When enlarged under a high-resolution microscope, microglia resemble elegant tree branches with many slender limbs. As they pass by neurons, microglia extend and retract their tiny arm-like protrusions, tapping on each neuron as if to inquire, Are we good here? All okay? Or not okay?as a doctor might palpate a patients abdomen, or check reflexes by tapping on knees and elbows.

Back in 2004, Barres and Stevens were examining how synapses originally come to be pruned to form a healthy brain during early, normal development. Theyd recently discovered that immune molecules known as complement were sending out eat me signals from some brain synapses, and these synapsestagged with a kind of kiss of death signagewere destroyed. Think of the way you click and tag emails that you want deleted from your inbox. Your email servers software recognizes those tags, and when you click on the Trash icon, bing, theyre gone. Thats similar to what Stevens and Barres were seeing happen to brain synapses that were tagged by complement. They disappeared.

What they described happening in the brain, which they reported in the journal Cell in 2007, echoed a similar process that was well-understood to happen in the body. When a cell dies in a bodily organ, or if the bodys immune system senses a threatening pathogen, complement molecules tag those unwanted cells and invaders for removal. Then, a type of white blood cell known as macrophagesGreek for big eatersrecognizes the tag, engulfs the cell or pathogen, and destroys it. In the body, macrophages play a role in inflammation as well as in autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and Guillain Barre. When activated, they can mistakenly go too far in their effort to engulf and destroy pathogens and spew forth a slew of inflammatory chemicals that begin to do harm to the bodys own tissue.

Stevens and Barres werent sure what was eating away at these tagged synapses, causing them to disappear in the brain, but Stevens had a hunch that it might have something to do with microglia.

We could see that when microglia sensed even the smallest damage or change to a neuron, they headed, spider-like, in that neurons direction, then they drew in their limbs and morphed into small, amoeba-like blobs, Stevens says. Soon after, those same synapses disappeared. Poof.

Could microglia be the culprit at the center of it all, the macrophage corollary in the brain, responding to eat me signals and pruning the brains circuitry during development? And what if this process was not only taking place in utero? Stevens wondered, when she first saw microglia behaving this way. What if it was also being mistakenly turned back on again later in life, during the teen years, or in adulthoodonly now its a bad thing and microglia are sometimes mistakenly engulfing and destroying healthy brain synapses too?

You can imagine how you could have too many synapses, or not enough synapse connectivity, Stevens says, her hands spreading wide with excitement. And you can imagine, given how our brain works, if that connectivity is even slightly off, that could potentially underlie a range of neuropsychiatric and cognitive disorders.

When she landed at Harvard, Stevens and her postdoc, Dori Schafer, tried to get a closer look at what microglia were up to in the brain. Schafer injected dye into the eyes of mice, which she then traced down from the neurons in the eye nerves and into the brain. This made the brains synapses glow bright fluorescent red. Microglia were stained fluorescent green. If they saw structuresthe synapsesglowing like red, fluorescent lit-up dots inside the bellies of the green microglia, they would know that microglia were eating synapses.

Six months into their efforts, Schafer came running into Stevenss office with photo images flapping in her hand. Theyre in there! she told Stevens. The synapses are inside the microglia! We can see it! It was such a high-five moment, Stevens recalls. Microglia were like tiny little Pac-Men in the brainand brain synapses were in the belly of the Pac-Men! We felt we were on to something really wonderful, really novel. This was deeply important in terms of looking ahead to microglias role in disease.

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The Tiny Brain Cells That Connect Our Mental and Physical Health - WIRED

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Over the last three decades, Ken Aldrich has successfully invested in over 50 businesses and has personally co-founded almost a dozen himself. He considers himself a jack of all trades, having been involved in everything from biomedicine to real estate. Some of his most successful investments include helping start one of the first wind parks in Palm Springs and Green Dot Corp. (NYSE:GDOT), which has become the worlds largest prepaid debit card company. In May, Aldrich published his book, "Dream Toolbox," which aims to guide readers toward establishing an entrepreneurial mind and gaining control over their financial world.

Before the business

Prior to entrenching himself as an entrepreneur, Aldrich started his career as a wage earner practicing law. He spent a great deal of time and effort to earn his law degree and land a spot in a well-established firm. With a clear career path ahead of him, Aldrich got to work earning his keep and establishing his position in the firm. However, one definitive moment stands out as the time when he became dissatisfied with his work.

This moment would revolve around sandwiches of all things. Working alongside one of the senior partners at the firm, Aldrich was helping to create a registration statement for a public company. At the end of the session that fateful day, the underwriters and the people from the company headed out to get dinner:

At the end of the day the company and the firm that was doing the underwriting turned to us, the lawyers, and said Well that was really good. Can we have a new draft of the work in the morning at nine and we will start again? Off they went to have dinner at Chasens and we ordered sandwiches, Aldrich said.

To provide context for those who do not know the Los Angeles restaurant history, Chasens was a well-known restaurant that was often frequented by famous celebrities until its closing in 1995. Based upon the prestige of the restaurant's chili, it is easy to conceive a distaste for sandwiches after a long day at work.

While in his 20s Aldrich did not have an issue eating sandwiches, yet he was thinking toward his future. My partner, that I was working for, was in his 30s or 40s. I do not want to be the guy eating sandwiches in his 30s or 40s, and I do not care how much they pay me for it, Aldrich said. It was in this moment that he decided that he would much prefer to be the guy going out for a nice dinner after work.

With clear motivation, Aldrich set out to find himself a new career path. He landed himself a contractual position at an investment banking firm. This provided him with some needed experience and training, alongside a foot in the door with a name behind him. This new venture would come with an inherent risk, one that Aldrich would feel almost immediately.

Working at the law firm, he had earned himself a paycheck and a solidified position. Upon leaving, that paycheck disappeared. To compound the pressure, Aldrich was working on a contract for the investment banking firm, meaning that if he were to no longer be productive in their eyes, he would be cut from their team. In essence, the already large pay cut he had taken could go away in an instant. He went on to say:

Wide World of Sports had a sports program on Saturday and their opening montage was a skier, it might have been a tobogganer, coming down a ski run and losing control and flying head over heels into a snowbank. The tagline was Wide World of Sports, the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. I realized that with conventional jobs you are either working for a paycheck or in the case of a lawyer you are measuring your life out in coffee spoons as Eliot once said in a poem. There is never the chance of a real thrill of victory. The expectation is do not screw up and I wanted something more than that.

Finding success

With a drive to succeed and find that thrill of victory, Aldrich set out on his journey to become a successful entrepreneur. By nature of the business, he would find himself in the world of seed stage venture capital, investing and co-founding businesses from the ground up. Through both luck and skill, he was able to grow many of these businesses to success, yet there is seemingly no connection between them. However, Aldrich considers himself a jack of all trades and finds that his curiosity has led him to such diverse portfolio.

While he has found himself invested in many different fields, there is one key factor that ties them all together. If there is technology involved, I want to make sure that if it is successful, often it is not completely developed when we start, but that if it is successful it will make a fundamental change in some business, or industry, or science, Aldrich said. Having this significant change in the way things are done makes either the business or the product stand out in a way that the market cannot deny. For Aldrich, this is key for these types of ventures to be a success.

It is very hard to be successful starting a new business if you are just doing it a little bit better because, you know, everybody is looking for perfect, but perfect is the enemy of the good. If there is an existing process that is serving the market adequately it is usually just a fools errand to try to make something else that is just a little bit better, he continued.

As with many lessons, Aldrich had to learn to make fundamental changes first hand. One of the first businesses he found himself involved in was working to develop a new device for LASIK procedures. This device would allow for the surgeon to be more accurate when applying the procedure. Initially, the company found success in that the device did improve the accuracy of the procedure. However, it was not a big enough difference and nobody cared according to Aldrich.

Going back to the drawing board, the company went about redesigning the product so that it could be an aid to curing amblyopia in children, yet the market there was too small. With the aid of an ocular physician, the company found its true purpose. The new design would allow a surgeon in the process of doing cataract surgery to take an accurate measurement of the eye.

Prior to this new design, the surgeon would attempt to measure the eye through the clouded portion as best as possible before removing the affected area. As the measurement had to be taken through the affected area, it was generally not overly accurate and that is how people ended up with those coke bottle glasses, Aldrich said.

With their newly pioneered technology, the surgeon had a new device that would attach to the microscope that they used during the procedure. This would allow for them to take an accurate measurement of the lens of the eye prior to the surgery. This technology resulted in vision on par with a LASIK procedure as a byproduct of conventional cataract surgery. It was very gratifying for me because I have, over my life, had enough eye problems to realize just how life changing that small procedure can be, Aldrich said. This business would eventually go on to sell for $350 million.

Managing risk

With the prospect of millions, if not billions, on the horizon, there is constant risk involved with starting these businesses. For Aldrich, the key to success comes in managing this risk, although it can never be entirely eliminated. Once he has established that the technology or the business will make a fundamental change in the industry it operates in, he looks toward the people involved. First and foremost, he questions if they have enthusiasm and skin in the game as he calls it. Now that does not necessarily mean that they have written big checks, but they have put some portion of their life on hold to pursue this, he said.

Finding a person who fits these qualities allows for Aldrich to be confident that if things get difficult with the company, nobody is going to give up. In many cases, things do go wrong when starting a business. Very rarely does a business make its way to success without encountering a road bump. At some point everyone has to take some genuine risk. I have never known a startup that did not involve that, Aldrich said.

Over the course of 30 years in business, Aldrich has experienced his fair share of risk and road bumps. One of the most egregious cases that he recalled involved a biotechnology company. The company in question was working to develop new stem cells similar in nature to embryonic stem cells. The winning factor was that the company had found a way to access these cells without needing a fertilized embryo. So we took all, or we thought we took all of them, some people still managed to find objections, but we took basically all the real objections away from those who were concerned, for religious or for other reasons, with whether or not using embryonic stem cells was in effect killing a human being in utero, Aldrich said.

While they had overcome a major roadblock to progress their research, they still had not reached calm seas. The company would go public and found itself in the midst of the economic downturn of 2008. Almost overnight, funding that had been promised had disappeared and the company was left stranded with no backing.

To further compound issues, the CEO of the company died of a heart attack shortly after. Aldrich found himself running the company and as an investor himself. He put forth a check for $500,000, one that would have been very painful to have lost in his own words. In a stroke of luck, he was able to find an investor for the company. However, the man was in Paris, was Russian and spoke no English. Not a man to be stopped, Aldrich flew to Paris, dug up a translator on the eve of a French holiday and made a deal with the new investor.

With the help of this new partner and his own investment, Aldrich would pull the company out of the hole it found itself in. The company would continue to make progress on its stem cell research. Eventually, the majority shareholder of the company would push Aldrich out of a leadership position and he decided it would be best to pull himself out of the company entirely. During his time there, Aldrich would grow the stock from 15 cents per share to over $2 per share.

The biggest perks

While Aldrich has undoubtedly seen rough times working with companies, he has found himself, more often than not, in the position of successfully creating a business. The thrill of just saying, I did that, claimed Aldrich, is one of the best parts of what he does. Continuously, he has had the ability to take the vision that someone brings him and help them turn it into a reality. For him that has been extremely gratifying, yet he has been able to take it one step further.

Many of the companies that he has been involved in have changed people's lives for the better. The first LASIK company aided many people in having better vision, which Aldrich considers life changing. The stem cell company has the potential to change the way stem cells are used, and he believes they ultimately will. Even present day he is working with a company that is working to make chemotherapy drastically more effective to the point that it can cure certain types of cancers.

Without a doubt Aldrich has found the thrill of victory and helped people in the process. Now it is still a whole lot of fun to make money from a deal and see it take off, he said. One of his most ludicrous investments was Green Dot Corp., in which he was an early investor. Since throwing his hat in the ring, the company has not only reached a billion-dollar market cap, it has created an entirely new industry of prepaid debit cards.

Even the wind park in Palm Springs that Aldrich helped start has seen him cashing monthly checks from land rights for the last 20 years. Having both built companies and earned money for decades, it is easy to understand how he has no desire to change anything, yet Aldrich believes that he has no regrets for a different reason.

I think in each case we did the most we could do with what we had available, Aldrich said. In his opinion, there will always be something that could have gone differently or a potential to have found greater success. The reality is I had gone everywhere I could think of and took the option that was available, he continued.

In the end, worrying becomes unproductive. It creates a situation in which you are cautious about your current ventures and begin to question every decision. Aldrich believes this type of fear, the fear of failure, is one that is extremely detrimental to an entrepreneur. Overcoming this fear has been key to his success.

No end in sight

In his most recent ventures, Aldrich has found himself seeking to inspire both youth and entrepreneurs alike. He has spent time working with at-risk teenagers to provide them with financial lessons as well as the skills to develop their dreams into reality. From these lessons, Aldrich developed a podcast series that would eventually become his first book, titled "Dream Toolbox," for anyone frustrated by unfulfilled dreams.

Although Aldrich has had a career outlasting many other entrepreneurs, he does not believe he will ever be able to stop. While he has made a promise to himself to not start any new companies, he will continue to fund and advise them as much as he can:

I can not see stopping because, frankly, it is so darn much fun. I have flunked retirement several times in the sense of really trying to turn it off. What I have discovered is just about the time I am getting all excited to go play a round of golf, or go play tennis or something like that, somebody will call me up with a new idea, or a new concept, and I will cancel the golf or cancel the tennis because nothing is more exciting than dealing with a new idea that has great promise.

Question and answer

GuruFocus: As an entrepreneur, and a serial entrepreneur at that, is there anything in the future coming up or already starting to reach the market that you are really excited about and would love to get your hands on?

Aldrich: My experience has been that the things that are already visible to me, out there in the market, somebody else has already started and is way ahead of me. So what I am looking for are the things that are not yet obvious and those can come in many ways. I recently became an investor in a company. It is not a startup anymore. I invested through some friends, but it is very exciting. They have, I believe, a way to, I will not say cure, but to take any of the existing chemotherapies that are used in cancer and make them way, way more effective, and the reality is, based upon the data we have, in many cases cure cancers that the physicians had given them up as incurable and a death sentence. That is enormously exciting to me and I think that we will see that.

I have also invested, although I am not a principle, in three or four other companies that have varying ways of approaching, particularly cancer, but other disease forms. That to me is an exciting area and I think we are just beginning to scratch the surface of what can be done medically. There are things going on with AI that will affect the medical world. I read in this mornings newspaper about a new AI technique that I think was developed by Google that has greatly improved the accuracy, or looks like it has greatly improved the accuracy of mammograms. That could be life-saving.

GuruFocus: Where do you look for inspiration?

Aldrich: One of the great books and it is overlooked, but I think everybody should read it right after they finish mine, actually before, is "Think and Grow Rich." Which has been around for almost a century, I guess. It is absolutely a brilliant set of ideas and structures for entrepreneurship. There are certainly more modern books. I happen to like Peter Thiels book, which I think he calls "Zero to One." It talks about entrepreneurship and finding a niche that you can fill and expand into making something big. Of course, if you just start looking and get specific, there are tons and tons of books on how to structure a business, how to handle the accounting, finance and so on. Again, I think it starts with changing the belief systems so that you believe you can do it and for that there probably is no better book that I have read than "Think and Grow Rich."

GuruFocus: What are you most grateful for at this point in your life?

Aldrich: Oh wow. I am most grateful that I have had the incredible good fortune to have the love of not one, but two wonderful women in my life. First my wife, who died a few years ago, and second, the woman who is now sharing my life. That has been remarkable. I have also had the good fortune through most of my life of having good health. I have had plenty of health issues that I have had to deal with, but they have all been like the puzzles I talked about. OK, I have a problem. I had a vision problem. I have had other things. How can we solve them? So far, they have all been soluble. I have been very fortunate. As you can see from this ugly photograph on your screen, I am not a young man anymore. I wake up in the morning thinking I am at least 20 or 30 years younger than I am until I look in the mirror. And that is a good thing because age ultimately matters as none of us live forever. In terms of our capacity to do things, it is how we view ourselves, so that is important.

Aldrichs advice for entrepreneurs

Have a vision both personally and in business:

Try to visualize what life would look like if you were to find the success that you have. Once you have this vision, there is something for you to strive for. In Aldrichs opinion, this is one of the most powerful tools an entrepreneur can utilize. Visualize yourself being successful while standing in front of the mirror. It may feel stupid at first, as it did for Aldrich, but you will eventually make that vision a reality by translating it into the present. Use your vision to tell yourself that you are successful now and, before you realize it, you will have reached many of your early milestones.

Put some skin in the game:

It can be simplified to one word: commit. You need to absolutely dedicate yourself to what you are doing if you want to succeed. This will require personal sacrifice. Your life will not continue to exist in the same way that it had previously and you have to be OK with that. Once you have committed your life to achieving your goals and truly put some skin in the game, you will find success. If you do not do this, you are going to give up when things get tough.

Determine if the worst outcome is survivable:

Another of Aldrichs most powerful tools is determining if the worst possible outcome is survivable. Look at the worst thing that could happen in the course of starting this business. Are you looking at bankruptcy? Or could it be something personal that ends life as you know it? Once you have determined what could happen, you need to decide if you have the ability to keep going on after that. If you can survive the worst outcome, than there is nothing that can stop you on your journey. All your problems become puzzles that have a solution. You simply need to find it.

For more information on Ken Aldrich and Dream Toolbox visit:

https://www.dreamtoolbox.com/

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1000 Entrepreneurs: Ken Aldrich on 30 Years of Venture Capital and 50 Successful Businesses - GuruFocus.com

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No more feeling self-conscious about your scarring.

But there are other ingredients that aren't as harsh on the skin.

Salicylic acid is a fabulous way to combat acne in all skin types and can be found in a wash or in a lotion. If you tend to get small acne bumps known as comedonal acne, try OTC Differin lotion which is a retinoid. In general, those are strong enough to cause the skin to purge out those small bumps (which means it will be a little worse before getting better), and then prevent them from recurring, adds Dr. Mariwalla.

Contrary to what some people may think, having acne still means you need to moisturize. However, there are some precautions to consider. According to Dr. Mariwalla,Be sure not to use a heavy cream. Try a moisturizing gel or even a serum. A hyaluronic acid serum is ideal for acne=prone skin because it wont typically make you break out.

RELATED:20 Best Home Remedies For Acne Scars

Anti BacAcne Clearing Lotion is clinically proven to target pores to help clear existing acne, minimize excess oil production, and eliminate blackheads. Using an ultra-fine delivery system, benzoyl peroxide is delivered via a microscopic particle to affected areas, without over-drying.

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Vichy Normaderm Beautifying Anti-Acne Treatment is an acne treatment moisturizer for adults with acne-prone skin. Thisnew formula with Air Licium and Phe resorcinoltechnology acts on the appearance of pores and shine. With salicylic acid to treat, blemishes disappear, leaving your skin looking radiant and beautiful.

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Created by Beverly Hills plastic surgeons Dr. John Layke and Dr. Payman Danielpour, Beverly Hills MDAdvanced Scar Therapy contains advanced botanical ingredients that soothe and nourish damaged skinto dramatically diminish the appearance of stubborn scars. It contains an infusion of oxygen and antioxidants, for healthy-looking complexion and fewer visible imperfections.

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This is a powerful skin lightening treatment gel featuring hydroquinone that rapidly reduces post-acne skin discoloration and helps combat breakouts. Willow bark and tea tree leaf extract help treat blemishes and reduce irritation as AHAs exfoliate to restore clarity and tone. This works best with normal, oily and combination skin types.

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This treatment fights the main causes of acne by regulating skin cell turnover and reducing inflammation deep in the skin to clear and prevent pimples, blackheads and clogged pores. Differin contains the first OTC Rx-strength acne-fighting retinoid. Its gentler on your skin, while still effective, giving you the clearskin you want.

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Neutrogena Rapid Tone Repair Dark Spot Corrector instantly brightens skin, with a high-potency fast absorbing formula that delivers the highest concentration of Vitamin C. With highly concentrated Accelerated Retinol SA, this advanced corrector works to renew the look of skin, brightening tone and helping fade stubborn dark spots and discoloration.

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RELATED:How To Get Clear Skin Fast: 15 Tips For A Smooth, Acne-Free Complexion

Formulated with state-of-the-art UV filters, this high protection moisturizing sunscreen helps prevent UV induced collagen breakdown and UV-induced dark spots. It protectsskin from UVA and UVB rays, is easily absorbed into the skin, and comes in a lightweight formula.

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Nia 24 Rapid D Tone Correcting Serum visibly diminishes the appearance of dark spots and discoloration to significantly improve brightness, clarity and tone. Vitamin C normalizes pigment production while increasing collagen and providing antioxidant protection. Willowbark extract exfoliates dull, dead skin cells while betaine smoothes the skin.

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These powerful, easy-to-use pre-soaked pads are formulated with glycolic, lactic, citric, hyaluronic and salicylic acids, plus Pro-Vitamin B5 and Niacinamide that reduce pore size, fine lines, and wrinkles, and improve skin tone, texture and luminosity. Purslane Extract acts as a strong soother, itch reliever and antioxidant, and also promotes collagen production and cell turnover.

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This pro-level retinol night treatment is formulated with 4.5 percent retinol in the patent-pending SB-100 delivery system, arguably one of the highest concentration in any over-the-counter retinol product. Retinol is the gold standard in treating acne scars by stimulating cell regeneration for brighter, more even skin. Clinical results show that 90 percent of subjects noticed an improvement in skin texture.

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A medicated formula that exfoliates and reduces excess oil that can lead to breakouts. It unclogs pores and controls excess shine. Ingredients salicylic acid and acetyl glucosamine help clear dead skin cells that can contribute to clogged pores.Lamincaria Sacharina extract helps reduce shine and addresses future breakouts.

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A unique and highly effective oil-free, non-comedogenic, lightweight moisturizer for combination to oily skin. Using clay that is mined in Umbria, Italy, it helps regulate sebum production, absorb impurities from blocked pores, calm flare-ups, and neutralize excess acidity on the skin which purifies and brightens the skin. This lightweight lotion gently hydrates, tones, and balances the complexion.

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This is a redness-reducing lotion to help correct and prevent future blemishes. Ithelps to correct and prevent future blemishes, while reducing the appearance of dullness and rough texture. Formulated with acne-clearing salicylic acid and pine bark extract, this lotion calms and soothes redness and evens skin tone for a clearer complexion.

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A gentle, oil-free exfoliating lotion for dry or combination skin. Developed by Clinique's dermatologists, the smoothing formula whisks away flakes and refines pores to reveal a clearer complexion. The cool, refreshing formula removes dead cells from the surface of the skin helping moisturizer and makeup to apply evenly.

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This lightweight, oil-free moisturizer helps reduce shine and refine the appearance of pores for smoother skin texture without causing blemishes. Retinol supports natural cell turnover to help keep pores clear while hyaluronic acid and honey extract hydrate. Allantoin and arnica soothe, smooth, and condition skin.

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Fast-acting benzoyl peroxide attacks acne-causing bacteria to treat blackheads, blemishes and clogged pores at the source, and helps to control excess oil that can become trapped in pores and cause new breakouts. Botanical brighteners battle redness from existing and past blemishes, helping to fade the appearance of acne marks and reducing irritation from active breakouts. Antioxidants defend against the effects of free radical damage.

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RELATED:21 Best Creams That Help Clear Up Scars

AlyWalanskyisa NY-basedlifestyles writer who focuses on health, wellness, and relationships. Her work appears in dozens of digital and print publications regularly.Visit her on Twitteroremail her.

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At a hearing in London on Wednesday, Mrs A's barrister, Jeremy Hyam QC, formally requested that Ms Bell, 23, be made a claimant in the case, and Mr Justice Supperstone, overseeing the case, agreed.

In a statement after the hearing, Ms Bell said: "I have become a claimant in this case because I do not believe that children and young people can consent to the use of powerful and experimental hormone drugs like I did.

"I believe that the current affirmative system put in place by the Tavistock is inadequate as it does not allow for exploration of these gender dysphoric feelings, nor does it seek to find the underlying causes of this condition.

"Hormone-changing drugs and surgery does not work for everyone and it certainly should not be offered to someone under the age of 18 when they are emotionally and mentally vulnerable.

"The treatment urgently needs to change so that it does not put young people, like me, on a torturous and unnecessary path that is permanent and life-changing."

At a hearing in London, Mrs A's barrister, Jeremy Hyam QC, said:"What is challenged is the current and continuing practice of the defendant ... to prescribe puberty-suppressing hormone blockers and then subsequently cross-sex hormones to children under the age of 18."

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Former transgender patient will tell court that sex change clinic is putting children on 'torturous' path - The Telegraph

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(WXYZ) Everyone needs a good hug every now and then.

And, according to Emily Mudd, Ph.D., of Cleveland Clinic Childrens, when we hug our children, it actually helps them regulate their emotions, and helps their brains develop.

We know that even from the moment were born, that touch, physical touch, attention, and hugs, are so very important for both nervous system regulation, and brain development, she said. From the moment were born we talk about kangaroo care and the importance of skin-to-skin contact and that really continues through childhood.

Dr. Mudd said research has shown that when we receive a hug, our brains release oxytocin which is the feel good brain chemical.

She said receiving a hug can also help children manage stress, by calming the release of cortisol which is the stress hormone.

When a child is having a meltdown or is overly stressed, Dr. Mudd said giving them a hug can help them calm down. When kids receive warmth and affection from their parents at a very young age, research has shown they are more likely to have greater resiliency, get better grades, and have better parent-child relationships into adulthood. But if your child isnt a hugger or gets shy around family members, Dr. Mudd said dont force them to give a hug.

Its okay to keep a very simple message, for whatever the age of the child is, that youre in control of your body, and if you dont want to hug an aunt or an uncle at this gathering, thats okay, but you can find another way to show them affection, she said. Instead, you can share a special memory with them, give them a high-five; spend extra time with them, and be sure to explain this in advance to your relatives too.

Dr. Mudd said, of course, hugs will change as your children get older, because teenagers dont have the same physical attention needs as toddlers.

But regardless of their age, letting your child know that you are there for them, unconditionally, is essential for their development and well-being.

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News Spread the love: Today is National Hugging Day! Cleveland Clinic 8:11 AM, Jan 21 - WXYZ

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Im stepping into 2020 with the healthiest hair Ive ever had, beauty influencer Brittanie Evans recently posted on Instagram, touting her partnership with SugarBearHair supplements. Celebrities like Kylie Jenner, Vanessa Hudgens and Gwyneth Paltrow have also credited hair vitamins for their luxurious locks.

But, do hair vitamins actually work? It depends, says New Orleans-based dermatologist Mary Lupo.

She compares hair supplements to chicken soupthey cant really hurt and may help. But, if you have a medical condition causing hair loss or other hair issues, hair vitamins likely wont help, and medical treatment may be needed.

What I think is important is that a person kind of go through a little checklist and make sure that before they spend money on vitamins, that theyve ruled out other things that can cause the problem, she says.

You may wish your hair was thicker or shinier or that it would grow longer more quickly. There are several reasons why your hair may not be cooperating.

Stress is a big one: Cortisol is your stress hormone, and a lot of women lose hair or shed hair, or their hair doesnt grow as long because of stress, Lupo says.

Stress can cause a condition called telogen effluvium, a scalp disorder that leads to hair shedding or thinning. It often occurs after instances of stress on the body, like surgery, illness or having a baby, Lupo says.

Other reasons you have issues with your hair:

Some conditions actually damage the hair follicle, Lupo says. Cicatricial alopecia, for example, is caused by scar tissue in the hair follicle, making hair fall out, and its usually irreversible. Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease, causing quarter-sized chunks of hair to fall out.

Genetics also play a role in hair loss or conditions that cause it.

Hair loss because of chemotherapy could benefit from hair vitamins, Lupo says.

When you have hair loss from chemo, your hair has to cycle back and maybe the hair vitamins can speed it up a little bit, she says. I dont think its going to be anything earth-shattering, but I dont think it would hurt and it might help a little bit.

Related: Everything You Need to Know About Hair Extensions

For someone without a medical condition, vitamins could improve hair, but it will take time, six months or more to see a result, Lupo says. Thats because hair follicles grow in cycles.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, the anagen, or growing, phase, may last two to eight years, and refers to most of the hair you have. The catagen phase, which takes two to three weeks, refers to the timeframe when hair follicles shrink. The telogen, or resting, phase is when the hair falls out and can take two to four months.

If your hair cycles into the telogen phase too quickly, it may not grow as long as youd like, since once the hair sheds, and the process starts all over again, Lupo says. Seeing results from hair vitamins depends on taking them regularly for several months.

One month isnt going to make any difference at all, she says. Then, once you see the result, what I tell my patients is you can lower the dose of the vitamin. Like if it tells you to take four a day, you could cut it down to two a day or whatever as a maintenance dose after youve taken it for about a year. But, dont discontinue it or youll lose the benefit.

When shopping for hair vitamins, read the list of ingredients to ensure they contain substances that promote healthy hair: B vitamins, especially biotin, and vitamin E promote hair, nail and skin health, Lupo says.

The way vitamins help hair is really more from the antioxidant or anti-inflammatory (standpoint) to make the scalp healthier and the hair follicle healthier, she explains.

Many hair vitamins also contain plant-based ingredients, like ashwagandha and saw palmetto, which encourage hair health.

Ashwagandha has been shown to lower cortisol and also has anti-inflammatory properties, which promotes healthy hair. Saw palmetto is an ingredient in may products for men that helps with hair loss and prostate cancer.

Related: Is Hairprint the Secret to Covering Your Gray Naturally?

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration(FDA) does not review supplements, including hair vitamins, for safety before theyre allowed on the market. Lupo says hair vitamins are generally safe, though.

She suggests reviewing a hair vitamin products list of ingredients and choosing ones without too many additives. Also, look for ones that are Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certified, like the Natures Bounty brand.

Finally, be wary of any hair vitamins that make medical or any too-good-to-be-true claims.

I think that theyre safe for anybody, Lupo says. Its just the danger is if you have a medical condition that is undiagnosed and unrecognized that is causing you to lose your hair. If youre just taking vitamins, you might be wasting your time and your money, and youre not getting a proper diagnosis so that you can get appropriate treatment.

Along with hair vitamins, prescription drugs like Propecia and Rogaine can help treat hair loss, Lupo says, but women shouldnt take Propecia unless they are postmenopausal.

Dermatologists may also use platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy injections to trigger hair follicles to grow more hair. Lupo says usually four to six sessions of PRP are needed, and need to be repeated after several months to maintain results.

PRP is pretty much considered the gold standard of a therapeutic option, Lupo says. Its perfectly safe because you take your own blood, its spun down, you extract the platelets, and its injected into the scalp.

Diet also improves hair quality. Eating plenty of protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and fruits and vegetables, especially dark green veggies, can make your hair thicker and shinier.

