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Researchers Highlight the Concerning 20-Year Knowledge Gap on Young Adult Brain Health

October 28, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

Summary: Researchers call for action to increase research on young adult brain health to determine brain development and risk factors for neurological disorders later in life.

Source: TCD

Researchers at the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI) at Trinity College have highlighted a stark knowledge gap on brain health spanning 20 years in young adults, in an editorial recently published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

The editorial is a call to action for an increased research focus on young adult brain health.

Research on risks to brain health continues to focus on middle aged and older adults, despite early detection and management of risk factors being the best way to prevent neurodegenerative changes that cause clinical dementia in later life.

Good brain health is a state of optimal cognitive, sensory, social-emotional, and behavioral functioning. Understanding brain health in young adults is critical as they have the opportunity to make early and long term changes to minimize risk of developing dementia.

Young adults (born between 1981–2004) account for more than 30% of the world’s population. The widespread and serious consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, as well as access to education and employment—all of which negatively impact brain health—are factors of great concern in this group.

The research team point to many risk factors, including obesity, smoking, and head injuries, which begin accumulating in young adulthood. Associations between estrogen and risk of Alzheimer’s disease (the most common cause of dementia) also suggest a need to explore the effects of older age at childbirth, increasing use of in vitro fertilization, and early menopause on brain health.

Professor Brian Lawlor, Conolly Norman Professor of Old Age Psychiatry, Trinity College, Deputy Executive Director, GBHI said, “If we are to truly change the narrative around brain health and dementia prevention, the story must resonate with the next generation. That’s why we need to reframe, co- produce and amplify the life course brain health message with young adults.”

Key highlights

There is a 20-year knowledge gap when it comes to brain health in young adults. [Most research focuses on either childhood, or middle-aged and older adults]
Gathering more data on young adults will require researchers across multiple disciplines to add brain health measures (e.g., cognitive, and mental health outcomes) to existing studies, along with lifestyle and environmental exposures. Sustained investment in large interventional trials is also required.
Characterizing cumulative risks to brain health from an early age will inform both primary and secondary prevention of dementia as many of these factors begin accumulating in young adulthood. [For example, obesity, smoking, and head injuries].
Young adults are digitally literate and broadly health conscious, so can be active agents in monitoring their own brain health risks. This demands a precision public health approach, which considers individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle to deliver the right intervention to the right person at the right time.
Community based services for managing brain health provide new opportunities for early risk profiling and communication. This will generate large amounts of data to advance our understanding of the epidemiology of dementia and the efficacy of interventions.

Dr. Francesca Farina, Global Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health, GBHI, Assistant Professor, Northwestern University, said, “As the next generation, young adults are ideally placed to lead a positive brain health movement, but we know very little about the factors that affect brain health in this group.

Good brain health is a state of optimal cognitive, sensory, social-emotional, and behavioral functioning. Image is in the public domain

“Increasing research focus on young adult brain health will not only inform disease prevention in later life, but also, have broad benefits for mental health and well-being across the lifespan.”

Dr. Laura Booi, Global Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health, GBHI, Senior Research Associate, Leeds Beckett University, said, “Millennials and Generation Z are already shouldering the climate change catastrophe and now another economic recession. Fostering brain health awareness, strengthened with empirical evidence to support their current and future brain health is of the utmost importance.”

About this neurodevelopment research news

Author: Press Office
Source: TCD
Contact: Press Office – TCD
Image: The image is in the public domain

Original Research: Closed access.
“Brain health in young adults” by Francesca R Farina et al. BMJ

Jennifer Lawrence slams Hollywood gender pay gap in Vogue interview

September 7, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

Jennifer Lawrence is one of the highest paid actresses in the world — and yet she’s still paid millions of dollars less than her male co-stars.

The Oscar-winning actress slammed Hollywood’s persistent gender pay gap in a new interview with Vogue, telling the magazine that while actors are often “overpaid,” the discrepancy still stings.

“It doesn’t matter how much I do,” she said. “I’m still not going to get paid as much as that guy, because of my vagina?”

Lawrence, 32, earned $5 million less than Leonardo DiCaprio for Netflix’s star-studded dystopian film “Don’t Look Up,” which was released in December 2021, Vanity Fair reported.

“I’m extremely fortunate and happy with my deal,” Lawrence told Vanity Fair shortly before the movie’s release. “But in other situations, what I have seen — and I’m sure other women in the workforce have seen as well — is that it’s extremely uncomfortable to inquire about equal pay. And if you do question something that appears unequal, you’re told it’s not gender disparity, but they can’t tell you what exactly it is.”

On average, women earn about $1.1 million less than their male co-stars, according to 2017 research from three professors: Sofia Izquierdo Sanchez of the University of Huddersfield, Maria Navarro Paniagua of Lancaster University, and John S Heywood of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

For actors over 50, that gap is even wider: Older actresses earned almost $4 million less than male actors. Other studies have noted that women of color are significantly underpaid compared to white women.

This isn’t the first time Lawrence is speaking out about Hollywood’s pay gap. The hacking of Sony Pictures’ computer systems in 2014 revealed that Lawrence’s compensation for the 2013 film “American Hustle” had been much less than her male co-stars — Bradley Cooper, Christian Bale and Jeremy Renner received a 9% cut of the film’s profits, while Lawrence and Amy Adams saw 7%, according to Business Insider.

In an essay for Lena Dunham’s now-defunct Lenny Letter newsletter, Lawrence explained that after the Sony hack, her anger wasn’t directed at the studio or her co-stars.

“I got mad at myself,” she wrote. “I failed as a negotiator because I gave up early … I didn’t want to keep fighting over millions of dollars that, frankly, due to two franchises, I don’t need.”

Lawrence went on to explain that she hesitated to negotiate her deal as she didn’t want to come across as “difficult” or “spoiled.” “At the time, that seemed like a fine idea,” she added, “until I saw the payroll on the Internet and realized every man I was working with definitely didn’t worry about being ‘difficult’ or spoiled.'”

Check out:

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World

Exclusive: Europe eyes Musk’s SpaceX to bridge launch gap left by Russia tensions

August 12, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

PARIS, Aug 12 (Reuters) – The European Space Agency (ESA) has begun preliminary technical discussions with Elon Musk’s SpaceX that could lead to the temporary use of its launchers after the Ukraine conflict blocked Western access to Russia’s Soyuz rockets.

The private American competitor to Europe’s Arianespace has emerged as a key contender to plug a temporary gap alongside Japan and India, but final decisions depend on the still unresolved timetable for Europe’s delayed Ariane 6 rocket.

“I would say there are two and a half options that we’re discussing. One is SpaceX that is clear. Another one is possibly Japan,” ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher told Reuters.

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“Japan is waiting for the inaugural flight of its next generation rocket. Another option could be India,” he added in an interview.

“SpaceX I would say is the more operational of those and certainly one of the back-up launches we are looking at.”

Aschbacher said talks remained at an exploratory phase.

“We of course need to make sure that they are suitable. It’s not like jumping on a bus,” he said. For example, the interface between satellite and launcher must be suitable and the payload must not be compromised by unfamiliar types of launch vibration.

“We are looking into this technical compatibility but we have not asked for a commercial offer yet. We just want to make sure that it would be an option in order to make a decision on asking for a firm commercial offer,” Aschbacher said.

SpaceX did not reply to a request for comment.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 has already swept up other customers severing ties with Moscow’s increasingly isolated space sector amid the Ukraine conflict, but a high-profile European mission could be seen as a significant win for the U.S. rocket maker.

Aschbacher stressed any back-up solution would be temporary, however, adding he was not worried about the future of Ariane 6.

Satellite internet firm OneWeb, a competitor to SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet venture, booked at least one Falcon 9 launch in March. It has also booked an Indian launch.

On Monday, Northrop Grumman booked three Falcon 9 missions to ferry NASA cargo to the International Space Station while it designs a new version of its Antares rocket, whose Russian-made engines were withdrawn by Moscow in response to sanctions.

‘WAKE-UP CALL’

Europe has until now depended on the Italian Vega for small payloads, Russia’s Soyuz for medium ones and the Ariane 5 for heavy missions. Its next-generation Vega C staged a debut last month and the new Ariane 6, designed in two versions to replace both the Ariane 5 and Soyuz, has been delayed until next year.

Aschbacher said a more precise Ariane 6 schedule would be clearer by October after current hot-firing testing. ESA would then finalise a back-up plan to be presented to ministers of the agency’s 22 nations in November, he said, adding the most recent Ariane 6 delay was not the result of any signifcant new setback.

“But yes, the likelihood of the need for back-up launches is high,” he said. “The order of magnitude is certainly a good handful of launches that we would need interim solutions for.”

Aschbacher said the Ukraine conflict had demonstrated Europe’s decade-long cooperation strategy with Russia in gas supplies and other areas including space was no longer working.

“This was a wake up call, that we have been too dependent on Russia. And this wake-up call, we have to hope that decision makers realise it as much as I do, that we have to really strengthen our European capability and independence.”

However, he played down the prospect of Russia carrying out a pledge to withdraw from the International Space Station (ISS).

Russia’s newly appointed space chief Yuri Borisov said in a televised meeting with President Vladimir Putin last month that Russia would withdraw from the ISS “after 2024”.

But Borisov later clarified that Russia’s plans had not changed and Western officials said Russia’s space agency had not communicated any new pullout plans.

“The reality is that operationally, the work on the space station is proceeding, I would say almost nominally,” Aschbacher told Reuters. “We do depend on each other, like it or not, but we have little choice.”

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Reporting by Tim Hepher and Joey Roulette
Editing by Mark Potter

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Business

What the heck happened to the Gap?

July 13, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

Fisher planned to call the store Pants and Discs, but his wife Doris came up with the winning name: “The Gap,” shorthand for generation gap.

The Gap capitalized on the rise of denim as the go-to look for a generation of young Americans and then expanded into khakis, t-shirts, tops, hoodies and other basics. The brand won over everyone from moms to office workers to celebrities like Sharon Stone, who wore a black Valentino skirt and a $26 mock Gap turtleneck to the Academy Awards in 1996.

At the time it was a symbol of cool and casual style. “As ubiquitous as McDonald’s, as centrally managed as the former Soviet Union and as American as Mickey Mouse, the Gap Inc. has you covered, from the cradle to the grave,” the New York Times said in 1992.

But sales at the flagship Gap brand have slumped for years and it has become an afterthought for many American shoppers. The company’s other brands, including Old Navy and Banana Republic, have also struggled.

On Monday, the company announced CEO Sonia Syngal would step down after less than three years. She will be replaced by an interim CEO while the company searches for a permanent leader.

Here’s what the next CEO will fall into at Gap (GPS).

Over-expansion and competition

The Gap rode the expansion of suburban malls in the 1980s and 1990s, becoming one of the largest mall stores in the United States. So its fortunes have largely been tied to those of malls — great news in the ’90s, but awful news now. Malls have been rapidly losing customers to online shopping and big-box stores.

Gap said in 2020 that it would close 30% of its Gap and Banana Republic stores in North America by 2024 — mostly in malls.

Over the decades since the mall-store heyday, Gap fell out of touch with Baby Boomers who grew up on the brand and failed to attract Gen Z and Millennials who drive fashion trends today, analysts say.

At the same time, brands and retailers such as Levi (LEVI), Target (TGT) and fast-fashion sellers H&M and Zara lured away the Gap’s denim shoppers. Direct-to-consumer brands online have also chipped away at the Gap’s audience.

“When they were great, there just wasn’t the ecosystem of smaller, niche players,” said Ken Pilot, a former president of Gap and a longtime executive at the company. “Gap was competing against department stores and killing them.”

Gap also cannibalized its own brand with similar styles at Old Navy and Banana Republic, he added: “It was smart the way they built out their portfolio, but even those created its own form of competition to the Gap brand.”

Gap has tried several strategies to revitalize its flagship brand, including a partnership with Kanye West for a line of Yeezy-branded clothing. But the partnership hasn’t meaningfully lifted sales.

Its initiatives “have been piecemeal rather than part of a coherent grand plan of reinvigoration,” Neil Saunders, an analyst at GlobalData Retail, said in a note to clients Monday.

What’s more, the flagship brand is increasingly less significant to the company. Old Navy and Athleta are its future: Combined, they will represent about 70% of Gap’s total sales by 2023, the company says.

Leadership missteps

Whoever becomes Gap’s new leader won’t be the first of its CEOs to face challenges.

Mickey Drexler, known as the “merchant prince,” was the person who built Gap into a powerhouse during the 1990s. First the president of the Gap division and later CEO of the company beginning in 1995, Drexler pushed Gap to expand beyond jeans into khakis and oversaw the creation of budget-chain Old Navy in 1994.

But it was also during Drexler’s tenure Gap lost its connection to its core customers. It suffered 24 straight quarters of same-store sales declines toward the end of his reign, and he stepped down in 2002.

The company then rotated through several CEOs, including former Disney (DIS) executive Paul Pressler, drugstore executive Glenn Murphy and Gap veteran Art Peck. Sonia Syngal took over from Peck in 2020.

“The Gap’s failure is all about its lack of leadership,” said Mark Cohen, the director of retail studies at Columbia University’s business school. “They had a brilliant period of growth and popularity, which they frittered away.”

More recently, Gap attempted to spin off Old Navy, which is now the company’s largest brand. But it reversed course in 2020 after sales dropped off.

Since then, Old Navy has continued to struggle, including with a failed attempt to revamp sizing to make it more inclusive. The move initially won praise, but the brand ended up carrying too many extra-small and extra-large items and not enough of its more popular middle sizes. In May, Old Navy said it would dial back this strategy.

Old Navy’s “challenges are taking much longer than expected to fix,” said Susan Anderson, an analyst at B. Riley Financial, in a note to clients Tuesday. “A new set of eyes on the entire company could be good for the brand.”

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Science

Extinct Creatures Fill Puzzling Gap in the Fossil Record

July 9, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

Artistic reconstruction of the yunnanozoan from the Cambrian Chengjiang biota shows basket-like pharyngeal skeletons. Credit: Dinghua Yang

Research reveals yunnanozoans as the oldest known stem vertebrates.

New findings answer questions in the fossil record.

The puzzling gap in the fossil record that would explain the evolution of invertebrates to vertebrates has long perplexed scientists. Vertebrates share unique features, such as a backbone and a skull, and include fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, and humans. Invertebrates, on the other hand, are animals without backbones.

The evolutionary process that moved invertebrates toward becoming vertebrates — and what those earliest vertebrates looked like — has been a mystery to scientists for centuries.

A team of scientists has now conducted a study of yunnanozoans, extinct creatures from the early Cambrian period (518 million years ago), and discovered evidence that they are the oldest known stem vertebrates. Stem vertebrate is a term that refers to those vertebrates that are extinct, but very closely related to living vertebrates.

The scientists, from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Nanjing University, published their findings on July 7, 2022, in the journal Science.

The stem vertebrate yunnanozoan. Credit: Fangchen Zhao

Over the years, as researchers have studied how vertebrates evolved, a key focus of research has been the pharyngeal arches. These are structures that produce parts of the face and neck, such as the muscles, bone, and connective tissue. Scientists have hypothesized that the pharyngeal arch evolved from an unjointed cartilage rod in vertebrate ancestors, such as the chordate amphioxus, a close invertebrate relative of the vertebrates. However, whether such anatomy actually existed in the ancient ancestors has not been known for certain.

In an effort to better understand the role of the pharyngeal arch in ancient vertebrates, the research team studied the fossils of the soft-bodied yunnanozoans found in the Yunnan Province, China. For years, researchers have studied the yunnanozoans, with differing conclusions on how to interpret the creature’s anatomy. The affinity of yunnanozoans has been debated for around three decades, with multiple papers published supporting varying opinions, including four in Nature and Science.

The research team set out to examine newly collected yunnanozoan fossil specimens in previously unexplored ways, conducting a high-resolution anatomical and ultrastructural study. The 127 specimens they studied have well-preserved carbonaceous residues that allowed the team to conduct ultrastructural observations and detailed geochemical analyses.

The team applied X-ray microtomography, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectrometry, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy on the fossil specimens. Their study confirmed in multiple ways that yunnanozoans have cellular cartilages in the pharynx, a feature considered specific to vertebrates. The team’s findings support that yunnanozoans are stem vertebrates. The results of their study show that the yunnanozoans are the earliest and also the most primitive relatives of crown-group vertebrates.

During their study, the team observed that all of the seven pharyngeal arches in the yunnanozoan fossils are similar to each other. The all arches have bamboo-like segments and filaments. Neighboring arches are all connected by dorsal and ventral horizontal rods, forming a basket. A basket-like pharyngeal skeleton is a feature found today in living jawless fishes, such as lampreys and hagfishes.

“Two types of pharyngeal skeletons—the basket-like and isolated types—occur in the Cambrian and living vertebrates. This implies that the form of pharyngeal skeletons has a more complex early evolutionary history than previously thought,” said TIAN Qingyi, the first author of the study, from Nanjing University and Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Their research provided the team with new insights into the detailed structures of the pharyngeal arches. The new anatomical observations the team achieved in their study, support the evolutionary placement of yunnanozoans at the very basal part of the vertebrate tree of life.

Reference: “Ultrastructure reveals ancestral vertebrate pharyngeal skeleton in yunnanozoans” by Qingyi Tian, Fangchen Zhao, Han Zeng, Maoyan Zhu and Baoyu Jiang, 7 July 2022, Science.
DOI: 10.1126/science.abm2708

The research team includes Qingyi Tian from Nanjing University (NJU) and Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS); Fangchen Zhao and Han Zeng from NIGPAS; Maoyan Zhu from NIGPAS and the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences; and Baoyu Jiang from NJU.

The Strategic Priority Research Program (B) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National Science Foundation of China funded this research.

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Business

Ulta, Gap, Dell and more

May 26, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Check out the companies making headlines after the bell:

Ulta Beauty — Shares surged more than 6% after hours as the beauty retailer’s quarterly report beat Wall Street estimates on the top and bottom lines. Ulta Beauty posted adjusted first-quarter earnings of $6.30 per share on revenue of $2.346 billion. Analysts had expected a profit of $4.46 per share on revenue of $2.122 billion, according to Refinitiv. The company also issued better-than-expected forward guidance for the full year.

Gap — The retail stock sank about 13% in extended trading after Gap slashed its profit outlook for the year. Old Navy weighed on results as Gap management said the segment’s lower-income customers are feeling the pressure of inflation.

Costco — Shares fell more than 2% post market despite the wholesale retailer posting better-than-expected quarterly sales. Costco saw revenue of $52.596 billion versus the Refinitiv consensus estimate of $51.707 billion.

Dell — The laptop maker rose more than 5% in extended trading after Dell reported a revenue beat in the first quarter. Dell posted $26.12 billion in revenue versus the Refinitiv consensus estimate of $25.043 billion

Marvell Technology — Shares ticked up 2.2% after hours as the semiconductor company reported strong quarterly results. Marvell reported adjusted first-quarter earnings of $50.52 per share on revenue of $1.447 billion. Analysts had expected a profit of $0.51 per share on revenue of $1.427 billion, according to Refinitv.

American Eagle — The stock dropped more than 10% after the retailer posted weaker-than-expected quarterly revenue. American Eagle reported $1.055 billion in revenue versus the Refinitiv consensus estimate of $1.142 billion.

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Business

Stocks End Higher, Lifted by Retailer Results

May 26, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

U.S. stocks rose Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average notching a fifth consecutive day higher, after strong results from retailers lifted sentiment across the market.

The blue chips added 1.6%, while the S&P 500 advanced 2%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 2.7%, helped by gains in shares of

Apple,

Microsoft,

Amazon.com

and

Tesla.

The outlook for stocks turned cheerier Thursday when several retailers delivered strong results.

Macy’s

reported robust sales growth and lifted its earnings guidance, while discount chains

Dollar General

DG 13.71%

and

Dollar Tree

DLTR 21.87%

beat Wall Street’s earnings expectations.

Last week, results from retailers including Walmart, Target and Kohl’s raised concerns that rising costs are eroding profits while inflation prompts some consumers to rethink their budgets.

“After having a real challenging time with retail last week, you’re starting to see some other signs that not everybody in retail is doing poorly,” said

Wayne Wicker,

chief investment officer at MissionSquare Retirement. “It probably provides a little more confidence that the consumer continues to be reasonably strong.”

Equity investors have endured a particularly volatile period lately. At the end of last week the S&P 500 fell far enough that it was on track to close at least 20% below its January peak. The benchmark then reversed course to avoid closing in bear market territory.

Despite the advances by major indexes this week, many investors expect markets to remain unsettled for some time to come.

“I think we’re going to still go through some more volatility ahead,” said

Leslie Thompson,

chief investment officer at Spectrum Wealth Management.

Investors have been considering how the Federal Reserve’s plans to tighten monetary policy to combat inflation could weigh on economic growth and the performance of financial markets.

Fed meeting minutes released Wednesday showed that policy makers were in agreement for half-percentage point increases in June and July, in line with previous communication. Major stock indexes closed higher after the release.

“To some extent, markets have been reassured that the Fed isn’t going to tighten more aggressively than what is expected,” said

Luc Filip,

head of investments at SYZ Private Banking.

Traders worked on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

Photo:

justin lane/Shutterstock

Money managers are closely watching fresh data as they gauge the health of the economy. On Thursday a second reading of first-quarter U.S. gross domestic product came in worse than the first with a contraction at an annual rate of 1.5%.

“Economic data has come in weaker than expected lately. We do see this tightening in the economy. How severe the growth slowdown is what markets are thinking about now,” said

Shaniel Ramjee,

a multiasset fund manager at Pictet Asset Management.

Initial jobless claims fell last week and hovered near historic lows, suggesting a mixed economic picture.

Earnings reports continued to drive moves in individual stocks. Analysts have been scrutinizing results for indications that inflation has begun to weigh on profits.

“We are focusing on earnings and profitability. A lot of stable companies are reporting lower guidance,” Mr. Ramjee said. “Even the tech sector is not immune to margin pressure, especially from input costs like wages.”

Nvidia

shares rose more than 5% after the chip maker posted record revenue, though its sales outlook for the current quarter came in below Wall Street’s estimates.

Shares of

Williams-Sonoma

jumped 13% after the retailer posted profits that beat analysts’ expectations. Macy’s shares climbed 19% after it raised full-year earnings guidance.

Dollar Tree shares advanced nearly 22% and Dollar General shares rose nearly 14% after the discount retail chains reported profits higher than expectations.

Shares of

VMware

added 3.4% after

Broadcom

confirmed that it will acquire the cloud computing firm for $61 billion in cash and stock. Broadcom shares rose 3%.

In the bond market, the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose to 2.756%, from 2.746% Wednesday. Yields rise as bond prices fall.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude added 3% to trade at $117.40 a barrel.

Overseas, the pan-continental Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.8%. In Asia, major benchmarks were mixed. The Shanghai Composite Index added 0.5% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.3%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 also declined 0.3%.

South Korea’s central bank raised a key policy rate to 1.75% on Thursday and signaled it would tighten policy further to keep fighting against high inflation.

Write to Karen Langley at karen.langley@wsj.com and Anna Hirtenstein at anna.hirtenstein@wsj.com

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Entertainment

Jurassic Park’s Laura Dern And Sam Neill Talk Age Gap

May 22, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

“I am 20 years older than Laura! Which at the time was a completely appropriate age difference for a leading man and lady!”

Alrighty, so if you’ve seen the 1993 movie Jurassic Park, then you’re likely very aware of the romance between Laura Dern’s Ellie Sattler and Sam Neill’s Alan Grant.

Mca / Courtesy Everett Collection

Perhaps, less commented on is the age difference between Laura and Sam, given that Laura was just 23 when the movie was shot, and Sam was 44.

Universal Pictures / Getty Images

Well, ahead of both actors appearing in the new Jurassic World Dominion movie, Laura and Sam discussed their age difference with the Sunday Times.

Stefanie Keenan / Getty Images for CDGA, NurPhoto / Getty Images

“Laura was a tender age,” Sam recalled. “I am 20 years older than Laura! Which at the time was a completely appropriate age difference for a leading man and lady!”

Universal / Courtesy Everett Collection

“It never occurred to me until I opened a magazine and there was an article called ‘Old geezers and gals.’ People like Harrison Ford and Sean Connery acting with much younger people,” he continued. “And there I was, on the list.”

Jeff Kravitz / FilmMagic, Inc / Getty Images

As for Laura, she said her thoughts on the matter had evolved with time. “Well, it felt completely appropriate to fall in love with Sam Neill,” she said.

Murray Close / Getty Images

Laura continued, “It was only now, when we returned in a moment of cultural awareness about the patriarchy, that I was, like, ‘Wow! We’re not the same age?’”

Murray Close / Universal Studios / courtesy Everett Collection

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Business

HCA Healthcare, Kimberly-Clark, Gap and more

April 22, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

Pedestrians pass in front of a GAP store in New York.

Scott Mlyn | CNBC

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading Friday.

American Express — Shares of the payment firm dipped 1.1% despite American Express topping earnings expectations for the first quarter. American Express reported a profit of $2.73 per share, versus the Refinitiv consensus estimate of $2.44 per share. Earnings got a boost from spending by millennials and Gen-X consumers, the company said.

Verizon Communications — Shares of Verizon fell 6.1% after the company reported a loss of 36,000 monthly phone subscribers during the first quarter, compared with a FactSet estimate of a 49,300 loss. Verizon also posted earnings and revenue for the quarter that were in line with Wall Street forecasts.

HCA Healthcare, Universal Health Services, Intuitive Surgical — The health-care sector was under pressure Friday, with HCA Healthcare as its greatest laggard after reporting disappointing full-year earnings and revenue guidance. HCA dropped 19%, Universal Health Services tumbled 13%, and Intuitive Surgical declined about 13%.

SVB Financial Group — Shares for the regional bank soared more than 11% after the company reported strong earnings. SVB Financial Group earned an adjusted $6.22 per share, compared with a consensus estimate of $5.60 from FactSet. The company’s net interest income also beat expectations.

Kimberly-Clark Corporation — Shares for the consumer products company spiked nearly 9% after Kimberly-Clark exceeded earnings expectations. The firm earned $1.35 per share in its most recent quarter, versus consensus estimates of $1.23 per share from Refinitiv. Kimberly-Clark also raised its full-year organic sales forecast.

Schlumberger — Shares jumped more than 3% after the oilfield services producer beat earnings expectations. Schlumberger earned 34 cents per share, versus analyst expectations of 33 cents per share. Schlumberger also hiked its dividend by 40%.

Gap — Shares for the retailer fell about 20% after Gap announced the chief executive officer of its Old Navy business, Nancy Green, is leaving the firm this week. Gap also cut its outlook for net sales growth this fiscal year.

— CNBC’s Tanaya Macheel contributed reporting.

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Business

Old Navy CEO to exit as parent company Gap cuts sales guidance

April 21, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

An employee hands a customer a shopping bag at an Old Navy Inc. store in San Francisco.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Gap Inc. announced Thursday that the CEO of its Old Navy division, Nancy Green, is leaving the business this week.

Gap Chief Executive Sonia Syngal will work closely with the Old Navy team as the company searches externally for Green’s replacement, the company announced in a press release.

In light of execution challenges within its Old Navy business, Gap also slashed its outlook for net sales growth in the first quarter of fiscal 2022. It’s now projecting low- to mid-teens declines compared with the prior year, adjusted from an earlier forecast that called for mid- to high-single-digit declines.

Gap said it has taken a “more aggressive approach” to balancing its merchandise assortment at Old Navy, which has resulted in higher promotional levels.

The retailer said it will provide an updated fiscal 2022 outlook when it reports quarterly results on May 26.

“As we look to seize Old Navy’s potential, particularly amidst the macro-economic dynamics facing our industry, we believe now is the right time to bring in a new leader,” Syngal said, regarding Green’s departure.

She added that the company is looking for someone with the “operational rigor and creative vision” to execute on the retailer’s plan.

Gap shares fell more than 10% in extended trading on the news. The stock is down about 19% year to date as of Thursday’s close.

Find the full press release from Gap here.

This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.

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Tag Archives: gap

Researchers Highlight the Concerning 20-Year Knowledge Gap on Young Adult Brain Health

About this neurodevelopment research news

Jennifer Lawrence slams Hollywood gender pay gap in Vogue interview

Exclusive: Europe eyes Musk’s SpaceX to bridge launch gap left by Russia tensions

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‘WAKE-UP CALL’

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What the heck happened to the Gap?

Over-expansion and competition

Leadership missteps

Extinct Creatures Fill Puzzling Gap in the Fossil Record

Research reveals yunnanozoans as the oldest known stem vertebrates.

Ulta, Gap, Dell and more

Jurassic Park’s Laura Dern And Sam Neill Talk Age Gap

HCA Healthcare, Kimberly-Clark, Gap and more

Old Navy CEO to exit as parent company Gap cuts sales guidance

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