What are stem cells and what role can they play in medicine andresearch? Stem cell research offers exciting possibilities in terms ofregenerative medicine. However, there are ethical controversies and challengesimpeding the fields advancement. In this article, The Medium presents a briefoverview of the unique abilities, applications, and challenges of stem cells.

According tothe National Institute of Health, stem cells are able to develop into manydifferent cell types in the body during early life and growth. When stem cellsdivide, the new cell can become another stem cell or it can become aspecialized cell such as a muscle cell or a brain cell. Stem cells provide newcells for the body as it grows and replaces damaged or lost specialized cells.The two unique properties of stem cells are that the stem cells can dividemultiple times to produce new cells, and as they divide, the stem cells cangenerate other types of cells found in the body.

In organs suchas the gut and the bone marrow (the soft tissue inside most bones), stem cellsroutinely divide to replace damaged tissue. However, in other organs such asthe heart, stem cells require certain physiological conditions to facilitate celldivision.

Stem cells canbe divided into two categories: embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells.Embryonic stem cells are derived from a blastocystan early stage of embryodevelopment. The blastocyst contains the trophectoderm, which will eventuallyform the placenta, and the inner cell mass, which will develop into the embryo,and later into the organism. Stem cells taken from the inner cell mass arepluripotentthey can develop into any cell type in the body. The embryonic stemcells used in research are sourced from unused embryos that were a result of anin vitro fertilization procedure and were donated for scientific research.

Adult stemcells also have the ability to divide into more than one cell type; however,they are often restricted to certain types of cells. For example, an adult stemcell found in the liver will only divide into more liver cells. In 2006, ShinyaYamanaka, a Japanese stem cell researcher, discovered how to program inducedpluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). iPSCs are adult cells which have beengenetically reprogrammed into a pluripotent embryonic stem cell-like state.Yamanaka won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine alongside Englishdevelopmental biologist Sir John Gurdon in 2012 for this important discovery.

There arenumerous ways in which stem cells can be used. Firstly, human embryonic stemcells can provide information as to how cells divide into tissues and organs.Abnormal cell division can cause cancer and birth defects, and therefore, amore comprehensive understanding of the processes underlying cell division maysuggest new therapy strategies. Another beneficial avenue involves drug testingas new medications could be tested on cells developed from stem cells in thelab. However, a challenge for researchers is to create an environment identicalto the conditions found in the human body.

Finally, stemcells present exciting possibilities in cell-based therapies and regenerativemedicine. Instead of relying on a limited supply of donated organs and tissuesto replace damaged and destroyed ones, stem cells could be directed to developinto the desired cell type and treat diseases such as heart disease, diabetes,and spinal cord injuries. For example, healthy heart muscle cells could begenerated from stem cells in a laboratory and transplanted into an individualwith heart disease. However, there is still research and testing which needs tobe conducted before researchers can confirm how to effectively and safely usestem cells to treat serious disease.

As explainedby the University of Rochesters medical centre, there are several challengesassociated with stem cells. Researchers first need to learn about how embryonicstem cells develop so that they can control the type of cells generated fromstem cells. Scientists also need to determine how to ensure that the cellsdeveloped from stem cells in the lab are not rejected by the human body. Adultpluripotent stem cells are found in small amounts in the human body and arehard to grow in the lab. There are also numerous ethical issues surrounding theuse of embryonic stem cells as some individuals believe that using cells froman unused blastocyst and consequently, rendering it incapable to develop intoan organism, is similar to destroying an unborn child. Others argue that theblastocyst is not a child yet as it needs to be imbedded into the mothersuterus wall before it has the chance to develop into a fetus. Supporters ofembryonic stem cell research also say that many surplus blastocysts aredestroyed in fertility clinics and can be better used to research medicaltreatments which could save peoples lives.

Students canlearn more about stem cells in BIO380H5: Human Development. Furthermore, Dr.Ted Erlicks lab at UTM is researching how complex neural circuits developfrom an initial population of stem cells. Stem cell research offers promisingavenues of treating diseases and understanding how humans develop. However,there is still a substantial amount of research which needs to be conducted andethical concerns which need to be appropriately addressed and resolved.

More:
Stem cells' role in medicine and research - The Medium

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

The stocks of Magenta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MGTA) and Molecular Templates (NASDAQ:MTEM) bolted skywards last week, to the tune of 39% and 28% respectively.

Cutting-edge gene-editing therapies, chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) treatments, and stem cell transplants all require priming or conditioning regimens. Doctors today utilize older chemotherapy drugs or radiation, which often lead to infection or hospitalization. Magenta Therapeutics and Molecular Templates are among the companies seeking to develop less toxic, non-chemotherapy options for patients.

Image source: Getty Images.

On Nov. 18, Molecular Templates and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) forged a discovery and development collaboration to create novel targeted conditioning regimens applicable to gene-editing, CAR-T, and stem cell transplants. Vertex shelled out $38 million of up-front cash and an equity investment in Molecular Templates. The stock barely flinched, losing $0.03 from the prior day's closing price.

The next day, Nov. 19, Vertex and its collaborator CRISPR Therapeutics announced positive safety and efficacy data for the gene-editing therapy CTX001 in its first two patients. One patient had severe sickle cell disease; the other had beta thalassemia. These interventions edit a patient's genome, potentially allowing for a one-time curative treatment. Both patients received the chemotherapy busulfan prior to CTX001.

Revisiting the prior day's collaboration announcement, biotech investors focused on comments made by Vertex about how Molecular Templates could benefit the CTX001 program.

Vertex's Chief Scientific Officer David Altshuler said,

"We believe that gene editing holds significant promise in the treatment of severe hemoglobinopathies such as sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia, and Molecular Templates' unique technology platform could play an important role in creating a targeted conditioning regimen that could replace chemotherapy currently required in conditioning regimens and thus enhance the overall future treatment experience for patients."

Investors jumped on the message from Vertex, one of the biotech industry's stalwarts: Non-chemotherapy conditioning approaches are the future for gene and cell therapies.

In response, the stocks of other companies focused on achieving that goal (like Magenta) shot up. In fact, Magenta's nearly 40% gain in share price came during a week when it didn't release any news.

Magenta plans to present data on Dec. 6 at the American Society of Hematology's Annual Meeting for its lead program CD117-ADC. Targeting a protein on hematopoietic stem cells called CD117, the treatment eliminated mutated cells without the need for chemotherapy or radiation. Magenta believes CD117-ADC can potentially be used for genetic diseases like sickle cell disease, prior to either gene therapy or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT).

Magenta and Molecular Templates are not the only players in the field. Forty Seven and bluebird bio paired up earlier this month to develop antibody-based conditioning regimens for HSCT. According to the World Health Organization, 50,000 HSCT procedures are performed annually worldwide.

Furthermore, recently approved CAR-T for cancer, such as Kymriah from Novartis or Yescarta from Gilead Sciences, require three days of cyclophosphamide and fludarabine. Developers of these and next-generation CAR-T treatments also seek to eliminate chemotherapy or radiation.

Patients greatly need less toxic methods to prepare them for gene- and cell-based therapies, or stem cell and bone marrow transplants. Many patients, particularly the elderly, are deemed ineligible for these interventions because the toxicity could be too severe. Any success could have broad implications for the treatment of cancers and genetic diseases.

While a variety of successful approaches may ultimately emerge, Magenta has taken an early lead with CD117-ADC. Molecular Templates, with Vertex as a seasoned partner by its side, may soon leap onto the scene with a targeted approach derived from its "engineered toxin bodies" platform.

The investor takeaway is clear: New treatment modalities will be dependent on non-chemotherapy conditioning. Investors in biotech companies that can figure out that piece of the puzzle should be richly rewarded.

See more here:
2 Small-Cap Biotechs That Soared Last Week - Motley Fool

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Allee McKee exchanges a glance with her 11-year-old twin brother Matthew as he receives a blood transfusion Oct. 29 at St. Louis Children's Hospital.

RACHAEL LONG

In late October, laughter permeated The Olson Family Garden at St. Louis Children's Hospital as Matthew McKee got the chance to do something abnormal: run and play outside.

The 11-year-old Trinity Lutheran student was diagnosed in August with aplastic anemia, a rare condition in which damage to stem cells hinders the bone marrow's production of red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets.

According to the Aplastic Anemia and MDS International Foundation, between 600 and 900 people in the United States learn they have aplastic anemia each year. Anyone can be diagnosed with the disease, but according to the foundation, aplastic anemia is most commonly diagnosed in children, young adults and older adults.

Before his diagnosis, Matthew was experiencing life the way you'd expect a young person his age would -- by spending time with his friends, attending school, tagging along on float trips and annoying his twin sister, Allee.

Just before the first week of school, strange things started happening to Matthew.

Roughly two weeks before he was hospitalized, Allee and Matthew had been wrestling when -- as part of what could only have been an epic battle between siblings -- Allee bit her brother. Their father, Jason McKee, recalled seeing a "horrific" bite mark near his son's shoulder.

"I was so angry with Allee," Jason remembered. "I said, 'Why would you bite him that hard?' And she said, 'Dad, I didn't bite him that hard.'"

On Aug. 3, Matthew returned from a float trip covered in "significant" bruising, and as his mother, Wendy McKee, recalls, "more bruising than what it should be for a normal 11-year-old boy."

Three days later, Matthew had a nosebleed that lasted for three hours. Not normal; we'll take him to see the doctor tomorrow, his mother thought.

But when tomorrow came, Matthew awoke with something his parents described to look like a "nasty rash" called petechiae, a condition that causes pinpoint, round spots to appear on the skin as a result of bleeding.

That day, the McKees took Matthew to Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. A few blood tests confirmed some bad news: Matthew would have to be taken to St. Louis, immediately.

Transported north by way of ambulance, Wendy and Matthew left to find answers -- they have not returned home since.

On Dec. 25, 2007, Allee was born 2 minutes before Matthew -- an important time difference, depending on who you ask.

The siblings have what their mother calls a "love-hate" relationship. It's a phase -- she hopes.

But when Matthew got sick, Allee didn't hesitate for a moment. Her parents recall one of the first things Allee said: "What can I do?"

Allee McKee maintains her balance while running atop a ledge Oct. 29 in The Olson Family Garden at St. Louis Children's Hospital.

RACHAEL LONG

"We were blessed with twins 11 years ago for a reason," Wendy said with a smile.

While half of her family has been living temporarily in St. Louis, Allee has had to go on with life in Cape Girardeau as though things are normal. But when a sibling is suddenly diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, "normal" doesn't exist.

"Oh, it's really made an impact [on Allee]," Jason said. "You know, an 11-year-old girl, it's hard for her to express her emotions. But inside, you know there's just an ocean of emotion ... about this. ... We think of Matthew, but it's so much her story, too."

Though no one can take the place of her twin, Jason said it helps Allee to have extended family and friends around.

If everything else about Allee's life has changed, her relationship with Matthew is ever the annoying, hilarious, infuriating, loving sibling relationship it always has been.

Allee McKee erupts in laughter after grossing out her 11-year-old twin brother Matthew during a break in a day of medical appointments Oct. 29 in The Olson Family Garden at St. Louis Children's Hospital.

RACHAEL LONG

Just before she was anesthetized for the transplant, Jason said Allee was beginning to feel anxious about the imminent procedure. Not for a moment forgetting the many ways to leverage something over her younger twin, Allee said, "He's gonna owe me big."

More than a month later, sitting beside Matthew while he received a blood transfusion, Allee's message remained the same. Asked how she feels about the chance to donate blood marrow to her brother, Allee, with a mischievous grin, said, "It's good because I can bring it up and he owes me."

Before they knew what was making Matthew sick, his parents said all signs pointed to leukemia.

"He had zero platelets," Wendy said of the initial blood tests run at Saint Francis.

Sign up for Daily Headlines

Get each day's latest first thing in the morning.

In fact, doctors had to rule everything else out before they could officially diagnose Matthew with aplastic anemia. Once diagnosed, the discussion surrounding odds for locating a donor tissue match was no walk in the park.

When Matthew's doctors laid out his treatment options, Jason remembered them saying, "First and foremost, we see he has a sibling; we would like to test her to see if a bone marrow transplant is even a possibility."

A successful bone-marrow transplant can cure a case of aplastic anemia in a young person, where other treatment options may be more complicated and less effective.

Allee had a 1-in-4 chance of being the right genetic match to donate and save her brother's life. Other treatment options presented to the family, as Jason remembers them, included a "drug-induced protocol that had a lesser success rate but [one that] still would have given him a chance," and placement on a national donor list, an option with a higher risk of rejection.

"As a realist, when you hear a 25% chance, I'm already thinking of Step 2, thinking about the [other options], just [crossing] my fingers and praying that Allee is a match," Jason said.

Matthew's donor needed to be a human leukocyte antigen protein match, not a blood-type match. One of Matthew's doctors in the hematology and oncology clinic at St. Louis Children's Hospital explained the science behind a human leukocyte antigen protein match.

"You get half of those proteins from your mom and half of those proteins from your dad," said Dr. Shalini Shenoy, a pediatric oncologist and the director of the pediatric stem-cell transplant program at St. Louis Children's Hospital. "Fifty percent of the time, you're going to be half-matched, so you'll get the right set from mom and maybe the wrong set from dad. ... Twenty-five percent of the time, you share no antigens, no proteins at all because you got the wrong set."

But the other 25% of the time, as was the case for Allee and Matthew, the donor and recipient will be a full match.

Shenoy explained Allee could not have been a better match for her brother, even if she had been born his identical twin.

The fact Allee and Matthew are non-identical twins, Shenoy said, means there was no guarantee they would be a match. But, hypothetically, if Matthew had an identical twin, Shenoy said there would have been "some concern" about that kind of match.

Cape Girardeau twins Matthew and Allee McKee wrestle in The Olson Family Garden during a day of medical appointments Oct. 29 at St. Louis Children's Hospital.

RACHAEL LONG

"Something happened to [Matthew's] bone marrow. His immune system just worked against his bone marrow and knocked it off. Would that have [been the case for an] identical twin? It would have been hard to say. Even if the twin was normal at the time of the transplant, would that bone marrow have held? Or would it have done the same thing again?

"Luckily they were matched, and so that made her the best donor for him," Shenoy said.

Before Matthew could receive his sister's donation, his medical team had to eliminate what was left of his immune system by way of chemotherapy. It was a 21-day process involving an isolation room and constant fear of infection.

"[There were] so many things that could be just devastating, that could make him gravely ill," Jason said. "Those 21 days, they lasted forever."

The treatment Matthew went through didn't just cost him his immune system, it also cost him his hair.

"He's written in school papers that his best attribute is his hair," Jason said. "You tell a kid he is going to lose his hair, and he fought that until the bitter end."

"He spends more time in the bathroom than myself and his sister, doing his hair," Wendy said.

Cape Girardeau twins Allee and Matthew McKee sit near their mother, Wendy McKee, as they laugh at a joke made by their father, Jason McKee (not pictured) on Oct. 29 in the Olson Family Garden at St. Louis Children's Hospital.

RACHAEL LONG

After being told he would lose most or all of his hair, Matthew stubbornly -- and with no small amount of pride -- held on to about 25% to 30% of his hair, Jason said.

"He's pretty proud of that," Jason said, laughing.

Despite prolonged isolation, chemotherapy, a bone-marrow transplant, being away from home and missing school, Matthew never lost his good spirits.

"He's had a smile on his face every day," Wendy said. "He is a very good-spirited boy; he kind of goes with the flow, and he may not like what he's doing, but by God, he's got a very positive attitude when he does it."

Matthew must remain in St. Louis for 100 days after his transplant, which took place Sept. 19. After that time is up, barring any complications, Matthew will finally return home, though he will be restricted to settings with a small number of people and limited visits from friends.

"He gets to go home but stay at home, more or less," Jason said. "We're going to have to be super, duper diligent in screening anybody that comes in to make sure they don't have any symptoms of any kind of illness."