If you have hair loss, thinning or other problems, Lupo suggests visiting your dermatologist to rule out any medical problems, even before trying hair vitamins or if youve tried hair vitamins with no results.

I would urge a person if theyve got a real hair loss problem to get the appropriate evaluation by a dermatologist and any recommended blood work that the dermatologist gives you sooner rather than later, she says.

Tempted to try a lash lift? Check out our guide.

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Hair VitaminsHow to Choose the Best Hair Vitamins and How Long Do You Have to Take Them? - Parade

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Under cover of darkness, a pack of ancient wolves slowly stalk the camps of our nomadic ancestors. But they are not on the prowl. These timid, congenial Canidaes have discovered they can scavenge human kills and midden piles for more reward, and far less risk, than the hunt.

Over successive generations, their offspring grow more docile and more dependent on their human benefactors. In time humans adopt these four-legged moochers, taking them into their service with the tacit agreement of better food and companionship. And so, the human-dog relationship was born.

That's one possibility at least. All that's generally agreed upon is that dogs became man's best friend as early as 15,000 years ago though some fossil evidence suggests domestication as far back as 30,000 years. As science writer James Gorman points out, this means we loved our tail-wagging besties before inventing agriculture, language, or permanent homes and even before we domesticated cows, goats, and, of course, cats.

"As we became friends with them, they became friends with us, and we have a dependency that's charming," Bill Nye, science guy and lover of all good dogs, told us in a 2015 interview. "It's enriched both the dog lives and the human lives."

For humans, the perks of the dog-human relationship run much deeper than games of fetch or a handy excuse to go for a nice, long walk.

Dogs see their people as family, and the feeling seems to be mutual.

(Photo: PxHere)

It's not our imaginations or a poetic attempt to explain behavior through personification. Dogs do view their people as family.

Cognition scientists at Emory University placed dogs in an MRI machine and scanned their brains while presenting them with different odors. Some aromas were of food. Others were from other dogs. And some were from the dogs' human companions. The dogs' brains' reward centers lit up most when presented with the human scents, showing they prioritized human relationships.

These results bolstered other research that shows dogs act similarly to human sounds and that they are the only non-primates to run toward humans for protection and comfort.

A little girl meets Lothair and Molly, two certified therapy dogs, at U.S. Air Force Base Hospital Langley.

(Photo: Brittany Paerschke-O'Brain/U.S. Air Force)

Dogs may be able to curb the risk of some mental diseases. That's the conclusion of research published in the peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE, which found a link between dog ownership and a reduced risk of schizophrenia.

The researchers looked at 1,371 men and women across the socioeconomic spectrum. Roughly 400 participants suffered from schizophrenia, another 400 from bipolar disorder, and about 600 were controls. After a survey in which the participants were asked about pets, the researchers compared ownership with rates of mental illness.

They discovered that dog ownership before the age of 13 correlated with a 25 percent reduced risk of schizophrenia. Participants who owned dogs in the first years of life showed the largest protective effect.

"There are several plausible explanations for this possible 'protective' effect from contact with dogs," lead author Robert Yolken said in a statement. "Perhaps something in the canine microbiome that gets passed to humans and bolsters the immune system against or subdues a genetic predisposition to schizophrenia."

Sorry, ailurophiles. Cats did not show a similar link between ownership and a reduced risk of mental diseases.

Regular walks with your dog is great exercise and boosts cardiovascular health.

(Photo: PxHere)

The health benefits aren't just in the mind. Preliminary research published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Innovations, Quality & Outcomes suggests that pet ownership boosts heart health, especially if that pet is a dog.

Researchers evaluated roughly 1,800 participants using the American Heart Association's Life's Simple 7, seven life factors that people can improve to help achieve cardiovascular well-being. They then compared the health of pet owners with those who did not own pets and found a correlation between dog ownership and heart health. The researchers associated this salubrious effect with increased engagement and physical activity.

"In general, people who owned any pet were more likely to report more physical activity, better diet and blood sugar at an ideal level," Andrea Maugeri, a researcher with the International Clinical Research Center at St. Anne's University Hospital in Brno, said in a statement. "The greatest benefits from having a pet were for those who owned a dog, independent of their age, sex and education level."

Follow-up evaluations are scheduled until 2030.

An older gentleman sits with his canine companion.

(Photo: Pxfuel)

Better heart health means a better chance to live longer. That's according to a recent study and meta-analysis published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

The research found that dog owners who survived a heart attack were at a 33 percent reduced risk of early death compared to non-dog survivors. The same held true for stroke survivors (27 percent). Better still, dog ownership correlated with a 24 percent reduced risk of all-cause mortality, likely explained by an increase in physical activity and a decrease in depression and loneliness.

A study published in Scientific Reports corroborates a canine's life-giving, heart-healthy impact. The researchers reviewed the national registries for more than 3.4 million Swedes with no cardiovascular disease before 2001. Looking at the association between dog ownership and cardiovascular health, they found that single dog owners had a lowered risk of death, either due to cardiovascular disease (11 percent) or other causes (33 percent).

In a statement, lead junior author Mwenya Mubanga noted, "A very interesting finding in our study was that dog ownership was especially prominent as a protective factor in persons living alone, which is a group reported previously to be at higher risk of cardiovascular disease and death than those living in a multi-person household. Perhaps a dog may stand in as an important family member in the single households."

Put simply, dogs are better at ignoring bad advice than their human peers. Research out of Yale University's Canine Cognition Center tasked dogs with retrieving treats from a puzzle. The researchers presented the steps to solve the puzzle but included many extraneous steps in the demonstration. When it was the dogs' turn, they nimbly skipped the unnecessary steps, thereby showing their ability to filter information effectively.

How did human children perform? Not so great. The children settled on pure imitation, regardless of whether a step proved useful in solving the puzzle.

"This tells us something really important about how humans learn relative to other animals," Big Think author Arpan Bhattacharyya wrote on the study. "We're really trusting of the information that we get from other individuals even more trusting than dogs are.

"And what this means is we have to be really careful about the kinds of information we present ourselves with. We're not going to have the right filter for bad information, so we should stick to looking at information that's going to be positive, information that's going to be good."

Dogs really do resemble their owners.

(Photo: PxHere)

Dogs resemble their owners in more ways than floppy jowls or a perky gait. Dogs mirror their owners' personalities, and owners can use this information to better understand themselves.

Research published in the Journal of Research in Personality surveyed more than 1,600 dog owners, representing about 50 different breeds. They found that dog owners shaped their dogs' personalities. Extroverted owners rated their dogs as more active and playful, while the owners of more fearful dogs tended to exhibit more negative emotions. Similarly, more agreeable owners were guardians of less aggressive pets.

"We expected the dogs' personalities to be fairly stable because they don't have wild lifestyle changes humans do, but they actually change a lot. We uncovered similarities to their owners, the optimal time for training and even a time in their lives that they can get more aggressive toward other animals," lead author William Chopik said in a release.

Another study in Scientific Reports showed similar findings regarding stress. The researchers took hair and fur samples from owners and their dogs to measure both for the stress hormone cortisol. They found a correlation in long-term stress between the two.

These are six ways that science has discovered dogs aid their interspecies partner. As genetic research advances, dogs may prove they are man's best friends in unforeseen ways. Scientists studying the canine genome have found a number of canine disorders that closely resemble those found in humans, including some cancers. Further study may provide a wealth of information that could help us solve our own genetic mysteries.

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6 reasons dogs truly are mans best friend - Big Think

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In news that will come as music to the ears of many women, scientists have developed a male birth control gel - and theyre looking for volunteers to test it out.

Researchers at the University of Kansas have developed the gel, and are seeking willing couples to try it.

The clear gel needs to be applied to the mans shoulders every day for two years, where its absorbed into the skin.

Couples will be paid $4,000 (3,063) in compensation to try it, although they must be willing to have a baby in case the gel fails.

The gel, called NES/T is expected to be more effective than condoms, but can cause a range of side effects, including acne and weight gain, according to the researchers.

It contains two hormones. The first hormone, progestin, naturally blocks the action of testosterone, keeping the testes from producing sperm.

Meanwhile, the second hormone, testosterone, ensures that the mans levels are normal, preventing side effects such as low sex drive, mod changes and erectile dysfunction.

According to the researchers, the gel is 90% effective - roughly 3% more reliable than condoms.

Thankfully, these effects are reversible within three to four months.

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For the trial, men will be paid $2,985 (2,286) to visit the clinic 31 times over two years, while their partner will receive $1,140 (873) for visiting 10 times.

Overall, the researchers are seeking 420 couples, including at centres in Edinburgh, Manchester, Los Angeles, Washington, Italy and Sweden.

Further details about the clinical trial can be found here .

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Doctors seek couples to test male birth control gel - and they'll get paid 3,000 - Mirror Online

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Sonora desert yoga.

A wellspring of wellness-based experiences await you in Scottsdale, Arizona. Certainly, it remains a mecca for PGA Golf tournaments and a boisterous hive for bachelor parties, but considering that wellness tourism is the fastest growing sector in travel, the region has seen a swift evolution in terms of integrating spiritual spa sanctuaries into overall experiential lifestyle stays that encompass a plethora of holistic modalities.

According to data from the Global Wellness Institute (GWI), wellness is an overall $4.2 trillion dollar industry which has seen 12 percent growth in the past 5 year with wellness tourism itself garnering $639 billion in sales. GWI Senior Researchers Katherine Johnston and Ophelia Yeung note that wellness tourism burst into the consumer consciousness just a few years ago, and its hard to grasp the speed of its growth and evolution. They add that hospitality and travel are converging, which sees the introduction of healthy hotels, wellness destinations, retreats and related tours going mainstream: this concept is transforming almost every facet of travel, and wellness tourism will only grow faster in the years ahead.

Meanwhile in Scottsdale, Dr. Meghana Thanki - proprietor of Second Nature Clinic, explains that the city was an early health and wellness adopter of due to its geography (being one with nature), golf + spa resorts, and overall open-minded sensibilities. What Im observing is that locals and visitors are seeking balance. Instead of attending an intense meditative retreat in a secluded location, people prefer to travel to a destination like Scottsdale - enjoy that decadent meal with wine on one day - then seek us out on another to learn about alternative healing and restorative treatments. I think we appeal to a diverse audience because Scottsdale offers this wonderful flexibility - our varying approaches and levels of holistic healing accomodate everyone from the curious to the critical.

With growing receptivity to Eastern and Western wellness philosophies, there is growing agency and programming initiatives being offered by niche and mainstream companies; and as a result, guests and locals can expect to have opportunities that combine classic vacations stays along with elements that benefit mental and spiritual health.

With that in mind, these are the best wellness-based discoveries in Scottsdale:

Spiritual Adventure

REI Co-op Experiences

REI Co-op offers Scottsdale guides tours that include hiking, kayaking, camping, and more.

The easiest way to recharge, connect with yourself, and get a digital detox is to immerse yourself in the natural beauty of the Sonoran Desert. Through REI Co-op, their guided hikes allow you to appreciate the serenity of the region and the glory of its verdant cacti-riddled landscape. You first meet at the McDowell Sonoran Preserve Gateway Trailhead and meander through 3 miles of sandy trails via Browns Ranch to reach the mountain summit. On your journey, your expert guide teaches you about the local flora, fauna, geology and history of the region. Marc Berejka, president of the REI Foundation adds that we aim to shine a light on the symbiotic relationship between health and nature. Nature is good for us, so we must be good to nature, and time outside should be part of every doctors toolkit. At the summit, there is an opportunity to sit, pause and soak up the calming beauty of the area all to yourself.

Rest & Relax

Four Seasons Scottsdale Resort & Spa

Patio with views of Pinnacle Peak at Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North.

Hugged by Pinnacle Peak and the Tonto National Forest, the hotel is a mountainous retreat located approximately 30 minutes north of downtown Scottsdale. For the last 20 years, its been the heart of the Sonoran Desert offering guests watercolor vistas and saguaro cacti-enriched landscapes. Along with its spacious 210 casita-style rooms and 22 suites, their spa and fitness programming is a leader in the region. Spa Director Lia Rowland encourages the fusion of fitness and mindfulness. This is best exemplified in their integrative programming, with the following highlights:

Zen Hike: Guests are encouraged to stop, breathe and take in the beauty of nature as they enjoy a guided hike that starts on property and meanders up to Pinnacle Peak. With a duration of about 90 minutes, the trail hike incorporates yoga poses at numerous pit stops on your journey to the summit. With an emphasis on being present in the moment, this is a unique way to invigorate body and mind.

Guided Meditation: Ideal for those who are curious about meditation but dont know how to begin. Participants are given direction and guidance via use of mental imagery, breathing exercises and focusing/channelling of energy - with the desired outcome to attain a state of relaxation for both the mind and the body via the learned skills and cultivation of becoming focused and present in ones state.

Aroma Design Experience: An Alchemista provides guidance to the guest who selects and customizes their own personal essential oil blend to enhance their well-being. Everything from birthdate, biological cycle, mood, and intention are taken into consideration. Once the custom oil blend is added to the organic body butter, the experience is followed by a customized massage.

Tai-Chi: A new offering for the spa and an alternative way to incorporate exercise with present mindfulness. The instructor guides participants through a series of methodical, gentle and meditative movements that resemble that of dancing underwater or moving in slow motion.

Omni Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Montelucia

Joya Spa's Relaxation area at Omni Scottsdale Resort Montelucia.

The spanish-styled hotel is set against Camelback Mountain and conveniently located a 13-minute drive from Old Town Scottsdale and Downtown Scottsdale.

Their award-winning Joya Spa is modelled on the old-world traditions of bathhouse rituals and ceremonies inspired by Moroccan deserts and Andalusia in Southern Spain. The lavish 31,000 square-foot space features numerous intention areas, saunas/steam areas, and treatment rooms. Upon entering the spa, youre greeted by the Joy of Purification - which is a 55lb quartz crystal for which guests are asked to place their hands on and breathe in/exhale to expel negative energy and worries. There are also protective amulets called the Hand of Fatima that are hung outside treatments rooms to bless and empower guests.

Services and treatments are extensive and Joya Spa offers everything from massage and facials; wellness and meditation; and naturopathic services. Highlights include the following:

Neuromuscular Massage: Ideal for those who sit for extended periods of time, such as at the office. Targeting specific areas, the massage is designed to release postural contractions and alleviate soft tissue distress.

Cranial Sacral Massage: A holistic practice which targets the central nervous system. Intuitive pressure is used to provide balance and alignment in mind, body and spirit.

Stress Management Meditation: A useful and practical session that allows you to recognize triggers and stressors. From there, skills and tools are provided to help you focus, achieve balance, reduce tension, release stress, and improve overall well-being.

Holistic Healing and Self-Care

Second Nature Clinic

Second Nature Clinic offers a vast range of services and treatments that include Ayurvedic Medicine, ... [+] Vitamin Shots, IV Drip Therapy, Massages and Aesthetics.

Dr. Meghana Thanki, owner of Second Nature Clinic in Old Town Scottsdale offers Naturopathic and Ayurvedic Medical therapies. She is a strong believer of introducing natural health/self-care into our lifestyle regularly until the point where it becomes second nature. Endeavoring to provide an accessible and comfortable environment, her Zen Lounge Experience is an ideal place to integrate these practices into ones life - such as her Healing and Happy Hour event. Every Thursdays between 5-7pm Dr. Thanki offers healing/restorative treatments for mind, body and soul at special prices that include 50% off vitamin shots, $20 off IV infusions, an aromatherapy bar, meditation workshops, and guest vendors.

The Phoenician Scottsdale

Gemstone healing facial is a 100% natural, vegan experience. Crystals and gem stones are placed on ... [+] and around the body for healing energy, bringing peace, clarity, and physical well-being.

