To state the obvious, poop problems are the worst. Whilecramping, constipation, and diarrhea are a drag for everyone, those who suffer from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) have to live with those symptoms on a daily basis. IBS is a gastrointestinal syndrome characterized by chronic abdominal pain and altered bowel habits in the absence of any organic cause, says Niket Sonpal, M.D. It is the most commonly diagnosed gastrointestinal condition. The prevalence of IBS in the United States is estimated from population-based studies to be approximately 10 to 15 percent but, in my experience, I feel the prevalence is much higher.

Unfortunately, women are twice as likely as men to have IBS, according to theU.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Women can attribute their likelihood of getting IBS to the fact thathormonescontribute to flare-ups and estrogen and progesterone both rise and fall during the monthly menstrual cycle, says Sonpal. Because these hormone receptors are found in the G.I. tract, their fluctuations manifest symptoms. Furthermore, womens symptoms can differentiate from one another because, in addition to hormonal fluctuations, IBS flare-ups can be influenced by emotional health and the guts microbiome as well.

IBS is what Sonpal calls a diagnosis of exclusion, meaning a physician should rule out all other possible causes of symptoms first. Because of that and the way women uniquely experience IBS, it can be difficult to diagnose. After all, how do you tell if its IBS or intense period cramps or anxiety?

Here are some classic symptoms that can help you tell whats what:

See the article here:
7 IBS Symptoms Every Woman Should Know About - Women's Health

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

Ball-and-stick model of the L-ascorbic acid (vitamin C) molecule, C6H8O6, as found in the crystal structure. Credit: public domain

Vitamin C may "tell" faulty stem cells in the bone marrow to mature and die normally, instead of multiplying to cause blood cancers. This is the finding of a study led by researchers from Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone Health, and published online August 17 in the journal Cell.

Certain genetic changes are known to reduce the ability of an enzyme called TET2 to encourage stem cells to become mature blood cells, which eventually die, in many patients with certain kinds of leukemia, say the authors. The new study found that vitamin C activated TET2 function in mice engineered to be deficient in the enzyme.

"We're excited by the prospect that high-dose vitamin C might become a safe treatment for blood diseases caused by TET2-deficient leukemia stem cells, most likely in combination with other targeted therapies," says corresponding study author Benjamin G. Neel, MD, PhD, professor in the Department of Medicine and director of the Perlmutter Cancer Center.

Changes in the genetic code (mutations) that reduce TET2 function are found in 10 percent of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), 30 percent of those with a form of pre-leukemia called myelodysplastic syndrome, and in nearly 50 percent of patients with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia. Such cancers cause anemia, infection risk, and bleeding as abnormal stem cells multiply in the bone marrow until they interfere with blood cell production, with the number of cases increasing as the population ages.

Along with these diseases, new tests suggest that about 2.5 percent of all U.S. cancer patients - or about 42,500 new patients each year - may develop TET2 mutations, including some with lymphomas and solid tumors, say the authors.

Cell Death Switch

The study results revolve around the relationship between TET2 and cytosine, one of the four nucleic acid "letters" that comprise the DNA code in genes. Every cell type has the same genes, but each gets different instructions to turn on only those needed in a given cellular context.

These "epigenetic" regulatory mechanisms include DNA methylation, the attachment of a small molecule termed a methyl group to cytosine bases that shuts down the action of a gene containing them.

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The back- and-forth attachment and removal of methyl groups also fine-tunes gene expression in stem cells, which can mature, specialize and multiply to become muscle, bone, nerve, or other cell types. This happens as the body first forms, but the bone marrow also keeps pools of stem cells on hand into adulthood, ready to become replacement cells as needed. In leukemia, signals that normally tell a blood stem cell to mature malfunction, leaving it to endlessly multiply and "self-renew" instead of producing normal white blood cells needed to fight infection.

The enzyme studied in this report, Tet methylcytosine dioxygenase 2 (TET2), enables a change in the molecular structure (oxidation) of methyl groups that is needed for them to be removed from cytosines. This "demethylation" turns on genes that direct stem cells to mature, and to start a count-down toward self-destruction as part of normal turnover. This serves as an anti-cancer safety mechanism, one that is disrupted in blood cancer patients with TET2 mutations, says Neel.

To determine the effect of mutations that reduce TET2 function in abnormal stem cells, the research team genetically engineered mice such that the scientists could switch the TET2 gene on or off.

Similar to the naturally occurring effects of TET2 mutations in mice or humans, using molecular biology techniques to turn off TET2 in mice caused abnormal stem cell behavior. Remarkably, these changes were reversed when TET2 expression was restored by a genetic trick. Previous work had shown that vitamin C could stimulate the activity of TET2 and its relatives TET1 and TET3. Because only one of the two copies of the TET2 gene in each stem cell is usually affected in TET2-mutant blood diseases, the authors hypothesized that high doses of vitamin C, which can only be given intravenously, might reverse the effects of TET2 deficiency by turning up the action of the remaining functional gene.

Indeed, they found that vitamin C did the same thing as restoring TET2 function genetically. By promoting DNA demethylation, high-dose vitamin C treatment induced stem cells to mature, and also suppressed the growth of leukemia cancer stem cells from human patients implanted in mice.

"Interestingly, we also found that vitamin C treatment had an effect on leukemic stem cells that resembled damage to their DNA," says first study author Luisa Cimmino, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Pathology at NYU Langone Health. "For this reason, we decided to combine vitamin C with a PARP inhibitor, a drug type known to cause cancer cell death by blocking the repair of DNA damage, and already approved for treating certain patients with ovarian cancer."

Researchers found that the combination had an enhanced effect on leukemia stem cells, further shifting them from self-renewal back toward maturity and cell death. The results also suggest that vitamin C might drive leukemic stem cells without TET2 mutations toward death, says Cimmino, given that it turns up any TET2 activity normally in place.

"Our team is working to systematically identify genetic changes that contribute to risk for leukemia in significant groups of patients," says corresponding author Iannis Aifantis, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Pathology at NYU Langone Health. "This study adds the targeting of abnormal TET2-driven DNA demethylation to our list of potential new treatment approaches."

Explore further: A tumor-suppressing gene can be harmful in some cancers

Journal reference: Cell

Provided by: NYU Langone Health / NYU School of Medicine

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Vitamin C may encourage blood cancer stem cells to die - Medical Xpress

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

HELENA ExplorationWorks is hosting the Be The Match bone marrow donor drive this week at the Great Northern Town Center.

The drive is intended to support those in need of bone marrow or blood stem cell transplants around the world. Its being held in conjunction with ExplorationWorks Kids Kicking Cancer Camp.

The camp is open to children who are directly affected by cancer in their lives. Campers had the opportunity to make a card for Be the Match child who is currently undergoing or awaiting treatment.

Our hope is that the kids attending our camp will be able to connect with the Be The Match kids on a level most other children wouldnt understand. Knowing someone else is fighting the same fight will hopefully be a healing activity for all of the kids involved, said ExplorationWorks Education Director Lauren Rivers.

John Philpott of Be the Match said that sadly, some of the Be The Match kids children are still waiting to be matched with a donor.

There are still thousands of patients every year who have to hear their doctor say theres no match for you, said Phillpott, One Montanan [donation] can mean the difference for one patient.

According to Be the Match, someone is diagnosed with blood cancer every three minutes and every 10 minutes someone dies from not receiving a transplant.

The Marrow Donor Registry Drive will continue at ExplorationWorks from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and from 12:30 to 3 p.m. on Saturday.

Registration takes around 10 minutes to complete and only involves some paper work and a few cheek swabs. You must be between the ages of 18 and 44 in order to register.

For more information about bone marrow donation and how to register click here.

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Bone marrow drive held at ExplorationWorks - KTVH

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

Until last week, leukemia survivor Fengfeng (not his real name) knew almost nothing about the person who saved his life 13 years ago. Holding a bouquet of flowers, Fengfeng spotted a woman in her 40s. He rushed to her and hugged her. He sensed this was the person he had been waiting for.

Thirteen years ago, Fengfeng was a 15-year-old middle school student in Chongqing. He was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia, a type of cancer affecting the blood-forming cells of the bone marrow.

He has no siblings, and half-match transplant techniques using a patient's parent as the donor had not matured yet. So the only hope was to find a close match outside the immediate family, the possibility of which was only one in 100,000.

Doctors found details of Han Lu, then a 32-year-old nurse at a Chongqing dental hospital, in the city's databank for China's marrow donor programme.

On a winter day in 2004, Han's stem cells were transplanted into Fengfeng's body, saving his life. It was the first unrelated donor stem cell transplant to treat chronic myeloid leukemia in Chongqing.

"I always had a wish after the transplant," Fengfeng said. "I wanted to say 'thank you' to my donor face to face."

However, like others in the same situation, they remained strangers, though they lived in the same city, as international practice and China's stem cell donation rules prohibit donors and recipients from meeting until at least a year after a successful transplant.

Han had long wished to meet Fengfeng, but the boy's health was not stable, making their meeting impossible until now.

They managed to exchange gifts with the help of the Chongqing Red Cross Society.

Fengfeng bought a necklace and a photography book for Han on a trip to Thailand, while Han turned a red cashmere sweater she owned into 25 knitted roses with red straws for stems as a gift for Fengfeng's 25th birthday.

"Cashmere signifies warmth and the red straws look like blood vessels," said Han, who felt gratified when she learned that Fengfeng survived and has had a happy life.

This year, Fengfeng asked the city's Red Cross to help arrange a meeting with his hero. After obtaining Han's consent, Fengfeng's dream came true.

According to Huang Gangyi, deputy director of the Chongqing databank for China's marrow donor programme, most stem cell recipients are unwilling to go public.

"They don't want others to know that they had the disease," Huang said. "But meetings can help people better understand stem cell transplants and raise awareness about the need for donors.

"Many people have misunderstandings about it, thinking transplants will be harmful to the donor's health."

Last year, China's marrow donor programme had more than 2.3 million potential donors, the Red Cross Society of China said in May. The programme has facilitated more than 6,000 hematopoietic stem cell donations for patients at home and abroad.

Moved by the story of Fengfeng and Han, many people have called Huang in the past week and asked how they can become potential cell stem donors.

Fengfeng had type O blood before the transplant. Eventually, his blood type changed to B, the same as Han's.

"She gave me a second chance at life, and now I have a lifelong friend and a new family member," Fengfeng said.

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Stem cell recipient, donor meet 13 years after transplant - AsiaOne

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A US study has shown high dose Vitamin C halts the progression of blood cancer in mice by encouraging "faulty" stem cells in the bone marrow to die.

The findings, published in journal Cell, has raised the possibility of new new combination therapies for leukaemia patients carrying a specific gene mutation known as TET2.

