This week, GEDmatch, a genetic genealogy company that gained notoriety for giving law enforcement access to its customers DNA data, quietly informed its users it is now operated by Verogen, Inc., a company expressly formed two years ago to market next-generation [DNA] sequencing technology to crime labs.

What this means for GEDmatchs 1.3 million users and for the 60% of white Americans who share DNA with those users remains to be seen.

GEDmatch allows users to upload an electronic file containing their raw genotyped DNA data so that they can compare it to other users data to find biological family relationships. It estimates how close or distant those relationships may be (e.g., a direct connection, like a parent, or a distant connection, like a third cousin), and it enables users to determine where, along each chromosome, their DNA may be similar to another user. It also predicts characteristics like ethnicity.

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An estimated 30 million people have used genetic genealogy databases like GEDmatch to identify biological relatives and build a family tree, and law enforcement officers have been capitalizing on all that freely available data in criminal investigations. Estimates are that genetic genealogy sites were used in around 200 cases just last year. For many of those cases, officers never sought a warrant or any legal process at all.

Earlier this year, after public outcry, GEDmatch changed its previous position allowing for warrantless law enforcement searches, opted out all its users from those searches, and required all users to expressly opt in if they wanted to allow access to their genetic data. Only a small percentage did. But opting out has not prevented law enforcement from accessing consumers genetic data, as long as they can get a warrant, which one Orlando, Florida officer did last summer.

Law enforcement has argued that people using genetic genealogy services have no expectation of privacy in their genetic data because users have willingly shared their data with the genetics company and with other users and have consented to a companys terms of service. But the Supreme Court rejected a similar argument in Carpenter v. United States.

In Carpenter, the Court ruled that even though our cell phone location data is shared with or stored by a phone company, we still have a reasonable expectation of privacy in it because of all the sensitive and private information it can reveal about our lives. Similarly, genetic data can reveal a whole host of extremely private and sensitive information about people, from their likelihood to inherit specific diseases to where their ancestors are from to whether they have a sister or brother they never knew about. Researchers have even theorized at one time or another that DNA may predict race, intelligence, criminality, sexual orientation, and political ideology. Even if later disproved, officials may rely on outdated research like this to make judgements about and discriminate against people. Because genetic data is so sensitive, we have an expectation of privacy in it, even if other people can access it.

However, whether individual users of genetic genealogy databases have consented to law enforcement searches is somewhat beside the point. In all cases that we know of so far, law enforcement isnt looking for the person who uploaded their DNA to a consumer site, they are looking for that persons distant relatives people who never could have consented to this kind of use of their genetic data because they dont have any control over the DNA they happen to share with the sites users.

That means these searches are nothing more than fishing expeditions through millions of innocent peoples DNA. They are not targeted at finding specific users or based on individualized suspicion a fact the police admit because they dont know who their suspect is. They are supported only by the hope that a crime scene sample might somehow be genetically linked to DNA submitted to a genetic genealogy database by a distant relative, which might give officers a lead in a case. Theres a real question whether a warrant that allows this kind of search could ever meet the particularity requirements of the Fourth Amendment.

These are also dragnet searches, conducted under general warrants, and no different from officers searching every house in a town with a population of 1.3 million on the off chance that one of those houses could contain evidence useful to finding the perpetrator of a crime. With or without a warrant, the Fourth Amendment prohibits searches like this in the physical world, and it should prohibit genetic dragnets like this one as well.

We need to think long and hard as a society about whether law enforcement should be allowed to access genetic genealogy databases at all even with a warrant. These searches impact millions of Americans. Although GEDmatch likely only encompasses about 0.5% of the U.S. adult population, research shows 60% of white Americans can already be identified from its 1.3 million users. This same research shows that once GEDmatchs users encompass just 2% of the U.S. population, 90% of white Americans will be identifiable.

Although many authorities once argued these kinds of searches would only be used as a way to solve cold cases involving the most terrible and serious crimes, that is changing; this year, police used genetic genealogy to implicate a teenager for a sexual assault. Next year it could be used to identify political or environmental protestors. Unlike established criminal DNA databases like the FBIs CODIS database, there are currently few rules governing how and when genetic genealogy searching may be used.

We should worry about these searches for another reason: they can implicate people for crimes they didnt commit. Although police used genetic searching to finally identify the man they believe is the Golden State Killer, an earlier search in the same case identified a different person. In 2015, a similar search in a different case led police to suspect an innocent man. Even without genetic genealogy searches, DNA matches may lead officers to suspect and jail the wrong person, as happened in a California case in 2012. That can happen because we shed DNA constantly and because our DNA may be transferred from one location to another, possibly ending up at the scene of a crime, even if we were never there.

All of this is made even more concerning by the recent acquisition of GEDmatch by a company whose main purpose is to help the police solve crimes. The ability to research family history and disease risk shouldnt carry the threat that our data will be accessible to police or others and used in ways we never could have foreseen. Genetic genealogy searches by law enforcement invade our privacy in unique ways they allow law enforcement to access information about us that we may not even know ourselves, that we have no ability to hide, and that could reveal more about us in the future than scientists know now. These searches should never be allowed even with a warrant.

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Genetic Testing Company Acquired by Company With Ties to FBI and Law Enforcement - Truthout

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A genetic variant found in about 3% of people of African ancestry is a more significant cause of heart failure than previously believed, according to a multi-institution study led by researchers at Penn Medicine. The researchers also found that this type of heart failure is underdiagnosed. According to their study, 44% of TTR V122Ivariant carriers older than age 50 had heart failure, but only 11% of these individuals had been diagnosed with hATTR-CM. The average time to diagnosis was three years, indicating both high rates of underdiagnoses and prolonged time to appropriate diagnosis

This study suggests that workup for amyloid cardiomyopathy and genetic testing of TTR should be considered, when appropriate, to identify patients at risk for the disease and intervene before they develop more severe symptoms or heart failure, said the studys lead author Scott Damrauer, M.D., an assistant professor of Surgery at Penn Medicine and a vascular surgeon at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center. (Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Pennsylvania Health System.)

In this study, researchers from Penn Medicine and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai used a genome-first approach, performing DNA sequencing of 9,694 individuals of African and Latino ancestry enrolled in either the Penn Medicine BioBank (PMBB) or the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai BioMe biobank (BioMe). Researchers identified TTR V122I carriers and then examined longitudinal electronic health record-linked genetic data to determine which of the carriers had evidence of heart failure.

The findings, which were published today in JAMA, are particularly important given the US Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) approval of the first therapy (tafamidis) for ATTR-CM in May 2019. Prior to tafamidiss approval, treatment was largely limited to supportive care for heart failure symptoms and, in rare cases, heart transplant.

Our findings suggest that hATTR-CM is a more common cause of heart failure than its perceived to be, and that physicians are not sufficiently considering the diagnosis in certain patients who present with heart failure, said the studys corresponding author Daniel J. Rader, M.D., chair of the Department of Genetics at Penn Medicine. With the recent advances in treatment, its critical to identify patients at risk for the disease and, when appropriate, perform the necessary testing to produce an earlier diagnosis and make the effective therapy available.

hATTR-CM, also known as cardiac amyloidosis, typically manifests in older patients and is caused by the buildup of abnormal deposits of a specific transthyretin protein known as amyloid in the walls of the heart. The heart walls become stiff, resulting in the inability of the left ventricle to properly relax and adequately pump blood out of the heart. However, this type of heart failurewhich presents similar to hypertensive heart disease is common, and the diagnosis of hATTR-CM is often not considered.

Tafamidis meglumine is a non-NSAID benzoxazole derivative that binds to TTR with high affinity and selectivity. TTR acts by transporting the retinol-binding protein-vitamin A complex. It is also a minor transporter of thyroxine in blood. Its tetrameric structure can become amyloidogenic by undergoing rate-limiting dissociation and monomer misfolding.

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Starting Jan. 1, 2020, Illinois residents genetic testing results will be protected. Bertino-Tarrant (D-Shorewood) championed House Bill 2189, which prohibits companies that provide direct-to-consumer commercial genetic testing such as ancestry.com and 23andMe, from sharing any test results with health or life insurance companies without the consumers consent.

In the last couple of years, genetic testing has will remain private as they make informed decisions to manage their health care.

The number of people who have had their DNA analyzed with direct-to-consumer genetic genealogy tests more than doubled during 2017 and exceeded 12 million in 2018. Last year, an estimated 1 in 25 American adults now have access to personal genetic data.

We have the responsibility to ensure personal data is used ethically, Bertino-Tarrant said. As technology evolves it is imperative that laws advance with the needs of the people of our state.

Representative Natalie Manley (D-Joliet) was the lead sponsor in the House.

House Bill 2189 passed the Senate and House with bipartisan support. The measure was signed into law in July.

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Consumers protected across Will County - The Times Weekly

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Archaeologists made an "extremely rare" find in China when they found a human skeleton with an uncommon form of dwarfism, according to a recent news report.

The skeleton was originally recovered from a burial site near the Yellow River in east-central China, along with other remains of people who had lived between 3300 and 2900 B.C., Forbes reported. All the skeletons were found with their hands placed on top of their bodies, except for one, whose hands were tucked behind its back. The bones of this skeleton appeared short and weak compared to the other skeletal remains; on closer inspection, the archaeologists diagnosed the young adult with skeletal dysplasia, also known as dwarfism.

A wide range of conditions fall under the umbrella term "skeletal dysplasia," but in general, these conditions tend to disrupt bone development, causing individuals to grow to shorter-than-average stature, the authors noted in a report published Dec. 13 in the International Journal of Paleopathology. Skeletal dysplasia is fairly rare in modern humans, occurring in about 3.22 out of every 10,000 births, but the condition crops up even less often in the archaeological record to date, fewer than 40 cases have been discovered. Of these, most cases represent a relatively common form of dwarfism called achondroplasia, which causes the limbs to grow disproportionately shorter than the head and trunk.

Related: Photos: A 400-Year-Old War Grave Revealed

But archaeologists at the burial site soon realized that they had stumbled upon an even rarer find. While the limbs of the skeleton appeared short, the bones of the head and trunk also seemed small. Judging by the skeleton's teeth, the team determined that the remains belonged to a young adult, but the skeleton's full-grown limb bones remained unfused. The authors diagnosed the Neolithic skeleton with a condition known as "proportionate dwarfism," rarely seen in either archaeological or living human populations.

The team theorized that the skeleton's short stature stemmed from "pediatric onset hypopituitarism and hypothyroidism," meaning that the individual likely developed either an underactive thyroid gland or pituitary gland early in life. Both glands direct the function of hormones throughout the body, and without their guidance, body tissues and organs may fail to grow as they should. The condition can stunt bone growth, cognitive development and heart and lung function; the individual uncovered in China likely required "support from other community members" to survive, the authors noted.

Unlike achondroplasia, which typically arises from a genetic mutation, thyroid and pituitary dysfunction is thought to be linked to a lack of essential nutrients, such as iodine. Rates of hypothyroidism remain higher in China than in the U.S., partly due to the fact that many Chinese people still consume iodine-deficient diets, according to Forbes.

Related: Photos: Looking for Extinct Humans in Ancient Cave Mud

Although the short-statured skeleton was buried differently than the ones nearby in the tomb, the archaeologists aren't sure if or how the individual may have been treated in life. Confucian texts from the 4th century B.C. suggest that people with physical differences would not have been ostracized in Neolithic China. ("If virtue is pre-eminent, the body will be forgotten," the philosopher Zhuangzi once wrote.) But this sentiment clashes with historical accounts from the 2nd century B.C., which imply that those with dwarfism "were seen as outsiders," the authors noted.

"I think it is important for us to recognize that disability and difference can be found in the past, but these did not necessarily have negative connotations socially or culturally," co-author Sin Halcrow, an archaeologist at the University of Otago, told Forbes. "The ancient historical texts show that they may, in fact, have been revered in some situations."

Originally published on Live Science.

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ESPCs derived from pig provide important implications for developmental biology, organ transplantation, regenerative medicine, disease modeling, and screening for drugs.

FREMONT, CA: Stem cell therapy, usually applied to humans, is now extended to animals too. It is a regenerative treatment applied to cats, dogs, pigs, and other animals. It includes removing cells from bone marrow, blood or fat, umbilical cords, and the cell can grow into any kind of cell and can repair damaged tissues. The regenerative therapy has been successful in animals. It can be used mainly for the treatment of spinal cord and bone injuries along with the problems with tendons, ligaments, and joints. One of the breakthroughs is the embryonic stem cell lines obtained from the pig.

Scientists have derived Expanded Potential Stem Cells (EPSCs) from pig embryos for the first time. They offer the groundbreaking potential to study embryonic development and produce translational research in genomics and regenerative medicine. Embryonic stem cells (ESC) are derived from the inner cells of early embryos called blastocysts. They are pluripotent cells as they can develop into various cell types of the body in the culture dish. The newly derived porcine EPSCs isolated from pig embryos are the first well-characterized cell lines worldwide. Their pluripotent ability provides important implications for developmental biology, organ transplantation, regenerative medicine, disease modeling, and screening for drugs.

The stem cells can renew themselves, showing that they can be kept in culture indefinitely while showing the typical morphology and gene expression patterns of embryonic stem cells. Because somatic cells have a limited lifespan, they cannot be used for such applications, and therefore the new stem cells are better suited for the lengthy selection process. These porcine stem cell lines can easily be edited with new genome editing techniques like CRISPR/Cas, and are currently the simplest, most versatile and precise method of genetic manipulation.

The EPSCs have a greater capacity to develop into numerous cell types of the organism as well as into extraembryonic tissue, the trophoblasts, rending them very unique and, thus, their name. This capacity is valuable for the future promising organoid technology where organ-like small cell aggregations are grown in 3D aggregates and used for research into early embryo development, various disease models, and testing of new drugs in Petri dishes. Also, they offer a unique possibility to investigate functions or diseases of the placenta in vitro.

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How Will Animals Get Benefitted by Stem Cell Therapy? - Medical Tech Outlook

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

VALLEY COTTAGE, N.Y. Stem cells are undifferentiated biological cells, and having remarkable potential to divide into any kind of other cells. When a stem cell divides, each new cell will be a new stem cell or it will be like another cell which is having specific function such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell, brain cell and some other cells.

There are two types of stem cells

Stem cells harvested from umbilical cord blood just after birth. And this cells can be stored in specific conditions. Stem cells also can be harvest from bone marrow, adipose tissue.

Embryonic cells can differentiate into ectoderm, endoderm and mesoderm in developing stage. Stem cells used in the therapies and surgeries for regeneration of organisms or cells, tissues.

Stem cells are used for the treatment of Gastro intestine diseases, Metabolic diseases, Immune system diseases, Central Nervous System diseases, Cardiovascular diseases, Wounds and injuries, Eye diseases, Musculoskeletal disorders.

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Harvesting of Adult cell is somewhat difficult compare to embryonic cells. Because Adult cells available in the own body and it is somewhat difficult to harvest.

Stem Cell TherapiesMarket: Drivers and Restraints

Technology advancements in healthcare now curing life threatening diseases and giving promising results. Stem Cell Therapies having so many advantages like regenerating the other cells and body organisms. This is the main driver for this market. These therapies are useful in many life threatening treatments. Increasing the prevalence rate of diseases are driven the Stem Cell Therapies market, it is also driven by increasing technology advancements in healthcare. Technological advancements in healthcare now saving the population from life threatening complications.

Increasing funding from government, private organizations and increasing the Companies focus onStem cell therapiesare also driven this market

However, Collecting the Embryonic Stem cells are easy but Collecting Adult Stem cell or Somatic Stem cells are difficult and also we have to take more precautions for storing the collected stem cells.

Preview Analysis of Stem Cell Therapies Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2015 2025: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/stem-cell-therapies-market

Stem Cell TherapiesMarket: Segmentation

Stem Cell Therapies are segmented into following types

Based on treatment:

Based on application:

Based on End User:

Stem Cell TherapiesMarket: Overview

With rapid technological advantage in healthcare and its promising results, the use of Stem Cell Therapies will increase and the market is expected to have a double digit growth in the forecast period (2015-2025).

Stem Cell TherapiesMarket: Region- wise Outlook

Depending on geographic regions, the global Stem Cell Therapies market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, South America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan, Japan and Middle East & Africa.

The use of Stem Cell Therapies is high in North America because it is highly developed region, having good technological advancements in healthcare setup and people are having good awareness about health care. In Asia pacific region china and India also having rapid growth in health care set up. Europe also having good growth in this market.

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Stem Cell TherapiesMarket: Key Players

Some of the key players in this market are

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Stem Cell Therapies Market research Likely to Emerge over a Period of 2015-2025 - PharmiWeb.com

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By Aprille HansonAssociate Editor

Aprille Hanson

Deacon Butch King and his wife Debbie (left) stand with their daughter Paula Draeger (center) in front of the Seed of Hope garden at UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute in Little Rock Dec. 4. Last month, King was able to place a seed of hope token into the garden, signifying he is cancer-free, thanks to a stem cell donation from his daughter.

Aprille Hanson

Deacon Butch King and his wife Debbie (left) stand with their daughter Paula Draeger (center) in front of the Seed of Hope garden at UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute in Little Rock Dec. 4. Last month, King was able to place a seed of hope token into the garden, signifying he is cancer-free, thanks to a stem cell donation from his daughter.

Deacon Butch King was given a gift in 2017. He was diagnosed with a rare disease MDS/MPN, myelodysplastic/myeloproliferative neoplasm-unclassifiable to be exact.

The hybrid disease results when bone marrow overproduces unhealthy blood cells, according to University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock.

The diagnosis sent the family on a harrowing journey for the next two and a half years: four changes of insurance coverage and medical facilities, 19 rounds of chemotherapy, 430 lab results, 14 bone marrow biopsies, 11.25 gallons of donated blood and the disease progressing to Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

Looking at a deadly disease as a gift takes a radical faith in God, one that King and his wife Debbie have carried with grace to his cancer-free diagnosis Nov. 4.

It was given to us as a gift. And how do we manage gifts? We care for them, we nurture them, we polish them, show them off with pride and we give thanks to God. Those are his words, our words together. We had a gift and we had to manage it, we didnt get a choice, his wife said.

King was ordained a deacon in 2012, serving at Immaculate Conception Church in North Little Rock. The couple has four children, 12 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, with another on the way in March. After 23 years of serving in the U.S. Air Force working in secure communications, he spent 22 years with the U.S. Postal Service.

In October 2016, he had a metal stent placed in his heart and could not have any surgeries for the following six months. In November of that year, he twisted his knee at work. When he was finally ready to have knee surgery in May, his lab work was irregular. In June they learned he had developed a rare blood disorder, MDS, which later in the year progressed to MPN. It required a stem cell transplant, with only a 30 percent chance of surviving a transplant.

I was kind of stunned at first, King said. As a deacon, he had been used to visiting the sick in nursing homes and hospitals.

This is one of the stories you can say, I know how you feel because Ive been there or were praying for you and really mean it, he said.

With every roadblock of insurance not covering the procedure or a hospital turning the transplant down because he was high risk, faith prevailed.

In December 2017, their youngest daughter Paula Draeger, 38, was a perfect match for a stem cell transplant, an extremely rare result.

OK, we can do this; were going to heal him. Weve got the perfect match. If this doesnt work, nothing will. So that was just kind of the reaction, lets do it, the married mother of two said.

Debbie King said, Shes a Spina bifida baby. We were told that she would be a vegetable when she had her spinal surgery. So shes a miracle to be here; long before this ever came God had a plan.

Once Medicare kicked in, insurance would cover a transplant if a clinical trial was available. It led the family to 13 visits to University of Oklahoma Stephenson Cancer Center in Oklahoma City, though they refused the transplant.

Debbie King said they specifically chose Oklahoma City because the family had been, and still are, praying daily for Blessed Stanley Rothers intercession.

The martyr, who grew up on a farm in Okarche, Okla., was declared blessed on Sept. 23, 2017, in Oklahoma City. He was killed in 1981 while serving his people in Guatemala.

He needed a miracle. And we said God provides miracles, Debbie King said.

Before we started any treatment we would place the entire illness and what would be happening at Blessed Stanley Rothers gravesite in Oklahoma City, visiting 11 times, she said.

Whats the miracle? The miracle is the faith. And thats what Butch has said, she said.

On March 13, the Kings were told they wouldnt be continuing the trial in Oklahoma.

We were ready to just be on maintenance and enjoy the days we had, she said. On March 14, our 44th wedding anniversary we were celebrating what we thought could be our last one.

But Dr. Appalanaidu Sasapu, hematologist oncologist with the UAMS Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy Program, never gave up on them. Because Kings disease had progressed to leukemia in April, the stem cell procedure could now be done at UAMS and covered by insurance.

Draeger said the stem cell donations, done over a weekend via a port, were simple, with no side effects aside from building her energy up in the following week.

For what youre able to give somebody, what you have to endure pales in comparison to what hes been through and what you can give him, she said.

King no longer has the blood disease and is cancer free, though he will continue at least a years worth of chemotherapy treatments.

Since his diagnosis, they attend the smaller St. Patrick Church in North Little Rock for Mass, but he cannot yet return to ministry.

We do our prayer time in the mornings and evenings, we count our blessings every night before we go to bed and we just know, what was our blessing today? Did we see somebody that we havent seen before that God put in our path? Is it a new doctor who is going to take this on? King said.

But through this whole process weve been truly blessed, had no regrets. If I had to do it over, if thats the path of my life that God wants me to take, then Ill do it.

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Deacon Butch King learns to accept the 'gift' of cancer - Arkansas Catholic

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LentiGlobin, Bluebird Bios investigational gene therapy for sickle cell disease (SCD), continues to show promising results in SCD patients participating in the companys Phase 1/2 HGB-206 clinical trial, according to the latest study data.

The new findings which included data from additional patients treated in the trial, updated data from those previously reported, and exploratory analyses were presented at the 61st American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition, held Dec. 6-10 in Orlando, Fla.

LentiGlobinisa gene therapy that has been developed to increase the levels of hemoglobin the protein that transports oxygen in the blood in people with SCD.

The therapy works by delivering functional copies of a modified form of the beta-globin gene (A-T87Q-globin gene) into patients red blood cell precursors, known as hematopoietic stem cells, or HSCs. Once these precursors differentiate, their red blood cells start producing a modified version of hemoglobin, called HbAT87Q.

By boosting the production of this anti-sickling form of the protein, LentiGlobin reduces the proportion of defective hemoglobin in patients red blood cells. That, in turn, reduces the sickling and destruction of these red blood cells and other complications associated with SCD.

The safety and efficacy of LentiGlobin is currently being evaluated in three groups identified as A-C of SCD patients participating in Bluebirds ongoing open-label, Phase 1/2 HGB-206 trial (NCT02140554).

Those in group A were treated per the original trial protocol. Meanwhile, those in groups B and C received an enhanced treatment protocol, approved in 2016, that is designed to increase the therapys efficiency. In groups A and B, patients HSCs were extracted from the bone marrow, while in group C, they were extracted from the blood.

As of the data cutoff date of August 26, 2019, seven participants in group A, two in group B, and 17 in group C had been treated with LentiGlobin. According to new data presented at the meeting, only two patients from group A required regular blood transfusions after the treatment.

In addition, the updated findings revealed that the levels of anti-sickling HbAT87Q remained stable in all participants from groups A and B over a post-treatment follow-up period of three years. Similarly, levels of total hemoglobin also were found to have remained stable in both patient groups over a two-year follow-up.

At the trial participants last visit, the median levels of anti-sickling HbAT87Q were 0.9 g/dL among those from group A, and 3.6 g/dL and 7.1 g/dL in the two patients from group B. The median levels of total hemoglobin were 9.0 g/dL among patients from group A, and 11.3 g/dL and 13.0 g/dL among those from group B.

Normal levels of hemoglobin in the blood range from 12.5 to 17.5 g/dL.

Among 12 patients from group C who were followed for at least six months, the median levels of anti-sickling HbAT87Q made up at least 40% of their total hemoglobin. At their last visit, the levels of anti-sickling HbAT87Q ranged from 2.7 to 9.0 g/dL, and the levels of total hemoglobin from 9.3 to 15.2 g/dL.

In groups A and B, LentiGlobin reduced the frequency of painful vaso-occlusive crises (VOCs) and acute chest syndrome (ACS) in the two years following treatment.

Nine patients from group C who were followed for at least six months had experienced four or more VOCs or ACS episodes in the two years prior to receiving LentiGlobin. Treatment with the gene therapy led to a reduction of 99% in the frequency of annual VOCs and ACS. In this group, there were no reports of ACS or severe VOCs for up to 21 months following treatment.

Moreover, among those from group C, LentiGlobin reduced the levels of different markers of red blood cells destruction, including reticulocytes, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and bilirubin.

LentiGlobins safety profile was consistent with previous data. No serious adverse events related to treatment were reported during the study. Only one mild, non-serious event of hot flush was found to be related to LentiGlobin. That event was rapidly resolved and did not require treatment.

Exploratory analyses were performed in a sub-group of patients from all three groups. In 12 participants who had been followed for at least six months, more than 70% of the individuals red blood cells were found to contain the anti-sickling HbAT87Q at the last study visit, these analyses showed. Moreover, in four of these patients, nearly all their red blood cells (90%) were positive for HbAT87Q.

In addition, exploratory analyses revealed that participants red blood cells were less prone to sickling following treatment with LentiGlobin.

At ASH, the growing body of data from our clinical studies of LentiGlobin for SCD reflects results from 26 treated patients with up to four years of follow-up, David Davidson, MD, Bluebird Bios chief medical officer, said in a press release.

We continue to observe patients treated in Group C producing high levels of gene-therapy derived anti-sickling hemoglobin, HbAT87Q, accounting for at least 40% of total hemoglobin in those with six or more months of follow-up, and exploratory assays show that HbAT87Q is present in most red blood cells of treated patients, Davidson said.

The robust production of HbAT87Q was associated with substantial reductions of sickle hemoglobin, HbS, as well as improvement in key markers of hemolysis [red blood cells destruction]. Most importantly, patients in Group C have not experienced any episodes of acute chest syndrome or serious vaso-occlusive crises following LentiGlobin for SCD treatment, he added.