After nearly 30 years of service, the new Phoenician Spa (replacing The Centre for Well-Being) completed its last phase of multi-million dollar renovation efforts in 2019. Now the 40,000 square-foot Phoenician Spa features a rooftop pool, 24 treatment rooms, salon services and an aroma design bar. Indulgent experiences are tailored to your level of comfort, from the more familiar facials and body polishes to modern fusions of Eastern Healing Philosophies such as their energy-transfer sessions (with the use of healing crystals); and Harmonic Bowl Healing, which uses sound energy that corresponds to one of the seven chakras to provide restoration, deep relaxation, or energy - all depending on the guests needs.

Movement Restoration

Floatation Therapy.

Opened in 2006 by certified massage therapist Trisha Haws and partner Brynn Martin, their companys philosophy is founded upon a massage therapy concept that emphasizes the restoration of natural movements via massage treatments - for instance, anything from soreness due to sitting at an office or recovery from that round of golf. Moreover, this popular space is where you can see everyone from fitness buffs to olympic competitors book a visit. The minimalist desert studio offers everything from traditional registered massage therapy, fascial stretching, cupping, to scrapping and floatation therapy via their 180 gallon saltwater float tank - which is said to take pressure off of the body for optimal relaxation and circulation. The magnesium in the epsom salts also boosts mental awareness, calmness, reduces inflammation, and alleviates sore joints and muscles.

We Do Men: The Man Spa

Client receives a facial treatment at We Do Men - A Male Concept Spa.

The wellness trend and respective surge in popularity can bring out staunch skeptics who are unsure of its effectiveness. But wellness doesnt necessarily mean you must dabble in astrological soul reading and energy therapy, rather, it also equates with self-care. For males, We Do Men is an ideal spot for wellness rookies to get their proverbial feet wet. Owner Stacey Grondahl, aka boss lady and manhandler - is all about creating a spa for men that addresses surrounding taboos and stereotypes about the industry, everything from skin care to grooming. She takes a humorous yet professionally direct no-B.S. approach to her respective services for guests. Along with educational one-on-one consultations and tailoring to lifestyle needs via what she describes as learning the way your male mind works, she even offers a booze, tunes and taboos menu - which involves using products with boozy elements in them (e.g. sake and blue agave tequila), as well as provide guests with local spirit samples (in a traditional beverage format).

Viticulture and Gastronomy

LDV Winery

LDV Winery is located in Old Town Scottsdale and features varietals grown from their own winery in ... [+] Southeastern Arizona.

Boasting vegan and natural wines, owners Curt Dunham and Peggy Fiandaca have been grape growing and winemaking over a decade. They champion the viticulture of Southeastern Arizona in each of their wine varietals. Due to the Chiricahua Mountains, theyre afforded a micro-climate of hot mornings and cool nights. As a result, the terroir and its temperature variances actually help intensify flavors and create vibrant acidity. Also, the integrity of wines are preserved as best as possible, so theres no tampering or manipulation done (e.g. no fining and filtration agents are used). Due to growing considerations for health and wellness, more people are exercising conscious consumption and LDV is able to appease to such needs of enjoying quality rather than quantity. If youre unfamiliar with their winery, an ideal starting point is to try their trio of award-winning estate grown Petite Sirah via their PS (Petite Sirah) I Love You package, which can be tasted at the wine bar or ordered online.

True Food Kitchen

Food philosophy of the restaurant is built about delicious dining and conscious nutrition. Pictured ... [+] here is their popular Edamame Guacamole dish.

A homegrown brand founded in 2008 that now boasts numerous locations, arguably their Scottsdale Quarter outpost remains one of the most popular spots. One of the founders, Dr. Andrew Weil explains that the restaurants mantra is simply that eating well is always in season. True Food emphasizes conscious nutrition that can be tasted in every one of the creations - without sacrificing flavor, creativity or indulgence. As much as possible, their dishes feature ingredients that are anti-inflammatory, boosts antioxidants, and immunity. Crowd favorites include their edamame guacamole, butternut squash pizza, and their unbeetable burger that uses beets, kuzu, jicama slaw, vegan mayonnaise, and crushed avocado.

Farm & Craft

Colorful, flavorful and healthy dishes whose food philosophy is featuring a "wellness menu".

Based in Scottsdale and founded by Riot Hospitality Group, Farm & Crafts seasonal wellness menu emphasizes four pillars to health in an overall welcoming and community-minded atmosphere: anti-inflammatory diet, increasing probiotic levels, maintaining high levels of antioxidants, and reducing overall stress. This is accomplished by offering guests sustainable, gluten-free, organic, and hormone-free ingredients in their dishes. Best of all, its flexitarian - whereby, you can opt for a strictly vegan and cleansing meal - such as their Chilled Raw Pad Thai; or something indulgent such as their Grass-Fed Steak Wrap. Beverages also cater to your needs and mood - where you can opt for an alcoholic cocktail thats served in a hollowed out watermelon, or something more holistically-minded such as their Carrot Cleanse juice (which is high in antioxidants, supports vision health, and offers anti-inflammatory properties with its mixture of carrot, orange, turmeric, lemon & ginger).

FnB Restaurant

FnB Scottsdale is owned by Pavle Milic and chef Charleen Badman. They feature uncomplicated seasonal ... [+] cooking and highlight an all-Arizona wine list, including their own vineyard creations from Los Milics Winery.

For an elevated dining experience, seek out this charming restaurant located in the historic Craftsman Court in downtown Scottsdale. Helmed by James Beard Foundations 2019 Best Chef: Southwests Charleen Badman, FnB boasts global flavors and seasonally changing menus. While she does offer traditional protein-enriched dishes (beef, poultry, fish, etc that are hormone-free, sustainable, and ethically raised), its actually her cruciferous creations that showcase her culinary prowess. In highlighting Arizona's bounty of local ingredients from nearby farming and agricultural communities, the veggie whisperer breathes life into otherwise humble ingredients - turnips are transformed with chimichurri; butternut squash is bolstered with sage, roasted garlic and pecorino; and spicy grilled broccoli (a crowd favorite) arrives to the table with the vibrancy of meyer lemon aioli and the salty crunch of pistachios.

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Why Scottsdale, Arizona Is The Best Health & Wellness Destination To Relax And Recharge - Forbes

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

By ANGELA OKETCHMore by this Author

This is the in thing at universities. A quick way to make money. Egg donation among humans is a biological way to help women who cannot conceive naturally to have children.

However, for many young women in Kenya, the process has been turned into a quick way to earn money from clinics in Nairobi, which are themselves making a killing by selling them to the women who cannot conceive naturally.

Responding to adverts by these clinics on social media, hundreds of young women are giving away their eggs for just Sh50,000 to Sh70,000, oblivious of the risks they are exposing themselves to, and without knowledge of what these eggs fetch for the clinics.

Egg donation involves taking eggs from one woman, fertilising the viable ones, and then transferring them into the uterus of either the aspiring mother or a surrogate, in the hope of achieving pregnancy. This procedure is known as in-vitro fertilisation (IVF).

Last week, the La Femme Healthcare clinic, a fertility clinic along Ngong Road, Nairobi, placed an advert on its Facebook and Instagram pages seeking to recruit voluntary donors who would later be paid Sh50,000 should they turn out to be potential donors.

The voluntary donors were expected to be fit and healthy, 25 years old or younger.

At the end of the ad, the clinic placed Sh50,000 as monetary compensation to the donors. Visit us at the Green House Mall, Ngong Road, the advert states.

Dr Martha Kuruga, a fertility specialist at the facility, says several volunteers are required to match them to the women seeking eggs for IVF.

Interestingly, she says women seeking IVF using donor eggs have to part with Sh500,000. The amount includes the cost of the procedure and the treatment for the donor before the egg harvesting and afterwards should complications arise.

The Nation established that the cost could go as high as Sh1 million in other health facilities.

At the clinic, a donor is required to produce the National Identification card, school certificates and a photograph, for a start.

The information is then shared with women seeking donated eggs, who select a potential donor, based on physical appearance and academic qualifications.

Tests, including to check the blood group, are then conducted to match the donor to the recipient.

Once selected, the young woman is put on hormonal treatment to speed up the production of eggs in preparation for harvesting. Egg production depends on the individuals response to the hormonal treatment, and some women can produce as many as 40 eggs while some manage only five.

At the age of 23, Maria Nyokabi (not her real name) decided to sell her eggs without a second thought just because she needed the money.

Like many of her peers, she had on several occasions found herself broke. Being an orphan with no one to go to whenever she needed the money, she started a small business of packing and selling groundnuts at her campus room.

She would use the proceeds to pay rent and buy food but, with all these, she was still struggling.

So what do you do to realise your dream? How do you pay rent and how do you eat? Yet you have dangling cash at your disposal just to donate an egg?

The possible answer then was to sell my egg at Sh70,000. I was editing my college newspaper and would constantly see ads titled Donate Your Eggs At Sh70,000 and everyone was welcome if you met the criteria. I went for it, says Ms Nyokabi.

At first, she could not imagine that selling her eggs would be an option she would pursue. Fast forward, two years later she developed an interest.

A friend at the university directed her to a clinic where she had done it and was selected.

After tough scrutiny and answering a number of questions, she was chosen as a donor.

Weeks before the procedure, she wanted to give up but the Sh70,000 outweighed all her fears.

On her appointment day, she sat in the waiting room listening to music and reading a book.

After a few minutes, I received three taps on my shoulder asking me to proceed to the doctors office. We sat and looked over paperwork, blood was drawn, and then I went for an ultrasound to make sure everything looked fine. The doctor warned me that I might become overwhelmed with emotion during the process, she says.

No drinking, no sex, and no exercise until the end of the process, the nurse told me. She showed me how to administer the hormone shots myself, and off I went.

After four days, she had to return to the clinic to check her vitals and get an ultrasound check on how the eggs were multiplying. At the second day, she had a few noticeable symptoms of withdrawal other than boredom, her life revolved around the process.

Each day she went back to the clinic, she had three or four more follicle pouches filled with eggs popping up. Every day something new was happening in her body.

Two days before she was scheduled for the egg retrieval, she had more than 10 follicles in the ovaries, the nurse waved the cold metal rod up, down and around searching for more follicle pouches. The more follicles that appeared, the more uncomfortable she became.

Though painless and quick, the 45-minute procedure was life threatening, she says. She was weak and could not stand on her own. She was given antibiotics.

Third day after the surgery, she felt her body was rejecting everything she tried to put into it.

She had developed ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome and needed to have a procedure to drain all the excess fluid from her abdominal cavity.

She went back to the hospital and the fluid was drained; a suction cup was inserted into her vagina that sucked the liquid out.

I felt better and, from then, I swore never to do it again. I think my body can only survive one egg donation and I would never do it again because of money. That was physically painful, she says.

The same case applied to Monica Nyasukuta (not her real name). Last year, she had no one to turn to when she needed a bailout, fortunately, or unfortunately, when she sought help from her gynaecologist friend, she was advised to go and donate eggs.

Since she was clutching at straws, she had no option but to sign up to donate eggs. It was such a risky and top-secret experience that she only confided in her closest friend.

She doesnt like to talk about it, her friend recounts.

She had a series of tests to confirm her viability to donate eggs. She made the cut and the process began. It earned her Sh80,000 that temporarily put a smile on her face.

She signed a few legal documents that bound her never to go back to the clinic asking for her egg, and she left.

The hospital only keeps tabs when complications related to the procedure arise. If not, it lets go of the girl with it was nice doing business with you written on their faces.

Egg donors still take on medical risks: Women can suffer subsequent health problems, most commonly ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS), in which the ovaries swell too much, causing fluid to leak into the abdomen and chest. This can be fatal, says Dr Paul Mitei, a gynaecologist and obstetrician.

Other symptoms include bloating, weight gain, nausea and, in rare severe cases, blood clots and kidney failure.

He says that before retrieval is done, a donor is first given an oral birth control pill for 21 days to stabilise the egg donors (ED) hormones and make it possible to time other medications. This causes breast tenderness, temporary weight gain, mood changes, missed periods and decreased libido.

She is then placed on steroids to suppress some hormones in donors with polycystic ovaries (PCO) for a week. Then they are later placed on follicle-stimulating hormones to stimulate and mature the eggs that will be donated. The hormones have serious side-effects to the young girls including headache, temporary weight gain, ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (rare), multiple gestations (rare), ectopic (tubal) pregnancy (rare), ovarian twisting and injection site skin reactions. If done continuously, it might interfere with their fertility, he said

The donors are then given injections of gonadotrophin-releasing hormone antagonist to prevent premature release of hormones during the cycle; prevents ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome and human chorionic gonadotrophin, a trigger shot to (36-40 hours before retrieval) fully mature the eggs before they are retrieved

Finally, before retrieval, they are given two small injections of gonadotrophin-releasing hormone agonists to stop the production of some fertility hormones this allows the donor to donate a good number of high-quality eggs.

This is followed by antibiotics to decrease the risk of infection during egg retrieval.

Egg retrieval is always performed under ultrasound guidance. However, there is always a risk that a needle may puncture surrounding tissue or organs causing injury, bleeding and/or infection. Some of the hormones given to the young women are too strong for them and might [not] be necessary at their age, he said.

No one can say exactly what will happen if you donate your eggs because theres not much research into the long-term health risks egg donors may face, says Dr Diane Tober, who studied egg donors.

There have been reported cases of OHSS (which can be life-threatening), ovarian torsion, blood clots, development of long-term health problems, infertility and, according to some researchers, even cancer.

In October, arguing that egg donation carries the same risks as other surgical procedures involving anaesthesia, the San Francisco civil-rights lawyer MonaLisa Wallace petitioned the US Justice Department to crack down on the illegal egg-trafficking industry.

In a website of support and advocacy groups known as We Are Egg Donors, donors have found the donation process to be physically painful, emotionally jarring or both.

Some donors find the experience, which involves hormone injections for 10 days or more until a doctor pierces the vaginal wall with thick needles to suck out the extra eggs, produced differs greatly from the marketing.

There's a huge lack of data there to help women to make informed decisions. This is a big problem, simply because, people are making decisions that could affect their future health, well-being, and their ability to have children, Dr Tober said.

View post:
Young women turning to egg donation for quick cash - Daily Nation

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Authors note: I am grateful to the recently-launched caWsbar (Canadian Womens Sex-based Rights) for bringing the McLean Clinic, and its aggressive marketing techniques, to my attention, as well as for files they contributed to this column. Dr. Alicia Hendley, Phd in psychology and founding member of caWsbar told me: Were very alarmed about the current trend of young women having double mastectomies to treat their dysphoria.We urge medical professionals to move beyond the external pressures they are being faced with and to put into action their most sacred principlefirst do no harm.

The rapid escalation of gender-fluid identification amongst young people in the West is nothing short of astounding. Adolescent females are now in a majority of those seeking transition. An Ottawa clinic, CHEO, used to see one or two patients a year. Last year it saw 189. Its the same in other provinces:

Girls who are dissatisfied with their post-puberty bodies and wish to present as boys, naturally focus on their burgeoning breasts. They may use binders to flatten them, or they may seek surgical removal, referred to in the gender-fluidity world as top surgery.

Until fairly recently, a patient needed to undergo psychiatric testing before receiving OHIP approval for funding. Now a patient can be diagnosed by a GP or any other expert in gender health. Effectively, OHIP is now approving funding for any teenager who self-diagnoses as gender dysphoric, since Ontario law forbids any health professional from practicing conversion therapy. That is, any attempt by a doctor to inquire into contributing factors such as autism, anxiety, sexual preference, depression or other influencing factors could easily be construed as illegal.