Because his immune system had to be completely erased in order to receive a transplant, Matthew will also need to be revaccinated before he can return to life as he knew it.

"He has the immune system of a newborn," Jason said.

Some of those vaccinations he will be able to receive a year after his transplant; but for others, the waiting period is longer.

"We're looking at two years out before he can actually live life like a normal teenage boy," Wendy said.

Matthew's parents are optimistic he could return to Trinity Lutheran for the next school year.

Matthew McKee sits on top of the world during a day of medical appointments Oct. 29 at St. Louis Children's Hospital.

RACHAEL LONG

Though Wendy and Matthew have not returned to Cape Girardeau since August, life back home hasn't fallen apart -- not by any means.

"We have a wonderful family at home that is supporting us," Wendy said, noting family members have brought her winter clothes during visits, as the temperature was upwards of 90 degrees when she left town.

The family is living temporarily in a furnished Ronald McDonald apartment, keeping them close by the hospital and allowing Matthew distance from outside germs. Allee is mostly in Cape Girardeau, but she often makes trips to see her family.

Everywhere the McKees go, a community waits to support them.

"You don't realize how supportive people can be until you're put in a situation where you're in need of help," Wendy said.

A family member set up a GoFundMe fundraiser -- which may be found at gofundme.com/f/team-mckee-matthewallee-bone-marrow-transplant -- for the McKee family to help with medical bills, everyday expenses and other costs they have incurred over the last three months.

"It's so hard to take a gift from somebody," Jason said. "But so many people have come to me and said, 'This is all we can do for you, and we've got to do something.'"

But that's not the only way the community has stepped forward to help the McKees. Trinity Lutheran School in Cape Girardeau has hosted fundraisers and a blood drive in Matthew's honor.

The school even took the time to recognize Allee during one of her volleyball games.

"They had her stand up and said some words, and they gave her a standing ovation," Jason said. "It was just very special for her."

The school even sold T-shirts with the words "Team McKee" as a fundraiser for the family.

"The community has just been wonderful ... Cape Girardeau, his school, family and friends -- they've all just been amazing," Jason said.

There is no easy way to navigate life after sickness touches a family, especially for parents of a sick child. But the McKees continue to give thanks in spite of their situation.

"I am most thankful the Lord is giving us a road that can be traveled," Jason said. "Because some patients here don't ... as bad as the road is gonna be, at least there is a road."

Read more:
Thankful People -- 'He's gonna owe me big': Matthew McKee receives bone-marrow donation from twin sister Allee - Southeast Missourian

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

CTX001 safely and effectively increased the levels of fetal hemoglobin and prevented vaso-occlusive crisesin the first severesickle cell disease(SCD) patient receiving the therapy, according to preliminary data from a Phase 1/2 clinical trial.

CTX001 is a CRISPR-based gene editing therapy developed byCRISPR TherapeuticsandVertex Pharmaceuticals as a potential treatment for hemoglobin-associated diseases, includingSCD and beta-thalassemia.

It uses the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system to genetically modify a patients hematopoietic (bone marrow) stem cellsto produce high levels of fetal hemoglobin in red blood cells, which are then delivered back to the patient as part of a stem cell transplant.

The CRISPR-Cas9 system, which is similar to the editing system used by bacteria as a defense mechanism, allows researchers to edit parts of the genome by adding, removing, or changing specific sections of DNA.

Fetal hemoglobin, the main form of oxygen-carrying hemoglobin in the human fetus and newborn, largely disappears between six months to one year after birth, being replaced by its adult form.

Since the adult form is the one containing the defective component of hemoglobin in people with SCD and beta-thalassemia, an artificial increase of fetal hemoglobin has the potential to compensatefor the defective hemoglobin produced by these patients and reduce or prevent theirsymptoms.

The open-label, multi-center Phase 1/2 CLIMB-SCD-121 study (NCT03745287) is currently evaluating the safety and effectiveness of a single administration of CTX001 in people ages 18 to 35 with severe SCD.

The trial, which is expected to enroll up to 45 people, is stillrecruiting at 12 clinical sites in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Participants will be followed for approximately two years after treatment, and have the opportunity to enter a long-term follow-up study.

Before receiving CTX001, participants will undergo myeloablativechemotherapy, a strategy that kills cells in the bone marrow, thereby lowering the number of blood-forming cells. This way, the stem cell transplant will have more chances to rebuild a healthy bone marrow.

Researchers will first determine when the transplanted modified cells begin to produce mature blood cells in the patients, a process known as engraftment. After confirmation of engraftment, safety and effectiveness will be assessed as part of the trials primary and secondary goals.

One primary goal is to assess the proportion of people with an increase of at least 20% in the production of fetal hemoglobin, starting six months after CTX001 treatment. This increase must be sustained for more than three months at the time of analysis.

Among secondary goals is determining whether CTX001 reduces the annualized rate of vaso-occlusive crises.

In February, CRISPR Therapeutics and Vertex announced the enrollment of the first patient in the CLIMB-SCD-121 study, who was recruited in the U.S. and received CTX001 in mid-2019.

Now, the companies have shared the preliminary four-month data of this patient, a 33-year-old woman who had experienced seven vaso-occlusive crises per year the annualized rate of the two years before her enrollment in the trial.

Results showed that she had a confirmed engraftment 30 days after receiving CTX001 treatment. Four months after treatment, no vaso-occlusive crises were reported and she had stopped blood transfusion treatments.

After four months, her total hemoglobin levels were 11.3 g/dL, fetal hemoglobin levels had increased from 9.1% to 46.6%, and the percentage of fetal hemoglobin-producing red blood cells had increased from 33.9% to 94.7%.

CTX001s early safety profile was consistent with that previously reported for myeloablative chemotherapy followed by stem cell transplant. The woman experienced three serious adverse events, all of them resolved and considered to be unrelated to treatment.

Positive preliminary data were also announced for the first patient with beta-thalassemia receiving CTX001 in the Phase 1/2 CLIMB-Thal-111 study (NCT03655678).

We are very encouraged by these preliminary data [which] support our belief in the potential of our therapies to have meaningful benefit for patients following a one-time intervention, Samarth Kulkarni, PhD, CRISPR Therapeutics CEO, said in a press release.

A webcast and presentation about these preliminary results are available on the companys website.

The data are remarkable and demonstrate that CTX001 has the potential to be a curative CRISPR/Cas9-based gene-editing therapy for people with sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia, said Jeffrey Leiden, MD, PhD, Vertexs chairman, president, and CEO.

Leiden added that the trial is still in its early phase and that he looks forward to its final results.

Early this year, CTX001 receivedfast track statusfor the treatment of sickle cell disease by theU.S. Food and Drug Administration, which is expected to accelerate CTX001s development and regulatory approval process.

Marta Figueiredo holds a BSc in Biology and a MSc in Evolutionary and Developmental Biology from the University of Lisbon, Portugal. She is currently finishing her PhD in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Lisbon, where she focused her research on the role of several signalling pathways in thymus and parathyroid glands embryonic development.

Total Posts: 94

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.

Link:
1st SCD Trial Patient Shows CTX001 Gene Editing to be Safe, Effective - Sickle Cell Anemia News

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Stem Cell Banking Market Report 2018-2026includes a comprehensive analysis of the present Market. The report starts with the basic Stem Cell Banking industry overview and then goes into each and every detail.

Stem Cell Banking Market Report contains in depth information major manufacturers, opportunities, challenges, and industry trends and their impact on the market forecast. Stem Cell Banking also provides data about the company and its operations. This report also provides information on the Pricing Strategy, Brand Strategy, Target Client, Distributors/Traders List offered by the company.

Description:

High potential of cord blood and tissues for the treatment of patients with autoimmune diseases is expected to propel the market growth. Moreover, currently available immunosuppressive agents such as steroids, induce long term side effects despite temporary improvements. According to the Health Research Funding, 2015, around 28% of cord blood transplants have been used to treat genetic diseases, with the most common genetic disease treated being severe combined immune deficiency, followed by aplastic anemia. According to the National Cord Blood Program, 2015, cord blood from unrelated donors has been used as an alternative to bone marrow or mobilized stem cells, as a source of hematopoietic stem cells, with over 35,000 stem cell transplants successfully performed worldwide.

Stem Cell Banking Market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Stem Cell Banking sales volume, Price (USD/Unit), Revenue (Million USD) and Market Share for each manufacturer/player; the top players including: Allergan, Plc., Galderma S.A., Integra LifeSciences Corporation, Merz Pharma GmbH & Co. KGaA., Sanofi S.A., SciVision Biotech Inc., Sinclair Pharma Plc., Suneva Medical, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc., and Anika Therapeutics, Inc.

Get Free Sample Copy Of This Report @ https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1354

Important Features that are under offer & key highlights of the report:

What all regional segmentation covered? Can the specific country of interest be added?Currently, the research report gives special attention and focus on the following regions:North America (U.S., Canada, Mexico), Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Italy, Russia, Spain etc), South America (Brazil, Argentina etc) & Middle East & Africa (Saudi Arabia, South Africa etc)** One country of specific interest can be included at no added cost. For inclusion of more regional segment quote may vary.

What all companies are currently profiled in the report?The report Contain the Major Key Players currently profiled in this market.** List of companies mentioned may vary in the final report subject to Name Change / Merger etc.

Can we add or profiled new company as per our need?Yes, we can add or profile new company as per client need in the report. Final confirmation to be provided by the research team depending upon the difficulty of the survey.** Data availability will be confirmed by research in case of a privately held company. Up to 3 players can be added at no added cost.

Can the inclusion of additional Segmentation / Market breakdown is possible?Yes, the inclusion of additional segmentation / Market breakdown is possible to subject to data availability and difficulty of the survey. However, a detailed requirement needs to be shared with our research before giving final confirmation to the client.** Depending upon the requirement the deliverable time and quote will vary.

Get PDF Brochure of Research Report @ https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-pdf/1354

Stem Cell Banking Market Dynamics in the world mainly, the worldwide 2018-2026 Stem Cell Banking Market is analyzed across major global regions. CMI also provides customized specific regional and country-level reports for the following areas:

Region Segmentation:

North America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)

Further in the report, the Stem Cell Banking market is examined for Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin. These points are analyzed for companies, types, and regions. In continuation with this data, the sale price is for various types, applications and region is also included. The Stem Cell Banking industry consumption for major regions is given. Additionally, type wise and application wise figures are also provided in this report.

Quick Buy This Premium Report From Here: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/buy-now/1354

In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of 2018-2026 Stem Cell Banking Market are as follows:History Year: 2015-2017Base Year: 2017Estimated Year: 2018Forecast Year 2018 to 2026

Read more here:
Stem Cell Banking Market to Expand Steadily in the Coming Years till 2018-2026 - Crypto Journal

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Drugs commonly used to treat arthritis may help to prevent breast cancer spreading to the bone, where it is incurable, new research suggests.

In a major new study published in Nature Communications, scientists propose that NHS arthritis drugs anakinra, canakinumab and sulfasalazine could in future be repurposed to help treat breast cancer, following the discovery of the role of bone marrow in the spread of the disease to the bone.

The study, largely funded by Breast Cancer Now, found that bone marrow releases a protein called interleukin 1-beta (IL-1) which encourages breast cancer cells to form secondary tumours once they reach the bone.

Crucially, the scientists at The University of Manchester and The University of Sheffield established that the process started by this molecule can be blocked by drugs already used in treating arthritis, with anakinra found to be able to prevent breast cancer forming secondary tumours in the bone in a study in mice.

While further research is needed to understand how these drugs may interact with the immune system or work together with other cancer therapies, it is hoped the findings could be quickly advanced into trials in women with breast cancer to try to prevent the disease spreading to the bone.

Research and care charity Breast Cancer Now said the findings offered another promising step in repurposing existing drugs to try to prevent the spread of breast cancer, following the recent addition of osteoporosis drugs bisphosphonates to NHS breast cancer treatment for certain patients.

Breast cancer is the UKs most common cancer, with around 55,000 women and 370 men being diagnosed each year and around 11,500 women still losing their lives each year in the UK.

Almost all of these deaths are attributable to secondary breast cancer, where breast cancer has spread to form tumours in other parts of the body. While secondary breast cancer (also known as metastatic breast cancer) can be controlled for some time, it currently cannot be cured.

One of the most common parts of the body for breast cancer to spread to is the bone, which can cause debilitating symptoms such as joint pain or fractures that often require surgery.

Special types of cells, called breast cancer stem cells, are thought to be responsible for the disease spreading around the body with previous research suggesting that healthy cells in different parts of the body can release certain molecules that help cancer stem cells settle and grow in new locations.

In a new study, research teams led by Dr Rachel Eyre and Professor Rob Clarke at The University of Manchester and Dr Penelope Ottewell from the Department of Oncology and Metabolism at The University of Sheffield investigated the growth of breast cancer cells in the lab and in mice to establish what helps the disease settle and grow in this location. They discovered the importance of certain factors released by the bone, and these findings were supported using data from patients with secondary breast cancer1.

The researchers first grew human breast cancer cells using liquid that human bone marrow had previously been grown in. They found that these cancer cells grew into tumours more easily than breast cancer cells that werent exposed to bone marrow liquid, suggesting bone marrow releases a molecule that helps cancer growth.

By tracking which signalling pathways2 became active in breast cancer cells after they had been exposed to bone marrow, the researchers discovered that the molecule IL-1 (which is released by bone marrow) was responsible for helping breast cancer stem cells grow into tumours.

They found that IL-1 activates a signalling pathway called NFKB/CREB-Wnt, which promotes the formation of secondary tumours a discovery that identifies multiple new targets (IL-1 receptor, NFKB, Wnt) for drugs to try to prevent the growth of breast cancer tumours in the bone.

Drugs that can inhibit the action of IL-1 already exist and are used in treating other conditions on the NHS. The researchers tested whether blocking the effect of IL-1 with clinically available arthritis drugs such as anakinra, as well as another drug, currently in trials for treating cancer, called vantictumab, could prevent the formation and growth of secondary breast cancer in the bone in mice.

They found that blocking the role of IL-1 using these drugs significantly reduced the ability of breast cancer cells to form secondary tumours in the bone in mice. For example, following treatment with anakinra, only 14% of mice developed secondary tumours in the bone, compared to 42% of controls.

Research is ongoing to understand how blocking the action of IL-1 to stop breast cancer spreading may affect the immune system, and whether drugs such as anakinra, canakinumab and sulfalazine could work with existing therapies including bisphosphonates to prevent the spread of the disease to the bone. With these drugs being well-tolerated and already in use in treating arthritis, the authors hope the findings could be quickly progressed into clinical trials for breast cancer in the future.

The researchers are also now working to understand whether the same signalling pathway (NFKB/CREB-Wnt) may be important in the spread of breast cancer to other parts of the body such as the liver or lungs.

The study was largely funded by Breast Cancer Now, with additional support from Weston Park Cancer Charity and the Medical Research Council.

See the rest here:
Arthritis drugs could be repurposed to help prevent breast cancer spreading to the bone, study suggests - The University of Manchester

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. & GAITHERSBURG, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vor Biopharma, an oncology company pioneering engineered hematopoietic stem cells (eHSCs) for the treatment of cancer, and MaxCyte, Inc., a global cell-based therapies and life sciences company, today announced a clinical and commercial license agreement under which Vor will use MaxCytes Flow Electroporation technology to produce eHSCs and initiate Investigational New Drug (IND)-enabling studies to accelerate its progress towards the clinic.

Under the terms of the agreement, Vor obtains non-exclusive clinical and commercial use rights to MaxCytes Flow Electroporation technology and ExPERT platform to develop up to five engineered cell therapies, including VOR33, Vors lead eHSC candidate, which is in development for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). In return, MaxCyte will receive undisclosed development and approval milestones and sales-based payments in addition to other licensing fees.