The company is recruiting participants with transfusion-dependent -thalassemia (TDT) for a Phase 3 trial (NCT03207009) testing LentiGlobin. Moreover, according to the companys pipeline, there is a Phase 2/3 trial planned in sickle cell disease for this gene therapy.

Joana is currently completing her PhD in Biomedicine and Clinical Research at Universidade de Lisboa. She also holds a BSc in Biology and an MSc in Evolutionary and Developmental Biology from Universidade de Lisboa. Her work has been focused on the impact of non-canonical Wnt signaling in the collective behavior of endothelial cells cells that make up the lining of blood vessels found in the umbilical cord of newborns.

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Margarida graduated with a BS in Health Sciences from the University of Lisbon and a MSc in Biotechnology from Instituto Superior Tcnico (IST-UL). She worked as a molecular biologist research associate at a Cambridge UK-based biotech company that discovers and develops therapeutic, fully human monoclonal antibodies.

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LentiGlobin Gene Therapy Continues to Show Promising Results in SCD, Updated Trial Data Shows - Sickle Cell Anemia News

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Why are we so secretive about this normal part of aging?

Perimenopause hit me like a ton of bricks.

One month, everything was steady and predictable. I knew when to expect my period and exactly how long it would last, and I had a pretty good idea of how I would feel throughout my 28-day cycle.

Then everything changed. The predictability ceased. For my period, the term heavy flow took on a whole new meaning. I experienced mid-cycle spotting in addition to all my other new menstrual cycle woes. Hot flashes, perhaps the most infamous of all the perimenopause symptoms, became a regular thing.

I went to see my gynecologist just to make sure there wasnt some other reason for my symptoms. There was not. At 46, Ive simply become perimenopausal, and there is no way to predict how long Ill stay this way.

That's because perimenopause, officially defined as the season in which the body makes its transition to menopause, can last for years and years (and years).

Only when you have gone twelve consecutive months without a period have reached menopause. Average age for menopause? 51 years old. Despite menopause and perimenopause being totally normal for anyone who has ovaries, it's a women's health issue that nobody seems to discuss.

In our society, aging is treated like something to be ashamed of and based on the profound lack of research into menopause, it can feel like the medical industry agrees.

If this feels like new information, you are not alone.

I had never even heard the term perimenopause until a couple of years ago and that is only because a nurse friend who specializes in womens health told me about it.

My similar-in-age pals report that they, too, were somewhat in the dark.

We knew menopause signified the end of menstrual periods but we didnt really understand that it followed a potentially lengthy transitional phase. Or that said transitional phase would, at times, feel more annoying than PMS. Or that perimenopause could be just plain embarrassing, thanks to gushers (a.k.a. extremely heavy periods that soak through tampons in less than an hour) and hot flashes that strike at the most inconvenient moments possible.

In middle school, we learned a lot about menstruation in health class. We also learned a lot about it from Judy Blume didnt every Gen X woman read Are You There God? Its Me, Margaret at some point?

Where are the health classes or relatable novels for people entering the perimenopause phase? Do they even exist?

I dont know. But I do know that people like me especially those of us nearing an age where perimenopause is likely need more information and more resources about this significant transition.

Most people dont know about the changes that can occur, says Ingrid Cherrytree, M.D., a gynecologist at Providence Womens Clinic in Portland, Ore. They tolerate a lot of symptoms for a long time before they decide to seek help for it.

And shes not just talking about heavy periods, irregular cycles and hot flashes. Those are just the tip of the iceberg. Perimenopause also brings the potential for loads of other undesirable symptoms, thanks to wildly fluctuating estrogen levels (technically speaking, estrogen production is slowing down and tapering off during perimenopause, but it can go down and up and back down again with seemingly no rhyme or reason).

According to WebMD, were talking about perimenopause symptoms like breast tenderness, vaginal dryness, urine leakage, sleep disturbances, low sex drive, migraines, mood swings, brain fog and weight gain. Splendid!

RELATED: 10 Disturbing Things Nobody Told Me About Going Through Menopause

Fortunately, despite the fact that we have a long way to go, the subject of perimenopause is not nearly as taboo as it used to be in part because women are talking about it more openly, rather than suffering in silence.

Since learning about perimenopause, Ive had several gab sessions with friends about our shared symptoms in recent months, and just the other day I mentioned perimenopause to a much-younger friend and her eyes didnt glaze over (at 33, mine would have).

Even more importantly, the topic is being addressed with greater frequency by researchers, doctors and professional organizations.

Last year, for example, the Journal of Womens Health published the first-ever guidelines for treating depression in perimenopausal women and in June the North American Menopause Society released a study indicating a possible explanation for frequent hot flashes in some women.

There was even study published in March that looked at the relationship between perimenopause and body composition/weight changes.

If you're surprised to learn that this research is new, you're not alone.

An August 2019 article in The Guardian asked the question, "The menopause: why so little research on the middle-aged ovary?"

As the article explains:

"Some scientists say they are met with puzzlement when trying to justify new research into possible treatments. Hormone replacement therapy has long been the most widely used intervention, but there is still a lack of basic understanding about how HRT interacts with a womans body."

To me, this is all very encouraging (not necessarily the results of the studies; just the fact that they even exist).

Maybe by the time my daughter reaches this stage perimenopause wont be so mysterious or humiliating. And, yes it can definitely be humiliating when, at the age of 40-something, heavy bleeding keeps you from your daily routine.

RELATED: 6 Sneaky Reasons Why Your Sex Drive Is Non-Existent

In the meantime, every woman experiencing perimenopause deserves to have her symptoms acknowledged and her feelings about the transition validated, says Dr. Cherrytree.

They are not making it up in their head(s), they are not going crazy, she says. It is true; all of these (symptoms) are happening.

And even though perimenopause is inevitable, suffering through it doesnt have to be. There are fixes, Dr. Cherrytree says.

Hormones are a great option, she says, referring to prescription-based hormone replacement therapy, like pills, patches and creams. They are safe for a lot of women and help control symptoms.

And how about natural alternatives to HRT, like soy or black cohosh, known for their estrogen-like properties? Some women I know swear by them.

Dr. Cherrytree says it is perfectly acceptable to give natural alternatives a try first. However, she also points out, from a medical standpoint these products havent really panned out to be all that helpful. Some may even produce dangerous side effects, so proceed with caution.

The most important thing about hormone replacement or the addition of hormones is that it is done in a safe manner with the correct balance (of estrogen and progesterone), she says, urging women to speak to their doctor before introducing any type of hormone replacement to their regimen.

RELATED: 1 in 5 Women Suffer In Silence With This Uncomfortable Condition

Unfortunately, there is no way to predict when perimenopause is coming, how long it will last, or how bothersome symptoms will be for any particular person.

Furthermore, there arent really any tests to confirm perimenopause status, she adds (estrogen and follicle-stimulating hormone levels are sometimes checked when doctors needs to sort out problems associated with perimenopause, but whacky levels are not true indicators, and normal levels don't necessarily rule out perimenopause).

The Guardian article notes that "[s]cientists are yet to decipher the chemical signals that stop ovarian follicles maturing into eggs when the overall egg reserve becomes low or uncover the role that ovarian cells other than eggs play in this process."

The only way to officially diagnose perimenopause is based on the symptoms you are experiencing

Sometimes it is helpful to talk to other female family members to see what they went through, but it doesnt always match up, says Dr. Cherrytree. After all, there has been surprisingly little research into the role genetics play in determining when a person will go through menopause, let alone when they will experience perimenopause.

In other words, everyone is different and there arent many good ways to predict what your experience will be like.

With some women, their period just gradually goes away. They have no hot flashes, no vaginal dryness. Things are just kind of easy and they are like oh, wow, that just kind of stopped and I barely noticed, Dr. Cherrytree says. For other women, it is a complete disaster.

And either end of the spectrum or somewhere in between is perfectly normal, she says.

The key is figuring out how to adapt to your new reality so you can get through perimenopause relatively unscathed.

For me, this means dressing in layers in case of untimely hot flashes and carrying around feminine hygiene products at all times (Ive noticed that gushers can come out of nowhere). Im also considering hormone replacement therapy, experimenting with some dietary changes to avoid weight gain and, most importantly, talking about it like it is a normal thing because it is a normal thing.

Oh, and about that weight gain. This is, naturally, one of the biggest concerns among the women Ive talked to about perimenopause. Excess abdominal fat? No, thank you. Sadly, our hormones are not working in our favor at this point.

While she stopped short of calling weight gain inevitable, Dr. Cherrytree did say that some people even those with very healthy habits have to figure out a new way of eating and a more efficient exercise routine, and not just in regards to your weight.

It is sort of like you have to reevaluate everything, and that is the hardest part, she says.

As someone going through perimenopause right now, I can confirm that feeling like everything you knew about your body and the way it works can be unsettling. But the more we talk about it and the more the medical and scientific communities work to support us and learn more about perimenopause (and menopause, too, for that matter) the better off we will be.

RELATED: How Menopause Affects Your Mental Health

Dawn Weinberger is a freelance health and business writer in Portland, Oregon. She has written for numerous publications including Glamour, The Checkup, Fundbox and many others. Find more at ;dawnweinberger.com.

See the original post:
How The Symptoms Of Perimenopause Sneak Up On Women & How To Deal With Irregular Periods, Heavy Bleeding And Hot Flashes - YourTango

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Looking to learn something new this festive season, or just get a break from revision or coursework? Check out these science book recommendations from the writers and editors of Epigram SciTech!

The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee (Esme Hedley, SciTech and Sport Subeditor)

This book is a comprehensive account of the history, science, and implications of our understanding of genes. Mukherjee walks us through genes rich history, fleshing out the lives of key scientists to show how recognition, influence, and legacy drive the race to a scientific breakthrough. He highlights how efforts to produce homogeneity in humans, seen in the eugenics movement, runs counter to evolution and natural selection. Not just for biology students, this book will appeal to those who want a richer understanding of one of the key concepts of science and how it has affected not only scientific and medical advances, but social policy. Although Mukherjee makes us realise the true power of our genes, he is careful to direct the reader away from any simplistic notion that our identities are determined by our genes.

Factfulness by Hans Rosling with Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Rnnlund (Vilhelmiina, SciTech Editor)

This is one of my favourite non-fiction books, and one that got me interested in global health. Known to many from his 'bubble' graphics explaining international development, the late Hans Rosling was a dedicated champion of 'factfulness'; avoiding making assumptions without factual basis. The book covers ways in which our perspectives of development around the world are distorted, and most importantly, how we can correct ourselves. Factfulness is a wonderfully uplifting read, and has something to teach everyone about the world we live in.

| Holiday reads at home

Brief Answers to the Big Questions by Stephen Hawking (Isabel Bromfield, Second year, Mathematics)

Published posthumously, Brief Answers to the Big Questions is a collection of essays drawn from Hawkings personal archives that attempts to answer some of humanitys most pressing questions such as 'is there a God?' and 'how do we shape the future?'. More relaxed and less cerebral than Hawkings famous A Brief History of Time, this book lends a heart and a humour to otherwise intimidating subject matters and leaves the reader with a feeling of hope.

| Can reading and writing help mental health?

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins (Annie La Vespa, Third year, Biology)

The Selfish Gene is a classic, which explores how individuals are merely vessels helping to facilitate a genes quest for eternity. Dawkins uses many examples to illustrate how genes have the power to control our future which may seem initially unsettling to some readers. However, the book does go onto describe how mankind has the capacity to reclaim this power back through conscious rebellion. This exciting read powerfully articulates fundamental ideas of Neo-Darwinism to a wide audience and has prompted extensive further research in the biology community.

The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli (Isobel O'Loughlin, Deputy SciTech Editor)

Translated from Italian just last year, The Order of Time is a wonderfully poetic exploration into the physics and philosophy of time. Rovelli - a theoretical physicist - guides the reader through general relativity and quantum theory in a way that is not only accessible, but beautiful. He draws on centuries of science, art and philosophy to show us how far our perception of time is from the reality.

Inferior by Angela Saini (Jenna Ram, PhD Chemistry)

As you read Inferior it becomes glaringly obvious how the scientific community's approach to the sex differences debate has been totally biased. Saini suggests we re-examine what we have accepted as fundamental truths in sex science as she presents a mountain of counter-research across fields such as neuroscience, evolutionary biology, anthropology and primatology revealing just how patriarchal the current foundations are. The new evidence shatters the gender stereotypes that science has told us to accept as biological truths; eye-opening examples calls into question the idea that male and female brains are just wired differently, that sex differences are just inherited and unchangeable thanks to genetics. It considers the possibility of females in the hunter-gatherer epoch taking part in hunting and not just sitting pretty waiting for the man to bring home the bacon, and crucially it addresses the possibility of females not being the primary caregiver in the family. Written in a balanced way examining all theories, new and old, it approaches the debate on sex differences as it should be - fairly.

All book cover photos courtesy of Waterstones

Featured image: Flickr /

What's your favourite book? Let us know!

Read more here:
Brainy books for the winter break - Epigram

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

The Global Male Hypogonadism Market Outlook Report is a comprehensive study of the Male Hypogonadism industry and its future prospects.. The Male Hypogonadism market accounted for $XX million in 2018, and is expected to reach $XX million by 2024, registering a CAGR of YY% from 2019 to 2024.

Lack of sex hormones, generally referred to male hypogonadism, results into several health risks such as osteoporosis and heart disease, owing to thinning of bones. The global market for male hypogonadism comprises several patented brands with high market penetration. Growth in geriatric population along with rising incidences of rheumatoid arthritis and obesity are primary factors influencing prevalence of male hypogonadism.Read Report Details at https://www.proaxivereports.com/10480

List of key players profiled in the Male Hypogonadism market research report:

Endo International Plc, Eli Lilly and Company Ltd., AbbVie, Inc., Pfizer, Inc., Merck KGaA, Allergan Plc, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Limited, Ferring B.V.

By TherapyTestosterone Replacement Therapy, Gonadotropin Replacement Therapy ,

By Drug TypeTopical Gels, Injectables, Transdermal Patches, Others ,

By Disease TypeKlinefelters Syndrome, Pituitary Adenomas, Kallmann Syndrome, Other Types ,

By

By

By

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The global Male Hypogonadism market is segmented based on product, end user, and region.

Region wise, it is analyzed across North America (U.S., Canada, and Mexico), Europe (Germany, UK, Italy, Spain, France, and rest of Europe), Asia-Pacific (Japan, China, Australia, India, South Korea, Taiwan, and, rest of Asia-Pacific) and EMEA (Brazil, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, UAE, rest of EMEA).

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Moreover, other factors that contribute toward the growth of the Male Hypogonadism market include favorable government initiatives related to the use of Male Hypogonadism. On the contrary, high growth potential in emerging economies is expected to create lucrative opportunities for the market during the forecast period.

Key Benefits for Stakeholders from Male Hypogonadism Market Report:

This report entails a detailed quantitative analysis along with the current global Male Hypogonadism market trends from 2019 to 2026 to identify the prevailing opportunities along with the strategic assessment.The Male Hypogonadism market size and estimations are based on a comprehensive analysis of key developments in the industry.A qualitative analysis based on innovative products facilitates strategic business planning.The development strategies adopted by the key market players are enlisted to understand the competitive scenario of the Male Hypogonadism industry.

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Read more here:
Male Hypogonadism Market with Future Prospects, Key Player SWOT Analysis and Forecast To 2024 - Exponent Online

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

TMRR, suggest in its latest market report, that the Stem Cell Therapy market report is about to exceed US$ xx Mn/Bn by 2029. The report finds that the Stem Cell Therapy market registered ~US$ xx Mn/Bn in 2018 and is projected to expand at a healthy CAGR over the foreseeable period.

The Stem Cell Therapy market research focuses on the market structure along with various factors (positive and negative) that influence the market growth. The study contains a precise evaluation of the Stem Cell Therapy market, including growth rate, current market scenario, and volume inflation prospects, on the basis of DROT and Porters Five Forces analyses.

Important players profiled in the Stem Cell Therapy market research include player 1, player 2, player 3 and player 4.

In this Stem Cell Therapy market study, the following years are considered to project the market footprint:

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Key Trends

The key factors influencing the growth of the global stem cell therapy market are increasing funds in the development of new stem lines, the advent of advanced genomic procedures used in stem cell analysis, and greater emphasis on human embryonic stem cells. As the traditional organ transplantations are associated with limitations such as infection, rejection, and immunosuppression along with high reliance on organ donors, the demand for stem cell therapy is likely to soar. The growing deployment of stem cells in the treatment of wounds and damaged skin, scarring, and grafts is another prominent catalyst of the market.

On the contrary, inadequate infrastructural facilities coupled with ethical issues related to embryonic stem cells might impede the growth of the market. However, the ongoing research for the manipulation of stem cells from cord blood cells, bone marrow, and skin for the treatment of ailments including cardiovascular and diabetes will open up new doors for the advancement of the market.

Global Stem Cell Therapy Market: Market Potential

A number of new studies, research projects, and development of novel therapies have come forth in the global market for stem cell therapy. Several of these treatments are in the pipeline, while many others have received approvals by regulatory bodies.

In March 2017, Belgian biotech company TiGenix announced that its cardiac stem cell therapy, AlloCSC-01 has successfully reached its phase I/II with positive results. Subsequently, it has been approved by the U.S. FDA. If this therapy is well- received by the market, nearly 1.9 million AMI patients could be treated through this stem cell therapy.

Another significant development is the granting of a patent to Israel-based Kadimastem Ltd. for its novel stem-cell based technology to be used in the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) and other similar conditions of the nervous system. The companys technology used for producing supporting cells in the central nervous system, taken from human stem cells such as myelin-producing cells is also covered in the patent.

Global Stem Cell Therapy Market: Regional Outlook

The global market for stem cell therapy can be segmented into Asia Pacific, North America, Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East and Africa. North America emerged as the leading regional market, triggered by the rising incidence of chronic health conditions and government support. Europe also displays significant growth potential, as the benefits of this therapy are increasingly acknowledged.

Asia Pacific is slated for maximum growth, thanks to the massive patient pool, bulk of investments in stem cell therapy projects, and the increasing recognition of growth opportunities in countries such as China, Japan, and India by the leading market players.

Global Stem Cell Therapy Market: Competitive Analysis

Several firms are adopting strategies such as mergers and acquisitions, collaborations, and partnerships, apart from product development with a view to attain a strong foothold in the global market for stem cell therapy.

Some of the major companies operating in the global market for stem cell therapy are RTI Surgical, Inc., MEDIPOST Co., Ltd., Osiris Therapeutics, Inc., NuVasive, Inc., Pharmicell Co., Ltd., Anterogen Co., Ltd., JCR Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd., and Holostem Terapie Avanzate S.r.l.

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The content of the Stem Cell Therapy market report includes the following insights:

The Stem Cell Therapy market study answers critical questions including:

All the players running in the global Stem Cell Therapy market are elaborated thoroughly in the Stem Cell Therapy market report on the basis of R&D developments, distribution channels, industrial penetration, manufacturing processes, and revenue. In addition, the report examines, legal policies, and comparative analysis between the leading and emerging Stem Cell Therapy market players.

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Stem Cell Therapy Market Forecasted To Surpass The Value Of US$ XX Mn/Bn By 2045 2017 - 2025 - Markets Gazette 24

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Stem Cell Therapy Market: Snapshot

Of late, there has been an increasing awareness regarding the therapeutic potential of stem cells for management of diseases which is boosting the growth of the stem cell therapy market. The development of advanced genome based cell analysis techniques, identification of new stem cell lines, increasing investments in research and development as well as infrastructure development for the processing and banking of stem cell are encouraging the growth of the global stem cell therapy market.

To know Untapped Opportunities in the MarketCLICK HERE NOW

One of the key factors boosting the growth of this market is the limitations of traditional organ transplantation such as the risk of infection, rejection, and immunosuppression risk. Another drawback of conventional organ transplantation is that doctors have to depend on organ donors completely. All these issues can be eliminated, by the application of stem cell therapy. Another factor which is helping the growth in this market is the growing pipeline and development of drugs for emerging applications. Increased research studies aiming to widen the scope of stem cell will also fuel the growth of the market. Scientists are constantly engaged in trying to find out novel methods for creating human stem cells in response to the growing demand for stem cell production to be used for disease management.

It is estimated that the dermatology application will contribute significantly the growth of the global stem cell therapy market. This is because stem cell therapy can help decrease the after effects of general treatments for burns such as infections, scars, and adhesion. The increasing number of patients suffering from diabetes and growing cases of trauma surgery will fuel the adoption of stem cell therapy in the dermatology segment.

Global Stem Cell Therapy Market: Overview

Also called regenerative medicine, stem cell therapy encourages the reparative response of damaged, diseased, or dysfunctional tissue via the use of stem cells and their derivatives. Replacing the practice of organ transplantations, stem cell therapies have eliminated the dependence on availability of donors. Bone marrow transplant is perhaps the most commonly employed stem cell therapy.

Osteoarthritis, cerebral palsy, heart failure, multiple sclerosis and even hearing loss could be treated using stem cell therapies. Doctors have successfully performed stem cell transplants that significantly aid patients fight cancers such as leukemia and other blood-related diseases.

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Global Stem Cell Therapy Market: Key Trends

The key factors influencing the growth of the global stem cell therapy market are increasing funds in the development of new stem lines, the advent of advanced genomic procedures used in stem cell analysis, and greater emphasis on human embryonic stem cells. As the traditional organ transplantations are associated with limitations such as infection, rejection, and immunosuppression along with high reliance on organ donors, the demand for stem cell therapy is likely to soar. The growing deployment of stem cells in the treatment of wounds and damaged skin, scarring, and grafts is another prominent catalyst of the market.

On the contrary, inadequate infrastructural facilities coupled with ethical issues related to embryonic stem cells might impede the growth of the market. However, the ongoing research for the manipulation of stem cells from cord blood cells, bone marrow, and skin for the treatment of ailments including cardiovascular and diabetes will open up new doors for the advancement of the market.

Global Stem Cell Therapy Market: Market Potential

A number of new studies, research projects, and development of novel therapies have come forth in the global market for stem cell therapy. Several of these treatments are in the pipeline, while many others have received approvals by regulatory bodies.

In March 2017, Belgian biotech company TiGenix announced that its cardiac stem cell therapy, AlloCSC-01 has successfully reached its phase I/II with positive results. Subsequently, it has been approved by the U.S. FDA. If this therapy is well- received by the market, nearly 1.9 million AMI patients could be treated through this stem cell therapy.

Another significant development is the granting of a patent to Israel-based Kadimastem Ltd. for its novel stem-cell based technology to be used in the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) and other similar conditions of the nervous system. The companys technology used for producing supporting cells in the central nervous system, taken from human stem cells such as myelin-producing cells is also covered in the patent.

Global Stem Cell Therapy Market: Regional Outlook

The global market for stem cell therapy can be segmented into Asia Pacific, North America, Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East and Africa. North America emerged as the leading regional market, triggered by the rising incidence of chronic health conditions and government support. Europe also displays significant growth potential, as the benefits of this therapy are increasingly acknowledged.

Asia Pacific is slated for maximum growth, thanks to the massive patient pool, bulk of investments in stem cell therapy projects, and the increasing recognition of growth opportunities in countries such as China, Japan, and India by the leading market players.

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Global Stem Cell Therapy Market: Competitive Analysis

Several firms are adopting strategies such as mergers and acquisitions, collaborations, and partnerships, apart from product development with a view to attain a strong foothold in the global market for stem cell therapy.

Some of the major companies operating in the global market for stem cell therapy are RTI Surgical, Inc., MEDIPOST Co., Ltd., Osiris Therapeutics, Inc., NuVasive, Inc., Pharmicell Co., Ltd., Anterogen Co., Ltd., JCR Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd., and Holostem Terapie Avanzate S.r.l.

About TMR Research:

TMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.

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Read more from the original source:
Stem Cell Therapy Market Detailed Analysis and Forecast 2017-2025 - Montana Ledger

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Transparency Market Research (TMR) has published a new report on the global cell separation technology market for the forecast period of 20192027. According to the report, the global cell separation technology market was valued at ~ US$ 5 Bn in 2018, and is projected to expand at a double-digit CAGR during the forecast period.

Cell separation, also known as cell sorting or cell isolation, is the process of removing cells from biological samples such as tissue or whole blood. Cell separation is a powerful technology that assists biological research. Rising incidences of chronic illnesses across the globe are likely to boost the development of regenerative medicines or tissue engineering, which further boosts the adoption of cell separation technologies by researchers.

Expansion of the global cell separation technology market is attributed to an increase in technological advancements and surge in investments in research & development, such as stem cell research and cancer research. The rising geriatric population is another factor boosting the need for cell separation technologies Moreover, the geriatric population, globally, is more prone to long-term neurological and other chronic illnesses, which, in turn, is driving research to develop treatment for chronic illnesses. Furthermore, increase in the awareness about innovative technologies, such as microfluidics, fluorescent-activated cells sorting, and magnetic activated cells sorting is expected to propel the global cell separation technology market.

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North America dominated the global cell separation technology market in 2018, and the trend is anticipated to continue during the forecast period. This is attributed to technological advancements in offering cell separation solutions, presence of key players, and increased initiatives by governments for advancing the cell separation process. However, insufficient funding for the development of cell separation technologies is likely to hamper the global cell separation technology market during the forecast period. Asia Pacific is expected to be a highly lucrative market for cell separation technology during the forecast period, owing to improving healthcare infrastructure along with rising investments in research & development in the region.

Rising Incidences of Chronic Diseases, Worldwide, Boosting the Demand for Cell Therapy

Incidences of chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, arthritis, cardiac diseases, and cancer are increasing due to sedentary lifestyles, aging population, and increased alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), by 2020, the mortality rate from chronic diseases is expected to reach 73%, and in developing counties, 70% deaths are estimated to be caused by chronic diseases.

Southeast Asia, Eastern Mediterranean, and Africa are expected to be greatly affected by chronic diseases. Thus, the increasing burden of chronic diseases around the world is fuelling the demand for cellular therapies to treat chronic diseases. This, in turn, is driving focus and investments on research to develop effective treatments. Thus, increase in cellular research activities is boosting the global cell separation technology market.

Increase in Geriatric Population Boosting the Demand for Surgeries

The geriatric population is likely to suffer from chronic diseases such as cancer and neurological disorders more than the younger population. Moreover, the geriatric population is increasing at a rapid pace as compared to that of the younger population. Increase in the geriatric population aged above 65 years is projected to drive the incidences of Alzheimers, dementia, cancer, and immune diseases, which, in turn, is anticipated to boost the need for corrective treatment of these disorders. This is estimated to further drive the demand for clinical trials and research that require cell separation products. These factors are likely to boost the global cell separation technology market.

According to the United Nations, the geriatric population aged above 60 is expected to double by 2050 and triple by 2100, an increase from 962 million in 2017 to 2.1 billion in 2050 and 3.1 billion by 2100.

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Productive Partnerships in Microfluidics Likely to Boost the Cell Separation Technology Market

Technological advancements are prompting companies to innovate in microfluidics cell separation technology. Strategic partnerships and collaborations is an ongoing trend, which is boosting the innovation and development of microfluidics-based products. Governments and stakeholders look upon the potential in single cell separation technology and its analysis, which drives them to invest in the development of microfluidics. Companies are striving to build a platform by utilizing their expertise and experience to further offer enhanced solutions to end users.

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Cell Separation Technology Market is Expected to Elevate to a Value of US$ 13.6 Bn by 2027 - Techi Labs

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Diabetes Mellitus is a disease that involves impaired glucose metabolism. Sudden adverse changes in blood glucose (high or low) can lead to altered mental status, to seizures, and even death. Long-term complications include damage to end organs, such as eyes, kidneys, heart, and the neurological system.

Further, this is a condition that would renderan existing medical certificate invalid from the moment the pilot knew of the diagnosis, regardless of any theoretical period of validity that might appear to remain for that certificate.

Are all pilots with diabetes grounded indefinitely? Is there any hope for a pilot with diabetes to fly again? What about commercially?

The answers are reassuring. Private pilots with well-controlled diabeteshave been flying for many years. And a recently implemented program with the support of the Federal Air Surgeon will now enable even more diabetics to return to commercial flying.

Without going into an elaborate explanation of itsphysiology, lets break diabetes down into two categories: non-insulin-dependent and insulin-dependent.

Insulin is a hormone that is released by the pancreas in response to blood glucose levels. All body tissues use glucose for energy. When blood glucose rises, the pancreas secretes insulin, permitting the bodily tissues to store and use glucose for various metabolic functions.

In certain cases of diabetes, the production of insulin is significantly decreased or completely absent. Common names include juvenile, type 1, or insulin-dependent diabetes (IDDM). Dont let the term juvenile confuse the situation, as there are times when insulin dependence might not occur until well into adulthood.

The relevant premise here is that the body has stopped producing sufficient insulin to regulate blood glucose, regardless of the persons age. You might also see the term insulin-treated diabetes (ITDM) in various publications, and for the purposes of FAA medical certification, IDDM and ITDM can be used synonymously.

In other cases, the bodily tissues have become resistant to the insulin that the pancreas is dutifully producing (obesity is a common cause of insulin resistance). Terms familiar to most people include adult-onset, type 2, or non-insulin-dependent diabetes.

Google mellitus for the amusing reference of how that word became part of the lore of diabetes centuries ago. I will provide more pathophysiologic information when I discuss the individual types of diabetes and the respective FAA certification programs more specifically in future submissions.

Therefore, I wont go into the formalities and minutia of how to diagnose, treat, and monitor diabetes in this discussion. Suffice it to say that poorly-controlled diabetes poses a significant threat to aviation safety, not to mention long-term health.

Diabetes that can be controlled with diet, exercise, and weight loss is the proverbial no-brainer in FAA medical certification. Anything a pilot can do without medical intervention is always preferable for long-term health maintenance.

All classes of medical certificates can be easily obtained in this setting and usually a special issuance is not required (at times this is followed through a slightly amended protocol for pre-diabetes that Ill discuss at a future date).

The necessity for oral and some of the injectable non-insulin medications that lower blood glucose to control diabetes also does not preclude FAA medical certification. In this case, while the pilot will be followed under a special issuance authorization, all classes of medical certificates are again included in this protocol. I have had many pilots flying commercially on first- and second-class medical certificates for many years who are taking oral diabetic medications.

If a pilot requires insulin, however, things change. Before 1996, any insulin-dependent pilot was unable to fly (all classes of medical certificates were excluded). Beginning in 1996, pilots could obtain a third-class FAA medical certificate if they are taking insulin and their diabetes is well controlled.

Fortunately, the program for third-class IDDM pilots has been a great success. The very rare adverse in-flight incidents over the years with diabetic pilots usually have occurred in pilots with poorly controlled diabetes who likely would not havebeen granted a special issuance authorization in the first place.

A pilot who requires insulin for treatment has been excluded for classes of FAA medical certificates higher than third-class until just recently. I have been a vocal advocate to the FAA and its various Federal Air Surgeons over the years that well-controlled IDDM pilots should be considered for first- and second-class certification.

With the current precise continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) electronics and advancements available, an insulin-dependent diabetic is now able to maintain tightly-controlled blood glucose levels.

In 2002, Canada began permitting IDDM pilots to fly commercially in a multi-pilot crew environment. The UK began doing so in 2012, and now the U.S. joined that group last month (on November 7).

Notably, there is no restriction in the FAA protocol that an IDDM pilot must be in a crew environment. Thus, an FAA-licensed pilot with a special issuance for IDDM can fly single-pilot so long as all provisions are met. The FARs dont permit the FAA to put restrictions such as must be part of a multi-pilot crew on first-class medical certificates.

There are also several other countries that permit private flying in pilots with various forms of diabetes.

As you can imagine, the FAA was very cautious and reviewed the advances in diabetic management technologies methodically over many years before authorizing this new program. No different than any other special issuance program, the FAA did not want aviation accidents resulting from a poorly conceived program.

This would, of course, be a tragedy for anyone involved in the accident and could jeopardize the entire program itself. Out of respect for caution, the FAA spent many years working on this program. And now, its finally here!

However, the requirements are probably the most extensive of any special issuance program that we have. There will be ongoing evaluations of numerous organ systems. In addition to using the latest technology to monitor and treat a pilot's diabetes, evaluations will be ongoing for eyes, heart, kidneys, and neurological systems.

The data presentation to the FAA is also extensive and thorough. As with some of the other special issuance conditions, the FAA has developed comprehensive checklistsfor pilots, their AMEs, and the treating physiciansand flow sheets to assist in the detailed data presentation to the FAA. Ongoing CGM data will also be required.

As exhaustive as this program is, it has finally opened the world of commercial flying to IDDM pilots who require a first- or second-class FAA medical certificate. I am hopeful that the program will be as successful as the earlier program for third-class pilots has been.

Those with IDDM are often some of the most motivated pilots there are, and the new gadgetry involved has demonstrated to the FAA that precise control of diabetes can indeed be achieved and, therefore, such pilots do not pose a threat to aviation safety. Thus, it is predicted that IDDM pilots will be able to fly safely in commercial operationson first- and second-class special issuance authorizationsin the U.S.

For a pilot to obtain a special issuance authorization under this new IDDM protocol, they will need an organized and motivated team of support. The pilot, first and foremost, must adequately control their diabetes using modern electronics, including CGM devices, as that also will improve the likelihood of maintaining long-term health.

Next, the treating physician must be willing to complete thorough FAA flow sheets and, at select times, consulting physicians will have to provide evaluation data of the other organ systems mentioned above. Finally, the AME must be willing to choreograph all of the data into a packet that will be acceptable to the FAA.

See the article here:
AINsight: Diabetes and Flying | Business Aviation - Aviation International News

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

When Brooke Brumfield wasnt battling morning sickness, she craved nachos. Like many first-time expectant mothers, she was nervous and excited about her pregnancy. She had just bought a house with her husband, a wildland firefighter who had enrolled in paramedic school to transition to firefighting closer to home. Everything was going according to plan until 20 weeks into Brumfields pregnancy, when she lost her job at a financial technology startup and, with it, her salary and three months paid maternity leave. After building a new business to support her family, she had clients, but childcare was limited, and her husbands schedule was always shifting. By the time her baby arrived, everything was beyond overwhelming, Brumfield says. I pretty much felt like a truck hit me.

Brumfield had heard stories from friends and family about a way to minimize the stress and emotional fallout of the postpartum period: consuming her placenta, the vascular organ that nourishes and protects the fetus during pregnancy and is expelled from the body after birth. The women swore by the results. They said their milk supply improved and their energy spiked. The lows caused by plummeting hormone levels didnt feel as crushing, they explained.

Brumfield enlisted her doula who, for a fee, would steam, dehydrate, and pulverize her placenta, pouring the fine powder into small capsules. She swallowed her placenta pills for about six weeks after delivering her daughter. She said they helped her feel more even, less angry and emotional. When her milk supply dipped, she says, I re-upped my intake and [the problem] was solved.

Social scientists and medical researchers call the practice of consuming ones own placenta placentophagy. Once confined to obscure corners of alternative medicine and the countercultures crunchier communities, it has been picked up by celebrities (Kourtney and Kim Kardashian, January Jones, Mayim Bialik, Alicia Silverstone, Chrissy Teigen) and adopted by the wider public.

Although there are no official estimates of how many women ingest their placenta after delivery, the internet is increasingly crowded with placenta service providers preparers of pills, smoothies, and salves to support new mothers in the slog to recovery. But the purported benefits are disputed. Depending on whom you ask, placenta-eating is either medicine or a potentially dangerous practice based on myth. How did this practice go mainstream, despite a lack of reported scientific or clinical benefits? The answer may say much more about the world new mothers live in than it does about the placenta.

In any doctors office or primary care setting, a provider treating a patient will often mention new research that supports a recommended treatment. A pregnant woman diagnosed with preeclampsia, for example, might learn from her health care provider that low-dose aspirin has been shown in recent studies to reduce serious maternal or fetal complications. But the basis for placentophagy, a practice that lies beyond the boundaries of biomedicine, is a 16th-century text.

Li Shizhens Compendium of Materia Medica, or Bencao gangmu, first published in 1596, is a Chinese pharmacopoeia and the most celebrated book in the Chinese tradition of pharmacognosy, or the study of medicinal plants. It appears on the websites of placenta service providers and in the pages of the standard references for practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), a millennia-old medical system with a growing global reach.

The basis for placentophagy, a practice that lies beyond the boundaries of biomedicine, is a 16th-century text.

A physician and herbalist, Li drew on his empirical experiences treating patients but also on anecdotes, poetry, and oral histories. His encyclopedia of the natural world is a textual cabinet of natural curiosities, according to historian Carla Nappis The Monkey and the Inkpot, a study of Lis life and work. Containing nearly 1,900 substances, from ginseng and peppercorn to dragons bone and turtle sperm, Lis book describes dried human placenta as a drug that invigorated people, and was used to treat impotence and infertility, among other conditions. For advocates of placentophagy, this book serves as ethnomedical proof of the long-standing history of the practice and by extension, its efficacy and safety.

But like many claims to age-old provenance, the origins of placentophagy as a postpartum treatment are disputed. Sabine Wilms, an author and translator of more than a dozen books on Chinese medicine, scrutinized classical Chinese texts on gynecology and childbirth and told me theres no written evidence at all of a woman consuming her own placenta after birth as a mainstream traditional practice in China, even if formulas containing dried human placenta were prescribed for other conditions, as described in Lis book.

Beyond Lis 400-year-old encyclopedia, evidence of postpartum placenta-eating is nearly impossible to find in the historical record. Womens voices are notoriously difficult to unearth from the archives, and even in the 19th century, the details of childbirth and what happened to the placenta went largely unreported. But when two University of Nevada, Las Vegas anthropologists pored over ethnographic data from 179 societies, they discovered a conspicuous absence of cultural traditions associated with maternal placentophagy.

The earliest modern recorded evidence of placentophagy appears in a June 1972 issue of Rolling Stone. I pushed the placenta into a pot, wrote an anonymous author, responding to the magazines call asking readers to share stories from their personal lives. It was magnificent purple and red and turquoise. Describing her steamed placenta as wonderfully replenishing and delicious, she recounted eating and sharing it with friends after delivering her son.

Evidence of postpartum placenta-eating is nearly impossible to find in the historical record.

Raven Lang, who is credited with reviving the oldest known and most commonly used recipe for postpartum placenta preparation, witnessed placentophagy while helping women as a homebirth midwife and TCM practitioner in California in the early 1970s. These women lived off the land, she explained, and might have drawn inspiration from livestock and other animals in their midst.

It wasnt long before placentophagy made its way beyond Californias hippie enclaves. In 1984, Mary Field, a certified midwife and registered nurse in the U.K., recounted eating her placenta, an unmentionable experience, to ward off postpartum depression after the birth of her second child. I remain secretive, Field wrote, for the practice verges on that other taboo cannibalism as it is human flesh and a part of your own body. She recalled choking down her own placenta. I could not bear to chew or taste it.

The rise of encapsulation technology, developed for the food industry and picked up by placenta service providers in the early aughts, put an end to visceral experiences like Fields. No longer must women process their own placenta or subject themselves to its purported offal-like flavor. Tidy, pre-portioned placenta pills resembling vitamins can be prepared by anyone with access to a dehydrator, basic supplies, and online training videos.

The boom in placentophagy highlights a longstanding puzzle for researchers. Almost every non-human mammal consumes its placenta after delivery, for reasons that remain unclear to scientists. Why did humans become the exception to this nearly universal mammalian rule? For Daniel Benyshek, an anthropologist and co-author of the UNLV study that found no evidence of placentophagy being practiced anywhere in the world, the human exception raises a red flag: It suggests the reasons that humans have eschewed placentophagy arent just cultural or symbolic, but adaptive that theres something dangerous about it, or at least there has been in our evolutionary history.

Scientific data on the potential benefits and risks of placentophagy is scarce, but a few small studies suggest that any nutrients contained in cooked or encapsulated placental tissue are unlikely to be absorbed into the bloodstream at concentrations large enough to produce significant health effects. Whether and in what quantity reproductive hormones such as estrogen survive placental processing has been little studied, but ingesting them after birth could have negative effects on milk production and may also increase the risk of blood clots.

Almost every non-human mammal consumes its placenta after delivery, for reasons that remain unclear to scientists.

Yet placental encapsulation services which remain unregulated in the U.S. have found a receptive audience of American consumers. (The food safety agency of the European Union declared the placenta a novel food in 2015, effectively shuttering the encapsulation business on the continent.) Mostly small and women-owned, placenta service businesses position themselves as an alternative to a highly medicalized, bureaucratized birthing process that has often neglected the needs of women. Postpartum checkups focus narrowly on pelvic examinations and contraceptive education. One survey of U.S. mothers found that one in three respondents who received a postpartum checkup felt that their health concerns were not addressed. In contrast, placenta service providers speak the language of empowerment.

That language can resonate with new mothers like Brumfield, who face overwhelming pressures to care for a newborn, nurse on demand, manage a household, and return to work amid anxieties about postpartum depression, dwindling energy, and inadequate milk supply.

In some ways, placenta consumption is motivated by a desire to perform good mothering, wrote scholars from Denmark and the United States in a paper on the emergence of the placenta economy. It reflects the idea of maternity as a neoliberal project, in which new mothers are responsible for their own individual well-being as well as that of their babies, they added.

Meanwhile, rates of postpartum depression keep climbing, maternity leave policies are stingy, and child care costs are often prohibitive. Its easy to see why many women would be eager to seek help, real or perceived, wherever they can find it.

Daniela Blei is a historian, writer, and book editor based in San Francisco.

Continued here:
Medicine or Myth? The Dubious Benefits of Placenta-Eating - Undark Magazine

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

I lay on my side, cradling my iPhone, looking up bleeding after sex and dabbing a piece of toilet paper between my legs. I thought about whether or not I should wake my new boyfriend up.

The Healthy Woman website stated, Its common for women of all ages to have bleeding after sex at one time or another.In fact, up to 9 percent of all women experience post coital bleeding (outside of first sex) at some point in their lives.Most of the time its nothing major and goes away on its own.But bleeding after sex can also be a sign of something more serious. SIGN OF SOMETHING SERIOUS?

Great. I had already had acute myeloid leukemiamultiple times, and now, when things were looking up, WebMD saidthis new symptom could mean I have pelvic organ prolapse (when pelvic organs, like the bladder or uterus, jut beyond the vaginal walls).

I found a site where someone asked, Could my uterus fall out? No, it couldnt. At least I had that.

The most important thing to pay attention to is the rate and volume of bleeding, the article read. Most bleeding after sex is fairly light. Heavy bleeding where youre soaking through a pad every hour or passing clots larger than the size of a quarter warrants a visit to the emergency room.

I didnt have a quarter, but I did have a clock that showed it had been two hours. The doctor on call for my internists office, around 2 or 3 a.m., sounded annoyed.

You should have called your gynecologist, he said. But he called ahead to the ER. I shook my boyfriend awake, and off we went into the spring night that had held so much promise. Intellectually I knew it wasnt my fault, but I was more embarrassed than if I had been wearing white shorts and gotten my period in gym class.

On the TLC series, Sex Sent Me to the ER, worse things happen, such as objects stuck where they shouldnt be. My issue was more mundane, but I found out also very common: lack of information after my cancer treatment.

Nobody told me that chemotherapy, which Id undergone after my diagnosis in 2003 and again after relapses in 2007 and 2008, could cause a sudden loss of estrogen production in my ovaries, and that this could lead to symptoms of menopause such as a thinning vagina and vaginal dryness. (Actually, the first round put me into early menopause at 48.) Nobody told me that vaginal dryness can cause pain and bleeding during intercourse.

Yet data shows that the incidence of sexual dysfunction among female cancer survivors is somewhat common.Common sexual side effects are difficulty reaching climax, less energy for sexual activity, loss of desire, reduced size of the vagina, and pain during penetration.

For my part, it had been a 10-year dry spell. You shouldnt need a reason for not having sex, but I had good ones: treatment in 2009 for relapsed leukemia, life-threatening infections after a rare fourth stem cell transplant, a coma, a four-month hospitalization and a year just to get back on my feet.

My 13-year marriage, long over, had consisted of 10 good years and three downhill all the way along a road full of land mines. Afterward, a four-year relationship with an English professor ended in fitting dramatic form when he rediscovered his childhood sweetheart while I was mourning the death of my father. Pulling his hands through his long gray hair, he declared, Were like Heathcliff and Cathy. I love her more than I love you! I had to brush up on my Wuthering Heights to get it. Heathcliff and Catherine were soulmates.

My soulmate was nowhere to be found. He was not the guy who walked into a restaurant looking pale and pasty and nothing like the photo of the fit guy on his online profile, making me think of climbing out the bathroom window. He was not the guy I met at a Matzo Ball, where Jewish singles go on Christmas Eve to comport themselves like eighth graders at a school dance; we lasted for about six months until he complained that he was lower on the totem pole than my three children. I thought he might be the tennis player who strung my rackets and said he was falling in love with me, but he disappeared, in a feat I later learned had a name: hanging you out to dry.

I decided to follow the advice of friends who were tired of hearing me talk about heartbreak and disappointment: Live your best single life. I stopped paying for dating websites but left a profile on a free one.

Stop trying to find something, and then if youre lucky, you will find it, or it will find you. A nice guy wrote that he liked my profile (ugh, I hated writing those things). He thought we had a lot in common (running, kids, reading, similar politics) and would love to have a conversation. Is it corny to say that as we walked toward each other in front of the restaurant where we were to meet, we were being pulled together? Maybe it was just relief that he seemed normal and resembled his profile photo.

We sat at a high table in the bar. Our fingertips brushed together when we held up our phones to show each other photos; his, of places he had traveled, and mine, of kids and dogs. The next day, we went for a walk, and he passed a big test: meeting my chocolate Labrador retriever. She got a crush on him. I think its the soft voice. It works on me, too.

I had been using a vaginal estrogen cream, Estrace (generic name estradiol), twice a week, to reduce symptoms of menopause such as vaginal dryness, burning, and itching. Though I was concerned about side effects, my doctor said the small amount was not absorbed outside the vagina, unlike hormone replacement therapy, which goes into the bloodstream. She said it was also OK to use Estrace once a week and Replens, a nonhormonal moisturizer, the rest of the time if I wanted to.

I remembered hearing that I would need to up the dosage if I wanted to have sex again. I made an appointment with my gynecologist to see if I should do anything else to prepare for physical intimacy.

The physicians assistant who saw me said, Go to the toy store. I was confused. My children were grown. Why did I need a toy store? I learned that she meant the sex toy store tucked behind a doorway next to a pizza place.

I got a set of six pink dilators. They started pinky-sized and increased by gradations up to a dauntingly large one. They didnt come with instructions regarding how long to leave them in. The small one went in OK. I kept it in for a few minutes and then put in the next larger one, increasing in size until I had had enough. Theres not much you can do when youre lying around with a fake pink penis in your vagina.

When it finally came time for real sex, I liked it. It hurt after a while, so we stopped, but I thought that was normal. Next I felt something sticky on my legs. It was blood. Blood on the sheets, blood on our legs. We got in the shower, changed the sheets, and got back into bed. It couldnt have been less romantic.

The emergency room was even worse grungy and poorly lit. He sat with me, holding my hand and looking as upset as I was, until a nurse called me in and he went to sleep in the car.

Please tell me youve seen worse than this, I said to the nurse as I lay on the exam table feeling raw, emotionally and physically. She said she had. The doctor did an internal examination and said the blood had likely come from chafing. It was dawn when we finally got out of there. We went out to breakfast. Ordering my traditional blueberry pancake with an egg over hard brought a sense of normalcy to the misadventure.

The next week, I returned to the doctors office and this time saw the gynecologist herself.

Lets start from scratch, she said. I was to leave a dilator in for between 15 and 30 minutes, while doing diaphragmatic breathing. She sent me to pelvic floor therapy to learn relaxation exercises. I used the Estrace for two weeks straight. By the time we had sex again, it didnt hurt, but I nervously checked the sheets for a long time afterward. I figured if we could get through a post-coital visit to the ER, we could get through most anything.

I may not have known much about sex after cancer, but its a topic thats starting to be talked about more. I learned that after years of dismissing womens sexual function as just one of those things that cancer takes away, many see womens sexual health as a survivorship issue. Anexpert who I interviewed for a story onsex after cancereven called the dearth of information for female cancer survivors a health equity issue.

Many cancer centers are beginning to open sexual health programs. My own cancer center was among them. You missed us by about a year, the director told me.

Luckily, Im no worse for the wear and am still with the nice guy. I use Estrace (and sometimes Replens) twice a week and a lubricant when having sex. Doctors say that one of the best ways to treat vaginal dryness is to have more sex, because increased blood flow stimulates lubrication.

Now that memory of the ER visit is almost three years in the past, that seems like a fine idea to me.

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I Didnt Have Sex For 10 Years. When I Finally Did, It Sent Me To The ER. - HuffPost

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

For the first time, we are starting to see research that targets aging as a health condition in and of itself. Finding ways to regulate those "longevity gene" pathways referenced by Lipman above (specifically the mTOR, AMPK, and sirtuins) is central to scientists' work in identifying lifestyle habits, nutritional compounds, and future drugs that could slow and even treat (yes, treat) aging.*

As Sinclair views it, aging is most definitely a disease, and the FDA classifying it as such will help the field move forward even faster, allowing for more research and development of drugs to target processes thatlead to age-related disease. "The definition of a disease is that over time you lose function, you become decrepit, disabled, and eventually, if it's a bad disease, you die from it," says Sinclair. "That sounds a lot like aging, right? If you go to the medical dictionary, the only difference between aging and a disease is that a disease affects less than half the populationand that 50% cutoff is completely arbitrary."

How likely is that to happen? In 2018, the World Health Organization classified aging as a disease and added it to the International Classifications of Diseases system. And right now, scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine are examining the anti-aging effects of metformin in the Targeting Aging With Metformin (TAME) study. If researchers can show significant benefits of metformin in delaying problems such as cancer, dementia, stroke, and heart attacks, the FDA may consider classifying aging as a treatable condition.

But why study metformin? This widely prescribed diabetes drug, derived from compounds in the French lilac plant, has been noted for its benefits beyond diabetesand Sinclair predicts it will be the first drug prescribed specifically to treat aging. Turns out, "metformin had a protective effect against cancer, heart disease, and frailty in patients taking the drug for long-term diabetes treatment," says Sinclair. "Which sounds a lot like a molecule that can slow aging." Animal studies have also confirmed that metformin can improve life span, and, more importantly, health span in mice. And, in a first-of-its-kind study in humans published in September 2019, researchers were actually able to take 2.5 years off participants' biological clock using a combination of metformin, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), and growth hormone.

Experts believe metformin may activate similar pathways as caloric restriction to stimulate autophagyor cellular cleaning. This cellular upkeep is believed to be a key factor in extending health span. "It's a relatively safe AMPK pathway activator, and that's thought to mimic the effects of fasting and exercising," says Sinclair, who takes metformin daily as part of his healthy aging regimen.

Read the original post:
Why We Aren't Anti-Aging, We Are Pro-Healthy Aging - mindbodygreen.com

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

For marginalized people, the tech worlds constant barrage of innovations is getting exhausting. It seems like every week, science and tech pioneers are revealing new projects that pose a clear threat to anyone not white, cisgender, or malewhether its porn deepfakes or algorithms that judge womens boobs.

Enter Harvard Medical School, where researchers are creating a new dating app that matches people based on their DNA. The goal is to create a system that screens out matches that would result in a child with an inherited disease, according to a report aired Sunday night on 60 Minutes.

In other words, its a dating app for eugenicsthe disturbing ideological practice of systematically discriminating against people based on genetic qualities judged to be undesirable or inferior.

The app is being developed by a team of geneticists led by George Church, who, in the same interview, defended accepting money for his lab donated by convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Churchs lab is most famous for its work on the gene-editing technology CRISPR/Cas9, and its researchers are looking at ways to make humans immune to viruses, reverse the effects of aging, and de-extinct animals. Its 7,000 diseases, its about 5 percent of the population, [and] about $1 trillion a year worldwide in medical expenses, Church told 60 Minutes.

But for anyone not white, cis, able-bodied, or male, its obvious where all this is going.

Eugenics has long been a fascination of Nazis and white supremacists, who dream of creating a white and genetically pure master race. Dystopian sci-fi tales like Gattaca have also warned of the horrifying dangers of organizing society based on the perceived desirability (or undesirability) of peoples genetic code.