The primary destination for top surgery in Ontario is the McLean Clinic, run by Dr. Hugh A. McLean, who has himself performed hundreds of top surgeries and who is not shy about promoting his clinic as a place where gender-fluidity dreams come true.

On the clinics Instagram page you can see dozens of photos of post-op FTM (female-to-male) clients posing bare-chested and happy. The clinic cheers on their patientsand prospective patientswith encouraging posts such as Postop one day! What a way to start the holiday season. Nice job, Dr. McLean! and Ready for a topless summer. Some of the females seem extremely young. Other adolescents comment, I cant wait to have this surgery too! Im jealous! In one photo, fellow surgeon Dr. Giancarlo McEvenue (more on him anon) wearing a mask and a Santa Claus hat holds up two buckets labelled Breast tissue, accompanied by a Dr McLean post: For all you good boys, Dr McEvenue is not bringing gifts, hes taking them away!

We already know that adolescence is a notoriously labile period in the maturation cycle, and that teenagers under the age of 18 (at a minimumour brains are not fully mature until 25) cannot be assumed to be making momentous decisions with truly informed consent. This Instagram page straddles a line between affirmation and recruitment.

Dr. McEvenue, Dr. McLeans (until recently) colleague at the McLean clinic (he is listed as a surgeon here now), is as well a paid consultant for Johnson & Johnson, whose products and services are employed in these surgeries. Under their sponsorship, Dr. McEvenue participated in a gender reassignment surgery panel last September in Markham, Ontario. You can watch the panel and his performance here.

In the video, you see a marked transformation in Dr. McEvenues pitch. Hes jettisoned the Instagram-friendly Santa hat and the buckets of breast tissue. He is now the smooth, Madman-esque embodiment of Corporate Guy, representing a mammoth company that brands itself as so LGBT-friendly they are bursting with Pride and self-congratulation.

Dr. McEvenue tells us that there could be as many as two million people with gender dysphoria in Canada about 1.5% of the population considerably more than the DSM-5s estimation of .002-.003%. Not only is the wish for top surgery not indicative of a disorder, he says, but it is even not a distress, and in fact it may not be necessarily exclusively related to gender dysphoria. Sometimes it is just breast dysphoria, he says, a term new to me, which turns out to mean that you dont like your breasts. If that is your issue, Dr. McEvenue is there for you, and will remove them. Because he has a passion for what he does.

At the 14:30 minute mark, Dr. McEvenue inadvertently demonstrates the health communitys general dumbing-down of the transition process that he is abetting.

He says, Believe it or not, when a patient wanted top surgery five or ten years ago, they had to go to a psychiatrist to get diagnosed. (Here he grins, presumably at the craziness of the very idea that a woman wanting to lop her breasts off might benefit from sorting through her motives with a mental health expert). He continues, If a woman comes to me for breast augmentation, I dont make her go to a psychiatrist. I say, okay, are you an adult? Do you understand the surgery? (laughter, applause. This audience really really wants to believe that top surgery on teenage girls is no big deal.)

So lets unpack these statements. Dr. McEvenue is comparing breast removal to breast augmentation as though they were two sides of the same coin. But theyre not. The parallel to a breast augmentation is a breast reduction. Both surgeries are performed on women who identify as women, but for reasons of comfort (reduction) or perceived enhanced sexual allure (augmentation), seek surgical alterations. Of course such women do not require psychiatric evaluations. How is augmentation in any way logically comparable to top surgery for transitioning girls who want their breasts removed so they can present as male? It isnt, unless you are attempting to trivialize both the operation and its psychological implications.

Furthermore, he asks his augmentation patients, are you an adult? But from the photos on the Instagram account, a great number of Dr. McEvenues patients are not adults at all. How does he know they truly understand what they are doing? Why wouldnt he want them to see a psychiatrist beforehand? If they are sure of what they are doing, what harm can deeper exploration do? And if they are not sure, whats the down side of them changing their mind? There is a long waiting list at the McLean Clinic, according to Dr. McEvenue. If one or two drop off it after consulting with a mental-health expert, wheres the tragedy there? Dr. McEvenue claims it is a matter of respect not to challenge his patients self-diagnosis. And at the 18-minute mark, he says, Why would I send [a patient] for a second opinion? Yet second opinions are standard in every other field of surgery, and no other surgeons consider them a sign of disrespect. (I guess its a good thing Dr. McEvenue isnt an oncologist.)

Dr. McEvenue enthuses about the benefits of Instagram (Instagram has been huge for us) and boasts of the clinics 14,000 followers. He claims that he doesnt moderate the discussion generated, although, If I see a negative comment, I delete it. The McLean Clinic is certainly dedicated to FTM transitioning as a fun experience.

Representing the patient experience on the panel is a likable transman, Yuri, who is warm, amiable and articulate, clearly at home in his new persona and eager to extol the benefits of his top surgery. Notably, he is now 30 years old, and had the surgery in his 20s. So he is hardly representative of the growing demographic that is seeking the surgery. If all the clinics patients were in their 20s, this panel wouldnt have been needed. The subject is only controversial because the age of those undergoing it is moving downward. Parents are of course concerned, confused and occasionally desperate for objective advice.

They wont find objectivity on this panel. Two of the speakers, the J & J host and Dr. McEvenue, are stakeholders in the business end of top surgeries. One of the panellists is a mature patient who had gone through years of reflection as an adult before doing it, and the last panellist, Melissa, is the parent of a child to whom she has given her full affirming support since her (then) daughter was four years old and refused to dress in princess clothes.

Melissa, unfortunately, plays the suicide card, saying, Id rather stand beside my son than over top of his grave. Suicide is a big possibility, Melissa says, and a parents job isnt to understand, its to support the dysphoric child. Dr. McEvenue reinforces her message with, a lot of time this is a life-saving operation. But since he is committed never to second-guessing the patients self-diagnosis, he cannot be sure that psychiatric help wouldnt be equally life-saving.

Brown University researcher Lisa Littman, who coined the term Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD) found that many adolescent girls with problems other than gender dysphoriaautism, anxiety, depressionglommed on to gender dysphoria as the source of their troubles through sites like Reddit and Tumblr, where social contagion took hold of them. These sites school new adherents in the kind of tropessuch as threatening suicidethat are sure to get their parents on board and assure instant affirmation from therapists. Parents should know this.

So just how real is the risk of suicide if a young girl does not get her double mastectomy? In a very recent article published in Quillette, psychoanalyst Marcus Evans, who formerly served as Consultant Psychotherapist and Associate Clinical Director of Adult and Adolescent Service at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, the Tavistock Clinic being Englands premier public gender clinic, has this to say on the subject of suicide risk: Those who advocate an unquestioning affirmation-based approach to trans-identified children often will claim that any delay or hesitation in assisting a childs desired gender transition may cause irreparable psychological harm, and possibly even lead to suicide. They also typically will cite research purporting to prove that a child who transitions can expect higher levels of psychological health and life satisfaction. None of these claimsalignsubstantially with any robust data or studies in this area. Nor do they align with the cases I have encountered over decades as a psychotherapist.

What else is missing from this panel presentation? Questions that werent puffballs. For example, nobody asked whether Dr. McEvenue had ever had to reconstruct breasts after a client felt regret over the top surgery? (The McLean Clinic website says that very few trans folk regret their decision to undergo top surgery as part of their transition to their experienced gender, but they do not reference any studies.) Regretful detransitioners abound, and many of them want to be heard, but trans activists make life difficult for them when they speak out. Or another unasked question: Do you talk to these adolescent girls about their sexual preferences before planning their surgeries? Some girls presenting as trans are in fact merely lesbians who have difficulty processing that notion. In such cases, transitioning is neither required or advisable. But the subject did not arise on the panel.

As noted in a balanced, in-depth Atlantic magazine article on the subject by seasoned researcher Jesse Singal, the American Psychological Associations guidelines observe that adolescents can become intensely focused on their immediate desires. It goes on: This intense focus on immediate needs may create challenges in assuring that adolescents are cognitively and emotionally able to make life-altering decisions. The McLean Clinic is marketing itself to this demographic, and far from appearing to see challenge in this demographics vulnerability, they show every sign of seeing only market opportunity.

It will be clear to any objective observer that the McLean Clinics fun approach to top surgery and its dependence on social media promotes a perspective that underplays the complexity of the issue and overplays the magical-solution angle. The McLean Clinics bruited compassion for their patients is commendable. But their Instagram culture makes a mockery of the informed consent they claim to respect.

From a business perspective, the Mclean Clinics long waiting list is a sign of success. Their marketing techniques are not illegal. But are they ethical? That is a subject the Canadian Society of Plastic Surgeons might wish to take under deliberation.

View post:
Teen detransitioners are telling their stories on YouTube - The Post Millennial

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

When a major new set of international guidelines on exercise and cancer was released in October, most of the headlines understandably focused on two key promises: That appropriate levels of physical activity could enhance quality and possibly length of life in those with a cancer diagnosis; and that they might help others avoid developing cancer in the first place.

The evidence for these two claims was dissected in depth in a pair of papers published simultaneously in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, the fruits of a lengthy roundtable process involving more than three-dozen researchers from 17 health organizations around the world, including the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology.

Less heralded, however, was a third paper from the same group that addressed a knottier problem thats all too familiar to exercise researchers: How do you move from knowing that something is a good practice to getting people to actually do it? Establishing a regular exercise habit can be challenging for just about anybody, but there are extra hurdles for people with cancer.

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Theyre all in different types of treatment, theyve had different surgeries, says Kristin Campbell, the director of the University of British Columbias Clinical Exercise Physiology Lab and one of the authors of the new guidelines. As a result, cancer survivors themselves have a lot of questions, like Is this safe for me?

The answer, in most cases, is yes but with some adjustments. While a previous set of guidelines published in 2010 had suggested that those undergoing cancer treatment should aim for the same amount of exercise as everyone else, meaning at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise for each week, the new guidelines revise that target down to three weekly sessions of 30 minutes each.

That adjustment, based on a wealth of new evidence published in the past decade, is a good change, says Margie McNeely, the director of the University of Albertas Cancer Rehabilitation Clinic, and a more realistic standard for a survivor undergoing or in the early stages of recovering from cancer treatment.

For reasons that arent fully understood theories include reduced inflammation and oxidative stress, better blood-sugar control and changed hormone levels exercise has powerful effects on cancer cells.

Theres now strong evidence that regular physical activity lowers your risk of at least seven different types of cancer, and moderate evidence that it raises your chances of survival if you do get diagnosed. For those undergoing cancer treatment, it staves off reductions in physical function and helps reduce anxiety, depression and cancer-related fatigue.

In other words, the pressing question isnt whether cancer survivors should exercise its how to give them the confidence and information they need to do it.

Oncologists and oncology nurses are not trained in exercise, Campbell points out. They dont really know how to screen people or what to prescribe for exercise, because its just not their wheelhouse.

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In the third roundtable paper, Campbell and her colleagues propose a three-step process for oncologists: Assess, advise and refer. Simply asking about a patients current exercise capacity assessing is a good way to raise awareness, and basic advice about the new exercise guidelines advising may be enough to send some people down the right path.

But many will need a referral for more detailed help from an exercise specialist. Thats where initiatives such as the Alberta Cancer Exercise program, a continuing study led by McNeely, come in. Over the last year, more than 1,500 people with cancer have taken part in the supervised 12-week program at sites across the province.

About a quarter of the participants have what McNeely calls chronic cancer. Theyre not cured, but are living with the disease and will likely live for a long time while cycling in and out of treatment. Prescribing exercise for these people is trickier, but the benefits quality of life, physical function and the fitness to withstand their treatments are even more significant.

Given these constraints, there will never be a single set of generic exercise guidelines that applies to all cancer survivors. But the most essential message, now backed by solid science, is the simplest: Avoid inactivity, Campbell urges. Get out there and start doing whatever youre able to do.

Alex Hutchinson is the author of Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance. Follow him on Twitter @sweatscience.

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Excerpt from:
Exercise can help in the fight against cancer, but how do we persuade patients to do it? - The Globe and Mail

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Microcrystalline Cellulose (MCC) Market Insights 2018, is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the global Microcrystalline Cellulose (MCC) industry with a focus on the Global market. The report provides key statistics on the market status of the Microcrystalline Cellulose (MCC) manufacturers and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the industry. Overall, the report provides an in-depth insight of 2018-2025 global Microcrystalline Cellulose (MCC) market covering all important parameters.

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The study provides a decisive view on the global microcrystalline cellulose market by segmenting it in terms of end-users. End-user segments have been analyzed based on present and future trends. Regional segmentation includes the current and forecast demand for North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World (RoW). The report also covers demand for individual end-user segments in all the regions.

The study includes profiles of major companies operating in the global microcrystalline cellulose market. Key players profiled in the report include Asahi Kasei Corporation, BLANVER FARMOQUMICA LTDA, FMC Corporation, DFE Pharma GmbH & Co. KG, J. RETTENMAIER & SHNE GmbH + Co KG, Libraw Pharma, JUKU ORCHEM PRIVATE LIMITED, Sigachi Industrial Pvt. Ltd., Avantor Performance Materials, Inc., MINGTAI CHEMICAL CO., LTD. and Accent Microcell Pvt. Ltd. Market players are profiled in terms of attributes such as company overview, financial overview, business strategies and recent developments.

The report provides the market size of MCC for 2013 and forecast for the next six years. The global market size of MCC is provided in terms of both volume as well as revenue. Market volume is defined in tons, while market revenue is in US$ thousand. Market numbers are estimated based on various key end-user segments of MCC. Market size and forecast for each major end-user is provided in terms of global and regional markets.

In order to compile the research report, we conducted in-depth interviews and discussions with a wide range of key industry participants and opinion leaders. Primary research represents the bulk of research efforts, supplemented by an extensive secondary research. We reviewed key players product literature, annual reports, press releases and relevant documents for competitive analysis and market understanding. Secondary research also includes a search of recent trade, technical writing, internet sources and statistical data from government websites, trade associations and agencies. This has proven to be the most reliable, effective and successful approach for obtaining precise market data, capturing industry participants insights and recognizing business opportunities.

Secondary research sources that are typically referred to include, but are not limited to company websites, annual reports, financial reports, broker reports, investor presentations, SEC filings, Plastemart magazine, TPE magazine, internal and external proprietary databases, and relevant patent and regulatory databases such as ICIS, Hoovers, Onesource, Factiva and Bloomberg, national government documents, statistical databases, trade journals, market reports, news articles, press releases and webcasts specific to companies operating in the market.

Primary research involves e-mail interactions, telephonic interviews and face-to-face interviews for each market, category, segment and sub-segment across geographies. We conduct primary interviews on an ongoing basis with industry participants and commentators in order to validate the data and analysis. Primary interviews provide firsthand information on market size, market trends, growth trends, competitive landscape and outlook, etc. These help validate and strengthen the secondary research findings. These also help develop the analysis teams expertise and market understanding.

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Hormone Replacement Therapy Market Analysis, Scope, Future Trends and Opportunities During 2019-2025 - Fusion Science Academy

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Incoming House Speaker Chris Sprowls had little trouble Thursday convincing members of a House health-care panel to approve legislation that would prohibit life-insurance, long-term care insurance and disability-insurance companies from using customers genetic information in changing, denying or canceling policies.

Florida would become the first state to have such a law if Sprowls proposal is ultimately passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Members of the House Health & Human Services Committee passed Sprowls bill (HB 1189) without any debate, and committee Chairman Ray Rodrigues, R-Estero, praised Sprowls for introducing the bill.