"We're excited by the prospect that high-dose vitamin C might become a safe treatment for blood diseases caused by TET2-deficient leukemia stem cells, most likely in combination with other targeted therapies," said Dr Benjamin Neel, director of the Perlmutter Cancer Center.

The TET2 gene carries a protein that produces and matures stem cells, a process beneficial to blood cancer patients.

It's estimated TET2 mutations are found in 10 per cent of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), 30 per cent of those with a form of pre-leukemia called myelodysplastic syndrome, and in nearly 50 per cent of patients with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia.

Previous research had suggested that TET2 could be activated by high-doses of Vitamin C.

"So we had the idea that high-dose Vitamin C be used as a therapy for some forms of Myelodysplastic syndrome and acute myeloid leukemia, particularly those forms who have mutations in this gene called TET2," said Dr Neel.

In the lab, scientists at the Perlmutter Cancer Center in New York added high doses of the Vitamin C to human leukemia cells carrying the TET2 mutations.

"We saw that that stops the growth," said pathologist Dr Iannis Aifantis.

A similar result was produced when tested on genetically engineered mice, according to the study.

It was also found the Vitamin C treatment had an effect on leukemic stem cells that resembled damage to their DNA, says first study author Luisa Cimmino.

"For this reason, we decided to combine Vitamin C with a PARP inhibitor, a drug type known to cause cancer cell death by blocking the repair of DNA damage, and already approved for treating certain patients with ovarian cancer," she said.

The combination had an enhanced effect on leukemia stem cells, further shifting them from self-renewal back toward maturity and cell death.

Scientists are now trying to apply the findings in clinic, with plans underway for a human clinical trial later this year.

Read more:
Vitamin C stops blood cancer in mice - SBS

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

A Vallejo man accused of brutally beating and robbing two women, killing one of them, will spend the rest of his life in prison

William D. King, 21, who pleaded no contest in July to charges of murder, attempted murder, and first-degree robbery was ordered Thursday in Solano County Superior Court to serve the maximum penalty: a determinate term of 10 years in state prison, plus two life without the possibility of parole sentences.

On Feb. 2, 2016, around 11:15 a.m., King approached Christine Joens from behind as she opened her door after making a transaction at the Wells Fargo bank in the 1700 block of Vallejo. Described as a bear hug by Joens, King held down her arms at her side and then proceeded to strike her 15-18 times with a hammer in her head area before fleeing with the $200 she was holding in her hand at the time.

I didnt see him at all, Joens said Thursday.

Joens was able to crawl back to the door of the bank, and the police were called. She was transported to an area hospital, where she required 37 staples in her head and additional treatment, but survived.

The following day, King beat 63-year-old Cheryl Sherwood with a baseball bat in the Macys parking lot at the Solano Town Center before fleeing with her purse. King had hidden in a nearby staircase before choosing his victim and descending upon Sherwood, according to police.

Sherwood suffered from several skull fractures and contusions to her shoulders, abdomen, knee, and wrist and succumbed to her injuries Feb. 5, 2016.

King was arrested that same day and told police his motive for the vicious attacks were drugs and money.

In what Solano County District attorney Krishna Abrams described as an emotionally filled courtroom, many family members and other loved ones read prepared statements, as well as the defendant, King.

I feel terribly sorry for the pain Ive caused the victims and their families, his said. Every day, I think about the crimes Ive committed and how ashamed I am.

Lee Sherwood, the ex-husband of Cheryl Sherwood, didnt find comfort in Kings statement.

Hes a taker. Cheryl will be remembered as a giver, he said following the sentencing.

In his impact statement he read to the court room, Lee Sherwood mentioned how his ex-wife was a bone marrow and stem cell donor, she gave life to others who without her would have died.

Once the sentencing concluded, outside the courtroom, the families of both victims rejoiced and comforted one another.

For me, its closure, Lee Sherwood said. Now its time to move forward and have her memory live on.

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Im just relieved for the families, Abrams said. And knowing that hes going away forever.

Despite surviving the savage attack that has left her with post traumatic stress disorder, and other negative effects that will likely remain with her for the rest of her life, Joens remains optimistic.

This is all coming to an end finally, she revealed. Now, I just want to move on with my husband and make every day count.

See the article here:
Vallejo man receives maximum sentence for beating, robbing two women, killing one of them - TheReporter.Com

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

What with white supremacy suddenly, depressingly prominent in the news this week, theres been an uptick of interest in the psychology of the tiki torch-wielding members of the so-called alt-right. Where do they organize? (The deep web, at least for now.) What do they want? (The same shitty stuff Nazis and other white supremacists have always wanted.) And, perhaps most interestingly: How do they react when genetic testing tells them theyre not as racially pure as theyve always believed themselves to be?

Business Insider reports on a new study out of UCLA, coincidentally released just in time for this latest burst of national Nazi attention, on how members of the white supremacist forum Stormfront have reacted to their less-than ideal genetic testing results over the years. (A study that involved at least one of the researchers spending four hours a day reading Stormfront in 2016, which seems pretty close to our personal definitions of hell.) Riffing on a famous video of noted racist Craig Cobb being told on The Trisha Goddard Show that hes only 86 percent European, the study suggests that Cobbs reactiona mixture of outright denial, and questions about the validity of the testsis pretty much par for the course.

It also notes, though, that while newer comers to the movement are often attacked and ostracized for their results coming back anything less than pure, older members are often comforted by their long-time friends, who help them to think through the results. The mental gymnastics on display are gut-churningly fascinating, as their fellow racists offer up platitudes that basically tell their comrades that theyre as white and racist as they think they are, regardless of what the tests say. (Others, meanwhile, question the science behind the assessments, bringing themselves weirdly into line with various critics of spit-in-a-cup genetic testing.) The most bizarre, arguments, though, actually come around to something like a pro-diversity stance, or at least the bigoted shadow version of one:

Still others used these test results to put forth a twisted notion of diversity, one that allows them to say, no, were really diverse and we dont need non-white people to have a diverse society, the studys author wrote.

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White supremacists don't take their impure genetic testing results very well - A.V. Club

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San Francisco Business Times

Color of money: Genetic testing company works on $80 million round of financing San Francisco Business Times Laurene Powell Jobs' Emerson Collective is among a group of investors in an $80 million round that will help genetic testing company Color Genomics Inc. develop new tests and services. The Series C round, including venture capitalists Hemant Taneja of ... High-profile investors, including Laurene Powell Jobs, just put $80 million into Color GenomicsCNBC all 4 news articles »

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Color of money: Genetic testing company works on $80 million round of financing - San Francisco Business Times

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

Dear Amy: About a year ago, I used one of those genetic testing services. The website shows other users who share genetics with you, and allows everyone to contact one another.

Recently, I got a message from another user (a woman in her 60s in another state), that showed we were a very close genetic match.

She emailed me, saying she was looking for information on her father, whom she had never met. She said her mother had a very brief relationship with a U.S. marine during the Korean War. It turned out he had probably used a fake name. They had no photos, and they were never able to track him down. Her mother later moved to the United States.

The woman, Janet, asked if it was possible if my grandfather (who is now dead) was her father. She knew very little except for what her mother (also now dead) had told her, including specific identifying physical characteristics. My grandfather was a Korean War veteran and had the exact characteristics she described (including a distinctive tattoo).

My grandfather wouldve been married to my grandmother (who is still alive) when Janet was been conceived. An uncle of mine was born a year before Janet.

I always saw my grandfather as a good, caring family man. I have not told anyone about this. I do not want to tarnish his memory, upset my grandmother or change how my family views him, when hes not around to defend himself.

Janet would like to meet my aunts and uncles, but I have told her I am not comfortable giving her their contact information. She has recently started pleading with me, and I truly feel awful for not giving it to her.

What do I do here?

Torn

Torn: One (perhaps unforeseen) aspect of using genetic testing is the way the results can open up confounding human dilemmas concerning long-buried family secrets. Recently, I was at a gathering where several people had used a genetic matching site and all of them noted shocking, unanticipated results, including being matched with (half) siblings they hadnt known about. And yet all reported that this ultimately was a positive experience.

In your case, Janet has already received useful genetic information. She now (quite understandably) wants more. You should at least answer any questions youre able to answer.

If you arent willing to even ask your aunts and uncles if they would be open to contact with her, then she will have to find another conduit to them.

It would be best if your family was open to the idea that people are complicated and dont always do the right thing but this is the fullness of the human experience, and ultimately this is something to explore and embrace, rather than deny.

Dear Amy: My husband and I recently became friends with another couple. As a group, we get along famously.

However, lately I do not feel that my friend likes me. She makes remarks about how I dont exercise my dog, how I dont treat my husband right, how I treat my son, how they cant take me anywhere, and the list goes on.

I try not to trigger these comments and shrug them off, as they account for only a few unpleasant moments during several good hours spent together.

I like many other things about this person, but I do not like how she makes me feel when we are together. How do I let her know, without hurting her feelings, and how do I phrase asking her to stop throwing darts my way? Or am I just being too sensitive?

Had Enough

Had Enough: I dont think its a lot to ask for someone to refrain from trashing you so no, you are not being too sensitive.

Tell your friend, I usually enjoy our time together. But you seem to find a lot wrong with me. Honestly, I dont like to be criticized, but especially in front of our husbands. Whats up with that?

She may say, as many do, Hey, I call em like I see em. Then you can tell her, Well, thats a trait that I dont appreciate. Its hurtful, and so I wish you would stop.

Dear Amy: Priority Parent described policing children on the playground. Is this priority parenting or helicopter parenting? Im quite sick of this sort of over-involvement.

Normal Parent

Normal Parent: This particular parent had a special-needs child. He is doing his job to pay close attention to potential dangers on the playground.

2017 by Amy Dickinson distributed by Tribune Content Agency

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Ask Amy: DNA testing reveals family secret - Washington Post

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

The old rats appeared newly invigorated after receiving their injections. As hoped, the cardiac stem cells improved heart function yet also provided additional benefits. The rats' fur fur, shaved for surgery, grew back more quickly than expected, and their chromosomal telomeres, which commonly shrink with age, lengthened.

The old rats receiving the cardiac stem cells also had increased stamina overall, exercising more than before the infusion.

"It's extremely exciting," said Dr. Eduardo Marbn, primary investigator on the research and director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute. Witnessing "the systemic rejuvenating effects," he said, "it's kind of like an unexpected fountain of youth."

"We've been studying new forms of cell therapy for the heart for some 12 years now," Marbn said.

Some of this research has focused on cardiosphere-derived cells.