Vor will use MaxCytes cell engineering platform to deliver its gene editing machinery into hematopoietic stem cells to remove biologically redundant cell surface proteins that are also expressed on blood cancer cells. Once the eHSCs are transplanted into a cancer patient, these cells are effectively hidden from complementary targeted therapies that target the relevant protein, while diseased cells are left vulnerable to attack. Vors approach thereby could unleash the potential of targeted therapies by broadening the therapeutic window and improving the utility of complementary targeted therapies.

MaxCyte is a leader in GMP electroporation technology, and we are thrilled that this agreement provides us with long-term access to a platform technology applicable to a pipeline of eHSC programs used to treat AML and other blood cancers, said Sadik Kassim, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer of Vor. As we build on promising in vivo data from our lead candidate VOR33, we can now expand our manufacturing capabilities to support later-stage studies, regulatory filings and commercialization of VOR33.

MaxCytes ExPERT instrument family represents the next generation of leading, clinically validated, electroporation technology for complex and scalable cellular engineering. By delivering high transfection efficiency with enhanced functionality, the ExPERT platform delivers the high-end performance essential to enable the next wave of biological and cellular therapeutics.

We look forward to expanding our relationship with Vor Biopharma as the company pioneers a potential future standard of care in hematopoietic stem cell transplants for cancer patients in need, said Doug Doerfler, President & CEO of MaxCyte. This agreement represents another key business milestone for MaxCyte, emphasizing the value of our technology platform applied to next-generation engineered cell therapies that may make a true difference in patient outcomes.

About VOR33Vors lead product candidate, VOR33, consists of engineered hematopoietic stem cells (eHSCs) that lack the protein CD33. Once these cells are transplanted into a cancer patient, CD33 becomes a far more cancer-specific target, potentially avoiding toxicity to the normal blood and bone marrow associated with CD33-targeted therapies. In so doing, Vor aims to improve the therapeutic window and effectiveness of CD33-targeted therapies, thereby potentially broadening the clinical benefit to patients suffering from AML.

About Vor BiopharmaVor Biopharma aims to transform the lives of cancer patients by pioneering engineered hematopoietic stem cell (eHSC) therapies. By removing biologically redundant proteins from eHSCs, these cells become inherently invulnerable to complementary targeted therapies while tumor cells are left susceptible, thereby unleashing the potential of targeted therapies to benefit cancer patients in need.

Vors platform could be used to potentially change the treatment paradigm of both hematopoietic stem cell transplants and targeted therapies, such as antibody drug conjugates, bispecific antibodies and CAR-T cell treatments. A proof-of-concept study for Vors lead program has been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Vor is based in Cambridge, Mass. and has a broad intellectual property base, including in-licenses from Columbia University, where foundational work was conducted by inventor and Vor Scientific Board Chair Siddhartha Mukherjee, MD, DPhil. Vor was founded by Dr. Mukherjee and PureTech Health and is supported by leading investors including 5AM Ventures and RA Capital Management, Johnson & Johnson Innovation JJDC, Inc. (JJDC), Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research and Osage University Partners.

About MaxCyteMaxCyte is a clinical-stage global cell-based therapies and life sciences company applying its proprietary cell engineering platform to deliver the advances of cell-based medicine to patients with high unmet medical needs. MaxCyte is developing novel CARMA therapies for its own pipeline, with its first drug candidate in a Phase I clinical trial. CARMA is MaxCytes mRNA-based proprietary therapeutic platform for autologous cell therapy for the treatment of solid cancers. In addition, through its life sciences business, MaxCyte leverages its Flow Electroporation Technology to enable its biopharmaceutical partners to advance the development of innovative medicines, particularly in cell therapy. MaxCyte has placed its flow electroporation instruments worldwide, including with all of the top ten global biopharmaceutical companies. The Company now has more than 80 partnered programme licenses in cell therapy with more than 45 licensed for clinical use. With its robust delivery technology platform, MaxCyte helps its partners to unlock the full potential of their products. For more information, visit http://www.maxcyte.com.

Follow this link:
Vor Biopharma and MaxCyte Announce Clinical and Commercial License Agreement for Engineered Hematopoietic Stem Cells (eHSCs) to Treat Cancer -...

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

NEW YORK, Nov. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: BCLI), a leader in the development of innovative autologous cellular therapies for highly debilitating neurodegenerative diseases, announced today that the Company is proud to be a gold sponsor of the 30th International Symposium on ALS/MND.

The symposium will take place December 4 6, 2019, at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre in Perth, Australia. The International Symposium on ALS/MND is a unique annual event that brings together leading international researchers and health and social care professionals to present and debate key innovations in their respective fields.

Ralph Kern MD MHSc, BrainStorms Chief Operating and Chief Medical Officer, will deliver a podium presentation: Modulation of innate immunity by MSC-NTF (NurOwn) cells correlates with ALS clinical outcomes, on December 4, from 11:50 12:10 pm AWST during the opening day Clinical Trials Session. In addition to the podium presentation, the Company will also present Poster 153: MSC-NTF Differentiation Increases the Neurotrophic Effects of MSC Cells: Live Imaging Analysis, that directly demonstrates the neuroprotective effects of NurOwn in a neuronal cell culture model.

Our fully-enrolled phase 3 clinical trial is one of the most advanced clinical programs in ALS, stated Chaim Lebovits, President and CEO of BrainStorm. He added, The International Symposium on ALS/MND is an important venue to update the community on our clinical and scientific efforts towards the advancement of therapies that may address the unmet needs of those living with ALS. BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics is proud to serve as a sponsor of this important annual symposium which underscores our commitment to the international community of ALS and MND patients, their families and their caregivers.

Ralph Kern, MD, stated, It is a privilege to present our innovative biomarker and preclinical research at the International Symposium on ALS/MND. He added, Every year, symposium participants gather together and discuss the opportunities and the challenges that we will face during the upcoming year. Research and medical breakthroughs for the ALS and MND community continue to make significant progress and we look forward to sharing our insights and engaging with colleagues from around the globe. The International Symposium on ALS/MND reminds us how far we have come in investigational therapies and how much more progress is still needed to bring patients a better and more promising future.

About NurOwn

NurOwn (autologous MSC-NTF) cells represent a promising investigational therapeutic approach to targeting disease pathways important in neurodegenerative disorders. MSC-NTF cells are produced from autologous, bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) that have been expanded and differentiated ex vivo. MSCs are converted into MSC-NTF cells by growing them under patented conditions that induce the cells to secrete high levels of neurotrophic factors. Autologous MSC-NTF cells can effectively deliver multiple NTFs and immunomodulatory cytokines directly to the site of damage to elicit a desired biological effect and ultimately slow or stabilize disease progression. BrainStorm has fully enrolled a Phase 3 pivotal trial of autologous MSC-NTF cells for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). BrainStorm also received U.S. FDA acceptance to initiate a Phase 2 open-label multicenter trial in progressive MS and enrollment began in March 2019.

About BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics Inc.

BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics Inc. is a leading developer of innovative autologous adult stem cell therapeutics for debilitating neurodegenerative diseases. The Company holds the rights to clinical development and commercialization of the NurOwn technology platform used to produce autologous MSC-NTF cells through an exclusive, worldwide licensing agreement. Autologous MSC-NTF cells have received Orphan Drug status designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (U.S. FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in ALS. BrainStorm has fully enrolled a Phase 3 pivotal trial in ALS (NCT03280056), investigating repeat-administration of autologous MSC-NTF cells at six sites in the U.S., supported by a grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM CLIN2-0989). The pivotal study is intended to support a filing for U.S. FDA approval of autologous MSC-NTF cells in ALS. For more information, visit BrainStorm's website at http://www.brainstorm-cell.com.

The International Symposium on ALS/MND is a unique annual event that brings together leading international researchers and health and social care professionals to present and debate key innovations in their respective fields. The Symposium is planned as two parallel meetings, one on biomedical research and the other on advances in the care and management of people affected by ALS/MND. Joint sessions consider issues of mutual concern, challenging current views and practices.

Safe-Harbor Statements

Statements in this announcement other than historical data and information constitute "forward-looking statements" and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics Inc.'s actual results to differ materially from those stated or implied by such forward-looking statements. Terms and phrases such as "may," "should," "would," "could," "will," "expect," "likely," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "predict," "potential," and similar terms and phrases are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. The potential risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, risks associated with BrainStorm's limited operating history, history of losses; minimal working capital, dependence on its license to Ramot's technology; ability to adequately protect the technology; dependence on key executives and on its scientific consultants; ability to obtain required regulatory approvals; and other factors detailed in BrainStorm's annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q available at http://www.sec.gov. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on BrainStorm's forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on the beliefs, expectations and opinions of management as of the date of this press release. We do not assume any obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect actual results or assumptions if circumstances or management's beliefs, expectations or opinions should change, unless otherwise required by law. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements.

BRAINSTORM CONTACTS:Investors:Uri Yablonka, Chief Business OfficerBrainStorm Cell Therapeutics IncPhone: : +1-201-488-0460Email: uri@brainstorm-cell.com

Media:Sean LeousWestwicke/ICR PRPhone: +1.646.677.1839Email:sean.leous@icrinc.com

Go here to see the original:
BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics to make scientific presentations at the 30th International Symposium on ALS/MND - GlobeNewswire

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

By Oliver and Elizabeth Hedgepeth

There are special suppliers of life in our great country, from North Carolina to Virginia to Alaska. They are those hospitals that collect the basic raw material for giving life. They work with a network of donor service organizations across the United States. In Virginia, it is Donate Life Virginia. In North Carolina, it is Carolina Donor Services. In Alaska, it is Life Alaska Donor Services.

The raw material that comprises those supply items are you, me, anyone from 3 months old to 75 years old, so far in our experience. Yes, a 3-month-old can die of many causes some accidents, others an incurable disease. But, that 3 month-old can give life and sight and other helpful body parts to others, as can that 75-year-old. The final person to receive such a gift is you, your wife, child, husband, mother, father, a teacher, a prisoner in jail anyone and everyone.

There are more than 50 different parts of a persons body that can be donated to help others live a better life. Those supply items are organs, corneas, tissues, hands and face, blood stem cells, cord blood, bone marrow, blood and platelets. The number of people given this gift of life exceeded 113,000 in 2019.

Real-life experience: We recently attended a Donor Family Tribute in Greenville, N.C. The sponsor of this event was Carolina Donor Services. The building was huge and looked like a country club. We were not sure if we were at the right place, and we even questioned why we should spend our Sunday afternoon there.

This nice-looking building clearly was a place to hold a special event. When we reached the register desk, we discovered our name was not on the list. We debated for three months after the invitation arrived whether we wanted to be around a group of people who lost their loved ones.

There was a meeting and dining area, much as you would expect at a professional conference. There was nice, light music playing in the background, the walls were black and there were quilts hanging all over the front of the room. The quilts had small 12-inch squares on them. It was obvious that the quilt was a remembrance of the ones who had died.

We sat at a table that had many place settings and chairs. We sat quietly for about 30 minutes, as around 200 people entered the room and took their seats. When the room filled, the talking was in whispers, as if we were in church waiting for a service to begin. We thought about quietly getting up and leaving. We did not fit in here.

The 200 people were a mix of races, ages and abilities. A spokesperson on stage invited all the guests to join the buffet line. We all did, and the group ate for about 30 minutes, again like a church social. Then it began.

The speaker asked if anyone would like to tell about a loved one who donated to help others live. Slowly, people many of whom had never spoken in front of a group walked to the microphone. One woman, smiling and happy with tears of joy running down her face, spoke about finding her 15-year-old son in his room at home, hanged. She described how it took three days for him to die of his suicide.

Then, she happily said his hand was being used by another young boy who had lost his in an accident and how her sons eyes would make another person see for the first time in years.

Another person shared the story of how a 3-month-olds death from an incurable disease helped other life-threatened babies live. The sharing of stories went on for about three hours.

When we gathered to leave, we and those 200 people were all the same. We were friends, like long-lost relatives. There was no age or race or illness separating us. We all treated each other as the same.

People are waiting: When someone you love dies, grief memoirs seem the same. Being around those who also have lost someone and are grieving seems to be a logical connection. The topic of conversation is similar and shared. But the loss is still there for the person so loved. Something changed with this donor tribute.

The 200 or so people with their common loss encountered a gain. Many of them know the person who has received a new hand, or can see, or can talk for the first time in years. Knowing that their loved one is still alive in a small part of someone else, maybe even the heart itself, gives comfort to us who have been left with such grief in the past.

The donor process of giving was not around when our parents died. If it had been, our visits to the gravesites would hold a little more light of happiness, knowing someone was walking around on a farm or in an office with our loved ones heart or arteries or hands.

Donate Life Virginia is a small part of life-giving across all of America. Please, donate in your state when your time comes. We are.

Oliver Hedgepeth is professor of logistics for the American Military University. Elizabeth Hedgepeth is former managing editor of the Petersburg Progress-Index. Contact them at: blh4835@gmail.com

View original post here:
Oliver and Elizabeth Hedgepeth column: Human donations are a gift of life - Richmond.com

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

According to a leading physician, thousands of Americans die needlessly every year from a deadly myth that only drugs and surgery can heal. Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum, M.D., a pioneer in the successful treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome and the author of "Real Cause, Real Cure," tells Newsmax that the financial power of the pharmaceutical companies has skewed our healthcare into a system that ties the hands of natural practitioners and patients who want to find root causes of illness and restore their health.

"Standard medicine offers about 15 to 20 percent of what can help people recover from illness. Other branches of the healing arts offer the rest," Teitelbaum says.

Dr. John Reed, a Maryland-based physician who believes in integrative healthcare, adds that it isn't so much which diseases should be treated with alternative medicine, but what kind of people are receptive to taking control of their health. Some people are so used to popping pills that they won't explore the opportunities to self-heal while others want the information but can't get it from their regular healthcare practitioners.

"The current medical system is in danger of collapsing because it is treating problems, not people," he tells Newsmax. "The whole idea of integrative medicine is to restore vitality and function. Our healthcare doesn't encourage healthy lifestyles that could prevent many of our dreaded diseases, including the diabetes epidemic we are facing right now."

Teitelbaum, the author of "Diabetes is Optional," agrees. "People with adult onset or type 2 diabetes do not need to be treated with insulin because adults produce enough insulin. Their problem is that they are insulin resistant. This disease can be prevented and treated with a low-sugar, high-fiber diet, the herb Hintonia (Sucontral D), and checking for deficiencies in hormones and vitamin D. If necessary, I prefer to give the drug metformin over insulin because it doesn't encourage more weight gain."

Teitelbaum says that when it comes to heart disease, traditional or Western medicine shines in acute situations such as heart attack or stroke. But alternative medicine, including a change in lifestyle habits, can prevent and reverse cardiovascular disease.

"The key treatments I use for heart problems in my practice, including angina and abnormal heart rhythms, are ribose, coenzymeQ10, magnesium and B complex, and acetyl-l-carnitine," he says. "I often see dramatic improvements in heart health in six weeks."

Chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia are usually managed traditionally with potentially dangerous pain killers like Lyrica, which is known to increase thoughts of suicide. Instead of medication, Teitelbaum has had success with his famous S.H.I.N.E. protocol. "This provides a blueprint for the body to heal itself," he says. "Getting adequate sleep, testing for hormone deficiency, boosting the immune system, maintaining optimal nutrition, and exercising are five key elements to beating these autoimmune diseases. In our published research study, over 90% of patients improved with treatment."

Teitelbaum says that new research is showing that some old, safe, and very low-cost medications can starve cancer cells. "But this research is largely being ignored by standard medicine because there is no profit in it," he says. For more information, check out yufoundation.org.

Dr. Alan Christianson, a Phoenix, Arizona-based Naturopathic Medical Doctor (NMD), tells Newsmax that Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is another disorder for which modern medicine has no cure.

"Natural medicine, on the other hand, can identify and treat the causative factors such as food intolerances, intestinal permeability, and intestinal parasites, which may be causing IBS. In fact, conventional medicine has no real treatments except for suggesting a high-fiber diet which often exacerbates the condition," he says.