I think our privacy is important. And I think its equally important to be a visionary, to look forward and I'm happy that Florida is going to be the state that leads the way on this issue, Rodrigues said.

Insurance industry lobbyists, who opposed the measure, sat quietly, agreeing to waive their speaking time.

Curt Leonard, regional vice president for state relations for the American Council of Life Insurers, said his association had expressed concerns on the issue for the past two years.

Weve expressed our concerns with Speaker Sprowls and other interested parties on this issue going back to 2018. So theres no point in repeating the same things over and over again, in the interest of the committee's time, Leonard said. That being said, we do share the speaker-designates (Sprowls) concerns about privacy. I think it's a concern for everybody.

Hours before the committee considered the bill, supporters launched a website dubbed Protecting Our DNA and a Facebook page.

The website also includes a petition and animated digital video helping to explain the issue.

Sprowls told reporters after the meeting that the social media campaign was launched to educate the public.

I think most people, myself included up until a couple years ago, (werent) aware that if you had gotten a genetic test, that was something that your insurance company could get. I think when you tell people whove said they have 23andMe or who have had a genetic test in a clinical setting, whatever the reason, they had no idea that they have this massive liability by giving it to their insurance companies, he said. So its part about raising the awareness for people that its a danger and that this bill will help close the loophole and garner support. We want them to know about the bill. We want them to be educated on the topic.

In addition to preventing insurers from using the information in making policy decisions, Sprowls bill also would block the companies from requiring or soliciting genetic information from applicants.

Sprowls said insurance companies have for years been able to sell policies without having access to the genetic data.

Insurance carriers have been successful without access to genetic information. They have been able to provide affordable coverage to consumers without genetic information. Insurance is about spreading risk, not guaranteeing the outcomes or rewards to the (carriers). And affordable life, disability, and health insurance should not be available simply to the genetic elite, Sprowls said.

Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, who helps oversee the insurance industry, also backs efforts to pass legislation. In a statement issued after the vote, Patronis, said "As DNA testing becomes more popular through companies like 23andMe and AncestryDNA, we must ensure that your genetic code is not used against you."

Federal law already prevents health insurers from using genetic information in underwriting policies and in setting premiums. But the prohibition doesnt apply to life insurance or long-term care coverage, which Sprowls described as a massive loophole.

Florida isnt the only state to look at the issue. California, New Jersey, and New York require insurers to get informed consent when requesting genetic testing for life or disability insurance, according to a Florida legislative staff analysis.

Also, Massachusetts prohibits unfair discrimination on the basis of genetic information or tests and prevents requiring applicants or existing policyholders to undergo genetic testing. In Arizona, life and disability insurance carriers are prohibited from using genetic information for underwriting or ratemaking unless supported by an applicants medical condition, medical history and either claims experience or actuarial projections.

Its unusual for incoming House speakers and Senate presidents to file bills under their names. But Sprowls, a cancer survivor, said its an honor to do so.

While Sprowls influence looms large in the House, he must convince the Florida Senate to go along. For that, Sprowls said he will look to Sen. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland, to spearhead the issue.

I leave the Senate in her capable hands, Sprowls said.

Senate President Bill Galvano, though, told The News Service of Florida that he supports a potential compromise on the issue.

Leonard said a compromise would authorize consumers to use their private information any way they want to. And that might include them wanting to share their genetic science or genetic testing information, he said. So we dont like the idea that consumers will be handcuffed in how they use that information.

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View post:
Bill to withhold genetic test information from insurance companies gains momentum in Florida - Orlando Weekly

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Increasing public awareness and increasing amount of companies delivering Direct-To-Consumer Genetic Testing is expected to drive the market growth.Data Bridge Market Researchhas recently announced publishing of a report, titledGlobal Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing Market Industry Trends and Forecast to 2026As per the report, Global direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing market is set to witness a healthyCAGR of 18%in the forecast period of 2019-2026. The report contains data of the base year 2018 and historic year 2017. This research report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing industry. The report also enlists several important factors share, size, growth, trends, global statistics, key manufacturers and 2026 forecast analysis.

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The report Global Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing Market intends to provide cutting-edge market intelligence and help decision makers take sound investment evaluation. Also identifies and analyses the emerging trends along with major drivers, challenges, opportunities and entry strategies for various companies in the global Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing Industry.

The report profiles some of the Leading Players in the global Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing Market. These include:EasyDNA, Ancestry, 23andMe Inc., Color Genomics, Inc., Genesis HealthCare, Full Genomes Corporation, Inc., Helix OpCo LLC, IDENTIGENE, LLC, Living DNA Ltd, Mapmygenome, Pathway Genomics, Gene by Gene, Ltd., MyHeritage Ltd., 10X Genomics, Dante Labs, Inc., 24Genetics, LabCorp, Myriad Genetics, Inc., Quest Diagnostics Incorporated, Abacus Diagnostica Oy among others.

The report focusses on weaknesses and strengths of the global Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing market with a competitive landscape that includes information on some market vendors. Information presented in the report is gathered from primary and secondary research methods. The report also presents recent trends and opportunities of the market helping players strive for the lions share in the market.

Explore Key Industry Insights In 60 Tables And 220 Figures From The 350 Pages Of Report,Global Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing Market

The global Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing market report covers scope and product overview to define key terms and offers detailed information about market dynamics to the readers. This is followed by a regional outlook and segmental analysis. The report also consists of the facts and key values of the global Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing market, in terms of sales and volume, revenue and its growth rate.

One of the important factors in the global Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing market report is competitive analysis. The report covers all of the key parameters, such as product innovation, market strategies of the key players, market share, revenue generation, the latest research and development and market experts views.

Segmentation: Global Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing Market

By Service:Diagnostic Screening ,Prenatal ,Newborn Screening, Pre-Implantation Diagnosis, Relationship Testing.

By Test type:Carrier Testing ,Predictive Testing ,Ancestry & relationship Testing ,Nutrigenomics Testing ,Others.

By Technology:Targeted Analysis ,Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) Chips, Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) ,By Product type, Ancestry, Health and Wellness, Entertainment,

By End User:Laboratories, Blood Banks, Nursing Homes, Hospitals, Imaging Centers, Home Care, Cosmetics, Others, By Sales Channel, Online Channel, Over the Counter Channel, Doctors Office

By Business Model

Competitive Analysis: Global Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing Market

The global Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing market is highly fragmented and the major players have used various strategies such as product (software) launches, agreements, joint ventures, partnerships, acquisitions, and others to increase their footprints in this market. The report includes market shares of Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing market for global, Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and South America.

Primary Respondents

Demand Side: Doctors, Surgeons, Medical Consultants, Nurses, Hospital Buyers, Group Purchasing Organizations, Associations, Insurers, Medical Payers, Healthcare Authorities, Universities, Technological Writers, Scientists, Promoters, and Investors among others.

Supply Side: Product Managers, Marketing Managers, C-Level Executives, Distributors, Market Intelligence, and Regulatory Affairs Managers among others.

Key Developments in the Market:

In May 2019, MyHeritage Ltd. pronounce the launch of the MyHeritage DNA Health+Ancestry test, which gives new scopes of genetic awareness to enhance the life, enlighten the health further assists in leading a better life. It will also help the company to strengthen their genetic testing, clinical trial, and consulting capabilities in the areas of R&D providing accurate information about their genes.

In October 2018, 23andme, Inc. received the U.S. FDA approval for de novo technology, which is being operated in pharmacogenetics tests. Representing how consumers genetics may impact the way they break down certain medications. This approval will permit the company to introduce innovative and advanced products, thereby fostering companys growth.

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Research Methodology: Global Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing Market

Data collection and base year analysis is done using data collection modules with large sample sizes. The market data is analysed and forecasted using market statistical and coherent models. Also market share analysis and key trend analysis are the major success factors in the market report. To know more please request an analyst call or can drop down your enquiry.

The key research methodology used by DBMR research team is data triangulation which involves data mining, analysis of the impact of data variables on the market, and primary (industry expert) validation. Apart from this, other data models include Vendor Positioning Grid, Market Time Line Analysis, Market Overview and Guide, Company Positioning Grid, Company Market Share Analysis, Standards of Measurement, Top to Bottom Analysis and Vendor Share Analysis. To know more about the research methodology, drop in an inquiry to speak to our industry experts.

Customization of the Report

All segmentation provided above in this report is represented at country level.

All products covered in the market, product volume and average selling prices will be included as customizable options which may incur no or minimal additional cost (depends on customization)

Table of Content:Global Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing Market

Browse Complete Tables and Figures:https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/toc/?dbmr=global-direct-to

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Original post:
Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing Market 2020 Share Growing Rapidly with Recent Trends, Revenue, Top Players, Development, Demand and Forecast...

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Cancer Research UK has announced that a new type of scan involving magnetising molecules could allow doctors to see in real-time which regions of a breast tumour are active.

According to research, which was funded by the UK organisation, carbon-13 hyperpolarised imaging can be used to monitor breast cancer.

Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the report shows that researchers tested the technique in seven patients from Adenbrookes Hospital with various types and grades of breast cancer before they had received any treatment.

They used the scan to measure how fast the patients tumours were metabolising a naturally occurring molecule called pyruvate, and were able to detect differences in the size, type and grade of tumours a measure of how fast growing, or aggressive the cancer is.

Professor Kevin Brindle, lead researcher from the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, said that the results show one of the most detailed pictures of the metabolism of a patients breast cancer that weve ever been able to achieve. Its like we can see the tumour breathing.

He continued, Combining this with advances in genetic testing, this scan could in the future allow doctors to better tailor treatments to each individual, and detect whether patients are responding to treatments, like chemotherapy, earlier than is currently possible.

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in the UK, with around 55,000 new cases each year. 80% of people with breast cancer survive for 10 years or more, however for some subtypes, survival is much lower.

See the original post:
New scan could see active breast tumour regions in 'real-time' - PharmaTimes

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

About 150,000 new cases of epilepsy are confirmed in the U.S. each year. But the cause of epilepsy a neurological condition that causes seizures remains unknown for 6 out of 10 people.

Scientists suspect unidentified genetic factors are likely behind the epilepsy cases with unknown causes,according to theEpilepsy Foundation. Because the relationship between genes and seizures is complex, genetic testing is unavailable for many forms of epilepsy.

Additionally, the identified causes of epilepsy can vary by a person's age.For some, structural brain abnormalities including congenital conditions and injury-based changes spark seizures. For others, metabolic disorders, brain infections or immune-related changes cause epilepsy.

Despite the unknowns surrounding epilepsy's cause,scientists have identified ways to reduce the risk of developing it.

Anyone at any age can develop epilepsy. The marked characteristic of the disorder is the frequency of seizures. A person is diagnosed with epilepsy after they have had two or more of them.

A seizure occurs when there is a surge of electrical activity in the brain that can affect how a person looks or acts. The appearance of a seizure depend on the parts of the brain that are affected. Sometimes, a personwon't experience any noticeable symptoms during an episode.

There are generally three stages of a seizure, but not every victims experiences all three.

For some, the first symptom is an aura sensory or visual impairment. The heart of the electrical activity occurs during the middle, or ictal, phase. During this phase a person may have trouble talking or moving and experience tremors, muscle spasms or convulsions. Some people even have out of body sensations.

The third phase, known as the postictal phase, is the recovery period. It can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours to bounce back from a seizure.

The most common types of seizures that affect both sides of the brain are petit mal and grand mal seizures.

During a petit mal seizure, a person experiences more minor symptoms, like rapid blinking or spacing out for a few moments. But during a grand mal, the victim may lose consciousness and collapse to the ground.

People with epilepsy may be diagnosed with a particular syndrome based on certain features, like the type of seizure, cause and their age at initial onset. For example, Doose Syndrome occurs mostly in boys and has an initial onset in early childhood. It can be difficult to control with medication.

There is no cure for epilepsy, but medication can help control the seizures. Most people living with epilepsy can engage in their normal activities as long as their seizures remain under control.In the case of more severe, uncontrollable seizures, a doctor may recommend surgery.

Uncontrollable seizures can cause development issues in children and prevent adults from being able to drive and maintain a job.

Epileptic seizures also can be fatal.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that there are approximately 1.16 cases of sudden unexpected death per 1,000 people withepilepsy each year.

Though there are a lot unknowns regarding the causes of epilepsy, the CDC and the Mayo Clinic suggest various recommendations toreduce risk:

The rest is here:
The causes of epilepsy are not always clear, but there are ways to treat and prevent it - PhillyVoice.com

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

20 January 2020

Researchers testing a new way to harvest embryosfor genetic screening have been criticised for payingwomen in Mexico to be inseminated.

The study, published online in Human Reproduction, involved 81 women at a hospital near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Each participant was paid about $1400 to be artificially inseminated and subsequentlyto undergo a procedure where the embryos were flushed from the womb and analysed for research.

Lead investigator Dr Santiago Munnsuggests the new method could offer a simpler, less expensive way to assure a healthy child for couples with high risk for passing on genetic disease, such as beta-thalassemia or cystic fibrosis.

'The advantage is that these embryos are conceived naturally, so you don't need in vitro fertilisation (IVF) to do the genetic testing of the embryos. In theory, it should be much cheaper,' Dr Munn said.

As a first step, the participants received hormone injections to stimulate their ovaries' eggproduction a standard way to increase the number ofeggs obtained in fertility treatments.

Unlike IVF, the eggs weren't extracted before fertilisation in the lab, instead fertilisation was achieved in vivo by means of insemination with donor sperm. Four to six days later, the resulting embryos were flushed out using a mechanical procedure called 'lavage' and analysed,comparing them to embryos produced via IVF.

Theresearch has been calledunethical by critics.

'What this essentially does is use a woman's body as a petri dish, and there's something about that that seems so profoundly disturbing,' Dr Laurie Zoloth,a bioethicist from the University of Chicago, told NPR.

Other issues include the payment participants received, equal to more than two month's average salary in the area, which might become coercive to participants living on the poverty line.

The study also posedhealth risks to the participating women, who received intensive hormone stimulation. In some cases the lavage did not remove all the embryos, making terminations necessary.

Editor-in-chief of Human Reproduction, Professor Lambalk, told NPR that after verifying that the research had been thoroughly reviewed, they decided to publish the study along with an editorial and a commentary to draw attention to the ethical issues it raised.

In response to the criticism, Dr Munn referred to the extensive review and subsequent approval by the Ministry of Health of the State of Nayarit, Mexico, and the Western Institutional Review Board in the United States. Furthermore, he noted that the women were fully informed ofrisks associated with participation.

Embryos produced in the study have been frozen to be used by couples experiencing infertility and have been used to produce at least five pregnancies and three, thus far, healthy babies.

More here:
Embryo research to reduce the need for in vitro fertilization raises ethical concerns - BioNews

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

The Global Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing Market study with 100+ market data Tables, Pie Chat, Graphs & Figures is now released by Data Bridge Market Research. The report presents a complete assessment of the Market covering future trend, current growth factors, attentive opinions, facts, and industry validated market data forecast till 2026. Delivering the key insights pertaining to this industry, the report provides an in-depth analysis of the latest trends, present and future business scenario, market size and share of Major Players such as EasyDNA, Ancestry, 23andMe Inc., Color Genomics, Inc., Genesis HealthCare, Full Genomes Corporation, Inc., Helix OpCo LLC, IDENTIGENE, LLC, Living DNA Ltd, Mapmygenome, Pathway Genomics, Gene by Gene, Ltd., MyHeritage Ltd., 10X Genomics, Dante Labs, Inc., 24Genetics, LabCorp, Myriad Genetics.