"They're progenitor cells from the heart itself," Marbn said. Progenitor cells are generated from stem cells and share some, but not all, of the same properties. For instance, they can differentiate into more than one kind of cell like stem cells, but unlike stem cells, progenitor cells cannot divide and reproduce indefinitely.

Since heart failure with preserved ejection fraction is similar to aging, Marbn decided to experiment on old rats, ones that suffered from a type of heart problem "that's very typical of what we find in older human beings: The heart's stiff, and it doesn't relax right, and it causes fluid to back up some," Marbn explained.

He and his team injected cardiosphere-derived cells from newborn rats into the hearts of 22-month-old rats -- that's elderly for a rat. Similar old rats received a placebo injection of saline solution. Then, Marbn and his team compared both groups to young rats that were 4 months old. After a month, they compared the rats again.

Even though the cells were injected into the heart, their effects were noticeable throughout the body, Marbn said

"The animals could exercise further than they could before by about 20%, and one of the most striking things, especially for me (because I'm kind of losing my hair) the animals ... regrew their fur a lot better after they'd gotten cells" compared with the placebo rats, Marbn said.

The rats that received cardiosphere-derived cells also experienced improved heart function and showed longer heart cell telomeres.

Why did it work?

The working hypothesis is that the cells secrete exosomes, tiny vesicles that "contain a lot of nucleic acids, things like RNA, that can change patterns of the way the tissue responds to injury and the way genes are expressed in the tissue," Marbn said.

It is the exosomes that act on the heart and make it better as well as mediating long-distance effects on exercise capacity and hair regrowth, he explained.

Looking to the future, Marbn said he's begun to explore delivering the cardiac stem cells intravenously in a simple infusion -- instead of injecting them directly into the heart, which would be a complex procedure for a human patient -- and seeing whether the same beneficial effects occur.

Dr. Gary Gerstenblith, a professor of medicine in the cardiology division of Johns Hopkins Medicine, said the new study is "very comprehensive."

"Striking benefits are demonstrated not only from a cardiac perspective but across multiple organ systems," said Gerstenblith, who did not contribute to the new research. "The results suggest that stem cell therapies should be studied as an additional therapeutic option in the treatment of cardiac and other diseases common in the elderly."

Todd Herron, director of the University of Michigan Frankel Cardiovascular Center's Cardiovascular Regeneration Core Laboratory, said Marbn, with his previous work with cardiac stem cells, has "led the field in this area."

"The novelty of this bit of work is, they started to look at more precise molecular mechanisms to explain the phenomenon they've seen in the past," said Herron, who played no role in the new research.

One strength of the approach here is that the researchers have taken cells "from the organ that they want to rejuvenate, so that makes it likely that the cells stay there in that tissue," Herron said.

He believes that more extensive study, beginning with larger animals and including long-term followup, is needed before this technique could be used in humans.

"We need to make sure there's no harm being done," Herron said, adding that extending the lifetime and improving quality of life amounts to "a tradeoff between the potential risk and the potential good that can be done."

Capicor hasn't announced any plans to do studies in aging, but the possibility exists.

After all, the cells have been proven "completely safe" in "over 100 human patients," so it would be possible to fast-track them into the clinic, Marbn explained: "I can't tell you that there are any plans to do that, but it could easily be done from a safety viewpoint."

See the article here:
Cardiac stem cells rejuvenate rats' aging hearts, study says - CNN

Recommendation and review posted by sam

I have a radio station in my head. Ten years ago, before I pursued recovery for bulimia, this radio station played very loudly. Today, its still there, but very faint white noise. A vast majority of the time, I dont pay attention to it and keep moving. But sometimes, in quiet moments, it can sound like the radio station is tuned between stationsits mostly grainy, but I can decipher some words. Sometimes I even stop and listen to it for a few minutes.

The radio station, when its discernible, says stuff like exercise every day or you should feel bad for eating that or your bellys disgusting." One of the things I did 10 years ago when the radio station was blaring nearly every day was enter Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which is a type of talk therapy, according to the Mayo clinic, that helps you recognize negative thinking so you can better cope with challenges. According to a 2010 study published in Psychiatric Clinics of North America, CBT has been found to have a sustained and marked effect on certain eating disorder behaviors, and the Mayo Clinic notes its effectiveness for people with eating disorders in general. Ive teamed up with Cecilia Dintino, Psy.D, a psychologist who practices CBT with many eating disordered patients, to share some of the activities I do whenever Dana FM gets a little too loud.

Lie in bed with a heating pad/hot water bottle. As an eating disordered person, I thought doing anything to my body that wouldnt cause a change in my appearance was pointless. But I learned that getting cozy is a powerful tool.

Dr. Dintino: Placing heat on the body calms the nervous system and soothes the body. Soothing the body calms the mind.

Use Yoga Toes. Sometimes the best thing to do when experiencing negative thoughts is to be still. I sit with these foot stretchers on and read a magazine or watch tv and its great because you cant walk around with them while youre wearing them.

Dr. Dintino: I like this method of instilling stillness. We all have trouble slowing down and when we keep our feet running our brain follows. While you let your toes stretch, practice cultivating a mindful presence. The benefits of mindfulness are plentiful, and include self-awareness, self-control and distress tolerance.

Light a candle/incense/burn some sage. I am a big fan of incense. Ill burn a stick and promise Ill engage in a positive behavior (like cleaning my bedroom) for at least the duration of time it takes for the whole stick to burn.

Dr. Dintino: Smell is the most powerful of the senses and we often underestimate its potency. Observing scents provides focus and soothing. And housecleaning provides many benefits. Fully participating in the activity of cleaning provides a distraction and leads to a sense of mastery. A clean room regulates our bodies and minds.

Hula hoop. Its a low-impact exercise that doesnt feel like exercise. Itll get excess nervous energy out and its difficult to sustain for extended periods of time. Your body will tell you when youre finished. I only hula hoop for the duration of one or two songs.

Dr. Dintino: Love this. Hula-hooping is a form of movement that can serve to shift energy, increase heart variability and get the endorphins flowing. It also takes skill and concentration so the mind has to pivot from automatic thoughts to the strategic rhythm and balance that hooping requires.

Turn on the radio and sing along with it. The best way to drown out the voice in your head is to sing louder than it.

Dr. Dintino: There is endless research declaring musics capacity to elicit, shift and transform emotions. Singing is an ancient method of healing. Every major sacred ritual includes a chant or a song. Singing lowers stress, releases muscle tension and decreases the stress hormone cortisol.

Call a friend. Or even betterwrite a friend a letter. Resist the urge to text; sometimes its better to hear a voice on the other end of the phone. Ive had a pen pal (that I met in eating disorder rehab) for the last 11 years and I love it because its like writing a diary entry without the pressure of keeping a diary and receiving mail is the BEST.

Dr. Dintino: Reciprocal relationships are significantly correlated with well-being and life satisfaction. Contributing to others improves mood. Even thinking about others that we love or love us increases a feel good hormone called oxytocin. Writing down our thoughts and feelings has been proven to promote psychological healing and post-traumatic growth.

Take a bubble bath. I also recommend putting on a face mask because you cant do anything self-harming until it dries (and by the time it dries, you probably wont feel like doing that anyway).

Dr. Dintino: Water is an all-time tincture for emotional distress. Hot water works for anxiety, cold water for anger.Overall, all of these activities will serve to build new habits that in time will replace the old, says Dr. Dintino. Remember, unlearning is harder than learning. Doing new and different things gives our brains and bodies more options.

Related: Lena Dunham Talked About How She Copes With OCD

Follow this link:
7 Tips to Help Cope With Your Eating Disorder - TeenVogue.com

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

Joy Victory is Deputy Managing Editor of HealthNewsReview.org. She tweets at @thejoyvictory.

In Austin where I live, the Texas Fertility Center has been promotinga free ovarian reserve testing event to women who are concerned about their chances for getting pregnanteither now or in the somewhat-distant future.

I caught wind of this promotion, which also was the focus of a recent KTBC Fox 7 Austin news segment, after a friend of a friend shared the clinics post about the event on Facebook.

A recent Facebook post from Texas Fertility Center on ovarian reserve testing.

A quick online search reveals this isnt just going on in Austin. A clinic in Atlanta, for example, offers a monthly seminar open to anyone, where theyll receive a voucher for a Free Blood Test to check their eggs, and a Connecticut clinic held a free event last year for women to take a baby deadline test.

I would urge women (and journalists) to be cautious about these events. For a woman who isnt actively trying to become pregnant, they come with questionable benefits and significant potential risks. These risks arent addressed in any of the promotional materials I read, nor in the KTBC news segment.

What the tests typically measure: FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) and estradiol (estrogen) on day 3 of the menstrual cycle, and AMH (anti-Mullerian hormone), measured any time.

Notably, these tests arent specialtheyre available at most ob/gyn offices. Like any screening test, theyre not perfectly accurateand theyre far from definitive.Theyre considered only part of the testing process to search out causes of infertility.

When marketed by fertility clinics, they take on a different scope: To get new patients in the door. They do this in what I would say is a deceptive way, by framing these tests inaccurately as special baby deadline tests and egg checks and other simplified misnomers that play off the fears of women who arent ready yet to start a family, but may want to one day.

Undergoing these tests at a fertility clinic event can unfold in potentially harmful ways. First, the clinics have a business incentive to encourage their new clients to freeze their eggs or take other pricey steps to preserve their fertility sooner rather than later, regardless of what their ovarian reserve testing reveals.

This was a potential risk we pointed out in our 2016 review of an NBC News story that told female readers they can beat their biological clock with an AMH baby deadline test, but didnt point out any negative consequences of such testing.

Women may act upon the test resultsfor example, undergoing invasive and expensive treatments like egg retrieval and freezingwhen those actions may have not been necessary, reviewers noted.

On the flip side, women who find out they have a normal ovarian reserve may leave the screening event reassured that they should be in no rush to try and have a baby. But thats also potentially harmful, because there are far more factors involved in getting pregnant than what these tests can reveal.

Its false reassurance because other factorsfor example tubal scarring from endometriosis or past infectionthat have nothing to do with the quality of eggs may be the cause of infertility, said Dr. Karen Carlson, MD, a HealthNewsReview.org contributor and Director of Womens Health Associates at Massachusetts General Hospital and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Not to mention male factor that causes about 25% of infertility, she added.

Who should get the tests, and when? Carlson explained that the general clinical guideline is that for any couple where the woman is under 35, fertility is not considered to be a problem until there has a been a full year of unprotected intercourse without a pregnancy. An exception is made if a woman has a history of irregular cycles or other conditions that might predispose to infertility.

Promoting these events to the general public, including anyone who wants to learn more about the test and fertility testing in general, as the Texas Fertility Clinic representative described it in the KTBC interview, will invariably attract women who dont fit the profile for testing.

