StemCell Therapy

Editors note:The nurses interviewed in this feature are former recipients of the Mpls.St.Paul Magazine Outstanding Nurses Award. We are grateful for their time and input for this feature.We are in the process of outlining our approach to this annual editorial initiative. Please send an email tooutstandingnurses@mspmag.comto let us know you would like to receive details once we are ready to move forward.

Time is of the essence when you find yourself in an emergency situation.

Just ask Kathleen Koivisto, an in-flight emergency medicine nurse with Life Link III. She doesnt waste any time when the helicopter carrying her and her team lands at the scene of an accident.

She quickly gathers all the needed suppliessuch as airway bags, a ventilator, sometimes an ultrasound, and protective gear to help keep patients safeto prepare or intubate a patient before putting them in the helicopter for the ride of their life to a level-one trauma center. But now with COVID-19, theres an extra, critical step. Before Koivisto can interface with first responders for the handoff of the patient, she must also put on all the necessary high-level personal protective equipment (PPE) to ensure she keeps herself and those around her healthy and safe. We wear masks, gloves, and eye protection with all patients. With suspicion for COVID or COVID-positive patients, we add Tiger masks or N95 and gowns. It all depends on what symptoms the patient presents.

Taking the time to put on the added PPE can be tense when a patient needs immediate attention. If youre watching a monitor and their vital signs are junky . . . it feels long, Koivisto says. A couple minutes is a long time in an emergency. Nobody has suffered because of this vital extra step, except maybe Koivistos nerves.

Not all of her patients are accident victims. Some need transport from rural hospitals to major medical centers for specialized neuro, cardiology, and trauma care. Still, COVID protocols are essential. Patients who dont require a breathing tube but are COVID positive can be transported with a Sea-Long Helmet. This allows us to give them oxygen and support their breathing without exposing the transport staff and others to the virus.

Our pandemic-filled world is testing nursesfrom administrators and educators to those on the frontlines in ways they never could have imagined when this year started. And thats saying a lot, since some of them have been doing their jobs for decades.

We talked to seven nurses who shed light on their lives and their profession during these unprecedented times.

Kristin Lau, a public health nurse in Ramsey County, works with first-time mothers, and an important part of her care strategy is visiting them in their homes. She makes house calls from the time theyre pregnant until their child is 2 years old to ensure everyone stays healthy and progresses as they should. However, since March, shes needed to turn these visits into virtual ones.

Now, instead of hopping into her car and listening to some relaxing music to clear her head between home vis- its, Lau engages with her mamas, as she affectionately refers to them, on Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google platforms. A day of several back-to-back virtual visits can leave her feeling extra tired. Theres a study that says it takes a lot more energy to engage over Zoom for one hour than it does in person, Lau says. I think its something like it takes three times the energy.

However, shes thankful to have the technology so she can stay engaged with the women she cares for and get a chance to still see them moving about their lives at home. Lau is always on the lookoutmonitoring her pregnant mamas for any visible signs of distress. For example, one client who was 37 weeks pregnant showed signs of preeclampsia, a life-threatening condition for both mother and baby. As soon as she popped up on my screen I could see her face was quite puffy, Lau recalls. After asking her client a series of questionsAre your hands swollen or tight? Do you have a headache? Hows your visionblurry, seeing spots? Any dizziness?she had the expectant mother check her blood pressure using the cuff thats provided by Ramsey County. Lau

knew this woman had to get medical help right away. She delivered the baby about six hours after she went to the hospital, Lau says.

As a nurse who does home visits, Lau has always had a unique portal into the personal lives of her new mothers, which helps her advise and care for them. And now, with Lau working from home, these new mothers are getting a glimpse into hers. Lau has five childrenages 9 to 20three of whom are doing distance learning at home. Plus, her husband, who has a preexisting health condition, also works from home. So thats five people, plus a couple of pet dogs, jammed into their home. Lau has set up a private room for her meetings, but that doesnt stop her clients from hearing her kids loudly engage with their siblings in another room and her dogs barking at the Amazon truck. I think its almost relatable to them to see me in the mother role, Lau says. It brings them joy.

We think about this cohort of students now in the academic programs. Theyll be the first nurses to be educated about this type of pandemic worldwide. Theyve studied and learned about pandemics in other countries, but its at a distance. Its not us. But now its here, and were living it, and were not doing so well either. Susan OConner-Von, associate professor, University of Minnesota School of Nursing

College campuses, such as St. Catherine University, have also taken to making virtual house callsbut in this instance on students. One evening back in March, Jocelyn Bessette Gorlin, an associate professor of pediatrics in the school of nursing, was teaching an advanced nursing health assessment class. That same night, the school announced it was closing the next day due to COVID-19. In the week or so leading up to the announcement, Gorlin had gotten a jump-start and had connected with the schools IT department to learn how to record Panopto videos, a kind used in the field of education, just in case the school transitioned to e-learning. We asked ourselves: How can we teach hands-on assessment skills remotely? she says.

After class that March evening, Gorlin, along with other faculty members and teaching assistants, formed an assembly line and filled Ziploc bags with the tools that the graduate students would need to practice their skills at home (tongue depressors, reflex hammers, pen lights, and more). When a ship is having trouble, you get on this raft and you do what you have to do, Gorlin says.

As it turns out, they learned they could do quite a lot. Within one week, students recorded their first video demonstrating health assessment skills on people with whom they were quarantined, such as their children, parents, and roommates. (One student who lived alone formed a mannequin out of old clothes that she beautifully assessed, Gorlin says.) Gorlin witnessed her students listening to their childrens heartbeats and gently assessing parents abdomens. The recorded videos gave us a glimpse into their home lives, she says.

Gorlin also used Google Meet and Sammy, a 140-pound medical mannequin from the school of nursing that wound up lying on her dining room table, to interface with students and offer feedback on how they could improve their assessment of a patient. Google Meet also came in handy when she held virtual lab sessions three times a week from her home. Gorlin enjoyed demonstrating how to do cranial nerve and musculoskeletal assessments on her roommateher husband, a hematologistwhod sometimes provide comic relief by swing dancing instead of sitting quietly for his checkup.

In the fall, Gorlins students returned to campus for classes on a part-time basis. While Panopto videos and Google Meet were part of the syllabus, so were small face-to-face lab classes that alternated with synchronous virtual sessions connected via technology and teamwork. At the start of class, students get their temperature taken and don gloves, masks, and face shields before meet- ing up with their assigned partner, whos wearing a plastic three-by-four-inch name tag with their picture on itas all of the PPE makes the faculty and students unrecognizable.

The teamwork Gorlin witnesses, along with the use of technology, seems a little NASA-like to her, as students depend on each other to maintain health and safety while also promoting new state-of-the-art technology that will benefit people and health care. Were in different spaces, we have high-tech technology, and were connecting remotely. Even though its estimated that this sort of hybrid teaching model takes educators about one and a half times longer to prepare and to teach, its worth it. Were preparing them to be on the frontlines, Gorlin says. So were on the frontlines to put them on the frontlines.

As of press time, in Minnesota alone, 157,096 people have tested positive for COVID-19, and 15,022 have been health care workers.* Given the state of the world, some educators thought that enrollment in nursing programs would decrease. However, enrollment in the nursing program at the University of Minnesota School of Nursing has remained steady and increased in some cases. Ive always been impressed with students, but especially now with their deep desire to become nurses in the midst of a pandemic, says Susan OConner-Von, a full-time faculty member at the University of Minnesota School of Nursing, whos been in the profession for more than 40 years. I think we were nervous. Will anyone come back, you know? Who would want to become a nurse during this time? Im just so impressed with their motivation, with their dedication, with their desire to help others.

OConner-Von and her colleagues have discussed the unanticipated experience nursing students are having right now. We think about this cohort of students now in the academic programs. Theyll be the first nurses to be educated about this type of pandemic worldwide, she says. Theyve studied and learned about pandemics in other countries, but its at a distance. Its not us. But now its here, and were living it, and were not doing so well either. This cohort of students are going to be so uniquely prepared because they have the lived experience.

During the early months of the pandemic and the social unrest that soon followed, when many of Gorlins students expressed their concerns about what was happening all around them, she set aside time when they could connect with her one-on-one. Id say 80 percent of our conversation focused on them questioning what was right in their career going forward and how they were going to do it, she recalls. Her advice? What I kept saying to the students was, This is not the journey you expected. But youre still marching forward. Youregoing to have a different step, and youre going to have a different pace to the march, but youre still moving forward, and youre going to be more resilient because of it.

My hope is that people will recognize how devastating underlying conditions can be. A silver lining to this pandemic would be if this changed peoples perspectives on health and they made lifestyle choices that improved quality of life and improved resistance to disease. Kathleen Koivisto, in-flight emergency medicine nurse with Life Link III

Michelle Curley is the director of nursing for home health agency and infusion nursing at Pediatric Home Service, and she sees this kind of resilience and desire to help firsthand. In her area of speciality, nurses travel to families homes to administer IV therapy to children. However, because these patients are especially susceptible to illness, nurses need to be extremely careful. So when a nurse has even one symptom from the CDCs long list of potential COVID-19 symptoms and has to be quarantined until tested, another nurse will readily step in to avoid having to send the vulnerable child to an infusion center. So far, eight nurses (out of 14 nurses on the team) have had to quarantinethankfully, none of them have tested positive for the virus. Two have gone on maternity leaves during this time. This can make things extra challenging. People have hardly taken PTO because everybody is trying to cover for everybody, Curley says.

There are some treatments, such as intravenous nutrition, that nurses can teach parents to administer to their children without having to leave the safety of their homes to learn how to do it. Pre-pandemic, parents and caregivers would travel to the hospital for up to three days of instruction. After hospitals went on lockdown, nurses traveled to clients homes to teach families. Now one nurse is fully dedicated to doing this training for some treatments virtually.

Of course, young patients love to see their nurses familiar faceespecially in the comfort of their home. However, these days, it can be hard to see that friendly face when its covered in PPE. To put their young patients at ease, and to get some giggles, nurses get creative and will draw eyelashes and lips on their protective goggles and face shields.

Due to a shortage of face shields during the first month of the pandemic, Curley and her crew made some from plastic, foam, and Velcro. Today theres enough PPE for all her nursing staff, and Curley wants it to stay that way. To help manage its supply, Curleys office puts it on lockdown, allowing nurses to grab only what they think theyll need over a set amount of days.

During these past nine months, the nursing profession has proven it can pivot with how nurses deliver care to patients. And they do so remarkably well. Mari Holt, vice president of clinical operations at Allina Health Mercy Hospital-Unity Campus, says one of the biggest challenges nurses continue to face is the vital yet complex layering on of head-to-toe PPE protection when engaging with COVID-positive patients or patientswhose COVID-19 status is under investigation.

This isnt Holts first experience with a health crisis that required such a high level of protection for staff, however. Back in 2014, when the Ebola crisis hit, she was part of a front-line team that not only helped Unity pre- pare for patients but also worked with three patients who may have been impacted by the virus. But Coronavirus is far different, she says. As a facility that received patients under investigation for Ebolathat was on one unit, she says. The PPE was similar but it was one person on one unit, not 18 patients on the same unit requiring multiple staff to care and be gowned up each and every day throughout the entire shift.

The Unity Campus has different wings and depending on patient volumes, it can have patients under investigation in one wing and COVID-positive patients in another clearly delineated zone. While working in a COVID zone allows nurses to go from room to room and conserve PPE, as all of the patients on that unit are positive, Holt notes, the challenge for the nursing staff is being in the equipment all of their shift. With Ebola, staff would come out of the room and be able to remove their PPE.

When asked how her teams are managing the stress, Holt notes the emotional challenges that accompany being a frontline care worker are very real. Nurses man- aging patients in isolation help anxious families juggle care strategies and telehealth-type visits. Even at a time when patients can have compassionate care visitors, she says, many family members do not want to come and visit their loved one if they have COVID. At times, she notes, nurses are the only person holding the patients hand and spending time with the patient as they take their last breath.

Nurses as a whole also experience an insiders perspective of the health disparities among underserved populations. This fact takes a toll on nurses emotionally. Lisa Sundberg, a nurse care manager who cares for home- less vets at the VA Community Resource and Referral Center in downtown Minneapolis, sees firsthand how the pandemic has affected the homeless population. According to Sundberg, some veterans deal with feelings of isolation alreadyfeelings of being cut off from other people, a loss of relationships, employment, and financial security. Homelessness increases the stress.

