This report isn't a box of Band-Aids. My team and I have looked thoroughly into what needs to be changed within the laboratory," she said. "But also from the system, across the policing system and the DPP, how can the lab better serve the courts and the police?" Former director of the facility, Dr Linzi Wilson-Wilde, resigned last month following "contamination issues" being identified. Dr Wright said she wasn't interested in the role and would continue assisting victims in other ways. Premier David Crisafulli was pressed on whether anyone would be held responsible for failings at the lab.
The Independent
28-07-2025
- General
- The Independent
I tried this popular at-home DNA kit — here's what happened
Collecting my DNA using MyHeritage Opening the box, I was given an activation code to create an account on the website, a cheek swab, and a biohazard bag for my used swab. The directions were straightforward to follow — all I had to do was swab the inside of my cheeks for 30 seconds before inserting the swab into a solution. I then mailed the test. After I sent it to the lab, I received very little communication from the brand regarding where it was, how long it would take to arrive, or when I'd get my results. The only emails I had were when it eventually arrived on June 10 and when my results were in on June 27. While I would have appreciated more communication, the timing was slightly faster than the advertised four weeks. But it was still long enough that I forgot all about the test until I received the email containing the results. MyHeritage results Owing to having a common first and last name, I was a little worried that I wouldn't receive the most accurate results without a phone call to my parents to learn exactly when my grandparents were born. But this, thankfully, wasn't the case. Once my results were in, the website ran through a series of infographics, similar to Spotify Wrapped. The data was displayed in an easy-to-digest way, highlighting every country I have ancestors in. While I sadly wasn't given the exciting news that I am secretly part-Neanderthal (that is, of course, no fault of MyHeritage), I did receive results that mostly checked out with what I've heard before. I am 51.2 percent Eastern European, 12.2 percent Germanic, 5.1 percent Norwegian, 5.1 percent English, and 26.4 percent of nine other ethnicities. Pretty soon after getting my results, I started receiving notifications about other people who used MyHeritage that were genetically matched to be my second, third, or fourth cousins. I'm yet to reach out to any of these relatives, but I'll update this review with my experiences if I choose to do so. In light of recent privacy concerns over companies selling data, it's reassuring that MyHeritage's privacy policy states that it has never sold data and will never do so. Similarly, I liked the fact that my data could be deleted at any time. MyHeritage price Currently, the basic MyHeritage kit has been reduced by more than 60 percent, from $88 to just $33, making now a great time to try the service. There is also the option to sign up for a subscription, with prices starting from $89 for the first year — but you can currently get a 30-day free trial. Depending on the plan you choose, you get instant discoveries, photo features (repairs and animations of old family pictures), and more.
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Do women really need more sleep than men? A sleep psychologist explains
If you spend any time in the wellness corners of TikTok or Instagram, you'll see claims women need one to two hours more sleep than men. But what does the research actually say? And how does this relate to what's going on in real life? As we'll see, who gets to sleep, and for how long, is a complex mix of biology, psychology and societal expectations. It also depends on how you measure sleep. What does the evidence say? Researchers usually measure sleep in two ways: by asking people how much they sleep (known as self-reporting). But people are surprisingly inaccurate at estimating how much sleep they get using objective tools, such as research-grade, wearable sleep trackers or the gold-standard polysomnography, which records brain waves, breathing and movement while you sleep during a sleep study in a lab or clinic. Looking at the objective data, well-conducted studies usually show women sleep about 20 minutes more than men. One global study of nearly 70,000 people who wore wearable sleep trackers found a consistent, small difference between men and women across age groups. For example, the sleep difference between men and women aged 40–44 was about 23–29 minutes. Another large study using polysomnography found women slept about 19 minutes longer than men. In this study, women also spent more time in deep sleep: about 23% of the night compared to about 14% for men. The study also found only men's quality of sleep declined with age. The key caveat to these findings is that our individual sleep needs vary considerably. Women may sleep slightly more on average, just as they are slightly shorter on average. But there is no one-size-fits-all sleep duration, just as there is no universal height. Suggesting every woman needs 20 extra minutes (let alone two hours) misses the point. It's the same as insisting all women should be shorter than all men. Even though women tend to sleep a little longer and deeper, they consistently report poorer sleep quality. They're also about 40% more likely to be diagnosed with insomnia. This mismatch between lab findings and the real world is a well-known puzzle in sleep research, and there are many reasons for it. For instance, many research studies don't consider mental health problems, medications, alcohol use and hormonal fluctuations. This filters out the very factors that shape sleep in the real world. This mismatch between the lab and the bedroom also reminds us sleep doesn't happen in a vacuum. Women's sleep is shaped by a complex mix of biological, psychological and social factors, and this complexity is hard to capture in individual studies. Let's start with biology Sleep problems begin to diverge between the sexes around puberty. They spike again during pregnancy, after birth and during perimenopause. Fluctuating levels of ovarian hormones, particularly oestrogen and progesterone, seem to explain some of these sex differences in sleep. For example, many girls and women report poorer sleep during the premenstrual phase just before their periods, when oestrogen and progesterone begin to fall. Perhaps the most well-documented hormonal influence on our sleep is the decline in oestrogen during perimenopause. This is linked to increased sleep disturbances, particularly waking at 3am and struggling to get back to sleep. Some health conditions also play a part in women's sleep health. Thyroid disorders and iron deficiency, for instance, are more common in women and are closely linked to fatigue and disrupted sleep. How about psychology? Women are at much higher risk of depression, anxiety and trauma-related disorders. These very often accompany sleep problems and fatigue. Cognitive patterns, such as worry and rumination, are also more common in women and known to affect sleep. Women are also prescribed antidepressants more often than men, and these medications tend to affect sleep. Society also plays a role Caregiving and emotional labour still fall disproportionately on women. Government data released this year suggests Australian women perform an average nine more hours of unpaid care and work each week than men. While many women manage to put enough time aside for sleep, their opportunities for daytime rest are often scarce. This puts a lot of pressure on sleep to deliver all the restoration women need. In my work with patients, we often untangle the threads woven into their experience of fatigue. While poor sleep is the obvious culprit, fatigue can also signal something deeper, such as underlying health issues, emotional strain, or too-high expectations of themselves. Sleep is certainly part of the picture, but it's rarely the whole story. For instance, rates of iron deficiency (which we know is more common in women and linked to sleep problems) are also higher in the reproductive years. This is just as many women are raising children and grappling with the 'juggle' and the 'mental load'. Women in perimenopause are often navigating full-time work, teenagers, ageing parents and 3am hot flashes. These women may have adequate or even high-quality sleep (according to objective measures), but that doesn't mean they wake feeling restored. Most existing research also ignores gender-diverse populations. This limits our understanding of how sleep is shaped not just by biology, but by things such as identity and social context. So where does this leave us? While women sleep longer and better in the lab, they face more barriers to feeling rested in everyday life. So, do women need more sleep than men? On average, yes, a little. But more importantly, women need more support and opportunity to recharge and recover across the day, and at night. This article is republished from The Conversation. It was written by: Amelia Scott, Macquarie University Read more: Is childbirth really safer for women and babies in private hospitals? Is our mental health determined by where we live – or is it the other way round? New research sheds more light From Sister Rosetta Tharpe to Ronnie Yoshiko Fujiyama: how electric guitarists challenge expectations of gender Amelia Scott is a member of the psychology education subcommittee of the Australasian Sleep Association. She receives funding from Macquarie University.
The Review Geek
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Review Geek
Murderbot – Season 1 Episode 10 Recap, Review & Ending Explained
The Perimeter Episode 10 of Murderbot begins this finale with Murderbot's system rebooting. It awakens to find itself back at the lab, with Mensah and the other Preservation Society comrades gone. The engineers enact a memory wipe on Murderbot and it seems to have lost everything. What do the engineers do? The engineers then reinstall another module and when it boots up, the Murderbot follows all instructions and appears to be back under company control. Its taken out on Security detail and it doesn't recognize any of the Perseveration Society members. Mensah and the others are actually aboard the same ship and the officials are confused by them asking where Murderbot is. The Company are waving away any form of responsibility for what's happened on the planet, claiming that the Preservation Society have all signed NDAs, so there's not much they can do. However, Gurathin offers to outright buy the SecUnit. When they find out that the unit has had its memory erased though, the group are shocked. Mensah and the others refuse to believe this is the case (except Gurathin, who knows what the Company are like). Where are Murderbot's memories? While the memory isn't lost per-se, it is in a state of limbo. Gurathin explains to the others that the Company are going to sift through the memory files first and see if there's anything there worth salvaging. Corporation Rim obviously don't play fair, and Preservation Society are prepared to fight fire with fire. Trouble is brewing in the area though, as the workers fight for better conditions against the Company. They send out the big guns (see: SecUnits) to hold them off. The officials encourage the SecUnits to 'do some damage' and they certainly get their hands dirty. However, Murderbot's core memories surrounding the mining incident in the past cause it to think twice about firing. How does Gurathin help Murderbot? The rebels take advantage and beat it down to the ground, all whilst Gurathin calls in some favours and gains access to the memories. Despite being encrypted, Gurathin manages to trace the memories back via Sanctuary Moon, which in turn allows him to find Murderbot's core memory files. Gruathin downloads all of the SecUnit's memories, storing them inside his head. Meanwhile, Mensah speaks to the press, informing them of everything that's taken place, and decides she's going to use their SecUnit to help explain everything that's happened. It's thankfully saved from the acid pit, as Gurathin shows and shifts the memories over to our SecUnit, who gets everything back. Preservation Society decide to take Murderbot on and as it's no longer working as a SecUnit, it's free to do whatever it wants. Our Murderbot is a bit directionless though, unsure what to do with its life. How does Murderbot end? Gurathin tells it that the Preservation Society are lovely people and they will help it find the ropes. He also offers to help, but Murderbot decides it needs to check the perimeter. Murderbot leaves the group, instead heading out on a mining convoy. It doesn't know what it wants but right now, it doesn't want anybody to make its decisions for it, heading out to try and find its own purpose. The Episode Review With 6 novellas, a full length novel and some short stories, there's plenty of gas left in the tank for Murderbot, and if this show is anything to go by we could be in for a long-standing pivotal show in Apple's future. This series has been a blast from start to finish, with the only grumble really stemming from the fact we've had to wait every week for a 25 minute slice of comedic drama. Beyond that, this show has been well produced, chock full of memorable moments and somehow managed to make the Preservation Society guys from the books much more interesting and fleshed out in this show. The humour has worked really well throughout, while the constant nods to Sanctuary Moon are a great inclusion. The finale is actually quite bittersweet, especially seeing the way Gurathin and Murderbot patch up their differences after all these episodes. It's a great way of rounding everything out and as Murderbot itself would say, this is one 'premium quality show'. Take a bow Apple, that was an absolute blast! Roll on season 2. Previous Episode Expect A Full Season Write-Up When This Season Concludes!
Health Line
10-07-2025
- Health
- Health Line
Pathologists and Pathology: All About These Specialists
A pathologist is a doctor who looks at bodies and body tissues. They run tests in a lab and often work in tandem with other medical specialists to diagnose medical conditions. Pathology is broken up into numerous specialties. Pathology is the study of diseases, their causes, their progression, and their effect on the human body. The name comes from the Greek word 'pathología,' which means 'suffering.' In the context of pathology, 'disease' is any deviation from a set of observable characteristics of an individual resulting from the interaction of their genes with their environment. This deviation is quantified and measured via symptoms reported by the person experiencing them, as well as signs measured through tests by a pathologist. The cause of the disease is referred to as its etiology. Disease develops through a series of chemical or cellular reactions, which a pathologist studies and investigates. Learn more about the role of a pathologist below. What does a pathologist do? A pathologist analyzes tissues, cells, and bodily fluids. They are an important part of a medical professional team, often tasked with answering important questions about disease, such as: 'What is it?' (a diagnosis) 'How is it going to behave?' (a prognosis) 'How should it be treated?' (treatment strategy) Pathologists make this determination by looking at the cellular, chemical, and mechanical behavior of body and its tissues, using their observations, the results of tests they perform, and newly developed computing technologies. These medical doctors specialize in looking at human tissue, blood, urine, and other bodily fluids under a microscope. Oftentimes, they work in the background without speaking to patients. According to a paper published in 2020, the role of pathologists in medical research and treatment is growing as the human genome is deciphered, and as complex interactions of cellular biochemistry are refined and the risk of disease is more accurately calculated. What are the types of pathology There are several sub-specialties of pathology, and these medical specialists usually focus on one to several types. Blood banking and transfusion: This type of pathologist maintains an adequate blood supply, blood donor and recipient safety, and appropriate blood use at a medical facility. They direct the preparation and safe use of specially prepared blood components, including red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma constituents, and bone marrow or stem cells for transplantation. Clinical pathology: A clinical, or chemical, pathologist specializes in the biochemistry of the human body to understand disease diagnosis and progression. They monitor substances in bodily fluids like blood and urine to assess changes in someone's body. Clinical informatics: These specialists evaluate data, health trends, and communication systems and use this information to improve medical processes that will allow for better patient outcomes. Think of them as the quality control of pathology. Cytopathology: This type of pathology is the study of individual cells of the body. The human body is made up of millions of cells that can be looked at under the microscope to help diagnose medical conditions. It's often used to diagnose cancer, other conditions of the respiratory, urinary, and gastrointestinal tracts, and thyroid gland, salivary glands, and lymph nodes. Dermatopathology: This discipline specializes in human skin diseases. It involves the microscopic examination, description, and interpretation of biopsy specimens. Dermatopathologists often have training in dermatology. Forensic pathology: This is the study of tissue or bodily fluid in a person after their violent, sudden, and unexpected death. Forensic pathologists are sometimes also medical examiners or coroners, performing autopsies for a government law enforcement agency. Their job is to identify the cause and manner in which someone died. Hematopathology: A hematologist studies conditions specific to blood cells, blood clotting, bone marrow, and lymph nodes. They use blood samples to diagnose conditions like anemia and blood cancers. Medical microbiology: This discipline specializes in infectious organisms and diseases. They take part in the work to prevent, diagnose, and treat conditions that result from microorganisms. Molecular genetic pathology: This type of specialist expert investigates gene structure, function, and mutations. They use laboratory testing to help diagnose, treat, and provide a prognosis for people with genetic disorders, infectious diseases, and human development. They also help determine the risk of genetic disorders. Neuropathology: Neuropathologists study conditions that affect the nervous system and skeletal muscles. They often work with neurologists and neurosurgeons to diagnose neurological diseases, and also analyze tissue samples following death to study dementia, assess trauma, and evaluate genetic conditions. Surgical pathology: This is the study of the tissues removed during surgery —such as a tumor—to help diagnose a disease and determine a treatment plan. This can sometimes occur while a surgery is ongoing, and can inform surgeons on how to proceed. Pediatric pathology: This type of pathology involves the research of conditions that occur during fetal growth, infancy, and child development. Pediatric pathologists investigate diseases in children up to 18 years of age. How much education and training is required of pathologists? In order to become a pathologist in the United States, a medical professional starts with a four-year undergraduate degree, often in chemistry or biology. Next is a four-year doctorate degree in medicine, either for a doctor of medicine (MD) or doctor of osteopathic medicine (DO). This is followed by a medical residence in a medical facility, which for pathology usually lasts for three years. Combined residencies in both anatomical and clinical pathology can take four years or longer. In all, the process can take 11 years or longer.