As pointed out in this in-depth look at ovarian reserve screening in the newsletter OB/GYN Clinical Alert, the evidence indicates that these tests should not be used indiscriminately.

There are several reasons why. One big drawback is that test results can fluctuate considerably from menstrual cycle to menstrual cycle, explains Robert W. Rebar, MD, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Western Michigan University. Also, evidence of a lower egg count doesnt necessarily equate with inability to conceive, he noted.

It means that these tests have very little value in providing predictions regarding the possibility of future pregnancy for individual women. It means that we are likely to worry more normal women unnecessarily when suspicious results are obtained on ovarian reserve testing of large numbers of women, he says.

These observations lead to the obvious final conclusion: Use these tests with caution and in limited scope.

Human beings are naturally equipped with a system to regulate fluid intake. Its thirst, and

Cancer recurrence. Antibiotic resistance. Heart failure. Attractivelips. All have been the subject of recently published

Wellness programs in the United States are an $8 billion industry. Over 50 million Americans

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Why you should be wary of 'ovarian reserve testing' events at fertility clinics - HealthNewsReview.org

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

CHICAGO, Aug. 16, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --In a sign of growing acceptance for transgender children, a new survey conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of the American Osteopathic Association finds 53% of American adults would support their teenage child's request to transition to another gender.

Early intervention and family support are shown to improve mental, physical and emotional outcomes for children with gender dysphoria, broadly defined as a conflict between a person's anatomy and the gender with which they identify.

The importance of family"Parents have a significant role in raising transgender kids," says Laura Arrowsmith, DO, who practices at a transgender clinic in Oklahoma. "Once they get on boardoften after stages of denial, rejection, condemnation and griefthey become powerful advocates at school and with extended family. This is crucial to the child's well-being."

Historically, transgender youth and adults experience higher rates of homelessness, substance abuse, HIV infection, depression, anxiety, self-harm and thoughts of suicide than the general population. Rejection by family and community are considered the main catalysts for these issues.

"Watch your child for eating disorders, self-harm, substance abuse and suicidal tendencies," says Dr. Arrowsmith. "A mental health counselor who is familiar with transgender people and local support groups can make all the difference."

Transgender and gender-expansive children do best when their family helps them cope with social pressure and bullying while affirming their journey. Simple actions can ensure a child feels safe and loved. In many cases, patience, support and careful listening are the best 'medicine'.

What parents need to know"Trans children are living in a body that doesn't match how they view themselves," says Dr. Arrowsmith. "To address the dysphoria, some may wish to transition socially or to medically transition through gender-confirmation surgery and/or hormone treatment."

For children who have not reached puberty, gender transition consists solely of social changes like name, pronoun and gender expression.

The clinical protocol for children indicates that when a child who has socially transitioned is "consistently" and "persistently insisting" they are transgender, they can be placed on puberty-blocking medications to postpone physical traits.

These medications prevent the child from developing the secondary sex characteristics of their birth gender, such as breasts for females or facial hair for males. Stopping the onset of puberty is reversible and makes medical treatment simpler if the patient decides to fully transition. On average, adolescents stay on the puberty-blocking medications from one to three years.

"We know that if a child persists through puberty in identifying as the sex not assigned to them at birth, then it's pretty certain that they are transgender," says Dr. Arrowsmith. "Should they decide to change course and stop the puberty-blocking medications, they will simply go through a delayed puberty of their birth gender."

What parents can doParents should understand that early intervention eases transition. A young patient may choose to delay the onset of puberty through puberty blockers, which prevent biological changes and allow additional time to consider transitioningor not. Adolescents who initiate hormone therapy prior to puberty do not require the same level of medical care as a fully developed adult. Females transitioning to males take testosterone while males transitioning to females receive estrogen with an androgen inhibitor. Unlike social transitioning and puberty suppression, hormone therapy is only partially reversible after puberty.

Parents first need to educate themselves on gender dysphoria, gender identity and the complexities of living transgender. Often, support groups are the turning point for families who are struggling with accepting their transgender children, says Dr. Arrowsmith. Once they meet other parents and see children who have transitioned, they are more likely to be supportive.

Support is available to guide families and children through gender transition. Depending on the person's age and individual needs, the steps may include medical, social, surgical and legal changes. For more information, speak with your physician. Additional resources are available online, including the Human Rights Campaign's detailed reference guide Supporting & Caring for Transgender Children.

Survey MethodologyThis survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Poll on behalf of American Osteopathic Association from June 20-22, 2017among 2,192 adults ages 18 and older. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contactJessica Bardoulas.

About the American Osteopathic AssociationThe American Osteopathic Association (AOA) represents more than 129,000 osteopathic physicians (DOs) and osteopathic medical students; promotes public health; encourages scientific research; serves as the primary certifying body for DOs; and is the accrediting agency for osteopathic medical schools. VisitDoctorsThatDO.orgto learn more.

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/survey-finds-over-half-of-american-adults-would-support-their-teenagers-request-to-transition-to-another-gender-300505118.html

SOURCE American Osteopathic Association

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Survey Finds Over Half of American Adults Would Support Their Teenager's Request to Transition to Another Gender - Markets Insider

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

In BriefResearchers from UCLA have found a way to successfully reactivate stem cells in dormant hair follicles to promote hair growth in mice. Through this research, they've developed two drugs that could help millions of people worldwide treat conditions that lead to abnormal hair growth and retention.

Researchers have already explored ways to use stem cells totreat everything from diabetes toaging, and now, ateam from UCLAthinks they could potentially offer some relief for people suffering from baldness.

During their study, which has beenpublished in Nature, the researchers noticedthat stem cells found in hair follicles undergo a different metabolic process than normal skin cells. After turning glucose into a molecule known as pyruvate, these hair follicle cells then do one of two things: send the pyruvateto the cells mitochondria to be used as energy or convert it into another metabolite known as lactate.

Based on these findings, the researchers decided to see if inactive hair follicles behaved differently depending on the path of the pyruvate.

To that end, the UCLA team compared mice that had been genetically engineered so that they wouldnt produce lactate with mice that had been engineered to produce more lactate than normal. Obstructing lactate production stopped the stem cells in the follicles from being activated, while more hair growth was observed on the animals who were producing more of the metabolite.

No one knew that increasing or decreasing the lactate would have an effect on hair follicle stem cells, co-lead on the study and professor of molecular, cell, and developmental biology William Lowry explained in a UCLA press release. Once we saw how altering lactate production in the mice influenced hair growth, it led us to look for potential drugs that could be applied to the skin and have the same effect.

Based on their study, the researchers were able to discovertwo different drugs that could potentially help humans jumpstart the stem cells in their hair follicles to increase lactate production.

The first is called RCGD423, and it works by establishing a JAK/STAT signalling pathway between the exterior of a cell and its nucleus. This puts the stems cells in an active state and contributes to lactate production, encouraging hair growth.

The other drug, UK5099, takes the opposite approach. It stops pyruvate from being converted into energy by the cells mitochondria, which leaves the molecules with no choice but to take the alternate path of creating lactate, which, in turn, promotes hair growth.

Both of the drugs have yet to be tested on humans, but hopes are high that if tests are successful, they could provide relief for the estimated 56 million people in the U.S. alonesuffering from a range of conditions that affect normal hair growth and retention, including alopecia, hormone imbalances, stress-related hair loss, and even old age.

However, as undoubtedly pleased as many of those people would be to stimulate their hair growth, the potential relevance of this research stretches far beyond hair loss. The new knowledge gained regarding stem cells, specifically their relation to the metabolism of the human body, provides a very promising basis for future study in other realms.

I think weve only just begun to understand the critical role metabolism plays in hair growth and stem cells in general, noted Aimee Flores, first author of the study and a predoctoral trainee in Lowrys lab. Im looking forward to the potential application of these new findings for hair loss and beyond.

Read this article:
We Just Figured out How to Activate Stem Cells to Treat Baldness - Futurism

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

AcuteMarketReports.com has Published New Research Report Title "Global Plant Stem Cell Market Size, Market Share, Application Analysis, Regional Outlook, Growth Trends, Key Players, Competitive Strategies And Forecasts, 2016 To 2022"Market Research report to their Database

Plant Stem Cell Market for Cosmetics - Growth, Share, Opportunities, Competitive Analysis, and Forecast, 2016 - 2022, the plant stem cell market for cosmetics was valued at USD 1,668.8 Mn in 2015, and is expected to reach USD 4,830.8 Mn by 2022, expanding at a CAGR of 15.9% from 2016 to 2022.

Browse Full Report Visit -http://www.acutemarketreports.com/report/plant-stem-cell-market

Market Insights:Plant extracts and plant parts such as fruits, glower, leaves, stems, roots, etc. are well known in cosmetic and pharmaceutical applications since ages. Application of plant and plant extracts in cosmetics is widespread and these products are used for purposes such as whitening, tanning, moisturizing, washings, etc. with recent research and introduction of plant and human stem cell products, their potential as a vital source of human tissue renewal. Normally, human skin renews itself constantly and protects the body against injury, infection and dehydration. Aging of stem cells results in decreased healing capacity and heightened degeneration of skin tissues. Hence, protection and support of stem cells is vital.Companies are increasingly creating products with plant stem cells which when used topically help in protecting skin stem cells from aging. Preference for developing skin-care products based on plant-derived stem cells is on the rise, based on the potential of stem cells to develop into different cell types in the body. Currently several types of plant stem cell extracts are available for application in cosmetics; however, the research predominantly has been focused on three namely lilac, Swiss apple and grape. The components found in these plants have been demonstrated to be a significant source of phyto stem cells. Grape seed is the most widely and longest observed botanical in the field of plant stem cells. The key players observed in plant stem cell cosmetics market are intelligent nutrients, Mibelle Group, MyChelle Dermaceuticals, and Juice Beauty.

Market Competition Assessment:

The plant stem cell market for cosmetics is observed as the most diversified and competitive market comprising large number of players. The market is dominated by several players, depending on their major competencies. The key players in this market are Mibelle Group, LOreal S.A., Estee Lauder, Inc., MyChelle Dermaceuticals, Juice Beauty, and Intelligent Nutrients.

To Get Complete Report @http://www.acutemarketreports.com/report/plant-stem-cell-market

Key Market Movements: Tropical regions are observing high demand for plant-stem cell based products as UV exposure is increasing a higher risk of ageing and related conditions The desire for nutrients that can be absorbed through skin is driving the plant stem cell cosmetics market Over the past several decades, aesthetics and anti-aging and other aesthetic procedures were women dominant but the upcoming commercial cosmetic products have also targeted the male customers. However, still male population can be considered as an untapped market for plant stem cell cosmetics

Chapter 1 Preface1.1 Report Description1.1.1 Purpose of the Report1.1.2 Target Audience1.1.3 USP and Key Offerings1.2 Research Scope1.3 Research Methodology1.3.1 Phase I Secondary Research1.3.2 Phase II Primary Research1.3.3 Phase III Expert Panel Review1.3.4 Assumptions

Chapter 2 Executive Summary

Chapter 3 Global Plant Stem Cell Market for Cosmetics3.1 Overview3.1.1 Plant Stem Cell Cosmetics and Skin Repair3.2 Plant Stem Cell Market for Cosmetics : Manufacturing Process3.3 Plant Stem Cell Market for Cosmetics: Market Evolution and Forecast till 20223.4 Plant Stem Cell Market for Cosmetics: Pipeline Analysis3.5 Market Inclination Insights: Consumer Trend Analysis3.6 Market Dynamics3.6.1 Market Drivers3.6.1.1 Growing Demand for Natural and Organic Cosmetics3.6.1.2 Augmenting Trend for Cosmeceuticals3.6.2 Challenges3.6.2.1 Inadequate Investment in Cosmetic Research3.6.2.2 High Product Costs3.6.3 Opportunities3.6.3.1 Focus on Male Customers3.7 Attractive Investment Proposition, 20153.7.1 Cosmetics3.8 Market Positioning of Key Players Operating in Plant Stem Cell Industry for Cosmetics

Chapter 4 Global Plant Stems Market for Cosmetics, By Key Products Analysis: Market Dynamics and Outlook4.1 Introduction4.2 Amatokin Emulsion4.3 Absolue Precious Cell4.4 Stem Cell 3D Hydrafirm Serum4.5 Peptide Anti-Wrinkle Serum4.6 Stem Cellular Repair Moisturizer4.7 Cellular Power Infusion4.8 Apple Brightening Serum4.9 Alpine Rose Stem Cell Cream4.10 Tri-Lift Anti-Ageing Cream4.11 PhytoCellTec

Chapter 5 Global Plant Stem Cell Market for Cosmetics Analysis, By Applications5.1 Overview5.1.1 Skin Repair5.1.2 Anti-Inflammatory5.1.3 UV Protection5.1.4 Under Eye Care5.1.5 Skin Radiance5.1.6 Firming5.1.7 Anti-Cellulite5.1.8 Others (Hydration, Lip Care, Antioxidant, etc.)

Chapter 6 Global Plant Stem Cell Market for Cosmetics, By Geography6.1 Preface6.2 North America6.2.1 U.S6.2.2 Canada6.3 Europe6.3.1 U.K.6.3.2 Germany6.3.3 France6.3.4 Spain6.3.5 Italy6.3.6 Russia6.3.7 Rest of Europe6.4 Asia Pacific6.4.1 China6.4.2 Japan6.4.3 Rest of the Asia-Pacific6.5 Latin America6.5.1 Brazil6.5.2 Mexico6.5.3 Rest of Latin America6.6 Middle East and Africa6.6.1 Saudi Arabia6.6.2 UAE6.6.3 Iran6.6.4 Israel6.6.5 Egypt6.6.6 Lebanon6.6.7 Morocco6.6.8 Rest of Middle East and Africa

Chapter 7 Company Profiles of Key Players Operating in Plant Stem Cell-based Cosmetic Products Segment

7.1 LOreal SA7.1.1 LOreal SA: Company Snapshot (Business Description; Financial Health and Budget Allocation; Product Position/Portfolio; News Coverage)7.2 Paula's Choice, LLC.7.2.1 Paula's Choice, LLC.: Company Snapshot (Business Description; Financial Health and Budget Allocation; Product Position/Portfolio; News Coverage)7.3 DermaQuest7.3.1 DermaQuest: Company Snapshot (Business Description; Financial Health and Budget Allocation; Product Position/Portfolio; News Coverage)7.4 Estee Lauder, Inc.7.4.1 Estee Lauder, Inc.: Company Snapshot (Business Description; Financial Health and Budget Allocation; Product Position/Portfolio; News Coverage)7.5 MyChelleDermaceuticals7.5.1 MyChelleDermaceuticals: Company Snapshot (Business Description; Financial Health and Budget Allocation; Product Position/Portfolio; News Coverage)7.6 Juice Beauty7.6.1 Juice Beauty: Company Snapshot (Business Description; Financial Health and Budget Allocation; Product Position/Portfolio; News Coverage)7.7 Skinfinite, LLC7.7.1 Skinfinite, LLC: Company Snapshot (Business Description; Financial Health and Budget Allocation; Product Position/Portfolio; News Coverage)7.8 Golfaden MD Skincare7.8.1 Golfaden MD Skincare: Company Snapshot (Business Description; Financial Health and Budget Allocation; Product Position/Portfolio; News Coverage)7.9 La Vie Celeste7.9.1 La Vie Celeste: Company Snapshot (Business Description; Financial Health and Budget Allocation; Product Position/Portfolio; News Coverage)7.10 Indie Lee7.10.1 Indie Lee: Company Snapshot (Business Description; Financial Health and Budget Allocation; Product Position/Portfolio; News Coverage)

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Global Plant Stem Cell Market is expected to reach USD 4830.8 Mn expanding at a CAGR of 15.9% from 2017 to 2022 ... - Digital Journal

Recommendation and review posted by sam

Report provides a complete understanding of the pipeline activities covering all clinical, pre-clinical and discovery stage products.

This press release was orginally distributed by SBWire

Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/16/2017 -- The topic of Hypogonadism can be an embarrassing subject for an affected male. Nevertheless, it's important that any man battling the symptoms of Hypogonadism to get over his embarrassment and be taken care of by a medical professional. A new pipeline study, related to the therapeutics activities for male hypogonadism has been recently broadcasted to the wide repository of Market Research Hub (MRH), with the title of "Male Hypogonadism-Pipeline Insight, 2017". The study highlights the pharmacological action of various therapeutics and their history of research and development activities.

Request Free Sample Report : http://www.marketresearchhub.com/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1265411

Male hypogonadism is defined as the failure of the testes to produce androgen, sperm or both. Although the disorder is extremely common, its exact prevalence is uncertain. It is a condition in which the body doesn't produce enough testosterone, the hormone that plays a key role in masculine growth and development during puberty. It may adversely affect multiple organ functions and quality of life. Signs and symptoms depend on when the condition develops. The research analyses its symptoms, which include fatigue, hot flashes, infertility, decrease in muscle mass and loss of bone mass (osteoporosis). When hormone levels decline, men can easily experience significant psychological and physical changes.

Moreover, this study provides comprehensive information on the pipeline products with comparative analysis of the products at various stages of development. The coverage of pipeline products based on the numerous stages of development ranging from early development to approved or issued stage. In this subsequent section, details of foremost pipeline products which includes, product description, licensing and collaboration details and other developmental activities are also mentioned. This study has been built using proprietary databases along with latest updates and featured news & press releases from various university sites and industry-specific third party sources.

Looking to the therapeutics overview, the research studies that the levels of testosterone in men start to fall after the age of 40. It has been estimated that 8.4% of men aged 5079 years have testosterone deficiency. Some types of male hypogonadism can be treated with testosterone replacement therapy. There is a lot of research in progress to find out more about the effects of testosterone in older men and also whether the use of testosterone replacement therapy would have any benefits.

Browse Full Report with TOC - http://www.marketresearchhub.com/report/male-hypogonadism-pipeline-insight-2017-report.html

For a competitive analysis, the research has listed key companies operating in the market, focusing on their research and development efforts, adoption to changing trends and their efforts to discover new therapeutics for male hypogonadism. Also, the report covers dormant and discontinued pipeline projects related to the Male Hypogonadism. With this information, the new entrants in the market can modify the therapeutic portfolio by identifying inactive projects and understanding the factors that might have halted their progress.

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About Market Research HubMarket Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of research reports and analysis. MRH's expansive collection of market research reports has been carefully curated to help key personnel and decision makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their operating environment and take strategic steps.

MRH functions as an integrated platform for the following products and services: Objective and sound market forecasts, qualitative and quantitative analysis, incisive insight into defining industry trends, and market share estimates. Our reputation lies in delivering value and world-class capabilities to our clients.

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Pipeline Landscape of Male Hypogonadism Covering Therapeutic Assessment and Drug Portfolio in 2017 - Digital Journal

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Not surprisingly, physicians working in a big city hospital emergency room are under plenty of stress.

A Michigan State University physician has now shown how this stress affects the care of their patients.

The more stress an emergency room physician experienced, the more likely he or she was to make a minor mistake, also known as a near miss among hospital staff, according to a new study led by Arnetz and published today in BMJ Open, an online British medical journal.

Researchers took blood and saliva samples from 28 emergency room resident physicians before and after their shifts to check for biological stress markers, Arnetz said, who is chair of the MSU College of Human Medicines Department of Family Medicine. After their shifts, the doctors were questioned about the number of critically ill patients and trauma victims they treated and how many near misses they made.

The result: the physicians who reported the most near misses had the highest biomarkers for stress.

Stress among physicians is not just perception, Arnetz said. It has a biological affect and that biological affect might impact the wellbeing of patients.

The study was conducted in the emergency department of the Detroit Medical Center, which defines near misses as any process variation that did not reach the patient, employee or visitor, but for which a recurrence carries a significant chance of a serious adverse event in other words, a mistake that, if repeated, could harm a patient.

Arnetz has been investigating psychophysiology the relationship between the brain and the body since 1983 when a hospital in his native Sweden hired him to look into the health of its medical providers. He has done previous studies on how workplace stress affects workers productivity.

The more stress in general in an organization, the less efficiently it is run, Arnetz said.

His latest study is the first that associates near misses with biomarkers of stress, including cortisol, a stress hormone found in saliva. The researchers also took blood samples, looking for markers of inflammation in the brain, which increases in stressful situations.

In addition to contributing to errors in patient care, stress can negatively affect the cardiovascular health of physicians, Arnetz said.

Very few emergency physicians work past 50, he said. They burn out.

Those in the current study were young physicians in their second and third years of residency, a continuation of their education after graduating from medical school. Some stress might be self-induced by the residents unsure of their own medical skills and afraid to ask a supervising physician for help, Arnetz said.

Thats a dangerous combination, he said. Were trying to move the whole thing from being punitive.

Arnetz hopes to conduct a follow-up study of whether the near misses caused by stress are associated with poor outcomes for patients. Further research also could look for ways to help emergency physicians reduce stress, he said.

The study was funded by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation and conducted by researchers from Michigan State University and Wayne State University.

SOURCE: MSU Today

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Physicians with increased stress make more mistakes in patient care - WSYM-TV

Recommendation and review posted by sam

Gene therapy is a technology aimed at correcting or fixing a gene that may be defective. This exciting and potentially transformative area of research is focused on the development of potential treatments for monogenic diseases, or diseases that are caused by a defect in one gene.

The technology involves the introduction of genetic material (DNA or RNA) into the body, often through delivering a corrected copy of a gene to a patients cells to compensate for a defective one, using a viral vector.

The technology involves the introduction of genetic material (DNA or RNA) into the body, often through delivering a corrected copy of a gene to a patients cells to compensate for a defective one, using a viral vector.

Viral vectors can be developed using adeno-associated virus (AAV), a naturally occurring virus which has been adapted for gene therapy use. Its ability to deliver genetic material to a wide range of tissues makes AAV vectors useful for transferring therapeutic genes into target cells. Gene therapy research holds tremendous promise in leading to the possible development of highly-specialized, potentially one-time delivery treatments for patients suffering from rare, monogenic diseases.

Gene therapy research holdstremendous promise

Pfizer aims to build an industry-leading gene therapy platform with a strategy focused on establishing a transformational portfolio through in-house capabilities, and enhancing those capabilities through strategic collaborations, as well as potential licensing and M&A activities.

We're working to access the most effective vector designs available to build a robust clinical stage portfolio, and employing a scalable manufacturing approach, proprietary cell lines and sophisticated analytics to support clinical development.

In addition, we're collaborating with some of the foremost experts in this field, through collaborations with Spark Therapeutics, Inc., on a potentially transformative gene therapy treatment for hemophilia B, which received Breakthrough Therapy designation from the US Food and Drug Administration, and 4D Molecular Therapeutics to discover and develop targeted next-generation AAV vectors for cardiac disease.

Gene therapy holds the promise of bringing true disease modification for patients suffering from devastating diseases, a promise were working to seeing become a reality in the years to come.

Continue reading here:
Gene Therapy | Pfizer: One of the world's premier ...

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--According to the latest market study released by Technavio, the global cancer gene therapy market is expected to grow at a CAGR of almost 21% during the forecast period.

This research report titled Global Cancer Gene Therapy Market 2017-2021 provides an in-depth analysis of the market in terms of revenue and emerging market trends. This market research report also includes up to date analysis and forecasts for various market segments and all geographical regions.

The rising prevalence rate of cancer has been a huge challenge for the global economies as the disease leads to high rate of mortality and economic losses. The current treatment options available come with many drawbacks such as severe side effects and relapse of cancer. These factors have led to high investment in the R&D for development of various novel therapies with cancer gene therapy being one of the major ones of them. The therapy mainly uses three types of treatment options namely oncolytic virotherapy, gene transfer therapy, and gene-induced immunotherapy.

This report is available at a USD 1,000 discount for a limited time only: View market snapshot before purchasing

Buy 1 Technavio report and get the second for 50% off. Buy 2 Technavio reports and get the third for free.

Technavios healthcare and life sciences research analysts categorize the global cancer gene therapy market into the following segments by therapy. They are:

Looking for more information on this market? Request a free sample report

Technavios sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report including the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more.

Oncolytic virotherapy

Oncolytic virotherapy is one of the fastest growing treatment modality. In this therapy, the anti-cancer cells specifically destroy the cancer cells without causing harm to the normal cells. Each virus has a specific cellular tropism that determines which tissue will be preferentially infected by the virus and thus will further lead to the disease.

According to Sapna Jha, a lead oncology research analyst from Technavio, The oncolytic virotherapy has shown encouraging results in the pre-clinical studies. The novel treatment option holds great opportunity to make a significant effect on quality and length of the life of the individual. Adenovirus is the most commonly used virus in oncolytic virotherapy.

Gene transfer

Gene transfer or gene insertion is one of the most exciting and emerging cancer treatment methods. The therapy is expected to be the fastest growing type of therapy in the cancer gene therapy market. This is a radical new treatment method that involves the introduction of a new gene into the cancer cell or the surrounding tissues.

Genes with different functions have been proposed for this therapy; some of them include antiangiogenesis genes, cellular stasis genes, and suicide genes. Many different viral vectors are used to deliver these genes, Adenovirus being most common of them. Other than viral vectors, certain non-viral methods are also studied in the various clinical trial, which includes oligodendromer DNA coatings and naked DNA transfer, adds Sapna.

Gene-induced immunotherapy

Immunotherapy works on the concept of boosting the immune system of the individual to target and destroy cancer cells. However, traditional immunotherapy has shown limited success rate in the field. Various gene therapy techniques are being used to overcome this limitation.

The next-generation gene-induced immunotherapy vaccines are already in clinical trial. Gene-induced immunotherapy is a type of gene therapy where genetically engineered genes are used to generate an immune response against cancer. Growing knowledge and understanding of mechanisms regulating the initiation and maintenance of cytotoxic immune response has led to the designing of several genetic immunization strategies.

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Cancer Gene Therapy Market - Forecasts and Opportunity Assessment by Technavio - Business Wire (press release)

Recommendation and review posted by sam

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On Aug. 3, the scientific article in Nature finally gave us some facts about the much-hyped experiments that involved editing the genomes of human embryos at the Center for Embryonic Cell and Gene Therapy at Oregon Health and Science University. The story had broken in late July in Technology Review, spurring profuse hand-wringing and discussion. But until we saw the scientific paper, it was not clear what cells and methods were used, what genes were edited, or what the results were.

Now we know more, and while the paper demonstrates the possibility of genome editing of human embryos, it raises more questions than it answers. It is a useful demonstration of technical promise, though not an immediate prelude to the birth of a genome-edited baby. But the process by which the news emerged is also an ominous harbinger of the discombobulated way the debate about genetically altering human embryos is likely to unfold. We need open, vigorous debate that captures the many, often contradictory, moral views of Americans. Yet what we are likely to get is piecemeal, fragmented stories of breakthroughs with incomplete details, more sober publication in science journals that appear later, news commentary that lasts a few days, and very little systematic effort to think through what policy should be.

The science underlying this news cycle about human genome editing builds on a technique first developed six years ago by studying how bacteria alter DNA. CRISPR genome editing is the most recent, and most promising, way to introduce changes into DNA. It is faster, easier, and cheaper than previous methods and should eventually be more precise and controllablewhich is why it may one day be available for clinical use in people.

Though headlines about the study discussed designer babies, researchers prefer to emphasize how these techniques could help stop devastating genetic disorders. The Oregon experiments with human embryo cells corrected disease-associated DNA variants associated with heart muscle wasting that can cause heart failure. The treated embryos were alive for only a few days and were never intended to become a human baby. They were, however, human embryos deliberately created for the research.

U.S. guidance in this area is sparse and reflects the lack of societal consensus. In 1994, when the federal government was contemplating funding for research involving human embryos, the NIH Embryo Research Panel concluded that just this kind of experiment was ethically appropriate. But within hours of that reports release, then-President Bill Clinton announced he did not agree with creating embryos in order to do research on them.

The United States currently has just two policies relevant to genomic editing of human embryos. The first blocks federal funding: On April 28, 2015, Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, stated, NIH will not fund any use of gene-editing technologies in human embryos. This is not embedded in statute or formal executive order, but members of Congress are fully aware of it and it is, in effect, a federal policy. NIH can (and does) fund genome editing of nonembryonic cells that might be used to treat cancer and for other possible therapeutic purposes, but not embryonic cells that would have their effect by creating humans with germline alterations.

Second, Congress has prohibited the Food and Drug Administration from reviewing research in which a human embryo is intentionally created or modified to include a heritable genetic modification. This language comes from a rider to FDAs annual appropriations. Yet use of human embryonic cells for treatment should be subject to FDA regulation. So this language in effect means alterations of embryonic cells cannot be done in the United States if there is any intent to treat a human being, including implantation of an altered embryo into a womans uterus. This will remain true so long as the rider is included in FDAs annual appropriations. The federal government thus has two relevant policies, both of which take federal agencies out of the action: One removes NIH funding, and the other precludes FDA oversight of genome-edited human embryos.

This leaves privately funded research that has no direct therapeutic purpose, such as with the Oregon experiments. The funding came from OHSU itself; South Korean Basic Research Funds; the municipal government of Shenzhen, China; and several private philanthropies (Chapman, Mathers, Helmsley, and Moxie). The research complies with recommendations to study the basic cellular processes of genome editing, keeping an eye on possible future clinical use but only so long as the work does not attempt to create a human pregnancy.

By coincidence, on the same day the Nature paper came out, the American Journal of Human Genetics also published a thoughtful 10-page position statement about germline genome editing from the American Society for Human Genetics endorsed by many other genetic and reproductive medicine organizations from all over the world. It reviews recommendations of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, several international and U.S.-based organizations and commissions, and makes several recommendations of its own, concluding it is inappropriate to perform germline gene editing that culminates in human pregnancy, but also there is no reason to prohibit in vitro germline genome editing on human embryos and gametes, with appropriate oversight and consent from donors, to facilitate research on the possible future clinical applications. Indeed, the statement argues for public funding. Finally, it urges research to proceed only with compelling medical rationale, strong oversight, and a transparent public process to solicit and incorporate stakeholder input.

So is there a problem here? It is truly wonderful that medical and scientific organizations have addressed genome editing. It is, however, far from sufficient. Reports and scientific consensus statements inform the policy debate but cannot resolve it. All of the reports on genome editing call for robust public debate, but the simple fact is that embryo research has proven highly divisive and resistant to consensus, and it is far from clear how to know when there is enough thoughtful deliberation to make policy choices. Its significant that none of the reports have emerged from a process that embodied such engagement. The Catholic Church, evangelical Christians, and concerned civic action groups who view embryo research as immoral are not likely to turn to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, the American Society for Human Genetics, the Hinxton Group, the Nuffield Council on Bioetics, or other scientific and medical organizations for their primary counsel. They may well listen to scientists, but religious and moral doctrine will get greater weight. Yet religious groups highly critical of embryo research are part of the political systemand whether we embrace this sort of genome editing in the United States is a political question, not a purely technical one.

Reports and scientific consensus statements inform the policy debate but cannot resolveit.

Addressing the political questions will be extremely difficult. The U.S. government is poorly positioned to mediate the policy debate in a way that recognizes and addresses our complex moral pluralism. NIH and FDA are two of the most crucial agencies, but current policies remove them from line authority, and with good reason, given that engaging in this debate could actually endanger the agencies other vital missions. International consensus about genome editing of human embryos remains no more likely than about embryo research in general: Some countries ban it while others actively promote and fund it. Private foundations dont have the mandate or incentive to mediate political debate about a controversial technology that rouses the politics of abortion. What private philanthropic organization would willingly take on such a thankless and politically perilous task, and what organization would be credible to the full range of constituencies?

So who can carry out the public engagement that everyone seems to agree we need? The likely answer is no one. This problem occurs with all debate about fraught scientific and technical innovations, but its particularly acute when it touches on highly ossified abortion politics.

The debate about genomic editing of human embryos is unlikely to follow the recommendations for systematic forethought proposed by illustrious research bodies and reports. Given the reactions weve seen to human embryonic stem-cell research in the past two decades, we have ample reason for pessimism. Rather, debate is more likely to progress by reaction to events as researchers make newsoften with the same lack of information we lived with for the last week of July, based on incomplete media accounts and quotes from disparate experts who lacked access to the details. Most of the debate will be quote-to-quote combat in the public media, leavened by news and analysis in scientific and medical journals, but surrounded by controversy in religious and political media. It is not what anyone designing a system would want. But the recommendations for robust public engagement and debate feel a bit vacuous and vague, aspirations untethered to a concrete framework.

Our divisive political system seems fated to make decisions about genomic editing of human embryos mainly amidst conflict, with experts dueling in the public media rather than through a thoughtful and well-informed debate conducted in a credible framework. As the furor over the Oregon experiments begins to dissipate, we await the event that will cause the next flare-up. And so it will continue, skipping from news cycle to news cycle.

History shows that sometimes technical advances settle the issues, at least for most people and in defined contexts. Furor about in vitro fertilization after Louise Brown, the first test tube baby, was born in 1978 gave way to acceptance as grateful parents gave birth to more and more healthy babies and welcomed them into their families. Initial revulsion at heart transplants gave way in the face of success. Anger about prospects for human embryonic stem-cell research might similarly attenuate if practical applications emerge.

Such historical examples show precisely why reflective deliberation remains essential, despite its unlikely success. Momentum tends to carry the research forward. Yet at times we should stop, learn more, and decide actively rather than passively whether to proceed, when, how, and with what outcomes in mind. In the case of genome editing of human embryos, however, it seems likely that technology will make the next move.

This article is part of Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Read more from the original source:
Listening for the Public Voice - Slate Magazine

Recommendation and review posted by sam

Last week in TAC, Zoltan Istvan wrote about The Growing World of Libertarian Transhumanism linking the transhumanist movement with all of its featureslike cyborgs, human robots and designer babiesto the ideas of liberty. To say Mr. Istvan is mistaken in his assessment is an understatement. Transhumanism should be rejected by libertarians as an abomination of human evolution.

We begin with Mr. Istvans definition of transhumanism:

transhumanism is the international movement of using science and technology to radically change the human being and experience. Its primary goal is to deliver and embrace a utopian techno-optimistic worlda world that consists of biohackers, cyborgists, roboticists, life extension advocates, cryonicists, Singularitarians, and other science-devoted people.

The ultimate task, however, is nothing less than overcoming biological human death and to solve all humanitys problems. Throughout much of Mr. Istvans work on this issue, he seems to think these ideas are perfectly compatible with libertarianismself-evident evenso he doesnt care to elaborate for his befuddled readers.

While most advocates of liberty could be considered, as Matt Ridley coined it, rational optimistsmeaning that generally we are optimistic, but not dogmatic, about progressit is easy to get into a state in which everything that is produced by the market is good per se and every new technology is hailed as the next step on the path of progress. In this sense, these libertarians become what Rod Dreher has called Technological Men. For them, choice matters more than what is chosen. [The Technological Man] is not concerned with what he should desire; rather, he is preoccupied with how he can acquire or accomplish what he desires.

Transhumanists including Mr. Istvan are a case in point. In his TAC article he not only endorses such things as the defeat of death, but even robotic hearts, virtual reality sex, and telepathy via mind-reading headsets. Need more of his grand ideas? How about brain implants ectogenesis, artificial intelligence, exoskeleton suits, designer babies, gene editing tech? At no point he wonders if we should even strive for these technologies.

When he does acknowledge potential problems he has quick (and crazy) solutions at hand: For example, what would happen if people never die, while new ones are coming into the world in abundance? His solution to the fear of overpopulation: eugenics. It is here where we see how libertarian Mr. Istvan truly is. When his political philosophythe supposedly libertarian onecomes into conflict with his idea of transhumanism, he suddenly drops the former and argues in favor of state-controlled breeding (or, as he says, controlled breeding by non-profit organizations such as the WHO, which is, by the way, state financed). I cautiously endorse the idea of licensing parents, a process that would be little different than getting a drivers licence. Parents who pass a series of basic tests qualify and get the green light to get pregnant and raise children.

The most frustrating thing is how similar he sounds to communists and socialists in his arguments. In most articles you read by transhumanists, you can see the dream of human perfection. Mr. Istvan says so himself: Transhumanists want more guarantees than just death, consumerism, and offspring. Much More. They want to be better, smarter, strongerperhaps even perfect and immortal if science can make them that way.

Surely it is the goal of transhumanists that, in their world, the average human type will rise to the heights of an Aristotle, a Goethe, or a Marx. You can just edit the genes of the embryo in the way that they are as intelligent as Aristotle, as poetic as Goethe, and as musically talented as Mozart. There are two problems, though: First, the world would become extremely boring, consisting only of perfect human beings who are masters at everything (which perhaps would make human cooperation superfluous). Second, that quote was famously uttered by the socialist Leon Trotsky.

As Ludwig von Mises wrote sarcastically, the socialist paradise will be the kingdom of perfection, populated by completely happy supermen. This has always been the mantra of socialists, starting with utopian thinkers like Charles Fourier, but also being embraced by the scientific ones like Marx, who derived his notion of history in which communism is the final stage of humanity from Hegel. Hegel himself believed in the man-godnot in the way that God became man through Jesus, but that man could become God one day. Intentionally or not, transhumanists sound dangerously similar to that. What they would actually create would be the New Soviet Man through bio-engineering and total environmental control as the highest social goal. In other words, you get inhuman ideological tyranny taken to a whole new level.

It should be noted that sometimes transhumanists recognize this themselvesbut if they do, their solutions only make things worse (much worse). Take Adam Zaretsky as example, who says that these new human beings shouldnt be perfect: Its important to make versions of transgenic human anatomy that are not based on idealism. But his solution is frightening: The idea is that you take a gene, say for pig noses, or ostrich anuses, or aardvark tongue, and you paste that into a human sperm, a human egg, a human zygote. A baby starts to form. And: We could let it flow into our anatomy, and these peoplewho yes, are humansshould be appreciated for who and what they are, after they are forced to be born in a really radically strange way. Its no surprise that Rod Dreher calls Mr. Zaretsky a sick monster, because he truly seems to be one when it comes to his transhumanist vision. He wants to create handicapped human beings on purpose.

If this were what libertarians think should happen, it would be sad (thankfully its mostly not). As Jeff Deist notes, it is important to remember that liberty is natural and organic and comports with human action. It doesnt require a new man. Transhumanists may say that the introduction of their idea is inevitable (in Istvans words, Whether people like it or not, transhumanism has arrived) but that is not true. And in this sense, it is time for libertarians to argue against the notion of extreme transhumanism. Yes, the market has brought it about and yes, the state shouldnt prohibit it (though giving your baby a pig nose could certainly be a violation of rights), but still, one shouldnt be relativist or even nihilist about such frightening developments. It would be a shame if the libertarian maxim of Everyone should be able to do whatever one wants to (as long as no one is hurt by it) becomes Everyone should do whatever one can do just because it is possible.

Finally, it comes as no surprise that transhumanists are largely, if not all, atheists (or as Mr. Istvan says: Im an atheist, therefore Im a transhumanist. This just proves what the classical liberal historian Lord Acton talked about when he said, Progress, the religion of those who have none. In the end, transhumanism is the final step to get God out of the way. It would be the continuation of what Richard Weaver wrote about in Ideas Have Consequences: Instead of seeing nature, the world and life overall as a means to get to know God, humans in the last centuries have become accustomed to seeing the world as something that is only there for humans to take and use for their own pleasures. Transhumanism would be the final step of this process: the conquest of death.

You dont have to be religious to find this abhorrent. As we have seen, it would be the end to all religion, to human cooperation overall, in all likelihood to liberty itself, and even the good-bye to humanity. It would be the starting point of the ultimate dystopia.

Kai Weiss is an International Relations student and works for the Austrian Economics Center and Hayek Institute, two libertarianthink tanks based in Vienna, Austria.

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Transhumanism Is Not Libertarian, It's an Abomination - The American Conservative

Recommendation and review posted by sam

The Commonwealth has granted First Pass approval to extend the service life for Navys Huon Class Minehunter Coastal vessels, and Thales Australia is to deliver and support new deployable mine countermeasures (MCM) over the next 15 years.

The Head of Navy Capability, Rear Admiral Jonathan Mead, said the project forecast in the Defence White Paper 2016 will ensure Defence is able to provide an effective maritime mine countermeasure capability out to the 2030s.

Minehunters play a vital role in protecting Australias ships, harbours and infrastructure from the threat of sea mines, RADM Mead said.

First Pass approval is a major milestone for this project that will see the life of the Minehunters extended to ensure there is no gap in mine warfare capability as we determine the replacement vessels.

The Huon Class have proven highly capable, supporting Defences international engagement strategy through participation in exercises and operations to secure our sea lanes and disposing of WWII explosive remnants, and they will continue to serve Australia for years to come.

In addition to its mine warfare role, the Huon Class vessels play a unique role in Defence assistance to the civil community and in 2011 provided support in response to severe flooding in Queensland, including the disposal of debris that posed a navigational hazard, RADM Mead said.

The Australian Defence industry will be heavily involved in the future of the platforms. Negotiations are underway with Thales Australia to engage them as the Prime Systems Integrator to deliver the project. Under Thales lead there will be opportunities for other Australian companies to support the Minehunters through their service life.

The Huon class were built by Thales Australia, formerly ADI, and were introduced into service in the early 2000s.

With regard to deployable MCM, RADM Mead said the prevalence and increasing sophistication of sea mines means the RAN must continue to improve the way it finds and disposes of these mines.

New autonomous and remote-controlled technologies deployed from within the maritime task force provides the opportunity to find and dispose of sea mines more safely and efficiently, RADM Mead said.

In the 2030s, Defence will seek to replace its specialised mine hunting and environmental survey vessels with a single fleet of multi-role vessels embarking advanced autonomous and uninhabited systems.

RADM Mead said these newly introduced systems are the first step in realising a future capability which would allow the Royal Australian Navy to clear sea mines with minimal risk to its people and assets.

Thales Australia Ltd will deliver and support the new equipment over the next 15 years, RADM Mead said.

The new capability will primarily be based and sustained at HMASWaterhenin Sydney, NSW.

