Jewish Chronicle | Sharon Berger loses fight against cancer Jewish Chronicle Sharon Berger, who launched a community-wide hunt for a bone marrow donor after being diagnosed with leukaemia, has died. She was 65. Her son Jonni announced her death on Twitter on Friday. He wrote: ... Her own personal challenge is to get through ... |
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Sharon Berger loses fight against cancer - Jewish Chronicle
A TWO-day self-management event is being held in Coventry city centre for people with arthritis by UK charity Arthritis Action.
The event will explore approaches to better manage the symptoms of arthritis through healthy eating, physical therapy, mindfulness, exercise and pain management.
Attendees will be able to share their stories, questions and tips and learn from one another.
Taking place on Wednesday, April 26, and Thursday, April 27, the event is welcoming all interested and is free of charge though booking is essential.
Debbie Rose, an accredited self-management trainer who lives with arthritis, will present the event while director of development and membership Heather Baumohl, and group and event officer Leah Boylan will also be present.
The charity runs self-management events across the UK to offer people with arthritis the opportunity to share their experiences, ideas and feelings with others in a safe and friendly environment.
Shantel Irwin, chief executive of Arthritis Action, said: Around 10 million people in the UK live with arthritis.
It is the leading cause of pain and disability nationwide.
We run self-management events to not only raise awareness of the condition but ultimately to help people with arthritis take a more active role in managing their condition and be in control of their lives.
To register, email info@arthritisaction.org.uk or call 020 3781 7120.
Visit http://www.arthritisaction.org.uk for further information about the charity.
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Two-day self management course announced to help Coventry residents living with arthritis - Coventry Observer
By Arlene Karidis By Arlene Karidis April 7 at 2:05 PM
Nearly four times as many Americans may die of diabetes as indicated on death certificates, a rate that would bump the disease up from the seventh-leading cause of death to No. 3, according to estimates in a recent study.
Researchers and advocates say that more-precise figures are important as they strengthen the argument that more should be done to prevent and treat diabetes, which affects the way sugar is metabolized in the body.
We argue diabetes is responsible for 12 percent of deaths in the U.S., rather than 3.3 percent that death certificates indicate, lead study author Andrew Stokes of the Boston University School of Public Health said in an interview.
About 29 million Americans have diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There are two forms of the disease: Type 1, in which the pancreas makes insufficient insulin, and the more common Type 2, in which the body has difficulty producing and using insulin.
Using findings from two large national surveys, the study looked mainly at A1C levels (average blood sugar over two to three months) and patient-reported diabetes. In the latest study, researchers compared death rates of diabetics who had participated in these surveys to information on their death certificates.
The authors also found that diabetics had a 90 percent higher mortality rate over a five-year period than nondiabetics. This held true when controlling for age, smoking, race and other factors.
[Women with diabetes are especially prone to developing heart disease]
These findings point to an urgent need for strategies to prevent diabetes in the general population. For those already affected, they highlight the importance of timely diagnosis and aggressive management to prevent complications, such as coronary heart disease, stroke and lower-extremity amputations, Stokes said.
We hope a fuller understanding of the burden of disease associated with diabetes will influence public authorities in their messaging, funding and policy decisions, such as taxation of sugar-sweetened beverages and use of subsidies to make healthy foods more accessible, he said.
When they embarked on the study, the investigators were curious about two findings from earlier research. The first was a higher obesity rate and shorter life expectancy among Americans than Europeans. (The researchers already knew that obesity and diabetes were related.) The second revelation was a rise in deaths by any cause among middle-aged white Americans.
We tried to piece together causes of mortality in the U.S., looking closer at diabetes, which we knew was underreported, Stokes said.
Mortality rates attributed to diabetes are imprecise largely because death results from both immediate and underlying causes, and not every one of them gets recorded. For example, cardiovascular disease might be recorded as the cause of a persons death even though that disease may have been caused by diabetes.
Further challenging the task of identifying cause of death is that diabetics have a long history of problems before serious complications occur.
When diabetes started 10 to 30 or more years before a patient died, the disease may not be in the forefront of the attending physician at time of death, explains Catherine Cowie, an epidemiologist at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. And there are no clear guidelines about which conditions should be cited as cause of death.
Detailed electronic medical records may help pinpoint the primary cause. But still, its hard [to get the full picture] in this day and age when health care for diabetics is divided between different practitioners, she said.
She advises patients to report their diabetes to all their health providers, whether they are having complications at the time or not.
Weve been trying to promote healthy lifestyle to prevent diabetes and complications for a long time. This includes paying attention to the ABCs, which are to bring down A1C, blood pressure and cholesterol. But I think this [study] is new evidence that its important to focus on these things. Its more data to show what diabetes can lead to, Cowie says.
In 2016, diabetes accounted for about $1.04 billion in National Institutes of Health funding, compared with about $5.65 billion spent on cancer research. Having a better gauge on the mortality figures could have an effect on research dollars, said Matt Petersen, managing director of medical information for the American Diabetes Association.
But the true death rate means only so much.
Whats most important is why it is and what we can do about it. The goal of research is prevention and, if possible, cure. Short of uncovering a cure, key is figuring out how do we best treat it and reduce complications, Petersen said.
For Type 2 diabetes, new drugs that work in combination and in different ways to address differing patient cases have rolled out in just the past two years. Healthy lifestyle choices can also affect outcomes.
So I think the public should hear [that] yes, diabetes can be deadly, but that we have the ability to reduce the chance for this disease, Petersen says. And for those who have diabetes, we can treat it well and reduce the risk for debilitating and deadly complications.
[Why treating diabetes keeps getting more expensive]
[The man who knows more about death than anyone else]
[The scary reason why doctors say kids need HPV vaccinations]
[New research identifies a sea of despair among white, working-class Americans]
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Diabetes is even deadlier than we thought, study suggests - The ... - Washington Post
Dr. Tonatiuh Barrientos Gutierrez, an epidemiologist in Mexico City, jogs near his home in the southern part of the capital. He says it's hard to run on the city's streets. Meghan Dhaliwal/for NPR hide caption
Dr. Tonatiuh Barrientos Gutierrez, an epidemiologist in Mexico City, jogs near his home in the southern part of the capital. He says it's hard to run on the city's streets.
Let's say you'd like to go for a run in Mexico City.
Dr. Tonatiuh Barrientos, an epidemiologist with Mexico's National Institute of Public Health, thinks that's a good idea in theory. An expert on diabetes, he'd like to see more people in the Mexican capital get out and exercise to combat the disease.
But as a runner himself, he knows that Mexico City isn't an easy place to jog. In a metropolis of 22 million, there are only a handful of parks where people can run.
"Look, this is a fairly crowded street. It's a pretty noisy street. It's polluted," Barrientos says walking through the Tlalpan neighborhood that lies between his office and his home. "Now just imagine trying to convince yourself to get out there and run."
Runners in the wooded park of Viveros in Coyoacan, Mexico City. Mexico City has few runner-friendly spaces. The altitude discourages exertion and the air quality is often so bad some runners wear face masks. Yet health officials urge people to exercise more. Meghan Dhaliwal/for NPR hide caption
Runners in the wooded park of Viveros in Coyoacan, Mexico City. Mexico City has few runner-friendly spaces. The altitude discourages exertion and the air quality is often so bad some runners wear face masks. Yet health officials urge people to exercise more.
It's a tough sell. "I mean the only place for you to really run is on the sidewalk. You can't run on the street because you'll probably get run over," he says.
The sidewalk is an uneven mix of broken cement slabs and cobblestones. Street vendors have set up little tables and carts to sell everything from electrical supplies to fried pork cracklings.
There are so many people that it's hard to even walk at a fast clip.
And if you do manage to find a stretch of sidewalk, the elevation in Mexico City combined with the smog and the chances of getting mugged make running a hard thing to get excited about.
"There are a lot of obstacles," Barrientos says as he dodges his way past low-hanging awnings. "And you need to deal with that if you wanted to try to run here."
Professionally, Barrientos has tracked the slow, steady rise in Type 2 diabetes in Mexico. Roughly 14 million Mexicans are now living with diabetes nearly triple the number who had the disease in 1990.
Barrientos says for too long health officials considered it the responsibility of patients to change their diet and exercise routines. They either did it or didn't. He says now it's become clear that addressing one of Mexico's biggest health crises requires changes at a much higher level and includes lobbying for healthier public spaces where people can easily get out and exercise.
Exercise equipment, often placed in public parks like this one in the Tlalpan area of Mexico City, encourages residents to be more active. Meghan Dhaliwal/for NPR hide caption
Exercise equipment, often placed in public parks like this one in the Tlalpan area of Mexico City, encourages residents to be more active.
"How do we change the world so that making healthy decisions is a lot easier than it is right now?" he asks.
Diabetes has mushroomed as Mexicans' lifestyles have changed dramatically over the last 40 years. Several generations ago diabetes was almost unheard of in Mexico. Now it's the leading cause of death, according to the World Health Organization. Mexicans with indigenous ancestry have a genetic predisposition for the condition that makes them even more likely to develop it than Caucasians. But a key driver of Type 2 diabetes in Mexico and globally is still a person's diet.
Barrientos says current projections show that by 2030, 17 percent of all Mexican adults will have diabetes.
"And that of course opens a lot of questions about sustainability," he says. "Can you really sustain a public health system with 17 percent of your population being diabetic? Especially if you are not prepared to control that diabetes."
Some epidemiologists predict that by 2050, half the adults in the country could suffer from diabetes in their lifetime.
Diabetes can be reversed with weight-loss surgery in some cases. Uncontrolled, the metabolic disorder can have grave health consequences. It can lead to blindness, nerve damage, kidney failure and, in some cases, foot amputations.
Barrientos and others are now saying the focus of diabetes prevention in Mexico needs to shift away from shaming individuals to looking at new government policies to tackle this mounting health crisis.
"With tobacco we faced the same thing for many, many years. We were trying to encourage people to quit: Because if you don't quit you're going to die!" he says. "The only time that we started to see real change was when we said, 'We are going to change the rules of the game.' The more expensive it is the less you're going to be willing to spend your precious money on something that isn't good for you."
A variety of fried snacks and soft drinks are for sale in Mexico City's Centro Historico neighborhood. Meghan Dhaliwal/for NPR hide caption
In an effort to reduce soda consumption, the government in 2014 imposed a 1 peso per liter tax on sugar sweetened beverages, the equivalent of about 10 U.S. cents on a standard 2 liter bottle.
At the time Mexico was the leading per capita consumer of soda in the world. In regulatory filings in 2015, Coca-Cola said that the annual consumption of its beverages in Mexico was more than 600 8-ounce servings per person per year. That means that, on average, every Mexican was drinking nearly two glasses of Coke beverages every day. And that doesn't even count the amount of Pepsi or other brands of soda being consumed.
Alejandro Calvillo, the head of a consumer group called El Poder del Consumidor, says soda is making Mexicans sick.
Walking just outside his office in Mexico City, he points out little shops selling Coke and junk food on just about every block. In fact, the red Coca-Cola logo has become a symbol that declares snack shop.
"Coke in Mexico has more than 1.5 million places that sell Coke," Calvillo says. "The presence of these products is everywhere." Calvillo was one of the advocates behind the 2014 soda tax, although he would have liked the tax to have been even higher. A higher tax, he argues, would have pushed down consumption even more and given the government more resources to combat the lifestyle that's linked to diabetes. In indigenous communities in Chiapas, he says, parents put Coke in baby bottles for their infants "and the government isn't doing anything. It's crazy."
Like Barrientos, he says that if Mexico is going to successfully combat diabetes, the rules of the game need to change.
His efforts to get the soda tax increased even more, however, have so far been unsuccessful.
But Jorge Terrazas, the head of ANPRAC, the carbonated beverages trade association in Mexico City, says soda is unfairly blamed for Mexico's extremely high rates of obesity and diabetes.
"There's not conclusive scientific evidence demonstrating the relation between the intake of soft drinks with overweight," he tells NPR.
The average Mexican's daily intake of calories far exceeds the World Health Organization recommendation of 2,000, and Terrazas says the majority of those calories are coming from things other than soda.
But anti-soda campaigners says sugar is a big part of the problem. They say calling for solutions that rely on individuals alone to change their lifestyles won't solve Mexico's diabetes crisis.
Barrientos, the epidemiologist and runner, says the solution is going to require major changes to the way Mexicans live, eat and exercise.
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Diabetes In Mexico: A Challenge To Improve Diet And Exercise - NPR - NPR
For the last five years, our grandson, Tyler Kane Ochs (TKO), along with his family and friends, have participated in the annual Step Out Walk to Stop Diabetes that is held each spring at Keeneland Race Track in Lexington. It is a big event that draws over 2,000 participants from central and eastern Kentucky to join the battle to fight and call attention to this terrible, always debilitating, and far-to-frequently cause of death.
This year the walk, as well as a 5K race, will take place on the morning of June 3 from 8:30 until its over. Anyone and everyone is welcome to join. You can register at the site that morning but you need to be there at 8:30, no later than 9, if you want to enter the race on trails through Keenelands lush woods.
Long-term readers of Points East already know that I drum up cash sponsorship for our team from you around this time every spring. If youre a new reader, welcome aboard.
Diabetes is the seventh, most-listed, on death certificates, cause of death in our country. However, it is most likely the root cause of a host of other killers such as heart disease, strokes, kidney failure, liver disease, blood poisoning and hemorrhages, to name a few, that are listed as the cause of death without mentioning diabetes.
For example, even though neither of them have done me in so far, I have had two strokes that the doctors tell me were probably related to my diabetes. The jury is still out on whether my intimate association with Mr. Parkinson was brought on by erratic blood sugar imbalances. The point is, that if either of the strokes had proven to be fatal, my diabetes would not have been listed as a cause of death even though it would, most likely, have been the root cause. Thanks to diabetes, Ive undergone five eye surgeries since 2015 and I am already in need of another round. Diabetes is one of, if not the most absolute, leading causes of blindness and is, by far, the leading cause of lower extremity amputations among adults. I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture.
The truth of the matter is that, other than visual impairment, I am not much bothered with the disease on a daily basis as long as I take my metformin, orally, twice a day, try to eat responsibly and get as much exercise as possible.
Our adult son, Christopher, is not so lucky. He has to have two daily injections of insulin. Chris has had so many life-threatening diabetes episodes that we have lost count. Hes had two already this year that involved Loretta and me uttering terrorized prayers that the ambulance get here fast enough to save his life. So, comparing what I endure, diabetes-wise, to what Chris and Tyler put up with is sorta like comparing a bee sting to a rattlesnake bite.
Our 8-year- old Grandson, Tyler, has to wear an insulin pump, and he has to monitor every bite of food or drink, other than water, that he ingests. Tyler can and does count every carbohydrate that goes into his mouth and does up to half a dozen blood tests every day. The insulin pump is strapped to his lower abdomen and attached to a needle injected into his belly and he has to wear it 24-7. The needle location has to be changed every three days. While he has not yet mastered the science of changing the needle by himself, he has been doing his own blood tests and carb counts since he was age three. Tyler was already a math whiz, two years before he started kindergarten.
The pump is far less painful than having three or more insulin shots every day and the dosage regulation is also much more precise. But the thing that most amazes me is that TKO does not allow the contraption or the disease to slow him down or prevent him from doing anything he wants to do. I can tell you, for sure that his parents and grandparents cringe and hold their breath every time he slides into second base or home plate but our worry doesnt prevent him from doing so. Apparently, little league baseball players have a deep-seeded, inherent need to slide into bases, even when theres not the slightest chance that the fielders might try to throw them out. Tyler would rather play baseball than eat ice cream and thats a good thing because an ice cream cone could kill him.
Tyler would also be the first person to tell you that we dont participate in the Step Out Walk, hoping for some imminent miracle that would enable him to live without an insulin pump and such a severely restricted diet. And even though we dont totally rule out that remote possibility of a miracle cure, our focus is on kids, like TKO, who are not yet born and we firmly believe that that the American Diabetes Association will eventually provide medical science with the financial resources to fund the research and development to stop diabetes.
By helping sponsor Team TKO in the Step Out Walk-Run you can join our battle, or wed love to have you join us at Keeneland a couple hours after the sun comes up on June 3. There will be tons (literally) of free, healthy food and drinks and we usually have at least one diabetic professional athlete from the NFL or NBA make a speech and sign autographs. Convenient Parking is never a problem.
Ive lost track of the total number of my readers who have helped sponsor Team TKO and me over the last five years, but they number in the hundreds and your total contributions over those years is well over 15 thousand dollars.
If you would like to help sponsor us this year, the easiest way is to go online to stepout.diabetes.org and click on donate at the top of the page, then click on donate to a runner/walker and type in Ike Adams. That will take you to Team TKOs page. I will try to update our progress on a daily basis should you want to check the website to see how we are doing. But please do make sure that you go to the trouble of designating your pledge to me, otherwise we wont know you made it and you will not receive one of Tylers autographed photo thank you notes later this summer.
If you would rather make a paper contribution, simply mail a check made payable to American Diabetes Association, with Team TKO on the memo line. Send it to my home address and Tyler and I will turn it in on Step Out Day: Ike Adams, 249 Charlie Brown Road, Paint Lick, KY 40461.
Reach longtime Enterprise columnist Ike Adams at [emailprotected] or on Facebook or 249 Charlie Brown Road, Paint Lick, KY 40461.
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Team TKO ready to fight diabetes again - The Harlan Daily Enterprise
Anais Martinez is on the hunt in Mexico City's Merced Market, a sprawling covered bazaar brimming with delicacies. "So this is the deep-fried tamale!" she says with delight, as if she'd just found a fine mushroom specimen deep in a forest.
The prized tamales are wrapped in corn husks and piled next to a bubbling cauldron of oil.
"It's just like a corn dough patty mixed with lard, put in a corn husk or banana leaf, steamed and then deep fried," says Martinez of this traditional Mexican breakfast. "And then after you fry it, you can put it inside a bun and make a torta [sandwich] out of it. So it's just like carbs and carbs and fat and fat. But it's actually really good."
And it only costs 10 pesos roughly 50 cents.
Martinez is a designer in Mexico City. She studied gastronomy here and now moonlights for a company called Eat Mexico giving street food tours.
Deeper in the market there's an area packed with taco stalls. Customers stand at the counters or sit on wobbly plastic stools. The young cooks fry, flip and chop various meats into tortillas. They pound strips of flank steak out on wooden cutting boards. Piles of red chorizo sausage simmer in shallow pools of oil. Yellow slabs of tripe hang from meat hooks.
We've just come to one of Martinez's favorite taco stands. Its specialty is pork tacos served with french fried potatoes piled on top.
"The pork is really thinly sliced, rubbed with chiles and spices and then they fry it," Martinez says as the meat sizzles on a long steel griddle in front of her. "Also, really good."
Rich, fatty street food like this is available all over Mexico at bus stops, at schools and on street corners. And it's affordable to the masses. A heaping plate of Martinez's favorite pork tacos costs less than a dollar.
All that cheap food in a country where incomes are rising is contributing to Mexico's massive diabetes epidemic.
Diabetes is now the leading cause of death in Mexico according to the World Health Organization. The disease takes an estimated 80,000 lives each year. Nearly 14 percent of adults in this country of 120 million suffer from the disease one of the highest rates of diabetes in the world. And it's all happened over the last few decades.
For roughly $2 a day, people in Mexico can now afford a diet heavy in carbohydrates, sugar and fat that delivers way more calories than the WHO's recommended daily intake of 2,000. A study in 2015 showed Mexico to be the leading consumer of junk food in Latin America, consuming 450 pounds of ultraprocessed foods and sugary beverages per person each year.
Until just recently Mexico was the largest per capita consumer of soda in the world, chugging down 36 gallons of sugary drinks per person per year. That dubious distinction now falls to Argentina, with the U.S. and Chile not far behind.
Excessive body fat is one of the main contributors to the onset of Type 2 diabetes. And obesity rates have been climbing steadily in Mexico. It's now one of the world's most overweight countries, coming in just behind the United States.
Mexican health officials are well aware of the crisis. Late last year, the health minister declared diabetes and obesity to be public health emergencies the first time they'd made such a declaration that wasn't targeting an infectious disease.
"Diabetes is one of the biggest problems in the health system in Mexico," says Dr. Carlos Aguilar Salinas at the National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition in Mexico City. "It's the first cause of death. It's the first cause of disability. It's the main cost for the health system."
Treating a patient with a severe case of diabetes in Mexico, he says, can cost upward of $40,000 a year. But the bigger problem, Aguilar says, is that the Mexican health system isn't prepared to treat the sheer number of diabetes patients with serious medical complications who show up in its clinics every day.
"The Mexican health system is very efficient to treat infectious disease," he says. But chronic disorders like diabetes, which require lifelong attention and medical monitoring, call for a different skill set from doctors. And Mexico's health system is still adjusting to this shift toward treating chronic disease.
Recognizing how daunting it is to treat diabetes, Mexican officials are trying to prevent it in the next generation. In 2014 the country slapped a controversial 5 cents per liter tax on soda. New rules bar advertisements for high calorie junk food aimed at children. Public service announcements encourage people to exercise more. And there's a major push to restrict the sale of soda and junk food in schools.
The head of the World Health Organization's office in Mexico, Dr. Gerry Eijkemans, says diabetes is a huge challenge to health care systems throughout Latin America.
"Diabetes used to be a disease of the rich," she says. "In Western Europe and the U.S., it was really the people who had the money who were obese, and now it's actually the opposite."
This is forcing already overstretched public health systems in Latin America to devote more resources to this complex disease.
"In order to prevent an infectious disease, you reduce the mosquitoes and basically you're done," Eijkemans says. "Not that it's easy, but it's much easier than changing a lifestyle, changing the way a society is basically organized [to encourage] people to consume unhealthy food with lots of fat and sugar."
An article earlier this year in the medical journal The Lancet warned: "Rising levels of increasingly severe obesity mean that, worldwide, populations are on the brink of a catastrophic epidemic of diabetes."
In Latin America, Mexico isn't on the brink of that epidemic, it's already there.
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Pork Tacos Topped With Fries: Fuel For Mexico's Diabetes Epidemic - WAER
Newser | A New Warning About Gestational Diabetes Newser "Women with small weight gains within the healthy BMI range doubled their risk of gestational diabetes compared to women whose weight remained stable," says researcher Akilew Adane, with "small" being defined as a gain of 1.5% to 2.5% of body weight a ... |
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A New Warning About Gestational Diabetes - Newser
People withanorexia nervosahave a distorted body image and severely restrict their food to the point of emaciation and sometimes death. It's long been treated as a psychological disorder, but that approach has had limited results; the condition has one of the highest mortality rates among psychiatric conditions. But recently, neuroscience researchers at the UC San Diego School of Medicine who study the genetic underpinnings of psychiatric disorders have identified a possible gene that appears to contribute to the onset of the disease, giving scientists a new tool in the effort to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms of the illness.
The study, published in Translational Psychiatry, was led by UC San Diego's Alysson Muotri, a professor at theSchool of Medicines departments of pediatrics and cellular and molecular medicine and associate co-director of the UCSD Stem Cell Program. His team took skin cells known as fibroblasts from seven young women with anorexia nervosa who were receiving treatment at UCSDs outpatient Eating Disorders Treatment and Research Center, as well as from four healthy young women (the study's controls). Then the team initiated the cells to become induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).
The technique, which won researcher Shinya Yamanaka the Nobel Prize in 2012, takes any nonreproductive cell in the body and reprograms it by activating genes on those cells. You can push the cells back into the development stage by capturing the entire genome in a pluripotent stem cell state, similar to embryonic stem cells, Muotri tells mental_floss. Like natural stem cells, iPSCs have the unique ability to develop into many different types of cells.
Once the fibroblasts were induced into stem cells, the team differentiated the stem cells to become neurons. This is the most effective way to study the genetics of any disorder without doing an invasive brain biopsy, according to Muotri. Also, studying animal brains for this kind of disorder wouldnt have been as effective. At the genetic level as well as the neural network, our brains are very different from any other animal. We dont see chimpanzees, for example, with anorexia nervosa. These are human-specific disorders, he says.
Once the iPSCs had become neurons, they began to form neural networks and communicate with one another in the dish similar to the way neurons work inside the brain. Basically what we have is an avatar of the patients brain in the lab, Muotri says.
His team then used genetic analysis processes known as whole transcriptome pathway analysis to identify which genes were activated, and which might be associated with the anorexia nervosa disorder specifically.
They found unusual activity in the neurons from the patients with anorexia nervosa, helping them identify a gene known as TACR1, which uses a neurotransmitter pathway called the tachykinin pathway. The pathway has been associated with other psychiatric conditions such as anxiety disorders, but more pertinent to their study, says Mutori, is that tachykinin works on the communication between the brain and the gut, so it seems relevant for an eating disorderbut nobody has really explored that. Prior research on the tachykinin system has shown that it is responsible for the sensation of fat. So if there are misregulations in the fat system, it will inform your brain that your body has a lot of fat.
Indeed, they found that the AN-derived neurons had a greater number of tachykinin receptors on them than the healthy control neurons. This means they can receive more information from this neurotransmitter system than a normal neuron would, Muotri explains. We think this is at least partially one of the mechanisms that explains why [those with anorexia] have the wrong sensation that they have enough fat.
In addition, among the misregulated genes, connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), which is crucial for normal ovarian follicle development and ovulation, was decreased in the AN samples. They speculate that this result may explain why many female anorexia patients stop menstruating.
Muotrinext wants to understand what he calls the downstream effect of those neurons with too many TACR1 receptors. In other words, how does it affect the neurons at a molecular level, and what information do those neurons receive from the gut? This link between the brain and the gut is unclear, so we want to follow up on that, he says.
He also wants to look into thepotential to design a drug that could compensate for the large amount of TACR1 receptors, and the over-regulation of that receptor in the brainwhich would be a huge development for the notoriously difficult-to-treat disease.
While Muotri is excited about new avenues of research that can follow from this work, he doesn't see it as a panacea for the disease, but a way to begin to understand it more fully. He says, Its a good start, but arguably you have to understand what are the other environmental factors that contribute.
Read more:
Scientists Say They've Identified a Gene Linked to Anorexia - Mental Floss
The Cleveland International Film Festival completed its annual FilmSlam program today with a documentary about Gordon Gund. And as WKSUs Kabir Bhatia reports, students from area schools even got to ask Gund questions about his life with retinitis pigmentosa.
Gordon and Lulie Gund at FlimSlam
The documentary The Illumination touches on Gunds blindness, his ownership of the Cleveland Cavaliers and his philanthropy, but its main focus is his foundations efforts to cure blindness in a Belgian boy.
One of the showings was part of FilmSlam, in which high school students from around Northeast Ohio are invited to view movies and then participate in a Q&A with filmmakers. Cameron Olin is a junior at Medina High School and says what resonated for her was the relationship between Gund and his wife, Lulie.
They were walking down the stairs and his wife put his hand on the rocks so he could feel what it felt like, because he couldn't see it. Their love is what really hit me.
The Gunds said they were pleased that students asked not just about the Cavs, but mostly about how they dealt with the blindness, which hit Gordon in the late 1960s.
"We're all going to face adversity; in one form or another, everybody does. And it's how you deal with it and how you think about it that really matters. And if this has been helpful in that way, all the better."
Since the experimental treatment began in 2008, Gund says about 100 people have had their sight restored through his foundation. His entire Film-Slam question-and-answer session is available here.
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Students Quiz Gordon Gund About Blindness During the Cleveland International Film Festival - WKSU News
Barron's (blog) | Earnings Preview: Biotechnology Looks Healthy - Focus on Funds ... Barron's (blog) Healthcare stocks are getting a modest lift on Friday, gaining 0.24% while the S&P 500 has risen 0.15%. Within that group biotechnology stocks seem to be ... |
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Earnings Preview: Biotechnology Looks Healthy - Focus on Funds ... - Barron's (blog)
SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Three business and scientific leaders with early-stage investors today announced the formation of Apostle Inc, a biotechnology company developing a novel bioinformatics-enabled nanotechnology aimed for early cancer detection. This new approach will enable the early assessment of the cancerous signals in human peripheral blood plasma, which is believed to have a significant impact on the global healthcare landscape in both developed countries and emerging markets.
Dr. David Dongliang Ge, an experienced business and scientific leader who was President of BioSciKin Co. and Director of Bioinformatics at Gilead Sciences, will lead the new company. He is joined by two colleagues as co-founders of Apostle and his investment partners. "Biotechnologies, especially those focusing on novel diagnostic or therapeutic advancements aiming for cancer, are among the key focuses in the global economy for the next 5-20 years. By 2020, the market size ofcancerdiagnosis is estimated to reach $168.6 billion. Apostle represents one of these focuses." Dr. Ge said. "With a groundbreaking bioinformatics-enabled nanotechnology approachwe want to inform the general population that we are able to help them identify cancer signals, earlier and more accurate than conventional techniques, and potentially advise their doctors to take highly effective surgical actions. "
"It's been a great pleasure to have the opportunity to work with David and his team on this amazing venture. We're thrilled to work with this scientifically imaginative and visionary company." One of the investors said. Apostleis funded by Amino Capital, ShangBay Capital, Westlake Ventures in the Silicon Valley and a group of individual investors from both the Silicon Valley and China. Apostle is advised by Dr. Charles Cantor, an American molecular geneticist, former director of the Department of Energy Human Genome Project, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, as well as Dr. Hongyu Zhao, the Ira V. Hiscock Professor of Biostatistics and Professor of Statistics and Genetics, Chair of the Biostatistics Department and the Co-Director of Graduate Studies of the Inter-Departmental Program in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics at Yale University.
About Apostle Inc.
Apostle Inc is a biotechnology company in Sunnyvale, CA. It's in the business of the research, development, licensing, and sales of novel bioinformatics-enabled nanotechnologies and the related intellectual properties, products, and services for diagnosis and treatment of human diseases
About the founder team of Apostle Inc.
Dr. David Dongliang Geis CEO and President of Apostle. Previously, he was President of BioSciKin Co. and Simcere Diagnostics Co., two global biotechnology companies headquartered in Nanjing, China. Between 2011 and 2016, he was Director of Bioinformatics at Gilead Sciences, where he founded and provided leadership to the bioinformatics group. Dr. Ge and his group led the phylogenomic analytical support for the critical regulatory approval of Sovaldi, a world-leading anti-HCV drug. In 2014 and 2015, Dr. Ge was invited to be a member of the U.S. NHGRI Special Emphasis Panel. He was appointed as Assistant Professor of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics at Duke University School of Medicine. He received his Ph.D.ofBiostatistics and Genetic Epidemiology from Peking Union Medical College and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences in 2004. Dr. Ge's work in discovering the IL28B genetic variants associated with the clinical treatment responses, published in Nature in 2009, has received over 3000 times of citations with the U.S. FDA's citation in its several guidance for industry. The invention was licensed to LabCorp and QuestDiagnostics,and has become clinical diagnostic services since then (LabCorp 480630 and Quest AccuType IL28).Dr. Ge has authored over 70 original articles, including 5 in Nature and 1 in Science, in total receiving over 15,000 citations. Dr. Ge was named by the U.S. Genome Technology magazine as one of the "Rising Stars" in 2009, and by the U.K. Phacilitate as one of the "Top 50 Most Influential People in Big Data" in 2015.
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Bo Zhang, Ph.D.is VP of Chemistry of Apostle. Dr. Zhang received his Ph.D.ofChemistry from Stanford University in 2015 and received his B.S.ofChemistry from Peking University in 2010. Dr. Zhang has won the Gold Medal of National Chemistry Olympiad of China in 2006. Dr. Zhang has 10 years of experience in nanotechnology research, with outstanding achievements in developing novel nanomaterials with unique fluorescence characteristics. Dr. Zhang published over 30 original paperson Nature Medicine, Nature Materials, Nature Photonics, Nature Communications, etc. Dr. Zhang's two articles in Nature Medicine about novel nano-platform for type 1 diabetes and Zika virus infection diagnosis have attracted worldwide attention. Dr. Zhang has been PI for research projects funded by the NIH. He holds many patents. Dr. Zhang was the recipient of Materials Research Society Awards, Mona M. Burgess Fellow, William S. Johnson Fellowship, etc.
Xin Guo, Ph.D.is VP of Bioinformatics of Apostle. Previously, Dr. Guo was group leader at Gilead Sciences, in charge of the clinical phylogenomic program for developing Sovaldi. Dr. Guo received his Ph.D. in Computer Sciences from Duke University and M.S. in Informatics from Max Planck Institute of Germany. He received his B.S. in Informatics from Chiba Institute of Technology of Japan. Dr. Guo has over 10 years of experience in the R&D ofhigh performancecomputing, machinelearningand artificial intelligence. Dr. Guo has extensive experience in product development of complex algorithms and databases, with applications in genomic big data.
Wenqi Zeng, MD,PhD, FACMGis Chief Medical Advisor of Apostle. He is Chief Medical Officer of Simcere Diagnostics Co. Previously, Dr. Zeng was Senior Director of Molecular Genetics at Quest Diagnostics and was Director of Clinical Genomics at Ambry Genetics. Dr. Zeng was fellow of Clinical Molecular Genetics and Medical Genetics at Harvard. He received his M.D. from Xiang-Ya Medical School in China and Ph.D. in MolecularPatholgy/Molecular Genetics fromUniversityof Otago. He holds Diploma of American Board of Medical Genetics and Genomics(ABMGG),and is a qualified CAP inspection team leader, and a qualified CAP CLIA lab director in CA,FLand MD. He also has NY state COQ in molecular genetics and molecular oncology.
Media Contact: Public Relations, Apostle, Inc, Apostle, Inc, 650-483-5437, pr@apostlebio.com
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Apostle Inc, a Biotechnology Company for Early Cancer Detection, is Founded in the Silicon Valley - Yahoo Finance
NEW YORK, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Use this report to: - Explore present and future strategies within the bioseparation systems market. - Learn about the upcoming developments, the holdups and the needs of the market. - Gain an insight into acquisition strategies and collaborations by companies.
Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p0619255/Separation-Systems-for-Commercial-Biotechnology.html
- Receive an overview of the relevant patents related to the industry.
Highlights - The global market for bioseparation reached $18.4 billion in 2015. This market is expected to increase from $19.0 billion in 2016 to nearly $24.0 billion in 2021 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.7% for 2016-2021. - United States market for bioseparation is expected to grow from $7.0 billion in 2016 to nearly $9.3 billion at a CAGR of 5.9% from 2016 through 2021. - Emerging market for bioseparation is expected to grow from $7.0 billion in 2016 to $8.7 billion in 2021 at a CAGR of 4.4% from 2016 through 2021.
Introduction & Scope
Introduction
Study goals and objectives In recent years, the bioseparation systems (separation systems in biotechnology) segment has been one of growth in the biopharmaceuticals market. Primary use of these systems is for separation and purification of biological products. BCC Research's goal in conducting this study is to provide an overview of the current and future characteristics of the global market for various bioseparation systems. This report explores present and future strategies within the bioseparation systems market. The market is categorized into liquid chromatography, centrifugation, electrophoresis, membrane filtration, flow cytometry, microarray, labonachip, biochip, and magnetic separation. The upcoming developments of the market, the holdups and the needs of the market are discussed in this report. The classifications, comparisons and usage of these products are also portrayed in this report. A detailed analysis of the structure of the bioseparation systems industry has been conducted. The revenues have been broken down by region and sales figures are estimated for the fiveyear period from 2016 through 2021. The report also covers significant patents and their allotments in each category.
Acquisition strategies and collaborations by companies are also covered in this report. This study also discusses the strengths and weaknesses of each type in light of new technologies, growing competition, and changing customer needs.
Reasons for doing this study Bioseparation systems have a major place in the biopharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. Bioseparation is conducted on biological products like proteins, nucleic acids, and cell cultures, among others. The increasing demand for biopharmaceutical products is driving the global market for bioseparation systems. Increased research in life sciences, newer technological developments are taking bioseparation techniques to prodigious heights. Modern industries have now begun to explore the advantages of bioseparation systems in their production processes, which have led to a steady market. Research and development (R&D) spending, along with increasing competition and patent expiries are giving a new direction to the market. This study looks at almost all the systems affected by these factors.
Contributions of the study and for whom This study contributes to the areas of market growth for the manufacturers and users of bioseparation systems. Genomic research centers, academic institutions, government and private laboratories, as well as pharmaceutical, diagnostic and biotechnology companies will find this study to be of interest.
Scope of report The market for bioseparation systems is growing rapidly across all regions. Bioseparation purifies biological products on a largescale. The report focuses on the global market of bioseparation systems and provides an updated review, including basic design and its applications, in various arenas of biomedical and life science research. The scope of the study is global. BCC Research analyzes each market, new products and advancements, technologies involved, market projections and market shares. The geographical regions covered in the report are North America, Europe and emerging markets. The emerging market covers all countries like India, China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, among others. The bioseparation techniques that are covered in this report are chromatography, centrifugation, electrophoresis, membrane filtration, flow cytometry, microarray, labonachip, biochip, and magnetic separation. Among chromatography techniques, liquid chromatography is the most active market.
Also included in the report are relevant patent analysis and comprehensive profiles of companies that lead the bioseparation systems market. Key players include Thermo Fisher Scientific, Agilent Technologies Inc., BioRad Laboratories, Danaher Corp., Qiagen N.V., Merck KGaA GmbH, and Waters Corp. among others.
Information sources Many companies were surveyed to obtain data for this study. Included were manufacturers and end users of bioseparation systems. Data was gathered from various industry sources. BCC Research spoke with officials within the industry, consulted newsletters, company literature, product literature, and a host of technical articles, journals, indexes, and abstracts. Exhaustive investigations of databases by key terminology were completed. In addition, data were compiled from current financial, trade, and government sources.
Methodology Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p0619255/Separation-Systems-for-Commercial-Biotechnology.html
About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.
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To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/separation-systems-for-commercial-biotechnology-300433779.html
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Separation Systems for Commercial Biotechnology - Yahoo Finance - Yahoo Finance
People who see dermatologists for the skin condition psoriasis should not take the presence of joint aches and pains lightly, as the two things might be connected. The National Psoriasis Foundation notes that psoriasis is a precursor to psoriatic arthritis in 30 percent of patients.
What is psoriatic arthritis?
Psoriasis is an autoimmune condition that affects the rate of skin cell reproduction. People with psoriasis may experience redness, itchiness and raised bumps (plaques) of skin on various areas of their bodies. Psoriatic arthritis is a chronic form of arthritis that typically occurs in people with skin psoriasis, but also can be present in those without the skin condition, but particularly among those who have relatives with psoriasis.
The American College of Rheumatology says that psoriatic arthritis typically affects the large joints, especially the lower extremities, distal joints of the fingers and toes and the back and sacroiliac joints of the pelvis. Early recognition, diagnosis and treatment of psoriatic arthritis are crucial to relieving inflammation and preventing permanent joint damage.
Symptoms
Symptoms of psoriatic arthritis can develop gradually or quickly, and some symptoms can be severe. NPF indicates that common symptoms of psoriatic arthritis include
Symptoms of psoriatic arthritis are similar to rheumatoid arthritis, gout and reactive arthritis. Doctors will rule out other symptoms that may be indicative of those conditions. The American College of Rheumatology also indicates that psoriatic arthritis is typically blood test negative. The diagnosis is typically made by a rheumatologist after reviewing a clinical history and performing a physical exam.
Treatment
Doctors will need to assess symptoms before deciding on a course of treatment. Mild cases may respond to over-the-counter, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen. However, antirheumatic drugs and newer biologic drugs may be prescribed to treat more aggressive cases of psoriatic arthritis.
Corticosteroid injections can be useful for swollen joints, and surgery may be necessary to repair badly damaged joints.
Individuals who suspect their arthritis may be linked to psoriasis can first speak with a dermatologist or primary care physician. The NPF also offers a screening tool at http://www.psoriasis.org/psa-screening.
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Arthritis linked to another condition - White Mountain Independent
Three Bangladeshi youngsters with a rare genetic disorder, which incapacitates muscles leading to early death, will quite literally walk out of hospital in a few months thanks to Mumbai doctors, Air India and the Union Ministry of External Affairs.
It all began in January, when Bangladesh resident Mohammad Tofazzel Hossen demanded his two sons Abdul, 24, and Rahinul,14, and his grandson Shohrab,7, be euthanised with permission from the government. The three boys suffer from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), a genetic disorder characterised by progressive muscle degeneration and weakness. The issue had broken into an international debate in January.
Caused owing to the absence of dystrophin, a protein that helps keep muscle cells intact, patients are likely to survive until the age of 25, said doctors from NeuroGen Brain and Spine Institute (NBSI), Navi Mumbai, which treated the three on a pro-bono basis.
After the international media highlighted Hossens desperate plea for euthanasia in January, Dhaka-based human rights organisation, Ain O Salish Kendra, started helping the family by connecting with experts across the world to seek options for medical treatment. By then, 55-year-old Hossen, who lives with his wife, two sons, daughter and grandchild in a one-bedroom house in the Meherpur district of Bangladesh, had sold his local shop and exhausted all the monetary options to avail treatment for youngsters.
I had lost all hope. Available medical facilities couldnt help my children; my life savings were no where close to meet the treatment needs for my sons, said Hossen.
Hossens fate changed overnight after doctors from NBSI, which specialises in stem cell therapy for rare neurological disorders, in collaboration with Meditourz, a medical tourism company, intervened to treat the patients free of cost. Doctors said till date, the hospital has treated more than 1,000 patients with similar disorders across 40 countries, with their first patient being a 31-year-old who is able to walk on his own.
Air India, on the hospitals request, agreed to fly the three patients and three attendants free of cost from Kolkata to Mumbai for treatment. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs made sure the requisite visa documentation for the three patients and their relatives to travel to India was approved on priority.
The family travelled by road to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata, and arrived in Mumbai on April 2. Not only were the tickets arranged, but senior officers of Air India were present at both Kolkata and Mumbai airports to arrange hassle-free travel by arranging wheelchairs and other medical help.
The three youngsters, who were wheelchair-borne and had started to lose mobility of the limbs, underwent stem cell therapy on Tuesday. Doctors said within three to six months, all three of them will gain mobility and will be able to walk. The therapy restricts the disease progression and thus increases muscle capacity gradually, said Dr Alok Sharma, director of the medical facility, adding that the three patients will be discharged next week and will return for a follow-up next year.
They [doctors and Indian government machinery] are Gods gift to us. I will remain indebted to the Indian government all my life for saving my children, Hossen told HT. I was left with no option but to tell the doctors to euthanise my children. It is the most painful thing I have ever had to say, but it is only fair that if I am responsible for their ill-health, it is I who should set them free, he said.
India gave my sons and grandson a new life, something which our doctors or system failed to do, said Hossen.
Read
Bangladeshi father seeks mercy killing of sons, grandson
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HT Exclusive: Mumbai docs save 3 ailing Bangladesh boys who pleaded for euthanasia - Hindustan Times
A scandal of historic and monumental proportions began with a tweet just over one month ago.
"Terrible, President Trump wrote on March 4. Just found out that Obama had (ph) 'wires tapped' in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!"
That tweet sent the mainstream, alt-left, hate-Trump media into an all- out frenzy. For the next several days, instead of investigating the president's serious claim, they mocked, ridiculed and bashed the president.
Here are some examples of propaganda masquerading as journalism:
Our conspiracy theory president is at it again, CNNs Brian Stelter said the day of the tweet. And whenever something like this happens, I wonder what are the president's sources of information? Where is he getting these ideas?
The next day, over at ABC, Martha Raddatz pretended to interview White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
The president of the United States is accusing the former president of wiretapping him, said Raddatz, who you will remember cried on election night when Hillary Clinton lost.
I think that this is again something that if this happened, Martha -- , Sanders began.
If, if, if, if! Raddatz snapped.
It went on and on.
CNNs Anderson Cooper threw objectivity aside and determined the president was a liar.
We know the president of the United States has no facts, no facts to back up his startling allegation that the former president of the United States, President Obama, wiretapped him at Trump Tower during the campaign, Cooper said on March 16.
It's amazing to watch the White House continue to argue that the Earth is flat, Coopers colleague, Jake Tapper, said.
When the fact-challenged, destroy-Trump media finally got bored scolding President Trump over his tweet, they went right back to the same old, tired conspiracy. The one that claims Trump colluded with the Russians to win the election, a baseless assertion the mainstream media has hung onto for months without one single shred of evidence.
This Russian connection just keeps building, and every time it builds and expands, you have to wonder if Trump himself isn't worried about what's swirling around under the covers, said MSNBCs Chris Matthews.
Cooper and his pals agreed. The evil Russians and the evil Team Trump worked together to steal the election!
Then, on March 22, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes announced that he had credible evidence that President Trump and members of his transition team had been caught up in "incidental surveillance," after which their names were unmasked. Nunes also revealed this intelligence had nothing to do with Russia and was shared among high-level Obama administration officials, apparently for political purposes.
The media swung into action to investigate the serious claim and accurately reported these shocking new revelations. Oh, wait! No they didnt. They decided to destroy Nunes.
Who decided that Devin Nunes was qualified to be the House Intel chair? Because from everybody that I've spoken to who have worked with him, Republicans, Democrats, they say he is not up to that task, said MSNBCs Joe Scarborough, a former Republican congressman who now earns a bigger paycheck as a member of the alt-left media.
Nunes, who stepped aside in the committees investigation Thursday amid a barrage of bogus claims from the media and fellow House members, put his reputation on the line to try to get to the truth.
While the alt-left, destroy-Trump-propaganda-media was busy smearing anyone and everyone who didn't echo their biased agenda, real journalists from Fox News, Circa News and Bloomberg were actually doing their jobs. And they reported that it was President Obamas national security adviser, Susan Rice, who called for the unmasking of members of the Trump transition team.
Rice didn't even deny it. But the CNN wants us to think these developments are all just a big distraction. They're back to the Russia conspiracy.
You think that this is a diversion from this Russia story? Don Lemon asked earlier this week. Because so far, we've seen no evidence that she's done anything improper, and it seems like an effort to tar and feather her to try to make a lie the truth, the original tweet by the president.
Listen, Susan Rice is being tarred, feathered and burned alive for doing her job in a good way, Van Jones replied.
Unmasking Americans just because they are her political opponents was not her job. Over at MSNBC, Chris Matthews, who once gushed that Obama sent a thrill up my leg, accused Republicans of being racist and sexist for targeting Susan Rice.
If they don't like the facts, they just claim racism and sexism. But President Trump is not letting the media define this narrative.
"It's such an important story for our country and the world. It's one of the big stories of our time," Trump said of the Obama administrations apparent use of national intelligence agencies for political opposition research.
ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and all of their friends in the print media especially The New York Times and Washington Post need to realize their partisanship and hatred for the president has clouded their judgment in what is now one of the biggest scandals in American history.
Admit your bias. Do your job. And apologize to America for taking so long.
Adapted from Sean Hannity's monologue on "Hannity," April 4, 2017
Sean Hannity currently serves as host of FOX News Channel's (FNC) Hannity (weekdays 10-11PM/ET). He joined the network in 1996 and is based in New York. Click here for more information on Sean Hannity.
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Sean Hannity: Media's blindness to Obama spy scandal shameful - Fox News
Experts in the field of psoriatic arthritis have long faced a chicken-and-egg question: Can you have psoriatic arthritis without havingpsoriasisfirst?Some say yes. Some say no. Others say yes and no.
"There is a lot of debate going on," says Ted Mikuls, MD, professor of internal medicine in the division of rheumatology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.
Like psoriatic arthritis, psoriasis is an autoimmune disease, meaning the immune systemattacks a part of the body. With psoriasis, the immune system attacks the skin (leading to telltaleraised red or silvery patches), while psoriatic arthritis attacks the joints (causing stiffness, pain, and swelling).About 80-85% of people who develop psoriatic arthritis have psoriasis first, according to the National Psoriasis Foundation. For the remaining 15-20%,arthritis precedes the skin condition.
"It is much, much more common to have the psoriasis first," says Marcy OKoon Moss, senior director for consumer health at the Arthritis Foundation in Atlanta.
But the question remains: If a patient first experiencesjoint symptoms of psoriatic arthritis, does that mean they don'thave psoriasisor just that their psoriasishasnt been detected yet?
RELATED: The 5 Types of Psoriatic Arthritis You Need to Know About
Certainly it is at least partly a detection issue, says Dr.Mikuls. Existing psoriasis might be largely invisible, such as hiding in your belly buttonor behind your ears. "Skin psoriasis can be very, very subtle and appear in places we dont look at closely," hesays.
But you alsocant rule out the possibility that psoriatic arthritis can occur without psoriasis, he adds. You dont need to have been diagnosed with skin psoriasis to receive a diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis. Doctors can make a diagnosis based on a family history or personal history (such as if you had psoriasis but its cleared up), says OKoon Moss.It can also go the other way: A 2015 study found that 10-15% of people with psoriasis had psoriatic arthritis that simply had not been detected.
Another thing to consider is that people who have both psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis dont necessarily have the same degree of symptoms; their psoriasis can be mild while their arthritis is bad, or vice versa. "There can be a real disconnect between the severity of your skin involvement and your arthritis," says Dr. Mikuls.
Clearly, more research is needed on this topic to be able to fully understand whether or not you can have psoriatic arthritis without any psoriasis. But Dr. Mikuls stresses the importance of speaking to your doctor if you're experiencing symptoms of either condition, since getting a correct diagnosis is critical for your treatment.A few years ago, he explains, a 100%-accurate diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis may not have mattered quite so much. Today, though, it's very important."In the past, we would have said treatments [for different types of arthritis] overlap," he explains. "But more and more were learning that [treatments] really are uniquely different in many ways."
Take DMARDs (disease modifying antirheumatic drugs), for example. Dr. Mikuls explains that they were an earlier psoriatic arthritis treatment that might also work for other forms of arthritis. But newer psoriatic arthritis treatments, like biologics, may work for psoriatic arthritis but not other forms of arthritis, such as rheumatoid arthritis.
And not all cases of psoriatic arthritis are the same, nor do all treatments work the same way for everyone. "The lesson learned in rheumatology is that patients dont always present the same way," says Dr. Mikuls.
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Is It Possible to Have Psoriatic Arthritis Without Psoriasis? - Health.com - Health.com
Innovator David Ku Age 61 Professor of mechanical engineering and engineering entrepreneurship at Georgia Tech; surgeon
Form and functionCartiva implants are made of polyvinyl alcohol, the main ingredient of contact lenses, and mimic natural cartilage to treat arthritis. Unlike the current standard of caremetal plates fused with jointsthey allow for a full range of motion.
A diagram of a metal plate.
OriginResearch on blood flow required Ku and his students to create material for artificial blood vessels. The company they formed to further develop the material was acquired by Carticept MedicalInc. in 2008 and spun off as Cartiva Inc. in 2011.
FundingCartiva has raised $35million from New Enterprise Associates, Windham Venture Partners, and private investors.
OpenAfter opening a patients joint to be treated, an orthopedic surgeon bores a hole in one of the bones of the joint.
PlantThe surgeon inserts a compressed Cartiva implant into the hole, where it expands to remain firmly in place without fasteners.
Source: Cartiva
MarketU.S.-based orthopedic surgeons can use a $4,500 kit from Cartiva to treat arthritis in the big toe. The kit includes a -inch implant, a drill, and tools for compressing and inserting the implant.
Next StepsIts certainly transformative, says Judy Baumhauer, an orthopedics professor at the University of Rochester Medical Center. With this advance, we have an implant that doesnt wear out or cause more troubles. Cartiva Chief Executive Officer Tim Patrick says the company is seeking Food and Drug Administration approval to implant the cartilage in thumbs, and Ku is working on other applications for his implants, including as replacement blood vessel valves.
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This Synthetic Cartilage Can Give Arthritis Sufferers a Full Range of Motion - Bloomberg
Courtesy photo A Racing 4 Taylor banner sits outside the Richmond County Tourism Authority building in Rockingham.
ELLERBE This weekends lawnmower race in Ellerbe is one close to Rex Crouch Jr.s heart.
He started the Racing for Taylor event in the Outlaw Triple Crown series in 2011 after his daughter was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis at the age of 2.
Coming from a fathers standpoint, Im a mechanic, and being a mechanic,you kinda want to fix things, he said. But being a racer, and the operations manager for the Ellerbe Lions Club lawnmower track, Crouch said he couldnt think of anything else to do to help.
Taylor, now 8, had to make multiple trips every two to three months to hospitals at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and Duke University in Durham where she would receive injections in her joints.
Crouch said as time has passed and his daughter has gotten older, she has gotten better and is in remission.
But you can see the damage its done to her joints when she plays, he added.
The event is now in its fifth year, having skipped 2012 and 2013.
Crouch said it draws lawnmower racers from all over the country, including New Hampshire, Georgia, Massachusetts and Tennessee.
They come from everywhere, he said, adding that the event averages from 75 to 135 participants.
Gates open at 8 a.m. and the racing eight categories ranging from stock lawnmowers to faster classes running 6o miles per hour begins at 5 p.m. with the feature races scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
Crouch said shirts, hats and armbands will be sold, with proceeds going to fund research into juvenile arthritis.
Reach William R. Toler at 910-817-2675 and follow him on Twitter @William_r_toler.
Courtesy photo A Racing 4 Taylor banner sits outside the Richmond County Tourism Authority building in Rockingham.
http://yourdailyjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_racing4taylor.jpegCourtesy photo A Racing 4 Taylor banner sits outside the Richmond County Tourism Authority building in Rockingham.
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Race to benefit juvenile arthritis research - Richmond County Daily Journal
April 6, 2017 -- A stem cell treatment for autism shows promise, according to a new study, but the investigators and other experts emphasize that the therapy is still in the early stages and much more research is needed.
The Duke University study included 25 children, ages 2-6, with autism and assessed whether a transfusion of the youngsters' own umbilical cord blood containing rare stem cells would help treat their autism, CNN reported.
Behavioral improvements were reported in 70 percent of the patients, according to the study in the journal Stem Cells.
A second, larger trial is now underway and the researchers hope they will find a long-term treatment for autism, CNN reported.
Some experts say many unanswered questions remain and the study authors agree much more work needs to be done. This initial trial was a safety study, meaning doctors and the children's families knew the therapy was being administered and there was no comparison between treated and non-treated children.
"Some children, who were not speaking very much, had big increases in their vocabulary and their functional speech," study author Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg, head of the Robertson Clinical and Translational Cell Therapy Program, told CNN.
"Many children were able to attend to play and have meaningful communication in a way that they weren't before. Some children had less repetitive behaviors than they did when they came onto the study," Kurtzberg said.
"The study was very encouraging. We did see positive results. However, it did not have a comparison group, which is very important in establishing whether a treatment is actually effective," study author Dr. Geraldine Dawson, director of the Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development, told CNN.
WebMD News from HealthDay
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Stem Cell Therapy for Autism Shows Promise - WebMD
The global epidemic in type 2 diabetes mellitus is of unprecedented proportions. In absolute numbers, it probably exceeds any previous epidemic in the history of mankind. There are now more than 400 million people with diabetes in the world, and the number is projected to exceed 600 million by 2030.
In 2000, there were only 150 million people in the world with diabetes. In China alone, there are now more diabetic patients than were in the world when diabetic eye screening and preventive care for diabetic eye disease started in the 1980s.
During 20 years with type 2 diabetes, roughly 66% of patients develop retinopathy and about 33% develop sight-threatening retinopathy, where treatment is needed to prevent vision loss. Thus, we may expect that one-third of the more than 400 million people currently with diabetes will develop diabetic macular oedema or proliferative diabetic retinopathy within the next 20 years.
Taking action
Systematic screening for eye disease in diabetic patients started in northern Europe in the 1980s, with dramatic lowering of diabetic blindness, for example, in Iceland. In the UK, systematic screening over the past 2 decades has demoted diabetes from being the most frequent cause of blindness in the working-age population.
A global effort to prevent an epidemic of diabetic blindness must be based on the proven success of systematic eye screening and preventive treatment. This is a huge task.
Presently, systematic screening for diabetic eye disease is regularly undertaken in a few northern European countries and sporadically by some eye clinics and regions elsewhere.
Most diabetic patients around the world do not have access to diabetic eye screening. The cost is considerable. Each screening visit in European settings costs 30 to 50. If this number is multiplied by 400 million, we are soon talking about real money.
Technologic developments can help economise this process. Risk stratification can help focus resources toward those at greatest risk and reduce the overall costs of screening programs by 50%.
Automatic analysis of fundus photographs is progressing rapidly and novel automatic approaches are on the horizon, including measuring diabetic retinopathy severity with oximetry analysis of fundus photographs.
Telemedicine can help extend the reach of diabetic eye screening, and improving technology in fundus photography and rapidly lowering cost of such instrumentation all make global diabetic eye screening more affordable.
While global diabetic eye screening is a considerable task, the cost of doing nothing is much greater.
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Global diabetes epidemic must not become epidemic of blindness - ModernMedicine