When the pandemic reached Minneapolis, many of these vets, some of whom have mental health illnesses, feared for their lives. The veterans were scared to death, Sundberg says. My heart went out to them. They have nothing. Theyre like, At least people have a home to go to and isolate.

Thankfully, the center is a safe haven for those in the community offering medical triage daily for trauma and medical illness, vaccines, COVID tests, and primary care for nearly 300 veterans. Its also a place for thosein need of a warm shower, a place to do their laundry, or a bagged lunch. The staff preaches the importance of handwashing and social distancing. They provide masks for their clients, but many are already wearing one when they enter the building. Also, the center helps these folks connect to other social services nearby, such as homeless shelters like Exodus, Salvation Army Harbor Lights, and House of Charities. Recently, a homeless vet who spent time with an asymptomatic friend who tested positive for coronavirus isolated himself for 14 days in his own room at one of the shelters.

Nurses are so dedicated to their patients, OConner-Von says. They have this strong sense of duty. Back when I worked in ICUs, we would have times where wed be really busy for a week or two. Wed be working double shifts, working all weekend, picking up extra time. But then after several weeks or a month wed get a reprieve. And you could maybe take that day off. This has been going nonstop since March. And so that feeling of exhaustion must be overwhelming. Not only for the patients and families but for the health care professionals.

I think about those administrators trying to support their staff and somehow do self-care and provide emotional support in whatever way they can.

Being the natural caregivers that they are, nurses often want to extend their hand to everyoneincluding their loved oneswho may be struggling. But it can be difficult to do so when theyre stretched so thin. Oftentimes this results in feelings of guilt and putting themselves on the backburner. OConner-Von uses these insights and examples to teach her nursing students that caring for themselves is also part of the job. She gives extra credit to those who take the dog for a run, read a book they dont have to underline, or call a close family member or friend just to catch up so self care becomes a habit. You cant go in burned out and provide compassionate care, she says.

Nurses try to remain hopeful and optimistic about the future. However, many are wondering how people will fare this winter, when the flu is added to the mix. Were all a little on edge, Sundberg says.

In addition, the sheer magnitude of trying to drive home the seriousness of this disease can feel overwhelming at times. Lau educates her families about the signsand symptoms of Coronavirus and where they can get a free test. Im in public health so were trying to keep our public healthy, Lau says. So it feels like a big responsibility.

She tries not to allow the heaviness she feels at times to overwhelm her. Though she admits its easy at times to get tied up in ... your own chest and in your own stress. Thats when she reminds herself that things are going to be OK and puts something on the calendar that she can look forward to, even if its just a Friday night date at Costco with her husband.

Lau says the number-one lesson they taught in nursing school was the importance of being adaptable and flexible. Never has that proven more true than it has in 2020, a year that we will never forget. Lau likens her role to being a wartime nurse. The battlefield has changed, she says. Our battlefield is our community, our grocery store, our hospitals, our schools. Were all trying to combat this [disease] and were all in this together.

As with any warfare, tactics evolve to ensure peoples safety and care. We are all adapting to be flexible, Holt says. Communication is key as things have changed, and continue to change, as we learn more about the disease. It is challenging to keep up with the changes, which is imperative for our bedside staff.

The CDC reports those with certain underlying medical conditions have a greater chance of becoming severely ill from COVID-19. Of course, not all underlying medical conditions are manageable. However, Koivisto believes that if people become more cognizant in caring for their overall health it would give them a better chance of combatting health setbacks. My hope is that people will recognize how devastating underly- ing conditions can be, she says. Many of these can be lessened with lifestyle changes like clean eating and exercise. A silver lining to this pandemic would be if this changed peoples perspectives on health and they made lifestyle choices that improved quality of life and improved resistance to disease. It would be amazing to see more Americans use food and exercise as preventative medicine to help decrease the impact of diseases like COVID and others.

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Nurses Reflect on Being at the Frontline of the Coronavirus Pandemic - Mpls.St.Paul Magazine

CLEVELAND, Ohio Northeast Ohio natives JoAnn and Bob Glick have pledged $42 million to MetroHealth System, the largest gift in the hospital systems 183-year history.

The couple chose MetroHealth to receive the gift because of the hospital systems commitment to community health and its goal of reducing health disparities, passions that the Glicks share. The gift was announced today.

The gift enables MetroHealth to address social determinants of health so that everyone has equal access to health care and preventative medicine, especially underserved women and children.

We hope that zip codes dont matter anymore, said JoAnn Glick, who trained as a registered nurse with an emphasis on community health.

In recognition of the gift, MetroHealths new main hospital, now under construction on West 25th Street, will be named the MetroHealth Glick Center. The 11-floor hospital is part of the health systems $946 million campus transformation project, which is designed to spur development in the surrounding neighborhood.

However, the $42 million gift will not be used for hospital construction.

It will be wonderful to have our name on the building, said Bob Glick, founder and former CEO of Dots womens fashion company. But whats really important is what happens inside and throughout the neighborhood.

Clearly, the amount of money is huge and will help us focus on our efforts to ensure Cleveland is a healthier place, MetroHealth president and CEO Dr. Akram Boutros said. Beyond that, the due diligence and inquisitiveness that Bob and JoAnn showed is a huge boost in the arm. It gives us confidence that what we do resonates with individuals who want to see change.

The Glicks want to see their gift used to improve the lives of Clevelanders, Boutros said.

They are so committed to making a difference to folks who dont have access to health care and the interventions needed to live their best lives, Boutros said.

The pledge will be split into two funds:

Choosing MetroHealth

A 2013 Plain Dealer profile that described how Boutros was changing the hospital systems culture as the new CEO caught the couples interest and introduced them to MetroHealths mission.

They were intrigued that Boutros wanted to emphasize keeping people healthy rather than simply treating illness. As they weighed options for philanthropy and researched the hospital system, they were impressed by the passion, caring and engagement of everyone from the maintenance staff to physicians.

They wake up every day wanting to serve the people of Cleveland, Bob Glick said. There is a culture of over-the-top passion for their patients thats hard to describe. That made a difference to us.

This isnt the first substantial gift that the Glicks have given to the hospital system. In 2019, the couple gave $500,000 for programs that help children overcome trauma through the arts, and evaluate children for autism spectrum disorders.

They began The JoAnn and Robert Glick Family Fund of the Cleveland Foundation in 2007.

The Glicks have deep roots in Northeast Ohio. Bob was born in Shaker Heights and earned degrees from Ohio University and the University of Michigan.

In 2011, after 36 years as founder, CEO and chairman of Dots, Bob Glick sold the company to a private equity firm. Dots operated more than 400 stores in 28 states, including Ohio. All stores were closed in 2019.

JoAnn Glick grew up in Youngstown and received a nursing degree from the University of Michigans School of Nursing. She moved to Cleveland in 1976 to attend nursing school and work at University Hospitals.

Bob Glick hopes that the couples gift will inspire wealthy Clevelanders to consider giving to the citys nonprofits. For their part, the couple plans to continue backing MetroHealth.

This is not a one-time gift, Bob Glick said. We want to keep coming back and supporting Metro.

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JoAnn and Bob Glick donating $42 million to MetroHealth System, largest gift in its history, to help underser - cleveland.com

Paris-based Ipsen secured Fast Track designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Onivyde (irinotecan liposome injection) for study patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) who progressed following a first-line platinum-based regimen. Onivyde, in combination with fluorouracil and leucovorin, was previously approved for the treatment of patients with metastatic adenocarcinoma of the pancreas after disease progression following gemcitabine-based therapy.

The designation marks the second Onivyde secured in the past six months. In June, the FDA awarded the designation to Onivyde for patients with previously untreated, unresectable, locally advanced and metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Ipsen is conducting an ongoing Phase III study assessing Onivyde as a monotherapy for SCLC study patients who have progressed on or after a first-line platinum-based regimen.

Howard Mayer, Ipsens head of research and development, called the Fast Track designation for Onivyde an extension of Ipsens focus and contribution to the oncology landscape.

With this aggressive and often late-stage diagnosed form of lung cancer, we are proud to be one step closer to making another treatment option available to patients, Mayer said in a statement.

Lung cancer is the second most common cancer in the United States. In 2020, the American Cancer Society estimates there to be about 228,280 new cases of lung cancer in the country.SCLC comprises 10% to 15% of all lung cancers and is a very aggressive form of cancer with about 70% of people having metastatic disease when they are diagnosed.

Elsewhere around the globe:

RevoluGen U.K.-based RevoluGen announced new results from its improved Fire Monkey/Fire Flower version 8 (FMv8) protocol. Results show the protocol demonstrated a 30Gb+ yield of long DNA reads raw data of anE. Colibacterial sample on a single Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) MinION flow cell. The increased yield offers significant potential cost and performance advantages across all sequencing platforms, the company said. The FMv8 protocol introduces a needle-aspirate-based, cell-resuspension step prior to cell lysis that boosts DNA recovery. The spin-column has been optimized to deliver homogenous High Molecular Weight DNA extracted and purified from bacterial and mammalian samples. ForE. Coli, the FMv8 protocol allows the ONT MinION to deliver optimal sequencing throughput at an impressive N50 of 36.7Kb, the company added.

GENFIT Frances GENFIT announced the conclusion of the partial buyback of GENFITs 6,081,081 convertible bonds maturing in October 2022. The company said it achieved satisfactory results. Once the buyback is complete, the company will announce the final results.

Abivax Also based in France, Abivax completed recruitment for its Phase IIb induction study for ABX464 as a treatment of patients with moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis. Top-line results of the PhaseIIbUC induction study are expected to be available in Q2 2021. The Phase IIb induction study in patients with moderate-to-severe UC, enrolled the first patient in August 2019. In addition, Abivax initiated a companion long-term open-label maintenance study in which patients who have completed the induction study were eligible to continue the treatment to further investigate the long-term safety and efficacy profile of ABX464. Previously, the company announced positive results of the previous Phase IIa induction study in UC in September 2018.

HZI Germanys Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) secured two awards worth up to $15 million from CARB-X to develop non-traditional approaches against antibiotic-resistant pathogens. The goal is to develop a first-in-class treatment for Staphylococcusaureusinfections and thereby prevent exacerbation of pneumonia. The drug is a small-molecule inhibitor of theS. aureus-hemolysin,a virulence factor responsible for thebacteriums pathogenicity and ability to cause infection and disease. The drug would disarm the pathogens most importanttoxin that causes damage to lung tissue and immune cells. Additionally, HZI is looking to develop a new treatment for difficult-to-treatPseudomonas aeruginosainfections in cystic fibrosis patients. The new pathoblocker treatment aims to disarm pathogens and suppress the disease-causing properties ofP. aeruginosabacteria, instead of killing the bacteria as an antibiotic would aim to do.By rendering the pathogens harmless instead of killing them, selection pressure on the pathogens is relieved and resistance is likely to develop more slowly.

ERS Genomics Irelands ERS Genomics Limited, and Germanys Vivlion GmbH, announced a non-exclusive license agreement granting Vivlionaccess to ERS Genomics CRISPR/Cas9 patent portfolio, to enhance Vivlions gene editing reagents and screening services. Vivlion holds an exclusive license to Goethe University of Frankfurts proprietary 3Cs technology for the production of next generation 3Cs CRISPR/Cas gRNA libraries. The license from ERS Genomics now enables Vivlion to offer both R&D reagents and screening services to its customers worldwide. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

Noema Pharma Swiss startup Noema Pharma secured $59 million in a Series A funding round, as well as four neurological product candidates from Roche. The product candidates will be developed in neurological indications with severe unmet need, such as seizures in tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC), trigeminal neuralgia, Tourette syndrome and other rare neurological disorders.

TSK Laboratory Netherlands-based TSK developed a new needle that could save 4% to 8% of vaccine doses, which could prevent wasted parts of the COVID-19 preventative medicines. A conventional needle has an average dead space of 45 microliters, which is the amount of vaccine or medicine being wasted per injection. TSK Laboratory developed an inventive and patented needle in 2014 in which this average dead space is reduced to 14 microliters. TSK said its Low Dead Space technology prevents waste of liquid vaccine when it is being extracted from the container, which will ultimately stretch the number of available doses.

Horizon Discovery Group U.K.-based Horizon Discovery Group granted a license to Chinas Sanyou Biopharmaceuticals Co. for its cGMP-compliant CHOSOURCE platform. Sanyou will use Horizons gene-edited Glutamine Synthetase (GS) knockoutChinese Hamster Ovary(CHO) K1 cell line for the developmentof pre-clinical antibody drug projects andto support the clinical development and commercialization of its customers human biotherapeutic products as well as offering the platform through its contract research services.

eTheRNA Belgium-based eTheRNA immunotherapies NV entered into a strategic agreement with China Grand Pharmaceutical & Healthcare Holdings Ltd. to establish a new joint venture company, Nanjing AuroRNA Biotech Co., Ltd. in Mainland China. The new company will deploy eTheRNAs proprietary mRNA technology for pharmaceutical research and development and production in the Greater China Region. This follows an undisclosed equity investment by China Grand Pharma in eTheRNAs Series B financing round earlier in 2020. The formation of AuroRNA Biotech with China Grand Pharma provides eTheRNA access to the Greater China market for selected mRNA cancer and infectious disease vaccine programs, its proprietary mRNA formulation technologies and GMP manufacturing process technology. eTheRNAs global programs will benefit from China Grand Pharmas development, clinical and marketing input.

4D Biomaterials Innovate UK awarded 4D Biomaterials, a spinout by University of Birmingham Enterprise and Warwick Innovations, to develop new commercialization of a new class of liquid resins that can be custom-printed into bioresorbable 3D tissue scaffolds providing accelerated and improved wound healing following major surgery.

Tubulis Germanys Tubulis formed a strategic collaboration with WuXi STA and WuXi Biologics to manufacture and advance Tubulis next generation antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) towards IND-enabling studies. Tubulis has developed a dual platform approach to generate uniquely matched and disease-specific ADCs that combine selective antibodies with effective payloads. Tubulisrecently completed a 10.7 million Series A to expand the therapeutic potential of ADCs and to advance itsuniquely versatile and customizable ADC technology portfolio. The company utilizes two proprietary technologies to tacklelimitations of currently approved ADCs, which includestability and payload-driven toxicity.

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Global Roundup: Ipsen Wins Fast Track Designation for Cancer Drug and More | BioSpace - BioSpace

Many people experience smelly armpits from time to time. When people sweat, the liquid mixes with the bacteria on the skin. When this dries, it can cause an unpleasant smell.

Several remedies are available for excessive sweating, including over-the-counter treatments, prescription medications, injections, and more.

In this article, we look at what causes smelly armpits, how to treat them, and when it might be a good idea to speak with a doctor.

Sweat is responsible for smelly armpits. Sweating is a normal and necessary bodily function that stops people from overheating.

There are 24 million sweat glands on the body. Most of these are eccrine sweat glands, and the others are apocrine sweat glands. People have lots of both types of sweat gland in the armpits.

When a person exercises or becomes too hot, the sweat glands release sweat, which evaporates and cools the body down. Stress and intense emotions can also make people sweat.

Eccrine glands release a clear liquid that does not smell. However, if it dries on the skin, it can smell.

Apocrine glands release a thick fluid that smells when it mixes with the bacteria on the skin.

The sweat glands become more active in both males and females during puberty. As a result, it is common for teenagers to start to get smelly armpits when they did not before.

Some people have a medical disorder that makes them sweat more than they should. The name for this condition is hyperhidrosis.

Hyperhidrosis affects about 3% of the population. People who have the disorder have overactive sweat glands that release sweat even when they are not hot or exercising.

Hyperhidrosis is usually harmless, but it is sometimes the result of an overactive thyroid.

When sweat mixes with bacteria, it can lead to a distinctive body odor, which people commonly refer to as B.O. If this odor becomes chronic, doctors call it bromhidrosis.

Some foods, such as garlic, can change the way sweat smells.

Good hygiene can help prevent smelly armpits by getting rid of the bacteria that cause the odor.

People should shower or bathe once a day and after exercise. They should also wear clean clothes every day and change their clothes after exercising.

As well as practicing good hygiene, people can try other ways to combat smelly armpits. These include:

Shaving the armpits and using a deodorant or antiperspirant can often help prevent body odor. Regular deodorant comes with a fragrance that will help mask the smell.

Antiperspirant contains chemicals that stop people from sweating. They plug the sweat glands, which tells the body to stop making sweat.

These simple measures might not work for people with hyperhidrosis.

If sweating is excessive, it can cause smelly armpits even if a person washes regularly and uses deodorant or antiperspirant.

The first thing that a doctor will recommend is usually a prescription strength antiperspirant. Sometimes, these might burn or irritate the skin. If this happens, the person should tell their doctor.

If prescription strength antiperspirants do not stop the excessive sweating, doctors might suggest the treatments below.

People usually refer to botulinum toxin injections as Botox.

Sometimes, doctors inject tiny amounts of Botox into the armpits to treat excessive sweating.

Botox injections help stop excessive sweating by blocking a chemical in the body that stimulates the sweat glands.

For most people, it takes 45 days to work, and the effects usually last for about 46 months.

Some people might find the injections painful.

If excessive sweating affects the whole body, doctors might suggest using anticholinergic medicines.

Anticholinergic medicines stop people from sweating, so they are not generally suitable for athletes or people who live in hot climates.

Common side effects of these drugs include:

Eating some foods, including garlic and onion, can make sweat smell different. Alcohol can also have this effect. Consuming certain foods and drinks may, therefore, lead to a sudden change in body odor around the armpits.

Stress and anxiety can make people sweat more than usual. Sometimes, this can lead to a sudden change in the way the armpits smell.

Many different factors can cause what doctors call secondary hyperhidrosis. This term means that the excessive sweating is a symptom of something else.

Possible causes of secondary hyperhidrosis include:

Excessive sweating is not necessarily the cause of all sudden changes in armpit odor.

For instance, the skin condition intertrigo might cause a musty smell. This condition, which causes a rash, develops in folds of the skin, such as those in the belly, under the breasts, and in the armpits.

Doctors might recommend using a special soap that contains 1% ketoconazole. They will also suggest keeping the affected area as clean and dry as possible.

Everyone will have smelly armpits from time to time. It is perfectly normal and not typically a cause for concern.

If smelly armpits are a more frequent occurrence, though, they can get in the way of everyday life.

Both hyperhidrosis and bromhidrosis can cause distress and social problems. When this is the case, the person should speak to a doctor.

The best way to prevent smelly armpits is to wash daily and after sweating.

Using antiperspirant or deodorant and shaving the armpits can also help.

Avoiding alcohol and certain foods, such as onions and garlic, will also help prevent smelly armpits in some cases.

Sweating is an essential bodily function and is perfectly normal. When the liquid dries, it can smell. Most people will have smelly armpits at times.

Washing daily and after exercising, wearing clean clothes every day, and using antiperspirant or deodorant should usually prevent the problem.

Some people have a condition that makes them sweat too much. Doctors call this hyperhidrosis, and it can sometimes lead to body odor.

Various factors can cause a sudden change in armpit odor. These include certain foods and medications.

Anyone who finds that smelly armpits are affecting their quality of life should speak with a doctor.

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Smelly armpits: Causes, treatment, prevention, and when to seek help - Medical News Today

Originally published in Chinese by Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press, Elsevier secured the rights to publish this important reference book in English at a time when knowledge sharing on preventing the spread of and treating patients infected with the novel coronavirus, subsequently named SARS-CoV-2, was at its most critical.

The three Co-Editors-in-Chief, Jie-Ming QU, Bin CAO and Rong-Chang CHEN, are senior physicians, as well as clinical and scientific research experts specializing in pulmonary diseases and critical care medicine with relevant experience in Wuhan, China, where the outbreak was first identified in December 2019.

Along with other physicians working in China, the Co-Editors-in-Chief have built up deep knowledge and insights on the prevention, control, diagnosis and treatment of the disease, all of which are now globally relevant to managing the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19: The Essentials of Prevention and Treatmentelaborates on the ethology, pathogenesis epidemiology, clinical characteristics, treatment principles, rehabilitation and prevention, as well as prevention and control measures for COVID-19 to provide healthcare workers first-hand information on the prevention, control, diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19.

Key features of the book include:

Quotes

Nanshan ZHONG, Peer Reviewer Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering Director of National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease (The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University)

"We've entered a normalization phase in the prevention and control of COVID-19, and I believe the insights contained in this book on emergent diseases especially those on acute respiratory infections that have significant socio-economic impact are extremely informative and highly valuable in the prevention and control of future outbreaks. COVID-19: The Essentials of Prevention and Treatmentis the English version of Elsevier's first Chinese-authored publication on the topic of the novel coronavirus. I sincerely hope this book can facilitate better and effective prevention and control of the disease through the sharing of knowledge and experience of Chinese healthcare workers."

Chen WANG, Peer ReviewerPresident, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical CollegeVice President & Academician of Chinese Academy of EngineeringDirector, National Respiratory Clinical Research Center, Leader, National Key Disciplines for Respiratory MedicineVice-Chairperson, Global Alliance Against Chronic Respiratory Diseases

"The English version of COVID-19: The Essentials of Prevention and Treatment is of considerable significance as it provides valuable insights of the experiences of China's healthcare professionals in their combat against COVID-19 in the country where the virus was first identified. As a new and previously unknown virus, the manner in which it mutates and changes means that the virus will manifest itself differently at different time periods, as well as in different geography, demographic and ethnicities. The book offers an important medical reference of the COVID-19 situation at a point in time in China and highlights the interdependency between Chinese and international publishers in facilitating knowledge exchange to address important global issues."

Jie-Ming QU, Co-Editor-in-Chief Professor and Party Chief of Ruijin Hospital Chair of Chinese Thoracic Society

"The essence of this book is founded upon the first-hand account and experience of health care experts working on the front lines in the areas of prevention and control when the novel coronavirus first appeared, which the authors have systematically and meticulously curated to form the framework of the syllabus. This book is an important reference that brings together some of China's finest experts in respiratory and critical care medicine, as well as showcases the country's expertise in clinical research and professionalism in caring for the infirm."

Tiandong QIAN, Chairman of Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press

"The outcome of this collaboration between Elsevier and Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press is significant and its inherent value is of considerable relevance to the international health and science community. We've also signed licensing agreements for Russian, Japanese, Thai, Malaysian and Vietnamese rights to the book, which demonstrates its global impact."

Dr. Glyn Jones, Publisher, Elsevier

"The book proposal from Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press came at a very important time when doctors and nurses in Europe and the US were having to treat patients with coronavirus for the very first time, and were very interested to learn from China's experience, which it had built up in the months before. Recognizing the importance of the book, Elsevier undertook to ensure publication as soon as possible. Elsevier is committed to publishing high-quality content that will be of interest to researchers. So far this year, we have commissioned 17 new books written by researchers from all over the world related to various, different aspects of Covid-19."

Lynn LI, Managing Director Greater China, Elsevier

"Elsevier supports scientific and medical advancement for the benefit of our society. Publishing the English version of COVID-19: The Essentials of Prevention and Treatmentin partnership with Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press is a way for us to facilitate the urgent global effort to understand, contain and eradicate the novel coronavirus. We believe that clear, consistent and evidence-based guidance and resources are crucial to helping communities overcome the pandemic. This book has undergone a rigorous peer-review process and draws on the rich experiences to present a first-hand account of frontline health care professionals combatting the virus over the course of two months."

Elsevier Novel Coronavirus Information Center

Elsevier'sNovel Coronavirus Information Centerprovides expert-curated information for researchers, healthcare professionals and public health officials, including clinical guidance and a portal to access all of Elsevier's COVID-19 research. All resources are freely available. We also have dedicated hubs for healthcare professionals; health educators and students; librarians; and R&D professionals. You can find these in ourCoronavirus Resource Directory.

About Elsevier

As a global leader in information and analytics, Elsevier helps researchers and healthcare professionals advance science and improve health outcomes for the benefit of society. We do this by facilitating insights and critical decision-making for customers across the global research and health ecosystems.

In everything we publish, we uphold the highest standards of quality and integrity. We bring that same rigor to our information analytics solutions for researchers, health professionals, institutions and funders.

Elsevier employs 8,100 people worldwide. We have supported the work of our research and health partners for more than 140 years. Growing from our roots in publishing, we offer knowledge and valuable analytics that help our users make breakthroughs and drive societal progress. Digital solutions such as ScienceDirect, Scopus, SciVal, ClinicalKey and Sherpath support strategic research management, R&D performance, clinical decision support, and health education. Researchers and healthcare professionals rely on our 2,500+ digitized journals, including The Lancet and Cell; our 40,000 eBook titles; and our iconic reference works, such as Gray's Anatomy. With the Elsevier Foundation and our external Inclusion & Diversity Advisory Board, we work in partnership with diverse stakeholders to advance inclusion and diversity in science, research and healthcare in developing countries and around the world.

Elsevier is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. http://www.elsevier.com

Media contact Jason Chan, DirectorElsevier Communications, APAC+65 6349 02 40 [emailprotected]

SOURCE Elsevier

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Chinese-authored reference book, COVID-19: The Essentials of Prevention and Treatment, now available worldwide in English - PRNewswire

Even before the pandemic, more than a third of Americans werent getting the recommended seven plus hours of nightly sleep that industry professionals recommend. Add the stress of everyones new reality, and, by certain estimates, 68% of Americans say they just arent getting enough rest.

While youre probably aware of some of the issues, like mental fog, that can arise when you don't get enough rest, you may not be aware that your snoozing habits may impact all sorts of unexpected thingsthink: how well your heart pumps blood, and even your sex drive.

Most of the systems in our body are predicated on some process of renewal or need for sleep, explains board-certified sleep medicine researcher W. Christopher Winter, MD, the author of The Sleep Solution: Why Your Sleep Is Broken and How to Fix It. Sleep is a fundamental aspect of our thinking, our ability to function, and our immune system. It impacts pretty much everything we need to survive.

So turn off your phone, close the shades, and hop into bed early tonight. If you dont, heres how a lack of sleep may impact your body.

Theres a very strong link between sleep and the immune system in general, says Michael Awad, MD, chief of sleep surgery at Northwestern Medicine and chief medical officer of Peak Sleep. The body repairs just about every cell in the body when it comes to sleep. Sleep deprivation lowers the bodys ability to mount an immune response.

Sleep loss is linked to a higher risk of infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). One study published in JAMA found that restricting a persons sleep for four hours a night for six days, followed by sleeping 12 hours a night for seven days, can lead to a greater than 50% decrease in the production of antibodies to a flu vaccine. Basically, your body just cant mount the usual immune response when youre wiped out.

Lack of sleep can also lower your immune systems ability to fight tumor cells and lead to the generation of inflammatory cytokines. These proteins are secreted by the immune system and can cause the development of metabolic and cardiovascular disorders.

nadia_bormotovaGetty Images

One study of nearly 117,000 people published in the European Heart Journal found that people who slept less than six hours a night were at a greater risk of developing heart disease than their well-rested counterparts. And getting irregular sleepthat is, having no consistent bedtime and wake timecan raise your risk of having some kind of cardiovascular event, including stroke, congestive heart failure, and coronary heart disease, according to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

There are a tremendous number of mechanisms at play here, Dr. Winter says. When you are sleep deprived or have fragmented sleep, your blood vessels lose, to some extent, the ability to expand and contract to regulate things, he says. People also tend to be at a higher risk of developing high blood pressure when they dont get enough sleep, Winter says, which can be tough on your heart.

Sleep deprivation can also increase cholesterol levels and general inflammation throughout your body, leading to the formation of plaque in the blood vessels, Dr. Awad says. When blood vessels start to form plaque, the heart has to work harder, he explains.

There are a lot of reasons for this, Dr. Winter says. When youre fatigued, your brain prioritizes getting sleep over other things, he says. But Dr. Winters says other chemicals that are important for sexual performance and arousal, such as oxytocin, can be lowered by sleep deprivation.

One study in JAMA restricted 10 men's sleep for a week and found that the levels of the sex hormone testosterone in their bodies decreased by up to 15%. (Testosterone is a hormone that can fuel a person's sex drive.) The reverse is also true: Another study published in JAMA found that people who got more sleep than usual were more likely to have sex the next day. Meaning, if you hit the hay earlier, you just might be up for a little something extra.

nadia_bormotovaGetty Images

There are a few reasons for this. One is that people tend to make bad eating decisions when theyre tired, Dr. Winter says. People are also typically more sedentary and less likely to work out when theyre tired, which also can lead to weight gain, he says.

Research published in the journal Sleep found that people with restricted sleep had altered levels of endocannabinoids, one of the chemical signals that affect appetite, and the brains reward system. The researchers also discovered that when people were sleep-deprived, they ate more and unhealthier snacks between meals, at the same time that endocannabinoid levels were at their highest.

Older research has also found that women who get less sleep tend to weigh more than their better-rested counterparts, likely for the reasons above, Dr. Winter says.

Theres a direct correlation between lack of sleep and diabetes, Dr. Awad says. Its due to your bodys ability to regulate insulin, a hormone produced in the pancreas that controls your blood sugar, he says. Lack of sleep reduces the production of insulin from the pancreas and decreases gluten tolerance, Dr. Awad says. Cells are then less effective at using insulin, and that can lead to the development of diabetes.

To be clear: Sleep deprivation isnt cited by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) as a potential cause of diabetes, but insulin resistancewhich can be caused by lack of sleepis.

How to finally get more shut-eye

If youre struggling with sleep, Dr. Winter recommends first trying to prioritize rest and practicing good sleep hygiene. That includes the following, per the CDC:

If these tried-and-tested tips dont help, Dr. Awad says its a good idea to talk to your doctor about what else you can do to get the rest your body needs.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io

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5 Things That Happen When You Don't Get Enough Sleep - Prevention.com

Global Preventive Medicine Market: Snapshot

Preventive Medicine is kind of a medical practice that goes by the principle of prevention is better than cure. It includes all the steps taken for preventing the illness and opposes procedure of treatment. Preventive medicine is able to decrease the cases of non-contagious ailments for example, diabetes, tumor, and cardiovascular diseases.

The ongoing examination give an account of global preventive medicine market exhibits a point by point investigation if various parts of the market, for example, limitations, drivers, market figures, and different portions on which the market is relied. This gives a good thought regarding the current and the past market situation to the customers. It is required to settle on their choice further for the market speculation.

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Global Preventive Medicine Market: Trends and Opportunities

The key supporter of the development of global preventive medicine market is rising costs of drugs, recovery medicines, surgeries, and medical gadgets. The pharmaceutical organizations are taking increasingly more interest for preventive drug as they are confronting issues with the customary pharma model, which is neither gainful nor satisfying the demand. Consequently the pharma business has distinguished a sustainable model in preventive medication. This has amazingly contributed towards the market development. Changing attention to individuals alongside expanding reach of eductaion has likewise increased the value of the market development. Be that as it may, the accomplishment of the preventive drug requires an enormous alliance of pharma industry including huge players and new companies with corporate associations and colleges/scholastic organizations, which is uncommon. This is the significant misfortune for preventive drug market. Lack of regional confirmations referring to preventive drug is a huge strategy to shield one from sicknesses may likewise restrain the development. Another factor constraining development is that counteractive action medications capability to confine the healthcare usage has not yet acknowledged on a vast scale in light of the fact that the arrival on venture has never been imparted, keeping individuals enthusiasm for this field under control.

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Global Preventive Medicine Market: Regional Analysis

North America is falling behind different nations to the extent preventive drug market is concerned in view of absence of interest of individuals. As indicated by a journal, Health Affairs, USA will spare just 0.2% of medicinal services payment notwithstanding when 90% of the populace utilize preventive administrations. Hardly any different investigations have likewise shown that preventive measures dont bring down the danger of genuine disease or unexpected passing. European preventive market is developing admirably on account of achievements of the hazard figure the study of disease transmission the locale, which has prompted the authorization of a wide-scope of preventive measures, for example, authoritative arrangements to confine tobacco publicizing and smoking in open spots, wellbeing training for weight, network special occasions for hypertension checking and so on.

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Global Preventive Medicine Market: Competitive LAndscape

The key players operating in the global preventive medicine market include Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, Quanterix, Aetna Inc., Cancer Prevention Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Preventive Medical Health Care Co., LTD., American College of Preventive Medicine and U.S. Preventive Medicine., and Phoenix Medicine.

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Preventive Medicine Market : Business Growth, Development Factors, Applications, and Future Prospects - The Haitian-Caribbean News Network

By PTI

NEW DELHI:The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that there was lack of clarity in the Ministry of Ayush advisory on allowing homeopathic medical practitioners to prescribe even add-on or preventive treatment for COVID-19 patients.

The top court said that it would clarify the position and reserved its verdict on a plea challenging the Kerala High Court order which had said that AYUSH medical practitioners can prescribe government approved mixtures and tablets only as immunity booster for COVID-19 The Centre told the top court that medicines which are permitted to be prescribed by the Ministry of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) to COVID positive patients as an add-on treatment was allowed.

A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R S Reddy and M R Shah said it would like to clarify the position on allowing homeopathic doctors to prescribe prophylactic interventions for improving the immunity of COVID-19 positive patients.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Centre said that as per the advisory dated March 6, of Ministry of AYUSH, homeopathic practitioners cannot prescribe medicines for COVID-19 treatment but can prescribe drugs which are preventive in nature like for immunity boosting.

He said that an affidavit has been filed by the Ministry in this regard, which the bench took into record.

The top court was hearing an appeal against the Kerala High Court order of August 21.

The affidavit said, "Thus in the respectful submission of the answering respondent, prescription of the medication prescribed by the Ministry of AYUSH to COVID positive patients as an add-on treatment is permitted, and therefore, any contention to the contrary stating that homeopathic medical practitioner cannot prescribe any treatment to COVID-19 positive patients, even as an add-on to conventional treatment is liable to be rejected".

The Ministry said in its affidavit that, "It is stated that the only embargo is that the said medicines should not be administered or advertised as a cure but should be administered as preventive measure/immunity booster or as an add-on to the conventional treatment".

It said that the Ministry of AYUSH had clearly provided that administration of the medicine was to be done only as a preventive measure and the same should not be claimed as a treatment advice for the Coronavirus infection.

The affidavit said that the Ministry of AYUSH has clearly permitted the homeopathic medical practitioners to prescribe the drugs, as mentioned in the guidelines, as an add-on drug to the conventional treatment for patients who have been tested COVID positive and are undergoing conventional treatment.

The Ministry of AYUSH said that drugs which can be prescribed by a homeopathic medical practitioner are for preventive and prophylactic use, for symptom management of COVID-19 like illnesses; and add on interventions to the conventional care.

It said that all these medicines are to be administered as a preventive measure or as an add-on to the conventional treatment and should not be treated and/or prescribed as a cure.

The Ministry further said that its Guidelines for Registered Practitioners of respective system of AYUSH including Homoeopathy have been prepared by Director Generals of Research Councils and Directors of National Institutes with their team of experts and after vetting by the Interdisciplinary AYUSH Research and Development Task Force of Ministry of AYUSH.

"While noting and acknowledging the role played by homoeopathy medical practices for preventing the spread of diseases like Chikungunya, Dengue Fever, Japanese Encephalitis and Cholera with good results, the Ministry of Ayush prescribed the intervention and preventive management steps under the homeopathic practices at three stages-- preventive and prophylactic, symptom management of COVID- 19 like illnesses and add on interventions to the conventional car," it said.

On November 19, the top court had observed that everybody cannot be allowed to prescribe medicines.

The high court had passed the order on a plea which had sought a direction to the state authority to ensure that homoeopathic practitioners are immediately allowed to perform in accordance with the March 6 notification of the Ministry of AYUSH, which had said that state government shall take steps to adopt homoeopathic system among other systems of medicines in the fight against the menace of Coronavirus.

"Advisory of the Ministry of AYUSH is being followed by the government and tablets are given free of cost to those persons as immunity boosters.

As per the state medical protocol, COVID-19 affected persons should not be treated by anybody other than the government and those authorised by the government," the high court had noted in its order.

The high court had further noted that as per the medical protocol of the government, doctors practising in AYUSH medicines are not supposed to prescribe any medicines stating that it is curative for COVID-19 disease.

"However, as per the advisory, there is nothing prohibiting the qualified medical AYUSH practitioners to prescribe immunity booster mixture or tablets, as suggested by the Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India, New Delhi," it had said.

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SC says will clarify position on homeopathic preventive treatment for COVID, reserves verdict - The New Indian Express

With an overwhelming vote of 13 to 1, The Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has decided to put health care providers and long-term care residents at the top of the priority list for the impending COVID-19 vaccines, once they are US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved.

Yesterdays vote was formally recognizing the ACIP's previous recommendations on how to allocate the forthcoming COVID-19 vaccines. Healthcare personnel are part of phase 1A, the first group to be vaccinated. This group includes personnel who work in the following facilities including: hospitals, long-term care facilities, outpatient home health care, pharmacies, emergency medical personnel, and public health workers.

With the news that the Pfizer and BioNtechs vaccine was approved in the United Kingdom today, and with scheduled FDA meetings for both the Pfizer/BioNtech and Moderna vaccines later this month, the United States may have 2 approved COVID-19 vaccines in the next few weeks.

One of the biggest takeaways from last weeks meeting was the panel and participants taking part in the discussion wanted to inform the public and clinicians that the COVID-19 vaccines could bring on local side effects having vaccine recipients feeling flu-like.

The concern is that if people who get vaccinated and feel flu-like after the first dose, there might be reluctance to take a second dose a month later, thereby not giving that vaccinated person the needed immunity from the virus.

The ACIP includes 15 voting members responsible for making vaccine recommendations. Fourteen of the members have expertise in vaccinology, immunology, pediatrics, internal medicine, nursing, family medicine, virology, public health, infectious diseases, and/or preventive medicine; one member is a consumer representative who provides perspectives on the social and community aspects of vaccination.

In addition to the 15 voting members, ACIP includes eight ex officio members who represent other federal agencies with responsibility for immunization programs in the United States, and 30 nonvoting representatives of liaison organizations that bring related immunization expertise.

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CDC Committee Votes on Prioritizing US Population for COVID-19 Vaccine - Contagionlive.com

New Jersey, United States: Market Research Intellect has added a new report to its huge database of research reports, entitled Preventive Medicine Market Size and Forecast to 2027. The report offers a comprehensive assessment of the market including insights, historical data, facts, and industry-validated market data. It also covers the projections using appropriate approximations and methods.

Preventive Medicine Market Overview

The Preventive Medicine Market Report provides comprehensive data on market dynamics, market trends, product growth rate, and price. The Preventive Medicine market report has various facts and statistics assuming the future predictions of the upcoming market participants. In addition, it offers business security taking into account sales, profit, market volume, demand and market supply ratio. The in-depth study provides vital information related to market growth, driving factors, major challenges, opportunities, and threats that will prove to be very helpful for market participants in making upcoming decisions.

Preventive Medicine Market: Competitive Landscape

The Preventive Medicine Market report consists of the Competitive Landscape section which provides a complete and in-depth analysis of current market trends, changing technologies, and enhancements that are of value to companies competing in the market. The report provides an overview of sales, demand, futuristic costs and data supply as well as a growth analysis in the forecast year. The key vendors in the market that are performing the analysis are also clearly presented in the report. Their development plans, their growth approaches, and their merger and acquisition plans are also identified. Information specific to a keyword in each of these regions is also provided. This report also discusses the submarkets of these regions and their growth prospects.

Prominent players operating in the market:

Preventive Medicine Market Segmentation

The report contains the market size with 2019 as the base year and an annual forecast up to 2027 in terms of sales (in million USD). For the forecast period mentioned above, estimates for all segments including type and application have been presented on a regional basis. We implemented a combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches to market size and analyzed key regional markets, dynamics and trends for different applications.

Preventive Medicine Market Segment by Type:

Preventive Medicine Market Segment by Application:

Preventive Medicine Market Regional overview:

In the report, experts analyze and forecast the Preventive Medicine market on a global as well as regional level. Taking into account all aspects of the market in terms of regions, the focus of the report is on North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, and South America. The prevailing trends and various opportunities in these regions are studied that can convince the growth of the market in the forecast period 2020 to 2027.

Reasons to Buy the Preventive Medicine Market Report:

Outlook analysis of the Preventive Medicine market sector with current trends and SWOT analysis. This study evaluates the dynamics, competition, industrial strategies and strategies of the emerging countries. This report has a comprehensive guide that provides market insights and detailed data on each market segment Market growth factors and risks are presented. More precise information provision on the Preventive Medicine market for different countries. Provide visions on factors influencing the growth of the market. Market segmentation analysis, including quantitative and qualitative research considering the impact of economic and non-economic aspects Comprehensive company profiles with product offerings, important financial information and the latest developments.

If you have any custom requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the customized report as per your requirements.

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Preventive Medicine Market Size, Key Manufacturers, Demand, Application And Opportunities By 2027 - The Haitian-Caribbean News Network

Wed, Dec 2nd 2020 02:20 pm

By the American Heart Association

The menopause transition, the years leading up to menopause, is a time of increasing heart disease risk for women. Monitoring womens health and lifestyle, while integrating early intervention strategies for good cardiovascular health, are important, especially during midlife and during menopause to help prevent heart disease, according to a new scientific statement from the American Heart Association, Menopause Transition and Cardiovascular Disease Risk: Implications for Timing for Early Prevention, recently published in its flagship journal,Circulation.

Over the past 20 years, our knowledge of how the menopause transition might contribute to cardiovascular disease has been dramatically evolving, said Samar R. El Khoudary, Ph.D., M.P.H., FAHA, chair of the statement writing committee and associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Pittsburghs Graduate School of Public Health and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute. We have accumulated data consistently pointing to the menopause transition as a time of change in cardiovascular health. Importantly, the latest American Heart Association guidelines that are specific to women, which were published in 2011, did not include the data that is now available on menopause as a time of increased risk for womens heart health. As such, there is a compelling need to discuss the implications of this accumulating body of literature on this topic.

For many women, the menopause transition the change from the reproductive to the nonreproductive phase of life marked by changes in menstruation begins when they are in their late 40s to mid-50s. Before this transition, women produce estrogen, the female sex hormone, which may also have cardio-protective effects. When women go through the natural menopause transition, their ovaries stop producing as much estrogen. This can also occur through surgical menopause (a partial or full hysterectomy, which includes removal of one or both ovaries). Significant changes in a womans cardiometabolic and vascular health, which lead to higher heart disease risk, occur during the menopause transition.

Since the increase in heart disease risk during menopause is associated with a decrease in the production of the hormone estrogen, health care professionals and scientists have studied if hormone therapy might help reduce cardiovascular risk. There is research indicating potential cardiovascular benefits of certain combinations of hormone therapy when initiated in early but not late menopause. Further research is needed to evaluate the role of other hormone therapies, and how long these interventions impact cardio-metabolic health.

Additionally, some studies show the benefits of hormone therapy, including a decreased risk of type 2 diabetes and protection from bone loss, seem to outweigh the risks for most women in early menopause. Current recommendations from leading professional medical societies endorse the use of hormone therapy for women who have recently begun the menopause transition, with appropriate indications.

This scientific statement aims to raise awareness for both health care professionals and women about the significant adverse cardiovascular health changes accompanying midlife and the menopause transition and point out the importance of adopting prevention strategies early during this stage, El Khoudary said. As such, it emphasizes the importance of monitoring womens health during midlife and targeting this stage as a critical window for applying early intervention strategies that aim to maintain a healthy heart and reduce the risk of heart disease. Thus, health care professionals may consider an aggressive, prevention-based approach for women during this stage in their lives to decrease the probability of a future cardiovascular disease occurrence, such as heart attack or stroke.

In addition to summarizing research focused on the use of hormone therapy, the scientific statement provides an overview of risks related to the stages of menopause, age at menopause and lifestyle factors that affect womens risk during this time.

Key takeaways in the statement include the following:

Some of the common symptoms felt with menopause have a correlation with cardiovascular disease. Hot flashes and night sweats are associated with worse cardiovascular disease risk factor levels. Depression and sleep disturbances, linked in some studies to an increased risk of heart disease, are also common among women during this time.

Physiological changes during menopause, such as increased abdominal fat and visceral fat (body fat around the organs), are associated with a heightened risk of all-cause, cardiovascular disease and cancer mortality, even among those with normal body mass index levels.

Cholesterol levels,metabolic syndromerisk and vascular vulnerability appear to increase with menopause beyond the effects of normal aging. Metabolic syndrome is diagnosed when a person has three or more of the following measurements: abdominal obesity, high triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol), high blood pressure and/or high blood glucose levels (blood sugar).

Novel data show a reversal in the associations of HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol) with heart disease risk over the menopause transition, suggesting higher good cholesterol levels may not consistently reflect good heart health in all stages of life in women.

Data about the use of cholesterol-lowering medications remains limited for women going through the menopause transition and requires further study so evidence-based recommendations can be developed.

Women who experience menopause at an earlier age have a higher risk of heart disease. A womans age at menopause can be influenced by factors such as length of menstrual cycle, poor cardiovascular risk profile during reproductive years and socioeconomic factors. Race and ethnicity also play a role, with many Hispanic and Black women experiencing menopause at younger ages.

Physical activity and nutrition may play a role in the timing of menopause for all women. Women who drink little to moderate amounts of alcohol may have later onset of menopause, and those who smoke cigarettes are likely to start menopause about a year earlier than non-smokers.

There is, however, limited information on what is ideal in terms of lifestyle changes (such as the AHAsLifes Simple 7) for women during menopause. Data does indicate that only 7.2% of women in menopause meet physical activity guidelines, and fewer than 20% of those women consistently maintain a healthy diet.

Lifestyle and behavioral interventions are critical to maintaining cardiovascular health and reduce heart disease. However, we do not have adequate randomized clinical trials testing these interventions specifically during the menopause transition, said Matthew A. Allison, M.D., M.P.H., FAHA, vice chair of the statement writing committee and professor and chief of the division of preventive medicine in the department of family medicine and public health at the University of California San Diego. Similarly, we need randomized clinical trials of therapeutic interventions, like cholesterol-lowering medications and menopause hormone therapy, in women who are transitioning through menopause. This at-risk population has not been the focus of previous clinical trials, thus leaving us with questions about how the results from these studies might apply to women during this earlier phase of menopause.

The scientific statement was developed by the writing group on behalf of the American Heart Associations prevention science committee of the council on epidemiology and prevention, and the Council on Cardiovascular and Stroke Nursing.

Co-authors and members of the writing committee additionally include Brooke Aggarwal, Ed.D., M.S., FAHA.; Theresa M. Beckie, Ph.D., FAHA; Howard N. Hodis, M.D., FAHA; Amber E. Johnson, M.D., M.S., M.B.A.; Robert D. Langer, M.D., M.P.H., FAHA; Marian C. Limacher, M.D., FAHA; JoAnn E. Manson, M.D., Dr.P.H., FAHA; and Marcia L. Stefanick, Ph.D., FAHA. Author disclosures are in the manuscript.

The American Heart Association is a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives.We are dedicated to ensuring equitable health in all communities.Through collaboration with numerous organizations, and powered by millions of volunteers, we fund innovative research, advocate for the public's health and share lifesaving resources.The Dallas-based organization has been a leading source of health information for nearly a century.Connect with us onheart.org,Facebook orTwitter,or by calling 1-800-AHA-USA1.

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Heart disease risk in women increases leading up to menopause; early intervention is key - Niagara Frontier Publications

(Hans Pennick | Associated Press file photo) Nurse Kathe Olmstead prepares a shot that is part of a possible COVID-19 vaccine, developed by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc., in Binghamton, N.Y., in July 2020.

| Dec. 3, 2020, 6:31 p.m.

| Updated: Dec. 4, 2020, 1:35 a.m.

Front-line health care workers at five large hospitals will be the first people in Utah to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, officials for those hospitals confirmed Thursday.

Under the states distribution plan, people at higher risk of getting sicker from COVID-19 will start receiving the vaccine from February through May. The general public is expected to get the vaccine by June or July.

Gov. Gary Herbert, speaking Thursday at his weekly COVID-19 news briefing, said he hopes more vaccines could arrive even sooner.

We hopefully will have enough vaccines that by springtime March, April, May of this year everybody who wants to have a vaccine will be able to have a vaccine, he said. Thats going to help us slow the spread and give us relief, and start to help us recover and have more normal socialization.

The first batch of vaccines will be distributed to the five Utah hospitals, so they can be given out as soon as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves an emergency use authorization of the vaccine which is expected the week of Dec. 14.

The five hospitals were chosen, Dascomb said, because they are handling a large number of the states COVID-19 patients and because they have the supercold freezers needed to store the Pfizer vaccine at temperatures of 80 below zero Celsius.

The Pfizer product is a very fragile and unstable virus vaccine, and has to be handled very carefully, Mayer said. Weve got the minus-80 freezers. Weve got the backups to the backups.

The health department estimates there are about 126,000 health care workers in Utah, Hudachko said. The state doesnt know how many of those would receive the first batch of vaccines.

Those front-line workers include doctors and nurses who treat COVID-19 patients, specialists at high-risk of exposure (such as anesthesiologists), and for hospital housekeepers who come in contact with infected materials.

Housekeepers, Mayer said, have been the hardest hit during this pandemic.

Mayer said University Hospital expects to dole out between 500 and 750 doses a day, and Dascomb said the four Intermountain hospitals will be working on a similar schedule. They said the hospitals would work to schedule vaccinations so workers at the same hospital units werent all treated the same day and that the shots would be given so workers could take a day or two off if they develop side effects.

The trial studies for the Pfizer vaccine and a second vaccine made by Moderna, expected to get FDA approval in late December, have shown few side effects, said Dr. Andrew Pavia, chief of pediatric infectious disease at University of Utah Health. That doesnt mean side effects wont show up when thousands and millions of people get the vaccines, he said.

Well be keeping very close eyes on the long-term safety, Pavia said. Its a relatively new vaccine, and we dont have years of experience with it.

Pavia noted that the odds of serious side effects are one in thousands, while the odds of dying if one is infected with the coronavirus is 1 in 150. The benefits of preventing the disease, he said, will outweigh the risks of taking the vaccine.

Health care workers at Intermountain and University of Utah Health wont be required to take the vaccine, officials at both hospital systems said.

Workers will be presented with the data, so they can make an informed choice, said Dr. Tamara Sheffield, medical director of Intermountains community health and prevention department.

Herbert said the state government has no plans to mandate COVID-19 vaccines when they become available to the public.

We think that most of the people in Utah will want to have one, Herbert said, to protect themselves and their loved ones.

Businesses, Herbert said, likely could require their employees to get vaccinated. It would be entirely within their abilities, their constitutional rights as an employer, to say, If youre going to come to work for me, I want to make sure you have the vaccine, so we dont get people sick here on the job.

Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require two doses, taken weeks apart. The plan is to distribute all the Pfizer doses immediately, with more shipments expected to arrive in the coming weeks to cover the second dose.

Mayer said the health department has assured the hospitals that they will receive enough vaccines to cover the second doses.

Pavia noted that the vaccine landscape is constantly changing. A third vaccine, developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, is in clinical trials. And both Pfizer and Moderna, he said, are starting trials for 12- to 17-year-olds.

The distribution is complex, and its evolving, Pavia said. By the time spring rolls around, we may have three or four vaccines.

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Here's how Utah's first vaccinations will be distributed and when you will get yours - Salt Lake Tribune

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Nov. 30, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: BCRX) today announced the journal Allergy has published data from the APeX-J trial, a randomized, placebo-controlled trial conducted in Japan evaluating oral, once-daily berotralstat for the prophylactic treatment of hereditary angioedema (HAE).

The APeX-J trial met its primary endpoint of a reduction in the rate of HAE attacks for berotralstat 150 mg compared to placebo during the 24-week period (p=0.003). Berotralstat was safe and generally well-tolerated in the trial.

These results are consistent with the global phase 3 APeX-2 trial, where berotralstat 150 mg also reduced the rate of HAE attacks compared to placebo (p<0.001) and was safe and generally well-tolerated.

APeX-J is the first placebo-controlled trial of an HAE medicine conducted in Japan and the berotralstat data are very exciting for patients, who currently have no approved prophylactic treatment options. Based on the safety and efficacy profile, I believe berotralstat, if approved, would be an important advancement in HAE management for Japanese patients, said Dr. Isao Ohsawa, president of Saiyu Soka hospital and principal investigator of the APeX-J trial.

Dr. Ohsawa and the study authors note that HAE is estimated to affect 2,500 patients in Japan and the recognition of HAE by physicians is low. Although two on-demand treatments are approved, no therapies are currently approved for long-term prophylaxis in Japan.

Berotralstat would be the first approved prophylactic therapy for HAE patients in Japan and we believe there is a significant opportunity for berotralstat to accelerate the diagnosis of HAE patients and dramatically improve the quality of life for patients, said Jon Stonehouse, president and chief executive officer of BioCryst.

A new drug application (JNDA) is under review in Japan for approval of oral, once-daily berotralstat for the prophylactic treatment of HAE. Berotralstat is being reviewed under Sakigake designation and the company expects a decision on approval in December 2020.

Torii Pharmaceutical, Co., Ltd. is BioCrysts commercial partner in Japan for berotralstat.

About BioCryst Pharmaceuticals

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals discovers novel, oral, small-molecule medicines that treat rare diseases in which significant unmet medical needs exist and an enzyme plays a key role in the biological pathway of the disease. BioCryst has several ongoing development programs including ORLADEYO (berotralstat), an oral treatment for hereditary angioedema, BCX9930, an oral Factor D inhibitor for the treatment of complement-mediated diseases, galidesivir, a potential treatment for COVID-19, Marburg virus disease and Yellow Fever, and BCX9250, an ALK-2 inhibitor for the treatment of fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva. RAPIVAB (peramivir injection), a viral neuraminidase inhibitor for the treatment of influenza, is BioCryst's first approved product and has received regulatory approval in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Korea and the European Union. Post-marketing commitments for RAPIVAB are ongoing. For more information, please visit the Company's website at http://www.BioCryst.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding future results, performance or achievements. These statements are identified by use of terms such as believe, will, would, expect, and similar words, although some forward-looking statements may be expressed differently. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may causeactual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performances or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are based on assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Some of the factors that could affect the forward-looking statements contained herein include: the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which could create challenges in all aspects of BioCrysts business, including without limitation delays, stoppages, difficulties and increased expenses with respect to BioCrysts and its partners development, regulatory processes and supply chains, negatively impact BioCrysts ability to access the capital or credit markets to finance its operations, or have the effect of heightening many of the risks described below or in the documents BioCryst files periodically with the Securities and Exchange Commission; developing and commercializing ORLADEYO or any HAE product candidate may take longer or may be more expensive than planned; BioCryst may not be able to enroll the required number of subjects in planned clinical trials of product candidates; BioCryst may not advance human clinical trials with product candidates as expected; the FDA, EMA, PMDA or other applicable regulatory agency may require additional studies beyond the studies planned for product candidates, may not provide regulatory clearances which may result in delay of planned clinical trials, may impose certain restrictions, warnings, or other requirements on product candidates, may impose a clinical hold with respect to such product candidates, or may withhold or delay market approval for product candidates; product candidates, if approved, may not achieve market acceptance; BioCrysts ability to successfully commercialize its product candidates, manage its growth, and compete effectively; and risks related to the international expansion of BioCrysts business. Please refer to the documents BioCryst files periodically with the Securities and Exchange Commission, specificallyBioCrystsmost recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and Current Reports on Form 8-K, all of which identify important factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contained inBioCrystsforward-looking statements.

BCRXW

Contacts:John Bluth+1 919 859 7910jbluth@biocryst.com

Catherine Collier Kyroulis+1 917 886 5586ckyroulis@biocryst.com

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Allergy Publishes Results from BioCryst's APeX-J Trial of Oral, Once-Daily Berotralstat for the Prevention of HAE Attacks - GlobeNewswire

The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (AAAAI) has unveiled new guidelines on preventing allergies and asthma in children.1 The guidance, updated in September, reviews a number of strategies to prevent, or even delay, the development of several types of allergies.

Food Allergies

Food allergies are a big deal in children, who arent always able to be choosy when it comes to what they eat. Children can have a difficult time discerning the content of some foods, and parents cant always be with them. This makes prevention key when it comes to food allergies, which can be triggered by a number of foods like peanuts, cows milk, eggs, and more.

Infants who have a sibling or at least 1 parent with an allergic condition are particularly at risk of developing food allergies, especially if they already show symptoms of foods allergies like atopic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis, or asthma.

There are a number of methods that helpand others that dontthat were reviewed in the guidance.

Environmental Allergies

There are a number of environmental factors that can trigger allergies, too. However, unlike foods, early contact with environmental allergens can make allergies worse. Research is the most robust when it comes to dust mites, according to AAAAI, which suggests working to control dust mites early to prevent allergy problems. Some solutions to control environmental allergens recommended in the guidance include:

Pet are different, though, according to AAAAI, with recent research suggesting that early exposure to pets can actually help protect children from developing allergies.

When You Need Help

The AAAAI also offered guidance on when to get help and where. If possible, the organization recommends finding an allergist specifically, as they have received specialized training in allergy and immunology. Allergy testing by a specialist can give detailed information about an allergy, and the best methods for treatment, according to AAAAI. On the other hand, AAAAI recommends against massive allergy screening tests done in retail sites, applied kinesiology, or testing through muscle relaxation, cytotoxicity testing, skit titration, provocative and neutralization testing, or sublingual provocation.

Kari Christine Nadeau, MD, PhD, Naddisy Foundation Endowed Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics and director of the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California says its important that advice be given on science and epidemiological studies. In terms of allergy prevention, research studies show that a diversification of diets with a variety of proteins from different food sources introduced all at oncerather than staged as suggested by AAAAIcan decrease the risk of allergy and asthma development.

There are a number of other tips she offers for allergy prevention, including:

Nadeau also makes it clear that vaccination avoidance is not a prevention strategy for allergens, and that allergy prevention can begin at any age.

Reference

1. American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Prevention of allergies and asthma in children. Reviewed September 28, 2020. Accessed December 2, 2020. https://www.aaaai.org/conditions-and-treatments/library/allergy-library/prevention-of-allergies-and-asthma-in-children.

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Allergy experts weigh in on prevention strategies - Contemporary Pediatrics

News Release

Tuesday, December 1, 2020

We reflect both on the remarkable progress that has been made against HIV as well as the considerable challenges that remain.

Today on World AIDS Day, we reflect both on the remarkable progress that has been made against HIV as well as the considerable challenges that remain. We now have highly effective HIV treatment and prevention methods, and work is underway to address the remaining challenges in delivering these tools to the people who need them most, as well as to develop new interventions. The National Institutes of Health continues to advance rigorous, innovative research to prevent new HIV transmissions and improve the health of people with HIV worldwide.

This year the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is creating great concern and uncertainty for people everywhere, including those affected by HIV. Notably, lessons we learned from involving affected communities in HIV research planning and implementation are informing our response to this new pandemic. NIH also is leveraging its HIV research infrastructure and expertise to conduct critical clinical trials evaluating investigational vaccines and monoclonal antibodies for COVID-19 prevention, as well as a variety of potential COVID-19 therapeutics.

In the face of the challenges posed by COVID-19, our work to address HIV has not slowed, reflecting the U.S. Government theme for this years World AIDS DayEnding the HIV Epidemic: Resilience and Impact and the theme for NIHs observance Science and Community: Working Together to Prepare for the Unexpected. We applaud the resilience of the HIV clinical trial participants, researchers, health care professionals, advocates and other members of the global community who are continuing their work to advance HIV research.

If current HIV treatment and prevention methods could be optimally implemented, an end to the HIV epidemic is feasible. This year, NIH awarded approximately $10 million to support implementation science research to advance the goals of the Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America initiative, which aims to reduce new HIV diagnoses in the United States by at least 90% by 2030.

Achieving a durable end to the HIV pandemic also will require continued development of new and improved HIV prevention and treatment tools that are safe, effective, scalable and desirable to diverse global populations. In a landmark advance this year, two large-scale clinical trials found that a long-acting form of the antiretroviral drug cabotegravir injected once every eight weeks was safe and more effective than daily oral pre-exposure prophylaxis at preventing HIV acquisition among cisgender women and cisgender men and transgender women who have sex with men. These results mark the first time a systemic, long-acting form of HIV prevention has been conclusively demonstrated to be highly effective.

Other forms of long-acting HIV prevention modalities under investigation include intravaginal rings, implants and antibodies. The adoption of a positive scientific opinion on the dapivirine vaginal ring by the European Medicines Agency this year and subsequent prequalification by the World Health Organization marked pivotal steps toward expanding HIV prevention choices for women. If approved by regulatory agencies,the monthly ring would provide women in developing countries with a discreet long-acting HIV prevention option that they control.

Development of a safe and effective HIV vaccine remains a top priority, and notably, certain platforms used todevelop COVID-19 vaccine candidatesemployed the structural biology techniques used in HIV vaccinology. Two ongoing clinical trials for HIV vaccines, Imbokodo and Mosaico, are evaluating an experimental HIV vaccine regimen designed to protect against a wide variety of global HIV strains. Results expected soon from two other clinical trials, evaluating intravenous infusions of a broadly neutralizing antibody for HIV prevention, will provide key insights for further development of antibody-based HIV prevention tools and ultimately a vaccine.

Thanks to extraordinary advances in antiretroviral therapy, many people with HIV can control the virus by taking just one pill each day. However, adhering to daily pills can be challenging. Researchers therefore are pursuing long-acting treatments that would allow a person with HIV to keep the virus suppressed without daily medication, as well as strategies to completely eradicate HIV from the body.

A few exceptional clinical scenarios have provided proof that HIV can be cured, including that of Timothy Ray Brown. Brown was widely recognized as the first person cured of HIV and for inspiring and advocating for scientists and communities worldwide to advance HIV cure research.Sadly, he died of leukemia in September 2020; however, his legacy lives on in the robust HIV cure agenda that researchers are pursuing today.

Even when HIV is well-controlled with treatment, people living with the virus are at heightened risk for co-infections and comorbidities.Tuberculosis remains the leading cause of death globally for people with HIV. Researchers recently reported thata new four-month treatment regimen is as safe and effective as the standard six-month regimen for drug-susceptible tuberculosis, a finding that has the potential to offer an additional tuberculosis treatment option that may be more convenient.

People with HIV also are more likely to experience noninfectious comorbidities such as heart disease, kidney disease and certain cancers. In order to successfully address these comorbidities, a robust research agenda is required to better understand how these conditions develop and to evaluate appropriate treatments. In this regard, the global REPRIEVE clinical trial that is focused on HIV and heart disease is teaching us about the many long-term health effects of HIV. The trial recently began gathering data to assess the impact of COVID-19 on people with HIV.

As we reflect today on our progress, we also look forward to new HIV research advances. To guide these efforts, NIH, through the Office of AIDS Research, recently released a 5-year strategic plan for HIV and HIV-related research. Yesterday, NIAID named the four HIV clinical trials networks that will conduct innovative clinical research in the United States and internationally over the next seven years to accelerate progress against the pandemic.

It is essential to work closely with communities and advocates to develop HIV prevention and treatment strategies that suit the diverse needs, preferences and desires of people with or at risk for HIV worldwide. It also is critical that we continue efforts to nurture the next generation of HIV investigators and ensure that diverse voices are represented. Together, we can identify the optimal strategies to improve the health of those with HIV, prevent new cases, and ultimately, end the pandemic.

NIAID conducts and supports research at NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwide to study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID website.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH):NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.

NIHTurning Discovery Into Health

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NIH Statement on World AIDS Day 2020 | National Institutes of Health - National Institutes of Health

DURHAM, N.C., Nov. 30, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Drs. Myron S. Cohen and Wafaa M. El-Sadr, principal investigators of the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN), in collaboration with FHI 360, have received a seven-year award from the U.S. National Institutes of Health as part of the next funding cycle (2020-2027) for the Network. The core and protocol-specific funding will enable the HPTN to continue its HIV prevention research efforts focused on developing new biomedical prevention methods and optimizing the integration of proven biomedical, behavioral and structural interventions to achieve high-effectiveness and impact.

During this new funding cycle, the HPTN will focus on the following four priority areas:

The HPTN will also continue as a partner in the COVID-19 Prevention Network (CoVPN). The recently-formed CoVPN evaluates biological agents, including vaccines and monoclonal antibodies, to prevent COVID-19.

In the absence of an HIV vaccine, effective non-vaccine prevention tools and strategies have become critically important, saidDr.Cohen, HPTN principal investigator and director of the Institute for Global Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This tenet is at the core of the HPTNs mission, moving forward research to identify biomedical interventions and integrated strategies that help reduce the global incidence of HIV.

Recognizing the challenges of long-term adherence to daily oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), the HPTN has intensely pursued research to evaluate the safety and efficacy of long-acting injectable cabotegravir (CAB LA) for PrEP. Future approaches may include the use of implants, patches, and microneedles to deliver CAB LA and/or other long-acting ARVs. Combining ARV-based prevention tools that protect against HIV acquisition with efficacious contraceptive agents is compelling for persons who desire contraception and HIV prevention. Combinations of monoclonal antibodies will be evaluated for their potential to prevent HIV acquisition.

We recognize that demonstrating the efficacy of a new agent is the first step in a critical research trajectory, saidDr.El-Sadr,HPTN principal investigator,director of ICAP, and professor of epidemiology and medicine at Columbia University in New York. Achieving impact requires reaching and engaging diverse populations and achieving high uptake and adherence with prevention methods, compelling the need for integration of biomedical with behavioral and structural interventions.

FHI 360, a nonprofit human development organization, has been the leadership and operations center for the HPTN for more than 15 years and will continue to serve that role. FHI 360 is based in Durham, NC.

FHI 360 is committed to HIV prevention efforts as we all work towards reducing the rate of new HIV infections in populations deemed at greatest risk around the world, said Dr. Nirupama Sista, director of the HPTN Leadership and Operations Center at FHI 360.

About the HPTN

The HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) is a worldwide collaborative clinical trials network that brings together investigators, ethicists, community members, and other partners to develop and test the safety and efficacy of interventions designed to prevent the acquisition and transmission of HIV. The U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health, Office of The Director,the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, all part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health,co-fund the HPTN. The HPTN has collaborated with more than 85 clinical research sites in 19 countries to evaluate new HIV prevention interventions and strategies in populations with a disproportionate HIV burden. The HPTN research agenda more than 50 trials ongoing or completed with over 161,000 participants enrolled and evaluated is focused primarily on discovering new HIV prevention tools and evaluating integrated strategies, including biomedical interventions combined with behavioral risk reduction interventions and structural interventions. For more information, visit hptn.org.

Media inquiries: Eric Miller, +1.919.384.6465; emiller@fhi360.org

Excerpt from:
HIV Prevention Trials Network Awarded US National Institutes of Health Funding to Continue Research Agenda - GlobeNewswire

In his two years at Uber Health, Dan Trigub worked to expand access to medical transportation, and, now, he's focused on building aunique approach to home health.

Trigub and co-founder Inna Plumb have launched MedArrive as a new care management platform that enables healthcare providers and payers to extend services into the home.The startup bridges the virtual care gap by integrating physician-led telemedicine with hands-on care from a network of trusted EMS professionals, improving patient outcomes while empowering an underutilized segment of healthcare workers, according to the company.Backed by Redesign Health, MedArrive banked a $4.5 million seed round co-led by Kleiner Perkins and Define Ventures. In connection with the investment, Annie Case, principal at Kleiner Perkins, and Lynne Chou O'Keefe, founder and managing partner at Define Ventures, will both join the MedArrive board of directors.

Based in NewYork City, Redesign Health is aventure studio and holding company incubating tech-enabled healthcare businesses.

Driving Engagement in an Evolving Healthcare Ecosystem

Deep-dive into evolving consumer expectations in healthcare today and how leading providers are shaping their infrastructure to connect with patients through virtual care.

RELATED:Mayo, Intermountain navigate 'Wild West' of starting Hospital at Home during COVID-19 pandemic

Theinjection of capital will enable MedArrive to continue building its platform, grow its team of industry experts and drive the expansion of key healthcare provider partnerships across the country. With an initial focus on the Florida market, the team expects to expand quickly and effectively over the coming months.

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed additional stress on the health system, with patients avoiding clinics, delaying preventive and critical care and facing financial strain.

"By working alongside communities of EMS professionals, providers, and payors to bring high-quality care into the home at a fraction of the cost of alternatives, MedArrives integrated solution is putting patients back at the center of care," said Trigub, CEO of MedArrive.

Now more than ever, as we continue battling a global pandemic, patients deserve healthcare that is accessible, affordable and safe, he said.

Clinical care is moving more into the home, andtelemedicine is growing with thetailwinds of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it cant solve every health problem, Trigub told Fierce Healthcare.

"Our mission statement is to improve peoples lives to bring more humanity to healthcare, the physical touch and the contact, and telemedicine strips out the human side of care. By buildingthis platform andinfrastructure, we're connecting three stakeholders, patients, health plans andhealth systems and we're leveraging the most under-utilized workforce in healthcare, EMTs and paramedics," he said.

RELATED:Head of Uber Health leaving to launch new healthcare startupMedArrive taps into a capable workforce of EMS professionals so they can leverage the full scope of their training, earn supplemental income and diversify their day-to-day responsibilities. At the same time, patients using MedArrive are able to access trusted medical expertise from the safety of their homes and within their existing health systems, ultimately resulting in better patient outcomes, a better-utilized healthcare workforce and significant cost savings for patients and providers alike, according to the company.

Trigub, who left Lyft to become the head of Uber Health, announced in September that he was leaving the ride-share giant.

"Uber, at the end of the day, is not a healthcare-first organization. It's a massive company withamazing scale and reach. But there are lots of competing priorities. I wanted to give my fullattention toa pure healthcare business, and it's atremendous opportunity outside of a large tech environment that can have a lot of red tape and internal politics," he said.

While telehealth has helped to increase access to care, many care needs require in-person visits and diagnostics and often benefit from deeper insight into a patients experience at home,said Pat Songer, chief operating officer of Cascade Medical Hospital, executive director of the National EMS Management Association and adviser to MedArrive.

RELATED:Mayo Clinic teams with Medically Home to expand in-home hospital care

What MedArrive is doing is enabling this [EMS]workforce to utilize the full scope of their training and provide care in the home that cannot be done as effectively in a clinic setting, such as medication reconciliation, discharge instruction adherence, fall risk assessment, and collection of key SDoH and environmental data. This translates to better care experiences for patients and lower costs," Songer said.MedArrive partners can tap into anetwork of more than 20,000trusted emergency medical technicians and paramedics,with equal representation in rural and urban markets. This will be particularly critical for the company'spartners looking to distribute flu vaccines and, when available, a COVID-19 vaccine without overwhelming health systems, according to MedArrive executives.

Additional services include chronic condition management, transitional care, readmission prevention, urgent care and palliative care.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift to providing clinical care in patients' homes, according to Plumb, who has experience in private equity, finance and analytics.

"Care is moving into the home, but how can we do it cost-effectively? Byleveraging EMS and existing players in the market to deliver care in a cost-effective way, we can be active in both rural or urban environments," she said.

By leveraging virtual care and in-person care, MedArrive enables providers and payers to see what's going on in a patient's home to address social determinants of health and quality of life issues, Trigub said.

That taps into Trigub's experience atUber Health, where he led the company to form partnerships with Medicare Advantage plans to open up ride-sharing options. Uber Healthalso has put a focus on Medicaidas a key marketto focus on at-risk populations.

"What we can truly do here at MedArrive is have an outsized impact to helpdemocratize healthcare," he said.

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Dan Trigub left Uber Health to start a new healthcare venture. Here is what he's working on - FierceHealthcare

New York, Dec. 02, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Medical Equipment Maintenance Market Research Report by Device Type, by Service Type, by Service Provider, by End-user - Global Forecast to 2025 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p05993403/?utm_source=GNW

The Global Medical Equipment Maintenance Market is expected to grow from USD 25,687.34 Million in 2019 to USD 47,861.28 Million by the end of 2025 at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 10.92%.

Market Segmentation & Coverage:This research report categorizes the Medical Equipment Maintenance to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets:

Based on Device Type, the Medical Equipment Maintenance Market studied across Dental Equipment, Electro-Medical Equipment, Endoscopic Device, Imaging Equipment, Life Support Devices, and Surgical Instrument.

Based on Service Type, the Medical Equipment Maintenance Market studied across Corrective Maintenance, Operational Maintenance, and Preventive Maintenance.

Based on Service Provider, the Medical Equipment Maintenance Market studied across In-house Maintenance, Independent Service Organizations (ISOs), Multi-vendor OEMs, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), and Single-vendor OEMs.

Based on End-user, the Medical Equipment Maintenance Market studied across Private-sector Organizations and Public-sector Organizations.

Based on Geography, the Medical Equipment Maintenance Market studied across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas region surveyed across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The Asia-Pacific region surveyed across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea, and Thailand. The Europe, Middle East & Africa region surveyed across France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom.

Company Usability Profiles:The report deeply explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Medical Equipment Maintenance Market including Abbott Laboratories, Agfa-Gevaert Group by Dedalus Holding S.p.A., Alpha Source Inc., Alpha Source, Inc., B. Braun Melsungen AG, Boston Scientific Corporation, Canon Inc., Drgerwerk AG & Co. KGaA, Edwards Lifesciences Corp, FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation, General Electric Company, Johnson & Johnson, Karl Storz GmbH & CO. KG, Koninklijke Philips N.V., Medtronic PLC, Olympus Corporation, Samsung Medison Co., Ltd., Siemens Healthineers, Stryker Corporation, and Terumo Corporation.

FPNV Positioning Matrix:The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Medical Equipment Maintenance Market on the basis of Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.

Competitive Strategic Window:The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies. The Competitive Strategic Window helps the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. During a forecast period, it defines the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth.

Cumulative Impact of COVID-19:COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, so for and, the long-term effects projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlaying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report is delivering insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecast, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market.

The report provides insights on the following pointers:1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the key players2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyzes the markets3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and new product developments

The report answers questions such as:1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Medical Equipment Maintenance Market?2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Medical Equipment Maintenance Market during the forecast period?3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Medical Equipment Maintenance Market?4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Medical Equipment Maintenance Market?5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Medical Equipment Maintenance Market?6. What are the modes and strategic moves considered suitable for entering the Global Medical Equipment Maintenance Market?Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05993403/?utm_source=GNW

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Medical Equipment Maintenance Market Research Report by Device Type, by Service Type, by Service Provider, by End-user - Global Forecast to 2025 -...

Development of the COVID-19 vaccine is ongoing. Currently, two major vaccines pending approval by the FDA have been tested in more than 73,000 people in stage 3 clinical trials. While there are minor reported side effects, a vaccine wouldnt be approved by public health experts unless they felt confident its as safe as possible. While there are still some unknowns, the COVID-19 vaccine will in no way give you COVID-19.

Once a distant dream, the coronavirus vaccine is now a soon-to-be reality. In fact, the first doses could be distributed within two weeks, the nations governors were told during a conference call with the White House Coronavirus Task Force on Nov. 30.

Pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Moderna have both submitted applications for an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for their respective vaccine candidates, both of which are reported to be more than 90% effective at preventing COVID-19 in participants in stage three clinical trials. Pfizer has included 43,538 people in its study, while Moderna has reported more than 30,000 participants.

The Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices also held an emergency meeting on Dec. 1, and officially confirmed that healthcare workers and elderly residents of long-term care facilities will be the first to receive the vaccine once one is authorized.

While things are moving quickly, experts predict that most people wont have access to the vaccine, both of which will require two doses, until the late spring. Still, its only natural to have questions about how the vaccine works, what kind of potential side effects it could cause, and why its so important to get one. Heres everything we know so far.

Pending EUAs from the FDA, there will hopefully be two different vaccines available for COVID-19 by the end of the year. They both contain similar ingredients, just packaged differently, says infectious disease expert Amesh A. Adalja, M.D., senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

Both vaccines use messenger RNA (mRNA), a new type of vaccine that encodes a part of the spike protein gene in SARs-CoV-2, a.k.a. novel coronavirus. This is the part of the virus responsible for its unique crown-like structure. The vaccine does not inject inactive virus into your body, but rather uses pieces of genetic material from SARs-CoV-2.

Heres how it works: mRNA gives your cells instructions to develop a protein that is similar to the novel coronavirus spike protein, according to the CDC. When your immune system recognizes that new protein as a foreign invader, it mounts an immune response to fight off what it interprets as an infection, and you develop antibodies specific to SARs-CoV-2. Your body eliminates the protein and the mRNA, but those antibodies stick around to help protect your from future COVID-19 infection. (Its important to note that mRNA does not alter your DNA, per the CDC.)

The two vaccines developed are the first of their kind. There have never been mRNA vaccines before, Dr. Adalja says.

Of course, there are other components as well. A vaccine has got to have materials in it to make sure that it is stable and can really function, says William Schaffner, M.D., an infectious disease specialist and professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. No vaccine is just purely the antigen. (An antigen is any substance that causes your immune system to produce antibodies to it.)

The actual ingredients in both vaccines havent been released yet, but likely will be once they are approved, Dr. Adalja says. However, many vaccines contain ingredients like preservatives (to prevent contamination), adjuvants like aluminum salts (to help boost the bodys response to the vaccine), and stabilizers like sugar or gelatin (to keep the vaccine effective after its manufactured), per the CDC.

The COVID-19 vaccine works completely differently than the yearly flu vaccine. The flu shot gives you an inactivated virus, Dr. Adalja explains. From there, the vaccine causes antibodies to develop in your body about two weeks after you get the shot, per the CDC. Those antibodies then help protect you against infection with the strains of the flu that are used to make the vaccine for that season.

The coronavirus vaccine, on the other hand, gives you a snippet of a gene, not an inactive virus, Dr. Adalja says.

You also need to get two shots of the current coronavirus vaccinestypically three to four weeks apartwhile the flu vaccine is just one shot a year, Dr. Schaffner says. Its unclear at this point if people will need the COVID-19 vaccine each year, he says. There are single-dose vaccines in the works as well, including one from Johnson & Johnson, which recently reached phase 3 of it clinical trial.

Details on the vaccines and their safety data havent been presented to the general public yet, but they will be once they receive EUAs from the FDAand before you would be given your first dose, Dr. Schaffner says. Since healthcare workers will be offered the vaccine first, your primary care physician can offer information to you based on personal experience, as well as data.

So far, what weve seen in the animal data and data from phases 1, 2, and 3 [human] trials shows a favorable safety profile, Dr. Adalja says.

Each vaccine is slightly different but, in general, experts say you may experience the following side effects with either COVID-19 vaccine:

This is similar to what youd expect with the flu vaccine, says Thomas Russo, M.D., professor and chief of infectious disease at the University at Buffalo in New York. [The side effects] usually only last a day or so. Theyre not serious or concerning. For example, the flu shot can also cause arm soreness, swelling at the injection site, a low-grade fever, and other side effects as the body starts to mount an immune response.

However, because the COVID-19 vaccines are so new, long-term side effects are not yet fully understood. Dr. Russo notes that vaccine makers, as well as the FDA, will continue to gather detailed data after a vaccine is released to the general public.

Moderna shared in mid-November that the following side effects were the most common among patients in its trial:

Pfizer shared that the following side effects happened in some patients:

Just like the flu shot cant give you the flu, the COVID-19 vaccine will not give you COVID-19. These side effects basically show that the immune system is being primed, says Richard Watkins, M.D., an infectious disease and professor of internal medicine at the Northeast Ohio Medical University. Remember, your body is learning to mount a response to SARs-CoV-2, which can lead to symptoms like a fever.

Its also important to note that the second shot may cause more side effects than the first shot. We want to let everyone know that so theyre not disappointed or worried that they have COVID-19, Dr. Schaffner says.

Getting the vaccine has several benefits, Dr. Adalja says. The big one? We can safely establish herd immunity, so the population at large can be protected from the virus if a threshold of vaccination is reached. Its a tall order, as experts estimate that roughly 70% of people in the U.S. (200 million) need to be vaccinated to reach this level of protection for COVID-19 specifically. This is especially important for vulnerable, high-risk groups, like the elderly and immunocompromised.

Experts also say getting vaccinated will help protect you personally from contracting COVID-19 or from having severe complications of the virus if you do happen to contract it.

When the vaccine is available to you, its crucial that you get it. At this point, one in 200 people who get COVID die, Dr. Watkins says. The benefit greatly outweighs the risks.

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Will the COVID-19 Vaccine Have Side Effects? Heres What Doctors Know so Far - Prevention.com

EDINBURGH, Scotland & KIBBUTZ SHEFAYIM, Israel--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Scottish digital transformation consultancy Storm ID and Israeli AI start-up Zebra Medical Vision have won a UK-Israel research and development competition with a proposal for a revolutionary, machine learning-driven model for early detection and prevention of osteoporosis to improve patient care and reduce healthcare costs. The collaboration will involve close engagement with clinical teams in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Assuta Medical Centers.

Osteoporosis is a major public health concern that continues to grow in worldwide importance. Fragility fractures, defined as insufficiency fractures not related to high-impact trauma, are the major complication of this underdiagnosed and undertreated condition. Major osteoporotic fractures result in substantial morbidity and mortality, particularly for hip fractures, which is a major concern for an aging population.

Working in partnership, Storm ID and Zebra Medical Vision are developing a preventative care solution to identify people at risk of osteoporosis. Using ML/AI methodologies, the solution will analyze medical imaging data and patient records to help clinical teams identify and treat people with risk of fractures before they happen.

An international, multidisciplinary team of clinicians, data scientists and computer scientists will work together over 2 years, running clinical trials, implementing the solution in both NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Assuta Medical Centers. The project is co-funded in part by the UK and Israel under the EUREKA framework to foster industrial research collaboration between the UK and Israel.

Paul McGinness, Director at Storm ID said: Were aiming to combine the powerful data exchange capabilities of our own Lenus Health Platform with the machine learning models developed by Zebra Medical Vision to transform osteoporosis screening. By predicting ahead of time the potential risk of bone fracture , we can intervene earlier to treat and manage the risk, which is better for the patient and for the health system.

Ohad Arazi, CEO at Zebra Medical Vision said: Were honored to enhance our collaboration with the NHS and Assuta Medical hospital through this incredible initiative, allowing Zebra Meds solutions to even more widely spread in the UK and Israeli healthcare facilities to bring earlier identification and treatment of patients at risk of a break, which in turn will help healthcare payers and providers.

David Lowe, Emergency Consultant, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, and Clinical Lead, West of Scotland Innovation Hub, said: We are pleased to partner on the development of this innovative new solution for osteoporosis patients through the expertise of the West of Scotland Innovation Hub. This is another example of a successful collaboration between industry and the NHS to move forward innovative healthcare. Our clinical teams at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde will support the aim of this project to ultimately identify and treat patients with increased risk of bone breakage before it happens.

Dr. Michal Guindy, Head of Imaging and Innovation at Assuta said: "Being able to re-analyze information from patient records and imaging is an important advantage of modern artificial intelligence. As a center of excellence, performing over 200,000 CTs annually, Assuta is excited to play a significant role in early detection of osteoporosis. By analyzing studies that were done for other clinical indications, we can leverage pre-existing data to help prevent fractures and contribute to solving a public health challenge of growing concern."

Read more on Zebra Medical Visions blog.

About Storm ID and Lenus Health

Storm ID is a digital transformation delivery partner for the healthcare sector.

It developed the Lenus Health Platform to support delivery of new digital health solutions that are continuous, preventative and participatory, and which help transform care pathways.

Lenus enables patient generated health data from digital technologies and consumer health tech such as apps, sensors and wearables to be shared with healthcare professionals and machine learning models to provide decision support, enabling targeted interventions to happen in the community. It supports solutions that reduce unnecessary and expensive hospital admissions including face-to-face appointments, improve patient engagement with their own health and wellbeing and reduce duplication and unnecessary processes through user managed access to patient data.

About Zebra Medical Vision

Zebra Medical Vision provides radiologists with the tools needed to make the next leap in patient care. The demand for medical imaging solutions is continuously increasing, outpacing the supply of qualified radiologists and stretching them to produce more output, without compromising patient care. Only by adopting new technology that significantly enhances the capabilities of radiologists, can this crisis be mitigated. Zebra-Med is empowering radiologists with its revolutionary AI1 offering which helps health providers manage the ever increasing workload without compromising quality.

About NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is one of 14 regional NHS Boards in Scotland, serving a population of 1.14 million and employing around 39,000 staff. It is the largest NHS organisation in Scotland and one of the largest in the UK.

About Assuta Medical Centers

Assuta Medical Centers is Israels largest and leading private medical solution network comprising seven hospitals and clinics across Israel and providing innovative surgeries and diagnostic procedures in all fields of medicine. Assutas Imaging Institute is the most advanced of its type in Israel and has a team of leading radiologists and nuclear medicine specialists. The Institute offers patients the latest innovations in imaging technology, including advanced CT and PET-CT, MRI, PET-MR, and two-head nuclear imaging camera test results are integrated with other clinical data to enhance the accuracy of the findings. The Institute treats more than 600,000 patients annually.

About EUREKA

EUREKA is an intergovernmental network launched in 1985. Its aim is to support market-oriented R&D and innovation projects by industry, research centres and universities across all technological sectors. EUREKA has 41 full members, including the European Union (represented by the European Commission), 1 partner country (South Korea) and 4 associated members (Argentina, Canada, Chile, South Africa). All 27 EU Member States are also members of EUREKA.

The UK-Israel call for proposals was a joint initiative of Innovate UK and the Israel Innovation Authority based upon the 2017 memorandum of understanding on industrial collaboration between the 2 countries.

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Storm ID and Zebra Medical Vision to Co-Develop Revolutionary New AI Based Osteoporosis Prevention Solution as Part Of UK-Israel Collaboration -...