Continued here:
First pass for Minehunter Service Life Extension - Australian Defence - Australian Defence Magazine

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

Once difficult and expensive even for the most technologically advanced labs, genetic testing is fast becoming a cheap and easy consumer product. With a little spit and 200 dollars, you can find out your risk for everything from cystic fibrosis to lactose intolerance.

But its important to remember that not all genetic tests are created equal. And even the best clinical genetic test, carried out in a medical lab under a doctor's supervision, isn't perfectgenes are important, but they don't seal your fate.

Genetic tests are diagnostic, so anyone who is curious about their health can get one done. But they're more informative if you think you might be at risk for a genetic disorder.

Heavy-duty genetic tests have been used as a clinical tool for almost half a centurylong before 23andMe and Ancestry.com began offering direct-to-consumer tests. Lets say that many women in your family have had breast cancer. You can get a genetic test to see if you may have inherited an abnormal version of the BRCA gene, known to increase your risk for breast cancer.

Heidi Rehm, associate professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School, is the director of the Laboratory for Molecular Medicine, where patients get tested for diseases that can be traced to specific genetic roots. She says it is most common for people to get tested when they either suspect or know that they have a genetic disease; it may have affected multiple people in their family or they could show symptoms of something widely known to be genetic, like sickle cell anemia. For these people, genetic tests can provide a much-needed explanation for an illness and help doctors determine the best course of treatment. Babies are often tested for genetic diseases, either while they are still fetuses or shortly after birth.

Others get genetic tests if they and their partner both have family histories of an inherited diseaseeven if they dont have the disease themselves. For example, cystic fibrosis is linked to one particular gene, but you have to inherit the abnormal version of the gene from both your parents to get the disease. If you only inherit one copy, you may never knowyou wont display any of the symptoms. But if you and your partner both carry one copy of the faulty gene, your child could still inherit two copies. Genetic tests can forewarn you of that possibility.

But Rehm says there has been a recent trend of healthy people getting tested to predict whether theyll get certain diseases. I do think there are settings where predictive genetic testing is incredibly important and useful, Rehm says; for example, knowing that youre at risk for breast cancer gives you the opportunity for early intervention (remember when Angelina Jolie got a double mastectomy upon finding out she had a mutated BRCA gene?)

But Rehm also points out that genetic tests may not be as straightforward as they seem. For example, some genes are thought to increase risk of getting a certain disease, but it might only happen if you have specific family history, or you might be able to reduce your risk with lifestyle changes. So remember that a genetic test isnt the final verdictthere are other factors at play too.

Not entirelyits scope is limited. For starters, not all diseases are caused by genes. Plenty of conditions stem from environmental and lifestyle factors; they may interact with your genes, but the external factors are the real trigger.

But even if a disease is caused solely by faulty instructions written in your genes, you wont necessarily be able to test for it. Thats because genetic tests are mainly used for diseases that are penetrant, a term that scientists use to describe a strong connection between having a certain gene (or multiple genes) and getting a disease.

Genetic tests are surprisingly simple on the surface. All thats required of you is a small sample of cells, like a blood sample or saliva (which doesnt have DNA itself, but picks up cheek cells during its journey out of your mouth). It get sent to a lab where sequencing machines match up small pieces of synthetic DNA with your DNA to figure out the overall sequence.

Once they have your sequence, geneticists can compare it with "normal" or disease-causing sequences. In the end, they might give you a yes or no answer, or sometimes youll get a probabilitya measure of how much your genes increase your risk of developing the disease. Then, its up to your doctor to figure out what these genes (in combination with your lifestyle, family history and other risk factors) mean for your health.

With penetrant diseases, theres a very, very high ability to explain the disease, Rehm says. For example, the breast cancer-related gene BRCA1 can give you a 60 percent chance of getting breast cancer (in Jolies case, with her family history, the risk was 87 percent.)

This makes genetic tests better at detecting so-called rare diseases, says Steven Schrodi, associate research scientist at the Marshfield Clinic Research Institutes Center for Human Genetics, but theyre less useful when it comes to more common diseases, like heart disease or diabetes. Genetics can increase your likelihood of getting these disease, but scientists still dont know quite how much. Part of the problem is that there may be dozens or hundreds of genes responsible for these diseases, Schrodi says.

We have an incomplete understanding of why people get diseases, Schrodi says. A large part of it hinges on how we define diseases. Perhaps physicians have inadvertently combined multiple diseases together into a single entity.

Consumer genetic teststhe ones where you send in samples from homesometimes claim to test for these more complex traits, but be careful: Their results might not be very medically relevant, Rehm says. If they tell you that your genes make you twice as likely to develop diabetes, for example, that's a marginal increase that doesn't significantly affect your risk, especially when you take into account lifestyle factors.

Genes do seem to play a role in determining lifespan. After all, some family reunions stretch from great-great-grandparents all the way down to infants. Scientists have studied centenarianspeople who lived to be 100 years oldand found that people with certain versions of genes involved in repairing DNA tend to live longer.

This makes sense because aging leaves its mark on your DNA. Environmental factors can damage DNA, and even the routine chore of replicating cells can introduce errors as the three billion units of your DNA are copied over and over. Long-lived individuals have different sequences that seem to make their cells better at keeping DNA in mint condition.

But figuring out your expiration date is more complex than just testing for a few genes, says Jan Vijg, professor of genetics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. In theory, you could design a test that looks at specific genes that might measure your risk for developing Alzheimers Disease or other age-related diseases, or your risk for aging quickly. To some extent, yes: Biomarkers will tell you something about your chances of living a long life, Vijg says. Still, that will only work if you live a careful life. And that means no accidents, infections, or cancers.

Aging also affects the exposed ends of your DNA, called "telomeres." DNA is stored as chromosomes, those X-like structures that you may have seen in biology textbooks. The most vulnerable parts of the chromosome are the chromosomes tips, which get shorter as you age because they arent properly replicated. But while telomere length might let you compare your DNA now with your DNA from a decade ago, you cant compare your own telomeres with other peoples telomeres. Theres a lot of variation between individuals, Vijg says. Some of us are just old souls (on the genomic level, that is.)

The methylation test, which looks at how the presence of small chemical groups attached to your DNA changes as you age, might be a better bet. A study at UCLA showed that changes were slower in longer-lived people. But Vijg is hesitant: I would not put my hopes on that as a marker to predict when exactly youre going to die.

For now, just enjoy your life, because you cant predict death. And if you decide to unlock the secrets of your DNA with an at-home test, don't take those results for more than their worth.

See more here:
What can genetic testing really tell you? - Popular Science

Recommendation and review posted by sam

Photo: Stephanie L. Church, Editor-in-Chief

Chances are youre probably heard about certain equine genetic disease acronyms like HYPP (hyperkalemic periodic paralysis), PSSM (polysaccharide storage myopathy), and SCIDS (severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome). Some breeds of horses are more susceptible to these genetic diseases. But how do you really know if your Quarter Horse has HYPP, or your Arabian mare has the recessive gene for SCIDS?

In last weeks online poll, we asked our readers if theyve ever had their horses tested for a genetic disease or disorder. More than 250 people responded and weve tallied the results!

Of the 270 respondents, only 74 people (27%) have had a horse tested for a genetic disorder or disease. The remaining 196 respondents (73%) have not.

Additionally more than 35 commented about their experiences with equine genetic testing:

Several people commented about what theyve tested their horse for:

A few others shared general comments:

Want to learn more about equine genetic diseases and testing? You can find additional information on breed-related genetic disorders such as hyperkalemic periodic paralysis (HYPP), severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), and polysaccharide storage myopathy (PSSM); learn about genetic testing in horses, and hear about some of the latest research on equine inherited diseases and conditions at TheHorse.com.

This week, we want to know: Have you ever rehabilitated an injury in your horse? Vote now and tell us about your experiences at TheHorse.com/polls!

The results of ourweekly pollsare published in The Horse Health E-Newsletter, which offers news on diseases, veterinary research, health events, and in-depth articles on common equine health conditions and what you can do to recognize, avoid, or treat them.Sign up for our e-newsletterson our homepage and look for a new poll onTheHorse.com.

Jennifer Whittle, TheHorse.com Web Producer, is a lifelong horse owner who competes with her Appaloosas in Western performance events. She is a University of Kentucky graduate and holds a bachelors degree in Community Communications and Leadership Development, and master's degree in Career, Technical, and Leadership Education. She currently lives on a small farm in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky.

See original here:
Poll Recap: Genetic Disease Testing - TheHorse.com

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

A new study shows a significant improvement in both sexual and urinary function as well as quality of life for hypogonadal men who undergo long-term testosterone replacement therapy.

These findings appear in the Journal of Urology.

Testosterone is a steroid hormone involved in the regulation of sexual function, urinary health and metabolism as well as a number of other critical functions. For most men, testosterone concentration declines slowly with age and may not cause immediate major symptoms. However, some men may experience a host of signs and sumptoms constituting a clinical condition called Testosterone Deficiency (TD), or male hypogonadism, which is attributed to insufficient levels of testosterone. As a result, they experience symptoms as varied as erectile dysfunction, low energy, fatique, depressed mood and an increased risk of diabetes.

Researchers from the Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Public Health (BUSPH) collaborated with a group of urologists in Germany to investigate the effects of long-term testosterone replacement therapy on urinary health and sexual function as well as quality of life in men with diagnosed, symptomatic testosterone deficiency. More than 650 men in their 50s and 60s enrolled in the study, some with unexplained testosterone deficiency and others with known genetic and auto-immune causes for their hypogonadism.

"It is thought that testosterone treatment in men may increase prostate size and worsen lower urinary tract symptoms," said Abdulmaged Traish, PhD, professor of urology at BUSM.

However, he and Gheorghe Doros, PhD, professor of biostatistics at BUSPH, discovered that despite increased prostate size in the group that received testosterone therapy, there were fewer urinary symptoms such as frequent urination, incomplete bladder emptying, weak urinary stream and waking up at night to urinate.

In addition to these subjective improvements, the researchers conducted objective testing that showed that those men treated with testosterone emptied their bladders more fully. Finally, testosterone treatment also increased the scores patients received on assessments of their erectile/sexual health and general quality of life.

The findings of this study are of great significance to men suffering with symptomatic testosterone deficiency. Traish emphasized the value of this treatment option, stating that, "[Testosterone therapy] is well-tolerated with progressive and sustained improvement in urinary and sexual function and overall improvement in quality of life."

Explore further: Testosterone undecanoate improves sexual function in men with type 2 diabetes

Read the rest here:
Long-term testosterone therapy improves urinary, sexual function and quality of life - Medical Xpress

Recommendation and review posted by simmons