For people who exist outside mainstream gender norms, these dangers are very real. Last week, Newsweek reported on a team of researchers at the University of Michigan who are attempting to identify regions of the brain associated with gender dysphoriathe discomfort which occurs when a persons gender does not match the sex they were assigned at birth.

Many, but not all transgender people experience gender dysphoria, and it has been used to establish a system of medical gatekeeping that pathologizes trans people and controls access to treatments like hormone replacement therapy and gender-affirming surgeries. But even if scientists identified some hypothetical trait that causes people to be trans, choosing to edit out those traits would be an attempt to effectively erase trans people from existence.

Meanwhile, research into trans medical treatments remains severely underfunded. The federal government is also trying to make it legal for medical providers to refuse to treat trans patientswhether for gender dysphoria or a broken arm.

In other words, these cis researchers, funders, and policymakers seem more interested in curing or erasing trans people than finding better and cheaper ways of treating themor anyone else labeled as falling outside the norm of biologic desirability. Churchs lab, for example, recently received over $100 million for its work on gene-editing.

Church says he is being careful, and claims his lab has appointed a full-time ethicist on its staff to work toward the goal of genetic equitywhere all people have access to genetic technology, regardless of race or economic status.

But for marginalized people suffering under deeply unequal and discriminatory systems of power, that mission seems dangerously naive. If the people who risk being most harmed by these innovations arent intimately involved in their development, maybe its better toyou knownot make them at all?

More:
A Genetic Dating App Is a Horrifying Thing That Shouldnt Exist - Free

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Chun-Jun Guo

Department of Bioengineering and ChEM-H, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, NY 10021, USA.

Breanna M. Allen

Graduate Program in Biomedical Sciences, Departments of Otolaryngology and Microbiology and Immunology, Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.

Kamir J. Hiam

Graduate Program in Biomedical Sciences, Departments of Otolaryngology and Microbiology and Immunology, Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.

Dylan Dodd

Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.

Will Van Treuren

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.

Steven Higginbottom

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.

Kazuki Nagashima

Department of Bioengineering and ChEM-H, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.

Curt R. Fischer

Department of Bioengineering and ChEM-H, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.

Justin L. Sonnenburg

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.

Matthew H. Spitzer

Graduate Program in Biomedical Sciences, Departments of Otolaryngology and Microbiology and Immunology, Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.

Michael A. Fischbach

Department of Bioengineering and ChEM-H, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.

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Depletion of microbiome-derived molecules in the host using Clostridium genetics - Science Magazine

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Incidence rates for hormone receptor positive (HR+) breast cancers are considerably higher in black men than white men, which is in stark contrast to lower incidence rates of those cancer subtypes in black versus white women to according to a new American Cancer Society appearing in the journalJNCI Cancer Spectrum.

In this study, researchers examined subtype specific breast cancer incidence rates in both black and white men in the U.S. using a contemporary nationwide database.

According to the study results, found that rates for all subtypes were higher among black than white men, with rates for HR+/HER- breast cancers about 41% higher among black men compared to white men; about 65% higher for HR+/HER2+, more than 2.5 times higher for HR-/HER2+, and 2.27 times higher for triple-negative breast cancer. Conversely, among women, rates in blacks were 21% lower for HR+/HER2- and comparable for HR+/HER2+, but 29% and 93% higher for HR-/HER2+ and triple-negative subtypes, respectively.

Reasons for the elevated risk of breast cancer in black men are largely unknown but may involve multitude of risk factors including genetic and non-genetic factors, the authors wrote according to a press release. Racial differences in the prevalence of mammography and menopausal hormone supplements are thought to have contributed to the historically higher incidence rate of HR+ cancers in white women, but these are not factors in breast cancer in men.

Well-known risk factors for male breast cancer include family history of breast and/or ovarian cancers, pathogenic mutations in BRCA2, radiation exposure, and conditions that alter hormonal balance such as Klinefelter syndrome and gynecomastia, and potentially obesity and diabetes. Moreover, previous studies have found higher level of estradiol was found to be associated with increased risk of male breast cancer after controlling for body mass index, suggesting a presence of estrogen-mediated carcinogenesis in male breast cancer. However, whether associations of these risk factors vary by tumor subtypes remains unknown and should be considered in future etiologic studies.

Continued here:
Breast Cancer Incidence Differs Among Black and White Males - DocWire News

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Hemp seed production is vital, as growers get ready to ramp up production. The question is, is there enough feminized hempseed to go around.

Western Farms Seed LLC in Scottsbluff will help in filling the demand, by growing seed for producers at its greenhouse.

The newly created business is owned by cousins, P.J. Hoehn, Mike Hoehn, their uncles Ed and Art Hoehn, and business partner Mark Johnson.

The business kicked off when Mike Hoehn received one of the 10 permits the Nebraska Department of Agriculture allotted to individuals in 2019 to grow hemp. Nebraska did a lottery where they allowed only ten businesses or individuals to grow hemp after the 2018 Farm Bill legalized the plant.

Hoehn grew a one-acre test plot outside of Mitchell, with three varieties of hemp seed.

The current varieties are Wife, Franklin, and Montana, we also have T1s, said P.J. Hoehn, president of the company. Well be crossbreeding them and making new varieties.

The three varieties have been proven to perform well for growers out in the field for the last couple of seasons.

Feminized seeds are bred explicitly in a way that eliminates the male chromosomes, drastically decreasing the chances of producing a male marijuana plant. Male marijuana plants are not desirable to any degree, except for pollination.

The genetics, which we have chosen are specific for industrial hemp, said Johnson, public relations for the company. We feel pretty safe that we wont have an impact from industrial hemps cousin (marijuana).

Western Farms Seed is also working in collaboration with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln through the Panhandle Research and Extension Center on hemp production.

Were producers ourselves, so we want to number one make sure the quality is there and everything else, our germination, our testing will all be there, Hoehn said.

He adds they are also making sure they will be able to advise growers on the equipment, such which as plates to use and vacuum. So, when farmers go to plant, they are ready, and if needed, Western Farms Seed would provide support in the knowledge of equipment, planting, and harvesting.

In terms of growing the crop, Johnson said a hemp crop is similar to corn or dry edible bean crops. Hemp should be planted by May or June and harvested after a 90 to 110 day growing period before frost.

We found hemp to be very resilient after our two hail storms this summer, said Johnson. The crop was able to recover from both hail storms in really good fashion. Ending up producing a nice crop in light of Mother Nature.

The business, with winter, has moved growing operations into the greenhouse. The five interconnected greenhouse buildings have 21,000 sq feet of growing spaces and house the female plants.

The plants will need light at different times, and when they enter the vegetative stage will need light for up to 16 hours a day.

Industrial hemp has two different growth stages, vegetative, which requires more light, and reproductive growth, said Johnson. So people might notice the greenhouse lights being on longer when we go to the next stage of production.

Both Hoehn and Johnson say producers should start small with an acre or so and of course, make sure they have a buyer before they even plant.

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While wrestling with the Christmas lights under his tree recently, a wave of sadness washed over Neil Turner. He couldnt help but think of his daughter Colby, who died in 2010 at just two years oldfrom a rare genetic disorder.

Suddenly, the thought of another Christmas without her swept in and replaced my frustration with tears, says Turner, an engineer in Oklahoma and father of two. Not a day goes by that I dont miss her and think about her. But if I focus on just the loss and the heartache, suicidal thoughts come quickly.

Grief isnt linear. It can hit by surprise. It is ongoing and it evolves, says Turner. It is acomplicated emotion for many people, and it can be particularly complex for fathers. Even today, dads might feel pressured to be strong for others and put their own feelings aside after a loss, which can have damaging psychological consequences. And although the expectations regarding so-called masculine behaviorare evolving for the better, many men still feel isolated in their grief and less comfortable opening up about it.

There is a deeply ingrained social conditioning that will take some work to undo and reverse, says David Klow, a licensed marriage and family therapist in the Chicago area and author of You Are Not Crazy: Letters From Your Therapist. A number of men are working to define new models of masculinity, but theres still a lot of work to be done.

Men are generally less willing to talk about their grief, more reticent to express emotion, and less likely to seek support, says Jan Everhart Newman, JD, Ph.D., a psychologist in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Sadly, this pattern can be reinforced when boys and men seek comfort after a loss around more vulnerable emotions such as sadness and are rebuffed and given messages like Dont cry or Stay strong, Newman says. Often, my male clients will report that another family member is more outwardly expressive of intense emotions and that they felt that they couldnt put any more stress on that person [by expressing their own grief].

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Grief from a male perspective has received little research interest, but some of the articles that have been written suggest that mens grief is often diminished or even dismissed. The authors of arecent study of combat veterans noted that grief is a long-overlooked toll of war. In her study of fathers and pregnancy loss, published in 2004, author Bernadette Susan McCreight wrote, the loss can be devastating for fathers yet, very often, the world that surrounds them tends to discount their loss, and emotional support and cultural rituals that are normally available to other bereaved individuals are often absent for this group of men.

Newman agrees. At the funeral of a Special Forces veteran recently, she saw a heartbreaking example of how people dont seem to know how to respond to mens grief. The manwas buried with full military honors, which can be a long affair.Kids clustered in a group poking one another and laughing, Newman says, while adults stood around together, somber and chatting. Then she saw the adult son,who was on his knees at the coffin sobbing entirely alone.

The only person who came to comfort him was his young son, Newman says. There is something about grief that can be frightening and is difficult for others to accept.

Human beings will do anything to avoid discomfort. As it makes them think of their own mortality and lack of control, death is at the top of the list of things that make people uncomfortable, she says. Additionally, traditional gendered expectations might influence how couples deal with grief. Klow says he has counseled women who say they want their male partners to be more in touch with their feelings but dont actually like seeing them cry or express emotions.

Some men might feel isolated in their grief not because they dont know how to feel emotions but because they dont feel its okay to express them.

A web content strategist in the UK, Kevin lost his father last year, shortly before he and his partner found out they were having a baby. He now lives in his fathers house with his family and thinks of his dad often, such as when hes dancing around the kitchen to The Beatles to entertain his son and get him to stop crying. Kevin says he often apologizes for talking about his father even though his partner says she doesnt mind.

It feels wrong that hes not here to enjoy the newborn, Kevin says. It will always feel socially unacceptable for me to express my grief no matter how hard people try to make me feel comfortable.

Cultural background and upbringing have a huge impact on how much men might adhere to stereotypical male tendencies, such as stoicism, that might make them feel less comfortable feeling and expressing grief. And it might be doing men a disservice to expect them to grieve more like women tend to, with outward shows of emotion, according to J. Scott Janssen, MSW, LCSW. Janssen says men who grieve more quietly and keep their emotions in check around others might simply have a more masculine style of grieving that isnt necessarily unhealthy and shouldnt be dismissed.

Of course, caveats exist. You have to be careful with the terms masculine and feminine, which are bound by culture and tradition, and in the age of gender neutrality, this distinction may even be meaningless, Newman says. It comes down to whether a man feels free to express his emotions without judgment and is simply choosing not to versus not expressing emotions because thats not what a man should do.

The latter situation a man feeling like a bad person because theyre experiencing normal, painful emotions is harmful.

There are signs that the walls around male grief are coming down. Recently, comedian Michael Cruz Kayne tweeted on the 10th anniversary of his son Fishers death and received an outpouring of support, as did James Van Der Beekwhen hewrote about the grief he and his wife felt about losing a baby to miscarriage in a heartfelt Instagram post. Comedian Patton Oswalt also has talked openlyabout grieving the death of his first wife, author Michelle McNamara, the mother of his daughter, Alice.

Many men (and women) need time to grieve privately, which is not the same thing as isolating.Although he also talked about his loss with others, Turner says he also needed alone time to process Colbys death.

For quite a few years, two hours into any car ride by myself I would be in tears having that much time alone with my thoughts, Turner says. But if I didnt get that time regularly, my emotions were more likely to come out sideways, in non-preferred ways.

Theres no timeline to it, Klow says. Ten years later, a long solo drive or the dog getting sick can trigger grief all over again. Healthy grieving changes from person to person.It can take a lot of different forms. To help process the loss, it can help to have a social gathering with friends and family to say goodbye and celebrate the life of the person who has died, says Elgin, Illinois, funeral home owner and director, US Army Reserve First Sergeant and father of two Dan Symonds.

Symonds was stationed in Afghanistan when his family told him his father was dying. He lost it for about 15 seconds in front of his Commander, he says, but didnt cry again for a while after his fathers death. He returned home and busied himself arranging military honors for his dad, an example of instrumental grieving that includes task like tending to the estate and cleaning out the house of the person who died. Those tasks shouldnt be dismissed as avoidance they can help people process the loss, Klow says.

Being alone with grief for stretches of time, however, isnt necessarily unhealthy. It can help to put thoughts and feelings into words, Klow says. Humans are social creatures; reaching out to social networks and naming the person theyre grieving and talking about memories and what theyre feeling tends to help.

What helps me is talking about my dad with my children, telling them what he was like and how he would have loved them so much, Symonds says. We keep his memory alive every day.

Klow suggests finding several people to listen to about grief; that can maximize someones avenues of support and alleviate the worry that theyre overburdening one person. That network can include a partner, family members, friends, or a therapist. Klow holds group therapy sessions for men and says many seem relieved to have a safe space in which to express themselves.

Its important not to be alone in grief, Klow says.

Someones partner can be a life-saving source of support, but they might have to work on making the relationship as egalitarian as possible, he adds: You dont have to be perfect, but both partners need to hold space for each other so that there isnt just one person whos the designated feeler of feelings, he says.

It can be difficult to do, but the Turners were able to give each other permission to be in different places in their grief.

We were okay if one of us was sad and the other was not. We werent afraid to give each other space, Turner says. We did see other couples that would get upset with one another with out-of-sync feelings of They need to move on or Why arent they still sad? Im not sure why, but we didnt fall into that trap.

A therapeutic retreat for bereaved parents, if it can fit into the budget, also might be helpful. Turner and his wife went to one after friends suggested it.

I had never been in any therapy session at all, and although it was emotionally and physically exhausting, we found it helpful, he says, but adds, The next year they even invited us back to help lead the retreat as we were the only couple in the group still married. The divorce rate among bereaved parents is really high.

The Turners also found a fulfilling way to process their grief through charity work with the American Heart Association. His daughter, Ella, got involved, too, raising more than $60,000 for the ACS after an event she participated in received media attention.

It gave us the opportunity to talk about Colby and use her story in a positive way, Turner says.

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For Men, Dealing With Grief Is Lonely and Isolating. This Needs to Change - Fatherly

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A fathers diet can have a significant effect on the future health of his offspring, affecting everything from blood pressure to heart function and putting them at greater risk of cardiovascular disease, according to research.

The lead author of a British study says the findings show that men who want to start a family should have a healthy, balanced diet from at least three months before conception.

A study from researchers at the University of Nottingham published in the Journal of Physiology shows that poor paternal diet, specifically one that is low in protein, may impact the heart health of the offspring by changing sperm, and the seminal fluid, which bathes sperm.

We have known for a very long time that what a mother eats during pregnancy can influence how her child develops, and whether or not it will develop obesity, type two diabetes and heart disease, explains senior author of the study, and lead researcher, Prof Adam Watkins, assistant professor in reproductive biology at the universitys faculty of medicine and health sciences. However, the importance of the fathers diet on the health of the offspring has been largely ignored or overlooked. We were interested in investigating whether a fathers poor-quality diet at the time of conception might affect the long-term health of its offspring.

Researchers carried out their study on male mice on a poor, low-protein diet, monitoring the cardiovascular health of their offspring. The way mice produce sperm, the way the embryo develops, the way the foetus develops and the way a mouses blood and heart function are all very similar to humans. This means we can use mice to identify important biological processes which we can then look at in human patients.

What his research found, he reports, was both that the way the mices blood vessels worked, and the level of certain important factors in their blood, which regulate heart and blood vessel function, were significantly altered in response to the poor diet of the father: The blood vessels in the offspring did not work as well as they should do. This can ultimately affect blood pressure.

The normal proteins in the blood which would regulate blood vessels and heart function were altered, says Prof Watkins, adding that essentially what this meant was that the young mice were at increased risk of developing cardiovascular ill-health or heart disease.

We know that a poor lifestyle in men does have negative influences on sperm quality and that being overweight or smoking, or consuming excessive alcohol is not good for reproductive health. What we dont know yet is what the long-term implications of a fathers poor diet or lifestyle might be, he says.

We know that the sperm provides genetic information from a father to the egg it fertilises, and we know that poor diet in males can change that. We also know that the seminal fluid in which sperm is carried, interacts with the uterus and initiates a range of responses in the maternal immune system. These responses prime the uterus for the embryo.

We know that the sperm provides genetic information and that the seminal fluid primes the uterus for the embryo, so here are two possible ways that a fathers diet could influence how the offspring might develop.

Essentially, Prof Watkins explains, the Nottingham research shows that the health of mice offspring is influenced by sperm and fluid and that both of them have an equal influence on offspring health.

However, he says, while the research has to date only been carried out on mice, it has significant implications for human fertility in fact the researchers hope to run clinical trials on humans within the next two or three years.

We know that it can take about 75 days to make a sperm, and that seminal fluid is reproduced every 24-48 hours, says Prof Watkins.

If a man goes on a crash diet a week before getting his partner pregnant, he explains, the sperm will continue to reflect the old, poor quality diet,while the seminal fluid will reflect the newer, better-quality diet.

Therefore there may be a situation where the sperm and the fluid are not compatible to each other, so we are saying that if the sperm and the fluid are different, we see the biggest effect on offspring health.

The potential message is this, he warns: If men and women are thinking about changing their lifestyle and becoming parents, we would say that ideally they begin the changes three months before trying to start a family. That is an ideal time frame to change over from a poor diet and lifestyle to a healthier one in terms of its implications for the mans reproductive health.

The Nottingham research findings have interesting implications for what we know about the role of seminal fluid and sperm DNA fragmentation (a term used for the presence of abnormal genetic material within the sperm, which may lead to male subfertility, in-vitro fertilisation failure and miscarriage) believes Dr Bart Kuczera, consultant gynaecologist and fertility expert at Beacon Care Fertility:

What we know is that men with a poor lifestyle in terms of diet, smoking and drinking can have a condition called sperm DNA fragmentation.

Men are advised to live a healthy lifestyle in order to keep their sperm in the best condition, because, he explains: Sperm DNA fragmentation can be affected by poor diet, stress and overeating, for example. This study would make the case for a good diet and lifestyle for men; that is, a normal balanced protein diet.

Sperm quality of men in the western world, he warned, has been shown to have deteriorated in the last 40 years: We believe this is very linked to lifestyle and the environment, to the sedentary lifestyle and a poor diet which reaches the recommended carbohydrate level but would not include a diversity of food.

In the greater picture you could potentially have a population of children who would be affected in terms of physical health problems and weight gain as a result of the paternal diet at conception. It is important to spread the responsibility between the man and the woman at the time of conception, he says, adding that this study suggests that the father may have an equally significant impact on his offsprings health problems.

This study has implications for our knowledge about diet and lifestyle in terms of fertility and men should be made aware of it, believes Dr Hans Arce, fertility consultant and medical director of ReproMed, a leading Irish fertility and IVF clinic network. The majority of our knowledge in relation to diet and lifestyle in terms of fertility comes because we studied women. Women were the ones who got pregnant and they were the focus. We saw, for example, that women with obesity had children with a higher risk of obesity and diabetes.

However this study showed the offspring of male mice with poor diets ended up having the expression of inflammation, and more of a tendency to high blood pressure, for example.

Men should be made aware of this. Its something the schools, the public health service and the GP should be telling men about that our diets can affect their future childrens health. Studies like these have implication for human beings, he says, adding that the results point in the direction of the fact that the health of a man may have implications for the health of his offspring.

What this study says, he observes, is that a mans diet will not just affect his own health, but potentially has implications for the health of his offspring: We dont have proper human studies yet this is mice but it is pointing in that direction!

Lifestyle is the single biggest issue when it comes to fertility, believes consultant nutritionist Gaye Godkin.

Godkin believes the University of Nottingham study is a further endorsement of what she says, is the role of epigenetics in health outcomes from pre-conception health across the life course.

There is a growing body of evidence showing just how much the fathers diet impacts on the pre-conception phase, in terms of its impact on sperm and seminal fluid and from there on to the long-term health of his offspring.

Epigenetics, she explains, is the environment in which the sperm lives prior to penetrating the egg. Sperm is produced around every 75 days or so but new seminal fluid is produced every 24 to 48 hours.

If the man has a long-term poor diet, it will affect his sperm, she says, adding however, that a man can have healthy sperm, while at the same time his seminal fluid could be of much lower quality because of a poor diet just before conception.

Normal sperm carries DNA. A poor diet has a negative effect on the DNA and the DNA enzymes which in turn are crucial to the formation of a healthy foetus.

In fertility clinics, they measure the level of a condition called DNA fragmentation in the male sperm. This test shows the quality of the sperm. For years I have worked with men who have high levels of DNA fragmentation in their sperm. I believe that it is strongly linked to diet, as well as to lifestyle factors such as smoking, alcohol consumption, excess weight and the effect of pesticides.

While the Nottingham study was based on a mouse model, she says, its findings were moving in the right direction in terms of our understanding of the volatility of sperm quality and what affects it, as well as its relationship with the internal environment of the male body.

While there is no medical treatment available for DNA fragmentation, says Godkin, she has found that 90 days on a good-quality diet which also features a reversal of poor lifestyle factors can lead to fragmentation levels being significantly reduced to the extent that a couple are in a position to use their own sperm to achieve conception.

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Diets of fathers can affect future health of offspring, study finds - The Irish Times

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This image shows Channelrhodopsin-eYFP neurons (green) expressed in the central amygdala (CeA) neurotensin (NTS) containing neurons. The magenta is antibody staining for the neuropeptide NTS. Credit: McElligott Lab

The UNC School of Medicine lab of Zoe McElligott, PhD, found that alcohol consumption is regulated by the activity of a particular set of neurons in a specific brain region, a discovery that could lead to a better understanding of why some casual drinkers develop an alcohol use disorder.

Scientists have known that a region of the brain called the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) plays a role in behaviors related to alcohol use and consumption in general. Its been less known which precise populations of brain cells and their projections to other brain regions mediate these behaviors. Now, UNC School of Medicine scientists discovered that specific neurons in the CeA contribute to reward-like behaviors, alcohol consumption in particular.

Published in the Journal of Neuroscience, this research pinpoints a specific neural circuit that when altered caused animal models to drink less alcohol.

Zoe McElligott, Ph.D. Credit: University of North Carolina Health Care

The fact that these neurons promote reward-like behavior, that extremely low levels of alcohol consumption activate these cells, and that activation of these neurons drive alcohol drinking in animals without extensive prior drinking experience suggests that they may be important for early alcohol use and reward, said senior author Zoe McElligott, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry and pharmacology. Its our hope that by understanding the function of this circuit, we can better predict what happens in the brains of people who transition from casual alcohol use to subsequent abuse of alcohol, and the development of alcohol use disorders.

McElligott, who is also a member of the UNC Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies, set out to investigate if a population of neurons that express a specific neuropeptide (neurotensin or NTS) contributes to reward-like behaviors and alcohol drinking. She was especially interested in these neurons in the context of inexperienced alcohol use, such as when a person first begins to drink alcohol. Also, NTS neurons are a subpopulation of other neurons in this CeA brain region that have been implicated in anxiety and fear known as the somatostatin and corticotropin releasing factor neurons.

Using modern genetic and viral technologies in male mice, McElligott and colleagues found that selectively lesioning or ablating the NTS neurons in the CeA, while maintaining other types of CeA neurons, would cause the animals to drink less alcohol. This manipulation did not alter anxiety-like behavior. It also did not affect the consumption of other palatable liquids such as sucrose, saccharin, and bitter quinine solutions.

We found that these NTS neurons in the CeA send a strong projection to the hindbrain, where they inhibit the parabrachial nucleus, near the brainstem, McElligott said.

Mara Luisa Torruella Suarez. Credit: University of North Carolina Health Care

Using optogenetics a technique where light activates these neurons the researchers stimulated the terminal projections of the CeA-NTS neurons in the parabrachial and found that this stimulation inhibited the neurons in the parabrachial. When the scientists stimulated this projection with a laser in one half of the animals box, animals would spend more time where the stimulation would occur.

Animals also learned to perform a task to get the laser stimulation to turn on, and they would do this repeatedly, suggesting that they found this stimulation to be rewarding.

Furthermore, when we stimulated this projection, animals would drink more alcohol as compared to when they had an opportunity to drink alcohol without laser stimulation, McElligott said. In contrast to our study where we ablated the NTS neurons, laser stimulation of this parabrachial pathway also caused the animals to consume caloric and non-caloric sweetened beverages. When the animals were presented with regular food and a sweet food, however, laser stimulation did not enhance the consumption regardless of the mouses hunger state. This suggests that different circuits may regulate the consumption of rewarding fluids and solids.

McElligott and her graduate student Mara Luisa Torruella Suarez, the first author of this study, hope to explore how alcohol experience may change these neurons over time.

Would these cells respond differently after animals have been drinking high quantities of alcohol over time? McElligott said. We also want to discover which populations of neurons in the parabrachial are receiving inputs from these neurons. Fully understanding this circuit could be the key to developing therapeutics to help people with alcohol use disorders.###

Reference: Manipulations of central amygdala neurotensin neurons alter the consumption of ethanol and sweet fluids in mice by Mara Luisa Torruella-Surez, Jessica R. Vandenberg, Elizabeth S. Cogan, Gregory J. Tipton, Adonay Teklezghi, Kedar Dange, Gunjan K. Patel, Jenna A. McHenry, J. Andrew Hardaway, Pranish A. Kantak, Nicole A. Crowley, Jeffrey F. DiBerto, Sara P. Faccidomo, Clyde W. Hodge, Garret D. Stuber and Zo A. McElligott, 19 November 2019, Journal of Neuroscience.DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1466-19.2019

The National Institutes of Health, The North Carolina Translational Clinical Science (NC TraCS) Institute, the Alcohol Beverage Medical Research Foundation, and The UNC Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies funded this research.

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Alcohol Consumption Is Regulated by Particular Set of Neurons in Specific Brain Region - SciTechDaily

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