Reed says that the best medicine is what he calls an "integrative approach."

"For example, I was on duty at a trauma center when an accident victim arrived in very bad pain from his crushed limbs. We gave him a very high dose of opioid medication which lessened his pain to 8 out of 10, I then used acupuncture to shift his nervous system away from the pain centers and his pain subsided to 5 out of 10, making the medication more effective.

"When the medical situation is acute, it is beneficial to give drugs or surgery so that the patient doesn't slide downhill, but in the meantime, we must offer supportive care and suggest lifestyle changes to restore good health. We have found in our practice that approaching illness in this fashion also reduces the number of return visits to the hospital so in the long run, an integrative approach saves money.

"We need to spend more time and money on educating people starting with our children on how to stay healthy in the first place instead of focusing on fixing problems."

2019 NewsmaxHealth. All rights reserved.

Visit link:
Here's When Alternative Medicine Can Save Your Life - Newsmax

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

The Wall Street Journal lifts the curtain on the behind-the-scenes work to build a public health legal challenge against a big company. In other public health news: football and CTE, caregivers, bias in science, dementia fears, screen time for toddlers, foster care, and more.

The Wall Street Journal:Inside The Mass-Tort Machine That Powers Thousands Of Roundup LawsuitsIn late 2016, a group of plaintiffs lawyers took the stage at the years largest gathering of their colleagues to talk up a promising new target. For 30 minutes, they laid out arguments linking the popular weedkiller Roundup to cancer. An arm of the World Health Organization had pegged Roundups main chemical ingredient as a probable carcinogen the year before, and it was quickly becoming a focus of the plaintiffs bar. Some product-liability lawyers in the audience in Las Vegas were skeptical. Tying exposure from everyday products like Roundup to cancer often is less straightforward than linking illness to medications or medical devices, said Chase Givens, a lawyer with the Cochran Firm who attended the event. (Randazzo and Bunge, 11/25)

The New York Times:They Love Football. They Try Not To Think About C.T.E.The human brain is hard-wired to manage conflicting thoughts and emotions. We know drinking alcohol can cause liver damage and burning fossil fuels is bad for the environment, but many of us still drink alcohol and still buy gas-guzzling vehicles. Most people have generally accepted that playing football, in addition to teaching life lessons about teamwork and dedication, can lead to long-term brain damage, like any activity that involves a lot of collisions with other human beings or crashes with the ground. (Lawrence, Cardenas and Futterman, 11/26)

The Washington Post:In Helping Elderly Parents, Caregivers Get A Peek At Their Futures And Are Inspired To Plan For Old AgeEven after Myrtle Lewiss mother reached her late 90s and could no longer drive or care for herself, she insisted on remaining in her home in Northeast Washington. Lewis, who was helping care for her mother, arranged for her to have a live-in companion, another older woman, named Kizzie. But watching her mothers world shrink as she knocked around a too-big house clarified a few things for Lewis, now 76. After a while it just became she and Kizzie. Theyd go to bed at 6:30, she said. (Bahrampour, 11/25)

Los Angeles Times:Researchers Have A Plan To Prevent Bias In Computer AlgorithmsScientists say theyve developed a framework to make computer algorithms safer to use without creating bias based on race, gender or other factors. The trick, they say, is to make it possible for users to tell the algorithm what kinds of pitfalls to avoid without having to know a lot about statistics or artificial intelligence. With this safeguard in place, hospitals, companies and other potential users who may be wary of putting machine learning to use could find it a more palatable tool for helping them solve problems, according to a report in this weeks edition of the journal Science. (Khan, 11/23)

Reuters:Study Shows Half Of Middle-Aged Americans Fear Theyll Get Dementia, Use Unproven SupplementsAbout half of middle-aged Americans believe theyre somewhat or very likely to develop dementia, a survey suggests, and many try to beat the odds with supplements such as ginkgo biloba and vitamin E that arent proven to help. Researchers examined data from the University of Michigans 2018 National Poll on Healthy Aging, a nationally representative survey of adults 50 to 80. Overall, 44.3 percent of respondents said they were at least somewhat likely to develop dementia, and 4.2 percent said they were very likely to develop dementia. (11/26)

WBUR:Antibiotics For Animals May Work For You, But Experts Say It's A Terrible IdeaWhen phlegm invades Andy Shecktors face or chest, he says he knows if the culprit is a bacterial infection. ...But on these occasions, Shecktor, a 63-year-old man from Berwick, Pennsylvania, doesnt go see a doctor, and he doesnt get a prescription for antibiotics. Instead, he pulls out a stash of medicine from his fridge that is clearly marked not for human consumption. It's for fish. (Chen, 11/26)

CNN:Explosive Growth In Screen Use By Toddlers, Studies SayUse of screen time explodes between 12 months and three years in the United States, and most Canadian preschoolers between the ages of two and three are not meeting World Health Organization recommendations for appropriate use of television, computers and other screens, according to two new studies published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics. (LaMotte, 11/25)

The New York Times:He Had A Temporary Blast Of Amnesia. What Was Going On?Where am I? the 68-year-old man asked. His daughter explained again: He was at Yale-New Haven Hospital in Connecticut. He had been found on the ground in the parking lot of the grocery store near his apartment. The man nodded, as if taking it all in, but minutes later asked again: Where am I? He had never had any memory issues before, but now he couldnt remember that it was Saturday. Didnt remember that he spent the morning moving the last of the boxes he had stored at his daughters house to his new apartment. He didnt even remember that he had spent the past few months hashing out a pretty messy divorce. (Sanders, 11/26)

The Washington Post:One Judges Tough Approach To Foster Care: Its Only For The Really Extreme CasesThe courtroom looks more like a preschool than a command center for dismantling the citys foster care system. A stuffed penguin perches above the judges bench. A bookcase is filled with childrens favorites. And dozens of stuffed animals teddy bears, polar bears, pandas are scattered around the room. Juvenile Court Judge Ernestine S. Gray gives each child who appears before her a bear and a book. She believes it makes what can be the worst day of their lives just a little easier. (Webster, 11/25)

The Washington Post:This Top Pediatric Allergist Swears By Meditation And Thinks It Can Fight Medical BurnoutPhysician Hemant Sharma has worked at Childrens National Hospital for 11 years and serves as its chief of allergy and immunology. The 44-year-old Howard County, Md., resident commutes daily to Washington and rotates between four of the hospitals facilities, treating patients, teaching and mentoring younger physicians, overseeing administration, and conducting clinical research. Hes aware of how so many demands might affect his well-being and believes addressing burnout is a vital issue for the medical profession and others. I think a number of professions now are facing this challenge, where the chronicity of our daily stress is preventing us from giving 100 percent of what we want to the populations that were serving. (Carefoot, 11/25)

The New York Times:The Costly, Life-Disrupting Consequences Of Poor Diabetes CareDiabetes, whether Type 1 or Type 2, may be the most underappreciated, misunderstood and poorly treated of all common medical problems, and many of the more than 30 million Americans affected by it are paying dearly with their health and lives as a result. Contrary to what many people think, diabetes is not just a disease of abnormal blood sugar control caused by a lack of insulin or an inadequate response to this crucial hormone. (Brody, 11/25)

See the rest here:
Behind The Thousands Of Lawsuits Against Roundup Weed Killer Lurks A Sophisticated, Little-Known Legal Ecosystem - Kaiser Health News

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Jules TurknettOrbit Arts AcademySenior Company Showcase

With the ever-increasing interest in musical theatre performance comes increased competition. Our triple (and quadruple!) threats are under significant pressure to stand out and aim to do so by doubling down on training.

Broadway hopefuls are spending many hours and dollars taking classes with the top instructors to build their singing, acting, and dancing chops. But there's another, often overlooked path to maximizing performance.

I recently interviewed a physician who works in the emerging field of health and performance optimization. He is a best-selling author, the head of cognitive enhancement for Nourish Balance Thrive, which works with elite athletes from around the world. He is also the chief medical officer for humanOS, the president-elect for the Physicians for Ancestral Health, and the medical editor for the Journal of Evolution and Health.

This physician happens to be my husband, Dr. Josh Turknett, and he details a holistic health approach for performers to help them develop healthy habits as they push the limits of their bodies and minds.

Here is an excerpt from that interview:

Can you tell us a little about your background in this emerging field of health and performance optimization?

One of my roles is as the head of cognitive enhancement for Nourish Balance Thrive, a company that helps elite athletes around the world optimize their performance and their health.

These are people who are pushing their bodies to the limits, so they need their bodies to be in top form. In recent years people have really begun to recognize that this goes far beyond just training for sports and that they can get greater results than what training alone would yield by attending to factors like nutrition and lifestyle. That translates to improved performance, reduced injuries, improved recovery, and ultimately allows them to perform at a much higher level for a longer period of time.

I also do cognitive performance consulting for people who are using their brains for a living. These are people who are knowledge workers, pushing their brains to the limit and looking for ways to improve focus, and concentration, memory, creativity, productivity, and learning.

The same is true here, too - people are realizing you can get a lot more from your brain by attending to relevant nutrition and lifestyle factors. Theatre performers fall into both of these categories! They are trying to get the most out of their bodies and brains. So a lot of the strategies that we recommend for folks who are elite athletes or knowledge workers, we would also recommend for theatre performers.

Right, because our performers have to combine both. Can you give some more specific examples of the ways in which people benefit from taking the holistic approach you suggest?

For those who are doing things that are physically demanding, they will see improvements in their performance and in the prevention of injuries. And then with regard to long-term health, they will see prevention of chronic disease, both that result from just normal everyday life but also anything that would come specifically from the activities that they're doing.

In particular, wear and tear on the musculoskeletal system and the joints is probably much more likely related to the accumulated effects of diet and lifestyle rather than the activities themselves.

We know that joint injuries are really common in sports. Yet, in cultures where people don't follow the standard Western diet and lifestyle but are just as hard on their bodies, we don't see the same level of joint problems. The relative increase in joint and tissue injuries we see in the West is likely due to the high demands on the musculoskeletal system PLUS a weakening of the connective tissue structures by systemic inflammation and nutrient deficiencies. So in most cases, you would need both of those things for the joints to break down, not just the wear and tear.

That also makes me think of migraines, which I know you work a lot with, and that can be treated with the diet and lifestyle piece. I've always thought about performers who can't go on stage and perform with a migraine. So if you can prevent those as well through diet and lifestyle change, that would be another bonus.

Can you give us an overview of the different aspects of diet and lifestyle that need to be addressed in order to maximize performance?

Sure, so what are the things that we can do? How can we help our bodies to thrive and flourish right now today and what can we do to protect them over the long run?

If we look at the biggest levers that we have, the biggest broad categories that are going to help improve physical and mental performance and impact our long-term health, those will be:

Maybe we can talk a little bit about each of these areas and perhaps tailor them a little bit towards parents, or teenagers, trying to work within their constraints. I know that because we homeschool, we have a lot more flexibility to address some of these issues, but maybe we can think about some strategies that people can implement to work within the current framework.

Yes, and obviously each of these categories we could spend many, many hours on. I'm going to try to hit the highlights and also try to hit the kind of the low-hanging fruit -- the things that you can do that will give you the most return on your initial efforts.

Beginning with sleep, I think the best place to start is always to think about what our body expects, and that's why understanding our evolutionary history is so important. We were hunter-gatherers for about two-and-a-half million years and then we became modern humans living in this very foreign world only very, very, very recently. So our body, and our genes, still mostly expect that we're going to be living in the wild, in nature.

If you think about that, and about what the life of a typical hunter-gatherer was like, it means you go to sleep at sunset or not long thereafter, partly depending on your age, and then wake when the sun comes up.

So a typical good night of sleep for an adult will usually be about seven to eight hours, and for a child about nine to 12, and for teenagers more like 10 to 12 hours.

Sleep is the time for our bodies and brains to repair and recover. That's when you build muscles, that's when you repair connective tissue. So it's crucial for anybody putting any type of physical demands on their body -- like our dancers. If you don't get the repair and recovery during sleep, then you end up with this cycle of inflammation that's hard to stop.

There's also a lot of evidence that it's how we regulate our mood, and it's been recognized to be a factor in just about every chronic health problem. So insufficient sleep, quality or quantity, raises the risk of inflammation and autoimmune disorders, learning and memory problems, mood and anxiety disorders, as well as attentional disorders.

Also, the reason sleep is so important for kids is because that's when the brain is developing, and the time they're asleep is the time when their brains are changing, developing, and growing. So the more sleep they get, the bigger their brains are going to become. It's as simple as that.

It's hard to argue that there is anything more important than getting good sleep, especially given that for most people right now it's compromised, both quality and quantity. It's not just how many hours you get but also whether or not you're cycling through all stages of sleep each time.

Obviously, the demands of our lifestyle have made things challenging. We're waking people up before they should be woken. We also have indoor lighting that allows us to detach ourselves from the rhythms of nature, but there are certain things that we could do to help mitigate that.

For example, just keeping a consistent schedule is helpful in improving our sleep quality and quantity. People who sleep on a consistent schedule fall asleep faster, have better sleep architecture (stages of sleep) and also maintain their circadian alignment better.

For teens, the biggest issue is the amount of time they get to sleep. Most teens are going to be relatively good sleepers, but their biggest issue likely will be giving them enough time in bed to get all the sleep that they need.

Teenagers need more sleep than they ever will at any other point in their lives, and they also shift their sleep to where they will naturally go to bed later. They want to go to bed later and they want to wake up later, which is tricky for school, of course. So oftentimes in order for a teen to get the sleep that they need and still wake on school hours, they're going to have to go to sleep before they're really ready to.

For a teen, 10 hours of sleep really is the bare minimum and anything less that can cause problems. If waking up early, the sleep lost will be mostly REM sleep, and there's good evidence that REM sleep has a lot to do with regulating our mood. So we see anxiety disorders much worse in folks who are not getting REM sleep, and we're also seeing anxiety disorders are worsening amongst teens.

There's a great book that came out recently called "Why We Sleep" by Matthew Walker. I would encourage everyone to read that book, especially everyone with children. One of the greatest public health challenges we face right now is helping our kids sleep more, given how we've set up school. We're going to look back at this era with horror, I think, in terms of sleep, but hopefully, we can change things.

So thinking in terms of our teenagers, kind of naturally shifting to wanting to stay up later, but really within the confines of the school schedule really needing to go to bed earlier. Any quick tips or strategies for helping them to be able to go to bed a little bit earlier?

One of the best things that has been shown to help is maintaining a consistent schedule and having a set routine. You can take advantage of conditioning. We have our own natural rhythms, but we also have learned rhythms. You can teach yourself to adopt a different schedule with a consistent bedtime every night and having a consistent routine that you follow beforehand that tells your body and brain, "Hey, it's time to get sleepy."

Take a shower, have tea, read, have a ritual with your family, whatever works for your family as a bedtime routine. All these little things cue our body to say, "Hey, it's about time to sleep." Sleep is really a complex process that starts unfolding before you actually get to sleep.

Another important thing that's very relevant these days is blue light. So for any child that's having any difficulty sleeping whatsoever, that's going to be probably prime issue number one to address.

The sun contains the whole spectrum of light, with all the colors of the rainbow, but it turns out that only light in a blue spectrum can suppress our melatonin secretion. Melatonin is a hormone that the brain makes when it's time to get sleepy, and blue light tells the brain the sun is still up so it's not time to sleep. Where do you find blue light? In our devices, and iPhones, and screens, and all sorts of things.

That's why the iPhone developed night mode. There are also TVs now that can change the lighting so that it shifts to the red spectrum, or you can wear glasses that filter out the blue light. There's an app called F.lux that you can install on your computer to shift the light also.

Filtering out blue light after sunset can significantly impact when you feel sleepy. So people who do that will start to feel sleepy about an hour earlier than the people who don't.

I think it's also important to note that the science shows that there's no such thing as catching up on sleep. This idea that you can sort of cheat it during the week and then catch up on the weekend is not true. You don't get the benefits back from the brain's standpoint.

Let's move on to nutrition.

The easiest way to think about nutrition is first to consider what your body needs to operate and maintain our structure, and then second to avoid things that are harmful. The typical modern Western diet is insufficient on both of those counts, but probably worse when it comes to eating things that cause harm. We probably do a little bit better in providing the essential nutrients but and worse on eating things that cause harm.

Again, so if we think about what the diet of a human is supposed to be, it's pretty simple, and from one standpoint we are omnivores, so we eat animals and the edible plants that are in nature. So it should come as no surprise that most of the things that we eat that cause harm and that are linked to disease are not available in nature but require either farms or factories to produce. So that's what your low-hanging fruit is going to be.

The simplest approach of all is really just to eat whole foods -- to just eat meats of all kinds and then vegetables and fruits when they're in season. Shop at the perimeter of the grocery store, avoid the middle, avoid things in boxes and bags and you're pretty much good to go. But if you want to talk about the specific ingredients and things to avoid, I think you have to probably put refined sugar at the top of the list.

The average American's sugar consumption has risen about 3,000-4,000% over what it would've been for our ancestors. I think we'll probably view sugar much like tobacco in the next few decades. It's linked to virtually every chronic disease that we see. Almost every single processed food is going to list sugar as the first ingredient.

Avoiding foods with added sugar or at least minimizing them, and relegating them to being a treat would go a long way. The problem is that sugar has become the primary source of calories in many people's diets.

The next foods to avoid would be those that are cooked in vegetable and seed oils -- including soybean oil, canola oil, corn oil, all of those require factory processing. Again, they would not be something our ancestors ever would've eaten, not something that was part of the human diet. These oils likely are a driver of chronic low-level inflammation that we find with almost virtually every chronic disease.

So what oils should people be cooking with?

Starting with the animal fats, you have beef fat, tallow, pork fat, lard, and duck fat. There's also butter and ghee (clarified butter). And then there are fruit oils like olive oil, coconut oil, and avocado oil. Those are the best sources of fats to cook in.

If I go to the grocery store and every package I look at is using one of the oils you listed not to use.

I'm glad you made that point because the easiest way to avoid that is just to avoid packaged food. Like I said in the beginning, the simplest thing is if you stick to whole foods, you don't have these issues.

What other foods cause harm and should be avoided?

Third would be the gluten grains (wheat, barley, and rye). Gluten is a topic of great confusion. It was long known that about one to 3% of the population was gluten intolerant (celiac disease). Any amount of gluten in the diet for them causes inflammation in their gut, inflammation in the body, and it has to be avoided.

But more recently it's emerged that a much greater proportion of the population is gluten sensitive. People were discovering that a range of health issues would go away after gluten was removed from their diet. In addition to that, evidence came out that gluten disrupts the gut barrier in every human. So in all of us, if you expose the gut to gluten, there are tight junctions in our gut that keep the bad stuff out and the good stuff in, and with gluten exposure, they open up and let the bad stuff in.

So that's true even if I have no reaction to gluten?

That's true even if you have no reaction. That's true with every human's gut according to the research. So most likely this is a spectrum or a continuum, not an either-or thing. There's a range of how sensitive someone is to gluten, how much gut disruption it causes, and what the consequences of that are.

What is the most common mistake people make when they are eliminating gluten from their diet?

Right, so what often happens when people eliminate gluten from their diets is that they look for foods to substitute for the ones that have gluten in them. They will try gluten-free bread, and pasta, and things like that.

And with those you're still introducing all the issues with processed foods and so forth that come with that. So you may be eliminating the gluten component, but you're still getting a lot of bad stuff with it. So again, sticking to the perimeter of the grocery store.

I do sympathize because it does take changing habits since we've created our food culture around bread.

When we were trying to begin removing gluten from our diet, we started with the gluten-free flours like almond flour and coconut flour would make substitute treats and baked goods. That may not be a bad idea for a teenager when you're trying to stepstone them on the way to being gluten-free.

Then we began to realize that we were still doing a disservice to our bodies with these foods, and so then we continued to refine and eliminate those things, and I think that slow progression has been helpful.

Yes, you can start by choosing lesser evils and that's perfectly fine. I personally noticed that I still felt kind of lousy after I ate those things.

We would associate improvements in nutrition to improvements in physical performance, but you can also improve your cognitive performance by improving your diet, as well?

Absolutely. A lot of the work I do is for that particular purpose. Improving cognitive performance translates to improvements in your ability to focus for long periods of time, thinking clearly, sustaining energy levels, and improving creativity, problem-solving, and mood.

So let's move on to physical activity.

Again we'll start with what our bodies expect from what we know of the lifestyles of our ancestors. That was lots of low-level walking with much of the day spent walking, lifting heavy things periodically, so engaging all of your muscles fairly often. And that was punctuated by brief all-out activities like sprinting. Of course, most of it was done outdoors with sunlight on the skin.

The nice thing is, aside from the sunlight piece, athletes and performers are generally doing quite well in this particular area. In fact, if there are any issues it's often related to overtraining, so doing too much, too much activity, particularly high intensity, rather than too little. So stressing the body too much, especially if you're not attending to recovery.

This is an area where a lot of progress has been made recently, so you're seeing a lot of athletes now who are in the professional ranks performing at very high levels at much older ages than we're used to, and a lot of that has come from paying close attention to recovery and repair, in addition to all of these nutritional pieces that we've talked about. You can really extend a career and stay healthy and at top performance levels for a lot longer period of time by doing so.

And what about the social connection piece?

The effects of connection or lack thereof on health might be surprising, but the research is pretty profound. It affects us all the way down to DNA and how our genes are transcribed.

So again, what does our body expect? Our ancestors were usually part of a tribe of up to about 150 people. That was an extended family of people that you could depend on and who depended on you. So you were producing, you were part of the tribe, you were a valuable contributor, and you had people you knew you could depend on when you needed it.

That sounds a little bit like a theatre community.

I was about to say that!

So many people don't have the social connections anywhere near what's really needed for a human to thrive, and social media doesn't count. It's seen as a substitute, but the research shows that it's not. It can help facilitate connection when it's used wisely, but by itself, it's not a substitute. But like you say, performers are actually doing very well.

A theatre troupe is a tribe of sorts, and to me, that's one of the greatest values of it. But the culture of any particular theatre community matters a lot. If it's a culture of acceptance, and support, and community, then yes it's a great form of social connection.

I'll just take this as another opportunity to give yet another plug for the value of theatre. I've already said that in two areas where a lot of people have trouble meeting their basic human needs (physical activity and social connection) theatre addresses.

I've spent my career in neurology, and neuroscience, and in the optimization of health and performance, and I would say there's no better activity than musical theatre training for the development of the brain and the body. It's both physically and cognitively demanding, and performers have to push the limits of their capacity, of both their body and their brain. In the book "Range" by David Epstein, he cites the statistic that Nobel Prize winners are 22 times more likely than their peers to have been performers of some kind.

And I believe you also mentioned mindset as a key component to consider.

Yes, so the mind can powerfully influence our health in either direction, either for us or against us. This really gets to the impact that stress can have. If we consider the mismatch areas in modern human life compared to our ancestors, the amount of time we spend suffering in our own minds probably greatly exceeds theirs, and that has a lot to do with mindset.

In my work with clients, that's a huge piece. Not only mindset in terms of the way we look at the world, but also then understanding how to shape the impact of your mind in a favorable direction. It's all about understanding the ways in which the mind connects to our health, how it can undermine it or help us to be healthier and achieve the things that we want to achieve. Mindset and meditation are big topics that we'll cover in a separate episode.

We would love to see everyone addressing these five areas and building these habits early on because we know that the habits you build as a kid oftentimes last many years.

They do impact performance and they can be a way for young performers to maximize their potential and stand out in the rising tide of Broadway hopefuls.

To hear the full episode with additional information on each of these topics, check out the full interview with Dr. Turknett on the "From Atlanta to Broadway" podcast.

Follow this link:
Bringing Up Broadway: Training the Body and Mind - Broadway World

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Milk. The white nutritious liquid without which babies cant survive. Even several adults love to have a healthy milk and cereals breakfast, and festivals in India are incomplete without milk and desserts prepared from it. Until recently a lot of young adults included milk and milk products in their diet till they got to know through their dermatologists or dieticians that they need to exclude it from their diet given many had lactose intolerance.

What many of them especially women didnt know is that the contents in the milk can aggravate their acne giving them a major beauty worry which doesnt have instant fixes especially when theres a Big Day coming. Says Akansha Dhawal, 26, an aspiring model and a student at a fashion institute in the city, Its really annoying when on the day of a major shoot I wake up with pimples.

Though they can be hidden with make-up but it plays up in your mind and later you dread the marks. I have acne vulgaris and am still on medication. But ever since my dermatologist advised me to be completely off milk, they have substantially reduced. A knowledge report from Godrej Jersey done in August, 2019 says that only 16 per cent of adults in Hyderabad consume milk and acne can be one of the reasons why. Other reasons are of course, adulteration, and bad quality.

So is it just drinking milk that one has to stop or is it a total ban on milk related products like cheese, yogurt, fresh cream, ice cream, kheer etc? Says Dr. Syed Shazia Fatima, consultant cosmetic physician who practises at Livlife Hospitals, Jubilee Hills, There are ample studies which conclude that milk triggers acne severity. Now, though, there is no definite conclusion at the moment about milk being a direct trigger, it can progressively worsen acne in a lot of individuals, especially women with adult acne.

But how? Adds Dr Shazia, This could also be attributed to the fact, that milk contains hormones. These hormones can be both, the naturally occurring androgens in milk, or growth factors which are injected by farmers to enunciate faster maturation and milk production. Either can wreck havoc on the skin when interacting with ones natural hormones and worse for people with an ongoing hormonal imbalance.

The interesting part is that a lot of people consider milk harmful for acne because of the fat content. It is widely known that processed food, refined sugar and fatty foods, both trigger and worsen acne. Dr. Shazia further adds, But coming to dairy, skimmed milk or low fat milk was found to have a more profound effect than full fat milk.The major culprits being cheese, cottage cheese and milk.Ghee can be a potential aggravator too which is commonly ignored in Indian households.

A lot of doctors and I personally recommend going dairy free if you are someone dealing with persistent acne issues, while everything else has been evaluated and ruled out. Geetha Raman, 23, a research scholar at Osmania University was asked by her dermatologist to reduce the intake of milk so she was adding it just to her daily cup of tea but despite that precaution her acne turned inflammatory and red.

I completely gave up drinking milk and eating cheese, butter, yogurt and ice cream; now my skin is much better, she shares. To this adds Dr. AK Sirkar an independent dermatologist, Acne is known to get aggravated because of milk. But it aggravates more when certain drugs prescribed react with it thus causing more trouble. So can the young women say goodbye to milk and its health benefits? Sigh! Looks like. I can take supplements but cant afford to ruin my skin, sign off Akansha and Geetha.

NOT FOR ADULTSCows produce milk to feed their baby calves and help them grow. Whey and casein, the proteins in milk, stimulate growth and hormones in calves and in us when we drink their milk. When humans digest these proteins, they release a hormone similar to insulin, called IGF-1. This hormone is known to trigger breakouts. Sometimes the hormones in milk can also interact with our own hormones, confusing our bodys endocrine system and signaling breakouts.

NO TO LACTOSELactose is the natural sugar present in milk. After infancy, it becomes more difficult for humans to break lactose down and digest it. And if you belong to the 65 per cent of people who are lactose intolerant, your acne-related breakout could be due to a lactose sensitivity or allergic reaction.Source: https://www.healthline.com/health/dairy-and-acne#how-dairy-affects-skin

ACNE TRIGGERSMilk and dairy products cause an insulin spike in humans that cause the liver to produce even more IGF-1, leading to even more acne.Dairy causes your skin to produce excess sebum (oil), leading to you guessed it! more clogged pores, more acne, and a breeding ground for P. acnes bacteria, which feed on your sebum and spew out inflammatory by-products.Dairy glues together dead skin cells inside your pores, so they cant exit naturally, leading to clogged pores (and thus more acne).Source: https://www.clearskinforever.net/milk-acne-does-milk-cause-acne/

@newindianexpress .com@Sfreen

Read this article:
Not going the Milky Way - The New Indian Express

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Post menopause is the period occurred after menopause followed by various syndromes like vaginal dryness, hot flashes, etc. During this period level of estrogen and progestin falls significantly leading to even serious complications like osteoporosis. The worldwide market for Postmenopausal Hormone Therapy is gaining moment substantially. This rising demand for Postmenopausal Hormone Therapy is due to increasing level of awareness about menopausal symptoms and its treatment. Another factor is growing population of post-menopausal women. Postmenopausal Hormone Therapy includes replenishment of body level of estrogen and progestin hormones in women through external intake of hormones. Thus, it help in treating the menopausal symptoms. It decreases the symptoms like vaginal dryness, hot flashes, disturbed sleep, night sweats and etc. The Postmenopausal Hormone Therapy helps in prevention of osteoporosis and hot flashes caused due to depletion of estrogen and progestin level in body. The Postmenopausal Hormone Therapy comprises of natural as well as synthetic estrogens. In order to enhance the menopausal treatment, it is also given in combination with progesterone.

View Report :https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/postmenopausal-hormone-therapy-market.html

The treatment for post menopausal syndrome is generally treated with sequential or continuous schedules through various doses of estrogen, progestin or combination of both. Despite of existing controversy and confusion about the safety profile of the postmenopausal hormone therapy, the market for the postmenopausal hormone therapy has recorded positive inclining growth due to growing demand. The development of postmenopausal hormone therapy with respect to driving demand leads to introduction of highly safe treatment options to patients which include development of novel drug delivery system like vaginal estrogen drugs and transdermal estrogen patches. Low dose postmenopausal hormone therapy are used in order to address the backdrop caused due to safety issues. The non-hormonal treatment has comparatively least efficacy to produce optimum results, hence the postmenopausal hormone therapy market is observed to grow significantly.

However, the major retarding factors to the market include the affordability to the therapy. The cost for postmenopausal hormone therapy approximately revolves around US$ 10,000 per annum, and thus incurring a major burden on the patients pocket. Thus the population from developing and under developed countries faces a challenge of affordability for the postmenopausal hormone therapy. The post treatment risk of cervical cancer and coronary disease are another restraining factors for the market. Approved recognition of the products related to postmenopausal hormone therapy in compounding pharmacies particularly from developed countries is another deterring factor. However the opportunity for the market is the introduction of the product targeting the cardiovascular disease prevention.

The Postmenopausal Hormone Therapy market can be segmented by product, by therapy, by dosage form, by route of administration, by end-user and by geography. In the terms of product, the postmenopausal hormone therapy is classified into patches, tablets, creams, suppositories, and injections. The tablet formulation comprises the largest market share of the total postmenopausal hormone therapy market. However, due to growing concern of safety and long-term therapy the market for the patches are growing at much faster compound annual growth rate. Based on the therapy, the market is segmented into individual progestin, estrogen and combination therapies. The majority of market is occupied by estrogen therapy across the world.

Request a PDF Brochure For More Information @https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=13568

Based on the route of administration, the postmenopausal hormone therapy market is classified into oral, topical and subcutaneous implants. Due to high safety, oral administration has been the preferred choice of option for the patient. However, introduction of novel drug delivery system has driven the market for topical and subcutaneous products as well. In the terms of end-user, the target population are the women suffering from menopause. However, the treatment is influenced by the physician/ gynecologist, the target end-users are hospitals and specialty clinics.

Geographically, North America occupies the largest market share followed by other developed region like Europe. The United States accounts for a major share of the global market. The high awareness level and high purchasing power in this region led the market of postmenopausal hormone therapy for expansion significantly. However, the same factor of affordability has restrained the markets in developing regions. Despite of this, Asia Pacific has shown striking increase in its growth rate for the postmenopausal hormone therapy market. Rising population, increase in disposable income, and increase in awareness level are some key factors driving the Asia Pacific Market. Due to this factors, the Asian market is observing high number of new entrants compared to those in developed regions.

The Major players reported in the market include Abbott Laboratories, AbbVie, Inc., Bayer Pharma AG, Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical Co., Inc., Novartis AG, Novo Nordisk A/S, Orion Pharma AB, Pfizer, Inc., Meda pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and TherapeuticsMD, Inc., etc

View post:
Postmenopausal Hormone Therapy Market to Garner Brimming Revenues by 2024 - Statsflash

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

While getting 6 to 8 hours of sleep is recommended by experts, some people may not necessarily need the same amount of sleep as others.

When you wake up after a good nights rest, it makes you feel alert, fresh and well-rested. In contrast, lack of a good nights sleep may leave you feeling grouchy, moody and irritable. Of course there are the peculiar individuals who get seven hours of sleep but still feel tired and others who seem to hardly sleep, but have so much energy. Getting a good amount of sleep is crucial to leading a healthy life. However with so many people having conflicting sleeping habits and patterns, what really makes for good sleep and what can you be doing to make sure that you are getting enough of your beauty sleep? As always science has the answers which TNM has sought out.

On average, an individual sleeps for a total of around 26 years in their entire lifetime, which amounts to over 200,000 hours of sleep. However, there are incredible discrepancies with the amount of sleep required from person to person. It is recommended that teens and young adults get between 6 and 7 hours of sleep, while older adults are advised to get at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep. In elderly individuals and newborn babies, more than 8 hours of sleep is recommended by experts.

Despite these guidelines, why are some individuals able to get better quality of sleep than others? Why do our individual sleep habits vary? As TNM found out, there are multiple factors which contribute to how much sleep is needed for each person.

While age and environmental factors definitely contribute to the amount of sleep an individual may need, practically speaking what we need to account for is the individuals sleep debt, explains Dr Samith Shetty, a physician from Bengalurus Sparsh Hospital.

Sleep debt is a term used by experts to explain the compounded effects of not getting enough sleep.

To put it simply, it is as though the body keeps track of every extra hour that you should be sleeping but instead are spending awake. These hours accumulate over a period of time and do take a toll on your health, adds the doctor. Lack of adequate sleep can take a serious toll on ones health.

What happens to the body when you dont get enough sleep?

Chronic sleep deprivation may put people at risk of developing significant health risks including heart disease, diabetes, obesity, early mortality. A report was recently published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology based on a study done at the Michigan State Universitys Sleep and Learning Lab which revealed that a chronic lack of sleep is more harmful than earlier thought.

Our research showed that sleep deprivation doubles the odds of making errors and triples the chances of lapsed attention, stated Kimberley M Fenn one of the researchers of the study to the media.

Another researcher noted that the latest findings proved the popular belief that only cognitive abilities were affected by sleep deprivation was wrong.

In contrast, getting adequate rest and sleep keeps people alert and active. It also aids in various metabolic processes. Research has also shown that sticking to an established routine for sleep aids in learning, comprehension and memory.

Breaking down the science behind sleep

There is not one mechanism which is at play to ensure that a person sleeps. Sleep occurs as a combination of biological factors and environmental ones. There exists a natural system in all of us called the circadian rhythm which is an internal clock of sorts that maintains the sleep-wake cycle.

A part of the brain called the hypothalamus interprets signals from the external environment (such as sunlight) and relays this to another part of the brain which tells the body what hormones and chemicals to suppress or release depending on the time of day.

During the day time, the eyes perceiving light will be interpreted in this manner by the hypothalamus to relay to the body that it is time to be awake. Whereas at night time, lack of light in the environment contributes to the secretion of a hormone called melatonin, which allows you to sleep. Melatonin remains in the bloodstream for about 9 to 12 hours, following which melatonin levels begin to decrease. There is almost no melatonin traceable in the bloodstream during the daytime.

Infants and young children require more sleep than adolescents. Elderly individuals also require more sleep than the average adult.

There are certain steps you can take to ensure that you are getting adequate sleep.

First, it is crucial to set a bedtime. This will help you get into the habit of ensuring that you go to sleep and wake up at a regular time daily. By doing so, it will help maintain your natural circadian rhythm without disturbing it too much. Get off electronic devices at least 30 minutes before getting to bed. Ensure that you are sleeping on a comfortable mattress that supports your back. Turn off lights, this will help ensure that melatonin is released appropriately. Some people might want certain sounds, scents or maybe a night light, which is ok as long as it is keeping them comfortable, says the doctor.

He also advises that people avoid smoking or drinking prior to sleeping as it may have negative consequences on the brain.

Read more here:
Sleep 101: The importance of getting a good nights rest - The News Minute

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

A number one hair knowledgeable has revealed how widespread hair and scalp issues suffered by girls might be linked to well being points likedehydration and a hormonal imbalance.

Trichologist Simone Lee, from Perth, stated hairloss might be triggered by sudden hormonal modifications, whereas an irritated scalp is an indication of extended dehydration and a poor food plan.

Ms Lee advised Each day Mail Australia the power and vitality of hair is immediately linked to general well being, and revealed the key to rising a lustrous mane all comes all the way down to food plan.

Widespread hair complaints like thinning, shedding and dry, flaky scalps might be traced again to basic well being points from dehydration to poor diet

DRY SCALP

Dry, irritated scalps develop when the pores and skin is disadvantaged of moisture over a chronic time period.

Ms Lee stated a wide range of components contribute to dehydration of the scalp, together with extreme publicity to chilly air or air-con, repeated use of heated styling instruments which strip moisture from the pores and skin, low consumption of water and poor diet.

Applicable consumption of water is crucial for all times two thirds of our pores and skin tissues are made up of water, she stated.

The human physique loses roughly two litres of physique fluids every day, which is changed via consumption of water and different liquids.

Ingesting at the very least two litres of water on daily basis will hydrate each your hair and scalp, stopping flakiness and irritation.

Zinc deficiency also can trigger dry, irritated pores and skin, so enhance your consumption of zinc-rich meals like shellfish, legumes, fruit and nuts.

Medical situations like dermatitis, eczema, dandruff and hormone imbalances also can contribute to a dry, dehydrated scalp and ought to be handled in session with a certified physician or dermatologist.

Australian trichologist Simone Lee (pictured) stated the key to rising wholesome hair begins together with your food plan

THINNING ANDHAIR LOSS

The commonest reason behind hair loss in girls is Androgenic Alopecia, extra generally often called feminine sample hair thinning.

Genetics is without doubt one of the main causes of feminine Alopecia, with thinning normally beginning on the crown of the top, leaving the hairline unaffected.

However hormonal imbalances are one other widespread reason behind hair loss for girls.

Overproduction of the intercourse hormone dihydrotestosterone often called DHT causes hair follicles on the scalp to shrink, which ends up in thinner strands and infrequently everlasting hair loss.

Fortunately, hormonally triggered Androgenic Alopecia might be handled with prescription medicine and hormone balancing lotions, which cut back the quantity of DHT that reaches follicles and causes thinning.

Proteins

Hair is comprised of the protein keratin, so a food plan missing in protein will finally result in hair loss.

There are 4 key amino acids needed to provide hair keratin cysteine, lysine, arginine and methionine.

Up your consumption of proteinby consuming lean meats like hen, fish, beef, pork or lamb, or dairy merchandise together with eggs, milk, cheese and yoghurt.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are important for a balanced food plan, regulating protein and fats metabolism which is crucial for wholesome hair progress.

Easy carbs might be present in unprocessed wholefoods together with fruit, honey, milk, beans, lentils and peas.

Fat

Wholesome fat assist the physique to soak up nutritional vitamins and minerals, whereas polyunsaturated fat assist to maintain hair lustrous and glossy.

Good fat, wealthy in Omega three, are present in fish like salmon, tuna and sardines, in addition to avocado and linseed oil.

Nutritional vitamins

Water soluble nutritional vitamins like Vitamin A, B (thiamine), C, D, E and Ok are important to keep up wholesome hair and a hydrated scalp.

Contemporary fruit, inexperienced greens and entire grains are good sources of water soluble nutritional vitamins.

Minerals

Minerals together with cobalt, copper, iodine, iron and zinc are all linked to robust, wholesome hair.

Cobalt is present in broccoli, copper in cereals and nuts, iodine in shellfish and iron in liver and egg yolks.

Zinc, which is immediately linked to hair loss and dry scalps, is present in oysters, wheatgerm and bran.

Water

Ingesting at the very least two litres of water on daily basis will hydrate pores and skin and nourish hair, stopping thinning, shedding and dry scalps.

Supply: Simone Lee

Water soluble nutritional vitamins like Vitamin A, B (thiamine), C, D, E and Ok are important to keep up wholesome hair and a hydrated scalp

As a result of hair is comprised of the protein keratin, a food plan missing in protein and related amino acids also can set off hair loss.

There are 4 key amino acids needed to provide hair keratin cysteine, lysine, arginine and methionine.

Of those amino acids lysine and methionine are categorised as important, that means they dont seem to be fashioned by the physique and should be made accessible via our diets, Ms Lee stated.

She really helpful boosting your consumption of protein by consuming lean meats like hen, fish, beef, pork or lamb, or dairy merchandise together with eggs, milk, cheese and yoghurt.

SHEDDING

The typical hair progress cycle lasts from three to 5 years, with hair rising round half an inch every month.

However well being situations and intense medical remedies, like chemotherapy, may cause main disruptions to this course of, resulting in extreme shedding and short-term hair loss.

Sudden shedding scientifically often called Telogen Effluvium, a type of short-term hair loss is normally attributable to stress or traumatic experiences.

Dramatic weight reduction or a fast, uncommon shift in food plan also can trigger hair to shed, as can medicine, abroad journey and overexposure to ultraviolet mild.

Rising your consumption of iron after a sudden shock or trauma may help regulate the hair progress cycle and strengthen brittle hair.

Iron-rich meals embrace purple meat, darkish inexperienced greens like spinach and kale, lentils, fish and darkish chocolate.

Excerpt from:
The common health problems behind dry, thinning and shedding hair - Herald Publicist

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

November 19, 2019 Cover

Pam Tillis keeps busy touring, making appearances and forever moving forward to her next musical project. Just last week she was a presenter for the Country Music Association awards with Women of Country Music as the theme.Country music is lucky to have her in their genre. But it wouldnt have mattered what Tillis chose to record and perform, she has one of those rare voices that lends itself to anything she wants to sing. She can easily move from classic country, to pop, to a bluesy torch singer wherever her heart, her soul and the lyrics lead.

Its rare when the puzzle pieces just seem to fit the first time a person opens the jigsaw box, but when Norm Stulz had the ability to make people laugh as early as the second grade in Detroit, there was no denying opening the comedy box was his lifes calling.Just a few years later in the seventh grade, he met the girl of his dreams and to this day, he and his wife Sharon, continue to build on a life together as two crazy kids in love. Laughter has been the glue for the relationship and the career path that has sustained Stulz for nearly 40 years.

Hosting a holiday dinner for your family is an undertaking in itself, but resorts are tasked with preparing the perfect menu for thousands of guests at multiple restaurants.Which items do guests want on the menu? How much food to order? When to start cooking? How many guests to prepare for? These are all questions the food and beverage departments must consider when planning for a holiday.

This time of year box stores are filled to the brim with every electronic device and latest phone known to man, but are there people on your list who already have all that stuff? Everyone has that one relative who is a challenge when comes to finding the perfect gift. Unique people require unique items and thinking outside the traditional box store offerings. Maybe that difficult-to-buy-for person is yourself because you never know what might strike your fancy.

Read the original here:
Buy viagra super active cheap - Viagra super active reviews - What is the difference between viagra professional and viagra super active - Laughlin...

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

November 19, 2019 Cover

Pam Tillis keeps busy touring, making appearances and forever moving forward to her next musical project. Just last week she was a presenter for the Country Music Association awards with Women of Country Music as the theme.Country music is lucky to have her in their genre. But it wouldnt have mattered what Tillis chose to record and perform, she has one of those rare voices that lends itself to anything she wants to sing. She can easily move from classic country, to pop, to a bluesy torch singer wherever her heart, her soul and the lyrics lead.

Its rare when the puzzle pieces just seem to fit the first time a person opens the jigsaw box, but when Norm Stulz had the ability to make people laugh as early as the second grade in Detroit, there was no denying opening the comedy box was his lifes calling.Just a few years later in the seventh grade, he met the girl of his dreams and to this day, he and his wife Sharon, continue to build on a life together as two crazy kids in love. Laughter has been the glue for the relationship and the career path that has sustained Stulz for nearly 40 years.

Hosting a holiday dinner for your family is an undertaking in itself, but resorts are tasked with preparing the perfect menu for thousands of guests at multiple restaurants.Which items do guests want on the menu? How much food to order? When to start cooking? How many guests to prepare for? These are all questions the food and beverage departments must consider when planning for a holiday.

This time of year box stores are filled to the brim with every electronic device and latest phone known to man, but are there people on your list who already have all that stuff? Everyone has that one relative who is a challenge when comes to finding the perfect gift. Unique people require unique items and thinking outside the traditional box store offerings. Maybe that difficult-to-buy-for person is yourself because you never know what might strike your fancy.

Read this article:
Worldwide antabuse - Effects of antabuse on the liver - Herbal antabuse substitute - Laughlin Entertainer

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

The star of Pixar's blockbuster "FindingNemo" may be about to vanish again - this time for good - as its peculiar mating habits put it at risk from climate change, scientists said on Tuesday.

They observed the vibrantly coloured clownfish - which live in anemones - for more than 10 years around Kimbe Island off eastern Papua New Guinea.

A team from France's National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) along with other scientists established that the fish were picky about the way they choose their mates.

Given that both anemone and their clownfish tenants ultimately rely for their survival on coral, which is under threat from warming seas and threats such as pollution and human intrusion, they may need to adapt quickly.

The scientists say this can be achieved only with great difficulty.

"The reproductive success of a population is what guarantees (its ability) to adapt," CNRS researcher Benoit Poujol said. And clownfish have a "very particular" reproductive cycle, dependent on a stable, benign environment.

Each anemone is home to one female fish, a sexually active male and several other males who are not sexually active. "When the female dies, the male becomes female and the largest of the non-sexually active males became sexually active," Mr Poujol said.

Go here to see the original:
Losing Nemo: Clownfish 'cannot adapt to climate change' due to their specific mating habits, scientists say - The Telegraph

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Why do men with schizophrenia tend to get addicted to smoking, and women schizophrenics dont?

The answer lies in understanding brain differences between men and women with mental diseases, according to a new resource article in the journal Cell Reports.

The lead author, Israeli molecular neuroscientist Hermona Soreq, concludes that treatment ought to vary by gender.

A member of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem faculty since 1986, she is now a professor at the universitys Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences and Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences.

Looking into the cortex of the human brain, Soreq studies the molecular regulators of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter important for muscle function and communications processes in the brain.

Shes president of the International Organization on Cholinergic Mechanisms, comprised of scientists researching acetylcholine and other compounds that mimic or block its action.

Photo of Prof. Hermona Soreq courtesy of the Edmond and Lily Safra Center of Brain Science/Hebrew University

Soreq has found that malfunctioning acetylcholine is linked to neurological diseases such as Alzheimers, Parkinsons, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

However, dysfunctional acetylcholine doesnt affect males and females the same way.

In the last couple of years, my research has focused on finding differences between men and women with mental disease, Soreq tells ISRAEL21c.

Were looking at the genes controlling the cholinergic pathway in men and women, and how the genes operate in health and in disease.

Hidden differences between sexes

Last year, Soreq read two papers in Science by leading psychiatric genetics researchers. The papers argued that mental diseases such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder affect the brain on a spectrum, much like autism.

But there was no word about differences between men and women. That upset me, says Soreq.