Global direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing market is set to witness a healthy CAGR of 18% in the forecast period of 2019-2026.

Avail 20% Discount on Buying This Report: Get a Free Sample Copy of the Report @ (Use Corporate email ID to Get Higher Priority): https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/request-a-sample/?dbmr=global-direct-to-consumer-dtc-genetic-testing-market&BloomBerg

Market Dynamics:

Set of qualitative information that includes PESTEL Analysis, PORTER Five Forces Model, Value Chain Analysis and Macro Economic factors, Regulatory Framework along with Industry Background and Overview.

Global Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing Research Methodology

Data Bridge Market Research presents a detailed picture of the market by way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. The data thus presented is comprehensive, reliable, and the result of extensive research, both primary and secondary. The analysts have presented the various facets of the market with a particular focus on identifying the key industry influencers.

Major Drivers and Restraints of the Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing Industry

Market Drivers

High ageing population and growing prevalence of genetic diseases will boost this market growth

Growing customer awareness about the DTC genetic testing acts as a market driver

Tests are effortlessly accessible to the customers around the world; this factor acts as a major market driver

Market Restraints

High charges of DTC genetic testing kits can hamper the growth of this market

Lack of skilled and trained professional is another factor restraining the growth of the market

Scientific, technical and clinical issues along with fidelity to facts and truth-in-advertising can also act as restraining factor for the growth of this market

Complete report is available @ https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/toc/?dbmr=global-direct-to-consumer-dtc-genetic-testing-market&BloomBerg

For an excellent outcome of Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing report, qualitative and transparent research studies are carried out devotedly for the specific niche. Being a global market research report, it also identifies, analyses, and estimates the emerging trends along with major drivers, challenges and opportunities in the industry and analysis of vendors, geographical regions, types, and applications. An idea about competitive landscape plays very important role in deciding about the improvements required in the product and more. As businesses can achieve thorough insights with this report, they can confidently take decisions about their production and marketing strategies.

The titled segments and sub-section of the market are illuminated below:

Region Included are: United States, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India & Central & South America

By Service: Diagnostic Screening, Prenatal, Newborn Screening, Pre-Implantation Diagnosis

By Product Type: Ancestry, Health and Wellness, Entertainment

By Business Model: Genome Data Bank Material Model, Individual Health Planning Model

Top Players in the Market are: EasyDNA, Ancestry, 23andMe Inc., Color Genomics, Inc., Genesis HealthCare, Full Genomes Corporation, Inc., Helix OpCo LLC, IDENTIGENE, LLC, Living DNA Ltd, Mapmygenome, Pathway Genomics, Gene by Gene, Ltd., MyHeritage Ltd., 10X Genomics, Dante Labs, Inc., 24Genetics, LabCorp, Myriad Genetics.

How will the report help new companies to plan their investments in the Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing market?

The Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing market research report classifies the competitive spectrum of this industry in elaborate detail. The study claims that the competitive reach spans the companies of .

The report also mentions about the details such as the overall remuneration, product sales figures, pricing trends, gross margins, etc.

Information about the sales & distribution area alongside the details of the company, such as company overview, buyer portfolio, product specifications, etc., are provided in the study.

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Some of the Major Highlights of TOC covers:

Chapter 1: Methodology & Scope

Definition and forecast parameters

Methodology and forecast parameters

Data Sources

Chapter 2: Executive Summary

Business trends

Regional trends

Product trends

End-use trends

Chapter 3: Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing Industry Insights

Industry segmentation

Industry landscape

Vendor matrix

Technological and innovation landscape

Chapter 4: Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing Market, By Region

Chapter 5: Company Profile

Business Overview

Financial Data

Product Landscape

Strategic Outlook

SWOT Analysis

Thanks for reading this article, you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.

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An absolute way to forecast what future holds is to comprehend the trend today!Data Bridge set forth itself as an unconventional and neoteric Market research and consulting firm with unparalleled level of resilience and integrated approaches. We are determined to unearth the best market opportunities and foster efficient information for your business to thrive in the market. Data Bridge endeavors to provide appropriate solutions to the complex business challenges and initiates an effortless decision-making process. Data bridge is an aftermath of sheer wisdom and experience which was formulated and framed in the year 2015 in Pune.

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Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing Market Astonishing Growth| EasyDNA, Ancestry, 23andMe, Gene by Gene - Fusion Science Academy

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Ever wonder why the clothes that fit you so well 20 years ago are too small today? Has your size gone from medium to large without you knowing how or why? Well, here is a cockamamie theory to explain such a phenomenon. A theory that makes about as much sense as showing up at one of the big box stores at midnight on Thanksgiving to shop.

A little background first. Before the Industrial Revolution, we used to make our own clothes. Our mothers made our clothes, our fathers watched Ozzie and Harriet reruns. Just kidding. Fathers made guns and tools and tamed horses.

Things changed when industrialization dictated that our clothing would now be made in factories by workers who are paid money. Those workers could be living anywhere, in less developed countries like Sri Lanka or Cambodia, halfway around the world. Now, Im not denigrating any group of people when I write that the average height of men and women of a certain country may be shorter (or to be politically correct, of less height) than those living in more developed countries. It is well known that human growth is limited by poor nutrition and poverty, but genetics play a major role also.

My point is that my shirts started misfitting me at about the time the shirts in the marketplace began to sport labels of manufacture from places like Myanmar and Bangladesh. According to a 2013 study by the University of Oxford, the average height of those inhabitants of Asian origin was 6 inches shorter than those inhabitants of North America and Europe. I discovered this firsthand years ago on a Tokyo subway when I gazed down the length of the train car and saw nothing but the tops of heads. In comparison, I would see a sea of shirt collars on a subway back in America.

In that same report from Oxford, the average height of a Danish man was listed at 183 centimeters (5 feet, 11 inches), tallest in the world, while the average Burmese male comes in at 161 centimeters (5 feet, 5 inches). Scientists know that height and build are dependent on good health, good nutrition and avoidance of poverty, but the most important factor is genetics. If you want to be tall when you grow up, choose tall parents.

So my crazy proposition is that somehow shirts being made by an average Burmese woman from Myanmar are for an average North American male (a full 6 inches taller than the person making it) to wear.

Ive got it in my head that somehow the person sewing the shirt is influenced by the height of the recipient. It may appear to be ridiculous, but so does the idea of the Electoral College. Given my take on the relationship between sewer and sewee, a mens medium shirt made in Samoa would end up the same size as a two-person tent from L.L.Bean. Ill report on that at a future time.

Previous

Next

Read the rest here:
Over Easy: History of Shopping, part II - Press Herald

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

SALT LAKE CITY While opioid-related deaths dominate recent headlines, even more people died as a result of drinking alcoholic beverages over the last two decades. During that period, close to 1 million Americans died from alcohol-related causes, as overall consumption rose and drinking patterns changed, according to an analysis of U.S. death certificates from 1999 to 2017 by researchers at the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Alcohol consumption, emergency room visits related to drinking and hospitalizations also increased during that time frame, according to a new study published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

I think that drinking is a huge problem and weve forgotten about alcohol with the attention on opioids. Alcohol kills more. We havent seen it go away, said Dr. Elizabeth F. Howell, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Utah who is board-certified in addiction psychiatry and addiction medicine.

Women drove most of the increase, though they are still much less likely to consume alcohol than men. Women are, however, drinking at higher rates than they were across all adult age categories in those 20 years, while male drinking patterns were comparatively flat. Death rates involving alcohol, in fact, increased 85% for women, compared to 35% for men.

Men drink a lot more, they drink more often. They drive drunk more, they are injured and die more. They go to the hospital more, said Aaron M. White, lead author on the study and senior scientific advisor to the director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. But women are catching up; the gap is narrowing.

Meanwhile, women are particularly vulnerable to the physical harm associated with alcohol, compared to men, a phenomenon Howell called telescoping. It means that women get in trouble with alcohol faster than men, from getting addicted to developing medical complications because they have less of an enzyme that helps metabolize alcohol. If drinking had a lifespan, she said, it would be 10 years shorter for women.

The institute study points to a growing body of research that shows alcohol in even moderate amounts increases the risk of breast cancer for women. They also face more risk of developing heart or liver disease, alcohol use disorder and other health problems related to drinking.

In 1999, 35,914 death certificates mentioned alcohol. In 2017, the number rose to 72,558. That compares to nearly 70,000 drug-related deaths, including opioids like heroin and fentanyl.

Women ages 55-64 had the highest rate of female alcohol-related deaths, followed by those ages 45-54. The death rate increased for women by 5.2% a year from 2010-2017. In 1999-2010, the annual increase was 2.1%. The highest rate of alcohol-related male deaths is also among those 55 to 64, followed by those 65 to 74.

Experts note that many death certificates dont mention the role of alcohol, though it is relevant. Of drivers who die in crashes with a blood-alcohol level above 0.08%, a level pretty much everyone considers dangerous, White said, fewer than 1 in 5 death certificates list alcohol as contributing.

Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 1 in 3 deaths from falls involve excessive drinking, but fewer than 2% of those death certificates say it. Its not a nefarious plot; often someone is taken to the hospital and dies hours later. By that time, the alcohol is not detectable during autopsy, White said.

Patterns of drinking also changed in ways that may be surprising. Beer consumption is down. Wine consumption is up. Consumption of spirits went up more than anything, White said.

Industry tracker IWSR said the volume of wine consumption fell slightly in 2019, the first drop since 1994. The Wall Street Journal reported volumes of ready-to-drink products consumed rose 50%, driven by hard seltzers and canned cocktails. Spirits volumes grew 2.3%, helped by mezcal, tequila, cognac, bourbon and other whiskey. Beer continued to decline, falling 2.3%.

While more women and more older women are binge drinking, binge drinking has been decreasing among college students for a few years, dropping most in states where marijuana is legal, according to research from Oregon State University. Marijuana use, not surprisingly, has increased significantly in those states.

Its hard to say what increased marijuana use will bring, said David C. R. Kerr, associate professor of psychological science and a co-author of that study. We know that marijuana use is not totally distinct from other substances.

Binge drinking is clearly linked to harm, though, he said, noting more run-ins with the police, sexual assaults and risky behavior involve alcohol. Known negative outcomes with marijuana include poor motivation, less academic achievement and greater risk for driving accidents.

Amid the shifting trends, theres a bit of encouraging news, if it holds over time, White said: While alcohol use and harm are going up for adults, they are coming down among adolescents particularly adolescent males. Alcohol use has also declined among those college age, again mostly among males, not females, who are more likely to report drinking and being drunk than are males that age.

The greatest increase in drinking is among older non-Hispanic white women.

White believes as baby boomers age, they will continue to bring higher levels of alcohol and drug use with them. He said experts expect increases in harm among older drinkers, but its possible that if younger cohorts arent drinking and harming themselves they could bring a new attitude toward alcohol.

Thats already being seen in different social movements, like Sober October and Dry January. The sober curious are taking a time out from alcohol consumption or eschewing it entirely. Boozeless bars are also becoming popular.

Basically, theyre asking the question, What is this drug again? White said. Why are we drinking it? What do we get from it?

Its too soon to predict the change will hold among those who are younger now, said White. But hes among those hoping that will be the case. Right now, weve got what weve got, which is an increase among adults.

Alcoholism is not determined by how much one drinks, Howell said, but what happens when one drinks, such as loss of consistent control over consumption and continued use of alcohol in the face of adverse consequences.

The biggest risk of becoming alcoholic is genetic, but people dont necessarily know they carry genetic risk. Trauma is a big risk, as well. And the younger one starts drinking the more the risk increases. One can become an alcoholic at any age and studies suggest the share of people becoming alcoholic when they are older is growing.

Chronic excessive drinking doesnt spare any organ system, White said. It triggers inflammation and irritates the stomach lining. It alters the brain. If you just keep doing that over time, the body ends up damaged. Alcohol takes a toll; it is not a nutrient.

Still, he added, its a legal drug for adults as long as they dont break laws. And at low doses, the risks appear to be smaller, though they are not zero. The risk goes up the more you drink.

Howell said some may be able to drink more, others less, without harm. And she notes one little-known risk factor: gastric bypass. People who have had it and drink see greater harm.

Does America have a drinking problem? White ruminates.

Yes, we have a drinking problem that in some ways is getting worse and in other ways is getting better. Its getting worse among adults, especially middle-age and older. Its certainly getting worse among women in general. But the positive component is less drinking among adolescents and young adults. Whether that will lead to fewer problems as they age, we dont know.

See the original post here:
Does the United States have a drinking problem? - Deseret News

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Publishing Date : 21 January, 2020

Benson C SailiTHIS EARTH, MY BROTHER

It all began in Orion on a planet of the Suriya star

If we depose that Princes Diana was a direct descendent of Jesus of Nazareth, it necessitates, General Atiku, that we posit a well-buttressed argument that she indeed was such. This, General, is not a profession that can be exhaustively elucidated upon in only one or two articles: maybe three, four, five, six, or even more. As such, I accordingly seek your permission, venerable General, that I do likewise.

I am mindful that you may find this elaborate approach a shade overdone and even somewhat pedantic, but Ill trust to your patience and forbearance anyway. After all, patience is the companion of wisdom and you General constitute a remarkable repository of enormous reserves of both these traits. Not too long ago, General, relatively speaking, I served up a series titled The Jesus Papers. I would like to believe, General, that you followed it avidly and fervidly. Much of what I will say in relation to the divinity of Diana if you will, General, I did enunciate in The Jesus Papers, and to a larger extent in The Earth Chronicles.

If I am obliged to restate the same in the Lady Die context, General, it is only for the sake of that segment of the readership who came aboard the This Earth My Brother bandwagon much later and therefore missed out on the gem that was The Jesus Papers and the inceptual section of The Earth Chronicles narrative. Certainly General, I wouldnt want them to find themselves in a position where they make neither head nor tail of the tale that is being woven before them.

HOLY GRAIL BEGINS WITH ORION

As a keen and voracious all-round reader General, Im sure you will have come across the concept of the Holy Grail elsewhere other than my own writings. In the wider public domain, it first surfaced in a 1982 best-seller, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (sub-titled The Secret History of Christ and the Shocking Legacy of the Grail) by the trio of Henry Lincoln, Michael Baigent, and Richard Leigh.

There were further cherries on the cake by another prolific mystery historian Laurence Gardner. These were Bloodline of The Holy Grail (sub-titled The Hidden Lineage of Jesus Revealed), 1989; Genesis of the Grail Kings (sub-titled The Explosive Story of Genetic Cloning and the Ancient Bloodline of Jesus), 1999; and The Magdalene Legacy (sub-titled The Jesus and Mary Bloodline Conspiracy), 2005.

Barbara Theirings Jesus and the Riddle of the Dead Sea Scrolls (sub-titled Unlocking the Secrets of His Life Story), 1992, was further food for thought about who exactly the Saviour or Messiah was. But it was The Davinci Code, a 2003, blockbuster, fact-based fictional work that mainstreamed the subject of the Holy Grail into daily parlance, General. Never before, General, had Jesus mortality, as opposed to his divinity, so riveted the attention of a globalwide audience.

All the above works in varying degrees of depth traced the origins of the Holy Grail to either the Anunnaki (Gardner) or Jesus (Theiring and Lincoln & Co). But years before Lincoln & Co put pen to paper, General, Robert Morning Sky had gone much further: in his pocket-sized book titled Eden, Atlantis, and the UFO Myth, he traced the genesis of the Holy Grail to the Orion star system. How so General? And what anyway is this animal called the Holy Grail?

EARTH, A COLONY OF ORION

Over the course of time, the Holy Grail, General, has assumed any number of forms depending on whos telling the story and the juncture in history he or she is specifically highlighting. In the main, it has been characterised as a cup, bow, dish, chalice, goblet, platter, or a stone invested with miraculous powers to heal all wounds, deliver eternal youth, and grant everlasting happiness. But all these, General, are little more than emblems of the real deal. For the fact of the matter, General, is that the Holy Grail is a genetic strain that goes all the way back to the Orion Queen, who resides in a cosmic location ranging from 243 to 1360 light years away.

Permit me at this juncture, General, to restate a cardinal point I adduced in The Earth Chronicles that our planet Earth is not independent: it is a colony, de jure or de facto, of the Sirian-Orion star system. Earth is actually situated on the fringes of the broader Sirian-Orion Empire, the most expansive in the Milky Way Galaxy. The history of Earth, General, begins not here but in the Sirian-Orion star system and even further back in the Lyran star system as we amply demonstrated in The Earth Chronicles.

The term Orion derives from the ancient compound word Ori-An. Orimeant Spirit, that is, the Spirit of the Queen of Orion; Holy; or Master Race; and Anstood for Heaven, that is, the cosmos. Thus Orion was the abode of the Holy Goddess. To the ancients, therefore, Heaven was not a spiritual realm of existence where First Source dwells, the way it is understood in modern-day religion: it was the home of the Mother Goddess primarily. The Mother Goddess was not a spiritual being: she was the Queen of Orion.

In the worlds the beings of Orion conquered, they were referred to as the Alla-An, Arra-An, Ari-An, or Aya-An (varying but related renditions of one of the Orion Queens multiple titles). All these forms of address meant The Holy Ones of Heaven or The Divine of Heaven. It is Ari-An/Alla-An which gives us the words Aryan and Alien, terms ancient Earthlings used for beings from the Orion star system primarily and all ETs in general. The Sumerians, the worlds best-known known civilisation of old, called it Uru-Anna, meaning Crown of Heaven.

Orion, General, is the most significant constellation both astronomically and historically with respect to Earth. Orion has had the most impact and influence on Earth exopolitically as ancient records attest. Only Sirius is second in this regard. Orion is one of the largest constellations in the cosmic expanse. It has more than 300 stars. Its brightest stars are Rigel and Betelguese, whose civilisations have featured prominently in Earths cosmic history. The other significant stars are Mintaka, Alnilam, and Alnitak. These constitute what is known as Orions Belt. It is Mintaka, General, to which the shaft of the Giza Pyramids Queens Chamber is astronomically aligned.

If you do read the Bible at least from time to time, you will be aware, General, that Orion is directly mentioned in the Bible three times in JOB 9:9 (He [God] is the maker of the Bear and Orion), JOB 38:31 (Can you loosen Orion`s belt?), and AMOS 5:8 (He [God] who made the Pleiades and Orion). In the gospels, the three stars on Orions Belt have been allegorised as the Three Wise Men who presented special gifts to baby Jesus. Ancients called the Orion Belt stars as the Three Kings.

The symbology in the Jesus story of the Star from the East (Sirius) and the Three Wise Men (the three stars studding Orions belt) is a veiled message that Jesus had both Sirius and Orion origins. But he was not unique in that way, General: we all have genes of beings from Sirius and Orion.

A SPECIES KNOWN AS KHEBS

The first planet to develop life by way of evolution in the Orion star system General has at times been referred to as the Green World because green is the colour that is generally associated with Reptoids inasmuch as the baseline colour of the worker class of the Reptoid world, the mainstream class, is green. The insect genotype that was the first to dominate its species on the Green World looked like a dragonfly. It also had traits and characteristics of a bee. If it arose on Earth, we would call it a dragonfly-bee. In the ancient records, however, it is referred to as a Kheb.

The Khebs laid their eggs in the ponds. The newly-born Khebs looked like microscopic scorpions, with tiny stingers on their tails and tiny pincer claws on their forelegs. The moment they were born, General, the Khebs went to war with each other. They fought for territory straight from birth and they killed straight from birth very much in keeping with Reptilian humanoids were familiar with here on our planet.

In time, the Khebs left the watery ambience to dwell on dry land but up in the trees. Here, another transformation took place. The Khebsno longer looked like a dragonfly-bee but like a mantis. By then, their outer skins had hardened into a tough shell. How did the Khebs reproduce, General? For ages, they produced asexually, that is, without the involvement of a male Kheb. This was not by choice: the male species had not appeared at this stage. Evolution is such that female creatures appear first. Male creatures follow at a later stage. These are millions of years were talking about General.

KHEB INSECTS BECOME REPTILES

At long last, General, a genetic mutation in the Kheb females caused Kheb males to come into existence. The Kheb species was now able to reproduce sexually. In other words, the Khebs were capable of producing either sexually or asexually depending on their preference or environmental factors such as climate for instance. Remember, General, the Khebshad part-characteristics of bees and bees even in our day produce either way, sexually or asexually. When the eggs are fertilised by male seed (sexual reproduction), they will always produce a female.

When they are not fertilised by male seed (asexual reproduction), they will always produce a male. This is what was happening to the Khebs as well. However, for the Kheb females to produce sexually, General, it necessitated a certain transformation in their internal organs. This change was necessary to permit conception. Before the advent of male Khebs, female Khebs routinely survived on the nectar of plants or the flesh of other insect species. Now they needed to feed on the blood of other creatures. The female Khebshad become vampires, like what malevolent Reptoids (humanoids [beings who look like us] who evolved from a reptile) are today.

As time went by, in billions of years, the Khebs, General, became large, flying reptiles. At this stage, the male Khebs had bony plates all over their bodies and arms and legs, much like the dinosaurs of Earth in the long ago prehistoric eras. They had a ridge of short plates with semi-sharp edges, that began near their forehead, trailed back and over their skull and down their backs, gradually tapering down on their short slender tail (like a Tokoloshe, or sprite in English.). All the while, the Khebs retained the ability to fly.

At some stage, the Kheb reptiles began to branch into several related species. Some specialised as lizards, others as dinosaurs and still others as snakes. It was the latter species, the snake strain, that proliferated on the Green World, General. Even among the snake species, there were branches. Here on Earth, we have more than 3000 snake species. The Green world must have had a similar number of serpent strains too.

KHEB REPTILES BECOME HUMANOIDS

In the course of evolution, General, genetic instructions were such that the Kheb males were physically smaller than the Kheb females. This indeed is true of the overwhelming majority of reptiles: females are typically larger than males. It is only among mammals and birds that males are predominantly larger than females. But there was one major development with the Kheb females on the Green World that was particularly significant, General. A glitch in their physiology rendered them poisonous.

Relates Robert Morning Sky: Something happened to the female Khebs that did not happen to the males. The changes in their bodies that produced the hormones necessary for the production of offspring also produced a fluid that was acidic and highly poisonous to other creatures! The Kheb Reptilian females could protect themselves and their nests by spitting natural venom into the eyes and faces of their victims. A stream of hot acidic fluid that struck the face of an enemy could cause nerve-numbing paralysis or blindness.

If there was an open wound or the venom entered the gullet of the victim, death was almost always certain. And woe be to any enemy that felt the fangs of the female Kheb. The Kheb females were resultantly much more feared than the Kheb males, General. In time, General, the Khebs became the most dominant life form on the Green World. It were the Khebs who became the first humanoid species to evolve on the Green World.

And just as we Earthlings have lost much of the features and traits of the animal from which we evolved, an ape-like creature, the Khebs also lost a great deal of the very distinct Reptilian and insect features of their ancestors. They no longer had scales, for example, and could no longer fly. But unlike us, they were smooth through and through: they didnt have a single strand of hair on their bodies because they evolved from a hairless insect strain which metamorphosed into a hairless serpentine creature (it explains, General, why Enki, the great Anunnaki scientist who genetically engineered mankind into existence from Anunnaki and Ape Man genes [see The Earth Chronicles series] and whose primordial ancestry was Kheb, is always bald-headed and without a beard in every ancient depiction of him that take the form of a statue).

In terms of skin texture, the Kheb race were very much like the Ebens of planet Serpo, who also evolved from a serpentine creature (see Zeta Series). These first Reptoids to emerge on the Green World, General, were known as the Surbah. Surbah is a compound word, with Sur standing for majestic and Bah meaning being. Surbah therefore meant Royal Race. It is the term Surbah which gives us the Sanskrit word sarpha; the Latin word serpens; and the English word serpent.

The serpent race, General, was the first to arise, by way of evolution, in the 9th Passageway of the Milky Way Galaxy, arguably the most lucrative trade route in the cosmos. Let me underline this most pertinent of points General: originally, the term serpent did not mean snake at all. It had a very noble meaning Majestic Race. The snake connotation arose as a slur on that race by the Sirians, the beings of the Sirius star system, just because the Surbah evolved from a snake-like creature. In sum, General, the Surbah evolved from a dragon-fly bee insect to a mantis to a large flying reptile to a snake-like creature to a humanoid.

THE SURIYA STAR

The Surbah, as the first fully sentient beings to evolve on the Green World, were very spiritual General. This is the trend with evolution everywhere in this universe. Why is it like this? Because the first souls to incarnate did so cloaked in predominantly female energy although as spirits they are genderless. Thats why all life begins with females everywhere in the universe. We all know that females are comparatively tender-hearted than males (albeit more gullible than males because they generally think with their emotions than intellect).

They are in fact more spiritual, more affectionate, and way kinder than males. Females are also known to have a facility for communicating with the spirit world. It explains, General, why most psychics are women and the shamans of old were initially women. In the primordial age of the Surbah, life in this counterfeit universe (which was designed by Lucifer) was very much akin to that of the real Heaven, General. It was a kind of Paradise. The ancients referred to this age as the Dar-Ek-Uye, meaning the Primeval Holy Age of the Universe.

Sadly, the historical particulars of this age are not fully chronicled by cosmic historians; only its general tenor and tempo. The relevant history that cascaded down to our Solar System begins in the Omakh, the Age of the Divine Mother. This was the Age of the Orion Queen.It was the age of Ari-Anbeings, as the ancients referred to the Orion civilisation. Now, the ancients, General, did not refer to the Orion constellation as such.

They called it the Shagari Stars, meaning Fires That Drift (shagari being a compound word made up of asa[fiery] + gar [to drift or fly]). Of course we know that stars, also called suns, are fiery at least theoretically and are not stationary: they too drift in their own orbits carrying along their planets with them, just as planets drift in their own orbits carrying along their satellites (moons) with them.

The Shagari cosmic region had numerous stars. From the viewpoint of our planet, astronomers today designate at least 300 as the constellations notable stars, that is, those that can be detected from this distance by virtue of their more pronounced degree of luminosity. However, only ten of the Shagari Stars had planets, and of these ten only seven were the most consequential.

One of the seven most important stars was known as the Suriya star, meaning Star of the Divine One (Suriyabeing a compound word made up of sur[majestic] + Aya[divine or holy]). In the Omakh age, the Divine One was the Orion (Shagari) Queen. It was on one of the planets of the Suriya star, in the Shagari star system and in the Peshmeten the 9thPassage Way of the Milky Way Galaxy that the Serpent race arose, first as the holy Surbah, and over time as the degenerate Ari-An beings, General.NEXT WEEK: THE GREAT MA-MA

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Genesis of the Holy Grail - WeekendPost

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Scrolling through your Instagram is often not an easy task. Each day your feed is bombarded by seemingly perfect mirror selfies or poolside pictures, and you cant help but wonder why cant I look like that?

People often compare themselves to what they see online, at school, or in their own homes. In fact, a recent study done by psychiatrists at UCLA report that people today feel worse about their appearance compared to statistics from the 1970s. Similarly, in a schoolwide survey, 64% of respondents feel like they too struggle with body image.

Body image is defined as ones perception of his or her aesthetic body. This being said, one can have either a positive or negative body image. A person who expresses positive body image, body satisfaction, is able to appreciate his or her natural shape and recognize that physical appearance in no way correlates to ones character or value. On the other hand, body dissatisfaction causes a person to develop a distorted vision of oneself.

According to The National Eating Disorders Association, people who feel frustrated with their bodies are more likely to suffer from feelings of isolation, low self-esteem, and depression. Even though there is no single explanation of why eating disorders develop, research identifies body dissatisfaction as the best-known contributor to conditions such as anorexia and bulimia.

In a survey of 100 Brentwood School students, 90% reported that social media was a cause of body image issues, 75% reported that it comes from their peers, 35% from sports, 33% from parents, 20% from their siblings, and 9% named other sources such as stereotypes, magazines, and celebrities.

Upper School counseling department member and psychologist Densise Mahdesian has worked with patients, both inside and outside of Brentwood School, on issues relating to body dissatisfaction.

Restricting food intake is a way people seek to gain control in their lives, Mahdesian said.

Mahdesian also speaks on the genetics of eating disorders.

Its psychology, biology, and social factors, Mahdesian said. Its all combined. People with these diseases tend to have family members who struggle with alcoholism or mood disorders.

With women in particular, body dissatisfaction, is deeply rooted in our historical view of the female body. Since the beginning of time, women have been valued for their bodies dating back centuries. Such a strong emphasis has allowed for the cultural norm to become a sexualized view of a womans body, rather than understanding it as an outlet in which humans sustain life and function.

Even in the present day, these ideals are still apparent. NEDA reported that 40% to 60% of girls who are six to 12 years old already begin expressing concerns about their shape or weight.

Negative body image is an equally serious issue for men. Subclinical eating disordered behaviors, such as binge eating, laxative abuse, and fasting, are about as common in males as they are in females. A more recent pattern among men is the development of Orthorexia the obsessive behavior when seeking a healthier diet.

The hyperfocus on health can easily tip into something very unhealthy as fitness is becoming extremely compulsive, said Director of Upper School Counseling Bryan Anderson.

A major contributor to this rise in body dissatisfaction in men is the movie industry, especially superhero films. For instance, Healthline.com points to the fact that The Marvel Cinematic Universe which tops the list for highest grossing film franchises portrays men with ideal bodies.

In order to be a hero in these movies, men must be muscular. By projecting this message, society is essentially encouraging men to prioritize their physical bodies over their character or mind.

Nearly 70% of Brentwood students surveyed said that they think there is an ideal body type that they should look like.

However, everyone has a different shape based upon their genetic makeup, and that is perfectly alright.

In addition to school counselors, there are multiple resources for students to hold important conversations. One resource is B-Well, Brentwoods first student-run mental health initiative that officially launched this year. In November, B-Well focused on body image. B-Well also provides resources in Schoology regarding body image and eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder.

Other peer-led resources for students include Girl Impact, which can provide a safe space for all students, male or female, to discuss either body satisfaction or dissatisfaction.

Lastly, the Gender Studies course, taught by Upper School Assistant Director Dana Gonzalez, delves into gender-charged topics such as body image. In particular, Gonzalez encourages her students to tackle the language from the best-selling novel, The Beauty Myth, which supports women and young girls perception of their bodies, a profoundly eye-opening experience for her classes.

No matter if you fit the perfect image or not, we should be open to talk about it and get rid of the stigma by making it a part of our everyday conversations, Gonzalez said.

Excerpt from:
Opinion: Body image and its presence on school campuses - Los Angeles Times

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

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50% Off Life Extension Coupons, Promo Codes & Deals 2020 ...

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

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Shelf Life Extension Ingredients Market To Exceed Revenues Worth US$ By The End Of 2018 2028 Dagoretti News - Dagoretti News

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith