Therapeutic Breakthroughs in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Diseases is part of Frost & Sullivan's TechVision (Health & Wellness) Growth Partnership Service program. The research presents treatment overviews, emerging therapeutic platforms, intellectual property and funding analysis, and emerging innovation profiles across AD and PD. Further, it analyzes the impact of key technology drivers and restraints, and provides a summary of collaborative trends, regional adoption potential, innovative therapeutic platforms, and growth opportunities.

To know more about Frost & Sullivan's research and to sign up for our Growth Strategy Dialogue, a complimentary one-hour interactive session with Frost & Sullivan's thought leaders, please click here.

While there is considerable optimism among researchers, they have not been able to completely comprehend the pathology of neurodegenerative disorders or distinguish between healthy aging and neurodegeneration at the initial stages of the diseases. The risk of therapeutic failures is also high during early clinical studies of neurological disorders.

Strong therapeutic platforms for AD and PD will eventually allow drug developers to create therapies for all neurodegenerative diseases. The leading regions for AD and PD research are:

About TechVision

Frost & Sullivan's global TechVision practice is focused on innovation, disruption and convergence, and provides a variety of technology-based alerts, newsletters and research services as well as growth consulting services. Its premier offering, the TechVision program, identifies and evaluates the most valuable emerging and disruptive technologies enabling products with near-term potential. A unique feature of the TechVision program is an annual selection of 50 technologies that can generate convergence scenarios, possibly disrupt the innovation landscape, and drive transformational growth. View a summary of our TechVision program by clicking on the following link: http://ifrost.frost.com/TechVision_Demo.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants. For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community.

Therapeutic Breakthroughs in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's DiseasesD7B4

Contact: Mariana Fernandez Corporate Communications North America P: +54 11 4778 3540 F: +54 11 4777 0071 E: Mariana.Fernandez@frost.com

Twitter: @TechVision_FS Linkedin: http://www.frost.com/techvisionlinkedin

http://www.frost.com http://www.frost.com/techvision

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/targeted-immunotherapies-and-gene-therapies-to-unlock-new-growth-opportunities-in-alzheimers-and-parkinsons-clinical-management-300465325.html

SOURCE Frost & Sullivan

http://www.frost.com

See original here:
Targeted Immunotherapies and Gene Therapies to Unlock New Growth Opportunities in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's ... - PR Newswire (press release)

Recommendation and review posted by sam

The oncologist was blunt: Stefanie Johos colon cancer was raging out of control and there was nothing more she could do. Flanked by her parents and sister, the 23-year-old felt something wet on her shoulder. She looked up to see her father weeping.

I felt dead inside, utterly demoralized, ready to be done, Joho remembers.

But her younger sister couldnt accept that. When the family got back to Johos apartment in New Yorks Flatiron district, Jess opened her laptop and began searching frantically for clinical trials, using medical words shed heard but not fully understood. An hour later, she came into her sisters room and showed her what shed found. Im not letting you give up, she told Stefanie. This is not the end.

That search led to a contact at Johns Hopkins University, and a few days later, Joho got a call from a cancer geneticist co-leading a study there. Get down here as fast as you can! Luis Diaz said. We are having tremendous success with patients like you.

What followed is an illuminating tale of how one womans intersection with experimental research helped open a new frontier in cancer treatment with approval of a drug that, for the first time, capitalizes on a genetic feature in a tumor rather than on the diseases location in the body.

The breakthrough, made official last week by the Food and Drug Administration, immediately could benefit some patients with certain kinds of advanced cancer that arent responding to chemotherapy. Each should be tested for that genetic signature, scientists stress.

These are people facing death sentences, said Hopkins geneticist Bert Vogelstein. This treatment might keep some of them in remission for a long time.

In August 2014, Joho stumbled into Hopkins for her first infusion of the immunotherapy drug Keytruda. She was in agony from a malignant mass in her midsection, and even with the copious amounts of oxycodone she was swallowing, she needed a new fentanyl patch on her arm every 48 hours. Yet within just days, the excruciating back pain had eased. Then an unfamiliar sensation hunger returned. She burst into tears when she realized what it was.

As months went by, her tumor shrank and ultimately disappeared. She stopped treatment this past August, free from all signs of disease.

[Negotiating cancer: Tips from one whos done it ]

The small trial in Baltimore was pivotal, and not only for the young marketing professional. It showed that immunotherapy could attack colon and other cancers thought to be unstoppable. The key was their tumors genetic defect, known as mismatch repair (MMR) deficiency akin to a missing spell-check on their DNA. As the DNA copies itself, the abnormality prevents any errors from being fixed. In the cancer cells, that means huge numbers of mutations that are good targets for immunotherapy.

The treatment approach isnt a panacea, however. The glitch under scrutiny which can arise spontaneously or be inherited is found in just 4percent of cancers overall. But bore in on a few specific types, and the scenario changes dramatically. The problem occurs in up to 20percent of colon cancers and about 40percent of endometrial malignancies cancer in the lining of the uterus.

In the United States, researchers estimate that initially about 15,000 people with the defect may be helped by this immunotherapy. That number is likely to rise sharply as doctors begin using it earlier on eligible patients.

Joho was among the first.

***

Even before Joho got sick, cancer had cast a long shadow on her family. Her mother has Lynch syndrome, a hereditary disorder that sharply raises the risk of certain cancers, and since 2003, Priscilla Joho has suffered colon cancer, uterine cancer and squamous cell carcinoma of the skin.

Stefanies older sister, Vanessa, had already tested positive for Lynch syndrome, and Stefanie planned to get tested when she turned 25. But at 22, several months after she graduated from New York University, she began feeling unusually tired. She blamed the fatigue on her demanding job. Her primary-care physician, aware of her mothers medical history, ordered a colonoscopy.

When Joho woke up from the procedure, the gastroenterologist looked like a ghost, she said. A subsequent CT scan revealed a very large tumor in her colon. Shed definitely inherited Lynch syndrome.

She underwent surgery in January 2013 at Philadelphias Fox Chase Cancer Center, where her mother had been treated. The news was good: The cancer didnt appear to have spread, so she could skip chemotherapy and follow up with scans every three months.

[More than two-thirds of cancer mutations are due to random DNA copying errors, study says]

By August of that year, though, Joho started having relentless back pain. Tests detected the invasive tumor in her abdomen. Another operation, and now she started chemo. Once again, in spring 2014, the cancer roared back. Her doctors in New York, where she now was living, switched to a more aggressive chemo regimen.

This thing is going to kill me, Joho remembered thinking. It was eating me alive.

She made it to Jesss college graduation in Vermont that May. Midsummer, her oncologist confessed he was out of options. As he left the examining room, he mentioned offhandedly that some interesting work was going on in immunotherapy. But when Joho met with a hospital immunologist, that doctor told her no suitable trials were available.

Joho began planning to move to her parents home in suburban Philadelphia: I thought, Im dying, and Id like to breathe fresh air and be around the green and the trees.

Her younger sister wasnt ready for her to give up. Jess searched for clinical trials, typing in immunotherapy and other terms shed heard the doctors use. Up popped a trial at Hopkins, where doctors were testing a drug called pembrolizumab.

***

Pembro is part of a class of new medications called checkpoint inhibitors that disable the brakes that keep the immune system from attacking tumors. In September 2014, the treatment was approved by the FDA for advanced melanoma and marketed as Keytruda. The medication made headlines in 2015 when it helped treat former president Jimmy Carter for melanoma that had spread to his brain and liver. It later was cleared for several other malignancies.

Yet researchers still dont know why immunotherapy, once hailed as a game changer, works in only a minority of patients. Figuring that out is important for clinical as well as financial reasons. Keytruda, for example, costs about $150,000 a year.

By the time Joho arrived at Hopkins, the trial had been underway for a year. While an earlier study had shown a similar immunotherapy drug to be effective for a significant proportion of patients with advanced melanoma or lung or kidney cancer, checkpoint inhibitors werent making headway with colon cancer. A single patient out of 20 had responded in a couple of trials.

Why did some tumors shrink and others didnt? What was different about the single colon cancer patient who benefited?

Drew Pardoll, director of the Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Hopkins, and top researcher Suzanne L. Topalian took the unusual step of consulting with the cancer geneticists who worked one floor up.

This was the first date in what became the marriage of cancer genetics and cancer immunology, Pardoll said.

[A consumers guide to the hottest field in cancer treatments immunotherapy]

In a brainstorming session, the geneticists were quick to offer their theories. They suggested that the melanoma and lung cancer patients had done best because those cancers have lots of mutations, a consequence of exposure to sunlight and cigarette smoke. The mutations produce proteins recognized by the immune system as foreign and ripe for attack, and the drug boosts the systems response.

And that one colon-cancer patient? As Vogelstein recalls, We all said in unison, He must have MMR deficiency! because such a genetic glitch would spawn even more mutations. The abnormality was a familiar subject to Vogelstein, who in the 1990s had co-discovered its role in the development of colon cancer. But the immunologists hadnt thought of it.

When the patients tumor tissue was tested, it was indeed positive for the defect.

The researchers decided to run a small trial, led by Hopkins immunologist Dung Le and geneticist Diaz, to determine whether the defect could predict a patients response to immunotherapy. The pharmaceutical company Merck provided its still-experimental drug pembrolizumab. Three groups of volunteers were recruited: 10 colon cancer patients whose tumors had the genetic problem; 18 colon cancer patients without it; and 7 patients with other malignancies with the defect.

The first results, published in 2015 in the New England Journal of Medicine, were striking. Four out of the 10 colon cancer patients with the defect and 5 out of the other 7cancer patients with the abnormality responded to the drug. In the remaining group, nothing. Since then, updated numbers have reinforced that a high proportion of patients with the genetic feature benefit from the drug, often for a lengthy period. Other trials by pharmaceutical companies have shown similar results.

The Hopkins investigators found that tumors with the defect had, on average, 1,700 mutations, compared with only 70 for tumors without the problem. That confirmed the theory that high numbers of mutations make it more likely the immune system will recognize and attack cancer if it gets assistance from immunotherapy.

The studies were the foundation of the FDAs decision on Tuesday to green-light Keytruda to treat cancers such as Johos, meaning malignancies with certain molecular characteristics. This first-ever site-agnostic approval by the agency signals an emerging field of precision immunotherapy, Pardoll said, one in which genetic details are used to anticipate who will respond to treatments.

***

For Joho, now 27 and living in suburban Philadelphia, the hard lesson from the past few years is clear: The cancer field is changing so rapidly that patients cant rely on their doctors to find them the best treatments. Oncologists can barely keep up, she said. My sister found a trial I was a perfect candidate for, and my doctors didnt even know it existed.

Her first several weeks on the trial were rough, with an early hospitalization after she cut back too quickly on her fentanyl and went into withdrawal. She still has some lasting side effects today joint pain in her knees, minor nausea and fatigue but they are manageable.

I have had to adapt to some new limits, she acknowledged. But I still feel better than I have in five years.

The FDAs decision last week was an emotional moment. Diaz, now at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, immediately texted her. We did it! he exulted.

I got chills all over my body, Joho said. To think that I was at the end of the road, with no options, and then to be part of such a change.

Her experience has prompted her to drop plans to go back into marketing. Now she wants to help patients navigate the new cancer landscape. Become an expert on your cancer is her message. Dont be passive. She encourages patients to try clinical trials.

As a cancer survivor with Lynch syndrome, Joho will be closely watched; if she relapses, she is likely to be treated again with immunotherapy. And if her mother relapses, Keytruda might now be her best chance.

Coming out the other side, I feel really lucky, Joho said. Shes also grateful for something else: A few years ago, her sister Jess was tested for the disorder that has so affected their family. She was negative.

Read more here:
'This is not the end': Using immunotherapy and a genetic glitch to give cancer patients hope - Washington Post

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Research on gene therapy for fighting blindness and providing nutritional and social support to elderly both nominated for US-Ireland research innovation award

By Sarah Meehan on Tuesday, May 30, 2017 Leave a Comment

Professor Jane Farrar from Trinitys School of Genetics and Microbiology and Professor Sabina Brennan a research assistant from Trinitys Institute of Neuroscience, have been nominated for a US-Ireland research innovation award. Both professors are shortlisted in the Higher Education Institution category.

The awards are a joint initiative between the Royal Irish Academy and the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland, and award ideas originating in Irish organisations that make a social and economic impact through research innovation in meeting market needs. The awards are presented in three categories: an Irish higher education institution or research institution with links to the US corporate sector in Ireland, an Irish start up with USlinks and the corporate award for innovation in the Irish operations of a US company.

Professor Farrar, from Trinitys School of Genetics and Microbiology, was nominated for developing gene therapies for treating inherited blindness. Professor Farrars development of GenableTechnologies, was acquired by Spark Therapeutics Inc, a global leader in gene therapy, based in the United States.

Speaking to Trinity News, Professor Farrar said: We were really delighted to be shortlisted in the HEI category for an Innovation Award this year. We are delighted that Spark Therapeutics, the global leader in gene therapy, in 2016 acquired Genable Technologies, a Trinity company established to expedite development of gene therapies for dominantly inherited ocular disorders.

Professor Brennans research focuses on understanding dementia risk and protective factors to establish how a decline in cognitive function might be prevented or delayed. ReLAte is a mealtime service that tries to tackle social isolation and malnutrition in older adults. The research was funded by Home Instead Senior Care Inc., a US care provider, to investigate the relationship- based nutritional intervention in older adults living at alone.

Professor Brennan told Trinity News that: It is a great honour to be shortlisted for the US-Ireland Research Innovation awards. The fact that two of projects from Trinity College Dublin have been nominated is a testament to Trinitys commitment to innovation and research for impact. The RelAte project was delivered by an amazing team of researchers at Trinity College and the research could not have happened without funding from US company Home Instead Senior Care Inc. or without the wonderful participants who gave so freelyof their time.

Dr Goron Elliott of Trinity Research and Innovation said: Trinity is focused on developing industry partnerships with our talented researchers and excellent infrastructure to create economic and societal benefits we are delighted to have two US-Ireland collaborations represented.

Read more:
Two Trinity professors nominated for a US-Ireland research innovation award - Trinity News

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

Welcome to the UPC Show with Curtis Haring, Alex Cragun, and Dylan McDonnell. On the show today we talk about the growing fight between the legislature and the governor around a special session to potentially replace Jason Chaffetz, Speaker of

Read more

Welcome to the UPC Show with Curtis Haring and Alex Cragun with special guest Bob Kubichek. On the show today we talk about new signage requirements in bars versus restaurants, Donald Trump looks into Bears Ears, Jim Matheson has gotten

Read more

Welcome to the UPC Show with Curtis Haring and Alex Cragun. On the show today we talkabout Jason Chaffetzs surprise announcement, the rest of the Utah delegation is having poll trouble, Trumps budget has a real impact on Utah, and

Read more

Welcome to the UPC Show with Curtis Haring, Dylan McDonnell,and Alex Cragun. On the show today we talk about some proposed changes to an initiative to fund education, Chris Stewarthas a Democratic challenger, and Orrin Hatch might be on the

Read more

Welcome to the UPC Show with Curtis Haring, Dylan McDonnell,and Alex Cragun. In the first half: UTAs woes and Rocky Mountain Power assumes that EPA regulations will be rolled back. In the second half: An audit shows that sex-offender treatment

Read more

A general expressionof concern about the recent hospitalization of Senator Ralph Okerlund (RepublicanMonroe) was made at the Central Utah Leadership Summit, an annual gathering of elected officials and economic development experts in rural Utah. Public announcementsby both Byron Woodland, Board

Read more

Welcome to the UPC Show with Curtis Haring, Dylan McDonnell,and Alex Cragun. In the first half: Orrin Hatch says he is willing to step asideif someone like Mitt Romney steps in and people booingRepresentative Stewart at a recent town hall

Read more

Welcome to the UPC Show with Curtis Haring, Dylan McDonnell,and Alex Cragun. This week we round out the three part legislative extravaganza by talking about Business, specifically:HB 40 Check Cashing and Deferred Deposit Lending Amendments Brad Daw (Republican

Read more

View other reviews in this series: Agriculture, Air Quality, and Alcohol Business, Campaign Finance, Crime and the Courts Drugs HB 50 Opioid Prescribing Regulations from Representative Ray Ward (Republican Bountiful) If you have been paying attention to public

Read more

Read this article:
Casino games android apk - Highest deposit bonus casino - Online casino casino site - Utah Political Capitol

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

CNN Library

(CNN) -- Here's a look at the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sports.

Facts: "Doping" by professional athletes has been acknowledged as a problem since at least the 1960s.

The issue gained prominence as a result of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) investigation, tell-alls by former professional athletes, a 2007 report on drugs in professional baseball and a scandal involving Russia's 2014 Olympic team.

About Performance-Enhancing Drugs: There are several types of performance-enhancing drugs, including anabolic steroids, stimulants, human growth hormone and diuretics.

Anabolic steroids are natural and synthetic substances which help build muscle mass, enabling athletes to train harder and recover quickly from strenuous workouts.

Tetrahydrogestrinone, also known as THG or the Clear, is a powerful steroid purportedly used by such high profile athletes as track star Marion Jones and baseball player Barry Bonds.

Stimulants, including amphetamines, impact the central nervous system, increasing alertness and decreasing appetite.

Human growth hormone (HGH) is taken for improved endurance and strength.

Androstenedione is a supplement that was sold over-the-counter until the FDA took action in 2004. It is banned by the NFL, Olympics, NCAA and MLB. The supplement is an anabolic steroid precursor, meaning that the body converts it into testosterone.

Timeline: 1967 - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) establishes a Medical Commission in response to an increase in the usage of performance enhancing substances.

1981 - After American discus thrower Ben Plucknett tests positive for steroids, he is banned from participating in future events by the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) and he is stripped of his world record.

1987 - The National Football League (NFL) begins testing players for steroids.

1988 - Congress passes the Anti-Drug Abuse Act, which makes possession and distribution of anabolic steroids for non-medical purposes a crime.

1990 - Congress strengthens the 1988 law by classifying anabolic steroids as a controlled substance.

1999 - The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is established.

2000 - The US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) is established.

2002 - Federal authorities launch an investigation into BALCO, a California lab that is suspected of selling performance enhancing drugs to elite athletes. (See BALCO Fast Facts for more details).

2003 - Major League Baseball begins testing players for steroids.

February 2005 - Retired baseball star Jose Canseco publishes an autobiography, "Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits and How Baseball Got Big." In the book, Canseco recounts his own steroid use and implicates other players.

March 2005 - Six former and current Major League Baseball players testify before the House Government Reform Committee about drugs in baseball. They include Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Canseco.

March 2006 - MLB Commissioner Bud Selig announces an investigation of steroid use among pro baseball players. Former US Sen. George Mitchell will lead the investigation.

August 22, 2006 - The USADA bans sprinter Justin Gatlin for eight years after he tests positive for banned substances a second time. Gatlin is also forced to forfeit his 100-meter world record.

May 2007 - 1996 Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis admits using performance-enhancing drugs to win his title. Race organizers tell him to return his yellow first-place jersey.

September 20, 2007 - Cyclist Floyd Landis is stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title and he is banned for two years after a positive test for synthetic testosterone.

December 13, 2007 - The Mitchell Report is released. MLB players named in the steroid report include Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte.

February 2008 - Former New York Mets clubhouse employee Kirk Radomski is sentenced to five years probation after pleading guilty to distributing steroids.

February 2009 - Alex Rodriguez admits to using performance-enhancing drugs while playing for the Texas Rangers.

January 2010 - Mark McGwire admits to using steroids during his career.

February 2012 - Three-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador is stripped of his 2010 title for doping.

June 2012 - The USADA confirms that it is opening proceedings against Lance Armstrong and five former teammates. Armstrong denies the charges. (For more details about Armstrong's case, see our Lance Armstrong Fast Facts).

August 2012 - American cyclist Tyler Hamilton is stripped of his gold medal from the 2004 Olympics after he admits to doping.

January 2013 - MLB announces it will begin random testing for HGH.

July 2013 - Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers is suspended without pay for the rest of the 2013 season for violating the league's drug policy.

August 2013 - MLB suspends Kansas City Royals player Miguel Tejada for 105 games for amphetamine use.

August 2014 - Anthony Bosch, the founder of a Miami anti-aging clinic, surrenders to the Drug Enforcement Administration. He later pleads guilty to a charge of distributing steroids to athletes. His sentence is four years in federal prison.

September 2014 - The NFL and NFL Players Association reach an agreement regarding the league's performance-enhancing drug policy. The agreement calls for HGH testing and an overhaul of the drug program.

January 2015 - Kenya's Rita Jeptoo, a three-time Boston Marathon champion, is banned from competition for two years for doping.

September 2015 - The DEA announces that 90 people have been arrested and 16 underground steroid labs have been shut down in a sweeping drug bust called Operation Cyber Juice.

November 9, 2015 - A WADA report details evidence of doping in Russian athletics and a "deeply rooted culture of cheating at all levels." Russia is provisionally suspended as a member of the IAAF in response to the doping allegations.

March 2016 - At a press conference, tennis player Maria Sharapova admits to failing a drug test at the Australian Open. She is initially suspended for two years, but the ban is later reduced to 15 months.

July 18, 2016 - A WADA report alleges Russia ran a state-sponsored doping program during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. On December 9, 2016, WADA releases an update to the report concluding that a"systematic and centralized cover-up" benefited more than 1,000 Russian athletes across 30 sports.

August 4, 2016 - The IOC announces that 271 athletes from the 389-member Russian Olympic team have been cleared to participate in the Games. The rest of the team - 118 athletes - are banned in the wake of the doping scandal.

August 7, 2016 - A swimmer from the Chinese Olympic team tests positive for a banned substance called hydrochlorothiazide, a blood pressure drug that doubles as a diuretic.

August 11, 2016 - John Anzrah, a sprint coach for the Kenyan Olympic team, is sent home after allegedly posing as an athlete to take a drug test. He is the second Kenyan running coach to face allegations that he tried to help athletes cheat on doping tests. Michael Rotich, the team's track and field manager, reportedly tried to bribe undercover journalists posing as coaches, offering to pay them in exchange for advance warning about drug tests.

August 24, 2016 - The International Weightlifting Federation reports that 15 Olympic weightlifters, including three Chinese gold medalists, have tested positive for illegal growth hormones and other banned substances in doping retests.

January 25, 2017 - The IOC rules that Usain Bolt's 2008 gold medal in the 4x100m relay no longer counts after one of his teammates tests positive for methylhexaneamine, a banned substance.

TM & 2017 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.

Originally posted here:
Performance Enhancing Drugs in Sports Fast Facts - KRTV Great Falls News

Recommendation and review posted by sam

May 26, 2017 14:28 ET | Source: Center for the Advancement of Science in Space

Kennedy Space Center, FL, May 26, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle is slated to launch its 11thcargo resupply mission (CRS-11) to the International Space Station (ISS) no earlier than June 1, 2017 from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A. Onboard the Falcon 9 launch vehicle is the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, which will carry more than 40 ISS U.S. National Laboratory sponsored experiments. This mission will showcase the breadth of research possible through the ISS National Laboratory, as experiments range from the life and physical sciences, Earth observation and remote sensing, and a variety of student-led investigations. Below highlights the investigations as part of the SpaceX CRS-11 mission:

ADVANCED COLLOIDS EXPERIMENT-TEMPERATURE CONTROLLED-6 (ACE-T-6)

Matthew Lynch, Procter & Gamble (West Chester, OH)

Implementation Partner: NASA Glenn Research Center and Zin Technologies, Inc.

Colloids are suspensions of microscopic particles in a liquid, and they are found in products ranging from milk to fabric softener. Consumer products often use colloidal gels to distribute specialized ingredients, for instance droplets that soften fabrics, but the gels must serve two opposite purposes: they have to disperse the active ingredient so it can work, yet maintain an even distribution so the product does not spoil. Advanced Colloids Experiment-Temperature-6 (ACE-T-6) studies the microscopic behavior of colloids in gels and creams, providing new insight into fundamental interactions that can improve product shelf life.

EFFICIENCY OF VERMICOMPOSTING IN A CLOSED SYSTEM (NANORACKS-NDC-BMS-VERICOMPOSTING)

Bell Middle School (Golden, CO)

Implementation Partner: NanoRacks

Vermicomposting, or using worms to break down food scraps, is an effective way to reduce waste and obtain a nutrient-rich fertilizer for plants. The NanoRacks-NDC-Bell Middle School-Efficiency of Vermicomposting in a Closed System (NanoRacks-NDC-BMS-Vermicomposting) investigation is a student-designed project that studies whether red wiggler worms, a species of earthworm, are able to produce compost in space. Results are used to study the potential for composting as a form of recycling on future long-duration space missions.

FUNCTIONAL EFFECTS OF SPACEFLIGHT ON CARDIOVASCULAR STEM CELLS (CARDIAC STEM CELLS)

Dr. Mary Kearns-Jonker, Loma Linda University (Loma Linda, CA)

Implementation Partner: BioServe Space Technologies

Functional Effects of Spaceflight on Cardiovascular Stem Cells (Cardiac Stem Cells) investigates how microgravity alters stem cells and the factors that govern stem cell activity, including physical and molecular changes. Spaceflight is known to affect cardiac function and structure, but the biological basis for this is not clearly understood. This investigation helps clarify the role of stem cells in cardiac biology and tissue regeneration. In addition, this research could confirm the hypothesis that microgravity accelerates the aging process.

MULTIPLE USER SYSTEM FOR EARTH SENSING (MUSES)

Paul Galloway, Teledyne Brown Engineering (Huntsville, AL)

Implementation Partner: Teledyne Brown Engineering

Teledyne Brown Engineering developed the Multiple User System for Earth Sensing (MUSES), an Earth imaging platform, as part of the companys new commercial space-based digital imaging business. MUSES hosts earth-viewing instruments (Hosted Payloads), such as high resolution digital cameras, hyperspectral imagers, and provides precision pointing and other accommodations. It hosts up to four instruments at the same time, and offers the ability to

change, upgrade, and robotically service those instruments. It also provides a test bed for technology demonstration and technology maturation by providing long-term access to the space environment on the ISS.

NANORACKS-JAMSS-2LAGRANGE-1

Tomohiro Ichikawa, Lagrange Corp. (Tokyo, Japan)

Implementation Partner: NanoRacks

Spaceflight affects organisms in a wide range of ways, from a reduction in human bone density to changes in plant root growth. NanoRacks-JAMSS-2 Lagrange-1 helps students understand potential spaceflight-related changes by exposing plant seeds to microgravity, and then germinating and growing them on Earth. The plants are compared with specimens grown from seeds that remained on the ground. The investigation also connects students to the space program by sending their photographic likenesses and personal messages into orbit. This connection inspires the next generation of scientists and engineers who will work on international space programs.

NEUTRON CRYSTALLOGRAPHIC STUDIES OF HUMAN ACETYLCHOLINESTERASE FOR THE DESIGN OF ACCERERATED REACTIVATORS (ORNL-PCG)

Dr. Andrey Kovalevsky, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Oak Ridge, TN)

Implementation Partner: CASIS

The investigative team is trying to improve our understanding of acetylcholinesterase, an enzyme essential for normal communication between nerve cells and between nerve and muscle cells. As a target of deadly neurotoxins produced by animals as venom or by man as nerve agents and pesticides, understanding the structure of acetylcholinesterase is critical to designing better antidotes to poisoning by chemicals that attack the nervous system. The Oak Ridge National Lab team plans to use the microgravity environment of space to grow large crystals of the enzyme that will be imaged back on Earth using a powerful imaging approach called neutron diffraction. Neutron diffraction yields very detailed structural information but requires much larger crystals than traditional x-ray diffraction imaging methods. The investigators hypothesize that structural images of space-grown crystals will bring us closer to more effective and less toxic antidotes for neurotoxins that bind and inhibit acetylcholinesterase.

STUDENT SPACEFLIGHTS EXPERIMENT PROGRAM MISSION 10

Dr. Jeff Goldstein, National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (Washington, D.C.)

Implementation Partner: NanoRacks

The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) provides one of the most exciting educational opportunities available: student-designed experiments to be flown on the International Space Station. The NanoRacks-National Center for Earth and Space Science Education-Odyssey (NanoRacks-NCESSE-Odyssey) investigation contains 24 student experiments, including microgravity studies of plant, algae and bacterial growth; polymers; development of multi-cellular organisms; chemical and physical processes; antibiotic efficacy; and allergic reactions. The program immerses students and teachers in real science, providing first-hand experience conducting scientific experiments and connecting them to the space program.

SYSTEMIC THERAPY OF NELL-1 FOR OSTEOPOROSIS (RODENT RESEARCH-5)

Dr. Chia Soo, University of California at Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA)

Implementation Partner: NASA Ames Research Center and BioServe Space Technologies

Astronauts living in space for extended durations experience bone density loss, or osteoporosis. Currently, countermeasures include daily exercise designed to prevent bone loss from rapid bone density loss deterioration. However, in space and on Earth, therapies for osteoporosis cannot restore bone that is already lost. The Systemic Therapy of NELL-1 for Osteoporosis (Rodent Research-5) investigation tests a new drug on rodents that can both rebuild bone and block further bone loss, improving health for crew members in orbit and people on Earth. Dr. Soos laboratory has been funded by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases within the National Institutes of Health. This experiment builds on those previous research investigations.

THE EFFECT OF MICROGRAVITY ON TWO STRAINS OF BIOFUEL PRODUCING ALGAE WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF RENEWABLE FUELS IN SPACE-BASED APPLICATIONS

Chatfield High School (Littleton, CO)

Implementation Partner: NanoRacks

Algae can produce both fats and hydrogen, which can each be used as fuel sources on Earth and potentially in space. NanoRacks-National Design Challenge-Chatfield High School-The Effect of Microgravity on Two Strains of Biofuel Producing Algae with Implications for the Production of Renewable Fuels in Space Based Applications (NanoRacks-NDC-CHS-The Green Machine) studies two algae species to determine whether they still produce hydrogen and store fats while growing in microgravity. Results from this student-designed investigation improve efforts to produce a sustainable biofuel in space, as well as remove carbon dioxide from crew quarters.

TOMATOSPHERE-II

Ann Jorss, First the Seed Foundation (Alexandria, VA)

Implementation Partner: CASIS

Tomatosphere is a hands-on student research experience with a standards-based curriculum guide that provides students the opportunity to investigate, create, test, and evaluate a solution for a real world case study. Tomatosphere provides information about how spaceflight affects seed and plant growth and which type of seed is likely to be most suitable for long duration spaceflight. It also exposes students to space research, inspiring the next generation of space explorers. It is particularly valuable in urban school settings where students have little connection to agriculture. In its 15-year existence, the program has reached approximately 3.3 million students.

VALLEY CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT EXPERIMENTS

Valley Christian High School (San Jose, CA), in partnership with other high schools throughout the world

Implementation Partner: NanoRacks

Students at Valley Christian High School (VCHS) have a rich history of sending investigations to the ISS through its launch partner, NanoRacks. On SpaceX CRS-11, students from VCHS have partnered with other students from across the world to send 12 total experiments to the ISS National Laboratory. Investigations will range from investigating high quality food nutrients, to the fermentation of microbes, to even an investigation monitoring the growth of a special bacterial strain. The program VCHS has developed with NanoRacks allows students the opportunity to not only conceive a flight project, but learn, understand, and implement the engineering required for a successful experiment in microgravity.

Thus far in 2017, the ISS National Lab has sponsored over 75 separate experiments that have reached the station. This launch manifest adds to an impressive list of experiments from previous missions in 2017 to include; stem cell studies, cell culturing, protein crystal growth, external platform payloads, student experiments, Earth observation and remote sensing. To learn more about those investigations and other station research, visit http://www.spacestationresearch.com.

# # #

About CASIS: The Center for Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) is the non-profit organization selected to manage the ISS National Laboratory with a focus on enabling a new era of space research to improve life onEarth. In this innovative role, CASIS promotes and brokers a diverse range of research inlife sciences,physical sciences,remote sensing,technology development,andeducation.

Since 2011, the ISS National Lab portfolio has included hundreds of novel research projects spanning multiple scientific disciplines, all with the intention of benefitting life on Earth.. Working together with NASA, CASIS aims to advance the nations leadership in commercial space, pursue groundbreaking science not possible on Earth, and leverage the space station to inspire the next generation.

About the ISS National Laboratory: In 2005, Congress designated the U.S. portion of the International Space Station as the nation's newest national laboratory to maximize its use for improving life on Earth, promoting collaboration among diverse users, and advancing STEM education. This unique laboratory environment is available for use by other U.S. government agencies and by academic and private institutions, providing access to the permanent microgravity setting, vantage point in low Earth orbit, and varied environments of space.

# # #

Attachments:

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d48a20de-af55-4274-8ce8-dd876e62a78d

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/565f968b-ad65-42c2-be54-97423c9dbcba

Related Articles

Read the original:
Over 40 U.S. National Laboratory Sponsored Experiments on SpaceX CRS-11 Destined for the International Space ... - GlobeNewswire (press release)

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

These photomicrographs show the initial scratches created with a pipette tip compared with the same scratch 36 hours later and at end of study, at 72 hours, for each experimental group. ac show the control group, from left, at the start, after 36 hours, and after 72 hours. df show the results for the same horse with use of the supernatant solution; and gi show the results for the same horse from the stem cell group. Images: Sherman et al DOI: 10.1186/s13287-017-0577-3

Stem cells taken from bone marrow may substantially improve corneal wound healing in horses, evidence from a study suggests.

Eye injuries are common in horses, most likely because of the size of their eyes and their prominent position in the head.

Researchers from the North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine conducted a laboratory experiment to assess the performance of stem cells taken from bone marrow in the breast bone of five horses.

Amanda Sherman and her colleagues, writing in Stem Cell Research & Therapy, described the process by which they collected and isolated the autologous bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells for their study.

Mesenchymal stem cells are multipotent connective-tissue cells that can change into a variety of cell types to form the likes of bone, cartilage, muscle and fat.

The supernatant solution comprising cell-medium sediment left over from the centrifuging process was also used in the study to compare its performance against the stem cells. A naive culture media was used as a control.

Corneal stromal cells were cultured and transferred on to six collagen-coated plates. A scratch was then placed the length of these equine corneal fibroblast cultures using a fine pipette.

The plates were then exposed to either the stem cells, the supernatant solution or the naive culture medium.

The researchers reported a significant percentage decrease in the scratch area remaining in the stem cell and supernatant groups compared to the control group after 72 hours.

The decrease was significantly greater in the stem-cell group compared to the supernatant group 36 hours after exposure and at all times thereafter.

The performance of the supernatant solution was most likely due to the presence of the growth factor TGF-1, which was identified on analysis. TGF-1 was found in even greater concentrations in the stem cell group.

The researchers concluded that the use of autologous bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells may substantially improve corneal wound healing in horses.

The supernatant solution may also improve corneal wound healing, given the significant decrease in scratch area compared to control treatments, and would be an immediately available and cost-effective treatment option, they said.

The researchers said studies in live horses were warranted to evaluate the potential treatments safety and effectiveness for corneal wound healing.

The universitys study team comprised Sherman,Brian Gilger,Alix Berglund and Lauren Schnabel.

Effect of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells and stem cell supernatant on equine corneal wound healing in vitro Amanda B. Sherman, Brian C. Gilger, Alix K. Berglund and Lauren V. Schnabel Stem Cell Research & Therapy 2017 8:120 DOI: 10.1186/s13287-017-0577-3

The study, published under a Creative Commons License, can be read here.

Go here to read the rest:
Stem cells show promise in helping to heal eye injuries in horses - Horsetalk

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

FOX31 Denver

How a simple cheek swab can save a life FOX31 Denver DENVER -- The need is undeniable. The majority of cancer patients in need of a stem cell or bone marrow transplant are not able to get one, in part because they can't find a match. Doctors hope more people will register to be a donor, and say all it ...

Original post:
How a simple cheek swab can save a life - FOX31 Denver

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

In BriefCRISPR is allowing scientists to make great strides in manyfields in the relatively short time it's been in use. Advances havebeen made in medicine, nutrition, biology, and more.

Theres a revolution happening in biology, and its name is CRISPR.

CRISPR (pronounced crisper) is a powerful technique for editing DNA. It has received an enormous amount of attention in the scientific and popular press, largely based on the promise of what this powerful gene editing technology will someday do.

CRISPR was Science magazines 2015 Breakthrough of the Year; its been featured prominently in the New Yorker more than once; and The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Jennifer Lopez will be the executive producer on an upcoming CRISPR-themed NBC bio-crime drama. Not bad for a molecular biology laboratory technique.

CRISPR is not the first molecular tool designed to edit DNA, but it gained its fame because it solves some longstanding problems in the field. First, it is highly specific. When properly set up, the molecular scissors that make up the CRISPR system will snip target DNA only where you want them to. It is also incredibly cheap. Unlike previous gene editing systems which could cost thousands of dollars, a relative novice can purchase a CRISPR toolkit for less than US$50.

Research labs around the world are in the process of turning the hype surrounding the CRISPR technique into real results. Addgene, a nonprofit supplier of scientific reagents, has shipped tens of thousands of CRISPR toolkits to researchers in more than 80 countries, and the scientific literature is now packed with thousands of CRISPR-related publications.

When you give scientists access to powerful tools, they can produce some pretty amazing results.

The most promising (and obvious) applications of gene editing are in medicine. As we learn more about the molecular underpinnings of various diseases, stunning progress has been made in correcting genetic diseases in the laboratory just over the past few years.

Take, for example, muscular dystrophy a complex and devastating family of diseases characterized by the breakdown of a molecular component of muscle called dystrophin. For some types of muscular dystrophy, the cause of the breakdown is understood at the DNA level.

In 2014, researchers at the University of Texas showed that CRISPR could correct mutations associated with muscular dystrophy in isolated fertilized mouse eggs which, after being reimplanted, then grew into healthy mice. By February of this year, a team here at the University of Washington published results of a CRISPR-based gene replacement therapy which largely repaired the effects of Duchenne muscular dystrophy in adult mice. These mice showed significantly improved muscle strength approaching normal levels four months after receiving treatment.

Using CRISPR to correct disease-causing genetic mutations is certainly not a panacea. For starters, many diseases have causes outside the letters of our DNA. And even for diseases that are genetically encoded, making sense of the six billion DNA letters that comprise the human genome is no small task. But here CRISPR is again advancing science; by adding or removing new mutations or even turning whole genes on or off scientists are beginning to probe the basic code of life like never before.

CRISPR is already showing health applications beyond editing the DNA in our cells. A large team out of Harvard and MIT just debuted a CRISPR-based technology that enables precise detection of pathogens like Zika and dengue virus at extremely low cost an estimated $0.61 per sample.

Using their system, the molecular components of CRISPR are dried up and smeared onto a strip of paper. Samples of bodily fluid (blood serum, urine, or saliva) can be applied to these strips in the field and, because they linked CRISPR components to fluorescent particles, the amount of a specific virus in the sample can be quantified based on a visual readout. A sample that glows bright green could indicate a life-threatening dengue virus infection, for instance. The technology can also distinguish between bacterial species (useful for diagnosing infection) and could even determine mutations specific to an individual patients cancer (useful for personalized medicine).

Almost all of CRISPRs advances in improving human health remain in an early, experimental phase. We may not have to wait long to see this technology make its way into actual, living people though; the CEO of the biotech company Editas has announced plans to file paperwork with the Food and Drug Administration for an investigational new drug (a necessary legal step before beginning clinical trials) later this year. The company intends to use CRISPR to correct mutations in a gene associated with the most common cause of inherited childhood blindness.

Physicians and medical researchers are not the only ones interested in making precise changes to DNA. In 2013, agricultural biotechnologists demonstrated that genes in rice and other crops could be modified using CRISPR for instance, to silence a gene associated with susceptibility to bacterial blight. Less than a year later, a different group showed that CRISPR also worked in pigs. In this case, researchers sought to modify a gene related to blood coagulation, as leftover blood can promote bacterial growth in meat.

You wont find CRISPR-modified food in your local grocery store just yet. As with medical applications, agricultural gene editing breakthroughs achieved in the laboratory take time to mature into commercially viable products, which must then be determined to be safe. Here again, though, CRISPR is changing things.

A common perception of what it means to genetically modify a crop involves swapping genes from one organism to another putting a fish gene into a tomato, for example. While this type of genetic modification known as transfection has actually been used, there are other ways to change DNA. CRISPR has the advantage of being much more programmable than previous gene editing technologies, meaning very specific changes can be made in just a few DNA letters.

This precision led Yinong Yang a plant biologist at Penn State to write a letter to the USDA in 2015 seeking clarification on a current research project. He was in the process of modifying an edible white mushroom so it would brown less on the shelf. This could be accomplished, he discovered, by turning down the volume of just one gene.

Yang was doing this work using CRISPR, and because his process did not introduce any foreign DNA into the mushrooms, he wanted to know if the product would be considered a regulated article by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture tasked with regulating GMOs.

APHIS does not consider CRISPR/Cas9-edited white button mushrooms as described in your October 30, 2015 letter to be regulated, they replied.

Yangs mushrooms were not the first genetically modified crop deemed exempt from current USDA regulation, but they were the first made using CRISPR. The heightened attention that CRISPR has brought to the gene editing field is forcing policymakers in the U.S. and abroad to update some of their thinking around what it means to genetically modify food.

One particularly controversial application of this powerful gene editing technology is the possibility of driving certain species to extinction such as the most lethal animal on Earth, the malaria-causing Anopheles gambiae mosquito. This is, as far as scientists can tell, actually possible, and some serious players like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are already investing in the project. (The BMGF funds The Conversation Africa.)

Most CRISPR applications are not nearly as ethically fraught. Here at the University of Washington, CRISPR is helping researchers understand how embryonic stem cells mature, how DNA can be spatially reorganized inside living cells, and why some frogs can regrow their spinal cords (an ability we humans do not share).

It is safe to say CRISPR is more than just hype. Centuries ago we were writing on clay tablets in this century we will write the stuff of life.

Continued here:

In Just a Few Short Years, CRISPR Has Sparked a Research Revolution - Futurism

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Woman's heartache at miscarrying twins

BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

A woman has told the heartbreaking story of her miscarriage and how she lost twins a fortnight apart.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/womans-heartache-at-miscarrying-twins-35760376.html

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/article35760375.ece/f3af3/AUTOCROP/h342/2017-05-27_new_31501562_I1.JPG

A woman has told the heartbreaking story of her miscarriage and how she lost twins a fortnight apart.

Karen Irvine told of the devastating moment she realised she was losing her baby and - after suffering severe pain - she later learned she had been expecting twins.

"I was sitting at work when I realised I was losing my baby," Karen said. "The year was 2003, I was 41 years old and had undergone fertility treatment following years of trying to conceive.

"Only a week prior, I had been ecstatic with the news that I was five weeks pregnant and no way could I keep it a secret until week 12, as custom dictates. I told everyone immediately.

"This actually made things easier for me later, as I couldn't have hidden my grief, it was too painful.

"After one night in hospital and following a procedure the next day to remove the remaining 'products of conception', I was discharged.

"I went to bed and stayed there, weeping for the loss of our much-wanted baby and sinking into a deep depression."

However, over the next two weeks Karen began to experience abdominal pain which her GP said was her "womb shrinking back to the normal size".

But as the pain increased she sought advice from her local family planning clinic.

"On conducting a urine test the clinic said my pregnancy hormone levels oddly had increased rather than decreasing," she said.

"At home that evening I was in unbearable pain.

"At the Early Pregnancy Unit of the Royal Victoria Hospital doctors and consultants did not know what was wrong with me. One suggested appendicitis."

As an investigatory laparoscopy was about to be performed, and as Karen was going under the anaesthetic, someone mentioned an ectopic pregnancy. "I became inconsolable, begging the surgeon, if so, to move the baby into my womb," she said.

"Of course, I knew later that this is not possible and that my baby would already be dead.

"The following morning my surgeon sat at the end of my bed and said that I was lucky to be alive; I did not feel lucky, as my fallopian tube had burst and the remains of it and my foetus had been removed.

"My husband and I had lost twins two weeks apart, one from in the womb and the other in a fallopian tube. This was known as a 'heterotrophic' pregnancy."

The twins were named Tonii and Kyrie and had their names placed in the Book of Remembrance in St Anne's Cathedral.

After seven months Karen returned to work but as she struggled to come to terms with the loss she said the Mariposa Trust - a support charity providing support to thousands each week globally, who have suffered the loss of a baby at any stage of pregnancy, at birth or in infancy - helped her feel less alone.

Karen has urged people to attend the trust's Saying Goodbye service at St Anne's Cathedral tomorrow at 3.30pm.

Belfast Telegraph

Excerpt from:
Woman's heartache at miscarrying twins - Belfast Telegraph

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

Contributor: Anna Taylor, MS, RD, LD, CDE

Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit academic medical center. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. Policy

If you or someone you care about has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer, there will be questions. These may include: What should I eat?

During any cancer therapy, remember these four diet tips:

If you dont have nutrition-related side effects from your cancer treatment that limit your ability to eat and/or digest food, you can follow a generally healthy diet that includes:

Fruits and vegetables contain antioxidant and anti-estrogen properties. Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage and Brussels sprouts are especially good to include and are rich in phytochemicals.

Whole grains are unprocessed foods that are high in complex carbohydrates, fiber, phytochemicals as well as vitamins and minerals. A study by researchers at Soochow University in Suzhou, China, found that high fiber intakes may have a positive effect by altering hormonal actions of breast cancer and other hormone-dependent cancers.

Some studies, including a study by researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, have suggested that the type of fat you consume may initiate the development of breast cancer. Limit your intake of saturated fat such as beef, lamb, organ meats, butter, cream, etc. and decrease your intake of foods containing trans fats, which also are called hydrogenated oils. Increase your intake of fatty fish like salmon, tuna, herring, and sardines to two to three times everyweek.

For good protein sources, increase your intake of poultry, fish, and legumes such as beans and lentils.Minimize your intake of cured, pickled and smoked foods. Soy in moderate amounts, which means one to two servings/day of whole soy foods, such as tofu, edamame and soy milk, also can be included. Studies, including research reported in the American Institute for Cancer Research, show that animals metabolize soy differently than humans. Not only is soy safe in moderate amounts, but research shows that soy contains isoflavones, a phytonutrient with anti-cancer properties. Up to threeservings of whole soy foods per day does not increase a breast cancersurvivors risk of recurrence or death.

Drinking alcohol is a known risk factor for breast cancer. A large, observational study of 105,986 women suggested that drinking three glasses of wine or more per week throughout life increases a womans risk of breast cancer by a small but significant percentage. The study saw a 15 percent increased risk of breast cancer when women drank an average of three to six drinks per week, compared to women who did not drink. Try to avoid intake of alcoholic beverages when possible.

Obese women have higher levels of estrogen circulating in their bodies than women who are in their ideal body weight range.

Many studies including a study conducted by researchers from the Iranian Institute for Health Sciences Research in Tehran, Iran, have demonstrated an association between body mass size and breast cancer in post-menopausal women.

Weight reduction should be accomplished through a healthy diet and regular exercise once treatment is completed. Weight loss during treatment is not typically encouraged, as this is often associated with undesired muscle loss, leading to fatigue, a suppressed immune system, and a slower healing process.

Allow your body the nutrients it needs to fight cancer; once treatment is done, consider meeting with a dietitian for individualized recommendations to decrease recurrence risk and support a healthy weight.

Phytonutrients support human health and are found in plant-based foods, including fruits, vegetables, beans, and grains. Below, find common foods that contain important phytochemicals.

If you experience nausea, your nutritionist may recommend that you try to eat more foods that are cool or at room temperature, because they dont have a strong odor. Your nutritionist also may advise you to eatlower-fat foodsince fats take longer to digest.

Dont skip meals entirely if you have nausea, since an empty stomach can make nausea worse. Instead, focus on small bites of food throughout the day. Avoid strong flavors. Feel free to incorporate ginger root into your recipes, as this can help settle a nauseated stomach.

If constipation becomes an issue, your nutritionist may encourage you to eat fiber-rich foods and increase your fluid intake. Low-intensity walking and warm beverages also can help encourage regular bowel movements.

To combat fatigue, choose high-protein snacks and small frequent meals rather than large meals. People often experience more fatigue when they are not eating well, or when they are losing weight during treatment.

If experiencing any side effect that affects your ability to eat regularly, ask your care team if you can meet with a dietitian to review individualized nutrition recommendations.

See the article here:
The Best Foods to Eat When You Have Breast Cancer - Health Essentials from Cleveland Clinic (blog)

Recommendation and review posted by sam

AR Rahman (Pic: ENS).

CHENNAI: Double Oscar winning Indian composer A R Rahman has made an appeal to youngsters to register themselves as bone marrow donors. The music directors appeal is made on behalf of the Chennai-based Jeevan Stem Cell Foundation to mark the world blood cancer day (May 28, Sunday).

The foundations co-founder and chairman, P Srinivasan said every year over 1.2 lakh Indians are diagnosed with blood cancer and another 10,000 children born with diseases like Thalassemia. They could hope for a 60 to 80% chance of cure, with matching stem cell donors. So, the foundation has created a registry, which is a database of potential stem cell donors, and matching donors are identified when needed.

To encourage more people to register in this database, the foundation with the help of AR Rahman has put out a YouTube video to mark world blood cancer day. Over 90 per cent of us cant find a stem cell match because Indian DNA is different and we dont have a large bone marrow registry.

If you are between 18 and 50, it is your time to save an Indian life, sign up with me as bone marrow donor in Jevan stem cell registry, said Rahman in the video.

Interested individuals can login to http://www.bethecure.in, read who are eligible and register as potential stem cell donors.

Excerpt from:
Be bone marrow donors: A R Rahman's appeal to youth - The New Indian Express

Recommendation and review posted by sam

The Hindu

Indian researchers develop 3D bioprinted cartilage The Hindu The bioink has high concentration of bone-marrow derived cartilage stem cells, silk proteins and a few factors. The chemical composition of the bioink supports cell growth and long-term survival of the cells. The cartilage developed in the lab has ...

See the original post:
Indian researchers develop 3D bioprinted cartilage - The Hindu

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

The late actor Telly Savalas said it best: Were all born bald, baby.

And bald CAN be beautiful.

But for many follicly-challenged folks, news out of UC San Francisco this week offers some hope of finally having a bad hair day.

In experiments in mice, researchers there have discovered that regulatory T cells (Tregs; pronounced tee-regs), a type of immune cell associated with controlling inflammation, directly trigger stem cells in the skin to promote healthy hair growth.

Without these immune cells as partners, the researchers found, the stem cells cannot regenerate hair follicles, leading to baldness.

Our hair follicles are constantly recycling: when a hair falls out, the whole hair follicle has to grow back, said Dr. Michael Rosenblum, an assistant professor of dermatology at UCSF and senior author on the new paper.

This has been thought to be an entirely stem cell-dependent process, but it turns out Tregs are essential. If you knock out this one immune cell type, hair just doesnt grow.

In other words: no Tregs, no tresses.

The new study appeared online Friday in Cell, a journal that publishes peer-reviewed articles reporting findings of unusual significance in any area of experimental biology.

For 35 million U.S. men and 21 million women who are experiencing hair loss, according to Statistic Brain Research Institute,the UCSF report would probably qualify as significant.

The study suggests that defects in Tregs could be responsible for alopecia areata, a common autoimmune disorder that causes hair loss, and could potentially play a role in other forms of baldness, including male pattern baldness, Rosenblum said.

And since the same stem cells are responsible for helping heal the skin after injury, the researchers note, the study raises the possibility that Tregs may play a key role in wound repair as well.

Normally, the researchers say, Tregs act as peacekeepers and diplomats, informing the rest of the immune system of the difference between friend and foe. When Tregs dont function properly, people may develop allergies to harmless substances like peanut protein or cat dander, or suffer from autoimmune disorders in which the immune system turns on the bodys own tissues.

Like other immune cells, most Tregs reside in the bodys lymph nodes, but some live permanently in other tissues, where researcher say they seem to have evolved to assist with local metabolic functions as well as playing their normal anti-inflammatory role. In the skin, for example, Rosenblum and colleagues have previously shown that Tregs help establish immune tolerance to healthy skin microbes in newborn mice, and these cells also secrete molecules that help heal wounds into adulthood.

Rosenblum wanted to better understand the role of these resident immune cells in skin health. To do this, he and his team developed a technique for temporarily removing Tregs from the skin. But when they shaved patches of hair from these mice to make observations of the affected skin, they made a surprising discovery.

We quickly noticed that the shaved patches of hair never grew back, and we thought, Hmm, now thats interesting, Rosenblum said. We realized we had to delve into this further.

The researchers including UCSF postdoctoral fellow and first author Niwa Ali believe a betterunderstanding of Tregs critical role in hair growth could lead to improved treatments for hair loss more generally and have implications for alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease that causes patients to lose hair in patches from their scalp, eyebrows, and faces.

For many other baldly confident folks, however, Fridays findings may just warrant a shrug.As they say, No hair, dont care.

Visit link:
Baldness treatment discovered at UCSF - The Mercury News

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Will Shindel prepares for a gene-editing class using the CRISPR tool at a Brooklyn community lab called Genspace. Alan Yu/WHYY hide caption

Will Shindel prepares for a gene-editing class using the CRISPR tool at a Brooklyn community lab called Genspace.

On a Saturday afternoon, 10 students gather at Genspace, a community lab in Brooklyn, to learn how to edit genes.

There's a recent graduate with a master's in plant biology, a high school student who started a synthetic biology club, a medical student, an eighth grader, and someone who works in pharmaceutical advertising.

"This is so cool to learn about; I hadn't studied biology since like ninth grade," says Ruthie Nachmany, one of the class participants. She had studied anthropology, visual arts, and environmental studies in college, but is now a software engineer.

In the 1970s, personal computers emerged from labs and universities and became something each person could have. That made it possible for people like Nachmany to become a professional programmer despite not having studied it in school.

Some compare that democratization of personal computing in the '70s to the current changes in access to genetic engineering tools.

In 2015, the journal Science declared the gene editing tool CRISPR Cas9 the breakthrough of the year. It let scientists make changes in DNA of living cells easier and cheaper than before. Today, the CRISPR tool is no longer something that only researchers do in labs. You can take classes in gene editing at a community lab. You can buy a $150 kit to do it at home. Some middle schoolers are doing it in their science classes.

Genspace lab manager Will Shindel, who teaches the genome-editing class, says his students are usually professionals who want to learn a new career skill or curious everyday people. "They just know that it's this word that everybody's throwing around," Shindel says. "It's either going to lead to the singularity or the apocalypse."

Shindel, a biologist by training, is one of many people now dreaming about and starting synthetic biology projects using the CRISPR tool. With some friends, he is working on genetically engineering a spicy tomato. Some people are trying to make bacteria produce insulin. At Acera, an elementary and middle school in Massachusetts, 13-year-old Abby Pierce recently completed a CRISPR experiment, genetically modifying bacteria so that it could grow in an antibiotic that would have killed it otherwise.

Pierce's science teacher, Michael Hirsch, made the argument to get genetic engineering kits for his science students to experiment with in class. "It's going to take molecular bio out of the 'Oh man, cool, they do it in labs' to 'Wait, we can do this in our homes,' " Hirsch says. "We could do things like create pigments, and create flavor extracts, and all of these really nifty things safely and carefully in our kitchens."

New skill set

In fact, the University of Pennsylvania's Orkan Telhan argues, genetic engineering will become an increasingly important skill, like coding has been. Telhan is an associate professor of fine arts and emerging design practices and he worked with a biologist and an engineer on a desktop machine that allows anyone to do genetic engineering experiments, without needing a background in biology.

"Biology is the newest technology that people need to learn," Telhan says. "It's a new skill set everyone should learn because it changes the way you manufacture things, it changes the way we learn, store information, think about the world." As an example of a recent application, Telhan points to an Adidas shoe made from bioengineered fiber, inspired by spider silk.

The comparison between genetic engineering and computing is not new. Two years ago at a conference, MIT Media Lab Director Joi Ito gave a talk called "Why bio is the new digital":

Genspace Lab Manager Will Shindel mixes all the chemicals before class, so the students don't have to make calculations to dilute them during the class. Alan Yu/WHYY hide caption

Genspace Lab Manager Will Shindel mixes all the chemicals before class, so the students don't have to make calculations to dilute them during the class.

"You can now take all of the gene bricks, these little parts of genetic code, categorize them as if they were pieces of code, write software using a computer, stick them in a bacteria, reboot the bacteria and the bacteria just as with computers, usually does what you think it does."

'We need to dig deeper'

Gene editing tools have already started a debate about ethics and safety. Some scientists have warned about not just intentionally harmful uses, but also potential unintended consequences or dangerous mistakes in experimentation.

The German government in March sent out a warning about one kind of CRISPR kit, saying officials found potentially harmful bacteria on two kits they tested, though it's not clear how those bacteria got there. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control responded with a statement earlier this month that the risk to people using these kits was low and asked EU member states to review their procedures around these kits.

Earlier, the German Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety also issued a reminder that depending on the kit, genetic-engineering laws still applied, and doing this work outside of a licensed facility with an expert supervisor could lead to a fine of up to 50,000 euros ($56,000).

In the U.S., then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper in early 2016 added genome editing to a list related to "weapons of mass destruction and proliferation." But bioengineering experts say overall, the U.S. government agencies have long been monitoring the gene-editing and the DIY bio movement "very proactive in understanding" the field, as Johns Hopkins University biosecurity fellow Justin Pahara puts it.

"There is a lot of effort going into understanding the scope of DIY biology, who can do it, what can be done, what are some of the concerns, how do we mitigate risk," says Pahara, who is also a co-founder of bioengineering-kit company Amino Labs. He says DIY bio, or biohacking, poses little security concern for now, being at a very early stage.

"I would suggest that just all of these discussions, including looking into the past at computing and other technologies, [have] really helped us understand that we need to dig deeper," he says.

More variables

As much as the gene-engineering revolution is being compared to the PC revolution before it, bacteria are not as predictable as computers, says Kristala Prather, associate professor of chemical engineering at MIT. Her team studies how to engineer bacteria so they produce chemicals that can be used for fuel, medications and other things.

"I have a first-year graduate student ... who was lamenting the fact that even though she has cloned genes many times before, it's taking her a little while to get things to work well at my lab," Prather says. "And my response to her is that the same is true for about 80 percent of students who come into my group."

Prather explains that engineering bacteria isn't quite like coding because many more variables are at play.

"One of the common mistakes that people make it to assume all water is just water. The water that comes out of the tap in Cambridge is different than the water that comes out of the tap in New York," she says. "So there are very small things like that that can turn out to make a significant difference."

But Prather who remembers writing programs on a Commodore 64 computer as a 13-year-old is nonetheless excited about the prospect of more people learning about genetic engineering through kits and classes: She says even if all this access does right now is get more people excited about becoming scientists, it's still really valuable.

Alan Yu reports for WHYY's health and science show, The Pulse. This story originally appeared on an episode of its podcast called Do It Yourself.

Read more here:

How A Gene Editing Tool Went From Labs To A Middle-School Classroom - NPR

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

The gene editing technology CRISPR/CAS9 is being used to develop a host of new treatments, mostly for genetic diseases. But a team of researchers from the University of Rochester's Center for RNA Biology are investigating whether gene editing can be used for another purpose: to slow the growth of cancer cells.

Although there are many types of cancer, theyre all characterized by the same uncontrollable cell growth. So the University of Rochester team is targeting the cell cycle, which is the series of events that leads to cell growth and division, according to a press release. And theyve zeroed in on a single protein, called Tudor-SN, thats a key element in the preparatory phase of cell division.

Using CRISPR, the scientists eliminated Tudor-SN from cells. Then they observed that those cells were taking much longer to prepare for division.

"We know that Tudor-SN is more abundant in cancer cells than healthy cells, and our study suggests that targeting this protein could inhibit fast-growing cancer cells," said Reyad A. Elbarbary, Ph.D., a research assistant at the University of Rochester and the lead author, in the release.

Elbarbary works in a lab that discovered that Tudor-SN influences the cell cycle by controlling microRNAs, according to the release. When the protein is removed, levels of many types of microRNAs rise, which in turn switches off genes that promote cell growth.

This isnt the first time CRISPR has been proposed in the context of finding new ways to attack cancer. Last year, Facebook and Napster billionaire Sean Parker turned heads when his Parker Institute funded research at the University of Pennsylvania thats focused on editing T cellsimmune cells that usually cant recognize cancer as a foreign invader. The Penn scientists are using CRISPR to edit out genes of T cells in the hopes of enabling the immune system to search out and kill cancer cells.

Eliminating Tudor-SN through gene editing is more about disrupting the very process that results in cancerabnormal cell proliferation. There are already molecules in the clinic that target Tudor-SN, Elbarbary says, making it possible to consider cancer therapies based on this mechanism. The University of Rochester team plans further studies to determine how Tudor-SN works with other proteins so they can best identify drugs that will target cell division.

View post:

Using CRISPR gene editing to slow cancer growth | FierceBiotech - FierceBiotech

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

How well can scientists communicate their research to people depending on their level of understanding?

That was the challenge posed to biologist Neville Sanjana, who attempted to explain CRISPR (a kind of gene editing technology) to a child, a teenager, a college student, a graduate student, and a fellow CRISPR expert. Its fascinating to watch him maneuver between them all.

As I wrote when this same kind of communication experiment was done with a neuroscientist, we may not all be scientists, but we often have ideas that we want to get across. How well do we adapt what we say based on the audience? Ive been to plenty of debates on philosophy and read several books about the subject where it felt like everything was way over my head. And there were other books geared to a more knowledgeable audience that never went beyond the 101 level. It was a waste of my time.

All good communicators should be able to explain their ideas with the audience in front of them, meeting them where theyre at.

(via Kottke. Portions of this article were published earlier)

Read the original:

Watch This Scientist Brilliantly Explain CRISPR to Everyone from a Child to a Ph.D. - Patheos (blog)

Recommendation and review posted by sam

May 24, 2017 by Collene Ferguson Jeff Biernaskies research identifies a factor essential for dermal stem cells to continuously divide during tissue regeneration. Credit: Riley Brandt, University of Calgary

Stem cell researchers at the University of Calgary have found another piece of the puzzle behind what may contribute to hair loss and prevent wounds from healing normally.

Jeff Biernaskie's research, published recently in the scientific journal npj Regenerative Medicine identifies a key signalling protein called platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF). This protein is critical for driving self-renewal and proliferation of dermal stem cells that live in hair follicles and enable their unique ability to continuously regenerate and produce new hair.

"This is the first study to identify the signals that influence hair follicle dermal stem cell function in your skin," says Biernaskie, an associate professor in comparative biology and experimental medicine at the University of Calgary'sFaculty of Veterinary Medicine, and Calgary Firefighters Burn Treatment Society Chair in Skin Regeneration and Wound Healing. Biernaskie is also a member of the Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute.

"What we show is that in the absence of PDGF signalling hair follicle dermal stem cells are rapidly diminished because of their inability to generate new stem cells and produce sufficient numbers of mature dermal cells within the hair follicle."

Biernaskie and his team of researchers study dermal stem cells located within hair follicles. They are looking to better understand dermal stem cell function and find ways to use these cells to develop novel therapies for improved wound healing after injury, burns, disease or aging.

This study, co-authored byRaquel Gonzalez and Garrett Moffatt,shows that PDGF is key to maintaining a well-functioning stem cell population in skin. And in normal skin, if you don't have enough of it the stem cell pools start to shrink, meaning eventually the hair will no longer grow and wounds will not heal as well.

"It's an important start in terms of how we might modulate these cells towards developing future therapies that could regenerate new dermal tissue or maintain hair growth" says Biernaskie.

Biernaskie's lab is looking at the potential role of stem cells in wound healing and the potential to stimulate these cells to improve skin regeneration, as opposed to forming scars.

Explore further: Using stem cells to grow new hair

More information: Raquel Gonzlez et al. Platelet-derived growth factor signaling modulates adult hair follicle dermal stem cell maintenance and self-renewal, npj Regenerative Medicine (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41536-017-0013-4

In a new study from Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham), researchers have used human pluripotent stem cells to generate new hair. The study represents the first step toward the development of a cell-based ...

If the content of many a situation comedy, not to mention late-night TV advertisements, is to be believed, there's an epidemic of balding men, and an intense desire to fix their follicular deficiencies.

UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have identified the cells that directly give rise to hair as well as the mechanism that causes hair to turn gray findings that could one day help identify possible treatments ...

Researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have determined the role of a key growth factor, found in skin cells of limited quantities in humans, which helps hair follicles form and regenerate ...

Changing the natural electrical signaling that exists in cells outside the nervous system can improve resistance to life-threatening bacterial infections, according to new research from Tufts University biologists. The researchers ...

In experiments in mice, UC San Francisco researchers have discovered that regulatory T cells (Tregs; pronounced "tee-regs"), a type of immune cell generally associated with controlling inflammation, directly trigger stem ...

(Medical Xpress)A team of researchers with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York has found that giving a certain antibody to menopausal mice resulted in less weight gain and reduced bone loss. In their ...

A new study has uncovered a molecular mechanism in the prion protein, a protein responsible for neurodegenerative diseases, which may explain why nerve cells degenerate in these disorders.

(Medical Xpress)A European team of researchers working at Sweden's Karolinska Institutet has found evidence that suggests that humans have an olfactory defense against contagious diseases. In their paper published in Proceedings ...

A 12-month study mapping bacterial diversity within a hospitalwith a focus on the flow of microbes between patients, staff and surfacesshould help hospitals worldwide better understand how to encourage beneficial microbial ...

Please sign in to add a comment. Registration is free, and takes less than a minute. Read more

See the original post:
Researchers identify 'signal' crucial to stem cell function in hair follicles - Medical Xpress

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

A cancer cell in the process of division. Knocking out the Tudor-SN protein might have stopped things getting this far.

Steve Gschmeissner / Getty

Cancer cells are known for their fast and rapacious growth, but a new technique to slow them down may one day offer new treatment options.

Scientists from the US have discovered a protein called Tudor-SN linked to the preparatory phase of cell life when cells prepare to divide and spread.

Using the gene-editing technology CRISPR, the researchers removed the protein, which is more abundant in cancer cells than healthy cells, and found cancer cell growth was effectively delayed.

The research team, led by Reyad Elbarbary and Keita Myoshi from the University of Rochester, in New York, made its findings in a laboratory using cells from kidney and cervical cancers.

While the technique is still far from human trials, the researchers report in the journal Science that their findings could potentially be used as a treatment option.

Thomas Cox from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, who wasnt involved in the study, says there is potential for the technique to boost the effectiveness of some standard therapies by slowing tumour cells down.

The treatment works by hacking into molecules involved in the life cycle of cancerous cells.

Healthy cells go through a cycle of growth, division and death. For cancerous cells, this cycle is faulty and the cells grow abnormally and uncontrollably, infiltrating nearby tissues.

The proteins effect on the cell cycle is a result of its influence on microRNAs the molecules that determine what genes are switched on and when, including the genes that control cell growth.

Plucking out Tudor-SN boosted the number of certain microRNAs that, in turn, prevented the production of proteins responsible for cell growth.

Cox says the process of targeting microRNAs is difficult and technically challenging:

This study is saying: Well, if we cant target microRNAs directly, can we target something regulating them?

MicroRNAs have long been known to be involved in cancer, and recent studies have also looked at the influence of Tudor-SN. What this present research does differently, Cox says, is home in on how these affect the cell cycle.

The next step, he adds, will be testing the treatment in mice.

Read more:

CRISPR gene editing puts the brakes on cancer cells - Cosmos

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

Denver, Colo., May 23, 2017 / 03:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- With plans for the first human head transplant surgery looming in the next year, a lead doctor on the formidable project has high hopes for the procedure. Along with the aim of finding a new body for a yet-to-be-selected patient, the physician says that the surgery as a first step toward immortality will effectively disprove religion. But Catholic critics have called into question not only the ethics of such a risky procedure, but the dubious claim that such a development would render belief in God irrelevant.

The actual trying of the surgery at this point I think would be unethical because of the tremendous risk involved, and it is an unproven surgery, Dr. Paul Scherz, assistant professor of moral theology and ethics at The Catholic University of America, told CNA.

Sherz made his remarks following the news that Italian doctor Sergio Canavero is aiming to carry out the first human head transplant surgery within the next 10 months. It's a process Canavero hopes will pave the way for the process of transplanting cryogenically frozen brains and ultimately, in his view, to the eradication of death.

Canavero serves as director of Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group and has teamed up with Harbin Medical Centre and Doctor Xiaoping Ren, an orthopedic surgeon who was involved with the first successful hand transplant in the U.S. The first surgical attempt for the head transplant is expected to take place in China, where the group says they're more likely to find a donor body.

Cryonics involves the freezing of the brain or even the whole body of patients, with expectations that future science will have the means to restore the frozen tissue and extend life. Because conscious minds will have experienced life outside of death, Canavero said the surgery would then remove the fear of death and the people's need for religion. He said if the process succeeds, religions will be swept away forever.

However, Sherz responded that even if the surgery was a success, it would not disprove the Catholic faith. There is nothing in the Catholic tradition of how we understand the soul that would think that if you moved a head or moved the brain that that wouldnt allow the person to come back to life, he said.

Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group has already claimed that a successful head transplant has been carried out on a monkey, but not all scientists agree that the operation can be recorded as a success. Before the monkey's head was stitched back together, it was removed, cooled, and the blood of the transplant body was cross circulated with an outside source. Canavero and his group claimed the supply of blood was then connected to prove the surgery succeeded without brain damage, but the spinal cord was left unattached.

How the connected blood supply proves the surgery is possible without brain damage was not described, and many bioethicists are skeptical of the publication of the surgery's success without proper peer review and of the issues around the severed spine. Because the technology has not yet been developed, the bioethicists worry that the severed spine may never be reconstructed, leaving the patient worse off than before.

Despite the pervasive belief in the surgery's failure, Canavero claims there's a 90 percent chance that the human head transplant will succeed. And not only that, its success would allow humans to no longer need to be afraid of death.

Father Tad Pacholczyk, who serves as a bioethicist for the National Catholic Bioethics Center, disagreed with Canavero's definition of being brought back to life. He said to assume death as a necessary product of either the head surgery or brain surgery is gullible and mistaken, as there is potential for the patient to be merely unconscious.

The patient undergoing the head transplant is not dead, only unconscious, he told CNA. There is not any 'bringing back to life'There is merely a restoration of consciousness, briefly lost during the movement of the head from one human body to the other.

Scherz also said that the Church accepts an intimate and mysterious relationship between soul and body, and that the procedure's success wouldn't necessary disprove the soul or religion. Our neurological tissue has important part to play in our soulThe soul is always intimately related to the body. We are not just souls that are disembodied, right? We are embodied spirits or spirited bodies.

Most physicians agree that the proposed surgery's success rate is infinitesimal, and they've questioned the morality of a procedure that's doomed to fail and the unrealistic hope life extension projects could give to people. I am concerned that the rights of vulnerable patients undergoing cryonics cannot be protected indefinitely, Dr. Channa Jayasena, a lecturer in Reproductive Endocrinology at Imperial College in London, told the Telegraph. Cryonics, she said, has risks for the patient, poses ethical issues for society, is highly expensive, but has no proven benefit.

And the hope for immortal life, Scherz weighed in, isn't a realistic desire in a fallen world. Living forever in bodily form is not going to satisfy anyone, he said. If the goal is not to help someone to get back bodily movement or things like that, but to try to live forever on this earth, then I think if you really want to get over the fear of death then you will have to come to terms with the fact that we are mortal. That what's going to help you to live a better life because you are going to be willing to give your life to things like service.

In fact, he said that people in transhumanist movements have admitted they would most likely avoid risky behavior in order to preserve their lives. If life extension projects come into being there is so much more to lose and you committed yourself to trying to live on this earth for as long as possible, which stands in contrast to the Catholic tradition and a lot of the philosophical traditions, Scherz noted.

Continue reading here:
Why head transplants won't disprove the existence of God - The Tidings

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

[When]the House of Representatives passed the American Health Care Act of 2017,DNA Science addressed the possibility of the AHCA forcing pregnant womento carry doomed fetuses to term, the discussion now in the hands of 13 senators[Now]I fear for the treatments for single-gene conditions,both the short-term and available protein-based ones as well as the not-yet-approved gene therapies.

CNN.comonce told the remarkable story of recent college grad Ryan Dant., [who was diagnosed with] a form of mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) [at age 3]Ryan wasnt expected to survive beyond age 10, but entered a clinical trial for an enzyme replacement therapy (ERT).It won FDA approval in 2003, [but it is very expensive].

The high cost of lifelong frequent infusions or injections of ERT is why the forever fix of a gene therapy is an attractive alternative, even if a booster or two becomes necessary. Gene therapy delivers the DNA instructions for making the missing enzyme. Another reason to seek gene therapy (or editing) is that enzyme infusions dont reach the brain.

Theoretically, gene therapy should be more economical than ERT, once research costs have been recoupedYet the first FDA approval for a gene therapy has yet to happen.

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post:Will Short Term and Long Term Treatments for Single-Gene Diseases Survive?

View post:
Is gene therapy research for single-gene diseases at risk under Trumpcare? - Genetic Literacy Project

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Defenders should seize the opportunity to seek assertive case management of complex negligence claims, following Lord Glennies comments in JD v Lothian Health Board [2017] CSIH 27.

JD, a party litigant, sued Lothian Health Board in the Court of Session. He alleged his consultant negligently misdiagnosed him with hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism, a condition where a lack of testosterone causes small testicles, abnormal body appearance and sexual dysfunction. The Health Board took the case to debate, arguing JDs case was legally irrelevant. He made no relevant allegations of breach of duty; he had not offered to prove the cause of his low testosterone; and he claimed only for emotional upset. Without any physical injury, emotional distress not amounting to a psychiatric condition does not sound in damages.

At first instance, the court agreed with the Health Board and dismissed the case.

JD appealed to the Inner House and his case came before Lord Brodie, Lady Clark and Lord Glennie. He argued that he had an independent medical expert, a Dr Quinton, who agreed he had been misdiagnosed and was willing to speak to the court.

The Inner House examined JDs written case closely. He had quoted Dr Quinton as saying, I could show a photo of your testicles to every expert around the world and not one of them would diagnose you with hypogonadism. Affording JD some considerable leeway as a party litigant, all three judges were satisfied he had said enough to make a relevant case under Hunter v Hanley. They considered Dr Quintons quote could be construed as meaning no reasonable doctor would diagnose hypogonadism if acting with reasonable skill and care.

However, the appeal was dismissed by a 2-1 majority. Lord Brodie and Lady Clark agreed that, as JD claimed only for emotional upset, he had failed to show any recoverable loss and therefore his claim was irrelevant. Lord Glennie disagreed. He found that, as the emotional upset arose from continued abnormal bodily appearance and sexual dysfunction, there had been physical injury and the loss was relevant. He would have allowed the appeal and sent the case back for a case management hearing.

Lord Glennie, supported by Lady Clark, also stressed a wider need for pro-active case management. He observed the rules under Chapter 42A afford judges wide-ranging case management powers in complex negligence claims. Before allowing a case to go to proof, the judge must consider whether there is a relevant case supported by expert evidence, and likewise a relevant and supported defence. If not, the judge can make orders for the pursuer (or defender) to provide further specification and lodge expert reports. If a party failed to comply, the other could seek decree in default. Lord Glennie also reminded parties that, where a claim for professional negligence is not supported by an expert report, the court has an inherent power to dismiss it as an abuse of process.

Case management orders provide a real opportunity for defenders. The smart defender will scrutinise the pursuers pleadings early and, where they are found wanting, attend case management hearings armed with a shopping list of points for further specification. Where expert reports are inadequate or missing altogether, the savvy defender will highlight this and seek orders for adequate reports to be lodged within a reasonable time. If the pursuer does not comply, they may face decree in default. For the defender, this is an attractive alternative to the traditional route of a protracted and costly debate.

Not every judge will be as proactive, but Lord Glennies comments are an open invitation to defenders to make better use of the courts powers through assertive case management. If JD had been ordered to produce Dr Quintons report, perhaps his case would have been resolved at a much earlier stage, avoiding great public expense.

Originally posted here:
The Ball's In Your Court - Lexology (registration)

Recommendation and review posted by sam

UW Health trial involves injecting... More Headlines

MADISON, Wis. - Doctors at UW Health are involved in a clinical trial using stem cells for the treatment of heart failure.

The CardiAMP therapy involves withdrawing a patients bone marrow. The bone marrow is then processed on-site to separate the stem cells from the plasma. The patients own stem cells are then injected into damaged areas of the heart using a catheter.

It is hopeful that we can improve things. I dont think we can necessarily cure the damage, but I think we can improve things, said Dr. Amish Raval, director of cardiovascular clinical research at UW Health.

The CardiAMP Heart Failure Trial is a phase III study that will eventually enroll up to 260 patients. For the first 10 patients, UW Health is one of three sites nationwide performing the procedure.

I figured it was possibly going to do something good for me, said Dan Caulfield, a Madison man enrolled in the study.

Caulfield, who is 81 years old, has had three heart attacks.

I was 46 years old and had a heart attack. It was called a fatal heart attack in those days, Caulfield said. I had two more heart attacks in 2002, and since then it has been sort of downhill.

Improving the quality of life of individuals with heart failure is a goal of the CardiAMP therapy.

There is about a 50 percent five-year mortality associated with this condition and those five years can be awfully tough on these folks because they have a lot of problems with shortness of breath, weakness and sometimes chest discomfort while walking. So it is not just a matter of quantity of life, it is also a quality of life issue, Raval said.

The procedure involves a very targeted injection of stem cells into the area near where the heart is damaged.

We create a targeted map and based on that targeted map we have a really clear sense of where the damage is. Then it is my task to go in and try to get into the adjacent border areas, Raval said.

In the U.S. there are approximately 6.5 million people living with heart failure. According to the American Heart Association, that number is expected to rise by 46 percent by the year 2030.

This is one of the few pivotal trials in the United States that is really, I think, going to pave the way for future studies, Raval said.

The outcome of the CardiAMP trial will be measured by any change in distance during a six-minute walk 12 months after an initial baseline measurement is taken.

Visit link:
UW Health trial involves injecting stem cells into patients with heart failure - Channel3000.com - WISC-TV3

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Schamper's life was still saved, however, thanks to an international registry of willing bone-marrow and stem-cell donors, people from all walks of life who made the decision to step up and, if they could, save the life of someone even though they had never met.

"So I personally understand the importance of trying to register more potential donors," Schamper said in an interview this week with the News Tribune Opinion page. "This is something simple that any one of us can do to help save a life. It's so important to educate the public and community and to let people know how easy it is."

Schamper's story is a reminder of the critical importance of at least seriously considering becoming a registered bone-marrow and stem-cell donor in case someone out there like her, someone with a blood cancer or blood-related illness, is suddenly in life-or-death need.

May 28 is World Blood Cancer Day, an annual observance of the same reminder.

And a story in the News Tribune on April 22 offered Duluthians yet another prompt. It chronicled the moment a 40-year-old Duluth woman, Merissa Edwards, met the 30-year-old woman from Cologne, Germany, responsible for the stem cell transplant in 2014 that saved her life.

"It's so important for us to help other people keep their families together and save a mother or father or son or daughter," Edwards said in the story. "The more people we can encourage to cheek-swab and get on the registry, the more lives we can help save and help families stay together."

Cheek-swab? Yep, registering is that simple. After signing up at dkms.org, a swab kit comes in the mail. After swabbing the inside of your cheek, you just mail it back. And then wait. In case that day ever comes when someone out there your genetic twin is in desperate need of your help.

DKMS is an international nonprofit based in New York that urges registrations and then covers after-insurance costs for donors. Saving a life doesn't cost a thing.

Schamper is now a donor recruitment coordinator for DKMS, one of several such nonprofits that feeds the same international registry. She's in Illinois. Her donor was from California. She got to meet him at a DKMS-sponsored gala in 2011.

"It was a pretty powerful experience being able to meet the man that saved my life and being able to thank him in person. It's a moment I'll never forget," Schamper said. "When somebody needs a bone-marrow or stem-cell transplant it's because all other options have stopped working for them. There's no more chemotherapy that they can do. There's no more medication that they can take. This is somebody's last chance at hope for survival."

If you could help, if you could step up to save a life, even the life of someone you've never met, wouldn't you?

The need is great: Every year in the U.S., around 14,000 patients need a life-saving bone-marrow or stem-cell transplant. Fewer than half find matching donors, however. And only 30 percent find donors within their own families.

While 6.4 million potential donors are registered in the U.S., that actually accounts for only 2 percent of our total population. That's not many of us, and the more who register the better the chances of a match when a life is on the line.

Like Schamper's and Edwards' lives were two moms who get to continue being moms thanks for the selfless decisions of others.

Originally posted here:
Our view: Get registered, save a life - Duluth News Tribune

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

A new cause of baldness has been accidentally discovered by scientists in the US in a breakthrough that could help develop a way to regrow hair.

The researchers were investigating the role played by anti-inflammatory immune cells called Tregs in skin health generally.

They found a way to temporarily remove the Tregs from the skin of laboratory mice, who had been shaved to allow the effects to be observed.

But the scientists then noticed something unexpected the hairfailed to grow back.

Previously it was thought that stem cells cause hairs to regrow after they fall out, but the team discoveredthat this only happens if Tregs are present.

One of the scientists, Professor Michael Rosenblum, an immunologist and dermatologist at University of California San Francisco, said: Our hair follicles are constantly recycling. When a hair falls out, the whole hair follicle has to grow back.

This has been thought to be an entirely stem cell-dependent process, but it turns out Tregs are essential.

If you knock out this one immune cell type, hair just doesn't grow.

Its as if the skin stem cells and Tregs have co-evolved, so that the Tregs not only guard the stem cells against inflammation but also take part in their regenerative work.

The stem cells rely on the Tregs completely to know when it's time to start regenerating.

The researcher believe that defects in Tregs could be responsible for the immune disease, alopecia areata, which causes hair to fall out in patches and possibly also play a part in other kinds of baldness.

The same stem cells that regrow hair are also involved in healing damage to the skin, so Tregs may also be involved in this process.

Tregs role as previously understood was mainly to regulate the immune system, helping it tell what to attack and what to leave alone.

When they malfunction it can lead to allergies to peanuts and other harmless substances or cause the immune system to attack the body.

Professor Rosenblum and colleagues had previously showed that Tregs help the immune systems of baby mice learn which skin microbes are not harmful and also that they secrete molecules that help heal wounds.

They were investigating these effects further when they noticed that patches of shaved hair on the lab mice were not regrowing.

We thought, Hmm, now thats interesting, Professor Rosenblum said. We realised we had to delve into this further.

Using sophisticated imaging techniques, the researchers were able to show that Tregs gathered around follicle stem cells at the start of the process to regrow a hair.

When Tregs were removed from the skin, this prevented the regrowth of hair but only if this was done within three days of the hair being shaved. After this time, the hair would regrow normally despite the absence of Tregs.

The cause of alopecia is poorly understood, but previous studies have showed genes associated with the condition are mostly related to Tregs. Boosting Treg function has been found to help.

Professor Rosenblum suggested further research into Tregs role could lead to improved treatments for hair loss generally and better understanding of their role in wound healing.

We think of immune cells as coming into a tissue to fight infection, while stem cells are there to regenerate the tissue after it's damaged, he said.

But what we found here is that stem cells and immune cells have to work together to make regeneration possible.

The research was described in the journal Cell.

See more here:
New baldness cause accidentally discovered by scientists could lead to hair loss treatment - The Independent

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith