TEC GIANTS

Safety cards that allow victims to press a button to alert a 24/7 call centre have proved successful in protecting victims from further abuse. Credit: Mavis Wong/The Conversation NY-BD-CC With growing recognition that domestic violence can be perpetuated using technology, there has been a an increase of news stories that focus on how abusers use it to coerce and control victims. For example, when a man stole his ex-partner's laptop so he could monitor her private Facebook messages. Or when a husband installed a GPS tracking device in his daughter's doll to monitor his wife's whereabouts without her knowledge. But there's also considerable potential for victims to use new technologies to hold abusers accountable. Technology as a sword and shield for victims Those experiencing domestic violence can use technology as both a sword and shield. Here are just some of the ways technology can protect, empower and improve victims' access to justice: apps and websi...

Gene editing technology may improve accuracy of predicting individuals' heart disease risk Scientists may now be able to predict whether carrying a specific genetic variant increases a person's risk for disease using gene editing and stem cell technologies, according to new research in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation. For the first time, the study demonstrates the unique potential of combining stem cell-based disease modeling (Induced pluripotent stem cells) and CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing technology as a personalized risk-assessment platform for determining the disease-causing ability of a yet undescribed genetic variant, known as a "variant of uncertain significance" or VUS. Numerous genetic variations are identified as "related" to a medical condition, but it is uncertain if they actually lead to disease, said study senior author Joseph C. Wu, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute and Simon...

Regis Corporation (NYSE:RGS) appointed Chad Kapadia as Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer, and Head of Product Engineering effective June 18. Mr. Sawyer, President and CEO, stated “We have discussed that a key element of our multi-year strategy is to utilize technology to transform our business. Chad has been a leader in deploying disruptive business technologies at consumer-oriented companies, and he is the right executive to drive this initiative forward at Regis. I am confident he will be able to accelerate our use of technology to support our stylists and franchisees and improve our customers’ experience.” Most recently, Mr. Kapadia served as Head of Engineering at Target Corporation's New Ventures and Accelerators. Source: Press Release