Its commonly known that these conditions affect males and females differently. For example, men develop schizophrenia about 10 years earlier than women do, and male schizophrenics often take up smoking.

Soreq decided to parse the papers data, looking separately at results in males and females.

Guess what? In women, the spectrum described in the study population was less apparent. The way the data was presented, the difference between sexes was faded.

A bioinformatics PhD student and postdoc graduate in her 15-person lab investigated the data in the Science papers further. They saw that in study participants, nicotine mimicked the way acetylcholine normally sends activation messages to nerve cells.

Acetylcholine, of course, is the very substance Soreq has dedicated her life to investigating.

Prof. Hermona Soreq and her lab staff at Hebrew University. Photo by Douglas Gathry

Soreq hypothesized that men with schizophrenia have an urge to smoke cigarettes to make up for their dysfunctional acetylcholine. In women, different regulation of acetylcholine apparently reduces their urge to smoke.

Lots of genes are expressed more strongly or weakly in the brains of diseased individuals compared to healthy brains. These modifications are different between men and women, Soreq explains.

To challenge her hypothesis, Soreq looked at cells in cultures from men and women separately. Sure enough, the genes that are modified in a diseased brain showed male-female differences.

I have been using cells in culture for many years. We dont ask if they derive from men or women, Soreq says. Now we specifically took cells of male or female neuronal origin and found they behave differently when you go down to individual cell level. We are the first to show these differences.

Men and women need different treatments

The practical implication is that medical treatments for mental disease should be different for men and for women.

Nobody has talked about that before. Women with mental disease deserve to be studied separately and therapeutics should be developed targeted to them, says Soreq.

We already know women have different symptoms and react to drugs differently, but we know that after the fact, not from research. I think its important to do the research purposefully.

The big problem is that medical treatments are almost always tested only in male mice before theyre tested in humans of both sexes.

Why? A simple reason: money, says Soreq.

Female mice, like humans, have a hormonal cycle and you would need to adjust for the day in their cycle. That quadruples the cost of the testing, because youd need to raise enough female mice to find those in the right time in their cycle. Its really a pain. So scientists, including me, have only studied male mice for many decades.

She thinks that situation needs to change despite the cost involved.

Meanwhile, in December Soreq and her colleagues will host the 16th annual International Symposium on Cholinergic Mechanisms, at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot. This is where she received her PhD in biochemistry in 1976 before doing a postdoc in molecular cell biology at Rockefeller University in New York.

She also has studied the role of the acetylcholine signaling system in the long-term health impact of terrorism-related stress; and in circadian rhythm disturbance after the switch from standard to daylight savings time and vice versa.

This, too, affects men and women differently. Women seem to have a more difficult adjustment.

The clock was changed a few weeks ago in Israel and I still wake up at 4 while my husband sleeps nicely, she observes with a laugh.

Read more:
Men and women need different treatments for mental illness, expert says - ISRAEL21c

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

By Samuel Smith, CP Reporter | Tuesday, November 26, 2019 J.D. Greear, president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) and pastor of The Summit Church in Durham, N.C., said Southern Baptists must be willing to do whatever it takes to reach all people, during his president's address June 11 during the morning session of the two-day SBC annual meeting in Birmingham, Ala. | Kathleen Murray

Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greear said he would use atrans-identified individual's preferred pronoun and name as a show ofpronoun hospitality," but would also be clear on biblical truth.

The 46-year-old Greear tackled the question of transgender pronoun use on the Nov. 18 edition of his podcast Ask Me Anything.

When talking with a transgender person, which pronoun should you use? was the question posed to the senior pastor of The Summit Church in Durham, North Carolina.

Greear responded with a long disclaimer that when a question about how Christians should show love to the LGBT community, it is often thought that there can only be two categories: alienation and affirmation.

Let me just kind of lean on [Baptist ethics professor] Andrew Walker here and the book God and the Transgender Debate, Greear said. He points out, and I actually think this is charitable and accurate, that Christians disagree. I think they should disagree charitably about what is the right thing to do specifically with pronoun usage.

Some people on one side are going to say, Hey, we got to tell the truth. And the truth is this person is male or female. So I would be lying if I called somebody who is female and identified as male, Greear added.

There are others who would say, Look, as a courtesy, you should refer to a transgender person by their preferred pronoun as sort of a generosity of spirit kind of approach. You see evidence in the Bible of that.

Personally, Greear said he leans a little bit toward the generosity of spirit.

If a transgender person came into our church, came into my life, I think my disposition would be to refer to them by their preferred pronoun when we want to talk about gender, Greear said. I will be clear with him on the truth. The question is: Is that the battlefront that you want to choose?

Earlier in his response, Greear laid out assumptions about the transgender movement and said it is important to answer the question: What determines gender?

The scientific answer and I would say the biblical answer is your genetics, Greear said. God made them male and female.

Our identity comes from not looking within. Our identity comes from what our Heavenly Father declares over us, Greear continued.

That is important at every level of the spiritual life, but its important in creation because God declares through DNA male or female. I am not who I feel like I am, I am who God says I am. Jeremiah 17 teaches that our heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, which means the heart is the last place that I want to be looking for my identity.

Greear cites Preston Sprinkle, head of the Center for Faith, Sexuality and Gender, to layout examples of Christians displaying a generosity and accommodation of spirit.

When missionaries go into tribes where they are polygamous. What do they do when a chief has 10 wives? Do you take the first one and call her a wife and refuse to call anybody else a wife because a man can only be married to one wife? Greear asked.

Is that what you do? Somebody who is unlawfully divorced in our culture, Jesus says that they never really relinquished their marriage and that he is actually married to this other woman even though he divorced her. Should you insist on calling the former woman his wife and the current woman adulterous? I think there is a generosity of spirit that you can communicate there.

When it comes to generosity of spirit in the transgender context, Greear said hes heard it called pronoun hospitality.

That is the way that I would lean in this, he said. I would say this is one of perhaps Roman 14 situations where you need to do what your conscience is allowing you to do.

Greear concluded by assuring that the debate over such a question between Christians should be done so charitably because there is no one-size-fits-all right and wrong answer.

The SBC leader suggested that those who can't in good conscience use the preferred pronoun of a transgender individual should consider avoid using pronouns when speaking with a transgender individual.

A Christian high school teacher who did as Greear suggests and used a trans-identified student's preferred name and avoided using pronouns in the classroom altogether was fired from his job.

We should be generous of spirit regardless of the way you answer this, he said. Two, we should tell the truth. I think those two things are bigger than just the pronoun question. You will apply it to the pronoun question but the bigger thing is to make sure you have those two attitudes as you approach the question.

In a 2017 op-ed, Walker, a research fellow with the SBCs Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said that he would probably use a transgender individual's preferred name because names are not intrinsically gendered.

Walker stressed also that when meeting someone who identifies as transgender for the first time, the name associated with their biological sex will not be known.

However, Walker assured that he will not refer to someone with their desired pronoun in a public venue such as when he gives a speech.

Those with writing or speaking platforms have an obligation to speak and write truthfully and not kowtow to political correctness or excuse falsehood, Walker wrote. This means I will call Bruce Jenner he, or if I do say Caitlyn, I will still say, him.

Greear received push back on social media from other Christian conservatives in response to his podcast.

Conservative columnist and author Rod Dreher wrote in an op-ed that he understands the desire for a pastor to be gracious to people he is trying to evangelize to, but stressed that the pronoun issue is not merely a matter of courtesy.

It means something substantively. The use of language creates social realities, wrote Dreher, author of The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation.Read your Orwell: what we say and how we say it frames the way we perceive and interpret the world. Progressives understand this well, which is why they insist on preferred pronoun usage. By doing so, they are creating facts on the ground.

When religious and cultural leaders concede this territory for the sake of being nice, they surrender more ground than they realize, Dreher continued. They are laying down arms in the face of the ideological colonization of our collective moral imagination.

Follow Samuel Smith on Twitter: @IamSamSmith

or Facebook: SamuelSmithCP

Go here to read the rest:
SBC Pres. JD Greear says he'll refer to trans individuals by their preferred pronouns - The Christian Post

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Still waiting for new beginning.

The words in bold, white, are painted alongside a mural of a lion and lioness, on a sign near the forest guest house in Palpur village inside the Kuno Palpur wildlife sanctuary in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The guest house overlooks Kuno river and offers a clear glimpse into the heart of the forest and the wildlife of the sanctuary. The sun shines bright on the landscape, welcoming a new day and perhaps the start of a new chapter for the sanctuary.

After more than two decades of roadblocks, the Kuno Palpur wildlife sanctuary is ready as the new home for Asiatic lions, starting with those that are to be relocated from Gujarats Gir sanctuary, currently the only home of the Asiatic lions in India. In a recent visit over two days, Mongabay-India witnessed the revamped sanctuary.

The areas of grassland habitat are ready to provide food for the animals that lions prey upon like nilgai (blue bull), chital (spotted deer), sambhar, chinkara. The grass on the sites of the 24 villages that existed here and have already been relocated outside, as a part of the lion reintroduction program, have grown. There is no sign of human habitat. The villages have been developed into large grasslands, making the sanctuary almost free from human habitation for the free and flexible movements of lions, Vijendra Shrivastav, sub-divisional officer, Kuno Palpur (West) Wildlife Sanctuary told Mongabay-India as he spoke about the preparations of the sanctuary to receive lions from Gir wildlife sanctuary in Gujarat.

We are asking just for two pride of lions that typically includes a male, three to five females and their young cubs. On successful relocation, the family of lions will access the unused habitats and will also increase the seasonal mast availability for wildlife in the sanctuary and diversity.

It has been 29 years since Kuno Palpur was identified as the site for the relocation of Asiatic lions, from their last habitat in Gujarat, to protect them from extinction. Currently, there are 523 (as per the last census carried out in 2015) lions in Gir and this relocation project was supposed to have been completed by 2020.

The Action plan for the reintroduction of the Asiatic lions (Panthera leo persica) in Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary Draft 2016 prepared by the expert committee for translocations of lions from Gir to Kuno Sanctuary observed that the last free-ranging population of approximately 523 Asiatic lions Panthera leo persica are found in the 22,000 square kilometreof the Gir landscape in Gujarat, western India. Carnivore populations restricted to single sites face a variety of extinction threats from genetic and stochastic environmental factors. The draft is now under implementation.

Catastrophes such as an epidemic, an unexpected decline in prey, natural calamities or retaliatory killings could result in the extinction of the lion population when they are restricted to single populations, the action plan adds.

Reintroduction of Asiatic lions to an alternative site to ensure their long-term viability has become a major conservation agenda since the late-1950s. Failure of the first attempt of the Asiatic lion reintroduction in India (Chandraprabha Wildlife Sanctuary of Uttar Pradesh) in the 1960s has been ascribed to the lack of an a priori scientific study on lion prey base, habitat requirements, local peoples attitude and a post-release monitoring program, notes the plan.

In the early 1990s, after ecological assessment of some protected areas within the historical range of lions was undertaken, the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) identified Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary (Kuno WLS) in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh as the most potential reintroduction site. Subsequently, between 1996 and 2001, 23 villages were resettled from inside the identified Kuno sanctuary by the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department (MPFD) and an area of about 1,280 square km was demarcated as Kuno wildlife division.

Located in north Madhya Pradesh, Kuno was one of the hunting grounds of the royal families of the region and was notified as a sanctuary in 1981. The sanctuary is classified under the semi-arid Gujarat Rajputana biogeographic zone, a senior forest officer of the Madhya Pradeshs forest department said.

According to Azad Singh Dabhas, a retired forest officer, in the 1990s, the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) took up the matter of finding an alternative home for the species and identified Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary as the most suitable site.

He explained that the idea was that in case of catastrophes such as an endemic, an unexpected decline in prey, natural calamities or retaliatory killings could result in the extinction of threatened species which are restricted to a single site Gir National Park in Gujarat.

Between 1996 and 2001 the Madhya Pradesh Government relocated 23 villages containing 1,547 families from Kuno Sanctuary in preparation for the new lion population. Not a single incidence of poaching and human-animal conflict has been reported in the last three years, said a senior official of the sanctuary.

Though the sanctuary is inhabited by carnivores such as leopard, wolf, jackal, Indian fox and striped hyena, in the last over two decades, the population of chital, sambar, nilgai, chinkara, wild pig, chowsingha, and blackbuck are found in abundance.

One of the major challenges was of the sites of the relocated villages to develop them into grasslands. The sites of the relocated villages have developed into large grasslands, extending in size to as much as 1,500 ha in some cases, said Shrivastav.

According to Atul Chouhan, Kuno Sangharsh Samiti, The state tourism department is successfully running a three-star hotel located on the Shivpuri Highway. A large number of visitors prefer to stay in the forest guest house, which is located inside the Kuno Reserve and is around 25 kilometres from the Tiktoli, the entry gate to the Kuno Reserve. Round the year more than 2,000 visitors come to Kuno Reserve. And the number of visitors to Kuno is rising up. If, lions are going to be introduced in Kuno Reserve the footfall is certainly going to rise.

The Samiti, now with about 2,000 members, was formed by like-minded people of Sheopur district in 2009-10 after the Gujarat government refused to share lions. The Samiti, along with the forest dwellers who were shifted from the sanctuary have held protests, submitted memorandums to the government alleging that they sacrificed their ancestral homes and land in a way to provide a safe place for the lions. They demanded that the government should respect their sacrifice and take constructive efforts to introduce lions in Kuno Palpur.

Chouhan wants the government to involve youth of the villages in tourism activities by training them as field guides of the sanctuary.

From the 24 villages, a total of 1,545 families were affected. The villagers were relocated to Karhal tehsil of Sheopur district.

We have left our ancestral homes, anticipating that we are doing it for a bigger cause by understanding the need of the government to provide a safe place for lions and conversation of our natural heritage. But, what we have received nothing in return. There are no signs of lions being introduced in the Kuno. The government has done injustice with us, said Kapoor Singh Yadav, a resident of village Naya Paron situated on the Sheopur-Shivpuri State Highway.

Yadav, along with his family members and 50 odd families of village Paron, which was situated inside the Kuno Palpur Sanctuary, shifted to the new location in 2004.

As per the action plan, the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) endorsed the lion reintroduction program in Kuno. However, the proposal met with resistance from the Gujarat Forest Department (GFD) which was reluctant to provide founder lions from Gir for reintroduction purposes. An affidavit was also filed before the Supreme Court of India objecting the lion reintroduction.

Gujarat government has been refusing to give lions to Madhya Pradesh alleging that it would not be safe to shift the mighty beast to a state which has failed to protect its own tiger population.

After legal tangles spanning for almost two decades, the apex court finally gave its verdict in April 2013 and explicitly directed the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of India (GoI) to expedite the lion reintroduction in Kuno in compliance with the IUCN guidelines of carnivore reintroduction.

Accordingly, the 2016 draft action plan was developed under the directives of the Additional Director General (Wildlife) to guide a successful lion reintroduction in Kuno. The plan, now under implementation, enlists various ecological, biological, management and social facets in accordance with the IUCN/SSC guidelines to develop a time-bound protocol essential for implementing the reintroduction program. Some management actions recommended in the action plan are concomitant and should continue for long-term, it notes.

Gir in Gujarat is the last refuge of the Asian lion population. According to the 14th Lion Estimation Population Report, the lion population has increased by 27 percent from 411 in 2010 to 523 in 2015. The increase in lion numbers inside the protected area has been just six percent (as of 337 to 356), however, the rise outside has been higher 126 percent (from 74 to 167).

A large number of lions wander outside the Gir National Park in the eco-sensitive zone of the Gir Protected Area. In 2018, when the deaths of 23 lions in Gir took place, the Gujarat government maintained it to be a one-off incident. The government allegedly refused to touch and go in deep to dig out the medical analytical cause behind the deaths. After the incident, the Gujarat government launched a Rs. 350 crore (Rs. 3.5 billion) lion conservation project. The project was reviewed by Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani in July 2019, when, during rains visuals of lion frisking in the urban areas of Gir Forest hit social media.

The expert committee has suggested a four-phase plan for the reintroduction of lion in Kuno which involves organisational commitments, ecological monitoring and quantifying social carrying capacity of lion reintroduction, followed by capture, translocation and soft release of lions in Kuno, post-reintroduction monitoring & research, conflict mitigation, followed with an annual review of the project. The first three phases would be undertaken over a period of two years, after which, upto the next 20 years or so the plan highlights genetic management & supplementation, under which six lions (two males and four females) should be supplemented in the Kuno population from Gir until 16-20 years from the first reintroduction at an interval of 4 years.

The report maintains, carnivore reintroduction is an appropriate conservation strategy to restore the integrity of ecosystems. However, many pitfalls exist that can result in the total or partial failure of a reintroduction program and can potentially waste valuable and limited resources.

According to Kuno divisional forest officer, current habitat management initiatives by Madhya Pradesh Forest Department (MPFD) inside Kuno WLS such as weed eradication, fire management, grassland management, waterhole management etc. would continue so as to enhance nutritional carrying capacity for wild ungulates, which would serve as a prey base for the lions

Although the current carrying capacity of lions at Kuno WLS is a maximum of 40 lions, Population Habitat Viability Analysis (PHVA) models for Kuno lions show that the lion population will be viable for long- term only at a minimum figure of around 80 individuals.

Expecting approximately a realised growth that has been observed for recovering tiger populations, along with supplementation every four years from Gir; the lion population in Kuno WLS should reach the current carrying capacity of 40 within 15 years.

To reach the required self-sustaining population size of 80 lions, the time required would be close to 30 years.

Banner image: A lioness and her cub at Gir. Photo by Ivy Dey/Wikimedia Commons.

More here:
Kuno, India's second home for the Asiatic lion, is ready - Mongabay-India

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Sound sensitivity: Many autistic people have trouble tuning out background noise.

/ iStockphoto

A mix of two drugs nixes noise hypersensitivity in an autism mouse model, according to new research1. The findings offer the promise of a similar treatment for autistic people.

People who are unusually sensitive to noise have trouble tuning out background sounds and can become easily overwhelmed. The trait is common among autistic people; up to 70 percent report some kind of sensory sensitivity.

Coming into a party where a lot of people are talking, being able to focus on a single conversation when things around you are loud thats a little bit harder for people with autism, says Michael Halassa, assistant professor of brain and cognitive science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who led the study.

To explore the underpinnings of this trait, Halassas team turned to a mouse model missing the gene PTCHD1. This gene is mutated in 1 percent of autistic people. Most people with the mutation are male, and many also have intellectual disability.

Halassas team found that mice lacking PTCHD1 have an overactive region within the thalamus, a brain area that processes sensory input. As a result, the mice have difficulty filtering out background noise. A new two-drug treatment dampens the animals thalamic activity and increases communication in the prefrontal cortex, enabling the mice to filter sounds as well as controls do.

This type of work is critical for people with autism because sensory abnormalities can be really difficult for people in their daily lives, says Lauren Orefice, assistant professor in genetics at Harvard University, who was not involved in the study. But the work is preliminary, she notes: There is, of course, a lot of work that needs to be done in terms of putting this into patients.

Halassa and his colleagues tested noise hypersensitivity in six mice missing PTCHD1 and six controls. They taught the mice to poke a platform with their nose when they heard a medium-pitched tone, and to refrain from poking when they heard a low- or high-pitched tone.

In an otherwise silent environment, the mutant and control mice perform similarly, the team found. But in the presence of distracting background sounds, the mutant mice poke correctly less often than controls do.

The researchers gave the mice a drug called EBIO, which slows the rate of neurons firing. The drug decreases overactivity in the animals thalamus, boosting their ability to filter sensory input: After a single injection of EBIO, the mutant mice perform as well as controls.

To boost the animals performance further, the researchers changed the setup slightly to engage a second brain circuit: About a half second before they played any of the three tones, they also flashed a light. The visual cue engages the prefrontal cortex, the brain area in charge of planning. Activating that circuit helps the mice anticipate the background noise and recognize the tone.

Remarkably, mice can do better if they are told before noisy trials that there are going to be noisy trials, Halassa says.

Even with the visual cue, the mutant mice do not perform as well as the control mice do, and EBIO only modestly improves their scores. They score only slightly higher when given a different drug, a stimulant called modafinil that enhances cognitive skills such as planning, memory and attention.

But when given both drugs, EBIO and modafinil, the mutant animals perform as well as controls do. The study was published 6 November in Neuron.

This is a big advance for the field, says Audrey Brumback, assistant professor of neurology and pediatrics at the University of Texas at Austin, who was not involved in the research. It breaks down this broadly defined symptom of noise hypersensitivity into its component parts.

The combination cannot be used in people because EBIO can have harmful side effects, including on the cardiovascular system. A similar drug, called chlorzoxazone, could be used with modafinil in people, researchers say, although the side effects require further study. Do the benefits outweigh the costs? Orefice says. In this type of case, it very well could be true.

Visit link:
Drug combination mutes sensitivity to noise in autism mice - Spectrum

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

BOTHELL, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Seattle Genetics, Inc. (Nasdaq:SGEN) today announced that Health Canada has approved the supplemental New Drug Submission that expands the use of ADCETRIS (brentuximab vedotin) in combination with CHP (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, prednisone) chemotherapy for the treatment of previously untreated adult patients with systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma (sALCL), peripheral T-cell lymphoma-not otherwise specified (PTCL-NOS) or angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL), whose tumours express CD30. The approval is based on positive results of the phase 3 ECHELON-2 clinical trial that compared ADCETRIS plus CHP to CHOP (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone). Health Canada granted a Priority Review Designation for this submission. ADCETRIS is an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) directed to CD30, which is expressed on the surface of several types of PTCL.

The Health Canada approval of ADCETRIS (brentuximab vedotin) in combination with CHP chemotherapy in newly diagnosed CD30-expressing peripheral T-cell lymphoma represents the first major advance for Canadian patients with PTCL in decades, said Kerry Savage, M.D., Medical Oncologist at the BC Cancer Agency, Professor of Medicine at the University of British Columbia and investigator on the ECHELON-2 clinical trial. The approval is based on the ECHELON-2 clinical trial that demonstrated ADCETRIS (brentuximab vedotin) plus CHP regimen was superior for both progression-free survival and all key secondary endpoints, including overall survival, when compared to the standard of care CHOP chemotherapy.

The current standard of care for initial treatment of peripheral T-cell lymphoma is multi-agent chemotherapy, which results in low complete remission rates and poor progression-free and overall survival. ECHELON-2 is the first randomized trial to demonstrate an overall survival benefit over established standard therapy, making it a meaningful advance in the treatment of these rare lymphomas, said Roger Dansey, M.D., Chief Medical Officer at Seattle Genetics. With this new indication for ADCETRIS, physicians and eligible patients in Canada now have access to this important new regimen for treating frontline CD30-expressing peripheral T-cell lymphoma, another milestone supporting our plans to continue to expand ADCETRIS globally to patients in need.

In May 2019, Health Canada approved the supplemental New Drug Submission that expanded the use of ADCETRIS in combination with AVD (Adriamycin, vinblastine and dacarbazine) chemotherapy in patients with previously untreated Stage IV Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) based on the results of the phase 3 ECHELON-1 clinical trial.

About T-Cell Lymphomas

There are more than 60 subtypes of non-Hodgkin lymphomas which are broadly divided into two major groups: B-cell lymphomas, which develop from abnormal B-lymphocytes, and T-cell lymphomas, which develop from abnormal T-lymphocytes. There are many different forms of T-cell lymphomas, some of which are extremely rare. T-cell lymphomas can be aggressive (fast-growing) or indolent (slow-growing). PTCL accounts for approximately 10 percent of non-Hodgkin lymphoma cases in the U.S. and Europe and may be as high as 24 percent in parts of Asia.

About ADCETRIS

ADCETRIS is being evaluated broadly in more than 70 clinical trials in CD30-expressing lymphomas. These include three completed phase 3 trials: ECHELON-2 trial in frontline peripheral T-cell lymphomas, ECHELON-1 in previously untreated Hodgkin lymphoma, and ALCANZA in cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.

ADCETRIS is an ADC comprising an anti-CD30 monoclonal antibody attached by a protease-cleavable linker to a microtubule disrupting agent, monomethyl auristatin E (MMAE), utilizing Seattle Genetics proprietary technology. The ADC employs a linker system that is designed to be stable in the bloodstream but to release MMAE upon internalization into CD30-expressing tumor cells.

ADCETRIS injection for intravenous infusion has received FDA approval for six indications in adult patients with: (1) previously untreated systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma (sALCL) or other CD30-expressing peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCL), including angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma and PTCL not otherwise specified, in combination with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and prednisone, (2) previously untreated Stage III or IV classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL), in combination with doxorubicin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine, (3) cHL at high risk of relapse or progression as post-autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (auto-HSCT) consolidation, (4) cHL after failure of auto-HSCT or failure of at least two prior multi-agent chemotherapy regimens in patients who are not auto-HSCT candidates, (5) sALCL after failure of at least one prior multi-agent chemotherapy regimen, and (6) primary cutaneous anaplastic large cell lymphoma (pcALCL) or CD30-expressing mycosis fungoides (MF) who have received prior systemic therapy.

Health Canada granted ADCETRIS approval with conditions in 2013 for patients with (1) HL after failure of autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) or after failure of at least two multi-agent chemotherapy regimens in patients who are not ASCT candidates and (2) sALCL after failure of at least one multi-agent chemotherapy regimen. Non-conditional approval was granted for (3) post-ASCT consolidation treatment of patients with HL at increased risk of relapse or progression in 2017, (4) adult patients with pcALCL or CD30-expressing MF who have received prior systemic therapy in 2018, (5) for previously untreated patients with Stage IV HL in combination with doxorubicin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine in 2019, and (6) for previously untreated adult patients with sALCL, peripheral T-cell lymphoma-not otherwise specified (PTCL-NOS) or angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL), whose tumors express CD30, in combination with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, prednisone in 2019.

ADCETRIS received conditional marketing authorization from the European Commission in October 2012. The approved indications in Europe are: (1) for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory CD30-positive Hodgkin lymphoma following ASCT, or following at least two prior therapies when ASCT or multi-agent chemotherapy is not a treatment option, (2) for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory sALCL, (3) for the treatment of adult patients with CD30-positive Hodgkin lymphoma at increased risk of relapse or progression following ASCT, (4) for the treatment of adult patients with CD30-positive cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) after at least one prior systemic therapy and (5) for the treatment of adult patients with previously untreated CD30-positive Stage IV Hodgkin lymphoma in combination with AVD (Adriamycin, vinblastine and dacarbazine).

ADCETRIS has received marketing authorization by regulatory authorities in 73 countries for relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma and sALCL. See select important safety information, including Boxed Warning, below.

Seattle Genetics and Takeda are jointly developing ADCETRIS. Under the terms of the collaboration agreement, Seattle Genetics has U.S. and Canadian commercialization rights and Takeda has rights to commercialize ADCETRIS in the rest of the world. Seattle Genetics and Takeda are funding joint development costs for ADCETRIS on a 50:50 basis, except in Japan where Takeda is solely responsible for development costs.

About Seattle Genetics

Seattle Genetics, Inc. is an emerging multi-product, global biotechnology company that develops and commercializes transformative therapies targeting cancer to make a meaningful difference in peoples lives. ADCETRIS (brentuximab vedotin) utilizes the companys industry-leading antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) technology and is currently approved for the treatment of multiple CD30-expressing lymphomas. Beyond ADCETRIS, the company has a late-stage pipeline including enfortumab vedotin for metastatic urothelial cancer, currently being reviewed for approval by the FDA, and tisotumab vedotin in clinical trials for metastatic cervical cancer, which utilize our proprietary ADC technology. In addition, tucatinib, a small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor, is in late-stage development for HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer and in clinical development for metastatic colorectal cancer. We are also leveraging our expertise in empowered antibodies to build a portfolio of proprietary immuno-oncology agents in clinical trials targeting hematologic malignancies and solid tumors. The company is headquartered in Bothell, Washington, and has a European office in Switzerland. For more information on our robust pipeline, visit http://www.seattlegenetics.com and follow @SeattleGenetics on Twitter.

ADCETRIS (brentuximab vedotin) U.S. Important Safety Information

BOXED WARNINGPROGRESSIVE MULTIFOCAL LEUKOENCEPHALOPATHY (PML): JC virus infection resulting in PML and death can occur in ADCETRIS-treated patients.

Contraindication

ADCETRIS concomitant with bleomycin due to pulmonary toxicity (e.g., interstitial infiltration and/or inflammation).

Warnings and Precautions

Most Common (20% in any study) Adverse Reactions: Peripheral neuropathy, fatigue, nausea, diarrhea, neutropenia, upper respiratory tract infection, pyrexia, constipation, vomiting, alopecia, decreased weight, abdominal pain, anemia, stomatitis, lymphopenia and mucositis.

Drug Interactions

Concomitant use of strong CYP3A4 inhibitors or inducers has the potential to affect the exposure to monomethyl auristatin E (MMAE).

Use in Specific Populations

Moderate or severe hepatic impairment or severe renal impairment: MMAE exposure and adverse reactions are increased. Avoid use.

Advise males with female sexual partners of reproductive potential to use effective contraception during ADCETRIS treatment and for at least 6 months after the final dose of ADCETRIS.

Advise patients to report pregnancy immediately and avoid breastfeeding while receiving ADCETRIS.

Please see the full Prescribing Information, including BOXED WARNING, for ADCETRIS here.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain of the statements made in this press release are forward looking, such as those, among others, relating to the potential utilization of ADCETRIS (brentuximab vedotin) for previously untreated adult patients with systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma, peripheral T-cell lymphoma-not otherwise specified or angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, whose tumours express CD30 in Canada and the therapeutic potential of ADCETRIS in this indication. Actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected or implied in these forward-looking statements due to factors such as utilization and adoption of the approved treatment regimen by prescribing physicians, competitive conditions including the availability of alternative treatment regimens, the availability and extent of reimbursement, the risk of adverse events, and adverse regulatory action. More information about the risks and uncertainties faced by Seattle Genetics is contained under the caption Risk Factors included in the companys Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2019 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Seattle Genetics disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Read the rest here:
Seattle Genetics Announces Health Canada Approval of ADCETRIS (Brentuximab Vedotin) in Combination with Chemotherapy in Frontline CD30-Expressing...

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Travis Patron was back in Regina Provincial Court today on charges stemming from early this month, but had his matter adjourned to January 30.

The Redvers native was charged by Regina Police with aggravated assault, assault causing bodily harm, and breaching probation.

The Regina Police issued the following release:

A 28 year-old Redvers male is facing charges including Aggravated Assault, following an investigation into an assault on two females, alleged to have occurred earlier this month in Regina.On Saturday, November 2, 2019, at about 2:27 a.m., police were dispatched to the 1900 block of Victoria Avenue for a report of an assault.

The information provided indicated that two females, ages 33 and 43, had just been assaulted by a male.

At approximately 3:13 a.m. police located a male, matching the suspect description, walking westbound on Victoria Avenue.

The officers attempted to speak with him but he refused and carried on.

The victims both had visible injuries from the incident and were taken to hospital for treatment.

Further investigation indicated the females and the suspect male had been in conversation earlier in the evening.

The male offered them rides home and, when they declined, the alleged assault occurred.

Police were able to obtain the identity of the suspect and arranged for him to be interviewed.

On November 9th, the male was arrested and subsequently charged.

Patron released a statement on November 13, saying"I will challenge any charges before me in a court of law. I ask the public to suspend their judgement. Thank you."

Read more from the original source:
Assault Case Adjourned for Nationalist Party Founder - DiscoverEstevan.com

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith