StemCell Therapy

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "2020 Global Infectious Disease Molecular Diagnostics Market for 100 Tests: US, Europe, Japan--Supplier Shares by Test, Volume and Sales Segment Forecasts, Competitive Strategies, Innovative Technologies, Instrumentation Review" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This new seven-country study contains is designed to help current suppliers and potential market entrants identify and evaluate emerging opportunities in the infectious disease molecular diagnostics market during the next five years.

Report Highlights

Rationale

The infectious disease molecular diagnostics market is one of the most rapidly growing segment of the in vitro diagnostics industry. The next five years will witness significant developments in reagent systems and automation, as well as introduction of a wide range of new products that will require innovative marketing approaches. The rate of market penetration into routine clinical laboratories, however, will depend on the introduction of cost-effective and automated systems with amplification methods.

In order to successfully capitalize on the opportunities presented by the infectious disease molecular diagnostics market, many companies are already exploiting new molecular technologies as corporate strategic assets, managed in support of business and marketing strategies. Integrating new technology planning with business and corporate strategies will be one of the most challenging tasks for diagnostic companies during the next five years.

Geographic Coverage

Worldwide Market Overview

Market Segmentation Analysis

Product/Technology Review

Competitive Assessments

Opportunities and Strategic Recommendations

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/dr0itc

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2020 Insights on the Global Infectious Disease Molecular Diagnostics Market - Business and Technological Trends in Major Markets -...

Scientists at the Department of Infection and Immunity of the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) revealed a novel mechanism through which the immune system can control autoimmunity and cancer. In the special focus of the researchers were regulatory T cells - a specific type of white blood cells that in general act as a brake on the immune system. The LIH research team led by Prof Dirk Brenner, FNR ATTRACT fellow and Head of Experimental & Molecular Immunology, revealed a mechanism that controls the function of regulatory T cells and determines the balance between autoimmunity and anti-cancer activity. In a preclinical model, the scientists further showed that the elucidation of the metabolic mechanism of a disease can lead to disease reduction by a rationally-designed diet that specifically addresses these metabolic alterations. This sets a new direction for future treatment of metabolic diseases. These findings, which were published today in the leading international journal Cell Metabolism, hold important implications for the development of personalised treatment options for autoimmune disorders and cancer.

"Our immune system is needed for a healthy body function and protects us from all kinds of infections. Particularly important in this respect are T cells, and specifically regulatory T cells. Although these represent only a small fraction of all T cells, they are crucial to keep our immune system in check" explains Prof Brenner. "If regulatory T cells are not functional, the immune system gets out of control and turns against its own body. This can lead to detrimental autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis, type I diabetes or arthritis. However, a highly reactive immune system can kill cancer cells very efficiently. This has led to the development of 'checkpoint inhibitors', specific drugs that unleash an immune system attack on cancer cells and which won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2018". The Luxembourgish scientists took this angle and revealed a novel mechanism by which this balance between an extreme or subdued immune reaction can be controlled by modifying regulatory T cell metabolism.

Initially, the researchers focused on how regulatory T cells cope with stress. Cellular stress can originate from the cells themselves, for example when they get activated and divide, but also from their environment, especially from nearby tumour cells. Free radicals called reactive oxygen species (ROS) are the molecular mediators of cellular stress. These are harmful for the cells and therefore need to be inactivated. "Free oxygen radicals are 'neutralised' by antioxidants and the major antioxidant in T cells is a molecule known as glutathione. We were surprised when we realised that regulatory T cells had about three times as much glutathione as other T cells. This pointed to an important function", says Henry Kurniawan, first author of the study and PhD student in Prof Brenner's group. Through a sophisticated genetic approach, the scientists removed a gene named 'glutamate cysteine ligase' (Gclc) only in a small population of regulatory T cells in mice. The Gclc gene is instrumental for glutathione production. Prof Brenner's team discovered that free radicals accumulated in these genetically altered regulatory T cells and that these cells lost their ability to act as a brake on the immune system. Strikingly, this led to a massive immune activation and a fatal autoimmune disease.

The team also found that the absence of glutathione in regulatory T cells increased serine metabolism massively. Serine is one of the 22 different amino acids that constitute the building blocks of proteins, which are in turn important for the structure and function of cells. No previous research group had studied the connection between glutathione, free radicals, serine and regulatory T cell function before. Prof Brenner's team characterised the metabolic alteration that led to the observed autoimmune disease in their mutant mice. Based on their findings, they designed a specific nutritional plan with the aim of correcting these disease-causing metabolic shifts. This dietary plan lacked both the amino acids serine and the closely related glycine. Interestingly, this engineered precision diet suppressed the severe autoimmunity and no disease developed. "Importantly, our study shows that the absence of only 2 out of 22 amino acids can cure a complex autoimmune disease. Therefore, elucidating the exact metabolic and molecular basis of a disease offers the possibility to correct these metabolic abnormalities through a special diet that is precisely adapted to the delineated disease mechanism. Our study might be a first step in the direction of the personalised treatment of metabolic diseases and autoimmunity", explains Prof Brenner.

"The relationship between glutathione, free radicals and serine can be used as a 'switch' to modulate immune cell activation. A higher immune cell activity is beneficial for cancer patients. We were intrigued by the idea of using our findings also to boost anti-tumor responses" he adds. Indeed, the team further showed that lower glutathione levels in regulatory T cells and the resulting rise in immune cell activation led to a significant tumour rejection, which might open up new therapeutic avenues for cancer treatment. "These astonishing results show the enormous potential of tweaking metabolism to prevent autoimmunity and target cancer. This could pave the way for the development of a new generation of immunotherapies," explains Prof Markus Ollert, Director of LIH's Department of Infection and Immunity. "The publication of these results in such a competitive and prestigious international journal is a momentous accomplishment not just for our department and institute, but for the entire Luxembourgish biomedical research community", he concludes.

In future projects, the researchers will use their findings to elaborate new approaches for therapeutic intervention. In that respect, the scientists have already proven that their delineated disease-controlling mechanism is also relevant in human regulatory T cells.

Due to its significance, the publication was selected by Cell Metabolism to be featured as the cover story of the May issue of the journal.

Involved research teams

Prof Dirk Brenner is the Deputy Head of Research & Strategy at LIH's Department of Infection and Immunity. He is Professor for Immunology & Genetics at the Luxembourg Center for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) of the University of Luxembourg and Professor of Allergology at the University of Southern Denmark. He received a prestigious ATTRACT Consolidator grant from the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR), in 2015 to set up the Experimental & Molecular Immunology research group at LIH. The FNR-ATTRACT programme supports the national research institutions by expanding their competences in strategic research areas by attracting outstanding young researchers with high potential to Luxembourg.

The present study was performed in close collaboration with a national and international team and involved partners from LIH's Department of Infection and Immunity, LIH's Department of Oncology, the Braunschweig Integrated Center of Systems Biology (BRICS) of the Technische Universitt Braunschweig (Germany), the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (Germany), the Campbell Family Institute for Breast Cancer Research at the University of Toronto (Canada), the Institute for Medical Microbiology and Hospital Hygiene at the University of Marburg (Germany), the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the Yale School of Public Health (USA), the Odense Research Center for Anaphylaxis (ORCA) of the Odense University Hospital (Denmark), the Department of Biomedical Genetics and Wilmot Cancer Institute of the University of Rochester Medical Center (USA), the Departments of Medical Biophysics and Immunology at the University of Toronto (Canada) and the University of Hong Kong (China).

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Fighting autoimmunity and cancer: The nutritional key - Science Codex

By Benjamin Mateus 5 May 2020

Without much fanfare, news reports on vaccines against the coronavirus have been focusing on ways to expedite vaccine development through human challenge trials. In a nutshell, such trials would deliberately infect healthy volunteers with the coronavirus after they received the experimental vaccine, to determine its efficacy.

Democratic Representative Bill Foster of Illinois, leading the effort with 34 other members of the House of Representatives, sent a letter to the Food and Drug Administration, stating, A more risk-tolerant development process is likely appropriate in the case of COVID-19 vaccine. The enormous human cost of the COVID-19 epidemic alters the optimization of the risk/benefit analysis.

Josh Morrison, a member of a supposed grass-roots effort, 1 Day Sooner, told Nature magazine, We want to recruit as many people as possible who want to do this, and pre-qualify them as likely to be able to participate in challenge trials would they occur. At the same time, we feel that the public policy decisions around challenge trials will be better informed if they highlight the voice of people interested in participating in such trials. According to the group, thousands from over 50 countries have volunteered.

Vaccine trials are notoriously lengthy, with optimistic estimates of 12 to 18 months to vaccine rollout. Much of the time in vaccine trials is spent in testing the safety and efficacy of a vaccine. These placebo-controlled phase-three trials, in which one group receives the vaccine and another a placebo, typically involve several thousands of participants who are followed long enough to assess differences in disease incidence.

Human challenge trials have been conducted over hundreds of years but are trials of last resort and conducted under special circumstances and much oversight. In the case of COVID-19, they were first raised in late March in a proposal published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases by authors Nir Eyal, Marc Lipstich, and Peter G. Smith. They wrote in their abstract, By replacing conventional phase-three testing of vaccine candidates [with human challenge trials], such trials may subtract months from the licensure process, making efficacious vaccines available more quickly.

The role of vaccines in global health cannot be understated. Smallpox was eradicated in 1977, the last case occurring in Somalia. Polio was eliminated in the United States in 1979. After a global campaign launched in 1994 by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, rinderpest, a viral infection of cattle and domestic buffalo with near 100 percent lethality to livestock, was last confirmed in 2001 and declared eradicated in June 2011.

Measles, a virus for which only humans act as a host, killed 7 million to 8 million children annually until a decade of work led eventually to the development of a vaccine in 1963. Still, and despite an effective vaccine being available, measles infects more than half a million people across the globe, killing more than 140,000 people annually, mostly children under five years of age. Countries with the highest incidence include the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Madagascar, Somalia, and Ukrainethese five account for almost half of all cases worldwide.

The vaccination program in the United States, according to the CDC, has prevented more than 21 million hospitalizations and 732,000 deaths among children born in the last 20 years. Besides the morbidity and mortality associated with vaccinations, the economic benefits translate to $295 billion in direct costs and $1.38 trillion in total societal costs.

Efforts have been underway to develop a vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Many see a vaccine as the only solution to the pandemic. With no pharmaceutical treatments that have shown clear mortality benefits, the present public health measures and supportive medical care remain essentially the only means by which to address the coronavirus and its impact on human populations.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are currently six human trials in the race to develop a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2. Moderna, working in association with the NIAID, and INOVIO Pharmaceuticals are US-based trials, both in phase I. Moderna was the first to begin testing on humans in mid-March, building on its previous work on other coronaviruses. The University of Oxford, in Britain, is in phase I/II trial using a nonreplicating viral vector. The study is being led by Dr. Sarah Gilbert, who previously led work on Disease X, a hypothetical pathogen with pandemic potential adopted by the WHO on their shortlist of blueprint priority diseases. The other three trials are from ChinaCANSINO Biological, SINOVAC, and Beijing Institute of Biological Products. Seventy-seven other trials are in the preclinical evaluation stage.

In October 2016, the World Health Organization issued a statement on regulatory considerations for vaccine trials that pursue human challenge trials to expedite the development of these critical preventative treatments. They write, It is essential that challenge studies be conducted within an ethical framework in which truly informed consent is given. When conducted, human challenge studies should be undertaken with abundant forethought, caution, and oversight. The information to be gained should clearly justify the risks to human subjects.

The WHO notes that if a pathogen has a high case fatality rate and there are no existing therapies to prevent or diminish the impact of the disease and preclude death, then it would not be appropriate to consider such trials. Based on reports, they are planning to publish a response to proposed COVID-19 human challenge trials soon.

Authors Eyal et al., in regard to concerns about a human challenge trial for COVID-19, admit that it could be possible that any protection demonstrated from a vaccine in a human challenge study may not be replicated when the vaccine is used in the population at large.

Additionally, there is no attenuated SARS-CoV-2 virus that can help participants avoid the hazards associated with COVID-19, as was indicated in the WHOs guidance, nor is there a therapeutic that could safely reduce the mortality risk after the participants are infected. More concerning, they write, is that some vaccine constructs against coronavirus may induce more severe disease following infection, as has been reported in animal models of both SARS and MERS vaccine candidates. For this reason, they recommend challenging small groups sequentially to address this issue.

In support of the proposal, they state that these volunteers will have voluntarily consented to take these risks. They write, In the present case, the study would involve multiple tests of comprehension of all risks so that the decision is deeply informed and voluntary. These participants would be isolated in treatment facilities and given the best care possible.

They also justified the conduct of the trial on the grounds that 1) the study will only recruit healthy participants, 2) the vaccine likely will benefit some of those in the trial, 3) in the absence of a vaccine they are likely to be infected anyway, 4) only people with a high baseline risk of getting exposed should be recruited, 5) participants would be afforded the best available care, and 6) potentially some therapeutics may be available to ameliorate morbidity or mortality.

Dr. Beth Kirkpatrick, professor and chair of the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at the University of Vermont, who runs a human challenge trial unit, explained to STAT that human challenge models for COVID-19 do not exist. She said it would take upwards of two years to design and approve one, given all the ethical and regulatory constraints that they entail.

One of the primary considerations with such a human challenge trial is to establish appropriate endpoints for symptomsflu-like illness or pneumoniaand their implications for the efficacy of the vaccine. As yet, scientists are still puzzled over why some people become ill while others do not, and why symptomatic patients have a constellation of symptoms as compared to others. Additional concerns raised include if the data from such a study will translate to efficacy in all age categories, since the population being tested is young and healthy. Information about vaccine safety would also be compromised in these smaller trials.

The working class must treat with a great deal of skepticism the claimed benefits of such treatments and how such studies are being conducted, especially in the face of a pandemic with a novel coronavirus that at every turn has surprised and baffled scientists and researchers. Given the despair and upheavals caused by this pandemic, volunteers for these trials will likely come from among workers who are at the highest risk for contracting the infection because of the essential nature of their work.

That these human challenge trials are being vigorously supported by the political establishment is deeply concerning. The normal sentiments of mistrust, caution, and vigilance to protect the individuals involved seem absent. Ultimately, the race for vaccine development is rooted in capitalist relations which provide a tremendous profit incentive to the corporations that manufacture them, in addition to the general concern in ruling circles about promoting a back-to-work policy. The human challenge trials become a facilitator for both purposes.

The attempt to cut corners and expedite trials have already led to abject failures, which in the long run only delay the need to determine which therapeutics and vaccines will work and are inherently safe and which present adverse profiles. In the face of the frenzy and despair that is igniting social tensions, it becomes even more necessary to adhere rigorously to scientific principles. Even in desperate times, these principles will save time, life, and resources.

Featured statements on the coronavirus pandemic

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Human challenge trials are being pushed to develop a vaccine against the coronavirus - World Socialist Web Site

Scientists have identified an antibody in a lab that they say can prevent the novel coronavirus from infecting cells. The team hopes the antibody could be used to create treatments for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.

Since the coronavirus began infecting people in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, more than 3.5 million people have been diagnosed with COVID-19, over a million have recovered and almost 248,000 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The team, whose research was published in the journal Nature Communications, have been exploring whether what are known as monoclonal antibodies could help patients with COVID-19. Currently there is no vaccine or specific treatment for the disease. Monoclonal antibodies are a type of protein created in a lab which can bind to a specific substance in the body. These types of antibodies mimic how the immune system responds to a threat, and are used to treat some forms of cancer.

An antibody named 47D11 was found to bind to the spike protein which the novel coronavirus, known as SARS-CoV-2, uses to enter the body, and block it in a way that neutralizes the pathogen.

To carry out their study, the researchers used mice whose biology was tweaked to create antibodies similar to those found in humans. They injected the animals with spike proteins that the viruses which cause SARS, MERS, and some types of common cold use to invade cells. These viruses are members of the large coronavirus family of pathogens which also includes SARS-CoV-2, the bug which causes COVID-19. The mice produced 51 antibodies capable of neutralizing the spike protein of the injected coronaviruses. This stage of the research was done before SARS-CoV-2 first came to the attention of health officials in late 2019.

The team later watched to see if the antibodies would neutralize SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV in lab samples, and found 47D11 did.

Co-author Berend-Jan Bosch, associate professor of the Utrecht University Infection and Immunity programme, explained in a statement that the research builds on work his team had done previously on antibodies which can target SARS-CoV, the virus which causes SARS.

"Using this collection of SARS-CoV antibodies, we identified an antibody that also neutralizes infection of SARS-CoV-2 [the COVID-19 virus] in cultured cells. Such a neutralizing antibody has potential to alter the course of infection in the infected host, support virus clearance or protect an uninfected individual that is exposed to the virus."

Co-author Frank Grosveld, Academy Professor of Cell Biology at the Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, said: "This discovery provides a strong foundation for additional research to characterize this antibody and begin development as a potential COVID-19 treatment."

Experts not involved in the research welcomed the findings, but also pointed out the study's limitations.

Tony Carr, professor of molecular genetics in the Genome Damage and Stability Centre (GDSC) at the University of Sussex, said in a statement: "The block to infectivity is entirely based on cell culture work, but the previous literature supports the proposal that this reagent should be explored further as a potential treatment."

Penny Ward, visiting professor in Pharmaceutical Medicine at King's College London, said the antibody has the potential to be used to prevent and treat SARS-CoV-2 infection, "however without studying this in an animal model, it is not clear which of these approaches might be most efficient."

The findings would have been more robust if the team were able to show the antibody could prevent and treat COVID19 in animals, she said.

"It is not possible to conclude that the product will be effective in vivo in humans," said Ward.

Polly Roy, professor of virology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the data the team created is "very good," and highlighted they are well-known for their work on coronaviruses.

Gary McLean, professor in Molecular Immunology at London Metropolitan University, said: "Because it is not done in people and the antibody is not even found in people as far as we know there are limitations. However it is a nicely done study that could provide a potential biotherapeutic that could be used to treat COVID-19.

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The research complements separate projects looking at whether a century-old technique known as convalescent plasma therapy, where the blood from a person who has recovered from COVID-19 is inserted into a current patient in the hope it will help them beat the disease.

Professor Babak Javid, principal investigator at Tsinghua University School of Medicine, Beijing, and consultant in infectious diseases at Cambridge University Hospitals in the U.K., commented: "This is a very interesting study. One of the most widely touted experimental (though not yet proven) treatments for COVID is the use of convalescent plasma."

He said: "However, use of convalescent plasma is difficult to scale and make widely available as a treatment and has some potential safety concerns since it is a blood product. Therefore there has been intense scientific interest in identifying individual antibodies that can also neutralize SARS-CoV2. This is because we are able to manufacture large quantities of individual antibodies (known as monoclonal antibodies or mAbs) at scale as a pharmaceutical treatment for COVID. Monoclonal antibodies also don't have the safety concerns of administering blood products."

Simon Clarke, associate professor in Cellular Microbiology at the University of Reading, U.K., said in a statement: "Antibodies like this can be made in the lab instead of purified from people's blood and could conceivably be used as a treatment for disease, but this has not yet been demonstrated.

"While it's an interesting development, injecting people with antibodies is not without risk and it would need to undergo proper clinical trials."

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Antibody That Blocks Coronavirus From Infecting Cells Discovered by Scientists - Newsweek

The Covid-19 (coronavirus) pandemic is impacting society and the overall economy across the world. The impact of this pandemic is growing day by day as well as affecting the supply chain. The COVID-19 crisis is creating uncertainty in the stock market, massive slowing of supply chain, falling business confidence, and increasing panic among the customer segments. The overall effect of the pandemic is impacting the production process of several industries including Life Science, and many more. Trade barriers are further restraining the demand- supply outlook.

A biological computer is a special type of microcomputer that is specially designed for medical applications. It is an implantable device that is mainly used for various tasks like monitoring the bodys activities or including therapeutic effects, all at the molecular or cellular level. Biological computers are used to produce input and output, and software is composed of DNA, the material of genes, whereas DNA-manipulating enzymes are used as the hardware.

The biological computer market anticipated to grow as rising in the prevalence of cancer and an increase in demand for DNA or gene chips is some of the major factors driving the market growth. However, less awareness of this device is restraining the market growth. Nevertheless, an increase in healthcare expenditure and overall growth in the healthcare industry are influencing the market growth.

Download a Sample Report Explore further @https://www.theinsightpartners.com/sample/TIPRE00007617

Top Dominating Key Players:

1. Biometrix Technology Inc2. Emulate Inc.3. IBM4. Illumina, Inc.5. IndieBio6. Macrogen Corp7. Merck KGaA8. Microsoft9. Sequenom Inc.10. Thermofisher Scientific

The biological computers market is segmented on the basis of component, application and by end user. Based on component the market is segmented as hardware, software, input and output. On the basis of application the market is categorized as oncology, molecular genetics, nanobiotechnology and others. On the basis of end user the market is categorized as pharmaceutical & biotechnology companies, research centers, healthcare it companies, hospital & clinics and others.

The report provides a detailed overview of the industry including both qualitative and quantitative information. It provides overview and forecast of the in biological computers market based on various segments. It also provides market size and forecast estimates from year 2017 to 2027 with respect to five major regions, namely; North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA) and South & Central America. The biological computers market by each region is later sub-segmented by respective countries and segments. The report covers analysis and forecast of 18 countries globally along with current trend and opportunities prevailing in the region.

The report analyzes factors affecting biological computers market from both demand and supply side and further evaluates market dynamics affecting the market during forecast period i.e., drivers, restraints, opportunities, and future trend. The report also provides exhaustive PEST analysis for all five regions namely; North America, Europe, APAC, MEA and South & Central America after evaluating political, economic, social and technological factors effecting the biological computers market in these regions.

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Ongoing Study Reveals Key Factors that Will Drive the Growth of Biological Computers Market During 2019-2027 - Cole of Duty

(CNN) A new genetic analysis of the virus that causes Covid-19 taken from more than 7,600 patients around the world shows it has been circulating in people since late last year, and must have spread extremely quickly after the first infection.

Researchers in Britain looked at mutations in the virus and found evidence of quick spread, but no evidence the virus is becoming more easily transmitted or more likely to cause serious disease.

"The virus is changing, but this in itself does not mean it's getting worse," genetics researcher Francois Balloux of the University College London Genetics Institute told CNN.

Balloux and colleagues pulled viral sequences from a giant global database that scientists around the world are using to share data. They looked at samples taken at different times and from different places, and said they indicate that the virus first started infecting people at the end of last year.

"This rules out any scenario that assumes SARSCoV-2 may have been in circulation long before it was identified, and hence have already infected large proportions of the population," Balloux's team wrote in their report, published in the journal Infection, Genetics and Evolution.

That is one piece of bad news. Some doctors had hoped the virus was circulating for many months and may have quietly infected many more people than has been reported. That would offer the hope that there might be some immunity already built up in some populations.

"Everyone was hoping for that. I was too," Balloux said.

Their findings pour cold water on such an idea. At the most, 10% of the global population has been exposed to the virus, Balloux estimated.

Many different studies have shown that the new coronavirus, often called SARS-CoV-2 by scientists, originated in a bat but had to have infected another animal before it jumped into humans. The first human cases were reported in Wuhan, China, last December.

Viruses make mistakes every time they replicate themselves, and these mutations can be used as what's called a molecular clock to track a virus through time and geography.

"Our results are in line with previous estimates and point to all sequences sharing a common ancestor towards the end of 2019, supporting this as the period when SARS-CoV-2 jumped into its human host," the team wrote.

"It's very recent," Balloux said. "We are really, really, really confident that the host jump happened late last year."

That's because viral samples taken from all corners of the globe show multiple mutations, and they are similar mutations. "Everything is everywhere," the team wrote.

"It has been introduced and introduced and introduced in almost all countries," Balloux added.

They also found genetic evidence that supports suspicions the virus was infecting people in Europe, the US and elsewhere weeks or even months before the first official cases were reported in January and February. It will be impossible to find the "first" patient in any country, Balloux said.

"All these ideas about trying to find a Patient Zero are pointless because there are so many patient zeros," he said.

Balloux's team's findings were reviewed by other experts, a process called peer review, before they were published in the journal. He said some reports by other teams, published online in what are called pre-print websites, may have drawn incorrect conclusions.

"All viruses naturally mutate. Mutations in themselves are not a bad thing and there is nothing to suggest SARS-CoV-2 is mutating faster or slower than expected. So far we cannot say whether SARS-CoV-2 is becoming more or less lethal and contagious," Balloux said.

Lane Warmbrod, an analyst at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security who has been tracking the reports on the genetics of the new coronavirus. She said more studies are needed in animals to demonstrate how changes in the genetics of the virus could make it more or less infectious or pathogenic.

"Just because these studies tell us these mutations are quickly spreading or becoming dominant doesn't mean anything except we know it happened. It doesn't actually tell us anything about what's happening biologically," Warmbrod told CNN.

Reports about mutations can be important for teams working on drugs and vaccines to fight the coronavirus. Vaccines, especially, need to target parts of the virus that are conserved that do not change much over time.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Coronavirus quickly spread around the world starting late last year, new genetic analysis shows."

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Coronavirus quickly spread around the world starting late last year, new genetic analysis shows - CNN Philippines

The global Opthalmology Pacs market offers a thorough study of all the important aspects of the market. All the factors that are responsible for the growth of the global market are studied in this report. In addition to that, the factors causing hurdles in the path are also studied in the report. For the study of any market it is very important to study some factors such as market trends, revenue growth patterns market shares, demand and supply. In addition, it also covers political and social factors which is likely to affect the growth of the market. Production, market share, revenue rate, key regions and major vendors are some of the vital aspects analysed in the report.

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Top Leading Key Players are:

Topcon Corporation, IBM corporation, Carl Zeiss Meditec AG, EyePACS, Heidelberg Engineering and more.

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Global Opthalmology Pacs market is segmented based by type, application and region.

Based on Type, the market has been segmented into:

By End-Use, market is segmented into:

HospitalsAmbulatory Surgical Center (ASCS) & Specialty ClinicsOthersBy Type, market is segmented into:

Standalone PACSIntegrated PACSBy Delivery Model, market is segmented into:

Cloud/ web based modelsOn-premise modelsOthers

A systematized methodology is used to make a Report on the Global Opthalmology Pacs market. For the analysis of market on the terms of research strategies, these techniques are helpful. All the information about the Products, manufacturers, vendors, customers and much more is covered in research reports. Various important factors such as market trends, revenue growth patterns market shares and demand and supply are included in almost all the market research report for every industry. Adaptation of new ideas and accepting the latest trends are some the reasons for any markets growth. The Global Opthalmology Pacs market research report gives the deep understanding about the regions where the market is impactful. It also elaborates the big and small vendors working actively all over the globe. For the stakeholders seeking for new investment opportunities, this research report works as a guide as it offers the in-depth study of the global Opthalmology Pacs market.

The report includes market shares of global Opthalmology Pacs markets for global regions such as Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific, South America, and the Middle East & Africa. Some essential tools have been studied such as SWOT analysis, PESTEL analysis and Value chain analysis for the quantitative study of the market to help the participants to explain an overview of the global Opthalmology Pacs market. Furthermore, technological trends, innovations, governing an industry are some factors impacting the development of the market. All these developments would take the industry in the long term growth. Also, the report provides upcoming industry solutions for the global Opthalmology Pacs market.

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Opthalmology Pacs Market 2020 Analysis by Demand, Applications, End Users, Companies, Sales Prospects, Forthcoming Developments, Business...

A new treatment that helps to relieve coronavirus symptoms could be brought to market in three months' time if further trials go well, according to a researcher involved in the project.

"It's very early to say at this stage," said Dr.Fatima al-Kaabi, head of hematology and oncology at the Sheikh Khalifa Medical City in the United Arab Emirates.

"We've been happy that our initial safety results are promising, that's why we're heading into the next phase, of effectiveness of this treatment," she told CNBC's Hadley Gamble on Monday.

"If all ... went well and it worked well, then I would propose ... three months' time," she said, when asked how quickly the treatment, which was developed by doctors and researchersat the Abu Dhabi Stem Cell Center, could reach the market.

To date, there are no known vaccines or specific antiviral medicines against Covid-19.U.S. health officials say developing a vaccine will take at least 12 to 18 months.

The UAE has 14,163 cases and126 deaths due to the coronavirus, based on data from Johns Hopkins University.

The remedy uses a "minimally invasive" method where a Covid-19 patient's stem cells are extracted, activated and turned into a fine mist to be inhaled. This alleviates symptoms such as shortness of breath and possibly coughing, said Dr. al-Kaabi.

"It is hypothesized to have its therapeutic effect by regenerating lung cells and modulating the immune response to keep it from overreacting to the COVID-19 infection and causing further damage to healthy cells,"the UAE's ministry of health and preventionsaid a statement.

Some 73 patients with moderate to severe symptoms received this treatment, and all were "successfully treated and cured," the statement said, adding that none reported "immediate adverse effects." Around a quarter of these patients were intubated and in the intensive care unit.

The treatment was given along with "conventional medical intervention" and will not replace established protocols, according to the statement.

"We're hopeful," said Dr. al-Kaabi, noting that the results of further trials on the efficacy of the treatment will only be out a couple of weeks' time. "We've seen (a) favorable outcome."

Another treatment for the coronavirus, an antiviral drug from Gilead Sciences, has been in the spotlight following positive preliminary results from trials. America's Food and DrugAdministration granted the medicine emergency use authorization last week. That means doctors can administerremdesivir to patients hospitalized with Covid-19, even though the drug has not undergone the same FDA review as other treatments.

Separately, researchers cut short a study testing anti-malaria drug chloroquine as a potential Covid-19 treatment last month. The drug gained widespread international attention after two small studies published in France found the coronavirus infection cleared a lot faster for patients taking it when compared to a control group.

However, citing a high risk of death, scientists have now scrapped the trials, warning it should prompt some degree of skepticism from the public toward enthusiastic claims of the drug. President Donald Trump had touted chloroquine as a potential "game changer" in the fight against the virus.

CNBC'sBerkeley Lovelace Jr. andWilliam Feuer contributed to this report.

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Stem cell treatment in the UAE sees 'favorable' outcomes for coronavirus patients - CNBC

Korean researchers have found a signal transduction system that modulates the treatment of mesenchymal stem cells and immune control functions, opening the way for treating graft-versus-host disease treatment.

Mesenchymal stem cells divide into various cells, have immunomodulatory functions, and are the primary cell sources for stem cell therapy.

Graft-versus-host disease is a fatal disease that leads to death after an allogeneic blood transfusion or bone marrow transplantation. Although there are many clinical trials underway worldwide to treat the symptom, there are no applicable treatments besides alleviating symptoms with high-dose steroids.

The team, led by Professor Shin Dong-myeong of the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Asan Medical Center, discovered that the CREB1 (CAMP responsive element binding protein 1) signaling system activates the treatment and immune control functions of mesenchymal stem cells.

The team administered a therapeutic agent made by upgrading mesenchymal stem cells to graft-versus-host disease mice, and found that it alleviated anorexia symptoms and reduced the weight loss rate by 30 percent while increasing the survival rate by 30 percent.

When developing a cell therapy product, researchers have to cultivate the stem cells in vitro. Thus it is very likely that it will impair stem cell functions due to free radicals generated in the cells. To prevent the deterioration of stem cell function, it is necessary to improve the stem cell function in vitro culture, prevent stem cell oxidation, and increase the antioxidant capacity of the cell itself.

Until now, there was a lack of specific evidence and understanding of how stem cells regulate glutathione, an indicator of antioxidant capacity. Therefore, it was difficult to prevent stem cell dysfunction and oxidation.

Professor Shin's team developed experimental techniques that can monitor and quantify glutathione in real-time and confirmed that the CREB1 signaling system regulated the amount and activity of glutathione.

By activating the CREB1 signaling system, the team found that the process also activated nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF2) protein, which maintains the antioxidant capacity of mesenchymal stem cells and the increase of both the expression levels of peroxiredoxin-1 (PRDX1) and glutamate-cysteine ligase modifier subunit (GCLM) protein, which synthesize glutathione and are antioxidant activity indicators.

As a result, the team confirmed that its method was effective in treating the graft-versus-host disease.

"Based on this study, we have secured a technological foundation to advance stem cell treatment by controlling the antioxidant capacity of stem cells," Professor Shin said.

If this technology makes a high-purity and high-quality stem cell treatment, the team expects that it will be a step toward developing a graft-versus-host disease treatment and overcoming various intractable diseases such as nervous system diseases and inflammatory diseases with high medical demand, Shin added.

The results of the study were published in the journal, Science Advances.

corea022@docdocdoc.co.kr

< Korea Biomedical Review, All rights reserved.>

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AMC to use stem cell therapy in treating graft-versus-host disease - Korea Biomedical Review

A group of UB researchers have published a paper that clarifies certain cellular mechanisms that could lead to improved outcomes in patients with globoid cell leukodystrophy, commonly known as Krabbe disease.

The paper, titled Macrophages Expressing GALC Improve Peripheral Krabbe Disease by a Mechanism Independent of Cross-Correction, was published May 5 in the journal Neuron.

The research was led by Lawrence Wrabetz and M. Laura Feltri. Wrabetz and Feltri head the Hunter James Kelly Research Institute and both are professors in the departments of Biochemistry and Neurology in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB.

The institute is named for the son of former Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly. Hunter Kelly died at age 8 in 2005 from complications of Krabbe disease.

Krabbe disease is a progressive and fatal neurologic disorder that usually affects newborns and causes death before a child reaches the age of 2 or 3.

Traditionally, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, also known as a bone marrow transplant, has improved the long-term survival and quality of life of patients with Krabbe disease, but it is not a cure.

It has long been assumed that the bone marrow transplant works by a process calledcross-correction, in which an enzyme called GALC is transferred from healthy cells to sick cells.

Using a new Krabbe disease animal model and patient samples, the UB researchers determinedthatin reality cross-correctiondoes not occur. Rather, the bone marrow transplant helps patients through a different mechanism.

The researchers first determined which cells are involved in Krabbe disease and by which mechanism. They discovered that both myelin-forming cells, or Schwann cells, and macrophages require the GALC enzyme, which is missing in Krabbe patients due to genetic mutation.

Schwann cells require GALC to prevent the formation of a toxic lipid called psychosine, which causes myelin destruction and damage to neurons. Macrophages require GALC to aid with the degradation of myelin debris produced by the disease.

The research showed that hematopoietic stem cell transplantation does not work bycross-correction, but by providing healthy macrophages with GALC.

According to Feltri, the data reveal that improvingcross-correctionwould be a way to makebone marrow transplants and other experimental therapies such as gene therapy more effective.

Bone marrow transplantation and other treatments for lysosomal storage disorders, such as enzyme replacement therapy, have historically had encouraging but limited therapeutic benefit, says study first author Nadav I. Weinstock, an MD-PhD student in the Jacobs School. Our work defined the precise cellular and mechanistic benefit of bone marrow transplantation in Krabbe disease, while also shedding light on previously unrecognized limitations of this approach.

Future studies, using genetically engineered bone marrow transplantation or other novelapproaches,may one day build on our findings and eventually bridge the gap for effectively treating patients with lysosomal disease, he continues.

UB investigators included Daesung Shin, research assistant professor at the Hunter James Kelly Research Institute; Nicholas Silvestri, clinical associate professor of neurology, Jacobs School; Narayan Dhimal, PhD student; Chelsey B. Reed, MD-PhD student; and undergraduate student Oliver Sampson.

Also participating in the research were Eric E. Irons, MD-PhD student, and Joseph T.Y. Lau, a distinguished faculty member from the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The research was funded by multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health awarded to Weinstock, Shin, Wrabetz and Feltri, and also supported by Hunters Hope.

More here:
UB investigators uncover cellular mechanism involved in Krabbe disease - UB Now: News and views for UB faculty and staff - University at Buffalo...

People with cancer who contract the new coronavirus appear to have a greater risk for severe COVID-19 illness and death, but this may depend on their cancer stage and the type of treatment they are receiving, according to recent research. In fact, those with early-stage cancer may fare as well as people who have not had cancer.

Researchers from some of the earliest and hardest hit epicenters of the COVID-19 pandemic described outcomes among cancer patients with the coronavirus (officially known as SARS-CoV-2) during a special session the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) virtual annual meeting last week. Soon after the conference, another group of researchers published an analysis of mortality among cancer patients in New York City.

Early reports from China, where the pandemic originated in late December, showed that older people, those with compromised immune systems and those with underlying health conditions are more susceptible to severe COVID-19. One study saw a death rate of 6% for people with cancermore than twice as high as the overall estimated COVID-19 mortality rate in China, but lower than the rates seen in people with diabetes (7%) or cardiovascular disease (11%).

Chemotherapy medications and some targeted therapies for cancer can cause neutropenia, a temporary depletion of immune system white blood cells that fight infection. People who receive bone marrow stem cell transplants or CAR-T therapy or for blood cancers typically receive strong chemotherapy to kill off existing blood cells and make room for the new ones. Conversely, immunotherapies such as checkpoint inhibitors and CAR-T therapy unleash natural or engineered T cells to fight cancer, which in some cases can trigger an excessive immune response that leads to harmful inflammation.

Two reports at the AACR meeting provided updates from China. Li Zhang, MD, PhD, of Tongji Medical College described outcomes among 28 cancer patients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, the initial epicenter of the pandemic.

Seven had lung cancer and the remainder had 13 other cancer types. Just over a third had Stage IV, or metastatic, cancer. Nearly 30% acquired the coronavirus at medical facilities. About half had severe disease, 10 patients required mechanical ventilators and eight diedmostly from acute respiratory distress syndromegiving a mortality rate of 29%.

Although three quarters had ever undergone surgery, radiation or chemotherapy, a majority had not received treatment recently. Only one person received radiation, three received chemotherapy, two received targeted therapy and one received immunotherapy within two weeks prior to their COVID-19 diagnosis. Recent cancer treatment was associated with a fourfold increased risk of severe outcomes. However, the single patient treated with a checkpoint inhibitor (for liver cancer) had mild COVID-19 and a short hospital stay.

Similarly, as part of his discussion of immunotherapy for cancer in the COVID-19 era, Paolo Ascierto, MD, of the National Tumor Institute in Naples, noted that just two out of 400 patients on immunotherapy at his institute tested positive for the coronavirus, they were asymptomatic and they recovered quickly, leading him to speculate that immunotherapy might somehow be protective against COVID-19.

Hongbing Cai, MD, of Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, presented data on 105 cancer patients and 536 age-matched people without cancer at 14 hospitals in Hubei province who developed COVID-19. Results were also published in Cancer Discovery. Twenty-two had lung cancer, 13 had gastrointestinal cancers, 11 each had breast cancer and thyroid cancer, nine had blood cancers such as leukemia or lymphomawhich affect white blood cells that carry out immune responsesand six each had cervical and esophageal cancer.

In general, patients with cancer deteriorated more rapidly than those without cancer, Cais team reported. Cancer patients with COVID-19 were nearly three times more likely to have severe or critical illness (34%), be admitted to an intensive care unit ICU (19%) or be put on a ventilator (10%). Whats more, people with cancer were about twice as likely to die as COVID-19 patients without cancer (11% versus 5%, respectively).

People with blood cancers or lung cancer, as well as those with metastatic cancer, had a higher risk of severe events. Two thirds of the blood cancer patients and half of the lung cancer patients had such events. Among the lung cancer patients, 18% were put on ventilators and 18% died. In contrast, no one with breast, thyroid or cervical cancer required ventilators or died.

In particular, those with blood cancersmore than half of whom had severe immune suppressionhad about a 10-fold higher risk of severe events or death. Two thirds had severe symptoms, 22% were put on ventilators and 33% died. These patients all had a rapidly deteriorated clinical course once infected with COVID-19, the researchers wrote.

People with metastatic cancer had about a six-fold higher risk of severe events or death. But people whose cancer had not yet spread were not significantly more likely to have severe events or die than COVID-19 patients without cancer. People currently on cancer treatment and those with a history of cancer who had completed treatment were both at higher risk.

People who underwent surgery within the previous 40 days had higher rates of severe events, ICU admission, ventilator use and death, but this was not the case for those who received only radiation. In this study, unlike Zhangs and Asciertos, people treated with immunotherapy did not fare so well. Four of the six patients who recently received checkpoint inhibitors had critical symptoms and two died.

Based on our analysis, COVID-19 patients with cancer tend to have more severe outcomes when compared to the non-cancer population, the researchers wrote. Although COVID-19 is reported to have a relatively low death rate of 2% to 3% in the general population, patients with cancer and COVID-19 not only have a nearly three-fold increase in the death rate than that of COVID-19 patients without cancer, but also tend to have much higher severity of their illness.

In a related study, Marina Chiara Garassino, MD, of Fondazione IRCCS National Tumor Institute in Milan, presented the first data from the international TERAVOLT registry, which is collecting data about COVID-19 among people with lung cancer and other thoracic malignancies. She noted that TERAVOLT was registering around 70 new cases per week from around the world per week.

This population may be especially vulnerable to COVID-19 due to older age, lung damage, smoking and underlying health conditions, Garassino said. Whats more, the symptoms of COVID-19 overlap with lung cancer, making diagnosis very challenging.

Garassino described results from the first 200 cancer patients with COVID-19 in more than 20 countries. Non-small-cell lung cancer was the most common type, and nearly three quarters had metastatic disease. About 20% received only targeted therapy, 33% received chemotherapy alone and 23% received immunotherapy alone.

A majority (76%) were hospitalized, but most were not offered intensive care for COVID-19; just 9% were admitted to an ICU and 3% were put on ventilators. More than a third (35%) died, mostly due to COVID-19 rather than cancer. Specific types of cancer treatment were not significantly associated with an increased risk of death.

But not all studies have seen worse COVID-19 outcomes among people with cancer. Fabrice Barlesi, MD, PhD, and colleagues looked at 137 COVID-19 patients with cancer at Gustave Roussy, a cancer center near Paris. They had a variety of cancer types, with blood cancers and breast cancer being most common. Nearly 60% had active advanced disease while 40% were in remission or being treated with potentially curative therapy.

Within this group, 25% had worsening COVID-19 after admission, 11% were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) and 15% died. Again, people with blood cancers were more likely to have worse outcomes. Treatment with chemotherapy within the past three monthsbut not targeted therapy or immunotherapydoubled the likelihood of worsening disease. But this only applied to people with active or metastatic cancer, not those who had localized disease or were in remission.

The 15% death rate among people with cancer at Gustave Roussy was lower than the 18% rate for all COVID-19 patients in Paris and in France, Barlesi said. His team concluded that both incidence and outcomes of COVID-19 among cancer patients seem to be comparable to the population as a whole. However, people with blood cancers, those treated with chemotherapy and frail patients are at greater risk.

Discussing how to manage cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, Cai recommended self-protective isolation, strict infection control in hospitals and shifting some medical services online.

With regard to cancer treatment, she said, clinicians need to develop individualized plans based on a patients tumor type and stage of disease. She added that postponing surgery, if appropriate, should be considered in areas with current outbreaks. Radiation therapy, she said, could go ahead according to existing treatment plans with intensive protection and surveillance. Whether people with early-stage cancer need to postpone their treatment remains an unanswered question, she said.

Click hereto read the abstracts from the AACR COVID-19 and cancer session.Learn about What People With Cancer Need to Know About the New Coronavirus.

Read more:
Cancer Patients With COVID-19 May Have Higher Risk of Severe Illness and Death - Cancer Health Treatment News

Have you ever wondered why the world doesn't go black every time you blink? Or how incompetent people can seem so confident in their abilities? Or what all that plastic in the ocean means for our food?

These students have answers.

For our first-ever STEM Writing Contest, The Learning Network teamed up with Science News to challenge teenagers to choose a STEM-related question, concept or issue that interested them and, in 500 words or fewer, explain it to a general audience in a clear and engaging way.

We received 1,618 entries touching on topics in medicine and psychology, chemistry and biology, geometry and astronomy. Of those, our judges, including science reporters from The New York Times and science educators across the country, selected 44 finalists eight winners, 14 runners-up and 22 honorable mentions whom we are listing below.

Were never quite sure what to expect with a new contest like this one, but we hoped students would take to this task with a spirit of inquiry and discovery. And they did.

One of our winners told us she was inspired to study antlike microrobots after noticing the anthills dominating her backyard. Another wanted to know what caused the sleep apnea so many of her friends and family suffered from. A runner-up questioned what made spicy foods, a staple of her Mexican heritage, so appealing.

To find answers, they scoured news articles and scientific journals, interviewed experts and even performed their own experiments.

But what set our winners apart wasnt just what they wrote about or the evidence they drew on to support it it was the way they skillfully explained their topics so a general audience could understand them. This was a writing contest, after all. With engaging hooks, relatable analogies, clever metaphors and a strong sense of voice, these writers not only helped translate complex subjects; they also made them enjoyable to read.

But dont take our word for it. Were publishing the eight winning essays in full and you can read them for yourselves by clicking on the links to their work below. We hope, like us, youll learn something new and have fun doing it.

Thank you to all the students who participated and congratulations to all our finalists. If you have feedback on this contest, please write to us at LNFeedback@nytimes.com. And dont forget about our 10-week Summer Reading Contest, which begins June 12.

Telomeres Turning Back the Biological Clock by Hubert Chen

The Promise of Hot Garbage by Michael Dekhtyar

The Death of Classical Geometry by Elias Leventhal

Egg Stem Cells May Mean the Creation of New Eggs After Birth by Erin Li

How the Phishermen of Today Cast Their Lines by Amy Liu

Far-off Galaxy Collision Foretells the Tail of Our Future by Diya Naik

Gravitational Waves and General Relativity by Maximilian Niebur

A New Hope for Bees: Genetically Modified Gut Bacteria by Eva Panin

A Zombie Apocalypse? by Tisya Raina

Is it the End for the Silver Bullet? by Jia Cheng Anthony Shen

Sizzling Steaks and Crusty Bread: The Science of the Maillard Reaction by Victoria Tong

Black Holes: The Universes Biggest Subwoofers by Will

Can We Really Heal Ourselves? Demystifying Placebos by Phoebe Yu

Could Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles Be the Future of Transportation? by Quinn Alami

What Are the Effects of Delaying School Start Times on Teens? by Aylin Ardali

Should We Trust Our Memories? by Jessie Gaither

No, Amazon Does Not Produce 20% of the Worlds Oxygen. Our Breath Is a Gift From the Wanderers-on-the-Oceans by Devanshi Guglani

Using Rat Urine and Chewing Gum Science Could Thwart Climate Change by Kwangjun Jung

Must-Fix-It: Energy Poverty by Logan Kim

The Science Behind Tattoos by Julia Luyk

The Future of Cancer Imaging Lies in The Starry Night Under the Sea by Camilla Martinez

How Microbes Decide Whether We Live or Die by Gus Morrill

The Unexpected Legacy of Our Digital Founding Fathers by Ellee Nakamura

Forensics Fiction? The Reliability of Facts in Our Courtrooms by Mackenzie Pavlik

How Caffeine Can Help You Stick to Your New Years Resolutions for Longer by Joshua Pixley

Premature Glaucoma by Marina Lupercio Sanchez

The Rusty Patched Bumblebee: A Ticking Time Bomb by Erin Saunders

Marshmallow Experiment True or All Fluff? by Rose Sawilowsky

The Magic Behind Flu Vaccines Secret Weapons Against Influenza Virus in the Everlasting Arms Race by Yihan Shen

Making Toilets Sustainable by Ana-Maria Skaricic

Keeping You in the Loop About Your Poop by Kenna Sondhelm

Learning? Sleep On It. by Heather Szczesniak

The Effects of Noise Pollution on Marine Wildlife by Hadley Weathers

Why Gray Matter, Matters: Inside the Brain of a Psychopath by Paige Williams

Being Sustainable After Death by Tiffany Wu

From The Learning Network: Jeremy Engle, Michael Gonchar and Natalie Proulx

Other judges, including science educators from schools and education organizations around the country: Victoria Bampoh, Amanda Christy Brown, Terianne Hall, Annissa Hambouz, Meghan Hess, Shira Katz, Allison Lee, Simon Levien, Keith Meatto, Mariam Naraine, Dawn Parker, Melissa Slater and Vanessa Vieux

More:
Bacteria Bombs, Fat Tongues and Microrobots: The Winners of Our STEM Writing Contest - The New York Times

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cardiovascular disease, specifically ischemic heart disease, is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Cardiovascular diseases result in an estimated 17.9 million deaths each year. This is about 31% of all deaths worldwide (1). Medical researchers are continually working on ways to reduce those numbers, including the development of new technologies to combat premature deaths from cardiovascular diseases. This article will focus, in particular, on the value of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) in cardiac research.

iPSCs are a type of pluripotent stem cell. These are master cells that can differentiate into any cell or tissue the body needs. They are generated directly from somatic cells through ectopic expression of various transcription factors, such as

Theyve become key tools to model biological processes, particularly in cell types that are difficult to access from living donors. Many research laboratories are working to enhance reprogramming efficiency by testing different cocktails of transcription factors.

iPSCs have become essential in a number of different research fields, including cardiac research.

They are a valuable and advantageous technologic development for two main reasons:

Most people have heard of embryonic stem cells, which are one variation of pluripotent cells. Like iPSCs, they can be used to replace or restore tissues that have been damaged.

The problem is that embryonic stem cells are only found in preimplantation stage embryos (3). Whereas iPSCs are adult cells that have been genetically modified to work like embryonic stem cells. Thus, the term, inducedpluripotent stem cells.

The development of iPSCs was helpful because embryos are not needed. This reduces the controversy surrounding the creation and use of stem cells. Further, iPSCs from human donors are also more compatible with patients than animal iPSCs, making them even closer to their embryonic cousins.

The Japanese inventor of iPSCs, Professor Shinya Yamanaka earned a Nobel Prize in 2012 for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent. (4) The Prize was awarded to Dr. Yamanaka because of the significant medical and research implications this technology holds.

iPSCs hold a lot of promise for transplantation medicine. Further, they are highly useful in drug development and modeling of diseases.

iPSCs may become important in transplantation medicine because the tissues developed from them are a nearly identical match to the cell donors. This can potentially reduce the chances of rejection by the immune system (5).

In the future, and with enough research, it is highly possible that researchers may be able to perfect the iPSC technology so that it can efficiently reprogram cells and repair damaged tissues throughout the body.

iPSCs forgo the need for embryos and can be made to match specific patients. This makes them extremely useful in both research and medicine.

Every individual with damaged or diseased tissues could have their own pluripotent stem cells created to replace or repair them. Of course, more research is needed before that becomes a reality. To date, the use of iPSCs in therapeutic transplants has been very limited.

One of the most significant areas where iPSCs are currently being used is in cardiac research. With appropriate nutrients and inducers, iPSC can be programmed to differentiate into any cell type of the body, including cardiomyocyte. This heart-specific cell can then serve as a great model for therapeutic drug screening or assay development.

Another notable application of iPSCs in cardiac research is optical mapping technology. Optical mapping technology employs high-speed cameras and fluorescence microscopy to examines the etiology and therapy of cardiac arrhythmias in a patient-like environment. This is typically done by looking into electrical properties of multicellular cardiac preparations., e.g. action potential or calcium transient, at high spatiotemporal resolution (6).

Optical mapping technology can correctly record or acquire data from iPSCs. iPSCs are also useful in mimicking a patients cardiomyocytes with their specific behaviors, resulting in more reliable and quality data of cardiac diseases.

iPSCs are vital tools in cardiac research for the following reasons:

iPSCs are patient-specific because they are 100% genetically identical with their donors. This genomic make-up allows researchers to study patients pathology further and develop therapeutic agents for treating their cardiac diseases.

Induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs), help researchers predict the cardiotoxicity of drugs like with widely used chemotherapy reagents (10). Predictions like this were close to impossible before iPSC technology entered the research game.

iPSCs really come into play with their ability to model diseases. Because iPSCs are genetic matches to their living donors, they are uniquely useful for the study of genetic cardiac diseases like monogenic disorders. iPSCs help researchers understand how disease genotypes at the genetic level manifest as phenotypes at the cellular level (5).

Long QT syndrome, a condition that affects the repolarization of a patients heart after a heartbeat, is a notable example of iPSC-based disease modeling (7). This syndrome has been successfully modeled using iPSCs and is an excellent model for other promising target diseases (7).

Long QT syndrome is not the only disease that has been modeled by iPSCs. Other cardiac diseases like Barth syndrome-associated cardiomyopathy and drug-induced kidney glomerular injuries have been modeled as well (8).

The advent of iPSC technology has created a wealth of new opportunities and applications in cardiovascular research and treatments. In the near future, researchers hope that iPSC-derived therapies will be an option for thousands, if not millions of patients worldwide.

More from this author: The Promising Future of Nanomedicine and Nanoparticles

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What is the Value of iPSC Technology in Cardiac... - The Doctor Weighs In

Dublin, May 05, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Cell Expansion Market to 2027 - Global Analysis and Forecasts By Product; Cell Type; Application; End User, and Geography" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global cell expansion market is projected to reach US$ 42,837.11 Mn in 2027 from US$ 11,929.43 Mn in 2018. The cell expansion market is expected to grow with a CAGR of 15.6% from 2019-2027.

Driving factors include increasing adoption of regenerative medicines, rising prevalence of cancer. However, the risk contamination during cell expansion is expected to hamper the market during the forecast period.

Cancer is one of the major cause of human death worldwide. In recent years, the cases of cancer have been increasing tremendously and the trend is anticipated to remain the same in the upcoming years. According to the World Health Organization in 2018, approximately 9.6 million deaths across the globe were due to cancer. Furthermore, the National Cancer Institute predicted that in 2018, approximately 1,735,350 new cancer cases would be diagnosed in the US.

Changes in lifestyle have resulted in more exposure to oncogenic factors. Cancer can be cured if diagnosed and treated at an initial stage. Cancer sequencing using next-generation sequencing (NGS) methods provides more information. Additionally, cell expansion related procedures also aids in research, diagnostics and treatment of cancer.

Furthermore, Asia Pacific region is also facing the problem of the growing prevalence of cancer. The top 15 countries with Cancer prevalence are Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Indonesia, Mongolia, India, Laos, and Cambodia. According to the National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research (NICPR), in 2018, in India, total deaths due to cancer were 784,821.

The global Cell Expansion market is segmented by product, cell type, application, end user. Based on product, the cell expansion market is segmented into consumables and instruments. In 2018, the consumables accounted for the largest market share in the global cell expansion market by product. These consumables are essential components of any laboratory experiment hence they are expected to witness significant growth during the forecast period. Based on cell type, the cell expansion market has been segmented into human cell and animal cell. Furthermore based on application the cell expansion market has been segmented into Regenerative Medicine And Stem Cell Research, Cancer And Cell-Based Research and Other Applications. Based in end user market is segmented into Biopharmaceutical And Biotechnology Companies, Research Institutes, cell banks and others.

Some of the essential primary and secondary sources included in the report are the National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research (NICPR), Association for Management Education and Development, Center for Cancer Research, International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), American Association of Blood Banks (AABB), National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research and others.

Reasons to Buy

Key Topics Covered:

1. Introduction

2. Cell Expansion Market - Key Takeaways

3. Research Methodology

4. Cell Expansion- Market Landscape4.1 Overview4.2 PEST Analysis4.3 Expert Opinions

5. Global Cell Expansion Market - Key Market Dynamics5.1 Key Market Drivers5.1.1 Increasing Adoption of Regenerative Medicines5.1.2 Rising Prevalence of Cancer5.2 Key Restraints5.2.1 Risk Contamination During Cell Expansion5.3 Key Opportunity5.3.1 Middle Income Countries Creating Development Opportunities5.4 Future Trend5.4.1 Consistent Research in Drug Discovery Activities5.5 Impact Analysis

6. Cell Expansion Market - Global Analysis6.1 Global Cell Expansion Market Revenue Forecasts And Analysis6.2 Global Cell Expansion Market, By Geography - Forecasts And Analysis6.3 Market Positioning Of Key Players

7. Cell Expansion Market - Revenue And Forecasts To 2027 - Product7.1 Overview7.2 Global Cell Expansion Market, by Product , 2018 & 2027 (% Share)7.3 Consumables7.3.1 Overview7.3.2 Global Consumables Market Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Mn)7.3.3 Reagents, Media & Serum7.3.3.1 Overview7.3.3.2 Global Reagents, Media & Serum Market Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Mn)7.3.4 Disposables7.3.4.1 Overview7.3.4.2 Global Disposables Market Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Mn)7.3.4.3 Culture Tissue Flasks7.3.4.3.1 Overview7.3.4.3.2 Global Culture Tissue Flasks Market Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Mn)7.3.4.4 Bioreactor Accessories7.3.4.4.1 Overview7.3.4.4.2 Global Bioreactor Accessories Market Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Mn)7.3.4.5 Other Disposables7.3.4.5.1 Overview7.3.4.5.2 Global Other Disposables Market Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Mn)7.4 Instruments7.4.1 Overview7.4.2 Global Instruments Market Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Mn)7.4.3 Cell Expansion Supporting Equipment7.4.3.1 Overview7.4.3.2 Global Cell Expansion Supporting Equipment Market Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Mn)7.4.4 Bioreactors7.4.4.1 Overview7.4.4.2 Global Bioreactors Market Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Mn)7.4.5 Automated Cell Expansion Systems7.4.5.1 Overview7.4.5.2 Global Automated Cell Expansion Systems Market Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Mn)

8. Cell Expansion Market Analysis and Forecasts to 2027 - Cell Type8.1 Overview8.2 Global Cell Expansion Market, by Cell Type, 2018 & 2027 (% Share)8.3 Human Cells8.3.1 Overview8.3.2 Global Human Cell Market Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Mn)8.3.3 Adult Stem Cells8.3.3.1 Overview8.3.3.2 Global Adult Stem Cells Market Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Mn)8.3.4 Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells8.3.4.1 Overview8.3.4.2 Global Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Market Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Mn)8.3.5 Embryonic Stem Cells8.3.5.1 Overview8.3.5.2 Global Embryonic Stem Cells Market Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Mn)8.3.6 Differentiated Cells8.3.6.1 Overview8.3.6.2 Global Differentiated Cells Market Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Mn)8.4 Animal Cells8.4.1 Overview8.4.2 Global Animal Cell Market Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Mn)

9. Cell Expansion Market Analysis And Forecasts To 2027 - Application9.1 Overview9.2 Global Cell Expansion Market Share by Application 2018 & 2027 (%)9.3 Regenerative Medicine And Stem Cell Research9.3.1 Overview9.3.2 Global Regenerative Medicine And Stem Cell Research Market Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Mn)9.4 Cancer And Cell-Based Research9.4.1 Overview9.4.2 Global Cancer And Cell-Based research Market Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Mn)9.5 Other Applications9.5.1 Overview9.5.2 Global Other Applications Market Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Mn)

10. Cell Expansion Market Analysis And Forecasts To 2027 - End User10.1 Overview10.2 Global Cell Expansion Market Share by End User 2018 & 2027 (%)10.3 Biopharmaceutical And Biotechnology Companies10.3.1 Overview10.3.2 Global Biopharmaceutical And Biotechnology Companies Market Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Mn)10.4 Research Institutes10.4.1 Overview10.4.2 Global Research Institutes Market Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Mn)10.5 Cell Banks10.5.1 Overview10.5.2 Global Cell Banks Market Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Mn)10.6 Other End Users10.6.1 Overview10.6.2 Global Other End Users Market Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Mn)

11. Cell Expansion Market - Geographic Analysis11.1 North America Cell Expansion Market, Revenue and Forecast to 202711.2 Europe Cell Expansion Market, Revenue and Forecast to 202711.3 APAC Cell Expansion Market, Revenue and Forecast to 202711.4 MEA Cell Expansion Market, Revenue and Forecast to 202711.5 South and Central America Cell Expansion Market, Revenue and Forecast to 2027

12. Cell Expansion Market - Industry Landscape12.1 Overview12.2 Growth Strategies In The Cell Expansion Market, 2017-201912.3 Organic Growth Strategies12.3.1 Overview12.3.1.1 Recent Organic Developments By Players In The Cell Expansion Market12.4 Inorganic Growth Strategies12.4.1 Overview12.4.2 Recent Developments By Players In The Cell Expansion Market

13. Global Cell Expansion Market-Key Company Profiles13.1 BD13.1.1 Key Facts13.1.2 Business Description13.1.3 Financial Overview13.1.4 Product Portfolio13.1.5 SWOT Analysis13.1.6 Key Developments13.2 Merck KGaA13.3 Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.13.4 Terumo Corporation13.5 General Electric Company13.6 Corning Incorporated13.7 Miltenyi Biotec13.8 Danaher13.9 Lonza13.10 STEMCELL Technologies, Inc.

14. Appendix14.1 About the Publisher14.2 Glossary Of Terms

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Insights on the Worldwide Cell Expansion Industry to 2027 - Analysis and Forecasts - GlobeNewswire

A team of doctors and researchers at the Abu Dhabi Stem Cell Center (ADSCC) administered the treatment in the UAE to 73 COVID-19 patients, who were all successfully treated and cured, without any immediate side effects, according to a statement by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) health ministry from 1 May.

The process involved a minimally invasive method where the patients stem cells are extracted, activated and turned into fine mist to be inhaled into the lungs. This was done in addition to the conventional treatment and is expected to work by supporting the established protocol of management of symptoms.

The ministry said in the statement, It is hypothesised to have its therapeutic effect by regenerating lung cells and modulating the immune response to keep it from overreacting to the COVID-19 infection and causing further damage to healthy cells.

The treatment has successfully undergone the initial phase of clinical trials, demonstrating its safety, and further trials for its efficiency are ongoing; expected to be completed in a couple of weeks.

Dr Fatima al-Kaabi, head of haematology and oncology at the Sheikh Khalifa Medical City in the UAE, told CNBC, Its very early to say at this stage. If all went well, this could reach the market in three months, she added.

Going further back, a pilot study in China on seven COVID-19 patients found that intravenous infusions of donor mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) - multipotent stem cells - improved patient outcomes and helped all of them recover. An Israeli pharmaceutical company, Pluristem Therapeutics, also tested stem cells in seven critical hospitalized patients and found positive results.

Additionally, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved MSC use in extremely sick COVID-19 patients under expanded access compassionate use on 5 April according to a report in The Scientist, even though the experts seemed divided on the logic on which the investigative treatment may have worked.

A hospital in New York tried the therapy as an experiment on 12 patients, 10 of whom were able to come off ventilators, reports CBS news. The Australian regenerative medicine company Mesoblast has also announced a 300-person trial for its stem cell therapy remestemcel-L (which was used in the New York trial) to determine whether it will work on patients suffering with severe lung inflammation.

Currently, there are over 20 active stem cell trials for COVID-19, most focusing on the use of MSCs.

Continued here:
Stem Cell Treatment for COVID-19; Doctors Divided on Its Scope - The Quint

Thalassemia is a type of inherited blood disorder. It is passed from parents to children through genes. This disorder involves lack of oxygen-carrying protein called hemoglobin (an important part of red blood cells). When there is insufficiency of hemoglobin in the body, the red blood cells dont function properly. It also reduces the life of RBC, which means fewer healthy RBC travel in the blood.

RBC carries oxygen to all the cells of the body. Oxygen acts as food, which is used by cells to function. Shortage of healthy RBC means shortage in supply of oxygen to all other cells of the body. This may lead to lethargy in a person. The person may feel tired, weak or short of breath. This condition is termed as Anaemia.

People with thalassemia may suffer from mild or acute Anaemia. Acute Anaemia can be very severe and can lead to damage of major organs. It can even cause death.

Thalassemia major babies are born to parents who are carriers of thalassemia gene. According to rough estimates, each year some 10000 babies are born in India with thalassemia. Best way to prevent or eliminate thalassemia is screening of all pregnant women between 9 to 12 weeks.

Thalassemia is diagnosed through blood tests which include doing a complete blood count (CBC) and special hemoglobin tests. Through a sample of blood, CBC measures the amount of hemoglobin and the different kind of blood cells, such as red blood cells. Hemoglobin tests measure the types of hemoglobin in blood.

Moderate and acute thalassemia is usually diagnosed in childhood. This is because signs and symptoms, such as acute Anemia usually occur at an early age of 2 years. People who have mild form of thalassemia may get diagnosed after a routine blood test, as it will detect if they have anemia.

Here's Dr. Rahul Bhargava, Director and Head, Hematology, Haemato- Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplant, Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurugram has to say about the treatments:

Blood Transfusion

Treatment of thalassemia major relies on regular blood transfusion at regular intervals, to keep Hb above 9 gm. percent. It will help prevent form short stature and other skeletal and facial deformities. Recurrent lifelong blood transfusion since 6 months of birth is necessary.

Iron Chelation Therapy

With transfusion comes the problem of iron deposition, as each blood transfusion lead to incremental iron deposition in various tissues like pituitary gland liver and heart leading to early death. So along with transfusion patient also needs iron chelation therapy. It can be either oral (defriprone and defreseirox) or IV desferoxmine. Serum ferritin is one of the surrogate markers of iron overload in thalassemia patients. It needs to be done every 3 months. Gov.s efforts of providing free blood products and iron chelators is bearing fruits as life expectancy has shown an upward trend.

Bone Marrow or Stem Cell Transplant

As it is commonly known, bone marrow or stem cell transplant is the only curative modality for thalassemia. If done at an early age, 80 percent patients can be cured. Source of stem cell could be either brother or sister whose HLA is a complete match. Otherwise fully matched HLA donor can be tried in various international registries. This process is called as match unrelated donor transplant.

Gene Therapy

Gene therapy is gaining lot of traction in field of hemoglobinopathies. It has shown remarkable result with minimum toxicities and sustained haemoglobin production in various trials. There has been no major risk of cancer or other late effects.

We have come a long way and probably this decade will bring the much awaited cheers to thalassaemics. Till then in India, prevention is the only strategy to reduce the burden on already stretched health care system.

Better rate of blood transfusion

Regular Blood screening has significantly impacted reduction of infections due to blood transfusion

Significant improvement in treatment

Bone Marrow Transplant and Stem cell transplantation has led to patients having a good quality of life

Read more| 10 things to keep in mind while travelling with Asthma

Read more here:
World Thalassemia Day: All you need to know from the expert - India Today

FDA Approves AstraZenecas Farxiga for Heart Failure in Adults with Reduced Ejection Fraction

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Tuesday that it has approved dapagliflozin, also known under the brand name Farxiga, for the treatment of heart failure in adults with reduced ejection fraction. The drug can potentially reduce the risk of cardiovascular death and hospitalization for heart failure.

AstraZenecas Farxiga is now the first in its drug class of sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors to be approved to treat adults with the New York Heart Associations functional class II-IV heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. AstraZeneca was granted with the approval of Farxiga related to heart failure by the FDA.

In a clinical trial, Farxiga appeared to improve survival and reduce the need for hospitalization in adults with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction.

To determine the efficacy of the drug, researchers looked at the number of instances of cardiovascular death, hospitalization for heart failure and urgent heart failure visits. Some trial participants were given a once-daily dose of 10mg of Farxiga, while others were given a placebo. After approximately 18 months, those who were given Farxiga had fewer cardiovascular deaths, hospitalizations for heart failure and urgent heart failure visits compared to their counterparts.

Heart failure is a serious health condition that contributes to one in eight deaths in the U.S. and impacts nearly 6.5 million Americans, said Norman Stockbridge, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Division of Cardiology and Nephrology in the FDAs Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. This approval provides patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction an additional treatment option that can improve survival and reduce the need for hospitalization.

Farxiga can cause side effects including dehydration, urinary tract infections and genetical yeast infections. It can also potentially result in serious cases of necrotizing fasciitis of the perineum in people with diabetes and low blood sugar when combined with insulin.

On Tuesday, BioCardia, Inc. also announced positive preclinical datasupporting its new drug application for anti-inflammatory cell therapy for heart failure. BioCardias allogenic neurokinin 1 receptor positive mesenchymal stem cell (NK1R+ MSC) therapy appeared to improve heart function in a study. NK1R+ MSC is being marketed under the name CardiALLO.

Alexanderstock23 / Shutterstock

Researchers looked at 26 animals treated with both low dose and high dose CardiALLO in their study. Echocardiographic measures of cardiac ejection fraction, fractional shortening and cardiac outflow all notably improved in the animals.

In light of these positive data on our allogenic NK1R+ MSC therapy, we expect to meet our internal timeline to complete our submission to the FDA for our first indication for CardiALLO, and potentially receive IND acceptance by the end of the second quarter, said BioCardia Chief Scientific Officer Ian McNiece, PhD. The MSCs that were studied are subtypes of MSC that we have delivered previously in our co-sponsored trials, which we believe have enhanced potency over MSC generated from unselected bone marrow cells. We look forward to seeing additional data from this animal study that are currently being analyzed, including histology and pathology of the heart and lungs.

BioCardia also intends to submit an IND for the use of NK1R+ MSC delivered via intravenous infusion for the treatment of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome caused by COVID-19.

Approximately 6.5 million adults in the U.S. are living with heart failure, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Protection. In 2017, it was a contributing cause of death in one out of eight people.

Excerpt from:
FDA Approves AstraZeneca's Farxiga for Heart Failure in Adults with Reduced Ejection Fraction - PharmaLive

A mum-of-three and driving instructor who has died after a year-long battle with leukaemia was described by her heartbroken family as "the most gentle soul."

Sara Ashbrook fought courageously against the most severe form of blood cancer and managed to get through the first 100 days following a complex stem cell transplant.

That came from a 21-year-old person in Holland after the bone marrow was flown over to the UK - and the first three months after her operation were hailed a success.

The 48-year-old needed to be injected daily with medication, but one of the drugs triggered her cholesterol to dangerously rise, and she was diagnosed with pancreatitis.

Married Mrs Ashbrook, who lived in Latchford, Warrington, was left in agony and was she was rushed into the Royal Liverpool Hospital, at the end of January.

The Radio 1 fan was struggling to breathe so she was placed in an induced coma for 10 days but she survived that, and was gradually weaned off a ventilator.

Her condition had been so concerning that, at one stage, Mrs Ashbrook thought she had been kidnapped, her daughter Zoe Robinson said, and taken hostage.

"She didn't know who we were at one point," the 28-year-old added.

In mid-February, Mrs Ashbrook suffered a cardiac arrest and "died for two minutes."

But despite surviving this, the grandma-of-four, who also had two stepchildren, picked up various infections, including sepsis, and it eventually proved too much.

She died on April 11, surrounded by her heartbroken family, who were at her bedside during her last moments, wearing personal protective equipment because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Zoe told the ECHO: "Mum was a driving instructor for eight years and she fell in love with it.

"She was the most gentle soul, she really was, when in hospital she used to take chocolates and cakes in for the nurses.

"Mum was a really good model for her kids, myself, Declan, 26, and Connor, 20.

"She raised money for charities and always put everybody in front of her, no matter what their needs."

Honour our NHS heroes - from the surgeons to the porters, the nurses to the catering staff, the physios to the midwives, and the paramedics to the GPs - by helping to create a map of gratitude from every corner of Britain.

We need our health workers now more than ever as they work superhuman hours and go above and beyond to protect us.

Click HERE to drop a heart or a message on the map, and show you appreciate the efforts undertaken daily in the NHS.

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Thanks a million, NHS workers - we love you.

Just before lockdown, Zoe fell pregnant which meant she was unable to visit her mum in Liverpool due to the infection risk.

Sara's devoted husband Ste, 43, had displayed coronavirus symptoms so also had to stay away, while Mrs Ashbrook's parents, over 70, were in the same heartbreaking position.

Zoe's husband was the only person able to go into the Liverpool hospital, before the whole family, who had been resorting to Face Time calls to see her, were eventually allowed to be with Mrs Ashbrook at the end.

Her funeral took place seven days ago, with very limited numbers permissible.

Relatives were only able to sit together if they lived in the same house, and there was no funeral car or a wake.

Zoe added: "Her death has hit us very badly.

If you have been affected by any of the details mentioned in this story there are people who can help you.

Most people grieve when they lose something or someone important to them.

The way grief affects you depends on lots of things, including what kind of loss you have suffered, your upbringing, your beliefs or religion, your age, your relationships, and your physical and mental health.

Grieving is a totally normal process but there are way to get help if you need support.

Your GP is a good place to start. They can give you advice about other support services, refer you to a counsellor, or prescribe medication if needed.

Or you can contact support organisations directly, such as Cruse Bereavement Care (0808 808 1677) Samaritans (116 123) or Love Jasmine.

"I've had fertility issues over the last eight years, but my mum always stuck by me throughout that.

"For all of us, it's really difficult.

"My heart is shattered.

Follow Luke on Twitter here

You can read more of his stories here

Email him at luke.traynor@reachplc.com or call 0151 330 5051 if you want to share any news, stories or updates.

Keep up to date with the latest breaking Liverpool news here

Like the ECHO News Facebook page here and follow @LivEchoNews on Twitter

"Mum will always by my inspiration."

To help with the family's bid to raise money to fight leukaemia, you can contribute here towards the University of Liverpool's pancreatic cancer fund.

Read more from the original source:
'Inspirational' mum-of-three and 'gentle soul' dies after year-long leukaemia battle - Liverpool Echo

Researchers are learning more about how to diagnose and better treat blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm, a rare cancer that often presents with skin manifestations, according to a review published March 2020 in Current Opinion in Hematology.1

Blastic plasmacytoid dendritic neoplasm patients have suffered historically poor outcomes. Years ago, doctors were limited to treating these patients primarily with intensive chemotherapy regimens used to treat acute myeloid leukemia or acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients.

But in 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved tagraxofusp-erzs (Elzonris, Stemline).

Tagraxofusp-erz is the first approved drug indicated specifically for blastic plasmacytoid dendritic neoplasm, and its use is recommended in the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology.Newer targeted agents to treat the hematologic malignancy are in the pipeline.

Notable changes in recent years

The World Health Organization (WHO) named blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN) and classified it under acute myeloid leukemia and related precursor neoplasms in 2008. Some eight years later, WHO established BPDCN as a distinct entity.

Just how many people have BPDCN isnt clear. But it is thought that there are about 0.04 cases of the cancer per 100,000 people. And about three in four patients are older men.

Derived from plasmacytoid dendritic cells, BPDCN generally is an aggressive disease. It presents clinically on the skin in about nine out of every 10 cases. Skin lesions tend to be asymptomatic, often appearing as bruise-like lesions, plaques or nodules, according to the paper.

While a small percentage of patients will present with skin disease only, most show signs of BPDCN in the bone marrow, lymph nodes or visceral organs. Rarely, patients will have no cutaneous evidence and instead present with the leukemic phase of the cancer. About 30% of patients also have central nervous system involvement.

Flow cytometry to determine the immunophenotype is an essential component of diagnosing [blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm], the author wrote.

CD123, an interleukin-3 receptor alpha, is over expressed in nearly all BPDCN cases. These cancer cells also may be positive for CD4, CD56, CD303 or TCL1, according to the paper.

Some authors have found a recurrent MYC gene rearrangement in these patients. That particular genetic aberration is associated with an older age at diagnosis and worse prognosis.

Treatment is evolving

Unfortunately, doctors have to rely largely on retrospective studies looking at BPDCN treatment options.Those studies suggest that BPDCN, generally, responds better to acute lymphoblastic leukemia regimens compared to acute myeloid leukemia treatment options. However, most responses to these regimens are transient, the author reported.

Retrospective studies suggest allogeneic stem cell transplant for eligible patients in their first remission offer the highest overall survival rates, including 3- and 4-year overall survival rates ranging from 74% to 82%.Tagraxofusp-erzs targets CD123. It consists of recombinant human interleukin-3 fused to a truncated diphtheria toxin, according to the paper.

Binding the drug to CD123 on the cell surface leads to cellular internalization of the diphtheria toxin, which ultimately leads to inhibition of protein synthesis and cell death, the author wrote.

In a phase I/II clinical trial of 44 untreated or relapsed/refractory BPDCN patients, 21 of 29 previously untreated patients achieved complete remission and 13 of those went on to have a stem cell transplant. Overall response rate of the 15 patients with relapsed/refractory BPDCN was 67% with tagraxofusp-erzs, with an average overall survival of 8.5 months.

Eighteen of the 44 patients studied developed the most critical treatment-related adverse event, capillary leak syndrome. Two patients died from capillary leak syndrome during the study.Researchers are studying investigational agents aimed at treating BPDCN. These include IMGN632, a humanized antibody-drug conjugate with an anti-CD123 monoclonal antibody conjugated to a DNA-alkylating payload, the author wrote.

Researchers are evaluating the safety and efficacy of treating CD123-positive malignancies including BPDCN with the monoclonal antibody targeting CD123 and CD3 XmAb14045.

Venetoclax, a BCL-2 inhibitor, is yet another agent in the pipeline for BPDCN patients.

as knowledge is gained on the molecular changes that occur in [blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm], this will ideally lead to more targeted and effective therapies in the years to come, the author wrote.

Disclosures:

Kendra Sweet, MD, has received honoraria from Stemline Therapeutics.

References:

1 Sweet K. Blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm: diagnosis, manifestations, and treatment. Curr Opin Hematol. 2020;27(2):103-107.

Read this article:
Investigational agents to treat hematologic malignancy in pipeline - Dermatology Times

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Global Virus Testing Kits Market By Test Type (DFA, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)-Based Tests, Agglutination Assays, Solid-Phase Assays, Others), By Virus Type, By Genetic Information (DNA, RNA), By End User, By Region, Forecast & Opportunities, 2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global Virus Testing Kits Market is expected to grow at a robust CAGR during the forecast period owing to the increasing consumer preference towards self-diagnosis techniques. Additionally, leading companies continuously invest in the research and development sector for the development of novel kits for viral diseases. These above-mentioned factors play a major role in propelling the growth of the virus testing kits market, globally. However, virus testing kits are expensive which might hamper the growth of the market.

The global market for virus testing kits is segmented into test type, virus type, genetic information, end-user, company and region. Based on virus type, the market can be segregated into coronavirus, influenza, hepatitis, HIV, measles, smallpox, dengue, ebola, rota virus, SARS, MERS and others. The coronavirus segment is expected to register the highest growth on the back of outbreak of pandemic caused by this virus.

Based on regional analysis, the market is divided into five regions, Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America, South America and Middle East & Africa. In 2019, North America held the largest market share as the leading companies present in the region keep on launching new products.

Abbott Laboratories, Autobio Diagnostics Co., Ltd., Beckman Coulter, Inc., Becton, Dickinson and Company, BioMerieux SA, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., Bundi International Diagnostics Ltd., CerTest Biotec, S.L., CorisBioconcept SPRL, F. Hoffman La Roche, Ltd., Hologic Inc., Luminex Corporation, Merck & Co., Inc., Mylan NV, Nectar Lifesciences Ltd., PerkinElmer, Inc., Qiagen NV, Quidel Corporation, Siemens Healthineers AG, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., etc., are some of the major leading players in the virus testing kits market, globally.

Objective of the Study:

Key Topics Covered:

1. Product Overview

2. Research Methodology

3. Executive Summary

4. Voice of Customer

5. Global Virus Testing Kits Market Outlook

5.1. Market Size & Forecast

5.1.1. By Value

5.2. Market Share & Forecast

5.2.1. By Test Type (Direct Fluorescent Antibody Tests (DFA), Lateral Flow Tests (Immunochromatographic Assays), Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)-Based Tests, Agglutination Assays, Solid-Phase Assays)

5.2.2. By Virus Type (Coronavirus, Influenza, Hepatitis, HIV, Measles, Smallpox, Dengue, Ebola, Rota Virus, SARS, MERS, Others)

5.2.3. By Genetic Information (DNA, RNA)

5.2.4. By End User (Diagnostic & Clinical Laboratories, Academic & Research Institutes, Contract Research Organizations, And Others)

5.2.5. By Company (2019)

5.2.6. By Region (Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America, South America, Middle East & Africa)

5.3. Market Attractiveness Index

6. Asia-Pacific Virus Testing Kits Market Outlook

7. Europe Virus Testing Kits Market Outlook

8. North America Virus Testing Kits Market Outlook

9. South America Virus Testing Kits Market Outlook

10. Middle East and Africa Virus Testing Kits Market Outlook

11. Market Dynamics

11.1. Drivers

11.2. Challenges

12. Market Trends & Developments

13. Clinical Trials

14. Competitive Landscape

14.1. Abbott Laboratories

14.2. Autobio Diagnostics Co., Ltd.

14.3. Beckman Coulter, Inc.

14.4. Becton, Dickinson and Company

14.5. BioMerieux SA

14.6. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc.

14.7. Bundi International Diagnostics Ltd.

14.8. CerTest Biotec, S.L.

14.9. CorisBioconcept SPRL

14.10. F. Hoffman La Roche, Ltd.

14.11. Hologic Inc.

14.12. Luminex Corporation

14.13. Merck & Co., Inc.

14.14. Mylan NV

14.15. Nectar Lifesciences Ltd.

14.16. PerkinElmer, Inc.

14.17. Qiagen NV

14.18. Quidel Corporation

14.19. Siemens Healthineers AG

14.20. Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.

15. Strategic Recommendations

16. About Us & Disclaimer

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/1psjhk

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Global Virus Testing Kits Market (2019 to 2025) - By Test Type, Virus Type, Genetic Information, End-user, Region, Forecast & Opportunities -...